I'm Back with Plenty of Adventures

Hey guys! So...I'm back stateside. I made it back from a wonderful experience in Brazil, from which I will carry memories, knowledge, experiences, and friendships that will last through all eternity. But please, be patient with any funny spelling or grammar mistakes--English is still a little funny sometimes. I did get to come back to a wonderful family though that was more than ready to take me out exploring around new places in the western United States.

So, practically as soon as I got back, we went to Spokane for the weekend--and it was so fun. I loved getting to see a few friends there, and to feel like I was in a place a little more like home for a bit. I got to see Emily again (super yay!) and that got us pumped up for our next adventure at school again here in a week.

After that quick trip, we went to California, and the sun treated us well! We stayed in the Sacramento area with my aunt, Amanda. But, fun stuff, we spent a day in San Francisco! And as my first time there, I LOVED it! Seriously one of the coolest cities ever! I took about 200 pictures, but I'll only humor you with a few, since the whole world probably doesn't need that many pictures all in one place. I'll just put up some of my favorites.

So we went to the Wharf, and it was so fun! The best stop of all when we were down there was definitely the classic "Boudin"s sourdough restaurant. The bread making part of it was so cool to see, not to mention that it is pretty darn famous.

Let me tell you about that tasty food that I ate there. Oh my goodness was it good! I had the New England Clam Chowder in a sourdough bread bowl. Oh yum! And, better yet, I could eat it without getting sick (side note, I found out while in Brazil that I don't do too well with gluten). So, good news is that sourdough actually kills the gluten in the wheat, so gluten free people like me can eat it! Seriously, it's like the most dangerous trick ever to know. Especially when you're in San Francisco with heavenly sourdough bread. It was a great treat for me and then some.

So naturally, when you go to San Francisco, you can't help but see and go on the Golden Gate Bridge. It is just gorgeous! I tried to pick the best of my photos, I loved being able to see it up close at cool angles as well as from farther away. It truly is an all-American beauty. While in town still, we had lots of other fun adventures. We went to the Coit tower, Ghiradelli Square (where we had absolutely scrumptious ice cream sundaes), and drove around to see the classic downtown area. I loved it to say the least!

And of course, we had to see Lombard street, and I loved it. Like not just loved it, but freakin' loved it. Crookedest street in the world is just amazing, and definitely a site to see! It has the most quaint houses, well, not exactly quaint because some are actually quite large, but they are all gorgeous.

And that was truly just the first part of our trip. Wowie zowie! And I've got more than enough photos to prove it. While we were in California, I ate at In-n-Out for the first time. My dad has been a fan for years and brought my brothers into it as soon as possible. All those years, they would go to In-n-Out and the girls would go to Chick-fil-a whenever we did that on our travels (which was about once every two years). So, finally it was my time to try. When I was in Brazil, my mom and sisters had their first taste of In-n-Out, so that left just me. This time couldn't wait. I went, and had my protein style, animal style In-n-Out burger with fries. And it was good. I won't kill myself to get another, but since that first I have had two more, so I guess I like it. And you can't help but love the prices and fun atmosphere. It's definitely a win all the way around.



So I guess that tops of the second travel--California. After that, we went right back up so Oregon (my new home). While there, we did a little "stay-cation" over at the Oregon Coast for an evening with my mom and sisters. And I made some fun rookie beach-goer mistakes in the water. It was so fun though.

That's haystack rock behind us, I guess it's pretty well known, so we got a picture with it. It really was a fun day at the beach, and sorry that most of the rest of the pictures are just of my feet, but it actually shows my rookie mistake pretty darn well.

So, I have loved my new Birkenstocks, and it was so good to be back at the beach in sandals, and then to take them off and feel that sand between my toes. It was so good to feel that, and I just loved it.

The water was a little cold, but it wasn't bad enough that I couldn't stand to be in it. I played in the little waves all the time we were there. My feet got plenty of water time, which led to my rookie beach-goer mistake.

Luckily because I was taking pictures, I got my mistake on camera at the perfect moment. I was naive enough to not realize that the waves can get you wet and they don't always just lap at your feet like cute little lake waves. This next pic was truly seconds after the previous, and shows that I learned my lesson pretty fast.

Oops! I got a little bit wet! Needless to say, my sisters were laughing and I was a little bit more careful after that. It was still fun though, and worth being a little cold for the rest of the night. And the yummy fish and chips on the coast was so fun too. And sadly, it took me years to want to go to the coast. I had another opportunity, but I threw a fit and didn't think it would be cool, but I appreciate it now. It was really fun to be there in the evening on the beach with the girls.

Loved it! After that, I just had an itty-bitty little bit of time to get ready to go off to school. We packed everything up, and headed to Utah (through Boise), and now up to Wyoming to finish up seeing family before I get busy with my studies again. Hopefully I will be able to keep up with blog when I am studying here. Love you all, and we'll see you soon!

Última Semana da Missão February 29, 2016

Hey there,

So...I can't believe that I'm already on my last week here on the mission! Things are going crazy here! We had lots of miracles and blessings this last week in Franca.

So, we had three baptisms on Saturday. Two were the two youngest kids of Maria and José, Juliana and Wagner. That was a fun thing that we fought for, and their family is really progressing. They invited all of their older sibling with their spouses and children to go to the baptism, and so their entire family was there, which was really special. We also had the baptism of Ricardo, whose wife´s aunt is a member in our ward. It really was an amazing experience.

We also had some more miracles with Maria and José. José pulled Sister Lourenço aside after a family home evening with them last night, and he asked us about what Maria was saying about weddings. She had brought us earlier the pictures of their oldest kids' weddings to show us, and said that she always dreamed of having a wedding like that, but now she didn't thing that it was ever going to happen. We told him that that was what she said, and he told us that the next day, he was going to go and mark their wedding, and he wanted it to be a secret. Woohooo! We truly wanted to scream and shout and cry tears of joy when he told us this. Miracles are real, but we have to have faith and we cannot give up.

Other than that, the week was pretty normal. I came to Ribeirão Preto today to register my new visa that finally came through, but that's not too big of a deal.

I love you all, and...I'll see you in a week!

Love you!

Sister Jensen

Mais uma Semana em Franca February 22, 2016

Hey there!

This week was super full of nothing.

We did have some wonderful miracles, but the work is still the work. We are having a hard time finding new investigators here, but we are still working hard for those that we have.

Miracle this week with José and Maria. José invited his daughter and her boyfriend to go to church with them! It was José! We are super happy with the progress that he is making, but still frustrated with his lack of desire to get married. Everything will work out well though.

Other than that, this week was kind of normal. I went to São Joaquim da Barra for a division with our sister training leaders, and it was cool. Actually, it's pretty hot there, but the division was good. And...we had interviews with Presidente Brum on Saturday. He is wonderful! It was so fun to talk with him. It was kind of funny because he usually doesn't interview those that are going home with the other missionaries, but he said he wanted to talk to me. It was great. He basically just wanted to see how I was doing, and then said that we didn't have much to talk about because we would talk again in two weeks. That's weird stuff.

But, I hope all you at home are doing well.

Love you!

Sister Jensen

Semana Difícil‏ February 15, 2016

Hey there again!

This week was full of ups and downs. Our money is delayed (we are poor for one more day!) and lots of other stuff.

To start it all off, our week was great. We were talking with lots of people on the street--everything super-duper great. But, there has to be oposition in all things, so we hit a hard wall. Wednesday, Sister Lourenço and I woke up with terrible head colds. We were so miserable that we had to stay home that day, but we are all pretty much good now. We only had to stay home that one day, so that wasn't too long. But really, there is NOTHING to do in a missionary's house. If you think staying home sick in normal life is boring, imagine how we were that day. The two of us sick with nothing to do. It was pretty bleh.

Other than that, we are going pretty well here. We had a few other bumps in the road this week, but we are excited for another chance to move forward and start the work up again. With our sick strike, we didn't have a lot of new things, very few new investigators, lessons, and stuff like that. So, I won't bore you with talk of nothing.

Sei que o evangelho é ótimo. Temos tudo que precisamos. Eu percebo isso mais e mais todo dia. Sei que o plano do Senhor é perfeito, e se seguirmos esse plano, jamais vamos errar. 

Amo vocês!

Sister Jensen

Carnaval em Franca, São Paulo‏ February 8, 2016

Hey there everyone!

So, this week is Carnaval. The good thing is that here, it isn't super strong, so we shouldn't have any problems. I only had a few little funny problems last year during Carnaval, but we were all just fine and thankfully, nothing happened. 

So, we are having a great time teaching that one family that I talked about. The family of Maria and José. They are wonderful! We even did a skit of 1 Nephi 4 with them yesterday and everyone got into it with towels on their heads for costumes and everything. It was pretty great, and we had a wonderful time. We are still praying for José's heart to be softened so that he will accept the invitation to get baptised, and that he will finally marry his wife, because she wants to be baptized and can't be without being married. Lots of prayers for them.

Um, other than that, things are going well here. We are constantly on the search for more investigators, and are excited in the progress we see in those that we currently have.

Sei que esta obra é super importante ao Senhor. Ele realmente está preparando para a segunda vinda de Cristo. Temos a responsabilidade de ajudar nisso. O Senhor precisa de nós como suas mão aqui na terra hoje.

Amo vocês!

Sister Jensen