Oi de Catanduva, São Paulo, Brasil!‏ November 23, 2015

Hey there everyone!

So...this was an interesting week! Everything was going great---our work in Ipiranga was going strong, we had an investigator in church, and all that fun stuff. And then, Tuesday night, we got a phone call from the assistants. I thought it was for our interviews with President Brum the next day, but it turns out that it wasn't. So, before you freak out mom, nothing bad happened to us, we are all just fine. Anyway, the assistants told us, that there would be an emergency transfer. Yay! No one likes that on the mission! So, they told me that Sister Lobo would stay in our area and be companions with Sister Meza, that was working in the other area in our ward. They would have to redivide the ward for the assistants to work there too. So, Sister Meza's companion, Sister Almeida, was transfered to Saõ José do Rio Preto, and I was transfered to another city that is part of one of the stakes of São José do Rio Preto. I was transfered to...Catanduva. My new companion is Sister Barbosa, who was Sister Lourenço's companion before this emergency transfer, and we have been here since Wednesday. What a crazy change!

We have the whole city to ourselves, and maybe even a few other small cities, I'm still not sure and will talk to President Brum about that this week. We both got here together, there were Elders here before, and we are getting to know everything together. One of the members yesterday said that it has been 25 years since there have been sisters in this ward. Wow. That was a shock for us! The ward is super friendly, and has a similar problem to my last area with Sunday attendance. There are around 30 members there on Sunday. We felt so welcomed meeting everyone yesterday, and this made us excited to work here. Hopefully this week we will be able to get our heads screwed on straight a little bit better, and get the work going here. 

With all that being said and done, I am excited to work here. It is going to be a challenge, but I feel ready for it.

O Senhor sempre sabe de nosso potencial. Ele nos dá forças e tudo mais que precisamos para fazer o que Ele precisa de nós. Amo este evangelho e a esperança que ele nos traz.

Amo vocês!

Sister Jensen

Semana de Novos Pesquisadores!‏ November 16, 2015

Hey there!

This week was such a crazy week for us! We have gotten the work back on its feet here, and are just moving forward. We were able to find lots of new people, and I am going to talk about them a little bit this email. Wow. My english is sounding really formal and funny, but oh well. 

This week, we started teaching Renan, who is the boyfriend of a Less-active-recent-convert of ours. Miracle of the week, they both went to church yesterday! What a fun thing! I think he really liked it, and I know that Agatha (his girlfriend, the member) was happy to be back at church. We are looking to help these teenagers to see how the gospel is what truly brings us joy in this life, and can keep us from a lot of the hurt that the world could cause. 

We also found a wonderful couple named Tiago and Isabelle this week. They are so cute and have a two month old baby! Our last lesson with them was good, but sadly, they didn't come to church yesterday. We hope to be able to show them how the gospel is here to help our families. When we feel weak and helpless, stressed or overburdened, only the gospel can help us leave that darkness and go into the light. 

We also have some other new investigators, and we will do our best to help them see how the gospel relates to each of us in our individual circumstances. 

Other than that, we are doing great here! It's hot, but the more and more common rain is helping us a lot. 

Amo muito vocês e espero que saibam quanto o evangelho é importante para cada um de vocês. Ele não é para os perfeitos, mas para os imperfeitos, quem somos nós. Sei que quando colocamos nossa confiança no Salvador Jesus Cristo, Ele vai nos ajudar a chegar até nosso potencial divino.

Tenham uma boa semana!

Sister Jensen

ps. sorry mom, the computer isnt recognizing my camera today. ill send pics next week

Semana bem Melhor‏ November 9, 2015

Hey there everyone!

This week was so much better than before! I am just getting over being nervous because I had to switch computers because the other one wasn't letting me enter my email and was basically saying that I had been hacked. Good news, I talked to the people at the internet café and they said that it was a problem with that computer and switched me, and now I can write to you all! What a wonderful thing!

So, with that being said, this week was a lot better. We are visiting three girls. One of them is named Camila (she's about 22) and is the exgirlfriend of a member of the ward. Thats fun. But we are really enjoying teaching her, and it is so fun to see her growth little by little. We are also teaching two friends (or maybe cousins named Nicole and Driely. Nicole is the granddaughter of a member, and we are hoping to be able to teach these teenage girls a little more and help them to see the joy of the gospel.

Other than that, this week was pretty normal. Everything is going great, and I am so excited to finish out the last few months of my mission strong.

Sei que este evangelho é verdadeiro. Sei que Deus nos ama, e que Ele fará todas as coisas para nosso bem. Ele realmente é nosso Pai, e assim, quer fazer o melhor para nós. As vezes, isso não é o que queremos, mas sempre nos ajuda progredir e fazer tudo que precisamos para atingir nosso potencial divino.

Amo vocês!

Sister Jensen

Semana das Dificudades‏ November 3, 2015

Oi minha família e meus amigos!

Esta semana foi uma semana.....oops! I literally wasn't thinking about it and started writing in Portuguese. Sorry mom! So, this week was really not the easiest of all weeks. We had lunch appointments fall through---not ever any fun when you have to make your own lunch---and on top of that, we got a fun phone call from the assistants. 

They called us Thursday morning and asked me to help them with a quartet/choir for a fireside that President Brum was going to do with our ward and the other ward in our building. President had asked them to get together a musical number, and we had about four days to do it in. President asked them to prepare the song "glorious" that David Archuleta sings in the movie "Meet the Mormons", which is a really good movie if you haven't seen it. That meant that I had about and hour to learn the piano part, which isn't totally the easiest thing, and then two or three hours every day (plus and hour or more traveling by bus) in the mission office practicing for this musical number. What a job! But in the end, it worked out really well, and the fireside was WONDERFUL! President Brum really is a man called from God and he is here to preside over this mission in Ribeirão Preto.

Este evangelho é o evangelho de Jesus Cristo e foi restaurado nesses dias. Eu sei que ao seguir o exemplo de nosso Salvador, nós podemos chegar um dia na presença do nosso Pai Celestial. Ele nos ama mais que conseguimos entender. 

Amo muito vocês!

Sister Jensen

PS. We got soaking wet the other day, and we took sister Lobo's first rain pictures here in Brazil!

The new zone this transfer

Another fun rain picture in front of our house in the front garage area.

Novo Transferência‏ October 26, 2015

Hey There!

This week has been absolutely crazy! We had exchanges with our Sister Training Leaders this last week, and...transfers. Luckily, I got to stay with the wonderful companion that I have and keep training Sister Lobo. I am really excited for these next 7 weeks together, and I know that we are going to get a lot done. With the changes in the work here, we are having to change our methods a little bit, but it is all going to work out really well.

We had a WONDERFUL ward council meeting the other day. I was able to see that as we focus on people as individuals--the way that Christ works--we can help all those around us much more effectively. It was a wonderful learning experience that I am so grateful for.

Olha, eu tenho pouco tempo para continuar pregando o evangelho aqui em Ribeirão Preto, mas eu sei com todo o meu coração que é verdadeiro. Temos o diamante de verdade entre as pedras do mundo que estão sem brilho. Temos a resposta de cada pergunta e a esperança que sempre conseguiremos progredir e continuar em alegria. Tudo isso é possível por meio de Jesus Cristo.

Amo muito vocês!

Sister Jensen