Week 73

Area: Tiffany Springs, MO
Companion: Elder Fowlks
 
Alright, so to get the week started we went to Hobby Lobby on Monday to try and find a little picture book thing. We walked in and I immediately realized that the only people that go to Hobby Lobby (at least in Missouri ) are young Moms who are trying to be all crafty. So we stuck out a little bit, we got a lot of stares. We ended up just going to Walmart where we weren't the weirdest people in the room. If you remember the pictures "the people of Walmart" I'm pretty sure that the majority of those pictures where taken in Missouri or Kansas.

We had a couple of really awesome lessons with people this week, it has been amazing to share the sweet spiritual experiences that come from learning and pondering the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

We helped Carlos, who is a super cool guy, move a lot of dirt and paint part of his house so that was fun. We also helped a few people move out of the ward... sad :(

I went on exchanges this week with Elder Zuccato. It was super fun. We did a lot of finding and street contacting which always comes with meeting interesting people and just funny random experiences. 

The past couple of weeks our District and Zone have really been struggling in finding new people to teach, so we set a Zone goal to find 7 new people and a District goal of 4. Well, the district was able to find 8 and the Zone found 12 new people this week. It was an amazing miracle and a great improvement from our previous weeks. 

The Lord is with us and is guiding us where we should go and what we should do. It is incredible to be a part of this glorious gospel. I know that Jesus lives and that through him we may all live again. Thank you all so much for the love and support you have given me. 

Fun Fact: missionaries actually melt and fall into a deep trance every weekly planning

 

Week 72 - I think

Area: Tiffany Springs, MO

Companion: Elder Fowlks

 

This week was pretty incredible. It started off on Monday - a member in Parkville owns a gymnastics gym so he let us come and play on the trampolines and stuff. They had a basketball hoop with a spring board floor so most people could dunk, it was pretty fun. 

I went on two exchanges this week, one was with Elder Boyce and the other was with Elder Peterson. Both are amazing Elders and we had a ton of fun. Elder Peterson and I have actually been companions before, so it was fun to catch up. Some members told us with a little bit of surprise "wow you guys teach well together" we said "yeah we've had some practice."

On Thursday we had a super bad storm about 9:00. The tornado sirens were going off. So we had to stay up and watch the weather in case we needed to get to a storm shelter, so we stayed up watching the testaments and had the bathtub all ready in case we needed to take shelter.  But nothing happened :( just a lot of rain and hail. 

Saturday we had a baptism! It was amazing. Echo Miller was baptized by her husband Chris, who got active again and was worthy to baptize her. The service was incredible and filled with the spirit. Then afterwards we talked to Echo's 14 year old daughter and she said that she wanted to be baptized as well, so she is on date for June 10!  As well as Chris's son who is 8 said that he wanted to be baptized. It was a really good day.

 

We met a really cool less active lady yesterday who wants to come back and is in a spot in her life where it will help her a lot. She also has a 9 year old son who is not baptized :)

We have another man who is all set to be baptized this coming Saturday. The Lord is blessing us in the Tiffany Springs ward. It has been amazing to see the work start to flourish and people's lives begin to change. 

Thank you so much for you support, it is amazing to hear from you!

Elder Jensen

Week 71

Area: Tiffany Springs, MO

Companion: Elder Fowlks

Alright, this week has been pretty fun and full of some new experiences and some not so new.  

Good News! We have a lady named Echo who is getting baptized on May 20th and another man named Carlos who is getting baptized on May 27th. And Nathan, from Liberia, committed to be baptized in June. These will be the first baptisms the ward has had in over a year. The Lord has been with us and has given us the amazing opportunity to teach and be around these wonderful people. So we have been meeting with them a lot this week and getting things arranged for the baptisms. 

We also went on exchanges twice this week. Elder Blake and I went to an appointment the Elders before us had set up. So we had no idea what we were doing or the situation at all before we went into the lesson. Turns out that he was the nonmember husband of a less active member who just had her names removed. I'm not really sure why he let the Elders come back for a second visit. He read Alma 32 on his own and told us that he was "not good soil" and that his wife was going to get really angry if we kept coming over. But he seemed to be slightly interested at the same time. It was like he had a "strange pull" (the Holy Ghost) towards the church. But in his mind it made no sense and he didn't want to pursue it. But as we walked up to him he lifted up his beer can and said "I'm drinking non-Alcoholic beer in honor of you!" "But I am gonna have me a cigar when you leave." So that was fun. 

We got the cops called on us again... We were looking for a less active member in our apartment complex. We knocked but nobody answered. So we were walking away looking at our IPads trying to figure out where to go and we were about 10 ish feet away from the door and stopped for a second. Then about 30 seconds later a man answered the door we were just knocking on and told us to leave with some not so nice words and told us he was calling the cops. So we were nice and walked down the street about 50 yards and then stopped so we could figure out where we needed to go next. And the guy just stood in front of his building talking on the phone until we left.  It really was sad. But then a few minutes later we bumped into our neighbor who has an adorable brown Husky puppy. He was super nice and said we could come back sometime and talk with him.

I wanted to thank my Mother for all the things she has ever done for me. She is an amazing example of following Christ and becoming more like him. She has done more for me than I will ever be able tell you or be able to pay back and I am so grateful. I love you Mom! I am also grateful for all the other women in my life. You have taught me so much and I have been so blessed by your examples.

I am also grateful for the challenges that God gives us. They are really tough and not very fun to go through but they shape us and if we allow him to the Lord will mold us into what he wants us to be.

Thank you all so much. God lives and hears us. Pray to him in faith and he will answer you. Ask and ye shall receive, knock and it shall be opened unto you.

Love,

Elder Jensen

Week 70

Area: Harrisonville, MO and Tiffany Springs, MO

Companion: Elder Cope and Elder Fowlks
 

Alright, so this week has taken a different turn than I thought it was going to. We got the transfer call and I am leaving Harrisonville after just one transfer and Elder Cope is going to stay for a 3rd transfer. I was transferred to the Tiffany Springs ward in the Platte City stake with Elder Fowlks. He is from Murray, Utah and has been out about 15 months, just one transfer shorter than me. I was also asked to be a district leader so basically I help coordinate the missionary work for about 4 companionships and conduct a district meeting each week. So this week has had a lot of change and quite a bit of new responsibilities, but it should be good!

On Monday we had a really cool dinner. A family allows us to come over for dinner each month and invite every investigator or less active that we can. We had a fairly good turn out. It went really well.

Tuesday we drove out in the boonies and tried people out in the middle of nowhere. A lady let us hold her baby goats :) It was awesome, they had little vests on them to keep them warm.

 

Wednesday we call the pack list so we spent the day packing and visiting people. We had a really good lesson with a part member family that shows some potential.

Thursday I got my new companion and was transferred to my new area. It is in North Kansas City. We have 3 solid investigators. Two of them have dates for the 20th and 27th of May and are super excited to get baptized. It is super awesome. One of our investigators is from Liberia - he is super cool. So we have been running around like crazy people teaching and helping people move and talking to everyone we see.

It's been an adventurous week and probably will continue to be so in the coming week. Thank you so much for all the support and love.

Elder Jensen

 

 

 

Week 69!

Area: Harrisonville, MO
Companion: Elder Cope
 

This week has been awesome! We have been walking (because we are short of miles) and talking and preaching the gospel. Even though not very many people want to listen to us, we have had some very spiritual encounters with people and have been able to bear our testimonies.

We went on exchanges this week and Elder Garrison came to Harrisonville with me. That day our 1st counselor in the bishopric asked for our help moving a recliner. We said yes and then it turns out that we were driving to Overland Park (about 50 min away) and bought a chair from a lady and then took the chair to an older lady in Harrisonville who needed a chair replacement. She couldn't close the recliner once we got it open for her. So we had to construct a footstool out of a wooden chair and some blankets. It was fun. 

We had a good district meeting although I had to give a training about setting goals. It was so much fun... I basically just used scripture stories. It was actually pretty good. 

It has rained for the past 3 days straight. I love the rain but it makes contacting people hard. Nobody is outside and no one wants to answer their doors, so we got kinda bored this week but it has been pretty good. We sadly haven't found anyone solid yet to be baptized, but we are working on it. 

On Sunday they had us teach the Young Women and the Deacons about missionary work and the restoration. So we set up like a mini MTC and had them do a bunch of role plays and practice sharing the gospel with their friends. It was pretty fun, we got to play as investigators and they got to teach us.

Overall it has been a good week and being a missionary is the best, you should all do it!
Thank you!

Elder Jensen