Heavenly Father Answers Prayers!

October 22, 2012

Hey Family and Friends!

Elder Weigel and Elder Jenson's last P-Day together in Renca!
(Photo by:Carola Riquelme Herrera, a Chilean friend of Elder Jenson's in Renca)

How is everything? This week has been a little bit out of the normal! Elder Weigel and I were finishing up a Family Night at Hna Pino's house and the phone starts ringing...Elder Weigel looks at the phone and it says President Essig. Elder Weigel picks up the phone and President Essig proceeds to tell Elder Weigel that he is going to be the new Secretary of the mission! President Essig said Elder Weigel needed to pack his bags and that the Secretary now would be picking him up at 10pm on Thursday night. President Essig also talked to me and told me that my new companion was going to be Elder King. President Essig told me that Elder King was the Historiador (Historian) of the mission right now and that Elder King would be my new companion starting this Wednesday (in two days!) Elder King has to train the new missionary that was called to be the new Historiador for the mission. Elder King is coming to Renca in a couple of days. I'm excited to work with Elder King, but it was pretty sad saying goodbye to my Daddy (Elder Weigel)!! I learned tons from Elder Weigel in my training in the Jose Miguel Infante 3 in Renca. I will be staying in Renca for the next 6 weeks for my 3rd cambio! I'm excited. For now, I'm staying with the Zone Leaders, Elder Sampson and Elder Huaman.  The three of us had to cover my sector and their sectors from Friday to Sunday. It was a little bit harder to cover all of the appointments, but I actually achieved a lot with what little time we had. It's a blast hanging out and teaching with Elder Sampson and Elder Lawson. They're great Elders!

Elder Lawson and Elder Sampson

 

 



Logros (Achievements)

bautismos  0
confirmaciones  0
con fecha  7
inv que asisten  0
progresando  0
lecciones con miembro  7
otras lecciones  11
ref recibidas  4
ref contactadas  9
nuevos investigadores  17
lecciones con CR MA  1
contactos  110
MED  380

Remember how Elder Weigel and I  had 1 new investigator this last week?? I set a goal to find people to teach and prayed for lots of new investigators this week and I was blessed with 17!!!! That number is unreal! It's still a struggle to get people to church, but I'm working hard. I think we're going to see the fruits of all of our hard work these next couple of cambios. It's going to be all worth it!!!

Investigators:

Maria:  After a few lessons and explaining to her the commandments, she softened her heart and told me she wanted to change her lifestyle. We talked about her baptism and how that is now her goal and then spent some time talking about how we were going to reach her baptismal goal which included finding work, leaving her boyfriend and starting to completely follow the commandments so she could receive that happiness it talks about in Mosiah 2:22,41..."And behold, all that he requires of you is to keep the commandments; and he has promised you that if ye would keep his commandments ye should prosper in the land; and he never doth vary from that which he hath said; therefore, if ye do keep his commandments he doth bless you and prosper you." Mosiah 2:41..."And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God.  For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness.  O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it."  Maria told me that she wants that happiness and ever since she has made that choice, she has told me her life has been better.  I was teaching with Elder Licea on Saturday when we had Divisions and while we were sharing experiences with Maria, I felt prompted to ask her to put her full trust in the Lord and be baptized on the 28th of October. Maria accepted and I'm so excited for her to get baptized and take that next great step in her life. Maria has already been to church 3 times and is progressing well. Maria was supposed to go with a member of the ward to the Centro de Empleo this morning at 10, but the member told me that Maria never showed up.  I'm arranging all of these things to fix and solve Maria's problems and she isn't following through on her word. We'll see why she wasn't able to go this morning and try and help her. If all goes well this week, we should have a baptism this Sunday!!!

Carlos:  Carlos is so hard to find! We go by his home all the time and he's never home.  Finally, when I called his cell he picked up and said that he was home.  I told him I'd be there in 3 minutes and that I'd give him a lesson. On my way there, we saw Carlos riding his bike towards us and we stopped him to see what was up.  Carlos said he was just going to buy a few things and that we should wait for him at his house.  When we got to Carlos's home his mom said that he wasn't coming back because he was headed to work. Not sure what's up with Carlos, but I do know that we need to figure out the problem and resolve it. I called Carlos on Saturday night to remind him about church and he answered the phone and said that he'd be ready at 9:20 to go to church. We passed by at 920 on Sunday and Carlos wasn't even awake! Carlos told me that he would hurry and get ready and head to church in 20 minutes. Carlos never came to church. I have to be direct with Carlos the next time we visit him so we can get to the core of his problem and resolve it. We'll see how things go!

Amauri: Had a great lesson with Amauri this week about the Word of Wisdom.  Amauri said the only problem he still struggled with was coffee. We took Amauri's coffee out of his house to make sure that temptation was gone and it would be easier for him to keep the Word of Wisdom. We also set a date for Amauri's baptism for the 4th of November. We are hoping that Claudia goes to live with her mom soon so that Amauri and Victor can be baptized in November.  The 4th is the goal! We will work hard this week to prepare Amauri and Victor for that date.

Paola and Osvaldo and Family (11/11/12): We have tried several times to teach this family this week but Paola has been really sick. I keep reminding them of the importance of reading the Book of Mormon and praying together as a family to receive the answer from God that this is the true church.  If Paola and Osvaldo don't come to church this week, they lose their baptism date. This is one of the family's that we are also really focusing on this week.

Lucia: This is an incredible miracle! Miracle of the week! Elder Weigel and I contacted Lucia about 3 weeks ago and she told us to come by another day. We did and then Lucia's daughter came out of their house and said to come by another day. We did and Lucia was finally there on our third try. She let us into her patio so we could teach her. Elder Weigel and I first started talking about what missionaries do. In the course of our conversation it came up that her dad and brother had died in the same year, 2 years ago. Lucia was really heart broken and didn't know what to do. There were questions that she had that still weren't answered. Elder Weigel and I taught her about the spirit world and where her dad and brother are now.  That gave Lucia promise. We also explained the Book of Mormon to Lucia and left her with a copy to read. Lucia said that she would read and that she would pray as well. I shared with Lucia the personal experience I had when Heavenly Father answered by prayer when I was deciding to go to the Leadbetter Academy. I told Lucia I know Heavenly Father answers prayers because he answered mine and he can answer yours too! I couldn't hold back my tears. I felt the spirit was so strong so much to the point that I could barely talk. I know Lucia felt the spirit so strongly as well and that she knows prayers really can be answered from God if we but have faith in him and really plead for an answer. The next time Elder Weigel and I met with Lucia, Wednesday, was when we had the Family Night at Hna Pino's home.

 

"Hna Pino being goofy with a Chicago Bulls hat!"

 

 We all watched a video called Together Forever.

Together Forever Video

There are 5 different segments. We watched a 7 min clip of when a couple lost their daughter. During the video, Lucia started to cry. The video talks about how families really can be together forever and that that blessing is found in the Church of Jesus Christ.  Luca felt the spirit so strong. Such a memorable lesson! We ended the night by me making french toast for everyone!!!

 

Who knew Elder Jenson was such a great cook!

The Pino family and Lucia obviously had not tried or heard of french toast before. I had Hna Pino go to Linder and get maple syrup. I made it for them and they loved it so much!! All of them were saying this is "tan rico"! It was great! We had a great night being all together. The next day we had another lesson with Lucia and Hna Pino and taught her about the Restoration and how that power to seal families was found in the Church. Lucia had read the Book of Mormon and said,"I love it!" Elder Weigel and I reinforced the importance of prayer. Lucia wasn't able to make it to church yesterday because she went to the cemetary to visit her dad and brother. Lucia committed herself to coming this Sunday! I'm so excited for her. Lucia's son told her that if she gets baptized in the church that he would follow her example and get baptized as well! Elder Weigel and I haven't even met Lucia's son yet, but that sounds sweet to me!

Highlights of my Week:

Cerro Colorado Chile Chapel

 

*This is the craziest thing ever....I was on an exchange with Elder Holland in Cerro Colorado this week. We were teaching a lesson with one of Elder Holland's recent converts and somehow in our conversation it came up that she had just bought a "pernil". I was like, "what's that?" The convert proceeded to go to her kitchen and came back with his PIG LEG...wrap it up and gave it to Elder Holland and I as a gift! It weighs like 15 pounds!!!!!!

 



 

Elder Jenson loving his "PERNIL!"

 

 

 

Close-up of Elder Jenson's "gift"!

 

*Elder Jenson heard from his best friend Cory Calvert for the first time! 

 

 



Cory (Crathzy as Elder Jenson calls him) is #23 and a Guard for BYU basketball this season.

 

 

*Spending time in training with my Renca District before transfers one last time!

 



 

Elder Jenson and his Renca District

 

 

*Watching Taylor's SLAMDUNK videos..."Those are sweet!!!! Loved it! Showed Elder Sampson (ZL) and he was like DUDE!"

 

*Loved getting all your letters and packages. I got 29 dearelder letters and 3 packages this week! It was crazy getting so much stuff. The mail system is so unpredictable. I got your Halloween so quick and the Brigham City packages took 7 weeks! The jaws drop of every single missionary here when all of the packages and letters arrive (I share!)...I love it :)

 

 

Happy Halloween Elder Jenson!

 

 

Elder Jenson's missionary Halloween costume this year!

 

 

Brigham City Utah temple, the Church's 14th completed temple in Utah

 

 

*All 29 Horsley's (Elder Jenson's mother's family) attended an Open House for the Brigham City Temple on September 1, 2012. Nana wanted Elder Jenson to feel of our love since he was unable to attend and made this poster where each of us shared our feelings and testimonies of being in the House of the Lord and missionary work. Some nieces and nephews even drew pictures. Elder Jenson wrote, "Such an incredible idea. So cool. I felt so much love. I'm hanging this in my room throughout my mission."

 



 

Elder Jenson and his poster of  family love and testimonies

 

 

All is well here in Chile. I'm having a great time. I'm trying to not get down with no investigators coming to church and am really excited for this week!!! Hope all is well with each of you! Thank-you for your love and support. It means a lot!



 





Love,

Tan