Big Turkey, Big Man, Big Spirit, Big Week

November 26, 2018

This week was fuller than a fuller's soap!

...don't think too hard about that one, it doesn't really make sense. It was a full week though. 

Once again, sorry about the short letter last week. We had a zone activity that took up the majority of the day. Elder Otero and I woke up at five to catch our bus...woo. We all traveled to Vitoria where we cleaned the chapel (shoutout to Elder Pain for scraping tape off of the dividers for roughly eight hours) and picked up trash in the streets for a couple of hours to count as our "proselyting" time in the morning, then we walked over to a rec center where we rented out the gym to play basketball and soccer which just happen to be two of my favorite sports that I'm really good at! (Since some of you might be new to reading my letters, it should be made known that those sports are two of the small handful of sports that I've never officially practiced and that the previous statement was, in fact, pure sarcasm.) We had a good time with it. We then came back to the chapel and prepped for early Thanksgiving and succeeded at not writing families even though everyone had their tablets/phones out constantly, saying, "I need to write my family." A lot of people secluded themselves to record their new-fangled audio clips to send home. I would do that, but I like writing a lot and this way you get to hear about my week without hearing "um" and "so, yeah" like 50,000 times. Anywho! The Hetzels were kind enough to bring a 30 lb turkey to the activity. With that and all of the rest of the Thanksgiving stuff that was brought, we had a good feast. Much better than pollo asado and mashed potatoes that I had last year in Badajoz (Though I don't regret that; we did our best with what we had back then...Goodness! That was a year ago!) After eating we had a white elephant gift exchange. I got a little golden Big Ben! Not too shabby considering one person ended up with a half-used bag of hand-me-down yerba maté. The evening ended with frantic email-writing and laughter as we socialized in the chapel.

Saying goodbye to Elder Otero.

After what was by far one of the most uncomfortable sleeping situations of my mission (a lot of elders + not enough room or mattresses = unhealthy lack of sleep), Elder Otero and I woke up early and walked to the train station. An Elder Jones accompanied us so I could have someone to be with on the way back from the train station. Elder Otero's train left at 7:40am and while I was hoping for a nice, tranquil, morning stroll back to the apartment, Elder Jones asked if we could jog back, so we did that. Fortunately it was chilly enough that I didn't get all sweaty and sticky. Everyone was going to have their district meetings in the chapel in Vitoria that day, and they did, except for our district. The Vitoria elders were going to be weekly planning, so I just grabbed a good mattress and got the best rest that I could while they did their thing. Elder Benedict's train was getting in a little after 2:00pm and I was just hopping on in Vitoria to get off at Burgos with him. So the Vitoria elders dropped me off at the station, I got on with no Elder Benedict in sight, and I arrived in Burgos to discover that he was sitting about four cars behind mine. Elder Hetzel picked us up and the luggage at the station and drove us to our apartment to bring a close to the traveling portion of this second emergency transfer. I'm excited to see what the third one will be like. We met with Rubén in the evening and also spent a lot of time catching up since we hadn't seen each other since Cartagena.

On Wednesday, we helped a member who teaches English. We stopped by three different classes and answered whatever questions they had for us (about Thanksgiving, who we are, why we're here, what do we do, how old we are, etc.), then taught our own English class in the chapel. Our evening ended with a lesson with Philippe at the Hetzels' where we started on lesson five.

Rubén had his baptismal interview on Thursday and all went well! That day we also started the task of cleaning out the phone and trying to get in contact with all of the members. It will be a long process. It didn't even occur to us that it was Thanksgiving.

Friday morning we made yams with marshmallows for the branch activity coming up on Saturday. We also met with Cipriano, a nice member who has been in the Church for about two and a half years. The day ended with helping a member set up the portable baptismal font. 

Saturday was as stuffed as a turkey on Thanksgiving Day. 😂🤣 We had Rubén's baptismal service and it was a very positive experience. I should probably mention Rubén's...physical structure. He let us know that he weighs 180 kgs. Now, I was doing the math in my head and thought, "Oh that's not too bad" and then I did the math on a calculator. 180 kgs almost 400 lbs. Both Elder Benedict and I got in the font with him. I carried out the ordinance, and Elder Benedict carried him--well not really. We'd given Rubén the lay down on what he could do to share the load and Elder Benedict was there to help him back up out if the water. He went completely under the first time, so it was pretty uncomplicated. It was a little sketchy getting him in and out of the font via step-ladder, but we got it done. He was a good sport through all of it. Rubén was also the first person that I've personally baptized in my life! Milestone reached! One more soul is walking on the path that leads to salvation and eternal life. 

After the service, we helped set up for our branch Thanksgiving meal.

We feasted that afternoon, and a lot of people brought friends and family. The Hetzels brought in another 30 lb turkey, accompanied by a couple other turkey appendages to keep everyone happy and fed. We also had stuffing, mashed potatoes, corn, gravy, rolls, everything. There was only one pumpkin pie among the desserts, so I cut myself one little bite-sized piece, gave it a little plop of whipped cream, aaand cried. I love pumpkin pie. I missed it a lot more than I thought I did. Ok, I didn't cry, but something definitely tugged at my heartstrings...or maybe that was my arteries clogging.

After cleaning up and everything, we had a visit with a less-active member in the chapel that went well. She didn't go to church the next day, but she's trying. We also met with Rubén for a post-baptism chat in regards to what there is to to now.

Rubén was confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and received the gift of the Holy Ghost Sunday morning :) The Hetzels invited us to dinner where we also finished teaching everything to Philippe. We are now in the process of setting up his interview and planning his baptismal service this week. These are some exciting times in the branch of Burgos.

I don't have too much to say beyond what I've already written. I hope Thanksgiving was fun for all of you who made it this far into the email! 

Have a good week of leftovers!

Elder Jensen :)