Dear
Family,
Merry Christmas! I loved the short time that we got to Skype
yesterday, I loved seeing your faces and hearing your voices! (Especially
Jacob's already deeper voice!) This week was a little abnormal, but I think I
have some good things to update you all on.
One highlight this week was teaching C. the first lesson. She
understood everything really well, and it was cool because J. would jump in and
just teach a whole section a couple of times. We loved seeing him get excited
about missionary work again, to see the light of the gospel come back into his
life. After she read the first vision, she just sighed and said, "That's
beautiful." Later in the lesson, she told us that she and J. had already
decided that they want their marriage to be forever, that it shouldn't just end
at death. They said they would start reading the Book of Mormon together, and
we are teaching her again tomorrow night. It will be the plan of salvation, so
I am super excited!
We also had our Christmas zone conference. It was so fun! In the
morning we had a talent show and white elephant gift exchange. I got this
bookend of Brigham Young, just one of those wild gifts from DI. I will get a
picture of it for next week. Then we ate and had a devotional with President. They
gave us a chance to go up and share the experiences that we've had with the
Light the World initiative, it was cool to hear how it has blessed so many
people.
 |
| I got to see Elder Wheeler and Elder Silvester as well, who were both in my MTC district, so that was a treat. |
We taught Brother R. again on Friday. I love teaching him
because he does this little smile whenever he feels the Spirit testify that
what we are teaching is true.
Christmas Eve was probably my favorite day this week. It snowed
several inches, and the sisters we live with went to a baptism in Middleton,
but when they tried to leave, their car got stuck. This young guy in a truck
was passing and stopped to help them, but they couldn't get out and then his
truck got stuck. We were looking out the window when we saw the stuck truck and
the sisters motioning us to come down. When I saw the truck, I instantly
thought of the Mormon Message where Elder Bednar tells the story about the man
whose truck got stuck in snow and he couldn't get out until he loaded wood in
the trunk bed, which gave him the necessary traction to get unstuck. I quickly
told the story and suggested that the four of us hop in the back of his trunk
to give him more traction. After a few minutes, he got out! It was so fun.
Christmas was also great, we got up and made Bacon Cheddar
Pinwheels. The other sisters were a little skeptical when I was mixing together
the sweetened condensed milk, mustard, and Worcestershire sauce. But they were
all repenting when they were plowing through them after pinwheels were done. We
then went to church and sang a lot of Christmas songs, my throat was a little
sore after our second ward. We ate first with a family at a different church
building, then went to one of our counselors house. We made gingerbread houses
and drank hot chocolate, then watched videos on lds.org. I loved being
in their home, it helped to decrease my homesickness a little bit. When we were
getting ready to leave, the counselor told us that they were so grateful to
have us in their ward. That was a tender
mercy, because it is really easy to second guess yourself as a missionary, and
not expect yourself to be perfect. After that we Skyped at the ward mission
leader’s house, which was so good! I wish we could have talked longer, but I
know we will have plenty of time to talk after the mission. Thank you so much
to everyone who sent me packages, letters, and Christmas cards, they are very
much appreciated! I am really starting to fall in love with my mission, and am
so excited for this next year. I have to commit everything I have to the
missionary work here in Idaho.
Sister Jensen
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