"Four-Man Piso!"

Olive Groves

April 2, 2018

Things have been pretty busy despite the utter ghost town of an area we've had this week. This week was Holy Week (or as Elder Wiseman has deemed it, "Semanilla Santita") and boy was it a doozy. This is the only Semana Santa I will witness in my mission (I was in Madrid for the last one) and it was a disappointment on various levels. To start, we live in a newer part of town on a bigger road, and all of the processions were going on in the older and more central part, so I didn't get to see a whole lot. Another interesting culture point: The immense scenes of Christ's life engraven in wood, wax and gold hoisted upon dozens of penitent shoulders and paraded through cobblestone streets accompanied by fanfare, heels, and conical hoods. I only saw part of one procession for Mary Magdalene. I'm sure the whole thing would be a lot more enjoyable in a tourist scenario.

There's not a whole lot of notable things that happened this week due to the week-long holiday where the streets and houses were somehow simultaneously empty, so here's some highlights:

-José is on track to be baptized on the 21st of April and we are running out of things to teach him. He really liked general conference (went to every session).

-On Wednesday we moved the other missionaries into our apartment! Our rally cry has become the title of this here email. We use it whenever things get tense or obviously frustrating and it lightens the mood. We also use it whenever we realize how nice it is to have the entire district in the same living area.

-Conference was amazing and I still have a session to watch. 

-I actually totally called Elder Gong being called as a new apostle. No joke. 

-There were a lot of very big things that came to pass as conference went along that I had never witnessed before, but confirmed to me personally that God does still guide His children in these latter days. These are truly exciting times in which we live.

The sun has come out quite consistently as of late. I love the time of year when the sun is out, but there's still plenty of clouds and the heat is nowhere near intense. A pleasant warmth in the sun with a slight chill in the shade...mm. However, all of this light has made it more than obvious that I need to get out the short sleeves and start working on that mission tan again. To put it scripturally, "the whiteness thereof did exceed all the whiteness, yea, even there could be nothing upon earth so white as the whiteness thereof."

And now, an excerpt from my study journal *ahem*...

"A thought on 3 Nephi 17:1-3: Even as the people were instructed to ponder on Christ's teachings to better understand and prepare their minds for when He was to come again on the morrow, we too must anxiously study, ponder, and internalize His teachings found in the scriptures to be more understanding of and prepared for His glorious return on that greatly anticipated morrow."

I hope the week is swell!

Elder Jensen :)