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