Travis's Email May 31, 2010

Special Note: Tell Annie that I wish her the best and tell her sorry for not writing back, I’ve been terrible with writing letters. Solano Beach sounds awesome; I have no idea where it is but it sounds awesome, Tell Evan to catch some waves for me!

Hey People Now,

This week was pretty cool. We baptized a 20 year old girl named Natali today. She´s awesome and I think she knows more about the church than I do. She told us that being baptized in the church is the best decision of her life. She also said, imagine what could happen if you hadn´t knocked on my door!? That hit me pretty hard, imagine if I hadn´t knocked on her door? Or on the door of other people in the city who are waiting for me? It was cool because when we knocked on her door it was 8:55 pm and the people here usually go to sleep at around 8:30. I knew that we would probably be waking someone up but I decided to knock her door anyway. I’m glad I did.

This week we also baptized a 72 yr old man, his 32 year old wife and their 10 year old son. Talk about an interesting family! They’re really cool and they always get excited when we visit them. Every time we leave their house they say, you guys are going to come back again today aren’t you?

Starting today we are going to start to give English classes in a local high school that should be fun, since it’s a small town everybody´s talking about it. "The Mormons are going to teach English at our school!" I´m trying to do some stuff that I’ve never done before in these last few months of my mission.

Today I had my last interview with President Fernandes. Actually it wasn’t an interview, instead of interviewing the missionaries he gave a blessing to each one of us.
Well, that’s about it for now, things are good.............

Elder Jenson

Travis's Email May 24, 2010

Travis in his new Area

Travis's companion believes exposure to the sun's rays hastens the balding process so he walks around holding a Book of Mormon above his head. Travis took a video of it because he thinks it's funny.

Hi family,

This week was good but at the same time it was a little puzzling. A few weeks ago President Fernandes asked us to baptize families-man and woman who are legally married- weekly. So we have been working hard to do that and we had 3 really cool families to take to church yesterday but it um.....didn’t go as planned. The people here are so nice that they prefer lying instead of saying no. The church meetings here are funny now that I think about it because a lot of times there are investigators in the church Who are used to evangelical churches and then shout halleluiah!(SP?) during the talks or during the classes. Or the investigators want to pay tithing and we have to explain that only after their baptism they can pay tithing.

We had a zone conference this week which was cool. We left in the middle of the night to get on a bus and go to the conference. It was Elder Lew´s (one of the missionary who lives with us) last conference and then I thought dude, I only have 2 conferences left. That was sad. I had a good time seeing some missionaries that I hadn’t seen in a while.

Mom and dad talked a little about the weather...Its still hot here but I still think its hotter in Arizona. I don’t know if it’s because I’ve gotten used to the heat but im starting to think that this city isn’t as hot as the others where I’ve worked. We usually sleep out on the balcony where it actually gets kind of cold at night.

So... I’m healthy, I’m working hard, and I’m still learning a ton.

Have a good week everybody!

Elder Jenson

Questions:

1. How many missionaries live with you? How is that working out?

I live with 4 more missionaries, it works out great we haven’t had any problems at all.

2. Tell us about your favorite discussion this past week.

We are teaching a 20 year old girl who has been reading a lot of stuff on the internet about the church and she has read some anti-Mormon stuff on the internet but she said, the people that write that stuff must not even know the church and if they do I don’t know why they would have so much anger!?

We’re going to baptize her on Friday and we’re going to try and baptize the rest of her family next week.

3. How far is it to church from your place?

It’s about 5 minutes away. Everything here is really close because the city is so small.

4. Do people have cars?

Yeah but most people have motorcycles or bikes.

5. What doing people do for a living in this city?

The poor people build houses or are street venders and the rich people have some kind of store in the city. There’s a popular profession here which is motorcycle taxi drivers, I had never thought about a job like that before coming here.

Travis's email May 17, 2010

Hey world,

Things are good here. Yesterday we took 15 investigators to church, that’s new record for me. Being that the church has been here for less than a year and all of the members are recent converts the meetings are a little disorganized but the people still feel the spirit. As I sat next to an investigator in the gospel principles class yesterday I leaned over and said, do you like the church? She said yes and then I said, we want to baptize you next Sunday, will you be baptized? She said, of course. She’s really excited about the church and said that she stays up at night reading the book of Mormon. Stuff like that happens all the time here.

We usually teach about 10 lessons a day which is kind of like a lot of lessons. We’re working really hard; my companion said he’s never worked so hard.

I like the city and its fun living with these missionaries. Today we’re gonna make tacos!!!!

Well times up see ya guys!!!!!!!!!

Elder Jenson

Questions:

1. Describe the house or apartment that you are living in.

It’s probably the nicest house in the mission. Its brand new. It has marble counter tops 2 bed 2 bath and it has a nice balcony with hooks to put up a hammock which I do on p-days to take a nap.

2. How big is the city you are in and what is the city like?

It’s a small city. Even though its a small city almost all of the roads are paved and its a really clean city. It seems like the people here value good manners more than the people in the other cities. Like all of the small towns here in Brazil it has a giant catholic church and the people are usually catholic. The city makes me think of the truman show for some reason....The people do the same thing every day at the same time and they’re really nice...almost too nice...

3. With the church being so new in this area do you have extra responsibilities at church? if so what ?

Yesterday I gave a talk; my companion taught the gospel principles class, and one of the other missionaries passed the sacrament. We basically do whatever the branch president asks us to do.

4. Tell of a spiritual experience you had this week.

Today I was reading a little bit about the brother of Jared and how all the miracles that happened were preceded by prayer. One time when he forgot to pray the Lord scolded him for three hours. So I thought a little bit about that and I read a part in Preach My Gospel that has a quote from Bruce R. McConkie that says that our actions are the result of our prayers. So if we pray with the Spirit and asks for things that are in accordance with the Lord’s will that then we will receive what we ask for. If we are inspired by the Spirit to pray for things we truly need and then act, God will guide our actions and our actions will change our character. Its no wonder the Lord commands us to pray, he wants to mold and purify us.

It's a GIRL!!! for Jenny and Scott

Jenny and Scott are having a GIRL!!!! ETA some time in October. We are soooo excited!! No name for her yet, but we know she is going to be beautiful, smart, and SWEEET!

Congratulations!!!

Travis's Email May 10, 2010

Hey Family,

Well it was good talking to you guys yesterday. I’m glad to hear that you guys are doing well and that Missy is going to start going to church again *wink wink.

Things are great here. I could almost say that it’s easy to work here. It’s a small town and everyone is curious to know about the church and almost no one talks bad about us behind our backs! Even though it’s way hot here I love this city. I’m pretty much out of time but I love you guys and the Church is true.

Questions:

Hi Trav,

1. What is the retention for the new members in your new area?
This area has one of the highest retention rates of all the areas in the mission. It was about 80%

2. Does the church worry that they won't stay active?
Yeah, the whole scheme is pretty complicated and it takes a while to explain.

3. How is your new companion?
He’s good. Its kind of hard for him because his family members aren’t members of the church but he’s really excited and we’re working hard so homesickness wont be much of a problem.

4. Since the church is so new in this area, does anyone feed you guys?
Yeah we have lunch at the members houses a few times a week and when we don’t I use my finely tuned culinary skills.

5. What is the bishop like?
The branch president is a short chubby guy that looks a lot like the oompa loompa from the most recent Willy Wonka movie. He’s a really good, humble guy and is considered one of the best leaders in the mission.

6. What are you doing today for p-day?
We are going to buy food, make lunch, make brownies, and take a nap. I’m thinking about writing a few letters seeing that I haven’t had time for a while.

Love ya
Mom