Corona Virus And Flower Fridays!

Hey everyone!

So things are fine here. Honestly, there are not a ton of corona virus cases over here in Russia (thank goodness), but we do have some stricter restrictions after this week, like we are now not allowed to use any public transportation including taxi's and things like that... the world is going crazy!!

Anyways, back to my week! This week was good. On Friday, Sister Epperson had the idea to buy flowers and pass them out to random women on the street, so that's what we did! We handed them out to older women and especially those who looked sad. There was one lady who gave me the weirdest look, but then looked at her flower, and smiled so big! We called it Flower Friday, and we kinda want to do it every week now so that's going to be fun!

We had zone conference this week and exchanges. I was with Sister Scott, who served in Novosibirsk with me for a little bit! We went to a grandma named Svetlana and she was SO cute! She had the most out of tune piano I've ever heard! We read the scriptures with her, a verse talking about how we are all beggars. We are all children of God, and we all have our own problems and things that we are struggling with, so we need to be kind to eachother! We are all trying our best, and it will be so much better if we are all unified.

Sorry for the short email this week (and no pictures... whoops) but everything is fine over here and no one has corona virus yet!

Love you all!

Sister Jones

Happy International Women's Day!!!

Привет всем))))

This week was a crazy week (but not as crazy as this upcoming week is going to be, oof). We had a competition with the Elders to see who could make the most friends in a week and we made 4 friends in the first two days! We already met with 2 of them, Liza and Toma. Liza is working here in a bakery and is studying English. Ultimately, she wants to become a translator. She is also planning on going to China at some point, as she speaks some Chinese too. She was really cute! She showed us all her favorite places in the city, including a music theatre and a cool church:) Toma is here studying finance. She works at a waffle shop (where we met her) and we went walking with her and her sister who was in town. I am just really excited about our new friends:)))

We had a few meetings with some of the members this week as well. We went over to visit a really cute (mentally insane - like literally) grandma on Tuesday. It was so much fun! We literally just sat for an hour and sang her songs from the hymn book. It's crazy how much songs can calm people and bring the spirit.

This week was also March 8th! International Women's Day! The men in the branch set up a surprise for us after church. They made food, had presents, and gave us flowers:) For the presents, they had a bunch of balloons. We were supposed to pick one, pop it, and a piece of paper inside would tell us what we won. I won.... toothpaste! It was really funny! 

Just like I did at the beginning of my mission, I have been thinking a lot lately about how grateful I am to be here as a volunteer. I have learned so much that I never would have been able to otherwise. I have grown so much as a person, and developed a relationship with my Father in Heaven that I didn't realize was possible. I could have done these things at home, but I don't know if I would've chosen to. Being here has been wonderful because each and every day, your purpose is to live as the Savior did and to follow His gospel. 

I hope you all had a wonderful week!

Sister Jones

Pictures:

1. Me riding a bull

2. Papa John's is spelled JUST LIKE Jones in Russian

3. a pretty temple:)

Transfer Week

Hey everyone!!

This week was insane. It was transfer week, which meant that we had a ton of people coming in and out of Novo that we had to manage. It also meant that I had to say goodbye to everyone in Novo:((( It ALSO meant that my trainee came into country! Her name is Sister Epperson, and she's from Lehi, Utah. She is wonderful, and is already really excited to be here and do her best! My other companion is Sister Campbell from Scotland. (She had us try this Scottish drink called Irn Bru and it was realllyyyy gooood) She is so much fun and I really want her to teach me to speak with a Scottish accent. 

Honestly, this week was a blur. We had a really fun time when the trainee's came in though! Me, Sister Richardson, our trainees, and Sister Campbell all went to a dog cafe! We wanted to go to a racoon cafe, but like I'm really never against playing with dogs! We went with two of our friends, Anya and Sonya, and we all just played games together and pet dogs. It was a wonderful time!

Ok, I am sorry that I am cutting this email short but really not much happened. It was a ton of traveling and things like that, but this week I was thinking about how grateful I am for the Savior's Atonement. I was a bit stressed this week (I'm mostly just excited now), and tired, and a bit nervous in general, but I thought a lot about Jesus Christ. His atonement makes it possible for us to feel peace and joy in the midst of stress and hard times. Because of Him, we can be happy. 

I love you all and I am sorry for the short email!

Sister Jones

Pictures:

Me and Sister Richardson 

Dog cafe!