Snow!

Hey Mom

Well this week was a roller coaster and ended up with last night me getting a call that i am going to be transferred to Gonzalez. Which is where i was during lockdown and so i am excited to go back there and get to know some of the people, they have probably the strongest ward in the mission so i am excited for that. A little aprehensive about the whole spanish situation. It is a smaller town and has been worked very well. But we will see what happens. Here is my address.

xxxx Roddy Road #23

Gonzalez LA 70737

So i am kind of excited, kind of nervous. But i am kind of glad i am getting double transfered with someone else, that way we can just do a clean sweep of the area and see what we find. I am optomistic though.

Other than that not a ton happened this week. I did get your package and had a glourious time putting together the gingerbread house. It was kind of broken so i had to do some surgery on the door before i could put it together, but it worked so that all that matters. Oh yeah and IT SNOWED!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We were planning on Friday night and i looked outside and it was white!!! so we ran outside and took pictures and then i went and put on shorts and a t-shirt and we went and played outside. It would be snow if i wasn't dressed innappropriate. So that was a huge blessing and a lot of fun.

Thank you so much for the package. I am obeying your wishes and only opening one a day. It is very hard because i am enjoying the notes so much but i don't want to ruin the surprise. Thankl you so much for the work that you put into that and i hope you know it means a lot to me to hear from everyone.

As far as investigators are going we had a rougher week, we had to drop a few people because they weren't progressing, but there are still a few that are going and we will see what happens to them. I am really quite sad to be leaving, President told me this will be my last area so we will see what wonders we can do there. Oh yeah and if anyone asks for my address tell them to not send anything valuable in a letter. It doesn't make it. Thanks again for everything and now i have to go pack. Cant wait to hear from you in a few weeks.

Love Elder Jensen

Thanksgiving

Dear Mom
When i said i was thankful for the blessing of not food and i realy meant it. I for once actually wasn't kidding. But this thanks anyway. THis week was a pretty dang good week. We had our Turkey Bowl on Monday for pday and WE SMOKED THEM!!!! (and no broken bones, ligaments, ect) so that was a blast and it was good to get out and play for a bit. On thanksgiving we had an awesome lunch with some English members and had an awesome meal with a bunch of missionaries. We then spent the rest of the afternoon writing letters to our ward members and family. And then at night we went out and delivered them and then went and had dinner at our Branch Presidents house. So all in all a pretty good day. For the rest of the week it was a little slow, i am not sure why because nobody was working, but for some reason nobody was home. Our investigators are kind of fizzling a little bit, but we did have the opportunity to have a lady named Cecilia at church with her husband. She is really emotional and feeling really lonely right now, she has family that are having problems, so we have been being really bold with her and telling her that the way to happiness and peace in this life is through our message. She is really hesitant about the Book of Mormon and prophets, but she did come to church and yesterday we had an awesome lesson with her and she commited to pray, so now it is only a matter of time. Other than that not a huge progress, Enoelas roomates.....in lack of a better word are very very lame, so we cant visit her anymore, but we aren't giving up. we are sending members to do the dirty work so we will see what happens. So that was about our week.
Um bad news about Reina she went back to Honduras to get her divorce fixed so that she could get married here (the guy Dionicio just got baptized though) and on the way back she got caught by immigration, so now she is in jail in Texas. But from what Dionicio says the situation is hopeful.
This week we were blessed with not having to use bikes at all, we did exchanges one day and then got a ride to and from the area another day. So amazing luck.
As for Christmas gifts i don't need anything at all, shirts, pants and socks are all good. My shoes are slowly dying but i can last until my birthday or until i get home. And they still look good, just the bikes kind of killed the soul.
So life is awesome, i am happy to hear about your thanksgiving and i am glad you all had a good time. Cant wait to hear from you in a few weeks and best of luck with Tyson :)
Love Elder Jensen

I am not sure at this time which complex i am moving into, i should find out if they have room next week.

Bicycle Week

Good Afternoon!!
Hows life? I am glad to hear that you all had an enjoyable enough week. Thanks a ton for the decorations and the memory cards. Its kind of funny i got the package and was a little disappointed at first i was looking forward to some food or something, and then i realized that you are amazing for listening to the spirit and knowing that i am on my "6 months to sexy" diet. So you not sending me anything bad was in all reality a blessing from the Lord that he didn't suffer me to be lead into temptation. So props. Anyway thanks so much for the package and i am glad to see that all is well. I loved the pictures and was glad to see all the wonderful things that are going on back on the home front. I love the decorations and am way glad to have something to look at every day when i study and to remember the things that i have in my life to be thankful for.
As for news this week, we kind of had a drop of investigators. Enoela moved and her new roomates dont want us to talk to her so she is getting alot of flak from them and i don't know what to do. So a bad situation and we are just waiting to see how it plays out and hopefully something good happens. We did have a good finding week though and i am really anticipating this next week. It is interesting how the way i have done missionary work changed. Its constantly evolving from the way i teach to who i teach. I used to stick almost exclusively with single men because they let you in and are usually pretty nice, but not a ton comes from it, it is hard to build a ward around that. So i have noticed that the top investigators that i have are all families and its just wierd how the Lord keeps putting the nice and well of families in my path. Because usually the "well off" spanish people dont want to talk to us. But this past week we ran into 3 different families in middle class neighborhoods on happen stance (not really) but they all have a lot of potential and i am excited to see what happens.
So thats about all that is happening. This week is going to be different, i am going on exchanges with the Zone Leaders and then the Assistants and then my own district, all while our car is in the shop. BICYCLES!!!!! Oh well i could use losing a few pounds. SO that will be fun. WE also had interviews last week and i thought i was in for a chewing out because of lack of people progressing, but President was really optomistic and really had a lot of advice for me and said he knew i was doing my best. So that was reassuring. And this dude next to me just started arguing with me about that he was a satanist so i am leaving. Love you all a lot and hope that everything goes well for you .
Love Elder Jensen
Happy Thanksgiving.

Enoela

Well this week was a very good week and i am definately learning a lot. We had our Zone Conference and President Woods talked about learning by faith. It was a concept i had never really thought about much but it was really helpful, he got it from a talk by Elder Bednar and i think it is something that can really help all of us so i am going to forward it too you for your homework for the week. I am having a few difficulties with my companion but all in all we are doing well. I wish i could get him to see what i have seen, for the moment he doesn't trust me, oh well it will come with time, or it wont and he will have to learn through his mistakes like i did. But we are surviving and we had our top investigator come to church. She is a lady named Enoela and she is from Guatemala. She had been taught everything and kind of didn't do anything so we stopped visiting her for a while, but on Wednesday i ran out of things to do so i thought we would see how she was doing, and it turns out that her husband was currently lost in the Mexican Border and she hadn't heard from him in 6 days (usually means they were killed by the Coyotes because of lack of money recieved, or in jail in Texas or Arizona) so we talked about the families for some reason and how God wants their family to be together and to be happy and how God blesses us if we are obedient and i promised her that he would arrive safely if she was obedient. So i didn't think much of it but on Saturday we went over again to talk and we realized that 10 minutes before we came over that her husband had called and was safely on this side and leaving Phoenix. So that was a huge blessing and she told us that he should arrive on Sunday at 2ish, so i was a little hesitant to ask her to come to church, but for some reason i did and at first she was hesitant because she wanted to be there when her husband got home, but then all of a sudden she just was like, God has given me this great blessing and staying home is not showing him my appreciation. So yesterday her and her and her 3, 2 and 1 year old all came to church. I was a little worried because of the chaos that kids are, but those 2 boys were the best behaved kids in church i have ever seen. They sat in their seats and did not move. So i was greatful that it was calm and hopefully she felt the spirit. Well thats the cool story for the week.

I am sorry to hear that Tyson is talking like an adult, he is getting too old, i am going to miss all the sweet years, he went straight from Toddler to Teenager. I am glad that Sis Jensen gave a good talk about missionary work, i keep telling myself i need to write Jace or Kelsey or Derek but i keep forgetting. I actually talked to some sisters in Elder Whatcotts Zone, they had a referral for me, she actually attended PG high school, so that was a wierd moment.

Well thats about all that is going on, i hope that you all have a great day and oh yeah one more thing, if you could send me a list of the christmas wishes of everyone i would appreciate some help. i am clueless.

Love Elder Jensen

New Companion

Well first of all thank you so much for all the stuff that you gave me to eat on Halloween. I sure enjoyed the cookies and soup and had a pretty normal halloween. We had an awesome time carving pumpkins and then proceeding to throw them out the third story window. So yes you will be getting some awesome pictures as well. other than that the week was a little bit slow but i am not worried. We had some awesome investigators that were supposed to come to church, but for whatever reason just didn't make it. So that was a little disappointing, but we have a lot of potentials coming up this week so i am way excited to see what happens. We had the luck this week of running into quite a few families, so we will see what happens and how they turn out. Um lets see what else is there going on...my new companion is really shy and doesn't talk very much, but we will see how he turns out, i am not too worried though he should be fine. Just doesn't like to say much. But he is obedient and has a desire to work. I don't remember if i told you his name he is Elder Southwick and he is from Oregon somewhere. And you can tell dad that i talked to Elder Hatch and told him to tell his dad hi. So yeah not a whole lot going on right now. WE have zone conference tomorrow so that should be really good. So yeah sorry today is a short letter with not much going on but i am optomistic about this week and can't wait to see what happens. I am glad to hear that you all had a great weekend and i cant wait to see some pictures of what happened and how everyone dressed up as. So thanks for everything, i haven't got you letters yet but i am sure they are there somewhere. Thanks for the help with college, i hope i can figure out what to do soon enough.
Love Elder JEnsen

Transfers

Dearest Mother
Well first of all thanks a ton for the package and for the amazing treats. I never thought i would miss the day that i didn't have to eat chicken noodle soup but yet here it is. So thanks for keeping the tradition alive. I was feeling really stoooooopid that i couldn't figure out your candy bar riddle. I had to write it down for crying out loud, and then i figured it out and wanted to kick myself in the back of the head...looks like this states wearing off on me. Oh well. So thanks for everything i am way excited to make the cookies, but i cant remember how. So if you could send me a little letter, and if not i will just guess for what temp and for how long. Oh and while i remember I am moving next transfer again and my new address is
xxxx Victoria DR
Baton Rouge LA, 70805
So yes speaking of that I got my call last night and i am staying in the same area but moving again to the previously mentioned address and i will be training again. His name is Elder Southwick and that is all i know. So im not sure how that will go, its going to be my first companion that doesn't speak Spanish better than me so that will be wierd, but i am excited and ready to keep going.
This week we had an awesome experience. On Saturday night we were trying to set up rides and visit all the people that were going to go to church, but unfortunately not a single person that we talked to was going to be able to go. So i was feeling really down and just kind of trying to figure why people are so dumb here and just really negative. So we stopped at the apartment to use the bathroom and when i went out to start the car to leave it was dead. So i was just livid, i called the office elders and they said they were far away and couldn't jump it and so told me to call it a night. So we stayed in and it kind of forced me to my knees and i got a gentle reassurance that everything was fine and that the Lord provides. So i had no idea how but i had faith that something would happen. So we got a ride to church in the morning and at 10:15 when church started no body was there, so i figured what ever. But miracle has it that two of our members just decided to bring their friends to church. People that we had never talked to. So the Lord provided for us 2 new investigators and 2 at church. So that was my cool experience for the week.
Yes i did get my flu shot, no i am not going to Physical therapy, i have pretty much just scrapped sports for these last few months and will deal with it when i get back. It doesn't hurt too bad, just takes a while to get to sleep but its fine. Tell Tyson i hope he gets better so he can go trick or treating. I sent two memorie cards home so i hope to get some good pictures. Tell Jace and Alyssa congrats on the good grades and i hope that they are doing well still. and if you could find out when i need to be registered to go to school in Fall....uuugggghhhh. I think i would appreciate it. Thanks for everything and i hope that you all have a fantastic week and a super Halloween.
Love Elder Jensen

Tracting Sucks

Dear Mom
Well I am guessing that this weekend was a little bit busy or you were abducted by aliens, one of the two. But i hope that all is well with you and that all the kids are well. Not much new to report here, um we had another rough week, but we are going strong and are looking forward to some people to start progressing sometime soon. We have been doing alot of tracting and now i realize why i wasn't called to Europe. TRACTING SUCKS!!! oh well at least its not what we have to do everyday all day. Everyday i come to another realization that my call really was inspired. So i am really doing well and we are just in a little rut right now but eventually we will dig ourselves out of it. We are finding people its just getting them to progress is the problem. Transfers are next week and we are getting 8 new Spanish Elders so its going to be musical chairs and i am not sure where i am going. Right now i am content staying or i always love change so i am really fine wherever i go. I am excited for this week though, we have a lot of good things coming, we just cant see them yet.
WEll I love you all very much and wish for the best for all of you.
Love Elder Jensen

Feeling the Spirit

I am doing very well today and hope the same for you. Well i realized that last week i wrote a rediculously short letter and hope that you will forgive me. This week i will try to add somemore details. Although it was a pretty rough week and not a ton happened, we did have a few little things that happened that make it all worth it. Last week we made the decision to pretty much do a drop it like its hot party, which means we pretty much dropped all the people that we were teaching, because they were all at a standstill and not really keeping the commitments we were giving them. And i also realized that i was just wasting my time as well as their time by passing by and realizing that as of now they aren't willing or reading to change. So this week was a lot of searching and talking to members and trying to get them to invite their friends, so far we haven't had a ton of success, but there are a few select rays of light that could have some potential. But as of right now we are just doing a lot of tracting and talking to people. But it is going well and we are slowly finding people to teach.

This week was also cool because i got to do a baptismal interview for a kid that the other missionaries were teaching, it was a really spiritual experience and i hope he felt how i felt during it. His name is Diego and he is 14 years old and his parents are members. So it was a really cool experience to be able to feel the spirit while we were talking and i really wish i had as strong of desire to follow Christ as he does when i was 14. But it was a good learning experience. So they had the baptism on Saturday and i tried to pay more attention to my feelings and it is starting to become easier to feel the spirit now that i understand a little bit better how i have to be thinking and how i have to be acting to be able to feel it. So thats good.

On the bad news, i sprained my right ankle 3 weeks ago and it is hurting at nights and occasionally during the day so sister woods is sending me to a doctor, so we will see what happens.

Anyway i am glad to hear that Tyson is somewhat content with his house, i should send him some pictures of the houses/trailers/forts in the woods we teach (we seriously taught someone who lives in a forrest with a tarp and wooden posts, he is trying to "avoid the world") maybe he would be happier with what he has, i sure am. Make sure to congratulate Dallin and Mae i am sure they are going to recieve a lot more happiness with the knowledge that their marriage is now eternal. Wish Amanda and Brian the best of luck and congratulations as well. I love you all very much and wish the very best for you.
Love Elder Jensen

P.S. Tell Tyson to stop kissing girls!!!

Happy Conference

Yes indeed happy conference. WEll i am feeling very refreshed and ready to go. A lot of awesome talks and a very good experience. We are doing awesome here and although this week was not the best number wise, i feel that we have learned a lot of things that we can use and we will be better for it. Tell all the kids sorry they had to sit by the radio, you should have made them dress up and drive to the stake center :) I would have to say that my favorite talk was given by President Eyring during Priesthood session, he gave an amazing experience of healing a three year old girl and it really reminded me alot of the story of Diego. Very Powerful. I also enjoyed the talk from ELder Holland, i wasn't sure if it was the spirit i felt or fear to ever try to tell him the Book of Mormon is wrong. So thats whats going on here. I actually do know Elder Butikofer, he is in my district. So thats cool that you know his mom somehow.
WEll i am glad to hear that the kids survived without power for a few days. Sorry for the short letter not much is going on here, we kind of cleaned house with investigators, so we are doing a lot of looking right now. But thank you so much for everything, i am doing great and cant wait to hear from you next week.
Love Elder JEnsen

Good News, Bad News

Well first off a billion thanks for the package, i will ignore the fact that you sent me DIET!! popcorn. I guess i will take that as a hint. But anyway thank you so much for all the support that you always give me. I am so thankful for the scriptures and LOVE THEM. It was also awesome to get a new shirt, i did a color comparison with my old ones, bad news. So thank you so much for the bibles and for the love. I gave one to Lazaro and he was so happy he made us dinner. Liver and Broccoli...um i guess its the thought that counts. Anyway things are rocking here. We did have a little rough of a week but things are improving as always and we saw a few little miracles. We found a guy that just moved here from Atlanta and has a lot of relatives who are members and he has never talked to missionaries before but knows a lot about the church. So he came to church and got along really well with a few of the members. So that has a lot of petential there. Some good news and some bad news with Juan Jose, the good news is that he is going back to mexico tomorrow and the bad news is that he is going back to mexico tomorrow. So its kind of a dissapointment that he had a date to get baptized and was doing really good, but it is good that he is going to Mexico, less temptation and he can be taught and baptized with his family. So thats a blessing for sure, we called the mexico City mission and gave them the address. Other than that not much happened. In answer to Dads questions I did get the package and thank you very much. My address is xxxxx Bard Ave Baton Rouge LA 70815, and my companions name is Elden Spencer Sandres who is from Honduras and has been living in Conroe TX for 7 years. We are doing awesome and getting along great. The MTC training program is now done, so no more sitting in the appartment until 5 in the afternoon.

So yeah that is what is going on here. I am glad to hear that Alex is sharing his joy with all of you. You could just tell Tyson it is poisonous and im sure he wouldn't want to see it anymore. Well again thank you for all the support and love. Thank you so much for the pictures, did you get my CD request list with that? Anyway much love and i hope that you all have a great day.

Love Elder Jensen

Crazy Week

Well life is definately good, but unfortunately way too hectic. We had a crazy week with transfers, moving apartments, and then we had a service project on Saturday which went really well. Unfortunatley i don't have a ton of time right now to write all that happened because i have to go meet with president Woods at noon, but all is very well here, we had an awesome week and found a bunch of new people to teach, we didn't get anyone to church and that was a big disappointment, but we did our best and i can truly say that we are going to have an awesome transfer and that we have a lot of investigators that are really close to baptism. WE just need to get our main guy Juan Jose to stop smoking and he is ready to go. When we saw him yesterday we found out that he hasn't smoked for 3 days, so if we can just get him a week or two we will get him ready to go and get that habbit kicked. WE also had a really good lesson with our branch president, in the past he has been stand offish to missionaries but we went and had lunch with him and i think things are finally starting to turn around and hopefully he will set the example in member missionary work and we can get some things done. I haven't got your package yet but i am sure it is amazing. My address isn't worth anything right now because i don't have a mailbox. So you can send everything to Justice ave and the office Elders will get it for me, one of them actually was in the ambassadors tour with us, so we are tight and he will get it to me. Thanks for everything that you all do and i better write mom before she kills me. So have a great day and cant wait to hear from you
Love Elder Jensen

New Companion

Hey Dad
Well sounds like you all had an exciting weekend full of a power outage and a BYU stomping. It has been raining nonstop for the past 4 days and so the humidity is really high right now that it has stopped and is heating up. Well Elder Knight finished up his mission strong and we had an amazing experience this week. We had a family from Colonia Juarez, Chihuahua Mexico just show up to church and tell us that they have been taught before and were dropped because of a few reasons but now they want to get baptized. Just one problem, they are from the Polygamy colonies and were part of an apostate LDS church when the parents were young, so i think that we have to get a 70 down here to interview them for baptism. Crazy HUH? But i am still stoked and they are a family of 8 and are way solid and are ready to go we just have to go around some red tape for a bit. My new compainon arrived yesterday from Texas and we had the opportunity to take him out for a bit to let him know how missionary work is (he still doesn't know i am his new companion yet) but he pretty much made me feel like a piece of crap, he is 25 and has been working in the United States for 7 years to make sure his family can survive while he is here. He taught a first lesson with us and knew the lesson better then i did after i left the MTC. So he is pretty much a saint and i am not sure what is going to happen but this transfer is going to be amazing. Oh and we also had the most people at the Branch i have ever seen, apparently the most in over a year. It was awesome that we were all packed like Sardines in Priesthood. So this week was pretty much full of miracles and i am so stoked to see what happens in this next little bit.
I am glad to hear that you are all doing well and i cant wait to see how the new Bibles turn out. If you would get me a shirt that would be awesome. I am still a 15 1/2 and like a 33 34. Well Dad i have to go pack because we are moving into a new apartment, but thanks you so much for all of the support and for all the help. Tell the Wards thanks to, they all sent me emails and letters this week.
Love Elder Jensen

Dentist Visit

Hey Mom
I am doing good this week and am glad to hear that you are doing good as well. Things are still going slow but i am optomistic that things pick up soon, and i am pretty sure that they will soon enough, i just need to wait and it will come soon enough. Not a ton is going on, just trying to survive until next week, but we will see what happens. Other than that i am doing amazing. I went to the dentist this morning with president woods, he was the dean of Dentistry at Arizona University, so he wanted to see what was going on and how well this Orthidontist is, but it was all good, they took out my bottom one and did an imprint for a new one, it was 175 dollars, and they are doing what Dr Craig wanted with doing it as a spring something or other. So my mouth is a bit wierd but its good and now i can floss my bottom teath!!! Anyway i am very glad that you had a fun labor day and that it is all going well with the family. We had fun pday yesterday we went to the mall so i could buy Jace some shirts and then went and played basketball. I have no idea how big he is so i got two different sizes and he can pick and if the other doesn't fit, he can give it to Alyssa if he wants. ANyway that should be on its way tomorrow. Tell Tyson to keep it up with the funny stories, i love laughing outloud in the middle of the library. Anyway you might want to let him know that George Washington wasn't a prophet, but oh well he will learn with time. THanks for everything that you do for me and i hope that you have a great week. Love Elder Jensen

Aug 31th Letter

Hey Dad
Thanks a ton for the letter, i always love getting the semi weekly updates and it is always good to hear what is going on at home. I am glad that you all had a good time at Deans party, i hope it all works out for him. I would love to get a few nice bibles if you would like to get me some. If you could get one engraved for me that would be awesome and a few others, i have about 4 people that i think would really appreciate one, mostly recent converts who would get a lot out of the bible dictionary, but as many as you can i would appreciate all that you could do.
Well not much is going on this week, one of our roomates got the swine flu, so that was lame. We also had a few of our top investigators kind of fizzle off, i am not sure what happened but hopefully we will figure out whats up and help them overcome whatever doubts they have. We don't have anyone that is really progressing now but we will keep working. I had my interview with President this week and he told me i will be training again next transfer and it is an illegal from Honduras. Ever since a missionary got deported at the airport illegals are not going to the MTC and they are going within 300 miles of home. So its a brand new program and our mission is the trial run with it. So its a bit different but it should be fun. Anyway thats about all thats up, thanks again for all that you do for me. I hope you have a good day and tell everyone i love them Love Elder Jensen

24th email

Hey Dad
Thank you so much for the package, it was really a nice boost to get during the week, i am going to have the entire Book of Mormon in action figures pretty soon, The Hunsakers have sent me Samuel the Lamanite and a stripling warrior, so it was way cool to have my favorite character in the Book of Mormon added to that list. I haven't gotten moms card yet but i am sure that i will get it soon. Thanks again for the letter about Gary Ceran, it was a really good story and i am pretty sure that we can all learn from his example. Life isn't to bad in retrospect sometimes. WEll other than that things are going well in life, a few downs this week like our top investigator getting a job on sunday. It has been really difficult for even our really strong members to not take jobs on Sunday, just because everyone is lacking work and getting pretty desperate that they will do anything. WE are teaching a ton of lessons about just putting your entire faith in God so that he can bless you and provide for you. But we will see what happens, hopefully the economy can turn around and we can get some people out of work and back to church. Lazaro is doing amazing and the only thing he needs in his life is his family, but not much we can do about that now. I have officially decided i hate Cuba because of the rediculous regulations to get here. I am going to use the money on my card you gave me to order him a nice book of Mormon and bible when it comes out. I am glad to hear that the dedication of the Temple went well and that you all got to see it. Well life is going well here and i am so thankful for all that you guys do for me. I love you very much and hope you all have a great week.
Love Elder Jensen

Lazaro

Well things are slowly progressing and i am doing well. President Woods called me the other day and told me i was going to be training another illegal from Honduras this next transfer but we will see what happens. I am doing well and enjoying the area, we have some very cool members. Our best member is a guy named Lazaro who was baptized three months ago and is from Cuba. He is probably the most Christlike person i have ever met and makes me feel like a really bad person everytime i talk to him. He just radiates love and humility and complete selflessness. He is getting ready to go through the temple and get the priesthood soon. So he is really cool and there are a few others that are amazing, the only problem is the leadership, or lack of i should say. But we will just keep going and hope it improves, it is improving just too slow. Our baptisms didn't happen because one went to texas for the week and the other wasn't ready, but we will keep trying to work with them and see if they are ready. This area has been worked by missionaries for a very long time so it is hard to find people that haven't already talked to missionaries, but every once in a while we run across a miracle and meet someone new. But we will just keep trying and hope for the best. I am going to have to cut the letter short today because one of the missionaries i live with doesn't have a library card and so i am going to give him a bit of time. But i am fine, thanks for everything. Some crazy old man gave us some pants so that provided some much needed releif and so i ordered some new garments with the money you gave me, thank you so much for everything.
Love Elder Jensen

Cecilio & Antonio

Hey Mom
Well its about time you admit you've officially lost it, ive been telling you that for about 5 years now. But don't worry about the package, i absolutely loved the package and in all honesty i found something better to wash my face with that works very well and is easier to get, but i could use some pants a ton. If you could just send me one or two pairs that i don't need to use with a suit i would appreciate it a ton. Its a shame that MR MAc doesn't have the pants i bought, i will just save the pair i have for sundays and use some other ones for the week. If you could just send me some 34-36s i would appreciate it very much. I am getting a little fat but its all good so oh well.
Anyway this week went pretty well, we found a few really cool new investigators and had a bunch of people at church, our baptisms didn't go through but one of them will be this saturday and the other ran into an unexpected problem, but hopefully it will be resolved. The one that is going to get baptized is a part member family named Cecilio C., and all of his family has been members for a long time, but he had always ignored the missionaries, until recently he got caught by the Coyotes in Mexico trying to come over and so they imprisioned him and pretty much starved him and beat him almost to death until his family could come up with the 2 thousand dollars to get him here, so he kind of got a reality check and realized a few things. So a really interesting story there. But he is ready to get baptized, he just needed some more time to get an answer. The other is an older guy named Antonio who loves everything we teach him and even had a way cool experience fasting and finding work, but he just thinks that he needs to know more before he is baptized. I am not sure how much time that means but we will see.
So thats about all that is going on, but i am very glad to hear about how life is going back home and i was very glad to get the pictures that you sent me and i loved them. THanks as always for the tyson stories, they always make me laugh. Well I got to go but i hope that everything is going well with all of you and i hope you know that i love you guys very much and have a great week.
Love Elder Jensen

New Pants Please!

Hey Mother
Well i must admit it was a little dissappointing to get a letter from Lake Powell but i recovered and i was greatful that at least i got a letter, pretty much everyone else has forgotten about me, so it was good to hear what is going on at home and that everyone is having a good time. Life is going well here, our two baptisms for this saturday are still looking good, but we will see what happens as always, life is a bit crazy. The weather is starting to cool down a bit and so that is good. I actually was wondering if you could do something for me, i was biking and ate it again and ripped my suit pants and i was wondering if there was a way that you could get me another pair. If i could send you the fabric and you could talk to the store and get them sent for me, if you could that would be great, but if not i will survive. Other than that not much is going on, the work is still going and we continue to find new people and to get rid of old ones that aren't doing anything, we just need to find the ones that can help the ward instead of being a hinderence. So we are looking and i hope that we can find them soon. We had interviews with president on Wednesday and they went pretty well. I am doing good but he said i need to work on being more optomistic and quit being a realist, because miracles dont take place if you aren't looking and expecting them, so i am working on trying to talk to people that have turned me down in the past and hoping that maybe they changed or moved or something good happens. So thats about all that is going on. We are doing well and life is good. I am excited to be here and the time is going a bit too fast but life goes on. I am very glad to hear that you guys had a good time at lake powell and i am excited to recieve some pictures and to see how it was. Well we don't have much time and tell dad i am sorry that i didn't get a chance to write him but i will next week, tell everyone that i love them very much and hope for the best for you all
Love Elder Jensen

Hot and Sweaty

Hey Mom
Yep its hot and sweaty all the time, its honesty a miracle that anyone lets two sweaty teenagers into their house. Life is going alright, just a ton of walking around and talking to anyone we can find. Its getting pretty difficult but i have just accepted that it is never easy but you just keep going and hoping for a miracle. My new roomates are very cool and enjoyable to be around so that is a blessing for sure. I am glad to hear that for the most part you are all having an enjoyable summer and that your fourth of July was good. Ours was pretty good we went over to the bishop of the english ward and ate some amazing food and talked with his family and played ping pong. So that was good and then we were shut in the apartment from 7 and on, so we just relaxed and talked and then went to bed early. I am very glad to hear that alyssa is enjoying her class or whatever it is and that breanne is also doing well. I hope that they are still enjoying themselves a little bit. I am glad tyson changed from wanting to shoot people to wanting to help them, that is always progress. I hope Jace doesn't return like i did a few times from scout camp. tell him hi for me when he gets home. Tell Tyson that i miss him very much and that i love him very much. I miss all of you very much. I was so happy to hear that uncle Sid is in the young men and is happy. He has had it very hard but i am so glad to hear that he is doing well. Wish him the best for me. Well i have to go but i love you all very much and hope the best for all of you
Love Elder Jensen

Hello Mom
Well in all honesty not much has changed since i was here 3 months ago, only its 40 degrees hotter and there are less people to teach because there isn't any work here. It has been really difficult but we are still going along and just doing whatever, we have been trying to find a lot of new investigators because i didn't have any strong ones here, but we will see how it goes. So far it is going well, the days just fly by because it takes an hour just to get anywhere so there is never enough time to do what needs to be done and i feel like a ton of time is just being wasted. We spend probably 4 hours a day on the bike and thats like 4 lessons, but at least we get to talk to more people and its all working out ok. The elders i am living with are great and we have a good time and work hard. Well thats about all that is going on here. I am glad to hear that you all survived trek and no body died. I am sending my memory card home today and if you could fill it up and send it back to me i would love it. I hope that there are some good pictures of alyssas bright dress. Thank you very much for the advice and the help, i always need a little bit of help so thank you for everything that you do and i hope that everything goes well with the rest of your summer and have a great week.
Love Elder Jensen

Dejavu

Hello Mom
Well first of all thank you very much for the package and the candy was kind of like water but i just stuck it in the freezer and it was as good as new, other than the buttons were no longer buttons but blob. So oh well it was good. Well last night i got transfer calls and was ready to stick my foot through the wall, but i just sent to bed and it looks better this side of sleep, i am going back to Metairie again and i will be on a bike with elder Jensen again. So dejavu and i am not sure what i am going to do, i am going to be cosenior companionship, so i am not sure what to expect. At first i was pretty upset about it but then i realized that it doesn't really matter, and who cares, BECAUSE I GET TO GO TO THE BYU GAME!!!! Well my priorities are out of order but i am trying to be an optimist and so we will see how it goes. I was sick again all last friday with some stuff that i will spare you the trouble to describe, but i am better. Um thats about all that has happened but it is good to hear that you all are doing well and enjoying the summer. I am glad to hear that the ward is helping the wilsons alot and that it is progressing. WEll sorry but i have to go pack to move about 3 minutes away, the address is the same 2416 pasadena #103 so just so you know. I love you all a ton and hope that you all have a great week.
Love Elder Jensen

Rough Week

Well this week was a pretty disappointing week to say the least. We didn't get the people that we wanted to church and the guy we just baptized said he is never going back to church. So yeah that was pretty rough but i guess we will just keep going. Nothing much exciting has happened this week, we had a meeting with Elder Gonzalez and he talked about the importance of our calling and what is our purpose, it was really short because he got stuck in Dallas and then had to go to visit with someone else but it was good to hear from him even if it was only for 10 minutes. I really dont have anything else to say, today we are going to catch an alligator, this morning i tried to correct my ingrown toenail my self and bled all over the carpet and transfer calls is next week so i will let you know on tuesday what happens. Thanks for all the love and prayers, hope your week goes well and have a great day Love Elder Jensen

Tchoupitoulas Challenge

Well first of all i would like to apologize for not writing last week. I wish i had a good excuse or any at all like that an alligator ate me or something, but in all honesty i just strait up forgot. So many apologies, i am sorry about that and i hope you can forgive me. We have had a crazy time here and life is going great. So lets see what happened in the last two weeks. Well last monday we all did an ice cream challenge called the Tchoupitoulas Challenge [at: Creole Creamery] which is about 1/2 a gallon of ice cream, 8 toppings, a ton of whipping cream and cherries and almost all of us finished it. It took me about 2 hours, it took my buddy 15 minutes, he was 2 minutes shy of the record, we attracted quite a crowd, everybody was taking pictures of the guys eating a ton of ice cream. It was pretty funny. We then went and played basketball and i had to take off half way through or i was going to have an accident. We also had the opportunity to have interviews with President Woods and that went very well, he always offers us advice and help. We also had a good week at church we got our two top investigators and i was excited that it was fast and testimony meeting because it always is the best and the spirit is always there, even if crazy women get up and ramble for 10 minutes. Things are going awesome here and i am having a blast. It seems like last week i was thinking about what happened to march and it is already June. Time is going to fast and i dont really want to get transfered. But i am excited and there are opportunities in every area. When you recieve my bill for my card, don't worry, i just got a small ($130) ticket and had to use it last month or starve but i am good and pretty much nothing matters anymore other than if my investigators read or not. Life is good, i love you all so much.
Love Elder Jensen

Memorial Day

Hey Mom and Dad
Well sorry about the long delay but we had memorial day on Monday so all of the Libraries were closed. I was with the Assistants and Zone Leaders for the past two days and had some amazing appointments and just never had time to write you a quick note. So i called and they said just write a quick note today. So here is you quick note. Well not much has been going on here, i went on 3 day exchanges with our Zone Leaders and the Assitants and it was a blast, we had a good time and had a few good lessons and i learned a ton. It is enjoyable to keep learning and bettering the way you do missionary work. Well I am really sorry the note is very short but we have an appointment and i just wanted to send a brief email and wish mom a very happy birthday and i am glad you had an enjoyable day. I wish the best for all of you and tell Breanne i will write to her on Monday.
Love Elder Jensen

Half way mark!

Well this is the email for the half way mark, i only have 52 more emails to send. Its not really hit in yet, i just keep going and dont think about it too much. This week was full of miracles. On saturday i called Francisco and asked him if he was going to go to church and he said that he had something to do so he could pay his rent. But i said it would be better to go to church and the lord will take care of his part if he is obedient. Well it took a little persuasion but he came to church. He had told me he was going to take care of his thing after church but he told me that it could wait until tomorrow and that he was ready to get baptized. So he got baptized and after he gave me a big hug and thanked me. I had never seen him so happy and it made me really happy to see how far he has come and how much potential he has. So that was a good day. Well other than that not much happened. WE got a few media referrals that we visited that are way cool and i am hoping that they can progress. Other than that we just visited members and some investigators. We are also teaching this family from the Dominican Republiic that would be going well if the husband wasn't a stumbling block. But anyway thats about all.
For the answers to your questions the highlight of my mission has been...well i don't really know there has been too many fun and spiritual experiences to limit it. The most spiritual experience was when i was biking and the wind was going hard and i was really mad. I don't know if you remember but i was really depressed and then just prayed and felt a night and day difference in my heart.
Well sorry thats pretty lame and short but we are going to fish again.

Love Elder Jensen

Stayin Put

hey mom
Well i don't have any new news. I am staying here for another transfer with Lujan as my companion. So i am way excited about that. Um lets see i am pretty much talked out today. We are going to go fishing in a few hours so i am pretty excited about that. Um lets see yeah thats about it. I hope that you had a happy mothers day. I love you very much and have a wonderful day. Sorry for the short email i really have nothing to say but i love you and have a great day.
Love Joram

Mothers Day

We had a great visit with Joram on Mothers Day. He sounded really good and he's doing very well. He was a little disappointed because they had a baptism scheduled for today (Sunday May 10th) but the Ward wasn't ready. He is worried that he may get transfered this week. He thinks he maybe headed to Baton Rouge. He'll find out tomorrow. Below is a picture that he sent us. On Tuesday afternoon's they go play Soccer with some non-members.

Failed Baptism

Dear Mother
Well first off thank you so much for the package. I have no idea how you knew but i was seriously thinking the other day about how good some wheat thins would sound. crazy wierd so they didn't even last the night. I thought the story of the smarties was hilarious and i am so greatful that Tyson could send me some. So thank a bazillion for everything. Sandra was really excited to get the scriptures and has really developed a love for the book of mormon. Now she just needs to develop a love for church, me too i guess.

This week was kind of disappointing, our baptism was ready to go friday night and then saturday he was just no where to be found. I called about 30 times and didn't get an answer so i had no idea what happened. I came to a realization as i was praying and begging for a miracle that although God is all powerful he also cannot break the laws of agency and he isn't going to force someone to do anything. So i had a tough reality check that although i had all the faith in the world, it doesn't mean that it always happens the way i want it. I spent this morning studing agency and prayer and learned some good things and i am good. We talked to him last night and he seems like he just got scared so we are going to go over to his house with a few recent converts to show him that he will recieve blessings and feel better in his life after the baptism. And no i could never get tired of Tyson stories. I tell everyone about him immitating the retarded kid in the store. So no don't stop sending them please. Tell Jace that i am an idiot and completely forgot his birthday until the day before and was like crap jace's birthday is tomorrow and i didn't even get him a card. So i will find some card to send him. Please tell him sorry and i will make it up to him somehow. Thanks for the memory card and i was very excited to see pictures and loved them very much. I loved the Tyson rock on hands on the picture where you are in front of the temple. Tell Alyssa she is officially prohibited from communicating with the opposite sex. OFFICIALLY!!!! Tell dad that the flu hasn't affected us at all other than we cant teach people that are sick, if it keeps growing i am not sure what will happen.

The service project we did last week was really quite lame, we helped revamp the church. It used to be an RLDS church so needless to say it sucked. It didn't help that missionaries had been living there for a year. So we painted the baptism font, installed new speakers, layed cement, moved gravel, vacuumed, and painted walls. It was long but it was pretty fun. Today should be better, we are going to mess with this alligator that lives by us. So i am excited. Well i have to go try to solve a major dilema that i have but i love all of you very much and cant wait to talk to you on sunday. We will probably text you the number and then you can call, or we will find someone with free long distance. I will find out and it will probably be at about 3 or if i cant find anyone it will be at 7. So its a surprise!!!
Love Elder Jensen

Service Project Monday

Well sorry for the delay but we were doing service all day yesterday and didn't have time to email. I don't want to take too much time to write but i just want to say that all is good here and thanks for the postcards and letters. I always appreciate getting mail and its always exciting to see the pictures attactched to it. Things are going better here, i am lessed stressed and the work is picking up. Well Sorry for the short letter but i only got permission to write really fast and tell you that i love you. So i love you and cant wait to talk to you in a few weeks. Tell all the kids hi and i cant wait to hear from you.
Love Elder Jensen

Home Teaching

Well this week wasn't anyfun and was really hard, but I am still alive and still going and trying my best. It is difficult to actually have the responsibilty and make the decisions but it is better than not doing anything. We are doing well in teaching a few guys that want to get baptized but i am just waiting to see if they are really ready to get baptized. This ward doesn't really function down here, so i need to make sure these guys are good to be a help not a hinderence to the ward. So i am just waiting to teach them the restoration more in depth and hope that they have a strong enough testimony to not be like the last couple hundred baptisms down here that are no longer to be found. But i have faith we can help this ward get going, President Woods is helping alot and this past week we had quite a few less actives back at church and our numbers are growing. We just need people to do home teaching. It is critical and it isn't happening. I have come to the realization that God sent me here to show me that you cant be a hinderence, if you aren't doing what you are supposed to it doesn't just affect you, it affects the entire group around you. Well thats my home and visiting teaching lecture today. DO IT!!!! Anyway it is good to hear from you. Did you ever get the thank you letter i sent? and would you call hunsakers and ask if they got the one i sent too. The mail here is well very very very very bad to say the least, they haven't taken my letters in like 3 days. I hope you get the memory card, i sent it on monday. If not i did back up all the pictures on a usb so i can just send them another way. Well tell Alyssa congrats on her ACT and good luck with school. Tell Jace to be nice and Tyson as well. I love you all and miss you, only 20 more days till i get to call. I will be probably calling at about 7 because it is the only time that i can find someone with free nights and weekends. I will let you know if that changes. I love you and thanks for everything.
Love Elder Jensen

Easter in New Orleans

I did have an awesome birthday and an awesome easter. For my birthday i did make my cake and added some sweet additions. I have the pictures that i am going to send you today. For easter we went over to the Bishops house for dinner and it was pretty crazy there with alot of people there. I was thinking it wouldn't be a ton of people, i am not sure why, but needless to say there were a ton of people there. So we enjoyed that but it was a little akward and i can only imagine how crazy it was at grandmas. THanks so much for the package. I hope you got my thank you note, if not the mailman i gave it to is a craphead. But thanks anyway and tell all the kids thanks for the gifts and notes attatched to random object :) I am having a good time here and enjoying being senior companion. I am trying to remember the things i didn't like about my senior companions and trying to not be these things, like not being obedient or not letting me talk in lessons, so we switch off every principle. But yeah i am enjoying it and we should have a baptism of a guy this week and then hopefully another one next week. President Woods talked in Sacrament Meeting and gave an amazing talk about the Savior and our investigators enjoyed it very much. So that was cool to have an entire block just about the Savior. Tell Jace sorry about the riding lawn mower i have begged for that for 10 years and still to no avail. I was thinking about that the other day and was thinking how much i would love to be able to go walk around and listen to music for an hour and just relax. I am wierd i know. Its wierd though but all my companions and people i am around tell me i am very serious, which i have never thought of myself as serious in any way but everyone keeps telling me i am uptight. so i don't know but anyway. Tell Alyssa to have fun in California and enjoy. Tell Matt and Colton whats up and good luck with the real (hard) life. I love you all very much and miss you. I am going to send this memory card today, you are going to enjoy the pictures. And no i am fine the mission office is ordering a new one, and with your birthday gift i wont starve. I took Elder Lujan to Chilis on Friday, it was the closest thing to Wingers! :)
Love Elder Jensen

Conference

I am doing pretty good. This city is trying to eat me but i am still going. I am enjoying life in general and am excited for this transfer. We had an amazing miracle during a lesson. We were teaching this guy that got here last week from Honduras and came to church with the guy that he was living with. At church we found out he needed work, like everyone, but we talked to a few people to try to help him out and to help him find work. We took him on monday to a place that one of our members owns that helps hispanics find work. But after a few days we still hadn't heard from them so we went over and taught him a very good first lesson. We told him that if he followed God he would be blessed imensely. So as we were getting ready to leave he recieved a call telling him that he had full time work starting today. So I was way stoked to hear about that and it was cool to see how he realized that is a blessing from God. So that was cool. I enjoyed confrence a lot and i hope that you made all the children sit in the stake center in their church clothes for all 5 sessions. :) Just kidding i didn't even have to go to the stake center for all of the sessions. We went to a members house for the sunday sessions and their two year old girl kept sitting on my lap and giving me hugs. It was hilarious because her mom is a returned missionary and so she knows what is going on and kept yelling at her daughter to quit tempting me. So i now have a new girlfriend. Well I got to go but thanks for including that piece of letter from Uncle Bruce. Thanks for everything.
Love Elder Jensen

Note from Dad's letter about how big his area is: "Um our area is huge, it goes as far east as the ocean, as far south as the mississippi river, and as far west to a city called Kenner, so yeah it is the biggest spanish area in the mission."

The Bomb

Well life got really crazy these past two days. We had transfer calls last night and i was really excited because president had told me i wasn't going to be junior anymore. So i was excited to find out where i was going to go. So we get the calls and i am told i am going to Downtown Naluns with Elder Amacher again as junior. so needless to say i was upset. So i packed last night and just thought well what the heck. So i packed and got ready and then this morning we got calls from the Assistants telling us that we are going to have a change in assignment because two missionaries that got put together cant drive. So i figured i would be getting to be junior again with the senior and Amacher would get the junior. But i am actually going to be Senior! I am going to New Orleans to Train Elder Lujan from Chijuaja? Mexico. I am so stoked!!! So that will be the bomb to be with someone from Mexico that can help me with my spanish. So yeah that is the bomb. One of my roomates Elder Bare that is from Eagle Mountain has been out 7 months and is going Zone Leader. So thats crazy but he is the bomb and we have plans when he gets done to hang out at Betos and JCW's. So thats all good and dandy. Um i am so excited that i cant think of anything else that happened this week...um...yeah i am drawing a blank but i am way excited. I am finally off the bike and back into a car. Oh yeah and another interesting thing. They have combined the area that i am in now with all of new orleans. so our area is pretty much huge. But i am way excited because we have a ton of members that are the bomb and we will get a ton of amazing food.

Love Elder Jensen

Two White Guys

Yes i am feeling much better, just a little bit weak from not doing anything for a week and then having to ride a bike all day, but i will recover fast. Um i really have nothing to say about what happened this week because i didn't even leave the house until thursday. We chilled with these gangsters on saturday and they made us some Jumbalaya and some amazing chicken and we just talked about Jesus and played some ghetto basketball with them, it was pretty fun. Nothing like two white guys in shirts and ties destroying three dudes that look like AI. So yeah thats about all that happened. On sunday we had one of our good investigators at church and he seemed like he enjoyed it. I cant wait the day when i only have to worry about getting myself to church and not finding rides for everyone else and trying to get them to wake up. But oh well i enjoy it. I hope you enjoyed the Draper Temple Open house, i sure have missed not being able to go to the temple at all and i am way excited to go this saturday.
Well i got to go thanks a ton for the update and have a great week.
Love Elder Jensen

Joram's new diet

sorry for the delay. I have been bed ridden for the past week and not been in too good of shape. I got a sore throat last wednesday and it got worse to the point on Thursday that i couldn't swallow. But me being me i thought it would get better. But it didnt' so i went to the Emergency room on sunday because i was vomiting, couldn't eat and had massive pain in my throat. so they ran a strep culture, came back inconclusive and told me to take amoxycillin. Well that took a few days but i am doing much better, I was confined to the bed so i haven't done much. I am still a little weak from not eating for a bit but i am better. I discovered a new diet though, i am now 15 lbs lighter, although it was all muscle and no fat that i lost. So yeah this week was really challenging and not very enjoyable. Nothing makes you homesick like being sick and not having anyone to take care of you. The Senior couple that is in our area brought me some oatmeal and orange juice and then some chicken noodle soup and i almost cried. I had been living off of cranberry juice and... well actually that was it. but anyway lifes better now, i am still week but going good. Thanks for the package i haven't had the time to go to the post office to get it but we will do that soon. I got the letter from dad about Jaces game and hope that he is doing very well and that he did good in his game. I am going to go write him so thats all about that. I am trying to think of anything interesting or good that happened but nothing has happened in the last week. so yeah tell Tyson i will think about what to get him. I am a little poor because of the doctor but i will find something. Thanks for everything and i love you.
Love Elder Jensen

Sandra's Baptism

From Joram's 3/9 email:

Thanks a ton for the letter. It seems like this week has been made to make me be humble and realize just how blessed i am. I was talking with a missionary who just got back from argentina and he was talking about how he lived in a shack without AC and heat and how he walked 2 miles just to get into his area. He just acted like its what you do and i was like man i am freaking spoiled. Then i get this letter and i am like wow i didn't really have a hard time getting here, i never lived in a car, didn't really work that hard, so yeah i feel like garbage but oh well i guess i will just try to be more thankful for the things i have. Well we had an amazing experience this week.

We finally baptized Sandra. Elder Shepherd flew back from Utah and it was an amazing experience. I did the confirmation on Sunday. She was kind of freaking out before the baptism so we gave her a blessing and the one word i wanted to use more than anything i couldn't remember. I gave the blessing in English because she speaks better English than Spanish and i couldn't remember the word for comfort, all i could think of was consuelo. So yeah i am retarded, I gave a prayer in Zone confrence and realized that i hadn't prayed in English in over 9 months, needless to say it was a little rough. Any way that was an amazing experience. For the confirmation i was worried about what to say and what she needed to hear and then all of a sudden i was just remembered a scripture in DC that says something to the effect of "treasure up in you mind the words of god and it will be given in the very minute that you need it" so i just sat and had faith that i could be an instrument and that everything would go well. And it did, i don't remember a single thing i said but my mouth was saying words and my mind was just thinking i hope this is coherent because i am not in control. It was a wierd but also an amazing experience. So that was very spiritual and gives me a testimony of the power of the spirit. Well thats about all folks.
Love Elder Jensen

Mardi Gras Lockdown

From Joram's 2/23 email:

I am helping a member write his english essay (i was sure i was done with 5 paragraph essays) and he told me to write my family. We have a normal day today until 6 and then preparation day is tomorrow, but everything is closed (even wal mart!) so he told me to email today so i could talk to you guys. Well I am sitting here laughing about tysons story. I laughed for like 20 minutes when i got your other letter with the story of tyson leaving you at the table alone. I don't know why but for some reason that was hilarious. Well not much is happening here, the work is slow as beans because everyone is partying and no one wants to come to church when they can be drinking. So that blows. Well other than that not much is happening. I bought a Transformers puzzle to entertain myself for a while. Well thats all that is happening. Well thanks a ton for all your support. I love hearing from you and hearing the stories.
Love Elder Jensen

Not much happening here...

Well not much has happened around here. I am feeling much better, just still a little sore throat and some funk in my throat, but other than that i am good. We got our transfer calls yesterday and nothing is changing. i am a bit disappointed of that. I am pretty sure it will be next transfer though but i guess i will just wait it out. We didn't have any success getting anyone to church this Sunday so that was very dissapointing but not much i can do in that aspect. We are still working with Nick and Allan the guys from peru but they work a ton so we need to teach them about the way to get more fullness and happiness in life isn't by working sundays. so other than that not much is happening.

We went to the Family Gras parade last night with a ton of members and it was pretty fun. It was interesting to say the least. Not somewhere i would ever take my family but whatever. Its always fun to see random people passed out on the side of the road vomiting so that is always entertaining. Other than that nothing much happening. Well I miss you a ton.
Love Elder Jensen

Marvin

From Joram's 2/9 email:

Well i will keep this short because i have to go to the doctor in a bit, they think i might have pnuemonia, so whatever. We did have the Baptism of Marvin and it was amazing. He had told us that he would be interested in going on a mission and during his confirmation the bishop said he would have the oportunity to be a full time missionary, and when he said those words i felt like the spirit kicked me in the gut. So that was an amazing experience and i had never felt the spirit so strong and so fast. So that was an amazing experience. We are going to take him with us on exchanges everyweek and give him a bit of missionary work. he is way excited and always is smiling. So that was an amazing blessing. Sorry I don't have much to say but i don't feel very well right now.


Well yeah Elder Kikuchi came down and it was pretty good experience, i swear i wrote you about it but maybe not. He talked alot about how you cant go to the temple with 98% tithing, he was using the example of a 98% missionary isn't good enough. so that was kind of a kick in the face but good none the less.

Well I got to go but I love you all a ton and hope you have a great week.

Super Bowl - what Super Bowl?

From Joram's 2/2 email:

Things have been going good here, we have a part member family we had been teaching, a guy named Marvin and he accepted the challenge to be baptized this week, so that was a miracle, and then i also found out that one of the old investigators i worked with my first transfer got picked up by the sisters and they had been teaching her (Sandra) for a while and she is going to get baptized this week and she told me she wants me to do it. So that will be amazing if both of those baptisms go through. The two guys from Peru didn't get to go to church but have accepted the challenge to be baptized on the 14, so hopefully that all goes well and they continue progressing.

It was interesting last night i was sitting eating dinner after fast sunday and was thinking and then all of a sudden i was like wow the super bowl is today...who is playing? i really had no desire to watch it and didn't even care, i am praying i just keep the attitude i have now with a lot of things i thought were important but 8 months without them made me realize i really don't even care. So yeah that was the duh moment yesterday.

Love Elder Jensen

The Flood

Well we had a crazy week here in Louisiana. On saturday we were plugging in the new washing machine that we got, so we plugged it up and were doing a load of clothes, and i am sure mom will have a fit when she hears that we left it cause we had an appointment. But we did and then we got a call from the English Elder and the entire apartment was under about an inch of water. So on saturday we spent an entire night putting towels down, taking them outside and wringing them out. so yeah that was an enjoyable experiance, it actually wasn't too bad, nothing important got wet and we are on the bottom floor so nobody underneath us got 80 gallons of water on their heads. So that was blessings that nothing really bad resulted from that other that our apartment now smells like mold. but oh well what can you do. So that was the highlight of our week.

We ran into a couple of guys from peru on saturday and we invited them to church, we didn't think anything of it because honestly nobody comes to church the first time we ask them and we didn't think two 20 year olds from peru would come, but they came and loved it. we went over last night and taught an awesome first lesson, so we will see how that progresses. other than that not much is happening here, we are continuing to work with the members alot and trying to get referals from them.

I love you guys a ton and miss you alot. Have a great week Love Elder Jensen

Freaking Miracles

From Joram's 1/20 email:

This week, in short was just miracles. I have had this feeling that since I got here that obviously there was something i left unaccomplished, some piece of the puzzle. Well i baptized that piece on Sunday. I don't know if you remember Bernardo and Jacklyn, well they had been doing awesome and everything and are excited to go to the temple in a year, but I had wanted to baptize their son that is 20 so we could seal their entire family together, so I hadn't even seen them for more than 10 minutes but then we saw them in church and i had talked with him a bit and he told me he didn't want to be forced and he wanted to make the decision of baptism for himself, so i dropped it and trusted that God would take of it. Well on sunday during sunday school he motioned to me and i was just figuring he had a question or something so i went in to the hall with him and he said he wanted to be baptized right then. I almost died and i felt the spirit just explode inside and was amazingly happy and so we did it. We baptized him and in a year from Sunday I will get to go to the temple and see them get sealed as a family. Miracles, freaking Miracles. So yeah i am exstatic and so excited. Well I cant remember anything else that happened this week my brain is so not here with me. We have been pretty much exclusively working with the members and we got a ton of people to church and they drag friends so we have some awesome member referals. So yeah thats pretty much all that is happening.

I have been way excited to get here and to see some of the old members and to see how everyone is doing. The ward is actually growing for the first time ever so that is amazing.

My ankles are doing fine, they just swell up and ache after everyday but oh well.

I am so happy to hear that Joanna got baptized, thanks for going, i know it might not be the first thing on your list to do for saturday, but nothing is more important than support at a baptism. Its something i wish we had more down here, but i am sure it was awesome and she appreciated it.

Love you tons and hope to hear from you soon.
Love Elder Jensen

Elder Amacher

From Joram's 1/12 emails:

Life is awesome here. My new companion Elder Amacher is freaking awesome. He is hilarious and we have a blast. He is from Greensboro NC, Tar Heel country, its a good thing i have two pairs of jordans and shorts or he might not talk to me. Just kidding, but its crazy fun.

The area is doing good, we have some awesome members and some investigators that i should have baptized 3 months ago, oh well more blessings for me. So that should be good to get that all done.

On sunday we had a stake conference and got to hear from Elder Gonzolaz of the 70 and also Elder Holland and President Uckdorf. So those were some amazing talks. Elder Gonzolaz talked about the Book of Mormon, Elder Holland talked about the importance of Forgiveness and repentance, it was wierd it was pretty much all about forgiving yourself and moving on, it was what i needed. Elder Uckdorf talked about missionary work and how one person can make a difference. So that was cool and a good oportunity to hear from them.

Well the bad news is we are on bikes. Its good and bad at the same time, i am getting a good work out but for some reason the repetition on my ankle all day is getting painful. Hopefully something changes but we will see. My address is um i can't remember but i sent a letter today that has it on it so you can use that.
Sounds like life never stops going insane. I hope that you are having a good time and enjoying the journey.
Well thats all i got, love you tons and have a great week Love Elder Jensen

Back to Metairie

From Joram's 1/6 emails:

Well folks we got our transfer calls last night and i am going back to Metairie, crazy stuff. I am going back and i am going to be with Elder Amacher, i haven't heard much about him but i am way excited to go back and see how all my recent converts are doing. So that was exciting. This week has been hard, not much going on, we have been working alot with our recent converts and just trying to teach them to get them to feel comfortable. When i got here i was counting down the days until i could go and now i don't really want to go, so we will see how that goes.

Lets see what else happened this week, oh yeah we baptized someone we have been working with since i got here, his name is Manuel and he had been struggling since i got here with drinking but we got him to be three weeks dry and he is doing awesome. We gave him the Holy Ghost on sunday and talked alot about if he is worthy he will always have the spirit to guide him.


Thanks again for the package, i loved the pictures, they are always the best part of anything. I gave the bibles to the ward and Odet the PP stuff and she was excited, they work on that alot in church and its cool to have stuff she can understand perfectly.
Thanks again for all you do.
Love Elder Jensen