November 10, 2014

Well this last week we did a lot of service which always makes Elder Jensen happy I like to do some physical labor now and again and get dirty and sweaty. Monday for our P day activity we played dodge ball which is pretty fun and we had a good time. Then in the evening we tried by a bunch of potentials and did some contacting.

Tuesday morning we did service for a non member named Hilda we had planned on cutting down a tree for her but when we got there and she showed us the tree we came to find out that not only was it a tree but a really big tree the trunk of the tree was probably a good 14 plus inches thick and we had a total of two shovels a pick axe a rake and some clippers fortunately though her whole yard was overgrown weeds ivy growing on the fence and just over all not very well kept up so we did a bunch of yard work for her and while doing yard work we were talking to her about her home and we came to find out that she was planning on renting out the back bedrooms and bathroom for 400 dollars a month which was perfect because we had a less active member and his 14 year old daughter who were on the verge of homeless and had been living in a hotel and only had 400 dollars to rent a room. So what happened? He moved in with her and now he and his daughter have a more homelike home then the motel they were staying at. It was a really cool miracle to see and know that we were in the right place at the right time for a reason. Later that day we stopped and visited a less active named Jason Espinoza who we just started visiting and we found out that his live in girlfriend he had just found out was pregnant which he was really excited for and we were able to talk to him about them getting married at the church building which was cool.

So Wednesday morning I went on exchanges again where I got to go to Colima ward for the day which was pretty fun as usual it's funny every time I go on exchanges there I seem to end up eating dinner with the same family named the Northington's which is pretty weird but funny more then anything. We spent a good part of the day trying to visit people and going around but it was a good time we helped a an investigator move into their ward and taught a lesson to a recent convert there so it was overall a good day in the Colima ward.

Thursday we had our Zone Meeting where I unfortunately got roped into giving a 20 minute training that was supposed to be on companionship inventory but I don't listen to what I am told to do very well so I gave a training on having good relationships in general with focus on the relationship between companions. I used Lord of the Rings as part of my training using Frodo and Sam as the example when they are going to Shelobs Lair and Golem runs everything a muck and gets them mad at each other but then how Sam even with the diversity comes back and saves the day and the overall purpose they had as companions in destroying the ring. One of the more interesting trainings given I am sure but I enjoyed myself haha. Then later that day as usual we had weekly planning and our missionary correlation meeting that both went well.

Friday we did more service for Hilda this time I took on this crazy vine plant that had totally encompassed her fence by myself but was able to get it all done while the other Elders worked on other parts of the yard. I found a dead dog buried under all the plants that had probably been there many months which was pretty gross I also destroyed a big huge log with a baseball bat that was pretty fun. Then we had a lesson with Jerry the less active member who is struggling due to his sexual preference but the lesson was really good and he mentioned that he wants to try and come to church occasionally so that he can renew his covenants that he made at Baptism. The rest of the night we had the ward sports night which was pretty lame this time because very few people showed up but still good to visit with the people who did come.

Saturday we had a District service activity where we went and Elder Jaster and myself leveled a big pile of gravel and dirt in preparation for the people we were doing it for to come and pour concrete which isn't the first time I have done that but it is still hard work I even got a blister. After that we went and did some service for a member in our ward where we cleaned up her backyard and reorganized it and threw away a bunch of old garbage and pieces of wood and weeds and such. Then we spent the rest of the evening going to peoples homes and inviting them to church.

Sunday was super good one of my favorite Sunday's in my mission why you ask? Because it was the primary program in our ward! I bet that is something no one would ever have heard out of Elder Jensen's mouth 2 years ago haha it was awesome though and the kids did a really good job the whole Sacrament meeting was very funny we have a lot of autistic kids in our primary here but they all did a good job though a lot of kids yelled into the microphone and sand really loud and what not but it all made it all the better it will be fun to have kids one day. One of the primary leaders also shared her conversion story and how she was able to be sealed in the Temple as a family growing up and it was one of the best testimonies I have ever heard and the spirit in the room was very strong it was awesome to be a part of it. Later that day we visited the Cyperts and ate with the Armstrongs which is always a lot of fun and you learn a lot from Sister Armstrong she knows lots about the church and gospel and has a powerful testimony of it so that was really cool it was a super good week.    

I am looking forward to seeing you guys again too don't worry haha though if you want to be nice to me you will not mention the amount of time I have left again until one week before you get here haha I am trying to stay focused and make the best out of what time I have left! I am super excited to see you guys as well though and I keep telling people that I am excited to introduce you all to them when you get here! Tell the girls to keep up the good work and to not have to much fun! 

I love you all have a great and safe week! Love Elder Jensen 

September 8, 2014

As far as this last week went we had a blast haha lots of fun things happened I will try to remember it all Monday night we went over to an investigators house just to drop by and visit and see how they were doing and say hi and they ended up pulling out these huge water balloons that were probably the size of a medium sized watermelon so Elder Rhodes and myself started throwing one back and forth to each other outside their home until finally it popped and covered me with water from my neck down. Elder Rhodes felt bad so he let me throw one at him and get him wet too. Then before we left they gave us a super huge water balloon that we didn't know what to do with so what do we do??? We call the other Elder's in the ward hahaha needless to say one of them got a little wet. not super wet but a little we met them in the church parking lot and I hid behind a pillar at the church then when they got out of the car I ran after them and threw the water balloon at them. It was great Then Elder Miller ended up saying the "N" word haha my companion is black..... he ended up tackling him to the ground and my wrestling him in the church parking lot then Elder Rhodes let him go and went to attack Elder Steele, (Elder Miller was the one he wrestled to the ground) and when he ran at Elder Steele he took his watch off and threw it at t he ground shattering it into a bunch of tiny pieces thankfully it was only a 15 dollar watch. It was super funny. Then Tuesday we went down to LDS family services our mission nurse had me go for grief counseling because of my Grandma passing away. Our mission nurse made me go even though I knew I was ok and after a short visit at the family services they told me not to come back because I was fine. Silly Mission Nurse haha oh well shows that she cares right? Then when we came back we had lunch with the other Elders at their apartment and a lot happened there (the last thing that happened will cost me some money....) Well Elder Rhodes and Miller and me all ended up wrestling and then finally Elder Miller (this is the last thing) and myself ended up wrestling well we got a little to close to a window and crash the window was broken!!!! I am still waiting to find out how much my half of the cost will be..... One cool thing I forgot to mention was Monday night we found a really cool investigator we were going by a potential investigator but he was asleep when we got there but the lady that we talked to was super interested and asked a lot of questions her name is Nancy and she has  been looking for a church for a long time and likes what she has heard about our church so far. The only problem is she is hard to get a hold of. Wednesday morning we had a specialized training on area books (where we keep all the info about everything we do) and what we could throw away or what we should add to our area books. Then we went out to lunch with the Kamae family who are Hawaiian and they took us to a Hawaiian BBQ place that was super good I got salmon which was tasty. Then we went with Elder Sanderson and Stallings to their area to help with some service we ended up moving a big entertainment system into one persons house and throwing away an old fridge at another persons home it was all a lot of fun especially the throwing away the fridge part. Later we went out to dinner with a less active member named Jim Swanson  who is probably my favorite person in this area he always threatens me that if I go home and get married before I get an education he will come find me and kill me and I respond by saying I'll send him the wedding invitation haha pretty fun. Thursday we had zone meeting and that was really good. For weekly planning we re organized our area book which was sooo much fun not really. Friday we spent a lot of time handing out flyers for a dinner in the park that we were having later that night as a ward which was fun the picnic was really good and as missionaries we always make out good at those types of activities because everyone always gives us the left overs we almost had to much to fit in our fridge. Saturday was a super finding day for us we started at the top of our area and were worked our way down just contacting everyone, knocking on doors, going by potentials and formers, and in the end we had a new investigator and had a lesson and had set up roughly 4 return appointments. It was really good though I ended up getting heat exhaustion for a while but recovered quickly haha. We also ate lunch again with the other Elders in our apartment but this time thankfully there were no broken windows! Later that night we got our transfer calls and I found out that I am going back to Passons ward!!!!!! White washing in with a new companion named Elder Jaster so it should be super awesome for now I am on the same side of the ward I was in originally too so that is sweet the reason I say for now is because there is a chance they will move me to the southern half of the ward because the Elder there is struggling with Depression and anxiety attacks and he feels like he would do better with me then the other Elder who is supposed to be his companion. The Elder who I might end up being companions with is Elder Foster and he is super awesome I have served around him and love the heck out of him so it will be awesome either way for now though I should be in the north half in the same apartment and everything as before. Sunday was good it was fast and testimony meeting so I got up and gave a good bye testimony I actually wasn't going to but a member of the ward got up and personally thanked me for the service I had rendered in the ward. I don't think I did much but I wasn't going to not get up and thank everyone for being a good ward after that. The rest of the day was spent going by and saying good bye to people except at the very end of the day when we had a lesson with a former investigator which went pretty well he knew the Bible super well and had some interesting theories so we will see how it goes in the future with him. My week as you can see though was super good. 

my address now is: 

4200 Rosemead apt # 215 

Pico Rivera, CA 90660

Lastly before I go if you could send me back my camera card that I most recently sent that would be awesome! haha sorry to be such a pain. I miss you guys a ton and even though I am scared to come home I am super excited to see you guys in 4 and 1/2 months it's gonna be a blast I have told a bunch of people mostly in Whittier that I will come visit them when you come pick me up so be ready to meet people! I hope you have an awesome super safe fantastic week! \

Love Elder Jensen

July 7, 2104

Hi Erdmanns I love you all and miss you much! It sounds like you all had an awesome week which I am glad to hear about! You definitely know how to have work hard and play hard. Sounds like the girls are spoiled as usual. I cant wait to go and do all these things with you again haha but at the same time I can.
So this past week was super good.

Monday night we went out with a member of the ward and visited some people.

Tuesday we started going by a list of people given to us by some of the leadership in the ward of people who they didn't know if they even still lived at the address. Later that day we went by Charles who is one of our investigators - I am sure I have mentioned before - he is in his 50’s,  African American and really enjoys our church. We had a good lesson with him and we are preparing him for his upcoming Baptism. Later that night we went and picked up Elders Sanderson and Renguul and drove Elder Renguul over to Cypress for an exchange with an Elder in that zone - the reason for the exchange is that Elder Renguul is Micronesian as is the other Elder but the other Elder was super new in the mission and isn't used to American culture and was struggling so Elder Renguul went to help him out for a day, which meant that Elder Sanderson was with us for 24 hours which was a lot of fun. He is a super cool guy.

Wednesday was a mix of appointments in both our area and Elder Sanderson's area which made things interesting, but fun, because it was a change of pace - which is always good. Also big news!  I finally am in an area with an Arby's which is probably the best thing ever haha.  I haven't been able to have Arby's since I left on my mission and Arby's is one of my favorite things ever so that made me happy! Later Wednesday night we went to the church where Charles had a Baptismal interview that he passed, which is super cool, especially because he has some mental handicaps which can make things a little tougher, and he lives with his Mom, who is a very strong Southern Baptist, who doesn't like us very much haha. Then at the end of the day we went and got Elder Renguul and took them back to their apartment.

Thursday we had zone meeting which was pretty good and then weekly planning. Afterwards we went out and did missionary work as usual - nothing to exciting happened.

Friday was the fourth of July which meant it was crazy most of the first part of the day and afternoon was really slow because of the holiday and it was really hot and I decided to not drink water so at about 4 I had heat exhaustion - but I drank a bunch of water and went back out and worked and felt fine afterwards. The evening was the crazy part - everyone in California has big mortar fireworks that are illegal and shoot into the air and go boom and make all the car alarms go off so it was like being in a war zone. It was cool though. We were teaching a lady in the ward who is a recent convert and we couldn't go into her home, so we were having a the lesson out by her apartment complex pool and at the end of the lesson a Spanish women came up to us and started talking to us in Spanish - which we didn't understand - but our recent convert did haha. It was actually super cool - she was a member of the Spanish branch and she was having a super hard time. She was in alot of pain and she found out that her daughter has terminal cancer and her mother is close to passing away (that isn't the cool part) but she had been trying to get a blessing but her home teachers and everyone she tried calling was out of town for the fourth of July so she just kept praying that somehow she could get a blessing and all of the sudden she looked out her window and saw us out by the pool - so we were able  to give her a blessing and the Sister in our ward was able to translate for us so it was pretty awesome. The rest of the night was spent driving home trying not to get hit by random fireworks.

Saturday was super cool too. We spent the morning with Charles helping him to get totally ready for his Baptism which was on Saturday. His mom came out and expressed her unhappiness about all of it but Charles still made it to the Church and was Baptized at about 1:30. It was a really cool Baptism and he seemed really happy, and the people who gave talks did a super awesome job so it was really cool. Later we went to the Stake Baptisms one of the girls in our ward who was getting Baptized invited us to come.

Sunday was also really cool. Charles was confirmed a member and also two of our investigators, Eva who is in her 30’s, and Dawn who is 16 (they are related) both came to church. We had been teaching them through out the week and they really enjoyed church and have been doing super well. They have been taught a little in the past and then lost the missionaries, but now are super excited to be learning again. Dawn wants to be Baptized already so that is super cool. The rest of Sunday we went by and visited people. We gave a blessing to a lady in our ward who is from Haiti and speaks mostly French and then visited Brother Fanene who is Samoan. There are a lot of Islander peoples in this ward which I really like - they are awesome people. That pretty much wraps up my week though.

Anyways I hope you all have another super awesome week and thank you for sending the care package again. As far as if there is anything else that you can send in it, umm I am sure I could come up with a lot of things but they would mostly just be wants and not things I need haha. If you can send some of those envelopes so I can send home some more pictures that would be good. Other than  that I think I am ok right now. Pictures are always super awesome too! Stay safe and happy though you are always in my prayers!
Love Elder Jensen

June 16, 2014

I am very short on time today unfortunately, so this is going to be short.

Monday night we had Family home evening with the Cyperts which as usual was fun.

Tuesday we went over to Sister Armstrong's home and did service for her in the morning by cleaning up her back yard and trimming back some bushes. Later that night we had a good lesson with Georgina at the church.

Wednesday morning we went over to Sister Schiffauer's home and did more yard work and service for her which was a lot of fun as it always is. Later that afternoon we had a lesson with Georgina at the church and then one with Jose Gonzales and his whole family which was pretty cool - he has a nine-year old son and when we came over he pulled out his Book of Mormon and asked which page we were on haha.

Thursday we had District meeting and then weekly planning which went well and then we went down to the mission office so Elder Hansen could talk with the mission nurse about his sleep apnea and found out that he is going to get tested for it which they never do in the mission - so that is pretty cool they are doing it for him. In the evening we went and ate dinner and then went to a big ward activity where everyone played volleyball and basketball which was pretty cool. Elder Hansen and myself were refs which was fun. 

Random note that is weird - over the past year or so I have really come to love the youth in the wards I have served in which is weird because before my mission I didn't like kids much. But I really really love the youth now it's pretty weird.

Anyways Friday we took another Elder who is in the zone to physical therapy and then later that night we had a cool lesson with Georgina about Temple work and Family History that she really liked and wants to work towards.

Saturday was a busy day in the morning we visited with a less active member named Danny Rios and then went to the Baptism of Emiliano (who I mentioned a couple weeks ago). Elder Hansen gave the talk on Baptism and he asked me to Baptize him and give the talk on the Holy Ghost so that was a pretty cool experience to have. He is a really smart guy and progressed quicker then anyone I have seen before - pretty crazy. Saturday we had Stake Conference and it went really well. Elder Hansen gave a talk at it and did an awesome job. He talked about making a family mission plan - it was pretty awesome. Then at the end of the night sadness happened. We got transfer facts and both Elder Hansen and myself are being transferred out and they are bringing in two new Elders. We got a call from one of the Assistants to the mission President, Elder Gallagher my old companion, and he told us it wasn't because of anything we did but there were some other circumstantial things that came up that required us both to leave which is pretty lame. Elder Hansen is going back to Long Beach and I am going to Cerritos 1st ward with Elder Hermansen who I have served around. He is really quiet but a really nice guy. I then got a call from the 1st counselor in the mission presidency, President Devereaux, who told me that I am going to have to regain the trust of the members in the Cerritos 1st ward and rebuild some burnt bridges because. The Elder they are shipping out, that I am replacing, offended most of the members - including the Bishop and the Ward Mission Leader - so even though I am leaving Passons ward it is cool to see that the Mission President trusts me with a ward who is mad at the missionaries.

Sunday we went to Stake Conference again and then the rest of the day we ran around and said good-bye to people which was sad.

This morning we went and said goodbye to Georgina and, for the first time my whole mission, I cried like a baby. I have teared up a lot on my mission but I straight cried when I had to say bye to her. It was weird my heart has definitely gotten a lot bigger out here.

Here is my new address please send me hand written letters this week to this address. I might need it to get a library card so I can email next week! 

18622 Arline #D Artesia CA 90701    

FEBRUARY 24 EMAIL ....

This week is going to be a short email because we're taking Elder Jenson around because it is his last day. So, sorry for the shortness of the letter. 

So I am getting transferred but I am still in the stake. I am going to the Passons Ward and my new companions name is Elder Hansen. Since he is in the same zone I know him a little bit - and he seems pretty awesome. I will also be living in the last four man pad in the mission which is awesome. I will also be living with the Zone Leaders so that will be cool. I am also still a District Leader.

My new address is 4200 Rosemead apt #215, Pico Rivera CA 90660

Just a couple quick highlights from the week.  My companion was sick so we stayed in a lot. But, the main thing from this past week was just going around and saying bye to people which was actually pretty sad. It's almost like leaving home all over again and leaving family behind.  But thankfully I will be able to come back and visit. I also gave a talk in sacrament and I was assigned to talk 10 minutes,  but before I knew it I had talked for 15. Weird - I was still nervous but by the time I was done I had enjoyed giving it. I chose to speak on our responsibility to all help each other (that was pretty much the gist of it all). Also in the week we had a specialized training on how to not get overwhelmed in a mission mostly because we have had a few missionaries go home recently for depression/anxiety. Also kinda depressing is one Elder went home for cancer and Elder George ( my MTC companion ) caught something called ADEM - which pretty much makes your antibodies attack your central nervous system and he almost died. He will have to go home for rehabilitation which is no fun. It was a really good week though - sorry I don't have time to say more!

Well I hope you have a great week and  I will keep Teagan in my prayers - that is no fair for him at all. I love you guys and oh one cool thing I got a name tag that says Elder Erdmann on it haha. I don't know how much I will wear it around but it is cool to have!

Love Elder Jensen (Erdmann)

Happy Birthday Elder Jensen

I did get the package by the way and it was pretty awesome I got it Friday actually and well opened it Friday haha the watch is super awesome I have 4 blue watches now all different shades of Blue that helps me match my ties so that is pretty legit it's also my first automatic watch which is pretty cool! Good pick Madison and Morgan did a sick job and picking out some legit ties for me good job Morgana I heart your face! Thank you for the birthday stuff you are way to good at spoiling me haha.

 Well lets see I had another awesome week with Elder Hansen. We are still getting along really really well so hopefully that continues. For example, today in personal study we were screwing around and I fell back in the chair I was sitting in and broke his desk - pretty legit. Last Tuesday though I had leadership training all day until dinner then the rest of the evening was pretty normal. Wednesday we had some lessons with a less active member and a recent convert that both went pretty well. The recent convert is pretty awesome - she was planning on killing herself with this giant spear she made but then before she did the missionaries found her and knocked her door and helped through everything. Now she is awesome and healthy and not wanting to die - cool story. We also made a trip to the mission office that day to take some other Elders down for an interview with the Mission President and later in the evening we went by some former investigators. Thursday we had District meeting where I gave a training on church attendance and how to help people be comfortable coming to church and how to conduct church tours. It went pretty well so that was good. Later we had our correlation meeting with the ward missionaries, then we went to a lesson with an investigator named Pascual who is an interesting fellow with a crazy past. He is super into jewels and has thousands of dollars in them and just throws them around like they are nothing. Its crazy. I held a giant handful of diamonds and other gems - it was nuts. But he is an odd one that isn't really progressing as an investigator -  he definitely needs help so we keep going by and hope that over time we can help him and that he will join the church. Friday it rained super hard. Actually all weekend it rained really hard - I don't like the rain. It's lame but somehow my companion and Elder Peterson who was with us for the day, and is also an awesome missionary,  talked me into knocking in the rain. It was wet! Very wet. It rained like crazy here.  The streets were flooded and people in California don't know how to drive in the rain so it was exciting. Later in the evening though we had a lesson in the evening with Hewie and a member named Brother Moultin that went super well so we're hoping he keeps progressing. Saturday, despite the rain, we had a really good day. We found a new family of investigators to teach and taught them a short lesson, and went by a bunch of less actives and had some really good lessons with them. That was awesome to have a great day despite the rain. Sunday was really good - both Hewie and his daughter Adriana, who is adorable, came. She is 4. It was also fast Sunday so we had a great testimony meeting which is always good. Also it was my birthday so that made it fun. Nothing too exciting happened. We did have dinner with a member but I didn't mention it was my birthday. If I hadn't gotten gifts from home actually I would have not noticed it as being any different then any other day of the year but it was actually kind of cool in a sense so I didn't mind. That was my stellar awesome week though!

As usual I love the heck out of all of you stay safe have a fun party Sunday tell everyone I said Hello Ryan have a safe trip stay away from the alcohol for me and Kathy don't kill my sisters please while he's gone!

Love Elder Erdsen   (a combination of Jensen and Erdmann)