Buenas dias!
Nothing too exciting has been going on here in the DR. We have a new district leader, and a lot of new missionaries in the zone, so it´s been fun getting to know them this week. Today we went down to La Vega for P Day and watched movies and ate nachos. I really love spending time with the other missionaries. It´s so fun to meet people from all over the world.

On Saturday, we had an amazing lesson with Yudi. We were talking about the blessings of temples and the wonderful things we do inside. Hermana Hunsaker brought a magazine with pictures of temples to show her. We brought Moma along to teach with us, and she was just the person that Yudi needed. She shared her experiences of going to the temple, and Yudi couldn´t believe it. She said she wanted to go so bad! It was such a great lesson, and we told her that she can go, she just needs to take the steps towards baptism. We set a date for her baptism, and she was so excited to go to church and to get baptized. We sent a member over to her house Sunday morning to remind her, and she said that she would be there, but she never came. I´ll admit, I couldn´t believe it. I was pretty bummed. But, everyone has their agency. It´s one of the Lord´s blessings to us, but sometimes as a missionary I wish people didn´t have it! haha But, I know that Yudi will get baptized. It may not be for a long time, but she has felt the power of the Spirit and she knows it´s true. We just have to do our best and wait until she is ready.

A few days ago, we were visiting Yesenia, and she was about to eat dinner, so she insisted that we stay and eat with her. I sat down and looked into my soup, and there were little pieces of intestine floating around! It was a real moment of truth. I either had to tell her that I didn´t want to eat it, or I had to suck it up and stick it in my mouth. I put a piece on my spoon, and just held it in front of my face for a few minutes. I was so grateful that her son was entertaining everyone, because I was having a hard time. haha I am not an adventureous eater, and I didn´t know if I could put it in my mouth. But I did, and it was so chewy! I couldn´t even chew it up, so after a while, I just swallowed it. I ate a few more pieces, and then I saw something that looked like stomach. I didn´t even go there. I just hid those pieces under the bones. haha It was definitely not my favorite thing in the world, but I did it!

A Day in the DR:
There are a lot of peope here who are convinced that we are from the CIA. A few days ago, we were contacting, and we started talking to a few people on their front porches. The man was really friendly and started talking to us, but his mom leaned over and whispered ¨Be careful, they´re from the CIA.¨ She wouldn´t tell us her name. haha

Buenas!
Today I finished my second transfer in the field, which means I´m a trained missionary! Luckily, I still get to be with Hermana Hunsaker, which means that I get to kill her because this is her last transfer. Elder Galvez is still here, but Elder Kunzler was transferred to Cotui. We have a new disctrict leader, who I haven´t met yet, but he just stuck his head over my computer to say hi. He seems nice! hahaha

This weekend, the Elders had a wedding, and then a baptism the next day. It was so special. We had a celebration after the wedding at their house, and most of the branch came to celebrate. I think it meant a lot of them to have the whole branch there. They really helped them feel welcome and a part of the Jarabacoa family. They´re such a sweet couple. The next day was their baptism. The woman wasn´t able to be baptized because she hasn´t completely quit smoking (but she´s gone from 22 cigarettes a day to 2! She´s incredible!), but her husband and their two oldest children were. It was really special. They were so happy and they were so grateful to be baptized. Yesenia came to the baptism, and afterwards she said, Is that how I´m going to get baptized? Is the water cold?! haha I think she really enjoyed it.

We´re still working hard with the Young Women. They´re all so sweet, and we love spending time with them. One of them, who has been inactive for a while, has been coming to mutual and church and she´s going to seminary! How cool is that! This past Sunday we gave a lesson about the worth of a soul. A lot of the girls here are raised to believe that they are worthless, because that´s how the men here treat them. It´s so sad. So we want to help these sweet girls understand that they are important and special, that they are daughters of a King, and that they are princesses. It was a great lesson, and I really think it helped them understand. They loved our examples of Disney princesses, and they loved the handout we gave them on the temple on one side, and a picture of a princess on the other with the quote by President Uchtdorf that said ¨Happily Ever After isn´t something found only in fairy tales. You can have it! It´s your destiny! You just need to follow Heavenly Father´s plan.¨

This week, I was thinking about different times in high school when I tried sharing the gospel with friends or classmates. Almost always, they would say, ¨Wait, you don´t drink coffee? I could never do that!¨ haha I started thinking about the Word of Wisdom, and why we have it. It says that we shouldn´t take in coffee, tea, alcohol, tobacco, or illegal drugs. Then I thought about why we´re here on the earth, and our purpose. The reason that we are on earth is to grow and be perfected in Christ. Really, we are hear to be tested and to grow so that someday we can become like Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.   This life is meant for us to prepare ourselves for that day. We have to be clean and pure in order to inherit the kingdom of God. People wonder why we don´t drink coffee or alcohol. I can´t picture Heavenly Father starting his morning every day with a cup of coffee. We have to live a life free from the addictions of substances such as drugs or tea or coffee, in order to grow and become exalted beings. I want to testify to you that God lives, and that He sent us here to grow and become like Him, so that one day we can live with Him and become like him.  Our time on earth is to prepare to meet God. Please don´t let worldly things get in the way of your eternal progression. Always remember that God loves you and that you can ALWAYS repent and come unto Him.

A Day in the DR:
For some reason, every one here waters the street in front of their house. We asked one of the YW why they do it, but she´s not really sure. haha I understand why people water dirt roads, but the streets here are all paved. I´ve been trying to take pictures, but I´m not sneaky enough. Someday I´ll send one.

Have a wonderful week! I hope you are all enjoying the cold for me!
Love, Hermana Jorden

Pictures are on her blog

http://sisterkelseajorden.blogspot.com/

1st picture: teaching with Emily

2nd picture: Hna Hunsaker with Ashley
3rd picture: The treats Kelsea and Hna Hunsaker took to the YW activity they were in charge of.
4th: YW activity girls
5th: the giant moth on their door

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