Week 73-December 25, 2015

Week 73-December 25, 2015

Christmas

No email this week since we got to Skype on Christmas.  What a blessing to get to see and talk with both Ashley and Taylor!!!

Week 72-December 15, 2015

Week 72-December 15, 2015

thanks for changing my facebook :) and ya i think its best if we just use skype and maybe its better the 26th? ill ask around. just give me an hour and ill find a place. you said like 5 or 6 my time would work?

so this week silvia got baptized. she was so happy and it was the most beautiful service ive ever been to. the other woman who got baptized is the mom of one of the members who ALWAYS helps us. she is like our mom here. she even brings us jackets when its cold and accompanys us all the time. anyway her mom is like 90 years old and she never thought she could get baptized because she couldnt remember the stuff but she learned everything with the elders and got baptised. she was also a miracle....

the members helped us and silvia shared how she felt a peace and a heat that didnt leave her even after the baptism.

it was awesome :)

tomorrow i get a new companion, a greenie :) that will be fun. ill send pics next week. cant talk much more this week cuz i gotta do my despidida photo and such but hope the pictures make up for it :)

The Best Christmas present ever...

Week 71-December 8, 2015

Week 71-December 8, 2015

anyway, im doing fantastic. we walked around a lot this week in the sun, it got HOT this week ... we are using tons of sunscreen and asking for water in every contact :P then we ask for the bathroom knocking doors to get in :P its  a perfect technique. also sometimes i ask for the bathroom just to be able to sit down for a sec..haha

but we have seen so many miracles again this week. i feel like all of the things i dreamed of in my mission are happening now, in the end. God wanted me to learn patience or something.. haha but Yesenia and her kids came to church sunday and we taught her the law of chastity and she said she is going to propose to her husband because she has already waited like 5 years :P haha but she is seriously awsesome. and for the first time in my whole mission , the husband is also willing and suporting her. he is a great guy. hope we get to plan their wedding :P it would make up for all the weddings i have had to miss while im here ..also her youngest kid is named benjamin and is 2, haha but anyway fransisca is also thinking about baptism, maybe this saturday. we will see what happens. and ariel passed his interview but still doesnt feel ready so he hasnt gotten baptized yet but its just a matter of time. also silvia STOPPED SMOKING!!!! we called her last night and she said the ¨blessing worked¨¨! and that she hasnt smoked since!! we were so happy my companion made a cake :P she is an expert chef and ive tried all kinds of peruvian foods and today she is going to make me leche asada cuz i requested it :P shes the best. my goal is learn to cook stuff from every comp and in the end i will be able to cook food from all the countries and so far ive been able to do it :)

also i bought stuff and chocolate and letters to send you guys but then the post office was going to take FOREVER so i couldnt sent it. sorrry haha but know that i thought of you guys while i ate the chocolate i was going to send :P

i will try to send a picture of the card i made mom. hopefully she can read it...

love and miss you all!!!

mom: did you get a chance to change my facebook? i need to put it on my despididas here so let me know what it is... thanks! love you mom have a fantastic birthday!!!

also thanks for the christmas tree and lights and advent calendar and evrything!!!!! love it!!

Week 70-December 1, 2015

Week 70-December 1, 2015

haha hey everyone, glad to hear everyone had a great thanksgiving! we didnt do anything special but the next day we had a meeting with president and in the end we had a yummy lunch of turkey and mashed potatoes! :P this week was a great one. ariel didnt get baptized because he was EXHAUSTED sunday but we will continue working with him to help him get baptized pronto. also silvia came to church after saying she couldnt cause she was sick! miracle! and raquel and fransisca and yesenia and her husband and three kids!!! that was a real miracle. now we just have to marry them :P they are awesome,. the littlest kid is named benjamin and is 2 years old..

it got super hot this week. we got burned like every day :P  and sunday ariel gave us each a bottle of sunscreen because he was worried about us :P im finally learning the value of sunscreen... haha mom would be so happy.

also we had divisions this week with our hermana leader (hermana harden, who in from my group), which was fun. she asked me what my favorite part of the mission was and i realized that one of my favorite parts is when the people tell us they can feel the Spirit through us. i love it when people make comments like ¨when you guys visit, you always leave a peace in our house¨or all kinds of other comments describing chills or light or when they start crying whhen we are testifying that God loves them. i love thinking that even if we dont have all the success we want or maybe we arent the perfect missionary, God can still use us to help His children and can testify of our words. my goal is to always be ready to listent o the Spirit and be able to help those around me and be the answer to their prayers. 

anyway,

love you all and have a great week! 

hermana jensen

Week 69-November 24, 2015

Week 69-November 24, 2015

sounds like everyone is doing great!!! and that everyone is excited for christmas!!! me too!!! :)

thanks for the letters and package!!!!!  i will try to send letters and stuff for christmas if i can haha  the package i got is for christmas? should i open it?

this week was great. ariel gets baptized sunday! but we still have to teach a ton so its kinda crazy. but we are excited :)

silvia is still quitting smoking, and raquel and fransisca came sunday but guess what?! raquel is already a member :P oh chile..haha but hey its all good because fransisca can get baptized and her husband too! :P so we will keep working with them. anyway we had a meeting this week with pres and it was super good. it made me really think about how God blesses us when we are obedient and cant when we decide not to be obedient. i feel like in my life like taylor said our family has been SOOOOO blessed its almost crazy. i decided 99 percent of the blessings i have received and enjoyed personally come from the obedience of mo m and dad. seriously. i feel like their faith and testimonies and sacrifices literally have made all the difference in our lives and it makes me scared to move away or such because im not as good as mom and dad and wont receive the same blessings :P haha i think ill just keep living in the house forever and never move out or get married :P what do you think dad?   but seriously i realized one of the big reasons i wanted to serve a mission was so tht i could become a little more like mom. i told that to an investigator who is pregnant this week and she started crying lol  i feel like i have so many flaws but Christ literally promises to change us, thats the purpose of life, literally cchange our desires and ideas and everything about us. hopefully we will die a completely different person from who we were when we were 10, or 18, etc. the goal is become who God wants us to be, not who we want to be. but we have tendencies and are rebelious and lack faith and such and so we need lots of grace... hopefully God has made me a little more like mom in these last 15 months...:P 

oh and funny fact, sunday we ate patitas de serda for lunch...cows feet. it was actually pretty good...

oh and mom can you send me the recipe for lasagna?

fav scripture of the week. 2 nephi 2:6-9

love and miss you all!! have a fantastic week!

Week 68-November 17, 2015

Week 68-November 17, 2015

oh my gosh i almost had a hard attack when i read that first sentence.. wow its crazy to think about seeing you guys. and you guys coming to chile. its a lot to think about. im just going to go back to knocking doors because it stresses me out to think about the real world....haha 

also keep in mind its going to be SUPER HOT when you guys come. wow ok im going to keep thinking about all this....

ya benjamin!!! sounds like everyone is kicking butt playing soccer!!

ok so i kind of lost track of the emails but here is my email for this week¨:

this week was awesome!

 question, dad who is manual mercado and victor?

this week rachel and fransisca accepted the baptism date of the 28th of november and ariel and silvia too!! we have the 4 for that weekend. all kinds of miracles. and the four of them came to church and juan, rachels husband too!!!! we really want to find him when he isnt working and teach him too because he is super receptive and wants to find his faith again. 

we also found a few news this week who are super awesome. also the members here are fantastic. they all want to help us and accompany us and we are finally not having problems with obedience because they have been helping us leave lunch in less than an hour and its been great. anyway, i spent all my time today reading and copying pictures from my camera so i cant write more but i love you all tons and have a great week! 

i dont know if i already send it but my fav scripture this week is moroni 9:6.,...

Week 67-November 10, 2015

Week 67-November 10, 2015

haha ya i put about half my mission on a pen drive but after that i havent done it..ill do it next week. and ya i sent pics of danielas baptism too...? anyway i dont have the camera cord today but next week ill send them again and such. right now im in Olimpo, which is in the city Maipu. you can google map it if you search OHiggins with Teniente Bello (where we live) or the street Cuatro Poniente with Nueva San Martin (our sector) ..both are in Maipu, like 15 min in auto from the plaza of Maipu. the church we go to is in German Garces with Barros Luco, but those are smaller streets so not sure if you will be able to find it. its in the sector of the elders, not ours, and yes its warm here now. pretty hot actually. using lots of sunscreen this year because i have like a million new wrinkles under my eyes from last year..the sun here is SUPER strong because there is no ozone over Chile . and no i havent gotten a package from the primary kids yet but i decided to tough out the blisters and wear the Toms and other shoes you sent and they are working :) thanks a ton. also sounds like you guys had a good week! and that the YW lesson was great and the Primary program was fantastic. but im a little confused as to why you guys are always crying, during the primary program, in lessons, etc?.. either my family got like hyper spiritual while ive been gone or mom is getting older and her daughters are exactly the same...haha :P just kidding.

crazy to hear that natalie is my height now! woo hoo!! twins!! also ive noticed that in almost every picture of her she is wearing something of mine ..;) glad to know my clothes are going to good use..:P

anyway, i am doing fantastic. its been a great week, FULL of miracles. the biggest miracle of all was sunday, when we had 4 investigators in church!!! RacheL and fransisca, tamara and her son Vicente(3 years old), and Ariel (who even came in a suit!!) it was awesome. the members helped us go around in auto and pick them all up and greeted them with tons of love afterwards. it was great... and the crazy thing was that none of them answered the phone in the morning when we called to wake them up and such so i thought they were all sleeping and we almost didnt go pick them up but we decided to go and see and they were all ready and waiting. it was amazing. also nicolas and isidora (our recent converts) were there. anyway, rachel and fransisca are awesome and rachel, the mom, is just looking for an answer from God to know if this is the right path for her family. she has cancer and it has made even her husband (theyre married!!! its a miracle!!!!) , who had kind of lost his faith, super receptive. also Ariel is progressing and the members have been great accompanying us and such to visit him because he lives alone. and tamara has tons of questions and is great too :) second miracle of the day sunday, we were knocking doors and decided to go look for an old investigator whose name was in our area book and we found a woman named Silvia. she let us in, cried as she toldus about her feelings for God and her doubts and we invited her to baptism and she said yes. we invited her to prepare for the 28th and she said yes. the next day we taught lesson 1 and invited her to read and pray and come to church. she said yes, of course!. and to keep preparing for baptism, and she said yes. haha even the member with us starting laughing at how willing and excited she was. she is seriously a miracle. and she seperated from her pareja (husband she wasnt married to) like 2 months ago, so now she can be baptized! woo hoo! 

anyway, that was our week. we are doing great, being blessed like crazy. love and miss you all!

hermana jensen