Buenas dias!
Nothing too exciting has been going on here in the DR. We have a new district leader, and a lot of new missionaries in the zone, so it´s been fun getting to know them this week. Today we went down to La Vega for P Day and watched movies and ate nachos. I really love spending time with the other missionaries. It´s so fun to meet people from all over the world.

On Saturday, we had an amazing lesson with Yudi. We were talking about the blessings of temples and the wonderful things we do inside. Hermana Hunsaker brought a magazine with pictures of temples to show her. We brought Moma along to teach with us, and she was just the person that Yudi needed. She shared her experiences of going to the temple, and Yudi couldn´t believe it. She said she wanted to go so bad! It was such a great lesson, and we told her that she can go, she just needs to take the steps towards baptism. We set a date for her baptism, and she was so excited to go to church and to get baptized. We sent a member over to her house Sunday morning to remind her, and she said that she would be there, but she never came. I´ll admit, I couldn´t believe it. I was pretty bummed. But, everyone has their agency. It´s one of the Lord´s blessings to us, but sometimes as a missionary I wish people didn´t have it! haha But, I know that Yudi will get baptized. It may not be for a long time, but she has felt the power of the Spirit and she knows it´s true. We just have to do our best and wait until she is ready.

A few days ago, we were visiting Yesenia, and she was about to eat dinner, so she insisted that we stay and eat with her. I sat down and looked into my soup, and there were little pieces of intestine floating around! It was a real moment of truth. I either had to tell her that I didn´t want to eat it, or I had to suck it up and stick it in my mouth. I put a piece on my spoon, and just held it in front of my face for a few minutes. I was so grateful that her son was entertaining everyone, because I was having a hard time. haha I am not an adventureous eater, and I didn´t know if I could put it in my mouth. But I did, and it was so chewy! I couldn´t even chew it up, so after a while, I just swallowed it. I ate a few more pieces, and then I saw something that looked like stomach. I didn´t even go there. I just hid those pieces under the bones. haha It was definitely not my favorite thing in the world, but I did it!

A Day in the DR:
There are a lot of peope here who are convinced that we are from the CIA. A few days ago, we were contacting, and we started talking to a few people on their front porches. The man was really friendly and started talking to us, but his mom leaned over and whispered ¨Be careful, they´re from the CIA.¨ She wouldn´t tell us her name. haha

Buenas!
Today I finished my second transfer in the field, which means I´m a trained missionary! Luckily, I still get to be with Hermana Hunsaker, which means that I get to kill her because this is her last transfer. Elder Galvez is still here, but Elder Kunzler was transferred to Cotui. We have a new disctrict leader, who I haven´t met yet, but he just stuck his head over my computer to say hi. He seems nice! hahaha

This weekend, the Elders had a wedding, and then a baptism the next day. It was so special. We had a celebration after the wedding at their house, and most of the branch came to celebrate. I think it meant a lot of them to have the whole branch there. They really helped them feel welcome and a part of the Jarabacoa family. They´re such a sweet couple. The next day was their baptism. The woman wasn´t able to be baptized because she hasn´t completely quit smoking (but she´s gone from 22 cigarettes a day to 2! She´s incredible!), but her husband and their two oldest children were. It was really special. They were so happy and they were so grateful to be baptized. Yesenia came to the baptism, and afterwards she said, Is that how I´m going to get baptized? Is the water cold?! haha I think she really enjoyed it.

We´re still working hard with the Young Women. They´re all so sweet, and we love spending time with them. One of them, who has been inactive for a while, has been coming to mutual and church and she´s going to seminary! How cool is that! This past Sunday we gave a lesson about the worth of a soul. A lot of the girls here are raised to believe that they are worthless, because that´s how the men here treat them. It´s so sad. So we want to help these sweet girls understand that they are important and special, that they are daughters of a King, and that they are princesses. It was a great lesson, and I really think it helped them understand. They loved our examples of Disney princesses, and they loved the handout we gave them on the temple on one side, and a picture of a princess on the other with the quote by President Uchtdorf that said ¨Happily Ever After isn´t something found only in fairy tales. You can have it! It´s your destiny! You just need to follow Heavenly Father´s plan.¨

This week, I was thinking about different times in high school when I tried sharing the gospel with friends or classmates. Almost always, they would say, ¨Wait, you don´t drink coffee? I could never do that!¨ haha I started thinking about the Word of Wisdom, and why we have it. It says that we shouldn´t take in coffee, tea, alcohol, tobacco, or illegal drugs. Then I thought about why we´re here on the earth, and our purpose. The reason that we are on earth is to grow and be perfected in Christ. Really, we are hear to be tested and to grow so that someday we can become like Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.   This life is meant for us to prepare ourselves for that day. We have to be clean and pure in order to inherit the kingdom of God. People wonder why we don´t drink coffee or alcohol. I can´t picture Heavenly Father starting his morning every day with a cup of coffee. We have to live a life free from the addictions of substances such as drugs or tea or coffee, in order to grow and become exalted beings. I want to testify to you that God lives, and that He sent us here to grow and become like Him, so that one day we can live with Him and become like him.  Our time on earth is to prepare to meet God. Please don´t let worldly things get in the way of your eternal progression. Always remember that God loves you and that you can ALWAYS repent and come unto Him.

A Day in the DR:
For some reason, every one here waters the street in front of their house. We asked one of the YW why they do it, but she´s not really sure. haha I understand why people water dirt roads, but the streets here are all paved. I´ve been trying to take pictures, but I´m not sneaky enough. Someday I´ll send one.

Have a wonderful week! I hope you are all enjoying the cold for me!
Love, Hermana Jorden

Pictures are on her blog

http://sisterkelseajorden.blogspot.com/

1st picture: teaching with Emily

2nd picture: Hna Hunsaker with Ashley
3rd picture: The treats Kelsea and Hna Hunsaker took to the YW activity they were in charge of.
4th: YW activity girls
5th: the giant moth on their door

Letter from 10-15-14

Buenos dias!

It´s been a great week here! We found Yudi and Yesenia! Yesenia has been really busy with a new job that she started, and she´s been pretty sick, so that´s why we haven´t been able to find her. But now things have slowed down, and she came to church on Sunday! She´s doing well and her fionce comes to the DR next month, and they´re hoping to get married pretty soon after! We found Yudi yesterday, and she was glad to see us! We were really worried that she didn´t want to talk to us anymore, but it´s just that she´s been really depressed because her boyfriend left for Germany for a while. But we found our little sheep and they´re doing good! We sure love those too.

So, the wedding didn´t happen yesterday. President Buret (branch president) felt that he was pushing them to get married and doing everything for them, so he´s letting them go at their pace so that it can be there decision. We talked to Juana this week and she still wants to get married, so we´re hoping that it will happen soon!

We are the first and second counselors in the Young Women presidency, and we´ve been working with the president to start having mutual activities. We had our first one this Saturday. It was called a P afternoon, and we had the girls wear their pijamas, we watched a pelicula (Johnny Lingo), we ate panqueques (pancakes) and had jugo de pera (pear), and palomitas (popcorns, it literally means little doves. how cute!). We were going to work on Personal Progress too, but we ran out of time. But a lot of girls came and they really enjoyed it. Our YW president loved it too, and now she´s really excited to start having mutual every week. She even planned for us to all visit one of the Young Women who hadn´t gone to church on Sunday. I really think mutual is going to help strenthen these Young Women´s testimonies and to help them become better friends!

A Day in the DR:

The funniest thing has been happening to me lately. Hermana Hunsaker and I will be walking in the streets, and a random man will come up to me with the biggest smile on his face, take my hand in his, and just smile at me. Sometimes he will say hello and ask how I am, and sometimes he just gives me the biggest, happiest smile, and then walks away! haha He won´t even look at Hermana Hunsaker! That´s happened three times! It´s so funny.

I hope everyone is doing well! Have a wonderful week!

Hermana Jorden

Hola amigos!

Wasn´t General Conference amazing? I was so excited to go. On our way there, Hermana Hunsaker told me that once her mom said ´General Conference is like Christmas for adults.´ That made me laugh because six months ago I would have said Ókay, General Conference is great and all, but better than Christmas? I don´t think so.´ But it´s so true! It felt just like Christmas. We counted down the days, thinking about it all the time. While we were there, I felt so happy and peaceful, and I was soaking up everything they said. I felt the power of these men who have been called of God to teach us and to guide us in these days. But my favorite part, just like Christmas, is afterwards. I sit down, thinking about what has just happened, what I have received, and I think about how I am going to use my new gifts, or the things I have learned, to make me happier and to help me improve my life. I loved listening to conference, and for anyone who didn´t have the opportunity to watch it, you can go to LDS.org and watch the talks or read and download them. These men are truly incredible, and I know that they have been called of God. And their words have the power to change your lives.

Other than that, we haven´t really had a lot going on. We haven´t been able to teach Yesenia or Yudi because they either aren´t home for our appointments, or they call and cancel. We haven´t been able to find our other investigators either. But, Juana Vargas finally found all of the papers that she needs to get married! They´re getting married on Tuesday. We´re so excited! We´ve been working with her on that for a few months. She is ´married´ to a less active, and they have five kids. We´re so excited that they finally are able to get married! 

Today, we had a birthday party in La Vega for Hermana Fagersten. It was so fun. She´s such an awesome lady. Her and Elder Fagersten are like the parents of our zone. We played volleyball and pin the nametag on the missionary. haha And she made us delicious food and cake. We have a fun zone, and I always love spending time with them. 

A Day in the DR:

The people here are always doing things that make me laugh, but something funny is that they all eat cough drops like candy. They buy bags of them. Someone on the guagua gave some to us today. At least we know that they all have smooth throats here! 

I love you all and thank you so much for your support and prayers! Have a wonderful week! And always remember that Heavenly Father loves you and wants to help you with anything you are going through. All you need to do is ask.

Love,

Hermana Jorden

Hola hola! 

It´s been a great week here in Jarabacoa! Unfortunately, we didn´t have any investigators in sacrament meeting, which was really sad. And we haven´t been able to teach Yudi or Yesenia in a while because they always have to cancel or they aren´t home. They both know it´s true, they just aren´t going to church. It´s been really hard because they are both progressing and learning, but they just aren´t taking the step to go to church. And they need the blessings that come from attending church. We´ve done all we can to help them, but now it´s up to them to take that step and continue progressing. We pray for them, and we´re trying to teach them. I just hope that we can help them realize just how important it really is to go to church and to strengthen their testimonies.

BUT, Christina came to church! Her husband and two young daughters are faithful members of the church, but she got baptized before they got married, and has never really been an active member. She feels like she was forced into being baptized, and that she never gained her own testimony. It´s really sad. We´ve been visiting her family and trying to make her feel loved, and trying to help her understand how much her Heavenly Father loves her. She came to the district conference that we had in La Vega, and this Sunday she came to sacrament meeting! It was so awesome, and she said that she´s going to go to General Conference on Sunday. On Monday we had a Family Home Evening with her family, and she started to open up to us. She´s pretty quiet and conserved, but she made great comments about the lesson we taught about gratitude. It´s so amazing to see that changes that can happen with the gospel in our lives. The best part of that lesson, though, is that afterwards, I was going around giving Christina and her daughters kisses on the cheek, and when I got to Hermano Lopez, I almost did the same thing! haha That was a little embarassing! We all had a good laugh about that. Oops! 

This Monday, we had exchanges with the Sister Leaders. I got to go with Hermana Loarca, from Guatemala. She´s an incredible missionary. I loved teaching with her and I told her that someday I hope to be able to teach just like her. While we were teaching together, we went to the house of a less active in our branch. We stood outside and said ¨Saludos!¨ She greeted us back, so we walked inside. When we walked in, there was an old man sitting there. We asked in Yanniris was home, and he said ¨No, I just got here, and there´s nobody here. I´m just waiting for someone to get back.¨ While he was talking to us, I peeked into the kitchen and saw her crouched behind the table! haha I just thought it was so funny because she had answered us when we were standing outside! haha The people here are so funny. But I loved going on exchanges, because I got to see how much Spanish I really know! We were in my area, so I had to take charge. Normally I kind of lean on Hna Hunsaker to talk to people, but it was an awesome chance for me to use what I know! And it turns out that I know a lot! I was able to have conversations with all of the people we taught and to teach the lessons. And while we were waiting at Yesenia´s for her to come home, Hna Loarca and I had a heart felt conversation, for 40 minutes! And I understood all of it! It was so awesome. Okay, so she´s a lot easier to understand because she´s from Guatemala, but at least I´m learning! 

Something I forgot to mention last week, is that while we were at the branch activity, I was playing the piano with a little girl in the branch. While I was playing, I felt something fall in my shirt, and when I looked up, Ismael was looking at me with a smile on his face. And then I realized. He had thrown a cockroach down my shirt! I jumped up at starting freaking out! I was laughing and crying, and Hna Hunsaker and I ran to the bathroom to get it out. I was trying to laugh about it, but I´ll be honest, those were real tears. haha

I LOVED the Women´s Meeting this past weekend. We watched it with the branch in Spanish, so I didn´t really understand any of it, but I love the feeling and the atmosphere of General Conference. We got their early, so we sat in the chapel and watched the Mormon Tablernacle Choir sing. I didn´t realize how important music is to me until we watched them. Listening to them, honestly, filled my soul. I felt so emotional just listening to the beautiful harmonies and instruments. Music has always been a big part of my life, but I never realized just how much it means to me. I loved every second of it. On Monday, Hermana Loarca and I were talking about having a relationship with Jesus Christ. I told her that sometimes it´s hard for me to recognize my relationship with him. She told me that while we were singing hymns in the lessons, she could feel my love for the Savior. She helped me realize that that is how I express my love for Him. I´ve never been good at expressing myself through words, and I think that that really is the way that I show my love. I´m so glad that she helped me realize that, and now I´m going to sing until everyone knows what this gospel means to me! 

A Day in the DR:

A few weeks ago, the senior couple in our zone, the Fagersten´s, were driving us to the zone meeting, and they told us that, after their mission, they were thinking about making a video game about the DR called Junkyard Driving. haha The people here are crazy drivers! Sometimes I do feel like I´m in a video game, and that everyone is trying to hit us! haha Everyone here drives motorcycles, and they never stop at traffic lights or stop signs. And they´re always carrying something crazy on their bikes, like a family of 5 or a dresser, or they´re dragging 20 foot long poles behind him. haha I´m so glad that this isn´t a driving mission!

I hope you´re all doing well! Have a wonderful week!

Love, Hermana Jorden