Letter from 6-24-15
Saludos!
Santiago was wonderful! I got to do intercambios with Hermana Salazar
while Hermana Seenaraine went with her companion to Santo Domingo.
Santiago is WAY different than serving in the campo, like Jarabacoa
and Bonao. I felt like I was in a different mission! Everyone lives in
big nice houses, they´re all so educated and professional, and no one
yells at me on the street. haha We tried knocking on doors as well,
and people told us no! What?! It was great! I loved being with Hermana
Salazar. She´s from Costa Rica. We had a good time together, and we´re
hoping that President puts us together as companions someday. We had
some really nice lessons together, and I felt like I learned so much
from her. I love the mission! They´re are just so many opportunities
to learn and to grow and to love.

This week was a little discouraging. We have so many people to teach,
and not enough time to visit them all and focus on their needs. It
feels like we sit down, teach a quick lesson, and then hurry to the
next. It´s hard to build relationships and to focus on each person
when we have so much to do.  We don´t have any progressing
investigators because we can´t find them or we´re just able to visit
them enough. I felt a little overwhelmed Sunday night. But then on
Monday, we found Regina. She´s an amazing lady that´s been coming to
church for the past two months, and we´ve only been able to teach her
twice because she´s always traveling around trying to find information
about her ancestors. But we found her on Monday. We taught her the
whole lesson about the Restoration, and it was so beautiful. She´s so
prepared. She even refers to the church as "our religion." At the end,
we invited her to be baptized, and she accepted. Then we asked to be
baptized on July 18. She sat there for a moment, then said "Wow, that
would be beautiful.......To be cleansed from all sin........ That
would be so nice." It was such a special moment. She truly understands
the importance and beauty of the baptismal convenant. After a few
minutes, she told us that she would tell us her answer on Sunday. She
wants to ponder and pray to know if it´s right for her. She´s amazing.
I´m so excited to see the beautiful things that are about to happen in
her life.

A Day in the DR:
I can´t really remember all of the things that I´ve talked about, so
hopefully this is new. But Dominicans love New York. When they ask you
where you´re from, and you say the United States, they say "Ah, from
Nueva York!" And when I tell them that I actually live far away from
New York and that I´ve only been there once, they get so confused. To
them, the United States is New York. Just about everyone I meet here
has either lived there or visited or has family that lives in New
York. Which is why every so often, someone yells out to me "Bye bye my
visa!" haha
Have a great week!
Love, Hermana Jorden