Letter from 10-15-14

Buenos dias!

It´s been a great week here! We found Yudi and Yesenia! Yesenia has been really busy with a new job that she started, and she´s been pretty sick, so that´s why we haven´t been able to find her. But now things have slowed down, and she came to church on Sunday! She´s doing well and her fionce comes to the DR next month, and they´re hoping to get married pretty soon after! We found Yudi yesterday, and she was glad to see us! We were really worried that she didn´t want to talk to us anymore, but it´s just that she´s been really depressed because her boyfriend left for Germany for a while. But we found our little sheep and they´re doing good! We sure love those too.

So, the wedding didn´t happen yesterday. President Buret (branch president) felt that he was pushing them to get married and doing everything for them, so he´s letting them go at their pace so that it can be there decision. We talked to Juana this week and she still wants to get married, so we´re hoping that it will happen soon!

We are the first and second counselors in the Young Women presidency, and we´ve been working with the president to start having mutual activities. We had our first one this Saturday. It was called a P afternoon, and we had the girls wear their pijamas, we watched a pelicula (Johnny Lingo), we ate panqueques (pancakes) and had jugo de pera (pear), and palomitas (popcorns, it literally means little doves. how cute!). We were going to work on Personal Progress too, but we ran out of time. But a lot of girls came and they really enjoyed it. Our YW president loved it too, and now she´s really excited to start having mutual every week. She even planned for us to all visit one of the Young Women who hadn´t gone to church on Sunday. I really think mutual is going to help strenthen these Young Women´s testimonies and to help them become better friends!

A Day in the DR:

The funniest thing has been happening to me lately. Hermana Hunsaker and I will be walking in the streets, and a random man will come up to me with the biggest smile on his face, take my hand in his, and just smile at me. Sometimes he will say hello and ask how I am, and sometimes he just gives me the biggest, happiest smile, and then walks away! haha He won´t even look at Hermana Hunsaker! That´s happened three times! It´s so funny.

I hope everyone is doing well! Have a wonderful week!

Hermana Jorden

Hola amigos!

Wasn´t General Conference amazing? I was so excited to go. On our way there, Hermana Hunsaker told me that once her mom said ´General Conference is like Christmas for adults.´ That made me laugh because six months ago I would have said Ókay, General Conference is great and all, but better than Christmas? I don´t think so.´ But it´s so true! It felt just like Christmas. We counted down the days, thinking about it all the time. While we were there, I felt so happy and peaceful, and I was soaking up everything they said. I felt the power of these men who have been called of God to teach us and to guide us in these days. But my favorite part, just like Christmas, is afterwards. I sit down, thinking about what has just happened, what I have received, and I think about how I am going to use my new gifts, or the things I have learned, to make me happier and to help me improve my life. I loved listening to conference, and for anyone who didn´t have the opportunity to watch it, you can go to LDS.org and watch the talks or read and download them. These men are truly incredible, and I know that they have been called of God. And their words have the power to change your lives.

Other than that, we haven´t really had a lot going on. We haven´t been able to teach Yesenia or Yudi because they either aren´t home for our appointments, or they call and cancel. We haven´t been able to find our other investigators either. But, Juana Vargas finally found all of the papers that she needs to get married! They´re getting married on Tuesday. We´re so excited! We´ve been working with her on that for a few months. She is ´married´ to a less active, and they have five kids. We´re so excited that they finally are able to get married! 

Today, we had a birthday party in La Vega for Hermana Fagersten. It was so fun. She´s such an awesome lady. Her and Elder Fagersten are like the parents of our zone. We played volleyball and pin the nametag on the missionary. haha And she made us delicious food and cake. We have a fun zone, and I always love spending time with them. 

A Day in the DR:

The people here are always doing things that make me laugh, but something funny is that they all eat cough drops like candy. They buy bags of them. Someone on the guagua gave some to us today. At least we know that they all have smooth throats here! 

I love you all and thank you so much for your support and prayers! Have a wonderful week! And always remember that Heavenly Father loves you and wants to help you with anything you are going through. All you need to do is ask.

Love,

Hermana Jorden

Hola hola! 

It´s been a great week here in Jarabacoa! Unfortunately, we didn´t have any investigators in sacrament meeting, which was really sad. And we haven´t been able to teach Yudi or Yesenia in a while because they always have to cancel or they aren´t home. They both know it´s true, they just aren´t going to church. It´s been really hard because they are both progressing and learning, but they just aren´t taking the step to go to church. And they need the blessings that come from attending church. We´ve done all we can to help them, but now it´s up to them to take that step and continue progressing. We pray for them, and we´re trying to teach them. I just hope that we can help them realize just how important it really is to go to church and to strengthen their testimonies.

BUT, Christina came to church! Her husband and two young daughters are faithful members of the church, but she got baptized before they got married, and has never really been an active member. She feels like she was forced into being baptized, and that she never gained her own testimony. It´s really sad. We´ve been visiting her family and trying to make her feel loved, and trying to help her understand how much her Heavenly Father loves her. She came to the district conference that we had in La Vega, and this Sunday she came to sacrament meeting! It was so awesome, and she said that she´s going to go to General Conference on Sunday. On Monday we had a Family Home Evening with her family, and she started to open up to us. She´s pretty quiet and conserved, but she made great comments about the lesson we taught about gratitude. It´s so amazing to see that changes that can happen with the gospel in our lives. The best part of that lesson, though, is that afterwards, I was going around giving Christina and her daughters kisses on the cheek, and when I got to Hermano Lopez, I almost did the same thing! haha That was a little embarassing! We all had a good laugh about that. Oops! 

This Monday, we had exchanges with the Sister Leaders. I got to go with Hermana Loarca, from Guatemala. She´s an incredible missionary. I loved teaching with her and I told her that someday I hope to be able to teach just like her. While we were teaching together, we went to the house of a less active in our branch. We stood outside and said ¨Saludos!¨ She greeted us back, so we walked inside. When we walked in, there was an old man sitting there. We asked in Yanniris was home, and he said ¨No, I just got here, and there´s nobody here. I´m just waiting for someone to get back.¨ While he was talking to us, I peeked into the kitchen and saw her crouched behind the table! haha I just thought it was so funny because she had answered us when we were standing outside! haha The people here are so funny. But I loved going on exchanges, because I got to see how much Spanish I really know! We were in my area, so I had to take charge. Normally I kind of lean on Hna Hunsaker to talk to people, but it was an awesome chance for me to use what I know! And it turns out that I know a lot! I was able to have conversations with all of the people we taught and to teach the lessons. And while we were waiting at Yesenia´s for her to come home, Hna Loarca and I had a heart felt conversation, for 40 minutes! And I understood all of it! It was so awesome. Okay, so she´s a lot easier to understand because she´s from Guatemala, but at least I´m learning! 

Something I forgot to mention last week, is that while we were at the branch activity, I was playing the piano with a little girl in the branch. While I was playing, I felt something fall in my shirt, and when I looked up, Ismael was looking at me with a smile on his face. And then I realized. He had thrown a cockroach down my shirt! I jumped up at starting freaking out! I was laughing and crying, and Hna Hunsaker and I ran to the bathroom to get it out. I was trying to laugh about it, but I´ll be honest, those were real tears. haha

I LOVED the Women´s Meeting this past weekend. We watched it with the branch in Spanish, so I didn´t really understand any of it, but I love the feeling and the atmosphere of General Conference. We got their early, so we sat in the chapel and watched the Mormon Tablernacle Choir sing. I didn´t realize how important music is to me until we watched them. Listening to them, honestly, filled my soul. I felt so emotional just listening to the beautiful harmonies and instruments. Music has always been a big part of my life, but I never realized just how much it means to me. I loved every second of it. On Monday, Hermana Loarca and I were talking about having a relationship with Jesus Christ. I told her that sometimes it´s hard for me to recognize my relationship with him. She told me that while we were singing hymns in the lessons, she could feel my love for the Savior. She helped me realize that that is how I express my love for Him. I´ve never been good at expressing myself through words, and I think that that really is the way that I show my love. I´m so glad that she helped me realize that, and now I´m going to sing until everyone knows what this gospel means to me! 

A Day in the DR:

A few weeks ago, the senior couple in our zone, the Fagersten´s, were driving us to the zone meeting, and they told us that, after their mission, they were thinking about making a video game about the DR called Junkyard Driving. haha The people here are crazy drivers! Sometimes I do feel like I´m in a video game, and that everyone is trying to hit us! haha Everyone here drives motorcycles, and they never stop at traffic lights or stop signs. And they´re always carrying something crazy on their bikes, like a family of 5 or a dresser, or they´re dragging 20 foot long poles behind him. haha I´m so glad that this isn´t a driving mission!

I hope you´re all doing well! Have a wonderful week!

Love, Hermana Jorden

Saludos!

It´s been a pretty normal week here in the Dominican Republic. Not much to report.

Unfortunately, we had another week of no investigators attending church. But, after talking to Yesenia, we found of that the first time someone had died that day, and the second week her son was sick. So still is still able to go 3 more weeks and then be baptized October 18! She´s so great! We got to talk to her fionse on the phone this week while we were teaching her. He works in the temple in Manhattan, and he´s been a member of a mission presidency, although he´s never served a mission. When I was talking to him on the phone, he asked ¨The important question is, is she someone that I should be with in the celestial kingdom?¨I said Äbsolutely! Well, I mean, that´s your decision. But we think she´s great! haha We´re excited for their wedding in November! The cool thing is, members can go through the temple a year after their baptism, so next year I could be able to go with them to the temple for there sealing. That would be such an amazing experience!

Everything has been going well with Yudi, other than the fact that she isn´t going to church! She told us this week that she was all ready to go at 8 30, but then her father came and needed her help. So I really hope that she can go this week. We´ve almost taught her all of the discussions, she just needs to go to church! When we taught her on Monday, she told us about this experience that she had where she felt prompted to visit her ex husband´s sister, and she did and it turns out that she was locked out of her house, so Yudi was able to help her. It was cool for her to see the power of the Holy Ghost and to have that experience. We sure love that lady!

A Day in the DR:

Last week, somebody that lived on a street we walk on daily died, and I learned a lot about Dominican funerals. After someone dies, they prepare the body and have a viewing in the house. They put up a white flag with a black cross. I´m not sure how long the body is in the house, but people sit outside and mourn for 7 days! Every time we passed, there were tons of people just sitting outside wearing dark colors. Last year, Hermana Hunsaker had an investigator that died, so she told me that the people just scream and cry and yell. She said it was a terrible experience. Luckily, every time we passed by the funeral, they were all just sitting there. So I´m not sure when they bury the body, but the cemetaries are just like big out of the ground shelves. So they put the bodies in there, and after 7 years they take them out. But nobody knows what they do with the bones after that. It was really interesting to learn, and I sure hope I never have to attend one here. But it´s really fun to learn about the culture here.

I hope you all have a great week! I love you all so much! 

Love, Hermana Jorden

Pictures from a Zone Activity today.

Hola amigos y familia!

It´s been a pretty great week here! 

This week was district conference and our mission conference with President Douglas. So that means we went to La Vega four times this week! La Vega is where the rest of our zone is, so we take a bus down the mountain to get there. But the conference we had with the Douglas was so great. I have the best mission president in the world. I respect President Douglas so much. He´s so wise and he always knows exactly what his missionaries need. He always gives the missionaries chances to prove themselves. And his wife is an amazing lady. She´s so persistent and motivated, and I really look up to her. She started a charity called Rising Star Outreach, that helps people with leprosy in India. She told us a few stories at the conference, and they were incredible. She´s amazing. I feel so blessed to have such wonderful leaders and to know that they can help me with anything. 

I forgot to mention this last week, but I finished my first transfer with Hermana Hunsaker last week! Training lasts for two transfers, so I´ll be with her for at least another transfer (6 weeks), but then I might be transferred to another area. If I do, there´s a good chance that I won´t be able to write because I´ll be traveling. But I´ve really enjoyed working with Hermana Hunsaker. We´ve become great friends, and we have a lot of fun together.

Today we had a zone activity here in Jarabacoa. We went to Dajaos (I just figured out that that´s the real name. We all thought it was called The House haha). But it´s a couple who live up in the mountains who are trying to teach about reforestation. They live in a beautiful forest, so we got to walk around and go to a small waterfall and pick raspberries, and then they fed us a delicious lunch. And then all 18 of us rode 40 minutes down the mountain in a tiny tiny truck. I´m so surpised we actually fit! But that´s how we roll here in the Dominican Republic. The pictures I sent are pictures we took today while we were up there. 

Sadly, Yudi and Yesenia didn´t come to church this week. Which means we have to start all over with them! Which is such a bummer, because if I get transferred in 5 weeks, I won´t be able to go to their baptism. And every time we´ve gone to their houses for appointments, they aren´t home. We haven´t visited either of them in over a week. It´s really sad, and I hope that tomorrow they will both be home.

I just want you to all know how much I appreciate and love you. But more importantly, I want each of you to know just how much your Heavenly Father loves you. He loves you so much. You are literally His child. And He cares about you. He wants to hear from you. Talk to Him. The power of prayer is real. He is listening, and if you come unto Him in prayer, He will bless you. He will always love you. No matter what you´ve done in your life. And if you pray and repent of your sins, through the power of the Atonement, you can be forgiven of your sins. What a blessing! I hope that all of you will use the Atonement in your lives to become clean through the blood of the Lamb, because Jesus Christ suffered for you. You can always go to Him, because He loves you with an infinite and unwavering love. When you feel alone, He is there. Always remember that you are never alone. 

A Day in the DR:

This week, our apartment flooded. At first it was just a little bit, so we would mop it up, leave, and then come back to a little more. But the past couple of days, we´ve had a lake in our house! haha So yesterday we talked to the man who lives downstairs, and he replaced our water heater today. So hopefully that ends that! 

Kelsea said, "Terrible picture, but this was at Ismael, President Buret´s son´s birthday party"