Ups & Downs

February 10, 2014

"Familie,

Can't believe this week is already over.  As I mentioned last week, Monday we were at the ZOOOO!! It was pretty cool actually.  

Tuesday we had Zone training, which the zone leaders carry out, it's always good.  Afterwards we had a Tausch and I went to Heilbronn with Elder Wasden, our District Leader.  It went good, we only talked German the entire time and we talked to a lot of people.  Oh the funny people Germany has!

On Thursday we went out and tried to contact a couple people, we ended up walking a lot but it was a beautiful day.  After we returned home we had a good weekly planning sesh...the energy is still rollin'!

Friday was a busy and great day!  We went to teach our less active, the Selifi brother, he is awesome and I just love him.  His girlfriend and younger brother are not members, but I have a feeling that one of these times we will teach one of them along with him.  After our lesson with him we went and dropped by this elderly lady we've been visiting.  I swear I learn so much from her in such a short time.  We didn't have too long with her but before I left I asked her what her favorite treat was, she responded with, "my favorite treat...a prayer with you two."  She is so humble and I love her.  We were suppose to meet with Brother "G" that day too.  We tried texting him and calling him earlier but no answer so we went and dropped by around the time we had mentioned.  As soon as we get close we see him walk out his door, pretty crazy "coincidence."  We met with him in the park again and we talked about how he had mentioned he wanted to become a member and what we must be doing in order for that to happen. He was being kind of silent and I said how we should set a date as a goal to be baptized.  He came with us to the English class we teach and the plan is to set a date with him on Sunday while we joint teach with Brother Wengert.

So Sunday came along and we had made a plan of picking him up for church, but he wasn't home and he didn't answer his phone either. We were really bummed, and it's really confusing.  Please pray for him and that our lessons can be consistent with him.  That night we met with one of our investigators and his sister visiting from Australia again.  She has such good questions and she is for sure a golden investigator! I could see her becoming baptized, probably not here though, probably when she returns back to Australia.  The spirit is always so strong.

Zone Konferenz was really good and it's always great to see President Miles.  And transfer calls are this Saturday!!  That will be crazy! Truly time goes by too fast, I will be approaching my 5th transfer.  I don't even like to think about it.  I love you all and hope you have a great week, full of hope and light.  Be the light shinning bright with faith, especially with all the saddness and turmoil around.

LG

Elder Jensen"

Zone Conference

Got to catch up with MTC buddy Elder Oviatt

Give it ALL you Got!

February 3, 2014

"Hey Fam,

This week was really good, I'm in Stuttgart right now and am kind of short on time because we went to the zoo today.  It was a lot of fun to my surprise and we saw a lot of animals.

So this last week, we continued to meet with our new investigator "G" (22 yr. old).  I love this man, he is usually kind of quiet in our lessons but he takes it all in!  He opened up a little more with me this week and after church on Sunday we had an amazing joint teach with Bro. Wengert.  Bro. Wengert really connected with him and it was really cool.  Afterwards we dropped him off at home and he told us how he could see himself becoming a member and wants too!  REALLY cool!  We said we can help with that, haha, and we're going to try and set a baptismal date this week - so please keep him in your prayers.

We met with another investigator and his sister, which kind of turned into all these questions and sharing back and forth between our two scriptures (our German bible and book of mormon and her arabic bible and arabic/english book of mormon).  Got a little crazy!  At the end I had this strong urge and just followed the spirit and said it as simply as I could to answer her questions - how we have a father in heaven who's our God, his son is Jesus Christ and the three seperate beings and we are created in their image.  I said how we could search and share scriptures all night and share our thoughts but when it comes down to it we must find out ourself, and pray and search the scriptures. (It made more sense than that and it was definitely through the spirit, it brought a certain calmness to the room).

We had some ups and downs this week, but we were able to have a great companion inventory.  We shared and talked about a lot of things and the phrase we are living by as of now is "GIVE IT ALL YOU GOT - LEAVE IT ALL ON THE COURT" (in this case leave it all in the FIELD)!

I'm sorry I left out so much but we are in a hurry to get back.  More to come next week, love you all and hope you have a great week.

Tschüss,

Elder Jensen"

Zwölf!

January 27, 2014

Translation:  Zwölf = twelve 

"Halo meine lieblings familie!  Ich liebe euch, das es ganz sicher!  This week was a great week!  I have to start off by saying again how much I love familieheimabend (FHE) every week with "M" and his mother.  Every week we pretty much do the same thing: talk, eat some delicious German food, sing hymns, Oma loves hymns (his mom), read a spiritual thought, then EVERYTIME we must play Skip-bo.  I love them so much and am sure going to miss them if I ever leave Pforzheim.  

As you know last week was a little harder, we only were able to have 2 lessons last week.  So I was destined to try and make this week an action packed GREAT WEEK.  
The end of last week I sat down and went through the 'area book' for at least 3 hours, maybe even longer, searching and reading about former investigators and their stories.  I then made a list of all these people who we could stop by within the next few weeks.  Elder Peterson told me the thing that makes him most happy on the mission and lifts his spirits is teaching lessons.  SO LET US TEACH LESSONS.  The week started out good, Tuesday we were able to have 2 lessons and a sweet member lesson with a family we took the sacrament too.  

On Thursday, you ready for this?  We had not one...not two...but THREE lessons.  And on top of that one less active lesson!  Oh it was so toll, and all the names and lessons we taught were from that list of people I made.  We picked them out together during companion study and then planned out the day!

The next couple days we had a few more lessons and our English class.  Then came Sunday and it was pretty hectic.  We were able to meet with Pres. Senter a little bit about the ward and how we can all work together better on missionary work.  Overall it was a really cool week.  President Miles told me in my interview to really study chapter 9 in Preach My Gospel, so I have been.  Street contacting and 'finding' has been hard these last couple months, so I turned to the Area Book like I said and it was worth it.  Because of the area book we were able to have 12 total lessons this week (that's including joint teaches and less actives)!  That is the most my companion has ever had on his mission!  On top of that we found 6 new investigators (potential) this week too!  We also scheduled 3 lessons for next week already. Needless to say this week went by really fast!  I'm excited to make this week better than the last!  I really appreciated Mom's quote last week about making the opportunities and not waiting.  BE STRONG.
I wanted to mention one of the new people we met with - Brother "G" he is 22 years old and we found him from the Area Book.  The Sisters had met with him a little before.  He was really cool and we had a sweet lesson with him on Saturday in the park on a bench.  He asked a lot of good questions and his main struggle is the subject of Faith.  Anyways we had a really cool lesson with him and I can tell we are going to become good friends.
This mission is really hard, and number wise it's maybe not "successful" some could say, but I know we are making a difference.  I love these people so much!  Gosh they are all in my dreams every night, REALLY!  I just care so much for all of them and want the best for all of them.  I love you all and hope you have a great week!  Thanks again for all your support and love.  Consider yourself all very BLESSED for being born into this blessing-filled life of having the gospel of our Savior!  Love you and carry on.
LG - Elder Jensen"