Brownies!

Making brownies for the distirct! They were so so good!

Dear Family,

I`m not really sure how to sum up everything that happened this week but I will see how much I can cram in.

I had some really fun interviews in the past few weeks were I went and interviewed a very old blind man when it was raining very hard. I kind of sat right up next to his ear and had to shout a lot but I hope it was a nice experience for him anyway, he has a lot of faith. Also I had the chance to interview a women who is deaf and also mute and can`t read. I was kind of anticipating this interview and did some good practices with my companion about how I could cover each part of the interview using gospel pictures and hand motions. It actually turned out really well and she was able to understand everything. I will just say that I have a lot more respect for people that can do sign language. She was able to be baptized with her daughter which was really neat.

A group ward baptism. The mom with her daughter is mute and deaf. F. is next to us.

We also had a wonderful experience with F. who we have been teaching for about a month. I remember when we first met him I really felt that he was a spiritual giant and since then he just continued growing in his testimony. I had the chance to baptize him this past Saturday and it was really cool moment. I know that he will be a pioneer for his family and we will do our best to help the rest of his family enjoy the blessings of the gospel as well. I really think that all these people that God puts in our path were good friends of mine before we came to earth.

The Christmas lights and decorations have started to come out here and a few missionaries get annoyed because it is pretty early still. I guess it´s because there is no thanksgiving so they have nothing to wait for. It has been fun to see the Christmas trees come up and as the weeks go on they put some fun stuff on their trees (like crazy fruit). Hopefully I can get some good pictures in December of that.

Guatemalan christmas lights.

There have been some special visitors in our house this week. We ran across a few small gecco lizards and a some giant butterflies. I guess it`s nice to know that we are not alone in our house. After a couple struggles to get some insects out of the house we decided to change where we live. An older member of our ward invited us to come and live at his house because he is almost never there and the house is way better where we are living. We should be able to move over this week and say goodbye to all our little critter friends.

As we were shopping this week we came across some brownie mix in the grocery store. We got a little excited and decided to make brownies for the district meeting this past week. Everybody really appreciated that and it was such a great feeling to eat nice soft brownies again! Not to mention we used small disposable dishes so that every piece was  a corner piece, so so good! 

This week I have been so grateful for each moment that I have to share the gospel with everyone. I was studying and pondering a little bit this week about how much it cost the Savior to overcome the consequences of our mistakes and about how important it is that we as missionaries help everyone experience the healing that comes from the atonement. We are the ones that can bring this healing power to peoples lives and that always motviates me to work a little harder and talk with more people. It is such a wonderful calling and I thank the Lord for that each day!

Love,

Elder Jensen

A really rich neghiborhood in our area.

A dog shaved to look like a lion.

San Pedro

A cool valley we found in our area.

Dear Family,

Well, I got to know how the cold part of our mission  is for the first time today! We had a fun trip up to San Pedro to play soccer with the missionaries up there and buy some fun stuff. The bus ride up is pretty scary after doing about 100 switch backs but the views off the mountain are so so cool and beautiful! Guatemala is so pretty! Also the weather in San Pedro is just awesome. Not to mention I bought this amazing piece of Guatemalan fabric called ´corte´ and I am going to make some sweet ties out of it.

We had a fun trip to San Pedro today. First time in the mountains!
I bought some beautiful ´corte´ or Guatemalan fabric to make some cool ties.

This week we also had a great experience with a missionary activity in our ward. The past few weeks us and the sisters have been filming all of the members dancing for a few seconds and we made a fun video of all the families dancing and put it to the song ´Happy´. This was something one of my past companions did and we thought we would give it a shot to build some unity and excitement in the ward and the activity went great. We had the ward prepare some games and other fun things and after we presented a little act and the video. Everyone looked so so happy and we felt great afterwards. Not to mention some members brought new families to the activity. A really fun time even though a member dressed up like a clown made me do a silly dance in front of everyone, but oh well, I enjoyed it.

An activity we did. We presented an act and also made a
dancing video of all the members to the song Happy. 

We have had some great progress with F. He continues to come to church and do all he can to be ready for this Saturday for his baptism. He actually walked to church for the Stake Conference this Sunday and I am so so grateful that the Lord has helped him gain a testimony of the truthfulness of his church and also of the Priesthood authorty so that he can be baptized by an authorized servent of God. He is so cool and we really hope that he can help share the joy of the gospel with his family after he is baptized.

I am so grateful to be part of the Lord´s work in a time when it is moving faster and faster. I can see each day that the Lord is hastening his work and that each day he helps us find people to teach and helps us know what to say in the exact moment so that everyone may know that Jesus is the Christ and that they can be cleansed from their guilt and sins if they follow him. Thanks for all the prayers and support!

Love,

Elder Jensen

Member Missionaries

A day of the dead grave all dressed up.

Dear Family,

I am learning a lot about how important it is to love the people that we serve. I have enjoyed developing

more and more love for the people that I serve and people that I serve with. It makes me a happier person!

The really, really awesome part of this past week is that we got to work and have a lot of support from the members of the church. We had so many powerful lessons with the members at our side as they gave powerful testimonies of the truth and invited many people to attend church and learn more about the restored gospel. I have grown to love to work with the members of the church and sometimes I even feel a little sad when we have lessons with people all by ourselves without a member. Luckily that doesn`t happen too much. The members who had to find the church in there lives always bring a powerful spirit to the lessons and each time I am with them my testimony and love of the church grows so so much! Not to mention the people that we are teaching that get to feel this spirit as well.

We visited F. with several members that work in the stake who have incredible testimonies and amazing teaching skills. He really felt excited about the gospel and accepted a baptismal date for the 22nd of this month (since this Saturday and Sunday are stake conference ... maybe we will have a special visitor). I am so grateful that we get to teach F. and see his testimony grow. I feel that he is going to be a great member of the church and really help us a lot in our area to find new people to teach. 

Also this week we had a crazy service project in the zone. We went up this huge hill to find a new convert family that needed some help with their house. They live on the side of a really steep hill and they wanted to take out part of the hill so they can make their house bigger (their house is a few sticks with plastic sheets as walls and a lámina roof). We worked several hours in the sun and it was a lot harder than it looked. I now respect Guatemalan construction workers a lot lot more. It was a little funny because after a while everyone was covered in dirt and sweat and it was an interesting smell since we were all bunched up in this little spot. But it was good to build the unity on our zone. 

So the Guatemalan weather tricked us again because right when we thought the rain was gone for good a couple huge rainstorms nailed us out of nowhere. Good thing I am getting to be a pro at expecting random weather because I stayed fairly dry with my struggling and rusty umbrella. I will always be so glad for my Ecco Boots because they are basically like tanks and hold off everything. 

I hope to continue gaining more and more abilities from the Lord as he helps be become a better missionary and a better person each week. He really does mold us and help us learn from every experience. I am so thankful for this and hope to work hard this week!

Love,

Elder Jensen

Caught!

Elder Cook and I in the middle of nowhere.

The district! We had 20 baptisms with 2 families!

Dear Family,

The Lord`s work goes on here in Malacatán! We had some changes here in our zone but Elder Cook and I survived and we will keep on working hard and having fun as we help people come to Christ!

We kind of had a strange experience today. We were all in the chapel today to play some volleyball when a couple of Elders went in the elevator of the chapel to get on the first floor. I was outside when I got a call from one of the Elders in the elevator saying they were stuck on the first floor and the door wouldn`t open! What happened next was a crazy 2 hours trying to find some way to get this door to open! We called a few people with keys but nobody seemed to have the right key to get this thing open. Also, Elder and Sister Wetzel (President´s Ruiz´s counselor) stopped by out of nowhere just in time to help us out. I guess they just stopped to use the bathroom and do other things here but they were able to help us and eventually I got a hold of somebody with the key and we went and rescued the Elders. It was a little crazy.

2 Elders were stuck in this elevator for 2 hours as we tried to find a solution.

This week we had a lot of members of our ward accompany us to some really spiritual lessons with someone named F. that we found a couple weeks ago. We found F. one day when we were a little down and didn`t know where to go and we just came across this little path that lead us to a neighborhood we had never found before. We began to ask the neighbors who would be good for us to visit in this place and they told us about F. When we showed some members where he lived they were amazed we had somehow found him because he lives pretty hidden in this place. F. is a very prepared person. We visited him and he has really become excited about the gospel and always is reading his Book of Mormon. This Sunday he came to church for the first time and he felt great and everyone was greeting him and making him feel very welcome. This work is so powerful when the missionaries and the members work shoulder to shoulder! Lives are changed and more people come to Christ!

We finally caught our rat but somehow it flew out of our trap into our big sink pila thing (it was empty) and we started throwing some little fireworks at it and that is when it went down the drain. He hasn`t returned since so hopefully that means it was successful. 

I am really realizing how important it is that we just love the people here in Guatemala. It really is what can drive us to work even harder, testify even more powerfully, and lose ourselves in this great work of salvation. I have really grown to love these people as my brothers and sisters in the year that I have been here. I still have a ways to go but I am glad that the Lord has helped me have a place in my heart for these people and serve them the best I can!

Love,

Elder Jensen

Elder Fifita leaving (he is now a district leader too).

Crossing a crazy bridge in our area, it was fun!

A cool view in Malacatan of the volcanoe Tajamulco.

Good-bye October

A giant cross in the outskirts of our area.

Dear Family,

This month of October has been so cool! I feel like almost every day I was giving my best to the Lord and it feels so good to be satisfied with my work to the Lord.

This week we had an incredible member missionary experience. In our ward there is a school teacher who has been attending church for about 2 years. About a month ago we went and taught him the importance of sharing the gospel in every moment and he really was touched by what we shared. About a week ago he came up to us and told us about a man he had talked to in a taxi. A. (the school teacher) started up a conversation with his taxi driver about the church and the taxi driver (J.) accepted the invitation for A. to visit with the missionaries. A. took us to J.’s house but he wasn`t there. J.`s son (named J. as well) answered the door and we started to visit and teach with him. We found that J. had a lot of spiritual needs and had a desire to grow closer to God again. It was such a spiritual lesson and A. taught so well (he is a professional teacher after all). It was one of my favorite member missionary experiences seeing how somebody had the courage to open his mouth in a taxi to share the gospel and how that led us to somebody the Lord has prepared.

We also had another crazy moment this week when we were in the middle of a lesson and a call came in to our cell phone. I didn`t want to pick up in the lesson so I hung up. The call came urgently back and I though it must be pretty important. I answered and one of the missionaries here in Malacatán told me that there was a very sick old sister who asked for a blessing from the Elders immediately. She thought she might be at the point of dying. We just kind of left our investigators with a prayer and left running as fast as we could. It was totally dark so we were kind of falling down a little bit in the mud but we just kept going. To our luck there was a tuc tuc passing once we made it to the highway and we were able to make it to the sister but the Bishop had beat us by a few minutes and gave her the blessing. The sister is still in the hospital but she seems to have improved in these days. It was a fun experience to be on the Lord`s errand running as fast as we could to give this sister a blessing! It felt good at least to give her some spiritual support.

Baptism of D.

Also we had a little miracle baptism in our area! During the conference week we were looking real hard one morning for someone to bring and hear the prophet. We remembered about a friend of some young members of the church and went to invite him and he was excited to join us to conference. His name is D. As the weeks went on we got to know his family and they supported him as he decided he wanted to be baptized! He was baptized Saturday and we hope to see more miracles in his family! Thanks to a few youth from our ward we were able to find D. I guess every member of the church can help in missionary work, young or old.

We have been having some fun in our house trying to catch a rat. I guess the Guatemalan rats area pretty sharp because every single homemade trap we have set doesn`t seem to work. It feels kind of sad getting out smarted by a rat but one of these days we will get him and enjoy not having our bread get eaten. Although it has entertained Elder Cook and I as we try to brainstorm all sorts of crazy traps.

our homemade rat trap

Sometimes I wish the time wouldn`t go by so fast and that I could remember all of these great moments sharing the gospel but I always feel happy knowing I have given my all and I hope that this week I can be better than the last. We`ll see what Heavenly Father has in store for next month!

Love,

Elder Jensen

a really cool view of a valley at Malacatan

Dilligence

Dear Family,

We basically just walk up and down this highway
 and go into the neighborhoods on the side.

All us missionaries here in Malacatán have been working so so hard! The great thing is that the Lord has blessed us so so much in return!

After the awesome miracles that our zone had in conference we have seen a lot of fruits and a lot of baptisms. The Sister Missionaries in our ward had their first baptisms in Malacatán and they baptized 9 people! It was such a spiritual baptism service and the ward really came to support all these new converts. The really cool thing is that a lot of members got to perform the baptisms and one of them was a youth who has recently come back to church and is preparing to serve a mission. He got to baptize his 2 nephews. The Spirit was so strong as we got to see so many people experiencing the peace and joy of a forgiveness of all their mistakes and a new life as a follower of Jesus Christ.

Elder Cook and I worked pretty hard this week. One cool thing we tried this week was to make a small calendar for one of the people we are teaching so that she can see if she is reading in the Book of Mormon each day and praying daily as well. We left specific passages for her to read each day with a thought and I really think that this will help her to come to feel and know that what we are teaching her is true. I think the fun thing about missionary work is that there is never one secret to success. We have to rely on the guidance of God and really adapt to the unique challenges and situations.

One super fun thing here is to play soccer since the Central Americans are just so so good at it. Today we were playing with the Tecún Úman zone and an Elder from Costa Rica on our team kicked the ball up in the air and then did this sweet back flip bicycle kick to score a goal! It was so entertaining! I will probably miss seeing crazy soccer plays like this after my mission.

This week we had a couple of moments that really helped me see how important it is to work diligently to bring the gospel to everyone we can. A few times this week we had worked for several hours and not seen any success and we felt a little bit like giving up. But we decided to keep looking for people that the Lord had prepared for us and we always seemed to be led to somebody who was incredibly receptive and ready to learn about the restored gospel. They were very special moments and a testimony to me about how important hard work and diligence is.

I am so grateful for each testimony building experience I get to have as a missionary and to get to meet so many incredible missionaries and people who have such great faith in the Savior Jesus Christ.

Love,

Elder Jensen

Our very loud Lámina roof when it rains

the little alley we walk to our house

Marriage and Baptism of a Family

Dear Family,

I had a super fun week! Also, I can`t believe I have a year in the mission! That scares me!

On Monday we had a fun trip up to Reu for the district leaders and Elder V. and I enjoyed eating lunch in a fancy restaurant in Coatepeque. It is probably the best food I have tasted on the mission. I ate this amazing crepe and steak sandwich, soo good! We also talked about the miracles our mission had in conference and played some ball with President.

We worked really hard this week with the G. Family so that they could really meet all the members of the ward and feel excited for their marriage and baptism. We had a cool moment reading in the Book of Mormon in 3 Nephi 27 when they really understood how important it is to be baptized so that Christ can heal us from all of our mistakes. Everything went great with their marriage and we enjoyed eating some cake together afterwards. Our ward mission leader (named Mahonri - which is an awesome name) planned a really nice baptism service and a lot of members showed up and we all felt so happy. The G. family has 3 small boys and that is fun for me thinking about our family as well. I think ever since our last temple trip I have really focused a lot more in finding and teaching families that can one day enter the temple and be united together forever. It is so cool!

This week I also had some really awesome experiences as I was doing some baptismal interviews. It is incredible how much people need to feel the healing power of Christ`s atonement. When we make serious mistakes the guilt stays with us for a long time if we don`t let the Savior take that upon himself. I really am understanding the process of repentance as well and it is such a cool opportunity to help these people understand how they can enjoy relief from all of their mistakes and feel clean. I also understand much better the ordinance of baptism and I really want to help as many people as I can feel these awesome feelings of joy!

It`s hard to think about how much has happened in a year in my mission and how amazing the whole experience has been. I have worked really hard and had a lot of fun doing it and I hope that it will be just as awesome in the next year. I know it will go soo fast and I need to take advantage of every minute! I hope to help a lot of families receive all the blessings of the gospel and make it to the temple one day! I am so grateful to be here in Guatemala and to serve such amazing people with so much faith!

Love,

Elder Jensen

Our awesome chapel in Malacatan (stake center too).

Acool view from the house in San Rafael (on divisions doing interviews).
 The mountin is Tajamulco (the tallest) from very very far away

Painting with a member in his house.