Travis's email Nov 24, 2009

Hello,

Great news! We baptized Luiz Carlos last night, it
completed a family, or in other words their whole family
is baptized in the church. Now they can go to the temple
and be sealed together they just have to wait one year.
They are really awesome people and the guy that we baptized
is really intelligent. Last night we also baptized a young
man, hopefully we´ll baptize his parents in a little bit.
I'm having a great time here in Parnamirim. I think the
weather is nicer here and like I said last week the members
treat us really well. This week we went on splits with all
of the missionaries in our zone and I worked with Elder
LeSueur who is from Mesa, that was pretty cool. I went on
splits with all of the junior companions and it was kind of
weird because it made me feel old in terms of time in the
mission.

Everything is awesome here. We are going to keep on working
hard and baptizing here in the celestial mission. I love
you guys. Have a great week! Remember the this is the only
true church on the face of the earth and we can't be afraid
to tell others that we know it is.

Elder Jenson

Questions:

1.What are three things that you like about your area?
The food, my companion, and the weather.

2. What's the hardest thing about being a zone leader ?
Sometimes its hard dealing with missionaries that aren't
motivated.

3.How is living with three other missionaries working out?
Where are the other 2 missionaries from?
Its going great, we all get along. Its a different
atmosphere and I'm liking it. We joke around a lot. My
companion is from Curitiba, Elder Garcia is from Utah and
Elder Almeida is from Porto Alegre in southern Brasil. 

4. Do you have a nap time in Brazil like they have in
Mexico after lunch?
The people do but we missionaries don't. We do have an
hour after lunch to relax a little bit and take a shower
but sleeping after lunch is against the rules.

5. Do you keep your apartment pretty clean? Did it work
to offer pizza?
We do our best to keep the apartment clean and yes the
pizza technique always, always works.

6. What is the bathroom like?
Its all tile, there's a toilet, a sink, a mirror, and a
window. 

Haven't we changed?

Travis's email Nov 16

Hello world,

Things are great here in Parnamirim!!! I'm having a great time with my new
companion elder Paim. He has a subtle sense of humor that cracks me up. It's fun living with another companionship of missionaries in our house. One of them is Mexican and today we are going to make some burritos because he knows how to make home made tortillas.

Here in our zone, Ponta Negra, we are having some difficulties. There are
several missionaries in the zone that are ending their missions and they need
some encouragement to work but we are helping them out and we´re going to have a lot of success here.

I'm really liking this area. Our area is really big so we end up walking a lot
but there aren't any hills so its not that bad. The members here absolutely love the missionaries and so that makes everything good, they make really good food for us. Sometimes it's a little dangerous though because there is always that member who says elder eat more, eat more, what's the matter didn't you like my cooking? I'm definitely going to gain some weight here.

That's all the news for now, I'll attach some pics for you guys.

Questions:

1. Did you get transferred early and why?
Yeah, I was transferred early because some missionaries in some other areas had to be transferred early. They had some problems so they were transferred and subsequently I was transferred.

2. Are all the missionaries in the house native? How is that going?
No, its 2 Brazilians and 2 Americans. Its going fine, they´re pigs but its going fine I'm going to offer to make pizza for them if they clean the house. Its amazing what pizza does to a missionary.

3. Describe where you live?
We live close to the center of the city in an apartment building that has 3 stories. We live on the top floor and its pretty cool because we have a patio area and there's a nice breeze up there. The street that we live on is cobble
stone.

4. How many missionaries are in your zone? What are your responsibilities?
There are 5 companionships in our zone. Basically me and my companion have to pass the information that the mission president wants to get to the missionaries. We respond to the president and the assistants when there are problems or if some missionary isn't baptizing and we take care of the zone by going on splits and having meetings with them once a month. We do some other stuff too.

5. Tell us three things about your companion.
He likes health food. Every morning he makes this brown shake concoction that tastes like cinnamon and herbs. He sleeps with a stuffed elephant every night haha and he likes classic cars.

6. What is the ward like in this area?
Like every other ward it has its good and bad parts. There are some really awesome members here that believe that they should treat the missionaries like their very own children, and they do. The lunch that the members make for us is AWESOME! I'm really liking the members here they just need to give us a few more references.

7. how far away from your last area are you?
About 3 hours away.

8. How do you get around to visit the other missionaries in your zone?
We gots to take the bus. Actually we only see the missionaries from our zone about 3 times a month but we talk to them on the phone every night.

Travis's Email Nov 9, 2009

Hello! Big news.

I was transferred to the Rio Grande Do Norte to an area called Parnamirim. My new companion is Elder Paim he is from Curitiba Brazil. I was called to be a zone leader. Right now I'm in João Pessoa for an activity that we are having for the zone leaders. That means we´re going to play soccer and have a barbeque with Pres. Fernandes, it should be good. My new area parnamirim is really cool, it reminds me of an American city. The members are great and so far I'm having a good time. 4 missionaries live in our house so that's a new experience for me. My companion is a Brazilian hippie that's ending his mission in 2 months-he´s getting pretty trunky but I'm helping him out. It´s a good opportunity to serve my companion. We are teaching 2 really good families that I'm sure will be baptized. In both of the families the wife is already a member but the husband isn't. We´re going to work hard to baptize these guys. Today I was in the mission office and I saw my trainer Elder Sanches. His parents were there with him because he is ending his mission and his parents came to get him. It was really weird seeing the way he interacted with his Mom and Dad. It seemed like they didn't have anything to talk about. Well that's all the time I have for now, I have to go play some soccer and eat some meat, because that's what men do. I´m really grateful for the time I´m spending here on a mission, I can see that many things that I have seen and learned will have an impact on the rest of my life. Every time I work hard and do my part I can see the blessings.

Have a great week everybody!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Elder Jenson