Yesterday afternoon in the middle of sacrament meeting Bishop Merrill randomly asked me to come up and speak for a few minutes. It was totally unexpected, but as I made my way to the front (from the veeeeerry back of the chapel where we were sitting with Mason) I couldn't help but be humbled and extremely grateful for the opportunity to share with the ward how much I love being a missionary. I also got to help teach a stake mission prep class this week, which was pretty sweet. I have officially been on my mission for a year, and I feel like I "leveled up" this week. Never in my life have I felt so exhausted, and so joyful, and so much love for random strangers! I'm suddenly so aware of how temporary my time as a missionary really is, and this week went by much to fast. I love being a missionary! I cherish the time that I have left here in Washington, and I will serve in whatever capacity the Lord has in store for me for the rest of my life. When he asked me to leave my nets and feed His sheep, it was forever, not just for 18 months.
DANIEL
Sister Bogle and I had been thinking a lot about who we could bring to fellowship Daniel. One night we were both saying our personal prayers, and I felt impressed to interrupt Sister Bogle and tell her I had thought of someone. I didn't know his name, but i tried to describe a man in the ward. To my surprise, she said she had also had a face come to her head, and her description was pretty similar to mine (brown hair, brown eyes, three kids...maybe four? Relatively tall ish?). Neither of us could think of a name. We called our Elders Quorum president, gave that terribly vague description, and he gave us a couple names. We started looking through member's pictures and both stopped on the same one-- Brother Brady! We called him, and he happens to have half days of work the one day of the week that Daniel doesn't have work and we can actually teach him. It was an incredible miracle, and a tender reminder of the Lord's hand in the work.
Daniel's been living the word of wisdom!! Which is huge, since he is the one who brought it up himself after googling the beliefs of our church. He's incredible. To be honest, theres a lot of ways that I want to be more like him.
ZAYNE
We had a break through lesson where we taught about repentance and Zayne, a 14 year old boy, called repentance beautiful! We read the story of Alma the younger and for the first time he really connected with the scriptures. He saw himself in the pages of the Book of Mormon!
MASON
When we showed up to our lesson, Mason was playing minecraft, and so naturally he wanted to show us what he had built. It was the tree of life!! It was adorable. There are so many miracles happening in his family right now. We brought the Orcutts and after our lesson with Mason and Blake (the two boys) we were able to talk with Mason's mom who isn't a member. And for the first time she opened up about some ways that she has been really hurt by members of our church. Brother Orcutt was inspired to speak with her and the Spirit was so strong. She casually mentioned that the most genuine member of our religion she had ever met was "L Tom" (yep, the apostle), one of her relatives. There are people on both sides of the veil helping this sweet family. After the lesson we rushed over to Brother Almond's house (the ward mission leader) and we shared our incredible miracle with him and his wife. The Ward has been praying to find people to teach, to find a family. And this family has been prepared! They just need to be loved. Mason is going to be baptized on February 29th, and his mom said she will be there!! We all kneeled down together and offered a prayer of gratitude. It was a beautiful moment.
I got a haircut today and it was free because I am a "fulltime clergy". So add "free haircuts" to the list of benefits to being a missionary. :)
Love,
Sister Jensen
No comments:
Post a Comment