Last Week in Ixtapaluca.

Hello everybody! I am writing this email to you all very very very full of food. Today as a district we made tortillas de harina, carne asada con chorizo y salchicha, frijoles con queso, guacamole con jitomate y cebolla y jalapeno, cebollitas asadas, tocino, y un buen de otras cosas. It is so cool being comps with a nortena because they know how to cook. I absolutely love my district and will miss them a lot. This coming week is my last week in Ixtapaluca and I will be shipped out next week to an area in Nezahuacoyotl. NEZA YORK BABY!!! hahaha I am excited to finish things off out there. We were in Neza quite a bit this last week for various meetings and activities. On Tuesday I was there for the training meeting -- I will be receiving a temporary hermana from Mexico who will be here until her visa is approved. She will then be serving in St. George, Utah! She will be coming here to the mission straight from her house without any experience in a mission training center. I am super excited to meet her and begin working together in Neza. (This will be the third of four areas that I have opened. I haven't been transferred to an area where someone was already in charge of things since my training...and I am going to go for it!) After the meeting we came back to our area, worked for a little bit, then went back to Neza Tuesday night for an activity we had all day Wednesday in Pantitlan. We spent a whole day with youth from the Estaca Pantitlan teaching them how to be missionaries. All but two of the hermanas in the mission went to help out and we worked in Neza for the day since Pantitlan is not super safe. We started at 7 in the morning studying with the youth, had a great devotional by President Stutznegger, and went out to work. I went with two amazing jovencitas named S who is 13 and was baptized four months ago and with K who is 15 and was baptized 4 years ago. While visiting people with them I was reminded of what a pure testimony really is. They were absolutely incredible during the lessons we taught and handled contacting like champs! We spent probably two and a half hours just walking and contacting since we were working in a place I have never been and without a list of people to contact, or a map. I loved being with those two and having them tell me the things that they learned throughout the day. We slept in Neza again on Wednesday night and came back Thursday morning. (Most of us were crammed into Hermana Wolfert's apartment and I stole the blanket from Hermana Wong during the night haha poor thing!) On Thursday we worked as a district in my area. We had prepared lists and maps divided into colonias for each of the companionships and set to work with the purpose of finding all of the people on our list...we focused on those who are less active in the Gospel. We are really trying to grow this casa de oracion (a newly formed congregation). We have had a consistent attendance of about 50 people every week by what I am able to see. It was so cool because as soon as we started to work a girl of 17 years came up to us and asked us if we were missionaries. She explained to us that she had been baptized in Los Reyes about a month ago and had just barely moved here last week. She and another friend who is a Church member who was a baptized a year ago and lives here too (but we didn't know him) came to our noche de hogar and Church on Sunday. About an hour and a half later my companion asked a woman for directions and she got super excited because she is also a Church member and her family just moved here four days ago. We were so happy to find so many people to bring to Church with us! It has been so special working in the casa de oracion. I am very hopeful that construction on a capilla (church building/chapel) will be approved soon. We went back to Neza on Friday for the leadership council and I was able to hear the testimonies of a few of the most amazing people I have ever met on the mission who will be going home next week. That has been one of the best things about serving a mission -- meeting incredible people from other parts of the world who decided to give two years of their life in the service of the Lord. Their testimonies have forever strengthened and changed mine. We have wonderful investigators who are progressing so well and have the sincere desire to come unto Christ and be baptized. Two of them will be baptized this Saturday :) The casa de oracion was llenisimo yesterday with many investigators, less actives, and new people who recently moved here. On Saturday we had a noche de hogar como rama and it was so much fun. The Elders, my companion and I taught from the story of the Jaredites who we read about in Ether (in the Book of Mormon). We talked about how we need provisions (the scriptures), impermeable ships (homes where we have family home evenings), lighted stones (leaders and priesthood holders of the restored Church of Jesus Christ), and prayer to help us cross the seas of life and return to live with our Heavenly Father. Afterwards we played games and ate homemade donas and arroz con leche. It was so much fun. I have grown to really love the people here and will miss them so much! We set a few more baptismal dates last night as we met with people who we didn't have a set appointment with but were hoping we would come. The same thing happened a few days ago with a few investigators who we lost contact with and who had said prayers earlier that day asking Heavenly Father that we would come. I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY. It is the most special, wonderful thing I have done in my life because other people's lives have connected with mine in a way that only our Heavenly Father can design. My heart is so full right now. I love you all very much and wish you all a wonderful week :)

LOVE HERMANA JONES

Parent note: The following note was posted by Sister Stutznegger on her Facebook page along with the pictures. We are grateful for the Stutzneggers! 

“On Sunday (July 17, 2016) we attended a "House of Prayer." It was established in Ixtapaluca for some of the members of the church that live too far away from a chapel. Often they don't have the funds for the transportation. The meeting was held in a home. We have 4 missionaries serving in this area.”

Today as a district we made tortillas de harina, carne asada con chorizo y salchicha, frijoles con queso, guacamole con jitomate y cebolla y jalapeno, cebollitas asadas, tocino, y un buen de otras cosas. Mmmmmmm.....see pics below.

The picture below is from our day with the youth from the Pantitlan Stake. So great!