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, 

Quick update

[July 25, 2016 email]

Hey!!

This has been a good week! unfortunatly there isn`t really much to write about... Claudio is still loving the church and came this week, and also came to a baptism that the ward had, and he loved it! we also have a couple other investigators that started reading the book of mormon this week, but didn`t end up going to church, but we are really focusing as a mission right now in the book of mormon, President eddy has been talking a lot about it and we are really trying to use it as much as posible in contacts and in lessons that we teach.  and we are seeing that a lot of our investigators are starting to read, but now we have got to get them to church.  

But ya not much has happened this week, but life is going good here in Rio Branco! Thanks so much and see you next week! 

Elder Jensen

No Excuses!

[July 18, 2016 email]

Hey!! 

Well another great week out here in rio branco! we had areally great week and have honestly seen some straight up miracles! found several new investigators and we have s ome amazing investigators! one of the new investigators we found this week is called Claudio, and his is probably the most humble guy i have ever met! he is like 28 or something like that and for several years he was addicted to some severe drugs and to drinking, but he recently realized how much bad it has done in his life, and completely wants to change his way of life! he has already thrown away all his druggs and cigaretts and the second time we went to his house he had cleaned everything! all super organized and well kept and we can already see some of the differences in his life.  And some thing that he taught us was that there never are excuses.  he lifes about an hour away from the church (walking) and so saturday night he asked his neighbor to lend him a bike, and rode to the church by himself on one of the coldest days we have had, and he is just so willing to change his life that he is willing to sacrifice whatever it may be! i am positive that he is going to progress but he is going to need some time, to stop smoking and drinking and to also get married to his girlfriend, but he is going to progress.  

Any way the rest of our investigators are doing good, but nobody else came to church, so we are going to see how everything goes with them! Thansk for everything and i hope that you guys have a great week! 

Love 

Elder Jensen

ice cream and hamburgers to celebrate a baptism

zone selfie on the bus to noblia

I'm in the very back and dead center above president eddy