I GOT TO SHAKE AN APOSTLES HAND THIS WEEK!!!!!!!!

HELLO MY DEAR FAMILY!!!

     First, I want to start off by saying Aubs you are too dang cute! You looked absolutely beautiful in your Peter Pan costume with you makeup! I was thinking about you guys a lot this weekend again. Thinking about little Aubsy finally getting to do her show and that it was the last weekend with Ashy. Didn't think that we would have a new cousin be born in the last week, but how exciting! Little Riley looks adorable! Gosh, we haven't had a baby cousin since baby Megan! It's been a while. I'm so excited for Steph and Justin. Make sure to tell them I say congrats! And feel free to send as many pictures of her as you want because we all know how much I love babies! :)

Let's see, two very special unique things happened this week. First, on Thursday, we were able to be interviewed by President Keyes. He interviews us every other transfer (6 weeks), so about every 3 months. Can I just say I love him and Sister Keyes. They are perfect for me. Their spirits and testimonies always make me feel so much more excited to go out and do the work. During our interview President asked me how my family was doing and I told him about Ashy leaving this week and that my dad was Kansas City last week because he's an airline pilot. Then we got into talking about airplanes because I guess Sister Keyes' dad was an airline pilot for Frontier! So he flew 737's and I think he said 850's, not sure because they didn't sound familiar to me. Is that a kind of plane dad? Anyway, it was fun to get to talk to him about that. He was really excited! So interviews with President and his wife were wonderful!

The next incredible experience I had this week was the opportunity to meet an apostle of the Lord, Elder Cook. He was here along with President Hallstrom (of the seventy), Bishop Davies (in the presiding bishopric), and two other seventies, Elder Ochoa and Elder Deshler. It was such a neat and once in a lifetime meeting! They were here because they were training Stake Presidents and Bishops and then had a fireside that night for the youth. Because our mission is splitting, one of the reasons they came was to talk about member missionary work and such. Elder Cook told President Keyes a few weeks ago that as long as he was here, he wanted to meet with the missionaries. My companion and I were on the very front row so we were literally like 5 feet away from him the whole meeting and before the meeting started he wanted to meet and shake every missionaries hand. Oh I can't even begin to explain to you the strong feeling that entered the room when he came in. My testimony has been significantly strengthened from this special experience. He shared with us that since October, they have had to have 5 to 6 apostles each week look at incoming mission papers compared to the 2 that they would usually have. How crazy! He also told us that reactivating is just as important as baptizing. And on Sunday at our stake conference, we found out that there are technically 650 people that are suppose to be in our ward, so we have a lot of work to do!

      Having President's interview and training, and having the meeting with Elder Cook, we had less time to work in our area this week. But, we were still able to meet our weekly goals we had set so we were excited about that. As of today, so far Victor hasn't smoked for 3 days. YAY! We are hoping that he will continue to stay strong. I have learned so much from this situation. I have learned that addiction is real and that when helping someone to overcome it we must be patient and show increased love and confidence in them. I can't tell you how many times I've gotten frustrated these past few weeks because Victor has lied to us and told us that he wasn't smoking when we knew he was, but each time the natural man would want to come out in me and get upset, Heavenly Father helped me to know how He felt about the situation and how I should deal with it. So hopefully Victor should be ready to be baptized in about two weeks! Keep praying for him! Technically we have completed all the lessons we need to with him before he can get baptized, so now we are going to go over them again and review. What I'm thinking we are going to do (and I told them about this idea and they liked it) is we are going to have them teach us the lessons and commandments. We have pamphlets of each lesson with scriptures and such and I have just been feeling like this is what we need to do with them. I know for me, I learn so much more when I have to teach something (kind of like this whole training thing!). So, I think this will be good for them and it will help us to know what things they don't quite understand so we can go over them and fill in the gaps.

This week we didn't have the car so we rode the bus. While on the bus this week, we saw two of our investigators. That has happened now two weeks in a row, where we have seen investigators just out and about. I know that it's not a coincidence at all! It reminds me of a quote I've heard before that says, "Coincidence is God's way of staying anonymous." I love that quote because I feel like as each of us look back at things that have happened in our lives, we can see how God has truly been in the details of our lives. I want to end with telling you about a miracle that happened this week.

     So, we were out knocking doors at this apartment complex and we knocked on a door but apparently the neighbors thought we were knocking on their door and they opened it. We began to talk to these two sisters Cayla (14) and Cerena (8). We asked if their mom was home and they told us she was sleeping so we shared a brief message and asked if we could come back. They said yes and as they were going to shut the door, we could hear their mom in the background say is that the Mormons. We said YES we are! She said, "Oh shoot, let me go put my cigarette down!" We told her it was okay and not to worry but she insisted that she had too. She invited us in and as we got to talking we found out that she is actually a member! She was baptized when she was 16 and hasn't been back in a very long time. This was a complete miracle that we even found her and her family. We are beginning to meet and work with them. We are going to try as hard as we can but I'm not sure if they are willing to change their life style. But if there's one thing I have learned, as missionaries and members, we must never make final judgments about others. We must have faith and believe in others abilities to change. Well, I love you guys so much and will be thinking about you this upcoming week as we send out another missionary into this wonderful army!

      Last thought: Today in my personal study, I was reading in D&C 31:6 and it said, "Behold, verily I say unto you, go from them only for a little time, and declare my word, and I will prepare a place for them." I loved this and felt like it completely pertained to our family. I know that we will be blessed these next couple months as we are around the country. In fact, Elder Cook gave us an apostolic blessing on Thursday which said, "You will come to understand that this mission will not just bless you, but anyone that is near and dear to you." I loved this. As he said this, tears filled my eyes as I thought about what a profound effect missions have on every one that you know. I think about my dear friends that have served before me and how much their missions and experiences that I read each week truly affected me. I know as Ashy goes out, having two missionaries in our family will be the biggest blessing. I just want to close with my testimony that I know that this church is true. I know that we are led by a living prophet and that this is Christ's church. Yo se que solo por medio do la Expiacion de Jesucristo podemos superar el muerte fisical y espiritual. LES AMO MUCHO! XOXOXO

Con Amor Siempre:

                  Su Hermanita, Hermana Jorgensen

Aubrey as Peter Pan in Snow White

I have a new companion Sister Weubkes

April 22, 2013

Querida Familia!

   Como estan??? Wow, what a weekend it sounds like you guys had! I must say, I was thinking about you guys a lot yesterday. It's so weird, I feel like Heavenly Father has blessed me to be able to put you guys, home, and friends in a place in my heart so that I can focus on the work, but there are days, like yesterday, where it's just a little bit harder. I just try to stay so busy and focussed though and then all is well!

   So this week has been a week of transitions and miracles! On Wednesday, Hermana Thorne and I got to go to the temple with a recent convert named Brian. I love Brian! He has cerebral palsy and is so sweet and is like a genius. Seriously, whenever Hna. Thorne and I would go visit him and we would talk about the scriputes or church, he would know so much more than us! He has already read all of Jesus the Christ and he hasn't even been a member a year. Simply an incredible person! We got to witness such a sweet and incredible moment as we watched him be baptized and confirmed for his dad. Tears were rolling down my eyes as I saw this. Missionary work is so incredible!

 Sadly, I had to say goodbye to my trainer (aka mama in the mission), Hna. Thorne on thursday morning. I will forever be grateful to Heavenly Father for allowing me to have such an incredible trainer. I feel so blessed! I have learned so much from her and I will miss her. But, surprise, surprise.....  I AM TRAINING A NEW MISSIONARY!!!! QUE EN EL MUNDO! Actually, I was told about a week and a half ago by the Assistants to the President that I had been recommended to train a new missionary and that they wanted me to come to the mission home for a training. I was completely freaking out because this usually doesn't happen. With the new program the church has, missionaries are suppose to have a trainer for the first 12 weeks so I was never expecting to train right away. But, I guess this is Heavenly Father's plan for me so I am embracing it. I am actually loving it so far though. My new comopanion is Sister Weubkes! She's from a small town in Montana (like even smaller than Boulder, can you even imagine that! hahah) and this is her first time away from home. Needless to say, the city that we're in can be a little shock to anyone, let alone someone who hasn't been away from home. She is adjusting super well though! Originally her call was in english but President switched it to spanish, so I have been trying to teach her a few things. So far, she is able to ask someone how they are doing and introduce herself. So it's a good start! This means that I will have to teach all the spanish lessons completely alone for a good while! It's going to be a fun adventure seeing that Hna. Thorne usually taught most of the lesson in spanish and I would throw in a few things here and there. I have already seen my language improve in the past few days and I know Heavenly Father will bless me to be able to communicate with our spanish investigators. I have serioulsy learned and grown so much these past few days. I am so grateful for this opportunity to train because it is forcing me to stretch and grow and more fully rely on Heavenly Father.

    We have had an incredible week full of miracles! I have seen God's hand in this work so much these past few days. First, I want to start out with Anthony. We went to the library (we sometimes go here to teach lessons in one of the rooms) for an appointment, but the person we were suppose to meet didn't end up showing up. As we were waiting outside, we met a man named Anthony who was just lingering around like he wanted to talk to us. We started talking to him and I asked him if he had some time to have a lesson. So, we ended up going in and using one of the rooms in the library. It was the most incredible first lesson I have ever had on the mission. The spirit was so strong and he literally is like a golden investigator. He told us that he had seen many Mormon missionaries growing up but that each time they would knock on his grandma's door, she wouldn't let them in. He said that he had always wanted to meet the missionaries again and that the night before he had prayed to God to give him more of His word. WHAT A MIRACLE! At the end of the lesson, I invited him to be baptized, and do you know what he said..... "I've been waiting for someone to ask me that." WHAT! Oh my goodness, he is so so so prepared! Such a testimony builder to me that God is in the details of our lives. Another lesson we had this week was with a girl named Brittany. I don't know if I've told you guys too much about her, but we have been visiting her and her boyfriend Chris off and on for the past few weeks. Her boyfriend is actually a member, kind of inactive, but we decided we needed to reteach the Restoration and we also watched the Restoration movie. After the movie, I felt the spirit tell me that I needed to invite her to baptism. I was a little scared, but I did it because I knew that's what Heavenly Father wanted me to do. We invited her and asked her if once she began to read the BOM and pray about it and Joseph Smith, if she got her answer, would she be baptized. She said YES! So she has a baptismal date in May as well. Another man we taught last night, Nokomis also now has a baptismal date. He is wonderful as well. He has had a completely crazy life but has turned it all the way around. God is preparing his people. I know this to be true because I have seen it time and time again this week! Yo se que Jesucristo vive y que esta iglesia es Su iglesia. I love you all so much! We are so blessed! LES AMO MUCHO!!!! XOXOXO

Con Amor,

        Hermana Jorgensen

Pizza with a sweet member of our ward, Jennifer.

A beautiful day at the temple.

A three generation picture.  Hermana Thorne (my mamma of the mission who taught me), Me, and Sister Weubkes (now mi hija who I will teach).

Hermana Thorne's Last Week

April 15,2013

QUIRIDA FAMILIA!!!

Oh what a week this week has been! In the beginning of the week it started off rather slow. Hermana Thorne and I were a little discouraged, and seeing as it was her last full week in the field, one night we sat down and decided we were going to change that. We decided that everyday we would each give out at least 10 pass along cards and 5 copies of the Book of Mormon. We also decided that on Saturday, we were going to teach 24 lessons because that's how old she is. Let me clarify that a lesson means that we have to teach them a few points and then leave them with a commitment, so it doesn't necessarily have to be like a 45 min lesson. So, we decided all of this on Wednesday night. We were so excited for Saturday! So, as you can see in the picture, we laid out 30 copies of the Book of Mormon, some in english and spanish and we placed pass along cards with our number in each one. We decided to be able to reach our goal, we would need to get out into the city a little early so we skipped our lunch hour and headed out at 11. Before we even got to the bus stop, we were able to teach 3 people. This day was incredible! The Lord continued to put people in our path throughout the whole day. We talked to literally everyone we met. My crazy companion even gave a few people Books of Mormon at stop lights! We met people from all walks of life. A family from Kenya, a man from Iran, and of course people from Mexico! We had only been out for about three hours and we had already taught about 20 lessons! We were so excited, but then there came about a good 30 minutes where every single person rejected us. We just pushed through and tried not to get discouraged. Eventually, we were able to meet people that were interested and within 5 hours we were able to teach 28 lessons,give out 30 copies of the Book of Mormon, and find 9 new investigators with return appointments. It was so neat! It's so neat to think that Kansas City has 30 more copies of the Book of Mormon floating around. I learned so much about missionary work on Saturday. I learned the importance of talking to EVERYONE and I also learned that the Lord will give me the words that he wants me to speak. I even gave a Book of Mormon out to someone in spanish all by myself. My companion was over talking to some other guys in Spanish so I decided to walk over and talk to another guy. I can't say the conversation went completely well, I asked him where he lived and he told me that he had already said that he was homeless! WHOOPS! :) But, I was able to give him a Libro de Mormon and set up another visit! It was honestly just such an amazing day. I know that the Lord is preparing His children everywhere and that it isn't our place to decide who looks like they could be ready or not. I know with all my heart that this gospel is true and that it is the only source for true happiness. Talking with and meeting so many people here, it has been sad to see so many people so unhappy and turning to sources that will only give them temporal happiness. I know that Jesus Christ is the only source of true happiness and peace in this world. This is the message we as missionaries are trying to share with the world, that He lives and that He has restored His gospel upon the earth. I know that this is true. Amongst all the changes and difficulties I have had as a missionary, I can honestly say I have never felt so happy and love this pure joy in my life. 

Anyway, a little update on Victor. He still has not quite smoking yet. We have set a goal that his quit date is in about a week and a half. We called a 1-800 quit now number and helped him get signed up for counseling and such and he just barely got perscriptions and patches so hopefully all of this will help. We have set a new baptismal date for the 11th of May. So pray hard for him! All in all, this week has been bitter sweet! The thought of having Hna. Thorne leave makes me so sad, but I'm excited for the new adventure ahead. She has seriously been such a light and example to me. I know that it was no accident that she was my trainer. I have learned so much from her. I have learned how to be a harder worker, more positive, more loving, and more thoughtful. I feel so grateful that the Lord allowed for me to be her little missionary. I sure do love her! 

Well, I'm sorry that this email was so short! But, just know that all is well here! I should be able to drive soon, since I passed my lessons off on Tuesday. So now I need to learn all the streets and such here! Well, I love you guys so much and pray for you each and every night. LES AMO!!!! XOXOXO 

We went to Chick Filet with our district after our Distric meeting.  It was my first time and I must say that I was quite impressed!

This is what I'd like to call Easter cookout in Kansas City, KS! There were about 4 families there.  It was a great time.

This is me before we headed out on Saturday with our 30 Book of Mormons.

Hermana Thorne giving out a BofM at a stop light.

What? Three months already.

April 8, 2013

HELLO MI FAMILIA!

Can you believe this past week I hit my three month mark! This is CRAZY! This transfer has just flown by! Probably because my companion and I work so well together! She told me that some transfers will just fly and others will drag on forever depending on the situation of your companionship. I have been truly blessed with companions so far on the mission. She has been such a perfect trainer for me! She seriously is one of the hardest workers I know! She is ball of positive energy (which I need a lot of the time)! I just love her! The thought of her leaving me here by myself is terrifying so I'm frantically trying to learn all the streets, bus system, how to get to investigators houses, and so on. My new companion will most likely be new to this area so I'll have to teach her all about it! SCARY! haha I am also finishing passing off my lessons so that I can drive. In our mission we have to memorize all five lessons with lots and lots of scriptures before we can drive, so I'm trying to finish that all off this upcoming week. It's crazy to think I haven't driven in over three months now! I think that's the longest I've ever gone without driving. Let's hope I remember how to drive!

 I don't know if I've ever told you guys this, but our mission is currently the largest mission in the whole church! I know, I'm sure you're thinking this is so random, because when President Keyes told us I was in complete shock. I thought for sure some huge cities in like South America would have more missionaries than us, but nope we have the largest number of missionaries in our mission (hence the reason they are splitting it). I think there are almost 300 missionaries! Can you believe it! President and Sister Keyes have so much on their shoulders right now it's unbelievable. They are so wonderful though and I feel so grateful to get to serve with them. President calls this the Alpha and Omega mission because this is where it all started, and this is where it will all end. There is definitely a special spirit about this area!

Well, for the week...... this week we actually had quite a few appointments that we set and the people were actually there! It was a miracle! We met a family (the Stauch family), I'm not sure if I've already told you guys about them, but we taught them about the Plan of Salvation this week and committed Mike (the dad) to baptism. YAY! We invited them to church this Sunday but Mike was hesitant because they didn't have any clothes that they felt comfortable wearing. So Hermana Thorne and I went and did a little shopping for them. We went to the thrift store and for twenty bucks we got three outfits and three pairs of shoes! We were pretty proud of ourselves! I guess in this ward, the bishop told us the ward will refund us if we need to go buy church clothes for investigators because this type of situation happens so frequently. We are teaching another family also! We met them about a month ago when they were first moving into their house. They were in such a sad situation but they had just got their kids back the day we met them and were running around trying to get lights and everything set up in the house. They just barely got lights and heat in their house this week. So they have been living there for over three weeks without any of that. It's so sad, but we did have a tiny party with them this week after we shared a message because it was Mateo's 17th birthday. Hna. Thorne and I brought some candy bars and Juan (the dad, He's from Mexico) and Hna. Thorne played the guitar. It was so fun! I can't tell you how much I love this family! Of everyone we have met here, I feel such a love and strong connection to them. They are so great! It was so neat, I was sharing the first vision with them in Spanish, and afterward Toni said with tears in her eyes, I've heard that many times (I think she meant the part that says, "this is my Beloved Son, Hear Him"), but never have I got the goosebumps like I did just now. We gave them all copies of the Book of Mormon and have invited them to begin reading it.  Victor is doing okay. It's been a little bit of a hard week with him. Lately, Hna. Thorne and I have been feeling like he wasn't being completely truthful with us when he's been telling us he hasn't smoked, and we got a phone call on Saturday from a ward member that we are close to  and she told us she was over there today and he was smoking. We were completely devasted, but kind of saw it coming. So we went over and talked to him last night and discussed that we would have to move his baptismal date back because you have to be living the Word of Wisdom for at least two weeks beforehand. Hna. Thorne and I were so nervous for this conversation, but we prayerfully decided we were going to do it in a loving way. We talked to him about being here for him as a support system and that we had complete confidence and patience in him as he is trying to give up this addiction. He tells us he still wants to work towards baptism so we are just going to be there for him. We are going to be calling him every day now so we can see how he's doing and know how we can help him. 

 Another thing we did this week is Family History Work ( I had to put this in because I know Grandma will be so excited! :) hahah). Honestly, never did I think we would do this on the mission, but Grandma you have trained me well! We are helping a recent convert (that Hna. Thorne taught) prepare family names to go to the temple next week. I'm so excited! We are going to the temple next Wednesday to do baptisms with two new converts! It's going to be such a neat experience!

Conference was so amazing! It's like Christmas for missionaries! Hna. Thorne and I were looking forward to it all week! We went to the church to watch all four sessions. It was such a weird feeling to know that we were all doing/watching the same thing just a few miles apart! So, Cedar City is going to have a temple! Can you believe it! No more having to drive down to St. George Ashy! How exciting! I loved Elder Holland's talk! So powerful, like always! And President Monson's talk about the fire! So funny! We are so incredibly blessed to have a living prophet and apostles today that guide us. When ever we are teaching investigators about prophets, we always ask them a simple question. We aks, "If Moses were on the earth, would you want to hear what he had to say to us?" And about everyone always answers YES! We proceed to talk about President Monson and the more I have taught and testified about this, the more I have come to realize what a blessing it is to have a living prophet. Yo se que tenemos un profeta hoy en dia se llama Thomas S. Monson. Yo se que esta iglesia es verdadera y tiene la plenitud del Evangelio de Jesucristo. Se que Jesucristo es nuestro Redentor y Salvador y El vive. I love you guys so mucho mucho mucho! LES AMO!

I just love my companion Hermana Thorne!

Feliz Dia De Pascua

April 1, 2013

HELLO DEAR FAMILIA!

Happy LATE Easter! It sounds like yesterday was a great day..... Mom spoke in church, you had the traditional family dinner, and you fed the missionaries (way to be, I'm sure they loved it!), and not to mention this whole last week was spring break, QUE DIVERTIDO! 

So, I finally found out where Kaleb's going!!!! YAY!!!! Oh man, I'm so so excited for him! As I watched the video, I was just tearing up. It's so wierd, on the mission you can be told that things are changing at home but it's almost like your brain doesn't register that it is actually happening, and so seeing the video really made it real for me. It was so fun to get to see and hear everyone's voices! In all honesty, I wasn't thinking Japan for him (secretly, I was hoping he would follow mine and Ashy's trend so we could all talk to each other when we get home, but now none of us will know what in the world he's saying). I can just imagine him towering over everyone there! hahaha Ahhhhh, our family is becoming such a missionary family! CONGRATS KALEB (or Elder Bailey)! Bailey's thank you so much for the package! I loved it! It brought me back to the night we were all tying that blanket! And Mom, Dad, and the rest of the fam bam, muchas gracias for my Easter package!

So, where to begin with this week....... seriously, missionary work is always a complete rollarcoaster ride! One day will be absolutely perfect and then the next is a disaster (or it some cases, this happens hourly haha). So last Monday night (P-days end at 6 and then we have three hours of prosyliting time), we were so so so excited because we had an appointment with this lady named Brianna. I'm not sure if I mentioned her at all in the last email, but we met her two days before that and she was just the nicest and so so prepared. She has two little girls and is married and told us this was something she was looking for. As we went to the door, we could hear everyone right there, so we knocked three different times but they wouldn't come. We tried to call her and she wouldn't answer. We were devastated! My companion was crying. It's so hard when you know that these people need this and some of them are truly searching, and then they will not listen. We feel like maybe her husband refused to let her listen or something, but who knows. All we know is she was just sitting in there. We have gone back a couple times this week and tried to text her but she hasn't ever answered. :( So, that night, as we were about to just go back home because it was snowing really hard, we felt like we should just go try to see this other lady that lived in the next apartment that we had met a couple weeks previous. She was there! She opened the door and invited us in and her husband and two sons were there too! We taught the whole first lesson and gave their family two Books of Mormon and it was just such a great visit. It was all in Spanish, and for the first time I felt like I was actually contributing a little bit to the lesson! We invited Maria (the mom) to pray at the end, and she prayed and thanked God for bringing her more of His truth. We left there on cloud nine, smiling from ear to ear! I cannot describe the feeling you get as a missionary when you meet a new investigator or come out of a lesson that just went so well. My companion and I get so giddy and can't stop talking about it all day! And this is what I mean by it being a rollarcoaster, within minutes we were so sad and then an hour later we are so excited! But, to continue the story about this family, so we go back two days later for our appointment and they DON'T answer the door. It was the exact same situation with Brianna, we can hear them in there living room right by the door but they just don't want to get it. So, we call her and she wispers that they are sleeping. :( Then we are completely heartbroken again! hahah This is a continuous cycle as a missionary. It's so hard because most people, like in these two situations, won't be just straightfoward and honest with us, but it's okay, we just keep knocking doors and sharing the gospel!

Our buddy Victor is still on date to be baptized on April 13th! :) Please keep praying for him! This week we finished teaching him about the Plan of Salvation and we also taught him about the Word of Wisdom because he smokes. Since the day we taught him, he told us he has quit cold turkey. We really really hope so, the other day when we came, the room seemed quite smokey, but all we can do is take his word and keep praying for him. He is such an incredible guy! He already knows so much. He studied the Bible at some church school or seminary or something all growing up so he can quote like every scripture we start talking about in the Bible. He came to church on Sunday with his wife June (who's a member of our ward) and he loved it. 

This week I went on exchanges again. I went about thirty minutes away to a city called Overland Park. Aparently, the county that this city is in is one of the top ten richest counties in the US, and let me tell you, compared to Kansas City, this place was so so nice. I was in quite shock! Literally like mansions everywhere! This made for quite an interesting day! For the first time, I experienced getting completely rejected with the doors slammed in our face! The work is so slow here because nobody wants to listen. They already have a good life and don't feel like they need any changes and many people that we talked to didn't feel like they needed God. It was so sad to see. It helped me to really experience and see that the humble are those that will accept our message. The highlight of the day there though, was when we went and visited a part member family that the sisters have been teaching there. The parents weren't home, only the grandma, and she only spoke spanish. As we were walking up the stairs my companion for the day, Sister Crick, told me I'd probably have to talk the whole time because she didn't know any spanish. OH HEAVENS! So I said a prayer in my heart that I would be able to communicate with her. Heavenly Father is so good to me. For the hour that we were there, I was able to understand almost everything that she said, and I was able to communicate. It wasn't the most beautiful spanish, very very basic, but Heavenly Father helped me to communicate with her. This was such a neat experience for me because all other times before this I had always had Hermana Thorne with me and so she always takes the lead in discussions since I don't know too much, but this situation forced me to speak the whole time and it helped me to see that through Heavenly Father, I can learn spanish.

Church was quite interesting this sunday! There were quite a few investigators there between our three companionships, which was wonderful. Having investigators at church is so great, but it also makes it quite draining because we are constantly making sure everything is okay. There were many times throughout the three hours that Hna. Thorne and I would just pinch eachother or else we were going to laugh. During the sacrament meeting, Victor kept saying Amen after like every statement ( I think that must be what they would do at his church). Luckily it wasn't too loud where everyone was looking at us. And then, Victor and June brought one of their friends, Jimmy. He was quite the character! Hna. Thorne and I would get so nervous in sunday school because he would just blurt out random things always at the most spiritual times of the lesson and then at one point he put his arm around the back of my chair and my companion then put her arm on the back of my chair to prevent him from doing it and then he grabbed her hand! hahaha Needless to say, we are not sure if Jimmy will be one of our new investigators! We might pass him off to the Elders! hahaha On a serious note though, as we began to sing our opening song yesterday in Sacrament Meeting, "He is Risen", I just began to get really emotional. We are so so blessed..... to have the gospel, to have our family and friends, to have a Father in Heaven who loves us and knows us individually, to have a Savior who atoned for each of us. I am so grateful for this time of year, to reflect about the Savior. I know that Christ is our Savior and Reedemer and because He has risen, we will all be resurrected. He has conquerred physical and spiritual death so that we may also. I love you guys mucho mucho and my heart just feels so full of joy today of gratitude for all the many blessings we have been given!

1. Jennifer and her baby Anna Marie.

2. This is a little girl in our ward. I promise she was actually happy! Everytime we would ask her to smile, this is the face she would make.

 3.  Easter Egg hunt with these little munchkins

4. This is Sister Crabtree! She is seriouly probably my favorite lady in our ward! She's a hoot. This is her three month old granddaughter and they're feeding her chocolate from our easter egg hunt (pretty sure babys arent suppose to have chocolate, but this is how they do it here I guess! hahah )

LES AMO!

       Hermana Lexi Annmarie Jorgensen

Cold, a dog, and monkey Oh My!!

QUERIDA FAMILIA!!!!

Oh I love you guys so much!

It is so fun to see pictures and get emails from you every week! I'm so excited for the package!!! I'll look out for it everyday! Gosh, it sounds like you guys have been so busy and there's so many new exciting things going on in our ward with mission calls! We are going to be such a powerhouse when it comes to missionaries! WHERE IN THE WORLD IS KALEB GOING??? It's killing me! Ashy said she wasn't allowed to tell me because they were sending me a letter or something, so hopefully it comes soon! I can't believe we are going to have all three of us out at the same time! We went from no missionaries to three!

Well, this week has been pretty cold! Yesterday we didn't have church because of the weather. It was cancelled! I have never heard of that, but then again I guess that would never happen in Boulder. It was such a bummer because we had like 4 investigators who were suppose to be coming with us :( We weren't even allowed to go anywhere yesterday until around four when we got permission because the roads were finally plowed. Although it's been quite cold, it has been a good week. I love this area! Seriously every single day is a new adventure! Never did I ever think I would feed a monkey (that only happens at the zoo and in Africa!), but as we were teaching Megan and Scott (our new investigators), we heard this squealing and they asked if we wanted to meet their pet monkey. SAY WHAT! Who even knows if that's legal! hahaha Scott and Megan are great! He's 19 and she's 17. It's neat to teach people around our age, but hard at the same time because you want to gain a relationship of trust and at the same time we can't become too buddy buddy because we need to focus on our purpose. They both have had a bit of a crazy history (but honestly, I haven't met a single person here who hasn't). We are hoping to be able to meet and teach them more this week.

 On Wednesday, I went on exchanges (this is when we switch companions for the day). So, Hna. Altier and I worked in her area for the day. It was such a neat day! We first taught a lady named Suhair. She's from Iraq and is Muslim. Her English is very limited, so we had to teach very simply and used a lot of pictures. She seriously has the biggest heart and is so sweet. Her son, who's 8, was screaming in the other room as we were  teaching. She kept apologizing and explained to us that he has autism. It was so neat because I was able to talk about Aubs and how the gospel has helped our family. It was just one of those moments where I knew I was supposed to be there. The next house we went to was this kid named Roabie. Roabie grew up in UGANDA :) Another one of those moments! We talked a lot about it and I tried to remember some Lugandan! It was so fun! I know these weren't mere coincidences that I was suppose to do exchanges on that day with those specific appointments that she had planned! God's hand really is in this work.... every step of the way! 

The most exciting news this week is that we have someone who has accepted to be baptized on April 13th!!! We are so so excited for him! His name is Victor and his wife (June) is a member of our ward. They have only been married for a few months and they are new to this area and our ward. They had us over for dinner last week and as we were talking we could just tell that he was so prepared and ready! So, two days ago we went over and taught him the first lesson and invited him to baptized and he said, "YES I WILL", not just yes! HE IS GETTING BAPTIZED! He is such an incredible person. He is paralyzed on his left side from a stroke but he is so positive and so faithful. He is reading the Book of Mormon everyday and just LOVES the scriptures. We are going to try to teach him multiple times this week because I have noticed the longer we wait in between appointments, the more Satan works on these people (especially when they have committed to a baptismal date). We also just found another really solid lady named Brianna. She has two kids and is just so prepared. We are going to visit her tonight! I'm so excited about her! We have some pretty promising investigators right now so this week should be wonderful, with a lot of work! PRAY FOR THEM PLEASE!

On a more spiritual note, something I have really learned this week and I'm continuing to learn is that I need to have more faith. Sometimes when I meet people, I automatically think about all the things they would need to change to accept the gospel and I almost doubt that this would be something they would ever accept. As Hna. Thorne and I were talking about this this week, she reminded me about a scripture that talks about when Christ said that he wasn't called here to call the righteous to repentance, but the sinners. (Or something like that, I'm sure I just butchered it!). I have thought a lot about this. I feel like sometimes I think about how much easier it would be to find those that are already living pretty "righteously", and although we do find some of them sometimes (our "golden" investigators), this message is also for those who need to be healed. I have been learning to never give up on someone’s ability to change. The hardest thing to do here is when we have to decide that someone is not progressing and we have to drop him or her. We do this through prayer of course, but it is still so hard to let people go because we know of the power and truth of this message. But, being here, I am actually quite surprised at how many people are being prepared. Hna. Thorne and I have been really praying to find those that he has prepared and I know that they are here. Anyway, it has been a good, hard, long, cold week, but I am doing great here! LES AMO MUCHO MUCHO!!!!!

1. Here I am in one of our members cars going to their house for dinner. She has no seats so we just sat on the floor.

2. Me and mi companera just sitting on the floor having a good time in the car.

3. This is the Netherlands. They are from our ward. They are hilarious! (They have the car that has no seats) She called us Sugar and Baby the entire time. He told us he is a cousin with Michael Jackson! Who knows, he kinda looks like the family! Hahaha

4. Here we are feeding the monkey! SAY WHAT!!!! They have a pet monkey!!!!

5. This is MACO! 

6. It has been FREEZING! This is our guard dog Arnold. He just kept following us ALL day. It got awkward when we would go up and knock on people's door because they would think he was ours. Finally, he decided to follow someone else since we were gone for an hour in an appointment.

  

7. Me and Han. Thorne tracting in the snow because the roads were too wet so we weren't allowed to use our car!

Love her!

8. SO SO SO COLD!