MTC Letter 5

Hello Everyone! 

I don't even know what to talk about this week because it has been pretty normal for the most part. I just love being here and I love my calling as a zone leader but unfortunately I only have it for about one more week. I love working with all the missionaries and becoming good friends with them. I have quite a bit of time today so I will write about each day individually.

Saturday 9: Last P-day the temple was still closed so I took a nap. Everyone else napped for 20 minutes but I was out for 2 hours. I don't think they know what a true nap is. 

Sunday 10: Elder Gray and I have started getting up at 6:00 instead of 6:30 to get a little extra study in and it is really nice. Our teachers came up with a thing called super Sunday and I hate it so much. We have to learn as many words as we can but I have a very hard time with that especially because I lose a lot of study time due to leadership meetings. We did get to meet the area seventy, Larry S. Ketcher though. He is the area seventy for the Armenian mission so that was pretty cool even though my mission isn't over there. Turns out the gospel is really needed over there because the only stake they had was dissolved due to misuse of tithing funds. The missionaries basically run the church over there and some will be called as branch presidents. Later we had a devotional by President Heaton on charity and I thought it was awesome because that is a characteristic I really want.

Monday 11: We taught Վահե today again and we had a very successful lesson. He really wants to learn more about how he can repent. We decided to have him pray about it and so we prayed with him and the spirit was very strong even though we didn't understand the whole thing. We then testified that he could be forgiven and asked him to be baptized on July 30th. (Which is just kind of a fake date because he is a fake investigator but we have to work towards something) He said yes and we were so excited.

Tuesday 12: We taught Լենա today and that lesson was awesome as well. We taught her about the holy ghost and she really wants to feel the spirit. We showed her ways she could do that and gave her a chapter of the Book of Mormon to read. After class and lunch we had exercise time and one Elder got a package with jellyfish in it. We made a bet in volleyball that whoever lost had to eat it. Since we don't actually keep score we just decided it was a tie and we all have to eat it.

Wednesday 13: Today we ate the jellyfish and it was very disgusting. I am so grateful my mission has fast food restaurants in it. I have been kinda sick all week but today it was especially bad and we have had lots of sickness going around. At least I can still go to class though. We also hosted today and it was a lot of fun. 

Thursday 14: Today we taught Լենա and that lesson was pretty awkward but it all worked out. We decided she needed to go to church to help her feel the spirit but when we asked her about church she said she was already going. Oh. Didn't see that coming. We were proud of her but it messed up our whole lesson. Luckily we were able to talk about the sacrament still because she had a lot of questions. We also taught Վահե and that lesson went very well. He kept all of his commitments and he is really progressing but we still have a lot of work to do. He is still unsure about repentance and baptism so we will have to explain why it is important next time.

Friday 15: Today we had TRC (Teaching Recent Converts) and it was very good. The language is coming along a lot better but there is still a ton we don't know. We challenged both of our groups of missionaries to read the Book of Mormon for an hour each day. We have been thinking a lot lately just how important the Book of Mormon is. If the Book of Mormon is that important in our lives then we can't just settle for a little bit a day. We have to work hard and diligently study if we want to be better. They thought we asked a lot of them, but they said they would try to do it and we know they can do it if they really have the faith. I know for me that my hour of Book of Mormon study is very important.

Normally I wont write this much but I just had a lot of time today. I hope you all continue to have a good week and keep living the gospel strong! It will bless you if you do!

Երեց Ջենսեն

 

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MTC: Letter 4

Dear Family and Friends,

Unfortunately I don't have pictures this week but I sent a lot last time anyway. Hopefully I will have some good ones next week. This week has been a blast for Elder Gray and I and we have especially seen the gift of tongues in our lessons. To start off the week, I was released as a district leader on Sunday. I was excited because it means I get more study time and I really like learning the language and sometimes I feel behind. 

Just as I was thinking this Elder Gray and I were called as zone leaders. Apparently, when you get too comfortable in a church calling, the lord decides to change it up. That's okay, more personal growth I guess. I am excited to serve in this position as well though because we get new Germans this week. We said goodbye to the old Germans and welcomed the new ones. There are a lot of them so this will be a fun calling. I am especially excited to serve with Elder Gray and I think we make a great team. 

This week we taught a total of 6 lessons. We taught Վահե (Vahey) twice and started to lead into the plan of salvation. We hope he will find it very helpful and we think it is just what he needs. We also taught Լենա (Lena) twice. She is improving so much and we have really felt the gift of tongues with her. Lately Elder Gray and I have been going in without notes and so we just have to use what we know and it sure has helped make the lessons more personal. Elder Gray has also improved a lot more on the language this week and he says even more than me in the lessons now. Լենա has agreed to read the Book of Mormon and has also agreed to be baptized when she knows more about the gospel.

Lastly, taught two TRC discussions. After last week, we really wanted to do a lot better but it is hard since we have to teach them as members already and we have to find their needs. Last week we didn't even understand what they said to us so we had no idea what to do. This week, we went in without notes and we were able to talk about goals with some of them and set some better ones to make them better people. The spirit was really strong even when we were slow of speech. I am so grateful I was called to serve in this language and it feels like it is a part of me now. I am slow of speech whether I teach in English or in Armenian but I have found that it doesn't matter because I am not the one talking. It is the spirit that testifies the truth to them no matter how badly I am at speaking. We sure have made a lot of progress here so far and I can't wait to keep making more!

Երեց Ջենսեն (Elder Jensen)

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MTC: Letter 3

Hello Everyone!

This week really flew by and it was kinda just a regular old week. I don't really have much to talk about except we taught վահե (Vahe) again and it was a great lesson. We didn't go in with memorized phrases so it was good practice trying to teach with what we knew and we taught him about the Book of Mormon as well as how to pray. 

We also had our first TRC this week. That is where we teach members and try to find their needs and teach them what they need to know. That didn't go as well because we don't really speak Armenian and they actually do. We would ask, "How are you?" and the answers we got were like "sadlkgoiweajgl;akxdgljaoirjgtaojgl;aj" so basically we just decided we would pretend we understood and keep asking questions and then we jsut shared testimony on the importance of prayer and reading the Book of Mormon. I think one of the people said he liked swimming and that's about all I got.

As you can see, week 3 is proving to be very exciting and we are pretty much fluent in Armenian by now so yeah. Also I don't think I mentioned this before but one of the sisters in my district learning Armenian is from and Armenian family in California. She doesn't speak it (yet) but her family does and so I might get to see them! That is pretty cool. 

Our classroom also split into two because it was too crowded so now the prison cell with cinder block walls and no windows is much more roomy. Luckily things are still going well here and it is a lot of fun to struggle and it is easy to remain positive. Also for those of you who know Braden Bringhurst, he is going to be in my zone next week because the old Germans are leaving and he is one of the new ones. That is exciting! Well, I don't really have much else to talk about so have a great week!

Elder Jensen

This is what 10 hours of class time in a day does to you. This is me at about 9:00 P.M. Every day.

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MTC: Letter 2

Hello everyone!

This week has been incredibly stressful and amazing at the same time. I listened to an amazing talk by Elder Bednar with my district and it just completely blew my mind. I wish you could all see it but it is only shown in the MTC. It was called Character of Christ and it seriously was just amazing. 

The language has been coming along slowly but surely. I know we will get it eventually but this has actually been a pretty amazing week. I can now pray and bear testimony in Armenian and it is hard to read because it is a totally different alphabet but I can slowly read words off a paper. This week we finished teaching Geyvorg.

In the beginning of the week we just became really stressed out because we don't have enough time to prepare lessons and most of what we say doesn't make sense due to the language barrier. We couldn't understand him so that made it really hard. At the end of the week, he came in and talked to us in English and said we did a great job and all that stuff. I just hope we will be able to know more of the language for our next investigators.  The coolest thing this week though was right after the super stressful day where we wanted to give up, we were taught about the grammar of the language and that made us all super excited because we were now able to formulate sentences and not just memorize phrases. 

Also, last Wednesday 700 new missionaries came and 171 mission presidents and their wives. It is very crowded but there are a lot of general authorities on campus. Our district was selected to participate in a mission president training and during the training. Elder Dallin H. Oaks came into our discussion for thirty minutes. Our district was split so it was just the mission president and his wife and five missionaries. He had so much amazing counsel and wisdom I could just tell when I made eye contact with him. That was a wonderful experience for me.

My district has been selected for so many trainings and other things next week so we are really busy. We have been selected to host next week so we get to welcome new missionaries which will be cool. Maybe I will get to host Nick Jensen. That would be cool. I am starting to see more people I know so that is also wonderful. Well, I have to go now but it was great to write you all!

Elder Jensen

First Days: Letter 1

Hello everyone!

I am having an awesome time here at the MTC! I love it so much and it is just like EFY! The food is excellent and I love how much I am learning. As soon as I arrived I was ushered through several buildings where I received materials such as name tags and room keys and other stuff. We didn't have a chance to unpack until the end of the day so I just put all the stuff in my room and went to class.

My companions name is Elder Gray.  He is from American Fork and is an awesome missionary. I think we work really well together and have a better desire to be the best missionaries we can be. We work really hard to understand the language but I can see the blessings and it is actually coming really fast. He is very humble and has a very strong testimony of prayer.

The language is hard but we are doing great. My whole district (except for me) is going to the Armenia Yerevan mission. There are 9 Elders and 3 Sisters and each of them work very hard. In another district there are two Elders who speak Georgian as well which is also part of the Armenian mission. We had the opportunity to meet and teach our first investigator on Friday which is like really soon. On Thursday we had just learned the alphabet (we still need to learn more) and so we felt a little unprepared. Luckily, on Friday we learned how to pray in Armenian and we are learning so much more. I feel like I already understand a lot although when I first got here, my teachers didn't speak English so I didn't really understand anything. It has been great though.

I have been praying a lot more than I used to and I learn so much more everyday about the gospel. I am so grateful that I get to serve a mission with such wonderful people. Sometimes I feel a little left out because all of the other Elders and Sisters in my district are going to Armenia so I won't see them again but they will get to see each other all the time. There is always work to be done. I was called as the district leader and now have to prepare even more lessons and gospel talks. Life is great though! My P day will be Saturday for the next 8 weeks so email me often!

Love, Elder Jensen

MTC!!

This morning Rick gave Jase a beautiful father's blessing and then we headed out in two separate cars (since we can't all fit in one car).  The girls all rode with me and the boys all rode with Rick.  We drove to the Provo temple to take a few pictures and then had the kids say their goodbyes at a park across the street.  We left the kids there with Jared while Rick and I dropped him off.  We will miss him, but are excited about this wonderful opportunity for him!