WAHOO!!

IT CAME!!!
And it was the best package a sister missionary could possibly receive in the whole World! I lined everything up and took pictures just like Christmas… because it is Christmas! I was so happy and relieved to see that you made away like a bandit with lots of the shirts. Way to go! I love them so. Please pass along my gratitude to all who took part in my perfect package!

When the hour changed it was Sunday, so we had to leave the pension at 8:30 to walk to church. But we survived and I've got about as much energy as can be expected for working the way we do in the climate we endure!

Carrying two pairs of shoes would solve the rain problem… but that's asking to be robbed. Plus we aren´t allowed to walk around with back packs… again… because we´d get robbed. A few years ago an Elder here was killed because as he was getting on a train someone grabbed his backpack. As he was trying to take it off to hand it over he couldn´t do it-- or took too long doing it and the guy freaked out and shot him. So we don´t use backpacks now.

Halloween… we´ll see how they celebrate it here. I think there is a ward dance that night. Everyone asks us about this holiday. They are very curious and rarely satisfied with our answers of why we do it and if we are really worshipping Satan and the like. We explain that it´s a holiday centered on cool costumes and candy. The concept of trick or treating is literally beyond their comprehension-- that you go begging for candy from your neighbors-- and it obviously shocked them when I told them I did it as a sophomore and junior in college… hehe

Daddy- your letter was so long… I was super impressed! Thank heavens BYU won again, but I guess that loss to TCU killed the hope of a BCS bowl, right ? Bummer. I laughed out loud when you said you and mommy were going to dress up for Halloween! Good one. I miss you. I´m glad you remember playing in the snow with me! I love you tons.

NataJasa – I got all of your letters from dearelder! Thank heavens… I was afraid you had forgotten about me… psyche! I loved what you sent me and think about your family all the time… in a good non-trunky way of course!

Interesting facts about ARGENTINA:

There are vans with giant speakers on top of them that drive around town playing commercials… it´s like a way of advertising on the radio but different. It´s really distracting when you´re teaching someone on the street, but it´s just a bonus!

The transfer ends on the 10th of November and I´m pretty sure I¨m leaving Castelar. Which is what I want. I'm ready for a change of scenery, members, investigators, less actives and streets! I will have been here for 4 months and yeah, I'm ready for something new. I can´t decide if I want to go to "campo" yet or not. I´m bound to be sent to the outskirts sooner or later, but when?

This past week my companion and I received the award "capos de oeste" which means like "awesome of the West" it doesn´t translate, but it means that for week 4 in the transfer we had the best numbers for the 5 key indicators of all the companionships in the zone of Castelar… which is like 10 or 12. Not bad! We won a certificate and alfajores! Yet again, you may rest assured that we are working hard!

On Sunday Raul received the Aaronic Priesthood and we were invited to witness the ordinance. It was cool and I cried a little, but I was already a bit emotional because not 5 minutes before Fernando came up to me to say goodbye and he informed us that that afternoon he was leaving for Misiones which is a whole other province of Buenos Aires! He doesn´t know when he´s coming back. We told him to keep reading his BOM and this morning he called us to ask if anyone in the ward needs free baby clothes and so we´re still in contact with him and we´re going to make sure he knows where the chapel is there and send the missionaries for him, but I´m sad because obviously I wanted to be a part of the whole story and see him get baptized! Maybe he´ll come back this week and surprise us and ask to be baptized on the 8th before I leave the area… you never know. That is one thing I am sure of… you never know anything in the mission.

Yesterday after District Meeting "the tapa lady" came and we were all able to place our orders to buy those cool leather scripture cases with pictures of Christ and temples and stuff burned into them! It was so hard to pick which pictures I wanted… It took 45 minutes for me to decide! Anyway… if you guys want I could order you some the next time she comes… which is every few months. I could buy everyone little cases for their mini hymn books… it´s a thought. If you really don´t want one or wouldn´t use it, then tell me and I won´t do it, but if you want something tell me and I can get them. It takes months to get them, but mine are ordered and so in a few months I´ll be able to take pictures and send them home to show you!

Sorry if this email was empty of the good stuff. I tried to touch all the bases. The most important thing is that you know that the package arrived and it was more than I could have ever hoped for in a million years! I was sad that it cost so much to send it, but that sure showed me how loved I am! Thanks for being willing to pay extra to make sure that I would actually get it! I love you so much and pray for you all daily… and for Sunwood, and of course for Davy!

ETTE (Endure To The End) and I can´t wait to be with you all again! But for now, there is work to be done, and I´m ready to get my hands dirty in the vineyard of the Lord!

WUBBA!
Hermana Jensen!

Here We Go Again!

October 21, 2008

Here we go again!

I sent this in two parts because there is a big storm going on here and I was afraid the power was going to go out on us.

About the package… I bet it is waiting for me in the office, really. We get mail tomorrow instead of yesterday because tomorrow is Zone Conference. I'll let you know ASAP when I get it, but please put your worries to rest, I'm sure it is here! I can hardly wait, and how did you know I wanted another skirt? I didńt dare ask for one, because I didńt want to stress you out, but Ím super excited to have another one!
GET THIS: If you haveńt already received a letter from Argentina (that isn't from me)… get excited! Raul Antonio Cappanna, the most wonderful little grandpa in the world has sent you two a letter thanking you and congratulating you for raising such a daughter (that sounds REALLY proud, but he showed it to me before he sent it off and that is what it says) It made me cry… Íll let you find out why, but I urge you to take good care of it for me until I get home because I can surely promise you that it will be the most cherished keepsake of my entire mission. Official soccer jerseys, Argentine money, and mate mugs-- will all take a back seat to the precious words of my dear, dear, Raul!

Typing errors: yes, the explanation is this… I learned my lesson that week I lost my entire letter. Now I write my letters in Microsoft Word and then paste them into the browser right before I send them off, this means that Microsoft Word thinks Ím spelling EVERYTHING wrong because it wants it to be in Castellano. Some words that are similar will go through an automatic correction process and be changed to what it wants it to be. Usually I go back and catch them, but some slip through and that is why every time I typed the word "would" it changed it to say "world" instead. Such is the life.

The bonfire…well, it didńt go up in flames like I planned because all the plants were too green and it was just too humid. We left piles and piles of cut plants to dry over the week and come back and burn, but today we had a downpour, which complicates our solution somewhat. Now we have to wait for them to dry again. But, the neighbors had already dumped more garbage in front of poor Mariós house the VERY NEXT DAY. Did I mention that was one of the reasons we went to cut down the plants – to get rid of the garbage for him? Anyway, I went right over to a group of 7 men and asked them who had done it. They all denied it and I told them that if they see anyone doing it to kindly tell them to stop it. I talked to some members and they told me that even if I called the police, nothing would really be done. UGH! I thought we would be able to burn everything, but I learned that Ím not in the United States, "Toto, I dońt think wére in Kansas anymore!"

Nope, I haveńt gotten a mailed letter in at least a month or so. I haveńt received those that you said you sent me and Hermana Torres and Sister Benton, but Ïm sure theýre on their way!

Maurie! YEA!! I am so glad to hear that she is going on a mission. Yoúve got to tell me where shés going the instant the news hits facebook! Thanks for chatting with her, I hope to hear from her soon!

Want to experience confusion? Well, I suggest you open up the Spanish to English dictionary I left home and look up the Spanish verbs "esperar" and "picar" you will be pleasantly surprised to learn that not only do these verbs have more than one or two meanings (for they have dozens) but also that the meanings are often so different that it is crazy! Imagine trying to infer from context clues what someone is trying to convey when they say "me pica." Welcome to my world!

Heré is a challenge I/we face. It can just up and start raining and I mean RAINING, and for these times it would be great to have my awesome boots, but if it is not raining, the boots are like a sauna and it is about all one can take to not let the heat and discomfort make you want to scream on the street. It is just awful to walk around in the heat and have your feet be sweating like mad, plus, no one wants to increase the chances of getting atheletés foot! Any ideas? The reasonable answer would be, check the weather and find out if you are going to need the boots that day… but guess what… that is not an option. We walk out the door at 10:30 in the morning and come back at 9:00 pm and the weather that can take place during the day is as big of a mystery as the location of the 3 Nephites! So yeah, just another bonus of the mission!

Mom, do you want a little assignment? First of all, Ím curious to know the name of the mission of my home… meaning the missionaries that are serving there… is it the Salt Lake South Mission or what? Also, how many missionaries are there in our home ward or stake. Can you give me the scoop on that?
Another assignment… I am curious to know if there is a map of the states on the church website that shows where all the temples in the U.S. are. People ask me a lot, and Ïd like to be able to tell them. Also – what are all the Utah temples… sometimes I just cańt remember them all, but I think therés like 14.

Daddy: randomly I remembered a time this morning when we were staying at the Olson’s and one Sunday morning before church, you joined me outside where I was playing in the snow and you and I built a snowman together. I remember being so shocked that you were doing it without wearing gloves! That is one of my happy memories of my daddy and me!

There are lots of trees here that are really cool and what I love is that you can look around and see a forest of 20 different kinds of trees all right next to each other. Like a pine tree next to a palm tree! Yoúd love it!

Nata/Jasa, about the daylight savings time… luckily it was just an hour that we lost and not 2 like you mentioned was possible, but let me tell you it was still tough to lose an hour! And it was Motheŕs Day here, so we were tired, and it is amazing that even though the day held no significance for us personally… when you hear the word "madre" a hundred times in a day… it can just about make you completely homesick, but we survived! I love you so much and think about little Davy tons!

Raul is so awesome! In his interview to get the Priesthood, he asked the Bishop if he (Raul) could show up early and stand at the door and welcome the members as they enter the chapel… He wants to be the ward greeter and he doesńt even know that that job exists! Needless to say, that next Sunday when my companion and I entered the chapel, Raul was waiting at the door to greet us and shake our hands. He is so cool! He also just about cried when he told us that he wanted us to be the first to know that next week he will be receiving the Priesthood… he is so sweet, and he served us mandarin jello the other day – which made me remember Daddy!

MOMMY: one more little homework… sorry… but I need to you research or ask around to learn about these coolers that are long and thin and made of fabric and they have some kind of squishy jell inside it and you get it wet and put it on your neck when you go hiking and it stays cool and wet and helps you not get heat exhaustion. I think we are going to need them this summer. It is already getting pretty intense and they would really help us be more comfortable. Thanks for your help with this!

Fernando will not be getting baptized this coming Saturday, though that was the plan. He still needs all of lesson 4 which you can refer to and you will learn that this is often where the REAL problems come in… wéve been struggling with him with the first 3 lessons that are easier--but I still really hope that he will be baptized before the end of the transfer so that we can reach our baptismal goal of 2 converts! Even though Raul counts for like 79 in my book! But anyway, Fernando's doubts and questions are too much for two gringas that dońt have that deep of a vocabulary. Wére trying to work a lot with the members to help us out in this regard. I hope to report next week that he has accepted to be baptized the 8th of November. Wéll see.

Mommy and Daddy, I love hearing your words, your encouragement and praise really helps me get through the hard days. I promise that Ím trying not to stress too much. I work hard and have faith. I love you so much and want to promise you that even if something tragic were to happen in our family (like what happened to Elders Wall and Fish) that I KNOW that we will be together again. We dońt always understand why these things happen, but if we remain faithful and endure to the end, we can ask our Heavenly Father when all is said and done and we will be more than satisfied with His answer, and we will thank Him. I testify that we can overcome All challenges through faith in the Atonement of our Savior Jesus Christ.

One more week gone. I love you tons! Until next week, smile and enjoy the cold weather.
And let's just not think about the cougs...how sad!

Hermana Jensen!

"Reflections of Christ" - (Before watching this, please scroll to the bottom of this post and pause the playlist music)

A Wonderful Week- But Never Without Heartache

President and Sister Benton, (left) Raul, (center) and

Hermana Jensen and her new companion;

Hermana Brittany Johns from Idaho!

Raul Antonio Cappanna (left)

baptized by Guillermo Martin Villareal

So our baptism was so special, but let me just say that it started off HORRIBLE! We got there an hour and a half early to calmly get everything prepared and we found the font completely full with nothing but COLD water. We had delegated to the Aaronic Priesthood to turn on the faucet that morning when they got to the chapel for fast offerings and unfortunately they filled it for 4 hours with cold water. I began to bucket out cold water into a drain while we re-lit the pilot light in the thermotanque and started adding hot water. We finally figured out how to drain it from the bottom and we did that for about an hour while we added hot water on the top. I also got in about knee deep and agitated the water with a broom and my leg. One of the APs showed up with one of the Office Elders and helped… it eventually was good enough… I guess, I’ll never know how cold or lukewarm it was in the end.
Needless to say when I first encountered the problem and was bucketing out water I was also crying. Graciela found me crying and went to tell Raul who showed up 40 minutes early like a good boy and he came in to help us light the fire and said not to worry because it didńt matter and that he would get baptized no matter how cold it was. I wiped away my tears and tried to do my best to solve the problem and I guess it all worked out. Later when I asked Raul how cold the water was he responded saying something precious in castellano about how there was fire in his soul and that he didńt feel the cold or something like that. He truly is golden!

The President and his wife weren't able to make it for the baptismal service, but were there after to visit and have refreshments. The reason was really sad. I now solicite your prayers in behalf of 2 of our missionaries… Elder Wall (who has a year in the mission) had his 48 year old father passed away suddenly from complications of a surgery that led to a blood clot in his brain and he never woke up. President Benton got the call Saturday morning before our baptisms and was breaking the news to Elder Wall during our baptism. From what they told us, he is doing more or less OK, but what can you expect. As if that isńt bad enough, the very next day, Sunday morning the Pres. got another call. Elder Fish (who has been out 7 months) lost his 48 year old mother who passed away of a heart attack on Sunday. We are all devastated. It broke my heart to hear of these 2 sudden and completely unexpected deaths. All of the missionaries are praying for the Elders and their families and I ask you to join us and pray for them too. It doesńt look like either of them will be going home for the funerals, but I could be wrong.

I was able to sit front row and center when Elder Nelson spoke to us on the 13th. It is great to be a sister missionary because we get reserved seats for all the good meetings and I was the 7th of 350 to shake his hand! It was so amazing that he chose to leave us an Apostolic blessing in which he blessed our families. Tears streamed down my face as he looked me straight in the eyes and blessed our families for our service. He did not know that 2 of our Elders had each recently lost a parent. I cried because I couldńt imagine how painful it must have been to hear such a blessing given in light of the circumstances. However, after the meeting, but before the Apostle left the building, we were told that he went to speak with Elder Wall and Elder Fish. We have no idea what he said to them, but we were all grateful that he did and hoped that maybe he would give them a blessing.
The talks were really good. The theme was, "The Lord Uses the Unusual to Accomplish the Impossible" cool, huh? Obviously he likened it to missionary work. His wife who spoke before him talked about how the littlest things can totally destroy us. She said "Dońt blow it" and we loved it! So true.
We got caught in the rain again. We had an umbrella-- but not our boots or coats. In seconds it was pouring down and it was almost 9 p.m.-- and it was cold. We huddled together under one normal umbrella and went straight to the pension where we wanted to drink my hot cocoa, but couldńt because the next day was Fast Sunday...but last night we had our hot cocoa and we took pictures! Lightening in Argentina is sure a sight to be seen! HUGE bolts and lots of them, and thunder too… but only once in a great while, but when it does thunder it shakes buildings! For fun!
We miss Wendýs… that is what all the missionaries talked about in the micro (like a 16 passenger van) to and from Belgrano where the meeting was with the Buenos Aires North Mission and Elder Nelson and his wife. Anyways....yeah, we miss Wendýs.
Today we went to JUMBO – kind of like WalMart, and I spent $170 pesos buying good shampoo, conditioner, mouse, gel, Ponds face cream, more sheets for the summer, groceries, and a pair of hand held weed cutters for a service project wére going to do. Wére going to cut all the plants down and with the supervision and assistance of the Elders have a huge bonfire! Ím excited!

Ím really loving the mission and dońt want the time to pass me by. Ím really so happy and working hard.

I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!
Hermana Jensen

Sad Mission News

This is from the Benton's Blog:

"God... grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference."
This weekend, we had to tell two of our missionaries, Elder Wall and Elder Fish the very sad news that each one of them had suffered the loss of one of their parents, as both parents had passed away suddenly and unexpectedly in Utah during the weekend. Elder Wall lost his father on Saturday, and Elder Fish lost his mother on Sunday morning. Both parents were only 48 years old.
These unfortunate tragedies were beyond our control, but, after telling them the distressing news about their parents, we were able to bring Elder Wall (on the right) and Elder Fish (on the left) to the Mission Home, where we spent a Sunday afternoon with them, along with their Missionary Companions, and our Missionary Assistants. We were finally able to coax a brief a smile from each of these missionaries, after expressing love to them, crying with them, praying with them, counseling with them, reading scriptures with them, walking with them, and feeding them a delicious lunch topped off with homemade brownies, ice cream and strawberries.
We are all profoundly grateful for our knowledge of the Gospel, its principles and ordinances, and for the Atoning sacrifice of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Now, as Elder Fish and Elder Wall return to their missionary work, and their mourning process, we send them on with our great love and some encouraging, comforting words from prophets of old:
From the "Book of Mormon", the elderly prophet and righteous King Benjamin, at the end of his life, as he delivers departing words of wisdom to his beloved people says:
"Believe in God; believe that He is, and that He created all things, both in heaven and in earth; believe that He has all wisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in earth; believe that man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend."
(Mosiah 4:9)
The Prophet Nephi, writing in the "Book of Mormon":
"Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men." (2 Nephi 31: 19)
As the Prophet Joseph Smith states, "indeed we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul---We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely,or of good report, or praiseworthy, we seek after these things." (13th Article of Faith)
Finally, we hope Elder Wall and Elder Fish will carry President Benton's refrain in their hearts with them as they go on:
"Adelante con fe y esperanza!" (Go forward with faith and hope!)
We love you Elder Fish and Elder Wall, as if you are our own sons!
P.S. We are all looking forward to tomorrow, because tomorrow, an Apostle of the Lord, Elder Russell M. Nelson, will be here in Buenos Aires to speak to us! We know that Elder Wall and Elder Fish will be blessed and comforted by Elder Nelson's visit.

Come What May-- And Love It!

An Argentina soccer shirt for Davy!

Davy wearing his soccer shirt from his mission serving Aunt Stacey!

An Argentine mailing label

and paper money

along with favorite treats!

Oct. 7, 2008

YEA! Ím so glad you already got my package… I thought it would arrive around Thanksgiving, but gee… lots sooner. Did you like the tretas? The package only cost me around 15 dollars to fill and about 20 to send to you. I thought it would be a fun surprise for you all. Glad you liked it.
Ím trying to take pictures of lots of stuff, I think Ím going to bite the bullet and send off some cds with all the pix soon, but Ím still thinking about it, yeah, Íll probably send them off next p day or the one after that. I want you to have pictures, and it really takes so much time to attach them with the emails, so yeah, Ím going to get on that.
What is going on in Utah? People keep stopping me and telling me "how sad…" or something and Ím totally like "what, what is going on there?" The other day someone told me that there had been a shooting in a university and I didńt know if the story was legit or totally bogus. I assume that yoúd tell me about anything that crazy, but you never know…
Did you all know that I turned 5 months old in the mission today? Yep, Ím 5 months old! Ím navigating the area and accidentally had us get off the colective a stop or two early once so we had to walk like 6 blocks more, but I learned a lesson and didńt repeat the mistake the next time!
Daddy – I totally hear you about "you cańt get any wetter." I haveńt quite been totally soaked yet, but definitely my feet… oh, it was super cold and I was caught without my cool boots. I hope we get to go to a BCS bowl, even though that would mean wéd probably lose it, right? Maybe not. Too bad the cougs areńt playing that well, but it does my heart good to hear that at least they are winning. Yes, we were able to stay for the second session of Sunday conference because Rolando Destito, one of my first baptisms (he got baptized August 9th with Azucena Rodríguez) stayed and so yeah… It was INCREDIBLE! You are right… Tears fell from my eyes when that seventy said that we often think we need to have this incredible experience to have a testimony, but that it is not true. I TOTALLY needed to hear it and it was really an answer to my prayers… for 5 months... I had been needing to hear it, and it was truly a special experience.
We watched the 2 morning sessions sitting next to Raul (so in Castellano) and the 2 afternoon sessions in the special English room for the missionaries who have less than a year. I got more out of the sessions in English, but was still quite edified by the sessions in a foreign language. It was really interesting because I realized that everyone sitting next to us in the stake center (which was our chapel… and SUPER convenient for us because we were able to go out and work between sessions) didńt understand the hymns that were being sung because they were in English.
I just loved conference… it was definitely the best general conference of my life! "come what may and love it" (venga lo que venga, y disfrútelo) and Elder Holland's talk about angels. I decided that I will dedicate the rest of my life to becoming an angel! I also got a kick out of the sister that talked about missionary work and reminded people to write the missionaries! When she said that, I hoped that I would be getting a ton of mail in the next few weeks. Hehe!
Interesting thing about Argentina… yes, there is a WalMart, but not in any of the sister areas. We have a big mall just outside our area and we go there once or twice a transfer, but mostly we do all our shopping in the little stores in the streets. There isńt really one-stop shopping here. In stead, every thing has it's own little store. Therés a fruit and vegetable store, therés a shoe repair store, the dry-cleaners, the laundromat, the toy shop, the costume shop, the little school supply store, a place where you buy cleaning supplies, the Internet shops, the locutorios… where we make calls and pay for them… (we have been out of minutes on our cell phone for 10 days and it makes things INCREDIBLY complicated… mainly because when we try to call certain people, their phones dońt accept calls from locutorios… for example… Gabriela, the mom with the 7 kids that we are desperately trying to have daily contact with her, but it's practically impossible. But luckily, next month we will get our minutes doubled and we will have 500, which I think should not run out if we are careful. But yeah, 250 ran out in about 2 weeks. LAME!
Speaking of her… shés still just afraid to commit to a baptismal date because she might be getting back together with the father of her kids… Pray for her to just accept what she already knows she needs to do, and GET BAPTIZED this transfer… Íll just die if I have to leave the area with this family unbaptzied… I just cańt bear to leave without seeing the fruits our labors…
Luckily… Ím becoming the missionary 24/7. It's good because Ïm really losing myself in the work, but it's bad because it's starting to cost me my sleep because I think about the people and how to help them until I fall asleep and when I wake up in the middle of the night, I think about them again, all morning and all through study I rack my brain for ways to help them see and progress… I confess it's kind of stressful and Ím trying to not let it affect my physically. But it's really like more than I can explain… it's the missionary life. Luckily there is also a lot of happiness like planning Rauĺs baptismal service. He will be baptized this Saturday and I am so excited! Íll send pictures. He is incredible…He made my whole mission worth it. Even if I dońt baptize one single more person, it was worth if for Raul Antonio Cappanna.
Guess what… on the 13th of October Russell M. Nelson is coming to speak to the Buenos Aires West and North Missions and I am singing in a choir of 8 missionaries in this meeting! Wish me luck, we only have the chance to practice once altogether right before the meeting. Pray for me to have a good voice and know my part! (Tell me which part is mine and which part is yours)... remember that song? Íll let you know how it goes.
Wow, another hour gone. Thanks for your letters, your love, your advice, your updates, your support, your prayers, all you do!
Thanks for the new shirts… I trust that you found the best of the best. I look forward to it and thank you all for your efforts, your sacrifices, and your dedication to take care of me.
I pray for you all daily, especially little Davy!
I miss you, but in like 13 months wéll be together again!
Wubba,
Hermana Stacey Jensen

Still In Castelar....And Ready To See The Miracles!

Standard of Excellence Newsletter

Hermana Torres and Jensen top right - for having 4 Key Indicators

Family!

Oh how I love to write you and hear from you. When I think of you all I feel true joy.I miss you tons, but know that you are being protected and blessed and that you know how much I love you. I love reading about your day to day activities and projects and everything. I have a few mini moms here in the mission that I know I can turn to if I need something. One such member is Hermana Quiroga, she is the RS Pres. And she washes our clothes for us!
GO COUGARS! President Benton pulled me aside after the transfer meeting and told me that BYU is number 7 in the polls! How he knows that I´m such a fan, I´m not sure. Maybe I said it in one of my interviews, but he has 150 some odd missionaries and the fact that he remembered my team was really impressive!
The phone numbers here are super long and hard to remember. They are 8 digits if they are landlines and 10 digits if they are cellular. It´s amazing that one more digit (meaning 8 instead of 7) is practically impossible to remember! I learned in college that the average adult can only hold 7 things in their short term memory and that´s why our phone numbers are 7 digits. I guess South America never did that study-experiment so they don´t know better.
Ants are HUGE! I can look down and see them moving and carrying leaves and follow the trail and line of them for like 20 feet. They are literally gigantic! It´s fun to watch them move and I always wonder what they´re doing or what they´re going to build with the little leaves.
About the temple… we only get to go every 2 transfers (every 3 months) so I´ll get to go 4 or 5 times more.This past week we had a ward talent show and my comp and I did that skit where you have people behind you being your arms and you use your arms to be your feet… savvy? Hope so. Anyways, I was preparing the table before hand and another table fell on my heels and scraped one of them up pretty nice. It hurt so much I could only gasp and breathe through the pain for a full minute. It scared my comp to death who came running to lift the table off my feet. It was an adventure and now my heels are even more battered than normal, but it´s JUST A BONUS! The skit was way too unprepared, but the members laughed. I recorded it. We can watch it when I get back!
Fatigue is starting to set in. I wake up in the morning and roll to my knees and after our prayers I stumble to the bathroom and feel like I don´t have much energy to give. The soles of my feet are hard and I feel like I could probably cross the street barefoot without knowing that I´m barefoot. It´s amazing what so much walking can do.
It´s getting hot here. I got a sunburn one day and then caught in the rain the next without my boots or my rain coat or an umbrella. I was soaked and my shoes and nylons were all wet and it was cold. We stopped at a members house who gave me more knee highs and we dried my shoes for a few minutes then we worked some more and eventually went to another members house for an FHE and I spent the whole time shoeless as I waited for them to dry again. It was kind of funny. Sun burn one day, soaking wet and cold the next. Go Argentina!
We live in an apartment on the second floor. It´s a nice apartment. I sleep on the bottom bunk and couldn´t be much happier. However, the shower is a problem… you have to wait for the water to heat up and then ration it. But it comes out scalding hot and burns you and then you try to add a little cold water… and it comes out way cold...you get the drift. But soon it´ll be summer and I´ll want cold showers anyway. We´ll see.
TRANSFERS! The date of the transfer is today- Sept. 30, 2008
My new comp is Hermana Brittany Johns from Idaho! An American! I´m so happy! She is very sweet and has 8 months in the mission. We´ve been together almost 2 hours and I can already tell that she is a hard worker, diligent, faithful and obedient. We are going to get along great and have much success together--and even if all that weren´t true, I´d still be excited because after the transfer meeting, President Benton approached me and with tears in his eyes told me that there were many prayers offered and personal revelations received with respect to our new companionship. With tears in my eyes, I thanked him and knew that it was true. We are together because the Lord wants us together. This transfer is going to be awesome! But it was sad to say goodbye to Hermana Torres who is training again in a different area. How hard that is going to be…
Well, we all met up and had the transfer meeting and unfortunately it about broke my heart when they announced that the mission only had 66 baptisms the last transfer (remember the goal was 163). We had 2 of those 66. I don´t know what went wrong. But President Benton didn´t blame us or berate us, he just said that we can do better, we will do better, and that there is ALWAYS a trial before a miracle. We weren't even given a number of the goal for this transfer but he talked about the promise President Hinckley gave that we can "double" our convert baptisms. I guess we are going to try to double it.
The APs compiled statistics for the "Standards of Excellence" program and reported which companionships had the 5 best numbers in various categories. Those numbers correspond with a key indicator from our missionary work. There are 10 references per week, 10 people in sacrament meeting per week, 8 lessons taught to less actives and recent converts per week, 20 other lessons (lessons to investigators but without a member) per week, 10 lessons with a member present (those are the hardest to get), 10 new investigators every week, and 140 contacts per week… I think that´s all of them. Anyway, each one of those is a key indicator and if you get them perfect every week the entire transfer you get your picture in that newsletter you just received...so it shows Sister Torres and myself with 4 indicadores claves (4 key indicators) because that transfer we had 20 other lessons, 8 to recent converts and less actives, 10 new investigators, and 140 contacts… every week… all 6 weeks of the transfer. We also reached our baptismal goal of 2. Savvy? You have to be perfect in them all 6 weeks to get them. And it starts over every transfer. This past transfer we won the same 4 key indicators as the last transfer, but didn´t reach our baptismal goal, so we'll be a little lower on the page. So back to the things the APs reported. They reported the 5 most successful companionships in some of the key indicators and we scored 3rd out of all the missionaries in the mission for the entire transfer in the key indicator of 'street contacts.' There are like 75 companionships, and oh by the way there are 16 sister missionaries now.
President Benton changed the policy and we can now watch all the Saturday sessions of Conference, and the morning session on Sunday, but if we want to watch the second session on Sunday, we have to bring an investigator, recent convert, or less active. I think we can manage though. I´m so excited for General Conference! And on the 13th Elder Russell M. Nelson is coming to speak to our mission and the Buenos Aires North mission! We´re so excited!
Raul is doing great and is excited for conference and his baptism which is the following Saturday the 11th of October.We also have an awesome investigator with a baptismal date of the 25th of October. He was a reference from the Argentina MTC missionaries who came to practice a couple of Saturdays in our area. We have 5 other people with baptismal dates, but they will probably need more time. There are too many complications for them right now, but Raul and Fernando are set and will be baptized this transfer! I´m sure of it!
I think that is about all for this week. Gotta go, this transfer is going to be great! Pray for us to find families in Castelar that are already married… because we don´t need a 5th couple that is waiting for their divorce to come through....don't get me going on Argentina and their slow divorces!
Gotta go, love you tons!The gospel is amazing and perfect!
Hermana Jensen – still in Castelar and ready to see the miracles!