Email Chat on 1/26/11

HOLA MI MAMA!!!!

Oh boy there is so much to tell you and thank you for the letter on email because I won't receive my mail for a very long time. My address is P.O Box 33, Adjuntas PR 00601 PR.... it might be better for some time to write emails instead. I love your letters, but we we'll have to see how this email thing goes. But I'm so glad you wrote ………….And tell him to write me (talking about her brother) he told me he would. It is so so so so hard to write letters, I don't know how people do it because I honestly think P-days (preparation days) are more busy. They have a huge list of rules and things that need to be done first, so after you’re all done it’s time to go teach and no writing time. So tell everyone sorry, there just seriously is no time. Oh and I'm so glad that Hermana Miller enjoyed herself... she's an amazing person!!

OKay where do I begin I have no idea.... this has been an intense transfer so far, in good and crazy ways. First off, I am actually in an area called Adjuntas (total country) no ocean once again. We cover three cities Adjuntas, Jayuya, and Utuado... funny thing is it’s one of the areas that Hermana Miller served in. If I hit her third area then I've served in the same areas as her. It takes us like 30-1 hour to travel to these places... and its awful cuz we don't have very many miles to work within a month (car mileage), a heachache. My Companion is Hermana Angel.... oh my cuteness. She is adorable and an amazing teacher. We get along so well and we have a lot in common. She's tiny like me and everyone mentions that because her last companion was huge too.  LOL.. She knows a tad bit of English and wants to learn more, so for our language studies we have this routine. We each pick 6 words and so 12 total. She learns them in English and me in Spanish. Then once we are somewhat familiar with the word we use them in the language in explaining or a story or whatever, making us both use them with grammar. Then we correct each other. It’s good cuz they are words that are everyday things. It’s a good exercise and yes we speak Spanish all the time. Apparently I make some sense because she knows what I'm talking about most of the time. It’s nice cuz we somewhat have similar teaching techniques a lot different than Hermana Miller and I.  It's good. I have to drive because she can't and the roads here are a million times worse than driving in the canyons (Utah canyons – winding, curving mountain roads).... I am always worried about the car and have had some ayyyyy moments. Oh yeah and everyone here thinks I'm PRicuena (Puerto Rican) until I open my mouth.

DAY #1: My first day really serving in the area was insane. Oh my madre... so when I arrived there were 3 baptisms scheduled and so I was going to be a part of that, which was great. We met up with our district leader and his companion (Elder Crawley- Orem and Elder Perca-Peru no se) because the district leader needed to interview the investigators for baptism. We drove to a couple who just got married so they could be baptized, very humble setting and a cool couple. One thing I have noticed about here is age does not matter when you are dating someone (that's all I'm going to say, you can picture what I'm getting at). Their names are Natalie and Miguel. Anyways they are cool, but I feel awful cuz I never know what they are saying. (funny thing.... so this is proof that I'm not terrible awful at Spanish, cuz I will be so lost when people start talking to me and then I later find out that Hermana Angel doesn't really know either. LOL So that shows that the accents here are very hard to understand.... because I can understand Hermana Angel most of the time, but I have the hardest time understanding everyone here. And if she has a hard time and she's from El Salvador... I'm safe)... anyways... so we met with them, the road was extremely small, like really, really narrow. Then we had to travel to another investigator who is a warden at a prison. He's cool, but he talks tons. Hermana Angel was told that there was a shorter way which would take less miles and time to get to Juan's house.  So we were like okay.... big mistake..... so we drove with the directions they gave us, which here people don't know what directions are (no one knows the address).  I'm in serious trouble when Hermana Angel leaves and I need to find houses on my own. LOL.  Way confusing. (This is especially funny because Jessie is TERRIBLE at finding places on her own.   Even with Utah’s block system of north/south/east/west she couldn’t find her way.   There’s no easier way either.   She would call me at home to help her find her way to the simplest of addresses.   When she inherits the car I have plans to buy her a GPS to go with it, even though no one really needs a GPS in Utah…..except the Jessie’s of the world.  J)   So we were driving and we hit two roads and didn't know where to go. The Elders are following us at this point. So we called the people and they didn't really know where we were, so we were like oh great what now. On the road there was a man walking so we asked him and he was kind of confusing.... so the elders were talking and trying to get info from him, Hermana Angel was on the phone, and I just watched everyone and ate my granola bar LOL..... Then the old man told us the best road to take so we turned there. We went down and picture this.... INDIANA JONES DISNEY RIDE yep I had to drive that..... room enough for one car and on a mountain. Of course I was careful, but I was just hoping there was no one coming from the other side. We finally made it through and then we hit a spot with three roads. At this point no one knew where we were, we were popping maps, calling people, we walked to the house screaming "por favor, necesitamos ayuda".... so no one answered and we were like well what now, and it was hot. We parked the cars in the small, narrow road, then Hermana Angel was like let's pray.... and this was good..... so we all went between our cars and we said a prayer, all of a sudden in the middle of the prayer we hear a car, she hurried and finished and we all went for it.(It reminded us of the movie the Best Two Years with the phone and investigator.) We asked for the directions and thank goodness the mom and her daughter knew and Hermana Angel knew what areas they were talking about. So the district leader was good and contacted the people and said this liner " like you have given us directions, here is something to spiritually direct you" We all were trying to hold our laughs. So we continued on our journey and lo and behold we run into a monton (ton) of turkeys in the middle of the road. We were like are you serious.... so I was honking and thank goodness the neighbor was helping us get the turkeys off the road. We finally found the house after a lot of craziness. We arrive and find out it was only guys so we had to walk around and try to contact people. The house that Juan was at was his GF's (girlfriend’s) mom's house. We ended up walking and went to the house of the mom's mom who is a Catholic. She was nice, but then explained how the missionaries in the past had done something that she did not like, so we tried explaining and helping to understand that past situation.

DAY #2:  This was the day for Juan to be baptized.... the night before we felt good and ready. We wake up and hear the phone, we received a text from his gf that says Juan no va a ser bautizado.... which you can probably guess what that says. He wasn't going to be baptized we were like what... are you kidding me. So after prayer we called and no answer. Then we called the gf and she was a wreck saying that they had a bad argument the night before and he left the house saying he wasn't going to be baptized.  After talking a little bit with her.... (the gf and her mom are huge supporters of him) we tried calling Juan again. This time he picked up and said he wasn't going to be baptized. We talked and talked with him. We shared scriptures, prayed, testified and asked him to pray and ask Heavenly Father if he was ready. Hermana Angel said this was the one time she really felt like he was ready. We called the gf and explained our situation. Then Juan called us back like 5 minutes later (fast answer) and said he had the desire to be baptized for himself and he knows it’s the right thing. We were rejoicing and so happy. The day went by and we were getting somewhat ready for the baptism then we received another text from his gf again saying they were not going to attend the baptism, we were like seriously, you’re his support. They also were supposed to talk, so we had to find someone else. Then later we received another text from someone else saying there will be no baptism. This was like 2 hours beforish. We could not believe it... at this point the Rama (branch) presidente knew about some of the information. We prayed and prayed then Hermana Angel felt that we should go to the house where the mom and gf lived and where Juan usually was.

So we called the president and told him about our situation and how we were going to drive 35 minutes up to try to find Juan. This was 1 hour before the service. So we drove up not knowing if anyone would be there... and we found the mom and daughter at the house bawling.... we talked to them, the situation or fight was bad and they all were very hurt. The fight was a three party thing too....we taught them a lesson and the president had cancelled the service. Also we found out from them that we had 2 earthquakes that day and we didn't even feel them. They were 5.5 and 6. I have had 4 earthquakes on my mission and they are rare for these places. Anyways Juan called and we told him that we will help him so he can still be baptized and feel prepared. SO we are still working with him. I was like no one wants to get baptized when I am around how sad, cuz our other baptism dropped too.

DAY # 3: This day was the baptism for the married couple, Miguel and Natalie.... all was well and normal and their marriage had finally been legalized. We called to verify the baptisms and they had explained that their car broke down and someone else’s car too making it very challenging for them to come. We were like seriously ahhhhhhh...... to make the story short, they found a ride, and we met them at the chapel. The chapel is one of the first buildings in PR. Cool eh..... they ended up having a nice baptism and I will try to load the pictures for you... but it was cool my first 2 baptisms, even though I did nothing, and hopefully we will have another one soon for Juan. We ate interesting food and funny thing, I've been the least picky eater out of my companions LOL (for those who really know Jessie, you know she’s been a lifelong picky eater…..one of the worst…..until she graduated from high school and began living in other places.   Hawaii and Key West REALLY helped her eat a wider variety of foods.   Hallelujah!  says the mother who had to make her spaghetti on Thanksgiving!!!).... They got confirmed and are now members of the church.

The rest of the week went well and very, very tiring. Yesterday was stressful though cuz we are over miles (mileage on the car per mission rules) and they make a huge deal about it and of course I have to worry when I really don't have much to do with it. Oy and I have to get my license (driver’s), but in order to do that we need to travel a long distance to get it. I had serious headaches yesterday. We also moved furniture for someone who was moving to a different house. LOL. So I'm sore and today is Hermana Angel's birthday..... and I've learned all this through Spanish. LOL.

(I asked if she’d taken pictures of the turkeys in the road)  No turkey pictures sorry.... i was driving... that’s the problem. This stuff is hard to take pictures cuz its fast and I'm driving all the time.....

Intense week eh..... today makes it one week.... (since the transfer)

They made us make preparation kits because it’s not common. We put food in 2 liter bottles.

(I asked how it was going with the new district leaders)  I don't have connections yet with the district leader, but the Polynesian Hawaii missionary said that he had something for me, but that was when i was leaving so i don't know if he still has it and if so what it is.... maybe a picture of someone LOL....

(I asked about Hermana Angel)  She has 2 sisters and so 5 in the family....she's the oldest and she has been on her mission for 6 months. President told her she has a big project coming up, I hope he didn't mean me. LOL.... this is her first area. She does love chocolate and I have a photo but the camera isn't working right now with the computer, so next week. She has always wanted to serve a mission maybe before I knew… LOL…(Jessie has planned on serving a mission her whole life)… and her family has always been members. She is studying accounting.

(about the Polynesian missionary from Hawaii)   We don't know each other he just recognizes me from the PCC.  (Polynesian Cultural Center…….Jessie danced there for a semester and then worked as a photographer there for several months.   She has the most remarkable connections of anyone I’ve ever met.   No matter where she goes people she meets are connected to other people she knows in the most remote places of the world.   Apparently this missionary from Hawaii is one of them!)

Jacob 6:5.... I love reading the BOM (Book of Mormon) now, just to let you know. LOL

I LOVE YOU SO MUCHO AND TALK TO YOU NEXT WEEK!!!!! XOXOXOXOOOXOXOXOXOXOXXOXOXOXOXXOXOXOXOXOX......

EMAIL CHAT on January 19, 2011 - Jessie's First Transfer in PR

Jessie and Hermana Miller just before transfers



I don't know if I have much time to write a letter to you.... so I will have to do this today (email chat). But I got transferred and I'm with my new companion now.

It was insane... so we heard I might be leaving, might not because Hermana Miller heard that another sister was coming for her... so we didn't know what would happen to me. Well we waited and waited and waited to hear, but no answer. It was already past 3 pm the day of hearing about transfers and our poor active district leader (not actual) still hadn't hear anything and we kept asking because I didn't know if I would have to pack. So we still waited... we ended up getting Panda (Express – food) just in case if I was going to leave. 10pm came we got a phone call that i was being transferred and had to be at the office (15 mins away) at 8am. YEAH!!!! CRAZYYYYY stayed up all night packing and then got up at 4:45 in the morning.  So tired.  Then they told me I was going to Ponce (SOUTH) and they didn't know who my companion was. So I packed and we were late at the office and we thought I was going to switch with another sister in the car, nope full van and everyone was like hurry. So we packed the van and I was with 3 elders, a senior couple and me driving to Caguas. Then we met more missionaries in Caguas (Hermana Curl there) and we traveled another 1hr to Ponce. It looked like Utah driving by - crazy..... So many of us new missionaries were being switched, really weird because President told us that we would all be in our areas for a while.

Then we ended up driving and met a group at Ponce where some were going to drive back North. I met my Companion her name is Hermana Angel and she is from El Salvador (no English).  I am so stressed and nervous and not just that, but I am the only one who can drive and I am terrified of PR drivers. Our area is Adjuntas, Otealo, Ponce, a very large area to cover. It's funny cuz Hermana Miller served in Otealo. So yeah that is the scoop with me and I'm pretty tired and stressed and want to only speak English. LOL.

None of the South Americans have licenses, and no I don't have my PR one yet... but I will have to soon. She's only been out for 6 months so she's pretty new too. I know the Spanish thing will be good, but man do I hate the language. LOL. It's just so draining, stressful, and hard and for someone who doesn't speak any English….ayyyy. I hope I am patient enough...

 The departure was hard, we grew leaps and bounds.... she even said this transfer she (Hermana Miller) learned so much and was one of the most growing experience transfers for her. Our testimonies strengthened, our understanding and love for the gospel, and our love for one another. It was cool cuz  apparently when president met me before my very first interview he said that I was going to help her with her testimony in a way that she would grow leaps and bounds, and she didn't believe it because she only had like 2 transfers and she was like how much more can I grow, but she agrees that we have learned so much and have grown a ton. She has such a glow about her and she is just so great. Our relationship as a companions grew tons as well, we became more patient and comfortable with one another. The last 2 weeks have been fun and a learning process. We had so many similarities in weaknesses, strengths, and other things. We even had the same shoes... It was very sad to find out we were being switched, but if anything this was a powerful, intense, and spiritually growing transfer for the both of us and we were meant to be with one another.

So we (Jessie and H. Miller) were supposed to have a baptism this last Saturday with someone who has had missionaries for 30 years, but unfortunately he has things he has to change and work on, but we are scared cuz now he wants to pick his own date. He wanted to pick his own date when I got there and the missionaries were working with him and they could not get him to set a date, then I suggested that we pray and fast for a date for him. He picked one we all felt good with and sadly it didn't happen cuz of the word of wisdom and something else. So he is very depressed right now and I pray that he will continue to improve and soon become baptized.

 Hermana Miller and I have grown so much in the last 2 weeks ever since my breakdown....

Did I tell you that we have Disney quotes every night hehehe. We had like a Disney quote battle last night and they promised they (the elders and H. Miller) would keep going even when I left. Fun Eh!..

 So apparently we have 3 baptisms coming in the area that I am going to, so that will be good - my first ones.

(Speaking about the brother who is struggling to prepare for baptism) Yeah he already stopped drinking, but there was another thing that he had an issue with that we don't know.... but I know he will be baptized... I have faith that he will. I just hope it will be soon and he will still want to have that same desire as he does now.

 And yeah I'm so glad we got to both recognize our growth and relationship before we left (Jessie and H. Miller).... definitely a blessing for the both of us. It’s so hard to explain things writing than just telling you.

 She (H. Miller) is companions with one of her friends in the mission.... she has worked with her before in Guaynabo for 3 weeks, so good thing is the people already know her, cuz to be honest the people here hate changes. They do not like how we change so often, so it is better they are somewhat familiar with her.

We found out that I was being transferred last night, and we switched today.  (Wednesday, January 19, 2011)

….and the address is the same, unfortunately I will not receive mail as frequently.

..... . okay i just found out that she said you can send it to another place she's looking now for me (Hermana Angel was looking for the mailing address, but I never got it – phooey!   Maybe next week).

That was it.   Jessie had to sign off and I had a meeting to go to.   I apologize for the jumping around in conversation, but we WERE emailing back and forth.  J

Email chat on January 12, 2011

This is Jessie and Hermana Miller with the Kay Family.

Jessie is with Sweetie, her landlady's dog.

So, this week’s entry will be a bit strange and disjointed because Jes and I got to ‘email chat’ (on 1/12/11).   She had time and I was online, so we sent emails back and forth.   She’d started to write a letter, which is the first portion of this entry.   After that the segments are related to things we were talking about.   Of course, there was a lot of personal stuff which I haven’t included, but there’s plenty here to share.  

The past couple of weeks have been very rough for Jessie, but she’s doing much better and on the uphill climb.   She loves her mission president and his family and has already developed a bond with them.   From what I can tell he seems to really understand her and who she is.   This is truly a blessing for Jessie and (I feel) will ultimately help her in her success as a missionary in Puerto Rico.   Thank you President Alvarado!

Como le va mama?....

    Hola mama how’s it going? So let’s see what has been going on.... so I've have come to learn that the people of PR are bi-polar.. no jk, but they are so hard to understand and are hard and soft hearted. We try teaching people showing them that we care and trying to help them understand and love the gospel and they just shrug their shoulders at us. So heartbreaking.... but then there are times when we are visiting and they love us and show us hospitality. I don't understand and it is so, so hard seriously getting shut down all the time and no success stories happening. I keep having to remind Hermana Miller and myself that we are planting seeds and we probably won't see the fruits of our labor, a sacrifice we have to take. It's not easy though keeping up that perspective. We have a bunch of people who invite us over and really seem like kind sincere people and then they all give us a wrong address, wrong number, hang up, or we get there and they won't be there ever, or they say they are not interested once we get there. I don't know if we stink or something who knows. Maybe we need to improve our teaching I just don't understand how people could be so cold that way. No one wants to hear about the gospel here it seems like and it hurts to see that people would treat us this way.  Even our menos activos are always giving us excuses and brushing us off. No one likes us sisters, but they like the elders. Oy.... and then some days they are confessing and we have them offer us stuff, and enjoying our presence... they are hard people to read. We'll see... Last night was a super rough night for Hermana Miller and I so we decided to get pizza and ice cream and we talked and just had plain good old time girls chat. Doing that helped us forget our unsuccessful, hard, painful day. It was wild like yesterday not sure, but we think someone told us to get out after we taught them a nice lesson and showed love to their family. It was heart dropping and so scary... but then after an awkward 15 min pause we asked if we could return and they said yes. Also 2 people had lights and we could hear them in their houses and the moment we made noise or called for them... lights shut off and the houses became quiet... we were like "really we know they are in there.... we were so saddened that people would treat us this way instead of just saying they don't want us." We're fine if they just say no... It’s bizarre and very sad. So please pray that the people hear will have soft hearts and change their ways.

So more to share.... our awesome district leader left and went home and his companion is awesome... we basically have a Disney quote from him every night. He likes quoting Robin Hood...LOL and so now he's all over the place being the acting district leader and he has only been here for 12 weeks. Yikes... but he is seriously one of the most humbling people I've met... and then he received a new companion (covering two areas) and he's from England, also 12 weeks out. The poor elders since they have been here it’s been hectic for them, but they are great. Also they were companions in Provo and were like we thought it would be longer if we would become comps.

I asked if he was fluent in Spanish before he got to PR….

Yeah they are still learning Spanish, but he's pretty fast learner. He's not the district leader yet, he's just acting until transfers, but knowing president he should expect to be one.... yeah I feel bad, but he's great he can do it, everyone can picture him becoming an apostle some day. LOL. His name is Elder Hunt and the other is Elder Sinclair (only black guy and from England.) they like each other, but they are still fresh.

 I asked how Hermana Kamisese was doing.   She was Jessie’s companion through both MTC’s and is now serving in the Dominican Republic………

Hermana Kamisese is doing great and just loving it. Her trainer is DR and she speaks only Spanish... so guessing she's already fluent by now. And she is only 5 mins from the ccm and is successful... (CCM- is the abbreviation for the DR MTC)

I was asking her about the dog in the photo.   We have a dachshund (wiener dog) named Cody and he’s a cuddle bug.   Jessie used to love to cuddle with him on the couch and would always hog his attention when she came home from her adventures…….

ahhh i miss my doggy.... yeah she's the landlords and she'll probably die soon so i wanted a pic. She's a sweety... literally that’s her name LOL.... there are dogs everywhere but none are weenie dogs...

I was telling her about the bitter cold we’ve been experiencing and about how the whole country has been getting snow……

Definitely don’t miss the cold and i hate the rain LOL....

Adios mi amor!!!!!!



Email received 1/4/11

HAPPY ANO NUEVO mi familia!!!!!!!!!!

    I miss you guys terribly and hope you had a blast for the new year! What did you guys end up doing? Wanna hear something fun and ironic and somewhat sad at the same time... my companion and I both have the family traditions of having chinese on New Year's eve, so when we found that out it was without a question to go buy chinese. So apparenly chinese food here is nasty, but don't you fret cuz they have a panda express near by which we knew was safe food to eat. And before I continue on I thought of an analogy with panda express food in this situation. So we knew we would already like panda express food and be safe because its the same wherever we go, just like the church wherever you go the church services and gospel is the same. It may be in a different language (like the labels here in PR Panda Ex), but it is still the same food. Panda Ex is chinese food and church is spiritual food. Anyways continuing on with the story... so we planned to go buy our comida de china and we noticed that everything seemed closed and it was weird cuz it was new years eve. We drove and long and behind panda was.... CLOSED! We were so depressed because how were we going to follow our family traditions???? Well we went to the grocery store and I bought a make your own chinese kit ( I could not pass no chinese on NY), and Hermana Miller bought chef boyrde. Yep and we didn't get to return at 6, they changed on us last minute and we worked til nine. So then we were like okay new years day we will get some.... nope every place was closed except one place walgreens. So we were depressed again for not having the chance to have our new years chinese. But we got some last night (Monday) and thoroughly enjoyed our panda and said "Happy 2011). The End!

Next story about the stores being closed... so last minute once again, we were commanded to get 2 liter bottles each and empty them and fill it with food that could be used for a 72 hour kit. Yeah weird we know... so we were like okay we have just one day to figure out what food could fit into a 2 liter bottle opening that will last and we would want to eat. So we tried checking the stores (this is on ny's day) and not one place was open except walgreens of course. So we were like okay maybe we can buy trail mix or crackers and soda bottles. So we walked in and to our surprise mostly every kind of food content was blocked off. They had some kind of netting around them and blocked, so no one could grab them. SO BIZARRE! Totally doesn't make any sense and the only food that was opened was candy (holiday kind) and eggs and some cheese. We were so shocked they would block food off especially junk food when it was a junk food holiday. Very weird and good news is the date when the bottles were due changed, so we received more time.

Anyways thought you would like those stories of our bizarre closed stores on holidays thing. But I miss you guys and hope you are all well and the flooding is done. Things are interesting here. People still aren't coming to church which is really sad, cuz we are trying and we have had a lot of rejections where people would just walk straight across from us when we started talking to them. Very rude and sad. We had 3 different people for investigators and they are interesting situations because one of them is a couple. We had to miss their cita because we had one of our random mission activities and they didn't really seem interested, so we were like they'll probably forget. Well they didn't... a couple weeks later we ran into the guy who seems arabic (jewish) and he was like you didn't come for the cita. We were surprised cuz they definitely didn't seem like they cared... and so we apologized and told them our plans had changed. We rescheduled with him and then we received a phone call from them saying the gf was sick. So once again we didn't see them. Then we did another rescheduled cita and we arrived and they were there waiting. We taught them the first lesson and it was interesting he was really focused on the authority being restored on the earth and the great apostasy. Their names are Elizabet and Mixcha. Anyways Mixcha was asking a bunch of questions and Elizabet was very quiet. We also couldn't tell what religion they were.... so yeah the cita become really long, good, and interesting. We made another cita with them, hopeing they would want to be investigators. Well I don't think they do anymore because last night they cancelled their cita and when we asked for another day they were like "we don't know what to tell you right now".... so for me that's like a no. We'll keep trying!!!!

Our other investigator is the one I mentioned before her name is Wanda. We weren't going to meet her, but I felt like we should and she ended up being interested. She's a cutie and she's good. She has a sweet son named Angel (9) and he just adores his mom. Totally a great kid and sweet family. Sadly she just got laid off, but they are positive and keep moving forward. She is great too because she keeps her commitments with reading the BOM and asks great questions. She says she is confused, but Hermana Miller and I think she knows it's true. She is a religious person and so she understands the scriptures pretty well. Also every time we come she is just so kind to us and open, very comfortable. It's hard for me though because I can't really understand her and she sometimes has a hard time understanding me... and I think it affects the way she looks at me. Hermana Miller is usually the one who teaches the lesson cuz I can't understand what is happening and I am always afraid to mess up the situation or seem hard hearted. I simply don't know. Anyways she's special and we really hope she has the desire to be baptized cuz I think she would be great in the church and so would angel. SO pray for them because they look forward to our visits and they are trying to learn and understand.

One more story.... there are many Jehovah's witness here and their caribbean headquaters are just down the street from where we live. We went contacting one day and walked down a road we haven't walked down before. We contacted people at their house for 2 hours. We were heading back and we saw some white guys fixing up a house. We said Hola and in Hermana Miller's words, "they got excited when they saw us." I didn't notice, but I wouldn't be surprised two white american girls all dressed up speaking spanish to them. ONe of them came out and starting talking to us in spanish. He had a great accent, but looked american. We found out he is from NY and there is a group of them who work and serve for the Jehovah's witnesses heardquarters as spanish-english translators for their materials. He had lived here doing that for 5 years. So we don't know if it's a job or he's some kind of missionary too, but he was cool. He also invited us to have a tour of their headquarters and check it out, which all the missionaries in the mission dream for an offer like that. All of our missionaries want to have an espianage in teh headquarters and program the BOM in their computers. LOL anyways we testified of the BOM and he claimed he has read parts of the Koran and BOM. He then asked us how we perceived the trinity/ Godhead. We explained it and he was surprised cuz I think he thought we believed them as 1 being instead of the 3... so hopefully that triggered something. But yeah that's my story

Happpy NEW YEAR 2011~!!!!

LOVE- ME

25 December 2010 - Feliz Navidad!

We got to speak with Jessie on the phone Christmas night.   What fun it was to hear her voice and give her the chance to explain events in detail.   Although Jessie has been gone from the house most of the 3 years since she graduated high school, we’ve always had the phone to connect us.   There were texts and long phone calls to keep us informed of what was going on in each other’s lives.   That’s been the weirdest part of her being gone on a mission.   No long talks with lots of detail.

She did tell me a lot of things (she was on the phone for 3 hours and spoke to her Dad, brother, and aunt as well), but I can’t remember all the details very well.   The good news is her companion wrote everything down in a letter to her family, so I’m going to steal some of the info from her.   Thank you Hermana Miller!!!!!

Christmas Conference was held last Tuesday and Wednesday. It was a two day spectacle of lights and color. Not really...that just sounded appropriate there. It was a two-day activity with lots of missionaries and lots of fun. Tuesday was the fun day and Wednesday was the spiritual day (not that it wasn't fun though...). Tuesday we went to the Yunque, which is the rain forest!  (Jessie told me it’s the only rainforest in the US).   It was very exciting. We did two hikes. The second one was really intense, and some of the missionaries couldn't make it to the top, so President had the Elders carry them. It was all very dramatic because it was raining too (I mean, we were in the rain forest). We made it to the observation tower, which is the famous part of the Yunque. We climbed the tower and all we saw was cloud, because it was a cloudy day. We were in a cloud. Very exciting, but not a beautiful view. We had a title of liberty type activity up there. It was cool. But cold.   (Jessie told me they got very dirty, muddy, and wet.   Yuck!   But they had a good time).
Later that day, we did the flash mob I had previously mentioned at the outlet. It was super fun.    (While they were muddy and wet!)   We had a dinner and talent show that night, and it was really good. There were some entertaining talents, some talents that were actually good, and a really wonderful moment when some members from a nearby ward came in and did a real Puerto Rican paranda: Puerto Rican Christmas caroling. It's like that picture I sent of the Puerto Ricans playing music and singing loud, but even cooler……….. You should have seen our President. It was awesome. It was just loud and rowdy and completely awesome. We recorded some on video, but you just can't capture that. It comes out as noise, not as music. It was awesome though. So good.

The next day we had a little talk with the President and then we watched the Christmas devotional by the first presidency. ……………. Elder Vines also came and talked to us about knowing God through other's experiences (the scriptures), and through our experiences. It was cool because he said that we can know Him through the scriptures, but we can testify of Him when we experience His characteristics and attributes in our lives. It was a really cool talk. He knows the scriptures really well. Later, we practiced singing again so we could sing at an Art Museum in Santurce (downtown). We went and ate lunch at the mission home………. we went and sang at the art gallery and then went on a walk through the botanical gardens afterwards and went and had a testimony meeting and then watched a movie of the activity.   (Jessie said the museum had a really bad feeling to it and that the missionaries were very uncomfortable being inside, so they all went out to the gardens.   She was glad to leave the building.)

On Thursday night we ate dinner at a member house and it was the classic Christmas meal. Lechon, (some type of pork?), rice and gandules, and pasteles, which are those tamale-type things……………We also had arroz con dulce, which is like a sweet rice pudding with cinnamon and raisins and ginger that is chilled in the fridge.

Next exciting event was Christmas Eve. The enchilada tradition continued because the family we ate with had Mexican friends visiting, so we made enchiladas.  We also had Chinese take-out leftovers and other stuff. Half-way through dinner we experienced a little tremor (of the earth...like an earthquake, but not strong enough to be termed earthquake).  (Jessie was so excited to be in an earthquake.   She said everyone thought she was weird because she was glad to have had the experience.   That’s my girl!)   We were just eating, and I was talking about Niagara Falls and then all-of-a-sudden, the hostess jumps up and yells: "It's a tremor! It's a tremor!" and the host jumps up and is like "Oh no!" and the rest of us are just kind of sitting there. ………………… It happened in Aguas Buenas, which is actually fairly close to us. People have been saying it was a 5.4, which is a step up from the last one, which was only 5.1 or something…………. Nothing fell off the shelves…... Then, we continued eating.

On Christmas Day we went around and caroled to members and shared a little scripture about Christmas with them. Then we went to a senior couple's house (missionary couple) to eat Christmas dinner. It was fun because we were a ton of missionaries together eating American Christmas dinner food. Delicious.   (Jessie loved it!)   After that we went to a hospital and caroled to the people there that we just happened to find in the halls or in rooms.

Somebody really cool that we met on Christmas Eve and then went to teach on Sunday and had a return visit yesterday is Wanda. She is a single mom with a son, and she seems to really understand the message and seems excited to learn more. I'm excited to keep teaching her, especially since she is the only thing like an investigator that Hermana Comoletti has experienced. Yay! We mostly just visit menos activos. But, something really cool that has been happening with them is that we have been really working on listening and question asking...asking "questions from the heavens," and these last three days (Sunday, Monday and Tuesday), we have had several "confessions" as to why people are inactive, which is wonderful, because we haven't been able to get to the root of things for so long. The Lord has really blessed us this week though with these "confessions" (for lack of a better term), so that we can focus in on the needs of each person instead of just blindly guessing. It has been a really cool experience. Well, it is kind of sad to hear why everyone is less active, but it is definitely going to help us as we work with them.

Once again…………THANK YOU HERMANA MILLER!!!!!!   I could never have given these events the justice they deserved.   You stated them so beautifully and in wonderful detail.   Next time we’ll have to get Jessie to write these things down.   J

Jessie and Hermana Miller on Christmas Day 2010.  

Hermana Miller is almost 6 feet tall and Jessie is not quite 4'10".

                                               

Jessie and Hermana Miller in the rainforest.

This photo is all the sister missionaries together for Christmas dinner 2010.

The following video is the missionaries singing at the mall.

The following video is from when she was in class in the Dominican Republic Missionary Training Center.   Her companion was Hermana Kamisese who had been her companion since she entered the Provo MTC on October 6th.   They were together for 9 weeks during all their training.