It happened!!!

An An was finally baptized yesterday!! It was a great experience! Haha I called them on Saturday night and the foster mom said she had to work and we should move it to next week.. Thus we began worrying it wouldn't work out. But we decided it was time to just do it! And so we got it all worked out so we'd just go pick them up and bring them to the baptism. Well then our ward mission leader called us and said he was at their work to pick the kids up but they weren't there and that their foster dad was going to take them:) They rolled in a minute later and it all went over really well!! She was so excited to be baptized! Her baptism has taught me a lot of patience and really to trust the Lord! 

This last week has been a really really good one! Our area has changed a lot from when we first got here.. We would go out tracting all day and we couldn't find anyone to teach and every day I prayed that we'd be able to find someone that would stick! Well over a period of 5 ish months more and more people have stuck until now we are teaching multiple people everyday and have brought a large amount of people to church! It has been a huge blessing to see it all happen! The Lord really is hastening his work and He really does answer our prayers! 

On Thursday night we got a call saying we could go up to Taibei in the morning to hear the first missionary in Taiwan 60 years ago speak. It was super super awesome! They had a lot of hard times at the beginning.. For 7 months their sunday meetings were just the 4 missionaries. Then things started happening and when he left they had about 100 people! He shared with us how much he loves this people and it was awesome.. He still has contact with some of the people he baptized then! It made me really appreciate how lucky we are now too, because they didn't even have the Book of Mormon when he was here! Also he said that the tradition of saying Good morning over the pulpit at church came from a Hawaiian Elder 60 years ago that wanted to say Aloha.. I thought that was pretty awesome! 

Hmm.. There are so many people here in this area that I love a lot! We had 7 investigators come attend the baptism yesterday and they all really liked it! Transfers are this week and I have no idea what will happen.. But We'll see! 

That is all I can think of from this week..

Oh wait there was conference this weekend and it was really good! President spoke in it and it was super awesome!! Oh and my bike computer got stolen for the 2nd time.. So I guess that is it for bike computers.. But I think I've biked around 1000 miles here maybe.. 

Have a great week everyone! I love you all! 

Love, Elder Jensen! 

Lots of Lehi!

Someone got married and gave us lots of cake and cookies. 

Baptism!!!!

A good one!

This was a great week!! 

So An An our investigator that was supposed to get baptized on Sunday had to be changed to next Sunday because of some activities going on around the ward and stake! But it is finally happening next Sunday and we are super excited for her!! Woohoo!! 

Also this week I went on exchanges with Elder Dorius the zone leader in Zhunan. It was pretty fun! He is a funny guy! People just go crazy around him for some reason! He called this older lady on the train pretty and she started joking with us about trying to trick girls by giving them compliments here.. And then we made it really clear that's not what we are doing here.. And then they were like best friends! Guess I need to step up my people skills;) Anyway I learned a lot from him and am excited to just keep at this great work! 

On Wednesday I met an Elder at English class that just got home from the Washington DC North mission.. He said that he knew Elder Zollinger so that was pretty cool!! Then yesterday I found out that the sister who just got home from Salt Lake in our ward served in Reno for 3 months right by Carson city where I grew up! So I thought that was pretty cool! 

Hmm.. Sunday was pretty awesome! We had some people we've been working with like since we got here come to church for the first time and it was super awesome! They really loved church! They share scriptures with us and testify of them and share how the scriptures have blessed their lives and it is so cool! There are so many people here so close to baptism and we're just trying to figure out how to make the last step! 

We also had a really powerful lesson with a less active member this week! We told him that there are 168 hours in a week (I hope that is right) And that God just asks that we give him 3 every Sunday to come and worship Him. Then we shared about the healing power of Christ and the Atonement. I know that the Atonement can heal and help each of us with every thing that needs helped or healed.. But it takes actions.. The people that Christ healed first went and found Him. As we seek Him he will heal us! I know He will:) I think we have to be patient though too.. In the scriptures most of the examples are almost instant.. But we also learn that things come step by step.. Sometimes healing can be a process of fighting for years and slowly step by step things are better. But it is so slow you don't even realize and then one day you hit the point where you suddenly recognize how far you have come! I don't know what it will be, but immediate or not I know that if you don't give up on Christ you can make it! He'll never give up on any of us:) It was a really good lesson! 

Also we went to a baptism at the ocean in Zhunan for a family of their investigators! It was a pretty interesting baptism! I was grateful for the experience and was able to learn a lot! Baptizing people in the ocean isn't as easy as you might think;) But it was really cool and everyone really enjoyed it! 

I hope that you all have a great week! Congrats to everyone wrapping up school and stuff this week! Man that is nuts! Time just flies.. I love and miss you all! 

Love, Elder Jensen!

Fun

This week was a pretty routine week! Not a lot of things happened! We went around trying to see all of the people that we are trying to get baptized! 

One highlight of the week was the Huang Family! We went and saw them on Monday, Thursday and some came to an activity with us on Saturday! They are all super awesome and we were able to set a baptismal date with six of them! They are pretty excited! We just need to share some lessons and get them all ready! 

Also Elder Diepeveen did five baptismal interviews for the Elders and Sisters down in Zhunan! They all passed! It's a family too! Super cool!! 

There was some crazy rain that came out of nowhere one day this week! That's always fun! 

We had an awesome meeting with our ward mission leader and our second counselor! It is so cool to see how badly the ward wants to help and wants to work with us! We are still just working on making it work;) It's going a lot better than when we first got here though! 

And the greatest thing is that An An will finally be baptized this coming Sunday!! We still have a few things to work out but it's going to happen:) I'm so glad she's finally going to make it! She's wanted to be baptized super bad for the last two months! 

Sorry I've been all over the place in this email and been super short! Next week is going to be more exciting I think;) 

But I'm absolutely loving it here! So many great experiences! 

And now for a little spiritual share.. I was thinking about how I can't think of any personal experiences to share with people when I share about how much the Book of Mormon means to me.. I know it has blessed me.. It is so important to me and it has helped me countless times, but I couldn't think of anything specific! Well then I remembered the journal I have has some stuff from before the mission and it had like 5 times where I wrote about the scriptures and how they'd helped me! Then I found another journal that had some from on the mission! I was so grateful that I'd written them down! And I just want to share my testimony of the power of the Book of Mormon! It is such a special book.. It has been the thing I've gone to in my life when I have questions, concerns, or everything is going great! It is there for everything and I love it!

I hope you all have a great week! I love you all!

 

Love, Elder Jensen!

Looks like we're on TV, but it's just a mirror! ​Forgot to mention that since it's gotten warmer I sweat way to much and people always ask me if I'm okay..;)

Ward activity! The girl in the light blue us one of our investigators in the Huang family!

Happy Mother's Day!

Got to skype this morning so not much to say today! I'll just write a quick little bit here! 

It was super great to see the family today! Sure love them! Hahaha it's tricky cause they pop up and you just have no idea what to say!;) It's just too good to see them! 

This week we had an awesome training up in Taoyuan from Elder Wang in the Asia area Presidency! I loved what we learned about teaching the investigators based on them and not teaching them too much and leaving them confused. Also learned a lot about asking good questions. Asking questions is super hard and I need all the help I can get;) Felt like the training really helped! We learned to think about what kind of answer we want as we come up with the question. And Also to ask things that will help them learn and reflect and things like that! 

This week Sister Wu brought 5 of her 7 kids to church so that was super awesome! It's so cool to see a family all come in together! We also had a few guys we have been working with come together! They are all friends so that was pretty cool too! It was a great week!

Also went to see An An and she said that her mom has given her permission to be baptized so that should be happening in the coming weeks! So glad that she can finally get baptized! She's wanted to do it since the first time we met with her back in the beginning of March! 

That was a super brief rundown but I hope you all enjoy it! It is so good to be here in Taiwan on a mission and I learn new things everyday! Challenges come and stuff but they pass as well! I've been working on developing a hope and faith that won't be phased when those challenges come. If I rely on Christ I know it will all be okay in the end so why worry about those small challenges and trials? And the good things that happen are so great and when they come you can't even remember trials or challenges anyway;) 

Have a great week everyone! I love you all! Don't forget to tell your Mom how much she means to you..:)

Mom you're the best I love you! Thank you for all you've done for me and all that you've taught me! 

Love, Elder Jensen!

This is the only picture I got this week! But it's a good one!

Some pictures from Elder Diepeveen. 

This little guy showed me how to ride his little board thing! It was the closest I've ever been to riding a segway which is my dream! 

The family. 

Family

It's been a great week! I'm really loving my time here in Xiangshan. This last week was pretty busy! We went to Taibei again because Elder Diepeveen had a meeting! I just road down with him and then road back with another Elder so I got to spend a lot of time on the train that day! 

Our ward activity "Bring your friends to church day" didn't work quite as well as we were hoping, but it still went pretty good! I think that the members really tried to invite people to church. They just weren't too successful. And that I can understand. Sometimes people just can't come to church. But it was still a super awesome Sunday! We had two of our friends from China come to church and also the mother of 7 kids and 2 of her daughters came! They had a really good time and want to come back next week and I think they also want to bring more of the kids! We are also hoping we can get their dad involved! They are a really prepared family! 

I have really been trying to emphasize finding families since the conference talk in priesthood session by Elder Eyring and it's been cool to start to see some families coming from it! I love to share with people that this gospel is especially for families! I know that it will bless them! Even if it's only one person it will bless their relationships with their families and I love it! I got to share my testimony in church yesterday and since Mother's Day is next Sunday I shared especially how this gospel has blessed me and our family through our Mom! I'm so grateful for her wonderful Christlike example that has helped shape me and our family! I know that as we build our families on the principles of the gospel they will be strengthened. That's not to say there aren't trials, but those just make us stronger too! I'm so grateful for the relationships that I have with all of my family members.. They're the best! 

We also took a trip out to a place I'd never been in our area on Friday and it turns out that it is full of extremely prepared people! It was a beautiful place and a beautiful day. One of the best parts of the day happened right after we'd had a lesson with a college student on the sidewalk. We were starting to head away to find some houses to knock when we noticed this lady on the sidewalk who looked kind of like she'd just been waiting for us! We waved and said hello and she came down to talk to us. She said she had lots of problems and concerns and we asked if we could pray for her. After the prayer she said that she could really feel the communication and already felt a lot better! She got pretty excited! She then accepted an invitation to be baptized! We also taught her how to pray and she felt even better after saying her own prayer! She is super cool! Unfortunately we haven't been able to get a hold of her and she didn't meet us to come to church like we had planned so we'll have to go find her again! But that's okay:) I just thought it was amazing to see how quickly and what a large impact something as simple as a small prayer asking for her welfare and help had on pretty much everything about her! 

And one more thing! A long time ago I sent home a picture of the awesome guy that Elder Welch chased down on the bike! Well he's disappeared for a long time now and then Elder Diepeveen called him last week and he answered and said that he has just been in the hospital and unable to talk to us! So he's back on track and we are meeting with him tonight! That made me super happy because he's a really really prepared guy! 

I wish you all a wonderful week! And a happy Labor day I think:) Take care! Remember who loves you! 

Love, Elder Jensen! 

Some messy pie and heart attack!

哈哈，照片上你們衣服都在發光，
真的受不了，真是太厲害了！！

(That was from the member in the front. It says that our clothes are "throwing off light, really can't stand it, just too awesome!)