Badabroz

October 23, 2017

Time to hit y'alls with a President letter quote!

This week was pretty full. We are making it a goal to have at least one cita or set event outside of piso every day of the week so we aren't having multiple days in a row of straight-up contacting, which can be very draining, and it's working well so far.

We met with Fátima and taught, or at least touched on, all of the commandments and she said she is going to keep them. Our next lesson will go deeper into tithing, fasting, and chastity. She is progressing very well. We met with Borja on Thursday and we had a discussion on prayer that went great. We asked the whole family to earnestly pray to know if this is the true church of God on the earth. Oh, we also were asked by Fátima to visit her parents. So we stopped by their store to get to know them, and ended up teaching them The Restoration. They appreciated the message and said that we are free to visit them any time, and we'll be teaching them next week as well.

On Friday, we were asked to help out and do a little skit at a Primary activity about being a missionary. The kids really enjoyed it.

On transfer day, we said goodbye to Elder Rich and Elder Childers at the bus station in the morning, and had Elder Cobbley in our companionship for the evening because his new companion, Elder Recio, was coming in alllll the way from Murcia, just like Elder Van Moos last transfer. If the name Recio rings a bell, it's because you've payed enough attention to these emails and had the mind power to remember that he was my zone leader in San Fernando. He is still just as awesome as before, and now I can understand him!

Bye Bye, Elder Rich

Bye Bye, Elder Childers

Van Moos and Wilson stickin' around.

The lesson with Fátima went so much better than we braced for. We would explain a commandment, and she'd be like, "Alright, makes sense" then we'd move on to the next. Just like that. There was a follow-up question every now and then, but for the most part she was accepting from the beginning. We even unintentionally dipped into a couple points from lesson five. She understands why we have commandments and is completely cool with following them. It's nice. She's also trying really hard with keeping the Word of Wisdom, and is succeeding in doing so. 

Visiting Fátima's parents was fun. Their names are María and Hannibal. María is from the same Portuguese island as Ronaldo (the soccer player) and Hannibal is from Peru, but they have spent most of their lives in Venezuela. Unfortunately, Venezuela isn't the greatest place to live at the moment (you know, communism) so they took everything they could and made a mad dash to Spain. They've been here for about 15 years. They run this little store on our street that has different odds and ends ranging from clothes to cleaning products. I've chatted with them before with Elder Nye, but we never taught anything. As I said, they sincerely appreciated the good words of our lesson and they also noted that something about Fátima has changed for the better ever since she started meeting with us. Ladies and gentlemen, the Church is true, and the gospel changes lives when applied correctly and wholeheartedly.

Borja is doing alright. Thanks to him, I finally have tried the "oh-so delectable and tantalizing" hunk of wax-covered, preserved, pig leg known as Extremadura jamón. IIIIIt was alright; had a strong, coppery aftertaste. Very tender. I'm sure it's an acquired taste, but maybe it would be better fried and dipped in some sort of cheese sauce or something, I don't know. Maybe it's just the unrefined Amercian in me preferring meat in cooked or dried form. ANYwho, Borja! I think this will be a waiting game for him. Just some constant support and love from the members, the missionaries, and a couple touches from the Holy Ghost. I think we're going to start gearing our visits with his family toward personal progression and conversion, so we can see how he's doing with that.

The Primary activity was a hoot. Our little snippet was a two-part show. The first part was how a missionary gets ready for the day, only, Elder Van Moos had his head through a sweater and I was behind him with my hands through the arms. Elder Cobbley did the same for Elder Recio. Elder Van Moos and Elder Recio had to:

-Wake up (I got to crush and toss an alarm clock)

-Work out (jumping jacks and such with the Rocky theme playing)

-Shave (plastic knives and shaving cream)

-Shower (spray bottle), and eat breakfast (bananas and corn flakes).

As they were about to start studies, they "received a phone call" from Sandra to remind them about the Primary activity. They had forgotten, but they assured her that something was planned. Elder Van Moos suggested that they just sing a song. Then we all put googly eyes on our chins, covered our faces up to our mouths with beanies, lied upside down on a table, and did a lip sync. The kids thought it was really funny, and I had a lot of fun with it.

High on a Mountain Top

Today, Santi decided to take all of us to Mérida. It was a cool trip! He had a meeting at 12, so he took us to this castle-topped mountain near Mérida to climb while he was gone (pictures soon to follow). We then did a quick run-through of Mérida and stopped by the Temple of Diana. I like Mérida. There's just random ruins, columns, and statues scattered throughout the town and the city planning is cool. We ate like kings at Burger King, and now here I am back in the chapel! This was a very unexpected adventure.

That's all I've got for words this week. I'll be cranking out the picture emails now. Have a good week! Be happy, be safe, remember who you are.

(...a child of God. That's who you are. And he loves you very much.)

Elder Jensen :)

A Body of Water in Extremadura?!?!?

I mean, it's a reservoir, but it was still quite a surprise.

Front to Back: Elders Recio, Cobbley, Van Moos, and Jensen

The Elders and Santi!