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