Celebrating our halfway & Zr Mashburn`s b-day, w/ DLs at Haarlem
Tuesday, June 30, 2015
Monday, June 29, 2015
Wonderful
My dear friends and family,
It has been a wonderful week! Kind of crazy, but then that seems to be every week. :P
After emailing on Monday, we went over to the investigator with the chemical burn (her name is Jennifer, by the way) and helped her change her bandages. We've also helped her throughout the week, and it's healed amazingly fast! Priesthood blessings are wonderful things. :)
On Tuesday we taught Grecia (the 16 year old who ordered a Book of Mormon) and it was wonderful! She had seen the documentary "Meet the Mormons" and that's why she ordered the book. She is so positive and even came to church this Sunday! We are so excited for her!
On Wednesday we did service all day again, at the same place from a couple weeks ago, which was of course wonderful.
On Friday we met Gina, a woman in her 50s from Great Britain and her son Marvin, who has down syndrome. You can tell that Gina has been through a lot, but it was so wonderful to hear who strong she is and how she just gives love (and sass) back to the people who act negatively around her son. He really has such a sweet spirit- I wish everyone could just see how much people need love, not judgement.
On Saturday we had a ward picnic and Jennifer was able to come! It was wonderful to see her meeting lots of the members and getting to know them. This is a great ward!
Sunday was also wonderful, as mentioned earlier Grecia came to church! I also had to give a 10 minute talk (in Dutch), and it went well, so that was also wonderful!
Can you tell that this week was wonderful!
Haha it's funny, because "wonder" actually means "miracle" in Dutch. And this week has certainly been full of miracles! I've only had time to tell you about half of them, but the Lord is truly at the head of this work, and in all of our lives. As we trust and come to Him, miracles will always follow. It is so wonderful!
Have a wonderful week!
-Zuster Jensen :)
It has been a wonderful week! Kind of crazy, but then that seems to be every week. :P
After emailing on Monday, we went over to the investigator with the chemical burn (her name is Jennifer, by the way) and helped her change her bandages. We've also helped her throughout the week, and it's healed amazingly fast! Priesthood blessings are wonderful things. :)
On Tuesday we taught Grecia (the 16 year old who ordered a Book of Mormon) and it was wonderful! She had seen the documentary "Meet the Mormons" and that's why she ordered the book. She is so positive and even came to church this Sunday! We are so excited for her!
On Wednesday we did service all day again, at the same place from a couple weeks ago, which was of course wonderful.
On Friday we met Gina, a woman in her 50s from Great Britain and her son Marvin, who has down syndrome. You can tell that Gina has been through a lot, but it was so wonderful to hear who strong she is and how she just gives love (and sass) back to the people who act negatively around her son. He really has such a sweet spirit- I wish everyone could just see how much people need love, not judgement.
On Saturday we had a ward picnic and Jennifer was able to come! It was wonderful to see her meeting lots of the members and getting to know them. This is a great ward!
Sunday was also wonderful, as mentioned earlier Grecia came to church! I also had to give a 10 minute talk (in Dutch), and it went well, so that was also wonderful!
Can you tell that this week was wonderful!
Haha it's funny, because "wonder" actually means "miracle" in Dutch. And this week has certainly been full of miracles! I've only had time to tell you about half of them, but the Lord is truly at the head of this work, and in all of our lives. As we trust and come to Him, miracles will always follow. It is so wonderful!
Have a wonderful week!
-Zuster Jensen :)
Monday, June 22, 2015
Toeval Bestaat Niet (Coincidence Doesn't Exist)
My dear family and friends,
It has not been very many days since I emailed due to our late p-day last week, but they have been very good not very many days! The Lord really is directing this work and gives us small miracles every once in a while to show us.
One of those miracles was last Thursday evening. We had received a referral for someone who wanted a Book of Mormon, so we went to go look it up, although we didn't have very much time before we had to get home for the night. On the way there we ran into someone the missionaries had been teaching before but had kind of fallen under the radar, and we were actually able to teach a short lesson to her on the street. Then we went to look up the referral, and as we were about to ring the bell, she walks up and asks if we're looking for her! She is this awesome teenage girl who had ordered a Book of Mormon because of a documentary she had seen, and we coincidentally (hint: coincidence doesn't exist) caught her coming home in the 3 minutes we had before we had to go catch a bus. When you plan your day with the Spirit, the Lord arranges it down to every second. :)
Saturday and Sunday this week was stake conference, which was great. It was down in the Zoetermeer area, so Zuster Verdegem got to reconnect with a lot of members she knew from when she served there at the beginning of her mission. We also saw President and Zuster Robinson there for the last time; they go home next week! I just wrote President my last week letter to him, which was weird. It will be exciting to have a new mission president, but President and Zuster Robinson will certainly be missed.
Sunday afternoon we saw more miracles! The zone leaders were with us because they were going to come to an appointment with us, but the appointment wasn't home. However, while they were still with us we stopped by an investigator who hadn't been home for our last appointment and who lost her phone last week, to see if we could get in contact again. Turns out the reason she hadn't been home is that she got a chemical burn all up her arm and was in the hospital. We were able to visit with her for a few minutes and then, because the elders "just happened" to be with us (coincidence? I think not!) they were able to give her a priesthood blessing! It was so beautiful and talked about how she would be healed and also come to a knowledge of the gospel of Jesus Christ if she exercised faith. She has a lot to overcome, including substance abuse and depression, but she also has so much faith and trust in God. We hope to see many wonderful changes in her life and she continues increasing that faith.
I am so glad I have this opportunity to serve the Lord and be a witness and participant of the many miracles which He works daily. Although it's often difficult to see, and it's hard to endure the trials we go through, He is always there and always in charge. If we simply stay close to Him and do all we can to increase our faith in Him, we will always find peace and joy.
-Zuster Jensen
It has not been very many days since I emailed due to our late p-day last week, but they have been very good not very many days! The Lord really is directing this work and gives us small miracles every once in a while to show us.
One of those miracles was last Thursday evening. We had received a referral for someone who wanted a Book of Mormon, so we went to go look it up, although we didn't have very much time before we had to get home for the night. On the way there we ran into someone the missionaries had been teaching before but had kind of fallen under the radar, and we were actually able to teach a short lesson to her on the street. Then we went to look up the referral, and as we were about to ring the bell, she walks up and asks if we're looking for her! She is this awesome teenage girl who had ordered a Book of Mormon because of a documentary she had seen, and we coincidentally (hint: coincidence doesn't exist) caught her coming home in the 3 minutes we had before we had to go catch a bus. When you plan your day with the Spirit, the Lord arranges it down to every second. :)
Saturday and Sunday this week was stake conference, which was great. It was down in the Zoetermeer area, so Zuster Verdegem got to reconnect with a lot of members she knew from when she served there at the beginning of her mission. We also saw President and Zuster Robinson there for the last time; they go home next week! I just wrote President my last week letter to him, which was weird. It will be exciting to have a new mission president, but President and Zuster Robinson will certainly be missed.
Sunday afternoon we saw more miracles! The zone leaders were with us because they were going to come to an appointment with us, but the appointment wasn't home. However, while they were still with us we stopped by an investigator who hadn't been home for our last appointment and who lost her phone last week, to see if we could get in contact again. Turns out the reason she hadn't been home is that she got a chemical burn all up her arm and was in the hospital. We were able to visit with her for a few minutes and then, because the elders "just happened" to be with us (coincidence? I think not!) they were able to give her a priesthood blessing! It was so beautiful and talked about how she would be healed and also come to a knowledge of the gospel of Jesus Christ if she exercised faith. She has a lot to overcome, including substance abuse and depression, but she also has so much faith and trust in God. We hope to see many wonderful changes in her life and she continues increasing that faith.
I am so glad I have this opportunity to serve the Lord and be a witness and participant of the many miracles which He works daily. Although it's often difficult to see, and it's hard to endure the trials we go through, He is always there and always in charge. If we simply stay close to Him and do all we can to increase our faith in Him, we will always find peace and joy.
-Zuster Jensen
Thursday, June 18, 2015
Happy Half-Way...What??
My dear friends and family,
As of yesterday, I am officially half-way done with my mission! That is pure craziness!! While home feels very far away, I also feel like I just entered the MTC yesterday. I pretend I know what I'm doing, but at heart I'm still very much a groentje (greenie)! Leven is gek. :)
It's been a while since I last emailed, because of our late p-day this week, and honestly all the days just kind of blur together. So here are some highlights of my recent history!
Zone training!! It's the last one with President and Zuster Robinson, so we were combined with another zone for half of it, where they addressed us, after which we split off into our own zones for normal zone training. It was awesome, as always! Zuster Robinson talked about 13 promises God has given us as endowed, covenant people. They are all from section 109 of Doctrine and Covenants. Take some time this week to study that section - it is truly amazing what God does for His children! President then talked about the progress this mission has seen in his time, and how if we continue to be optimistic and think creatively we can keep up the work and make even more progress in the future. He especially emphasized how we are 100% accountable for 100% of the results we see 100% of the time. When we have this attitude of accountability, and we own the results we see, that gives us power to change our results. This is so true, in every area of our lives!
On Monday we spent the whole day doing service! We were helping out at a small daycare/school for handicapped children, cleaning/sanding/repainting a shed and other outdoor surfaces. We enlisted our district and zone leaders to help us, and the people we were helping were so happy with all the work we did. We'll be going back again next Wednesday to help some more. Service is the best!
On Tuesday, after a wonderful district meeting, I went on exchanges in Amsterdam again. Zuster Doxey and I helped a 9 year old make cupcakes for her mother, who is a less-active in the ward. The mom (Chelsey) was totally surprised and showed so much love for her daughter, it was beautiful! And then they were going out to dinner together so we rode the same metro together, and we had a miraculous conversation with Chelsey in which she told us that she wants to be more active in the church, meet more with the zusters, and give her daughter good influences through the church. It was awesome and I'm so excited for the Amsterdam zusters to help Chelsey with her new vision for herself! Service, especially in families, always works wonders. :)
Well, I must go but of course I could never leave without a thought! As I stand half way through my mission and look back on what I've done and experienced, I can see that I have learned an incredible amount. I can also see that, while I'm still doing my best, I've got a long way to go. As I pondered that, I was thinking about how it is possible that we can always be learning, and yet always feel as though we're already doing all we can. I've come to the conclusion that it's all about practice makes perfect! As you practice something, you won't always do it right. But if you correct your mistakes and don't stop trying, you will make progress. And as you continue doing that, things that used to be hard and take up (for example) 15% of your time and energy, now are easy and only take 2% of your time and energy. It's the same with being good and doing good! The more you do it, the greater your capacity to do even more good, because you are continally creating more "room" for more good things as the good things you already do become easier, then habit, then second nature. This process continues until, one day, we reach perfection thanks to the help of the great Finisher. I am so grateful for the Atonement of Jesus Christ, through which I can be a little better every day, and through which I can become a little more like Him with every good choice I make. It is wonderful to me!
-Zuster Jensen :)
As of yesterday, I am officially half-way done with my mission! That is pure craziness!! While home feels very far away, I also feel like I just entered the MTC yesterday. I pretend I know what I'm doing, but at heart I'm still very much a groentje (greenie)! Leven is gek. :)
It's been a while since I last emailed, because of our late p-day this week, and honestly all the days just kind of blur together. So here are some highlights of my recent history!
Zone training!! It's the last one with President and Zuster Robinson, so we were combined with another zone for half of it, where they addressed us, after which we split off into our own zones for normal zone training. It was awesome, as always! Zuster Robinson talked about 13 promises God has given us as endowed, covenant people. They are all from section 109 of Doctrine and Covenants. Take some time this week to study that section - it is truly amazing what God does for His children! President then talked about the progress this mission has seen in his time, and how if we continue to be optimistic and think creatively we can keep up the work and make even more progress in the future. He especially emphasized how we are 100% accountable for 100% of the results we see 100% of the time. When we have this attitude of accountability, and we own the results we see, that gives us power to change our results. This is so true, in every area of our lives!
On Monday we spent the whole day doing service! We were helping out at a small daycare/school for handicapped children, cleaning/sanding/repainting a shed and other outdoor surfaces. We enlisted our district and zone leaders to help us, and the people we were helping were so happy with all the work we did. We'll be going back again next Wednesday to help some more. Service is the best!
On Tuesday, after a wonderful district meeting, I went on exchanges in Amsterdam again. Zuster Doxey and I helped a 9 year old make cupcakes for her mother, who is a less-active in the ward. The mom (Chelsey) was totally surprised and showed so much love for her daughter, it was beautiful! And then they were going out to dinner together so we rode the same metro together, and we had a miraculous conversation with Chelsey in which she told us that she wants to be more active in the church, meet more with the zusters, and give her daughter good influences through the church. It was awesome and I'm so excited for the Amsterdam zusters to help Chelsey with her new vision for herself! Service, especially in families, always works wonders. :)
Well, I must go but of course I could never leave without a thought! As I stand half way through my mission and look back on what I've done and experienced, I can see that I have learned an incredible amount. I can also see that, while I'm still doing my best, I've got a long way to go. As I pondered that, I was thinking about how it is possible that we can always be learning, and yet always feel as though we're already doing all we can. I've come to the conclusion that it's all about practice makes perfect! As you practice something, you won't always do it right. But if you correct your mistakes and don't stop trying, you will make progress. And as you continue doing that, things that used to be hard and take up (for example) 15% of your time and energy, now are easy and only take 2% of your time and energy. It's the same with being good and doing good! The more you do it, the greater your capacity to do even more good, because you are continally creating more "room" for more good things as the good things you already do become easier, then habit, then second nature. This process continues until, one day, we reach perfection thanks to the help of the great Finisher. I am so grateful for the Atonement of Jesus Christ, through which I can be a little better every day, and through which I can become a little more like Him with every good choice I make. It is wonderful to me!
-Zuster Jensen :)
Monday, June 8, 2015
Life is Great :)
My dear friends and family,
Let me begin actually with a shout-out to mijn broertje - Garrett enters the MTC on Wednesday!! I couldn't be more proud of the good choices he's made and the preparation he's done in order to be worthy and ready to serve. I know he is extremely excited and I can't wait to hear all about his journey!
Speaking of missions, mine was great this week. :)
On Monday, we helped a less-active member move. This involved carrying stuff up two flights of Dutch stairs... which, for those of you who don't know, are often spiral (in this case they were) and extremely steep. :P Luckily I didn't trip even once, although I was definitely feeling the burn the next day. :) I love service!
The next day we had an awesome district meeting! It was a little weird since my last district had only 6 missionaries, and this one has around 18. It's actually both a zone and a district... since they closed a few cities in this area they basically just combined all the missionaries in the area into one zone/district. Gezellig! Afterward I went on exchanges with Zr Mashburn, who was in my MTC group. She is very sweet and it was wonderful to work with her for a day.:)
Wednesday and Thursday were relatively uneventful, although still super good. On Friday we had the opportunity to attend MLC (mission leader council)! Neither of us is a sister trainer leader, but President asked Zuster Verdegem to give a presentation about learning/teaching other missionaries Dutch so we got to participate for the day. It was very inspiring and I was so happy to have the chance to receive more counsel from President and Zuster Robinson before they leave at the end of this transfer. :)
On Saturday we worked with the zone leaders, which was great, and then Sunday was also great. Basically, everthing this week was just great. :)
As a thought for this week, I'm going to continue with the idea of things being great. :D We had a dinner appointment on Monday with an older brother in our ward who has an interesting story. He was not a member, and his wife was baptized a little over 10 years ago. Recently she died of an illness. Soon after her death, he began seriously investigating the church and was baptized. They are now sealed together, which is beautiful; but his story made me think, how often does it happen in our lives that we wait to figure out how our lives might be even better? I'm sure he had a great family, but what if this brother had decided to investigate a little sooner? Might they have had some time as members together? When I look around, I think my life is pretty great. But I think, if I strive to follow the example of Jesus Christ and figure out God's plan for me, I might find ways to make it even better. I challenge you all to do the same! God truly is the source of all happiness, and joy comes from following His Son, Jesus Christ. Don't delay the blessings waiting for you! :)
-Zuster Jensen
Monday, June 1, 2015
Surprises (of a good kind) :)
My dear friends and family,
So this week was kind of crazy! First piece of craziness - I knew I was being transferred to IJmuiden. What I didn't know is that, due to uneven numbers of missionaries leaving/coming, they closed down the Haarlem elder's area. Which means it has become our area. So that's fun! There's lots of work to do with taking over their investigators and other people, and it makes for a lot of traveling. But it's great! Zuster Verdegem is a hard worker and we've already seen miracles in the last few days.
Some of the miracles included catching people at home and being able to teach them lessons, as well as randomly meeting prepared people who were interested in the Book of Mormon and willing to make return appointments. We hope to see some good things this week!
Just like any new area, IJmuiden feels very different; I can tell it will be great, though! We are part of the Haarlem ward, and the members here take good care of the missionaries and each other, and they are very welcoming and helpful to everyone. It's awesome! Also, especially since we took over the Haarlem elder's area, we spend a decent amount of time in Haarlem. Which, for those of you who don't know, is where "The Best Two Years" was largely filmed. I hope to have a good collection of pictures in "famous places" by the time I'm done here! :)
Well, a lot of you have emailed me this week about the power of positive thinking and faith, and it's actually something that's been on my mind lately, so I'm going to share of few of my thoughts back on the subject. We are all given weaknesses and trials, and that's necessary. However, it has been amazing to me to see, especially on my mission, just how much Heavenly Father carries us through these. I'm sure I don't even understand the smallest part of how it works, but I know that it does. Perhaps we can't be cheerful every second of every hour, but I know that it's truly possible to live a happy, wonderful life as we simply stay close to the source of true happiness- our Heavenly Father. Through humility and hope, and the development of faith and charity, nothing need ever be seen as a burden or an insurmountable challenge. Every time you are tempted to give up, become angry or bitter, or turn away from the light, simply fall down to your knees in prayer. I know that there we can find the balm in Gilead, the strength and love and peace that comes through the real application of Christ's Atonement in our lives, for the good times, the bad times, and every single moment in between.
-Zuster Jensen
So this week was kind of crazy! First piece of craziness - I knew I was being transferred to IJmuiden. What I didn't know is that, due to uneven numbers of missionaries leaving/coming, they closed down the Haarlem elder's area. Which means it has become our area. So that's fun! There's lots of work to do with taking over their investigators and other people, and it makes for a lot of traveling. But it's great! Zuster Verdegem is a hard worker and we've already seen miracles in the last few days.
Some of the miracles included catching people at home and being able to teach them lessons, as well as randomly meeting prepared people who were interested in the Book of Mormon and willing to make return appointments. We hope to see some good things this week!
Just like any new area, IJmuiden feels very different; I can tell it will be great, though! We are part of the Haarlem ward, and the members here take good care of the missionaries and each other, and they are very welcoming and helpful to everyone. It's awesome! Also, especially since we took over the Haarlem elder's area, we spend a decent amount of time in Haarlem. Which, for those of you who don't know, is where "The Best Two Years" was largely filmed. I hope to have a good collection of pictures in "famous places" by the time I'm done here! :)
Well, a lot of you have emailed me this week about the power of positive thinking and faith, and it's actually something that's been on my mind lately, so I'm going to share of few of my thoughts back on the subject. We are all given weaknesses and trials, and that's necessary. However, it has been amazing to me to see, especially on my mission, just how much Heavenly Father carries us through these. I'm sure I don't even understand the smallest part of how it works, but I know that it does. Perhaps we can't be cheerful every second of every hour, but I know that it's truly possible to live a happy, wonderful life as we simply stay close to the source of true happiness- our Heavenly Father. Through humility and hope, and the development of faith and charity, nothing need ever be seen as a burden or an insurmountable challenge. Every time you are tempted to give up, become angry or bitter, or turn away from the light, simply fall down to your knees in prayer. I know that there we can find the balm in Gilead, the strength and love and peace that comes through the real application of Christ's Atonement in our lives, for the good times, the bad times, and every single moment in between.
-Zuster Jensen
Zusters Verdegem & Jensen
Transfer Day!
Haarlem
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