Week 14

Yeah Aya!   I knew she would serve a mission, that makes me so happy I can’t even stand it. I miss and love her tons. I cant wait to her that she is coming to Brazil, the best mission in the world where the people are nice and the spirit is strong!

This week has been awesome.  On Monday night we had our last district meeting with de Olivera, it was really good.  I got up and talked about how much he taught me and how I was going to miss him tons, he was a really good trainer. I might have cried haha but it was cool.  Afterward I got kind of trunky and was talking to my ZL about how long I still have and how it’s never going to end.  Then I had one of the best experiences on the mission yet.  He asked me one question that really changed how I think it was great.  He asked, “But elder think of how many people you will change and how many people you will save.”  It really made me want to be a better missionary and made me glad to still have a lot of time on the mission.  Then on Wednesday, I got my new comp, Elder Payne, who is  super cool from Cali, he’s kind of like Andrew but with a really big head.  He is excited and really happy about every thing, we work well together and I already love him tons.

On Sunday we had 2 baptisms.  The first was Dalcio who I baptized, it was soooo cool. I was super nervous because he has like 5 names just like all Brazilians. But I did the prayer and got him under the water the first time.  When we got into the bathroom he said “Elder fui awesome” It WAS awesome! It was really great when I was in the fount the spirit was super strong and I know that he will be a great member and in about a year a killer missionary. so cool! 

We also had a surprise baptism.  Her name is Terisa,  she is the 47 year old Mom of a really strong family in the church.  I think her husband the high Priest leader.  She has been investigating the church for 25 years, been coming to church on and off and taking the lessons every once and a while. On Friday we got a call form the ward missionaries who are apparently awesome, saying that they need us to come interview her so she can be baptized it was really cool. Her husband baptized her and it was such a cool experience.  About half of the ward showed up for the service and it was just really spiritual.  Tonight is the last night that de Oliviera will be here with his parents so it should be fun but sad to say good bye to him.  I’m going to miss him tons. But all is well here in Brazi,l loving the work and missing everyone in the states. 

Sorry for my short letter.   

Elder Jensen 

Dad, that is awesome about your investigator.   There is nothing like finding teaching and baptizing people I love it!  Good luck with every thing. Also yeeessssssss Gangnam style is like the best song ever, we hear it like 10 times a day here and we all know the dance haha.  Every time we ride the bus we just start doing the dance.  I love it  but Elder de Olivera says that garoto, the little boy is totally future Benu.  Haha.  I cant believe this song is popular in the states, that makes me so happy 

Also I found my camera so its all cool, don’t fret.  Thanks for the birthday money idk when I will use it.  I did not get the Halloween package maybe some one will grab it for me from the mission office  this week during transfers.  For Christmas I really just need a thin pair of flat front pants 32 30 also ties I love ties haha. I don’t know what else.  Thanks for every thing. 

Week 13

Dear Family,

First Baptism of the Mission

On Wednesday, as a zone we did a fast for baptisms because numbers are way down this month. So we spent the whole day just contacting people and asking for referrals it was cool.  At like 4o'clock we were both dead tired and sick of talking to people and were all out of ideas of what to do so we prayed and asked to find out where  we should go.  After the prayer we both thought of Drica,  a girl in our ward.  We went over to her house and asked her if she had any friends we could teach and she was like Yea! I have a friend her name is Dauany.  Elder de Oliveira had taught her 3 lessons last transfer but her Mom made her stop taking the lessons for some reason. He didn’t really explain much, story of my life here, haha.  So that night we went over to her house with Drica and taught her mom who apparently was baptized about 20 years ago but then fell away because a bunch of stuff that happened and she got offended for some lame reason idk.  But we taught the first lesson and man was it dope! It was like the spirit of God  like a fire was burning!  The mom ended up crying and admitted that she knew the church was true it was really cool.  Then the next day we taught Dauany and she committed to being baptized that Sunday!!!! She had already attended church 3 times so it was all good.  We taught her all the commandments and then on Sunday elder de Oliveira baptized her.  It was great, the service was good, the spirit was really strong, but the best part was after.  We have also been teaching this really smart kid named Dalico who is 19 and is like going to be a future bishop, he is so great.  We have taught him  4 lessons and he came to church with us and is he is planning to be baptized, he was also a referral  we received on the day we did a zone fast.  After the baptismal service, Dalcio and I were talking and he asked me to baptize him next week!    I was just like yeeaahhhh!  jumping around the church freaking out.  It was great.

On Monday we did splits with our zone leaders, it was sick. I went with elder Atikin who is just like uncle Rich.  He's so funny, happy and super dope. he's 27  and is from Northern California and way trunky, he has 7 months left but all he talks about is home and what he is going to do when he gets home, he has like ever hour for the first 2 weeks planned exactly out.  We went to this area far away where the elders were struggling so we could help them get new investigators.  It was pretty fun, first we went out to lunch and I let him order for me, I was just like yeah dude like what ever you get I will eat..... worst choice of the mission haha.  We both ended up eating this stew kindof stuff that consisted of mostly cow intestine. It was pretty gnarly.  I almost barfed like 9 times hahaha but I ate it all cuz we never know when the next meal is going to be, so you got to eat. 

After that, we made like a bunch of contacts it was pretty fun just because Elder Atikin is crazy fun.  After like an hour or so we meet this member who gave us 15 referrals, she seriously knew like every person in the whole area.  So then for the rest of the day we just tried to contact and find these people. We taught the first lesson like 6 times in one day and it was dope and we got alot of good new people for that area.  Really sad but my dad,  Elder de Oliveira is going home!!!!!! I’m going to miss him, he's great and taught me a lot.  But all is good here in Brazil. I hope things aren't too crazy without me. 

Love

Elder Jensen.

I only get letters about once every 3 weeks when the Zone leaders pick it up from the mission office and deliver it to us. And yes you have to send all my mail to the mission home that’s just how it works here. Sorry  

(It takes longer for our letters to get from the mission home out to Aaron than it does for the letters to get from the US to the mission home.)

Week 12

Hola

Well another week down in Brazil!  This week was pretty rough but I just got to keep working.  

So our baptism that was supposed to happen with Julia fell though because her mom said that she couldn’t be baptized, so lame.  But we are going to talk to her mom this week so we will see how it goes.  So frustrated right now because it feels like we teach like super good lessons and the spirit is so strong and then all of our investigators never come to church.  Really annoying. We met this really awesome family of 4 this week and taught them the first 3 lessons.  When I was teaching about Joseph Smith I almost cried because the spirit was so strong.  It was awesome and everything else was going perfect until Sunday morning we called them to make sure the were coming to church and of course the had some lame excuse but hopefully they will come next week because I really feel like they know our messages are true.  I just think they are kind of scared to start going to a different church. 

On Wednesday we went to the hospital, which was like really scary and sad to see so many sick people and  gave this little kid named Lucus a blessing.  Hes six and looks like my mini me, hair and all.  He even has blue eyes.  He had some surgery in his stomach, I didn’t really understand when his mom was explaining it to me hahaha. I sealed the anointing and gave my first blessing in Portuguese, it was cool.  After the blessing I asked him how he felt and with a big smile he said much better hahah  It was great.  He told me I looked like captain America and that’s what he calls me no. Its great. On Sunday he was released from the hospital and he sat with us at church. it was great. 

This week was the first week that I received  letters since being out in the field.  it was great to hear from everyone.  I got 2 packages from mom and Carson (love her so much) and like 15 letters from tons of people.  Thanks for the love and words they keep me going. 

Last night President Ferrien came up to our stake and gave a really good fireside, made me proud to be a missionary it was about how we as missionaries need the members help and support.  At the end of the fireside he opened it up for questions and one of the bishops in the stake that doesn't have missionaries  cried in front of everyone because he really wants the spirit of elders in his ward and in his home. It was cool and made me want to work harder and help the ward even more. 

The main point of the fireside was that elders need referrals and help of the ward. So my challenge to you is to go and teach with the missionaries or have people over and the elders over at the same time like the new neighbors or friends,  just try to be missionaries.  Oh yea and feed the elders more the once a month!  

Love,

Elder Jensen 

Week 11

Dear Family and Friends,

We are teaching so many people, its crazy.  We worked really hard this week and it definitely paid off.  We are teaching a group of boys who are like 15 and they are all really cool After we taught a lesson on the gospel of Jesus Christ to them my comp said to me when we were walking to our next lesson, “Dude we got to get these noobs baptized.” haha it was really funny.  (Aarons companion is Brazilian and of course learned the term noob from Aaron).  We will hopefully have our first baptism this week which is awesome her name is Julia, shes 15 and is dating a member of the church whose 18, normal here in Brazil but he’s awesome and will get to dunk his own girlfriend this week, how cool. 

We are teaching this huge family, I think Wisseli sent you a picture of them but they are all on different levels.  One lady had a dream as a response to her prayer and in her dream she saw a white fruit and she said it was most desirable it was crazy!  We read Lehi’s dream and explained it to her.  She’s really religious so it’s going to be hard for her to leave her old church but we will see how it goes. 

The hardest part of the work here in Brazil is getting people to come to church. People here love talking to us but really don’t like coming to church hahah its lame. 

Conference was great!  I feel like it was all on missionary work starting with lowering the age of missionaries that’s crazzzzzy!  cant belive that stuff.  I hope it makes a lot more sisters want to serve. idk what my favorite talk was because there were so many good ones.  I really liked President Monson’s during priesthood session.  It was great and 

Elder Holland’s in the morning session. He’s my favorite, so bold and direct. 

I learned from conference that we all need to come unto Christ and to invite all to do the same is to have courage and to teach with the spirit.  We have to help people feel the spirit so they can know that truth of our message for themselves.  We also need to love and care for all people.  We all come form different places of the world with different opportunities and different circumstances but we are all children of god and we all need to have the gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives if we want to be happy. 

This week I went on my first spilt, it was a weird experience, but a good one.  It was really weird not being with elder de Oliviera.  I went with elder Silva who is a little bit of a “fubecca” or slaker.  He’s Brazilian and speaks 0 English so I got to put my Portuguese to the test, or lack thereof haha!  We taught a girl who is struggling to get baptized because she doesn’t want to offend her Pastor its a hard situation but I think she knows the church is true.  The split made me really grateful to have a comp that works hard and wants to teach and baptize.

Right now I am obsessed with the song called “Savior Redeemer of my Soul.”  I sing it all day, every day and I know without a doubt that Jesus is our savior and that we are forever in debt to him but that he loves us and that though him we can have joy that is greater then any other joy here on earth.

Hope all is well

love you all

Elder Jensen 

Savior Redeemer of my Soul

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=7bff55utu-U&feature=endscreen

Week 8

Dear Family 

It is sooooo great to be in the field but everything is really fast.  Last week in the CTM was great. I learned a ton.   On the last Sunday of the CTM I  talked in church about earth life and our purpose in Portuguese for like 6 minutes.   I read (the testimony of a missionary) its a story you can find it on Google.  Its awesome and was probably my favorite part of the CTM because I realized that I was called to Brazil to find my friends and share the gospel with people of Brazil. 

OK the field its great!  My comp yes is Brazilian, his name is Elder de Oliveira and is from Fortilasa. He speaks really great english so its cool.  This is his last transfer on the mission so I will kill him (that means I will send him home) and I can tell he is a pro.  I am his 5th son or Elder that he has trained and I couldn’t have asked for a better teacher.  He is also the District Leader(DL).  

The first day in the field we had interviews and training like all day till 2:00 and it was pretty boring.  But I met alot of guys who know Truman and they all said he was the funnest guy ever!  They  told my some great stories about him. Hahaha.  At like 2:00  we meet our trainers and then just went straight to our house, we had to take a 2 hour bus ride to get here so its pretty far from Sao Paulo .   That night we went straight to the Rabello Family’s house, who are the best!  But they played a joke on me and had me teach them a lesson so they could see how good my Portuguese was.  It was scary.  My comp was just like “Elder Jensen will now teach you about the restoration.” and he wouldn’t help me at all.  It went pretty well, I was teaching Wissali, the lady who emailed you.  She was pretending to be an investigator haha!  It was cool I guess but after the fake lesson they all starting laughing and were like saying how good I spoke Portuguese so it was cool.  Their family is so great, we teach a lot of lessons at their house.

So we teach like crazy, its insane.  Like all day every day we are either teaching or going to another appointment. Its cool we have to invite people to be baptized on the 1st visit so its either they are interested or not. Because almost everyone here is Christian, we mostly teach the gospel of Jesus Christ and invite people to follow the example of his perfect baptism.  My comp teaches really simply and very cool.  I have learned so much from him already, and the best part about teaching is that he actually lets me teach too so its kinda scary but people here are really nice and they understand that I am an American and they speak slowly and have patience with me.  Its good. 

Every day we have lunch with the members because its the main meal here. Kinda wierd but its cool.  We eat mostly rice and beans and other random stuff.  My comp makes me give the message every day because he says I need the practice.  My favorite message is to talked about how the greatest joy in this life comes from spreading the gospel and bringing people to Christ.  I use Lehis dream and how he ate of the fruit and how he wanted to share this joy with everyone else. 1 Nephi 8 12. and then we ask if they have any friends that we could teach.  I have gotten some really good results and referrals from it.  Yesterday at church I bore my testimony because I am new in the field.  It was pretty good but scary.  Afterward tons of people wanted to talk to me and couldn’t believe I had only been out for 1 week.  I know that the only reason I am able to understand and speak Portuguese is because the help of the lord and the gift of tongues.  In sunday school the lesson was on obedience and it was perfect for our investigators.  The teacher talked alot about 1 Nephi 3:7 and how the lord would not ask us to do something unless he will help us do it. (This is Aaron’s mission scripture)  All we have to do is try our hardest and the Lord will do the rest. 

Pretty much everyday we get home and I am asleep by 10 haha!  I am definitely not used to walking this much.  Our area is huge, we cover 2 wards and have to walk a lot.  My comp says that this is one of the hardest areas because its not as poor. But I like it a lot. Our house is pretty ghetto haha.  It’s in a members home and it would make Peter’s basement apartment in the Victorian house look really nice.  But it doesn’t bother me.  All I need is a desk and a bed so its fine hahah.

I love you all 

Elder Jensen 

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