We DID start the fire!

March 12, 2018

We DID start the fire!

Me as my hooligan self, dressed up as "Bob Saget" for District Meeting. I'm just glad the Assistants weren't there!

Hello Everybody!

So, this week was really slow to be honest. "But wait a second, I thought that from the title of this email, you must have found ten people to teach, and baptized at least three???? What the Krunk is going on?" Well, I shall gladly explain, but give it a minute! You have to hear the whole of it to understand it. So, away we go!

Tuesday, I woke up basically in a drunk stupor because my silly self thought that if I take an extra sleepy pill, things will work better(it didn't). So, that morning was really slow for me, and I spent a lot of time planing out the rest of my District Meeting, because I had fallen a little behind on that. We got a call during that, and it was President, who wanted to come over for interviews. So, we tidied up the lace, and then awaited his arrival. The interviews were alright. Something that was mentioned to me was that I may be early transferred to fill a spot where an Elder went home early. I don't know where that is, or if it is really happening, but that could be happening to me. I hope it doesn't though(and you will have to wait to know why! HAHAHA!). They were here for a really long time though for interviews, and after they left, it was time to get dinner done. Then I had to rest up, because I wanted to make sure that I was awake for what I was about to do in District Meeting.😁

So, Wednesday comes along, and I walk out of my apartment with a backpack full of my master plan in it, which nobody seemed to notice. So, the meeting went along pretty normally, just talking about goals for each area, and then how we should develop faith to find. Then, I turned the time over to Elder Davis for a training, and I ducked out of the room to begin. I run to the bathroom, and in a flash, I turn into Bob Saget himself! Oh, I looked like such a hooligan, it was amazing! So, I waited outside the room while Elder Davis finished his training, and when he sat down, I made my grand entrance. Oh, their reaction was priceless!!!! There was a reason for my madness though. I was dressed up as Bob so that a role play of contacting felt a little more real, because I feel that when we do a role play, and we are all still in suits, it just doesn't have the same effect. But, if I am dressed like a normal person, and I sound a bit different, it can be taken a little more seriously. Everyone had a great time though, and they all made excellent contacts.

After that, we went with the Zone Leaders on Exchanges to their area. I worked with Elder Reynolds for the day, and that was fun. He is a pretty solid missionary. We were mostly just doing stop Bys that day though, with a bit of finding on the side. We had a lesson set, but we couldn't find another male to go with us, so we had to cancel, and we just ended up wandering around in the cold for a long while. But, we had a good time, so it was alright.

Thursday morning, we had a lesson with Ed again. Well, it was more of just talking about various scriptures that he read in his study. I think we are about to pull the serious card with him though, because yes, he is a good guy and I like him a lot, but he is not progressing, and he refuses to do so because he will not talk with his wife about him wanting to be baptized. This is an issue because she is super against the church and us, and wants nothing to do with us. He feels that getting baptized will end his marriage, which is a legitimate concern because I know I wouldn't want to try anything to mess with my marriage, but that means meeting with us may be nice for him, but it is not a super effective use of our time. I don't like doing stuff like this, but sometimes you just have to. Later that day though, we were treated with another visit from our Zone Leaders, and they walked us through a really good session of Weekly Planning, one of the best I have done to be honest. It was really cool, even if it too up a super long time. After that, we went back and had dinner, and then talked with Sister Washburn for a bit. That was fun.

Friday and Saturday we got a bit intense with our finding. Like, we have been doing it, but I decided that I wanted to try a little more. So, Friday before we went out finding, we went to lunch with Brother Hacking to Q's, which is a most excellent BBQ place. Then, we went back, did a bit of intense planning for a particular area in our area, and then we went out. Five hours later, nothing. But I had fun. Some Jehovah's Witnesses had been in the neighborhood before us(we didn't run into them, thank goodness!) and had left a bunch of pamphlets in peoples door. So, as we were walking and knocking, we replaced those pamphlets with pass along cards (#missionarylife). Also while going about, we noticed that a member family that had just moved in was in this area, so we dropped in on them and introduced ourselves. They are the Monson's, and they are a pretty cool family. After that, we went to finally see Otakar again. It was fun to talk to him. I need to go there more often. And that night, YSA came by for Exchanges, and we got in another game of Risk with the before we went to sleep.

Saturday, we actually did work. Elder Lake and I went to do some service for a member who had a stroke in church. He is in a really tough spot. But, his family was really grateful that we could be there to help him out. Then, we came back for the switch, and I went out on another intense finding session with Elder Buckway. Man, we went through a neighborhood, and again, nothing. So, after dinner, we decided to switch it up a bit, and hit downtown Naperville. Not good. Everyone there was on a date, and whenever we tried to stop and talk when them, they would brusquely shoo us off. It stunk. But, it happens, and we just laughed it off.

Sunday is where it went down. So, this is how it goes. We go into Ward Council 30 minutes late because our ward mission leader forgot to change his clocks for daylight savings. So, we sit down, and everyone looks at us for a second, and then they go back to debating about how the new council meetings should be run. When they were done with that, they asked us to just sum up how the work has been going this week so that they could move on. Oh, I told them how it was going. I may have laid some guilt on them, and told them that I had been here for nine is weeks now, and it has been at least five weeks since I had taught a Restoration lesson, or even found a new investigator, and I just told them that we really needed some help, because we are struggling hard in this area.

Silence.

Then the Bishop speaks up, and says, "You are right.". That lead to a pretty good conversation about how the Ward can start getting their rears into gear and helping us out. They even got along with our plan to schedule visits to members homes to teach them the lessons, so that we could practice teaching (and our other reason is to really show them how much they know about what we teach, which is a lot, so that they can really gain more confidence in sharing it with others around them). Oh, it was great. We were going to start that Sunday evening, but we ended up going to a dinner with five different families, and there was just too much chaos, so we decided to save it for another time. What also made me happy though was how many people came up to us today and told us that they were thinking about people that we could visit. Nothing set yet, but it will get there.

So, that was this week. The Fire that we started was member-work in this ward, and I am really excited to see where this goes. And hey, to all of you church members who are reading this, let me just say something to you. If you know of anyone that could possibly be ready to hear this message of the Restored Gospel, I urge you not to hesitate. Take the name to the Lord, and ask him how you can help this person along the path back to our Heavenly home. To all those that are not yet members of this church, I have something for you as well. I do not say this with the intention of forcing you to do anything. I simply ask you to consider this. What is this religion really about? If you have any LDS friends, talk with them. Talk with me if you want, my email should be on the blog somewhere. But ask them what we are all about, and I can guarantee that they will be happy to talk with you about it. I know I will. Again, I say this as merely a suggestion. I mean, what is there to lose?

Anyway, I think I should close it here. I just want to say, that I have seen my life blessed, and the life of my family blessed decease of this gospel. I was able to grow up on a home where someone holding the power and authority of God was able to preside over us, and lead us through many times of trouble, and I am grateful for his guidance, and the blessing that he has been to my family. Thanks Dad! I also know that there is a man today who holds all of the keys to the Priesthood, and has the authority to lead Christ's church here on earth. I know that God lives, and that His Son atoned for all of us so that we can return to His presence. I know that we are never alone, and that we are loved by our Elder Brother.

I hope that y'all are having a great time wherever you are at!

Elder Jensen

Can you spot the raccoon that is making all of the noises in the trash?