Week 37 - Friend me on Facebook :')

WARNING!! you are going to read something things that you might not believe. Words such as clean, winner, facebook, and spanish speaking. We got Camri's car fixed this week and started cleaning it out. We are still finding things in her car that mysteriously disappeared.  I don't think it was a coincidence that she won the award for the cleanest car. She better hang on to that title because she will never win that when she returns.
As you read you will she that her thumbs are back up and working as her mission has adopted smart phones and Facebook. The answer to your question is yes...I have sent her a message, she just can't respond. She is having a ton of success and really enjoying her mission. Thanks for your support. 

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Hey everyone!
I think the biggest event from this week is that we received our Smartphones! I'm a Facebook missionary now, so if you see me posting on Facebook, don't freak out, its all good! Its definitely been quite strange to have Facebook again.  And since its still sort of a new thing for missionary work, there's not a ton of set rules with it.  We've been told to be very prayerful and follow the spirit with how we use it.  It amazes me how much the Lord trusts us!
We had exchanges with the STL's on Wednesday and I got to spend the day in Wenatchee! Wenatchee is actually really pretty compared to Ephrata.  Don't get me wrong, I love Ephrata.  But its not known for its beautiful scenery.  Wenatchee had actual mountains! It was so good to see mountains again :')
Since the STL's are spanish speaking, a lot of the work we did that day was in spanish.  We had a lesson with a recent convert and we took turns reading paragraphs from a conference talk.  I read it in spanish! I was quite proud of myself.  Haha I read sorta slow but I think they still knew what I was saying... but even if they didn't, they had a copy too so its all good.
We had a lesson with Erika and Jim again.  They are still handing out copies of the Family Proclamation! so this time we asked them to invite their daughter and her kids to church with them.  And then right as we got up to leave, her daughter walked in! hahah so they invited them right there on the spot.  It was legit.  The grandkids ended up coming, but not the daughter.  Maybe next week!
Friday was our zone conference when we got our smartphones and it was the longest meeting EVER! We left our apartment at 8 in the morning to go to Moses Lake and we didn't get home until around 9 that night.  We also had car inspections at zone conference and guess who won the cleanest card award... yep.  This sista did! Along with my other car sharing sisters :') We got a box of donuts for it haha.  I jumped up and cheered when they called my name, I was so excited about it!
We ran into another pretty mean guy on Saturday... he had some interesting views on religion.  Just remember everyone, if you're not sure about something, just pray about it! Prayer is real and God answers prayers. 
Sunday was awesome! Jutta brought her two daughters to church and Erika brought 3 of her grandkids and our investigator, Joyce, was there! Gotta love the Sabbath. 
Another huge blessing this week was that Brother Dutcher fixed our bikes up! We helped his wife paint some doors and while we were doing that, he blew up the tires, fixed the brakes and the handle bars, and made sure the seats were straight.  isn't that nice?? People treat us so good. 
The talk that I read in spanish is called "What Lack I Yet?" Elder Lawrence gave the talk I believe. Its SUPER good! My favorite line in it is, "To Him, our direction is ever more important than our speed."
It was a huge reminder to me that God doesn't expect us to change all at once.  Progression is a process. Its important to be patient with ourselves, because as long as we're going in the right direction, that's what matters. 
I love you all! Have an awesome week!
Love, Sister Jensen


1: We were holding Juttas hamster but Sister Shuldberg dropped it on the ground and it ran under the couch hahah so this is us on the floor searching for it.

2: This is at a soccer field that we walk through everyday

3: Last pic with the flip phone #RIP

4: This is from this morning driving to the library.  Don't worry, we were stopped when we took the pic.  So I was driving with both eyes on the road haha.

Week 36 - I Hate Dogs....

 So it finally happened. I have told her to stay away from those rabid dogs. I told her she better bite back next time. One week she thought she was the dog whisperer…the next she was lunch. Cam is actually doing great. She is having tons of success. We have received a few pictures of her this week from some of the folks there in Ephrata. I received one today of her painting some interior doors out in a garage. I asked the person who sent the picture if she had to teach Camri what a paint brush was. She found that to be funny and said she was doing an awesome job. She helped another person organize her medicine this past week and packed boxes to move. Imagine that…Camri and organization in the same sentence. Amie received a phone call from Pam in Ephrata thanking her for raising such an amazing daughter. Pam lost her husband recently and her daughter is in Boston going to school. She said Camri has been the light in her life at this time. She told her daughter in Boston the the sisters have become her replacement daughters. See ya next week. 

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I actually don't hate dogs.  Well, not all dogs anyways.  But I got bit by one yesterday! We were out tracting and we had to walk down a dirt road to get to this house and we walked in the fence, knocked on the door, and I kid you not, SIX chihuahua's ran out! Their owner came out after them and wasn't too pleased to see missionaries at her door.   So we apologized and were starting to walk away.  Well the dogs weren't friendly so I stood still while she tried to call them back into the house when this devil dog jumped up and bit my shin! It was actually a little bit funny.  Sister Shuldberg bandaged me up and it's all good.  I was murmuring about that dog all day long though haha.

The rest of the week was pretty bomb. We started teaching a lady named Debbie this week.  The Elders met her at Taco Bell and referred her to us.  We went by her house last week and weren't able to meet her.  But last P-day sister Crookston got a hankering for some cinnabon delights.  So we stopped at Taco Bell and were able to meet Debbie! We had two lessons with her this week.  Shes a recovering drug addict and she just lost her mom, so shes really going through a lot right now.  But she has felt like she needs to turn to God and start going to church.  Food cravings can definitely be promptings from the spirit ;) #DebbieFromTacoBell

We had interviews with President Lewis again this week! I think we only have one or two more before the new President comes :( But thats okay.  I'm sure President Jackman will be great!

Highlight of the week: We got to go to the temple with Jutta!!! The youth in the ward were all going so Bishop invited us and Jutta to join as well.  It was such an awesome day.  We went out to eat at a buffet afterwards and a lady came up to us and told us she had joined the church a couple of weeks ago.  It turned out that it was her birthday that day.  So Sister Shuldberg and I made the announcement to all the youth and we sang Happy Birthday to this cute old lady.  After we sang, she shouted in her cute old lady voice something along the lines of "I joined the church a couple weeks ago and it has been such an amazing journey!"  Melted my heart.

We also had dinner with Jutta and her family on Wednesday night and taught the Restoration.  Her husband, John, was there and he even listened! And he told Jutta afterwards that if Scarlet decides to get baptized then he would be okay with it.  Yay!!!

We also met with one of Jutta's sons friends named Colby.  Hes about 19 i think.  and his whole reason for meeting with us was because he doesn't believe in Mormonism and really feels that he needs to share his knowledge with us and teach us the "truth".  He didn't really teach us anything.... he only tried proving us wrong.  He didn't do a good job of it either.  Hes said some really mean things to Jutta since she joined the church though and its been hard for her.  But once again, people can't argue with the answers that we have had from the Holy Ghost.  No one can take away our personal testimony that we have.  

We pulled out the bikes this week that were in our storage unit.  I was a little weird riding a bike in my dress and the wind definitely didn't help haha.  But please enjoy the pic below of us in our dorky helmets :') 

We got to teach the CTR 7 primary class yesterday at church! Guess what the lesson was about... missionary work! So it was perfect.  OH! And Jutta spoke in church! Bishop asked her to on the ride back from the temple.  She shared her story a little bit about her heart transplant and then she bore her testimony and talked about how she met the missionaries.  It was awesome!

Have Y'all seen the bible videos? If not, go check em out.  They're LEGIT.  Love them.  

Love all of you! I hope you have a great week.  oh and guess what... I get my smartphone on Friday! yay.  

Love, Sister Jensen

1) Temple trip

2)Dorky bike helmets

3) Fresh dog bite

Week 35 - Jutta Got Baptized!!!

Another great report from Ephrata! Cam had another baptism this week. She was able to meet a lot of new people. I am sure the experiences she is having will help shape the rest of her life. I have to chuckle every time she talks about weed. And to think that 8 short months ago she had no idea what it smelled like. It brings me great joy knowing that she has finally figured out how to weed a garden spot or flower bed. What we couldn't do in 19 years, they have taught her in 8 short months. See ya next week.

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Jutta was baptized on Saturday!! It was such an awesome day.  So many people came to support her.  Her jumpsuit had some flare bottoms and she kept saying she felt like Elvis Presley haha.  Sister Shuldberg and I both spoke at her baptism. And the boy that baptized her is named Leeland.  He is in the ward and he just got his mission call to the Philippines! I think he was pretty nervous because it was his first time baptizing someone (which made Jutta pretty nervous as well), but he only had to do it once, and he didn't drop her so I'd say it went well.  :)She was confirmed in church on Sunday and even her husband came! We thought it was quite the miracle because he told us he wasn't going to come.  He's not much of a religious person.  But I think he had a good experience.  Their daughter, Scarlet, is 9 years old and loves church! She keeps saying, "if I get baptized, then there will be two Sister Mandevilles at church!" We're actually starting to teach her the lessons too now! Shes adorable.
Omgoodness we found five new investigators this week! It was amazing! We have appointments with all of them this week so we'll see what happens. 
We did a lot of different service this week! We went to the food banks as usual and the thrift store.  But we also got to help a lady in our ward paint her garage! She had a bunch of spiders in it... she had used a bomb before we came so most of them were dead luckily.  But gosh I hate spiders.  We also helped some people clean up some construction in their house, and move their fridges and freezer.  Haha that was a funny day.  Lemme tell  ya about it.  So we went over and met this couple there.  They had called us because they had the missionaries phone number from a few years ago and knew we did service and they needed some help.  The wife took the Elders to go pick up a stove somewhere and all the sisters stayed with the husband to help pick up the construction mess. Well he was a little drunk I think... but super nice guy.  We were moving one of the freezers and it smelled a little like Weed.  One of the Elders called it the "special freezer".  Once we got it moved, the drunk husband opened it up and was like "Woah! Theres a lot of weed in there!" We all chuckled a little bit because we weren't sure what to say haha.  They were really nice though and even invited us all back to have a pizza night!
Remember Jeff? The guy that we sang to last week? Well we had a lesson with him last night! Some members live down the street from him and came with us.  We taught him the Restoration.  He was crying so much when we talked about the Holy Ghost and how he can be forgiven for things that he has done in his past.  He has a lot to work through.  But its possible with the Atonement of Jesus Christ :)
We met an old man yesterday while we were tracting that told us he could see Jesus in our eyes :') How sweet is that? Plus, he looked like Santa Claus which made it even better haha. 
Oh yeah! We met with Erika and Jim this week too.  They did our challenge and handed out a family proclamation to somebody.  Jim even made 4 more copies and plans to give them all away! We taught Erika about family history and she loved it! Shes making an account this week.  So when she is ready to be baptized, she'll be ready to do some of her families work too :)
One more story.  We got out to tract on Saturday and saw someone doing yard work, so we decided to go and talk to her.  Turns out, she was a less-active member and didn't know what church she was suppose to go to! She just moved back into town.  So we were able to tell her what time her church was.  And we helped her do her yard work too! For about an hour and a half.  I've never done that much yard work in a dress.  But it was actually a lot of fun! It proved to me again that God puts people in our paths for a reason.  There are never coincidences :)
Bishop said something to me yesterday that I really liked.  He said- We teach by light waves, not by sound waves. 

Our example is the best way to teach.  And as we're following the savior, people will recognize the "light waves". 
Love you all! Have a good week! Oh yeah and today is my 8 month mark. Thats cool I guess.
Love, Sister Jensen



Pics:
1) Painting the garage
2, 3, 4) Jutta's Baptism! The little girl is Scarlet :)
5) This was when we stopped to help do yard work.  We weeded the whole garden that I'm standing in!

Week 34 - Tortilla Flip Champion

What is it about a mission that brings those serving to love General Conference? I think its the fact that they get to watch TV. Don't get me wrong, we have always watched general conference...at least on Sunday. Camri is doing great. I can only imagine and think of her eating breakfast casserole on Saturday morning. She mentioned to me that Ephrata hasn't had sisters serving in their area for a while and she thinks that is contributing to their success. She mentioned that she is the "wife" of the apartment. If that's the case, that apartment ins a disaster. Apparently she is the only one doing laundry because every time we see a picture of her and some of the other sisters, they are wearing her clothes.
She is almost halfway. Where has the time gone?

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I hope everybody had a good Easter weekend! General Conference was most definitely the highlight of my week.  Can you believe we have a prophet on the earth? Its a miracle.  Straight up miracle from our Heavenly Father.  I loved when Presidnet Nelson announced the new temples being built and he chuckled when he announced the one being built in Utah.  He has a way of letting his personality shine through and it reminds us that hes human just like the rest of us.  Sustaining him was such a spiritual experience! I felt the spirit super strong during that part of the meeting and I know that President Nelson is called of God.  We are very blessed :)
We watched the first session of conference with Jutta at her house and she loved it! She especially loved the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.  They're pretty legit.  The other sessions of conference, we were able to go watch at the church.  One of our investigators, Joyce, was able to come and watch one of the sessions with us.  I'm not sure what her thoughts were.  But we have a lesson with her tomorrow so I guess I'll find out.
Heres a funny story for ya.  So last night we weren't quite sure what to do.  It was getting late and our plans had fallen through.  We hadn't found any new investigators the whole week and we had set a goal to find 1 yesterday.  Well I don't remember if i put this in my email last week.  But we met a man some time ago named Jeff that was "trimming herb".  But he said, "Its legal now!"   Haha anyways, we gave him a Book of Mormon and he said we could come and teach him more about it! We stopped by last night and he had some friends over.  He said he would invite us in, but his friends were a little intoxicated and they were smoking pot.  Then for some reason, one of them asked if we could sing.  So we sang the first verse of "Nearer My God to Thee" on their porch.  They loved it! Haha I don't think anyone has ever complimented my singing voice like they did :') Then he said a prayer for us and thanked God that we came that night.  He probably won't remember the experience, but Sister Shuldberg and I always will.  It was interesting.  And now Jeff is one of our investigators! He was the sober one, so thats good.  The things I experience as a missionary are things that I will probably never experience ever again in my life.  Which might be a good thing sometimes haha.
Jutta's baptism is on Saturday at 1:00! She is being baptized by one of the young men in our ward that just got called on his mission to the Phillipines.  And Bishop is confirming her on Sunday.  I'm sooo excited for her! :)
Oh yeah! And on Monday, we had a ward party for FHE.  And I totally dominated in the tortilla flip challenge! I'll try to send the video of it. 
Friday was an AWESOME day.  We saw so many miracles that day! First miracle, was Erika calling us and asking us to come over this week.  She said she has been reading the Book of Mormon EVERYDAY and its changing her life.  I may or may not have starting dancing like a maniac after hanging up the phone.  Second miracle, was one of our members called us and told us her grand-daughter is "searching" and agreed to meet with us this week! I may or may not have danced after hanging up that one as well.  Then we got a call from Elder and Sister Pendlebury, the senior couple over the vehicle department in the mission.  The Elders in Quincy scratched up their car a few weeks ago and it needs to go into the shop.  But it can't go to the shop until April 16th, so they asked if they could park it at our apartment until then.  We said sure.  But then they told us we could drive it until then! So now we have a car EVERYDAY and we don't have to walk for the next few weeks! Lets just say that day was full of crazy dancing.  To top it off, our ward mission leaders wife brought me some cream of mushroom soup that night so I could make my moms breakfast casserole for conference morning :') People are lovely.  And Heavenly Father is so great.
Missionary work is the best thing ever.  And the thing is, you don't need a tag to do it.  We've been challenging the members to do a lot more missionary work lately and its been awesome! Sharing the gospel with people helps us to love it even more ourselves. 
I hope everyone has a good week! I hear its Spring Break.  Have so much fun! But be safe, aight? Love you all!

p.s. We had dinner with some members in the ward this week and their little 7 year old son asked us to play soldiers and zombies with him.  So we ran around the house shooting pretend guns at each other.  :')  Kids are the best.

p.s.s. Remember Josilyn who got baptized in Moses Lake in September? SHES ENGAGED!!! To the boy that introduced her to the missionaries.  How cute is that?? :') 


Love, Sister Jensen

Heres some pics!
1: Tortilla flip
2: This pretty much explains our relationship haha
3: Cool wall, eh?
4: Watching conference with Jutta
5: Our ride for the next couple of weeks.  Check out the damage done by the Elders.