We'll even pick up rocks in the vine Del Senor

Wow, that will be fun that you get to go to Mar´s new house. It may sound weird but when you have fun, it is like I get a taste of what ever you're doing. And the Gift of the Holy Ghost is a foretaste of living with God. PMG Chap 4.

 

Skyping was fun. That was cool to see your faces and hear your voices. And see Nate. The last time I saw him was when we skyped with him. Glad that the whole family could be there. The next day we had lunch with a family whose daughter is going on mission soon and will return before I do. Anyway she ask me if I cried after or during skype. I say No kind of abruptly, and she said why(por qué). I said because it was fun. That kind of a funny story.

 

So on Sunday, Juan, came to church again, and Ana Rosa came with her granddaughter. They are making progress. It's amazing.

 

OK, so in reality we don't no know where we are getting transferred until wed, and it sounds like there will not be sisters coming to our area. Entonses no sabemos. The reason the transfer are delayed is because of the new year.

 

We´ll continue to sow, reap, weed, plow, even pickup rocks in the viñe Del Señor. Whatever cualquier cosa Él quiere (whatever thing He asks).  I love the work the more I do it. This is the time to really use my efforts. I love the this work.

We also had actividad con the president.

 

Thanks for all that you are doing, and the letters you send. God loves you and I love you.

 

Love Elder Bransen Gene Jensen

PS. your quote "You wore that shirt the last several Christmases" is from mom to Grandpa. Your quote is ´´oh, this is such bad new for me´´....´´Did you have a bad dream´´ ´´yay but everything alright now´´

 

PSS: mom, thanks for saying I look good.

Feliz Navidad

Wow Navidad ya otra vez. First and foremost Skype will be 5:00 pm the 25th here so about 1:00. See you then.

To answer mom´s questions:

Is P day on Monday? Yes
Do you have a grocery store nearby? Yes many and different types and an ice cream place se llama Grido. Good place but has flavors with alcohol and accidentally had one of those type. We ask the lady after. They just don´t have the same rules here. But now we know to be more careful. Anyway.
Do you have a washer? No the mission cant afford anymore
Do you have a maid? no, nobody does.

You do your own cleaning? yes

Are you happy? yes, but we have to work at being happy sometimes. And I'm growing so much. I love this work and would not want to be anywhere else even if there are moments when I feel different.

Glad you're having fun, and there is a lot going on. Thanks for telling me about Teresa I will keep her in my prayers.

Some really neat things that happen here. On Tuesday we had a FHE at the Bishops with Juan our investigator (who came to church again and is planning to come again woohoo!!) Any way it was on the plan of salvation, It was similar to the one we do as a family, where talk about each state and different food for the different glories. It went very well and I was in charge for the most part, and it was fun. And Juan stayed almost to 11:00 with the bishop´s family after we left. That man understands so much and we again invited him to be baptize.  He said he needs more time because he knows how important it is.

Oh, we both found out we are getting transferred to where we don´t know yet. They told us early so we could prepare the pench (apartment) for the incoming sisters.

There was a baptism on Saturday and I was the piano player. We sang normal hymns and had a choir number by the missionaries.

Don't forget the reason for the season. Marry CHRISTmas. And thanks for your spiritual thoughts. I hope my stories give you a spiritual boost.

God Love you

Te amo

Ama Elder Bransen Gene Jensen.

Your quote "If I was Santa, I wouldn't use reindeer, I would use a cooler animal like jaguars. And then I would need to move to South America, since there are no jaguars in the North Pole." is without a doubt from Collin. Your quote is: ´´hey want to play with my darbies.´´

There are some really good people here

Wow, I hardly remember everything that happened this week. Went through some hard thing where I've learned to love and forgive. This week was a blur, but That is OK!!

Good news.  Our investigator Juan came to church yesterday. Woohoo.

It sounds like Emalie did a good job on her talk, bien hecho hermana.

Yes it is hot here, i am putting on sunscreen.

Wow and I can't believe that Christmas time is so close.

English and piano classes. We did it on Saturday, and not too many people are coming right now. But a few of our investigators are excited for it, but just could not go.

For Skype we going shoot for 1pm your time or close to that time on Christmas day.

Oh, I have a funny story of a girl about age 10 that thought we were Mexican because of our accent. That has been our joke for the week. But the funny thing is that she was not the only one, as I understand, and as a joke we tell people we are Mexican, but really north. jaja. (Don't worry we tell them the truth after. unless they already know us).

There are some really good people here.

Thanks for your updates and spiritual thoughts.  Remember the importance of planting seed. Like Alma said even if just have desire to believe. If you have the slightest desire to be better at a gospel truth or commandment, start with a sincere prayer and plant the seed.

Thanks for your encouragement, love, and support. God love you. I love you.

(Sorry I kind of just have random stuff written. I hope its good) Sorry no picture.

Love Elder Bransen Gene Jensen.

Ps your quote "Dad I want a cookie sandwich" is from Jared Foxworth. Your quote for this week is:´´one of you drive while ma and I make out in the back´´

Focus on the little stuff

Wow, sounds like you had a neat week. That was cool that you got to meet Elder Ballard.

This week was pretty good. I´m learning to focus and appreciate the little successes in the our lives. Yesterday my companion and I talked about this, because our zone is really pushing us to get baptisms dates, and there's pressure from that.

Dominic, que capo. That's so cool he is leaving this week, and it's neat Josh´s mom had their baby girl. qué tal.

We started English and piano classes on Saturday.

Oh, and I shared my testimony in church yesterday. It felt way good to do so. My heart and stomach were pounding together. We all know what that is like.

The mission is hard, fun, and rewarding. Right now one of our investigators, always seem to have work or something. But I´m sure things will start to come through. We love all are investigators, and it´s hard when they don´t see the importance of our/ the Lord´s message. We have a investigator that believes the Book of Mormon to be the word of God, with no doubt, and that Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God, and our prophets today are of God, but does not want to change religions. Mainly because of Catholic tradition. Reminds me of your mission, dad. But like I and my companion spoke about, focus in the little stuff.

Oh. Wyatt sent me a letter.

I have ,and will have many stories to tell you when I get home. Because the stories are too long to write.

Anyway have a great week. I love you God loves you/us more.

and hope these are uplifting, let know how they could be more.

Thanks for all you do.

Love Elder Bransen Jensen.

Ya es Christmas Time

Wow, it´s crazy Thanksgiving is over. Sounds like you are still able to have fun with out me. There;s a lot that has happened this week for you guys. I glad Emalie is converting to hikeism. ja ja. That is a good analogy of coming to the Gospel, and her goal to hike Angel´s Landing is like going to the temple.

It´s interesting that you read Moroni 8: 2-3 because I read that this morning and those verses stood out. Que tal eh.

We did have interviews with the president and his wife yesterday, but there was no General Authority as you thought. 

It´s nice to have our own pension. Yes it's only us two, and that is how it is for the whole mission. And we are a lot closer to our area, and we´ll always go the same church, until we´re transferred.

We had an investigator come to church. Yahoo!! She gave us food. She has a store, and brought some cheese, jugo, and alfajores an she said, Oh take some pan(bread), butter, jam. Butter and jam are expensive here. We were kind of overwhelmed. She´ll be blessed I´m sure, for feeding the Lord´s servants. Then after that we went with some members to teach her a lesson.

I´m sure things will go well with our other investigators, but that's all I have to say about that.

I love you God love you.

Love your Son Brother Cousin Nephew..

Elder Bransen Jensen.

Ps. your quote "it' starting to get wandom now" is from Ash. Your quote is:´´I¨m a pink neck¨´

Happy Thanksgiving

Wow, I can't believe it´s almost Thanksgiving. I will be a little different not having it.

Por fin. We have are own pension. Now we're building are desks, bookshelves, and todo eso.

This week I´ve used piano a lot more than usual. The primary thing was just a practice so I was needed because the main lady coudn´t do the practices.

On Saturday we had ward party. That was fun. There was a cake competition. Which was fun because we ate them afterwards. It was also a talent show. And a missionaries did a skit.  I was not part of it, which was OK conmigo.

I´m glad to hear that Emalie and Ashley are still playing piano.

To answer your question about mi compañro. He is 21 años, he is de Glendale SLC.

Yesterday for lunch, I had lamb, pork,and beef steak con veggies. All very good.

Well, I don´t have much more to write. I hope my letters are informative and I hope I can write better letters.

I love you and God love us more.

Love Elder Bransen Gene Jensen

PS. I don't know where your quote "I hate bleach because it killed my frog" comes from, but your quote today is:¨´my dad´s favorite holiday is St. Patrick´s Day, because he´s a goblin¨ bueno suerte.

PSS i have some photos of the old pench and new, but

PSSS. Tell Nate to write pro favor.

It's good to be busy

Como estáis vosotros.

This last week was a little stressful. And this week will be stressful, because on Saturday I´m playing songs for some primary thing, so I have to practice, and find time to do so. On Sunday I´m teaching the lesson in Gospel principles (in Spanish). All in addition to normal missionary work. But it will be great because the Lord will help me, and it´s good to be busy.

Actually not having anything is stressful as a missionary. Let me tell you what some days are like, during siesta (nap time). It´s basically from lunch to 4:00 or 6:00. If we don´t have lesson or people to go to, it´s not fun. We´ll walk in what appears to be a ghost town. We´ll clap... no answer. We joke by saying that everyone is dead.

It´s hard to set up citas(appointment), because we´ll ask when a good time for us to come back. and they´ll say: come back whenever just not right now. It hard to meet our key investigators, because they're hija (sick), and they have been going to the hospital. Satan work hard to prevent people from hearing the gospel, but we know who will win in the end and those who want to hear the gospel and change their lives will get the gran opportunity to do so.

Yes, I did hear about the typhoon that hit the Philippines. And the miracle of the missionaries.

It sounds like you guys are having a hard time as well. With problems with the washer and car and college and my bedroom. Glad to hear that you're managing, and someone had come to help you, and you went to help someone else. It's cool how we all help people with their needs and problems.

Thanks for all you do I love you so much, and God love us so much more.

Love, Elder Bransen Jensen, tu hijo.

PS your quote "Is Sunday Thursday?" is from G-pa Jensen. The quote para ti is: ´´What I´m going to do with all these corndogs!!´´ bueno suerte

God works in mysterious ways.

Roca Zone Conference

 

Roca Zone Conferene

 

You guys are awesome. I´m glad to hear you are still able to have fun without me.Jaja( this how you do haha in spanish, no joke). It sounds like you had a good time at grandma´s and grandpa´s. Probably because Nate was there. Jaja.

It sounds like you're busy with church stuff, that's pretty neat, and it´s cool that mom got a new calling. That meeting you had is quite applicable to missionary work tanbien.
 

So this morning I had a meaningful study. I read the BOM where Moroni said he had weakness in writing. I can relate a lot to Moroni in that sense. As you clearly see; I place miss word, and misspoll words, Jaja. Reading that part really helped me grow and feel God´s love. Ether 12:23-27. Right now I have a weakness in writing and speaking. but esta bien.

Sorry for not taking photos, i´m afraid of taking it out to are area, in case it gets stolen. Because we do run into drunk guys just about every week. It´s kind of funny to think about it. We say the same thing to drunk guys as some people used to say to dad and me when we would go do fast offerings:´´no, we don´t have anything (for you)´´. One time a drunk guy shooed us away from one of are investigators house. Which work out just fine, because we went and found someone else, and came back. God works in mysterious ways.

Anyway, our two prime investigators, have now both accepted the invitation to be married and baptized. They are very special, they truly follow their hearts. I´m sure some day they will get married in the temple. You don't know how awesome this is as a missionary to find someone like this...whoohoo.
 

To answer a few questions. We're in a city, the area where we work is kind of sacky and a lot of the houses are illegal, meaning someone will find a spot and build a house on it. It´s also next to a dump, and the prison, pretty cool hu. but it´s not all that bad as it sounds, there are some good houses. It is a arid place, more or less.
 

Thanks for all you do. Love you mucho. You are awesome.
 

God loves you
Love your son, brother, cousin, and friend

Elder Bransen Gene Jensen.
 

Ps. your quote "I pray that no farm or accident falls upon us, and bless the people who live on the streets don't get hit by a car" is from Emaile. Your quote is:´´oh you got a buggy in your house!!´´.

 

 

The Lord is trying to teach us

Thanks for your letter and your advice, and all is well.
I loved Ashley´s letter, it was touching.

Some things we thought about Argentina are not all true. For the most part we do get feed well, sometimes pass the brim, but sometimes we have to be more considerate depending on who is feeding us. Some families make great sacrifices to feed the Elders, God bless them.
 

This week was not all that great. I´ll explain: on Tuesday my companion hurt or sprained his ankle so Wednesday we were required to stay in all day. Then on Saturday I had something wrong with me, headache, and feeling pretty bad.  In fact I had to stay inside all day again. Then a migraine on Sunday, but I was OK in few hours, and went out to work. So it´s not fun being sick or hurt, because you can't work and that does not feel good either, you get kind of antsy. Now I´m todo bien. I think the Lord is trying to teach us.
 

On Friday we gave a blessing to one of are investigators, Maridith, for her health. It was a cool experience. Then the next day I received a blessing from my companion.(because I was sick). He said, something comforting, that wherever the Lord has me go or do is for a reason.
 

You can tell everyone that I´m doing fine, and tell them thank for their concerns. And send them my love.
 

Thank you. Love you.
 

Love, Elder Bransen Gene Jensen.
 

ps. Your quote "your dad is weird but he is still awesome" must be from Ashley. Your Quote:" Look its a crane, it's crane" "that´s not a crane, that´s a blue heron"

I feel so blessed to be doing this work

It sounded like Yellowstone was fun. I like that place. And I am glad your were not swallowed up by a fireball. Glad you're back home safe.

Well I really love working in the vineyard. This Friday we were contacting and met Rorigo, and Itati. They invited us in to talk, and we taught, then invited them to church, they accepted, we went to their house, they came to church, and in class he said how he is willing to change his life, and listen to word of God. My companion and I looked each other with awe and a smile. They is are fastest progressing investigators, and the only ones to go to church so far.

Well yesterday we were going to some appointments, and while walking, this lady started saying something, and was moving her hand, and was basically saying to get away devils or something like that. I thought it was a pretty funny.

It´s always best when working when the Lord is there, and he´ll help us find or be found. There´s about 3-4 people who have called upon us to come and share.

I feel so blessed to be doing this work and it´s such a privilege, and to learn things and learn to love, and have hope towards others. And the spirit is stong with us.

I will answer some of your question next week when I have more time. Yes. There is Halloween, and I have eaten pasta many time, and tasty beef.

I love you, and God loves you.

Love Elder Bransen Gene Jensen.

PS: Your quote is "that work out nicely" Ciao.

I'm so happy to be here for the Lord

There´s a lot that happened this week. I´m not really sure how to compose everything into words, but I´ll try.

 

On monday after emailing we got contacted by someone, he told us to come, we went. At first he thought we were cops or spys. After a while he calmed down we shared a message, and we referred the other missionaries beacuse he was in their area. It´s neat how the Lord can put two sets of people in the right place and right time, and without them knowing. We've been contacting and actually found more people than I thought we would contacting. The spirit can guide. We were guided in ways you might not realized, even now I´m not sure how we have the people we have. There was another day where we were walking in this neighborhood (which is also basically in our area, and in some ways is a little scary, but I feel protected and blessed.) Anyway, we were walking, and a man and his friend, one of them called us over, asked us the usual question. We shared, they seemed very open, and we gave them an LdM (Book of Mormon) and folleta (pamphlet).

During the week we clapped at the door of Maridith, an older lady, and she let us in. She shared a little bit of her hard life she has had. We explained the our purpose and talked back and forth and come to find out she has had a Libro de Mormón for 30 years. (We also explained  the fact that I´m a new missionary as we usually do when we get in). Anyway the spirit was so strong in her house. There is also some other people who are ready that we have met.

 

I really want to work hard and do my best. Sometimes working hard and doing your best is hard to do, but it´s all worth it. I´m so happy to be here for the Lord, and I hope I do my very best to please Him every day

 

I wish I could write mas. Glad you had fun at yellowstone.

love

Elder Jensen. Bransen

It's exciting to be part of this missionary wave

Elder Jensen at mission home

 

59 new missionary arrivals with companions

 

Elder Jensen w/ President & Sister Lovell

 

Elders Ingerson & Jensen

 

 

I like it here. It is exciting to be part of this missionary wave.  Our presidente and his wife, and the senior couple have said how excited and grateful that we are here.

I have a great companion, his is a good trainer. To anwser your question about him, he is from SL . He has been here for about 1 and half years. His name is Elder Ingerson (probably totally mis-spelled.)

To answer your question. We took a plane to Neuquen (the pics you saw are at that airport). I am not really going through any major cultural shock. I'm assigned to an area call Roca. I like the people, and generally warm around here. I really like the members. In some ways I can see how my personallity fits in. I am really grateful that I can feel the spirit more. There are so many things to write about, that I don't know what to write about. The food so far is good, and people are more hugging type.

I got to, and had to share my testimony on Sunday,(in spanish) The members are really understanding about the language barrier. The language is better, but ya you know how it is.

There is spiritual things that happen here that I learn, but not sure how to tell you.

Mom shared some stuff from Nate's talk. l like it. Tell him to write me.

Thanks for your letters.

Te amo

ama Elder Jensen

PS I guessing the quote is from Ashly or Collin. Your quote is "The water out here make you loose''

PS It is a little hare to use a spanish keybord, and have the spellcheck set for spanish words. So sorry if anything is misspolled haha.

 

 

I loved conference!

MTC District

 

Elders Josh Foxworth & Jensen

 

Well I don't even know where to start it's been such an exciting week. I'll start off by saying I loved conference; as a missionary you just inhale conference. I really liked the first session.  There's much more I could talk about. It's one of the best things yet.

Well you'll be excited to know that we received are travel plans to Argentina!! I guess we have things squared away.  Half our District left this morning, and the rest of us who are going to Neuquen, are leaving wed., 4:30 am. Estoy adimodo!!

We went to main campus a lot this week. We went on thur., for in field training, and at dinner I saw Elder Josh Foxworth, and I then saw him 2-3 times during conference. I also saw Elder Greg Peterson, and Elder Johnathon White (from school). It was pretty awesome. But I still prefer west campus.

It's kind of hard to picture Nate with black hair, but glad his back. It strange that he said that his mission kind of seems like a dream.

Thanks for informing me about the outside world. The only thing I guess we can do is pray for are Federal Government.

I wish I could relate all the spiritual things I'm learning, I'll share specific ones, but right now there's so many.

vosotros amo

ama Elder Bransen Gene Jensen

ps. your guess es correcto. I don't know who or what your quote is from. Your quote :'' We have no good food, no running water, no TV,... It just like prison, but prison, has all those things."

This is probably the best week

This is probably the best week. There were many spiritual experiences. I just love the devotionals and the things we learned in class. I wish I could relate all of them to you, but I don't have much time. One thing a ZRT taught me was to ask inspired question in the middle of lesson even if you have to be quiet for a while, pray in your heart and mind until you have a inspired question. The other thing she taught me was to pretend your investigator(s) is a close family member. One thing bro. Markov told me/us is that our mission can bless my great-grandchildren. One of the things I learned from the devotional was to have a personal devotional with Lord daily (nightly for the missionaries). There is this talk by Elder Bernard call the Character of Christ. I when I get access to a Ensign I will read that article for sure.

It's Awesome and a little weird Nate is home now. He and I will have a lot of catching up to do when I get back. I love that cousin. I just love my family. I really haven't been home sick, but my love for you increases. I hope that continues.

Everyone in my district is going to Argentina, and everyone in my district got this cute little note in are mail that says:"We have mot received your visa clearance for Argentina. When you are cleared we will contact you and give you your flight plans." Well, it looks like were going serve in the states for awhile, which actually be cool to do for awhile.

I hope all is well with you all.

God speed the right.

-love, Elder Bransen Gene Jensen.

Ps: your quote "Grandpa is a bawl baby" is from Serena the bawl baby. Your quote is "and it came to pass'' think prayer. Buena suerta

I'm excited to actually serve people

No mucho paso, not much has happen, although last Tuesday's devotional was awesome, it was the best and most meaningful thing I've heard since being here.

Spanish is getting better I think. We went to the temple today.

Things are pretty great for the most part. To answer your questions: I believe we are leaving the 8th of Oct. I have no idea about the visas. And I really want to go to Argentina. I'm sure it will be great. I'm excited to actually serve people and not just study and talk about it here. I really want to use my ability to teach the gospel with the spirit and not just talk about it and practice doing it.

 

It's crazy Nate is coming home.

 

Thanks for the pictures and your letters.

 

love you, God loves you.

 

ama Elder Jensen

Your quote "do you know why they call it calm water??  because it's calm" I think is from Collin.  My quote is "the water out here can make you loose." . This should be really easy

I can't believe it's only the 3rd week

 

Happy birthday Mom. Your half way there. Haha. Thank you for sending me the stuff I needed, and the giyetas (cookies). It's pretty crazy that Nate is coming home so soon, I going to miss that cousin of mine; I'll miss you and all the other family as well but I saw you not too long ago.

Anyway, I'm really excited to go to Argentina. I can't believe my 3rd week is coming to an end. Then again I cant believe it's only the 3rd week. Haha. It's been raining quite a bit, and weather is starting to cool down.

I love some of the things we learn, and Spanish is fun. The lesson simulations are awkward, fun and spiritual in a different way. We go to the temples on are p-day. Yes I do, do my own laundry. There are 4 Elder in my apartment. A normal day is typical; wake-up 6:00 a.m. eat breakfast 6:30, in personal study for about an hour. Then class instruction or additional or language study for the rest of the day.  I must say I really like Sunday. We have sacrament, a devotional and video. It's awesome. This week's devotional speaker was Elder Tanner. He makes church movies like "17 miracles" and he showed us some clips form Ephraim's Rescue.

Anyway your story of the old man reminds me, that on Sunday walking to Sacrament meeting there was this old man in a car with his wife driving; while driving by he rolled down his window, in a old man voice said: "hey elders" It was pretty awesome, it made part of my day.

 

Love you, and God loves you

Elder Bransen Gene Jensen

I love it here

Well, It's exciting to hear all these updates. I'm glad to hear Josh's farewell went well. I'm pretty excited for him to be coming here this week. There's a slim chance that he'll come to this campus, because I have not seen any Oriental languages here, but you never know. I'm way excited for Neerahahpah as well. I guess Paul Foxworth guessed her call correctly, tell her congrats for me. Oh, and one of my friends form middle school is here now, Justin Jeperson, (Elder Jeperson).

It was pretty cool that you were able to talk with Mama Becky, and that I'm loved by my karate students. I'm glad that Collin loves karate.

On last Monday and on Saturday there was big storm especially on Saturday. During and after there were huge puddles, some big enough to put my shoe in. Anyway I love it here, I love the devotionals, church, and our district.  Our district is doing the MTC choir. Anyway my time is up, I wish I had more time. I promise to write you first next time.

Love Elder Bransen Jensen

First Days at the MTC - The longest days I've ever lived

Well the M.T.C. has been a great and tough experience. The first 4 days were the longest days I've ever lived, especially Wednesday and Thursday. I'm at the west campus at the M.T.C. The other Elders have said that the food is a lot better here, and I believe them; it is actually really good.

My companion is Elder Thorum. My district is pretty awesome. I just love them. My district includes my self, Elder Thorum, E. Jackson, E. Daul. E. Parkinson, E. Finch, E. Fisher, E. Olson. Elder Parkinson is the one I met the last day of school, and Elder Olson also went to Herriman High. Most of us are from the Salt Lake area, one is from Hurricane, Logan, and California. My leaders are pretty awesome but their names have escaped me.

To answer your questions in order: wonderful in hard good way. I love Church, we also had mission conference. There is much to say about the MTC, but one way to describe my first 2-4 day was like going through another veil.  You almost forget who you are, and don't what you are doing, but now I'm much better and feel more of my self and the spirit. We do a lot of self study, have 3 hour class with a teacher, and we teach an investigator in espanlo, it's a really cool experience. And there's nothing on my ceiling.

I'll be checking and writing emails on Mondays. I'll email every one weekly, but I only have an hour.

Anyway I love you and Dios loves you. Best of wishes.

-Elder Bransen Gene Jensen

p.s. Your quote is from you on Wednesday afternoon, before the MTC. Your quote of the week is "my dad teach me" buenos suerte