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Dear Family,
What a week! It went by pretty quickly,
which is good because it means we had more work to do than last week. I am
getting much more adjusted to missionary life and really starting to enjoy the
work and our area. One thing that I love about missionary work is that you
never know what will happen at the beginning of the day. You could meet anyone
or do anything. It is especially this way with tracting, which is actually one
of my favorite things to do. Knocking on doors opens the possibility to meet
anyone. It could be someone who is organizing an outreach to save the Mormons.
It could be someone from Ohio who has been to your favorite book store inColumbus. It could be someone who will talk to you for 20 minutes on the
doorstep about his beliefs, pulling out scriptures and everything. It could be
someone who closes the door in the next two seconds. The possibilities are
endless, and all of these have happened to me.
One highlight of the week was our
lesson with J. on Monday night. For the first 30-40 minutes of the lesson, she
told us about her story and how she had gotten the point of meeting with the
missionaries. She is a member of another religion and also said no to the
missionaries when they came to her door. But, after going through some really
hard things, she met the missionaries when she was taking care of that older
couple who joined the church about a year ago. The elder who is currently our
zone leader gave her a priesthood blessing and said everything that she was
thinking and needed to hear. I think she really felt the spirit and the reality
of the restored priesthood. After that, she started coming to church and
investigating the church. I am not sure how much the missionaries taught her
before us, but Monday night was the first time she had heard the restoration
lesson. The First Vision was kind of earth shattering because she has always
been taught that God is a spirit and this was the first time she had heard of
Him having a body. I am so thankful for the knowledge that we have about the
true nature of Heavenly Father, as restored by Joseph Smith. We are His
children, and He loves us more than we can comprehend. J. came to church
yesterday and we are so excited to continue teaching her about the restored
gospel.
We met this super sweet lady named B.
this week. The missionaries have visited her in the past, but have never really
taught her the lessons. She is of a different faith but loves to visit with us
and talk about the gospel. She has member friends who watched General Conference with her, and she really enjoyed it. She also has a granddaughter
who served a mission in Germany, so we know she has family members in the
church. She is quite lonely and will talk with us for a long time when we come.
During our first visit, she told us that we were just glowing with the Holy
Spirit, and just wished we could come every day. We visited her again yesterday
and started to teach the Plan of Salvation, but didn't get to far because we
get to talking. But she thinks a lot about her husband and mom who have passed
away, so we are praying that further knowledge of God's plan for her will bring
her comfort.
We also taught A. again. We taught
her the Plan of Salvation and it went really well. I think things are just
starting to click in her mind with the gospel, because she has been really
exposed to it, but hasn't been presented the whole picture until now. She made
really great comments in the lesson. She told us how she decided on her own to
take out all of her piercings and quit coffee. We were so impressed by her desire
to keep the commandments, even before the missionaries or even her friends
asked her too. She is really amazing, we are still just worried about her
family being hostile towards her decision to be baptized, so pray hard for
their hearts to be softened.
As we continue to do this work, I am
realizing more and more that it is all about the people, the children of
Heavenly Father that we are helping. I think, as a missionary, you are blessed
with a special love for the people that you are serving. I continue to be so
grateful that Heavenly Father has called and trusted me to do the work here in
Nampa.
Love,
Sister Jensen
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