Don't make excuses, just go!

May 31, 2016

This week was a rough one here in North LA. We lost a few of our flaky investigators but that's how it goes some times! It was a tough finding week as well but it's not always easy! Actually it's never easy haha, but that's how you learn and grow!

We went to the Temple today for our birthdays! It was so awesome. The spirit is so strong in the temple and it really strengthens your testimony that the church is true! It was pretty cool to be able to put all our investigators on the prayer list as well. I know that will make a difference as they feel prayers coming their way.

We met with Daniel a couple times this week! It's so cool to see him rely on the spirit and not on his personal wants. He is still praying for a baptismal date and I know he will get an answer through his faith. We read together out of the Book of Mormon again and he's starting to understand the wording more. It's still tough for him and he struggles, but he's working through it. I just look at him and see so much potential and I just want him to experience the blessings this gospel has to offer so bad!

We went on exchanges with the Zone Leaders this week. Elder Adams came with me in our area. During K.O. we knocked into Marcos and his family. He let us in and I taught the restoration in english then Elder Adams would translate it into spanish so they could understand. The spirit was so strong so we decided to set a baptismal date with them. We committed them to be baptized on July 2nd! The spirit really can soften hearts!!

Also During K.O. the other day Elder Silva and I were walking down the street and saw a young teenager playing basketball with his dad. We challenged them to a 2 on 2 match and they kinda laughed because we were in dress shoes and church clothes. Well...they were mind blown when we beat them hahaha. They let us share a card with them and I know that even though they didn't want to hear our message at the time, Christian (the teenage kid) has a new outlook on missionaries. I know that next time the opportunity comes for him to listen to missionaries he will be more willing. Planting seeds is how we roll!

We got to meet with Michael this week! He asked to be baptized before we leave the area. We really have grown close. It's a total miracle that we have been able to get him to this point. He wants to be baptized so bad that he actually listens and focuses by himself now! The Lord came in clutch...he truly is by our side.

Funny story of the week: So just a quick update on the mirror. We still don't have it. 5 weeks without a mirror hahaha! And here's the bad news...we're now down to 1 and a half mirrors. Some guy shattered our right mirror as he tried to merge and then he took off! California drivers kill me. Wish us luck.

Message of the week: We went and visited Diane in the rest home this week. Haha as we walked in the door we were swarmed by a bunch of old ladies who wouldn't stop trying to hold our hands and ask for our names! We were literally attacked! But Diane had a fall and broke her arm and shattered her knee cap. Anyways, she's doing good for the most part. We talked about how Christ is always our guiding light and how if we follow that light we will make it through the darkness. One thing she said is that she's in a lot of darkness right now because she stopped going to church when she moved to California. She said that she wishes that she would have furthered her spiritual progression while she had the chance because now she can't attend church no matter how bad she wants to. So that's the message this week. Take advantage of the opportunity you have to go to church each week and progress spiritually! Don't make excuses, just go! That's one huge lesson I've learned this transfer.

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

Elder Jensen

Dinner with members

So grateful for members that feed our missionaries and send us pictures!

Serving at Operation Gratitude

Elder Jensen had the opportunity to serve at "Operation Gratitude" this past weekend.  The missionaries love to prepare packages to send to troops all over the world. Here are a few happy missionaries preparing boxes to send.

We can receive peace, comfort, and the remission of our sins at any time...but it's up to us when that is.

May 23, 2016

This week was so awesome! We saw so many miracles and just had an all around good time! But still no car mirror. We have been to the shop 3 times to get it replaced and they keep buying the wrong replacements so I don't know what's going on. Still haven't crashed though!!

We met with Daniel twice this week. In the first lesson, on Tuesday, we talked about the Book of Mormon and why it's so important that he reads it. We explained that the Book of Mormon is the keystone of our religion and that if it is true then everything else must be true because that is what holds our church together. He seemed to understand why it was so important and by the next lesson, on Friday, he had read 4 chapters which is pretty good! We talked about what he had read and explained what was happening. Our member came in clutch and invited Daniel to church. Daniel said no the first time but then our member asked "Why not?" Daniel realized that he was just nervous and busy, so we explained that Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy is a Commandment and that we can really feel the Spirit there and get answers to our questions. Brother Dalumpines asked him again if he would come to church and the Spirit must have softened his heart because this time he said yes! So Daniel was at church this week and he was super excited to meet all the Philippino's in the ward! We're super excited to see him progressing!

We also Taught Lorena this week. We brought Sister Solis with us and it ended up working out perfectly. Lorena had a lot of questions about the church and why her catholic church didn't have the priesthood power. Sister Solis used to be catholic and had all those same questions so she was able to answer them easily and really cleared up Lorena's questions. It was a huge testimony builder of member missionary work! We would not be as effective without member support.

We picked up two new investigators this week. Adrie, who is from Iran, and Lisa. Adrie was found during K.O. and told us she felt unworthy to be in the presence of Jesus ever again. We told her about baptism and repentance and the atonement and then she asked us to teach her more. We taught her the restoration and it seemed to really touch her heart. She committed to baptism and said that she wanted to read the Book of Mormon! It was such a cool experience! And then we met Lisa. Lisa was a little sketchy. She kinda started off bashing our faces in but then she realized that we weren't there to bash back and so she stopped and let us share a message. She had tons of questions and asked us to come back and answer her questions today...so we will see how that goes haha!

I had an awesome birthday week! My roomies threw me a party and we had cake and ice cream. It was super awesome! Elder Silva and I went to lunch and a member from Santa Monica came over to our table and gave us 40 dollars and told us lunch was on him. So that was a birthday miracle! Then that night the Solis family fed us and they somehow knew it was my birthday and surprised me with a cake! It was an awesome birthday! And thanks for all of the birthday letters and emails! They all meant a ton to me!

Funny Story of the week: The zone leaders put a cupcake in our toilet this week. We had to fish it out so it didn't clog. We had to get them back so we covered their shower with Vienna sausages hahaha. It's still an ongoing battle! Updates to come.

Message of the week: We need to remember that the Atonement was already performed by Jesus Christ. We can receive peace, comfort, and the remission of our sins at any time...but it's up to us when that is. We have to do our part in order for the atonement to work in our lives. I was studying Alma 7:11-13 this week and I'd invite you all to read it and remember what your savior did for you. Always remember that he carried the cross on his shoulder so that we could start over...and we all need to start over multiple times in our lives.

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

Elder Jensen

Elder Silva throwing me a Birthday Party!  Hahah...very funny...  "16"!

Elder Silva is an interior designer!

Shooting balloons with needle darts! #firingsquad. 

The Solis Family! Jim, Nora, and Jane. 

Spending my Birthday having dinner with the Solis family.

My Brother Elder Silva.

Sweet email from Elder Silva

May 16, 2016

I received a sweet email from Elder Silva on Monday.  I was especially touched and appreciative of his comments about Andrew.  

      "Mama Jensen,

Gosh Do I love and appreciate you and your family. I really want to thank you for sending me those books and pictures of the first presidency and apostles those are really cool.
Holy smokes and thank you for sending some fun toys as well. I have almost lost an eye already, way fun in our apartment now.

Something that I really appreciate about your son is that he himself is truly converted to the Gospel and really understands why he is here. This really makes me happy knowing that when he is teaching he is really understanding the importance of what he is teaching and who he is teaching. I will never forget the missionaries that taught me and the blessing that this Gospel has brought to my life as well as my families even though they are not members yet. I want you to know that Elder Jensen has his heart in this work and that he is representing Our Savior Jesus Christ and is not only helping others who are not members but also the missionaries around him.

I am excited to also have a party fro his birthday this wednesday as well, there will be gifts. I promise.

Mama Jensen Thank you so much for your example and faithfulness. Thank you for your membership in the Church. Thank you for your sacrifices. THIS CHURCH IS TRUE. Your Heavenly Father loves you and all that you do."

Love,
Elder Silva

I Love You Mom!

May 14, 2016

I love getting surprise texts from members in Elder Jensen's mission!  This one from Elder and Sister Sellens from Alaska made my day!  They had Elder Jensen and Elder Silva over for an early Birthday dinner on Saturday to celebrate Andrew's Birthday this Wednesday. He said that he and Elder Silva ate half of the cheese cake between the two of them. 

With the Lords help and the right timing we will be able to do it.

May 16, 2016

We had another busy week! There was just so much stuff we had to do to settle into our new apartment and get situated. So about the car mirror...we got to the shop to get it fixed and he pulls the mirror out and it was completely wrong. It was the wrong color, the wrong side, and the wrong model. The only thing the guy got right was that it was a mirror. So we are going another week with no mirror!

We taught Ben Nunez this week and it was awesome! He really opened up to us about what is going on in his life with his family and the struggles he is going through. We talked about the Gospel and how it really helps us see things in an eternal perspective which makes it easier to go through trials and struggles in this life. He loves when we come by and teach him but the main challenge we have with Ben right now is that he already goes to a church. He has lots of friends there so it's been really hard for him to find the desire to visit our church. It's a huge change for him so of course it will be difficult to get him to church...but I know that with the Lords help and the right timing we will be able to do it.

We also taught Lorena. She was a potential we found a few weeks ago during knockout. She let us teach her the restoration on her doorstep and as we taught she agreed with all the basic things we taught her about. We told her about modern day Prophets and asked her what she thought about it. She said it would be awesome if we had Prophets on the earth again. We testified that there were again Prophets on the earth and the Spirit must have touched her heart because she set up a return appointment! She's awesome, but she also has the same challenge as Ben. She already goes to church and has lots of friends there so she said it would be hard for her to come visit. Once again...the Lord is gonna have to come in clutch. A 22 year old and a teenager can't do this on their own.

Michael was a little difficult this week. He threw a huge tantrum right as we sat down and then peed his pants...so the lesson had to be salvaged. We got it under control though. We taught him the story of Alma the younger and how he repented from what he had done wrong and eventually became a missionary! Michael loved following along as we talked about the pictures in the story book scriptures. It was kind of a flash back to my child hood. My parents would always teach us out of that book and I'm so thankful that they did. It really helped me get a better idea of the stories in the Book of Mormon which helped me learn once I was old enough to actually read. I'm just so thankful for parents that taught me the Gospel from a young age. SO blessed because of that.

Funny story of the week: So when we got to our new apartment the Zone Leaders had clogged the kitchen sink because they had been dumping food down the side that didn't have the garbage disposal. Anyway, one night while we were cooking dinner the sink started to fill up with water (it was more food than water though). Elder Silva and I just stood there staring at it. Right when it was about an inch from overflowing I think panic set in because we both sprinted towards the garbage can. We pulled out the bag and then got bowls and began filling the can with the disgusting water. Hahaha oh man it was terrible! We had no where to dump the water out so we just carried it to our Zone Leader's tub and dumped it in there. We filled the large garbage can about 4 times until we finally plugged the drain. When the ZL's got home we told them what had happened and they died laughing! They thought it was so funny that we had to clean all of that up! Elder Allen caught his breath for a second and asked us "So where'd you dump it all?" When we told them they didn't think it was quite as funny hahaha! Oh man good times!!

Oh and I forgot to tell you about another funny thing that happened this week. I got a Birthday package from my mom with 4 nerf guns in it...one for everyone in our apartment. We kinda took it to the extreme and we put small needles on the ends of the darts and we were chasing each other around our apartment shooting each other hahahaha. It was so fun!!

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

Elder Jensen

About to open our gifts from my Parents for my Birthday!  All the cookies were gone within 2 days hahaha!  Everyone loved them! 

And the Nerf guns....man were they a hit!!  Everyone was so excited to get them!  Me, Elder Allen, Elder Silva, and Elder Adams ready for a Nerf war.

Forts!

Our apartment got destroyed during our nerf war.  I loved the Birthday surprises from home!  Thank you Mom and Dad!!  And not only did I love it, but everyone loved it!  Thank you for the awesome Birthday package!!!  Thank you for making this Birthday away from home awesome!  I love you so so so much!!!

 

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.