Growth

Good morning everyone! I hope everyone is good there. This week has been cloudy and cold, especially at night. I really like it when it is Spring here. In the morning, it is perfect. In the day, it warms up a bit and at night, again it is a bit nippy. I like it.

This week... Just like all the others... passed super fast. Good things happened, but it just passed super fast. We are almost in April and General Conference weekend, then comes Mothers Day and the phone call... And then a couple months later I end my time as a missionary for the Lord Jesus Christ. I love my time as a missionary. It is the best thing ever. I have come to know my Lord Jesus Christ more and I have learned even more, the importance of obedience and of the church in general.

So, this week

-The biggest thing that happened this week was on Friday, Elder C. Scott Grow (2nd Counselor in the Area Presidency) came to Santa Cruz and we were with him the entire day. We learned a lot from him about the Lord’s way of working in The Work of Salvation and about the personal revelation. He shared with us that we have to have more faith and more patience, and if we depend on Christ, the Lord will help us know the goals to set, the plans to do, and the words to say in this grand work. It was seriously so great.

I realized a lot of the time, I need to have more faith and more trust in the Lord that He will help ME... I know He will help all of us, but I need more faith and more trust that the Lord will bless ME specifically with what He wants me to do. It was really helpful and I learned a lot.

Another thing, we had the opportunity to have a question and answer with Elder Grow. One elder asked him what the difference, or what does it mean to be a special witness. Elder Grow explain that he had been set apart to testify that 1- Joseph Smith is a prophet of God 2- The Prophets and Apostles of today are truly prophets, seers and revelators and 3- of the Lord Jesus Christ. He then went on to bear his testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ. The most powerful testimony I have ever heard in my life. I wish I might be able to have a stronger testimony like him.

It was one of my favorite conferences in my mission. I loved the entire thing. The spirit was so strong and we just sat there for hours, listening and learning from the servant of the Lord.

Another thing that has happened this week... The mission is changing. It is a different mission from when I started. New rules, new way of working, and now... Even the leaders are changing. The transfer is this Wednesday, but when we were all together, President Willard announced who would be the new assistant... The new assistant is a newbie in the mission, with just 6 months in the mission. Never been a District Leader nor a Zone Leader. That is the huge news in the mission right now... President says that a lot of changes are coming... That this is the transfer when everything changes. It is exciting to see the changes.

We are working with a Less Active family... Angelo and Tamara Gutierrez. They have been less active for 5 years, but now we are teaching them and they want to come back. When we taught them the first time, I felt like it was super important to talk about the temple and the eternal family. They loved it and the spirit was there, testifying of our words. They have put the goal to go to the temple and to put their lives in order. It will be a struggle, since he smokes and has other bad habits, but through Jesus Christ, anyone can change.

I hope you liked all the photos. I will send a couple more.

Pictures:

My jersey that we had made in my last zone. Just thought you would all like to see me… Haha.

A drink they make here in Bolivia. It is called Mocochinchi.

it is just a dried peach with cinnamon and other stuff, and water. It has a weird flavor, I didn’t like it when i got here, but I love it now. It is always just super cold.

I love you all so much!

Until next week!

Photos of Carnaval

Hey everyone.

I hope everything is going well there for ya´ll. 

The weather is beginning to change here in Santa Cruz. It is a bit colder and windier. Which I love. 

My week was really good. I truly have a learned a lot of things. You can never stop learning new things and that is what I love about the gospel... There is always more. 

This week, we just worked our butts off to try and find new people. We honestly just asked everyone who they knew that could benefit from our message. We just talked to everyone. 

A couple new people that we are excited to teach are Lupe Costas. She is an 18 year old girl who lives alone, is super Catholic, but open to reading the Book of Mormon. We left her homework to read the pamphlet of the restoration and she read the entire thing, which is super rare here in Bolivia... They are not the most ¨book-reading¨ people. Mostly they love to just watch movies. Haha. 

Umm... There is also Ingrid and her 60 year old uncle, Julio. We met them yesterday and they just openly let us in their home and we taught them a bit about the gospel. They said that they really liked what we have to say, and they want to continue listening. 

I am sending a lot of pictures, so I hope it makes up for the fact that I dont have a lot of things to say.

I had another interview with President Willard. We talked more about how I am doing and how I can continue to trust in the Lord and walk with Him. I know the church is true. The Lord Jesus Christ lives. I have never seen Him, but I know Him. I know Him and I continually get to know Him more and more as I pray, as I study the scriptures and as I continue faithfully in His work. He has rescued me. He has poured out his eternal light in my life. I love Him and I honestly don't know how I can ever repay Him for what He has done for me and for our family. 

I love you all so much! Bye!

-Elder Jensen

                                               Us up on the roof throwing water balloons at passerbys. It was fun. 

                             
This is what the Bolivians do during the three days of Carnaval.. They get in groups and go around throwing water balloons full of whatever they can find (paint, water, oil, mud, dog poo, hot sauce... Anything and everything) It looks super fun when it is just water and paint, but super gross when it is other stuff. 

Us up on the roof throwing water balloons at passerbys. It was fun. 
During carnaval, I borrowed the keyboard from the ward. I taught myself how to play the piano a bit. I can play a couple hymns, but just with my right hand. I want to keep learning and play really well after the mission. 

Elder Ure, Elder Torrez, Elder Woolf, Elder Castro, Elder Revolorio y yo, Elder Jensen

                                     All the elders together during carnaval. We ordered pizza. It was great. Haha. 

                                        
Haha, I had a lot of time on my hands during Carnaval, so I thought I would send a picture of my elbows... That I am still a freak and I think it is getting worse. Haha. 

A new sport I learned. During carnaval, the stake president (who lives in the apartment right next to us) asked permission from the mission president if we could go play with him. We went to a place nearby and learned this new sport... Fronton. It is super fun. It is like tennis, except you play with the wall in front. I want to play it in the states. 

I'm Back!

Howdy there!

I hope you all didnt have a hard time last week not hearing from me.
We just sat in our house for those three days... Just talking and
hanging out and throwing water balloons off of our roof. That was fun.
But, I missed you all.

So, just an update, since dad asked me to catch him up. Still here in
Guaracal, with my guatemalteco companion Elder Revolorio. He is good.
He only has 5 months in the mission, but is a good guy. He wants to
help the people and he wants to work. I am happy that I am with him.
We live with 4 other missionaries, which is always super fun.
My area is the first one that I have had with the majority of the
streets paved, so it is a bit more of a challenge to find people to
teach, since the people have more money and just think they know
everything. But, it is just fine, since I feel like that is how
everyone is, no matter where they live in the city.

This weekend was Stake Conference. And basically every talk we heard
was about the Work of Salvation. The church is pushing big time for
the missionaries and members to work together to go to the rescue. In
my ward and basically in every area, the members here have a lot of
desires to help, but they havent really mastered the whole, turning
desires into actions part. So, it is a bit hard, but with patience, I
know they will begin to change.
We live right next to the Stake President, and he was saying, since
the change in the way we work, the stake has seen a big increase in
assistance... More people are coming back and more people, who are
baptized, are staying in the church. It is so great.

My Mission President is still great. We have seen a change in him...
He is a bit more harder on us than he was before. But still, I love
him and I think this week, I will be having an interview with him.

I love studying the words of the prophets. Lately, I have just been
studying the Liahonas and the general conference talks. I always love
them and I really do feel so thankful that God loves us enough to give
us more direction and help in our lives. We have a living prophet
today that recieves the word of God to help us along in this life. I
know that Thomas Spencer Monson is the prophet of God and I know that
the apostles are also special witnesses of the Lord Jesus Christ. I
know the Church is true. I can feel it in my heart and I can feel it
when I read the words of the prophets. Their counsel and wisdom is
exactly what we need to follow.

I will be sending pictures about what we did during carnival... (pics wouldn't send ugh)

I love you all so much. I am sorry that I dont have much to say... I
am boring. Bye!