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This is me and hermana Reilly from the ccm
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| This is me and hermana Estevez! she is like the dominican me! I love her!!! |
HERMANA RACHEL JENSON
Monday, November 9, 2015
TRAILS OF FAITH
wow!! This week has been an incredible week to be a missionary! So much has happened!! I love it here and I love wearing the name tag with my favorite persons name on it JESUCRISTO!!
-We had intercambios this week, and I went to a different area with hermana Vargas.. she is Dominican and doesn't speak any English... lets just say that I have never prayed for the gift of tongues so hard in my entire life, and my prayers were answered!!! I seriously didn't struggle once the whole day with my Spanish with her or in the lessions! it was so much fun!! :) I love Spanish!! we also ran into someone who spoke English and I felt so awkward, I didn't know what to say, it was like I didn't know what he was saying to me! hahah and hermana Vargas just started laughing at me, I guess my face showed what I was feeling! haha
-we had our neighbors cat in our house (pics to come)
-we had a capacitation (my one month in the feild) and I got to see some friends from the ccm!!
-I got my first package!!!!
-gotten home soaking wet every day this week, the rain wont stop!! I've never heard thunder so loud, I was actually scared for my life!
I have a story for you all,
Okay so, there is this family here la familia Diaz, there are 2 boys and 2 girls and a mom and a dad. before I got here the missionaries taught their family, then when they found out what they were teaching they slowly one by one ¨weren't there¨ for the lessions, except the father Maximo. He was baptized the week before I got here and he received the Holy Ghost my first Sunday here! He is the cutest little old guy with the biggest smile and asks me how I am, like 50 times in 2 minutes. Wow he is incredible. His wife, is super catholic and doesn't want anything to do with the church, and sometimes she says bad stuff to us about our church, she hides in her room whenever we come over. The girls on the other hand love us!! Especially the oldest Meyda, she loves basketball and tries to speak English to me all the time! :) anyhow we have been teaching the two sisters Eridaña and Meyda, they are so smart and we have had some really spiritual lessions with them, but the only problem is that their mom won't let them go to anything.
This week we were having a Noche De Hogar (family home evening) with some of the other missionaries investigators that are younger in age and Hna. Echard and I decided we were going to invite the Diaz girls.. so we fasted, I honestly have never had a harder time fasting in my entire life, satan was really working on us during our fast! We told them about the NDH like 4 days in advanced and they said they would think about it.
The day came... we went to the Diaz´house and shared a little message and prayed with them and then we had to lure their mom out of her room to see if she would let them come... she said no. I have never felt so genuinely sad, we had prayed so hard and had so much faith that this was going to work and we knew that this night was going to have a huge impact on them. Well we talked to her some more and she said she needed her oldest daughter to work for her and all this crazy other stuff..! So we left.... we stood in the street in silence shed some tears and then started to walk and then hna Echard stopped and said that we should try for the younger brother and the little sister cause the mother only said that she needed the oldest daughter! Then she said no we've been too annoying. Then I said NO!! We have already gotten no, why not try one more time! So we called and praying in our hearts asked if her other kids could go... SHE SAID YES!! I don't know what those 5-10 minutes did to their mom, but I'm grateful!!
So we ran back and got them ready, as we were waiting the oldest daughter just kept saying how it was a miracle that her mom is letting them go! It really was a miracle!!
We went to the noche de hogar and wow the spirit touched everyone there! Eridaña and Ezikiel made new friends and felt the spirit! They said they loved it!
This was seriously a huge eye opener to me for many reasons... one: sometimes we are too greedy, I wanted the whole family to come, but really the two that needed it the most were the ones that could. two: The Lord tests our faith first, he needed to see if we would keep trying! I've learned and studied a lot about faith this week, and one quote I love is ¨You can literally cause things to work for your good both in your life and in the lives of others if you are full of faith in The Lord¨ -Gene R. Cook
I can testify that this is true, all you need is Faith! Faith is action and if we act in our faith miracles will follow!! I know that our Savior is aware of us and loves us!!
Thank you for everything especially your love!!!!
con amor!!
hermana Jenson
-We had intercambios this week, and I went to a different area with hermana Vargas.. she is Dominican and doesn't speak any English... lets just say that I have never prayed for the gift of tongues so hard in my entire life, and my prayers were answered!!! I seriously didn't struggle once the whole day with my Spanish with her or in the lessions! it was so much fun!! :) I love Spanish!! we also ran into someone who spoke English and I felt so awkward, I didn't know what to say, it was like I didn't know what he was saying to me! hahah and hermana Vargas just started laughing at me, I guess my face showed what I was feeling! haha
-we had our neighbors cat in our house (pics to come)
-we had a capacitation (my one month in the feild) and I got to see some friends from the ccm!!
-I got my first package!!!!
-gotten home soaking wet every day this week, the rain wont stop!! I've never heard thunder so loud, I was actually scared for my life!
I have a story for you all,
Okay so, there is this family here la familia Diaz, there are 2 boys and 2 girls and a mom and a dad. before I got here the missionaries taught their family, then when they found out what they were teaching they slowly one by one ¨weren't there¨ for the lessions, except the father Maximo. He was baptized the week before I got here and he received the Holy Ghost my first Sunday here! He is the cutest little old guy with the biggest smile and asks me how I am, like 50 times in 2 minutes. Wow he is incredible. His wife, is super catholic and doesn't want anything to do with the church, and sometimes she says bad stuff to us about our church, she hides in her room whenever we come over. The girls on the other hand love us!! Especially the oldest Meyda, she loves basketball and tries to speak English to me all the time! :) anyhow we have been teaching the two sisters Eridaña and Meyda, they are so smart and we have had some really spiritual lessions with them, but the only problem is that their mom won't let them go to anything.
This week we were having a Noche De Hogar (family home evening) with some of the other missionaries investigators that are younger in age and Hna. Echard and I decided we were going to invite the Diaz girls.. so we fasted, I honestly have never had a harder time fasting in my entire life, satan was really working on us during our fast! We told them about the NDH like 4 days in advanced and they said they would think about it.
The day came... we went to the Diaz´house and shared a little message and prayed with them and then we had to lure their mom out of her room to see if she would let them come... she said no. I have never felt so genuinely sad, we had prayed so hard and had so much faith that this was going to work and we knew that this night was going to have a huge impact on them. Well we talked to her some more and she said she needed her oldest daughter to work for her and all this crazy other stuff..! So we left.... we stood in the street in silence shed some tears and then started to walk and then hna Echard stopped and said that we should try for the younger brother and the little sister cause the mother only said that she needed the oldest daughter! Then she said no we've been too annoying. Then I said NO!! We have already gotten no, why not try one more time! So we called and praying in our hearts asked if her other kids could go... SHE SAID YES!! I don't know what those 5-10 minutes did to their mom, but I'm grateful!!
So we ran back and got them ready, as we were waiting the oldest daughter just kept saying how it was a miracle that her mom is letting them go! It really was a miracle!!
We went to the noche de hogar and wow the spirit touched everyone there! Eridaña and Ezikiel made new friends and felt the spirit! They said they loved it!
This was seriously a huge eye opener to me for many reasons... one: sometimes we are too greedy, I wanted the whole family to come, but really the two that needed it the most were the ones that could. two: The Lord tests our faith first, he needed to see if we would keep trying! I've learned and studied a lot about faith this week, and one quote I love is ¨You can literally cause things to work for your good both in your life and in the lives of others if you are full of faith in The Lord¨ -Gene R. Cook
I can testify that this is true, all you need is Faith! Faith is action and if we act in our faith miracles will follow!! I know that our Savior is aware of us and loves us!!
Thank you for everything especially your love!!!!
con amor!!
hermana Jenson
Tuesday, November 3, 2015
MORE RAIN AND THE CLICK!
Hola!!!!!
Wow this week has been one of some downs and of course ups!!! Wow I am so grateful to be here as a missionary!! :)
some highlights from this week:
-I had my first bucket shower
-crossed a river in the street again
-got rocks thrown at me by a chimpanzee at the zoo
-I was still super sick(lowlight)
-sang kareoke en español
-yeseña is getting baptized on the 21st!!!!!!
These are just a few of my adventures this week!! so first off I was super sick still on Tuesday and my compa is so good to me and she took super good care of me and I got a blessing from the elders and now I feel like I got a whole new body! I LOVE THE PRIESTHOOD!!! so when I was better we went to work super hard this week, we had a bunch of lessions! The people here are super awesome they are filled with so much faith!
Next we went to the zoo today!! Holy cow, this was for sure not the zoo in america!!! THERE ARENT ANY FENCES!! bahah! I know you're probably thinking I'm lying or joking!! Nope!! No fences at the zoo!! thats how we do it in the DR!! there are litterally only ditches that are like 3 feet wide that seperate you and the animals.. and then some are like in cement holes that you look down at.. ha its super interesting and ghetto! but so cool! the animals were super awesome I can't send pics this week but for sure next!! I have a ton!! Then we get to the chimpanzee and it was running around throwing rocks and yelling at people! Wow it was something that I will always remember for sure!! but I made it out alive!! :))
Next.. THE CLICK... so this week, and for parts of my mission so far, I have had some moments that haven't been the best.. and sometimes in those moments I have asked myself,, why am I here! (I would add a question mark but there isn't one on this little computer! oh the DR!!) And in those moments I have fallen to my knees to ask my Father in Heaven what I need to do and why am I here! and this week I had an answer to my prayers.... so when I was playing basketball growing up my Dad used to always tell me that there is a moment when you go from just playing the game of basketball and running around to where it ´´CLICKS¨ for you and then you really understand the ins and outs of the game, you don't just run around and play, you direct the game and control it.! Obviously it doesn't come overnight and it doesn't come all at once.. there are a lot of times that you wonder why your coach tells you to do something or why you run this way or why you are running this play or that play.. but then little by little you understand and are able to call the plays and know where to run before someone yells at you to run there! Well I had a little click moment this Sunday..I had been super confused in my head about a lot of things.. the day was long and it was raining and we were wet and we decided to make a stop at Tony's house on the way home for a little lession... we were talking about the wonderful plan- the plan of salvation. it was my turn to share in the lession about the Atonement of our Savior... wow, I was so strongly hit by the spirit that we are here because Heavenly Father has a plan for us and how grateful I am for the Atonement.! Tony is an awesome investigator along with his sister Candida and her husband Franklin! They understood this plan and expressed their testimonies of the atonement as well! I'm not sure how to fully explain it but I had a click moment where things were just clear in my head.. so clear! THAT THIS GOSPEL IS THE TRUTH! and the spanish was all clear I understood all of their Dominican words and the spirit was present! I am not saying that I know the ins and outs of the mission or spanish,,, I have a long way to go, but at that moment I was reminded and my prayers were answered that I am never alone and I am here for a very important purpose!! It was a little step and a little click for me in my mission!
I testify, that our Savior lives!!! That He loves us! and that His Atonement is real for everyone! That our Father in Heaven answers our prayers when we ask with real intent! HE LIVES!!!
I love you all! I encourage you all to share the message that we have a loving heavenly father this week and to pray and council with Him!!!
con mucho amor
Hermana Jenson
Monday, October 26, 2015
TONS OF PICS THIS WEEK
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| this is my compa and i with Yeseñas baby girl!! she is fulllll of sass!!!! haha |
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| CROSSING THE RIVER(STREET) |
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| Side note, they are wearing each others clothes. |
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| my cute companion and roommates decorated my desk and wrote me cards and got me treats for my cumple mes!!2 i love them!! every day is filled with laughs and is a party! |
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| these are the guaguas we can fit soooo many people in them they are a basic transportation here. they are 20 pesos. this is one we took today to a non members house for lunch! :) |
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| RACHEL IS IN THE VERY BACK OF THIS VAN ON BOTH PICS |
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| OUR DISTRICT |
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| this is just like a part of our area from the opposite side of the street, if you can see there are like 3 houses on top of each other! haha i love it! :) |
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| this is our little cute street! the pink building is our house and we live on the 3rd floor!!
and this is our kitchen...sort of messy woops! haha and yes there are ants and bugs everywhere no matter how clean we keep it! :) yummmm protein
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| this is where we do our laundry!! its sure makes our clothes super clean! bahahah!! :)) |
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| and this is where we study!! haha cute little room!! :)) |
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| this is the view from our roof!! the BEAUTIFUL DR!!! |
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| view of our chapel!!! WE ARE SO BLESSED TO LIFE ACROSS THE STREET!!! |
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| this is ANOTHER view from our roof!! |
STREETS OR RIVERS?
HOLA familia!!!!!!!
Hoy es mu cumple mes!!! dos meses!!! wahhhooo!!!! aye aye aye pasando muy rapido!!!
SHOUT OUT TO MY DADDIO HIS BDAY WAS ON SATURDAY! AND SHOUT OUT TO MY NEPHEW CAEL WHOSE BDAY IS THIS WEEK!!! I LOVE YOU GUYS WITH ALL MY HEART! EVERYONE TELL THEM HAPPY BIRTHDAY AND DO A LITTLE DANCE FOR ME ! :))
Gahhhh it has been another wonderful week of being a missionary in La Yuca!! :) The Lord is preparing so many people for us, we had a ton of appointments fall through on Wednesday, actually all of them, and so we decided to go to an old contacts house that we were by that never really went anywhere and she happened to be there along with her friend, they let us in and we started talking and then we taught the 1st vision and about prophets... they both took it all in and they were so ready and prepared by The Lord, they asked all the right questions! wow its little miracles like these that make the mission so amazing!!
This week we were at Espeghettis at a members house and oh my lanta he just gives us so much food and so we are all sitting on the roof eating and talking and all of a sudden Matos (the member) gets up to go in the kitchen and everyone starts trying to scrape their food onto someone else's plate... hahah and then elder Cisnero grabs hermana Echards giant platano and all of us were like wow that's really nice of you to eat that then he just chucks it off the roof!! bahahah!! we were dying laughing and right after Matos walks back out!! aye my madre!! so funny!!!
So this Saturday i came down with a fever of 102 and was not feeling to great but when we were on our way home our investigator Yeseña called and wanted us to come by but we couldn't,,, and she said she had a problem and couldn't come to church the next day.. so we were all worried and stuff and then we decided to stop by after church to make sure everything was fine and she just sat down and explained to us how she had had a really rough and scary day with a ton of family problems going on in her life and she wanted us to come over and sing hymns and read The Book of Mormon with her because we make her feel peace! Wow, what another testimony builder of the spirit with sweet Yeseña! i love her so much!! so we sang a couple of hymns and read and talked and laughed for a while and she was great!! :) the spirit really is the great comfortor! :))))) also one of our investigators came to church for the first time and we have been teaching him for months,.. hermana Echard and i just started dancing in the hallway of the church when we saw cute little Reinoso and his cane walking into the chapel!! ahh!! it was like christmas!!!
Also on Sunday night we were in a sita, and all of a sudden it starts pouring rain and lighting oh my it was nuts, and so the couples whose house we were at gave us plastic bags to put over our hair(because everyone here is crazy about their hair, every other store is a salon) and so we start running and we were at the opposite side of the area than our house and we are just soaked haha then we get to one place and people are all lined up on the steps of all the stores and like climbing up the houses,,,, the whole street had flooded almost to the tops of the cars!! AND WE HAD TO CROSS IT TO GET HOME!! bahaha my comp and i just start laughing!!! and start on our journey!! we were dying the streets were full of poop water and garbage just all over and we are just the only ones trecking through it cause we had to be home on time!! it was seriously crazy!! but we made it safe and sound!! :)
so many adventures!! I love being a missionary!!!
love you guys!! I have the best family and friends ever!!! :)))
hermana jenson
Hoy es mu cumple mes!!! dos meses!!! wahhhooo!!!! aye aye aye pasando muy rapido!!!
SHOUT OUT TO MY DADDIO HIS BDAY WAS ON SATURDAY! AND SHOUT OUT TO MY NEPHEW CAEL WHOSE BDAY IS THIS WEEK!!! I LOVE YOU GUYS WITH ALL MY HEART! EVERYONE TELL THEM HAPPY BIRTHDAY AND DO A LITTLE DANCE FOR ME ! :))
Gahhhh it has been another wonderful week of being a missionary in La Yuca!! :) The Lord is preparing so many people for us, we had a ton of appointments fall through on Wednesday, actually all of them, and so we decided to go to an old contacts house that we were by that never really went anywhere and she happened to be there along with her friend, they let us in and we started talking and then we taught the 1st vision and about prophets... they both took it all in and they were so ready and prepared by The Lord, they asked all the right questions! wow its little miracles like these that make the mission so amazing!!
This week we were at Espeghettis at a members house and oh my lanta he just gives us so much food and so we are all sitting on the roof eating and talking and all of a sudden Matos (the member) gets up to go in the kitchen and everyone starts trying to scrape their food onto someone else's plate... hahah and then elder Cisnero grabs hermana Echards giant platano and all of us were like wow that's really nice of you to eat that then he just chucks it off the roof!! bahahah!! we were dying laughing and right after Matos walks back out!! aye my madre!! so funny!!!
So this Saturday i came down with a fever of 102 and was not feeling to great but when we were on our way home our investigator Yeseña called and wanted us to come by but we couldn't,,, and she said she had a problem and couldn't come to church the next day.. so we were all worried and stuff and then we decided to stop by after church to make sure everything was fine and she just sat down and explained to us how she had had a really rough and scary day with a ton of family problems going on in her life and she wanted us to come over and sing hymns and read The Book of Mormon with her because we make her feel peace! Wow, what another testimony builder of the spirit with sweet Yeseña! i love her so much!! so we sang a couple of hymns and read and talked and laughed for a while and she was great!! :) the spirit really is the great comfortor! :))))) also one of our investigators came to church for the first time and we have been teaching him for months,.. hermana Echard and i just started dancing in the hallway of the church when we saw cute little Reinoso and his cane walking into the chapel!! ahh!! it was like christmas!!!
Also on Sunday night we were in a sita, and all of a sudden it starts pouring rain and lighting oh my it was nuts, and so the couples whose house we were at gave us plastic bags to put over our hair(because everyone here is crazy about their hair, every other store is a salon) and so we start running and we were at the opposite side of the area than our house and we are just soaked haha then we get to one place and people are all lined up on the steps of all the stores and like climbing up the houses,,,, the whole street had flooded almost to the tops of the cars!! AND WE HAD TO CROSS IT TO GET HOME!! bahaha my comp and i just start laughing!!! and start on our journey!! we were dying the streets were full of poop water and garbage just all over and we are just the only ones trecking through it cause we had to be home on time!! it was seriously crazy!! but we made it safe and sound!! :)
so many adventures!! I love being a missionary!!!
love you guys!! I have the best family and friends ever!!! :)))
hermana jenson
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