Week 19 Huancayo, Peru

Hola!

This week was great! Right now since we do not have a room, we are staying with the hermana leaders in El Tambo, Hermana Schmid and Hermana Esparza.  It has been really fun!  

Wednesday we had divisions and it was the first time I was in my area alone without my trainer, and with a hermana leader, and I was scared!  It ended up being really great!  We saw Zuly, Rossi, Mayumi and had another random lesson with a lady on the train tracks, while she was knitting.  I ended up dropping the phone on the train tracks and didn't notice until about 15 mins later. We went back and it was gone, so we called the number. Some random guy ended up answering and asked how much we would give him to return the phone. So since that is dangerous, we called the office and we are going to have to get a new phone. We have to wait a couple of weeks though and it is pretty tough not to have a phone but that's ok! 

We saw Mayumi who is a recent convert and we shared a scripture with her and talked with her for a little while. Last time we saw her she said she wasn't reading and when we came back she told us she was reading every day from the Book of Mormon, praying everyday too and was feeling a lot better!  It made me so happy! Yesterday when we walked into church, it was the first time I went where I really felt like it was my home and my ward. The ward here really is so great, and I am glad that I get to be in this area. I have started asking everyone basically at church what their name is and then writing it down in my planner with a little description of them. My goal by the time I leave is to know them really really well. 

The other day Hermana Esparza ended up locking herself in their study!! haha. We tried unscrewing the door knob but the door would not budge. Hermana Schmid then was like "ok guys move out of the way".   She then karate kicked the door opened! it was so legit!! 

I don't remember if I told you this before but the other day at the hermana leaders house I had to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night and I couldn't see, and I ended up smacking my face on the door suuppperr hard. I ended up hitting it so hard I got a super bad bloody nose haha. Hermana Torres and I laughed pretty hard about that the next day. I seem to have a lot of bad luck from fainting, bloody noses, to losing our phone. 

We had a super awesome mission night with the ward on Friday, where we taped paper on our backs, and people wrote compliments to us. Our investigator Gladys came with our son!  She has come to church 4 times now, is reading and praying but is still timid about accepting a baptismal date. It is kind of frustrating, but I know that some people just progress slower than others. But she is really amazing and it is great to see the changes she has been making over the past couple of months. 

Yesterday, we contacted and it POURED.  When it rains the streets just turn into rivers, and we were walking on the sidewalk and a car drove by super fast and splashed us really bad, kind of like in the movies, and we were SOAKED. I don't think I have ever been that soaked in my life haha.  We had to walk to church for consejo with the ward, and we were just so stinkin wet !!  haha. 

The language is still very hard, but I know I have progressed a lot. I try speaking in district meeting and at church, but it is hard to have a fluent conversation and to understand a lot of people still. Being a missionary is hard, but I know that this is the work of the Lord. I was reading a part of preach my gospel the other day called the power and authority of your calling and it kind of burned within me. I know that being set apart as a missionary is a very powerful calling, and I have the ability to help and teach people like I never will be able to ever again. We just have to work hard and trust in the Lord, and he will give us the strength and the spirit to change people's lives. 

LOVE YOU ALL!! THE CHURCH IS TRUE!

Love, Hermana Jensen

"tuna" fruit from cactus

Lots and lots of rain!

Hermana Torres trying to be an old lady.

My soaked skirt and shoes!

Hermana Torres, me and Hermana Schmid

Week 18 - Huancayo, Peru

Hey!

So today is cambios (transfers), but guess what??? Imma stayin!!  Turns out I will be with Hermana Torres until her dying day, and then have another cambio here too! So I will be having 6 months here in Mariscal Castilla.  I am actually really happy about that!  Hermana Torres is super awesome, and I want more time here. 

My goal is to start getting to know the ward better.  On my first cambios I was just so confused and trying to figure everything out and I didn't get to know the members well enough but now I just want to really know them and love them. 

We had an FHE the other night with some members and the elders.  It was sooo much fun. It feels so nice being able to understand people now. One member Karen is so funny and she played some Coldplay at FHE and I was like ughhhhh I miss music!! haha but I am ok :P   Hermana Torres told me the other day, that I shouldn't use not knowing spanish as an excuse anymore, because I know enough and I know that that is so true. One hermana in my zone from Honduras asked if my parents spoke spanish with me at home because I speak so well. I was like nopeee learned it all here basically!  It is still hard sometimes, but I'll be ok. 

This week was so nuts!  So after I fainted the other week, Hermana Silva came to our room and saw how utterly disgusting it was. Not because we don't clean haha but it is just old as heck. She called the hermana leaders and were like they need to do something about that room. So we actually ended up finding a really pretty new room and the lady told us we could move there in just a couple days!  So we moved all our furniture and painted our old room with the zone. It was so nasty.... That room is just dust and dirt and disgusting. And there are these two doors that have been permanently locked that we couldn't open. But our zone leaders decided to break into one of them by unscrewing the screws to see what was inside. AND OH MY GOSH. IT WAS SO CREEPY. We walked in and there was this super old  dusty bed, with old lady clothes everywhere, with her shoes lined up perfectly. There was this creepy doll with a burnt face, and a bottle of random clear liquid. NO LIE!! And then the next day the landlady for our new room, was like you can't move in yet until February and I'm going to Lima!  So now we have no stinkin room and are living with the hermana leaders until February. haha!  Anyways it has been nuts and kind of frustrating! 

Something I have been learning to do lately, is to really pay attention to the spirit. Sometimes in lessons I get so wrapped up in what I'm going to say that I don't listen to the people talking. When I just listen with love, the spirit always always gives me the words that I need to say. I really am just an instrument in the Lords hands, and any inadequacy I have, He will fill. 

Being a missionary is so fun and Peru is the best!!! Love you all!!

Hermana Jensen

On an outing to park cochas

some random items for sale (guinea pig skins?)

Painted gourds

Hermana Asto (one of my favorites) leaving. :(

Saying goodbye to some of our zone members. 

Large painted gourd

Week 17 - Huancayo, Peru

Hey!

This letter will be short, but this week was good! No fainting haha. I think it was on Thursday, it rained so stinkin hard,  I was just soaked the whole entire day. Friday and Saturday we just walked and walked and my feet are really starting to hurt now, and no one was letting us in. It was so frustrating and exhausting. I don't know how I am finding energy for this!  haha. 

Yesterday, we were having a hard time finding people, but then we ended up discovering randomly that our investigator Rossi that we thought didn't live in our area, only worked by us, actually lives in our area and we can keep teaching her! It was awesome! 

We got a reference from a member for this couple named Marleni and David and we taught them a couple times this week. They are super awesome, and I am excited to keep teaching them! Next week is cambios (transfers)!  I am not really sure what happened, but my feeling is that I am going to leave the area which is bittersweet.  I would like to have more time here, it really is an awesome area. 

I love you a bunch!

Love, Hermana Jensen

Huancayo

District P Day

Hermana Torres, me and our investigator Rossi.

Week 16 - Huancayo, Peru

Hola!

Feliz ano nuevo! 

This week was very very interesting. Friday we had divisions with the hermana leaders and it was super awesome. I was with hermana Esparza who is from Ecuador and we had a couple lessons, and contacted a bunch. We helped a lady wash her clothes by hand, which is really a lot of exercise, I have a lot of respect that people do that here.  Saturday was Dec 31st, so we only had one lesson, because everyone was so busy and did not want to let us in. We ended up contacting a bunch, and then the hermana leaders said they were going to bring us pizza! We ended up eating super late around 10 and then being bad missionaries and waiting until midnight for the new year (sorry Mom).  I ended up going to bed around 12:30 and then when I woke up at 6:30, I felt so gross. We had to be at church at 8 am!  I got up, went to the bathroom and when I came back in the room, I started feeling super dizzy.  I said to hermana Torres "Wow I feel sick, wait wooahhh everything is going black..." And then I was on the ground, looking up at hermana Torres.   I said "Where am I?? "  But only for a second and then I remembered how I had blacked out. She told me I had fainted and that we needed to call the Elders. I hit my head super hard on our concrete floor and had a huge lump on my head. I was so loopy hahaha, I kept laughing and laughing about it and honestly now I do still think its kind of funny.  Hermana Silva ended up coming over with Elder Castillo and Elder Hernandez and they gave me a blessing and the sacrament. I talked to Elder Burton on the phone, who is the doctor who lives in Lima and I remembered him from the CCM!  He's super awesome and looks just like King Candy from Wreck it Ralph. He told me it wasn't serious but just to take it easy and rest for the day, It was just a mixture of lack of sleep, eating late at night and other medical terms I don't remember. So yesterday we were house bound, and I just rested, our pension brought us food and I did those puzzles you got me for Christmas!  Don't worry I'm all good, and feel much better today, I just got a lump on my head. But this is the first time I've ever fainted! haha. 

Something that I have been trying to work on here, is to not compare myself to the other missionaries here, especially with the language. Sometimes I forget that my whole entire zone either spoke spanish at home or has a ton of time on the mission. I had an interview with President Silva last Tuesday, and he told me that my spanish is so much better. I know that comparing yourself and your weaknesses to others strengths does nothing except make you feel bad. I remember a talk from last conference, I don't remember who, but he said that if we are going to compare, compare yourself today to who you were before, and who you want to become. I know that I want to become a very successful missionary, and the only person in my way of doing that is myself. I hope to make this year the greatest yet, and it's hard to believe I'll be in Peru all of 2017! 

I love you all!

Hermana Jensen

The puzzles I put together while recuperating

Happy New Year 2017