November 8, 2010

Hello

So this week my trainer, my mother, leaves to go home. I am very sad that she is leaving. She has been a great companion and I will miss her terribly. I have learned so much from her and she is a lot of fun. Sister Smith will always have a place in my heart. She is from California so she will be going there. In January she will go back up to BYU-Idaho for her last semester. She says that she will come and visit the mission so I will most likely be able to see her again soon.

My new companion's name is Sister Nielson. I haven't met her yet but Sister Smith has served with her before and says that she is really amazing. I sure hope so. Also she has red curly hair and I am not going to lie I am kind of envious. Can you imagine how cute her kids are going to be?

This week we have done a lot of tracting and contacting. We had one person who said that we could come back when his wife gets back in 5 days. He probably thinks we won't come back but we are. We are kind of low on people that we are teaching because all of our progressing investigators got baptized. Some of the investigators that are in the area book I haven't even met this transfer so we will see how that goes with the next transfer coming up.

The other day we went over to Trevor's house to set up another appointment. His wife, Alyssa we finally got her name, answered the door and told us on Sunday Olivia had asked her, "Are the girls coming over today?" I thought that was so cute. So we have an appointment with them on Wednesday. I think that perhaps this is a good sign that she was very open to us coming back another time. I have faith that this family will see the truth of the message we bring them.

Aubrey was baptized on Saturday. It was really good and Sister Smith and I were happy that we could go even though the Gallegos moved out of our area. Aubrey was pretty nervous but she went through and you could really feel the Spirit there. I am so proud of her and for her family. They are going through a really hard time right now and they could just turn away from God and the church but instead they are turning to God. I know that that will make the biggest difference because God will help them through their trial. We also went to their Sacrament meeting yesterday to witness her receiving the Holy Ghost. Again the Spirit was very strong.

This transfer I have been able to witness 4 baptisms in my area and also Aubrey's and the amazing thing is that all of those except for one were youth baptisms. The power and strength of the youth is so strong. It is amazing to see their strong testimonies at a young age. It is helpful to see because if they can be so strong and choose to follow the Lord at a young age then I see that I can make sure that my testimony is rock solid as well.

So the weather here is very interesting. For the most part it has been really warm and not at all the norm for October and November. It makes walking outside really nice because we don't freeze out. Some people have told us that this week or this coming up weekend that it is going to snow. I finally go some boots so I might be prepared but I don't know. The lady that we live with has already put up her Christmas decorations.

We had one elder that was transfered into our area about three weeks ago and now is being transfered to another area. At first he was kind of a sister hater because the person who trained him was a sister hater. I think that being in a car share with Sister Smith and I really helped to fix that because he says that he is no longer a sister hater. I can understand why some elders don't like some sisters but just because I don't like some elders doesn't mean that I am going to dislike all the elders.

Well I hope you all have a good week and that everything is going well.

Love

Sister Jense

November 1, 2010

Hello!

This week we started to teach a new family. It is a family that we tracted into a couple of weeks ago and the father, Trevor, said we could come back. We tried back a couple of times and we finally made an appointment with both of them home. We taught them the first lesson up to prophets. We have to keep our lessons short because they have two small kids. Trevor and Alyssa are Methodists and so the idea of prophets was rather new to them and they didn't know how to take it. Alyssa brought up that anyone could claim they are a prophet and she could see why people wouldn't believe that. Sister Smith then brought up how no one believe that Noah was a prophet and they didn't believe what he said. That made Alyssa think and I think that she was a little more open to the idea of prophets. We left them a Restoration pamphlet and they said we could come back this week. So I hope that it will all go well because they are a pretty cool family.

This week was our wards Halloween party and one of the girls in the Skyview ward dressed up as Sister Smith. I am not going to lie I was pretty jealous.

Dillon received the Holy Ghost yesterday! After Sacrament meeting his teacher walked up and asked him if he was ready to go to primary and Dillon said he didn't know he was going and then the teacher, Brother Smith, just said, "Sure you are," and took him a long. I am so happy because Dillon received the Holy Ghost and he went to primary. Dillon is so amazing. I am just so happy for that kid.

Yesterday for Halloween we had to be in at dark so Sister Smith and I dragged our mattresses down stairs and made a fort. It was totally legit.

Sorry this email is short. We don't have a lot of time to email today because we are getting a new car!

Love

Sister Jensen

ps. Pray for Trevor and Alyssa. I just know that the gospel will bless their lives. I just hope they are ready.

Monday October 25,2010

Hola

This week was our zone conference. It wasn't a normal conference because Elder Packer from the Seventies was there so there were only two zone conferences in the whole mission with 5 zones at each conference. It was really good and Elder Packer looks like his father. We talked about different ways to be a better missionary. One of the ones that I really need to work on is asking better questions. I have noticed in our lessons that both Sister Smith and I talk to much while teaching and don't really involve the investigator enough. So to fix that we just need to ask questions more to see if they understand or what they think about what we are teaching them.

We also were taught about how the little things can ruin all our work. President Gardner showed us pictures of bark beetles. Now bark beetles are really a big problem here in Montana and they are destroying forrests. What they do is the burrow in a tree and then they just eat all the nutrients from around the inside of the bark and slowly cut off the tree from all their nutrients. These beetles are the size of a grain of rice and they are able to take down a huge tree. This can happen to us to. If we slowly are doing the small things that we aren't supposed to they can build up and ruin all of our efforts. We always have to be on watch because Satan knows how to trick us slowly and slowly to follow him. Where at first it may not seem to be a big deal eventually we are so far in we don't know how to get out.

Also at zone conference I met an elder that I had an American Sign Language class with in High School. At first he just started to talk to me because he heard I was from St. George. Well he looked kind of familiar to me so I asked him if he went to Dixie and then I thought perhaps he was in my ASL class and he was. Yeah I don't really remember him and he doesn't really remember me but it was still cool. I asked him if he knew Rashelle and he said he did and that we looked a like. Pretty small world.

The Gallegos moved this week. We were kind of sad that they moved but the elders in that area will take care of them. While we were teaching our last lesson to Aubrey before they moved I really wanted to make sure that she is involved in the lesson. It is kind of hard to do this because no matter what question you ask she always mumbles, "I don't know." But I was very determined. We started teaching her the third lesson, which is on the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we started off with faith and she really wasn't responsive and wasn't even looking at us but just straight in front of her. As the lesson went on and we asked her more and more questions she started to look at us and then I even saw interest in her eyes. I don't like that she had really seemed interested before but this time she did. I know that the Holy Spirit was really touching her because you could just tell the difference. It was really an amazing experiences to see someone change from almost not caring to being interested and I know it was because she was feeling the Holy Ghost.

Dillon was baptized yesterday! I am just so excited for him because this was his choice. Really it was. His mom never makes him want to do anything religious that he doesn't want to do. I love how he choice and wanted to do this because it shows the power of the youth and how no matter what age you are you can choose to follow the Lord. We were able to get Dillon in a different primary class away from those that bully him and we had is new primary teacher baptize him. It was such a great experience and you could just see his spirit radiating. We first had a talk by Brother Thad Smith about baptism and it was really good and very appropriate for Dillon's age. While Brother Smith was speaking you could just see Dillon listening so intently. He really knew how special this occasion was. Then was his baptism and instead of the water being to cold appariantly it was really really hot. When we came up out of the water I looked over at his mother and could just see how proud she was of him. Hopefully this will start the path of her coming back to church as well. Then Sister Smith talked about the Holy Ghost, another good talk. Bishop Smith welcomed him to the ward and Sister Despain welcomed him to the primary. Even though Jaime's baptism was wonderful I think I enjoyed and really felt the Spirit more at this one because I know Dillon better and have actually taught him and seen how much he wants this. I just hope that he will always remember this experience and what he felt last night and always strive to follow the Savior. Next sunday he is going to receive the Holy Ghost and I just know that that will be an even more wonderful experience for him.

Next Sunday I have to give a talk in Sacrament meeting in one of our wards. I don't know the topic yet but hopefully it will go well. Pray for me.

Thanks for all your letters and support. I love you all.

Love,

Sister Jense

Mon, October 18, 2010

Hello!

So fall weather has finally arrived here in Montana and it is starting to get a little nippy. Even though it is getting cold I love the crispness in the air. I really think that fall and spring are my favorite seasons because they are neither to hot nor to cold. Just right.

This coming up weekend we are going to have three baptisms. Daniel and Isabel Amato are going to be baptized on Saturday. I haven't met these two yet but Sister Smith says they are really amazing. They go to church every week and Sister Smith says they already knew all the information. The only reason why they had to take the missionary lessons is because their parents didn't get them baptized at eight. Yeah I think it is pretty interesting.

The other person being baptized is Dillon Maroncelli. He is 10 and is the smartest kid ever. He is really excited to be baptized and although his mom is a member she is not pushing him into this at all. She is leaving it all up to him which it is wonderful that he is getting baptized. The only thing that is sad is that in primary there is a boy his age that is really mean to him and so Dillon doesn't want to go. I really hope that we can figure out something so he can go to primary because that is the best part of church. I think we are going to ask the Primary teacher if he can go to a different class or something. That would be really good.

This week is zone conference but Elder Packer of the Seventy is going to be there so it is going to be like a mega zone conference with 5 zones. So Sister Smith has a beautiful voice. The assistants to the president know this and asked if we would sing. I said no but Sister Smith felt bad and now we are singing. I am not very excited about this. Zone conference will hopefully be really good.

This week Ryan and Alyssa came to church. They have been saying this for a couple of weeks but never showing. So when we saw them on Sunday we were all sorts of stoked. Now all we need to do if find a time to teach them when his parents aren't home.

Also another cool thing. There is a lady named Gayle who was baptized in May. Well her husband is all sorts of anti-mormon. He even left her for a while after she was baptized. Usually he is nice to the missionaries as long as they don't bring up religion to him which I totally understand. When missionaries usually go over he leaves the room but this time he stayed for the whole thing and only made one negative comment. I think that is progress somewhat. At least that might help with the tension in their home.

Ashley has stopped dodging us. We were able to have family home evening with her and a member in the ward. She really liked it and I think it rekindled her desire to learn. We have an appointment with her tomorrow and I really hope that she will start reading her scriptures again.

So Sister Smith and I are trying to be more bold and trying to talk to everyone. We have a game of sorts going on. Everyone time one of us talks to someone, not knocking on their door, we get a point and whoever has the least amount of points has to clean a toilet. Now this isn't just any ordinary toilet. It is a toilet in a house where elders have been living for the last 20 years and it probably hasn't been cleaned in a while. It is really grody. So the other day we were walking down the street and we saw a guy working on a car and Sister Smith goes up and starts talking to him. He told us he was a Baptist minister. I was a little scared because I thought he was going to start bashing on us. Well we had a really good conversation about the Holy Ghost or the Comforter. He thought because we don't believe in the trinity that we don't believe in the Holy Ghost. By the end of the conversation we were able to teach him that we do believe in the Holy Ghost. Over all it was a really good conversation. I just need to be more brave when it goes to talking to people on the street. Sister Smith is amazing at it.

Well I hope you all are having a good week and that it is spectacular!

Love

Sister Jensen

October 11, 2010

Howdy,

This week has been a good week. The weather has started to turn cold and it rained 3 days this week. We heard a rumor that it is supposed to snow in the next week. My companion doesn't really like the sound of that and I don't really care. I say that it is about time.

This week we started to teach an older lady named Barbara. Her and her husband like to sit outside and watch the construction that is happening on their road. She is one of those ladies that like to talk and talk and so when we go see her we always have to make sure that we have a couple of hours blocked off because once she gets going she doesn't really stop.

We are also teaching a 98 year old man. He is still there in the brain and you can have conversations with him. I sort of think that he is letting us teach him for the company and not the message but that is ok. He is in a senior citizen place so I don't really blame him. Sister Smith was telling me that he has a girlfriend in another senior home and sometimes they visit each other. I think that is cute. He really is cool and he is almost always wearing a cowboy hat.

Dillon and the Gallegos came to church yesterday and that was really exciting. Dillon is 11 years old and his mom is a member but less active and now she is coming back to church and she wants her son to be baptized. He is a really smart kid and really nice. His school has a tutor system where older kids can tutor the younger kids and he signed up to be a tutor all by himself. He is way awesome.

We have done a lot more tracting this week. It is hard for me because I never liked going to doors before. Like when I was in cheerleading or national honors when we had to sell things I always dreaded it. Really it was the worst. So tracting is hard but I am trying to stay positive about it. I haven't had any funny experiences with that yet but I am sure by the end of my mission I will.

Also I got a free coat this week. It was a coat left by another sister so President Gardner asked me if I would like it. It is almost exactly like Mom's old green coat but it is black and has disgusting fur on the hood. But a coat is a coat and a free coat is even better. Now all I need to do is get some boots and I am golden.

My district is really cool. The only downside that one of our elders finally got his visa and finally can go to Brazil. We are very sad that he has to leave but he is excited to go. Also in our mission as a trial experiment the zone leaders and district leaders can go on facebook! Ok I think that this is really weird and I don't know how I feel about it yet. What they do is they make a new profile and pretty much they just do missionary stuff on there. Like their status always has to be religious based and their post have to be about the gospel. Also they have to have a blog where they share spiritual experiences. I am still skeptical about this. They say that if it turns out to be a good thing that everyone in about 9 months will be able to get on. If you want to check them out and see how obedient they are their names are Elder Daffer and Elder Morgan Wells. So yeah it is weird. Also check out their blogs and their wonderful movies because they are very spiritually uplifting.

I hope that you all will have a great week and that God blesses you. Until next week

Love
Sister Crikette Jensen

Monday October 4, 2010

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Hello all,

I am now in Montana and it is so nice. The first day that I got here the temperature was actually in the 90s! The weather definitely shocked me because I was expecting really cold weather. I don't think that this is normal but it is definitely weird.

My companion's name is Sister Smith and she is from Sacramento. This is her last transfer so in November she is going home and I am getting a new companion again. Usually though a missionary gets to stay with their trainer for two transfers. Hopefully I can get to know the area well enough so that when she leaves I don't get lost. We are serving in part of Billings called the Heights, it is on the eastern end of Billings. The people here are very nice and everything is going well. Being on the field is different then how I imagined it would be though. Overall I would say that I am getting the hang of it and I am become less nervous.

This weekend there was a baptism. Her name is Jaime Kollars and she is eight and half months pregnant. She is so amazing though and her testimony is so strong. I hope that everyone could have a testimony like hers because she is so strong and steadfast. Her husband was already a member but an inactive one and now they are planing to go to the temple in a year to get married. They are both so excited for that. The Spirit at her baptism was so strong and everyone so happy and that is why I decided to serve a mission to help bring people that happiness. The Lord truly blesses us when we turn to Him and He has definitely blessed Jaime and Royce.

We have started to teach this one family where everyone is baptized except the 13 year old daughter, Aubrey. She was supposed to get baptized last year with her sister but backed out because the crowd scared her. The family is really amazing. They didn't know what church to go to and what time so somehow they got the zone leaders phone number and called them. When we went over to visit them there attitude was they just wanted to come back to church so bad. It is great to see when people realize how important attending church is and how much it blesses their lives. We taught them, or Aubrey, the first lesson yesterday and set a baptismal date for November 6. Hopefully she goes through with it this time because everyone need the Holy Ghost especially at that age.

We share our car with an elder companionship in our district. This means that we have the car Friday-Monday and we walk or get rides from Tuesday-Thursday. Also something that is really interesting here is that there is antelope everywhere. I mean everywhere. You just drive down the street and there they are eating the grass in someones lawn. I will have to talk a picture and send it to you guys because it is crazy. Also there are no sidewalks anywhere. Even down one of the main streets they aren't there.

So far I would say that this has been a great experience and the Lord has truly blessed me. Also General Conference was amazing this weekend. I would have to say that Elder Holland's was one of my favorites. He is an amazing speaking. Also President Monson's on having more gratitude was amazing as well. Whenever he speaks the Spirit always testifies to me that he truly is a prophet of the Lord. So by following the prophet I want to thank you all for all your supoort. It really has meant a lot to me and I truly love you all. I hope everything is going well and that God is blessing your lives. I now have more time to email so email away.

I love you all!

Sister Jense

Wednesday September 22, 2010

Dear Family,

It is crazy but my time here at the MTC is almost over. I leave on tuesday to the great Montana. Really I am nervous because I don't really feel that ready. I mean I have learned a lot while I have been here but it doesn't feel like I have learned enough. The classes are all amazing and our teachers are the best.The Spirit here is so amazing and everyday I feel so inspired.

Of course it isn't always easy and somedays I really do question if I can really do this. One day after a TE I just felt horrible. I felt like the teacher was attacking me and that I was a bad missionary. After the TE Sister Mace and I went to a bench outside and I just started to cry. As we sat there another sister missionary walked up and asked if everything was ok. I told her how I was feeling and then she shared the most wonderful message with me. She told me that if I wasn't meant to be here that the Lord wouldn't have called me. He knows I can do this and I need to just put my trust in him. Then she shared with me that her whole family are converts and if it hadn't been for the elders she wouldn't have learned about the gospel and that me being a missionary I would be able to help so many families come unto Christ. She also reminded me not to focus on myself too much and my weaknesses but to think about those I am about to go teach and to trust in the Lord. Finally she shared with my three scriptures. The one that really helped me was Ether 12:27 which says, "And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness taht they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong." That scripture really has helped me because the Lord will make my weak things strong if I put my trust and faith in Him.

On a happier note I love our TRC's. In them we have an opportunity to actually teach. What it is is a member comes and acts like an investigator but they do it so well that you really wouldn't know that they are members. They are kind of hard because I get nervous but they have really allowed me to feel the love that God has for all His children. Everytime I go in there I just want to help those that we teach so much. I want them to accept the gospel because I know how much it will bless them in their lives. I honestly can say that I really do love them and I want what is best for them.

Today we get to go to the temple and am so excited. The temple has always been a place of peace for me and my soul craves the spirit that is there.

The missionaries here are so wonderful even the elders. The elders just have a certain spirit about them and you can really see the love they have for the gospel. Yes sometimes they are just 19 year old boys but for the most part you can tell that they are servants of the Lord. Their testimonies are so strong and I can truly testify that they are called of God.

The Lord has blessed me so much while I have been here and I am so greatful for this experience. I have learned so much and the most important thing I have learned is to grow closer to the Lord so that I can have a better connection with the Holy Spirit. I know that if we truly ask the Lord anything in faith that He will really give us the answer. It may not be right after you pray but He will answer. Most of my prayers are answered by other people when the are sharing their testimonies to me. We truly have angels all around us and it just reminds me of how much the Lord loves and cares for each one of us.

Keep me and all the other missionaries in your prayers and look for opportunities where you can be a missionary yourself.

Love

Sister Jensen