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