Pics: Zuster Young in Lelystad

First week with Zr. Young!

Pics: Closing Apeldoorn

Pics: Lieve Br van Dam

The Cold Never Bothered Me Anyway... right?

Mijn geliefde familie en vrienden,

It has been quite the week! And overarching all of it was the reason for the title of this email - the weather has been hanging out at a nice 0 degrees Celsius all week! Not even triple layers of tights and socks could keep the cold from seeping through my shoes. Missionary work is super awesome and you are all allowed to be jealous that I'm still on my mission, but I hope you all appreciate how nice it is to be able to go inside a warm house when you want to. :P

But, even though I'm a wuss about the cold it was a great week! Last Monday we celebrated the birthday of one of the elders in Deventer by going to a pannekoekenhuis for the first time! Think IHOP, Dutch style. :) The next day we had exchanges, and even though we didn't have any appointments we had a great time looking up and contacting people around the city. Also, I want to throw in a shout out to my dad, who taught me how to fix a flat tire and other bike things. It came in handy this week. :P

On Wednesday we had a district blitz in Hengelo, after which we had a great district meeting followed by a historic Missionary Broadcast! Apparently this is the first time they've done a broadcast to all the missionaries in the world in a decade, so we were all exchanges some huge change or something. However, it turned out to be a super great 2 hour training on the fundamentals of missionary work. No changes whatsoever. Definitely not what we were expecting, but I have total faith that our leaders are inspired and it shows you the importance of remembering and solidifying the basics if the highest leaders of the church put so much effort into a huge training on them. While they focused on missionary work, the basics are super important back home too! Never forget what you learned in primary people, it's all you need to get you safely and happily through life! :)

Friday and Saturday we looked up and contacted people but also spent a good chunk of time having a super good, detailed weekly planning and basically getting our plans, area book and everything else about missionary work in Apeldoorn organized. Zr Twiggs just felt like we should do it and if I've learned anything from my transfer with Zr Twiggs, it's that her feelings are usually correct. Plus it sounded like a good idea, so we did. Turns out it was a very inspired thing, because...

Saturday night we got surprise transfer calls!! Turns out they are doing it on Saturday night now instead ofSunday night, although no one knew. In fact two different elder companionships in our zone called us to confirm that transfer calls were real and the Zone Leaders weren't just pulling a prank on them, haha. :) But anyway, they were real! And Zr Twiggs' prompting was inspired, because it turns out they are closing Apedoorn for zusters! Zr Twiggs will be going to Amsterdam for her last transfer, and I will be spending my last transfer in Lelystad with Zr Young. I don't know anything about her or the city, so this should be fun!

In the midst of the craziness of this week and especially Saturday night, I almost forgot I had been asked to do a musical number for Sacrament meeting this week. Luckily I remembered at 10 pm on Saturday and have some stuff prepared I could play! Prayer was definitely a key factor though, and I can testify once again that the Lord will help in all your righteous endeavors, including a musical number for church with no practice time.

Well that's about all the exciting news for the week. As a last thought, to refer back to the title - sometimes in our lives, we have cold snaps. We have trials, unexpected events, even good things that just come out of nowhere and shake up your plans. Sometimes we have little annoying trials that aren't overwhelming but just don't seem to go away. Whatever it is, I testify to you that we can learn to "let it go." Remember, you never had to fear and hold it all inside, because there is someone to whom you can turn any minute of any hour of any day, and that is our Heavenly Father. And the miracle of it all is, through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we can actually let it go without having to worry that it will fall on us again. He can take it, and He can help you. Have a personal, meaningful, humble prayer every day - telling Heavenly Father about all of your hopes, dreams, fears, mistakes, and plans to do better - and always ask for His help, and it will come.

- Zuster Jensen

Pics: A day in Hengelo :)

Pics: Pannekoekhuis

The Class of Life

Mijn geliefde familie en vrienden,

Sorry it's going to be a quick letter this week! But I love you all and it's been a great week, just so you know! Here's a summary:

We found some great new investigators this week, they are few but they are solid.

We had a zone training on Wednesday! As zone leaders/ zuster trainer leaders we planned the whole thing and each gave presentations on various things, and it went super well and we ended perfectly on time, which never happens. We's good. :) It was also awesome to see how our presentations, which we prepared separately on different topics, all connected to each other and built on each other. Inspiration is a real thing, people.

On Thursday we had exchanges! They are doing a new thing in the mission where for zone leaders and zuster trainer leaders, the people they are going on exchanges with come to their city and they split into 2 companionships but all work in the same city for a day. So in other words, the Leeuwarden zusters came here to Apeldoorn and I worked with Zr Kimmons for the day while Zr Twiggs was working with Zr Voss here. It was fun to be back with Zr Kimmons, although it was a bit of a crazy exchange figuring out the details of this new exchange method- things like there are suddenly 4 zusters in a city with 2 bikes, and the bus system in Apeldoorn isn't the best, and other fun things like that. It was great!

On Saturday among other things some members from Maastricht, the Wheatleys, came up to treat Zr Twiggs and I to lunch! They had some extra train tickets that needed to be used up and since both Zr Twiggs and I served in Maastricht, they decided to come visit us. It was so much fun, they are the sweetest, and it was fun to hear all the news from my first city. They also brought us some American treats from the American military base, it is awesome. :)

Sunday we had a great day and in the evening we had dinner with our investigator Glory from Vietnam. I can't remember if I've told you about her, but she is awesome! She is a student here, only 19 years old but so sweet and mature. Anyway she had us over for dinner and then we answered a bunch of her questions about the church from what she's learned so far. She has the best questions!!!

Well I'm really running out of time, but as a quick thought I want to share something I was talking about with Glory. She asked about whether we ever have doubts on our faith and whether that's ok. I testified to her and I want to testify to you, everyone has doubts and questions and that's ok! But the important thing is, you have to hold to what you know is right in the meantime. I told her it's like taking a challenging class at school - even if you don't understand everything at first and have questions, you still have to pay attention in class and do your homework in the meantime, and then it will all work out. So keep to the basics and grow your faith! Love you!

Zr Jensen

Pics: Lunch w/ the Wheatleys

Busy Week

Mijn geliefde familie en vrienden,

It´s been a great week, with one thing after the other! One of those weeks where you get to Monday again and just wonder, where did the time go?

It all began with great interviews with President Bunnell on Tuesday. He is truly an inspired man, and he gives really great advice. Then on Wednesday we had a full day of appointments, which was a blessing because it was about 0° Celsius the whole day! Although none of the appointments went how we were expecting them to, they went pretty well and it felt good to put in a long day of work.

The next day we did some service helping an older member clean up his backyard, and luckily it was a bit warmer. He was super sweet and made us delicious Indonesian food for lunch afterward. :) That night we traveled to Den Haag to sleep over with the sisters there because the next day was...
MLC! Mission Leader Council. This is a meeting in the mission home for all zone leaders and sister training leaders where we discuss how we can help the mission, be better leaders and better missionaries, etc. It was a great day with plenty of discussion about where our mission culture is at now and where we want it to be, and how we can help it to get there. There have been some big groups of young missionaries coming in lately and very soon there will be some big groups of older missionaries leaving, so we are really working to establish the values and other things we as older missionaries have learned before it´s too late and we´re gone. It was interesting to take a moment to reflect on how much I really have learned, but also how much more I could improve before I leave. There´s still time!

The next day there was a baptism from the missionaries in Hengelo, which was great and our investigator Glory even came! She had so many great questions and had a great time. The person getting baptized, Anje, has a great story too- she had been an investigator for almost 10 years! It´s a long story, but where it began and also where her decision came from to finally be baptized was a desire to read the Book of Mormon and then a testimony of the book after she had read it. It was amazing to hear her testimony, and I would just like to add mine that I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. As President Benson told us, there is a literal power that will flow into our lives the moment we begin a serious study of it. Read it every day! Ponder on it! Approach your study with questions and expect answers, and then watch as your faith is strengthened. I know mine has been.

I love you all, have a great week!

Zr Jensen

P.S. Happy birthday Candace, love you lots!!

He'll Find A Way

Mijn geliefde familie en vrienden,

It was a great week to both end the old year and kick off the new, and as usual I have little time to tell you about it so here we go!

On Tuesday the youth in this stake were having a mini MTC activity, and we were asked by President Bunnell to participate in that. We each gave 10 minute presentations, about preparing for a mission and developing a testimony, and a little later in the activity we took them in small groups the contact people on the street for 45 minutes. A lot of them were super nervous, but I was suprised by how willing they were to try it! There's no way I could have done that at 13 or 14 years old. At the same time though, it was nice to see how much I've grown and improved over the course of my mission as I saw how these youth looked up to me as an "experienced" missionary. :) I certainly don't feel it most of the time, but I realized this week I have indeed learned a thing or two. :)

A glorious miracle this week was Glory! She was literally on our path (walked on the bike path we were biking on) so we stopped and talked to her and she agreed to meet with us! She is a super cute student from Vietnam, with little religious background, but she is super interested about various religions and is super open to trying new things. We taught her about the restoration of the church the next day and invited her to pray, to find out for herself if God exists. She did that on New Year's Eve, and she said she had a wonderful experience, where she felt warm and happy and motivated for the new year. She is so awesome! The next day we gave her a tour of the church and explained a lot more, and then she came this Sunday to church and had a great time! She felt so welcomed and every testimony in Sacrament meeting was spot on, all about how people have found joy in coming to church and living the gospel. And, there's even a member in this ward who is from Vietnam originally, who also came here as a student! Blessings, people. :)

Thursday was of course the last day of 2015, and as things tend to get quite explosive here we had to be inside at 4:00 pm. We were encouraged by President to take some of that time stuck inside to have a prayerful, soul-searching goal setting session, and it was great! 2016 will be a big year full of wonderful things, and I'm excited for it. :)

Well, that's about as much as I have time to tell you about but there were other miracles and wonderful things and God is just so good. :) I know without a doubt that even when we stumble and fall, which we surely will, He and His Son aways find a way to show us how much they love us.A line from a song called "He'll Find A Way" says, "from the thorns in His crown to the sunset-covered clouds, He'll find a way to say I love you." It is so true! And I love you all as well!

-Zr Jensen

Pics: Beautiful foggy day from the train

Pics: My attempt at pictures of fireworks on New Years