Cutting It Close


July 10, 2017
Due to a busy/time consuming P-day, there's a chance that this email is a bit shorter. 

Let's start with today. I got my haircut! Only downside: We got there around 10, but didn't leave until 12:30. A member here owns a peluquería and is kind enough to let us get our haircuts for free, but only when there's an open spot. The place was pretty busy this morning. We then played ultimate frisbee at the chapel. We then went back to piso, then Elder Garrard quite deliberately put together his shopping list/showered. Then we bought stuff for the week. Then we went to the chapel to play (well, begin to play) a Star Wars board game that Elder Anderson has been itching to play since he bought it. Then we had a home teaching appointment at 5:45. Now I'm back in the chapel and running out of tiiiime!

The week was good. For the 4th of July, the elders sang a bunch of patriotic hymns for the hermanas after district meeting. That was about the only America-related thing we did. We had a good lesson with Abraham with Obispo Parodi. We watched The Restoration video, discussed that a little, then the bishop worked some spiritual magic and essentially gave Abraham an overview of everything we are going to teach him. Abraham was able to liken himself to the position of young Joseph Smith. Later this week, we passed by his home. We found him watching another church history movie, writing down notes and questions, with his BoM and pamphlets scattered around him. So that was a pleasant surprise. We are going to address the Word of Wisdom thing this week and see how much of an issue it will be.

We have two new investigators! One is a younger guy named Antonio. I'm not sure how consistent our lessons will be with him. We've been trying to contact him for weeks, but we finally taught him the Restoration! He seems open to it for now. The other is an older man named Juan. He's met with plenty of missionaries before, because he has a tendency to talk about anything and everything unceasingly. We've been able to squeeze in a message about the WoW once we brought our ward mission leader along. We'll see how much progress we can make with him while we can. 

That being said, this next transfer we lose a total of 5 missionaries after all things are said and done. It is very likely that my area will be closed until missionary numbers come back up the following transfer. So I will also have a higher potential of leaving San Fernando. But who knows! We'll see.

I had my second interview with President Andersen and it went quite well! He said that there is definitely a certain power about the progress I'm making. So I've got that going for me. Which is nice :)

Speaking of power, it's time to focus up a bit on the spiritual things in life. First things first, watch the conference talk See Others as They May Become by Thomas S. Monson. It's a great one. 

Second and definitely not least, Thursday, we were asked to give one of the hermanas a blessing. We did so. Then, as they left the chapel, Elder Garrard turned to me and to my surprise, asked me to give him a blessing. I had never done such a thing before. So I reviewed how to carry out the ordinance, said a quick, but earnest prayer for myself, then placed my hands on his head. The Spirit handled everything from there on out. I was a vessel filled to the brim. I was completely guided in my words of encouragement, comfort, assurance, and promise. There are two things I learned from this. 1: The utmost importance of being worthy a priesthood holder and maintaining a positive relationship with your companion. 2: What it means and how it truly feels to act in the authority of God. It was a very powerful time for me.

Our musical number for the Stake Priesthood Conference went swimmingly well, and the conference was wonderful in the messages. I'm happy to see that the 4th was a "blast" for everyone back home! That's all I've got time for.

Elder Jensen :)

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