This week was long.

Yo, Elder Kazier, Elder Wilson, Elder Rigby, Elder Burton
(most of the elders from my group)

This week was long. On Monday, we had dinner with our investigator Pablo. He made this dish that consisted of egg, asparagus, and shrimp that was quite good. He also made us his own veggie burgers (crushed lentil patties, more or less) and fries, and they weren't too shabby. A little dry, but they tasted fine. He's a vegetarian (he didn't eat the first dish) for health reasons, more than his Buddhism-ish beliefs. He's a really nice guy, but I don't believe he's taking much of our visits too seriously or with a desire to change.

On Tuesday, we had a zone meeting in Seville which was 3 and a half hours long. *shudder* But on the bright side, we ate Costco pizza and cookies after! At this point, I am going to insert my letter to President Andersen, because I'm not too sure what more to say at the moment.

This was an interesting week. With Elder Van Moos' residency, I spent Wednesday with Elder Cobbley and Thursday with Elder Wilson and I think both went pretty well.

Elder Cobbley and I ran into our investigator Borja with his wife, Ytala (member), in the morning and we were able to set a cita for that evening, which is awesome because we had been trying to meet with him to address how he felt about baptism now. We showed the Patterns of Light videos and they both had very good comments and Ytala even shared a very powerful experience that had strengthened her testimony revelation and how God really does send his love to us. I then led the conversation to asking Borja if he felt ready for baptism. He said no, and I believe he essentially said that he still didn't feel ready because he hadn't been reading, praying, etc. as often as he should, but I might need to reconfirm that with Ytala first. I'm still working on the language and he isn't the easiest person to understand at times, but I digress. I noted how goals make positive results, then told him how Elder Nye and I believed that he could be prepared for baptism by the middle of October and challenged him to do so. He said that he felt that goal was too soon. I didn't know what to do at that point, so I bore testimony of the power of, and blessings that come from, doing the little things. I'm racking my brain on what to do now with him. I would like to add that Elder Cobbley has made great strides his progress in the language and his confidence as a missionary.

I took Elder Cobbley to the area that we like to call "South America". We call it that because it is quite favela-ish, especially when you're in the thick that tin-roofed jungle. It's really cool and normally pretty safe, but it is a ways out there.

The walk from home to here is about 2.5 miles one-way.

Elder Wilson and I could only get the info for one potential investigator despite the full morning of contacting we had, but we had a very good cita with a newish investigator in the afternoon. Her name is Fatima and she is a referral from a YSA  (Young Single Adults) member friend. I believe she received some of the discussions from hermanas when they were here, but she has a lot of questions about the church and a lot of interest in the Book of Mormon. So much interest in fact, that she is going to Institute with the JAS members in Seville. Institute started this week, so Fatima wanted to have an introduction to The Book of Mormon lesson with us beforehand to give her some preparation, and to kick off starting with the missionaries officially. We ended up teaching all of the first lesson, with more depth on The Book of Mormon, and she understood and accepted all of it. She is very eager to learn. It's awesome. Elder Wilson did a very good job working in area, especially in that lesson. I'm glad that he is in my district; we became good friends in the MTC.

My personal study has been going great. I have started my third round of reading the BoM in the mission, and this time is a little more in-depth. I am working on finishing Doctrine & Covenants bit by bit (I'm on Section 132). I am also almost two-thirds of the way through Jesus the Christ, and it continues to be potentially my favorite non-scriptural book. I am trying to bring a little more of Preach My Gospel into my studies as well. It will be easier to do so once I finish D&C.

This was a long week. I'm excited to be back at a regular schedule with my own companion.

So there you have it! Friday was weekly planning, and Saturday there were a larger number of just straight-up uncalled for unpleasant results from contacting. All in all, it was a pretty uneventful weekend. Sunday was tranquil. I almost single-handedly made a huge batch of snickerdoodles for our noche misional. A Seventy is going to tour our mission late October. Fun stuff! I hope things are going well for everyone! This is a crazy world we live in. 

Cuidense.

Elder Jensen :)