longest week, shortest year

WHAT!!!!! dang its been a super long week, I feel like I haven't talked to you all since last year ;) ahhh, okay that joke is old. haha but what the heck, I come home this summer... eeek! well im excited haha. my mission has been amazing so far!

Brrr it's cold here in Vancouver Washington.  Comp Hermana R & I.

lets see if I can even update you all on anything.. its been a crazy week! well like I mentioned we are supposed to have a baptism this week... as of right now we don't know if that will happen.. Satan is working so hard on our investigators, the cute little girls we are teaching are super sick :/ we are praying so hard for a miracle! if not this weekend, then next weekend for sure :)

Monday we had a funny moment... we ran into a part member family in Winco who are in our branch here, but they are from Chile.. any way the husband isn't a member and so we were giving hugs to all the girls and then he gave me a hug and a fat kiss on my cheek HAHA I didn't know what to do!!! I was so embarrassed, he didn't know!! hahahaha so oops. later that night we were tracting and found an old guy from Ukraine, he spoke little English.. all he could say was a couple words.. he was so proud of what we are doing that he hugged us too. BAHAHA trust me, I try so hard to extend my hand for a hand shake, but they go in for a hug, its awkward when they don't understand English either!! well we continued tracting and found a cute English lady, we introduced who we were and she said "yeah I know..(smiling)" we said "Oh how did you know?!" she responded "I see your tag" we said "oh awesome!! so you speak Spanish!?" she said "no... I speak oh man what is it(mumbling to herself) well its not Russian.. OH its Mexican, I speak Mexican!" HAHAH we started laughing and responded "oh really? what do you know how to say?" she said "hola...." and that was it hahahahahahah. it made my night, now I don't feel too much like a gringa ;)

Luggage over the head brings good luck in travel  ~  Representing California

Tuesday, new years eve!!!! well last year I spent the night dancing and having fun.... this year I spent it teaching people and sleeping... hmm... but ill share with you what we did in between that :) hahaha we had district meeting, taught an investigator, then worked and had dinner with members... I ate cabeza be vaca... yes, cow head. it tasted just like beef. and later that night a member form el Salvador made some bomb tamalies and gave us some! so we did a Hispanic tradition. we got a suitcase and ran around the block, holding it over our head!! apparently it brings more opportunities to travel, we thought it was perfect since me and my comp both go home this year.. well we decided to make it more fun and dress up crazy haha. then we ate cheesecake and called it a night. we set the alarm to wake up at midnight and scream and bang pots together.. but I slept through that, my comp got up, blasted some church music and did it!! but I was knocked out and didn't hear a thing! hahaha so she just went back to sleep.

My New Years goals

Wednesday, new years day.. 2014!! I finished reading Doctrine and Covenants! awesome stuff :) we had no appointments set this day.. we did our weekly planning and then went out for the day.. by the end of the night we taught 3 lessons, one with a member present, and we got our oyms(talking with new people) and many other goals. it was a great day :) we ate delicious Colombian food with the whole family of the 2 little girls that we are teaching, the G/A family.

Thursday I started the day on exchanges with an English sister. then got back with my comp. we met a funny old guy who was telling us how he is a ladies man.. hahahaah it was hilarious! we had such an amazing lesson with the family we have been teaching for a while, J and R. we brought the garcias along.. they are all from the same country, and we shared a powerful Mormon message about the temple dedication in El Salvador... which is where they are all from!! it was amazing!! J accepted to be baptized on January 25th!!!! we will hopefully help her reach this goal :)

Friday i was on exchanges in my area with an English sister. we worked hard even though our number didn't show it. but that's okay :) we went to the library to do facebook and i overheard someones phone go off... their ring tone was a song from imagine dragons. the same ring tone i had at home. gah satan is putting things in my path to make me "trunky"(counting down the days to go home) haha oops.

Saturday I was on exchanges with an English sister in Rainer, a small little town. such a beautiful area, it reminded me of Hood River! we had a full day teaching english people. here is an amazing experience we had: a while ago this sister and her companion had met a guy that spoke Spanish, she felt impressed for us to visit him so that i could talk to him. she couldn't remember where he lived. so we parked the car and prayed.... we then drove a little bit. we got out and started walking and felt impressed to go to this home, the door was open and all we could see were stairs. she wasn't sure if we should go in, but i just did anyway haha. i walked up the stairs and realized that there were 3 different doors, it was like a little apartment. we knocked the first door and lone behold, we found him!! Alejandro :) i started talking to him and ended up having a 30 minute lesson with him outside!!! ALL Spanish and all by myself! well i totally knew the spirit had put into my mouth the things to say because i was talking so fast and after that i couldn't remember what i said haha. but it as really cool, he is form El Salvador and he has a bible that missionaries gave him in his country! he still had it :) so i shared with him about the Book of Mormon and gave it to him. he was super excited and interested to read it, and wants to eventually come to church! it was an amazing miracle and was all done by the spirit :)

Bed for a queen!

sunday was again another amazing day. we didn't know if anyone was going to come to church. well we got out of our meeting and we had a voicemail from J! she said she wanted a ride to go to church! so we quickly drove over there.. she wasn't home and she doesn't have her own cellphone, but her husband said she was walking to the store.. we didn't know where, but me and the member i drove with felt impressed to drive till we could find her! we went a back road and found her walking, all dressed in her church clothes. i saw her and got out! gave her a big hug and she started crying.... i cant speak perfect Spanish so i didn't know what was wrong or how to help her. i just hugged her and told her i loved her... she was having a rough morning and just wanted to go to church with us! we missionaries and the members in the branch and the only people she knows here in Vancouver. she needed someone to talk to and she needed something uplifting, and church yesterday as so spiritual and truly for her :) ah it was a great sunday meeting! for dinner we had some more delicious Colombian food, haha my favorite!!! we also achieved our goal of talking to 10 new people every day for the week!! yay! we talked to 78 new people this week about the church and invited them all to do something! we never see the fruits of our labors, but we are planting so many seeds.

i truly love this gospel and i love these, people, my brothers and sisters! this is truly a hard work, so many people are prepared and now satan is trying even harder to stop Gods work... but he will never be able to!!! we are working even harder, i want to cry every day because we work so hard to help these people find the TRUE happiness they are searching for. i wont stop, ever!! i love you all, hurrah for this new year!! so many things will happen! don't give up, keep to your goals you have set!! 

Success is starting to be seen

Tracked into a member who gave us some sweet leathermans (pocket knives) haha

Well what an amazing week it was here!!! I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and hope you will all have a safe and excellent new year!! well here was my week:

Monday we bought some gifts to do a secret santa drop off for these two families we are teaching :) we had a huge miracle happen tonight... there is a family in the branch that have been taking their nieces to church for a while.. we got a call on Monday to start teaching them, they want to be baptized... WHAT!!! so we went over that night and taught the two girls. They want to be baptized for sure!! we also taught S tonight, another one who is on date for baptism.. we taught about the Sabbath day and Hermana M taught her something cool.. that yes sunday is our day of rest, but when we go out and buy things we are making other people work and they don't get to rest... that made so much sense to S and she committed to keep it! we got a sad call tonight, since we are in a trio President needs Hermana M to be transferred somewhere else... sad day :/

Tuesday, Christmas Eve! we had a district meeting today then ate at Super Taco!!! delicious place we eat at every week! we had another lesson with the two little girls :) and we committed them to be baptized!! we asked them to choose a date, and to decide the girls played rock-paper-scissors.. hahaha that has never happened before!!! they chose January 11th.... so yes, WE ARE HAVING A BPATISM ON JANUARY 11th!!! it will be amazing :) this night we were at a little music program, we had a friend on his way but he got into a car crash.. he doesn't speak English so we had to go help him translate for the cop and people.. it was super funny when the cop came.. he pulled up in his car, forgot to put it in park, and started getting out.. then the car started rolling and he started shouting bad words and jumped back in the car to stop it.. HAHAHA my companion and I looked at each other shocked and had to laugh!!! it was a funny night. we ate dinner with our branch president and his family :)

Christmas Eve with Hermana M  ~  Christmas PJ'S

wendesday, Christmas day!!!! I got to Skype home for an hour!! and ash was skyping home at the same time!! so I got to see my missionary sister through Skype :D then my brother skyped home later. it was a great start to the day! hahaa my family is still the same, not a surprise my dad was cooking bacon while i was skyping home... haha well we ate dinner with a hilarious family from the branch :) tons of yummy food!! then we went over to visit a family that we are teaching! they are so amazing!! she made us dinner and we played a game :0 it was a fun and food filled day! it was such an amazing Christmas!

Playing games and eating with this amazing family

thrusday we taught the two girls again :) the for sure age getting baptized!! they talked to their parents and they said it is okay! woohoo!!! I love teaching young kids... the 8 year old said "yeah we need to follow Christ and be baptized so that we can live with him. because if we don't then we have to live with santa... I mean satan! darn, I always confuse them." hahahaha it was soo cute :) so Hermana M is now companions with my old companion Hermana V... my two babies that I trained are now serving together! its pretty cool :)

A & G family made us gingerbread men...& they were good! W/comp Hermana R

Friday, hit my 10 month mark! what the heck!! we talked to some more people today, obviously haha.

Saturday ... just a long day. we had appointments set but they all fell through! but we kept our day busy and talked to people... I have to say its pretty nice with only 2 of us living in an apartment, because now for the first time ever in my life, I get my own bathroom! ahh its nice :)

sunday was awesome!!!! the family we have been teaching for a while, that we were with on Christmas, came to church again :) woohoo!!!!! success is starting to be seen :) I am so happy!! good or bad I love my mission!

ahhh just what an amazing week!!!!!!!!! never give up on people, teach and talk to everyone!!! miracles come out of nowhere, we are working so hard and now we are having a baptism from someone we didn't even find ourselves. many blessings :)

day 297, McJamos in a trio for a transfer

Well transfers are this week... I will be staying with Hermana R, and coming to us is Hermana M. We will be in a trio!!! WOOHOO :) back with my baby who I trained :) we will be together for 7 weeks, and we will be combining areas... sooo we will be covering over all of Vancouver.. Its HUGE!!! It will be an awesome transfer! we are praying and working to have some baptisms!!! this will be a busy transfer :) I am excited to continue teaching the people we have been working with here, but excited I also get to work with the people in my previous area. this is a huge blessing! fun fact... something has happened to me every transfer of my mission so far... hopefully that doesn't change ;)

Me, Hermana M & Hermana R

well it was a fantastic week,

Monday night last week the elders came with us to give one of our investigators, S, a blessing of comfort. it was awesome, we had a little visit and lesson with her.. then we went out side and... it was snowing!!! my favorite woohoo. I was so happy, I love the snow!

Tuesday I was on exchanges with Hermana P and she came to my area, it was fun and awesome to be with her again! we taught S about justice and mercy, it was a cool lesson! she accepted a date for baptism, January 11th!!!!!! she is so prepared, and she said she craves the gospel. she loves when we visit her and teach her, she thinks about it all the time! the spirit was so strong in that lesson and I was like on the edge of the couch testifying to her and she was glowing with the spirit :)

Wednesday we went to go contact a referral but they didn't live their any more, so we decided to knock a couple of doors... nada. we tracted into a guy who got mad and said no soliciting(even though we aren't soliciting) and as we walked around the corner he was there by the trashcan, so we turned and walked a different way.. then we knocked the door farthest away, and surprise, a Spanish speaking family!!! they just moved here 3 months ago from salt lake city and they aren't members.. WHAT!!! we got so excited!!!

Thursday we taught a lesson to a part-member English/Spanish family, we brought with us a member. it was such an interesting lesson... the family had their grandpa visiting and he was so funny, but we couldn't teach because he loved to talk! it was an interesting lesson to say the least hahaha it was tough because the family wanted to learn so bad!! next time we will pray for a better lesson.

Friday  we listened to Elder Corbridge, from the area 70 speak to us... I took notes and what I got out of that was to teach people and not just lessons. awesome too this night the lady we taught 2 weeks ago in McDonalds is on date for baptism on jaunary 25th, woohoo! we had some cool miracles this night tracting and finding awesome families!!

Saturday the elders had a baptism so we brought investigators! a family that we are teaching are related to the lady who got baptized, so it was cool :)

Sunday was awesome! S came to church with her kids and they loved it!! they stayed all 3 hours and it was great :) she understood most things and has a couple questions we are going by tomorrow to answer and teach, pray for us because this she is so ready!!!

Zone P-day

well yes, it was a great week of awkward, funny, and sad moments. also many miracles, as always! I am so grateful to be a missionary at this time in this area! it will be a great transfer with great miracles to come! love you all, feliz navidad! Ill see my family next week on Skype!!

awkward OYM's for the week:

1. (knock knock)

"hi whats your name!?"

"uhh, Chris..."
"wel Hi, im Sister Jaeger and we are missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints! and we are here knocking doors, sharing a message about Jesus Christ and about his gospel! Do you believe in Christ?"

"uhh yeah, im a member.."
..............awkward....... hahahaha he was a member that just got baptized 3 months ago!

 

2. (knock knock) -[its 6:00 at night]

"oh... hi, uh sorry I was expecting the UPS guy..."

"OH! Well even better, you got.. MISSIONARIES!!!(Hermana R said excited)

"hmm, yeah you caught me at a bad time, im in a compromise... bye." haahaha awkward.!

 

least to say, a mission is awkward, but so rewarding :)

The A family.  Cutest family ever we found.  

The cold is here, but we are working harder!

What an AMAZING week it has been! Freezing and snowy, but I love it! So much as happened this week so I will talk about it day by day:

My Companion Hermana R and I

Monday last week we taught an awesome new investigator in McDonalds... yep, we taught her in McDonalds. haha check that off my mission bucket list! it was a pretty awesome lesson. This amazing and prepared family were being taught by elders in Portland, and then we got the referral to visit and teach her since she moved here to Vancouver. Those elders still text here every day to read and pray. and she actually does that!!

 

Tuesday I was on exchanges with an English sister. We did a lot of tracting in the cold, and of course, the last door we knocked on let us in right away! WHAT!! that's rare! well once we got in she started asking us questions about the three degrees in heaven... soo we started teaching about the plan of salvation :) we come to find out that this family is being taught by missionaries in The Dalles when she goes to work down there! her daughter and her have been reading in the Book of Mormon!! this woman is so prepared! now when i say prepared I men she has gone through so much in her life to be where she is now!

 

Wednesday we had our Mission Christmas party! we started our day bright and early at 5:30! we went to the Portland Temple(gorgeous!!) all the 200 missionaries from our Mission went to the temple that day. I haven't been to the temple since July, so I didn't want to leave!!! but eventually we had to go. we all got together as a mission at one of the church buildings, we had dinner and watched a slide show of pictures. then we had President Taylor speak to all of us, he is so funny!!!  we took a mission picture then we had a hilarious talent show! some of the missionaries shared their talents! it was hilarious, the Spanish elders sang and did a rap.

Temple Trip to Portland Oregon.  I love the Temple!

Hermana V I trained :) ~  Some of the Hermanas!

Thursday was rough... no one was answering their door! but that's okay because in the night we had an awesome lesson with 2 of our investigators and a couple from the branch came with us to teach them! we talked about baptism and about how to know if these things are true, he said yes when he receives his answer he will get baptized. it was funny though because he is an active catholic and he said "well, I will first have to divorce myself from the catholic church before I join your church." haha it was interesting...

Need to get back to exercising!

Friday we woke up to SNOW! ahh it was beautiful snow :) the bummer part was we couldn't drive our car half of the day! my fingers and toes were frozen haha it wasn't fun. 

but friday we had 2 awesome lessons this day! one with our new investigator who wants to be baptized and another with a family that is related to someone the elders are baptizing this weekend, crazy family connections here in Vancouver!!! we had some interesting OYMs Friday... a lot of shirtless people out... it was freezing! and a lot of people that were "busy" but still had time to answer the door... my favorite thing someone said was "sorry I don't want to let the cold air in, bye.." and she shut the door, I thought to myself.. hmmmm well this message is pretty dang important for us to be choosing to be out here in the cold!!!! I also had a crazy guy get in my face... he was cussing and talking bad about Jesus Christ.. I tried to share things with him but he just kept say "what? I cant hear you.. what? you're crazy, what are you talking about.. man im too tough for you, you need to get me a preacher man." I thought, well technically I am a preacher... a disciple of Christ!! but hey, that's okay, I just ignored what he said and left.

 

Saturday it was freezing, again. well we invited someone to be baptized and she said yes!! for January 11th! hopefully I am here for that! if not that's okay, she is prepared too. we just have to help get all these people to church!!

 

Sunday was just a normal day at church.

 

soo yep it was a great week :) a freezing one!! I've never worn so many clothes before hahahahaha. I cant wait to go to the beach next year in the summer! for now I enjoy teaching and talking to people. I am excited to Skype home in 2 weeks, woohoo!  have  a great week <3 Merry Christmas!

I have been worrying a lot about my family this week... now that it is the holidays I think of them even more!! I worry and pray for them every day. in my study one morning I read this and applied it to me :)

"...continue to preach from that hour, and if [you] will do this in all lowliness of heart, in meekness and humility, and long-suffering, I the Lord, give unto [you] a promise that I will provide for [your] families;" Doctrine and Covenants 118: 3

WA Vancouver is beautiful! 

Semana de Milagros y pavo y Facebook

WHAAAAT, happy December. it's crazy that it is now December! so little time.

Well the one thanksgiving I will have on my mission was amazing. all 8 of us missionaries in the branch ate at The R's home for dinner. Both the parents served Spanish missions and the dad is in the branch council so they are an awesome American family in the branch. They wanted us to have an American thanksgiving! it was so nice :)

All 8 of us Missionaries from the Branch ate at the R's home for Thanksgiving!  

Monday we enjoyed reading a talk mom sent me! it was from Elder Holland.. obviously it made me think more about my mission and why I am here. I've only got 9 months to make up for my slack! this is a one time thing, and it's not easy.. but I love it! Monday I also ran into an old friend S who I met at EFY 5 years ago in Santa Barbara.. small world! she lives here!

Tuesday was a lot of tracting.. we were knocking doors and a guy answered and I asked "HI! How are you doing?" he looks at me and says "dishes.." and starts to close the door.. haha awkward! not what I asked. another funny door we knocked. He opened the door and we say, awkwardly, "Hi, do you believe in Jesus Christ?" bhah first of all it was an awkward start to this conversation, then the guy gets mad and says "you know that's very rude of you to show up at my door without calling first, we are in the middle of something. good bye." and he shuts the door.. my companion and I looked at each other confused, then started.. we didn't even know the guy so how would we have his phone number. ha it just makes me laugh when people say "not today girls." or "I don't have time" or "im on the phone" I just think.. hmm well then why did you answer the door? so many people here but none want to listen. I always think well what if the Savior was knocking at their door, what would they say to him? or if the Savior was walking on the side of the street, people wouldn't avoid him, they would run to him! People don't know what they are missing :/

 

well Wednesday, I hit my 9 month mark... My mission is now half way over :'( we had district meeting and then went to the library to officially start using facebook.. crazy! as everyone is probably freaking out.. just think how much more we are freaking out!! we are set apart from the world.. and then half way through my mission I have to get back on facebook. weird! but its for a good reason, we need to be inviting all those around us to come closer to Christ and what better way than facebook! everyone is on al day long! I invited one of my friends to hear more but he kindly rejected and I said that's okay, ill talk to you in 9 months when im home! ha see, it doesn't hurt to invite!! I feel like by the end of my mission half my friends on facebook will be missionaries haha ohh no. well Wednesday we also taught an amazing lesson with a member from the branch! the investigator was so excited and into the lesson and was asking amazing questions. the spirit was truly there :) he read Moroni 8: 8-12 which is pretty harsh, because it is about infant baptism.. but he understood it so clearly and agreed it was truth from God! WE also went to teach another investigator... her brother doesn't like us and shoved us and his sister outside in the cold and locked the door.. after we left he told us not to come back.. ill be honest we were kind of nervous and didn't know what to do.. so we didn't go back for a couple of days. but everything is oaky now. no one can stop the lords work from progressing!

Thursday, thanksgiving! many people asked if we still work on a holiday.. we laughed and said "of course we do! we never take a break!" it was actually a great day! I was on exchanges with my old companion Hermana M. gah love that girl! we knocked a ton of doors. everyone was nice just super busy. we got in with a family and taught them! I thought they were super interested, but by the end of the lesson they didn't want a Book of Mormon... he read out of the book of Mormon with us 2 Nephi 29: 8-12 and said  it is true but that the bible is still perfect and we need no more.. we asked him to pray to end the visit, and it was kind of scary.. he was screaming and shouting in his prayer, I didn't feel the spirit that's for sure. but I know he knew what we had shared was true because it made sense but he just didn't want to accept it. well we kept tracting after dinner and found an amazingly prepared guy! he even said that it was a miracle he answered the door! we talked with him on his porch and had an amazing lesson :) he agreed that it was true and that he wants to hear more, so hopefully we can help him with that! he is English so other missionaries will have to teach him.

Friday we found a new investigator. she is amazing.  it was our first visit with her and we didn't know what to teach! she didn't seem super interested, so we treated water for a couple minutes and then the spirit came. my companion asked a  question and we sat in silence for 2 minutes while she began to cry.. she has had a rough life.. we ended up talking about Christ and the atonement and the sacrament. it was amazing and 100% guided by the spirit. we invited her to be baptized and she said yes!! we hope that her husband will allow her to or that he will join with her :) later that night we found another new investigator. she is super awesome too! she let us in right away and was asking awesome question about the book of Mormon and church. it was a great night :)

Saturday I was on exchanges with Hermana P in Longview! it was a good day. we met a ton of cute old people and taught/talked with them about the gospel.. they all said they cant wait for the day the savior will come again! I felt such a love for these people! they have had so much experience and now they know what they want!

 

well church on sunday was great. we had a delicious break the fast, I love Mexican food! hahahahhah when we were home for the night my companion and I had a really funny awkward conversation with an old investigator on the phone. he brought up question about the church and our standing on a couple of things.. it ended up being a 20 minute lesson with him! it was awesome! but a great experience :) so many people are ready they are just to afraid to take the leap of faith!

 

well I love you all so much, thank you for the support :) THANKS TO ALL MY FAMILY AND FRIENDS AND STRANGERS FOR THE LETTERS :) I love them so much!!! it makes my day!

this week we are super excited, we get to go to the temple on wednesdasy! WOOHOO! bright and early at 7:30 haha, but then the rest of the day will be spent with the whole mission! we will all go to Portland, Oregon (since our mission covers their too) and we will have a dinner, talent show, and fireside. it will be a great week :)

 

stay warm and stay happy! ITS ALMOST CHRISTMAS!!!

I am so grateful to be here on a mission. I CANT IMAGINE HOW MUCH MY FAMILY IS SACRIFICING FOR ME AND MY SISTER AND MY BROTHER TO BE OUT HERE ON A MISSION IN DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE WORLD... but I know the Lord needs us all here! The Savior lives and the gospel is true!

 

I get to skype home in 23 days... but who's counting ;)  adios!  ~  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

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

For thou art called to prune my vineyard...‏

I keep my family close to my heart!
Sister serving in Texas, Brother Serving in Chile & fam in Cali

"for thou art called to prune my vineyard with a mighty pruning, yea, even for the last time..." Doctrine and Covenants 24: 19

 "and it shall be given thee from the time thou shalt go, until the time thou shalt return, what thou shalt do. And thou must open thy mouth at all times, declaring my gospel with the sound of rejoicing. Amen." Doctrine and Covenants 28: 15-16

Well it was so good to see pictures of Austin and the family :) I miss and love you all oh so much! The night before and day that Austin left for his Mission I cried because I wish I could say bye to him and that I could be home loving and hugging my family!! I love you all so much! Austin I am so proud of your decision!! you will see so many miracles! I cant wait for you to hear the REAL Chilean Spanish, hahaha you will die!! its hard to understand them, but yet they have to most beautiful Spanish and are the most loving people, hopefully you gain a few pounds on your mission ;)

Well this week was good, we did and still have to do a lot of walking because we don't have many miles left on our car to drive everywhere, haha well at least its sunny(not so much warm though!) well Monday night we were walking to talk to a referral family, and we saw a dad R and his daughter so we talked to them and some how I got a book of Mormon in his hand, and he wasn't very interested at first! well when I asked if we could come by and share more he said he needs to talk to his wife first... so we didn't get his number or address, and we were sad :/ but as we kept walking to the referral family, we saw R walk upstairs to the apartment right above this family, MIRACLE! haha now we are going to go by and share more :)

Another miracle, A who missionaries have been working with for a couple months, came to church last Sunday, then the activity or Tuesday and then to another activity on Saturday night! it was pretty cool, and amazing work in progress.. she told Hermana K (her fellow shipper in the branch) that she wants to get baptized, but isn't sure about a few things!! hopefully another transfer here and we will see a miracle happen :) Ojala!

Well my bro Austin left on Thursday to Santiago Chile!! crazy how fast that came, but I'm so proud of him!!! well this was a good day, we were walking and met a nice English man and gave him a book of Mormon.. we walked a little more and a Russian stopped us to ask where our church is! HAA that is so rare!! he said he has attended many churches and wants to attend ours one day! his name is L, and he even knew a little bit of Spanish! its the funniest thing hearing a Russian speak Spanish! I have noticed the Lord putting many more Russian speaking people in our path because we talk to them!


We had dinner with a family from the branch, and as we were leaving the little girl wanted to show us "the lights she helped decorate!" so we followed her outside and out of the bushes the dad jumped out in a gorilla suit and we screamed!!! it literally scared the crap out of us because we didn't know that was coming! haha we then went back in the house because the dad wanted to take a picture of us teaching him in his gorilla costume!!! funny

Friday we had a cool little miracle... we only drove 7 miles! wow but a lot of walking. We got in and taught an amazing family from Honduras that we have slowly been working with. we then knocked a door and it was about 8;30pm... a baby started crying and no one answered the door. my companion quietly said a prayer.. then we knocked again and the lady answered the door and immediately said "Hola! pasense. hace frio!" so she let us in without us even saying a word... MIRACLE! we then told her who we were and she said she had recently met with the missionaries... so we set a return appointment so that we could talk with he elders and see fi they are teaching her. turns out the elders never taught her, but they have been trying to get in with her but she is never home.. haaa miracle :) we are going to start teaching her.

Saturday Sister T called us with 2 more referrals (people she had talked to) one of which we actually are teaching his wife, small world!! and another was someone that we actually talked to in winco (we cant remember that) baha but that's cool! we did lots of walking to, and as we were walking by a bus stop we saw a guy but it didn't phase us... when we double looked we realized it was L, a man we taught on his doorstep but haven't seen since! he ripped his ear buds out and was so happy to see us and so apologetic for not calling us... but he was so excited and wants us back over soon!

Fall in Vancouver Washington!!!

embarrassing moment of the week: I feel asleep on my knees for an hour praying Saturday night, hahaha I woke up so confused!

Sunday was a miracle!! remember the guy I mentioned before, B? the one that we talked to at a  bus stop and came to church last Sunday... well he came again!! he loved church! he read the first two chapters in Mosiah since we gave him a scripture to read! he loved it and is super interested to read and learn more... he is an English man so the elders are going to start teaching him :) AHH that little miracle has made me happy!!  lots of little miracles this week. 

Well I've been reading in Doctrine and Covenants this week, I love it!! I am so grateful for all the trials and patient Joseph Smith had, for all that he did to bring the gospel forward in its fullness for the last time! 

"Leave thy house and home... and speak freely to all; yeah preach, exhort, declare truth, even with a loud voice, with a sound of rejoicing... pray always, and I will pour out my spirit upon you, and great shall be your blessing... behold, canst thou read this without rejoicing and lifting up thy heart for gladness?" Doctrine and Covenants 19: 36-39

...sorry, I love scriptures!!!  Adios! - Hermana Jaeger