BAPTISM!

July 22, 2013

Hey Everyone!

My 3 companions and I had a sweet week this week here in El Salto 1! There was alot of success. I actually had another companion added to our trio Thursday night so we are a foursome companionship temporarily! Elder Ramirez came from the MTC here in Chile because he's waiting for his ticket to Mexico. I got a call from President and he's like....so I'm going to be sending you one more companion for a little while. I was like what?? President's like yep his name is Elder Ramirez and he's from Concepcion Chile. It's actually been sweet because we have been able to do divisions for the past 3 days and have taught a bunch.

Elder Ramirez, Elder Rodriguez, Viviana, Matias, Elder Jenson and Elder Castro

Viviana Poblete got baptized on Sunday!!! She decided to move her baptismal date so that some of her family could be there. Matias baptized her, her 18 year old nephew. She was anxious and nervous at the same time. It was a great step for her to take and actually a historic moment!!! Viviana had 3 years of missionaries teaching her over and over again but never made the decision to get baptized. Viviana finally felt the spirit really strong and said that she knew that this is the true church of Jesus Christ. That was a really cool moment. I'm excited for her and grateful to have been with her as she took that step in her life.

My companions and I had many highlights this week!! Obviously Viviana's baptism. We also taught 19 lessons with a member and 11 other lessons, 9 investigators came to church (I will get to 10!!!!), 6 of our investigators are progressing, and we were able to contact 11 references this week! I'm excited for this week to come because 5 of our investigators have a baptismal date set for Sunday (Luz, Katherine, Esteban, Lissette and Cristian). My companions and I are going to be praying hard for them all this week. We still have to finish a bunch of lesssons with Katherine, Esteban and Lissette so we'll see if that works out. My companions and I have a goal of one baptism this Sunday!

Some of the attributes that I've acquired on my mission are: patience, being able to communicate with other people and express myself, humility, faith, a stronger testimony, prayerful heart, obedience, diligence, being able to plan and organize and many many more!

Bueno, ya que esta es su parte favorita, lo voy a hacer...voy a compartir una experiencia que nos paso justo antes que Viviana se bautizara. Habiamos mis companeros y yo llenado la pila bautismal para que Viviana se pudiera bautizar y el agua estaba tibia pero no muy caliente como necesitaba estar. Viviana nos habia dicho que si o si el agua necesita estar caliente ya que se enferma facilmente. Nos preocupamos mucho. Hablamos con el obispo y el dijo que tenia que buscar algunas llaves para que pudiera abrir la puerta al calefont para regular la temperatura del agua para que saliera mas caliente. Fue a buscar las llaves y no se pudieron encontrar. Andabamos por todos lados intentando entrar el closet y no habia caso. Tuve la idea de poder arrodillarnos como companerismo y hacer una oracion al lado de la pila para que el agua estuviera caliente y Viviana pudiera ser bautizada. Eso es lo que hicimos. Ofreci la oracion y senti que todo iba a estar bien. Salimos para almorzar y despues volvimos para el bautismo a las 4 de la tarde. Entramos y fuimos directos a la pila. El obispo dijo con asombra que no sabia que paso pero que el agua se habia puesto caliente y lista para el bautismo. Le dijo que simplemente hicimos una oracion con mucha fe y nuestro padre celestial habia hecho un milagro. Estaba bien agradecido al Senor por lo que habia hecho y sabia que escucho la oracion que ofrecimos. Otro testimonio de la oracion!!!

That's a sweet story that I'll never forget! Another testimony of prayer! The Lord hears and answers our prayers.


Other Highlights/Thoughts:

El Salto's Bishop's name is Bishop Ariel Rojas

Changes are in a week. 50-50 chance I get transferred. I don't wanna leave this sector!!!!

Thanks for all the support and letters I got this week :)

Tar looks good in glasses. I wear mine when I read sometimes or when I'm writing you an email.

Heard from Coburn this week!

Elder Ramirez, Elder Rodriguez, Elder Castro and Elder Jenson at the Santiago Zoo July 22, 2013

The Santiago Zoo is in our Zone so we went today for P-day. It was a lot of fun. Tons of animals polar bears, hippos, bears, lions, jaguars, tigers, baboons, monkeys, chimps, frogs, snakes, spiders, penguins, and all kinds of birds, flamingos, elephants, giraffes, kangaroos, camels and my favorite.... sea lions (and much more!)


Well, know that I'm doing really well!! We're starting to have some success here in El Salto from all the hard work that we've been putting in. I don't have any more time. I had to transfer more videos and pics from companions cameras. There's never any time to write!! Hope you all have a great week!!

Love,

Tan

Captain Moroni was a boss!

July 15. 2013

This week was a little bit more difficult to be honest. There were so many meetings that my companions and I had to attend that we had way less time to proselite and teach which is what I love to do! Because of that, less investigators went to church and less investigators are progressing this week which is a bummer.

We had a sweet Zone Conference this week though. The subject was "How to teach people, not lessons" and "How to begin teaching." President taught on how to teach people and not lessons and the Assistants to President taught on how to begin teaching. I definitely have lots of room to improve in these two areas. It's a learning process for sure. I loved the lessons the AP's gave. It helped me a lot to be able to think about what my companions and I should talk about right as a potential investigator lets us in their door for the first time. I'm definitely going to use those important tools as I teach new investigators in the future. The lesson that President gave really made me think how I can be a better and more effective teacher to our investigators instead of just focussing on the lessons that they need for baptisms. Also, sometimes when I focus on the investigators, I tend to only talk about their needs instead of teaching a lesson in PMG and at the same time, focussing the lesson on their needs and resolving their doubt or problem that they have. I'm now focused on combining the two concepts.

My companions and I put together a sweet ward activity on Saturday night....a talent show!! We had an incredible amount of success and it was a lot of fun. My companions and I did this really funny sketch of "a day in the mission field" with tons of funny scenes. It was pretty sweet. Everyone loved it!! We even used the song "YMCA" :) Bonus: Alot of investigators went and had a good time!

Investigator Update:

Viviana moved her baptismal date to the 26th and this day WILL be the day she gets baptized :). It's going to be cool to see an "eternal investigator" make the decision to get baptized and do it!!

Katherine, Esteban and Lissette are doing great. Esteban really wants to get baptized now and is having a lot of fun with the youth in our ward. He's playing soccer with us for the second p-day in a row...he says he has so much fun playing with the Elders.

Cristian went to church for the 5th time in a row and loves it. It's amazing to see his progress, change and desire to follow Jesus Christ more fully in his life.

My favorite scripture of the week is found in Alma 46:11-15. Captain Moroni was a boss!

11 And now it came to pass that when Moroni, who was the chief commander of the armies of the Nephites, had heard of these dissensions, he was angry with Amalickiah.
12 And it came to pass that he rent his coat; and he took a piece thereof, and wrote upon it-in memory of our god, our religion, and freedom, and our peace, our wives and our children-and he fastened it upon the end of the pole.
13 And he fastened on his head-plate, and his breastplate, and his shields, and girded on his armor about his loins; and he took the pole, which had on the end thereof his rent coat, (and he called it the title of liberty) and he bowed himself to the earth, and he prayed mightily unto his God for the blessings of liberty to rest upon his brethren, so long as there should a band of Christians remain to possess the land.
14 For thus were all the true believers of Christ, who belonged to the church of God, called by those who did not belong to the church.
15 And those who did belong to the church were faithful; yea all those who were true believers in Christ took upon them, gladly, the name of Christ, or Christians as they were called, because of their belief in Christ who should come.

Highlights/Thoughts of the week:

I got lots of letters and the Fourth of July package this week!! Thanks for all your love and treats!!! You guys are always very creative. My companions are also VERY thankful :)

Pretty sweet "transformation Tuesday" picture of Tay from Legend Final Four to SUU!

Happiness is when Lissette drew a sweet picture found in the Plan of Salvation pamphlet we gave her and when we arrived later in the week said, "LOOK, LOOK WHAT I DID!"...it was really cool.

Ok, so I  had to transfer all my pics that I had to my pen drive since I filled up yet another memory card. I only have one left by the way if you wanna send me one more?

Well, I know I didn't write a bunch this week but transferring all my pics onto my pen drive was critical so I can have two copies. I never want to lose my mission pictures.

I hope you all have a great week and thanks again for all the photos you sent me!!! Sounds like you had a really fun family reunion in the mountains. It was fun to "see" the Michael Horsley family again...Lolo looks like shes grown alot and same with Sarah. It was great to see all the family pictures. Definitely a highlight.

I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!

Love,
Elder Jenson

How Was Your Testimony Strengthened Today?

July 8, 2013

Elder McKinley and Elder Jenson at Leadership Council this week

This week was a pretty great week here in El Salto. Even thou Elder Rodriguez was pretty sick in the week, we were able to still have a ton of success. The Lord has blessed us every single day with people to teach and help them progress towards their baptisms. We're really excited for each one of our investigators.

Logros (Achievements)

baptisms  0

confirmations  0

inv with baptismal date  11

inv in sacrament meeting  9!!!!!

lessons with member  18

other lessons  6

progressing inv  8!!!

ref received  5

ref contacted  6

contacts  18

MED  408


My companions and I had a sweet week. I think 9 investigators in church is the most I've had my whole mission! I remember when I started my mission my companions and I would struggle to get 1 or 2 to come to church. Sometimes we'd go weeks without any investigator coming to church. I've learned so much on my mission from experience, companions and Pres. Essig and have been able to develop a lot of attributes on my mission. I'm really grateful for all of the progress that I've made personally and for all the confidence the Lord has in me.

8 progressing investigators is awesome to see. My companions and I recognize that we are just trying our best, but that the Lord is doing everything. It's great to know that the Lord is trusting in us with His children. It's pretty crazy to think that their salvation depends on our obedience to the spirit and diligence in our sector. It just makes me want to work even harder. My companions and I just need to convert our progressing investigators into baptisms! We're in the process of doing just that!

INVESTIGATORS THAT ARE PROGRESSING THIS WEEK

Elder Castro, Lissette, Esteban, Katherine and Elder Jenson after church July 7, 2013 in El Salto Chile

Katherine/Esteban/Lissette- My companions and I had a sweet lesson with them this past Friday. Roxana Taiva accompanied us to the lesson and wha da ya know...they already knew eachother!!!! They continued to grow their friendship as we had a great conversation about the plan of salvation. Hna Taiva has a powerful testimony and bore it during our lesson. Her testimony gave the family more and more interest and excitement to go to church this Sunday and keep looking for that answer that this is the true church. They're awesome!

Viviana- She went to church this week as always! Viviana has her baptismal date set for the 20th of July. My companions and I are going to pass by her house with our bishop at 730pm with the baptismal schedule in hand so we can fill in all the songs, prayers and talks by whoever she wants. It's going to be a powerful and direct lesson that I'm looking forward to.

Luz- She went to church yesterday with her husband (Jose) and 5 year old son (Jose David)!! It was so sweet to see her bring her whole family! My companions and I had met her husband only once before due to his travels. Jose came home for just Sunday (8 hr bus ride) to spend time with his family and then get back to work. They decided to spend some time as a family in church! Not a better place :) We had some great lessons with Luz this week and actually had lunch with her on Tuesday as well. I even helped her with her english!!! Luz is progressing well.

Cristian- He went to church for the 4th time in a row! Cristian is changing into a stud. He reads his scriptures every day and we're really happy for him. My companions and I had a powerful lesson with Cristian on Sunday and he's determined and focused to drop his habits. I talked a lot about "training your brain"...thanks dad!! haha!

Erika and Fernando- We had a good lesson with them on Saturday where they committed themselves to come to church together and they did! We still need to go get the paper so that Fernando can get his previous marriage taken care of. My companions and I let Fernando act first and he didn't do it so we're now taking action and are going with him on Tuesday at 11am to get the paper that he needs with him...that's what happens when you don't act!!  haha

NEWBIES

Leonor (Granny)- She's a new investigator that has a date for the 4th of August. My companions and I contacted her and she was like.."No, I'm never going to change my Catholic religion"....but then she felt the spirit :) Leonor accepted a baptismal date and said that si o si she'll go to church this next week. Leonor couldn't go to church yesterday because she was goin out of town.

Highlights and Thoughts

Service is one of my favorite things to do!

Elder Shelley and I painting the Toro's ceiling with texture paint Bishop bought. It got alllll over me!

 

Elder Jenson and Jose Toro outside his house after we finished our painting

 

 

Elder Jenson and Elders celebrating a job well done at the Toro home (Bishop taking the picture)



Chileans obviously don't celebrate the 4th of July since its the Independence day for the US. They have their Independence Day the 18th of September.

Heard from Brendan Dennis this week! That was cool to catch up with him. He says he's living in CO now and has a job at an investment company. Pretty cool!

I almost wet my pants when this happened....we had lunch with the Chacon family yesterday and for dessert we had "hot fudge" waffles!!!! It was AWESOME!

I was reading in the Liahona this morning and I came across a sweet talk given by ORSON F. WHITNEY called "Edificados sobre la roca" in Spanish. You'll have to search for it and read it in English. It talks about the main difference between the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and every other church on the earth today. The main reason is that the Church of Jesus Christ bases itself on modern revelation whereas other churches base themselves on solely the Bible. The importance of a prophet on the earth is unexplainable. It's so important!!! Without a living prophet we would be so lost in darkness!

Sounds like Tarryn had great experiences at EFY...I had them too!

I had a cool impression this morning in my personal study. The idea popped into my head so I thought I'd share it with you. Not that I'm thinking about getting married right now or anything, butttttttt I was reading a talk in the Liahona by Elder David A. Bednar that's called "Las cosas como son" and it was talking a little bit about temptation and also the relation between spouses and basically what not to do..haha. So I got the idea that between parents or as a family, before you go to bed each night, share an experience that happened that day that strengthened your testimony. Try it!!

I'll close my letter this week with my testimony in Spanish:

Estamos super felices por el exito que hemos tenido y que vamos a seguir teniendo. Hay muchas personas que el Senor esta preparando aca en El Salto y le agradecemos mucho. He aprendido que el Senor pondra personas en mi camono si yo pongo todo mi corazon, alma, mente y fuerza en su obra. El confia en mi...Por que no puedo confiar en El? Sigan adelante y firmes en la fe. Si no se han bautizado en la iglesia de Jesucristo, hablen con los misioneros y HAGANLO!!! Seran mas felices que pueden imaginar. Les quiero mucho y solo quiero lo mejor por ustedes. Tengen una buena semana y sepan que oro por ustedes de dia y noche.

Love,
Elder Jenson

Obedience and Hard Work Brings Opportunities in El Salto

July 1, 2013

Hey Everyone!

My companions and I had a pretty good week here in El Salto. It's fun for me to see how much this sector has been lifted up since I arrived here. I remember just wondering on that first day how we were going to face such a challenge starting again with nothing. Since we've been obedient and worked our tails off, the Lord has put people in our way to be able teach and baptize.

logros (achievements)

bautismos  0

confirmaciones  0

inv con fecha  12

inv que asisten a la reunion sac  3

lecciones con miembro  17

otras lecciones  6

inv que estan progresando  3

ref recibidas  6

ref contactadas  7

nuevos inv  5

lecciones a cr ma 14

contactos  36


It was tough to get our investigators to church this week because everyone, including members, went to vote for the primary yesterday. The attendance was super low. By the end of the year, Chile will have a new President. Basically all of our investigators committed themselves to come to church this coming Sunday sooooo we should have a sick week in church with tons of investigators progressing. My companions and I have tons of people who are preparing to be baptized this month (July) and we're super stoked. 10 of 12 investigators that have a baptismal date have their goal for the 28th of July (though some of them will get pushed back to August if they don't start kickin it in gear). My companions and I are going to keep truckin along, helping them out every step of the way. We found out some difficulties some of our investigators are having in their lives this week. We have been there to give advice, listen and share our testimonies. Please pray for our investigators.

Investigators that have a baptismal date in July:

JULY 14TH:

Soledad: She's doing well but has been offended. Soledad said that she still wants to get baptized despite this, so my companions and I have faith that this will happen!

JULY 20TH:

Viviana: She's working hard on her addiction to tea and then she's set. Viviana knows this is the true church and is excited to get baptized. Some of her relatives are coming in town during this time so she wants to get baptized while they're here!

JULY 21ST:

Francisca: She's a new investigator from last week and is 18 years old and has a two year old son. When my companions and I started teaching her she didn't believe in God but now she has accepted a baptismal date for the 21st of July. We're so happy for her.

JULY 28:

Erika and Fernando: They are doing well...just have to get married and then can get baptized.

Rafael: Amalias (recent convert) husband. He has the desire to change. Just needs to feel the spirit and know for himself.

Cristian: Amalias son. He's doing well and has been to church three weeks in a row. We're stoked for him. He's made so much progress in the past 2 months.

Leslie: Christians daughter that came to live with him. She's awesome and wants to know more and get baptized. We'll see how our teaching goes this week. She was one of the ones who came to church yesterday with Christian.

Katherine/Esteban/Lissette:  We had a sweet family night with them and had alot of fun. They're doing well and said that they're going to come to church as well this coming Sunday...si o si.

Luz Ayala: She's Columbian. We met her husband this week and found out that they've been married for 7 yrs! Jose, her husband, is really cool. My companions and I are working with him so he will come to church with Luz this week. Luz has already committed herself to come to church....so we're set!

Highlights/Thoughts for the week:

Can't believe Tar is 16 and got her license! Thanks for sending me so many fotos. It was awesome to see them! I hope Tar had a great b-day party (from the pictures you sent it looks like you celebrated for days :) )

I miss fudge Sundaes! Yummyyyy!

Seeing Hermano Pino from Renca on Sunday was so awesome!

Glad that Tay arrived safe at SUU. That's gonna be an incredible experience for him.

I got lots of letters and a package from Nana this week. Please tell Nana thank-you (Papa too!) and that I love them. All the treats are basically gone (haha) we're a trio now!

Service this week on Saturday went really well. 5 total missionaries and our Bishop helped fix the home for half a day for the family my companions and I are teaching. AWESOME experience!

I took a bunch of pictures this week but my companions and I didn't have time to go back to the apartment and then back to the cyber to send the fotos this week. Have to wait til next week....sorry!

I taught the zone class this past week on how to work more effectively with members. It was a good class I think. We had a fun activity as well.

Independencia (my zone) exploded this month in basically everything! We were soooo low in every area when I arrived....example, 2 baptisms as a zone of 9 companionships in a whole month. This month (June) we had 11 baptisms as a zone and we're one of the top zones in the whole mission. Nice. My companions and I are definitely workin hard trying to motivate the zone to continue to work hard.

Thanks for all the prayers and support. I can feel it every week.

Favorite scripture of the week: D&C 107:99-100 (Wherefore, now let every man learn his duty, and to act in the office in which he is appointed, in all diligence. He that is slothful shall not be counted worthy to stand, and he that learns not his duty and shows himself not approved shall not be counted worthy to stand. Even so. Amen.) My Bishop shared this scripture with us during Priesthood yesterday. It was sweet!

I need you to pray for all of our investigators!!! They're doing great but just need a little bit more work and they'll all be right there!

I hope you all have a great week! Chau!

Love,

Elder Jenson