Week 8

Area: Chanute, KS
Companion: Elder Hansen

Answers to Questions

My weekly schedule is - we have correlation with our ward mission leader every Sunday at 8. Then we go to either Ward Council or PEC then sacrament then usually lunch or another meeting. On Wednesdays we have district meetings in Paola which is about 1 1/2 hours away. Then about 1 or 2 times a transfer we have a zone training meeting. We have about 30 ish people in our zone.

 

Yes we have enough food. We usually buy a little bit and then we usually get fed a couple of times and hopefully they send us home with some. That is always awesome.

 

I am eating healthy foods when I can. Most of the time when people feed us its like a big deal "oh the missionaries are coming" so we get a lot of big dinners here but the food is good.

 

Yes we do have transfers this week. They happen every six weeks so people will know tomorrow where and who is being transferred on Thursday. But its really unlikely that either me or Elder Hansen will be transferred because I am not done being trained and we are both new in the area.

 

We work pretty much all over the ward, Bishop said it was about 100 square miles so its quite a bit bigger than back home.

 

 

So this week was full of interesting experiences. The beginning was cool because we got the help the Pattons with their new house project. We got to tear down some of their walls and ceiling so that was pretty fun.

Thursday and Wednesday we went on transfers again and we went to a lot of people's houses. We had dinner with a less active and his girlfriend who is a nonmember. It was really cool because he used to be a chef in a restaurant. She read the introduction to the BOM and she said she really liked it and it made sense and they both committed to read the Book of Mormon everyday.

Friday we had planned to help this nonmember guy we had meet a few weeks earlier. We have already helped him with some minor plumbing stuff. So we show up at 9am thinking it will take maybe 2 hours. Well we get there and he's like alright we're going to replace all of my water lines
underneath my house. In the crawl space. And so I learned a couple of things. One - crawl spaces are about maybe 3 feet tall underneath a house. It's dark, damp, cramped and bugs absolutely love them. I learned how to replace an entire water system, how it feels to be a small hobbit and what it's like to have spider webs in my hair face and EARs and pretty much everywhere else. We left at 9 pm so we worked for 12 hours and it was hard work but it felt good to do that for him because there was no
way that he would have been able to do it for himself.

We have not been able to find Andrew, so hopefully he is still interested. We were able to talk to Nathan he is still on course but definitely needs to learn a lot still.

Then on Saturday we literally walked all around Chanute and we didn't really get anything out of it so it wasn't very fun. But that's alright at lest we were out and about preaching the message.

I am enjoying it out here. It's taken a little bit of time but the guys here are really cool. I am writing this from a semi indoor golf driving range called top golf. It's like a super rich persons way to
golf in the middle of Kansas City. It's cool because I guess a member has hooked us up for free.

Well thank you everybody. I love the package I got this week and I am happy here. Thank you for everything you guys do to support me. I really appreciate it.
Elder Jensen.

After 12 hours of plumbing in a crawl space.

 

We found a pile of signs. 

 

We found a silo with a toilet inside. 

Hello from week 7

Area: Chanute, KS
Companion: Elder Hansen

Answering Questions

We went to Olathe last P-day and today as well. We mostly just play sports with other missionaries.

You pronounce it O-Laith-A.

Yes I have given out Grandmas Book of Mormon and about a whole other box full of them.:)

I think it will just be easier if I keep my boots even though they are the wrong ones. It will still work just as good. 

There are probably 10 - 15 active youth in the ward.

 

So my daily schedule is different depending on the day but generally we get up about 6:30 work out till 7:00 take showers and breakfast until 8:00. Then personal study for an hour then companion study for an hour. Then at 10:00 I have to do an additional hour of study since I am new but that only lasts for 12 weeks so I am almost 1/2 way done with that. Then we have lunch for 1 hour and then leave the apartment at 12:00 and we usually try less actives or potentials and tract around each of their houses. Then we come back at 9:00 and plan and then we usually write in our journals or read some more or just go to bed. We have to be in bed by 10:30 but we usually are by like 10:00.

 

Some days are really fast and some are really slow it just depends on what your doing. Like if you are having absolutely no luck with anyone then its slow or if you find people or even just people who are nice but are not interested then it goes by faster.

My Week

So we went on exchanges this week with our district leader so he came down to Chanute and stayed with Elder Hansen and I went up to Gardner and stayed with his Companion in their apartment and worked in their area for a day. It was fun. Turns out the member that we had dinner with is the Elders Quorum presidents sister in the Chanute area.

We havent been able to find Andrew this week he didnt seem to be home but we did teach Nathan and his mom a couple of times. They both committed to working on being baptized on April 9th. So that is awesome news. Neither of them really understand what it is and what it entails so we will keep working with them. But Nathan has been coming to church and to young mens so that is really good.

 

So we were leaving McDonalds the other night and these probably college aged guys are driving by and one leans out the window and yells "Hey Jehovah Witnesses! Praise ALI"  We got in the car and Elder Hansen said "well that will be embarrassing for them when we meet them in the spirit world."

 

So this happend probably 2-3 weeks ago so Im sorry if youve already heard this story but I am going to send it again because it was really funny.

So we tried this less actives house- he hasnt been to church in many years. His name is Ellis and we get there and him and his girl friend, Gale are living together and they have like a 9 year old daughter. So were just standing there in their living room and all the sudden Gale shoots up her hands and says "Is the good Lord gonna strike me down for what im about to say!" Then she kinda looked around like she expected an answer. And there is no real response to that. Then she said something like "I am going to drink a Pepsi. I hope that doesnt offend y'all". Then she kept doing that with a different thing to say each time. "Is the good Lord gonna strike me down for what Im about to say!" Then like after the 4th or 5th time she did this Ellis kinda loudly and with frustration said "Why do you keep saying that!" proving to us that this really wasnt normal for her. She then replied just as loud  "Cause Im livin in Sin!""Were not married but were living together!" So at least she knows that that is wrong. It was a very strange but really funny encounter and me and Elder Hansen have been laughing about it ever since.

 

We met this guy who just bought this really old carriage making factory and he is trying to fix it up. He let us come in and check it out. It was made in like the 1870s. It was really cool.

 

We saw our first armadillo - it was dead but we took some pictures and a video so I will try to send them along with some other pictures.

I have started reading the New Testament again and came across Matthew 19:29. I thought was a really good scripture about missionary work.

 

Thank you all so much for the support you give me. I really appreciate it. Its awesome to hear how your lives are going. Thank you.

Elder Jensen

 

Armadillo

I found an acorn.

 

 A mini oil pump.



We found a hill and took a panoramic shot of the horizon.

 

Week 6

Area: Chanute, KS
Companion: Elder Hansen

Questions?

We mostly stay inside and try to work out although this week we havent been so good at it.

I have finally gotten the letters you guys are sending and they are awesome thank you so much for them.

I have finally gotten my boots from missionary mall although they are the right size they are the wrong boots. But honestly I think I will probably keep them just because it would be such a pain to send them back.

  

My Week

So we went to a members home on Tuesday and had fried chicken. There were two batches and one of them was not cooked all the way apparently. But she wanted us to try both. So I got both and I could tell mine was not done and was still raw and bleeding, but Elder Hansens piece looked good so he ate it and i did not. Well all that night he was in and out of the bathroom. And he was doing that until Friday. So I literally took care of him and stayed at home and did nothing this week. I read Our Heritage and Our Search for happiness, and part of True to the Faith and got quite a ways into Jesus the Christ. I also read about 50 pages in the Book of Mormon. So ya we finally left the apartment on Saturday and were able to find Andrew and Nathan both of whom we had appointments with and had to stand them up. But it all worked out Andrew read a little and was still really interested. Nathan went to young mens and to church yesterday and we taught him part of the first lesson, his mom said she wanted to learn as well and I think it will really bless their family. The problem will be the step dad. He is from Wales and is very loud mouthed and does not care what he says so its always interesting to be there.

 

Thats so awesome that dad got called to the stake young mens although I cant really see you as a Secretary. I feel like for minutes you would just play back the meeting last week that you recorded and say " and that was it for last week" and then just set your phone down and have it record that meeting for next week. Haha I am just joking but I bet that has gone through your mind.

 

I have taken pictures this week but I forgot my camera and we are going to Olathe which is like a 2 hour drive so I will try to get them to you.

Kansas

So some things that are different in Kansas 

1. There are absolutely no mountains, we got up on a hill and you could almost see the curvature of the earth.
2. There are a TON of trees. Every where there is not a field that was man made is super thick forest.
3. There is water everywhere. Every house has like a little ditch in front of it for the rain water. And there are more little lakes and streams than I have ever seen. And also a ton of bridges everywhere.
4. There are Hawks everywhere like you go for a 20 min drive youll see at least 10 Hawks.
5.  There are mini oil pumps all over the place. I took a picture and will send it later but they cant be more 6 feet tall and its not abnormal to see like 5 or so in a field and almost every field has some in there.
6. Apparently Kansas does not believe in road lights because there are none. Its not really something you think about but it gets really dark on a busy highway at night.
7. When the sun sets it goes really fast. Since it doesnt go behind mountains first when the sun leaves the horizon it is just gone and its light and sunny and 15 minutes later pitch black its kinda weird.
8. Everyone says that Kansas sunsets are the most beautiful out here. For the most part they are about the same as back home although every now and then it does make some really cool colors, like really bright purples, pinks, oranges and even green sometimes. Although I was told if you see green it usually precedes a tornado so thats fun.
9. Birds havent really started coming out yet but they are super bright colors like blue and red. They are really pretty.
10. And there are squirrels everywhere as well.

 Thank you for every thing you guys do for me. I couldn't do it with out your support.

Elder Jensen

Week 5 Feb 8 2016‏‏

Area: Chanute, KS
Companion: Elder Hansen

Answers to questions.

I just use the bedding they gave me it works well. The blanket is really uncomfortable but the comforter is really comfy so that works out good.

There are two sister missionaries assigned to the same ward as us but our ward is HUGE. It takes like 45 min to drive from one end to the other. So they are in Iola which is where the church is at and Chanute is like 30 min away so we dont bump into each other very often.

Since we are so far away from our Zone we usually spend P-day in Chanute. Although the zone does get together we would just have to drive like 1 1/2 hours to get there and we just dont have the miles. And we cant do anything with the sisters so ya...

Yes I still write in my journal and it really helps me through the rough days. Some days I dont even say what happened I just use the space to say how I feel and it makes me feel better. I would also suggest that you pray the same way it really does help.

No I have not received any letters from Grandma. Although i did receive a package I think is from here it has a PMG and some family history coloring books and some article of faith pass along cards. So those are sweet thank you. I will definitely use them.

Yes we have a GPS and its a good thing else we would always be lost and could never make it anywhere on time.

We havent taught any new investigators yet although we have been blessed with some appointments for this week so hopefully things work out.

Me and Elder Hansen are still getting along really well he is good guy. 

Elder Hansen is from a little town like 15 min outside Park city Utah.

I actually havent seen to many people that want to Bible Bash. Although we do have quite a few say that they will pray for us and were like "we'll pray for you too!" or they say that they hope we find Jesus some day and we are like " I know its gonna be so great when we see him again." 

My Week

So one of the greatest blessing this week is we found Andrew. We were walking around Humbolt Kansas and trying to contact the less actives there and tract a little. And literally non of the LAs answered  and nobody was interested. So we are walking down the street and we see this guy sitting on his porch smoking with his head down. So we go talk to him and I honestly didnt say a whole lot but Elder Hansen was on fire. We talked to him about his family and trials hes been going through. He said his brother was cutting him off from any contact unless he stops his addictions and whatnot so he felt like our coming to him was a sign and we showed him the book of Mormon and he really felt good about it. He said he would read it and that he wanted us to come back and show him more! So that was pretty awesome. And that was our first new investigator.

 

Second greatest thing this week. We learned how powerful a commitment with the lord can be. So we were in Gas Kansas (yes that is a name of a town) ((and there is literally no way to get to LaHarpe Kansas unless you pass Gas)) and we made a commitment and prayed with the lord that we would not get back in the car until we had a new investigator and we got one! We were walking down the street and there was this guy walking the opposite direction so we stoped and talked to him. Turns out that he is only 15 year old named Nathan. But Nathan said he thinks his mom has taken the lessons before. So I gave him a Book of Mormon and we set up a time to go and talk with him again.

 

So last Monday we had like 5 min left to email so we were in a really big hurry to get to Mcdonalds to use their WIFI. And this guy in there named Dilan comes up to us and is talking about some hard times he is going through and said that he felt drawn to us and to come and talk to us. We didnt have a book of Mormon on us to give away so we just gave him a pass along card with our number and set up an appointment for the next day. He didnt show up so that kinda sucked but it was cool in the moment to see someone willing to listen to the spirit talking to them enough to approach some teenagers in white shirts and ties.

 

We went to an empty nesters family home evening. It was kinda weird but really funny to sit back and watch old people who have known each other for 20 plus years interact with each other. The lesson was good and it was on not offending people so Im sorry if I am offending anyone right now but it was pretty funny :)

 

We have gone back to that girls house but we're pretty sure she doesn't live there and no one has answered again but we will keep trying.

 

We go on team ups with priesthood holders on tue and thurs and we generally go to their home teaching families. And so we go with brother Snyder to a part member family and we are talking and he gives his thought and then looks at us and says "I'm sure the Elders have a lesson on this subject". It was president Uchtdorfs article in the ensign about staying focused. And no we dont have one prepared on that specific subject but we went with it anyway and basically just shared our testimonies. But it did turn out pretty good.

 

So it gets dark at like 7 here and we aren't supposed to do unknown contacting after dark. So from like 8 to 9 we can't really do anything because its to late to tract and its to late to stop by any members homes and we literally dont know what to do. So sometimes we walk down main street trying to street contact people but usually nobody is out or we seriously walk around walmart and hope someone says hi to us. It kinda sucks and we dont know what to do about it.

 

Thank you so much for the pictures you guys sent they are exactly what i wanted. I love them.

Any way thank you all so much for all the emails and support you give me. Its been really awesome to hear from you. I will never regret my decision to serve.

 

 

New Week

Area: Chanute, KS
Companion: Elder Hansen

Thank you all so much that helped with the package. I got it on Friday. It had a ton of candy and treats in it and I love all the hearts you guys sent. It's really awesome.

Answers to Questions

I do have a washer and dryer in our apartment but it is in the bathroom so its a little weird.

We dont have a dishwasher so everything is done by hand.

I have not got my boots yet so hopefully they are on the way or maybe they didn't have a name on it  and its sitting at the mission office until someone claims them.

Opening a new area is hard because we still dont have anyone to teach. We had a couple of things lined up but everything has fallen through. So we are basically starting over and have no one to talk to yet but we will get there.

Yes I have been able to feed myself when members don't feed us. We usually have PB&J or like cup of noodles. Or a lot of times we are sent home with left overs from a dinner so we eat those.

I have recently started a new read of the Book of Mormon where I am marking every time it refers to Jesus Christ or God and every time it says one of his doctorine( Faith, Repentence, Baptism, the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End.

I think I am adapting well.

I am knocking on doors quite a bit. It's really weird because you're like "hi I have the answers to all of your questions and can bring you happiness and eternal life in my hand - would you like one" and then they say no...

My Week

So my week has been pretty boring and crazy things have happend at the same time. We got chased by dogs out in literally the middle of nowhere. I keep forgetting to bring my camera in the car but you get in those fields and you can see forever and it is all flat. If you get on a hill high enough to see above the trees you can see all of the water towers for like 10 towns its really weird.

We had an appointment set up with a part member family. They didnt seem very solid but they told us to come back so we did and their front door was open and we could see them inside and as we pulled up and walked towards the door they totally shut it in our faces.... So naturally we knock like three times but they didnt answer. So ya that was awesome.

We had a sister on the ward roster we were going to go see. I think they are a PMF so we get there the house is way back in the sticks. We pull up there are I think about 13 really old run down cars that we could see. As we pull in and got out a truck turned on and peeled out. So that was a little weird. But we decide to knock anyways. It's a very dirty rundown house and we are expecting the dogs to run back from the fields any second to eat us and we are getting ready to run back to the car. So we knock expecting like a 50 year old meth head who has like 2 teeth maybe and then a 20 ish pretty blond girl opens the door and she was wearing a dress and looked like she had just come back from church. Well it definitely was not what we were expecting. And so it was Elder Hansen's turn for the door approach so he's like fumbling over all of his words and I was trying so hard not to laugh just because it was so strange. So we asked if the sister was there and she wasnt so we said that we would come back in a day or two. And as we walked away she complimented on Elder Hansens Tie... so we walk quickly back to the car and then just died laughing. It was a very strange bizarre meeting but we said we would go back and I still feel like an old guys going to come out with his gun and like 1 tooth yelling at us but we will have to see until next time.

Also, Dad we stopped at this guys house and apparently he restores old cars so he showed us his collection and he had (Fully restored) an old Chevell SS Muscle car and a 1977 Corvette that he bought new and has kept in extremely nice condition and an Old Camaro and another Camaro. It was Awesome! I wasn't able to get any pictures, but if we can make it back there hopefully I will get some.

Saturday, the Bishops 2nd counselor bought a house for 18,000 and therefore it was a pile of junk and an old party house. So we helped him clean in out and rip out the carpet and all sorts of stuff. We will probably go back to take out most of the sheetrock and some of the walls. We found lots of Vodka and pipes it was very interesting.

And then we helped the Smiths in our ward dig up their leaking sewer pipe. Which was Awesome we got to jump down in a "muddy" hole and hand dig a sewer pipe out. But I lucked out I wasn't wearing boots and Elder Hansen was so he got most of the "mud" on him and not me. But I did have to do a lot of digging.

So Daniel, there is a guy in my ward who is named Brice Gorrell and he lived in Oklahoma City for a while. I guess he went on splits with Christopher Robison while he was on his mission. You should see if Chris remembers that guy because I totally know him.

Anyway I think that has pretty much been my week. Thank you all for everything you have done for me. I am loving it out here and it's been a ton of fun

Scripture for the week: 2 Nephi 31: 21.   There is but one way we can be saved and it is though our savior Jesus Christ. 

 

Thank You.
Elder Jensen