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.)
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.
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