June 10.2013

Dear Mom,

Well this week was rather dreadful actually. I managed to get another infection. Fortunately I am feeling fine now. Its looking like the medicine for the first one worked again. Dont worry about the packages i really dont need anything. I will have to buy some socks but they are cheap here so dont worry about sending me some. This week we have been going to a lot of ward meetings and talking with the ward leaders to try and get the ward active in the work. The young ladies are the ones who help the most and have the best friendship with the missionaries. We baptized again on saturday. A little girl who is nine years old. We are going to try really hard to teach her mom now. Her cousin is helping her with going to church and everything. Here we let a lot of people go in our group. You can only teach them for so long if they never go to church. Usually if they dont go to church for two weeks in a row we let them go. We are teaching one lady who is a single mother who has one kid who is 6 i think and is only 23 years old. Its actually a fairly common situation here. Its very difficult to see a man get married and then stay married for a long time. To get married here you need 200 royals which is quite a bit of money for them. However they still spend their money on phones and televisions. So when they tell us they dont have money we look at them like yeah right. So is the work. I was reflecting yesterday on how much i have grown on the mission. I also thought about how i got here. It made me think of my sweet mother and all she has done for me. I thought of all the times that you have cared for me and loved me even though i didnt deserve it. Thank you mom for being such a good example for me. I know i was a difficult child but the young man that I have become has been worth it.

I figured that Mandi wouldnt take long to get married. Oh how good for Lyssa! Im glad that she has somebody to love and talk to. She always was kind of a reserved shy person. Hayden will get married soon? Wow that was fast. Didnt he get home in December? Wish them luck on the trek for me. I wish i had a story to tell you this week but i dont have anything. I dont remember much since i was sick. I love you mom :)

June 17,2013

Dear Mom,

I agree that the movie theater is not the right place for you. Under those circumstances it would be impossible to gain respect from anyone. Without the respect of your team you cant do much. I see that here on the mission. If a DL or ZL doesnt have the respect of the rest the zone or district always has a hard time. I am praying for you often that you will be able to find a balance between work and being a mom. Dont worry all these things will be for your good. Not unlike the Prophet Joseph Smith you are going through a hard time. He was promised many blessings after his struggles. The same shall be with all our sufferings. This life and these difficult moments are but a passing glimpse in our eternal existence. 

I hope that hot weather will return in april 2014. If not i am going to freeze to death! I thought of something you could send to me. A pair of thermal garments. Since it will be the last package that i will get i am going to want them when i come home.

I hear about movies every once in a while and am getting excited to watch them. I will have to spend a week watching all the movies that i missed.

Colby is Colby as usual then huh. He will change for the better on his mission.

This week there is just one story. We had planned to work with a young lady that is 18 and preparing to go on a mission. We went to her house and she was complaining a lot about her hand hurting. I asked her questions about how it got hurt and she said she slept on it wrong. I thought nothing of it and told her to ice it and it would be fine. Her mother got there right then and went to grab her hand to look at it. When she did Lais ,the young lady, started to cry from the pain. So i looked at her hand one more time. It was pretty swollen and there was faint bruising. She couldnt move her hand in any direction without pain and it hurt to even move her fingers. So i told her to take some tylenol and not to move her hand. So off we went. She complained for the next hour or so of pain and i decided she needed something more than tylenol. Fortunately i rembered my sling from when i hurt my arm. We went home and got it. As she was putting it on the neighbor kids decided to light off a bomb ten feet from us. So half deaf i continued to help her put on the sling. After that she didnt complain anymore. Yesterday she said that her hand was completely better and thanked me for the help. I dont know what she did to sleep on it that hard but it was a pretty good nap she took haha

Other than that nothing really happened this week. We spent a lot of time knocking on doors. Its very tiring work.

Anyway i love you mom

June 24,2013

Dear Mom,

 

I am very glad you are feeling relieved about your descision to quit at the theater. That is a very good sign. When we make wrong choices they are always accompanied by feelings of worry or guilt. I believe that your role as a mother is far more important than the money you would have recieved. Emma will need a lot more of your support as she grows older and has to confront "boy problems". 

 

I am very glad to hear that Colby is maturing. Having a job will always do that to somebody. I am doing the best i can to encourage him to be responsible and prepare for his mission. Im glad that trevor and emma have the opportunity to strengthen their relationship as well. It will be good to have somebody to beat on the silly boys that will chase emma haha. Trevor finally passed the mom mark? Whoo! good for him :) I remember when i passed that mark i was so happy.

 

Emma will babysit for a week? Wow that should be quite the experience for her. 

 

Im glad that Dad has gotten busy and that he is able to provide for the family. Its a very different situation here. The unemployment rates are huge and the prices are always going up. The government is full of thieves. I dont know if you have heard about the protests going on down here but they are starting to get serious. There were 300,000 people on the streets of Rio de Janeiro. They even protested here in this little town. Fortunately it has not interupted our work at all.

 

 This week we had a barbecue in our house. I will try and send a picture of it later. We had a meeting with president Hart. There is a big holiday called São João or Saint John. They celebrate every year and have a tradition to eat corn and peanuts. Dont ask me why because they dont even know. The holiday has made things a little bit harder for us actually. Every body is drunk all the time. Nobody is at home and those at home dont want to let us in because they are partying. Oh well it will be ok. The members are giving us plenty of food :)

 

The girl is just fine now. She went with the rest of the youth on a temple trip today. The nearest temple is 12 hours away by bus. They only go four times a year if they are lucky. I did get a chance to watch the conference. I enjoyed it very much. I really liked the fact that they enphasized the fact that members need to work with the missionaries. We missionaries are just the helpers. Knocking on doors even here in Brazil is a very daunting and difficult task that leads to few fruits. The announcement that we will use electronics is a very exciting one but i dont think it will get to my mission until after i leave. That annoucement was more for the states and europe.

 

Transfers are tomorrow and we have yet to receive the news on who what and where. I believe i will stay in this area. My companion will probably leave. Other than that there is no news. Love you mom :)

June 3,2013

Dearest Mother,

First off I never know what to say in my emails. Its mostly just mundane stuff that happens. For example we go out and work get accepted in some houses and rejected in others. Thats what happens every day. Fortunately i actually do have a story this week. So we went to visit this young man that was inactive for a while and is in the process of reactivation. We arrived at his house and saw a woman and children we didnt recognize. We greeted them upon entering and i noticed the womans movements were inhibited in some form. She spoke little and what she did speak was a mumble. As we walked inside we greeted the many people that where in the house. Sitting down on the couch we asked to everyone to listen to our message. The boys mother and her boyfriend that lives there, his grandma, and one other woman were there. The other woman went to go and get the lady that was outside the house that we greeted before walking in. She came in a very clumbsy manner. I percieved that the right side of her body was not functioning well. As she struggled to do simple movements like putting one foot in front of the other they explained that she was from a city in the amazons and was here for treatment. She had a vein explode in her head and was paralyzed. She was already improving but still in bad shape. She could understand everything but cant remember how to express herslelf. The young man said after she had sat down on the opposite couch that she wanted a blessing. I requested that she wait until after the lesson. So we started teaching about the plan of salvation. It was received well but was obvious that nobody was truly paying attention. I got a little frustrated and had to speak louder and louder as they kept talking. My companion had desisted completely and just let me talk as he is quieter than i am. So finally the lesson ended and we said the prayer and told everyone to visit our church. We invited them to pray and see that it is the true church. We prepared to leave and got our things together and Diego (the young man) reminded us of the blessing. As my companion annointed the woman i prayed that during the blessing the spirit would touch those in the room providing a witness of the veracity of the church. During that blessing my prayer was answered. I stumbled through the first part as i usually do but when i listened to the spirit speak through me i couldnt help but cry. The spirit of the Lord descended and touched me very strongly. The words i said in that blessing reminded Edna (the woman) that her Savior loves her and suffered for her. He knows her every pain and affliction and is waiting to comfort us. All we need to do is pray. As i ended the blessing i opened my eyes and saw everyone in the room wiping away tears. I shook everyones hand still teary myself and left. I know that i was in the right place in the right time. I know that Heavenly Father put that woman in the right house. This sunday Diego said that Edna has not once let go of the Book of Mormon we gave her. She says that she has so much to say but cant say it. I am very excited to go back to talk to them again.

This past week has been a struggle. I somehow acquired a bacterial infection in my gut. Wednesday i passed the day with a fever and a headache. Since last week i have had diarreah. I am recovering however. We went to the "hospital" here in this city and waited for an hour to be seen. After that the doctor took my blood and told me to come back later for the results. During this time i called the American Doctor in São Paulo and he told me it was probably just and infection. He prescribed me some pills and told me to go to a local pharmacy and pick them up. He said that the improvement should be seen the next day. I returned back to the hospital after taking  a dose of the pills and waited another hour and a half holding the results of the test in my hand. There was only one thing out of the normal and i couldnt even see the doctor about it. I finally gave up and we went to visit a member. Today i am feeling much better and am returning to normal. Fortunately we didnt miss a single day of work. I am very grateful for that. As for my companion there is not much to be said. He is a 22 almost 23 year old man that i believe is shorter than you. He was studying to be a spanish professor and his dad is a carpenter. He is the oldest of five and is the only brother in his family. He is a very mature individual and is helping me a lot. I am learning spanish slowly. Its hard because i lack materials. I only have a bible and a book of mormon. The house is good. There are two bedrooms and two study areas a kitchen and a service area that has plenty of space. The town is very a small low movement farmtown. Most of the members are very simple people that help us. Its a good place.

I got both of my packages. I already talked to you about the birthday one. I received it and i am very grateful. :) I shared the oreos with my district and the sisters thank you more than anyone. Haha they are funny. One is from Boise Idaho and has been on the mission about nine months. The other is from Colorado and has been on the mission for about three months. Its her first area and she is still kind of confused about everything. I remember when i was in her shoes. It seems like yesterday.

So some bad news is that i will have to pay another fine on the garments. Its 120 royals or about 60 dollars. I recieved the package and will just take money off the card the next time i see the secretary.

As for the Christmas package i dont know i will think about it and respond next week.

Congratulations to Emma on her achievments! Im glad to know she is doing well. Trevor i am suprised to hear that he got a ticket. He always yarded on me about speeding. Tell him i feel for him and that he is no longer allowed to use my car ;) Make a joke about it of course im kidding.  Colby is Colby as always. He will come around he just needs to realize there is more to life than games. Which he will at some point or another.

Good luck on the shower i think you will need it. It should be nice to have something new. Im glad that you finally got the promotion. How much do you get paid now? It should be significantly better than what i did. Keep on praying. He is listening. Sometimes we just ask the wrong things. Make sure you find time every day to read your scriptures as well. I love you mother. I apprectiate you so much. Even if all my blessings were going to you and i was having no success it would still be worth it. Even still we have very good people who could be baptized this week. Our ward mission leader decided to quit his job as a firefighter and dedicate his next to months to missionary work. He is a very good man that is very affected by the atonement. He has done many things wrong in his life and spent a lot of time in inactivity. He came back some time ago and is full of gas. I am very glad that he is so willing to help us but i dont know if i would have quit my job.

Anyway i love you my dearest and only mother. <3

June 3,2013

Hey Pops,

I have a story to tell you. To save time i copied it from my email to mom. It took me about an hourt to write to mom today. I felt kind of bad since she repeatedly said i never write anything to her. The worst part is that its true. I will get better about that.

So we went to visit this young man that was inactive for a while and is in the process of reactivation. We arrived at his house and saw a woman and children we didnt recognize. We greeted them upon entering and i noticed the womans movements were inhibited in some form. She spoke little and what she did speak was a mumble. As we walked inside we greeted the many people that where in the house. Sitting down on the couch we asked to everyone to listen to our message. The boys mother and her boyfriend that lives there, his grandma, and one other woman were there. The other woman went to go and get the lady that was outside the house that we greeted before walking in. She came in a very clumbsy manner. I percieved that the right side of her body was not functioning well. As she struggled to do simple movements like putting one foot in front of the other they explained that she was from a city in the amazons and was here for treatment. She had a vein explode in her head and was paralyzed. She was already improving but still in bad shape. She could understand everything but cant remember how to express herslelf. The young man said after she had sat down on the opposite couch that she wanted a blessing. I requested that she wait until after the lesson. So we started teaching about the plan of salvation. It was received well but was obvious that nobody was truly paying attention. I got a little frustrated and had to speak louder and louder as they kept talking. My companion had desisted completely and just let me talk as he is quieter than i am. So finally the lesson ended and we said the prayer and told everyone to visit our church. We invited them to pray and see that it is the true church. We prepared to leave and got our things together and Diego (the young man) reminded us of the blessing. As my companion annointed the woman i prayed that during the blessing the spirit would touch those in the room providing a witness of the veracity of the church. During that blessing my prayer was answered. I stumbled through the first part as i usually do but when i listened to the spirit speak through me i couldnt help but cry. The spirit of the Lord descended and touched me very strongly. The words i said in that blessing reminded Edna (the woman) that her Savior loves her and suffered for her. He knows her every pain and affliction and is waiting to comfort us. All we need to do is pray. As i ended the blessing i opened my eyes and saw everyone in the room wiping away tears. I shook everyones hand still teary myself and left. I know that i was in the right place in the right time. I know that Heavenly Father put that woman in the right house. This sunday Diego said that Edna has not once let go of the Book of Mormon we gave her. She says that she has so much to say but cant say it. I am very excited to go back to talk to them again.

In other news i got hit with a bacterial infection and have been pretty sick the past week. Fortunately i got some meds and am feeling much better today. I was able to work everyday however tired i was. Congratulations on your mighty fishing skills ;) Those halibut should be good eating. That sounds like an excellent mission plan. We do similar things like that on our mission. Unfortunately for brazil we baptize very few people per month. Usually around 60 people. the average for brazil is about 200. Although one of the missions in the amazons is baptizing about 1000 per month. Its incredible.

I always wanted to go on a trek. I never did have the opportunity. Oh well im glad my siblings have the opportunity that i did not. Ive heard you are putting in a walk in shower. That should be fun. Good luck with that. As for me we should be alright with our one bathroom for four guys. The showers here suck. They just have an exposed wire that heats the water. If you move the tempeature while the water is running it burns the wire. Ive broken two showers that way and they just now explained it to me. Anyway it was nice to hear from you and to know that you are doing well. Love you Pops :)

May 27,2013

Well my time is pretty much up for today i will make it short. We baptized yesterday. A thirteen year old girl whos almost as tall as i am. She got touched by the spirit during the first hymn and started to cry. It was a very special day for her. This week we had a notice that Sister Harts mom died. She was there with her when it happened. This week was good but uneventful. Those pictures  you sent are nice. Colby needs to be less vigorous when slicing potatos. Anyway i love you guys

May 20,2013

Dearest Mother,

 

Well im not too suprised that something like that happened. I never did trust half the people that worked there with that kind of stuff. OH well what can you do

 

That is a very good insight. I hadnt thought about that. Im glad that you are able to do missionary work there at the theater. I would really like to see Frank baptized. It was really good to see you guys on mothers day. I was glad to see how the house is and see my baby aka my gun ;)

 

I am very excited to see Colby come to Brazil. Its a very special place. He will learn and grow very much here. I am very excited to know that i will speak portuguese with him. Now it will be easier to plan suprises for you guys. Dont worry he will get a job. After a week or so of doing nothing he will want to do something.

 

When pokemon came out you wouldnt let us watch it. Then after you saw it on tv you saw that it was fine and let us watch it. Trevor will grow out of it as well and will look back and realize how silly the stage is just as i did. I have a feeling that emmas stage will be worse.

 

Im glad to know that you and Dad are having sucess at work and are able to provide for our family. Truly we have been blessed. Mom You are never alone. God does not leave us alone. He tests us and tries us but never leaves us alone. When we go through trials it just means he trusts us and has blessings to give us when trials are over. Do as the song says and count your many blessings.

 

Here in my new area i am finally senior companion. My companion is five foot five and about three years older than me so its a little strange being in charge but being younger. Here is a small town that is a slower pace. Its a good change. Its winter time here and the temperature has been a pleasant 83 with rain all week. Dad told me about my new cousin. Im glad to know that by the end i will have about 100 of them haha. How many cousins do i have?

Anyway  i love you mom

May 20,2013

Dear Old Man,

I was very glad i got to talk to you guys as well. It was funny to see my companions reaction to the guns :) I moved to a small town thats called Conceição de Coité. I am finally senior companion to a five foot five argentino who is almost three years older than me. Hes a very good guy and is ready to do the work.The area is a very tranquil town that has a lot of farmers. I like it here its a simple life that has a slow pace. I am loving the "colder" weather. It gets to about 83 degrees in the day time and about 60 at night. Its raining a lot now because of the wind patterns.

Haha now emma has a gun :) That makes everyone huh? Do you remember when mom wouldnt let you have a gun? Its incredible how times have changed. I like the changes our family has made. Moving to Alaska was a good change. I think i would have turned out a lot differently. You told me about Travis and his wreck. The baby is new. That´s good for her to be a mom now.

Congratulations on your success with the garage sale. I cant believe that Colby graduated! Its passing by fast. I am very excited to see him going on a mission. He will learn a lot here in Brazil. The challenges of being a missionary ,as you know, will make you or break you. I am confident that Colby will not break. He's a Jensen and we are tough nuggets.

There are Sisters in my district again which makes things nice. Its good not to have just guys to talk to. It gets old after a while. Anyway i dont have anything else to report. Love you Dad

May 12,2013

Dear Mom,

    Thats good that you can get the visa process started sooner. That is the number one inhibiter of missionaries getting into foreign countries. As far as things that he will not really need: Those stupid shoe horn things are useless i left them a long time ago. Tell him to get some cheap flip flops and then buy some Havaianas from here. Buy a good umbrella and take good care of it. Just a little portable one will do. Excercise shoes will be good but dont buy expensive ones. Contact soloution is really expensive here so just stick with glasses. Mosquito netting is not necessary so dont bring it. Peanut butter is good. Bring a cookbook. The sewing kit is good. Bring only short sleeve shirts and one long sleeve. Bring lots of american coins brazilians love those and will trade for them. I will think of other stuff and tell you later.

        Erik sounds like a nice guy. He must meet the family alot to have Colby call him uncle. Role switches are always interesting to see. Colby and trevor you and dad. Next it will be me and emma haha. Your giving emma a gun! Man you guys are letting everything slide now. I remember when you wouldnt let us watch Pokemon. 

Sabrina emailing me is no big deal. I think its really funny that she keeps in contact with me still. I didnt realize that our friendship was that good. And as a personal note not to be shared with anyone else I have no interest in her. So all are aware and so that no jokes will be had.

   As far as new stuff goes we had interviews with pres. He says that i will probably be made Trainer and district leader. We will see. Nothing is final yet. We are supposed to get 26 new missionaries this transfer. That is a huge group. Of that group there are ten sisters. So there will be plenty of trainers needed.

 Anyway i love you and thank you for all your support :)

May 6,2013

Hey pops,

Those are some pretty sweet pics. Im glad that you are looking for opportunities to share the gospel. Im sure you know as well as i do the importance of members in missionary work. We have had a rough couple of weeks. We have to look for new people. Everybody we were teaching we cut. It may be that all the blessings are being used for my family. I heard my companion say that sometimes when we are not having success it could be that our famil

ies need the blessings instead. im hoping that is the case. That sounds like a good motivator . I hope they are doing well. They havent written me in  a while. I liked the picture of emma shooting the gun :) Do you have any hints on how we can work with members? Any experiences from your mission?

 Love Coulson

May 6,2013

Dearest Mother,

 I cant believe that Colby will graduate. Emma will enter into High school.Life is passing by. Trevor plagerized his essay? Thats unlike him. I wonder whats going on? He must have some dificulties at school with friends or girls.

Well im glad to know your a bar maid now. Ill put that on the list right next to stripper ;)

Mothers day will be skype. Its going to be like three or four o´clock here so about the middle of the day for you guys. I thought those stories were funny. Whats really funny is that i used to go into the bikini shop all the time. We were teaching the girl that works there and it was alot easier to teach her there. Not a lot of people go in so we didnt have any problems. I have not gotten the package yet but im thinking that this tuesday i will get it on transfer day. 

I have plenty of contacts left. I will buy the soloution its not a big deal. I usually use my glasses anyway. Its a lot easier. Spending so much time using contacts hurts my eyes so i dont use them unless its raining. You dont need to put stickers of christ on the box. Its not necessary. If it will get stolen it will get stolen with or without pictures on it. Im excited for 

Amy i hope she has a great time in sin city.

See  you sunday :)

April 22,2013

Dear Pops,

 

I was very excited to learn about Colby´s call. I have a buddy in his mission that says he will take care of him and will even ask his president to train him. He will be well taken care of the first few months of his mission. I am trying very hard to get Colby prepared. I will send him a weekly email on stuff he should do and scriptures he should read. Trevor told me about him driving my car. I hope that he does take good care of it. He says its a good little car. I received an email from Sabrina. She is excited to have her family within reasonable driving distance. It will be strange to have them gone when i get back. Well I Sure do love you dad and wish i had time to write more. Read my email to mom i have a funny story to tell.

Love Elder Jensen

April 22,2013

Dear Mom,

 

Colby didnt tell me the story but he did tell me about his call. I got very excited :)

I know a guy in his mission. He says that he will take care of him and will even ask his president to be his trainer. He will be well taken care of the first few months of his mission. I cant believe that i have been out a year. I dont know where the time has gone. I dont have a lot of time this week to write you. I received a lot of emails this week. So i will tell you a story that happend this week.

 

I was walking to an appointment the other day and there was this teenage kid about fifteen feet in front of me. I hear sombody yell and then look to my left and see three armed police men with their guns drawn. They shoot at the guy while they run across the street dodging traffic. I duck into a bikini shop and watch the kid run. I wait for about a minute and then keep walking. As i walk by i see the police standing over the guy. He had run into a dirt road area behind a wall so i couldnt see much but im pretty sure he lived. The police dont know how to shoot here.

 

The same day we were walking in an area that we see drug dealers all the time. I went into a members house to use the bathroom. As i come out onto the road my companion who arrived in the area two weeks ago tells me that a bunch of armed thugs walked past and were guarding a nearby alley. A few minutes later they yelled police and all ran into the same house i had just left. The funny part was i recognized one of our investigators holding a big pistol. I said hi to him and he waved back. The really funny part is that i saw one of our investigators there. I said hi to him :)

Love Elder Jensen