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

Just one week? That felt like a year!

Hola mi familia y amigos! WOW what a crazy week!

8 months this week!!!!!!!!

Lots of things happened both in the Spanish and English world!

un milagro de un hombre ingles: we were walking on the street back to our car, i noticed a guy sitting on the bench at the bus stop. so i said lets take the crosswalk and talk to this guy.. so we did, at first it was awkward, but after a couple minutes we hit it off well.. His name is B.., he has had a rough life recently. he was so open and honest about the bad decisions he has made in his life that have lead him recently to changing and searching for a church... (hmm what a coincidence!) I talked with him about the church, he read a little bit of the book of Mormon before!!! awesome :) even though B.. doesn't speak Spanish we gave him our number and gave him times of church services.... we didn't think anything would happen. he texted us Sunday morning 30 mintues before the english ward started and said he is on his was to church. we freaked out and called the english elders right away to tell them about him!! we rushed to church since we have correlation at 11 with our ward mission leader.. the elders found B and brought him inside the chapel.... after sacrament we saw B.. and he looked so happy, we then realized this Sunday was the primary program. BAHAHAAH!!!! well B.. texted us this morning and said he loved church :) we pray and hope he comes again! even though we cant teach him because he is english, we are all working for the same team, the Lords team!...... after this experiences i realized that "WOW, if we didn't take the cross walk to go and talk to him, he never would have known about the church so soon!" ah what a miracle <3

un milagro de una mujer espanol: missionaries have been working with a wonderful family!! love them so much. A.. has been taught so many things and we don't know why she isn't baptized! she has only been to church once with the other missionaries... we talked and Hermana K.. that was with us said some amazing things that A.. needed to hear... :) Miracle... A.. CAME TO CHURCH!!!!!!! finally after some hard work, faith, and patience we got her to church.. it was literally a miracle i was so shocked..  and sacrament was perfect! they talked about temples and A.. sat by Hermana k.. and after sacrament she said they are going to see the temple and visitors center this week.. WHAT!!!!! i am so shocked :D it was so exciting, i couldn't stop smiling all day at church.

 La familia G :)

un milagro yo no puedo explicar!!!: There is an amazing member here Sister T.., i think i talked about her before.. she is an amazing member missionary. I love her oh so much! We were with her one night to visit her neighbor, but they weren't home... she was hungry and asked if she could grab a bite to eat... i thought sure why not. so we drove with her and she said "here hand me a book of mormon!" we pull up to the window for her to pay and she straight up asks the girl working if she goes to church! i thought WOW how will she give her a book of Mormon in a couple of seconds? but she did it and got a Book of Mormon in her hands!!! so cool :) we then drove away and there was a guy walking on the sidewalk and sister t.. called him over and asked if he had heard of the Book of Mormon.. then she got one into his hands too... 2 books of Mormon in about 5 minutes, i was amazed!!! Sister T.. is amazing, i asked her how she is so brave to do that! she said, and i will never forget it, "Well what's the worst that could happen.. they shoot me? then i'll just go to the Celestial kingdom!" HAHAHAAHA great words of advice :) She give us the best advice and she is an amazing example! She always says "there is only 2 ways you can be, happy or miserable"... and of course i want to be happy!  no matter what we go through or what happens, we can choose what to be!

Well yes it again has been a rough week and defiantly a huge trial of my small faith. I am sad to miss my brother's farewell and departure for Chile, but i love him so much and wish him the best of luck. Chile will love him dearly! This work is not easy, but it is amazing.

Alma 26: 27-31 (my mission life!)

A la bora! learn it. live it. love it.
Cuidase mi familia <3

I'm not going to give up

Good morning, good Monday, good p-day!

Happy fall to everyone, it is so gorgeous here in Vancouver, freezing and leaves everywhere! Well i love you all so much, thank you (again) for all the support! i really do appreciate it :)

Las Hermanas

I never thought a part of my life would be consisted of worrying about the futures of SO MANY people. Every time i talk to someone I hesitate because i want them to have what i have and to know that its true, but i don't know how to express that in a couple seconds!!! It's so hard when you see someone progressing and feel it, but then some how Satan gets ahold of them and confuses them..... It was a tough week. a lot of out investigators told us they have no interest in changing or listening to us. For many days i continued to wonder "why am i out here? nothing is happening?" I worry about everything! I want so bad for people to know this gospel. This is the hardest work i have ever done. it is such a spiritual work that no one can describe, they must experience.

This week our most progressing investigator, B, told us she felt in her heart that she needs to go back to her old church.. she feels its right and that its where she belongs.. my heart about broke, and i almost started to cry... she said she didn't know how to tell us, but that she just wanted to be honest... I felt as if we did something wrong or as if we didn't try hard enough. It felt like someone broke up with me haha. We love her so much and she was so prepared, and she knows it too! its so hard to leave something when you felt nothing go wrong... we did everything we could, we taught with clarity, she had the most amazing friend/fellow shipper, and she came to church with her kids, everything... we tried, so hard... finding her and having her come to church was my "ah-ha" moment of why i am a missionary... and now that we are not teaching her any more its my "what the heck?" moment of why i am a missionary. we accepted what she had told us, because she truly prayed for an answer, and that is what she said she received and we cant deny it! it tore my heart... but we expressed our love for her, and she did the same to us. we peacefully left a strong spirit in her home by singing a song. :) It was a hard good-bye for teaching her, but we still want to visit her before either one of us gets transferred... We know that in the future will be the right opportunity for her, ojala!

Later that day and the next day a few more people dropped us.. i keep thinking 'how the heck is Christ supposed to come when no one is accepting the gospel?" this truly is the best time to serve a mission but one of the hardest times.

the next couple days we had no success, we had no lessons.. but we got outside and we tried, but i guess we didn't try hard enough. Heavenly Father makes sure we still have faith, because i thought everything was going so great and awesome! but now is the trial of faith, to get back up and keep pushing along, keep knocking those doors, searching day and night for those people, or that one person who is waiting!

Vancouver Sky

so yes, after a long rough week it is a sunny and new week! I am not a perfect missionary, nor will i ever be. i am trying my best to work towards strengthening my testimony of the savior and of his gospel... its tough as a missionary .. its hard because there is not enough time in the day to study and remember things, there is no time to take a day off and reflect, you just keep working and moving along.  sorry this is a long and depressing email, but I'm working on trying a little harder to be a little better each day.

Doctrine and Covenants 20: 37 ...having a determination to serve him to the end...

on the bright side, my companion is so awesome and has learned a little Russian from one of our Russian friends, and she was able to use it while talking to a Russian lady. ahah it was so cool!

I love you all so much, everyone asks how long Ive been out.. yup 8 months... they say "almost to half way!' and then i freak out, where has the time gone?! I had one baptism i had in Hood River.  right when i feel success for the lords work, everything turns into dust. i know its Heavenly father testing my faith, i have patience, i cant wait... i question things to easy. gahh its my weakness!

I love this work and i am not going to give up!! yes i will struggle, every missionary will.. but there is such a determination in me to finish this mission, to try my best to change someones life, whether i see it or not i know one day i will see a miracle that i was apart of.  i love this gospel and i know it is true!

we did have little miracles this week, sister T(an amazing member missionary) found a family at the store!! They are interested in us visiting them, so hopefully that happens this week!

 Doctrine and covenants 90:11

so here is a letter of joy my mission president emailed to all the missionaries! THIS is my focus this week and the rest of my mission. truly words given to him from the Spirit, he knew i(and many other missionaries) needed to hear this:

"Sometimes even the very best get distracted. In the mission field, the most common distraction is discouragement. We all get discouraged at times because this is hard work and success is more important than any other work we will ever do, so discouragement is always going to be part of the calling. It may be impossible to avoid discouragement, but it is essential that we do not give in to it. Trying to avoid discouragement in the mission field is sort of like trying to avoid the rain in Washington. We know it will happen so the key is in dealing with it. To be sure, it is one of Satan's best tools.

One of the best ways to deal with discouragement is to keep things in perspective. Elder Maxwell said this: "This life's temporal lens distorts. The things of the moment are grossly magnified, and the things of eternity are blurred or diminished. Even something as small as a man's thumb, when held very near the eye, can blind him to the very large sun. Yet the sun is still there. Blindness is brought upon the man by himself. When we draw other things too close, placing them first, we obscure our vision of heaven."

In this great work of salvation, we cannot know what the Lord will do in the next few seconds of our life. We can only do what He has asked us to do and do it with faith in Him whose work this is. Take for example the work of a stonecutter. I take this quote from Jacob Riis: "When nothing seems to help, I go and look at a stonecutter hammering away at his rock perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first blow it will split in two,and I know it was not that blow that did it but all those that had gone before."

So it is with us, we can never know which person will be the one that will accept our message even though we have talked with a hundred people all ready, it may well be that hundred and first one that will be golden. Let's keep our mission in perspective and that will allow us to deal with temporary bouts with discouragement. As we do, we will see the hand of the Lord in all we do.

May the Lord bless the great Washington Vancouver Mission
President and Sister Taylor

Have a great week, i love you all! A la obra!  ~  Alma 29: 8-10

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