Week 24-November 9, 2015

Week 24-November 9, 2015

Tie so fly you die eating pie (im just trying to one up lydias cool title)

wasssssssssssssUP fam!? sorry for the title, i was trying to make up a rhyme and we had pumpkin pie and i wear a lot of ties and that was all i could come up with (given i didnt spend much time thinking)

First of all WOW lydia and natalie look like theyre ready to head off to college and take over the world when on earth did you two start looking and getting so old? You both look beautiful though, almost a little bit too much so... mental note to self to start praying harder that no boys in arcadia get the wrong idea. Mandy, you wouldnt believe how jealous i am of you reading by the fire this week a lot. We have started listening to christmas music and i wish so badly we had a fireplace to lay by. It is getting cold here in the UK! Benjamin, way to go winning all your games this week. always remember.. if you arent first, youre last. So always be first. Mom, way to be! elder murri plays the downloaded GC talks in the morning at times while we shower and eat bfast and i love it. also, hyde park 2 had their christmas program this week sa well! i can totally see you sitting there bawling while the kids sing. because i almost did myself! there are two things i love and they are children and primary songs so it was an amazing sunday for me.

We have had the really neat opportunity to teach a 9 year old boy who is the son of a recent convert to prepare him to be baptised and this sunday i had a special moment. I was sitting next to him, the boy (his name is Alister kinda like the one in dad's lab) during the sacrament meeting, and he was in this really nice neat suit all dressed up nice and with his long hair combed and everything. he looked so dashing, but i knew inside exactly how he must have felt while his mom forced him into nice clothes and combed his usually crazy hair because heavens knows me and ben have been there before. (youre the best mom) anyways as we sat there together, him taking up so much less of the bench and his feet hanging off the ground, the primary started singing one of my favorite songs and i suddenly looked down to my side at alister and felt a strong feeling of love for him- i already loved him but in that moment it was so strong! then i realized why, and felt very humble and blessed. I felt like i was in arcadia, sitting next to benjamin at the end of the row in sacrament meeting. they are about the same age, and he reminded me of the little brother i have many miles away. I leaned over down to him and whispered, "i love this song" to which he looked up at me and gave me a big grin and said excitedly, " me too!" i gave him a fist bump (always appropriate no matter the situation) and he smiled really big and i felt my heart melt as i realized that the Lord had blessed me with the friendship of this little boy to remind me just how much i love children and especially my own siblings. I know i am in the right place and i am not often homesick but in that moment i really missed you guys. Its cool to hear that the arcadia ward had their primary program this week as well. 

the other really cool experience i want to share is that we were asked to sing altogether as the missionaries in our zone for a pair of sister's baptism yesterday. A guy named patrick who is 19 years old and who i have gotten to know playing basketball with on friday nights and talking to in the chapel at times was baptised and i learned things i will never forget. His story is incredible- he had tons of questions about 3 years ago and began to do some resesarch. one of his big questions was why modern revelation supposedly didnt exist and why there wwere no more prophets in these days. he was searching for answers when he stumbled across Joseph Smith on the internet. he read all about him and his life and his death and he said that he knew at that time that Joseph Smith was a prophet. things progressed and miracle after miracle led him to read the Book of Mormon and finally he decided something had to be done and he walked into our chapel one day about a month ago and told the sisters he would like to be baptised. His testimony was incredible- and it brought many questions into my own mind. would i be as strong as him and have the faith to be baptised if i were in his shoes? he and I are similar in personality and the exact same age and i love the guy. If i had not been raised in the church, and stumbled across it, would i have walked the same path he had walked? I feel confident that i would. i sat there thinking over my life and realized that not a day goes by that i am not compelled by one reason or another to be a better person because i decided to be baptised a member of the true church -i have never once regretted that decision and my life is infinitely different and better because of it. It was a special experience and when i gave him a hug after the meeting it was a tender moment and i was able to tell him what an example he was to me.

We are teaching a woman named Maggie who is columbian and in her 50's or 60's and is the sweetest lady ever. She is Jehovahs witness but is so sincerely interested in finding out about the Book of Mormon and is willing to join the church when she receives a confirmation that it is true. Besides her and Alister, we are still looking for more people. It is incredible the things you learn as a missionary. to begin to say it all would take ages! but I LOVE YOU EACH SO MUCH ! there is nothing like leaving your family to teach you just how much you love them and cherish them. i am always praying for you all. Thank you for your support and for your examples to me. you are each such an example to me on how i can do better and on what i need to improve. I finished my journal this morning and skimmed over it... reading over my entries in the MTC and while in LAX almost 6 months ago almost gives me goosebumps. it has been so long and i have learned so much, and yet the days and weeks and months pass by like signs on the side of the road on the I-15 on the way to Utah. It's like im already in Las Vegas and i will be through the first quarter of my precious time out here pretty soon. unbelievable.

Love,

Elder J

p.s. mom ill send some pics from my ipad.

p.p.s. yea i got the package from the primary. loved it :) please send lana my thanks! 

p.p.p.s. natalie keep up the letters! I look forward to them so much. 

My MTC bud Elder Chiwara from Zimbabwe. Plus sister hannig (in my district)

Me and Elder Wood in front of the ice rink outside the Natural History Museum! Too bad we can't go ice skating I want to so bad

Elder wood snapped some pics of me and this SUPER cute puppy that a less active and his wife have at the moment.. The daddy dog is on the bottom of the pic. The puppy would drive Mandy and natalie and Lydia and ashley nuts... It s cuteness is unimaginable 

Week 23-November 2, 2015

Week 23-November 2, 2015

HAPPY HALLOWEEN J SQUAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ashley, did those three people get baptised saturday!? I hope so! How was your halloween?

Our week was nuts! to begin with, yes the UK sort of celebrates halloween and it is beginning to become more and more popular. but it is nothing like american halloween. i missed decorating our front yard and house and making all those ghosts out of bed sheets and soccer balls and scaring people with the microphone and hiding in the bed of the truck. we had dinner at a members home on halloween and they gave us a ton of candy which was super super sweet. but the real halloween celebration didnt happen until we got home after planning that night... Elder Tinao, my super cool buddy from australia brought a full bunny suit from australia and it has a mask and everything- he put it on and him and I went downstairs and onto our street and tried some trick or treating. didnt really work out too well but he scared some people and i was just about dying from laughter hahaha so we did what we could to celebrate but we werent able to do much. still a super fun great halloween! i was ranting to my companion though becuase people here in england dont know how it is supposed to be done... there are just tons of creepy people in their 20's who paint their faces and walk around being creepy. halloween is all about little girls dressing up as disney princesses! i was so angry. i only saw ONE disney princess the whole day.. i got on a bus to go home and behind me was a young girl in a princess costume and i was so happy ( i had all the candy the member gave us) that i turned around and gave her a big peice of candy. she made my whole night the way her face lit up and she smiled at me. I am going to teach england how halloween is meant to go down! her mom said it wasnt fair so i had to give her a peice as well.. 

So last week was super super crazy because we were supposed to have the baptism for Mike, but he didn't go through with it. It taught the sisters and I a very powerful lesson about the adversary- when he came to have a lesson at the chapel he asked me to be there for it during the week and he talked about our interview and how he had thought more about it since and decided he didnt know if the Book of Mormon was true or not yet and he didn't want to do it until he knew. basically he wasnt himself at all and we were all devastated. it was really sad the way you could see all of his doubts overpowering his faith. it makes me realize that what president uchdorf said in the last conference is very true- it takes no honor, no strength of character, or integrity to live a life of unbelief and skepticism. the mark of a truly great man is one who decides to believe in something and to live according to it. 

this week was full of crazy exchanges! i did a lot of street contacting for other areas and for other companionships and we had some good success finding young single adults which was cool. i also spent some time in a portugese speaking area which is a long story but for the first 3 or four days of the week i didnt spend much time in our area. i really enjoy being with all kinds of missionaries though and my zone leader and i had a ton of fun contacting the other day- we worked super well together and it was really productive. i think that unity is a very important thing. 

i really think that i am getting extremely awkward. i am now way too comfortable tlaking to people all the time and in all kinds of places and i think i am developing an immunity to feeling the awkwardness i create and that worries me- but oh well it is serving me well as a missionary!

to tell you all about my week would be impossible- in terms of investigators, we are struggling and it is hard but we are getting super close to many of the members and that has been a great blessing. also, I CANT WAIT FOR CHRISTMAS!!! I will almost surely be leaving Hyde Park in the end of november because it will be 6 months which breaks my heart. i also hope that i can serve somewhere in london during christmas so i can say i was in london for christmas. 

Dad- the picture i sent is of me wearing trousers from home- they are a little baggy in english missionary terms! i have some tighter ones that i wear a lot as well that elder leite gave me when he left the flat.and i started wearing a cardigan another missionary gave me and some sweaters (we say jumpers) that i found as well so i think that i am looking more and more english each day... someone told me i have a nice twang in my accent though, that was funny. i still sound american but some of the rougher edges of american accent is getting smoothed off i think. also, i cant tell you how much it helps to remember the good that I can do simply by standing on the street sometimes. i know that everyone is watching and looking at us and that they way i conduct myself is very important... i focus on being Christlike and then pray that it will make a difference on someone, somewhere, but my selfishness makes me wish i could see more results now- not hope that they will happen one day in the future and i will never know about it.

The more i study the scriptures, the more true i see that they are. also, i begin to understand that this life and the gospel and what we do is far more important than i ever before realized. it used to be a nice thing that made me happy and made my family happy- now i realize that this is a much more serious matter. "wherefore men are free according to the flesh... and they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death according to the captivity and power of the devil, for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself." 

I know that Heavenly Father is more than the Creator of the Universe- he is our father! how willing are we to listen and trust Him? for me, not as often as i wish that i would. but all we can do is press forward with a steadfastness in Christ and rely on the mercies of him who is mighty to save. 

I love you all so much! i hope that the wedding goes really well and that Grandpa is really happy! Have a wonderful week!!!!!!!!!!! praying for ya'll. best family ever

with all the love in the world,

Elder Jensen

p.s. jonathan reeves (from duarte ward) is in my ward here! also i gave a blessing to Ezra Taft Benson's great grandson... pretty neat. his wife knows trevor schramm and is from los alamos! dad, i dont know her maiden name so i doubt i could tell you what family she is from... sorry!

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 

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!