November 18, 2013

Dear mom, 

In Gainesville, one of the zone leaders, Elder Bishop, said one time to me after I had just received the second call to train: "Sister Jensen, you're going to be training the rest of your mission!" I took this as a joke. Now, I don't think it's that funny! Sister Johnson is now in her last week of training! WOOOHOOO! So this Sunday, President and Sister Craig made it up to this little train town of Waycross Georgia. They spoke in sacrament meeting about member missionary work. Could you have guessed it? They did a great job and brought a wonderful spirit to the meeting. I was already a little down thinking about Shanna and the kids not being at church. She knows what a commitment baptism is to make. After sacrament meeting, President Craig told Sister Johnson and I that he wanted to talk to the both of us. We entered the bishop's office to talk with him. He talked with us about how we were doing and told us of the great job we are doing here in Waycross. He then said, "but unfortunately, you two will be split up because you both will be training this next transfer". If I was lying, I would tell you that in my mind I thought "Oh yay! I get to train AGAIN!" but it was more like, "AGAIN?!" Obviously, we accepted the call. I guess I just wasn't really expecting the call to train this next transfer. Sometimes God has different plans, however. When we went home, I was a bit heavy with this news. I just knelt by my bed and may or may not have shed a few tears and said, "Heavenly Father, I don't know if I can train again". It was just one of those pitty parties I guess. It will be good though. I've been grateful for the two wonderful trainees that I've been able to train so far. I feel I've learned so much more from them than I ever could have taught them. Missions are a humbling experience for sure. There's no growth in the comfort zone. So to answer your question mom, it looks like I will be transferred. President Craig didn't necessarily state that, but that seems to be what happens the majority of the time. The senior companion leaves, especially when the other companion just got out of training. I have loved being in Waycross and loved getting to know such wonderful people. One thing that I love about the people here is their pace of life. Everyone is laid back. They're not in a rush if you want to talk with them. They take the time. They also give when they don't always have much to give. I've learned so many different things from Gainesville to Waycross. In Gainesville, there were some really educated, well-off people and in Waycross, it's quite the opposite. But the amount of money you have in your bank account or the type of car you own, does not contribute to the happiness in your life. 

This last week we had zone conference in Jacksonville. There were some fantastic trainings done by President Craig and the A.P's. Our red Toyota corolla that Sister Johnson and I were driving had over sixty thousand miles on it, so we were informed that we would be getting a new one. Last p-day, Sister Johnson and I made sure to clean it up really well with some wipes and everything. It was probably one of the older cars lined up for inspections, but we were surprised to be announced as the winners of the "cleanest cars". We were awarded with a bag of pretzel m&ms. :) I think it was easy for them to pick ours since we took everything out of it to trade it in... but... we weren't complaining and took the prize anyway. The A.P.s drove our new car to zone conference for us-- a 2014 red Toyota corolla. It even has a backing screen. ;) We felt pretty spoiled. We went to grab the new car keys from Elder Tuft (one of the AP's) and he was asking us how Waycross was and asking about our investigators. He gave us some helpful ideas for Shanna. These Elders are just amazing! There are some really great missionaries who are going to make really great fathers some day. 

I guess we'll have to wait and see where I'll be heading next! note: p-day will be next Tuesdaydue to that. Something exciting that happened this last week... we were knocking some doors a couple weeks ago and started talking to a man who was curious about the Book of Mormon. He has a Jehovah witness background. We set up a time where we could bring him a Book of Mormon and share more from it. We went back at the time he agreed to and he wasn't home. We left a sticky note giving him our number and told us to call us back so that we could bring the Book of Mormon. He called us back the other day during personal study. He said that we didn't end up needing to bring by a Book of Mormon because he had just gone a head and downloaded it on his kindle and had been reading from it. He said: "how do you say it, Neffeee.. Lemin... Lemewl?" In my mind I was thinking, "YEEESS!!! He's been reading!!" He talked about how interesting the testimonies of the three and eight witnesses were. Wow! I just felt the spirit as he was speaking about the Book of Mormon to me over the phone. I bore a short testimony of my conviction of it. We invited him to church, but his wife was unfortunately sick that day. I'm excited to see where this goes! The gospel is true!

All my love, 

Sister Jensen 

November 11, 2013

Dear Mother, 

I can hardly believe how the weeks fly by as a missionary. Sister Johnson and I couldn't help but notice all of the Christmas decorations in Wal-Mart as we did our grocery shopping today. Occasionally, during the day,  I'll just stop and think to myself: "I wonder what my family is up to right now." :) It sounds like everything is going well as normal at home though. It's amazing how quickly things can be turned from going really well to going terribly wrong however. For example, there's a part member family in the other Waycross ward and the wife drove in front of a train this last week and is now in critical care in Jacksonville. She broke an ankle, wrist, ribs, back, and neck. There are so many trains here in Waycross, you just have to be really careful. 

Shanna (investigator progressing to baptism) has had a terrible last few weeks. After we talked to her about baptism, it seems like everything has been thrown in her direction to stop her. We talked about the 23rd of November for her baptism, but her son Tyson is eight and Emma and Isabel are turning eight the beginning of December. The baptism date may change to December so the whole family can be baptized on the same day. I think that would be really special. I hope I will be here and not get transferred, but wherever the Lord needs me I'll go. So pray for Shanna and her ex-husband, Loren, to allow the kids to get baptized if you will :) In the last couple weeks Shanna's dog got hit and killed by a car, her mom's room mate had a heart attack, her credit card identity got stolen and someone wiped her account, and then she got a fever before church and couldn't come. The joys of preparing someone for baptism!! 

I don't know if I've talked about this before but our mission president has asked all of the missionaries to set aside one hour during our "prime-pros" time (5pm-9pm)  to leave our cars and go out and just work hard to find people to teach. Sometimes it is really hard to get a good golden hour in when it gets dark outside. It seems that most people go to bed around eight around here, or so they say. Anyway, this week during one of our golden hours we were walking in an area, out in the country. There were houses pretty close together in this certain area so we decided to do our work there. When it gets really dark, we look for places with the most lights on to knock. This particular trailer looked pretty lit up so we went up and started talking to the man of the house. After a while of talking he had mentioned how he had been to the Mormon church for two or three weeks in a row one time, but he affiliates himself with the Baptist church. His girlfriend said that her foster parents are Mormon and her foster dad is the branch president in Alma (city close to Waycross). They invited us in and we shared the message of the restoration with them. As we taught it was clear that Johnny was feeling the spirit. We invited him to be baptized and he accepted (Tish said that she has been baptized). We left them with a chapter to read and that night he texted us saying that he read it. They weren't able to come to church this Sunday, but we hope to help them progress toward baptism. The spirit is truly the teacher as a missionary. One of my favorite parts of being a missionary is feeling completely led by the spirit to teach. Sometimes it comes easier than other times, but I continue to work to always teach by it. 

Oh! Mom, the package came! I laugh every time I look at it thinking of me carrying that big thing around if I get transferred ;) And, yes, transfers are still the day before thanksgiving from what I've heard. Sister Johnson and I work out in our apartment, or (what I like most) Sister Johnson and I will go outside and I'll jump rope (smart thing to bring!) or do some sprints back and forth in front of our place. There are CD players in the car and a DVD player in the apartment that I can play music on. I hope that answers your questions! 

Love you tons! 

Sister Jensen

November 4, 2013

Hello Everyone, :) 

This week we had the chance to go to Jacksonville. Elder Zwick, one of the seventy, did a devotional on Wednesday night to local bishops and ward counsel(?) members. On Thursdaywe had a multi-zone conference. All of it was just incredible. The conference on Wednesdaywas about members sharing the gospel and helping the missionaries find to teach. He had so many incredible experiences that he shared. He told of Gordon B. Hinckley in the Salt Lake City temple with the brethren. He opened up the scriptures and turned to some versus in Mormon 6. Elder Zwick read the versus. He said the prophet opened the scriptures almost as if they fell open to the page. He remembers the prophet getting chocked up as he read it and he looked across the room to see Elder Packer with a tear running down his cheek as the prophet read: "O ye fair ones, how could ye have departed from the ways of the Lord! O ye fair ones, how could ye have rejected that Jesus, who stood with open arms to receive you! Behold, if ye had not done this, ye would not have fallen. But behold, ye are fallen, and I mourn your loss. O ye fair sons and daughters, ye fathers and mothers, ye husbands and wives, ye fair ones, how is it that ye could have fallen!" They soon started Preach My Gospel. Elder Zwick talked about President Monson's words in conference: "now is the time for members and missionaries to come together, to work together, to labor in the Lord's vineyard to bring souls unto Him." He said that the prophet doesn't have someone to write his script and that he knows that those words were chosen very prayerfully and specifically. Now is the time. He said that doesn't mean in a month or a year, but now. He had all of the bishops stand up who were present and had someone pass around the microphone. He asked a few questions to individual bishops. He asked one of the bishops why it was so important to share the gospel now. The bishop went on about why he felt now was such an important time. Elder Zwick then asked him "when was the last time you had missionaries in your home to teach someone you had invited". The bishop said it had been a while. Elder Zwick wasn't doing this in a belittling way, but made a huge point. At the end of his talk, he said, by a raise of hands, how many of you believe you can have someone in your home for the missionaries to teach in ten days? There were some hands that went up, but not all of them. He said, "If President Monson were in the room, there would be a very different response". Elder Zwick said that not only is the Lord counting on us, but so is the prophet. My dear mother, father, brother, sister, cousin, friend, and whomever else is reading this, If you are not making a diligent effort to share the gospel, you will be held accountable. I know it is hard, but it is our duty. I was thinking about the fact that I was born under the covenant and experienced the joys of the gospel from the moment I entered into this world. I asked myself this morning why. The spirit taught me something in that moment. Because God trusts me, and every single one of you, to share it. I think the hardest thing about sharing the gospel with my dear friends is realizing the eternal significance that it will have for them by accepting the gospel. And I don't want to mess that up. This is Satin. Just like in the game of soccer, we miss every single goal that we do not shoot. Pray for the courage to open your mouth. Miracles WILL and DO happen. I just want each and everyone of you to know that I have a deep testimony of this gospel. I know it is true and the only way back to our Heavenly Father. We must live the gospel of Jesus Christ to be saved. We cannot settle for mediocrity. Read your scriptures daily and pray morning and night. Now is not the time to slack off. My intent is not to preach to everybody, but I feel this so deeply that I feel compelled to share my feelings and thoughts. I am very imperfect. I do not profess in any regard to be perfect. I have many, many weaknesses. I know, however that I need to do my very best to follow Jesus Christ. When the time comes for me to stand before the judgement seat and see my Savior before me, I want to know that I gave it my very all. I love all of you and pray for you often to have the courage to share. In this I humbly testify. 

Sister Jensen 

Now is the time for members and missionaries to come together, to work together, to labor in the Lord’s vineyard to bring souls unto Him.  -President Monson

October 28, 2013

My dear Mother (and whomever else gets this email forwarded to ;) ), 

My heart just gets sooo happy when I get to read your emails Mom. :) I just love you! You're wonderful. Trick or treating is quite different here than in Utah. Nobody really goes out trick or treating as far as I've heard because it's not really safe. On Halloween our ward and the first ward are doing what most churches around here do: a fall festival. I'm kind of excited for that ;) The fall festival is really just a trunk or treat with different games, food, etc. We are in charge of the fishing pond. There is going to be a big conference for our zone and a few others in Jacksonville on Wednesday evening and then on Thursday morning. We have been told we will stay the night at two sisters' apartment (Sister Major is one of them and she trained Sister Toledo). She's my "grandmother" in mission terms. Anyway, we'll have to go straight to the fall festival after driving home from Jacksonville. 

This week Sister Johnson and I got to go on exchanges again with Sister Ashcraft and Scott. This time Sister Scott was with Sister Johnson in Waycross and I went to Brunswick with Sister Ashcraft. I always love seeing how different missionaries do things and learn from their talents. Sister Ashcraft is just the most loving, sweet, patient person ever. Something fun that she had thought of or heard of for a finding activity was to do a car wash at the church and then do church tours. I was a little skeptical at first because there were hardly members there due to another event going on at that time. I was worried that it needed to be advertised a bit more. However, to my surprise it turned out exceptionally well!! There really didn't need to be much advertisement. Two sets of elders were also washing cars and then some ward members held "free car wash" signs by the busy road in front of the church. Sister Ashcraft and I kind of assumed we would be washing cars so I was in basketball shorts, a tshirt and crocs ;) Next thing you know, the Elders are telling people we would give them a tour of the building. :) Wow! What a great chance it was to invite people in and talk about the church in a non-threatening way! Almost every single person agreed to go on a little tour with us as their car was being washed and vacuumed. We first stopped in the primary room and talked a little bit about what the kids are taught (I am a child of God, etc). We would point to the different paintings of the Savior on the walls and briefly go over the bible story that it depicted and then we would show them the family history center and talk about family history. And then to my favorite part: the first vision painting where we basically taught the whole restoration. As I told of Joseph Smith's experience to a small group of people the sweet spirit that so often accompanies the telling of the event filled the hall. I could see in each of them that they felt the confirming witness of the Holy Ghost. It was so neat to hear the "peace" that each one of them felt as they toured the building. At the end of the tour, Sister Ashcraft asked if people would be willing to learn more and several individuals gave her their number. 

One of the Elders' investigators, Greg, came to get his car washed. He has been to church a couple times so we showed him several rooms (like the primary room). We also showed him the baptismal font. The spirit was strong. He told of his experience in the several churches that he has attended. He said when he was five, he remembers being terrified to go to church. He remembers the preacher yelling and talking about hell. He said every time he is in our building he just feels peace. Everyone is happy. (Mosiah 2:41) He said that he decided a long time ago that he would be open-minded and not throw something off just because he was taught differently. It was so neat to hear his testimony and the truths that he has been learning. I can just feel that he is going to be baptized. He will be such an amazing man in the church. 

I'll try to keep this brief. But I just wanted to add something about a couple of ward members, Sister Taft and Brother Taft. Sister Taft is preparing to go to the temple next month and it makes me so happy for her. She wants to be as prepared as possible. She is reading every day in the scriptures and in preach my gospel and basically everything that she can get her hands on. Her husband hasn't been to church in years. Sister Johnson and I were talking to the both of them the other day and then Brother Taft had to leave. Sister Taft was just expressing how she wishes he would come to church with her and could come to the temple also. I asked her if she prays for him. She said she does often. I asked her if they pray together. She said she doesn't think that he would do that. I told her to invite him every night to join her for her nightly prayers. If he says no, then that's okay, but to invite him every single night. On Sunday she was so excited to tell us that he knelt with her every night as she prayed. We got to meet with them again Sunday evening. I have high hopes for Brother Taft. For those whose hearts break for close loved ones who do not share the same feelings of love toward the gospel as us, my suggestion is to hold on there a little longer. Love them unceasingly. Sometimes the best way to teach is to simply listen. Their time will come. I want to express my deepest love to those who haven't been to church in a while and may have harsh feelings about the church or some of the people in it. I want every person to know that I know that we are not just another church on a corner, but the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. If nobody else has done so, I want to invite you back. "We do not preach and teach in order to 'bring people into the Church' or to increase the membership of the Church. We do not preach and teach to persuade people to live better lives.... We invite all to come unto Christ by repentance and baptism and confirmation in order to open the doors of the celestial kingdom to the sons and daughters of God. No one else can do this." -Elder Dallin H. Oaks. Endure to the end my friends and family! May God continue to watch over you and bless you in everything you do!

Much love, 

Sister Jensen 

p.s. Tom and Barbara King family, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE POST CARD FROM ST GEORGE!! It made my day to get that in the mail. :) :) 

October 21, 2013

Dear Mother, family and whoever else is reading this, ;) 

I can't believe that Candice and Thomas had their two year wedding anniversary! Congratulations to them! They are such a great couple! It sounds like they are both continuing to do fantastic things! I can't wait to hear where Katelyn and Mitch decide to go for medical school. Sam, I'm so excited for you to get ready to go on a mission. It will be exciting to know where you are assigned to serve. :) 

What a joy this week was to have Shanna and her sweet family come to church! We didn't get much of a chance to talk to her afterward to see how she felt about it, but it was so great to have her there. I know it was something that was a big step for her. She isn't one to be the center of attention, so I was so grateful that she came. She came with the Browns and sat by them the whole time. Church is always a different experience when you have an investigator there. I always hope that the members will reach out and say hello or not say something too crazy ;) I remember in Gainesville when one of our investigators came to church for the first time. Of course it was fast and testimony meeting. I was on pins and needles sitting through it. One of the members who was baptized only a few years back was going off about things that.... let's just say, shouldn't have been discussed over the pulpit. Thankfully the bishop stood up at the end and clarified some of the church's stance on a few topics. ;) Thankfully Shanna's first Sunday wasn't quite as colorful as that one. ;)

It seems like I've been hit with a little bug this week. On Friday, I wasn't feeling very well and so we had to stay in for part of the day. I'm still stuffed up and sometimes wake up to a soar throat, but I'm getting better. 

The members are really great here and we have been having some lessons with some of the families in the ward to help give them ideas of how they can share the gospel. One of the families that we invited to do this set a goal of how many invitations they will do in two weeks. The dad was able to invite someone from his work to have dinner with us sister missionaries. She agreed and even told him to remind her when they would be doing that before they left from work! Wow! That made me so thrilled when the member's told us that! 

Well, my computer time has been cut kind of short today, so I apologize I wasn't able to add too much detail. But I just want everyone to know how much I love you! Thank you for all of your support and prayers! I couldn't imagine going on a mission without so much support from great family and friends!

Much love, 

Sister Jensen 

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Dear Mom and family, 

Last night (monday) were transfer calls. Due to so many missionaries in the mission, they wanted to limit how many phones were calling in. Apparently there can only be one hundred phones per call, so we drove to the other sister's place last night (they live in Blackshear). Both sisters in the other ward already received a training call and Sister Divis (the senior companion) knew that she would be leaving. Guess where she's going? Gainesville! Not my old ward, but she will be in the YSA ward. I know some people she'll be working with, so it was fun being able to talk to her about that. Sister Johnson and I will be staying in Waycross, as I expected. President Craig was saying that the brethren are wanting to keep missionaries in areas for six to nine months.  We'll see how long I stay here in Waycross. 

This week we were really hoping to get our investigator Shanna to church. I know it is really out of her comfort zone to go to a church where she hardly knows anyone. She has three kids: one is eight (Tyson), seven (Emma), and seven..?(Isabel). They are so cute. We gave her a church tour on Saturday to help her feel more comfortable about coming. It went really well and all three of the kids came. They were so excited to come to church the next day. We walked them around and showed them where their different classes would be. We stopped in the primary room and let the kids look around for a little bit. When we walked outside of the primary room there were two bulletin boards with pictures of all the primary kids in the two wards. Each of the bulletin boards said, "I am a child of God". Emma looked at all of the pictures and said, "I want my picture up there too." I could feel our Heavenly Father's love for sweet Emma. I thought, "me too Emma, me too." We finished the tour and walked them out to their car. Emma and Isabel gave us these huge hugs and wouldn't let go. We told them that we would see them the next day for church and we went our separate ways. Sunday morning came and we waited for them to come. We sent Shanna a text to make sure everything was okay and to see if she would still be able to make it. She texted us back and said she was in a panic. She had accidentally switched her alarm clock to the pm and not the am setting. Hopefully everything will run smoothly for next week and we can get them to church. 

It's interesting to see the difference that people see in you as a missionary--but really just any member keeping the commandments. There was a man that Sister Johnson and i walked up to the other day who was with his toddler son outside. His name is Charlie. He started asking us a few questions like why we were serving missions. We both bore short testimonies of why we decided to serve missions. He just stopped and looked at us. He said, "Wow. Most people that I would ask that to would hesitate or not know what to say. I'm just really impressed with the way you answered that." It made me think of Elder Christoffersen's (I think?) talk in conference. We need to have a reason for why we do certain things or keep the commandments. He then started asking us about the word of wisdom. We told him of all the things that we don't drink or do. Charlie: "Coffee!?? and TEA??! Don't you know you're in the south!?" ;) We then explained to him why we don't drink those things. We talked about being more spiritually in tune to promptings of the spirit and being obedient to God's commandments. He talked about how much sense that made. He said he had just started drinking coffee again after some time and noticed a difference. He said he always thought it was just him feeling healthier, but realized now why. He started asking us question after question after question. He couldn't get enough. He wondered where he could get one of "those books" ;) and we gave him a Book of Mormon and set up another date to meet with him. When we keep the commandments, I know how blessed we are. They're not restraints as so many think of them. 

I love you all and hope that your weeks go so well! Read your scriptures every day. If I could look back on anything I did before my mission that prepared me most it would be that. Gain a deep love for the scriptures. It doesn't matter where you're at in your life. I feel like I can invite and expect people to read their scriptures every day because I have done that. Pray every day and ask Heavenly Father to help you bring someone closer to their savior (just like was told in conference!). May God bless you and let others see the difference in you from keeping the commandments! 

Much love, 

Sister Jensen :)

Welcome to Georgia! Cotton fields.

Monday, October 7, 2013

Dear Family

It was so great to get to listen to conference the last few days. Many members watch conference at home, but we came to the church to watch it broadcast. Mom, you and I think alike because one of my favorite talks was also President Uchtdorf's during the Saturday session. I really loved that. I really loved all of them though. It was a weekend full of the spirit, that's for sure.

So Lucy and Marvin were kicked out of their home this last week and moved to Blacksheer, which is in the other ward's area so we are going to refer them to the other Sisters. I just wanted to update you on them. But this week we were able to have a really great lesson with one of our investigators named Shanna. Sister Brown, in our ward, let us have the lesson in her home. 

Sister Brown has a son named Ezra. One day Sister Johnson and I were driving and saw a few neighborhood boys playing outside their houses (one of the them being Ezra) so we rolled down our window to say hello. Ezra's friend told us that his mom was looking for a church. We parked the car and walked back from the area we were just in. We knocked on the door and Shanna came and opened it. We had just passed her right before we talked to the boys, smiled and waved (that's the unfortunate thing about driving a car). We told her how her son told us that she was looking for a church. She was a little surprised, but started talking to us. At one moment she just started choking up. I didn't really even know what to say. It was just really clear that she was going through a really hard time in her life. 

Anyway, this last Saturday evening we were able to have a lesson with her in Sister Brown's home. To have a lesson in a member's home really is much more spiritual than just going to the investigator's. There is more power when missionaries and members work together. Shanna had asked us the lesson before what our idea of heaven and hell were. She told us how a dear friend of hers had told her that she would be going to hell if she didn't really come to know Jesus Christ. This troubled Shanna a lot. We shared the message of the plan of salvation. The spirit was very strong as we all were able to testify and teach. We talked about how important our decisions are here on earth because they determine our life here after. Sister Brown talked about going through trials and how God doesn't give us anything that we can't handle. We finished talking about the kingdoms of glory and then Shanna put her hands to her face and started to choke up again. Sister Brown rubbed her back to try and comfort her. After a little while of just sitting there, she said, "I have a confession. You said that God doesn't give us anything that we can't handle... I don't believe that..... My brother committed suicide when he was 18."  I finally realized the magnitude of her concern about heaven and hell from the last lesson. I don't believe Shanna was troubled of the idea of her going to hell right then, but was deeply troubled about her brother being there. We were able to talk to her about Jesus Christ's infinite atonement and how he is the perfect judge of us all. She felt comforted by the idea of three degrees of glory. We were able to talk a little bit about temples and temple work for those who have passed on. The next day she joined Sister Brown to listen to the two sessions of conference. 

I am so grateful for the hope and truthfulness of this gospel. God has a perfect plan for us. We must do our part, however. If we do our very best and keep our covenants that we made at baptism, everything will work out for our good. Pray for Shanna that she will have the courage and faith to come to church. It is a really big step for her. She said something in the lesson that really struck me. She just said, "I just remember feeling like there has to be something more." I can testify to you that there are people looking for that something more, but like it says in the Doctrine and Covenants, they do not know where to find it. Pray sincerely for opportunities to share the gospel, to love deeper, and to help more people experience the blessings that are awaiting them. Jesus Christ has already paid the price for them to enjoy these blessings now. So many of us have been blessed to have the gospel in our lives from the time we were born. What are we doing to repay him? How can we try harder to be a little better? We as missionaries can only do so much. I feel so deeply that we cannot reach nearly as many people if we as missionaries and members don't work together, with everything we have. These are the last days. The Savior lives and loves each and every one of us. Let us show our love for him by reaching out to his children in love. 

May God bless, 

Sister Jensen