Many Miracles

Hi Mom!

I hope that everything is going well. It sounded like to me that you have had your hands full with wormy pears but that you’re keeping yourself busy. I'm glad! I don't want you to miss me...too much. ;) That dinner party sounds crazy fun! I'm so proud of Katie! She is such a hard worker and just keeps going and going. It's crazy how much energy that cooky kid has. I'm so happy for Uncle Paul and Aunt Kerri!!! It kills me that I wasn't able to go but they look so happy in the pictures you sent me and they deserve it so much. Not that I'm an expert on marriage...because ya know...haven't been married...but I've been wondering a lot about marriage lately and how some people can stay together for their whole lives and some don't even make it a month. I think that the key thing is charity, Christ like love for one another. Attraction is good and compatibility is very important but lots of people have those things. And then once they start arguing they don't know how to fix it and they have nothing to fall back on. Christ loved everyone and he loved perfectly. He served the people who wanted to kill him. He served the people who did kill him. If we can have that kind of love one to another, and be selfless, than I think we should be fine. But like I said, I've never been married, so I could just be a loon in June.

I haven't gotten the package yet. I'm not quite sure why we have to send everything through the mission home. Probably so that they don't have to forward mail to all kinds of crazy places when we aren't able to keep you updated on our addresses. Well now you know my address for the entire mission so we should be good from now on. I was talking to Sister Seaman and she said that in not sending it directly to us, it takes about an additional day to two days depending on where you are in the mission. Because I'm on the outskirts, I think that it takes two days. But if you think about it, it doesn't really matter anyway, because I'm only allowed to write on P-day so I can't write you back throughout the week anyway.

Mint leaves are pretty much all over the yard but there are lots by the cucumber plant and I'm pretty sure there is a stem or two by the lavender plant. Don't be sad mom. :(  I'll be home before you know it. I've almost been out a week already!

That was very nice of President Brinkerhoff. I bet people in the stake were kind of at a loss as to who I was though...but that was still very kind of him. It is so true that the members need to be involved in missionary work!!! Feeding us is wonderful but helping us teach and find people is spectacular! It is very hard to find people on our own. It helps to have that insiders view of what's going on in the area and who needs help next.

I'm glad that Great Grandma is still chugging along. I truly do love her and she has been an amazing example in my life.

Living conditions:

Wonderful. One bedroom apartment with a washer/dryer. Just Sister Seaman as my roommate. There actually aren't very many cockroaches in our apartment. We try to keep the place really clean and so far none that we can see. We are assaulted by mosquitos constantly though and my legs have never been so itchy. Sister Seaman tells me that they'll die off soon though when it gets cold.

Dominique:

We're not sure about him right now. We know that he felt the spirit and he committed to be baptized...although we're not so sure now that he is fully committed to do so. He gave us a fake phone number but we're stopping by to check up on him.

Marquis:

Is actually not in my area. We found him while I was training at the Mission home for two days and the missionaries in Columbia/Irmo are going to take care of him now. I'm pretty sure that he'll be baptized though. There was just such an amazing light in his eyes as we taught him!

Happy:

Yes. Of course the days are hard, but I honestly just need to learn to be patient in my afflictions. I've been praying very hard for patience and I just need to have faith that even though people may reject us now, we are going to teach them in the afterlife. That's how I stay positive. Plus we sing a lot and the members have been wonderful in keeping us positive.

Physically:

Tired. It is hard to get up in the morning because it takes me so long to fall asleep! My mind just takes a while to shut down. I think that I might just need to go to bed earlier around 10 so I can have some wind down time.

What do I need:

Well I need for y'all to be happy for one! I would actually love it if you could send me my ski coat. Sister Seaman says that the one I have now won't do much, because it just gets really wet in the winter. I would love two blankets and a pillow case. We're supposed to put together an emergency kit and I need a blanket for that. Just one of those blankets in the closet. Like the polka dot fleece one would be good. We would also love the movie 17 miracles! We can watch it on our little DVD player that they give us for training videos but no one sells it here! It's not exactly a Mormon friendly environment like Salt Lake.

This week has been wonderful. One of our investigators Mary Smith is getting baptized on September 28th! We just have one more lesson to teach her and then she has her interview on Monday. We're so excited! She was so prepared by the Lord it's ridiculous. We basically didn't have to teach her anything. She knows everything anyway. :) Sister Seaman says that that is how it is with a lot of converts. You basically just show up, invite the Spirit and he does the rest. :)

South Carolina is beautiful. Oh! I forgot to tell you this last week! Fireflies!!! They are beautiful! I'm told that they are the best in June because that's there mating season but they are just so cool! They are like little beacons of warmth in the darkness. I think Sister Seaman thinks I'm strange because I pretty much act like a child whenever I am around them, but they are just so amazing!

Uncle Stan was right about the dialect. We talked to this one woman Rosa this week, and I could barely understand a word that child said. Luckily Sister Seaman speaks...um...Carolinian shall we say and was able to tell me what happened after we were done talking to her.

Housing is weird. No one here uses there front door, and hence there are no pathways to the front doors. It's just...weird.

One miracle this week was Marti. He lives in our apartment complex down the road. Sister Seaman was having a really hard day so we decided to stop tracting in the area and head home and tract there, just to see if we had any more luck. We stopped at home to get some pass-a-long cards and to take out the trash. We walked down the street to the dumpster and saw this man sitting on his porch. He was really friendly and we thought he was drunk for a second, but we looped back around after disposing of the garbage and said hello anyways. (It's ridiculous how many times we are hit on by drunk men, sober men, and way too old men! But the Elders get similar treatment from the women...so I guess that we just flirt to convert. ;) ) He was going through a really rough time (divorce and on his own) and he was just kind of ready to give up. He said that he thought we were angels sent to guide him and that he had encountered Sister Missionaries before, but that he hadn't been open to their message then. He needed us to come at that time, and he needed it to be us. He was really wonderful. :)

Well, I'm out of time. I love you all and feel free to edit this letter before showing it to people. It is pretty long.

Love you! And remember that repentance isn't a bad thing, it is just us turning our hearts to heaven.

TLLY

Sister Jones