Week 60

Area: Ottawa, KS
Companion: Elder Timmreck

 

Well, this week we weren't able to get a ton of work done. My companion is kinda going through some trials so we have relaxed the intensity of what we have been doing.

That being said on Friday we were swamped with service. It started with going to a retirement home to play games with the old ladies there. We all had mini pool noodles and hit a balloon around. Then when they got tired we played Sorry. Then we went with our Ward Mission Leader to a friends house and did a bunch of yard work. They told us that we would be cutting down bamboo but when we got there we saw that it was actually sorghum. Then we drove to the southern part of our area and moved some rose bushes and broke up some dirt with a ton of clay in it. 

On Saturday we went on exchanges. Elder Parker came to Ottawa with me and we got some good work done and visited some less actives that we haven't seen in a while.

The Fishers fed us dinner this Thursday and they fed us "water chicken" which tuned out to be frog legs. So that was fun. And then later in the week another family fed us gumbo. Also a new experience. They were both good, I would probably eat it again.

 

So a little while ago we got a referral for a lady that lives in a sorority, so we really didn't just want to knock on the door. We tried several different ways, but could not get a hold of her. So we just went and knocked. It was a little awkward because the girls had absolutely no idea how to act when religious people knock on their door. But the referral wasn't there at the time, so we left a card and will try again later. Knock on a giant sorority with a ton of girls living in it. Check.

 

That was pretty much my week. Thank you for all that you guys do, you are awesome!

Make it a good one,

Elder Jensen

Cool picture of Enos

Week 59

Area: Ottawa, KS
Companion: Elder Timmreck

 

Sadly this week has been pretty boring. We got over our sickness so we have been able get out and work, but it seems like we can't find anyone to teach right now.

On Tuesday we worked most of the day with literally nobody answering their doors. Finally we were able to talk to an active member couple, but they were the only ones who answered the door all day.

We had exchanges. I am in the Gardner district (the same district that I started my mission in) so it was weird being back in Gardner.

We had apartment inspections and we passed! 

This Sunday though we were able to teach a recent convert the last lesson, had a good visit with a few less actives, and had a lesson with Darrin. He is still planning on being baptized, but we might end up pushing his baptism date back a week or two just to make sure he is ready. 

I got to be a farmer this week. We helped a member take care of some of his animals and move some hay around. I wanted to get some pictures but I couldn't :( But it was fun, I got to pet a goat.

Thank you for all of the support you guys give. Missions are amazing and I would recommend one for all seeking to bless others and to grow spiritually. :)

Make it a good one,

Elder Jensen

Week 58 - The Plague

Area: Ottawa, KS
Companion: Elder Timmreck

 

This last week was transfer week and we found out that I am going to be staying in Ottawa for another transfer with Elder Timmreck. I will end up being in Ottawa for 6 months when I am done and members are already saying "wow, it feels like you've been here forever". So I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not. I am excited though, I love the ward and the area and am grateful to have the opportunity to serve here.

So this week Elder Timmreck was still getting over his cold and right as he was getting over his sickness he passed it on to me. So this week has consisted of mostly staying inside and trying not to be bored. I think we watched almost every video the church has produced. We eventually got bored enough that we just started telling each other improved stories and just seeing how creative we could make them. We (Elder Timmreck) came up with some good ones.

 

We did get to go proselyting for about 2 hours while we were both feeling well. We stopped at a guys house who we randomly knocked on and turns out he was a member. We went and tried to share a message with him and he was nice enough to talk to us but was clearly not interested in what we had to say. He didn't pay attention at all. Then his girlfriend came home and said hi then started breast feeding their 1 1/2 year old daughter and did not cover anything... at all. 

We did get to teach a solid lesson with Darrin this week and he is still planning on being baptized in March!

 

So yea, sorry there is not much to report on but for the most part we have been trying to get better. We are both feeling much better today though and are planning on getting back to work this week.

Thank you!

Elder Jensen

Week 57!

Area: Ottawa, KS
Companion: Elder Timmreck

So this week seems like a lot happened even though we didn't do hardly any proselyting.

Elder Timmreck got pretty sick this week, mostly just congestion issues. That kept us in for most of the week and we really didn't get much done. Although Elder Timmreck has been in the process of knitting a blanket so he made some real progress on that.  

On Thursday we had a really awesome lesson with our investigator Darrin. He committed to be baptized on March 4th! And he came to church yesterday. It is so amazing to see people find the church.

Saturday we went and helped a new family move into the ward. Apparently the house they are moving into is the oldest house in town, but its all been redone recently and looks really good. It was built in the mid 1800s. It was a good thing I ate my Wheaties that morning because with Elder Timmreck being sick he helped where he could, but I had the privilege of doing most of the very heavy lifting. Then there was another move in Ottawa that we went and helped at as well.

We had a really cool lesson with a less active couple. They mostly don't come because they have to work on Sundays. We had previously given them a plan of salvation pamphlet and asked them to do some of the additional study on the back. (It has a few questions and some scriptures to help you find the answers) So when we went for the appointment they immediately just said "we have so many questions" which was awesome. We were able to answer questions about the pre-earth life and read scriptures about The Fall of Adam and Eve. It was a fun lesson.

Then on Sunday we went with the Fishers, a recent convert couple, to Independence for Presidents Devotional. It is basically a whole bunch of converts from all over the mission that get together and share their conversion stories and testimonies. It was very cool and right as it was getting started Matt Pennington, (a man from my first area who was baptized) showed up with his girlfriend who just recently got baptized as well. So they both shared their testimonies, it was a really great night.

 

 

That was pretty much our week. Transfer calls are tomorrow so we will see what happens. But thank you all so much for everything you do, I love hearing from you all.

Love,

Elder Jensen

 

Week 56 - Work outs for days!

Area: Ottawa, KS
Companion: Elder Timmreck

 

This week has been a week full of changes. If you follow any other missionaries I'm sure they will be speaking of this as well.

 

We had a Zone Conference this week and we also had the world wide missionary broadcast where we learned how to be more effective teachers and better missionaries. They also made some schedule changes to our days. We have much more freedom. They basically say you need to do these things in the morning (work out, breakfast, get ready, personal study) and you have from 6:30 - 10:00 to do them. We have companion study sometime in the day (we get to choose when) and instead of nightly planning, we do our daily planning in the morning before we go out. They have also cut down on our numbers. We used to report on 9 different statistical numbers but now we only report on 4. The changes have been pretty nice and the mornings are way more relaxed. We have more time to do what we want so now I actually have time to become conscious before I do my work outs.  Elder Timmreck seems to like them too.

This Sunday we also got a new ward mission leader, which as a missionary changes a lot of things on just how everything is ran and your daily life and contact with the WML. It will be good though, our WML and his wife just got back from a mission in the Las Vegas mission.

Other than that we have had a pretty slow week. We did have some good contacts with people but nothing too noteworthy. Probably the highlight of the week was we had our second lesson with Darrin this week. It went super well and he seems to be doing good. Our member present was... interesting, but it was really good. Darrin made us bread :)

Thank you all for the prayers and for everything you guys do. You're amazing!

Make it a good one.

Elder Jensen