Week 20 - Happy New Year!

We had such a great visit with Camri on Christmas Day. She looks fantastic and was in great spirits. Christmas was on Monday, so she had her Pday on Tuesday. She sent us a short email. Amie has some great pictures from the skype visit as well as some pictures taken during that week and sent to us by members...and yes, the Team Jesus shirt is one of the pictures. She gets her transfer call on Saturday. She felt like she was ready for a change of scenery but would be happy with whatever comes her way. I can't believe it has already been 20 weeks. 

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I hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas! Not gonna lie, mine was pretty good.  The members here treated us so well! In the morning we got to go with the other missionaries to the stake center and have some breakfast together and we watched the movie "The Best Two Years".  haha I had never seen it before and I found it quite funny.  Then after that, I got to go skype my family at the Manly's home.  The manly's are amazing people! They even did our laundry while we skyped :')  Then we ate some lunch with them.  We then went to the Pattersons.  Brother Patterson is the one married to the woman from Thailand that wants to take the missionary discussions but she wants to take them in Thai.  They were so sweet to us.  Then we went to the Lybberts and played some games.  One we played is called "Ticket to Ride".  Its pretty fun so try it out :)
We had a white christmas which was fun! But now I wouldn't mind if it melted away haha.  Hmmm let me think of what else happened this week... oh and on Christmas Eve we went to the Blackmans home and had a white elephant gift exchange. I got a hairbrush, and a t-shirt that said "team Jesus".  Good stuff.
Monday was FHE with the YSA ward and we did a White Elephant gift exchange there too! Haha I brought some gold fish in a soda bottle for my gift.  The Elders brought some taco bell wrapped up in a huge box.  There was some fighting over that gift haha.
Tuesday we got to go to the Primary party and have some pancakes.  Santa even came and it was fun to see how excited all of the little kids got :')
We went caroling again with the YSA ward! It was fun.  Not as many people came this week but thats alright :)
Oh! So we've been working with this less-active YSA member.  Her and her sister.  Its kind of a different situation.  Her and her sister are both lesbian, and they both have girlfriends.  But their family is fully active in the church.  One of them came caroling with us and seemed to have a lot of fun! We went and talked about the book of mormon with her and asked her about reading it.  Shes read it before and says she knows that its true.  She said she knows the gospel is true and she loves going to church, but its hard to explain to people why she lives the way she does.  Its a very interesting situation for sure.  But it just reminded me that we can't judge somebody for the way they choose to live their life.  God knows whats going on, and he can be the one to judge them.
Well, new year is coming up! I hope yall have a good New Years Resolution.  its crazy that its already going to be 2018!
Oh yeah, I got asked to speak in YSA ward AGAIN! Its only been like a month since the last time! But I guess its almost been a whole new year too ;)
Well, I love all of you! I hope Christmas was great and that New years is too.  Oh yeah, transfer calls are on Saturday so I'll let you know on monday whats going down :)
Love, Sister Jensen
Heres a few pics:
1.  Check out my sick "beets".  haha get it?
2. Christmas Eve at the Blackmans home
3.  For Christmas, Sister Shepherd and i got us all matching Christmas moo-moos and the other sisters gave me some slippers and sis shep a jump rope :)
4. Brother and Sister Patterson on Christmas 

Week 19 - Merry Christmas!!!

She is at it again. As I read her email I could only think of one word…onezie. We were able to chat for a bit today with Camri. She was rather entertaining. She said the other sisters laugh at her every night because she sleeps in a moo-moo. She has a surprise for them come Christmas day. Camri still hasn't lined up the Skype with someone up there…shocker. Hopefully we a get a call or text from someone this week lining something up. Make sure to check out her mission blog. There are several pictures of Camri on there. If you look on the missions Facebook page you can also see her singing at a baptism. She is doing great. Thanks for all your support. Merry Christmas. 

Omgoodness Christmas is in a week!! That means I get to skype my family in a week :')  Ask me if I'm excited.  Only a little. 

This week was crack-a-lackin! So on Tuesday were exchanges and I got to go to Royal City with Hermana Cluff.  Hermana Cluff is an amazing missionary and I always learn so much from her! But she goes home tomorrow so thats sad.  We ate at the Bishops house when i was with her, Bishop Christensen.  He was such a cool guy! Him and his family were spiritual power houses.  We always share a spiritual message at dinner, and after we shared one, he shared one with us.  it was really cool because what he said was something that I really needed to hear that day.  And it just reminded me of how a lot of times, Heavenly Father answers our prayers through someone else. 

Wednesday was the bomb-diggity! We had our big Christmas gathering with the other missionaries! We got to go to a big house in Quincy.  We had a way good meal, sang christmas songs, and we even watched a movie! We watched "Freetown".  It was really good, I highly recommend it.  We were there for quite a while.  We played ping-pong and got to hang out with the other missionaries.  If you follow the mission facebook page, I'm sure you saw some pics.  Shoutout to mama Jensen for sending me those sick cat tights! Lol.  Good stuff.

When we got back from the Christmas gathering, we went caroling with some members from the YSA ward.  It was quite chilly outside, but I thought it was just a ball.  No on slammed the door in our face like they do sometimes when its just the missionaries knocking :')

Thursday we got to have interviews with President which are always just the best thing ever.  Pretty sure he interviewed missionaries all day and he seemed exhausted.  Him and Sister Lewis are good people.

Don found some family names to take to the temple! Hopefully we'll be going with him for his first time on the 30th this month! hes a funny man.  He wants to take us to KFC this Saturday and he invited his non-member neighbors to come too.  He's such a good missionary :')

On Friday we had a lesson with a guy named Bobby! Hes a new investigator.  We met him at the food bank a while back because he works there.  Turns out, hes been taught by missionaries before and he asked us if we could start teaching him again! We taught him the Restoration and invited him to be baptized on February 3rd.  He said yes, and that hes going to start reading the Book of Mormon! Sounds like hes had problems making commitments in the past when missionaries taught him.  So hopefully hes ready now.  Hes a way cool guy :)

So Joey and Annette that we've been teaching are now going to be taught by the 1st ward sisters.  Just because they've been going to that ward and all of their fellowship is there.  The stake president had to approve it and its all kind of been a mess.  But its worked out now! And I think this is whats best for their family.  I'm just sad I won't be teaching them anymore, ya know? But as long as they're being taught, thats all that matters :)

Well here's a spazzy moment of sister Jensen for ya: So on Saturday morning I was getting ready and I put on a skirt that I decided not to wear.  So I tried to unzip it and my shirt got stuck in the zipper.  And I'm talking like... STUCK.  I could not get it out! So i couldn't get the skirt off! I literally didn't know what to do.  All the sisters were laughing but I was freaking out a little not gonna lie.  I ended up getting it off but my shirt suffered a little... it has a hole now.  Long story short.  I was late to correlation.  But it was a good memory.  

Wellll I would type more but I gotta go.  Love you all! Have a good Christmas! Oh yeah, and I get to email on Tuesday next week since monday is christmas :)

Love, Sister Jensen

#LightTheWorld

Okay heres some pics.  Sorry I didn't take any from the christmas gathering.  Just go check out facebook for that one lol.

1. Hermana Cluff

2. Christmas Caroling

3. This was our #LTW from the other day! we did this for a sister that had some sad stuff going on at home.

4.  I forgot to send this a while back.  Haha this is the sign on Dons fence haha

Week 18 - The Grinch Stole Christmas

It was kind of a slow week for Cam. Bad news…I looked at the temperatures there and Camdawg is cold. Good news…she got a new coat today that is waterproof. Bad news…the lady that has been doing their laundry is moving. Good news…who am I kidding, that’s terrible. She better be nice and find someone soon to do the laundry. Of course with the amount of clothes she took, she is safe until spring break. She forgot to tell us about the Christmas Skype today. I hope she knows she is able to talk with us. I'm not real sure about the subject line in her email this week. I can usually figure it out. Oh well, on to week 19.

                                                                                                                                           
Hey fam!
Oh hey, I hit my 4 month mark on Saturday! Thats weird.  Lemme tell ya about the week.
We did quite a bit of service this week! We went to the food bank, sang at the old folks home, and Sis. Shepherd and I went and helped this lady named Kristy mud her walls.  Shes a non-member and we tracted into her while she was painting and she said we could come back and help her.  So we did! She was a sweet lady, and she said she was worried about us for believing in "false prophets".  But she said it wasn't our fault because its just what our parents have taught us.  I think she just had a misunderstanding of the Book of Mormon.  So hopefully she has a different point of view now that we explained it more.  i don't know if anything will come from the service, but it was fun anyways! :)
I learned how to say "We are missionaries" in 3 different languages this week! While we were tracting, we met a ton of people from japan (They came down here for work and there's literally a million of them in the apartment complexes.)  Most of them don't speak english but the one we met did and talked to us for a while! We also met a lady named Sam from Iran and she taught us how to say it in Farce.  I'm only in Washington and I've met people from all over the place! Its pretty cool :')
I can't remember if I wrote this last week, but we had to drop Taylor this week.  She kind of dropped us too though.  She decided the only reason she wanted to be baptized was because she wanted to be sealed to her dad, and she wanted a better reason than that.  Which is true.  She needs to know for herself.  So it was sad.  But one day maybe she'll know for herself :)
Not gonna lie, i got pretty fed up with people this week.  Sometimes people tell us to come back, and then when we do they're either not there or they don't answer the door.  This one chick, I saw her through the window! and she still didn't answer! i would much rather them just tell us they're not interested then to tell us to come back and then not be there.  Its sad.  But thats just missionary work! Just gotta keep going because at some point we'll find someone that really does want us to come back :)
The ward had their Christmas party this week! They had a member dress up as the grinch haha it was pretty cute! Our new investigator named Franklin came to it with us! But when we taught Franklins family, he was the only one interested in learning more so now the elders in the singles ward will probably teach him.  :)
Cloe got baptized on Saturday!!! Shes the 13 year old i taught a while back.  but she ended up in the other sisters area when the ward split.  I got to go to her baptism though and Sister Wadman even came back for it!! It was so good to see her again!
Wellllll thats about all I can think of this week.  KEEP LIGHTING THE WORLD!

Love you all!!!
Love, Sister Jensen 

PICS
1. Ward Christmas Party! Thats Franklin standing next to me :)
2. Cloe's Baptism!
3. Lol I'm an affectionate person and Sis. Shepherd not so much.  Pretty much sums up our relationship.  :')

Camri's Christmas Tree 

A member sent a text with this picture and said, "Your daughter ate a whole food plant based dinner at my house." 

Week 17 - They Call Me Joseph

Cam had a great week. She finally received that special gift that she has been waiting for as a missionary...a GPS. hahaha. Now that she knows where she is going, look out Moses Lake. She put her tree up, the paper one Amie made her, and said that it seems much more Christmasy. Make sure to check out her blog to see her Nativity pictures. She makes an awesome Joseph. She told me today that it is starting to get cold. It is in the low 40s. you can also see some pictures of her on the yakima mission blog and or facebook page. She is doing great. Thanks for all of your support. 

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OMG This week was so good!
Sooo we had a light the world kickoff with all the youth! We had them frost cookies for someone that they know, write them a note, and then take a pic.  Then we had a gingerbread house competition.  It was literally so fun!
They hold this thing at the Stake Center down here every year.  Its where they have nativities displayed from all over the world! This year they had over 400 nativities.  They make it look super pretty and then they have a place where families can dress up and take a pic as a live nativity.  The sisters and I decided to dress up and guess who I was.... uh huh.  i was Joseph.  I'm not really sure how it happened.  But I guess they all came to the conclusion that I was the most manly.  haha Just kidding.  I just lost rock paper scissors to be Mary.  anyways, so we got to help be hostesses at the Nativity on Thursday and then on Saturday we went and caroled at it outside the doors.  lemme tell ya, we didn't sound too good.  But we were singing about Jesus so hopefully the spirit was better than our voices. 
I'd just like to give a shout out to mama Jensen for sending me a GPS!!! Life has been rough without Siri i'll tell you what.  Trying to find YSA members all over the place is hard.  But the GPS has been a game changer this week.  So thank you mother :')
We had a lesson with Annette and Natalie and invited them to be baptized on January 13th! Joey wasn't there sadly.. but hopefully he'll be there this Thursday when we see them.  They said yes but Annette wants to pray about the date.
We also invited Shayna to be baptized on January 27th! Shes going through some hard times right now.  But shes seen how the gospel has been making things easier for her.  She is so sweet.  Lol heres a funny story about her son Gabe.  So he's like 4 years old.  And one day we go over and hes like buck naked.  I guess as part of his autism, he hates wearing clothes.  And so Shayna puts some underwear on him and walks away and then as soon as she walks away he looks right at us and says "uh oh".  hahah and he started peeing right in the middle of the living room! Like everywhere! I was trying so hard not to laugh... And Shayna was yelling "Gabe stop peeing!!" Then he cried and it was sad. But its something I'll probably never forget lol.  Shayna is such a good mom though.  She gave us christmas cards and it just melted my heart :')
We tracted so much this week! Our goal was to find 3 new investigators by sunday night.  And we hadn't found one all week! And on Sunday we both fasted that we would find 3 new investigators.  (We didn't know at the time that we were both fasting for that).  And then that night at 7:00 we went and tracted at these apartments and I remembered Elder Hamblin telling us to knock on his neighbors door (The elders live at those apartments) and they let us in, gave us apple cider and cupcakes, and we talked about prayer, gods plan for us, and faith.  We said a prayer with them, set up a time to come back this week, and BAM! 3 NEW INVESTIGATORS!!! Their names are Helen, Dave, and Franklin.  I'll let you know next week how the next lesson goes.  But Just wanted to let y'all know that prayer and fasting works.  It was a miracle.  :')
Have a good week everyone! OH! Also.  Its Courtneys birthday on Sunday! So tell her Happy Birthday! She's a good lady.  LOVE YOU COURT! I love the rest of you too.  Just court a little more this week since its her birthday. 
Love, Sister Jensen <3

 Pics:
1. Light The World kick-off
2. JOY
3.Live Nativity lol
4. They call me Joseph 

Pictures a member sent of the Nativity