Ocean Baptism are the Coolest- June 13, 2016

Dear Family,

So this week was still great. We had a baptism again, a guy named Rufin (Roo Fan) but I will tell you all about him a little later. No real surprises this week though. Elder Coleman goes home on Saturday so we just go way hard every day. 

 

So let me tell you about my boy Rufin. He is 20 years old and just about one of the smartest people that I have ever taught. He showed up to institute my first Saturday here in Fort D with a friend of his so we asked if we could come by and teach him later. Anyways we just went home with him after institute and taught him the first lesson then gave him a Book of Mormon and a plan of salvation pamphlet and told him we'd come back. The next lesson he taught us the plan of salvation and asked when he can get baptized. He literally just never skipped a beat since then and finally got baptized on Saturday. It was even cooler too because it was in the ocean. Way awesome day. Lanto and Dorottee couldn't get the marriage figured out in time so we are going to have to wait until July for them, but it should be ok though. We had a way cool lesson last night with some really long time investigators. They have been learning off and on for years but have just kind of been in this state where they were progressing but not enough to get baptized, just kind of going through the motions. We actually went to their house last night to drop them, but things went a little different. They stopped us before we even got a word out. They have been learning about agency lately and realized that they could get baptized if they would just choose to. They set up an appointment with the commune for tomorrow and are going to get married. They have both decided to leave coffee and alcohol and are going to start staying to all 3 hours of church. Basically just everything that we had decided they needed to be doing to get baptized, and all of this before either of us said a word. It was just a way cool lesson. That's all it ever really takes to be honest. We see it every day. As soon as a person makes up his mind to get baptized there is nothing that will stop them. It's just up to them to make that choice. 
I spent a lot of time this week studying in Moses chapter 7. It is all about God showing Enoch everything that is and was and will be and just gives a great insight into his love for all of us as well as just what sort of things he thinks and feels. It also puts a great perspective on the Plan of Salvation. In fact it is my favorite chapter in all of the scriptures right now. Anybody that wants to read it definitely should. 

 

I don't actually have anything else that's new so...

 

Love you all,

Elder Jensen

 

Scripture of the week: Moses 7:28-33

Missions, Marriage and Drunk People- May 30, 2016

So, this week was great. It was literally just great. Everything about it was great. Tuesday went great, we taught a bunch of times and had some way awesome lessons. Wednesday was kind of poopy if I'm being truly honest. Most of the programs we had set up dogged us and it was just very meh. Thursday however was great. Mahala and Elvine got married!! He has been off of cigarettes for about 2 or 3 weeks now. Friday we taught them for the last time as members of the church, and on Saturday they were baptized. We actually had 6 baptisms on Saturday, so it was a really great day. Then Sunday was great! We didn't have quite so many investigators at church, mostly because they were all members at that point. Then on Sunday we went out tracking and it was way fun. You see Sunday was mother's day here (Love you momma). I don't know if I've told you yet, but Malagasies look for any and all excuses to throw a party and get hammered drunk. I'm talking multiple people passed out in the street drunk, and that's on every street. Anyways included in all of those parties is Mother’s Day. I got in a big shouting match with this drunk lady in the street because she just blamed us for all of the problems with Madagascar. People tend to do that a lot, just because we're white. Anyways it was all in good fun and a bunch of people were laughing and stuff because she was way drunk. We did find some way cool families on Sunday though, and I'm really excited to see where they go. So that's Madagascar for the week! Love you all, Happy Birthday Bryken,
Elder Jensen

 

The Church Rocks!

Dear everybody,

I just thought I would let you know, in case you didn't already, that our church rocks. This week was great, also a little weird. We had a lot of splits and things, so I only actually worked with Elder Coleman twice this whole week. We worked together on Tuesday, which was fun. We had a wedding for a couple of investigators!! They moved into the jungle on Wednesday and won't be back for like 2 months... Bummer. Wednesday started off good. Then right about the time we went to leave we ran into a problem. Elder Ulrich had an ingrown toenail which has slowly been getting worse. I don't know if you remember him but he was one of my comps in the MTC. Anyways, me and my other MTC comp Elder Nelson performed surgery and just amputated his foot. Not really, but we fixed it as best as we could. Anyways he took the day for some rest but we went on half day splits  so that their area didn't die completely. Then Thursday was the same but they split with the other elders down here instead. Friday I was on a split with Elder Maluleka because we had BAP INTERVIEWS!! 5  of them!!! Mahala finally got over his cigarettes and Elvine is in the jungle right now getting her birth certificate so that they can get married and baptized this week!! Way stoked for that one. They all passed and are really really excited. Saturday we had another split for another bap interview, this one for Selmans' sister. Their parents still aren't married yet but she doesn't want to wait any more so she is going to go ahead and get baptized on Saturday. Sunday was good, we had a lot of investigators at church, but Elder Coleman was really sick, so I went on a split with Elder Koplin, my trainer, and we worked half days in both areas. All in all, it was a great week and I am way too excited for these baptisms coming up. Life is great, love you all,

Elder Jensen

May 16, 2016

Well everybody, it was just another week in paradise. It actually started out a little rough. Tuesday ended real poopy. Wednesday I started to feel really sick towards the end of the day. We got up Thursday and weren't sure if I was going to be able to work, but I dragged my but out the door anyways. Boy am I glad I did. We found a way awesome family that is already reading the Book of Mormon every day and are just way awesome. The the week continued and we just kept finding way awesome people. We found 3 or 4 new investigator families that are way cool and taught some really awesome lessons. I think my favorite was a guy named Naina and his family. He is literally one of the all around best people that I have met since being in country. He just cares so much about other people and it's really, really cool to see. He is a teacher here and also coaches a club soccer team. He is just a great guy and really interested in the church. The only problem is that he is on like the high council of his Lutheran church, but I think that it will work out. He says he will come to church next week he was just busy yesterday. There were so many other cool people but he was just a way cool guy. Also, a little bit of bad news. There was a fire here in Fort D last Tuesday at about 3 am. 106 Homes were burned down to absolutely nothing. Literally all that is left is a couple of cement pads that We’re underneath some of the houses. The houses of 2 recent converts were burned, and one's sister died in the fire. They were both from the other branch, but it's been really great to see the other members here come together to help out. We actually went this morning and helped with the cleanup so that they can rebuild. So very grateful for the gospel. Love you all so much,

Elder Jensen

Mother's Day May 9, 2016

Happy mother's day!!! Love you momma. I just skyped home last night so I'm probably going to keep this email short. Nobody reads this thing anyways right? Haha things are going great here. We had a good solid week of work and life goes on. There should be baptisms coming up here in about 3 weeks. A few of our families should be getting married this week as well! Love you all.

Elder Jensen

May 2, 2016- President Foote Visit

Dear everybody,

Things are still going good here in Mada. Check that. Things are going great here, we had an amazing week. As far as work goes we kinda got pooped on, but it was a way uplifting week just the same. You know why? President Foote came down!! He was here for a few days and just left this morning. The church here in Fort D is still just 2 branches, not even a district yet. Because of that, President Foote has all the keys to the Melchizedek priesthood here and basically has to run the church here. He usually tries to come down once a transfer. This transfer we had interviews with him. It was just great to have a sit down conversation with such an amazing man. I learned a lot about a lot of things and it was just a great time. Then we had a baptism on Saturday!! And on top of that, President brought a mission call with him for a sister here! They get mailed to him because it is such a remote place so he just brought it down with him. She has been called to serve in the coolest mission in the world. Right here in Madagascar!! It was just a great day. Church went great, we had 24 investigators show up, most of whom were fairly new people. Then to top it all off, we spent the morning at a lemur park with president. Just a way great all around week. I will make sure to include some pictures next week, but my computer is being dumb right now. Love you all,

Elder Jensen

Selman

Well everybody, another week has come and gone, and I am still here doing the exact same thing. Teaching the gospel!! I wouldn't have it any other way. Things are still going great here in Mada. We are looking forward to having one baptism on Saturday. It's a kid named Selman and he is great. He is 20 years old and about to finish high school. Here you stay in high school until you can pass this huge test called the Bac. There are people who take it at 15 and people who take it at 25, it's all just about how hard you work. Anyways Selman is about the hardest person on the planet to understand. He speaks only the hardest dialect of malagasy (it is basically a whole new language) with a lot of slang mixed in and a really thick accent. On top of that, he likes french so he mixes in a lot of that too. The first time I met him I didn't catch a word he said, but it has gotten a lot better. We tell him he doesn't speak teny gasy, but teny Selman (selman's language). Anyways he's great, already comes to institute every week and things like that. He really really wants to serve a mission and is planning on leaving next year at some point. Actually his whole family is planning on getting baptized but his parents aren't officially married yet so we're still waiting on that. His sisters decided to wait and get baptized with their parents next month. I figure hopefully Selman will have the Aaronic priesthood by then and he will be able to baptize them. Mahala and Alvine have hit a small road block and we had to push back the baptism until May, and hopefully they will get baptized with Selman's family. Other than that, things are going great here. It is just so great seeing people change their lives. Last week we taught a family about the Sabath day, and the wife got mad at me because I just don't understand. Things are diferent here and so they have to work on sundays or they won't have enough money. She said that we aren't the same, and that things are harder here. So we had a very very spiritual talk about how she's right, we're not the same. But we are all God's children and this is a commandment from him for all of us. It went way great. This week we went back to teach about the word of wisdom and I was a little nervous that she would get all defensive again. She accepted it right away though, she's going to quit coffee and even quit selling it! So things are going great here. Love you all!

Elder Jensen