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