Monday, February 29, 2016

Happy Leap Day!


I'm so blessed to have this extra day to serve my mission;) 

We had a really good week this last week! I'm trying to think of some highlights here.. On Tuesday we went on exchanges with the zone leaders. I was with Elder Lindahl! It was a lot of fun! We were able to teach a few lessons and I was able to learn a lot from him! 

This week we just hit the street when we could! We always take quite a blow to our finding time when we are both in Zhunan for 2 whole days, but it is all good! 

On Thursday night we went to visit a less active sister that lives right by us. We went over to her hair cut and make up place to meet with her and she introduced us to her apprentice maybe.. I don't know what you'd call her! She is friends with the ladies daughter and works there with her! We taught them a lesson and then on Sunday the woman and her daughter and her daughters friend all came to church! That was a huge success! This sister is really cool and still has a strong testimony and wants to come to church she just has gotten busy and let coming slip from her priorities a little bit! She's really nice and also offered to teach Elder Welch and I how to do make up and stuff after our missions.. She said we could also model for her.. So there is one career option;) 

Hmm.. Sunny is still doing well! We didn't see her on Tuesday or Wednesday because of the exchange but other than that we still see her everyday.. She really likes to feed us! She feeds us everyday I think.. And tries to feed us multiple meals a lot of days.. It is kinda crazy! We are trying to limit it, but it is super nice! She is still just reading and praying every day and working towards her baptism! She says that she just has some stuff she needs to do first, I have asked her what and she said she needs to go down with a friend to visit a friend and stuff like that.. I'm not sure what that means but she will get there soon:) 

Sunday was probably the best Sunday of my mission.. Maybe! We finally got multiple people to church! We had Sunny and then two 14 year old boys that we met on the street! They set baptismal dates and then came to church! I'm really excited for the two of them! Then we had a man on Saturday night from this man we met on the street like a month ago from India and he said he wanted to come to church as well! And then there was the less actives worker/friend! It was a weekend full of wonderful miracles!! I was so grateful for that! I've felt like we have been working hard every week and in the end we haven't been able to see any results on Sunday! I am learning a lot about patience though! We just have to hang in there and work hard and rely on the Lord and it will all work out as it should! 

Also last night the Zhou family fed us and Sunny! It was really good as always and an american family was there as well! The dad teaches here at a college and they have been living here for a long time but they are from Idaho! That is always fun! 

This morning we went to a CPR training/hike thing with the ward and it was a lot of fun! The guy teaching was super super funny! And He gave me the Heimlich.. Scared me to death, even though he didn't really pull;) It has been great to start getting to know the ward a lot better! They are all a lot of fun and they have lots of fun little kids!  

I love you all! I hope that you have a wonderful week! I am so grateful for the opportunity to be here serving among these people. I just wanted to share another little thing that I have been learning. The spirit uses really small methods to communicate with us! I have realized on my mission sometimes I'll have just small feelings of comfort or small thoughts, but those are the spirit helping me and those we are working with! I know that has been a big part of the meeting with Sunny! I think she can feel it when she is around us! She likes to see how happy we are and be around that kind of energy! It is such a small thing. . Put it is powerful! Don't disregard the little simple things:) Be safe! Much love! 

Elder Jensen!

All of us with Sunny and Jason!

This is why you always where your helmet.. I don't know if you can tell but it is super smashed up! Just kidding.. It blew off my bike and got run over while I was gone! That was too bad.. But I have a new one now! 

Found a field and fort at the top of a mountain while proselyting! That never happens!











This is what most days look like.. We chased this guy down and pulled him over! Turned out he wants to learn the gospel and we are meeting him tonight!

Grassfield morning activity!





Monday, February 22, 2016

Short week!

The temple on Wednesday was really really good! It just so happened that some missionaries from the Taizhong mission were at the temple at the same time! That was pretty cool! Saw some people I knew in the MTC and an Elder I went to school with. Elder Osborne. 

Sunny also came to the temple! She is doing well! We have still seen her every single day! She had a baptismal interview yesterday but decided she's not quite ready yet. She wants to talk to a friend about it on Tuesday! We are still helping her develop her faith and stuff! It is a little confusing because she has accepted all of the lessons no problem and believed them all.. But then you ask her if she believes and she isn't willing to quite just say she believes she says half and half or something! She hasn't been moved to action by the message yet! But she does read and pray everyday so we are going to be helping her see her answer and I'm excited for her to be baptized in the upcoming weeks!! 

Also we met with an investigator named Juice on Saturday and he is absolutely amazing! He sat down and started asking us super sincere questions before we had even had a chance to have an opening prayer! He just really wants to learn! We were able to answer his questions and teach him the restoration! He is really excited to read the Book of Mormon and he is going to keep meeting as well! He met missionaries a few years ago but then had to go do his military service and never saw them again! I'm really looking forward to seeing him continue to progress and learn as well! 

In other news, Jason from our ward is finally home! He wasn't supposed to come home until next week but after the bombing in Turkey where he was going to be for the next week and a half he decided to come home early!! It was super great to see him! He brought home an entire suit case of chocolate from europe and very generously shared with all of us! He is an awesome awesome guy! So great to have him back:) 

That is about it for this last few days! Time continues to go by super fast! 

We saw a few times this week the Lord putting the people that would be willing to listen and meet right in our path. It is always such a blessing! We learned a little bit more about growing through adversity yesterday! So I am going to testify of it again;) I have really seen myself grow the most as there have been hard times or trials on my mission! 

Sometimes out on the road I am still surprised that I'm out here as a missionary! Time just goes really fast.. I always thought I'd get to a point where I felt old and capable of being big, but I still feel like a little kid;) It is weird.. We talk to high school kids on the street sometimes and I feel like they are all way older than me! But I'm still learning and growing! It is great!! Love you all! Have a great week! Be safe!! Remember Heavenly Father loves you and is mindful of you! 

Love, Elder Jensen

Amazing lady.. Jason and his suitcase!


I forgot to mention this lady! We ran into her last night and she jumped up and got super excited and we were like "Holy cow this lady is perfect" Well it turned out we were right.. She went to church with her friend also in the picture who is in one of the other wards. She said that she met him on facebook after she started looking for God. Then he invited her to church and she told us church was awesome and she could barely stop herself from crying! She was super super prepared and already set up to meet with the missionaries in her area and everything! Us running into her just helped her solidify her growing testimony I think. People here call it fate or God's arrangement! Sounds better in Chinese.. But it was great! 


Funny.. I'm not sure if this is real or some missionary did it when making the card, but it made me laugh!


Wednesday, February 17, 2016

The New Year Celebrations are Over

Last week was a really great week! We spent all week going to families homes and eating wonderful meals and getting to know the members in our ward! 

It has been a long time since last week happened though so I will do my best to remember some things that happened! 

I woke up at 3 AM this morning to email before going to the temple so that is pretty crazy! 

Hmm so last week we had a really good week! Even though people were all celebrating all week we were able to have lots of lessons with people on the street and we were able to get a couple of people to set up to continue meeting with us! 

We did get to see Sunny every single day last week though so that was awesome! She fed us a couple of meals too! They were all really good! She also came to church again on Sunday! She reads and prays every day! All is going well! She still isn't sure about being baptized though.. She does it all but it feels like the real intent/understanding is still missing a little bit. She said she is going to talk to a friend she has about being baptized this week. Hopefully that goes well. I told her to talk to God about it as well! She is even coming down to do a temple tour in Taipei while we are there today! She is awesome! 

I got a package from Tianmu from Amber that was baptized right after I left! It was the nicest thing ever! Had a lot of little snacks and a really really nice note! She told me that it was hard the day of her baptism without me there but that it was all going well! She also said that when we asked for her number the night we met her she almost gave us the wrong one! I am so glad that she didn't.. It was a really great day getting that. Really helped me to appreciate this awesome chance to be here and help people! Cool to see a little bit of the results of that! 

I'm having a rough time remembering a lot other than eating so I will tell you about that.. Every meal we would go to a house and they would have rice and either lots of different plates with things like fish and vegetables and meat or they would have hot pot and we would cook our own meat and vegetables. We ate a lot of really good food and we got really really full every meal! It was also super nice not to have to decide what to eat everyday! That is always a really difficult decision.. 

All is going really good here! We have seen a ton of people really willing to meet again and to set baptismal dates this Monday and Tuesday! Things are picking up and things are going back to normal after the holiday and I'm excited! 

In church we learned about how adversity is for our good and it helps us learn and grow! I really enjoyed that lesson! If you have that kind of attitude I think adversity can be kind of enjoyable! Despite the pain and uncertainty and stuff, if you just keep looking for how to learn and improve from it it can be fun! And I would like to bear my testimony that I know that this is true! I have definitely seen myself grow the most as I have faced things that have been difficult and forced me to stretch! So no matter what you are facing, hang on, have a good attitude, and try to learn and grow! It will all work out in the end! 

Love you all! Happy Valentines day last week! Have a wonderful week!

Love Elder Jensen!

Random lady that wanted a picture and Ambers awesome package!


A nice sunset and field!


"Do me a favor"
We cut Jerry's hair.. I messed it up a little bit there on the side! I felt bad.. But it turned out looking pretty okay! Maybe.. Haha





Monday, February 8, 2016

Happy New Year!!!

Yesterday was New Years Eve and today is the Chinese New Year! It is much more celebrated than Christmas or New Years! I'll tell you a bit about it later on! 

This last week was a fairly normal week! We had a really hard time getting people to set up because of the upcoming Chinese New Year. I'm excited for it to be over.. People have been telling us since Christmas that they are busy until after the Chinese New year so we should have a ton of people to meet with once it is all over! But this week is going to be a really great week as well! Everyone is always working or at school here and this week almost everyone is off! Hopefully that results in some big miracles!

On Monday we went to a trampoline park for our preparation day!! It was so much fun! It had been a long time since I got to do anything like that! Waking up on Tuesday was rough though.. We were super super sore! But it was all good! We also ran every morning this week! So we were pretty sore..

Hmm.. almost every night Sunny calls us and tells us that she has bought us something and we should come pick it up! It is pretty nice because we get to try some tasty food we don't normally eat and we get to talk to her about the gospel! She set a baptismal date for the 27th of February and we are really excited for her! We are still working on getting her committed to reading the Book of Mormon and Praying so that she can get an answer that baptism is Heavenly Fathers will for her! But she's doing well! She's home alone all week during the Chinese New year so we are going to try to get her involved with some of the members in the ward. She'll also be feeding us a few times this week so we will get to see a lot of her! It's really good because we don't have many others that want to see us right now. 

We have been visiting some less actives this last week and we have had some success finding them and also finding some new people to teach around or in their homes. On Saturday night we went to the home of a less active and a really nice man answered the door and let us in and we were able to sit down with his wife and his daughter and him. They all spoke pretty good english and we found out that he is the head cheer leading coach of the Taiwan National team that won the World Championship in Florida last year! His wife also coaches cheer leading! They were really nice and listened really intently to our message! Really hope that we can meet with them again soon! 

Yesterday we also had a miracle! A man came walking down the road as we were knocking some houses before dinner. I started talking to him and came to find out that he met with missionaries 10 years ago when he was in high school. He was super super nice and he was super willing to set up with us next week when he gets back from Shanghai. His name is Juice so that is pretty sweet!

So church was only one hour for the New year and then Last night a family fed us at their home. It was the same family that fed us on Christmas. We ate steak spaghetti and a lot of really good fruit and a delicious pumpkin soup and it was awesome! Brother Zhou's older brother was also there and we got to find out their whole conversion story! It was really awesome! So he met missionaries while in college and was baptized then he introduced his younger brother (the one in our ward) to the church and then he met a girl at school and introduced her to the church as well. He went on a mission and then came back and married that girl. His brother went on a mission as well and then came back and married another return missionary that was baptized about the same time as him. In like 2008 after years and years their mother was baptized and then in 2011 she passed away and their father that had been pretty stubborn and mocked them was baptized. Because that one man was baptized already their whole family of like 12 kids and all the people that he and his brother baptized have all come into the church! Pretty awesome story! 

We have people set up to feed us lunch and dinner every single day this week.. We just came from lunch with Brother Huang and his wife in our bishopric. It is going to be a crazy week! I'm really excited to get to know the ward better! We are putting a big focus on working better with the ward so it will be great! 

I know that this message is true! I know that it can bring us the greatest peace and happiness available in this life. I'm grateful for the opportunity to be here sharing that! Keep thinking of friends and family that can be helped from this message! I know it is scary, but all they can say yes or no and if they say yes it will change their life and the lives of their family members forever! So it is worth it!! 

One last thing! The earthquake! We live on the 12 floor in our apartment building and I woke up one morning and our building was swaying back and forth! It was a bit of a larger sway than the earthquakes in the past but still not too bad! All was fine and I think I fell asleep again as it was stopping!

Hope that you all have a wonderful week! I love and miss you all! Stay safe! Don't forget to do the simple things! Read your scriptures! Pray! Trust the Lord! 

Love Elder Jensen! 



Nice lady we met on the street taking care of the plants she is growing in old bathtubs all down the side of that road! We helped her put some wood over one of them so that the weather wouldn't be quite as big of a problem! 

I forgot to say this in the main email, but I learned this afternoon that a few weeks ago I ate fish ovary. They poured alcohol on it and then lit it on fire and then fed it to us with some radish! It was a pretty weird flavor! I had no idea what it was when we ate it but it was okay! Just wanted to let someone know before I forgot! 


Monday, February 1, 2016

A Sunny Week

This title is funny.. We have an investigator named Sunny and it was a really sunny warm day yesterday for church finally;) Sunny is the one from last week that came to FHE with her daughter and husband. 

This week was a pretty good week! On Tuesday we got to watch the Worldwide missionary broadcast and it was really good! I learned a lot. One thing I liked was that it is our job to bring the spirit unto peoples hearts and they have to decide whether to let it in or not. It is really hard when you feel like you are feeling the spirit and they don't seem to be very interested or care.. But it is their choice! So I'm trying to get good at bringing the spirit and giving them a good opportunity to let it in! 

After that we went on exchanges with the zone leaders in Zhunan! That was fun! I was with Elder Marks again! It had been about 3 months since I had served with him and I realized that I have changed a lot. It was a lot of fun to get to be his companion again for a day though! We had a few people just walk up to us and ask where our church was cause they wanted to go check it out! That was pretty interesting cause it never happens and it happened twice that afternoon! 

The rest of the week was pretty normal.. We had a hard time finding people willing listen to us this week. Last week we had like 15 lessons with people on the street and this week we had about 5! But it was still a pretty good week! We were able to find new investigators through some referrals and things! 

Sunny our investigator fed us twice this past week and she also came to Church!!! We finally had investigators come to church! That was awesome! So it was a sunny week! We asked her about being baptized and she wouldn't give an answer yet. It made her nervous! So we are praying this week that she will be able to get an answer! She is really nice! At church our ward was making a list of people to feed us everyday during the Chinese New year and they announced that they were missing lunch four days in a row and no one in the ward said anything and then she raised her hand and said "I'll do all 4 of them" Hahaha It was awesome!! Someone in the ward grabbed one, but she still ended up with 3.. I feel bad for her but she is super awesome! 

One other miracle we saw this week was with Wendy the 9 year old girl. We went to check if she was home and her dad said that she wasn't, but we had set up the Primary president again for in a few minutes. We weren't sure if we should just not go or if we should try talking to the dad. We went with the primary president and decided to talk to the dad. He let us and and let us start sharing with him a bit about the church and the good we know it will do his daughter. He was really open and then all of the sudden we heard a voice upstairs and it was Wendy! Apparently she hadn't left yet! So we got to sing with her and share a small lesson and then we talked to her dad about coming to church and he said that he could probably take her! Wendy came back into the room and we told her she could come tomorrow and she said she already had plans and couldn't come.. That was frustrating.. She is pretty stubborn sometimes;) But It is a miracle that her dad's heart is being softened and she should be able to come to church soon so I am excited!! 

I hope that you all have a great week this week! Whatever you are going through have patience, rely on the Lord, work hard and I know it will all work out! I love you all! 

Elder Jensen

Turns out I didn't take many pictures this week.. Wrote my first note in Chinese!