Week 60: Softening Hearts (With Rocks)

 Hola otra vez amigos! I hope you're doing well!


Our water shut off both last Wednesday, this Wednesday, and yesterday. Always fun when that happens. We called hermano Juan and he fixed it all three times, even though I felt icky all those days. We also were able to soften the heart of someone this week! With a rock. There's this one vicious dog right next to our apartment who thinks we're there to steal everything he owns because he bares and gets really close to us whenever we pass. We pretended to pick up rocks and that scared him for a second but he always came back. Until one day Elder Larkin picked up an actual rock (it was tiny) and threw it at him. Now whenever we pass he jumps over the wall to hide from us. But when he does gain enough courage to come back again we just have to pretend to pick one up and that does the trick. 

On Wednesday we had a noche misional that almost no one came to. It was just us, the mission leader, and the Elder's quorum president. We just watched a video about a violin and then cut the night short because no one, not even the members, came. We did our best to invite people beforehand but for some reason it just didn't work.

And for some reason this week Bryan thought it was funny and just decided to hate me. Just all of the sudden he started saying that he wishes I was never born, that he never liked me, and that all other missionaries are better than I am, etc. I couldn't take it completely seriously because it's Bryan, and he's hard to take seriously naturally, but after a few days I got annoyed. He didn't want to hi five me at all or have anything to do with me. Finally on Sunday he snapped and went back to his regular old self. He hi fived me and told me it was all a joke. Haha. He also ditched us when we invited him to some lessons with us when he just decided to go home. Don't worry, he's young and still figuring things out. But he's funny and he's helpful.

We also had a lot of lessons cancel on us this week. Our lesson that we usually have on Wednesday with Nayeli and Maria was canceled and now she's kind of ignoring us. I'm going to hold off until next week, though. We did actually see them on the bus on Wednesday, but it was after they had gotten off and for some reason we didn't see them when we got on. Hopefully they didn't just go to the beach instead of meeting with us, because they told us it was because of classes. We also had a family home evening with the family of a recent convert, which is also the family of Emelyn and Yonan. We were walking along the highway after leaving San Francisco at 7:30 and we got a call from Emelyn saying they had already started the FHE. We had had the event registered in Areabook at 8, but apparently they thought it was at 7. It finished by the time we got there because it's a 30 minute trip to get back to Las Lomas from San Francisco. Apparently the people who we planned it with weren't even there so their family put it together and thought it was at 7. We still got to talk with Emelyn and contact with Yonan. We got some of the leftover jello cake thing too.

On Saturday we had the baptism of Fabricio! He's 12 years old and has one of the most powerful testimonies and understandings of the gospel I've heard out here. He had a strong desire to be baptized and is very content with having done it. We got his mom's signature this week (which was something I was worrying about, because I worried that she would relapse and take away the permission she gave us). But we went over a lot this week and he was prepared for baptism. He, his grandmother, and his half brother Emiliano, (who's 2 and the cutest little thing), actually showed up an hour early before everyone else, which is the opposite of Kahory's baptism. At first not many people showed up but we had a decent showing by the end. He asked me to baptize him and it all went swimmingly. I'm so glad to see a strong spirit returned to God and am excited to see him when he sí o sí becomes a missionary!

On Sunday we had Fabricio's confirmation which went well! Apart from that it was kind of a slow day at the chapel, we only had about 40-50 come instead of the normal 80-90. With that only Erick and Yessenia came with their family and Cirilo came again and this time with Maria his partner! We were praying for that so we can start helping them progress towards marriage and baptism. Cirilo wants to be baptized, but the rest of his family isn't as interested. With help from members and time I think we can get his partner, but his children might take a little longer since they are strong catholics,  (They're 12 and 19). But I know we can do this and our ward mission leader, Juan, will be a big help. We had a tiny meeting with him and Cirilo after church where we talked about a plan and how we can help his family progress. At lunch we saw a bunch of animal antics at the pensionista's with a chicken fight, dancing dogs, and good old José trying to bite us. I did almost get bitten by another dog yesterday. It just ran up behind me and bumped into the back of my knee with the intent to bite me, but I think it opened its mouth too late and failed in his endeavour.

We also got transfer news yesterday in the form of emails instead of regular calls. Elder Larkin is leaving and I'll be staying. We're not going to know where he's going or who our new comps will be until Wednesday. Half our district is going too so we'll see what happens.

Even today we saw a miracle! We were on the bus about to leave Las Lomas to go to the mall to pull our money for the month. I felt a prompting to ask Elder Larkin if he had his card with him. Upon hearing that he realized he didn't. We got off and walked 10 minutes to get it back, but I know it was the spirit! Even for seemingly small things I know the spirit helps us. 

Have a fantastic week everyone!

Elder Jensen

1. Missionary work with Jimmy! (He's a recent convert)
2/3/4. Fabricio's baptism
5. Bryan didn't even want to be in a photo with me







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