Week 7

Whatz up from Brazil?

Things are going good here in the life of elder Jensen.  Loving my comp and my life as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints.   Its a weird life being a missionary but a good one. I know that I am here to spread the gospel that I know to be true with all my heart because I have received revelation from god that this is the one and only true church of god.  And the only thing that I want in my life for the next 2 years is to share this knowledge with people because I know that it is the only way we can be truly happy here on earth.  If any one is reading this who doesn’t know the truth of what I am talking about I challenge you to search out the missionaries and to listen to their teachings and to ponder in your hearts what they teach and to pray to know if their message is true and I promise that if you do this you will be more happy in your life. 

This week was great but really hard, we are teaching a ton of different people.  Its crazy constantly inviting people to come unto Christ by repenting and by being baptized. 

On Tuesday we taught a huge family of like 8 people the first lesson and it was really good.  I talked about how the joy the gospel brings our family and how I know that we have such love in our family because of the gospels. I carry with me the picture of our family that we took in Africa after we climbed Kilimanjaro and I show it to almost every one because people love pictures here. There is nothing more that I miss then my family.  I think of you all a ton all the fun times we have had in Breckenridge, over holidays and birthdays, the adventures we have had together.  I am so glad that I was born in to the gospel and that I have always had this knowledge in my life.

On Thursday we taught English in the morning it was really fun.  haha. the house we live in is owned by a guy who teaches English so we went with him to talk with his students. They all said “I like” a lot and “very nice” haha  It made me think about my Portuguese and how funny I must sound to people. 

On Saturday, we helped the bishop move to his new house.  He lived on the 4th floor of an apartment building with no elevator so you can imagine I am really sore.  My comp and I got to carry all the heavy stuff of course, which included a washer, dryer, couches, a FRIDGE  and 2 dressers it was great fun haha.  But was nice to do some service. The bishop also took us out to lunch after which made it worth it. 

On Sunday we unfortunately didn’t have anyone come to church with us!!!!!  but church went really good.  The stake president talked in sacrament meeting on the Sabbath day, it was really good and for 3rd hour the Bishop talked about the story of Naaman who washed 7 times in the water to be healed of leprosy. (2 Kings 5:10)  He then told us how this story is like conference.  His point was that we will be asked to do simple things by the prophets and we just need to do them.   It was really good, never been so pumped for conference in my life.  

I Hope life is good in the USA and that you aren’t missing me too bad. 

Elder Jensen 

Week 6

Heeeeellllo everyone,

Well this week was really great! It started out kindof rough but its good now.  On Thursday we our teachers and class rooms were changed because they wanted to push us for the last 2 weeks we are here in the CTM.  At first this was like the worst thing of all time because our teachers were awesome and our new teacher Marico is super strict and doesn’t like to have any fun and speaks 0 English hahaha!  After a couple of days we got used to how hard he wants us to work and we all started getting alot more out of class. So it was a change for the better.  Really like all day we study and teach, its alot but like I said really good because its almost time for the real deal.

On Sunday night for our fireside my Sao Paolo East Mission President, President Ferrien and his wife came and talked to the CTM,  it was awesome. Sister Ferrien seemed really nice and Presendent Ferrien is amazing.   He gave his whole talk in Portuguese even though he is an American and would not let the translator translate.  He just said that we should all be able to understand by now.  I could understand him fine but I felt bad for the new kids sitting next me who looked really bored after about 1 minute hahaha  It was great.  He talked about work and how we really need to be diligent, it was an awesome talk.   He said that hard work can solve 99 percent of our problems as missionaries and I believe him.  Afterward me and the other guys in my district went up and talked to him and he was cooler then i thought he would be. Haha.  He served his mission in Rio so he has a fun accent to his Portuguese and he says na alot its like um or a filler word in Portuguese which is really funny.  He's from Utah and loves to ski and loves soccer so I think we will get a long really well.   

We talked about Truman for a little while and he had nothing but great things to say about Truman.  He said how every one loved Truman and that he was a really hard worker and that he was one of the funniest elders he had in the mission.  HE also said, “I miss that kid.”  He also really hopes that he will be able to make it back out and so do I!!!  So don’t give up Truman cuz we need you. 

After the devotional we were talking to president Deng about his piano skills and he invited us to his apartment to listen to him play the piano because sister Deng is in Salt Lake.  So 8 of the kids from our district went, it was awesome.   Apparently, he is a concert pianist and his is crazy good.  It was sweet just this old man straight killing the piano. He now writes medley of like 3 hymns joined together they are cool. It was really spiritual and he played a medley of 4 songs that Joseph Smith liked. It was sweet, I felt the spirit really strong.

On Monday we got to go proselytizing and it was soooooo crazy.  Really scary at first but super dope haha.  We placed 4 book of Mormons and all the people we gave them to seemed really interested.  My favorite was this guy named Ricardo who is like 30ish and had a family with 2 little girls.  We talked about how God answers prayers and he was totally into it then we talked about eternal families and he seemed like he really wanted to learn more it was cool.  Hopefully he will call the number and except the missionaries into his home.

Well next week I head out to the field. Yeah baby! I cant wait! kinda nervous but it will be good to start actual being a missionary. I wont have a pday next week, so don’t freak out when you don’t get my email.  

I love you all

Elder Jensen

I will send you my current adress when i get it but you can allways send stuff to my mission home

Aaron is begging for letters.  He has been really good about writing had written letters home. 

AAron's Address

Elder Aaron Jensen

Brazil Sao Paolo East Mission Office

Rua Caa-Acu 229

03171-020

Sao Paulo SP

Brazil 

This is a permanent address for Aaron as they will always forward letters to him, although it make take abit longer.  I will forward his direct address next week.  We have found that letters take around 1 week to get to him and the postage is $1.05

Rebecca

Week 5

Boa tarde 

I hope everything is going well. Things in the CTM are going pretty great. Glad to hear that Nathan is loving Provo, wish I could be there with him to have tons of fun. But thats way too bad about Truman's leg. I have been praying for him like crazy and I know  he can get back out here. So glad to hear that Andrew made it back and thanks for the notes from his talk Mom.

Pretty much the same old stuff has been happing this week.  We go to class alot and learn tons. Its great, but I am ready for the field.  We have 2 more weeks here!!!!! and then its field time baby! I cant wait.  My Portuguese is pretty good and I am starting to just be able to think in Portuguese when I speak it instead of translating it into English.  Its coming a lot easier now and its good to see improvement, but I am still far away from being fluent haha.

Highlights of the week.

The package from Mission Ties was the best; the fruit loops and the skittles were the best part, soooooo goood hahaha.  Thanks so much for that! I need more skittles though.  Send me all the flavors whenever you can! haha  The cookies you got me are like the best cookies in the world but if you eat more then one you feel like crap so my comp and I did some street contacts with the help of some cookies.  It was sweet, we would ask them if they wanted a cookie and then give them a cookie and a pass along card and would then share a message about the church.  It was really fun!  I talked to tons of people.

On Sunday we had mission conference and had a 2 hour meeting where we had tons of good talks. It was awesome, my favorite one was giving by Sister Camargo who is the wife of the 2nd counselor in the CTM presidency and she talked about the story of Lotts wife.  It was cool and she taught about how she was turned into a pillar of salt because she doubted and looked back. Sister Camargo likened this story to us in that we need to not forget about the past but to learn from it and press forward hoping with faith that our futures can be as good or better then our past. It really cheered me up and strengthened me to want to do better.  With everyone starting school again and being at BYU, it kind of made me miss BYU and my friends and I wondered if I would every have that life again.  But this talk made me just want to work harder and press forward with faith knowing that this mission will not only be great and fun but that after the mission I will have more fun then ever before and be so much more successful and happy in my life. 

I finished the Book of Mormon again and I know without a doubt that it is true and I challenge every one to read it and to pray to know if its true. This book will change your life and will bring you more happiness then anything else in your life.  Good week. 

Mom and Nathan’s India trip sounded sweet, but not as cool as Peru. Haha

I love you all

The church is true

Elder Aaron Jensen

Week 4

Dear Family

The CTM  is going good as normal.  My ankle is doing much better and I am feeling great.  This week was a really good week. the CTM is kind of a wierd place and its really easy to get down on yourself here because there is so much to learn but this week I really saw a lot of prgress in myself which is awesome.

On Thursday and friday my companion was sick with the cold that everyone has been getting so he was really out of it which was actually really good for me because i taught like 90 percent of our lessons those days. But i felt really bad for him.  It was cool to see how much Portuguese i knew.  On friday we had our last trc and I taught the investigator that they really need  to feel the spirit and how he can feel the spirit and helped him learn how he feels the spirit,  it was cool.

We had some really good devotionals this week that both taught almost the same thing.  The first one was given by the president of the Sao Paulo north mission.  He is awesome!  He was the first black missionary in Brazil and was really funny.  He spoke in portuguese,  like most of our devotionals,  but when he was telling a joke or a really important part he would just translate his talk himself instead of letting the translator do it haha. It was sweet.  He talked on how we as missionaries will have restrictions if we put them on ourselfs because we lack faith.  It was really awesome and then on Tuesday night Sister Deng (the President of the CTM) talked about how through the atonement of Christ and help of the Lord we can become spectacular and do anything. She used Alma 5:15-16  and it was really good.  She also taught about how we must see the potential that God sees in us in other people and how we must try our best to not judge people by appearances or temporal faults but how we must look for the good in people and see God's potential for them.  It was a really good talk and gave me a lot to think about and ALOT TO WORK ON FOR MYSELF.  It reminded me of the song  "I will posses your heart" by death cab for cutie haha.

Our Brazilian roommate who we call grandpa is getting a little bt annoying.  Hes funny though. He calls me "Capital america" haha which means "Captain America"  Its great but pretty much all he says is "capital america muito loco" (very crazy) and that he is very cold which is funny because its like 75 degrees every day here and he wears a sweater all day.  We keep the fan on at night because we all get so hot and he says he cant sleep because its so cold.  When we told him to use another blanket he yelled noooooo and we asked him why not he said because his blaket is muito bom haha he also gets up at 4:30 because its muito bom (very good)! 

I love you all.  If you are reading this, send me a letter haha.

Elder Jensen

Week 3

Hello family and friends,

I hope all is doing well in Colorado. It sounds like you are having a great time. I hope you don’t get too sad with out Nathan around and hope that David doesn’t go crazy by himself.

Life in the CTM is going well this week.  One of my good buddies from BYU D’Aaron made it here to the CTM.  Its good to see a friend, he’s really excited to be here. His companion is Elder Oaks and yes his grandfather is the Elder Oaks and we are hoping that he will come talk to us cuz that would be freaking sweet hahaha! Life is going pretty well this week. I have been focusing more on my scripture study because its less frustrating then trying to understand past subjunctive tense and the past participle in Portuguese. AAAHHH!  I hate grammar, its hard but I am learning a lot every day.

On Sunday elder Ury, who was the mission president of my mission-Sao Paolo East-came and talked to us. He is awesome and he was wearing the exact same suit as me.  hahaha we looked dope together.  He is American and talked about teaching with the spirit. I felt like his talk was written just for me.  He told a story about a missionary he had in his mission who was a really great missionary.  He was Brazilian and he loved to talk about everything. The focus of his story was on his companion who was a greeny from California who was dyslexic and wasnt very good at Portuguese hahaha!  He told a story about a family who they baptized. The family said that most of the times they had no idea what the American said when he was teaching but all they knew was when he was teaching they could feel the spirit so strong  and how they didn’t feel it as much when the fluent Brazilian was teaching. It was really inspiring and made we want to study the gospel even harder and teach with the spirit as much I could.

This week we are pretending that it is Christmas week just because its fun. It is a tradition in the Brazil CTM.  We sing Christmas songs for the start of every meeting and we are doing a secret santa.  Its pretty much really funny but ever since we have decided that it is Christmas week everything has been going super good.  Last night we didn’t have choir and we got to watch President Monson’s birthday celebration,  it was sweet and then we had cake to celebrate. It was freaking so good mainly because all the deserts here aren’t very good. (interesting since Aaron NEVER liked or ate cake living in America!) Its great. The best part about fake Christmas is that our District Leader hates it hahaha and he gets so mad about it.  Its so funny cuz he’s like the scrooge of the district.

We have been playing volleyball like crazy in gym time.  It’s been dope. Me and Elder Funck from cali have been tearing it up but on Monday I wrecked my ankle like about the same as it was in Peru haha. It kinda stinks but I can walk so it’s fine, its all black and blue, looks good.

I love you guys so much and  hope all is going well. I hope you are getting my letters and PLEASE keep writing me.

Love

Elder Jensen

Elder Jensen with district

Dear Family,

We are pleased to be able to send you a picture of your missionary´s recent visit to the Campinas temple.  The morning they enter as a group is a very sacred experience for them, and it is an experience that is always anticipated with much excitement. We know they will treasure this remembrance. 

It is a great honor to serve with each of these fine young people and to watch their growth as they learn more about their sacred calling of a missionary.  We have a great love and respect for each one of them.

Thank you for your support for them.  They love to receive emails and letters from you, and feel of your love.  We know that your family will feel the blessings of their service.

Sincerely,

President and Sister Degn

Week 2

August 15th

Well the start of this week was kinda lame because I was really sick. I had a really bad cold, tons of congestion. It was not fun but I was better by Sunday so that’s good. The good news of the week is that I am half way done with the CTM. YEA and 1 month into my mission, It feels weird. It’s definitely going a lot faster now so thats good. 

On Sunday Elder Demars, who is crazy diligent and works really hard all the time, gave a talk on why were are serving a mission. It was really good,  he talked about the 5 reasons of motivation 

1. Force being the lowest from of motivation like slavery something that has to be done

2. punishment something that is done because if not you will be punished for it

3. reward something we do for a good out come like money or grades

4. duty we do things because we feel the need to 

5. love, the greatest form of motivation,  we should do things because we truly love them. 

Elder Demars likened it to our motivations for serving missions. We serve because we all love the gospel and love Jesus not because we are forced by our parents or not because we want the blessing of a mission and not even because its our duty we do it because we truly love the gospel and know that every one else needs it. it was a dope talk, I really like it. on Sunday night pres Deng talked about how we must avoid fiery darts of temptation it was pretty cool.  He did a demonstration on how fast darts gun are and he actually shot a real dart gun into a box it was sweet hahaha.  He’s like 80 haha it was awesome!  On Tuesday, an area 70 named President Gadoi talked to us on how we might have doubts about our missions but that we should not worry and that we should just put trust in the Lord and we will be fine.  It was a sweet talk, he also shared his conversion story with us and it was great. Our Brazilian companions left us, which was sad going to miss them but tomorrow we get knew ones so its all fine.  We went to the Campinas temple today cuz the Sao Paulo temple was closed it was sooo cool.  It is much bigger and was really pretty.

Hope everything is going well miss you guys,  thanks for the letters.

Keep it steezy

Love,

Elder Jensen