From Sunny California....

Shelby can drive now??? I am glad I am in California - ha-ha just kidding. If you can put the video of Morgan on my camera card when I send it home in a day or so then I can watch it. I am really glad that Teagan’s surgery went well and that he is recovering well.  I will continue to keep him in my prayers and I appreciate the updates on him. As far as if I need anything there is nothing that comes to mind that I need right now letters are always awesome as are care packages but I don’t need anything. Is there anything I can do for you guys? Please let me know if there is.

I am staying in my area for another 6 weeks - but both my companions are leaving.  So I will be taking over the area and will be getting one new companion, Elder Pina (or pineapple in Spanish). He came out at the same time as me so that is pretty cool.  I have served around him in the past and he is a good missionary with a lot of passion. He has a slight form of autism but from what I have seen he doesn’t have too many weird qwerks but I am excited for it and think it should be a really good opportunity to learn and grow.  Especially because he doesn’t know how to ride a bike, and we don’t have a car which means that we will be walking everywhere - which will make things interesting! ha-ha!

This past week was really good and busy with transfers and people getting leadership calls. Both  Elder Gallagher and Moala got called as Zone Leaders which is pretty cool - though they are both stressing over it a little bit it seems like ha-ha. We also found two new investigators last week. One a 14 year old girl named Fez who we have met with three times and wants to get Baptized, but has to get permission from her parents first. So, we are waiting to hear how that goes. We are also teaching her older brother Isaah who is 17 - though we have only met with him once. He seems fairly interested but he’s just a busy teenager. We actually have a lot of people that we are teaching right now - 9 in total - but we have just begun to teach most of them so I won’t write much about them until I get to know more about them. Thankfully it hasn’t been as hot here this last week as it was the week prior, and we even got lightly rained on which was weird, seeing as the weather here never really changes. But it was a nice change of things - but it was funny to hear all the locals talk about it because they made it seem like it was a huge change ha-ha. People are very spoiled here with their weather. Other than that though I don’t have much to report other then things are going well and probably won’t be as crazy as last transfer which will be good and bad. As usual though I love you guys and look forward to hearing from you. It makes my week and I am always excited to hear from you. Anyways until next time

Love ME!!!!!

Oh and P.S.

My Grandpa, from what I know, is recovering. He’s still alive and getting better I am sure - and thank you for keeping him in your prayers How is Grandma Jeri?

July 8, 2013

Wow it sounds like you guys have been having all sorts of fun back there which is awesome to hear and I am sorry I am missing out. Though I am exactly where I need to be and doing what I need to be doing. Oh and yes, Morgan there are fireworks here, though its crazy. Driving down the street was like driving through a war zone - everyone had illegal fireworks and they were shooting them off in the streets and its crazy. Madison I am still waiting on a letter from you punk - Morgan has you beat by 1 letter right now - that might mean that she loves me more! Just kidding. I know you love me but seriously! write me yo.

My Grandpa had surgery but is apparently recovering really well and should be going home in a couple days (Thank you for the prayers). My parents seem to have taken it ok. They are going to a big family camp this week with my Moms side of the family so that is good. I will also keep Teagan in my prayers.

 As far as this last week went it was crazy as per usual and I cant begin to write it all,  but I will try and do my best. First off in the ward I am serving in as of now (the Colima Ward) the ward is split in half as far as area. There are two sets of Elders in the ward, each set covering one half of the ward. The two sets being Elder Gallagher and myself and Elder Moala and Garrett but sadly Elder Garrett went home early so that left Elder Moala alone - so he is now the third member of our companionship - so all in all that means that this transfer I have had 2 areas 2 trios and 4 companions in total which I have never even heard of before so that's crazy! Although Elder Moala is awesome and one of my favorite Elders I have served around. He is from Tonga originally but has lived in Utah as well and he is a convert. He is also probably the most loving missionary I have met as of yet and makes working out in 102 degrees with tons of humidity fun. The next crazy thing that happened this past week was that we met our new Mission President (President Tew) who is awesome. He may end up being a bit strict but I am actually fine with that surprisingly because I think that he will help the work move forward in this area as well as he is just awesome. We had a testimony/training with him and he has this way of looking into your soul that makes you feel like he knows everything about you. Its crazy but awesome - ha ha. But then after our training we asked him to interview one of our investigators who was getting Baptized that Saturday. The Friday before her Baptism he interviewed her while we had a lesson with one of her daughters.  Sister Tew (The mission Presidents wife) joined us and then after the interview the mother and President Tew also joined us for the lesson - and let me just say that was pressure - but awesome at the same time to have a lesson with an investigator with our Mission President and his wife present. Then Saturday we had a BAPTISM!!! for the 32 year old mother (Grace) and it went really really well. We had a good turn out of people from the ward. The talks were good and her boyfriend Baptized her so it was really good and awesome to see another person join the church and work towards a better life. Other then all of that the rest of the week was pretty normal. Sunday was good and it was a really good week, though crazy.

Thank you by the way for sending me a letter Kathy and my memory card I will send you pictures soon. The Library card is so I can use the computers there to email and go on mormon.org . I wish we could check out books.

I love my mission and feel bad for Kyle that his is coming to an end. I hope my mission doesn't fly by quite as fast as his but I am sure it will - though I am excited to see you all again. Thank you so much for helping me get out on a mission. I look forward to every Monday getting to read your emails and love you and will email you next week .

 

Love Elder Jensen

July 1, 2013

Ok so here is this weeks letter. It seems like you guys have been having a great summer. I am jealous. haha
So I found out today that my Grandpa (My Dads father) had a heart attack this past week and is in the hospital and will need surgery. He's roughly 86ish so keep him in your prayers for me!

Also one request is if I could actually get a hand written letter to my apartment (address is in the email prior this one) I need one addressed to me so that I can get a library card. That would be awesome. April Montiereth is what you would call a mission Mom - she pretty much becomes the missionaries in the wards mother while they are there so that's pretty awesome - they are a really good family.  (I posted some pictures that April Montiereth posted of Chris on her FB page)

As for this last week it was very very hot. As I would refer to it now as "Boiling lava hot" or "eighty hundred degrees" It made working really tough this week and the humidity was killer. It got up to about 102 a couple days and all I can say is I probably drank more water then ever before in my life. I am doing my best to drink 100 ounces of water a day and stay hydrated which I have actually been doing a pretty good job at.

The work though is still good and the people here are more humble and we have a Baptism scheduled for this upcoming Saturday for the lady Grace (I believe I mentioned last week) who is 32 with three daughters who are 16, 14, and 12, and are all nice girls who will probably be Baptized in the coming month. So that's awesome. We have some other people we are teaching right now but no one super serious yet, but there are some good potentials.

I found out today that I am very possibly going to be in another trio with another Elder named Elder Moala from Tonga and he is a really good missionary and fun to have around, but his companion is having a hard time and is probably going home - so that is crazy. Other than that my crazy life as a missionary has been the usual. Anyways though I love you guys and miss you a ton. Time has really flown by and its crazy to think that in a couple weeks I will be at my 6 month mark and will be a quarter of the way done. That's nuts. It will be over before I know it.

But I hope to get a letter from you guys and thank you for the letter Morgan it made my day and your awesome I love you! I look forward to hearing from you guys and will email you again next week
Love Elder Jensen!