QUE VIVA CHILE

 FELIZ 18 a todos!

I guess the 18 of September is like the 4th of July for Chile! It's
been incredible how many Chileans we have found in the last couple of
days, my companions like a magnet! It's beautiful how foreigners,
without even knowing each other, can instantly bond for the sheer fact
that they are from the same country. We got to eat Chilean empanadas
and this bean/spaghetti soup thing...apparently it's super
traditional. The best part was that every single Chilean we met
invited us to return to their house another day and eat more Chilean
food....VIVA CHILE

One of the other big highlights from this week was the visit of elder
Zwick from the quorum of the 70. I went really pondering on how I
could make the most out of the last couple of months I have here and
the main topic of our discussion was using the Lords time with
perfection, not wasting even a minute. It was PERFECT! I think he
himself was a living example of what you can become when you always
strive to use time wisely. It reminded me of my dad who always
reprimanded us for saying the b-word..."bored". We should always be
anxiously engaged in a good cause, seeking to do, learn, or be
something more.

This week, one of the ward members was giving birth and the situation
complicated and they ended up having to do an emergency surgery. We
had heard to pray for her, but we didn't realize the gravity of the
situation; they ended up using 12 bags of blood and she was
unconscious for a day and a half. After much prayer and blessings and
the inspired hands of the doctors, she was able to leave the hospital
alive and with her child. They called her "the miracle" for what had
happened. We got the chance to visit them yesterday and share with
them the lesson we had been studying this week as a companionship,
which was the plan of salvation. After living this experience, they
shared powerful testimonies of the peace that comes through knowing
that God has a plan for us and that in the end we can return to live
with our families. I too give thanks for this great plan that we share
with people and for the testimony that I have that it is true.

Well, we are heading into the willy wonka chocolate factory of Spain
to learn all the secrets of European chocolate making....actually I'm
just going for the free chocolate at the end.....

Have a great week!

Viva chile!
Spain chocolate museum
When my companion first saw rain ever
Throwback- when there isn't another man present....

Elder Jenkins Week 3...in Benidorm

Hey everyone!

It's starting to get unreal how fast time is going by. I've decided
not to tell anyone here when I come home so that I can avoid them
reminding me of it every two seconds. Anytime they ask how long I have
been out I say over a year, and for how long do you have left I just
say less than a year...it works until they ask me what I thought of
the 2nd avengers movie...but so far no one has caught me.

I had an interesting experience this week. My companion had to travel
to get his residency and because we live on the outer rim of
civilization it took him 3 days of traveling to go and come back, so
one if the other brand new missionaries came to be with me for a
couple of days. It was so weird to start speaking English again! And
even more weird to remember what it is like to have a companion who
struggles with the language. It's been over a year since my companion
has spoken Spanish for less time than me! I had forgotten how much
faith is required in the first months of the mission to open your
mouth not knowing what is going to come out. It was incredible to see
that kind of faith again and to be able to watch as the spirit put the
necessary words into his mouth. I also have missed a lot watching
people's faces as we tell them they can be clean from all of their
"pescados" (fish). (Pecados = sin).

One of the sadder experiences of the week was with our miracle from
last week. We had been keeping good contact with her throughout the
week. Miraculously she would go to open up the pamphlet we gave her
and right when she did we would call. It was incredible! Then the day
before our meeting, we called and she told us that the feelings that
she had had dissipated and she no longer wanted to continue learning.
We tried desperately to recover the excitement she had and my
companion just sat next to me in constant prayer, but she decided that
she was no longer interested. We decided to say a prayer together and
then just continue to work. As we were walking the streets a couple
hours later, we stopped in front of a building to watch a nearby
skateboarder who was about to attempt a trick (almost in hopes of
adding another funny mission memory to the cache) when we see the door
open and our walks our friend with her son....we both just kind of
stared at each other not knowing what to say. When we finally put our
jaws back in place, we talked for a little bit about her feelings and
what we experienced together the week before and agreed that God was
calling her, quite blatantly in fact! Yet, after our conversation she
still decided that she needed time to analyze things. It was certainly
saddening for us, but it is a valuable lesson. The foundation of a
testimony is not built by a collection of spiritual revelations or
miraculous experiences; these experiences only help confirm that which
we already know. The foundation is built, brick by brick, from a daily
effort to exercise our faith: line upon line, precept upon precept,
grace by grace. It's not an instant flash of lightning because the
brightness quickly fades. Hopefully she will be able to recover that
feeling or have a strong enough yearning to have it so that she can
seek out the promise to have it always with her.

In other news, my companion is trying to do write his family with the
speech function but the iPad doesn't understand his Spanish....welcome
to my world iPad!

Tomorrow, elder zwick from the quorum of the 70 will be coming to the
mission, hopefully to rain down some fire on us so we can be better.
I'm really excited especially to receive this extra boost to really
give it all I've got in the next couple of months....just please pray
that they don't make me translate for the conference...

I hope you all have a great week!

Elder Jenkins

Elder Jenkins: surviving sin city

Hey everyone

Well, I officially survived a week in the sin city of Spain! I may
joke about that a lot, but it really isn't that bad. Benidorm is
absolutely beautiful and all the little surrounding towns are like
little houses on hillsides...kind of like on emperors new grove where
Cuzco wants to build cuzcotopia....I hope you get the idea. There are
a lot of mountains and my companion freaks out every time he sees
one...or a tree....or a puddle of water....apparently he comes from a
dessert where you never see any of those things.

We have really been accepted into the little branch here. Starting
Sunday night we literally ate with members for every meal except
breakfast until Sunday....I've never been so full for such a long
period of time. One family even took us out to an all you can eat
hibachi grill type place. After a year and 8 months of stomach
stretching I can say I surprised even the workers. My companion is
still getting used to the eating demands of the missionaries which
means I get to eat my food and his...score!

The more I ponder this incredible opportunity to train a new
missionary, the more I realize how much of a blessing it is. I regret
not wanting to train! This last week I got to go to a meeting with one
of my other trainees, a year later, and seeing how much he has grown
and progressed since our struggle days together is incredible. It's a
special relationship that you develop during training and pondering it
has made me really excited to watch elder tabilo as he progresses in
the mission, and also to go home and hug my trainer again and thank
him for putting up with me for 12 weeks!

There have been so many miracles with elder tabilo! Every time he
opens his mouth the spirit is so powerful and people are just falling
out of the sky to listen to us and accept baptismal dates. One
incredible experience in particular happened last night. We were
coming to the close of the night and we were both pretty dead tired
and hungry but as we were leaving I told my companion that if we
worked as hard as we could in the two hours we were going to contact
we would find someone who would be baptized. So we went out and with
the strength of LIONS began to contact. As we were walking through a
park, we saw a woman on a bench and decided to talk to her. As we were
getting closer we heard her say , "oh no" and quickly try to put the
other headphone in (the power of the shirt and tie) and as we tried to
talk to her and just give her a pamphlet she rejected us and told us
she wouldn't even read it if we gave it to her. Something told us to
just push a little more so we asked why she wouldn't read it and
yadayadayda and before you know it we were sharing the restoration
with her. It was all going well and then we felt to ask her a simple
question, "if this were true, would you make the necessary changes in
order to follow Christ more in your life?" At first she didn't
understand and so we repeated it and still nothing, but after the
third time she understood (seem familiar to anyone?...) and as she
pondered the answer, she looked up and said yes...and THEN she began
to get teary eyed and vocally expressed how she felt a heat running
through her body, and even began to sweat...and the craziest thing was
I felt it too! And I looked over at my companion and he was feeling
the same thing! The entire conversation changed so drastically from
that moment on and she agreed to meet with us more, and also to be
baptized. What we felt together was incredible, and in that moment we
truly converted from two normal teenagers in white shirts and ties,
into servants and messengers of Jesus Christ. We have high hopes for
her progression and we promised that it wouldn't be the last time that
she felt the spirit of God.

One interesting thing that my mom wrote me this week was that we
finally, after 25 years, had our piano tuned professionally. For my
entire life we have been playing on this thing, using it to sing and
practice, and we have always thought it sounded great. Well when the
man came, he informed us that it was officially the worst sounding
piano he had ever heard in his life. He gave it a good, long needed
tuning and apparently now the difference is absolutely astounding. And
to think for my whole life I have been playing this thing thinking it
was the real deal! It just goes to show that sometimes we don't
realize what a nice little tune-up could do to our lives, if we can
just catch a glimpse of the right note or have some reference point we
can really make an astounding difference.

I hope you all have a great week!

Love,

Elder Jenkins
Paseo castellana 46, 2A
Benidorm, Alicante, España
03502

American car, Spanish parking space
The most astounding McDonald's I have ever been in, it even has water
misting for a nice refreshing cool off...

What a Week

Saying goodbye to the people in Sevilla was BRUTAL! Some of the close
members threw a little surprise goodbye party for some of us who were
leaving and it really threw some salt in the wound! But I keep
thinking, if I would have never left my first area I would have never
arrived to Sevilla where such great things happened, so I guess we
keep looking forward with an eye of faith!

The next couple of days were travel travel travel. We got to Malaga
and I about had a heart attack sitting in the chapel there with all
the new missionaries. I remember so vividly being there a year and 8
months ago when I arrived, and a year ago when elder Miller arrived. I
just couldn't believe I was there again! It seems like my mission has
made a full circle! One of the coolest things about the training was
that both of my trainees were there so we got to take a really cool
picture with them and their trainees. I didn't get my trainee at first
because there were some coming from Provo who missed a flight and one
other one coming from chile. So I was just waiting and then the
chileno arrived. I tried talking to him and understood about 2% of
what he said and at that point I said to myself "wow, I feel sorry for
the young missionary who trains him!".....and that when I heard my
name called to go up and receive my new trainee!!....

But in all seriousness he is incredible! He got here from chile 5 days
ago and so even though he speaks Spanish, I have had to teach him
Spanish from Spain which is surprisingly VERY different from Spanish
from chile. He is really sharp and ready to work and we get all great!
It's weird to be training again after so long, but it has been helping
me find those things that I have maybe relaxed on to improve!

We then had a nice long 9 hour bus ride just the two of us to get to
know one another before we got to BENIDOOORMMM! Our first days here
have been pretty interesting, just trying to find our way around and
not end up in a gentlemans club or on the beach.... There are an
insane amount of tourists like 1 in every 20 people and we are the
only ones in the city who wear shirts. But I love it here. I truly
feel like this is where the Lord wants me! The members are so great!
My favorite words to hear these last couple of days have been "elders,
have you eaten yet?" The branch has such a powerful spirit here it
reminds me of my branch back home! It's great!

One of the talks in church this past week was so powerful! It was a
man who just recently was baptized and he found the church after he
prayed to God to find reason and direction in his life, walked out of
his store, and found two copies of the Book of Mormon on the ground.
He began to read, found the church, and was baptized along with his
family of 5. He bore such a powerful testimony of the Book of Mormon
and of the word of God in general! It was incredible.

Well I know that the journey is just beginning and that there are many
miracles yet to come. The best phrase I have heard is "what happens in
Vegas stays in Vegas, and what happens in benidorm shouldn't have
happened at all"....finally, I get to preach repentance to wicked
world.

Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Jenkins