Kelsea and her new companion, Hermana Seenaraine from Guyana, a small country in South America where they speak English.

I love Bonao so much. I love being a missionary. I´m just so happy here.

First of all, I just want everyone to know that I am sweating so badly right now. And I took two showers today! haha Turns out that this really is a tropical island, Jarabacoa was deceiving. But things are going so well. I didn´t know that I could learn to love people so quickly. The members are awesome, and we had some really great investigators. We don´t have anyone close to baptism, but these people are so wonderful. Our missionary leader is a recent convert. His name is Cristofer and he is the strongest member I have ever met. He leaves with us a lot because he is preparing to serve a mission, and every time we teach a lesson from him, I can feel how much he loves the gospel and his Savior. The people hear teach me every day.

Today we went to Cotui to play soccer with the other zone. None of the sisters came, so it was just Hermana Seenaraine and I, but it was so fun. There are fewer things I love more than playing soccer. We played for a long time, and it wiped me out. But I had such a great time.

This week I´ve really started to feel my testimony grow and change. In the lessons, I can feel the power of our message, and I can see the spiritual resfreshment it gives to the people we teach. I´m so grateful that I´ve been sent here, and I´m so excited to see all of the wonderful things that are going to happen.

A Day in the DR hospital:

Last Wednesday, my stomach started to hurt, but I thought maybe I had just eaten something bad, but Thursday morning I woke up with a pain in my side. I tried making myself comfortable, but I couldn´t sit, walk, or lie down. When my companion woke up, I told her what was going on, so she had my call Hermana Grange, the mission nurse. She gave me some ideas of what I could do to make the pain go away, but after two hours I couldn´t bear it. I was crying like a baby. haha So she told us to go to the hospital. We called Sister Lockheart, the branch president´s wife, and she took us to the hospital. She asked Hermana Seenaraine where it was, and when she said it was the hospital near the church, she said "We´re not going there. Nope. We´re not going there. Don´t worry sweetie, I´m not going to take you there." I´m so glad she was there with us. Instead, she took us to a nice clinic that she gone to before. There was just a little blood on the sheets, and the power only went out for about 10 seconds. haha So, they gave me an IV and took away the pain, then I did a sonogram and turns out I have a kidney stone. Luckily it´s just a small one, and they gave me medication so I´ve been fine! I just have to wait for it to pass and I´ll be good as new. It´s always an adventure to go to a Dominican hopsital!

Buenos!
I love my area in Bona o. The people in the branch are so wonderful! In this part of the country the church is new enough that almost all of the members are converts, and they're so strong and faithful. I felt so much love and unity in church on Sunday. I'm so excited to be here.

In my district, there are four other elders. They're a lot of fun. One is from Nicaragua, one from California, one from the DR, and one from Chile. We do a lot with them, family home evenings, service, grocery shopping. Haha They take good care of us.

Well, I haven't really had a chance to get to know the investigators yet because there has been a strike going on and we haven't been able to leave the house since Sunday. So its been pretty boring around here, but I've been able to write a lot of letters.

Not much else to report. I'm typing on Elder Garcia's tablet so its hard to type, and its been a pretty boring week. But all is well here, and we should be able to start proselyting on Friday. I love you all!
Hermana Jorden

THEY´RE BUILDING A TEMPLE IN HAITI! I can´t believe it! As soon as I heard, I ran into the chapel where they were watching conference in Spanish. I searched for my sweet Haitian family, but they hadn´t arrived yet. But everyone turned around so I said "A temple in Haiti!" and they all smiled. My heart leapt for joy. Haitians are some of the sweetest, most humble people I´ve ever met. I am so happy for them. The rest of the day, every time I saw a Haitian walking in the street, I just wanted to yell "They´re building a temple in Haiti!" I loved listening to conference this weekend, and especially that incredible news. I was only able to watch about half in English, and I didn´t understand the rest. haha But I just love seeing the apostles of God and feeling the beautiful Spirit of conference. None of our progressing investigators were able to make it, but it was still a wonderful experience. I feel so grateful to have been there to celebrate such a beautiful moment with my little Haitian family. 

Well, after 9 months of serving in Jarabacoa, I finally left and was sent to Bonao 2 in the Bonao zone. It was hard to say goodbye to all of my wonderful friends, but I´m excited for a new adventure. My companion is Hermana Seenaraine from Guyana, a small country in South America where they speak English. She is the sweetest, most humble sister, and I am so excited to learn from her example. She said it rains here a lot, and it is much hotter than Jarabacoa, but it´s a really beautiful city. I can´t wait to start meeting the members and the investigators!

On Monday, we went to visit Berta in the hospital. The last time we had seen her, she was doing really badly and the nurse wouldn´t let us in to see her. But on Monday, we saw her sitting up and eating, and when she saw us, she had the biggest smile. We came in and talked to her for a bit. She told us that she was doing a lot better. She looked a lot better. Right then, the nurse came in to check on her and to see the X ray of her lungs. After she looked at it, all of the nurses cheered and she said that she was all better! It was a really happy moment, and I was so grateful that we got to be there for it. We stopped by yesterday as well so I could say goodbye to her, but the doctor was doing a checkup and we couldn´t go in. But about an hour ago, Hermana Zegarra called me to tell me that Wilson called and said that she finally got to go home! We´re so happy for all of the people that helped us and for all of your support and prayers. Now this sweet lady has another chance at life to raise her family and to accept the gospel of Jesus Christ in her life. 

It´s been a wonderful week, and I´m so looking forward to this new adventure I´m starting! I can´t wait to see what the Lord has in store! 

Hasta luego, Hermana Jorden

Another week has flown by!

Thanks for all of the love and birthday wishes! I had a great birthday! On Sunday, Hermana Carroll brought me a cake and we celebrated with them, and the elders gave me a cute little surprise. Sunday night when I called to give them the numbers for the week, Elder Cummings answered the phone and told me that the zone leaders had called and told him that he was going to be the new district leader, and that Elder Saldana was pretty mad. Great. So the next day, we went to the disctrict meeting and Elder Saldana was slumping around being sad. Elder Cummings started the meeting, and Elder Saldana got up to leave. As we opened our mouths to start singing the opening hymn, Elder Saldana walked in with the branch leaders and they all started singing happy birthday. hah It was pretty cute. They made me cookies soaked in lemon frosting and gave me a bracelet and a little purse. They were so proud of their clever little trick. It was sweet. That night, the Buret´s invited us over for pizza, and it was fun to spend the evening with them. I felt very loved! 

Thursday, Elder Fagersten called us to let us know that he had visited Berta in the hospital, and that she wasn´t doing too well. He said that he brought to more missionaries to give blood, and that she was bloated. So we went to visit her, and we couldn´t even recognize her. We thought we had gone to the wrong bed. She´s very bloated. It broke my heart. I wasn´t planning on going in to talk to her, because I thought she hated us for bringing her there, but her husband told us to go in, and when we did, she said to us, with tears in her eyes "Thank you for bringing me here. If you hadn´t I would be dead. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you." It was so touching. She´s really had a change of heart. The doctors were trying to convince her to have a procedure done to take out the fluids, but she refused. My companion stroked her hand and told her that we love her and that it´s important that she does what the doctors say because they are here to help her. She agreed. We stopped by this morning to see her, but they wouldn´t let us in because she´s doing pretty bad. They´re going to hook her up to a machine to help her breathe. Please keep her in your prayers! 

Hermana Jorden