Monday, July 25, 2016

Great week!

This last week was another great one! Lets see if I can share all the highlights with you!

Monday it rained and we ended up just staying inside and cleaning up a bit for our preparation day!

Tuesday we had our first district meeting here in Xindian and it was really good! After district meeting we met with this guy that a woman investigating the church in a different area really wanted to start meeting with us. She brought him down and while we met she kept sharing awesome testimonies about how happy the gospel had made her and how she had been pretty stressed and a little down but as she learned the gospel it had all changed. She was so excited! And talked about how she's getting baptized this upcoming weekend. Needless to say her friend was pretty interested and was willing to set a baptismal date with us after hearing all of her testimonies! It was a super awesome miracle!

Wednesday we taught english class! My companion and I have been assigned to teach the Childrens class and it was absolutely insane! Our class had 17 children in it! I have never seen so many kids;) The most is usually like 9 or 10! So.. It was fun! And really loud! 

After english class we met with an investigator that was investigating before we got here and he was super prepared! He told us he will be baptized after he can attend a baptismal program! So this weekend we will bring him to one and then he's set to be baptized next week! That was a big miracle!

Hmm.. Then the rest of our time this week was spent outside finding new investigators! It went pretty well! We saw some pretty interested people set up with us! And some less interested people who were willing to set up as well! So hopefully they can go somewhere! There are some really beautiful places in this area with tons of people.. So we just go walk along this nice river and talk to everyone down there and it is a great place for finding and pretty cool and nice! It's like a win, win, win;) 

In other news my companion and I sang in our ward choir yesterday and it was pretty fun! Then our ward split! I'm still not sure which ward we will be serving in but we are looking forward to working with a new ward! It is going to be a blast! Also someone brought a scale to our house and I weighed myself and I have lost quite a bit of weight since last time I saw when I was in the mtc! 

Now to share a little miracle! So a few weeks ago I read a talk in the Liahona about lost scriptures by Gene R. Cook! His scriptures were stolen and he began praying and fasting and then a few weeks later they were found! It was like the day after my bike was stolen.. I was pretty sure my bike was gone but I mustered all the faith I could and said "If it worked for him it can work for me" I then said many sincere prayers over the next few days asking God to help me find my bike somehow! Well I left and never found it.. Then yesterday I got a call from Elder Tan and his new companion and guess what they told me? They found my bike! I was super excited! And prayers really do have power! Our Father in Heaven is there watching over us and taking care of us! And even though I didn't absolutely need my bike found I prayed in faith that it would be and He was willing to answer that small prayer for me! 

I'm so grateful for this wonderful opportunity to be here in this beautiful country bringing people unto Christ! It is such a fulfilling work! I know that you can find joy in it there as well! Go the extra mile to help someone or share a simple testimony! It could go a long way:)

I love you all! Have a wonderful week!

Love, Elder Jensen!

Cool morning run up a mountain that we did!

Happy Birthday Mom and Koby!! I love you both!

Indonesian ladies that really wanted a picture with us!

Monday, July 18, 2016

Change

Well this last week a ton of happened and I'm going to do my best to remember.. But my time is a little short today! Elder Jackson sent me like 20 emails so it's his fault;) 

Monday we went out with Jerry and Sunny to a river and it was a super awesome trip! So fun to see a river and stuff again;) Reminded me of the canyons back home! I think Sunny put pictures on Facebook! 

Tuesday I went to my last District meeting in Zhunan! A few extra members from the zone also ended up attending! It went okay and then we went home and I don't remember what we did.. But that night as we were getting ready for bed the phone rang and it was the assistants! I answered and they asked me to white wash (Two missionaries move into a new area together) And to train a new missionary there! I didn't sleep the best that night, I was too excited;) 

Wednesday I found out that I'd be moving back to Taibei! Into the South stake in a ward called XinDian! And spent the day packing and then teaching english class! It was a fun day! Sad to say goodbye to the class though! And to everyone else in the area! 

Thursday morning I came up to Taibei where we had meetings and waited to find out who we'd be training! It was fun! Sunny helped take my luggage up! And my companion is Elder Mueller from Montana! I really like him! He's awesome! 

Okay I'll try to tell you everything that happened yesterday really fast! It was awesome! We met our ward and they are super cool! Then we went finding and I got to ride a unicycle and then we met someone who was walking home.. He had been walking since June 1st. He walked around the entire Island and he was super cool! Just a young college kid! Then on the way home for dinner some people outside drinking and barbecuing invited us to eat with them! They had some really good chicken and we also got to try chicken foot! My first time! It was great! Then we went to a hospital and gave someone who passed out running a marathon on Saturday and hadn't woken up yet a blessing! His family was really grateful! Then we met someone who said he wanted to be baptized in like 3 or 4 days.. We set a date with him for August! He was awesome! 

Sorry that is so short! I'll tell you more about this place next week:) I love it all so far! Great apartment and nice mountain behind our house that we ran this morning! Our apartment even has a Bidet;) Hahaha 

Okay! The Church is true! We've seen tons of miracles already here! I love you all! Have a great week! 

Love, Elder Jensen!





Monday, July 11, 2016

Short week!

Well lets see here!! This week was pretty short! Just Wednesday to today but a lot happened! After going to the Taibei and going to the temple then playing some fusball with President and his sons we took the bus to Toufen for our English class. It was the first time I've taken a real nap on my mission.. I was pretty tired from waking up at 3! Anyway it felt great! And then I really loved the English class that night! We had a lot of people there and it was a lot of fun! 

Then Thursday morning for exercise we ran from our house to the train station to pick up our bikes! Only to find that my bike was not there.. So we called this number of a place where they move bikes sometimes and the guy said we could go pick it up there.. It wasn't super clear if it was there but I ran over there only to find that it was not! Then ran back home! So that morning I got an unexpected hour plus run in..:) It was quite enjoyable.. I like running recently! And luckily a member left his bike in our apartment so I have just been riding that. It is a little small but it works until I can get another bike figured out! 

Hmm.. other than that there wasn't a ton that happened! We celebrated Sunny's birthday with her on the 7th by going to lunch and dinner with her! There was supposed to be a giant typhoon on Friday, but it didn't come near us.. It brought the most comfortable weather of the summer so far though:) There was a nice breezed and clouds and not a drop of rain! Pretty cool!! 

Another exciting thing is that our ward started a group on Line the social app everyone uses here to follow up with our investigators on their reading and praying! It is working really well so far! If you read and pray you put a smiley face on the page and you can also share about what you learned if you want! It motivates everyone to read and share and they are all edified and grow together! It is super cool:)

Also we used the ward to bring our investigators to church and saw a huge success in that everyone committed to come actually came! We had 5 committed and they all came! Super cool:) Using the ward really works! 

Hmm.. In other news transfers are this week and I am most likely going to be moving to a new area! I have been here for almost 7 months now:) It has gone super fast and I've really loved it! Any guesses where I'll be next? 

Also we have a 13 year old investigator that we found 2 weeks ago who is progressing quickly toward her baptism! She is super mature and talks like an adult and she does all of her homework and gets good grades;) Haha We gave her the pamphlet for the plan of salvation to read before our lesson and I called her to see if she'd read it and she told me of course! I do todays work today! No procrastinating with this girl! I'm pretty excited for her! 

And that being said I think that my little testimony spiritual share will be on something I've been thinking about a lot the last few weeks. Action. I feel like there are lots of things I want to do and I say that for a while and think about it for a while and then I don't do anything and I forget. When it comes to anything in our lives action is so important! There are lots of times where I want to improve something and I look at it and say well I don't know what to do to improve.. Well I've started to learn what I do isn't as important as that I do something:) Once there is a action you can evaluate and see if it helped and how you can improve it and keep getting better but you have to act:) I know that as we decide to act and then rely on the Savior He will help us! He will strengthen us! I've also really been trying to stop focusing on myself and what I need to do to improve and focus instead on what I can do to help other people! It seems to provide a bit more of a direction and a way to start acting and helping people and forgetting yourself makes me really happy! 

I love you all! Have a splendid week! Remember who you are! 

Love, Elder Jensen!

Huang family.. Saying goodbye! They have lost interest.. And Sunny's birthday lunch!


Tuesday, July 5, 2016

Heartbreak

This last week was full of some wonderful things and some heartbreak! Overall I think that it was a really great week!

On Monday we went to the beach and Aaron from Tianmu came too!! It was so good to see him again! I love that guy! There were also a ton of other people that came and we all played on the beach together and it was pretty fun! 

Tuesday in our district meeting I had everyone come outside and do the three man weave (a basketball drill) with me for a training I was doing on communication and unity. It was super fun to be able to use basketball to help teach. All of those years of basketball are finally paying off;) 

Tuesday I also went on probably my last exchange in Zhunan. It was a crazy awesome exchange. After district meeting we went outside to find an absolute downpour. We had a lesson in 20 minutes and neither of us had rain jackets. We just went out and got absolutely drenched! It was a ton of fun! And then the person didn't show up to their lesson and we saw a stream of small miracles and found 4 new investigators in that hour. We went to drink some fruit milk at this shop and the owners husband came up and told us his daughter had been to church then we met her and she was super cool. We were talking to her and we asked her if she'd seen the bible then something I've never seen before happened, she said "No, I don't have a bible.. All I have is a Book of Mormon" Hahaha my jaw dropped;) It was cool! She met some sister missionaries like 2 years ago and they gave her one! 

Then lets see.. Friday we biked forever.. We had to go from the top of our area through some mountains and hills over to the bottom and it was super hot! It was really really fun! Nice to see some places in our area that I've never seen before! 

Saturday we had the baptismal interviews scheduled for the Chen family. An older sister and her little brother.. They are the ones that we've been meeting with for forever and they've been doing super good. Well we showed up to do the interviews and their dad told us he won't let them be baptized cause they need to be more mature and have more time to think about it and we are forcing them.. I was so excited to see them baptized and when that happened my heart broke a little bit.. But It will all work out they are super awesome and their time will come! Hopefully sooner rather than later! There dad is really nice and really likes our church and it's teachings, which is super super rare, so it is weird that he still won't let them be baptized. Anyway that put me in a slump for a few days.. I started thinking about how many people I've seen that start to progress and have baptismal dates and are awesome and then they haven't made it.. I'm trying to figure out what is stopping all of them from making it and I don't really know! But I'm going to do everything I can to figure out! 

The thing that got me through the harder times of the week was a talk I read in the Liahona about Tenacity! I don't know why but just hearing the word makes me excited.. It carries so much power! So I'm learning to be tenacious and never give up on righteous goals. Especially the ultimate goal of returning to our Heavenly Father. But also all of the small goals along the way! I would recommend everyone read the talk cause it's way better than me explaining it.. But I just want to tell everyone, no matter what you encounter never give up! Be tenacious:) I love this work and I really appreciate the good times and the hard times.. It is all perfect.. Despite many painful moments. There is so much to learn from them and they make the good times just that much better! 

I hope that you all have a wonderful week! Today we get to go to the temple! Should be wonderful:) 

Oh and they completely changed the language program in our mission.. It is going to be really really cool! I'm pretty excited about it! It is now divided into a bunch of "I can" statements and as you can do those things you move on.. It's hard to explain but should help review a lot and learn a lot of new things!

I love you all! Happy fourth of July! 

Love, Elder Jensen

Beach and beautiful fields!