Transferred!

Wednesday December 13, 2012

So this past week...

The past week went very well. we hit all of our goals except for having baptisms. but that’s ok. the families that we were teaching are still progressing and awesome. they truly were a blessing to me and I hope I was for them too. I really just can’t remember much of what I did except for teaching and seeing members and just having fun like normal. Everything just went very well all up until Tuesday night when I found out Elder Claudio and I were being transferred. Elder Claudio was called to be a Zone leader and I am now in João Pessoa with Elder Martins who is from Elder Willard’s mission. He is pretty cool and I know I will enjoy working with him. I think he will be leaving next transfer though.

Anyway, that actually is all I have to say....oh wait, I received a Christmas card from you guys and a package of a book and juice powder. I currently love anything fruit punched flavored because they don’t have that flavor here in the northeast of Brazil. It was a good package, and card lol. I will email again on Monday, and I will receive letters or packages probably once a week now, but I know I will receive something next Thursday for the conference of Natal (Christmas conference the 20th). 

I promise I will send photos next week. Lindsay wrote me and said that Gavin finally did it and how he proposed with some pictures as well. It’s was cool and I am so happy for them. My new companion is Brazilian. As this isn’t a p-day, and is a regular working day so I have to keep in mind the hour that I am in.

Yeah I got all the chocolate already from England and ate it ALL. The fruit punch crystal light was good. My new companion is pretty cool, he speaks some English too!! Oh, but yeah the area is pretty cool, we are right next to the center of João Pessoa which is a small area but a good one. It also has a ward here, but yeah I have to go soon because the LAN house closes in five minutes, Elder Claudio and I set it all up in Mossoró to have at least 12 baptisms this month there, it kind of sucks to leave but its ok.  These thing’s happen on the mission!

Wow that is really cool about missions and Kallie is already prepared. Really you don’t even need to prepare that much before you go except for already having a testimony. I got transferred to joão pessoa. ipês area. it’s pretty cool. It was a long travel and that is why I didn’t email yesterday but I will email again on Monday. Wow Nic’s plane ticket was a lot of money. I don’t know why but it’s understandable in these days. I will also ask a member here to buy me some underwear, so it will all work itself out. They have another van going to the temple in Jan, so I can either wait or ask the Bishop here when he is going to the temple next or ask President Hall. It’s kind of nice being so close to everything now. I will be able to receive mail a lot faster now too - like once a week ! WOO HOO! Start Writing everyone!

Well I got to go now. I hope you all have and had a great week!!

 with love

 elder adam jensen



p.s. Well I love you guys and I will say more on Monday!

Egg Salad Sandwiches

Date: Mon, 3 Dec 2012 11:44:45 -0300
From: adj1991@myldsmail.net

This past week....

So Sunday came around and no one was baptized.... :( but it’s all good. We never marked Etianny and Abraão. They are very firm and I know they will be baptized, but they just can’t have a date. For them I know it will be a spontaneous thing that will just have to wait. They are great people, but something is up with them that I or my companion cannot point out.

Oh but on Sunday, my companion and I received a huge blessing with 12 investigators in the sacramental meeting. Oh man it was awesome!!! It was sweet because 8 of the 12 are progressing and 2 of them are already marked for baptism this month. It’s so exciting to know how success works and how the Lord blessing those who serve him.

So when I made lunch, I thought of something that is super simple that none of the Brazilians have ever eaten before. Egg salad sandwiches. Ha! I thought it was hilarious that I fed them this but they all loved it. Today though, a member will be making homemade pizza with us. Is should be very good because there are three Americans here ready to just chow down. Oh and to make the pizza taste good. The northeast is not a place to eat pizza.

Nothing else has really been happening, except for me starting to run in the mornings, and I am down to 85 kilos, which is 187 lbs. it’s still a little fat, but I am able to look fit when I get back. I know I can.

Wow I just realized how close Christmas is. It’s awesome!! Would you like to know what else is awesome....the number of weeks for each transfer will change next year, it’s a big leap from when I entered into the MTC. I think it will change to 5 weeks instead of 6 but it could be less. I also think I will stay here until January. I have no idea how many areas we have or zones. I think we have like 15 zones or 14, but to be honest I like it here more than Sousa. Everything here is third world but it’s all divided here, like rich, poor, poorer, and poorest. Also, I will be home on the 17th of Jan 2014!!

I love you with all my heart and the people here as well. And I am pretty sure I speak fluently now....it’s about time. And I hope you all have a great week. But I am sorry, but I got to go now. I love you a lot and I am excited to email about letters I will have received, and if maybe from a new area, but I hope not. Oh and happy birthday Mom! I know it is early but I won’t be able to say it next week!

Love,

elder adam jensen

p.s. we can also do the cruise the last week of Jan. and next week I will be emailing on Wednesday.

A letter from Elder Jensen

Dear Family,

Since moving to the Mossoro house we have killed two rats (not just one) that were huge by the way. Actually with the second rat, everyone else was too scared to put the rat out of it's misery, so I had to be the man of the house and do it by crushing it's head, Oh btw I do have the video and pictures if you want to see them!!

I am glad to report that I have finally eaten the best chicken of my mission. This lady in our church told us that she had a 'special' chicken for us and to be totally honest - I was a little worried at this point. She then bought out boneless marinated breast meat with onions and peppers. It literally tasted like a good Mexican restaurant. I was pretty happy with this meal!

Also, randomly our water runs out here, so we usually have to wait around 2 - 3 days to get water back in our water bucket which is above our house. When this happens we take water from the street into buckets and take showers with that. Along with that a few weeks ago our power also went out and I mean out (not like on Camano Island). It sucked! It went out at 11:00pm and didn't come back on until 5:30am. It was so hot and in the 100's. I defininately did not sleep that night and I was fasting. Here we fast from lunch to lunch, by the next day I was dying, but now ALL is well!

My new companion is Elder Claudio who is from Las Vegas and is pretty cool, he has 19 months on his mission. Our new way of working is better, we stop worrying about numbers and really help the ward first, then investigators. We are now going to make sure this ward has FHE activity nights and HOME TEACHING. A lot of people in the Ward have no family to have FHE with, so we are using the Bishopric for that. Each Monday we will have FHE in the house of the Bishopric and have FHE with those who do not have families, the same for activity nights. (Well they just don't have activities here) Oh, and they have NEVER done H.T! It's really sad but I'm more excited to work this way, because less than 5 years ago the Ward had about 150 in attendance and now they have less than 60 every Sunday. It truly does make me sad when once a big happy ward is now dying fast.

You know I am really liking my mission and I see each day more reasons why I am here and who I have to see. It is hard, I am learning to live in a 3rd world country, but so far I know why a mission can be truly worth it. The blessings from service truly are beyond measure. I have learned that if you literally try to count your blessings and look forward to what could come, then you will feel a lot of joy and happiness

Te amo!

elder adam jensen

Totally forgot it was Thanksgiving!

From: adj1991@myldsmail.net

Monday 26th November 2012,

Hello Everyone,

So this past week and today...

This past week we worked a lot with Abraão and Eitianny, and we tried so hard to get them baptized, but they both want to wait until next week. I think that is totally fine, but it does kind of suck to zero in the month. But with time I know that the Lord will bless us and them with this decision. This mission is a lot about baptizing, but I am understanding a lot more about helping the needs of the investigators and members. I want them to make the right choice for themselves. I don’t want to just do the things I am doing to get good numbers at the end of the week. Actually with really good numbers usually also has no Spirit with me. I just need to understand what I need to do to strengthen this area. But yeah I think Abraão and Etianny will be baptized this up-coming Sunday. They both said yes to the date.

Today I went and bought a new suit with the money from Gavin for my birthday. Thanks Gavin! The suit is nice and a lot smaller. I finally got the skinny fit suit. I look pretty good in it Lol. What I mean is that suits have different styles, skinny and straight. I got the skinny. It looks a lot better and it motivates me to be a lot more fit than I already am. I also bought a new hammock, new watch, and a lot of photos. Also today I am going to make lunch for me and the Elders I live with along with some of the youth and guys, that I work with and Abraão. The lunch should be good. Today, I also tried to email you some photos but the stupid port is broken! Stupid computers at the LAN house! At Christmas time, you can take photos during Skype, and I will try to send photos next Monday.

Oh and I made splits with other Elders from a different area. It went very well. I like being the senior in these situations. I think I will become senior soon, but no promises. Anyways...yep!

Anyways, that’s about all that happened this past week.

I know that the Christmas package cost $60 to send. The mass email from the Church was sent to all missionaries. I understand that I wouldn’t want the package to be sent back either, but I think that it will be fine.

I know that you can worry and pray but everything will all work itself out gradually, it will and I promise that it will. The church will always be true, there is no need to worry about others but always take care of you and your families salvation through the only true church on this earth, always keep and continue keeping the covenants with God. Rich blessings are in store! I swear I am telling the truth I am a missionary. I always know what is actually going on.

Hey but I got to go now. I love you a lot and stay strong and focus on strengthening your testimony as I am doing with mine. Use that faith you have and you’ll never have to worry about the rest.

I worked on Thanksgiving and actually I forgot that it was Thanksgiving until that night at like 9:30 p.m.

Love,

elder adam Jensen

p.s. I will be here next Monday

p.s. As for the cruise.... I go back to school the first week of April. I come back the last day in January of 2014. I don’t have school in August of 2014, but I would need to work during August because I will go back to school in September right after, but yeah in Feb or March would be great to do the cruise and a lot of Elders have said that royal Caribbean is better and for at least a week long. Oh and I would want to leave from California down to Mexico. but if we can’t do that then Seattle up to Alaska

(Adam is becoming pretty demanding and spoilt ~ Mom!)

Date: Mon, 26 Nov 2012 12:09:45 -0200
Subject: Re: Happy Monday
From: adj1991@myldsmail.net
To: jensens6@msn.com

Good Morning

Missionaries, please forward this email to your families.

For those of you who do not know, the Brazilian government will on occasion apprehend some packages that come from the United States, and then charge a large import tax for us to receive the package here. In this situation in the past, we have been paying the tax, and have the missionary reimburse the mission for the cost from their personal funds. Because of the increasing number of instances of this occurrence, as well as the difficulties to receive the money back from missionaries, we will now be discontinuing this practice. All packages that the Brazilian government chooses to take and tax now, will just be returned back to the United States.

There are, however, a few simple tips and guides you can follow, that greatly increase the chances that your package will arrive here without any problems.

1. Do not send any form of electronic devices.

2. If you wish to send new clothing, remove it from the packaging, wash it, fold it normal, and call it used clothing on the declaration form.
3. Don’t send packages with contents exceeding $50 of value. If you wish to send more than that, it is best to send the items in multiple packages.

4. Be very thorough in filing out the declaration form. Weigh the package, and make sure the actual weight agrees with the weight written on the declaration forms.