8 Days in a Week?

Elder Fifita and Me

Dear Family,

I am becoming really, really good at getting around on crutches! Some people have actually told me to slow down because I can get around pretty quick now!

Well, this week went pretty well despite all the craziness of being in a cast and with crutches. Despite the cast and everything I have been able to go and work hard in the afternoons and it has been tough because now my hands and armpits are pretty sore but I much prefer working hard in the field than being in the office. Plus, maybe I will have stronger arms after this!

Eating a ton of watermelon with a member in our area
and with the zone leader, Elder Lloclle (we were on divisions).

We had a temple trip this week which I really enjoyed. I managed to make my way around all the temple on my crutches which was definitely a personal accomplishment. The visit to the temple really bumped up my spirits and got me wanting to work hard!

 

My companion right now,
Elder Oporta from Nicaragua,
our ties matched.

My first companion, Elder Coello

Life in the office has been alright. I think the only really hard thing is that since a lot of Elders live in our house (6) plus all of the extra Elders that pass through (emergency changes and trips to Guate to sign visas) it seems that all the food I buy just kind of disappears in a few days. I am getting good at finding hiding places to hide my food and not suffer hunger. Maybe this is karma from always stealing my brothers’ and sister’s food back at home.

I had a pretty awesome spiritual experience this week. Our work area is very, very small compared to all the areas that I have had. We have a lot of really cool members of the church in our area that bring their friends to church. I decided to do a fast on Saturday to be able to have a lot of new people in church Sunday and through a big miracle we had 4 new people there on Sunday! T., a 21 year old young woman that the Elders here have been teaching accepted to be baptized the 7th of March! We are going to be helping her get ready and look for more miracles this week!

My work here in the office has been to put all of the baptismal records into the systems of the church. It seems kind of like a simple job but a few months ago there were some records that didn´t get put into the system and I have had to be looking for them like crazy to get all that information! It is pretty tricky to go through all the records and be calling a ton of areas hunting down these records! Maybe this was one of the reasons God sent me here, to search out all these lost records!

One funny little culture thing I wanted to share this week, for some reason here in Guatemala when they talk about doing something in one week they say ´in 8 days´. It is kind of silly because, well, the week is only 7 days. Or when they talk about 2 weeks they say ´in 15 days´. Now, here comes the weird part. When they talk about 3 weeks, they say ´in 20 days´. What?! Yeah, I think it is pretty silly but it is one of those culture things that I like.

Here in the office there are 4 of us. My companion is Elder Oporta (Nicaragua). He got sent to the office the same way as me, he fractured his foot and got a cast. He will be leaving here in about a week and I will get a new companion. Also Elder Gaunt (Utah) and Elder Sandoval (Canada) are here in the office. We are basically all companions because I have gone to work with all of them. Usually Elder Sandoval and I go to work together. He is super awesome because he was baptized 3 years ago so he is really new in the church but his testimony is super, super strong of the church and he is an awesome teacher of the gospel. It has been really fun to be with all of them.

This week I will probably get my cast off and be walking soon! I am excited and glad for this experience. It has definitely helped me to be able to throw things better (so I don´t have to get up and walk so much). Thanks for all of the prayers and support!

Love,

Elder Jensen

 Eating a very sour lemon before another Elder finishes (I won).