LAST CHRISTMAS IN THE DR

No letter this week because we Skyped on Christmas . She is doing well and I have never seen her happier.

Breakfast at presidents house! :))

Christmas gifts and Christmas explosion! Hahah 

I'm a professional empenada maker! :)

Pretty sunset!

FELIZ NAVIDAD !!!

I love Christmas and I love telling everyone about this amazing time we have to think about our Savior!! There is a special spirit in the air at this time of year!! 

I will see you all in a week to talk to you guys and we can all talk then!!! I LOVE YOU I HOPE YOU GUYS ALL FEEL THE LIGHT OF CHRIST IN YOUR OWN LIVES! 

I LOVE YOU!!! 

Hermna Jenson

Our little Christmas tree in the DR!!

My daughters!!!! hermana Veliz and hermana Neff!!! I'm such a proud mother!

I saw hermana Urmeneta at a Christmas concert in the mission home! 

and of course... a little pica pollo never hurt anyone! :))) 

IVAN GUZMAN

Hola de Ivan Guzman!!!!... My new area!! Its really close to where I started my mission and brings back a ton of memories, hearing loud bachata (dancing) in the street that I can hardly hear my companion, walking down tiny little streets filled with people and climbing up staircases that I think were made about 288392 years ago and sharing the Gospel in little homes knee to knee with our investigators! I LOVE MY MISSION! 

My companion is named Hermana Neff she is from Snowflake Arizona, I showed her a picture of Chloe Ferre (my basketball teammate) and she said she ate lunch at her house one day!! Haha small world!! Speaking of small world the building we live in is full of ward members which is such a blessing and the members below us, (the wife) studied at BYU Hawaii the same year I was there and we remembered each other.. even smaller world! Haha

I'm now in a house of 4 hermanas... and I'm a hermana leader of the another house of 2 which, one of those 2 is my other "daughter" in the mission, hermana Veliz! I'm super happy! all of the hermanas I'm with are super new in the mission and it makes me feel SUPER OLD!! 

This area is huge and has so much potential but as of right now we don't have too much going on, so this week my companion and I have hit our knees and given everything to the Lord and then gotten on our feet and have been guided by Him, to His elect! My companion is a super hard worker!! This week when touching some doors.. no one was answering.. so we touched more doors and tried talking to more and more people when finally we had touched all the doors in a whole area.  We were at the last floor of the building but I felt that we should still go up the stairs, so we did, and sure enough there was Yaquelin hanging up her clothes to dry, my companion and I dropped everything and started to help her and get to know her. Turns out she has been looking for a church and is unemployed at the moment(how convenient) we taught her a little bit and left her with a pamphlet and put a cita(appointment) to return! when we got back later that week she introduced us to her husband and they are both now progressing in the gospel! We can't wait to keep helping them come unto Christ and find His everlasting Joy!!!!!!

 I LOVE YOU ALL !! wish I could share all about my week but it will have to wait!! Haha 

Have a good week! Fill the world with the light of Christ!! 

My Companion

RICE !!!

Ward Christmas party

Don't worry mom I haven't changed too much!!! Haha

  New district!! And my girls!!

MY NEW AREA 

COME WHAT MAY AND LOVE IT !!!

Wow this week has been an emotional roller coaster for me and my companion! We were able to see many miracles! 

One of our investigators this week told us that she had received her answer and was ready to get married and finally came to church this Sunday! I really have never seen someone so happy before to really receive and answer. And to see her so happy made me so happy, along with her 3 children!! :))) Yay for the gospel that makes us happy! :)) 

This Thursday night I received a call from my mission president. He first called me to be an hermana lider. (or a sister leader) As I accepted, he then said, well there is a wrinkle in this... I'm also going to take you and your companion out of this area because there is a lack of hermanas in the mission. So my companion and I have been packing and cleaning like never before and saying goodbye the the whole world here. It has been so emotional for the two of us but also the branches! But this has really helped me realize that the Lord has a plan for us! I love Him and I'm so ready to love this change that He has given me!! 

More to come in the next week of all the new stuff!! 

Hermana Jenson!!

el bautismo de Sander, familia complete!! :)))

I LOVE NIZAO !!!

OLD COMPANIONS

Treat for lunch

Mmmm puerquito !!! (pork)

Chickens!!!!!

CHIVO (goats)

HAPPY

I love being a missionary so much!! I don't know if I have told you guys that or not!! Hahaha I am cherishing every moment I have here with a smile on my face! Because I love this place, these people, and this gospel!!!

This week we had 3 baptisms in one of our branches! :) It was really cool to see everyone come together to support these people and their families! One of the boys that we had been teaching that got baptized, his name is Sander. His uncle who just got home from his mission baptized him and Wow so tender was that experience to see families together so happy in the gospel and see what a big family we are as members! :)) This is really a time to rejoice! 

Everyone should go watch the new Christmas video that is out for the church and join us all in serving people and helping invite the TRUE spirit of Christmas!! I promise that as you guys serve these 25 days that you will not only see other people feel the love of Christ but that you guys will become more like HIM!!! :)) forget yourselves this holiday season! :))) and remember HIM!!! 

I love being a missionary and being able to change my life and help people change theirs for the better! Missionary work is the best way to help us prepare for the celestial kingdom! :))) share your happiness!! 

Love Hermana Jenson

14 weeks/100 days left

Wow where to begin this week!

My companion and I are working really hard in one of our branches that is a little weak and we are finding more and more people! Its so great to see the Lords hand in everything we do and everyone we talk to! :) Its also funny that everyone in this pueblo is related. Haha I always here "oh yeah he is my cousins brothers uncle.." all sorts of crazy Haha but I love it!

This week we also had a zone conference where Elder and hermana Martinez were g the guests speakers! It was so good to see them again! (they were from my home ward in Piantini) It was such a beautiful conference and they gave us so much advice about so many things! I wish I could tell you guys everything! But I will tell you one story:

Hermana Martinez was sharing a story about how she loves to make waffles for her kids and one morning she was making them and was so excited to be able to eat them. She put the mix all together and sprayed the non stick spray and put them in the waffle maker and when the time was ready opened it up and... yuck... everything was all stuck to the waffle maker... so she repeated the process.. with the same results.. and again... and finally went to check everything. The waffle maker was hot, she put everything she needed to in the waffle mix, and checked the spray...  and she noticed she was spraying insect repellent not Pam spray!!!!!! Hahah well, moral of the story is that we cannot expect miracles or different results when we are doing the same thing over and over again even with the best of intentions! If you want to change something in your life analyze what you are doing and put your changes into action. Ask God what you need to change in your life to see or receive the changes you need and want!

The mission is full of change and I love it! I am trying to perfect and change all aspects of my work and ethic so I can be the best missionary that the Lord needs at this time! :) If we have faith and TRUST HIM everything is possible! Never doubt your faith!

Also they gave us a vaccination for the flu.. and my companion and I both got the flu. Haha we have just been taking care of each other.. but all is good now! Hahaha


We are going to have a baptism this Saturday of a son of a family we are completing, his name is Sander!! He is so cute and he is so excited for his baptism to be just like his uncle who just got home from his mission! :) Sometimes it has been hard to teach him because he is always at the ball park practicing baseball but he takes out all the time he needs for the Lord! :))

Love you all have a great week!

Hermana Jenson

15 WEEKS LEFT

This week has been really great, I love being a missionary. As a missionary you need to learn how to roll with the punches and laugh things off! I've really learned how to laugh when things get a little crazy! :))

This week we did a movie night with our two branches and tons of people showed up including a lot of the less actives that we have been teaching! And some investigators! We got everyone situated and started then we realized the people that were in charge of the popcorn hadn't arrived.. so we called and they told us they had some emergencies and they hadn't started to make it yet! Well we ran to the rescue and popped so much popcorn as fast as we could to rush it to the activity! Haha but as always everything went well and people were uplifted! :))

Also this week ten minutes before church started I was asked to speak in both of the branches I'm serving in! Obviously I said yes with a big smile. I love sharing my testimony and my thoughts about this gospel with other members. These people are so amazing and so faithful. There are not a ton of members here but the people who are members are hard working and do all they can to help this work come to pass! :)

I am so grateful for personal study in the morning. I encourage each of you, if you haven't already, to take out time in the morning to do your personal study and let the Lord reveal unto you all that you need to know!

I love this Gospel and all that it has to offer us but most of all JOY! :))

I love you all so much!

Hermana Jenson!

LOVE

My dearest family and friends another week in this lovely place with these lovely people has passed! I love being a missionary and I love la República Dominicana!! 

So, like I said last week, we are working really hard to complete partial families here in Nizao and Don Gregorio (our two branches) and this week we received a reference of a family of 5 that recently moved back into the Dominican from Venezuela. The dad is a member less active and the wife and the kids have not been baptized. We started meeting with them this week and they want to get married and the wife said that she loves the church and wants to keep learning more! They have a lot of friends in the church and we are super excited to keep working with them in helping them come more unto our Savior! 

We have another investigator named Chancha! Hahah she is the cutest lady of about 50 years, she is so ready to be baptized and is practically a member she just has one difficulty.. that is she is living in the same room as her ex husband! Haha its so crazy.. but we are helping her or him to move out soon, so she will be all ready to make this step in her life to enter into a covenant with her Father in Heaven! 

I really love these people here.. they are so dedicated to what they believe and more than willing to help us, drop everything they have to help us! It makes me feel so lucky to be here in these tiny branches to serve them! 

This week was testimony meeting, I have never felt the spirit stronger in a testimony meeting here on my mission. The spirit was there with are tiny group of 30 people. it was a spirit of LOVE. I testify that the language of our Father in Heaven and our Savior Jesus Christ is LOVE. They teach by love and not by fear. I know that each of us is personally loved by Him. Please never forget that and help someone else this week to feel His love for them! 

Have a good week! 

hermana Jenson

THE SUNSET AND SUNRISE

Riding the motor Dominican style.. This is not a joke! Hahaha 

TO BE MORMON IS TO BE HAPPY!

An incredible week to be a missionary! I love this time that I have to serve here en la Republica Dominicana! 

I am officially all settled in in my new house in the smallest little town ever! From our apartment you can see the beach and I eat my breakfast and watch the sun come up from my hammock! But living in the beautiful country comes at a cost.. we have to travel 1 hour to buy our food and write and do anything normal because there is nothing in this tiny little town! :) But I wouldn't change one thing! :)) I love it! We have lots of investigators and a lot of partial families in our rama's (branches)... Yes my companion and I have two branches! So we are focusing on completing these families and helping them to prepare for the temple!! My companion is so great! We both have some time in the mission so its just work work work. She is also so happy and crazy all the time. We both are just a giggly ball of energy all the time! Hahaha if you guys can imagine. 

Speaking of the Temple!!!! This Saturday morning I had the grand privilege to enter in the temple to watch the familia De Castro be sealed for time and all eternity! Such a big blessing and the sealer that did the ordinance is from our ward Piantini and was one of the first people in the DR to be baptized! such a special moment for us and for our Heavenly Father! :) 

In one of the sacrament meetings that we assisted this week there was a young woman that said the following "I am trying my hardest to follow Jesus Christ, and to be happy, because to be Mormon is to be happy!" I have been meditating lately a lot in my personal study about our purpose here on earth and the plan of HAPPINESS that our Heavenly Father has for us. And this frase (phrase) I feel like explains it all. I am so grateful to know that I am not of this world, that there is so much more. But most importantly that I have this great opportunity to prove myself worthy to my Heavenly Father and show Him how much I love Him! I love life and I love the happiness that this gospel gives us in this life! Please take a second to look at the big picture and love your life and thank God for all that you have! :))) 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY NEPHEW CAEL MAÑANA!!! TE AMO MUCH! FELIZ CUMPLE AÑOS A TI!!!

and Merry Christmas to the rest of you!!!!!! Here they don't celebrate Halloween and everything, I mean EVERYTHING has been decorated for Christmas here for about a month already, and we only sang Christmas hymns yesterday in church! Hahaha 

Love you all! Have a great week! 

xxoxoxo

hermana Jenson

The familia De Castro!

Temple familia sealing

The beach from our balcony (she says the trees are hiding the beach)

Sunrise from balcony

Some of the streets here in Nizao

This is a chicken foot, Yumm

NIZAO HERE I COME! :)))

This week has been so busy but by far one of the most rewarding and love and spirit filled weeks of my mission! I love being a missionary!

This week we got transfer calls.. and I will be gong to the south again! To the zone of Bani in a little town called Nizao right on the beach, my new companion is hermana Urmeneta from Honduras!!!! I am really excited and feel at peace with these transfers! 

Some other amazing NEWS!!! I just opened my email from hermana Moeller and the first thing that she said is that Carolina one of our investigators got baptized this week!!! We had taught her everything, then she had to go back to Canada! I will attach photos!! She said ¨it was something that I felt like I had to do now, I felt so peaceful during the whole day" its so cool to see how the Lord works in His own timing and in His own ways! :)) 

She is the short one in the middle! 

This week as well Vanessa had her reactivation interview and this coming Saturday we will all have the privilege to go to the temple to watch her be sealed to her whole family! Don't worry I will send pics later! 

This week was full of see you later's, to some of the people who are closest to my heart. Its incredible how God gives us these opportunities to become so close to people that they change our lives. I know I will never be the same thanks to this amazing area of Piantini and every child of God that I've come to know here! I am eternally grateful to my Father in Heaven! :)) 

Until next time! I love you all thank you for everything that you do for me! 

With all my love 

hermana Jenson

CAROLINA'S BAPTISM IN CANADA

Oh and more pics from the Temple.. Yes I'm the only american! :)) 

My district that I'm leaving....