Restoration and Reunions

My dear family and friends,

It was a great week! Fall is definitely in full swing and I am amazed daily by how beautiful nature is. I love this time of year! So here's some news from this week:

On Tuesday we taught the restoration to a student from Nigeria! Unfortunately he had to cancel our appointment for later that week but we hope to meet with him again this week. He is very sincere in his faith in God and Christ and he was so impressed to meet other young people who live according to God's commandments in a land were most people don't. There really is a noticeable difference (in a good way!) when we are living worthy of the Spirit. :)

On Wednesday we had exchanges which meant I got to spend the day with Zr Manning! If you don't remember she was one of my companions for my 2nd and 3rd transfers, and I love her to death. It was wonderful catching up with each other and seeing how much we've grown since that time, and seeing miracles! We were able to teach a lesson to a lady just on the street while we were contacting that afternoon. :)

The rest of the week included more contacting, awesome dinner appointments, and even an extra hour of sleep with daylight savings. What more could a missionary ask for? :)

This week I have been really pondering the difference between a home blessed by gospel principles and one without. You can really feel immediately the warmth, love and spirit of a member's home where people are working to stay worthy of the spirit, and it is a wonderful thing. Of course, no one is perfect and we can't be happy, healthy, and perfectly selfless every moment of every day, even with our own family members whom we love dearly. However, I testify that as each member of the family works for the principles found in the Family Proclamation, especially love and forgiveness, the home will truly become a heaven on earth, a safe haven not just for family members but for anyone who comes inside. Do everything you can to have so precious a possession for yourself and your family!

Have a great week!

-Zr Jensen

Zr Ramirez made a friend while contacting :)

On exchanges with Zr Manning :)

Apparently I walk on the inside of my right foot... :P

Ik Kijk Graag Naar De Tempel :)

My dear family and friends,

Well, it´s been another week! I can´t believe how fast they´re flying by!

This week began with what is also the highlight of this week - the temple!!! :D We only get to go every 6 months as missionaries, and I can tell you I've been feeling that it´s been a long time. There is incredible power to be found through faithful temple attendance, not to mention an unlimited amount of other blessings. It is a peaceful, holy place, and no matter what land you´re in or language you´re speaking going there is the most sure-fire way to receive answers, a recharge of spiritual energy, and a confirmation of the love of an Almighty Father for you personally. I love to see the temple! :)

Our temple session in the morning was followed by a wonderful zone conference, which was, well, wonderful. As always. :) And just in case all that spiritual power in one day wasn´t enough, we got flu shots too so we are extra protected. We put on every bit of that armor! :D

The rest of the week was pretty rain, looking up a bunch of people, cold, and more rain. Let´s just say thermal insoles have become my best friend - why people would choose to use cold-conducting cobblestones and non-weather proof bikes as their main modes of transportation in a land where 75% of the time it is cold and raining, I´ll never know. But I love them anyway. :)

So something funny from the week! On Wednesday we were looking up a bunch of people, as before mentioned, including some less-actives from a list somebody made a few transfers ago. We went to look up this one less-active, and when a lady answered the door she had no idea who we were asking for. We figured we must a had the wrong address or something, but we told the lady who we were and, she being a wonderful woman, she let us in for some tea since it was (as before mentioned) cold and raining. We got to know each other a little bit - she´s a 50 something year old lady originally from Curacao and her name is Mariela. Long story short, we led the conversation to what we believe and we ended up teaching her the Restoration. However, she was quite hesitant to accept a Book of Mormon. But she said very sincerely that she would think about this all and call us!

Sounds like a miracle story, right? So here´s the funny part - the next day, we´re doing some updates of the area book and whatnot, and who should we happen to see on the ward list than a certain Mariela Adriana, who lives at that address! Turns out she was an active member, and she didn´t say anything for the whole time we were with her! :P Well, we apologized when we saw her on Sunday that we didn't know then who she was and we all had a good laugh about it. :)

Well, I´m seriously out of time but as a last big of news, I finished reading "Jesus the Christ" By James E. Talmage this week! :) I started it in the MTC and have been reading it off and on during personal studies. I encourage everyone who has not to read it. I learned so much about the personal ministry and identity of Jesus Chist. Most of all though, it has been wonderful to take so much time to ponder on all of the ways our Heavenly Father prepares everything to fulfill His perfect purposes - and how much perfection and love are manifest in our Redeemer and His sacrifice for us. Not just in His Atonement, but in His life which led up to it, and in His continued care for His people and His church through all ages, including the one we now live in. I know that Christ is at the head of this church, and I am so grateful for His love, which is always there for us. Always.

Have a wonderful week!

-Zr Jensen

Only in Europe

They had my name, & it`s even spelled right! :D

Nederengelspaans

My dear family and friends,

So the bad news is I am (once again) out of time, but the good news is there isn´t that much to talk about this week so it all works out. :) We were knocking doors most of this week, but other fun highlights include:

Interviews! President and Zuster Bunnell came to our district meeting to conduct interviews, and they were great as usual. President gave me a sort of special assignment, which was to have Zr Ramirez teach me Spanish for 15 minutes every day. His reasoning is that it will help her feel more useful despite the language barriers she has with other missionaries and the people here, and that it will also benefit me as I am looking at a medical career later. I happily agreed since I´d love to brush up on my Spanish, which has unfortunately gotten quite rusty over the last few years. There´s just one problem- every time I try to speak another language, nothing but Dutch comes out! So I try very hard, but then I just get a mix of Dutch, Spanish, and English vocabulary and grammar and I just don´t even know what language I speak anymore. It´s fun. :)

Fall is well underway! The trees are beautiful, but it came complete with a cold snap this weekend that made me put on my winter coat for the first time in months. All I have to say is it´s a good thing hot chocolate and fleece tights exist, otherwise this would be a very long 5 months of my mission left. :)

Well, I have to leave it at there for today but I love you all! Please remember that God is truly watching over all of us with the loving care of a perfect Father. If we simply pray to Him, giving our whole heart to Him, we are guided and blessed every step of our lives. Have a great week!

-Zr Jensen

Beautiful Weather and Beautiful Words

My dear family and friends,

Well, this week has just been a blur of crazy things! It was a good last couple of days in IJmuiden, including a dinner appointment with some very fun members - who have made what they call "the Challenge." It basically involves wearing a pajama onesie and then climbing around and under a play structure at a park near the house in a specific way. It sounds easy, but it´s definitely not! While wasn´t able to complete it, it did make it further than any sister so far, so that was fun. :)

The next day was transfer day! As far as transfer days go, it was pretty smooth! My new companion, Zr Ramirez, is originally from Argentina but has also lived in Spain and her family actually lives in Rotterdam. She was supposed to go to Argentina on her mission but due to legality visa type issues she was reassigned to this mission. She has good English and pretty good Dutch, so we speak kind of a mix of both to each other. It´s always different getting a new companion, especially one that you can´t communicate with perfectly, but she´s very fun and nice and we work well together. :)

The rest of the week was pretty much just meeting members and knocking doors - the Apeldoorn zusters don´t have any investigators right now, so there´s plenty of work to be done! However, it has been beautiful weather all week, so I´m counting my tender mercies.

I´m running out of time, but the highlight of this weekend was definitely General Conference! I love, love, LOVE Conference! I got so much out of it and we haven´t even been able to watch the Sunday Afternoon session yet. But I testify that God answers questions and prayers, even when we sometimes can´t articulate what our concerns and yearnings are. He knows us - perfectly - and He knows how to inspire the speakers to say what we need to hear, and how to inspire us to understand the message He wants us to hear, regardless of which words are actually said. One of my favorite messages from this conference was about how this whole process happens through the Holy Ghost - how priceless is that gift!! Always work to have the Holy Ghost with you, it is worth every effort in the world!

-Zuster Jensen

Zr Ramirez and moi :)