EMAIL CHAT 4/16/12………

Hello... mom

(Regarding her clothes at home and our trip…..)  I hope my things will fit.... I've packed quite a bit, but still have a bit and I still have clothes, but I've given a lot to Amy who is going to serve in Mexico. So hopefully.... my books cover a lot of space and weight.

So here are some pointers about this week:

1. We have two baptisms this week. We have the young teenager named Tanya who is getting baptized on Wednesday and Alvaro on Saturday, we hope.  LOL.  We haven't talked to him still. We had an FHE (Family Home Evening) planned so hopefully that will still happen. I'm super excited for both of them and it would be great to see those two baptisms.

2. We had 5 investigators come to church, for me I think that was my personal record. It was so awesome to see our investigators there and all of ours right now are progressing yeah!!!!! Siobhan our cool hippy even came to church. It was funny though she told us that it seemed really calm because her church is pretty rowdy.  LOL. It was still super awesome, LOL, to see them.

3. I bore my testimony on Fast Sunday.

4. We had an amazing mission Easter activity. YEAH for amazing, fun activities!!!! We had our spiritual time, then we ate, and had all the international missionaries share about their country. It was an international theme activity. I even participated in the Tongan group. I had no idea what I was doing with Hermana Eteaki cuz I just walked in with her and just watched and followed, I looked super lame. But it was fun and the Tongan group had a super funny act that they did. Then we ended heading to one of the places I have wanted to go to all of my mission.... the SAN JUAN MORRO!!!!! It's way famous and when people mention PR that is part of it. So we got to go to this great fort and then they had a performance where they did traditional folklore PRican dancing. I was in heaven, enjoying every moment of it. Then we walked a little to see old San Juan as we walked back to our car, and then we had to say our goodbye's to the missionaries who we won't see anymore. It was sad.... that was when it kind of hit me for real. I keep talking about it, but saying actually byes was weird. Also crazy Elder Hargadon and Scroggins from our group will be serving in St. Thomas when we head over there. I told them.  LOL.

5. We've eaten a lot this week, so I might be fatter.

6. President told me I had to ride my bike for 16 hours this week, yuck.... it’s been raining and awful when we try to go on the bikes. It's sunny when we ride the car.

7. We have another project to do. We have to make a human sized Jesus to sit on a bench so people will sit with him and take a picture. It will say mormon.org on it. So that is our project this week. We are thinking of two things: a foam painted Jesus or a graffiti Jesus with a bench against a wall and he's painted on the wall and bench like he's sitting. They have amazing graffiti here in PR. We'll see please pray that we can get it done.

(I asked who would be painting…) We have ward members who are going to help with the Jesus and the other is a pro artist that we need to see if we can get permission because its $250.

8.  We had a full piece of poop come up in the shower today, guacala.

Gross huh, second time, the worst is that we're the ones cleaning it... also we have cockroaches in our car .   The roaches I think are from the car sitting for a month.

(I asked about the flags in the pictures….are they always together?   The US flag and the PR flag?)   Yeah the flags are always together...

(I commented on the photos of the ocean.   I can almost smell it through the photos.   I asked her if she loved being so close to it.)   You have no idea... that besides that day in Ponce is the closest and oh how I love it.... I wish I could have served near it... thank goodness I'm going to Hawaii.  LOL.  Also one of my recent converts that I taught is in Hawaii and Hermana Ghersi is returning back here in May.

(I asked for clarifications….)   Yeah she was already baptized, but I taught her as a recent convert. She now lives in Hawaii which I knew, but now she's actually there. Her husband is in the military. Then Kris and Brix will be there too. He's going for law school.

Hermana Ghersi is going with her family on the 14th or something (back to PR)... her mom works for an airline and gets free tickets. That's the job I need to work for an airline.

(I asked if the car accident stuff was all squared away…..)   No, there are still problems unfortunately....

hey gotta go tho, I'll see you next week!!!!!!!!!! LOVE YOU TONS!!! TELL KYLE HI FROM ME!!!!

Hasta Luego

EMAIL CHAT 4/9/12………

Thanks so much for my Easter gift... it's awesome.... THANKS A BUNCH!!! HAPPY BELATED EASTER

We keep bugging the elders for our mail, but they still haven’t given it to us yet.

Puerto Ricans don't celebrate Easter, so mine was like yours except our tire had a screw stuck in it, so we walked for miles.

Here in PR they celebrate Semana Santa or Holy week and Good Friday with activities of Jesus on the cross.

Wow what an info filled letter.... crazy stuff all around as always.....

Here is my week in a nutshell....

1. ………………

2.  We spent all day Wednesday working on Hermana Curl's mormon.org project which turned out awesome. We stayed literally the whole day in the office and in President's house.  He needed this for a Mission President seminar in the DR.

3. Our tire had a giant screw stuck in it, so we parked the car and forgot we even had a donut and walked for miles again.  LOL.  Brought some memories back....

4. We had an activity called pan and miel on April 6, our 18 month birthday (anniversary…they’ve both been on their missions for 18 months)  (which was Good Friday and we wanted to celebrate with PRican food called mofongo but we couldn't cause everything was closed but Chili's, so we ate that.) Anyways the activity was a celebration of Christ's birth. They talked about Christ and we sang Christmas songs. Then in the end everyone eats bread, honey, grapes, and grape juice. It was interesting and good. We had 3 investigators show up it was great. We had Wineska and Jean and Tricia, the hippy mom with blue hair. They seemed to like it.

5. I've officially decided, can you please make me some of our famous cookies when we come back from the trip? It's been like 6.5 years the last time I have had them.

6. Unfortunately the guy who I got in the car crash with didn't show up for his other appointment, so the missionaries called me and explained that the church can't get any money until he attends his cita, so lucky me, I had to call him and bug him more to go to his cita. I can't just shake off this crazy car stuff.

7. Tomorrow we are going to have an awesome Easter conference it sounds like. They’re going to have an international night and we are going somewhere too. I'll let you know how it goes.

8. We have two baptismal dates right now we have Alvaro and Tanya who is a 13 year old girl. We aren't sure if she'll be baptized before we leave, but it would be cool. We have some good investigators right now.

9. I'm excited about Kris and Brix about going to Hawaii that's awesome, hopefully they haven't forgotten me.  I haven't heard a word from them.   (They are a married couple who are good friends of Jessie’s.    They’ll be moving to Oahu for school and will be there the same time Jessie is there.)

10. Siobhan our investigator said she's going to make us a picture, she is a great artist.

11. We spent hours in Pep Boys so that is why we are late online.

(Regarding Hermana Curl.   I asked if she and Jessie were on the same flight home.)   She doesn't know about her flight, but I highly doubt we are on the same.  I'm going to try to send a copy of the mormon.org thing so you can see what we did. The activity was a stake thing. ……. And the cookies I thought about cause I ate one that tasted like yours.

I also forgot to mention that I am now trying to finish the Pearl of Great Price.  I am in the JS (Joseph Smith) translation of Matthew.... so by the time I finish I would have read the whole triple.   (Triple Combination … Bible, Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants/Pearl of Great Price).

I always get stuck with the slow computers..... I swear my luck and patience have been seriously tested during this mission.

I'm not even flying with Hermana Ghersi who is going straight to Utah.... the flights are all different because of spring break.   (Kind of crazy, eh?)

Yeah seems like we are flying alone to the same place, different times... Salt Lake did it

Well I have to go and we need to still buy some things in Walmart... but I'll talk to you soon and I might be in St. Croix.

I LOVE YOU SO MUCH keep being super strong you truly are AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!! my hero and best friend!!!!!

EMAIL CHAT 4/2/12……..

... today I only have an hour because well it’s holy week for Easter and everything is closing.

…and the holidays are super rough as missionaries... they have too many.

Here is my week:

1. Our shower likes to flood up from the sewer and this week we had a "poopy shower".... literally we had toilet paper and poop with corn in it YUCK on our shower floor.... we used a lot of bleach and cleaner stuff. It was DISGUSTING!!!

2. I have officially finished reading Doctrine and Covenants and the Book of Mormon 4 times during my mission. I am in John in the Bible and Moses right now.

3. Our investigator Siobhan is doing awesome. Yesterday she explained that sometimes she feels a subtle feeling that is good, but didn't know what it was. We explained it was the Spirit and she wants to use the BOM to defend sometimes that what her preachers teach aren't what the scriptures teach.

4. We had 4 investigators attend the General conference. Wineska and Jon are progressing tons and liked the conference. Also I felt that they were talking to me the whole time. I was shocked that they didn't announce any temples... we were hoping for PR. But I really loved this session and would love to buy the CDs when they are out.

5. ALVARO ARIAS WILL BE BAPTIZED ON 21 APRIL 2012!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so happy!!! We were planning to have our meeting with President at his house on the 18th, but not this Sunday, but last he had an interview with the Bishop and left church happy. Then he called us at night and said, can I have the phone number for President because I want to see if we can change our day to meet for this week. I was so thrilled. So I made the arrangements and talked with President and he said that he would change things so he could come. We talked with Alvaro and set a day. After Pres told me that the Lord is answering my prayers and my desires are being granted..... we met up on Tuesday night and we then ate dinner at their house (Salmon) and then we chatted for a long time about promotion ideas for a project that Hermana Curl is doing for mormon.org.... then Alvaro decided for us all to split. Him and Pres in the living room, and us, his daughters and wife with Elder Lopez outside in their nice yard. We waited and waited... and then 11 pm passed and we figured we should go..... then we headed home while they were still talking. Then we headed home and Pres called us asking where we had gone.... we were in the house settling in and he asked us to come back. Then he changed his mind and put us on speaker... when Alvaro made his announcement.  Alavaro wanted us there at the house to hear, but oopps.... good news is he is getting baptized finally!!!!!

6. We had our dance class this Wednesday for hula and it was a super fun this time, because usually we have like 3 women and my companion, but this time young primary girls waiting for their moms in meetings came and danced the whole time with us. They loved it and we loved it. They were amazing. They were learning a millions times faster than the hermanas. It was super fun with them.

7. I might have other good news next week, but I'll let you know next week.

I LOVE YOU TONS and MISS YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!!! CAN'T WAIT TO SEE YOU SUPER SOON!!! just think this Friday is my 18 MESES!!!!!   (Her official 18 month mark for missionary service.)

(Alvaro's daughters and wife have been members for 20+ years. They've been waiting and praying for a long time. Also, Siobhan is the hippy girl.)

EMAIL CHAT 3/26/12………

so here is some of my week:

1. First does Kyle like board games still? Because here Dominos are super popular and I want to give him some PRican ones.....

2. Hermana Curl burned a hole in her shirt when she lit a match to light a bday candle for a recent convert.

3. Things have been going well... a little challenging, but okay

4. We had our last regular interview before our final one... and I also found out that Hermana Ghersi and I have different flights.  How sad, uh...... we were super bummed about it!!!! But anyways my interview went really well and the first thing President asked me was would you be ready to get married in the next 30-90 days after your mission. I was like üh NO" Then he was like even if you found the right one and he offers you to be his eternal companion.... I was like nope probably not. LOL ……….. Then he asked me to fast once every week before I go home about what I should do with my life. And yeah it was an interesting and good chat.

5. You won't believe it.... so Alvaro was cheery with us at a fireside and at church. Then he had an interview with the bishop after church. Then he was happy and we chatted. He asked us if we remembered about our appointment for the 18th with Pres. We said of course and then they left. We received a call last night from him saying he wanted us to see if president could come this week and not the 18th. He wanted to see Pres before he leaves for his trip. We called President and he was thrilled and said he would change his schedule to visit. Alvaro agreed and Pres for tomorrow night!!!!!! I think he is going to confess tomorrow and who knows maybe tell us a date. If he gets baptized this weekend he can enter the temple in Colombia with his family!!!! for baptisms!!!! He said he felt a sweet spirit and wanted to change the date. President explained to me that Heavenly Father hears my prayers that they are being answered and my desires are being granted. This could be it.... PLEASE PRAY FOR HIM!!!!

6. We bought him a journal for him to write about his experiences and trip.

7. We had an investigator and her son come to a fireside and they liked it. The son is studying acting and can't go to church because he has acting workshops he can't miss. I explained what you’re doing . He could be good for you guys, he's 10 and speaks English and Spanish. They also agreed to be baptized, but it'll be a while because they won't be attending church until June. But they are cool!

8. I'm getting very excited to see you guys, I won't lie I'm happy to see you three.

9. Tell Kelly and the kids that I say hi.

10. I don't know what else to say... sorry this computer is super slow. That is why there are typos.  (I fixed most of them. J)

I have more tithing to send... Grandma is awesome.... LOL.  Today I found a sale.  I got a pencil black skirt $3, 2 light v neck shirts for the trip $1 each, and a light sweater $3, and a plain black shirt blouse $1.... only $9 for all 5, nice eh?

I feel that Alvaro is my biggest accomplishment on the mission.

He is really, even if he doesn't get baptized while I'm here I have never seen such an amazing conversion in someone as I have in him.

I'm getting rid of some things I know I don't need.... I have even given some of my clothes to the girl in the ward who is serving in Mexico in June, they fit her perfectly.

They’re mostly skirts and some tops that I probably wouldn't wear.  I'm keeping what I would wear.

It’s been super cold and rainy here too, but figures the rain goddess is here. They say this area doesn't usually rain at this time, but guess who's here to cause it?  Yep me!  LOL.

.... it's ridiculous.... I seriously have that gift, it's awful.  LOL.  I hate rain, heheheh.

I love you so much too...... please take care of yourself and so happy we could talk.... thanks for chatting with me and see you in 4 weeks!!!! I LOVE YOU TONS>>>> Te AMO y extrano un monton!!!!

EMAIL CHAT 3/19/12…..

I was reading the billions of letters, LOL, you sent and they were great to read.... I always love reading your letters.... and now we are at another place for online, so there is no time limit like before. .....

I'm glad you got your corn beef and cabbage and they don't give it here thank goodness.  LOL.  (It was St. Patrick’s Day and it’s been years since I’d had a traditional home cooked corned beef and cabbage meal, right on the holiday)…And we look like we will be finishing together woot woot!!!!!!   (Jessie and Hermana Curl will be finishing their missions together.   They started in the Provo MTC as a threesome companionship with Hermana Kamisese and now they’ll end together as well.   What a blessing for them!)

So here are some pointers of the week.... not too much has happened.....

1. Happy St. Patty's day again and soon Happy Easter.  LOL.

2. I realized it was Mare's bday on the 10th so I need to send her a little package………  (Jessie’s good friend from high school who just returned home from her own mission to LA in January.)

3. We went again to the one family who is Evanglista to share and eat and man they know how to shove food into our mouths. We made our plates full and they still made us put more in. We sipped our juice and they filled the cup up.... they had filled the plates completely full for us to eat it all..... we could not do it.... we couldn't even finish what was on our plate without them asking us to put more on. We were stuffed to the brim of our necks... It was so, so delicious, yet so much food!!!!

4. Rashme our investigator made us surprised this last week. We didn't even see her until Saturday night. She before asked us to come every night to teach and she told us she would call us and didn't.  So we passed by the house and nothing and called and nothing. Then we finally found her on Saturday and she said she was busy. Then we taught and she said we can pass any day of this week, so we'll try passing tomorrow. It was odd and I'm not sure what will happen about the baptism.

5. Alvaro is doing awesome.... I am seriously so proud of him. This last Sunday he attended a baptism of a young boy and thought it was interesting. Shoots when he gets baptized we'll probably have to use the sacramental room. LOL..... but he has an appointment with the bishop this week, and then he will go to Colombia (he is from there), fix things up with family, have a personal interview with President and then I hope dunk himself in the water :)

6. Our hippy awesome family has had a rough week and we haven't been able to visit. They have been sick, busy, and lost their water. Then there was a drama scene we saw with the mom and her ex-boyfriend who we later found out was a menos activo. Small world eh... they’re awesome and I hope things have gotten better. We are hoping to visit tomorrow.

7. I think you will find this funny that Hermana Curl and I talk to each other through the bathroom door..... we are just like u and me. It's a riot she's like you in many ways.... she scuffs her slippers, we talk through the bathroom, she makes cheezy jokes, she sings a song that relates to any word, and I tell her EVERYTHING.... I can't keep things from her.... we crack up from it all.  

8. I was thinking about doing a  picture with my direction on it to pass out to people so they have my information... what do you think?   (I think she meant ‘contact information’.   Too much Spanish.  LOL)

9. I saw a man hanging off the side of a car with the door closed driving down the main road.... it was really weird.

10. I am so, so, so, so, so happy that I qualify for FAFSA.  I was just telling Hermana Curl how I didn't know how to pay for everything, that I might need to do Del Sol again to save or work super hard.   (Jes will be going back to school in the fall to finish her Bachelor’s Degree in Hawaii.   The costs have skyrocketed since she was there in 2008.   FAFSA is for the government’s Pell Grant, in which she qualified for a small amount.   Del Sol is the company she interned for one fall.  As hopeful as she is about the grant, she’s still going to have to work super hard so we can get it all paid for.   J )

I'm excited to try the turkey legs from Disney.... I sure hope they have them.   (on our family vacation...this from the girl who used to make me fix spaghetti for her on Thanksgiving because she DID NOT like turkey.)

(Again, about school…..) yeah it’s going to be very intense, in all honesty I don't think I can finish in one year, (She can’t.   It was wishful thinking on the mommy person’s part.)   I have none of the requirements for the major.

But gotta go.... I LOVE YOU TONS AND TALK TO YOU NEXT WEEK!!!!!!

EMAIL 3/12/12……….

Well you don't seem to be online right now.... I was hoping you would be because I figured you would be at work..... but our pday changed for Monday. The mission decided to make everything on the same day.  For example, we now have our district meeting, our pday, and our planning sessions on the same day. Crazy I know.... it is interesting. So we have had two pdays in less than a week. Wouldn't that be nice if that happened all the time.... LOL.   Soon I'll have pdays every day!!

Here is this week.... it's been interesting....

1. We did something fun for pday ... we went to CHUCK-E-Cheeses.... it was awesome they have a deal right now for a 4.99 medium pizza and then we spent $5 for 20 playing tokens.... it was super fun!!!! and now we are here and you aren't.  LOL

2. With our investigator who I mentioned who tracted us down, we did a lesson including helium balloons. She has had some difficult family situations and we decided we could have her write down her feelings on a paper, attach it to the balloon and let it go, literally letting go her feelings. We even did it too.  We were so impressed how far the balloons went. We wished we took a picture. The idea came from one of the conference talks about some sisters letting go their balloons. Our lesson went really well. She felt super better and said it made a difference. We taught her about the Restoration yesterday and she took it very well and agreed to be baptized. We don't have a date yet, we hope to have it soon. Also she went to church and said she had felt a lot of peace there.

3. We gave good ol’ Alvaro a tour around the church. We did a scavenger hunt with scriptures leading him to each room. He found it interesting to learn about some of the rooms he has never been in. We then ended in the baptismal font and talked about that. President was supposed to come earlier, but was late from a leadership meeting. Well just when we were about to finish up, President walked in and they both started talking. Alvaro shared some things and he wants to talk to President privately. Alvaro and his wife Olga are heading to Columbia soon, but when they come back on the week of the 18th, Pres. and him will have a chat. So please keep praying that this will be it. He keeps asking when we are leaving. LOL...... so we hope it's soon.

4. I got sick all Saturday.... serious throwing-up and major diarrhea.... it was awful.... I was stuck at home and I think I lost weight too.  LOL.... everyone the next day at church told me I looked thinner. It could have been a virus maybe.... but glad I'm done yuck... it's been a long time the last time I've done that.

5. I was looking at housing, ouch.... it’s still expensive (at BYU-Hawaii) and all the scholarships you gave me, I don't really even qualify for their requirements.... for little people need to be a member, Bank One you need to sign me up for it, Italian I need to be in high school, and another one something else. LOL ..... they don't even work for me... was there not a sister missionary one?   (FYI….I only sent her scholarship applications she COULD apply for.   I told her to read them more carefully.   LOL.   If anyone reading this knows about scholarships Jessie should apply for please, please, please send us the information.   We’ve got to get this girl through school.  J)

6. I can't wait to make you all Puerto Rican food...

7. HAPPY ST. PATTIES DAY!!!!!!!

8. I'm sad I can't chat with you today. You’re not there.   (Me too!)

9. We still don't know about transfers... (Transfers were scheduled to happen on Wednesday, March 14^th.   This is her last one before she comes home!)

10. I found a place that has great jewelry for .50 and would be awesome for gifts.

Well I LOVE YOU AND KYLE TONS AND HOPE ALL IS WELL>>>> LOVE AND MISS MUCHO!!!!!

Hermana Jessie Comoletti

EMAIL CHAT 3/7/12………

Hey sorry we just got to the computers... the library didn't have internet, so we decided to go get our hair done... and it took FOREVER!!!!!!!!  Way too long!! But finally we are here and we haven't done anything for PDay actually.  Awful, eh?

My hair wasn't what I had planned... I wanted to be blonde and the Spanish hair communication does not work.... but I want to surprise you all..... so I won't send one (I asked for a picture).... we got a great deal though because the stake president's wife has her own salon and she gave us good prices. Hermana Curl chopped her hair, I like it.

Hermana Rodriguez is leaving next week.

So not much has happened this week... this has been a very hard week for me because there have been sad things happening within our ward and the people we work with.... a lot of apostasy influences. Members are falling and it’s so hard as a missionary to see Satan change these people's faith. Please pray for those we help and for Puerto Rico in general.  Apostasy is very harmful and powerful here in this little country.

We found a really cool family. I don't know if we mentioned about them before. It’s a single mom with her three kids. The family is interesting, but so, so cool. They speak English.... ever since I've been in Caguas I have spoken so much English, we teach many in English, which is cool. But the mom wants her daughter to get to know Jesus. She has studied many other religions and the family attends a church at the beach. We found out they are our next door neighbors. Anyways the mom wants us to help her older daughter (break dancer) to grow her faith in Christ and they appreciate our visits. The mom was funny and was like I want you girls to have Jesus as her "homeboy" they're kind of like that .... and she also is someone who has "dreams". She had explained that she was going to be baptized for her church and we got worried. So we prayed that she wouldn't, or receive a dream that would tell her not to. That Sunday we visited them she explained that she didn't do it and that she wanted to wait another week to study more. So pray that she won't do it again and wait until she learns from us ;) We hope they will grow and accept the gospel.

We found another family that are Pentacostal but are so, so nice to us.  Very welcoming and we have shared with them twice. They have been in their church for 20 years and want to be missionaries for it. We have lunch with them tomorrow, please pray they'll keep listening and gradually their hearts will change.

One day we were contacting near our house and we contacted this one lady. She didn't seem interested and she was on the phone with someone long distance. She eventually accepted the card that we were offering her and we left. A little later than that, as we were still walking and contacting, we had someone drive up to us and asked if we were giving out the Christ cards. We said yes and she asked if we could go right that minute and share with her. We were in shock and accepted. We went to her house and she was very kind. She has strong faith and has had some seriously hard times. She is leaving a ten year depression and she wanted us to try to help her. The woman who was on the phone was her mother. We talked to her and it was interesting. One thing that is hard for us when teaching is she wants opinions with psychology even though she is getting it, but wants help with the problem that was the cause of the depression. But she is very kind and we hope that our gospel teachings can help her.

Also we found out that Alvero might be ready.... we are going to try having a personal church tour with him and we have invited President Alvarado, so if he felt like confessing President was there.  Please pray this will be it :)

We played a game called ‘What if’ and it was funny cuz there was a paper that said ‘what if chocolate was illegal?’ and the answer was ‘my mom would have a cow’, but it was a random question with a random answer... we were cracking up knowing that it was very appropriate for you!

I know no one hears from me, I know it’s bad.... I am trying. Soon I can talk to them. HALLELUJAH!

Next week is transfers.  Pray that Hermana Curl and I can stay (together) because in all honesty, I need her this transfer... things are still very hard for me.

Well I love you tons and I gotta go.... be safe and give Kyle a special hug from me.... LOVE YOU UN MONTON!!!