Week 8-July 20, 2015
WHADDUP FAM?!? GUESS WHO FINISHED THEIR FIRST TRANSFER?
miss you all! this week so much happened but its always so hard to
think of everything and even harder to type it out.... ill do my best
but just some important information, we got our moves call and ill be
staying in the same area and with the same companion and neither of
our zone leaders (who we live with) are changing either so really,
nothing is going to change for us. Elder Alvey who is a really cool
guy and we hang out with on pday a lot is leaving but thats about it.
this week we had the most successful week of our transfer it was a
really good week and we saw some good things start happening, things
have started to get rolling. we got to teach some lessons, agusto came
to church for all three hours and met lots of people including the
bishop, and our two iranian and persian friends Khohrow and Shahab (60
year old men) came to church. technically... you see we didnt see them
once all sunday but when we called to ask them where they had been
Khohrow asked me where WE had been!! they showed up to the sacrament
that starts right after ours and sat in the front and everything!!!!
so here i was sitting there all sad that nobody had come except for
agusto (which i was super happy about) and it turns out they actually
did!!! let me tell you, that was hilarious.
So me and Elder Chronister get along super well and we have tons of
fun together. We have realized that the theme of our companionship is
food and missionary work. anything we ever do has something to do with
one of those two things. and most of the time they have to do with
both of them. we have been getting fed left and right by
investigators, street contacts, less actives, and members. we get
discounts and free food at restaraunts all over the place because
people somehow know that we love food and i guess they like us enough
to want to feed us! It has been soooooooooo funny to see time after
time how we have been getting delicious food everywhere. its a little
like the story of the five loaves. most missionaries shop for
groceries every week but we are going on something like 3 or 4 weeks
and still have plenty of food if we need it.
One highlight and funny story (there are far too many to email but one
day i will tell you the best ones) was going to see Norman Mitchell
again. We called ahead that morning to make sure he knew we were going
to lunch right after at Agusto's filipino food stall on the street
market so he shouldnt make us food and he just laughed at me and said
in his funny way "no no no.." to which i said "No really we are
serious. dont make us any food!!" and he just laughed again and said
nooo noo no.. and so we didnt know what to do and just laughed and
prayed he wouldnt cook us anything. we visited for a while, and he had
something on the stove in a pot but we assumed it was something for
dinner or something. then randomly he got up and said "im making you
guys dumplings." and started laughing.. anyways i asked him to teach
me how and so he did and kept telling me to tell my mom that some
funny old man taught me to make dumplings. He is jamaican and 94 and
is like a grandfather to tons of people who just come in and out of
his home taking care of things for him and visiting. he has an adopted
son (not legally) who stays there and is named Silah, from Guniea. we
were able to set up a time to meet him at the chapel aafter his work
one day last week but he didnt show up so we'll try again. anyways we
read out of the book of mormon with him and then he told us a lot
about his life and the many roles he has played in his church as
pastor, district pastor, all kinds of leadership in Jamaica and he is
seriously a legendary guy. i think ive told you about him already but
we also got to go to a lunch club thing he has on thursdays with lots
of senior citizens from his church. he had saved us seats next to him
and fed us oxtail (so good..) and cake and ice cream and we got to
hang out with a lot of old jamaican ladies and men for a while. we
didnt fit in one bit but it was a great time and we all had fun. two
american young mormon missionaries with lots of old jamaicans just
having a good time while eating some good old oxtail. I don't think i
mentioned this last week but we also had cow foot which is a jamaican
and russian dish. its like a chewy jello that is actually meat and
usually its really bad but it was good when norman made it for us.
anyways when we talked to norman at his house after the dumplings he
kept ssaying that there is a reason God had us cross paths. I
explained it already last week but it really was a miracle that we
met, on both ends, ours and his. he told us also that he had
missionaries over many times in his life here but that never had he
talked with any of them the way he talked with us. we dont really know
what the best way to go about trying to teach him is but we have
actually considered that maybe the reason we met was for our benefit.
We want him to know the truth of course but he is so set in his ways
and such an incredible man that it is hard. i have faith that the book
of mormon will be the key, because it can do things to a person that i
know we cant do.
the other week i played pick up ping pong in a market against a lot of
arab and black folks who are really good (or so they think) but who
really arent THAT good and so i played quite a few of them because
they all wanted to beat me but it took a while and while i was
playing elder chronister got to talk to all of them and we made some
good friends and i love wearing my badge and wearing a shirt and tie
because i am reminded that people are always watching us and wondering
what we are about, and at times all we can do is smile and be nice to
people and that is all it takes to cause them to wonder, and then they
will be more likely to receive our message and learn the truth of the
gospel for themselves.
my good good friend Elder Jackson (one of our zone leaders who lives
with us) is determined to marry Ashley and it is constantly the joke
of our flat. the other day we sing i love to see the temple and elder
jackson replaced some of the words to say hes going there someday to
marry sister jensen and i wrote it down in my notes cause it was so
funny and i thought id warn you all in case he is going to be the next
member of our family...
There is always way too much to tell but know that I am doing great
and learning loads! it seems like everything teaches me something and
it is the most incredible experience to talk to people here in London
everywhere we go, learning about hteir lives and living in every part
of the world through the stories i hear here. for instance i met a man
from india who is young and his wife and son live in india but he
sends all his money home to them, calls her twice a day, and only sees
them once every year or two. People like him make it easier to think
of not seeing all of you for so long! I love you guys all so very
much, and it was spectacular to hear about everything this past week,
its crazy to think its raining there in cali... crazy
Take care this week and do something crazy and tell me and ashley
about it next sunday!
Love,
Elder Jensen
miss you all! this week so much happened but its always so hard to
think of everything and even harder to type it out.... ill do my best
but just some important information, we got our moves call and ill be
staying in the same area and with the same companion and neither of
our zone leaders (who we live with) are changing either so really,
nothing is going to change for us. Elder Alvey who is a really cool
guy and we hang out with on pday a lot is leaving but thats about it.
this week we had the most successful week of our transfer it was a
really good week and we saw some good things start happening, things
have started to get rolling. we got to teach some lessons, agusto came
to church for all three hours and met lots of people including the
bishop, and our two iranian and persian friends Khohrow and Shahab (60
year old men) came to church. technically... you see we didnt see them
once all sunday but when we called to ask them where they had been
Khohrow asked me where WE had been!! they showed up to the sacrament
that starts right after ours and sat in the front and everything!!!!
so here i was sitting there all sad that nobody had come except for
agusto (which i was super happy about) and it turns out they actually
did!!! let me tell you, that was hilarious.
So me and Elder Chronister get along super well and we have tons of
fun together. We have realized that the theme of our companionship is
food and missionary work. anything we ever do has something to do with
one of those two things. and most of the time they have to do with
both of them. we have been getting fed left and right by
investigators, street contacts, less actives, and members. we get
discounts and free food at restaraunts all over the place because
people somehow know that we love food and i guess they like us enough
to want to feed us! It has been soooooooooo funny to see time after
time how we have been getting delicious food everywhere. its a little
like the story of the five loaves. most missionaries shop for
groceries every week but we are going on something like 3 or 4 weeks
and still have plenty of food if we need it.
One highlight and funny story (there are far too many to email but one
day i will tell you the best ones) was going to see Norman Mitchell
again. We called ahead that morning to make sure he knew we were going
to lunch right after at Agusto's filipino food stall on the street
market so he shouldnt make us food and he just laughed at me and said
in his funny way "no no no.." to which i said "No really we are
serious. dont make us any food!!" and he just laughed again and said
nooo noo no.. and so we didnt know what to do and just laughed and
prayed he wouldnt cook us anything. we visited for a while, and he had
something on the stove in a pot but we assumed it was something for
dinner or something. then randomly he got up and said "im making you
guys dumplings." and started laughing.. anyways i asked him to teach
me how and so he did and kept telling me to tell my mom that some
funny old man taught me to make dumplings. He is jamaican and 94 and
is like a grandfather to tons of people who just come in and out of
his home taking care of things for him and visiting. he has an adopted
son (not legally) who stays there and is named Silah, from Guniea. we
were able to set up a time to meet him at the chapel aafter his work
one day last week but he didnt show up so we'll try again. anyways we
read out of the book of mormon with him and then he told us a lot
about his life and the many roles he has played in his church as
pastor, district pastor, all kinds of leadership in Jamaica and he is
seriously a legendary guy. i think ive told you about him already but
we also got to go to a lunch club thing he has on thursdays with lots
of senior citizens from his church. he had saved us seats next to him
and fed us oxtail (so good..) and cake and ice cream and we got to
hang out with a lot of old jamaican ladies and men for a while. we
didnt fit in one bit but it was a great time and we all had fun. two
american young mormon missionaries with lots of old jamaicans just
having a good time while eating some good old oxtail. I don't think i
mentioned this last week but we also had cow foot which is a jamaican
and russian dish. its like a chewy jello that is actually meat and
usually its really bad but it was good when norman made it for us.
anyways when we talked to norman at his house after the dumplings he
kept ssaying that there is a reason God had us cross paths. I
explained it already last week but it really was a miracle that we
met, on both ends, ours and his. he told us also that he had
missionaries over many times in his life here but that never had he
talked with any of them the way he talked with us. we dont really know
what the best way to go about trying to teach him is but we have
actually considered that maybe the reason we met was for our benefit.
We want him to know the truth of course but he is so set in his ways
and such an incredible man that it is hard. i have faith that the book
of mormon will be the key, because it can do things to a person that i
know we cant do.
the other week i played pick up ping pong in a market against a lot of
arab and black folks who are really good (or so they think) but who
really arent THAT good and so i played quite a few of them because
they all wanted to beat me but it took a while and while i was
playing elder chronister got to talk to all of them and we made some
good friends and i love wearing my badge and wearing a shirt and tie
because i am reminded that people are always watching us and wondering
what we are about, and at times all we can do is smile and be nice to
people and that is all it takes to cause them to wonder, and then they
will be more likely to receive our message and learn the truth of the
gospel for themselves.
my good good friend Elder Jackson (one of our zone leaders who lives
with us) is determined to marry Ashley and it is constantly the joke
of our flat. the other day we sing i love to see the temple and elder
jackson replaced some of the words to say hes going there someday to
marry sister jensen and i wrote it down in my notes cause it was so
funny and i thought id warn you all in case he is going to be the next
member of our family...
There is always way too much to tell but know that I am doing great
and learning loads! it seems like everything teaches me something and
it is the most incredible experience to talk to people here in London
everywhere we go, learning about hteir lives and living in every part
of the world through the stories i hear here. for instance i met a man
from india who is young and his wife and son live in india but he
sends all his money home to them, calls her twice a day, and only sees
them once every year or two. People like him make it easier to think
of not seeing all of you for so long! I love you guys all so very
much, and it was spectacular to hear about everything this past week,
its crazy to think its raining there in cali... crazy
Take care this week and do something crazy and tell me and ashley
about it next sunday!
Love,
Elder Jensen
Hey did Benjamin get my letter? Tell him I said happy birthday and
that there should be a letter from me coming it's been in the mail for
quite some time. Also I thought perhaps if anyone has time and wanted
to see what kind of place I'm in i realized you could go on google
earth and if you start at exhibition road and Cromwell road's
intersection and follow Cromwell road East until you get to Wellington
arch and then Buckingham palace and then on to Big Ben that's part of
our run that we do sometimes like this morning for instance. It might
be cool just to see what it feels like to run down those streets and
see the buildings towering all around you and the architecture! I know
you've been here but perhaps the kids would get a kick out of it?
that there should be a letter from me coming it's been in the mail for
quite some time. Also I thought perhaps if anyone has time and wanted
to see what kind of place I'm in i realized you could go on google
earth and if you start at exhibition road and Cromwell road's
intersection and follow Cromwell road East until you get to Wellington
arch and then Buckingham palace and then on to Big Ben that's part of
our run that we do sometimes like this morning for instance. It might
be cool just to see what it feels like to run down those streets and
see the buildings towering all around you and the architecture! I know
you've been here but perhaps the kids would get a kick out of it?
by the way i gave a book of mormon and we are going to try to teach a
mute person named Angela!!! i whipped out a passalong card and we
started writing stuff back and forth, i would ask a question, and she
would write her answer real quick and it was so cool! she was from
Ghana
this is julia and she absolutely loved the photo booth app on my ipad,
this is one of thousands she wanted to take... hahahaha
mute person named Angela!!! i whipped out a passalong card and we
started writing stuff back and forth, i would ask a question, and she
would write her answer real quick and it was so cool! she was from
Ghana
this is julia and she absolutely loved the photo booth app on my ipad,
this is one of thousands she wanted to take... hahahaha
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| what pancakes look like here in england... |
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