Week 72 - Happy Holidays

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! Wow this year went by so so fast! I can't believe its already Christmas... I remember skyping my family last year on Christmas and thinking "wow.  A year from now, I'm still going to be a missionary skyping my family".  And it felt forever away! But now, here we are. 

We had a Christmas miracle over the weekend! So we had exchanges with our STL's, and I went to Yakima for the day.  But while I was gone, Sister Going met a lady named Sarah that let them right in and asked them to share more with her about what we believe.  She goes to a church but says she doesn't feel like she has found the "right one" yet.  They taught her about the Restoration and set up a time to see her this coming week. And guess what? She came to church yesterday! She really liked the Christmas program.  Even though we were in the back and the screaming kids were really loud... we still could feel that spirit!

For Light the World this week we helped some members of the ward do a free Hot Chocolate stand! It was so fun! The two little boys we did it with kept yelling at people across the street asking if they wanted free Hot Chocolate hahah.  They were pretty cute though so it worked for them!

I don't know if yall have ever seen Kid History? Well our Elders had the idea of making one with the kids in Ellensburg telling us the Nativity story for #LightYourFaith week.  So we've been filming little kids telling us the story of Jesus' birth and I've been so impressed with how much they know! Stay tuned to see the full video coming soon ;)  I don't know if you remember last year when I did a nativity picture and my sisters made me dress up as Joseph? Well don't worry, I get to be Mary this year!

I hope you all have a good Christmas celebrating the birth of our Savior! Its such a wonderful time of year :)

Love, Sister Jensen

Here's some pics.  (Pics not working now, but I will get them on the blog when they start working :D ) The one with Sister Shinkle was a few weeks ago.  I might have told you about the dinner we had with these people.  Hahah they were so funny!! They were laughing so hard that Nona (the lady in the back by Sister Shinkle) had to tell the man to stop making jokes because she was about to have an accident! I haven't laughed so hard in a while.  Shes around 80 years old.

President and Sister Jackman came to our district meeting the other day to deliver some christmas packages! They are the best.

For light the world we "heart-attacked" peoples doors!

And a selfie of Sister Karren and I at lunch on exchanges :)

Week 71 - "Hey should we have the Elders clean the bathroom?"

WOAH ONE WEEK UNTIL CHRISTMAS! 

We had our annual mission Christmas gathering on Saturday! I got to see a lot of my buddies.  Oh! And we got to watch the movie Co-Co, it was so cute! Lol a bunch of the missionaries were crying it was pretty funny.  I had to give my departing testimony so that was sad.  Right after the party with the missionaries, we went to our ward Christmas party! They had A LOT of leftover food and for some reason Bishop always decides that the missionaries need to take it home. So he filled up our trunk with all of the leftovers and told us to deliver some to the Elders too.  WELL! After the party we had a little bit of time before we had to go home so we decided to stop by a family we had been trying to meet.  When we got there, they let us right in.  And the mom asked us if we had gone to the ward christmas party.  We said, "yeah we did! We have a ton of extra food in the car, do you want some?" And turns out, they were in need of food.  So we gave them a whole bunch! It was pretty cool to see that God knew that they were in need of and we were able to help them out just by listening to a prompting to go see them.  

On Tuesday we went and did service for a lady named Betsy! The Elders came too and did a lot of outside work while we started cleaning the house on the inside.  The Elders finished before we did and we still had to clean the bathroom so I said, "hey Betsy, should we have the Elders start on the bathroom?" hahah the Elders weren't very happy with me but they did a good job! Betsy was very grateful :)

On Wednesday night we were driving out to a members house for dinner and we hit something on the road.  We didn't even see it so it was super strange! But then our tire pressure light came on and by the time we got to dinner we had a super flat tire... so we had to put on the spare.  The hole was so big that the tire wasn't repairable! Pretty impressive.  So that was an adventure and a half.  

Well I gotta go! Mike is teaching us how to play the guitar today.  I love you guys!

Love, Sister Jensen

Heres some pics from the week! 

Week 70 - Oh the weather outside is frightful but the mission is so delightful

What a week! 

The beginning of the week was a lot of goodbyes for Sister Shinkle.  We also helped a couple elderly ladies decorate their christmas trees! And Sister Shinkle ate Arby's for the FIRST time in her life! Lol.  

On Wednesday Mike made a steak dinner for us and the Elders before they all took off to their new areas.  It was really nice of him! After I dropped Sister Shinkle off I had to have a member come get me so that I would have a companion for a few hours while I waited for Sister Going to arrive.  I hung out with Sister Jarman and her little kids playing with kinetic sand haha it was pretty fun.  Sister Going is great! She is from Hillsboro, Oregon so not too far away.  She has been on her mission for 10 months.   

On Saturday we had a member from the Cle Elum branch text us and ask us if we wanted to go to their branch Christmas party! We don't cover Cle Elum and its too far for us to drive. But that is where Molly is and she said Molly would be there with her whole family!! So we decided it would be a good thing to go to.  The member picked us up.  I haven't seen Molly in a couple of weeks, it was so good to see her and meet the rest of her fam.  Unfortunately, she had an allergic reaction at the party and had to leave early.. shes okay now though! While we were at the party we sat with some people that we found out weren't members of the church.  they were really funny! They gave us their address and phone number afterwards and told us that we could come see them again! SWEEEET! Totally worth going to Cle Elum that night.

Yesterday was a really good day as well! Mike received the Melchizedek Priesthood.  He was only baptized in August so this is pretty quick! He was soooo excited! He even came in a new suit and an ironed white shirt, AND church shoes! He's usually a socks and sandals kind of guy but he wanted me to know that he wore shoes especially for the occasion.  He blessed the Sacrament for the first time too and received his Patriarchal Blessing last night.  We had a lesson with him afterwards and he shared his testimony with us about how strongly he feels about the gospel.  It brought him to tears and the spirit in his home was so strong!

Oh yeah, it snowed over the weeked! I was really crossing my fingers that it wouldn't happen until Christmas... but its alright, it looks pretty outside.  

Also yesterday! We found someone new to teach.  her name is Ashley.  I've actually met her before.  We went over to share Light the World with her and invite her to come to church on the 23rd.  She said she would love to come! And even invited us back to teach her more.  She said shes not going to join our church but wants to learn more about it.... that's what they all say.  lol.  But we'll take it! We also met a few people while we were tracting that told us we could come back! We didn't run into anyone mean yesterday! Pretty successful if I do say so myself :')

Don't forget to keep Lighting the World! This week for Light the World we helped people set up christmas decorations, ironed Mikes shirts, (Shout-out to papa darrell for teaching me how to iron his dress shirts.) and we took flowers to our mission nurse.  We  tried to do a free hot chocolate stand but none of the grocery stores would let us :( Maybe next week haha.  

Also.  In my studies this week I came across this verse that I really like, Mosiah 2:22 "And behold, all that he requires of you is to keep his commandments; and he has promised you that if ye would keep his commandments ye should prosper in the land; and he never doth vary from that which he hath said; therefore, if ye do keep his commandments he doth bless you and prosper you."

The gospel is truly so simple! All that is required of us is to keep the commandments of God and stay on the covenant path. Which the world can make hard sometimes.  But as we live the commandments, we are blessed!!  

Oh yeah... I started My Plan this week... so that was weird.  

LOVE YOU!!!!  

-Sister Jensen 

Sister Going has a sweater with two head holes and two sleeves so we wore it together at the Christmas party! We made a gingerbread house the first night that Sister Going got here with a member at dinner.  Theres some pics of Mike and I doing his "fantastic!" pose.  And then me hugging Sister Shinkle goodbye :(

And the pyramid is the Walker family and the other fam is the Adams family.  They are both in 1st ward so luckily I still get to see them :')

Our zone had a nerf war a couple weeks ago so heres a couple pics from that as well :) Oh and cute little Sister Fields when we helped her with her christmas tree.ddarr

Week 69 - Sister Going is going... to Ellensburg!

BIG NEWS! 

So I guess President decided to take Sister Shinkle away from me.... she is going to be serving in Ephrata! Not in the ward I served in though :( 

My new companion is Sister Going and she will get here on Wednesday.  She is coming from Ephrata so I'll be able to ask her about all of my friends there and how they're doing! Yay! I'm really sad that Sister Shinkle is leaving, she has become one of my very best friends.  But we'll see each other in 6 weeks at the mission home so I won't have to miss her for too long ;)

Oh also, instead of covering 1st and 3rd ward, Sister Going and I will only be covering 1st ward. They decided to put more missionaries in Ellensburg.  It will be great for the work! But it was sad to say goodbye to all of my 3rd ward buddies, I love them!

I also found out something exciting!! On our missionary Facebook page they post all of the people that are on-date for baptism this month so that we can pray for them.  And Erika was on the list!!! Erika was someone I taught back in Ephrata and I hadn't heard any updates on her until now! I AM SO HAPPY FOR HER!!! She has been taking missionary lessons for almost 2 years now.  Her daughter is also planning on getting baptized this month.  MIRACLES!

We were able to get in contact with people this week that we haven't been able to see for WEEKS! And it was super good.  Both of them told us that they were planning on coming back to church!

LIGHT THE WORLD started on Saturday!! We were able to volunteer at CWU for their Holiday Extravaganza.  It was basically just a huge craft festival for kids to come to and have a free for all.  We were in charge of the Candy-Cane Kangaroo booth.  We got free T-shirts too so that was a bonus lol.  While we were sitting there, we got a call from a man that said he just moved to Ellensburg and is interested in learning more about our church! He asked for the address and time that we meet so hopefully he starts coming!! It was so cool! That like never happens.... so if he actually comes it will be LEGIT!

Ellensburg had Stake Conference this weekend and a member from the Seventy came.  He was a really good speaker! I am so pumped for the new year when we get to start the "Come, Follow Me" curriculum. Oh yeah and we got to watch the Christmas devotional last night! President Nelson is just the greatest, I love him.  I really liked what one of the speakers said in the devotional, "If you ever think you're too small to make a difference, you've never spent a night with a mosquito".  

I read Jacob 5 in my studies this week and it just reminded me again how important this work is! The Lord wants us back, and he will do everything in His power for us to return to him but we need to also use our agency and do our part.  What more could He do for us than He has already done? His gift is the greatest gift we could ever receive.  (I loved President Nelsons talk about that last night btw)  I know this is the Lords work and we are all so blessed to be involved in the gathering of Israel!

Happy December! I hope all of yall in Utah are enjoying the snow ;)

Love, Sister Jensen

1-4: The Holiday Extravaganza. The other girl that sat with us was named Ashya.  I got to tell her about Light the World so that was neat!

5: This is Sister Connie Miller.  We go visit her on the weekends.  She helped me learn how to read crochet patterns!! 

6: We played that one weird game... the pic is blurry but oh well.  

7: We went and said goodbye to the Pearson family last night... they were in their jammies haha.  They're in the 3rd ward so I won't see them as much anymore :(

8: This is Alberta who we watched the Christmas devotional with.  We are teaching her husband, Doug

Week 68 - Thankful for Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving was a bit different than last year! Last year I remember going to at least 3 different dinner appointments and it was CRAZY!! This year we just spent pretty much the whole day with the Pearsons.  There was another family there too from a different ward.  It was so much fun! In the morning we made some cookies with the elders to deliver to people and while they were baking, I taught them how to play nerts, one of my families favorite games.  Its so weird what kind of things will trigger a feeling of missing home and I didn't know that playing a card game would be one of them! But being with the Pearsons, I felt right at home.  Holidays as a missionary are so so special! It amazes me how kind people are and how willing they are to open their homes to us.  We ate A LOT of food and played a bunch of games.  I taught them how to play Reverse Charades (Another one my family liked before I left) and they super loved it! We were laughing a lot.  

On Tuesday we were wondering who to go by and we decided to go knock on Anastasia's door, a college student that we had tracted into a few weeks ago.  Anastasia is from Russia and has such a sweet accent! She accepted a Book of Mormon and told us that we could come back sometime. And guess what!! When we asked if she had looked at the Book of Mormon since we gave it to her, she said she had! She had read some and she really liked it! Usually people don't actually read it when we leave it with them haha so that was such a good sign! We asked if she had a little bit of time and taught her the Restoration.  She said it all made so much sense and she felt like she had the same feelings when she read the Book of Mormon that she has when she reads the Bible.   We're going back to teach her tomorrow! But sadly, the Elder's cover the YSA group so we'll probably have to be passing her off to them to teach her. But at least shes going to be taught, right? Right.  oh and she has this HUGE dog that kept jumping on me while I was on the couch and it knocked me over several times haha.  

We have SO much to be thankful for! I can't believe December starts this week!! Transfer calls will be on Saturday.  Fingers crossed that Sis. Shinkle and I both stay for our last 6 weeks! 

Loves.

-Sister Jensen 

I didn't take a lot of pics this week.  But this is the Elders dressed up as Nephi and Laman.  They acted out the scene where Nephi got tied up on the ship for our Book of Mormon class haha.  And a selfie on Thanksgiving.  Annnd Sister shinkle took this pic of me one morning when the Apartment was cold.  

Week 67 - Gobble Gobble

This week not only will we be feasting on the words of Christ, but we will also be feasting on THANKSGIVING DINNER! Who's pumped? I know I am. We will be having Thanksgiving with the Pearson family.  They are one of my FAV families here! Sooo Zone Conference was really good! We talked about LIGHT THE WORLD because its happening again this December! Instead of daily though, its going to be weekly.  Yall should go to lighttheworld.org and check it out.  We had our interviews with President Jackamn right after Zone Conference and he told Sister Shinkle and I that there is a good chance we will both stay together in Ellensburg for our last transfer! that would mean 3 transfers together! He wanted to make sure it would be okay with the two of us.  Haha transfers still aren't for a couple of weeks.  But we are both really excited that there is a good chance of us staying together!! One of the service activities we did this week was clean eggs... an older member in our ward got hurt and can't stand on her feet for very long so we went out, gathered the eggs, and cleaned them all.  There was a lot of them! I love that there is a large variety of service that we can do for people.  :) Sister Jackman gave a really good training at zone conference this week and I loved something that she said! "Today's test is tomorrows testimony".  Every situation we go through in life is for our good and will make us and our testimonies stronger :) I LOVE YOU ALL! HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

-Sister Jensen
1: The reunion of the Ephrata sisters apartment
2: 3 of my companions all in one room!
3-7: We took a photoshoot last pday... theres not much to do in Ellensburg...
8: Sister Shinkle forgot her shoes so she had to wear Nike's to our lessons lolol I was dying!!
9: A member took us out for sushi and I ate raw fish for the first time! 

Week 66 - Its Raining Leaves

Well well well another week down in the books. 

We found a couple people this week while tracting that told us we could come back so we are STOKED about that! 

Molly texted us yesterday and said, "hey theres a girl in young women's that needs to finish her missionary lessons because she wants to get baptized so I gave her your number".  WHAT?! Molly is seriously so awesome.  But its true, I guess there is a girl in Cle Elum named Bailey that was being taught by missionaries off and on and she wants to be baptized, but with no missionaries in Cle Elum anymore thats kind of hard.  So hopefully we'll be getting in contact with her soon! Cool, eh? 

We've been raking leaves like crazy down here! I've decided that I never want to have trees in my yard haha.  

I don't know if any of yall remember me talking about Jeremy and Stephanie but we haven't been able to see them in foreverrrrr but we finally did on Saturday!! They had a baby shower and invited us to it! So we went and it was really good.  As we left they told us to keep in contact with them so thats a REALLY good sign.  We were pretty worried there for a bit haha.  We love them.

Mike has only been a member since August and he is bomb at ministering! In the beginning he asked us questions about it all the time like, when do I officially start? What am I suppose to do? Should I contact my companion? I mean, he was all sorts of worried about how to do it.  But he has just gone for it and its awesome! He ministers to an older lady that Sister Shinkle and I go visit at a senior living center.  She talks about Mike all the time and all the things he does for her.  He takes her to the store when she needs it, helps her with her computer problems, helped her set up LDS tools on her phone, and just calls her and talks to her on the phone when she's lonely.  Its so amazing to me the heart he has for serving others.  He is truly an example of ministering for the whole ward.  Its quite inspiring. 

I have zone conference tomorrow! Haha President Jackman is awesome.  This is what he just said in the mission group email: In case you’ve forgot, lost track of time, or have been living under a rock it’s Zone Conferences this coming Tuesday and Wednesday!

He is a funny guy.  

We talked with Molly about repentance last night and the thought of repentance really overwhelmed her.  So we talked a lot about how repentance is such a happy and positive thing.  I think Satan tries to convince us otherwise. Repentance is such a beautiful gift.  I love the quote, "Repentance is not the back-up plan, repentance IS the plan".  I don't know who said that... but its really good.  Its pretty great that we are able to repent EVERY day of our mistakes and shortcomings.  

I love you guys!!! Stay warm.  I've been pulling out the winter clothes! Yayy....

Love, Sister Jensen

We have gloves in our car that we use to rub an elderly ladies feet once a week and I blew one up and thought it was kinda funny.  I used it going through a drive thru to wave goodbye to the window worker lol.  Annnd since the Elders ditched us last P-day and left us in Ellensburg alone, we went and got pedicures.  It was pretty cool actually because we were able to talk to the lady doing our feet about the church! You never know when and where you'll meet people that are ready for the gospel ;)

Week 65 - Holy Guacamole it's NOVEMBER!

I hope everyone had a good Halloween! We had to be home by 6 so we borrowed a bunch of extra sheets from a member and made a big fort in our living room.   Then we moved our mattresses off of our bunk bed and put them in the fort.  We watched the Living Scriptures (also borrowed from the same member) and roasted s'mores over our stove.  It was pretty great! 

We had exchanges with our STL's this week and I got to be in Yakima with Sister Hatch.  I remember my first two exchanges as a missionary, I came back to Sister Wadman and was so relieved because being with a different companion felt so weird! I even cried because I had missed her so much hahah.  And not that I didn't miss Sister Shinkle, but these days, its just missionary life.  I just felt like I was starting a new transfer with a new companion and the transition is a lot smoother than it use to be! It was a lot of fun.  Its weird to think I only have one more exchange.

Our zone started a "Zone Fast" yesterday.  Its not a fast from food though.  What we're doing is disabling our Facebooks for 2 weeks.  And we also are only listening to the Tabernacle choir or General Conference talks.  And we are making sure to be out of our apartment by 10 every day and stay out until 9.  Its pretty simple actually! We are doing the fast so that we can recognize miracles but Sister Shinkle and I are especially trying to find the people that are prepared to hear the gospel.  

We started a Book of Mormon class on Thursday! Every week we are going to study stories from the Book of Mormon and how they can relate to our own lives.  We're hoping that quite a bit of people will start coming. This thursday we are studying about the Tree of Life in Lehi's vision!

On Thursday last week at the Book of Mormon class we talked about Lehi's family leaving Jerusalem and then Nephi and his brothers going back to get the plates.  They tried 3 times before they were able to retrieve them.  Sometimes in life, God asks us to do something and then the first time we may fail.  Which can be pretty confusing! But just like Nephi, if we have faith that God will prepare a way and we keep trying, we will be able to accomplish whatever it is that God asks us to do.  Haha now when I read the Book of Mormon I picture the Living Scriptures characters in my mind and its pretty funny.  

Until next week friends! Love you all.  

-Sister Jensen 

Heres some pics of the fort we made on halloween, our Book of Mormon class, and a picture with the STL's from exchanges.