So I Had These Eight Bananas...

October 10, 2017

So I Had These Eight Bananas...

Here is a screen shot we took of our video call lesson with Elder Faimalo, Elder Royce, Celeste and Maka. Seriously that lesson was just super awesome!

Hello Everyone!

Y'all thought I was late! Preparation day was actually today instead of Monday. Why you may ask? We are going to the temple TODAY!!! I am so excited! I will send pictures of us there afterwards. Let us go on to talking about this week though.

On Tuesday, we tried to get some weekly service going, but the place that we went to told us that they already had enough people. That kind of downed us. After that though, I got to do something very exciting. I set up a Facebook for myself to use on my mission! As our mission is now a full time online Proselyting mission, we are encouraged to set up a Facebook, and also find as many ways as we can to use technology to hasten the work of the Lord. It is super exciting. I should tell you though, that because I chose to set this account up, I am required to delete my old Facebook account. I think I freaked my mother out because she sent me an email in the week telling me that my account was missing, and she didn't know why it was like that.

Insert from Elder Jensen's mom: I thought someone hacked his account on Tuesday, so I recovered his account and changed his password. Now that he does not have access to login to his original Facebook, it is still available and he won't get into trouble with his mission president for not deleting it...which he technically did. You can friend him using the above link, but please read the following rules he has to follow to have a Facebook account while on his mission. Ok...back to his letter!

So, I do want to clarify some things with my Facebook. Anyone is more than welcome to be friends with me on my Facebook, HOWEVER, I am using it for the next two years as a Proselyting tool, not as a means of communication to friends and family back home. I am not allowed to follow ANYONE(meaning if you post stuff, I will not see it)other than missionaries, and if you do wish to communicate with me,or would like me to know what you are up to, please only do so through my email. I would love to hear from anybody that would like to talk to me.

After those shenanigans though, we went to try and find a former investigator, but that did not end up going anywhere. We did run into a person, Alexandria, who listened to us, kind of. Her dog was going ballistic at us for the entire time that we were there, so we kind of just went for a return appointment, so we could be in a setting more conducive to the Spirit.

Wednesday, we had a 3 hour Zone training on technology, since we just got the approval to really start using it to it's fullest, and it was super cool. Along with that, our Area Book got updated, and it is super weird. I am still trying to get used to the changes, and I am not liking it all that much. I am out sure why they changed things, but I guess there must be a reason for it. And Wednesday evening, we had an awesome experience.

So, we drive up this street, looking for a less active's house, and we see this lady walking with her kid. We honestly didn't think much of it at first. Then, Elder Smith just jumps out of the car and runs at her, trying to get her attention. When she recognized who we were, she got super exited. She had been taking the lessons with the missionaries awhile ago, but for some reason they stopped visiting her, and that kind of made her sad. We walked with her for like 20 minutes and talked about the Plan of Salvation, got her Facebook info, and then went on to our next appointment. It was so cool though, and really a testimony that the Spirit will lead you to where you need to be at the right moments.

Thursday morning went really bad. I don't know why, but I could not fall asleep the night before, and I didn't really "sleep" until around 5:30 or 6 the next morning. It was really rough. We had weekly planning to do that day, so thankfully we weren't out trying to teach, because I would have been unable to do anything. It really stunk. But, later that day we had a good lesson with Nahrina, our Assyrian investigator. She is super close to being baptized, she just really need to somehow get the time off on Sunday so that she can come to church. It kind of stinks how that works. After that, we were walking around her complex, and this kid named Israel comes up to us and asks if we are church people, and when we said yes, he took us over to his house to meet his parents, and they all said that they wanted to come to church on Sunday! (They didn't, but it was super cool how willing they were to come right after meeting with us.)

And that evening, I actually had the opportunity to cook dinner for my companion and I, which is a rare opportunity in this ward. It was fun. I found this little cook book and I found a chicken thing that looked pretty good, but when I went to get all the ingredients, we were only missing the 1 cup of soy sauce. But I was determined, so I went and found a substitute for that. I decided that a cup of Valentina hot sauce was close enough. Man, that chicken was so good, especially over rice! Elder Smith was having a hard time eating it though. Something about it being too hot, but I couldn't tell.

Friday morning, a Jehovah's Witness preached to us for an hour. And when we tried to talk to him after his sermon was done, he would have none of it. I guess the only way that things work there is that we have to listen to him,but he can bush us off if we even try to mention what we do. Oh well. But, that evening, I had one of the best lessons in my mission yet.

So, a little back story to this. We are walking around that morning doing some finding, and who should call us up but but my previous companion Elder Faimalo. That was kind of a happy surprise, and I was glad to talk to him for a bit, but the real reason that he was calling was because his companion, Elder Royce, had been in our area in the past, and he wanted to check up on two investigators that he had gotten a pretty strong connection with, Celeste and Meka. We mentioned that we were going to meet with her that night, and he came up with the idea that he should video call into the lesson and talk with her while we were there. We were totally down with that, and went and made preparations for that. I will say, that was amazing! It was exactly what they needed. They were so happy to be talking to one of their favorite missionaries again, and it just helped them out so much. They are working towards baptism now more than ever. That is just a testament to technology right there, and that it can be used so effectively to hasten the work of the Lord! I am so glad that I am able to serve my mission in a time when technology can connect so many people! It is truly an amazing blessing that the Lord has given us.

Saturday was a good day. Sadly, Alexandria dropped us, and we think it may have something to do with her parents, but oh well. Maybe she will be more ready at a future day. We also got into a really deep talk with one of our investigators, Julian, about justice and mercy. It was a cool lesson, but also probably way to deep for us to go in. Oh well.

Saturday evening, I got in a little over my head. So, I had these 8 Bananas sitting in our apartment for like the past week because I wanted to make banana bread with them, but I just kept forgetting to get a bowl from the church so that I could do it. I finally did that Saturday, and I went to work. I however, did not realize just how much this particular recipe was going to make. I ended up with a good sized loaf of bread, 12 muffins, and a 9x13 pan full of the rest of the mix. We have banana bread for days, and I like it.

Sunday was an amazing day! It was fast and testimony meeting, an Celeste and Meka were able to make it to church! Man, these testimonies were just so for them. And to top it off, Celeste herself got up (Meka went up there for support) and bore her testimony to the ward, and basically told them that she wants to become a member of this church. That was just such a powerful testimony! Elder Smith and I are just so excited for her! And it was kind of funny, because basically right after that, President Coombs got up and basically told the whole ward that they had better be fellow shipping them. There is the real MVP. And that is not all.

For the 3rd hour of church, we got to teach the Young Men, and we convinced Phill to come in and sit in on the lesson. We were teaching about the importance of the Book of Mormon, and how we can use it to teach. We sent the Yong Men off to do an activity dealing with how the Book of Mormon answers questions of he soul, and we decided to do this with Phill also. We had him pick his own question, and he chose the one that answered if God really answers prayers. So, we read Enos with him, and he was really liking that book. He had never read it before, and honestly, that was something that he had been struggling with like the whole time that he had been meeting with the missionaries, was that he did not feel like he was ever getting an answer to his prayers. I think that this really helped him. And he got to hear a bunch of testimonies from the Young Men about the Book of Mormon, and I think that had an impact him as well.

We also had two dinners Sunday. The first one was kind of unplanned. We were trying to get this member out with us to a lesson, but all of hem were falling through, so he just told us to come over for food. We had a fun time with them, and we got to do something pretty cool with them. So, if you have seen on my missionary Facebook, we have been issued a challenge. That challenge is to ether take a picture of us with the Book of Mormon, or a video of us, and we are to share our favorite scripture using #CatchthePoweroftheBookofMormom. So, we extended this challenge to this family, and I extend that challenge to all who get this far in my weekly letter (these are kind of long aren't they? I ramble I guess). And seriously, let me know if you do this. I want to know.

Then our second dinner was kind of chaotic. Sister Cruz fed us dinner, and she invited a bunch of people over. It was a little diverse in religion and reaching as well, which was really cool. There were 3 Americans, 6 Filipinos (Sister Cruz and her sister+family) and 2 people from Panama. There were so many conversations going on at the same time, but when it came to us sharing our message, it was so cool how everything went straight to Christ. And how we were all sharing of our love for the Savior. It was awesome!

Now, I guess I get to write about Monday, which I usually don't do. It was a great day though. That morning, we helped Phill move. I am sad that he is leaving, but I was glad to spend a bit of time with him and his wife for a while, because I feel like we really got to know them over that couple of hours while we were moving them. It was a lot of fun. After that, we went to Ray's house, a kind of investigator, and helped him clean out some things. He is a hoarder, and we are going to be back there a lot getting stuff out of his house(while he is not looking....).

Not much else happened that day. We did have a really cool talk with a Lutheran guy named Ted, and also a really wired discussion with a guy who says that the Bible has been written in skip code, and that the world is going to end pretty soon because of things that Trump is doing(He may have subtlety called him an anti-Christ). That was interesting. Now though, it is time for me to be off to the temple! I hope that all of you are having a most excellent week!

Elder Jensen