The real WARD

January 20, 2014

"Hallo Family

Well this week is over and I wish I could tell you something crazy happened or we had a whole lot of lessons, but I can't.  But it's okay because we were working our hardest and I enjoyed this last week, I really did.  

Monday we spent some time in Stuttgart, which was good.

Tuesday we didn't have distrikt meeting like we usually do, but we went by Sister "E's" brother and sister (last time we met with her she gave us their information and told us to go by them).  They both ended up not being home, so we left them a note and will hopefully be able to stop by again.  It's always a gamble trying to just "stop" by peoples houses and it usually takes up a HUGE chunk of your day getting there and trying to find their place.

On Wednesday we began our Tausch (splits) with the Heilbronn Elders.  I ended up staying in Pforzheim with Elder Graver.  We didn't really have any lessons planned so we went by a lot of people.  We went by the Selifi brothers that I mentioned last week - the older brother being the less active.  It was cool, we made contact with them but he was busy so he gave me his phone number and he took ours and said he would call us later.  He just called us like 5 minutes ago!  So cool, because usually when people say they are going to call us, sadly they don't.  But he did!  I just talked to him and he was really nice and said he had some time on Friday (this is the older brother-less active).

The next day, Thursday we met with the Weichelts family (the single mom that's a new member with the 3 daughters).  We taught them the family mission plan, and yes the little girl remembered me, haha.  Afterwards we played a few games!

On Friday we had a really good weekly planning, and then that night we went to Little Texas for dinner.  I love it because it feels like America.  Elder Peterson and I ordered a huge country platter!  So good!  

Saturday we didn't have anything planned, but we had written down a bunch of names before that we could go by.  It ended up being good and we delivered a french Book of Mormon to a french speaking lady.  That day we stopped by a lot of other people too, some former investigators and some less actives.

Sunday we met in Stuttgart with the Stuttgart ward.  It was so cool because it was a "real" ward!  Stuttgart has a really nice church building with a chapel and about 150 members, with families and a couple deacons and such.  It's been so long since I've been in an actual ward, I have forgotten how it feels.  The Weichelts family was there too and the little girl was so surprised to see us, she came running up the aisle to sit next to us.  Church was fun with that big of a ward.  Later that night we were able to have two really cool lessons.  One with this cool guy who lives on our street and we talked to him the other week, he is from Poland.  It was our first time "meeting" with him and he was really nice.  He told us how he talked to his neighbor about the mormon church and how he had been given the Book of Mormon (which we had given to him when we first saw him).  His neighbor said he wanted a Russian one, so that was cool!  We got a referral from a potential investigator then - who is now a new investigator!  A little confusing, sorry.  That night we met with Sister "E" about our church and family history.  She was interested in that, and hopefully we can go with her and a member to a family history center in Stuttgart.  That would be cool.

Overall we didn't have a very successful week number wise, but all that matters is that we are doing all that we can to make a difference in peoples lives and help them.  I love you all and hope you have a great week.

Liebe Große,

Elder Jensen"

A Great Week!

January 13, 2014

"Familie,

Overall it was a great week this week, I'm excited to stay!  We started the week out early, making calls and people calling us.  After we found out we were staying we had contact with people we hadn't seen or heard from for the last 3 transfers so that was really cool.  

On Wednesday we finally met with "T.S." and his non-member wife.  They were so nice and it was a really good lesson!  They have a three year old son who speaks both German and English, it was just way cool seeing a happy young family - it's been awhile since I've seen one. We tried meeting with a guy we found last week, we originally met with him by trying to go by his older brother who is actually a member (less active), but he wasn't there.  So this time we went by and the older brother was there and we had a sweet lesson with him and got to know him.  He is really cool and so nice.

Saturday early morning we had interviews with President in Stuttgart.  Along with interviews we have "distrikstversamlung" with Sister Miles.  I love the Miles and really appreciate them.  I enjoyed this interview a lot because I was more myself and not so nervous.  That evening we went and saw Sister "E" and gave her a short lesson.  The last time we saw her, I gave her a General Konferenz talk from 2012 from President Monson to read and ponder, and she insured us she did and it helped her find some answers she had been looking and searching for.  After the lesson she showed us some pictures of her family and told us to go by her sister and son who live nearby.  It was out of nowhere and surprising but we were excited to hear that, so we are going to see them.

The highlight of the week was definitely Sunday.  Sunday was branch conference and we had about 50 people in our little branch.  We filled up the whole little room we meet in!  There was lots of people there from the Stuttgart stake.  The Weichelts family was there! (She is the mom with the 3 daughters and is a new member).  It was a really good meeting and after church we had Gemeinde essen with everyone there.  I was talking to someone and the youngest little girl (Weichelt's daughter) came running up to me laughing and hugged my leg!  She would not leave my side, haha, and was literally my little shadow.  It's been so long since I've seen little kids or had kids at church.  She kept telling her family that she found a new best friend and she wanted to be like me.  She was awesome - it reminded me of back home with my niece and nephews.  We had two people bring friends to church on Sunday too!

I feel like I am leaving out a bunch of stuff, but it's hard to explain all the sweet things that can happen on a mission.  The work here is hard at times, it's just important to remember we are here to make a difference in peoples lives - and if they aren't quite ready to accept the gospel, we can still have a positive impact on them one way or another.  Love you all, love hearing about all my friends and their success, it's really cool! 

Liebe Große

Elder Jensen"

 District Conf. and interview with President Miles

This is where District conf. meetings were held

Against the Odds - Transfer Calls

January 6, 2014

"Familie,

Well the first of the week went really fast and was a lot of fun...I'll tell more later.  As you know we had transfer call this week.  It's pretty uncommon to be with your companion for three transfers.  So the call came Friday, and we are BOTH staying.  Yes that is right, we are staying together another transfer!  This will be our 4th transfer together in Pforzheim.  We were a little surprised I guess you could say, apparently this NEVER happens, ha.  But I'm excited for this new transfer.  I really want this transfer to be a good one!

We went to the Schwarzwald (black forest) last P-day and took this lift thing up to the top in Bad Wildbad where there is all these different walking trails and it is "beautiful!"  There is a little ski resort and huge evergreens reaching so high to the sky, and sometimes they make an archway to walk through!  We even encountered some snow!  The schwarzwald is really pretty!  There was this one peak that looked out over the back side of the schwarzwald where you could just see hills infested with evergreens.  The hill we were on was called Sommerberg (summer mountain), you should look it up!

Tuesday was Silvester or New Years.  We went to the Senters for that and had a little party.  We had smoked salmon from Norway on bread, that was good!  We listened to some music and watched the New Years thing they have in Berlin on TV - like America has in New York.  Once midnight strikes it's like being in a full out battle field!  Fireworks are really cheap here and everyone buys them and lets them off at the same time!  Literally everywhere you look fireworks are going off, explosions all around you!  It's crazy!!  Blanks are allowed too so a bunch of Germans were running around with guns shooting blanks, haha kind of scary!  We were safe up on the Sentner's balcony. The ride home was crazy, most of the craziness was over but somewhat still going on.  The streets were covered with debris from all the boxes of fireworks and firecrackers (which over here are like dynamites).  Driving home we were going slow, swerving and honking the horn to dodge the fireworks still going off!  The next day though was a ghost town!  The streets were a mess!  We made contact with this new guy, in a neighboring town this week.  He was really nice, we met him by trying to meet with his older brother who is a less active. Hopefully we can meet with him more.  Church was really good this week, good lessons all around and a great testimony meeting.  

I still can't get over me and Elder Peterson are staying together!  

Love you all and Bis Nachste Woche

Elder Jensen"

The trek up the mountain in Bad Wildbad - Schwarzwald

New Years Party!

A Quick Week!

December 30, 2013

"Hey Fam,

Weird I just talked to you a couple days ago, haha!  After skyping you on Christmas day, we went home and had our goose.  Oh gosh we were so excited and it tasted horrible, it was really good meat but way too "citrusy."  Our potatoes tasted so good, but were kind of crunchy.  No problem though we saved them and cooked them a little bit more so it worked out!  As far as our goose goes, it's in our fridge, still in a container - we don't know what to do with it.  

On the 26th, which is Christmas over here too, we went over to the Wengert's.  It was a lot of fun, they cooked us a huge lunch (lunch is the main meal).  We had duck, rotcrot, fresh veggies, and carbinated water - norm for Germany.  Then they gave us presents and I got a pretty cool yellow zip jacket.  We played cards for a good 3 hours and this other intense game called Lagreto, CRAZY intense.  They are really nice and it was all fun!

On Friday we had weekly planning and a lesson with this girl "JL" and Bruder Wengert came with us as a third person.  It was a good first lesson.  Afterwards we went and dropped by Sister "E" to see how she was doing.  I've been able to relate more with her because she has been having some knee problems and contemplating getting knee surgery.  Out of nowhere I pulled out my Book of Mormon and felt the need to share with her from 2 Nephi...I didn't even know what I was going to say but I was JUST SPEAKING, it was really cool and she really enjoyed it.  Afterwards Elder Peterson said how that was the perfect scripture for her and I said I didn't even know what happened and I was just going with it.  He said that's what missionary work truly is - following the spirit.

Then came Sunday, we were suppose to pick up "JL" and another person for church, but we couldn't reach either.  We had a lot of family visitors at church so it was cool and it doubled the size of our actual branch probably and almost filled the whole room.  

Today for P-day we decided this morning that we are going to go down to the Schwarzwald and take a ride up the hill in Bad Wildbad!  Love you all!

Liebe Große

Elder Jensen"

Merry Christmas!!!

December 25, 2013

We were SO excited we got to Skype with Gabe on Christmas day!!!  The connection was a little frustrating at times but it was so good to see his happy smiling face!  He is doing awesome and absolutely loving his mission!

Bis Übermorgen

December 23, 2013

"What up Fam!

I'm going to keep this one short with it being Christmas week and we get to talk more in a couple days.  Some of the highlights of this week...first one being - my courage!  My mut just changed this week, I wasn't scared at all to talk to everyone!!!  I went on a Tausch with Elder Wasden in Heilbronn this week.  I talked a lot on that Tausch, I just figured why hold back?  It went well and we got a long.  I feel like the mission has changed me so much already!  

We had a sweet surprise Christmas party with this family from Weihingenz.  They are a really cool family - the mom is a new member but they go to the Stuttgard ward.  

This week was good, I don't know what happened but I wasn't shy at ALL with the language and I have talked to the coolest people on the buses and trains.  It's my favorite thing, I just go sit by people and start talking to them, ya know share some crazy stories, laugh, try telling jokes...they usually I get an opportunity of them asking why I'm learning German or why I'm over here and I get to tell them about missionary work and our purpose.  It's really cool and I love it!  I love Elder Peterson and I will miss him as a companion when we split because we have become best friends!  We will talk more about my investigators and a lot of other things in a couple days!  FROHE WEIHNACHTEN!!! (Merry Christmas)

Liebe Große

Elder Jensen

P.S. Today Elder Peterson and I are going to put on our santa hats and deliver all the members in our Zweig a little box of chocolates, I'm excited!  We delivered one earlier this week when we had a member lesson and they LOVED it!  It was really cool!"

Elder Peterson and Gabe's "Christmas card" picture

 Gabe's side of the room decorated with Christmas lights :)

 All the Christmas loot

Nach Stuttgart

December 16, 2013

"Hallo family,

I'm really sorry but I am going to have to make this email short and sweet.  Elder Peterson and I are headed to Stuttgart today for our P-day to see their Weihnachtsmark (christmas market) and such.  So some quick info on this last week…not a whole lot happened, in fact it was a rather slow and uneventful week.  We were excited to start a new week.

Monday we ran into Sister "E" and she said she is not ready to be baptized anytime soon sadly, but we are still working with her and meeting with her - just taking it slower.  She needs more time.

On Wednesday was our Christmas party as a zone!  That was a lot of fun and that is when I received my Christmas package!  President and Sister Miles were there too so that was cool.  We played bells, did a white elephant exchange among us missionaries, had a pot luck lunch, had ROOT BEER, watched a little of the Christmas devotional, and then Sister Miles played us a song on the flute.  It was fun and really helped it feel like it's Christmas!  Missionary work is 24/7 so it's been hard to realize it's the holiday season.

This week we met with this guy who speaks English, it's weird teaching in English.  He really loves Jesus and knows the bible.  Anyways his computer was out and he was on youtube so I told him I know these videos that are really good if he wanted to look them up - our church bible videos (they are my favorite thing here on the mission - haha).  He pulled some up and started asking us some questions about the Book of Mormon while they were playing so that was cool.

Christmas is different here…the Christmas markets are great but other than that I don't know how much else they celebrate Christmas. Thanks for your emails, I LOVE them all.  Let everyone know I love them and wish them a happy holiday.

Liebe Große,

Elder Jensen"

A couple pictures from their zone Christmas party!

 Gabe and his companion Elder Peterson (sporting their Christmas ties)

All of the Stuttgart Zone at the Christmas Conference