I'm a District Leader ! November 18, 2013

Sounds like another pretty awesome Erdmann week. I hope Madison doesn't fall off that horse. Ryan I also am sorry your Chiefs lost but lets face it it's their destiny to do that ha ha JK. More cake balls are always welcomed and I am sure will make it through the mail fine if you feel so inclined to send them. So Kyle found a lady friend so cute ha-ha.  Tell him he should find someone to write me while I am out here! I hope this one works out well for him.

Well this past week was very eventful. Tuesday we went down to Fountain Valley again where I got an MRI for my knee - which wasn't anywhere near as dramatic as they make it seem on the TV series House. I actually almost took a nap while having it and probably would have if it had been any longer then 15 minutes. Wednesday we went back to Fountain Valley again but this time Brother Dunn drove us and we went for my companion, Elder Owen, for his physical therapy for his back and knees - he has a lumbar strain or something. Thursday was actually pretty normal (So I thought). We had our District meeting and then weekly planning, but one thing that was weird was that the night before, on Wednesday Leadership calls we're supposed to go out, but on Thursday no one in our zone had received a call which is unusual to say the least. The rest of the day was pretty normal. Throughout the week we were going by and teaching Jessica to help her to get ready for her interview for Baptism, which has been tough with her because I am guessing she has a learning disability of some sort because if you ask her for a definition of lets say repentance she cant give you one, but if you give her a couple small hints that it has to do with forgiveness and changing ourselves to become more Christlike she can go on about it for hours. Anyway back to Thursday - so the day was pretty normal until 9:47 P.M. when all of the sudden our phone started ringing and it was one of the Assistant to the President, Elder Dixon. calling me to be a District Leader! HUH? Who woulda thunk? So I am now a District Leader and while I am excited in some ways it is a bit nerve racking because even though I have been out 10 months now I feel like I just got here and should still be the one learning (though I am sure I will learn a lot being DL) and not the one teaching. So now I am, in addition to normal missionary work, responsible for 2 other companionships and trainings every District meeting and exchanges every transfer so we will see how this goes.

Friday brought another doctors visit as well as good news -  I do not have a torn meniscus and it looks like from what the doctor said that I am just pushing my knees to hard and am causing some inflammation and almost arthritis like pains. As long as I don't keep hurting it and over-working it, I shouldn't have any long term issues at all or even arthritis in the future.  I am on anti-inflammatory right now. Also on the plus side when we looked at my MRI my doctor said I actually have really good knees and he wishes his were as good as mine so hopefully they stay that way.

Later Friday night Jessica had her interview for Baptism and she passed - which is awesome - and she seems pretty excited about it, although she is a little nervous. Saturday was her Baptism which went really well she asked me to Baptize her so I did (twice because I messed up the wording a little bit) but thankfully both times she went all the way under and came back up fine. A funny thing was I forgot any sort of back up clothing for her Baptism but thankfully earlier that day my Zone Leaders had a Baptism so I wore Elder Bakker's wet garments and a jumpsuit.  I always seem to forget something ha ha. Sunday was busy! We went to church where Jessica got confirmed by the Bishop and then we went to another Baptism for the Sisters in our zone, and afterwards went to a departure fireside for the missionaries going home this transfer - which was really sad because a lot of them I have served pretty closely with including Elder Burns who was my second companion and so far one of my favorites. Thats pretty much sums up my week. Rica is still just waiting for her boyfriend Lamo to get a California ID so they can get married so she can get Baptized which will be awesome.

Oh  I found out that I am staying another transfer here in Whittier in Colima ward so I will have the same address for the next six weeks at least. Elder Owen and myself will be staying together - which means by the end of this next transfer I will have been in this ward for 7 months - which I am pretty stoked about because this ward is awesome and I have grown really close to a lot of the people here so I don't mind staying for Thanksgiving and Christmas at all.  

I hope you guys have another awesome week I am guessing there will be more parties, horses, and singing and probably working but I hope you have fun either way I will as usual keep you all in my prayers!

Love Elder Jensen

November 11, 2013

So just to start off because I dont want to end on a bad note - I went in to see a doc this past week for my knee and I might have a torn meniscus. I have to go to the doc again this week and get and MRI to be sure - though no worries though I am fine really!

Anyways this last week was good. Tuesday we did service at the Eddards (which is where my fiance lives) and we leveled the dirt around the edge of the house and then laid square bricks to create a path which was a lot of fun. We had a couple lessons with Rica and Jessica through out the week and they should hopefully be getting Baptized this upcoming Saturday if everything goes right. We spent a lot of time walking around in our area and trying by less active members we dont know and trying to find more people to teach without a lot of success - but it was still a lot of fun and I have realized how much more work there is to do in this area - and I have been here almost 6 months. It's crazy. Friday is when we went to visit Doctor Kelly and that took up most of the day and when we got home we were told by the mission nurse that for now I am not allowed to ride a bike and we need to either walk or see if we could get a car, so right now were borrowing a car from some other Elders so we can get around. Saturday and Sunday were really good. Church was good and we were able to teach a couple less active members in the ward and have some lessons with part member families. 

Well keep up being awesome thank you so much for everything and dont be sick I will keep you all in my prayers and hope you quit being sick haha I am almost out of cake balls too now by the way only two left!

Love Elder Jensen

November 4, 2013

This past week was really good. As you already know we went to the Temple which means that Monday was a normal working day for us but it was really good.  We had a lesson with Rica and Jessica (Tanisha has been out of town so we haven’t been able to meet with her again) but it went really well.  Jessica (who is really really shy) has opened up a lot as we have taught her more one on one which is good, and she is really excited about everything.

We also had to go and get Elder Owens bike tube fixed again. It has gone flat over and over which is annoying, but hopefully one day it decides to hold air. We also took care of that on Monday. Then on Tuesday we went to the Temple and had our P-Day which was really busy but good. It is definitely a blessing to be able to go to the Temple every three months, even if afterwards we get preached to by stupid Sister Missionaries in the visitors center ha-ha.

Wednesday we went and visited Sister Sao in the morning and just gave her some company. I have come to really grow fond of spending time with widows in the ward, which might come across as weird, but they are a lot of fun to be around and enjoy the company. Later that day we had another lesson with Jessica and Rica.

On Thursday we went to Zone Meeting, which we have once a transfer, and sadly we got assigned to give a Preach My Gospel thought on Faith, which I don’t necessarily mind except for the fact that we had to stand and give it in front of a bunch of other missionaries - and you know how I feel about standing up in front of everyone. Other then that though it was really good and I got to wear my Halloween tie which pretty much looks like I killed the cookie monster skinned him and made a tie out of it. Its fluffy and blue and it almost looks like a fluffy scarf in tie form - its sweet.

Then after that we had weekly planning where instead of weekly planning we visited with another companionship of Elders in our home. Pretty much I was just hanging out with Elder Curtis who goes home in two weeks and who I have served around a good amount. I would label him as a friend. He is older (almost 25), from Idaho, and balding so we make fun of that. Then in the evening we went and set up a booth at the church parking lot for the trunk or treat which went really well. We handed out a few Books of Mormon as well as a bazillion pass along cards, and we got to eat chili dogs which are yummy. The funny part was my fiancé was there and kept trying to get me to come and sit on the tail of her dads truck with her - 5 year olds these days are very forward about what they want!

Friday we helped our ward mission leader, who I am very fond of, move into his new home just around the corner from us, which is always fun and gets me out of the white shirt and tie – so I was all for it. Then we got pizza for lunch. At 3:30 we had set up a lesson with Jessica and Rica again so we went to go ride down to where they live to come to find....... Elder Owens’ tire flat again! Yay! So we got a ride from Brother Arnold (one of our ward missionaries) to the lesson then we went home and ate dinner with the Jackman's. Brother Jackman is really awesome and took not only Elder Owens tire to the bike shop but Elder Jacobson's (another Elder in the ward) bike and paid for them to get repaired. So while he did that we walked to our area and visited with a family in the ward and then started walking back and on the way decided to stop and get a drink at a gas station on the way and right as Elder Owen walked in and the door bell dinged, the power went out all over the block - so that was weird. Saturday was a busy day. We had set up a lesson with a lady named Tess for 12 o’clock that Brother Dunn came with us - but she wasn't home so we went and visited David Bryant (a less active member of the ward) and read out of the Book of Mormon with him. After the lesson he dropped us off at our bikes at about 12:40 and we had to go back to our place for lunch and get back in time for a lesson at 2, and when we live 20 minutes outside of our area to begin with that doesn't leave us much time - so what did we do? Got a ride from my future Father in Law (Brother Eddard) who lived across the street. We threw our bikes in his truck and he drove us home - we ate lunch and rode back down to have a lesson with a 16 year old girl named Vanessa and her Grandma Sister Russell who is a member - which went really well. Then in the evening we had another lesson with Rica and Jessica and they are set to go for their Baptism - the only issue that came up is we had to push back Rica's date to the 16th because she still has to get married to Lamo (her boyfriend of 11 years) and when they went to get a marriage license they found out he needed a picture I.D. so he had to get one from the state - so it is going to take a bit to get it mailed to them. Jessica has quit smoking and drinking and is planning on being Baptized this upcoming Saturday on the 9th. Sunday was really good - we had a great testimony meeting and a relaxing day we ate dinner with the King family and had a family home evening afterwards with them so it was a nice relaxing day. That was my week!

So hopefully this letter makes up for last weeks being so short next weeks will probably be short to since it is a holiday on Monday but I hope you guys have a safe happy week and that you keep being awesome!

Love Elder Jensen

October 29, 2013

Wow that is so awesome that Morgan got Baptized give her a huge hug for me! I love you Morgie good job! Madison that is awesome you gave one of the talks at her Baptism even I get nervous giving those and I am a missionary!

 

This last week was really good we are still teaching Rica and Tanisha and Jessica and they should be ready by the 9th for Baptism! Elder Owen and myself are back on bike since the car left with Elder Pina and last week Elder Owen had a couple falt tires so that took up a lot of time fixing buying new tubes and pumping up. I also went on exchanges whith my District Leader in his area for a day which we do once a transfer and that was a lot of fun to serve in another ward for a day and my District Leader Elder Kropf is pretty awesome this last week we had the primary program where all the little kids sang and such and it's hard to admit but it was really freakin cute haha but those were the highlights of my week!

 

Sorry again that this was so short if I forgot to respond to anything ask me again in your next email and I will email you back next week!

Love Elder Jensen!