Monday, March 27, 2017

Moving

Well this week was good! It is always hard to remember what happened after a move.. 

I left Songshan and am now serving in Taoyuan in the first ward. I really loved Songshan a lot and will miss all of my friends there, but I'm excited to be here in Taoyuan!

This email may be a bit shorter! On Wednesday I got the notification I'd be moving and then we taught a few lessons and then that night we taught English class and then after class one of my Students was baptized! It was really sweet and she asked me to baptize her! Also June the woman we found hiking was there and I was really glad she got to see a baptism! It was hard to say goodbye to her! Her and her family are so cool! And then that night I went home and packed.. One of the district leaders didn't call and say he was home so we called him until 1 in the morning and they wouldn't answer so we ran over to there house to make  sure they were okay.. It was a late night! But a memory I'll never forget! And they were completely fine!

Thursday I got on a train with all of my luggage and came on down to Taoyuan. I've heard my entire mission that this is the promised land and that it is just incredible! Well it's true! This place is amazing and I'm so excited to get to serve here! The members are so good to us and so anxious to help us! We also have a ginormous beautiful chapel that we can take people on tours in! It is going to be a great time here:) Also my companion is the Olsen's from my home wards nephew! He is a genius!

Yesterday and today I was reading through the talk of King Benjamin in the beginning of Mosiah! I've been trying to find a way to help the ward here and I had a pretty strong feeling to make some kind of activity having to do with making our homes like a temple and safe place where all inside can feel the spirit.. There are several families here who have a father or some kids that aren't members yet! Our homes can be places where you feel the spirit and can come closer to God. I think that a home that is like a temple can even help those that aren't members have big changes and desire to come to church! But I haven't been able to think of a good way to express what I'm thinking or how to go about doing it yet.. Any ideas? We have some cool stickers that say "home can be a heaven on earth" I'm sure those will help! 

I would like to encourage everyone to think about what you can do to make your home more like a temple or more like heaven! We cleaned our house this morning and it felt awesome! But in addition to cleaning our homes we need to be clean ourselves! And diligent to searching the scriptures and keeping the commandments like the people of King Benjamin and then we will start to experience the change of heart that they did and our desire to do evil will start to diminish! I love you all! Choose something you can do to let your home become more like heaven! 

Love Elder Jensen!

Pictures: 
1. Goodbye to the Songshan district
2.I promised my companion I'd feed him Texas roadhouse if we met our goal for last week! We did it! Texas Roadhouse was pretty tasty!
3.Taoyuan! Some members and the sisters in our ward. The Taiwanese one is Sister Huang and she was baptized in May of 2015 just a couple of weeks before I started my mission and now she's out here serving with us! Pretty sweet! 


-- 
~簡長老 







Monday, March 20, 2017

A great week!

Well this last week was pretty great! Our bishop took us hiking this morning! It was a lot of fun! We saw the trail we hiked a year and a half ago for the outdoor zone conference at the beginning of my mission! It brought back a ton of great memories! I love my mission in Taiwan!!

Monday we went to a old street in Shen Keng and ate some really delicious stinky tofu as well as ice cream wrapped with cilantro and a tortilla type thing! I never knew there was so much wonderful food that I hadn't tried yet;) 

Then that night an investigator Elder Seamons that had disappeared called us crying and said maybe he needs a belief. We went and met with him right then and he was anxious to continue meeting with us! Then he got busy and didn't come to the appointment we set with him later in the week but I think that he will show up again and he has a good shot at progressing! 

Also that night we had the chance to give a blessing to someone in our ward. I think that giving blessings is something that I've come to really appreciate! I think it is such an awesome opportunity to serve. After giving the blessing I felt peaceful and then I reflected on the first blessing I gave on my mission and how I had been scared and after was worried I had messed it up or something! the difference was pretty big! I'm grateful for all the things I've been able to learn to this point! 

Tuesday there was a great zone conference about experiencing repentance! I'm trying to experience each day:) 

The rest of the week was full of teaching lessons and going on splits with members of the ward so that my companion could take it easy.. He has a rash and the doctor told him to try not to walk or ride a bike, which is pretty much impossible! 

We have about 4 investigators that we send a scripture to everyday to help them get the habit of reading! It is really cool to see how all sorts of cool scriptures show up when you start looking for them! And it is nice to be able to do things to help them through out the week rather than wait until we meet and then try to help them and then wait another week! 

Saturday we were able to participate in the baptism of Brother Chen an 88 year old man who has been taught for like 8 months here! It was awesome! He was so happy that he could finally be baptized! 

I feel like I say pretty much the same thing every week.. But when it comes to be monday and I write I just can't help but being so grateful for my mission and all of the awesome experiences I've had and continue to have. I know that Heavenly Father loves me. I know that He loves you. 

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

Love, Elder Jensen

Pictures: 
1. Last Monday
2. The Baptism
3.Sister Trouble's house
4.Bishop's hike this morning
~簡長老 









Monday, March 13, 2017

Great week!

Wow this week was super good! Monday started off with a couple of miracles! The first is we had no idea what to do for preparation day and we were emailing and couldn't think of anything and then a member suddenly called us and asked if we had plans then said she wanted to take us to a "good idea"! I was relieved we had something to do! It was fun! She took us to ride a bus all over Taibei and just look at the city. It was a pretty relaxed!

Then that night we got to meet with the lady that we met while we were hiking like a month ago and her two sons!!! They are so so awesome!! I was shocked! We went to their house and it felt just like home there! The older son is my age and he is going to school and working super hard to help his mom! Their dad died a few years ago.. And he said his favorite thing is to see customers smile while he is working! What a guy! Later in the week we met with the mom and younger son a second time and set a baptismal date with them! They are super sweet! 

This week we also were really busy teaching lessons! This last week we were really blessed and we were able to organize a lot of lessons and now we have a pretty good pool of people that look like they will be willing to keep meeting with us! 

Also this Saturday we will be having a baptism! It is a 88 year old man who was taught last year and had some problems stopping him from being baptized but a few weeks ago he got the clear and now he will be baptized! Then next week one of my English students will be baptized by the Sisters! Super cool!!

I went on an exchange to Neihu this last week and it was awesome! I said a prayer before we went over that I'd be able to help them and then we got there and things just went awesome! In the first half hour we met a mom who said she would bring her whole family for a chapel tour!  Then from there my companion was able to get some confidence and he set up 3 people going forward throughout the day! We also had a really good talk about trials and learning and our attitudes! I learned a lot from him! And I also realized that over my mission I have learned a lot more than I realized! There is still so much I want to learn though! 

To close I want to share something that I heard in church yesterday! A sister was talking about her daughter and she said "a mission will not change you, but it will teach you how to change yourself" I hadn't ever thought about that but it is true. Before my mission I saw people go and come back and I was always so amazed with the change they'd had and I thought! Wow missions change people! But I was surprised when I got here and found it is just the same as normal life and you have to choose to make changes in yourself and work hard for them! But I think that what I've learned over the past couple of months is that it is better that way! We don't gain anything from having things magically change or magically work out. But we gain a ton from working hard to overcome challenges and make changes! The gospel is the same way.. It doesn't magically change us, but it does give us a way to change! When we determine to follow Christ and work to repent and become more like him our lives will change for the better:) I know that to be true! 

I love you all! Love Elder Jensen! 

Pics:
1. Bus Ride
2. Rui Cong 





Monday, March 6, 2017

Busy Week!

This last week was awesome!

We have really been working to improve the quality of our lessons by having studies more focused on our investigators and preparing better lessons. Well this week we taught some lessons that felt like people made some real progress and that felt great! 

We also went to a meeting with Elder Funk of the Asia area presidency and we learned a lot about teaching repentance and preparing ourselves to take the sacrament. So this week a made an extra effort to think about repentance daily and repent of things and then to sit reverently in sacrament and focus on the Savior and what He did for me! It was a really really great sacrament meeting! It really makes a difference! 

Also I went on splits with a young man in the ward who is a senior and getting ready to go on a mission! It was a lot of fun and then he shared a pretty funny testimony about it on Sunday.. I really enjoy working with the young men here. It is something we have started doing quite a bit the last couple of weeks and it is so cool to learn from them and see them bravely share the gospel with people! 

I'm grateful for repentance and the chance that it gives us not only to be forgiven for our sins but also to go from good to better and strengthen weaknesses! 

I love you all! Have a great week!

Love, Elder Jensen

Me and Lawrence on our split!