Transfers!

Dear Family & Friends, It has been such a crazy week!!! Saying goodbye to Notts4 was soooo hard. I really have grown to love the people there and I will miss them like crazy. Tuesday before transfers we were running around like crazy trying to say goodbye to everyone, teaching lessons and having coordination. I was feeling really nervous and unsettled about leaving my first area and I was lucky enough to get a blessing from my WML (Brother Thomas). I am so thankful for the priesthood! It made all the difference and I was able to get a good night's rest. I also had to pack that night and it was nuts. I think I'm going to have to purchase another bag when I come home because I'm already accumulating so many things! Haha. Just kidding, I'll probably just throw away all my clothes before I come home to make room... :) So on Wednesday morning we woke up and got ready for transfers. The Thomas' picked us up and brought us to the train station where we headed to the mission office. We got there around 10:45 and then spent most of the afternoon just chatting with other missionaries, waiting for everyone to get there so we could leave. Transfers are always hectic! I was nervous to meet my companion, Sister Bertha, but I was excited as well! We met at transfers and we got along great, right from the start. She is from San Diego, California and she is SO much fun! She is full of energy and she is so bubbly. She looks a lot like Logan Moffat, haha but her voice sounds like Aunt Holly. It's really funny! So being around her is like a little taste of home. :) She is fantastic. She has been out for 6 weeks so I am follow-up training her. She's basically trained though already. She is a great missionary. Around 4:00 we finally made our way back to the flat in Lichfield. I got situated and got some groceries and then we went out finding that night. It's a beautiful area! There is this MASSIVE cathedral in the center of town that apparently people come from all over to see it. I've only seen the outside of it, but it is beautiful! I think we will go and see the inside of it in a couple of weeks. My District Leader is Elder Alejandre. He is amazing! He is from spain and has the thickest spanish accent. He talks to us in spanish sometimes. We are also so lucky to have a senior couple in our District, The Hiltons. They're from St. George, UT, and they are so sweet. We are in the process of finding people to teach right now, as Sisters just came into this area last transfer so it is still pretty new. We're going to put together a musical fireside (just using the same program from Notts 4) to teach the restoration! Haha, pretty soon all of England will experience musical firesides :) I'm hoping to teach the first 3 lessons from PMG through musical firesides this transfer. We have some very musically talented people in the Lichfield ward so hopefully it'll turn out great. Everyone has been buzzing about the British Pageant that just concluded. I wish we could have gone! I keep hearing how amazing it was. A few of the apostles were there on the closing night to watch it. I don't think they'll be doing it again next year but they said maybe in a couple of years, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I'm in the process of getting to know the members so we went by this one lady Pauline Jarvis a couple of nights ago. She's probably in her 80's and isn't very mobile but she is still so full of spunk! She was crackin' me up. She has one of those lifts that takes you up the stairs. I asked her if I could use her bathroom and she said that yes I could but she told me I had to take her lift up the stairs. It was so funny. We're going to do some service for her this coming week. Last night after church we went to the Peacock family for dinner. They are an older couple, all their kids have moved out. The mom is from Glascow, Scotland and the Dad is from England. I love Scottish accents :) They are beautiful! I was wondering where Grandpa Jensen served in Scotland, because there are quite a few scottish people in England! Well, if there is one thing that I really learned this week, it is the importance of reaching outside ourselves to serve others! I think I am only just barely beginning to see that. It can be difficult to lose yourself in the service of others because humans are very selfish creatures! But it's amazing the happiness that you can find when you are focusing outward instead of inward. There are SO many opportunities to serve around us! As I am realizing this, I am also recognizing so many things that I wish I would have done when I was home. One thing I would love to do differently and I would challenge you to do as well is to think of those people in your ward or community who are maybe lonely or who need a helping hand. Go visit them! Instead of taking your 3 hour Sunday nap, get out and visit someone! You will be blessed and so will they! Why doesn't Heavenly Father just come down and help each one of us out personally? He is capable of it. But when we help someone else, 2 people benefit from it! I LOVE that! It's so true. We can be the answer to someone's prayer. I hope that you will all look around you and at least go visit ONE person this week who you know is in need of some company. I promise you will have a good experience! I love you all SO much and I am so thankful for all that you do for me!!! The church is true!!!!!!!!!! Love, Sister Jensen <3