Elder Taylor Jensen- London England Mission: Week 72-October 10, 2016

Week 72-October 10, 2016

guess who's back!

Hey guys sorry i didnt email last week! But all is well- it was really funny though to receive a phone call from elder gale one morning and hear him ask me how long it had been since i emailed my mother. sorry mom i wont let it happen again!

i guess theres a ton to say so i dont really know where to start.

Pawel passed his baptismal interview and as long as all goes well and nothing comes up he will be baptised this sunday. please keep him in your prayers! He doesnt understand much english; only polish so we teach him with polish people to help translate but its hard on to go to church cause he doesnt understand much.that is a concern on his mind but he will be alright. He has a stronger testimony than anyone i have taught.

fernando and his family are not progressing much because its difficult to teach them well. he has a weird work schedule and we need more spanish speakers to translate. they are also busy with lots of things having to do with moving to a new country and cant find a school for camilo still. we played football recently with camilo though one day in the park and it was good fun and we feel it will help the family as well.

koffi is a young man from ghana who we have been teaching for a few weeks now. he came to church last week with his whole family (mom dad and sister) and again this week alone and is progressing pretty well also. he understands the gospel well and has a lot of faith. we had to pull the blankets off of him the sunday morning of GC though cause he wasnt getting out of bed.. reminded me of my seminary days hahaha so at times he's a little low on commitment but his intentions are really good. my only fear is that he leaves to ghana soon after his baptismal date (the 29th of october) so we wont be able to meet with him after that.

we had a miracle saturday night- during pawel's baptismal interview, i took the district leader's (conducting the interview) companion and we went out on the main street and were street contacting when Elder Marin stopped a man who spoke no english but told us he was christian. we took him to the church and showed him around and used google translate a bit to have a short lesson with him. he liked it and said he'd come to church the next morning and he did! but the crazy part is that he speaks farsee- the language of persia and theres only one person in the ward who speaks that as well but it turns out they knew each other but hadnt seen each other for 10 years. we will be teaching him soon with the man in the ward. what a miracle.

another miracle this week. while on exchange with on e of the elders in our flat, we got on a bus and i sat in the back next to a young woman and started talking to her. then anotehr woman who was more middle aged got on and sat nearby. the young woman wasnt interested so i started talking to the other woman across the aisle and she eventually said she would be happy for us to visit and share our message but warned me that she wouldnt want to make any commitments. so that saturday we went and taught her and her 2 sons; Agupe and Cass (9 and 11). it was a wonderful lesson. the woman; whose name is Angela funny enough, said she didnt like the church she used to go to and wanted to find one centered on jesus and that her family could go to and stay with. then she also said she had dreams often of running away from commitment with God but that she felt she was just waiting for the right place to commit. so sunday morning we went to her house and travelled with them to church and they loved it! they even stayed for a baptism after church. i asked cass what he thought of the baptism and he said he liked it; then said he wanted to be baptised too! hahahaha i just smiled and told him we'd talk to his mom about it this week. what a stud.

which brings me to the last thing because this is super long. alex boye's mother has been getting taught here in lea valley for a month or two now by the sister missionaries and she got baptised on sunday- alex boye flew in and performed the baptism! so we had him in our lessons and classes that day at church and then elder Mthombeni joined him in the font to help lift his mother out of the water because she had a stroke and doesnt have full control over some parts of her body. So we got to hang out a bit with him and he is hilarious. a really great guy as well- he did a devotional at hyde park that evening which was packed and everyone loved it except for Pawel. Hahahahaha pawel didnt like it that much.

My love for the gospel has just continued to grow these past couple of weeks. i am amazed at how everything has just increased my faith and love for the Saviour as well. everything we have and do in the church is because of and about Him and I am so grateful I'm learning that here on my mission. What a blessing it is to have His gospel. I know Jesus Christ is our Saviour and friend and i treasure every day i have to serve Him.

I love you all and hope you have amazing weeks!

Elder Jensen