well... now what...

[Dec 26, 2016 email]

Merry Christmas and soon to be new year! Thats really all i have to say cause we just saw each other yesterday!  So see you next week....

okay i will write a little bit more, but this was a great week, we had a christmas conference with half of the mission and it was a great chance to see a lot of missionaries again, and to know all the new ones that have come.  and that was on tuesday, then up until sunday we just had a fairly normal week, and we able to work but due to all of the parties and vacations that everyone is having we haven`t been in contact with a couple of our investigators.  We had a charla with Marcela who i believe is the only dentist in Castillos and it was a really awesome lesson but she is going to be out of town until the 16 of january.  She has been showing a lot of interest and she has been listening to the missionaries for quite some time but she has only come to church one time.  

On christmas night after the video call we found 2 guys with a lot of promise.  one guys name is pablo and is actually just here on vacation and we found him smoking and drinking with his friends, but he still wanted to listen to us! and while we were talking he told us that he wants to get out of drugs and he seemed really humble about it.  so we are going to stop by on tuesday and take him to church with us to be able to have a lesson, cause his friends house where he is staying is full of drugs and alcohol! 

But we will see how it all turns out! It was great to see you guys this week and i love you all! 

Love

Elder Jensen

Fotos:

Christmas conference with some old friends, and then in the zone we had a secret santa and we all bought each other gifts and "Santa" gave us our presents

Foto with President and Sister Eddy and their family:

Merry Christmas!

[Dec 19, 2016 email]

Hola a Todos!!! 

Buenos dias! esperos que todos se encuentren bien! haha Merry (almost) Christmas! Well this has been a great week! we spent quite a bit of time preparing for the ward activity we had on saturday and not as many people showed up as we were hoping but we had 3 or 4 less active members show up and so we were happy with the results! it had been stressing me out all week, and now its over!! but unfortunately we both forgot our cameras and so we weren`t able to take any photos but luckily the wankiers were there and they wrote a little bit more about it on their blog and there are some other photos (Gordon and Renee in uruguay)  But it was a great activity and i really enjoyed it! 

Then on sunday of course it couldn`t go all as planned and one of the speakers didn`t show up and of course i was the other speaker! but luckily elder wankier just leaned over to me and said, "you know... there isn`t anywhere in the handbook where it says you cant finish early" haha but luckily we didn`t have to finish early he helped me out by giving a testimony and we were able to have a good sacrament meeting.  

This week the work had been fairly slow, we have spent a lot of time in the street doing contacts and knocking doors and we have been finding promising people but we haven`t been able to find anyone solid... until sunday!!! in the last day (of course it was also raining!)  we were able to find 2 new investigators!! we are teaching a young couple and the husband finally participated and he seems really interested, but every time we teach there is so much noise!! between there 1 year old boy and the rain, it is impossible to teach but we have a really good feeling about them.  But other than that we are really on the look for new investigators.  but we are doing good :) 

Well thats all folks! have a very merry christmas and i will talk to you soon! 

Love Elder Jensen,

PS My comp made some weird peruvian food, but it was really good! 

Photo from Elder and Sister Wankier:

CASTILLOS

[Dec 12, 2016 email]

Well the first week in castillos is over.... what a week! this week has really been just a blur! it was fairly normal the first day, we arrived on wednesday nad we just went out to work and visit some people and it was all good, then thursday was the same, just a good normal day of missionary work, and then friday the relief society president called asking to be released so i had to call the district president to actually know how to release some one! then we had to do some office work in the church, and my comp kinda showed me how everything works.  Then saturday we had Branch council... (i don`t know if its called branch council in english... but its like ward Council.)  and we were the only 2 who showed up.... so we planned our end of year/christmas activity for the 17 and i hope it turns out good!  Then came sunday... Well we had 8 people in church, we taught relief society, the my comp directed church while i lead music (and basically sang a solo) then we blessed and passed the sacrement, and then we both gave talks for 20 minutes and basically did everything!! it was quite fun :)  

But from my few days here, i have learned that the church truly is the same everywhere.  This was one of the most spiritual sacrament meetings i have had in a while, and honestly it was all due to the reverence and preperation of the few members that were there.  It was really comforting to know that God really is wherever there are 2 or 3 (or 8) gathered in his name.  We are excited to see the miracles and the experiences that we are going to have here, and we are goign to see how it goes!!! 

Love you all so much and thanks for all the love and support.

Elder Jensen.  

photos:

the ward mission leader in maroñas, a cake that was made for elder fords farewell, but it was mine too because i left :) and Elder Paulson (my son) is now training, so im now a grandfather!!!!  

well after not being able to send photos for so much time, i can finally send you guys some.

Me and elder Bravo in our Light the world Shirts

enchiladas we made with elder bio, and the 4 of us enjoying lunch together! 

one last move...

[Dec 6, 2016 email]

Well i have been here in belloni for about 3 months and i had the hope of finishing my mission here because i have truly loved working here, it is a great place for missionary work, but yesterday afternoon i got  a call from president that i will be moving one last time to a small little town called castillos with a population of like 7 thousand where i am going to finish my mission.  It is going to be a very new experience after spending so much time of my mission in montevideo and now being in such a small city.  I am sad to be leaving belloni but this is where i have been called.  I am going to be with elder Castillos.... yes his name is the same! but he is from peru and when president called he talked very well of elder castillos and i have heard really good things about him, so i don`t think there are going to be any problems with my companion!   

As for what has happened here in belloni.... we had a ward activity with the focus on light the World, but the members kinda turned it into a farewell party for elder ford who is finishing his mission tomorrow! it was still areally good activity but only one of our investigatores showed up for the activity.  We have been teaching a guy named kevin who is 29 years old and it has now been like 3 weeks that he hasn`t used drugs, and this week when we had a charla with him he just broke down crying and was so grateful for all that we had done and that we have spent so much time with him.  he gave us his peñarol hats and yesterday we went to say goodbye and he just gave us the biggest hug.  he looks like a drug dealer, used to be in a gang, and yet he is one of the most loving people i have met.  i am going to miss him a ton.  

but i hope that you guys have a great week, and i will talk to you next week! 

Love you all! 

Elder Jensen

[note included in Elder Jensen's email to his Mom]

I am doing good today but i recieved a little bit of news yesterday... i was thinking that i was going to stay here in this area. but i got a call yesterday and i am now going to a new area called castillos, it is a little city near the coast of uruguay. and here is the killer.  i am going to be the branch president.  remember how in my setting apart, they talked about a trial of faith in my mission. i think this is oging to be it. haha i am super nervous! but we are never called to fail :)  

LIGHT THE WORLD

[Nov 28, 2016 email]

Well we had an awesome week!! on tuesday i had exchanges with elder Bio who is my old comp from the offices and it was super fun to be with him for a day and to be able to actually go out and work with him instead of being stuck in an office all day with him! but it was super awesome and we had a great day! then on thursday we had more exchanges with 2 different missionaries from our zone, Elder Fonseca (brazil)  and Elder Espínola from paraguay. and i went out with elder fonseca who was actually in the Mtc with me and it was the very first time in my mission that i worked with an elder from my group and it was a fairly good day.  we were able to have a couple of good charlas.  this week was awesome and we were able to have a couple really good charlas and find a couple of new investigatores, the problem we are seeing now is that very few are coming to church, but monica came to church for the first time in like 4 weeks! we had to stop visiting her because she hasn`t been progressing, but we are going to start going again.  

well yesterday me and elder bravo had an awesome experience, we were just doing some contacts and talking to a couple people and we started talking to this guy who told us that he didn`t believe in God or anything and he didn`t seem like he wanted anything. and we just talked to him for a little bit and after a couple of minutes we invited him to pray to find out if God exist and he was just "yep im going to pray. and if i get a response, i will go to church with you guys" he just blew us away! so we are going to pass by on wednesday and see if he could pray! 

The big thing we are doing right now is the new initiative that the church has of "Light the World"  we are getting t shirts as a mission and we are planning a ton of activities and stuff we are going to do to help other to come unto Christ.  so we are all super excited and being the last cristmas for me and elder bravo we decided we are just going to kill it and have and amazing december.  so we are really excited for what is going to happen.  

i hope you are all good and that you have a great week! 

Love Elder Jensen

well you can`t really see anyone but here is a photo of the mission! 

What a week!!!

[Nov 21, 2016 email]

well this was an incredible week!!!! the biggest thing that happened was we had a visit from Elder Rasband!!! he came with Elder Cristiansen and Elder Allen Packer and thursday morning we had a conference with them and all the missionaries in uruguay and it was so incredible!!!! He talked a lot about following the spirit and just the mission work here in uruguay and then he gave us the best advice ever! in his own words he said "Dont be a whiner!" it was like the greatest thing i have ever heard an apostle say! but he talked to us about how God puts us with the comps and in the areas that we need, so we have to trust that and just ask, what is it that i need to learn from this companion or area? and it was honestly one of the best conferences i have ever been in.  Then that same night the 2 stakes, Maroñas and Este had a conference and that is where i saw felicia y gonzalo. in that conference he said something that i think caught everyones attention he said, "here in uruguay you have all the same blessings that we have in Salt Lake." and he invited all of them to go to the temple more and to really enjoy the blessing that they have of having the temple in their city. it was incredible.

as for the rest of the week, it was fairly normal, and we keep finding a lot of people to teach, the problem here is that we find a ton of people, and we start teaching and then all the sudden we lose contact, they don`t want to hear anymore, or we just don`t have time to go back to visit them.  but we have a had a good week and were able to find a couple investigatores that really have shown a lot of interest, and we haven`t been able to find Valentina again, she is almost never home and lives freaking far away! but we will keep working and praying! 

Thanks for all the prayers and the help that you guys give me! i hope you have a great week! 

Love Elder Jensen

p.s.  Rats 5 - Elderes 0    the hunt isn`t going to well...

Surprise Text Message

[Nov 17, 2016 text]

We received this picture from Brittany Jensen's cousin in Uruguay.

2 new families!!

[Nov 14, 2016 email]

Hola a todos!! 

well this was a great week, and the big moment was that mary got baptised!!! we had the service on saturday and it was super spiritual, and luckily a good amount of members could come and several people have made comments on how happy she is now, she just always is smileing and really has enjoyed getting to know the gospel, and is really happy for the decision that she took.  i will try to send photos! 

But other than the baptism we had a great experience on sunday, we were looking for a referral that we had gotten from a member from a different ward and we had looked for this referral several times already, the problem was that it is a huge street and they didn`t give us great instructions on how to find the house, so we were just knocking houses and asking around for her, and this was the 3rd time we were trying and at like 8:00 we were still looking and about 40 minutes from home, and almost at the end of the street but we really felt positive that we were going to find here and we kept walking basically in the middle of no where and we see a lady walking and we ask her if she knows valentina and she is just like "ya... shes my daughter" !!! so she guided us to her house and we had a lesson with the family!! they were really acceptive and valentina loves the church already and accepted to be baptised! So that was the big miracle of the week! and we are excited to see what happens! 

So ya this has been a good week, and me and elder bravo are getting a long great we are also getting along really well with another new family that moved into our house... a family of 4 or 5 rats :)  so today we are going hunting! Wish us luck!!! 

haha love you all!!! 

Elder Jensen

..... i dont know.....

[Nov 7, 2016 email]

well first big announcement of the week is that mary didn`t get baptised... :( but thats okay because she is getting baptised this week! we talked to her on tuesday and we felt that we needed another week to get ready for the baptism and prepare her and now the date and time is set! so we are really excited for that!! and this sunday we had a couple new investigatores come to church, daniel, mabel and kevin.  Kevin is basically the Prodigal Son, his mom has been a member for many many years and he was born in the church but never got baptised and got into drugs and a gang and so he left his family and moved here to get away from the gang and now he is trying to get away from drugs and is super awesome! but he got really bored in church and left after the 2nd hour and now we are going to see what is going to happen! but we are excited for what is going on here.

well i am excited to hear about breannes new baby... and i was hoping to hear today but it looks like i will have to wait another week, but i am excited to hear how it goes!! hope everything goes well and there are no complications.  have agreat week and i will hear from you guys next week! 

Love Elder Jensen

Feliz Halloween!

[Oct 31, 2016 email]

happy halloween!!! 

well im sure you guys are going to do something fun but here there isn`t much that a missionary can do during halloween that and not to many people celebrate it here, there are decorations in all the stores and stuff but im not sure if trick o treating is a thing here... but Happy Halloween anyways! 

well this week has been fairly normal just met my new comp Elder bravo on wednesday and we have been getting to know eachother a little bit in these last couple days, and he is a great guy, he is from chile and he has about a year in the mission and loves starwars.  so we get a long just great :)  but we are doing good, we are currently teaching a couple, jessica and cristian, who came to the open house and now are recieving the missionaries and we have only had 2 charlas with them but they are showing a lot of promise and we are excited to see what happens, as for the rest of our investigators Mary should get baptized this week we are hoping!! but she didn`t come to stake conference on sunday and we don`t have a lesson with her until wednesday so we are going to see what is going to happen, i think we are goig to have to move it back one week.  

Well like i said we had stake conference this week, and we had the blessing of having elder Texiera who is the area seventy here and it was an awesome conference! but my favorite talk was the stake president that talked about how every single one of us have 2 responsibilities in life.  Teaching and Learning.  We have been asked to learn from our mistakes (repentance) and from the scriptures, and as we learn these things we have the responsiblitly to share it with the people that surround us.  wether they are members or no, and it was awesome! it was a very spiritual conference and it was great to see so many members gathered together and there was a very strong spirit there.  

but yep... im good.... thats about all i have to say! Love you guys all and hope you have a Feliz Halloween and a great week! 

Love Elder Jensen

Changes :(

[Oct 25, 2016 email]

Well tis a sad day today.... its my last day with elder xavier and i can`t express how fast this change went!! time is going by too fast! but it is official he is leaving to melo, the zone where i was before and i am going to be with Elder Bravo, i really have almost no idea who is he is! but i have really good things about him and im a little nervous for this next change but its going to be awesome! we have a sick zone and im excited to see the progress and miracles of this next change.  

as you saw in the photos we had a open house this week and the ward members killed it!!! they are so awesome here! one of the leaders of the ward walked outside of the church and just starting inviting every single person that he saw in the street and like 20 people came to the church just because he was in the street! it was incredible! but we had a good turn out and the ward is super involved in the work here! 

but as me and elder xavier have been getting ready for the new changes, we have been talking about the last change and all that has happened and it is incredible the amount of miracle that we have been seeing and our area has been changed in the last couple of changes that he has been here, president eddy has been talking alot about faith and putting it to the test, and as we have been doing it our testimonies have been strengthened and we are seeing more and more miracles than ever before in my mission and we are just hoping that the lord will keep blessing us and i will let you know about the progress of the investigatores next week, thanks so much for everythign you guys do and i hope you have a great week! 

Love Elder Jensen

Subject goes here...

[Oct 17, 2016 email]

Hey family friends and all those who end up reading this email!!! 

i am running out of ideas on how to start my emails besides "hey".  well this week was a really exciting week and we have seen a lot of awesome things happening!! Monica finally started reading the book of mormon angain and it looks like she is finally going to start progressing again!! she had stopped reading and she just hasn`t been the same person and has just been a lot more depressed but she started reading again, and now we are going to see what happens.  Mary is still progressing and we had a charla with her boyfriend and her son!! but her son was drunk and basically ruined the charla but we are going to see what happenes with the boyfriend!  we are also teaching a lady named sandra who is really interested in the church and we have only had like 2 lessons with her but she is showing a lot of interest and we are going to see what happens!! 

But this has been an awesome week, we have been able to spend a lot of time teaching and we have had more lessons this week, than i have ever had in my mission, we have a ton of investigatores and all we have to do is to help them to progress, and we are working hard and enjoying the mission! but it has been going by so fast that i can`t even think of what is going on here in belloni! i just feel like it was yesterday that i wrote you guys! but the church is true and i hope you are all good, and i will see you next week! 

Love Elder Jensen

not sure what to put here....

[Oct 10, 2016 email]

Well another week has flown by... and i don`t even know where to start! well on tuesday we had interviews with president eddy and after the interview he took us out to lunch and we just talked about some things that are going on here in maroñas (the zone) and ate some really good meat! it was soo good!! but unfortunatly the interviews ran late and we were going to leave and work in the street with president but we didn`t have the time :( but we are going out in 2 weeks! 

two weeks ago i told you guys about a less active member that we found, and we hadn`t had a lot of contact with her because she lives kinda far away and didn`t come to church so last night we went by her house to see if she was there and she answered and she just immedietly just started going on how about how much her life has changed! its been 16 days since we first found her, and its now been sixteen days that she is reading the book of mormon, and sixteen days that she hasn`t smoke a single cigarette!! and she just hasn`t gone to church cause she has been in other cities and hasn`t been here, but she has completely changed! its so cool how the Lord works.  and to see that we literally showed up in the perfect moment of her life, its a testimony builder of the fact that God truly KNOWS every single one of his children and does everything possible to help them. 

but there isn`t much to report this week, just been a good week of work and chances to serve.  Love you all and i hope you have a great week! 

Love Elder Jensen

General conference!!

[Oct 3, 2016 email]

Hola!! 

well as you guys know we had general conference this week, and as always it was great!!! we had kinda crazy day running around for 2 hours looking for investigators and then 2 hours of conference and then repeat 5 times!! haha but in all honestly it was really good this conference, and i really felt like there was a big focus on just the basic things of the gospel, The book of mormon, Prayer, Faith, and a couple other things, but i really like that they are focusing on these things, because with the world as it is, we need to put our trust in God and we do that through going to church, reading, praying, and trying to follow his spirit.  It was great for the investigators that went and they all had a really good experience and it was the first time to church for 3 of them and they really enjoyed it! 

as for the investigators that we are teaching, we have two people who have a baptismal date, Mary and Monica, and they are both getting ready to be baptized, and they both have a testimony of the book of mormon and they are just getting prepared and we are really excited for the things that are coming!! but thanks for all your love and support and im very greatful for each and everyone of you!! i hope you have a great week, and i look forward to hearing from you next week!! 

Love Elder Jensen

the district!! Elder bio, me and elder xavier... 3 of the 4 offices elders! its an awesome district!!! 

INSTRUMENTS

[Sept 26, 2016 email]

Hey everybody!!!! 

I think this week can only be summed up by a scripture in alma 26.

"And this is the blessing which hath been bestowed upon us, that we have been made instruments in the hands of God to bring about this great work" 

this week we have had several experiences where all we could say was wow.. God is doing a great work here.. we have been seeing miracle after miracle and they just keep coming! one of the biggest things that happened this week, is on tuesday we were walking looking for a future investigator that we had and we knocked a house looking for them and on the other side of the street, there was a group of like 6 people from the ages of 30 to 50 and they yelled out to us asking for a bible, and at first we honestly thought it was just a joke, then they yelled again and we went, explained the book of mormon, had a lesson with all six of them on wednesday, then another one on sunday and several of them are very seriously interested!! 

then another experience that we had, we were visting a family that is less active and as we got there we found that they weren`t home, so we decided to knock the house of the neighors and we found a less active who we didn`t know, and she told us that she had decided to return to church and to quite smoking so she picked up her phone to look for a place where she could get help to quite smoking, and then we knocked.  God sent her the missionaries as an answer. 

I wish i had more time to write all of the miracles that we have seen in our area, but i can`t, all i can say is that the great blessing that is beeing bestowed upon us is that this week we have been made instruments in the hands of God and we have seen part of His great work.  This has been one of the greatest weeks of my mission and we are praying that it can keep going like this, because there are a lot of things we have to do here and im so excited for the progress of these peaple that we are teaching. 

I love you all and hope you have a great week. 

Elder Jensen

BELLONI!!

[Sept 19, 2016 email]

well it has now been 6 days since i got here and man it has been some crazy days!!! wednesday we just left to go work, and then thursday we had a conference with all the missionaries in montevideo with Elder Texiera who is one of the area 70`s here in south america and it was soooooo good!!! he talked about several things that our mission needs to improve and there was a little bit of cane in there but it was really edifying and the missionaries left the conference super excited to work! then on friday we had a leadership meeting with president and Elder Texiera for all the ZLs in the mission and we talked a lot of the same things that we need to change in the mission and i really feel like this mission is just one the bubble of exploding! there are several things that need to change first, some old habits that we have as missionaries and president is really expecting us to change.  but there is just an excitement in the mission that i didn`t see before and it is getting ready to just take off and i couldn`t have a better comp to be with! we are just going to work our butts off this change and we really want to have a lot of success this change! but honestly Elder Xavier is such a stud! we are going to have a blast because we don`t have to spend any time getting to know eachother, because we already lived with eachother for 3 changes in the offices and now all we have to do is work! 

Then on sunday i we had church and it was quite a change! from rio branco with 40 people to this ward that has about 110 and very work orriented members, i was blown away! at the end of church all the leaders get to gether to see who didn`t come to church and decide who is going to visit them! this ward is awesome! 

there isn`t really much else to say other than we are all good, alive, excited, and slightly tired, but enjoying life! oh and wish us luck we got our first zone conference tomorrow and we are going to see how it turns out!  I hope you guys have a great week and i will talk to you next week! 

Love elder Jensen

The big Announcement!

[Sept 13, 2016 email #2]

Hey everybody!!! Before reading WATCH THE VIDEO!! 

but yes there is a very big suprise! well we all thought that i was going to be with elder poulson for another change to finish training.... but nope.... on Sunday night we got a suprise phone call from President Eddy with the news that sadly i am going to leave Rio Branco and i will be returning to montevideo once again :(  I am going to be in "Belloni" with Elder xavier!!! which i am super excited about cause he was a financer while i was in the offices and he is such a great misionary and we are going to have a blast! but it has been a really hard time saying goodbye to the people here in rio branco, even though it only has been 3 months, this has been my favorite area of my mission and unfortunatly i won`t be here to see the rest of the progress of the investigatores that we have.  

Yesterday we went around to visit a couple of investigators to get some photos with them and when we met up with Claudio he told us that on sunday night some of his friends offered him some alcohol and he fell into his addicciones again.  and due to that, his girlfriend feels like she needs to seperate from him for some time.  which he is super sad about, and i feel really bad for him but i have no doubt that this is really a miracle from the lord cause she wasn`t progressing and didn`t want much from the church and hasn`t been a great influence in his life, and so now that they are going to be seperated we can really focus on his needs and he is going to get baptized!!! but unfortunatly i won`t be here :( but its amazing how the lord works :)

well that is about all the news that i have for this week... im nervous for the new changes, sad im not in rio branco anymore, and looking forward to the next adventure!!

Love you guys!!! 

Elder Jensen

us with Maria, she is also progressing towards her baptism in a month but she just needs some time!! 

Hermana Katerine and her son Cristian and she is one of the most amazing members i have ever met in my life.

and the familia Rodriguez who made us pizza last night!! so good! 

WATCH FIRST!!!

[Sept 13, 2016 email]

we have a BIG anouncment!!

Miracles!!!

[Sept 5, 2016 email]

Well this has been a great week and i have some really exciting news!!! Claudio came to church and he has stopped smoking!!!! oh he is such a stud!!! so on tuesday we set some goals and plans with him and we decided to set saturday as the last that he was going to smoke, and we also decided that we were going to fast with him from friday afternoon to saturday afternoon to help him.  so we called him friday and we started the fast.  we show up on saturday and the first thing he says to us is,"oh you finally got here... im so hungry!!!"  haha he went the whole 24 hours without anything! so we broke the fast with him (we bought some really good hamburgers!) and we talked to him about how he felt and he is really starting to be happier and to just live a better life.  He came on sunday and he told that he has lost all the desires to smoke and is really progressing!!! ugh this was like the best weekend ever!!! 

Then we also had the "oro" conference on friday and we went to montevideo to have a conference with all the trainers and the new missionaries and it was really awesome. president eddy talked about the importance of the gospel of Jesus Christ and why we share it. and it was super good! but the other exciting thing that happened this last week was that i had an intercambio with elder Padilla! he was my comp when we did the christmas call, and it was so awesome to work with him again, and its sad to think that due to pride we didn`t get a long very well until the last 3 or 4 weeks together, and now he is a great friend, but he wanted me to say hi to you guys and to thank joram again for the shoes!! he loves them! 

but ya we are all doing good! i hope you guys have a great week and i will see you next week!! Love you guys! 

Elder Jensen

the piano "guy"

[Aug 29, 2016 email #3]

So when we were in montevideo we went to Tres Cruces to take buses home and in the middle of the station, there was a piano... so we forced elder peterson to play the piano and he got a group of like 100 people to stop and listen to him!! we were able to talk to a couple people and it was probably one of the coolest moments of my mission, cause it was just something so simple as playing the piano, but it touched the life of 100s of people!

the  first video is him playing pirates of the carribbean with a decent size group but even more people started coming after! 

BEST DAY EVER!!!

[Aug 29, 2016 email #2]

..... after much time in the mission one learns to appreciate the little things... 

like fake cheap legos

What a week!!!

[Aug 29, 2016 email]

well this was a crazy week and a ton of stuff happened!! we had a training meeting with president this week and me and elder Drennan traveled on wednesday night at midnight got to montevideo at 6 in the morning, had the meeting and took a bus for 6 hours home and we got there at midnight! it was a long day! but it was an amazing meeting!  we talked about a lot of stuff, but we learned so much! 

 then on last monday, we went to the "free Shops" here in rio branco where they just have a ton of random crap for super cheap! (because its usually from brazil) and we found legos!!! and... a lightsaber!!! i now don`t have  any money but it was totally worth it!!! haha just kidding mom i still have food :) 

on the spiritual side, we have been able to have a couple more charlas with some investigators that would be progressing, but their still not going to church.... yesterday rained a lot :(  but claudio is doing a lot better and is really understanding but he is just having a hard time with smoking, but last time we took all of his cigarettes from him! so we are going to see how this week goes.  But ya things are really looking up, my comp and i are getting along really well and he is getting really used the mission, a lot faster than i did, and he has taught me alot! we are hoping for some big miracles this week!!  

Thanks so much for everything and i hope you all have a great week! 

love elder Jensen!  

#LEGOSareLIFE

What a week!!!

[Aug 29, 2016 email]

well this was a crazy week and a ton of stuff happened!! we had a training meeting with president this week and me and elder Drennan traveled on wednesday night at midnight got to montevideo at 6 in the morning, had the meeting and took a bus for 6 hours home and we got there at midnight! it was a long day! but it was an amazing meeting!  we talked about a lot of stuff, but we learned so much! 

 then on last monday, we went to the "free Shops" here in rio branco where they just have a ton of random crap for super cheap! (because its usually from brazil) and we found legos!!! and... a lightsaber!!! i now don`t have  any money but it was totally worth it!!! haha just kidding mom i still have food :) 

on the spiritual side, we have been able to have a couple more charlas with some investigators that would be progressing, but their still not going to church.... yesterday rained a lot :(  but claudio is doing a lot better and is really understanding but he is just having a hard time with smoking, but last time we took all of his cigarettes from him! so we are going to see how this week goes.  But ya things are really looking up, my comp and i are getting along really well and he is getting really used the mission, a lot faster than i did, and he has taught me alot! we are hoping for some big miracles this week!!  

Thanks so much for everything and i hope you all have a great week! 

love elder Jensen!  

#LEGOSareLIFE

Mate Celestial!

[Aug 22, 2016 email]

Well this is to make up for the lame letter i sent last week!! this week was a little bit more exciting and there is a little bit more things to write about today! well to start off we had an awesome service project on saturday, we went to the house of the second counseler in the ward and we put the cement roof on the new section of his house! it was sooo cool!! we built a roof! it was really awesome, but of course being the 4 youngest people (and with 0 experience in building houses) we had the fun job of moving buckets full of cement, but we had fun anyway!  then after finishing the roof we had a big "asado" or in other words an uruguayan barbaque! so good! 

then on the side of the mission work.... we finally were able to get in contact with a couple more of our investigators this week, and we found out why claudio hasn`t been going to church, and thats because first he got sick, then he relapsed back into drugs and felt guilty and decided not to go to church, but we talked to him and he wants to keep going and he wants to stop smoking and give up drugs but he is just struggling.  he didn`t come to church yesterday, but hardly anyone came! it was weird it was like everyone decided to take a sunday off!! usually we have like 45 people in church and only 33 came.  but whatever!  Then we had a charla with a lady named maria that the missionaries found in april, is taking steps to be baptized!! she is going to stop smoking and has decided to better help her family she is going to break up with her boyfriend, and is going to be baptized the first of october! its a little far away but she basically decided all this by herself this last week!! so we are super excited for her! 

That is about all that is going on around here, but good things are coming! thanks for everything and i hope you have a great week! 

Love Elder Jensen

being as is that mate is disgusting, we have recently discovered "Mate Celestial" which is a missionary invention to reemplace mate. Shredded coconut mixed with chocolate milk mix, and cinnamon.  then you pour hot milk and you have mate celestial! so amazing!!! that and we feel like uruguayos! 

service!! 

Sorry!! short letter!

[Aug 15, 2016 email]

well... not much has happened this week.... we have had some good lessons.... found a couple new investigators.... ate some waffles... and we are trying to work hard! sorry i don`t have much time to write today that and i just have no idea what to write you guys about because like nothing happened this week!!  but just know that we are doing good and we are hoping to have some more exciting news this next following week! thanks for all the emails and i hope you guys have a great week! 

WAFFLES!

[Aug 15, 2016 email]

so elder Bazaes bought a waffle iron in one of the shops that borders brazil so it was super cheap, and so we made waffles for the first time in my mission and after eating 1 waffle, then waffle iron broke... totally worth it! 

its a boy!!

[Aug 8, 2016 email]

Good morning, good afternoon, and good night! 

well It has been another grand week here in rio branco and it looks like several more to come! haha but this week was awesome! i went on wednesday to montevideo to pick up my new companion and he is a stud!! his name is elder poulson and he is from san diego california! but he is already such an amazing missionary its incredible! in the couple of days that we had together, he has been a stud at helping me! he already speaks realy good spanish for the short time that he has and is really pushing himself to learn all that he can.  its been fun to see him start the mission and as we have been together i have really been amazed seeing the amount that i have learned since i was a brand new missionary and i am super excited to be working with him! we are going to have a lot of success these two changes together! 

another big thing happened this week, today for the first time in my mission and 2nd time in my life i finished the book of mormon! but this time in spanish! haha but i was talking with elder poulson about it and it is incredible to see the amount of change that a book can have in someones life.  i have truly come to love reading the book of mormon and in this space of 1 year and a couple months i have come to know for myself that the book of mormon is the true word of God.  and it has changed my life.  i am so grateful for the chance i have to be here and for the support that you have all shown.  I hope you have a great week and i will talk to you next week! 

Love Elder Jensen

My Beloved Son!

Well changes have officially come and tomorrow we are oging to be headed to montevideo for the changes! and sadly Elder Guerra is leaving me here in rio branco, it was a great change with him but i am super excited because both me and Elder Ucañán are going to be training!! tonight at like 1 in the morning we are going to go to montevideo to pick up our new comps and find out who it is! so i still don`t know who my comp is or anytrhing about it but all i know is that he is brand new and we are going to be together for the next 3 months! Its going to be so awesome!!! i am pumped for these next changes, and i will tell you about my "son"  next week! 

but as for rio branco we are doing good! claudio is still awesome and this week we talked to him about getting married with his girlfriend and living the law of chastity, and he is totally okay with it but his girlfiend is scared of comitment, so we are going to see what happens! the rest of our investigators still are going to church, but honestly this week, we were hardley in our area.  we traveled to melo like 5 times and then to another city called Treinta y Tres once and we just were away from our area a lot this week, but it was a really good week,  we had our interview with president and it was soooo amazing! he is just exactly what the mission needs right now! President cook was amazing and i loved him a lot, but president eddy just being the new president has brought a lot of excitment and the mission is really doing good right now! and in my interview we talked a lot about always progressing, and how missionaries often hit about 6 or 7 months and they start to slow down their progression for many reasons, and how we can always be progressing and improving in our lives, it was really awesome!  

But ya that is about all that happened this week, and i will talk to you guys next week. Love you guys! 

Elder Jensen

We went fishing last pday with some investigators and it was definitly one of the best p days! 

elder carroll and elder ucañán walking in rio branco... nothing but fields! 

me and my comp with our cowboy hats... that we found in the house! 

"Pescadores de hombres" 

Me and claudio at church

our district with president Eddy

Conference with president,