Hello!

I hope everyone has had a great week! Today, we went to La Vega to have Thanksgiving with the zone. The food was delicious, thanks to Hermana Fagersten and all her hard work! It was a fun activity, and I´m stuffed!

This week, we had four less actives members and one investigator at chuch! It was incredible! Tony, a less active, brought his whole family! We´ve been teaching his wife, and he asked us to start teaching his daughter. We´ve been working hard with them to get married, and they finally went to set the date with the lawyer, but it turns out they are missing two original birth certificates, which means we have to wait even longer, but we´re just happy that they want to get married now! 

Today, we´ve planned Minute to Win It with the branch. I hope they like it! It´s fun to do fun games with the members, because we always have such a good time, and I´m much better at communicating through laughter than through Spanish at this point. haha 

It´s hasn´t been a super eventful week, but I´m loving being a missionary! I can´t blieve I´m already been here for 5 months! Pretty crazy! I´m so grateful that the Lord has sent me here, and I can´t wait to see what he has in store. This is my last week with Hermana Hunsaker before she goes home, and it´s been so fun to work with her. I´m excited to see who I´m be with for the next little while! Have a great week! Love, Hermana Jorden

A Day in the DR-

Everyone has been getting sick lately, with la gripe. It´s mostly just that everyone has a runny nose and a cough, but the people here are so funny. They won´t go outside, and they sit around all bundled up, even while we´re boiling in the heat. One family has two girls who are both in the hospital with la gripe. We´ve been a couple of times to visit them, and them seem pretty okay to me. Nothing that rest and some cough drops wouldn´t fix. But that´s the culture here. They go to to hosptial for everything.

Saludos!

We´ve been trying really hard to work with the members lately, but it seems like every time we plan to go out with a member, it always falls through. It´s been really hard because we always plan to have a member when we go to visit Yudi, but it hardly ever works out. But Yudi is such an incredible lady. She is so strong and willing to change her life for the gospel. It´s been hard, though, because she can never go to church. We talked to her and told her that we´ve almost taught her all of the discussions, and that now she just needs to do her part. She told us that she always wants to go, but something always comes up with her family. We asked her to talk to them and tell them that church is really important to her, and yesterday she told us that she talked to them, and they said ¨Of course you can go to church! You just have to tell us these things, silly!¨ haha I´m so grateful that she talked to them, and she said she´s going to be able to go to church now. She has made so many wonderful changes in her life, and she is so ready to be baptized. I´m so grateful that I´ve been here to see how the gospel has changed her life. She´s amazing.

Other than Yudi, we don´t have a ton of progressing investigators. Sometimes it a little hard, because all of the other missionaries seem to have baptisms all the time, and we haven´t had a single one. Sometimes I wonder if I´m doing something wrong, but this week I started to get a view of my purpose here. I may not have a baptism while I´m in this area, but they are so many members who need our help. There are a lot of people here who are lost, and I feel such a strong responsibility to do all I can to help them. There´s a boy in the ward who was kicked out of his house for stealing his mom´s money. There´s a daughter of a member who was sold to a friend in exchange for a house. There´s so much sadness, and nobody is willing to help them. I feel a great responsibility to reach out to these kids, and help them understand their worth and their purpose in life. I hope that I can be an instrument in the Lord´s hand and reach out to these kids. They need the Lord in their life, and I hope that I can bring them to Him.

I love being a missionary, and I´m so grateful to be here serving the Lord, and being a respresentative of Him. I love you all so much, and hope you have a great week.
Love, Hermana Jorden

Buenas!
We´ve had a great week in the branch! Sunday was the Primary program, and the kids were SO cute. We made invitations for Mari to hand out, and so many people came! The chapel was almost full! I´m not sure where they came from, but it made the kids feel so special and important. Right before the program started, Mari asked me to direct the songs. haha I was a little nervous, but it turned out great. Those kids did such a great job. On Monday, we had a Relief Society activity making jewelry. It was a lot of fun, and almost all of the women came. We invited Yudi and Yesenia, and neitehr of the could come, but we had a sister of another investigator come! It was a fun activity, and I love seeing the women spending time with each other. They´re all so funny!

We didn´t have a lot of lessons this week, but out of the ones we did have, most of them were with the members. It´s incredible to see the spirit that the members bring. They truly make a difference in the lessons. I hope all of you can have the opportunity to help the missionaries in your ward, because you all have experiences that can change these people´s lives forever.

I just want to share a little bit of Elder Klebingat´s talk from General Conference. He talked about having confidence before God when we stand before Him to be judged of our works. He gave six things that we need to do to prepare ourselves for that day.
1. Take care of yourself spiritually.
2. Take care of yourself physically.
3. Commit to being completely obedient your whole life.
4. Become really good at repenting quickly and thoroughly.
5. Become really good at forgiving quickly and thoroughly.
6. Accept setbacks as a part of life.
I wrote these down on a piece of paper that I read every night before I say my prayer. Kind of like nightly äccountability.¨ Something that I´ve always struggled with is letting things go when someone makes me feel bad. I know that it shouldn´t bother me, but sometimes I spend a little too much time focusing on it. But after I started reading this every night, it really helped me apply the prinicple of forgive and forget. One day I was annoyed with something that somebody had told me, but as soon as I remembered this talk, I was able to let it go. That´s something I´ve been trying to do my whole life! haha The Lord truly wants to help us try to better ourselves, and I know that He watches out for us and is always there to help us come closer to Him.

Sorry I was a little rushed today, but I hope everyone has a great day! Love, Hermana Jorden

A Day in the DR: During the Relief Society activity, one of the ladies was in the corner quietly trying to breastfeed her baby. Suddenly, all of the ladies ran over to her screaming Äh, no! Morena, what are you doing? We´re all ladies here! Ay, no!¨and they made her take off the blanket. haha Yep, that´s how things are done here in the Dominican Republic.

They couldn't find a pumpkin, so they carved a squash for Halloween.  She said the people of the DR think that Halloween is the Devil's Day so they celebrated quietly in their apartment!

Buenas!
It´s been a wet week in the moutains of the Dominican Republic. And it´s been COLD! It´s been so nice. Last night, I snuggled under a blanket wearing my sweatshirt and fuzzy socks. So different than sleeping under a thin sheet with the windows open and the fan blowing on me. It was so great!

The past couple of weeks, we´ve really starting having a lot of different activities with the branch. I feel like it´s really helping to strengthen the friendship and unity of the members, and it´s been so fun. On Friday we had our first Noche de Rancho, where everyone goes to a certain family´s house to have a short lesson and treats. This Friday we´re going to the Abreu´s house. We´re also having mutual every Saturday, and we´re going to start having them with the Young Men, I´m sure we´ll see a jump in attendance from the Young Women. haha Right now, the Young Women are putting together a short play to perform with the Young Men at the Christmas party. They´re going to do Ranpuzel, and then they are practicing Angels We Have Heard on High and Silent Night to perform as an angel choir. haha They´re all so excited about it, and it will be so fun to see how it turns out!

 There´s a lady named Deli we´ve been teaching lately, who has been a member for four years, but right now she can´t come to church because she goes to school on Sundays. She decided to go to this school because she can finish in 2 years instead of 4. She´s such a sweet lady, and she´s working so hard get an education and to provide for her two sons. Yesterday, we brought, Ely, a member with us to visit her, and we talked about the scripture that says Ask, and ye shall receive. Knock, and it shall be opened unto you. Ely talked about how she has been so blessed by God in her life. It was so humbling because Ely is in the same situation as Deli. She is trying to work, study, and take care of her daughter, and she doesn´t have a lot of money, but she is so grateful for everything she does have. I was in awe of these two hard working, strong women, who have hardly any possessions, but they are so grateful for what they have. After we shared our message, Ely was talking about church and her sister, and Deli realized that she had been talking with her sister a few days earlier. Her sister, Iris, told her that Ely had just quit a job, and Iris thought that Deli could take over for her. They talked, and Ely said that she would talk to her boss and try to get her the job. It was so awesome, and it was a testament to the message we had just shared, that God loves us and truly wants to bless us in all of our endeavours. I am so grateful to be here and witness the Lord´s hand in the lives of these wonderful people.

I´m so grateful to be a missionary, and for this chance to change my life and to come closer to Christ. But, please remember, that it doesn´t take a mission to come closer to our Savior. All it takes is a desire, just like Alma 32 says. If you feel something missing in your life, turn towards the Savior. Give yourself over to him, and I promise that he will change your life. A few weeks ago, my mom sent me a quote by Ezra Taft Benson that I just love:Men and women who turn their lives over to God will discover that He can make a lot more out of their lives than they can. He will deepen their joys, expand their vision, quicken their minds, strengthen their muscles, lift their spirits, multiply their blessings, increase their opportunities, comfort their souls, raise up friends, and pour out peace. Whoever will lose his life in the service of God will find eternal life.
Thank you for your influences in my life. I love you all so dearly and hope that you have a great week.
Hermana Jorden