July in Argentina!

July 6, 2009

 

Hey all.

Welcome to Flu World! There are still SO many people sick here. We didn't have church yesterday and they've passed some ordinances that we are not allowed to have meetings or sports events or anything with a lot of people around. Makes working interesting, huh? Saturday night was the first thing we heard anything from the mission about it—they just said try to avoid shaking hands, hugging, and kissing (argentine kisses, of course!) I tried it for the first half of Sunday and it was so hard. People would just keep walking if we didn't shake their hand in the street! We normally try to ´roadblock´ them so they can't just walk by and blow us off, but without the handshakes our efforts are feeble. I couldn't do it and started shaking hands again. Its pretty incredible that me and my companion are still as healthy as we are. We shake hands and hug and all sorts of stuff, and neither of us are sick. I call it divine intervention. Yesterday after lunch I was feeling like I was coming down with something and it turned into a mental game where I said I'm going to ignore the pain in my head and stomach and keep working. I'm not getting sick. It just doesn't matter. I'm not getting sick. And...I didn't get sick. Who knows if it really was mind over matter, but I'd like to think so

We missed the standard by 1 fecha. My night was a bit rough last night. A refresher on what the standard is: 1 baptism, 1 confirmation, 4 fechas, 5 in church, 8 lessons taught with member, 16 other lessons, 12 new investigators, and 140 contacts. We crushed every one of those, but just could not get another fecha. I was sad. There are normally about 3 companionships to get the standard every transfer, and to my knowledge there are 2 people who have gotten it more than thrice. I was really sad, but looking at the rest of our week, we taught 34 lessons—10 with member. That's the most I've taught in a long long time. It's been a pretty miraculous change I've had here in Allen. When I got here it would be a joke to say we were going to teach 34 total lessons. I'm grateful for the hard work me and my companions have put in to find people to teach and to be diligent even on those days when everything is going wrong.

Octavio´s baptism was good. They had about 20 people there from his family and friends, and that is always good. We didn't have much of a turnout from the ward because we were told not to invite many because of said swine flu problem. (ps. My response to people talking about it like it's a big epidemic is: maybe someone should tell these people its winter) but it was a good baptism. I've got some good pictures, but can't send them because I'm on a bad computer (all the good cybers are shut down because of said swine flu). But I'll get those out. He bore a sweet testimony afterwards, and was just so happy all day. We are now working with his older brother and sister who are programmed for the 18th and 25th... his brother is having doubts, but we're working with him. Tamara has been great with this family. She basically lives there or with our ward mission leader. She has been taken in SOOOOO well in the ward. I think she may have slept at the Marquez's apartment last night actually. But she's doing great. Juan Carlos is doing alright. Still has TONS of energy for the church, but the members have a bit of fear for him because he still has a lot of evangelical mannerisms and characteristics (esp. in the way he prays. He's gotten better.) But Octavio (our ward mission leader) sat him down and had a good nice blunt chat with him and they both came out smiling so I think everything will be alright now. Hector Matus quit coming almost 3 months ago, but I've kept passing by and passing by and finally Octavio had him over and hector is going to come back to church. In the meantime, Hector read the whole book of Mormon. Hmmm.

We have another investigator named Edgardo. He's great. We challenged him to read the whole book of Mormon before his August 1st baptism. We went back on Sunday, and he had been sick with the said swine flu all weekend, but was already in 1 ne 17. He's going to do it! It's been pretty miraculous to see all the changes in his life. When we first started passing by with their family, he would run away and hide. But then he almost drunk himself to death, and started listening. He's completely changed now. He tells his friends No! I can't go out tonight I've got to go to bed early! Tomorrow is Sunday! He's funny. He's 22 and we played ping pong with him this past Thursday (we play soccer one week, ping pong the next. Am I in heaven or what?) But it is always really interesting to see the path people take to come to the Gospel.

We have a zone conference this Wednesday. I've already talked to President Peterson 3 or 4 times on the phone with some problems we were having here. He seems great and I can't wait to meet him in person! The problems we had here was this... our ward mission leader is going out of town until the 27th, and we have 4 baptisms between last Saturday and the 27th and someone has to sign the confirmation paper. But we got that figured out. It's going to be a fun 4 weeks though because he called and asked me to direct the meetings and assign the talks. Que tal.

The district is doing good. I had an idea this past district meeting. We have the standard of excellence and everyone tries to go for it when they have a baptism planned. But what about all those weeks when you don't have baptisms? People never go for 140 contacts unless they're going for the standard, and so we tried to fix that. We put in a district ´standard of effort´ (it sounds a lot cooler in Spanish). Basically its to try and help the district pick it up a bit. We have us and another companionship of elders who are really diligent and have a lot of success. The new hermana is great and is going to be a good asset here. And the other elders... yep. So we were hoping this would help the two struggling companionships pick it up, but it didn't change much in the bottom half of the district. I think we may rearrange it and try and get it more achievable for them. The prize—home made goodies from Elder Jensen!! It's a pretty coveted prize.

We're about to go have a little grill out with the hermanas to celebrate the 4th of July. Yum. Sorry yours was chilly—ours was nice—we almost went out without suit coats! Winter isn't very cold here... yet. We are lucky and don't have much wind. I'm proud of you guys for taking me to the reds game.  (editor's note:  the cardboard cutout that of himself that Taylor left at home for us!) It was a fun one to be at, even if I had to sit and listen to it in the car. Hahaha. If you ever take me anywhere cool, you have to send me pictures so I can know the cool things I'm doing.

Thanks for all your love and support. I'll stay healthy, don't you worry.

With all the love I can smuggle through customs,
Elder Taylor Jensen

 

Editors note:  There are new pictures posted on Taylor's blog---taylorjensen.blogspot.com

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The Missionary News

June 28, 2009

 

Hey all

All is well here in Allen. I just wrote like 4 days ago, so I don't have too much to say other than we had 8 in the chapel this past Sunday, and we have a baptism this Saturday, and then the 18th, then the 25th, then the 1st (who is currently sitting behind me playing counterstrike haha. How random)

President cook is leaving on Wednesday. Its kinda sad, but I'm excited to meet the new president too to see how the work will be with him. I don't know how much will change... we'll see. We ended this past week with 28 lessons. We're still cruising... in the running back and forth sort of way. It was a different week. We gave a lot of service—I didn't bring my camera today, but i have some cool pictures of me 30 feet up in a tree chopping down branches with a machete. Its pretty cool. We also helped the same family build their house. (its the familia Millequeo- their 22 year old is the one playing counter right behind me.) It's been good to do that because now we have a better relationship with Edgardo and can help him more. He's taken a lot more interest and is listening attentively all the time when we come. We've seen his personality change, and it will continue to change as he puts these things in action. In priesthood yesterday, recent convert Juan Carlos talked with our ward leader from Roca about doing some gardening and clipping branches on the trees and hno Mansilla asked for volunteers and Edgardo raised his hand to come, me and elder Taylor did, and then 16 year old Gonzalo (brother of Octavio) raised his hand. Perfect. We had 12 hermanos and the only ones going to help are the new member, the missionaries, and the 2 future new members. Haha. Oh well!

This morning we painted our house. It was an adventure. We had all of our district and the zone leaders come as well as our new awesome investigator, Luis. It was a lot of fun, but we had to work hard ( we still have a lot left to do... I suspect painting and cleaning will be our morning exercise and after-planning at night activity... bummer) it was not a day of rest, but now our house looks a lot better. I got up and cleaned the tank again because we finally got a lid but the tank was already dirty. I know that the second this house is back and running well I'm going to get transferred. Oh the things we do.

In our district, we threw down the gauntlet with another companionship who got the standard last week and we said we were going to average the standard for this transfer that just started. It was interesting to see what happened this week. Our zone leaders and this other companionship (who both got the standard) didn't come close. Me and Elder Taylor had everything minus a baptism and confirmation, which we'll have this weekend. Its fun when you get your area up and running how it should be. We're working hard, and liking it. Elder Taylor is going to baptize Octavia, so I'm excited for that. I've been here for Elder Cox's first in the water baptism, same for Elder Argueta, and now Elder Taylor. Que bueno! Its fun!

Everyone here is sick. I'm not kidding in every family there is someone. Luckily my comp and I are still alright. We're washing our hands a lot, and they read an announcement in church about washing hands. It's got a lot of people here scared. The hospital is full full full. There is a line outside sometimes, and the world wide flue got here—there are a couple of cases here now. One of the hermanas in our district came down pretty hard with it this week too, so we're hoping she can overcome it quickly

Look forward to some fun 4th of July pictures--- I know all of you will be swimming, but me and my companion will be. Maybe we'll have an American barbeque after the baptism or something too.  I'll definitely be wearing a red white a blue tie.

I love you all. Sorry this was short. I'm a bit burnt out, and I wrote 4 days ago.

And thus I end mine epistle
Elder Taylor Jensen

Our favorite missionary in Argentina!

Taylor the Argentine

Baptism of Juan Carlos and Tamara

Missionary update

June 24, 2009

 

Ready, set....Go!

This week was incredible. I have seen many incredible miracles pass, and I have started writing in my journal a lot because this is stuff I never want to forget. We'll start with last Tuesday (boy its been a while since I've emailed!)

We had an activity in the church with the familia Marquez (octavio, gonzalo, karen), Tomara, and Juan Carlos to watch the restoration together before the baptisms. The familia Marquez didn't come, but it was a good movie. I can almost quote the whole 20 minutes! But it was good. We swung by the Marquez's apartment afterwards to see why they didn't come and Octavio had had a seizure and he has a tumor in his brain that moved a little bit and he lost a lot of his memory. This had happened 6 years ago when he was 5 and it came back within 10 or 15 days, so we were hoping all would turn out well. We showed up and talked with his mom for a bit and she was having a tough time. She says he doesn't remember he has a bike, doesn't remember his teachers name at school, what grade he's in, he doesn't remember family friends that are here all the time... then he walked in and sits down at the table and looks at me and my companion in the eyes and then turns to his mom and says ´I know them... Elder Jensen and he's elder...Taylor!´ He then told us that he remembers everything we've taught him, all the things that happened in 1 ne 1-10 (what he's read so far) and how excited he is for his baptism on July 4th. It was pretty incredible. Of all the things he `happened´ to remember, all the stuff from the church that he had been taught in the past 2 months was still there! It was pretty miraculous. (he's still getting baptized on the 4th...we're really excited for him. He is such a great little guy and is so mature! (and he has started having seizures again... we're hoping he can settle back down so that his brain doesn't suffer damage again))

Next. 2 Sundays ago, we had to do 66 contacts to hit the 140 that we are supposed to do each week. There was a promise made that you would double your baptisms if you did 140 every week, and my trainer taught me that ´you're a meathead if you don't do 140,` so I do! Every week of my mission I've done at least 140, and no one believes me because there aren't too many missionaries that hit that, let alone literally every week of the mission. But we were doing a lot of contacting 2 Sundays ago, and we ran into someone named Luis. Last Friday we went and taught him, and it just clicked. I could see it in his eyes that this was exactly what he was looking for, that he knew it was true, and that he just loved it. He came to church on Sunday, and recognized our ward mission leader Octavio from a few years back. They chatted, and Luis has been looking for work for a while and justo in octavio´s department they needed an electrician, so today actually he is going over to pick up the job. What a great thing! I read him my favorite Scripture—Mosiah 2 41. And the thing is that he basically quoted the scripture to me before i read it. He says you know I'm on the right track here, and I know it. I challenged him to be baptized and he immediately accepted. His wife said she'd think about it, but that's okay. She used to go when she was 10 but never got baptized. I know they both are going to. But it built my testimony of doing 140 contacts—even though it stinks sometimes, there are grand blessings in store for doing what we should.

Next. We had the interview with Juan Carlos and he passed! Yay! He then says  `elders—I have a reference for you...lets go invite my friend to come to my baptism.´ We went and justo his old pastor was there waiting for this couple to go to an asado in the church. We were our normal happy selves and Juan Carlos says I came to invite you to my baptism on Saturday. The pastor then asks if he can talk to Juan Carlos for a bit in private. I talked to the couple, but kept my eye on those two talking. The pastor turned into a ´wolf dressed as a sheep´ and told Juan Carlos we were of the devil, that he still had to pay tithing, that he had come to rob the people away from his church. It was a pretty powerful, intense moment, but Juan Carlos calmly bore his testimony and told this guy that he knows the church is true, that there is a prophet and that he knows it. We were so proud of him.

We had 2 baptisms this weekend (well, 3...the hermanas had one too). It was so great. We had a great turnout and a lot of our investigators came. I had the privilege of baptizing Tamara and then on Sunday confirming Juan Carlos. Needless to say, it was a great weekend. They both were just so content. Tamara had a friend and her mom come in from Beltran, about 4 hours away, and they both really enjoyed it. The friend is now taking the discussions, and Tamara is now teaching with us (she's coming with us to the flia. Marquez in a couple hours). It is such a joy to see these people enter and grow in the church.

I am continually awed at the things that go on down here. Last week, we hit the standard of excellence. It was an incredible week. We literally ran between citas a few times... George Benson send me your bike! But I'm alright with that. I'd rather run across town like we did yesterday twice to teach people who are progressing than not run across town to teach people who are progressing. We ended up teaching more than 30 lessons—a new record for me. It is really a great time to be here in Allen---far better than when I first got here!

We had transfers last night. Me and Elder Taylor are sticking together another transfer. Hna. Pincock from here in Allen is heading out to Bariloche, and everyone else is staying put. We're really excited because 2 of the elders in our district are SO good together and they are staying a third transfer together. Look out Roca and Allen!

I've learned how to make a lot of good food now too... I've made ñokis, empanadas, home made bread, and all sorts of delights! Just you wait till i get back to the states to cook it for you! It's delicious!

I think that's about all I've got for now. I'm out of time! I love you all and am having a blast!

Taylor Alan Jensen

Which is funny because my comp is Taylor, I'm in Allen, and I'm Jensen. I get confused sometimes.