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