Buenas!

We didn't have much time to write today, so this will be short, but it was a great week! On Thursday I did intercambios with the sisters in Mao 1, and then the next day I did them with the sisters in Mao 2. They live in the same house, so it was basically a two day sleepover. We had a lot of fun. It's been so fun to meet new sisters and teach with them and get to know their investigators. On Monday, I got to do intercambios with Hermana Zegarra, the missionary that I trained. It was so much fun. I just adore that sister, and she is such a wonderful missionary. She loves the people in her area so much, and it was so fun to see that. Tomorrow we're doing intercambios with the sisters in Navarrete 1. Hermana Taukafa finally got her mini last Thursday, so she's with a sweet little Dominican sister until the end of the transfer. 

I don't have too much to say about my area, because I haven't been here! I'm a little stressed about how I'm going to carry this area once my companion goes home in two weeks, because I don't really know the area too well, but I know the Lord will bless me. But I love being a sister leader. We have lots of meetings, and I always love going and feeling the Spirit and learning about how I can be better and come closer to the Lord. I feel so happy here, and I thank the Lord every day for allowing me to be here. The Lord has blessed me so much. 

Love, Hermana Jorden 

Saludos!

What a week! Things are going so well in Navarrete. The area is pretty small, which is such a blessing because I feel like there just isn't enough time! We're in a ward, and the members are wonderful. Last Wednesday we had our meeting with the ward mission leader, and the ward leaders were there and giving us ideas about what we could do to help and giving out assignments to help these people. Wow, it was wonderful. 

On Friday, our ward mission leader got his mission call. We all got together for him to open it, and it was so fun. It reminded me of how excited I was to receive my mission call (just go to YouTube for those of you who don't remember haha). It gave me a renewed excitement for the mission. After being a missionary for over a year, it's just my life, and sometimes I think I forget how exciting and amazing it is to serve a mission. I was really grateful to have been there to celebrate with him.

On Saturday, we had two baptisms! The sisters had been working so hard with a family, and a month ago the father and the oldest son were baptized, and this weekend the younger son and daughter were baptized. They're a really special family. They have a lot of love for the sister who just left, so I think they're just a little bitter towards me for taking her place, but I'm trying to gain their confidence. haha It was a really nice baptism.

On Monday we had our first intercambios! Since I'm new to the area, this transfer I'll be the sister who goes to everyone's area to do intercambios with them, and one of the sisters will come to Navarrete to be with Hermana Richarson. So I went to Esperanza to be with Hermana Anderson. It was so fun. She's an amazing missionary. We're from the same group, so we'll go home together. We actually got together before the mission and had lunch, so we had a lot of fun being together. We stayed up a little late talking together, and the next day, I fell asleep offering a prayer in one of our lessons! haha I learned my lesson! 

On Tuesday, the office elders called and told us that one of the sisters in the zone would be going home, so her companion, Hermana Taukafa is in a trio with us until they find her a mini. She's so fun. She's a sweet Tongan sister from Australia, and she has the cutest accent. It's been fun to be with her. 

It was a crazy week, but I'm loving things here in Navarrete, and I hope I can give these people my all! I love the Lord and the blessings He gives me!

Hermana Jorden

A Day in DR:

In this country, there are always issues with the light and water. Every missionary house doesn't have running water, or there is no electricity between 10 and 4, or the house floods when we use the toilet, etc. It wouldn't be a missionary house, or a Dominican house for that matter, if there wasn't some sort of issue. haha In Jarabacoa, the water came out of the shower head, but it was never more than a trickle. And in Bonao, when we used the shower head, it all ran onto the floor, so we always used buckets. But here in Navarrete, the shower works perfectly fine. So I took a normal shower. And I felt so guilty. I took it as fast as I could because I felt like I was wasting so much water. So the next day I started turning on the shower to get wet, and then to rinse off, and I feel a lot better. haha It's funny how the mission changes you. 

7-15-15

Saludos!

Transfer week! This has been quite the transfer. It´s been the hardest, most stressful, most rewarding, happiest transfer of my mission. Yesterday we had our transfer meeting, where the zone leaders announce the changes that will be made to the zone. Hermana Seenaraine and I were sure that she was leaving. She was practically saying goodbye to everyone this past week. So it was quite the shock to both of us when they announced that I would be leaving Bonao to become a sister leader in Navarette.

When they announced that I was leaving, I started crying. I felt like I wasn´t ready to leave. I had worked so hard the past two transfers in Bonao. When I arrived, the area was dead. They were teaching people that weren´t progressing, and we taught the same people day after day. Hermana Seenaraine and I gave it our all and we really changed this area around. The past few weeks we´ve met so many people who are so prepared to receive the gospel. The Lord has blessed us so much and we´re starting to see the fruit of our labors. So I felt sad that after working so hard to start having success, the Lord was taking me out of Bonao before I could see these people get baptized. But, as the day went on, I just felt grateful for the blessings that I have received here. I felt grateful to have been a part in the change in Bonao, and I know that Hermana Seenaraine will do great helping them reach their goals. I felt at peace with it, and started to feel so excited to start working in another area.

And now here I am in Navarette! My companion is Hermana Richardson from Utah. She´s really sweet, and she has one transfer here as a sister leader. As sister leaders, we are in charge of 5 sister companionships in 2 zones, so during the transfer, we do intercambios (exchanges) with each companionship to see how they are doing and to help them with problems that they have. We also attend Concilio with President Castillo and the other zone leaders and sister leaders every month, and we give lots of capacitaciones (training) in conferences. Because last transfer lasted 8 weeks, this transfer is only going to last four s. My companion is finishing her mission this transfer, so I have to learn our area, as well as learn everything about being a sister leader in the next four weeks before she leaves. I´m a little nervous, but I´m excited for the challenge. I feel really blessed to have the opportunity to be a sister leader, and I just pray that I can do a good job and bless the lives of the sisters here. I think I´m going to spend a lot more time on my knees this transfer.

I love being a missionary, and all of the incredible blessings that the Lord is giving me here. I have learned so much and I´m excited for all that I have yet to learn my last 5 months here in the beautiful Dominican Republic. Thanks for your love and support.

Hermana Jorden

Buenas!

Wow, it´s been a wonderful week! We´ve been working so hard the past two transfers, and we´re finally starting to have some success. It´s been so great. We´re starting to find some people who are so prepared. Two Sunday´s ago, we were walking to Cristofer´s house, and someone starting talking to us as we walked. We went over and got to know him a little bit, and we asked if we could visit him to share a message. He said that would could, so last Thursday we visited him for the first time. He´s amazing. We could hardly teach him anything because every time I tried to talk about the Restoration, he would say "Where is church?" "When does it start?" "What do I need to wear?" He was so excited to go, and when we told him about the activity that night, he said he would bathe and then head over. He got there before we did, and he spent the whole night talking to all of the members and having a great time. He went to Institue with Cristopher as well. He wasn´t able to go to church, because he had to go to Santo Domingo, but he apologized and assured us that he´ll be there this Sunday. He´s from Haiti, so we got all of the pamphlets in Creyol for him, and he´s so excited to learn because he wants to be closer to God. He´s golden. 

On Sunday, we had a lesson with Regina. We talked about the Word of Wisdom, because she had told us that she wants us to help her quit smoking. We brought Hermana Vasquez with us, and she talked about all of the miracles that happened with her husband when he starting obeying the Word of Wisdom. She was in tears during the lesson and we assured her that God loves her and that she was going to be able to overcome this addiction, and she started to cry during the closing prayer. I can only imagine how difficult it would be to have an addiction like that, and I know that she wants to overcome it so bad. She will. The Lord with bless her. We put a baptismal date with her for the 25th of July, so we´re going to work hard with her to kick this habit. We are going to see a lot of miracles in her life. She has a lot of faith.

Well, the Lockharts are gone and now I have to play the piano in sacrament meeting! I chose the songs and practiced a lot last week, and it went so well. It wasn´t perfect, but I was able to get through all of the songs and keep up with the congregation. It was such a blessing from the Lord. I realized that the Lord blessed me so much, because before the mission I wasn´t able to learn songs that quickly. The Lord recognized my desire to serve, and helped me make up the difference. It was such a neat experience, and I hopé he blesses me every week! 

Love, Hermana Jorden 

Saludos!

President Castillo has arrived! We probably won´t get to meet him for a couple weeks, but it will be exciting to have a new president with a new vision. I´m excited to see what I can learn from him. But, unfortunately, President and Sister Douglas are gone. I´m going to miss them. Luckily, they came to our branch this Sunday to announce the new branch president, so I got to see them before they left. And the Lockhart´s moved back to Utah! I´m going to miss that family so much, but we have a new branch president, and he´s great. He got back from his mission about 7 months ago, which is so great because he´s so involved and interested in the missionary work. So there have been a lot of changes lately, and I´m excited to see what happens!

We had intercambios this week with the Sister Leaders. They both came to Bonao to do splits with us, because we just have too many people to visit. It was nice, and I had a good time. I went with Hermana Belvis, one of the sisters that I came to the mission with. She´s fun. :) We had a sister meeting in La Vega as well, and I got to talk to Hermana Kellogg about Jarabacoa. A few of my old investigators are still progressing, including Yudi (the lady I worked with for 8 months), and Berta and Wilson (the lady who we took to the hospital). It was so fun to catch up on my little branch in Jarabacoa. I sure love and miss them. 

This week has been a little tough. Every time I think about how I only have 6 months left, I feel so stressed and disappointed with where I´m at. I´m not where I feel like I should be as a missionary with a year in the mission. And this week I just felt so blatanly aware of all of my shortcomings and weaknesses. I aked Elder Mortensen for a blessing, and that gave me a lot of peace and comfort. I also found a little time to sit with Hermana Douglas and talk about what I can do. So I feel a lot better. Today for Pday, Hermana Seenaraine and I rode bikes with the elders up to the mountains, and we stopped by a stream to sit and take a break. I sat on a rock by the river and just listened to the water, one of my favorite sounds in the world. I sat and pondered and prayed about what I should do to change and to make all that I can from my mission. Then one of my favorite Primary songs popped into my head: 

Give, said the little stream

Give, oh give, give, oh give

Give, said the little stream, as it hurried down the hill

I´m small I know, but wherever I go, the grass grows greener still

Singing, singing, all the way

Give away, oh, give away

Singing, singing, all the way

Give, oh, give away

I´ve been feeling to insignificant, like my efforts don´t make any difference. But thinking of this little stream, I realized that I may not be having success in the way that I want it, but I do believe that "wherever I go, the grass grows greener still." I feel like I have blessed the lives of these people here, although not all of them have made the choice to be baptized. But the lesson I learned from this Primary song was "Give." If I want to make the most out of my 6 months in the mission, I have to give everything I can. Give my time, my efforts, my strength, and my love, "singing all the way." I love the simple truths of the gospel, and I am so grateful to be a missionary. Thank you for all of your love and support. I know this church is true with all of my heart, and I am so privileged to be spreading the gospel here in the Dominican Republic.

Love,

Hermana Jorden