A trip to Champerico

Overlooking Calahuache

Dear Family,

I think it is so interesting how many ups and downs you can have as a missionary. It really is one of the best and craziest experiences you will ever have!

This week we were trying really hard to find some really great people to teach. We are doing an activity in the whole mission where we´ve taken a picture of the members of the church and put their picture in a Book of Mormon. Their job is to write their testimony with the picture and give the Book of Mormon to another non member family or friend. I think it is such a great activity because I know the miracles that the Book of Mormon can work in people’s lives (because it did for me). We are working hard to help the members have the courage to hand out these Books of Mormon to their friends and I really hope that we can help them do this. I am really trying to think of some new and creative ways to find people and I am finding more and more that I really just need to get rid of all of my fear and not be lazy and talk with just about every human being I see. I am really far from that point but I am trying to improve each day.

This week we had a couple really amazing lessons with the V. family. M., her husband O., and her kids. M. and one of her 15 year old daughters, B., went to church yesterday and they said that they really liked it. Earlier in the week we had taught the Restoration to M. and some of her kids and it was one of the most powerful lessons of my mission. I just knew in my heart that the message of the Restoration was true and that Christ´s church has been restored to the earth. When I bore my testimony of the Restoration I felt the Spirit testifying so strong and I think I almost shed a tear. We also taught an amazingly powerful lesson yesterday after church. We taught to the whole family and we read 2Nephi 31 with them. We could feel the Spirit telling each one of them that this baptism and receiving the Holy Ghost is the path that they have to take to have eternal life. I have read that chapter with various investigators but yesterday I felt the Spirit so so strong. The Spirit guided us to make the invitation to be baptized and after we invited all of them to be baptized several times we got a yes from everyone except the O. (the dad) who said that he will give permission to the family if they really want to take this step. We are going to visit them tonight and probably every day this week and I really hope that the Spirit helps us to do our best so that we don´t lose them and we help them the best we can to take the most important step in their lives.

Today we got to go to the beach in Champerico and it was so cool! I haven´t seen the ocean for over 3 years so that was a lot of fun for me! I loved smelling the Pacific Ocean and remembering all the great times we had in Japan at all the beautiful beaches. It doesn´t really compare to Japan but I still loved it!

 I have still stayed steadfast in my two goals to memorize a scripture each day and also read the Book of Mormon in Spanish. I have gotten to Alma 8 and I hope to finish the Book of Mormon in the coming weeks. Each time I read I can´t tell you how much I feel the Spirit but also how much my desire grows to share this Book with everyone! I love the Book of Mormon so so much and I can´t wait to help as many people as I can learn of its truthfulness. It really makes me want to make better choices each day and invites the Spirit into the work so strongly. I also have noticed the power of memorizing scriptures each day. I always feel ready for the day when I know that I am armed with the words of eternal life. It really helps me have more love and excitement for the work and I grow to love the scriptures even more with each scripture that I add to my collection. 

I grow each day in my thankfulness to the Lord for allowing me to be one of his special messengers of light and salvation. I know that I have a lot of weaknesses but I can see the Lord helping me overcome those and turning them into strengths each time that I cry out to him for help. I know that the Lord wants each one of us to succeed. That is why he is willing to help us! I am so grateful for this gospel and I just know that it is true! 

Love,
Elder Jensen

Lunch in Champerico!

I am surprised but I actually really like the fish here like this!

Happy Valentine's Day

Dear Family,

This week was kind of tough but I have really felt the Lord carrying me and giving me the energy and hope to keep working hard. I realize every single day that this work is impossible without him but with him every single moment is completely worth it.

This week we also found a really cool family! The mom of the family is named M. and she has five or six kids. We have only taught the whole entire family one time and they really liked the visit. They said that they have heard a lot of negative things about the church but that they say that all of that wasn´t true when we visited. The mom is the most interested in the gospel and she actually went to a baptismal service of the other missionaries in the ward this past Saturday and she went all on her own! She said she would go to church but something happened Sunday morning and she couldn´t make it but we are having some really good visits with here and some of her kids. They have a lot of doubts about the Book of Mormon and about Joseph Smith but we´re going to help them this week.

I am so grateful for all that I have learned this week. It was pretty hard but as I am learning, we are so blessed to have trials because if we endure them well our testimony and love of the Savior will grow so much.

I also realized this week that it is really hard for missionaries to find people to teach all on their own. We decided that we are going to start visiting the members and encouraging them to do everything possible to share the gospel with their friends. We know how scary and hard it can be but we are going to do everything possible to ¨Trust in the Lord¨ just like Elder Ballard talked about in this October 2013 conference. I love that talk and I shared the ideas of that talk as I spoke in Sacrament yesterday. I really want the members here to feel the amazing joy of sharing the gospel so I will do all I can to help them.

I am so grateful each day for all that the Lord has blessed me with and all that he teaches me here on my mission. It really is amazing what happens when your mind is centered in the gospel and in others all the time. I hope you all have a wonderful week and keep enduring those cold temperatures!

Love,

Elder Jensen

Elder Jensen's Desk

Sleeping quarters

A Surprise Visitor

Dear Family,

I think you would all be surprised how many ups and downs you experience as a missionary. There were a lot of extremes this week of really awesome experiences and a couple disappointments but luckily the Lord helps me keep serving him with a great attitude and with many blessings.

This past Saturday we had a nice little surprise in the morning. As we were about to start our companionship study we saw President Ruiz (mission president) out the window. He was coming from Xela and felt impressed to come and visit us for our companionship study. It is kind of one of those things you joke about but it actually happened. We were a little nervous but it was a great hour of study and we really learned a lot from him. He challenged us to read the whole Book of Mormon. I started doing it that day and I can see already how inspired that challenge was!

Like I just said I have set a goal to read the whole Book of Mormon in spanish. I have already gotten to 1 Nephi 8 and I can´t tell you how much I love the spirit of the Book of Mormon. I have just fallen in love with it and with the spirit I feel each time I open its cover. I just love the prophets and their stories and their hopes, like mine, of eternal life and salvation through the Savior. I have also kept my goal of memorizing scriptures each day. I am so grateful for the guidance of the Lord in my life in helping me set these goals and reap the blessings in the process.

I love this gospel so much and my love grows for the Savior each day as I testify of him with all my heart to as many people as possible!

Love,

Elder Jensen

What Wave?

Dear Family,

¨What wave?¨ That´s how you say ¨What´s up¨in Spanish. There´s a lot of fun things like that here in Guatemala. I continue to love all of your emails and letters and I can always feel your support!

My companion Elder C. said something that I really like this week. In spanish the word for faith is ¨fe¨(fay). He gave our area the new name of Calahuafe (Calawafay). That made me laugh a little bit. We really enjoy working hard in the area and sharing this gospel with as many people as we can.

This week in the work we had some pretty awesome experiences with a man named J. He is an older man and his wife passed away in October. He lives alone but he is very very open and receptive to the gospel. Last week we tried really hard to teach him how to pray. He´s only done memorized prayer his whole life so talking openly with his father in heaven is a really new thing for him. We had a lesson this week when he gave the closing prayer and he gave a very heart felt prayer. It was so simple but we could tell that he knew that he was talking with God. The sprit was pretty strong and we could really feel God´s love for him as he gave that simple heartfelt prayer. 

I thought you all might like to know a little bit about our schedule of the day. In the mornings we get up at 6:30 and I always do a little bit of exercise in the house and then get prepared for the day. I make some breakfast and I usually have some cereal, yogurt, toast, or oatmeal and when I feel up to it, some days I will make pancakes which are super yummy. We study in the morning from 8 until 11. Since I´m newer in the mission I do an extra hour to learn more and do some training. We work for a couple hours and then we go to the cocinera´s (cook´s) house at 1 to eat lunch. She is very nice and always makes us Elders something really good. We go back to the house to study for another hour and then head out to work at 3. We will visit some of our investigators or contact people from house to house. We eat dinner at a families house at 8. They are really fun and we are basically part of their family. We usually head home at about 9 and plan for the next day and then get ready for bed at 10:30. I really love the schedule and it is so perfect for us!

This week I´ve had some awesome experiences with the scriptures. Before I left for the mission I had memorized some scriptures in spanish. I think it has really helped me up to this point because my pronunciation has gotten pretty good. While I´ve been in the field I haven´t really memorized any more but early this week I really felt the impression to start doing it again. I´ve now challenged myself to memorize a scipture in spanish every day for the rest of my mission. I think I have done it 6 days in a row so far and it blesses me so much! It really helps me have desires to work hard and love the work and I really feel so immersed in the words of life. We´ll see if next week I can say I´ve memorized a scripture each day but I really hope I can do it! There are so many scriptures that say that if we study and have the scriptures in our hearts we will always know what to say to the people. I really think this will bless me with the Spirit each day and help me know what the Lord wants me to say to these wonderful people here in Guatemala.

I can´t tell you all how much I just love this gospel. I must have said that too many times already but it is so true! I am so grateful for the Atonement of our Savior and that I am one of his choice servants to carry the news of hope and forgiveness to God´s children! I love you all so much!

Love,

Elder Jensen

Dear Family,

I think it is so interesting how the actual mission experience has compared to my expectations before I came. I think I´ve found that missionary work really is work. I really am grateful for the chance to work hard for the Lord and see him helping me during the process.

I´ve also realized here how important it is that we are always acting on the gospel. It is so important that we act so that our testimonies can grow. I am able to see so much that people really begin to feel the truth of this gospel when they begin to act on the message and really see that the Lord blesses those who are willing to keep the commandments and invite blessings into their lives.

This week was really cool because we got to do interviews with President Ruiz. I am so grateful for all that he does for the mission and I can really see that he cares about each one of us. He really wants us to have success and I am so grateful for his advice and council. We also got the chance to hear from a General Authority this week. Elder Soares from the seventy came and spoke to the whole entire mission. His native language is Portugues so I thought he did great speaking spanish to us. I can´t tell you how grateful I have come to be for the living prophets and general authorities. It is such a testimony to me of the truthfulness of this gospel and the love of the Lord for each one of us.

In the work this week I really tried hard to put on a smile and be happy in every single moment of the day.

I am trying so hard to convey the joy of the gospel because I really want eveyone here to have a chance to be a part of this happiness. It also really helps me to have love for the work and the people and I am so much happier when I try to convey the joy of the gospel to others.

I don´t think I´ll ever be able to thank the Lord enough for all the blessings of this mission. I am so grateful to be a part of his work and to be a tool in his hands to bring his children out of sadness and darkness into the love and light of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Love,

Elder Jensen

Blessing Others

Dear Family,

I realize every single day why it is that the Lord wants every worthy person to serve a mission! There is just nothing like it and there is nothing that can help a person grow closer to their Savior like serving a mission.

This past couple weeks have been just a little bit different because there were transfers and one of the elders in our house left. Elder G. from Mexico left and an Elder J., from Utah came in. I was kind of excited to have another english speaker but we´ve kind of decided to only speak spanish so that our spanish doesn´t go downhill. I´ve also noticed that since this past transfer that the unity on Elder C.'s and I´s companionship has grown a lot. We are starting to really be good friends and we are learning to teach better as one voice. I´ve noticed that when we are able to align our wills and have the same goal the Spirit helps us a lot more despite our differences. 

This week there was kind of a miracle in the work (like there are every day). Our investigator R who we have been teaching since I arrived in the mission and who we have helped come a long way came to church for the first time yesterday. He had always had some work to do or some other commitment but he actually made it to sacrament meeting yesterday! He even shaved before the meeting and brought one of his sons who is about 8 or 9. I was so so happy to see him there and I could tell that he really is starting to see that this is the true gospel as restored by Jesus Christ. Afterwards he said he really liked the meeting and even talked to his wife about some of the messages. I really am so grateful to have known him and to have been a helper in helping him overcome some of his challenges. We are still helping him find an answer about the Book of Mormon and I really enjoy getting to share my testimony with him every time we meet and helping him come to have that great gift of knowledge from his Heavenly Father that each one of us can have.

I´ve noticed that even though there aren´t a whole lot of physical evidences of the work that I´ve done here I realized that I really have helped a few of Heavenly Father´s children to have more faith in him. I have seen how people have grown in their desire to pray with their Father in Heaven and how people have grown to realize all the blessings that they have.

This week I have grown to love the words of living prophets so so much! We got the coference ensigns about two weeks ago and I have just been eating them up! I wish I had valued this huge blessing earlier in my life! We teach many people about how today on the earth the Lord has a prophet and apostles and how much of a blessing this is. I think this week I really have grown to know that as truth and have seen that studying and applying the words of living prophets in our lives really helps us see that the Lord speaks to us today and that he really loves us and wants us to return to him.

I am so eternally grateful for this time to be a missionary and that I still have a little bit of time to continue in this service. I know this gospel is true and I know that it will bless us more than anything else!

Love,

Elder Jensen

Counting My Many Blessings

Dear Family,

How are you all? I hope you all can survive the icy cold weather this week! I will try hard to enjoy the beautiful weather for you all! Sorry this email is a day late, I had just about finished this email when the power went out in the internet cafe but luckily today I found that it had saved.

I will never stop being amazed at how fast the time passes by hear on the Lord´s errand. When I try harder to use this special time to serve the Lord the best I can it seems to go so fast. I really to try to make sure that I don´t waste a second of this time because if the time moves as quickly as it has, I will be finished very soon! I hope I can continue to make the most of it and find all the people that Heavenly Father has prepared for me to bless their lives with this incredible message of joy and happiness.

I realize more and more each day that this gospel really is the only thing that will make us happy. And not only does it make us happy but gives us strength in every aspect of our lives. Without the gospel and the knowledge that I have of it´s truth I would never be able to get up and work each day. But I know that this gospel is true and I can see and feel everyday what a blessing it is for each one of us and how much every one of God´s children need this gospel. I guess that´s what gives me the strength to keep trying, is the hope that I can help these people taste of this joy that I get to have every day!

I think I am finally starting to get a feel for the culture here. The food doesn´t seem so strange anymore and know I expect to eat every meal with tortillas. The other day I had my first pescado (fish) and it was a little intimidating at first because a looked down at my bowl of soup and there was an entire fish there but it actually tasted really good (even though it was king of hard to find all the little spine bones). My spanish also continues to improve and I am so so grateful that I have the chance to live with 3 other spanish speakers. It is so amazing how the Lord can help us grow. I think I´ve got spanish down enough that I can talk to my companion about anything and I can get along really well in the lessons (understanding and speaking). The only time I get lost is when people are talking really informally or when people are talking about random subjects with a ton of weird vocabulary.

In the work this week we didn´t really get to see a lot of tangible success.  We are working really hard to find new people to teach and it is a little bit of a struggle but I think we are going to start working hard to work with the members. It is so important that the people who know the joy and blessings of the gospel get involved in sharing it with everyone! I´m looking forward to helping some of the members get involved here and experience the joy that we missionaries get when we see people make changes and receive blessings in their lives!

I will never be able to thank the Lord enough for this mission experience! Sometimes it´s hard to see the blessings and other times I can´t even count all the blessings! I just know that this church is true and that the Lord really will take care of us and listen to our prayers. I love you all so much and can feel your support, love, and prayers carry me each day.

Love,

Elder Jensen