Week 17: Elder Jenkins Weekly Email: RIP Elder Whetten

Well, the time has finally come. This week I will be killing my dad (mission lingo, which Im still getting used to with dads, and moms [trainers] and people dying as missionaries) and will be welcoming in my second companion in the mission. It really is sad to see Elder Whetten go, but I´m excited to see what new things I can learn from my new companion. I don´t know much about him other than he is a native from Argentina...meaning he speaks absolutely no english. Its a little scary to think that the person who I will be with every second of every day won´t even be able to communicate perfectly with me, but I know I will learn a TON of spanish within this time and maybe a little bit about dealing with communication issues, which I´m sure will help in my future endeavors with the opposite sex, who quite often seem like they are speaking a different language....

I was totally fine with leaving the mission with just one being sick story, but alas that was not the plan. This week, we decided to go to a restaurant called CHE! after a district meeting. It is an Argentin Barbeque, which is styled the same as the Brazillian Buffet places. The layout is, you pay a fixed price, sit at a table, and people bring around a collection of 8-12 different kinds of meat for you to eat on giant swords, and they do so until you are dead or sick of meat. Well, we went, and as 19-21 year old boys, we couldn´t possibly let someone else eat more than the other. SO WE ATE. As we walked....waddled...out of the restaurant I knew it was going to be a bad night, but I didn´t even know the half of it. 2 Hours later, we went to teach a family, and afterwards they told us to wait just a minute before we left. They then brought out a huge bowl of lental soup, and the biggest plate of rice that has ever been made with a piece of meat on top of it. Just looking at it made me want to die. I tried as hard as I could to eat it all, but in my mind I had the image of someone blowing up a balloon and the balloon being at that point where it could explode any second, and then you wonder why the stupid person is still trying to blow it up....well Im sure my stomach was wondering why I was trying to make it explode. We got done with about half of it and just told her how sorry we were but that we couldn´t finish. We practically fell down the stairs, went home, and I think my body was in so much pain that i fainted instead of fell asleep. I don´t think I ever want to see, smell, or eat a piece of meat ever again in my life. 

Other than that little incident this week was great. Elder Whetten and I had one of the most spiritual lessons that I have had during my time here on the mission. We were preparing to teach one of our investigators a topic that we were a little aprehensive about teaching. We didn´t know how we would explain it or if she would freak out, but we decided to go in and just let the spirit guide us. As we taught her, we both felt like it was the right time to share the doctrine that we were a little afraid to share. As we taught and testified about this beautiful knowledge that the scriptures teach, she began to cry. She told us that her whole life she had been practically waiting for this knowledge and how much comfort and peace she felt as we explained it to her. 

Elder Whetten always explains to me that when we feel fear, we have to distinguish if its the spirit telling us not to do it, or if its the devil trying to keep us from doing something right. Most often times, the fealings of fear we have are just Satan trying to get us not to change, not to listen, not to act, or not to share something that could really change someone´s life. In this moment, I realized that we really had nothing to fear and that true doctrine, pure knowledge, will always help someone come closer to Christ, not push them away. 

This next week, I will be in charge of teaching another missionary everything I have learned about this area in the 12 weeks that I have been here, in another language. It´s a scary thought, but I always know that it´s an opportunity to grow and I can´t wait. I´ll miss Elder Whetten, but I know his future wife needs him more now than I do haha 

Highlights for this upcoming week will be getting my new companion, and IPADS ARE OFFICIALLY HERE. We will be getting them Thursday along with a training from the president´s assistants, so my next weekly email will be on an ipad. CAN´T WAIT!

Thanks to all who are keeping up with my life here in Spain! I hope and wish the best for you all and thank you for your support and prayers. 

Love,

Elder Jenkins

Things I learned

1. I never realized, but the stop signs here actually say STOP, In English!...it now makes sense why the people here don´t actually stop at them

2. The word Samuri actually means, ¨one who serves¨

3. If you try to wash the dead bugs off the car with a dish sponge, it will scratch the paint (Elder Whetten learned this one, not me)

4. When you see someone coming at you with a giant pole, they are probably going to hit you, RUN

5. There is no ¨I¨ in missionary work

6. There is a limit to how much meat you can and should eat

Week 16: Sometimes, a beautiful view requires a hard hike

Sometimes, a beautiful view requires a hard hike. I really learned about this phrase this week, where I have had some of my hardest and best moments of my mission so far. Needless to say, It was an amazing week and I have nothing but gratitude for the blessings I have recieved and the miracles I have been able to see.

Well, I had my first ¨sick on the mission¨ experience this past week and I have to say it is not one that I would like to repeat. It all started once we got back from the Malaga drive with a small headache and escalated until Thursday morning when I practically couldn´t move from my bed, fever, headache, and throwing up. There is a big difference between being sick at home and being sick on the mission. I was half expecting to recieve breakfast-in-bed complete with all the medicine I needed and a comforting ¨hey I hope you get better¨ like i did when I was at home. Instead, Elder Whetten swung open the door and gave me a comforting ¨Omg it smells like someone died in here!¨ The worst part was knowing that if I didn´t get better, and get better fast, it would ultimately be the difference between someone being baptized this week, so I asked earnestly for strength, recieved a blessing from my companions, and toughed it out. Despite fighting off my body´s disabilities we had one of the best weeks of missionary work I have had yet. 

I truly learned this week how little we as missionaries do. Our investigator who was going to be baptized this week was having a lot of doubts and fears about doing it, mainly from things other people were saying to her and from what she thought would be the negative social effects. We tried to do everything we could to help her and calm her anxieties, but really in the end we just had to turn it over to the Lord. In one day, we saw a miraculous change in her countenance. Just from someone full of doubt and fear to someone who was willing and ready to exercise faith in God and make this step, and we had ultimately done nothing! Really, It´s hard to find the role that we play in the work as missionaries, because when it´s all said and done, He does all the work.

I was able to feel the joy of having someone enter into the waters of baptism this week, and even more so the joy of performing that ordinance myself; however, better than all of that was seeing the smile on her face the next day when we visited her, and the change that had already occured in her life. It was a confirmation for my that what we are doing here really does make a difference in peoples´ lives. What a blessing it was to have been given the opportunity to experience all of this!

Life is good here in Spain. Its starting to get hot, REALLY HOT. There are only 7 more days before I wave goodbye to Elder Whetten and welcome a new missionary to Cartagena 3 Area. Its been an amazing experience to work with someone who is just getting ready to go home and to see the love he has for the mission. Its a testimony builder for me knowing what can happen when we give our all to the Lord. I hope all is going well back in the USA and that Im not missing too many great movies or sports center top 10 plays. As always, thank you all for your love, support, and prayers. They are felt and recognized every day. Have a great week!

Elder Jenkins

Week 15: Seville, Skype calls, and Spanish Mistakes

What an amazing week! I have truly been blessed to be in the presence of some great people and learn so much more about being a missionary. A lot of things are going to be changing, especially with the coming of Ipads to the missionary work, but I'm excited to welcome these changes as I know they will help me be more effective over these next two years.

Last Tuesday, the ENTIRE mission went to Sevilla for a special conference with two leaders of the church. As far as I know, it was one of the first times that this has happened, at least in all the time that my companion, Elder Whetten, has been here. It was a powerful feeling to be around so many of the Lord's servants and then to hear two leaders of the church speak specifically to us, for us. The thing that impressed me the most about the conference was that it was less focused on how we can be better missionaries now, and more on how we can be better men, fathers, and members of the church after our missions.

I had some pretty landmark experiences with my spanish this past week as well. Firstly, I gave my first full talk in church all in spanish. It was pretty nerve racking, but once I got up there and started talking I almost forgot that I was speaking Spanish. Of course, every member wanted to tell me afterwards about all the Spanish mistakes I made, but every time they did I just asked them if they wanted to give their next talk in church in English....

Additionally, I got a chance to talk with my family on skype this past Sunday for mother´s day. I´m so thankful for the technology that we have which makes it possible to see my entire family and talk with them, even though we are all separated across the globe. I can still remember all sitting around the one phone as my brother called from portugal and having to pass the phone to a different family member like every 5 minutes. Being able to see everyone and talk to them all was such a blessing. It was also really cool to be able to speak spanish with my brother in law who served his mission in Honduras. I had been expecting my dad to want us to talk so he could hear my Spanish, and so I was a little scared of my ability to talk with him, but I felt almost more comfortable speaking Spanish than I did English!

Lastly, I finally got a funny spanish story. So, rewind about a month. We were passing by a couple houses and my companion told me a story about a girl who used to live in one of the houses we were passing. She was super awesome and was about to be baptized, but then she had to move back to columbia for a little while. I asked if she might be back and he said we could check maybe in a couple of days. Well when we got to the place we were driving to, the member just happened to mention that that girl had come back just that day! Fastfoward to this past week when we finally got in contact with her. We started teaching the lesson, and I was telling her the story of what happened. What I wanted to say was, ¨Elder Whetten told me that there was a girl who used to live here who is really great. What I ended up saying was, ¨Elder Whetten me dijo que habia una mujer que vivía aqui que estaba muy buena. Direct translation - Elder Whetten told me there was a girl who lived here who was really hot... I guess there is a big difference between está buena and es buena. Luckily those in the lesson had pity on me and didn´t laugh and then Elder Whetten just decided to tell me later what I had said.

We are expecting some amazing miracles this week. Things are really looking great with some of our investigators and I can´t wait to see what happens. I hope everything is going well with all of you and like always, I am thankful for all the prayers of love and support. 

Until Next Week,

Elder Jenkins

Things I learned this week

1. You don´t need to know evil to know good

2. Don´t be a police man, be a shepherd

3. A bird doesn´t worry about the branch its on because it trusts in it´s wings

4. Es buena vs. está buena

5. If you always do what you always did, you´ll always get what you always got

6. Studying and learning chapter 8 of preach my gospel will triple your annual salary

Matts address

Email-Matthew.jenkins@myldsmail.com
Mailing address: Elder Matthew Jenkins
Plaza De La Fuen Santa 7
Santiago de la Ribera
30720 San Javier
Murcia Espana

Week 14: The Miracle in 66G

WOW IT’S HOT! I think yesterday the high temperature was 101 degrees Fahrenheit, and this is supposedly still spring weather! I also found out this week that our house does not have air conditioning...but at least we have a car that does! I learned that if you want to cool down the house, you open the windows and put ice cubes in the window sills. I don´t know if that's just a Spain thing, or if my companion just knows that because he is from Arizona, but just know that four guys, in a house with no air conditioning, who are forced to work out every morning does not make a very nice smell...

As far as my culture experience this week, I finally was able to try this dish that all the missionaries have been talking about. It’s called encebollada...I think. It’s an Ecuadorian dish made by taking a meat broth, mashed yucca plant (it’s a root that's poisonous until you cook it) and white tuna and then topping it with a BUNCH of red onion, popcorn, fried plantains, and really whatever else you want to put on it. All the other elders have been RAVING about it...let’s just say it was a little different, BUT I ATE IT. For those of you who don´t know, Elder Jenkins has been pretty picky for the last 19 years, eating practically nothing but chicken nuggets and bread, but these members said to me, and i quote ¨Elder Jenkins, we could put whatever we wanted in front of you and you would make disgusted faces and take a TON of time to do it, but you would eat it!¨ I never thought those words would be said about me haha

This week was such an amazing experience. As a mission, we set some pretty high finding goals that really stretched us and forced us to give everything we had to this work, and doing so brought about some awesome miracles. There is one in specific that I would like to share with you all. So the beginning of the week was pretty rough, and I remember writing in my journal ¨When are the consecration week miracles going to start??¨ Really the cherry on the top was that one of our number one investigators and her family told us that because of a bunch of different things happening right now she didn´t really see how we could help and doesn't really want to visit with us anymore. I would compare the feeling to being dumped...but worse! I was pretty bummed out, but decided to just keep pushing forward and find the miracles that were awaiting us...

Rewind about a month and a half. We were looking for this guy who and old missionary told us to try and visit, but the missionary didn´t tell us his house number. We went the street and looked around but couldn´t find him. We went home and did some searching and found the number of his house, 66. We went back the street, excited to visit this guy, and as we were driving and counting the houses...64, 65, 66A, 66B, 66C...We realized there were 26 different houses with the number 66! I felt like I was being punked by Satan or something. So as we were knocking these houses, we came across an old Spanish man who was not really in the mood to talk with us. He had been going through a hard divorce and his wife was pretty much taking everything, but he told us maybe another day we could have a little chat or something. We didn´t really think a lot of it and went on our way. 

Now fast forward to this past Friday. We were planning for our day, and we just kind of been throwing down his name in our plans for if we had time, but for some reason we really felt like we needed to make an effort to find him today. We passed by his house, right as he was getting into the car and he remembered us and we talked for a couple minutes and left him with a prayer. He told us we could pass by whenever, that he was pretty much always home, so of course being missionaries, we passed by the next day. The lesson we had with him was so amazing. This man has been humbled so much over the past couple months and has been prepared personally by the Lord. He took most of the time just talking to us about his life, his divorce, I think he threw in something about colon problems in there.....and then we shared with him the message of the restoration and invited him to be baptized and he accepted the invitation. He then told us how the night we came by him, a month ago, he could not stop thinking about us and was just laying in bed all night wondering if this was the little spark of hope that he had been looking for. The day we found him this past week, he had been contemplating taking his life, and only didn´t because he couldn´t remember where he put his gun, but then we showed up to talk to him and those thoughts just instantly left his mind. I was awestruck, and my companion couldn´t even help but cry. How humbling it was to know that I had been used by the Lord to comfort one of His children. 

My testimony is this: So many people that we talk to ask us how there can be a God if so much bad happens in this world, But when I look at a story, of two 20 year old boys having a random idea to pass by the house of a man who prior to that visit was contemplating suicide, I can’t help but ask How can there NOT be a God? And not just an omnipotent, all powerful, perfect being, but a loving Father who knows and cares for each one of His children personally, How can there not be? I know that there is, and not just because of this experience, but because of what I feel and see everyday as one of His servants, called to preach his message to those who are humbled and willing to listen. There are so many miracles awaiting if we are willing to let God lead us through the bumpy roads and the hard trails to get to where He needs us to be. 

I hope you all have a great week, and don´t forget mother’s day is coming up! I had a little reminder because mother’s day here was yesterday...

Until Next Week, 

Elder Jenkins

Things I learned

1. Whom the Lord loves, he chastises

2. Bananas are good for colon health...a lesson learned from our little miracle

3. If you get in a fender bender as a missionary in Spain, you have a LOT of paper work to fill out....

4. Be forward with commitments, the worst they can say is no

5. Speaking in English is no longer safe because there are so many foreigners here now for vacations