December 11

Hey Pops,

Things are going all right. Our numbers are a little down but we are going to try harder this transfer. Colby was excited about the cloud cover. He told be it was about -3trillion degrees the other day haha. Holy cow that was a long marathon! Was it expensive? Thats good for Mom. That should take the strange hours down to a manageable level but unfortunately the stress will only grow. The weather is strange. Im either boiling to death or getting dumped on and still being hot. The teaching is all right. The problem with it is that nobody understands the message. They accept us but they dont understand that their salvation is on the line. Oh well we just keep going and praying thats all we can do. We have not yet gotten that influx but im way excited for it! its gonna be awesome to have more help. Maybe then we can reduce the number of branches and actually have wards. The second coming is close but we still have one heck of a ride ahead of us. Its only gonna get harder. The christmas package arrived on saturday. Im excited for Christmas :) Love you Dad

Ps my pday has been moved to monday

December 11

Dear Mom,

John in a good mood? Wow thats a miracle. How little was the dog? If you had to call the police it couldnt have been that little. Maybe it was Jacob in diguise ;) Glad to know that you are doing well in your position and hearing what he said its a done deal. You have the job :) Dad became his mechanic? Mechanic for what? So he is opening another theater huh? That should help. Did they finally close down the eagle river theater? That place was absoloute junk. 

Things are going here at the end of the world. Its really hot and raining a lot but im living through it. I dont have any digestive problems out of the norm. Meaning just being a gas bag. I have been drinking the water since day one and have not had a problem. They have a good water company here so dont worry about it. The package arrived on saturday im excited for Christmas :) I still am receiving very few letters. Can you inform everybody to put Brazil on the letters a lot of the letters end up in El Salvador. Any way time and money are short these days. Oh by the way my pday got moved to Monday just so you know. Love you mom :)

December 4

Dear Mom,

Thats good that you got new carpet. What color is it?

I dont think you have to worry about losing the spot. The theater never has attracted very responsible people to work there so you should be very safe. Kasi had her baby already? It seems like last week i found out she was pregnant. I will have to ask about the Christmas call. I expected President to say something about it in his email this week but he didnt. I will give somebody a call and then look for a way to do it. The transfer is coming up so we should get letters and supposedly packages but we will see. Everybody kind of forgets about us out here. Just be patient with Colby. He needs to pray about it and receive an answer. Thats the only thing that will get him ready. Tell him that i encourage him to pray. I would email him but he doesnt respond very often. So the chemo is working well with Jake? Thats good. How is Uncle Aaron and Aunt Lisa?

Another calling huh? Teaching the young kids is always...Fun. Oh good im glad that Nathan decided to go. Ive heard that there are a lot of rich members in Georgia so he should fit right in.

Im having some second thoughts about liking the heat. I forgot how hot it can get. I dont know if i want to deal with all that wind either. Good luck and i hope it snows some more. Any way gotta go this lan house is very expensive and i dont want to run the risk of paying to much.
Bye love you :)

Novermber 21

Hey Mom,

Sorry i didnt get a chance to write you last week. My companion had some trouble sending a reimbursement and i had to figure out how to make it work. By the time i got everything sorted out the time was up. Rosy is not ringing any bells in my head right now. I hope Colby doesnt have any complications with the wisdom teeth. Those were no fun to deal with when it was easy. You know its funny i miss Colby more than i thought i would. Im not really sure why. 

I was kidding about the movies. Dont stress it. There are very few things that will make me come home. Pretty much anything short of a crippling accident or some sort of disease isnt going to cut it. If i really feel that bad about a movie i will just buy it and watch it here. But im not doing that dont get me wrong. Yeah i heard all about Butthead winning again. Stupid electoral votes. As far as the scary country goes though the US is weaksauce compared to Brazil. I get a chance to watch the news every now and then at a member or investigators house and its not pretty here. This country is corrupt until the core. There are murders daily in every city and corrupt politicians stealing huge sums of money all the time.

But enough of the bad stuff. Things are going well here. We know the area a lot better now and are working with a few people on getting them baptized. There are a ton of less actives that wont come to church for who knows why. But we are working our best to bring stability back to the branch. The leadership is kind of picky about who they give callings to. We explained to them very gently about everybody needs a calling and everything. But they just dont trust a less active to do the job so they put more callings on the few members that are active. This puts a huge burden on everyone and causes trouble. The Lord does not let his people be baptized into a disfunctional branch or ward. So the baptisms stop and who gets blamed? The Elders. Then people start to not give references because they think the Elders arent working and then the elders really do stop working because they dont have support of the members. Then guys like me get put in to the middle of this mess to sort it all out. Fun stuff huh?

But things are going well. I like my companion and we are trying our best. Yesterday we had a fun time. We went to visit this member ,A young woman who is 18, that lives in the middle of nowhere. She is the only member in her family ,for now, and rides a bike about 3 miles to work and school everyday. Then we started to leave the house and it started raining very hard. We arrived in the actual city and the dirt roads looked like rivers there was so much water. We were soaking wet and covered in mud so we decided to call it a day. Its good times :)

Tell Joe i said hi as well. Did you end up giving him one of my ties? If you havent yet please do and apologize for me not getting it to him sooner. As far as who i am writing to the list hasnt changed. Since i got transfered to the middle of nowhere i have only gotten two letters. One from Joci and the other from Sister Bettridge. So i am still waiting for some news from home. Because we are in the middle of nowhere we got permission to watch Ice age 4. It was pretty cute but not as good as the others.

Love you mom

Nov. 6

Dear Mom,


 I saw that picture of Colby poor guy. He looks like he is in some  pretty good pain. Coach Dahl the younger right? Why is he stepping down?  Why didnt Trevor get his shirt? Ya it sucks that its such a popularity contest. But what can you do about it. Emma hurt herself again? What a suprise. She does have bad luck. Tell her to toughen up  and be an alaska girl ;)

Oh dont tease me with that kind of stuff. A LOTR marathon ending in the Hobbit?   Thats it im catching the first plane home ;) Thats going to be awesome and a ton of work for you guys. Get ready to work your butt off !  Thats good that  the Lord is  giving you a little bit of a break it sounded like you were about to explode from the work load.

Seriously a Trek?  I always miss those. I  almost had an opportunity  in Coalville and then we moved. Then theres this one and im in Brasil. What luck. Oh well im probably a little old to go on it anyway.   So i missed my opportunity to vote. President sent some information on how to vote out of the country to us and i printed off the papers but then put them away and forgot about them. Then  by the time i remembered it was too late. Oh well i dont think one vote is going to make much of a difference for Romney.  I assume that that is who you are going to  vote for. But who knows you could be democrats for all i know. I am a little bit far away.

 Any way as things are going here i have some luck. I got here just in time for the rainy season. Its going to rain pretty much everyday until january. So  i think God loves me a little still. Things are getting better as far as the bikes go. My butt doesnt hurt as much anymore. And we are getting to know the area. We can find our way around  the  center of the city and our  area. We have a few hopefulls for baptism and are working on finding new people. There are a lot of  rich people here exactly like the ones in the states.  They are very shut in and dont socialize very muc h.

 

Anyway the power is going out and the internet is acting funny so i will let you go bye.

 

Love Elder Jensen

Nov. 6

Hey Pops, 

Sorry i didnt have time to write you last week. I just barely got finished with everyone that wrote when the time ran out. The Lan house here is not very good as well. The computers are slower and the keyboards are broken so it takes longer. Anyway as far as things go i am doing well. I got lucky and it will rain here pretty much every day until january. So it looks like i wont die of thirst. I would upload some pictures but this computer doesnt have and sd card reader so i will have to look for a cable to buy. We have a few hopefulls that could be baptized if they go to church but they have no mode of transport besides walking so its a little hard for them. We are getting to know the area and are not completely lost anymore so things are good. This city is very well planned out and all of the roads are strait and grid like. Its kind of like salt lake but there are still a lot of dirt roads. This city is very young and most of it has been built in the last four years.  Ive heard that you are super  excited for the snow and  were a little disapointed that it didnt come yet. That picture you sent is awesome by the way. 
Well  as usual time is short
Love Elder Jensen

First Baptism

Oct. 22

Hey mom some things got switched around and i have pday today so dont be suprised when i dont respond on tuesday Bye :)

Oct, 17

Hey Pops,

Life is good. The baptism was great the guy has been prepared for years and just waited for an oportunity to arise. We really didnt do anything to convert him. That does sound frustrating about your mission. But i would rather baptise one good firm person than 200 children and people without testimonies. Oh ok Jennifer Murry truffles mom. Its really hard to learn everybodys name here too. I think i need to pay more attention as well.

Ah Alyeska i remember that place good times. An uplander huh sounds kind of like the land cruiser. Should be a good car for her. Good im glad to hear the chickens are getting better. Last report i heard sounded like they were all dying of plauge. Dont feel bad about the snowmachining thing. Its never been my favorite thing to do. Yeah its fun but if i had to choose i have other things i would rather do like hiking and stuff.

So we get a chance to have a mission tour this week. President Costa the area 70 of Brazil is going to talk to us. It should be pretty cool. Transfers are coming up on the 30th and i think i will finally move areas. It should be interesting to finally see another part of Bahia.

Anyway Until next week
 Love Elder Jensen

October 17

Hey Mom,

Yes I got by first baptism on Saturday. We baptised him in a pool at the church. Then confirmed him the next day in church.  We dont work very much in the area with the ocean so no this wasnt it.  Ive put a couple of photos in this email now that i know how to get them there i will be putting a couple on every week or so. 

Yea John does things like this. Hes kind of a wierdo about it. I have no doubt that you are a tough cookie :)

I wondered if they would ever date. I figured that he liked her and i didnt know if she liked him. That should be good for him. I remember Camoflauge boy. :) good times
Dad mentioned your displeasure for the car but he was insistent that its a good deal and thats what counts.

Im glad that the chickens are fulfilling there purpose now. Its always frustrating to have animals that do nothing. I heard that they are going to have so many sisters now that they will open up 50 new missions. That should be interesting huh.
Acaraje looks really nasty doesnt it? Im telling you though that it gets better every time you eat it. Im gonna try and learn how to make it and bring the recipe home.
Oh good more cousins! Holy crap how big is this family going to get haha?
Anyway i dont have a lot of time today  Love you 
Elder Jensen

October 9

Hey Pops,

Im doing well. Today was an awesome Pday my companion and i had the opportunity to go to the beach. Sadly though we couldnt go in the water just touch it and sigh. Its beautiful down here. I wish that i could get pictures uploaded for you but i have a couple of problems. For one the batteries just dont last for more than a couple of Photos. I dont know if its the batteries or the camera. So i have to fork out the money for rechargables and a charger here soon. The other problem is that i dont have a cable for the camera. Wow a cassette! I remember those that seems like so long ago. It really is a blessing to have the internet and sattelites.

It looks like we will finally have a baptism this week! We found a guy that got a book of mormon from his friend about 4 years ago and had a testimony before we taught him anything. He watched general conference and is very excited to be baptized. Remember that promise that says the windows of heaven will be opened and there will be so many blessings that you cant receive them? Ya that sounds about right. :)

That sucks about the freezer but thats ok just stick the stuff outside :) Here it is the begining of spring actually. I have heard that the hottest month of the year is actually December. That will be a switch. Roasting to death instead of freezing. To be honest the hardest part of the heat isnt the heat itself. Its keeping hydrated.

I have not seen a scrap of jerky here at all actually. Ya that does sound like she is a little bit anxious :) Hows the Campaign? I havent heard a lot about it but it sounds like Romney is doing very well this time around. I had a chance to vote but when the time came to mail the stuff i couldnt find it. Oh well theres always another election. I keep hearing that people have written to me but i havent been getting that many letters. Oh well all in due time.
Love you Old man :)

October 9

Dear Mom,

Yes i got to watch all of conference. We got the keys to the bishops office and watched it there. That announcement is huge. It means that the second coming is right around the corner. And there will be more options for marrige when i get back ;) hahaha just kidding

I dunno about the whole Colby leaving at 18. I enjoyed the time i had to work in a job that was 100% my own. But whatever he decides is good. Atlanta Georgia huh? That should be good for him to experience a little of the southern side of life. Bring on the missionaries we need them. We are struggling here with the lack of missionaries. Some areas are just shutting down and the missionaries are being pulled. 

Ya i dont have a doubt that Joe is bitter about it. For him the mission was everything. That was really the only thing that kept him from getting married. Its all in the Lords plan though and im sure there is a purpose for it. Probably it will develop and really come into use later in his life.

I heard about the Despicable me 2 before the mission it should be super funny. Hotel translvania i saw a commercial for that it looked cute. Note i was not watching tv on purpose the investigators and members often have tvs on when we are there.  What happened with grandmas dogs?

I cant believe that Colby is a senior! I thought he was a junior still. I cant believe it. Its amazing how time flies here. Since i wont be able to send anything on Thursday Happy anniversary!!! Whoo Party!

If nothing else the mission will teach him about spending money wisely especially if he gets sent to a poor place. Thats good that they bought choir robes it always looks nicer than uneven messes.

You will see about John. He is pretty much a classic bad boss. He always comes in and messes with things. Get ready to have the counter all reareanged. He also will probably pull you over for a random interview. My advice would be talk to him for a little bit get him to realize that you are there and then work your butt off.

As far as the mice go i kill them with a rubber mallet we have in the house. I dont have the money to waste on a trap. I hope those pants fit too if not im sure i can find somebody they will fit and trade something really good for them. 

Im telling you that food is good and i really hope that i have an opportunity to share it with you all when i get back. So it looks like we will finally baptize this Saturday! We found a guy that got a book of mormon from a friend like four years ago and has been studying it ever since. He finally got sundays off on a regular basis so he can come to church a few weeks ago. He watched General conference and is very excited to be baptized.

Oh we had a chance to go to the beach today. It was awesome. I got sunburned and found some really cool shells im going to bring home. Yes sometimes we can go to the beach. I only touched the water in the ocean; which was perfect and beautiful. But sadly i have to wait another year and a half to go swimming.

Anyway i love you and miss you too.
love your Son

October 2

Dear Mom,

Oh good im glad that Frank got my letter. Im trying to do a little but i dont want to push it since im just doing the letter thing. I have not received any letters from Seth yet but i hope i get them soon. Haha she mentioned that you told her specifically not to tell me. I laughed. I wrote a letter to Jake today and am looking for an opportunity to send it. How are they as a family? 

 The puppies should be fine. Look at Daisy. Whos dog is Sam? So the snow dance worked huh? Well i sure feel sorry for you in this 85 degree weather :)
Im not even going to bother asking what it is because i know you wont tell me. Oh those shoe holder in placer things are completely useless dont buy them for anyone else. If anyone goes to a humid place dont bring cotton garments they mold very quickley. They have to be 100% nylon.

Yes i get to watch conference on Sunday with the ward. The snakes down here are pretty bad. But whats worse is the mice. I have already killed four in our house. Its dumb i think they are all dead now but im not sure.
Anyway i am doing alot better about the letter thing. Oh they have this food down here that looks really gross but tastes delicious. You should look it up. Its called Acaraje.

I love you
Elder Jensen

September 28

Querido Mãe,

I am glad that the letters finally got there. Although i heard that a couple of them got sent back. Please advize Sister Bettridge that i will be sending her letter as soon as i can. There have been problems with the postage so i will see what i can do. That is a ton of Water! Thats crazy. I am not missing the cold and dark here. Although its about to get really hot. We are in the eve of summer here and i am just waiting to roast alive. Thats good that they are widening the road but thats stupid that they are not putting in a turn lane. I dont mind him driving my car as long as he takes care of it. Its already the last game? Wow that was quick. Today completes Five months out of the house for me. It seems like yesterday i was in the CTM. Thats cool that Trevor won good for him. Emma is your shadow isnt she. Has she still been silly or has she started to grow out of it?

Ya i know the feeling about work part. It was like that with Adam. Wyler always has been a jerk. Dont mind him. There is a lot of drama there im remembering all the stuff. Joci has been writing me letters and telling me about her adventures in Utah. Sabrina has also been writing me and told me that you are going to be a prostitute :) I laughed at that story.  

So my companion is from a state in the North called Piaui (Pee ah wii) and is a very cool guy. He is a scholar and a story teller so i am always learning and being entertained. So far its just been fruitless as a pine tree. We do have one young man that is just waiting for permission of the parents to be baptized. We will go there with him this sunday and talk it over with his parents. We have another woman who was a Jehovas witness who is also ready for baptism but just needs to do it. She keeps saying that its really close and she has to learn more. So we are just waiting and praying for her. Other than that we have one girl who is 18 but looks like 15 who is just needing to go to church and learn a few more things. She ,jokingly, asked me for marrige but Elder Ribeiro ,my companion, says that when people joke there is always some truth to it. I believe it with her. She has already called me beautiful several times. Its pretty annoying. But she is actually learning about the gospel and so far is keeping all the commitments. We think that the law of Chastity is going to be a tough one though.

Anyway I love you and will talk to you later

Elder Jensen

September 11

Hey Pops,

 I gotta be honest i dont really miss the cold. Its nice not having to worry about freezing in my sleep. Of course i say that now in the verge of spring. We will wait and see how i fair in the summer months. That sounds like a nice sled. What are you doing to the track and suspension? How is it going to be a different ride?

Thats really cool. First door knock gets baptized. I wish i could say the same. But the odds are that i will get a baptism here pretty soon. We are really working hard on being obedient and searching for the people ready to be baptized. There are a lot of prideful people here. We talked to one guy who says what a lot of people say. All the churches that preach Jesus and dont take advantage of people are true. We then asked him to pray about his church and receive an answer from God to see if he was on the right path. He absoloutly refused. It was pretty sad to see the pride in his heart. On a little more of a dark note. Me and my companion talked to a possesed guy. I have no doubt that he had a demon inside him. He denied Jesus Christ right in front of us. Dont worry though i wasnt assaulted or harmed or even scared for that matter. I know that the priesthood is infinitely more powerful than the influences of Satan himself. 

I really dont like slacker missionaries. There are a lot of them here in our mission. But right now i have a really good companion. He is from the state Piaui (Pee ah wii) I think its a really fun word to say. I am keeping a journal. I go through and read it every now and then and look at the progress. As im sure you know im pretty prideful. Im working on that. 

When was Moms birthday? I thought it was the Nineteenth? Dang it i missed it again.

As far as who needs the Lord help...The entire state of Bahia Brazil. I am convinced that this is one of the most wicked places on the planet. I have heard Bahianos tell me that. Some say that when Satan fell from heaven he hit here and bounced over to Africa. I dont actually believe that but the symbolism is interesting.

I sent the letters on wednesday last week. They should get there in a month or so.

Anyway I love you too and wish you the best

Love Elder Jensen

Hi Emma,

Its good down here. Contrary to Alaska its only getting hotter down here. Thats ok that you havent had time to write much but i appreciate the effort. Good luck with school I know you will do great :)

love Coulson

September 4

Dear Mom,

Thats ok its no rush. I have plenty to do here. So today one of my two companions went home to the united states. He only had five months on the mission it was pretty sad. He didnt give a reason but he said he needed to do it and hoped that he can return. So now i have to work in two areas with just me and one other missionary. All right i will look at my pants. Are you buying the suit pants or the black slacks? To be honest it doesnt really matter to me. I like the suit pants a little better but the black slacks are better because i can wash them in the washer. 

I am eating less now. I am finding that my appetite is just not what it used to be. Its almost impossible for me to not eat after nine. We get back at the house at 9 or later every day. By the end of the day i am starving. But i am eating as little as possible at the late hour. I bet it is hard to lose weight with how cold it has been there.

Oh i want to see Despicable me 2! You will have to tell me if its just as funny as the other one. I am glad that Trevor is excited about football. Dad told me about how he was getting fouled the whole game and the refs didnt see. Thats too bad but he can do it. Tell colby and trevor and emma to email me. I liked getting their emails. You need to eat more bananas. I found out that milk doenst have the right kind of calcium for our bodies to use properly. I also found out that bananas have a ton of the right calcium.

Its too bad you cant see all the cool fruit they have here. We get juice from the members all the time. Its super good. 

Jakes cancer has a purpose for sure. I read somewhere that things like this happen because God wants them to happen. Without this Uncle Aaron would probably never come back to church. Yes it is sad but the knowledge that this life is just a blip in the road makes it not so bad. 

Colby got seasick!? I dont believe it. Im glad that Emma is being successfull. Anyway i have to go.

Love Elder Jensen

August 22

Dear mom,

I am working on getting the letters sent. I planned on doing it yesterday for pday but we had to take a 2 hour bus ride to have a zone meeting with the president. It was really cool and we learned a few tips. Now we are supposed to walk with a book of mormon in hand everywhere. So i then planned on mailing the letters today while we were out. But we decided it was time to clean the house. We literally cleaned every corner. We moved beds and the couch the fridge and oven everything. So that only took about 6 hrs. So my pday is shot. But whatever i will get them out. Tell Frank that i will send it very soon and it will still probably take another few weeks for it to get there. We only get mail everytime we have a zone meeting. Which is generally every couple of weeks.


As far as wild dogs yes there are a lot of them and they even travel in packs. But i have no problem with them. They are all more or less afraid of humans. I saw those pictures and am impressed with the turf. Yes colony deffinitely needs to fork out the dough for an ambulance. I thought that Jerry was going to be done with all that last year? He said last year was a liquidation too. Oh well. Yea it took a while for my first paycheck to come through at the theater too. Im suprised that they dont let you do movie previews at the theater. Thats supposed to be one of your perks. Huh it doesnt sound like that new guy is very nice. I told you working at the theater was hard. You guys always said
Come on how hard can it be to make popcorn ;)
Well speaking literally yes these are pretty big shoes to fill. :) Oh speaking of which could i get you to send me a pair or two of new pants? I have already ripped a hole in one of my pairs. Stupid public transport busses.


Anyway yes we have people that are so close to baptism. A lot of people just need to get married. We taught a family that hasnt gone to church in 4 years because they think that all the churches are false. We told them that we had a message for them about this exact thing. We then taught them the lesson about the restoration and the spirit was really strong. They seemed very welcoming to the news and seemed excited to investigate the church. But its been a couple of weeks and they have yet to go to church. They said that they were travelling when we finally did find them.


 I cant believe that Hayden is coming home so soon. It seems like he just left! But then again things are passing by really fast here too. In three days i will have been out for four months. Ive gotten a couple emails from Tammy root and they say that they are building a new house. That should be a fun adventure for them. Seth says he leaves for the Air Force here in the next month or two. Thats gotta be fun for him.



Anyway i gotta run. Love you all and i promise i will send those letters.


Love
Elder Jensen

August 14

This is one of my favorites to date.

Dear Mom,

I will for sure let you know when they get here. The truth is i havent sent any letters yet. My companion has yet to show me where the post office is. I will press him to let me send letters this week. But it is a little hard when your this busy. We have to travel pretty much every day to this other city thats about a 30 min bus ride away. So as you can imagine there is not a lot of time that we can spare. But its all good.


I got a letter from Magen Vinzant. She sounds like she is having a rough time with Utah. But she says that she has a friend that is helping her out a lot.


 That is pretty cold for Alaska. It sounds like its going to be a cold winter. And while you will be freezing i will be roasting alive in 115 degree weather :/


I am super excited for Derek! I think he will be an awesome missionary. Did you end up doing what i asked about Joe?


So funny story the one time i remember to bring my camera to the computer house the computer they gave me doesnt have a place to put the SD card in to upload  photos. So i will try again next week.


So I was having a rough time a little while ago. We are just not having sucess here. I started to wonder why i was on the mission. I thought about it and thought about it and i knew that i needed to be here but it felt like there was just something missing. So i decided to go through some of the lessons we teach to our investigators and really study them. I finally figured out that I had never prayed about the book of mormon. I have never doubted it was true and i never had any doubts about the truth of our doctrine or church but i had never prayed about it. Now that i prayed and received a witness of its truth i just feel better about my purpose. This book is truly the key to our work. Any way i thought i would share that little tidbit about whats going on.


I have to go now. As we say in portuguese Até mais! (see you later!)
Love Elder Jensen

August 7

Dear Mom,

Im glad that there are at least two good movies to come back to. Yes minimum wage does suck i lived it for a while. Thats awesome that you are doing so well Im proud of you :)


They are taking a class together? Wow that should be interesting. Im glad to know that trevor is doing well at football. I think he will like that turf field. Im glad Emma is doing well.
Tell Colby he is a turd for not writing me an email. But also tell all of them that i love them.


You really cant do anything new without getting a calling huh ;) Well the Lord blesses us for that kind of stuff so its all good. If you read 10 chapters a day of the book of mormon you will finish it in a month btw. I dont know how fast you want to read it but there you go.


I would love to have a usb drive with a bunch of music on it.They have these cool things called music boxes. They are small speakers in a box that you plug a usb drive into it and play music. Oh and i need a favor. I need you to find the best tie i have and put To Joe From Coulson on it and ,obviously, give it to Joe. Then tell him that i love him and am proud of him. Other than that...a book to read would be nice. Reading the same books over and over will get boring. And really anything else that you can think of that a bored person would be needing. Because we work for so long in the day when we have time to ourselves sometimes we dont know what to do. So yeah i will love anything you send me.


So funny story. We found this one lady in my second week who had already talked to the missionaries and loves the people of the church. We started to teach her but she just would not read or pray about anything. We were stuck on the first lesson and could not progress. So finally one day we just went by to visit and read some scriptures with her and she finally said what her problem was. She thought that we worshipped Joseph Smith. Because the Elders before us had talked so much about him that we worshipped him. Then we invited her to church after she was good about that. Then she said that she already had a church she liked. Then we were like umm you have never been to our church...
It was pretty dumb but i hope that that was her only concern.


As far as my chubby cheeks go i think that they are pretty much gone. I am losing a little weight. I do a lot of walking. Thank you for all your love and concern


Love Elder Jensen

August 1

So i got lucky and have a chance to email a little today. I forgot yesterday to tell you that i got another email through dear elder. Its from one of the betridges in our ward but i dont know which one. If you have any light on that i would appreciate it. I want to write a reply but i dont know who to write it to. 

So if there are any errors in my emails it could be  because portuguese is messing with my brain. Its gotten to the point now where when i speak english i sometimes use portuguese words because its just a habit. Sometimes i dont even remember what it is in English. Its kind of cool actually. 

So yesterday we went to Salvador to visit a friend ,who is a member, of one of the missionaries in my house. He is our district leader and this was his last pday so president authorized it. Elder Demille is his name he is from Ceder City and he is pretty cool. But anyway like i was saying we went to visit this guy. Im pretty sure i told you that brazilians love people who eat a lot. So he brought us out lunch and we started to eat. I took some and then waited for everyone to be done. Then i continued to eat all the rest of his food. Brazilian lunches are their biggest meals. After he saw how much i ate he loved me. Its really funny to see it. After that he sent his sons to buy some soda and when they got back he took the cup i was going to use ,which was about the size of a coffee cup, and hands me this giant tin cup. He says that anyone who can eat that much needs to drink a lot. He poured me this giant cup of soda before anyone else. It was super cool. :)

So i found out that there are a lot of slacker missionaries here. I am fortunate that i got a good worker for my companion.  A wierd thing about the mission is that every missionary has their own like thing they do. They all have some trait or habit that makes them unique and recognizable. Its really funny to see the brazilians give the missionaries nicknames and joke with them about it. So far i have been called Polar Bear and Polar Seal. The alaska thing is way cool to them. 

So we were teaching this one lady for a while and we thought it was going well. She loves the missionaries and the members but for almost a year now nobody could get her to go to church. On monday we finally found out why. This is the first time she has talked about it with anybody. Because the missionaries before us talked so much about Joseph Smith she thought we worshipped him. She said that she didnt believe in worshipping images and thats why she didnt ever go to our church. So we cleared that up with her and invited her to church again. She said that she would visit but she already has a church she likes better. Then I was like but you have never been to our church...  So she said she would go. Its super wierd to hear all the wierd myths out there. 

Anyway i have to go now. 
Love Elder Jensen

July 31

Oh cool how was Brave it looked really good? I feel honored that you got the job because of the work i did there. I think that you will do very well at that job. I dont have a lot of time today so i will be brief. I would love to write to Jake. Dont worry about Colby and Trevor. If they are anything like me, Which i think they are, then all of their motivation has to be internal. When i got the job with Adam i wasnt sure that it was something that i wanted to do. This was because i felt like i was pressured into it. If i do something because i want to i have much more motivation to do it and end up being better at it. Colby i know for sure is the same way. The things he has motivation to do he is very good at. Anyway i dont want to seem like im trying to give you parenting advice but im just writing my thoughts as they come. I have received letters from Frank Sabrina Joci our relatives in Idaho and whitney. Anyway i have to go i will talk more next week.

Love Elder Jensen

July 17

Der Mom,     Since i am here in the field there are not as many people using the computers and i have more time to be on the computer so i can upload now. I would love it if you sent me a bunch of pictures. The people here absoloutly love pictures. They have pretty much everything here as far as ingredients go. The only thing they are really lacking is spices. I actually dont know about the yeast but i will look. The members here are awesome. We have lunch with somebody every day except Pday. They have a ward but we are still meeting in a house that has been converted to a church. If we baptize someone here in Candeias then we use a pool that this house has. But if we baptize someone in São Fransisco do Conde ,Which is my primary proselyting area, then we could use the ocean which i think would be really cool. I am still working on the lesson thing with my comp. He is a little different than i expected. He cant deal with things that he doesnt expect. He told me that he was expecting to train a Brazilian and had geared up his mind for that. Then he gets me and it threw him off. I know the doctrine pretty well and he wasnt expecting that. The only difficulty i have is with the language. So I will have to compromise with him on our teaching styles and get him to understand that when i teach people actually understand me. Oh well it will work somehow. Any way i got a letter from Sabrina today. Its good to know that one of my friends misses me. ;) I hope that i get more mail soon but if i dont its not really that big of a deal. Any way I love you and wish you the best. Love Elder Jensen

To Aunt Aubrey

No i have not eaten any pizza yet. I will look it up. It sounds interesting.

July 10

Hello Father,

It was kind of wierd to have a fourth of July and have nothing happen. Of course because fireworks are legal to buy and explode all year round there have been plenty of them. Thats cool that you got to go and help Kenny again. Im doing well. The teaching is going well. People generally accept our message. Some of them dont believe it but everyone is willing to listen. We hear all the time that anybody talking about Jesus is worth hearing. The real trouble is to get them to do stuff. Bahians are interesting. They are a completely different culture from the rest of Brazil. Everybody is so lazy here. They literally just throw all of their trash on the street. They have a holiday every other week and sometimes two in a week. They find every excuse to party and have no problem just sitting around. We had an appointment with this guy one day and we went to his house and found him celebrating his kids 3 month old birthday. So he told us to come back later.
I really am feeling the Lords influence in my life. Its interesting to be at the sensitivity that i am at.
Yes my companion and i get along just fine. We are pretty different but we are working on finding what way works best for us. I am still trying to learn Português so its difficult to help with stuff. But i am at a point where i can understand what people are saying so now i just have to expand my vocab. He is from Washington state and he has been out a year and a month.
As far as my needs are i dont really have any. But if you could send me a recipe on how to make good food out of nothing that would help ;) Oh actually if you could send me like a little magic trick thing that would be awesome. They love to see that stuff here.
I am glad you are all doing well and i appreciate all you have done for me.
Love Elder Jensen

July 10

Dear Mom,

I figured out today that i dont need to send my cards to you. I can just stick my sd card into the computer and upload them. My apartment is a lot cleaner. Last pday we all pitched in and cleaned the whole place. Well except that there is mold in a lot of places. Its weird im doing most of the cooking here in our house. Yea i know that its gonna get hotter. But it should be ok. At the CTM we had somebody talk to us and he said that if we live right the Lord will make it so that the "Alaskans" wont be as hot. I thought that was kind of cool.
Marty has moved back down to the lower 48 with his wife so you will never see him again.
Is Frank still working at the movie theater?
I have gained quite a bit of weight. But i have made it a goal now that the house is clean to get up and excercise everyday. I also need to stop eating as much. That one is going to be hard for me because  they love people who eat a lot of food here. Always we hear "Come mais Elder" Which means eat more food elder. But i will just have to be careful.
 That squirrel sounds awesome :)
I only have a few minutes left so i will just say a little.
The people here in Bahia are completely different from the rest of Brazil. For one thing they are all black here. They were all still slaves 200 years ago so they eat really poor food and they think that it is good. When you are talking to one of them they almost always touch you on the arm or shoulder. They are complete slobs all of their garbage they just throw on the ground. They also just sit around sometimes. All of them believe in God and most of them have no problem listening to us even if they dont beleive us.
Its very different but its really cool at the same time.
Anyway goodbye for now


Love Elder Jensen

July 3rd letter

Here was at the mission home in Salvador. I sent that email from the presidents computer. The flight from São Paulo to Salvador was almost three hours so it wasnt bad. My companion is called Elder Moody. He is from washington. The apartment is this small little house that was absoloutley disgusting. The dishes hadnt been done for a week at least and there is mold and dirt and bugs everywhere. I have spent all my excercise time in the morning cleaning things. None of the other elders will do much about it. This city is called Candeias. It is very hilly and humid but i think its awesome. The houses here look really broken down and not so good on the outside but on the inside most of them are fairly nice. The reason for this is that everyone builds their own house. The bugs are ok. I have gotten a little chewed on by mosquitos but its fine. I have not seen any snakes. The weather stays around 75 degrees most of the time and it rains occasionally without warning. The clouds move super fast here. It will be bright sunny skies one minute and then literally five minutes later you could be getting rained on. But it is the winter time and it doesnt rain very hard or long.

I am glad that Colby and Trevor are haveing a good time. Yes Dad is pretty awesome. That is a lot of chickens! Im not at all suprised that Emma Has named them all.

I am glad that Derek has his papers in and yes i heard about Joe. I have no doubt that he will go back out. Tell them both that i love them and i support them. The food here is good but its not very varied. They eat rice and noodles and beans and meat and fruit. Thats pretty much it. They have this sauce called pimento and its kind of spicy but not a lot of people like it. I already have a ton of stories but it would take to long to tell. I am writing in my journal every day so i wont forget.

I will keep everyone in my prayers.

Love Elder Jensen

Elder Jensen at the mission home

Picture of Elder Jensen

Dear Jensen Family,   We were delighted to welcome your son, Elder Jensen, to the Brazil Salvador Mission on Tuesday, June 26. We can report that he looked great and had a big smile on his face as we greeted him at the airport. We spent a wonderful afternoon with him and the other new missionaries at the mission home and shared a delicious Bahian lunch together. We took some time to get to know one another, had some important mission training, and finally President Hart paired them up with their excited new trainers. Then they were off to their new areas to begin their great missionary adventure. (See attached photos) We’re excited to work with your son in this important calling to share the gospel and appreciate the sacrifice you have made to send him to our mission. We have already felt of his great love and desire to serve the Lord and the people of Brazil. We are so excited to welcome him to the “best mission in the world.” We will do our best to help him remain healthy and safe while he is in our care for these next two years. Should you have any concerns about your son, you are welcome to call us any time at the mission home:  801-683-7177. Packages and letters to your son should be mailed to the mission office: Av. Antonio C. Magalhaes, 3247 sala 402 Pituba 40275-000 Salvador – BA Brazil   With love and appreciation, President and Sister Hart

We got a quick email from Coulson this week, telling us he was in the home of the mission president, in Salvador. He is out to the MTC, or CTM, as they call it in Brazil. He was going to be receiving his new assignment this week, so we are anxiously waiting to hear where he will be. I wish I had a map of Brazil so I could pin all the areas he serves in.

Here is Coulson's latest letter.

Its a little hard to tell whether you are teasing or not on the computer. I am glad that Colby passed all his classes tell him i am proud of him. Has trevor grown at all? Is he excited for football? Its a little late to do the mission ties thing since i only have three weeks left in the CTM. So i dont care about that. The cord you can just keep. Things are going well here. I just wish that i could go outside a little more. This place is more like a prison than anything else. There are fences all around with spikes on them. Guards that are here all day and night. And huge metal gates that prevent entry. Its the biggest church compound outside the USA. Things are really cheap here the exchange rate is 1 dollar for about 1.75 Reals (Hey eyes) Thats how they say it. I have had a few Brazilians ask if i am related to Elder Jensen of the seventy. Haha

 

Well anyway i love you all and wish you the best. 

 

Love

Elder Jensen

We have heard from Coulson only a couple of times, and they are very short. He is enjoying himself and is learning the language well. He talks mostly about how big Brazil is and how hot it is. He is giving Chris language lessons, in his letters. He would like mail, the unfortunate part is that he only gets 1/2 hour in the computer room on P-day and has requested paper mail. Which unfortunately takes anywhere from 2-4 weeks to get there and same back. His address is and has to be written in the way I type it or it won't get to him.
Elder Coulson R Jensen
Brazil Salvador Mission
Brazil Missionary Training Center
Rua Padre Antonio D'Angelo, 121
Casa Verde
02516-040 Sao Paulo-SP
Brazil

Just got a call from Elder Jensen, he was in Atlanta Georgia waiting to board his plane, for a VERY LONG flight to Sao Paulo Brazil, where he will enter the MTC there. He is finding the language difficult. (Too Bad he didn't listen to his mother and father when they told him to use the rosetta stone to get ahead before his left, instead of face-booking or playing computer games.) Oh well, it will get easier I am sure when everything around you is Brazilian. I will post his answers to letter and pictures when I get them.
Please bare with me, I have never blogged before and all my awesome crafty blogging family live 3000 mile away. So, if it is plain and boring you'll know your in the right place.