Divisions (aka Splits) -- Email from 12/8/14

Hey,

I'm going to put your letters together so that I can write more. So the Sivers are leaving Colorado. It's a shame, but if he can't do it in Colorado, he should go wherever he can pass and get a job. It makes me sad that they have to leave, but he is doing the best that he can right now.  I remember that move though, they have a ton of super heavy stuff that they don't really need.  It is best to pack light, so you can move if needed. At least on the mission! I hope that he can find something fast. It must feel pretty hard to be separate from your family!  I would know.

Me with Elder Hicks at Halloween 
-- I went as him, him as me.

Bowling on P-Day.

Things in Pacheco have ground to a stop this week. We have nobody. Nadie, nada, nobody. We fasted 3 times in the last 8 days and are praying a ton. We dropped everyone because nobody is progressing, and still haven't been able to find anyone this week. So I desperately hope that this week we can find some people. I'm trying my best to stay positive and continue the hard work. The highlight of my week was when we did divisions. Our District leader   put me with his companion in my area, and Elder Hansen went to his area for a day. He companion, Elder Edmonds, has the same amount of time as me on the mission, so we are both pretty new. The thing is, he was afraid to talk to anyone because he is super self conscious about his Spanish still, and super afraid that he is going to mess up. Good thing that i am the opposite, or we wouldn't have been able to talk to anyone. My companion says that my biggest strength is that I am fearless, and not afraid to talk to anyone. I utilized that strength on Thursday, and taught 6 lessons con miembro present. I talked to everyone, and because Elder Edmonds didn't really teach or testify, I did both. It was cool being able to teach in Spanish, and I am still trying to improve my Spanish every day. Now, I am focusing on my accent, and trying to get it to the point where I sound like a native speaker, and not with an strong American accent.  

Litoral Zone!!!
No idea why the thumbs up, that's just what they do here!

I would send more pictures, but I really don't take many pictures because I don't take my camera out of the pension because I would get robbed.  I will try to take some with some members for next week.

I Am going to Skype you guys this Christmas at 5 pm here. So its like 1 in the afternoon there. i will be able to stay on for like one hour, so be ready at 1. If you want to make me a Skype to use and send me the information so we can Skype that would be sick. And i need your name for Skype. 

The truth is that I would have never started my mission papers alone. I did them because dad sat me down, and filled them out with me. Little pushes like that are the reason that i am out here on the mission. I will write Katie a letter today.

Love you guys! 

Elder Jensen

PS -- the only thing that I need are families to baptize.  We are going to try and find more [people to teach] through the members.  Hopefully we can find more this week!

Two Letters - Email from 12/1/14

Hey mom,

Thanks for writing me! I appreciate it! I wasn't as homesick as I was last week so that is good. We are doing good here. Still searching hard for that family that needs the gospel in there lives. I hope we find them soon, or we might not baptize in this transfer. But whatever happens will happen. I have decided that I am going to be here for two years so I might as well be happy with just working as hard as I can, because that is all I can do.

We have fasted twice this week, Sunday and Tuesday, and next Sunday. We are going to try to use the power of fasting and prayer to help us see success in this area. Its going to take a miracle if we can find anyone who wants to get baptized this month, so we are going to be fasting frequently to get one. I excited to see who we find and what blessings we can receive through the power of fasting.

See dads letter (below this one), it has some information about an investigator who is named Eric if you want some info.

Have a good time this holiday season!  I love you and will write you next week. And thanks for the iPod! That thing is sweet, and I'm going to use it a bunch over the next two years. I especially like the John Bytheway talks. 

Love you mom,

Elder Jensen

*****************************************

Dad,

Thanks for your support!  I really appreciate the letter.  Its a good one and I will have to look back and read it when I am feeling down from now on.  It's hard to stay positive sometimes but I need to work on it a little more.

I need to look for more opportunities to help people. For the last couple of weeks we have been working with a kid named Eric. He has had a lot of problems in the past with drugs, and desperately needs to get clean or his life is going to go downhill fast.  He loves when we come and talk with him about the gospel and is changing very slowly. At first he didn't want anything to do with the gospel and liked to talk with us but this last week he told us that he really needed to go to church to make his life better.  He slept in this last week, but maybe this next week he will come. The leaders here want us to drop people who don't show initiative to get baptized fast.  I understand this, but its kinda hard sometimes. I feel like we should work with everyone we can, and try to help everyone, not just people who are super prepared to get baptized right now.  The leaders want us to drop him, and keep searching for people who are prepared to get baptized, but I don't feel good about dropping a child of God who is searching for light.

I hope that everything is going well for you!  Jeff is Awesome!  Tell him I said "Hey" and that he is the man! Give him a Book of Mormon with your testimony written in it or something! haha   But tell him I said that he is the harder worker out of the two of u, and that maybe one day I can work as hard as him!

Love you dad.

This week maybe we can get a person to church!

Elder Matthew Jensen

Homesick (tough week) -- Email from 11/24/14

Hey.

Thanks for the pictures. Our family pictures look great! 

I just got mom's email.  I hope she feels better!  How did she get bronchitis? 

Tell her that I know being on a mission is tough on her.  I miss everyone, so that feeling is mutual.  I have been incredibly homesick this week.  Like painfully homesick.  The mission is good, but so hard.  So much hard work, and so little results. We have been working incredibly hard here for the last six weeks and haven't even gotten anyone to church.  We teach a lot of lessons a week, and are working as hard as we can, but nothing is seeming to work here in Pacheco.  I don't know if I can continue with this for two years.  It is a real test of faith -- kind of have to ask where is God and why is he leaving us alone in Pacheco?  I often wonder what I am even doing here right now.  I speak broken Spanish with an American accent so think that people can't understand me.

I love the mission, but this is going to be the hardest two years of my life for sure.  I am going to give this mission my best effort.

On a brighter note, I hope the eagles win the super bowl this year.  I am going to be mad if they win the one year that i can't watch them :(

Hopefully next week is better!

Love you Dad.

Elder Matthew Jensen

Transfers and The Wrestling Mat -- Email from 11/18/14

Hey,

Good to hear everything is going well for you guys. First of all, we had transfers today. So I was worried about Elder Hansen leaving because he is such a beast, but last night we got the call, and we are both staying in Pacheco!  We are so pumped!  Having Elder Hansen as my companion is awesome, because we like the same stuff and both like to wrestle.  This morning we even found a place that has wrestling mats, so we were able to wrestle. He out weighs me by like 10 pounds and is a beast, so he beat me, but it was a lot of fun. We are going to start wrestling every P Day for a little bit as a workout! 

Unlike you all in Colorado, we are amping up to summer right now. It has been getting hotter and hotter everyday, and we are just starting summer. Its sunny and warm, which is cool, but super duper hot. I sweat a lot.  We walk everywhere in this area, but its really different for every area. In our area we should have bikes, because it is all paved. But if we need to get anywhere fast, we just take the bus really fast. So I end up taking the bus like once or twice a day. I was so afraid the first time I was on a bus, because they are crazy drivers, and weave rather than break. But actually I have never seen anyone here every get in an accident. I think if dad was here, he would freak out from the driving. 

The truth is that everything here is like it is in the states, just a little worse. The people are a little stinkier. The cities are a little trashier. The nights are a little more dangerous. The police do a little less here (nothing). People have big fences outside there houses, because it gets dangerous here at night. I have not been robbed yet, and I wont be robbed in this area that I am in. It's a pretty nice area. 

Don't move, That house is really cool. And it doesn't make any sense to move. You guys don't need anymore space. If anything downsizing is what you should think about. Tell mom I said that I think you should stay in that house because I love it. About the food, it is enough because we eat oatmeal in the mornings -- and with the amount we eat in the afternoon I am still stuffed by the time night comes around. 

I want to share a scripture this week from 1st Nephi 11:17.  Here Nephi is talking to an angel, and the angel asks if he knows about God. He gives the best answer ever. He says that He knows God loves his children, but he doesn't know the meaning of all things. We can use this in our lives a lot. Like if something goes wrong or you don't understand something?  If you know God loves you, than you are okay saying "I don't know the meaning of this, but its alright because God loves me and its for my good". 

Love you dad

Elder Mathew Jensen

Da Gunz and Crisp Bills -- Email from 11/10/14

Hey All.

Pacheco is sweet. I love it here, and the members are awesome. I am still with Elder Hansen and we have transfers next Monday. I believe we will both stay in Pacheco for one more 6 week transfer, and then he will go, but nothing is for sure. My companion and I try to speak all Spanish, but a lot of times when we are alone we end up talking in English. But when we are out of the house we use entirely Spanish.

I am doing well here. I got all of the pictures that you sent in an envelope. You should print out pictures of the last year and just send them to me in an envelope, and then I can put them into an album here. I eat a lot of rice, and chicken. I love it, but I sure miss some American breakfast food and a good hamburger. When I get back, you can make all of those for me in one big meal.

Elder Hansen and I Flexing the Guns

A run down of my day is that I wake up at six and exercise for an hour. Oatmeal for breakfast, and then studying until 12. We have lunch with a different member family everyday at one, so we go to that and then eat for a while with them. We start our proselytizing after that. We are proselytizing from 3-9 and then planning from 9-930 and bed at ten. We eat so much food for lunch at like two that we don't eat a dinner here. I've gotten pretty ripped - so that's cool.

So this week was good. we still are working hard, but the members attitude towards us is really changed. When I got here some of the ward members were cold to the missionaries as a result of some other missionaries not trying hard and being hard to get along with. But now, they love us. this ward is like 150 people big, and they have everything our home ward has. My companion told me that this is probably the only place in my mission where the ward will be this good.

I'm gonna be so mad if the eagles win the Superbowl the year that I am on my mission. It's gonna be such a let down for me. I'm super tired too, so I feel you. But hey, we can sleep when we are dead.

If you can please send a $50 bill -- this actually is better than a $20 because the members really enjoy trading for big bills. Thanks a million.

Always be trying to strengthen your faith in Christ. I have to go but i love you and will send pictures.
I love you mom and dad and will write you next week.

Love,
Elder Jensen

ps. Will write you next Tuesday because of transfers.

Tall Blond Catcall -- Email from 11/3/14

Hey,

Some diner in Buenos Aires.

So first things first, don't send anymore packages. I probably wont receive them. But they don't give us enough money here for food and supplies, we only get 1000 pesos a month, which buys one or the other.  It is only like 100 bucks because the dollar is worth ten pesos. Don't send me money on my card because the bank rate is 8 pesos for every one dollars. However, if you send me crisp bills in a card in the mail, i can trade them with the members for an exchange rate of 15 pesos to ever one dollar. The bills have to be nice and crisp though. So if you send me a crisp $50 in a card, that can go lot longer than if i got it out here.  Almost double. 

This week was super wet!  It rained almost everyday. So that was cool. I have to say I love the rain as much a I love the heat. They are both so different than Colorado. But I love it here, and everyday flies by faster than the last one.  This week, I focus a lot on working with the members.  We were able to find a new family here, that has accepted the invitation to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it.  It is always so awesome when you have lessons to teach because it makes the days fly by.  We have been working like crazy trying to find people to share the gospel with and I know that we can find more.  It's crazy that in two weeks my first transfer is over! These are going to go by very fast.  

Ahh. Norma was progressing pretty well, but she didn't go to church this week, or answer our calls yesterday, so I don't know if she really wants to change anymore.  Its alright though, all humans have there own agency.

I must be the only 6 foot tall blonde kid in Argentina because everywhere i go people stare at me.  Hahaha...it's pretty cool.   Women will say "Ayyyy Que lindo.  Una Rubio" when I walk by, which translates to "How pretty, a blonde!"  It's kind of funny, and I am getting the experience of being a minority here too.  And most people here are 5'8" or shorter; so I tower over most people.  

I am starting to get a good handle on the spanish language, but now its hard because I will start talking in spanish and a will slip an English word in here and there because i don't have to think so hard about talking in spanish anymore. I also learned how to roll my Rs now, which i have never been able to do my entire life.  I think after a couple more months of this, that my español will be doing just fine though.  We don't have air conditioning, and we sleep with a fan on, and I  don't get letters until the end of transfers, so i have no idea.

Will send pictures!

Love you Madre.

Elder Matthew Jensen

Apparently with either an Elder Jensen or an Elder Hicks

The Mission President says my hat is OK to wear!