Happy Birthday Daddy ¡Feliz Cumpleaños! I can´t believe that you are fifty. That´s pretty nifty. Couldn´t resist. :)The other p-day we did play the piano and sing music. I love music and realized that after the mission I absolutely HAVE TO learn to play the piano… like really play it. And the guitar. And the Kalimba!
It is this cool African instrument… it is a small thumb piano and I am in the process of having a member go and buy me one. They sell them at fairs that are out of the mission boundaries. She´s going to buy me one and then I can master it after the mission. It is SUPER cool – just trust me.Good idea about tracking down some kind of souvenir gift for the family. I´ll have to really get working on it though because I don´t know what it would be, where I will find it, or how I will get 15 of them. But I´ll do my very best.
Sorry I talked like the entire phone call. I always do that. After I hung up I started kicking myself and thought that it was probably not that entertaining for you guys. My stories seemed so random and there was no overall thesis to the conversation… just bursts of sporadic confusion and me saying weird things in English that sound wrong to me. And then justifying why I can´t speak.
I have pretty much gotten along with all of my companions… there´s is always one or two “conversations” when you have to stop, clear things over, and then put it all back together, but they are important and then you have a better understanding and relationship. They just have to happen once in a while so I don't feel guilty when they do. When you live 24/7 with someone for 6-12 weeks… you are bound to have a run in or two. But yeah, I haven´t had to white-knuckle it too much--every once in a while, but not too bad.
It´s coat, scarf and gloves weather again. It makes us feel more like missionaries because you look more formal and truth be told… more like an Elder because their coats are black and our coats are black… so we are more easily recognized as Mormons and not other denomination missionaries. Hooray! It does make everything more heavy and you have more junk to keep track of, but for now… I like it being a little chilly. I pulled out all my winter clothes today and it is fun to wear different things. Life´s little pleasures.
Story: when your companion suggests that you de-junk your bag… you should listen to her… she just might be on to something-- I only half-listened. She said that I should take out 3 of my 4 lipsticks. So what did I do? I took out one. Not a week later I reached my hand into one of the pockets to pull out my change to ride the bus and everything was all sticky and pink and gross. Yep, the lipstick exploded and stained and dirtied everything. I shoulda listened to her… she reminded me several times and I am still trying to get the Vaseline –y feeling off of the things in my bag. Live and learn. Now I have just 2 lipsticks in the bag.
I miss a good milkshake--with all the awesome flavors of ice cream… I just want to make a creation of mine that would knock their socks off, but I don´t have the resources… like a mixer. But I keep trying new flavors here… there are so many! That is one thing that I wish I could bring home for you all to try… Argentina ice cream!
Challenge from the missionary: I have 2 things that I want ya’ll to do. 1. Read and really study your patriarchal blessing at least once a month. I have plans to cross-reference mine and put footnotes in Microsoft Word with mine when I get back… it´s going to be so cool! 2. Have Family Home Evening every week. A prayer, hymn and spiritual thought (even if it is just 3-5 minutes of discussing a verse and how we can apply it to our lives and make goals with respect to what we learned) and finishing with a prayer. Simple. Will you do it? I promise you that you will feel the blessings of the Lord as you obey the divine counsel to have FHE. A family is never too old or too young for it.
I´m reading the Old Testament… and it makes me really love and appreciate the Book of Mormon. Let me just tell you that I LOVE the Book of Mormon. 
As I finish up this last 4 weeks in this area I literally feel like I am planting a lot of seeds that hopefully will grow and produce fruit… but I won´t be here to see it. That´s ok though. Somebody´s gotta plant seeds or there won´t be anything for anyone else to harvest.
I told the President the other day that if he helps me track down Worcestershire Sauce I could make brown sugar chicken for the whole mission. That was kind of a bold thing to say considering that I have never cooked for 200 people, but hey. Anyways… that is one of the things that I haven´t been able to find here. How sad!
I had a nightmare the other night that I finished the mission and was home and it was time to start looking for a job – like a career. And I was paralyzed with fear. Daddy was telling me that I needed to start looking, but I was super afraid. We´ll just see how that all goes down after the mission. I hope that it was a bit exaggerated in my dream and that I won´t be afraid to go job hunting.
This week I did a special fast so that I can have “more obedience, diligence, and faith to move mountains.” I was super proud of myself because I had to not eat an alfajor and I really wanted to eat it. But I fasted and know that the Lord will bless me. As far as the work goes, here is the update. ______is the father of a completely less active guy that suffers from mental problems that leave him pretty much unable to carry on a conversation. We found him and started teaching him and challenged him to quit drinking and get baptized. If all goes well and he is able to quit, he will be baptized on May 30th. When we found him he was spending 1,000 pesos (like $350) a week on beer. To help you capture that… that is our monthly rent and our apartment is the newest in the mission. He has cut back a ton. He went from drinking 10 bottles a day to the other day, just one. Yesterday we told him “no more” – and that he needs to be 100% sober for 2 weeks to get baptized. That means that on the 16th he cannot drink again. I really hope that he can beat this. I know that if he does his part the Lord will bless him. He has come a really long way and accepts every other commitment. He is 67 and it will be really cool to help him make such a big change in his life. Will you include him in your prayers? He needs a lot of support.
The other day our lunch cancelled and we were starving. Did you know that with a mug of white rice, a tiny bit of mayo and a can of tuna you can like make a meal? It isn´t that satisfying, but it fills you up. I now know that if I am ever literally starving… a little bit of rice and a can of tuna will keep me alive. The members here… don´t quite live up to the expectation that I had about them forcing us to eat “asados” every day and all that you hear about. I don´t know what the deal is, but we are less than spoiled. There, I said it. No more complaints…
Nata – let me know about the things you learn about the abuelas and tell my mini that I love her soooo much “de polo a polo y atras.” She is super cool and will really appreciate your help with her English. Will you really push her? If she is going to end up marrying Brian Jensen, she has to master English. Hehe.
Jason – I was super happy to hear that you guys are planning a trip to Utah when I get back. I can´t wait for that “airport reunion!” Will you record it like you did when you dropped me off at the MTC? Thanks!
Mommy – don´t even worry about crying on the phone call. I hope you had a fantastic Mother´s Day and that you were able to enjoy the call. Thanks for taking care of all the details and making it possible to speak to everyone at the same time. It was a dream come true for me to hear from everybody. I was sad that I didn´t really chat with Jason on Christmas, so I felt better this time. I feel like I talked too much about dumb stuff, but, I guess that´s what happens when you haven´t been able to talk in 5 months… you just ramble! I loved the pictures of your trip with Daddy and can´t wait to explain each and every picture (of the thousands) I have taken on the mission. Get ready to have your baby girl talk your ear off!
Daddy – guess what… we found a 15 year old Australian boy that came here in December to play soccer! He is from Melbourne (I don´t know how to spell it, but I know you say it “Melbin”) and I told him that you served as a missionary in Sydney 30 years ago. 
We asked him if we could share a message with him and I started teaching in Castellano – we were all talking in Castellano at this point. Then he said that when it comes to religious stuff he doesn´t have that much Castellano down, so my companion turned to me and said “teach him in English.” So then – for the first time in a long time – I started teaching the apostasy and the restoration in English. It was cool and weird at the same time. As I said on the phone call – it was utterly simple and blissful to be able to ask all the questions just how I wanted to and know that he understood what I was 
really asking. But I was tripping in every transition from principle to principle. Out of nowhere I would say “entonces” (then) or “como” (like) or “claro” (of course) and it made me blush and feel dumb because my brain couldn’t continue speaking it´s native language. But he was super cool about it and get this… here is the best part… something that I have been reliving for the past 24 hours… I said, “the cool thing about our message is that we just invite everybody to pray and ask God if this is true and the Spirit will answer you. Do you have a habit of praying?" (This is usually when everybody says “no” or “yeah, like I recite Our Father and Ave Maria every night”) and he said, “yeah, every night. I ask God to help me be better and I pray for…” I about cried right there in the street. There is a 15 year old Australian boy in Argentina that prays – every night – because he wants to… and we found him. I am praying so fervently that his mom doesn´t stop him from listening to us or anything…. that is the biggest problem… when you find a kid or youth that is truly golden… so often the parents don't allow them to progress. Last night I prayed and prayed and prayed that she would not only let him listen to us, but that she would listen too so that they can both be baptized! It would be literally a cool miracle for me to be able to teach and baptize an Australian because it unites me and my daddy even more – teaching the gospel to the Australian people and bringing them to a knowledge of the truth! And yes… I will be transferred in just 4 weeks. He could be baptized in this transfer if everything goes like clock-work, but even if not… I will just have to go to the President and ask him to make an exception and please let me be there for the baptismal service… it would just mean so much to me. And… unless I am sent way far out to campo… I´m pretty sure he´d let me go! And yes… all these plans after a 7 minute lesson in the street. But hey, we always dream like that.
We asked him if we could share a message with him and I started teaching in Castellano – we were all talking in Castellano at this point. Then he said that when it comes to religious stuff he doesn´t have that much Castellano down, so my companion turned to me and said “teach him in English.” So then – for the first time in a long time – I started teaching the apostasy and the restoration in English. It was cool and weird at the same time. As I said on the phone call – it was utterly simple and blissful to be able to ask all the questions just how I wanted to and know that he understood what I was 
really asking. But I was tripping in every transition from principle to principle. Out of nowhere I would say “entonces” (then) or “como” (like) or “claro” (of course) and it made me blush and feel dumb because my brain couldn’t continue speaking it´s native language. But he was super cool about it and get this… here is the best part… something that I have been reliving for the past 24 hours… I said, “the cool thing about our message is that we just invite everybody to pray and ask God if this is true and the Spirit will answer you. Do you have a habit of praying?" (This is usually when everybody says “no” or “yeah, like I recite Our Father and Ave Maria every night”) and he said, “yeah, every night. I ask God to help me be better and I pray for…” I about cried right there in the street. There is a 15 year old Australian boy in Argentina that prays – every night – because he wants to… and we found him. I am praying so fervently that his mom doesn´t stop him from listening to us or anything…. that is the biggest problem… when you find a kid or youth that is truly golden… so often the parents don't allow them to progress. Last night I prayed and prayed and prayed that she would not only let him listen to us, but that she would listen too so that they can both be baptized! It would be literally a cool miracle for me to be able to teach and baptize an Australian because it unites me and my daddy even more – teaching the gospel to the Australian people and bringing them to a knowledge of the truth! And yes… I will be transferred in just 4 weeks. He could be baptized in this transfer if everything goes like clock-work, but even if not… I will just have to go to the President and ask him to make an exception and please let me be there for the baptismal service… it would just mean so much to me. And… unless I am sent way far out to campo… I´m pretty sure he´d let me go! And yes… all these plans after a 7 minute lesson in the street. But hey, we always dream like that. I love the mission so much. I love it, I wouldn´t trade it for anything in the world. I have 6 months more to find, teach, and baptize the whole world and hopefully a few people from the land down under! I know that this is the Lord´s work because when we went by Santiago´s house (the Australian boy) he didn´t hear us knock and then an hour later we ran into him in the street a good 4 blocks from his house… the Lord literally put us in his path twice!
I love you all, wish everybody well from me… especially Tiffany, Katybug, Cameron and Tyler… say hello to everybody!
I´m walking on sunshine and lovin´every minute. Make sure you all have FHE this week!
Love,
Hermana Jensen
Hermana Jensen
~~~~~~~~~~~
Lance said...
Boy, who is that young, Australian missionary? He looks a lot like the guy I knew at BYU :)
I found your daugther's blog while doing some missionary searching. Sounds like she's having a great time. My son is serving in England Manchester.
Lance McIntosh
MAY 18, 2009 7:53 AM
