Ja finda! (its over)

The final week ... 77!  March 12, 2018

Good-bye for now Cabo Verde!

Well.....words can't even describe how I am feeling right now. Typing this seems so unreal. I've dreamt about this day for the past 18 months of my life, and now that it's here I just keep trying to hit backspace. How is it that everything good in this life must come to an end? And how is it that everything good in this life comes to an end SO fast? Triste go. 

These past 18 months have been incredible. Incredibly...
-hot 

-hard

-physically draining 

-powerful

-happy

-heartfelt

-filled with the spirit

-mentally exhausting

-humbling

-full of patience

-hungry

-filled with love

-spiritually empowering

-Christ like

-filled with service

-busy

-tired

-disappointing

-full of charity

-funny

-exciting

-beautiful

and SO MUCH MORE ... and I wouldnt change any of it.

All I can say is that I love these 10 tiny little islands (and everyone on them) with all that I am. With ALL of my heart and then some. I love Cabo Verde almost as much as I love Camdog and Maizy so yes, that's an incredible amount of love. I can't even explain it. I've never felt so much love for so many people I never even knew existed before now. Missions are easily the most incredible thing any human being can do (as long as that human is obedient and faithful, of course.) I STRONGLY invite all of you jovems (youth) to look at your life right now. What you are doing? How you are acting? What decisions you are making? And then decide what would change and/or improve in all 3 of those categories if you chose to serve a mission. Think about it real hard and get back with me next week. I already know what the answer will be ;)

I love my Savior. I love my family. And I know that the plan of salvation is so so true. I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the true and living church on the earth today. I know that Russell M. Nelson is our living prophet hoje em dia. I know that he currently holds and uses the power of God, along with his 12 apostles and any worthy man and young man who is a member of Christ's church. I love the past 18 months of my life and EVERYTHING that I experienced. There may or may not have been 1 quote from Nacho Libre that defined my mission (I believe all of you who served here know what I'm talking about) but nonetheless, I still absolutely love everything that I have come to learn and see and hear on these tiny rocks. N'sabe ki deus konch kada un di nos pelo nome e ki kre ki kada un di nos da faz as kuzas dretu. n'sta txeu grata por nha missao e n'sabe ki nunca n'ta esquesi das kuzas ki aconteceba ali. n'ta ama kada un di nhos TXEU. brigada por tudo djobi. nhos fica dretu xoxo

"Keep trying.  Keep trusting.  Keep believing.  Keep growing.  Heaven will be cheering you on today, tomorrow, and forever."  Jeffrey R Holland

--

Much love, Sister Djay

ps. My homecoming talk will be March 18th at 1pm at the church right in front of Freedom Elementary in Highland (6722 W 10400 N, Highland, UT 84003). You're all welcome to come and hear me speak some broken engrish :) txau

Kenzie will miss all the children!!

Ketchup on EVERYTHING!!

"At least you're not a stinky goat!"

2nd to last

WEEK 76: March 5, 2018

ONHA MAE! WE ARE DOWN TO SINGLE DIGITS PPL... to say I'm stressing would be the biggest understatement of the century. What is life...

Good week though! We are currently working with the cutest couple and their 3 children. Yuri (husband), Dulce (wife) Alex, Yude and Yara (kids). They ALL were able to make it to church yesterday and it was the most amazing sight ever. Alex ran up and hugged us as soon as sacrament ended (he's about 7 years old) cutest thing ever. They are planning on getting married soon so that the non--member wife can be baptized (the husband is a less active) pls pray for them and that all will work out with marking their wedding at the registro!!

Not much else happened this week..

1. our water came back so thats cool. 

2. got a migraine from yet another hiace ride to Praia. Pretty sure everyone thought I was drunk as Sis Wills had to walk me back to our aptm with our arms interlocked. 

3. had my last Fast Sunday of the mission and it was the saddest thing bearing my last testimony here on the islands :( 

4. passed our house inspections #SisDjayCleaning

5. so far we have a noite familiar (family night) planned for every night this week and its gonna be the saddest thing ever saying bye to everyone

I love this work. I love my Savior. I love you all and your constant support and kind words. see you sooooooon xo 

Sis Jorgensen

This is the drop song...

WEEK 75: February 26, 2018

Good morning Americaaaaa!!!

Is that still a tv show back home? Wow yet another week has come and gone. How does that even happen people???? 

Okay I'm def out of time today. This ones gonna be short sooooo...

1. Tarrafal was gorgeous as always and we were able to do divisions there on Wednesday 

2. Our date mark suddenly moved to a different area and now the elders have the greatest baptism prospect ever #smh

3. ITS GETTING WARMER HERE YAY!!

4. Repaired my chacos for the 6th time :')

5. Met the coolest lady from Rhode Island who considers herself a Cabo Verdian American. #SAME

6. Ran out of water and haven't washed our dishes in two days :')

7. Not much else happened but Sis. Wills and I are doing great and loving these people and this area. The work is comin...very slowly...but surely. 

8. I'm FREAKING out about real life but you bet your bottom dollar that I'm gonna make the most out of these next 14 days

9. Jesus loves YOU. YES YOU!! Don't forget it... and don't forget to tell other people that... and also don't forget to tell your family that you love them. LOVE YOU FAM!

k tchau

--

Much love, Sister Jorgensen 

Dang it Cabo Verde

WEEK 74: February 19, 2018

So this weeks title is due to how incredibly amazing Cabo Verde is and how incredibly sad I am to leave these amazing  little islands in 3 weeks. Therefore, the title....why do you have to be so amazing Cabo Verde?!?

This past week was full of heartbreaks unfortunately. Pesquisadores who said they would come to church with us, were not able to make it and members who said they would help pick up a few of those investigators before church, ended up being  late..haha. Life is a wonderful thing sometimes. Full of ups and downs and happiness and sadness. Fortunately, we are missionaries and we can't afford to be sad for too long SOOO we will be helping those wonderful pesq understand more fully the importance of igreja (church) this upcoming week and hopefully we will see better results this coming Sunday :) Any prayers would be greatly appreciated. 

Highlight of the week was our English class with the elders and my Cabo Verdian homies. These people are so cute and so funny. We played a matching game and had random English words with their matching Portugues words all written out on small cards and flipped over on the table. The only way they could win a treat was if they matched the cards AND pronounced them correctly. I almost burst out laughing a few times, but it was definitely worth it and I love watching them learn a new language. It reminds me of what I was like 17 months ago....lol yikes!!

So some of you know, fidja 1(Sis. T) made me my "dying planner" and added random photos from the past 17 months of my life. It has added quite a bit of laughter each day these past few weeks and also added some tears. It's been my favorite part of the day flipping open to a new page and finding an old photo from the mission. I can't even explain to you all how heart broken I am to be leaving this place. It's something I've never experienced before and all I can say is that missions are amazing and change your heart and perspective on life. If you are able and willing, PLS SERVE A MISSION. IT WILL BE THE BEST THING YOU EVER DO. AND YOU WILL NEVER REGRET IT. THAT IS ALL. TCHAU. 

--

Much love, Sister Jorgensen 

Arroz de Vo Vo (Gma Rice)

WEEK 73: February 12, 2018

Sooo this past week was a blur! We were in Praia for a little bc of meetings with our mission president and other leaders serving in the rest of the mission. Let's just say I'm sick of hiace rides through the mountains and puke bags :) 

Fidja #2 (Sis. Williams) is doing so good and learning so so fast. I love watching new missionaries learn things in their first few months. It's as if you can literally see the wheels in their head spinning everytime they learn a new phrase in Portugues or say the First Vision without any mistakes. I LOVE it and am learning so much at the same time!! The gift of tongues is SO real, along with greenie power! 

This week we saw SOOO many miracles. We were FINALLY able to mark some baptism dates with a few people who seem so so prepared. We're hoping to see some progress from them and some baptisms in early March. Pray for miracles in Assomada! Also, something super cool...we as missionaries here in Assomada are asking all of the branches and missionaries in our zone to do a group fast this upcoming Saturday and Sunday for Obra missionaria (missionary work) It should be really really cool and I know that with the help of the members and their faith, we will be able to see some huge miracles here in Assomada (hopefully that includes warmer weather...haha jk) 

Soooo as for the title....hahahah. this past week we were teaching one of our progressing investigators, Leida. She is super super cool and wants to be baptized in the church of Jesus Christ, but just recently had a c-section and can't leave the house for a while. She also needs to marry her bf who she is living with... we're working on it...but anyways, her cute avo (Gma) lives with her and made us dinner this past week. We ate rice and fried fish and man did that not sit well in our stomachs. Sis. Williams ended up having to eat it while plugging her nose, but hey we survived! It was hilarious in the moment and small moments like this are what I will miss the most from these little islands. 

Ok well this is a novel. So sorry. Have a great week, remember who you are, and don't eat rice that smells like urine :) TCHAUUUU xo

-- 

Much love, Sister Jorgensen

Sis. Williams :)

Study time...always freezing

Cutest kid EVER...he's stylin!! 

I love serving in "Alaska"... (soooo cold here)

WEEK 72: February 5, 2018

My new missionary Sis. Williams

HELLOOOOO 

What a week! I picked up my second fidja this past Wednesday and her name is Sister Williams! She is from Millcreek Utah and only has a total of 6 days on the mission now. It's crazy serving with her and remembering how I was in the exact same position roughly 16 months ago...not being able to understand ANYTHING anyone was saying, let alone speak my thoughts during the lessons. It's been a very cool and humbling experience to sit back and watch her learn little by little and adjust to missionary life on these little islands. God works in mysterious ways and I'm very grateful for the opportunity I have to help her learn a little bit more about teaching these amazing people the gospel and learning how to speak their crazy language!! 

We arrived in our area Wednesday night and got right to work! We were able to find the COOLEST woman named Karina. We found her while working in an area 20 minutes downhill from where we normally work. We taught her the message of the restoration and the spirit was more powerful than ever before. She had the light of Christ in her eyes and accepted the invitation to follow Christ and be baptized the same way He was. 

Sis Williams and I have started writing down 10 tender mercies of the day every night when we get back to our apartment. One of those tender mercies from this past week was when we were freezing our chacos off at 8:50pm while walking back from our apptm. One of the hiace drivers remembered who we were (seeing as he has driven the sisters and elders several times back and forth from Assomada to Praia) and offered to give us a free ride back to our house even with a car full of other passengers. It was such a little miracle and helped keep us warm all the way back to our house :) Its been awesome to see the hand of the Lord in our lives and in the work each day. I invite you all to do the same :) 

Funny of the week: this morning we left with two members in our relief society class to walk to the "big tree" as they call it. Before we left we were hanging out at one of the members house and I sat down on their sons bed to help one of the kids with their math homework. Upon sitting down, I felt something soak through all 3 layers of my clothing....I then proceeded to look at the little boy and kindly ask, "Chris, voce fez chi chi na cama?" (did you pee pee in your bed) he happily responded with a grin on his face "SIM!" (YES!!) God bless Cabo Verde!!! 

--

Much love, Sister Jorgensen 

Trunky Planner

WEEK 71: January 29, 2018

The 6 week countdown has begun....and I couldn't be more shocked and sad. These islands, these people, this culture and this gospel have completely changed my life and seeing it come to an end is breaking my heart. These past 16 months have been incredible and I will never forget all that I have seen and learned. Missions are amazing and change lives ppl!! If you are questioning whether or not you should serve, just do me a favor and go and watch Shia Labeouf's JUST DO IT video and then serve a mission. 

Not much happened this past week, but today we received transfer calls and I will be training again for my last transfer. I am so so excited and can't wait to meet my 2nd fidja!!  Apparently she's from America... more deets to come on that next week. Once again, out of time...BUT have a great week and know that I love you all and so does Jesus!! 

xoxoxo

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Much love, Sister Jorgensen 

Trunky planner Sis. T made for me

Lots of Beautiful children

My crazy district