Travis's Email Jan 26, 2010

Hey mom,
I counted and it looks like I will be going home in the end of July. On the 28th or 29th I think. A missionary had told me that it would be earlier but he was wrong.

Hey everybody,
I’m not sure where I left off in the other email.. Last week we had mission conference in the cities Mossoró, Natal, and João Pessoa. That means that we had to travel. Usually the assistants travel in the mission president’s car but he decided to take his whole family with him so we went by bus. It was pretty funny in Mossoro because we slept in the house of the missionaries there along with the president and his entire family. Mossoro is one of the hottest areas and it was pretty hot inside that house but we had a fun time and the conference went well. Me and the other assistant Elder Gardner talked about the fourth chapter of preach my gospel that talks about following the Spirit and President Fernandes talked about how we are all Sheppard’s and how we need to feed the Lord’s sheep if we love Him.

The conferences in Natal and Joao Pessoa also went very well. Last week in our area we helped a family return to church that had been inactive for about 6 years and we baptized their 13 year old son. The parents loved the baptism.

This week we baptized the 75 year old mom of the first counselor in the bishopric. He had been waiting more than 20 years for that to happen. She always said that when God called she would be baptized and when we showed up and said that in the name of Jesus Christ we were inviting here to be baptized she accepted.

Things in the ward are good. The members are way more excited, there are some members that help us out more that any other members I've seen in the mission.

Well things are good, have a great week everyone.

I attached a picture of a beach here in Joao Pessoa. Yeah I photo shopped it a little bit. Enjoy!

-Elder Jenson

Questions:
1. The three best things this week were?
Last week we went to the mall, slept in a high rise apartment close to the ocean and we baptized the first counselor in the bishopric’s mother.
2. The hardest thing this week was?
...
3. If you sleep in different places do you have to carry your suitcase with you?

We take our backpacks with us.

4. Does some one still wash your white shirts for you?

Nobody ever washed my shirts for me I always washed them.

5. The best thing about your new area is?

For a long time there were only 2 missionaries in the area and there are 2 wards there so we have a lot of people to teach and the members are excited because there are more missionaries.

6. How is the ward? How long has it been a ward? How many members? What is the bishop like?

The area presidency asked President Fernandez to help this stake because it has a lot of problems but really it’s not that bad, it something that can be fixed real quickly with some hard work. It’s a really old ward but the attendance in sacrament meeting is about 60 people. The bishop is really humble. In fact I think he’s out of a job right now. He trusts us so I think we will have a good time working together.

Love ya a lot Mom

P.S. I attached a picture of me with some people that I baptized, in the high-rise apartment, with the first counselor in the mission presidency’s family, in the front of a catholic church and with pres Fernandez who was going fishing.

Travis's Email Jan 19, 2010

Alright you guys, this week was crazy. So crazy that I only have about 30 seconds to write, sorry. We have to grab a bus right now to go eat dinner with Pres. Fernandes and his family.

We are traveling this week to have conferences with the missionaries, it’s pretty hectic. Last night we slept in a missionary’s house along with the president and his entire family. We ate frozen pizza and fried chicken, it was pretty funny.

Things are going great; I’m having a lot of fun.

I really liked the news about Max´s baptism. I loooove baptisms, it’s my favorite thing. I’ll have to find some time to write you guys a little bit later in the week.

I love you guys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Travis's Email Jan 13, 2010

HELLO,

This week was pretty hectic. A week ago I was in parnamirim and everything was so calm and in a matter of a few days I was running around Joao Pessoa, in the airport picking up missionaries, in the mission office working on the computer, having to sleep in the presidents house because we were passing the transfers, working in my area trying to find people to baptize. This week was pretty cool. I think the highlight was when we went to the airport to pick up the new missionaries. It seemed like so long ago when I arrived in the mission. We helped the missionaries get situated, talk a little about the mission rules and what is expected of them and then sent them off to their areas. I don't know how it is in other missions but the assistants in this mission work a lot in their area. This week I worked in the area from Thursday until Sunday. We are working in an area where we are trying to strengthen a stake that has a lot of problems. So far I'm really liking the area, ironically its really close to the area where I spent a lot of my mission. Me and the other assistant, we have junior companions, my junior companion is Elder Dorneles, he is from southern Brazil. He works in the area when I'm not there. He's really humble and works hard. I´m going to take some time send some pictures to you guys, I'll send more details about my hectic life here. Today is P-day and I think I will be spending it working here in the mission office.

Elder Jenson

Travis's Email Jan 6, 2010

Hey Everyone, 

Monday morning I was in my apartment at about 10:00 

am when the cell phone rang. It was President 

Fernandes and he wanted to talk to me. I don’t know 

how it is in other missions but here when the 

mission president calls it’s rarely a good thing. I 

answered, he asked me a few questions, and then 

broke the news. He said, “Elder, you are being 

called to be Assistant to the President.” 

I said, are you sure? He said yes, grab a bus and 

come here as soon as possible. And so I went. 

So it’s pretty good being an assistant to the 

president. The best part is working close to the 

President and learning with him. He has many 

qualities that I want to develop in my own life 

and I know that he receives revelation to guide 

this mission. 

Yesterday was awesome! We went to the airport 

to pick up the new missionaries. I remembered the 

day that I arrived in the mission and it was cool 

to be able to receive the new missionaries and 

make them feel welcome. 

My companion, the other assistant, is Elder Gardner 

who is from Washington D.C. I’m going to have to 

learn a lot of things with him, and fast because 

this is his last transfer. 

When I started my mission I saw the Assistants to 

the President as semi-gods and now that I’m in 

their place I see that they were normal 

missionaries just like me. The responsibilities 

are just a little different. I also realize that 

many of the changes and things that have occurred 

in my mission occurred very subtly. It’s safe to 

say that the life I have here is more complicated, 

my cell phone is constantly ringing, since I started 

writing this email it already rang 4 or 5 times. 

It’s a great opportunity to serve and learn; it’s 

also very overwhelming. 

I’m praying a lot and working hard so I hope that’s 

enough. Our work schedule is basically the same as 

any other mission but I think once or twice a week 

we will have to work with President Ferndandes. It 

should be interesting; I’ll give you guys some more 

details later. 

I hope everything is great with you guys, have an

awesome week! 

-Elder Jenson 

Travis Pics

Travis's New Year email Jan 2010

Hey mom here´s some news, I found out that the day 

that I will be going home will probably be July 

15th so you can make plans for around that date. 

Hello, 

First of all, Happy 2010 to everyone. My new year 

here in Parnamirim was good, it was surprisingly 

quiet because everyone went to the parties that 

they had on the beach. We spent the new year at 

home eating the spaghetti with sausage that one of 

the missionaries made. Yesterday we worked as 

normal and then when we got home we ate and stayed 

up to watch some fire works. It was a good new 

years. 

It's crazy to think that I spent all of 2009 here 

in the mission field and its also crazy to think 

that I will be going home this year! (not to sound 

trunky or anything) 2009 was probably the best year 

of my life and I’m sure 2010 will be better. It’s 

just like a story that Joel Biggs told me and the 

young men about a guy in his mission that said that 

every day was the best day of his life. I’m happy to 

be where I am right now. 

Alright well I’m out of time. I hope that everyone 

can make goals to have a better year. I know I’m 

going to! 

-Elder Jenson 

Travis's Email December 25, 2009

Hi Mom,
I just got off of the phone with you guys and it turns
out that we get to send emails today too. It was great
to hear from everybody I hope you guys are having a
great Christmas!!!! We are so blessed to have such a
happy family where everybody is really close.


Hi,
Christmas here in the mission is really different. It's
a blessing because here where I'm serving the Lord,
my thoughts are focused more on the blessings that come
to us because of the life of our Savior. I have been
thinking about Mosiah chapter 3 these last few days.
It is wonderful to know that the Son of God was willing
to descend below everything to take upon himself the
sorrow, cruelty, and pain of this world to purify us.
Now he has set the requirements for our eternal
happiness and freedoms from the pain of this world.
These requirements have always been transmitted to us
by the mouth of the prophets and they are written in
the scriptures. They are always within our reach! We
have a living prophet today who has a vision of the
truth and protects us from the changing attacks of
Satan and the sorrows of sin. Every day that passes I
gain a greater understanding of the importance of the
Atonement and the decision we have to choose salvation
and eternal life or eternal condemnation. My hope for
Christmas is that we can all seek to have a better
vision of life through our study of the scriptures and
our prayers that express the true desires of our heart.
Throughout my mission there has been a scripture that
doesn't leave my mind its Alma 37:45-47. I hope that
I can live better and not forget to appreciate the
sacred things that God has given me.


The Church is true, I love you guys, have a great
Christmas!

Travis's Email December 14, 2009

HEY,
Today me and my companion were going to go to the beach so we call up the mission pres. and ask for permission to leave our area and go to the beach and he said, ok elders you can go but you just get to step in the sand. We were all excited and then as we were waiting at the bus stop we received a phone call. It was the president saying that we couldn't go because his wife said we need to stay at home and clean our house. I'm trying hard to get over the devastation. Just kidding. That's the way it goes, we´ll have to go to the beach another day. This week was a good one but of course it wasn't problem free. Miraculously, we baptized a young man yesterday. We were teaching this guy and everytime was went to his house to teach him shortly after we left someone went to his house to talk bad about us. They told him that we don't believe in God and that after his baptism we would lock him in a room for a month. He got all worried and decided that he didn't want to be baptized. He, like a lot of people, just needed a push in the right direction. Sunday at about 6:00pm we went to his house sat him down and read a few scriptures with him that talk about baptism and then said, "Eduardo God will not permit that you return to his presence if you aren´t baptized." In that very moment we left his house went to the church and then baptized him. The scriptures always help the people to see the truth. We also had some other people that stopped progressing because someone talked bad about us, including a family that we were teaching. Unfortunately there isn't much we can do if the person is afraid of what everyone will think because there will always be someone who talks bad about the church and if you can't deal with that then being a faithful member of the church is impossible. Last night after church we were talking to Claudio the Ward Mission Leader and I almost died because I was laughing so hard. Claudio has a disease that harms his vision and he´s going blind (thats not the funny part). It´s funny because he doesn't even worry about it, he tries to keep on doing his normal activities like bike riding and it always goes wrong. The other day he told us that he almost ran over a man in a wheel chair in front of the hospital and ended up suffering a `beautiful fall` as he called it. Okay maybe it doesn't sound that funny but if you could here him talk and laugh about it you would laugh. Things are good here, clearly my companion is counting the days until he goes home but that's not going to stop the work from going forth. Have a great week everyone!!!!! Só Batiza!!!!!!!
Elder Jenson

Baby Grace strikes a pose

Travis's Email December 7, 2009

Hey Mom, how´s it goin? Everything's great here. I have very little time to write today because I had to send a bunch of pictures and info to the mission office. I hope everybody is way excited for Christmas because I know I am. I'm here close to Natal which means Christmas in Portuguese so I'm hoping the people have the Christmas Spirit. Unfortunately December is usually a tough time for missionary work.

Hello,
This week we had a meeting with the zone leaders and Pres. Fernandes and it was pretty intense. The Pres. talked about our responsibility to help the missionaries who aren't baptizing and I knew that I needed to do a better job helping the missionaries in our zone. A lot of them are having problems so we are going to see what we can do to help them. That was probably the highlight of the week. We ate lunch at the mission home and we ate açaí so it was pretty cool. I´m getting along really well with my companion Elder Paim. Even in tough moments when it would be easy to get depressed we find something happy to think about and then we go on. In a little bit we are going to have the Christmas Mission Conference which should be pretty awesome. I`m out of time people. have fun in cold places because I dont remeber anymore what it's like to get cold!

Elder Jenson

Questions:
1. did you get your package yet?
No
2. When will you send us the phone information for the Christmas call?
Probably 2 weeks from now
3. What are some of the traditions for Christmas in Brazil?
The people here celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve and then sleep all day on Christmas day. The people like to party.
4. Did you find a house yet? If so describe it.
Yeah we found a house. It's a simple apartment but it was constructed recently so it's pretty nice.
5. When is your companion going home again?
In a month.

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

Travis's Email October 26, 2009

Hi Mom,
I'm trying to recover from the shock I had right now when I saw the pictures of Ethan and Benson. You can wrap individually the gifts for the missionaries. They want to know what the parents will be sending so if you could let me know what you will be sending so I can tell them that would be great.

Hello,
This week was good. Things are going well here with Elder Gama and we are teaching a lot of lessons. So far we haven't found the future bishop that we are looking for. We taught a man who would have been a good Bishop but he didn't believe that Joseph Smith was a prophet basically because he is prejudiced against the U.S. but that's the way it goes. Tonight we are going to have a family home evening and we are going to bring some families with us to watch the movie Joseph Smith Prophet of the Restoration. There are times when I need to help my companion remember the mission rules but other than this things are going great with him. We had 4 people to baptize this week but because 3 of them drank coffee we only baptize a teenage girl. I'm finally starting to feel like an older missionary. I realize that after Christmas I will have very little time left in the mission. Well everything is the same here. We are going to keep working hard to find people that will strengthen the church. I'm going to eat ice cream today and that's gonna be awesome. I hope everyone is great back at home. Let Nate know that he should think about cutting Ethans hair and let Benson know that he should think about growing less. Dad keeping sending pictures it's fun to see everybody.
Tchau!

-Elder Jenson

Questions:
1. What are you going to do for p-day today?
We are probably going to the dermatologist because my companion has splotches on his chest. If we don't go to the doctor we´ll probably watch a movie in the church.
2. your favorite discussion this week was ? Why was it your favorite?
Last night we taught a lady that asked us, can you leave a book of Mormon with me so I can read it? Of course we gave her a book and she wants to be baptized. When we ended the message she gave us a piece of cake, that was cool.
3. The best place you ate this week, and why was it the best?
One of the members made spaghetti and meatballs and mashed potatoes for us that was probably the best thing we ate this week.
4. Does a member still wash your white shirts? Do you need any new shirts or garments?
The members never washed my white shirts, we wash them in our washing machine. No I don't need any shirts or garments. If I need them in the future I´ll let you know.
5. What is your favorite food that you cook yourself?
Pancakes
6. How is your new companion doing? Is he OK being with you again?
He´s fine. he´s happy with the situation he´s in. He said he wants to learn to be more obedient with me.

Travis's Email Oct 5, 2009

Whoa, Leona was baptized! That's awesome. Did you guys take a picture? I'm really
happy for Jenny and for Leona. I'm sure jenny knew it would happen sooner or
later. Tell Leona that I said congratulations! Did Scott baptize her? If not
tell him he´s a goleiro (mission slang for missionaries that don't baptize). I
hope you guys loved conference unfortunately I only got to watch the Sunday
sessions.

Hi,
I hope everybody had a great week. My week was good. This week we spent a lot of
our time teaching all of the people that a girl that we baptized knows. The
people here are great because they aren't afraid to introduce the missionaries to
everyone they know. This girl, Eduarda, gave us references of her family,
friends, and some people that she barely even knows. This is something that I
wish everyone in the u.s. could see. one of the apostles talked in conference
about how missionary work has changed. How now it involves the members more and
that way it is much more effective. And its true. When members are involved in
missionary work they get excited and everyone gets to participate in the Lord´s
work.
I really enjoyed the parts of conference that I got to watch. I only watched the
Sunday sessions and I missed some talks because of baptismal interviews and the
baptism that we had. I've learned to give more importance to all of the speakers
and not just the prophet and 12 apostles. If we try to listen to the Spirit then
we will learn from all of the talks.
I'm sure my mission president is going nuts because they are going to build a
temple in his city, Fortaleza.
I hope everybody is excited for the holidays I know I am. Next week is going to
be transfers and we´ll see if I´ll be leaving the area that's starting to look
like my home ward.

Well I love you guys, keep on keepin on. Please pray for me so I can baptize
more people, especially men and families that will strengthen the church.

tchau,
Elder Jenson

Questions:

1. Who do we address the packages to for the other missionaries at Christmas?
You need to address the package to the mission and write donation on it. For 
example Brazil Joao Pessoa Mission ´Donation´ or if you want to write in 
portuguese Brasil Missão João Pessoa ´Doação´

2. What do you want for Christmas?
A pen drive(if you dont know what it is mom, dad knows), i left anchor blue 
calogne in my bathroom send it if you still have it and if not dont worry about 
sending calogne, rechargable batteries and the charger if it doesnt cost more 
than 20 dollars. if its more than 20 i can just buy it here for the same price. 
one of the pairs of athletic shorts that i left. tigers milk protein bars, 
candy, and maple syrup extract if you can find it. 
thanks, love ya   

3. What was your favorite conf. talk and why?
My favorite talk was the talk by Elder Ringwood in the sunday afternoon session. 
He talked about the condition of our hearts and our receptiveness to the Spirit. 
This was something that will help me in my personal conversion and the 
conversion of others. He talked about a people in the book of mormon in helaman 
6 that it was easy for them to hear and live the gospel. i have also felt this 
at times and at other times no. he taught us how and when we can feel the 
influence of the Spirit so the gospel is easier for us to hear and live. I am 
really grateful for the times in my life when God has helped me see the purpose 
of his plan. these have been the greatest times of my life and it can make all 
the difference for us. this understanding comes during study of the scriptures 
and hearing the word of god being taught. When God gives us this vision of life 
it is easy to live the gospel, i just hope and pray that i can have a greater 
vision and not lose it when i end my mission. 

4. How many people  so up for baptisms?
I don't understand the question. how many people show up? we have the baptisms 
after the Sunday block so there are always about 10 or 15 people.

5. The best thing you ate this week was?
Chicken parmigian(sp?) with rice and beans and mashed potatoes.

6. Do you work out at all or are you just getting skinny and a little soft?
( questions from your brothers)
I jump rope, do pushups and situps but for some reason i cant seem to mantain 
the flawless body that i had before the mission. 

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 ;)