Hit the 18 Month Mark - August 27, 2012

I can’t believe it has been 18 months already. My goodness how fast the time is passing. I love the comments I got about passing the 18 month mark. I love Tyson, and David really made me laugh with the baby boy comment. Our activity was so successful. We refused to start on Guatemala time (late) so at 4 with only a few people there we started and pretty much everyone missed the spiritual part. Then we played games. We had Qúe Pasaría, everyone writes whatever question and then you pass it around the circle and someone answers the next question then when you get your question back you read it with the answer to the other question it is funny. We played bowling with pop bottles but you have to kick a ball instead of using your hands. Last we played bingo. I was in charge of bingo. No one has really played it. I liked it a lot. A few times I called a letter like x or other letters not on the bingo paper and everyone would look down and search then look around confused and I would tell them it was a joke. I thought that was pretty funny. Then we had a small chicken dinner. The church was filled with more than a hundred people and about 50 nonmembers. Everyone said it was so fun and they have never seen an activity as successful or good as that. The only bad part was at the end of the activity I started getting a really bad headache and I threw up. I laid on the floor while they cleaned up then went straight home and slept. I felt bad cause after there was a branch meeting for a birthday and everyone went except us. But I needed the sleep and felt much better the next day. On Friday we went to San Marcos for interviews with President. I love talking with him. We had a great talk and he is proud of what I’m doing in Rio Blanco. That night we had a fireside with him. It was incredible! He talked about how we can help teach so investigators have a hunger. We talked about prayer and focus, desires, and the spirit. It was so powerful. I learned a lot. I can really feel the love that President has for me. I thought about something that made me feel so grateful and wonderful. I know how much President Maravilla loves me, I know how much my family loves me, how much my friends love me. If all of them love me so much then Christ loves me so so much. I can feel His love through the love of those close to me. We are planning another activity for next month. It is a movie night and we will watch How Rare a Possession. It is about the Book of Mormon and it is so good. I bought it from the distribution center. When I get the dear elders they are in bunches but it is about every other week more or less. Still no news about the package from Nana. I talked with the office about sending someone to get my package from Guatemala that is held there. I can’t believe you have not got your letter yet. My comp and I are very anxious for you to get it. That is cool that Camden is becoming a better swimmer. The pool party would be awesome with the Zigich family. You will have to let me know how that goes. I want to see a picture of the completed pool. I’m loving the mission and I’m happy. Can’t wait to hug you though and tell you more about the mission. I love you so much. I love your letters. Thank you Mom for those and for everything you have done for me. Your support of me going on a mission and being in the mission have been lifesaving. I hope you have a wonderful week. I imagine your long weekend will just be chilling at the pool. I’m a little jealous. Love you Mom and send all my prayers and love to you.
Your baby boy!

Super awesome apple

Mi familia bautizada

Their super cute baby

We Baptized a Family - August 20, 2012

Sounds like the pool parties just keep getting better and better. That is so cool that all the kids came over and the ship sounds awesome. I’m glad you had a very good birthday. Did you get my bday card yet? I hope you like it. Connie’s new kids sound so great. I hope she gets to keep them too. That would be wonderful for them. I can’t believe that Ivie is such a brave little toaster, haha. Just walking around everywhere and jumping in the pool. What a handful haha. I am very excited for the day to play with her and hold her. I think next summer will be incredible playing in the pool with all the kids. I really love them so much. I think I told you this before but when I’m home I want to go to Corinne’s house and watch the kids for a day. They are adorable. A mission at the church history sites would be very interesting and I imagine you would learn a lot. I want to play with the awesome blow up log. I think that would be so fun with Jessica. I’m glad sis comes over to the house more. I love my sis and I love hanging out with her. It is really crazy to think about how many prayers are said in every temple around the world for the missionaries. Then you add to that all the prayers of the primary kids. That is mind blowing. I’m very blessed to get those prayers. I’m happy Corinne got her letter. The money is way cool and it is so hard to tear. I really wanted to send a pic of me in her letter and your letter and the letter I sent to Great Grandma but it was hard to get one in time. So this week was pretty amazing. WE BAPTIZED A FAMILY! We were fasting and wanted to find a family to teach and baptize. Well last Sunday a member came to church with his wife that is not a member. We taught her and it was great. Well my comp went to Xetulul for a prize from his last area so I was on divisions with the other elder in Rio Blanco. We ran around like crazy. We went and taught this family and challenged them to baptism and she said YES! My comp had a really long bus trip back from Reu that was kinda crazy and did not get back until Saturday morning. We prepared everything for the baptism and got a cake and the font ready. Well like always in Guatemala when there is a baptism it had to rain really hard. Only the woman and all her family were there, no members. We were wondering what to do. We decided to say a prayer. We entered a room and knelt in prayer for the rain to stop and people to come. When we left the room the rain had completely stopped and members started to show up. The room was packed. It was such another testimony of prayer. The baptism was great and we are so excited that this family is together in the gospel. I can’t explain how good that felt to bring a family to Christ. We have a big activity this Wednesday for all the district of Rio Blanco. We made invitations talking about the family and took pics of all the members to add to it. On the other side is a space for a pic of the people they invite. I really hope lots of members come and that we get lots of investigators. I will let you know how it went. So I have not got Nana’s package yet but I thought it was funny when she told me she was sending me the almonds and when she got back from the post office she had sent everything but the almonds were on the table. I love Nana! I got a letter from the post office here. I have a package that is stuck in their office in the capital. I think it is the package from David. I’m talking with the office about how I can get that package. That is a bummer. When do you go to the open house? That is so exciting. Any news about going to the dedication? I really hope you can go. That will be so incredible. In Nana’s letter she told me that Great Grandma is so happy that she got a letter from me. She reads it to everyone and talks to everyone about me. I’m so thankful for her. She is amazing. I feel really good that I can bring so much happiness and pride by sharing my experiences with her. She is an incredible woman that has done so much for the family. Sending her letters and sharing my mission with her is the least I can do. Something interesting Nana told me is that the workers there have even talked to Nana and Grandpa about me. They said there is a girl there that wants to write me. That is pretty cool that someone else wants to write me. I hope she does. I also hope my friend Jentry writes me again soon too. I have not heard from her in a while. I’ve been so blessed with the people that write me. I am glad you enjoyed your bday by the pool. I really want you to get my card. Sorry I could not send more of a gift. I will get you something good though. I really love you Mom and I love that we talk every week and you still send me dearelders every week. You are so amazing and bless my life so much. Every time I read your letters I feel your love and spirit and my day is instantly better. Love you Mom, Your Son

Love the New Area - August 13, 2012

I absolutely love my new area. It is kinda cold and so beautiful. We really are in the middle of the mountains. We are about an hour up the mountain from San Marcos. The only bad thing about my area is that a lot of members and investigators live far from us about an hour and a half walking and there are very steep grades of mountain to walk up. Last Wednesday we went to Cabrican, it is an 1 hour from us and the walk was on a dirt road in the middle of the mountain walking up huge hills. I actually was sweating for once here. We were blessed with a ride in a pickup, in Spanish it’s called salon, the member there took us to 3 references that were very positive. I can’t explain how awesome the members are here. They really work hard to help us. They have said a lot about the other elders so I think they are very happy we are here to work. I have never had so many lessons with members in all my mission. I really love them and they have amazing testimonies. We contacted our neighbor in front of us and she is so positive. She has really studied the Bible because she really wants to find the truth. She was very positive and I think she will be baptized this month or next month. I got a letter from Elder Brown’s mom. He was my district leader in SanSe and lived in my house. He is really nice and funny. I liked living with him. His mom was very nice and I am grateful to get a letter from her. Elder Escobedo is great. He has 21 months in the mission so I might kill him here, that means I’m his last comp. We really get along and have fun with each other. I think it is my best companionship since Elder Card. We have had lots of success with the members and have found 7 investigators last week and 7 this week too. We are going to make great progress here. My finger is healed up from the fan attack but I was opening my tub of yogurt and cut my big thumb. I am having bad luck with my fingers. No package from David or Nana yet but it is hard to get them in the mountains so I hope I get it this week. That sounds way hot but the pool sounds amazing. That is so cool that you got tickets to the movies. Was the movie good? It sounds sweet. That is awesome that Jamen came over with Camden. That is fun for everyone. I think he will want to come over more. I know Corinne’s kids are great swimmers and that they are amazing kids. I really love them. Bacon tomato sandwiches sound so tasty. I am happy that you both are loving the pool so much. In my calendar there is a pic of you and me on a 4 wheeler and it is kinda funny cause you look almost black. How much color are you getting? Jessica sounds like she is having lots of fun and doing a lot. How is her school progress? I went to the 3 temple sessions for the Xela temple and each session was so incredible. I highly encourage you to do all you can to go to them. The spirit is incredible. Who will be the one to dedicate it? I have many many good friends back home. Now when I return home I will have many more amazing friends. I am planning some trips to visit people at BYU. Yesterday we had a giant meeting with the 3 branches here. We presented ourselves and what we want to do with the members and talked about an activity for couples that we are planning for the 22. I think it will be very successful. The people are loving us more and more. I went with another elder here to go to a cita but it was more than an hour away. We left with a member at 6pm. We were walking on a path following directions and got lost in pure forest. We finally got back to the main trail and found our way to the house in the middle of nowhere. We taught a lesson but the mom doesn’t understand much. We have a dinner with a member at 8 every Sunday. We left the house at 7. The member with us said to follow this road. Well it was walking up one of the steepest hills and we almost died from being so tired. It was dark but luckily I brought my flashlight. We walked and were completely alone on the mountain walking over 7 KM. We finally got back at 9:30 and we were so tired. I will be honest I did complain a little but then I changed my attitude and was grateful for the chance to teach more children of God. Plus we were blessed again with another jalon for the last little bit of the trip. I have hiked in the mountains more here than anywhere even in Utah hahaha. But I love the area. I love you Mom and can’t wait to hear more from you. Take care and enjoy the pool. I love you so much.
Love, Jensen

New Area - Rio Blanco - August 6, 2012

Well lightening has struck again. I went to the change meeting with my comp and was watching and sure enough my name pops up in a different area. I thought you got to be kidding me, another change meeting that they messed up and didn't tell me correctly. Well I am now in Rio Blanco in the mountains with Elder Escobedo. The Zone Leaders said they had no idea. I had to go home and pack my bags in less than 2 hours and that was hard. I didn't get to say goodbye to anyone that was also hard. As I was packing I went to move a fan that was on so it would blow on me and I did not see that behind the fan some of the bars on the cage were missing. Well I stuck my finger in the fan. It hurt so bad and I got a big blood blister. I got all packed and had to take a bus to San Marcos. Then stay the night there and we got a ride in a pickup from the stake president there. Three of us rode in the bed of the truck up the mountain to our area and it was a little cold but not too bad. Rio Blanco is so beautiful, I love the look of the mountains with all the trees. It is cold here and I love it because I don’t sweat. The only bad thing is that it gets pretty cold in the morning and night and for a few days our shower heater was not working. There is no other feeling like a cold ice shower in the cold mountains. Now we had another problem with water and since yesterday we have had none. But I still love it. My comp Elder Escobedo is from Nevada. We were friends from another zone and always joked about being comps, well now we are. He is funny and great to work with, he really wants to work and I love that. His mom is from Guatemala and his dad is from Mexico so no one believes he is an American. Our house was super super dirty so when we got there we did a major cleaning and now it is so beautiful. The Elders before were not good and the members here are all very glad that we visit them and want to work. The others left a very bad impression. It is a small branch, we only had 37 in church yesterday. However, the members are super awesome and love us. They work hard and really want to help the missionaries. The Hermanas got together yesterday and had a meeting about who will give us lunch which days. I really like them. Yesterday something really cool happened. A member said there was an investigator here that we should teach. So we taught her in the church and she said she has read all the Book of Mormon to Moroni. That was incredible. She says she believes it is true and that she will be baptized. How amazing was that! What a blessing.
Sounds like you are finally getting more people to come enjoy the pool. Sounds amazing. The pool party sounds like a blast. I would love to go swimming with Corinne’s kids. They are so amazing. I want 6 kids of my own and I hope they are as great as her kids and that I do as great a job as she does. I really don’t know how she does it. They sent me a letter and they were all wonderful. I also got 2 pics. Her kids are getting so big it was crazy. Kembree and Ivie are so much bigger than the last time I saw them. I love that family. Pool party with steaks sounds so tasty. Oh in Rio Blanco they are known for apples, there are a lot here. However, they do not make apple juice. That was strange for me. But last night at dinner we drank this delicious peach drink. I shared my testimony yesterday. I love sharing it. That is a bummer about the pool. I hope they get it fixed quickly. I didn't know Guatemala has never won a medal. I didn't know lots of countries have never won a medal. That is funny about RJ's hair. That would be very surprising. Not the haircut I would want to get. I can understand about the temple feelings but at least do all you can to get an active temple recommend. I haven't got anything from Nana but I will keep my eyes open. I’m still waiting for a package from David. It has been a month and that is disappointing. But I have faith it will all get here. I love you Mom and am glad you are enjoying the pool and time with family. I am doing great here and really love it. I wish you could see it. I will send you a pic of the mountains. I have wanted to send pics but the computers have had problems and I ran out of time. I love you so much and can’t wait to write you again and share my awesome new stories. Love you so MUCH!
Love Jensen