Elder Taylor Jensen- London England Mission: Week 95- March 20, 2017

Week 95- March 20, 2017

Coninchiwa, o shua do? watashiwa Jensen Chorro.

It's a bit hard to think of what to tell you guys nowadays so don't blame me if they decrease in quality.

We did an accumulated approximately 6 or 7 hours of service. It was actually tons of fun it felt so good to get in a shirt and shorts and work in a yard. I'm super sore now and my arms and legs are covered in little cuts from the brambles we were cutting back in one sister's yard but it was worth it. I'll attach a picture.

Funny story: a high council speaker didn't show up to Deal ward this Sunday so the bishopric asked the four of us Elders to fill in and Elder Bowles and I literally planned our little talks on the same thing; comparing one of our service projects (both of our companionships was at this one) to the gospel. It was neat- we gave different viewpoints on it. Here was the abbreviated summary:

We were laying slabs as a foundation for a less active member to place his shed on. It involved a process: we dug up the grass, and sledge hammered the cement underneath so we could level it out a bit. then we put lots of sand and cement mix and levelled it nicely. finally we placed the big 2x2 slabs of cement on the sand nearly perfectly level with one another. Elder Bowles compared this to building a firm foundation (helaman 5:12) on christ so that our testimony (the shed) would be supported and withstand weather and such. I continued the analogy by explaining how we do that. I compared the rocky unlevel ground to us; with high points, low points, stronger places and weaker places. the sand and cement mixture I compared to the Atonement; which levels the playing ground and smooths out all our imperfections and sins,and heals the wounds and resolves injustices. As we learn and apply His Atonement, we get a more level foundation. Then I compared the big cement slabs that go on top to our application of His teachings and His gospel; one slab may be living the word of wisdom, another would be forgiving others, another would be paying tithing. That further solidifies our foundation and firms up and fortifies the level, sandy base. Then it gets interesting; at the end of our project, the member sprayed water on top of it all so the cement would have enough moisture to set. This was harder to think of a comparison to, but in the little time I had I compared it to God's grace and His blessings after we have done our part. "we are saved by grace after all we can do," so once we do our part, he sprays his blessings and sets everything so we are ready to go. Thought it was a nice analogy and hope you guys enjoyed it.

Jamie and Carly were sick and we were busy and it was hard to meet this past week so we actually didnt see them until last night and they couldnt come to church cause they were ill so nothing to report. Kind of worried cause the wedding prep and scheduling is coming down to the wire.

Anywasy, one more funny story. Our landlord has been repainting in our flat so he gave us 50 £ as a gift and told us to get ourselves dinner in return for the disturbance. We went to a nice chinese buffet saturday night and since we only get an hour for dinner we didn't get to binge as much as we would have liked, but it was nice to go out. we even had a white rose on our table. we must have looked real cute.

Elder Yamada turned 19 last week! What a great guy. we had a party at the Clues and it was a lot of fun.

Anyways, love you all!

Mom, you will get a video from Bro Boyson. I hope you get a laugh out of it.

Dad, maybe if I have one more companion his name will start with an X. Who knows.

Lydia, where are you and Kyara going to be living??

Elder Jensen


	The three week meeting for new missionaries; great to see Elders Burgess and Withers again! Mom- Elder Wither's companion doesn't know grandma and grandpa.