Farewell to Elder Faimalo, Aurora, and Naperville!

September 04, 2017

Farewell to Elder Faimalo, Aurora, and Naperville!

Our last Sunday in the Naperville 4th ward (with Captain Mike!)

That is indeed correct, I am headed out of the Naperville area, and am going up to Schaumburg 2nd ward to follow up train Elder Smith. That is right, I haven't even been out 6 months yet, and they are having me train someone. That is a little interesting, but I guess you do what you are assinged, and do it with a smile. I am actually kind of excited to try out this training busness. I just hope I do a good job at it.

Anyway, on to this week. We actually had it kind of easy this week. On Wednesday, we got surprised by President and Sister Griffen coming to sit in on our District meeting. None of us were expecting that. They did have a reason for coming though, and that was to tell Eder Faimalo and I were both leaving the area, and we had to make sure that our apartment was spotless. Yep. The area that I white washed into is once again getting white washed. There is a twist to that though, but I will get to that in a second.

Dinner that night was fun. We had some pretty awesome Mexican food with the Solis family, and I kind of ruined Elder Faimalo's meal. I grabbed some Ghost Pepper hot sauce, and put a line of it on my taco (the warning on the bottle I later discovered advised only a drop at a time. Oops.). Then I handed the bottle to Elder Faimalo, and he also put a line on his, but I did not tell him what I gave him. Both of us were crying, but man, that was a lot of fun to do (Elder Faimalo strongly disagrees with this.).

Thursday, we said good bye to Alan, the head guy at Restore. He was sad to see us leave, but felt better knowing that we would send the next missionaries his way. On Friday, we had an exchange with the Zone Leaders, and Elder Hadlock and I got to work. We found 4 potential investigators that day, which is a record for me! It is just a testimony though, that if you have the faith to find, you will find people who are willing to hear about the gospel. I was happy that I got to work with Elder Hadlock though, because he was one of my first Zone Leaders, and he is going home on Tuesday. I am going to miss that man.

Saturday was the day of Transfer Calls. We went and bought ourselves one of the best pizza's I have ever had from Giordano's, which I highly recommend if anyone ever is around one. So, the call. Of course, we knew we were getting white washed out of the area, with me going to Schaumburg and Elder Faimalo going to Morton, but what we did not expect was that Sister missionaries were coming to take our place. That is kind of cool though, because this ward we learned has not had Sisters in at least 16 years, so this change up will probably be good for them. We actually met one of the Sisters that is coming in here, Sister Brown. She is in the ward before us, and she milked us for as much information as she could before her Sacrament meeting started.

Sunday was a good day. We said a lot of goodbye's, and we will be saying a lot more tomorrow as well. We actually had a really cool experience at our dinner Sunday night, where we basically shared with the Davis family why we came out, why we are still here, and our testimony. I think I will close out this letter with that.

I came out on a mission, because 5 years ago, my Heavenly Father could have called me home to Him, but he did not. I decided that meant that I still have a purpose here on this earth, and I wanted to know what that was. So, I went and got my Patriarchal Blessing (for those who do not know what this is, it basically declares your lineage in the House of Israel and contains personal counsel for the Lord to you). Through that, I learned that it was VERY important that I serve a mission, and so I prepared to do so. There is another reason though that I came out, that I had come to learn that I want to be out here, because I want to help people. I want to bring this Gospel to them because I know of the joy that it can bring. I want to serve my fellow men in any way that I can. I want to be their friend, and someone that they can rely on. I want to point them to joy in the eternities.

Why am I still out here? I know that there are still many souls that are in need of my help, so I am going to go out and find them, and bring them peace. I cannot leave until I know that I have done what I could for them.

And now, for my testimony. I know that my Savior lives. I know that he loves us with every fiber of his being. I know that he sacrificed himself for us that we might live again, and return to the presence of our Father. I know the Book of Mormon to be true. It is not just 531 pages of "good stuff", but things that can bring us closer to God than any other book on this earth. It has brought me nothing but peace and joy in this life, and if you have not at least given it a try, I urge you to read it for yourself, and find out for yourself if it is true. If this book is true, then Joseph Smith is a Prophet, for he translated it by the power of God. If he was a prophet, then he had the authority to act in God's name. He restored this church to the earth in these days, and if he did it with that authority, then it is the only true church on this earth today. Everything hinges on the Book of Mormon being true. I know that we all have a purpose to fulfill on this earth, and if are still around, then we have not fulfilled that purpose yet. I know that this church is true, without a shadow of a doubt. I leave my testimony before you, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Elder Jensen

PS: My sleeping still sucks. I actually got no sleep Saturday night, and that made Sunday kind of interesting. I am hoping that this next transfer, things will get better. I did get a blessing though last week, so things will work out eventually. I just have to be patient.