Chickens, Coconuts and Cushins

Drinking from coconuts.  It is really refreshing but has a pretty strange taste.

Getting the coconuts down.

Dear Family,

It looks like I will be in Malacatán a little while longer! I don´t have changes! I am super excited and ready to work super hard in our area!

So this past week my companion had a bad luck moment.  A few days ago Elder Walton woke me up at 5 in the morning telling me that he had a bug in his ear.  We weren´t sure what to do and decided to figure out some way to get to the hospital the fastest we could because he was in a lot of pain.  We got there and after some alcohol in his ear, Elder Walton had the culprit. It was a decent sized moth that had got into his ear and was flapping around. It was super crazy and a fun story to tell to people this week. But now I have a phobia of moths getting in my ear.

Some of our investigators have decided to no longer visit with us but we were blessed to find a huge amount of new people to teach this past week and we are excited to continue helping people come to Christ.

 

A view of the area where the sister missionaries work.

Through some awesome miracles and some members who brought their friends to church with them we were able to have 5 new people to church on Sunday and that same day we went and invited them to prepare to be baptized by someone with the proper authority. 4 of the 5 accepted baptismal dates in February so we are very excited and have our work cut out for us this month. These are definitely blessings from our diligence and also from our fasts.

 

A chicken randomly jumped on Elder Walton's
leg in the lesson and wouldn´t get down.

I was reading a lot in Alma 32 this last week that talks about how when the gospel is first taught and received it is like planting a seed. The seed is always good, but sometimes when we don´t nurture the seed (don´t pray or read in the Book of Mormon or don´t attend church) then it dries out and doesn´t take root.  I am always trying my best to help these people nurture the seed and do all that they can so that it takes root and grows and gives fruit.  It such an amazing time in my life to dedicate all my energy to Him and His work!

Love,

Elder Jensen

Eating some strange, fuzzy fruit called Cushin that just falls from trees.

Saying good-bye to Elder Black (the zone leader) he left the area, but I´m staying!

You're never too old.

Outside the nursing home.

Dear Family,

I never thought you could have get so much done and have so much fun in the service of the Lord, but you can!

This last week was super packed and awesome. We were super blessed last Sunday to bring some new people to church and even more blessed to have someone preparing for baptism. R. (an 85 year old that is still strong enough to bike down to a town called Catarina which is pretty far) who we contacted on the street about 10 days ago is preparing for his baptism this Saturday and we feel so blessed to be able to teach and help him take this great step in his life. He is a chosen soul of the Lord and since the very first time we met him I knew that the Lord had guided us to him for a reason. Yesterday when I called him to set our visit that day he told me ´Elder Jensen, I am reading my Book of Mormon right now and I love it!´ We are excited for his baptism this Saturday!

Later in the week we got the chance to go do some service in a nursing home. The project was to bring joy to the old folks there. We prepared a cool plan of salvation message for them and then we got to play some games. My companion and I played some jenga with them and I was surprised that despite the arthritis and shakiness in their hands they always managed to beat me every game! I am not sure how! I really enjoyed being with them and I was surprised how tiring it can be to try to bring energy and excitement but it was so worth it, also I met a guy with about 50 grandkids! Wow!

 

We went to a nursing home to share a little message (Plan of Salvation) and to play some games (we played Jenga with them, it was really fun)

Eating lunch with our new friends.

Later in the week we asked one of the really cool members of the ward who is a teacher in the big school here to come and visit a family with us. It turns out that one of the members of the family is his student in class. They enjoyed having that connection and after a really cool lesson she commited to come to church and she even accepted the invitation to be baptized! It was super awesome but she got the ´Chinkunkuya´ sickness Saturday night so she couldn´t go to church, but next Sunday she surly will! 

A creepy sidenote this week is that as we entered the house the other night we say a huge black thing moving around the room and we realized it was a huge rat! It chose to go hide behind my dresser and the only idea that occured to us was to smash the dresser against the wall to be rid of the rat. Well after a big push and a lot of squealing and thrashing we had our victim.

Well I've talked a lot about the week now. I just hope to continue having wonderful weeks with a lot of sweat, miracles, and laughs. I love being a missionary and I am trying to make the most out of every moment!

Love,

Elder Jensen

Our last meeting with Hermana Denis (she leaves this week).
J. (green shirt) is our ward mission leader (he is so cool)

Buses

Dear Family,

For some reason I did a whole lot of bus travel this week. I always thought that traveling in a bus should help relieve a little bit of stress from the work but it really stresses me out! Maybe it has to do with the fact that we are all in the bus like cooked sardines and there is the occasional time where we have to stand on the bus for more than an hour. Maybe one of those little things I won`t miss too much after the mission.

This week we traveled to Reu for a leaders meeting and it is always super fun to see some of my awesome friends in the mission at those meetings. Not to mention that we always come out of those meetings super excited and ready to work harder than ever before!

I also got the chance to go to San Rafael this week to help the missionaries with some of the people they were teaching. I went with Elder H. again who is a super awesome new missionary. He is one of those Elders that you always can feel the Spirit with him. We had some cool experiences and we were able to set up 2 baptisms for this coming Saturday. Later in the day we were walking by the church and saw some middle-aged guys playing basketball and we had the idea to make a deal that if we could beat their team that they would come with us to church on Sunday. We thought it would be a good idea until they told us that if we lost we would have to go to their church on Sunday. Since our churches meet at the same time we kind of decided to drop the deal and just play with them. It was pretty fun and I was surprised how well they played! Never doubt a Guatemalan´s basketball skills.

We also worked super hard this week here in our area. It looked like we were going to have 10 or more people attend church this Sunday but something happened where almost everyone backed out at the last minute and we were only able to bring 3, which was still a huge blessing.

I am really enjoying my time with my Wyoman companion (maybe that is how you call somebody from Wyoming). Elder W. and I have gotten along great and we both like to work hard which is awesome. We have also had some pretty funny moments. Like every morning when we get in our freezing cold ice shower we usually think of crazy things to yell to make the water not feel so cold. I`m not sure my body will ever get used to the cold water. I am just really grateful for all that I have learned from him and I hope that if it is the Lord´s will we can stay together as companions for a little while longer. 

A picture I took in the internet place because I felt bad that I had no more pictures, it is a little weird. :)

This Sunday we found an older man named R. on the street and invited him to attend church. He told us that he used to attend in a close by town called Catarina and that he would be thrilled to come to church. Well, he came and we found out that he hasn´t become a member of the church yet. We will work really hard this week to help him progress in the gospel! It was a huge miracle that we were able to find him in the street that day.

I love seeing miracles each day and I know that our Heavenly Father lives and loves all of his children. He wants them all to hear this joyful message and how happy I am to be one of those messengers!

Love,

Elder Jensen

A trip to Reu

My dad (or mission trainer), Elder Coello, me and my son, Elder N.I had a lot of fun talking with Elder Coello!

Dear Family,

Things have changed once again. I am with Elder W. He is super excited to be in the field again after having been in the office as the financial secretary for a long time. I am excited to work hard and have fun with him!

On Monday we got a surprise call from the office that we had to be in Reu later in the day. I guess I didn`t understand because I thought they would bring my new companion that night but when they showed up they just yelled, ´Get in Elder Jensen, we are headed to Reu.´ It turned out we were in Reu for a couple days while they were getting me a new companion. The bad thing was that I hadn´t brought any clothes to change in or anything to stay a couple nights and my shirt got very dirty, and I mean very dirty. Luckily one of the nights I chose to wash it by hand and it turned out alright. The good thing of the trip is that I got to see my trainer in the mission again, Elder Coello. I hadn´t seen him for a long time and it was soo good to talk with him again and really talk about our times together a year ago. We have both grown a lot spiritually and I just enjoyed being with him for a while. He made me feel more motivated to continue strong in the mission. 

Some of these missionaries are from my CCM group.

It was a little strange this week since I hadn´t been here in my area for a few days but we were able to work super hard to find new people and we came across an older lady who was baptized about 25 years ago. We found her because the ward gave us some names of less active members that they couldn´t find and we went and found her. It turns out that she loves the church and we were able to help her attend this Sunday and also bring some of her grandchildren that are not members of the church. It was a really cool experience to find her and help her come to church. 

Well, I have really enjoyed this week even though it was a little different and I continue to love serving the people here in Guatemala. I am so glad that I have learned to love the people I serve because that has changed my whole attitude about being a missionary! Take care and have a great 2015!

Love,

Elder Jensen 

My new companion, Elder W.

Tamales!

Getting water out of a huge well.

Dear Family

We had a really fun Christmas in this past week! Despite almost exploding for the amount of tamales we ate.  On Christmas Eve we went with a family where we are working a lot with the dad who used to be very active in the church but hasn´t attended for 15 years. Last Sunday we helped him (F.) to attend and on Christmas Eve we helped the family make tamales. It was super fun to put in the mix in the leaf and then the chicken and other ingredients. We were joking with them because some of the tamales I made looked like tuc tuc´s and others looked like semi´s. That made them all laugh pretty hard. When our leaves ran out we went and got some leafs of the banana trees (which are huge leafs) and cut them up to put the tamales in. It was probably my favorite part of Christmas. It was pretty funny later when they told us that some of the tamales were missing the ´mole´ which is the sauce that gives flavor the whole thing. I guess I am not an expert yet. 

Making tamales.

In the night a member family invited some of us missionaries to go eat and play games so we were there with 4 other missionaries and after we went to their house and had a fun time with some fireworks. We were very safe about it, don´t worry. 

M's Baptism

 I think the highlight this week (besides getting to skype with you guys) was that M. was baptized! After about 2 and a half months of teaching him he was able to be baptized and it was a wonderful service. It turns out that one of the members that was there in the baptism was M.´s cousin and that was fun to see them give each other a hug and feel happy about M.´s decision. M. has really turned his life around and the Savior has helped him to feel clean from all his mistakes. Also the member (F.) who referred us to M. gave a nice message in the service. It was super special and really awesome for Elder N.´s first baptism.

Today for P-day we went to San Pablo to do service for some family of a member. It was pretty crazy because we were going to extend the roof of the house so using the sticks and lámina that we had we put in some posts and laid some lámina down on it and, boom, a bigger house. Not your everyday service project but I least I will know how to make Guatemalan houses when I get back.

I am so grateful for the chance I had to see a lot of miracles here in Malacatán.  Thank you all for the great support and happy new year!

Love,

Elder Jensen

Getting a gift from Elder Fickes.

Making Guatemalan steaks at our zone Christmas meeting.

Feliz Navidad 2014

Dear Family,

Feliz Navidad! I´m not sure where the month of December went because it is almost gone. Time flies when you are on the Lord´s errand!

It has been another great week with a lot of more crazy things. My new companion probably still has a crazy view of Guatemala. This week we went to teach F. (our recent convert) and his family and he told us that they were having some problems with a crocodile. I thought he was joking around with us but when we got closer to his pila we looked in and sure enough there was a crocodile in there! I was pretty shocked and it was super entertaining. 

Another fun thing for me was that for one of the lunches I got to try chicken feet for the first time. Here what they do is they throw the chicken foot in soup and you suck the toes off of it. Basically a ton of fat and skin comes off.  My companion told me I was super weird. It was really funny! 

Today for P-day we did a fun Amazing Race type of scavenger hunt but with pictures. We ran around all over Malacatán looking for stuff to take pictures of like a bull, a video of us making tortillas, catching a chicken, a picture with the police, with a Christmas tree, a human pyramid, a video of us being bus workers, and other funny stuff. It was super awesome and I would love to do that again some P day in the future.

This week we were working really, really hard to try to help some of our investigators to be baptized in this month of December. We were a little sad when M. didn´t come to church last Sunday but we had some very spiritual lessons with him this week and we read him some parables in the Bible about how we need to leave everything temporal behind to follow the Savior (Mark 10 with the rich young man) and how we will receive 100 times more what we leave. Well, he really felt the Spirit and came to church this Sunday and we are preparing things for him to be baptized this week. It was a huge tender mercy and we also made him a Christmas tree with ornaments with scriptures on them to read leading up to the baptism. We may also have another miracle baptism this week but I will tell you more about that if it actually happens.

It looks like for Christmas Eve we will be eating dinner with about 4 or 5 families so hopefully my stomach can make room this week. I am so grateful for this time of the year to remember the Savior and also to talk with all you guys! I am so grateful for the chance to be a missionary and I hope you all have a wonderful and white Christmas!

Love,

Elder Jensen

A new companion for Christmas!

Dear Family,

I got an interesting gift for Christmas this year, a new companion! 

We had changes this past week and my companion got sent to a different area. But the crazy news was that I was going to train a new missionary! My new companion is Elder N., straight from the CCM. It looks like I am a ´dad´ again, as we say in the mission. He is so awesome and he brings a lot of excitement coming out of the CCM.  Elder N. and I figured out that we have a super weird connection. His older brother served in the Columbus, Ohio mission when I was preparing to head out on the mission. After seeing a picture of his brother and talking a little bit more about him I remembered that I met Elder N.´s brother when I served the mini mission! He was always famous for a big dimple he makes in his tie and that made me remember that I had met him! How weird! Also his brother served in Huber Heights I think so that was fun to figure out. We are getting along great and working hard.

I think Elder N.´s first day had to be quite interesting for him because leaving the first house we went to go visit a super drunk guy comes up and started grabbing me.  We also had signed up last week to go help a sister in the ward extend a part of her house since she lives on a hill and we had to like mine out part of a hill with pick axes and then throw the dirt in the extension they made and we had some good blisters after. I am pretty sure Elder N. won´t forget his first week with all this crazy stuff that happened.

This week we put together a ward activity where we presented the ´He is the Gift´ video and it went awesome. A lot of people came and we actually had some members from our area bring some friends. We had dvd´s made of this video and have showed it to a lot of people in our lessons and it is so fun to teach everyone about this gift that our Heavenly Father gave us, the gift of his son. Also a huge Christmas choir came this Sunday and it lead to a pretty big miracle. F. who was baptized last month has come to church every single Sunday without fail (and he usually walks). The problem is that he comes alone and none of his family has supported him. Well, I decided that we really, really needed to reach out to his wife and some of his children (who are all married) and we invited them to this choir activity. His wife and one of his daughters came to see the choir sing and I was so so happy and grateful for that miracle! I am excited to continue working with his family and helping them follow F.´s example and come taste the sweetness of the gospel as well.

I am so grateful for the chance to serve a mission. I can see Heavenly Father´s great mercy each day in my life and in the life of all of his children here. He helps us so much in our missionary efforts and we will need a lot of his help in these coming weeks but I trust in him and in this work. It is hard to think that this is my last Christmas in Guatemala, but I think next Christmas I will definitely throw off fireworks and eat tamales to bring back these fun memories!

Love,

Elder Jensen

´I love Malacatán..!´

A big drawing of our zone.

They mispelled my name at Dominos on my order.