Week 71: I'll Go Where You Want Me to Go

 This was a week of ups and downs, but it was another great week in the service of the Lord!


This week we had a lot of lessons with Nina to prepare her for baptism. We also had a lesson with Lalo and his daughter Eymi. We talked about the Book of Mormon and baptism, and Eymi wants to be baptized! They'll have to come to church first, and the best option will be to have Lalo baptize her, but he and his wife aren't married -_- so we'll see if that's a possibility before we put her on date. We also had another great lesson with hermana Merly in her restaurant where we got to teach her kids too! Later in the week we had a lesson planned with a man named Juan Bautista. whom we had contacted in public. He lives in a weird section of the area I didn't even know existed right next to the airport. But through tha we were able to teach him and 4 of his kids as well!

On Tuesday we got to go to the temple as a district! It's great being able to understand it all in Spanish now amd it's such a refreshing experience! We had district council this week on Wednesday and I decided to focus on extending invitations, but specifically doing it with charity and love.

We had such a roller coaster with Nayeli and her family this week. So at the beginning of the week we taught the rest of the lessons and went over the baptismal questions. We don't need her dad's permission for her to be baptized because he doesn't live with them, but Nayeli's mom, Maria, insisted on it. So on Thursday morning we got a message from her that said they needed to postpone the baptism. We called her dad, but he wasn't really interested in talking to us. Later, during Nina's baptismal interview, we got a message from the young women's presidency that they talked with Nayeli's parents and that she got permission and that they were ready to have the onterview in 40 minutes! So we went to the chapel and had the baptismal interview with the ZLs. Everything was good but then on Friday night we got another message from her mom that said whe wouldn't be baptized again because it was too fast. She's come to church 12 times and we've been talking about baptism for 2 months now, I don't think it's fast-_- But they both came to church on Sunday and we had a lesson with them where Maria opened up about her confusion. We were able to help her with that, and we invited her to knee and to pray. She did and started to cry during the prayer. That's when the spirit reminded me that I need to have more charity, because she's not just an obstacle we have to convince so we can get permission, but she's a mother who really cares about her daughter and wants the best for her. She said that Nayeli could be baptized this Saturday if she gets an answer that this is correct before that date. We have full confidence she will if she follow through with her promise to keep the commitments we extended. Both Maria and Nayeli could really use your prayers.

On Saturday we had Nina's baptism. She asked that I baptize her. We woke up early and filled up the font. It was a very small baptism, only 6 people were there, but that's exactly what Nina wanted. It was nice and Nina shared a powerful testimony and I am so humbled for the opportunity I have had to teach her. At first when she told her daughter she was going to be baptized (before her Sunday miracle) her daughter asked why she was rushing into it. But this week when she told her about it her daughter could only say how beautiful it sounded. She went under without a problem and felt very calm afterwards. Hermana Ángela brought us all bread with egg to eat after we finished. We sang both the hymn that we had sung the preceding Sunday, "I Stand All Amazed" and "I'll Go Where You Want Me to Go," because those are the songs that helped her feel the spirit and want to be baptized. She really loves that song and it reminds me a lot of my duty to do whatever the Lord asks me to, even when it's not pretty, fun, or respectable in the eyes of others. If you would've asked me in February if she would be baptized I would've said no, because at that time she didn't even want to come to church. But the Lord works through small and simple means and we are all witnesses of a grand miracle wrought by His hand.

On Sunday Nina was confirmed and we had a beautiful sacrament meeting! That night we weren't able to watch the Dallin H Oaks devotional because we had lessons, but we'll watch it later. We had a great lesson with hermana Metrly and her family, and after with Marta, Carol, and Kitty.

Today for pday we went to the Huamchaco zoo as a district! Saw the 2nd llama I've seen here in Perú and got to hold some snakes! And we actually got to see our friends the monkeys too!

Huh, this email's not as long as usual and I can't think of anything else to say. I guess I was just really focused on Nina and Nayeli that nothing else comes to mind. I guess we did have some crazy bus drivers this week. Ones that go way too fast in the residencial areas where there are lots of turns and people. And evetytime he his a speed bump it's way to fast and get sent all the way up in the air and then come crashing back down on the seat. I could only think to myself, "Dude, this isn't Speed, would you calm down a little bit please?"

I hope you all have a great week!

Elder Jensen

I don't have time for captions











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