Fotos!!!!!! That's Portuguese for Photos ;-)

Elder Augusto, Julio, Fatima, & Elder Jensen

We had a service project on Friday morning in Farol.
We had the opportunity to give out aaaaall of these wheel chairs to people.
We even had the opportunity to lift a lady into the chapel because she didn't have a leg!
#ServiceIzDaBessssst

Julio and Elder Jensen
Staying classy . . . Photos in the Men's Room

Howdy!!!!!

Well!!!  What have we got . . .

This week, due to a sudden turn of events, we have an emergency transfer!  So I was transferred out of Bebedouro and am now in an area called Antares.  Our area is HUGE which is pretty weird for me because our area in Bebedouro was super duper tiny.  We got here on Thursday and got all unpacked and all that good stuff and got to meet some members that night.  We are pretty lost here, but luckily our Ward Mission Leader is suuuuuper legit and helps us out a ton.  Members as well.  The area is jam-packed with apartments so it’s definitely a lot different.  It’s also a much richer area.  Members even have CARS.  WHAT?  Yeah I will never take the blessing of cars for granted again.  ESPECIALLY in this area . . . Haha!  We have already received several rides to several places which is absolutely delicious!   Aaaaaand my new companion!  Haha . . . Just kidding.  I am still with Elder Augusto.           

We got here and the other missionaries had left a few investigators for us to work with.  Not a ton but it was enough to get started.  We also have members that are introducing us to a lot of people which is absolutely awesome!   =)  Our ward is suuuuuper young.  With all the kids there, I couldn’t help but think of Ash and Tom's Ward . . . Haha . . . It’s really cool and everyone really likes the missionaries.  They even mark everyday for us to have a member work with us!  Super legit and young Ward!

           

I’m learning a lot these days about patience.  I thought I had a pretty good grip on patience but . . . WORD TO THE WISE:  Do not get to up on that idea.  The moment you think you got everything under control, the Lord throws a "Trials" card from his deck and all of a sudden you realize that your deck doesn’t have a card to counter that one.  I know.  I already played with Pokemon Cards for years, people.

         

I’m lookin' forward to this next week!  Can’t believe how quickly January passed (or is passing)!!!!!  The work is good and harvest is great  =)  We have lots of work to do!  I LOVE YOU ALL!!!! B e good, be safe and write me lots!  Love you!!!

Love, Elder Dylan Miles Jensen

Hey!!!!!!!!!

OPACANISTAR.

I don’t really know what that means, but there is a super popular techno song here that says something like that a ton!

        

Well . . . Let’s see what we’ve got here!  As most of us know, the worst moments are the moments that we learn the most.  This weekend was a "worst moment".  Stupid things happening here and there that just added more stress and my companion can be kind of difficult.  I came to realize that I was lacking something . . . The Spirit.  I was feeling totally destroyed last night when I realized, "Hey, Elder Langlois is my Zone Leader now!  I can call him whenever I want to get advice!"  I can’t explain how much of a revelation it was to put him as my Zone Leader.  I needed so much more than anything in that moment a really good friend that I could talk to and get some help.  So I called him and, well, at the end of that conversation, I knew what I needed to do and how I could improve.  I couldn’t be more blessed than I was at that moment to have Elder Langlois in my life.  It really made me realize that we go to our areas because the Spirit tells President Gonzaga.  Cool experience =)

        

I also learned a lot about pride this week.  Someone tell me how pride is so sneaky and so terrible?  It just sloooooowly lurks its way into our hearts and before we know it we are way more prideful than we think. I realized this week that I have been rather prideful with Elder Augusto because I just thought I had to do everything.  I forgot that we ALWAYS have something to learn from our companions.  We ALWAYS have a way to improve together IF we are open to that reality.  We can’t straight up change anyone no matter how insane they may be.  But we CAN learn to love them and work with them.  Is it difficult?  Yes.  Is it worth it in the end?  SO much more than we can imagine  =)

         

This weekend I had the chance to sit right in front of Bishop Stevenson (The Presiding Bishop) at our Stake Conference along with his wife.  It was awesome to hear English there again . . . Haha . . . Afterward, Julio (WHO WAS BAPTIZED ON SATURDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) and our next baptism, Clayton, wanted to talk with him and his translator wasn’t with him for a moment.  Sooooooo . . . YES!  I got to translate briefly for the Presiding Bishop of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  Very memorable! SUPER LEGIT!!!  We also had a meeting with Elder Bednar this morning!  I got to shake his hand and all that good stuff!  But the coolest part to me was that it really hit me how human he is.  He is just a normal guy.  He doesn’t have wings or do things that are supernatural.  The only thing that is supernatural about him is his calling.  But he’s just a normal guy!  Needless to say, it was an awesome meeting and the first time I got to meet a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.  Very very memorable weekend  =)

         

The week was really good and I learned a TON!  I would love to fill you all in on every detail of Elder Bednar and Bishop Stevenson, but we all know that time won’t allow that. So let’s just leave it at this:  THE CHURCH IS TRUE!!!!!!!!!!    #ThatJustHappened

        

I love you all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks for all your love and support!  Keep up the good work!  Be good, be safe!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!

Love, Elder Dylan Miles Jensen

Wowzers

Hey hey, you . . . I don’t like your girlfriend!

This week Gilsa is . . . More or less.  She doesn ‘t have any reeeeeeal desire to really improve.  She can be pretty lazy.  She gets home around five from work and is just "too tired" to do anything.  To even pray.  How truly difficult sitting in an office all day is.  To the point she struggles to find energy to pray.  How difficult  =(  But we will see what happens with her!  Her daughter is also going back to São Paulo this week so I am pretty worried that when she leaves everything is just going to fall straight through.  Prayers prayers prayers!

We did, however, have a pretty cool miracle this week, though, in a kid called Julio.  One of the young men in our Ward introduced us to him and, oh boy, is he ready.  We taught him and his mom and I swear he was the real missionary.  He accepted to be baptized super fast but his mom was crazy hesitant.  I just stopped talking near the end because Julio just kept saying, "Just accept it, mom.  If you want a better life, accept it”.  For about ten minutes he said stuff like that.  Just testifying and then inviting again and then testifying and inviting again.  It was the coolest thing ever!!!  And . . . Finally she said, "I will accept it’.   #SWAG!  #HECKYESYOUACCEPTIT!  It was such a cool experience to see a kid that young with no knowledge of the church have a testimony like that.  He isn’t even baptized and he has already gone with us to teach other people two times . . . Hahaha.  He is thirteen years old so he is a miracle for sure!  Huge answer to prayers!!!!!

      

This upcoming Monday, not only to we get to have our Mission Tour with Elder Bednar, but on Sunday, he is going to be the presiding authority at our Stake Conference!!  Not just him but Bishop Stevenson and Elder Costa as well.  So I get to meet them all and hear from them all two times this next week.  As I study more and more of "Jesus the Christ", I am getting more and more excited.  An Apostle of Christ . . . Gosh, how cool is that?  How truly lucky I am.  I feel like I felt when Derek gave me the shiny Blastoise card for Christmas in Hawaii;  ECSTATIC.

      

Well I was not transferoed!  I will stay here in Bebedouro I am guessing for six more weeks.  It should be interesting because our area is super small so as to exactly what I am going to do now I am not sure!  But it will be great!  I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Write me lots!  The church is true!  Serve missions!!!!!!!!!!!

Love, Elder Dylan Miles Jensen

Feliz Ano Novo! Did I Say That Last Week Too?

Hey errrrrbody!

Well this week was pretty nuts, but it was good, too. ,Unfortunately, I had to drop a few investigators this week which was really hard, but it was the third week in a row they came up with some excuse for not going to church. ,Everyone wanted to try and tell me, "No . . .  I thought it was at night not in the morning.  I can’t today."  Yeah . . . I’ve only been telling you “NINE IN THE MORNING ON SUNDAYS” everyday for the last three weeks!!!!!!!!  I straight up asked them, "Why is everyone trying to use this excuse on me?  This is ridiculous.  You all know exactly what time church starts."  They all just kinda stared at me soooo . . . Yeah.  Not going back there!  #AvoidTheCrazies

      

Well, in other news, Elder Pereira got emergency transferred!  I don’t know where he is now, but when I know, I will let you all know.  I hope someday I will meet up with him again.  Love love love that kid - Or man - Considering he is seven years older than me.  My new Companion is Elder Augusto!  He is from the Capital of Brasil – Brasilia.  He is great!  Waking up at 6:30 ready to go when we need to go, the whole she bang bang!  

We have one investigator, Gilsa, who is the mother of a member from São Paulo.  Her daughter’s name is Esteffani and she heads back to São Paulo on the 20th of this month.  We finally got Gilsa to church this week and she has been reading the Book of Mormon and praying and all that.  She is just a lazy (she admitted that) and doesn’t reeeeally want to change her daily habits.  BUT she will!  She will understand the Gospel.  We are praying for a miracle.  We would love to baptize her before Esteffani leaves.  THAT would be awesome.  #COMPLETINGFAMILIESISTHEBIZNESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

      

One funny story . . . I was talking to President about ways I can help my District.  One Elder is finishing is mission and getting lazy and his companion is suuuuuuuper. . . . Never happy or excited and others have a lot of problems with obeying the rules and working hard.  Just so we all know that our President understands each and every one of us better than we think . . . I was talking with him and he said in respect to one of the Elders, "I can tell you that that Elder got through high school by copying.  Not by studying."  Yeah.  That Elder admitted that to me like a week ago!  What????  That was crazy.  Truly our President is called by God specifically for the Elders here.  It’s pretty crazy how well he knows us even though we only see him every couple of weeks.  Love love love President Gonzaga!

        

Sooooooo . . . The 21st of this month, I get to meet Elder Bednar and Bishop Stevenson (I think its Bishop Stevenson right?  The presiding Bishop?)  Suuuuuper pumped!!!!!!!!

       

Well . . . That’s about it for me this week!  I love you all so much and you are all in my prayers!  Please keep me updated and send me lots of letters  =)  THE CHURCH IS TRUE!  Be good, be safe =)  I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love, Elder Dylan Miles Jensen

Well, hello world! It’s been a while! #ThatsNotALadyAntebellumQuote

This week was a good one, but a tough one!  Elder Pereira was sick all week again, so I was still with Elder Guerra working two areas!  We sure did learn how to walk well . . . Haha . . . But it was good.  Numbers were super low, but we still had one baptism of João Paulo on Friday which made it all worth the hard work.  Gosh the week FLEW by.  I gave my first training for my District on Wednesday as well and well that went way better than I thought it would!

      

It was so incredibly delicious to talk to the fam bam on Christmas!  Yeah afterwards was a little tough so I just got up and forced Elder Guerra to work even though he didn’t want to because it was Christmas . . . Haha.  There was nooooooo way I was staying in the house all day just to think about home!  I have too much work to do!  But the Skype Conversation completely rejuvenated my Spiritual Jibes and I got out there with more energy than I had had before for sure.  Talking with family and friends and letters and all that gets me pumped up and makes me want to make everyone proud.  Soooo keep up the good work everyone!

      

I had a pretty darn cool experience yesterday!  This week when Elder Guerra and I had a few extra minutes we decided to visit a few other churches to see what they are really like.  Seeing as I had never actually visited any other church I thought I would use the COUNTLESS number of churches here to my advantage and try to understand other peoples’ views a little bit better when it comes to religion.  We visited a Pentecostal church that was insane with lots of yelling and a Baptist church that was just some old guy talking.  Lots of Apostasy going on if I may say so.  Even at the Baptist church, the pastor pointed out something that was wrong in the Bible and of course . . . No one seemed to take note . . . Ummmm . . . HELLO!?  You just admitted that the Bible isn’t complete!  Anyway . . . Last night we visited some other Pentecostal church and I wasn’t there for 45 seconds before the Spirit started working reeeeeeally strongly inside of me.  The pastor started yelling to teach and everyone was shouting "amen" and all that good stuff.  And it just hit me SO HARD the religious confusion that this world has.  The majority of people don’t get it that all these churches are different and they can’t all be from the same God. God isn’t a God of disorder and confusion.  On the contrary, he has PERFECT explanations and PERFECT order.  We have so many churches that speak the words of the Bible, and yet lack the true authority of God.  All think they have "authority" from God.  But God gives authority to every church and every man who reads the Bible and teaches things in his own way?  No.  Absolutely not.  If God really exists, he has an order.  To have an order you need leaders.  To be a real leader, a leader CALLED BY GOD HIMSELF, you have to have the authority of God.  All these people in our day today are so lost because they "like" their church.  Not because it is true or really of God, but because they have good music and friends there.  It was the first time in my life that I felt legitimate sadness for the confusion in our world.  I felt what some of the Prophets in the Book of Mormon have spoken.  How they want to help these people, but the Devil has blinded their eyes with the thiiiiickest lace on Earth.

           

In that moment I realized just how much work we truly have to do.  And not just missionaries. Every member.  We have so many souls to save.  We have to get to work.  I learned all this in a matter of two minutes, and then the Spirit told me it was time to leave.  And honestly, all I wanted to do after was knock doors.  And so we did  =)  The Church is true.  God exists.  The Church of Jesus Christ has been restored and thus, so has our Salvation.

        

I love you all! Be good, be safe! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love, Elder Jensen

HERRO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Letter written December 24, 2012

Well this week was quite the work week!  Elder Pereira got chicken pox, soooooooo he stayed all week in the house with Elder Santos because Elder Santos has already had chicken pox before.  Chicken Pox is called Catapora here so I kept calling Elder Pereira, Elder Cataporeira.  I think he apreciated it  =)  So I worked all week with Elder Guerra working both of our areas.  My goodness.  I was super nervous.  I did not want to work with him . . . Haha.  BUT . . . We worked hard and settled a lot of our differences.  I like him a lot as a friend.  Just the way we work and teach is totally opposite so that was hard for me.  He is suuuuper high strung and doesn’t relax and I just . . . Like being relaxed . . . Ya know?  So it was tough at times but overall it was good!!!  We walked a toooooon because we had to work the two areas and obviously our numbers were a little lower but we did our best!

Experience of the week:  We were teaching this super legit family of about six or seven people that have the desire to be baptized.  One of the kids didn’t really want to after we taught him the third lesson but we returned the next day and taught the Restoration. Now, I don’t really know what happened, but I started bearing my testimony after the First Vision about baptism or something like that . . . I honestly don’t remember what I said.  It honestly was not me talking.  It was the craziest/coolest experience.  Normally that family doesn’t stop talking, but when this moment happened everyone was DEAD SILENT.  And as I looked around I had everyone’s attention to the mmmmmmaaaaax.  The best part was that kid, Wil, who didn’t want to be baptized, looked awestruck.  His jaw was dropped a little bit and his eyes were all wide.  And right when I finished talking he said, "I think I want to be baptized."  YEAH!  YOU BET YOUR CRAP YOU WANNA BE BAPTIZED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  GOSH that was such an amazing experience.  Moments with the Spirit like that are so very rare.  I will never ever ever forget that moment!

We had four of that family at church this week which was pretty cool.  It’s the most investigators I have had at church in a looooong time.  People don’t like to keep commitments here so, ya know . . . It’s difficult.  But what was cool was that I had fasted for this blessing last week and got nothing . . . I was really sad and disappointed but soon after I got this feeling saying, "You already know that the time of the Lord is different than yours, so just relax."  So I did.  Or I tried.  But had this feeling it would be next week.  Preparing for church and going there it looked like nothing would pull through but when the dust settled, we had four investigators at church.  I absolutely despise the Lord´s time.  But the moment we learn that our blessings will arrive when the Lord wants and needs them to, we can live a much happier and peaceful life.  Should be the goal right?

        

All in all, a solid week!  I think I will still be working with Elder Guerra for a few days because Pereira isn’t totally better yet.  But it’s all good.  Everything happens for a reason  =)  I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THE CHURCH IS TRUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love,  Elder Dylan Miles Jensen