Carnaval!!!

Hey!!!!!

Well . . . Carnaval is in full swing aaaand, luckily, that doesn’t mean too terribly much in my current area . . . Haha.  Actually, the majority of people here seem to have traveled out of our area.  I think most people go to the beach or more inland.  But, to be honest, what I have seen of Carnaval hasn’t been all too strange.  Well, yeah, it’s pretty strange . . . Haha . . . But still. Carnaval could be described pretty simply actually: Guys dressed as girls and drunk people. That’s basically Carnaval! Haha!  We have only really had one day so far where people were crowding the streets like crazy with music super loud.  Everyone says to avoid walking in the afternoon too much because people like to throw eggs at you and try to ummmm . . . "Love you". I don’t know if that makes sense but . . . Let’s leave it open to interpretation!

      

This week things got switched up quite a bit with how Districts and Zones work.  Not too terribly much just that the District Leader's role is a lot more important now.  Now it’s our job to do everything for our district and accompany everything and decide everything that needs to be done while in the past the Zone Leaders basically just got numbers and said what we should do.  Makes sense though considering the Zone Leaders don’t really get a true solid chance to meet every District individually. It’s good though, and the Lord asked it  =)  Our District definitely has its problems.  We have two Elders that will end their missions in April and they are dying a little bit. O ur numbers are always SUPER low and I just think we really lack motivation and Spirit as a District.  It’s definitely something I am trying to improve and trying to help others improve as well!

       

Nara wasn’t baptized this week . . . She had her interview and everything but a ttoooooooon of members went off for Carnaval and she wants her friends to be there so she postponed until next week.  I know she is ready and she knows she is, too.  She also really wants to talk with her mom more about it first.  Her mom is kinda weird and basically just doesn’t like the Law of Chastity . . . Hahahahah!  But I believe her mom will let her make her own decision.  I know she wants to, the Lord knows she wants to, SHE knows she wants to, she just wants the support of her mom.  Which makes sense really!  And it’s good.  But really keep her in your prayers!  She will most likely be baptized this Wednesday when everyone gets back if all goes as planned!!!!

       

We didn’t have much of an opportunity to speak with Dilma and Enôque this week but we will try again this upcoming week and see how it goes.  They just need to get married, man!  We also had a more of an opportunity to speak with a kid named Alvoro this week who is super quiet but super legit.  He wants to be baptized too, we just gotta get him to church first!  I’m not sure why he didn’t go yesterday but we will go to his house this week and check it all out!

       

We have a Zone Conference this week which means . . . "CARTAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" "LETTERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"  I am extremely excited and will be oh so overjoyed when I have the chance to hear from everyone.  I hope to have the biggest stack of letters like I always have in the past so all of you keep up the good work!

         

Every challenge we have is something to learn from.  I think sometimes we forget the eternal perspective of our challenges.  That each day and each situation should be turned into a Spiritual moment to help our faith to grow.  If we do not nurture that seed every day, knowing that with time it will be the strongest base we have, we will fall.  We will fall into temptation.  Every difficult moment only increases our faith.  When our faith grows we become closer to our Heavenly Father.  When we are closer to our Heavenly Father, we remember why we are here and what we are doing.  We remember why difficult moments are necessary.  We remember that without growth, we will never live with our God again.

The Church is oh so true.  God exists. T his week a man told me that the human race came from aliens.  When we explained about God he said "Prove it to me".  I alllllllmost hit him in the face.  But instead I just decided to let him think what he wants . . . “Oh ye generation of vipers and sign-seekers"!!!!!!  GOD EXISTS.  This IS his church.  I know.  I promise.  Be good, be safe. Write me lots.  I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love, Elder Dylan Miles Jensen