April 22, 2017: Transfers (Office Elder)

Sorry for not writing last week, but it has been a crazy few weeks and I don't really even remember much of what happened. Well, Easter was really great and if you haven't watched the Easter initiative then you should. 

Pretty much the reason I didn't write last week is because I didn't get a P day and the reason for that is because we got transfer calls and I got transferred. That is why I am not writing on Monday. I was told that I wouldn't be getting a P day because they made the call Sunday night and I was being transferred to become an office Elder. 

It is funny because I told some of my companions a few transfers ago that if there was anywhere I would not want to go, it would be an office elder. Well, be careful what you say, because here I am. It is actually a lot more fun than I thought though and I still get to work a lot in my area which is good.

Office Elders have some of their P days on Saturdays because they have to help with the transfers the next Monday. Other than that they pretty much get to choose between Saturday and Monday.

I packed up and came to my new area last Monday. The area is the Duarte 2nd Ward. We pretty much just did office work all Monday and much of this week. My new companion is Elder Baguley and he is pretty cool so far. We have seen a lot of miracles this week in the area including finding lots of families! I have really come to love the power of the Book of Mormon so much and the message of the restoration so much. It really is amazing!

The office work here is hard to learn because I don't know anything about computers and all I see is a bunch of cords, but I'm sure it will be a good learning experience. Sorry, this letter is kinda scrambled because I'm still kinda confused myself. Duarte is an English area with a lot of Spanish and Chinese people so I guess I need to learn some new languages now. I am excited to work in this area though and we get to go to all the meetings which means we get to work closer with President Villanueva which I am super excited for! 

That's about all for this week so I hope you have a great week!

(Pictured: Omid with Elder Sanders and Jensen. Elders at the LA Temple)

Elder Jensen and Elder Baguley

April 8, 2017 Temple

Well this was a really fast week. Probably because p-day is on Saturday today but we got to go to the temple which was definitely worth it.

I just encourage you all now to go to the temple if you haven't been in a while because it is the greatest. I wish we could go more often because it is really rejuvenating but hey, at least we can go every 6 months.

Temples are awesome and it is a real blessing to have them so close! Take advantage of that opportunity and go to the temple this week! The peace that you will get is definitely worth it.

I hope you all have a great week!

Letter 42 (April 3, 2017) General Conference

Well this was an awesome week just because of General Conference. If you didn't watch it I would really encourage you to because it was really good.

My personal favorites were from the priesthood session. I always love Elder Bednar's talks and he spoke on something really different this time but I really liked it. I think there were a lot of things that many of the general authorities cleared up in this conference that a lot of people are confused on, so it was a really good conference.

Also this week, we set Angeline on date for the 6th of May and so far it is going pretty well. We are excited to see her progress. We were able to watch the first session with Madlena and Arpineh also and it was really good.

Unfortunately, it was really sad to say goodbye because that was the last time we will see Madlena
before she goes to Canada. We hope she can come back soon. She is definitely one I want to stay in contact with.

Well, It was an exciting week this week and it was nice to watch conference and take a little break. I am excited to get back out there now and keep preaching the gospel. Also, my P-day is probably on Saturday next week because we are going to the temple, just so you know. Have a good week!

Letter 41

Well, not a whole ton happened this week but it was a really good one.

We started teaching Madlena's sister and she has a date for April the 15th! We want to teach the husband and all the kids too but it might be a little harder. We also aren't sure how open the husband is yet but hopefully he will be.  Madlena has to go back to Canada soon though and it will be sad to see her go. She is a really strong member so we hope she comes back soon. She is planning on it as soon as possible which is good!

We also had quite a few investigators at sacrament  meeting which was good but they unfortunately all had to leave early.   Hopefully next time they can stay for the classes to get some
fellowship, especially Arpineh, Madlena's sister.

Another exciting thing that happened was Omid receiving the priesthood! He is now a priest and we want him and Mosi to pass the sacrament soon. It has been such an amazing experience being on a mission and I have come to love these two so much.

I encourage you all to share the gospel with someone this week or to go out with the missionaries and help. Offer to be a good fellow-shipper for those listening to the gospel. There really isn't a better feeling than helping someone to receive the gospel and watching them progress. Well, that is pretty much everything for this week. I hope you all have a great week!

 

Letter 40

Hey Everyone!

This week was pretty good. The struggle to find solid investigators is real but luckily, Madlena has been trying really hard to get her family involved and we started teaching her sister! She came to church and had a good experience so we are really excited to teach her and hopefully her family soon. 

I haven't had the opportunity to really teach a full family yet so this is really exciting! We also set one of our new investigators with a baptismal date last week so that was pretty cool! Unfortunately, she has been busy and we haven't been able to meet with her all week so we might need to drop it for now.

Nothing too big has really happened this week so that is about it. However, I have been trying to make my prayers more meaningful this week because I get into the habit of repetitive prayers and one thing I tried was keeping a notebook next to me and writing down promptings and ideas I get while I pray. I have discovered that Heavenly Father is answering a lot more of my prayers than I thought, I just had to think about and write down the answers I was receiving.

Next time you say a personal prayer, I encourage all of you to try this and really go to the lord with a question or concern in mind and write down promptings or ideas you receive and then act on those. I promise that the Holy Ghost will prompt you and help you find answers and help you improve.

I really like this quote from David A Bednar. "If you haven’t been rebuked by the Holy Ghost in your personal prayers lately, I’d recommend you improve the meaningfulness of your personal prayers. To be rebuked is to be corrected and counseled." Let's just say, I have been rebuked a lot more this week, and it is weird saying this, but it has been a good experience and I have learned quite a bit from it. 

Give it a try!

Love you all have a great week!

Letter 39

Hey Everyone!

This week was an interesting one for sure. Unfortunately, Elder Dean went home this week but it is what he wanted. It was sad to see him go, but I know he will have a good time at college. Other than that, Elder Sanders and I have pretty much just been finding a whole lot and we are now teaching some people who we think will have some potential.

We want to keep finding though and really just stack up our teaching pool with people. We had a lot of meetings this week which was actually a lot of fun. I got to catch up with some missionaries I hadn't seen in a while and it felt like I was talking to people I hadn't seen in years it was great. 

It is such a blessing to be out here serving the lord, I have learned so much and I feel like I just keep learning more and more everyday. Things pertaining to the gospel and other important things that I may use later in life like breaking into my own apartment when I  lock myself out. I know that this gospel is really the best way we can change and become better and I hope you all have a desire to continue changing and becoming better. Have a great week!

Letter 38

Hey Everybody!

This week was pretty much just a major drop week for us unfortunately, but we are excited to get started finding again those who are prepared for the gospel. We just want to work with those who are ready for it and not spend too much time with those who won't change.

We have been focusing a lot of our message in the gospel of Christ and it has been a wonderful experience for me to learn about this doctrine. Truly by following the steps in the gospel of Jesus Christ we really do change and become more like him. That is all we are doing for people is inviting them to change and apply the gospel.

I would encourage all of you to study in 2 Nephi 31 as well as 3 Nephi 27 and find ways to change and apply the gospel in your life as well as in the lives of others. I promise that this truly is the way to salvation and that through Christ, you can change any behavior to become better than you were. Once you've experienced this change in your own life, share it with your friends.

There are people out there who need help understanding what the gospel is and it is up to us as members of his church to share that with all those who are searching for it.

I hope you all have a great week! 

Oh, by the way, transfer calls were last night. Elder Sanders and I are staying together but we are bringing in a third companion named Elder Dean. He is just one transfer older than us and it will be a lot of fun. He is actually a Spanish elder so that will be a big benefit as well for all of those Spanish people we contact. Nobody can pull the "no English" card on us now! I am excited for the coming transfer and I will let you know if we find any solid people this week!

Letter 37

This week has been a good one for sure! I was worried we wouldn't have anyone to teach but it has picked up rather quickly. We haven't set anyone with dates yet but we have many people now who want to learn and have potential for baptism. A few of them accepted a soft baptismal commitment and so we are hoping we can move those forward.

We had a crazy day at church yesterday and so many people showed up that we weren't expecting which was awesome. We were even able to have Armenian class and it was great. I always love Armenian class because I can get more practice and I understand a lot more in the class than I do talking with people.

Both of the new recent converts from last week are doing very well. Madlena wants to feed us dinner so that we can meet her family. She really wants to share the gospel with them which is awesome and Omid is very excited to start paying tithing. He says that he knows only good can come from it and I have never seen someone so excited to do everything he can to help. Both of these people will be a wonderful benefit to the ward! I am excited to see how things will go next week!

Pictured: I didn't have any pictures but I went to a seafood buffet and they had a lot of exotic food so naturally I had to eat it all. This is a baby octopus and I can't say that it tasted very good but I was able to swallow it. That was pretty rough.