Holidays Stink as a Missionary Nov. 13

Seriously I have like point 2 seconds to write this letter before the computer at the library kicks me off!!

Ok fun news!!

I GOT TRANSFERRED! I am now in Herndon ward in Oakton Stake with Sister Feng [she's from China!] (address still the s We have had so much fun these last couple of days and have been working hard! I am SO excited for this transfer we are striving to be exactly obedient so we are hoping to see many miracles! I don't have too much to say today one because I am going to get booted and two because we are just getting started! But we are working hard and having fun. haha she is teaching me Chinese but I can't ever remember anything. haha she taught me how to say Heavenly Father, and I was saying it all the way to an appointment and then we got their knocked on the door and I looked at her and smiled, and said "say it again?" hahaha Heavenly Father knew I wouldn't be very good anywhere besides speaking English! haha

We have some wonderful people that we are teaching! One ladies name is Christy. She has a baptism date set and we are just finishing teaching her the Commandments. She is so sweet and so great! She made us dinner the other night and yeah... she is just wonderful! Oh the ward is wonderful too! It is a big family ward with lots of youth and it is just really great fun!! I do however feel that my mind might explode with all the new information being shoved into it! ha So many new names and information, but Heavenly Father helps a lot and keeps everyone all organized! I've caught on quicker than I thought I would. And we are in a car. SO I get to ask questions about everyone and about Sister Feng. She keeps me on my toes and always on track and it is awesome! We will be talking and then she will stop and say "this has nothing to do with the gospel. New topic." hahahaha I love it! Seriously, it keeps me remembering why I am here and what I am doing. She is an amazing missionary and I can't wait to learn so much from her!

Ok well I love you all!! Keep up the great work! I know that their are people in your lives that are looking for the gospel but don't know where to look! :) Give 'em help by opening up your mouths :) I love you all so very much!!!

Love

Sister Stones!

Allo! Nov 5

HELLO!!!

You are all so wonderful!! I LOVE hearing about your weeks they excite me! haha It boggles my mind that people do anything other than missionary work! hahaha I forget what it is like and I haven't even been out that long! I had a reminder when we were doing exchanges and we asked one of our ward missionaries (who are bomb.com might I add) if she could come to a lesson at 6. But then is fell through and we asked if she would be able to do a different lesson at 8 and she said, "It's super short notice but I will see if I can". What do you mean it's short notice, you were free earlier! Oh yeah I forgot. You aren't just sitting in your house staring at the wall waiting for us to call so you can tag along and teach lessons all day. hahahahaha the life of a missionary is odd. haha Sister Rozsa and I were laughing at how odd we must look to the people in our complex because we always leave and then come back together, besically attached at the hip every day. haha and random people always comment that they see us riding around on our bikes, her always so much farther ahead than me. haha (because I am oober slow) and then I laughed because we got supplies from out Zone leaders and I got a packaged from Deanna they had to bring me and as they drove away they rolled down their window and shouted in a motherly tone, "Talk to strangers!" hahahaha [the same tone mothers say "Don't talk to strangers" in] haha All the things you learn as a child not to do like talk to strangers, go into strangers homes, eat strangers food, hahahahaha I love it!

Anyway, onto missionary stuff! We have had great lessons this week, eerr the rest of the week since the storm. And it didn't even hit very badly here luckly. It was terrible everywhere but here really. It circled around but didn't hit directly so everything is all good! We didn't even lose power. We are very lucky! (can anyone tell me how Scott Whipple is doing? I thought about him during the storm and stuff) um... I am trying to think of something really miraculous that happend, but they were all really great. We did meet a new family to teach! They are great! They are from Peru (thought of you Darlene) and they are Catholic. Very religous but so polite and let us come in and teach them! Emmanuel (20s) Angel (12) and Sergio (50s). I am excited to teach them again this week. My favorite part of teaching the first lesson is getting to quote Joseph Smiths first vision. The spirit is always so strong and yeah I just love it! They are great!

And then we were knocking on doors and ran into Mary. She is about 50 and she lives on her own. She broke both bones in her lower leg 6 months ago and still isn't walking and is bed ridden... we knocked and she said come in and so we did. We taught her a little right there and then went back on sunday and brought her a large print book of Mormon for her to have and taught her the plan of happiness. Which she loved and had so many questions she is having a really hard time right now understanding life and why it is so hard and we were able to bear testimony of so many truths it was really cool. And she is now preparing for baptism in January! We are so excited! she is wonderful!

This week is transfer week so who know's what is going to happen! I could be transfered or stay who knows?! You'll just have to wait till next monday and I don't find out till tomorrow!! I am anxiously waiting! ha I am grateful for change though... it is the only constant haha :)

I love you all and I know that this is Jesus Christs Gospel! He loves us all and just wants us to do all we can to prepare to come home. This life is only but a moment and I am grateful to know my Father in Heaven loves me personally and know exactly what I need when I need it!

This life is just a test, just a moment. How much are you reading and praying and preparing for when Christ comes again? Wont that day be glorious!?! I know I want to be as prepared as possible and God has given us so many cheat sheets!! How often are we using them? I challenge everyone to read from their scritpures a little longer everyday this week, and to stay on their knees a little longer. Really seek for the guidance from Heavenly Father and you will feel him right by your side. I love you all so very much and I can't wait to hear back from you all!! LOVE YOU!!

Love,

Sister Stones

Holy Storm Batman!! Oct 31

Hello Familia!!

Oh my goodness I LOVED everyones emails and updates and I am so happy for everyone! It was such an amazing uplifting time to get to read everyone's emails even if you feel like nothing significant is happening in your life I still love hearing about it! I love thinking that we are actually staying in better touch with eachother with me being miles and miles and miles away than when I was at home hahahaha. I love it!

This work is amazing! I love hearing the mission updates that the church headquarters are getting flooded with new applications for people wanting to serve missions!!! I just sat and cried and cheered and danced with sister rozsa this morning because of it! Everyone will have the opportunity to hear the gospel and be blessed by this wonderful gospel! Jesus Christ is most definitely the cornerstone and leader of this church and I am so grateful for the Prophet to lead and guide our generation!! I know this is true and I know that by living it we are blessed abundantly!!! Aahh it's amazing!!

Ok so this week has been crazy!! OH HAPPY HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!! Ok back to the week, as you can see I am writing and it is a wednesday! What I am breaking rules?! Nah I kid I kid, our Pday got moved to today because of the huge storm SANDY. (Mom it was great seein' ya!) I don't actually know the details of the storm because we don't have TV or the internet to watch, but our ward is so amazing and kept us updated! BUT before I get to that (don't mind my ADD I've had it all my life it just comes out more in these emails because I have so much to say!) I will tell you about our amazing Miracles!! WE FOUND A FAMILY TO TEACH!! Oh my goodness they are so amazing! We have been praying for a family to teach that would all be ready together and we met a lady named Janine! She is wonderful, so we've been teaching her the last couple weeks and on Saturday we met her son Jerry (12) and her Daughter Allison (10) and we taught all of them the first lesson at the park. It was such a perfect lesson for them! The spirit was so strong and we asked them [when we finished the lesson] if they would be baptized and they all said yes!! SO we are working toward December 15th and we love them so much!! I LOVE teaching kids! They are so trusting and they can feel the spirit so freely because they allow God to teach them!! It's a breath of fresh air!

Man oh man Heavenly Father has been good to us! We are teaching so many wonderful people!! To name a few David, Luis, Pascal, Joyce, Janine (and her kiddos), Darlene, Ben, Bill, and we meet so many more daily! They are all at different stages in life and all need the gospel in a different way and that's why I love this gospel so much! Because Jesus Christ came every person [no matter who you are, what you've done, what you are going through, or what is goin to come] can overcome anything and everything. Reading the book of mormon, and praying is the greatest medicine for all!! mmmm so good!

Ok ok and then the storm! my oh my was that pretty! Monday is when it hit! It hit at about 5:30 and we were determined to do as much missionary work as we could on monday (because P-day got switched to today... which is great in and of it's self because it's Halloween so we have to go in at 6 so now we just have a FULL P-DAY! I will be able to get so much letter writing in!!! I am stoked!! back to story) So we had a great lesson with Darlene and then we went to see our wonderful women Joyce but she had company so we didn't knock we felt prompted to go and see Bill!!! [hehe Bill is this great older black guy who talks to himself and is super sarcastic and him and Sister Rozsa have the funniest conversations!] So we went to his place (mind you it was raining pretty good and a little windy) and right when we walked in so did he, back from the store! He was buying paint! SO then for the next couple hours we helped him paint his hallway! hahahaha It was the greatest service ever! I wish I brought my camera with me to the library so I could show you how cool he is! We took great pictures and, yeah. It was just hilarious! We actually aren't the first set of missionaries that has come and taught him haha he basically taught us the whole first lesson which was really entertaining. So we are supper stoked to teach him more! But then it was time to go in because of the storm. Funny Story: We were walking back to the car and it was raining and stuff and kind of windy and sister Rozsa looked at me and said, "It's not that bad don't you think we could still work?" then the HUGEST gust of wind came at us and about knocked us both over, her umbrella turned inside out and I just started laughing. "I hear ya!" hahaha is what she yelled and then we booked it to the car. We got hot chocolate from 7-11 and went in for the night. haha We only had our lights flicker once and other than that we were totally fine. Besides sister Rozsa having a heart attack about being in the appt too long. hahaha I love it. I was fine. :)

Last night was our ward halloween party, we dressed up like Missionary ninja turtles hehehe you will just have to wait to see the pictures we were pretty legit. and tonight we get to watch a couple movies because it's halloween and we aren't allowed to be out because it's dangerous and people would be confused if we were knocking on their doors hahaha :)

Ok I love you all so much!! I am grateful to be a missionary and I am so excited to see all the pictures from halloween!! Everyone will probably look amazing!! I am so blessed everyday and love that I get to repent and grow and be a new person every single day! I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU!!!

Love,

Sister Stones!

Crazy Time Oct 15

Dear Family!

Hello hello, I have no time at all today as in it's 5 and p-day ends at 6 and I still have lots I have to do! So sadly this will be another short email from me but keep yours all coming and I will try to find some time next week to really sit down and write everyone.

Today has been crazy! We had to go get the packages that mom sent me which was AWESOME! It was like Christmas! I ripped them open right when I get them and I've already given the scarfs away to Sister Ferrin she LOVES them and needed new scarves so, mom good job! :) We went to get our cars emissions checks, went grocery shopping and went to Zone sports in timbucktoo. It rained the whole time we were playing frisbee haha the elders in my zone are crazy!! Jumping and diving and sliding all over the place to get that stinking thing and I got in on the game too and was tearing it up! We went produce shopping at trader joes and at lunch/dinner at Olive Garden!! [greatest choice ever!] And now I am at the library because the computers in our complex don't work. ha So it's been a busy day! [sadly I didn't get to write ANY letters so sorry to those who wrote last week!]

This week has been amazing! We taught 18 lessons?! And found 5 new people to teach! We are so very blessed to be in our area! Everyone is so kind and generous and willing to at least hear the message, a lot of people have a hard time with Joseph Smith they don't know anything about him when we ask they just are bothered by the thought of him I guess? hahah I am not really sure. It makes me giggle. But seriously I love everything about it!

This week we taught a man named Patrick! OH my goodness he is so great!! He has been taking the lessons for a while and knows that it's all true but he has a problem with the word of wisdom and don't want to give it up yet. We had the most powerful lesson with him and it was so cool to be able to talk and have the spirit direct my words! I love it!

We also taught a man from Camaroon. His name is Pascal and he is 26, he's homeless and trying to work his way into an appt and he might be one of the most spiritually in tune people I've ever met. We only had about 20 min with him so we went to a members house and watched the Restoration DVD and at the end of it he just bore the sweetest testimony that he knew it was true. And he is so excited to learn more and be baptized! He had the biggest smile on his face and then he said the prayer and you could swim in the spirit it was so amazing!!! Ah! I love it!!

Oh and side note: I flew off my bike again!!!! I'm pretty done with Virginia drivers! That's all I really have to say about it, hahaha Heavenly Father is DEFINITELY watching out because I wasn't hurt. Just a little tweeked.

The weather is starting to get colder... which is TERRIBLE!! Who in there right mind would live somewhere this cold?! Who in their right mind would bike around when it's this cold?!?! Oh right... the missionaries! hahahaha. The leaves changing colors is really fun to watch though! I will send pictures next week when I have more time! But this week you just get a bunch of different random stories. haha.

I love you all so much!! Keep up the good work!!! You are all in my prayers!! Come what may and love it!!

Love,

Sister Stones

Conference What?! Oct 8

Hello Family!!

Holy Cow conference was amazing!! Those men and women are no doubt in my mind men and women called of God. I watched each session at a different place and each one had a different meaning and feel because of it but so needed and my questions were all answered! My oh my if you were busy or didn't get a chance to see them go to lds.org and watch it! Your conversion to Jesus Christ will increase 10 fold if you listen and apply the teachings that were taught! And holy cow 18 and 19!! SO GREAT! I cried I was so excited! There are going to be so many more amazing missionaries out because of it! So many amazing changes! Love it!

This week has been amazing!! But sadly I lost my planner and my memory is... all over the place so... I would have a lot to say but I don't remember all I know is that it was so busy we taught lesson after lesson everyday! We are so blessed to be in this area! We meet so many amazing people whether prepared or not for the gospel they are still wonderful! It makes me laugh because even if there is someone not so nice to us, God needed us to be there for them to get mad at someone so we are the perfect people, and it happens so rarly I couldn't even give you an example. ha Sister Rozsa is hilarious, [side note: I am sitting here typing and all the sudden I hear a little tearing and then in her most pleasant voice she says, "MMM Splenda is delicious!"..... hahahahahahaha I LOVE HER SO MUCH!] she makes me laugh all the time and she is such a great teacher! I am very blessed to be here with her training me!

I am so sorry this letter is so short. I made a new planner and maybe next week i wont be so scatter brained haha but I seriously can't think of anything else to type besides that I love you all and you are always in my prayers! I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!! I am excited to see where the Lord will place me these next months and who I will get to meet and invite to come closer to christ! It is so worth everything! You are all amazing and keep up the hard work!

Love you,

Sister Stones

Howdy Yall Oct 1

HELLO!!!!

I loved eveyones emails they were fun and I loved all the pictures as well!

This week was amazing! We had another wonderful man get baptized, had SO many wonderful lessons with a million people, helped someone pack, did service, went GLEANING!! and had the Relief Society Broadcast [which may or may not have blone my mind and I might have sobbed a couple times. because I LOVE this gospel and I am so blessed to be a missionary!]

Ok first I have to say mom you would be SO proud of me for eating new things. I am not even picky here it's amazing. I meet a LOT of people from Ethiopia [they are beautiful and stunning] and on monday I ate Enjara [don't actually know how to spell that] but it is this elephent skin looking tortilla thing you dip in sauce and eat with your hands. Delish! Then I had samon [also delish] and hummas, and who knows what else but it is fun! And I am really trying to eat what ever I am given. Shrug my shoulders and say sure I'll try it :)

We had a baptism for Pat :) or Pattycake! Ha he is hilarious and I love him. I spoke on baptism at the meeting and he loved it and was talking to me the whole time I was talking. He is so sweet and wonderful we love him!

So we found this man Frank. I don't remember if I have already talked about him yet or not but he. is. golden! We met him as we were going down one of the many hills in the area and just stopped and talked to him. He loves Romney and loves mormons because we are the nicest people and he wanted to "know our secret" we laughed and told him there was no secret but we would love to come and teach him more. So he got our number and said he would call us. AND HE DID!! That doesn't happen very often ha. So we set up an appointment and fell in love with him instantly! We taught him twice a week for the last two weeks set him on date and then helped him move and pack up his stuff because sadly he moved to Daytona Beach Fl Sunday!! So the rest will have to get taught by them, but he is so amazing and is going to be baptized and this is going to bless him so much!! We will miss him but we know God has a specific plan for Frank! :)

Here is Virginia they have a day of service to feed the hungry and this year it was on Saturday and so we got permission to go out of our mission and drove with some members to Winchester [B-E-A-UTIFUL might I add] to GLEAN! haha We went to an apple orchard and sorted through the apples that were under the trees that were still good, and put them in bags to go to a shelter to feed the hungry! It was SO much fun! Then we went to the little farmers market and bought apples and ate apple cider dognuts [yummmmmmm I may or may not have had 3] and just had a jolly good time! It was wonderful, came back taught a lesson and then went to the Relief Society Broadcast!!!!! Oh my goodness, if you didn't get a chance to see it or hear it I advise to go onto the Website www.lds.org and watch it because it is life altering. It was focused on the atonement (the suffering of christ for each of us) and how amazing of an event it is, and how we can really utilize it in our lives! I was so deeply touched by all the comments I want to watch them all again and again!

Then we had church which is always amazing and we learned about forgiveness. Elder Uchtdorf from the first presidency of the church says it perfectly in his two word sermon, about always feeling the need to justify our grudges we hold, or the things we gossip about, or the feeling to not forgive someone is.... to "Stop it" . Simple as that. If someone does something or says something or anything really let it go. You not forgiving them is only hurting you. They are not recieving anything out of it, you are alone in your wollowing... It may be easier said than done, but this week I want everyone to take a second and think of the people you aren't talking to because of something that was said, or a grudge you hold against someone, or that one time a long time ago they said something that offended you... "Stop it" Let it go, forgive and forget and you will be free! The Savior has already taken that on you don't both have to feel it, let him and let it go. LOVE IT!! Then I sang at a fireside at the Mission Home and we brought Darlene!! LOVE HER!!!! She bought us earings and tic tacs, [hehehe] because she was thinking about us when she got her hair done.

I am so lucky and so blessed to be in the area that I am, and so blessed to be with my companion another 6 weeks (we stayed together at transfers), I am blessed to be a missionary and to have a front row seat at watching my Heavenly Father welcome His children back into the fold of His arms. I am blessed to be in the ward that I am in and to have a ward and family back home sending love and prayers my way. I feel the love all around me and it lifts and carries me through. This week we have the most incredible opportunity ever to hear from a Prophet of God President Thomas S. Monson. Him and the apostles and other leaders of the Church will address the world on matters that our loving Heavenly Father and our Savior Jesus Christ want us specifically to know. How lucky are we to hear from them? I hope and pray that everyone takes the time to pause their busy life for even 5 minutes a day to set aside time to prepare spiritually for this wonderful event! Write out specific questions you need answered, whether temporal or spiritual and God will answer them. Have faith and hope, Heavenly Father wants to help us in this crazy world we live in. He is pleading with us to get down on our knees, repent, and humble ourselves so we can feel his guidance and hear his answers.

I love this gospel! I know that Jesus is the Christ and that he suffered and died for my sins that I may be able to have a way to live like him. That I can repent, and change everyday to be more loving, charitable, patient, humble, and kind. I know that as I do my best with everything that I have He will carry my through any hard ship that I have. They will still come, they always do, but I know that I can rely on him and I will get through them. I love the book of Mormon and the simple truths it has inside it's pages, it truly is the word of God. I know that Joseph Smith was called of God to Restore Christ's Church on the earth, I know that we have a Prophet on the earth today and as I listen to his guidance and teachings I will draw closer to my Heavenly Father and Savior. I love you all so very much and I hope you have the most amazing week ever!

Love you!!!

Sister Stones

Ps Invite your friends to listen to and watch conference! :)

Sorry So Short Sept 24

Hello Family and friends!!

I am so grateful to hear from everyone I love you all so much!!

Sorry this week my letter is going to be short, this has been a crazy week, but more for my learning than for my sharing. We had two exchanges back to back (which means that on wednesday Sister Feng from China came to Shirlington where I am for a day, and sister Rozsa left to where Sister Berg was.) So wednesday I was in charge of the map and the phone and everything else because I know [funny] the area and could get us from place to place. OR get us lost everywhere we went so we had to ask everyone.... ha and then talk to them about the gospel so it worked out! It was really great because I couldn't do anything but rely on the Lord to guide me where I needed to go so it was really amazing how many new people we met that we scheduled to go back and teach another day! Then on thursday we changed again and I went to Mt Vernon with Sister Evans and Sister Anderson came here to be with Sister Rozsa! Again so much learned because I didn't know the area AT ALL so I could only rely on the Lord to know where to go or who to talk to! It was exhausting but so amazing!!! I learned so much about me and so much about how the holy ghost touches my life! Then I got to come back on Friday to be with Sister Rozsa!! I missed her! haha having exchanges like that two in a row doesn't happen very often, but it was great!

But my favorite part this week was having the opportunity to take Taneala to the Temple Visitor Center in Maryland!! It.was.beautiful! We watched the testiments, and walked around the temple and just talked about how amazing it is to be able to make covenants (or promises) with God! He will always hold up his end of the promise, but we have to do our part and we will recieve so many blessings! I LOVED IT!!

I love being a missionary! I love being broken so that God can fix me with his loving, caring arms. I know that my Heavenly Father loves and protects all his children! I know that I am given challenges or mountains to climb to make me stronger! To build my foundation on christ and to be stronger and more faithful!! I know that as I rely on the Lord I can do anything I put my mind to! I love this work and I love ALL of you with ALL my heart! Put your trust in the arms of the Lord and you will be carried through life! You will be happy, blessed, and filled with the Love of God!

I love you all and I know the Lord knows you personally and wants to help with everything!! Let him :)

Love you love you love you!!

Sister Stones

pictas!

We played Zone sports this morning and at the end of it I realized I had been to that park before!! Crazy feeling!! We went right before brady was born! I have a picture with tre next to the anchor! I was so amazed!! It was so cool!! I have that happen a lot haha it's fun!

Temple!!!!

 (sorry this is sideways, blogger is not my friend right now) -deanna

Me and Sister Mannchen (from Germany) at zone sports!! Love her!