"Heaven is as close as you want it to be."

President Lopez, the stake president here, said this on Saturday at
the stake women's conference. It was an awesome conference; we got to
go because my companions are super talented and played their
instruments in the conference.
It's all going awesome here! Hermana Evelo got in on Wednesday. She's
from Florida, and she's wonderful. We went to pick her up at the train
station, and two elders were with us to welcome her and take some
bags. She lugged one of her suitcases off, and we ran up to say hello
and hug her...and suddenly the train starts honking and the doors
start closing, and Hermana Evelo goes, "Wait, my bags are still on
it!" I ran to stand by the front of the train to try to wave down the
conductor, and the elders pulled the doors open and ran onto the
train. Thankfully, they were able to throw out the bags and get off
before the train pulled away. So that was an adventure :)
We've had such a good week! Today, we are celebrating Hermana
Anderson's birthday, and it has been super fun figuring out the
surprise. She guessed, but that's okay:)
Here are some fun pictures from this week!
1. Our district at Dominos! We met some British people who were there
for a soccer game, and they were really nice! But I've discovered that
I struggle to understand people from northern England haha.

"We come here to do things. But the goal is that we become someone when we do these things..."

"...we should do the things that will help us become e people we want
to be." An Elder here, Elder Durrant, said this, and I thought it was
so profound. We do what we do to become who we want to be, and if our
actions aren't in line with who we want to be, we should change
something.
What an incredible week! On Monday we had the Missionary Leadership
Council, and it was fantastic. I have noticed a huge change in myself
since then...it's like I have new energy to work, and this week has
been amazing, I think for that reason.
We have met so many great new friends this week to teach, and it has
been so cool. But, it hasn't been without it's difficulties...a less
active member that we work with got mad, but the worst part was
watching his wife cry from how he was treating us. Their two daughters
are serving missions too, and she looks at us like her
daughters...that was a rough time.
But! We had the BEST lesson yesterday, with our friend Juan who came
to church. He is great, but has a lot of affects from all the drugs
and alcohol that he took for a large part of his life, and those
affects make it hard for him to understand sometimes. We have been so
stressed out about him, and haven't know what to do. But he just
understood yesterday...he understood the Restoration of the gospel! It
was such an incredible moment. He said, "Wait. There WAS an apostasy,
the gospel of Christ WAS lost. Do people know about this?" Hahaha we
were like, "Well, that's why we're here." It was great.
Okay, so overall it was a great week...here are some pictures!
1. We got cupcakes for Hermana Anderson's 11 month mark!

"Therefore, fear not, little flock; do good..."

"...let earth and hell combine against you, for if ye are built upon
my rock, they cannot prevail.
"Behold, I do not condemn you; go your ways and sin no more; perform
with soberness the work which I have commanded you.
"Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not.
"Behold the wounds which pierced my side, and also the prints of the
nails in my hands and feet; be faithful, keep my commandments, and ye
shall inherit the kingdom of heaven. Amen."
This scripture is found in Doctrine and Covenants (a book of
revelations given to Joseph Smith) 6:34-37. My companion pointed it
out to me, and I love the first part: fear not little flock. This is
Jesus Christ speaking to us, and telling us that there is no need to
fear, because He's already gone through it all. He has already
overcome it all, already suffered it all, already walked that painful
and thorny path. Now He's guiding us, His flock, down the same path,
and He knows exactly where all the stones and thorns and ditches are.
That is why He asks us to keep His commandments. They aren't just
because He wants to confine us to a box, but because He wants us to be
safe and free and painless.
I have grown to appreciate my Savior so much! And even then, I
understand that I really don't understand even a fraction of what He
did for me--but someday we will all know. That, I think, is when
"every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess" (Mosiah 27:33) that
He is Christ.
It was such a great week! Our friend Paul is wonderful, and He just
loves when we come over to his work to teach him. Sometimes there are
others there, and they will ask us who we are and what we teach
people. We have met so many great people who are so ready to hear
about the Gospel!
Oh, and there is a member here, his name is Tom. He was baptized two
years ago, is the president of the young men's program, and is
amazing. He is the only member of his family. A few days (last week,
or the week before) ago, we talked to his brother in the street, and
we didn't know it was his brother. He said he'd like to hear our
message, so we wrote down his contact information, and he went on his
way. Tom was SUPER excited that we had talked to his brother.
Well, also, Tom's mother is really nice and comes to church with him
every so often. But she never wanted us to go and teach her or
anything. Out of the blue, 5 weeks ago, she invited us to go out to
eat, and it was so nice. She has really sincere desires to know if all
this is true.
We haven't been able to meet with her at all, until last night, when
we made cookies to take to all the members (it's a plan we have to
have better relations with all the members--they're so awesome). So,
knowing that Tom's mom Mary has never wanted us to come in her house,
we called Tom to come down to his door and get the cookies, and he
talked a minute with his mom, and said, "Hermanas, do you want to come
up for a few minutes?" We went up, and had a great talk with them.
Mary is so awesome! She said the last prayer, and said, "God...help me
know which is the right path. If it is this church, please tell me."
It was so perfect :)
We did two exchanges this week, and they were awesome! I went to a
small town called Albacete, and it was so fun, so cute.  And I also
went to another called Elche (which is also adorable--I've been there
four or five times now, so I feel like it's one of my areas). Super
fun!
Transfers are next week! I do not think I will be transferred to
another area, with a month left on my mission...but you never know :)
Miss and love you all!
Hermana Jones