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