Hey all!!

June 15, 2009

This week was GREAT. We had so much success. We had 6 people come to church this week (it was a satellite transmission from salt lake—it was good). We taught 23 lessons and found some good new people. And the best news is that we are going to have 2 baptisms this Saturday! Tamara passed her hour and a half interview (she is incredible. She just started bearing her testimony as soon as they shut the door and kept bearing it and she got very emotional. Its very special to see someone like her or like Carlos. We only saw her Tuesday this week (and yesterday of course) because she went out to Beltran—about 3 hours away where her mother lives. She is still doing great. She told us that we came to her house that day and that these things are things she's believed all her life but never found anyone else who believes them. She says she's always tried to keep the Sabbath day holy, she's always wanted a good relationship with Christ, and she always wanted a place like the church where she just feels good. Its increased my testimony a lot that there are really good people here that are just waiting to find a place that they are looking for (even if they aren't looking!)

Our new fecha for this Saturday is named Juan Carlos (he always tells us to call him John Charles, baby! Haha)  But he was there when Tamara finished her interview and he told us we was getting baptized on the 20th too! Surprise! Its great—he's come to church 4 times and we could never teach him because he never told us where he lived, but this past Sunday i got smart and told him we'd teach him in the church. And he comes, a half hour early, to be there and learn. He always tells us how much he loves the church and how he knows its the true church. He asked our ward leader 2 weeks ago for a tithing slip even though we hadn't even taught about it! Its interesting with him. He used to be an evangelical preacher and still has a bit of that running in him. When we teach, we tell him the doctrine and then he says ´hold on, boys. I'll explain it to you.´ And it works great because we can check and see if he's understanding the doctrine or not. We have to work with him on being more tranquilo in his prayers, but other than that, he's doing great! The members like him too, and that helps a lot.

On Friday, I had my last zone conference with Pres. Cook and it was good. Their last talk, they talked about enduring to the end. He gave us a lot of advice, and it was really tender as they bore their testimonies about wanting to go to the celestial kingdom and wanting to see each of us there. I was sure to give my thanks to him for all he's done for me. In my interview, he just talked about how I'm being a good leader and how the baptisms in my district are a result of that. I like being a district leader. When we get back to the house, i used to just change into pjs and eat and go to bed, but now I stay in my suit until 1025 making calls and organizing and verifying—I feel like I'm working really hard, and I hope its paying off!

On Friday, we stayed in Roca to give a baptismal interview for the zone leaders. We ended up just staying the night there, then I gave 3 baptismal interviews in the morning for 2 elders in my district. We then came back to Allen and I gave another one to the hermanas fecha for this weekend. Then we started working again! It was a really run experience giving 5 interviews within 16 hours. It didn't get boring or anything. I love talking to people and asking why they decided to get baptized or why they decided to listen to the missionaries. It always helps me in my testimony, hearing how these people came to know its true. I always like to give complements and advice. I love that part of being district leader.
We started our jogging early this week. Usually we wait till Sunday to jog in the morning gathering all our people to go to church. This week, we did it on Saturday. We ran to a bunch of different houses and ended up teaching 11 total lessons. It was an INCREDIBLE day. I had a few really special lessons we taught this week. 1 was to a man who has Parkinson's and literally flops around in his chair. He's a guy we found with Elder Argueta and never went back to teach, but we went with elder Taylor and it was a really touching lesson. I shared with him some stuff that helped me have peace when dad was diagnosed. I felt the spirit testifying to me this week exactly how it did a year ago—overwhelming love and peace. I shared Romans 8 16-18 ish and as I looked into his eyes to tell him he is a child of God and his spirit is still in good shape, I knew it was true. It was really neat. He asked me to pray to end, and it was maybe one of the most heartfelt prayers I've said in a while and it was incredible to see what happened to him. He stopped moving. Completely. And stayed that way. We chatted for another 2 or 3 minutes, and stood up and left. He didn't get up to come show us to the door because he said ´elders—this is the most tranquilo I've been in months. I'm just going to stay in the chair and not break it. My door is always open for you two.´ It was a very powerful experience for me, and I know we touched him and brought him a lot of joy that day.

Another one was with the family Marquez. They are so good. They open right up to us and we are just great friends. And its not like friends friends. Its friends that brought a huge change in our home and we want to thank you friends. Gonzolo (16) is having a few issues in deciding if he wants to follow the church or the world/friends. I had a fun moment—I took off my plaque for a second and talked to him as his friend instead of as a missionary and told him about high school for me and how I passed through the same exact situations. I told him how worth it it is, and exactly the specific blessings I'd received. I then put my plaque back on and said ´as a servant of the Lord, I can promise you that you too can experience the exact same things.´ It was a really good moment. I love having teaching experiences like that, and i really feel like I'm having more and more as I try to figure out how the spirit works.

In other news, the house is 100% functional now. Hallelujah. My companion is doing GREAT! He is starting to come out and show his personality, which is Jreally hard to do when you speak another language. He is smiling too

We had a nice little asado today—its flag day, and the argentines will take every opportunity to not work they can get. It was a fun asado- we ate it with 3 members.

P-day next week is a Wednesday—we have transfers on that day too. Its 5 days early to get us ready for our new president. I am terrified I'm getting transferred. I am really torn if I want to or not. We have some really great people we are teaching now and I don't want to leave them. I also have 2 people who have told me they want me to baptize them in July...I don't want to leave that! But I know it's not my choice, so I'll just keep working and do what i do!

I'm out to go shopping. Thanks for all the love and all you do. I'm glad you had a good trip to Minneapolis...I'm going to go visit someday too! And Clayton will have to give me 1 Nephi 3 7 too! Haha. Take care!

Elder Jensen