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

Week 87-January 23, 2017

Week 87-January 23, 2017

Dover is the place to be! It has been FREEZING this week but elder Webb and I have been working hard and we have some people to teach now! 

We met a english guy last week and kept in touch and got to see him and his family (wife and newborn son) last night with a great member of the ward. They seem pretty interested, it was exciting! it was Elder Webb's first solid lesson, all the other lessons this week have been in the street or in someones home unexpectedly so it was awesome to have a scheduled solid lesson with a member present. their names are Alex and Emily and thier kid is Eddie. We have some lessons set up for this upcoming week and we are still planning to keep the pedal to the metal and keep finding. little by little catch a monkey! 

other than that, just a few cool things. we met a member who is pretty less active but shes got 2 kids (middle aged) living with her who arent members. we stopped by and met them, and her son ended up saying he'd be interested in having the discussions. great dude. excited to teach them. hope to get two birds in one stone, bring the mom back and help her son come with her! not to mention he made us some delicious hot cocoa. His name is Mark. 

met a woman who has had luikemia out of nowhere since the summertime and could die pretty much anytime. she has two kids, aged 5 and 4 and a husband we havent met yet. she said this situation has brought her questions about God to the forefront of her mind so she said we can come back and teach her. Very excited to  help this young family learn about the possibilities of their family being together forever. her name is Rachel and her kids are Alice and Cameron. 

heres my invitation this week: see if you can reach out to someone at church who doesnt talk to many people this week... there are a lot of them and you never know what they may be going through or if if it was difficult for them to decide to come out to church and need a friend!

Love you all. The church is true. God will bless us and guide us to the people in Dover who need the gospel! its a blessing just to be here on a mission. some days i just feel overwhelmed with gratitude to be in England doing this. 

Elder Jensen

Add caption

This was on elder webbs first day in England! Waiting for the train to Dover, we ran into the wards HIgh priest group leader and he took a pic to post on the wards Facebook page and this is the pic.

Our friend Brian who accepted a baptismal date but has since said he's not interested... bummer. RIP Brian

Shoutout to Dad's mission! 

Week 86-January 16, 2017

Week 86-January 16, 2017

Dear familia,

here is the news from Dover: Ill start with my companion. His name is Elder Matthew Webb, and he's from kaesville, utah. He is a tennis player, science olympiad, and a photographer. Most importantly though his testimony is very strong- he loves the Saviour very much and its easy to see that that is why he is here on his mission. He is a very funny guy and has a great sense of humor and is willing to work his hardest and be obedient so I am excited to serve with him.

We have had a great time so far doing street contacting, tracting, and visiting the members of the ward. We have a vision for our area this transfer and our goal is to help the members find people to teach. All my mission I have struggled to know how to help members do missionary work, I think I just completely relied on my own efforts to find people. But ever since I heard I was coming here, i felt a strong prompting that this was the what the Lord wanted us to do here. since we both are new to the area we have nobody to teach at the moment except for a few people we have found this past week. None of them are solid yet but I have faith that we will have success here as we work with the ward, work our hardest with all the rest of our time, and trust the Lord to do the work. 

About the area: we have a nice flat. its more like a vacation house to be honest. I love it! upstairs and downstairs. we drive a car, same kind i used to drive in Basildon except with out turbo. The area is the most southern part of the mission and is along the coast. The people here are mostly english, with a lot of eastern europeans as well. as we drove by the coast one day, we saw france across the ocean. Thats how close we are! check the map- its crazy. its tempting to pop over for a croissant and a quick peep of the eiffel tower. but seriously.. the area is BEAUTIFUL. dad would love it- theres tons of grass. I feel like a knight sometimes cause there are huge hills and valleys and a huge castle right next to us. its called the dover castle. ill send pics another week. 

the ward: a nice smallish english ward. not many foreigners- its quite a shock coming from Lea Valley! but its got some great members who have already shown us a lot of support. 

anyways, change is always good and I am learning to love the Saviour even more. I have found myself praying a lot more often and thinking of Him more frequently while serving here. I think I have been humbled coming from a very large teaching pool and busy schedule teaching a lot in london to dover where we are starting from scratch. i know we wont be able to have success unless we rely on Him and I am excited for what I will learn and the miracles we will see here. funny how that tends to happen, just when you think everything is under control and you know what you are doing. President Stevens is an inspired leader and I am grateful to him for this assignment. 

anyways, i keep getting emails from return missionaries from this mission and past companions who are home and friends whwo are home now  and they all say how much they miss their missions. I am determined not to waste a minute.

 This church is true and Jesus Christ is able to change people's lives and make bad men good, and good men better. I  know He lives and He has paid the price of our sins. And boy am I glad that He is able to turn our weaknesses into strengths because Ive got more than a few of those I still need his help with. I love you all!

Love,

Elder Jensen

good luck at school kids! and ash! and lydia, i testify that the scriptures are true. Only the weak need vegetables. 

Snow..??

Me and Elder Webb.. The Elders Jebb! 

Tried to take a selfie with someone we were trying to set an appointment with but they dodged the camera...

Week 85-January 9, 2017

Week 85-January 9, 2017

Dear J-squad:

It sounds like winter break 2016-17 for the jsquad was legendary from all those pictures and all your stories. I hope Grandma and Grandpa Schramm are doing well! 

SO its moves week so im gunna be really brief. This past week was pretty great- we got to see a teach quite a bit and met a huge new family. They are from portugal and sao tome (a portugese speaking island off the coast of africa). me and another elder had met the mother and daughter on the tube on exchange the week previous and set an appointment and this past monday when we went to visit, her brother and her nephew and their families were all home as well, so we taught the whole gang! then we went and taught her brother and his family seperately later in the week and they accepted to be baptised in february. he had gone to the church in portugal and loved it and could feel the difference between our church and others. he also loved the emphasis on family, being a family man himself. it was exciting. we taught the original mom again as well but didnt have a portugese speaking member with us so it was a bit rough. 

angela and her boys came to church and...... i went back to where they were sitting when the testimony portion began and i asked cass and agapi if they wanted to bear their testimonies. cass didnt but agapi said ok so i went up with him and he did an awesome job. ill send the video seperately cause elder metcalf recorded it. 

quick miracle as well: a couple weeks ago we met a guy on a tube whose family members were members. i may have mentioned this last week. his mother in particular is a recent convert herself and moved here a couple months ago. she didnt know how to get to a church close to her and doesnt speak english and had been praying for a way to go to church when we met her son. we went over and visited and this sunday we travelled with her to the church and she was extremely happy to be at church. as she sat there in sacrament meeting i saw her crying. she said in tears later that it wasnt an accident we met her son. she was so happy to have found the church and it was a touching experience to see how God answers prayers. 

Sherree fasted and loved it!

Lydia: MLC went great and so did Zone meeting! we had a training about having faith that there are  people are ready for the gospel and asked sherree and another recent convert in the zone to send us a video of them sharing their experience meeting the missionaries and it was powerful when we watched the videos in zone meeting. ill attach sherree's vid! 

so the big news......

I am leaving Lea Valley ward and going to Dover, close to the coast where i will be training a new missionary. im super pumped for this new assignment. im looking forward to the challenge and excited to be with a brand new missionary... any predictions where he will be from? my guess is canada.

Love you guys. The church is true and God is real! 

yours truly

Elder Jensen

6) Rosa- the woman from the Dominican Republic we helped find the church

1) elder mthombeni! reunion of London North ZL's

yesterday

2) a guy named LLoyd we tuaght

3, 4, 5) the London North Zone

7, 8,9) saying goodbye to Angela's family yesterday