Travis's Email Sept 28, 2009

Hey Mom,

The mission president wants to know if our parents can send an additional package for Christmas so missionaries who wouldn't have received anything can have a present for Christmas. You can send something simple like a tie or some candy it doesn't need to be big. I´ll let you know what I want for christmas in another email later. Maybe next week.

I loved the pictures. The house looks really good, Benson looks huge, and Grace looks cute. Hey, I'm out of time....This week was awesome. We baptized a family that will definitely be sealed in the temple! We´re going to keep working hard and baptizing. I know this is God´s work. If it wasn´t, we wouldnt have so much success. Sorry about the short email.

-Elder Jenson

Questions:

1. The hardest thing this week was?

Finding new investigators. We taught bunch of people but very few of them accepted the commitments.

2. Where do you watch Conf.?

We watch conference in downtown Joao Pessoa in the stake center.

3. When are transfers?

October 15th

4. Who is your favorite member of the ward and why?

The president of the relief society is willing to do anything to help anyone. This week when we needed a cake for the wedding she made a beautiful wedding cake without thinking twice. And she cooks better than any other Brasilian I´ve ever seen.

5. Tell about when you felt closest to the Savior this week.

I always feel close to the Savior when I´m studying and when he answers my prayers. Yesterday a teenage girl went to church with a girl that I baptized and after the meetings asked us if she could be baptized. Of course we said that she could next Sunday. We passed by her house in the afternoon and when we arrived she looked sad and told us her mom won´t let her be baptized. I said a silent prayer and then asked if we could talk to her mom. She didnt want to let us talk to her but I insisted and then with a friendly smile on my face I explained to her mom that we wanted to help her daughter follow Jesus Christ and be a better person. Next Sunday Beatriz will be baptized.

Mr B & Ms Grace

Little Princess Grace

Mr B and his hat.

Travis's Email Sept 21, 2009

Hey Mom,
Whoa, 10 grand-kids looks like the Abrahamic covenant is being fulfilled. I really liked the pictures of Grace I'm really starting to like the name too. I have a question. Did Derek stay in the room while Rachel was giving birth? I don't think I would be able to handle it. She´ll be ten months old when I get back; that really seems like such little time. This week I had a dream that I returned home with a year and two months and the feeling of not having served a complete mission was the worst. I'm hoping to see many more miracles and baptisms in the future.

Hey people,

I´m way excited for this week. This week is Monica and Ivan´s wedding!! They´re already doing family home evening and they´re more than willing to pay their tithing. It´s so good to teach people like that. The other day one of Ivan´s brother´s from the baptist church started to bad talk the church and Ivan asked if he had ever read the book of Mormon. he said no and Ivan said he would loan him a book so he could read and know how it really is. My other companion Elder Nielson taught their kids how to give a high five so now every time we show up at their house their 2 and 5 year old kids shout `high five!!` We´re teaching a lot of people but one of the coolest people is a 70 year old widow who when we taught him about baptism he said let´s do it. If he doesn't smoke again then he´ll be baptized this week. My companion is.....doing good. Sometimes he tests my patience always trying to one-up my life experiences but its alright I guess. He doesn't miss his mom so much anymore so that's good. Well my times up. It feels like Christmas is coming up really fast. Congratulations Rachel and Derek! Give Grace a big hug for me.

Elder Jenson

Questions:
1. Did you get the pictures of Grace?
Yeah. Whats her full name? Grace Kelly Jenson?
2. Was it hard to play soccer across the street from the beach?
Yes, very.
3. What was the beach like?
You're trying to make me get trunky aren't you? It was beautiful of course.
4. Do you do your own laundry?
Yeah.
5. The funniest thing this week was?
Ivan´s(a man we are going to baptize) family calls him Macgyver. I thought that was pretty funny.

Grace is finally here! Happy Birthday Grace!

Happy, Proud, & Relieved Grandma! She worried about Rachel and Grace but everything went great! Her prayers were answered.


The proud Papa! He is already super protective. I feel sorry for any young man who wants to date Grace. But that's many years down the road.

Rachel, tired but very happy! She is also copying Grace's expression ;)

Travis's Email Sept 14, 2009

I cant believe Grace hasn't been born yet! tell Rachel to jump on the
trampoline or watch a scary movie or something. Yeah I heard about
the tornado but it didn't affect us here in the northeast. Have a great
week Mom! 
 
Hellooo, 
This week was good. On Thursday we took a family, Monica and Ivan,
to the cartório (I don't know the name for this in English) and we got
their papers ready for their wedding that will be on September 26th at
the church. Sunday 27 will be the baptism. Its a really cool family,
their kids get really excited when they see us and they always want
to sit next to us in sacrament meeting. 

We baptized a teen-aged girl named Eduarda this week. Her parents
are getting married Wednesday and her mom will be baptized Sunday.
for now, the Dad can't be baptized because he has some problems
with the law but when that's resolved I'm sure he´ll be baptized. 

My new companion Elder Aquino is doing pretty good. Every once in
a while he starts talking about his mom and cries at the member´s
houses or the investigator´s houses but other than that he´s fine. I´m
helping him understand lots of things about the mission. for example
there are a lot of people that think that 2 weeks is too little time for
someone to be baptized in the church. My companion was thinking
this too but I helped him understand that we don't determine the time
limit, its the Lord and if he says that someone can be converted and
baptized in 2 weeks then I believe him. 

We´re working in a part of the area that is close to the railroad tracks
and there are people there that live in mud houses and live off the
land, it's pretty cool. There are people that live there that never went
to school, don't know their full name or birthday. It's pretty nuts. we
ran into a family that has Indian ancestors so its looks like we might
baptizing some Lamanites pretty soon here. 

This week 2 elders were transferred from our district and 2 sister
missionaries went to their area. its always a different experience working
with sister missionaries but its good. That's all I've got for now. things
are good and it seems like I've been in this area forever but its OK
because its a good area. 
 
-Elder Jenson 

Questions:
1. What is the school system like there? 
It´s pretty much the same thing as the u.s. except they have holidays for a 
bunch of catholic saints so it seems like the kids have holidays every week. 

2. Would you say that you are pretty fluent in the language, not just church 
language? Do you have study time just for language? 
We have 30 min to study the language everyday. I´d say that I´m pretty fluent in 
the language I can say pretty much whatever I want except when someone starts 
talk about legal terms or car repair or other complicated things like that. 
 
3. The funniest thing that happened this week was ? 
I don't know if this is funny or not but out of nowhere in the middle of a 
lesson my companion starting talking about his mom and started to cry and then 
the investigators started to cry too. 
 
4.  Tell us three things about your companion. 
1. He reminds me of Ryan from the office 
2. He was the stake secretary before the mission. 
3. He likes to talk about Sao Paulo, a lot. 

Travis's Email Sept 9, 2009

Hi,

So I don't have time to write because this week we only have 30 minutes
to write email. To describe my new companion Elder Aquino one of the
songs from Mulan comes to mind, ´Somehow I´ll, make a man, out of
you!`

He´s having a little trouble being separated from his Mom but I'm helping
him out. Sunday he baptized his first 3 people. Monday we played soccer
all day with President Fernandes on a soccer field on the other side of the
street from the beach.I scored a goal against the president´s team. It was
awesome!

I´m happy, my companion´s getting happy, and everything's good.

My prediction is that Grace will be born this Sunday at 12:30 Brazilian
time. Goodbye everyone, I love you guys. Sorry about the short email I'll
give more details next week.

-Elder Jenson

Travis's Email August 31, 2009

Hey Dad/Mom,

That´s pretty funny that Dad backed the truck into the house. I´m sure being
there wasn´t really funny but from my point of view it seems pretty
funny. I still don't know where the new house is or what it looks like.....I`m
sure you guys are having a good time in the new ward with the lamerouxesxes. I
don't know how to spell their name. You can tell brother lamerozxeus that I still
remember the music that he sang at a youth conference. ´my feet are planted on
the rock, no evil wind can knock me off, from here its clear, etc.´
It sounds like everybody is way busy with work and school but that's good. I got
the pictures of Derek and Rachel, very cool. Good thing that someone is getting
good use out of my clothes, just tell him to stay away from my stunner jacket!
Stewart Hamblin will be going home tomorrow. He is going home a little early to
start school and I´m sure his girlfriend isn't upset about it.

So they surprised us with the transfer this week. They told us that it would be
on Wednesday but last night I was walking down the street and received a phone
call. It was the zone leaders telling me that I would be staying in the area and
training a new Brazilian missionary! So I´m here at the bus station, my old
companion Elder Nielson went to the highest baptizing area in the mission. The
mission is baptizing a ton lately, just for you guys to have an idea, one
companionship this week baptized 21 people!

The new missionaries will arrive Wednesday so I haven't met my new companion yet.
For now I will be with a missionary from my district that is also waiting for
his companion to arrive. So I´m here in my 9th transfer in the mission and my
6th transfer in this area. No, that´s not normal but its OK, we´re working in a
part of the area that I hadn't worked in very much and we´re starting to have
success.

This week a family that we are teaching is going to get all the papers ready for
their wedding and they will be getting married and then baptized in 2 weeks. The
parents, Ivan and Monica, have 3 kids that love the church and always get really
excited when we go to their house.

So everything is going good here, I´ll have to take pictures of my new companion
and send them to you guys next week.

tchau!

Elder Jenson

Travis's Email August 24

Hey, This week we baptized the son of a member that we reactivated and this week we are going to do her wedding so her husband can be baptized. It was really cool to see their whole family at church yesterday and at their sons baptism. The mom of the family was a really strong member of the church for a really long time, she went inactive because of some gossip, and it was clear that for a long time she was just waiting for someone to come by and invite her to come back to church. Now we´re going to baptize her husband and in about a year they will be going to the temple! There´s nothing better than that. So me and my companion suffered a little this transfer but it looks like if I stay in the area next transfer we´re going to have a lot of success. Last night we almost died laughing because of a 4 year old boy that likes to run and get knocked down by his dog. The kid thinks its the funniest thing in the world. We´re hoping to get a higher allowance so we can take a bus to the neighborhood where we´re working instead of wasting 45 minutes walking everyday. Sorry my time´s up. remember that there is always, always, always someone seeing and being influenced by your example. you can be the means of someone being baptized without even knowing it.

Questions:

1. Have you gotten sick very often and what is the most common illness that the missionaries get?
Until now I only got sick one time. Most missionaries get sick with diarrhea and the common cold.
2. How has your acid reflux been?
I haven´t had any problems until now.
3. Are transfer coming up? Do you think you will stay in the same area? Transfers will be next wednesday, it looks like I will be staying in this area.....soon I´ll be able to say one year ago I was in this same area.
4. Did you mention to the mission pres. that you have served in this area before for several months?
Yeah I mentioned in an email. I'm sure he already knew. Mission presidents always have a way of knowing about the missionaries without them knowing.
5. Are you in need of anything? (that we could send you)
No I´m fine for now. When christmas gets closer I´ll ask for some stuff.
6. What has been your scariest experience as a missionary?
Do you really want to know? Passing a month without baptisms was pretty scary. I´ve received a few threats from drunk guys but thats really not that scary.

Travis's email August 17, 2009

Oi,
This week was goood. Unfortunately the man that we were
teaching, Tiago, in spite of his testimony about the
apostasy and restoration chose the baptist church. When
he broke the news to us he said, God forgive me if I´m
wrong but I´m going to stay in the baptist church. I
can´t ask that God forgives him but I pray that he will
be merciful. We spent a lot of time teaching him and I
really did get sad when I saw that he wouldn't be baptized
but I know that I did my part. We taught him the truth
clearly and powerfully and he rejected it.

This week was really cool. We found 3 awesome families
that we´re teaching. In one of the families, the wife is
already baptized and the husband and the kids want to be
baptized. They´re the Bishop´s friends and he´s really
excited. The other family was already taught in Rio de
Janeiro and when we talked to them about baptism the wife
said Oh Glory! (She´s evangelical). And the other family
is an old couple that has a bunch of kids. Things are
starting to look really good in the area. The bishop rented
a bus to take all of our investigators to church and we´re
hoping to fill up the bus.

Life is  good, my companion is happy, and we´re going to
baptize a bunch of people. Is there anything better than
that?

Elder Jenson

Questions:
1. Name three things that you love about Brazil. 
The people, the fruit, the growth of the church. 
 
2. Whats the funniest thing that people said when 
they saw you back in the same area? 
A missionary that looks just like you passed in 
this area! 
 
3. how far is the church from where you live ? 
200 yards. 
 
4. Do you ever take a taxi ? If so whats that like? 
Depending on the area we take unofficial taxis and 
we always have to haggle to get a good price. its 
really normal  here. 

5. Your most spiritual experience this week was. 
The man we were  teaching decided not to be baptized 
and I felt  the reassurance that I did my part, 
the rest is between him and the Lord. 

Is that a Capabara? Travis's Email August 10, 2009

Hi,
This week........We lost quite a bit of time teaching some people that told us
they wanted to be baptized but really just didn't have the guts to tell us no.
But on the brighter side we are teaching 2 brothers Tiago and Bartolomeu
who are way cool & are are going to be baptized this week. We´re also
teaching a couple of families that are progressing. The work here is a little
tough because we´re working to open up a branch in a neighborhood that's
pretty far from the church so we have to walk a lot and its a little tough to
bring the people to church. The bishop is going to rent a bus to help us
out with that so it should be good. I´m hoping to baptize lot of families
there.

So I´m in the second year of my mission. I made some goals and so far
things are looking pretty good. I still can't believe I'm back in this area.
Talk about irony! I started the first year and the second year of my mission
here, hopefully it won't end here.

I don't know if I have any funny stories but some weird things happened
this week. A woman that I baptized some time back somehow found
out where we live and left us a cake. I don't know how she found out where
we live but if it means more cake I'm OK with it.

A lady that we took to church yesterday sat through 10 minutes of the
lesson in the relief society room, left and went home because she
knows all the stuff they were teaching and she doesn't need to learn
more. That lady´s a little crazy. In fact, I think this area has the craziest
people out of any other area in the mission. The other day a lady found
drops of blood in front of her house, which was probably from a stray
dog, and as we were passing on the street she asked us to expel the
demons from her house. Trying to be good Samaritans we entered into
the house and I don't know why but she asked my companion to say
a prayer in English. It was ridiculous, and it was so hard not to laugh.
That's just one example. stuff like that happens every day.

have a good week everyone!

Note to Wirthlins:
I wrote Annie and gave the letter to another missionary for him to put in the
post office because I didn't have a post office in that area. I think he didn't
send it....grrr

Travis starts the 2nd Half of his mission

Olá,
Tudo Bem? Yep thursday will be my hump day. I´m definitely going to make a cake. The mission has gone by faster than I could have ever imagined but it's gone great so far. I´ve had good companions and I´ve learned a ton. I only have one more year left and I'm sure it will go by fast, maybe too fast.

Me and Elder Nielson are having a great time here in Jardim Veneza. Our relationship with the leadership is really good and they´re willing to help us out. Unfortunately we didn't have baptisms yesterday but this Sunday should be different. We found two brothers Tiago and Bartolomeu they are in their 20´s and they have been investigating various churches. When we taught them the first lesson they said that they believe in everything we taught them. We are going to baptize Tiago this week and Bartolomeu next week if the pastor of the church they were attending doesn't put any crazy ideas in their heads.

Today is P-day and we are going to the zoo! I´m excited, it's been quite some time since I went to the zoo and I've never been to a brazilian zoo. They say that you can get way closer to the cages than in the u.s. Don´t worry I´ll be safe.

That's all I got for now. Talk to you guys soon.
--
Elder Jenson

Questions:
----------
1. How do you feel at your 1 year anniversary?
Good. I feel like I have all the tools to do the work.

2. How are you and your companion getting along?
Great. We´re going to the zoo today it should be fun.

3. What's the hardest thing about your new district?
My district is great. the hardest thing is do the work here in the area but its
really no problem.

4. Describe your living conditions
We live in a one bedroom apartment. Its way nicer than our other house and easier to keep clean. I´m liking it. I'll send pictures later.

5. What are you doing today for p-day?
zoooooooo.

Travis got transferred back to his 1st area

Hello Everybody,

You guys aren´t going to believe this. I was transferred and you wont believe to
where. Jardim Veneza, my first area where I spent almost 7 months. Yeah, I didn't
believe it either. It will be crazy to go back there and see all the people that
I baptized and all the other members. It´s a good thing that I liked that area. So I
will be returning there but it will be a little different this time because I'm
district leader but we´ll see how it goes. My new companion is Elder R. Nielsen,
he´s a large white missionary from Utah. I don't really know him that well yet so
I´ll have to include more details later. I´m sad to leave Canguaretama, it was
really really good there. The members there looove the missionaries. They love
the missionaries too in Jardim Veneza and I´ll have a great time there.
To be honest I was going a little bit crazy with Elder Gama so it will be good
to have a change.

Well in a little while I´ll complete 1 year in the mission! So far it's going
good. I´ll have to work really hard to have success in this area but it will be
good.

Well I just got done traveling and I'm tired so I'm going to grab my companion
grab a bus and go to our area. Have a great week everyone. It would be good to
hear from my brothers if you guys get the chance.

Questions:
1. How do you feel about us selling the house? (be honest)
Hey at least you let me know beforehand. It could have been like the RM where he 
shows up at his house and his family doesn't live there anymore. I trust in you 
guys, if you felt that it was the right thing to do then I´m happy.

2. Have you been getting a lot of rain?
Yeah it´s been raining a lot lately, it usually rains in the morning and is 
sunny in the afternoon.

3. 2 good things about your companion
Well I was transferred so from what I know about Elder R. Nielsen so far he is 
humble and likes to joke around.

4. Do you think you mission president is strict and if so give me a couple of
examples.
He is very strict. If he hears your name and the word girl in the same sentence 
he´ll give you a nice little phone call. Honestly, in a lot of ways pres. 
Fernandes reminds me of dad, he looks stricter than he is and he likes to joke 
around. 

5. The more we rely on the Savior the closer we become to him. Tell and example
when you relied on the Lord.
Every day there are times when I don't know what to say to an investigator or 
what to do. Last week I talked about a man who I taught that stopped 
investigating the church. I knew that he could be a great member of the church 
and that he would be baptized but I didn't know how because he didn't want to talk 
to us. I prayed for him every night during the week and Sunday he showed up at 
church and said that he wanted to be baptized. Unfortunately I won't be there to 
baptize him.

Travis's Email July 13, 2009

Hello,

I’ll say the same thing about this week that missionaries say when they don't want to tell a member that they didn't like the food, it was interesting....This week was a little tough. A man that we had been teaching who I thought for sure would be baptized and one day become a bishop stopped investigating the church. He was tricked by one of the many false doctrines that exist here in northeastern Brazil. He told us that all of the churches are true even though they weren't organized by Christ. He also said that anyone who’s invokes the name of God has authority. I had to tell him very bluntly that he had been deceived. That God does not act that way, that there is only one path that leads to eternal life and few people find this path. Unfortunately, the evangelical churches have screamed in the ears of the people that God is a mysterious great spirit who will save all of us because we’re helpless sinners and that we just have to have faith. But this type of faith is an imaginary concept that can make you talk gibberish and fall on the ground if you believe.

It’s sad to see that so many people profess to follow Christ and that they love his gospel but when we, his servants, invite them to change their lives it’s irrelevant, unnecessary to them. When the scriptures teach that Satan will have a great influence on the hearts of the people it’s true, but I also know who will win this battle.

I’ll stop venting now. This week also had some really good moments. We’re having a lot of success and baptizing weekly here. This week several young men told us when they grow up they want to be exactly like us missionaries. Moments like that help me realize that everything we do as missionaries affects the members and the people here.

I found out the other day that there is a beach about ten minutes from the city here and it´s part of our area so we’re going to go check it out. Hopefully I will be able to resist the temptation to jump in the ocean.

Have a great week everyone. Don’t forget to read the scriptures and put your life into perspective daily.

`our foes have rejoiced when our sorrows they’ve seen but the hour of redemption is near`

Só batiza.
Elder Jenson

Hey,

This week was a little hectic. Wednesday afternoon I was walking down this street with my companion, Elder Parrella. Then the cell phone rang and it was President Fernandes saying that my companion was being transferred and that he would leave the area as soon as possible. And thus ended the story with me and Elder Parrella, he went to work in the mission office. So I spent a day with a member and then the next day my companion, Elder Gama, arrived. If you want to know what Elder Gama is like, just picture a loud latino guy who likes to dance salsa and other latin dances. When they say that latinos are passionate they aren´t kidding, this guy is pretty wild but its fun. He's really passionate about the mission.

Yesterday, President Fernandes appeared out of nowhere and attended sacrament meeting in our branch. Yeah, it was stressful but thats how it goes. He decided to stay for our baptismal meeting. We (Elders) had done all of our baptisms Saturday so Sunday was the sisters´ baptism and everything went wrong. I had a member baptize a 9 year old girl and he said the prayer wrong and when she went under the water she breathed in some water. So the member needed to baptize her again but she was scared and said she didn't want to be baptized anymore. So yesterday was the first time that I saw someone enter and leave the baptismal font without being baptized. A bunch of crazy stuff like that happened this week. We´re teaching a family that lives out in the middle of nowhere, in a sugar cane field and yesterday when we stopped by to take them to church the lady had been drinking (they were having a party) and suddenly she felt like shouting to everyone in the house that I had never know a woman(in the biblical sense). That was interesting... Anyway, I probably should write more uplifting things to you guys.

It's amazing to see how much the church has grown in this small city in just one year. I don´t know why but the Lord has prepared the hearts of the people in northeastern brazil. It´s great to be in a mission where I can baptize almost every week and teach people that believe so easily in what we teach.

Have a great week everyone, happy 4th of July!

Elder Travis Jenson

Questions:

1. Did you get your package yet?
Yeah and it was awesome. I loved the pictures and the ties and especially the chocolate!

2. What's the hardest thing about being a District leader?
Helping the sister missionaries. you have to work in a way that is completely different than when you work with elders.

3. What are some of the responsibilities of a District leader?
Be an example, do baptismal interviews, conduct district meetings, help the missionaries in the district, etc.

4. When are transfers?( they seem to come so quickly)
We had an emergency transfer this week. The actual transfer will be in 2 weeks.

5. When you have given a talk in church what did you talk about?
Baptism, missionary work, faith, repentance, whatever i feel like talking about.

6. The coolest thing about the area your in right now?
The branch president is exciting and willing to work and we are having a lot of success.

Travis's Email Jun 29, 2009

Hey,

So missing out on the beach vacation wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be.
Partly because I’m sure the way Mom and Dad talked about the vacation wasn’t half as cool as it actually was and also because I was so busy here that I didn’t even remember. I do have to admit that when I put on sunscreen every morning it’s a little hard not to think about the beach but don’t worry I’ll make it to the next trip for sure.

This week was crazy. Monday we had p-day with President Fernandes. Tuesday we had mission conference. Wednesday we cleaned up the yard at the church. Thursday until Saturday we had the open house at the new church. The open house was a success. President and Sister Fernandes, the assistants to the president, and some other missionaries that had already served here spent the whole weekend here helping us out. We had a lot of people who visited the open house and we’re going to have people to teach for a while. We worked doing proselyting for a total of 2 hours and miraculously we had a baptism this week. No wonder they call this the celestial mission.

I’m pretty tired from all the work we did and from the assistants to the president who stayed at our house and kept us awake and it was a little stressful with the mission president around watching our every move but we made it through okay. I’m definitely going to make the most of this p-day and sleep.

So this week the Sao Joao festival started here. Everyone puts gigantic bon fires in front of their houses and shoots off fireworks. There’s so much smoke in the streets that its hard to see where youre going and there is no way to keep your clothes from stinking. They have a traditional dance that they do here called quadrilha. It’s a lot like square dancing with big dresses and cowboy outfits. I thought it was pretty funny.

So that’s all the big news I have for now. I’m looking forward to working this week and not having to tell people that our church is in a school house. Have a good week everyone!

Elder Travis Jenson

Questions:

1. Was there a special reason that you were having lunch with the mission Pres. Last week?
No. he just decided to do a special p-day with a bunch of zones. There were about 50 missionaries there.

2. When is the open house for the new church house? Are you doing any thing for the open house?
It was last week. We did everything. We organized everything, set everything up, walked all the people through the church, took everything down and cleaned up. It was good.


3. Did you get your package yet?
Not yet. If it’s arrived in the mission office I’ll receive the package in about 2 weeks.

4. Did you find a different place to live? If so what is it like?
Not yet. We’re working on finding a new house here in Canguaretama because there is a problem with the wiring in our house and the electricity bills are really high.

5. What is the best thing about the branch?
It’s new and there are a lot of people to teach.

6. Is it hard to get new converts because everyone knows everyone else's business?
Sometimes it’s hard because everyone worries too much about what the other people think. Rarely will we have someone that doesn’t want to be baptized because they don’t believe the church is true. Most people are worried about what their friends or neighbors will think.

7. The funniest thing that happen this week?
The door to the bishop’s office was stuck so we had to put an Asian missionary, Elder Lew, through a small hole where the air conditioner goes so he could take out the stuff we needed. It was just like ocean’s 11.

8. The hardest thing that happened this week?
We only did proselyting work for about 2 hours. We spent our week doing stuff for the open house.

Travis's Email June 15, 2009

Hey you guuuyyysss,

Talk about a good week. I´m loving my new area here, the members are great. All the members are like a close knit family its really cool. We had 2 young men who were going to be baptized this week but unfortunately one of the kid´s Mom didn't let him and the other kids pastor from the evengelical church convinced him that the book of mormon doesn't exist. Literally. he told me the book doesn't exist. It didn't make much sense because I was holding the book in my hand but whatever dude. My brasilerican companion is great, he knows how to cook and we´re having a lot of fun. In 2 weeks a house that the church is remodeling is going to be ready and we won't have to have our meetings in the school. There is going to be a big open house and we´re going to invite all the important people from the city, and president fernandes is going to speak. Opa, times up. Have a great week everybody. friends, family, feel free to send me chocolate. Giradelli´s, Hershey, the brand really isn't that important. haha

tchau,
Elder Jenson

Questions:

1. How many people are there in the branch?
There are about 130 people baptized and 40 people went to church yesterday.

2. Describe what a Sunday meeting would be like. (who teaches, do they go all three hours, what is your role on sunday's)

The meeting was in an elementary school, there are a few members that teach the classes and I just do want the branch president needs- give a last minute talk, prayer, bless the sacrament. whatever he needs.

4. How are you and your companion getting along?

Great.

5. Where in Ca did your companion live, how may people are in his family, was his dad and area authority in Ca.?

He lived in San Marcos Ca, he has 4 brothers and his Dad was an area authority in Brazil.

6. Describe the area that you live in now.

Its a lot like my other area only a little smaller. Its just like Cheers everybody knows each others name and life story.

7. What do people do for a living in this area and how's the crime rate?

Most of the people are unemployed or work at some shop in the town. Its a safe small town.

8. How far away from your last area is this one?

About 2 hours.

More Pics from Joe's Baptism party

Joey is now a baptized member of the Church

Here is our newly baptized Joe! Joe is Rachel's 3rd.

Nathan Turned 30!

Nate was excited to get his picture taken on his 30th birthday

Travis's email June 10, 2009

Hey,

Big news, I was transferred. I left Elder Snow and that cool little city for another cool little city named Canguaretama. I was called to be district leader, our district is me, my companion, and two sister missionaries who interestingly work in the same area as us. The church has only been in this area for 1 year, the Sunday meetings are in a school, and we need to baptize lots of men and lots of families to help the church grow here. My companion is Elder Parrella. Here's some info about him- he lived in california for 5 years so he speaks fluent english, his dad was recently called to be mission president in the mission brasil belo horizonte, he likes movies and I'm his 3rd companion. An interesting detail is that my trainer Elder Sanches was in the area just before me. I really wasn't expecting to be transferred and really wasn't expecting to be called district leader. It will be interesting doing baptismal interviews and district meeting and all that stuff. President Fernandes is really stressing the importance of helping the church grow here because this area was opened recently so there's a lot of pressure on us to baptize and help the church here. I´m not too stressed because I know that if I trust in the Lord then everything will turn out ok. I even adopted a slogan for the rest of my mission: A verdadeira força provém da humilde confiança em Deus. (true strength comes from humble trust in God) It´s a quote from Willford Woodruff. So I´m going to do my best to live that until the end of my mission. I have a lot of work to do in this area and I´m really excited. Have a great week everyone, só batiza.

-Elder Travis Jenson

Questions:

1. Why did you need to find a new house?

I don't need to worry about finding a new house now, I was transferred to Canguaretama. Cool name isnt it.

2. Tell us about the house you live in now.

It´s a small apartment but it looks like we´re going to look at a new house today. This house is nice but there´s some puddles of water close by and that makes problems with the mosquitos.

3. What is the best thing that you know how to cook?

Pancakes, cake, rice, pasta.

4. Does your companion doing any of the cooking?

Last transfer elder snow usually made breakfast and i made dinner.

5. What will you be doing for p-day this week?

I travelled, ate lunch with the branch president, I'm writing emails, and then later we´re going to look at a house.

6. Have the bugs been bad in this area?

In ceará-mirim it wasnt bad at all but we´ll see how it goes in this area.