I am happy to announce (or remind you) that Sister Jensen will return with honor on January 25, 2012. She is in the final weeks of her mission, and is enjoying (most) every minute of it. In order to avoid becoming distracted from the work of the Lord, she has asked that those of us at home please refrain from talking about her impending release in our notes and letters to her. She is excited to see all of you again, and LOVES to hear from you, but also doesn't want to deal with feeling "trunky".
We anticipate that her homecoming* will be Sunday, January 29.
(*Er- speaking as a returned missionary.)
I will provide more details as I learn them.
Thanks,
Emily Jensen
The PageMaster
Monday, December 19, 2011
" 'Tis the singing of a street corner choir, going home and getting warm by the fire"
Dear Family,
What a week it has been. Ryan and Lily Wong are now baptized and confirmed and they are happy as can be. It was a joyous baptism that was full of the Spirit. After Elder Ransley baptized Lily she waited on the stairs so that she could see Ryan baptized and after he was baptized they hugged. Talk about awesome. The Spirit was so strong, baptizing families is amazing!! We had a good showing of support from the ward and a lot of the young couples have really stepped up to be their friends. Eryun and Cloud came. My 4 favorite Asians all together for a baptism...I was exceedingly happy. I will have to send you that picture soon. I forgot my camera cord or you would be getting it now. It is one I will always cherish.
Eryun is doing really well. He came to Ryan and Lily's baptism. He wants to be baptized and when he found out that if he is baptized that if he is worthy when his wife comes to America he could baptize her I don't think he could have smiled bigger. We met with him and Brother McIntosh from the Williamston ward at the MSU library last week and talked about the 10 commandments. Eryun prayed at the close for help in keeping the commandments, it was a beautiful prayer.
Cloud is doing great! He came to support Ryan and Lily as they were baptized this Saturday. Also while waiting for the baptism he explained to Eryun about Baptism and confirmation and showed him the font and described what it felt like. He is such a wonderful teacher and fellow-shipper. I know that the university ward will take good care of him but it is still hard to leave the ward. We talked to him about going and doing baptisms for the dead with the ward on January 7th and after church yesterday he went by himself and talked to the bishop about getting a temple recommend!!! He is fantastic and strong and his testimony is amazing. He talks to his family often and they completely support him joining the church! It is great to see that our recent converts are self sufficient, the are converted to the gospel and not Sister Bogar or I, they don't need us anymore, yes they love us around but they also have friends and know that they can do things themselves. It is great. Also some of our Asian converts have been getting letters from members of the 70 and I guess that the church is really interested in them! How exciting!
Mary is a new investigator we picked up this week. We met her door knocking with Sister Thackeray and when we came back on Friday she had an entire spread of food, hot cinnamon rolls and crackers, cookies, chips and salsa...and much more!!! She is in her late 20's and works as an EMT. Mary grew up Christian but was very interested to learn more about what we believe. We taught her the restoration and at the end she asked if she could come to church. She said that she will be off work for Christmas Sunday and will come. We are super excited to be teaching her, her prayer was also beautiful thanking God for sending sisters with the truth and friendship.
I have been super tired this week. Sister Thackeray came to stay with us while she was waiting for her trainee and I slept on the floor. No one should start training exhausted so I let her have my bed. Yesterday was rough I was all kinds of emotional, just feeling drained then some people said some very unkind things to us about missing some meetings that we tried to go to. We were told it was at 11 and it was not and we were not made aware and we got chastised for not coming. I had to leave Williamston ward because I couldn't stop crying. Needless to say I am SO TIRED. Don't worry I am taking this week off from exchanges which means that I get to be in my area the entire week! I am super excited since this is the last time I can say that. I will be in Caro next week then I am going to Kalamazoo, then Portland then Owosso and then I will be going home. Weird to have it planned out until the end.
I cannot believe that there is less than a week until Christmas. How quickly time passes.
I got to see Elder Clawson and Sister Scheffer before they left. It was so weird to see them and to not be going away with them. It feels right though. There is not a single doubt in my mind, I am needed here one more transfer. We had a good week this week. We got a car, it is shiny and new and smells new car esk.
Thank you all for your prayers and your letters. I got my big card from the Ward yesterday. It is awesome and I have no clue once again to do with a card that big. But I am grateful for all the support from the ward. It is such a joy to get letters in the mail. I don't think that joy will ever go away.
I love you all. Have a Merry Christmas. Family I will talk to you Sunday night.
Merry Christmas.
Mahal ko po kayo,
Ingat,
Sister Rebecca Jensen
What a week it has been. Ryan and Lily Wong are now baptized and confirmed and they are happy as can be. It was a joyous baptism that was full of the Spirit. After Elder Ransley baptized Lily she waited on the stairs so that she could see Ryan baptized and after he was baptized they hugged. Talk about awesome. The Spirit was so strong, baptizing families is amazing!! We had a good showing of support from the ward and a lot of the young couples have really stepped up to be their friends. Eryun and Cloud came. My 4 favorite Asians all together for a baptism...I was exceedingly happy. I will have to send you that picture soon. I forgot my camera cord or you would be getting it now. It is one I will always cherish.
Eryun is doing really well. He came to Ryan and Lily's baptism. He wants to be baptized and when he found out that if he is baptized that if he is worthy when his wife comes to America he could baptize her I don't think he could have smiled bigger. We met with him and Brother McIntosh from the Williamston ward at the MSU library last week and talked about the 10 commandments. Eryun prayed at the close for help in keeping the commandments, it was a beautiful prayer.
Cloud is doing great! He came to support Ryan and Lily as they were baptized this Saturday. Also while waiting for the baptism he explained to Eryun about Baptism and confirmation and showed him the font and described what it felt like. He is such a wonderful teacher and fellow-shipper. I know that the university ward will take good care of him but it is still hard to leave the ward. We talked to him about going and doing baptisms for the dead with the ward on January 7th and after church yesterday he went by himself and talked to the bishop about getting a temple recommend!!! He is fantastic and strong and his testimony is amazing. He talks to his family often and they completely support him joining the church! It is great to see that our recent converts are self sufficient, the are converted to the gospel and not Sister Bogar or I, they don't need us anymore, yes they love us around but they also have friends and know that they can do things themselves. It is great. Also some of our Asian converts have been getting letters from members of the 70 and I guess that the church is really interested in them! How exciting!
Mary is a new investigator we picked up this week. We met her door knocking with Sister Thackeray and when we came back on Friday she had an entire spread of food, hot cinnamon rolls and crackers, cookies, chips and salsa...and much more!!! She is in her late 20's and works as an EMT. Mary grew up Christian but was very interested to learn more about what we believe. We taught her the restoration and at the end she asked if she could come to church. She said that she will be off work for Christmas Sunday and will come. We are super excited to be teaching her, her prayer was also beautiful thanking God for sending sisters with the truth and friendship.
I have been super tired this week. Sister Thackeray came to stay with us while she was waiting for her trainee and I slept on the floor. No one should start training exhausted so I let her have my bed. Yesterday was rough I was all kinds of emotional, just feeling drained then some people said some very unkind things to us about missing some meetings that we tried to go to. We were told it was at 11 and it was not and we were not made aware and we got chastised for not coming. I had to leave Williamston ward because I couldn't stop crying. Needless to say I am SO TIRED. Don't worry I am taking this week off from exchanges which means that I get to be in my area the entire week! I am super excited since this is the last time I can say that. I will be in Caro next week then I am going to Kalamazoo, then Portland then Owosso and then I will be going home. Weird to have it planned out until the end.
I cannot believe that there is less than a week until Christmas. How quickly time passes.
I got to see Elder Clawson and Sister Scheffer before they left. It was so weird to see them and to not be going away with them. It feels right though. There is not a single doubt in my mind, I am needed here one more transfer. We had a good week this week. We got a car, it is shiny and new and smells new car esk.
Thank you all for your prayers and your letters. I got my big card from the Ward yesterday. It is awesome and I have no clue once again to do with a card that big. But I am grateful for all the support from the ward. It is such a joy to get letters in the mail. I don't think that joy will ever go away.
I love you all. Have a Merry Christmas. Family I will talk to you Sunday night.
Merry Christmas.
Mahal ko po kayo,
Ingat,
Sister Rebecca Jensen
Monday, December 12, 2011
The Sweet and Tender Mercies of the Lord
Dear Family,
We had the most amazing baptism this past Saturday. It was his birthday on Wednesday and Rachel and Roy, the fellowshippers we invited to our lesson with him, made him a cake and wrote a card for him, it was just great to see that support. We called Cloud on Friday to make sure that everything was okay and he said he was preparing, when we asked what he said that it was his testimony. He is amazing!!! After Cloud, Shutian and Zhong were baptized and welcomed into the ward Cloud hopped up and shared his testimony. He started really sad talking about how he came to America to study but was so lonely; how he would walk the streets alone and just feel empty and homesick. Then one day he was walking alone on campus and "an angel stopped me and shared a message with me, she lead me to my new family and my new home." He looked right at me and said thank you. I could not stop smiling. I remember being out contacting with Sister Thackeray and stopping Cloud, he was alone and looking at the leaves changing color. It is amazing to think of the small things that we do, and how big of a difference they make for others. It was the most beautiful testimony. After the baptism a lot of the other missionaries and even President and Sister Hess came to talk with me about finding Cloud and teaching him, his knowledge of the Gospel is quite impressive, but honestly I didn't do anything. It was all the Lord; I was just an instrument in His hand. Cloud was prepared; I just had the blessing of opening my mouth.
Ryan and Lilly are doing so well. They have been planning out their baptism and are so excited for it. They came to the baptism on Saturday and after the service Lilly leaned over and said happily "that will be us next week." It was a tender moment. The ward loves them and is sad to see them leave to quickly after they are baptized. Bishop Rivers said that he would help us in contacting their new ward over in Virginia so that this transition goes as smoothly as possible.
Eryun is also doing great. He came to church this week in a suit. We extended a baptismal invitation last week and he was hesitating because of his family, but now that Cloud and Ryan and Lilly are all taking that step he has been talking about it. Not if he will be baptized but when. That makes us happy. He is coming to Ryan and Lilly's Baptism, he was really nervous about Cloud's saying it was like a rehearsal for his own baptism and he was not ready for that, but on Sunday he asked if he could come to their baptism. Oh course YES!
I was on exchanges in Owosso this past week with Sister Thackeray. It was quite fun to be serving with her again. She had a lot of questions about training and about how I do/did things. It was quite flattering to have her ask me all of these questions. To be honest the answers were really simple, be obedient, pray often and pray specifically, speak openly and honestly with your companion and others and be happy. That is the key to successful missionary work. After I got back Sister Bogar and I felt some tension. I didn't want to address it since we were both feeling ill...but on Saturday we talked it out. Turns out this mission has drastically changed since I got here. The rules have gotten a lot stricter and the way they do things has changed. Turns out my leaders actually listened as I talked. The other sisters call me the "White Handbook Nazi" or Mary Poppins, I thought it was just a funny joke but they don't like it. I never understood why, I am just trying to help the work go forward. Sister Scheffer was here before I came and has been able to see the change and she talked about that with my companion. We decided that we are okay that it has changed because it has changed for the better. It hurt a little that the others sisters talk about me, and I don't understand why it would be a bad thing to be so obedient and to help the mission become better. I am serving because I love the Lord and that is all that matters. All of my companionship's have been happy and successful and I think that is what matters.
We had the Williamston ward Christmas party on Saturday night. It was amazing. The decorations were between wedding reception-meets-Santa. The food was buffet and those always scare me but the program was great. We asked Sister Schlosher if she needed help and she said that she needed help with the curtains and moving things on and off the stage. I didn't do stage crew for nothing. I was able to do the curtains and help move stuff on and off stage and everything went without a hitch. It was great to be able to useful.
I will be staying in the MSU 3 Lansing Stake Sisters Area with Sister Bogar for my last transfer. All of the sisters are staying the 2 new ones that are coming out, one will go with Sister Thackeray to replace Sister Scheffer and the other with be a triad with the Mt Pleasant Sisters. Good times I tell you. Also President asked me to add Western Michigan University Sisters to my list of exchanges. That one will be a 36 hour exchange since we are going with the Assistants when they exchange with the Zone Leaders in the area. Both Elder Ransley and Elder DeHart are staying as Assistants again, Elder Ransley has been an Assistant now for the past 7 months...yup.........
Thank you for all of the letters it sounds like everyone is doing well. I hope that you all enjoy the holiday season. This is the season beloved of the year, sing a rhyme Christmas time soon will be here. I love this season, we get to be so open about talk Christ with so many people. I wish that everyone was so open about Christ all year round.
I love you all very much.
Mahal ko po kayo,
Ingat,
Sister Becca Jensen
We had the most amazing baptism this past Saturday. It was his birthday on Wednesday and Rachel and Roy, the fellowshippers we invited to our lesson with him, made him a cake and wrote a card for him, it was just great to see that support. We called Cloud on Friday to make sure that everything was okay and he said he was preparing, when we asked what he said that it was his testimony. He is amazing!!! After Cloud, Shutian and Zhong were baptized and welcomed into the ward Cloud hopped up and shared his testimony. He started really sad talking about how he came to America to study but was so lonely; how he would walk the streets alone and just feel empty and homesick. Then one day he was walking alone on campus and "an angel stopped me and shared a message with me, she lead me to my new family and my new home." He looked right at me and said thank you. I could not stop smiling. I remember being out contacting with Sister Thackeray and stopping Cloud, he was alone and looking at the leaves changing color. It is amazing to think of the small things that we do, and how big of a difference they make for others. It was the most beautiful testimony. After the baptism a lot of the other missionaries and even President and Sister Hess came to talk with me about finding Cloud and teaching him, his knowledge of the Gospel is quite impressive, but honestly I didn't do anything. It was all the Lord; I was just an instrument in His hand. Cloud was prepared; I just had the blessing of opening my mouth.
Ryan and Lilly are doing so well. They have been planning out their baptism and are so excited for it. They came to the baptism on Saturday and after the service Lilly leaned over and said happily "that will be us next week." It was a tender moment. The ward loves them and is sad to see them leave to quickly after they are baptized. Bishop Rivers said that he would help us in contacting their new ward over in Virginia so that this transition goes as smoothly as possible.
Eryun is also doing great. He came to church this week in a suit. We extended a baptismal invitation last week and he was hesitating because of his family, but now that Cloud and Ryan and Lilly are all taking that step he has been talking about it. Not if he will be baptized but when. That makes us happy. He is coming to Ryan and Lilly's Baptism, he was really nervous about Cloud's saying it was like a rehearsal for his own baptism and he was not ready for that, but on Sunday he asked if he could come to their baptism. Oh course YES!
I was on exchanges in Owosso this past week with Sister Thackeray. It was quite fun to be serving with her again. She had a lot of questions about training and about how I do/did things. It was quite flattering to have her ask me all of these questions. To be honest the answers were really simple, be obedient, pray often and pray specifically, speak openly and honestly with your companion and others and be happy. That is the key to successful missionary work. After I got back Sister Bogar and I felt some tension. I didn't want to address it since we were both feeling ill...but on Saturday we talked it out. Turns out this mission has drastically changed since I got here. The rules have gotten a lot stricter and the way they do things has changed. Turns out my leaders actually listened as I talked. The other sisters call me the "White Handbook Nazi" or Mary Poppins, I thought it was just a funny joke but they don't like it. I never understood why, I am just trying to help the work go forward. Sister Scheffer was here before I came and has been able to see the change and she talked about that with my companion. We decided that we are okay that it has changed because it has changed for the better. It hurt a little that the others sisters talk about me, and I don't understand why it would be a bad thing to be so obedient and to help the mission become better. I am serving because I love the Lord and that is all that matters. All of my companionship's have been happy and successful and I think that is what matters.
We had the Williamston ward Christmas party on Saturday night. It was amazing. The decorations were between wedding reception-meets-Santa. The food was buffet and those always scare me but the program was great. We asked Sister Schlosher if she needed help and she said that she needed help with the curtains and moving things on and off the stage. I didn't do stage crew for nothing. I was able to do the curtains and help move stuff on and off stage and everything went without a hitch. It was great to be able to useful.
I will be staying in the MSU 3 Lansing Stake Sisters Area with Sister Bogar for my last transfer. All of the sisters are staying the 2 new ones that are coming out, one will go with Sister Thackeray to replace Sister Scheffer and the other with be a triad with the Mt Pleasant Sisters. Good times I tell you. Also President asked me to add Western Michigan University Sisters to my list of exchanges. That one will be a 36 hour exchange since we are going with the Assistants when they exchange with the Zone Leaders in the area. Both Elder Ransley and Elder DeHart are staying as Assistants again, Elder Ransley has been an Assistant now for the past 7 months...yup.........
Thank you for all of the letters it sounds like everyone is doing well. I hope that you all enjoy the holiday season. This is the season beloved of the year, sing a rhyme Christmas time soon will be here. I love this season, we get to be so open about talk Christ with so many people. I wish that everyone was so open about Christ all year round.
I love you all very much.
Mahal ko po kayo,
Ingat,
Sister Becca Jensen
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Change of Address
For those of you who want to send Sister Jensen a Christmas note or package, both the mission home address and Sister Jensen's apartment address have changed in the last few weeks.
Please send your letters, packages, goodies, and love to the following addresses.
Apartment address:
Sister Rebecca Jensen
Apt. 4912 South Hagadorn #205
East Lansing, MI 48823
Mission home address:
Michigan Lansing Mission
1400 Abbott Road, Suite 330
East Lansing, MI 48823
Monday, December 5, 2011
A Lighthouse and a Car Ride from Caro
Dearest Family,
I am glad to hear that everyone is okay even with all of the wind and craziness that has been going on in Northern Utah.
What a week it has been. It feels like more than that since I last wrote. I did exchanges in Caro last Monday-Wednesday morning. Oh Monday we had the Sisters P-day we went to a lighthouse and then we came back and we made ginger bread houses and decorated the mission home. I got to put the garland up on the banister, what was way too much fun. Then everyone else watched Muppet Christmas Carol...it just made me too homesick so my companionship went and helped Elder Ransley and Elder DeHart put the lights up on the roof. It was a lot better than getting trunky.
I drove back to Caro on Monday night after the Sisters p-day, we dropped off the Mt Pleasant sisters so it took us 3 hours to get there. Talk about a long drive! While there we did a lot more driving. It is the thumb of Michigan and there are a lot of unique people there. The work was difficult but we were still able to pick up a new investigator and 3 return appointments. When we got in the car after finding Sister Froisland turned to me and said that she has never in her life had such a good day finding and we did all of that in an hour. What a blessing it is to be able to come to these sisters areas and work with them and strengthen them. Every single area I have been to we have found great success while working there. It is a miracle that I can go and give them a spiritual boost and some advice of how to become better. I love it! It is amazing what love can come for these sisters as we pray for them. I have been amazed at the love that has come from kneeling many times a day and pleading for each sister to feel the spirit and work together in unity and love. The Caro apartment was not up to Sister Jensen clean and with the extreme snow warning and really bad tires we came in at 7:30 and I was able to Pinesol until the floors sparkled and vacuumed until the room felt clean. It was great to go to bed and just sigh feeling quite accomplished. The Assistants were going to come pick us up and with all the snow they were not sure if they were going to be able to come. They called on Tuesday night and said Snow or Shine we are coming to get you. It was fantastic. We also got permission to drive the shortest and safest way home which was surprisingly through Flint. That was an amazing car ride with all the fresh snow outside and all of the fields it was beautiful. Also it was great because I didn't freak out being driven on the really snowy icy roads, I didn't even have to reach for the Tums! Happiness.
Sister Bogar is doing well. She is absolutely amazing, a hard worker, and willing to learn and grow and take on so much responsibility while I am gone on exchanges. I am so blessed to have Sister Bogar as a companion. I love her so much!!!!
Danny met with us after two weeks of being out of town and doing group work. When we met with him we knew something was up because he was pacing out front of the institute. We came in and he sat down and looked straight ahead and told us that he no longer wants to meet with us he just wants to study the Bible alone. He had such a strong testimony before he went to visit his family in San Fransisco we think that he was Antied while there. We tried to help him feel the Spirit to recall that testimony that he once had but he would not let it in. It was heart breaking to see. We have been blessed to see him on the bus every day since that happened, the ward is also stepping up to call him and see how he is doing. It was his birthday yesterday so a perfect opportunity to call and say hello. We are not giving up on him yet.
Cloud is absolutely amazing. We met with him twice last week. We taught him about tithing and fasting and also about the Law of Chastity. It was great to hear him come up with examples from what he has seen, "they are so stupid" he would say over and over again. His simple and pure faith is amazing. What a blessing it is to be able to teach him. He will be baptized this Saturday at 10am and we are all so excited!
Ryan and Lilly are set for baptism on December 17. They told us at the ward Christmas party that they want to be baptized before the move. It was a tender mercy to have them come together as a couple and pray about this decision. There is a power in teaching couples like Ryan and Lilly, it has taught me so much about how a real companionship should work. You can feel the love they have for each other and the Lord just by standing around them, it is in their smile and the way the look at each other. I love it! It is an honor to be learning so much from them while we try and teach them the Gospel. They were able to come to all of Church and all of the Stake Christmas activity and the broadcast and they loved all of it. They were also able to give Eryun another investigator of ours a ride to and from the activity. What a beautiful couple.
Eryun is doing well. He came to the activity yesterday night in a suit!! He said that he noticed that he was different than the other men while in pants and a jacket. He is also emulating the men in the ward, his prayers have become more specific. He is always smiling when we talk with him and teach him. We invited him to be baptized and he is praying about January 7th. He said that he needs to talk to his wife in China before he can accept. He is reading a lot from the Book of Mormon and says that he doesn't understand it all but he likes how he feels and the story it tells. He was also able to come to church and the activity last night.
Branjal and Pratibha are doing well. Pratibha has read in the Book of Mormon up to Mosiah and she radiates while she talks about it. Branjal has been quite busy and has not had a chance to read much of it, so our appointments lately we have been spending in the Book of Mormon. We talked about baptism and the importance of Church. We had planned on inviting them to be baptized but Pratibha was quite nauseated (she is also pregnant) and kept running in and out of the room so we kept our visit short and didn't want them to make that big decision while feeling that way.
The Lansing ward is amazing, they have been so great to fellowship our investigators and to help them feel loved and at home. We are still struggling to work with the Williamston ward, it is quite difficult for us to go finding in their boundaries because of the distance and the time that is involved. Also we tried to go finding in Nob Hill and were asked to leave. We are still trying to work hard and find people to teach in that ward. We talked to Bishop Rawson and he is still trying to work with us and his members to help us find people to teach in his ward boundaries.
The Christmas Devotional was fantastic last night. We had 3 investigators there so it was even better!! I love our Prophet and his counselors they are so full of the Spirit and wisdom.
This week looks good. I will be doing 2 exchanges, tonight until Wednesday morning in Owosso with Sister Thackerary and then on Friday with Sister Topchiyska. Please pray they go well.
I think that is about it.
If anyone is wondering what to give me for Christmas here it is: I want handwritten letters with details about their lives. I just want to know how everyone is doing.
That is all.
I love you all so much. Thank you for all of your prayers and support, it does make a difference.
Ingat,
Mahal ko po kayo.
Sister Rebecca Jensen
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Sisters Preparation Day Monday
Dear Family,
Well if you are going to write to me this week I will be able to read it next Thursday. We have a sisters p-day with Sister Hess on Monday and afterwards I will be doing exchanges with the Caro sisters out in the thumb of Michigan so I will not be able to e-mail like normal on Monday. Sorry about that.
Thanksgiving was interesting. I really do not like eating food that I am not familiar with or that I don't know what the ingredients are and we had a lot of that. We had 3 back to back appointments. The first one knew that I couldn't have milk and their food was the creamiest! It was insane. Also when we showed up to their house they handed us a duster and a vacuum and told us to get to work so the house would be ready for their guests. I guess when they talked to the Elders about having us over cleaning was involved and we just missed the memo.
We were able to meet with Ryan and Lilly. They came with us to the Lambert's for Thanksgiving. Well, they met us there but it was amazing. The Brother Lambert is a chef so the food was good. Better than that we were able to have a lesson with them before dinner. Being a recently married couple with a new child they had their wedding certificate on the wall and pictures and Ryan and Lilly just stared at the pictures and oogled and their baby. We talked about Eternal marriage and just about everyone was in tears by the end, it was amazing. Ryan and Lilly just have a marriage certificate from the Government they never had a ceremony so when he heard about temple marriage he told Lilly that he would make it up to her, that he would take her to the temple to be married a year after they are baptized. It was sweet. Also his thankful at dinner was Lilly, he said that life was bland without her and now that she was with him life had color again. Talk about adorable. We extended a bapt date for them but since they are moving to Virgina at the end of December they are hesitant to be baptized before they leave.
Our third and final dinner appointment was with Brother and Sister Abenroth they are great. She studied Exercise Science at BYU with a music minor. She also plays the violin. It was awesome how much we had in common. Her dinner I have to say was my favorite. Plain and simple. At the other houses I at a lot of veggies because the rest of everything had cream sauces. There are blessings for that since I got to have 3 dinners and I wasn't sick or exceedingly full at the end like Sister Bogar, she was quite full. It was a little comical. This last dinner we had with Elder Coon and Elder Collins. It was my first dinner appointment with them and it was nice to get to know them better.
We did service this morning, we helped this kid with his Eagle Scout project, we laid bark chips down on a path in a park. It was interesting since one of the wheel barrows was terrible the tires were both flat and that made pushing it through mud just a pain. It also means that my arms are quite tired now.
I was able to go on exchanges with Sister Keys this Tuesday. It was a lot of fun. We were able to help her with some quality finding we got 8 return appointments. It was sweet. We were at the library and the Assistants came to finish a college application and to do some facebook lessons and we were able to talk with them. It was nice to finally get on the same page again. Often when they need to tell us something they just tell Sister Keys and sometimes we get it and sometimes we don't, it can be frustrating at times.
My companion and I are doing well. We had an interesting dinner appointment in Holt yesterday night. We got there and we took our shoes off to be polite-I wish I had not- they have a million birds all over and the floor was not the cleanest. Also the feet of my nylons have a lot of holes and so I was just standing on bird droppings. We got home and I went straight to the sink and washed them a million times with soap. We were able to have a lovely dinner and lesson and to keep our cool while we were with them but...wow...I commit here to live a simple life. I love cleanliness!!!
I get to make counsel calls to the rest of the sisters in the Lansing District now. Exciting right. Now I have no time to write in my journal or get ready for bed and finish updating the area book and fill out all the awesome paperwork that comes along with everything. With more responsibility comes more recording. Actually I am quite grateful that I get to call them and see how they are doing. I did train half of them so it is nice to be able to check up on them. Lately they have been correcting themselves and when they do that they giggle and say "Whose your trainer?" It is kind of funny. Also on the phone they have taken to saying "goodnight Mom." I realize that we aren't supposed to do things like that but it is really sweet and I don't know how exactly you correct that.
I hope that you had a wonderful time going to get a Christmas tree. It is almost 60 degrees here. I am in a light jacket and loving it!!! I hope that the weather is as nice there as it is here. I am also hoping that we don't get too much snow before I leave. Missionary work gets harder when it gets colder. People just don't want to stop when they are freezing.
Cloud is awesome and came to the Thanksgiving party. He helped Roy with his talent for the talent show. Roy was riding his unicycle and Cloud threw a candy and Roy caught it in his mouth as he rode past. After Roy caught it Cloud fist pumped. I don't think I could have smiled bigger. It was great to see him fellowshipped and accepted and having a great time! Also he has started to tell everyone that he is going to be baptized December 10th. It is really exciting to see him to happy.
Eryun is praying!!! He came to 4 hours of church last week and he called this morning to tell us that he can't make it tomorrow because he has a meeting at 1pm. We told him that he could come at 9am and he is going to come!! His desire to be good is so sincere it is just amazing. I love being able to teach these people who want to learn about God so much.
We still go out and find quite a bit, this week campus has been a ghost town. Li-an investigator that we passed to Sister Keys- he didn't understand that all of the cafeterias were going to close so he called us on Thursday freaking out because he had no food. It was quite amusing. We were able to give him some of our food, enough to get him through a few days. It is weird how everyone left, it went from thousands upon thousands of people to just a handful. I can't even imagine what Christmas break is going to be like.
Well I think that is about it for the week. I am still just plugging away. Well actually more like running to the finish line!!! Hurrah!
Mahal ko po kayo!
Ingat,
Sister Rebecca Jensen
Well if you are going to write to me this week I will be able to read it next Thursday. We have a sisters p-day with Sister Hess on Monday and afterwards I will be doing exchanges with the Caro sisters out in the thumb of Michigan so I will not be able to e-mail like normal on Monday. Sorry about that.
Thanksgiving was interesting. I really do not like eating food that I am not familiar with or that I don't know what the ingredients are and we had a lot of that. We had 3 back to back appointments. The first one knew that I couldn't have milk and their food was the creamiest! It was insane. Also when we showed up to their house they handed us a duster and a vacuum and told us to get to work so the house would be ready for their guests. I guess when they talked to the Elders about having us over cleaning was involved and we just missed the memo.
We were able to meet with Ryan and Lilly. They came with us to the Lambert's for Thanksgiving. Well, they met us there but it was amazing. The Brother Lambert is a chef so the food was good. Better than that we were able to have a lesson with them before dinner. Being a recently married couple with a new child they had their wedding certificate on the wall and pictures and Ryan and Lilly just stared at the pictures and oogled and their baby. We talked about Eternal marriage and just about everyone was in tears by the end, it was amazing. Ryan and Lilly just have a marriage certificate from the Government they never had a ceremony so when he heard about temple marriage he told Lilly that he would make it up to her, that he would take her to the temple to be married a year after they are baptized. It was sweet. Also his thankful at dinner was Lilly, he said that life was bland without her and now that she was with him life had color again. Talk about adorable. We extended a bapt date for them but since they are moving to Virgina at the end of December they are hesitant to be baptized before they leave.
Our third and final dinner appointment was with Brother and Sister Abenroth they are great. She studied Exercise Science at BYU with a music minor. She also plays the violin. It was awesome how much we had in common. Her dinner I have to say was my favorite. Plain and simple. At the other houses I at a lot of veggies because the rest of everything had cream sauces. There are blessings for that since I got to have 3 dinners and I wasn't sick or exceedingly full at the end like Sister Bogar, she was quite full. It was a little comical. This last dinner we had with Elder Coon and Elder Collins. It was my first dinner appointment with them and it was nice to get to know them better.
We did service this morning, we helped this kid with his Eagle Scout project, we laid bark chips down on a path in a park. It was interesting since one of the wheel barrows was terrible the tires were both flat and that made pushing it through mud just a pain. It also means that my arms are quite tired now.
I was able to go on exchanges with Sister Keys this Tuesday. It was a lot of fun. We were able to help her with some quality finding we got 8 return appointments. It was sweet. We were at the library and the Assistants came to finish a college application and to do some facebook lessons and we were able to talk with them. It was nice to finally get on the same page again. Often when they need to tell us something they just tell Sister Keys and sometimes we get it and sometimes we don't, it can be frustrating at times.
My companion and I are doing well. We had an interesting dinner appointment in Holt yesterday night. We got there and we took our shoes off to be polite-I wish I had not- they have a million birds all over and the floor was not the cleanest. Also the feet of my nylons have a lot of holes and so I was just standing on bird droppings. We got home and I went straight to the sink and washed them a million times with soap. We were able to have a lovely dinner and lesson and to keep our cool while we were with them but...wow...I commit here to live a simple life. I love cleanliness!!!
I get to make counsel calls to the rest of the sisters in the Lansing District now. Exciting right. Now I have no time to write in my journal or get ready for bed and finish updating the area book and fill out all the awesome paperwork that comes along with everything. With more responsibility comes more recording. Actually I am quite grateful that I get to call them and see how they are doing. I did train half of them so it is nice to be able to check up on them. Lately they have been correcting themselves and when they do that they giggle and say "Whose your trainer?" It is kind of funny. Also on the phone they have taken to saying "goodnight Mom." I realize that we aren't supposed to do things like that but it is really sweet and I don't know how exactly you correct that.
I hope that you had a wonderful time going to get a Christmas tree. It is almost 60 degrees here. I am in a light jacket and loving it!!! I hope that the weather is as nice there as it is here. I am also hoping that we don't get too much snow before I leave. Missionary work gets harder when it gets colder. People just don't want to stop when they are freezing.
Cloud is awesome and came to the Thanksgiving party. He helped Roy with his talent for the talent show. Roy was riding his unicycle and Cloud threw a candy and Roy caught it in his mouth as he rode past. After Roy caught it Cloud fist pumped. I don't think I could have smiled bigger. It was great to see him fellowshipped and accepted and having a great time! Also he has started to tell everyone that he is going to be baptized December 10th. It is really exciting to see him to happy.
Eryun is praying!!! He came to 4 hours of church last week and he called this morning to tell us that he can't make it tomorrow because he has a meeting at 1pm. We told him that he could come at 9am and he is going to come!! His desire to be good is so sincere it is just amazing. I love being able to teach these people who want to learn about God so much.
We still go out and find quite a bit, this week campus has been a ghost town. Li-an investigator that we passed to Sister Keys- he didn't understand that all of the cafeterias were going to close so he called us on Thursday freaking out because he had no food. It was quite amusing. We were able to give him some of our food, enough to get him through a few days. It is weird how everyone left, it went from thousands upon thousands of people to just a handful. I can't even imagine what Christmas break is going to be like.
Well I think that is about it for the week. I am still just plugging away. Well actually more like running to the finish line!!! Hurrah!
Mahal ko po kayo!
Ingat,
Sister Rebecca Jensen
Monday, November 21, 2011
How did it get to be Thanksgiving already?!? I feel like I got to Michigan yesterday, not 7 months ago!?!?
Dear Family,
What a week it has been. We were able to listen to Elder Nash speak twice. First it was with investigators and the university ward. It was amazing. When he shook my hand he paused and thanked me for my strong spirit. Sister Bogar was asked to speak at Zone Conference and afterwards he came and talked to us. He said that he could tell I was a great trainer because of how well Sister Bogar did. I don't know how true that is but I was flattered. We brought Eryun and Cloud to hear him speak on Thursday. Have I mentioned lately how much I LOVE ASIANS!!!!! Cloud is amazing. He was able to come to hear Elder Nash speak on Thursday. After the meeting was over Elder Nash came and shook his hand and said to him "you are needed here." Cloud loved that, he also stared at the picture of the Salt Lake Temple and asked how he can go inside someday. He is so excited for December 10th so that he can be baptized. Also have I mentioned that Cloud has the most amazing Asian hair I have ever seen. Weird statement, yes, but it is true. While we were talking to him about keeping the Sabbath day holy he said "Our bodies are like temples and so when we rest them it is like repairing our temples and that makes God happy." He is such a wonderful blessing and I learn so much from him each week.
Danny came and watched the Joseph Smith the Prophet of the Restoration movie on Friday. At the end of it he took a deep breath and said that was good. He will be in California this week for Thanksgiving but is excited to meet with us again next week. We are still working on baptism and consistent scripture study.
John Sanders is a less active. He has been struggling lately because of a different church that he has been attending. John has been asking to meet with all 3 sets of missionaries and quite enjoys the attention. Sister Bogar met with him on Friday and we were able to help him with the language in his prayers making them more respectful. I have been surprised how many people and members of our wards use "you" instead of thee, thine, and thou. We are trying to help support him while still maintaining the fact that he should not get too attached to missionary support, we cannot always be right there for him.
Gaurav Arora is a new investigator for us Elder Powell and Elder Hill transitioned him to us last week since he is recently married. We met with him and his wife this week and talked over our purpose in helping them grow closer together as a family and to God. He is a very spiritual man and we were able to talk about prayer and baptism. His wife Lilly actually brought up baptism. They are in the middle of a move to Chicago so we will only be able to see them on weekends when they come up to spend time with Lilly's son John who just turned 6. They also have the cutest little puppy, he is a pure bred golden lab puppy named Cesar. You can't get better than that.
Ryan and Lilly are golden. Lilly was able to go see a doctor and she is feeling a lot more calm and not getting sick as often. Yay for Doctors and yay for starting families. In our lesson we were asking how Lilly was doing and the concerned look on Ryan’s face was just priceless. He truly loves her SO MUCH you can just feel it when you are around them. Also she shyly admitted that she gets the weirdest cravings for these Chinese dishes the exotic ones and that Ryan has been all around Lansing looking for ingredients. How sweet is that. They were able to come to part of the Joseph Smith movie and were so sad that they had missed some and asked if we had a copy that they would borrow. We gave it to them yesterday and they said that they would watch it. They came to Church and Ryan even wore a suit and tie!! They love church and the feeling that is always there.
Eryun is so trusting, we taught him about the Restoration this past week and he was so excited to learn that we have a prophet on the earth today. He light up and exclaimed that is exciting! He also came to hear Elder Nash speak and loved it. He commented about how quickly the time past while he was listening to Elder Nash. Also he came to Church really early yesterday so we took him with us to the Williamston Sunday School and then to all 3 hours of the Lansing ward and he loved every minute and is excited to come back next week.
I did exchanges with the Portland Sisters this week. It was quite an adventure. Let’s just say that I learned a lot and there is a lot that we are praying for help addressing. But now that we are aware of what is going on we can help. Information is the key to revelation. It will come, plus after talking to the elders about it we are all working on a game plan. I get to go on exchanges this Tuesday with Sister Keys. I am so happy, I haven’t been able to work an entire day with just Sister Keys in almost 2 months. Insanity.
On the way home from Zone Conference Elder Ransley and Elder DeHart let us stop by and see the Chubb family. It was just about the happiest thing ever. I love that couple so much. What made it even more special is that they light up when we walked in their apartment. I got a big long hug from Sister Chubb and then I just got to sit by her chair and listen to her talk. It is odd how connected we get to those that we serve.
Well I think that is about it for this week. We have 3 dinners scheduled for Thanksgiving so I won't be missing out on much. I cannot believe how quickly time is passing. I keep remembering President HoChing's encouragement "When you see the finish line you don't stop but you run even faster." I feel like that is what I am doing. The time is far spent but there is still so much to be done. We do keep a busy schedule but because of that we were able to hit standards this week. It has taken me 3 weeks in every area that I have opened to hit them. Here is the key to success and happiness OBEDIENCE and heartfelt sincere prayer. With the Lord on our side we can all things. What a beautiful promise.
I love you all. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
ingat,
Sister Rebecca Jensen
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