Monday, November 23, 2015

When we are doing what we are supposed to and working hard the Lord puts people in our path.

November 23, 2015

Such a busy week in Encino!!! It's a new area and I have a new comp so it's going to take some adjusting but we'll be good. So far it hasn't been to hard.

My comp is Elder Taylor. He's from Lehi Utah and is a HUGE animal lover. Not into sports but he loves the outdoors. We're super different but we get along. He's a super hard worker which is awesome! We're trying to work this area super hard this transfer and get a baptism. I'm not in it for the baptisms though...I really just love seeing people change and become better people. That's what I'm in it for. Encino is pretty sweet! We have lots of wealthy people up in the hills and they hate us so we don't go up there more than two or three times a week. Also we have a little strip of downtown Ventura Boulevard in our area which is a nice change! A change of scenery is always cool! There are lots of places to shop and stuff! From the top of our area you can see almost the whole valley which is super cool! The valley looks like a smaller Salt Lake valley i think (Picture attached) One thing that stinks about this area is the 405 freeway is one of our main roads we use to get up to the hills and man....Cali traffic is terrible!! Point for Utah.

The ward is cool but there's some interesting people in it. We have two ladies that bring their chihuahuas to church with them in their purses...people were chill with it and I was like "What the heck California is so weird! Just leave the dog at home?" So yeah that's the area!

We had a super cool thing happen to us this week. We had been knocking and contacting all day and we hadn't gotten in with anyone at all. We were exhausted and were walking back to our car at 8:40 when we ran into Omar on the street. He said he's been looking for a religion for his family to join because the world is getting scary and they don't have any solid beliefs to build their family on. They have visited lots of churches and none of them felt right but they haven't visited our church yet. He also has been having problems with drinking and wants to stop because he doesn't want it to control his life and he wants to set an example for his kids. We talked to his wife and she's totally up to take the lessons and visit our church! She just wants to have a strong family and when I told her that was a huge part of our religion she got so happy! They're such a cool family and we meet with them tomorrow at 8. Just another testimony builder that when we are doing what we are supposed to and working hard the Lord puts people in our path. It might not be exactly when we want it to happen but that's ok!

Message of the week: Be Kind to EVERYONE! As a missionary you learn how much a "Hello" or just a little compliment can mean to someone. When we take heat from people all day it always cheers us up when people Say hi or just compliment us on our ties or stupid stuff like that. Just try to make people happy at every chance you get because you never know what they're going through. Plus that's what the savior would do. Kindness is key to happiness!

Well I love you all and hope you have a great Thanksgiving week! Don't forget how blessed you are.

Elder Jensen