Happy New Year

It was a pretty good year. 2014 will have been the only year i devoted every day to missionary service... well for now. A lot of crazy things have happened but its cool to see the difference in me and what i have shared with others. New years eve here was just a normal night, some fireworks and we listened to the neighbors music. A new year with new goals.

Recently there will be many changes coming to our mission and some missions in general. Now we will only be focusing on Church attendance, baptisms, and lessons. That's it. The rest of the numbers will not really be counted. But this comes from the area 70 at least. And another thing is we cant drink coca cola or anything with caffeine practically. So goodbye mountain dew :,( But i am fine. I will follow whatever the lord asks of me, even if it is not too much soda haha. We will see the rest of the changes that are to come!

This week was pretty good for us. We were able to visit many less active members we haven't been able to visit before. It is really nice to be accepted into a home even though family hasn't gone to church for years. People trust the missionaries and can let us help them with their problems. The branch president has been calling us every other day to help him with certain things and visits. We are going to put on many activities to bring more people back to church. As part of our calling we have been teaching and directing many of the church classes and priesthood meetings. Its a learning experience but we love it.

I kind of stole the idea from home of hot dogs in the park we had back home and we will be doing a "completos en la capilla" activity which will be games and a family home evening with the ward and a nice completo after. I decided to throw out the idea because it is an easy going activity yet enjoyable so we will see how it goes. 

Love you guys and hope you're all doing good. Stay warm with all that cold weather. I guess we will be having Latinos in the family so you all better get started on that spanish;) love ya bye.

we went to Piedra Roja as always

Last week of 2014!!

Christmas Conference with the Mission

 Best Buds in the Mission

Well it was a great week! It was nice to see you guys and talk with you. Hope you are all doing fine and getting used to the girls being up in utah now. But anyway things are going good here for me. We are ready to start a new year with new goals! Lots of things are on my mind but i will get it all figured out! I love it here and enjoy it a lot:) 

Zone Nativity.  I was a King bringing Myrrh

The other day the mission president called me which is actually rare to get calls directly from him. So we were obviously anxious for why he called us. And he talked to us for a while of how our branch was a little different and that it need as much help from us as we can give. after the call we had a meeting with the branch president and he asked us to be his counselors. HE as well talked with us a lot on how we can help and what we can do. I will be the first counselor over the preisthood, temple, and classes. Elder B is over the primary and all of the youth. we actually got to teach all of the youth and some of preisthood sunday, and we enjoyed it.

Elder B and i are glad to be serving as counselors to President A. He said we might be staying here for a bit longer but we are both fine with that as we would love to talk part in strengthen the branch for as long as we need to. We are going to focus on less active members and having activities to keep people interested. The next two weeks the branch President will be out of town but we feel comfortable doing all we need to and helping out.

Theres a reason for everything and i hope that we can make a difference in this calling and change the branch for the better. I love this work as i always have and always will. Have a good week and make good decisions;) haha but have a fun new years week, ill just be a year ahead for a few hours! thanks guys, love you BYE!

Members home we skyped from.  Elder Z from Argentina, me & Elder E from virginia but was born in Germany & Elder B!

Compuertas pic of this week with the other Elders.

English Classes getting bigger

All of us missionaries pile on a bus after district class.

This week went quite well for us. The best part was probably the English class. Somehow we were able to have about 30 people in our class. It has been growing a lot lately with the help of missionaries, members, and those who attend class. We might have to split the class into two if it keeps growing. 

We have actually been able to see the fruits as well. The other day Elder B and I were able to set many appointments with certain people who come to our class. We have been able to visit many of them and teach them after already having a great confidence and friendship with them. The other missionaries are visiting those that respond to their sectors and seeing progress as well. We will keep focusing our efforts in finding new people who could have an interest in the gospel.

An ex missionary as well came back to visit some people and was able to go out with us and help us with our sector. So we are now able to work a lot more with people he used to visit that seemed really nice. We will see what we do this Thursday for thanksgiving!

Happy for you girls/sisters to get your jobs and get things ready in Utah. Love you guys and ill talk soon:) bye.

Picking cherries

New mission President!

emailing and new hair cut

Sorry if this will be hard to read but my hands are freezing and its a bit hard to type. So this week our new mission president got here and we are all excited for the coming weeks to get to know him and see the changes that will be made. Things have been going good here in principal with the four of us. We talked with the second counselor of the branch yesterday who is in charge of the mission work here. And he had some great ideas to help us and what we can do. He is like our father in the mission. Him and his family have literally given us everything we need. And they care for us as their children. They are the family who has thrown the little birthday parties and the house we can go to in any moment and for any reason.

Many member have helped me through a lot and continue to help me here. I love this sector. We are working really hard to find new investigators and my companion and i have set many goals to help us. The other day in district class our leader gave us a paper of how we can be better missionaries. We read together for a while but one part was really important to me. I dont know how i havent read this scripture but i know love it so much "And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life." (Matthew 19:29) I can apply this so much to the mission and know that there are many blessings we receive for serving.

I love you and hope you have a good week and fourth of july! save a firework for me!

happy mothers day mom, and happy birthday my bro garrett!

My view of family in CA and sister on a mission is Texas

I was excited to skype with all you guys:) until christmas! but i was good to see you all and share a moment.

This past week i had a great spiritual moment. i was in an intercambio with another missionary for the day. at the end of the night it was almost 9.45 to start coming home, the last appointment fell and we were ready to go back. But my companion said that we should pray to see what to do. As we did a house came to my mind and i told him i dont know why but we have past this house many times before without success, and the house was at the other corner of our sector. But he said to follow the promting as we started to walk. We got to the house and the mother opened the door telling us she was very occupied. When i asked her what it was she said "come in and see!" I was so suprised to finally enter this house after many tries.

As we were teaching she explained how she had the missionaries a long time before but dropped them because her husband didnt like the missionaries. While we were teaching the husband walked in and saw we were teaching the whole family, uncles and aunts and kids. He rolled his eyes and kept walking. But we invited him to listen to the prayer as we end. While my companion was praying the whole house was silent and it felt so peaceful for jsut a moment. And the first person to say anything was the father. He joked with us for a bit but we were able to see him changing. We are going to keep going back to tach the whole family as they have a great desire to listen.

Painting a sisters house

It was really special to give some flowers, chocolates and notes to some of the sisters in our ward. Some who have never had children, we wanted to make their days as special as we could:) love you guys, talk next week.

For the sisters in our Ward :)

crazy week!

Futbol with zone Leaders

so this week was crazy! a lot of stuff happened. so im just gonna be throwing some stuff around. Firstly how in the middle of the night the other day Elder F heard a noise in his room. it ended up being a rat in the house. so we all grabbed brooms and tried to get it as it was running for an hour. and that thing was the size of a shoe that could jump! he jumped on my legs three times and i was just laughing with the camera in one hand and a broom in the other. and then a different night there were cats screaming outside all night. 

Kept us up all night

M was confirmed this week and received the holy ghost! it has been great having him in the branch as the strongest group of the branch is all of the young men. He has also been an example to his family who has definitely changed and we can feel more peace in the house. I can really see the difference the gospel brings into the lives of many. I have been blessed to have grown up in the church with all of my family and am very grateful for that in my life. 

I really didnt know how blessed i was before the mission. But out here it is a huge difference. Like many of the little things i have i never really noticed how much i have.  that reminds me of a story from the mission president in the ccm who talked about a young missionary who came to serve with a pair of jeans not knowing what exactly to do being the first member in his family. and how the president took him out to get new clothes and necessities. there are many who drop family for coming on the mission. 

But thank you all for always being there for me:) im excited to skype sunday:) I wanted to spend sunday doing something nice so i told the other elders that we are going out to visit some of the sisters of our ward to bring them flowers and especially the single sisters. that will make me the happiest on sunday:) oh and Happy Anniversary mom and dad! and my bro Garrett will be turning 17 soon! love you guys. talk soon! 6 days!

P Branch - Ward Pictures with my roommates Elder B , Elder F & Comp Elder A

Easter week

Sorry my letters short but ill be emailing monday anyway. We went to the temple today and that was great! I understood everything in spanish! 

Easter was fun. even though here they celebrate "the holy week". i ate fish and oyster and some new stuff the past few nights. but im used to it now, i just eat lots of bread and drink lots of coke when I need to. lots of food is always offered to the missionaries. i cant even eat that much. a normal day is a banana or fruit for breakfast and maybe a snack, then lunch which is rice and chicken or something, and then maybe a snack at night. its hard to eat. so im not gonna get fat! but dont worry im always full from what people offer me.

So this sunday is the baptism for M! we have one more lesson tonight with him and then an interview so we will see if all goes well! thanks for all you guys do for me. im excited to call soon for mothers day!!! its going so fast everything. hope you guys have a great week. ill talk on monday!

i recieved a mountain dew in the missionary mail which is sent between missionaries, but i dont know who sent it to me. a mystery. because mountain dew doesnt exist here so someone got it mailed to them and shared with me:) 

Valentines day doing visa paperwork

Shawarma is good!

A lot of love around during this time of year. haha i was reading the liahona and all of it was about love and good relationaships. but its a good read, you guys should read them. i actually like reading all this church stuff now which is a big change from just a few months ago.

But obviously valentines day passed and guess what i got to do! yup went to bed at midnight the night before (which is normal for chile and the mission) and woke up to be ready at 6! we had to take the subway all the way to the mission office and pick up an envelope and visit three different places to get all of my visa paperwork done. the first one i had an appointment but it was for the wrong day so i waited for two hours. then we walked to the police office and had to wait for like 4 hours behing hundreds of people. and didnt even have time to go to another civil court thing so we will finish another day. But as we had our number and were waiting we walked the streets of downtown santiago and it is just like new york. lots of taxis and subways and buildings. i love it here!

My Companion Elder D likes to RAP to lessons

this week was great as usual. We continue to find new investigators. As well our goal is to invite everyone to be baptized in the first visit. and many accept it and we continue to teach them. It is still hard to keep people progressing as all are leaving on vacations. But of all the people we have we are really focusing on a man named C and his wife lía. they are 70 or so years old and have some family that are members. He will be baptized this coming month so we are excited as he is fully prepared! and we are all looking forward to march where it will cool down a bit and people wont be gone as much.

I also had a cute little memorable experience. We were walkling in the streets and there was a group of 6 or seven boys that were the ages 4 to 7. they were playing with toy guns and running around sweating. i decided to go a long with it for a bit amd played for one minute. then they started to ask us a bunch of questions but it was nice to talk with them as they were so kind and playful. one little guy took my nametag but another said hey thats not nice and said he wanted to put it back on. so i knelt down and he kindly put it on and dusted me off. but then another took my water and started to drink. so i grabbed it real quick but then knew they were all thristy. So i held the bottle and they all come up to drink the water i was holding as i sqeuzzed it for them. We gave them some little pictures and they were so happy to talk for a bit.

Zone Activity

i dont have time to put all of it in here but it made me think of christ why he loves all of the children. They are so pure and loving. I love the mission and i love all of the little experiences that happen daily but i cant keep track. last week of training woohoo! love you guys. have a great week. 

happy birthday to my sister Hermana Ashley! i hope you get your letter soon.

Bye:)  -Elder Jaeger

Happy 1 year Anniversary Kennedy

From Chile to Idaho

New Years

Happy New Year from Chile

I just want to start by saying since jaeger is german for hunter and casador means hunter in spanish. i explain to people that my name pretty much means Elder Casador! So new years was fun other than not being able to see fireworks:/ we were in the house and there were lots of trees and buildings so we leaned out the window to see the ones we could. But we still celebrated, obviously wihtout a new years kiss. haha.

New Years Eve  -  New Years Day (no one is out)

My favorite street - I'm doing good!

This week we met a really great family. We first met the boy N walking on the street and he said we could pass by his house any time. And then we stopped by the next day and met the whole family. a grandma a mother and 4 kids. They were so nice and kind to us. We shared with them and they all commited to read the book of mormon. we returned yesterday and they actually all read the part we assigned as a family! and we answered their questions. They have lots of interest and will continue to pass by often and share with them. I will keep you updated on how they progress.

We also have the investigators who want to be baptized but need to be married first do the paper work. Always times where things get tough but we work with them. He wants to do so much for the church and have a calling but we have to wait two months or so. I will be so excited when he is baptized!

We continue to find lots of people each week. This place is california. lots of fires this week and heat. I already feel at home here. Well have a great week and start to the new year. Talk soon

Trying to gain some weight  -  Elder S from the Chile Santiago CCM

Christmas week woot woot

Our District

SaY wHaT sAy WhAt?!? Christmas already passed? dang is time picking up. And going by fast. I like to think of a roll of toilet paper for how a mission goes haha. it starts off with a lot and seems like it will never end. But once it starts being used it goes quick. You can start telling that you have less and less as it gets nearer to the end. And then before you know it you are out! And your stuck in the bathroom yelling for more toilet paper. haha but serioiulsy this is going fast, i hope you understood what i was trying to say.

Christmas dinner.  Can't have it without soda and mayo!

Anywho, This week was great and did so much. Christmas night we didnt have a time to be home really and got in at 12:30ish after dinner. oh dinner was huge and good. lots of food and vegetables. oh and mayo on everything, the rice, corn, potatoes, carrots, beats, peas, but it was soo good. the pruvians know how to cook here. And on christmas we went to visit all of the members that lived alone and had nobody to visit them. so the four of us in this ward visited them and sang and just had a good time. we washed a car for one member who is reactivated. Just lots of fun with them all. I opened my packages and loved all the gifts and candy. haha but chile isnt as bad as you think, it is pretty much los angeles. its not hard to find food or candy, but thanks for the american food! i already ate all the candy haha. I dont know why im feeling all funny today and im actually writing this all fast.

Christmas service project

Gifts under the tree  -  Thanks for all the gifts  -  Elders in our ward skyping our families

We found some awesome new investigators this week. One is a haitian who is friends with and lives with the other haitian members. He shared of who he has been here for 6 months away from all his family trying to find work and it has been hard. He told us all about his life and cried explaining the difficult time in his life. But we helped to make him feel better and shared so much with him as he had lots of interest. And the best feeling came over me on sunday. Just as we were singing the first hymn in church he walked in! he sat next to me and i had the biggest smile on my face and felt so great. During the meeting he was giving his full atention and was reading the book of mormon he brought with him. After the meeting i asked him how he got here. He said he walked and kept asking people on the street where the building was because he really wanted to make it to church. he woke up and didnt even eat anything just so he could make it to church. He has lots of interest and we will coninue helping him gain a testimony. Definitely one of the most loving people there is.

As well our other investigators came to church and i was so happy for all of them. things are starting to pick up here and we are still continuing to work every day. never a moment to stop working. 

Early morning studies in Chile...

well a new year and new goals and resolutions, so im gonna make 2014 a year of straight working non stop. Thanks for all your support and love. And thanks for the letters and packages and emails. I love you guys and pray for you. bye!