Happy New Year..it's freezing here!

Elder Jensen freezing in Schaumburg

Happy New Year everyone!

    I will say, 2017 ended pretty alright. District Meeting on Wednesday was really cool. It started off normally, but then the other District walked in and sat down, which kind of confused all of us. But then they had us read this talk that was absolutely amazing, talking about how we can become the missionary that we want to be. It was really moving. After that awesome meeting, Elder Figgins and I had interviews with President Griffen, which went very well! It is always great to talk with President. That did take a lot of time out of our day though, so we had to get right to work, which was mostly a bunch of stop by's. That got cut a little short though, but for a good reason, as we were going to go to a baptism with Keyshawn, The YSA's main investigator. It was a pretty cool baptism, because they had to have 3 Elders in the font to help this lady because she is confined to a wheelchair. The Lord makes it possible for everyone to do what He has asked them to do. After that, we had to come home because we were kind of far from home, and then we spent the evening cutting each other's hair. I didn't do that bad for Elder Taggart.

    Thursday was pretty fun. We left a little earlier in the morning to go help out at at a Food Pantry at a church that was near our house. Man, that was a ton of fun, though it was way below freezing the whole time we were out there. What made it fun though was that we were working with a ton of senior citizens, and they were the most sarcastic group of people I have met on my mission. These guys were roasting each other left and right the whole time we were working, and I was laughing so hard. After that we had a really long session of Weekly Planning, because we had to do it for 2 areas instead of just ours. That basically took up the rest of the daytime hours and we went out to Gary afterwards. One of his daughters was there the whole time so it was kind of cool to include her in the lesson. We had to leave pretty quickly though, because our presence was needed in Institute. That was pretty cool. They had a lesson on  the Family Proclamation, and how they could apply it to themselves. Afterwards, we played some volleyball with them, and that was awesome. It was made even better when Ezra (one of the members) started tearing it up on his drum set that he brought.

    Friday, we drove out really far to do some finding, mostly because our lunch that day was with a member was out there, so we thought that we would make use of the situation. After that we tried looking up some service opportunities, and then drove around to them, but that was not too useful. We had fun while we did it though. After all that, we shoveled the snow away from around the church, because we wanted to give some kind of service. Then we went to see Celeste and Meka, and we had a great time with them again. Meka was our focus here, and we answered more of her questions, and we went over the baptismal questions with her. She is ready. We just need to work on getting an interview set up, and she can be baptized this month. That is so exciting!

   Then Saturday happened. So, I started to work that morning, cleaning the church and shoveling Celestes' driveway, but after that, I started shivering almost uncontrollably. So, my companions took my home, warmed me up, and sent me straight to bed. I had been feeling kind of sick the day before, it just really hit that day. We were almost all stuck inside for the whole day. Then an idea came to my head. I had Elder Figgins call up Elder Miner, our District Leader, and request for an Emergency Exchange so that the things we had planned could get done, and he agreed to it. He was also nearly confined to his apartment to because his companion was also feeling pretty bad, so they left us sicko's at our apartment, and those three went out and got to work. Man, that was such a blessing. Elder Hanks and I did not do all that much here, just rested, which was much needed.

    Sunday, was of course New Year's Eve. We have a rule in the Mission, that says we have to be in by 4pm, and with having to go to both wards, not much work got done. All we really did that day was give a blessing and go to a dinner with a member. Then we came in, and were bored out of our minds for a few hours........................ Nah, just kidding! I taught Elder Figgins and Elder Taggart how to play Karma, and we had a blast with that for a really long time. Elder Taggart was really frustrated that he could ever win, but when he did win, his hype was huge. It was funny.

    So, that is about it for me this week. It is now 2018, and I am most excited to start a brand new year, and to see what the Lord has in store for me. I hope that y'all are haveing a great New Year wherever you are at!

Elder Jensen

This is my, "Wait, you're taking my picture?" face

 I got a new hoodie! Brother Filio (who is the Ward Mission Leader in the Bloomingdale area) got Elder Figgins and I stuff for Christmas. This was mine, and I love it! (Elder Figgins got a nice sweater).

Dinner on Christmas day

So, theses aren't exactly new. I found them on our phone, and it is me running during the Turkey Trot. I thought that you might like these.(by the way, the crazy guy with his arms up in the red shorts is Elder King). 

Can I just say....NOPE!!