My Birthday

Monday, 19th November 2012
From: adj1991@myldsmail.net

Hello Everyone

So this past week...

This past week went pretty well. My companion and I were able to get all of our goals done, except for marking three people for baptism. We only were able to mark two people, so yeah we have two people marked for the 25th. Abrãao and Etianne. Abrãao is 19 and Etianne is 13. they are pretty cool people and prepared to be baptized with the blessings of the Lord. These two people really are elect; we are working a lot with them so they will be baptized on the 25th. We have other investigators, but none of them were at church, so we will either work with them more and see why they were not at church, and then go back to the drawing board. I hope that our other investigators will progress. As long as I just keep working hard and doing what I am supposed to be doing, everything will work out. 

On Saturday, my 21st birthday....I went to a member’s house and his name is Heider, who is 29 years old and not married yet. I made curry at his house, it turned out very good but just needed more salt lol. He bought me a cake and he sang to me happy birthday in English. It was pretty cool. For the rest of the day, I worked like normal, and my companion and I were able to get 7 lessons in and find 3 new men two works with all on Saturday. I actually forgot about watching the video. I will watch it today. What about the cruise?

The rest of the week, was kind of boring. I made a division (splits) with one of the Zone leaders I live with and it went pretty well. We marked one of his investigators for baptism and ate açai. which was delicious! Hmm, nothing else really happened.

Today we are going to eat in a members house, who said she has a present for me...I can’t wait. but yeah and Sister Hall is coming to look at all the houses, so she can talk to a guy here who works for the church, so he can fix all the houses. and hmm, I think I will go out to the street market and buy some things. Maybe a hammock, new flip flops and whatever that really catches my eye. Later tonight we have family home evening with all the youth at the Bishops house, so that should be good. I hope more youth come this time. last time not that many people came - disappointing, but it was still pretty fun and enlightening.

Brazil is easy to cope with, because just knowing what I get to come home too. I just deal with it now and for two years and when you go home, it’s like presents ha-ha. But yeah it’s all good. I have now plans for Thanksgiving except for work. Oh, and that’s cool about the Christmas Santa sacks, and yes, I would like to be with the family when I get home. The second Christmas, you don’t need to do, it will all be alright.

Dad had already told me about Frazier’s mission call. It is Manaus, the hottest place you can be in Brazil. It is where my companion goes on splits with a different companion and I go with a different companion as well. Hey that’s good for Derrick, I am happy to hear it.

Oh and want to do me a favor? get Kallie's home address for me. I want to write her a letter about her mission if she is going on one. I hope Curtis finishes soon so I can know where he is going too!

Hey I love you and yeah next Monday I will email again. I hope you a have a great week, and stay healthy.

with love,

elder adam Jensen

p.s. I think Sister Hall is bring packages or mail with her, so maybe I have something. lol

Miracles!

Date: Mon, 12 Nov 2012 11:20:12 -0300
Subject: Re: Hello
From: adj1991@myldsmail.net


Hello Everyone

So this past week...

My companion and I have been teaching a few people and two of the miracles that we have seen is from a young guy named Abrãao (abraham) and a young woman named Suyanne. with Abrãao, he was very shy and actually acted really weird with us the first three times we taught him, like something else was in the room. Also he didn't want to pray and told us that he is interested but not enough to read. After the third time of teaching him, he read and prayed. he change dramatically. He is very open and now makes jokes and is already pretty good friends with others from church. He is going to be baptized on the 25th, or sooner. Suyanne, the first time I ever met her, she just glared at me and Elder Collins, and didn't want anything from us. Actually it seemed like at that moment that she hated us. We went back to her house when Elder Claudio arrived and in a teenager way and not a missionary way, just like making friends. She opened up a lot and laughed and is really enjoying our visits. Suyanne went to church yesterday and I think tonight or Wednesday we are going to plan to mark her baptismal date. It should be very good. We have two other families right now, but we have to get them married first. Marriage is actually very easy here in Mossoró because it's free and only takes 25 days to get all the paper work ready for the wedding! Hmm we also have others, but they are not quite progressing yet. I hope that changes soon!

About letters, I have only received birthday cards. The last time the Zone Leaders went to João Pessoa, they didn't have or grab any other packages for me, but I was very grateful for all the cards I received! Oh and I opened the other package - thank you for the cool video camera, it's pretty cool but I think I will wait to watch the video on Saturday. On Saturday, I will be going to a members house for lunch. I told him I would teach him how to make curry, and yes I remember how to cook curry silly. I'll show you some pictures that I have already taken. I checked everything out on the video camera before i took pictures. I think I have only taken one video so far, which was of all four of us trying to kill a rat lol. Anyway, so that's what were going to do. On Saturday night, a couple of recent converts want to bring my companion and I to pizza it should be really good, if its the right type of pizza.

Hey that's really cool about Michaan and Aaron Kramer getting married (not together) It's about time lol. It's fine about money right now. Oh I have been thinking about vacations, so many missionaries keep talking to me about cruises for a week. They keep saying how cheap it is compared to other vacations and they´re totally worth it. I was told that on Royal Carribean they have these metal cups that you buy in the beginning of the trip and they are refill cups for soda. Soda is the only thing that you would be spending money on if you didn't buy the cup because the food and snacks and other drinks other than soda (and acohol) are free. If you dont book any adventure things, than its obviously cheaper. It sounds to be pretty cool. If it's way out of our reach, then i understand, but it would be cool, if we planned a week. Maybe the week before the Spring semester started in April, to go on a cruise as a family. Obviously, if Gavin and Lindsey wanted to go then they would pay for themselves lol. but yeah I have been thinking about a cruise a lot lately. I have actually thought about working on one during the seven week break during August when I dont have school either.
Yeah thats about my week, except that my new companion is actually helping more than I thought. I keep getting the feeling that he is training me to become a trainer, we will see soon in December or January. I love you all and I have to go now. Talk to you guys next Monday.

love,

elder adam jensen

A New Companion

From: Adam Jensen <adj1991@myldsmail.net>
 Sent: Mon, Nov 5, 2012 13:27:45 GMT+00:00
Subject: Re:
Hello Dad
Thank you for the answer from last week's question -lol. it did help. I forgot about how it will as numurous as the stars. but yeah it did help. Well anyway, yeah Elder Collins was made Zone Leader and my new companion is Elder Claudio from Las Vegas and he has 1 year and 7 months on the mission. I think he will finish his mission in Mossoró. but he is such a hard worker and with him we are trying a lot of new ways to work than the normal boring way lol, but still just having fun while doing it.
We will be emailing back to the normal time, I will be an hour earlier as we were in the begininning. In the house, everyone wanted to email at ten a.m. before, but Elder Collins wanted to wait til 11:00am, so we did.
I emailed everyone last week that emailed me. I don't really need anything except taco bell hot sauce, just the small packets from the fast food, it would make my food taste so much better here.
Not too much to write this week, as Mom is not on here to instant email either. Have a great week, I have to go now.

love,
elder adam jensen

More Baptisms and Reaching our Zone Goals!!

Mon, 22 Oct 2012 11:29:33 -0300

From: adj1991@myldsmail.net

Hello Everyone,

So this is what happened this past week...

On Sunday, yesterday, we had three baptisms! They were all 15 or 16 years old. 2 of the teenagers, we have been teaching for two weeks, and they were set on date for yesterday. They understood very quickly what they needed to do in their lives to make it back to Heavenly Father, but the other 15 year old we baptized, was a reference that we received yesterday morning. We met this kid, Italu, in the afternoon, taught him the restoration and the commandments, and then asked him to be baptized. He already had desire to be baptized and he already went to church like 3 times before we ever met him. He agreed to be baptized and so that’s what we did. We baptized him. It was definitely kind of a "just do it" baptism, but whatever works. These kids are pretty cool, and I am happy they decided to start their path in the path of God. But next week we have one person that will be baptized. He is already planned to be baptized and he is pretty excited. But, they are two others that could be baptized as well. one of them, we know wants to be baptized, but he is too afraid to stand up to his mother about what he wants to do in his life, and the other said he came close to being baptized once, but it wasn’t the right time he said. But he went to church, and he is a big possibility as well. So next week me and Elder Collins have a good chance of getting 3 more baptisms! I am super excited for this! It would be 6 baptisms for the month of October. But the names of people who were baptized were, Etienne, Allison, and Italu. Next week’s so far is Noé. Its Noah in Portuguese or Spanish.

Today I am going to print off pictures of my baptisms so far, and eat açai, one kilo of it. And hmm, or and were going to eat with some other missionaries today for lunch. It’s a good day today I think. Oh and also last week, I guess, I learned some more gospel doctrine, but I do have a question I am trying to get answered. You know how they are 3 levels within the celestial kingdom? My question is, is there 3 levels in each of the kingdoms? I understand what the millennium is for, but the promise from Nephi is that it’s better to have never known the gospel if all you were was baptized. So it’s something I am trying to figure out.

I did try the cool towel already. I have about ten minutes or so. And I am doing pretty good. So far from what I know, nothing is planned for thanksgiving, and for Christmas, it is just Skyping home. But 4 or 5 days before Christmas, we have another zone conference and we will go to Natal for that. It’s a five hour drive. Which sucks in a van. It’s a nice van, but still sucks for five hours.

But yeah I will reach my monthly goal and I think we will reach our zone goal as well. We have 11 baptisms in the zone at the moment. But I have been eating well and not going hungry. And no, I still have plenty of money to last me. At the moment. and the next time I get mail will be the first week of November and the next time after that will be December 1st. but after that will be like the 20th or 21st of December as well, so if anyone wants to send me anything - you’d better get it in the mail soon…my greatest wish is for Taco Bell Hot/Fire sauce as everything is so bland here and a Dr. Pepper J

My address is:
Elder Adam D. Jensen
Missao Joao Pessoa, LDS
Rua Deputardo Jose Mariz #515
Tambauzinho
Joao Pessoa
P.B 58042-020
BRAZIL

I hope that you like the picture and the Petries called me. They don’t have Halloween here in the northeast. But oh well. I love you and I got to go now. Love you and I will talk next week on Wednesday! Don’t forget!

With love,
elder adam jensen

p..s. dad- I would rather be in horrible weather than this heat lol. the sun is just not on our side. It has been in the 90’s – 100 degrees. I did print off the authority line, but I am excited to receive your package maybe in December lol. I am actually excited to receive everything. thank you both so much!
 

Being Spoilt

Thursday 1st November, 2012

Hello Everyone,

Well this past week...

So we got almost all of our baptisms confirmed. Just waiting on one person. He had to work or something on Sunday and there just was no possible way he could have been confirmed. Oh and I forgot that we did baptize the other youth Noé. He is pretty cool and he is already playing soccer with the other youth at the church. So far with baptisms, everything is going great and I love knowing how much potential there is in this area and in this mission. Bringing people to real salvation is a really good mood changer lol. It just lets you know that people really have enough faith for after this life. 

Oh and my companion was transferred. To Sousa actually. A place that is just as hot but without the wind so in the end it is hotter than here in Mossoro. He became a zone leader there. My new companions name is Elder Claudio. He is an American from Las Vegas. So far he seems pretty cool. An Elder who likes to work, but in a smarter way. Not the way that will just get you super tired throughout the day. But yeah that’s what happened. oh someone brought me almost all the birthday cards already, but next week I will receive whatever packages are there and plus if there is more birthday cards. I love all of you guys and I love being spoiled!  Oh, and I still LOVE Dr. Pepper!!

With love,

elder adam jensen

 

Monthly Zone Goals?

Mon, 22 Oct 2012

From: adj1991@myldsmail.net

Hello Everyone,

So this is what happened this past week...
 
On Sunday, yesterday, we had three baptisms! They were all 15 or 16 years old. 2 of the teenagers, we have been teaching for two weeks, and they were set on date for yesterday. They understood very quickly what they needed to do in their lives to make it back to Heavenly Father, but the other 15 year old we baptized, was a reference that we received yesterday morning. We met this kid, Italu, in the afternoon, taught him the restoration and the commandments, and then asked him to be baptized. He already had desire to be baptized and he already went to church like 3 times before we ever met him. He agreed to be baptized and so that’s what we did. We baptized him lol. It was definitely kind of a "just do it" baptism, but whatever works. These kids are pretty cool, and I am happy they decided to start their path in the path of God. But next week we have one person that will be baptized. He is already planned to be baptized and he is pretty excited. But, they are two others that could be baptized as well. one of them, we know wants to be baptized, but he is too afraid to stand up to his mother about what he wants to do in his life, and the other said he came close to being baptized once, but it wasn’t the right time he said. But he went to church, and he is a big possibility as well. So next week me and Elder Collins have a good chance of getting 3 more baptisms! I am super excited for this! It would be 6 baptisms for the month of October. But the names of people who were baptized were, Etienne, Allison, and Italu. Next week’s so far is Noé. Its Noah in Portuguese or Spanish.
 
Today I am going to print off pictures of my baptisms so far, and eat açai, one kilo of it. And hmm, or and were going to eat with some other missionaries today for lunch. It’s a good day today I think. Oh and hmm also last week, I guess, I learned some more gospel doctrine, but I do have a question I am trying to get answered. You know how they are 3 levels within the celestial kingdom? My question is, is there 3 levels in each of the kingdoms? I understand what the millennium is for, but the promise from Nephi is that it’s better to have never known the gospel if all you were was baptized. So it’s something I am trying to figure out.

I did try the cool towel already. I have about ten minutes or so. And I am doing pretty good. So far from what I know, nothing is planned for thanksgiving, and for Christmas, it is just Skyping home. But 4 or 5 days before Christmas, we have another zone conference and we will go to natal for that. It’s a five hour drive. Which sucks in a van. It’s a nice van, but still sucks for five hours.

But yeah I will reach my monthly goal and I think we will reach our zone goal as well. We have 11 baptisms in the zone at the moment. But I have been eating well and not going hungry. And no, I still have plenty of money to last me. At the moment. and the next time I get mail will be the first week of November and the next time after that will be December 1st. but after that will be like the 20th or 21st of December as well.

I hope that you like the picture and the Petries called me. They don’t have Halloween here in the northeast. But oh well. I love you and I got to go now. Love you and I will talk next week on Wednesday! Don’t forget!
 
With love,
 

elder adam jensen

p..s. dad- I would rather be in horrible weather than this heat lol. the sun is just not on our side. but I did print off the authority line. but I am excited to receive your package maybe in December lol. I am actually excited to receive everything. thank you both so much!

Blessings

Monday 15th October, 2012

Hello Everyone,

Things that happened this week...

Well through the week, we have asked 5 people to be baptized and all 5 said they would this month, so that is what we are working on right now. It’s kind of nice seeing blessings just put right in front of you. We have been working hard lately and this is what happens. Yeah we sometimes leave with this member who is 16 years old and he never had references for us, but one day we saw him with his friends and all of them except for one because he wasn’t there agreed to be baptized on the 21st. It’s sweet. I don’t know why the member didn’t have references. From what I have found out on the mission, it doesn’t matter who you think would be a good reference or not. Everyone needs salvation, so every single person you know should be a reference for the missionaries. If you had continued to be an example to those people you know then, everyone is worthy to have the opportunity to listen to the missionaries. But the people that are meant to be baptized this upcoming Sunday are 3 teenagers and one woman. The boys are around 15 and the woman is 21. For the 28th however, we have another man to be baptized. His name is Saul and he is an elect person to be honest. He has been trying to find the right church and has already visited a lot of other churches and still has been confused because he thinks that all the other churches are not right. It’s crazy how elect he was, he just showed up one day to a house where we were teaching a family because he is the boyfriend of the daughter of that family. He is pretty cool!! 

This past week also....nothing other than that happened. Oh wait, we had interviews again from The President and when he came I received another package! I got all the Halloween candy. it’s almost all gone. My roommates sure do love chocolate too!! They are cool guys though. I chose to share. but thank you for the packages. I am truly blessed and a little spoiled lol.

Thank you for the story Dad, and to be honest I am happy I am on a mission. I know that with regards to wanting to be here or not has been like a roller coaster, but in the end when I truly think about everything I have done so far, I am happy. I know I haven't done as much as I should have or have done as much as I need to do on my mission, but I am happy and I am glad that I chose to serve. I remember once in elders quorum that I said I am sometimes jealous when people who are old go and get baptized because they don't have to endure to the end for that long, but I finally realized that through my life because I was baptized at 8 years old, that I truly have the privilege and opportunity to live within the gospel. The gospel is not something that holds someone back, or ties someone down. the gospel gives hope, love, happiness, and freedom. Knowing that in this short amount of time on this earth is meant to prepare us for an eternity is a sure way that we all can know that God truly does love us and we should all know what opportunities can come from the gospel. I truly do testify, not as a servant of the lord, but as a member of the only true church on this earth, that no matter where you or what your calling may be or whatever; serving other and helping them even yourself stay within the gospel of Jesus Christ so that we can have everlasting happiness in the next life is one of the greatest privileges and opportunities anyone can have. 

with love,

elder adam jensen

p.s. I have absolutely no money. the allowance form the mission is late so no one has it. I haven’t been reimbursed for bills I have paid either. kind of sucks at the moment. I am using someone else’s little money to pay for internet.

 

Salvation?

Monday October 8th, 2012

Hello Everyone,

Well this past week was an interesting one...

Nothing much happened - lol. Neither of the Bruno’s are to be baptized. We tried to get a kid named Tiago in the water, but what happened, the mother said that he couldn’t be baptized. She had no reason, and then said he didn’t want to be baptized even though he clearly wanted to be baptized. Anyway, with this mom we burned her like no other and said that she will not receive salvation because of her stopping her son’s salvation. She also said that if he got baptized and she didn’t accept it than she would beat her son and he would never be able to go to church again. Man people here truly understand what it is like to be a supporting parent! So what are we going to do about it....have the dad sign the baptism form for approval? Oh and this past week, we also met an elect guy, who by the spirit and teaching he will most likely be baptized on the 21st of this month. So far we have 6 people that are a possibility for baptism this month. Oh the blessings of a mission. I am excited to try and get them all in the water!!

Man, conference goes by so fast! I was surprised when I got to the last talk on the last session - super-fast. But anyway, I received a lot of answers to questions I had and I was happy and grateful about everything the Lord wanted me to hear. Anyway, man that is crazy about the age for missionaries. I am more surprised about the women. That, I think is a huge difference.
I also received some letters, and the package you sent to the Petries. The dr.pepper and the candy is already gone. It was delicious. I hope a lot and a lot and a lot and a lot of dr.pepper will keep coming lol.

I received your card in Portuguese. I understood everything! Sean’s letter was nice too. I am very excited to receive all of my packages the next month

Today we had a zone p-day. I got burned in the sun by the way today. This was a first time on my mission. We have so much sun screen but didn’t use any of it. The pants fit except one pair. I got one other package which you said do not open until my birthday, and no I didn’t already open it. what is it????

Thank you for all the goodies, I did share with some. I was nice.

with love,

elder adam jensen

Baptism Goals

Monday October 1st, 2012

So this past week,

On Sunday we baptized Adriano. He is 25 and is super excited for everything. I mean like he really wants to see General Conference, and receive the priesthood and get a calling. He used to be a member of the Assembly of God church which is the only church who tries to bible bash with the missionaries. He is a very cool guy though.

Also this past week we had two other guys to be baptized on Sunday as well and both of them are named Bruno, but both of them were not baptized. One of the Bruno’s who is the cousin to Adriano just kept running from us, so it made it kind of difficult to get him in the water!! But I think maybe this Sunday we will be able to catch him. The other Bruno who is the nephew of the Bishop said he wanted to and everything, but two days before Sunday his Mom said he didn’t want to be baptized and that this Sunday is not the right time for baptism. Bruno was sitting right there next to her when she was saying all of this, but he wouldn’t say anything. When his mom is there, he doesn’t know what the right thing to say is because she really doesn’t want him to be baptized. She doesn’t like religion. It puts a little bit of difficulty in our work. But when Bruno can actually just tell his Mom what he actually wants then we will baptize him.

This past week as well, I haven’t learned much, or really did anything new, but I did get really sad. We are seeing a recent convert who is starting to be less active. The husband is part of the Quorum presidency and he loves being a part of the ward. His wife on the other hand is a little difficult. She told us, just me and Elder Collins that she doesn’t want to go to the temple to be sealed and if she could have done it all over again, she would have never had children. It’s just so sad to see a happy family starting to fall apart because they don’t know what is important. Also the husband doesn’t do his priesthood duties in the home and the wife is a little bothered by that which is understandable. Unfortunately no active members help the other members but seriously it’s the temple and exaltation!!  It’s what we should all strive to receive.

Today I am going to lunch with the zone leaders at one of their recent convert’s houses. I hope it will be a good lunch. The recent converts are very cool and help the missionaries a lot. But anyways that’s up with me. Oh and I am excited to get mail tomorrow night. Oh and our zone in Mossoro had 23 baptisms for the month. Out of 23 we had 7 men. And also of the 23 people, 3 completed a family in the church. SWEET!

I  love you and I am very excited to get all these packages and letters! I love you a lot and have a good week.

love,

elder adam jensen

Assembly of God?

Monday 24th September 2012

So this past week, or well since Wednesday.

 

Since the last time I wrote, my companion and I marked another man for baptism on the 30th of this month. His name is Adriano. He is a member of the Assembly of God church, and so far he is very accepting and wanting to know more. I think it’s working out with this Adriano guy a lot because we are using a member who used to be a member of the Assembly church before he joined the church of Jesus Christ. The member is just telling him straight up why the Assembly of God church is wrong and how they don’t have the authority to do anything. It’s kind of funny, but it’s working. Adriano said he has been praying a lot and I actually saw him pray during sacrament, so that is awesome! Oh, and before he prayed during the sacrament meeting, I saw him reading Moroni chapter 8, which talks about being baptized as a baby is an abomination to the lord. Kind of interesting that he randomly opened to that chapter. Oh and with Adriano’s family, we are trying to get his cousin marked for the same day as well. His name is Bruno. He is a pretty good kid, but the only problem is that his parents are trying to make him not go to church or to be baptized. We will see about that. I think we will see Bruno tonight. Something I learned on my mission so far is that when you know the parents will say no about their child being baptized, you don’t ask! All you do is say that...."we would like to invite you to your child’s baptism, and here is a “for the strength of youth pamphlet” that your child will be learning as he continues in the church. We would hope that you will support your child’s decision and we know that your child would love the support from you." it really helps the parents know that it’s their child’s baptism not theirs. 

Also this past week, I have started a new little language learning goal thing. What I do is that I write five words that I heard that day. Learn what they are and try to say them the next day. And I do this in a cycle for each day. Its working out pretty well and I have learned already quite a few new words this week. Oh and I have been thinking that when I get back I might use my Portuguese to minor in Spanish. Spanish is a lot more useful in the world than Portuguese. It’s good to know your mission language, but why not use it to learn something that will actually help you lol.

 Thank you for the money, it helped.

Oh and guess what I am making for lunch today?

I am making BBQ bacon burgers with caramelized onions.

 

 

Oh and banana bread. but I kind of need the recipe for banana bread. I got the bananas and flour, but don’t know what else goes in it lol. 

 

 

 

I’ve attached just some more random photos, and if you didn’t know the northeast of Brazil is 3rd world.

Unless the President puts you in the richest areas, then it moves up just a little bit lol.

 BTW the rat was in our apartment, but obviously now is dead and burned.

Thank you for the recipe, and no we didn’t eat it the rat!!

 

 

 

 

Last Sunday went very well. We had a total of 7 baptisms in the zone. Actually it was a little too low since we should of had 13, but this next weekend we are all trying to have 11 baptisms in the zone.

Oh and another random thought - you can always be forgiven of sin but the consequences because of that sin will always be there. Just let go of the past and focus on what you’re going to do today, tomorrow and maybe the next day, it feels really good to just let go. Trust in the lord and do your best.

love you,

elder adam jensen