Hello family
This week was great! Elder Machado and I are really starting to work really well together and things are going awesome here. To start off we had a baptism this week and it was cool. We baptized this girl named Mariana who has been going to church for 2 years with her older sister who is a member but Mariana wasn’t baptized because her mom never had let her. But the story is super cool. So the first day we went over to her house her mom was hesitant to let us in to teach but we got in and taught the first lesson and it went really well. The mom really liked us but she wasnt really interested in the message but we gained her trust and then we focused on Mariana and really pushed her for baptism. It was tight because we taught her all week and she memorized every thing and except for the first lesson her mom wasn’t home, it was just us and her and her grandma and her older sister who are both members. So it was a really good teaching environment. On Friday before the interview we did a review lesson with Mariana and her mom was there and it was awesome. We asked her all these questions and she remembered everything and it really showed her mom that Mariana was ready and serious about baptism. Her uncle baptized her so it was really cool and the best part was that her mom actually came to church so now we are going to see how she feels about the gospel and really try to baptize her as well.
Last Sunday a missionary opened up his call during sacrament meeting to Cutatiba Brasil and it was really cool. His whole family was there including his grandparents who are not members but have been going to church for about a year. The grandpa cried during the service and apparently has been debating getting baptized for a long time but now he is sure that he wants to so it was super cool for him. He and his "wife" aren’t married legally so we are going to help them get married first and then baptize them together so that will be really cool.
We are teaching 3 other families as well. One is a family with a mom and 3 kids 8, 10 and 12. The kids have come to church with us 2 times now and they all want to get baptized but we really want to try to help all of them get baptized together. We might have to do it separately and have the baptism of the kids be a motivation for the mom to go to church and then baptize her the next Sunday But the family is super tight, like really funny and really nice. We watched the restoration movie with them last night and I really think it touched the mom. She is just really busy with work and life. She works from 9 to 7 everyday except Sunday and she is a single mom, she’s a really hard worker and I know that she wants the best for her children. This morning we went over to their house and helped them clean their house and I laid tile in their bathroom which was just cement floor. It was actually pretty good and I am pretty proud of my work, looks way better. It was fun to lay some tile and help their family but I really could have used good old Seth Reardon to help me out! hahaa.
The second family is like a straight up fevela family hahah We were walking through this super poor area and this lady called at us from her window and said she wanted us to teach her it was pretty cool actually. We taught them but only the daughter came to church with us so we will see.
And the third family is a JAPONESA family its soooo cool! I KNEW I would get the chance to teach some Japanese people and this family is super cool. They are a dad, a mom and 3 kids ages 17, 15 and 6. The 2 older kids came to church with us and want to get baptized but the parents are a little bit more hesitant. The dad is actually Buddhist????? no one is Buddhist in Brazil but he is Japanese so i guess it makes sense. haha The family has known the missionaries for a while now but this week when the older boy came to church so we are seeing some improvement. The struggles of their family is that the dad is hardly ever home so its hard to teach them and the marriage is kinda falling apart but I know that the gospels can really help this family and I have faith that with the help of the lord we can really unite this family and get them all baptized and eventually sealed in the temple. That would be sooooo cool like literally my dream because I am pretty sure I was sent to this mission to help this family. There has got to be some way I can connect with the people of my land (Japan) haha I am really trying to get the mom to invite us over so I can eat Japanese food. I miss it sooo much! Mom you should send me Japanese food--what ever you can maybe even curry mix..... idk but I am really excited about the work here and I really want to help these families.
So we started teaching English on Tuesday nights at the chapel and man is it hard to teach. I really stink at it. We had about 12 people show up and it was a wreck so I am not very excited about tomorrow but I have been planning and really thinking about what I am going to teach. Butit will be fun i hope hahah.
This week 3 people have came up to us in the street and just randomly have told us that Jesus loves us. So cool and every time it really makes me happy to be a missionary and to be able to serve the lord its great!
Well got to go but love you all and miss you tons hope all is well.
ELDER JENSEN
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