Sept 30, 2013

I could see the temple from the house!

awesome mom!!!! i hope the rest of the time was that good too!. Jacob happy birthday yesterday!!!!!! that's awesome buddy!.

ok my last week was a little hectic!. first off elder figgy went home this week it was a little sad but im happy for him he was a good missionary. i learned a lot from him and it was really cool. our last day as compañeros was this thursday. after that i got elder jensen as my companion. ha ah we had a good time but it was a little weird because i was in his area the whole time so we didn't get to have lessons in my area. this was a week i learned a lot from because i had to actually help in the lessons and i could feel the spirit really strong a lot! then we had a baptism yesterday it was so cool the guy we baptized probably could of taught me the lessons he was solid.we also sang at the baptism. and i know the holy ghost was strong cause i sang loud and we could still feel the spirit after. we sang O Mi Padre to the tune of Joseph Smith's First Prayer lo fue bien chido! today we played volleyball and it was a lot of fun. i got a little sunburned but not to bad ha ah. 

I was in the ward casas alaman and it was a little different. every night was there they had a party.... and not some lame little party. i mean the people would close off whole streets. there were fireworks all night. loud music the bass from the amps shook our house it was crazy. also the house i stayed in had a shower. that was awesome hot shower in the morning i didnt think that those still existed! ha ah anyways i had a good time watching fire works from my house! it was so cool  but it was kinda annoying when the fireworks went off at 5 in the morning Hijole these people know how to party!

ha ha no real new stuff this week. but its was good. we ate hot dogs yesterday that was great the bishop was really cool. im excited for the night. im with two latinos de bolivia y mexico should be interestting ah ha hope you guys have a good week cant wait to hear about mom. i get my new companion tomorrow. estoy animado. hasta luego 

se llama laba laba one of the guys that left was hawiian te amo 

elder jenson.

Sept 23, 2013

To anyone who has written Brandon recently,I would guess he has written back to most, if not all of you.  He has had problems with his e-mail sending out e-mails.  Anyway, I just want you to know that he probably believes he sent you a reply and you haven't received it.  I don't know why, but be patient.  He really does love the notes from you.

Hey family sounds like moms doing great and every one else is doing great..... im forgetting something...... HAPPY BIRTHDAY JACOB!!!!!!!!!!!!! you have now reached the best number, 10 thats awesome brother! ha ha well i will give you guys a little bit better update this week.

ok well i will start with the language. it is going a lot better... but my grammar is terrible ha ha. i think that the worst is everyday i do spanish homework... i think i have done more homework for spanish in the last two weeks than i did in all of my high school. but one thing that is great is i can understand so much better the language im starting to know where i am in my area. and most of all im learning how to have conversations. and i think my english is getting worse i tried to read in english today and i pronounced like 3 words like they were spanish... oh well i dont need that for 2 years;)

this week we went to the house of two women in our ward who are menos activos and my companion said ok you have the lesson im not talking for the next hour.... well it wasnt pretty but i got er done. we had a good lesson about FHE and i talked to her son who is not a member about how god can bless our lives. its was a good learning experience for me. also we have had an unusal amout of people that believe in reincarnation this week in our lessons.. its so hard to explain to people that god has a body of flesh and bones and that we are like him... I have learned a lot of patients this week. because i explain something and then its like they get it all and at the end say yeah i can see how that kinda works but god is still an energy.... in my mind i think lean not unto thy own understanding( proverbs 3:5) but i really do love all my investigators. they are all such good people. It was kind of funny i was walking down the road with my comp. and we were talking about how people just dont get it some times. And i said " I completely understand how my dad feels when he tells me that i need to do something and i dont do it because i think that im right. when in reality he knows what will make me happy. ha ah aha" we laughed about it for a little while but it was a learning experience for me.

I am having a blast down here. i really do love being a missionary. not watching tv is great, i feel like i actually acomplish stuff in day. Im a little sad about this week my trainer goes home this thurday and im not sure how i feel about it. its really weird.. i hope that you guys have a good week love elder Jenson

And keep going mom!!!!!!!

Sept. 16, 2013

yesterday was independence day for mexico it was a little sketchy because there were a bunch of drunk guys. and the other is a picture of pig skin soup...

ok quick up date. life is good. mexico is crazy fun and my spanish is getting better each day. i had a good week. we met a family and im stoked because the kids both came to church this week.  I eat a lot of tacos and they are awesome , pig skin soup for breakfast on saturday.... it was nasty. and i had to eat a ton of fish in one of my lunches because my companion is allergic to fish.... yeah it was rough but with enough lime i got it down. i love you guys congrats savy... your growing up to fast. much love elder jenson.

Just some newspaper topics

We thought it might be good to include some of the big news items of Mexico.  Right now there is a strike of 90,000 school employees which has over a million students out of school in about 7 states.  Many of the teachers went to Mexico City to protest and have been in Brandon's mission since the week he got there. If I read right, they had 3000 policemen break up their camp in a major plaza in preparation for some national celebrations.   He's about 6 miles from all the excitement.  Mexico is in the line of fire of hurricanes from the gulf and from the Pacific Ocean.  They found 12 youth who were abducted from a bar and killed because a couple of their dads were connected to a rival cartel.  They found the bodies in a mass grave on the east side of Mexico City.  They have also had a lot of people die from rain and flooding.  Other headlines include a concern of what connections they can make to understand the 600 disappeared people over the last 6 years.  The U.S. beat Mexico in Ohio this week to assure a spot in the World Cup.  I include this news because Mexico has the same struggles as a lot of places, but it is neat to hear how loving and patient the people have been to Brandon because of what the missionaries represent.  As we well know, there are many great people everywhere.  Some of these challenges bring out the best in many people and prepare many with a desire to better understand the Lord and the purpose of this life.  I include it because I hope Brandon is not too up to date on the details, and he better not offer any opinion on the subjects because of the great work he is involved in.  He seems to be loving these people and the gospel is needed in every home in the world.  I know last week Brandon went downtown so he was close to all of this last Monday.

http://fotos.eluniversal.com.mx/coleccion/muestra_fotogaleria.html?idgal=16121

http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/ciudad-metropoli/2013/algunos-maestros-desalojan-campamento-en-zocalo-950474.html

Sept 9, 2013

well family its been another great week in mexico i have had some of the best experiences of my life in the past week. we can start wednesday. it was a discouraging day my spanish had been terrible, and it was raining like it does every day here. we were teaching jonathan he is 16 years old and had just barely told us he didn't want to be baptized. so we decided that we would follow up at the house of one of our recent convert families. we taught him the importance of reading the scriptures and praying to god. he said he had good feelings when he read and when he said this, for some reason i had an impression to ask him if he knew the book of mormon was true. so our conversation went like this...(in my broken spanish of course) jonathan do you know the book of mormon is true? he said yes. then i asked if he could feel the spirit when he was at church. he said yes. then i asked do you know that god is your heavenly father and that jesus is you brother who atoned for your sins? he said yeah i do. so i said jonathan you have a testimony and you know this church is true. so will you be baptized?

he responded by holding up two fingers and saying i have two questions... (in my mind i thought, "oh great i thought i just had the spirit tell me what to say and he still has doubts....") he continued on saying  when can i reset my interview and when can i be baptized!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! it was the greatest moment i have ever had. until Sunday that is when i had the opportunity to baptize him. Talk about a great 3rd week. I have had many times this week when i was discouraged and thought why am i doing this? this is hard, its raining, i can't speak spanish to save my life. but the experience i had last night baptizing jonathan made all of that worth it. and i have a whole new respect for the joy we will have if we bring but one soul to know the truth. because i was grinning ear to ear last night and i knew without a doubt as his mom shook my hand with tears in her eyes that this gospel really does bless families. and it's given to us that we can have joy.

What a wonderful day, with wonderful people!

 pictured with more than my family it is amelia, elder figueroa, jonathan's mom Irma, jonathan me and amelia's daughter 

ok now for the less exciting part of the week i went to the "centro" today the huge center of mexico city and it was awesome i bought a new backpack. its more of a satchel but its new cause my other one broke. it was great be cause me and two other elders de north america were together and i heard the word "guero" so many times. its what mexicans call white people it was so funny. i got to eat tacos pastor which are the best thing on the planet i'm craving them just thinking about it. thats all the fun stuff i have today i will talk to you guys next week!

Sept. 2, 2013

well family here is my letter home. Jaxon Congratulations you are so awesome ! savy you're going through an exciting time i'm so happy you are such a good girl. and Jacob your almost the best number there is hang in there bud.

well what to tell about this week i think the first thing is i have been studying the Christlike attributes in p.m.g. and humility and diligence have really stood out to me. i try and be the best missionary i can but it is really hard when you don't understand the total gist of the story. in the past week i have been humbled more than any coach could ever humble his player. i have times where i don't understand anything that is going on or i have to pause in the middle of an extremely basic sentence because i don't know a word. but at the same time there have been a few, no more than 3 or 4, times where i actually felt like i spoke good sentences or could understand a whole conversation this week. and its those little moments that make it so i can keep going forward. i had  the awesome experience this week of teaching an investigator named jose luis. he is about 60 and has a wife and a daughter that both are members. he has been familiar with the church for 30 years and when we talked to his wife and daughter they said he would never be baptized. we taught him parts of the restoration and the plan of salvation over next hour and a half. i have never felt the spirit so strong in my life. i didn't say much in this lesson. i bore my testimony 2 or three times about different things. but it was an  incredible experience. he has a baptism date of the 22 of September.

ok now for the other parts of being a missionary ... i have come to terms that being a missionary means that people forget your appointments all the time. and also that the song i sang as a child "I hope they call me on a mission" in the chorus should have said to "WALK AND WALK AND WALK AS MISSIONARIES DO". not walk and talk and teach.... that's my chiste con mi companero (joke with my companion). but its really great to be out here. i have meet some amazing people that have shown me and my inadequacies more than enough love.

i live on Volcan paricutin in a white house with blue lines and a black door the house number is 102. (please only send stuff by e-mail or to the mission home address above.)

I have learned alot this week and am looking forward to the next one also tore a blister playing soccer today... so excited to walk on it. ha ha i really am having a great time out here its so cool the wards have like  100 people in them wich seems tiny compared to utah.. and when ever people ask me where im from the response is "utah the fabrica"(of missionaries) it usually gets a few chuckles. well i love you guys so much im glad i was raised in such a great family! sorry no pictures i dont have my camera.

Walk and walk and walk... NO.. played soccer... We taught him to play basketball and football because we knew he was too soft for soccer!!

Elder Jenson