I got to hear from an Apostle in person, and shake his hand!

September 18, 2017

I got to hear from an Apostle in person, and shake his hand!

Can you spot Elder Jensen? Row three, near the center, just above Sister Renlund!!

Hello Everyone!

Man, this week was most fragrant! So, it actually started off a little rough. Tuesday I feel asleep during personal study, and my companion let me sleep, so we didn't end up leaving the apartment until 11ish. I felt kind of bad.

We then went to visit a less active, and man, she just has such a rough story. She really wants to come back to church, it's just the situation that she is in will not allow her to do so, and it makes her kind of sad. We will get back to her in a minute. We decided though that we wanted to help her though, and she told us that she needed help fixing a fence in her backyard, because it was just unstable as all get out, and it was not going to last a winter. So, we set up a time to come back later in the week because we had some other things to get to, and we got out of there.

I then did a bit of 12 week with Elder Smith, and then we dedicate about 3 hours to get rid of all the junk in our apartment, because I was sick of just all of this trash that was sitting around the place. If you saw the apartment tour, you probably know what I am talking about. But man, after we did that, I honestly felt better. It was almost like we couldn't feel the Spirit in here before, and now that is is cleaner, I can feel it so much better around here. It is super nice.

We then decided that we wanted to get a bit of work done, so we went to talk to one of our investigators named Julian, who I had yet to meet. Man, it was kind of weird to teach him. He was kind of all over the place and asking us a lot of random questions that had nothing to do with what we were teaching him. We tried to answer them the best we could, but honestly, the things he was asking were not really things that needed to be worried about. But that is just me.

Then we hit up the park over by our apartment, and we ran into these two ladies, and they basically told us their whole life story and about all of these challenges that they were going through. It was sad to hear, but hey, that kind of stuff is our specialty. We did end up leaving them a Book of Mormon, and we have yet to come back into contact with them. I really hope that we can though, because I know of the blessings and peace that this gospel can bring to them.

On Wednesday, we went and fixed Sister Abril's fence (this is not what I was talking about when I said I would take about her again. That is a little later), and now that thing is most certainly going to make it through the winter. Then it was basically a day of things just not working out that well. It kind of made us feel down. So we stopped for a bit, and we're just kind of wondering what we should do.

I eventually pulled out our area map, and was just looking around at it. I then saw a park that was near our house, and I felt like I really wanted to go there, so I told Elder Smith to get in the car, and we went there. I got out, and we started contacting. The first person that I walked up on was actually a former investigator, and she wanted to talk with us again about the gospel. So we walked and talked back to her house, and she got a bunch of her kids out there and we taught them all the Restoration. It was super cool.

Thursday was another Weekly Planing session that took forever, but it is necessary. We actually got together with the YSA Elders, and we started to make some big game plans with them. I won't spoil anything, but know that if we can get these to work, it is going to be HUGE! The YSA elders also got us a pass off lesson, but that fell through. The good thing is though, we did some finding around them, and we ran into a Polish lady that was pretty interested in what we had to say. We are going to go and meet her again sometime this week.

Now, for the super spiritual stuff. Friday was Zone Conference, and oh my gosh, President and everyone else that talked threw down on doing member missionaries work. We have been instructed that we must get the members more involved in the work if we want more to happen in this mission. They are right too. Members can be such a valuable resource, if only they become that resource. It says in Preach My Gospel, that in a prefect ward, the missionaries would straight teach and members would always provide people for the missionaries to teach. But, nobody is perfect, and I am alright if I have to go out and do a bit of my own finding.

So after that for personal study, I picked up PMG (Preach My Gospel) and gave the working with members section a read. I kind of just read through it though, and didn't get a whole lot of of it. So, I was going to put it down, but the Spirit was like, "Oh no you don't. You are going to pick that back up, and read it RIGHT." So I was like alright, and I picked it up again and started reading, and I sat blot upright. I then proceeded to go crazy on it, marking it up with 6 different pens and having insights I didn't even think were possible to have. Then I went and sat my companion down and talked to him for like 15 minutes on what I had learned (It included a lot of excited talking, arm waving, throwing things, and kicking a jug of water across the room.) Man, that was so cool!

After that was a pretty nice meal with some members, and Elder Smith felt like we should go and stop by some investigators that weren't responding to us. When we got there, we actually met one of them, and were able to have a good lesson with her that really increased her testimony of Joseph Smith, and her confidence in the Book of Mormon.

Now we go on to Friday, which I have to say, was freaking awesome! We had a Mission Conference, so all of the missionaries in our mission got together at the Naperville Stake Center, and we got to meet and hear from Dale G. Renlend, who is one of the Twelve Apostles, his wife, and some Seventies and their wives! That was super cool!!!!! He also gave us a talk on how we really need to get member work going in this area, so that is another witness that this is what we need to do. Man, hearing him speak though, you can tell so much that he is a man of God, and you can just feel the Spirit gushing out of him to all those around. Also it being a mission conference, I ran into Elder Faimalo again, which was super cool! It was nice to hear that he was doing well out where he was at.

After the conference, we raided the Mission Office for supplies and went back to our place to drop it off. We then went to the stake center and did a bit of clean up for the stake conference that was going to happen the next day, and we helped two brethren tape down a bunch of wires. Later that evening, we went back to the chapel to give a couple of blessings, and we found them still there trying to get things ready for in the morning. We ended up helping them again, and I actually ended up in the attic of the church trying to move a bunch of wires around. I now have a bunch of fiberglass splinters all up my arms, but it was fun to be up there. Then, we went home because it was getting close to our curfew.

The next day, we got to hear from Elder Renlund AGAIN! It was just as spiritual as it was before. And the topic of member work was brought up again, this time by Elder Scott. I think the message is coming across kind of clear at this point now. But man, the Spirit was seriously so strong these past couple of days. It just makes me feel so excited! We cleaned up after that for about an hour, then we came home and did some studies.

We then went to go and meet someone who wanted a Spanish Book of Mormon, but when we got to the house that she said she was at, the person at the door had no idea what we were talking about. We actually did end up getting in though and teaching a lesson, which was awesome! We left there with 2 new investigators.

And let me tell you, the dinner that I went to after that was one of the best that I have been to yet, and that was not because of the food, though it was some pretty good stuff. The conversation for the whole time we were there was on missionary work and gospel topics, and I just felt so good about being there. This family is seriously so prepared to share the gospel with so many people, and they are. I loved it!

Then we went to other chapel to finish up week 8 of 12 in Elder Smith's training. He is so close! I also showed him the first addiction recovery video, just because I love them so much! Seriously, they are just so amazing, and really put our need for the Atonement into perspective. I would not watch these with your kids though, because they can be really hard to get through. But, they are so awesome! Well, that is my week for all of y'all. I hope that you guys are also having a most amazing week!

Elder Jensen

PS from Elder Jensen's letter to his mom: This week has been alright! If you couldn't tell by my weekly email, I am super excited that I got to hear from an Apostle in person, and shake his hand! That was seriously so amazing! Now for your questions. The thing that I like about my new ward is that they are very happy, and very willing to feed us, even though they take us out to eat too much. They are also primed to do a lot of member work, we just need to pull the trigger. And being a trainer feels weird. You just have to be on better behavior and do things right, because your trainee is looking up to you on how you do things, and you don't wasn't to make him into something that won't be successful. I mean, I really care about him, and I want him to have a really good mission. And that is cool that you got a letter from President Griffin! I didn't even know that he did stuff like that. Man, he is such a great guy, and he is super spiritual. I like him a lot.