Friday, March 14, 2014

Happy Independence Day...

Hola everyone!

Happy Dominican Independence Day!  (Well tomorrow anyways)  It's one of the biggest days in the Dom. Rep. because it's the last day of the annual "Carnival" which is the 2nd largest in the world (next to Brazil).  So, it should be an interesting day tomorrow.  Lot's of music, and lots of beer.  But, we've planned a big inter-ward activity too, so hopefully that will help the members come and stay out of "Babyolon" as we say in the mission.

Wow.  I can't believe that I'm officially a real deal adult now.  Yesterday was a good day, but a normal day too!  I had cake and icecream at a members house last night, but other then that it was a normal day.  It's weird how the older you get, the less exciting birthdays are.  But, hey!  It's still fun to "birthday boy!"

So, this past week went by really quickly.  We've still struggled finding investigators, but we're having tons of success with the less-active members.  We've begun teaching a in-active sister named Olga.  She's 26 years old, single mother, and has been struggled with life.  She was baptized about 5 years ago, but went in-active over some things the missionaries said/done.  She's been making alot of progress and has started accepting more invitations to visit with us.  The best thing though was that she even attended Church last Sunday!  And the best part was she even showed up early!!  I was really happy!  Then, last night she told us that when she went in-active she told herself that she would never come back, but when my companion and I ran into her on the street and stopped by her house a few days later, she felt important again.  She said that our visits have helped her find her lost testimony and have a desire to feel "the song of redeeming love" as (Alma puts it) again.  So, I'm really happy that I'm living my life in a way that she can feel the savior's love through me and know that the missionaries can be trustworthy representatives of Christ.  It's a really good feeling.

So, things are continue to push forward in Nagua.  The church attendance is going up, and my companion and I are starting to receive more referrals from the members.  I'm hoping that the activity planned for tomorrow can help the members realize that helping with missionary work doesn't mean leaving with the missionaries from 3pm to 9pm, but it is something as simple as inviting a friend to an activity or mentioning one of our beliefs.  When it comes right down to it, being a "member-missionary" isn't rocket science.  I know that alot of times we're a little nervous to say something, but the lord promises us he'll fill our months with what we need to say.  I know that missionary is important.  The world is full of wickedness and the powers of darkness.  We've been blessed to find the light and it's our responsibility to share that light with others.  I know that Christ is the light of the world.  He's our savior and he's always ready to carry our burdens and lighten our world.  This gospel is true and this is the lord's work.  I hope that we can all do our part in building his holy kingdom.  Full-time missions only last 2 years, but sharing the light of Christ lasts a lifetime.  En el nombre de Jesucristo, Amen.

Que vaya con Dios a todo!

Con mucho amor,
Elder Jensen

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