Hello all!
I hope everyone is doing well and no one got pinched on St. Patty's day(; (I definitely would have, I wore black, white, and a bit of red because missionaries are oblivious to holidays.)
Okay so to start!
Last Monday we had another lesson with Nathaniel and it was pretty cool because it was still light outside as we taught them! (usually it's dark, but daylight savings is kicking in!) It was a good lesson, I think they were all a tad bit more distracted though because they had just gotten home and hadn't had time to unwind yet. but oh well. We should have a baptismal date soon, still waiting for permission, but we've almost taught him all the lessons!:D
I've got some sad news, we haven't been able to contact Amanda for the past 2 weeks, and tried to catch her Monday evening. Well, she's no longer living with the members she was with before and has moved into downtown Afton. She seems to be avoiding us, because she won't answer our calls or any texts we send. Hopefully she'll remember the spirit she felt while she met with us and start taking lessons again soon.
On Tuesday we had a discussion class with a few less active ladies in our area, that went really well!! It was my first time having a discussion with them all, (we were on exchanges the first time) and it was great! We only got through 2 points of the restoration, because the ladies wanted to discuss it all so much. It was great though, they were all asking questions and explaining to each other! I'm excited to continue with them(:
On Wednesday, the spirit was guiding us(: We were out in a far part of our area and heading back home when I just felt like "we have time, lets stop at this house". Well we found a a lady who was baptized pretty recently and her kids home! It was perfect too because she works 3 hours away and is really hard to catch. Her husband is also not super fond of the church, and he wasn't home! So it was literally the perfect situation to catch them in and we got to talk with her(: Hopefully we'll be able to set up lessons for them again soon(:
Thursday we had a lesson with one of our investigators and HOLY COW. It was good, but rough. He's just very inquisitive and intellectual and will ask questions just to hear how our doctrine asks them, not necessarily because he's wondering himself. He also wants to talk about deeper stuff when he doesn't have a testimony of God so it's hard. Always a good discussion, but I've felt pretty stressed going into it each time because there's not a good way to prepare for him. We'll see how things continue to go.
I got to do an elderly woman's hair on Friday! It was kind of sad honestly because she's really old, and not able to do as much and it's really hard on her. I enjoyed doing her hair, and Sister Stott and another lady from the ward cleaned a bit as I did it. She did appreciate it, it was just hard for her to let us serve her.
Lastly, there were some really good talks in church on Sunday. One given in the Meadows ward talked all about pride. And it made me think about how when we think we know best, and tell Heavenly Father what we want,and don't accept his correction. We are in essence telling him "nope, I know best, this choice will actually make me happier." Which is ludicrous when you think about it because you're basically telling God you know best. I'm guilty of this as well, but it made me think about submitting our will to God's because he knows what will make us happiest and that's what we want don't we? Just some thoughts to ponder.
I hope you all had a great week, I love you all!!
Love,
Sister Jensen
Monday, March 19, 2018
Monday, March 12, 2018
My favorite comp is Sister Stott
Hello hello!
Jeez the week flies by. Well to start, on Monday our district went out bowling so that was fun. It felt super weird at first though to be out in public just to go play a game. Sister Stott and I didn't do so hot the first game, but holy cow, Sister Stott got real in our second game and finished with 200 somthin points! (i got 80...just 4 more points and we would have beat the ZL's dangit. ) Fun time though haha(:
Tuesday we had Zone Conference! It was great, we had it at the Montpelier Tabernacle again. The roads weren't bad at all, which was surprising because it had been storming the past few nights and we had been told it was supposed to storm again. But anyways, all was all good(:
We talked mostly about technology and how we'll be cautious with using facebook as missionaries. What stuck out to me the most was that as missionaries we have been given certain rules and guidlines to use facebook by, which are further instruction or commandments from the Lord. In one of the videos we watched, an Elder spoke about "qualifying for the spirit". Just like the commandments the Lord asks all of us to live by, if we as missionaries don't keep these safeguards, we won't qualify for the spirit. Without the spirit, we as missionaries will fail because it is the Holy Ghost who can testify to the hearts of the people we speak too. Also a few quotes i wrote from Sister Hancock's training-
"Happiness is a direction, not a place"
"Optimism stems from faith"
I guess, I also got my haircut Monday, which is worth mentioning because on Thursday we had a lesson with a recent convert family that we haven't gotten to see in a while and one of the kids, (he's 10) made a comment that made my day. His younger sister noticed, (shes 8) and goes "you cut your hair!" and without missing a beat, he brother goes "it looks beautiful." and then goes back to looking through his pack. I was flattered and this lil boy is gonna go placesx) We had a great lessonw ith them though, we talked all about the temple and actually cleared up some confusion the mom had about the temple. It was awesome to watch the temple open up for her and see her realize that she has access to it! It was great and just furthered my testimony of how precious the temple is.
Thursday night we also had a lesson with our investigator Nathaniel and his family. Oh my heck it was a crazy mess. To start, the youngest was going off the walls, (which is normal) but he could not seem to keep his pants up. in Nathaniel's own words- "he looks like a little gangsta!" That kid needed a belt somthin bad, and did not seem to care that the sister missionaries were overx) Then midway through the lesson their uncle pays a visit from Utah and we completely lost their focus. Tragic timing. This made the youngest even more excited, thus the need for a belt greatly increased. Then their dog decided to take a little potty break inside, on the carpet. Needless to say, it was a mess. We'll be teaching them tithing and fasting again another time.
I'll sum my week up with how our Sunday went- holy heckanoly. First can I say, daylight savings+ward council+fasting= no bueno. It felt like I was waking up for seminary again and I was not a fan. The Sunday meetings were all really good though and I enjoyed the testimonies shared. That afternoon we were booked with 4 appointments, 2 of which we had scheduled splits for, so of course they fell through. The lessons we had were great though, and I definitely feel like Sister Stott and I have come a long ways in our "teaching in tandem" as we call it.
I had a great week, I hope you all do as well! I love you all!
Love,
Sister Jensen
Jeez the week flies by. Well to start, on Monday our district went out bowling so that was fun. It felt super weird at first though to be out in public just to go play a game. Sister Stott and I didn't do so hot the first game, but holy cow, Sister Stott got real in our second game and finished with 200 somthin points! (i got 80...just 4 more points and we would have beat the ZL's dangit. ) Fun time though haha(:
Tuesday we had Zone Conference! It was great, we had it at the Montpelier Tabernacle again. The roads weren't bad at all, which was surprising because it had been storming the past few nights and we had been told it was supposed to storm again. But anyways, all was all good(:
We talked mostly about technology and how we'll be cautious with using facebook as missionaries. What stuck out to me the most was that as missionaries we have been given certain rules and guidlines to use facebook by, which are further instruction or commandments from the Lord. In one of the videos we watched, an Elder spoke about "qualifying for the spirit". Just like the commandments the Lord asks all of us to live by, if we as missionaries don't keep these safeguards, we won't qualify for the spirit. Without the spirit, we as missionaries will fail because it is the Holy Ghost who can testify to the hearts of the people we speak too. Also a few quotes i wrote from Sister Hancock's training-
"Happiness is a direction, not a place"
"Optimism stems from faith"
I guess, I also got my haircut Monday, which is worth mentioning because on Thursday we had a lesson with a recent convert family that we haven't gotten to see in a while and one of the kids, (he's 10) made a comment that made my day. His younger sister noticed, (shes 8) and goes "you cut your hair!" and without missing a beat, he brother goes "it looks beautiful." and then goes back to looking through his pack. I was flattered and this lil boy is gonna go placesx) We had a great lessonw ith them though, we talked all about the temple and actually cleared up some confusion the mom had about the temple. It was awesome to watch the temple open up for her and see her realize that she has access to it! It was great and just furthered my testimony of how precious the temple is.
Thursday night we also had a lesson with our investigator Nathaniel and his family. Oh my heck it was a crazy mess. To start, the youngest was going off the walls, (which is normal) but he could not seem to keep his pants up. in Nathaniel's own words- "he looks like a little gangsta!" That kid needed a belt somthin bad, and did not seem to care that the sister missionaries were overx) Then midway through the lesson their uncle pays a visit from Utah and we completely lost their focus. Tragic timing. This made the youngest even more excited, thus the need for a belt greatly increased. Then their dog decided to take a little potty break inside, on the carpet. Needless to say, it was a mess. We'll be teaching them tithing and fasting again another time.
I'll sum my week up with how our Sunday went- holy heckanoly. First can I say, daylight savings+ward council+fasting= no bueno. It felt like I was waking up for seminary again and I was not a fan. The Sunday meetings were all really good though and I enjoyed the testimonies shared. That afternoon we were booked with 4 appointments, 2 of which we had scheduled splits for, so of course they fell through. The lessons we had were great though, and I definitely feel like Sister Stott and I have come a long ways in our "teaching in tandem" as we call it.
I had a great week, I hope you all do as well! I love you all!
Love,
Sister Jensen
Monday, March 5, 2018
HAPPY BDAY SIS STOTT!!!
Hello hello!!
This week was pretty eventful!! To start, on Monday for activity we played dodge ball, which was pretty fun. We played an every man for himself sorta style, and I fared pretty well. No-one got whacked in the face so that's a plus. (The Elders seem to have a knack for that) That night, we got to meet with our investigator Nathaniel, and found out that his mom said he could be baptized!!! :D We've still got a few things to figure out before setting up a date, but everything's looking good!! After our lesson with them we actually were invited over for dinner by a less active family we're teaching! It was pretty cool, They had us over and the food wasn't quite ready so we waited and played darts with the family. I was only about 10 points from the lead, so needless to say, I'll be looking into a dartboard when I get home. Our lesson went well with them, and it was an awesome night(:
On Wednesday one of the wards we cover had a Chili cook off...kinda. It was more so a chili potluck. Not a real "cook off" I don't think they actually crowned a winner. The chili I tried was pretty good though(: After the cook off we had our Book of Mormon class, which is still pretty small. One of the ward mission leader's wives came, as well as a less active we've been working with. It was a really good discussion, and Tina, (the less active) was really happy with how much she was understanding.
On Thursday we had our other Book of Mormon class that's been started before I got here. And it's huge. There are about 10 ladies that regularly attend. It's pretty cool, we always have really good discussions. It was kinda humorous though, as we were sitting there talking I was thinking about what it would be like to be an elder in that class. They haven't had sister missionaries too long, so I got to wondering if the elders would come when they were here or not. Right as I was thinking this Victoria pulls out a stuffed bear for us to pass around as we read so we would keep track of who's turn it was. Pretty sure the elders didn't attend before.
Friday was eventful. Friday was Sister Stott's birthday!!!! WHOOHOO!! She's 20 now! (pretty crazy to realize cuz that means i'll be 20 soon too) So first thing in the morning, Sister Stott opened her birthday present that i had hid. (hee hee) She was pretty salty with me the last few weeks because I wouldn't tell her where it was and made her waitx) I made her german pancakes for breakfast and we stuck candles in them for her to blow out. (during which I sang a terrible rendition of Happy Birthday) After our studies and all that we went out to lunch with the Reinharts who took us to Agave! Agave is an awesome Mexican Restaurant in town. We had a good time there, Sister Stott got this crazy huge stuffed pepper that was way out of my league, but it was goodx)
That afternoon, Heavenly father decided to send a lil Birthday miracle for Sister Stott- WE GOT A NEW INVESTIGATOR!!!!:D (this is just crazy, investigators are popping up everywhere now! I think they were all hibernating..) We got to meet an awesome girl named Melanee! She's 9 and went to church when she was younger, but hten stopped for some reason and is now going again with her Grandma who lives in another ward we cover. She's pretty sweet and said she wants the lessons so here we go!!:D
Dinner was pretty funny that night too, the members we ate with have some pretty cute kids. One of which, her 4 year old, was totally enraptured with Sister Stottx) He was building with some blocks and randomly goes "you're pretty" to Sister Stott, and then casually continues building....a tower...just for herx) It was a fun nightx) After dinner we headed to Nathaniel's again to have another lesson, which went really well(: We taught about the commandments and how God keeps his promises if we do our part. Afterthe lesson, his family shoed us a game...that was hilariousxD Basically you put these headphones on that play a bunch of random noises, and then try to guess the phrase someone is reading to you. I included a video of Nathaniel guessing at one point, it was hilariousxD (and i got permission to take the video no worries)
Saturday we stopped by Tina's to set us Gospel Library on her phone so she could listen to the scriptures, and listened to part of a chapter with her. SHE WAS SO EXCTIED! It honestly made me so happy and I don't know why we haven't gotten this on her phone for her before. She was so excited and kept saying "now i can read this week! I'll have read this week!!" She was so happy, it melted me heart and I just wanted to cry. I think we really take the Book of Mormon for granted until it's no longer accessible to us or we're going through a hard time. He joy at discovering she could listen to it instead of struggle through reading, made me think about how much i value the Book of Mormon, and if I've been taking it for granted. It was incredibly sweet, as we drove away, I saw her pick back up her phone, start the chapter again, and sit down to listen a little longer. I hope we all treasure our scriptures like she has grown too.
Sunday (last one i promise) we had an awesome Regional Conference, after which we taught a lesson to a guy we honestly thought might be a myth. Sister Thomas and I have been trying to get to this guy, to just meet him even, and then Sister Stott and I. And finally on Sunday, we got to meet with him to have a lesson. We talked about a ton of different things, and really just discussed life in general and God. Sister Stott and I had gone in prepared to talk about faith (he's been taught before) and the spirit took us in many different directions, but they all felt right and like what he needed to hear. My aunt Emily was able to come with us, and many experiences were shared that I think he really related too, and helped to strengthen my own testimony. It was a really good lesson. We'll be back next week to see how all goes.
Well, I love you all, and I apologize, but I think this may be all I have time for today. I'll be going for a haircut in a few minutes (goin short!!) and will try to get a few more things out if we have time to come back after. We'll have to see, I love you all<3
Love,
Sister Jensen
This week was pretty eventful!! To start, on Monday for activity we played dodge ball, which was pretty fun. We played an every man for himself sorta style, and I fared pretty well. No-one got whacked in the face so that's a plus. (The Elders seem to have a knack for that) That night, we got to meet with our investigator Nathaniel, and found out that his mom said he could be baptized!!! :D We've still got a few things to figure out before setting up a date, but everything's looking good!! After our lesson with them we actually were invited over for dinner by a less active family we're teaching! It was pretty cool, They had us over and the food wasn't quite ready so we waited and played darts with the family. I was only about 10 points from the lead, so needless to say, I'll be looking into a dartboard when I get home. Our lesson went well with them, and it was an awesome night(:
On Wednesday one of the wards we cover had a Chili cook off...kinda. It was more so a chili potluck. Not a real "cook off" I don't think they actually crowned a winner. The chili I tried was pretty good though(: After the cook off we had our Book of Mormon class, which is still pretty small. One of the ward mission leader's wives came, as well as a less active we've been working with. It was a really good discussion, and Tina, (the less active) was really happy with how much she was understanding.
On Thursday we had our other Book of Mormon class that's been started before I got here. And it's huge. There are about 10 ladies that regularly attend. It's pretty cool, we always have really good discussions. It was kinda humorous though, as we were sitting there talking I was thinking about what it would be like to be an elder in that class. They haven't had sister missionaries too long, so I got to wondering if the elders would come when they were here or not. Right as I was thinking this Victoria pulls out a stuffed bear for us to pass around as we read so we would keep track of who's turn it was. Pretty sure the elders didn't attend before.
Friday was eventful. Friday was Sister Stott's birthday!!!! WHOOHOO!! She's 20 now! (pretty crazy to realize cuz that means i'll be 20 soon too) So first thing in the morning, Sister Stott opened her birthday present that i had hid. (hee hee) She was pretty salty with me the last few weeks because I wouldn't tell her where it was and made her waitx) I made her german pancakes for breakfast and we stuck candles in them for her to blow out. (during which I sang a terrible rendition of Happy Birthday) After our studies and all that we went out to lunch with the Reinharts who took us to Agave! Agave is an awesome Mexican Restaurant in town. We had a good time there, Sister Stott got this crazy huge stuffed pepper that was way out of my league, but it was goodx)
That afternoon, Heavenly father decided to send a lil Birthday miracle for Sister Stott- WE GOT A NEW INVESTIGATOR!!!!:D (this is just crazy, investigators are popping up everywhere now! I think they were all hibernating..) We got to meet an awesome girl named Melanee! She's 9 and went to church when she was younger, but hten stopped for some reason and is now going again with her Grandma who lives in another ward we cover. She's pretty sweet and said she wants the lessons so here we go!!:D
Dinner was pretty funny that night too, the members we ate with have some pretty cute kids. One of which, her 4 year old, was totally enraptured with Sister Stottx) He was building with some blocks and randomly goes "you're pretty" to Sister Stott, and then casually continues building....a tower...just for herx) It was a fun nightx) After dinner we headed to Nathaniel's again to have another lesson, which went really well(: We taught about the commandments and how God keeps his promises if we do our part. Afterthe lesson, his family shoed us a game...that was hilariousxD Basically you put these headphones on that play a bunch of random noises, and then try to guess the phrase someone is reading to you. I included a video of Nathaniel guessing at one point, it was hilariousxD (and i got permission to take the video no worries)
Saturday we stopped by Tina's to set us Gospel Library on her phone so she could listen to the scriptures, and listened to part of a chapter with her. SHE WAS SO EXCTIED! It honestly made me so happy and I don't know why we haven't gotten this on her phone for her before. She was so excited and kept saying "now i can read this week! I'll have read this week!!" She was so happy, it melted me heart and I just wanted to cry. I think we really take the Book of Mormon for granted until it's no longer accessible to us or we're going through a hard time. He joy at discovering she could listen to it instead of struggle through reading, made me think about how much i value the Book of Mormon, and if I've been taking it for granted. It was incredibly sweet, as we drove away, I saw her pick back up her phone, start the chapter again, and sit down to listen a little longer. I hope we all treasure our scriptures like she has grown too.
Sunday (last one i promise) we had an awesome Regional Conference, after which we taught a lesson to a guy we honestly thought might be a myth. Sister Thomas and I have been trying to get to this guy, to just meet him even, and then Sister Stott and I. And finally on Sunday, we got to meet with him to have a lesson. We talked about a ton of different things, and really just discussed life in general and God. Sister Stott and I had gone in prepared to talk about faith (he's been taught before) and the spirit took us in many different directions, but they all felt right and like what he needed to hear. My aunt Emily was able to come with us, and many experiences were shared that I think he really related too, and helped to strengthen my own testimony. It was a really good lesson. We'll be back next week to see how all goes.
Well, I love you all, and I apologize, but I think this may be all I have time for today. I'll be going for a haircut in a few minutes (goin short!!) and will try to get a few more things out if we have time to come back after. We'll have to see, I love you all<3
Love,
Sister Jensen
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