June 17- Happy Happy Joy Joy

First off I have to say HAPPY FATHERS DAY DADDY!!! (and to Curtis, Ben, Rickey, and Ryan!) Hope you had a wonderful fathers day!!!

Fun hearing about Dad and his new calling haha I laughed quite loudly when I read his response about listening to rock and roll and watching the sci fi channel haha love that! He will do amazing!

Sad to hear about Aunt Lulu. Give everyone hugs from me! Tell them all that I love them!

So last week I went on exchanges with another sister and we found this man named Grant and yesterday he came to church!!! So super duper exciting! I know it might just seem like a small thing but to get an investigator to church (at least for me and my mission) has been hard, so I was jumping for joy inside and my voice came back so I could sing in sacrament meeting! Which was fun too!! And he loved it! We also took our other investigator Mary to the Visitor Center and saw a little program there and she loved it, and I did too! It was a lot of fun!

This week has been crazy. like. literally. We did:

Two Hair cuts

One Zone Conference

2 exchanges

1 trip to the doctor

and 2 MAJOR melt downs (haha... we were tired spiritually, mentally, and Physically)

Grant at church and Mary to the Visitor Center! (so cool!)

Wow. when I wrote that a flood of memories came back that I feel happened over this whole month. nope. just this week. haha Ok first hair cuts. that's all I got muh hair chopped :)

We taught about extending commitments and following up to help people keep commitments at the Ashburn Zone Conference which was really fun! I am excited to do 2 more. We have another one tomorrow and it will be great to see what else I will learn!

And then we have been exchanging machines Sister Borland and I are companions for half the day every other day haha. It's crazy. And with all this exchanging I have gotten sick.... lame. So we had to go to the doctor to make sure I was ok (I thought I had or was getting strep throat.) Nope. Just terrible allergies and post nasal drip (one: ew) and (two: thats a real thing! ... haha we sang Adelaide's Lament once we got home.) So I've been having side effects from that, we took a sick day (Well night... which almost killed me.. haha Because I gave my body the ok to rest and then everything shut down.) but I am doing and feeling MUCH better today. Thank goodness because not being able to speak or swallow is actually really difficult as a missionary... who woulda thought?!

And we have been really blessed and humbled this week. The Lord really is mindful of us all and I know that. I have felt closer to the spirit and more sensitive to it than I have before. Which has been really cool yet also really tiring. My spirit is getting a little work out. :) I have learned how to really allow the Peace from Christ into my life. I am such a busy body and needing to be everywhere at once that when I just took the time to actually pause and allow it to, the feeling of peace just rushed over me and it was really sweet. I know that my Heavenly Father loves me very much. I got my birthday package from mom and Jonathan (It's fine better late than never) on Saturday and in it mom's letter was very fitting for my situation. she said "you aren't running a marathon, you are working for the Lord. So work smart and take your vitamins." I loved that Heavenly Father knew I needed those words from my mom and then I would listen. :) So thanks for being inspired momma.

Welp I am off to do other missionary like things I do on mondays to be prepared for the rest of the week. Love you all! Open your mouth and share the gospel! :) Love you!!

Love

Sister Stones.

 

1. Leap Frog

2. Temple with Mary

3. We were reading from the white handbook and I didn't want to hold it anymore. Haha Sister Borland was rolling on the ground laughing! haha

LUBYA!

 

June 10-Miracles

Hello Familia!

Jonathan is a missionary! ELDER STONES!! So much fun!

This week has been crazy! I have:

Gone on 2 exchanges

Went to a really long meeting

Sang at a funeral (MIRACLE)

Found 2 new investigators

and made smoothies!!

I am beat! Exhausted! pooped!! This week is just the start to a crazy fun filled miracle filled transfer! I am so excited for all the miracles we are going to see and for all the fun that is going to be had in all the areas where I will be going on exchanges to! Yeup that was a mouth full in muh brain!

Anyway so I went back to Herndon for a day on an exchange and met some really awesome people! I also got to see a couple families I didn't get to say goodbye to when I left the first time! haha It was a lot of fun! We had an INTENSE door slam though. Like that lady put her heart and soul into her door slam. It cut me to the core. Man people don't realize what they are turning away! But on my other exchange I stayed here in Gainesville and we knocked on doors and met an AWESOME guy named Grant! He has a friend who is a convert to the church and invited him to come to church with him. So he had been a couple times and I asked if his friend had ever given him the book of mormon? He said no and that he had never actually held one before. SO I pulled it out of my bag and went to hand it to him and pulled it back, he looked at me and and said, "Are you going to give it to me?" and I said "Yes, but this is a sacred book. I want to tell you how much it means to me before I give it to you." and then I proceeded to reveal the wonderful truths of the book of mormon. and when I was done he said, "Ok.... I want to read that book". We committed him to pray about it and when he knew it was true to be baptized! He accepted and we are going to meet with him again on tuesday! I asked him what it would mean to him if everything we had said was true and he said, "Than I will have found what I have been looking for my whole life." Man miracles are happening!

ALso another fun amazing miracle! So I haven't had a voice for the last week... like at all... like I have to whisper because I can't get any sound out. and I had been invited to sing at a memorial service...hmm... so.. I neeeded some divine intervention. So at the end of this leadership meeting I asked for a blessing. It was so sweet to feel the love from my Heavenly Father! I didn't realize how much stress I had been holding till those elders placed their hands on my head and one of them gave me the blessing. I felt a weight lift from me and I began to cry. I know that the Priesthood power has been restored to the earth today! I know that it is here to bless his children when they need him. I know that I saw miracles because of that blessing. I was able to sing the next day at the memorial service (but when I spoke my voice was still gone) because of the faith that I have and the blessing from God. I love this gospel!!

I am trying to figure out how to balance out my time and my energy in this new position but I know that If I am willing to give my heart and my will to the Lord He will be my strength! I love you all and I hope you have an amazing week!! Love you Love you Love you!!

Love,

Sister Stones

 

 

 

 

June 3- What a Week!

Hello my amazing family!!

This week has been crazy!! So many things to tell you about!! I will bullet point so I can remember and then I will explain haha :)

 

- Transfers!!

- Mission Split

- New Comp!

- Cicadas!!! (eewww)

- Sister Trainer Leader (aka ZL for sisters)

Ok so first I am no longer in Kingstowne with Sister Hanson transfers were on Thursday and I have been transferred to Gainesville with Sister Borland!! She is amazing! She is from Sandy Utah and seriously muh favorite human being so I am so blessed and privileged to get to work with her!

Ok so mission split! With the influx of missionaries there was a new mission opened (the Chesapeake mission which took part of the Richmond mission so they took some of ours. So Andrea's ward and stake aren't apart of us anymore.) Soa big chunk of our mission is now apart of a different mission and it was such a sad transfer meeting, lots of tears were shed because so many amazing missionaries that have become my best friends are heading down to the Richmond Mission. Don't get me wrong I know they are supposed to go there and that they will be amazing, but it's still sad! Good thing God is in charge of all of this so there really was no need to worry. We will just miss 'em. But I didn't get the boot so I am still apart of the Washington DC South Mission.

Ok so Sister Borland is so amazing! She knows that gospel so well and I can't wait for all of her wonderful knowledge to be apart of my brain haha. We have so much dedication to the work we are going to tear it up! Along with the fact that both of us are now Sister Trainer Leaders so that means that we will be going on splits twice a week (Slits= sleepovers with the other sisters and working their areas. plus training. it's crazy!) But I am excited! I will really have to rely on the Lord though because I still have to work just as hard in the area where I have been called as well as working in everyone elses area's as well! blah it will be nuts. But I am excited for the challenge! :)

Cicadas! Ok first of all I have to just say they are nasty creatures and they are... yeah ew. So this is the 17 year Cicada Hatch! So these nasty bugs have been in the ground for the last 17 years and this happens to be the year that they will ALL hatch and come out to say hello! Lucky me! They are giant! and they are so dumb! They just run into you... multiple times! without a course correction until you move!!! Which consists of screaming and running and arms flailing from both Sister Borland and myself! haahahaha. Yeaaahhh..... ew. So that will be fun!

Yeah I am so excited for this transfer it will be so much fun and I am going to be humbled beyond belief and I am going to learn so much and I can't wait! I also can't wait for Jonathan to come out and join the party! I love this work! I love my Savior! And I love love love being a missionary! I know that the gospel has been restored and that through the priesthood power we are able to live with God again! I love you all and I can't wait to hear what more fun adventures are going on in your fun families! I love you all!! And I hope you have a glorious week!

Love always,

Sister Stones

 

Oh hey, Hope you are doing good with life! Just wanted to say hey! :)

 

 

Miss your face!!!

Love ya!

Sister Stones

 

This is me and Sister BORLAND!!! (love her!)

 

SISTER LOAR (Janda Loar) is in my mission!!! CRAZY!!!

 

 

May 28- Happy Memorial Day!

Happy Memorial Day Yesterday and thank you to everyone Who is serving (Love you Ben)!!

Yesterday was so much fun!! We did a ward breakfast in the morning and then our district went to the DC ZOO! Haha it was hilarious and so much fun to get to hang out with the District and and one last hoopla before the transfers happen and people get moved all around! It was a beautiful day and I loved getting to walk around and see all the fun animals and all the elders thought it was funny to see me in "fun mode" and not "missionary mode" haha which I didn't realize were so different (but it's only because they see me every so often in the week). Then we ate with the Riggs and the McKays (the Riggs know Deanna and Rickey and their family) which was so much fun and really delicious!

This week has been wonderful! Full of the Lords hand in all the work! We have taught some more fun lessons this week and met some really amazing great people! We are going to start teaching George (the one I talked about last week) this week to help him come closer to Christ and to find more hope in life. He has had a rough one and is trying to really find God. We did exchanges (which means we switched companions to do some training stuff) and a sweet sister Sister Roper came to me in Kingstowne and we tore it up! Haha we had so much fun knocking on doors and talking to a bunch of people who were walking their dogs (which to me is really intimidating because Fun fact I don't like Dogs I've come to realize. and cats.... not good here because everyone and their mom has a dog and their dogs are basically their children so if you don't like them you have offended them... So I do lots of pretending and lots of washing of muh hands!) haha but we really had a great time and found some really awesome potentials! So hopefully something comes from that!

I LOVED getting letters today! So much fun! I LOVE that everyone was together and i SUPER love how I totally forgot about the whole thing happening until today when I checked my email. haha God is so great like that! I am so glad you all had such a fun time though! I am so glad! It looked (from the little pictures I got from Ally) that everyone had so much fun and I can't wait to see those family pictures. I will just photoshop myself in them in the background knocking on a door hahaha :) I'm so funny! Ok well I love you all so very much and am so grateful that you are all apart of my family and that I get to be with yall for eternity! That excites me more that you can ever know! I love you so much and I know that I am so lucky to be out here on a mission serving my Lord! I love him and I know I am a daughter of God and I have the potential to do miracles with Him by my side! It gives me great comfort because I have been called to serve as a Sister Trainer Leader (which means Zone Leader for Sisters, because there are so many sisters coming out) I am feeling nervous, but I KNOW that I was given this call by God so He WILL be there to help me. Come what may and Love it! hehe And I do! Again I love you all so much! Can't wait to hear about the freakout from Jonathans end the closer he gets to leaving!!!! AAAHHH!!! NUTZO!! hehe love everything about it!

Love you family!

Sister Stones

Picture fun!

 

1 zoo

2 longest escalator ride

3 I love dippin dots and they love getting in muh pictures

4 District

5 My awesome District! hahaha

6 haha muh buddies on the mish!

7  I love dippin dots and they love getting in muh pictures

8  me and duh elephant 

LOVE YOU ALL!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

May 20- Muh Familia!

Hello Family!!!

This week has been a little nuts but great! I can't believe I just barely got to see all your beautiful faces it feels like it was ages ago! haha but it's all good, I am back in the work and loving it! Thank goodness! So remember that AMAZING miracle where that guy stopped US and asked US if we could come teach him?! We FINALLY got ahold of him and he is in California till August. (jaw drop, fist to the hip, eye's wide, "aw maaan") It's all good, we (or who ever is here then) will set something up when he gets back for school. haha it was funny though. We are also teaching an amazing lady who is moving in a couple weeks (dang it!) haha and yeah this is just such a transient area everyone is comin and goin right when you see 'em. No worries, there are still plenty of doors to knock on so not everyone has left haha!

So I love everyone's emails this week, haha or lack there of. It made me giggle because I know exactly why!! Everyone is partying it up in Arziona with Jondadan!!! I love everything about that! And I can't wait to get overloaded with pictures! Both emailed and printed (hint hint) Because mine are outdated! Of everyone! It's been fun I have run into a couple people that know D and Rickey and I get random hugs from people I don't know but CLEARLY love the Turners! Haha so I love it!

This week we... tracted... and met members... and tracted some more... and walked in the rain... and then the downpour... got drenched... tracted some more... ate food... laughed at how silly we look when we are wet... taught some lessons!!...met some knew AWESOME families to teach... tracted some more. And Studied. ALL THE TIME! :)

I love missionary life, and I love tracting. I know I am weird. It's fine we have already established this! I love having awkward conversations with people that lead into deep conversations about God and how Great He is! I love being able to turn a conversation from nothing into life changing. I love when people answer all of your questions with the name of their religion without actually answering your question, example: "How has Christ's example helped you in your life?"... "I'm Catholic"... "What about the bible? Has that had an impact in your life?"... "I'm Catholic"... "We have a life changing message to share!"... "I'm catholic" (Then the door closes). Not going to lie probably not one of my best door approaches, but she didn't give me much to work with hahah :) Oh and we go to this really awesome apartment complex to talk to people and most of them are Hispanic or some African decent. One guys name is Georgy! He is awesome. With out fail every time we go we always run into him (and we go at random times in the week). We keep trying to convince him we are supposed to teach him our message. The first time we talked we gave him a mormon.org card, and then we talk in between and this time he was walking to the store, I asked if he liked to read and he said yes so I gave him the book of mormon. He laughed and then said he would read it. So we will check up on him and hopefully something great will come from it! :) And that same day we taught the plan of Salvation to a lovely couple who just moved here from Louisiana and are trying to get closer to God! Love it!

Anyway, I gotta run! I love you all so much! I am so grateful for my friends and family and for the examples you all set for me! I love you I love you I love you!!

Love always,

Sister Stones

May 13- Holla!

What is up my good looking family!!!

Man oh man was it good to see you all last night! Even if it wasn't for very long for some the time was amazinG!! I am so glad that everyone is doing so wonderfully all the kids looked so big!!! Holy cow everyone needs to calm down in the growing up stage! All the kids are so tall and smart and sassy and crazy and I love everything about it. Most of the time I couldn't really hear what was being said but getting to SEE everyone was totally fine haha. Everyone looked so good!!

Thank you again for all the birthday wishes and love sent my way throughout the last couple weeks! They've been felt and loved!

This week has been fun! We have been contacting and teaching more lessons and finding more people! We do something called the "Power Hour" Where we take an hour in the day and we knock on doors or street contact or do all we can to get as many scheduled appointments as we can. Sometimes it is really fruitful! :) We have about 5 lessons already planned from it, from the other day! whoohoo!! So that is fun and something else we are trying this week is talking to people that have become less active in the ward here. We are going to talk with them and share messages with them and encourage them to come back and partake of the sacrament, so that they may be able to access the amazing blessings of the atonement and the grace of God in their lives. God wants to help us in all that we do, but he has commandments and guidelines for us to abide by, and if we choose to not listen then we can't recieve those promissed blessings. That's just how it is. But, if we keep the commandments of God, if we read our scriptures and say our prayers and go to church and strengthen our faith in Christ and change to be like Him we are PROMISED the help that we need and we are PROMISED those amazing blessings! I love my Heavenly Father for just that. Asking me to change so I can be happier. If I am "comfortable" where I am at then I am not accessing the atonement all the way, and I am missing out on blessings! ha who wants that?! Not me! I don't know about you but I NEED those blessings and I need the help. So I am going to do EVERYTHING that the Lord has asked of me, I am not going to be perfect in anyway, but I will try.

I love this gospel, and I love my Father in Heaven, who loves me, His imperfect daughter. He has so much patience, and his arms are always open to us. We just need to "come". I love you all so much and I am so grateful for you and your examples to me! Have such a bomb.com week and I will talk to you next week!

Love always,

Sister Stones

PS. Watch this!! :)

And this :)

May 6- Miracles!

Hey Family!!

Holy cow I am so terrified to check my emails now! haha I have no idea what is going to happen next, glad to hear that Dad is doing good! No one else is allowed to join the party of seeing who can have something stuck in them! Holy cow. hahaha. I am grateful/ not grateful that we have really good writers in the family haha.

I am doing great! We are seeing so many miracles! One actually just happened! We are at the library right now and some how the lady next to me and I started to chat about how the world is such a terrible place and she is scared for her little girl to go into school in a couple years and she asked if we had kids. We said no and told her who we were and she was so impressed. We told her we talked to people about finding hope in life and finding security even though the world is crazy and changing all the time. She LOVED that idea and so we gave her our number and she is going to call us. Sweet! We were meeting with Less Actives in the ward and walking to an appointment when a guy pulled up to the corner next to us in his car, he rolled down his window and he said, "Hey are you guys the Mormon Missionaries." I said "We sure are" and he then said to our surprise "Will you take down my number and give me a call sometime next week, this is the last week of school and then I'd like to have you guys come talk with me." whaaaaa?! Don't worry I kept my cool. (inside I was like what is happening, is this real life!?) so we did and we will call him this week! We continued to walk and we talked to a sweet man from Ethiopia, he just (that day) got his certificate for becoming a US Citizen (I held the certificate it was awesome)! We had so much fun talking to him and we are going to bring him a book of mormon in his language and talk with him more! Lastly on that street we ran into a boy who grew up with the Stake presidents son and had talked with him about the church but had misplaced his book of mormon and wanted to get another one and talk with us some more. So great!! Ok a couple more!! One super cool one that anyone can do! We were filling up our car with gas and the guy next to us was listening to an awesome song!! I couldn't put my finger on where I knew it from and then it clicked, it was the finally song for the Stake dance festival!! So I told him this song was awesome and then we got to talking on how I choreographed a dance to this song for my church and BAM conversation about church started and we are going to help him with service sometime coming up! Oh the Lord is so great!! There are no such things as coincidences! We are seeing miracles everywhere and are so blessed to be in such an amazing area! We aren't teaching a lot of people who are investigating the church quite yet, but we are meeting amazing people who will soon or one day want to learn more. LOVE IT!!

OH AAANNDDD dangerously enough there is an Applebees here!!!!!! So we celebrated my BDAY on Saturday and went to applebees! :) It was delicious and I was so excited!!! :D

(First time I've had it my whole mission!!! Let's be honest that is a record! 9 months?!)

Anyway I LOVE this work! I love being on a mission and I am stoked to get to share mission stories with Bubba soon!! Love you all!!!

Love

Sister Stones