This country is me all the way

The country is me all the way!

 

This city is soo beautiful! I wish i could post photos every week so you could see the adorable houses and streets i ride/walk through everday.  I found out that the style of home decor that I love so much is just typical dutch style.  i often drool as a pass by adorably decorated homes and beautiful flower shops.  oh i finally got a bike too! an american family in the ward had an extra old one they gave to me, completely free! sometimes (or often) the gears change on me and its a little rusty but it gets the job done and im loving biking! saturday all of our appointment were in Gouda (we cover a few cities) and it was soo beautiful outside!  we biked everywhere and enjoyed the almost 50 degree weather.(i even went out without a coat! well only for an hour..) we got to go to the outdoor market for lunch hour and i fell in love.  its so hard not to get distracted by all the fun things here but i am doing my best!

 

We had a great week of teaching this week as well! 1st we taught Gladys who has a baptismal date set for the end of the month.    This lesson was especially wonderful for me because we teach her in English so I was able to fully participate in all parts of the lesson and really understand what was going on!  The language barrier has definitely been a struggle for me so it was a great way for me to get more excited about the work and to be more confident in my teaching abilities. She also changed her work schedule to come to church from now on so were excited about that! 

 

I dont have anymore time this week (i think youll have to get used to me saying this every week) but things are really moving along here and I am getting more used to being a missionary and learning to love this language and especially the people! The members of the church here are so strong and supportive! i already had a member tell me that him and his wife can be my temporary parents.  they are so much fun! Ok, im off to enjoy some grocery shopping and window shopping!

love you all!
<3<3 Zuster Jones

i have arrived

Blog!

Im Here!
1st area: Gouda, Netherlands (yes like the cheese)

I made it to Gouda last Wednesday afternoon and immediately got to work!  It is such a beautiful area and we have what they call the best appartment in the mission! we live across the street from the church, a 2 min walk to the train and a 5 min walk to the center of town.  It is your typical fairytale small dutch town.  Old churches, cobblestone roads, bikes everywhere, cheese shops and bakeries.. windmills all around.  ya i cant complain.  my trainer is zuster gardner.  she is from san diego and i LOVE her! she is super hard working and so much fun to be with! we are going to make an awesome team!
I unfortunately wont be able to upload pictures for a little cause we just go to a local library to email.  I also cannot receive emails anymore.. so letters are the only way of communicating for now.  Ill leave my address at the end.  dont have much time today but here are some random moments and things i have been doing:

Funny moments:
-riding achterop (on the back of the bike) and falling on the side of the street
-running to catch a train in the freezing cold with my companion who has a broken toe
-talking loud on a train with my mtc district only to realize that we were in a silent train.. we got yelled at. maybe not so funny. from now on i will pay more attention to my surroundings.

other activities:
-we eat with members almost every night. so far i have had delicious indo food, tacos (a first i guess for my comp) and two traditional dutch meals that i loved! im already starting to collect recipes! last night we ate with an older man and he has a tradition where the missionaries come over and he teaches them how to cook tradational dutch foods.  it was delicious and so fun to cook even though i didnt understand what he was saying most of the time haha 
-we are outside no matter what the weather is so i have enjoyed being wet and cold many days :) i put on a few layers of tights and sometimes two or three jackets everyday to keep warm  but it hasnt been too bad at all.  my favorite so far was riding bikes in the pooring rain at night we a pretty strong wind.  we just laugh the whole time and pray we dont hit any cars.   

We have 4 good investigators right now and one baptismal date so the work here is moving great.  i still cannot believe i am a missionary.. talking to people on the streets about the gospel is definitely different but im learning to really love it.  once i get this language down it will be easier.. right now i can only ask the questions and my companion does the rest.  its pretty funny pretending like i understand what is going on!

ok i have no time left but i will try to have more stories and make better use of my email time next time! 

Crabethstraat 5
2801 AL Gouda
Netherlands 

Love you all!
zuster jones

week 8

MTC Week 8: It's time to go!

 

I fly into the Brussels, Belgium airport next monday (or tuesday for them) and take a train up to the mission home in the Netherlands.  I am ready.  It´s time to go. Not much more to say.  haha Im kidding.  I have loved my time here in the MTC but cannot wait to get the work started in the Netherlands or Belgium.  I have  predicted that my first area will be Antwerp, Belgium.  Just because they speak flams there and I will have to learn a whole new language.  haha but the accent is prettier.. ;) so take your pick:  Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Antwerpe.. sisters usually only serve in the big citites so i think there is only 6 citites to chose from.  Ill let you know what happens in  a little over a week! (my day off changes from wed till mon next week). 

expect pictures and fun stories soon! yay for change!

thanks for all the support in the MTC!

love you!

Zuster Jen Jones

Temple Pictures!

MTC Week 7: ik hou van de nederlands!

A week and a halfish to go here and were all so excited! Things are starting to slow down since we have had most of the instruction we need and now just have to keep practicing! the people we teach say our language has improved so much but sometimes i feel like im in a standstill.  i cannot wait to be surrounded by the language so i can pick up more! Im really starting to love the language though even though it does sound funny.  an elder from our hall told me this week that he thinks dutch is just english with a really bad accent.  sometimes i agree.  i think they nederlanders took 5 different languages and mixed them all together.  and changed the order of the sentences to make everyone laugh.  theyre so clever :).

anyways, last night was the 50th anniversary of the MTC so the devotional was extra special.  Elder Holland and Elder Nelson came and spoke to us so we were floating on clouds by the end of the night.  such amazing men.  (for those of you who arnt mormon reading this, they are leaders of the church. look up their talks on lds.org, elder holland is a bold man!) In district devotional after the fireside all of our elders cried when they started talking about how much they loved us.  (hopefully they never see this blog post) but it was adorable and we are so lucky to have them!

Thats all I have time for today! only one more week to read about the MTC!

Tot Ziens!

<3<3zuster Jen