She's finally home....

She may have missed her nephew a little bit...

For her first meal home she chose Azteca...guess there aren't many mexican restaurants in Germany!

We are SO glad she is back!

Travel Plans....

Christi is reporting to the mission home this Thursday, October 15th.  Our mom and step-dad will be picking her up that day in Germany.  They are going to travel around Germany for the next 10 days....sightseeing and allowing Christi to say a few more goodbyes!  They all fly home...into Seattle....on October 24th!

On a personal note...I cannot believe that 18 months have already passed...for me, it has gone incredibly quick.  I have had such a fun time keeping up this blog and reading all of your comments.  I will definitely be posting pictures of her coming home....so don't stop checking the blog yet!

Maybe I can convince Christi to take over the blog and turn it into one about her final year at BYU-ID...we shall see!

Thanks again for following our blog these past 18 months,

Teri

Week #72 (10-12-09)

Wow...I only have 3 days and then I will be in the mission home!! Weird!!

 

I don´t have much time to email but I just wanted to say that last week was great. I got to go back to Bremen and see all the people that I love!! On friday I get to see 2 of them again, but it was so great to say a final goodbye to people that I came to love and serve and laugh with!! I loved that ward so much!! We also got 2 new investigators last week...one of them can´t really speak German, but that´s not that important!! :o) We are trying to find a Russian translator...do you think Mikey would have time? JK!! Our next appointment is in 3 weeks so we have a little bit of time to find someone.

 

It´s really strange to be here at the end, but I think that I explained a lot of my feelings last week. I´m still working till the end and trying to stay focused. I´m so grateful that I got to come here to Germany on my mission and to be able to learn to love another culture and people. I can´t really see how much I have changed, but I hope that the Lord will show me. I have worked so hard, but also can´t wait to take a little break when I get home before I jump right back into school in January. I love you and can´t wait to see you!! Have a great couple weeks before I actually get home!!

 

Sister Jones

Pictures

"Sister Folsom and I at Handball"

"Zone Conference Sister Folsom, me, Sister Hurst and Sister Psota"

"ZC with Pres and His wife and me"

Week #71 (10-5-09

This last week was pretty eventful. We still don´t have any investigators...going on many weeks now...but we got to have zone conference and also a music night.

The music night was pretty good. It went smoothly and the music was beautiful. We had a power point that had pictures and power statements of the principles of the gospel. There were quite a few people there and even 2 non members. Both really enjoyed it and said that there was a really good feeling there. Other members also commented on the wonderful Spirit they felt. To me that made it a success. I wish that more member would have invited friends (because the 2 people that came were invited by us), but I really felt like the Lord was happy with what we had done. Plus, the people who were involved were way helpful with set-up and practicing and stuff. It was great.

 

This was probably one of the best ZC from my whole mission. The Spirit was just really strong and it was really inspiring. Sister Folsom and I were asked to sing and that went pretty well. We also wore all black to morn my death!! :o) I will have to show you some funny pics when I get back!! hehe!! I had to give my finishers testimony and that was pretty unreal. I couldn´t believe that it was my turn. When I walked up to the front I felt kind of like I had an out of body experience. I obviously cried because that is a gift of the Spirit the Lord has given me...I didn´t realize it was a gift till I came out here. I´m glad that I didn´t lose that. I then spoke about me opening my mission call and how excited I was to come to Germany...the one place I wanted to go!! During ZC we watched a talk from Elder Holland given in the MTC and so I referred to something that he said in his talk. He talked about how missions are supposed to be hard. If they are hard then we did them right. So I told them that my mission was so HARD, so I hope that that means that I did it right. I then bore my testimony in German and went and sat down. It was a weird experience. I just never imagined that day to come. for 11 zone conferences I have seen people get older, bear their testimony and then leave, but I never really believed that it would happen to me. (Stupid I know). Well, it happened and I was so nervous, but I think it went well. Sister Psota thanked me for being honest and talking about how hard my mission was because every mission is hard, but people just don´t talk about that much. No one warned her how hard it would be and she was also surprised how hard it is. I think it´s not that no one told her, but just that it is too hard to express how hard it is. It is good and worth it as well, but for me it was mostly hard, but I know that I needed to experience this because these are the last days and god is preparing His children for the hardest times in the history of the world. I know that I am better prepared. Missions are great, but hard....all things that are great are hard. Look at Christ´s life...I don´t think that he had one easy day in his whole life, but in the end...once it was all said and done...it was worth it. My mission is very personal to me. All the struggles and hard times are too hard to put into words to help others understand. I´m afraid that when I come home that people are just going to be like...So, how was your mission? I don´t really know what I´m going to say. It is all so personal...the struggles, the heartache, the rejection, the happiness, spiritual experiences...are all so personal that I don´t know if anyone will every really understand how many tears of sorrow and happiness I shed to get to this point. But it´s ok, because I didn´t do it for them...I did it for Christ, my Lord. The Man that came and died for me. The Man that was rejected more then me,was spit upon and cast out and yelled at more then me. The Man who was beaten and hit and hung on a cross for me. He understands how hard a mission is...way more then me. I did it for him because he did something for me. He gave his life for me so that I can live, so that I can have hope and joy and eternal life. He is the reason I didn´t give up, He is the reason I woke up every morning. He is the reason I live my life the way I do. For Him I would do anything...even serve a mission, which is the hardest thing I have ever chosen to do, but it was worth it just to see the light of Christ come into the eyes of others. I love my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I know He lives and loves each of us and that if we just believe and follow him we will not have any empty chairs in the kingdom of our father!!

 

Love,

Sister Jones