Another week in Chicagoland!

July 16, 2018

Another week in Chicagoland!

Free Slurpees on 7-11!

Hello Everyone!

    This week has been a pretty spiffy one! You wanna know why? Well, read on my friends, as another week in Chicagoland unfolds!

    Tuesday, I was on exchanges with Elder Munoz. All I really have to say about that day though, is the Lord will provide. Seriously, when we went about our Daily Planning, we really didn't know what we were going to do or the day. As we were walking out the door though, we got a call from Brother Houl, saying that a member needed help moving things. So, we went off to that. It was good to have that to do, and I enjoyed the service, but this member has a history of...abusing missionary service. So, while we were waiting around for him where he was supposed to be, we got a call from the Relief Society President, saying that Sister Wells(who lives in that general area) needed help bringing food to her apartment. We went to that, and Sister Crippen was there helping as well. While we talked to Sister Wells, she found some people that she knew in the complex, and told them to come and meet the missionaries. We talked with them for a bit, and they were kind of interested in what we had to say, which was awesome! We then waited around for a little longer, but we had to leave for our dinner appointment. After that, we met up with Brother Filio, and he said that he felt like we should stop by Jada Clay. We went there, and had like a 45 minute talk with her about the Atonement, and why so many bad things happen to us, as she has been going through a rough time recently. That was so awesome!

    Wednesday started off with District Meeting, as per usual. We went to see Brother Carr after that, and that lesson went a little heated (my bad). He just basically threw down on tithing again, because he refuses to see the spiritual side of it and all of the blessings that come with it, and only wants to focus on how he doesn't get to say where his money goes, and all of the temporal things. I may have gotten pretty bold with him, and it shook him a little, but not enough for him to change. Oh well, one day he will change. After that, we got to eat at the original Sweet Baby Ray's Barbecue restaurant, and that was some good stuff. We ended that night a Geraldine's place, and we had an alright lesson with her.

    Thursday morning, we started off going around Roselle doing some finding. We then got our Weekly Planning out of the way, and made a trip down to Naperville. On the way back from that, we stopped in on the Mission Office, and picked up some supplies. That was cool, because I was able to snag an older hardcover Book of Mormon, and I had been looking for one of those for a while to use on m studies. I was pretty excited. We then went to the Korbels for dinner, and we had a really good lesson on the Gospel of Jesus Christ with Ashley. She really gets it, but her main concern(from what we can tell)has to do with friends around her that aren't members, that have been kind of making comments to her. I don't like it when people do that. But, people have their agency, and I think that Ashley will get over that pretty quick, since Brother Korbel is a pretty strong member. We then went out with Brother Filio....in his brand new Camero(that he waited to buy until AFTER his wife went to Utah for the summer😂😂😂). That is a fun car, but it really was not meant to have back seats. I can attest to that. But, we saw Brother Carr for a few minutes, and then we got the Calderon's to really start thinking about a Baptismal date for Kathrine.

    Friday, we spent a ton of time in Addison. We ended up meeting Dorothy's daughter, and she showed some interest in what we had to say. She didn't have any time right then to talk with us because she was helping her mother out(she just got out of surgery)but hopefully we can see her again. Friday was also Elder Hollist birthday. Oh man, did he get pranked!😂😂😈 If you remember, we kind of pulled a mean joke on Brother Filio last transfer, where we convinced him that we were getting transferred, and it hit a nerve with him. He had been plotting his revenge for some time now. He had Elder Hollist's parents send his birthday package to his house, which contained his favorite pair of cowboy boots. He then made it seem like the package got destroyed before it could make it out to his house. He had a false tracking number, and even had a fake UPS worker that told us all about how it got destroyed. Elder Hollist was pretty upset, though he won't admit to it. When Brother Filio had enough fun with him, he brought out the boots and the package. Needless to say, Elder Hollist was a little upset. To make up for it though, Brother Filio took us to Fogo de Chao, which is a pretty high class Brazilian Steakhouse. It was so good! Our last stop for the night was Jada, and she had an amazing experience with her prayer. Like, right after she did it, she was able to find a new job, which is awesome! We are going to try and check up on her more often.

    Saturday was food pantry day, and we actually had quite a bit of work to do, which was good. They had gotten a ton of food just the other day, and they were trying to sort through it all. After that, we went and saw Sister Wells with Brother Filio for a short visit. She is finally getting in with a doctor who will do the surgery on her knee, which is fantastic! We did and hour or two of finding with Brother Filio after that, and then met for a little with Sister Crawford. We then had dinner, and we tried to see Barbara, but she wasn't around, so we just did more stop by's. We ended the night making a few plans, and writing out an email to the Ward Council.

    Sunday was great! Jeremy came to church again, and he stayed for all three hours! Woo hoo!!! That is some progress right there. We went right to Brother Filio's house after that, and we had lunch with a less-active, Matt Molenkamp, and his friend Estabon, who is not a member, and just got out of the Marines. They are both cool dudes. We got to teach Estabon the Plan of Salvation, and he really enjoyed that! He said it kind of gave him a new perspective on things. I hope that we can teach him some more, because I think he could be really fun to teach. We then did a few studies, met with Barbara, and then had dinner with the Santoyo's. I think that house is going through a healing process from all of the stuff that has been going on recently, and it is really good. Our last thing of the night was MCM.

    Well, that is about it for me! In closing, as some would say, I know what the Lord is on our side. Seriously, he wants nothing but for us to have the most joy That we can have in this life, and he is going to help us any way he can, as long as we ask for it. Sometimes, that means goods experiences, but it can also mean that he puts a trial in our path. That seems like it would be contradictory, but really, we can't know how good life is without the bad. And most of the time, we can learn from the bad in life, and come out better than we were before. I hope that y'all have a most excellent week wherever you are at!

Elder Jensen