Thursday, April 23, 2015

11 More days!

Yep thats right only 11 more days here in the ccm and then we all get shipped off!! Im starting to get a little nervous just because we have finally started getting used to our schedule here at the CCM but that is life!  But yes I got all your emails and im grateful for them! so ya i was able to wash my towel this week and i found my Patrichal blessing (it was in one of my suitcases) so thank you for responding just quickly enough!

This week has been great! pretty much the same as all the other weeks! but its still good! We went out proselyting for the 2nd time last saturday and we were able to have a little bit better success than just talking to a random drunk guy! It is really weird cause in the lessons and talking to the missionaries here I can understand what they are saying pretty well, but as soon as we get out in the middle of the city with all the extra noise I can't understand like anything! we pretty much just show them the book of mormon or a pamphlet and tell to read it and that is about the extent of our ability to talk to people! but it is getting better! So we are going back out saturday and hopefully it will be even better!  No fun stories from the proselyting but i was able to stop and buy some real argentine candy and it was the bomb! there are these things called Alfejores (I think i spelled that right...) and they are so good!!! they are pretty much Oreos on steroids! Instead of 2 cookies there are 3 and they put dulce de leche between them and some other good stuff and then cover the whole thing in chocolate!! its like 30 grams a fat for one cookie! so i love them! :) if i get a chance i will send a photo!

So we didn't get to go to that devotional will Elder Oaks that tony anderson was talking about, but He might be possibly stoping by on sunday to the mtc!!! so we are all praying that he comes!!! it would be such a cool experience to see him!  That and today they reopened the temple so we get to go today!! i am so excited we didn't think it would actually re open before we left on our missions so today is going to be a great day!!  

So on tuesday we had another wave of missionaries leave (but even more this time) so there was litteraly only 20 of us here it was so peaceful and quite!! it was so nice!  So since it was quite we decided to have some fun ;)  we took some of those latex gloves and filled them up with water until they were like the size of watermelons and we were dropping them out the 3rd floor window and it was pretty much the most entertaining thing we've done here! so then we filled another one up until it was just about the size of a hand and we tied it to some shoe laces and lowered it out the window above the sisters room and starting hitting it against the window. they opened the window and were all freaking out but because it was still swinging it ended up clipping the window seal and popped and splashed water all over the sisters! xD it made my day!


So ya that about sums up the week here!  And ya we don't know all the details of how we are going to talk to our families but it will be while we are out in the mission field so we will be able to skype. if we were still here in the ccm we would only get to call!! so i am so grateful i will be on my mission! I can't wait to here from you guys next week and see you on mothers day!!

Me and our old roomates that left for their missions tuesday

Me and Elder Texiera from brazil (super fun guy)
our district (me and elder savastano are tying elder drennens shoes together)

another photo of us and elder texiera included


Thursday, April 16, 2015

Receiving blessing!!

Glad to hear that everyone is doing great!! i am definitely glad that i am missing all the snow!! it is always like 70 to 100 degrees here and i love it! its so warm! so sorry you guys have to be stuck in the snow! Glad to hear that the jazz were able to beat the mavericks for the last home game! Im actually kinda suprised about how much i've already stopped caring about the NBA and all that kinda stuff! Although Elder West just told me that Duke won the March Madness tourney and i was really hoping Kentucky would go all the way but whatever!!

Anyway this week has actually gone by super quickly! it feels like only 2 days ago i was just sitting on the computer writing you guys! its weird cause the days are so long!!! and yet the weeks are already starting to go by quickly! i can't believe that it has been 3 weeks already!  But ya im still doing great! the language is coming along I actually have really started being able to say what i want, but the problem is all the spanish we learn is related to the gospel so it makes having conversations with the latinos kinda hard! So ya we got a huge new wave a missionaries last thursday so it no longer feels empty at all. but most of the latinos are way cool and try to help you out with your spanish.  We also got some new gringos so we aren't the rookies anymore! ya buddy!!  there is only 3 of them so they are stuck in a trio together but they are all way cool. So ya life is good, food is still delicious, and im starting to get used to waking up at 6 30 (which has not been easy!) 

So ya we went out proselyting on saturday and it was pretty much one the most terrifying and weird and cool experiences of my life! They litterally just drove like an hour away from the MTC and dropped us all off and said we will be back in 5 hours. and all of us were in different parts of this city called MorĂ³n (which i think is ironic cause we all probably sound like morons to the locals!) and said good luck! obvoiusly being gringos and knowing nothing we didn't have much success but we did have some cool experiences.  So we get dropped off and we have no idea of what we are supposed to do, and so we see this guy leaning up against the wall and so we decide hey lets just go talk to this guy! so we start talking to him and is just super drunk! so through the combination of our limited ability to speak spanish and the fact that he was slurring everything we couldn't understand a thing he was saying. but he really wanted to talk to us so we spent like 20-30 minutes talking to some drunk guy on the street! so ya....it wasn't the greatest start to proselyting! But when we got back the power was out so i was really happy about that and we just sat around and sang hymns to end the day! that was a major tender mercy right there!

So we had a really cool experience this week.  There was a devotional broadcast from the mtc in provo with Elder Richard G. Scott being the speaker and he talked about prayer and it was overall a way good talk. but it ended in the coolest way possible! He ends by saying something along these lines,"To all those missionaries who are learning a new language... I endow you with an Apostolic blessing.  That you may recieve the gift of tongues and that you may be able to learn the language"  Then everyones mouths just dropped! it was probably one the coolest things that has happened here so far! and on that note i just remember that one of the apostles might be coming to visit in like 2 weeks.... so i am really hoping that happens!

Holy cow! tyson has got the preisthood!!! that is crazy! Congratulations tyson! It seems like it was just last week that i was passing for the first time, and it also was the day joram gave his farewell talk! but ya being a deacon is pretty awesome so enjoy it while you can!!  so mom did you send my patriachal blessing with me, cause i can't find it! so if you did then i will keep looking but if you didn't send it then it would be much appreciated if you could send it somehow.  that and also do you have any idea of how i am supposed to wash my weird like shammy towel? it works great but after 3 weeks it gets kinda gross...  anyway I love you all!!

¡Hasta Luego!


Elder Jensen


p.s. don't have any new photos so here some random ones!






Friday, April 10, 2015

Good morning Krusty Crew!!!! (Apr 9)

Good morning Krusty Crew!!!! 

I have had spongebob quotes running through my head all morning so i just had to throw that in!! Holy cow i don't even know where to start!!! its kinda crazy here, the days are super long but it seems like the weeks go by fast!! Thank so much for all the photos and emails! (you know since i got like 2 last week (; )  Im just giving you guys a hard time! but any way i realized that last week i didn't say like anything about what this place is actually like so here we go.... First of all the food is absolutly amazing!!! (most of the time anyway)  With like every meal there is some form of just big piece of steak or beef or something! so im pretty much in heaven!!! and they have this dessert they give us like every meal that is super good! its pretty much just vanilla yogurt but then you put M&Ms in it and it is actually super good!!! so try it at home and see if it is any good! But ya they feed us like kings and queens here its freaking sweet!! 

So some of the missionaries from south america that came the same day that we did left on their missions yesterday so that was pretty crazy to think that they are already leaving!! and when i say some of the missionaries left i mean like 50 of the 90ish missionaries! so all day yesterday and today we pretty much like 30 missionaries! so it feels kinda weird!  There used to be 6 of us in one room and now it is just me and elder ray in there! which is way nice cause the latinos are always super loud at night and they usually end up going to bed at like 11 30. so i don't even know how they make it through the day cause im always tired during the lessons and i get a full hour of sleep more!! But ya the latinos are way fun and super chill!! 

So me and elder ray are still getting along great!! although there is one sister in our district who everyone is getting super annoyed with but... what can ya do? When you spend like 10 hours of a day together you start to get annoyed with each other real quick...  But ya me and elder ray are super tight friends now! we spend like 2 hours one day arguing who is better... Obi-wan-kenobi or Qui-gon-jinn? yes this was a legit conversation we had for 2 hours! but everyone knows that Qui-gon-jinn is way cooler!! 

Oh my gosh conference was amazing!!! maybe thats because i actually payed attention during it.... but ya it was pretty amazing! i definitly had some prayers answered from it and I absolutely loved elder hollands talk!!! We were able to watch it in english which i was so happy about! Like the language is getting better but there is now way i would have  been able to get like anything out of general conference if it was in spanish. But ya all the americans gathered in the cafeteria and just watched it in there.  It was kinda crazy when those people voted against the prophet!! Everyone in the room was just like "did that really just happen?" and i love how chill elder uchtdorf was about it. He was just like "you vote has been noted" and kept going like nothing happened!


Anyway Thanks for the stories and letters im glad to hear that everything is going great! I realized i told tyson happy birthday in the last letter, but i missed everyone else who has a birthday in april so happy birthday to everyone!!! i hope you all have a great week and keep sending me photos!!! 

p.s. Oh and I did recieve joram and brittany's letter! thanks so much for sending that! i totally had forgotten about it so it was a nice present to get yesterday!  and i forgot something else... we are all going proselyting on saturday!!! and we still don't speak spanish so this is going to be interesting! anyway im excited!

so we decided who everyone in our district was from lord of the rings

wishing we could go to the temple but.... nope still closed

Sunday, April 5, 2015

La Primera Semana!!! (Apr 1)

La Primera Semana!!!

mi familia!!!

Our MTC president told us to send you guys a scripture and that scriptures is proverbs 25:25. so go look it up. i don't want to waste my time typing it out. we have like a full hour to email so this is going to be very long!!

Holy cow what a week!!!! i know i told you i was going to write on thursday but we get our p day early this week!! i dont even know where to start! so much has happened this week! the quote of the week that sums everything up is from one of the Hermanas in our district, "ive laughed more and cried this last week then ever before".  granted i haven't cried yet but seriously i have had so much fun and i have learned so much this last week! it has been of the most amazing weeks of my life! im not going to lie, it has been hard but i honestly haven't been so happy for such an extended amount of time! Seriously though! Just having the spirit around you constantly and having the oppurtunity to learn and teach the gospel is so unbelievably amazing!! i have had my hard times (like everyone else) but the good times make up for it a thousand fold! That and we got a talk on our first day from elder Holland from when he spoke at the mtc in provo, and its pretty much the most inspirational talk ever about mission work. so we have all stayed pretty motivated!

so the missionary that you guys saw, that said goodbye before we did was elder heninger (its a weird name and i dont know how to spell it) and he is actually going to the exact same mission i am!! there was like 5 of us flying from utah to atlanta and then we met up with the rest of our soon to be district group of 11 missionaries.  So the plane ride wasn't very boring! the hardest part was not watching the new movie penguins of madagascar during the flight! but i did my best to sit there like a good missionary and ready my scriptures... i wasn't very successful but i tried! 

Well my companion is elder Ray, and he is from some super small town in washington state (pretty much on the Canadian border) but he is way cool and super nice. Our entire district is amazing! none of us (that i know of) are struggling to the point of going home, and they are all just super spiritual but we have a ton of fun together! there are life 5 of us all from utah, and even one of the sisters is from pleasant grove! so crazy small world!! We didn't get to use our cameras a ton this week except when we were allowed to walk around the temple next to the ccm.  So all of the photos i have to send are of that one small amount of time. But my camera is having a hard time connecting so i will figure it out and try and send some photos.  Its so stupid though the temple is closed for the next 5 to 6 weeks!! so we won't be able to go to the temple while we are here. 

We have started teaching some lessons to some fake investigators and it is truly amazing how much we have all been blessed by the gift of tongues. the lesson me and elder ray gave yesterday was pretty amazing.  we taught about modern day prophets and the whole time i just felt like i could say everything that i needed to, I was understanding and using words that i had completely forgot. so there has been some pretty amazing experiences with the gift of tongues that i have seen in my life and in the life of everyone in our district. In our room there is me and elder ray, 2 portugues speakers and 2 spanish speakers and some how we are all still able to comunicate! its pretty freaking awesome! There are so many experiences that i could share about this but i don't want to spend the whole time talking about the gift of tongues.

Oh and before i forget (sorry this is so long, i never thought i could write this many words...) I had the oppurtunity to give my first blessing this week on.... saturday? im not sure what day but it was an amazing experience.  So before i gave it we were having a lesson on giving blessing and other ordinances and i had the thought "i wish i had the chance to give a blessing in english before i have to try this in spanish..." then in our next class one of the hermanas asked if one of us could give her a blessing... so i did!! the cool thing was that she hadn't been in our previous class! so it was one of those just amazing small miracles.

So how is everyone doing??? its crazy that it is already been a week! Im sure that it has gone a lot faster for me than it has for you! Thank you all for your love and your guy's support through getting me out to the mission field! i love you guys so much!! Happy birthday tyson!! even though its like in 4 days...or 5 i don't know, I miss you guys but i know that this is where i need to be right now. even though this has been one of the most exhausting weeks of my life i know that it is well worth it. I look forward to hearing from you all next week. I love you guys!!!

Elder Jensen




Tender Mercy (Mar 25th)



While waiting for his flight to the Argentine MTC Jace met a recently returned missionary from his mission. Here's the picture and text this great young man sent us:




"Hey my name is Andrew Poulter. I got back about six weeks ago from the Uruguay Montevideo mission and just ran into you son here at the airport. He is going to a wonderful mission and has the best mission president in the world"

Setting Apart and Departure (Mar 24 - 25th)

Setting Apart and Departure (Mar 24 - 25th)

At the Stake Center after being set apart
















At the airport.