Week #80

Brody was very brief today. Our connection wasn't the greatest. He seems to be very excited about the work that is taking place in his mission. He wasn't able to send any pictures today. Hopefully we will be able to get more out of him next week. Brody is 10/13 the way through his mission. Crazy.

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Hello Everyone, 

so this past week wasn't too crazy! we have been keeping pretty busy though. so last week after i got done emailing we went and played some basketball. while we were playing one of the Elders that is from spanish fork got hurt, he already  had a bad ankle. so now he is going home tomorrow for surgery! he should be back out here in like 6 weeks though. 

this past week we had zone meeting, i trained at zone meeting again! it was a pretty good zone meeting, the assistants were there and everything. 

i guess the  big news from this past week is that Ashley and Maria both got confirmed yesterday in sacrament meeting! i confirmed Ashley! it was awesome! 

we actually got to play a lot of sports this past week! we played volleyball and basketball with investigators and members here at the church! 

this next week i have president interviews and a district leader meeting in Fresno! so it should be a pretty fast week! that is about it for this week! love and miss you all! time is going by so fast!
Elder Jensen

Week #79

Brody had a good week. He had a couple baptisms. He will be confirming them this week. Things are going good in Atwater and he is happy to be there. He told his mom to learn to cook REAL mexican food. American food is not cutting it anymore. Apparently American food isn't spicy enough for him anymore. He was headed to play some basketball today. He was upset to hear that his grandma Lynette has cancer and will be praying for her. 
He sent several other pictures that will be posted to his blog. Check it out at elderjenseninfresno.blogspot.comThanks for all your prayers and support. 

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Hello Everyone, How are you all doing? Things here are going really well! this last week was a pretty fun week! So last monday after we emailed and got everything done we went bowling as a district because two Elders got transferred out of Atwater. We now have two new Elders, one is being trained. His name is Elder Larsen, he actually went to Payson High School! We know a lot of the same people, he is pretty cool! This last week i got to go to the farewell, unfortunately President Clark told us that it was going to be the last farewell. It is kind of sad because now i won't get one! At the farewell i got to see Hermana Avina and Lynda/Mama from Lindsay! it was good to see them. So on saturday we went to the Lord's Vineyard. which is basically a grape vineyard owned by the church. we went there and cleaned up all of the leaves and dead stuff. it was a good time, i don't think i am going to get to go to the vineyard again on my mission. i took some pictures that i will send in an email. the biggest news from this past week is that we had two baptisms! it was yesterday and it was awesome. Hermano Villalta couldn't dunk his wife at first and wasn't quite sure how to do it but in the end and after a couple of tries she was baptized haha! Ashley also got baptized! there were a lot of people there, Elder Olsen and Elder Ordonez came up for the baptism! we still have some other good investigators that are progressing! Things in Atwater are good, we are staying really busy. This next week we have zone meeting and i am going to be giving another training there. it should be good! well that is about all from this past week, except i ate like 45 tacos probably! haha well i love and miss you all! have a great week! Elder Jensen

Week #78

Brody didn't have a lot to say today. Not a lot has changed. He is staying in Atwater for at least another transfer and pointed out that he only has 4 more transfers left. On to week 79. Thanks for your support. 
                                                                                                                                                                       

Hello everyone, 
so this past week wasn't super eventful so it will probably be a short email today... so to start off we got the transfer call this past week and i will be staying here in Atwater with Elder Hopkins again! i am happy with that. the night of transfer calls we got with some other elders and have some fun and drank sparkling cider. some of the district is leaving so we are getting split up. we had a lot of success this past week with finding new investigators, we found 8 new investigators and had a lot of good lessons. Yesterday at church Hermano Villalta (the one who found out he was a member last week) got the priesthood and blessed the sacrament! we bumped his wifes baptism to next week so that he can do it! it is going to be awesome! Next Sunday we are going to be having two baptisms. Ashley is going to be getting baptized next sunday! it will be a great day. that is about it from this past week! i hope you are all doing well, i love and miss you all! Elder Jensen

Week #77

Brody was on earlier today than usual. He had a trip to the mall and a basketball game with some other elders scheduled. He was in good spirits and is doing really good.  Transfers are coming up so we will see if he gets to stay or go. He also informed me that he had a laser shined in his eye a few months ago and now he has a small blind spot. He asked me what he should do. I told him to get to an eye doctor. He wanted to wait until he got home. I informed him that he may be blind by then. Haha. Hopefully he will listen and get that looked at. It sounds like he will have another baptism this week. He is definitely focusing on the positive at this point in his mission. Thanks for all of your love and prayers in Brody's behalf. 78 is coming up.                                                                                                                                              

Hello Everyone, so this past week has just been all around a crazy week. it has been full of happy experiences and many tough trials. i won't get into all of the tough trials but i will sum them up. it is just so hard when i see the people that i am teaching and coming in contact with are sad and don't have a desire to live, to become better, and to try harder. it is so hard to see people suffer and go through a bunch of trials. it's so hard because i love these people, i want them to be happy and to know that things can get better and that God loves them. i have seen a lot of sad things this week and it has been tough, but i have learned so much from these trials. it has really strengthened me and my testimony. i am so grateful for my mission and have had so many experiences that i will never be able to deny. i have found who i am on my mission. i love my mission. so there was a quite a bit of good things that happened this past week. we are teaching a couple (Villalta family) and we were planning on baptizing the husband next sunday. Yesterday at church we searched for his records because he wasn't sure if he was baptized when he has 8 years old in Guatemala. it turned out that he was baptized at 8 and just didn't remember. He is now almost 50, but he got up in sacrament meeting and shared his testimony, it was amazing. He talked about how he has been searching for the truth for his whole life and how he had it when he was younger but lost it and couldn't remember. He said as the missionaries were teaching him little bits and pieces started to come back to his memory and the spirit told him it was all true. He said that he is so glad that he found it and that he is so grateful for the missionaries and knows that God sent us to his house for a reason. then after sacrament meeting his wife told us that she is going to get baptized next sunday! we are super excited, not only for her but for her husband as well because his experience and him coming back to church is just as sweet as a baptism! i love seeing people happy and smiling! i love the people out here! i can honestly say that i care about all the people that i teach and that's what makes it so hard when i see them sad. but it makes me want to work harder. and i am ready to keep working hard for the months that i have left out here! that is about all that happened this  past week, this next week we will be getting transfer calls! i can't believe they are already here again! i love you all! have a great week! -Elder Jensen