Amazing week

My sweet family,

Happy Monday! It's amazing how much I look forward to P-days to hear from you all. It's been a really great week. We were a little bit nervous for Matt because he was to be baptized on Saturday and he had told us that he didn't really have a firm faith in God. So, we had been praying about what we could do to help him find his faith. Finally we came up with something that we thought might help. We picked up him and Jerry and took them on an adventure. We took them to a little playground and blindfolded Matt. We showed him a candy bar and said, if you can finish this obstacle course then you will get this. So he said he would do it. Jerry helped me to find his way and I tried to tempt him to give up. About five minutes into it, I think it clicked and he told us that he knew what we were trying to do- that Jerry was the Holy Ghost and that I was the devil. After he finished, we gave him a whole sack of candy bars and we sat down at a picnic table and talked about it. We sang. "I am a Child of God." He really felt the spirit. We asked him to say a prayer and in his prayer he said that he felt a stronger faith in God. It was so amazing. So, we went forward with the baptism! On Saturday he was baptized and it was glorious. I was able to  give a talk on the Holy Ghost. I felt so blessed to be able to watch him progress in the gospel and see him be baptized on my 2 month mark. It was a tender mercy of the Lord. At the baptism, I was trying to teach Jerry some piano, and he started to sing I am A Child of God. Haha he had listened to it on his phone and had memorized it! Haha. Jerry is a legend.

So, Shirley was supposed to be baptized this week as well, but she told us on Tuesday that she didn't want to be baptized anymore and that she doesn't want to be taught the lessons anymore. Paul dropped us as well. So that was a major bummer. And now, we are down to one investigator-Ryan. So this week we will be doing a lot of finding! Ryan is doing really well though. So, he started smoking when he was 10 years old (which isn't uncommon in China), and so he has been struggling a little bit with that, but he has been smoking less and less every day which is really good! I think that he will be baptized within the next 3 weeks.

That's really about all that has happened this week. We started a new transfer, and it's crazy to think i've been here for 2 months now! I'm excited for the future and what will happen. Mom, I loved your letter about trials. I have been thinking a lot about sacrifice and trials lately. We watched a video in Sunday School yesterday about John Tanner, an early saint who sacrificed literally all that he had for the church. He sold all of his property used the money to pay off all of the church's debt, which was about $60,000. On one of their treks, his daughter died. He was also called to serve a mission for the church and left the very next day after he had been called. When I think back on the early saints, I can't even comprehend how much they sacrificed for us and I wonder if I would have been able to do it too. I really hope that if it came down to it, I would be strong enough in the faith to give up all I have. Because everything we have, really is not ours, and the test of life is to see if we will give all the Lord has given us, back to him. I know that trials are for our good, and the Lord is only testing us because he wants to see what we are made of. We wants to know if he can trust us with his sacred work and so he sees how far we will go for him. So really, when we are given trials, we should rejoice because the Lord is putting his faith in us. I love you all so much and I want you to know that I know this gospel is true. I know that the Lord will always bless us when we sacrifice all we have for him.

I love you all,

Love,

Sister Jensen