Thursday, December 2, 2010

Fotos de Jessica.





November 30, 2010

hey there!!!!
i cant thank you enough for the emails... my companion hasnt received an email from her parents in over a month now so i feel extremely blessed. thank you for your love and support.
ahh i cant believe how much it is snowing there!!! that is so nuts!!! enjoy it!! i hope thanksgiving was wonderful, i totally forgot that it was thanksgiving until my old comp sent me a message, haha, but i live with three latinas so they didnt know either. hope you ate enough candied yams to last you till next year... that is one of the first things i want, marshmallows dont exist here!!!! poppy thanks so much for doing the shopping, you are a dad with a fashion sense, blessing in disguise. i am a bit worried that you said you bought pumps though... that means with heals and we walk all day but i am sure everything will be just fine. you are the best!!!!! im sorry you didnt find the backpack and bought a new one!!! well you are definitely going to make my companions christmas, i am not sure she will get anything so you are going to put a huge smile on her face. i am so greatful to be here for that very reason though, to be able to teach people that this life is just preparation to meet our Heavenly Father, there is a great plan for him. thanks so much for everything!!! hey only 25 more days till we can talk on the phone!!!!! yeeehawwww!!!! oh i didnt tell you, katie taylor (baker) is pregnant with a baby boy!!!! just got the final news that it is a boy, so if you see her give her a huge hug for me....dont know that that will happen but just wanted to share the good news with you, that i will be an auntie in a few months.... hehe.

well where to start.... i really feel like i have stepped into europe... who new that one country could carry so many different types of people, varying the missionary work alot. this area is really hard, really slow. its hard to not really be able to see the fruits when i feel like i am working so hard, i know everything will come, its just a matter of being patient. most people in my other area believed in God in one way or another, but here i would say the majority are athesit and have no interest in what we have to say. the Lord sure stretches us throughout our missions, every area and every companion bring something new to our lives, something we need to learn, and ways to grow and change. one of my favorite scriptures states that the Lord gives unto us our weaknesses so that we can be humble, and through the Lords help he can make our weaknesses into our strengths. i know this is possible if we put our trust in the Lord. haha i thought before the mission that i was a patient person... i had no idea what patience is!! i still dont but i am learning slowly but surely... its all a matter of patience.
we did find a woman this last week named Luisa while walking in the street. she recently lost her husbund due to bone cancer and her daughter last year due to a flu. we have been teaching her this past week and poor thing she is really a wreck. when we met her we asked her if she believed in God, she started crying and answered more or less and then told us what had just happend. we shared a bit with her and then met up with her at her house a few days later. she has been doing better but is in a really difficult time in her life right now. ill keep ya updated on how she is doing.
well i love you to pieces. attached are some pics!!!! i cant remember the order but are of some families i taught in my last area, a few members, the baptism of the Izaguirre family, me and Juan, and me and my comp... oh we have bikes finally!!!! i fixed mine because it was busted.... expensive. one petal, brakes dont work, sounds like its gonna fall apart when i ride it but oh man i have never been happier to have a crappy bike before, i cant even explain how huge this area is. (dont worry about the brakes... since i know you will... i am really careful and always wear my helmet and ride at snail speed) love you, talk to you next week!! muah!!!! -jess

November 22, 2010

hey there-
i cant believe that it is snowing there!!! well i guess i know that is happening but i cant even imagine it with how much sun we have here. wow enjoy it for me will you, i am definitely going to miss a white christmas and a good ski season, but i will get that next year. wow you are all about to have thanksgiving eh??? well sad news for you... remember how that is an american holiday... haha sorry poppy but to answer your question i will be workin like usual, they dont celebrate thanksgiving here, no worries though i eat as much here on a daily basis as i would on thanksgiving so im not starving. but do enjoy it for me and give the fam my love. i know the minnesota kubs will cheating and having their usual double thanksgiving for lunch and dinner yum yum!! buddy enjoy some good old tofurky for me... hehe. i am going to miss you all like crazy, but the church members here are going to take good care of us and we already have some invitations to eat for christmas. i have something for you that i was going to send home with my old zone leader to deliver to you but the man who is making it in my old area got really sick and was hospitalized so he just started working on it, so sorry it wont be there on time.

well greetings from salinas, my new area. wow i must admit i kind of feel in a sense like i started over, the nervousness, not knowing anything or anyone, feeling really lost but i am getting there, i am sure i will get to know it faster than i did the first time in maldonado. poppy no worries, my address is the same, everything goes to the mission home and then they ship it to us. well like i said my new companion is Hermana Rodriguez, she is from El Salvador and is really such a sweet girl. she is very quiet and soft spoken which is a reverse from hermana thompson, so my life is a bit more quiet but we are getting along great. she really wants to learn english so we are working on her telling me stories in english to help her improve. this new area... man is hard, it is super slow and hard to find people to talk to. the people here are generally more wealthy than those in maldonado, there are still areas that are poor, but thier living conditions are much much better. people are usually really nice when they reject us... but finding people that want to listen is a bit like pulling teeth. but i know the Lord will never give us things that we cannot handle, and he will put people in our path, its going to be a learning experience, thats for sure. i am going to learn alot about patience and that everything comes in the Lords time as long as we are doing our part. its just really weird going from Maldonado where we were able to see some really amazing things happen and have really steady people we were teaching to this area which is really dead. also i thought my area in maldonado was huge and we walked a ton but geez, this is probably double, its really great to come home tired but wow....

well my companions family is having a difficult time financially and she has no money from home to buy anything and i was wondering, because her shoes are completely falling apart, if you can send some shoes, flat and durable, like the ones i have, size 8, doesnt need to be fancy, just hit up nordstrom rack again. and also, my old backpack that i have for school, it is orange and should be in my stuff that you moved, hers is falling apart and the one i have at home is practically new, promise i will pay you back. i would buy it here but the quality of the stuff here is really bad and doesnt last. if you cant i understand, if at least you can send the backpack that would be great.

well i know this isnt anything really exciting, but know that i am doing well and am alive. i love you all to pieces and you are always in my prayers. tell everyone i say hello and that i love them. much love-jess

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Nov 16.

hey-

well im sitting here in montevideo again... we have changes... i am leaving Maldonado. i was really hoping for one more change with my companion and in the area but i am greatful i will get to experience other areas. I am going to miss my companion SOOOO much!!!! We went around yesterday and said goodbyes to all the great people i was able to teach and see get baptized. man it was a really emotional day, maldonado really became my home away from home and these people have such a big part of my heart. i will definitely be making it back one day to visit. I am going to be going to an area called Salinas, go and look it up. My companion is named Hermana Rodriguez, i am not sure where she is from but i am going to be living in a house with her and two other hermanas... all latinas... bring on the spanish baby!!! haha wow this is going to be really good for me, hard but good. and guess what, not that it really means much but i am going to be the senior companion!!! which means i have more time on the mission than my comp, weird, i swear i am still a baby on the mission.

luckily to end my changes in Maldonado we had the most amazing week and were able to witness many amazing miracles. Last week we found this really amazing woman named Ana. She was sick but let us come in and chat with her, she had recently lost her dad, actually four months to the day, due to medical neglect so she was really torn up that he had to go in the way he did. we were able to share the plan of salvation with her and i cant tell you how amazingly strong the spirit was, my comp and i came out and both knew that we were exactly where we were supposed to be at that moment. my comp and her new comp are going to continue to teach her.

we started teaching a man named andres again, the one i had told you about. i really have never met someone with so much faith and such an unwaivering testimony, talking to him makes my testimony stronger. he will be baptized this next coming wednesday.

we have been working with a family who is less active in the chuch and have a really amzing relationship with them and have been able to see them gradually come back to church throughout our two changes together. the grandmother of the family has decided that she wants to be baptized as well. she is so great and loves learning about the gospel. she is really old and has no teeth, she is so dang cute!!! im sad i wont get to see her baptism but my comp is going to keep me updated.

So Richard and Paola and their family are doing wonderful, Paola is going to deliver her baby this coming week, baby claudio, ahhh sad i wont get to meet him for a while. but anyway their son damian was baptized just a bit ago and has been a huge punk. he recently received some really great responsibility within the church and i cant tell you how its changed him. he is so respectful now and he has undergone a complete change. this last week during church he said the prayer to bless the sacrament or you would know it as the holy communion. gosh i had such a proud mom moment, i am so happy to see the people that i have been able to teach progress and have the gospel change their lives.

we were able to have some really beautiful baptisms on sunday. mario was baptized finally!!!! he overcame his fear of water and he was so proud and excited. the Izaguirre family was baptized as well, they are so amzing i cant even tell you. married couples are super rare here, its really sad. they are such an amazing family and we are really excited for them.

its been really amazing here to listen to the prayers of these people when they are praying in lessons or when we are at members houses, they ALWAYS pray for you as my family. these people have a love for you and dont even know you. so know that you are in our prayers all around the world!! I love you so so much and hope all is going well. -jess

Pictures from november 8.


November 8.

Hola everyone,

For halloween we dressed up.... as eachother.... thats about as exciting as a missionary gets on halloween. we wore eachothers name badges for the day. uruguay, or maybe just south america in general is just now starting to catch on to halloween. there were a few little kids out dressed up, pretty much all the boys were devils, grim reapers, or were wearing a scary mask, and ALL girls were witches, haha they are givin it a try, pretty cute though to see all the kids in their costumes.

we had a really good week and found some really amazing people. i told you about the familia Izaguerre last week who has four little kids, they are amazing and are progressing so great. they are going to be baptized, well the parents and one of thier children, this next week! They have had some changes that they have had to make within their family but their faith has been really amazing and they have really been applying what they learn. they are super cute but super shy so at the end of our lessons we have been playing uno with them to get them to open up a bit and it has worked magic!!! haha, they have a little girl that is two that was so silent for the first little while and now she wont stop chatting, so cute.

i dunno if you remember me telling you about mario a while ago, he was scared of water so he wouldnt be baptized. he has been taking swimming classes, just so he could go through with his baptism and finally this last week... he went under water!!! so he will be baptized this next saturday.

we had a wonderful zone conference with our mission president this last week and the message he gave was really powerful. first his wife spoke to us on improving our personal and companionship study times and how we really need to focus our time studing for the needs of the people we are teaching, and not for our own benefit. she also talked alot about obedience and how when we are disobedient it is like a parasite, we do small things that build until soon it has taken over. Presidente Da Silva talked about the atonement of Christ and how he suffered for each individual pain, affliction, sin, temptation, and sicknesses so that he may be able to understand and succor us when we are in need of comfort.

well i have a really great quote i want to share with you from the church magazine that was given in an amazing talk about the love of God. It says ¨for what we love, determines what we seek. what we seek, determines what we think and do. what we think and do determines who we are and who we will become.¨ and another part i really loved states, ¨Think of the purest most all consuming love you can imagine, now multiply that love by an infinite amount- that is the measure of God´s love for you. God does not look on the outward appearance. I believe that he doesn´t care one bit if we live in a castle or a cottage, if we are handsome or homely, if we are famous or forgotten. Though we are incomplete, God loves us completely, though we are imperfect, he loves us perfectly. Though we may feel lost and without compass, God´s love encompasses completely.¨

well i love you so so much!!! keep me updated, sounds like the fam is having a bit of trouble right now. my pictures didnt all load but enjoy the ones that are there!! one of me and my comp and the other is of Andrea who is 25 and her fam. her and her daughter alexandra who is in front of me are recently baptized. love you love you love you!!! -jess

November 1, 2010

Hola!

well I have exciting news.... well for me anyway!! My comp and i had to get up at five to come to Montevideo this morning so i could sign my visa papers, finally, and we were being really quite getting ready because there are two other hermanas living in our house, dunno if i told you that or not, but anyway when we left she was like i wanted to tell you something but i didnt want you to scream while the hermanas were still asleep but you were SLEEP TALKING IN SPANISH!!!! and but of course i screamed because i was really excited!!! exciting huh!!??? and she said that what i was saying actually made sense haha. one step in the right direction i guess!!! haha so ya that was really exciting.

we had a really great week once again and were able to have Cristina´s baptism, it was so special and she was so so happy. she was really nervous that something was going to go wrong again with the baptismal font and said that she was going to take that as a sign that it wasnt supposed to happen if it fell through again haha, so we checked on the font probably five times during the day to make sure it was actually filling this time. i will send some more pictures next week, we are in montevideo right now so i cant hook up my camera

my comp and i are teaching this really amazing new family that is adorable!! they are a young couple that is married (which is really rare here) and they have four kids. They are so so sweet, they just moved into our area. We have only taught them once but ill let ya know more. They have two little little girls that remind me of my murd girls, man i miss them!!

we are still teaching those three women Gloria, Estella, and Karin. We had the most amazing lesson with Karin and she said an amazing prayer at the end of our lesson. She is a really great mom and really wants to make a great family for her son.

well i wanna tell you more but our bus for Maldonado is leaving in like ten minutes!!! But i love you so so much and look forward to hearin from you next week!!!!
Jess