Feliz dia del pavo

Happy day of the turkey everyone :) haha or in English, Happy Thanksgiving!! This week is a great week to take a little time to remember then blessing we have in our life! 

hmm.... well, i just had to take this picture for my future kids when one day they say "wow mom, you werent able to use facebook on your mission?"  Capture the moment.

It was interesting what i heard from someone last night... We were knocking doors last night to reach our goal of talking to 70 new people this week(and the first time ever on my mission we accomplished it!!) 1 man we talked to last night expressed his gratitude for the things that he has in his life, especially the savior. he said to us "i am grateful for so many other things, i could talk to you all day about what i am grateful for!" WE truly are a blessed generation to have so many things in our life today! As this week is here me and thousands of other missionaries will being using Facebook as a daily thing.. no not to get distracted about things at home, but to help those at home and those where we are serving. I am super excited to be apart of all these crazy changes!!!!! This is an amazing time.... Just as The Lord promised in Doctrine and Covenants 88:73 "Behold I will hasten my work in its time." That time is now. It is a blessing to be here on the earth, we all agreed to come down at this time to help our brothers and sister, to lift and strengthen each other! Another commandment that was given in Doctrine and Covenants 88: 77 "and I give unto you a commandment that you shall teach one another the doctrine of the kingdom." I don't think we realize all these other commandments that God has revealed to us through the restoration of the gospel! ahh the scriptures are so true!!!! I can never read enough of them! We must teach our friends, family, neighbors, strangers, everyone! they must know about this gospel and what they can have!

aww my wonderful family sent me a box of
"Christmas junk." hahaha i love it all!
i already decorated!

Well the time is quickly passing here and i cant pause it :/ I am so grateful to be here, I actually enjoy being busy for 16 hours of the day, every day, being out in the cold freezing, but being filled inside with the spirit :) I love talking to people about Jesus Christ, our Savior!! I love expressing my love and gratitude for him! even when people don't accept our message of the TRUE restored gospel at least we can all agree about the Savior.  

well we have had some great miracles this week :) since my companion is a sister training leader and she has to go on exchanges with other sisters a lot, i get to do it with her :) so this week i got to be with my old companion Hermana V in her new area!!! it was so great and fun :) i also brought out an english sister with me to my spanish area. we talked with 24 new people that day and taught 4 lessons! my brain was so full i felt like my head was about to fall off! it was an amazing week here in Vancouver Washington :)

My little living space!

Les amamo muchisimo! que tengan un feliz semana. Toman este tiempo el jueves para recordar de sus bendicones!  (dont judge my spanish, i cant spell or speak perfectly! haha poco a poco :) - Hermana Kelsey Jaeger

New companion, New area.... Again

Sending some love to all

What a great week :) Happy Birthday to my amazing father!!! I love you dad :) Hermana R is great!!! This is both our first time not training, so we are enjoying that!! There is so much excitement here in the Spanish Branch, especially to have a ton of baptisms this month. Ojala! we are praying to have a miracle this transfer! There are tons of people who we know are ready. :)

Tuesday was fun, there are two new Hermanas in the mission, so my comp and I got to take one out for the night.. it was such an amazing night, we had 1 OYM (open your mouth) that is where you talk to someone about the gospel! this guy was deaf so we communicated with him on a paper, got his information and he was so excited, we passed him on to the ASL sisters :) that night we also taught an older couple and it was such an amazing lesson, it was the first visit with them and we set the standards why we are here teaching them... they became two new investigators :) woohoo, the new missionaries bring so much success!

Doing the "Baptism" sign in sign-language.

Well the time with Hermana R is already going by fast :) she is an awesome missionary and I am so blessed to have her as my companion! we both got doubled into our area, but still working with the Spanish branch, which is a blessing. the hard part is there were no appointments set for us to teach the people here and this area had 20 investigators in the area book... or so we thought, as we went to visit some of them this week we realized  that none of these people have a desire to change.. no one is progressing! we decided to clean through and see who truly wants this! we have had some amazing success in discerning who is interested and who is not. with that saying.... we got a new investigator at the last minute last night!!!!! it is an amazing and adorable part-member family. they have come to church before, and they are okay with us coming over and teaching the whole family :)  yay!! we felt such a special spirit with this family, we hope this is the baptism we are here for!

Akaward speed limit sign

the other night we were walking on the street at 8:30pm, we needed people to talk to! so we found these 2 homeless men.. both named D, D 1 wasn't a very happy guy, but D 2 was! D 1 was mad at God and had heard false things about Joseph Smith, we tried to correct what he had heard, but he wasn't interested... meanwhile, D 2 was so interested and so grateful for the things God has given to him in his life! I'm glad I listened to the prompting to give him a Book of Mormon, because he gladly accepted it :) and I bore my testimony to him of how no matter what we have in life, big or small, the book of Mormon will fill our heart and soul and teach us of truth! :)

it is amazing to me to see how hard hearted people are and how some are so open... I have seen a lot so far on my mission and it has changed how I talk to people. just the other night we were visiting with a lady who recently started coming back to church. as I listened to her and talked with her, I was touched and started crying!  its amazing and beautiful when people go down a path but then stop and analyze where they are... they see what they need to fix and they fix it, they see how good the Lord has been to them even though they never acknowledged him.. its amazing :) its amazing how much the Lord loves us so much! he continually wants us to have happiness in this life!!

it has been just a great week! hahahaha we were talking to a funny guy and he burped super loud and acted like it was nothing, then he continued on to talking about how he is like a cat with 9 lives... hahahaha it was super interesting!

awesome note, remember the guy B and how we found him? walking outside, listened to the prompting to cross the street and talk to him at the bus stop.. he then came to church 2 times, has been reading in the book of Mormon and the English elders are now teaching him.. well the elders said he is getting baptized December 8th! woohoo!!!

there are 29 missionaries in our stake here in Vancouver, its pretty crazy... we are all going to play soccer today for pday!

Thank you to a sister from the ward who always sends me talks to read, I have been reading and realizing new things :) thanks!!!

 "Going on a mission teaches you to live the law of consecration."

 "the mission will be what you make it, it will be what you decide."

 "we are the Lords little group of warriors in this tiny corner of the US.... we matter to Him!"

the time is here, and its slipping out of my hands.... I'm hanging on and changing now to do more!!!

Love you all <3 Hermana Kelsey Jaeger

Half Way/Hump Day!!!!!!!

I will be coming home in July!  So I'm half way!  Happy "Hump" day! Yes, I look worried.

Spanish District at Super Taco.  We pretty much eat here every week!
I love Mexican food!

Little time to email, ahh! well transfers are this week, I am going to be companions with Hermana R who came out 3 months before me. we will still be in the V branch but we will double in and cover a different area! so I will be teaching new people :)

well, we taught some great lessons this week and had some cool experiences... well duh, of course. haha I just cant remember much of what happened this week. We have been teaching someone named A, and she finally decided that she is going to get married and baptized!! that's about all the exciting news.. oh yeah I forgot to mention.... This month we will start using Facebook, and in January we will be 1 of 30 missions that will start using IPads.. What what!!! yeah, we are pretty lucky :)

well we had sisters conference this week, it was great! lots of uplifting things were said, but also more pressure to be better! its tough when "our purpose as missionaries is to invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the holy ghost, and enduring to the end." with teaching people I cant ever get past "our purpose as missionaries is to..."

Sister D & Sister B her family works in the San Diego temple too

We taught some very strong religious Jehovah witnesses last night... wow, I have really bad anxiety because I was shaking and my stomach was so tight!! its not that I was afraid of them, it was that I felt so bad that their hearts are so hard and they were only trying to prove us wrong... we had to patiently sit their, listen, and when they were finished we would ask them a question and testify. it was so hard and sad! I imagine that is how the Savior felt when he was ministering to some of the people. It was a cool experience though because towards the end I realized I have such a strong testimony of this resorted gospel!! whether I can give an answer to every question someone asks me, it doesn't matter.. what matters is what I feel and that I can testify to allow the spirit to let them feel that it is real!

My reflection

Here are some cool things I have learned this week that I want to share with you all:

-whenever we are going through a tough time we need to think and ask Heavenly Father "what am I supposed to learn from this?" if you miss the learning opportunity of a trial then you will never grow!

-for all missionaries!! take this mission into your marriage, serve your mission for the future, your family :)

-The Lord saves his best missionaries to sail the uncharted waters.

-work on becoming more like the savior, no one else!

-A baptizing missionary is how you think, pray and work.. not who is in the water.

-success is not measured by how many baptisms you have, but how many lives you helped change :)

-When Satan was cast out, the war didn't end.. it was just transferred to here.

-love is what you have been through together.. a testimony is the same

-pay your tithing with faith, not with money.

-your body is a temple, clean and maintain it.. your body is a gift from God!

Hermana M & I planning ~ Thanks for the Thanksgiving Box!

Pretty much the only mail I get ... Transfer letters! j/k

it was a great week :) I love you all so much!

Endure to the End

Our Awesome Spanish District!!

Well hellooooo everyone!!!!  It has been an interesting week!! I have never felt myself change so much in such a short amount of time!!! I am interested to see what my brain spits out onto the keyboard to type home this week... haha lets see how this email goes!   I realized I talk so much about my investigators in my emails and not so much about what I am experiencing!!  so that is my email this week :)

well this email is a little more personal. while I have the desires to serve a mission, for the past 8 months some times its very difficult... so many things built up for 8 months and that I feel like I am fighting against myself! we had interviews with President Taylor this week and after talking with him I just felt a huge relief and an untangle from my jumbled mind! I cant wait to write my whole story down of my life from the past year.... so much of the ups and downs I cant even express! President Taylor said he said he can see me radiating and he feels of my sweet spirit... I wrote a whole page of things we talked about :) I still don't understand to this day of how or why I am here on a mission... Through the atonement of Jesus Christ, I understand, is how I am enduring my mission! but I don't understand why me, why he has allowed and helped me to stay out here on a mission! I am so grateful for this. I have been so hard on myself the past 8 months because after all that I have been through. I know he needs me here, I know I want to be here.. who wouldn't want to serve the lord!? 

I always think of the scripture we recite every day in Spanish, Doctrine and Covenants 4... "if ye have desires to serve God; ye are called to the work." I have desires to serve him! He knows that. my heart is right, my spirit is right... only half way into my mission, I still have time to change and to serve him will all my heart, with all my might, and with all my strength! This week I seriously took to heart what every missionary needs to hear "the Lord needs you... WE need you." its so true, after all that has been said and done. How great and glorious the day will be when he comes again! I want to find those that are ready, I want them to know! like I've always heard, WE, as missionaries, must be the lords true investigators. the greatest success we can have on a mission is truly converting ourselves and I know I will leave my mission at least doing that!  I love how President said to me "remember why you came out and why you are still here.. you and your sister will have a joyful reunion together!" Hermana Jaeger and Elder Jaeger, I am out here still because of you two.. know that you two have left a huge impact on me and that is why I am still here... I wouldn't want to serve a full mission without you two. and what a BLESSING it is to be serving with two of my siblings... I know the Lord is blessing my family so much! I know this opportunity to be here is the biggest blessing I can have.. I will endure till the end, I promise! I will serve faithful and with love, doing all that I can to leave my mission with no regrets.. truly! I know I am called to serve, I know The Lord needs me here, or else I would have gone home that first week in the MTC.. I think of how far I have come and how much more I can go! EVERYONE needs to keep doing His work, He TRULY needs us ALL!

Doctrine and Covenants 34: 4-6 "and blessed are you because you have believed; and more blessed are you because you are called of me to preach my gospel. To lift up your voice as with the sound of a trump, both long and loud, and cry repentance unto a crooked and perverse generation, preparing the way of the Lord for his second coming."

now, about the work here.. its slowly going! haha I think that's what every missionary says, or else its just booming(in the words of my sister serving in Texas!) we just have to be patient and keep working :) we have walked sooo much this week... literally more that I walk at Disneyland! HAHA we had many little miracles this week and we were able to talk and meet and teach people, not as many as we had hoped, but again.. numbers don't reflect effort! it was still a great week :) a great week of food and walking and talking!

cool fact, as we were driving to a member who lives 45 minutes from Vancouver he told us and pointed to where part of the Twilight movie was filmed.... right on the side of where we were driving! its in Kelso/Long View Washington.. its sooo gorgeous, but of course, cloudy :) haha I can not wait to come back up here and just drive everywhere!!!!!

Halloween was probably the highlight of the week, we are with the M from the branch. we first had to make a mask to wear at dinner.. then at dinner we ate food as a game, we ate for like an hour! haah as seen in the picture I had to eat my spaghetti with a giant spoon! it was such a  fun night! the work is great :)

Halloween was the best!  Dinner was a game.
Yep, I ate with this big spoon and was so full!  

Love you all so much, I hope you have a wonderful week. take care!

<3 Hermana Kelsey Jaeger