Update from Argentina

March 9, 2009

 

Hey all!

Still hangin in here in Trelew. Leo went to church yesterday and is getting pretty excited for his baptism the 21st. It's sad because his dad won't be able to baptize him because he has some issues to take care of. But they are both excited, and we are hoping that this will give the dad a bit of a push to get working and get back to being active in the church. Leo loved church yesterday- he is lucky in that his two cousins and aunt live a block a way and were baptized back in December (Monica and her daughter and son). He has got a good support group in the church there, and his family is working on coming back. We eagerly await more progress with them!

This Sunday was a good one- Vanessa gave a talk in church! When I first started teaching her, she wouldn't read out loud or pray in front of us. Now she is giving talks! That's the way! She was pretty nervous and hadn't written anything down, so she forgot most of what she was going to say due to nervousness. Luckily she grabbed a Principles of the Gospel book and used that to look at the main points and talk about that a bit. I was so proud of her!

We also had 2 people confirmed as Elders and receive the Melchizedek priesthood. Carlos received it, as well as a kid named Jonathon who is my favorite member here. Carlos is our baptism 3 months ago and still just loves reading and learning, and Jonathon is the only active member in his family. He is pretty much perfect! I love that kid! Both of them were really excited about receiving it.

I'm going to share a few non spiritual things this week. I have so much funny stuff happen that I forget to share too! Here is my funny moment of the week—

I make a lot of pancakes in the morning to eat for breakfast. Normally I use a different pan, but they were dirty, so I was stuck with this monster pan. We had been talking about flipping pancakes and the skills needed and I was about to show off a bit and be the best pancake cooker in the apartment. I gear up and give it a flip. And it doesn't come out because the pan is so big. I try again... still no. Then I give it a big flip and BOOM! It its me in my face and then falls back down perfectly flipped into the pan. I kind gave a little yell and say `oh no! It hit my face

This week, we had Elder Audikitis come and give us a zone conference. It was really really good! He talked a lot about the promises that are in D&C for missionaries. The thing he stressed is that we have to complete with all of the requirements on our part for the Lord to work miracles on His part. It was interesting. He gave us a lot of dropping the cane for not baptizing weekly when the ´Lord had promised that the Field is White. We are stepping up our game! At zone conference, we redefined a lot of our numbers and that made it a lot harder to do each one. One of them was new investigators. Before it was just a return appointment and a lesson, so it would be oh I don't have time! When can we come back? Thursday. What time? Oh 330. Ok! Perfect. Boom new investigator. But its not like that anymore. Now we have to enter their house and teach them something with a prayer to start and end it. I was a little concerned the next day because in my mission I think I've gotten into about 5 houses. I was like oh no! My numbers are going to just drop to nothing! But we decided to put our faith in the Lord and to raise our expectations. Then something incredible happened- we got into 2 houses that night! One of them wasn't a good one, but his neighbor let us in and we taught him and his family and answered a lot of their good questions. We are going back tonight... wish us luck! So we got into those 2 on Friday, then we got into 1 more on Saturday, then we got into 2 last night! It is pretty incredible the change that has happened. In 3 short days, wave gotten into about as many houses as I had my entire mission previously. I wish I would have learned how to get in and how to put my Faith in the Lord earlier. And the best part is that I can only continue to increase my faith and my teaching skills to get into more houses! Watch for miracles to start happening more and more. It is really interesting as well, because the Saturday afterwards I woke up and was just like oh no. I worked real hard yesterday and got into 2 houses. I don't want to have to go and work that hard again! But, you have to do what you have to do.We have to be constant on our effort. I can't get into a house one day and slack the next! So we are trying to go with constant efforts.

 

Elder Jensen