It's been a long time

January 21, 2010

 

Hey  Family!!

Well, it's been a real long time since I've written you! I'm 2 Jinches taller and a lot better looking The Gira was incredible. Here is what we accomplished: I did 401 contacts, found 43 new people, taught 34 total lessons, and put a fecha with someone. That is easily the best week I have ever had in my mission. It was absolutely incredible. But I think even more than the numbers we accomplished, me and elder Camacho proved to the mission that there are no limits as to what we can accomplish. When elder Bowen first said we had to do 50 contacts a day, I wasn't sure if it was possible. Then we went out and did it, and now I think its easier to do 50 a day than 22 because sometimes with 22 you pick and choose and don't go out of your way to contact, but with 50, the choice is already made. You are going to go and talk to every single person you see. Elder Camacho did 504 contacts this week. That's absolutely unheard of. Im really excited for the changes we are seeing already in the mission. There are some that have taken this new challenge and run with it. Elder Taylor did 350 ish, elder Argueta was above 300 as well. Then there are those that are hesitant, that are comfortable with what they were doing before. Its going to be interesting to see how all of the missionaries grasp this new era of the mission. There is some fear, there is some hesitancy, but there  are also many who are doing it and seeing huge results. Elder Bowen used Roger Bannister (the first guy to run a mile in less than 4 minutes) as an example of someone who took off artificial limitations. He then asked us ´Who of you is Roger Bannister? Who will it be?´ I know that this week, me and elder Camacho and a pair of zone leaders were the roger banisters of the mission. I'm excited to see what happens now. We have put a lofty goal of 100 baptisms for this transfer… And I know that if we as a mission put this stuff in practice, we are guaranteed to get it. Now its just getting each companionship to believe it and do it!

So we spent 2 days in Puerto Madryn, 2 in Trelew, 2 in Comodoro, 2 in Caleta Olivia, 1.5 in sequel, 1 in Bariloche, and then came home. It was quite the journey. I drove for more than 30 hours doing the Gira. It was fun though. Elder Camacho is so funny—I think there are very few missionaries I could drive around with for 30 hours. I wrote a post it note that said ´I am roger bannister´ and stuck it on his name tag. He then put it on the mirror on the passenger's side and every couple of hours he'd flip it down and proclaim ´I AM ROGER BANNISTER!´ It kept me laughing the whole time. In each zone, we arrived and the zone leaders were kinda wondering how this whole thing would happen, what exactly Elder Bowen asked of us. It was great because we just set right out to work and did huge amounts of lessons and contacts. And it was incredible what happened. With each zone leader and in each area, we set out and got into a lot of houses to teach. We did a lot of contacts. We found families to bring to Christ. It was really special the spirit we felt the whole time, just knowing in the back of our mind what we were going to do in each city as we arrived and seeing the look on the zone leaders faces a bit unsure of how it was going to be. We left confident from each place that the zone leaders got it and that they´d be able to do it with their district leaders and everything.

On Monday in Trelew, we took a 2 hour p-day for the zone leaders to write to their families and shop and for me to go visit  the flia Azocar and Matias, 2 of my converts from Trelew. The Azocars cooked us an asado and it was really good. I love going back to that house because they just RADIATE the spirit. They are so happy now and so calm. They had had a baby a couple months ago, so it was fun to see them playing with her and stuff. They are planning to go the temple in bs. As., and they both had callings. That was exciting for me. I also saw Matias. He had gone a bit inactive and that made me sad. But, now the elders are starting to teach the rest of his siblings that I tried to baptize and they are having a bit more success, so in the process, Matias is being reactivated. He was waiting outside for me to get there and had grown like 4 inches. It was fun to go in and see their family again too.  One thing that always impresses me as I work with different missionaries (I worked with 13 in the past 2 weeks) is the level of dedication they have. I saw it all, working with some very dedicated zone leaders to some struggling elders. I think that my time as assistant has helped me learn more than any other time in my mission about the importance of taking this seriously and working hard.

We have transfers this weekend and there are a lot of strange changes. One though I m very happy about—elder Camacho is staying a third with me here! Its his last, and president likes his presence, so we are going to have a third together. I'm excited about that—I love the guy to death. He just always is doing goofy stuff.

Dad- I'm trying to think of a good example of the spirit magnifying us for you. I'm not going to lie, there have been a ton. I think I have 2 examples in my mission. 1—we all know my health problems, and for me it is a miracle that I have missed only ½ of a day of work despite all the stuff that's been gurgling inside of me. I absolutely feel something pushing me to keep going. Last night is an example. We left the house to work and about 15 minutes later I was having some pretty serious pain, to the point that I was about to ask if we could go back. But there is always something, someone pushing me to keep going. Something in the back of my head that makes me keep putting one foot in front of the other. At the end of the day we were able to talk to more than 50 people and get in and teach one man and his 2 little kids. By the end of the night, my pain was just gone. I absolutely think every time I have a moment like that ´well, there are 2 teams at play here. One that wants me to stop, another that wants me to keep going.´ Then its always my decision which I'll follow.

My other example is in my calling here as AP. I came in never having been a zone leader or anything; not really knowing how things are in the office, and in the trainings, in the zone conferences, and ESPECIALLY in this last Gira, there was just such a strong spirit present as I got up in front of groups of missionaries and just radiated a message. It wasn't the natural Jensen; it was absolutely the spirit making me more than I am.

I love you all a whole lot. Next week is week one, a new start, new missionaries, new hopes, and a new adventure.
Chao!
Elder Jensen