Monday, March 17, 2014

"SED UNO" = "BE ONE"

March 15, 2014

Hey Everyone!


Elder Rodriguez and Elder Jenson looking out of the 15th floor of their department building over Santiago March 14, 2014

This week was pretty sweet. Elder Rodriguez and I worked a lot on the stuff we have to do for the zone conferences that are sneeking up on us (start in just a week and two days). We have a lot to do, but the good thing is that we already have our EDPER (lesson) done. Elder Rodriguez and I still have to get the baptism video ready, the game we will play, prepare a funny video about health and a lot more. We've had almost no time to have appointments or teach this week which is kind of a bummer because that's the best part of a mission. But Elder Rodriguez and I will teach at all our zone conferences which will help the mission out a lot to "Be One" with the ward in which they are serving. I'm excited to teach!

The cool thing this week was that Elder Ridriguez and I had 3 investigators to church this last Sunday. Two of them are progresing towards their baptismal date!! Giro is one of them. He is doing so well in his progress. Elder Rodriguez and I asked Giro how he felt after church and he said that he felt really good and comfortable. Elder Rodriguez and I really motivate the members to greet the investigators and new faces that they see so that they don't feel wierd in church and don't have an idea about what is going on. Giro loved that part of it and said he felt like the members were part of his family. Giro said he wants to be baptized.....a little bit of a bummer though is that Giro is moving out of the ward boundaries today. Giro is moving to the ward Carrion. Elder Rodriguez and I will be in contact with those missionaries so they can help him be baptized in Carrion. The other investigator that is progressing is Susana. She's been receiving visits from the missionaries for a while now and hasn't been baptized because she's not married. Susana's "husband" doesn't really want to be married. We were able to achieve something really awesome this week when Susana's "husband" participated in our last visit! He is starting to read the Book of Mormon. Hopefully he will let the Spirit into his heart to testify of the truthfulness of the book and what Elder Rodriguez and I teach.

Here's a document (in Spanish) that talks a little bit about my responsibilities as an Assistant to the President. It gives a complete overview of what I do on a day to day basis which includes the meetings we have and what Elder Rodriguez and I teach. Hope you enjoy it! (Nosotros, los misioneros de la Mision Chile Santiago Norte, a fin de formar una mision mas perfecta, establecer justicia, asegurar la tranquilidad misional, promover el bienestar general y asegurar las bendiciones del excito en la obra para nosotros y nuestros investigadores, establecemos esta Constitucion de los Asistentes de la Mision Chile Santiago Norte)

I've also attached the Power Point which shows what Elder Rodriguez and I will teach in our upcoming zone conferences. The dates of the zone conferences are the 24-28th of March. We will teach two zones at a time except for the Los Andes one which is the only lone zone in the zone conferences. Elder Rodriguez and I will have a zone conference every day during this week. The theme of the Power Point presentation is "SED UNO" or "BE ONE". Doctrina y Covenios 38:27 "Y si no sois uno, no sois mios" COMO PODEMOS UNIRNOS LOS MISIONEROS CON EL BARRIO DONDE SERVIMOS? 1. Nuestra Actitud 2. Si hay problemas 3. Ensene a los miembros 4. Comparta un mensaje poderoso de la obra misional en la reunion sacramental 5. Adapte el plan misional de barrio and 6. Tenga una coordinacion misional eficaz ("No onstante, los miembros de la iglesia se alegraron muchisimo por la conversion de la lamanitas,si, por la iglesia de Dios que se habia establecido ente ellos. Y unos y otros se hermanaron, y se regocijaron unos con otros, y sintieron gran gozo."-Helaman 6:3)

Highlights/Thoughts of the week:

Tell Coach Johansen good job for me. He's a stud. Tell him I'm really excited to see him again.

I also got the news this week about the flight info. That's pretty nuts that I'll be home in just over 2 months. Time has really flown by.

Thanks so much! I'll be lookin forward to the Relief Society package :)

Here's a picture of the van and the truck that are our two mission cars. The van is automatic but the truck is manual. Elder Roriguez has to teach me how to drive stick so I can drive the truck as well. That should be fun :) haha I have no idea how to drive stick!
 

Elder Jenson with the CSN Mission cars March 15, 2014



Me in the Ford Ranger :)

Elder Jenson learns how to drive a stick! March 15. 2014

Huge Sandwich we bought at this place called "Alo tengo hambre!" (Hello, I'm hungry!) hahaha! Seems like you have to be reallllllly hungry to eat there. It was really good, but it was a big gut bomb :)...btw picture taken in our apt....the best for the Assistants!! :)
 


Pretending to play basketball out in the back of our mission office. I haven't seen a net for two years...haha. If you look closely there's a ball in the corner but it's flat :(


 
I got my International license! 


Watch out Santiago Chile Elder Jenson is driving again! "I got my International license March 10th!"

Sara has told me a lot about your conversations. She likes talking to you guys and gettin to know you.

My memory card somehow got a virus so I spent a lot of time trying to fix that. In the end, I found my photos, but the virus is still there. I can't see the photos on my camera anymore, just when I plug it in the computer and do a special search for them. It's a virus that basically hides all the files and messes everything up. Blows. At least I found the photos and know how to save them.

Thanks for the letters and support. Means a lot!

Glad you guys figured everything out with my Homecoming date! That'll be fun to speak to my home ward. Looking forward to it! (*Elder Jenson's Homecoming date is May 25th, 2014 at 11am)

Hopefully you all have a great week and have a good time looking through the documents and photos I sent you!

Love you all!
Elder Jenson




Tuesday, March 11, 2014

The Lord Knows All

March 8, 2014

Hey all!!

 
Elder Rodriguez and Elder Jenson studying together March 8, 2014


I have been really enjoying being here in the office for the last two weeks. I have learned a lot and it is incredible to get a glimpse of how the mission really works. I am grateful for the experiences I've had and will forever cherish them. In these last few weeks, with so much going on, Elder Rodriguez and I haven't had a lot of time to work in our sector, but we have been able to do some work. Often I ask myself whenever I get to a sector and there isn't much to work with, "How are we going to find these prepared people starting from scratch?" I have really learned after many incredible experiences that the Lord will provide and He, if we trust Him, will work mind-boggling miracles to turn around the sector. This has happened in Vespucio, El Salto and Lo Prado to name a few of the more dramatic examples. This is the Lord's work and not mine. We never know how or who the people are going to be, but it always works out in the end. Elder Rodriguez and I just put our trust in the Lord these past few weeks and because of that, have found a few people that the Lord has prepared to receive this incredible gospel. I love those experiences.

I remember on Thursday Elder Rodriguez and I did an exchange and Elder Rodriguez went to another sector and Elder Jaeger came to work with me. Elder Jaeger and I started to work around 430pm and we didn't have any appointments set until 9pm. We didn't have anything to go with. We started to do contacts in faith that someone would let us in to their house. We did about 20 contacts together and had been able to set a few appointments, but hadn't been able to teach a lesson. Now looking back, that was Heavenly Father's test for us. We kept going in faith that we would find someone to teach and what do you know, a man named Erick let us in his house and Elder Jaeger and I taught him about this incredible gospel and the restoration of it back on the earth in these times. We gave Erick a Book of Mormon and in his prayer to finalize the visit, with a sincere heart, asked our Heavenly Father if the Book of Mormon was true. Erick then said he was going to read and pray if it was true to find out. Erick understood the message because he told Elder Jaeger and I that if he knew that the Book of Mormon was true, he would know exactly what to do in his life to be able to be on the sure path back to our Father in Heaven. The Lord knows all, we sure don't. We just have to keep on going with faith in Him.

Investigators that Elder Rodriguez and I are teaching right now that have a baptismal date:

 

Elder Rodriguez, Giro and Elder Jenson March 8, 2014 at Lidia and Sara's home doing service

Giro (he's the one in the service photo): Giro has a date for the 13th of April. It's been great to get to know him. He's golden! Elder Rodriguez and I taught him about the restoration and the plan of salvation. During the plan of salvation, he started to talk to us about how his vision has changed because of our lesson. He thought it was so great that all of us can have a second chance and be able to accept Christ's sacrifice, the atonement, to be able to feel clean and be born again. Elder Rodriguez and I invited Giro to be baptized and he accepted right away.

Natalia: Natalia is the wife of a brother who is taking the steps to full fellowship in the church. He attends church every Sunday. Natalia has been taught for about 3 months but had never had a baptismal date because she didn't like the idea of being baptized and being a "mormon". Elder Rodriguez and I just listened to Natalia's concerns and testified. We showed her how she can receive an answer from God and how she can have real intent. After showing her this, Natalia understood. Elder Rodriguez and I invited her to be baptized and she said yes after thinking about it for a little bit. We then talked about a baptismal date as a goal she could have. We asked her how much time she would need to be prepared (we don't normally do this, but I felt like that was what Natalia needed to think about). Elder Rodriguez and I extended the baptismal date for the 13th of April with the condition that if God answers her (He will), Natalia will be baptized on this date. Natalia accepted a baptismal date for the first time. It was really awesome to feel the guidance of the Spirit in this lesson.

I was looking through the new mormon messages that are on the lds website and I found a really good one that's called "Wrong Roads". You gotta check it out. When making decisions God expects us to pray, trust and be believing and then not give up, panic or "jump ship" when something doesn't seem to be going right (Jeffrey R. Holland Quorum of the Twelve Apostles)
http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-message?im=true&v=2714780496001

There's also another one that I came across that's called "Enduring Love." It's a heart-wrencher...
http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?im=true&v=2484411795001

Ok so I found another chain of videos that I like. They all go together. I want to share them with you. The three are called "Daily Bread:Pattern", "Daily Bread: Experience" and "Daily Bread:Change".

Daily Bread
Pattern: http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?im=true&v=2649250157001

Daily Bread
Experience: http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?im=true&v=2649255347001

Daily Bread
Change: http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?im=true&v=2649250159001

*I think my favorite is the Daily Bread:Pattern. That's a good one. Love you!!!!


Highlights/Thoughts for the week:

I got mom's letter and also got the Easter/St. Patty's Day packages! Thanks so much!!

Yes, mom. I still want to come back to Chile with you and dad the week after I return.

My sector is called Los Olivos 1 and the ward name is Los Olivos.

Elder Rodriguez and I have a washer and dryer in our department!! It's so nice....We live in a department on the 15th floor. You can see a big part of Santiago looking out our window! :)

We have 2 cars (a truck and a van) in the office that we share with everyone. Hna Stanger is in the process of getting me an international license. She says it will take a week to get here.
Office Staff:
Historian: Elder Rhees
The Financer: Elder Gomez
The Housing Coordinators: Elder and Sister Condie
The Secretary: Hermana Stanger
The Assistants: Elder Rodriguez and myself

Elder Rodriguez, Elder Jenson, Lidia, Elder Roda and Elder Gordon March 2, 2014 Los Olivos Ward

Our ward is split in 2 sectors Elder Rodriguez and I are in Los Olivos 1 and Elder Roda and Elder Gordon are in Los Olivos 2

Lookin good! I'm sure Tarryn loved BYU-Hawaii.

Good job mama on paddleboarding!!

 
Elder Rodriguez and Elder Jenson at Lidia and Sara's home for lunch March 2, 2014

Really cool that Sara and Tar connected on FB. Crazy you knew about our service we did even before I wrote home! Lidia and Sara are recent converts (members for 3 months). They are strong and really converted. It's awesome.

Elder Rodriguez, Lidia and Elder Jenson March 8, 2014
 
 
Elder Rodriguez, Lidia and Elder Jenson helping Lidia clean her yard March 8, 2014
 
 
Clean-up time for Elder Jenson March 8, 2014


That's so cool that you and dad made the cover of the mag. I'm proud to say you guys are my parents!!

"I love having Elder Rodriguez's shoulder to lean on!" :)


*Highlight of the week for the Jenson family was getting Elder Jenson's final travel itinerary back home! :)


I hope you are all doing really well! We've got a little less-crazy week this week thankfully so Elder Rodriguez and I can get ready for the zone conference in three weeks. I'm excited to work a little more as well!!

Love you!!

Elder Jenson


Wednesday, March 5, 2014

No Rest for the Weary!

March 4, 2014

Hey Family and Friends!!

 
Elder Jenson and Elder Rodriguez at the Santiago Temple February 25, 2014


So basically Elder Rodriguez and I have been going nuts for the last week and a half and haven't had time to take a P-day and rest. We were going to do it last Friday, but with Elder David F. Evans coming to the mission that next day, it was impossible with so much we had to do.

I'll just tell you a little bit about the week and what Elder Rodriguez and I did...

Monday was crazy since there were changes in the mission. The office was filled with missionaries who were trying to find their new companions and then headed off to their new sectors. During all of that chaos, Elder Rodriguez and I were with the President teaching the trainers how to be trainers. Elder Rodiguez gave me the agenda of that meeting about 20 minutes before it started so I taught all on the fly. After that, we basically worked on a bunch of office business.

Tuesday we went and picked up the new missionaries and then taught them about the mission norms, sectors, zones etc. That was from 10-4pm. From there, we had a meeting with the other sector that's in our ward, Los Olivos. President wanted us to basically change sectors completely, so we did. I remembered that this scenario has happened my entire mission where I get to a sector and there is absolutely nothing so that was pretty usual for me haha. Elder Rodriguez and I were able to leave the office at about 8pm to work for 2 hours that night.

Wednesday we attended district class in Zapadores (this is the Stake with the Vespucio Ward).Elder Rodriguez and I were there to support and teach the missionaries. After that. we went nuts trying to figure out all of the things we were going to need for Elder Evans. President told us that there were going to be some huge changes for the Conference on Saturday. He told us that it wasn't just going to be our mission but that now it was going to be the 4 missions in Santiago! President also told us that we were going to have another meeting after the big one from 9-1pm starting at 3 and it would end at 5pm. After that, we were now going to have another leadership council meeting and that we needed to cancel the leadership council meeting for next week. That was pretty nuts telling everyone about the changes. Everyone was like "WHAT?"...We had to literally set up everything...Elder Rodriguez and I were calling everywhere to figure out mics, keys, projector etc. No time to proselyte today...haha.

Thursday Elder Rodiguez and I had a meeting called Fase 2 where missionaries that had been in the mission for a little less than 2 months come in to the office to get trained a little more and see how things are going. Elder Rodriguez and I taught them a little about the 8 keys to baptize many and also the importance of language study. President taught the missionaries about how to think like Jesus Christ and other important items. We didn't have any time to work today either since we had to get everything ready for the leadership council and our training that we had later that day.

Friday: Elder Rodrigues and I did a lot of planning for our sector since we both had no idea where the members, converts or investigators lived. We had to get the agenda all ready for Elder Evans as well:who was going to say prayers, what hymns we were going to sing, the timing for everything, how much time Elder Evans was going to talk and make it all look good. That took a while. After doing this and a few more office items Elder Rodriguez and I were able to work for about 3 hours in our sector.

 
 
Elder David F. Evans (First Quorum of the Seventy and Executive Director of the Missionary Department)

Saturday Elder Rodriguez and I had to get to the Stake Center in San Pablo really early so we could get everything ready and set up. It was so crazy. Elder Rodriguez and I were basically in charge of this meeting with almost 1000 missionaries. That's a lot of pressure haha. We were there all day with Elder Evans. He taught us so much and it was awesome. Here's a few short notes about the meeting that President sent us (we now have to take these notes and prepare subjects, material and demonstrations that the zone leaders and district leaders can have so they can know what to teach their district classes each week) :)

1. Whenever possible, look for and teach families (especially with a father) and young men who could serve missions so that they can strengthen the Church. Favor teaching these over others, but not to the complete exclusion of all others.

2. Before baptizing a person, teach them the doctrine of repentance clearly and powerfully and ensure that they have fully repented of their sins before baptism. In the Mission President's annual seminar in Provo last year, the Brethren taught that the concepts on pages 4-7 of the pamphlet that goes with lesson three should guide us heavily in teaching this. A Church missionary DVD at the seminar showed the missionaries referring to and using the pamphlet while teaching repentance.

3. Before baptizing a person, often try to have them read the Book of Mormon beginning with the Introduction to the book and reading the pages in order afterwards.

4. Do not baptize a person who does not meet the requirements of Preach My Gospel Chapter 12 or who is likely to quickly fall away.

5. After baptism and confirmation, continue to help every new convert to fully receive the Holy Ghost, do family history work and make it to the temple. Let's try to not lose any new converts!

6. Missionaries should focus on 1) baptizing more converted people; 2) retaining more recent converts; and 3) reactivating more less actives. Our mission plan works on all three of these as previously instructed by our Area Presidency. We should follow step two of the mission plan to retain virtually every new convert. We should apply step four to our mission plan to baptize more converted people. We should apply step five to our mission plan to activate less actives. Consistent with the words of Elder M. Russell Ballard just two weeks ago, we should strive to have 20 contacts per companionship per day or 140 contacts per week.

Those are some of the key themes. I loved a few parts in particular where Elder Evans talked about how converts still need help after their confirmation to receive the Holy Ghost. Some converts don't receive the Holy Ghost right away for various reasons. This is a process and the confirmation enables the companionship of the Holy Ghost but doesn't guarantee His presence always with you until we do all that is necessary. For example, let's say that an investigator didn't fully repent before baptism. When this investigator is confirmed he will not automatically receive the Holy Ghost. This will come after a full repentance. We as missionaries have to help all the converts in our sectors receive fully the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Sunday was a good day meeting our new ward and then after working from 4-10pm. 6 hours of work was awesome!! Elder Rodriguez and I taught a few lessons and did a lot of contacts. We have many return visits lined up because of this.

Monday (yesterday) Elder Rodriguez and I had an office meeting for about 3 hours with President and his wife, the mission historian, the mission finance guy, the housing coordinators, the mission secretary and Elder Rodriguez and myself. We talked about all kinds of mission related items in the office and future events. After the meeting, President had an hour meeting with Elder Rodriguez and I about what we thought about different things in the mission, norms of the office etc.

It's been really cool working with President Essig on a daily basis. I have seen he is a very inspired man and knows what he is doing. President often calls Elder Rodriguez and I with things to do so we can help him out. We really work along side President a lot during the day. It has been an incredible experience to this point. I look forward to the next little time I have serving with him. As you can see there's basically not a lot of time to work in the field in our sector that Elder Rodriguez and I have. At least last week there was almost no time. In the coming weeks we should have more time, but there are always alot of meetings and conferences to prepare for. Our sector is not the priority according to President. All the other AP items come first. Its wayyyyy different than the field. My mind gets really tired sometimes with so much thinking about all I have to do. I'll have to get used to it.


Thoughts/Highlights of the week

I finally got my CO license sticker!

Got a letter from Brother Tasker! It was really great to hear from him!

Serving with President Essig

Going to the Santiago Temple to pick up the new CSN Missionaries at the Chilean MTC. There are 10 new missionaries this change (1 Sister and 9 Elders). That was a pretty sweet experience!


Don't have any more time to write. Hopefully everyone is doing really well!! I sure am :)

I'll be writing again on Saturday!

Love,
Elder Jenson

Monday, March 3, 2014

From Lo Prado to Mission Home!

February 24, 2014

Hey everyone!!!!

News!! President Essig called me and told me that he was going to transfer me out of Lo Prado and that he wanted me to be his Assistant Saturday night! I still have mixed feelings about this. It was pretty hard for me to leave Lo Prado. I had come to love that ward, the members, the converts and the investigators that my companions and I were still teaching. Elder Anderson will be the missionary that stays in Lo Prado and baptizes all our investigators!! We have about 7 investigators ready to get baptized in the next month and a half. We had some really awesome experiences. I will tell you about them on Friday since that is my new P-day this week. My P-day will be on Saturday's, but this week it's different since there's a special meeting for the whole mission with a Setenta from the Missionary Department who's coming named Elder Evans.


Elder Rodriguez, Elder Jenson's companion from El Salto. They served together from May 2013-July 2013 and are now companions again as AP's to President Essig.

My companion is Elder Rodriguez (from Argentina) again!! He's the other Assistant here in the office. We will be working together again. Elder Rodriguez had alot of success in El Salto after I left. This is Elder Rodriguez's last month and a half as a missionary and then there will be another Assistant in the office next change that I will have to train like Elder Rodriguez is doing to me right now.

 

Baptism success and memories with Elder Rodriguez in El Salto at Paloma's baptism June 16, 2013.


Patricia, Miriam and Gabriel were comfirmed yesterday and it was amazing!! They felt the Spirit so much.

I will write you a little more on Friday since that will be my P-day this week. President Essig gave me a little time to write you all since it would be a long time since my last letter home to you. I hope everyone is doing well!!!

Thoughts/Highlights of the week:

I remember Rumfire!! Their smoothies are awesome. Some pretty sweet picts from Hawaii!

Mission Office is in Recoleta. It's right by where I served in El Salto.

There's only a few ties left to take down!

Finishing my time in Lo Prado strong with friends and investigators!


Elder Jenson finishing up his last week in Lo Prado with friends, companions, investigators and new converts February 22, 2014 

I will finish my mission as AP (Assistant to President Essig) :)



Love you all!

Elder Jenson