I'm now the District Leader and we are moving apartments.

May 9, 2016

Transfer calls were this week and Elder Silva and I are staying another transfer together! There were a few changes though, I'm now the District Leader and we are moving apartments. We now live with our Zone Leaders.

Our new address is:

15616 Vanowen St. #109
Van Nuys, CA 91406.

It should be an awesome transfer!

We taught Daniel again and had a huge miracle! We needed to bring a member to the lesson with us and we felt like we should bring Brother Dalumpines. Well when we rolled up to the lesson we went to introduce them to each other and they already knew each other! They were neighbors a few years ago! That really helped Daniel progress because now he had a friend there to help him as well! We talked about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and how the fullness of the Gospel has been restored. As Brother Dalumpines testified that this is the true Church of Jesus Christ on the earth once again, the Spirit hit me so hard. I know without a doubt that this is Jesus Christ's church once again on the earth. At the end of the lesson we asked Daniel to be baptized at the beginning of next month. He committed to baptism again but he wants to wait on the date for now. We'll keep you updated!

We also taught Charlie one of our. Charlie has studied almost every religion and has never "found" the truth. What's amazing though is that when we ask him what his beliefs are, they sound exactly like ours (with a few differences of course). When we tell him we believe the same thing his eyes always light up and he seems more interested in talking with us. It's amazing how prepared he is. We talked about the Creation of Adam and Eve and why we are here on earth. Something really sparked his interest because he set up a return appointment immediately! He's an amazing guy and I hope we can help him find the truth he's been looking for his whole life.

Michael Mata is doing great! We have been teaching him out of the Book of Mormon Story book and he loves it! He always asks to read and participate! And what else is cool is that he actually remembers the things we teach him. We followed up with him on Friday about our lesson last week and he remembered everything! Our jaws dropped because we didnt think we would ever get him to remember what we teach! His family has also been coming to church every week which is nice to see...now we just need to get them to stay all three hours haha. It's a work in progress for sure.

We picked up a new investigator this week. Her name is Susanna. When we first met her she told us she had a friend on a mission and that she is interested in seeing why we all go out and sacrifice two years. Last night she sent us a text that said "Hey guys! Can't wait to meet with you. I just feel so happy talking to you guys and I just get so curious and have so many questions. Happy mothers Day!" That was pretty sick to hear that. The Spirit definitely touched her. Without the Spirit we wouldn't be teaching Susanna because she wouldn't have had those good feelings.

Funny Story of the week: We are still mirrorless on the driver side!! We called the body shop to see what the deal was and they had totally forgotten to even order the parts for our car! So we will still need prayers coming our way this week.

Well I love you all so much and hope you have a great week! Sorry for the short email this week!

Elder Jensen

Gatorade was on sale...we bought some!

 Me with a member of the ward, Thad.

Elder Shaw and I in matching ties.

Our District.

Our District.

Our District

Best Mothers Day!

May 8, 2016

It was wonderful to hear from Elder Jensen today!!  It just made Mother's Day so sweet.  Love this young man and his continual efforts to be the best representative for Jesus Christ that he can be.  We are so proud of him...and he is so happy. These are his words.

"Calling home for mothers day was a lot easier than the first time! I guess I've just adjusted more over the past 6 months. My sibblings are still wearing my clothes so I'm glad to see nothings changed too much while I've been gone! The Family is doing good which is reassuring to see. Miss them like crazy but seeing them made me want to work even harder. It was a great mothers day!"

Mothers Day, May 8, 2016

I know that the Holy Ghost testifies of truth and brings things to our remembrance.

May 2, 2016

It's been another crazy week in the City of LA. We've met some more weird people, mean people and had some more miracles too. But there were definitely some discouraging moments as well. Also we are still mirrorless. I could get a huge ticket at any time. Pray for us.

Some people here are pretty awesome when we knock on their door. Everyone's fruit trees are just loaded with fruit so they'll usually turn down our message but then offer us a bag of oranges, limes, lemons, or grapefruits! It's pretty cool.

We had five or six member present lessons planned throughout the week and they all rescheduled or didn't show. So that was pretty discouraging. But my main man Gem is still doing good! We taught him the Plan of Salvation and as we were talking about the pre-earth life he just cut in and literally took the words out of our mouths and started teaching us about being in heaven with God. He said "I just remembered that. It just came to my mind!" I know that the Holy Ghost testifies of truth and brings things to our remembrance. Without the Holy Ghost none of our investigators would want to make changes and follow Jesus Christ. Gem called us this week and was just going off about how he could relate his life to the story of Nephi and his brothers and the challenges they went through in The Book of Mormon! He is still reading and it makes me so happy to see him getting into it and applying what he reads to him life so he can learn more. He's just an awesome guy and I hope he continues investigating the gospel. The hardest thing for him right now is that he is going at this alone. His wife doesn't have an interest in anything church related and it's hard on him. I've really learned how important it is to be unified in the Gospel as a family...it makes a huge difference and doesn't put too much stress on one person.

We were planning our lesson Wednesday morning for Brother Pain and we were inspired to watch a Conference talk with him. It was an old General Conference talk by Jeffery R. Holland called "Safety For the Soul". Such a sick talk! Now here's the cool part, Elder Silva and I had no idea what this talk was like other than it talked about the Book of Mormon, but it just felt right so we went with it. Well after we watched it with him he said that that talk answered all the questions, concerns, and doubts that he had about The Book of Mormon, and Joseph Smith. It built his testimony and mine as well. Living Apostles are such a blessing to all of us! Brother Pain came to church for the first time in months this week as well.

We finally got Michael to sit through a lesson and he actually learned! We figured out that he really likes to participate and do fun activities. (Duh...took us long enough to figure out that he's just like every other 8 year old. Man we are dumb.) So anyway, we taught him about the Atonement and had a fun object lesson. We filled a bowl with water and had him dump some salt into the water to represent all the good things we do in life. Then we had him dump pepper into the water to represent all the mistakes we make in life. The water was really dirty and you couldn't see to the bottom. Then we explained the atonement and talked about how it can push all our mistakes to the side and make us clean again. So we put a drop of dish soap on Michael's finger and told him to touch the middle of the water. The pepper all shot to the sides and you could see the clear water again. He loved it and wanted us to do it over and over again! Then at church he came up to us and was telling us about how much he loved our lesson and how he won't forget what the Atonement is now. I love that little guy. Now we just need to get him baptized!

Message of the week: If you want an instant testimony boost check out the talk we shared with Brother Pain, "Safety for the Soul". I promise it will change your whole outlook if you have doubts of the book of mormon/joseph smith. I'll attatch a link here.
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2009/10/safety-for-the-soul?lang=eng

Funny story of the week: I went on an exchange this week with our District Leader. He's in Spanish work and we taught two lessons to people who spoke no English! I can understand a little and say a few things but man, I was so lost! The investigator asked if I was a mute because I wasn't talking hahaha!

Well that's just a little bit about our week. I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week!

Elder Jensen

 Elder Flores and I on our Exchange. Bike Patrol.

Always remember that you can pray to Heavenly Father and ask him to give you that knowledge, through the Holy Ghost, that something is true.

 April 25, 2016

Another extremely busy week in Van Nuys California! We were running from hospitals for blessings to appointments to dinners, etc. Just so much going on this week! We picked up 4 new investigators this week as well! We are definitely being blessed for our hard work.

We had a miracle with a man we met named Gem. He's from the Philippines and has a couple young kids. We ran into him during knockout one day and he told us how he felt like he had dark evil spirits around him all the time. As we were sharing our message he was trying to describe to us how he felt. He said "I feel so light. Like I feel at peace." We explained to him that it was the Spirit! Then he asked us to come back next week on his day off and teach him and his family. Then on Thursday he called us and asked us if we had a way we could get the bad spirits away from him. We told him we did and when we got to his house we taught him about the Priesthood and how it has been restored to the earth. We gave him a blessing and after he said "Wow...the Priesthood is so powerful!" We committed him to be baptized right then and there and he gladly accepted. We are super excited to work with him more.

We also taught Ben and his wife again and now a little old Hispanic Catholic woman that lives with them is listening to our lessons too! Last time she wouldn't come out of her room but she said after hearing the first lesson (through her door haha) she felt like listening to us couldn't hurt. That was pretty cool to hear.

The Mata's lesson on Friday was a little unusual.  It turned into a blessing and then a family council. But it ended up good in the end! We also got Michael to sit and listen and participate! That was a miracle! We focused on the Spirit and how in order to have the spirit with us we need to repent by taking the sacrament. (They hadn't been to church in weeks and that's scary for recent converts.) I guess the Spirit really opened their eyes and their hearts though because the whole family was at Church this Sunday!

Marius is still doing good and so are all of the other less actives we are working with! We got 3 of them to come to Church this week! One thing that we have both learned is that less actives need a friend before they feel comfortable to come back. So we have really been focusing on just being their friend and then slowly bringing up the Gospel. So, if you want to get someone to come back to church be their friend first!

Message of the Week: Elder Anderson came to the mission this week and said something really cool. "How do we bring things that are unseen and believed in by Faith, to the seen where they become knowledge." How do we turn Faith into knowledge? Well he bore his testimony about prayer and how through prayer we can feel the Spirit testify to us that something is true. We can actually Feel it! That allows us to turn Faith into a knowledge that this Church is true. I thought that was really cool. Always remember that you can pray to Heavenly Father and ask him to give you that knowledge, through the Holy Ghost, that something is true.

Funny Story of the Week: Just so you can kinda get an idea of the area we are in...we came out of our lesson with the Mata's at 9:00 on Friday night and our driver side mirror was stolen. Not smashed or broken but stolen. People seriously take anything and everything here! We called President Henrie and he just told us to drive with it for the rest of the week, so we have been taking back roads all week trying to not get pulled over haha!

I hope you all have a great week!!

Elder Jensen

We were blessed this weekend to receive a visit from Elder Neil L. Andersen of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. The mission received training and counsel from this special witness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Every missionary shook his hand. We all heard his sacred testimony of the Savior. What a blessing!

Our car mirror got jacked while we were teaching a lesson at the Mata's this week.

My companion, Elder Silva, is Canadian...he made us take pics here because "Drake" is Canadian.

I was able to confirm Anne a member of the Church Sunday

 April 18, 2016

I got to confirm Anne a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints this Sunday, April 17th as well! It was an amazing experience and when I finished the confirmation she couldn't stop crying. She hugged everyone and said "I can't wait to call my sister tonight and tell her I'm a member now!" She was so excited! Her sister lives in Florida and is also a member of the Church. When we all sat down Bishop Deakins started talking to Anne over the pulpit in French. Then he bore his testimony to her also in French. Such a cool experience. It really touched her heart. She is going to be an amazing member and I can't wait to come back and visit her soon. 

Elder Jensen

Amazing things happen when we seek for guidance and follow our promptings!

April 18, 2016

Another crazy and eventful week in Van Nuys California! Something I have forgotten to mention is that our ward covers a really big area. So we have 6 elders in the ward. This is the only area with that many Elders in it. Kinda crazy. So here's what our week was like...

We met with Brother Pain again this week. We had no idea what to teach him so we prayed every day for some help on that. When the day of the lesson came we felt inspired to teach the Atonement and how we need to LET it work in our lives. We sat on his porch and we all shared our testimonies of Jesus Christ and what he has done for us personally. He said the message was exactly what he needed to hear and I'm not gonna lie...all of us cried on that porch. The Spirit was so strong and It helped not only strengthen Brother Pain's testimony, but Elder Silvas' and mine as well. Amazing things happen when we seek for guidance and follow our promptings! Also after our lesson Brother Pain showed us some songs he made (Missionary and Gospel songs of course) and they were so sick! He really likes us so he is hooking us up with the album he made! So excited about that!

We also picked up 4 new investigators this week. We met Daniel during knock out. It was a long knockout and we just got yelled at by Armenians and Hispanics in languages that we don't understand. We were pretty disappointed but the last house we knocked on was Daniel...before we even finished introducing ourselves he sat us down and asked for us to share our message with him! We also started teaching Ben and his wife. We started doing service for them and then our willingness to help made them curious about our beliefs. So now they are investigators as well! And my favorite one of all...Charlie. We met Charlie at knockout as well. He said he has read almost every religious book ever written looking for the truth (including the Book of Mormon) but he hasn't been able to receive an answer about what is true. I asked him if he ever prayed about The Book of Mormon and he said..."You know what...I never did that part." He committed to read the book over again and this time pray about it as he goes. Such a cool experience! Hopefully we will be able to help him find what he has been looking for!

The Mata's have really been struggling. Nothing upsets me more than poor excuses to not come to church...but the Lord always reminds me that everyone has their own challenges and their own struggles that I can't understand. So I'm working on being more understanding this week. Maricella, Jacky, and Fernanda were all baptized in the last year but 8 year old Michael hasn't because none of the missionaries have been able to get him to sit and listen to the lessons. So Elder Silva and I are taking on that challenge now haha. So far so good!

Also our mission is getting a visit from Elder Anderson of the Quorum of the 12 this Saturday!!! Elder Silva and I are going to try and sneak pictures with him!! Wish us luck!

Funny story of the week: I hate spiders and our car is infested with them! While I'm driving they will crawl onto the steering wheel and the windshield and I'll like swerve and almost kill us...hahaha. We are working on killing them all. Also wish us luck on that.

Well that's it for the week. I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Elder Jensen

Elder Wynne, Elder Blodgett, Elder Thompson, Elder Jensen, Elder Silva, and Elder Liddiard.

The Gospel will give us the values we need and the foundation we need to live happy and successful lives.

April, 11, 2016

First of all I need to correct our address. It is:

14142 Victory Blvd. #224
Van Nuys, Ca 91401

The mail lady was getting confused because the area codes were wrong on all our packages and letters, so just a heads up on that! Also some sad news. Elder Silva's passport was stamped wrong at the airport when he left Canada so he has to go back in July and get it re-stamped...that means we will only be comps for 2 transfers. I love this guy. He was baptized by missionaries about 3 years ago, so he has a huge appreciation for missionary work and loves to work hard just like I do which is a nice bonus!

Also, Anne LaVad was baptized this Sunday by Elder Horito! I got to see my old ward and got to see Anne as she came out of the water. Such an amazing experience to see her finally accomplish her goal of baptism that she has had for so long. Her testimony was amazing and so funny because she referred to Elder Horito and I as her grandsons and everyone was so confused, but that's what she actually calls us! She's the cutest! I also get to go back to Encino and confirm her next week in sacrament meeting, which is gonna be so cool!

We talked to Gustavo's (our investigator) wife Christina the other night and she had so many questions! She asked what the Spirit felt like and why we have the Word of Wisdom and I guess she liked our answers and felt the Spirit because she is now super interested in the Gospel and our church! She has been to many church's over the past year and she said she's fed up with every Pastor teaching something different. She said she prayed and said that she was done looking for a church and that if God wanted her to join a church he would have to bring it to her. LOL...that's exactly what he did. We are meeting with her again tonight and she can't wait to learn more and get answers to her questions.

We have been working with the Mata's. They are recent converts and Sister Mata is a single parent. Their 13 year old daughter is crazy around Silva and I. She literally can't stay still. During our lesson 8 year old Michael wouldn't come sit down for the lesson so I told him I'd give him a dollar if he came and sat by me. He did, and after the lesson I pulled out the dollar and he said "No I don't need a dollar. I like you guys!" Then he hugged us and took off haha. He's a homie now! But anyways, it's cool to see how the Gospel has given their family so much strength to work through their current situation and it has united them. It's just awesome how essential the Gospel is.

Losi Ikahihifo from the Encino ward is moving to the Van Nuys ward! He's our Costco hook up so I'm pretty stoked! Plus he's awesome in lessons so it'll be sick having him.

We have been having a lot of success this week and we're really happy about that. Hard work really does pay off. We have lots of people to follow up with and have tons of lessons set up. We have already picked up 3 new investigators in only one week. The Lord is really helping us out! We seriously cant do anything without His help.

Message of the week: Elder Zaballos, a General Authority, visited our mission this week and gave us a really cool training. He told us that the best way to prepare ourselves for our futures is through studying the Gospel. The Gospel will give us the values we need and the foundation we need to live happy and successful lives. So If you're struggling with finding your way I would encourage you to study the Gospel diligently and I promise you'll find guidance.

Well I love you all so much!! I hope you all have great weeks!

Elder Horito, Anne and I

Elder Jensen

Elder Silva, Anne and I

Elder Silva and I

First week in Van Nuys

April 4, 2016

Well It's my first week in Van Nuys! The Straight Hood of the Valley. My Trainee is Elder Silva from Langley British Colombia, Canada! He's such a sick guy and we get along so well because we are honestly so similar. We both joke around so much so there's hardly ever a span of more than 5 minutes where we aren't dying laughing about something. When someone slams a door on us one of us will just crack a joke and lighten the mood!  I also got super sick this week and couldn't stop coughing. We thought it was bronchitis or something but we didn't go to the doctor because we needed to do work! You have to do work when you are white washing! Anyway it got super bad and I lost my voice from all the coughing. I cant think of a better way to train your trainee than to physically not be able to talk to anyone so they have to talk to EVERYONE hahaha! He's been getting some good practice.

Anyway, we have been working with a few people already. We are really focusing on a less active named Marius. (He said we could share this with our friends and family) He grew up in the Mexican Mafia and honestly just had the hardest life. He's covered with tattoos all over his body and you would think he would be a really hardened guy but he's the total opposite. He has the biggest heart ever and has the strongest testimony. He spent most of his life as a big time drug dealer for a lot of celebrities here in California and thought life was great because he had all the money he could ever dream of. But then he found the Gospel. That was the only thing that could get him to change his ways and turn his life in a different direction. He had to make sacrifices though. No more dealing...which meant no more money. So he acted in faith and joined the church and the Lord blessed him by showing him talents he had that he never knew about. He is now a producer in the music industry and he is SO good at what he does! That was a huge testimony builder that the Lord always blesses us when we make sacrifices to be righteous. We have regular meetings scheduled with Marius now and I can't wait to work with him.

We are also working with Brother Solis, another less active. He also has such a strong testimony. He reads the scriptures frequently, listens to conference talks and reads church magazines all the time, but he will not come to church. He was offended by a Bishop over 10 years ago and will not let it go so we are trying to work with him on that. I just hope we help him see that he needs to let the Atonement work for him.

We currently have no investigators and that's why they are white washing the area. It's kinda disappointing to leave an area that you get to thrive finally, for an area with not much there. But I know the Lord will help Elder Silva and I get this area bumpin. We've just gotta work our hardest and have faith. We have already seen miracles this week with the referrals we have been contacting. There are a few lessons set up for next week already which is awesome progress!

Message of the week: Conference was sick! How awesome is it that we have a living Prophet and Apostles on the earth to lead and guide us. If you listened to Conference for even 5 minutes you know that their messages are inspired and from God. I had so many favorite talks but the Prophets short Message on Sunday morning was amazing. He talked a lot about choices and how they have an affect on everything we do. He said, "Decisions determine destiny." That is so true. We all need to weigh out our decisions on an eternal level.

Well I love you all so much and hope you have a great week!

Elder Jensen

Elder Silva and I at General Conference. I am deathly ill.

Which new Elder from the MTC will be Andrew's new companion?

 March 30, 2016

One of these Elders that just arrived today will be Andrew's new companion.  Which one will it be?!

UPDATE:  It is Elder Silva on the far right on the back row.  He is from British Colombia, Canada!

The Spirit has no language and can touch anyone's heart

March 28,2016

Well it's official, I'm getting transferred to Van Nuys! I don't know my new companion yet because he's gonna be straight off the airplane. So I'm white washing (when they put two missionaries in an area and basically start fresh) and training. It's going to be an adventure but I'm excited to see how it goes! It's sad leaving all these people I have grown close to but I know I'll meet new members and investigators in Van Nuys too.

We committed Sarabjeet to baptism this week! He loves the gospel and wants to follow Christ so badly! His English is improving so much and I know Elder Horito will be able to help him progress towards baptism better than anyone! He's a great missionary.

We taught the Russians one last time. (Ruben and Tatiana) They were my favorites. They are doing so well and we see miracles every time we teach them. Super sad that I won't be able to meet with them any more but I'm so glad that I got to meet them and prepare the way for the next missionary to come in and teach them. Hopefully he speaks Russian! They have taught me that the Spirit has no language and that it can touch anyone's heart.

Marlon called us this week and was having doubts about coming to church again. He felt like he wasn't good enough to become a member because of his living situation. We were so scared we were going to lose him so we drove straight to his apartment and cleared everything up. We told him that our Heavenly Father takes us however we are and all we have to do is follow His example! He felt a lot better after we shared that with him. We also told him an analogy that he really liked. We said that he is trying to push his car back home and he's on a huge hill right now, but Christ is in the driver seat and all he needs to do is get in and let Christ start the car and let him do it all for him. He's a really independent guy and that hit home for him. He needs to trust in the Lord and not take on everything alone. He's back on track for his baptismal date now!

Anne is the coolest! She gave me a huge hug at our last lesson. She made sure that I would be there for her baptism and I promised I would be there! She's gonna get baptized on the 10th of April and I'm so excited for her and I hope her decisions rub off on her Daughter and Grandchildren.

We taught sandy for my last time this week. We did a cool thing that showed the power of the atonement. We put a bunch of water in a Tupperware container and dumped salt into it to represent all our good deeds. Then we put pepper in it to show all our bad ones. When the pepper is put in you can't see the salt at the bottom. Then we put a drop of soap in the water and all the pepper spread out to the sides so you could see all the salt at the bottom. That's what the atonement does for us. It pushes all the sins to the side and lets us only see the good. He loved it because he said he has made a lot of mistakes and spent his whole life in prison. He wants to come to church now!  

We had dinner with Michael Jackson's sister, Latoya this week! Hahaha nah just kidding but we did eat dinner right next to her at this cool Thai restaurant on Ventura Blvd. She pulled up in her Rolls Royce and our member freaked out haha!  Kinda cool

Message of the week: Our experiences we have are definitely there to shape us into the person Heavenly Father wants us to be. I have been shaped so much these past 7 months or so and It hasn't been easy but it's been awesome. It's really hard to trust that challenges are there for your own good but they always are there to benefit us in the long run.

Well I hope you all have a great week!! Love you all so much!

Elder Jensen

Morning hikes for our workout.

Sister Tripp, my favorite Grandma in the ward.

The Treu family. Less actives we worked with and spent part of Easter with. 

The District

Droppin an album soon.

Morning hikes for our workout

Hiking

The spirit is essential to missionary work!

March 21, 2016

Another busy week!

We picked up a family this week! I've never taught an entire family before so this has been a pretty cool experience! We found Luis (the dad) during knockout a week ago and he invited us to come back and share a message. We talked to him and his family about the Restoration and Luis knew quite a bit because he had a lot of Mormon friends growing up. But he thought that The Book of Mormon was written by Joseph Smith so he would never read it. Once we cleared up what The Book of Mormon actually is he said..."I'll do something for you guys....I'll read the book from cover to cover. I want to know if it's true." It was so cool!  We are going to teach them again this week so I'll keep you posted on that.

We met up with Brian at the Sherman Oaks Chapel and cut his hair! Elder Horito has taught me a lot of things and one of those things is how to give a good line up! Sadly we have to pass Brian off to the Sherman Oaks or North Hollywood Elders because he is moving. It's been awesome teaching him and I wish the best for him.

We got to teach Marlin a few times this week! He's awesome!! He came to church on Sunday and loved it! He started crying a few times because he felt the Spirit so strong. The talks were super good which was also a bonus! He's on date for April 3rd but we might need to have him come to church a few more times before we can baptize him so we'll see...it might get pushed back.

The Akopov's are still doing great as well! They said "we know you're sent by God" because their dogs got out and they usually would attack people but they were super friendly with us and didn't even bark. That was a sign to them that this message we share is a big deal. They have so many questions and sometimes answers will come out of our mouths that we couldn't have come up with ourselves. The spirit is essential to missionary work!  I have a strong feeling that they'll get baptized sometime soon because they're both willing to put in the effort to find out for themselves if this is true. Tatiana is getting deep into the Book of Mormon and she's loving it!

Anne is still coming to Church every week! She refuses to miss! We taught her the Gospel of Jesus Christ and that hit home for her. She wants to live her life right so that she can honor what Christ did for her. Pretty cool goal if you ask me!

We also picked up Noel this week. He's been in prison most of his life and he needs to change his life. He wants to be different but he needs help. We told him about the Atonement and told him how through Jesus Christ he could change. He invited us back and then we taught him the Restoration. He's committed to read the Book of Mormon.

Encino is bumpin right now! We have 16 investigators and so many less actives we are working with. Sadly transfers are next week so I could be leaving. I guess that's part of the mission though...you build up and area and have to let others finish what you started. All part of the Lords plan!

Eddy also got the Priesthood this Sunday!! Such an awesome thing to see. He's come a long way and he is such a bonus to the ward! I love that guy so much.

Well that's it for this week! I hope you all have a great Easter next Sunday!

Message of the week: followhim.mormon.org   Check it out.

Giving Brian a line up.

Up in the hills knocking crazy million dollar homes. 

The Gospel can seriously fix everything if you just have faith and are obedient

March 14, 2016

Hey everyone! This week was such a busy and hectic week in Encino. We taught 12 lessons and were absolutely swamped with things we had to do. But being busy is a missionaries dream so we're pretty happy about it!

Anyway, we met with Anne again this week and taught her about Sabbath day observance. Her church attendance is on point! She has come to church every week for the past month and we just wanted to reinforce her testimony about the Sabbath day so that she would continue coming. She's a quarter way through The Book or Mormon for her second time now and she's so excited for her baptism on the 10th of April. We pray every day that she will go through with it this time, and we are really trying to build her testimony to help prepare her. So far so good!

We taught our Indian friend Sarabjeet again this week! Something kind of funny happened! We brought him some Hindi pamphlets to teach him the Gospel this time and he said "Oh I have some of those! Lets study from both pamphlets!" So he pulled out some other pamphlets that weren't from the church and Horito and I were like oh no...what are we gonna do. So when no one was looking we both just grabbed them and put them in our pockets. They were so confused where the other literature went! But it worked out. He just used a Restoration pamphlet instead and loved what we taught him! We are going back today to teach more!

I went on an exchange with Elder Shaw this week to the Sherman Oaks area. He is a total cowboy from Utah! I love that kid.  We taught Kristen Wilson (the woman who plays the mom in Dr. Dolittle) and she has a baptismal date for April 10th as well!  She has gone through so much in her life and she knows that she has been guided by the Holy Ghost the whole way. Kinda cool to teach someone whose sort of famous. But anyway, she's super solid!  It's awesome to see someone come to the realization that this is what they've been looking for all their life!

We took Hikmat on a church tour which was awesome! I don't know how interested he actually is but he keeps meeting with us. We taught the Akopov's as well! We answered their questions about the Restoration and talked about why The Book of Mormon was needed. While Tatiana was praying she said "Thank you for helping us see our happy futures when we learn about your Gospel." So cool!! We also got asked to teach Ruben English so we will be over there about 3 times a week working with them. They're one of my favorite families we teach!

We taught the Beauregards and it was awesome to see how far they have come in the last 4 months. They're awesome. The Gospel can seriously fix everything if you just have faith and are obedient.

We had a huge miracle this week! We were knocking this huge complex and knocked into a man named Marlin. We asked if we could share a video with him and he said no because he didn't have his phone with him. So we took that as "OK he wants us to leave."  So we started to leave and he said "Hey don't you wanna come in and share the word?"  We were caught of guard on that one because no one ever says that! So we went in and he told us how he had prayed a few weeks ago that Mormon missionaries would knock on his door and come teach him how to follow Christ. I was smiling so big and was just thanking God the whole time for guiding us to Marlin. He's a golden investigator. We don't even need to push him to meet with us he just calls us all the time and sets it up himself! So that was a miracle this week!!  He is committed to baptism already as well!

Eddy is doing awesome. We met with him this week and he has had a few people challenge him about his beliefs but he has been awesome at standing up for what he believes. He knows it's true and can't deny it. The Bishop has already given him a calling as the Ward Missionary! He is going to be awesome at that because he basically already did that before he was called to do it!

Message of the week:  Heavenly help is real! And it comes through prayer.  Marlin prayed in faith that missionaries would come and teach him the gospel.  Missionaries, Elder Horito and I, showed up a few weeks later as an answer to his prayers. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints was restored through heavenly help received through Joseph Smiths prayer...so obviously prayer works. Pray whenever you need help and I promise it will come.

Well I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Elder Jensen

Sarabjeet, his wife and I learning English

Feast on the words in the scriptures and do good continually

March 7, 2016

Another busy week in Encino! The work here never stops and we are so blessed! So many people need the gospel!

We did service for Brother Austin this week. Four years ago missionaries built a pond for him and messed up the drainage system so we had to fix it. We jack-hammered through a foot of concrete and we are going back tomorrow to finish it. It was fun though! It's nice to change things up and  do some manual labor every once in a while! It's been so cool to work with him. He hasn't let missionaries come by in a long time but we made a good first impression a little while back so he's chill with us. We actually got him back into helping with scouting and he's really stoked about that. Scouting is going to be what reactivates him into the church.
   
We picked up a new investigator named Christian. He's a security specialist and has every gun you could imagine. He's such a cool guy. He recently found out he was diabetic and has been having a really hard time with it but he said his faith in Christ is getting him through it. We brought Eddy to our lesson and he bore his testimony to him of the blessings of the Holy Ghost and how it would help him through his trials and comfort him. Such a cool thing to watch because Eddy was in Christian's shoes less than a month ago and now he's the missionary helping someone else find their way.

Anne LeVad has come to church 2 weeks in a row now! We are so excited about that! She has progressed so much since we went to the Temple and I know it's because she felt the spirit so strong while we were there. She is still wanting to be baptized soon and now we are trying to get permission to teach her grand daughter Michaela! We are praying that her parents will soften their hearts and let her learn more.

We are also teaching a woman named Faith who's from Lebanon. She has a huge problem with the Book of Mormon and only likes to bash us. She is definitely a project. Also we found Fatima again! Our Farsi investigator! She got caught up in some bad stuff (gang related stuff) and has been spending a lot of time at the police station for protection. We are trying not to get too involved but we're still trying to help her find somewhere safe to live in the area.

Funny story of the week: Last P-day we went to the park with the Sherman Oaks Elders and started playing basketball. The next thing we know we have 8 elementary school kids challenging us! We let them play and balled for a while. They were so young and had the worst mouths so we cleaned them up a bit. They asked us to come back next Monday so we'll see what we decide to do. Pretty funny experience!

Message of the week: There are two wolves inside all of us. A good wolf and a bad wolf. The wolf that will win is the one that we feed the most. I encourage all of you to feast on the words in the scriptures and do good continually so that you feed the good wolf inside you.

Love you all! Have a great week!

Elder Jensen

Elder Horito, Wade, Me, and Shaw jack hammering the pond.

Elder Horito and I jamming in our free time. He's teaching me how to play the ukulele.

Keep yourself anchored

 February 29, 2016

This week flew by because we were so busy! We have so many people to fit into our schedule and not enough time in the day so we sometimes have to skip lunch. It stinks but as missionaries we have to sacrifice our own comforts and wants for the good of others.

We took Anne to the Los Angeles Temple visitors center on Saturday. We called in advance and asked the tour guides to put an emphasis on church attendance because she is really struggling with that. She hadn't been back to church in over a year since she canceled her baptism. The spirit at the Visitors Center is so strong and Anne could feel it. It brought her to tears a few times and as we walked around the temple we told her how one day she can have baptisms for the dead done for her husband and that they could be sealed together! She wants that more than anything. We set that as a goal for her to reach and I think it'll help her get ready for baptism faster. The next day Anne was at church! I guess the Temple trip worked! We were so excited to see her and so was the ward. And a miracle has happened since we started teaching her...now her little 7 year old grand daughter wants to come to church with her and learn! She asked if she could get baptized and I told her she could when she's 8. Then I told her how I got to baptize my little sister and bore my testimony about how good it feels to be baptized. It's amazing how Christlike little children are. We definitely need to become more like them in order to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.

We met with Pamela again and man she's killing me! She said "I have no doubt that this is true! I know it's true. But I don't know if this is the path that I need to be on right now." AHH Pamela!!! This is the only path for you! We have tried to emphasize that the Lord gave us the Gospel as His plan for all of us to follow but it's not getting through yet. We're gonna keep working on helping her see this as the path for all of us. We also met with Janelle and she's doing good still. She's not progressing too much but she keeps inviting us back to teach her more and it seems to make her happy. Also she's become really good friends with the member we bring with to the lessons. Members are the key to missionary work. Without them making commitments is so much scarier for investigators.

We have been teaching a man named Hikmat and his family from Afghanistan. We feel like we enter a different country every time we meet with them.  It's pretty cool! LA is so diverse! He and his family are the most kind and friendly people I have ever met. He's a project for sure but I understand how hard it would be for him to change his religion from Muslin to Christian.

We have been teaching English to a few people. We teach Bahrahm (a member in our ward) who is from Iran. We are possibly going to start teaching our Russian investigator, and maybe Hikmat's family too. We found this man named Sarabjeed, he is from India. We gave him a card and he told us he spoke little English, but he loves God, and he knows there is only one God. We told him we could order him a Hindi Book of Mormon and teaching pamphlets. He wants to meet with us and we are also going to start teaching him English! I'm so excited for all these teaching opportunities.  You might be thinking, how are we going to teach these people when we don't speak all their languages? Ammon taught Lamoni and converted his Kingdom, with the Lord, and in His strength, we can do all things.

The Akopov family is awesome! She is from Ukraine and he's from Russia. We taught her the Restoration this week and told her about how we have a living Prophet on the earth. She said she felt "happiness" inside her as we taught her and she also said that all her life she had yearned to feel happy after church...but every church she ever went to made her feel sad. She told us that this might be what she has been looking for her whole life. We are so excited to bring her and her husband to our church!! Eddy is still doing great and we have a few other Recent converts and less actives that we are working with.

Message of the week: This is a really cool analogy that Elder Horito told me: When you surf you always try and stay in the shallow water where it's safer. There are no sharks and you can still find good waves but...there are always tempting waves in the deeper waters that seem much much better. Sometimes you find yourself drifting out to the deeper waters to catch bigger waves, the waves may be better, but the risk is higher as well because deep water is where the sharks are. Satan always tries to pull us deeper out to sea by tempting us with bigger and better waves. At the time it seems enticing and safe so we start to drift further out where the sharks can get us. It's not worth the risk. Keep yourself anchored, and don't drift out to the deeper waters because there are always sharks waiting to pull us under.

Love you guys and I hope you all have a great week!

Elder Jensen

We took Anne to the Los Angeles temple visitors center on Saturday.

Hikmat from Afganistan

Service in Chatsworth California

Elder Jensen and Elder Horito serving at the Operation Gratitude project in the new facility in Chatsworth, California.

We need to have broken in hearts so the lord can use us and work through us

February 22, 2016

Hey!
Another week down in California! This week flew by because we were just so busy. Every night we just came home and fell asleep instantly.  That's a good thing though...it means we're putting in work.

We met with Anne Lavad again this week and she committed herself to a baptismal date without us even having to ask her which was pretty cool! It would be nice if it was like that every time. She wants to get baptized in three weeks on the 13th of March. The only thing holding her back at this point is her recent heart surgery. The doctors haven't cleared her to go into water yet and she's meeting with them in a few weeks to try and get cleared. We are going to give her a blessing before she goes to the doctor to help out.

We ran into a bunch of less actives this week that we never even knew about. We found Lynne and Sandy. We actually knocked into Sandy and found out that he had just gotten out of prison, he was baptized as a child, but fell away from the church. He wants to meet with us and come back to church now. It was a straight miracle that we found him!

We got a referral from the Spanish sisters, her name is Susan. She is from Lebanon and she is blind. She learned a little about the church 30 years ago from her neighbors who were LDS, but they moved away and she never got back into it. Then the sisters knocked on her door, and she told us that she took that as a sign she needs to learn more about this church. She is super interested and I'm so excited to start teaching her. It just goes to show that one good experience or memory about the church can impact people later down the road when they are ready to learn. Also I get to give out the first braille Book of Mormon on my mission!

Pamela Spencer is doing good. She think she'll be ready to get baptized soon. We are just focusing on building her testimony of Joseph Smith and The Book of Mormon because that's what she is still a little skeptical of. She's been reading a little here and there and it's been cool to watch her testimony grow over the past few weeks because of that.

We did some service for a less active member in the Sherman Oaks ward this week. We took out a bunch of grass in his yard and filled an entire trailer. As the Sherman Oaks elders were driving us back to our car we drove through a NCIS Los Angeles set and got in trouble hahaha! It was kinda cool because we saw all the actors and stuff.

Message of the week: We had Elder Echo-Hawk and Elder Pimentel come speak during stake conference this week. Elder Pimentel had an awesome analogy that I'm gonna share with you. When you get a new baseball glove it's all shiny and new but it's practically worthless. The ball get's thrown to you and it's so stiff that you can't close it to catch the ball. You have to break it in and loosen it up a bit so that you can catch the ball when the time comes. We need to have broken in hearts so the lord can use us and work through us. We are the baseball glove on his hand and it's our job to break ourselves in. We can't be stiff vessels or else when the time comes...he won't be able to use us the way he needs.

Well have a great week and remember that it's good to have a broken in heart!

Elder Jensen

Elder Shaw, Elder Wade, Elder Horito and Myslef doing service for Gary in the Sherman Oaks ward.

Working at Gary's with Elder Wade, Elder Horito, Elder Shaw and Myself.

Thank you so much for all the decorations and treats Annalisa!! I loved them so much!!

I miss you Annalisa, but the picture was awesome cuz it was like you were giving me a hug!!! Thank you for being the best sister ever!

We have been so blessed by the Lord

Hey Guys! This week was amazing! So much happened and we have been so blessed by the Lord.

We had our last lesson with Eddy this week and he's already being a missionary! As we were walking to his door a woman came up to us and started telling us her life story in Spanish. We had no idea what she was saying and she thought we were being rude by not replying but then Eddy came to the rescue and translated for us! She had read the entire Book of Mormon by herself and wanted to take the lessons. She had just come from Honduras and really had an amazing life story. Eddy bore his testimony and told her how the gospel could mend her broken heart and give her new direction and purpose in life. The woman started crying and the Spirit was so strong even though we were on a busy street corner. We knew right then that Eddy was going to be an awesome addition to the ward! We also had his Baptism this week! He asked me to baptize him and it was such an awesome experience. I was a little worried at first because they only filled the fount up to my knees but I got him under. After I brought him up out of the water he just hugged me and couldn't stop crying. He was so happy!! He bore his testimony after the Baptism and said he is no longer his old self...he is now Saint Eddy. I love that guy so much!!! He is going to be an amazing member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints! He was so prepared and we just came into the picture at the right time. We are so blessed here in Encino.

We met with Pamela Spencer again this week and taught her the Gospel of Jesus Christ. She liked it a ton and is still skeptical but we told her that the Gospel is like a relationship. If you don't put in any effort it won't work! So She promised to read her scriptures (which she hasn't done yet) and pray about them. Hopefully she puts in the effort to sincerely investigate the church so that the Holy Ghost can get through to her.

Funny story of the week: Sister Tripp is my favorite old lady in the ward!! She is 80 and has had a stroke recently so she has really had a rough time lately. We visit her and we've really gotten close to her. Anyway, she won't stop hugging us every time we see her! She hugs us at church at Baptisms literally everywhere. And we keep telling her that's not allowed but she has a really bad memory so she never remembers anything...so we just let it go and take all the hugs we can get! I have a soft spot for oldies.

Another Funny Story: Pamela Called us and told us she needed help moving something that she said was "a little heavy".....when we showed up we found out it was a 200 pound stone that was once in an Abbey and she wanted it carried up 3 flights of stairs to her apartment. We did it!   Not gonna lie, we've been working out over here.

We taught Janelle about the plan of salvation this week. Her mom is going to pass away soon because she recently had a lung transplant and it's not going well. She's been having a hard time accepting that and it was amazing to be able to bare my testimony on eternal families and how I know through this Gospel we can be together forever. She's found comfort in our message and hopefully she'll keep meeting with us.

Message of the week: The Holy ghost is a straight G. It guided us to Eddy and now it's going to guide him throughout his entire life. Elder Horito and I were talking after the confirmation about how right when they said "Receive the Holy Ghost" we felt something rush out of our hands. It was such a cool feeling and I'll never forget that power I felt.

Well I love you all and hope you have a great week!!

Elder Jensen

The Baptism of Eddy Felix on Valentines Day, 2016

Eddy Felix Baptism Day

Eddy Felix

Hauling a stone up to Pamela Spencer's apartment.

Keep the Commandments!

 February 8, 2016

Hey Everyone! We were busy as usual this week which is so nice! There is so much happening in the Encino area. Transfer calls came this Saturday and Elder Horito and I are both staying another transfer. We're super happy about that because we have grown really close with the ward members and our investigators. Plus we work really well together and know how to get things done. It's going to be an awesome transfer!

We taught Eddy again this week and man...he's golden. We taught him about the commandments and how many people view them as restrictions but in reality they are protection from the real restrictions in life. You could see the Holy Ghost just hit him and his whole perspective changed from questioning what we said to completely understanding why a loving heavenly father would give us these rules to protect us and guide us throughout our lives. It was such a cool experience. We also brought him to church this week. He hasn't gone to our ward every time but he has been to an LDS church every week since we started teaching him. It's really helped him progress and grow spiritually and it's shown me the importance of church. We learn so much every Sunday. Anyway, this week was fast and testimony meeting and Eddy walked right up to the stand and bore his testimony! He talked about the power of prayer and how he was praying for guidance and missionaries stopped by his house and how he is a witness that miracles do happen and prayers are answered...all we have to do is ask. He's not even a member yet and he is already a huge benefit to the ward! We also took him to a baptism in the Spanish stake next to us to get him excited for his baptism. Elder Horito and I didn't understand a single word but Eddy did and that's all that mattered. He said he felt the spirit so strong and even though I couldn't understand anything I did too.

Elder Horito got sick this week. He got a nasty cold and couldn't stop coughing so we had to stay in the apartment Tuesday and Wednesday. I made him soup and cleaned. It was sooo boring! I just wanted to go out and work! Luckily he got better quick and we were able to still teach all our investigators.

We're working on a new less active member in the ward right now, Bryan Scklarsky. He was baptized 4 years ago and then went inactive 2 months later. We started teaching him 3 weeks ago and he's been to church twice since then! Hopefully we can get him completely reactivated soon. We are basically teaching him like a brand new investigator because he doesn't remember a whole bunch. But he does remember all his spiritual experiences with the missionaries who baptized him so I think deep down he knows it's true. We started the lessons from the beginning and he's really regaining his testimony.

Message of the week: Keep the stinkin Commandments! They may seem like restrictions or barriers that get in the way of your happiness but I promise you that's not how it is. I've seen too many people go through some of the hardest trials in their lives because they thought certain things would make them happy. And it all could have been avoided by just keeping the commandments. I know that our Father in Heaven gave us these rules to protect us from ourselves and the dangers in the world that could harm us.

 “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:31–32)

I love you guys and hope you have a great week! I have a strong testimony that keeping the Commandments will "make us free" and help us live a happy life.

Elder Jensen

This life is the time for us to make changes

February 1, 2016

Hey Everyone! Another week down and I'm almost to the 6 month mark...weird. I can honestly say that I've learned more about myself and the gospel in these 6 months than I did in the 18 years before my mission. It's crazy how you learn more by focusing your time on others than by focusing it on yourself.

We taught Anne Lavad again this week. She is now committed to baptism! We're deciding a date next lesson. She has already heard the lessons once before and was so prepared to join the church but it didn't work out so hopefully this time she will be ready. She has a few things holding her back still but we are here to help her get past that. She has a strong testimony of Joseph Smith and tears up every time we read the first vision so I know she knows it's true...we just need to work on her faith.

Brian Hernandez has been making awesome progress this week. He came to sacrament meeting and was all cleaned up and looked so fresh! I know the Lord sent us his way for a reason. His life has never been good and now he has a chance to make a 180 degree change thanks to the gospel. He's battling a bad addiction to drugs right now and we didn't know how to help him so we prayed and prayed for help. We felt inspired to introduce him to Brother Beauregard (a member we recently reactivated). We trusted in the Lord and introduced the two and it was perfect. Brother Beauregard had had similar trials in the past and they connected on a whole other level! Brian may be going into a rehab program that Brother Beauregard knows about which will be sad because I won't get to see my boy Brian till probably after my mission but it's the best thing for him. Brian was so worried about finding a job after he came out of rehab and Brother Beauregard offered him a job at his company right there. I was shocked and so was Elder Horito. After the lesson we asked Brother Beauregard why he did what he did and he said that he has been blessed with so much that it would be selfish for him to not give back a little of what God has blessed him with. He's a great man and he is an example to me.

Eddy Felix is excited for the 14th! He's been reading and praying a ton and he has come to the conclusion that this is the path he needs to be on for the rest of his life. He lost his mom when he was little and the plan of salvation has given him a new found hope of being with his family again. He's also been reading a church book called "Our Search For Happiness" That we gave him. He's a very logical guy and this book really mixes the logical with the spiritual. It's strengthened my testimony and if anyone is having trouble understanding or accepting the gospel I recommend you check it out.

We have been taking Lyric and Byron Garcia from the ward with us to lessons. They are 18 and 19 years old.   They were both unsure about going on a mission but now Byron is getting ready to submit his papers in the next few months and Lyric is actually considering on going which he wasn't before. That's been a cool experience to be a part of.

Pamela Spencer finally got back to us! She came to church and we introduced her to the relief society presidency which was awesome! She got along great with all of them and loves the "sisterhood" in the church. We have another lesson with her this week.

Funny story of the week: Elder Horito and I were going by some less actives in the ward and decided to stop by the Archibeques. We knocked on their door and they let us in which surprised us because they don't usually do that. Well they took us into the back yard and they were having a HUGE birthday party. There were bounce houses everywhere and I swear there were at least 30 little girls in frozen costumes. Plus they had all their family and friends there. We felt so out of place. Elder Horito sad "Well Elder it looks like we have successfully crashed a family event." We got weird looks the whole time (we're used to that but this time was more extreme than usual) We got good tacos and cupcakes out of it though!

Message of the week: Don't worry so much about making yourself comfortable in this life. That's not what this life is for. This life is the time for us to make changes and decisions that will lead us to where we want to be for the eternities after we die. Don't get caught up in the here and now. Brian has really taught me this. Changes are hard to make but they're necessary and essential.

Love you all.

Elder Jensen

Brian Hernandez

Brian Hernandez