Sisters Preparation Day Monday

Dear Family,
Well if you are going to write to me this week I will be able to read it next Thursday. We have a sisters p-day with Sister Hess on Monday and afterwards I will be doing exchanges with the Caro sisters out in the thumb of Michigan so I will not be able to e-mail like normal on Monday. Sorry about that.
Thanksgiving was interesting. I really do not like eating food that I am not familiar with or that I don't know what the ingredients are and we had a lot of that. We had 3 back to back appointments. The first one knew that I couldn't have milk and their food was the creamiest! It was insane. Also when we showed up to their house they handed us a duster and a vacuum and told us to get to work so the house would be ready for their guests. I guess when they talked to the Elders about having us over cleaning was involved and we just missed the memo.
We were able to meet with Ryan and Lilly. They came with us to the Lambert's for Thanksgiving. Well, they met us there but it was amazing. The Brother Lambert is a chef so the food was good. Better than that we were able to have a lesson with them before dinner. Being a recently married couple with a new child they had their wedding certificate on the wall and pictures and Ryan and Lilly just stared at the pictures and oogled and their baby. We talked about Eternal marriage and just about everyone was in tears by the end, it was amazing. Ryan and Lilly just have a marriage certificate from the Government they never had a ceremony so when he heard about temple marriage he told Lilly that he would make it up to her, that he would take her to the temple to be married a year after they are baptized. It was sweet. Also his thankful at dinner was Lilly, he said that life was bland without her and now that she was with him life had color again. Talk about adorable. We extended a bapt date for them but since they are moving to Virgina at the end of December they are hesitant to be baptized before they leave.
Our third and final dinner appointment was with Brother and Sister Abenroth they are great. She studied Exercise Science at BYU with a music minor. She also plays the violin. It was awesome how much we had in common. Her dinner I have to say was my favorite. Plain and simple. At the other houses I at a lot of veggies because the rest of everything had cream sauces. There are blessings for that since I got to have 3 dinners and I wasn't sick or exceedingly full at the end like Sister Bogar, she was quite full. It was a little comical. This last dinner we had with Elder Coon and Elder Collins. It was my first dinner appointment with them and it was nice to get to know them better.
We did service this morning, we helped this kid with his Eagle Scout project, we laid bark chips down on a path in a park. It was interesting since one of the wheel barrows was terrible the tires were both flat and that made pushing it through mud just a pain. It also means that my arms are quite tired now.
I was able to go on exchanges with Sister Keys this Tuesday. It was a lot of fun. We were able to help her with some quality finding we got 8 return appointments. It was sweet. We were at the library and the Assistants came to finish a college application and to do some facebook lessons and we were able to talk with them. It was nice to finally get on the same page again. Often when they need to tell us something they just tell Sister Keys and sometimes we get it and sometimes we don't, it can be frustrating at times.
My companion and I are doing well. We had an interesting dinner appointment in Holt yesterday night. We got there and we took our shoes off to be polite-I wish I had not- they have a million birds all over and the floor was not the cleanest. Also the feet of my nylons have a lot of holes and so I was just standing on bird droppings. We got home and I went straight to the sink and washed them a million times with soap. We were able to have a lovely dinner and lesson and to keep our cool while we were with them but...wow...I commit here to live a simple life. I love cleanliness!!!
I get to make counsel calls to the rest of the sisters in the Lansing District now. Exciting right. Now I have no time to write in my journal or get ready for bed and finish updating the area book and fill out all the awesome paperwork that comes along with everything. With more responsibility comes more recording. Actually I am quite grateful that I get to call them and see how they are doing. I did train half of them so it is nice to be able to check up on them. Lately they have been correcting themselves and when they do that they giggle and say "Whose your trainer?" It is kind of funny. Also on the phone they have taken to saying "goodnight Mom." I realize that we aren't supposed to do things like that but it is really sweet and I don't know how exactly you correct that.
I hope that you had a wonderful time going to get a Christmas tree. It is almost 60 degrees here. I am in a light jacket and loving it!!! I hope that the weather is as nice there as it is here. I am also hoping that we don't get too much snow before I leave. Missionary work gets harder when it gets colder. People just don't want to stop when they are freezing.
Cloud is awesome and came to the Thanksgiving party. He helped Roy with his talent for the talent show. Roy was riding his unicycle and Cloud threw a candy and Roy caught it in his mouth as he rode past. After Roy caught it Cloud fist pumped. I don't think I could have smiled bigger. It was great to see him fellowshipped and accepted and having a great time! Also he has started to tell everyone that he is going to be baptized December 10th. It is really exciting to see him to happy.
Eryun is praying!!! He came to 4 hours of church last week and he called this morning to tell us that he can't make it tomorrow because he has a meeting at 1pm. We told him that he could come at 9am and he is going to come!! His desire to be good is so sincere it is just amazing. I love being able to teach these people who want to learn about God so much.
We still go out and find quite a bit, this week campus has been a ghost town. Li-an investigator that we passed to Sister Keys- he didn't understand that all of the cafeterias were going to close so he called us on Thursday freaking out because he had no food. It was quite amusing. We were able to give him some of our food, enough to get him through a few days. It is weird how everyone left, it went from thousands upon thousands of people to just a handful. I can't even imagine what Christmas break is going to be like.
Well I think that is about it for the week. I am still just plugging away. Well actually more like running to the finish line!!! Hurrah!
Mahal ko po kayo!
Ingat,
Sister Rebecca Jensen

How did it get to be Thanksgiving already?!? I feel like I got to Michigan yesterday, not 7 months ago!?!?

Dear Family,

What a week it has been. We were able to listen to Elder Nash speak twice. First it was with investigators and the university ward. It was amazing. When he shook my hand he paused and thanked me for my strong spirit. Sister Bogar was asked to speak at Zone Conference and afterwards he came and talked to us. He said that he could tell I was a great trainer because of how well Sister Bogar did. I don't know how true that is but I was flattered. We brought Eryun and Cloud to hear him speak on Thursday. Have I mentioned lately how much I LOVE ASIANS!!!!! Cloud is amazing. He was able to come to hear Elder Nash speak on Thursday. After the meeting was over Elder Nash came and shook his hand and said to him "you are needed here." Cloud loved that, he also stared at the picture of the Salt Lake Temple and asked how he can go inside someday. He is so excited for December 10th so that he can be baptized. Also have I mentioned that Cloud has the most amazing Asian hair I have ever seen. Weird statement, yes, but it is true. While we were talking to him about keeping the Sabbath day holy he said "Our bodies are like temples and so when we rest them it is like repairing our temples and that makes God happy." He is such a wonderful blessing and I learn so much from him each week.

Danny came and watched the Joseph Smith the Prophet of the Restoration movie on Friday. At the end of it he took a deep breath and said that was good. He will be in California this week for Thanksgiving but is excited to meet with us again next week. We are still working on baptism and consistent scripture study.

John Sanders is a less active. He has been struggling lately because of a different church that he has been attending. John has been asking to meet with all 3 sets of missionaries and quite enjoys the attention. Sister Bogar met with him on Friday and we were able to help him with the language in his prayers making them more respectful. I have been surprised how many people and members of our wards use "you" instead of thee, thine, and thou. We are trying to help support him while still maintaining the fact that he should not get too attached to missionary support, we cannot always be right there for him.

Gaurav Arora is a new investigator for us Elder Powell and Elder Hill transitioned him to us last week since he is recently married. We met with him and his wife this week and talked over our purpose in helping them grow closer together as a family and to God. He is a very spiritual man and we were able to talk about prayer and baptism. His wife Lilly actually brought up baptism. They are in the middle of a move to Chicago so we will only be able to see them on weekends when they come up to spend time with Lilly's son John who just turned 6. They also have the cutest little puppy, he is a pure bred golden lab puppy named Cesar. You can't get better than that.

Ryan and Lilly are golden. Lilly was able to go see a doctor and she is feeling a lot more calm and not getting sick as often. Yay for Doctors and yay for starting families. In our lesson we were asking how Lilly was doing and the concerned look on Ryan’s face was just priceless. He truly loves her SO MUCH you can just feel it when you are around them. Also she shyly admitted that she gets the weirdest cravings for these Chinese dishes the exotic ones and that Ryan has been all around Lansing looking for ingredients. How sweet is that. They were able to come to part of the Joseph Smith movie and were so sad that they had missed some and asked if we had a copy that they would borrow. We gave it to them yesterday and they said that they would watch it. They came to Church and Ryan even wore a suit and tie!! They love church and the feeling that is always there.

Eryun is so trusting, we taught him about the Restoration this past week and he was so excited to learn that we have a prophet on the earth today. He light up and exclaimed that is exciting! He also came to hear Elder Nash speak and loved it. He commented about how quickly the time past while he was listening to Elder Nash. Also he came to Church really early yesterday so we took him with us to the Williamston Sunday School and then to all 3 hours of the Lansing ward and he loved every minute and is excited to come back next week.

I did exchanges with the Portland Sisters this week. It was quite an adventure. Let’s just say that I learned a lot and there is a lot that we are praying for help addressing. But now that we are aware of what is going on we can help. Information is the key to revelation. It will come, plus after talking to the elders about it we are all working on a game plan. I get to go on exchanges this Tuesday with Sister Keys. I am so happy, I haven’t been able to work an entire day with just Sister Keys in almost 2 months. Insanity.

On the way home from Zone Conference Elder Ransley and Elder DeHart let us stop by and see the Chubb family. It was just about the happiest thing ever. I love that couple so much. What made it even more special is that they light up when we walked in their apartment. I got a big long hug from Sister Chubb and then I just got to sit by her chair and listen to her talk. It is odd how connected we get to those that we serve.

Well I think that is about it for this week. We have 3 dinners scheduled for Thanksgiving so I won't be missing out on much. I cannot believe how quickly time is passing. I keep remembering President HoChing's encouragement "When you see the finish line you don't stop but you run even faster." I feel like that is what I am doing. The time is far spent but there is still so much to be done. We do keep a busy schedule but because of that we were able to hit standards this week. It has taken me 3 weeks in every area that I have opened to hit them. Here is the key to success and happiness OBEDIENCE and heartfelt sincere prayer. With the Lord on our side we can all things. What a beautiful promise.
I love you all. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
ingat,
Sister Rebecca Jensen

Expired...

Dear Family,

Guess what?!? I am now expired...at least my ministerial certificate is. Sad day is what that is. They are working on getting me an updated one, but who knows how quickly that will come.

Also with this new area, we are slowly building up a teaching pool. Our schedule is looking more full this week, also we actually have dinner appointments this week. I don't necessarily love the food that comes with them but it really is more efficient as a missionary since we do get to know the members and help them trust us and we get to teach. It will be good to teach more with Sister Bogar she is really good at making people feel really good about themselves. She cut hair for 7 years and has had to listen to a lot of people talk and she is good at it.

Cloud: He came to church last week we were able to give him a copy of the Gospel of Jesus Christ pamphlet. We talked about it at our meeting this week. He came with it all read and he said that he had questions last week but after reading the pamphlet and praying everything made sense. We also taught the Word of Wisdom and he was a little concerned about tea, as we were talking more about it, he stopped us and said it doesn't matter I just won't drink it. What a blessing he is to us. He will be coming to hear Elder Nash speak on Thursday.

Danny: Is doing great, still reading, still praying. He knows the church is true, he knows that Joseph Smith is a true prophet, he just wants to be absolutely sure before baptism. He keeps talking about it as if it will be soon, every lesson we talk about setting a date, yet he still does not have one. He hasn't missed a week of church since we met him.

Ryan and Lilly are also amazing. We were able to teach them the Plan of Salvation. They had a lot of sincere questions and they really liked how the gospel answered them. Lilly had planned to come to the gratitude dinner and they both wanted to come to church but Lilly is pregnant and is experiencing quite a bit of nausea associated with that. They are reading from the Book of Mormon and progressing well.

Branjal and Pratibha: are a couple from India, we have met with them twice now. They have a lot of good questions about God and have spent a lot of time thinking about Him. The Spirit was really strong at our last lesson where we talked more about the Plan of Salvation and our purpose here on earth.

We are still feeling our way around our new area looking for those married couples. Also we finally have ward boundaries and ward directories so this week we are going to set up appointments with the younger couples in the ward and get to know them better. This will help us better understand how we are going to use them as fellowshippers and also ask for referrals!

In the Book of Mormon today there was a scripture that really hit me, it talks about in the resurrection those who were wicked will be wicked still, and those who were righteous will be righteous still, and those who were happy will be happy still, and unhappy, unhappy still. What hit me was that happiness is a choice, not just now. Just as we choose to keep the commandments, we choose our attitude. This week has been really difficult for me, it was my original release date and with it came a lot of feelings about going home early and all that came with that. It has been a struggle to put on a smile and go forward but everyday I have tried to smile and be happy and go find souls to save. I know there is a purpose to all things, there is a reason God called me here, I know that He will never let me go through anything alone. What a comfort that is to know. I can and will choose to be happy for it is my choice!

I will be doing exchanges with Sister Ricks Tuesday in Portland, and the following week I am planning on going to Owosso and working with Sister Thackerary. We are using members to drive us to the areas to save miles on the car and are just going to follow the Spirit and hope that I can be of some help and support and guidance to these wonderful sisters. I love them all so much and am grateful that I can help them in any way that I can.

What else...we walk and walk and walk and walk and walk and run to catch buses and walk. I don't remember feeling this tired, but that is good it means that we are busy. Please still pray that we work well with our 3 wards. Sometimes I still feel quite confused as to the vision of what we are specifically trying to do in the area. Again Find, teach, baptize...yet I understand that, but what about all the hundreds of members that we now get to work with. That is this week's task to understand, we now have ward maps and directories and off we go! We are starting by visiting all of the recently married couples and those who are between 18-mid 30's.
Also Elder Nash from the 70 is doing a mission tour this week and we we get to go up to Mt Pleasant to hear him speak on Saturday. I am quite excited, it is Mt Pleasant and a general authority, couldn't get better!!

I love you all, thank you for all of your support.
Mahal ko po kayo,
Ingat,
Sister Rebecca Jensen

What an Adventure Life is...‏

Family,

Can I just say that I have the coolest companion ever!!! Her name is Sister Bogar and she is from Mesa Arizona, she is half African American. She graduated from U of A in Life Sciences with a focus in forestry and wants to go back to Med school but do some homeopathic something. She is my tallest companion to date and still not as tall as me...we do walk super fast together, well we again when my ankle stops being silly and swollen-I don't know what happened I just woke up a few days ago and there is was (yes I am "RICE"-ing it). She is already working as my equal in finding, teaching, and keeping track of everything. No freak out moments!! What a blessing, we will see many miracles. She, like sister keys, is also a vegetarian. :)

Danny is doing great! He canceled our appointment this past week but was at church on Sunday. He has not missed a week at church since we met him. I was able to talk to him after church and he was inspired by Archie's faith and his desire to be baptized. Danny said that he is thinking that he will soon follow. He was asking a lot of questions about what will his responsibilities be after he is a baptized member of the church. I was so excited to hear this, we have been praying that he would finally get some spark to his faith and get baptized. We meet with him again on Tuesday.
Ryan and Liddy are an amazing married couple that Elder DeHart and Ransley found. We had a transition lesson that was about the Spirit and answers to prayers. They have been praying together as husband and wife and say they feel more courage, happiness, and closer together. They also announced that they are starting a family!!!! (Ryan- totally thought his name was Lion until yesterday-said that with a huge smile on his face. I think that was my favorite way I have ever heard that news stated. "We are starting a family." Happiness!!) Libby is due in June! They came to the Lansing ward yesterday and loved ever minute of it. Sunday school was about the responsibilities of husbands and wives in the home! Julia and Brandon Carlson are their fellowshippers who sat with them through the meetings and Julia will be at our lesson on Wednesday, she will also be driving Liddy to the Relief Society Gratitude dinner on Saturday. They accepted a baptismal commitment, we will extend a date this week.
Cloud has been reading the Book of Mormon and said that it is incredible. He loved church and was asking a lot of questions about what will his baptism be like on December 10th. Grace was there to help answer what her baptism was like, she gave a beautiful testimony of baptism and confirmation. We are meeting again with Cloud on Saturday. He works next Sunday so he will not be attending Church but I am hoping that we can get him involved in the ward and surrounded with good friends as he doesn't have many friends now and is looking for a good group of people to be around.
We were able to meet with the Bishops of the Lansing and Williamston wards yesterday and help them better understand our role in their wards. They are very excited to have Sisters in their wards.They are willing to support us in any way that we need. The Relief Society in the Lansing ward practically cheered when we announced that we will be working with their ward. It is wonderful to feel so welcomed and loved. It makes the desire to serve them come easily. We were at church for 12 hours yesterday. Between our 3 wards and attending all of their sacrament meetings and some of their Sunday school and one relief society. Teaching investigators from the university ward during part of Williamston's Sunday School and then attending Archie's baptism at 5:30. We just had a totally spiritual fast Sunday. I heard a ton of testimonies and felt the Spirit very strongly.
President Hess called Sister Keys and I last Tuesday and talked to us for quite some time. He was able to clarify what my area is and why the Elders talked to us. There was quite a bit of miscommunication between us and clearing that up brought the Spirit back and has made life much more beautiful. I am seeing more and more over my mission just how important clear communication really is, I suppose this is one of those lessons that I will use for the rest of my life. Clearly let people know what you expect, clearly let them know what you are doing and why. If there is confusion ask questions and clear things up before they are taken the wrong way or blown out of proportion.
There is still no snow here but the weather today is warm and windy, so according to my experience in the past we will have snow soon. That is fine, we moved upstairs in the living center so that Sister Keys and her trainee Sister Topchiyska (she is from Bulgaria but has lived in the US for 7 years, she speaks 5 languages fluently and is amazing.) still live down stairs. We eat lunch together and if we don't have a dinner appointment we also eat with them. Cooking for 4 is much more fun than just for 2. Sister Keys and I do love to cook as well so that makes it more convenient.
It is good to hear that even though life has had quite a few bumps lately that everyone is still strong in the faith and continuing onward. This gospel is true, what a joy it is to share it with others. I pass my "I should be going home today mark" on Thursday. There is a little bit of trepidation about it to be honest. I know I need to be here, but at the same time that pull and twang of the heart is hard to ignore. I will work through it. Sister Keys' Birthday is this Saturday, that should help to keep me distracted. Plus we are getting quite busy, working with 3 wards and wards who have not had sisters in a while-we have had quite a few referrals come in to us from members in the past few days. They are wonderful tender mercies.
I love you all. Please let me know if there is anything more I can be doing for any of you. I just keep praying for you and hoping that all is going well.

Mahal ko po kayo!!
Ingat,
Sister Rebecca Jensen

What?!?!!?!?‏

Dear Family,
What a week. I am not really in the greatest of moods, we were rebuked last night and I am still struggling with what was addressed. I don't feel like I was ever acting the way they say we were. It just doesn't seem consistent to who I have ever been or who I have ever tried to be and it hurts to have it come from the elders and to have them skip away from it like everything was okay. I don't get it. We have tried so hard to be their friends, even when they never invited us to anything or included us in anything, we still tried and now to get this...oh the frustrations.
As for transfer calls I am opening a bran new area. It is working with recently married couples in the Lansing, Holt, and Williamston wards. As to how I will find married people to teach, that is beyond me. Also I will be training again. Sister Keys is also training, she will be staying in the university ward. I am moving to the apartment next door in the living center. It should prove to be an interesting transfer. Sister Thackerary is going with Sister Scheffer (this is her last transfer) to Owosso and Martin to Portland with Sister Ricks (she came out with Sister Keys). There are 9 sisters in our district and we have a new district leader. There will be 5 elders. It is going to be interesting. I have a lot of questions but don't feel like there is anyone that I really want to ask.
Hiva: has been looking at wikipedia and other cites again. This week he read to us from wikipedia about Joseph Smith. We testified about the prophet and why he did some of the things he did. By the end of the lesson Hiva's attitude had changed and his closing prayer was very humble.
Danny: brought a friend to his lesson and taught her the restoration while we sat there. It was impressive to hear him talk about the importance of feeling the Spirit. He still has not picked a date but while talking about baptism he said it would be before the end of January.
Cloud is amazing!! He has so much faith and in our last lesson he talked about not fully understanding about God but how he wanted to follow the example of Jesus Christ. With that intro we extended a baptismal commitment and a date!! He is excited to come to church on Sunday.
Hiokei is still debating with himself if there is a God. He came to church on Sunday and at the end said that he felt good and he will come back but he things that all that we teach is just opinion. He is feeling the Spirit, praying and reading the Book of Mormon and coming to church the rest will come in time.
Al and Xiao we have not been about to contact this week. That is a little concerning.
The weather has been cold and windy but nothing too bad. My umbrella is dead, but I will try and sew it up later today. No time I tell you there is just no personal time.
The work is going well, everyone is alive. There have been a lot of driving to Doctors for hearing and dental problems. Thank heavens I have been fine but my companions have struggled. No snow yet. I hope it does not snow. Remember I have a phobia of driving in the snow...yup its still there. Our mission vehicles were vandolized after MSU lost the game on saturday. Windows were smashed in and the front of our malibu was dented.
The leaves here are beautiful and falling off the trees at a rapid pace as well. The seasons are changing quickly. I am going to miss the university ward, it is giong to be weird to be living there but not interacting with the people. The Gospel is perfect the members are not, the work we do is a marvelous work and a wonder hard as it may be it is marvelous.
Well I only have one more of these transfer calls left...can I just say that I am so ready for that.
I love you all.
Mahal ko po kayo.
ingat,
Sister Rebecca Jensen