My testimony of Missionary work.

I think that as Latter-day Saints we have become confused with what missionary work is. It isn't about knocking doors all day or talking to people in the streets. It's not even about going out teaching with the missionaries or going on a full-time mission yourself. Missionary work is ALL about invitation and love. Missionary work is not just for those who are not members of the church. It is for every single person on the earth. It is about working together to invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, Repentance, Baptism, Receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End! This is our purpose as members of the family of God. A key word in that purpose is "receive." What does it mean to receive something? Well if I were to write you a card and give it to you, would you just take it and throw it on the counter and leave it there forever? I hope not! To receive something means that we read it, that we really take it in and that we ACT. Many of us have received the restored gospel in our lives. We have exercised faith unto repentance and we have been baptised as a witness that we are willing to take upon ourselves the name of Christ and always remember him and keep his commandments. We have received the Gift of the Holy Ghost and we are striving to endure to the end.  The gospel of Jesus Christ enables us to use these principles as a rewarding pattern of living. We should be constantly exercising faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repenting, partaking of the Sacrament, and striving to keep the Spirit in our lives. This would be Ideal. But, human nature sometimes gets in the way of idealism and we sometimes get stuck at the beginning, middle, or end of the pattern. Some may be struggling to have faith in the Saviour. Others may be stuck in the process of repentance. Maybe someone you visit teach hasn't been coming to church for a while and therefore is missing out on the renewal that comes from partaking the sacrament. Or perhaps there is a mature sister in the ward that just lost her husband and is struggling to "endure to the end." Wherever we may be in our individual progress, each of us needs the support of one another. This is where missionary work comes in. We fulfill our missionary responsibilities as we invite others to come unto Christ! We can do this in many different ways. We can visit that sister in the ward who hasn't been to church in a while and invite her to come and sit with us. We can invite that friend who we've known for a long time to come and see what Christ can do for them. Maybe our invitation will be more simple. Maybe it will come through acts of service to those who are in need. As others see our light and goodness, they will want to partake as well! Invite the missionaries over to your home for a meal or maybe even invite them to use your home as a place for investigators to be taught. Whatever your invitation may be, you need not be afraid. Remember the Lord's promise that says, "And whoso receiveth you, there I will be also, for I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you to bear you up." I know that that promise is real. As we go about this great work, always remember that we are standing shoulder to shoulder with the world's greatest and most perfect missionary. Of this I know and testify. 

Fastest week of my life!

So, the time has come....

It has been the fastest week of my life and I really don't even know what to say! Yesterday at church the ward all sang a welsh farewell song to me. I'm not sure what it's called... something like "we'll keep a welcome in the hillside" I was such an emotional mess! Not to mention that 4 of the less actives we've been working with came to church yesterday and Heather made it as well!! It was such a wonderful last Sunday. I have a permanent swarm of butterflies that seem to have taken a lodge in my stomach and a prayer of gratitude for my loving Heavenly Father. What can one say to summarize 18 of the best months of their life? It's funny how we think we have our life planned out and we think we know what we want. I thought I wanted to get married young, jump right into life. I thought I was ready for that. And of course, Heavenly Father knew better. In His most gentle and beautiful way, he has helped me to learn the lessons that will prepare me for the next phases of my life. It reminds me of one of my favourite songs. It goes like this:

All i've ever wanted

All i've ever dreamed of

Everything I hoped

And all the things I prayed for

Couldn't hold a candle

To what I've been given

I've been given what I need

A mansion on a hill

Or love like in the movies

Perfect little dreams

Where no one has a problem

Instead of all those things

I thought I really wanted

I've been given what I need

Even when I didn't understand

When I thought you had no heart

Thank you for rejecting my demands

And always giving me the better part

All i've ever wanted

All i've ever dreamed of

Everything I hoped

And all the things I prayed for

Couldn't hold a candle

To what I've been given

I've been given what I need

From that day on October 6th, 2012, my life has been changed. But even more than that, through the grace of my Saviour, Jesus Christ, I have been changed. It hasn't been an easy ride. I never expected that it would be. But it has been the best. I have grown to love this land and these people with all my heart. It is so much more difficult to leave this home than it was to leave my home of Eagle, Idaho. But I know that Heavenly Father has a perfect plan awaiting for me to discover. I will face the future with faith, because I know that He will keep His promises. Thank you to all of you for coming on this journey with me and supporting me all the way. I love each one of you so much and I am so looking forward to our joyous reunion on Wednesday. (Although for me it will be Thursday 4 am.) Haha.

I would like to close with my testimony. I KNOW that our Heavenly Father lives and that he loves each and every one of his children. We are precious to Him. He is aware of even the tiniest details in our lives and He intends for us to be happy. Sometimes he sends trials our way but He always knows that they will be for our benefit and that if we let them, they will make our hearts more tender. I know that through his infinite and encompassing love for us, He wanted the absolute best for us. He wanted us to join with Him in His joy. So, he made a perfect plan in which we could become like Him and find everlasting peace and happiness. Central to this plan is our perfect brother, Jesus Christ. He offered himself a sacrifice for OUR sins. He came to the earth and He did the will of the Father. He was perfectly obedeient, perfectly charitable. In the most loving act of all eternity and all eternities to come, He performed the atonement in our behalf. He triumphantly rose from the grave and I know that He lives! And because He lives, all of us can live together forever with our families. These incredible blessings are conditional upon our obedience. I know that obedience=happiness. There is NO other formula. There is no other way. The way is through Jesus Christ. He is our example. I stand all amazed at His love that He profers me. I am eternally grateful for my loving Heavenly Father, for never giving me what I wanted, but for always giving me everything I need. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Our last lunch with Sister Stapley and Rasmussen.

Sister Stapley, Jensen, Rasmussen, Leiss, Burch.

Final Exchange!

Dear Family & Friends,

So this email will probably be really lame, and I'm sorry about that! Haha. We are leaving to go to Cardiff soon to look for a carry-on bag! It's been a wonderful week and kinda crazy as well. Monday night we went to teach Judith but she wasn't there :( So we did some tracting around the area. Tuesday morning we had to leave early to train into Birmingham to go pick up the car. We got there at about 12:30 and we got to have a nice chat with President. Sister Rasmussen also took us out to lunch! It was great to spend time with her. We always talk about Eagle together :) Haha. But then we feel bad because it leaves my companion out of the conversation so we have to stop. We went out to eat at a place called Tinseltown which is an American restaurant. They had big televisions set up with music videos playing and pictures of celebrities all over the walls. After we left, Sister Stapley and I were talking about how AWFUL we felt in there! It was so weird and felt so worldly. I kinda felt like I understood what it would be like to be a celestial being living in a telestial world. (Not saying i'm celestial by any means!!) It was strange though and kinda freaked me out about coming home. Well, we didn't make it back to Blackwood till about 6:30 that night and we had a lesson with a lady called Beverly. She is so cute! We met her in week 1. She's a mum of a 5 year old boy, but her partner and her aren't married. WE had a really good lesson with her and he little boy loves us! Before we came, she told us he said, "Mum, when will my lovely ladies be here? I just love them." haha He's so cute! AFter beverly we came in for the night.Wedensday was coordination and district meeting. We had a lesson with two potentials Mike and Jean. We met Mike last week and he said we could come back. His wife joined in on the lesson as well! They are in their 70's and the NICEST couple. It was such a powerful lesson and the spirit was so strong. Jean told us at the beginning that she didn't believe in anything but she would listen. Her heart totally softened. At the end of the lesson, Mike was just sitting there, looking really in awe. He said, "I just can't describe what it is, but there's something coming from you both. You just have something about you, I don't know what it is! The only word I can think of is clean, but that's not really it either..." Then his wife said, "Yes, I can see it too. It's incredible, and I envy you both!" Haha, IT was so cool. It's amazing that the light of Christ is visible in people. If you have the spirit with you, people will be able to see it; and that comes from righteous living. It was a powerful experience for everyone involved.

This week we also had exchanges. I got to go to Merthyr Tydfil with Sister Appleby. I was happy to have my final exchange done! It was fun though and I love getting to know other sisters. Sunday we got to teachthe youth in Sunday School and it was pretty difficult to get them to participate. Haha. It was a beautiful sabbath though and I was very grateful for the opportunity to bear my testimony for the final time in Britain. :'( I also got my flight plans on Saturday and I refused to open the envelope for about forty five minutes after we came in. I burst into tears as soon as I saw what it was. Everything is starting to feel so surreal. I'm just really happy I still have one week left in this beautiful country and I'm excited to give it all I've got. I love you so much family and will speak to you in a week!

xxxxx

Sister Jensen

 Ted Heathers Dog

 Sister Applebee

Sister Leis, Applebee, Jensen, Stapley

Dear Family & Friends,

Well, here we are, it's almost August! I can't believe it. It's been a lovely week, and VERY warm! We've had to take some breaks in the shade so we didn't get heat stroke! The work here continues to progress very slowly but we are doing our best with what we've got! We got some good news yesterday. Right at the start of personal study, President called and informed us that we will be getting a car for the next two weeks and that we should come pick it up from the mission office on Tuesday! So you can imagine we are pretty excited about that. This means we can get places SO much faster and we can get so much more done!

This week was full of a LOT of tracting. We had a lesson on Tuesday with Heather and we took a recent convert called Ceri with us. She is 22 yrs old and she LOVED it. She told us afterward that she has been thinking about serving a mission and solidified her desire.

This week we also discovered a couple new parts of our area. It's SO MASSIVE! If it was in Idaho or Utah you could probably fit 5 stakes inside of it. Haha. We went to two areas, once called Abercarn and the other is called Crosskeys. Abercarn turned out to be a really successful area and we found a new investigator called, Owen. He is so cool! He's probably in his late twenties. We knocked his door and his wife answered. She said her husband would be interested but he wasn't home at the minute. So we continued knocking the street and by the time we made our way back, he had come home and was leaving again to take the dog out for a walk. He stopped us and asked us about the Book of Mormon we left at his house! He told us that he is super open and he loves learning about other faiths. He said that he will give anything a try and he wouldn't be one to say that he knows everything. One of my favourite things he said was that he doesn't want to be like a Pharisee in the time of Christ, who saw Him before their eyes and all they wanted to do was kill Him. We went back the next day to teach him and it was mostly just answering his questions. He asked us what was up about all the "mormon stereotypes" and wanted to hear from us what the truth is. He's so cool! We have a lot of faith in him and we'll be seeing him more this week as well.

We also met a lady called Judith. She was in our area book as a former investigator, who had only been taught once, and her record had no reason for why she was dropped. So we stopped by her and she let us in! She's super interesting... In a good way! She is really into health and natural foods and medicines and she's working on writing a book about it right now. She also has a super strong faith in God. She told us that she is just always thinking about God and how she wants to please Him and her whole life work is just to help people. So we're excited to teach her again tonight after P-day.

This Sunday was a lovely meeting! We got a new bishopric and the Bishop was released and called in the Stake. So there are some fun changes going on in the ward and I think we may be getting a new ward mission leader as well.

I have been thinking a lot about compassion this week. I'd like to share an experience I had this week as we were tracting. It was in the early afternoon and we had just begun knocking a street. The first person who opened the door said his name was Ray, and he said, "Oh wow, they've got sisters now!" So we knew he knew who we were. We asked him how he knew about us and he said that his son used to meet with the Elders. He then told us that his son had passed away about a year ago, as he was cycling on the street and was hit by a car. He seemed in control of his emotions as he was telling us and we offered our sympathy. We tried to turn the conversation to the gospel and asked him about his personal beliefs. He said that he did believe in God but he didn't feel he believed in him enough to ever commit to a faith. Well, he continued speaking, and I couldn't understand what he was saying. I noticed his lip start to tremble and he hastily reached out to hug me. (Missionaries really aren't supposed to hug the opposite gender), but the spirit constrained me from doing anything about it. I hugged him back, and as I did, I could feel his body slightly trembling. It was only a quick hug but filled with so much emotion. He said that he had to go, apologised, and then went inside. I think I was so shocked by what had happened that as we walked away, I couldn't stop the tears from flowing. I felt so much compassion and love toward this stranger, and just wished I could so something to help him. We agreed that it wouldn't be appropriate for us to go back and try to give him a Plan of Salvation pamphlet but we would go back soon.  The dictionary describes compassion as: a “sympathetic consciousness of others’ distress together with a desire to alleviate it” I searched the subject of compassion on lds.org and found this as well:  "Compassion motivates us to give service to the poor and needy. When we follow Jesus’ example and serve those who suffer, they receive relief and blessings. But those who serve also receive blessings of joy, happiness, fulfillment, and even forgiveness (see Mosiah 4:26). If we are to be like Jesus, the service we give others must be motivated by the pure love of Christ. Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve taught:“Even the most extreme acts of service—such as giving all of our goods to feed the poor—profit us nothing unless our service is motivated by the pure love of Christ”

I hope and pray that each of us can find someone to reach out to in compassion this week; to share that pure love of Christ with our brothers and sisters.

I love you all!

Love,

Sister Jensen

Almost August

Dear Family & Friends,

Well, here we are, it's almost August! I can't believe it. It's been a lovely week, and VERY warm! We've had to take some breaks in the shade so we didn't get heat stroke! The work here continues to progress very slowly but we are doing our best with what we've got! We got some good news yesterday. Right at the start of personal study, President called and informed us that we will be getting a car for the next two weeks and that we should come pick it up from the mission office on Tuesday! So you can imagine we are pretty excited about that. This means we can get places SO much faster and we can get so much more done!

This week was full of a LOT of tracting. We had a lesson on Tuesday with Heather and we took a recent convert called Ceri with us. She is 22 yrs old and she LOVED it. She told us afterward that she has been thinking about serving a mission and solidified her desire.

This week we also discovered a couple new parts of our area. It's SO MASSIVE! If it was in Idaho or Utah you could probably fit 5 stakes inside of it. Haha. We went to two areas, once called Abercarn and the other is called Crosskeys. Abercarn turned out to be a really successful area and we found a new investigator called, Owen. He is so cool! He's probably in his late twenties. We knocked his door and his wife answered. She said her husband would be interested but he wasn't home at the minute. So we continued knocking the street and by the time we made our way back, he had come home and was leaving again to take the dog out for a walk. He stopped us and asked us about the Book of Mormon we left at his house! He told us that he is super open and he loves learning about other faiths. He said that he will give anything a try and he wouldn't be one to say that he knows everything. One of my favourite things he said was that he doesn't want to be like a Pharisee in the time of Christ, who saw Him before their eyes and all they wanted to do was kill Him. We went back the next day to teach him and it was mostly just answering his questions. He asked us what was up about all the "mormon stereotypes" and wanted to hear from us what the truth is. He's so cool! We have a lot of faith in him and we'll be seeing him more this week as well.

We also met a lady called Judith. She was in our area book as a former investigator, who had only been taught once, and her record had no reason for why she was dropped. So we stopped by her and she let us in! She's super interesting... In a good way! She is really into health and natural foods and medicines and she's working on writing a book about it right now. She also has a super strong faith in God. She told us that she is just always thinking about God and how she wants to please Him and her whole life work is just to help people. So we're excited to teach her again tonight after P-day.

This Sunday was a lovely meeting! We got a new bishopric and the Bishop was released and called in the Stake. So there are some fun changes going on in the ward and I think we may be getting a new ward mission leader as well.

I have been thinking a lot about compassion this week. I'd like to share an experience I had this week as we were tracting. It was in the early afternoon and we had just begun knocking a street. The first person who opened the door said his name was Ray, and he said, "Oh wow, they've got sisters now!" So we knew he knew who we were. We asked him how he knew about us and he said that his son used to meet with the Elders. He then told us that his son had passed away about a year ago, as he was cycling on the street and was hit by a car. He seemed in control of his emotions as he was telling us and we offered our sympathy. We tried to turn the conversation to the gospel and asked him about his personal beliefs. He said that he did believe in God but he didn't feel he believed in him enough to ever commit to a faith. Well, he continued speaking, and I couldn't understand what he was saying. I noticed his lip start to tremble and he hastily reached out to hug me. (Missionaries really aren't supposed to hug the opposite gender), but the spirit constrained me from doing anything about it. I hugged him back, and as I did, I could feel his body slightly trembling. It was only a quick hug but filled with so much emotion. He said that he had to go, apologised, and then went inside. I think I was so shocked by what had happened that as we walked away, I couldn't stop the tears from flowing. I felt so much compassion and love toward this stranger, and just wished I could so something to help him. We agreed that it wouldn't be appropriate for us to go back and try to give him a Plan of Salvation pamphlet but we would go back soon.  The dictionary describes compassion as: a “sympathetic consciousness of others’ distress together with a desire to alleviate it” I searched the subject of compassion on lds.org and found this as well:  "Compassion motivates us to give service to the poor and needy. When we follow Jesus’ example and serve those who suffer, they receive relief and blessings. But those who serve also receive blessings of joy, happiness, fulfillment, and even forgiveness (see Mosiah 4:26). If we are to be like Jesus, the service we give others must be motivated by the pure love of Christ. Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve taught:“Even the most extreme acts of service—such as giving all of our goods to feed the poor—profit us nothing unless our service is motivated by the pure love of Christ”

I hope and pray that each of us can find someone to reach out to in compassion this week; to share that pure love of Christ with our brothers and sisters.

I love you all!

Love,

Sister Jensen