Sunday, August 24, 2008
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Video - Travis
Video of Travis from the CTM in Sao Paulo Brazil. He is doing very well. He mailed his sandisk card from his camera with the videos on it so I uploaded it to the Blog to share with the rest of the fam.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Travis's email Aug 20, 2008
Hey yall,
Another lovely week here in Brazil. Let me start you guys off with a funny story. There´s this one guy in my district who is notorious for saying dumb stuff (to put it lightly) and the other day when he was walking down the hall he says to the elderly CTM doctor ´how´s it goin?´when the doctor replies, ´ive been better´the elder said the funniest thing. He goes ´well you´re still alive, right? that´s a good thing´ I started busting up laughing even though the doctor was right there. It´s a good thing he´s a sweet old man that just laughed it off. that´s my typical day for you right there. this week was good, I´m practically fluent in portuguese. yeah right, I wish. I am doing really well though, I´m one of the fastest learners in my district, if not the fastest. So my comp is continuing to struggle. He had 3 hrs. worth of interviews(more like therapy sessions) with various leaders. it´s ok, I´m doing all I can to help him out and if anything it´s helping me to learn patience. he really doesn´t get my sense of humor so I´m learning to tone that down even though my other roommates do appreciate the hot rod references. Last night we got to hear from Elder Didier, the area 70 president of brazil. I think that´s his title. It was really really good, he´s definitely helped motivate me and said some good things for my companion to hear. I´m amazed at how strong the faith and testimonies are of all the brazilians here that have been members of the church for only a few years. Rachel, teach your boys to work hard in school even when it doesn´t seem important and teach them to love the scriptures. I would say those two things have helped me the most and I haven´t struggled at all so far. Things are going better than good. I love you guys.
p.s. if you want a letter and you´re not family, I need your address.
thanks
Elder Travis Jenson
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Pics of The Beach House
Outside of the beachhouse we rented in La Jolla. It was great!
The kitchen...
View from the living room...
Family Room
The patio...
Living room...and the big comfy couch!
Fun at the beach
Travis skimmin it up!
Rachel is definitely a zonie!
Andy and Gus relaxing. They look like natives!
Travis goes up and gets this one.
But wait! There's still more...
Come on Dad! Just one more bite!
Missy and her boys. They really got a good tan this summer.
Joe gets stuck in the sand while driving his sand rail!!
More Family Pictures and Funny captions
A big thumbs up from Ashley!
Our beautiful little Ashley. We treasure the time we get to spend with her.
There must be a restroom somewhere on this beach
Scott and his fiancee Jenny Doty. What's with the pink lining on his shirt? I guess they roll different in Argentina! Just kidding! We are so happy to have our Scotty back home with us even though we rarely see him.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
First Email From Travis, all the way from Brazil
Hello family! Hello everyone!
I´m here in the CTM in Sao Paulo lovin life. It´hard to fit in all the awesome stuff that happened this week but I´ll give it a shot. So I arrived here at the CTM after nearly being killed by this crazy Brazilian bus driver who I´m pretty sure was cursing in Portuguese the whole time while he was obviously trying to kill me and the other ten missionaries in the bus. Not to mention I was more jet lagged then I´ve ever been in my life. The flight was 16 hours long and trust me, I felt it. So in this half comatose state I arrived at the CTM, was greeted by the CTM president and his wife. His wife, noticing my zombie-like walk toward the front gate just smiled a warm, loving smile that I thought you could only receive from either your grandma or your mom. Both the CTM pres. and his wife are really good people, when they speak, I swear they hear my thoughts and answer all the questions and concerns I have. I was so impressed with the calm and peace I felt when entering that building. Ok, so another huge highlight of being here is the Brazileros!(the native brazilians for those of you that are a little slow.) I have never met so many people that love you for no reason, I´ve had many charades-like pantomime conversations with them and they are so excited about what you´re saying even though they don´t understand 90% of what you´re saying. If only I could magically learn Portuguese....The only down-side of the Brazilians is they like to stay up all hours of the night acting crazy, singing backstreet boys songs and pretending their batman or some rap-star. I love it though. My companion is kind of losing it, he feels the need to start morbid conversations in the middle of the night about how when he was three he saw ghosts all the time.(i don´t buy it for a second) He´s sitting right next to me and will probably murder me in my sleep tonight. Ok seriously though, he´s a good guy and i´m doing my best to help him out. The language is coming along great, all i need to do is learn the vocab and such because the rules are similar to Spanish and i´ve got those down pretty good. What else....oh, you guys would be amazed and the fruit they have here. The fruits that you guys have like pineapple, watermelon, and guava don´t even taste the same here, they´re on a whole other awesome level. My instructors here at the CTM are awesome, i´m really impressed with their complete confidence and faith in the Lord. One of them is going to tell us some crazy ghost stories from his mission. you know, the kind of stuff your mom never wants and probably never should hear about. (sorry ma) Scottie knows what i´m talking about. No, not you scott cardon although you probably know something about that. (you´re welcome for the shout out). Hey Nate you´ll like this, one of my roomates is Elder McGruder and whenever i say his name i have to sing the McGruber song. He pretty much loves it.... or he´ll resent me forever because of it. I can´t tell yet. Well, things couldn´t be better. Family, i know you guys are being blessed while i´m out here whether you know it or not. If the first week is the hardest then I can´t wait to see what the best parts are like.
write me people, i don´t have anyone´s address.
Love or maybe just like,
Elder Travis Jenson
I´m here in the CTM in Sao Paulo lovin life. It´hard to fit in all the awesome stuff that happened this week but I´ll give it a shot. So I arrived here at the CTM after nearly being killed by this crazy Brazilian bus driver who I´m pretty sure was cursing in Portuguese the whole time while he was obviously trying to kill me and the other ten missionaries in the bus. Not to mention I was more jet lagged then I´ve ever been in my life. The flight was 16 hours long and trust me, I felt it. So in this half comatose state I arrived at the CTM, was greeted by the CTM president and his wife. His wife, noticing my zombie-like walk toward the front gate just smiled a warm, loving smile that I thought you could only receive from either your grandma or your mom. Both the CTM pres. and his wife are really good people, when they speak, I swear they hear my thoughts and answer all the questions and concerns I have. I was so impressed with the calm and peace I felt when entering that building. Ok, so another huge highlight of being here is the Brazileros!(the native brazilians for those of you that are a little slow.) I have never met so many people that love you for no reason, I´ve had many charades-like pantomime conversations with them and they are so excited about what you´re saying even though they don´t understand 90% of what you´re saying. If only I could magically learn Portuguese....The only down-side of the Brazilians is they like to stay up all hours of the night acting crazy, singing backstreet boys songs and pretending their batman or some rap-star. I love it though. My companion is kind of losing it, he feels the need to start morbid conversations in the middle of the night about how when he was three he saw ghosts all the time.(i don´t buy it for a second) He´s sitting right next to me and will probably murder me in my sleep tonight. Ok seriously though, he´s a good guy and i´m doing my best to help him out. The language is coming along great, all i need to do is learn the vocab and such because the rules are similar to Spanish and i´ve got those down pretty good. What else....oh, you guys would be amazed and the fruit they have here. The fruits that you guys have like pineapple, watermelon, and guava don´t even taste the same here, they´re on a whole other awesome level. My instructors here at the CTM are awesome, i´m really impressed with their complete confidence and faith in the Lord. One of them is going to tell us some crazy ghost stories from his mission. you know, the kind of stuff your mom never wants and probably never should hear about. (sorry ma) Scottie knows what i´m talking about. No, not you scott cardon although you probably know something about that. (you´re welcome for the shout out). Hey Nate you´ll like this, one of my roomates is Elder McGruder and whenever i say his name i have to sing the McGruber song. He pretty much loves it.... or he´ll resent me forever because of it. I can´t tell yet. Well, things couldn´t be better. Family, i know you guys are being blessed while i´m out here whether you know it or not. If the first week is the hardest then I can´t wait to see what the best parts are like.
write me people, i don´t have anyone´s address.
Love or maybe just like,
Elder Travis Jenson
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Benson Turns 1 Year
Hard to believe but our little Benson is now 1 year old. In my unbiased, completely objective opinion, he is quite possibly the cutest little boy on the face of the Earth! We love him dearly and he is quite the Daddy's boy.
My First Blog Entry
This is my first entry in my new Blog. Last week we said goodbye to Travis as he headed to Brazil for his 2 year LDS (Mormon) mission. We will miss him but we are very happy he has a desire to serve the Lord and the people of Brazil. Here is Travis just before he left. He looks great, doesn't he? We know he will have a great experience there and he will be loved.
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