Great Week

Dear Family & Friends! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE BEST LITTLE BROTHER IN THE WORLD!!! B, I really wish I was there to give you a BIG hug and congratulate you for being born today, 18 years ago!!! Haha. You are an adult!! So weird. I hope that you have a fabulous birthday and that all of your wildest dreams come true! I love you and miss you and you REALLY have been falling behind on writing me!!!! >:( I'll let you off the hook today since it's your birthday but I'd better hear from you next week!!! ;) It's been a roller coaster of a week, full of the highest highs and the lowest lows! This week, Marie dropped us which was sooo disappointing. We really had so much hope in her! We still do though. I know that we were planting seeds and that someday she will receive the gospel. We spent a day in Burntwood this week which is about 5 miles out of Lichfield. We thought we'd expand our focus and try tracting in a different area. On our way to a member's home to do some service, we started talking to this older couple who were in their front garden. We started talking to them about their garden (because it was beautiful!) and they told us that we should see the back garden! Apparently they had won competitions for it! They invited us in their back garden and it was absolutely GORGEOUS. It went way far back and it was just decked out! I can't even describe it. Every square inch had something to look at. Apparently they spend 4 hours working on it every day! Talk about dedication. They showed us around for about 20 minutes and we also got to talk to them a bit about the church and our job as missionaries. They also gave us apples from off their tree. We decided that we're going to make an apple pie and bring it to them this next week! (Of course we'll use a glass dish so we have another excuse to see them again!) Haha. So later that day in Burntwood we also met this kid, Jordan who is 16 years old and wants to be a pastor!! Haha. We gave him a Book of Mormon and he said he would read it and come to General Conference. Thursday we had the BEST district meeting of my whole mission!! President and Sister Rasmussen came to sit in. Elder Alejandre did SUCH a good job! We talked about finding. He had one of the Elders, Elder Durrant go out in the hall while he assigned us each a "role" to take. He told us that if Elder Durrant testified of a certain thing to us then we would be responsive but if not then we wouldn't be interested. I was assigned to be a girl sitting on the bench, listening to music and if Elder Durrant asked me to come to church then I would be responsive. It was SO funny and also a good learning experience. Sister Bertha and Sister Rasmussen pretended to be two party girls and if he talked to them about the purpose of life then they would be responsive. The best was Elder Leal who pretended to be a drunk guy. Haha. It was SO realistic! What I really loved was that as soon as Elder Durrant started to testify of truth, you could feel the spirit so strongly in the room. It is such evidence to me that our message is SO true and we need to really pay attention to that spirit as it will direct us to what specific part of the gospel the people need to hear. At the end of the District Meeting, President took about 10 minutes to speak to us. He told us how they had just got back from Paris at a mission president conference with Elder Ballard and Elder Oaks. He had been talking to Sister Ballard and she informed him that she would love to talk but she that she was losing her memory from old age. President Rasmussen said that he asked her about her children, (assuming that since it was a long term memory, she would be able to remember). She said, "If I think about it long enough I will be able to remember their names." WOW. President R said, "talk about someone who has worn out her life to the Lord." He then went on to explain what Elder Ballard said to them. He said, "If we had one hour, I could take any one of you and go out on the streets of Paris, and we would find 20 potential investigators." He said, you can find people anywhere you are serving, God's elect are there! All you need to do is talk to everyone. Don't walk by a single person. Elder Ballard then asked the mission presidents, "If you could summarize a missionary's purpose in 3 words, what would it be?" Some of them started to say things like, helping, inviting...etc. Then Elder Ballard said, "A missionary's purpose is to Find, Teach, and Baptize. We can even shorten a missionary's purpose to one word, "Baptize". WOW. That really hit me sooo hard! I think that sometimes we as missionaries get distracted and we forget that we really are here to baptize!! I think some missionaries are hesitant to say that because they feel like it's impersonal or robotic. It is NOT. We are here to baptize people so that our brothers and sisters can also have the opportunity to overcome spiritual death. This is the only way. There is NO other way! All we have to do is believe that there are people who are ready. President R ended by telling us what Elder Ballard does when he gets discouraged or overwhelmed with the work. He said, he looks at a picture of the Saviour, thinks about what he did for us and then gets up and goes to work. It is so humbling to picture these men, the members of the quorum of the twelve who are full time missionaries for years and years. They waste and wear out their lives in the service of God. And they do it because they love Jesus Christ. I am so thankful for my Saviour. He is the reason why I do what I do every day. I love him because he first loved me and he loved me enough to give up his life. I would encourage all of you to carry around a picture of the Saviour that you can have to look at whenever you may feel discouraged. Think about Him and remember that never once did He stop. Never did He waver from the path. Never did He question his divinity. And never did He stop loving us. Because of Him, we can press forward with faith. We can wake up every morning with a smile on our face, knowing it will be a great day. Because every day is great when we have the Lord on our side! As President was leaving from our District Meeting he told us that we should look forward to some really exciting things happening in the mission soon. He told us to check our emails from him this Monday... so of course that was the first thing I did today! Here is what he said: Dear Elders and Sisters, A special mission event will be held during October at Gadfield Elm Chapel and Benbow Farm. These historically significant places will be our privilege to see, experience and remember together. The Gadfield Elm Chapel near the village of Pendock in Worcestershire, England, is the oldest existing chapel of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The structure was built in 1836 as a religious meetinghouse by the United Brethren, a group of breakaway Methodists led by Thomas Knighton and John Benbow. In 1840, Elder Wilford Woodruff of the Quorum of the Twelve preached among the United Brethren; ultimately all but one of the 600 members of the United Brethren were converted. After the conversions, the structure was deeded to the Church by Thomas Knighton and John Benbow. Three prophets have spoken in Gadfield Elm Chapel. At Benbow Farm, Elder Wilford Woodruff first began to preach the restored gospel in Southwest England and at the farm’s pond he baptized many of the United Brethren group, including John and Jane Benbow. These new converts immigrated to America where they made significant contributions to the Church. Following our trip to Gadfield Elm Chapel and Benbow Farm, we will travel to Gloucester Chapel for lunch and a group activity. It will be a glorious and inspiring time. Sister Rasmussen and I are looking forward to being with each of you. Thank you for your faithful service to the Lord. With much love, President Rasmussen Please wear your “Sunday best” missionary clothes. We will be taking a group picture. So, I'm not sure what all this entails, but it sounds exciting! My Zone will be going on the 8th of October, so next Tuesday. I can't wait to tell you all about it! Also, President said that a General Authority will be coming to our mission in the near future! AH! Exciting. Anyways, I'd better get going. But I love you all SO much and i'm SO thankful for you love and support!!! XOXOXO SIster Jensen

Humbled and blessed!

Dear Family & Friends,

This week I have been seriously humbled and have come recognize just how blessed I have been. It seems that every week there is a "theme" and the theme for this week is the importance of families! I am really beginning to realize JUST how essential the family is to our progression in the gospel. I don't know if you remember Marie? She is the cute girl (28 yrs old) we tracted into a couple of weeks ago. She was SO nice and agreed to let us come back but when we went back, she had forgotten about our appointment and told us just to call her and reschedule. So we tried to reschedule but she wouldn't answer our calls or texts. So instead we decided to drop by on Tuesday and hope that we would catch her in. We knocked on her door and she came to the door, not seeming like her usual happy self. She told us that it wasn't a good time.Then she opened up to us and told us that her husband left her, which was why she didn't return our calls. She went on to tell us that her husband had an affair and left her with her 3 boys. He keeps calling her and is SO angry at her for no reason. He came around the other day and smashed the window to their car. She said that it's not like him at all and that he's never been like this and she hasn't told the kids yet either. It was SO incredibly sad and my stomach just sunk. We tried to console her and we gave her a scripture out of the Book of Mormon to read and gave it to her. We dropped by again during the week to see Marie and she wasn't doing well. She said that she has a hard time eating or sleeping. We are trying to be there for her but not be annoying at the same time. She really trusts us though so we are trying to build a relationship. It's obviously not the right time at the moment to start teaching her but I know that in time she will be receptive to the gospel.

Charlie is doing really well. He is progressing rapidly in the gospel and is such an inspiration to me! We had some amazing lessons with him this week. He is really building relationships with people in the ward and just loves to be around them. On Thursday we took him and Layton to Pauline's for dinner and a lesson. After the lesson, he was walking back with us and started telling us about his family situation. He said that his Mum and Dad weren't married when he was born and his Dad left the family when he was about 4. He lived with his Dad for a bit who is now married to another woman. His stepmom is just awful to him so he eventually moved out to live with his Mom again and left with nothing but the clothes on his back. He's had to work to provide for himself since he was 14 years old and his family is just messed up. He told us how sometimes he sees movies with a father and a son, where the father is building a treehouse with his son or something like that and how he has never had that. It's so sad. We just really tried to testify to him that he has a Heavenly Father that loves him SO much and that as much as he wants to take away our trials, he can't take away other people's agency. It's obviously no coincidence that the first thing we teach new investigators is that God is our Loving Heavenly Father! It is a truth that the world needs so badly.

So Charlie really wants to be baptized this Saturday but his Mom won't sign the papers and his Dad lives like 50 miles away. It really stinks. :/ We are praying and really trying to have faith that his Mom's heart will be softened. Please include him in your prayers!

So many experiences this week have really just helped me to see how blessed I am to have a mother and a father who love and respect each other and who have done their best to raise us. If everyone had a Mum and Dad like mine, the world would be SUCH a better place! Kids really need a mother AND a father. There are so many things that a child needs from a mother that they can't get from a father and vice versa. Please, rise up and be that father or mother that you children need! And those of us who aren't yet parents, let us prepare to be the best fathers and mothers that our children deserve. We ALL have the example of a Loving Heavenly Father to follow. Thank you Mom and Dad for being the best parents in the world. I love you.

Sister Jensen

Happy times in Lichfield

 District meeting in Lichfield.

 Youth activity that we planned.  Boys vs. girls.

Not enough Time!

Dear Family & Friends! Ah! I feel like I have so much to say and not enough time! So I will just get started and hit on some of the highlights of the week! Monday: P-day! Of course it's always super hectic as we try to get everything done! We had a dinner appointment with the Taylor-Basil's and then we taught Connor and Charlie the restoration at the chapel. The lesson went sooo well! They are amazing, really. We invited them to be baptised and they both said yes! They are elect! In the lesson, Charlie told us that neither of them are very religious but they thought it would be rude to turn us down after we invited them to church. He said they weren't too excited about it but they thought they'd go anyways and they were just so touched with how the ward welcomed them in and helped them feel supported and loved. They both commented on how nice it felt to actually feel like people cared what they had to say. Charlie said, "That is why we will continue meeting with you guys and why we'll be at church again next week!" It was SUCH a testimony to me how the true force of missionary work is LOVE. Love and support from the members will draw people into the church better and faster than anything else! Then, Charlie and Connor both said their first prayer! I think this is one of my favourite things about missionary work-hearing someone's first prayer. They are SO incredibly sincere. Tuesday- Normal day with finding, and visiting people. We had a DA at 5:30 and then we hurried to the church because we were in charge of the youth activity! We spent a good amount of time planning for it so it could be legit. We planned lots of fun activities and it was like a boys against girls thing. They absolutely loved it! Charlie and Connor both came and it was so good for them to see how Mormons have fun. Charlie texted us later that night and thanked us saying he really enjoyed it all and was so thankful we invited him. Wednesday: We taught Charlie the plan of Salvation! Connor couldn't come because his mom wouldn't let him out. Charlie told us that she isn't really nice and is kinda controlling. :/ So that was a major bummer. But we went on with teaching Charlie. He loved the whole thing about the kingdoms of glory. He said, "I'm going to kill Connor if he doesn't get into the Celestial kingdom with me, but i guess i can't do that cuz then i'll be in the telestial." HAHA! It was hilarious. Thursday: District meeting! This week we talked about miracles we've had in the week, and why each of us decided to serve missions and our purpose as missionaries. It was SO good. I was reminded of why I decided to come on a mission. I think i've always wanted to serve a mission. It's just been something I knew I would do. Perhaps it was a duty that I feel I owed to my Heavenly Father. But the longer I've been here, I'm finding more and more reasons why I STAY on the mission, because the coming really isn't the hard part. Every missionary that ever serves will need to figure out their individual purpose and why they are here. For me, there are more than just one reason why I am on a mission and why I am still here. First, I am here because I want as many of my brothers and sisters to be with me in the celestial kingdom as possible! Secondly, I am here because I have talents and abilities and personality that nobody else in the world has! How cool is it that Heavenly Father blesses us with gifts that we can use to lift and help one another? I am so thankful to him for the talents he has blessed me with and I have seen how I can use them in my missionary work. Lastly, I am here because I love my Saviour! Just as he said to Peter, If you love me, feed my sheep. Friday: Friday was a big planning day! We had correlation, and then we did a good 2 hours of service for our ward mission leader. They are tearing off all the wall paper in their house because they are repainting and he is going back to university next week so he needed a few helpers. Haha, Dad, I was thinking back about when we did that in our old house and what a pain it was! Remind me NEVER to get wallpaper? :) Saturday: Such a good day! Saturday night we put together a movie night for some of the youth. We watched the Joseph Smith movie and invited Charlie and Connor. Only Charlie could come though. We made it a proper movie night, complete with popcorn and blankets! At the end, we had a little testimony meeting and we all shared our thoughts on the prophet, Joseph Smith. It was AMAZING. The spirit was so strong! As I was closing up the meeting, I asked if anyone else had anything to say? Then Charlie spoke up and said, " In school we were taught a bit about Mormons. But I never really knew or understood the whole picture about Joseph Smith. I never knew how much he really went through and now I do believe that he was a prophet because he wouldn't have gone through all of that if he was a fake." Oh my goodness, I just sat there like dumbfounded and I think I had to wait for the shock to wear off before I said anything! I don't even think he realized it but with that one sentence, he was asserting his testimony of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints! WOW. He really is a chosen spirit! Sunday: We had a GREAT day at church! Charlie came and just loved it! He is making friends with the youth and even some of the adults! I sang, "Saviour Redeemer of my Soul" in sacrament meeting so that was fun! During Sacrament meeting, Charlie leaned over and asked how old you have to be to serve a mission and how old until you can't go. He said, "Oh okay good because I want to finish my apprenticeship first and then go when I'm 19." (Can you imagine how I was feeling after hearing him ask that question?! I had to hide my tears from him because I was just so overwhelmed with gratitude and humility. I can't believe Heavenly Father has trusted me and Sister Bertha to teach this kid.) After church we went to find Charlie so we could teach him the third lesson, Gospel of Jesus Christ. We found him eventually in the bishop's office talking to Brother Mace, the first counselor in the bishopric. Haha. He's sooo comfortable already and getting involved! We didn't know what they were talking about but we asked Brother Mace later and he told us that Charlie came to him wondering how he could get involved with passing the sacrament. !!!! Isn't he amazing?!! He seriously can't wait to get the priesthood and he's not even baptised yet. Haha. Well, we taught him the Gospel of Jesus Christ and invited him to be baptised on September 28th. Of course he said yes!! :) AH. It was so cool. In his prayer at the end of the lesson he thanked Heavenly Father for helping us all meet and he said, "I hope that I will be able to be with all my new friends in the Celestial kingdom some day." :) Oh my goodness. Words cannot describe my joy!!! So I think I'll just finish with that! I love you all! Thanks for all you do! Love, Sister Jensen

Prom in Lichfield!

 Charlie an investigator.

Getting Cold!

Dear Family & Friends Winter is settling in over here in England! I don't think there is such thing as a Fall here. Oh well. It's been a fabulous week despite the cold! Monday: We had Zone P-day! The Zone leaders set it all up. It was district against district. We did lots of relays, played ultimate frisby, had a PMG quiz, and more. It was fun but it took up most of our day! That night we didn't have a DA so we came back to the flat for dinner and had study. Tuesday: FABULOUS day! We did loads of finding. We decided to mix up our ways of finding and so we did some tracting. We ran into this lady, Marie who is just SO incredibly nice! She talked to us as if we've been friends for ages. And she's young! She has 3 little boys and a hubby. We met them all and they were very nice. We scheduled to come by again on Tuesday. I have so much faith in her! Then later that day, we ran into her again on the street. She was like, " What are the chances we'd see each other twice in one day?" I was thinking in my head, "It isn't by chance!" I'm SO excited to see her tomorrow! She is so prepared. Wednesday: Full of more finding! We had one appointement that flogged. :/ We also had to go to the chiropractor for Sister Bertha's back and then we had Coordination meeting. We did more finding that night and we met a guy, Paul. He was out fishing at Stowe Pool and we talked to him a lot about the Restoration and Plan of Salvation. He liked having a chat with us but wasn't really willing to commit to a follow-up appointment. Thursday: Everything Thursday is district meeting! Which I love. We have to leave our flat at about 10:00 am to get there by 10:30. This week we talked about How to Begin Teaching. Elder Alejandre asked Sister Bertha and I to role play an HTBT situation. It was great. Then we each shared a couple questions we'd been asked that week that we had a hard time answering and we all went through the scriptures looking for answers. District meetings are such a great way to receive inspiriation and learn from one another. Then we always have district lunch after. Just down the street from the church is China King and a Fish and chips store which the Elders usually eat at. I usually bring a packed lunch with me because my stomach cannot handle all the fried food! After District meeting we went and stopped by a coupld less actives and then did somemore finding. We had flat inspections that night so we had to head back a little early to clean the flat, have dinner and then do 12 week program. Friday: We had study till 10 and then did a bit of planning. We went to visit a less active Mary Louise. She lives really close to us and is this sweet old lady from Switzerland. Her family is VERY anti and doesn't want her going to church. She hasn't been in ages but she loves when we visit. She tells us that even though she says she is C of E, she will always we a Latter-day Saint and she reads the BOM every day. She got talking to us about the second coming and it was SO cute she asked us if we thought Jesus was coming soon. She started saying she believes He is and she started tearing up. What a sweet lady! We then came back for lunch and thenwe had to do the rest of our planning. We did some tracting and finding for the rest of the day. Saturday: We did some service for Janine, a single Mom in our ward who is LA. then we met up with this guy Kieran. He's 21 years old and his Mum is a member but doesn't come anymore. He used to come to church when he was little and the missionaries have kept in touch with him for a bit. He is currently attending another church but he told us that he feels like he could become a Mormon someday. Haha. He brought his friend Zach with him and we taught them the restoration. We invited them both to read the BOM. Kieran we VERY hestitant to take the book. Haha. It was kind of funny. It was like he knew that if he read it, he would know it was true and that would be the end of it. Well, we will be meeting with him soon again and hopefully we can exhort him to try out Moroni's promise. Saturday night was Lichfield proms. It's just a celebration in the park where they have a live band and fireworks, etc. It was so fun! Sister Bertha and I went to have a look around and we asked this kid in a group of teens if they would take our picture. He said yes, and then we started talking to them. Thank goodness for our American accents! I cannot even tell you how many times they have been the best conversation starter. We got talking to these two boys, about 16 years old, and they were just so nice and respectful. We invited them to church and they said they would come! Sunday: Church from 9:30-12:30. Charlie and Conner BOTH showed up to church! And apparently Charlie has a friend, Joe, who is a Mormon but is in the Sutton Coldfield ward. So Charlie texted Joe Saturday night and said he was going to the Mormon church in Lich and Joe and his WHOLE FAMILY came to our ward the next day to show their support for Charlie. It was SO cool. The members did a great job at fellowshipping and the boys really enjoyed it! We will be meeting with them tonight and hopefully inviting them to be baptized! As you can see, it has been a great week! I'm so thankful for all the many miracles and blessings I have. I know that my Saviour lives and he loves me! This is His work. I am only an instrument in his hands. I love you all so much! Love, Sister Jensen

British Culture in Lichfield with our WML and his son :)

Getting some British culture in Lichfield.

Fun companion!

 Fun with Sister Bertha!

Sister Krylbourne

Exchanges!

Being Survivor!

Dear Family & Friends, Sorry, I don't have a lot of time to write today as we are having a Zone P-day from 1:00-4:00 pm today, the theme being Survivor! It should be interesting... I'll let ya know next week how it went! This week has been really good!!! The biggest miracle and blessing of this week was Malcom. So Malcom is married to Maureen who is a LA in the ward. He is not a member and Maureen told us that whenever anyone from the church comes over, he leaves the room. The first time we visited, he was very quiet but he stayed in the room. Slowly, he is warming up to us!! Early in the week we went to visit them and at the end of our visit we asked if we could share a spiritual thought. We had written the "questions of the soul" in the front of the Book of Mormon. We had them each pick a question that they would like answered and then we read the answer from the Book of Mormon. Maureen wanted to know how she could have a better relationship with her spouse, so we had her read from 3 Nephi 13. Then, Malcom wanted to know if there was life after death, so we read with him Almo 40. He still said that he didn't really believe it. I think he gets really uncomfortable when we bring up the subject of religion and instead of answering the questions or give any input, he just laughs. But we decided that next time we would go over and give the entire lesson on Plan of Salvation. So we went over on Sunday after church and visited for a bit and then asked if we could leave a thought. We taught the Plan of Salvation and the spirit was SO strong. You could have sliced it with a knife. I was so proud of Sister Bertha, as she has been concerned about her teaching skills. She was so natural and it really came from the heart. He didn't have anything to say about it but it was a miracle that he even sat and listened to the whole thing! He is really coming around. We are just praying that his heart will be softened. Unfortunately, they are going to Spain for 3 weeks so we won't be able to see them again until the end of September. But we will continue to pray that Malcom will be prepared to accept the gospel. This week we also had exchanges. Sister Krylbourne came to Lich and Sister Bertha went with Sister LeFevre to Harbourne. It was a great exchange! I learned a lot and it was so good to get to know Sister Krybourne. She is from Sweden and she has such a strong testimony of the gospel. I will send a picture of us! I am so grateful for this gospel in my life and the happiness it brings to me! I have so much peace knowing that I can follow the example of my Saviour and live with my family again some day. I LOVE YOU ALL! Sister Jensen