Monday, November 28, 2011

11-28-11



Dear Family,
Things here are good. We are working really hard to find people to baptize. We have two people that we are working with. One is Carla, she was a member reference. She had a lot of potential and she wanted to be baptized. Well, the members that she is friends with was having a wedding and she was invited and she is very poor and lives with a man and he doesn´t get paid that much and so she went out and bought dresses for her and her niece to go to the wedding and then at the last minute the member who was going to give her a ride said he couldn´t go and so she got all mad and now she doesn´t wanna talk to us anymore. If half the people who get offended didn´t get offended the world wouldn´t have nearly as many problems. And the other girl is Rita. She is a member reference also, she is way cool and she is 20. She wants to be baptized too, and she will be baptized on Dec 10. So, please pray for her. But her dad heard bad stuff about the Church from some of his friends and now he is making it very difficult for us to meet with her and she hasn´t had her phone on for awhile. But I still have hope that she will be baptized.
But other than that not much has gone on. I love and miss you guys and keep the emails and letters coming. And sorry if I haven´t responded to all of them. I am trying my best. I love and miss you guys a lot.
Love,
Elder Spencer Jensen

Monday, November 21, 2011

Scripture Study

Dear Everyone,
Well, in my mission we are very lucky to have a Gospel genius in our mission. His name is Elder McConckie, yes the son of the famous Apostle. And he is always full of cool Gospel tricks and whatnot. Well, he gave us a bunch of cool tips to help us study the scriptures better.
1. All scripture is sacred and of great worth.
1 Nephi 6:4-6, 1 Nephi 19:6
2. All temporal things have a spiritual meaning.
1 Nephi 15:32, 1 Nephi 22:1-3
3. Liken all scripture to yourselves.
1 Nephi 19:23, 2 Nephi 6:5; 11:8
Keys to Interpreting Scripture.
1. All scripture is in harmony with all other scripture (as long as it is translated correctly.)
2. When there is a conflict between ancient and modern scripture, modern scripture wins.
3. Practices of the Church today take precedence over scripture. Such as during the sacrament prayers when it says everyone should kneel, but only the priests kneel because they are saying the prayer.
So, here are some cool hints for scripture study.
Love,
Elder Spencer Jensen

11-21-11



Dear Family,
How is everything going? Thanks for all the letter and everything. I really appreciate them. Well, here is the story from this week. so, we got a member reference and she lives below some members that moved into the branch recently. Her name is Carla, so we prayed and we thought that we should mark her for baptism with a date on the very first appointment. So, we go there and her boyfriend whom she is living with is there but he doesn´t want anything because he says he already has listened to the elders before. So, we mark her and it turns out that the date that we picked was the date that her members friends are going to be married. Well, we said we would talk to them and decide what to do. Well, we go to a branch activity that night and her member friends come and talk to us and they tell us that she is actually still married to her ex-husband and that she needs to still finalize the divorce but he doesn´t wanna sign the papers. We also found out her boyfriends is a member of the Church, he was baptized about 10 years ago because he just wanted to experiment and see how it was. And he even told this to the elders who baptized him. And he was baptized and never returned to Church. So, that was a big shock. But her biggest problem is that she needs to get divorced from her husband and then she needs to get married to her boyfriend now or leave him. But I think that she will have the strength to overcome all her problems and be batized. She has a real desire to better her life and everything.
Well, thanks for all you guys do for me and all the love. I will be staying her in Vila Real for another 6 weeks.
Love,
Elder Spencer Jensen

Monday, November 7, 2011

11-7-11

Hey everyone,
Things here are going pretty good this week. We have taught António two times almost every day. He is really progressing and overcoming all of his addictions (and trust me he has a lot haha). But he is progressing a lot and he can´t put the Book of Mormon down. He has difficulty with reading but he has been improving and he is already in 2 Nephi. It is amazing to actually find someone who God as prepared to meet us. His faith in the Savior grows and we can see the difference whenever we go there. He is even praying that his family and friends can receive the Gospel too. He is actually being converted by the Spirit. And I am so glad that the Lord has the confidence in me to help him. We have had so many cool experiences with him. We´ve eaten dinner with him a few times and we are really best friends now. He is a really cool guy who is putting forth an honest effort to overcome the things that have controlled him for the majority of his life. When we first started teaching him, he didn´t even believe in God. But now he has a testimony and is recognizing the love that God has for him.
But things here are doing great. We are making progress everyday in helping the people here. Just like "Preach My Gospel" says, "You will find greater happiness than you have ever experienced as you labor among the Lord´s Children." And that has really come true. I have never been happier in my life. I have never felt this concern for complete strangers and it is awesome.
I love and miss you guys so much, and thanks for all the thinks that you guys do for me.
Love,
Elder Spencer Jensen
ps, I will have been out a year this Thursday the 10!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!