Elder Andrew Jensen: If we have a prompting come to our mind and it's good...we can trust that it is from the Spirit.

June 27, 2016

Hey Everyone,
Well this week I had to leave Elder Silva. He has been such an amazing companion and friend. Hopefully we will serve next to each other sometime soon. We had so many good times together and so many miracles happened in Van Nuys. I know he'll do a killer job keeping that area going. I got my new trainee on Tuesday! His Name is Elder Martin. He's from Kaysville Utah and graduated a year ago so we are the same age. He's a really athletic guy which is nice. We went to the gym on Friday for our morning work out and as we were shooting hoops he just dunked like it was no big deal hahaha. So he can dunk! He's starting to get the hang of things and is adjusting really easily.


New missionaries from the MTC. My companion is Elder Martin in the middle.

So last week I totally forgot to send the address for our new apartment. Here it is..

Elder Andrew Jensen
1800 Grismer Ave #316
Burbank, CA 91504

So here's an update on our week. We visited a lot of members and got to know the ward. It seems like 70% of our ward works in the movie industry so they give us updates on movies that are coming out soon! The Coach in High School Musical, Bart Johnson, is in our ward and he married Blake Lively's sister Robyn, so apparently Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds show up at the ward sometimes for primary programs and stuff like that. But anyway, the ward is awesome and there are lots of cool families that I'm sure we will get close with.


Bart Johnson with his wife Robyn Lively and thier kids who are in our Burbank 3rd ward.

We helped out with an eagle project this week. We had to move 75 tons of rocks into a river that was too deep at Johnny Carson Park. So that was a rough day full of manual labor and then biking for the rest of the day. Haha.

We came into the area with a baptismal date a few weeks away. Diana Del Mundo is from the Philippines and has been meeting with the missionaries for the last month and a half or so. She is so prepared! She has been looking for the joy this gospel brings for a long time now. We had a lesson with her at the park this week and at the beginning of our lesson a man walked up to us and asked if he could join in on our lesson. We said sure and started to explain how we were missionaries and told him what our purpose is. He said "I know. I used to be one." So he taught and testified with us about the Commandments and how they are there to bless us and help us be happy. After the lesson we stayed and talked with him for a while. He explained how he served in Uruguay and had left the Church shortly after his mission. He also said how amazing it was to have a spiritual missionary experience teaching like that because he hadn't had one in such a long time. God always places us in peoples path every day! It's so amazing how everything just falls into place perfectly! Oh and the guy told us that he was in the movie "Just Let Go" About Chris Williams and his family in Utah! He played the roll of the drunk driver. It was a super cool experience. I told him about how my Mom and brother and sister were also in that movie and we talked about that for a while!

We had another awesome miracle happen to us this week! We were visiting some less active members in the lower half of our area after knock out when the prompting came that we should bike all the way to the top of our area and visit this investigator that we were trying to meet. So we listened and started the 30 minute bike ride up the steep hills haha. Well we finally got to Pete Roses house. We talked to his daughter and she said he wasn't home but that he would be back in an hour or so. So we had a little time to kill. We remembered that Brother Sweat had told us to go visit a part member family, the Kalama's, at the bottom of the hills...so we biked there and she wasn't home. So we were just confused as to why we were led up to the top of our area...it felt like it was for nothing. So we sat down on the curb and started to plan our bike ride back to Pete's house. As we were sitting there a woman pulls her car over directly across the street from us. She walked over to us and said "I think you're Mormons." We told her that was us! Then she told us how a missionary had knocked on her door 18 years ago and gave her a Book of Mormon. She hadn't even touched it until a few weeks ago. Mannet said, "I've been reading that book and I am having a hard time understanding it. I really want to know what you all believe and I want you to come and teach me." Elder Martin was just sitting there with his jaw touching the ground hahaha. We got her address and phone number and went through the Restoration with her right there on the sidewalk! But that's not the end of it. We biked back to Peter Roses house and he was home! He let us in and said "Where have you guys been! I miss having the missionaries come over!" So we sat down and really connected with him. Peter is a football and basketball coach and loves talking sports. Elder Marin is a living sports encyclopedia so they are a perfect match for each other! He asked us to send him a scripture every day and meet with him once or twice a week! He is such a cool guy...He said he would be baptized by now but he just has some things he is trying to overcome. Can't wait to work with him these next couple of months! I have really learned the importance of listening to the Spirit. As missionaries we are useless servants if we aren't humble and allow the Lord to work through us.

Funny story of the week: Our first night on bikes was a little sketchy. The only way into the bottom of our area is across this bridge that has multiple freeway entrances and exits. So we were riding home and we realized that we didn't have any bike lights. Well we decided to just go for it. So we were crossing this bridge in the pitch black with cars flying by us and I looked back and Elder Martin was screaming and peddling his heart out trying to get to the other side hahaha. We almost got hit by cars...California drivers are just crazy!

Message of the week: Listen to the promptings you receive. We often struggle with trying to decide whether a prompting is from the Spirit or if it's just our own minds putting that thought or feeling there. This week I found the answer to that question. In Moroni 7: 13, 16-17 it tells us that every good thought or action is from God. Gordon B. Hinckley said "That's the test, when all is said and done. Does it persuade one to do good, to rise, to stand tall, to do the right thing, to be kind, to be generous? Then it is of the Spirit of God..." So if we have a prompting come to our mind and it's good...we can trust that it is from the Spirit. Never ignore those thoughts or feelings because they are always put there to bless us or others in some way!

Well I love you all! I hope you have a great week of summer!

Elder Jensen

P.S. we will be emailing on July 5th rather than July 4th next week.