Week 51

Area: Ottawa, KS
Companion: Elder Cox

Well, this week was honestly pretty uneventful. Elder Cox has been sick most of the week and we have not been able to get out and do to much.

Tuesday we went on exchanges and Elder Smith and I helped this family move a super heavy air hockey table with a couple of guys who only spoke Portuguese so that was fun. Then as we were driving around Olathe in Johnson County I saw some of the biggest houses I have ever seen in my life. They were huge! You literally had to drive under part of their house to get to the courtyard where the garages were.

Then through a failure to communicate I ended up forgetting all of my stuff at the Heritage Parks apartment, so for two days I slept on just a plain mattress with a sweatshirt for a blanket. That was fun...

We went Christmas caroling with a family in our ward. It was actually pretty fun. The family we went with could actually sing, so I just stood in the back and tried to not ruin it.

We went to go get my bedding and stuff back and as we pulled into the parking lot we realized that our bumper had fallen partially off and was dragging on the ground. We had lots of appointments and we were pretty much busy for the next two days and then it was Christmas time and everywhere was closed. Our car guy just told us to duct tape it, so thats what we did.

 

Christmas Eve was pretty normal. We had dinner with a family with little kids and after dinner we helped the dad move a big trampoline up from the basement. He said once it was all set up that we could jump on it. :) 

Christmas day was awesome! Thank you so much for the stuff you guys sent me. I think I have more candy than I have ever had in my life.  We opened gifts, went to church, had lunch with a family who made home made pizzas, then went straight to dinner with another family. Then we got to Skype our families. That was really awesome. They said that I need to send more pictures of me in my emails so ... we'll see what happens.

 

 

 

 

Thank you all for your support, the mission is awesome! 

Make it a good one.

Elder Jensen

 

 

Week 50

Area: Ottawa, KS
Companion: Elder Cox

 

This week has been pretty interesting. We didn't do hardly anything because Elder Cox has been sick a lot of the week, but the stuff that did happen was pretty cool.

On Monday we stopped at the church to use the wifi to sync our Ipads and people had just finished setting up for the ward party. Well, apparently the Fishers (a recent convert couple) left their phone there so we offered to take it back to them but we had to go to dinner first. So we get to our dinner appointment, it was good then at the end the brother was sharing some of his favorite scriptures and it was a pretty spiritual moment then all of the sudden we hear fire alarms going off and a voice saying "its the wife, its the wife".  Then Elder Cox pulls an IPhone 6 out of his pocket and apparently Sister Fisher was trying to call Brother Fisher. It was hilarious. Later we were curios to see what Bro Fisher's ringtone was for us. So we call the phone and the Hallelujah chorus from Handel's Messiah started playing. It was awesome.

Tuesday morning we had to be up at Liberty, Missouri for a Zone Conference. So to make it on time we had to stay the night with another set of elders. So you have 4 elders, 2 beds and 1 couch, that still leaves someone on the floor, and I was the lucky one for that job. So instead of sleeping on the flat ground, I slept in their tub and it was actually really comfy and I slept really well. The conference was awesome and as a Christmas gift we all did a session in the Kansas City, Missouri temple. It was cool to see 60 missionaries all standing in a little celestial room.

Wednesday Elder Cox was sick, so we went to the church and watched cheesy church videos and played the piano. I took a nap underneath the piano.

Thursday was cool. We were trying a potential investigator, it was probably someone the missionaries had tracted into about 2 years ago. So we knocked on the door and the guy opened it and let us right in because it was cold. He used to live in Wyoming and knew lots of members there. He said that he had always wanted to read the Book of Mormon but never had the chance. We informed him that we had a free copy to give him and he was very excited, he looked like a kid on Christmas. Then as we were leaving we found out that it actually wasn't the person we were looking for, he must have moved some time ago. This guy was just a total stranger and had never really talked with missionaries before. We set up a return appointment for this coming week.

Friday we volunteered at a retirement home and we got to play a game with about 6 old ladies. We all sat around the table and had 2 ft long pool noodles and we just hit a balloon around. It was hilarious and those ladies had the time of their lives. Our job was to get the balloon when ever it fell out of reach.

Sat it stormed pretty bad and we couldn't do a whole lot but we made a couple of visits. The ward party was supposed to be that night but they canceled it because of the bad road conditions. Then on Sunday they canceled church because people have to drive from 45+ minutes on really bad roads to get to church. Since the roads were bad enough they grounded our car, so we ended up walking all day and it was pretty cold. It said about 0 degrees but with the wind chill and the humidity it felt about -15. I learned that no one really likes to talk to you when it's that cold. It was pretty fun though the roads were slick enough and my shoes were bald enough that I literally was skating down the street like I had ice skates on. I'm guessing it looked pretty comical to watch two Mormon missionaries skating down the street. Although Elder Cox being from southern Nevada does not know how to walk on ice. It was a good day.

 

Thank you so much for all that you guys do, it really means a lot.

 

Make it a good one,

Elder Jensen

 

Week 49

Area: Ottawa, KS
Companion: Elder Cox

 

This week has been great with some unique stuff. First off we helped an older couple move a fridge and the fridge was literally frozen. The morning was really cold and it had snowed/iced and the fridge was covered in ice. So that was fun.

I hit my 11 month mark, that's weird.

On Wednesday it SNOWED! Finally. But I was on exchanges in Olathe and didn't expect the snow so I only brought a light jacket. And we were in a walk area. Yay!  So we walked all over Olathe and froze to death and preached the gospel. That was cool. I have also learned that humidity just makes things worse, either colder or hotter. So a 11 degrees here (which that's about what it was) it probably feels like about a -5 back home.

 

We had a couple cool lessons this week mostly with less active members. We have mostly been sharing the church's new initiative, Light the World. Which is awesome and its all about service.

On Saturday we caught a ride with a member up to Olathe for the Stake Leadership meeting and then the adult session of stake conference. And at the adult session Matt Pennington, a man I had the privilege to teach and help join the church, was asked to bear his testimony. And it was very powerful. It has had an amazing impact in the way I view my calling and knowing what one missionary, as he is guided really is just a tool for the Lord to do his work. It is amazing.

Then on Sunday the Fishers, a couple in the Ottawa ward, were asked to bear their testimonies. Although I was transferred into Ottawa just 5 days after their baptism, I feel a sense of responsibility for them. I have been able to help them as new converts entering into a brand new world and being the person they can answer questions and seek council. I feel a great source of joy from our union. Nothing has brought me more happiness than seeing someone change their lives and come to a knowledge that God loves them and they are where they need to be. 

I am reminded of D&C 15:6 where the Lord tells us the thing that will be of greatest worth to us. 

"6 And now, behold, I say unto you, that the thing which will be of the most worth unto you will be to declare repentance unto this people, that you may bring souls unto me, that you may rest with them in the kingdom of my Father. Amen."

I know of no better place to be than in a place where we can affect the lives of others in a positive way. I know that this is the true church. That Jesus is the Christ and it is only because of His Atoning sacrifice that we may become perfected and live as a family with our Father in Heaven again. I have seen the joy that comes to people as they change, I have seen it when people have the "light bulb" moment when everything makes sense and I cannot describe the feeling that comes and the happiness and the honor I feel to have a friendship with these people. And I cannot wait for the time that we may rest with them in the kingdom of our Father.

Thank you all for the support that you have given me. You all are examples to me.

Make it a good one,

Elder Jensen

 

Week 48

Area: Ottawa, KS
Companion: Elder Cox

This week has been kinda boring overall, but with a few cool highlights.

On Tuesday we went looking for a referral that we received, but he lives way out in the boonies. So we took a couple "low maintenance roads". We drove through a small river and didn't see anything for a while. Finally we come to a Dead End sign and we keep going and then it was the very last house all the way at the end. We drive up the long driveway, as we approach a man leaves the house and is walking towards the shop. So to be the least amount of awkward we can, we jump out and say "Hey do you know so and so"? He hesitated and said that he did know him but he was his son and lived in Wichita. But, he offered to let us come in. So we went into his shop and turns out it was a gun store. Out in the middle of nowhere Kansas is this nice gun store and he was showing us some of his competition stuff, it was awesome. He wasn't interested but he was nice and had cool stuff.

Elder Cox got a little sick this week so we weren't able to do a whole lot. We did help the Gardner Elders rake some leaves for a less active member so that was fun.

We had apartment inspections this week, which actually worked out well because we couldn't really leave the apartment. Elder Cox could sit down and clean, so we spent almost a whole day cleaning... yeah. But we passed the inspection pretty well, they didn't even yell at us.

Elder Cox has been in the Christmas spirit and wanted some new Christmas lights. He went and bought 500 cheap lights and strung them up in our apartment. We took some funny pictures but they are panoramic so hopefully they will send alright. 

Up in Olathe at the stake center they have a huge Nativity display every year. People bring nativities and they have about 300 of them and they decorate the gym and have live bands playing Christmas music. They do it for about three days so we went up with a recent convert couple. While we were there I got to see and talk to people I taught in my last area, my last companion, and some members from my first area, so that was super cool.

We were just stopping by a member's house and apparently they had just gotten a 5 month old Great Dane. And they wanted to show us but there daughter was taking it for a walk and apparently the dog decided it was done walking. So we walked to go find her and then we had to carry the 60 pound puppy back home. It was not the most graceful thing I've done, but the dog was super cool.

Well thanks for another week of lots of fun. You guys are awesome. Thank you so much for the Christmas wishes!

Make it a great one,

Elder Jensen