A White Christmas comes Late...

December 29, 2014

"Hallo Fam,

I'm going to keep this email short due to lack of time..and we just talked not too long ago!  

We ended up getting snow on the 26th (Christmas #2).  Snow is fun and all but not so fun to live in.  We got to shovel it all at the Church Sunday morning - before Church because the city came way late!  Nineteen years later, and my first time shoveling snow.  It was fun though!  We also had so many eating appointments this week, oh gosh.

First off, on Sunday, I Elder Jensen had Blutwurst.  That's right BLOOD SAUSAGE.  We ate at the Hungarians for dinner.  It was definitely one of the highlights of the week, haha.  It's so weird and salty...and just weird.

So this whole week to keep my mind on my purpose (not getting too wrapped up in the holidays).  I've been having some good conversations with God through prayer.  I have a list of these people that we've made contact with a couple weeks ago but they are away for Holiday.  I've been keeping them in mind and asking that we can make contact with them as soon as they get back.  It's been good because it's been keeping them on my mind even though they are gone...a lot of them are really cool too, we just haven't met with them yet.

The "highlight" though was the story about this Frau we met with on Saturday.  We really just listened to her when we met with her.  Sad and complicated story and us Elders don't get too involved with that - we just listen.  Anyways she ended up coming to Church with the member who came with us to visit her.  She said she wants to come again!  I ended up giving her a picture of the Savior that I had in my scriptures too.  She was very touched and I could tell it meant a lot to her!  So please pray for her that we can be bold and that she will accept the gospel in her life.  At first I don't think she was looking for the gospel, but she NEEDS it in her life.  I know as she accepts it she'll realize that more clearly.

I love you all and hope you all have a great week and New Years!

Love Elder Jensen"

FROHE WEIHNACHTEN!!

December 25, 2014

We had our 3rd skype call with Gabe!!!  Only 1 more to go until he is HOME!  Always so wonderful to see his smiling face and to hear his voice!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

< skyping with Elder Jensen! >

Es ist fast Weihnachten!!!

December 22, 2014

"What up Fam,

I'll keep this one short since we will be seeing each other on skype soon!  

We were able to meet with Reja during the week, I love that family, they are the coolest, nicest, most humble family.  The language gap is not too fun but we do our best to teach through it.  

Since being here in Wiener Neustadt I have literally absolutely no fear of talking with everyone.  Before hand, I didn't have a fear of talking to people on the streets but on the buses and trains it would come and go.  Here there is hardly anyone on the streets sadly, so I have been able to find some really cool people on the train rides.

We had our Christmas ward party last Saturday.  Jose was in charge and us Elders helped the whole time, decorated the Church and had songs ready to sing, it was a lot of fun!  We even listened to a little Michael Buble Christmas music.  The party went well and there were so many less actives and friends that came!

I was asked basically on Friday to give a talk in Church on Sunday.  I was thrilled because missionaries never give talks in this ward.  I felt honored!  It was special Christmas Sunday and I gave a talk about the true meaning of Christmas.  Lots of members came up to me and thanked me afterwards, telling me they really enjoyed it.  Our ward is awesome and got us so many appointments with members!!!  We are busy this week with member appointments, which will be good for this holiday week.

In the mean time I have been sick with a bad cold which is never fun, especially this time of year.  I'm hoping it dies down quick.  Anyways, I love you all and thanks for all your prayers and support.  I have to take the mission as it comes, some times are harder than others.

Love Elder Jensen"

Christmas in Wien

Love of Life

December 15, 2014

This weeks email comes right after hearing about the passing of a dear Aunt...sad news from home.

"Familie,

So I don't have a lot to say now, sorry.  All I can think is how grateful we can be for the knowledge we find in the Gospel.  No matter what knowledge we have or know, it does not take the sorrow away.  Goodbyes no matter for how long or how short are never easy.  "To take sorrow out of death is to take love love out of life" - and that is impossible.  The only thing I can now say is simply hold fast to the knowledge we already have.  The knowledge of our Savior and wonderful things following his death for us, mainly his Resurrection.  But until that day comes, where we will be reunited with those we love we must continue on and live the life we have now, with LOVE and GRATITUDE.  The sorrow will still be there, but continue on giving thanks to the Lord for what we do have.  Take life  one day at a time and embrace it.  LIVE IT.  LOVE IT.  Because you never know when the final goodbye here on Earth to a loved one or friend will come.  So live life with no regrets.  Never forget to give thanks to the simplest things.  Never forget to let those dear to you know how much they mean to you.  Live life so that when the goodbyes do come, and they will come, we can look back and reflect on the great times with out any regrets.  We can all give witness of how fast time flies.  A one liner in the book of Jacob that I like, says how "the time passed away with us, and also our lives passed away like as it were unto us a dream."  So fam, let us make good memories now together.  So that one day we can all look back together, while we are sitting in Paradise, and reflect on the good memories we made together.  Live a life full of Love and I promise you - Your light and countenance will be known.  Despite the hard trials that come, the sorrow we'll go through, let us NEVER forget the hope that is within us.  Let us never forget the Power of our Savior's Atonement, his love for us.  Let us always be ready to share this hope that's in us with others.  One of my favorite scriptures in the Bible that I actually just shared with a member yesterday is in 1 Peter Chapter 3, I encourage you all to read the chapter.  But the 2 verses that stick out to me now are...

         14 But and if ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye: and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled;

         15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the                 hope that is in you with meekness and fear.

I love you all and am so grateful for all that you all have done for me.  I'm grateful that I can look back and reflect on the great memories we've already made and excited for those that are yet to be made.  Remember our Heiland at this time.  He will heal all sorrow.  I love you all.

Love Elder Jensen

(Last week we had an awesome Conference with President and his Christmas gift to us was we got to watch "Meet the Mormons")

Advent Zeit

December 8, 2014

"Hallo Familie,

I can't believe that we are a week into December, gosh!  Time goes by fast.  This week was better than last week, but still can get better.

So last Monday was a pretty normal P-Day, that night we went to visit a member in the hospital.  She is doing okay though so no worries.

Tuesday we had Distrikt meeting and ate some really yummy pizza afterwards.  Wien is really big, still have yet to see any of their Christmas markts.

The week overall went by faster, I set up some appointments to meet with people so that was good.  The time is kind of rough, but I'm doing my best to stay positive and upbeat and get things accomplished.  My German has been suffering a little because I haven't been speaking it as much lately.  I want to continue doing all the little things that bring the miracles that make me feel happy and all.  A time ago in Augsburg, after General Konferenz, I prayed to Heavenly Father and made him a promise that I would never forget which way I face (second talk in the Oct. 2014 General Konferenz).  He loves to test you sometimes, haha.
The Christmas fireside is really coming along!  We got the invitations done and I've been giving them to everyone on the street.  Although I think the real success is going to come from Members inviting their friends.  I'm anxious to see how it works out!
The highlight of this week would definitely be Krampus or the Parchten lauf!!!  Some members invited us to it so we traveled out to this dorf to go to one, it was a smaller one by OH MY!!  It was CRAZY, one of the coolest things I've seen on my mission and probably life, haha.  They were really creepy and huge and had fire, AC DC was playing in the background..they have no limits.  They warn the kids before hand that only the brave ones go up to the fences, because they will not stop!  Little kids would be crying and screaming, and they still mess with them and yell at them, whip their legs!  I took a selfie with one of them while they were walking by and then he whipped me really hard on the legs.  They had fire dancers and people blowing fire while all the "creatures" were running and walking around klinging their bells to them.  I tell you it was crazy!  There were only 5 groups so this one wasn't that big (each group has about 10 creatures and a name, they have a certain look to them and they march group by group throughout the city).  The one in Wiener Neustadt has 25 groups!!! We got invited to another one on Sunday, a bigger one, but that is not a Sunday activity.  
I've learned something about myself, some people like it and others are not a fan of it..as far as work goes and 'success,' I'm satisfied of course, but never really content, I'm always wanting to improve or find out what we can do better and then do it!
Anyways, Frohe Weihnachten!!!

LG
Elder Jensen"

Krampus - Parchten lauf

Roller Coaster Week

December 1, 2014

"Hallo Familie,

This week has been a roller coaster of a week and has sent us for a loop.  First let me hurry and say all that we had this week.

The Christmas markts are up and going, we saw that last Monday.  The one here in WNS is rather small, but the ones in Wien are HUGE.

Tuesday we had Distrikt meeting in Wien and afterwards we all went and ate at this world famous Schnitzle place.  The missionaries have been going to this place since it's been open so they know the Elders and love us!  We have our own little room in the very back with no smoking and they give us free fries and water, and the schnitzles are huge!!!  Then I tausched with Elder Worthan, he is a really cool guy. I can't remember the last time I've worked with someone so "similar" to me.  I have got a long with all my comps even if we are completely different so that has been good.  The next morning we went running to Schonbrun castle again, we ran to the top of the hill that overlooks part of Wien.  I like Wien, it is REALLY big but pretty.  They do a good job at keeping it clean too for how big it is.  Europe is just really good at that.

Wednesday was an interesting day.

Thursday was Thanksgiving!  We went to the Pinols for Thanksgiving, but before that, us 4 Elders met at the Church and made mash potatoes and some other things.  It was fun but really quick (he had to work).  They have no turkey here so we had chicken.  Afterwards we went back to the Church to clean the kitchen and organize our fireside.  That is when my companion got some sad news from home.  It was hard to carry on the rest of the day and week for that matter.

Friday we stayed in the apartment almost the whole day...later we went to Spiel und Spaß at the Church and then went to our Bishoff's to have our 2nd Thanksgiving.  We had Schnitzle, a lot of it!

On Saturday we went to visit a less aktiv family that lives out on the Hungarian border (the ones who brought food on Sunday).  The 23 year old son picked us up, us 4 Elders had no clue what to expect.  They told us to bring normal clothes too so we did.  When we got there they had all this food ready for us and we got to know them all a lot better.  The dad told us his conversion story and it was really cool. After a while of visiting and going on a drive we headed back to their house and all ate American pancakes while listening to Christmas music.  We had a spiritual thought and I read some scriptures from the Book of Mormon (one being Helaman 3:35) and then shared my testimony.  The mom shared her testimony after which was cool.  Anyways, they ended up coming to church this last Sunday too!

On Sunday we had lunch at the new Hungarian family, they cooked us some funky Hungarian food.  

Overall a pretty crazy week, we ended up getting transfer calls too and me and Elder Durrant are staying together here in WNS for this next transfer.

I love you all,

Love Elder Jensen"

Helping All

November 24, 2014

"Hallo Familie!

So this last week we had interviews with President.  Short and sweet!  This week we were able to meet with Mazin, we ended up teaching him about the Word of Wisdom (because he offered us black tea, so we had to explain).  

This less aktiv family called us this last week and invited us for dinner on Sunday.  We had this "linger langer" for the first time after church, where we all stay after church is over and bring our own food and eat together!  Anyways this family came and brought us their food, it was awesome!  They bonded with the ward and all the members loved them.  They live on the Hungary and Austria border, and we are going to visit them on Saturday to play some basketball and eat pancakes!

This last Sunday was really cool.  The other Elders have been wanting to go on a tausch for forever.  I went with Elder Wahl and we visited this less aktiv family (the wife is not a member), but they are really cool.  Elder Wahl had the lesson and talked about coming to Church...I shared some stories and explained to them with an example of why it's important.  Elder Wahl gave an object lesson that they really liked and they both said how they need to come to Church!  We talked a little bit more about it and I told them I am going to save 3 spots next to me next Sunday for all of them (their little girl too).  They said okay we'll be there!!!  It was really cool.  Elder Wahl said it was a complete different lesson than anytime before.  He was leaving feeling optimistic! 

The area just has so much potential and together we are unfolding it.  I'm slowly starting to realize why I'm here.

I'm getting excited about Christmas and we have quite a few ideas we've been coming up with.  I have been thinking on how I want to do a mini Christmas fireside type of thing, make fliers/invitations that say "What is the True Meaning of Christmas?"  Then invite all to come find out, then we could watch Joy to the World and bake cookies.  It will be fun and we will for sure do something like that hopefully.  Sure do love you all!

Love Elder Jensen"

from Markus & Alexis visit: