Dearest friends and family,
What a blessing it is to have temples! I am so eternally grateful for the peace that I can feel each time I go. This week we went to the temple with Edgar and he performed baptisms for the dead for the first time! It seems like yesterday we were walking with him around the temple grounds, trying to express how amazing it would be when he could finally go inside. And it definitely was amazing! Edgar is doing well. He helped us practice our Spanish approach, then later that same day we used the exact approach on a man out washing his car. And the man said missionaries could come by! When we told Edgar, he was like, "I'm a missionary!" It was pretty much the best.
We had zone conference this week! I always enjoy conferences because I am able to learn so much. This one was particularly fun because my trainer (and her new trainee) and my last trainee (Sister Carver) were also there.
Summer: We received Summer as a referral a couple of months ago, but we finally met her this week! She is the lead singer in an alternative rock band that's pretty popular around here because of the positive messages they share through rock music. She is awesome, and so sweet. She wants to progress towards being baptized, but is struggling to fit us in between her concerts, rehearsals, recording sessions, video shoots, etc. So we will be doing our best to teach her in whatever 10 minute sections of time she has available for us!
It has been a good week to be a missionary. I love the people of Pasco, and I wouldn't want to be anywhere else doing anything else!
Love,
S. Jensen
Johnny (who was baptized last week) is the front man in the one with lots of Elders. Also, I never thought I would ever see Edgar wear a tie, so the one with him in a tie at the temple is pretty special :) It took a lot of convincing.
Dearest Friends and Family,
What an incredible week to be a missionary!! God is so good.
Edgar was baptized! And it was amazing!! The week before his baptism was definitely one of the most crazy, stressful, weeks ever, but it was all worth it to be able to welcome him in to the branch as the newest member of the church. I will never forget the moment after his baptism, when he stood up out of the water with his arms raised in triumph, the biggest smile on his face! He has already mentioned some neat experiences with the spirit (feeling clarity of thought, and feeling impressed to speak up), and we missionaries couldn't be more proud. Edgar is strong-spirited and will be such a blessing to this branch, and to the Church! I feel very humbled to have been blessed to teach him.
Johnny moved to Walla Walla this week...and got baptized as well!! We weren't sure how it would all play out (we were planning a baptism for him here on Friday...), but we received the happy news yesterday that Johnny was still able to be baptized. Yay Walla Walla YSA!!
My new companion is Sister Gibson. She is fresh from the MTC and filled with energy and eagerness to do the work. We have already had some wonderful adventures, and found a new person to teach named Melissa (a girl yaaaay!!). We also had a cool experience this past Friday. We were sitting outside the Institute building (because one of the teachers, a man, was in the building) doing our weekly planning, when Sister Gibson's hand was stung by a bee! We were going to go back to our apartment to take care of it, but felt inspired to go into the institute building. There was a lady sitting inside, literally just waiting to talk to someone. We gave her a copy of the Book of Mormon, and she agreed to read it almost immediately. She also was very excited about church and the youth programs (she is a single mom of three kids), and said she would be at church yesterday! We sent her as a referral (because she isn't a YSA) and can't wait to hear what happens next in her spiritual journey. Also, don't worry, Sister Gibson's thumb was okay.
Well...we just got kicked out of the library because someone pulled the fire alarm, so I guess I'll sum things up. Do you remember a few weeks ago when I was complaining about spending too much time at the Doctor and pharmacy? Well, it turns out that even those experiences were blessings in disguise. We met a man from Africa at the pharmacy and left him our number, and he called us back this week! We also found out that one of the nurses we met at the urgent care is on date to be baptized with her daughter! Although we often don't see the results of our efforts, this week I felt very blessed to see some of our hard work paying off. I know that as we each press forward with hope for the future, someday we will be able to see the bigger picture, and understand why things happen the way they do. God had a plan, and it is so much bigger and better than anything we could possibly imagine.
https://www.mormonchannel.org/watch/series/mormon-messages/the-will-of-god-2
Love,
Sister Jensen
Dearest friends and family,
Transfers are this week! Sister Carver will be leaving me (for the Richland YSA haha) and I will be receiving a new missionary from the MTC! I will be training again ahh.
Edgar update:
He passed his interview and is planning to be baptized on the 17th (and he's NOT going to Hawaii- we checked)!!! He has made so much progress this week. He told us that if he dies before next Saturday, that we should take his name to the temple as soon as possible so he can still be baptized.👍 He came to both sessions of stake conference, which is super awesome as well. He was able to meet our mission President and Elder Acosta, the visiting general authority, and they connected well (well enough that they started speaking Spanish and so we have no idea what they talked about). Edgar is awesome!
We taught Andrew a couple times this week. He asks some really hard questions, but we always have a pretty good conversation. I will keep you updated on his progress!
Our Monday activity was speed dating (yay YSA), and although we were tempted to use it as an opportunity to practice teaching the restoration in 3 minutes, we helped scoop ice cream instead (which was definitely a better idea). Sister Carver's brother got his mission call; he is headed to Brazil wahoo! Our last institute class for the summer was on Thursday, which is sad, but luckily it will be starting up again in September.
I love what Sister Reeves said about trials in this week's Come Follow Me lesson. “I do not know why we have the many trials that we have, but it is my personal feeling that the reward is so great, so eternal and everlasting, so joyful and beyond our understanding that in that day of reward, we may feel to say to our merciful, loving Father, ‘Was that all that was required?’" This is so applicable to being a missionary! Seeing how people change as they become converted to Christ brings the greatest joy, joy that makes the hard moments so worth it!
Love,
Sister Jensen
Dearest friends and family,
Some weeks are just hard as a missionary. Fortunately there were no snake bites or ship wrecks, but this week we spent more time than we would've liked in Doctor's offices and waiting at the pharmacy and waiting for our car at the auto body shop (we had a nail in our tire). Sadly Johnny ended up going on a surprise trip to Hawaii rather than being baptized (I still think that we should've all made the trek and baptized him in the ocean...) and we are waiting to hear when he will be returning to Pasco. But, not to worry, we still had some miracles this week!
Edgar has moved his day for baptism up to August 17th! We also received a referral for Andrew on Saturday, and he showed up to church! I am so grateful for all the members here who reached out to him and helped him to feel so welcome. He also came to the missionary fireside (we switch off with the Burbank sisters teaching a brief message to the YSA at a member's home) yesterday evening.
I love what it says about "grace" in the bible dictionary. Grace is "strength and assistance to do good works that we otherwise would not be able to maintain". Sometimes it feels that we can not go on, but because of grace we are able to find strength beyond our own. I know that as we each rely on our Savior with all of our hearts, we will be able to do hard things--things that would be impossible without Him.
Love,
Sister Jensen :)
