Exchanges

This week we went on 3 exchanges! It was a lot of fun! 

Monday we went and saw Sunny at Taibei 101! It was a lot of fun! She just came back from Hawaii! It was fun to hear about her trip there!

Then Monday night we started our exchange with the Neihu Elders! We had a really good time. Tuesday morning Elder Byers and I woke up early and went and ran the hike we did the monday before for our exercise time! It was a lot of fun! 

Then Tuesday night the Jilong Elders came over for our second exchange of the week. We had a lot of fun. Wednesday while we were out visiting members and finding along the way it started pouring rain and we got soaked! It was great:) It has been a really long time since we got absolutely drenched out working on the street so it was nice! 

Wednesday after our English class we started teaching a senior in high school who started coming to our class last week and it was super cool. He was really interested in the message we shared about the restoration and after he said a really really sincere prayer! Super cool! 

Friday we went on exchanges with the Assistants! It was a lot of fun! We got soaked there too! But I learned a lot! I was with Elder Hammond! He came out with me so it was fun to talk with him and catch up a bit too. 

Sunday we had a really enjoyable day of church!! I usually feel like church is pretty stressful because we invite people to come and often times they don't. But I felt that church on Sunday I was really at peace. We'd done all we could up to that point and then I just enjoyed the Sacrament and the talks. 

This last week I read a talk about the difference between doing everything we can and are supposed to because it is our duty as opposed to doing it because we want to. It is interesting.. Either way you do what is right and people are helped. But if we are just doing things because it is our duty we will be miserable and always looking for when we can finally do what we actually want. But if we decide serving the Lord is what we want to do and give him our will then we will find many moments of great peace and joy as we serve. Also the service we give will not only benefit others but we will grow from it as well. I thought that was really interesting! Attitude is important! I'm so grateful I can be here in Taiwan. 

I love you all! Have a good week! 

Love, Elder Jensen! 

I didn't get any pictures.. I'm sorry!

Hiking

Last Monday we didn't know what to do.. In the end we decided to go to a place we had hiked before and go up a different way where there are some ropes you have to climb up. We didn't know how to find it so as we were going up we asked a lady who was also hiking and what followed was an awesome miracle. She didn't know either but she decided to help us find it so we walked together and talked for a long time just getting to know her! Then when we got there we invited her to go up with us and she agreed! We had a really really great time and after we finished she took us to see where she goes to play badminton also on the mountain and while we were there we found out that one of our members also goes there. And then we went down and the woman we met, her name is June, agreed to letting us meet with her and her sons! It was such a sweet experience. The Lord is always placing people in our path. It is so cool to see that time and time again as we open our mouths with everyone. 

The rest of the week was pretty normal! We are still just really working to find more people to teach! I had a little cold this week too, so that was fun! Hopefully I'll be better soon! 

The sisters had an investigator pass her baptismal interview so they will have a baptism this upcoming Friday! We are super excited for them! 

Then on Sunday our Sacrament meeting was pretty interesting! The General relief society president Sister Burton, her husband, and Elder David F. Evans all came to our ward to attend church. The Burtons spoke about the Sabbath and Sacrament and what things do we do and gifts do we give on the Sabbath to show Heavenly Father and Jesus that we love and remember them! They were really great talks! Then Elder Evans spoke about families and how husbands and wives should support each other and be equal partners! He said that their 26th grandchild was born on Saturday and his wife would really like to be there with her but she came with him to support him in his calling and talked about how wonderful it is to always have the support of his wife.

My favorite part of the day though was in Priesthood someone asked how we can help our children carry on as faithful members of the church. Most of the members here are the first generation. And Elder Evans response was really awesome. He said you have to tell them how you really feel! A lot of times we go to church together and do the things we should do, but how often do we tell our families how we really feel about the gospel. How often do we use those opportunities while we are together to share with them our testimony. Then he shared 2 Nephi 25:26 and said this is literal and we need to do these things with our children! It was really cool! 

I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and that he died for all of us. I love all of you! Have a great week! 

Love, Elder Jensen

Pictures: 

The hike!

Brother Burton

Transfers

I stayed in Songshan for a fourth transfer! I'm excited to be here still! We had a great week!

On Monday we went the the mission office and played basketball! Played with Elder Facer! We haven't played since being in the MTC so that was pretty fun! 

Then Tuesday we went back to the mission office to have interviews with President Jergensen. Before our interviews he gave all of us a little training from Helaman 10 about Nephi. It was really inspired and powerful! I really appreciated it a lot! Then we had awesome interviews! My interview was only about 4 minutes long but it was really good. He pretty much just told me to apply the things from Helaman 10 and keep everything will go awesome! Also in Elder Zhuangs interview President told him that I wouldn't be moving so I knew a day early! 

The rest of the week flew by. We taught a few investigators with a lot of potential. But today I will just share the story of one. He is a former from a year ago and we met him a few weeks ago after calling through formers. He and his 8 year old daughter and wife all came to English class after that and then we set up to meet with them. The wife told us that she hoped we could help her husband stop drinking.. Their relationship is pretty bad. They live together but don't talk and take turns going out with their daughter. Well after Guo nian he wasn't feeling good so went to the doctor and decided he needed to stop drinking. He then found out his liver is failing, maybe dead. He is completely committed to never drinking again now and has been really prepared to receive the gospel. We are excited to work with his family! I know this message can really help them! 

I really want to learn how to ponder.. If anyone has some suggestions please send them over! 

Elder Mueller who I trained in July is now training someone!! Pretty exciting! 

Yesterday I spoke in Sacrament meeting for my first time on my mission! They don't give us many chances to speak here! But it was pretty fun! I just shared a little bit about Alma and Almulek and how much we need the members and that as we work with them we will all be strengthened by the Holy Ghost like Alma and Almulek were! And peoples hearts will change and open up to this message! It is true.. We can find on the street all day and we will find people we can help to be baptized, but if we can work better with the members of the ward we will see the work progress at a much faster pace and people will have large support groups as they join the church! Keep looking for opportunities to help and love those around you! 

I love you all! Have a great week! 

Love, Elder Jensen

Another week with not many pictures.. 

This girl is in our ward and will be serving here for a few weeks before going to LA

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~簡長老 

New Year Continues

This week went by super quickly! Every day we were fed at least one meal most two for the Chinese New Year! It was kinda crazy! But lots of fun! Now it is over! I love our ward! They are so good to us! 

This week we had a hard time setting up anyone to teach because everyone had work off and wanted to go out and play! Hahah time is a constant battle.. When people have work they are too busy to meet with us and when they have work off they want to go play or rest and so they're still too busy:) 

We did get to go and teach a members friend in his home on Wednesday night though! It was a really interesting lesson! He has a ton of questions about stuff like "do dogs go to heaven?" So we tried to work through those and help him learn! It went all over the place! But in the end he set a baptismal date and said if he gets an answer of course he'll be baptized! Now we just have to help him seriously seek that answer! 

Elder Zhuang has taught me a ton this last transfer! I hope that going forward I can bring a better balance to my missionary work of always going hard but also working effectively and having a high quality! 

I've been pondering a lot lately about how to more actively strive to become like Jesus Christ! So far I don't have a great go to method but something that has helped me is in every situation thinking to myself "What would Jesus do in this situation" and then do that! It seems pretty simple, but having that thought multiple times throughout the day has led me to act slightly differently and I'm hoping to see more change and improvement as I continue to do that! 

One cool experience we had this week was we went over by bishops house and asked his son to come out with us to meet some of their neighbors! He is a senior in high school and he was so nervous! I felt pretty bad.. But it was really cool to see him out being a missionary with us! And we had a lot of fun together! By the end he seemed to be feeling a lot better too! Also we asked one of his neighbors if we could pray for him and his answer was  "Could you pray for my family I've been fighting with my wife about our children" He enjoyed the prayer and I think he has a ton of potential! 

I love you all! Have a great week!

Love, Elder Jensen

Pictures.. Didn't take many this week! I got one though!

Chinese New year

This past Monday we went and had lunch with Sunny and Jimmy from Xiangshan! It was really fun to see them again! It had been a while! Then we went to an indoor climbing place with Renee and Sunny and the Neihu Elders! It was a fun day!

Then the week got crazy! Tuesday we went to Luo Dong and helped them go on splits with their members! It was cold and rainy and I went with a 16 year old kid named Slide! It was so much fun! I was really impressed with him and how good of a missionary he already was! He was a lot of fun to serve with for the day and we met a couple of really cool people! Then he took us to meet with his friend this girl that he likes and she became the sisters new investigator! They asked her what goals she had and she said she's been thinking that when she gets older she wants to go on a mission and spread the word of God like us.. My jaw dropped! Hahaha she's not even a member but she wants to serve a mission and help people come to know God! 

Then we went to a worldwide broadcast for missionaries! It was really really good and in it they also changed our schedule! So now we choose when we do our companion and language study and get out earlier! It is a really flexible schedule to help us do what we need when we need to be more effective! Pretty exciting! 

Then the Chinese New Year started and so lunch and dinner for the last 3 days we have gone to members houses! It has been so much fun! I love getting to interact with members and get to know them! It is also cool to see the desire they have to share the gospel! 

Two things I forgot last week! I met Todd Peck's older brother! And I ate cooked frog leg! It was good! 

So because of the new year everyone here in Taibei went to their parents or grandparents homes in the south and the streets have had noticeably less people and it is quiet and more peaceful outside! It makes Taibei feel really big and nice! But it makes contacting people a little more difficult.. But not really! Everyone is together as families and not working so we have run into several families! It has been so cool! We have met a couple of great families that have set up to meet with us! Also yesterday someone drove by on their scooter and we waved and then a minute later they came up behind us on the side walk! They turned around and came to wish us a happy new year and give us some pineapple cakes! Then they said we could invite the missionaries where they live to get a hold of them! Yesterday we met 3 people that just stopped and were super interested to talk with us and set up! It was awesome!

Last but not least! Renee and Duo Duo were confirmed yesterday in church! It was awesome! 

The broadcast also talked about making the sacrament something that we prepare every week for by repenting and so I tried to do that better this week! I am so grateful to the Atonement and the chance it gives us to repent! 

I love you all! 

Love, Elder Jensen

Pictures:

1 and 2 climbing

3: a woman in our ward and her family who lives in my last ward Bitan! So fun to see them again! 

Miracles

This past week was super crazy and full of miracles! 

So on Wednesday we went to the temple and then we went and met an investigator at her coffee shop that is outside our area so we haven't ever been able to go! It was a lot of fun to see her again! I want so badly to meet with their family but they are so busy with their shop so it has been tricky! 

Then Friday we had a sweet activity in our area! We invited all of the missionaries in our zone to come over to our area and then we found several young men and young women in our ward to come and act as missionaries for one day! We had about 14 companionships in our area that day and all of the ward members had a really great time! They all came back and they had huge smiles and they were all like "wow I'm so tired! I don't know how you do it" But they had a good time! The youth in our ward here are all awesome. There are like 6 young men preparing to go on missions and they are so cool. Sometimes they help in my english class and I ask everyone what their favorite part of the week was and these young men always answer that their favorite part of their week was church. I think it is pretty impressive that teenage boys favorite part of the week is coming to church! 

Then Friday night I went on exchanges with the assistants and while I was there two of my previous wards had their temple day and so I got to see a ton of friends from previous areas and it was super awesome! I love running into people I have met while being here. It is always so good to see them again! 

Then Saturday things got crazy! So we had the baptismal interview for the Han Cheng Wen and he passed!! So we started preparing to have his baptism the next day. But Renee who was also scheduled to interview Saturday called and said she was not going to be able to make it back in time for her interview. So we rescheduled to do her interview Sunday night and do her baptism in a couple of days depending on when she decided she was ready. She was committed to interviewing but still not sure she wanted to be baptized. Well then we called her that night to confirm she would interview the next day and she said that she would and that she told her friend she might be baptized tomorrow! So then we rescheduled her interview so she could do it before the other baptism. After sacrament meeting I went to Neihu with her and took a member as my companion. She passed her interview and on the way back to the baptism that we were running late for we prayed together and she decided she wanted to be baptized as well! We got back to the chapel and everyone was waiting for us to start! They threw clothes at us had us change and minutes later Renee was baptized! It was a crazy little spur of events that I wasn't expecting! But the Lord has everything organized and it was time for Renee to get baptized! After she was baptized there was a pretty big change in her! She was so excited and happy and begged us to ask her come help us teach other people! I think she may decide to serve a mission in the future! She is so sweet!! The Miracles this week were insane.. We went into the week not expecting to have any baptisms and ended up having 2! We have been really blessed here the last few weeks! I've felt like things have been moving so fast and I've been doing everything I can to just keep up, but the Lord has taken care our investigators and they made it! 

I know Heavenly Father loves each of us! I know He is looking out for us! And I hope that we can all remember patience as we seek for Him! 

Have a great week! 

Love, Elder Jensen! 

Pictures:

1. Made this for members!

2/3 They did it! The young boy in the second picture is the one that was baptized!  

I love Taiwan

Well this week is temple week! I'm excited to go to the temple today! 

Last week we went on exchanges twice again! It was a lot of fun and we saw a lot of success! I really enjoy the opportunity to get to work with lots of other missionaries and to learn from them! I also really enjoy talking with everyone here and learning from them and most importantly sharing with them my testimony and the joy I know the gospel can bring everyone's life! I think that the people here are all so amazing and it is such a cool experience to go from strangers on the street to pretty good friends after a couple of minutes of talking with them and sharing about each others lives. 

We met with a boy named Han Chen Wen a few times. He is the son of a less active family in our ward. They moved from a different area and didn't come find the church here, but now they are coming back and we are looking at baptizing their son this week or next week! I'm so excited for him! 

Renee is also getting really close to being baptized. This last week she's really gotten in to the scriptures. There have been a couple days where she read like 20 chapters and I think she's at the point where her soul is hungering to know the truth! We invited her to think about doing her baptismal interview with Brother Han this weekend and I think it is very likely that she will do it! 

Yesterday we went on another exchange down to Luo Dong on the east coast! We got to attend district meeting down there and learn a lot! It is beautiful down there! I love Taiwan! And I love being a missionary and sharing my testimony with everyone! I am looking forward to giving all I've got these next couple of months. There is still a lot I would like to accomplish!

This week I've been thinking a lot about humility! I've been trying to humble myself and really rely on the Lord for everything. It is hard to explain because as a missionary I feel like I try to rely on Him for everything every day anyway.. But I've been feeling that I needed to step it up a notch and really just set aside any thought myself and trust that as long as I do things the Lords way it will work out for the best! I feel that things are already starting to change! 

Have a great week! I love you all!

Love, Elder Jensen

Pictures:

1.Went for a hike in the mist

2.Ward mission leaders family

3.Cool girl.. Shes in the lions club and a senior in highschool

4.Mountains in Luodong!