Week 80 We've Got A Baptism!

Familia Garcia Zambrano!!

What a week it has been! We have worked so much this week, I cannot believe it is over! Guess what....we have planned 3 baptisms for this Saturday! Woo-hoo! 3 shouts for 3 baptisms! It has been so long since I have had a baptism in this area. And what a miracle it has been to see the Familia Garcia Zambrano grow. I can tell you this is the first family that I know I was sent here for them and to baptize there kids. It was not by accident that we ran into their mom and gave her a blessing for her health. And that she knows the missionaries because her son is a member and that they have 2 kids and a niece who want to get baptized. If I never came on a mission, we would never have found them.. And I could never had baptized them and reactivate there parents. I was sent here for a reason. 

Well this week has been pretty darn crazy. We found a lot of new people to teach. We had an activity this past week in a new park they built here in Honduras. We were able to give away free bags of lemonade and contact people. It was a fun activity and we found many people we can now go meet with and hopefully teach. Its amazing how such a simple thing can do so much and make you so happy. 

We have also been seeing lots of results from doing Noche de Hogares (FHE) with the members and investigators. The people really want to come, participate and learn. Just being with them, and feeling the spirit is doing so much.  My companion have run out of ideas. So, we would really appreciate if you could send more ideas and activities we could do to bring more people out to FHE!

Minute to Win It game, Face the Cookie

Having so much fun here in Laureles. We have so many more activites planned this weekend before changes this week. This is actually my last week with Elder Small before he finishes his mission this next tuesday. Please pray for him that he can prepare for him before he goes home. Love you guys so much....Have a fun week and talk to you next week! 24 more weeks and I am home!!!

Les quiero mucho,

Elder Jensen

P.S:In the photos below, We found a contact who makes guns out of tubes. Pretty dope!!! And some guy got shot by assasins this week while we were out teaching. Starting to get pretty dangerous here in Laureles. But, we are keeping an eye out for things. 😨

Guns from tubes

Yea, that's a body bag.

Week 79 Success in Progress

Well, I can tell you we are having some progress and lots of success! So, the Familia Garcia Zambrano is so awesome! They have been doing everything they can to help get their son and daughter and their niece ready to get baptized! WOOHOO! They have stopped drinking coffee, started reading The Book of Mormon and praying as a family everyday, going to church every week, and the are really just getting pumped! When I am with them I have this thought that keeps running through my mind, Elder Jensen, this is why you are here.  I was sent here to baptize the rest of the Familia Garcia Zambrono and to help reactivate the parents. I am so stoked for the day that they get baptized and receive the Holy Ghost. What a glorious day that will be. And the fact that we are teaching the grandmother and the cousins too which live here in the same colony as well.....what a small world. They have a baptism date for the 27th. And the family Garcia has one for the 20th! 

We have been having great progress with the lessons we are having with the member this past week. We had 20 lessons with them....dope. Its fantastic because now everyone is great friends with the those getting baptized or the less actives.  Plus...we had another 7-8 extra people at church again. God is truly working miracles in this area.

Also crazy experience we had this week to end. So, we were walking home one night and had the impression to knock on this house. So, we did and this man let us in and for some weird reason he started out telling us the weirdest experience he had. Just 2 days ago, he was coming home from work and saw a bible on the side of the road and so he decided to go back for it to pick it up. Guess what, it wasn't Bible, it was a Book of Mormon and then literally 2 days later, the missionaries, us, came knocking on his door.  He said to us you are the miracle or a sign from God that I need to read this book....What!!! So, we are so pumped now and have a return appt. this Wednesday. I know the reason why: Obedience! Obedience brings blessings! I love this opportunity to serve and this miracle is the start of many more in these next 6 months to come! 

I am having so much fun here in Laureles. I feel happier, I feel the spirit more, and I am seeing the miracles of being exactly obedient. I love my Savior and I love my Heavenly Father. I know they are watching over me and know my weaknesses can become strong. Through obedience to the Lord all things are possible and he waiting to bless you. I love you all and I encourage you all to read or start to read the Book of Mormon again. It has changed my life and will change yours as well. Les quiero mucho y espero que este semana Dios pueda cambiar su vida con este libro si empieza a leerlo! Tenga una feliz semana. Que Dios le bendiga. Hasta Luego! 

Les quiero mucho,

Elder Jensen

Week 78 Nothing to Something

What a week it has been. We started out with noting this week and by the end of it....God worked miracles! So, we are talking and teaching the Familia Garcia Zambrano and they are so awesome!!! I know I was sent here to reactivate the parents and baptize the kids. I know it!! They were able to go to church this week even though the dad was suppose to work...he came anyways and man we had a full house at church this week. The dad, Marvin, also gave us the referral of his mom and his cousin to teach and man they are on fire too. We had 7 people in church and 6 of them were mainly their  family. They are so dope! We know have 5 planned to be baptized on the 20th and the 27th of this month. I am so happy. I haven't had a baptism in a while and God has truly turned out a week from nothing into something. Please pray with all your might that Familia Garcia Zambrano keeps trusting in what they feel and have faith!!!

We have done a lot of service this week and we have seen the miracles that come from such a small thing. I know I say this a lot, but I am so happy to be here in this area and in Honduras doing what the Lord wants me to, but it's all I want to do too. I am here on His call and here to help him work miracles and bring as many people to into the gospel. I am grateful for this time to serve and I cannot wait to see what happens in these next 6 months left of my mission. 

Did not take as much photos this week, but I promise I should have some more by this week. But, I am doing what my Savior wants and what my Heavenly Father wants. I am so happy and I feel the spirit so much in my life!

Les quiero,

Elder Jensen

Week 77 Ups and Downs

Well, this week was filled with many ups and many downs. We tried to commit as many people to baptism this week as well as going to church. It is such a pain when people tell us they want to get baptized but they don't go to church. It is so frustrating. YOU CANNOT GET BAPTIZED AND NOT GO TO CHURCH PEOPLE! But, we are doing the best to help people understand why it is important for people to go to church and the blessing they will receive if they do. We are working with them to commit to being obedient and go to church so that they can make in time to get baptized the 13th or the 20th of this next month.

  

So we have been working with this family lately...the Familia Garcia Zambrano and they are so dope(the miracle that happened last week). And they have gotten back into reading the Book of Mormon and praying as a family every night. So, we are so stoked for them and there decision to come back to church...hopefully they can come back to church next week. Also we have a lady and a son who wants to get baptized this next month. The only problem is that her husband is really mean and so she is trying to get him out the house so that she can be more pure and clean when she gets baptized.

But, all is good this week and we are receiving new people by the second...so hopefully we can end this change with at least a baptism or two. Please pray for us and our investigators that they can really accept this gospel how it is and that we can have more success here in Laureles. Love you all....hope you like the photos!

Les quiero,

Elder Jensen

Week 76 Fasting For Miracles

We have working hard to get as many people as we can to come to church. Unfortunately, we weren't able to get anyone in church. Everyone got super sick. Almost all of our new investigators that we found or the ones that are progressing ended up having the flu. What a bummer! But, we were able to find a bunch of new people in our area. Remember Nohemy that I told about? Well, we are still working with her and hoping to get get her baptized soon. We are hoping that she can get an answer soon. So, we will find out this week. We have found a new family here, the husband is complicated however. But the wife and son are fired up about the gospel. So, we are working to find a way that we can get them married or separated (again, husband is complicated) so we can get them baptized soon.

We fasted this past weekend to see some miracles in our area and what started out with nothing ended with a ton. We fasted that Damaris, part of another family wants to go to church and get baptized. And she has been out of work for awhile and found a job that might work on Sundays. So we fasted for her that her job would allow her to not work on Sunday or she could find another job that doesn't work on Sundays. And Heavenly Father answered our prayers, and her work schedule will be from Monday to Saturday. Fasting does truly work. 

Also another miracle happened this week. We had scheduled a FHE  for Sunday and were going to invite a bunch of people to come. But, everyone canceled on it because they had something to do or they were sick with the flu. So, instead we went contacting. And this chick came up to us and said she needed a blessing.( that was our 5th blessing of health that day) She said she heard about these blessing through her son who is a less active member. We passed by to see how she was doing. Turns out that her parents are members, they want there 2 kids to get baptized and they want to return back to church as soon as possible. Woo-hoo! God wanted that to happen, I can see his hand in everything that happened this week. I am truly blessed and grateful to be on my mission.

I am so grateful for my Heavenly Father for giving me this opportunity to be here. I know that he is real and the gospel is true and I know I am supposed to be here. As I live out these next 7 months and work with all my heart I will truly see the blessings of my mission. Love you all. Have a good week everyone!

Les quiero mucho,

Elder Jensen

P.S. I contacted a guy in a bus and he was able to go to church that Sunday! Miracles!

Graffiti...
Art every where.

Ran into an old companion at changes.

Week 75 Dios no esta muerto 

Wow, how fast the weeks are flying! I had some fun this week. We were able to teach a lot of new people and get a lot of people to progress in this gospel. We had an incredible miracle happen yesterday. We had 7 in the church including one family! Woo-hoo! And we were able to put a fecha or a baptism date for 2 of them. I am so happy for them and there decision to follow the Lord with all there might, mind, and strength. And as I work in this area will my heart...I see not only the blessings and benefits doing that for them, but also for me.

I can truly testify that God does answer prayers! Today is changes. And the past couple weeks I have fasting and praying for God to let me stay in this area. I feel a connection in this area and we have so many good people that are literally changing my life as they change theirs. Its changing me as I speak. I feel my Heavenly Fathers and Saviors love so much.  I found out today that I am not changing areas and neither is my companion. I have been praying for us to stay here, especially me to stay here and I can testify that Heavenly Father knows us and loves us and He will answer our righteous desires. I love Him. The Saviors Atonement is real. It has worked  miracles in me and as I and as we follow Him, he will always be there. I remember a quote that helped me this week that says, "If we can be forever strong on the field, we can surely be forever strong off the field." 

We have been teaching this super positive sister named Nohemy. She is really interested in what we have to say and wants to learn more. We are teaching her and preparing her for baptism, hopefully for this 30th of this month. The only thing is that she has a lot of questions and really needs help knowing if this is true. We are all doing what we can to help her, but I ask that you pray for Nohemy too. Pray that she can get hear the answers she needs, feel the spirit as we teach, and that we have the knowledge to answer the questions.

Love you guys. I LOVE MY SAVIOR AND I LOVE THIS AREA! Love you guys...hope you guys have a wonderful week and hope that we may always feel his spirit with us. Hasta Luego!

Les quiero,

Elder Jensen

Week 74 Merica

Lessons with members...ponderoso (powerful)!!

What a fantastic week we had this week.....but first before I get into things....HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY! Yippee!!! How fast the weeks are flying! We had an incredible week. We were able to teach a lot of people and get a lot of the members to help. So we have teaching Dessydee and Mirma ( the woman and the teenager who had that had there dad die) and we have been teaching them lately about church and how going would bless their lives and they both accepted instantly saying, "yes I will totally go". And not only did they just go....the whole family went without us knowing. What a surprise that was. Best part, they both accepted to get baptized the 30th of this month. So, we are so stoked for them. As well as this other girl we found, we actually found through a convert and she has committed to reading The Book of Mormon...she went to church as well...and now she is also preparing for baptism on the 30th. What blessings you receive from doing the most simple and basic things. I love sharing this gospel with all my heart and seeing it really change people's lives for the better. 

What has helped the most this past week is we were able to have so many lessons with our investigators with a ward member there. We have been focusing on that a lot because members are able to share there experiences and there testimonies about this gospel. It has really been great to hear everyone's testimony and hear what they went through to make them more successful in this gospel.

I loved this week so much and so excited for the next. We had to drop a couple people this week, but we were able to recover and find new ones to get them ready for baptism. Love you guys so much. Wish me the best of luck this week. I love my mission and I feel I becoming the missionary Heavenly Father wants me to be. 

Les quiero,

Elder Jensen

Celebrating my Birthday with some friends of the ward

A lady in our ward that likes to critic my Spanish

Went to play basketball in the morning, found a drunk guy who wanted to play with us...turned out great!

Help cut down a tree for someone this week