Week 37--February 8, 2016

Week 37--February 8, 2016

I'm still waiting for some pictures of Ashley and the fam!!! Also, What happened to ashleys nose? And everything you said about Ashley and the people she knew in Santiago rings so true. She is the most loyal and loving friend. I remember saying something about one of her friends and then she unleashed a flippin storm on me and put me right in my place. Typical Taylor. I passed my driving test! And according to missionaries here, the British license which I'll have from now on is going to make my insurance way cheaper in the states for the next 20 years or so cause In america anyone can pass a driving test... Here it's actually super difficult! I think the Lord blessed me though and I got a pretty chill test dude. He rebuked me hard for not doing an "emergency stop" the way he wanted me to though LOL. This week we went to MLC (sorry dad I can't remember if I explained what that stood for already but it's the mission leadership council) which was really good because we had some really good councils with president about some new things for the mission. We do tons of exchanges and the general authorities are changing the way they want them to be done and I look forward to trying this new way. Basically the companionship we are doing an exchange with both come into our area and the four of us work in our area all day instead of two being in each area. This is supposed to help the other missionaries learn from the way we do things because our area is supposed to be "the example area." I think it's a good idea but it just means I need to be that much more diligent and make sure our area is always producing. We also had ZTM (hahaha now I'm just using all the abbreviations I can for fun) which is zone training meeting and that was good and I learned a lot from a couple of things that happened during it. Nagaret, the woman who got baptised and whose family arrived from Portugal and we have been teaching, is doing well and her family is so amazing! They have two kids, 8 and 12 a boy and girl respectively and I think of me and ash as kids sometimes but this week we went and kicked a football around with the kids and Vladamir (their dad). Also, we taught them about the word of wisdom, the plan of salvation, and the law of chastity this week and it all went super well. I love them so much! It is such a wonderful family. They came to church but I couldn't sit with them cause I had to play piano for sacrament meeting... #bettergetsomeblessingsforthat 

Christiana is still meeting with us but is still trying to feel "sure" about the Book of Mormon and Joseph smith but I am still praying that she makes a leap of faith and decides to be baptised cause at the moment she is still unsure. She is seriously so golden though. Her answers are like what every missionary wakes up to find out he was dreaming about. We will see. Keep her in your prayers though! The Russian family was busy all week so we couldn't teach them...

This week was a super exciting one for Elder Hesen and I because the zone saw so many miracles- I was just so happy over and over as I heard about them. This is elder Hesen's last week and we have SO many dinner appointments it's absurd. I might put on enough weight to make a second elder Jensen. Us four missionaries are speaking next week and we are each speaking about love.... Cause it's Valentine's Day..... Great topic to speak about as a missionary I'm PUMPED. Cause I'm just speaking about my love for the scriptures PHEW hahahahahahaha. 

Next week (on the 17th) I will be in London at this time to see elder Hesen onto the plane home and pick up my new companion. Love you all so much!  Mom I'm sorry about your laptop, but good luck getting everything done and off to Canada! Tell your parents I said hello and that I am praying for them! Mandy that pistachio and cheesecake sounds so bomb.. Promise me you'll take me there to get some one day? Natalie, I was so jealous when you said you had the whole ice rink to yourselves. That must have been so much fun.. Also, welcome to the braces club. Everyone loves having metal in their mouth! Lydia, you are something else. Keep being awesome. Ashley and dad are so lucky!!! I wanna go to Australia so badly one day. Benjamin, are you gunna run a marathon one day? 26 laps?! That's crazy man! Nice. You're in better shape than I am that's for sure.

I love you guys! I know that the Lord is our one way to find real happiness in such a crazy world. Helaman 5:12 describes it perfectly. if we don't have that foundation, we will be lost in the world. It's not even enough to just be a good person cause the adversary is changing people's perception of what that means and people will crumble to temptation without that foundation. So to you all who have been baptised, keep going and endure to the end! "If ye shall press forward, feasting upon the words of Christ and endure to the end, thus saith the Father, ye shall have eternal life." 

Elder Jensen

Me and my very very good friend Elder Leite, who I lived with in Hyde park for 4 1/2 months when I first arrived. This was at MLC and I will only see him once more cause he goes home with Elder Hesen. Love this guy like a brother.

In London on pday last week. Yee

This is Ben who is a recent convert who joined the church four years ago and went on a mission in Australia and now lives in Basildon and goes teaching with us all the time. He's our homie. My yellow tie decided to become a celestial white colour for the picture ..

Showed them the sky garden in London last week. It was pretty tight