God Be With You Till We Meet Again

May 11, 2014 (Mother's Day)

There's nothing like the feeling of waiting for Elder Jenson's calls home. Elder Jenson's 4th call home in 2 years was just as exciting as his first call Christmas 2012. All the family was glued to the computer waiting for our 3pm call. Excitement and anticipation filled the Jenson home. Words can't describe the feeling when you see that Elder Jenson is online and then the much awaited

Mother's Day Skype call with Elder Jenson May 11, 2014

 



"Hi everyone, How are you doing?" Tears of joy and a few screams were heard as we saw Elder Jenson beaming from ear to ear for the first time in 5 months. Definitely a Mother's Day our family will always cherish and never forget. The following is a recap of some of the highlights of our hour long skype visit with Elder Jenson.

Elder Jenson's Mother's Day highlight was Rudy getting confirmed at Church today. "It was one of the highlights of my whole misson. Rudy has tons of confidence. He said he knows that this is the true church. Rudy is different than other converts. He shakes hands with eveyone and goes up and introduces himself. He's awesome!"

Tarryn then asked how the van was to which Elder Jenson replied, "Oh, man. In Chile alot of the gas stations gas up for you. We thought it was 97 but it wasn't 97. Miracle the van still runs like it did before the mishap. Prayers were answered and lessons learned."

Elder Jenson then told our family "it's sweet going around the whole mission, seeing all the zones and sites. It's so awesome to see President in action. When I was in the field I had no clue all that President did. He goes from meeting to meeting like Stake President meetings, interviews non stop, speaks every Sunday, leads and speaks in Conferences and the list goes on. President even eats lunch in his car because he doesn't have time to stop. President works 24-7. President and Sister Essig get released on June 27th. They will meet the new Chilean Mission President and spend 4-5 hours going over the mission and then he and Sister Essig get on a flight back to Logan. The Essigs live in North Logan about 3 minutes from campus. It will be awesome to be able to see them often."

We asked a few random questions like what's been your most favorite P-day to which Elder Jenson replied, "Plaza de Armas and golfing! I went to the range yesterday with Elder Richardson and hit good shots but my consistency is not consistent."

Elder Jenson commented that "Tal's had a growth spurt." To which Tallyn said, "Hey Tan I finished reading the Book of Mormon for my Personal Progress." Elder Jenson said, "How did you feel after you finished your reading?" Tallyn said "So good, I'm done with my Personal Progress now!" Elder Jenson replied, "Good job Tal!"

Tarryn then said, "Hey Tanner, my Spanish teacher Mrs. Hier thought it would be awesome if you came in and talked to all of the Spanish classes one day about your experience in Chile." Elder Jenson replied,"that would be cool."

At this point Elder Jenson said, "It's so wierd to talk in English. It will be hard to get used to speaking English when I come home. Even now I have to think in Spanish and then translate in my mind how to say things in English before I speak."

We then showed Elder Jenson the snow that was falling outside. Elder Jenson's look on his face was priceless as he said, "It's snowing! It's never snowed here in the 2 years I've been in Chile."

Elder Jenson said a highlight of his mission was when the "the whole Familia Morales got baptized. (So awesome) and lessons with Sergio."

Trevor then spent a few minutes talking with Elder Jenson about summer plans and his golf tournament schedule. "Sounds like a sweet packed schedule." To which Taylor replied, "I'm going to torch and dunk on you in basketball." To which Elder Jenson replied,"I've only played basketball on my mission 4 times. I'll have to convert myself to a point guard."

Elder Jenson then talked about returning to Chile and gave some advice and tentative plans. "Driving here in Chile is crazy. Tons of curves and one way streets. We will definitely need a GPS. I made a letter and sent it to all my converts and members I want to visit to let the know I'm coming back. It's about a 1 hour drive to the coast. Sergio, who's the YM President in Vespucio lives there and can show and tell us sweet places to visit. In the mornings we can go to sites and in the afternoons we can visit converts and members because they will be working during the day. I also want to go to the Santiago temple. The temple is so awesome! It will also be awesome to see Kevin. He's baptizing his little sister this month. Chileans talk fast. Dad's going to be like...huh? There are alot of Peruvians, Columbians and tons of foreign people who all have different accents here which is cool."

We asked Elder Jenson if there was anything special he wanted to do when he returns and he said "Go to the temple, play a round of golf and gets some clothes. I'm not bringing home much but am bringing home my ripped up pair of shoes that will serve as my trophy for my mission."

What was your favorite teaching experience on your mission? "There are so many I don't know." Then Tallyn said "remember when that girl took out her piercings during your final prayer? "Yeah that's a good one. In Lo Prado after Elder Holland came to visit our mission and talked mainly about how we should leave our investiagtors "astonished." Then we gave a lesson with 2 ladies and right when we finished they said "we are astonished!" That was cool they used those exact words haha."

What will you miss most about Chile? Without hesitation Elder Jenson said, "Being a missionary and the homemade bread. The bread here is incredible. I pay 20 cents for a huge piece of bread..sooo good."

Elder Jenson said,"Elder Richardson and I are going to the judge this week to get a date for our new investigaors to get married and will also meet with President Essig twice. Once for an office meeting and the last one on Monday before I head to the airport. 12 missionaries are going home with me. We will all be on the same flight to Atlanta then I'm the only one flying to Denver."

Tarryn said, "This is the last time you will be on that side of the computer. It will be so awesome to see you in 9 days at DIA." (and then showed Elder Jenson our 9 day countdown picture chart we have). Tallyn quickly said, "Hey Tan you get to take down the last tie." Elder Jenson smiled.

Elder Richardson, Elder Norton and Elder Jenson singing God Be With You Till We Meet Again in Spanish (Para siempre Dios este con vos)

 

Our time was about up. We asked Elder Jenson if he would sing us a hymn in Spanish and he said "sure let me get some other Elders." Within a minute we had Elder Richardson (Elder Jenson's companion), Elder Norton (mission Historian) and Elder Egg (mission Finance) sing to our family Para siempre Dios este con vos (Hma Stanger, the mission secretary, came in to listen). The spirit was strong as tears flowed seeing Elder's share their testimony's in song. A memory that our family will never forget.

Just as we were about to say goodbye Elder Jenson said, "Anything you want from Chile?" Almost in unison we said "YOU!" Elder Jenson had one of the biggest smiles I've ever seen knowing he would be reunited with his family in a few days. We closed by saying, "Te Amo Mundos!" To which Elder Jenson replied, "Te Amo Mundos!"