The Stars at Night are Big and Bright.....

¡Buenos Tardes!

Well this time tomorrow I will be in the land of bbq and flat ground. I´m very excited! Well this week I realized I am a nun. A NUN my friends. Seriously think about it. That´s what I call my companions and roommates when they annoy me. 

      

So I gave a talk in Spanish on Sunday. Sí, todo en Español. It was on faith and it was probably the first time in my life I actually enjoyed speaking in public. So on Saturday we had TRC. It´s basically this thing where we go teach people that are either investigators, members, less active members, or just random people off the street. We just get to know them and share a short message. It´s pretty cool, but this week it was amazing. There was a ward in the area doing an activity where a ton of the primary kids come and hear a short message from us. THEY ARE SO CUTE. We got to teach little niños! It made me so excited to go to Texas and so excited to teach families. I truly saw the light of Christ in them. They are so near to God. Man it was sweet. 

      

Devotional this week was by Jeffrey R. Holland. A personal favorite. He talked a little bit about consecrating ourselves to the gospel giving our all to God and the Savior. In it he said: "You cannot ever turn your back on this eternally important work. You will break the Lord´s heart." My mission will not end in July 2016. I must strive my whole life to share the knowledge I have of Jesus Christ, His grace, and His mercy. 

      

One of my teachers shared a thought with us this week that I really loved. He shared Ether chapter 3 when God touches the stones and makes them lights for the Brother of Jared. God can reach down and touch anything in our lives and make it better. Anything can happen through our faith. God can help us with anything but we have to know He can. I know that faith has helped me everyday here in Mexico. It is so important to God that we believe in Him. Sometimes we have to act to receive our answer or our witness. He is always there waiting to put blessings into our lives. 

      

Next time you hear from me I will be back in the USA!

Les amo, Hermana Jorgensen

                                                               The Hermanas with C

                                                          2 of  McKenna's favorite Elders. 
                                             The tall one writes stories about being a master of karate 
                                           and the short one makes fun of her... they're going to Boston

Oh how I miss this beautiful girl.

Dr. Pepper

¡Hola!  

Ladies and gentlemen, this time next week I will be packing my bags for Texas! I´m very excited to have Dr. Pepper again. Okay so I have another plot twist for you all. Yes there is another turn of events my friends. If you are following, there was once a Haitian man. Well he ended up being from the Dominican Republic. That´s all. 

This week for service we washed walls! Seriously I can´t even tell you how many walls I´ve washed while I´ve been here. Yup. 

Spanish is no longer at a standstill! I´m progressing again. Speaking of Spanish, last night I was awoken by Hermana G. I was told that I am the only one that talks in my sleep but at 2 am I heard, "VACA. VACA IS COW!" Yeah that happened. I´m surprised by how much I´ve learned in just one month. It would be kind of concerning if I didn´t though. I sit in classroom instruction for 6 hours a day and I also have additional language study for about 3 hours a day. Basically we eat strange food and sit in class 24/7. That about sums up my MTC experience. 

      

I was reading in Alma 5 the other day. It´s a very beautiful chapter about a changed heart through Christ. My favorite verses are 7 and 9. Our hearts and lives can be truly changed for the better. It´s truly amazing what Christ teaches us through His words, Atonement, and example. Elder Bednar gave an MTC devotional about the character of Christ. He said that the true character of Christ is someone who turns outward when the natural man or woman would turn inward. He shared an inspiring story about a woman who was a symbol of Christ in her darkest hour. It kind of changed my life. I hope I can become someone such as her. 

      

Another chapter in Alma I was looking through this week was 32. One of the verses says to exercise only a "particle" of faith. I was thinking and I came to the conclusion that God is fully aware of how much faith we have. We are the ones that need to realize the power of our faith. We have faith that is made up of all these small actions (particles) that makes up one big mass. Everything we do each day takes faith. Courage and faith. As we exercise this faith we have, we will come to realize how much we truly posses. We underestimate ourselves all the time but our spirit and abilities are magnificent. Greater than we will ever know. We can do ANYTHING. Remember that when you´re scared or feel insignificant. Fulfill the manner of your creation. You can´t see the end from the beginning, but the path will become clear as you exercise your agency and faith.

      

Read these: The Atonement and the Journey of Mortality by David A. Bednar 

https://www.lds.org/liahona/2012/04/the-atonement-and-the-journey-of-mortality?lang=eng 

Alma 5 and Alma 32

https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/alma/5?lang=eng

https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/alma/32?lang=eng

Con amor, Hermana Jorgensen

                                                           This must be after washing walls

She tells me the Elders are pretty nerdy but lots of fun

Can anyone explain to me why McKenna is wearing camo sweats and a shirt with SpongeBob riding a cat in outer space? She continues to be classy!

Chihuahua Wings

Greetings!

     

Okay so this week was very interesting. My Spanish is at a bit of a standstill right meow (McKenna occasionally uses the word meow instead of the word now) due to preterite, imperfect, and irregular verbs. According to my roommates I speak Spanish in my sleep so that´s good I guess. But don´t fret my friends! One day I will not sound like a fool. 

    

 So let me start off with some fun facts about the food here. The other day we had wings. Everyone was pretty stoked about it. Naturally I was as well. I had about one or two wings when I realized strangely long hairs attached to the wings... I mean like long hairs. Strangely long. So I´m quite positive they were chihuahua legs. Yes I´m being serious. There have been a few other interesting things about el comedor but those stories shall remain untold... for now. Every night like a million cannons go off at the Catholic church down the road. ALL. NIGHT. It´s actually pretty cool. It´s for the saints or something rather. 

      

Hermana C lost it this week and acted like a cat for a good five minutes. You thought I was strange. She sincerely apologized when she regained her composure. That was an interesting day that I would kind of just like to forget about. I get in trouble like everyday for laughing or giving people strange looks during class... oh well. Also there is a kitten here that looks exactly like GRUMPY CAT. Yeah it´s pretty neat. Hermana C always scares him away when I try to compare their likeness. She thinks it´s funny now but she probably won´t when I punch her in the neck. The other day she told me to put her in a choke hold and right when I did our sister trainers walked in our classroom for our weekly interviews. This is my life, these are my trials. 

      

I was really sick again this week with something similar to a sinus infection. I refuse to go to the doctor because he doesn´t do anything. I mean seriously. Mom could probably do more for me right now considering she stapled Dad´s head shut this week. So I got a priesthood blessing because I couldn´t learn or read or do anything productive and I felt like a total scrub. It was a really beautiful blessing. I was promised in the blessing that my family and friends will be okay while I´m gone. I was also told that the Lord is proud of me for sacrificing this time for Him to go on a mission. And that people are waiting for me in Texas that want to receive the restored gospel. I love the priesthood and that I have the blessing of God´s power in my life. I´m very grateful. 

Oh patience... That was the thing God wanted to teach me this week. I know I need it. Oh and no I do not want any comments from the Jorgensen family on this subject... Just know that I´ll have more patience when I get back. I´ve had countless experiences this week to teach me this attribute. I am truly grateful though.

      

I studied Mosiah 14 a lot this week. It´s pretty beautiful. Verse 5 is my favorite. 

"But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed.

The Atonement is the greatest blessing in my life. It has helped me through good times and hard times. It is always there for us. Christ is always there for us. God is always there for us. Please take time to thank the Lord for this beautiful gift that we have. He will manifest the truth of it unto you by the spirit. When you feel as though you can´t take another step, kneel. Talk to our Father in Heaven. He loves you. He wants you to speak to Him as a friend. I am eternally grateful for the knowledge I have of this wonderful gospel. God is real.

Con amor, Hermana Jorgensen

                                           This is D who sneaks ice cream to the girls

                                                                    Elder K's birthday party

¡Feliz Dia de la Marmota¡ (Happy Groundhog Day)

The Latinos are very confused about groundhog day... This week was interesting as always. We went to the temple today but couldn´t go inside. It´s being remodeled. I didn´t say too many embarrassing things in Spanish so that´s always a plus. I met and recognized about a million people from Gilbert so that was pretty neat.

 

So the other day I came back from a class and there was a note sitting on my desk. It had a scripture on it and it said to read it and tell him what I thought about it. By the way the note ruined that scripture for me forever. THIS IS NOT EFY YOU CREEP. What the heck? I was disturbed. Anyways so I see the guy that wrote it. Someone in my district told me he was Haitan. So I see him after class and he just said Buenos Noches! and ran away. Similar to my life, this story contains a plot twist. The note was meant for Hermana G. So there´s that.                                                         

I was really sick this week. I went to the doctor because my companion made me. He was no help. That´s the end of that story.                                                                                                                         

I´ve taken up weight lifting! Dad I hope you're proud. A whole 10 pounds in each hand. Yup that´s right. Everyday we play cage soccer. Yes I am aware that I am the only Mormon kid in history to not be put in rec soccer. Anyways you go in a basketball court surrounded by a fence and play soccer inside. It´s quite fun. Don´t worry Aidan I´ll teach you when I get home. I also found that it´s the one and only sport I am competitive in.

      

So this week there has been so many cool and spiritual experiences. We were practicing teaching one of our Spanish instructors who was portraying a real investigator and my comp suggested giving her a priesthood blessing. Her husband is abusive and she´s not sure what to do. Our instructor is bringing the real investigator in so she can receive a blessing. How cool is that? This is the one and only true church on the earth. There are many other churches that have many great teachings and principles but this is the only one with all truth. I love this gospel. The Atonement is real and Christ lives. God loves us and wants us to be happy. The spirit can manifest all of these things to us through faith and prayer. 

      

The assignment for this week is to read D&C 78 and to watch the Mormon Message Mountains to Climb

      

Con amor, Hermana Jorgensen

https://www.lds.org/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/78?lang=eng

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2013-01-003-mountains-to-climb?lang=eng