The Office

Bom dia! 

Good morning everybody from rainy Fortaleza, I've finished my first week in the office. I'm figuring out that I really don't have a specific job description, just that when problems come up, I solve them. I got to see all of the new missionaries that got here this week and I had a ton of flashbacks, these 8 1/2 months have gone by so fast. 

Elder Hoffmann is my new companion, he's from Texas, played football, and he's showing me the ropes of how to get everything done that has to get done. Mainly, we work with foreign relations. Visas, passports, and basically making sure the foreigners don't get thrown in jail.

The Coronavirus has caused the Church to cancel all meetings, including the Sunday services, so as missionaries we're going to have to adjust to this change until it gets resolved. We have to have faith and help the people we're teaching have faith so that we can all get through this complicated time and be strengthened and stronger when it's over.

I hope you guys have a great and safe week!

New Transfer

Today we have transfers, I'm being transferred to an area called Aldeota in downtown Fortaleza. I'm going to be trained as the new Executive Secretary of the mission, so I'm excited to see what I can learn.

Happy International Women's Day to all of the women out there, you all are the best. In our district meeting this week we surprised the sisters with a bunch of candy and chocolate, and it was the last district meeting of our Zone Leader before he goes home, it was a really fun meeting.

I'll miss this area, my companion Elder Leite, and the other Elders in the are too, it's always weird to move on.

I want to share a scripture today that's found in Proverbs 3:5-6. It says 

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight"

I love this scripture, because as we experience changes in our lives, we can trust in the Lord and in His plan for us. We may not know why something happens, but we need to know that we don't need to understand, just follow the will of the Lord.

Have a great week everybody!

1) Some of the best members around (2) District Jardim Iracema!!

Carnival = Prison

Hey everybody, a lot happened this week, so here we go.

Food Section: A member invited us over for a family home evening last week, and we got to eat some of the best carrot cake we've ever had, it was so good.

New Elder: We're not in a trio anymore, Elder Bento got a new companion from Mexico on Tuesday, so now we have 4 Elders in the area again. His name is Elder Santamaria, he's from Mexico City, he played American Football in high school, and he can play the piano, he's totally chill and excited to work.

Carnaval: So, Carnaval is the biggest party Brazil has, over the whole country. It started on Friday and it will end on Wednesday. We were going to try and work through it, but we received a call from the mission president on Thursday night that the police were going on strike for better wages, and that we had to be in our house by six o'clock every night because it was going to be dangerous. So basically, we're super excited for Carnaval to be over so we can get out of the house more haha.

We had our Zone Conference this last week, and the message I want to share with everybody today is the training that we received about goals. With the time that we have here on our Earth, we need to practice and exercise our control of mind and spirit over body. If we want to do something, whether it be to learn Portuguese or pass the math test, we need to be prepared to make sacrifices right now to have a bigger reward later. Something I really liked was what one Elder said, which was "Don't let anyone work harder than you." And it's so true, if you're working the hardest you will receive blessings for your effort. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Have an awesome week everybody! Work on your goals!

-Elder Jensen

1) Elder Santamaria and us 2) Zona Litoral, Missão Brasil Fortaleza💪