Transfered to Wales!!

Dear Family & Friends, Wow, it has been a whirlwind of a week!!! I'm not really sure where to start!! Monday was the day of transfer dodge! So we mostly just did our emailing and shopping and got ready for the coming week. That evening we all had dinner with the missionaries and all the recent converts and investigators to say goodbye. During the dinner, everyone sang Happy Birthday to me and gave me a bouquet of flowers and a card. It was a great birthday surprise! We got a text from President during the dinner asking us to call him. So I went into the bathroom and called him and he thanked me and released me from my calling as a Sister Training Leader. So at this point I was pretty certain I would leave! We went home shortly after and got ready for bed. The dodge call came at 10:30.... I was going to Blackwood with Sister Stapley!!! So this means that we would be "pinkwashing" (we would replace a set of Elders). I was super excited! Blackwood is in Wales by the way, really near to Cardiff and Caerphilly. So Tuesday was full of saying goodbyes. It was very hard to say goodbye to many of the people there. I will miss each of them so much. Well, on Wednesday we got all ready to go and drove to the mission office for transfers. It was nice to see some familiar faces! I was fortunate enough to borrow a bike off of one of the sisters who will be a STL so that was good! After about an hour, I met up with my companion Sister Stapley (she just got released as a Sister Training Leader in Birmingham) and we got on the Coach to drive to Wales. It was about an hour and a half drive to Cardiff, where we got off and met up with the other set of Elders who are serving in Blackwood. They helped us with our bikes and luggage and we got on a train. It was about 20 minutes on the train to our stop. We talked to some girls on the train. The welsh accent is really different to the English and it took me some time to process what they were saying! Everything on the signs is in English and Welsh and I can't pronounce any of it. Haha. The welsh people are SO much friendlier as well! They just want to talk to us for ages. It's great! haha. So we got off the train, then had to get a bus. AFter the bus, it was a 20 minute walk to our flat. I felt so bad for one of the poor elders! He is a new missionary and he was carrying Sister Stapley's bag the whole time because one of her wheels broke off. Haha the poor Elder was just sweating the whole time! Luckily my bags have held up really well, so thanks Dad! Well we made it to the flat and just as we did a car pulled over and a lady got out. She told us her name was Sister Tamlyn and she asked if we needed any groceries. (Our Flat is right across the street from the grocery store). We said that we did and she was SO nice! She went and got us a few things to hold us over until P-day. Well, the Elders left and we explored our flat. They Elders had actually done a decent job getting it ready for us. Their cupboards were just full of loads of canned food haha so we were really grateful for Sister Tamlyn. Well at this point it was already 8:00 so we just took our dinner hour and tried to get settled in. Then it was Thursday! So my birthday! In the morning we got ready and did our personal study because we had to leave at 9 to make it to coordination at 10 at the chapel. Let me tell you, this is probably the HILLIEST area in the mission. The Elders warned us of it when we came and they were right. Blackwood is just a valley surrounded by massive hills and our area is all the neighboring villages that sit on top of the hills! haha. So the hill to the chapel is super long and steep. It took us about 45 minutes to get the the chapel from our house although it's probably only a mile and a half away. Well, we made it to coordination and it was with our stand-in WML, Ed. Apparently our real WML doesn't do his calling and doesn't often come to church. Well after that we had district meeting. In our district is us, the Blackwood Elders and the Caerphilly elders. They are all really nice. District meeting went well and then we had district Lunch. There is a small tesco express next to the chapel so we all walked over to get something to eat. After district meeting we decided to stop by our real WML. Just as we were biking in the drive, they were pulling out to leave somewhere and they invited us to have dinner with them on Friday. Well after that we went and taught they Elder's only investigator, Heather. She is in her mid 50's and has been to church a few times, and is just waiting for that confirmation before she gets baptised. She's really really nice though. The rest of the day was spent working around our area and getting to know it better. We did meet Amy and Garrith, brother and sister and got a return appointment with them. Friday was rain, rain, rain, all day long!!! We got caught in it on our bikes and we just got completely drenched! It wasn't the most productive day as we were trying to get places and severely underestimated how long it would take to get there! haha. Well the Dinner appointment went well with the Davies family. Saturday was a great day with so many miracles! We have been picking streets to knock and we picked a couple streets in a village called Newbridge. It was getting toward the end of the day, around 6:30 and we were both fasting. We were knocking this treet and a lady opened. She's probably in her early 20's. At first she didn't seem interested but as we testified about the nature of Heavenly Father, she started to open up and she asked us if we would like to come in! So we went in and started teaching her. She had so many questions. Not long after, her partner and 2 little girls came in as well. The girls belong to them but both from different relationships. So we taught them all together and they loved it! We taught them how to pray and we said a prayer with them and gave them a Book of Mormon. The lady, Jenna, said she loved it and had goosebumps the whole time we were there. We got her information and she said we could come back on Tuesday! It was such a miracle! Sister Stapley and I were just so excited. We had a massive hill to bike back up to get home but it didn't matter because we were so happy. Well, of course when you're doing the most good, you experience the most opposition, because just as we were biking up the hill, the thing that switches the gears on the chain of my bike completely broke off, making it impossible to bike. So we walked the rest of the way home! We met some cool people along the way though. It was so great and a testimony of how the Lord will bless you if you are willing, obedient and hard-working! The next day was Sunday. We walked to church and the members were all so welcoming! They are very excited to have Sisters in the ward as it has been a long time. I was again able to put my piano skills to use as well and that was a blessing. Heather came to church and loved it! The DAvies, the WML and his family asked us to come for dinner again so we went there after. After lunch as we were walking, we met a girl, Grace who is so sweet and interested in meeting with us! We made our way home, put our quads in the flat, and then did some more tracting. We came back in for dinner, call-ins and study. It has been a wonderful and tiring couple of days! My body is aching from the hills but it's all a reminder of how grateful I am to be serving here and for the miracles Heavenly Father has blessed us with. I am so mindful of his love and I feel it all around me up here in Wales. It's very different than serving in the city as we rarely see anyone out and about, but it's great becasue it almost feels like I'm camping! haha. I am really loving it and looking forward to this coming week. Oh, also an update on Coventry! Sister Bertha replaced me there and they have been doing great! Bryan and Edison are both on baptismal dates for July 26th, and John bore his testimony in sacrament meeting! Unfortunately I won't be able to go back for their baptisms because it's so far away but i'm just so happy for all of them and know they're in good care.I love you all so much and hope you're having a great week. Love, Sister Jensen