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.