Brazil!!!!!!!!‏ December 15, 2014

Hey Everyone!

I am finally in Brazil and I just love it! It has been pretty easy to adjust culturally except for one thing. They don´t flush toilet paper here. That´s right. they don´t flush it. They put it in a trash can next to the toilet. Super weird and pretty gross if you ask me. Oh well, if that´s the only thing, then I guess it´s not too bad. I live in Ribeirão Preto--in the city. We live and work in the richest part of the city, so don´t worry mom. I am safe. Our area is called Irajá A (I think). Our area is a lot like New Jersey in the way that people act. Not many baptisms. A lot of the reason is because we are in a super rich, and therefor not very humble area, and everyone works a lot.

My companion is Sister Beserra, an absolutely amazing Brasilleira! She is from the northeast of Brazil. I can't remember the name of her city, but it´s in the Natal mission. Super cool. She is hillarious, and I feel so blessed to have her. She doesn´t speak any English, but we are learning. It is pretty fun. We live with two other sisters, Sister Anderson (brand new from MTC American) and Sister Sena (from north Brazil in the Manaus mission). They are so great! 

I am understanding Portuguese pretty well. My companion tells everyone that I understand practically everything, which is true, but then they go crazy and talk and talk and talk. It´s okay though. I am still definitely not comfortable talking yet, but I can when I need to. Everyone here just loves it when they find out that I am american. It´s super funny though when I talk because I don´t sound like an american. I actually have a Spanish accent. No joke. Everyone asks me if I speak Spanish because I sound like it when I talk, which is super confusing when they find out that I am american. It´s super fun though. 

It is super duper humid here. Not super hot, but humid for sure. And, my feet are super swollen because of the heat, humidity, walking, and all that. It will go away soon, but for now, it is a little uncomfortable. The food here is pretty good too. Members feed us every day, and I cannot even begin to tell you how many times I have heard "Sister, come mais!" They are always telling us to eat more.

Sei que o evangelho é verdadeiro e que Deus nos ajuda com todas as coisas. Nós precisamos a ajuda dele, e Ele sempre respondeu nossas orações.

I love you all soo much!

Sister Beserra and I at our apartment before church

My companion and I in the rainy street here in Brazil

Me in the rainy street in Brazil

Sister Anderson and I (other American) in the rainy street in Brazil

I don´t know how well you can tell, but my feet are completely covered!

The other silly sisters in our apartment: Sister Anderson and Sister Sena

President and Sister Brum with Sister Jensen

Sister Jensen and Sister Beserra

1 Week and Counting...‏December 1, 2014

Oi familia e amigos!

I can't believe that it is already my last week here in New Jersey. In exactly a week from today, I will be flying to Brazil. That is just unbelievable! I get more and more excited each day to be there in Brazil, but each and every day here, I love the people more. I am really going to miss the ward members as well as all of our investigators and other people that we have met. One of the coolest things about New Jersey is the cultural diversity. There are people from EVERYWHERE here and I just love it! I have gotten to meet so many wonderful people, and I am so sad to leave all of them. I do know that it will be okay though because it is all in the Lord's hands.

I have gotten to go on two super fun exchanges this past week (one of them I am on today) because this is Sister Paight's last transfer in her mission. I have been with, for both exchanges, Sister Kloppell and Sister Harvey. They are so absolutely amazing, and I have loved seeing their love for the people here and their dedication.

Our mission has just started to put a huge emphasis on bringing back less active priesthood holders. What a blessing this has been! There is a wonderful less active family that we are working with right now that we love so much! The Jimenez family has become one of our biggest miracles. As we visit this family, we have seen them go through so many different trials, but their faith in the Savior, Jesus Christ is amazing. They have been such a strength to me as I see their desire to follow the gospel with all their might. I promise that the gospel changes lives. It has already begun to change theirs as they come back into activity in the church. They are just one example of this that I have seen here.

I love you all and am excited to email you very soon from the hot, humid Brazil.

Com Amor,

Sister Jensen

ps. the picture I attached is of Sister Harvey, Sister Kloppell, and I together on exchange. We are all wearing wigs--I promise none of us really look like that normally.

Here is the senior couple that just went home from our ward, 

the Fullmers and Sister Paight and I on Sunday

New Jersey cool car at the church

One of our best investigators in New Jersey. She is my favorite!

 Her name is Mauryse and she is from Haiti!

In New Jersey!

Oi! Semana Muita Boa em Nova Jersey November 24, 2014

Oi minha familia e meus amigos!

I am so excited to write to all of you this week! It has been an absolutely amazing week here in New Jersey. I'm pretty sure the weeks are only going to get better just to make it harder to leave in two weeks for Brazil. I had so much fun this week and got to know all the people here better. I am going to miss all of them so much when I leave! 

This week...I got to go to Ellis Island for service! It was so absolutely amazing! We got to help people find their family that came through Ellis Island. It was like the people we getting just a small taste of the Spirit of Elijah and the joy that family history work brings into our lives. It was really cool for me to be there. I found the records of the Lesamiz family through Ellis Island. My family. I was there where they were. It was so cool! You can really feel the spirit of freedom that America brings to all that come. It truly is the promised land where the gospel could be restored. How amazing it is! 

We are also getting the members more involved here. It is so fun to see their excitement as they do their job as member missionaries to share the gospel with all those around them. We have seen so many miracles from it for sure. Each one of us makes a difference. You don't have to be a missionary to share the gospel. Trust me. It's even better when your not a missionary. But then...when missionaries and members work together. BAM! Magic happens! I love it so much!

Love you all and hope you're doing well! Eu sei que o Senhor vai fazer todo para ajudar-nos. Precisamos seguir Ele com toda nossa força! Eu amo vocês!

Com amor,

Sister Jensen

A note from Mom. Victoria put this in my email this week and I thought it would be neat to add it. (When I went to Ellis Island I was exactly Victoria's age. I loved it and knew she would too!)

I just loved Ellis Island! And it was so fun to see the Statue of Liberty and New York from it. It has such an amazing feeling there. You know when you are there that all those people sacrificed so much to be in this free land. It makes me sad that the freedom is decreasing day by day. The things that those people fought for are going away little by little. 

New York City on the way to Ellis Island

Ellis Island

New York City (from Ellis Island)

Super terrible selfie with New York City

The Statue of Liberty

Me with New York City! (From Ellis Island)

Me with the Statue of Liberty way behind me from Ellis Island

Week Three in Jersey‏ November 17, 2014

Hi everyone! Eu amo vocês muito!

I am still loving it here in New Jersey! It is getting colder, so I am super duper thankful for the coat and other things that mom sent. Those are the best and I would probably die without them. But...I won't need them for much longer because...I got my VISA! I am headed to Brazil on December 8th! I am so excited to get there and serve the people there. It was pretty funny actually how I found out. We had a zone meeting last Tuesday, so the Assistants were there. Each one of them said something to me like, "you are the visa waiter, right?" or "how do you know if you have gotten your visa?" I knew something had to be up at that point and that they were probably just dying because they knew and I didn't. Then, we had appointments for interviews with President Taggart (by the way mom, did you ever get the pictures they were supposed to send of us the first day?). We got to the mission home a little early, just like we were supposed to. When we were waiting to go in, Sister Taggart came up and said, "you come, you touch us, and then you leave." I just sat there looking at her super confused because I was kind of in shock thinking that my visa might have come. Then Sister Paight (my companion) asked if that meant my visa was here. Sister Taggart then realized that I didn't know yet and thought that she wasn't supposed to say anything. Sure enough, I went in for my interview with President Taggart, he assumed that I already knew, which by that point, I pretty much did, and then he told me that I do have my visa and that I will be leaving on December 8th for Brazil! I am so excited to go and serve in Portuguese!

Other things this week, we have met some cool people that seem so ready to hear the gospel this week. It is amazing to see that as we put forth all of our effort, the Lord really does put people in our path that are ready for the gospel.

This last Saturday night, our stake had an international night. It was so fun to see how many different cultures there are here. I can name countless different countries where people are from. It seems like we mostly run into Haitians and Salvadorians though. They are all so great, and generally far more receptive than Americans. It just makes me more excited to go to Brazil where people are friendlier than stubborn Americans. It doesn't matter where the person is from though. If they are prepared, they will listen no matter what.

I love you all and love hearing from you!

Eu sei que Jesus Cristo é nosso Salvador e que por meio dele, podemos ter todos os felicidades da vida. Ele pode ayudar-nos com todos os provações.

Com amor,

Sister Jensen

New Jersey Week 2 is Complete!‏ November 10, 2014

Hi everyone!

New Jersey has been great! I only have 10 minutes left to write this, so hopefully I can do it quickly.

This week has been great! I finally got to go to sacrament meeting here (I didn't get to the week before because it was stake conference) and the ward is great. It is pretty different from the west as far as that goes. Most of the members are inactive, like a lot more.

Um...what else. I have an awesome zone and district. I'm not sure if I talked about that before, but they really are great. I have already learned so much from them and their dedication. Oh--before I forget. There is a Spanish speaking sister in my zone, I don't remember her name right now, but she knows the Claypools! Like really well! She also knows the Mullens and the husband of one of my MTC teachers. Super crazy right? Oh, and I had my first exchange this last Friday/Saturday. It was great. I tried my first Jersey pizza, which was as fabulous as they say.

We are teaching a few people right now, but I feel like we have had to drop more investigators than we have found. It is pretty sad. I know though that the Lord knows what He is doing.

I love you all soooooo very much! I will try to write more next week...I need to probably write this email before the others just so I can have enough time. I always had more than enough time in the MTC, but now time flies I guess. And it helps that I get more than like five emails each week. I guess I share little experiences in other emails, but hopefully I can work on getting them all on this email!

Love you!

Sister Jensen

Here are some beautiful pictures of New Jersey with all the colorful fall leaves

NEW JERSEY!!!! November 3, 2014

I love New Jersey, but I guess you could call it one of the harder missions. We got one new investigator last week, and she dropped us within 24 hours. That was hard to see. All our investigators with baptismal dates won't answer our calls, their doors, or anything. It is pretty frustrating. Because of that, I have only gotten to meet with two of our investigators. We work a lot with less active members here, and some areas of the ward don't even have any active members. It's really sad. I love it here though, and I love the people.

My companion is Sister Paight. She is great, and I love learning from her. Our area is called Scotch Plains North, and we our house is in Garwood, New Jersey. It is absolutely gorgeous here! This week, I even fell and scraped my knee really really bad. It was pretty intense. The people here generally believe in Christ, but act super nice, and then give us wrong information or call us within 24 hours to cancel any plans, or they just don't answer their phones. Talk about busy, not always friendly east coast people. I still love them though. I really love seeing all the different cultures come together here as well. That is one of the coolest parts. I love it so much!

We do get to go to Ellis Island in a few weeks, so I need to get some information from Mom about that.

Love you all so much (and mom, if I said anything cool in any of the individual emails, feel free to add that to the main email on the blog too. I don't have too much time or a good enough memory to put it all here).

Love,

Sister Jensen

Here is my companion Sister Paight and I at transfer conference--the first day we were companions

Here's my battle wound from falling yesterday and all the craziness that happened with it

Look at the cute dinner that a family in the ward (the Kramers) brought us on halloween.

 It was "bones and maggots" in a pumpkin. Super cute!

I'm Here! October 27, 2014

Oí minha família! 

I just wanted to let you know that I have made it to New Jersey safe and sound. It is just gorgeous here and everyone is so wonderful! I loved seeing the New York City skyline as we flew in. I feel so blessed to be here. Love you!

Love,

Sister Jensen

Last Email from the MTC, October 25, 2014

Hi there!

This email probably won't be super exciting, but oh well. I am so excited to go to New Jersey on Monday. It is going to be such a wonderful experience to meet all the wonderful people there and to get my feet wet in English before I have to worry about Portuguese too much.

So, Emilee asked me a few questions in her letter this week. I am going to answer them before I get too much further into my letter. The MTC is still going great. I love every second of it. Yes, we are pretty tired. One day, Sister Bunch and I caught all of the Elders in our district dozing off at the same time. It is amazing to see that the Lord gives us the energy that we need throughout the day. When Sister Post left, we just had Sister Bunch and I like a normal companionship. Portuguese is going awesome I guess. It is going to be crazy once I'm in Brazil, but I am so excited for that. Spanish is super helpful, but super confusing sometimes if I can't remember if the word I am thinking of is Spanish or Portuguese. 

We had so many wonderful experiences in lessons and TRC (where we teach members) this week. I feel so blessed to have this opportunity to prepare to serve people all over the world.

I guess I forgot to say last week where everyone else in my district is going. Elders Carpenter and Shakespear are going to Omaha, Nebraska. Elders Wally and Camp are going to Albuquerque, New Mexico, and...Sister Bunch is going to Salem, Oregon! We were all super excited because she could still be there when you get there, and she was born there, so she is super excited for that.

I love you all, and will send more emails with pictures.

Love,

Sister Jensen

I found Dylan here too! that was super fun to see him! Sorry, it's kind of a funny picture

Here is a much better picture of Elder Oviatt and I. He is the best!

Here is sisters bunch, bow, gutke and I at the map pointing to our missions in Brazil and Mozambique

It's Jared! I finally found him when I had my camera!

 Here is our district on our last day with the amazing Irmao Gray. 

I was so incredibly blessed to have him as one of my teachers

Here is our district at the map with all of our reassignments. It is so cool to see us go all over the world!

This picture truly tells how much we all love each other!

Travel Plans, October 23, 2014

I just got my travel plans today. They go as follows:

I report to the travel office here at the MTC at 3:35 AM on Monday morning. From there, I go to the Salt Lake airport. My flight leaves at 8:15 from here to Philadelphia. I should get into Philadelphia at 2:30 in the afternoon. From there, I get on another flight at 3:55 to Newark, New Jersey. I should arrive in New Jersey at 5 pm or so. 

I will buy a calling card later today from the bookstore. I don't know when we should talk on the phone, but this is the information. Please email me back ASAP because I have another meeting starting in 10 minutes and I want to talk to you about that.

Love you!

Sister Jensen

Last Week in the MTC and Reassignment! October 21, 2014

Hey there everyone!

I can´t believe that it´s my last week here. It has been a wonderful last few days. Our TRC skype call and one of our lessons were some of the most faith promoting experiences of my life. The lady that we skyped with for TRC is so amazing! She has such a strong testimony! And guess what...she knows our teacher Irmão Gray! He served in her ward in Brazil and got pretty close to her family. And guess what else, she has a sister serving in my mission and a brother serving in Sister Bunch´s mission! It was so cool to talk to her! I love being able to see that the church is strong all over the world. This work will continue on through any difficulties that the adversary throws at us.

I have exciting news for everyone...I have my reassignment call. I´m going to go to the...New Jersey Morristown Mission. I am so excited. I´ll send a hard copy of the call home and an electronic one as well. I´m so excited to get to go and serve there. I know that is where the Lord needs me right now. I don´t know how long He needs me there for, but I will go in faith knowing that He understands the things that I don´t. 

One of the Elders in our district, Elder Weeks, got his VISA. He will fly to Brazil on Monday. Another Elder in our zone just got his yesterday. He left this morning for the São Paulo MTC. He went through the San Francisco consolate. Maybe I should have done that. Just kidding. I know that the Lord has a hand in all this and that everything will work out like it is supposed to.

Mom, I have a few questions for you. I need to get a card reader for when I´m out in the field. Should I just get one here at the bookstore or have dad find one cheaper. They run around $12 here. Also, they have converters, and I don´t know if I should get one and if I do, what kind would I need exactly? I finally picked a mission scripture for my plaque too. I have been meaning to find one for weeks and then to send it to you, but I haven´t yet. I love D&C 18:44 with D&C 4:4 after it if I can. I will try to get a picture to send to you too. 

I think that´s it. Keep sending letters, I love getting them!

Love you all,

Sister Jensen

Here is our zone. We are supposed to get 30 or so new missionaries tomorrow. We are already full. they are having to combine districts to make room. We don't have classrooms, teachers, or bedrooms. It is going to be an adventure getting everyone in.

All of the sisters in our room

I love Elders Carpenter and Shakespear photobombing this one. They are the best!

The one we are jumping in, I will tell you are names and where we are going.

from left to right:

Sister Bow, from California going to Mozambique

Sister Gutke, from Utah going to Mozambique

Sister Bunch, from Colorado going to Brazil

(me)

Sister Valentine, from Utah going to Brazil



Sister Gutke, Post and I being goofy one night



Here is us doing "yo-yoga" one night.

Here was the abundance of food that we had to celebrate Sister Bunch's

 and my one month mark. We had a little "festa ferra"





The next pictures are from our festa ferra last night for sister Bow's 20th birthday.

She has the same birthday as you Mom!

Sister Bow got a ton of crazy stuff in her package. These were gummy ducks

 that stood up on their own. They were our guests at the festa ferra