The Best Week of My Mission

Hola todos!

This has been the best and craziest week of my mission. I am literally so happy right now. It scares me actually.

Anyway heres how this week went
Monday: We taught Julio and he told us he is writing a book of his conversion! What the?! He is amazing. He gave us the introduction to read and we cried. He has been through so much but is SO prepared for the gospel. I love that man. We also taught Carola and she was SO willing to do whatever she can to be clean and pure again. TEACHING REPENTANCE!

Tuesday: We taught like crazy people. Lots of powerful and exhausting lessons. Teaching as a missionary is emotionally and spiritually and physically so exhausting. But so worth it. ONe family we taught is Sebastian (12), his mom Pamela and his grandma Rosa. Satan always tries to ruin lessons when we teach the restoration. So first of all my companion had the hiccups the whole first half of the lesson. Then right as we are sharing the first vision a FLY GOES UP THE NOSE OF THE 72 YEAR OLD GRANDMA! Sometimes Satan is in the form of a fly. After gaining the peace again we finished and it was a powerful lesson. We laughed so hard afterward.

Wednesday: It was Cristobal´s birthday!

Thurday: Hermana Olsen (the best companion ever, she rocks my world) and I were asked to come to a special meeting with Elder Texiera from the 70. We were 2 of 20 missionaries (besides the office) and 2 of 7 sisters there. WHAT AN HONOR! He talked about the new moto that we have and a lot about the importance of the temple. If everyone did there family history and took names to the temple regularly then no one would be inactive. I strongly believe that. 

Friday: Intercabios with my lovely hermana Lundgren in Placeres! The hills killed me but we are good.

Saturday: CAPILLA ABIERTA in my first ward! I cried that whole afternoon and just loved seeing so many people I love so dearly. It brought back many wonderful memories and we saw so many miracles. Including many people who were invited off of the street to participate.

Sunday: JULIOS BAPTIZM! It was beautiful. He shared his testimony and said he knew that God was real and that he loved him. He brought us (the zone) on a tour of the Lagoon today and told us he couldnt remember much of what he said but that he felt so calm. He is the biggest miracle! If I could progress as fast as Julio I would already be in the Celestial Kingdom. This man makes me want to be better.

I love the mission. I love this gospel. I am so happy. And i am happy because I experience his grace every single day. And I share it. And I see it work in the lives of others. The atonement is so real. We just need to use it and learn to use it to reach our full potential. I love this gospel.

LOVE YOU ALL!

Hermana Kelson 1

leah.kjeldsen@myldsmail.net

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Hermana Leah Kelson

4 Norte 1112 Casilla 631 
Viña del Mar, Chile

Feeling Froggy

Hola Todos!

What a week! We have had some fun things like the training for the zone, exchanges with new missionaries, and HERMANA GOULD who came to stay with us for a night. We have seen lots of miracles and also walked a lot. I just cant even express how much I love being a missionary.

Julio is doing amazing. He is SO willing to obey every commandment and just is so happy. He cracks me up. We taught about the law of chastity and talked about having clean thoughts. We said he could sing hymns when bad thoughts come into his mind. (like the primary song). He said [But then when you guys hear me singing hymns you are going to think I have bad thoughts!* Haha. We died laughing. He also chears us on in English when we play the piano or direct the music in sacrament meeting. He is amazing and has a strong testimony and will be baptized this week!

Carla is also doing well and came with us to a baptism for our hermanas in Placeres. She is progressing and really seeing the blessings of the Word of Wisdom. If only we could all change our lives so quickly, right? I find myself being so stubborn and in my own ways sometimes. 

Edwin blessed the sacrament for his first time. I felt such joy to hear him say those sacred words. He looked up at grinned at me afterward any my eyes filled with tears as I grinned back. I love the word WILLING in the sacrament prayers. It helps me remember to prepare my heart.

We said this was a froggy week because people were JUMPING to listen to the message. Obviously lots of rejection too but it was a great week. 

My companion is the best. The church is so true. This is the best work in the world. If you want to be happy, involve yourself in missionary work!

I love you all!

Hermana Kelson

leah.kjeldsen@myldsmail.net

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Hermana Leah Kelson

4 Norte 1112 Casilla 631 
Viña del Mar, Chile

Blessings From Above

Hola Todos

I dont even know where to start so much has happened. First of all I had to say Goodbye to Hermana Stauffer. :( It was tough but change is good. I know we will be friend FOREVA!

So Katty and Edwin taught us how to make empanadas and sopeipia before she left. (best foods ever.)

My new companion is Hermana Olsen! SHE IS THE BEST! I am more than happy. She is from Vegas and went to Hairschool in Utah before the mission. She is a 5 foot 9 ball of spiritualness and is so funny. I have already have better abs thanks to all our laughing.

JULIO! Remember that self reference? Well he is perfect. This week we taught him the first 3 lessons and he already has a baptizmal date  for the 26th of this month. He is so excited. His first prayer that he did was just a spiritual moment. He prayed and thanked Heavenly Father for finding peace and for helpíng him find the light. He said that prayer changed his life. He said he was like Joseph Smith searching for which church to join. At our second lesson we brough a member and Julio asks him at the end [Dude, do you drink coffee?] To which the member says no. So Julio says [Yeah, Ive been trying to drink herbal tea instead but its a little tough. Oh, and Im going to fast on Sunday.] WE HADNT EVEN TAUGHT HIM THAT YET! He just does a lot of homework on the church page. HE IS AMAZING! Such a blessing from Above.

Susana also is doing well and we love her so much. Carla is also progressing and is just trying to get over a few doubts but we know that if she just takes that one little leap of faith that she will get her answers. I have realized that a lot on my mission. Sometimes I just need to knock the last door, walk a little further, or talk to the last person on the street and that is when the miracles come

I love the mission and I love this gospel so much. IT IS SO TRUE!

All my love,

Hermana Kelson 1

leah.kjeldsen@myldsmail.net

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Hermana Leah Kelson

4 Norte 1112 Casilla 631 
Viña del Mar, Chile

WHO DOES THAT?!

Hola Todos!

What a week of miracles! We had some people drop us. . normal. And some people TOTALLY flurish. Susana, for example is So excited for her baptism and going strong. She even volunteered to help the Relief Society at 6 am! WHO DOES THAT!? She is awesome! She needs your prayers!

Also we found some other great new investigators and have had some great miracles! I just feel so happy and so blessed! One of these miracles is Julio. We got a text from the offices in Salt Lake for a reference named Julio. He has a few LDS friends and he is a SELF REFERENCE from the webpage of the church. WHO DOES THAT?! Anyway, we called him and he was like [I am working but Ill be at church on Sunday]. And Sunday there he was! In a shirt and tie and so happy to be there. LITERALLY GOLD! 

Also we found out yesterday that my companion is leaving. They are breaking us up right at a moment of miracles! WHO DOES THAT?! But we are excited for change and new adventures. It was crazy to help her pack after seven and a half months!

Also Hermana Stauffer and I sometimes read things in British accents just to amuse ourselves and then they turn out like a latino british accent and then we laugh ourselves silly. WHO DOES THAT?!

The truth of the matter is that sometimes miracles happen. And we think WHO DOES THAT!? And its Heavenly Father. And sometimes we make mistakes. Even big ones and we think WHO DOES THAT?! But we all do. And sometimes we use the atonement that was a priced payed by a perfect brother. And we think WHO DOES THAT?! And He is our Savior. I know that Heavenly Father blesses us. I know that the atonement is real. I know I am wholly imperfect but that His love is wholly perfect and fills every empty space of me.

I love you all!

OLAY!

Hermana Kelson

leah.kjeldsen@myldsmail.net

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Hermana Leah Kelson

4 Norte 1112 Casilla 631 
Viña del Mar, Chile

Miracle by Miracle

Hola Todos!

What a miraculous week it has been! I blame it on my sister serving a mission!! :) It has been such a wonderful week. 

First of all we found a GOLDEN investigator named Carola. My companion contacted her in an exchange and felt prompted to call her a few days later. The moment she called Carola had been crying and feeling alone. We were an answer to her cries. The next day we went and met her and she had felt so alone and so abandoned by God. We PROCLAIMED HIS LOVE. I have never seen someone who needs the gospel so much. She said she KNEW that God sent us right at the moment she needed. She even lives in our apartment building! She is SO prepared and we have a baptismal date for the 19th of February with her. It was the happiest night of our lives!

Another miracle is Susana. I have spoken about her a little but this week she went to church! She enjoyed it and was commenting in the middle of all the classes! She is so smart and I just love her.

Also Elizabeth. ( like my sister!) She is a young mom who really is hungering to know the truth. She is awesome and we are so happy. 

We have just found SO many amazing people this week. Satan has tried to thwarp the work many times. Like through LICE! Dont worry, it wasn't as bad the 2nd time. But we did have to stay in a little to keep from spreading it. But it let us read some great conference talks and that's good.

Also as many of you have heard we had CHANGES in our schedule. It allows us to chose more and develop some necessary skills for life after the mission. I am excited! They also talked a lot about teaching repentance and baptizing converts. So of course I started hitting the books really hard when it comes to repentance and found something I loved from Dale G. Renlund from the last conference. He said [Without the Redeemer, the inherent hope and joy evaporate, and repentance becomes simply miserable behavior modification. But by exercising faith in Him, we become converted to His ability and willingness to forgive sin.] Thus if we are trying to repent without the Savior we are just changing behavior. But WITH the Savior we are repenting because we feel hope and joy. 

Here is the 5 generation pic. My trainer, me, the girl i trained, the girl she trained, and the girl that is being trained by my granddaughter. Yeah. . . family history rocks.

May we all feel the hope and joy that comes from Repentance. 

I love you all!

Hermana Kelson 1

leah.kjeldsen@myldsmail.net

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Hermana Leah Kelson

4 Norte 1112 Casilla 631 
Viña del Mar, Chile

Sister Underpants

Hola Todos,

Before you all get scared by the title of this email let me explain. We try to help people learn our names with little things to remember them because we are gringas and no one knows how to say or remember our names. Kelson is very close to calzón which means underpants. My companion, Stauffer is close to Estafado which means rip off. So we are officially sister Underpants and Sister Ripoff. Those were names given by members. :) 

 

Here's a picture of me and my companion being weird. Maybe that's one of the reasons we got our silly nicknames.

 

This week was a roller coaster. SOme really awesome high moments and some really low low moments. BUT it was a great week igual. We had Zone Conference this week and it was AWESOME! Presidente Diaz talked about the atonement. He taught us that in hebrew atonement means infinite hug. He explained that in order to understand the atonement we much understand the fall. Later is Wife spoke about the HOly Ghost and that it fills us when nothing else does. Finally our Zone Training was complete with Kung Fu Panda clips in Spanish. To quote a turtle: Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That is why it is called the present.

Susana is progressing toward her baptizmal date. We also had miracles with the restoration. We have been teaching it to members and less actives. When we feel far from the spirit and that our testimony is week we should read the first vision. 

I am SOOO happy to my sister who is now in ARGENTINA! My part of the world!

I love you all so much! 

Hermana Kelson 1

leah.kjeldsen@myldsmail.net

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Hermana Leah Kelson

4 Norte 1112 Casilla 631 
Viña del Mar, Chile

Completos FOR DAYZ

Hola Todos!

THE MISSION IS AWESOME. We had some tough days. And some great days. But thats just how the mission goes. I just love people here.

This week we did some service and painted a wall. Brought back some CVJH set construction memories. I am not an expert in painting but it was fun.

We taught Carla about the word of wisdom recently and she has been keeping it! Do you know how hard that is for Chileans who drink tea like no ones business! And she is so great! She even came to church. There are some complications that make her progress slow but she is awesome. We taught her about prophets as well and she told us that when she prayed to know if Thomas S Monson is a prophet of God that she felt something really peaceful. THATS THE SPIRIT! And he is the coolest.

We had a few NDHs (FHEs) and ate a lot of completos. Wow just remembering how many completos I have eaten this week is a little sickening so I wont tell you how many but lets just say its a lot. :)

We have an investigator with a baptismal date! Her name is Susana. She is in her 50s and she is a health instructer. She helps people with exercise and dieting and stuff. She has ideas that are TOTALLY exactly what we teach. When we invited her to be baptized she said she would LOVE to do something like that. We asked her why and she said that when we come she just feels like her soul yearns for it. Sounds a little like Enos, if you ask me. She is so amazing and we are really excited.

SHOUT OUT to my sister ANN to goes to ARGENTINA this week. Argentina has no idea that it is about to get the worlds best sister missionary. GO GET ÈM ANN!

I love you all! Olay!

Hermana Kelson 1 (because now there will be 2)

leah.kjeldsen@myldsmail.net

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Hermana Leah Kelson

4 Norte 1112 Casilla 631 

Viña del Mar, Chile