Dear Family,
I feel like it has been forever since I emailed! So much happens
in just a few short days when you are a missionary, and sometimes it is hard to
remember all of it. I will do my best to hit the highlights.
Last Friday was the first day of Light the World and President
Sorensen asked us to do 4 hours of service in the community with our district.
We have a sister in the ward whose husband is really involved in the Parks and
Recreation department for Middleton, so I decided to contact him and see if
there was anything they needed help with on Friday. Luckily, Saturday they were
having a showing of the Nutcracker and they needed help setting up on Friday.
This may be one of my favorite service opportunities on the mission. We went
and set down carpet squares on the gym floor at the community center then set
up the chairs. We did quite a bit of cleaning and got to set up the stage a
little by taping down wires and fluffing out a Christmas tree. It all reminded
me of being in my high school's musicals :) We worked with two people from the
department. We noticed that onen of them had the reference Mosiah 2:17 tattooed
on his arm, so I asked him if he was a member. He told me that he was and that
he has been less active for a while. The person just graduated from high school
this year and the community center was her senior project, and now she was
basically running and renovating it. We got to share Light the World and she
invited us back to help out whenever they needed it. It was an awesome
experience.
We did more service on Monday by going to a member’s home and
helping decorate for Christmas, it was the best. She actually lives in a
finished loft in a barn, and I think it is just the most charming little place.
She has a race horse that was home from the races, as well as several other
horses. That same night we also got to have dinner and family home evening with
a really special family. We asked
if we could do FHE with her family. Since it is Christmas time, we
decided to talk about Samuel the Lamanite and what it was like in the Americas
when Christ was born. During our study time we crumpled up tin foil to make
"rocks" then the kids took turns being Samuel while we threw the tin
foil balls at them. It was quite the hit, they loved it.
This last Tuesday was one of the more interesting days of my
mission. We were tracting right before dinner and I experienced the best
exchange at the door that I have ever had. So we knock on this door, and this
tall ginger guy with gauges opens the door.
We can see that one of the kids in the house is giving us this death
stare from the window. He tells us he is
not interested in learning more about the gospel, but he was in awe that we
were outside in the dark and cold knocking on people's doors. He starts asking
us all sort of questions about what we do, and at one point just exclaims,
"Where do you come from?!" and kept on saying, "Its cold! Why
are you in a dress!!?" He was really funny and we had a good conversation,
but since he wasn't interested we moved onto the next door. That girl wasn't
interested and as we were leaving her house we see the guy from the first house,
standing outside, and he yells over to us, asking how it went. We tell him that
she wasn't interested, and he tells us that his daughter is interested. It
turns out that she just asked him what we were doing, so we walked back over
and talked to her for a bit. We asked again if we could teach the family and he
said no, so we moved on. We are a ways down the street when a pizza delivery
car comes and gives him his pizza he was waiting for. He yells over to us,
asking if we want any pizza. We debated, but ultimately decided to go over and
eat some of his pizza. He invited us in, but his wife wasn't there so we
couldn't. We ended up just eating a piece of his cheese pizza on his doorstep.
It was so bizarre but also wonderful at the same time. We kept on saying,
"Let us teach your family!" and he kept saying "No!" It was
quite sad, because Sister Blocker and I just want bless his family with the
gospel. But I guess it isn't his time, but we were so blessed to meet him. I
wish I could give full justice to this experience, it was really the most
hilarious thing I have experienced here in Idaho. That same night, we had
dinner with the member family. The husband is an avid hunter, so for our last
dinner he fed us a mountain lion. It was fine, it tasted a lot like pork. We
were both excited to have it. I think he was surprised when we ate it like it
was nothing. I love their family and am really going to miss having dinner with
them. After dinner, we went to see one
of our investigators. She has been having trouble with her shoulders and arms.
She told us the day before that she can't wash her hair because it hurts too
bad, so we volunteered to help her. She just leaned over her kitchen sink and
we washed it. She was so incredibly grateful, and it felt good to serve her
like that.
We were so busy yesterday, it was wonderful! We had district meeting first then a lesson
with one of our investigators. She is getting interviewed this morning and
baptized on Saturday, if all goes well. She is extremely excited to make this
commitment in her life. Then, we had companion study to plan for a lesson with another
one of our investigators, and after that we went to Nampa for Sister Blocker's
departing interview with President Sorensen. After that was done, we went back
over to Middleton for dinner, then from dinner we went to our lesson with an
investigator. We invited some young men
and they took him to mutual after our lesson, he also made a firm commitment to
come to church, I really hope that this is the beginning of him progressing. We
had to run to mutual ourselves after that because the Priests in 8th ward asked
us to come talk about our missions. They gave us the whole hour, and we really
hadn't prepared anything. I think one difference between me before the mission
and me now, is that I can now easily fill time teaching and talking about the
gospel. We read some of the My Purpose as a Missionary chapter and just talked
about stories in our missions that related. We also had one of the leaders tell
his conversion story. We easily filled time and had a good time with the boys.
After that, we went to see a member we have been working with the whole time I
have been here. She has started coming to church more frequently and is
interested in receiving the lessons from us. She is leaving for a cruise
tomorrow, so we said our goodbyes. And that took us to 9pm, it was a full
day!
Well, Sister Blocker is flying back to Salt Lake next Wednesday,
and Monday is our last day in the area. I don't know for sure if I am being
transferred, but President did tell me to expect a change. He rarely keeps
people in one area longer than 4 transfers. I have loved being here in
Middleton with Sister Blocker. These past few weeks we have been laughing
almost constantly. I am really going to miss being companions with her. I think
that is about all for now, I love you all so much!
Love,
Sister Jensen
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