"God Puts People In Your Path That Are Ready and Prepared!"

Hey family and friends!

Elder Weigel and I discussing our weeks "logros" (achievements) In Renca

Elder Weigel and I had a busy week full of "logros"!

logros por la semana..
investigadores con fecha bautismal 6 (maria, hernardo, yoselin, javiera, victor, guillermo)
investigadores que asisten a la reunion sacramental 3 (juani, victor, amauri)
lecciones ensenadas a los investigadores con un miembro presente 11
otras lecciones que ensenaron 9
investigadores que estan progresando 1 (que tiene fecha bautismal y asiste a la reunion sacramental)
referencias recibidas 2
ref contactadas 3
nuevos investigadores 10
lecciones ensenadas a conversos recientes y a miembros menos activos 4
contactos (hablando con la gente en la calle o tocando puertas) 100

First, I will answer a few questions..


Each missionary gets 100 mil pesos at the first of every month which is about 200 dollars US

 

Chilean "Paper" Peso money

 

 

Chilean "Coin" Peso Money

 

 

The Chilean peso serves as the national currency for the Republic of Chile, a South American country with other peso using neighboring countries like Argentina, Colombia and Uruguay. The other countries that have been using peso as their currency unit are Dominican Republic, Mexico, Cuba and Philippines. Chile has been using this currency unit since 1851 but the current circulating new peso was made the official currency in 1975 when it replaced Chilean escudo. It is depicted with the dollar sign - "quot; and according to ISO 4217 regulation, the currency code for Chilean peso is CLP and the numeric code is 152.

*The average exchange rate of the Chilean peso to the U.S dollar was 1 U.S. dollar to 497.09 Chilean pesos in May 2012.

We pay Hna Pino 3 mil between Elder Weigel and myself every time she does our laundry which equals out to 6 mil every month or 12 US dollars (she irons all of our shirts too! it's so nice!)

Thank-yo so much for all of the letters that you all have been sending me! It's been so great to read about all of the fun things that you're all doing! I don't have time to respond to every one, but just thank-you all! I received 24 dear elders this last week at our District meeting and all of the Elders were in awe....I was in HEAVEN! Thank-you so much!!!

*Our family was in HEAVEN as well this week! Taylor was the first to receive a handwritten letter home from Elder Jenson yesterday!

So, I'm going to talk about all of my investigators this week....

Maria= We have taught Maria every lesson that we have to before baptism. We only need to teach her a few commandments like tithing, keeping the Sabbath Day holy, and honoring the law. Elder Weigel and I taught all of the tougher commandments this week to Maria like Word of Wisdom and the Law of Chastity. She didn't have any problems with them whatsoever. Maria is so awesome (she's about 60 yrs old). She's so cute (haha)! As soon as Elder Weigel and I got done teaching her the Word of Wisdom, we asked her if she would live the Word of Wisdom (she only had a problem with tea) and she was like, "Oh ya, no problem! I don't even have any tea in my house right now and I'm not going to buy any more". Her excitement about the gospel is "through the roof" after having bounced back from the little problem that we had with her boyfriend a week ago. Maria's baptism is set for this Sunday, the 2nd!!!!!!!!!! I can't even wait for it. I'm really praying that she makes it to the baptism date and gets baptized!

Hernardo, Yoselin, and Javiera (the daughter)= This family has been a little bit harder to work with. It's really hard because Hernardo has been reading and praying and knows that this Church is true, but Yoselin, the wife, is really stubborn. If it wasn't for Yoselin being so stubborn, they would have attended Church yesterday. I need to have faith that Heavenly Father will work the miracle necessary for them to come to church and experience the joy that I'm experiencing!

Victor= It's so hard to teach Victor because he works from 10am to 10pm every single week day and his schedule changes during the weekend. Yesterday was the first time that Victor was able to come to Church. He had a great experience. I sat right next to him and explained everything. We sang together, I explained the sacrament to him and the renewing of the baptisimal covenants that we make (I told him that WHEN he gets baptized, he will be able to partake of the Sacrament and that it will have a deeper meaning for him personally), listened to the talks, and closed. I couldn't help but smile the whole time just in pure joy seeing my Investigators come to church and the blessings of success that my Father in Heaven has given and blessed me with.

Amauri= Still hasn't found a job. We're working really hard and doing the best Elder Weigel and I know how to, to find  Amauri a job so that he can renew his residency here in Chile and get married to Claudia (an inactive member, but is reactivating herself and coming to church a lot!). before he can get baptized.  We have taught Amauri the first three lessons and a few of the commandments. The next step is to talk about the Word of Wisdom and Chastity. Amauri said that he really felt the Spirit yesterday and that he loved Church! Wow.. lots of miracles happening, thats for sure.

Guillermo= Guillermo is really progressing. We've taught him the first three lessons and a few commandments like the Word of Wisdom, prayer, and the importance of reading the scriptures. Guillermo  is really trying hard to stop smoking and has the desire to do so. It's hard for him since everyone that he works with smokes. Guillermo has stopped smoking a lot in the past few weeks and is down to about 2 cigars a day. He just needs to finish it off! Guillermo knows he needs to get baptized. We're working really hard with him to be able to do so.

Juani= This is the miracle that I was going to talk to you about last time I emailed home and ran out of time. This miracle happened on Sunday, the 19th. So, Elder Weigel and I had just finished with our lunch appointment and we were walking back home and Juani sees us and starts to approach us. Juani says,"What church are you guys from? "Umm the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints". "Oh, cuz I went to Mexico a few weeks ago and I went to this Christian Church there and I loved it. Is that your church?" "Umm, well we are a Christian Church, but there are tons of those." "Oh, well where do you guys gather together for your meetings? " In a chapel on the street Miraflores.""Oh, what do you do there?" (I gave her the details of what we do) and then said, "Your absolutely welcome to come to church with us this Sunday!"" Wowwwww. Well, I work every day except Saturday and Sunday and I go to church on Sundays, whether it's with you guys I don't know, but I just really want to become closer to God and learn more and more about the Bible!" "That's so great!" "What's that book you have in your hand?" " It's the Book of Mormon! It's another sacred book of scripture written here in the Americas just like the Bible was writen by people in Jeruselem and the surrounding areas there!" "Wowww, can I see it??" ( Juani then flipped through it). "Is this your holy book of scripture then?" "Well, we believe in the Bible and the Book of Mormon and combining them both, we believe that it contains the fulness of the everlasting gospel!" "Wowwww, God sent me here!!" (she said that like 3 times!) "Well, can we visit with you sometime this week and talk more about the church of Jesus Christ and the Book of Mormon??" "YA!!" This was literally the coolest thing that has ever happened to me in my entire life! Definitely strengthened my testimony that people are really prepared for you and that God puts people in your path that are ready and prepared to receive the restored gospel. This past Wednesday, Elder Weigel and I met with Juani for the first time and we taught her about the Restoration of the Church. She loved it! We left her the intro to the Book of Mormon to read so she could gain a better understanding of what the Book of Mormon is all about. Juani came to church with us yesterday and Hna Pati was really helpful in taking her around to all of the classes and explaining to her what happened in Sacrament meeting etc. Juani told Hna Pati that she loved it! This was such good news. Elder Weigel and I have another appointment with her this Wednesday at 9pm (Our schedule is 1 hour later in Chile. We wake up at 730am and go to bed at 1130pm). Elder Weigel and I are going to watch the movie, The Restoration with Juani and then after, our plan is to ponerle con una fecha bautismal :)

Those are our Investigators that are progressing the most right now. I just want to finish by talking a little bit more about my feelings at church yesterday. As Elder Weigel and I were waiting for our Investigators to show up for Sacrament meeting, I saw Amauri and Victor and Claudia walk in and we shook their hands and that put a huge smile on my face... then I see Juan Carlos Rivas walk in (inactive for the last 20 yrs, left the church when he was 18 yrs old.. we've been visiting him and helping him reactivate himself) and that made me smile even bigger. I was filled with the Spirit and full of love for my Investigators and was so glad that they decided that it was right to come to Church. We had a great Sacrament meeting and I felt the Spirit really strong despite all of the screaming from all of the little kids! I'm really loving the work! Even when its really hard and you're tired of walking all over the place and don't feel like you have any energy left, it makes it all worth it seeing your Investigators come to Church. The Spanish is coming along little by little. The Chileans are just so hard to understand!!

There's not mail service in Renca. I have to go downtown to Santiago every single time I want to mail something home... huge pain.

 

Taylor was the first one to receive a handwritten letter from Elder Jenson!

 

For our District Activity this week we went BOWLING! Yes, There's bowling in Chile!

 

Japimax Bowling is about 45 minutes from Renca

 

 

Will it be a STRIKE for Elder Jenson?

 

 

Elder Jenson takes home the VICTORY with a 120!

 

 

Elder Jenson's Renca District :Front: Elder Perez, (L Center): Elder Holland, (R Center): Elder Barnes, Elder Weigel and Elder Jenson and Elder Gunther in the back.

 

 



We've only been downtown once. The next time I have the opportunity to go downtown I will mail home the sd card with the pics. These next two weeks I can't go downtown because the first week is mandatory cleaning day for the mission and the second is transfers. We'll see! I really want to stay here in Renca. Our hard work and success is just starting to show.  Elder Weigel and I have so many Investigators that have a good chance to get baptized this next transfer!!

Ok, my time is up. I hope that you like the pictures and email! Have a good week! Much love...

Love,

Tan

"Te Amo Mi Amiguito! Eres Mi Angel!"

Jonathan's Farias's Family (L to R): Jordanna (Jonathan's cousin and her baby), Rommanet (Jonathan's sister), Elder Jenson, Elder Weigel and Isaac (Jonathan's brother)

President Essig was blown away by my Johnathan story. He said he'd never heard of something like that before. I got permission from President Essig to visit Jonathan's family this week! They live in downtown Santiago.  Elder Weigel and I met with Jonathan's brother Isaac, his sister Rommanet and Jonathan's cousin Jordanna and her little baby. We had a really powerful lesson about the Restoration of the Church and I was in tears by the end.  Isaac was in contact with Jonathan this past week. I just received this letter from Jonathan today about how he felt about me teaching his family. Really powerful...

Solo queria darte las gracias por haber visitado a mis hermanos en Santiago. Mi hermano Isaac me dijo que la visita fue ¨Terrific¨ y de verdad, que eso fue lo que yo precisamente queria que pasara. Yo estoy completamente seguro que tu tocaste lo mas profundo de sus corazones. Also, my sister Jordana told me that it was great the lesson and that she got very sensitive. She told me she wanted to hug you so bad cuz you were the last one to hug me, so she wanted a little of me. I love them with all my heart. They are my inspiration and the reason cuz I leave. I was praying exactly for this my friend. I prayed to my Heavenly Father for you to touch their hearts and my prayers were answered. I told about this experience last Saturday two sister missionaries and we felt the spirit so strong.

Now you know more why I go to the MTC. I strongly know that if I work hard in the Misional Work, God, my father, will open the way to be some day sealed with my family for the rest of this journey and the eternety. Tanner, I have a testimony from what the prophet Joseph Smith said: Despues de todo lo que que se ha dicho, lo mas importante es PREDICAD EL EVANGELIO. Predicad el evangelio, la unica y verdadera doctrica del Padre, y del Hijo, y del Espiritu Santo como dijo Nefi, nos puede traer grandes bendiciones en nuestras vidas, si, los cielos se abren para nuestro favor.

Now, I have a roommate that is not LDS and he went to church with me today, it was great! This week I´m taking him to the MTC to be taught for the misionaries. Im pretty confidente that the Holy Ghost will touch his heart.

Gracias otra ves! I wanna leave you with my testimony. All Im is because this church. This gospel is true and its an eternal true that cant be changed. The Lord is the Savior of this world and it cant be changed. Joseph Smith was a prophet and he saw our Heavenly Father coming down from heaven. The Book of Mormon is true! I promised you that I know it. In my first month as a converse, I read it completly cuz its power cautivated me. At that time, I felt the spirit of the Lord all around in my room. These are trues that cant be changed in my heart. I invite you to always remember how you have felt those times when you have felt the spirit so stronge in your heart and I promise you that the difficoult times will fly away like nothing. You were my friend in the pre-existense and Im so happy that I found you here; you and me were with the Savior there and that is because was so easy to reconize each others here. I will be thankfull for ever to have meet you again. You inspire me so much. I thought I didnt have a testimony but I realized that my testimony about all this, but above all, about my Savior, is the same one I had in the pre-existense. In the name of the Savior, our Savior and creator, Amen.


Hey, dont even try to understand how much I love you lol. Te amo mi amiguito! Eres mi angel.

Tu amigo de la eternidad, Jonni







I'll answer all of your questions first and then write my highlights with the time I have left...



1. President Essig was blown away by the Jonathan story. He said he'd never heard of something like that before.

2. I gave the gifts to Jonathan's family he gave me in the MTC when we visited this week.

3. Church here is like a kids play place! There's so much ruccus going on I can hardly think (kids running all around, jumping up and down on the stage by the speaker... you name it, it's being done here in the Jose Miguel Infante Branch. There were 110 people that attended yesterday.

Alarcon Caballero Family who are awesome members in our Jose Miguel Infante Branch.

4. I do my email every week at an Internet Cafe. I pay about 75 cents for an hour and a half of internet.

5. Elder Weigel went to Arizona University and lives in Tuscon

6. I don't know the exact address of my house.

7. The ceiling in my casita is fine. When I walk up and down the stairs I have to duck a lot or I'll bang my head!

Elder Jenson in front of his casita in Renca, Chile

8. I've gotten dear elder letters up until Aug 5th.. Thanks!!! I also received two more packages ( with the bball and treats) Thank you!!!

9. I can't carry my camera where ever I go because it will get stolen.

10. Spanish and teaching are coming along really well.

11. Ideas of things to send (and some of the members want, like Hma Pino :) reeses, beef jerkey, swedish fish, any type of jolly ranchers, sour patch kids, lotion, hot choc packets.... you cant find these treats here in Chile! I know thats a lot, but I love you a lot so.... :)

Pino Familia 


12. The weather was really cold and rainy early in the week, but yesterday and today were really nice.

Probably in the 60s!

13. Elder Weigel has been here for a year, is a life member and has good family support.

14. Elder Weigel and I teach about 15 lessons a week. We're working a lot harder and should have at least 20 appointments this week! Members serve us lunch every day except P-day. We make our own dinner. I usually eat hamburgers, soup or cereal!

15.There are probably more pictures up on the mission site. We had Zone Conference this last Tuesday.

16. The best food I've eaten while in Chile are Empanadas. They're so good!

17. Elder Huaman and Elder Sozl are my Zone Leaders. They're great! Elder Sozl leaves to go home in 3 weeks!

Elder Jenson's District eating lunch together in Renca, Chile

18. My Mission Home is about 45 min by bus and train from Renca.

19. I took all my letters/pictures to Chile with me from the MTC!

20. Chileans have a lot of different sayings: vacan means cool, al tiro is right now and gua gua is a Chilean baby.

***Highlights from the week:

Getting a letter from Coach Johansen!


On Monday, Elder Weigel and I went downtown to Santiago for our P-day and saw a lot of really cool sites.

Elder Jenson on the top of Cerro in Santiago, Chile

Cerro San Cristóbal is a hill in northern Santiago, Chile. It rises 880 m AMSL and about 300 m above the rest of Santiago; the peak is the second highest point in the city, after Cerro Renca. Its original indigenous name was Tupahue. It was named by the Spanish conquistadors for St Christopher, in recognition of its use as a landmark.

Elder Jenson is front of La Moneda (Chilean White House) in Santiago, Chile

Palacio de La Moneda (Spanish: [paˈlasjo ðe la moˈneða], Mint Palace), or simply La Moneda, is the seat of the President of the Republic of Chile. It also houses the offices of three cabinet ministers: Interior, General Secretariat of the Presidency and General Secretariat of the Government. It occupies an entire block in downtown Santiago, in the area known as Civic District between Moneda (North Side), Morandé (East), Alameda del Libertador Bernardo O'Higgins (South) and Teatinos street (West).

Elder Jenson on top of Cerro Lucia with the Andes Mountains in the background

Santa Lucía Hill (Spanish: Cerro Santa Lucía) is a small hill in the centre of Santiago, Chile. It borders on Alameda del Libertador Bernardo O'Higgins in the south, Santa Lucía Street in the west and Victoria Subercaseaux on the east. An adjacent metro station is named for it. The hill has an altitude of 629 m and a height of 69 m over the surrounding area. The hill is the remnant of a volcano 15 million years old. The hill has a 65.300 square meters surface and it is adorned with ornate facades, stairways and fountains. Atop the hill, there is a viewpoint unsurpassed inside Santiago except by Cerro San Cristóbal. It is a frequent spot for tourists visiting the city.

Elder Jenson in front of Centro in Santiago where National Congressional meetings were held before they built a new Congressional building in Valparaiso, Chile

The National Congress (Spanish: Congreso Nacional) of Chile is the legislative branch of the government of the Republic of Chile. The National Congress of Chile was founded on July 4, 1811. It is a bicameral legislature comprised by the Chamber of Deputies (lower house), of 120 members and by the Senate (upper house), formed by 38 parliamentarians.

*The Old Congress building was moved to Valparaiso (140 km west) to encourage businesses and people to move outside the capital, as the majority of Chile lives in Santiago.

Elder Jenson in front of the Correo Central "Post Office" where he sends letters home! 

The Central Post Office Building (Spanish: Edificio del Correo Central) is a historic post office building on the northern edge of the Plaza de Armas, in Santiago, Chile.

"Nice" homes in Chile with Cerro Colorado in the background

Cerro Colorados is a mountain in the Andes about 200 kilometres (120 mi) north of Santiago in Chile. It has a height of 6,080 metres (19,950 ft).

4 "Normal" homes in Chile that are all connected together

On Tuesday, we had an appointment with Maria, our strongest and most spiritual Investigator. Elder Weigel and I dropped by her home and she came out with a sad face and told us that she didn't want to visit with us anymore. She said that her boyfriend told her that she can't visit with us anymore and that God is punishing her for investigating the Mormon church while she still continues to go to Catholic church on Sunday's. To give you a little more of a background on Maria...we had had about 4 appointments with her the previous 2 weeks and she cancelled all of them. Maria also hasn't come to Church the past two weeks and Elder Weigel and I have been in the dark and had no idea what was going on. Elder Weigel and I bore our testimonies right then and there through the fence to Maria and told her that we know she knows that this Church is true because she has felt the Sprit many times before. We powerfully told Maria of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and that Christ has restored His Church back on the earth today. In the end, Maria agreed to make another appointment with us and we met this past Thursday, two days later, when her boyfriend wasn't home. On Thursday, we went to her home and taught her about the Plan of Salvation. She felt the spirit strongly. Elder Weigel and I asked Maria if she would be baptized again and shared with her the importance of it. She accepted another baptismal date of September 2nd. This Sunday she came to Church!!! It was so nice to see here there. Elder Weigel and I also had two inactive families at Church with us whom we have been visiting and working with. For my Intercambio this week I partnered up with Elder Gunther and did the exchange in his sector,Valle de Azapa.

Azapa Valley in Chile is a fertile and narrow oasis, framed between two sere hills and divided by the summer season-running "San Jose" river.  This jewel of the north has a unique climate that permits the farming of a great variety of fruits and vegetables throughout the year, in addition to the unique olives of Azapa, famous for their violet color and bitter flavor that also give birth to a strong-tasting oil.

Elder Gunther and I spent the day teaching 13 children in the Valley de Azapa area all about the Word of Wisdom

Elder Gunther and Elder Jenson with the children of Valley de Azapa

The week started off slow but ended up being really successful. I learned that if you don't give up hope, good things are going to happen! Have faith!! I'll tell you about a HUGE miracle that happened on Sunday as well next week because I'm out of time. I hope that you have a great week! Everything is so good here in Chile. I'm working really hard.

Love,

Tan

POUCH MAIL TO ELDER JENSON

HOW DO I SEND A POUCH LETTER TO ELDER JENSON IN CHILE?

The following are the Missionary Pouch Regulations for sending a letter free to Elder Jenson through the Church pouch system.

* Single sheet letter on white paper (not lined), folded in thirds and taped at the top

*No pictures, currency, cards or stamps

* No envelope

Address your letter to the following address:

Elder Tanner Jenson

Chile Santiago North Mission

POB 30150

Salt Lake City, Utah  84130-0150

*It takes 2-3 weeks for Elder Jenson to receive pouch letters.



The Gift of Tongues was Definitely In Play Friday

August 13, 2012

To start off I just want to say that I have gotten all of your letters that you have sent since the 29th of July. I also have gotten the packages that you sent. That was really nice. Thank-you! We get mail every Wednesday in District class.

I'm going to answer all of your questions first from last week and then with the time I have left, I'm going to tell you about the highlights of my week. I'm just going to print off your letter for the week that you send me via email and then read it when I get back to the house. I will then plan to answer all of your questions in my next weeks email.

1. The church in Renca is beautiful. Renca's a pretty poor place in Chile and then all of a sudden you see a nice church. Last weeks attendance at church was 95 people.

2. We buy food at a place called aCuenta. It's like a King Soopers or Albertsons.

aCuenta in Renca, Chile

3. The imported foods cost a little bit more than the US. For instance a box of Frosted Flakes costs about 4.30 or so. Lays potato chips costs just over 2 dollars. Cost depends on the different kinds of food and what you want to buy.

4. Hna Pino does our laundry for us. She is so awesome! She's like my mom here! haha

5. There are 8 people including me in our District.

6. There are about 16 people in our Zone.

7. The food is pretty good. Some food is nasty but thats alright, I try everything.  I've tried empanadas, sopopillas, panita (cow liver.. interesting) and then we have a ton of rice and chicken.

Chilean Sopopilla

Chilean-style sopopillas are delicious fried rounds of pumpkin-spiced dough drenched in a brown sugar syrup. They make a delicious fall breakfast or afternoon snack. Sopopillas are traditionally eaten on rainy winter days in Chile.

Panita (Cow liver!)

8. We work a lot with Inactives and trying to find new Investigators.  We have a key indicator for our mission that says that we need to do 10 Permanecers (visiting Inactives) per week.

9. There are no Hermanas in our District.

10. We can play hoops on P-day but I haven't played yet.  Right now I'm downtown sight seeing and it's really cool.

11. I  told Pres Essig about Chanse´s dad and he said that he served with him for a long time in Logan and that he's a great person.

Highlights of the week..

On Monday night, we had a great Family Night at the Caballero´s home (I actually took a picture with this family, but I forgot to bring my cord with me downtown so I could download the pictures for this week.. so sorry about that.  If we have time when we get back to Renca, I will use that time to send pictures and finish up emails). During the Family Night, Victor and Amauri (two of our Investigators) came. They are brothers. We watched a little clip about the woman with the living water when Jesus talked about eternal life. They liked the lesson. After the lesson, I tried my first empanada! It was great! (cheese and shrimp). I even took the leftovers and ate them the next day!

Cheese and Shrimp Empanada!

Chileans love to eat empanadas. They eat empanadas for a quick lunch, at asados (BBQ cook-outs) during holiday fiestas (celebrations), and in their homes. It is one of the few foods in Chile that, according to polite society, one may properly eat with his hands. These delicious turnovers are filled with various kinds of cheese, meats and seafood, sometimes fried and other times baked.

On Tuesday, Elder Weigel and I taught the Toloza Castro family.  This was their second time visiting with us. We taught them the Restoration.  They were very interested and Hernardo, the dad, was really into it.  We extended a baptism date of September 2nd and they accepted! I'm excited to work with this family and see their progression to baptism. Hopefully they stick with it!  Tuesday night, we had another great Family Night with the Toro family. They are great members in our ward. They invited two of their neighbors to come over for Family Night to watch ´Como hallar fe en Cristo'.

"Como hallar fe en Cristo" (Finding Faith in Christ)

One of the neighbors was really interseted and we left them both with folletos (pamphlets) about the Restoration of the Church. We have since passed by one of the neighbors houses, but they weren't home.

Spanish Restoration Pamphlet

Wednesday, we taught a bunch of lessons and had some good visits.  We tried to visited Guillermo but he wasn't able to listen to our message because he had to work the night shift and was sleeping when we stopped by.  We ended up sharing a message with his wife and daughter who are Inactives.  We left Guillermo's wife with a plan to try and stop smoking which included some ideas on a piece of paper to go over.  We were also able to visit Victor, Amauri, and Claudia (spouse of Amauri, who's an Inactive member). They are always intrigued with our lessons. The problem with Amauri and Claudia is that they are not married. Amauri actually went to get an hour (appointment) for them to get married after we had a few lessons with them. They told Amauri he couldn't have an marriage appointment since he doesn't have a work contract! It was horrible.  So now we are really trying to help him find a job so that he can get the contract, get married and can then get baptized.  We taught Amauri and Claudia all of Lesson 3 and they were really receptive. We commited Victor to another baptismal date of Sept 9th. (In this mission you have to go to church 3 times before you can get baptized and Victor didn't go three times before his other baptism date, so we had to change it to the 9th of Sept).

 Thursday Elder Weigel and I worked a lot with Inactives and visited a few future Investigators. One of them is named Reuben. He loves to talk and is really involved in the Catholic church. It will be hard to get him to crack, but Elder Weigel and I will try our hardest!

 On Friday we had an Intercambio. This is where you work with a different missionary in your District for the day either in your sector or his. Elder Barnes came to my sector and I had the responsibility to direct my sector after only being here for a week and a half... it was crazy! Elder Barnes didn't come with a map of the sector so I was pretty much on my own trying to find my way to our appointments. Elder Barnes has only been here 6 weeks longer than I have, so it was a little tough, but it was great for us.  The gift of tongues was definitely in play that day!  We visited the Taloza Castro family again and watched the Restoration video with them. 

Spanish Restoration Video

They liked it a lot and I commited them to keep reading the Book of Mormon and to come to church on Sunday. We spent the rest of the day contacting a lot of people and knocking on a lot of doors. No one has a doorbell here, so if you want someone to come out of their house, you yell, "Halo!" (pronounced like hello with an "a" like hallo).

I don't have any more time. I will finish next week.. Love you all!

Tan

WHERE IN THE WORLD IS RENCA,CHILE?

Picture taken as I was landing in Santiago, Chile on July 31, 2012 as the sun was rising



 ***August 6, 2012 (First Area of Mission-Renca, Chile) Companion: Elder Weigel***

Hola Familia!!
Chile is so crazy!!! It's such a different world here. I can't even really describe it. I will just start telling you about my first day here and then go from there.

First day... so after the longest flights of my life, I finally arrived in Chile! As soon as we arrived, we had to walk through the airport and find our way to pay a 160 dollar tax for using the airport. That was covered by the church. I walked up to the counter and the lady just started rattling off all kinds of Spanish and I was like uhhhh, here's the 160 dollars! haha. I gave her my passport, she stamped it, pút the receipt in the booklet and I was off to customs. We waited in a pretty long line for that. When I got up to the customs counter (la policia de las investigaciones), pretty much the FBI of Chile, a man started asking me all these questions about why are you here, how long are you here, how much money do you have with you, all kinds of stuff and he told me to stand up against the wall while he looked at my information. One by one the 21 missionaries that were going to Chile that day ,that were on my flight ,came and stood right next to me. It was actually pretty scary. After an hour and a half of just standing up against the wall, they finally let us go... from there we got to find our baggage and then had to fill out some more paperwork. We then met President Essig and his wife! They're such great people... (just like I said in my letter that got sent home my first day here). We traveled through the city of Santiago to the mission home. Santiago looks kind of the same as a city in the US, but a lot dirtier, and there are dogs EVERYWHERE! There are 3 or 4 dogs on every little street you walk down. Haven't gotten bitten yet! At the mission home we did our usual interviews, had a nap and then the trainers came! It's really fun how everything works. They present the trainers and then we come in and sit down next to them, but in a seperate spot. The trainers were singing Called to Serve as we walked in, (in Spanish of course). We joined in for the last few verses and then it began. President Essig announces the trainee and they stand up and then the trainer is announced and everyone goes nuts for every single one of the new companionships. The trainer runs over and gives the trainee a huge hug and then they sit next to each other. After about 10 trainees were called President Essig called my name, "Elder Jenson", and I stood up and then President said... Elder Weigel!! (pronounced why-gle) Elder Weigel came over and gave me a big hug and we sat next to each other. Elder Weigel's from Arizona and his year mark is in 4 days! Crazy. Elder Weigel's Spanish is soooo good. He speaks very well and understands everything. I'm so blessed to be his companion. This week we have accomplished a lot and we have worked very hard. After the ceremony where we knew who our trainers and new companions were, we grabbed our lunch and our bags and headed to our area. My area is called Renca. It's a very poor place outside of Santiago about an hour by bus and subway.

RENCA,CHILE

Renca is a commune of Chile located in Santiago Province, Santiago Metropolitan Region. It was founded on May 6, 1894. Renca spans an area of 24.2 km² (9 sq mi) and has 133,518 inhabitants (66,253 men and 67,265 women), making the commune an entirely urban area. Average annual household income: US$17,278 .Population below poverty line: 19.2%. The currency circulated here is the Chilean Peso .

Metro de Santiago

Bus to Renca, Chile

Elder Weigel and I took the subway first and then caught a bus which took us to where we needed to be. I asked my comp, "Where are we going to be staying?" and he was like, "a house". I was like, "With how many Elders?" he's like, "Just us". I was like, "uhh ok". In my mind I'm thinking a house like in America and I'm like, "Wow that's awesome!" We finally get to the street where our house is and I'm just following Elder Weigel. He stops at this little house (if you can call it that). I call it a casita! ha. (I made a huge mistake and didn't take a picture outside our house, just pics of the inside. Pictures of the outside will come in the next email). We walk inside "our house" and I'm like," This is what we're living in for the next few months... nice". I pretty much just drop my luggage and Elder Weigel gives me the little tour of the house.

Front entryway of my "new home" in Renca, Chile

Kitchen of my "new home" in Renca, Chile

Bathroom of my "new home" in Renca, Chile

Elder Jenson and his "new bedroom" in Renca, Chile

Elder Jenson's companion, Elder Weigel, in the "new home" study area

There's no heating at all in my casita! In the mornings and at night it's so freezing cold. After we shower in the mornings, we come out of the shower seeing our breath and try to get dressed as fast as possible because we're so cold (were putting on ice cold clothes as well, remember?) It's definitely a change from the US to say the least! We had a little bit of time after Elder Weigel's tour of the house before we went to a family night at a members house named Hna Pati. She's great! We first picked up an investigator (Maria) that Elder Weigel had been teaching and brought her to the visit. During the visit at Hna Pati's, we watched a video about the Restoration (20 min vid). Then we taught Maria a little bit more about the Restoration. She had received the first lesson before this visit, so it wasn't new to her. We were just helping her understand what happened. We asked Maria to be baptized and she accepted! Her baptism date is on the 19th of August! We had 4 investigators set with baptisimal dates yesterday, but two of our investigators didn't come to church, so they lost their baptisimal date. In this mission (Sanitago North), investigators have to come to church 3 times before they can be baptized. We have to make that happen. After that, we went back to the house and went to bed which capped off my first day in Chile.

I don't have a ton of time left because I had to write a letter to President Essig and spent time trying to figure out how to get these pictures on the computer and send them to you. I will just tell you about my thoughts and about my investigators..

Maria- The one who came to the family night with us.
Guillermo- He's been to church twice, but needs time to quit smoking to be able to be baptized. Baptism date- 8/26/12.
Amauri- Came to church for the second time yesterday. He's great. He's greatful for the missionaries and is growing his faith. He just needs to get married to be able to be baptized. His girlfriend and he are trying to make plans to do that soon.
Victor- Haven't met him yet, but he is the brother of Amauri. Apparently, he really wants to get baptized as well and has already commited to a date- 8/19/12.

We are finding people more and more, but those are the investigators that have a baptisimal date and that we are really trying to help out and focus on right now.

As for the Spanish, I showed up here and literally the Chileans don't pronounce anything at all. It's really hard to understand them. I'm understanding more and more every single day. I'm participating in the lessons pretty well and Elder Weigel is really helping me with points that I need to make in every single lesson and with all that I do.

You have to watch where you step here. There's dog "droppings" everywhere. I think I step in like 2 dog "droppings" every single day! It's horrible. Definately have to watch where I'm walking! Something else interesting is that the houses are conjoined where I am living and all the houses have fenced off gates to them.

Overall, I love Chile! I'm really developing a love for the people here. The investigators are so great and I'm blessed to be working with them to help them come closer to Christ. Ok, I don't have any more time. I hope your week is going great! I'm loving it here and all is well.

love,
tan