And I'm Leaving Marjaniemi‏

Well everyone, it has been eight months here so I knew my time in Marjaniemi was limited, but I didn't really think it would come to an end. Today is my last day in Marjaniemi. Tomorrow I start the last half of my mission in Kuopio!  I'm really so excited to be transferring but I'm also sooooo heartbroken to leave this ward! I've spent eight months here and it is my greenie area so it kinda means a lot to me. It has been such an amazing place to spend half my mission and I'm so grateful for it! 

So for my last week here we've just been working as hard as we can and just making the most of my last little bit here! We went and visited one of my favorite less-actives this week and she gave me a plum. So duh, I took pictures with it. It was great! 

We also had Zone Meeting this week and it was great! I got to see Sister Wunderli one last time before she leaves for home on Thursday! Its so crazy because now I've been here the same amount of time as she was when she trained me! When I arrived, I thought she was soooo old and that I would never get to be that old. I guess I did. The last half of her mission went by really fast so I'm kinda freaked out to think that mine will probably go just as fast!

It was really sweet yesterday in church after our meetings. The whole ward gathered together again and sang "God Be With You Till We Meet Again" and I just lost it. I couldn't hardly even sing with them because I just started crying! Then the ward members came and gave me well wishes and sent me on my way. Gah! I'm really sorry this letter is kinda just super sappy and like not normal, but I'm leaving and I'm feeling SUPER reminiscent today, so y'all get to do that with me! :) 

I really love this work! I love this Gospel and I'm so grateful for a Heavenly Father who knows me so perfectly that He called me to the most perfect mission for me and let me serve in the most perfect ward for eight months!

I love you all!

Love,

Sister Jones

Me and Siba - an Indian God or something like that.. He's at a members house

Me eating my Plum

Me with my Plum

Me and Sister Wunderli

And then I found out I was part of the CIA..‏

Hey Everyone! This week was so great! So many stories soo lets begin!

So first off, it was kinda a heartbreaking week. Our investigator, who was supposed to be getting baptized this Saturday, was talking to his parents about it (who are SUPER Lutheran) and they were very against him joining another church. So sadly, there won't be a baptism this Saturday. Luckily though he still really wants to get baptized and so we are working out a way to get his parents more on board so he will be able to have the family support he really needs. Soo yeah I definitely had heartbreak ice cream (Sister Crofts told me all about that) and just was sad for like an hour. So yeah. I'll include those pictures. They're great. Ha

Another fun story that happened this week was that we were at a recent converts house and he was on some weird new app where you can just start video chatting with people and you can swipe them away if you don't want to talk. I don't know what its called or anything BUT it was super funny! He was adamant that we tried it out for a second so we decided to make it a proselyting activity. So every person that would pop up, we start contacting them asking if they wanted to learn more about our church. Most of the people that were on it were people from Iraq, Spain, France, and Italy, BUT THEN A FINN CAME UP! So obviously we got to use our Finnish and we talked to this guy for like 5 minutes telling him about the church! It was soo much fun! He wasn't super interested but we were able to tell him about the gospel for the first time! It was one of the coolest things ever!

Also this week! We were at church and this American family walks in. We start talking to them and we find out that he served here around the same time as my Dad! So he asked who my dad is and I say Timo Jones. He then freaks out and just starts getting super excited and comes back and says "Is it Timo B. Jones?" "Yes! That's him!" Come to find out he was my Dad's first greenie! It was soooo cool! I was so excited! He said my dad was a GREAT trainer and he just loved him! So yeah it was wayy cool!

Okay, so now I'll get to the CIA thing. Last night as we were walking home, a man walked past us and said "American Mormons." I've never seen him before and I turn around and say "Sorry, what?" He then comes up to us and starts freaking out asking if we are Mormons from America and such.. He then proceeds to tell us that we are NOT missionaries, but actually CIA Agents. I'm not lying. So yeah just so you all know I'm no longer a missionary, but I am CIA Agent. Yep. That happened. 

So yeah! It was such an exciting week here! We are gearing up for our last week of the transfer so time to "Finnish Strong". Wow. I can't believe I just said that.. Oh whatever. ha 

I love you all! Thanks for all you do!!

Love,

Sister Jones

Me having my sad moment about our investigator

Some of my MOST favorite ward members! 

Sisar Andersson, Me and Bro. Ochsenhirt (My dad's Companion)

Also Subway had a sale this week.. Of course there were pictures :)

Happy Fouth of July!‏

Wow! Being out of America on America Day was wayyy weird! But no worries we spent it serving and eating a McDonalds, because its American soo duh. Ha No it was a great day! I'm just so grateful to live in America and get to remember how special it is to me :)

So this week was GREAT! So we have an investigator who is REALLY progessing towards being baptized in the next couple of weeks, and well we hadn't been really seeing any progress and were thinking that we might have to postpone his date, BUT MIRACLES! We found out on Saturday that even though its been SUPER hard, he's been living the Word of Wisdom for a whole week AND then he came to church! Really I can't explain just how much progress he's made this week, but really its been such a miracle! Wow. Its just so cool!

So also this week, we found this MAGICAL spot to go tracting! We call it our Alice in Wonderland spot. Its sooo cool! We've almost tracted it to death because we just love it soo much! AND it totally helps when you can stop and take magical photo-ops for a fun little break! 

Also we found out this week that this past June was the wettest June that Helsinki has seen in over 170 years.. So that explains all the INSANE amounts of rain. And we are looking at a wet July as well.. Yesterday we got stuck huddling under a building to try and stay dry while we waited for the bus to come :) Ha what an adventure! 

This week has been great! Its really sooo exciting to see people progress and grow closer to our Heavenly Father! Its really such a blessing! 

I love you all! 

Sister Jones

Waiting for the Bus

Me with my BIG MAC

The Alice and Wonderland place 

Hyvää Juhannusta!‏

What a great week here in Marjaniemi! It was so much fun!

So with it being Juhannus, we weren't allowed to go tracting or contacting because it wasn't too safe. So we planned a bunch of lessons, which of course, the night before they all bailed, so we had a super blank day. It turned out great though because President Watson texted us and invited us to come to the Mission Home. Soo we got to spend Juhannus with the Watsons at the Mission Home :)

It was great to see them both again! It was so nice to talk to them and be able to just get to learn from them :)

Also this week, we had a Relief Society Activity at the bishop's home. We got to know some of the ward members better and really just be part of the ward. So being the wonderful Relief Society members we are, we brought tons of fruit with us. The awkward thing is we don't have a car, we take public transportation. So we had to take a bus and a metro with a bowl of fruit. Ha yep. It was so funny. So we took a bunch of pictures. Obviously. 

It was a great week! We had a couple of great lessons and we are seeing some really great things happening in our area! 

I love you all! 

Love,

Sister Jones

Me on the metro with the leftover fruit :)