News From Orlando

Elder Agor!!!!

wow! there was a ton that happened this week! so on monday we did this Cross fit training with a member and he DESTROYED us! one of the english elders puked, i could hardly open a car door by the time we were done and we were sore for like the rest of the week! But later that night we had dinner with the bishop! we have a great ward and its great to have a bishop that is excited about missionary work! and it really is showing in the area! on tuesday, we had our first english class in a long time in this area! it was really good and just good humored! its the best when you can laugh at your mistakes, especially when you are learning something new! M (the lady who came to english class) really liked it and is going to bring her friends next week! THEN!!!! we taught Y!! i dont know if i have told you in other emails about how awesome she is.....BUT SHE IS AWESOME! she had been super busy with work and stuff and hadnt been able to meet with us for like 3 weeks! but on tuesday we taught the plan of salvation! she had a ton of questions and just soaked it all up! she also accepted a baptismal date for the 21st of february! and that date is solid! we are so happy for her! we taught her on wednesday as well and that was the gospel of jesus christ! we taught her how to repent, and she prayed in the end and it was so spiritual!

tuesday was also Elder Smiths birthday so we had a small party for him! the big 20! its weird to think that in 2 months i wont be a teenager anymore! :O

missionaries going home

also on wednesday we helped a less active member clean out her sons room and offered other service for her! she is such a nice lady and has such a strong testimony of the gospel but she also has just lots of other stuff goin on in her life right now!

we also taught another LA who took us out to dinner to get "K-Mart Pizza" (aka little ceasars. but dont tell them that!) haha i love spanish people!

we also taught Hna G who said that she would be able to come to church this week! YAY MIRACLES! :)

Thursday i went on exchanges with elder Husbands. he is the funniest guy in the whole world! i love him to death, but i am ashamed to say that our exchange wasnt very productive.

then on friday we were able to contact a member referral named A. He is Super cool too! do i have a problem of thinking everyone is cool??? Well A wants to be baptized without even knowing anything about the church! but we told him that he has to learn first! so the member gave him like a big pile of gospel books and he is reading all of them! :O he has a baptismal date for the 14th of March.

pretzel names... nuf said

Elder and Sis. Busath

SATURDAY!!!!! Elder bailey only has a couple of hours left on his mission right now as i am typing. so all of the departing missionaries (and their companions) got to go to the temple before they left! it was really fun and spiritual! I got to see Elder Agor again and boy have i missed him! He is so fun and i am definately hanging out with him after the mission! then we went out to lunch and then drove back to clermont! we then taught the H family and helped them get a family mission plan going to help the missionaries! then he came with us to M! she is doing really good! she wants to be baptized now out of her own choice because she wants these blessings in her life! we also asked her the baptismal interview questions to see what she needed more understanding on. and it was super good because we now have a super clear direction on where to head with her lessons! we also taught her again on sunday right after church! we went over the restoration and really focused on how to recieve an answer. so we prayed right there and it was the most powerful prayer i have ever experienced on my mission. after she finished, all of us just sat there for a good 5 minutes just meditating. she told us that she saw a light and that a feeling of peace came over her and all of the pain left her body! such a neat experience. after that lesson i kept thinking back on it and what a cool experience that was. i just felt so grateful that heavenly father answered her prayer as well as ours! its a feeling that nobody can describe but that is good. 

we also had a fun time at the lofthouses for dinner. Hey morgan! do you remember Rusty Lofthouse? Yeah this is his uncle that lives in florida! :)

then we finished off the week going to a LA house and they found out that elder Bailey was going home so they made us Mangu! (the most delicious dominican food ever! its like mashed potatoes except with plantains!) so delicious! 

well i think that its about time to tell you guys. Saturday after the temple i received a call from president Berry. He asked me to train another elder who is coming into the mission for this next transfer. it definately came as a shock to me because i definatly feel a great sense of inadiquacy. no matter how long you have been on your mission or how good you think you know it, it really is just the spirit that guides you! all we can do is be obedient to have the spirit and he will direct the work. i am going to have to rely on the spirit to help me know how to do this. i am grateful to have this opportunity. please pray for me that i can be able to do my very best! if any of you have any suggestions, please send them my way. :)

love you all and hope you have a great week!

Senior Masquerade Ball

Well, after the fun of Friday night, Morgan had her Senior Masquerade Dance.  This was just for seniors.  They get dressed up in their finest, have dinner and then have a dance.  Morgan went with her friend Cheyenne.  She said it was okay, and you only live once so why not go.  But isn't she gorgeous!  Her hair is finally getting long enough that we can do something with it.  Gotta get ready for senior pics.  Have a great day.

Teenage Car Trouble

Well, we have been so fortunate so far with our vehicles. Jeff is the only one to really ding them up so far.  Well, that trend ended this week-end.  We had a massive movie night on Friday.  I am not sure how it all started but we ended up having quite a few kids over to watch the Maze Runner.  Most of us have read the book, so we were anxious to see the movie.  After the movie was finished, Morgan took some of the kids home.  On her way out of the garage, she caught the bumper of the Civic on a BMX bike handle, which quickly got jammed and hence tore off the bumper.  There were pieces of it in the street in the morning.  We are not sure where the grill ended up, but no one was hurt and the car is still drivable.  All is good.  But I know as I send picture to Wes that he is going to be grief stricken.  He took really good care of that car and to see the bumper zip-tied on is not going to be good.  Enjoy the pics.

Another Week!

haha so my companion is ending his mission this transfer and its really hit me that i only have 9 more months to be a missionary. it really has gone by way to fast! i love the quote in the white handbook where it says that time  is your most important resource. it is so true! i wish i had more so i am trying to use every minute of every day to make my mission experience the most fullfilling!
But this week it was awesome! we went and we taught a lesson to our investigator M. but before we taught her she pulled out all of these like tribal drums and other instruments and we sat there playing all of them and dancing making a whole bunch of ruckus before we even taught her! haha. it was fun! other news is that i went on exchanges with my district leader, when we were about to go to bed, i threw some Pop-its at his wall and he freaked! haha i love telling all of the funny stuff that happens on the mission but most of the time it is really spiritual experiences that strengthen my testimony every day! to see people make changes in their lives to come closer to our savior is amazing!

this week has been really cold! so its....drumroll.....SWEATER WEATHER!!!!! :D we also had a temple tour with our investigator A who has a baptismal date for the 31st of january! please pray for her that she can make it! 

p.s. the swamp is super cool! 

-- 

Love Elder Jones

My Husband is Wonderful!

My boy is getting way too big!  So you like
the thermal top?  I spilled the Costco sample
and had to change my shirt fast!

We were all ready for Christmas, when Jeff tells me that he got his bonus and he wanted to get me something special for Christmas.  I have always wanted a pot rack and had been looking around for one that might work.  Well, I found one at Home Depot, but it was out of stock.  So I found it at Overstock, but it was the wrong finish.  So I was getting discouraged, as you might believe.  My problem is that I have a small area that I could put it in, and I didn't want the wood or Ikea stainless....  Oh boy.  So I finally found it for a little more at Wayfair and it came yesterday!!!  I love it.  My plant needs to grow a little more so it fills in the top, but now my country kitchen is finally starting to come together.  I have finally come to grips with the fact that I love to cook, and I am a mom.  My home will not be spotless, my stove will rarely be spic and span, but that is life with good food and lots of mouths to feed.  And that is okay with me because the kids and their friends like being here.  Have a wonderful day!

Oh What a Life...

well i had a great new year! after planning we hung out with the other elders! and it was grand! the fireworks here in florida were pretty cool! this week that we had wasnt the best week that we have had! it had  a lot of missed appointments lots of knocking doors and all of that fun. something that was out of the ordinary was that one night we arrived at our apointment and were walking away from our car when a member drives into the driveway to talk with us! when we were done he backed out of the driveway and we were walking away when we heard a crunch! we look back and he had backed into our car!!! the rest of that night we were exchanging info and filling out forms and all of this legal stuff for the church! it was really unfortunate cuz it was with a member!

but we were able to teach M. twice and she has quit coffee and its awesome! even though it is a struggle to get through lessons cuz she talks so much! 

lets see what else....we made hand squeezed orange juice! 

but that is about it! so hope you have a great week!

Happy New Year!

Well, we have just been playing too many games over this break, that I forget to take any pictures ;o(.  But we had a fun New Year's celebration with some friends while the kids went elsewhere.  Mason realized that the stake dance isn't all it is cracked up to be and he failed us by engaging in the zombie style slow dance.  We coached and modeled and encouraged him to do the classy dance, but as he said, "what do you do when the girl automatically puts her hands on your shoulders before I get a chance to grab her hand?"  Any suggestions for my poor boy would be greatly appreciated.  We are signing him up for social dance next year, so hopefully that will help.

Jeff has been freezing his batooty off out in the garage this last week.  He finally got his inverter so we can finally move forward with the solar project.  So by March we should have it up and running, as long as we can have a few days to get the solar panels up on the roof.  Yeah.

Other than that, Jeff has been busy working on his rubber band machine guns.  Yes, it has turned into a much larger project than he had anticipated, but in the end, they should be really cool.

And as for New Year's resolutions, here is your challenge....

Commit yourself to Christ this year!

Let go of anger, hurt etc. and embrace the atonement.  Allow the Savior to take away the pain.  Trust in the Savior.  Make those changes in your life that you know you need to so that you can free yourself of the pains of the world.  It will be different for everyone, but just think about it.  It is a great opportunity to strengthen yourself and your families!

I have put this challenge out to my Relief Society sisters and our family.  We are giving each of the sisters a polished rock pendant on a chain for their birthdays, to remind them who to build they foundation on!  Embrace your Savior.  He IS committed to you.  It is wonderful having a missionary out in the field.  We have been blessed so much spiritually, physically and so on.  We know from whence our blessings come.  With trust in the Lord all things are possible.

We hope you all have a wonderful 2015!  Make it a good one, it is up to you!