Movie Magic!

Hello Hello everyone!

This week was better than last, there's always a rainbow after a storm if we're looking for it. Sister Fitzpatrick & I were extremely busy this week, which was great. I think we were out of our area more than we were in it though, so we weren't busy with what you may expect. Sister Fitzpatrick and I were asked to be on the video committee, in charge of planning & producing the next video our mission is going to send out. We had a planning session last week, and then ended up having 2 this week because a main part of our idea fell through. With that, and the day we took to actually film part of the video, I can't truthfully say we were always in Chubbuck. It's okay, we let our leaders know. Though I think our district leader now expects to get a "hey we'll be out of our area" text at least every other day. I think the only full day we were in our area was Thursday. (We also had exchanges again this week so that only added to the madness)

I know most of you will be curious about the video, so I will take some time to explain it a bit more. President Southward wants every member in our mission to know our goals every month. (Well actually, Elder Brian K. Taylor of the Seventy wants every member in our mission to know our goals..and President is taking off with his instruction haha!) To do this quickly, effectively, and in an encouraging manner, President is having us make monthly videos to show some of the progress in the mission, and encourage members to join us in our goals. It's pretty cool actually.

Anyway, so Sister Fitzpatrick and I, along with 3 other sets of missionaries are on a "video committee" to plan November's video. Come transfers, I don't know what that whole "video committee" will look like, seeing how many of us could get split, and I definitely will be getting a new companion! (If you've missed it till now, Sister Fitzpatrick is going a-wall to North Carolina.) The first time we sat down most of us were kinda like "not exactly sure why I'm here, but I'll see how I can help." (that was me haha) President had given us a bunch of ideas to go off or run with, so the first mtg we focused on a few of his ideas and blocked out the video. For this video, we planed to have a recent convert give some of his story. He's an artist, so we were planning to show him paint a picture and eventually show it at the end. Well then he said he didn't really want to paint something for the video...so that sorta changed things. Not too badly though. We were able to work it out. That's all I'm gonna say before we actually complete the video though, I don't want to give too much away(;

This week was honestly a lot better. I think after reaching our ultimate stress levels, Sister Fitzpatrick and I were able to talk through things and we've been closer as a companionship. It also really helped that things were so crazy, as it gave us a lot to focus on and it is so much better being busy as a missionary than the alternative. I hope everyone had a great week, I love you all!!!

Love ya,
Sister Jensen

Teach Me To Walk In The Light

This week was honestly the roughest week of my mission. Sister Fitzpatrick and I have booth been up and down emotionally, dealing with the stress of starting in a  new area, and for her, figuring out how to be a missionary. I think we've both been extremely frustrated seeing the lack of upkeep of our area, prior to our arrival. We hit our stress climax this week, and had a good comp inventory. We're definitely doing better now, but it still is hard. It wouldn't feel like missionary work if it wasn't hard haha.

We shared a message with a family we'll continue to teach and after, we sang "Teach Me To Walk In The Light" together. This song is a primary song, something I learned as a child, but it's words are still true. For those who don't know the song, here are the lyrics-

1. Teach me to walk in the light of his love;
Teach me to pray to my Father above;
Teach me to know of the things that are right;
Teach me, teach me to walk in the light.

2. Come, little child, and together we'll learn
Of his commandments, that we may return
Home to his presence, to live in his sight--
Always, always to walk in the light.

3. Father in Heaven, we thank thee this day
For loving guidance to show us the way.
Grateful, we praise thee with songs of delight!
Gladly, gladly we'll walk in the light.

It's been hard this week. But I also know that everything happens for a reason, and Heavenly Father is teaching me how to become a better daughter of his, so that I can return to him improved and closer to his perfection. There are always reasons for the trials we face, though we don't understand them in the moment. I know Heavenly Father is aware of Sister Fitzpatrick and I, as well as each of you. For all of you, (I know everyone is struggling with something to some degree.) I invite you to look to your heavenly father in times of trial and thank him for the blessings he has given. He loves you and I hope you all can see that.

Love,
Sister Jensen

Priesthood Healing

Hello hello everyone!!! I'm finally back to my novel writing habits, so prepare yourselves. 

Monday night we started out strong with a blessing. Sister Fitzpatrick got some sort of virus throat thing in the MTC and passed it off to me when she arrived. So my throat was acting up and it was making me super nervous because this is like her 3rd week with it and I was scheduled to sing on Sunday (yesterday) and in a few weeks at a special zone conference at which, President Ballard will be present!! (Holy cow!!!!!!) So lots of stuff happening vocally and I really did not have time to get sick! So Elder Allen & Elder Crowther gave me a blessing. In the blessing Elder Allen promised I would be healed because I was needed to use my talents. It was probably one of the coolest blessings I've been given, because it made me feel like Heavenly Father felt like my ability to sing was important, even necessary to the point that I needed to be healed. He also mentioned how people can feel the spirit more than I imagine/realize when I sing so that was really touching.

Tuesday I tried to keep a little quiet because we gotta do our part to be healed too right? (You know me, I can only stay quiet for so long haha) That night our dinner appointment made us some AWESOME wings, and I was so glad to finally have a bomb meal in Chubby. (Everything has been a little eh I guess, or just a few parts of the meal have made me go "yum!" While the rest was like "I'd like to pass but i won't...yay" So this was refreshing.) I appreciate good food hahaha.

That evening we joined the Young Women of the 9th ward for a "mission prep" night! It was awesome! They had the bishop talk a little about the interview questions, some sisters from the ward who served talk about their missions, and at the end, we spoke about our decisions to serve a mission! (Sister Fitz and I) We both actually got really emotional sharing our stories and it was really amazing to testify to the young women about setting their fears aside and following the Lord's will. I talked about how one of the "fears" I had before going out was missing out on Breanna's life and the possibility of her getting married while I was out...and how that happened. It was so amazing to bear my testimony of how the gospel helped me through even that. I'm, not saying this to make anyone sad, it really was a neat experience. I was able to tell them how everything was still alright and though it was hard to miss, I was able to visit my first area that same day and go to the temple. The temple holds healing powers and it made me so incredibly happy to see so many people I had grown to love. It was just so cool to get to testify to them of how the Lord is aware of us and will help us through our fears.

Wednesday evening we had dinner with one of our ward mission leaders and his family. We had a nice dinner, and were about to share a message when their son (recent RM) walked in....wearing the ugliest shirt I have ever seen in my life. Literally the room went silent as everyone simply stared at this kid's shirt. Let me describe it- Imagine a dark blue button down. Not bad, but now add metallic gold swirls, flowers, and music notes cascading down the chest and one of the sleeves. It look incredibly tacky, and he hadn't even ironed it. His dad goes "where'd you get that shirt son?" And he's like "online, where I get everything else." Like he wore that thing to work. Nobody really said anything. It was so awkward.

Thursday my voice felt like it was almost there. So that was encouraging. We had a suuuper long session of weekly planning and oh my heck I was dying but it's fine. We had dinner with the Johnsons that evening and they were so fun! Again, got some good meat so I was happy. After that we had a stake ward mission leader meeting, which was really helpful. The Stake President is super motivated to get the work going, and he just called a lot of new ward mission leaders, so the training was necessary and I think it'll help them start out with a good outlook. That evening one of our ward mission leaders gave us a huge sack of apples which made me super happy!!

Friday my throat was pretty much healed woot woot!! We had the opportunity to help with the food bank out in Tyhee and that was a mix of sad & happy & humbling. It's just sad to me to see some of the circumstances people are living in. It's even sadder to be able to see the effect of substance abuse on so many of their faces. It was saddening to see where they had gotten themselves, or situations they were put in through other's choices. It was a good experience though. That evening we had dinner with a newer sister to the ward. She moved in recently and her husband has passed away. She was super funny and sweet, I think she gets pretty lonely because a lot of the members don't know her yet. It was good to have the opportunity to spend dinner with her though.

Saturday we had breakfast with all the other missionaries in our stake! There's a member in one of the Elder's wards who is set on carrying out the tradition his grandfather instilled, to feed the missionaries in the stake once a month. It was so great, they fed us pancakes and it was really fun!! He was less active growing up and never served a mission, and his wife is from the Philippines and served a mission. They are so sweet and it was so cool to see the impact his grandfather had on him.

After breakfast we had a lesson with the Manteca family. They are a family that was sealed in the temple and are now getting back to activity. We had a really good lesson with them and discussed the first part of the Plan of Salvation. We were able to talk about our "turning points" and when the gospel became real to us. Brother Manteca shared some powerful experiences and I think he showed his wife that he really does have a testimony. After we got out, Sister Fitzpatrick was super excited because it felt like we really balanced each other well in the lesson. It was really good it went so well. Because of the breakfast we had very little study time so Sister Fitz was super nervous. But all went well and I think she was able to see the way Heavenly Father helped us.

After that we practiced "Brightly Beams" with Sister Wilson, and it was a lil rough. So that made me nervous, but I was like "well, it'll be okay, Heavenly Father said it would be.." That evening we ate with a super sweet family, the Halls. We had met brother Hall briefly the day prior and he told us after dinner that when he met us, he talked to his wife and was like "yeah, we got cool sisters!" Apparently the only set of sisters this area remembers weren't super talkative, so we're pretty neat hahaha. We shared the "Because of Him" video and basically had a family testimony meeting with them, it was so neat. We later saw the mom and 2 kids get up to bear their testimonies yesterday, it was really special(:

Sunday! What a day! We went to 2 full wards so that the wards could have time to get to know us a little and we could meet most of the relief society sisters. That evening we met at President's house and Sister Wilson and I sent out daughters off with each other for a brief exchange. My lil baby was already leaving the nest!! *sniff sniff* The fireside went really well, I think that was actually the best we've sung "Brightly Beams." I could feel the spirit very strongly and I think lots of members were able to feel it too. It was also amazing to see that Heavenly Father did in fact heal me and not only was I able to perform, but it was the best performance we've done of that song. The power of the priesthood is real and I was definitely able to see that this week.

I hope you all are doing well!

Love you all!!!
<3 Sister Jensen

General Conference!

Hello Everyone!!

Our week started out interesting enough.. Whitewashing is always fun to sum it up. We've been contacting a ton of people that the Elders left starred for us. I'll just say not all the descriptions were accurate so it made things awkward a few times. But it's alright, awkward experiences bring companions closer right? Haha, we had some laughs.

I was also hit on by a 17 year old this week. That was a little demeaning. He's not active, a high school dropout, and just plays video games all day....not really my type.

That weirdness aside, we were going to stop by an older lady in the ward and were flagged down by this grandpa. He wanted to introduce us to his granddaughter, who isn't a member and wants to be baptized! Her family is moving to Blackfoot though, so we probably won't get to teach her, but she was super sweet(:

We also got to teach a  family named the Mantecas! The parents are both members and have been married in the temple, they're trying to get more active and learn what they can from the missionaries(: They were sweet and have a 2 yr old boy and one more on the way. They'll be fun to get to know(:

We've also gotten to meet with the Doyle family! Brother Doyle just got baptized in August and is taking the recent convert lessons. We got to watch the first session of general conference with their family and Brother Doyle watched the whole thing with us! Sister Doyle was in and out making a cake for someone, and Brother Doyle has some major back issues that make sitting through church hard for him. But he sat through it all and once conference was over, asked about how he can find help forgiving some people he holds grudges against.

In between sessions on Saturday we got 2 new investigators! We got to teach these two young kids, Allison and Caleb. Allison is 10 and Caleb is 12. They were both in bible school for a few years so they have a general christian background and it was really sweet to teach them. Their dad isn't a member, and said religion isn't really for him, but that we were free to teach them and they could come to church! We'll see how it goes with them! They were excited to get permission to come to church so I think we'll see progress with them(:

Anyway, I loved conference and there is way to much to write about without, so I'll sum up with my testimony. I know President Russell M. Nelson is a prophet called of God. I know this is Jesus Christ's restored church upon the earth today. It has brought me so much joy to be a part of this great work, and help bring others closer to Christ. I love this work and I love this gospel. Have a great week!

Love,
Sister Jensen

Welcome to Chubbuck!!

Hello hello all!

My greenie's name is Sister Fitzpatrick! She's going to be a fun companion, and we will have to learn to balance ourselves in a conversation, because she definitely talks too. She is 22, from Huntington Beach California, and graduated from BYU in Broadcast Journalism. When she gets off the mission she is planning to go back to being a news anchor/reporter.  It's been a whirlwind whitewashing for sure, but I am excited to get to know Sister Fitzpatrick better. Actually, she was originally supposed to go to Raleigh North Carolina. Due to the hurricane damage, they temporarily reassigned her. So I know she's here for a reason and I think we'll learn a lot from each other. 

Let me jump back a bit before transfers, Sister Wilson and I were crazy busy saying goodbye to people and meeting new people as well! It was pretty hard to say goodbye to the ward, but it will be great to get to know another area. (only my third area on my mission!)

I hit my year mark on transfer day, that was pretty cool...didn't do squat for it though because transfers were nuts haha.

It's been pretty crazy since coming out to Chubbuck to be honest. We've met with almost all our ward mission leaders and bishops, and had an overload of information poured out on us, but it's alright. We'll figure it all out eventually.

Sorry, this email is a short one, but we've got a lot to do today! I love you all and I hope you all have a great week!!

love,
Sister Jensen