Happy Turkey Day!

Hello hello everyone!!

Happy Thanksgiving!! I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and were able to spend it with friends and/or family(:

This week I had a pretty neat experience. On Wednesday I drove out to Star Valley with 5 other missionaries to begin shooting for the next mission video. We got to Star Valley, had dinner with the folks I stayed with while I served there, and then headed off to a member's home to shoot the interview portion of the video. I typed that all in a very calm way, but throughout the whole trip I was so incredibly stressed. We left Pocatello way later than planned, had to head to dinner before setting up for the interviews, and only had about 20 minutes of partial setup before people started to arrive for interviews. I just remember looking at my watch over and over and while I was enjoying the company I was in, a mental schedule was rolling in my mind and we were behind. Somehow, it also felt like everyone in the group was looking to me to make decisions, so I was feeling quite stressed. Interviews all worked out, the house we shot in was beautiful and the people that came were patient with us as we finished our setup. That night we crashed pretty hard, we were all exhausted.

In the morning, (Thursday) we were again running late getting out to the Paris Tabernacle to shoot the music portion of the video. Two more sets of missionaries were joining us at the tabernacle, so they could play instruments for the music we had planned. Once we all finally arrived we took much longer than anticipated to figure out the sound system of the tabernacle, find the shots we wanted, and hash the music out. (We literally threw the "mini orchestra" together and they hammered out something that ended up sounding good in about 3 or 4 hours. So mad props to them.)

Again, it felt like I was placed in charge and I knew the missionaries that met us there had schedules and we were running so late... stress was like through the tabernacle roof. (It was all super fun though, I did have a good time I promise.)

During the whole trip, Star Valley & Paris combined, I was just praying those involved were looking at me with charity. There were many things we didn't think to plan for, schedules that ran ridiculously late, and unexpected setbacks that we really didn't have control over. Feeling like I was making a lot of decisions, and not feeling adequate to do so, I found myself hoping that those around me saw I wasn't perfect and were looking at me with charity and understanding. Throughout my mission, I've prayed for charity, and I've prayed to understand those we work with. But until that trip, I hadn't really recognized how much I needed everyone to have charity towards me because of the stress I was under. It was very humbling and eye opening to see just how important it is to have charity towards those around you. We never know everything someone is balancing or going through. There is much more going on in a person's life than what we see.

With the holidays approaching, I invite all of you to pray for charity. Pray to have charity to those around you, and pray to receive charity from others. The holidays can be some of the most wonderful times for families, and also some of the most stressful. Have understanding for those around you and look to serve and provide relief however you can, just as Christ would.

I love you all,
Sister Jensen