Week 24

We were able to Skype Brody on Christmas. It was great to see him. He was in good spirits (until the end). He was appreciative of those who sent him gifts for Christmas. He also revealed that he has put on about 15 pounds. That might not seem like a lot, but Brody tried forever to gain weight. He is staying in Coalinga. He mentioned in our conversation that he will have spent at least 25% of his mission in the same place. I asked him why he doesn't say something, and he replied that the president would just say the lord has work for you there. Thanks for all of your prayers and support for Brody. We hope you all had a Merry Christmas. 

Well how was everyone's Christmas? We had about three Christmas dinners. On Christmas day we got to watch Frozen haha. We still had to wake up at 6:30, I want to thank everyone who sent me something for Christmas! On Christmas Day I got to Skype with my family and it was so weird and unreal. Christmas day was pretty rough out here in Coalinga. Anyways, all of our investigators are bums. They won't do the stuff that they need to do to progress. Elder Falslev and I talked about dropping everyone and just starting over haha. It seems like it takes a tragedy for someone to want to change which is pretty sad. We haven't been having success out here all that much. One day we were teaching a hispanic family (they are members) and the dad wasn't home so we just taught the mom and kids outside on the porch. The mom kept grabbing stuff off of me while we were teaching....I wasn't sure what it was at first but then I realized that she was picking cockroaches off of me! They were crawling up my pants and on my shirt! haha I don't know how people live like that. We also taught a hispanic family that eventually wants to get baptized after the parents get married. The mission reached the goal of 1,000 baptisms this year with 1,001. We also had transfer calls on Saturday... and I am staying here in Coalinga again! I think President Clark just forgot about me way out here in Coalinga. Elder Falslev is also staying and becoming a district leader so I will have to go on a lot of exchanges. Yesterday after church a hispanic member told us to wait there for a while... he came back and gave us carne asada burritos from the restaurant haha. I hope you all have a good week and a happy new year. I love and miss you all! 

Elder Jensen

The District 

Week 23

Merry Christmas and thanks for all of your support. We are looking forward to skypeing Brody on Christmas Day. 

Well hello everyone, 

This week had it's ups and downs. Usually more downs than ups though. It doesn't feel like Christmas here, it has been like 65 degrees and sunny. It's also really hard being away from home during the hollidays. So this past week Gurvinder drank coffee because he had to work early in the morning. I was so mad at him and like chewed him out. He frustrated me so bad because he had gone 10 days without it. I even got so mad that I got his stupid coffee beans and started to dump them down the sink, he freaked out and stopped me. So the next time we were over there I found  his coffee and I hid it, so hopefully he doesn't find it. Haha one thing that is really hard for me is when we talk about Christmas and everyone says it is a time to be with family and I just think, well I can't be with my family so this sucks. I miss the good old days. One thing that might surprise you all is that I am really quiet. Ever since I have started my mission, I have become really quiet except in lessons I am not sure why. This past week we also had the ward Christmas party. It was pretty good but it sucked seeing everyone with their families. So, BIG NEWS from this past week is that we got a callout from our mission president. And at the start of July the mission will be split and the California, Modesto mission will be created, which will include Stockton and parts from the sacramento mission... we won't know which mission we will be assigned to until like June. Well that is pretty much it. I hope you all have a good Christmas. I love you all. 

Elder Jensen

5 Months

Brody had a pretty good week. He sent a picture of his xmas tree. He said that things are pretty slow right now for he and his companion. He had some questions about how things are going back here at home. He is looking forward to getting to see us on Christmas. He anticipates transfers taking place on New Years Day. 

Thanks for all of your support. 

How are you all? Is there a lot of snow back at home? It is a little weird not having snow in December. But it has been raining lately and is pretty cold. Last Wednesday we drove to Fresno for a Doctors appointment. I watched my companion get an ingrown toenail fixed. I seriously almost puked and was so white. That would really be the worst job ever, being a foot doctor. Feet are so gross, I hope I never get an ingrown toenail on my mission. So after that we had a pretty normal week. Gurvinder got hired at Subway so guess where we went to lunch while he was getting trained... haha we showed up at subway and he was so mad. We gave him a hard time but it was fun. We are still working with him and on Sunday we went and knocked on his door for church. He wouldn't wake up so we just walked in like he told us to. He wouldn't get up so I had to like kick him and we pretty much made him come to church. The Bishop here likes to joke around with me and calls me a hick because I am from Payson. This past week we also had to teach seminary again because the teacher fell and hurt herself. I am so glad that i didn't have to do early morning seminary because it sucks! I really miss all of you, especially at this time of the year with all of the family get togethers and parties. The work here is still pretty slow, there is a big state prison that is not too far away and I have figured out that everyone who lives in Coalinga either works there or just got out of there. Haha I am pretty sure that most of our investigators are former inmates. Well that is pretty much it for this week. I hope you all have a good week. I love and miss you all. 

Elder Jensen

P.S. Thanks to everyone who sent me the picture ornaments for the tree! 

Week #21

Brody was finally able to email us late today. He was able to attend the temple yesterday. It was refreshing to read in his email that he may know the reason as to why he is where he is. He shared those reasons with us.
He told me that transfers are on New Years Day. He sent some pictures the I will have Rachel post to his blog.  Brody didn't say it, but I think he had an ok week. I didn't dare tell him, but there aren't a lot of people that like us here either. Haha
Thanks for your prayers and support for Brody.


 Hello everyone, 

This past week has been pretty crazy. To start off we had our Christmas zone conference. Everything went well there and we watched a short clip called, "He's the gift" we are using it a lot in our teaching, its a short 3 minute video about how Jesus Christ was the 1st gift and He is why we all celebrate Christmas. This past week I also went on an exchange in Lemoore. Lemoore is always pretty fun. Over here the fog is really bad, and we have to drive through it. Visibility is only like 15 to 20 feet. It's pretty crazy. On Sunday we held a family home evening in avenal. Gurvinder is still doing about the same, he's just trying to stop drinking coffee.  Yesterday we went to the Fresno temple. We get to go like 3 times a year or something. It's a smaller temple but it was good. I will send pictures of that. The weeks don't really seem to be getting faster. Coalinga is still here and hasn't changed. Coalinga is a pretty hard area and there are a lot of people that don't like us. It can be really hard to be out here in Coalinga, but I'm pretty sure that I have found the reason why I am out here. Thank you everyone who sent me a picture for Christmas. I miss and love all of you. I hope you all have a good week. And Happy Birthday to Courtney.
Elder Jensen

Elder Jensen and Elder Pazmino 

The Zone

Week #20

Brody celebrated Thanksgiving this week a few times. The food was the same but the people were different. After chatting back and forth, I think the Holidays will get Brody a little homesick. Please keep him in your prayers. 

This past week had some pretty crazy parts. So to start off we went over to a member's home for Thanksgiving and as she pulled the turkey out of the oven it slipped onto the ground. So we didn't have turkey for our thanksgiving dinner!! Haha but luckily as missionaries we had like 3 thanksgiving dinners and got plenty of turkey. The next thing that happened was a gay guy knocked on our door with a girl... she asked if she could take a shower in our apartment. We told her no and the gay guy wanted our number! Me and Elder Falslev slammed the door and started gagging. Now for the scary part... so two nights ago I woke up at 2 in the morning because I heard people running and yelling outside of my window. I looked out and saw a bunch of guys. Come to find out they were Nortenos (gangsters) and they jumped someone and kicked in a door. There were about 10 of them and the college football team ran them off. It was a pretty crazy night. Yesterday I gave a talk in sacrament meeting on the resurrection. A family that we have been working with came to church! They are a hispanic family, The Reyes family. Gurvinder is still doing really well and hasn't had coffee for a week. When Elder Falslev got here I had Gurvinder banging on the door screaming, "Where's my money!?" Elder Falslev was pretty scared and freaked out. Gurvinder and I planned to scare him like that. this next week we get to go to the Fresno Temple, so I'm looking forward to that. I hope you all had a good thanksgiving. I love and miss you all

Elder Jensen

Thanksgiving