Hey everyone! It's me again! haha sorry I didn't get the chance to write an email last week, so sorry about that, hope you didn't miss hearing from me too much. I know it can be pretty devastating for some of you. haha just kidding :)
So first I'll explain my title. So this week we had to work on renewing my Visa since here it expires pretty frequently. We went to get a physical from the hospital and the receipt paper declared me as a child, student, and unemployed. So my companion had a good time laughing at that since I always joke about how I'm a child. I literally never have to cook for myself, it's great so far! haha
Anyways, these past 2 weeks have been crazy! So many things happen but then I go to write an update and I always end up forgetting somethings. Awh gotta love my "Dory" memory. haha This week we had zone conference which was amazing! The mission president and his wife are always traveling, but it was SO fun to get to see them again! And of course party a little haha They arrived Thursday so we headed to town early that morning and got to play a ton of games on the beach with them! We dont swim, dont worry, haha but it's awesome to get to be on the beach and reminds me of our many beach trips in California! Except the sand here is black. Of course all the Americans got fried. Sorry mom, apparently I still haven't learned to wear sunscreen. But the bad tanlines are definitely already here. and here to stay for the next while :) Then that night we stayed with the sisters in the town for the night before Zone Conference the next day which was awesome! So cool to be with all the missionaries on this Island and hear inspiring words from President and Sister Wunderli. They are literally the best. And if we memorized D&C 4 we got a cool chique new bag with the mission logo on it. So now my companion and I look super fresh walking down our street in Patim. haha Then this weeks update is that we came home Friday afternoon ish and found that we didn't have water... haha so today marks day 3 without water! it's been quite the adventure and Im starting to pray to be able to bless the rains here in Africa ;) Anyways, if you thought the lack of a mirror would hurt my appearance, now I dont always get to take a shower so I'm really sorry mom and Sister Daines, I know this is probably hard for you to hear. haha BUT! I'm learning lots and know that through our experiences we are becoming the people God wants us to be.
Then Sunday, not even having a month here, ya girl was asked to speak in church for 10ish minutes! awh my poor branch here in Patim. I hope they were able to understand me, but then again the Spirit is the teacher so they didn't really need to understand me right? jk It wasnt that bad and I'm super grateful for the opportuities I get to practice and use the Portuguese I know.
Funny story this week! We were riding on a Yacci (giant white bus/van that goes from the town to our small rural towns out here) and this man gets on and sits next to me and see my nametag and asks if I'm a missionary and I respond yea! he then proceeds to preach to me in his strong accent and a mixture of english Portuguese and I don't know what else, he mentioned Hebrew? anyways funny thing he mentioned was that he was the prophet that everyone had been talking about. And he mentioned to me that all the people in America need to get up and repent. My companion started laughing and had to look out the window. He was talking pretty loudly that eventually the bus driver turned up the music. Anyways, something i learned is that I don't know much about all the tribes of Israel, so maybe I'll study that more this week, but I think I am a pretty good listener so hopefully he could tell I was trying to understand :)
Other updates:
It was one of the sisters here birthday on Tuesday so while we were working on Visa things we got to have lunch with other missionaries. And I learned apparently our zone here in Fogo is the most unified and closest which makes everything a blast.
Blessings: One of our friends from another small town in our area came to church and told us he wants to study the scriptures more with us and start coming to church every sunday! The cool thing was to get to church on Sunday he paid for a car on his own to get here and was way early. He's awesome and I'm super excited to get to learn more from his example and faith.
Another family that has now come to church for 4 weeks in a row.. wohoo! one of their other daughters and her kids came with them Sunday and at the end of our second hour, her son asked his mom if they were leaving right then, and when she responded yes, he said he wanted to stay. awhhh I guess our primary class is kinda fun ;) haha
And I know lots of you like to hear about my language updates as well. haha so depending on the day and how I feel about my Portuguese affects how well I can understand people.
Quick spiritual thought:
I realized a pattern in my personal study that has proven that my Portugese and abilities here are all in the hands of the Lord. Everytime I'm feeling discouraged and lost with the language, when I read the Book of Mormon in portuguese I can understand most of it and this helps me feel so much peace, and motivation. (which is always exactly what I need) When I feel like I can understand things better and get a little prideful about my language, it's way harder and those chapters all of a sudden have a ton of new words. haha The Book of Mormon is powerful and I'm so grateful for the opportunity I have to read it daily. And I challenge you all to take a little time out of your day this week to read a chapter and focus on how you feel as you're reading, and after.
Anyways, I love Portuguese and the people here! Mission life is crazy but also amazing! I am so grateful for this time to be here in Cabo Verde learning so much. Sorry this email is a little long but I love you all and hope you all have a FANTASTIC week! God loves you!
Sister Jensen
A talk I read this week and loved, if you want to check it out!
I Believe in Angels
pics!!
beach day
lunnchhhh
our primary class! <3
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