And Changes Came Again..

Well everbody... DRUM ROLL PLEASE! I'm staying in Tampere for another 9 weeks! My new companion is actually a former companion! I'm going to be with Sister Adams again! Eli.. MY MTC COMPANION! I'm actually really sooo excited! Its going to be such a fun next transfer! Sister Clark is going home, expected, and Sister DuPaix is off to Turku! I'm really excited because I still get to see her a bunch and go on exchanges with her :)

Well, this week was quite the adventure! We were finally in our area for a whole week and let me tell you, its amazing how the Lord blesses us when we take advantage of the short time that we have. We saw sooo many miracles this past week. We found 4 new investigators and one of them set a baptismal date! 3 of them are from India so thats pretty legit :)

This week we had one of our investigators come to a baptismal service for the cutest little Mummo you ever did see (minus mine, she's the cutest:)) and it was really soo cool! He really enjoyed it! He even gave the lady who was baptized a hug :) Adorable! Then another member invited him to church the next day and he ended up coming! THEN one of our recent converts totally did a fantastic job inviting him to other classes and explaining what the classes themselves are. It was really cool because this recent convert has only been a member for like 2 months and he's pretty shy, so it was a huge miracle!

We've really just had probably the weirdest most un-normal week ever, but it was such a blessing. We keep telling each other just how blessed this week truly has been. With finding members to all of our lessons, and all the little finding miracles we saw, it was truly an amazing week.

I love you all sooo much!! I'm so grateful for all that you do for me!

Have the best week!

Love,

Sister Jones

We'll catch up from last week..

Me and Sister Thayne

Me and Sister Cimbraite

Hämeenlinna Castle with snow :)

Us doing exchange reviews on Sister DuPaix's bed.. Don't tell her..

Me and Sister Kunzler

Driving pics

Reunited with my main Sister Bradbury
 

Craziest Week of my Mission

So yes! This as probably the most insane week ever! Last Monday we went to Helsinki for MLC. We were there all Tuesday and we got to go the temple again :) It was so great!

We had to get up at 3:45 on Wednesday because President needed to catch a flight which left at 6, so we all had to be out of the Mission Home by 5.. So we get up at 3:45, leave the Mission Home at 5, catch a train at 6, get back in Tampere at 8, get home at 9, then we have apartment inspections, and we then leave to Zone Meeting at 10:15 so we can get everything set up. Our meeting starts at 11, and its my first Zone Meeting as an STL, and President gave us 1 day to learn our Role Play that Sister Clark and I have to demonstrate for the whole Zone.. And I'm like already freaking out because its just like my first one and its scary.. But I guess it worked out well and people couldn't even tell that I was freaking out.

So we get home and we have studies. We then have to go to the train station because we were leaving to Lahti for exchanges. Well the buses were a half hour late, and the other Sisters couldn't pick up Sister DuPaix so we ended up missing our train to Lahti.. With the stress of no sleep and missing our train setting in, we took a little break to breathe ansd figure out our new game plan.. It ended being okay and we got on a later train to Lahti that night.

We had exchanged in Lahti on Thursday and it was probably the coolest exchanges I've ever been on. First off, I got to be companions with Sister Thayne! We've dreamed of being companions since my first District Meeting 1 year ago. She's been my mission role model and I was soo grateful to get to spend exchanges with her!

I also had the chance to go on a lesson with a member who is a really great family friend. She knows my Dad from his mission and it was so cool to talk with her and see how much of an impact my Dad has made in her life. I really hope that in 30 years when one of my kids comes to Finland on a mission that I will have left an impact on the members here, just like my Dad..

We got back Friday morning, had Weekly Planning, and went to the train station again, this time to pick up the Jyväskylä Sisters to come to our area for exchanges. Those were a blast as well because I got to be companions with Sister Bradbury again! It was so fun to think back on our Kuopio days and be right back at it. Such a blast! They left Saturday night.

Today's been insane because one of the other Tampere Sisters has been sick, so we've been going back and forth between their house to make sure that everything has been taken care of. Its insane.

Despite all the hecticness of this week, it was a great week! Such a fun exciting week!

I love you all so much! Thank you for all the support!

Love,

Sister Jones

Talvi Tuli!!!

YAYYY!!! WINTER HAS COME!! There is snow on the ground and we are averaging about -6 to -9 degrees during they day! It's here! ITS MAGICAL! YAY! I love winter more than anything so this is exceptionally amazing! Haha

This week was another busy week here in Tampere. We traveled up north to Vaasa this past week! I finally got to the place that my trainer always talked about! And let me tell you, VAASA IS AMAZING. It was the coolest thing ever! There were moments that I felt like I was in training again because like half of our contacts were in Swedish and I don't speak that. At all. I was soo impressed when Sister Parker whips out "Vi är fron Jesu Kristi Kyrka af Sista Dagars Heliga. Vi pratar om Kristus, will du lära dig mer?" Yep. On the bright side, I learned how to contact in Swedish! Now I just need to find a Swede and try it out! Ha Its insane. 

We also had Stake Conference these past couple of days. It has been so fun to hear from our leaders and be able to learn from them. It was also really weird because this is my third Stake Conference on my mission but it was my first one away from Helsinki. We heard from President and Sister Watson which is always amazing! I love Sister Watson's talks because I feel like I always learn the most from her. Her talks always speak to me.

The one she gave yesterday was about anchoring ourselves to Christ. Always so good. It was a really amazing talk and along with all of my personal studies lately it fit really well into it. 

We are heading down to Helsinki tonight for MLC (Mission Leaders Conference) tomorrow. It should be a great meeting :) 

I love you all so much! Thank you for all your support and love!

Love,

Sister Jones

* Hot chocolate from Mommy and Pulla (sweet bread) from a member :)

* Talvi (Winter) :)

I almost killed a cat this week...

Yep, folks, its true. I almost totally killed a cat this week.. Oops.. We'll get to that in a minute :)

But first, I HAVE THE FLU! YAYY! Its been about a week now which is so lame.. We had to get flu shots a couple of weeks ago, and I cried the whole time. YES I am 20 years old and YES I am still terrified of shots. But the flu shot did absolutely nothing for me and so now I'm bummed I had to go through that and still get the flu. Oh well. I was TOTALLY WIPED on Wednesday but we had to go to Turku for exchanges with the sisters there so I pulled together my bestest-acting-self and never let them know I was slightly dying inside. Ha on the bright side now, I can't talk, so I don't really know if that's a bright side or not... But its happening..

Now the story about the Cat. Well, I was in Turku and Sister Barrus and I were contacting on a bus. We were sitting in the spot with two other seats facing us. The lady we are talking to has her cat sitting next to her on the seat and then all of the sudden the bus driver SLAMS (and I means SLAMS) the brakes AS HARD AS HE CAN. I launched out of my seat and literally fly over to the seat across from me. I know there is a cat right there so I try to not kill it, but my doing so I end up flying and falling right on my face in the middle of the aisle. Yep. Totally biffed it. So cool. Meanwhile, as I'm in the air, Sister Barrus ends up flying and sitting on the woman's laps that we are contacting. We definitely got off the bus quickly after that and laughed the whole way home. Ha I came out with a great battle wound of this super nasty bruise on my knee. So yeah, totally worth it.

Yesterday we brought the Tampere 2 Sisters into our area and it was full of MIRACLES! I love seeing hard work pay off :) Its just so great to have time to just actually work in our area. We were able to go tracting in like the biggest apartment complex I've ever seen, and we met some amazing people! Gah! The miracles!

It was a great week and I'm excited for this next week!

I love you all sooo much! You are the best!

Love,

Sister Jones

Me and Sister Barrus in Turku

Me and Sister Peterson

Me trying to be artsy.. haha