I have 5 minutes, the main library is closed and the public library only gives you 30 min and writing to president took a little too long. I am so sorry.
Here are the quick highlights, transfer calls came at 11:57 yesterday and I will be opening Michigan State University down in East Lansing and while doing that I will also be training a new sister missionary. I will be sharing the area with the Assistants to the President.
I have been praying lately to reach a new high so that after my mission I will have a lot to reach. I don't know if that makes sense but I don't have time to explain. Well I think that this opportunity will indeed help me grow and learn and reach a new high. I feel a lot of peace which is great since I think normal me would be freaking out. Nope just happy as a clam. although I did burn the palm of my hand pretty well today trying to cook breakfast. Good thing we had Popsicles that I held all during studies.
I will transfer on Tuesday and serve with Sister Miner until her family comes to pick her up on Saturday. Please pray that she does not make my trainee homesick or me trunky. I am a little worried about that since she was so trunky when I served with her in Gaylord.
I am really out of time. I love you all and am praying for you all!!
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Saturday, July 30, 2011
We Live in Sodom and Gomorrah
Dear Family,
So we have come to another Saturday in the year of 2011 which means that I am still in Mount Pleasant still working hard as a missionary and nothing new has really happened this week. Yun lang.
Well we did have some fun stories this week. We have been preparing to teach one of our investigators the LOC [Law of Chastity] because she is homosexual and well what do you know when we went to another investigator to talk about the Gospel of Jesus Christ she came out and told us she was in a homosexual relationship and that other female that we have seen around the house is not her sister its her...well girl friend. I felt sick to my stomach when she said that, but luckily the Lord had prepared us to teach the LOC to a homosexual sister so we were prepared. Also I carry a small copy of the Proclamation to the World on the Family and we read some of that with her. The Spirit was strong so there was a lot for her to process, we go back next Thursday and she will tell us when she has decided. We were also able to teach the LOC to the one we were planning, many tears were shed and at the end we scheduled another appointment but after the closing prayer and through more tears she asked us not to come back, that we are at an impasse because she does not believe that this lifestyle is a sin. Can I just say I do not understand this problem at all and I never want to, guys are awesome, enough said.
Other than that huge blow to us, having Julz drop us after almost 3 months of lesson and us knowing that she has received a confirmation that this Gospel is true, we picked ourselves up and dusted ourselves off and went right back to work. We have been able to hit/ go above mission standards for the past month. The only thing that we have been missing is the goal of 1 baptism per month. We are working on one for August. Brittany Abbott is progressing beautifully. She came to church and stayed all 3 hours and came to our ward Family Home Evening and brought her younger sister. She enjoyed the program and she was fellowshipped by our YSA and stayed playing Volleyball with them even after we left! She is reading a couple pages from the Book of Mormon each night and is in 2 Nephi. Brittany is starting to light up with the Gospel and it is wonderful to see and feel. We were able to meet with her and teach her the Plan of Salvation, and talk about the requirements for baptism. We meet with her again tonight!
Brother and Sister Chubb are doing well, they are both home and even though they have a lot of Doctors appointments they are still in good spirits. We have been over a few times this week to cut up some cantelopes for them. We are working on getting Sister Chubb converted strong enough so that when Sister Missionaries leave the area she will not go inactive again.
I really don't know what else to say. We are very tired. We had a slight change of schedule today we went and played Gator ball with the YSA/Elders this morning. I think I might have found a new favorite, it is like tag/ultimate frisbee/soccer all mixed into one. You start with a soccer ball played with your hands until someone drops in then it is played like soccer. It was an intense game, completely awesome. Then we washed our car, which I do have to say is all shiny and happily clean and waxed. Then I mopped the floor while Sister Wright got ready and well here we are. Luckily the house is clean I just need to write a million letters to people before I can rest. Oh well getting mail at the end of a long day is worth the sacrifice of rest.
Also this week I have seen more band students practicing than I have in my entire life. They are everywhere. That little metronome things keeps going off, we hear drums just about all day. It makes me feel like I am at a parade. I quite enjoy it actually, listening to the drums and the horns just blare onwards. Nothing like a marching band to give you some energy.
This week I taught Sister Wright Tagalog sentence structure and if I give her a sentence and the verb type/verb she is able to write it out. What a blessing it is to be able to teach tagalog. It makes me so sad that in our prayers I am starting to pause more in Tagalog and flow more in English. Weird as it may sound that really makes me sad. I am not sure why I get this wonderful opportunity/trial/blessing/ulg but here I am and I am trying to make the best of it.
I think that is about is for this week, I am glad to hear that everyone is doing well and that most of you were able to get up to tail lake. Summer wouldn't be right without at least one trip down to tail lake. Keep up the good work everyone. I love you all.
Mahal ko po kayo.
Sister Jensen
So we have come to another Saturday in the year of 2011 which means that I am still in Mount Pleasant still working hard as a missionary and nothing new has really happened this week. Yun lang.
Well we did have some fun stories this week. We have been preparing to teach one of our investigators the LOC [Law of Chastity] because she is homosexual and well what do you know when we went to another investigator to talk about the Gospel of Jesus Christ she came out and told us she was in a homosexual relationship and that other female that we have seen around the house is not her sister its her...well girl friend. I felt sick to my stomach when she said that, but luckily the Lord had prepared us to teach the LOC to a homosexual sister so we were prepared. Also I carry a small copy of the Proclamation to the World on the Family and we read some of that with her. The Spirit was strong so there was a lot for her to process, we go back next Thursday and she will tell us when she has decided. We were also able to teach the LOC to the one we were planning, many tears were shed and at the end we scheduled another appointment but after the closing prayer and through more tears she asked us not to come back, that we are at an impasse because she does not believe that this lifestyle is a sin. Can I just say I do not understand this problem at all and I never want to, guys are awesome, enough said.
Other than that huge blow to us, having Julz drop us after almost 3 months of lesson and us knowing that she has received a confirmation that this Gospel is true, we picked ourselves up and dusted ourselves off and went right back to work. We have been able to hit/ go above mission standards for the past month. The only thing that we have been missing is the goal of 1 baptism per month. We are working on one for August. Brittany Abbott is progressing beautifully. She came to church and stayed all 3 hours and came to our ward Family Home Evening and brought her younger sister. She enjoyed the program and she was fellowshipped by our YSA and stayed playing Volleyball with them even after we left! She is reading a couple pages from the Book of Mormon each night and is in 2 Nephi. Brittany is starting to light up with the Gospel and it is wonderful to see and feel. We were able to meet with her and teach her the Plan of Salvation, and talk about the requirements for baptism. We meet with her again tonight!
Brother and Sister Chubb are doing well, they are both home and even though they have a lot of Doctors appointments they are still in good spirits. We have been over a few times this week to cut up some cantelopes for them. We are working on getting Sister Chubb converted strong enough so that when Sister Missionaries leave the area she will not go inactive again.
I really don't know what else to say. We are very tired. We had a slight change of schedule today we went and played Gator ball with the YSA/Elders this morning. I think I might have found a new favorite, it is like tag/ultimate frisbee/soccer all mixed into one. You start with a soccer ball played with your hands until someone drops in then it is played like soccer. It was an intense game, completely awesome. Then we washed our car, which I do have to say is all shiny and happily clean and waxed. Then I mopped the floor while Sister Wright got ready and well here we are. Luckily the house is clean I just need to write a million letters to people before I can rest. Oh well getting mail at the end of a long day is worth the sacrifice of rest.
Also this week I have seen more band students practicing than I have in my entire life. They are everywhere. That little metronome things keeps going off, we hear drums just about all day. It makes me feel like I am at a parade. I quite enjoy it actually, listening to the drums and the horns just blare onwards. Nothing like a marching band to give you some energy.
This week I taught Sister Wright Tagalog sentence structure and if I give her a sentence and the verb type/verb she is able to write it out. What a blessing it is to be able to teach tagalog. It makes me so sad that in our prayers I am starting to pause more in Tagalog and flow more in English. Weird as it may sound that really makes me sad. I am not sure why I get this wonderful opportunity/trial/blessing/ulg but here I am and I am trying to make the best of it.
I think that is about is for this week, I am glad to hear that everyone is doing well and that most of you were able to get up to tail lake. Summer wouldn't be right without at least one trip down to tail lake. Keep up the good work everyone. I love you all.
Mahal ko po kayo.
Sister Jensen
Monday, July 18, 2011
Wax on, wax off
Hello Family!!!
What another week it has been here in Mount Pleasant. Can I just say that we are exhausted and we got up early yesterday for interviews in Midland and today to wax our car. I have now waxed a car, to be honest it is kind of fun.
Interviews were amazing. We got a call Thursday night from our Zone Leaders asking us to card into their apartment and bring their area book to Midland with us, they were there early for a Stake Coordination meeting. It is a good thing that I had a spare card and we were able to get their area book. The door opened for me without any problems on the first try. What a strange blessing and skill to have!! President Hess wanted to review our area books with us during interviews, so it was a good thing that everyone had theirs. We also did 100 miles of driving yesterday and it was not my driving day...I got pretty car sick. It was not in any way shape or form fun, but the work goes on even if we are car sick, and dizzy, and completely tired. Good times.
Sister Wright and I were able to meet the standards of excellence again. It has taken everything out of us to do so, we have worked harder than ever to reach those goals. We have sacrificed a lot, yet in the long run probably not a lot, it just seems like a lot because we are here and now living it and giving it up.
My interview with President Hess was awesome. Can I just say that I am so grateful to come from an awesome family. No matter where I am in the world I seem to come across people who know the Jensen family and they love them. This case was no different. Dad, I am glad that while you work you do so in an honest and respectful manner. Grandma Jensen you too. President Hess says to tell you all hello. The overall feeling of that interview was "expect good things" I am not sure what those things will be, but over and over that is what has been said and what comes to mind.
We were able to go visit Sandy and Linda up in the Country Senior Living Center. I love these dear sisters. We just met them last week and they were so happy to see us again. Linda had the idea that we read from the Restoration pamphlet and talk about it at each of our visits. We read and talked about God being our loving Heavenly Father and ended talking about Prophets. Midway through our conversation Sandy turns to Linda and says, lets get a bus and go to Church this Sunday. She proceeded to write it in her planner and help Linda see that she was going to go with her and sit with her and that they could bring snacks in case she was hungry between meetings. It was so sweet to see the Spirit work on these sisters, especially since we didn't bring up coming to church. The way the share the Ensign's and read the scriptures together is inspiring. It showed to me the importance of friends in helping us along our Spiritual progression.
We have just been so busy this week I don't know what to say or where to start in telling about it. One cool story is that as I pray to become a more bold missionary I have found myself approaching people on the street and while we are walking and talking to them. This last week I even noticed a man setting up a tent outside his apartment complex and I went up and started to talk to him. Turns out this is his first tent, it was a Coleman 3 man tent, simple enough to set up, but he looked lost. Without hurting his pride I offered to help him set it up. Sister Wright does not camp so this was good for her as well. We were able to set up the tent and talk about the Gospel while we did so, as we walked away I couldn't believe that I had actually just done that. I am glad that the Spirit is helping me with this mission because normal me would have shied away from helping a stranger set up a tent.
Sister Wright and I get to teach Relief Society tomorrow, the lesson is about Eternal Marriage. Woot. Not sure why we get to teach about it but it is another teaching opportunity so I am not about to turn it down. Plus since we have investigators coming to church this week that will be awesome, they said that they would stay all 3 hours. And Brittany Abbot did stay for it all last week. We have such wonderful investigators I am so blessed to be teaching them and learning from them.
I am glad to hear that everyone is staying busy and since I haven't heard much from anyone I assume that means all is well. I love you all. Have a wonderful week.
Interviews were amazing. We got a call Thursday night from our Zone Leaders asking us to card into their apartment and bring their area book to Midland with us, they were there early for a Stake Coordination meeting. It is a good thing that I had a spare card and we were able to get their area book. The door opened for me without any problems on the first try. What a strange blessing and skill to have!! President Hess wanted to review our area books with us during interviews, so it was a good thing that everyone had theirs. We also did 100 miles of driving yesterday and it was not my driving day...I got pretty car sick. It was not in any way shape or form fun, but the work goes on even if we are car sick, and dizzy, and completely tired. Good times.
Sister Wright and I were able to meet the standards of excellence again. It has taken everything out of us to do so, we have worked harder than ever to reach those goals. We have sacrificed a lot, yet in the long run probably not a lot, it just seems like a lot because we are here and now living it and giving it up.
My interview with President Hess was awesome. Can I just say that I am so grateful to come from an awesome family. No matter where I am in the world I seem to come across people who know the Jensen family and they love them. This case was no different. Dad, I am glad that while you work you do so in an honest and respectful manner. Grandma Jensen you too. President Hess says to tell you all hello. The overall feeling of that interview was "expect good things" I am not sure what those things will be, but over and over that is what has been said and what comes to mind.
We were able to go visit Sandy and Linda up in the Country Senior Living Center. I love these dear sisters. We just met them last week and they were so happy to see us again. Linda had the idea that we read from the Restoration pamphlet and talk about it at each of our visits. We read and talked about God being our loving Heavenly Father and ended talking about Prophets. Midway through our conversation Sandy turns to Linda and says, lets get a bus and go to Church this Sunday. She proceeded to write it in her planner and help Linda see that she was going to go with her and sit with her and that they could bring snacks in case she was hungry between meetings. It was so sweet to see the Spirit work on these sisters, especially since we didn't bring up coming to church. The way the share the Ensign's and read the scriptures together is inspiring. It showed to me the importance of friends in helping us along our Spiritual progression.
We have just been so busy this week I don't know what to say or where to start in telling about it. One cool story is that as I pray to become a more bold missionary I have found myself approaching people on the street and while we are walking and talking to them. This last week I even noticed a man setting up a tent outside his apartment complex and I went up and started to talk to him. Turns out this is his first tent, it was a Coleman 3 man tent, simple enough to set up, but he looked lost. Without hurting his pride I offered to help him set it up. Sister Wright does not camp so this was good for her as well. We were able to set up the tent and talk about the Gospel while we did so, as we walked away I couldn't believe that I had actually just done that. I am glad that the Spirit is helping me with this mission because normal me would have shied away from helping a stranger set up a tent.
Sister Wright and I get to teach Relief Society tomorrow, the lesson is about Eternal Marriage. Woot. Not sure why we get to teach about it but it is another teaching opportunity so I am not about to turn it down. Plus since we have investigators coming to church this week that will be awesome, they said that they would stay all 3 hours. And Brittany Abbot did stay for it all last week. We have such wonderful investigators I am so blessed to be teaching them and learning from them.
I am glad to hear that everyone is staying busy and since I haven't heard much from anyone I assume that means all is well. I love you all. Have a wonderful week.
With love, Mahal ko po kayo.
Sister Jensen
Monday, July 11, 2011
A week of Miracles!!!
Dear Family,
I am glad to hear that the 4th of July was fun for you all. Jealousy does not even begin to describe my lack of dutch oven cooking and fireworks. Luckily the Lord watched out for us and we had a delightful day. We decided to car fast, it was about 92 and humid (love it!) and we walked a good 7 miles! It is a good thing that I love to walk because I really drag Sister Wright all around Mt Pleasant sometimes. Monday we planned to walk out to an appointment then stop at Less Active families on the way to another appointment that was on the other side of things. We pleaded that these families would be home and lo and behold as we would walk down the street there they would be in their garages cleaning out or doing yard work. Truly a blessing. We were able to teach/walk all day on Monday. Then the YSA invited us over for FHE. Rumor has been circulating around the YSA that I like homemade rice crispies so they made a huge flag of them, colored even, and after the lesson and walking all day we got to sit in their apartment talking laughing, playing Blast from the Past (a really cool Mormon history game which I won the game we played :D) and eating rice crispies. It was a fantastic way to celebrate the 4th. Then we listened to fireworks, we could only see the tops of them over the trees from our apartment.
Tuesday I wanted to die. The Elders had given us a woman in her mid 60's that we taught Monday, well I guess that she did not like us and called to complain to the Zone Leaders and so bright and early Tuesday morning the Elders called and told us about it. I was crushed, the appointment wasn't that bad, or I didn't think that it was such the horror that she told the Elders about. They said that they knew there was some other concern and that she was just taking it out on us, but ouch. I cried most of the morning, through service at the care center we were playing Bingo (ever since the Philippines I really do not like bingo) and the rest of the day Sister Jensen's soul went into hiding. We were able to teach some lessons and get a new investigator but it was really difficult. Thank heavens as well for inspired leaders, our District leader called Tuesday night just asking how we were doing. He usually doesn't call on Tuesday's to follow up but he said that he felt he needed to, well after he heard about the situation he gave some quality advice and told us to move on with the work.
Wednesday was amazing. Our companionship had been a little rocky at the beginning of the week but it turned around, we studied the talk from this past conference from Elder D Todd Christofferson about Whom the Lord loves He chastens, also I spent a long time in Moses comparing the difference between how God talks to Moses and how Satan talks to Moses. Amazing to think that sometimes Satan does rant and rave and makes us quake with fear but if we remember our Heavenly Father then faith replaces that fear and we are blessed as we remember God. That was seen the rest of this week, we went out with a greater desire to do the work to reach the standards of excellence and we have been blessed for that. Sunday night we drove out to a dinner with the Elders (yes we had president's permission) but as we were driving the Elders challenged us to reach the standards of excellence for the mission to have the faith to go out and work hard. For some reason that hit me hard and I have been studying how I can become a better missionary, praying more sincerely and more often, I have seen my desire to understand my purpose increase. Which is why I think Tuesday was so necessary, for after the trials cometh the blessings. Tuesday was our trial but Wednesday, Thursday and Friday were the blessings.
Friday we went to midland and were able to meet President and Sister Hess. Yay Sister Hess recognized me, and said that Lindsay said hello, awesome! They are going to help this mission catch the fire of missionary work and we are going to go places that we cannot even comprehend yet. He was one of the people who helped the schools in Utah go online with UEN and is very tech savvy which means that we are going to be doing a lot of work with computers and social networking to find people. Still not sure how that is going to work or when that will start but we are going to go places with President Hess. There was an amazing Spirit at that meeting. Also what was joyous was the fact that afterwards we were able to talk with the other missionaries for a few minutes before everyone left. I missed the friendships of the Elders in the Philippines and so far have not seen here until yesterday, usually they run from sisters like we have the plague but yesterday Elders actually talked to us. Miracle! We got back late (the Elders drove again and with them being Zone leaders they had to distribute supplies) and when we got to that appointment there was a note taped to the door for MORMONS, it basically said we were lairs and to not even contact her anymore. Awesome. We had a very silent lunch break and started work in Shepherd at 3pm. We contacted a referral, got a return appointment, tracted that street and when that was not successful we went to get a slushy at Nana's Ice Cream parlor. It is a small town that really doesn't have much in it, but the town has the feel as if it has been trapped in the 1970's just a very simple way of life. Its nice to get a change from the college campus sometimes. After that we drove to the far end of our area to visit a sister in a Senior Living Center, while there we met an elusive less active that we have been trying to find since our first week here and she was just sitting there when we walked in...Miracle! As we were teaching their friend Vivian came over and joined in and started to ask questions about what we believe and we were able to pick her up as an investigator and have a return appointment with her next Friday. Miracles really never cease. Then we drove to see Sister Chubb also a less active who has really become active and was working on going to the temple, she broke her hip on Sunday and has been in a hospital out of our area and we couldn't find anyone to drive us to see her (we called 17 people and asked then figured if it was that hard we weren't supposed to go) she was finally moved to a care center in Mt Pleasant. Her husband is also in the hospital now with a blood clot in his leg from a tractor falling on him. Its been a crazy week!! Anyway she was so happy we came to see her since her phone died before she was able to tell us she had moved. The Spirit really is so necessary to this work. Then we had no time for dinner we just quickly went to our next two appointments. Both less active sisters, both doing well. Sister VanHorn has been a challenge in the past, she has argued and at times we have left those appointments feeling really down. Lately the past few visits we have been able to feel the Spirit and she has open up more and more, well yesterday she said the opening prayer and apologized for giving us trouble about it in the past. Not only was it a fantastic day to start with meeting president and meeting the mission standards with our findings but to end with Sister VanHorn telling us that she wants to work on becoming worth to enter the temple again I about fell off my seat, I almost expected to hear concourses of angels singing and rejoicing. When we got back to our apartment we prayed then got off our knees and jumped up and down hugging because we had met the mission standards and because we have been so blessed this week.
I am forever grateful for the chance that I have to serve, I know that sometimes my letters get long and you don't really know who I am talking about but these people mean so much to me now. I get the opportunity to invite them to come unto Christ by helping them receive the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ through Faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost and Enduring to the End. What a blessing that is!
I love and pray for you all!
Ingat,
Sister Rebecca Jensen
"As we recognize our strengths, stretch ourselves in service, ignore the devil's derision, and build our faith, we will overcome feelings of personal inadequacy. Ultimately, we will fell an ever-increasing sense of value and worth as we draw closer to the Savior." -Elder David Baxter
I am glad to hear that the 4th of July was fun for you all. Jealousy does not even begin to describe my lack of dutch oven cooking and fireworks. Luckily the Lord watched out for us and we had a delightful day. We decided to car fast, it was about 92 and humid (love it!) and we walked a good 7 miles! It is a good thing that I love to walk because I really drag Sister Wright all around Mt Pleasant sometimes. Monday we planned to walk out to an appointment then stop at Less Active families on the way to another appointment that was on the other side of things. We pleaded that these families would be home and lo and behold as we would walk down the street there they would be in their garages cleaning out or doing yard work. Truly a blessing. We were able to teach/walk all day on Monday. Then the YSA invited us over for FHE. Rumor has been circulating around the YSA that I like homemade rice crispies so they made a huge flag of them, colored even, and after the lesson and walking all day we got to sit in their apartment talking laughing, playing Blast from the Past (a really cool Mormon history game which I won the game we played :D) and eating rice crispies. It was a fantastic way to celebrate the 4th. Then we listened to fireworks, we could only see the tops of them over the trees from our apartment.
Tuesday I wanted to die. The Elders had given us a woman in her mid 60's that we taught Monday, well I guess that she did not like us and called to complain to the Zone Leaders and so bright and early Tuesday morning the Elders called and told us about it. I was crushed, the appointment wasn't that bad, or I didn't think that it was such the horror that she told the Elders about. They said that they knew there was some other concern and that she was just taking it out on us, but ouch. I cried most of the morning, through service at the care center we were playing Bingo (ever since the Philippines I really do not like bingo) and the rest of the day Sister Jensen's soul went into hiding. We were able to teach some lessons and get a new investigator but it was really difficult. Thank heavens as well for inspired leaders, our District leader called Tuesday night just asking how we were doing. He usually doesn't call on Tuesday's to follow up but he said that he felt he needed to, well after he heard about the situation he gave some quality advice and told us to move on with the work.
Wednesday was amazing. Our companionship had been a little rocky at the beginning of the week but it turned around, we studied the talk from this past conference from Elder D Todd Christofferson about Whom the Lord loves He chastens, also I spent a long time in Moses comparing the difference between how God talks to Moses and how Satan talks to Moses. Amazing to think that sometimes Satan does rant and rave and makes us quake with fear but if we remember our Heavenly Father then faith replaces that fear and we are blessed as we remember God. That was seen the rest of this week, we went out with a greater desire to do the work to reach the standards of excellence and we have been blessed for that. Sunday night we drove out to a dinner with the Elders (yes we had president's permission) but as we were driving the Elders challenged us to reach the standards of excellence for the mission to have the faith to go out and work hard. For some reason that hit me hard and I have been studying how I can become a better missionary, praying more sincerely and more often, I have seen my desire to understand my purpose increase. Which is why I think Tuesday was so necessary, for after the trials cometh the blessings. Tuesday was our trial but Wednesday, Thursday and Friday were the blessings.
Friday we went to midland and were able to meet President and Sister Hess. Yay Sister Hess recognized me, and said that Lindsay said hello, awesome! They are going to help this mission catch the fire of missionary work and we are going to go places that we cannot even comprehend yet. He was one of the people who helped the schools in Utah go online with UEN and is very tech savvy which means that we are going to be doing a lot of work with computers and social networking to find people. Still not sure how that is going to work or when that will start but we are going to go places with President Hess. There was an amazing Spirit at that meeting. Also what was joyous was the fact that afterwards we were able to talk with the other missionaries for a few minutes before everyone left. I missed the friendships of the Elders in the Philippines and so far have not seen here until yesterday, usually they run from sisters like we have the plague but yesterday Elders actually talked to us. Miracle! We got back late (the Elders drove again and with them being Zone leaders they had to distribute supplies) and when we got to that appointment there was a note taped to the door for MORMONS, it basically said we were lairs and to not even contact her anymore. Awesome. We had a very silent lunch break and started work in Shepherd at 3pm. We contacted a referral, got a return appointment, tracted that street and when that was not successful we went to get a slushy at Nana's Ice Cream parlor. It is a small town that really doesn't have much in it, but the town has the feel as if it has been trapped in the 1970's just a very simple way of life. Its nice to get a change from the college campus sometimes. After that we drove to the far end of our area to visit a sister in a Senior Living Center, while there we met an elusive less active that we have been trying to find since our first week here and she was just sitting there when we walked in...Miracle! As we were teaching their friend Vivian came over and joined in and started to ask questions about what we believe and we were able to pick her up as an investigator and have a return appointment with her next Friday. Miracles really never cease. Then we drove to see Sister Chubb also a less active who has really become active and was working on going to the temple, she broke her hip on Sunday and has been in a hospital out of our area and we couldn't find anyone to drive us to see her (we called 17 people and asked then figured if it was that hard we weren't supposed to go) she was finally moved to a care center in Mt Pleasant. Her husband is also in the hospital now with a blood clot in his leg from a tractor falling on him. Its been a crazy week!! Anyway she was so happy we came to see her since her phone died before she was able to tell us she had moved. The Spirit really is so necessary to this work. Then we had no time for dinner we just quickly went to our next two appointments. Both less active sisters, both doing well. Sister VanHorn has been a challenge in the past, she has argued and at times we have left those appointments feeling really down. Lately the past few visits we have been able to feel the Spirit and she has open up more and more, well yesterday she said the opening prayer and apologized for giving us trouble about it in the past. Not only was it a fantastic day to start with meeting president and meeting the mission standards with our findings but to end with Sister VanHorn telling us that she wants to work on becoming worth to enter the temple again I about fell off my seat, I almost expected to hear concourses of angels singing and rejoicing. When we got back to our apartment we prayed then got off our knees and jumped up and down hugging because we had met the mission standards and because we have been so blessed this week.
I am forever grateful for the chance that I have to serve, I know that sometimes my letters get long and you don't really know who I am talking about but these people mean so much to me now. I get the opportunity to invite them to come unto Christ by helping them receive the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ through Faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost and Enduring to the End. What a blessing that is!
I love and pray for you all!
Ingat,
Sister Rebecca Jensen
"As we recognize our strengths, stretch ourselves in service, ignore the devil's derision, and build our faith, we will overcome feelings of personal inadequacy. Ultimately, we will fell an ever-increasing sense of value and worth as we draw closer to the Savior." -Elder David Baxter
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Happy 4th of July
Happy 4th of July Jensen Family!!!!
What a week it has been. I am sufficiently grateful that it is now once again preparation day and that I get a chance to rest and not go knock on doors. Nothing says "get off my porch" like tracting around a holiday. Seriously we have been yelled at and rejected more this week than ever before. It has not been pleasant, but the Spirit has been there to comfort and keep us going. Sister Wright is getting tired of the phrase, "I am doing this because I love the Lord, and The Church is still true." I say them a lot. On the plus side we met some awesome people and picked up 2 new investigators. One of them we talked to at his daughters house, his other daughter is the pastor of the Potter's House church, (its a nondenominational church that a lot of people go to because there are rock bands and food) well while we were talking we asked what that church was all about since we had heard of it but didn't know much. Before I knew it he had dialed his daughter and was handing the phone to me. So there I stood on the street talking to a minister of a different church. I asked about Sunday services and then she asked about ours, it was a good missionary opportunity to share about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day saints. We stayed on friendly terms and at the end we both thanked each other for helping us understand our faiths a little more. Then we taught her father and his friend the next evening and gave them both baptismal dates! It was an awesome lesson, we pounded out the great apostasy then the importance of the restoration followed by the first vision, testimony and then the baptismal commitment! It was a miracle and made this week so much better, truly a tender mercy!!! Another tender mercy is that on Wednesday I got a letter from Sister Siufanua and Sister Sargent from the Philippines Quezon City Mission. They still love me. Remember all of those days I felt like I had abandoned them and was just in agony, well that was just the advisary trying to get me down. It sounds like big changes have taken place, my batch from the MTC is split about in half with the North mission now. Elder Calder is the AP for the new mission president, Elder Haws a Zone Leader staying in PQCM, the sisters are senior companions opening new areas. How wonderful it was to hear that they are doing well and that they still talk of me and miss me there. Also with the new mission and one sister extending the new release dates will be November 10, December 1, and December 22. So I will fit right in coming home mid December. While I was reading these letters Sister Wright watched me rush around the apartment in happiness and shed tears of joy at finally hearing from my friends. What a blessing that was. Also yesterday I finally finished Alma in my Aklat ni Mormon, I will finish the entire book before I come home! Even if I give up my lunches in November to read it will be done! I started to teach Sister Wright how to congregate verbs in Tagalog, just the simple Mag, Um, I, and In verbs. Those seem to be coming along well. Before I know it I will be teaching VAOL, crazy!! But at the same time a great refresher course for me while I prepare to teach during meal times. This week out tracting we have come across a surprising number of people with girlfriends...the disturbing part about this is that they are girls themselves. I never knew that so many people were choosing to live in sin. Who knew that that was such a problem in nice quiet Mt Pleasant Michigan. We also found out that one of our investigators is engaged to a girl. That is just sad, we were planning to teach her the law of chastity yesterday and she wasn't there when we came for our appointment. Even after we had called and confirmed. Frustration. We were both prompted to go over to the Griffths home Friday evening, when we pulled up Sister Girffths was outside and we were finally able to meet her. Their had been an argument right before we came over and we asked if we could go inside and talk with them. The Spirit is no longer dwelling in that home and the effects of its absence is seen and felt. Brother Girffths asked for a large print copy of the Book of Mormon so he can start reading it again. By the time we left we Sister Griffths had apologized and we were able to leave with a prayer. They need the Gospel and the peace it brings now more than ever, it is sad to see how they reject what they need most. Fun story for you all. Thursday evening we were scheduled to go see the Griffths family but it didn't feel right to me. We sat in the car for a few minutes pondering what we should do when Bruce street flashed into my mind. I grabbed my brain (my binder of knowledge that I have organized lists of members according to areas-I finally finished it on Thursday it is huge :D) So I looked up who lived on Bruce street and there was Annie Sheldon, a less active that we have been trying to get a hold of for the past transfer. We drove to her house and got there just as she was walking in the door. We were able to share a message with her and schedule a return appointment for next week. What a blessing it is to have the Lord guiding this work!!! I am glad to hear that Girls camp went well and that everyone made it to and from and through it safely. I hope that since it is July now that parade stuff won't be crazy for mom and dad. I cannot believe how quickly June just flew past. I hope that time continues to speed along it makes life much more interesting when months blur into days and days feel like weeks and when people ask what has happened you respond with month old news. Its awesome being a missionary! We get to meet the President this next Friday over in Midland. I am really excited. The missionaries have been praying for them since they found out his name and everyone is really excited to meet them. This is my fourth set of mission parents, I think it is easier this time around because I have already seen three different styles and ways of going about the work. I know that this Church is true. The Book of Mormon brings peace and happiness in a way that nothing else can. Hang in there!! I hope and pray everyone has a safe holiday.
Mahal ko po kayo!
Ingat, Sister Jensen
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Happy Christmas in June!!
Hello Family,
It feels like it has been much longer than a week since I have last had the chance to e-mail home. What a week it has been. One which I never wish to repeat-yes there were miracles-yes the Spirit has been increasingly strong...but still I am glad to have it past. With transfers we have been hosting Sister King another missionary over in Caro who was waiting for her new trainee to arrive. Unfortunately they were supposed to fly through Chicago and with the storm their flight was cancelled and it had us all praying that they would get here this week. It was stressful, I was super grateful I wasn't Elder Ransley or DeHart our Assistants, they were calling back and forth to us and trying to get housing worked out for everyone along with flights and shifting training dates...yup glad that I am just a sister. Although I did finally get to meet Elder DeHart-he is the new Assistant to President Jones and he grew up with Elder Calder who was in my MTC district. It was my one year mark of leaving the MTC for the Philippines and arriving in the Philippines on the 22 and 24, those days were really hard for me to be here in Michigan. I am not even going to try and express the feeling that I have felt this week concerning that event...and the fact that I am not in the Philippines to celebrate that mark...lets just say that I washed all 4 of my handkerchiefs and have been super tired all week. We picked up a new investigator this week, we met her on campus she asked us to walk with her to go get coffee and talk while we walked. I have never taught the Restoration while walking to have someone get coffee but we did. Then we met her the next day for a real appointment and we retaught the Restoration. Her name is Linda and she is awesome, I hope that she sincerely reads and prays about the Book of Mormon. Julz had a lot of doubts this week, she gave up caffinated coffee and when we reextended the commitment for ALL coffee she said that she was going to have to think about it. We tried to resolve the concern but she still asked for time. We spent the lesson reading 1 Nephi 8 and explained about the Tree of Life. She really enjoyed that and said that she would give the Book of Mormon another try. She did say that she loved having us over and the feeling that she feels when we come! Ida dropped us. Sad day. She called us over and told us that she was having a lot of health issues and just felt that Satan was trying to keep her away from the truth and that because of these issues she just wanted to take a break. We desperately tried to help her understand that yes Satan is trying to pull you away and that this Gospel is the way to happiness and truth. We committed her to pray and told her that we would come back in a few weeks. Sister Mills who is less active has been praying!!! The moment we walked into the door we could feel a difference. The house felt cleaner, she was kinder, there was more light in her countenance and the Spirit was in our lesson! We taught about Hope, we shared Ether 12:4 and how faith+hope=a more stable life. Near the end of the lesson she paused for a moment then cleared her throat then asked if there was some way that she could pay for or get a copy of the Book of Mormon. YES!!! Thank heavens I had a copy in my bag that we happily gave her. What a difference the gospel has made just in the past month of this sisters life. When I first met her we left her house singing hymns and bearing testimony because she was so against the church, and now with prayer and love she is desiring to read the Book of Mormon and all of those concerns that were HUGE when we first met her are now not as important to her. What a blessing! In personal study today I finished the Book of Mormon. What a joy it is to once again take Moroni's challenge and feel the Holy Ghost strengthen my testimony in the Book of Mormon and the power of prayer. Reading those last chapters of Ether and watching all of those millions of people choose wickedness and sin is just heartbreaking. I am grateful that Moroni included his father's letters to him, those letters are a beautiful tender mercy to have included. You can just feel Mormon's love for Moroni and his desire for him to continue strong in the faith. I know that the Book of Mormon is true, I know that there isn't a concern or challenge we face in this life that cannot be helped by the Book of Mormon. While studying it for 30 min daily I am consistently blessed with the strength I need to fulfill my purpose as a missionary. It is a miracle that we have the Book of Mormon and I am grateful for all those that sacrificed of their lives and time to make it so that I can read it daily!! I am so grateful for the Atonement of Jesus Christ and how it heals our hearts and can bring comfort to our souls on days where nothing and no one else can. This week I taught Sister Wright how to pray in Tagalog. Listening to her pray in tagalog reminds me of those days kneeling with Sister McCormack by our bunkbed in the MTC struggling with all the ng sounds and saying the same phrases over and over again. I am grateful that I can now atleast start all of our companion prayers in tagalog the Spirit that comes while speaking that lauguage is one that I miss dearly. We were able to have dinner with the Prin and Villahermossa family this week, they are from the Philippines and most of the entire meal was in Tagalog. I think that the elders and my companion just glazed over at some point but I sure had a wonderful time. Just so you all know the Hickey family the Filipino family that I have been trying to work with filed for divorce this week. Please continue to keep them in your prayers. Just because they are separating legally doesn't mean that Sister Hickey still doesn't need the gospel, in fact she just needs it even more! We are hoping to catch her at home someday soon, she has crazy work hours. Sigh. The Church is true even when sad things like this happen. We are still called to invite others to come to Christ, but honestly watching others use their agency to choose to follow Satan is not fun. 2 Nephi 2:27 I am so glad to hear that all of the family functions went well. Mom good luck at Girls camp this week. Grandma Jensen I will be praying that all goes well for you this Wednesday! Grandparents Love, congratulations on completing your service at SDCH, your legacy of helping those residents to the temple will not be forgotten anytime soon. I am so blessed to come from such a wonderful family!! I love you all
Mahal ko po kayo!
Ingat lagi, Sister Jensen
Saturday, June 18, 2011
What a Week
Kumusta Jensen Family,
I send my love and warm wishes home. I am super grateful that the weather here has also been pretty temperate, especially since we have been spending about 2-4 hours daily tracting the area. We really have not had much success this week, we have talked to hundreds of people and most of them "have that taken care of, but thank you anyway and you have a great day, I hope you find success." I love how they hope that we find success because the world needs it, and they don't. Slight eye roll. I still love the work, don't get me wrong but on occasions tracting for hours has its toll. We got transfer calls on Friday, I have never been more grateful to hear Elder Adams and Elder Hunter call and tell us that we will be staying. This next transfer will be 7 weeks long to make up for this past 5 week transfer. Those have been adjusted so that President Hess can come in and get settled a little before he has to do the shifting. He will officially take over the mission June 29th! I cannot believe how quickly the time is flying past. I have already spend 2 months here! Wow. :D Last Sunday we went to find a less active out by our dinner appointment and there were dogs. I seem to have a calming effect on most animals, I think it comes from the lessons I learned from Rupert my snake. The fact that he could sense when I was scared and nervous and he would act weird when I was, but if I was calm then he would just coil happily around my fingers. Well when we got out of the car this dog came up to my side so I scratched its head and made sure it was comfortable with me, then we got out of the car and were walking towards the house. Well about halfway to the house I noticed that it started to growl and act funny. Sister Wright hates dogs and she is not the most peaceful person around them, well I guess somewhere between walking to the house and those nerves the dog decided to go for her. It was honestly terrifying to watch the dog charge my companion. Luckily I we were able to stop, I was able to call it back over towards me and we both slowly backed up and got into the car. I am so grateful for the protection of the Spirit and that this situation was only a scare not anything more serious. Either way we both crossed this LA off of our list to visit and will give them over to the Elders and their Home Teachers. I finally begged to borrow a members vacuum this week and was able to vacuum our apartment. Quality of life just increased tenfold. I wake up happier, exercise doesn't leave me feeling like I have played in dirt and it just looks so much better. I am so grateful that someone invented the vacuum and that somehow Mom and Dad you raised me loving to clean. So much so that when days go really bad I find solace it ironing my shirts for the next day or washing part of the floor with pine-sol. Yes, I am weird. We met SO MANY people this week that are either talking about divorce or are mid divorce papers. I am so sick of divorce! We have a huge stack of old Ensigns and most of them have articles about strengthening marriage, making sure that there is healthy communication and love in the relationship so that divorce doesn't even come up. I know that those are all of the prevention measures but how do you help someone reconcile their marriage when they are on the verge of filing for divorce, when they have even stopped living in the same household. I struggle to comprehend all of the feelings that these people go through and how we are supposed to help them understand that the only thing that will really save their marriage is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Plain and simple, there is it, the gospel as restored through Joseph Smith will save any marriage, not only save it but help it last into the Eternities. It is so easy to see how the gospel will help them, I just am having trouble getting that message across to people since they just don't seem to be listening to us when we testify that this gospel can save your marriage. Some say that they don't even want it saved. What a wicked world that we live in now, where husbands and wives don't even want to stay together to raise their families. Enough of that soapbox. Onto the fun part of the week, we got to go split wood for the Hammer family. I love this family, they are completely awesome! They even ordered me a pizza without cheese without my reminding them :) Happiness. We spent yesterday afternoon stacking wood and using their wood splitter to split the logs that the Elders had worked on earlier. I had so much fun being out in the woods (ie their 11 acre yard) and just working hard, also I got really good at stacking wood and being able to tell the different woods apart. It was really fun. We are teaching a new sister her name is Julz, she has just graduated from CMU and is totally changing her life. She has given up drugs, alcohol, smoking, and as we taught her the Plan of Salvation she was drinking coffee and asked about that, so we talked about the WOW. She seriously drank the last of that cup and said that is it I am done drinking coffee. I am proud of her, we are praying that she gets her answer about the truthfulness of the BOM and she prays this week and that she will come to church this week. The Hickey's are struggling emotionally but still determined to endure to the end. We went over and had FHE with them on Tuesday. The lesson was about studying the scriptures which they both said they are struggling to do. So we challenged them to finish the Book of Mormon by the end of the year. They both agreed and we then challenged them to read 10 minutes a day minimum from the Book of Mormon so that they can reach their goal. Brother Hickey has been having trouble sleeping and we were able to promise him more peace of mind and ability to sleep if he reads the Book of Mormon daily. We have been keeping up with him through facebook, checking on his daily reading. So far he has not missed a day! President I am not sure what to do about Sister Hickey, the party went well last week. We fasted for her on Tuesday, also that we would know what we can do to help her. We pray for her constantly, in every prayer, the Hickey family is always on my mind, I seriously eat, sleep, and live Hickey. We went to go teach her the Restoration yesterday and she was not home, we talked to her neighbor Aimee (she is also Filipino). She told us that Alma had been picked up by a friend a few hours ago. We then invited Aimee to learn about the gospel, she declined saying that she used to be a ministers wife and there is so much confusion in the world that she doesn't want to move from her set beliefs. We gave it our all to invite her to learn more, but felt that we needed to not pressure her. Then we saw that Mark Hickey had come home so we went and talked with him, he told us that Alma is up North for a weekend with a friend, we told him that if he needed anything to feel free to call us. I felt devastated when I heard that news. We have been praying that Sister Hickey would be prepared for us Friday to hear the message of the restoration. Sister Wright and I both felt good and excited about it, then we got there not only is she gone but she was on a weekend trip with a "friend." We are going to try back this Sunday when Mark said she returns home, I will work for this family as hard as I can. I know that this gospel can heal any relationship, not only heal it but help it last into the eternities. I still have hope that things will work out but it pains my soul to see Brother and Sister Hickey still arguing, still talking about divorce papers. I know that as a missionary we can do things that no one else can do, that with faith and the Spirit all things are possible. I know that I have been sent here to help them, I just plead many times on my knees daily to know what it is that this family needs to unify them. We got up early to play tennis. Sister Wright played through college and has gone to Hawaii for tournaments. So the game was on. Luckily, once again Mom and Dad, I owe you for all those tennis lessons we took in the summer. I actually didn't do too bad. We only had one ball leave the fencing! It was a gorgeous morning to be out playing. Also the flowers are just beautiful up here, there are more iris' than I have ever seen in my life. Some that even smell like root beer! I have been teaching Sister Wright the names of the flowers as we walk past them. Who knew I had so many flower names memorized. I guess those Jensen useless trivia jeans are kicking in at an early age. This week could you all send me your testimonies about FAITH. Yes I am serious, write it down, email it, somehow send it to me. I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you all! Happy Birthday Clark! Happy Father's Day Dad! Happy Birthday Monica!! Welcome home Jake!! Have a great week, and enjoy the longest day of the year!
Mahal ko po Kayo!!
Ingat, Sister Rebecca Jensen
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