Week 13-August 24, 2015

Week 13-August 24, 2015

Mom: MOMMA you're gunna be an amazing YW president. I have a testimony
that leaders are entitled to revelation and inspiration and if the
bishop called you to be the YW president it's because that's what the
Lord wants you to do. As a first hand witness to the way you love us
kids I'm jealous of the young women who are going to get that same
love from you.

Dad: holy cow!!! Yiwei and his wife are taking the missionary lessons?

That's fantastic! Your example must have had a serious impact on them.

Keep it up. I think you're being real smart about how to slowly pass

them off to the missionaries... Remember that they are called by a

prophet to do what they do and from first hand experience I know that

missionaries don't feel special or more knowledgeable than a more

senior member with years of wisdom and experience but I think the Lord

gives missionaries a special power and authority to bear their

testimonies. Placing your trust in them will show yiwei that you

respect their calling and have faith they will do a good job in

teaching them. So do what you think is right but my opinion would be

to air on the side of letting the missionaries do what they do as soon

as you think it's right. You may be surprised at what the a spirit

teaches yiwei and his wife through them! As grandpa says, the Lord

does the heavy lifting. As for work I hope you get the microscope! And

the raise... Hahaha

Lydia: way to be an example. Who cares if it was awkward when you

asked everyone about the cuss word cause I've found that moments like

those define you and its not about the other people its about who you

are choosing to be! look for the opportunities to make those decisions

and be an example.. youre becoming such a fantastic young woman :)

keep the boys away until i get home plz or else ill have to send nasty

letters to them from here and that would be weird

Natalie: i havent stood on a soap box and yell at everyone about the

restoration because that isnt really a tradition anymore but maybe one

day i will it would be scary but if i do ill make sure to take a

selfie with all the angry people behind me ;) and you got McCulley for

algebra!!!!!! SWEET! youll love him. hes a really really good guy.

tell him i said hello would you? sorry if he puts you in the corner

right away when he sees your last name is jensen because i remember

having some friends in that class and talking a lot.. hahaha dont

worry he wont im just kidding. Thats exciting that you and Mandy will

both be at Foothills! holy cow.. i cant believe how old you two are

getting. way to go taking up my challenge by the way too! youd best be

keeping the boys away too. 8th grade means people will be getting

boyfriends and girlfriends and none of the boys in foothills are

worthy to even tie your shoes. idk if you can tell but im strongly

against any of you girls having any boyfriends.

Mandy: dont get any boyfriends in middle school, you hear me? just

kidding hahaha i cant believe youre old enough to be a sixth

grader!!!! i remember the first day of middle school when i went with

mom and ashley and then ashley knew what to do and so it was just me

and mom and i wanted to be a big kid and not be a mommas boy but let

me tell you i stayed as close to mom as i could until we found my

class and then i finally let her leave... i was so scared! but it

turned out to be really fun and i know you'll end up loving it even if

its scary at first :) also im so glad you got to go in the ocean this

time and that your ear is doing better! thats great news..

benjamin: i didnt get any emails from Ben jamin J this week but i hope

you're doin good little man!  miss you

Ashley: Its so much fun to read your emails because kinda like mom and

dad say they hang onto every word we tell them, i look forward to

reading your emails so much!!! It so good to hear of your successes

and failures and crazy experiences dealing with abusive husbands and

all kinds of wack stuff... keep doin what youre doin. it was cool to

hear that you are the hardest working sister in the mission. im not

surprised. I really wanted to tell you that i said hello and started

talking to a man probably two months ago during my first transfer and

he turned out to be columbia and we got his number but nothing came of

it until about a couple weeks ago on a whim i called him up and we

have taught him two lessons, he's reading the book of mormon, came to

church twice,  and we passed him off to the other elders because he

turns out to be in their area not ours. But the cool part is that he

speaks very little english so i whipped out my old spanish 2 skills

off the shelf, dusted them off, and was able to get my points across

and understand him well enough to make all that happen! Ever since it

seems like we have run into so many spanish speakers and my spanish

speaking skills have tripled in just a few weeks! it has been a huge

blessing and i know it was a blessing because i have never been able

to speak the way i have been. its so much fun!!! anyways i guess i

just wanted to brag to you a little bit hoping you might be proud of

me hahaha but like i said I dont think it was me i think it was the

Holy Ghost.

whole fam: this week was really good. i dont have much to say but we

have been doing a lot of service and have had some really cool

experiences and saw some people make some real progress. and we also

had some discouraging moments but its all part of the game. what i am

learning is that members need to be missionaries... because that is

where the best work happens and so i encourage you all to keep up the

good work and be missionaries! example is the best teacher and actions

speak louder than words so live the gospel and others will notice and

things will happen. You are the best family in the world and I love

you so much. I hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Yours truly,

Elder J

me and elder chronister after getting some free cookies... long story
???

A photo of Elder Chronister and I with Augusto and Carlo our super good friends. Augusto is such a stud (the one inbetween) he was baptized at 17 in the philipines and went on a mission and was AP and everything and then came to england 8 years ago and went inactive but since we have met him and started seeing him he has been coming to church every week again and it has been the biggest blessing to see him allowing the gospel to reenter his life and be there with him every step of the way. Carlo is his good friend who is a chef and has come to church a couple of times with us and we have taught him the Restoration and i have such high hopes for him.. he is a quiet guy and we love him so much and this week we were so happy because he has completely opened up to us two and completely trusts us and isnt so quiet anymore! hes going back to the philipines for a month this week with his partner and son (he works so much and so hard to send money back to his family there) but when he returns we will try to keep teaching him! 

old but good photos someone sent me from the MTC! seems like just
yesterday me and elder withers were companions in Preston... i thought
id send these to you cause were sorta just chillin in a mall with wifi
and im bored.

Week 12-August 17, 2015

Week 12-August 17, 2015

J-squad! I absolutely love the pictures!

I don't have much time because today we had an interesting experience

in the morning and then a zone barbecue on the roof of the chapel in

the afternoon and we have a dinner appointment tonight but all is well

in central London. the flat has been the same 4 elders for 10 weeks

now and im going to miss it so much because in two weeks elder Jackson

will go home and elder chronister and I will have to be split up.. It

will be really really sad to say goodbye.

I am sitting in an apostate temple right now typing this up haha me

and Elder Poole just got a tour through the free mason temple here in

London.. Nuts

So this morning we went to St. John's Wood with the two sisters in our

ward and visited a woman who isn't a member but whose friend from

America offered to get her in contact with the missionaries in order

to give her a blessing. She liked the idea so we visited her and let

me tell you it was funny and crazy and spiritual enough to be the

perfect quick story..

so we go and run into the lady on our way as we are looking for her

flat and as we walk into her home we smell soething terrible and she

realizes that the cat had pooped on the floor somewhere and that elder

chronister and herself had stepped in it and tracked it all around her

family room and hallway so as she freaked out and was swearing up a

storm we all scrubbed and cleaned her carpets which was soooooooo

hilarious for some reason. she was a single mother and has a serisous

medical condition called MA which makes her really tired and her

little girl is two and a half and that just added to the funniness of

the situation. we got to know her a little as we all scrubbed cat poo

off her floor and sister kerr played with her daughter Arrow.. her

husband is sort of a waster (loser) and doesnt ever pay for stuff or

take care of the girl when he is supposed to. she wasnt planning on

being a single mother but ended up being one as those things do i

suppose. she believes in a god with out a doubt in her mind but really

has no particular faith or way of worshipping so that was a good

discussion. anyways so as we finally all sit down and start talking

about the blessing, her daughter arrow starts her real antics. she

takes all her clothes off basically and then drags the portable

training potty into the middle of all of us and starts to go to the

restroom as happy as can be that she was the center of attention while

performing her duties..... we couldnt stop laughing it was so

funny...... it made me miss little kids in our home so badly! (mom how

about one more little sibling...) we finally got around to giving her

a blessing of healing and i sealed the annointing. i have given

blessings before and have always felt so humbled and pleaded for

guidance but this time was specail... i  knew that being a nonmember

and a newcomer to any of our beliefs, that i needed the guidance of

the Spirit more than ever before. i had no clue what i would say which

was ok because by now i have learned that the Spirit will place the

words in our mind as we speak. It has been something that i especially

learned the past few weeks giving several blessings for different

reasons. but as i gave this blessing to this very troubled and loving

mother i know that i was given the words that Heavenly Father wanted

her to hear. it was a powerful experience and one that was emotional

for both her and for me. I am grateful for the preisthood.. God has

given us as men opportunities to feel of his power and to learn from

the great responsibility it is to act through it.

I  absolutely loved hearing all of the stories of the j-cation. I cant

wait for our familiy trip to Yosemite the summer of 2017!

I love you all and am praying for you! keep being the best fam in the

whole world :) i love the emails and i love all the stories and i LOVE

THE PICS MOM THANKS SO MUCH <3

Elder Jensen

Just gotta help this street learn how to live up to their street name...

Zone conference this week was amazing. Very special experience and it was so awesome as always to meet up with the old friends from the MTC! They are doing well and i even saw my old MTC comp Elder Withers today which was so incredible. (elder sanchez, bender, chiwara, and mthombeni from left to right)

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Week 11-August 10, 2015

 Week 11-August 10, 2015

I am so excited for you guys to be going to Yosemite! That is just
incredible........ UGHHHHH and I wish so badly I could go with... If
you get the chance you should hike to the peak of Half Dome!! And take
lots of pictures to send me and Ashley! I hope you're all enjoying
your car ride and I'm sure Benjamin is loving the game boy time cause
I know that's what I would be doing when I was his age.. Did Mandy
have to have any further things done to her ear? I know she said she
was worried she might have to stay in the hospital a couple weeks
back..

Lydia and Natalie: sounds like girls camp was a well proper brilliant
good time! How's that for some English :) im so glad it was such a
great week and I'm not surprised at all! And lyd! YCL? Sounds like
some kind of operation.. makes me think of Tommy and gabe getting
their ACL's repaired hahahaha I'm sure you did a great job and that
everyone in your group looked up to you so much! Too bad Natalie
wasn't in your group, that would have been awesome!! I remember
bribing all the youth leaders we were friends with to put me and josh
in the same youth conference family.... Never worked

This week was a unique one and I know you have asked me lots of
questions in prior weeks that I didn't answer but maybe if each kid
thought of a question each week and so did Mom and Dad then it would
give me something to write you guys about on weeks like this when it's
hard to think of what exactly to tell you about. It's not that nothing
happened this week in fact the opposite but it's hard to remember or
choose what to tell!

It was a great week, and one funny story I thought I'd share happened
on Tuesday while on an exchange with my Zone Leader Elder Jackson (we
live in the same flat so it's not much of an exchange). We were in my
area for the day and after visiting some less active family and
finding the kids with a babysitter and no parents home and one of the
kids letting the door shut behind him and locking them all out, we
were walking away from their home when a man on a Vespa screeched to a
stop after passing us and then turned around and pulled up to the
curb.. We didn't really know what was going on so we just said hi
whatsup and he was like "hey!! Are you guys real Mormons?!? I've never
met one in my whole life and I've always wanted to!!!!" You would not
believe the shock and excitement on this mans face... We had a very
very interesting discussion in which he mostly told us his whole life
story and how he came to be atheist and we didn't have a chance to get
a word in but it was hilarious!! He told us he was gay and used to be
Scientologist or something and hated the whole confession idea and now
that he has learned and read books he knows religion is so yesterday.
Funny guy and super funny experience, he gave me his email and asked
to take a selfie on my iPad since his phone was dead. When I sent him
the pic he responded and offered to organise and take us out to eat
and talk somewhere where we could get whatever is in our "menu". He
was very determined to get us to drink a bubbly drink but we made it
pretty clear that we could not so he offered to get us pizza or
something. His name was Matthew and I'll attach the selfie. Another
quick funny story.. There are tons of stairs everywhere in tube
stations cause the underground trains are on different levels and such
and so we often help people carry strollers or luggage and we carried
some huge suitcases down the stairs for three hilarious black ladies
from New Jersey and Brooklyn and when I got down the stairs one of
them just gave me this huge bear hug from the side (definitely against
the rules but I couldn't do anything about it..hahahaha) and they
insisted on taking a photo with us. Sometimes the best chances we have
to be missionaries are just going out of our way to help folks out!
That's something anyone can do without a badge and a lesson I've
learned that I will remember long after my mission ends. it was really
really funny and of course I told them about Dad and where he served
too.

Anyways I'll be thinking of you guys especially this week because I
can't believe you're going to Yosemite............ If these are the
blessings that your family receives for your decision to go on a
mission I don't know if I like them yo. Have fun and take tons of pics
and send them! Make sure to take a night to lay under the stars and
have dad give you the famous talk about eternities and cosmos that he
gave the Boy Scouts many years ago

This was a super random email I know.. But have a fantastic week I
will be praying for you guys!!! Enjoy the beautiful nature that you
will be in! I am going to spend a couple of months in the mountains
when I get home... I miss nature so badly

One of my favorite scriptures this week was mark 9:24. I think we can
all relate to it at times. it is powerful to know that even though
sometimes we wish our faith was stronger than it is, that the Savior
can still work miracles with the faith that we do have.

Love you all so much! I can't wait to get the J-cation shirt...

Elder Jensen

P.s. Mom thanks so much for the recipes! You are the best. There is an
"American food store" in Holland Park that we often visit and we are
good friends with the lady that works there now. Recently their
chocolate chex went on sale for a pound a box..... I got all the boxes
they had in stock

P.p.s. I bought new trainers!! So I am officially moving on from my
beaten up marathon shoes that I love so dearly :(

super cool skyscraper called the sky garden..... it was a total home run and a real gem that we sort of got lucky enough to check out. usually need reservations but we went at just the right time and they let us go up. 

Today I had Pizza Hut buffet with our zone leaders and two other elders who came into London, one who was in my MTC group and I'm buddies with but haven't seen since. Then we split and elder Chronister and I met up with elder Poole and elder wen, our buddies from Britannia and we went to St Paul's. Here's were it gets freakin awesome. Mom and dad: we used our ministerial certificates and they basically gave us v.i.p. Access to anything in the whole cathedral!!!! Everyone else had to pay 20 £ or something and they practically rolled out the red carpet for the four of us once they saw our badges! HAHAHA it was awesome!!! We went up 527 steps to the TOP OF THE CATHEDRAL I'll attach pictures but it was out of this world...... We talked to tons of members and workers and non members everywhere along the way and it was funny to chat with folks as missionaries walking around in the biggest Anglican cathedral in the UK. So amazing.... But so different from our temples. Idol worship if you ask me.. And the feeling is very different. But still... Beautiful and eerie and majestic and breath taking all at the same time 

We are sitting in Starbucks so I thought I'd send this real quick. Peace

How about that for a panorama? Imagine standing there in real life on top of a cathedral overlooking London...

Elder Chronister caught in the moment. The man the myth the legend 

Week 10-August 3, 2015

Week 10-August 3, 2015

Benjamin!!! You are the man!!! im proud of you and i wish i could have been there to see the baptism, the girls' musical number, go to Bj's, and see the confirmation yesterday too. It sounds like you guys had a really incredible weekend, fhe in the tree sounds like it would be so much fun. thanks so much for the pictures mom.

MOM WHAT WERE THOSE SUPER DELICIOUS PANCAKES CALLED.. You used to make them for me on special occasions and they were so so good...... Oatmeal? Super moist soft and utterly heavenly.. I think they were oatmeal.. Sorry I know that was random but I thought of them the other day and was dying to ask you

Anyways this week was really exciting, we had some crazy goods and some crazy bads.. But I wouldn't even call them bads, they were almost more exciting and good experiences than the goods! I never have much time to say everything so I'll be breif but the Chris we met that I told you about we taught twice now and by the end of teaching him about the plan of salvation he asked us how the whole baptism things are organised and said that baptism is definitely something he wants to do!!! We had been praying hard and preparing to ask him the exact thing and so I didn't even know what to do!!!!! We had decided that August 29th was a good day for him to prepare for, and he said sure enough he would like to do that. He didn't come to church because he slept through his alarm and then there were no buses and tons of traffic yesterday morning here because of a huge bike race that went through a lot of London but he said next week he will be there and were teaching him this week again so we are very very grateful that we could cross paths and that God has prepared him to take this huge step. This was an especially humbling and very happy experience for me because it is the first time I have seen someone want to be baptized, and we had decided to fast for that very thing to happen this transfer. So we have a ways to go with him but we will do our very best to prepare him.

We also had a very good lesson with two girls named coral and Nina who we by a miracle ran into and gave our number too while it was raining suddenly and we ducked under a store awning that they were under as well. We didn't even think much of it until they gave us a call and we were shocked because the passalong card we gave them had our number written already which would normally never happen. We taught them the restoration and I for the first time felt the importance of being very bold. I realized I am a missionary and I know the Book of Mormon that we gave them is true and can help them, so I made sure to tell them just that. I also realized that when I decided to forget all my usual hesitations to be very honest and get straight to the point, the spirit put words in my mouth and when we were sincere they listened intently and i am very hopeful that they will progress. We had another equally interesting and quite opposite experience as well, where two girls wanted to meet us at Starbucks and ended up basically trying to save us from our own brainwashing.. Ok I keep trying to type this email and Gmail keeps deleting big chunks and random bits that I've already written it's super frustrating and I don't have time to rewrite it all.. So I'm sorry but I'm just gunna finish up! It was a great week full of all kinds of crazy people and great experiences and I wish I could tell you about all of them! I love you all tons have a wonderful week and I love reading your weekly emails so much. 

Benjamin- I'm so proud of you! You will make a great missionary someday and you are becoming quite the stud.. Keep up the good work! Mandy I didn't get an email from you yet but I hope your ear is feeling better and that gymnastics is going super! I'll bet the party and fhe was so much fun. Natalie- it's super to hear about all the exciting stuff going on I hope you have another great week! Don't kiss any boys.. Lydia you either and good luck getting everything ready with kyara for girls camp! You're going to be fantastic I just know it. Teach them all about the 90/10 rule! 

I'll attach some pics and might get a chance to write some more a little later but I just wanna send this so it doesn't delete anything again! LOVE YOU 

elder J

Zone meeting with th e whole squad. Notice the matching companion ties...

Whole zone going to Chinese buffet last pday!

The British museum outside had some incredible courtyard with huge columns and the kids will know what I mean when I thought I was Percy Jackson walking into The temple of Olympus or something.. Such an awesome place

Week 9-July 27, 2015

Week 9-July 27, 2015

Hey fam! so good to hear from you all. sounds like singing in the rain
went super well, i loved the pictures mom thanks for sending them!
send me tons of pictures all the time i love it! Can you please tell
me if my letter to benjamin got there or not?! im kind of dying to
know because you still havent told me!!! and WOAH HAPPY ONE YEAR
ASH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't believe you are going to be home for
Christmas this year!!!!!!!!!! It sounds like you are doing really well
and i can't believe your less active is marrying your ward mission
leader. That's crazy.. our ward mission leader is absolutely
incredible but he is moving with his family to Utah in a month so
we're really sad to see him go. this ward is going through some
challenges because both of the bishops counselors have now moved (one
this week) so bishop is on his own and many of the families in the
ward are moving or have already moved this summer. Apparently this is
the nature of the ward though, because its a pretty American ward and
the American embassy is in our boundaries and the workers only stay
about 2 years and then are relocated so people are constantly coming
in and out. Anyways me and Elder Chronister are trying hard to help
out and yesterday were super glad that both Agusto and Edward
Callender, both preisthood holders who have been inactive for years
came to church and they are both incredible and i think the Lord is
going to take care of the ward and as bishop said, he will send us
what we need. It is exciting to see it happening though, and we will
keep doing our best. Agusto is such an incredible story and i know ive
told it before but we had another great lesson with him this week. we
see him every saturday when we go to his filipino food stall on the
street market which is getting super popular and successful, but we
also saw him for dinner another night and helped him break into a flat
in their building for a friend. he ended up walking from one balcony
across a board to another on the second floor while i held the board
still and everyone on the sidewalk watched with excitement hahahaha it
was really funny because we had unfortunately broken the lock by
trying to kick the door down (crazy to think that would happen) and so
even though he got the key and opened it, the door was broken at that
point and they had to replace the lock. but he cooked dinner for us
and we had brought no bake cookies that we messed up somehow and we
read matthew 26:36-44 with him and talked about the atonement and what
it means to do God's will. I made an analogy that its like a kid and
his father, and the father tells the kid to do something he doesnt
want to do but the father knows is best for him. the kid trusts his
dad and so he does it, and then ends up thanking him later. For
example, dad asked me to do certain things that i did not want to do
when i was younger and as a teenager but i trusted him and did it and
now looking back i am very glad i did. Because Heavenly Father knows
what is best for us, we need to trust him. To do his will and have
faith that one day we will look back and thank him. That really
effected Agusto and he opened up to us about some personal things and
his testimony, and although he is hesitant to tell anyone else those
kinds of things, he is determined to take it slowly and get back on
track and we are so excited for him. Something i want to share with
you is that God answers our prayers. It is a simple truth that can't
be learned by hearing and needs to be learned from experience, and i
am very grateful to be able to say that i know it is true because of
some experiences this week. Yesterday i had something that was
bothering me and i didnt feel like i could talk to people or have the
companionship of the Spirit when we hit the streets for a few hours to
do street contacting so i said a prayer, asked for forgiveness for a
certain thing, then was about to pray for a new investigator for us to
meet and teach, when i paused and thought about it. Why did i want God
to put someone for us to teach in our path? Because i wanted to be a
good missionary and i wanted to feel that i was doing good work. Then
i realized that i am not here to do my own work, i am here to serve my
Heavenly Father and assist in His work. So instead I thanked Him for
the opportunity to serve him, and humbled myself to whatever that
would entail, be it finding someone who wanted to hear the gospel or
be it stopping many people unsuccesfully and getting frustrated. If
God wants to place someone in our path, he will do it, and most likely
it will not be because we want to inflate our pride by getting the
notion that we are doing such good work. Itll be because its part of
his plan for that person for them to run into us. Once i submitted
myself to this thought i felt a great amount of confidence and peace,
knowing that i was grateful to be a representative of Jesus Christ and
grateful to do what I could to serve God and whatever that meant we
would be able to accomplish that day, it was up to the Lord. Soon
after, i saw a woman crossing the street towards me, and after
hesitating, i decided to ask her what her favorite thing about rainy
days was. ( it was a rainy day). She answered and then said, smiling,
I know you! youre a mormon! i smiled and nodded and she said "im a
mormon!" turns out she had been baptized 2 years ago and married to
her husband in a church by her bishop, but had been moving a lot and
lost track of missionaries and was in a new place and didnt know where
the chapel was or anything. It was clear she was still very new to the
church, and needed help and fellowship. I explained a lot of things to
her and helped her as best i could, then she asked to take a selfie
with me to send to her husband and asked us to visit her and then i
tried to shake her hand to say bye and she brushed my hand aside and
hugged me... i probably looked like such a fool because i just
awkwardly had my arms to my sides and didnt know what to do but she
didnt seem to mind that i didnt return it thankfully.. anyways i was
shocked as i walked away and realized that my prayer had been answered
so clearly in a way i didnt expect. i was able to meet this woman who
may have needed to meet us far more than we could have imagined, and
although she is already a member of our church, each soul is just as
important as another to Heavenly Father and she may have needed to run
into us that day more than any 'new investigator.' i was humbled by
that lesson and was so grateful that god had trusted me with placing
her in my path and allowing me to be a part of His work. The story
gets better though, because just as i was feeling satisfied, full of
joy and very grateful, we continued to contact and a little while
later, we hadnt talked to anyone in a while because it was a rainy day
and nobody wanted to be walking around and we were on a small street
going to a less actives house but i had an impulse to randomly stop a
man with a dog and ask him what kind of dog it was. he ended up asking
us more questions than we could answer about our church and what we
believed. it turns out, this guy named Chris Leslie (probably about
30) had been researching the bible and religions for the past 4 months
relentlessly, and professed his knowledge that Jesus is the way, but
he was searching for the true way to follow him because so many
churches contradict each other yet claim to follow the same person,
that person being Christ. He is confused, and after we tried our best
to answer many many questions (we are talking really good questions
like the gospel needing to be preached to the whole world before the
second coming, Elijah needing to return, the relationship between
Jesus and God and the holy ghost, our explanation of which he really
liked, and us being a part of God's family) he asked if he could have
one of these books of mormon we were holding and so i gave him mine,
we got his info, and set a time to come visit him and teach him more
this week. I felt prompted to ask him i he would be comfortable if we
said a prayer before we parted ways, and explained that in the
scriptures God asks us to pray at all times and he gladly accepted and
was interested in the sincerity and personal way of praying. it was
powerful, and i could see that he was touched by the prayer elder
chronister offered. we left him and realized we had spoken with him
for about an hour on the sidewalk in the rain. Then i thought back to
my silent prayer earlier that day and realized just how clearly i had
been heard and answered. just when i thought i had been answered, God
placed Chris in our path as well as if to prove to me that he really
does answer our prayers by giving me exactly what i had originally
wanted. I am humbled and so grateful for everything i learned this
past week, especially that experience.

Thanks mom for the recipes! I have gained some weight since leaving,
10 pounds to be exact, but that is what i used to weigh before the
marathon so it's not that crazy. We went a little crazy this past week
and are all (the four of us in our flat) recommitted to our respective
"diets". they are pretty crazy about it actually... protein and
wheatgrass all the time, no carbs, and Elder Leite bought some really
expensive mass gainers to start taking. he is starting them tomorrow
and has been "bulking" and hopes to gain 10 kg (23 ish pounds) in the
next two weeks hahahahaaha im really excited and told him to take a
shirtless before and after pic so we'll see what happens. our flat is
so much fun, and this morning we sang how firm a foundation together
at the start of our companion study ( we sing together every morning)
and we KILLED it. we sang with some gusto.. i realized how awesome it
feels to be part of such a great work and to feel the brotherhood of
other missionaries.

I am doing great and love you all so much! i am going to try to reply
to each of you personally this week.

Elder Jensen

ill send some pics separately

These are from Queens Park, a small but huge beautiful park in our

area we just discovered this week while finding! It has a pet area and
some animals its soooo cool

Thanks for the pictures by the way :) I went to the British museum today and it was incredible... Just jaw dropping! I'll send you a picture of me and the Rosetta Stone I just snappd a quick selfie cause it was really crowded