She hasn't lost it...

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

Week #70 (9-28-09) "three weeks"

Well tomorrow is my last zone conference. When someone is brand new they have to get up and give their testimony in German at their first zone conference. Then the last one before they get sent home...they also have to get up and bear their testimony. Well...they also seem to also talk a little bit about their mission too. Well I´m really nervous for it. This is not real!! I just had my 18 month birthday on the mission last Saturday and it still has not hit me!! (That is probably a good thing though) I´m not going home, am I?? Weird. I just feel like I´m getting transferred, which I am, but I´m nervous for what comes this time. Before I had a little plan. ( I mean I was only transferred twice) But my plan was to go into the new city and meet the members and the investigators and just kind of jump into the city with both feet. I made goals on how I could do that and did my best to stick with the goals. Like sitting by a different member in church each Sunday so that I could get to know the ward....and things like that. Well now I don´t know what it is going to be like getting transferred home. I have forgotten how it is not having someone with me constantly, or how it is being able to sleep in past 6:30 when I wanted, or never really having my whole day planned out to the minute!! What is that like?? I have no clue!! :o) I have tried to work hard my whole mission and I still am working. I don´t want to give up when I am so close to the end!! I just don´t think about what it is going to be like....the transition will be weird, but I don´t have to worry about that till it comes!! We still have a ton to do here in kiel before I leave!!

 

This last week was busy. We still only have one investigator and we met with her on Friday. It was pretty good. The rest of the week we spent finding, planning English class and the music night. The fliers for English didn´t get done till Sat. so we FINALLY have fliers and posters to hand out and put up. I hope one week is enough time to get people to come. They want an English class and then don´t do anything to help us get it started. The music night is coming along, but I´m totally stressed out. We have a power point with pics and "power statements" about the principles of the gospel and also songs to go along with them. I just hope that music turns out good. We already have a nonmember that is coming. She is the friend of a member and just loves me...I don´t know why, but she does and she wants to come and hear me sing. She is so cool and I wish I had more time so I could teach her, but she is not interested in the gospel yet. I will be friends with her on facebook though and get her somehow!! :o) I hope that some other people come. Just pray that it will go good!!

 

We also sang last week at the Woman´s Day in Neumünster. The topic was "what am I worth" and we sang the YW song for the value individual worth. It went pretty well and the speaker did amazing!! We got to do it twice because she taught the class twice. Then we went to a Handball game. We did that as our district activity and took time out of our P-day today to do that for a few hours on Saturday. It was a lot different then I thought it would be. The Soccer fans in Germany are CRAZY...loud and drunk, but this crowd was a lot calmer. Once I started understanding the game it was better, but the little rules still confuse me. I would never watch it on TV, but it was still worth it to go. Kiel is the best team in the league of Handball teams...and they sure were good.

 

Well I will let you know next week all about the music night and zone conference. 

 

Sister Jones