Missions are so worth the sacrifice

October 24, 2016

Another transfer over. We got calls on Saturday night and Elder Silva and I will be staying together for another transfer! That's 1/4th of our missions that we will spend as a companionship! Haha we are super stoked as I'm sure you could already guess.

Well here's a quick update on our week...

First off with our investigators James and Shannon are doing awesome! We went to the LA temple visitors center with them on Saturday and had a really family centered tour from some sisters there. Then we went for a walk around the Temple with all of them and it was just so beautiful! It is so amazing to see a family who is devoted to trying to follow Christ and to see them together. They are so humble and are really trying to make it through their struggles to follow Christ more fully in their lives and ultimately so that they can be sealed together as a family for eternity! They all had a special experience and I hope to see them back there a year after their baptism to get sealed. We gave the little girls little gifts that my sister sent them all the way from Utah! They loved them and were excited to read her testimony that she wrote inside copies of the Book of Mormon for them. They all came to church on Sunday as well and the girls are still loving church! The 13 year old girl, Isabel, has made so many good friends with the youth and they just feel right at home which is exactly how the church should feel. Then we took James to a priesthood meeting at 7 and he said it was the most inspirational meeting he'd ever been to. The stake presidents father came and spoke and was talking about how he was rescued by a worthy priesthood holder when he was inactive and how our stake president wouldn't even be a member if it wasn't for that person reaching out to them and helping them come unto Christ. After his father sat down James just looked over at me, put his huge hand on top of my head, and just said "Thank you". One of the most meaningful thank you's I've ever received. Missions are so worth the sacrifice....you help people more than you could ever have imagined and that far out weighs the sacrifice. 

Also this week we had a really good lesson with our investigator Nelly and she came to church for the first time. It was super cool because after wards she told us that she loved the tight night feeling of the ward family and that she loved the spirit she felt.

Jim is still plowing through the Book of Mormon. In the past Jim had been reading through really slow and hadn't made much progress but something changed this week. In our lesson he had so many questions about 1 Nephi chapter 8 when it talks about the tree of life, so we explained and answered them through chapter 11. The Spirit really spoke to him in that lesson because after we answered all his questions he said "you know what...It looks like if I just keep reading I'll have everything I need to know revealed to me. I'll just have to finish all of 1 Nephi before our next lesson on Tuesday." He is just so immersed in the stories in the Book of Mormon and he is loving it. He'll be baptized soon guaranteed.

Elder Martin and I also got to go on an Exchange! Just like the Burbank 3rd days! It was super fun. Stinks that we were only comps for 1 transfer though.

Well I love you all and hope you have a great week! Sorry about the short update.

Elder Jensen

Los Angeles Temple with Shannon, James, Layla and Kylie.

Kylie and Layla at the Los Angeles Temple.

LA Temple

Annalisa shared her testimony with Kylie and Layla, and sent them a Halloween treat that she made for them.

Books of Mormon for Layla and Kylie from Annalisa.

Annalisa's handwritten testimony to Layla and Kylie.  Way to share the Gospel Annalisa!

The Zone!

Sister Whitbeck, a recent convert.

James got a haircut !

October 17, 2016

Hello everyone! Another week down in the California San Fernando Mission. Time's flying by...it's almost 2017...so crazy!

So here's an update on James and Shannon. James got a haircut last Monday. We took him to the Barbers after a long discussion about his appearance lol. This is how it went.

   James: "No guys I can't cut my hair. It took me two years to grow it out this long so I
                 could put it in a pony tail."
   Elder Silva: "James...it doesn't look good man."
   James: "It's the biker look...you can't go wrong there."
   Me: "James...you drive a fiat 500..."

So to make a long story short, he's looking fresh in a new haircut! Also...we had a super cool miracle happen at our last lesson. James has been really sad that his girlfriend wasn't really planning on getting baptized with him so we followed the Spirit and decided to reteach the Restoration to really help her see the need to be baptized by someone who holds the Priesthood. At the end of the lesson we asked James if he would be baptized on January 14th and he was so happy he almost started crying...he gladly said yes and then we turned to Shannon and asked her the same question and she also said yes!!! SO sick! Were stoked for them...this is life changing for them. Lots of changes to be made but they have a new drive and desire to do so.

We had an awesome lesson with Edwin this week as well. Back when I was with Elder Wade we promised Edwin that if he was ever having a tough time, that if he just opened The Book of Mormon and started reading on what ever page it landed on that God would give him the exact scripture he needed. Well this week he had that exact thing happen. He's been having some really hard family problems lately and he decided to just open the Book of Mormon...well he landed on the perfect scripture and he said he's never felt so good inside in his entire life! The Church is so true...and the Spirit is inside the pages of the Book of Mormon...all we have to do is open it up. He's gonna try and make it to church this next week just in case one of us gets transferred.

We had a lesson with Mark (our eternigator) and we decided to bring the Gospel Doctrine teacher (Brother Sage) this week so he could maybe talk some sense into him. I'm convinced that he's going to be an Apostle some day...he just layed everything out there and it all made so much sense...even questions I still had were answered. Mark accepted to be baptized he just wants to receive a witness that the Book of Mormon is true first. Don't know what will happen there because he's already read the whole thing once or twice and just doesn't seem to be asking for an answer.

Well that's the week for me. I hope you have a great week! Be safe!

Elder Jensen

Layla (6), and Kylie (3) at church.

James and Shannon with thier family at church.

Church

Haircut

Haircut

Before

After

Miracles happen everywhere!!

October 11, 2016

Hello Everyone!

We had another sick week as usual, filled with tons of miracles and cool experiences. And also some not so cool experiences. One of which is Tiwi's. They put these devices in our car named Tiwi's that monitor your driving and talk to you if you speed or hit bumps to hard or turn too sharp...and then they report you to the office and you can lose driving privileges. So needless to say...my driving has been so amazing lately! Haha they're so annoying but oh well just gotta deal with them for a little while.

Well here's an update on my boy James. So James is making some huge changes! He's almost completely off coffee...he went from an entire flask to only one small cup each morning. He's down to 3-4 cigarettes a day and he's not drinking! Huge progress...we're super proud and excited for him. Shannon and the rest of his family are also doing great!! They all came to church and Shannon had a really spiritual experience listening to peoples testimonies. (being their missionaries we kinda know the inside scoop on their lives and it was so cool to see the spirit prompt certain people to get up and bare their testimonies about things that were so relatable for them) We sat in on the primary class this week during church and Layla and Kylie were answering questions and having a great time! And Shannon and James loved the Gospel principles class. In Relief Society Shannon signed up to help with the ward Halloween party which was really cool. They're all getting involved with the ward and they just feel at home!

Elder Silva and I were asked to give a training in Zone Conference this week to quite a few missionaries so that was a little stressful. It's crazy though...being a missionary has made public speaking super easy so it wasn't a big deal. Anyways we had to train on the Book of Mormon and it's role in conversion and it went super well. We set up the stake center at 7:30am and didn't get out of our meetings until 6. It was brutal. Also, we really struggled to find time to plan our training because we were just so busy throughout the week teaching all our investigators...so we ended up staying up till 2am planning that thing...hahahaha...felt like we were back in high school trying to finish a project that was due the next day.

Israel is such a stud. We went by this week and he's been reading in the Book of Mormon a lot lately which is so cool. He's excited to work towards his baptismal date on November 12th and he even asked his mom and she said she thinks he should do it! That was a miracle right there!

We also went on exchanges this week and has such a sick miracle!! We were knocking in the other Elders area and we knocked on this door and no one came. So we knocked a little harder and a sleepy looking woman answered. We taught her the Restoration and told her about The Book of Mormon and then she stopped us and said. "I prayed earlier that God would give me more guidance and direction. Then I told him I'd do his will. Right after that I fell asleep and then I woke up to you two standing at my door. This is exactly what I've been waiting for!" We told her where the church was (Literally two houses away haha) and she said she is excited to start attending every week! She also told us how they had just moved in 3 weeks ago and they weren't supposed to get the house but God made it possible and now she knows why he helped them out...so she could meet the missionaries. Miracles happen everywhere!!

Well I hope you all have a great week and stay safe!!

Elder Jensen

Planning for our Zone Conference Training meeting.

Our Zone Conference Training meeting went well.

Zone Conference Training meeting

Sometimes it's hard to make the right choices because we 're afraid of what others might think...but in the end none of that matters. We have to have the determination to choose the harder right rather than the easier wrong

October 3, 2016

Another great week with Elder Silva here in Canyon Country! It's so much fun being with this guy again. We were talking the other day about how we have had some of our most spiritual experiences/lessons ever with each other and also some of our funniest mission experiences together hahaha. It's been a great transfer so far and it's hard to believe, but it's already half way over. So weird...time is going faster and faster.

Well here's an update on a few things that happened this week...

We met with James and Shannon this week and things were super rocky when we first got there. Contention, arguing, and definitely not the Spirit. We listened to the situation and learned that James had had some major Word of Wisdom slip ups the last couple of days. Shannon was broken hearted and James was as well. But an amazing thing happened...As Elder Silva and I spoke to them boldly and lovingly we watched  the Spirit bind up their broken hearts, change their attitudes, recommit them to following Jesus Christ, and give them a new determination to try and overcome their trials harder then ever before. The Gospel is truly the only way to true and eternal happiness. I also learned another lesson from James that night. As I looked at him I saw one of the biggest, strongest guys (physically) I've ever seen looking weaker than ever before. Although he was strong physically he was weak spiritually...and that's why he couldn't succeed. We can seldom achieve our goals without Heavenly help..."in His strength we can do all things." We gave James and Shannon both blessings and everything had completely changed thanks to the guidance God has given to all of us through the Gospel. That whole family will be sealed some day...mark my words.

Jim is still doing great. He was able to meet with the bishop and a few other friends he has in the ward and got some council from them. When we got to his house for a lesson he told us he's decided to make some serious life changes to help him work towards baptism! He's on a more dedicated Scripture reading schedule and he's in this for the long haul. He said something super cool to us..."If I become a member of the church there will be a lot of people that will be mad at me...but that's ok because God will be proud of me and I'll be a step closer to him." Sometimes it's hard to make the right choices because we 're afraid of what others might think...but in the end none of that matters. We have to have the determination to choose the harder right rather than the easier wrong.

We were able to set another baptismal date this week with our investigator Israel! He's 16 and he's a huge soccer player so I talk soccer with him and share my limited FIFA knowledge haha. We retaught the restoration and  we were able to help him understand every principle. He was finishing our sentences before we could and it was just crazy to see how prepared he was. He wants his family and his future kids to be baptized and follow Christ as well. One thing that is really helping him find this desire is the book of mormon. He's been reading a lot and he's felt the Spirit speak to him.

Funny Story of The week:  Elder Martin popped both the tires on my road bike this week haha.


Well I hope you have an awesome week. Be safe!

Elder Jensen

Conference

 

Wendy's

 

So many miracles and people placed in their paths.

September 26, 2016

Hello everyone. Another great week here in Santa Clarita. My favorite Canadian and I are still tearing it up Starsky and Hutch style. We definitely work well together haha!

Jim is still on date and things are going pretty well! We set up a baptismal calendar and set some goals to help him be baptised on the 22nd of October. We also got all of his friends in the ward on board to support him and help him with the Word of Wisdom. He's got changes to make but it's all possible with God's help. I don't know if he'll reach his date but it is definitely an inspired date because it's helping him progress more than ever and getting serious about this.

James and his whole family came to Church this week! And we picked up his Girlfriend as an investigator! Things are moving along with that family for sure. So many miracles and people placed in their paths. Elder Silva and I are learning great parenting skills thanks to them as well...we keep Layla (6) and Kylie (3) busy during church by just sacrificing our planners so they can draw haha. They destroy every page...

Well sorry for the short email this week...I'll finish off with a few funny moments.


Funny stories:
- We had exchanges this week with Elder Ha and Elder Corey. I went with Elder Ha who is from South Korea and he is so funny! He doesn't really understand American humour/anger so people would be super rude to us and he's say "Good door right there. Nice people." After they literally told us to never come back hahahaha. I love Koreans.
- We stopped by our investigator at 8:00pm and he opened the door so paranoid. He kept saying "Guys it's so late....like answer your door with a shotgun late!" It was only 8:00...Californians confuse me.



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

Elder Jensen

Service at a Ranch

Helping with the horses.

Feeding horses.

Upgrading to handcarts for tracting.

 

Pictures from the CASF Facebook page

 

 

 

Elders Orchard, Olivas, Horito, Silva Jensen and Wade  on transfer day September 13, 2017.

New companionships on transfer day:  Elder Jarman and Wade with Elder Jensen and Silva.  Together again!

Mission Leadership Council meeting, Sept. 7, 2016.

Elder Wade and Elder Jensen at Mission Leadership Council meeting. 

Mission Leadership Council meeting.

Elder Wade and Elder Jensen at Mission Leadership Council meeting September 7, 2016.

The Spirit really changes hearts...I've witnessed it so many times on my mission.

September 19, 2016

Oh my gosh the craziest thing happened...I'm living in a straight up posterity apartment haha!! So here's the set up. Elder Silva, Elder Martin, and Elder Kerr (who is from Skyline Highschool by the way!), and myself! I'm living with two of my trainees and my trainees trainee. Lets just say it's a really good time haha! It's really awesome having such a solid bond between all of your roomates. Elder Silva and I are starting out this transfer here in Canyon Country just like we started out our companionship in Van Nuys....deathly ill. Elder Martin brought a terrible cold with him and it spread quick. We're healing up quick though.

We had a killer lesson with Jim Jacobson this Wednesday. It was the first lesson Elder Silva and I taught together since Van Nuys and man...we still have the flow! When one of us would stop the other would just pick up where they left off and it was just so spiritual. The Spirit can really flow when you can flow with your companion and teach in unity. We started off by answering lots of Jim's questions about the family and how it should be...then as we started to see the Spirit work on him we asked him if he would be baptized on October 22nd and he said "You know guys...I have a lot to learn and I couldn't learn it all by the 22nd. When I'm ready I'll get baptized." And then the Spirit took over the conversation and we were able to show him that he knew enough...he knew all of this was true and he knew it was the only way to true happiness in this life and the next. Then he asked us what the significance was behind the 22nd. We told him that we had prayed about it very hard and that was the date that God told us he could be ready by. Now this is where Jim showed how humble he was...he said "Well...if God told you I'd be ready...then I'll do it! The 22nd it is!" Jim and I have grown pretty close over the few weeks I've been here and I just bore my testimony about how big of an influence he will be on the youth's lives because he will seriously be the coolest youth leader ever. I told him how I wish he could have been one of my leaders because I've already learned so much from him. So keep Jim in your prayers! He's already starting to make big changes so he can be ready in a month. The Spirit really changes hearts...I've witnessed it so many times on my mission.

We have so many awesome investigators and there is so much I wish I could tell you about but there's never enough time.

Funny story: Elder martin has no idea how to cook...some how he started a grease fire while cooking white rice.......yeah don't ask me how that happened.

Another Funny Story: Some sisters broke their apartment door so we literally fixed it with super glue and a kitchen knife...pics attached. Don't ask questions.

Elder Silva and I are huge jokesters and Sister Henrie has grown to really enjoy our senses of humor so last night she invited us to have dinner at the mission home! President cooks a mean Tri-tip!!! And sister Henrie's brownies are straight heaven...although I think they're just out of a box...none the less they were brownies.

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

Elder Jensen

Fixing the Sister Missionaries door.

Elder Silva and I fixing the Sisters door with a kitchen knife and super glue!

Our tools.

Elder Silva, Martin and Kerr with Elder Jensen.

Elder Silva, Martin and Kerr with Elder Jensen

Transfer News! Elder SILVA is going to be my companion again!!! Miracles are happening all over.

September 12, 2016

Transfer News! Sadly Elder Wade is going to be leaving me :( He's going to be a District Leader and a Trainer back in the promise land! (The San Fernando Valley) I'm sure going to miss him. He's been one of my favorite companions ever and has the most powerful testimony of The Book of Mormon that I have ever heard. It literally saved his life and it's just amazing. But to make this sad moment a little less sad...Elder SILVA is going to be my companion again!!! We always joked about how we were going to get reunited and be Zone Leaders together and now it's actually happening haha! This transfer is gonnna fly by even faster than the last.

Here's a little update on how our week went.
We had an awesome lesson with Jim Jacobson on Wednesday. The only downside was that he made us eat the dove he just shot hunting that day...it's not the tastiest meat. Plus you had to make sure you didn't mash your teeth with the bird shot. I'm just sticking with chicken. Our lesson was sick though. We talked about the Priesthood and he pulled out his note pad and was jotting down scriptures and things he was going to study. His interest in the Priesthood all started when he came to the 7am Priesthood Session of Stake Conference and saw so many men all together learning the Gospel and talking about how they can improve. It really impressed him and now he wants to be a part of that as well.

James came to church with his entire family and his girlfriend had so many friends in the ward that she didn't know were Mormon! Such a miracle and blessing for James to have her on board now. She loves the CC1 ward. She also said she would marry him!! WOOOHOOO! So stoked about that! She sees the changes he's making and she knows he's sincere! So now he just needs to boot smoking get married and he can be baptized! Keep him in your prayers! I'm almost positive that Shannon (the girlfriend) and her daughters will all get baptized too as they continue to learn with James.

We gave a blessing to a lady named Shirley this week. She was having some health issues. Well her daughter was there and was asking a ton of questions and was really interested. Well the next day Shirley called us and she was all better! The blessing had totally healed her! Her daughter was so impressed that she wants to come to church now! Miracles are happening all over the CC1 ward!!

Well I'm so sorry for the short email this week but we have to go get some things ready for transfers! I love you all and hope you have a great week!!

Elder Jensen

James at Church!

Ian and his crazy motorcycle he's fixing.

We were asked to drive cars to the office...got to drive alone! Crazy!!!

More car pics.

The Jellings kids!!

Kids love me I guess.

The Spirit straight up took over

September 6, 2016

We had a crazy crazy week full of lessons, apartment inspections, exchanges and meetings here in the Santa Clarita Valley. I've gotta say, I've never been more tired on my mission than I have been the past transfer...but time has never gone faster. This has been the fastest transfer of my mission and I hope I get to stay here with Elder Wade for a little longer!

Well here's our week:
We had a sweet week of finding new investigators! We taught this old potential investigator named Tony who's an audio technician and producer in the music industry. He's a Navy Veteran and has a wife and a young toddler. He was in an explosion of some sort while he was in the service and escaped with only an injured leg. Ever since then he has had a strong belief in God and his love for each one of us. He could have easily died but he was protected and was able to return home to his family. Well anyway we sat down with him and taught the Restoration and the Spirit straight up took over because the lesson just flowed better than any other lesson I have ever been in. We talked about how God works through Prophets and how that's what he has always done, so when we got talking about Joseph Smith it just made sense to Tony that that is what God would do because he loves us. He was stoked to hear that we can feel God in our lives more through the words of the living Prophet and his Apostles. We testified that as he puts forth the faith and effort to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it that he will get his answer.

Mark Stewart is starting to freak me out. We had a lesson in the chapel with him and it just felt like he was trying to pull us away from the Gospel and convert us to his church. Elder wade and I both got the impression that we should drop him and that seems to be the next step. It's tough when you have literally done all you can to help someone get an answer that the Gospel is true but they just aren't willing to listen to the spiritual promptings they receive. So discouraging!

Edwin is still awesome. He wasn't able to come to the soccer thing on Friday but during our lesson he was just so sincere at heart. He truly wants to learn and he wants to find the way that Heavenly Father has prepared for him to return back to him. Keep him in your prayers.

Funny Story: We did some service for James this week. We were laying paving stones in his back and he was looking all over for his rubber mallet to level out the pavers. Well he couldn't find it so as we would hand him the pavers he'd just take his massive fist and use that as his mallet and just smashed those things into place hahaha.  He's literally a redneck giant guy! Love the guy though. He's still making awesome progress with his smoking. Every day he's been cutting back. He's down to 6 cigarettes a day which is SO good compared to 4 every 5 minutes like it was before. The spirit is really helping him get over this and having his girlfriend there to enforce this change is also helpful!

We had a lesson with our investigator Nelly. She's just out of high school and is probably going to get passed off to the YSA Sisters soon. The lesson was an interesting one. We rolled up and she was in her garage so we pulled up some chairs and she pulled out some internet printouts about the church. Elder Wade and I were just like "Oh shoot. She's playing hard ball with us." Haha so we braced for impact but it was a pretty soft landing which was a blessing. She didn't try and bash us or anything which was nice for a change. (Tons of bashers here in the Valley) She just had some legitimate questions about some of the wording in the Book of Mormon and the curse upon that Lamanites etc etc. We handled it well and were able to clarify it all for her. She said she would stay away from the internet from now on, thank goodness.

We also picked up a woman named Carol. She's the sweetest lady ever. We walked up to her son, who looks like Birdman in the NBA (covered in tats from head to toe) and tried to talk to him but he shewed us away. But we were persistent and went to the next person outside the house...but she also shewed us away. Then we tried one more time with Carol and we had a great discussion about her faith in Christ and God and we were able to teach her the Restoration right there on her porch. She told us how she wishes her son (birdman) would come to the light but that he wasn't gonna change any time soon...then we watched him do 5 drug deals right outside the house. Cars would pull up and he'd hand them something through the window, they'd hand him something and then they'd take off. We felt so much Christ like love for Carol because she had tried her best to teach her son about God and Jesus Christ. That gave us a perfect opportunity to testify about the Spirit World and how we will be able to continue to learn and be taught the Gospel on the other side. If she ends up not being interested I still know we were sent her way to give her a little peace and comfort.

Funny Story: The Spanish Elders area overlaps our area in some spots and so while we were on exchanges we were dropping by one of "our" investigators Beatrice. Well we pulled up and Elder Clarke was like..."Elder Jensen this is our former investigator Beatrice...are you sure this is the right house?" I assured him that we were at the right house and that we had been here before to build her stroller for her, so we went up to the door and set up an appointment and when we got back to the car Elder Clarke said.."Yo...she won't answer the door for us anymore. I think she dropped us for you and Wade." Hahaha she just switched missionaries 😂  Savage Beatrice!! I guess she likes us more because we built the stroller!

Another Funny story: So we were trying to drop off a bike at these elders apartment but they weren't there so we didn't know what to do. Well the 7year old neighbor kid Shey was outside and was like "Let me see what I can do." So he disappeared behind the building and we just chilled for a few minutes. Next thing we know we hear the Elders door knob rattle a little and out comes shay hahahahaha! He straight up broke in some how and we have no idea how he did it!! I wonder how many times he's done that!

Well I hope you all have a great week! Be safe!

Elder Jensen

Elder Call and I.

Elder Call, Wade Me, And Elder Green

Ping Pong before dinner!

Elder Jung and Kang. My Korean homies. So entertaining.

Elder Jung as frying pan Korean batman?

Not really sure how I got this at the perfect moment.