Buenas!

It's been a great week in the blistering heat of Navarrete! Seriously, it's so hot. We were supposed to have a hurricane hit last night, and although I know that it could cause a lot of damage, we desperately need the rain. Eveything's dried up here, and we have a lot of people we teach that don't have any water. Saturday night it rained for about an hour, and one of the families we teach told us that it was such a blessing because they didn't know how they were going to be able to make dinner that night, but it rained and they were able to collect water to make food. We're hoping for some rain to cool this place off!

But things have been going really well. I just love my companion, Hermana Funes. We're having so much fun together, and it's been so good for my Spanish to have to speak all the time. On Sunday we visisted the Aquino family and talked about the purpose of Christ's life as well as the purpose of our life. We also talked about the power of faith and how it brings us to act. At the end of the lesson we invited them to be baptized once they know that our message is true. It was a slow nod, but they said that once they know they would be willing to be baptized. They're just a little scared, but we can tell that the father realizes how important this message is and just how powerful it can be if it really is the truth. His wife studies on Sundays in Santiago, so she can't go to church on Sunday, but her husband agreed to go, and he asked us to call him Saturday night to remind him. 

We had stake conference on Sunday. It's been so different serving in a stake and in such a big ward, but it's been a lot of fun. Our building is the stake center, so the whole ward got together to clean the building Thursday night, and the sessions were on Saturday and Sunday. I played the piano for the Sunday morning session. Yeah, that's right. I played the piano in stake conference. It was terrifying! Luckily, the new elder in our ward plays very well, so he agreed to play for the Saturday sessions, so I had less songs to learn, but it was stressful. I had never accompanyied anything before the mission! But I played the piano in sacrament meeting twice in Bonao, so it prepared me to play on Sunday. It was a good experience because it helped me realize that I can play better that I always allowed myself to think, but it was by no means perfect. But it gave me the desire to work hard and to develop that talent. 

I love you all! Have a wonderful week!

Hermana Jorden 

Buenas!

This Sunday I saw the hand of God. A few weeks ago, we were contacting a found a family. Before we even introduced ourselves, the wife told us to come in and sit down (that's how they are here). We starting teaching them and they weren't super interested, but they were willing to listen. They're so great and such a nice family. We've been the past two Sundays to visit them, and this Sunday was incredible. We had planned to go with the bishop and his wife, but I got a little lost on the way to their house, but luckily we saw Hermano Perez and he took us to their house. They still hadn't gotten back from the church, so Hermano Perez decided to come with us. The lesson before we had talked about the Book of Mormon and left it with them, and on Sunday my companion talked about the evidence of the Book of Mormon in the Bible. As I watched them, I saw them start to change. They started to really consider what we were saying. Then I spoke about the need to seek revelation. I shared a story in 1 Nephi 15 about how Laman and Lemuel didn't understand the words of their father, and Nephi told them they had to ask in order to know. I told them that they can't expect God to reveal the truthfulness of our message, they have to work! At the end of the lesson, I asked if they had any questions, and the father said "What do you want us to read this week?" I could see that he truly felt the desire to learn, and I have been praying so hard this week that he feels the Spirit as he searches. If he does it with real intent, I know he will feel it. Then we were going to visit another sister, but she hid from us, so Hermano Perez took us to a lady that he had baptized three years ago. Her name is Maria, and she is wonderful. She was so excited to go to church. She told us that earlier that day she had told her from that she was ready to go back to her church. We have a lesson with her tomorrow, and I can't wait to see how she progresses. The Lord really quided us on Sunday, it was a really special day for me. 

Hermana Jorden

with sandra

Constanza

The Lockharts

Hna Seenaraine and kelsea

Sisters meeting at La Vega

The District

Cheyen "I just love this girl"

Kelsea said this is the Vasquez family and they are incredible!

The Gabrieh family

Kelsea with Yamile

Navarrete the Polanco's baptism

Kelsea with Hna. Zegarra on exchanges

Kelsea and Hermana Anderson

Buenas!

Transfer day! My querida companera, Hermana Richardson, finished her mission! She's headed home! And my new companion is Hermana Funes from El Salvador. She's amazing. She just finished training after just barely being trained herself, and now she's a sister leader with me. I've heard great things about her, and I am so excited to work with her. I know we're going to see miracles during our time together. Chances are that she could be my last companion. That's just too weird to think about. 

Last Thursday, I went to Santo Domingo to renew my visa. All of the missionaries have been going, and we've all been so excited to go because they let us go to the temple and stay the night in the CCM. Well, guess what. The temple was closed. Such a bummer. But they at least let us go the the CCM to eat lunch before we headed back. It was a fun trip and I got to hang out with a bunch a missionaries that I didn't know before. 

On Friday we had our first conference with President Castillo. I'll admit that I was pretty sleepy during the meeting, but it was still so great. I just love seeing President Castillo. He is so energetic and ready to give this mission heaven. He's such an example to me, and I love talking to him. He makes everyone feel so special. His wife is fairly quiet, but she is trying to talk to all of the missionaries and get to know them. I just adore them.

Ever since I've arrived in Navarrete, we've been planning an open house with the ward. We printed out 800 invitations and got the ward all excited to invite their friends to the open house. We arrived late because we were in Santo Domingo, but when we got there elders told us that eight people had come. I felt so bad because the ward had worked so hard, but I have faith that something will come out of the few people that came. After all, my first open house in Jarabacoa is where we found Dieulifort!

Have a wonderful week!

Hermana Jorden

A Day in the DR:

Something I love about this country and will truly miss when I'm gone is how we shake hands. In the US, you have the basic right hand shake. But here, sometimes that's just too inconvenient. Sometimes you have something in your right hard or your hands are dirty, so you just stick out your elbow and have them shake it, or your stick out your wrist and have them shake it, or sometimes you just give them your left hand and you just awkwardly hold it for a few seconds. haha I love it so much. 

Buenas!
Wow, my life is so wonderful. I am so happy. And that's basically all I have to say today. Life is so incredibly beautiful and wonderful and happy. My companion is going home next week, and every time I start thinking about going home, it makes me feel sick. I don't want this to end! I'm determine to loving every single minute that I  have left.

On Friday we went to Concilio with President Castillo and all of the zone leaders and sister leaders. It was incredible. President Castillo has a vision, and I'm so excited to see the miracles that are going to take place here in the mission. I loved being with all of the leaders and hearing such amazing insights and ideas of how to help the missionaries. Being in a leadership position has really changed my perspective of the mission, and I love it. I've changed a lot of things, and I can't wait to see what happens.
I ran out of time again! P day just flies by! Talk to you next week!
Hermana Jorden

A Day in the DR:
So, I just love how the women do their hair here. I'm not really sure how to describe their hair, but I guess it's really coarse and thick. So all of the women go to the salon. Some women go every week, some every two weeks, and some almost every month. But they don't wash their hair in between. So, they go to the salon and get their hair washed and conditioned. They let the conditioner sit for a while, so the women walk around with their hair soaking wet on top of their head for a while, and then they go back to put rollers in their hair. Normally, we use rollers to curl our hair, but here they're used to straighten hair. I think they use them so that their hair dries flat and not so frizzy. So then they walk around with their hair in rollers while it dries. And it's such a normal thing here. Everyone goes to the store in their rollers. It's so funny. So then they head back to the salon once their hair dries and the hairdresser "passes the blower." They blowdry their hair straight, so they don't even use a straightener. And it looks great! So now these beautiful Dominican women have their nice hair, but it has to last a while, so they use tubies. When they go out to parties or to church, they have their hair down, but when they are at home or at the store or just walking around, they use these gorros (see picture of Hermana Taukafa). They wrap their hair like a turban and put on these knitted hats, and that's how we do it in the DR!