"Hello my wonderful, wonderful family!! I have to tell you how much I LOVED being able to hear all of your voices at the airport the other day. I wished I could have spoken to you longer. Remember what I said about not feeling homesick? HA!!!!! KNOCK ON WOOODDD! This week has been a rollercoaster. To be completely honest, it's been a really hard week for me. Katelyn, my companion has a c.d. of songs we listen to in the car. On Saturday when we were driving home, the song How Great Thou Art came on with the same piano arrangment you play. A flood of emotion hit me. I was holding in the tears thinking about you--of all of you. I miss hearing you play. I just want you all to know how much I really love you and how much I appreciate everything you do for me. Dad, I'm going to send you a letter today. (BTW we can only read, write letters/emails on P-Days) Happy belated Father's day! Yesterday I was thinking about you a lot and holding in the tears. I just felt so grateful to have such an incredible father in my life. I also spoke in sacrament meeting. The MTC teachers warned us of that and that we should speak on missionary work. I I talked about the plane ride from Atlanta to Jacksonville. I felt like an alien walking through the airport. In the MTC you're not used to stares. At one point in Atlanta, a man, pulled out his phone and took our picture. ha! I was thinking about this on the plane ride to Jacksonville and an ad on the tv screen in front of me flipped to a Lincoln ad that said "We couldn't bear the thought of arriving unnoticed." That statement couldn't be so true. We should arrive noticed. We've got an amazing message to share that can and will change lives!
First off.... drum role please..... I'm going to be staying in the Jacksonville Mission! :) Except my first companion will be in the Georgia mission which makes me really sad actually :( but she will love it! My companion's name is Sister Toledo. Her parents are from El Salvador so she speaks spanish. The really hard part about coming out with so many new missionaries is that my trainer is still in training. She's only been here six more weeks than I have. It can be really hard sometimes. I know she gets frustrated and I get frustrated. She's really nice. It's just hard. I wish I could ask a lot of questions that she doesn't know yet. It's really been a humbling experience though. It's hard talking to people and then sharing a message about our church that would interest them. Hopefully that comes. Hopefully. I think the hardest part is that so many people say missions are the best thing you'll ever do. Hardest, but the best. I just hope the latter part will show itself. Then again, I've only been here, mmm not even a week. So I shouldn't hold so many expectations.
I've been assigned to Gainesville Florida! Some of the sisters we went to lunch with today said that it is the 11th hottest city in the states? greeeeaat ;) It's a college town of the University of Florida. Mitch and Katelyn, there's a medical school here. *cough cough* Our apartment is nicer than I was expecting. There's a pool here, which obviously we can't use and a fitness center that we use every day. We can't work out if there's music or if there's a male in there. Fortunately, we haven't experienced either. It's only been us at 6:30. I'm the designated driver because my companion doesn't have her drivers license. We have a really nice car. We're pretty spoiled. Mom, about that whole GPS thing... If you happen to find a killer deal, I think a GPS would be a really handy thing to have.
So from the few lessons that I have been in, one investigator really stands out to me. He's a college student and since sisters can't be alone with males, we teach him on his doorstep. He has a baptismal date, which unfortunately will have to be set back because he wasn't able to come to church this Sunday. His name is James and he's in agriculture. I've only been in one lesson with him but he amazes me nonethelss. He is SO smart! Apparently the first time they had him start reading the Book of Mormon, he read 40 pages! He was saying on the last visit how he was expecting an answer to take a while but how surprised he was that it came so soon! He takes meticulous (spelling? I apologize for my grammar btw) notes on everything he reads and everything we say. He just loves the Book of Mormon. He was reading it with Isaiah and saying how it just made sense. He is so eager to learn more. He just amazes me. All the people down here are so nice, but I'm just trying to figure out to get them to let us teach them. The bishop of our ward wants us tracting more in the wealthier areas. He says that the majority of converts are on welfare and not active. He says he wants dependable/leaders to come to his ward. Those in the more affluent areas are really nice just not willing to listen much to you. "We belong to such and such church, thanks anyways." Any suggestions family?
Well this is my address:
2625 SW 75th St. #206
Gainesville Fl 32608
Mail is always welcome, but I can't open it until P-day :)
Love you all and love hearing from you!! Keep me posted! MWWAAAHHH!
Sincerely,
Sister Jensen
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