January 27, 2014 letter

Dear Pamilya

I had my first baptism this last Saturday! I didn't teach RJ much, but he's this really short (oh who am I kidding, all the kids are short compared to me) 12 yr old who had his baptism pushed back a couple of times because of accidentally drinking coffee a couple of times and then having a lack of testimony. He bore his testimony afterward though and did a good job. My companion and I were at an appointment longer than either of us expected and got to the church building 15 minutes, instead of 30 minutes, before the baptism was supposed to start and we realized that no one had filled up the baptism font yet. So, the baptism got pushed back an hour and a half because the font was filling up, part of which was done by filling buckets of water up from the spigot outside and then carrying them inside.

That was great. I don't think I've been to the baptism of a child for a long time.Actually, I think Julianne's baptism was the first baptism I've been to since Brooklyn's. Anyway, I loved seeing the excitement and testimony shining in all four sets of eyes as they squirmed in their seats, waiting to participate in their first big step returning to our Heavenly Father. The Spirit was so strong.

I think the kids are getting a little more used to seeing me walking in the streets now. The majority of them now, when they see us scream "Sisters!!" and give us the biggest smiles and hugs. It makes my day and reminds me of Christ's council to become "as a little child," so loving and kind. We had found four new investigators last Sunday, they're grandma I believe is a member, and we taught them the first lesson last night and I taught part of it in my broken Tagalog and we committed all four of them to baptism. That was really cool to see. Like I've been saying, I look at their eyes for the most part to see what people are feeling,even though I can't understand what is being said, their eyes were shining, especially one girl whose name is Ann. We had left them with a reading assignment when we had first met them and she had even written notes on what she had learned by the time we went to teach them yesterday, she truly wants to learn more about our Savior.

I love being here. The fact that I'm so different makes it hard sometimes (some people didn't want to see us just because they didn't want to speak English...and have it judged by me...), but I love seeing the Spirit work through these people. I love the scriptures and how it applies to our daily lives, I'm so grateful for my companion and I'm so grateful for the Atonement of Jesus Christ and testify that He lives and watches out for us.

With much love, Sister Mikenna Jones

ps I think I would rather live with a nest of ants than three cockroaches...yeah I'm currently sharing a bathroom with them...oh well that's life in the Philippines for you!

January 27, 2014

RJ with the others getting baptized

Pictures sent from the mission office

Sister Jones with her trainer, Sister Montemayor

Ssiter Jones with President and Sister Martino

First Area

Hello Pamilya!

I'm currently in the Camiling 2nd Branch East area and I like it. I feel like I'm walking through the Grant County Fairgrounds in August...minus the fair rides and some of the activity booths, but you know. My new companion's name is Sister Joyce Montemayor (mon-teh-my-or), a native, and everyone, from the start has been telling me that she is a very obedient missionary. I believe them. After being separated from my batch on Thursday, we traveled for about fourty-five minutes, by jeepney, to our apartment and just started to work. The mission has us focus a lot on less-actives, considering the fact that about 500000 people are in the Philippines, but only (if I remember correctly) about 123,000 are active, so we have been doing a lot of lessons with less-actives and recent converts. So far, there are a few baptisms set up, one of which is this Saturday, all of them youth and primary age. One of them is Angela, her baptism date is in Febuary, but she has such a sweet spirit. The first time I went with my companion to see her, she was happy to see us and, even though I couldn't understand a word she was saying, I could see that she felt the Spirit. It was so cool. When I was introduced to the branch president (I knew that I was going to be assigned to say a few things about myself and bear my testimony on Sunday) I had no idea he was going to assign me to give one of the talks on Sunday....on missionary work....good thing most people here understand English because that's what the majority of it was (aka: introduction(three sentences)-Tagalog, talk-English, Testimony (four sentences)- Tagalog)

Apparently, the area I'm in right now was opened for sisters last June or July and I'm the first white Sister to proselyte here...I think I scare little children for a few seconds based on the slack-jawed look they give me when I pass by. After the initial shock, and some encouraging words from my companion, however, most of the member's children will come running up and hug my waist and some of them have rubbed my arms...I think it's a thing here to shave the arm hair...it's weird, but they are so stinking adorable. People here are very kind, the members love missionaries and everyone that has given us food is determined to make us fat. So, it's kind of like a Spanish culture (eat up! eat up!). Today, our for our zone activity, we had a budel fight (I think that's how you spell it), but it's where you put rice and different meats and sauces on a banana leaf and then eat it with your hands...it was actually a lot of fun and very good. I just had to ignore the fact that everyone was eating off the same leaf that I was...and remember that everyone had washed their hands before we dug in.

I am so grateful for this gospel, my companion, and for the Atonement of Jesus Christ. If any of you see someone struggling with their faith or are just investigating the church, do them a favor and be their friend. One of the things that you hear a lot as a missionary is the council Gordon B Hincly (correct my spelling for me please) about what a new member needs: "A friend that they can always turn to...A calling, activity is the guinious of this church...[and make sure that] they are 'nurtured by the good word of God."

Mahal ko kayo

Sister M. Jones

ps when sending things through pouch: send it to the mission office, I will get it that way and spell out my full name, there is another sister jones in this mission. I'm confused as to whether or not I can send mail to the states through pouch, so you might just hear me through email, I'll check on that though. Mom, if you do send packages, send it through normal mail and just label it as "Birthday/christmas gift," socks, undergarments, missionary supplies (shoes, makeup, clothes, soap, etc), but don't send them too often since I have to pay 50 Php for foreign packages.  

First Day in the Mission Home

Last email from the MTC

Hello Pamilya!

This will be my last email from the MTC (yay?! I dont' know I'm not excited to leave my district and maybe not see some of them ever again, but I realized after proselyting again this week that I don't want to be stuck here forever.) and you probably won't here from me for a little over a week.

Well, this week was pretty kawili-wiling (interesting)...I actually wasn't feeling good at all Friday evening. I had a sore throaght, a headache, and pretty much everything didn't seem as appetizing after I ate it...yeah. So on Saturday, Sister Davis and I went to Sister Eves, the MTC nurse, and she gave me some stuff for my throaght and headache and a mask to wear so I didn't spread whatever virus I had. It wasn't a couple hours later though, when poor Sister Dalley came down with pretty much the same symptoms I did and she was also given a mask and same medication I was given. It was rough Saturday and Sunday, I stuck to fruit and pb and j sandwiches, since that was the only thing I felt like eating, and trying to understand what teachers were teaching us and trying to focus on preparing lessons to teach our investigators wasn't exactly the easiest experience, pero I felt good enough on Monday that I took off the mask and have fully recovered from whatever it was I got.

Anyway, to the good part of the week. We had our last grammar lesson this week (yay!!!!) and are doing reviews now. We went out proselyting again and it was really cool. The companion they assigned me to while we were out this time was a native and we taught four people and I hardly understood anything that was going on. The only things I was really able to understand was when my companion made a comment about how tall I was or when one of the investigators said I was pretty...mainly because it was said in English or my companion translated for me. We were in the poorer section of the Manila mission so people spoke less English than the area that we went to the week previously. The people here are so understanding though when I did rely on my English more than my Tagalog, I guess it's easier for them to understand it than it is for them to speak it. I was suprised though: missionaries, when they come home from their mission, talk about how much they come to love the people that they are serving and teaching the gospel to. I figured I would eventually feel the same way, but not as quickly as I had when we were teaching this last week. 

The Lord has blessed me so much I can only begin to tell you all that He has done for me. He placed me in THIS MTC, of all places, to learn a language and how to teach people about His love and how to return to Him; He blessed me with such a wonderful kasama, who patiently sits with me and comforts me when I feel insecure about myself and my ability to do the things He wants me to do; He made sure that I got the Dear Elders that mom had sent us for Christmas to bring smiles to all of our faces; He put me in such a loving district while I'm here away from my pamilya so I felt like I had never left home, but was just ariving; He restored the gospel through Joseph Smith so that we could have the many blessings that we have like the Melchizedek Priesthood and the ability to have eternal mga pamilya; and He sent His Son to suffer for us, every pain, sickness, sorrow, and sin so that we could return to Him agian. I'm going to miss my district so much. They truely have become my brothers and sisters and I am going to miss them terribly, especially Sister Davis, as we go out into the mission field, but they are going to be amazing missionaries.

Look for the Hand of the Lord in your life, always. Out of time, will send pictures soon though.

Love,

Sister Jones        

First Day Proselyting

January 3, 2014

Hello Pamilya!

Things have been going pretty well here. New Years is crazy here! All the missionaries had been warned that the Filipinos love fireworks on Christmas and New Years, and we saw some of them on Christmas, pero...at midnight, the whole horizon outside our window was lit up with these huge fireworks for about 20 minutes. That's a very long time to try to go to sleep while it sounds like millions of people are clapping with an occasional "boom" here and there. Needless to say, all the missionaries were a little out of it on the first day of the year.

We went out proselyting yesterday! We acctually went outside of the MTC for three hours just to go proselyting in the Quezon City area with someone who has been in the field for a little while. I was paired up with Sister Crichton (cry-ton) and we taught two people. I thought I was going to freeze up during the lessons since the MTC missionaries were supposed to lead the discussion, but it was so cool to feel the Spirit and be able to open my mouth and say something that reached the investigators, even if I did speak mostly English (oops). It was such a good day! I think Sister Davis felt like she got an even bigger bonus when we got back and it turned out we were having tacos for dinner. If there is one thing in this world that a lot of the American missionaries miss in the MTC it would have to be Mexican food. I'm so glad to here that Uncle Jack finally retired! I'm sorry that I haven't been able to get to a lot of people personally, but I am reading your emails and it is very comforting to know what is going on in your lives
Sister Jones
 By the way, jeepneys are fun to ride, but it is a bad idea to be wearing a loose bun while riding in one.

Me and my kasama, Sister Davis

Sister Roisum and sister Laiti

Sister Dalley and Sister Vi (in purple shirt)

Elder Topou (on left) and Elder Seiuli

Elder Marsh (on left) and Elder Niuelua