Jenny, Macie and Everett coming to AZ Friday March 6

These two cuties will be in Gilbert AZ this coming Friday and I can't wait to give them a big fat hug and a big fat skeezie and a big fat chizzie!

Travis's Email July 18, 2010

Hey mom,

Yeah, it’s hard not to get just a little bit trunky when I think that in a few weeks we´ll be at the beach.

Well mom, you’re the best did you know that? You wrote to me every week for 2 years that’s pretty impressive. Thanks for all the support and all your prayers. I know that the Lord protects His missionaries and he understands perfectly the worry that parents feel when their son´s are on a mission. Thanks for everything, thanks for teaching me everything I needed to know so I could be an effective missionary.

Hey guys,

Well, pretty much ending my mission this week. That’s surreal. This has been the greatest time of my life. Being a missionary is the best thing there is because you don’t have to think about your personal problems, you just have to think about the salvation of others. That’s gotta be the most rewarding thing there is. The biggest change possible happens in our lives when we forget ourselves and focus on other people´s needs.

I´ve been thinking a lot lately about my testimony and a story from John Chapter 9. It tells the story of a man that Jesus healed and then the Pharisees try to tell him that Jesus was a sinner. The man said, if he´s a sinner I don’t know but I was blind and now I see.

I still know very little about the church, about the scriptures, about Joseph Smith and the Restoration of the gospel but I can testify that it’s true because I’ve seen the results- the change in my life and the change of others. Serving a mission would be the greatest disappointment of my life if I had spent 2 years teaching lies to these people. I just want you guys to know that the church is true for this reason, because of the change that has occurred and because of the Holy Spirit.

I love you guys,

Elder Jenson

Questions:
1. What do you want to eat when you get home?
Hmmmmm.... Steak fajitas, subway sandwiches with potato chips, Barros pizza, or in n out burger. Whatever one is easier for you; maybe sandwiches for lunch and fajitas for dinner?
2. How old is the mission pres. daughter?
19.
3. Tell about your best investigator?
Do you remember the story about the drunken guy who fell asleep during sacrament meeting? Well, he stopped drinking and smoking and he´s going to be baptized this week. He´s changed a lot. I’m going to send you guys a before and after picture next week.
cya

Travis's Email July 12, 2010

Hey Mom,

Don’t worry about thinking about me going home because it’s a fact. When President Fernandes was ending his mission he said, they say that there are two types of missionaries, missionaries that get Trunkey and liars. He said, I’m Trunkey but I’m still working hard. So don’t worry mom, there’s no getting around the fact that I’ll be home in a little over two weeks but I’m still working hard. We baptized a woman and her 3 children yesterday. It was a really special baptism. I attached a picture for you to see. I´m really excited to get home and see everybody but at the same time it’s really sad for me.

Hey there,

This week was really eventful; so much stuff happened that this week seemed like a month. As I said to you guys in my last email, the new mission president arrived. On Tuesday he came and visited our zone. He talked to us a little about his family and about a message he was to transmit to the missionaries. The message is that the mission is the foundation for your life. It was cool and I could see that the president and his wife really love this work. After the meeting the president said he wanted to give me a ride back to my area and go on exchanges with me and my companion. That was cool. While we went on exchanges with the president, his wife and their daughter went on exchanges with the sister missionaries. It was cool teaching investigators with President Hall and our investigators liked the visit. He´s a really cheerful man and he really like the city here. He said, it’s such a nice, clean, calm city. And it really is. We taught with him a woman named Mairly who is a chemistry professor and we taught the relief society president´s husband who isn’t a member of the church yet. After the lesson the family insisted on having the president and his wife eat dinner with them. I had a really good time.

Also this week I ate a famous northwest Brazilian dish called Buchada. It´s a goat stomach filled with ground beef and intestines, sewed shut, and cooked in a pan with goat feet. I´ll be honest, it was gross but I managed to get it down and not offend the sister that made the food for us. My companion gagged but luckily nobody saw.

Also this week we baptized a really special woman and her three children. 2 weeks ago she was having some really serious problems and she went to one of the members of the church for help and the member went to us. We were able to help her and we saw a huge change in her life. Every time we showed up at her house she greeted us with a huge smile. Now she and her children are members of the true church of Jesus Christ. I know that it wasn’t us who made the change in her life but God used us to show her what she needed to do to change her life.

These last few weeks have been really happy for me. We are teaching a lot of really good people and it has been a lot of fun.

Tchau

Elder Jenson

Questions:

1. What are you planning to bring home to remind yourself of Brazil?

I´m going to take a hammock home with me, a few toys that the kids on the street here play with, I’m going to take some soccer jerseys, I’m going to try to take home CD´s that have the local music, maybe some Brazilian movies. I don’t know, do you have any good ideas of things for me to take home?

2. How many missionaries are in your zone?

14

3. What are some things that you like about the new mission pres?

When you´re with him he is always talking so you can learn. He talks about experiences from his mission, he talks about experiences with apostles, and he asks a lot of question to get to know the missionaries.

4. Will you finish your mission with the same companion?

Yup, Elder Kittell will be my last companion.

5. Who was your favorite companion and why?

That’s a tough question. I will always be grateful to Elder Sanches, my trainer, because he took really good care of me and was really patient. He taught me that you can get any companion to love you if you cook for him so I always cooked for my companions and that helped a lot.

The junior companions I had while I was an assistant to the president also helped me a lot because they had really good reasons to come a mission and that was reflected in the way they worked.

Travis's email June 28, 2010

Hey,
This week was intense. I had my last zone conference, and I bore my testimony along with the other missionaries that will be leaving the mission at the end of this transfer. That was surreal. It was also Pres. and Sister Fernandes´ last conference. At the end of the week we had the dedication of the new church in Sousa that Pres. Fernandes performed. Afterward, there was a cultural party where we ate some local specialties. It was really cool being there to see the dedication of the new church and sad hearing the president say that it might be the last time that he gets to dedicate a church.

It was also a crazy week. Sunday a man that we are teaching showed up to church drunk and slept during sacrament meeting. Later that night he said he´s tired of his life. He´s tired of getting drunk, he´s tired of not being able to do his work as a sketch artist because of his sickness. He told us that he decided once and for all that he´s going to stop and he´s going to be baptized.

This morning we heard on knock on our door and some members told us that someone needed help and told us to run over to a member’s house. There we found a woman who was having a nervous breakdown and was hearing voices in her head. We tried to talk her down but she kept yelling at someone imaginary, get away from me Satan! We gave her a blessing and luckily she wasn’t possessed or anything like that.

Uh oh, my times up. Well this week was really eventful and the city here is starting to throw a bunch of parties, which should make our work interesting.
Have a good week everyone!

Elder Jenson

Questions:
1. Do you write in your journal?
Yeah, while I was assistant I didn't have time so I'm missing a few months in my journal but yes, I'm writing in my journal.
2. Has the new mission pres. arrived and have you had an interview with him? Tell us about him?
No, he will arrive on Thursday.
3. How much do you weigh?
It's been a couple weeks since I weighed myself but the last time I weighed myself I weighed 178 lbs.
4. What food will you miss and which ones will you not miss?
I think I'm going to miss all of the food, even the gross food. I´ll miss eating goat meat with sweet potatoes, spaghetti with cut up hot dogs, all that good stuff.
5. The funniest thing that happened this week?
One of our investigators showed up to church drunk and slept laying down during sacrament meeting. I loved it, it was one of the funniest moments of my mission.

Travis's return home flight info

Here is Travis's itinerary for his return home.

Delta Airlines Flt 2915 arrives in Phoenix at 9:44am on July 30, 2010 - Terminal 3.

Travis's Email June 21, 2010

Hi mom,
Dad sent me a pic of the new house, it looks great! The stone looks really good.
Does the time go by fast or slow? Good question....it goes by extremely fast but at the same time it seems like I’ve been here in Brazil for a really long time. I don’t want it to end; life is so good here in the mission. It’s really simple and since I’ve always been a creature of habit it might be a little hard to change back to regular life. I feel like I’m going to go through culture shock when I get home because I’m so used to the culture here. It will be weird when I show up at the airport and I’ll be surrounded by Americans, I think that will be a little hard for me at first but being with the family will make it a lot easier. You got my flight plans? Yeah it looks like I’ll be spending a few hours on the plane but I don’t think sleeping will be a problem.

I hope you guys have a good beach trip! I had forgotten that it’s that time of year because the seasons here don’t change very much so I don’t really have an idea of what time of the year it is up there.
Love Ya Mom!

Hey,
Good week. For the first time in a while I’m living with just my companion. In a lot of ways it’s easier. This morning we ate pancake, eggs, and bacon. I realized this week that the U.S. is weird. Let me explain why. You Americans for some reason have to eat something different every day. Here in Brazil we eat basically the same thing every day and there´s no problem with that. Rice, beans, pasta, and beef or chicken every day for lunch is fine. You guys are always eating new stuff from other countries; but sometimes it’s fun to eat new things. For example a few weeks ago i ate a dish called coalhada which is partially curdled milk with cuscuz which is a type of corn meal. It tasted like sour cream. MMM! My companion hated it.

This week was pretty good in terms of work. I starting doing something that I call a prayer follow-up chart. I started writing down the things that me and my companion are asking God, the things we are doing to receive the blessings, and the way that God answers our prayers. The scriptures say that if we ask it will be given to us so I want some personal tangible proof of that. So far God hasn't let us down. This week we asked God to bless a family that we´re teaching with a desire to go to church and they went. We also asked for at least one man to take to church and 3 went. So far, I don’t have any reason to believe that that promise in the scriptures isn’t true.

Also this week I fulfilled one of my mission milestones. For the first time in my mission I fell down. Last night we were walking really fast so we could arrive in our apartment before 9:30 and I tripped and fell down. Don’t worry I didn’t suffer any major injuries, just a lot of embarrassment.

This week we´re gonna have an open house at a brand new chapel that was built in a neighboring city. I´ll have to send some pictures.
Have a great week everybody!

Elder Jenson

Travis's Email June 16, 2010

Hey mom,
I loved the good news. Nate is going to study at ASU? Which campus? If it’s at the main campus tell him to take institute with me so he can park for free. He´s 31, When did he get so old?

That‘s awesome that you used preach my gospel. It’s cool hearing that Greg got home. Cameron sent me an email but unfortunately I can’t read or respond. Yeah, I hope the guy Annie’s gonna marry is a good guy.
It sounds like you guys are really busy with parties and beach trips. Sounds tough. :)

Hey world,

I’m way short on time to write, the emails I received were blowing my mind and I had to take a deep breath.

This week we had transfers. My companion was transferred and I will be staying here in Pombal for my last transfer. My last transfer, that’s hard for me to say. This week Elder Lew, a missionary that lived with us ended his mission and I felt a little bit of the longing/sadness I will feel when I end my mission. For me right now it’s hard to imagine another life other than missionary life. I´m going to have to deal with the sadness of leaving these people that I love. But it has to end someday doesn’t it?

My new companion is Elder Kittell. He has 2 transfers left in his mission.
The world cup officially started and we´re trying to deal with the craziness. Uh oh times up, gotta go.

I love you guys!

Travis's Email June 7, 2010

Hey guys,

This week was gooood. It rained this week and got really cold. On Thursday I woke up so cold that I had to put on some jeans. It was the first time that I’ve used jeans here. They’re finished remodeling the church and it’s starting to look pretty good. We baptized for the first time in the new baptismal font yesterday. It will be nice have the font instead of an above ground pool that has a bunch of holes in it.

This weekend in Pombal an evangelical minister came and did ´miracles´. The people said that he made the deaf hear and the lame walk. That made our work a little interesting. Everybody thought that it was us that did the so called miracles and that was good because it sparked some interest. The people on the street told us that they loved our show.

3 people from the English class that we´re teaching went to church yesterday, that was cool.

We are trying to prepare ourselves for the world cup that will go on this month, it’s going to make our work a little tougher.

I’m actually in Joao Pessoa today for the zone leader´s council. It was president Fernandes´ last council. He told us that a lot of missionaries have problems and suffer after their mission because they weren’t honest while they were in the mission field. He taught us that we need to be more honest and when necessary repent without reluctance.

So I’ll be spending my P-day here in Joao Pessoa and tomorrow I’ll go back to Pombal.

The Church is true.

That’s what’s going on for now..........

Elder Travis Jenson

Questions…

1. The funniest thing this week was?

Um.....it’s hard to think about a single funny thing. Yesterday my companion slipped when he was baptizing yesterday and almost didn’t lift the guy out of the water. That was kind of funny.

2, Do you know the exact date you'll be coming home?

I will be home on Friday the 30th of July at probably about 12:00pm.

3. What is the bug situation like?

There are hardly any bugs here. There were just a bunch of moths this week because it rained.

4. When do you get a new mission pres.?

He will arrive on the first of July.

5. What did the pres. say in your blessing?

He just blessed me with health to end my mission and some other stuff.

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

Travis's Email April 26, 2010

Hey Guys

It’s funny that mom asked me a few weeks ago if I could end my mission in any area where would it be because President Fernandes asked me the same question yesterday. He told me that I will be transferred next week and for the first time ever he is going to give a missionary the opportunity to choose his area. So I’ve got some thinking to do.

Yesterday we went to help in an area called Pombal and I’m thinking that’s where I want to go. I worked with the missionaries and it was incredible. We said hello to the people at their houses and they already invited us to come in and sit down. It’s probably one of the few places in the world where the missionaries have to deny teaching opportunities.

The branch in Pombal was officially organized yesterday and they are having the meetings in a building that used to be a supermarket. About 80 go to church every Sunday and none of them have been a member of the church for more than a year. It was a really good experience; I think I’ll be heading over there next week. President said that I will go to whatever area I want and if a branch is approved in a city called Esperança then I will go there for me and my companion to be the first missionaries to set foot in that city. So to sum things up the mission has been a dream comes true.

The trip to Pombal was awesome. We went with the president and his family and it seemed like a family road trip. We played I spy and other games with his kids in the car and it was weird because I didn’t get trunky but I didn’t know how to feel because I never thought that I would have an experience like that as a missionary.

President said that I have spent more time as assistant than any other missionary except for one, that’s pretty cool. Its good being assistant but I think I’m ready to go to Pombal and work really hard and baptize a lot of people. That’s how I want to end my mission-working hard and baptizing a ton of people.

I received a new companion junior this week. I only worked with him in the area for 3 hours because I had to leave for Pombal. His name is Elder Kawai, he from Sao Paulo, he’s 6´4” and Japanese. His dad is an acupuncturist. He is a really good missionary because he came to the mission to work and you can tell within the first few minutes talking to him.

THINGS ARE AWESOME

HAVE A GOOD WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Elder Jenson

Travis's Email April 19, 2010

HELLO,

This week was pretty awesome. We finished up the zone conferences in Natal and they were really successful because when the missionaries had time to bear their testimony at the end of the conference a lot of them express a desire to be better. It was a good trip, we ate well, and it was fun. Today we ate lunch with an elder´s family, elder wright, who came to get him here. that was pretty weird but it was fun to see their reaction and talk to them in English a little bit.

The work in the area was good. I had a few days that started off bad but when i started thinking about the goals that we established I started working hard to achieve those goals and we had more success. Its been raining a lot here and being that the people usually go to church on foot it was an obstacle for our investigators. My time is up for emailing so I´ll have to write more next week. Transfers will be in 2 weeks so we´ll see what happens. For now things are good and we´re working a ton.

Have a great week everyone!

-Elder Jenson

Questions:

1. What 3 things will you miss about your mission pres.?
I will miss his sense of humor, his talks, and....his motivation to work.

2. Did you get your package?
No, and I never did get that CD of pictures.

3. What is your favorite scripture this week?

"Without God, life would end at the grave and our mortal experiences would have no purpose. Growth and progress would be temporary, accomplishment without value, challenges without meaning. There would be no ultimate right and wrong and no moral responsibility to care for one another as fellow children of God. Indeed, without God, there would be no mortal or eternal life.

Some may ask, “How can I know this for myself?” We know He lives because we believe the testimonies of His ancient and living prophets, and we have felt God’s Spirit confirm that the testimonies of these prophets are true. "

I took that from a conference talk by Robert D. Hales.

I like this quote because it teaches us that we should believe in God not because of our own conclusions but because of the testimonies of the prophets.


4. What was the funniest thing that happened this week?
One of the secretaries told us that he had a dream to kiss president Fernandez´ bald head so president gave him a chance in front of everybody at the mission conference. That was pretty funny.

5. If you could end your mission in any area where would it be and why?
It would be in an area called Esperança. President is thinking about opening up this area.