Week 94-March 13, 2017

Week 94-March 13, 2017

March Madness?!? Nope I'm in England

Beloved Family,

What is good in the hood? 

I'll tell you what's good in the hood here in Dovakia. The weather! But more importantly, the work. We had a couple of miracles this week and in general a lot of success reaching out to some of the less active families here. 

The news with Jamie and Carly is that we had some great lessons this week with members that have never gone teaching with missionaries before but who wanted to help us. It felt satisfying to know that we were providing an opportunity for the members to learn and feel the Spirit of missionary work and strengthen their testimony through teaching with us as well as teaching our investigators like usual. One of the members is putting in her papers now; she is the Clues' oldest daughter. The other was a brand new recent convert and her daughter; the one who was baptised the last week of last transfer by Elder Cumming when we were in a trio. She bore her testimony of Joseph Smith and the Restoration after we watched the Prophet of the Restoration film with Jamie and Carly and it was incredible! It was clear that the lesson was beneficial for everyone involved. Wow... We are so blessed to be in the restored Church of Jesus Christ. Why did I not do more missionary work at home?! I can't imagine a greater blessing. We have to be living the gospel though to recognize what a blessing it is. OR not living it; it appears to me that's also a way of realizing what is missing and a reminder to people of how lucky they were to have it. You guys hear that? Be missionaries! In the Face to Face with the Youth (we watched it Lydia) Elder Eyring talks about how bearing your testimony need never be offensive to anyone; it is our duty and if we do it out of love than people will always benefit from it. Wait... back to Jamie and Carly though they didn't come to church. Big sad face. Their daughter was misbehaving too much the morning of they said. Mom; I need your help; any advice? What can we tell them? 

Also Mom, this is the 3rd. Wood, Webb, and now Yamada. Great job on the painting! I chuckled to see that old family picture of us kids is still hanging up between my room and the bathroom. 

This week we met a man from Persia who used to live next to an LDS church, attended quite a few times, but had never joined. We taught on a bench for a little while and after whispering to him, Elder Yamada invited him to be baptised, he accepted, and then gave him a date to prepare for! Unfortunately he cancelled our appointment and we are still in the process of setting a new one but it was a miracle nonetheless. 

To answer Mom's question, yes Elder Withers and Elder Burgess were companions for 3 transfers! They were excellent together; they were the assistants to the President and they did a great job; they are both great leaders. It was nice for them to have been my leaders when i was ZL because I have a lot of love and respect for each of them. That's why he worked on the transfers but no, zone leaders don't do anything with that, so I never participated in transfers. I will be seeing Elder Withers and Elder Nelson this week I'll ask him if they know Grandma and Grandpa. 

Recently I have been downloading lots of old General Conference talks and listening them in our spare time and while driving. I have gained a new appreciation for the apostles and prophets and their inspired wisdom. I know they are called of God and that they are true witnesses of Jesus Christ. I'm glad we can lean on them and learn from them.

Training again is opening my eyes yet again to the basics of missionary work. While we get along well and have good laughs together, it is hard to communicate easily with Elder Yamada and he doesn't speak with the members because he can't understand them and not many of them make the effort to speak slowly to him. I admire his toughness and his faith. What i have learned this week is that we say our unique message to the world is the Restoration, to people here, there is so much more that encompasses. Firstly, that God exists! that is where we hit a road block with almost everyone here. It has made me think hard about how I know He exists. I am convinced our testimonies are a living thing, as Elder Holland said. It gets stronger and weaker depending on our choices. And it's not something I can give to people; it's every individual's responsibility to discover their own. But I get real joy from bearing mine to everyone I can. I count it as a privilege. 

Anyways... I love you guys and want you to know I'm grateful that we have been sealed in the temple and will be together forever. Keep living the gospel. Happy English Mother's Day!

Love,

Elder Jensen

Week 93-March 6, 2017

Week 93-March 6, 2017

Hello family!

Mom- I like the wallpaper! Good work. Ill bet that was a nice surprise for Dad!

Congrats to Lydia for getting a date to Mormon Prom! She can show off her supreme dance skills; those are important. after all thats how dad wooed Mom. And hey congratz to Natalie for winning all your tournament games! did you win the tournament? and Lydia we are watching the face to face (listening actually not watching) while me and some missionaries email right now. Funny to imagine you just watched it recently. Ben, sorry about the tournament. Im excited to watch your videos one day. Did my letter to Benjamin arrive? Hope Mandy is doing well sad not to hear from her this week. Ashley, you are a good example. thanks for sharing the experience. good luck with the job interviews! 

This week for us was great! We got a lot of kindness from the members this week and had some fun at the white cliffs again today with the other elders in Deal ward. Mom, its just the 4 of us. the two in b. boysons pic and us. 

About Jamie and Carly- yes we are preparing for the wedding and yes they are planning to be baptised right after they are married. I forgot Mandy was almost named Hannah! sorry back on topic.. Jamie and Carly came to Cantebury for a Regional Conference on Sunday and bishop is working with them for the wedding in April (probably the 15th) and then the baptism will be soonafter. they are excited for it and accept everything we teach; they are quitting tea and cigs really well and they accepted tithing and fasting and fast offerings which we taught at the Clue's home which was really good.

The other family decided they couldn't believe in God. Sad but happens so often. Probably the most common obstacle with people here; most have no faith at all.

We are working and all is well. Elder Yamada is doing a great job continuing to work positively and learning English. We have had some funny times this week- language study time (where we study English together) is always really funny cause as I ask him to say things from a list I toss in random things for him to say here and there and it always cracks us up for a while. 

Anyways, I gained a stronger testimony of fasting this week. I felt a very distinct answer come to me while fasting for a certain purpose. How grateful I am for gospel principles which teach us how to communicate with God and to tune into the promptings of the Spirit. (Like ashley said already) 

one thing i realized is how important family is; I had a feeling this week that family would be my greatest source of joy in my life and that I should do everything I can to prepare for that time. 

Funny story about josh asking about book ideas dad. Ive many times been glad you suggested i read some of those c.s. lewis books years ago because I loved them and they come to mind sometimes. 

Anyways, love you all and thank you for the emails! Please keep praying for Jamie's family I love them dearly and hope and pray they will be able to make these big commitments.

Love,

Elder Jensen

Jamie and Carly after they made us dinner on national pancake day

Pre- cliff jumping photo

Coninchiwa!  Origato!

What is paler, my calves or the cliffs? Hahaha just kidding they're not too white. 

On the cliff 

Elder Mecham from Utah, great guy. Living close to elder Withers and I at byu next fall!

Week 92-February 28, 2017

Week 92-February 28, 2017

Coninchiwa!

I've got a Japanese companion! 

That's the big news because besides that our area hasn't seen much excitement this week. We found a new english family but haven't taught them since our first lesson so I'm not sure theyre really interested. Jamie and Carly are doing alright- poor Jamie was up all night sick saturday night so they couldn't make it to church unfortunately... that was really sad but it was out of anyone's control. The only big update is that Carly has chosen the date of their wedding to be the 15th of April- very exciting! the Relief Society has agreed to help with the reception. 

So here's the lowdown about my new companion: his name is Elder Yamada and he is from Fukui, Japan. He is awesome! im out of time. but his testimony is rock solid. he speaks good english but not great conversational speed so we are working on his English. he is a great kid. im excited to be his companion- i have learned a lot about faith and humility from him already. 

Love you guys. thanks for all the continual support and love. dont know where id be without you. 

Elder Jensen

The clue family. So good to us. 

My little friend Hannah- we are best buddies

Our district overlooking the white cliffs of Dover . We could see France! 

The lads! The wind was insane! 

Me and my companion, Elder Yamada. Coninchiwa!

Week 91-February 20, 2017

Week 91-February 20, 2017

Hi family! It was neat to hear about all your adventures and
excitements from this past week.

Life here has been great. We had a crazy week to say the least. One of
the elders in the other companionship in our ward had to get emergency
transferred and we ended up being in a trio this past week, covering
both areas. It was a blast. I did a lot of driving to be sure. We were
still able to keep things running fairly smoothly though and life went
on and all is well. The missionary we got in our companionship is an
old friend of mine who was in our zone back in Ipswich, Elder Cumming
from New Zealand.

Jamie and Carly are doing great! No mom they are English not Slovakian
and yes dad they progressed a LOT this week! We taught them the word
of wisdom early on and to our surprise, since we had started teaching
them they had already cut down from 60-80 cigarettes a day to 20, and
the day after we taught them, they smoked less than 10. Carly is
having a tough time giving up tea but making good progress in that as
well. It was so neat to see that Carly even bought a dress last week
to wear to church. We had dinner with them at the Clue's house on
Friday and played games and had a lesson and at church sister clue
took care of and entertained both their young ones along with her own
little daughter; she is amazing. She was like a mother hen and it
allowed Carly and Jamie to focus on the sacrament meeting! Our gospel
principles class was excellent as well. Quick side story is that the
other Elders had been teaching a woman named Pauline who got baptised
Saturday and she testified a lot to Jamie and Carly in gospel
principles about the difference in their family ever since her
daughter and then a year later herself had been baptised. Also, the
cherry on top was that a member who had taught them with us a while
ago spoke in sacrament meeting and welcomed them from the pulpit and
encouraged everyone to make them as welcome as they had made him
welcome in their home. So it was a good Sunday and they enjoyed it
very much. They read the Book of Mormon scriptures we assigned them
every night last week.

So the big news is that elder Cumming is leaving tomorrow so they will
whitewash his area and elder Webb is also leaving to serve in outer
London and I will be training another new missionary. I am sad to say
goodbye to Elder Webb; he is a smart, diligent, humble, and courageous
missionary and I have been so happy this last transfer as we served
together. However although I'm sad I'm also proud of him and the
progress he's made so quickly so I'm excited for him. Also excited to
get a new greenie.

The mission is so good. Sam and I wrote each other about how much we
are thankful for it so far and how different our lives will be in the
future because of them; I just want to give everything I can before I
finish. I know the gospel is true and every sacrifice for the Lord and
His work is worth it.

I love you all,

Elder Jensen

My Valentine's Day breakfast for elder Webb while he showered. Notice the principles from the missionary lessons mentioned on the paper - "law of chastity/love" etc. Hahaha. 

Matching ties w Elder Cumming my companion for a week.

Pauline and her daughter who was baptised a year ago. Such a touching story! Great baptism; she was so happy the entire time. 

Found a pretty sweet viewpoint next to an appointment we had in Westgate. 

As the ward named us this last week, "the three nephites" just nowhere as cool as the actual three nephites. 

Week 90-February 13, 2017

Week 90-February 13, 2017

news from Dovakia

Good morning J-squad! (itll be morning when you see this)

It was so good to hear about Grandpa and Lourdes; and that's exciting that theyre serving a mission! what type is it? seeing as theyre serving from home it must be about family history or something im guessing? anyways thats so neat. i wish i could have been there to see them. 

Other than that, i was sorry to hear lydia has been sick. sounds like a good week otherwise though. the explanation for the subject is that this LA guy we've been teaching said he calls Dover Dovakia when we told him about how many Slovakians we have met. pretty funny. Reminded me of Arcasia so i told him about that and he had a nice chuckle. 

The good news: Jamie and Carly came to church with Evie and Alfie their two kids! they really enjoyed it. Carly said this week that since she has begun praying each night, she feels a really good feeling and believes someone is listening now. This is small but significant; she has been athiest all her life. It was her first time coming to church too, and she said it was really nice and she wants to go again! Jamie of course is really happy with all that we have been teaching him and already believes everything we tell him about the Restoration etc. I think he's partly so happy that we have helped Carly to believe in Christ after 6 years of failed attempts on his part so he is gladly accepting anything we tell him. it was super stressful sunday morning getting htem to church cause we missed the bus and had to call some members to get the carseats for the kids and find a lift but we made it in the end and to top it all off, as they left church that afternoon, they invited us to come to their house for some homemade chicken burgers that evening. good indication they enjoyed it! evie was pretty antsy during sacrament meeting but we just drew pictures together on my ipad the whole time which was good. then the highlight....... I got to teach the ctr class with one of the other missionaries and thats the class that Evie went to and also some other little kids in the ward i love. it was really nice and also touching to see their unquestioning belief and trust in the Saviour- our lesson was about faith in Jesus Christ. I now really hope that one day i get to serve in the primary. i think that would be the best. 

Other than that, one funny story is that elder webb and I baked cookies while doing our weekly planning cause it was snowing and it seemed like a good idea. we delivered them to the members in dover and they turned out super good actually. while in the process of baking and planning, our nigerian investigator called and we had a long discussion with him over the phone exchanging scriptures and arguing the need of priesthood authority and the reality of the Great Apostasy and it ended with us basically agreeing there would be no point in meeting any more. if that was the worst news itd be manageable although very sad but on top of that, because of the phone call, we burned like 30 cookies. ouch. salt to the wound. 

This week I have continued studying the New Testament and Jesus the Christ when I have time to spare. I am amazed at the amount of love I feel for the Saviour the more I learn of Him. you hear things like that from people all your childhood and growing up but until I have started studying so much about Him throughout my mission i never guessed I would be the one saying that too. How grateful we should all be for Him; He is the reason I am here doing the work I am doing and for that I wake up grateful for each day I have here. I know He lives and I urge you all to read more about Him this week and see how your faith in Him grows. I love you guys and hope your week is awesome. dont go crazy on valentines day and thanks for the package... some of the missionaries i am good friends with saw the package from Mom and the hearts she put on the outside and were laughing and said that's how you can tell I don't have much time on my mission left. but really.. thanks for all the notes. they were so fun to read.

Love,

Elder Jensen

the Cantebury Cathedral; oldest Saxon church in england im pretty sure. built in 1070 or something.

Week 89-February 6, 2017

Week 89-February 6, 2017

Dear mom and dad,

Anywhere would be fine if we have a car, as long as it's in London, we can take the tube to get around within London pretty easily. Now that I think about it, renting a car might not be the best option. It might be cheaper to use the tube and buses... but we would want the car to go to the other areas I'd guess. Like Basildon Dover or Colchester. Not sure what the best option would be. Unless.. Probably...... yea it might be best to get a car for a couple of the days and then use the public transport within London for a day or two to see the sights and visit Lea Valley. Elder Withers and I saw each other this week and I suggested we both go to Colchester with his parents as well for one of the days. He liked that idea- maybe we could do that? Dunno. 

In other news, man... I can't believe how fast its coming either. 

We had a zone pday today so I didn't have time to write much about the week, no big news though. 

Love you all!!! 

"What a team!"
Sent by Dover Ward mission leader, David Boyson

Week 88-January 30. 2017

Week 88-January 30. 2017

Happy Birthday Lydia!!! It sounds like you will have a great time celebrating so have fun! You are an irreplacable part of our family .. ill celebrate with you at byu next year since ill miss this birthday. love you sis!

Im going to be breif cause im almost out of time. 

This week our highlight was teaching the young family Alex and Emily and their son Eddie again this week. They have been praying as a couple every night and felt a difference- it was so exciting to see they had kept their commitments. they understood the Restoration really well also. Elder Webb did a great job teaching too! He is doing really well. 

There was a man who got baptised this sunday in the Deal ward (our ward) and adam came to church and decided to be baptised as well. we gave him the date of March 12th because he has to give up smoking first and he has slight learning disabilities so we gave him some time. 

other than that, we had a cool miracle of a slovakian family we had met earlier approaching us on the road asking for a slovakian book of mormon. we brought them one and they were very grateful! 

also, a member had met someone and invited them to church so we met her this sunday and hopefully will teach her soon. The Lord has been mindful of us!

There was a worldwide devotional for all missionaries and they changed our schedules and key indicators so it has been an interesting week. i like the changes though theyre good. 

love you all. This week I felt very close to the Saviour. We had a lot of bad rejection and ran into some nasty people and it took a lot to keep myself calm and let it go each time it happened. But in hindsight I realize how much it helped me this week feel closer to Christ as people persecuted us for representing Him. I love Him and I am proud to represent Him- the Saviour and Redeemer of us all. What a privilege.. Hurrah for Israel! 

Love,

Elder Jensen

brother Tony. One of a kind

Elder Webb with his new pet snake named cuddles

A less active family we are teaching.. the Gowings

Our sink clogged so we bought some high power acid and it said we needed clothing protection, eye protection, and hand protection so I knew just what to use!!! Thanks guys :) life is all about the sauce.

Our district

Elder Webb likes bacon ... 

There's an AWESOME family just up the road a bit here in Dover who feeds us often and has kids and they gave us this after a dinner appointment last week cause they knew it was the end of the month and money gets tight for food hahahahaha.. so nice of them.

I don't think Adam is used to having three whole hours of church.. He is a true champion though He has been quitting smoking and is making great progress