Week #54

We didn't have a lot of time with Brody today. He told us that he is staying in Lindsay. I remember him writing to us while in the MTC about his new companion. He should have a good time the next few weeks. Hopefully things pick up this next in Lindsay. Thanks for your support. 

                                                                                                                                                                     

Well hello everyone, To be honest this past week has been super crazy! We got transfer calls and so much more happened. So last week we went and played basketball again at the Rec. Center, it was pretty fun. Later in the week Elder Pugh went to the temple to go with the Mission President and all of the other Elders and Sisters that are going home. I stayed in Lindsay with one of the Zone Leaders Elder Bryner. We went to Colleen's wedding and helped out there. Colleen is the lady that got baptized a couple of weeks ago. It was weird to go to a wedding as a missionary. This past week we also helped a less active family set up for a birthday party for their 1 year old grandson. And if you didn't know hispanics go all out for birthday parties! Haha there was bouncy houses, a bunch of food, and everything you could have at a party, all for a 1 year old!! So now for transfer calls... so I am staying here in Lindsay and my new companion will be Elder Lybbert! I was in the MTC with him and have been on many exchanges with him! So I am excited to be with him! It should be good. Now for the craziest part of the week... so last Friday we got a call from one of our members and he then picked us up and told us that there was a problem. He told us that there was a sick girl that needed a blessing. So we went over to her house. She is 16 years old. She was the star basketball player, and a good girl. Then 3 weeks ago she dramatically started changing and saying stuff that her family had never heard her say. She started doing weird stuff as well. They then took her to a hospital and she stayed there for 2 weeks. the hospital thinks that it might be a mental disease like schizophrenia, but the family is convinced that it is not. I probably shouldn't say everything that I have seen and that is happening but she could have maybe been playing some type of game and the family is convinced that she is possessed and has a demon inside of her. When I was in the house it felt different, something was missing. She was acting really weird but I never felt in danger or anything like that. After we gave here a blessing we went to our apartment and we were both drained. I couldn't even write in my journal. My body was weak. We have seen her a few times since and I haven't felt anything like I did the first time but something is wrong for sure. We don't know for sure. to be honest I feel like I am in a movie right now. Haha I feel like I am in the movie the exorcism. It is pretty intense. She looks like a zombie and the medicine they have her on is super strong. I am looking forward to what is going to happen. that is about it for this week. I love and miss you all. Have a great week! Elder Jensen

Week #53

Brody had a slow week. He will be finding out this Saturday if he is leaving Lindsay or not. Either way he will be getting a new companion. His current companion is going home. We didn't get a lot out of him today. He was rather short on his emails to us. If you get a chance to send a a letter, I am sure he would greatly appreciate it. Thanks for all of your support. 

                                                                                                                                                       

Well this past week was pretty uneventful to be honest. It seemed like no one wanted to listen to us and that all of our appointments cancelled on us! so it has been pretty frustrating to tell the truth. My companion goes home next week so I will probably be staying here in Lindsay again for a while. So last Monday we went to Porterville with like 40 other missionaries and played basketball. I was on Elder Frame's team (he is from Spanish Fork and i played against him in High School basketball) we never lost! Haha it was a lot of fun! I also went on exchanges with Elder Lybbert again and we had a good time. The rest of the week was pretty boring because we didn't have a lot of success but I did get to fix my bike lights with a member. That is about it for this week. Sorry it is so short but nothing really happened. 
Elder Jensen

Elder Jensen holding a piggy 

Week #52 - One Year

Brody had a good week. Anytime he can play basketball and find investigators is a win.  Its good the hear the he was out fixing fence. I knew it would payoff someday. He will hit his one year mark this Wednesday. We know the Lord has blessed him throughout this first year. Thanks for all of your prayers and support. 

                                                                                                                                                                        

Well hello everyone, This past week was a pretty good one I guess. I went on two exchanges, the first one was with Elder Jorquera, he is from Chile. We had a good time and taught A LOT of lessons and found a few new investigators. This past week we found 10 new investigators and some of them are pretty promising. So we are excited about that. I also got to go to a basketball place last monday for Preparation Day, we played with some of the young men in the ward and other random people. It was a lot of fun. We are going to be doing that again today with a bunch of missionaries from 3 zones. This past week we also had interviews with President Clark, it was good to sit down with him and talk about the work in Lindsay and how I am doing. We had zone meeting this past week as well. We are focusing on become master planners, master finders, and master teachers. We are also focusing on talking to people everywhere we go. So we have been trying to talk to people in the streets even though they usually reject us. We get to meet A LOT of interesting people when we do that. Haha California has some crazy people!!! This past week I also went on exchanges with an Elder named Elder Carlson. He came out with me and i went to his area in Porterville, and Springville. We went and helped a member build a fence for his goats and animals. It reminded me of the days out in Goshen on the farm. I also held a snake that the member had. That is pretty much all that happened here! I love and miss you all! have a great week! Elder Jensen 

In Brody's email to me and Amie he added the following:One thing that is hard out here is seeing how sad of lives some people live. We met a lady the other day and her boyfriend beat her. She has black eyes and she showed us a bruise on her stomach from where he punched her and she lost a baby because of it. It was obvious that she was beat. There are just so many people that have sad lives and I don't get it. Like Payson Utah is a whole different world than here. I am so happy that i was raised in Payson in a strong family. Because the people here are not as fortunate. It seems like everything at home is pretty busy and crazy like usual. I got to email Bonnie and everything seems pretty crazy! Today i am gonna go and play basketball again so I will try to get some pictures or something!

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Week #51

Brody is a week away from his one year mark. Who would have thought?!?
We didn't get to chat with him for very long today. He was on early and we didn't expect it. He was headed to play ball later in the afternoon so he got on a little early. You must check out his photos. He was celebrating the 4th of july like no other. We thought he must have been in the local parade. He really missed the trip to the cabin this year. He said next year he wants to go twice to make up for it. Thanks for the support.
                                                                                                                                                                       

Happy Monday everyone! So this past week was pretty crazy and super busy. A lot happened especially over the 4th of July! But I will start at the first of the week... so on Tuesday I gave a training with Elder Lybbert at District Meeting. Elder Lybbert came out with me and was in Mexico with me so we get along pretty well! We gave a training and then after district meeting we went on exchanges. Elder Lybbert came to Lindsay with me and we saw some investigators and had a good time. Last Thursday we had a specialized training or zone conference. It was pretty good and I got to see some Elders that I haven't seen in a while. It was the Southern Zones of the mission. My last 3 companions bore their testimony because they are all going home in 3 weeks! So after this transfer all of my companions will be home! The 4th of July was a crazy day... so to start it off we came to the church and we had a ward breakfast! It was really good and a lot of people came! I took some pictures so I will send them! Then in the afternoon we had a baptism. It was Colleen, she is 62 years old and she was super prepared! She wanted a private baptism so there was only 5 of us there... I don't have any pictures from it though. So on the 4th President Clark told us that we could stay out until 10:30 if we were with a member. So we were invited to a party by a bunch of non members... we couldn't go alone so we went with our ward mission leader, Rey Hurtado. Before we went to the party we helped Rey and the young men go all over town and pick up the flags off of people's yards. Rey only speaks Spanish. While we were getting the flags a crazy big drunk guy came running at me with a beer in his hand cussing me out. Haha he was calling the cops and saying that we were stealing everyone's flags. He was a big guy and he was coming after me! So I told him we weren't stealing them and that we were just picking them up! After that he kept coming at me so I jumped in the van and Rey hit the gas hahaha! The guy was so crazy!! After we got all of the flags we went to the party with Rey and got some food! People were drinking and smoking and all of that stuff so we got the food and went to Rey's house. At Rey's house we lit a few fireworks and broke a pinata. Rey's family is really awesome! Our Fourth of July was pretty eventful! I have one more story from this past week... so yesterday we were riding our bikes and an old lady in her 90's stopped us and asked if we could help her with something. We told her that we are always looking for service. So then we followed her in her car and she pulled off of the road next to a dead cat, and oh my gosh that thing stunk!!! She wanted to get it in a bag and said it was her cat. So I stepped back and let Elder Pugh hold the bag for her while I was dry heaving half way down the block!! Haha it was so nasty, but after we got it in the bag we went to her house and dug a hole in her backyard and buried it! She was so happy and so grateful! So i guess it was worth it haha. I hope you all had a fun 4th of July! I love and miss you all! have a great week!!
- Elder Jensen