Week 22-October 26, 2015

Week 22-October 26, 2015

hey fam! Great news about all of your weeks! super exciting and fun to

read. i dont have a lot of time and i dont have a lot to report but

this week flew by and we spent tons of time just street contacting. i

swear.. i feel like i have gotten really good at talking to people and

introducing the gospel and then getting their phone numbers but they

never ever pick up or answer the phone. frustrating stuff.

This week something really really cool happened though. I was able to

interview a man who has been investigating the church for almost a

year for baptism and it was a very memorable experience in the most

wonderful way. I have been struggling to come to grips with why more

people don't decide to follow the Saviour and be baptised. At times

the question has crossed my mind, " if it really is true, why arent

people just lining up to be baptised?" Elder Holland has given a talk

and personally spoke to our mission about this very thing but it

continues to be something that i grapple with in my mind at times. To

be able to firsthand speak to this man, a magician (he's coming to LA

in 2 weeks and said he could get you all free front row seats and free

dinner and go backstage so I'll send you his email address because he

said to tell you guys to hurt email him and he can set it up) and an

extremely intelligent deep thinking spiritual man and hear his

testimony and see his courage and desire to take such a big step was

such a neat experience.  What a blessing! What dad said this week

about faith really rings true to me. There is no way that God could

have set things up differently- we have to walk by faith not by sight.

If it was any other way, then people would keep the commandments and

believe out of common sense. This way, it is truly a test and a

learning and growing experience. Many moments so far on my mission

have been very difficult- but they pass and the next day is better.

Perhaps this life will have been a very stretching, trying, difficult

and yet amazing and joyful moment in eternity in which we (like we do

in our day to day trials) experienced huge growth in a short span of

time. When I bore my testimony to Mike at the conclusion of our

interview, I felt the spirit guide my words and heard myself tell him

that I knew he was making the right choice. That he was joining the

Lord's true church. It was a very memorable moment.

Other than that, we had tons of stuff happen this week! No major

updates but I think that I am learning loads. We had a great district

meeting this week! It is such a joy to be involved in other

missionaries lives and to love and help them and I feel like I am able

to make a difference and contribute in small ways to the Lords work by

serving other missionaries, not just investigators in our area. Oh!

Cool fact! My old american heritage professor, David Kirkham, lives in

our ward and we are good friends and we were able to visit him this

week and talk over some smoothies while we were on our way to an

appointment. He is working at the BYU london center and was just

called as the bishop of the Britannia YSA ward here!

dad- thanks a ton for the info and also for your thoughts about faith

and your journal. i wonder what it would be like to be companions with

the 19 year old grant... can you guys imagine that? me and dad being

companions? mom would probably know best what it would be like because

she knew dad as a 19 year old and she knows me. i would like to think

wed be the best of buds and talk about all kinds of stuff and

contemplate the mysteries of the universe and work super well and hard

together but who knows hahahahaha its fun to imagine though.

mom-  yea we meet members all over the place (like you and dad ran

into misionaries at hyde park) and this week we got our picture taken

and they asked if i wanted them to send it to my mom so i said

absolutely! hahaha. no she isnt related to us. miracle lady.... Came

to the church on a night randomly we were there!!! Then she said she

would come to church... But she didnt come to church. and she still

didnt give us her contact info. yes i have cut elder woods hair! and

elder jacksons and elder tinaos. i just got mine cut today and for the

first time since getting here paid a barber to do it. i have been

cutting my own. As for meals, until recently, nobody in the ward ever

really fed us so we were on our own and elder wood did almost all of

the cooking. Lately, we are getting lots of meals because they called

a ward mission leader here and that is is focus. Otherwise my favorite

thing to do is get some cheap subs or just eat at home. Lots of

chicken and cereal and pasta. I have enough mission funds to cover

everything. I did spend about 100 bucks on winter jackets and a suit

from elder Chronister out of my bank account... It shouldn't have been

touched other than that really though.. That's weird. Should there be

more? Hahahahahahaha it's funny you asked if my pants still fit for

two reasons- "pants" here are your underwear, we call them trousers

here. That was one I took ages to get used to. I compliment a woman's

pants once when I was really new and she gave me the strangest look

And walked away so quickly and then elder Chronister explained it to

me. My trousers almost all fit... My waistline has definitely grown

but so far so good I haven't had to rule any trousers out yet. They

are getting awfully tight though... We don't have bikes and we take

the buses and underground trains everywhere. We could honestly walk

from one end of our area to the other in just a few hours or so though

because it's tiny. So densely populated though.

Love you all! Have a fantastic week! Keep doing missionary work and

keep being the best family out there!

Elder Jensen

Here's our pday activity: we went and bought elder wood paint supplies

(he likes art) and since I am absolutely in love with the fall colours

and trees and grass (I'm seriously turning into dad) we went to hyde

park and we are sitting against a tree for a couple of hours while he

paints and I enjoy the leaves and the grass and the peace. I seriously

am so content right now... I want to live somewhere I can have a ton

of land and plant tons of trees and where there are real seasons. I

love the cold! Elder wood hates it.. Anyways I took a panorama picture

to send you guys of mY view right now, enjoy !

And here is my new car. I thought natalie and Mandy might like it