Great Hopes and Much Joy

Dearest Friends and Family,

It was another good week in Washington. Being quarantined has become normal to us, and we have found ways to keep being productive. Our mission had eight baptisms this weekend! Each service is done with five or less people, and only with the permission of the area authorities, but the work continues.

A couple three MIRACLES:

--Richard accepted a baptismal date!! He is going to be baptized on June 17th. We are so happy for him!

--We have had lots of rain and got to go running in the rain which is always exhilarating.

--We found a new person to teach! Julie is a junior in high school and comes from a religious family but wants to figure things out for herself. We street contacted her dad months ago and ended up getting Julie's number but never could get in contact with her. We taught the restoration a couple days ago over video chat and she loved it! She said she believed the story of Joseph Smith because she felt good and happy listening, and because similar stories happen all throughout the bible. She is amazing. It is so fun to teach someone so willing and open to listen. She said she wants to work towards baptism!! 

--We helped put together a member video for Memorial day. We stopped by several families to film them saying "thank you" on their door steps. Somehow we ended up crashing a prom invitation (some people were going to do a miny at-home prom), jumping on someone's trampoline with their kids and witnessing the member do a back flip, and eating a full meal of corn on the cob, potatoes, and ribs on someone's doorstep. It was pretty fun, and made us want to film more videos...

It was a good week, filled with lots of laughs and miracles. We will be receiving 46 new missionaries next week!! 39 of them are reassigned from other missions, and 7 are coming from their at-home MTC. Our mission couldn't be more excited. While we aren't in the middle of a war, we feel as if we are receiving our own thousand stripling warriors. Alma 56:17 says "And now they were determined to conquer in this place or die; therefore you may well suppose that this little force which I brought with me, yea, those sons of mine, gave them great hopes and much joy." These incoming missionaries bring us great hopes and much joy for the work that can be done. Building the church up in the United States will ultimately lead to greater potential for growth around the world.  Keep on keeping on, everyone!

Love,

Sister Jensen 

Oh! One more miracle!

--We have been reading the Book of Mormon with Brittany, who was baptized in December. She is making so much progress! When we first met her she didn't really understand why she was baptized, and now she is understanding and loving scripture that she could barely read a few months ago. The Book of Mormon holds a very real power and plays a crucial role in each of our personal conversions.

I'm Not Lying and I Ain't Crazy

Dearest friends and family,

It has been a good week. We have had lots of rain, and the change of weather has been fun. Today while we were out shopping a man ran up to us (yes, again) and said he had spilled coffee on his old "blue bible". We gave him another copy and gave him the missionaries number in his area, but couldn't help thinking it was a pretty ironic situation. 

Update on Richard: We taught him the restoration and it went really well! We found out he's from Pasco so we ended up referring him to the missionaries there. 

Some adventures we had:
-it was our neighbor John's birthday so we all had cake and played hide and seek throughout the complex. It was fun, and we did pretty good about social distancing except this picture we took.
-Sister Parkinson got two new cows and named them Mary Kate and Ashley. 
-I had the opportunity to talk to one of my grandpa's old mission companions who recently moved to the tricities! He told me lots of stories of being a missionary in Florida many years ago. I am so grateful for the faith of my family that has come before me. They inspire me and motivate me to be my best self!

I hope you all have a good week! This past week President Rassmussen was talking to an Elder who has recently faced a loss in his family. He said with great exuberance and passion (because that's the only way president talks), "Elder, we are not lying and we ain't crazy! We know where your father is!" I want you each to know that I know that the Plan of Salvation is real. We are here for a reason, and someday we will move on to continue to fulfill His plan for us. I'm not lying, and I definitely ain't crazy! I wouldn't leave home to teach a gospel that I didn't know was true. I am so grateful for a God who loves us enough to create such a perfect plan for each of us.

Love,
Sister Jensen

Richard!

Dearest Friends and Family,

As leaders in the zone we decided that this past week would be termed "operation dedication". We trained the zone and invited them to rededicate themselves to the work, to remember why they came on missions, and then to spend more time and energy doing whatever missionary work they could and dwelling less on their limitations. It went so well! We found three new people to teach, which is significant considering we have really struggled to find in the past month. 

RICHARD: We were taking a walk and said hello to a man digging a hole (that looked much like a grave, I must say). He said something about "Mormon girls" so we kept walking, unsure if what his intentions were. After walking for a few more minutes, we heard someone running up behind us. It was that man and he begged to know where our church was, and after explaining it to him he said he would stop in. We quickly told him that church wasn't currently in session, but that we would love to teach him over video chat. We taught him about the gospel of Jesus Christ yesterday and he said he likes what he has heard about the church (he was taught by Elders in Vegas a while ago...do you know a Richard who moved to tricities, Elder Jones?) and he intends to see where this leads him. We are meeting again on Wednesday! Please include Richard in your prayers :)

Love,

Sister Jensen

frANTic Sister Missionaries

Dearest Friends and Family,

We like to play tennis sometimes as a way to get out of the house. None of us know too much about the rules of tennis or anything, so we wildly hit the ball back and forth as best we can. EXCEPT Friday, when the lady playing next to us happened to be a tennis coach. She gave us about two hours of free tennis lessons, and it was pretty fun. 

We had a small problem this week. It made us pretty frANTic. What started as a small nuisance (one or two ants sporadically scattered throughout our house) quickly became a full blown ant invasion. I guess that's what we get for moving to a first floor apartment. It was a good reminder that small and simple things can bring to pass great things! Don't worry, we took care of the problem. 

It was a quiet week for us. The governor of Washington came out with a four phase plan to bring us back to a  normal level of sociability. Since we will be in quarantine for the foreseeable future, we are determined to work hard and find people!

Love,
Sister Jensen