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

3 Attachments

Almost 100 Days!!! Full Trunkee

Well I've been out for 3 months.. almost 2 in the field.. almost 100 days!!! fulll trunkee hahaha..

It's been good this week. We had a lot more success in finding and connecting with our investigators which was cool..  We had a tour of the chapel with one them se llama Guillermo.. he has bastante potencial and is progressing a lot..  but he didn't come to church after expressing his desires to be baptized and go to the temple.. super frustrating!  We called him the morning of like an hour before and he didn't answer.. idk que paso..  

 

Today was a fun pday.. we met up with our zone and had a water balloon fight!  At one point all the elders ganged up on me and tackled me, then the rest pored buckets of water on me.. super fun and we got to ride back to cayambe wet!! haha.. soo ya a really fun day.. 

Thanksgiving was this week.. and we did absolutely nothing.. just a normal day..  I took a pic of the food I ate that day.. the usual.. rice, meat, some vegetable, and moooore rice..  pretty much I hate rice now..  I thought I'd begin to like it , but they just pile it on the plate for every meal and give us a tiny piece of meat..  

These last two weeks have gone by very fast!  and I think this week will too.. on friday we have a 4 zone conference in Otavalo to meet with Elder Montoya, an area 70..  That should be fun.. This last week we had one with the same four zones in Ibarra to prep for this conf.. so that was fun, always fun to meet new missionaries and speak english a lil bit..  Turns out the group that is just ahead of us, who's finished their training 2 weeks ago, well 5 of them are trainers now!! E Morton, who's one of them, told me he thinks this is goin to be a new thing with Pres Murphy..  E Aliaga keeps telling me I'm gonna be a trainer or a district leader, and I'm like...  what..  haha.. Hoping my spanish progresses..  I don't think I'm gonna be anything this next transfer, but this training program is designed to make the next group ready to be trainers, soo if I get called I hope I can do my best..  buutttt I still have 4 weeks until this..  

Our last pday of this change, we're climbing the Nevado Cayambe.. The other elders in our district are planning, basically we take a truck up to the base and hike like an hour to the point of the snow, soo I'm excited for that..  it's super expensive, so we're planning out a group of like 10 missionaries.. But basically this month of december should be full rapido.. we have a lot of things planned out, like a Christmas dinner in Quito with our mission pres.. each zone goes for one night so we'll find out when we go this friday!! 

Well that's my week basically..  Hoping for more success.. especially with guillermo.. Please pray for him.. we really want to baptize him this transfer, but if not we hope, well that he'll be baptized in any transfer..  

muchas gracias por las cartas electronicos

  hasta luego

Elder Jensen

My Thanksgiving Dinner - Rice and more Rice

 

Short and Sweet!

Hello everyone!!
 

Well I'm in my next transfer and this week was really hard!! We have all these investigators and none of them really want to progress?  So that's been pretty tough..  pretty uneventful week this week.. we've been shut down a lot and a lot of our lessons haven't worked out so lots of rescheduling and rescheduling.. 

We have hope for one but idk en verdad.. 

I ate a chicken foot from the street and that was kinda weird, but not bad.. 
that was probably the most eventful thing of the week!

Been enjoying my studies everyday..  it's been nice to read the B of M and really think about it, cause hey its actually pretty cool!  I've said this before, but this was probably the first time I've read it with real intent, and really enjoyed it!!  I started it over again last transfer and I'm in Mosiah..  Only been reading a little bit each day cause I've been using my study time to study P my G as well which is really helpful!!

Well that's all I've really done this week, kinda frustrating..  really hoping for a better week! I'm progressing with the language, little by little, hoping to be sufficient after this change, but we'll see!

Listo pues, I really love hearing from people so write me!! Thanks!

Love

Elder Jensen

I have pics, but I can't send them cause this is a dumb computer so I'll be sure to send them next week!

 

 

Photos from Ecuador Quito North facebook page - Mini Zone Conference for Ibarra, Imbabura, Imbaya and Otavalo Zones

 

 

I Survived... First Transfer and CUI

Hello all

Well it's official..  I've made it through one transfer here in Ecuador..  6 Weeks!!!!!   Basically 3 months in so far... that means I'm almost done right?  Only 14 transfers more... or 21 months...  hahaha..  nah it's been pretty good..  

This last week we had 3 intercambios (when we switch with the other elders in our district for a day).. that was really awesome..  Tuesday I was with Elder Sejas..  and Friday with Elder Molina..  I really enjoy those opportunities because it's really nice to see how other missionaries work..  In my training I've basically only seen how one elder operates, so these types of opportunities are awesome and I really learned a lot in those days..  Wednesday, we did intercambios with our zone leaders, so Elder Aliaga went to Otavalo to work with Elder Fierro and I stayed in our sector with Elder Purtill..  Yep I got to speak English for a day 😎  haha..  no that actually helped a lot because I could ask a lot of questions about words and other things that I can't really get across in Spanish to the other elders..  so ya that was a 24 hour change and the others were 12 hours..  being here in our sector meant I had the opportunity to lead us through it basically and take the initiative every time which I think really helped me so ya that was really awesome..  

This last week, teniamos bastante lluvia aqui en Cayambe!  the other day, it rained soo much.. and the drops were massive!!! then like 10 min into it, it started to hail a lot! pretty big too so that was pretty cool..  

 

Hail Stones on the Street

Well remember last Saturday when I said we were hoping for a really productive Sunday? Well it actually was pretty bad since none of them showed.. we called everyone of them and they all had an excuse which sucked..   but this last Sunday, erik inlago came which was awesome!  We're really hoping for a baptism this transfer..  on Saturday, the other elders baptized a family that has been receiving the lessons for like 3 transfers so 4 1/2 months!  but that was really cool to see.. We were asked to give a talk on enduring to the end...   I had all this stuff prepared and then they cut me off like 3 min into it...  so that was pretty funny  actually..   Well que mas....  we have a new investigator who is progressing.. his name is guillermo... pero the huge problem with him is that he works like basically every other Sunday so it's really hard to get his schedule clear for church.. he has some desires to progress and is really interested but that's his big problem..  also he has a pretty bad speech impediment so as a white boy who can barely understand clear Spanish, its flippin tough, but hey I'm getting there.. I've been told that he speaks like the people in the coast, but not on purpose..  apparently the ppl at the coast speak with speech impediments on purpose basically..  just the culture there, its really sloppy Spanish and here and at Quito it's pretty clear.  so kinda glad I'm here to learn, and hoping to make a lot of progress this transfer..  

Ok, well today, we ate cui...  yep, guinea pig..   I was pretty excited but it wasn't as good as I thought it was going to be..  it's really salty and super tough to eat, plus filled with the little bones which makes it tough to eat but definitely not bad..    well that's basically it for these last 9 days..  



CUI (Guinea Pig)

 

oh and we have pday from now on Monday..  It's not changing back to Saturday soo I'll talk to you all next Monday.

Love 

Elder Jensen

Uno Mes en ECUADOR

Hey everyone

Soo  this week has gone by pretty quick! We've been pretty busy with lessons this week with our investigators as well as the flippin tons of menos activos here..  if we had all the menos activos here come to church we'd probably be a ward.. or even 2.. its pretty crazy, but hey that's all of south america as I've been told.. 

 

Basically this week the biggest struggle has been the language..  I feel like I know a lot of words and talking with Elder Aliaga I can get my point across and we can communicate pretty well.. but with other people, they either choose not to understand me cause I'm white, or really can't understand me.. I think it's both.. I understand my accent is a problem right now soo that's a major part of it..  it's pretty frustrating in lessons when I'll say something and they'll just stare at me and look at Aliaga who says the exact same thing and they can understand him but hey I guess that's just part of the learning process..  

 

We've found a few new investigators, hopefully with potential! Uno de ellos es se llama Alexandra Cuadros.. We met her last saturday after our pday at a ward activity..  we've taught her like 3 - 4 times and she it really receptive.. the problem is they are moving soon and she doesn't know where, so there's a good chance she could move into the other elders sector, and we'll have to transfer her but hey as long as she gets baptised haha

the other is ericka inlago.. she as well has been very receptive so were hoping to have a productive sabbath tmrw with lots of asistencias..  

 

Starting to realize how beautiful ecuador is.. we have that sweet volcano cayambe that's visible basically everywhere and it's always covered in snow.. we're gonna try to climb it next pday if we can make it over there.  the mountains are really awesome and we have a lot of the fields here in caymabe soo its really green every where

 

 

This last week was the dis de los muertos... so we didn't have all that much success the last few days cause everyone is in the cemetaries paying their respects to their family members.. something special about this time of year is the food.. they make this thing called colada morada which is.. well idk how to explain it.. it's not bad, and it's a warm drink, but the thing is sooo flippin sweet and they give like 2 big cups of it everywhere for free soo we have to drink and I just feel like crap after..  look it up.. one cup is really good!!   also look up pan de guagua   another specialty for this time of year.

 

Pan De Gagua
Ecuadorian Bread Babies - It is a traditional Ecuadorian custom to have these breads, along with a purple corn and fruit drink called Colada Morada, on November 2nd for the Day of the Deceased.  The holiday is meant to honor the memory of relatives and friends who have passed away

Well that's been about it this week.. we went to otavalo today to play futbol with some other elders in our zone and the zone imbaya.. so that was pretty fun!  well next week we don't have a Saturday pday so I'll be writing on Monday in like 9 days..  

Thanks for all the emails this week tambien!!

Love Elder Jensen

 

 

Another Great Week!

Hello Friends and Family

Well this week has been pretty good!  We met in Quito this week for verification, so that was a really awesome experience.  It was soo nice to meet with my friends from the ccm for a day..  we got to leave our trainers and drive with president y hermana murphy to el pentacillo I think. The huge statue in Quito overlooking the whole city..  It was tough to leave because it was basically the first day over again..  we said good bye and left back to our sectors..  Those like 2 hours away got to sleep in Quito one night together so we had all the coast y oriente elders.   Emmelkamp, Palmer , Ericksen, and Haslam are in the coast..  Palmer and Emmelkamp stay in the same house cause one of theirs was destroyed in the earthquake before we got here..   Ericksen is close by to them but not in the same district..  Haslam is like 2 hours away in (I have 0 idea how to spell it) quiniday.. so they've seen each other a little bit in zone mtngs..  Baumgartner and one other kid not from our ccm district se llama Elder Searle are at the coast together..  in Quito is Gehring, Christensen and Moody..  the first 2 are in the same zone, and Moody's zone is based in Quito but it turns out, he's like 40/45 min away from Cayambe in Guayabamba so its pretty similar there..  Then its me and Dougherty here in the zones touching Otavalo..  basically everyone had a really tough week where they didn't know if they could do it..   The coast elders have had a really tough time.. its really humid there, the ppl speak really fast and like mumble and Ericksen has to shower with a bucket.  basically I was really humbled after that..  I have it easy here.  but it was really awesome to be together for a day.. the last time in 2 years we´ll all see each other together for 2 years.. Hopìng I get an opportunity to be comps with them or in the same district some time with one of them..  oh and in the car ride I was all pumped telling them that the dodgers have a chance to make it to the world series, then Ericksen was like "ya, they did" I was like what, then I remembered they have pday on Monday so they heard like 5 days before me..   I was all pumped all week for it, then I was just shattered.. oh well haha thanks Ericksen!  not much happened this week..  it's cold here, but not that cold.. only in the morning and the night..   it doesn't rain that much but when it does, it rains a lot..  it usually is pretty cloudy though.

 

                      Pictures from the Mission Facebook page from the verification time in Quito.

 

We have a new investigator.. her name is Ericka..  We talked to her one day, and she listened but asked a lot of questions trying to make us stumble or make us feel bad, but when we got to the Joseph Smith part, she stopped and listened .. she said she felt peace..  two days later we came back and taught about prayer and in the middle of  it she asked about the BoM..  we told her about it and she said she wanted a copy.. we snagged her a copy later that day, and she also told us she will come to church this week.! really hoping it works out with her.. everyone else isn't really progressing..  so that's a bummer.  

The branch is pretty small.. the problem here is that there a TONS of menos activos..   tons.. lots of ppl get baptized but don't stay in the church..   so that's pretty tough.. we probably work more with menos activos than investigators because not many ppl want to listen in the first place, and the MA´s usually invite us in to listen.. so basically we're trying to rescue a lot of ppl. The branch is pretty small so not many ppl.. they don't have a piano.. they have a small little keyboard that they never pull out.. so they just play the cd in church..  

Oh also there is a promotion here where if you find 12 pilsener beer caps on the ground in good condition and bring $4 you get a soccer jersey.. so I'm gonna do it this week cause I have everything just need to trade it in.. I'll show you next week!

We went to laguna mojanda today and got some sweet pics!! that was a blast but a really tough hike!! Especially with the altitude.. we had to taxi up to the mountain for like 30 min then hike into a valley to the laguna, the hike up sucked, but hey the pics are sweet!!  well that's basically my week!! miss you all!!

 

Love Elder Jensen

 

 

Such A Better Week!

Hello!!!

This week has been a lot better!!  It actually flew by!! I’ve applied the get to work principle and it’s been a lot easier to work... on the other hand, I’ve noticed that missionary work is really hard!! no one really wants to listen.  We had to drop Angela and Dinae to the other missionaries because they’re in the other sector...  they weren’t progressing anyway so that was a bummer.  I feel the same for Maria the empanada lady.  She likes to listen to us, but never does the commitments.  I don’t think we can teach her much longer.  oh well, in spite of that, we are teaching a "family" Manuel is 71 and his girlfriend is 40. That’s a little weird, but they want to get married and like our message. his kids don’t want them to get married because it is kind of weird, but hey they’re listening.  her kids are young.  Oren listens to our message each time and is really engaged. Actually all 3 of them are! They’re doing the commitments and it’s pretty awesome. the downside is that they’re having trouble committing to come to church. Oren is 12 and is getting ready for his catecismo for the catholic church. Blanca, the gf and his mom, is in the same boat.  but I had a pretty spiritual experience. in our last lesson, we gave them the church invitation again.  after they said idk, I promised them that if they would pray with great faith like the prophets they’re reading about in the BoM, they would receive an answer that night.  idk if they felt it, but it was really awesome for me.  maybe they didn’t understand me idk, but I know for sure that testified to me the importance of sincere prayer. please pray for them. 

Other than that, the work is hard. I’ve had bizcochos and they’re the bomb!! they taste like club crackers and are a good snack. for $1 you get like 12 of them, so that’s pretty cool.  I got some great pics of volcon cayambe this week too!!

We had zone conf this week.  It was zona otavalo y imbaya. so I got to see Elder Dougherty as well as Elder Stevenson, an elder who is one change ahead of us... so that was really nice to talk to them... in English haha.  really great conference.  If you get the chance read the talk by Elder Renlund really great talk about repentance.

 

 

on the same note, also reread Elder Stevenson and Elder Nattress (the old gilbert mish pres) those were some of my favs and I’ve printed them out and studied them.  I really like the invitation from Elder Stevenson, read the BoM for 5 min a day. I know it’s really hard to remember and maybe I’m a hypocrite cause I sure as heck didn’t do that, even with my mission call... but I do know that here and now in the mish, It’s been the coolest thing to read this book!  I’ve never looked at it the way I do now, I always looked at it as scripture. Really it’s a great story, a true story. written by prophets. really enjoy reading it in my personal study.  

Today we came to Otavalo to check out the market.  I bought a super awesome backpack and a duffle bag that I’m gonna start using. all for like $20.  I really like it here in Otavalo and hope I get an opportunity to serve here someday.  last pday, we ate lunch with the other elders in our district at a member’s house.  so most pdays we don’t do a lot... I think next week we might get together with our zone or the other zone for some sports or something so I’m pumped for that.

 

Also this week I’m really excited for Thursday and Friday.  The new group in the mission get the opportunity to go to Quito for a night for something called verification.  not sure what that entails totally, but we get to see our whole CCM group again for a day and a night!! I’m really excited to hear from them!!

Well that’s about it this week. the language is coming, mas o menos. I’m beginning to understand a lot more, but feel less confident in my speaking because the people have a tough time understanding me, but hey I know it will come with work! Elder aliaga and I can usually work things out so we can both understand each other. so ya that’s about it... 

Love you guys!

 
Elder Jensen