Week 21-October 19. 2015

Week 21-October 19. 2015

Hey everyone, glad to hear the canadian thanksgiving was celebrated and all the incredible news about gavin, yiwei, and amanda from dad! way to go Lydia on everything especially singing mary did you know because thats a sweet song! send me a video when you practice next! Can you tell Brother Rossiter i send him a big hug and a hundred dollar bill? Natalie, sounds like your week was bomb. i absolutely LOVE hearing the sports news and i wish i could be there watching all of them and cheering obnoxioiusly and making a fool of myself and emberassing you! just imagine what i would do in the stands everytime you are playing.. thatll make you grateful.. mandy!!! whatd you thinki of pride and prejudice?! are you in love with mr darcy now? i wish i could go on a walk with you and toffee. we will someday soon so take good care of each other till then! benjamin.. what happened with all those weird emails? anyways way to go scoring the winning run in your baseball game. baseball is so much fun but unless you get really fat dont expect to be hitting home runs in little league cause if youre like me you just wont be big enough yet. its all good though just make up for it in your speed!!! Mom, that is so funny about me and ash's missions. (looks like im using all of mom and dad's money that they are sending to you ash.. thanks hehe) i wish i could have been there for canadian thanksgiving! i tell EVERYONE i meet from canada that my mom is canadian and tlak all about canada! i have a newfound loyalty to your country now. and THANKS SO MUCH FOR THE PACKAGE MOM!!! Love you to death. mr. big bars were gone before you could even blink an eye... Dad, you are right about my companion. but its interesting how if i had stayed with my last comp any longer, i would have stopped learning so much and progressing. the constant change, even when the change brings something a lot harder and trying, is what helps us grow! thats why i am fully confident that the Lord organised his church like that. bishop dunham was bishop for 5 years and then he moved on probably right when he started feeling as if he had a grip on what he was doing. What is interesting is that an apostle never leaves his calling and neither does the prophet..

Here is a very special experience that happened this week for me and that I wrote down really quick the night it happened so I'm just going to copy and paste it.

Walking down sidewalk saw a lady carrying lots of grocery bags. Looked faintly familiar but didn't think much of it. Figured we are in Kilburn Park all the time so that's why she was familiar. Walked on. Kept looking across street. She stopped at bench in front of park. I figured oh well and walked past and left her behind thinking nothing of it. Then had a feeling to go talk to her. Figured oh well what can I lose? 180 and without explaining to elder wood headed straight back and across street, noticing she had set all of her bags on the bench but not sat down. Said excuse me ma'am can I help carry your bags to your house. She looked at me smiled and said no, but hi how are you! Clearly recognising me, I went with it and knew I had talked to her at some point in the past. Until 5 minutes in convo, didn't know where or when or who she was. She said it is so funny I ran into you two because just yesterday I was thinking about your church. Asked me for the address. Spoke for 45 minutes. She offered a prayer before we parted way and we set a time to meet at the church. Still many reservations but curious and noticed something so different and friendly about us. Finally realised after looking down at her purse where I knew her from. Had stopped in Holland Park a week or so back by asking abou the native American looking fringes on her purse and ended up having very intense conversation and lesson about restoration on sidewalk an she had refused any contact info but accepted our email and a Book of Mormon. Overwhelming realisation of what a miracle this was. The chances we have of running into a person twice is so small- for it to be the one lady I wished so badly for another chance to see and teach and to have so miraculously and luckily (having no knowledge of who she was in the moment of decision) turned and walked towards her and talked to her- it was a miracle! 

Dad- can you tell me about the seventh day Adventists? Why do they say that the sabbath is on Saturday and why do they claim that it wasn't supposed to be changed to Sunday? Does it have to do with the resurrection on the Saviour? I am clueless and don't know where to look for the answer because it's not in the scriptures.

This weekend we got to have stake conference here in Hyde Park and it was truly incredible. I got to go to the leadership session before the evening session and then the Saturday evening session was as president Kearon said, perhaps the best Saturday evening session he had ever been in. The big news is that Sister Burton (general relief society president) and her husband came, as well as president Kearon (president of the church in the Europe Area) and his wife came. So it made for quite the weekend.. I got to meet and shake hands with each of them. The Saturday morning session we sang in a choir and I have discovered a love for singing in a choir! I have always felt the spirit most quickly and most strongly through music and I have also always loved being a part of a group making beautiful music together- it started long ago but the best memories and examples come from marching band playing lead trumpet in a band of 300 and a brass section of 90 and playing chords and progressions that would send chills up and down my entire body and leave me feeling like I had experienced something not quite of this world. Anyways it was so much fun to sing in a choir! And with president Stevens the mormon tabernacle choir singer himself! Great experience. I want to join a choir at byu when I get home.

London- where missionaries get wider and their suits get slimmer 

A word to mom- please love the missionaries! No matter how awkward and unlovable they are... Because you are exactly the kind of woman who by being like their momc, can make a world of a difference by doing so and change everything and help the missionaries so much!i just picture what it would be like to have you in my ward, how awesome it'd be to have a woman like you treat us like part of her family.

Love you all so much! This week was a pretty long email which is good right? Hahaha take care and have a wonderful week everyone! 

Elder J

(sent Oct. 22, 2015)
Sister Jensen, My name is Elsa Jensen and my friend and I are currently traveling around Europe as a post college graduation trip and we ran into your son and his companion in the underground rail station yesterday in South Kensington London. He is happy and doing well and is full of the spirit.  He wanted us to let you know that he loves and misses you! We loved running into such wonderful examples and disciples of Christ - many blessings and thanks to you and your son for a wonderful life led. Sincerely, Elsa Jensen

Where I do my studying eating and lots of things. I thought it was pretty and so I took a pic one morning. 

A beautiful park I stopped to take a picture of. The parks here are incredible- little spots of heaven in a huge city. I have fallen in love with anything green

Me and one of my best buds here, Ali Suliman. He's a millionaire, stamp collector, stronger than a truck, miner from the jungles of the Congo, widely known famous legend in Africa, scariest and most loving man you can find in London... And a convert of 2 years with a testimony like a prophet! We are such good friends and I love him to death. This was my first ride in a taxi in London

Week 20--October 12, 2015

Week 20--October 12, 2015

Hey fam! I really messed up this week and don't have any time to write

which is completely my fault. I was totally planning on writing you
such a long email because so much has happenede that I wanted to tell
you all about. The big news though is that I will be staying in hyde
park 2 for one more transfer! Six more weeks. Which means that in
total I will be here in this ward for 6 months! Elder wood is staying
here too which means I will get to finish training him and then I will
almost definitely leave. Elder Leite, my long time good friend and
zone leader since I arrived, is leaving tomorrow and that will mean
that none of the original elders in our flat when I arrived will be
left. I will miss him dearly but who knows maybe I will serve with him
again in the future! I am looking forward to this next transfer
because I feel as if I need to change something- Part of me wanted to
move because I needed change but this will be an opportunity to change
myself instead of my surroundings. Daniel decided he doesn't want to
be baptised anymore but Khohrow agreed to live the word of wisdom and
brought a friend to one of our lessons who wants to be baptised as
well! We will see if they can change and accept the gospel but I am
praying for all of them. I love you all so so so much. Being a
missionary is a wonderful experience and i am in a place and doing a
job that allows me to come closer and get to know the Saviour in a way
I never would have been able to before and for that I am so grateful.
The spirit is so real and I feel it so often while being a missionary
testifying to strangers about what I believe and whAt is dearest to my
heart. I may not know everything but we never will here in this life,
but when we act on what we do know and take that faith and testimony
that we do have and exercise it, then it starts to grow. I am always
thinking of you all! Thank you so much for your emails they mean the
world to me and I absolutely love reading them!

Elder Jensen

Week 19--October 5, 2015

Week 19--October 5, 2015

Man... Is it weird to say that I am super jealous that you guys went
to watch Cinderella without me?

This week was a super good one for us. We finally some some things
happening and set some records for our area this week, which is
awesome. Two people are on date for baptism now.. A man named Daniel
and a man named Khohrow (pronounced Hoce- row) and they are
coincidentally both from Iran! Which is Persia which is Iran they are
the same country, that I had to learn hahaha. I love these guys so
much and seriously want the best for them. They both came to general
conference with us at the chapel! And I don't know if I have told you
this already but Augusto has been helping us with all kinds of stuff-
teaching, meals, sitting with out investigators... He is such a
tremendous help. He has embraced the church and the gospel 100% again
and I am calling it right now that he will return to the philipines
soon and be called as a bishop. He would make such an amazing bishop.

Daniel is a guy who was Muslim growing up in Iran but came to England,
and realized he never really believed in it. By a few miraculous
events he ended up becoming Christian but doesn't go to any particular
church at the moment, just reads the bible and prays every night. We
have taught him 3 or 4 times now and I have never before truly
understood how vital it is that the church of Jesus Christ was
restored and that the preisthood was restored. Explaining it all and
struggling to find out why it is so important has opened my eyes to
the clarity of it all. For anyone who reads the bible, it would seem
clear to them that there needed to be a restoration. There are far too
many false claims to authority that would be so confusing had it not
been for the restoration through Joseph smith. It's funny how much you
learn trying to help someone else understand something. That's a truth
I have discovered- when you teach something, you learn more than the
"student" and it becomes engrained into your mind in a way that it
becomes part of you and makes so much sense! I have always loved
explaining things in the most clear, simple way and it has been
wonderful to try to do so here as a missionary. Daniel plays football
(a.k.a. Soccer ) and although Ben Mandy and natalie are probz better
than him he is a baller for an old man. He plays with us and the other
missionaries with a group of guys at hyde park on Tuesday's and it has
been a blast! Reminds me how much I love football. This last week
there were a bunch of american football players practicing next to us
and I thought it was so funny.... I turned around and looked around
but there were no other Americans besides my companion but he doesn't
play with us so I had no one to laugh with. Wasn't sure who was
playing real football. (Mom I love the American flag socks I wear them
every chance I get)

General conference was amazing! I loved it. Dad... Haven't you talked
about elder Rasband before??? I know he was mission president of your
mission because the bishops counselor here was a missionary in your
same mission but much later than you were and he says elder Rasband
was there when he was there so I can't imagine he was also your
mission president... But I still feel like you have talked about him
before.

Transfers are next week!!! I am dying... I feel this feeling that this
time around I might be leaving hyde park 2 finally. Inside, I will be
pretty torn apart if I do. At the same time, I am ready for a change..
But anyways we will just have to wait and see what happens. I can't
believe the time is flying by so quickly. Anyone who had served a
mission will tell you and I have heard them tell me before that time
seems to dissappear as a missionary but I am truly seeing that start
to happen. To think that I will be starting my fourth transfer in a
week is insane! It makes me want to do something crazy... Who knows..
I have been considering inviting people to be baptised the first time
I meet them on the street so maybe I'll just start doing that. Hahahah
but seriously, I just want to live every moment to the fullest! Forget
my fears and change the world one soul at a time... If only it were
easier! but I personally think that the Saviour is the real driving
force behind everything. He is the one who makes things happen and so
part of being a missionary is learning to get out of the way and
become a real disciple- someone who the Spirit can work through. And
that is a life long task. Perhaps President Monson knows what it is
like to become that type of person.

Anyways, love you all so much! I truly do think and pray for each of
you every day. Keep up the good work yall. I feel like I may be a
missionary but you girls especially are going to be the ones to change
the world, both on missions of your own and in your daily lives being
the amazing girls you are! Ben will change the world too. He's gunna
crack the code and figure out how to hie to kolob as the worlds first
scientist-prophet hahahahaha. "Love yous!!!!!" As my dear friend Elder
Tinao says

Love always,
Elder Jensen


Mom.. This general conference I thought especially of you many times.
I love you more than anything! Thank you for everything! I will never
be able to repay you and Dad for all that you have done for me. The
girls and Ben are in the best hands they could possibly be in and that
makes me so happy.

Week 18--September 28, 2015

Week 18--September 28, 2015

Hey family!

Man I can't even tell you how fun it is to read your emails. It brings
me so much joy. It's so good to hear that everything is going well and
that you are each doing missionary work and that your testimonies are
so strong! My week was really good and to sum it up, basically we have
been street contacting all week long because we have almost zero
investigators. It has been very hard, but a good growing experience
and so I'm thankful for that. I wore the tie you sent me yesterday
Mom! I got some compliments for it too which is awesome because we are
always wearing a tie so if you get a compliment for it then you know
it's a nice one. I have been learning so much as a district leader and
although I am still struggling to learn everything and there is a lot
for me to improve I feel as if I am getting a little more comfortable
with some of the responsibilities. I love the chance to think about
more people then just the folks we work with in our area. Good to hear
that ashley didn't get affected by that earthquake! I found a guy from
Santiago this week and had a really long and good convo with him and
took a picture to send to ashley so I'll attach it.

Dad, can you tell me a little more about grandpa? Exciting to hear
that Yiwei and Amanda are still interested, I'll keep them in my
prayers. Mom, how is young women's going?

Hope you all have an amazing week. I love you all so much it is
difficult to put into words! I pray for you each every single night.

Love,
Elder Jensen

A zone pday badminton tournament!