Moving Forward

The San Felipe chapel

Dear Family,

The Lord has blessed me so much this week! I am so looking forward to this next week as we try to do our best to help 2 of Heavenly Father´s children take those first steps in becoming clean of their sins and inheriting eternal life.

This week the ultimate highlights were setting baptismal dates for 2 of our awesome investigators. F. will be baptized this Saturday. I can´t thank the Lord enough for leading us to him and preparing the heart of F. and his family to recieve us. I found out the other day that almost all the missionaries who have been in this ward have tried to teach the P. Family (F's family have all been baptized except him) but none of them were able to teach them. I realize how blessed I am to have been able to find and teach F. and that the Lord prepared the hearts of him and his family to recieve us and receive the restored gospel. 

The other miracle is K. We were able to find here one day as we were contacting houses and we found that her heart was so so prepared for the gospel. Even greater was when we found out that her brother is a church member. We were able to visit her this week with a couple in the ward and it was one of the most amazing lessons I have had. K. has some fears of baptism but the couple bore such powerful testimonies of the church and of their process of overcoming their fears and their conversion experiences. I can´t tell you how grateful I was to be there with such wonderful people and to see the love that this couple had for K. They invited her to attend Mutual with them and they have been taking her and her sister to church and even to seminary. It really strengthened my testimony so much of how important our duty is as members to become involved in this work and really offer all the support and service we can to those who are learning about the gospel and are in great need of a friend. We are planning to have the baptism of K.
as well this Saturday.

I am so so grateful that the Lord has trusted me with these special souls and that he has entrusted me with so many wonderful experiences that help me to know for certain that this is Jesus Christ´s gospel and that through him we can really become happy and fulfill our deepest desires. I have a talk by Elder Tad Callister that is called ¨Becoming a Consecrated Missionary¨ and it is really such a great talk. It talks about that our motivation in becoming a consecrated missionary and leaving it all on the Altar of Sacrifice should be the sacrifice of our Savior Jesus Christ. He left nothing back and gave his all. If we really understand what he did for us we will be driven to give our all which will be nothing compared to his all. I love the Lord and am so grateful that I can pour my heart out to him and that he listens and comforts me. I am so grateful for the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the chance I have to see it work miracles in my life and in the life of God´s children.

Love,

Elder Jensen

My scriptures and hymn book. I bought the cases in the CCM and have used them since

Teaching the Gospel

A picture of Elder Jensen with other misisonaries at a recent meeting.

Dear Family,

This week we had a couple of really awesome miracles happen! Lately we have been trying to find people to teach through the members and the less active members who have a lot of friends who will benefit from this gospel. One of the less active families that we found is named the Familia P.. It is a mom and a dad and 6 boys. That family kind of makes me think of all the boys in our family! The youngest of the 6 is named F. He is 12 years old. We found out that he is the only member of the family that has not been baptized yet. We were blessed enough to be able to enter the house and get to know F. and a couple of his older brothers. There is one brother named A. that is 14 that still attends church by himself. For some reason or another F. wasn´t going with him but when we met him we found out that he knows a lot about the church and is an awesome kid. We began to teach him and we´ve been able to teach him every day since. He also came to church with his brother this past Sunday. When we challenged him to be baptized he whole-heartedly accepted! He will be baptized this 29th of March, the last Saturday of the month! It was such a miracle that we were able to find that family and that the Lord inspired us to be able to search for his children that are prepared and are just waiting for an invitation to begin to recieve the blessings of this gospel. My hope is that we will be able to help the whole family to begin attending church once again and that the baptism of their son F. can rekindle the love that they have for the gospel and they can become a family eternally blessed my the Lord.

We also had another cool experience. One of the people we are teaching is a 19 year old girl named K. She has been accepting the teachings really well and really has desires to follow Christ. So far she has been a little scared about accepting the challenge to be baptized but she attented church for the first time this past week. The cool thing that happened is that as we came to her house one day to visit her we saw a member of the ward in the yard. We talked to him a little bit and found out that our investigator is his sister! How cool is that! Somehow we hadn´t figured out that her brother is a member of the church! But we were sure glad when we found out! We look forward to getting her brother involved and hopefully seeing miracles in that family (there are more siblings and the brother is the only member).

I am so grateful to the Lord for all the tender mercies that he gave me this week. Lately I have been studying a lot about love and charity. I think the Lord has put me in so many situations that are helping me to really have love for everyone. It is something that I am working hard to improve. I was studying D&C 12 and I realized how important it is that as a servant of the Lord, I have love for every single one of the children of God. That is something that I am always seeking to improve so that I don´t judge anybody and I am willing to sacrifice everyone for these wonderful people that have so much love for the Savior. I am grateful each day that the Lord loves me enough to give me trials and experiences to learn and grow my testimony!

Love,

Elder Jensen

Carnival

With one of the sister missionaries at the carnival.

Dear Family,

This week was another week where I have learned so much and grown to understand and know the Lord a little bit better.

This week we were trying pretty hard to find some people who already have friends or family that are members who will be more receptive to the restored gospel. It hasn´t been easy and we didn´t have to much success. I am learning a lot about how the Lord prepares people to hear the gospel and how I can find these people. I think I am going to try to focus on the members who have not come to church in a long time who will be blessed so much by starting to come again but will also have a lot of friends that can be blessed by this amazing gospel.

This week I had a couple big successes. This week I was able to finish reading the Book of Mormon in Spanish! I thought that was such a cool experience and I can´t tell you how much I´ve grown to love the Book of Mormon. There were so many experiences that I had as I read when I knew without a doubt that the book is true and that as we read it we feel the Spirit so strong that nobody can deny it. I have seen how it has helped my spanish and helped my testimony grow so much. The other great thing that happened this week is that 4 members of the V. Family were baptized! This was a really great family that I was able to find and teach a little bit in Calahuache. I just know that if they keep moving forward in this gospel that whole family can enjoy the blessings that the Lord has prepared for them!

This week I memorized a lot of scriptures about faith and miracles. I think one of the hard things for me is to have faith. Sometimes it is easy to doubt that something is going to happen if you open your mouth to share the gospel but the Lord has promised that if we have faith in him, and if we don´t doubt anything, that he will always help us and we can see miracles. I especially love the chapter in Ether 12 that talks about this and Moroni 10:7, Ether 12:12, 1 Nephi 7:12, and Moroni 7:37. I am also working really hard to be filled with love and charity towards everyone. I think that once I am able to develop a true love for the people here, serving them and sharing the gospel with all my efforts will be a natural result of the love I have for them and the desire I have for them to be a happy and blessed people.

I know that this is Jesus Christ´s gospel. It has been restored to the earth and we have to let everyone know! Sometimes I let fear get in the way of telling everyone of this special news but fear cam´t get in the way of all the wonderful blessings that Heavenly Father has prepared for his children. If we are humble and seek the Lord's help, we can become an instrument in his hand to spread this joyful news and bring wonderful blessings to his children who are looking for this forgiveness and happiness that is found in the Savior. I am so grateful each day that the Savior allows me to wear his name on my chest!

Love,

Elder Jensen

San Felipe

The park in San Felipe. It is in the center of the city.

Dear Family,

What a fast week! I think adjusting to a new place makes the time go a lot faster. This week was another great week for me to learn and grow as I keep working hard to spread the gospel and bless the lives of the people with a knowledge of their Savior.

I am still kind of getting used to my new area and I think I´ve about got the hang of it. When you are walking around and visiting a lot of people in one place all day you kind of figure out the layout really quick. This week we tried really hard to add people to our teaching pool because right now we almost don´t have anyone to teach. For some reason or another almost all the people that they were teaching have had some challenges and stopped visiting with the missionaries. I didn´t really think to visit with the members to find people to teach so we were mostly just trying to find on our own and it didn´t really work out too well. I think I´ve kind of learned my lesson up to now that knocking doors isn´t very effective. It is hard to ask someone to change their life when you are just a stranger. I´m glad that the Lord has helped me learn this and I am going to try hard to apply it and focus on finding through the members. I think maybe we will plan an activity and start helping them set goals to invite friends to hear the gospel.

One of the tough things about our area right now is that we go and visit a couple different places that are just kind of like patches of houses. The thing is that each one is kind of far from each other and if we have visits in another place we spend a lot of time traveling or walking. I think the way to fix this is really try to plan well and focus on working effectively and without moving around too much.  I feel that something that the Lord wants me to learn is to plan effectively. There are so many little elements of missionary work and when I can figure out how to do each little part effectively, that is when I can become a really powerful tool in the hands of the Lord.

I am also learning a lot about loving others. The people here are really easy to love if you can see them as the Lord sees them. I have started praying really hard to be able to have that kind of view, to be able to see the Lord´s children as he sees them. Once I really feel true charity (Moroni 7:47-48) towards these people I will be more able do my best to help them make covenants with their Father in Heaven.

I am so grateful for all the challenges and trials that the Lord gives me because I know he has great things in store for me if I can learn from the hard times. I really am beginning to understand how he teaches us and how important this time on earth is to learn and grow and become more like him. I know that the Lord loves his missionaries and really wants them to succeed. I also know that this gospel that I have the chance to share is true and that it blesses lives more than anything else!

Love,
Elder Jensen

A really remote part of our area. It is near a place called Las Conchas. 

Surprise Transfer!

We played soccer in Reu against the Reu Zone. It was kind of hot but fun.

Dear Family,

I´ve got some crazy news! I got transferred! I am now in San Felipe, Central Ward! I definitely did not see that coming! It was kind of funny because I took all my stuff down to Reu and then got to bring it all back up to San Felipe. But I am really excited and happy that the Lord is letting me ¨start over¨ in a new ward!

We found out this Tuesday in the afternoon that I had changes. I thought for sure I was going to stay in Calahuache and Elder C. was going to leave but he is staying there to train a new missionary and I left. I am now in an area called Central in San Felipe. I am with an Elder named Elder P. He is from Managua, Nicaragua. He´s got a pretty energetic personality and we are doing some great things. This is his last change in the mission. I think he is going to help me a lot in learning how to talk to everyone and earning the trust and love of the people.

The really cool thing about this area is that I am in a ward! This past Sunday we had an attendance of 120 and it was a pretty awesome sight. I think that this is a huge blessing to be able to work with a lot of people who have really strong testimonies in this gospel. I´m going to try not to waste this chance to work in a ward and I hope I can figure out where to start.

The house here is nicer than my last one but sometimes it is a little noisy when there are big buses passing through in the night. Also the weather here is still really nice. It is a little warmer than Calahuache but it isn´t too hot. Another cool thing is that here we eat with the members for lunch every day. I have gotten to have some really good food here already.

I really am so grateful for the time that I had in Calahuache. I really learned so much from my experiences there are really grew a lot in my testimony. I am also so grateful that the Lord has given me this chance to start off again and do my best to take care of his children here in this area. There are some challenges here in this area but I am looking forward to seeking the Lord´s help and doing my best to follow his guidance.

Here in Central there aren´t a whole lot of people we are teaching right now. We are going to work hard this week to focus on finding people to teach and helping the members to share the gospel with their friends.

I have gotten about half way through the Book of Mormon in Spanish. I have really seen the effect that it´s had on my Spanish but the greater affect that it has had on my testimony of the Book of Mormon. It is so incredible the Spirit that I feel each time I open that book and grow in my love and faith of the Savior Jesus Christ. What´s more, is that I am helping the people here in these lands to learn about the people who were here and grow in their faith and love of the Savior just like the people in the Book of Mormon. I read recently in Alma 24 that talks about how converted the people of Ammon were and it really is a testament to me about how people can really change their lives and come to taste of the forgiveness of the Atonement. The example of those people and the missionaries that taught them always makes me want to work that much harder to help people come to taste of that same joy of the gospel.

I know that the Lord watches out for us in all moments and that every experience that he gives us is because he loves us so much. I know that this gospel is true and I am so grateful to be a messenger of light to God´s children.

Love,

Elder Jensen

In the house we live upstairs.
The owner has fancy get togethers so this was one of them.