Quarantined

Dearest Friends and Family,

UPDATE: I am still here in Washington, and I do NOT have Coronavirus. About 5 minutes after preparation day ended last week we were officially quarantined. We knew it was coming, but the news was still hard to swallow. It's not easy to feel like you're fulfilling your purpose when you are stuck inside! But I know that you can probably all relate, since you are in the same or similar circumstances. 

So, what does a missionary day look like now days? We still get up at 6:30, exercise, and do all our studies. That takes us to around noon, when we contact people by phone and have some virtual lessons over video chat. We take breaks to paint, crochet (we are all crocheting sweaters, so be excited to see that soon), and take walks to the mailbox and back. We have been trying to figure out how to proselyte over Facebook, so please share and like our posts. Also if you have any good ideas, send them on over! We have a daily mission wide broadcast around 9 and go to bed at 10:30. So there you go!

Tender mercies from a loving God:--having roommates. I love my companion, and it's nice having more people to talk to --some members brought us strawberries and apples and a bunch of other snacks! --we are allowed to watch church movies while in quarantine. 17 miracles here we come!--we have a car, so when we desperately need a change of scenery we go sit in it and lay the seats back.--S Winward tried to scare me by hiding in the dryer. S Langford lured me over by saying it was broken, but I just walked over and started it. It worked, and S Winward who was hiding inside got a rotation in the dryer. She got the scare instead of me! Dont worry, she is perfectly fine. Got 'em!--we got to move apartments (different number in the same complex) and our new one is super nice. Whenever I move I wish I was about 200 pounds heavier and a heavy weight lifting champion, but we were still able to manage with the four of us and the housing missionary couple. --General Conference is coming this weekend!! It is already very clear that this conference will be different from any other, and I am so excited to hear from our Prophet and Apostles. Just like in the early years of the church, we will have the blessing of listening to the word of God from our homes with our families (or companions or cats, whoever it is). It truly will be a memorable conference! And if that doesn't confirm that our Prophet is called of God, I don't know what will.

I love being a missionary. Being quarantined isn't ideal in my eyes, but it is all part of the plan. I know that Heavenly Father wants us to learn from this experience, not to just dread it and endure it. When we are focused on Christ we can feel joy in any circumstance.

Love,Sister Jensen

Oh, another miracle!
--We taught Brother Bogle yesterday. He shared his testimony in a small church meeting he had with some other ward members. Which is a huge deal, because just a few weeks ago he said he would never do that. He's doing great!

Still Good

Dearest Friends and Family,

INPORTANT UPDATE: I do not have coronavirus

The work is moving forward. This week was absolutely beautiful, with sunshine and not too much wind. It truly felt like summer, especially with all the kids home from school. 

We get regular updates concerning the effects of COVID-19 on our particular mission through a live-stream from the mission home. It is a mission wide conference, and as districts we are able to message in questions, since there are a lot of things in flux and thus there are innumerable questions to be asked. Technology is truly a blessing at this time! As of now we are no longer able to tract. We can still teach and visit people by appointment though, which I know is a blessing. We can also teach via video chat, and we are brainstorming other ways to use technology effectively. We are still able to hold baptismal services, but there can only be 10 people in attendance (others can join in over a live video call). People we are teaching are able to "attend church" by taking the sacrament at members homes. Elders who have served for 21 months will be going home, which has been really hard for many of them. We will be losing almost all of the leadership in the mission within the next 2 transfers. Some missionaries with physical or mental illness will also be sent home, so everything is a little crazy right now. We will find out who is going home next week. We all bought a 2 week food storage, which was pretty fun. I bought lots of canned soup, since there weren't very many other options. 

Yesterday we were able to partake of the sacrament with the other members of our district. It was unique to experience the sacrament with only 6 other people, and I realized how much of a privilege it is to be able to partake of the bread and water. We had a good discussion about Jacob 5-7 following the sacrament, which was really fun as a group of missionaries. 

Ed accepted a day for baptism! Yay! We also had a really good lesson with Ronny Dale Bogle this week. HE IS GOING TO PRAY ABOUT A DAY FOR BAPTISM! He knows so much about the gospel of Jesus Christ, and once he takes the leap of faith and decides to be all in, he will be a powerful force for good within the church. 

"The standard of truth has been erected. No unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished and the great Jehovah shall say the work is done" (Joseph Smith 1842). This virus will not stop His work. The adversary works in chaos and fear. Allow your faith in Jesus Christ to overcome the fear that has struck the world, and share that faith with those around you. God is at the helm. Trust Him!

Love,

Sister Jensen

We're Thriving

Dearest Friends and Family,

Life is good here in Washington! We've had lots of members asking us how the pandemic is affecting missionary work, but for the most part it hasn't really. We are still able to tract, and visit people, at least for now. That being said, people are a little more weary of strangers knocking on their doors, which is understandable. We don't shake hands or give hugs, and we stay away from sick people, and wash our hands. So we're being good citizens still. And there are many people who are now home for us to talk to...

We met a cool guy this week named Ed! He was a referral from our Bishop, so our first lesson was with Ed, the Bishop, our ward mission leader and his wife--needless to say it was pretty powerful. He is very humble already, and he had great answers to our questions. He is willing to work towards baptism! Now we just have to hear from the first presidency how he can meet the requirement for church attendance without actually attending church...

Another miracle--we were going up to the Copper Mountain Apartments to stop by a few people. As we got out of the car, we ran into Daniel, who dropped us a little while ago and we had a good conversation. Then we ran in to Zayne who was like, "Do you wanna meet my dad?" We got to meet him, and he thanked us for helping Zayne. It was awesome, especially since we weren't sure if he would approve of us. Then we ran in to sister Bowles and her daughter, who we wanted to meet. It turned out super great.

This week was a good one. We don't really know what will happen in the next few weeks, but we know the work of the Lord will move forward. I guess this is what you get when you pray that people will be humbled. We know we will continue to be able to find people to teach, even under these weird circumstances.

Love,
Sister Jensen

Coronavirus Can't Stop the Lord

Dearest Friends and Family,

Yes, I know that Washington is all over the news. Don't worry, I'm washing my hands. Our mission has told us to stop shaking people's hands and to stay away from sick people, but we aren't too worried about Coronavirus. Any news we hear is by word of mouth, so we get the extremes on both ends, but we have decided to just be sanitary. That being said, for some reason all the stores are out of toilet paper and bottled water...which doesn't really make sense anyways. 

Surprise!! Russell was baptized on Saturday! We found out on Wednesday that he could be (I was on an exchange and when the sisters told me and I couldn't believe it!), and he passed three interviews on Thursday (Bishop, District leader, and Mission president). Everything happened so fast. The day of the baptism, Russell's friend who was baptizing didn't fit in the suit we had for him. Ten minutes before the baptism was supposed to happen we had no idea what to do! We said a prayer, and immediately after Salenea got a text saying they found a way to make it work. Apparently our ward mission leader ran to the distribution center without us even knowing, and he found some white pants and a shirt that were able to fit him. It was a true miracle, and an answer to our prayers! Russell told us after the baptism that he couldn't be happier. He has a new light in his eyes, and we couldn't be more excited for their family.

As I have been studying the restoration, I came to the realization that the gospel of Jesus Christ is eternal. It is never-ending. So when we talk about a restoration, it really is a restoration of God's people to the Earth! We are the factor that's changing, not the gospel. We are being restored!

Love,
Sister Jensen

Stumble Weeds!

Dearest Friends and Family,

Mason's baptism went so well! We had a lot of support from the ward and Elder Stapleton (the 70 in our ward) was able to come and help confirm him. He had a lot of family there who have not had good feelings towards the church, but they left feeling loved so we felt successful. We are really hopeful for Tammy, Mason's mom, since we are the first missionaries she has actually let talk to her. 

Today we hiked Badger mountain as a zone, which was fun. It was also very windy. 

The allegory of the s-tumble weeds:
So this week we had the opportunity to bike a bit. We were riding from our apartment to our area, and we had a few encounters with tumble weeds (which are very prevalent in this area, if you didn't know. Like there were so many the freeway got shut down the other day) which made me think. In some cases there were only a couple in the way. We could easily stop and throw them out of our path. Other times there were piles so high that we had to cross the street in order to pass. At one point we saw a notable pile of tumble weeds looming before us. As I looked around at our options, it became clear that options were limited. To our left was a six foot drop to the road beside us (four lanes of traffic) and to our right was a cement wall. We had already biked along this road for almost a mile, and to turn back would waste a lot of time and energy. So we had to go through. We lifted our bikes and carried them as best we could through the weeds. Thorny weeds got stuck in our spokes and chains and clothes and hair as we fought our way through the pile. On our path of life, sometimes we reach places where the only option is to push through. And it's uncomfortable and painful and annoying, and we search for a way out and we contemplate turning back or quitting all together. I know that our Savior will help us through those hard times, and I know that the destination will be worth the sacrifice of the journey. And when we find ourselves standing before the Lord, we will have to ask if that small pile of tumbleweeds was all that was required.

Love,
Sister Jensen