well dad this has been a very interesting week. first off it has rained a ton. and i mean a ton. 3 of the nights we had a river that filled the street across from my house, its been a pretty fun week. also we found a new family to teach and i am super excited to visit them. one day we went to an area where there is a little more money. and we went to look for an invesitgator. to get there we had to pass through a gate that only the members of the area can open. my companion asked, as we entered, my companion asked hey what if theyre not home how do we leave? i said there are 25 other conduminiums im sure one of them will let us out. and of course they werent home and befor we went to knock the door this little chubby kid says hey are you catholics? we laughed and started talking. obviously he realized i looked a little different and talked kinda funny so he tried to talk in inglish. it was hilarious but he knew more english after one year of learning than i knew in one year of spanish and he was 10. so after a little his aunt left and said that we could talk to his mom in a few minutes. and when she came out to talk we had a great talk about what we teach and who we are. she is really excited about youth organizations in the church and tonight we are going to a family night with here and a ward mision leader. (who by the way is an ex 70 and an ex mision president. i love my ward!)
as for your question. there are alternating times. sometimes my mission feels really social. and its great i feel like i have made some great friends here in the mission. but i really like it more when its spiritual. i feel good about the work i did when we have a day filled with good lessons. i know it cant be everyday. if it was there wouldnt be any failure in the mission. but the spirit is a great feeling . especially when you can share it with someone else. and intensity idk. also in moments. when people progress i feel such a great need to spread this gospel. but when we have failure its hard sometimes to feel really excited to go out and share these things. i have times when i doubt my self and my spanish and its hard to have faith that they are going to except and learn from someone that doesnt speak that well or has dificulties in teaching. but then there are the times when i am down and something great happens usually a good lesson or a good contact. and i feel so great about everything.
im glad to hear they are stepping up the bar. i really think it will help future missionaries to be good missionaries. or at least those who take advantage of the time they have to learn i know i would have been a lot better off i i would have read all of the old testament before my mission all of the bible really. but i have learned to do those things here and its helped a ton. its really interesting. lately i have had a lot of conflicts of the church cross my mind. and not so much big things the more trivial things. one of the questions biggest here in mexico would be well jesus no dijo nada de eso porque ahora. its really interesting to view it as other people and then view it with a belief in a modern profet that recieves revelation from god. its great to know that we have the privelidge to have a profet in these times.
and well this week was great that first story was the highlight. it was kinda a slow week but im looking forward to picking things up this week love y'all tons!
happy birthday this wednesday mom your the best mom in the whole world. but really. love you so much!
Elder Jenson's experiences as a missionary in the Mexico City East Mission Please send all mail and packages to the mission home. Mission Home Address: Elder J. Brandon Jenson Mexico Mexico City East Mission Avenida 510 #90, Col. San Juan de Aragon Delegacion Gustavo A. Madero CP 07950, Distrito Federal Mexico
Monday, June 30, 2014
Monday, June 16, 2014
June 16, 2014 Caracoles (Xalostoc) with Elder Aquino
hey papi y los de mas de mi familia.
well this has just been a fabulous week. first off what you have all been waiting for..... i didnt get sick this week. oh and in other news. my new area is the Caracoles(area, also xalostoc 1), Xalostoc(my ward) in zone Xalostoc. and if your looking for it just go right over the hill of my last area and thats where im at. and i love it here. the members are so great and active. and its actually a ward! my new companion is named elder Aquino... and have made just about every seminary teacher worthy joke about his name in this week. i.e. elder donde esta? Aqui no jajaja he is great and has 16 meses in the mission. and is my district leader. this week we had a few lessons and my head was spinning a little just trying to get street names down and people that are members and less actives and investigators. i think i should be just fine in about 3 weeks. ;) my new house is with some members. and it has been a party. the hermana is named clara. and she has a son and a daughter that live here,Beto and Luz. its the best because we get to talk with them in the nights when we are done with everything. and sometimes they give us atoli,(a drink like hot chocolate but thick and the flavors vary) its been pretty great. and getting to know some of the members i have been given so much food. i have felt so fat all week. its like one food to dinner to second dinner. to snack to second snack and so forth. but my new area is huge it takes up colonias caracoles, colinas de san jose, la laguna, y la urbana, y constitution. its great.
also this week the world cup started. which means walking down the street every store with a tv is showing games. and mexico won the first one so every one is happy right now! we will have to see how tomorrow goes. brazil is pretty good. also this week it rained and not just little utah rain. we had rivers in the streets while we were workin. and within 2 minutes of walking we were drenched. free showers wednesday and thursday. it was so much fun but golly it poured!
Saturday we had a ward activity and a baptism!!! the baptism took place first. her name was leticia, and is in a wheel chair. Her baptism was quite interesting. first off we had to do visits inthe morning so we left the ward leaders to fill the font. and they did it but with cold water. then the question came of how we were going to do it. so right before we started my companion pulled me aside to another room. and we said a prayer that our bodies would get used to the water fast. and that everything would go well. we lowered the hermana to the font in a normal chair. and tried to do the ordinance. it was a failed attempt because her legs couldnt get under. then what we did was had it so that i held her in my arms and my companion did the ordinance. everthing went A ok. it was a really great experience. in the activity we played sports with some of the members in our mission clothes. and it was fun. and to finish it all off we had a family night/dinner with some less actives.
sunday was great we got her confirmed and everything went great. i am loving my new area. like i said the members a great. and so our our investigators. im really looking forward to working with elder Aquino, and learing what i can in this time. also i got assigned to be the english teacher in my district. basically im in charge of making sure the latin elders, (which are all of the elders in my district) are learning English.
well thanks for sharing the story that was a great experience. you guys are a great family and you strengthen me so much out here love you all tons and thanks for the intent to contact coach thompson.
i hope you all have a great week your all awesome!. i miss you tons and love you all so much and happy fathers day.
con amor,
elder jenson.
p.s. calle cerro gordo #3 colonia doctor gorge jimenez cantu, 54190 este es mi direccion.
well this has just been a fabulous week. first off what you have all been waiting for..... i didnt get sick this week. oh and in other news. my new area is the Caracoles(area, also xalostoc 1), Xalostoc(my ward) in zone Xalostoc. and if your looking for it just go right over the hill of my last area and thats where im at. and i love it here. the members are so great and active. and its actually a ward! my new companion is named elder Aquino... and have made just about every seminary teacher worthy joke about his name in this week. i.e. elder donde esta? Aqui no jajaja he is great and has 16 meses in the mission. and is my district leader. this week we had a few lessons and my head was spinning a little just trying to get street names down and people that are members and less actives and investigators. i think i should be just fine in about 3 weeks. ;) my new house is with some members. and it has been a party. the hermana is named clara. and she has a son and a daughter that live here,Beto and Luz. its the best because we get to talk with them in the nights when we are done with everything. and sometimes they give us atoli,(a drink like hot chocolate but thick and the flavors vary) its been pretty great. and getting to know some of the members i have been given so much food. i have felt so fat all week. its like one food to dinner to second dinner. to snack to second snack and so forth. but my new area is huge it takes up colonias caracoles, colinas de san jose, la laguna, y la urbana, y constitution. its great.also this week the world cup started. which means walking down the street every store with a tv is showing games. and mexico won the first one so every one is happy right now! we will have to see how tomorrow goes. brazil is pretty good. also this week it rained and not just little utah rain. we had rivers in the streets while we were workin. and within 2 minutes of walking we were drenched. free showers wednesday and thursday. it was so much fun but golly it poured!
sunday was great we got her confirmed and everything went great. i am loving my new area. like i said the members a great. and so our our investigators. im really looking forward to working with elder Aquino, and learing what i can in this time. also i got assigned to be the english teacher in my district. basically im in charge of making sure the latin elders, (which are all of the elders in my district) are learning English.
well thanks for sharing the story that was a great experience. you guys are a great family and you strengthen me so much out here love you all tons and thanks for the intent to contact coach thompson.
i hope you all have a great week your all awesome!. i miss you tons and love you all so much and happy fathers day.
con amor,
elder jenson.
p.s. calle cerro gordo #3 colonia doctor gorge jimenez cantu, 54190 este es mi direccion.
Monday, June 9, 2014
June 9, 2014
The BAD. i think its always better to start of with the bad news for the week. well i got sick again this week. i ate some chicken tacos with fanta and it tasted a little funny both times... thursday i couldnt work because i threw up and had a fever all day. i was in divisions with elder easter and we had just finished a decent day. then we got some chicken tacos and at about two in the morning i jumped out of bed and ran into the bathroom got the door open and just lost it.... yeah it was a mess and i cleaned it up but you know life is life. round two happened around 4 and wasnt so bad. also i got athletes foot or something that looks like it. it was a pain in the pie. ;) but they never said it would be easy just worth it...
The MIDIOCRE news well Im getting changed. its been a great seven months. and i have gotten to know and made some great friends in this area im going to miss a lot of people. but i have been here a long time and am ready for the new experience i will have to work in a new area. to make some changes personally in this time and hopefully help some others to come unto Christ.
And THE GOOD:) well this week was filled with so much good that the bad is just funny. first off i had the chance to go in splits with the zone leaders. We worked super hard in their area. and i felt the spirit so strong in so many lessons. we went to a house of less actives that they had never been to before and knocked the door. an old man came to open the gate and we asked if he had some time he said that right now no but another time it would be ok. well i was doing all i could to keep the dam from breaking... so i asked" well can i use your bathroom i really gotta go!" he looked a little surprised but told me to come in. so i went in and used the bathroom. it was a blessing because i wouldnt of made it to the zone leaders house. when i came down my companion also had to pass to the bathroom and so i started talking to the old man and an old woman. and asked how they came to be members. they told me they werent... so the game began... i asked if i could share a little of what we teach and the old man said no. so then i started talking to the old woman and she was a mother of 7 and 5 of her kids are members. so i started right in on the plan of salvation. she shared some doubts of the plan after we die. in the end she seemed pretty excited to learn about all of what we had to teach. it was really cool!
the GOOD continues. This week we also had two other investigators accept baptism dates for the 29th im so excited they are all improving so much and love what we are teaching. then we have a whole other family that just moved in. and they are a mom and her two children a boy and a girl. and they came to church.! speaking of church this sunday we had 95 people in the church thats a lot for my little branch and i dont think it could have been a better leaving sunday. i love these people they are the greatest!
well today i have to get packing and say good bye to some of the families. hope you have a great week and that youre all well.
Monday, June 2, 2014
June 2, 2014
hello family. well today was quite the day. and its fitting after this great week.
first off the week. tuesday. it was a really great day. we worked our cans off and had alot of lessons in splits. it was a great week for finding people to teach and we have a baptism date for the end of this month. im really excited because alberto seems so interested in the gospel and our lessons. its been quite the week to see what we have been able to do as a district. this week everyone had a bunch of lessons and Santa Isabel Tola had their first baptism in over a year! which was quite the experience the man that got baptized was so ready and has such a great testimony.
I had a pretty great experience this week too. i passed by some of our investigators and they were outside their store playing football in the street and so we started playing catch. well it caught some peoples attention. and they came over and started talking to us. so we shared what missionaries and what the church is for about 30 minutes and got a new investigator. who seems really excited to talk with us and is a really family centered guy. but i can honestly say i never though that playing catch would help me contact a new investigator.
And last but not least today pday i got the chance finally to play golf with president and 6 other elders. it was fun. the first 9 holes i was in presidents group and it was ok but two of the people in our group hadnt played before so we taught them how. then president and the 5 elderes. went home and it was just elder easter and i. Just so you know elder easter played golf in byu hawaii. so being a humble jenson just like my dad taught me i started talking a little before we played the last 9. and this was after i just looked terrible swinging a club for the first time in 11 months. so we started playing and i can honestly say this is the hardest course i have ever played. the fairways are really narrow and the greens are fast. but some how we played equally terrible and shot a 49 which i dont feel to bad about cause this course was really dificult. but we had a good time.
im so greatful to have such a great family your the best one i coulda asked for. and dad thanks for the advice. i feel better about my situation now. i love you all tons have a great week!
first off the week. tuesday. it was a really great day. we worked our cans off and had alot of lessons in splits. it was a great week for finding people to teach and we have a baptism date for the end of this month. im really excited because alberto seems so interested in the gospel and our lessons. its been quite the week to see what we have been able to do as a district. this week everyone had a bunch of lessons and Santa Isabel Tola had their first baptism in over a year! which was quite the experience the man that got baptized was so ready and has such a great testimony.
I had a pretty great experience this week too. i passed by some of our investigators and they were outside their store playing football in the street and so we started playing catch. well it caught some peoples attention. and they came over and started talking to us. so we shared what missionaries and what the church is for about 30 minutes and got a new investigator. who seems really excited to talk with us and is a really family centered guy. but i can honestly say i never though that playing catch would help me contact a new investigator.
And last but not least today pday i got the chance finally to play golf with president and 6 other elders. it was fun. the first 9 holes i was in presidents group and it was ok but two of the people in our group hadnt played before so we taught them how. then president and the 5 elderes. went home and it was just elder easter and i. Just so you know elder easter played golf in byu hawaii. so being a humble jenson just like my dad taught me i started talking a little before we played the last 9. and this was after i just looked terrible swinging a club for the first time in 11 months. so we started playing and i can honestly say this is the hardest course i have ever played. the fairways are really narrow and the greens are fast. but some how we played equally terrible and shot a 49 which i dont feel to bad about cause this course was really dificult. but we had a good time.
im so greatful to have such a great family your the best one i coulda asked for. and dad thanks for the advice. i feel better about my situation now. i love you all tons have a great week!
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