Patience, rest, and a HUGE Christmas gift!

Thanks for family, friends and the ward at home for all the packages :) FELIZ NAVIDAD!

WOOOOOOOOOOOW. by far this has been such a crazy week!!!!!!! I am so beyond excited to Skype home on Christmas that I had a dream last night that I was skyping home. haha :) well here is my random week. 

Monday was of course an awesome lesson with our investigator on date, S. AH is so soo prepared :)

Tuesday we taught S again, we taught about the word of wisdom and law of chastity... it was the least awkward lesson I have been it, it went so well!!! again like I said, she is so prepared and gave up coffee. SCORE! ah it was such an awesome lesson. It amazes me how much people will give up so that they can have the gospel. I am so blessed to help her make this change in her life.

Wednesday was transfers, and officially we are a tripanionship! it is the best! we cover 5 stakes... its crazy! but we never run out of things to do :)

Thursday.. well I couldn't sleep. and then woke up early and was throwing up. yucky. so I caught some bug and had to sleep all day. I cried because I miss my mom, I didn't realize really how much she does for me! and my dad! and my sibblings! that when I was sick they would help me with everything :) but the branch here is just like family, a member gave me a blessing and another member brought me crackers, soup, and medicine. soo yeah Thursday nothing happened.

Christmas Angles!  Hermana M, Hermana R & me
(thanks to a member for this photo)

Friday I was feeling soo much better, I just had to rest to get my energy back! we had a branch Christmas party and we wanted to go, so we did. and good thing!! we had 3 families of investigators come to the party that we are currently teaching!!! it was a great turn out :) I love the Spanish people, they make the best food and know how to have a fun party with dancing! even though I wasn't allowed to dance :/

Branch Fiesta!  I wanted to sit on Santa's lap then
I remembered I'm not allowed to do that haha

Oh yeah I'm not allowed to dance as a Missionary ...
sad day ... you don't know how bad I want to dance :/

Saturday was great, we had a huge breakfast (like we do every transfer) with all the missionaries in the stake. and after that we went to Portland for zone meeting. and after to a baptism for a little girl in the branch.. and after that to dinner with a family from the branch. their little boy said the cutest prayer! we were saying a prayer to bless the food but this is what he prayed for instead "dear Heavenly Father. we are baptized to go to church. we go to church to be missionaries. we become missionaries to be sealed in the temple. we got o the temple to be the prophet. in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen." hahah it was so adorable! we also went to visit R, J, M, and V! they are a family Hermana M and I found in August when we came here!! they were so happy to see me and I was so excited to see them! it was an awesome visit, J wants to get baptized and everything!!

sunday, surprise!!!!! my huge Christmas gift, I couldn't ask for anything better... R, J, M, and V all came to church! FINALLY after 4 months of trying they came, and they loved it :) the branch loved them! ahh it was a wonderful day!! they are planning to come back fro activities and they want us over to their home so that they can make us food from el Salvador! we are so super excited :D they literally are a miracle family and I love them so much! 

well over all it was an amazing week. and like I say in every email, so many miracles. big and small! but my favorite miracle of all is the miracle of people coming to church and feeling the spirit their :)

I am so grateful for my Savior and for his birth.. without this time we wouldn't have anything to celebrate, so remember the reason for the season and share your love to all! Feliz Navidad to all and I cant wat to see my family in 2 days on 

Skype!!

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!

RAINY days are the BEST DAYS!

Talked to a lady about who we are with this little frog in my hand, hiding it, just so i could take a picture with it!!!!  hahaha

ash and mom: i am assembling a tiny little box to send home with some yummy russian candy and some other little things! Ash: President and Sister Anderson(who are in the WVM presidency) will be in Houston this week, maybe you will see them? MOM: I met an adorable mother the other day at the relief society broadcast, her daughter has been out a year, serving in the Santiago north mission! Her name is Hermana S from Vancouver, WA. The mom cried when i told her my brother is going Chile!!!  :) ALSO President and Sister Alder who are here in the branch with us are going to be the temple president in Santiago for 3 years starting next month!! WHAT!!! And i believe recently he was the mission president for santiago norht mission.. so cool! they are amazing people if austin ever meets them :)

Pic from a member they serve with.
Kelsey and her Companion with President Taylor

Well this past week was amazing! We had so much success finding new people, we alreay have 14 scheduled lessons this week! WOOP WOOP thats so exciting :) they are all amazing spanish families :) I have grown to love the spanish culture oh so much! They really do give all that they have.... i eat like 2 plates full of food every night, and break the fast yesterday was AMAZING! haha they are humble people and always give their time to The Lord and to help us with his work :) Well i am doing horrible with keeping my journal up to date.... So i will try to type things from memory!

Well good news... Transfers are wednesday and I am staying here in Vancouver to finish training Hermana McKinlay! woot woot! She is an awesome missionary.

A little bit of the sunset here in Vancouver WA

 It is so hard for missionaries to put themselves in the shoes of their investigators and to think "okay, if i were them, and these are my questions, what would i want to hear? or what applies to me?" Once a missioanry can do THAT then, they will be an amazing missionary and will bring much success! As i continue to study and pray i recieve dirrection to help my investigators with their concerns.

So this week we had an amazing lesson with B who is getting ready(hopefully) to be baptized soon!) she promised to pray about baptism in this church :) she has so much faith and believes in so many of the things we teach! hopefully tomorrow we will put her on date for baptism.

since it is the end of the month and we are very low on miles we have been doing a ton of walking, and this is the worst the rain has been hahaha. windy and rainy, hermana and I both feel like real vancouver missionaries now! we got to watch the general relief society broadcast, it was very interesting they all talked about convanents, everyone! even the prophet! I am super excited for conference this weekend! We are planning to watch it at the church and hopefully get investigators to come with us :) but hopefully i dont have to listen to it in spanish hahaha. Well before the broadcast we had about 2 hours, so we decided to walk and go tracting... surprisingly we havent very much tracting in 6 weeks here, we dont need to :) So tracting in the rain i thought was going to be crazy.. it was but we met some amazing people! in those 2 hours we ahd 2 lessons, a new investigator, 2 return appointments and we talked with a ton of very nice jehova wittnesses, and one said its okay to come back. WHAT crazy i know! the Lord has blessed me and helped me so much with my spanish.. 7 months and i feel i have progressed so much, still not fluent, never will be, but im confortable with spanish :) 

The rain is here and it pours all day :)

I love Vancouver and the people! Within this week of tracting and talking to everyone i have noticed how much people truly need this gospel, whether they know it or not.. we met so many people this week who are struggling with life or family. Every time I think of the Savior and how much he is waiting and hoping for these people and us to accept him. I just imagine when we talk to people that the Savior is standing right beside us, teaching and testifying.. Pleading to these people to repent and come unto him... and when people deny or say now is not a good time, i picture the savior putting his head down and quietly saying he still loves them.. NOW is the time for men to prepare to meet God. NOW is when everyone needs to accept him..

haha I have never seen a sign
like this before.  It's sad it's
so specific :/

We are teaching a many, F, he knows so much about the bible and the catholic church.. he always asks us amazing questions. i create the desire to go home and study and pray for guidance. I have been spending a lot fo time reading and studying in Matthew... WOW The Savior loves us so much. even back then you can feel of the love he has for everyone. I definatly see how the bible and book of mormon go together perfectly.. today i figure out perfect scriptrues that go together...It was Matthew 18:18 and Helaman 10:7 

and Matthew 18:16 and 2 Nephi 29:8 (I especially love these two because it testifies not only of how we preach, 2 by 2, but rather of the 2 nations, the 2 books Bible and Book of Mormon.

I love this gospel and I love my mission!!! Have an amazing week all :) i cant wait to tell you next week how the week goes :)

p.s. walking in the rain, EVERY member sees us and asks what we are doing.. We respond, 

"We are doing the Lords work, a little water wont stop his work!"

hasta luego :)

Week 5 MTC "Patience is composure under pressure"

This week has flown by SO fast! Probably the fastest week yet! I got a postcard from Grandma and Grandpa Jaeger that they are enjoying a nice break in beautiful Hawaii... I wish I was there! haha And a package from the Grandpa and Grandma B!!  And I got an easter package from the family :)

Well the spanish comes and goes when I need it. I wrote a whole page in spanish, but obviously the only spanish I know are gospel related things! hahaha This gospel is amazing. I know the field will be tough and it will go by fast, but I honestly am super excited to be serving a mission.. Tuesday is the big day!!! 

Me and Sister M on Easter Sunday... we met online before entering the MTC.  We were in the same District/roommates.  

Easter sunday... was so unique to experience in the MTC. I sang in the choir, it was sooo beautiful! Over 3,000 of us missionaries took the sacrament. It is beyond words to express how the spirit was in that room... I could feel the Savior smiling down on all of us in that exact moment. Bishop Gerald Causse in the presiding bishopbric spoke to us: "repent every day. Repentance is a good thing. As you experience Christ's atonment in your life, you will desire to share that message with others." We then had testimony meeting with our zone. It technically was our last sunday(because this sunday is general conference). I bore my testimony about revelation from reading Doctrine and Covanents 18: 14-17. Sunday devotional was awesome! 

Some of the Zone/District hermanas

Sheri Dew spoke: "you enlisted as a full time servant in the Batalion. We are all influenced by what/who is around us. The father will help and save us. We cannot do it alone. Christ atoned for our pain in EVERY way. He knows/understands everything! Successfull missioanry= love the Lord more today than you did yesterday. Be fearless to build up zion! We were saved for this day; to welcome back Christ, our Savior"! 

Monday was officially April 1st! (i count that as 16 months till I return home hahaha) I recieved another package from mom :) I love you mom! It was a beautiful day, it rained(my favorite!) Hermana G and I taught one of our "investigators" about La Palabra de Sabiduria(The Word of Wisdom). We talked during a whole class time about The Plan of Salvation! WOW The Lord loves us so much. He gave us a life with agency, and also gave us his son, that only through him we can be cleansed and return to live with thee! I am so blessed to be serving a mission at the age of 19. "Patience is composure under pressure."

Friends from Home Sister M (Portugal) & Elder S

Tuesday my district got to usher at the devotional. The devotional was about Enduring to the end.
I had such a strong spirit comforting me, picturing my family kneeling around the bed and praying to The Lord, and praying for me :) "lessons learned on a mission will help us endure to the end. If you endure/enjoy to the end of your mission, you will be prepared to endure/enjoy to the end of your life. WE accomplish HIS most impoartant work before we creat his most important plan- a family. 

Wednesday new missionaries came in!!! I got to host 5 new sisters... One of which freaked out and laughed when she realized she watched my video on youtube! AH I felt famous for a short second!! I also saw a few familiar faces this week from T! 

Brother R taught us Spanish ~ Hermano C "my 1st investigator"!!

We had Brother R teach us a way to remember how to conjugate to subjunctive "Take it to the yo, drop the o, and add the opposite ending!" hahaha of course I will remember that. 

Yesterday, Thrusday was a long 9 hour day of In-Field orentation. we learned how it will be like in the field! We watched a short clip of the talk President Gordon B. Hinkley gave about the hand cart company traveling, and the 3 18 year old boys who helped carry people across the stream... I cried a little because I thought of my family. My mom and brothers are(or were) at trek this week and it made me think of them! 

It was also our last class last night with Hermano C.. Best teacher EVER!  This was our last picture with our 1st District! 

Today is PDAY! had a beautiful day at the temple, it rained but now it is beautiful outside! Time to go eat some pizza! I GET TO CALL HOME ON TUESDAY WHILE AT THE AIRPORT!!! I AM SO EXCITED :)))))) The next email you will all hear from, I will be in the field! Here goes nothing! Love you all :)

 Some questions that I read in Preach My Gospel about returning home from serving a mission:

*What do you want to say you have done as a missionary?

*What do you want to have become?

*What difference would you want others to notice in you?  

Hasta Luego! (I think that is how you speel it? hahaha)
~  Hermana Kelsey Jaeger

President Bowen ~  He is a great man and helped me so much!

Our District with our teacher Hermano C, President Bowen and Brother and Sister Doman.

P.S. Keep an eye out tomorrow! In between the two satruday sessions of conference I am in the MTC choir! They will be showing us singing a special song(they recorded it two weeks ago, so it's not live :/) But enjoy conference!