BUGS!

Betty is absolutely gorgeous. Betty is the VW Bug we just bought as a family project!

I like to imagine it's mine but I know it's
not haha. just a family car that's super awesome.

This week has been pretty good.

On Tuesday my comp and I were walking when a weird bug flew into his eye
and while he was trying to get it out, it stung/bit him on his eyeball. So
that was not so cool. We called Sister Pricoli (and now we the name of
"the most sick companionship in the mission") and had to go the emergency
room. A little exaggerated but whatevs. We get there and he's got this huge
bump on his eyeball. then after telling us that there weren't any eye
specialists in all of Palmira, we had to go to Cali and sleep in the
mission home. The next morning we go to the hospital and after a seemingly
torturous eye test (in which Elder B kept saying "Q" every time there was a
"K") he prescribed him eye drops. A whole lot of stress and money to find
out something that we already knew... So that wasn't fun but it's a nice
story to tell. Thanks Elder Brizuela.

Anyways, we had an investigator come to church yesterday and he is
probably the most stressful investigator ever. He's a member of some
trembling and shouting Christian church so the whole time he was asking
questions like, "There's no coffee or fruit?! Why?!"  "Why can't I clap
after the talks? Can I scream out my questions? NO?! WHY?!"
Then during the second hour he had to personally interrupted every single
class in session to ask the teacher what they taught and what the purpose
of the class was. The CTR teacher got mad at him and told him to go away...
Next, he asked around 100 questions in the gospel principles class and
didn't really care about the answers. He has an "I'll ask the question to
see if you say is what I believe and then I'll get offended when you don't"
attitude. But in the end he really liked it and thought it was a cool
experience. We were running after him like the branch president's wife runs
after their hyperactive son. Lots of laughs and stress sweat haha...

I'm doing well. More tired than I've ever been and it's really hard for
other people to understand that I really don't WANT to sleep during
sacrament meeting but that my body just WON'T stay awake. Or that I don't
WANT to fall asleep during personal study, I want to read the scriptures.
But hey, only five more weeks.

Still not very good at soccer but still like to play.

Love you so much mom! What's AC? ;)

Elder Jenkins

The LAST 6 WEEKS!

We just started the new transfer period and Elder Brizuela and I are still
together. Which means, in mission lingo, me va a matar Elder Brizuela!!!
He's going to kill me and I'm going to die in this area. Pretty weird
feeling and frankly it's nothing shy of bittersweet. It's exciting to be
close to the end but scary at the same time.

We've been working pretty hard in comparison to how we were working and so
far we've seen the fruits of that labor. Yesterday we had quite a few come
to church and we taught twice as many lessons and found more than twice as
many new investigators. So that's cool.

I'm keeping my eye out for chances to find stuff to bring home. I'm hoping
for some cool jazz!

J- is doing very well and is progressing like lightning. He's
really into learning about the gospel now and actually asks questions in
the classes at church and in our lessons with him. He came to church in a
shirt and tie this Sunday for the first time. I know that doesn't sound
like much but we're in a country were the youth pass the sacrament in
scarlet jeans and hoodies. So it's pretty awesome that he took that step
without even being invited by us. We'll have to look for a tie or something
to give him before we leave.

I'm stoked to see you guys and it's going to be super weird to have these
last days go by.

I love you mom!!!

Elder Esniker

Baptismo!

So J- was baptized!!!!! Super super super awesome. Really

spiritual and it really brought that family closer together. 

 We had to fill the font about five times cause we filled it, then we started to play
around with the water. Feeling bad we decided to empty it and refill.
Because he's got crutches due to an accident that he had a while back, we
were trying to figure out how to baptize him. We found the keyboard stand
in the chapel and it was exactly what we needed so he could sit down and be
put under water. Then we left the font filling with the keyboarder stand
still in the water. When we came back, the water had turned orange due the
rust and we had to empty the font, clean it, and refill. So we left, came
back to open the church for an activity and we saw that it was almost full.
So we turned the water off and went home to get our baptismal clothes. When
we get to the church, we look at the font and the water had drained a very
significant amount. So in a panic with only 30 minutes left, we turned on
the water and started fill buckets and dump them in. 

We finally got it filled, and somehow the entire branch showed up for the baptism. J- is a
pretty shy guy and didn't want to be the center of attention so he was kind
flaking out. We pulled him aside and started to tell him about the day of
filling and refilling the font and that seemed to calm him down. So he was
baptized, confirmed, and ordained a priest. Now he can baptize his daughter
in November.

SO RAD!!!

I've been getting to know grandma Judy more. Did you know she likes the
Beach Boys? No I didn't. :) Thanks, Grandma Judy for always writing to Justin!

Love you mom!!!

Audio file HERE

Baptism, Ghost, and Taunting

I hope everything is going well in the great ol' USA! 

So it's been a good week. My comp hurt his knee a little while back and so
we've been going to to some physical therapies lately. Almost every morning
this week we were there.

We had divisions with our district leader Elder Florez from Barranquilla
and Elder Quezada who's a gringo with a Latino last name. That was pretty
cool. We walked around a neighborhood in which lived a TON of people who
had never seen a white guy before. You'd think I have Purple skin and
orange hair judging the ways they looked at me. Pretty funny.

So we had a super stellar experience!!!!! We've been teaching the an investigator of about two years and he
never really wanted to get baptized. He likes the church but never wanted
to commit top living the commandments for fear of breaking them after
having made the covenant with God. But sine we've been teaching he's been
felling the spirit a lot more. He has made some BIG changes. On Friday we
felt the spirit prompt us to invite him to a baptismal date and he said
yes! He recognized that if he didn't do it soon he would probably never do
it. So we're going to baptize him this weekend!!!! It was so awesome. But
we wouldn't have been able to do it without his kids. The oldest is an 11
year old boy and the other is a 7 year old girl. His daughter really wants

him to baptize her and I think that's why he finally got around to
accepting the date. He told us, "You guys are good missionaries but my kids
are the best missionaries I'll ever have." SO SWEET!!!

The ghost in our house finally left us alone. Listen to the recording.

Colombia won the United States 2-0 on Friday in the first game of Copa
America so I've been getting my ear filled with taunts and insults. But
hey. I already knew that the gringos would lose...

I love you mom!!!

Elder Jenky-baby

Audio File HERE 

No Rabies Shots, but Got Robbed.....sort of...

Yes I know, in the face!... but all is well. We found the vaccine. Sister
Pricoli was SUPER mad when I told her where it bit me. But all is well ;)
No scars nor scratches. It's not a bad bite AT ALL. 

So this week was pretty good. We've been working a lot harder even though
the results are slow coming. Sometimes it feels like they aren't coming.
But They do and it's always worth it.

A recent convert of about two years gave us a referral of this guy she's
dating and he seems like he is super ready for the gospel. Really cool guy
and so that's good. He's already made a lot of changes in his life to be
closer to Christ so the church will be a perfect conclusion to the process
he's made. We'll let you know what happens.

this week it rained cats and dogs and a bunch of fruit flies (which infested
our apartment). Due to said rain, I got this gnarly cough with lots of
phlegm... pretty jank but I'm taking some meds for it. Another problem for
the mission president's wife haha.. The cough syrup makes me sleepy though
as if I didn't already feel that way.

In other news, I know that my return is about the 2nd. My visa expires the
12 and they normally send you home with the transfer before. I should be
leaving this area the 31st of July. We'll see though.

Love you mom! don't worry too much. This week was better in all aspects.

Elder Jenky Baby

Audio File about getting robbed-ish... Here  

 1800 pesos? SOLD!

 The "big wound" and some minor scratches on the nose. And my new eyebrow piercing due to the DOG.