Week 33 - Another Transfer in Ephrata

Camdawg will spend another transfer in Ephrata. She was actually ok with that decision. I din't get the chance to chat with her today. However, she asked Amie for her breakfast casserole recipe. It is a tradition to have breakfast casserole on every general conference and christmas. Camri is going to attempt to make it for the sisters this weekend. Good luck ladies.
Camri has had the winter blues up there in washington. She can hardly wait for the sun to come out again. I can't believe that in six weeks, her next transfer, she will hit her half way mark.
She also sent us a letter from her current Bishop. You can read it on her blog.
sisterjenseninyakima.blogspot.com

                                                                                                                                       

First things first.... I'm the realest. 
hahaha jk.  I hope some of you got that.  Its a song.  I always respond with that whenever sister Shuldberg says "First things first".  It probs drives her nuts but I think I'm quite funny. 
Anyways! Transfers are here! And... I'm staying in Ephrata with Sister Shuldberg! Which is such great news to me! I'm not ready to leave Ephrata just yet :)
On Monday we were playing Basketball with the zone (I'm a straight up baller now btw) and Sister Shuldberg hurt her ankle :/  She tried to get the rebound, but she was going up against the biggest Elder in the zone! Hes a tank.  So she fell and sprained her ankle.  Its been really sad because she's been hobbling around on it all week.  She even used crutches for a couple of days! We've tried to make light of the situation and every once in a while when shes walking I say "Nemo's swimming out to sea!" But don't worry its all in love :) Shes a trooper.
Jutta is doing great! Shes still progressing towards being baptized on April 7th.  She hasn't been feeling well lately and she found out she has some sort of infection since her immune system is so low.  Hopefully she starts feeling better soon :( 
I got to go into Primary yesterday and help out since they were short on teachers! Those kids are hilarious haha.  One of them got asked the question, "If you could visit anywhere in the world, where would you visit?" And the little girl said, "the temple".  IT WAS SO SWEET! I think thats probably the very best answer to that question.  Speaking of temples, my zone will be going there soon! Thats always exciting :')
Also in primary, the little girl I was sitting next to looked at me and said, "When I grow up, I wanna go on a mission because you make it look so cool".  My heart could have exploded! I wish everyone was as nice as the little kids haha.
I got to speak at a little girls baptism on Saturday.  I spoke about the gift of the Holy Ghost and compared it to a flashlight and going camping.  When we go out camping and it gets dark a few things can happen.  It can be scary, we can trip over rocks and hit into trees, and we might get lost because we can't see where we are going.  But when we have a flashlight, we can avoid the rocks and trees.  We can see in front of us and know if we're on the right path.  And it becomes not so scary anymore.  And thats exactly what the Holy Ghost can do for us too! He can help us avoid the bumps in the road and the temptations.  He can make things not so scary anymore by comforting us.  And he can help us to make the right decisions so that we can be on the right path.  The path that leads back to our Heavenly Father.
On Friday we were doing our weekly planning and we looked out the window and it was snowing! I might have shed a tear.  But all is well because it didn't stick and it stopped pretty quickly.   It has been quite chilly this week though!
Tonight our ward is doing a combined FHE and we're going to play minute-to-win-it games.  Sister Shuldberg and I get to be in charge of one of the stations.  It should be a lot of fun! I really do love the people in this ward so much. 
Well.  I forgot my planner so I don't really remember what else I wanted to say.  All of the weeks sort of blur together.   Oh yeah! Remember Sister Shepherd? She got called as a Sister Training Leader! So she'll be companions with Sister Wadman! Now we're all gonna be best buddies haha. 
I hope all of you have a very Happy Easter, April Fools Day, and General Conference weekend.  CAN YOU BELIEVE WE HAVE A PROPHET ON THE EARTH TODAY? It amazes me.  We are so blessed.  <3
LOVE YOU ALL!!!

Love, Sister Jensen

I only have a few pics!
1: My poor companion limping down the road as we tract.  We thought people would pity her and let us in to be nice, but it didn't work like that haha

2: Paige's baptism

3: Elder Tapia is going back home to Mexico tomorrow! He was a good district leader. 

Week 33 - Letter from Camri's Bishop

Here is the letter Camri received from her Bishop this week. It's a pretty good read. 

Bishop sent us this today.  I thought you would like it :)  have a good birthday! Love you bye! 

Sisters Jensen and Shuldberg,

Amazing! Awesome! What a joy you are! How blessed we are to have you in our ward!

I just want you two to know how much you mean to me and how much I love and appreciate you both. 

As a Bishop, my biggest concern is the youth. I want nothing more that for each of them to get it. I want them to come to an appreciation of the gospel, gain a testimony, and then look forward to their opportunity to share it with the world. I want to afford them every tool possible to hone their skills and most importantly their ability to share with others their growing testimony. The ability to speak and to speak clearly are true skills that they can learn, but the real skill is to recognize with spirit and to speak with the power of the spirit in their own words. 

It is absolutely apparent that you two understand this, and have worked hard, probably your entire lives, to do just this. Every time you two open your mouths I am in awe of your confidence and ability to relate as you share. You are truly an example to me and I hope others in our ward understand what a privilege it is to have you in our ward. 

I know that the Lord will bless you. We have a tough ward with some real issues that, in my mind, keep a lot of things from happening, including missionary work. Just know and always remember that the seeds you are planting will get watered and nourished. The spirit of the work is always left by the diligent, and you two are the epitome of diligence. 

I know that as life comes at you you are going to be so prepared for everything coming your way. With your faith, nothing will shake you and the miracles will become second nature in your lives. You efforts in the mission field will forever change your lives. 

You can tell which missionaries really come ready to love and serve, and I thank you, your parents, and teachers that helped you along the way in preparing you to be the wonderfully awesome missionaries that you are today. 

Hopefully I am not breaking any mission rules in emailing you, but I just wanted you to know how much we love and appreciate you two. 

Please let me know if there is anything else that I can do to help in the work. 

Bishop

Week 32 - Zone Conference

It was a great week for Camri. She met some new dogs. She spent some time with a friend that rescues dogs. Apparently the dogs don't like people. However, they ran right up to Camri and to his shock…they didn't bite her. Check out her blog for those photos. Personally, I think it was the beef jerky in her pockets. She is finding great success in Ephrata. The weather has been nice and she was able to get outside in a Tshirt and do service. She will find out about transfers this week. Wish her luck. 

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Well, as I'm sure some of you saw, we had Zone Conference in Moses Lake on Thursday! Zone Conference focused on how we can become better teachers, and a lot about how to use our smartphones in the future months.  It sounds like we're going to be having Facebook too, so that will be interesting!We did a lot of service this week! We went to the food bank, helped Pam pack boxes to move, helped Jeanne clean her house, and helped a guy with his yard work! I like doing service though.  It makes our day a little different :)Jutta is still doing awesome and progressing towards baptism! She and her two daughters went to Bishops house for dinner on Tuesday and we had the Word of Wisdom lesson.  Then on Friday, she wasn't feeling well and Bishop went over to give her a blessing.  Bishop also bought her a quad with her name on it.   When we gave it to her, she had the biggest smile on her face! She stroked the name engraving the whole time we were there haha.  I also noticed that her lock screen on her phone is the temple.  HOW LEGIT IS THAT?! It made my heart so happy.  :')  She gave us a ride to Soap Lake Friday night and we were telling her that she was a life-saver and she said "You guys have been my life-savers ever since I met you".  LITERALLY I wanted to cry.  Moments like that make me realize why I'm here.  Erika and Jim both accepted our challenge last week to read The Book of Mormon everyday.  They did it! Erika said she recognized a difference in her day when she read it and when she didnt read it.  And Jim had a whole bunch of questions from his reading.  It was awesome to see them so excited about the Book of Mormon.  Erika has been investigating for a while now and we weren't sure how to help her progress from the point that shes at right now.  The Book of Mormon has been something that we're really trying to emphasize in our teaching, and it seems to be the tool that helps people progress the fastest.  So hopefully they both keep reading it :)On Saturday there was a big Relief Society party combined with the stake.  It was a lot of fun! But super long... haha.  We invited one of our investigators named Joyce that we haven't really known for very long and she ended up coming! It seemed like she had a lot of fun! I guess her daughter told her that our church was a cult... so hopefully she realized that we're not haha.  We get asked this question pretty much everyday I swear- "How long has the church been letting girls go on missions?"Well, I think I found the answer! I read the book "Our Heritage" and it says that the first woman to be called on a mission was in 1898.  120 years ago! I thought it was pretty neat :)  Transfer calls will be this Saturday so I'll know next Monday if I'm staying in Ephrata or if I'll be leaving.  Have a good week fam! :)

Love, Sister Jensen

Heres a bunch of pics from Zone Conference.  They're also on the blog haha..  Oh and the other pic is from doing some yard work last week :)

Week 31 - There is Sunshine in my Soul (And in Washington)

I usually write a little blurb about how Camri is doing. The only thing that comes to mind after reading her emails and looking at these pictures is...yup, that's my girl. 

until next week. 

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Hello fam!

The weather has been so nice lately and its really brightening up my world :')Lemme tell ya the highlights of the week.  On Tuesday we had Bishop and his wife come with us to Juttas lesson and we invited her to be baptized on April 7th.  She is really excited about it! Bishop invited her and her family to have dinner at his house tomorrow night for our next lesson.  :)Some sad news is that Pam sold her house and will be moving... but its a happy thing for her! Shes really excited about it.  But she is one of my fav people ever so I'll miss her.  Remember the guy that I met in Moses Lake while tracting that said God was speaking to him through the wind? Well.  I ran into him again while tracting in Ephrata not too long ago.  And then the other day the sisters in 2nd ward said, hey we set up an appointment for you on Thursday morning with a guy  named Jesus.  I immediately knew who they were talking about.  Haha I think this guy might be following me! Not really though.  Anyways, we went over and visited with him.  Hes cool.  I'm still not sure what hes saying most of the time... but anyways.I'm sure my dad will be shaking his head at me when he reads this story... I did something way dumb.  hahah so on Friday we drove back to the apartment quick to grab something for our lesson.  We got out of the car, and I locked it out of habit.  Then we went inside quick, and shut the door locking it behind us.  As soon as we shut it I turned to Sister Shuldberg and said, "do you have the keys?" And she was like yeah I have my key in my bag in the car.  And I said, "no I mean the car keys.  I don't have them."  WE LOCKED THE CAR KEYS IN THE LOCKED APARTMENT! And since her key was in the locked car, we couldn't get in.  We also locked the phone in the car so couldn't call the sisters.  We tried really hard to card the door because we were going to be late for our lesson.  It didn't work so we had to go and use our neighbors phone to call the sisters to come unlock it.  The problem is, the sisters were walking and their area is quite far from the apartment... so we were going to be late for dinner too at this point.  Sister Shuldberg and I decided to say a prayer.  Our prayer was answered! As the sisters were walking, a member waved at them as she drove past.  Then she decided to back up and ask if they needed a ride! I thought it was quite the miracle so i cried some tears of joy :')Saturday I spoke at Avrie Perez' baptism.  Shes an 8 year old in the ward! I love her family and Avrie is basically my best friend in the ward haha. I used a boiled egg and talked about how when we are baptized, our sins are washed away.  I drew on the shell with sharpie (sins), and then took the shell off to reveal a clean egg again.  I think she liked it.  And I got asked to speak at another 8 year olds baptism in a couple weeks! Oh funny story.  So one day sister Shuldberg and I were out tracting and we met a really nice lady.  Her name was Nancy I think.  Well Nancy wasn't too interested in our message but for some reason we started talking about music.  And then Sister Shuldberg says, "would you mind if my companion and I sang a hymn for you?" COMPANION SAY WHAAAA? luckily the kind lady declined and said that it wouldn't be needed.  I assured Nancy that she made the right choice by not wanting to hear me sing hahaha.  It caught me a little off guard.  Good stuff.  Every day is an adventure :) Something that our gospel principles teacher said yesterday really struck me.  He said- Let repentance take care of the past, obedience take care of the present, and faith take care of the future.  Wise words to live by friends.  Take things day at a time :)

I love the gospel and I love all of you! Have a good week!

Love, Sister Jensen

Here are some pics: 

1: I just think this is a funny picture haha

2:Cute little Avrie at her baptism

3: They have little camera things at walmart check-outs.  Thats Lu in the background with all the sisters.  Shes a nice lady.  And yes that is a pepsi in my hand...

4: Our zone decided to have a luau today! I don't have the whole zone pic but heres the sissies :)

5: This was the moment that I realized I could still do the splits lol

Week 30 - "Have you found the Python yet?"

We didn't get a chance to chat real long with Camri today. She was out "hiking". she is such the tree hugger. hahaha.She seems to be doing great. she sent some great pictures of today. it was great to see her out enjoying herself. make sure to check out her pictures on her blog. 

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Hey everyone!This past week we had exchanges which are always a good time.  I always start out a little stressed about it because we have to split our area and think of things for both companionships to do.  But it always turns out great! I was with Hermana Lin.  It was a miracle that she spoke spanish, because the street we chose to tract on was full of people that spoke spanish! The Spanish elders in the area were pretty happy when we gave them a big list of referrals!Oh yeah! Also on referrals, we drove past the food bank and I saw a lady sitting on a bench outside by herself.  We decided to pull over and talk to her.  She immediately hugged us! I guess missionaries gave her a picture of Jesus a while back and it really  meant a lot to her.  We talked to her about Jesus Christ, and I asked her to read Alma 7:11-12.  She started bawling! Hermana Lin and i were both sitting on the bench on either side of her.  She threw her arms around both of us and pulled us in to kiss us on our heads.  I wasn't really sure what was happening... all I know is that she felt the spirit :) her name is Libby and we set up a time to see her again this week :)I think the highlight of my week was seeing Jutta! She came to church too! Jutta loves the Book of Mormon.  She told us how much sense the Restoration makes to her.  This week, we're taking Bishop and his wife to a lesson with us and then they are going to invite Jutta over to their house for dinner and a lesson sometime.  I'm really excited about it! So I think I've mentioned that Jutta has quite a bit of animals.... well.  Lemme tell ya.  During the lesson, her dog decided to just chill on my lap.  Which is fine I guess.  But then her daughter decides to bring out the snakes... i dont do snakes.  And then she brought out little jumping geckos! They started jumping onto my shoulder and I wasn't quite sure how to feel about it! Hahah Jutta was getting a good laugh out of it though.  But get this: as we're sitting there playing with the snakes, she asks her son, "hey have you found the python yet?" WHATTTT??!? HER PYTHON WAS LOSE IN THE HOUSE SOMEWHERE! I had the creepy crawlers the rest of the night thinking it was going to crawl out of my bag or something.  Then the next day, we went to the Flores' home and they decided to put a leapord gecko on my head :')  I just love animals hahahWe had interviews with President on Saturday and Stake Conference was on Sunday.  Who would've thought that I would one day say I love Stake Conference? Lol.  The things missionaries look forward to, am I right? I've learned that a lot of people have big mis-understandings about the LDS church and our beliefs.  It makes me sad, because if people would actually study it for themselves, a lot of the misunderstandings would be resolved.  Anyways, last night we started tracting at 7:15.  The first door we knocked on a man named David let us in.  He was super nice but had a lot of questions.  He started telling us that he was raised baptist and that the main difference between us was that he believed that Jesus Christ is the Savior, the son of God.  And we said, "We do too."  He was pretty shocked with our response! He had been told that we only think Jesus Christ was an angel.  He loved the idea that we have a prophet on the earth today! We taught him about the restoration and The Book of Mormon.  He sounded really excited to read it and find out more.  He was one of the most sincere people I've met.  Hopefully we'll go see him again soon.  my point is, there are so many misunderstandings! Thats why its so important to share the gospel with those around us.  :)

Love you guys! I hope you have a good week :)

Love, Sister Jensen

We went on a hike today! Not much of a hike actually... but it was as close as we could get hahah.  Also, heres a pic of the leapord gecko on my head.  <3