Here it is...

Hola everyone!

This past week in Gurabo has been a slow week!  We started the third week into the transfer which usually means that nothing major happens.  We spent almost everyday teaching and contacting in my area.  On Sunday, however, we did have a Stake Conference.  It was a really good conference, but definitely different then the one's in Utah!  President Douglas and his wife spoke and did a really good job!  I don't know what it is with Sister Douglas, but she is a really good speaker!  President Douglas did a really good job as well; he spoke about the Tree of Life vision that Lehi had.  I will admit after about half way through my spanish brain was fried, so I didn't really understand alot of the last half.  Trying really hard to understand a new language is really exhausting mentally.

My spanish is really coming along!  My companion, Elder Gomera, is really helping me alot.  Most days, I can really understand pretty good and follow what's going on.  He is also practicing his english and is doing really good.  It's a win-win for both of us!  He likes the Harry Potter movies (which is really good!) and we get along really well!

This past week I've seen the lord work in so many ways!  He seems to guide people to act and prompts people to listen to the Holy Ghost to help another come unto Christ!  I'm so very grateful for the tender mercies of the lord in my life.  I know that the lord is mindful to each and everyone of us and wants to help us all along the way!  Tender mercies are small gifts of kindness that the lord gives us each individually to help us continue pushing forward!  The church is true, and the work I'm performing is truly the work of the lord and savior Jesus Christ!  Thank you all for your love and prayers; they truly me alot to me! 

Love,

Elder Jensen

 

So the mission is in a brand new office, so for future packages, use the following address!:

                Elder Russell Jensen 

                Ave Estrella Sadhala

                #10  2do Piso

                Frente a Universidad UTESA

                Santiago, Rep. Dom.

                51000

 

Update...

Hola Everyone!

Another week has gone by here in Gurabo!  It has been a very different week having a new companion and all.  I'm very grateful for the opportunity to have Elder Gomera as a companion.  He is very patient, and has alot of experience in the mission.  My spanish has improved a ton over the past week since I'm forced to speak spanish 24/7.  It's been really good practice for me!!  Chances are I will have him as my companion for 2 transfers because he finishes up his mission in November.  I'm really learning alot from all these experienced missionaries that come my way.

This past week was a very interesting week.  We spent alot of time walking around so I could show Elder Gomera the area and introduce him to all the investigators in Gurabo.  Everyone would always ask "Where's the other guy? Yeah, the other guy, not him."  And I'd have to say that he finished and left the mission for Arizona.  But it seems that Elder Gomera is getting to know the area and our investigators too.  Hopefully this week we will have less walking and more teaching.

This week we found a really good new investigator of the church.  His name is Raffi and he is 19 years old.  He had an accident in soccer, so he has a cast on his leg for 2 months!!  We found him near another investigator and he told us he was interested to know more about God.  So we have begun teaching him.  He has alot of excitement to learn and is very intelligent.  One time we were 15 minutes late and he said, "Ah, you said 3pm not 3:15, you're late."  I thought that was pretty cool that he remembers exactly when we have a visit with him.  I really hope he progresses towards baptism!!  Good news as well!  David, the new convert, received a calling in the ward.  He's going to be a Sunday school teacher.  And he is being ordained to the Priesthood.  I was really happy to hear this!!  We take him with us on visits and he really enjoys teaching a testifying.  He really has a very strong testimony of the gospel in his life!  MAKES ME SUPER HAPPY TO SEE HIM HAVE A DESIRE TO SHARE!!!!!

I've been reading alot in the Book of Ether, and I agree with dad.  Moroni's comments on faith in Chapter 12 are amazing.  He really expounds faith and builds on the foundation we need to have in order to endure to the end and become perfected in Christ.  In Ether 12:6 he says we need to act to build are faith in order to receive a testimony.  So many people think that a testimony comes right out of the blue, but one needs to act in order to create that testimony.  The material is there; one just needs to ACT and create a master piece.  So many people tell me they have faith in Christ, but they aren't willing to work and create a testimony built on his teachings.  Christ showed us the way and I know that this Church is the Church of Jesus Christ.  We all need to act on our faith and do what he has commanded.

 "He lives all glory to his name...What joy this sentence gives: for I KNOW that my redeemer lives!!"

Love,

Elder Jensen

Pictures...

New week...

Well hello again!!

Can't believe another week has already came and gone!  This past week was a very exciting week.  A hurricane, baptism, and transfers.  So I guess I'd better get started.

Since a lot of people were asking about the hurricane I guess I'll start with that one!  I'm doing great!  If that was a hurricane, I guess I was really blessed because it was just a lot of rain and some wind.  The storm didn't impact us from teaching and the baptism.  We just had loads of rain and quite a bit of wind at night!  But don't worry, I was fine and didn't have any problems.  Didn't even know there was going to be a hurricane until the day before it happened.  But anyways, no problems.

This past Saturday I had my first baptism I was able to be a part of.  It was our investigator David!  He was so excited and happy to finally get baptized!  I was just so happy seeing him get baptized and then confirmed the next day during church.  He has just a strong testimony of the church and loves studying his scriptures.  He is always calling and asking for scriptures and such.  He will be a very strong leader in the church.  But his baptism was really good!  Elder Teran and I spent Saturday morning cleaning up the font and the church to make is special for David.  Then, later that night, we were able have a wonderful baptism service with a very peaceful service.  It was a very good weekend and boosted up my spirits after all the rain!

Then today was transfers.  I am still in Gurabo, but I have a new companion.  Since Elder Teran finished his mission, I had to of course get a new companion.  My new companion is Elder Gomera.  His is a missionary from the Santo Dominigo in the Dominican Republic.  He seems really nice and speaks very little English, so I look forward to practicing my Spanish with him.  He has 7 members in his family and has been a member of the church his whole life!  He has 21 months in the mission, so he has 2 transfers left before he goes home.  It should be interesting to see what this transfer brings!  I look forward to getting a lot better on my Spanish and understanding people even better!

I know that this church is true and blesses people's lives.  I've been able to see the light of Christ enter people's lives as they turn towards him and follow his commandments.  The people in the DR are ready to listen and follow our Savior Jesus Christ.  I'm grateful for having the opportunity to serve the people here and come closer to my Father in Heaven.  Jesus Christ lives and is always willing to carry us and lead us along; we just need to ask!  In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Well that about wraps up this week!  Que vaya con Dios!

Love,

Elder Jensen

Hello...

Hello!

Things here in the Dominican Republic are going great!  I love being out here in the field and preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ!  I'm learning alot about the gospel, living on my own, and having a companion 24/7.  Life is really good and I'm really happy I got called to the Dominican Republic to serve a mission.  It is quite the adventure being here on a mission and I wouldn't trade it for anything!

This past week has been pretty good!  We are working really hard with a guy named David to help him prepare for his baptism in a couple weeks.  He loves studying the scriptures and really wants to progress and follow Christ!  He has a testimony of the Church and just needs to continue living the gospel standards to be baptized.   But he is really doing well!!  Friday night we took President and Hermana Douglas to a lesson with David to help us answer some questions.  It was such a good experience!  President and Hermana Douglas are awesome!  He answered some questions and shared his conversion story.  He converted at 21 and then served a mission at 22.  Since then, he's been serving alot in the church.

The rest of the week has been a regular week.  We didn't have any major meetings or anything too out of the routine.  We continued teaching people and right now we are in the process of doing alot of contacting trying to find more investigators and people who want to hear the gospel.  Tomorrow is Zone Conferences, so it should be really, really fun!  First Zone Conference for me!  But that's pretty much how my week went.

I've studied alot in 3 Nephi this week during Christ's visit to the Americas.  Those chapters are really good chapters!  I really like Chapter 15 when Christ explains about John 10:16 about the other sheep of his fold.  He said the Jews didn't understand what he meant, so Heavenly Father commanded Jesus not to expound.  But, the Nephites were more prepared and faithful to understand it more, so Jesus expanded their view of other sheep currently in other folds.  This made me think about our day and all of Christ's creations.  Our earth is kind of like Jeruaselm.  We don't understand that there are other worlds out there, and Christ had to come to our earth so we would believe him, and then we killed our own savior.  I believe the other worlds were more believing like the Nephites and therefore Christ could rely on their faith alone.  Pretty interesting, I thought.  Scriptures always have more inside of the pages then people think...

I know this church is true and Jesus Christ is our savior!  He loves each and everyone of us and is ready to carry us when we can't carry ourselves.  The gospel can truly bless peoples lives, and I love seeing it bless the lives of the people in the Dominican Republic!  Keep on doing the little things like reading your scriptures, praying morning and night, and attending church.  Because when you do the small stuff, the big stuff doesn't seem quite so big!  Thank you all for your love and prayers and I love you all so much!  In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Love, 

Elder Jensen

Hello Everyone...

Hello everyone!

This past week has been a regular week without a whole ton of things going on.  We've spent alot of time trying to find more people to teach and trying to find the less-actives in the ward.  It's a lot of work, but it's worth it!  We've found 2 or 3 less-actives, who are starting to keep commits with church things again.

As far as investigators go, we have an investigator named David who is really progressing.  He has been meeting with missionaries for a long time now, the only problem is his job.  He works alot.  He invented a software that can detect who steals electricity.  So he's been traveling all over the country and nearby islands as well.  He is also contracting with a company in the US, so let's just say that in the near future he will be really rich!  But he is more excited of the spiritual richness that's coming into his life!  He told us that he knows the church is true and that the Book of Mormon is the word of God.  He is reading and praying everyday and wants to progress and finally get baptized.  He also made time to stop by and attend sacrament meeting last Sunday.  That made me way happy!!

Another investigator who is progressing really well is a man with 3 daughters named Beinviendo.  He shared with the missionaries about 8 years ago, and we just recently found him again.  He wants to share again, but the best part is his daughters want to know more about the gospel then he does.  So that's even better because he'll tag along with them.  He is a tailor and is trying to just make a living in life!  He and two of his daughters even attended church this past Sunday too.

On Friday was Elder Teran's birthday, so I planned with the office couple and we had a little party at the office.  A few Elders had to stop by, so it turned into a pretty fun little party.  We ordered food and just visited for a while, then of course we had cake!  It was really fun, and I think it really made Elder Teran's last birthday in the mission really something special.  But other then this small event nothing else took place this week.

Today, however, I went to the mission home and we saw some pretty interesting sculptures.  At thanksgiving point, there are a ton of sculptures from this artist named Angela Solsbury (I think) but anyways Megan probably knows what I'm talking about.  So we walk in and see these beautiful Christ sculptures and we start asking Sister Douglas about them.  Turns out she is really good friends with this artist, and so she has some of the few sculptures this lady creates.  They are absolutely amazing!!!  They look really cool!  I talked a lot with Sister Douglas and found out how cool of a lady she is.  She started this charity in Africa for leprasy and it's now a multi-million dollar charity with over 50,000 volunteers.  She has some really interesting stories and I just think she's awesome!

My spanish is coming along really good, and for the most part I can make out what people are saying.  Some people are still really hard, but my spanish is really coming along.  I just need to get the grammer down now.

The church is true and Jesus is the Christ!  I know that the lord can help us in all of our trials and can carry us when we aren't sure if we can carry ourselves!  Que vaya con dios!

Love,

Elder Jensen

Another week...

Hola everyone!

This past week has been pretty good! Not too many things going on right now, but all the same it's very exciting.  We spend the morning studying and then head out at about 10:30 to 12:00 to teach and visit with people.  From 12 to 3 is the time we get to spend at our apartment.  We have lunch, study, relax, and study some more.  Then at 3 to 9:30 we head out and teach and visit with members.  At 9:30 we come home and plan for the next day!  Then after planning I get ready for bed and pass out on my bed.  Yep, days are really, really busy here!

Melissa and Robinson are a young couple we contacted a few months ago, so they aren't members.  We have been working alot with them and they are slowly progressing.  I used to think you'd find people, teach them, and baptize them quickly.  But I've learned that is rarely the case.  Usually, a  particular missionary is only there for part of the journey.  At the beginning, middle, or end of a person's conversion.  The process to help someone come unto Christ and be converted doesn't just happen in a couple weeks.  Usually it takes time and a complete change in oneself before they get baptized.  So, we'll see what happens in the future.  We are working with a few investigators who have really progressed over the last few months, so we'll see what becomes of this!  I really hoping they are ready and will continue to prepare for baptism.

My spanish is coming along pretty good!  Of course, it depends on my attitude and willingness to listen.  I can get the majority of the idea of what people are saying, but it still is very hard with some people.  The people here talk super, duper fast and use terrible language.  For example, "todo esta bien?" turns into "to ta bien?"  So, it is definitely a work in progress!  But the lord gives be so much strength to continue trying to learn spanish.  So with time, it'll come fully.  Compared to my first day I'm fluent, haha!

This past week I came across Moroni 7:41 in my scripture study.  Moroni asks what is it we should hope for?  An he answers we should have faith in Christ and his Atonement.  This is so true!!  The Atonement is the basis of everything we have in the life.  If we believe Christ is our savior and he can help us become perfect, then everything else should fall into place.  Church, Temples, life, scriptures, everything.  The basis of our testimony of God's plan should be based on Jesus Christ.  So if you need something to hope for, hope that Jesus Christ lives!

Love, 

Elder Jensen