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

This week, WOW! (I don't have Google, so I patiently wait for an answer from God)

well we ended this week with finding 8 new investigators... SOOOO much to email in so little time! So ill try to break it down...

We meet some crazy... confused... people here who try to break down my testimony of this gospel. they try to confuse me with their belief..  I have heard many questions relating to the authority of God, who is God, what happens to us after this life, and things about the book of Mormon.. I never have an answer right away, only a simple testimony.. but as i ponder and study these things i hear, i receive answers one after another of why i am here, why i believe this gospel and what my purpose is as a person in this chaotic world... It is hard to express the thoughts i have and things i see, but i do have a strong witness that we have weaknesses and trials ONLY to build us up to something better! We need not to fear because we have to Lords true gospel in our hands!

La verdad!!!

Well Wednesday was transfer day which means everyone in the mission normally has a slow day getting situated. but since my comp and i were staying together we new we needed to work extra hard! after a long and amazing day, we found 6 new investigators!!! 4 of which are an amazing family found by a member!! Oh this is the most adorable family! and they are all baptism age, WOO HOO! We of course taught them the restoration and gave them a book of Mormon, we emphasized Christ coming to America and that they could read his words, they became so excited and curious to know what Christ said!! They responded "wow, I never knew this book existed... I can't wait to read!" Ah this is an 
amazing and prepared family :)

Thursday i met a very humble man.. his name was R.. He appeared intimidating, but never judge someone by what you see! we approached him and hew as so respectful and interested in what we had to share.. after an amazing conversation about the gospel of Jesus Christ he began to tell us the hard life he has... i have never had so much respect for someone before. he is supporting his family and moving back home to help his dad, .... R.. has such a strong spirit. I testified to him that God loves him and will help him! We gave him a book of Mormon and said a powerful prayer with him. The spirit was so strong, i knew the spirit testified to him! I hope that one day he will red the book of Mormon and remember what he felt that day we talked with him and that he will have a desire to make covenants with God :)

We also had an amazing OYM with two sweet hispanic ladies on the street.. they were not interested at first, but after asking them questions about their beliefs they created the desire to hear what we share... only 1 wanted us to come back over, but we were able to leave them both with a Book of Mormon... I feel it is so important to leave everyone with a Book of Mormon, one day they will pick up the book and read!! I love the feeling when people ask us if we have something they can read!! It makes me so excited to share about the word of God and give them the opportunity to read and see for themselves :)

Friday my companion and I had an amazing lesson with B.., she prayed about baptism but still feels like she hasn't received an answer, or that her answer is the dream her husband had about going back to their previous church... after a very powerful and spirit directed lesson we asked if she had been reading the Book of Mormon.. said said no.. then we knew why she had not received an answer!! we promised that God will give her an answer if she puts in the effort! we read with her about Christ in America and Moroni's promise and she committed to read the rest and to pray :) I hope and pray she does these things, because I KNOW she will find these things true :) She loves us coming over and teaching her.. she expressed the love she has for us and for the branch!

Friday night my companion had an amazing idea.... we read King Benjamins address to his people, we read in The Book of Mormon Mosiah chapters 2-6... WE spiritually prepared ourselves to be intune with the spirit for conference the next 2 days.... WOW it truly was amazing how much more i received and retained from this conference than from any other conference... i loved it!

Saturday was a day filled with the spirit. we listened to conference and also taught 3 amazing lessons! That day was a day of miracles. Saturday morning we had an amazing breakfast with the Pedro family from the branch, they cooked some amazing food! I felt loved and close to feeling the love of a family :)

La familia P..., we had breakfast with them saturday before conference :)

Sunday morning was my favorite session of conference i have EVER listened too! I knew that before the Prophet even said that haha. It was so filled and directed by the spirit!

well Sunday night our appointment fell through, so we started walking around... we found a guy who appeared to be white cleaning his car... listening to spanish music!! hahaha i couldn't tell if he spoke spanish or if he just liked the music.. after talking and getting to know him he for some reason reminded me of my dad :) he spends all his time working in construction to send money to his family in Mexico. he is from Ca and is planning to move back soon. He grew up a Jehovah's Wittiness's but is interested in what we have to share! as I walked away all I could think about was my father... And how much I would want him to have the gospel if he didn't already have it. I feel an instant connection to my investigators here and want them to have what me and my family have! I am so excited to teach him and share my testimony with him. i hope something happens with him, i know we met him for a reason!

Passed by the church for an appointment and saw the Hermanas
from the R... practicing a dance!!

Another miracle happened during the last hour on Sunday night... we received a referral from the Elders to visit a lady named E.. We decided for some reason to visit her at 8pm last night.. there was a reason we did! She opened the door and saw our badges. she let us in RIGHT away :) she is so humble and so close to the spirit.. She talked with us, telling us her life story for an hour... all in Spanish! I knew that she simply needed someone to talk to, someone to express her feelings too, even though i could not understand everything. One thing i love to do is to patiently sit and listen to people, so i knew(again) that there was a reason we met E.. at that exact moment... She has been through a very rough life. We shared a simple scripture and she loved it so much. She is so intune with feeling  the spirit! We asked her if she would want to be with her kids for eternity, and she began to cry and said yes, of course! I testified of families and this gospel. she is interested to have us back over! i hope all goes well with her, she is so prepared!!!

As i conclude my VERY long email this week i want you to all know how much i love you! I love my mission! i love the savior!!! conference was amazing, we watched it at the church with about 20 other missionaries haha. I felt the spirit and love of my family as we sang called to serve! I thought of my sister in Texas and my brother who will soon be off to Chile! and as the choir sang Abide with me'tis even tide, i again thought of my family and how soon i will be reunited with them :) almost half way done with my mission i know the time will soon come when i can hug and love everyone again!!! I know God was speaking so clearly to us all this conference, with one of the last talks given by Elder Russell M. Nelson I would blink and i would see the face of Christ... I felt as if Christ was speaking directly to each one of us individually! i imagined Heavenly Father talking of his beloved son Jesus Christ and preparing him to teach the world... I felt as if the whole general conference was spoken by the savior :) it was a neat experience i cant explain!  The topics of the strength of women, the authority of the priesthood, and usage of our bodies and the family all touched my heart! and many other things which meant to much to me. i love this gospel! it isn't easy to live and understand, but it defiantly isn't impossible!!

one amazing experience I had this morning was an answer to one of my questions(and since i don't have google or access to explore, i had to patiently wait for an answer from God). I have been asked so many times why my tag says "saints"... I pondered this for many weeks.... and said to say i didn't really know why, i knew there was a reason but i didn't have an answer.. until today!! the word "saint" in the Bible Dictionary is: those who have entered into the Christian covenant by baptism.... and then I received the answer that "latter-day saints"  -those who have entered into the New and EVER LASTING covenant by baptism(and many other ordinances). I know this is the true church! :) i love it so much!!

a la obra!

con amor,

Hermana Jaeger

Amazing Week! ~ "AH HA" Missionary Moment

MMMMM yummy, 6 months and i finally got me some Chipotle!! YUM! with my missionary stomach i ate the Whole thing clean!

AHHHHH this week was AWESOME!! I finally had my missionary "ah ha" moment where it just clicked of why i am a missionary and why i am here. I love this gospel! I love being a missionary, it is the scariest thing ever!! Its worse than door to door sales, why? because you aren't selling anything, you are giving something FREE that you know EVERYONE needs... and when people don't accept it you cry because you know that THIS gospel is the only way anyone can return to live in the presence of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.  I see and experience many miracles that i can't keep track!

One amazing miracle this week was finding a less-active/part member family... it was Tuesday night around 8:20 and we had nothing, so we thought we should go and knock these 5 apartment doors that i have bee thinking about for the past couple days.. The first door we didn't even need to knock because it was open! There was an adorable Spanish family sitting on the couch watching TV, at first we felt intruding, but the mom quickly got up to come talk to us... After we told her who we were she had said she is a member of our church... but she hasn't gone to church for almost 20 years! WOW what a miracle that we found her, and she knows it! she wanted us to come and share a message with her and her family, so she told us a day and time on Thursday.. We had the appointment on Thursday and she was so cute, she got baptized in Tijuana. She wants to come to church, but its hard because she is a 24 hour care giver on Sundays :/ we told her to pray and ask your father in heaven to help you come to church, and we promised her that he would help her if she has the desire to go! she was so nice and happy to see us, she asked us to come back over again :) sadly she couldn't make it to church :/ but we are going to ask her this week if she would like us to come and teach her and her kids once a week!

Tuesday we also had an AMAZING zone conference!!! Ah it was all perfect :)

Las Hermanas, Hermana S, Hermana P, Hermana M, Hermana Jaeger in front of the amazing beautiful Library we Email from!

MIRACLE NUMBER TWO, the family i talked about last week, with the referral for T (who moved) well we have been teaching the dad R and the daughter M he pretty much was begging to read the book of Mormon and to find the truth and to come to church!! he and his little girl said about 5 times that they want to come to church!!! So Sunday morning before church we stopped by and they said "we are going to shower and then we will come to church!" they were so excited and happy :) well we waited all 3 hours of church and they never showed up :/ or they did but left.. we have no idea but we will find out why when we visit them this week!

MIRACLE NUMBER THREE, We found an adorable little family that moved here about 4 weeks ago, i mentioned them last week.. B. Well we visited her for our appointment on Thursday and she wasn't home.. we were so sad! so we left a note, and walked around the trailer park for 10 minutes (there was obviously a reason Heavenly Father did that because we found a man named J and gave him a Book of Mormon and talked to him!!).. we were about to leave but  felt prompted to go back and try one more time.. We did, and we found her home!!! she was soo excited to see us, she said she has been thinking about us and waiting for us!!!! we had to go to dinner but we set us to visit her right after dinner... so we ate, and came back. she was so cute and excited, she had her book of Mormon, and she read a little bit! She knows it applies to her because she loved the first few chapters talking about faith and the story of Lehi's family and Nephi. we taught her the Restoration and she understood most of it! She told us ever since she met us she has felt peace and tranquility in her life :) She said she really wants to come to church, but might be out of town this weekend :/ Well Saturday night we called her... she said she could come!!!! AHHHH I started crying!!!! we quickly set up a ride for her to come to church, and her and her 3 kids came to church!!!!! They stayed all 3 hours and loved it. B was agreeing and understanding the classes :) AHH it was an amazing Sunday :) 

MIRACLE NUMBER FOUR, Saturday night around 8:00 we were out walking around and found a family of 7 outside, we talked with them and asked if we could come by again. Even though they are catholic we aren't giving up!! We walked the corner and met an adorable couple and a friend! the friend M immediately started talking to us said "hey are you churchins? do you have something i can read?" we gave him a Book of Mormon and then he asked "awesome thank you so much!! I need to go to church tomorrow, when and where is it?" we gave him all the info and then Immediately called the english elders and told them!! we hope and prayed that M went to church!

Practicing some soccer last night in our appartment before bed. hahah i love these girls!

Well It was an amazing week filled with SOO many miracles!!!! all we have to do is pray for the opportunities and Heavenly Father will give them, but THEN we must talk to everyone!!!

love you all so much. The work is AMAZING! <3 I cried Saturday night and Sunday morning because of all the little miracles I was able to be apart of this week!

cuidase!  ~  Hermana Kelsey Jaeger

WOW The Week Went By Fast ~ I'm gonna pop some TAGS!

Ash we have been out 198 days!!... but whose counting? hahaha LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL!  I am roommates with B M family friend, companions to A M cousin, B D cousin is serving in the same stake as me and A cousin serves in my stake also in the English zone (we play soccer on pdays). All from back home.  Small world!

hahaha we were in a trailer park about to go visit people, and out of nowhere these pony's and an alpaca came up to us! BAH it scared us!!

Well this week was amazing, we had some progress with investigators that have been being taught for a couple months. First off, we have someone on date for baptism on October 5th. WOOHOO! she is awesome and totally understands why she wants to be baptized! We invited her to stake conference and she said she wants to go! too bad her ride fell through Saturday night :/ but she wants to come to church! Well i want to share some little miracles happening here in Vancouver for my companion and I :)

Wednesday we were out around 2:00pm visiting some old teaching record in the area book... not many people were home :/ as we were about to walk by a trailer i felt prompted we should go knock this door... we knocked once, no answer, the second time she answered! it was a young mom home with her baby.... after a couple minutes at the door she let us in to share a message. For some reason this visit felt super different... we just talked to this woman B and got to know her and understand her and her family... she just moved here 3 weeks ago, she doesn't know anyone, and she doesn't know where to go to church... Her husband is okay with his wife going to church with the kids... We talked about faith with her and prayer... This woman has so little but so much faith! She is AMAZING! We read out of the Book of Mormon with her. She told us she actually went to the LDS church twice before and she talked to her friend(who is Mormon) a little bit about the church! We invited her to church for THIS Sunday and she said she will come, and she wants to hear more! AHHH we are so excited to teach her :)

This same day my companion felt prompted to go back to a door we knocked on last week. This home is a Jehovah Wittiness home... My comp said "i may sound crazy but just follow and trust me" i said "ok! we go two by two." so she approached the door and testified to the lady about the book of Mormon! my comp said "I'm not here to argue with you, I am simply here to share my testimony about the Book of Mormon with you because i forgot to last week...." AHH My companion is so brave and strong!! We work so well together, we teach and testify so strong!

Gorgeous sunset every night here in Vancouver

Another cool story. We received a referral on Friday after dinner... It was to visit T. So we visited the address but Tanya had just moved back to El Salvador... Aww man :/ well we decided to start talking to the men outside... after a couple minutes they opened up about questions they had! after a LONG conversation the man R and his daughter M invited us back over! So sunday night we visited them... They were amazing! we taught about sacrament and Joseph Smith.. mostly answering questions they had.. then awe found out that R had gone to the LDS church like 3 times before AND he has a book of Mormon in his garage!!! he said "i was always confused what that book was.. and now i realize maybe i should just read it." Hermana and I looked at each other, smiled and both testified of the book of Mormon and of Joseph Smith. The spirit was SO strong! M loved the visit and R did too! we asked if we could come over to share more and they both said yes, with a big smile!!! We invited both of them to start reading the book of Mormon and told them that we would talk more about the amazing scriptures in it :) We are so excited to go back over and bring a member and get him and the family to church!

I'M GONNA POP SOME TAGS...

Yep..... I found this within 5 mintues at a thrift store... SCORE!!!! 

(MS. JAEGER)

Everything here is amazing, i Love teaching to people and talk so openly to people about what I believe. It makes me grow more and more each day by hearing the good and the bad. because when I start to question something I read my scriptures and pray to heavenly Father and eventually always fine an answer :)

One amazing thing I have learned on my Mission by teaching other people is to put myself in their shoes, teach them what they really need to hear.. and when i invite investigators to do something, i need to do the same.

I have really felt the gift of tongues so strong!!! I can have a conversation with people, understand(most of the time) but i am working on responding to them.. Its amazing how much the Lord has allowed me to learn in such a short amount of time. I love my Savior and i love my family. I am so thankful for all the blessings I receive as a Missionary. I love you all so much.

Amazing Russian Candy!!!

Cuidase!  Hermana Kelsey Jaeger

One Heck of a Week! So Legit & Creepy...

6 MONTHS WHAT!!!???? Time is flying by like a rocket!  well i didn't write in my journal this week... oops!! so im emailing things that i wrote on my sticky notes... forgive me!! 

Taught a lesson and got some free food!  I love teaching.

well Tuesday we taught a lesson AND our investigator gave us free vegetables haha it was so nice :)

Wednesday we went to visit an investigator but she wasn't home.. we see a girl so we follow her, but then she disappears. we see a house with a door open so we look inside.. see a group of people, start talking to them.. they've all met missionaries before so they weren't interested :/ but out behind a wall comes a guy... he says "hey I'll listen to a message!' so he steps outside and pulls up a chair.. we taught him, gave him a book of Mormon and hes interested and wants to come to church! SO LEGIT. that night we also walked on the streets and met some other cool people. the Lord really places people on our path, we just have to talk to them! 

Vancouver mission is so dang beautiful every day

Thursday we did service cleaning windows. that night while we were out on the street we met an interesting man.... he said some very rude things to us and cursed the savior.. it was hard to stand and listen so i just bore my testimony about how much the savior has done for all of us. its so sad how many people don't see what heavenly father or the savior have done for us. the faith of some people is so small.... so we are responsible to teach and testify with the faith that we have so we can help build each other up! 

Friday we ate a delicious dinner, carne asada!!! SO GOOD! the members here in the branch are so loving! we taught a lady for Honduras! it was so amazing. she was so interested and accepted a Book of Mormon.. her kids are even reading in the book of Mormon! we also taught another investigator E... small story short, she has been taught by MANY MANY missionaries.... still not baptized or reading in the book of Mormon. well we visited her and found out she is from southern ca and had family in my home town!! we crated a great connection! i hope this is it for her, i hope she will listen to our testimony and grow her own and get baptized soon! 

Hermana M.  I LOVE my companion)

Saturday we ate at Costco for lunch. WOW i have never seen so many members in one area before, it was hilarious they were so nice and wanted pictures of us.. haha this day we also went to visit a referral, but couldn't find her.. so we decided to walk inside a store and ask.. turns out the guy who we talked to has a book of Mormon! we have a 2 hour conversation with him in the store about our beliefs. it was so amazing.. the spirit really guided us to him!

Sunday we had a delicious break the fast with the branch.. no investigators came to church :/ that night we also got hit on by some creepy men!!! haha it was kind of funny! he said "why are you laddies walking the street late at night, dressed all nice?" and hermana said "oh.. awkward that does look bad!! hahaha" we just walked really fast to our car! and the guy yells, "you are beautiful"! haha

We went for a sick hike/climb through The Ape Caves! It was pitch black & freezing!! But so fun!

p-day was epic! we hiked the Ape Cave by Mt. Saint Hellenes.. it was so fun, freezing, dark, and scary! but a blast!! we had some cool little miracles talking to everyone in our site that night... no matter if people are interested or not we still try to talk to them!

Me and Hermana S

Hermana P & I  ~  Looking up from inside the cave

Climbing over the rocks.

 adios!  Hermana Kelsey Jaeger

Trainer to 2 Hermanas ... & Ahh Spider!!

HOLA!!! well Monday night Hermana V and I felt we needed to have  REAL prayer..... we ended up praying for an hour straight about each individual investigator... it was such a spiritual moment that i cant explain it all through an email. Heavenly Father was trying his best to give us answers but Satan was doing his best to confuse us... we cried the whole time and we felt our room was filled with many people.... from the other side... we couldn't tell if they were the families from the people we are teaching, or if they are people waiting for their work to be done.... either way, THERE IS SOOOO MUCH WORK TO BE DONE!!!!!!!!! well funny thing, after we were done praying and received answers of who to keep and who to drop.. we went over to our white board and erased names... we looked and felt so silly.. we FINALLY had a real prayer and received answers, and we came to realize that the people heavenly father told us to drop where the people we were trying to work with, and the people he told us to keep where the people we haven't been trying with... it was the total opposite of what WE have been doing. I gained a strong witness and testimony that our will is totally different than His will. We need to go to Him for EVERYTHING, we need to receive answers from him and be very very VERY specific with our prayers. 

Windy & beautiful in Hood River, Oregon

There is a lot weighing on the shoulders of a trainer... the trainer is literally expected to do everything. its tough because that is now how a companionship works... now being in a companion ship of 3 (which i love) we all have to work equally together, the trainer just teaches and guides. and of course i don't have much experience as a missionary just yet, so therefore i don't know everything.. I'm not a perfect teacher, I'm not fluent in Spanish, and i make many mistakes. but that is how i learn and that is how i grow. i see my weaknesses and fix them!... i am learning every day. :)

well a funny thing, the little kids here are so bad! hahaha we were tracting in a trailer park and a little boy was flipping us off and trying to whack us with a stick!!!! haha well 

Wednesday we received a new missionary, Hermana S! LOVE HER! she is waiting for her visa to go to A.. we have no idea how long she will be here, so we are trying to train her fast :) I love being with two Hermanas ... and we are all 6 weeks apart(mission time). HAHAH therefore we are all so fresh and learning day by day with our espanol! Our tiny room is cramped with 3 beds but its all good.

Hermana S, V (grey, member that we live with & baby kitties), Hermana V ... I love them all 

Thursday we had a trainer/trainee meeting in Vancouver. It was amazing, i am so grateful Heavenly Father has allowed me the chance right now to fix my mistakes and be a better missionary and trainer. I am using it!!!! i want my mission to be am amazing learning experience, and wow, i am sure learning a lot! One profound thing the mission president said at the meeting was "i need every missionary to now be ready in 6 weeks...." HAHAHA this is going to become a very common thing, no more 12 weeks of training.. many many missionaries are continuing to come out! 

haha the elders out here are like my brothers, we all tell funny and embarrassing stories to each other! friday..... HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA Funniest and scariest moment of my life........ So some nights my tummy doesn't do so well. so i take my journal and write while i am on the toilet... well this night i sat down, opened my journal and began to write, i saw something out of the corner of my eye.. i looked down.. THERE WAS A HUGE SPIDER CHILLING ON MY LAP... ! I screamed and jumped up... BAHAHAHA it was hilarious!!!!! my companions freaked out thinking someone was hiding in the bathroom.. when i told them they busted up laughing!!!! the spider was huge... i killed it and then took a shower. haha!! so many bugs are hiding everywhere!  

also i got a nice package from my family :) LOVE YOU!! well saturday we visited a referral in Trout Lake Washington... it was an awesome experience. we taught the restoration lesson and gave her a book of Mormon. it was such a powerful experience because i feel the need to testify so strongly about the book of Mormon. she said "well if i have questions who do i contact?" we smiled and said "US!!!!!" :) I have learned so much by reading The Book of Mormon and by teaching people! 

Trout Lake Washington

 Sunday i had a profound experience, during church i was thinking about what to speak/testify about(next sunday the high counselor is speaking and asked us missionaries to speak with him)... well i started reading my scriptures and then a ton of answers came to me! i frantically began writing them down!!! This work was supposed to be started yesterday.. we are all late! The time is NOW. literally is now, there are thousands of missionaries being sent around the world, WE NEED WORK!!!!! that work is through the members and through tracting.. missionaries cant do it alone! members don't need to prepare people to be taught.. that is heavenly fathers job! The members make a connection with people, have the missionaries go visit them, and then heavenly father will do the rest :) the worst that can happen is they say no, or they say yes and eventually get baptized! we are ALL wanting to end up in the same place, therefore we need everyone involved now! 

I have found who i am.... Finding yourself comes through studying the gospel, praying, and literally LOSING yourself in the work.. never wanting to stop working, not realizing what day or time it is... I am striving to work harder and harder. This gospel is so perfect and i want EVERYONE to hear it!!!! I know this gospel is true. I know it without a doubt!!! I love you all so much!!! adios!

Beautiful view of Mt. Adams

My Bro's going to Chile ~ My New Mission Address ~ Disneyland

hahaha it was so funny when i got the phone call from the mission secretary. thank you so much for doing that :) it made me feel included :) i can not believe Austin is going spanish.. I KNEW IT!!! funny thing, The family i live with.. yeah, they are from Santiago Chile!!!.. haha they are SO excited for him!!! They have family there in his mission. tell austing the 4 months will go by SO fast. tell him to STUDY preach my gospel, all the lessongs in chapter 3!! AND to read the Book of mormon and have a testimony. also to find out about the religions in chile so he can teach to their needs... it rains a lot in chile, it gets pretty cold, but it is also beauitufl the family said!

Hermana Kelsey Lynn Jaeger

Washington Vancouver

 Mission2223 NW 99th St.
Vancouver, WA 98665

Best District ever!!

Hola a cada persona! este semana fue interesante. (dont judge my horrible spelling/spanish... i try!) porque mucho de la gente aqui en esta area son blind!! estan buscando por la verdad. pero no asistir la iglesia, este es muy dificil. nada gente pueden progresar sin asistiendo la iglesia o sendo bautizado. este evangelio es el camino!!! 

alright that is enough horrible spanish, haha. Well i love you all so much :) It is crazy to be in this world but not involved with the internet or television or phones... no distractions! Being a missionary is hard in many ways. people mock us in front of our face, people slam the door, people bash and argue... but worst of all is hearing someone deny that the Book of Mormon isn't true... and also meeting someone who has such a strong testimony of how important religion is, believing in almost the same things that we believe, but then saying "i have a religion, i know it is true." i want to cry every time! People are so close, but so far from the truth.. this gospel is so perfect and simple! I am blessed to be a missionary, see what hard work goes into sharing this gospel so that EVERY person can hear the truth! we had one man talk to us for a long time, and at the end when we wanted to speak and share our testimony he said "well i'm sorry ladies but i have to go, thank you for allowing me to teach you... I know that God put you on my doorstep for a reason, for me to teach you two. I am called to be a teacher. thank you for your time. bye." i thought wasn't it us missionaries that came to your door? for us to share a message with you? to share the TRUTH? I couldn't get myself down at that moment, we had to keep moving along to find the people who are ready and willing to listen, even for a few seconds! 

well some funny moments this week, we went to visit a referral way out in the middle of an orchard... it ended up not being the person we were looking for, but we found a family and a friend who are interested! we started teaching them and they were so involved! they invited us to come back again and teach more. we gave them a card with our number on it and the teenage boy look at us, smiled and said "quien numero este es?" hahahaha we said "we share a phone!" then the friend said "ustedes son married?" We laughed, looked at each other and said "NOOOO...... estamos aqui para predicar el evangelio de Jesucristo... solo!" they all smiled and said "okay ;)" 

Well this week Hermana V and I try our best to pray specifically, even before a lesson, to pray to Heavenly Father about our reason or goal for each lesson and visit with someone.. we realized by doing this our visit go perfect! praying specifically is the way to do it :)

Or cute casita that we LOVE! 

it is hard being a Spanish missionary right now in O because of all the fruit needing to be picked this summer.. cherries, pears, apples, blueberries, peaches.. many fruit! therefore we have trouble with having people coming to church. We had many people say "The Book of Mormon is true, I want to come to church, i want to hear more!! but right now i am really busy with the cherries... in 8 weeks when cherries are over I will try my best to come to church." GAHH!!!! NOW is the time to go, not in 8 weeks :/  We are doing our best as missionaries to keep teaching and finding, but not many of our investigators are progressing because they work 12-14 hours a day, all week long :/

well Hermana and I also had the opportunity to sing at a baptism for the elders, a little 9 year old girl was getting baptized :) she was so cute, and so prepared! the Bishop was speaking and shared a funny analogy:

"So when you go to Disneyland, you drive, buy a ticket, wait in line, and walk in the gate..... then what? don't you ride the rides? you cant go to Disneyland, go through ALL that, and walk in the gate and say 'okay we made it to disneyland' and then leave... that means you never really went! Baptism is the same.. you do all the things to be baptized, you NEED to endure to the end, not just walk through the gate and leave.. there is so much to do!" Well again, i have leared so much with only being a  missionary for 4 months.. i still have SO much to learn!

P-Day hiking the beautiful Colombia River

One last thing, yesterday there was an AMAZING world wide broadcast from the prophet and 12 apostles, it was originally for the new mission presidents, but then they felt inspired that the WHOLE world needed to hear it!!! If you didn't watch it, go to lds.org and watch it!!!! IT was amazing, WE ALL NEED TO BE APART OF THIS AMAZING WORK!!!! don't just stare at the work, DO IT, be apart of it! missionaries and members of the church need to work TOGETHER. we cant do it alone. knocking on doors is not as affective as working with and through the members... many changes are to come within the next year. I am so excited to be apart of all these amazing changes in the church right now to hasten the work!!!

Well it is time to go, this was a LONG email, hope you all enjoy it :) haha adios! cuidase!

I love you all so much! take care :)   -Hermana Jaeger

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!