Dec 29, 2014

well hey there fam... first off can i say how great it was to talk to you all in christmas. its good to "see" not just "feel" the love from home. so just so all are aware about 5 months ago i woulda worked you all in chess yes derek you too. jaja ok maybe. one of my comps was teaching me and he took like 2nd in a natinal touney. i beat him twice and we wont even ask what the official count between us was... so dad i know how you feel dont worry.  

secondly this week was a really happy week we had two baptisms. and a great service. wee filled the room with people i think we had 40 or 50 people there. it was one of those baptisms i really felt like we planned well. and all in all i felt good about it. You are one hundred percent right about what you said dad the mission is a lot more fun when youre getting wet. but we also dont do the service for the stars;) i think that has been something important to learn in the mission. the balance between matthew saying " go forth and baptize until the end" and pablo saying " i have come not to baptize but, preach the gospel. but it feels good to be a part of conversions.

if i were you dad this is after being out here for a tid bit i would show savy the verses in james chapter 2 where it talks about faith without works being dead... i have reflected on that a little out here. how much different would my sports career have been if i would have just had one focus im not saying i wouldnt have done about the same thing if i could do it again. but i do believe taht there is a lesson to be learned when you grind out a little hard work in the gym and savy if your going to beat me when i get home youre going to have to hit the gym and get shooting more;)

well this last week was really a good one for me. it seemed like a little bit of a break because no one was home and i have the sad feeling that he same could happen this week for new years. but we will keep working and hopefully start finding a little more this week! be safe and have a happy new year i love you lots you guys are the best!

oh and derek i memorized section 4 this week. i think it would be good if you learned the 10 attributes that a missionary needs they will help you alot if you can learn how the saviour and other prophets applied them in their lives. 

love

elder jenson

Dec 15, 2014

well thanks for the update its always great to see how the family is doing. this week went really well. we had an investigator get baptized in another mission it was cool other than we couldnt go to the baptism. he was a great guy and  had a ton of progress. We will talk to him this wednesday. and he should let us know how his baptism went. what else can i tell  i went in divisions this week and had a ball with elder porter. he is my district leader. he´s a good elder. and we had a good time in his area. we also have a new investigator and she is awesome. we found her last week adn she has gone to church 2 times already. so right now we are looking at her as a really good prospect. we're hoping for three this week but we will see how it goes i will let you all know.

we also had a a stake fireside i guess you could call it. but it was great we got to listen to himnos and some recent converts told stories of Christ, it was really a great meeting, and this week we have the ward party.

glad to hear that you guys got a good new stake presidency. So hows your calling coming along.

right now things are going great im having a great time down here and cant wait to call in just  10 days. i was thinking in the afternoon at like 2 or 3 my time. but you guys willl have to let me know when you think would be a good time to for your schedule, and do you think cristian will be home for christmas? its going to be so great to talk to you all next week.!!!

This week we have been sharing messages about christ. one called el es la dadiva. you should look it up on youtube. it is such a great message  i really hope you can share it with someone .

hope you have a great week love you all tons and take care!

Dec. 8, 2014

well this was a really rewarding week . to answer you question i was able to go to the baptism in my old area i will send some pics. it was really great. you know i think that one of the wierdest things i have realized about my mission is that i can get to any part in about an hour. but at the same time its nice. i get to visit old areas in abundance. right now im just happy where im at. im compañero mayor right now, but it has been great my new comp loves to work, and it really makes it easier to be a missionary when your companion is happy to be there. right. not counting the baptism my favorite lesson would have to be when i tought the ten commandments to an investigator that will be baptized this week, and he accepted to fast with us to overcome temptations, or when i was knocking doors and someone let me in and we taught them the whole first lesson. i love explaining about the way the church works, and priesthood, and of course the first vision is always the highlight. but thats not why it was so great to teach, the beloved people i have come to know in mexico are such a happy friendly people but when it comes to compromises they just arent that faithful in following through, especially when it comes to going to church , so we invited her  to come to church and said we would pass by at 7 45 she said it sounded great. i knocked her door at 7 50 and she said well we better get going or we will be late. great moment for me it makes me so happy when people do what they say they will do.


It makes me sad to hear about john allen i took him the sacrament for like two years every other week. he was a great guy but it was probably his time to go so i gues thats ok. how was the christmas devotional? i missed it but i will see if i can find it during comp study one dayt this week.


you guys are the best and i love you all so much. as the new year aproaches remebmer the story of lot. it has been a great teaching method for us with our less actives. and the best aplication i have found is that once we change or are baptized we shouldnt look back on our old lives because all it does is cause us problems.

have a great week!

Dec 1, 2014

ok well life is going great in the airport Ward, right now things are going great my comp is a stud and we had the best week of my misión, we contacted a  ton this week and found some very interesting investigators. My goal was to try and focus more on the spirit and let it guide me to people. and what do you know? it did.

It was kinda funny this last week when i got here and  my companion told me that contacting in my area was really lame, he said that they averaged like 15 contacts a week or more sometimes and that they got alreadador of 4 new investigators. so we put it to the test and found a ton of news this week it was funny when the first door we knocked a young man answered and smiled when he opened the door and saw us.   we asked if he would like to hear more and he said i would love to i talked with the missionaries like three years ago and then moved out of town for  like a year, and when i got back i never heard from the missionaries again until now when you guys knocked my door. after that first contact it was all up hill. we found many other people that said the exact same thing, oh my parents are members of your church almost all of them gave us citas for this week so we are really excited to find out wich ones will progress.

I feel like this would be a great area to finish my mission but the way our president works he changes us about every 3 or 4 changes, and for some reason or other he loves changing elders from their area one or two changes before they head home. and its fine because all of the areas are super small by the end of your mission you can get your way around the whole mission pretty well. I think im going to miss the city a ton when i go home im starting to get the hang of buying groceries from the little stores in street corners. and taking public transportation is just so normal now.

Ok more info about my companion he is from neiva, colombia he said its like five hours from the capital. he is twenty one and has been in the mission almost a year, and he playes soccer pretty well, but yeah we are getting along pretty well,

I heard that our investigator from my last area is getting baptized on saturday and she asked if i could come, so i will see if president gives me permision the only down side is its on the other side of my mission so i doubt i will get permission, but right now we have some baptisms planed for the next few weeks and we put some dates last week so we´ll see how it goes.

glad to hear that you had such a good time playing ball, hows the cold weather treating you, mornings are starting to get cold wich is super lame, its like 40 or 50 degrees, but i cant complain its like 70 during the day.

hope you have a great week you guys are the best love you lots, and found a great scripture this week DYC 136:27-29!

love elder jenson.

Nov 24, 2014

 this week was actually filled with some pretty good sleep and some great sadness. depression hit me two nights ago when the zone leaders called me and told me i didnt have changes. i was ecstatic. my comp and i were jumping up and down and we celebrated with the sister that lives in my house. then half an hour later president called me and told me that i would have changes and that i needed to pack up my stuff and head out the next day. i was so sad. until the next morning of course because then i just was ready for the chance i would have in the next area. so i got changed with an elder that is from colombia, whooo His name is Elder Henao

and he is a stud. he is about to hit a year in the mish. so if you had to pick an area to send elder jenson where would you send him.... based on my mission to another hill, but no even better i got sent to the airport area. i try not to get distracted to much by the low flying planes that pass by every five minutes. and it is a pretty sweet area, definitely better than my last few areas and its in the districto federal, so thats nice. im going to miss my hill so bad...

So p-day wednesday, and what do i do? well go to the zoo of course and it was a ball, i forgot my camara in the house when i came to write so you will have to forgive me, next week i will send about 20 pics and 4 or 5 videos. dont have wifi inthe house any more so i have to wait until monday. just kidding i found it. this email will be short cause im going to send pics. but im really happy hear. and super excited to work with my new comp. ok i lied again sorry the pics wouldnt upload... so lame next week promise lots if internet is fast.

love you all so much and i hope thhat you have a great week!

Nov 17, 2014

and btw i will write next wednesday we will ahve p'day after changes.

On Mon, Nov 17, 2014 at 6:06 PM, Jeffrey Jenson <jeffrey.jenson@myldsmail.net<mailto:jeffrey.jenson@myldsmail.net>> wrote:
glad to hear that things are going alright over there, sounds like i might have to take savy for some ice cream when i get home. although i wouldnt be to concerned just tell her if she wants to live long and happy she has to listen to you guys its a commandment.jaja love you savy be happy all the time. im a little scared to come back home now that some of the children of my parents can use a gun....

Well this week went alright. first i had divisions with the zone leaders and it went really well ha i contacted one guy that had lived in the united states for 15 years. he was part of a gang in los angeles and spoke really good english. so hopefully he can keep listening to the missionaries. seemed more interested in speaking english than anything, but im sure he would be a good investigator. in my area everything has been pretty chill we have some investigators with fechas for 2 3 and 4 weeks from now stoked for that if i dont have changes this  next week. and my district is working great.

I also had the opportunity to interview an amazing girl whose parents arent members, she goes to my church so i have been able to know her story a l ittle. her parents are really against her being baptized and it actually caused her fecha to fall through, but she should be baptized this week, back to the point, she has had to make some really dificult decisions, all of her family drinks and goes to parties and she is with them and when they offer her drinks she says no i dont do that any more, not many twenty year old girls that are that dedicated, then she goes to church by her self quite often, and somtimes brings her sisters to the sacrament meetings. last saturday her dad wouldnt let her but she is pretty determined to get baptized in the next two weeks.

also stake confrence was this week and elder anderson spoke to us via satalite, it wasnt as cool as when he came but it was still a great message, and they talked to us about the importance of tithing temples and service, all the sacrifices that we have to make as members of the church which are really just letting god bless us.

mom and Dad hope you have a good week i love you tons. y a los demas de los hijos de mis padres, pórtense bien y espero que sepan que los quiero mucho!


con mucho amor elder Jenson ( cuando me preguntan como me llamo yo les digo elder Handsome. es muy chistoso cuando entienden un poco de ingles. bueno les quiero a la luna y de regreso.

November 10, 2014

This week was great for me down in mexico, and by great i mean that i had some great studies because my comp was sick all week so i was at home other than when i did divisiones thurday. they went great and i cleaned out a nasty fridge, it hadnt been cleaned in like 8 months but we got it taken care of. i cant say much about the week other than the book of mormon is awesome. i started nefi again this week and i love when nephi breaks the cords after praying for strength. that story is one that i feel everyone can use. in a talk by elder bednar he talks about the enabling power of christ, and he uses the story of nefi to explain that sometimes we need to pray not that our problem is changed but that we are changed to handle our problem, i also liked that after he broke free he didnt freak out and beat up his brothers, he was humble and in spanish it says that Nefi perdonó a sus hermanos sinceramente, in english its frankly i do believe. my translation was that he really let go their tresspasses and invited them to correct it with god too, it was a great,  it was great to see his example i dont know why i loved taht story but i really did.

hmm other than that sunday was good until my comp had to go home early because he wasnt feeling well, it was a week to learn patience me hizo falta, then today we played soccer and a little basketball i could still dunk! and we ate little caesers it was sooooooo goood!!!!! made me a little nostalgic but thats fine. valió la pena.


well thats all from me folks i hope you have a great week savy smile for me! and the rest of yo keep being great! love you all!"

November 3, 2014

hahaha we are quite the pair today we played basket ball! it was so much fun elder ferrin is a decent player and i couldnt shoot after shoulder press and curls in the morning.... so it was really close but i pulled out a win! also i could dunk it still on cement on a ten foot hoop hills are definately my friend. i bought a jump rope also so hopin that i can get legs back a little.

this week was really wierd because a few setbacks passed but i am still ok im happy better said. we had an investigator that had a baptism date in two weeks and she moved out of our area... total bummer. but we have  another investigator that is awesome and is asking if my companion and i can both baptize her... she is so fun but we are trying to get her to like the idea of her dad or a ward member baptizing her! i feel as though the mission gives me attributes of bipolarity because i get really sad when people dont commit or dont follow through, but when someone does one good thing it makes me sooooooo happy!

Yesterday we had an interesting moment with a young man that wasnt of our faith he was a friend of the members we live with and he just lost his grandma. he was having a hard time coping with it and so we gave him a blessing and the sister gave him a plan of salvation pamphlet. it was really cool.

dad im not sure about the whole running thing. bridgette told me that she thought i could run a marathon and i said ya know you could be right other than i believe running is a punishment so why would i punish myself...jajajaja made me laugh that you used almost the same wording. but keep up with your exercise you gotta stay around for a while so that when i bring my kids to the gym and we get heated about how to shoot you can come in and teach them with a good form shot with some legs!  love you so much and hope you have a great week

also i will try and send you the video of my dunk. i was happy i could still get it down.

Elder Guapo( Jenson)

Oct 27, 2014

Well this week went pretty well we had some good experiences with our two progressing investigators. first off guadalupe is doing awesome she keeps on progressing and we are hoping that she gets baptized next month. also melania is doing really well this week we have talked about some great topics with her and we even had the opportunity to talk about the problems of worshiping idols ( or saints and virgins) which is a really touchy subject. but this week was great as far as good investigators go.

ha ha well last week i worked super hard with elder guachalla and we contacted a bunch, the problem is  that when we went to the next appointment no one was home... its sad because they always seem really interested but then they just arent . Well like they say the gospel will be preached to every kindred and tounge and all i can do is hope they accept. but dont worry the animo is still high and we are working hard down here!

Other great news the other elders baptized this week it was so awesome! they baptized a young man named danniel who was super prepared to be baptized! after a great service we were able to talk to melania and she asked if both of us could baptize here she is awesome!

fun stuff this week: first off this week is daylight savings time. so get to wake up later and im loving it.  today played soccer and the gringo

Not entirely sure that Habaneros will be the post mission food of choice

s won! then a family invited us to go eat tacos at their house, Elder gomez from the dominican republic and I ate Habaneros and cried dont worry i have a video and pics but i dont know if they will get there because the video was like five minutes long. we got a good laugh out of it but golly gee it was sooo hot! i was ready to just die because i chewed it up real good.

well short letter. not much to tell from this week it was just good and fast! hope you all have a  wonderful week love you all so much!

Oct 20, 2014

They say that lightning striking twice in the same place is very unlikely right... well this week Elder Anderson came and spoke to my stake!!! talk about suerte. our mission president called my district the apostle magnet because we heard from two apostles and have an ex-setenta in our ward. it has been so great to hear from apostles and their messages have been spot on for what our investigators needed! like you said dad the experience of hearing from an apostle can really inspire you yesterday we had a really nice day. frist we heard from the apostle and he told us about faith it was great. then i ate at our ex-setenta´s house, and we talked for about an hour and a half about deeper doctrine in the plan of salvation. it was a really interesting conversation. and then it rained on us all day but since we just heard an apostle and talked with our ward mission leader we got our fannies in action and started to work in the hills. we met one lady who was searching for christ now that her kids were getting to an age where they would start making there own decisiones and so we talked to her about the plan of salvation especially agency and the atonement. she was really excited and we get to talk to her this week!

other great news. We have another progressing investigator! now we have two with baptism dates! i have to say it has been a huge blessing to have members working with the two really good investigators that we have. and right now we are trying to get on track to have baptisms until christmas! wont be easy but i think we can do it!

 also fun service of the week we cut grass!!!! with a machete! I have never felt so legit while cutting grass. the only down side is that my comp almost let it slip and almost cut of my arm... but hey almost only counts in horseshoes and handgranades. it was a good service though the grass had been 4 or 5 months with out being cut , so we were dead tired after cutting for two hours.

Today i got the chance to go and visit san juanico. it was so great. i got to see some of the people that we helped come back to the church and they are all active and have callings! it made me so happy to see how much happiness they had to tell me that they were going to church and working hard in their callings. i know that God uses us a tools when we work and it feels good to see the fruits of our labors. but the real hope is that they get to the temple so we shall see!!!

i love you all so much and i hope that you ahve a great week be safe!

elder jenson

Oct 13, 2014

Elder oaks came to our Ward and it may have been the only Ward he visited. but it was an experience i will never forget. i really could feel the spiritual presence that he brough to the Ward, The day went like this. we showed up to the sacrament meeting with our investigator Guadalupe!!!!! and it was a fast sunday. the first counselor got up and he gave his testimony. then the bishop got up and said he had some anouncements  first he said that we needed to follow some rules of the church such as not ask apostles to sign scriptures, himnarios, and other things. then he said that Elder Dallin H. Oak  would be going through clases today with the área president Elder de Hoyas. how cool is that. so they walked through classes and while i was giving the principios class with Elder Ferrin our comps came in after a trip to the bathroom and said they had shaken hands with an apostle. so then priesthood started and he was in the room but left with the Young men. so in elders quórum he came into our class the last fifteen minutes to planchar con amor.please translate dad... but he gave a great message through a translator about how the melquesidek priesthood should be working with the Young men in the home teachers programs. it was pretty cool. then at the end he was leaving and Elder Gomez went up to him and said that he wanted a picture to send to his mom who wasnt a member. Elder Oaks agreed but under the condition that he could take pictures with all of the elders. i was giddy like a Little kid.

So this week was interesting and mom dont worry and dont feel bad i know you did what you needed to and Heavenly Father had your back i was perfectly back to normal by thursday. or friday and i dont even need medicine any more it was pretty cool and the only side affect was that i was super tired all week but we worked hard! and we have a new family that could be progressing. so im pretty happy about how that went.

what else cool oh yeah this week Guadalupe is progressing greatly and accepted to live the Word of wisdom. I really am loving to see the small change taking place in her. and she went to church while an apostle was there and enjoyed it! whoooo whoooo!!!! other than that i felt pretty alright about this week we worked hard i dont remember much right now the Elder oaks thing was a really big deal and a great experience! oh and Judd Thompson wrote me back. so everything is good right now!

with love Elder jenson

Oct 6, 2014

Well i loved the conference this weekend or at least the parts that i was concious for jaja. man i get one weekend of gospel teachings and i get sick how lame. but its ok i will read all of the talks in the liahona in when i get them.

so this was a pretty great week other than the sickness but hey we get trials so that we can be made stronger. on the bright side we have one investigator that is moving a long a little bit. her name is guadalupe and she has just loved the message! we taught her the plan of salvation this week and she accepted baptism. i will admit i love the restauration and i probably teach it better but the plan of salvation is my favorite lesson. its the lesson that best explains our relation with god and christ. and more christ´s sacrifice, and eternal families. it probably because it makes me the happiest when it clicks with the people the importance of our families here in the earth and that god loves us enough to let us live together forever.

other cool / fun experience. this week i did interchanges with an elder and we are working with a 5 week program to help investigators progress. so they made this super cool calendar to plan the weeks out, and we went to present it to the investigator. they wernt home. so a little discouraged we left and elder ferrin asked me how much faith i had i said enough to put a baptism date with someone else. so we said a specific prayer and guess what it worked. and not just a little it worked great we contacted and the first person we talked to recieved us and listened to the first lesson and accepted the baptism invitation! super cool

this week was great im definately feeling better and sorry to write late ive had a few bathroom trips so i took a little longer

elder jenson

Sept 29, 2014 Jacob's birthday. great dog story

almost forgot my favorite story of the week but its a little gross. so i went in intercambios with elder Gomez and that kid is crazy he is from the dominican republic but even for their standards he is crazy! anyways we were walking in the street and there was this giant german shepherd in the street dropping a giant doggie treat in the street. i pointed it out to him and he started trying to hold my hand... obviously i responded by pulling my hand away and asking what his problem was. he just said trust me, and so i did and we grabbed pinkies, wierdest moment of my life. before we grabbed pinkies he explained that if we squoze tightly then the dog wouldnt be able to get the poop out anymore. i didnt believe him but it worked the dog walked around squating trying to get the poop out and it couldnt! i couldnt stop laughing. sooooo funny!  then he went on to explain that doing that was illegal in the domincan republic cause it hurts the dogs. definately the wierdest moment of my mission.jaja


haha thats who i thought the bishop would be he is such a great guy. sounds like you are all doing pretty great! and are helping the work of salvation move along just great! i really feel like this was a good week for everyone!

this week was great as have been other weeks. haha a little more stressful but all the same i just loved it! i had the chance go to the visitors center with an investigator this week! our zone leaders told us that our mission president invited our whole mission to bring an investigator to the V.C. with two days of preparation. and we had nobody of our main investigators that accepted our invitation. so we prayed that someone would accept. and we talked with our last hope the day before. She has some dificulties with drugs and is 24 and also told us she thought that missionaries are satanic. so when she said yes we were a little shocked. but i might also add really happy! so we went thursday and when we showed up( after getting lost...) no one was there. all of the sisters were in capacitation so apparently the zls misunderstood the invitation because it was just us. so the missionary couple that helps with the vc told us we could do a tour if we wanted to! it was such a bad tour.... we tried our hardest to give her a lesson about the profets and she kinda stayed with it. then we talked about the book of mormon and living day profets and she kinda lost interest. it was really really bad. then at the end we talked about temples and families forever! it was awesome! and in the end she was kinda excited to learn more. and accepted that if she came to know that the things we taught were true she would be baptized. jaja i know that god touches people´s hearts. the funniest part of the whole trip was when she told us that she was carrying pepperspray just in case we tried to kidnap her....

hmmm what else was good oh yeah we we had our ward confrence this week and it was just great! we had 130 people in church and a couple investigators. one of which was our great neighbor Lupita, since Hna clarita(our dueña) had other classes to go to elder Ferrin and I went to relif society. it was honestly the best class i have been in in mexico. half of the women in the room were crying including lupita. and she was so happy she came. including when we got home she told the sister we live with that she felt the spirit really strong and that she loved it! so we were pretty excited about this week as far as work went!

today i hiked the hill in my area with my district and took like 80 pics. i will send you lots tonight! but really it was so great to get above the city and walk in the mountains. the views were amazing and so was the wild life. i walked right into a spider web.. remember the garden spiders that are huge back home? well these are like twice as big and i almost kissed one of them.. i may have let out a girly shreek and ran away but im still  alive dont worry;) i thought so much of utah up in the mountains hiking. cant wait to do that when i get home!



so i guess i cant complain much i loved this week and am having a great time!
hope you all have a great week! love you all so  much!
elder jenson

Sept 22, 2014

(Brandon was called to be DL again last transfer)

hahaha well sounds like the lake powell trip was a little rough but im glad you had a good time. you guys are so awesome! im glad to hear you made such a great trip out of a tough situation. and dont give up on here. the other missionaries contacted 23 people last week and three said they would listen in another occacion. i love the scripture that says that our joy will be so great if we can bring but one soul unto christ. it is important to remember that god prepares people for us to share with if we are prepared. and if we dont have much success then we might as well keep preparing;) 

so this week was fantastic. but also a little unorthadox first off the 15th of september. it was so much fun. had so much fun as a district. first off we ate with our mission leader and ate enchiladas verdes. so bomb! probably one of my favorite mexican foods! then came back to the house at like 8 and ate posoli with the sister. and with presidents permission the other elders stayed the night with us because the streets got dangerous after about 9 so we watched the testaments in the sisters house it was a fun night!

so the next day was the 16 de septiembre... also known as national hangover day... it was slim pickins in my divisions with the zls. but its ok that happens every now and then. on the bright side we worked our cans off all day jaja i cant complain.

when we finished the divisiones i worked with my comp and we had a pretty good day. and we found some new people to teach just the normal.

the rest off the week was a little rough with rain filled days but we worked hard and had decent success. i am loving work right now. the highlight of the week was when we taught the restauration to a new investigator named victor. i was in divisions with Elder Ferrin. and we taught pretty sinchronozised for never haveing taught together before. coolest part was when we taught the great apostacy with the lights off. then turned them on in the first vision. the spirit was so strong and the guy knew exactly what he needed to do if he was going to recieve and answer. 

today i saw Elder Lefevere and he is doing great it was fun to get to see the big guy again. its so great to see the changes that go on with a missionary in this time. 

other fun note we have had rubik cube races in my district. and right now i am the champ. derek i bet you cant beat my best time of 1´41" ;) haha everything is going great down in mexico and looking forward to another great week!

I love you all so much. its fun to see all that you are doing. i hope you have a great week! 

Elder Jenson

Sept. 15, 2014

haha well im glad that that you guys are doing great and im happy to hear about the football teams hopefully byu doesnt mess things up! haha i couldnt help but think about football today because we played as a zone. it was really fun adn we even had 2 or three really good other players one of them was a saftey for alta great kid guess i cant judge him for living where he lived... jaja.by the way thanks for talking to bucky and worrying about me. ive thought about football a little lately and i really am excited to play when i get back. but im guessing i will have to wait until after christmas to know what the plans are so i try not to let it consume my mind so much.


alright now to the good stuff. the stuff you really wanna hear about the great and fantastic week i had!

so this week went just fabulous again. we have been contacting a ton and not just us in caracoles, but the other elders in xalostoc also. we have had a ton of success lately and im so greatful for it. this week we had a few fun stories.

well first off we had the chance to have our zone confrence and it went just great. we learned about contacting new people, and applying teaching meathods from the scriptures. which i think will be huge this next week.

oh yeah tomorrow im going to go and talk for two hours in a rehabilitation center. im really excited and all because my comp told me to go and contact a girl in the street.

we had had a decent week but nothing outstanding until yesterday. so we were walkin down the street yesterday. and my comp told me to go and contact two girls, all of our lessons had fallen and so i walked over and started talking to them about the church a little, and answered the basic questions, what church is it what do you believe in and where i was from. after the basic chat she gave me her direction and told us we could pass by any time but we put an appointment for martes. so after a little while our other appointments fell through and we got to her street so we decided to look for the house. adn as we passed by she called out elder!!! so we went over and she was talking to a neighbor who we started talking to, turns out he runs a drug rehabilitation clinic and he asks if we would like to come and talk about the gospel for a little while on tuesday. so he gave us a two hour slot for tomorrow. im stoked! and after that we contacted like 3 other people that he gave us the reference to contact in the same street. it was awesome!!!

right now i feel so good about the work. its so fun to talk to people about the book of mormon or prophets in these times. especially because i have a really encouraging comp. of course he has down days too, but he never takes away energy i have to contact people. the only down side is that we have to wait over a month to baptize people so it could be a while till we have baptisms but once we get them going im sure we will do just great.

i love you guys so much and i hope you have a great week wish me a happy independence day, i will send pics when i get some new ones love you all tons!!!!

love elder J

Sept. 8, 2014

Wow sounds like a pretty great week! haha you know whats been on my mind from 10 30 to 6 30 everynight.... i cant wait to get back and play but i still have 10 months dont worry i understand everything in its proper time. i can honestly say that this week was just a week i needed to have first off i got a new comp. his name is Elder Guachalla. the same one that was in my district in Indios verdes. haha we may have been a little excited in the changes meeting. but all that aside. im so happy to have him as my companion and it was just a good call by president.

So tuesday of this week was just great got my new comp and got back to the area. i looked at him and said we dont have a fixed appointment until 8 so were going to go and contact some new investigators. instead of moaning he rose up to the challenge. we headed out the doors of my house with a bunch of pamphlets and smiles joking the whole time. we contacted like 6 people in 2 hours and left with 4 new investigators. i was really excited about the prospects of the rest off the week.

one of the greatest challenges our mission president has given us is to pray "specifically" with faith. so everyday this week we got up and started with a prayer that we would be able to contact 5 people and come out of it with 3 new investigators at the least. and let me tell you i have never contacted so many people in my whole mission in one week. haha one day we contacted 6 people and no one wanted to listen to us. and just as any wonderful day in the mission it poured on us walking from appointment to appointment. haha my comp looked at me and comented " why do we have days like this." so that question lingered with me. we worked hard and prayed with faith so why didnt we have succes? so i just smiled and said" well i think so that we have good stories to tell" asi es. the next day we repeated the prayer and just got to work. we found two new families to teach a total of 8 new people. i know for a fact that it was a blessing for not getting discoureged. ha this week we found 20 new people which was a huge improvement!

Yesterday was a beautiful fast sunday in mexico. and i had the opportunity to bear my testimony about  the plan of salvation. i know that joseph smith was a profet. and the church is true. and the best part is living with our families forever. It amazes me the tranquility that misionaries have being so far from their familes. but the reason for the which i believe is the understanding of this plan that whe gain out here. also this week i had a Capacitacion about sharing the different points of the gospel. somtimes when i contact it is just we teach about jesus and what he taught. and that his church is here in these times. but i tried to focus more on joseph smith, priesthood,and eternal families when i contacted at the end of the week. it was so much fun. 

so im happy with my week i am glad im here. i finally feel why i need to be here and i have the companion i need to do it im grateful for your prayers cause i know that you guys were a little worried after the last little while. but im happy and im ready to go. also in my district i got this new elder named elder farrin. Colby Ferrin, look him up on youtube or in google he has some awesome material.!

love you all so much have a great week work hard and know you are always in my prayers!

elder jenson

Last day con aquino.

 e guachalla.

 con mi corte parezco smart;)
This picture is evidence of why companionships are needed! Missionaries
should never be alone, especially for a selfie!

Sept 1, 2014

wow thats great! you guys are doing great things back home and im so glad to hear that. by the way savy what championship did you win. because thats the only logical reason i can think of to let someone dump ice cold water over your head....

well honestly this week went fine. i went in divisions with elder Gomez from the dominican republic to start of the week. and things went great. we contacted some new investigators in his area, and had a lot of lessons. it was really great because one of the people we contacted was an older man. who taught boxing. we started off the contact speaking about Jesus and the importance of his atonement in our lives. and we pased the fall of adam and why we are here. we had a really good spirit in the lesson even though it was outside and there was alot of noise. we finished divisions thursday.

then it was back to snail town. like i have written its been a little slow with investigators but this week we got a reference to teach a woman that lives in the same house as the gospel principles teacher´s house. she treated us great and we had a beautiful lesson about the plan of salvation. she had many questions about what happens when we die and we answered all of them! this week we should have a lesson with her tomorrow.  this week we will have changes im guessing in the two areas in our ward.

hmmm what else. oh tuesday i went to polanco to renew my visa. as much as i love you all i should be staying another year in México sin problemas. also was a good day but wasnt super perductive because we were busy all day doing visa stuff. this weekend i worked with our ward mission leader, and visited a family that i had never met. it was awesome. we talked with the family for a little while about coming back to church and found like 4 new people we can teach when we go over there.

well im excited for this week and i will let you know if i have changes. i highly doubt it though. love you guys so much have a good one!

August 25, 2014

wow you guys are doing awesome things back there im so glad to hear that! also super impressed that you made it through a three hour party i know that the lord blesses the families of the missionaries.;) so this week was kinda a fun week. 

i have to say the best day of missionary work was definately when i went in divisions with the zone leaders. so i was with good ole elder fike. in his area. and to start off no one was home. so we started knocking games. and we played the word game. it was so funny. the words we were using were just plain silly for the most part. but the strange thing is it was really efective. like 5 of the doors we knocked gave us appointments the next day. and it helped me realize that people are alot more accepting when we are warm friendly and creative about how we share the gospel. 

oh and also that day i ate demasiado. for lack of the word in english. first good sized sandwiches. second sandwiches again at 6 then at 7 all the waffles you could ever eat. it was brutal. i almost threw up after the waffles. and not cause the were bad;) 

so as for my area. we visited some less actives and it was good. its been kinda rough with ivestigators lately if only they were as atracted to me as the mosquitos... and i think the grand total for that day was 46 bites. it was brutal. but you know i just gotta find the groove and we will get some more people to teach. 

ok other highlights of the week well church was awesome! and i have learned that sometimes its just best to make the best of a situation. but we really did have a good sunday.

we had an fhe last monday that was aweosme. other than half of the people didnt show. but the spirit was really strong we talked about how christ is our foundation. and how we need to pray to not be tempted more than we can handle. 

well that was my week. it was really good. im happy and glad you guys are too. i love you all so much and wish you a good week. 

ps. i can honestly say i left some blood and skin in mexico haha! 

elder jenson

August 18, 2014

haha dont worry criss cross life goes on! but i will say im a little sad for you.  derek thats awesome im so glad to hear about your experience. and im sure i will be calling you elder derek a. jenson some day;) haha and why are my little siblings so big? savy is not even close to 30 why is she wearing make up? and i will say im a fan of the lime green socks jax, jordan is too cute, and jacob pretty much boss status on your work status!

well just gonna give you a quick run through of this week. first off we have had like three new families move into our ward and they all live really close together. its been fun getting to know them. one of them we got to know is named olga. and olga lives on the fifth floor of here building. and one day it was raining, and her bed frame was out side. so we went over and helped her take it upstairs. nothing makes you feel outta shape like hauling a wet wooden bed frame up 5 stories haha it was a great service project and i counted it for my exercise that day. 

also we have had a little rough patch with investigators. our beloved contact carolina just told us that she was going to have to wait about 2 years to get baptized. and it made me really sad. but at least i know she will have help and that the seed we planted was a good one. and its nice to know that the ex 70´s family lives in the next block and are good friends with her.

on the bright side well we have been working with members active and inactive. and its been going alright, we have had a little retention. so thats always  nice. 

this last week was the hermanas birthday and it was a fun little diversion. we ate some cake and sang to her. it went really well. and everyone there had fun!

hmmm highlight of studies this week has for sure been a movie about jesuscrist. its word for word the whole book of matthew. and its great to be able to see how he dealt with problems. im problably going to finish tomorrow. but so far thinking about the parables and how they apply to me and how i can apply some teachings better. 

that was basically my life, oh and we killed another rat last night it was kinda exciting. the hermana was scared so bad. but we got it done

love you guys lots and wish you all to have a great week! your the best love you all!

Well the second rat didnt fair much better this was last night

Aug 11, 2014

wow you guys had a fun week! so how is craiger doin in the mission? and dont worry about meddling with tinoco the people here struggle alot with testimonies, its so hard to see almost all of the wards have between 500 and 800 members but between 80 and 120 active members. any encouragement cant hurt to much.

also on the note of sports i think that is one of the biggest blessings that we can have becuase it teaches us so much. the problem comes when you let your children get into sports. thats not a good idea haha. but im thankfull for all i learned in sports. speaking of which have you had any contact with judd thompson?

alright well now to the week. it was a pretty good week. i finished the confrence ensign finally i had been reading two talks a day for the last few weeks and it was so great to hear some of the talks. and that helped me alot to keep myself focused on my purpose.

so this last tuesday one of the young men that is preparing to go on a mission did splits with us and it went great we contacted 5 people and had lessons with all of them, the problem came later when 3 wernt home, but thats fine we will catch them this week:) but anyways during these splits we worked hard. and they were fantastic. it really helped set the tone for the week. one of the biggest blessings was one of the people that we contacted. there is this big yellow house in the area with a lot of money and every time we had ever knocked no one answered. but i said that i wanted to go knock because we were in the street, and what would you guess. a young man of 13 years oppened the gate, and said his parents werent home but that we could try again the next day. so we passed by wednesday and his grandma came out and talked with us a little. and explained the boy was her grandson, and that he had cancer. and now after 3 years he was leaving to live with his parents. I know that the plan of salvation will be such a gift to her, and her family.   it went really well, and she wants to keep listening to us.

also guess who had to talk this last sunday... this guy! our second counselor told us about the talk saturday night. so pretty much rushed to put together a quick talk about the way to salvation. and i told the story of when our priest quorum hiked  in colorado. i went really well and as much as i dislike that hike and as dificult as it was im really greatful for the experince. thanks bishop:) after that we had a barbeque with some members and it went so well. of course it was barbeque mexican style haha we made tacos out of everything but it was great. i dont know if you got the pics one of the members sent you the pics from his phone. but it was pretty great. by far one of the best meals i have had in mexico!

 this week i learned alot about how to be happy that was one of my goals, to be happier. and i found a quote that helped me a ton. " your happiness depends more on the principles you choose to follow than on the external circumstances of your life" that quote has helped me so much i read it when we have a hard time working, or when im haveing just a hard time, and i know that its true. we have lots of choices everyday. and we have a lot of hard times pass, but it doesnt matter what they are if we can find a way to make it positve we can be happy in any situation. i think in the end that will be one of the biggest take aways i hope to have from my mission, is that i can find a way to live how i need to regardless of whats happening around me. and be happy and positive.

i love you guys tons hope you have a great last week of summer.  then you slackers can work work work instead of play play play! haha have a great week i will keep you in my prayers! love you

elder jenson

August 4, 2014

HEY JENSONS! well this week was a little bit better! but first off i wanna tell you how happy i am for everthing that is happening up there you guys are so awesome and have been a good example to reflect on when im having a hard time. so i guess thats blessing number one is knowing i have support back home from you guys! like i said this week was better. even though i got drenched. that was pretty funny and just so you know how great it was i will tell the story.

It all started when we went to visit a family of one of the older sisters. she recently had a stroke. so we go visit once or twice a week. we talked about priesthood and how great the blessings are. then when we finished it started raining. we thought it would pass by fast and so we left. they even let us borrow an umbrella. well about 100 yards on our way the torments came down from the heavens and it started hailing. so we had our next brilliant idea, close the umbrella and run to the next members house. it was only a quarter mile away. so we started running and then we just got soaked. and not just from above. we also got car splashed running on the sidewalk. it was pretty epic! by the time we got to the members house we were so wet it didnt matter any more not to mention the fact that crossing streets felt like a mexican version of the sweet water river crossing. haha. then we retreated to the peace of our house heated up some water and bathed ourselves. it was quite the afternoon.

also this week we had another talk with our beloved second counselor. i love talking to that guy because every time we do i feel inspired and i have a little more understanding of things in life. he thought we were looking a little down one day when we went to eat at there house, and sat us down after and asked if anyone had been bothering us. nobody had so we said no. afterwards he explained that there are some people that are members of the church that poison those around them and especially those who have what they want. be it callings, a happy family, como sea... and then he explained that these people seek power. and when they dont have it it causes them to lash out at those who are doing good things. it was quite interesting to analyze what he said. and even though that hadnt been the problem it made me think of how we should react to circumstances like that.

this week we talked with the woman in the wheelchair that got baptized the first week i was here. and guess what she read the whole book of mormon and in like 2 months! and not just read but understood and analyzed. she is an awesome lady and is waiting a surgery to see if she will walk again. but has a lot of faith and an interest in learning.

im grateful for my ward mission leader, ex 70, super great family we ate with them yesterday and it was so much fun the reminded me of eating back in utah. and i dont know how to explain it but when we eat there the have a little bit of culture of utah and its nice to be able to talk about home with someone that has been there and knows a little bit about the place!

im grateful for the lessons i have learned. yesterday we talked with and inactive ex missionary and he talked about all of the great experiences he had in his mission, a lot a lot of baptisms and success and fun experiences. but hes inactive i couldnt understand. and after joking around a bit we talked about utah and the way things are. he said who knows maybe if i woulda married in the church in the temple things would be different, maybe i would still be active. it was interesting to see his perspective,being off the mission for ten years.

really im happy to be here, things have been a little tough lately, but i know its good for me and will help me grow a lot more than having it easy and in the end i know these two years will pass no matter what i do, so i feel like i just need to buckle down and smile a little more jaja even though i know, "its not all about the fun, ya know"

once again glad for such an awesome family back home you guys are the best! i wish you all the best enjoy your summer while it lasts! then you have to go back to school. love the pictures thanks mom! ttfn ta ta for now!

love elder jenson

Ok luckiest day ever golden ticket and coke with my name on it!!

Of course, I'm sure someone else drank it!! ;)

July 28, 2014

wow thats awesome she shot a pimp and i thought i met cool people! it sounds like everything is going great up there and that you are doing better i miss salt lake. and dont worry about the email this is great.

well this week was slow. not sure how else to but it. i really just am hoping for a better next week. we did have two kinda funny contacts though this week. one my comp was getting back from a leadership training and the zone leaders were talking to this girl coming out of the metro. and so she leaves and we decided we should head back to our area a little while later, right before we left our zl tels us to contact her if we see here by our convi, so we walk over and guess who was sitting in the convi. yep her, so i sat by her and we talked about the book of mormon and the church, and she said we could come over and teach her and her family this week some time! she seemed pretty interested, and had some friends that had served missions so i think we can have some good talks. the second was friday, my comp and i were walking over to some less actives house, he told me, we have 10 minutes until the lesson lets go explore over there and contact some one, so we walked over to this dead end street and a lady that was on her way out from her house stopped the car and rolled down the window, and then she says you guys speak english right and of course we responded yes, then she told us that she would like to talk to us sometime and told us where she  lived.

well also got up to 4 km this week yeah im getting there. haha

i  love you guys tons have a great week! ttyl!

July 21, 2014

why are people so stupid i dont understand. i think that its good im out here or bodies would show up in the creek mysteriously... its so lame that some people act so childishly because they have nothing productive to do with their lives. sigh. ok im good now. Im so glad to hear that your taking everthing so well. and that you can still shoot the lights out. i on the  other hand cant really do anything. im awkard at soccer and my shot is gone, so even if your in a wheel chair when i get home  i will probably lose. but if we play monopoly you better watch out. ive become quite effective at buy and building! jaja so sounds like other that poop slinging chimpanzees life is going pretty great down there. lake powell looks like fun, but dont worry im having plenty of fun in the water, the rain is so beautiful! 

well this week wasnt to bad on this side either. i had some opportunities this week that helped me grow alot. and most of them revolved around a young family that was having some problems. the husband explained to us a little about what was going on in the family and his concerns about possible divorce. and then asked us for our opinion. well as 19 year olds never having been married we shied away from ansering right away. but said we would come back later and talk about how things could get better. so latter that day we headed over to the second counselors house. and he talked to us about marraige and how its a give and take. he also explained the importance of being a provider for our families, and making sacrifices for them. it was an incredible talk. and really helped me understand a little bit more. we came back to talk to the young family and explain the family in the plan of god. the spirit was very strong as we explained about the gift god gave them in their little girl. in the end they decided to try and work harder for each other. and our prayers are with them to make it through  this hard time.  

this sunday our bishop made the comment to us that the mission is worth 15 years of life experiences. because for two year, more than 700 days we are here just in gods work, and all we do is talk to people, and so we get to learn alot. whereas a normal member that uses a sunday like we should use our days. and there are 52 sundays in a year.  the experiance i had this week confirmed that to me, and made me really greatful for the challenges i have faced here.

as far as investigators. well this week was hard. every lesson we had fixed was canceled, and we only had one good solid lesson. we taught the restauration to the best progressing investgator. and it was awesome. but then we never got to see her again this week. 

im pretty happy right now though. i finally am getting some good exercise. i started running and totally ran 3 kilometers every day... oh yeah marathons here i come! mom you cant make fun of me. and after running so much i have come to the conclusion that i could probably walk a marathon faster than i could run it...

well that was my week i enjoyed it im sorry to hear about the lame stuff but the good stuff sounds great. hope you have a great week i love you all so much and wish you the best !

elder Jenson

July 14, 2014 Just past the year mark

1 year selfy.. Yep they get kinda weird as you will see below. He is doing a great job though, and he loves Mexico.
His bed is even made!

this week was pretty good. but like every week it rained a ton. so to start of the week it was a little slow. but i did the best to get more focused this week. everyday i got up and worked out pretty decently, no running so im still fat but now im fuerte-cito;) but i will run when i get a comp that will go with me. also studies this week were great. i studied the confrence talks and mosia 12 hasta 22 and it was awesome. abinidi is a great example of a missionary. and it was so easy to apply his teachings to me. one of the the things that i  liked best about his story is that he had little success, but he testified of christ with out fear knowing that death was imanent, he died with one convert but because of his pure testimony and unshakable faith his convert brought thousands to the gospel. i have been loving my studies they strengthened me this week.

also we had some good times, one day we were with and we played a game for references. and what do you know it worked. we are going to contact references tomorrow. i feel like we are going to progress more and more in this area every week!

oh and i had divisions with  Elder Gomez. an elder from the domincan republic. and we got some work done. and had one of the best days that we have had in a while. i miss being in charge but right now is my time to learn to be humble and learn from what my companion can teach me.

its so great to hear about all the good things that area going on back home! derek congrats on your eagle, music, being awesome. and cristian how is work going. now that its all easy;) youre probably loving the break. ok and all that went fishing please leave some fish in the lake i still wanna go when i get back!

im looking forward to having a great week hope you all have one too. i also am glad for pics from home love seeing you guys.!

I guess that is ok??  I didn't hear of any city
 blocks in Mexico burning to the ground so I
guess fires on the roof must be kind of normal?

At least we know he is eating well!!

0

Just kidding, he says the sister there is a very good cook.

July 7, 2014 1/2 way and the only Jenson in the field now!

well this week was a pretty good one. i was thinking of you guys all week and especially my big brother. Its still hard to realize hes home and that im still here in mexico. but its ok just one more quick year and i will be there laughing with you guys. and then we can ship off elder jenson 3.0 ha ha but i really am glad to have a great family waiting there in my house for me. and i guess i can start with the account of the week.

well lets see tuesday would be a great place to start off with. tuesday i had the chance to teach our investigator while in divisions with Elder Fike, from wyoming, and ya know what we talked about baptism with her and she accepted the challenge. we still have a lot of work to do but i know we can do it. the biggest challenge will be getting her married but i know if she is really looking for the change we can do it! also had a fun night and our family that we live with invited us to eat dinner and drink some atoli. it was fun.

wednesday. well let me see. we got rained on a ton and so we spent a lot of time with members. because almost all of our appointments fell through. but its ok this is kinda a hard time for me because it rains for hours and i feel like we lose a lot of time. i oft find myself thinking of the childs rhyme. "Rain rain go away please come back another day". but oh well this time will pass. time has gone by so fast in this area. i cant believe this is my fifth week in this area. i know decently where im going now and its getting a little better.

thursday. today was the winner of all days of rain. we were on our way to our meeting where we report to our ward mission leader. and one of the streets had 3 feet of water over it. and it was a 4 lane street. talk about traffic jam. it was ridiculous. and we didnt make it to the church. but niether did our mission leader. so we rescheduled for next week.

friday. it was a good friday. and we visited a few less actives kinda a normal day.

saturday. we got a new investigator. and she seems kinda like a fence sitter, but she will listen to us so at least thats something. also we had a family night with a family of less actives, and made lemon pie with them. it was pretty good stuff.

sunday. it was a good fast sunday. and we had a good day at church. then after it was a really slow day.

and today. i bought some brownie mix and i will send you pictures tonight! also got a great excercise in. trying not to come back in too bad of shape... but then again circle is a shape. so i guess im fine;=

well i miss you all ton welcome home cristian. thanks for your great example your an awesome big brother. hope you guys are safe and enjoying vacations! see ya all l8r! jaja bye

con amor,

elder jenson.