Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Week 12 -- Mesa

Mi familia!

How's everyone doing?! Everyone gettin pumped for the Honsteins to
Move in??:) how are things up there?? Anything fun and exciting or
new?!:) for me I think my Spanish is coming along.. We practice every
day for about an hour and were always talking with Spanish speakers so
it's coming slowly, but it's coming haha. I love it tho! Hahah the
Mexican culture cracks me up. I don't think I would ever want to live
it, but being with it all the time is awesome. Hahaha the husbands
will like call their wives gorda which means like my fat one. Hahha or
their kids they'll call mi gordita which means my little fat one.
Hmm.. What else.. I got some resistance bands and stuff so that's nice
to be able to workout a little...

On Wednesday we went to this Christian church thing. Like a bible
discussion class when they talked about faith. Surprisingly everything
they said was like supppper close but they just missed a couple of
doctrine points, and like the spirit wasn't really there so I didn't
feel it confirm much to me. But it was funny cause all my companion
said was "I believe that to faith leads to action, which then leads us
to repent and become like Jesus Christ" hahahhaha and it rocked their
world. They were like that changed the way I've looked at faith, and
they talked about it for like the next 30 min hahaha. It just goes to
show that our church has all of the true doctrine. Other churches
aren't completely wrong, they just don't have the fullness!

Then on Thursday we did splits with the priests so I went with one and
we went and taught a lesson, and I had to lead. You know that meme of
the dog when he's all dressed up in construction clothes and he says
"I have no idea what I'm doing.." That's how I felt.. Hahaha I felt
like I was just Jordan dressed up as a missionary and just like I have
no idea what I'm saying hahha. But the spirit definitely helped me and
the priest and we were able to talk about why scripture study and
prayer were so important and committed them to go to church with us!
(they didn't end up coming, but that's ok!) it was amazing just to
kinda branch off from my trainer and see the lord help me in my
teaching ability!

On Saturday Neil L Anderson came to our mission and talked!! I shook
his hand ๐Ÿ˜ณ

On Saturday night we met this one guy named Ramon and we knocked on
his door and he answered and said he didn't really have a lot of
interest, but then my companion asked him if he had a question his
whole life and the Book of Mormon would answer it. After my companion
answered it his eyes lit up and he said he would read it that night
and he would pray about it! We haven't had the chance to go back yet
cause he's super busy! But I bet he will get baptized! He's so
prepared!

So the reason we're emailing today is because today is transfers, I
can't believe it's already transfers and it's already been 6 weeks
that I've been here!! And 12 weeks since I've left. That's kinda
insane. Almost 3 months! Next week! So we got assigned an English ward
along with our Spanish ward Liahona 1st :( hahha it's gonna be hard to
balance the work and I would rather just be in Spanish to always speak
it but it's okay. I'll go where he wants me to go!

That's about it for this week! Thank you all for your emails and for
being so great to me!! I love all the pictures and letters and
everything!! I love you guys so much! #Bestfamilyintheworldamiright
hahha but you guys are the best! Thank you so much! I know this gospel
is so true and can make us happy if we are obedient to what were asked
to do! And we have that wonderful opportunity here on earth to accept
it and live it and receive blessings here on earth! So we can't waste
that opportunity!:) I love you guys! ๐Ÿ˜Š

Elder Jensen
Elder Gray (our next door neighbor) and EJ.  Elder Gray is gonna be in Mesa until his visa comes.

EJ and their ward mission leader. :)

Friday, January 22, 2016

WEEK 11 MESA; THE LETTER

Family!

First I just want to say how much I love you guys so much!:) I'm so blessed to be in this amazing family! Being out here has made me realize how important families are. There's so many dysfunctional families and were so blessed to have the gospel in our family and all get a long. It truly is a blessing. I've also realized how important the law of chastity is. Like we've taught so many single moms with jobs that don't pay like  anything or no jobs with like 4 kids. I feel so bad for them and that's why I'm so grateful we have the gospel, and we can be blessed by keeping that one simple law!

This week was kind of boring.. We've got to teach a lot of people and it's so amazing to just see the gospel blessing them in their life! I love teaching and I never thought I would be this happy away  rom everyone!

So yeah this week has been kinda boring except for yesterday. Hahaha I'll tell you guys at happened chronologically. We met this guy at church. He was super funny and way chill, and he said he hadn't been in a couple of years and so we just didn't question it. Hahah then we talked to the bishop about him after church and he said that he used to be a like ward mission leader, but he had to go to jail cause he got caught dealin. Hahaha. Then we went to go have a lesson with this teenager and he opened the door and we walked in and he seemed a little weird, but he told me this story about his long board, so I asked him to show it to me, and he went in to his room then walked back out like a couple minutes later and I was like where is it? And he was like where's what? Hahaha then during the whole lesson he would laugh at random times. Then he gave us sunny D and was telling us about these pills he takes to help him sleep. Hahha so we'll probably go back during the daytime. Then after that, we decided to go to this other investigators house in the trailer park. (Lemme give you some background, there's this thing called "the Bird" it's like the police helicopter that goes out every night with the spotlight and we see it all the time here in Central Mesa) Hahha so we pulled up to the trailer park entrance and we were just talking about what we're going to teach then we hear this helicopter and it was circling the trailer park and the light was on a trailer like right next to our investigators trailer... Hahha so we were like ehhh better not go. Hahha.

We've had some amazing experiences while teaching the Lara family! It's awesome how we teach the doctrine then the spirit can answer all the questions they have! I feel like I really haven't hanged that much. I've grown a lot closer to God and my testimony grows every day!:) I love this gospel and I know Heavenly Father is always there! In our trails when we wonder why we're having these hard times, I know we just have to know that with these experiences we can help so many other people! And if we ask Heavenly Father he will help! I love him so much! I love being Elder Jensen and I can't wait to be Jordan 2.0

I love you guys tons!! Thanks for all the support I get from you guys! Ah I love you guys! Take care! Be safe! Listen to the spirit!:)

Elder Jordan 2.0

Sent from my iPad

WEEK 11-- MESA; PICTURES!!

This was Estaquio's house on xmas eve! When I ate the habanero!

This is Nata M.! The best family in the Ward!

you don't wanna know what's going on here... Jk hahah this is a
Argentinian drink called Mate. Hahaha you like boil water and put it
in herbs then drink out of a metal straw!

These are the Spanish elders minus elder Moreno and Johnson

Spanish speaking missionaries


The sunsets here are prime๐Ÿ˜Š

This is elder Fairholm and elder Juarez investigator named Pedro.
Elder Fairholm is the little white guy and Elder Jaurez is the big
Mexican lol. Abnormal right?;)

Elder Fairholm and I

This is when we bought all the presents for that one family

From left to right: Elder Green, Elder Watmough, Me, Elder Fenton

Monday, January 11, 2016

WEEK 10 -- MESA

I (meaning, Mom)  wrote EJ a questionnaire letter again.  Here are the questions, with the answers in blue.

 As you know, Enquiring minds have to know...and I'm have many cuestions para usted!!
1.  What was the greatest experience of the week?
Have I told you guys about the investigator Brian?

2.   Have you learned how to totally dunk your basket yet?Almost;) no but I can almost grab the Rim!
3.   Do you do tracting more often or referrals more often?We get a ton of referrals! And we mostly just find people off of the Area Book!
4.   How often do you go to the visitor's center?Haha never! Unless we get an investigator to go with us.
5.   How close is your grocery store that you go to?A couple miles!
6.   What's the name of the store you visit the most?Walmart...haha
7.   Honest answer--do you feel safe where you are?Yes! Haha it's just Mexicans fighting other Mexicansand I feel like whenever we walk around like I just feel the protection!

8.   Honest answer--how have you been feeling? Great! Except for my feet hurt pretty bad but I got some nice inserts and we'll see if they help.


11.  Did you get any letters from our ward?
 Yah!!! It was so great! Tell them all thank you!:)


12.  How many room mates do you have in your apartment?
Me and my comp actually stay in a garage converted into a tiny apartment but then 4 other missionaries live in the house!
13.  Where is the chapel located at that you attend for church?
 I'm not sure the exact address but it's 6th and Barkley, down the road from our house.
14.  What has it been like at church?
Haha kind of really hard. It's totally in Spanish all 3 hours. So that's great! Haha no but it's fun because I'm learning lots:)
15.  What's been your favorite meal that someone has fed to you?   We had pasta once! Haha that was my favorite!
16.  Tell me about the Ipad...
 It's great! It helps so much with teaching!! Thanks Mommy❤️
17.  Is your laundry done at the Laundromat or in your apartment?  No every Apartment in the mission has a washer and dryer!!
18. Do you have enough blankets to keep you warm because I noticed its been pretty cool in the mornings?
Yah I'm ok!! Thank you though! It's actually really cold in the mornings haha I don't like it.
19.  Have you had any zone conferences yet?
 Yah! We're having one next week I think!!:)


20.  Do they let you go to the temple?
Yah! Once a transfer! We went this week! The Mesa Temple is soooo cool! I love it! It kind of reminds me of the Salt Lake temple. But it's like all Stone! It's super sick!:)





Tuesday, January 5, 2016

Week 9, MESA, AZ

Hey family!! How's everything up there? Is there tons of snow? This week it's been like a frigid 65-70;) hahaha but somehow I'm still cold! It's been a good week! I was getting frustrated towards the beginning of the week and like even though I can understand more Spanish it was still frustrating me because it's hard for me to speak in Spanish. Then we met this investigator named Brian! He's such a great guy! He's like 28 and single and just a way nice guy! He spoke Spanish but he preferred to speak English! So I was like heck yah! Haha so my companion let me take the lead of the lesson and I got to hear my testimony of th Book of Mormon and it just made me so happy! Haha it gave my a glimpse of how nice it'll be when I can fully understand and speak better!:) 

I'm trying to remember funny stuff that goes on. We live in central which is the less fortunate part, hahaha one of our investigators came over to America four years ago then "the Feds got em" then he just barley came back. Hahaha. This ain't no k-town anymore. But it's crazy how different the world is outside of the Utah bubble! Hahah a couple of them I'll say (Mom don't freak out) we waved hi to a guy, he waved back, then he snorted something and got on his bike and rode off. Hahah we were doing service at this thrift store and we asked this worker what he needed us to do next and he was like um idk I would go ask my boss but she has to go talk to the cops cause they just found a dead body outside today. Hahaha we live like a block away from there. I've got to hear my first gun shots during lessons. Umm... There's these shoes on telephone wires that tell people there's drug dealers around. It's great here!! Hahaha everyone is so friendly though!! Like everyone waves back and talks a little! They are awesome! Hahah all of their houses smell sooo much a like. We also got to try a member's hover board thing! Like the segways without handlebars... Soooo fun! I know what investment i'm making after my mission! They were laughing at us because we were so unstable and stuff! 

But on a more serious level, I love this gospel! I'm learning more and more everyday! I'm realizing that if God wanted to he wouldn't even need missionaries. The mission is also to help the missionaries learn! I know that the Book of Mormon is true! I can feel it when I testify and I know this is the true church! I know that as we move closer to Heavenly Father and as we trust in him and act on those feelings and promptings we feel closer to him! Goodness do I sure miss you guys and oh how hard it is to preach when you barley speak Spanish but I know it's true! Love you all thanks for the support!:)

Elder JJJ