Another Great Week

My wonderful family and friends!!! WOW! I have so much to write about. So I'll just get started. So Tuesday we had the mission event at the Gadfield Elm chapel and Benbow farm. We met in Birmingham at 9:30 am and hopped on the coach. It was about a 45 minute drive to Benbow farm. It was wet and cold! We got off the bus and were greeted by our wonderful mission president and his wife. We all walked down to the pond which looked more like a puddle! It was a beautiful sight though. President talked for about ten minutes about the history of it. Wilford Woodruff himself dug the pond and baptized about 60 people in it. I had the opportunity to sing Come Follow Me. Everyone joined in on the last verse. It was so special. After, we got back in the coach for another 45 minute drive to Gadfield Elm Chapel. It was sooo gorgeous. It's just a tiny little thing but the spirit is so strong inside of it. We had a small meeting about 30 minutes long. Wilford Woodruff preached to the United Brethren and all but one were baptised. I love learning about the history of the church and the sacrifices the early saints made so that I can be here in Great Britain! It was amazing sitting inside that little chapel, just thinking about all those who have come before me. It makes me SO excited to get more involved in my genealogy when I get home! Okay, so update on Jade. She is just amazing! We had a great lesson with her on Tuesday. We taught her the Plan of Salvation. The spirit was so strong and at the end of the lesson she started to cry and say how she knows her Auntie is looking down on her and how she is so proud of her. It was a very special moment. Wow, we're so lucky to have the knowledge of the Plan of Salvation! It just makes everything make sense! We also taught her again on Thursday and she had a neighbor over, Rachel who's probably in her 30's. We taught them together and Rachel is really interested! She also said she has an 8 year old daughter who she has been wanting to get involved in a church! So it was an absolute miracle! We are excited to continue teaching Rachel and her daughter Bethany in the coming weeks! On Saturday we had to opportunity to take Jade to a baptism in Cannock. The girl getting baptised is ALSO named Rachel, (so don't get them confused! This Rachel is absolutely amazing! She has had a rough road as her parents aren't supportive, but she's 20 years old so she doesn't need permission. The Elders started teaching her in March when she requested a visit from missionaries. At the time it was Elder Packer and Elder Church who were teaching her, then Elder Church went to Glenfield and Elder Packer began training Elder Schlovotsky. They have been teaching Rachel ever since. She's had some amazing experiences! She called the elders this week and told them how she prayed for the first time with real intent and basically, saw Christ. He told her that "He was with her" From that moment she was SOLID and so excited to be baptised. Needless to say, the baptism was SUCH an emotional, powerful, spiritual experience. Rachel was very nervous but as soon as she came up out of the water she was so happy and emotional. Jade was also emotional and really felt the spirit. They had a testimony meeting while Rachel was getting dressed and OMG. It was so good. There were about 10 missionaries there, and every single one of those elders are just SOLID. It was so great being among other missionaries, feeling united in our purpose to share the gospel. It was a night I won't forget! We also had a great lesson with Roy Burbridge. He's married to a member, Pat, and is 82 years old today! He promised his wife that they would be sealed in the temple (in this life) and obviously his time is getting shorter every day. Sister Burbridge told us that she has been praying this whole year that he would accept the invitation to be baptised and that his heart will be softened. Well, we went over and were just chatting about everything. We started asking Pat questions about how she was converted and led the discussion to Roy. We asked him if he would like to be sealed to his wife and he said, "Yes of course." We asked him a few more questions. We testified of the wonderful sealing power of the temple and the blessings that come through membership in the church. The spirit was SO strong, Sister Bertha and I were both in tears. We asked him if he would take the missionary discussions. He said that he would need some time to think about it. They are going on holiday for 2 weeks so we said that he can get back to us when they get home. We are praying so hard for him and we know that this is his time! We're excited for them to get home soon so Roy can progress. So a couple random, not spiritually related moments of the week- We got to go with the Renukas ( a LA family in the ward who are all coming back in full force!! ) to the Lichfield Cathedral. It was the first time going inside and it was absolutely breathtaking! Also we got to go to a wedding at the chapel on Saturday! So LDS weddings work a little differently. Basically, the government doesn't count a sealing in the temple as a legal wedding so couples first have to get legally wedding and then they have to drive up to the temple and get sealed there. So, The Maces are an amazing family in the ward. They asked if we could help out at the wedding and also invited us to attend. It was gorgeous and a really good English experience! :) But it was nothing compared to the temple! It was interesting because during the whole ceremony everyone kept talking about how later in the day they would go to the temple. Haha. I have to admit it made me a LITTLE marriage trunky! Haha but don't worry, I bounced back really fast! Well, that's about it for the week!!! Looking forward to more miracles in the coming week! Till then, Sister Jensen