Bamboo Restaurant

 Bamboo Restaurant with Matt, Robert, Ryan and Jerry.

 Beautiful fields!

Fantastic Week!

My Lovely Family & Friends, It has been one fantastic week in the mission field! Can I just tell you, the longer I'm here, the more and more I NEVER wanna go home! Haha. Just kidding. Kinda. Anyways, the work is moving along and I am so grateful to be a part of it. This week, we taught Neil and Carlos. We figured out that the best way to teach them is to teach to Carlos, and then his father, Neil, will follow along better. So we taught the Restoration using a glass of water. We said that the glass was the Christ's church and that the water was the priesthood. In the middle of the lesson, we had Carlos smash the cup with a hammer and then we talked about the need for a restoration. He told us that he had been baptized already. It was so powerful because we asked him with what church? He picked up one of the bits of broken glass and said, "This one." We asked him, "So what does that mean?" He said, "It's false." It was SO cool! We committed Carlos and his Dad to a baptismal date for July 6th. They came to church again on Sunday and loved it. It was brilliant. I can't wait to see them progress in the gospel. We also taught Andy this week. We had FHE with him at Sarah Hulses on Monday and we played the mormon message called, "Reclaimed." Andy really seemed to take it in and even explained to us what it meant. We learned that Andy is definitely a visual learner so we decided to watch the Joseph Smith Movie with him on Saturday. Okay, I have to tell you all about Saturday first because it was SUCH a good day! It was Sister Merrill's birthday so I woke up and made her some crepes. We went about our normal routine when the Zone Leaders showed up at our front door with a cake and sang her Happy Birthday. Then, we went out tracting and found 3 solid chinese potential investigators!!! We got return appointments with all of them. Then, we went to the Hulses for a DA. Afterward, we met up with Sarah Hulse, Andy, Eve and the Elders to watch the Joseph Smith movie. We watched the movie and then had a group discussion/testimony meeting afterward. The spirit was SO strong and I know that Andy felt it. He has brought up a couple concerns about the Word of Wisdom because drinking is part of his social life and he doesn't want to give it up. We just tried to testify to him that when you sacrifice something to the Lord, it really isn't much of a sacrifice at all because he will always bless you even more in return. We are really praying that he will continue to feel the gospel is true. Well, after the movie, we got a lift back to our flat. **Now, let me tell you a little back-story** So, I think I mentioned about a month ago when I lost my SD card with all my photos on it and it had been found by the Elders in the bike shed. Well, about 3 weeks ago, I somehow lost it again. And this time, I had NO clue where I had lost it. For the past three weeks I have been searching everywhere in the flat and even on the streets of Nottingham. It was nowhere to be found. I eventually gave up hope of finding it again, since I had no clue where to look and it had been so long. But, on Friday night, Sister Merrill and I were talking about it and she said, "Sister Jensen, I don't know why, but I have so much faith that we will find your card. I don't know how and I don't know where but, for some reason, I just know that we will find it THIS week." I kinda blew her off and said, ya, ya, well I'm glad you have faith, cuz I don't. Haha. Okay, now rewind back to Saturday night. We just got a lift back to our flat and we walked into the doorway and checked the mail like we always do. Nothing. I was about to close it when Sister Merrill reached inside and guess what she pulled out?! MY SD CARD! It was sitting at the bottom of the mailbox! I literally dropped to the floor and started to cry. Haha. It was a miracle! I had to repent and say sorry for not having faith but I'm so glad that my companion taught me an important lesson about faith. Sometimes all we can do is rely on someone else's faith, and even that is enough. I'm so so so thankful that my Heavenly Father loves me so much and even cares about a little 1 inch SD card. I testify that God is STILL a God of miracles and will be according to our faith! Never give up on Him. He loves you and will always be mindful of you. I love you all so much and i'm so grateful for your support! Love, Sister Jensen

Love being a Missionary!

At Sarah Hulses teaching Andy, the game was called, "Reclaimed."

Rainy Week

Dear Family & Friends, It has been a rainy week in England! I finally had to invest in a rain jacket! The weather here kind of reminds me of Rexburg, in that it changes every hour! I have learned to always keep my rain jacket with me at all times. Well, we are continuing to see miracles here in Nottingham! It's amazing how much Heavenly Father trusts me, and it really overwhelms me at times. We are continuing to teach Andy and he is doing so good! He came to church with us yesterday and really enjoyed it. He is just having a hard time praying because he has never done it before and feels awkward. But, i'm not worried, we will be persistent and I know that he will come around. This Tuesday we had a really awesome experience and an answer to prayer. We had a 30 minute gap between appointments and we decided that we would run a note by a potential investigator, Sarah, to remind her of an appointment coming up. Before we left the flat, we knelt down and prayed that Heavenly Father would place someone in our path as we went to Sarah's house. We began walking to her house and not 5 minutes into the walk, a woman stopped ahead of us to smell some flowers. It was so obvious that we needed to talk to her. We introduced ourselves and began talking about religion. She said that we have caught her at a really good time in her life where she has tons of questions and has been searching for the truth. She told us also that she felt so much goodness radiating from us and agreed to set up an appointment!!! It was SO cool! My testimony of prayer has really grown and I see how important that it is for us to be specific in our prayers. Heavenly Father really does love us and he wants to give us good gifts, if we ask in faith! This week, we went to teach our investigator Mitch, and we took a member from church, Emily with us. A little background on Emily- About 2 months ago, she was extremely inactive and hadn't been to church in ages. Until one day she had a very powerful experience when she knew she had to go back, and ever since then she has been so involved in the ward and she is just amazing! So, in our lesson, we were talking about faith and prayers. We asked Emily to bear her testimony about her experience with prayer. In essence she said that we cannot pray to God, hoping to test him. If we pray with the mindset that we are going to prove God (example: If I don't receive a powerful witness then it isn't true), then we won't get that answer. We must pray with faith, believing that we WILL receive an answer. I really loved that and it has expanded my understanding of what it means to pray in faith, nothing wavering. I am so grateful for the many wonderful people here in England. There are many! It is such a blessing to learn from them. I want all of you to know that we are brothers and sisters. In a very literal sense, we are the children of God and we are responsible to help each other get on that path back to him. I love this gospel and I love missionary work. Love, Sister Jensen

Rainy Days!

Harbourne exchanges

On the bus for exchanges

Grandma Lewis, Mummy Jensen, Daughter Merrill

Only fourteen left:(

Dear Family & Friends, What a week of miracles it has been!!! I am so blessed!!! The work here in Nottingham is picking up at a rapid speed and I am so thankful to be a part of that. This week we got 6 new investigators!!!! Can you believe that? It's amazing what happens when you work hard and do your best. Heavenly Father is just putting people into our path who are ready to receive the gospel. I would love to share one experience that happened this week. On Friday, my companion and I took a train to the mission office for a training meeting. It was so great to be with all the other missionaries and to feel of their power. President Rasmussen taught us about the Doctrine of Christ and how to be more obedient. He has changed a few things that used to be acceptable in the mission with the previous mission president. Some people were upset that we couldn't listen to Disney music anymore (haha), but I love the opportunity to rise to a new level of committment, because as we do, we receive a new level of blessings and miracles! After the training meeting, we took a train back to Nottingham and we decided to get off at the Long Eaton stop which is a little area next to Beeston. Brother Thomas, our ward mission leader, was going to pick us up from the station and take us to dinner at his house. We decided to sit down on a bench and wait for him to arrive. We sat down and began talking about random things when this guy came and sat down on the bench a few feet away from us. He was wearing tattered jeans, a messy tank top and had tattoos all over his arms. We just kept talking to each other and eventually, he recognized that we weren't from England and asked us where we were from. We began making small talk and he asked us what we were doing in England. (That is my favorite question because it leads perfectly into talking about the gospel). We told him and he asked us if we ever go out and "let our hair down." Haha, we were like, yes, but probably not in the way that you do. We then told him how we have never drank alcohol or smoked. He asked if we felt like our religion restricts us. It was perfect because we were able to immediately talk about agency and how we know that we have a Heavenly Father that allows us to make our own decisions but he gives us commandments for the sole purpose of giving us more freedom. He paused and said, "Hmm, you guys may actually have it right!" Haha. In my head, I was like, yep, we sure do. Haha. Anyways, we continued to ask him questions and we asked him what it would mean to him to know that he could be forgiven of everything and that he could start fresh. He said that it would mean everything to him, but that he didn't think it was possible. It opened up the perfect opportunity to testify that it IS possible! Through baptism and the atonement we CAN be forgiven of everything and start with a clean slate. Right then our phone rang and it was Brother Thomas, but I was like, NOPE, I'm not answering this right now. Haha, so I silenced it and told this guy (we found out his name was Andy), that we had to go and then asked if we could get his phone number. Right then, his train rolled up. Inside my head, I was like noo! We need to get his contact info! Right as we were getting his phone number the train started to leave and I felt really bad that he missed his train. We apologized but he said, "It's alright! I believe in fate and that everything happens for a reason. I know that we have met for a reason, I'll just catch the next train." He then told us that he lives in Beeston (which was a miracle in itself because he lives way close to us), and we were able to set up an return appointment for Monday (today). It was such a cool experience and I just KNEW that this was God's hand in the work. We were led to him, and I am just so excited to teach him tonight! My companion and I left that experience feeling so so happy. Haha, I don't even think I can recall a time when I've felt happier (except for at baptisms!) We probably looked a little crazy because we were jumping up and down and hugging each other. This is the true church! I know it. It brings fullness of joy and lasting peace, but only if we are willing to follow its commandments. I love knowing that as long as I do what I know I should, I will be happy and Heavenly Father will guide path. Thank you all for everything you do! I love you all. Love, Sister Jensen

Hospital food

Sister Merrill, Sister Egbert

Elders joining us for chinese food in the hospital.

Great Week

Dear Family and Friends,

Well, it sure has been an interesting week to say the least. Everything went as normal on Monday and Tuesday. On Wednesday morning, my companion woke up with a stabbing pain in her side and it wasn't going away throughout the day. So, we kept in touch with Sister Rasmussen and eventually decided to go to the hospital at 2:00. We went and they took a bunch of blood tests and eventually an ultrasound and concluded that she had an ovarian cyst. We were in the hospital from 2:00 pm- 12:00 am. Man, the health care system in England is absolutely rubbish. Well, everyone was very supportive and we got tons of phone calls from the members and other missionaries checking in on her. Our Elders even brought us some dinner! So, the doctors at the hospital really weren't very helpful and they just sent her home with some pain meds. On Thursday, we stayed in the flat most of the day because she was still in so much pain and we had to go to the hospital again. This time President and Sister Rasmussen went with us. On Friday, Sister Merrill was feeling well enough to go to Cheltenham for the Come Unto Christ Tour, which is just an all day rehearsal with a performance at the end. It was SO great to sing in a choir again. I loved it. Unfortunately, my companion took things a little too fast I think because she was in a lot of pain again. So we've basically been confined to our flat for the whole week. We were able to get out for one appointment with a new investigator, Mitch. We met Mitch street contacting and he is a 30 year old single Dad. He has a son, Dylan who is 6 years old. Mitch is just awesome! We taught him the restoration and gave him a Book of Mormon. He really enjoyed the lesson and sent us a text like 30 minutes later saying he was reading the Book of Mormon as we speak! He is so prepared and I am so excited to see him progress. We had the Zone Leaders teach a few of our appointments this week too. They taught Stuart, and apparently it didn't go very well. They found out that he is practicing homosexuality and that he has no desire to change, so we dropped him. :( SAD! But, they also taught Neil for us who is a single Dad and his son is like 9 years old. They said that it went alright but that he had a difficult time understanding the apostasy. (We can resolve that concern pretty easily). So, we did get 2 new investigators this week even though we only taught one lesson! Haha. Well, Sister Merrill is getting slowly better so hopefully we'll be able to get out a little more this week. Sister Gray, a lady in our ward, offered to have Sister Merrill over at their house while I go out and work with one of her daughters. So I may take her up on that option.

Well, this week I read a talk from the last general conference entitled, This is My Work and Glory. It taught about the priesthood, which is a topic that I am only beginning to understand its importance. I learned that the Power of the Priesthood is different than Priesthood Authority. The power of the priesthood comes only when those who exercise it are worthy and acting in accordance with God's will. I love that and I know that it's true. From someone who does not understand the priesthood, they may think that our church is male-dominated or that it isn't fair that women can't also have the priesthood. I learned from this talk that just as woman are endowed with the ability to bear children, so the men are endowed with the responsibilty of the priesthood, but both the procreative power and the priesthood power are shared by husband and wife in the eternal perspective. I am so grateful for the priesthood power and for those worthy men in my life that have blessed me in times of need. I know that there is nothing stronger than that priesthood power.

I am so thankful to all of you. I love you so much and I want you to know that I know this church is true! I know that we can only find lasting peace and happiness through obedience to the commandments.

Love,

Sister Jensen

Cheltenham performing in the mission choir.

Cheltenham performing in the mission choir!