All is Well

Dear Family & Friends, Well, there isn't much to say that I haven't already told you! So this is just an email to inform you all that all is well in rainy-old England! It's been raining for basically the last week with lots of wind! Hopefully there will be an end to it soon! We are SO looking forward to the new year with hopefully some baptisms on the way! This weekend we did some service for the ward. We were asked to help with a wedding and I can now say that I have carved a pig! They had a hog roast and I was assigned to cut the meat off and serve it to the guests. Haha. Dad you would have had a good laugh. On Sunday after church we all went downtown and helped out with feeding the homeless. We had these big crates of food and the people would just come by with sacks and we would fill them. It was really humbling to see. There were a few other missionaries there and some members of a different church. It was really cool joining forces with people not of our faith and feeling their love. Reaching out to others is what Christianity is all about. Well, sorry this is a really short email this week but I hope that you all have a wonderful start of 2014! I love you all so much!! Love, Sister Jensen

Best Days ever!

Dear Family & Friends So, what to say about this week. It was (can you guess what I'm going to say?) GREAT! Monday: So we were going to go to Costco, but we found out only one set of missionaries could go.. :( So we just chilled at home for the afternoon. Some of the other Elders were allowed to go to Costco though and they brought us some ice cream! That made things better. :D I had a driving lesson that night. It was terrifying and I almost started crying! It was really dark and we drove on the motorway (which is basically the highway) and it was raining and the driving instructor kept telling me I was going too fast and that I needed to pretend I was driving for the first time. Poor Sister Moser was dying in the backseat. Missionaries are definitely protected! Tuesday: Probably one of the best days EVER. We were just so so happy the whole day... here's why: So last week we decided to tract this street, and before we knocked on any doors, I could just FEEL that someone amazing was there. And there was! His name is Chris. He is 18. He invited us back to talk with him on Tuesday (this day). I was a bit nervous because first of all, he's English and they "can't be bothered" and second, he said when we knocked his door "I'll have a lot of questions for you." So I was thinking, "Man, he's gonna' just want to bash and be silly with everything..." But, as you probably can already tell, that was not the case. He is SO amazing and so spiritually sensitive! He started to get emotional when we shared the first vision with him. He said he really wanted to come to church with us! So yeah, after that I was just so so happy for the rest of the day. I was honestly thinking the rest of the day "Was that real? Did someone hire him to mess with us? Is Ashton Kutcher going to pop out from the bushes and say you've been punked?" Haha. Luckily he never did! Wednesday: ZONE MEETING! It was fun. Nice to see all the missionaries in our zone, as always. The rest of our day was a bit weird because our ward meeting and our lesson were cancelled, so we talked to some people in town (We will be helping a Chinese guy with his English!), and we visited some members. By the end of the night we were both completely drenched. It's pretty normal though for England.... Now some sad news... Chris texted us and asked for some advice, because he told his parents about our visit and they weren't too happy. They said he has too much going on in his life with school already and doesn't need anything else to fill up more of his time. So they told him he couldn't come to church... We told him if his parents would like to meet us and ask us questions or whatever, we would totally be happy to do that, but his mom said no... we will still see him this next Tuesday, so hopefully we can come up with some sort of solution. Thursday: We met Kindness and tried SO HARD to figure out why he won't come to church or commit to be baptized. We're still a bit confused, but we did help him understand how important it is to find out for ourselves if the Book of Mormon is true. He said he will read and pray about it. Then he took us out for lunch to African Village so we could try some Nigerian food. It was surprisingly delicious! I had some jerk chicken with this jollof rice stuff! Friday: We had exchanges, so I stayed in Coventry with Sister Dorado. she's from Bolivia but has lived in London since she was ten. We did a lot of finding and we were supposed to teach a lesson to this other guy, Chris. But he flogged the appointment and we got a text from him later saying he didn't want to do this anymore and sorry. So that was a bummer. We went into town and did a bit of finding and then had a lesson with this guy Pedro. It was AWFUL. He didn't care about what we had to say and was a horrible listener. He just kept interrupting us and preaching to us. At the end of the lesson we invited him to read the book of mormon and it almost broke my heart when he literally pushed it away and said that he's "filcked" through it before, knows what it's about and has no desire to read it. Well we left feeling a bit disheartened but oh well! Saturday: We played football with some ward members, LA's and investigators. It was the best turn-up we've had so far! There were about 9 Chinese people there and Kindness came too. After, we were supposed to have a lesson, but it flogged so we did some tracting. Then we exchanged back! We then had a lesson with Sarah, and we brought along one of my favorite ladies from the ward, Tish. They just chatted for AGES! Which we wanted. We are really trying to give Sarah some more connections in the ward. And they both seem to get on very well! :D Then we had dinner with Tish, which is my favorite because she is such a good cook. Then we went to the chapel to teach Abdul who is a recent convert, and it was CRAZY there because they had a youth convention for seminary. When we showed up they had just started the dance (So tempting to join them! JK JK) so it was hard to find a quiet room. Oh man, but Abdul is AMAZING! I just love his testimony. While we were waiting for him to arrive, tons of youth were piling in and I got to see some from Nottingham and Lichfield! It was the highlight of my evening getting hugs from loads of the Young Women that I love. Sunday: So, for the past couple weeks there have been LOADS of Chinese people going to church! I counted them this time and there were 12! We usually only have about 3 or 4 investigators at church, so it's insane! I love it. One of the Chinese kids, Joe who just got baptised got confirmed during the meeting. In his blessing it said how it was no coincidence that he had met the missionaries and that if he stayed faithful, the Lord would use him in establishing the church in china when the doors will be opened! It was SO cool especially with all the chinese people there. Heavenly Father really does work in mysterious ways and he is definitely preparing China already for the gospel to roll forth! It is amazing to me to be able to look from the sidelines and see his miracles. I love this work so much and I testify that serving others is what will bring you the greatest happiness! Love you all SO much! Sister Jensen

Dinner with Kindness

 Nigerian food at the African Village!

11 Month Mark

Dear Family & Friends, Well! Can you believe that tomorrow is my 11 month mark? I can't! The time is flying by. It has been a great week with so many miracles and blessings from the Lord. It is amazing to me that the creator of the universe knows each of us so individually and so perfectly. In the mornings during my personal study I love to look out the window and watch the sunrise. Every day it is a testimony to me that He lives and that He is always trying to show us how much He loves us. All we have to do is open our eyes to see it. The teaching slowed down a lot this week compared to last. I think it is due to the fact that the semester started up again so people have been busy adjusting to the work load. But we did get to teach this awesome guy, Azad. He is from India. The appointment was kind of interesting. He told us before that he wanted to learn more about Christianity because his friends have had good experiences with it. So we met him at Ikea and we had planned to teach him the Gospel of Jesus Christ. No sooner than the second sentance, he started asking weird questions about the conception of Jesus and his fatherhood. It soon became relevant that he didn't really wanna learn about christianity as much as he wanted to teach us about Muslim. haha. Well, it was VERY difficult getting across the whole point of "why we need a redeemer" but we eventually got there in the end. It was so interesting though because we asked him, "When you sin in your life, how do you receive forgiveness?" And he just explained how he prays to God and God forgives him of sin. As we were teaching Him, it was really neat for me to kinda teach myself why we need a redeemer. Why can't we just pray to God for forgiveness? Why did the Saviour need to come to the earth and atone for us? Well, if you don't know the answer to those questions, I would invite you to study it. Because it will mean so much more to find out for yourself rather than if I tell you :) But I can testify that we DO need a Saviour. Our progression and our salvation is completely dependent upon Him and His atonement. I am eternally indebted to Him and often wonder, why in the world did He suffer for me? This week, I heard a wonderful story from one of the YSA in our ward. I think it really puts into perspective Heavenly Father's love for us... So there was a father who worked at a train station. His job was to switch the train tracks so the trains would go to the correct destination. On this particular day, his son Tommy was joining him at work. It hadn't been long when the father realized that something was wrong. From his station, the tracks weren't switching and he realized that it would have to be done manually. There were two trains coming from opposite directions and if the tracks weren't switched, they would collide and all the people would die. But, he knew that he wouldn't be fast enough to run and switch the tracks in time. Meanwhile, Tommy recognized his father's concern and asked what was the matter. The Father explained what was the matter and Tommy offered to fix it. But the Father knew that he might not make it if he succeeded. He had to make a choice. So he chose to risk his son's life to save the people on the train. In time, the Father knew that Tommy had achieved the task, but that his precious son had not survived. Weeks passed, and the father would see the people walked to the train, knowing that these were the people that had been spared at the expense of his son. The people weren't good people... spending their lives and their time on things of no value. Many times the father asked himself, what more could I have done? That story really helped me to understand how much our Heavenly Father loves each of us. He sacrificed his only perfect son for the rest of us... the rest of us who are imperfect, disobedient and sometimes even openly rebel against Him and His love. If only we could understand his immense love for us. I believe it would compel us to be much more obedient to his will, much more loving to those around us and so much more grateful for the gift of His son. I know that God lives. I know that He loves us! And I know that we need to love him back... we can only do this through sincere prayer and study. That is how we come to know him more fully. I love you all and hope you will think about these things this week. Love, Sister Jensen

Fabulous Week

Dear Family & Friends Well it has been a fabulous week here in Coventry!!! The work is moving forward and it is sooo exciting!! On Monday after P-day we had a first lesson with Jenni, the lady that we met on Christmas. It went really well and we talked to her about Joseph Smith and the BOM. Then on Tuesday I woke up sick with the flu. It was the first time on my mission being sick and was no fun at all! I had a fever that day and night. On Tuesday night we had to be in by 6:00. Needless to say, it was probably the most uneventful New Years I've ever had. Haha. Sister Moser and I updated the area book, cleaned the flat, and played cards :). On Wednesday we weren't allowed out of the flat until one so we did our weekly planning session after companion study. After, we taught this awesome guy, Daniel. He is Nigerian and is studying here. He is a minister for the Celestial Church of Christ but is interested in the book of mormon. The lesson went well, but he had so many questions so it was difficult to teach among all the questions. We also taught Joseph that night. MAN, I love this guy. He is so amazing. He's also from Nigeria, but unfortunately he goes back at the end of this month. He knows the BOM is true and is basically just waiting for his answer to be baptised. He says when he gets back he will get in touch with the missionaries there. He wants to serve a mission too! Thursday we did a lot of tracting and finding and then had a lesson in the evening with Niyi. Another Nigerian student. Haha. He was so cool. He just wanted to know how the BOM will help him in his life so we all went through and read our favourite scriptures and testified about how it has helped us. He is going to be solid. We were supposed to have another lesson with this guy, Azad, but we couldn't find a female member to go with us so we just had to stop by and introduce ourselves. (He was a referral from a previous investigator). He's the nicest guy and is Muslim. He said his friends have had really good experiences with Christianity so he wanted to learn more about it. We have an appointment with him this Saturday. Friday was District Meeting and interviews. I love interviews. Time to chat with President is the best! We talked about where desire stems from. He told me to imagine if I had to go finding and if I didn't get one return appointment then my parents would die. Your desire would be up the roof. You will do ALL you can to find that appointment. So what is the difference between our parents and the people we meet everyday? LOVE. When you love the people. you have a greater desire to serve them and find the elect. I loved that analogy. After interviews we had a lesson with Sarah who basically found us. She had a dream about Joseph Smith one night, telling her that she needed to figure out who he was. She's been searching for a church for about the past 10 years and she has a collegue that she works with who is in our ward. So we had our second lesson with her this week and talked about the Plan of Salvation. She never thought that we lived with God before this life. We showed her the scripture inthe bible that basically says, "before I formed thee I knew thee". After she read it she kissed the scripture and just was so happy. Haha. She loves how we say Heavenly Father too and thinks it's so cool that we probably knew each other before this life. She is solid but will have to take things pretty slow because she knows that when she is baptised it will be a big life change. Saturday we played football in the morning with our investigators and ward members. It was raining so the field was absolutely SOAKED. We were all drenched by the time it got over and everyone had mud all over them. I scored one goal though so I was pretty happy :) Haha. We had to run back to the flat, shower and change and then we had a lesson with Dolly and Ash, our chinese friends. WE talked about the Plan of Salvation and they helped us sing I am a Child of God in chinese. It was so great. After we went to town to do some finding. We met a guy, Tafara from London and we got a return appointment with him for this coming week. Sunday we went to church. Sarah came and really enjoyed it. Afterwards we fed the homeless again down in City Centre. It was kinda crazy. The people who come for food are mostly from Romania and are REALLY pushy with each other. It's mad. I kinda thought it would be a humbling experience, but the people who come just seem to expect the food to be there for him. I think it helped me to feel more self worth and a desire to work hard and be independent. So that was pretty much our week! Lots of teaching, which is the best thing you can do. We have set goals to find three more investigators this week and to get the ones we have right now progressing towards baptism. Kindness is probably the closest right now. Oh, today I will have my first driving lesson too! I'm a little nervous but super excited too. I love the excitement that a new year brings and this new year I really want to do my best to follow the spirit. On my mission i've learned that following the spirit is all about not procrastinating! So many times we may get impressions (and we probably don't even realize they're impressions) but we put them off. But, Heavenly Father needs things done in a timely manner! So usually when you don't follow a prompting right away, he will find someone else to do it. And then we lose the experience and the blessings. So this year I am going to pay attention to the promptings and follow them and soon as I can. I know that as we do that we will have miracles happen in our lives and we will be so blessed for them!!! I love you all and hope you have a fantastic week!!! Love, Sister Jensen P.S. Remember Roy, the 82- year old man in Lichfield we were teaching? He's getting baptised on February first!!!! :D