February 12,2011

Sorry for the slight delay. Updating her blog A.S.P
-Rashelle

Mon, December 6, 2010

Hello Family,

How goes it? This week once again has been slow. I mean slow, but we did get Leon to commit to pray about whether he needs to be baptized again. So we found out the best time to go and see him which is in the morning. Other than that he falls asleep in the middle of him talking to us. But no worries we will get him baptized.

Tomorrow is our Zone Conference and that is pretty exciting. I love Zone Conference because you learn so much also it is great to see all the different missionaries. Once again we got assigned to sing but this time it is the whole zone and not a duet.

Pretty much all of our investigators are avoiding us. They don't answer our phone calls and they don't keep their appointments but no worry I am not going to give up on them. I am just going to believe that they are busy with the holiday season.

Transfers are coming up and I kind of have mixed feelings about it. Part of me wants to be transfered and then part of me doesn't. Well it is more than part that doesn't. I just feel like there is more for me to do in this area. Hopefully the Lord and President agrees and I don't get transfered. Also it would not be fun to be transfered right before Christmas.

Yesterday in Relief Society we had a really good lesson on charity and of President Monson's talk in the Relief Society general broadcast. I wasn't able to watch it in the MTC and I haven't read it yet so I really enjoyed this lesson. It kind of ties in with this Christmas season. It seems that when Christmas rolls around that everyone becomes more friendly and charitable. What a better time to recommit ourselves to truly being more Christlike than the time that we celebrate His birth. I think that the greatest gift we can give our Lord is love. Love for Him and love for our fellowmen. If we truly love the Lord and love our fellowmen then we don't have time to commit any type of sin. If we truly loved I guess we would be perfect but I know that it is something that we can all be working on all the time.

Alright sorry that this letter is so short but I know that this week will be better.

Love you lots

Sister Jensen

Mon, November 29, 2010

Dear Family

I just want to start off by saying how much I love you guys. I was looking through the pictures that Mom and Amber sent me of Savannah and this morning I was looking at the picture of us at Amber's wedding and I was hit with how much I love and miss you. Thank you for your emails and letters they really do brighten my day. Holidays are a hard time to be away from home but I can just imagine how hard it is for Heavenly Father to send us here to earth our stay here is much longer than my stay here in Montana. I hope all is going well and that your Thanksgiving was good.

This week Trevor and Alyssa dropped us. Alyssa said that they were comfortable in their church and while they enjoy our visits they are fine where they are.

We committed Leon to baptism this week and he told us he was already baptized. We then taught him about how we need to be baptized by someone holding the priesthood authority of God. We also asked him if he thought the church was true and he said he didn't know so we committed him to pray about it and on Wednesday when we see him again we will talk about the answer he received. I hope that he recognizes the answer he receives and decides to be baptized. That would be so amazing. We found the best time to catch him is in the mornings because he doesn't fall asleep on us then.

Also an interesting thing happened this week. A former investigator from last year called us randomly one day. She must have kept the missionaries phone number from when the elders were in this area. So we went over there and visited her. She didn't necessarily want to take the lessons again but were wondering if some of the church members could help her around her house. The reason she called us was because she felt that out of all the people on the world she could trust Mormons coming in her house. Carol is a very interesting character but she is very nice.

This past week the temperature got to -14. It was very very cold and Sister Nielson and I were privileged to not have the car that day. We were lucky to have some really good members that gave us some rides but we did walk a lot too. It was very cold. I was thinking how whenever I go back down to St. George and I complain that I am going to have a heat stroke and die I think that I would still take the -14 to the 114. We received a lot of snow this week and I very grateful that I have boots and the lizard coat.

Our Thanksgiving went well. In the morning we ate breakfast and played games with the elders and then for the Thanksgiving feast we went to Bishop's Stott's house. Now in the Lake Hills ward there are like a billion Stotts and they were all there so it was a pretty good get together. The only thing that was sad was they didn't have any pie. Now I know I am not the biggest pie lover but Thanksgiving without pie is almost as bad as having Thanksgiving with no turkey. We played on game that I think our family would love. It is called, "In a pickle" and pretty much you just make things up the whole game. It is pretty ridiculous but I think perfect for our family.

Sister Nielson is pretty cool. It is strange to think that it has already been three weeks into the transfer and that it is half way over. I hope that President doesn't transfer either one of us at the end of this transfer. I would love to be able to serve with her again.

Oh yeah I may or may not have cut my hair.

Well I hope you all have a wonderful week and that you don't get into too much trouble.

Love you lots,

Sister Jense

Mon, November 15, 2010

Hola

Big news of the week, I have survived my first transfer! Also I have two months under my belt. It is crazy to think that I have been out here this long because it seems like it has gone by so fast.

My new companion is great her name is Sister Nielson. We get along really well. I think that it might help that we both have red hair, even though somebody told us yesterday that we don't. She is from Oak City Utah which is by Delta which is in the center of the state. She has been out for 9 months and it is really nice having a companion that isn't going home soon.

At the beginning of the transfer I was really nervous because I didn't feel like I knew the area well enough. I kind of felt like I was starting my mission all over again because I had to re adapt to a new companion. So I will say that the first couple of days were not my favorite. But then we just started to get used to each other and it was less awkward then I realized that I did know the area. Everything is going really well now. She is a lot more bold than Sister Smith was and I am really grateful for that because I wanted to be bold last transfer but I didn't want to skonk my trainer. Now I don't have to worry about being bold because Sister Nielson is bold too. I also think that this is what the area needs right now. We have a lot of investigators that just aren't progressing and they need someone to be bold with them and ask them straight up what is going on.

We are still teaching Trevor and Alyssa. We went by this week and just Alyssa was home. We talked about the Book of Mormon and kind of touched on our purpose here on earth. All of her questions can be answered with the gospel. It is hard to teach them though because they have two really rambunctious children and when mom and dad aren't paying attention to them the demand it. But no worries we will just teach them slowly but surely.

The other day when we were trying some potentials and we had one for a Crystal and a certain address. So we go to that address and it turns out that a Crystal doesn't live there and that the people that lived there before didn't have a Crystal. While we were talking to the guy, Jim, that lived there we found out that he is a less active member. We talked to him for a while and we committed him to read the Book of Mormon and he says that he will come to church on Sunday. Later that night I looked over the records to see if I had written Crystal's address down wrong but nope it was what I had wrote. I think that God had us go there at that time to help Jim. Sister Smith and I had gone there before but no one had answered and when Sister Nielson and I went he had gotten off work early. With the Lord there are no coincidences and he has us go places where the people are ready. They may not know it yet but the Lord will never led us astray.

Ok so now I am going to ask you guys for a favor. Being on a mission really helps you see how important member missionary work is. It is through the members that we get the best referrals. It is through the members that the investigators and converts can make lasting friendships. So this week will each one of you make a list of everyone you know who isn't a member and then pray about who you can help bring into the gospel. If you do this sincerely I know that the Lord will prompt you of who you can help. D&C 18:10-17 The blessings of the gospel are too great for us to keep to ourselves. Reach out and share. Also help out the missionaries in your area as much as possible. If you are a male and there are elders in your area volunteer to go out with them and the same goes for sisters and females. Just by going with them and bearing your testimony will be a great blessing and you will see your own testimony grow.

I love you all and hope you are all doing well.

Love

Sister Jensen

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