One Month!!!

Holy cow it has been one month in the mission field!!! that is unbelieavable. it still feels like yesterday that i got here! the time really does fly on the mission and im sure its even faster the farther you get into the mission!!

So ya this week wasn´t as crazy as the last week! but it was really good.  we had the oro conference.  oro means gold and instead of calling all the new missionaries greenies we are called oros, so on wednesday we got to go to montevideo for the day and visit with the mission president and the other oros that i came with! and elder hunt said that is the last time that i am probably going to see all of them at in the same room! which is kinda sad but im not to upset about it! i will see them at somepoint in the mission!  

So lately we have been working with a family in Soca ( its like 30 mins away by bus).  we actually have been working with them since i got here. their daughter romina is 11 and she was the one who actually started all of this, but she is ready for baptism and absolutly loves church, and she was actually going to be baptized this last week! but when we talked to our leaders about it they said we need to wait and get the parents more set in the gospel before she can be baptized, and that was super hard to tell an 11 year old girl that she  can´t be baptized! i felt like the worst person ever!!! so we are working with her parents and they really haven´t show to much interest in the gospel.  that and her mom is in the middle of a divorce and her new step dad, is agnostic. and they still aren´t married after like a couple years together. so they have got a long way to go before they can even be close to be baptized! but we are really hoping that they can slowing work on it!

So i realized i never told you guys about the food!! the food here is awesome!!! i absolutely love it!!! there is like 3 main dishes in uruguay, asada, mayonaisas (I have no idea how to spell it), and fidel con tuco.  So asada is just a big barbaque with the most amazing meat and churizo in the world!!! it is always so good! unfortunatly we don´t get it to often, i think we have had it 3 times since ive been here.  Then fidel con tuco is just some form of pasta, which is what we get a ton of! but i don´t complain cause its always so good!!  Then mayonaisas are like chicken fried steaks with ham and cheese ontop of them.  But this week we made some french toast!! i will send a foto. it was amazing!!!! but ya that is pretty much what we eat when the members feed us!

But ya we don´t have too much exciting news this week. Love you all!!!!

Elder Jensen

What a week!!!

So last week started off with a bang!! last monday was crazy!  we got home from writing our families and stuff and when we got home we go to make some lunch and we had no water! so we kinda start laughing slash freaking out cause we have no idea what to do. So we go over to our neighbors (the quiroga family) and get some water from them and find out that they still have water.  so we call the financers (i don´t know the word in english but in spanish it is los financieros)of the mission and they tell us that for some reason out water was cut and they will fix it!  So we are just like okay whatever we can live a day without water! Then tuesday comes, no water. wednesday, no water. then finally thursday morning we got water!!! so for like 3 days we couldn´t shower, do dishes, or wash our clothes!!! it was nuts! but ya that was nuts!  

Then back to monday after we had called and p day was over we go out to visit one of the members and as we are walking to their house, and we start to hear a house alarm going off and we don´t think much of it, but we turn right onto the street where the alarm is going off and on the other side of the street like 10 meters in front of us are two guys walking and carrying two big plasma screen tvs!!! and we just walking and akwardly make eye contact with them and so as soon as we passed them we called the cops and they showed up and tried to chase down the 2 guys. so we spent like fourty minutes talking to the neighbors of the house and the police and the funny thing was that the cops didn´t even care that we were the only two people to see the theifs! they didn´t even ask us our names or nothing! shows how great the cops are here!!  but monday was nuts!!

The rest of the week was pretty calm but we are still alive and still preaching!! language is getting better and the people are amazing! the food here is great as well!! i won´t ever be able to eat meat in america after the mission because of how tender and delicious the meat is here! Love you all and hope you guys have a great week!!!!

Love Elder Jensen

This week was great!!!

This week was great!!! 

Not much happened the first of the week just some good charlas with some of our investigators and some less active members.  Which is actually something we do a ton here.  There is something like 100 thousand members in uruguay and only like 10 thousand are active... so we got a lot work to do!  we get a lot of people who say are interested and feel the spirit but then they aren´t willing do anything even something as simple as read a pamphlet! so its kinda frustrating to work with some of the people! Then you have the people who just never stop talking so you can´t ever say anything and you take 30 mins. just to introduce who we are... so ya that sums up a uruguyan. that and they are always drinking mate!

Then on wednesday i went on exchange with elder Ramirez, which i was really nearvous for  because i don´t speak spanish and he can´t understand english but it was actually a great time! he helped me a ton and we had some awesome lessions with some menos actives.  So that went a lot better than i thought.

It ended on saturday with Daniels baptism! which was an awesome experience for everyone who went! and his family who hasn´t even listened to one lesson because they aren´t interested showed up to his baptism and i think they might start taking the lessons after hearing his testimony!  He truly is an amazing guy! and he already has such a strong testimony!  

But that dog i told you about is still following us everywhere! he even sat outside daniels baptism for an hour to wait for us! its unbelievable! we cant get rid of him! but life is still great here!! 

Love Elder Jensen

Our dog as he sits outside waiting for us to return! oh and we named him max!

Then us at daniels baptism!

Second week down!!!

Second week down!!!

Wow this week has flown by! seriously though it feels like yesterday that i was writing you guys!! I hope everyone is doing great! I don´t have a ton time so i will try and be quick!

one of our investigators is getting baptized this week!! his name is Daniel he is like 50 ish and he is so unbeliavbly prepared to be baptized! he has pretty much been searching for the church all his life! he has been living the word of wisdom for like the last 10 years and he didn´t even know what it was!

So iam way excited for that! but we had the chance to take him down to montevideo to the temple and just walk around the temple grounds and go inside the wiating room to show him about the temple and the importance of them.  He loves the gospel and his an amazing guy!

Bt ya while we were there at the temple E hunt went to go to the bathroom and totally walked into the ladies bathroom and we just here this lady say something really quickly and loudly in spanish and then we hear elder hunt say Disculpe! which is sorry) just repeatedly and he came out all red! it was a pretty funny way to end the trip!

Its awesome here! i am not nearly as lost as i was the first week and im starting to be able to find my way around a little!  we have this dog that follows us everywhere! if we walk in front of his house he runs out to us and will walk with us for hours!  he litterally walked like 3 miles with us on friday! 

But ya life is good here in uruguay!

Un otro gran dia en la obra misional!  (another grand day in the mission)

Love Elder Jensen!

our trip to the beach last p day

and us at the temple

Us sleeping around the fire!

and my new haircut (which elder hunt did all by himself!)  (our house is in the background)

Note in his letter to his Dad. When asked how the food is: 

"we try and get the members to feed us, and when they do they feed us a ton!!! and everytime so far it has been amazing! but other than that we cook our own breakfast and dinner.

Its usually just something basic.  the other day i mad some rice and eggs then i realized how boring and kinda gross just plain rice and eggs are so i though i would put some oranges in it. why? because that is all i had to add to rice, and it made it even worse... but i still ate it all cause we were starving! but usually the food is good!"

Here in URUGUAY!!!

Here in URUGUAY!!!

Holy cow i can´t believe i am finally here! this last week has been crazy! I still havn´t even finished unàcking all of my stuff and it has been almost 6 days now!  So ya we left the ccm at 4 in the morning on tuesday and then took a flight to uruguay, which was literally on 30 minutes! but we landed met the president cook at the airport and headed for the mission home! We spent the day there in lessons about stuff like finances and other kinda boring stuff, and since we were all so tired, there was a couple of us who actually fell asleep.  Then that night we went out with some of the more experienced missionaries and did some proselyting.  I went with elder Leavitt and he is an amazing guy! i learned so much from him in the like 4 hours i was with him! then the next day we found out who our trainers would be and where we would be serving.  drum roll please........ my trainer is Elder Hunt... and we will be serving in Parque del Plata (park of silver)!!! it is a nice little town right on the coast. we litterally live like a mile off the coast!

So ya then after we got here we went to work!  we have some awesome investigators already from the work that elder hunt and his former comp elder Marley did.(who apparently i look like, cause everyone here thinks im elder marley untill they actually start talking with me!) But ya we have i think 2 planned baptisms for the 23 and then 2 more planned for the 30th!  so i hope we can keep finding and teaching more awesome investigators!

So I had kind of a cool experience this week, before we skyped with our familys we had a lesson with the Quiroga family (who are less active) and we talked to them about the importance of the book of mormon and why it is important to read it everyday.  and they actually can speak fluent english and they like being able to practice it so we taught in english. so i was able to add a little bit more to the lesson than just a couple frases here and there!  but after i bore my testimony about what the book of mormon has done for me in my life and how it has changed my life, she told me that because of what i said in my testimony( well not really me, it was definitly the spirit) she said that she was going to read the book of mormon that night! so we are really hoping she follows through!  It was just one of the first time where i truly felt like the spirit gave me what to say! so it was a very cool experience!

Happy mothers day!!!!! It was so great to talk to everyone and im glad that everything is going great! sorry we had some tech difficulties for a little bit but it all worked out!  Congrats on all the jobs and school and other stuff like that!  It was awesome to see you guys again!  It was kinda weird cause as soon as i turned it off we just went back to work!  we said thanks to the Quiroga family for letting us use their computer and then went and talked with some of our investigatores and that was it!!

I love you all and thanks for all the emails and photos like always!!!

Love Elder Jensen!

our pet dog at the ccm

our district and our teacher Hermano Paredes (who is awesome)

Mother's Day Call

We had a wonderful skype call with Elder Jensen today.

We've found that his first area is Parque del Plata.  It sounds like a wonderful little town and he was asked to share his testimony in his first Sunday in their ward.  His first companion is Sam Hunt from Rexburg Idaho and he sounds like a great Elder.

It was a wonderful day and we're so excited for Jace.

Your Son is Here in the Uruguay Montevideo Mission

email from May 8th

Dear Jensen Family,

            Tuesday the 5^th, we went to the airport in Montevideo, Uruguay, to pick up Elder Jensen and welcome him into our mission.  He arrived full of excitement and enthusiasm to get to work.

            We have spent the day getting to know him, and we recognized that he will be a great asset to us here in the mission.  We know that he will bless the lives of many wonderful people.

            Wednesday was transfer day and after meeting with his trainer, he headed off to his first area so that he could start “[bringing] to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.”

            We are now sending you a photo that we took with him.  As you can see, he is extremely excited and ready to start.  We are so excited to have your son with us and hope that you receive this photo with excitement and pride in all that your son has done to prepare himself for the opportunity that he now has to serve the Lord for the next two years.

               

Love,

The Cooks