Hello everyone!! We had a pretty packed week, so prepare yourselves...
Tuesday was kind of crazy, our schedule got thrown out the window as it often does as a missionary. It's a little hard to plan for people's agency, but you learn to adjust. We got to help with a service project out at Century High school. They'll be holding a memorial service this weekend to commemorate veterans. They call it "Field of Heroes" and they transform the school fields into a memorial. We helped place crosses all over the field to mark loved ones lost in battle. Each one had a name and this code you could scan on the back to find a biography about the individual. It was pretty neat and we cut their set up time back from 4 days to 2.
Later that evening we got to meet with our bomb investigator Gabriel!! He is so great and doing so well! We had two members come with us, and I think his eyes are opening more to the people in the church. He had been creating a barrier between himself and the members. But he seems to start to see that Mormons are normal people too. He is progressing really well and we're talking about baptism a lot. He honestly brings it up a lot. This week we challenged him to identify what it is that's holding him back from baptism, so we'll see what happens!!
On Wednesday...MIRACLES! A member from the Marsh Valley YSA offered to drive us out to visit some people in Downey. Downey is one of the furthest stretches of our area, the farthest we cover is Swan Lake. It sounds nuts, and looks ridiculous when you get out a map, but the Marsh Valley YSA ward covers from Inkom to Swan Lake Idaho. It overlaps with all the family wards and goes in the YSA 2nd Stake our other Pocatello wards fall in. Geography aside, it's been too many miles to drive ourselves out for the two referrals we had in Downey. (We have limited miles)
The Relief Society President in Marsh Valley offered to take us, so we headed out. Well as we were heading to one girl in Downey, Sierra (the RSP) says "I've tried contacting this girl so many times but she's never home and I honestly haven'tmade contact with her in almost a year. She's always working." Heavenly Father appreciated our efforts to go see her because this time, she was home!!! She agreed to come to church(: Then we also caught a girl in Arimo home, we agreed to come to institute with us that night! She came and had a great time and said she plans to come more(: It was awesome and testified to me that Heavenly Father appreciates our efforts and will work miracles if we just have a bit of Faith in him and take a step forward.
Thursday was transfer day! Even though Sister Ziegler and I weren't getting transferred, President still had us come to the Transfer site throughout the Day to make sure no Sisters we stranded and without a companion. Sister Pehrson ended up being by herself after the second switch, so we took her in with us for a bit as a trio. Sister Pehrson was a 2 transfer missionary, so she was actually going home that transfer. A 2 transfer missionary is, for lack of better terms, a trial missionary. Basically the missionary has those two transfers in a mission close to home (in case of any issues) to see if they want to serve a full mission, or can. Often times it's because of health issues, so they are assigned somewhere for 3 months (2 transfers) to see if they can do it or if their health issues will prohibit them.
Anyways, so Sister Pehrson finished her 2 transfers and was basically waiting to be picked up by her family at the mission office. She hadn't eaten anything yet, and we left some things at the house so we ran back quick to get her sone food and grab our stuff. Well. I locked the keys in the house. We got home and basically, I just switched back to driving so I'm not used to having the keys and as I walked out the door I locked it, and closed it behind me. Of course, the car and house keys were sitting on my desk. We called our housing coordinator and had to wait for them to come and bring the spare set. In the meantime, Sister Pehrson's family got to the mission office. It was pretty funny actually, she was totally chill with it all and when the mission office called to let us know they were there, she was like "They can suck it up. We'll be there soon." She's hilarious, and fortunately has decided to serve a full mission once her health issues get manageable and has already been assigned back to this mission(: So I'll get to see her again in a few months! We eventually got the keys and her family was chill with our lateness, they thought it was quite funny actually. So no hard feelings lol.
Friday we got to meet our new district! With transfers our district got switched a bit. Elder Hassell is still our District Leader, (this will be my fourth transfer serving around this Elder. I swear he's following me.) But instead of the Inkom sisters being in our district, the Spanish Elders joined us! Elder Rodriguez, and Elder Cepeda! This is pretty cool because both of these elders served in my last area in Star Valley!! So I've heard about them from members, and now I'll actually get to know them, so that was neat(:
On Saturday we went out to McCammon to teach a guy preparing for a mission. His name is Alma, (so he best be goin on a mission) and in the past he was set to serve, but then hit a rough patch and wasn't sure about going. He has since resolved to serve, but we're walking through Preach My Gospel with him to make sure he gets there. It was a great lesson, he's really taking what we have to say in and seems to appreciate going through PMG with someone. It was confusing for me at first so I hope we're being helpful.
After that we made a stop in Inkom so i could do a few run throughs of the National Anthem, and then we headed out to Century High School so I could perform it! This goes back to the Field of Heroes event we helped prepare, I sang the National Anthem to open Saturdays activities. It was a little stressful because I sang it completely A Capella, but it went well. I did have my ukulele tuner to use as a pitch pipe so blessings!x)
Miracles upon miracles...GABRIEL CAME TO CHURCH!! We texted Gabriel Sunday morning and asked if we could come to church. He said he was headed to Idaho Falls so we didn't think he'd be making it, but when we said it was at 11:30 he said he could probably come...and he did!! He stayed for Sunday School even and seemed to enjoy it all(: It was great to have him there, hopefully he'll come to Family Home Evening tonight!!
I love you all, I hope you have a fantastic week!!
Love,
Sister Jensen
Monday, May 28, 2018
Monday, May 21, 2018
The Blessing of Blessings
Main events from this week:
Last Monday, the elders from my district decided to throw me a little birthday party so they bought me a cake and candles and everythingx) it was pretty great hahaha. We all went to the institute and played foosball and pool together. It was a great time, I still don't feel like i'm 20 but oh well. I'll adjust by next year I guess. That's usually how it goes.
On Friday we had probably the most spiritual district meeting I've been in my whole mission. We talked all about charity and love and what we could do to improve our unity as a district. I attempted to make apple crisp. I swear usually I can execute it. But this time I was not so fortunate. Moral of the story, you cannot always trust the pre measured ingredients your sister sends, no matter how lovingly she sends them. I really have no idea what went wrong, but I don't think my district was too impressed. x) Maybe it was elevation change, but maybe i'm just a terrible cook. The world will never know. I'll include pics.
The most significant thing that happened this week was actually just yesterday. Sister Ziegler and I went out to attend church in Marsh Valley ward. We've been struggling to find and contact people out there. It's been hard because we have to set aside a day for visits all over the area, and most of the time, people aren't home because we aren't hitting schedules right. But, miracles!! We'll be teaching a guy named Alma who was wishy washy about serving a mission, but is now more determined. We plan to start going through Preach My Gospel with him to keep his desire up.
The church block was really thought provoking though. Marsh Valley has to switch the order of their blocks so they have Relief Society & Priesthood, Sunday School, and then Sacrament Meeting. So we started with Relief Society and the lesson was based on a talk by Elder Uchtdorf, "A Yearning For Home." It made me think about Heavenly Father and the answers and assurances I felt I needed from him. Midway through the lesson priesthood blessings were brought up. Earlier in the week Sister Ziegler and I somehow got to the topic of blessings and we would come back to that subject throughout the week. I had the thought as Sister Ziegler and I talked about them the first time, "hm, I'll probably need to get a blessing soon. This was a pretty random subject, so I think that's coming."
Well when it was brought up in relief society, I just felt like I needed to get a blessing that night. I wasn't stressed anymore, I was actually quite excited with the news of transfers, but I felt I was supposed to hear something from Heavenly Father. We arranged to have the elders give us blessings that night and Elder Hassell was the one to give me mine. I was very touched by what was said in the blessing. Right off the bat he addressed something I hadn't realized I was struggling with. He said that God hears my every prayer. And I have been struggling a bit feeling like Heavenly Father has been there listening to my prayers, and I almost started crying right there. He went on to bless me with kindness, compassion and patience to face trials that lie ahead. It was a very powerful blessing and strengthened my faith and testimony that Heavenly Father is really there and he loves us and listens to each and every one of us. He is mindful of our situations and circumstances and what we need to help us through our trials. I love you all and I hope you have a fantastic week.
Love,
Sister Jensen
PS!!! Transfer calls came, I'll be staying with Sister Ziegler in Pokey(: AND! SISTER STOTT IS COMING! She'll be in Inkom so I'll see her a lot and I am STOKED!! We also have 4 AP's, i think to prepare for the new mission president coming in. This is the Hancock's last transfer, and it will be a shorter one, only 5 weeks. Anyways, love you all!!
Oh. and there was a flash flood. We were worried because we live in a basement, but nothing leaked into our apartment.
Last Monday, the elders from my district decided to throw me a little birthday party so they bought me a cake and candles and everythingx) it was pretty great hahaha. We all went to the institute and played foosball and pool together. It was a great time, I still don't feel like i'm 20 but oh well. I'll adjust by next year I guess. That's usually how it goes.
On Friday we had probably the most spiritual district meeting I've been in my whole mission. We talked all about charity and love and what we could do to improve our unity as a district. I attempted to make apple crisp. I swear usually I can execute it. But this time I was not so fortunate. Moral of the story, you cannot always trust the pre measured ingredients your sister sends, no matter how lovingly she sends them. I really have no idea what went wrong, but I don't think my district was too impressed. x) Maybe it was elevation change, but maybe i'm just a terrible cook. The world will never know. I'll include pics.
The most significant thing that happened this week was actually just yesterday. Sister Ziegler and I went out to attend church in Marsh Valley ward. We've been struggling to find and contact people out there. It's been hard because we have to set aside a day for visits all over the area, and most of the time, people aren't home because we aren't hitting schedules right. But, miracles!! We'll be teaching a guy named Alma who was wishy washy about serving a mission, but is now more determined. We plan to start going through Preach My Gospel with him to keep his desire up.
The church block was really thought provoking though. Marsh Valley has to switch the order of their blocks so they have Relief Society & Priesthood, Sunday School, and then Sacrament Meeting. So we started with Relief Society and the lesson was based on a talk by Elder Uchtdorf, "A Yearning For Home." It made me think about Heavenly Father and the answers and assurances I felt I needed from him. Midway through the lesson priesthood blessings were brought up. Earlier in the week Sister Ziegler and I somehow got to the topic of blessings and we would come back to that subject throughout the week. I had the thought as Sister Ziegler and I talked about them the first time, "hm, I'll probably need to get a blessing soon. This was a pretty random subject, so I think that's coming."
Well when it was brought up in relief society, I just felt like I needed to get a blessing that night. I wasn't stressed anymore, I was actually quite excited with the news of transfers, but I felt I was supposed to hear something from Heavenly Father. We arranged to have the elders give us blessings that night and Elder Hassell was the one to give me mine. I was very touched by what was said in the blessing. Right off the bat he addressed something I hadn't realized I was struggling with. He said that God hears my every prayer. And I have been struggling a bit feeling like Heavenly Father has been there listening to my prayers, and I almost started crying right there. He went on to bless me with kindness, compassion and patience to face trials that lie ahead. It was a very powerful blessing and strengthened my faith and testimony that Heavenly Father is really there and he loves us and listens to each and every one of us. He is mindful of our situations and circumstances and what we need to help us through our trials. I love you all and I hope you have a fantastic week.
Love,
Sister Jensen
PS!!! Transfer calls came, I'll be staying with Sister Ziegler in Pokey(: AND! SISTER STOTT IS COMING! She'll be in Inkom so I'll see her a lot and I am STOKED!! We also have 4 AP's, i think to prepare for the new mission president coming in. This is the Hancock's last transfer, and it will be a shorter one, only 5 weeks. Anyways, love you all!!
Oh. and there was a flash flood. We were worried because we live in a basement, but nothing leaked into our apartment.
Monday, May 14, 2018
We All Need a Psychiatrist
Hello all!
To start, I want to thank those who have wished me a happy birthday, I love you!!!
ALSO, I want to say a Happy Belated Mother's Day to all mothers on this list, I love you all and have learned from your examples.
My week-
Last Monday was fun, we played ultimate Frisbee and then afterwards Sister Ziegler and I passed a soccer ball around with the AP's. I was sore the next few days, goes to show how out of shape I am, but it was fun(: That night we were knocking some doors at an apartment building and ran into a girl named Shellee. While she is out of YSA and in the family ward, we talked with her for a good 30 minutes and we could tell she needed it that day. She said she'd love to come out with us sometime and that she's been needing to get back into missionary work. After that we rushed to FHE where we played psychiatrist, which was HILARIOUS. I'm not going to try and explain the game, but it made for a ton of laughs. There was a non member visiting, and we were told later that he was quite impressed with how friendly everyone was, and the beauty of the paintings in the institute building.
On Wednesday we went on exchanges, Sister Hedman came and joined me here in Pocatello! Sister Hedman is originally out in Soda Springs serving with MY MTC COMP- Sister Freeman! Sister Ziegler went to join Sister Freeman though and Sister Hedman and I had a blast here in Pocatello. Well, and then actually out in Marsh Valley as well. We were pretty all over the place hahahax) We started out with some contacting in Pocatello and then headed out to Marsh Valley which means Inkom, Lava Hot Springs, McCammon, and Arimo. We got tot talk to a ton of people and get to know each other better too so I'd say it was a success. I'm grateful I'm an STL now, because it means we get to exchange with the other sisters and get to know them better, which I appreciate.
On Friday we had district meeting, which was very uplifting. Sister Ziegler and I lead a discussion on trusting God and I think we all walked away learning something. I walked away being reminded that 1. Miracles do happen. 2. Our job as missionaries is to invite, their repentance is Christ's burden, not ours. And 3. God's plan is always better than ours and will bring us Happiness...so why not follow it and trust it? Some things to ponder on this week. After district meeting we had German Pancakes, of which I included pictures in my Drive Folder. They turned out pretty big and different looking because of the pans and adjusting the batter to fill the pans and etc. They were still good though hahahx)
Lastly, on Sunday, Sister Ziegler and I got to speak in both our Pocatello wards. I basically cried about my mom twice, but it was beneficial. In preparing for my talk I thought a lot about what my parents have done for me, and how they stressed the importance of the Gospel. To be short, The Gospel is incredibly important for a child to be learning. A child NEEDS to know who God is, and they NEED to know who Jesus Christ is and what he's done for them. It's heart breaking to meet children who don't know who God is, nor who Christ is. I can really only say I am incredibly grateful my parents taught us these simple truths.
I hope you all had a wonderful week and can see the ways God is manifesting his love for you.
Love,
Sister Jensen
To start, I want to thank those who have wished me a happy birthday, I love you!!!
ALSO, I want to say a Happy Belated Mother's Day to all mothers on this list, I love you all and have learned from your examples.
My week-
Last Monday was fun, we played ultimate Frisbee and then afterwards Sister Ziegler and I passed a soccer ball around with the AP's. I was sore the next few days, goes to show how out of shape I am, but it was fun(: That night we were knocking some doors at an apartment building and ran into a girl named Shellee. While she is out of YSA and in the family ward, we talked with her for a good 30 minutes and we could tell she needed it that day. She said she'd love to come out with us sometime and that she's been needing to get back into missionary work. After that we rushed to FHE where we played psychiatrist, which was HILARIOUS. I'm not going to try and explain the game, but it made for a ton of laughs. There was a non member visiting, and we were told later that he was quite impressed with how friendly everyone was, and the beauty of the paintings in the institute building.
On Wednesday we went on exchanges, Sister Hedman came and joined me here in Pocatello! Sister Hedman is originally out in Soda Springs serving with MY MTC COMP- Sister Freeman! Sister Ziegler went to join Sister Freeman though and Sister Hedman and I had a blast here in Pocatello. Well, and then actually out in Marsh Valley as well. We were pretty all over the place hahahax) We started out with some contacting in Pocatello and then headed out to Marsh Valley which means Inkom, Lava Hot Springs, McCammon, and Arimo. We got tot talk to a ton of people and get to know each other better too so I'd say it was a success. I'm grateful I'm an STL now, because it means we get to exchange with the other sisters and get to know them better, which I appreciate.
On Friday we had district meeting, which was very uplifting. Sister Ziegler and I lead a discussion on trusting God and I think we all walked away learning something. I walked away being reminded that 1. Miracles do happen. 2. Our job as missionaries is to invite, their repentance is Christ's burden, not ours. And 3. God's plan is always better than ours and will bring us Happiness...so why not follow it and trust it? Some things to ponder on this week. After district meeting we had German Pancakes, of which I included pictures in my Drive Folder. They turned out pretty big and different looking because of the pans and adjusting the batter to fill the pans and etc. They were still good though hahahx)
Lastly, on Sunday, Sister Ziegler and I got to speak in both our Pocatello wards. I basically cried about my mom twice, but it was beneficial. In preparing for my talk I thought a lot about what my parents have done for me, and how they stressed the importance of the Gospel. To be short, The Gospel is incredibly important for a child to be learning. A child NEEDS to know who God is, and they NEED to know who Jesus Christ is and what he's done for them. It's heart breaking to meet children who don't know who God is, nor who Christ is. I can really only say I am incredibly grateful my parents taught us these simple truths.
I hope you all had a wonderful week and can see the ways God is manifesting his love for you.
Love,
Sister Jensen
Monday, May 7, 2018
Water Follows Me Where 'Ere I Go..
Hello all!
SO. Last Monday as we were sending off emails Sister Holterman messaged me and asked if I would join her in a musical number and sing with her at MLC. I apologize now, but no, I did not get a recording of it. We sang "Abide With me Tis Eventide" and I will try my best to get a uke video up of it next week. We sang with one of the AP's playing piano for us and we didn't have much time to run through before performing so I didn't feel like I could ask to record it. Sorry I'm skipping now, but for reference, MLC was friday. Our musical number went well and I definitely learned a lot from MLC.
Backing up to Tuesday, we had our baptismal interview with Michael. Michael is (/was) our golden investigator that is(/was) ready to be dunked asap. Well really was. He dropped us a few days after the interview and asked for his baptism to be cancelled. Neither of us really know/understand what happened because he wouldn't meet with us to explain Sorry, I've jumped ahead again, but oh well. The interview on Tuesday went really well and he was pumped and excited, but must have not been telling us something. Then on Thursday we were scheduled to meet with him and he first texted us saying he was sick, but then was like "I should really be honest with you two..." and asked us to cancel his baptism. It was honestly heartbreaking and hard to take. We were pretty down the rest of the day and it's been sad not being able to meet with him since. He has had some very spiritual experiences though, so I have hope he'll come around eventually.
Friday, as I said before was MLC. Since I am serving as a Sister Training Leader (STL) I had the opportunity to go to Mission Leadership Conference, (MLC). MLC is basically a second Zone Conference where we discuss whats happening in the mission, set goals, and basically get spiritually uplifted by our Mission President, his wife, and counselors if they are speaking. It was honestly the best thing for Sister Ziegler and I to have after Michael dropping us the day before and I think both of us were able to put our discouragement behind us. Also, for reference, one of the pictures I added of us at MLC has all of Sister Ziegler's currently serving companions at a table. Also some pics of me and my mom Sister Thomas and me and sister Shill who is so incredibly sweet.
That evening we also met with one of our only investigators left, (everyone's pretty much cleared out for the summerš) Gabriel. It was really neat, he is suddenly progressing a lot. He's met with missionaries in the past many a times, but is only now actually considering baptism. He's been taking our discussions very seriously and feels the spirit as we meet. I can't wait to see how he continues to progress(:
That evening Sister Ziegler and I went on exchanges withthe Sisters we cover out in Inkom. Sister Ziegler stayed in Inkom with Sister Farnsworth, while I went back to Pocatello with Sister Kartchner.
(Saturday) Sister Kartchner is super sweet, she's been out 4 weeks now. I was very grateful for the opportunity I had to be with her, I hope I helped to uplift her. Our exchange felt very uplifting and I came to know her much better. As we discussed the lessons we had that day She started to get overwhelmed with the subjects we were teaching, because she hadn't had the opportunity to teach them yet. It was very eye opening to see her stress and realize that I needed to first take the time to strengthen her spiritually before we could think about going out to strengthen others. I think this can be applicable to each of us, as we first have to fortify ourselves spiritually before we try to fortify others. Our lessons all went well and we saw some miracles while on exchanges, mostly in the people we were finally able to contact. So in all, it was a very good exchange(:
Sunday was fast and testimony meeting, which was all very good. Best part of Sunday though, we were finally able to meet with an investigator who has come to church 4 times on his own now, without meeting with us! He is from Islam, so his situation is a little intense, but he is looking for religion. We were able to sit down and explainthe whole restoration to him and what sets us apart from other churches. It was a great discussion and though he said he feels the need to survey other churches too, I think he'll be back once he recognizes the difference of the spirit you can feel between our church meetings and others. We'll see him again(:
Thus far today, our bathroom flooded. I guess Oregon never really leaves you. I included pics of the water and a video in my pictures. There are also some really fancy houses because we ate in a super rich neighborhood and holy cow, these houses were beautiful. Anyways, I hope you all have a great week, I love you all!!!
Love,
Sister Jensen
SO. Last Monday as we were sending off emails Sister Holterman messaged me and asked if I would join her in a musical number and sing with her at MLC. I apologize now, but no, I did not get a recording of it. We sang "Abide With me Tis Eventide" and I will try my best to get a uke video up of it next week. We sang with one of the AP's playing piano for us and we didn't have much time to run through before performing so I didn't feel like I could ask to record it. Sorry I'm skipping now, but for reference, MLC was friday. Our musical number went well and I definitely learned a lot from MLC.
Backing up to Tuesday, we had our baptismal interview with Michael. Michael is (/was) our golden investigator that is(/was) ready to be dunked asap. Well really was. He dropped us a few days after the interview and asked for his baptism to be cancelled. Neither of us really know/understand what happened because he wouldn't meet with us to explain Sorry, I've jumped ahead again, but oh well. The interview on Tuesday went really well and he was pumped and excited, but must have not been telling us something. Then on Thursday we were scheduled to meet with him and he first texted us saying he was sick, but then was like "I should really be honest with you two..." and asked us to cancel his baptism. It was honestly heartbreaking and hard to take. We were pretty down the rest of the day and it's been sad not being able to meet with him since. He has had some very spiritual experiences though, so I have hope he'll come around eventually.
Friday, as I said before was MLC. Since I am serving as a Sister Training Leader (STL) I had the opportunity to go to Mission Leadership Conference, (MLC). MLC is basically a second Zone Conference where we discuss whats happening in the mission, set goals, and basically get spiritually uplifted by our Mission President, his wife, and counselors if they are speaking. It was honestly the best thing for Sister Ziegler and I to have after Michael dropping us the day before and I think both of us were able to put our discouragement behind us. Also, for reference, one of the pictures I added of us at MLC has all of Sister Ziegler's currently serving companions at a table. Also some pics of me and my mom Sister Thomas and me and sister Shill who is so incredibly sweet.
That evening we also met with one of our only investigators left, (everyone's pretty much cleared out for the summerš) Gabriel. It was really neat, he is suddenly progressing a lot. He's met with missionaries in the past many a times, but is only now actually considering baptism. He's been taking our discussions very seriously and feels the spirit as we meet. I can't wait to see how he continues to progress(:
That evening Sister Ziegler and I went on exchanges withthe Sisters we cover out in Inkom. Sister Ziegler stayed in Inkom with Sister Farnsworth, while I went back to Pocatello with Sister Kartchner.
(Saturday) Sister Kartchner is super sweet, she's been out 4 weeks now. I was very grateful for the opportunity I had to be with her, I hope I helped to uplift her. Our exchange felt very uplifting and I came to know her much better. As we discussed the lessons we had that day She started to get overwhelmed with the subjects we were teaching, because she hadn't had the opportunity to teach them yet. It was very eye opening to see her stress and realize that I needed to first take the time to strengthen her spiritually before we could think about going out to strengthen others. I think this can be applicable to each of us, as we first have to fortify ourselves spiritually before we try to fortify others. Our lessons all went well and we saw some miracles while on exchanges, mostly in the people we were finally able to contact. So in all, it was a very good exchange(:
Sunday was fast and testimony meeting, which was all very good. Best part of Sunday though, we were finally able to meet with an investigator who has come to church 4 times on his own now, without meeting with us! He is from Islam, so his situation is a little intense, but he is looking for religion. We were able to sit down and explainthe whole restoration to him and what sets us apart from other churches. It was a great discussion and though he said he feels the need to survey other churches too, I think he'll be back once he recognizes the difference of the spirit you can feel between our church meetings and others. We'll see him again(:
Thus far today, our bathroom flooded. I guess Oregon never really leaves you. I included pics of the water and a video in my pictures. There are also some really fancy houses because we ate in a super rich neighborhood and holy cow, these houses were beautiful. Anyways, I hope you all have a great week, I love you all!!!
Love,
Sister Jensen
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