Great week!

This was another great week! Fairly normal! But we had lots of little miracles throughout the week! 

Hmm.. Last Monday it rained all day and we ate something called pidan. It is like green and brown egg and it is definitely pretty nasty! 

Then we went to work! We have been doing a lot of knocking and just trying to find the people that are really ready for this message. We are still having a hard time finding people that stick. It poured yesterday and none of our investigators came to church. We are getting close with the 9 year old Wendy! We will be bringing the primary president to her house this week and hopefully find a way that we will be able to bring her to church! 

This past week we also did a lot of biking! We had a less active bring an investigator to church last week and so we rode out to meet her! Turns out she is at college about 45 minutes away through like a forest and up a hill! It is super sweet though! I love how you ride and all of the sudden you're not in the city any more and there are trees and fields everywhere! It is beautiful! Also our meeting with her was one of the best I've ever seen! She was listening so intently and super excited to be baptized! Unfortunately she is returning home to China on Wednesday so we won't be able to baptize her but we are going to meet her again tomorrow and tell her all we can about finding the church in China and stuff! She is a really really cool lady! 

We also ran into a lot of people that had met the missionaries before on Saturday! They were all really nice and one of them seemed very willing to try coming back to church and hopefully also meeting with us again! 

Chinese New year is coming up in February and so we run into a ton of people that say they are busy until the end of Chinese New Year which is like March.. It is crazy! But it's all good! Also Taiwan was all voting on Saturday! Everyone has to go home to where they grew up so we met a lot of people that don't live here! It was fun! Everyone was pretty excited! 

This transfer has been going super super fast! It is nuts! 

Well I can't think of anything else that went on this last week! Lots of knocking lots of really nice people! 

As my study on Faith for January I have been learning a lot! I love what the bible dictionary says about faith! You all are welcome to check it out! 

Oh and one more story! Yesterday we went to dinner at a members house and we were also there for their family home evening! They had a lesson on the tree of life and holding to the rod. The fathers invitation at the end to his four elementary age kids was to be brave enough to pray before their meals at school to stand as a good example. All of us missionaries felt pretty bad because none of us prayed before meals at school out loud or even in our hearts. It was a pretty cool invitation! So what can each of us do to get a firmer grip on the iron rod? Maybe try praying at school over your lunch! It's up to you:) Hahah Love you all have a great week! 

Also congrats to everyone getting married.. That is crazy;) 

Love Elder Jensen! 

Our friend from China!

Exciting week!

On Tuesday we received some news of some changes in the mission that were kind of exciting I guess! In the past when we move we've gone to a meeting with everyone moving and met our new companion and gone back to the area together. From now on we will just receive a call and then go there. We are really focusing on being in our areas as much as possible because we are striving to teach repentance and baptize converts! That is the ultimate goal and we are trying to pick up the pace. 

That being said Elder Welch and I have really been trying to pick up the pace and have a sense of urgency in our work! I'm getting to the point in my mission were I am mostly comfortable being a missionary and am now trying to work on becoming a really good and effective one! 

Yesterday we were able to see a lot of really cool miracles. We were out knocking and trying to find the prepared and we knocked on a door and a 13 year old kid told us he'd be down in a second. As we were waiting his aunt came up from the parking lot and told us that she had become Christian not too long ago, she had to leave but set up to listen to a message from us this week. Then her nephew came down and had a lesson with us and set a baptismal date. Then at the end of his lesson a stranger came up from the road and asked if we were missionaries and told us that the road over had a kid that lived with his grandma and she was worried he isn't very well behaved and asked us to go teach him. She walked over to his house with us and we were able to schedule a time with his grandma that we'll be going back to see him. It was a crazy string of miracles and a huge blessing! 

Another great thing that happened this week is that we went to see a 9 year old girl we met 2 weeks ago and she ended up also setting a baptismal date and we were able to go back and continue to teach her every day after that. We did everything we could to get her to church and Sunday morning we went over and her grandpa told us that he was going to take her after they got breakfast and then they got into the car and drove off. They didn't end up showing up so there is still some work to do but this girl is amazing. As we teach her the lessons she understands it so clearly and often ends up explaining the principles back to us in a way that teaches us more about them. I'm really excited for her! She seems really mature for a 9 year old and it is kind of interesting because her family just lets us into the house and we teach her but the family doesn't really listen! Pray we can get her to church! 

This is her

​She is super blunt too.. She tells us how we have bad Chinese and she will teach us and then she talks really fast and we don't understand and she is like you didn't get that? And sighs and falls over or something and then tells us our brains are super slow;) It is great to find out what people are really thinking about our Chinese since everyone else tells us it is really good;) 

I guess that I should say that the language is going well! I have struggled to improve my speaking and vocab and stuff as I am working on learning how to read. Learning to read is hit and miss.. The characters still all look the same sometimes;) But it is coming! 

And.. Now to close I have been reading and studying faith this month! I am learning a lot! Miracles are all wrought according to faith! But I'm also learning that faith is a choice and you have to choose to act if you really believe. You have to work as hard as you can and despite challenges or set backs you have to choose to keep believing and having faith and working! And as we continue choosing faith we start to see the miracles! Some big and many small! I am working on letting my faith lead me to work harder and harder and be more believing. I know their are prepared people here in Xianshan we just have to keep looking and trusting we'll be led to them and them to us! 

I hope you all have a blessed and wonderful week! If you get a chance tell someone how this gospel has blessed your life this week! I know it will bless you and them:) 

Love Elder Jensen! 

P day... Super nice massage chairs. 

Some friends we met in McDonald's. 

The New Year is here!

Hmm.. This last week was a pretty normal one! Really fun though! And occasionally frustrating! I'll tell you about the frustrating part right here and then just share about the great week! We had about 6 or 7 people we were hoping would be to church and ended up with 0. We just can't seem to find any super solid investigators so we are still working on that! A big factor as well is that it was raining and if it rains most people don't want to go outside for church. 

Okay so this last week was really really fun! On Monday we went to the coast and it was really fun! Most of our zone was there and we played ultimate Frisbee with a rugby ball! It was a blast! The beach was nice! It is pretty nice to be able to just hop on a train for a few minutes and then walk over to it! No where in Taiwan is nearly as far from the ocean as we are in Utah;) 

That night we went to Samba's Pizza with Jason and it was fun! Jason leaves for Europe this week.. I'm sure going to miss him! He also fed us dinner at his house last night which I was super grateful for cause we don't have much food at home! I ate squid again and it was pretty good! 

Tuesday and Wednesday we went to Zhunan.. Once for District meeting and once for English class. It is kinda far away and takes up a large part of our day! English class was really fun though! 

Thursday we found a 9 year old girl that was super super nice and invited us into her house! We will be going back on Wednesday to meet with her again! Hopefully it goes well! We have been doing a lot of knocking here lately! Most people say no, but if you get let into their house our thinking is they'll be more solid investigators! It has been enjoyable! We've definitely had some interesting experiences! 

So Thursday night we went to dinner again with Jason at a restaurant called "Feed me" I had a pineapple hamburger so that was really good! Also they played Taylor Swift once or twice.. That brought back a lot of great memories driving around and not getting pulled over.. (I don't know if anyone saw Elder Jacksons email but he got me pretty good) That morning I also ate a sandwich on black bread with peanut butter and egg and bacon! So that day had some great food! 

Later that night as we were knocking we came across a group of college kids about to have a Barbecue for New Years Eve. There were 11 of them and we just asked them if we could pray with them and they were all for it. That was the biggest group of people I've ever taught at once! None of them turned out too interested but they were all really nice and it was an exciting way to close out 2015! 

2016 is here and with it I have gotten a bit of a boost of energy and excitement! I'm excited about setting goals and striving to improve and give more and more people a chance to learn the gospel! It is going to be a great year! We have been sharing about setting new years resolutions with some investigators and less actives and it is always exciting to see the goals they set as well! We have a brand new year to continue to learn, grow, develop our testimonies, and become more like our Heavenly Father! And more like the person He wants and knows we can be! I know that he will help us as we strive to do this! Also I think it would be a good idea to ask him what we can do to improve.. "What Lack I yet?" I guess! I want to close out with this awesome scripture for the new year! 3 Nephi 12:47! It is like a fresh start! I'm super excited for this upcoming year! Let's all go make the most we possibly can of it! 

Love and miss you all! Have a wonderful week! 

Love, Elder Jensen!

Headed to the Beach! And Holding a ton of money!

Some black bread and French toast we made!

This is our group of college kids!

Fun at the beach. 

Well Merry Christmas again! And a Happy New Year!

This last week went by pretty fast and it was full of some really good things! 

On Tuesday we went back to Shilin right by my old area for our mission Christmas conference! We had a really really good meal and some awesome talent shows! There are a ton of super talented people in this mission! Lots of people that are great at all sorts of instruments and singing so it was a lot of fun! I got to see all my friends from the MTC and catch up on how everyone is doing and I got to see Elder Matua again so it was great! 

Then on Wednesday I was on exchanges with Elder Diepeveen's trainee. That was my first time being with someone that has been on the island for less time than I have! It was a really good experience and I was able to learn a lot! 

Thursday we had a great time sharing Christmas cheer with everyone! Hardly anyone celebrates Christmas here it seemed like.. So it was great to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and try to share a message about Christ with them! That night we sang some Christmas songs in our house and read about the Birth of Christ! It was a great day!

Christmas we had a great day as well just sharing the joy of Christmas with everyone! It was a great day! Thank you to everyone who sent letters and things! It was great to hear how you and your families and everyone is doing! 

The next day I got to talk to the family and that was great!! Haha it is so good to see and talk to everyone! 

On both Christmas Eve and Christmas we went and ate stinky tofu so that we could tell the families of those that still hadn't eaten it! I think we all forgot when we were talking though! It was pretty good though I guess. It just leaves a pretty bad garlic aftertaste forever after you eat it! 

All week we just did a ton of finding! We are still working on getting some solid investigators that want to meet with us! Hopefully it picks up this week! It went okay this last week! We were able to find a few people willing to meet so I think things are looking up! 

I'm really enjoying serving with Elder Welch. He and I are both just working hard and trying to get better and it is going well! We set a goal to say a prayer every hour throughout the day to make sure we are doing what we should be and to be ready to receive any guidance we should need! We haven't been perfect at it for sure but it is going well and we are getting better at it! 

Last night a family fed us a super delicious dinner! It was wonderful! I always love when we get to go spend sometime with members and eat a dinner! I spent a lot of time talking with and playing with their two little kids! 

I hope that you all have a great week and a happy New Year! 

I'll just close quickly with a testimony that I know that this work is God's work. I know that he has plans for each of us and that as we trust Him and work our hardest we will see those plans unfolding in our lives! I have seen to this point how my mission has been perfect for me full of experiences to help me learn and grow! It is wonderful! Our Heavenly Father loves us! He listens to us and He gives us what we need to learn and become more like Him! 

I love and miss you all!! 

Love Elder Jensen!

The Street of Xiangshan and sunset! And Stinky Tofu!

Elder Welch, I, and our Philippino friend Michelle! She is a member and she's awesome! 

And Awesome nativity from uncle Eric.. Hard to see!

Christmas socks I bought. 

XiangShan

This week absolutely flew by! We had a great week! On Monday I went and hung out with Elder Dexter for his last preparation day while his companion and my companion worked on a nativity they are putting together! We had a fun time! 

Wednesday night was my last activity in Tianmu and it was a lot of fun! We had a bunch of people come out to English class and I got to say goodbye to them all! Amber was there as well as a few of the other people we found last week! They all were super good to me! I hope everything is going well for all of them! 

Thursday was transfer meeting and we sent home a bunch of super awesome missionaries. I am going to miss all of them. I got my new area and companion. I am in Xiangshan on the west coast of Taiwan. It took us like 2 hours to get here! A bit further away than Tianmu! My companion is Elder Welch! He's a great guy! He and I are getting along just great!

Not much else happened this week.. Sorry I'm still getting used to it here and don't have alot to tell you about it yet! But It looks like this is a wonderful place! It is quite different from my last area! There are fields and smaller buildings here! It is super cool! I think I'm going to really like it here! 

But Amber did get baptized in Tianmu!! I wasn't able to go, but I am so happy for her! It was awesome to be able to go from finding her to almost baptizing her! She is a great woman and I have loved watching as the gospel has changed her! 

Sorry that is about all I've got for the week! 

I hope that you all have a very Merry Christmas!! It's the most wonderful time of the year! I think I definitely took this time for granted before! Spending Christmas with the family is really such a special wonderful thing! And being able to be on a mission and sharing the love of Christ with others on Christmas is special too! Lots of people here don't celebrate Christmas! It is interesting! Remember that Christ is the greatest gift of all! And God gave him so that all of us could return to live with him! I invite all of you to think of a gift that you can give to the Savior for Christmas! If you are struggling with prayer or scripture study maybe recommit to do that for the Savior! I don't know! It's up to you! Help someone else feel of His great love this Christmas Season!! I love you all! Have a great week!! 

Love Elder Jensen!

Me and Reinaldo! His Daughter and Son in law run a store here in Xiangshan super excited to get to know them!

Ups and Downs

Being a missionary has it's ups and downs! This past week has probably included some of my highest highs and my lowest lows. Still overall a really wonderful week though! 

We had a pretty normal week! No one can find any time to meet with us so that has been a little hard. But it means we've had some more time to find and we have seen more miracles finding! I will tell you about the best one! 

We were out walking around in this neighborhood knocking on doors and we knocked one in the basement of the apartment building. You can see it through the door in to the apartment. She opened and we talked for a second and she wasn't interested. Then we knocked on the door next to hers and it flew open and this mother was like "hey come in!" We weren't able to go in because there were no men over 18 there but we stood in the door and talked and she told us how they'd wanted to come to our activities and stuff and just felt bad cause they hadn't been invited. It was like they had just been there waiting for us! She had an 8 year old daughter and 6 year old son. Named Queena and Ryder!! They were all super nice and wonderful! They said they don't have a religion and we prayed with them and taught them a bit and they are awesome! Super prepared! I hope things go well with them!! 

On Saturday we took Amber to a nativity at the mission home. The missionary choir also sang again after! I absolutely love all of that Christmas music! It is so good! So powerful! Amber really liked it! 

Right after that we went to the adult session of Stake Conference where we heard some great talks about remembering the Savior on the Sabbath and councils! Sister Jergensen gave a talk in Chinese! Super brave.. It was good! Randy D. Funk from the 70 spoke as well. His talk was nice because it was in English! And he said he's impressed with the full time missionaries here. 

The next day we went back for more conference and Amber came with us! She liked it! Our Stake split! That's the goal we've been working for since I got here and we got it! Tianmu is now part of the North Taibei stake. Our Bishop is the new stake president so we will be getting a brand new bishopric! 

Amber had her baptismal interview after and she passed! She's been the high of the week! She is so ready for the baptism and she sent a text this week saying thank you for showing her how great life can be with faith in Christ! Super awesome! She also asked me to baptize her! I was there when we found her and have been able to see the whole process up to now! 

The low is that last night Elder Matua got called to train and that means I will be moving on Thursday! I hope that somehow I can still be here for the baptism.. I'm going to talk to president! We will see! Also I absolutely love serving here in Tianmu! All of the people are amazing and I have absolutely loved serving with Elder Matua! I'm super sad we only got one transfer together and that I'm leaving! So that was all a bit devastating! 

But it is okay! I have seen to this point on my mission that the Lord definitely has a plan for me and that he will take care of me. So I trust that this is what is going to be best in the long run! 

I've been re reading some conference talks and have been hit pretty hard by two things! First our leaders are amazing! They truly are men inspired of God and you can feel of their faith and power as you read their words. And the second is that the enabling power of the atonement is amazing and real! In the scriptures people never pray for their circumstances to change or for things they pray for the strength to overcome and change their circumstances. The Lord through is Atonement is able to give us strength to do things we otherwise could not do. That is amazing! 

Have a great week! I love and miss you all! Christmas is coming! Wooohooo! Pretty warm today.. doesn't feel like Christmas;) It is weird! 

Love Elder Jensen! 

Some of my favorite pictures taken here! Love the temple in the back! Amber is in the white. 

I drew some Bamboo! 

And Thanks Mom! Merry Christmas!

Also ran into this kid this week and he asked if we could take a picture together!

Where has the time gone?

I know I have been saying it a lot lately but the time continues to go faster and faster. It is weird because I feel like I've been here for a lifetime.. But at the same time I'm hitting 6 months since leaving this week and it feels like it was just a couple of days ago! 

This week flew by! Monday we didn't know what to do for preparation day so we went up to the exercise park and played some basketball! We didn't have a ball so we started by playing with some 5 and 8 year old kids cause they were the only ones there! Then we moved on to some college kids! It was fun to play a little bit! 

Tuesday we had our Zone meeting and it was a Christmas white elephant party! I got a little wooden massager thing! Wooooh!! Hahaha it was a great meeting and we learned about being believing and having faith! It changed the course of the week for sure! I have always thought that I had faith and believed and stuff but after the training I realized I was saying a lot of doubtful or negative things. Just little stuff like "What if they don't show up" Or something.. But we realized that it was having a big impact on us and we decided to change and become more faithful and believing! I am still working on it! But we saw some miracles this week and I believe it was because we were believing that we would! 

The first miracle happened on Tuesday! Right after meeting with Mark we were walking away and this lady said "Hey, you're the mormon missionaries huh? Come here!" We went and sat down and she was a 45 year old Japanese lady with great english and an 18 year old friend that she had brought there to talk about love and God. She told us that she was baptized into our church 20 years ago and now is not a member.. But she respects us and pretty much just turned the time over to us to talk to her friend (Satomi) about God. Satomi doesn't speak english or chinese very well though, but it was okay because Coco the older one translated for us! We talked about why we are here and prayed with them and then they were both crying and Satomi said it had reminded her of her grandma that passed away last year. Then we told her about eternal families and she said a prayer in Japanese to close! It was a super awesome experience! Then I got a Japanese Book of Mormon a few months ago for a guy that never met with us again and so I asked if we could meet again and give it to her and they said yes! Coco made a little cake thing for my birthday and Satomi gave me and Elder Matua some delicious cookies. Unfortunately Satomi's parents were pretty opposed to meeting with us so we weren't able to share much of a lesson but we did give her the Book of Mormon and introduce it to her! Hopefully her parents will change their minds and we'll be able to figure something out! She is ready! 

Second miracle was Thursday night. Wednesday night we prayed about where to go and decided to go walk along a river. We'd never done that before! But we went for it! And almost right away we ran into a super prepared girl! She said she had work at 5:30 and we checked our watches and it was 5:30 and we were like shoot..  And she said "You guys can talk to me though." So we taught her a lesson and met with her again Saturday and she brought a friend with her and they both set baptismal dates! It was awesome! We found another new investigator there as well. And a lady from the Dominican Republic that asked us if we'd been smoking because we were walking kind of slow and then turned out to be really interested and asked us for our number! Hope she calls sometime! 

So it was a really good week as far as new investigators! 

Friday we went to dinner at that nice restaurant of the investigator Bonnie again and it was great! Friday was really really cold! I forgot to say last week it was getting cold! But it is weird cause some days are still hot and some are freezing! I didn't bring anything to stay warm because I was so worried about being too hot in the summer that I forgot! But our investigator Amber texted us last night and said she was worried about us and bought us both coats! It is really nice and should keep me warm! So many amazing people always looking out for us! 

Thank you for all of the Birthday wishes! I had a great birthday! We went and ate lunch with Aaron and the zone leaders and Isabella Aarons friend. It was a pretty good meal! Then we had lessons all afternoon and it was really busy and fun! 

Last night we went to a fireside at the mission home and the missionary choir did their Christmas program! It sounded really really good! I'm excited for this Christmas season!!! 

I hope that everyone has a great week! I know that the Lord is mindful of us and is always taking care of us! As we choose to believe He is able to do amazing things in our lives! This week I will be pondering Mormon 9:21! Love you all! Miss you all! 

Love Elder Jensen! 

This is the only picture I took this week.. Where we get our Hair cuts!

​Forgot to say Amber is doing really well and should be baptized on the 19th. Her interview will be next Sunday! And.. I will see if Elder Matua has something better! 

Here we go!  Drinking some winter melon tea from a bag. 

Eating with Aaron Thursday night. 

And Bonnie Friday night!