Sorry its kind of short, not much to talk about this week

Disneyland eh?? Was someone going to mention that or were you just hoping that I wouldn't find out?? I hope that all is going well and that you are having fun. I am keeping busy enough around here to not miss a trip to Disneyland...well maybe not...

We had Zone Conference in Midland yesterday, it was a lovely drive there and we got there in time to help the Elders set up chairs and talk to some of them and practice Hymn 26 for the special musical number we sang. It was a beautiful conference; the Spirit was just amazing. It was President and Sister Jone's last Zone Conference so there was a lot of emotions going into this conference. They explained about the Hess' and talked about what the process of getting a call to become a Mission President is like, it was really interesting to hear the process of them coming out to the MLM and to hear about President Hess and his sacrifice to come out here as well. I guess he just retired last week so that he could come be our new President. What a blessing to have such wonderful people willing to follow the Lord and help us become better missionaries. We had a testimony meeting to close the conference, first we watched a part of President Hollands talk he gave at the MTC this January right after his mom passed away, it was talking about the Apostleship. Talk about powerful...then it was open for testimonies. I haven't felt the Spirit that strong in a very long time. It was a beautiful meeting that left us all edified and excited to get out and work.

Yes the weather has been up and down and up and down and hotter than all get out back to cold. I am currently enjoying the cooler side of mission life it is 55 degrees and I love it. It has been in the upper 90's and I enjoy that as well but it does slow down the work. This week has been a good one we have been doing a ton of finding. In the heat it hasn't been so much fun, but we have met some really awesome people. One is named Halli and she comes from a very religious family. Well she has explored a lot of different religions and she had many questions about our church. We also met a guy named Eric that also had a lot of questions. What was exciting about these visits was that we were able to answer their concerns, we were able to testify that through a modern day prophet we know the answers to their questions. Then to commit them to pray for themselves to know the truth, it is just amazing what we as missionaries get to do!! We go back to Sister Hickey's (the Filipina) today for a party. Our entire p-day has been hijacked by the needs of our investigators and members...I am really happy to be of service and support them all but I would also really love a nap. The Church is still absolutely true even if I do look like a very tired missionary. We had an interesting lesson with a less active this past week we were teaching the Restoration, usually a safe thing to do, we got into the Great Apostasy where all of the Apostles were killed and that Priesthood authority was taken off of the earth. Well she totally freaked out and would not let us move on until we talked about how John stayed on the earth. It turned into her yelling at us and Sister Wright and I trying to calm her down and testify that yes he was/is still on the earth the Christ's church was not during that time, that authority was not there to organize His church again. We ended with a prayer and tried to leave in peace...we didn't make a return appointment but are praying that she calms down. Lesson learned from that one, faith=ability to look past the smaller details to see the big beautiful picture of the restoration whereas shaken/weak faith=stuck on points of doctrine and easily offended. She did call us later and ask for us to pray for her grandson who is now in prison, she said that that is why she was so aggressive. Either way I am grateful for the protection and direction of the Spirit. President Jones did tell us that the number of sisters in this mission will double by January and that is not just the apostles sending them to Michigan, the number of sisters volunteering for service has doubled. WOOT!!! I love it, I am so grateful to have heeded that call and to be a servant of the Lord. I hope that all is going well with everyone at home. I am continually praying for you all. Thank you for your letters and prayers I appreciate them more than I can express. I hope you all have a great last week of "Spring" or whatever this season is trying to be.

Mahal ko po kayo!!

Ingat, Sister Rebecca Jensen

P.S. A member of our ward that I we were able to work with this week works for a factory that builds pontoon boats. I love how random Michigan is. The people here are amazing.

I love you all!!!‏

Hello Jensen Family,

I can't believe what a busy week it has been for everyone that I got a letter from. I am glad to come from such a busy righteous family.
My week has been a great week, we were given a lead to where the mom of that Filipino family lives, on Henry Street they said. Well if anyone looks up Henry Street they will notice that it is a good 1/2 mile long. Of course we tracted the entire thing. And yes we finally found her, she was about to close the door after saying she wanted a break from the Church when I blabbered out "Can I just talk to a Filipina it has been so long since I have been able to just talk with one" well that opened her up and an hour later we were enjoying glasses of cold water and talking away happily about the Philippines. She even invited us back for a party she is throwing next Saturday. We are still praying for her a lot, that her heart will be softened and she will have the desire to listen to the gospel again and give her family another chance. I know that it was a miracle to even get into her house, to even find her house, I am positive that we had heavenly help and that I had help during that conversation to know what to say. I opened my mouth in faith and it was filled. What a blessing!!!
Other then that not much has happened, we extended 2 baptismal dates to our investigators Rich and Ida, then we had to give Rich over to the elders. That was terrible, getting so attached to these people and desiring their welfare then giving them over to Elders. Luckily we trust the Elders and we trust the Lord so things will work out but it is still hard. They both accepted July 10th dates though so I am hoping to see some baptisms in this area!! Another good thing is that Sister Holland a recent convert that was taught 100% in the library and never let anyone home to meet her husband or kids invited us over for next Tuesday!!! We are praying to help unify their family and the Hickey's in this gospel before I am transferred.
I woke up and was in a cleaning mood today...yes I know I get carried away but everything felt so dirty. I used a lot of my quarters and we washed the car inside and out, then I made us detail the inside. Then we cleaned the inside of our apartment, I am still missing a vacuum (our RS is supposedly working on that). Then Sister Wright took a nap while I finished cleaning and wrote letters and answered phone calls. We are going to play volley ball with the YSA after this. We were trying to e-mail this morning but the system was down so we had to come back now. I have decided that this library reminds me of the SLC library it is circular and kind of looks the same. Ashley as a civil engineer you will love how we have to turn left here in Michigan. There are no left turns, well in the small cities there are but big cities not really you have to turn right and then do a U turn to get going left. Awesome isn't is...actually it is really nice sometimes and a pain at others. I think it is very creative to come up with that system of turning.
We had an awesome district meeting this past week, the Spirit was really strong, we talked about the conference talk that was about "to be and to do" then we connected that to Christlike attributes of Charity and Love. We received a lot of revelation for our area and were just completely edified by that meeting. Sister Wright and I both agreed that we are grateful for times that we get to gather as missionaries and be fed by the Spirit.
I think that is about it for the week, the work continues, time is just flying past I cannot believe that it is June already!! The weather continues to be hot and muggy and the trees are just lovely with all the green. What a blessing it is to be serving another mission. I am so glad that I get to come back out and serve again to have a great happy experience this time, I can now look people in the eye and say that I am a happy and successful missionary who loves the Lord and loves this work and can see miracles daily!!! I was able to do that in the Philippines but the mask of pain was so great sometimes it made the view of these things foggy.
I love you all and am so grateful for all of you!!!
Take care,
Mahal ko po kayo!!
Sister Rebecca Jensen

What a week it has been!

Kumusta Family?
I cannot believe what a long week and a half it has been since I last wrote home. Saturday night I just got off the phone with Elder Poulsen (from Bountiful as well!) he is out District Leader and was checking up on our day, then our Zone Leaders called to do some coordination and confirm our meetings that next day. When I got off the phone with them I called an investigator and had just put down the phone when President Jones called. What a night!!! He told us that he got our presidents letters and wanted to more fully explain how we were to work with Elder Adams and Elder Hunter, we were to meet over lunch on Tuesday. What an awesome President!!
Well on our way to go to the restaurant we stopped by to see a former investigator, well they were not home and it was a call pad button thing, our FI was in E and randomly I found myself pushing H. Well a man in his late 20's named Rich came out and talked to us and I invited him to learn more, we set up a time to return that night and went to lunch. President told me that he has prayed hard about it and that he feels that I am in the MLM for the Filipino people that need to hear the gospel. Wow. I guess this would be my niche and it is opening up to me bit by bit. We went back to Rich's that night and he was very interested in our message, it was more like a gospel conversation than a lesson and we left with a soft baptismal commitment. He also loves to flyfish so we had a fun conversation about that. We are preparing to pass him to the Elders this week, I found out that Elder Adams is an avid fly fisher from Idaho, that commonality should help the transition. Also President had us go on splits after District meeting, it was Elder Adams, Elder Poulsen and I, then Elder Hunter, Elder Davis and Sister Wright. We did an hour blitz of CMU campus so that we could learn how to personal contact and what is where on this campus. I learned so much and had a so much fun learning from these Elders, I grew a lot in that short hour. There is nothing like learning from the pro's Elder Adams has worked on college campus' for 9 months of his mission so he is very used to walking up to people and talking to them. Sister Wright and I agree that it helped both of us understand what we are doing here on campus, our first time doing it alone went really well we flowed back and forth allowing each other to speak yet both working as one. It was awesome!!!
We had dinner with the Hammer family this past week as well, most of them are out at BYU, which is awesome. They were asking for the brief life story and mine ended up the extended version but they all fly fish and the Brother Hammer and his son Adam both studied Exercise Science while at BYU and there was a lot to talk about. Sister Hammer also made me a special dinner casserole in its own tiny dish so that I could eat with everyone else. This ward is just amazing, I am astounded by how many professors we have living in our ward.
Also I have been able to meet with and talk with the 4 different families in our ward that speak Tagalog. It feels so good to use it again, but it takes me a lot longer to respond and understand what they are saying. That makes me a little sad, it just means that I need more time around them talking to them listening to them, which can be painful at times but it will be worth it to get my skills back to where they were or even better. Sister Wright is still progressing well in her Tagalog lessons, we are learning how to bear short testimonies in Tagalog at the moment.
We went up to Petoskey this weekend. We had beautiful weather on Friday for our trainings and it rained on Saturday for our games. Well it was a miracle that the rain stopped while we were out playing and once we were done it started back up. The faith of 70+ missionaries was evident with that. I really loved these trainings, we are finally using the 8 fundamentals of PMG that we started to use in the PQCM last fall, there is power in these principles and the way we practice teaching. What happens is one companionship teaches one member of the other companionship and the one that is not being taught evaluates. I used to be uncomfortable with this in the Philippines like all they would correct was my Tagalog but this time we really got into the lessons and while teaching a real investigators concerns revelation is received. I left that meeting to excited to go work it was amazing. Oh at the lunch appointment President looked at me and told me that I was the one driving the entire weekend. Woot for me driving. I really appreciated that, we also drove up the Caro sisters, that was interesting. Sister King has a sister that is assigned to serve in Medford Oregon right now. We had 6 sisters sleeping in Gaylord for the night, I somehow got the small love seat and didn't sleep much. With all of the talking and moving around of other sisters I just gave up sleeping and did a lot of thinking. I am also glad that we rarely have that many sisters in one place at a time the emotions are just way too high for me. I did have a chance to talk with Sister Miner a lot, we did some crying and laughing. It is odd how I am the youngest in this mission yet I still have the tendency to play counselor and mentor and lead these sisters.
We got new mattresses this week, that was a big bonus, I went from a very comfortable mattress that left me smelling like mold so one that I can feel just about every spring but is not moldy. I am just glad that I no longer have to smell that horrible moldy smell all over me and that I at least have a mattress to sleep on.
While we have been sitting here we have had 3 phone calls one returned letter and 2 cancelled appointments for today. We even had a YSA coming for those appointments. Sigh. Agency and the holiday weekend are not good combinations while serving a mission. It is starting to warm up, yesterday it was almost 90's, I keep having all of these Philippines flashbacks, it is weird to describe but a lot of the things that I had forgotten are coming back with this heat and humidity. Needless to say we have started to sing as we walk (Sister Wright does as well) just to keep our minds occupied. I am grateful that I don't mind the heat anymore, Sister Wright was not having fun yesterday and it honestly felt good to me. I am so weird.
I know that this gospel is true and that through the Atonement of Jesus Christ all things are made right. I know that this work is hard because salvation is not cheap or easy. I am so grateful to be out here serving the Lord and helping others understand this gospel. I pray for you all daily and know that you are being watched over.
Mahal ko po kayo.
Sister-Rebecca Jensen

Greeting from Mount Pleasant and CMU‏

Dear Family,
I am sitting in the Park Library on the Central Michigan University campus, it is quite a lovely campus and a very very nice library. They have BYU beat for amount of sunlight and open space, it just has a very calm feel about it. Mind you about 25,000 students went home for the summer to campus is like a waste land, but I have really enjoyed walking around campus. The one downer is being around all of these buildings and library I have the greatest desire to be back in school, not even kidding I just long to be learning again. I love the classroom setting being able to learn among peers and professors. One awesome thing is that as part of the CMU missionary program in the area we get to be online a lot more often, doing things on Facebook especially.
I do have so say that I got the coolest package this week and it completely made my week happier and I absolutely love it. So thank you SO MUCH for sending it!!!
We work with the Zone Leaders in this area we are to split the work Females with the Sisters and Males with the Elders, but we also get to teach the new member lessons and do all the other missionary things. We have been finding out very quickly that we don't know much of what we are doing with the elders but they are sure fast to correct us when they notice that we aren't working like they want us to.................
My companion is Sister Wright, she is awesome. She is from St George and went to BYU for a while and lived across the street from me when I lived in Moon. Meaning that I probably walked past her a few times a week and didn't even know it. She is my tallest companion and still not close to my height, she does love to walk (which is good because I have made us walk quite a bit in the last few days). She has had only 3 months of being a missionary so I get to help her understand the joys and pains of missionary life and since we are both opening this area together we have seen many of them in just the past few days.
The miracles this week have been just fantastic. We were out tracting yesterday and the house that we were trying to visit (one of those come back later people) they weren't home so we tracted down their street and we knocked into this guy who seriously way excited to see us, we asked why and he showed us his phone as said that he had been trying to call the church all day. Wow. He "called" us there. The number was for the church building so no one was answering. We would have taught him there but he is in a half way house and since we have elders we thought it might be safer that way. He asked us for a Book of Mormon as we were finishing up, we gladly gave it to him along with a challenge to start from the beginning and pray about it. He was really excited and I hope that after what he has been through is prepared to change his life.
We also were able to visit with a less active sister who after we got to know her a little bit we both paused, not sure of what to say I just prayed that the spirit would be there and guide our lesson, well as I was doing that this sister opened up and told us her life story her concerns and her issue about not being able to pay tithing because of financial problems right now in her life. Well I turned to Malachi 3 and shared those scriptures, she still was not understanding the need to pay her tithing not just when it was convenient but always. I talked about the Filipino people and President Hinckley's promise to them. Then I shared 2 Nephi 4:32 about how we need to rely on the arm of the Lord not the arm of flesh. I.e.: pay your tithing and God will take care of you, trust in check into cash and you are going to continue staying in debt. Then what came out of my mouth next still amazes me, I said something to the effect of: As a representative of Jesus Christ I promise you that if you pay your tithing, God will open up the windows of heaven and will bless you beyond anything you can comprehend and you will be out of debt. I felt the Spirit from the tip of my head to the souls of my feet, I haven't felt the Spirit testify through me that strong in a long time and it felt so wonderful to know that I in someway was able to be a mouth piece of the Lord.
I have really felt the pressure of this assignment, yet I have never felt more peace than this week either. I have received more promptings, more revelation, and seen the hand of the Lord more than for this area than at any other time in my life. I am really growing and growing quickly. I already have most of the area down and it has only been a few days. Miracle!!!
As for the Filipinos, I have met the Hickey Family, they are the reason I am here and the Elder's didn't even let us have time to get to know them. It was in start the lesson, teach the lesson, close the lesson run out the door. I feel like these elders are either afraid of us or just don't want anything to do with us because as we have been going with them to appointments they pull their chairs our 5 feet from ours and practically have to yell across to the person or they answer our questions and leave as fast as possible, never mind that we have a million more questions about the area. Sigh. It is going to take some getting used to. We keep praying to earn their trust but I am not sure how that is going to happen, everything we do seems to come up short and not the way they wanted it. But I know that the Lord trusts us and that He is happy with the work because I sure feel the Spirit strong and its peace and guidance so I am going to go with the Lord on this one and the Elders will catch up in time.
Language study has been going really well with Sister Wright, she took some Spanish in school and so the words are not as hard for her to say. Blessing. Another blessing is that I have been given bit by bit what I should teach and in what order it would make more sense. I know that I am being guided as I teach this language!!! I may never have the opportunity to teach in the MTC or to really use my Tagalog elsewhere but I am sure glad that I get to share this beautiful language with my companions.
So when we moved into our apartment we didn't even have silverware. All the walls were completely white, except for a few whiteboards that had a calendar and some old information written on them. We have been frantically trying to find pictures from Ensigns and putting them on the walls. I bought some pine-sol and went to town on our kitchen floor. We don't have a broom or vacuum or anything yet (the Relief Society President said that she would get right on that). I scrubbed that floor until it was pine fresh and clean, that helped me calm down a lot. Then I cleaned the walls and the bathroom....honestly did these elders never clean. We didn't have any scrubbing bubbles but I had enough fun with Clorox. It is looking a lot better and starting to feel more livable.
If you can't tell I am grateful for you letters and support, the peace and comfort that I feel from your prayers is pinakagunda sa kaluluwa ko. Please keep it up, there is no way to describe how much it helps me continue in this work and how calm I have felt while doing it.
I know that this Gospel is true!!! If you have any doubt read the Book of Mormon, there is no better source of truth and to see and feel of God's love for His children than the history and contents of that blessed book.
Mahal na Mahal ko po kayo!!
Sister Rebecca Jensen

I am being transferred

Hello Family,

Well as the mission life goes on transfers have come upon us quite quickly. I was astonished by how quickly this past month has just flown past. Well, President waited until 11:20 to call us, we were working on weekly planning, I was popping Tums like they were smarties and hoping to calm down. Then the call came...he said something about changes needing to be made then "Sister Jensen you are being transferred to Mount Pleasant to reopen the area to Sisters. You will be whitewashing the area with Sister Wright who has just 3 months in the mission. I have a special responsibility for you, there is a Filipino family that has separated over the issue of baptism and they need your help in softening their hearts and their Filipino friends hearts and helping them reunite." We will also share the area with Elders, but Central Michigan University will be in my area I am just not sure if I will work there or not. I am a little scared but the Spirit is strong and so is the peace that comes with it, I just really don't want to leave Sister Miner she has really become a good friend and wonderful companion.

We were in Petoskey on Wednesday and we will be driving to Cadillac and Traverse City today, the scenery is absolutely gorgeous spring is finally starting with humid hot days...it makes me miss the Philippines a little. The people are all putting their docks and boats out on the lakes and wearing scandalous clothing, good times.

This week has been really hard for us, we were promised by our Zone Leaders that if we cancelled our appointments and took more time to tract that we would find 5 people who would invite us back and want to learn more. So we obediently cleared our schedule and have spent a lot of time out tracting both here in Grayling and in Gaylord and door after door has been shut in our faces and we are closing the week without a single invitation back. We were able to talk to a lot of people. It was in the mid 80's on Thursday and we had just tracted a Hazel street and ran into a Grace Baptist minister who wanted to Bible bash so we stopped for a Slurpee and there was a man with a handicapped man in a wheel chair getting a Slurpee I didn't think much of it but as we walked to the park to sit and drink them they pulled up and sat on a bench as well. For the first time in my life I actually wanted to talk to a stranger in a park, so I did, I went up and talked about the day and other things, then I asked him a question of the soul and he shut me down...sigh. I hope that someday all these seeds being planted will be fruitful. After all that Sister Miner was feeling pretty low yet for some odd reason I was still happy as a clam, it is amazing how if we really tune into the Spirit He can help soften the blow of rejection.

We dropped Ronald our 83 year old investigator, we tried yelling The Restoration, the Spirit does not really abide while yelling even if it was for a good cause. I will have to laugh over the fact that there we were sitting in a cigar smoke filled room trying to testify about Joseph Smith, I will never forget yelling the first vision while he gazed past me through the window. Ouch. I know that we helped him become a better person, even just a little bit better but it was still hard to drop him.

There has been a lot of thunder and lightening this week especially at night, enough to keep me awake for quite a while just about every night so I am pretty groggy at the moment. I am planning on a nap on the long long long drive today to Cadillac and traverse city.

I know that this Gospel is true and that we have the fullness of it restored. I know that it was restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith. I know that everyone on earth can know for themselves the truthfulness of this message for themselves if they truly have the desire. Have you ever notices how often desire is mentioned in the Book of Mormon, I am amazed by how often it was done or given to people according to their desires.

I love you all, thank you for your prayers and letters of support.

Mahal ko po kayo!

Ingat,

Sister Jensen

Happy Mother's Day

Dear Family,

MASAYANG ARAW NG MGA INA!!!!!!! HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!!!!!!!!

I hope that Emily's Graduation went well. Thank you for all writing later than normal, I have had to change this intro 4 different times now. I will take late over nothing at all though. Mahal ko po kayo!!! Pakipatuloy na magsulat ng mga emails at letters sa akin, sobrung masaya ako na tumungap sila!

This week has been a hard one, it started out rough on the companionship and umph to get out there and work. But Sister Miner have been able to have a lot of heart to heart talks these past few days and our companionship is the most open and strongest companionship I think I have had on a mission. The Spirit is so strong in Companionship study it is absolutely fantastic, there is nothing like the feeling of "promise shining in our eyes," and we have been able to feel that a lot these past few days. I am grateful for your prayers on our behalf, the power of prayers continually astonishes me.

We are also preparing fervently for our Spiritual thought in branch council tomorrow and my talk. They called me last minute to speak about Mothers and missionary work, I couldn't ask for a better topic. Thank you mom for being so involved in my life and for being so supportive of my service.

This past week we have seen more success with our less actives, we had many of them come to church this past week and we have tried to get into their homes this week to let them know how happy we were to see them at church. We also tracted into an older man (83 yrs old) and we have been trying to teach him, although hearing loss and a lifetime of different beliefs have made it difficult. But last time we went over to his house there was a difference about him, so we are going to continue to teach him! There is also a really nice guy we serve with at the food kitchen every friday, he wasn't there last week but he came again yesterday. We were able to have a long conversation about faith and religion, and just getting to know him better. There are times when the Spirit promts us to invite them to learn more but yesterday we both felt prompted to just listen and to build that relationship of trust. Paul is being prepared and soon he will accept this gospel, he is just amazing!!!

I am so happy to be up here serving, weird as it may sound I have been so blessed this past week I just can hardly contain my gratitude. I have been able to connect with a lot of those that we work with and all becuase of the experiences I have had in my life. Last night we went to visit a part member family where the parents are less active, their daughter who is about our age came out and sat with us. I started talking to her and it turns about that she works nights and a care center and we were able to share stories about that, also we love music, so for the lesson we just sang hymns together. The Spirit was really sweet and beautiful there, I hope that she continues to have the desire to learn more about the gospel. Sister Miner claims that "she can't carry a tune in a bucket" or something like that, but over the past few weeks I have been making her start all the lessons with hymns (I was known for doing that in the Philippines as well) and she has become so much better. Last night we actually were in harmony!!! The Spirit has the ability to expand all skill especially at the times we need it most.

Also we have been learning how to play the guitar and it is coming a lot faster than I thought it would. It is quite fun to have permission to learn an instrument. It helps us get into some less actives houses where they help teach us how to play. Who knew that I would get to learn to play the guitar on a mission!!!!

Life is just wonderful up here, today is freezing and cold but Thursday was divine. We taught all of our lessons outside and just basked in the glory of nature. The flowers are just starting to open and trees bud, Spring might be here soon!!

Well that is about it for this week. Megan's letter said that Ryan is engaged, that is awesome!!!!! I can't believe how fast time passes when you are out serving, somehow life still moves just as quickly for those at home. Thank you for all your letters and e-mails this week. I can't even get close to thanking you all enough for them.

Thank you all for being wonderful examples to me. Keep it up!

Love you all,

Ingat po kayo.

Sister Jensen

Magandang araw na ito‏ (Good day)

Kumusta ang Family ko,

I am glad to say that I have made it another week here in Michigan!! Nothing like snow in April. I am now driving our car to help give Sister Miner a break since she has been doing a lot of driving lately, please pray for me. We had a little off-roading incident trying to find a less active yesterday, I never want to repeat it in a car, muddy roads with deep grooves are made for trucks and those wishing to get dirty. I do have to say that I had heavenly help as I drove through that...well less than drivable road.

HAPPY PHILIPPINES 50th Anniversary of the Church!!!!! I am not going to lie, today the emotions are high. I have awaited this day since I found out I was going to the Philippines and to not be there in celebration with them is really hard. I am grateful that I have the opportunity to be back out on a mission as this day passes. Yes mom I made Sister Miner eat a mango with me this week (it was her first one!).

This week has been interesting, we have found more members home and been able to teach them. I am so thankful that we have the Spirit to help us accomplish this work, these people have so many trails in their life I am glad that I can testify that the Savior knows what they are going through and that their Heavenly Father is aware of them. I have noticed that since this area has so many different churches and a lot of people have gone to so many of them in their life times that there is a lot of "spiritual static" as Elder Sweatfield likes to call it. They have a hard time remembering what is the truth and taught in this gospel and everything else.

We met with our Branch Council on Sunday and were met with a lot of discouraged people when it comes to reactivating the less active and finding those that are ready. Sister Miner and I have been praying that we can find a way to infuse this branch with hope and excitement for the work that needs to be done in this branch. We have an idea and are praying that as we do some "tweaking" this week that they will be ready for our plan when we meet again May 8th. Please pray for us!

For part of the week we actually stay at the Sweatfields' house in Grayling. It has been interesting to see what a Senior Couple does in this mission and to talk with them about what they have seen and hear their insights. I have really enjoyed getting to know them, they are incredibly kind and such a wonderful example. I seriously cannot wait until I am at the point in my life when I can bring my eternal companion on a mission with me...yes the work is hard for them as well but it looks like they have such fun doing it together and helping each other grow in understanding and faith. Amazing.

Easter was lovely. Mom thank you for sending a little Easter gift to share with Sister Miner, she appreciated it. I am also grateful for my first piece of mail, a card from you mom. I am so glad to finally look in that mail box and see a letter. I miss the old way of getting letters, twice a transfer at district meetings...

I am adjusting to the differences of this mission, there are somethings that I miss a lot and others I was happy to see changed. I was happy to hand write our presidents letters, but as it turns out they changed it this week to using imos again. At least I am used to it :)

There is a member that other missionaries have had trouble getting into the house, we went to go see her twice this week she let us in both times. She also gave us cotton candy and fed us dinner the second time. She says that I remind her of one of her close friends and her daughter loves me, I am glad that I have been accepted and hope that I can lead them back to activity. While I was there this week I had a feeling of peace and assurance that I needed to be there with them at that time. I miss the Philippines greatly but I am so thankful that the Spirit is helping assure me that this is where I am needed.

I love you all and hope that you have a marvelous week.

I cannot wait to hear from you next week. Stay safe, and healthy please.

Everyone should go eat a mango or banana today in celebration of the Jubliee.

Mahal ko po kayo!!

Ingat,

Sister Rebecca Jensen