Pics: Oliebollen can be a bit messy... but always worth it :)

Tot Ziens, 2015! Je was een goede. :)

Mijn geliefde familie en vrienden, (My beloved family and friends)

The highlight of this week would most definitely be my beloved family, I love you guys so darn much! It made my Christmas very merry indeed. :) I hope the rest of you also had wonderful holidays!

Rewinding to the beginning of the week, we had a great p-day followed by district meeting, and then on Wednesday we went on exchanges with Leeuwarden. I was kind of afraid for my life biking through the centrum there, it was crazy busy and people seemed to be considering the traffic rules as just "guidelines." But, we survived and had a great exchange! We spent a couple hours singing carols from the hymnbook at the train station (where they sometimes have public pianos) and got to talk to some cool people, including one lady who even jumped in and sang "Stille Nacht" with us. :)

Then the holidays truly began, with Kerstavond, Eerste Kerstdag and Tweede Kerstdag(Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day) stretching from the 24th to the 26th. We had a great time visiting members, talking with some people on the street, and in general doing our best to spread some Christmas cheer and receiving some in return. :)

I can't believe the end of this week marks the end of 2015! I remember last year it was pointed out to me that 2015 would be the only year of my life I would spend completely as a young full-time missionary. I thought, wow, I had better make the most of that! A year is long though, it will take a while. :) How wrong I was! This has probably been the fastest year of my life! It has been a good one though. As I look back there are things I wish I could redo of course, but I am also so grateful for all that I have learned and experienced, and I am especially grateful that with the Atonement of Christ, we are never down to our "last chance." He will always be there to help us try again, as long as we will stay close to Him. Our eternal progression is the whole reason He came, the reason we even celebrate Christmas, the reason we can have hope in new beginnings. I invite you all, as you make your resolutions and goals this year, to ponder on His Atonement and how it can help you in your own personal progression. Then, take it to your Heavenly Father in prayer. As missionaries, we never set goals or make plans without praying about them, and I know He helps us with each of them. I know that as you "counsel with the Lord in all your doings," and have faith in the Atonement and it's power in your life, you will be able to say as Paul did, "I can do all things through Christwhich strengtheneth me!"

Happy goal setting, and a very happy New Year!

-Zuster Jensen

Pics: Christmas!! :D

 

Pics: Companions

with Zr. Twiggs

with Zr. Voss in Leeuwarden

Prettige Kerst!

Mijn geliefde familie en vrienden,

So this is Christmas! I can´t believe how fast it´s come! But first, some highlights from this week:

• Transfers went pretty smoothly, all things considered! And luckily we slipped very quickly into a comfortable companionship, it´s always nice when you already know the person you´re getting.
• It´s actually been unseasonably warm this week, merry Christmas to me!
• On Thursday we made Christmas cards with an investigator, and then she gave one of the ones we had made to us, haha.
• Last Sunday I was asked to play the piano for a musical number, and I guess they liked it because they asked me to do another one on Saturday night for the ward Christmas dinner. Yay for blessings, because they definitely shouldn´t have gone so well for how much practice time I had!
• As mentioned, the ward Christmas dinner was on Saturday and it was super fun! Heel gezellig,(very cozy?) as the Dutch would say. :)
• During church yesterday I ended up translating for all 3 hours. My brain hurt a little by the end, but I could do it which made me super happy! Except it´s so hard now to translate into English - I hear the Dutch, think about it in English, and then my mouth keeps wanting to use the Dutch words when I try to speak. Super vervalent, man.

Sorry it´s a quick one today! But I get to chat it up with you this week anyway - if you´re lucky enough to be in my family, that is. :) But in all seriousness, we really are all brothers and sisters in one giant family, with a perfect and perfectly loving Father at its head. And this week, we have the opportunity to celebrate the coming of our Older Brother, who loves us enough to give everything for us. I won´t say much, there are so many wonderful words of prophets both modern and canonized to read on the subject - but may I encourage you all to take many small moments this week and just let yourself feel the joy and peace and love of Christmas! I love the last verse of "O Little Town of Bethlehem:"

How silently, how silently
The wondrous gift is giv'n!
So God imparts to human hearts
The blessings of his heav'n.
No ear may hear his coming;
But in this world of sin,
Where meek souls will receive him, still
The dear Christ enters in.

Is there room in our hearts for Him this Christmas? For if there is, He will surely come.  I love you all! Merry Christmas!

-Zr Jensen

Pics: First oliebollen of the season!

Does anyone know what an oliebollen is?  Looks like a doughnut maybe?

Service, Love and Happiness

Mijn geliefde familie en vrienden,

It has been a wonderful week! On top of the magical feeling of the Christmas season, fun things have gone down in the the Netherlands- not the least of which is transfer calls! The craziness continues here in Apeldoorn - Zr Bush will be leaving after only 5 weeks ( it was a shortened transfer) to Zoetermeer, and I will be staying here in Apeldoorn! I will be getting Zr Twiggs, a great zuster who was in my MTC district. And, the mission is trying out something new- we will be co-sister training leaders! So that will be fun! It is certainly crazy though - in the space of 12 weeks, I will have had 4 different companions in one city! :P I will be sad to see Zr Bush go, we got along super well, but I'm sure this next transfer with Zr Twiggs will be just as wonderful. :)

First, last Monday we had a great p-day hanging out in Deventer with the senior couple there, Elder and Zuster Hill. They're a really sweet couple from Idaho. We also wandered around Deventer a bit and we found this shop filled with tons of old books! And I mean filled! I got so excited, I felt like a kid in a candy shop. :)

Tuesday we had dinner with a great family in the ward and stayed for Family Home Evening with them afterward, where we taught the lesson on the Plan of Salvation. They have 4 young kids so we made a game out of it, and it was way fun. I love teaching kids!

After that we travelled to Dordrecht where we slept over, because they next day was Zone Conference! Best days of the transfer, echt waar. (really) We learned a lot of great things about how to teach more personally and powerfully, as well as about the Christmas website of the church. I love how simply the website is layed out, all focused on Jesus Christ as our Savior and why He is so incredibly important, necessary to our lives. Take a look and share it with friends, it's awesome!

On Friday we had a zone service project all day at the Voedselbank (food bank) in Zwolle. It was way fun! We were sorting donations of food and other random items to be put into Christmas packages for needy families. Of course the greatest service we can do is bring the gospel to others, but just some good old fashioned work helping someone else makes for a very happy Zuster Jensen. :)

On Saturday and Sunday we pretty much lived at the church, doing final practices and then performances for the stake Christmas concert (we were singing in the choir). Familie Jones also came up from Arnhem on the Saturday and took us out to dinner with some other missionaries who had served there, it was way fun! They're a top notch family!

The Christmas concert was great! It was completely focused on Christ (of course), but included songs about His life beyond Bethlehem as well as the relationship between Joseph and Mary and what they probably went through in this most incredible of events. It caused me to ponder about just how much we need each other, and about how much help we can receive from heaven as well, in everything we are asked to do or overcome in this life. We need to trust and support each other. Don't be afraid to ask for our receive help, or to give it in return, for we all need it! I love, love, love this quote from Thomas S. Monson: "I leave with you my witness and my testimony that God our Eternal Father lives and loves us. He is indeed our Father, and He is personal and real. May we realizeand understand how close to us He is willing to come, how far He is willing to go to help us, how much He loves us, and how much He does and is willing to do for us." I know that that is true, and I become more and more aware that that promise of help is realized through other people. So let others serve you, because you never know who is the answer to your prayer. And never cease to serve others, because you just might be the answer to theirs!

Love you all!

-Zr Jensen

Pics: Dutch... nachos?

From Tricia: It's been such a blessing to have the Jones family there in Kirsten's mission! A big thank you to Debbi, Kirby & Morgan for taking these cute missionaries to dinner and spoiling them! For those who don't know, the Jones family was in our ward for many years until moving to the Netherlands a couple years ago. Debbi was our YW president a few years ago. :) It's been so fun to have an "insider view" for Kirsten's mission! I've included a couple pictures that Debbi took this last weekend. It was so fun to see them!

The first picture is Kirsten & Debbi, the second is Kirsten & Sister Voss.  The last picture is at dinner and I had to laugh a little when I saw that Kirsten had a plate of nachos (at an American steak house). These are her favorite and she used to have them every day after school. She loves Mexican food :) I'm so grateful for the wonderful experiences she is having on her mission!

Dank je, Sinterklaasje :)

Mijn geliefde familie en vrienden,

It has been a crazy, wonderful week! And like any self-respecting week in Nederland, it started very wet. Last p-day we hung out at the church and then on our way home in the evening it was pouring, and at one point we were biking and a car drove through a giant puddle next to us and... let's just say it was a good thing we were going home for dinner so we could change. :)

On Tuesday we had a fun little miracle! We were looking people up that lived close by each other in a neighborhood, but none of them were home or had time to meet with us. However, we'd passed by this house a couple times were this lady was hanging up Christmas decorations inside her front window, and it was beautiful! So, since we had an extra few minutes we just walked up to the house, rang the bell, and when she answered we told her we thought her house was beautiful. She laughed and then invited us in to see the whole rest of the house! Haha it was a bit unexpected but it was so fun to get to know her bit and also share about what we do as missionaries. She wasn't really interested in knowing more about our church, but she was super friendly and invited us to stop by again when we're in the neighborhood. A simple, sincere compliment can go a long way if you just open your mouth and share it! :)

On Wednesday I was on exchanges with Zuster Jaramillo, who is from Aruba and is going home in 1 1/2 weeks. Apeldoorn was her first area, so we spent the day visiting members and investigators that she wanted to say an official goodbye to. She was so awesome about boldly sharing her testimony and inviting these people to come to Christ in whatever way they could, it was awesome!

On Thursday Zr Bush's bike had a little freakout and the chain kept falling off. We had to stop and put it back on like every 5 minutes. However, the members here are awesome and someone fixed her bike for free, as well as tightening our brakes, pumping up our tires, and fixing other problems I didn't even know our bikes had! Blessings. :)

The next day I worked with Zr Harris on exchanges, which was fun. And then, Saturday! It was Sinterklaas (a Dutch holiday sort of comparable to Christmas), and I got a most wonderful gift - my investigator from Haarlem, Cynthia, was baptized along with her son Jadon! I got permission from president to go back for it. It was crazy because one of Zr Bush's investigators from Breda was also getting baptized at exactly the same time, but luckily Zr Jaramillo was also going to that one (she taught that investigator as well) so we did splits for the day and they headed off to Breda while Zr Voss (Zr Jaramillo's companion) accompanied me to Haarlem. It was a little weird to be back, but definitely a good weird and I was able to reconnect with wonderful people there. The baptismal service was wonderful too, and I was just so happy for them! Cynthia had probably 20 friends and family members there - she's already an amazing missionary - and her son Jadon is the most polite 10 year old I've ever met. They are awesome! :)

And then that evening we celebrated Sinterklaas with some members that have two very cute, very excited kids. There's lots of traditions with Sinterklaas, but the 5th of December is "Pakjes Avond"(Packages Evening), when they actually get presents which are delivered by the helpers of Sinterklaas, Zwarte Pieten. It was so fun to see the parents arranging the surprises for the kids and the kid's excitement, just like with Santa Clause, but a completely different holiday. So much fun!

Wow, this letter got long. Well, it was a great week that I just had to tell you all about. And you know, much of the magic of the week came from selfless giving. It doesn't have to be huge - a small gift, a smile, a testimony shared, a laugh, help with a project, a kind word, time given for another are all little things that go a long way, and they make everyone happy, including the giver! Do something this week to lift another's spirits, and you'll find your own life is a little brighter as well. Who says Christmas lights are limited to rooftops and trees? A smile on your face brings a light to your eyes, and we've all got the light of Christ inside of us - which is of course the original Christmas light! Let it shine! :)

-Zuster Jensen

Pics: Look what we made last night! Dank je wel. :)

Christmas time brings the season of Holly and Berries!  This is a favorite Jensen family tradition, they are very yummy and best created with the idea of serving them to others to help spread the holiday cheer.   At least, sharing SOME of them anyway... 

Pics: The lovely Cynthia after her baptism :)

Overstap in Amsterdam with Zr Voss on the way to Haarlem

Pics: Exchanges

Zuster Jaramillo - she's from Aruba and will be going home next week!

Loved being with Zuster Harris again.