Baptisms for the 26th!!

Mon, 20 Aug 2012 11:30:05 -0300
From: adj1991@myldsmail.net


Hello everyone!!

So this past week...

In my area we have some awesome members. They love to go out and work with us, and there is a guy here who really reminds me of Gary Gascoigne, but a lot shorter. But yeah, with members help and some references we were able to have 4 marked baptisms for the 26th of this month and so far it seems like we are going to have all 4 baptized. It is going to be sweet. What I think I meant to say last week in my email is that the North East is different than any other area in Brazil because in Mossoró people here are more educated, actually understanding that at least finishing high school is a really good thing!

So I decided to do a new study....it’s for 30 minutes of personal study and it’s continue reading in the Book of Mormon in Portuguese, and for the next 30 minutes read Isaiah and try to understand it. I figured I had to read Isaiah because there are moments in the Book of Mormon when Jesus says that the book of Isaiah has everything in it that pertain to past, present, and future of this world. But also I have come to know that the principles of the gospel, like the things we teach for people is only the milk of the gospel or doctrine. And the more in depth or deep doctrine is the meat. I have read lately that I cannot take the meat in huge chunks, but I have to learn piece by piece. It’s hard, but I am enjoying it and believing everything that I am coming to find out. Especially about other planets and the world outside of the earth. It is so interesting! BTW I am reading Isaiah in English. 

This upcoming Friday is the one year mark for my companion and he is pretty excited! He wants to throw some sort of party thing. Mainly a small BBQ food that we will do in our crappy backyard for lunch. The backyard is like the dead portion of a desert. We don’t usually eat at night here either, sometimes, but not that much. The lunches are the same as always, beans, rice, noodles and some meat - every day and still the biggest meal of the day! We never do service projects here either because there is nothing here to do service on. It’s sad especially when you see an old woman drink something and then when she is finished she just throws it in the street. There are basically is not that much of "manners" here.

I am pretty much adjusted to Brazil now. It’s mainly the same thing every single day. The only thing I will continue to hate is watching the kids run around during sacramental meeting and the Counselors to the Bishop when they speak they say everything like a question because they literally ask the Bishop after each announcement if it was right. but yeah I am in a pretty good mood and I am happy I got transferred because I started to get super bored in Sousa. But all is sweet! The package from the Petrie’s though I probably won’t get it till October but that’s not a big deal. It’s so nice of them to agree to bring me anything!

Oh and mail...I received the other package that had some candy and the Cabelas t-shirt. All the t-shirts fit!! Oh and I received the other pictures as well. Thank you so much for all the things you have sent me. I know they are sent with love.

Anyways, that was my week.

Ok well I have to go now. I love you with all my heart. and a little message... “In every moment of the time we have on this earth, if we only look with love, then our whole entire outlook on life and life after this life will be a major blessing and we will never want to be without the ones we love.” 

with love,
elder adam jensen

You can contact Elder Adam Jensen at:
Brazil Joao Pessoa Mission
Rua Deputado Jose Mariz, #515
Tambauzinho 58042 - 020
Joao Pessoa - PB Brazil

(Please include your physical address)
 

Referrals, referrals and referrals

August 13th, 2012

So this past week,

We arrived here on Wednesday, and the zone leaders took us to a member’s house, so that he could show us our area and people we could work with. It was kind of nice because he showed us other members, and how to get around in our area, and on top of that he showed us where lunch was for the whole week. He was a cool guy. But the only thing that sucked about that day was that we basically did no work, so one of the days to find new people was basically lost.

Hmmm, the Zone leaders also told us that there was a man ready to be baptized this Sunday, but they lied. We went and taught this guy and he is married to a member and the rest of the family is members except for him, but the thing was about this guy is that he is – well, kind of lies a lot. We showed up there and asked him why he wasn’t baptized the Sunday before when he had his interview and he said that he had a problem with coffee. The next day we went and taught him and we asked if he drank coffee yesterday? You know what he said?? He was like...I don’t even like coffee. I only said that because during the interview I was hearing things that I didn’t know before, like the Word of Wisdom and The Law of Chastity, so I just lied and said I have a problem with coffee so I couldn’t be baptized. So basically we were like um ok then. But after that we also found out that the missionaries before never taught about Prophets, so we had to explain that and also to read and pray about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The guy never read or prayed and he has questions like is the Book of Mormon true and was Joseph Smith truly a prophet? But he decides he doesn’t want to ask these questions because he doesn’t want to be baptized. So unfortunately this guy is now cut from our investigators and when he finally decides to be baptized and then maybe we will still be here.

Also we worked with more members and I like them all. The lunch is VERY good and we have a lot of people to teach already, like 10 new people that are all just references!! I think I will be in Mossoró until December. There is transference before Christmas and I think that will be when I leave here. The people in Mossoro are so fantastic and most have already gone to school so I probably will not run into anyone that says they can’t read. The people here understand a lot more. Oh and the Ward is awesome. Giving references all the time. I am pretty sure I’ll never have to do street contacts again here in Mosorro. It is the only place in Brasil that is nothing like the rest, it is nearer to the Temple but unfortunately I still won’t go to the temple. Yeah it is hot and humid here. Kind of sucks, but I will be totally fine, and I still am lol.

The other missionaries inside the house are zone leaders, and their names are Elder O´Very who is from Utah, and Elder Galvez who is from Oregon. My new companion is Elder Collins and he is from Arizona, in Mesa. And my companion is pretty cool he does live near the Petrie's, but he doesn’t know them. And none of them have served in Sousa except for Elder O´Very, he started in that area like me. And Mom, no, it does not feel like college!! LOL.

Hmm and the zone leaders were being nice by giving us an investigator, and they obviously wouldn’t say bad things about the investigator because they want to motivate us to get a baptism. I understand why they did that. Oh, and in Sousa with the wife that is cheating on her husband she is still in another city and I don’t think the husband has seen her yet from the last time I talked with them or saw them. Pretty sad!

With the mail, I received everything except for the sunglasses, and I only received one of the two shirts so far. I have the dr. pepper one. Thank you!

If you or anyone else was to send one thing or maybe two...can it be a dr.pepper soda and taco bell hot sauce????????? I think the dr pepper will be ok, because someone here already received a soda in a bottle and it was ok the whole way!! One other thing too is that I do need Gillett fusion blades, 68 reals here are very expensive, technically it is around 34 dollars, but for 4 blades. Putting money into my account is crazy to buy them here. Costco is cheaper. Totally ridiculous!!! If those are still too expensive, then don’t worry about it. We can’t go inside malls, and for four blades it is 68 reals. Hopefully Santa brings me some more Gillett blades too! Lol

I already have the Petrie’s emails. My time on the mission has gone by extremely fast. I figured out that I will be coming home in Jan 2014. I think but maybe it will still be the beginning of Feb. I will just have to figure it out with the schedule of transfers.
But I have to go now. I love you and I miss you guys.

I love you a lot and I will talk to you next week.

with love
elder adam jensen

Transferred...Mosorro!

August 8th, 2012

Hey everyone,

So this past week....

We still didn’t have any baptisms Sunday, but the positive news is that two people came to church. It was two 16 year olds. Actually they passed by the church and I think they have gone to church before in the past, but we caught them on the street and brought them to church. It was actually pretty cool.

Oh and something happened to a member this past week which is actually pretty sad. So the guy’s wife never came home one night and he was really worried, so the next day he went to the hospitals and she wasn’t at any of them, and then he went to where she works, and she never went to work the day before. He was checking things around his house, and he noticed the 100 Reals were missing, along with some clothes and her documents. He was freaking out, so we gave him a blessing and tried to calm him down. well, later that day he received a call from his wife.....and she says that she is in another city, and that she was kidnapped and raped. It was horrible, but she said to the husband to not worry, because her brother lives in this city she happened to be dropped off at. She also said not to come see her because she didn’t want him to see her like whatever she looked like. I feel so bad the member, because all of this happened. He is a great guy, but I know there are missing parts to the story, I mean someone is not telling the whole truth, but still I was sad to hear that this happened and we all prayed and wished him the best and her.

Also since I emailed to you last I have been transferred to Mossoro. It is more hot than Sousa, but good news is that there is some wind. Also here inside the new house, are all American missionaries. So a lot of English and on top of that an American who married a Brazilian lives here in Mossoro and he is an English teacher. The funny thing about it is that he chooses to speak English to us. He seems like a really cool guy. I also learned about this new area is that there are great people and we receive a lot of references, and we have a lot of baptisms here. I am excited in my new area and this will be a whole new experience.

In Sousa, the area that we were in was basically a made up area until President could figure out the areas for us because the other missionaries that came with me, the group was huge. But my old area is closed. Elder Rinaldi went to a place close to Campinas Grande it is another branch. My area before me and Elder Rinaldi were there, was Sousa area and Estação area, and when we arrived we created an area called Sousa/Estação 2. The Sousa/Estação area is now closed and the areas are back to normal. The Petries' will still be there. Hopefully the package you will send for them can get there soon. I will take pictures of this area as well. I wasn’t shocked I was moved, but I didn’t expect Mossoro.

I am about 4 hours NE from Sousa, mainly north though. And for me, I am not sad, all is actuallypretty good.

P-day will be back to Monday next week. I have to go now.

I love you

elder adam jensen

Meeting our Zone Goal...!

July 31^st, 2012

Hey so this past week, 

This past week I was sick until Thursday morning so the work was actually horrible. We met with a young guy that was supposed to be baptized, but when we talked to him about it he said no again. I don’t know why, but to be honest I think it is because he wants to do things before baptism, especially because I saw two hickies on his neck from his new girlfriend. He is only 16, but I can’t judge, especially according to my life lol. He is a good kid and I hope he eventually understands the importance of becoming closer to God and Jesus. Elder Rinaldi and I didn’t have any baptisms this past week, and I don’t think we have any for next week because no one came to church....again! But yeah we have a lot of families to see in the week. I am excited to get them marked for a date for baptism.

Also this week we had our normal 8 men we have to have each week,  3 of them are really strong or firm, and want to know so much more. We found them just outside the church looking, and then they came up to us and asked who we were and our purpose. It was really awesome!! We ended up giving them a tour of the church and told them a lot of what we believe, and they enjoyed it a lot. Except the funny thing is that one of the guys had a little daughter with him, and she ended up peeing on the floor because her dad wasn’t paying attention, but that’s ok. It was funny, and come on; children are here to embarrass parents anyways! 

Also this week, we ended up reaching our zone goal of 18 baptisms for the month. The zone had 19 baptisms total. That is why we had a zone p-day today. We can only have a zone p-day if we reach the goal for the zone. Zone p-day means that all the missionaries in the zone, which is 14 missionaries, come to our area and we all hang out and have fun. Oh, but the whole mission had 194 baptisms this month. A little less than the goal already set, which is a bummer. The goal was 203 baptisms. Maybe next month we will reach the goal. 

So about mail, I will receive mail tomorrow night when the zone leaders return from João Pessoa. But so far a have received the package that had 100 name cards and the one thumb drive. Not more than this, but maybe tomorrow night I will have more. I am actually hoping. Because the last time I was hoping a little too much and all I received was the card from Gavin. I love Gavin but it sucks only getting that when expecting so much more. Maybe I will get more mail. 

Yeah I am missing the Petrie's,  they are my family away from home.  Sister Petrie goes in for her hand surgery tomorrow,  hopefully she does fine as they told me that the recovery time is very fast. Anyway, I did call Sister Hall, and I went to the doctor. He thought it was a viral infection  and Sister Hall told me to stay home take medicine and rest. I did that on Tuesday but Wednesday night I took some medicine and had a blessing and the next morning I felt totally fine. It was actually awesome!! (except Sister Hall thought I might have had dengue fever,  maybe or maybe not but either way it is all gone.) BTW, the doctor didn’t do any blood work and I decided not to even do blood work at the lab,  but I am better.

I will send the whole SD card home when I receive an SD card lol. The food is still the same as before, rice, beans, noodles, and chicken every day. It is never different unless we make the food. I did see that the girls’ soccer team won in the Olympics and Brazil did too.

Ok well I have got to go now. I love you a lot and I will talk to you next week. I forgot to tell you. next week is transfer week, so I don’t know exactly what time I will email. Sorry. Transfer week is always crazy, but it will happen on Wednesday the 8th of August. so I won’t speak again until that day. I love you a lot and I will talk to you soon. P-day will be on Wednesday instead of Monday and we will email later in the day again. Email will happen again from 2-4 p.m. my time so like today. But always I love you and stay safe and be grateful for the blessings, I mean pray a lot!

with love

elder adam jensen

No Baptisms and sick...!

July 23rd, 2012

Hey everyone!

Well this past week was not that good. We met with everyone and taught them and got new people to teach, but when Sunday came around no one came to church. So no one is truly progressing. Oh and we were supposed to have a baptism this past Sunday, his name is Caio, it’s like Kyle, but he said he didn't want to be baptized this past Sunday anymore because his grandma who is already baptized gave him doubts about baptism. I don't know why she did that considering she wants him to be baptized. Anyways, he did come to church though and I think he will be baptized next Sunday. I truly hope he does. The grandma did tell us that she talked to him about baptism and that he won’t be baptized because of what she said. We'll see!

Other things that has happened this past week, on Saturday night I started to not feel that good, and really weak. I thought it might have been some food, and I would be alright the next day. Man I was wrong. Next day on Sunday I woke up with a horrible migraine and still weak and a fever. I had the fever all day and the migraine. It was basically horrible. So I took medicine all day and went to bed like usual at 9:30 at night. I woke up today and I still had the migraine, but my fever I think went down. I don't feel as hot as yesterday. But I am keeping up with meds and I think it will go away soon. I don’t need to go to a doctor and there is no doctor’s office like back home here, only the hospital. and if I needed to go to the hospital then I would need to call Sister Hall first and what not, but I am doing much better today!! I also have all the medicine I need for this situation lol.


I am happy you got in touch with Sister Petrie. It’s actually awesome that my first area is with the them. So the Petries are in their 70´s I think or late 60´s but they are so nice, and I do hope that I get to stay here another transfer so I will be able to see them. Oh and a lot of people still went to church even though they couldn’t get a ride from Elder and Sister Petrie. If I do get transferred then they will bring all of the stuff to João Pessoa. I won’t receive mail until the 2 of August, but all is good and I am looking forward to August 2nd!!

Well I love you

elder adam Jensen

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

Baptisms, Baptisms and more Baptisms

July 10^th, 2012

Well hey everyone,

Ok so this past week...

I have learned some things that pertain to my work. I learned that you cannot go totally by faith. I say this because if you only have faith for your goals or that you will have a baptism this week or things like that, you really just won’t work harder. I know the scripture that says faith plus works, but the thing is that something has to drive you to do those works. That is why I have learned that having desire is probably the most important thing to have on the mission. With desire you have more faith, more works, more goals, and a real strong motivation for more things than you would have before without desire. I am doing very good. I am excited for a lot of things right now and for the future as well. My time is still going super-fast. pretty crazy. I love you all and I am happy truly happy that I made this decision.

We met a new investigator named Bruna and she has a one or two year old baby. I think 2 years old. Anyways the funniest thing happened while we were teaching her a lesson. So, while we were teaching the baby was on her lap, and that baby was only wearing a diaper. Anyways, while the baby was sitting there he put his hand down her shirt and started touching her. So at this point it is already funny, but while he was touching her, the baby started to put his other hand inside of his diaper. Oh it was so funny, and we all started to laugh during the lesson. But it was a highlight of one day during the week.

So you know how you said about giving a blessing. Well I didn’t give one, but I did anoint the oil. Even though it wasn’t an actual long blessing, it still felt good to at least be able to do that all in Portuguese!

Hmm… another thing is that, do you remember when I talked about Iamand´s mom? Her name is Irani. Well, I got her to finally commit to a date on the 15th. It was only me who got her to commit. No-one else, not even my companion. It felt awesome, especially because we have asked her in the past like 3 other times and she always said no. I am VERY excited!  Also, Irani´s neighbor also said yes to baptism. I forgot how to spell her name, so I just won’t try - lol. The neighbor had doubts actually a lot of doubts in the beginning, but by the end she said yes to baptism. The lesson went very well and we have two baptisms!

The woman that didn’t come to church was Maria. Her brother José came and he said he liked it a lot and wants to come back. We also asked him to be baptized on the 15th as well. I think he will, but we have to teach him a lot this week.  The 15^th is going to be a very busy day.  Everything about this week was good, and I am happy with how we all worked. It was just awesome and very spiritual.

Anyways, that’s about it. I think we have to go now, but I can email a little bit later because the other elders were too slow getting to the LAN house again! I don’t know how it’s so hard for them to just get up and go. Oh well.

Thank you so much for everything, I know if you were to send me some new clothes, it would be amazing, because I actually do kind of need them. I now have three pairs of pants that have holes in the same areas. In these types of pants they just have a poorly made crotch area. Either that or I just have fat legs. But anyways, I was wondering if you could go to like Ross or JCP and buy very thin, very dark slacks. 34/32. I think 34/32 might be a little too big, but I have a belt, so its ok. My shirts are now way too big for me - lol. My neck is not 17 1/2. It is either a 16 1/2 or 17. I am trying not to even wear my other pants because I want them to last a long time. So instead I put other pants other than the three pairs with holes in them inside the suitcase, staying there until I truly need them. I did find some black material inside the house, so I covered one of the pants holes with that material. I have tried sewing them and it didn’t work. the stitch broke, on all of the pants!!!

I am happy with how everything is back home just try to keep all the spirits up and focus on everything good. I do miss everyone, but my mission will still be over before you know it. I have already been out four months, but according to when I will go home and when I was supposed to leave, it has been 5 months woo lol. I love you a lot and hopefully next week the other missionaries are not slow again.

I am excited for this week as well because it means that we can do it all over again, but the negative side is that when doing everything right your legs seem to be much more tired at the end of the day.

Looking forward to hearing from you all;

Elder Adam D. Jensen

Missao Joao Pessoa

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

Rua Deputardo Jose Mariz #515

Tambauzinho

Joao Pessoa

P.B 58042-020

BRAZIL

love

elder adam jensen

Back on track...

2nd July, 2012

Hi Everyone

So the great things that happened this past week....or since last Wednesday as we were later emailing due to transfers.

The new Elder is Elder Cassorotti (which is pronounced kassa roachy) and he is a very good elder. I am very happy that he is in our apartment here in Sousa. I say this because for the past...don’t know 3 weeks everyone in the house was starting to become very lazy, like not getting up on time and not leaving on time. I am to blame as well. But when Elder Cassorotti came he basically put us all back on track. Anyway, everything now is being done the correct way. Getting up on time, leaving on time, just everything is really perfect! I am happy everything is being done the right way, because in just a half a week I have really noticed how much better the work is and how much better you can feel the spirit. At the same time I can see that we end up having a lot more fun.  Also, my Portuguese improved, pretty crazy I know!!

Also this week, we met some new investigators and one of them came to church. Her name is also Maria. When we first met her she was yelling at her husband because of three reasons....the first was because he was smoking and he wants to quit, secondly he was drunk and the third was because he locked them both out of the house!! It was actually hilarious listening to them argue, but we invited her to come to church during the argument and she accepted! She then actually came! It was fast Sunday and she said she really enjoyed it. I think this week we will definitely ask her to be baptized!!

So, in the morning of Sunday, (Norisah – this is weird, don’t we say Sunday morning in English???) we went to Maria’s house, (the one that does not have a drunk husband) we were going to her house to bring her to church, but when we showed up we also talked to her about how she was going to be baptized yesterday, but when we mentioned it again she said she never heard us say this and she refused to be baptized. So we said ok we will do it next week. After we said next week she said ok, but then we said ok let’s go to church and then she got all weird and said she didn’t want to go to church in the morning. So we ended up having to talk to her about the importance of church but during this time Elder Petrie (senior couple elder) is waiting outside with his car to bring us all to church, she didn’t go in the morning, but she promised she would go in the evening...at 4 p.m. So we left and when we went to the next meeting at 4 p.m. Maria was there as she promised, but she was still saying no to baptism until a member came up to her and asked her why she didn’t want to be baptized and she didn’t have an answer to give to him, so she told us that she will be baptized! After she said that we all got ecstatic and rushed to get the baptismal font ready so she can be baptized right after sacrament, and we still had to do the interview. Well she passed the interview and she was finally baptized yesterday at 7:30 pm!!! It was all worth it and I know the Lord was helping her with this decision!

Also what happened Sunday....after the baptism of Maria, the senior couple were doing something for the YSA in his house and we heard they were having cookies, so we decided we should try and see if we can go. We basically invited ourselves but it was ok. We went and had desserts but during the eating of the desserts girls kept trying to speak English to me and one of them actually speaks a lot of English. Her name is Vivani so she was telling another girl to say "when you go back home, give me a chance." I don’t really know who actually wants this chance - but it was pretty funny. I couldn’t stop laughing, as I understood what they were saying and I don’t think that they realized. The great story is that I found out that Vivani and her brother were searching the internet one day and found the church through the internet. They came to the church randomly wanting to be baptized and they have been members for two years now and very active. I like them both a lot, which is very cool and helpful if I don’t know a word in Portuguese!!

The next transfer is the 8th of August. They are every 6 weeks. Oh here on the 4th we are having a zone district meeting and then afterwards we are having a big lunch at the senior couples house (the Petries) we will have hot dogs and hamburgers and fruit and desserts. I am excited for Wednesday! The 4th of July for me is still the same no matter where I am.

Always remember that we are all saints in this gospel, so this also signifies that we are disciples of Jesus Christ. We are here and called to pronounce his word to the people and I know this is true. All of us are tools in the Lord’s hands, but only certain people are missionaries, but not just for two years but for a lifetime. It is possible for a missionary to go on the mission and return but never truly became a missionary. I don’t want to become this. I am working hard and I know that hard work will never end.

Oh, and one more thing is that I am enjoying reading everything, I am like Nic now. LOL - enjoying reading things!! That’s pretty good that Nic is already leaving for college. I know that he will like it a lot.
Well that’s about all the happened...oh and Tiago didn’t come again!
I love you

elder adam jensen

Transfers - I am still here in Sousa!

27 June 2012

 Hey I am here!

Ok so what happened this past week....?

 

First, we went to a boy’s house named Tiago that we had already baptized because he hasn’t been coming to church and we wanted to know why. When we arrived he was being very nice to his drunken mother and washing her feet like a foot bath. When we first got there the mother starting talking to us about if she dies then her son will be here all alone and things like that as if she is going to die soon. She is talking like this because it is obvious she does drugs, but both of them started to cry while we were over there. Then we had to calm them down and keep saying stay strong in all the things they do with the gospel in their lives. After calming them down we gave them both blessings, actually my companion said all the words because I can’t yet.

Anyway, when we left I was both happy and mad at the same time. I was happy because we were able to give blessings and God is always there to speak with us through blessings, but I was very mad because if the Mom wasn’t selfish she wouldn’t take drugs and try to be healthy. If she did that then she wouldn’t say things like she is going to leave her son in this world and things like that. All she has to do is focus on her son’s life, the Gospel and maybe things would be better for her....ahhhh!!!!

Oh and Maria went to church, she had an amazing time and I was so excited that she came. She said that church was different, but she felt the spirit and she was so happy she went. She said that she is going to go again and that she wants to feed us this Friday. What blessings from this woman!! She is still going to wait until her daughter arrives in Sousa to be baptized. We told her that the next time we come over we want to teach her husband because everyone needs salvation. Anyway, that’s about the week for me that have to do with Missionary work. We did also meet some other people that were not strong at all, but they were willing to hear our message and ask some questions, but made it clear by the end that they don’t believe in revelation. Kind of sad but that is the biggest problem with missionary work it is the belief of Joseph Smith and revelation.

So this past month the sisters here had 6 baptisms. I was very jealous of them; especially because they have an amazing area and they have a couple out in their area that literally know everybody and they give amazing references! It’s all good though. I am happy for them. Oh and transfers were this week....Elder Dacio left from Sousa and same with a Sister whose name is Sister Sousa. It’s kind of ironic she served in Sousa. Anyway, they left and Sister Chagas became a trainer for Sousa and she will have her new companion next week because her companion right now is in the hospital in São Paulo recovering from being sick. It’s kind of strange, but all will be well!!

Hmmm, we also received a new guy in our apartment but I don’t know what his name is yet, well actually I don’t know how to spell it.

The mail though, I will receive next week in the beginning of the week but I don’t know which day yet. It’s all good over here though...Oh and I don’t need any bedding lol.

I really am doing really well!

I love you a lot

love

elder adam jensen

Snug as a bug (let's hope not)

June 18th, 2012

Hello Everyone!

President and Sister Hall came last week to give the ward a fireside about covenants because a lot of people are taking a temple trip today. It was great as they also came by with some letters. I received 5 letters, all from "mission ties". So, I received the ones that are everything we have talked about, and I also received the recipes. So far this month I have received the two big envelopes and those next 5 letters. That's all, but I hope that July I will receive the rest, I never thought that getting mail and packages would lift my spirits so much, so if anyone else wants to write to me here is my addresss again:  (Adam only gets mail once a month and it takes roughly 3-4 weeks to get from the States to him also)

Elder Adam Jensen

Joao Pessoa Mission

Rua Deputado Jose Mariz #515

Tambauzinho 58042 - 020

Joao Pessoa

P.B. Brazil.

I'm looking forward to hearing from everyone back home!!

Oh, before President and Sister Hall came, my bed broke and my pillow was flat. My bed broke because the side metal bars were cheap and they bent in half, so if you can imagine it my bed was kind of like a hammock, and since my pillow was flat my neck started to hurt. This went on for about 3 days...no good pillow and no actual bed frame!! But when the President came they both told us to throw away anything old that no one was using. So we did!! We cleaned house!  Sister Hall bought me a new bed and a new table for studying and a new fan!! She is so awesome!  It's not really a bed frame, its just the box underneath the mattress, but right now I have the nicest things for sleeping. Oh,

and on top of that I bought a nasa foam pillow, that too is awesome and I love sleeping with it!!!

So I sent two letters last week, but they shouldn't get to you for like another 2-3 weeks, because the lady at the post office was dumb and I asked one of them to be express and she did both of them as simple. Simple takes about a month. Anyway, one of them is a post card and the other is for Sean. I think Sean will like it. This week or next I am going to send another letter. This next letter will have my SD card and a picture and a video of me. I hope you will really enjoy my next letter and I think I will try to really make sure that the person at the post office puts it as express!

This past week.....I had -  hey sorry about earlier.  The guy who owns the LAN house turned off the internet so he could go to lunch. Really stupid I know but here I am again trying to write. Some things I forgot to say in the other first email....I heard a band called "lower lights". I like them a lot, especially because they sing songs that I know and they are appropriate songs. So if anyone else knows of them can you get some of their songs on a flashdrive for me?? Oh well thats about it I think for this week due to the interruption of my internet emailing. I will probably remember more to say after I am done writing......oh wait....can you ask Nic if he knows what "house sharing" is on itunes. If it means that I could get my appropriate music from home using this sharing folders then I would like him to go on to my itunes and turn on the home sharing thing. I think he will understand. If not, then maybe someone else can help him.

Anyways, I love you again and I still can't wait until July 1st so I can receive more letters lol.

love,

elder adam jensen