Praying for baptisms

Monday July 16th, 2012


Hello Everyone


Well this past week....

The other Elders here, Elder Rodrigues and Elder Cossarotti had 5 baptisms this past Sunday. It was awesome for them to have those baptisms, but at the same time it was a drag because I didn’t have any. We were supposed to baptize José, but he just couldn’t quit smoking, and on Sunday he said he gave up and doesn’t want anything from us anymore. It was weird for him to say this because he was the only one progressing out of the family, but he said it and now he will be cut off. But each week, we have about 15-18 new people and 8 or 9 of them are men. Each week is good with finding people though it truly is a blessing finding new people!!

This past week, Elder Rinaldi and I got trapped in a bible bash. It was totally ridiculous and I hated it. I don’t know why people like to tear down other peoples’ religion. Well the bible bash didn’t really do anything except take the spirit away and we walked away feeling horrible. Also this week we met with José’s sister Maria and she will be cut off because she is not progressing and when we would talk about something that we said the day before she wouldn’t remember or she would say things that don’t make sense. We ended up having 6 different Marias this past week - ridiculous! None of them came to church, it really sucked; don’t come to church means no baptisms. Hmm…!
We had a really cool reference this past week, but they couldn’t come to church because the husband is very week because he just recently got out of a 20 day coma, and the wife is super pregnant. She should have the baby near the end of this month. They said they really want to learn more and are very motivated to be a part of this gospel. It was sweet. I’s just this past week was good with finding people, but none of them think church is really that important, so we have to teach that one again lol.

Ok so the Brother and sister Petrie the senior couple, are leaving for 6 weeks. They will return in August. Sister Petrie needs a surgery on her hand because she can’t grip anything anymore. They are leaving this Thursday. Anyway, I asked them if you could send the clothes to their house in Arizona and they could bring it back for me when they return. They obviously said yes lol. I asked because the mail here is kind of ridiculous, she said just to email her and she will give you her home address.
Yeah the patch kit for my pants will actually be awesome. I honestly have no idea if they have those patch things here. I have actually been thinking about asking for some. But oh well. I should or may have them in August which will be awesome. Thank you :) I was relieved too when she said I would love to bring the clothes back for you. It was very nice of her. Let’s just hope I don’t get transferred then lol, if I do then I would have to wait until September for the new clothes which is not really that big of a deal.

The interviews with our Mission President were this past Friday and they went very well and President Hall was pretty happy with everything. He did teach us something that we should do, and that is to write down what we promise to do for our mission and what we are promised because of the mission. This is all on the call letter. Oh and they did bring more mail. I received a small letter and the business cards to hand out with my information and the church music. Except on the music every song except for seven songs are mpeg-4 so I can’t play them out loud on anything. So instead today I am putting all the music on my iPod. This means I will be able to listen to it - just next time a thumb drive gets sent the songs cannot be mpeg-4.

So I learned some new things this week about repentance and love. I learned in simple terms that if you can forgive yourself of the things you have done and this also means not blaming others to get rid of what you have done, but truly forgiving yourself, then forgiving others becomes so much easier. Once repented, then the only thing you can truly feel in your heart is love. When giving undying love it always creates a whole new and better atmosphere for everything around you. The love I mean isn’t trying to tell people what to do, or make them do what you want them to do but just loving them for who they are. With this simple truth it may still be a hard thing, but the world is a great place to build and become stronger.

Anyways, I have to go now. I love you so much and thank you for all the inspirational things. I like them a lot. It makes me think about why I am here.

I'm looking forward to hearing from all of the people back home.

My address is:

Elder Adam D. Jensen
Missao Brasil Joao Pessoa
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
Rua Deputado Jose Mariz, #515
Tambarzinho
Joao Pessoa
P.B 58042-020
BRAZIL

love

elder adam jensen