Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

Merry Christmas again everybody!! I hope it was a good one!

I had a pretty good one, filled with food, yes there was rice, and a nice video chat with my fam!!

Really nothing much happened this week.  Hma Maria did not get baptized this week which was a bummer, so we did not get a baptism in my first 12 weeks here.. but turns out I'm gonna stay here in cayambe for another change.  My new companion will be Elder Paz from Peru I think.  He's in the coast rn, in atacames where all the earthquakes are, and he'll be here tmrw because it's a 8-9 hour drive from the coast.   My companion, Elder Aliaga is going back to the coast again!!  So that means I will be here for the baptism of hma maria which I'm excited for! Lots of changes this time around.. Elder Molina in my district will stay another change which shocked us all!! He'll be here for 6 months after this! Elder Sejas is going to quito.. that's our district! it all starts tmrw!

Both Christmas and Christmas eve we had to be in the house at 5 at night unless we had a dinner and a taxi to take us home, so the first night we went over to Elder Molina y Sejas house for a Christmas eve party..  ohh ya it was a rager!  Lots of uno playing, and yes, 3 liters of coke..  crazy night here in the mish,, haha nah it was fun.. Christmas day we had an hour of church and I had to speak like last minute bc nobody showed up who was supposed to speak..  usually I prepare my talks in English, so I was nervous especially in new language..  but ya I kinda did really bad, and was really embarrassed and sad after.. but something kinda cool happened..  after the meeting finished, this hmo from another ward came up to me and started talking to me in English.. he is from a ward in Otavalo, and is a recent returned missionary, I think he served in Virginia, so basically he was saying to me he had a similar experience at the start of his mission and that he too was really embarrassed, but over time he got better and could speak English really good.. he said what I did say was understandable and that my accent is pretty good.. basically just don't worry about it and continue forward, and it'll come.. That really pumped me up and I decided to forget the experience..  I really felt the comfort of the holy ghost in that moment and felt just a reassurance that it'll all be ok and I'll figure it out over time..  Really hoping in this next change with Elder Paz, my Spanish will accelerate! Really cool little spiritual experience I had and now I'm just excited for this next change..  that's about it for this week!

My challenge, like I've said in the past, is to read the BoM for at least 5 min each day!!  Really I've begun to develop a love for the scriptures in these short 4 months!! Right now I've been reading the stories of Ammon and his brothers in the lands of the lamanites!  They're such great examples of how a missionary should be and that this work is possible!  The lord is on our side, and if are obedient we'll have success, he will work a marvelous work through us!

Ok thanks everyone for the well wishes, and Merry Christmas and Happy New Year again! Hope it's a good one!

Elder Jensen

 

 

 

Feliz Navidad!!!

It's Christmas time, Christmas time is here!

Merry Christmas everybody!! o feliz Navidad!

It's been a good week.. mas o menos..  we've been focusing a lot on one hermana we've been teaching, hermana maria cacuango!! We finished the lessons with her and are going to have a baptism this Saturday.. if everything works out!  Only need the baptism interview and if she feels ready.   So really excited for this!!

She is really the only investigator who is progressing rn, but should be a good week!

We had the ward Christmas party on Saturday and it was good.  A lot of people came and we just had a talent show.. some pretty funny skits and I really like our little rama!  Sometimes it's tough, and it really should be a ward but little by little!

Excited for this next weekend!  We should have some fun things planned with the members here for both days, and then to talk with the fam of course on Christmas day!!  First Christmas in the mish and should be a good one!

We had our Christmas dinner with the president this Tuesday and it was really fun!!  We were together with the imbaya zone so I got to see some familiar faces and speak English for a little ;)  It was super fun and we ate turkey.. so that made up for the crappy Thanksgiving.. haha awesome food and then we had a gift exchange thing..  we were in this big circle and president read this book.. so every time he said the word "star" we passed the gift to the left until he finished the book..   Soo it was all intense and stuff, then he finishes the story and started to ad lib..  I had this big present, and then he said star and passed to the left again..  soo I was like ok whatever.. I open it, and it's a little otavaleño girl doll..  basically I got the cutest present in the whole party..   I have no idea what I'm gonna do with it haha..  but ya a really fun day!  Really hoping for a great week this week and possibly a baptism!!

alright everyone, that's all for this week and Merry Christmas!! I'll send pics next week!

Elder Jensen

Two more Weeks of Training!

Fast week this week, and I have a feeling this next week will be even faster!!

It's been pretty good, we found a few more investigators and are working with the ones we have mucho rn to possibly have a baptism in this cambio!  

The days are starting to be a little faster.. really excited for this next change, and to finish my training!

Tomorrow we get to go to Quito for our Christmas dinner with President Murphy!! We're with Zona Imbaya so that should be fun.. We leave early in the morning and leave Quito at like 4.. so it's basically Almuerzo Navideña..  But ya that will be fun..  just 2 more weeks of this cambio..   

 

OK something really cool.. or kinda cool..  cool to me at least..  in the CCM we watched an old Provo MTC devo from Elder Holland and this week in zone mtng we talked about it..  I really like this devo a lot, and if you guys have time look it up..  It's from 2012, provo mtc devo..  basically he talks about Christ when he returned to his apostles after his death and told them to feed his sheep..  there's a lot of symbolism in that phrase and as missionaries we are doing this everyday... but what I like a lot about this experience is that his apostles, after his death went back to what they knew.. after so much time with the Savior, they didn't know what to do when he was gone so they went fishing..  Christ asked them 3 times "do you love me?" and 3 times he responded, feed my sheep..  Elder Holland said, this is not just a calling for 2 years and then return to your old life and do stupid things or not live this gospel, its a calling forever... feed my sheep forever..  I really like this a lot and probably did a bad job explaining cause I don't have my notes or anything rn, but look it up and read it!!  Elder Holland always has great talks and this is one of my favorite!

Well that's my spiritual thought of the week..  today we went to Otavalo to play futbol with the zone and zona imbaya..  Hey turns out I suck at soccer.. like really bad..  basically every time I touch the ball I screw it up..  everyone's like ahh Elder Jensen Vamos!!  haha  it's funny.. they're all like trying to help me score a goal and I always mess it up..  haha..  but hey it's still really fun to play with them..  this week we have intercambios with the zone leaders again. so I'll be with Elder Fierro..  That should be good and the saturday we have la fiesta Navideña de Rama, ward Christmas party..  gonna be a good week!

Well that's about it, talk to you all next week!

Elder Jensen

 

 

 

Photos from Ecuador Quito North Mission Facebook Page

Conferencia Navidena con las Zonas de Imbaya y Otavalo

Christmas Conference with the areas of Imbaya and  Otavalo

December 13, 2016

 

 

 

 

 

Ilumina el Mundo! - #Light the World

Hey everyone!

Well that's another week down.. Super close to being done with my training!! Really excited for that and a possibility to go and serve in a new place!  Fast week

We had our capacitacion con Elder Hugo Montoya this week in Otavalo which was really cool..  I'm almost at the point where I can understand everything.. like 85%  there's just a few words that I don't know.. well more than a few but basically when I don't know those words, I write them down or ask the latinos for help..  soo learning a little more day by day!  My accent is still a little rough, only hope that I can develop that eventually and speak really well!

Elder Montoya had a lot of cool stories and shared some really cool points with us!

Also, as I'm sure all of you have heard, the church is in the Light the World program, or en español, Ilumina el Mundo!  so as missionaries, we have these nifty lil cards to pass a long to people as we contact or to our investigators or cualquier persona..  But basically there´s 25 days and a bunch of different service actividades to do in these days..  A lot of them involve things that we can't do here in the mish, like use a phone or do something on social media, so President Murphy gave us our own challenge..  so we have a paper to record our service activities each day that goes a long with a scripture..  So that's been really cool.. the only problem is, basically no one accepts our help when we ask.. the other day we had 36 contacts. and passed out a bunch of those cards.. and then asked if we could do anything for them any service and siempre they're like nahh were good rn..    So were going to keep at that.. I really think this is a fantastic way to find new investigators, so really hoping for a successful 3 weeks.. 

Well we have hope for one baptism in this cambio!  Basically the requirements are 3 church asistencias and all the lessons..  Maria is the mom of one our investigators who randomly came last week to church.. so this week we focused on her and turns out she's full pilas!! She has a lot of desires and came to church again this week!  Soo we're really hoping we can have the opportunity to baptize her and maybe her daughter in this transfer.. But if not, I'm not going to be upset..  just hoping for her to progress and be baptized..  Even if that means  I can't participate in the service.. 

We had a great Pday today.. The district went to the cascadas de Peguche!! super awesome and really beautiful!!   attached a few pics of that.

Nothing really crazy happened..  I did have this interesting soup..  Soo there's this thing called pata...  its chicken foot..  Basically it was a soup with 3 patas..  and I'm not a fan.. I forgot my camera that day, so I didn't get a foto, but its souper (haha) weird..  The others were yellin at me, Chupa la pata!! suck the foot!!   It's really weird and the flippin toenail like scratches your tongue and eww..  it was pretty funny..

 

Yesterday in sacrament meeting, this little boy ran away from his mom and had this paper airplane, and started chucking it around the chapel..  it was pretty funny, cause he was like juking the people out who were trying to stop him and just kept chuckin it..haha.. the kids here are funny, and usually when we're walking around they try to speak a little english to me, and they're like soo wrong.. but hey I can't laugh, cause I'm sure I sound like an idiot most of the time trying to speak spanish.. haha

Well that's basically the week.. just preppin for navidad and cambios  again!

Love

Elder Jensen

 

 

Otavalo Zone Conference with Elder and Sister Montoya

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