A Threesome for Transfer Three :)

Dear family and friends,
Welcome to transfer three! Some time plays tricks on my and tries to pretend I'm never going home... but then sometimes it says, "Just kidding! You're already almost 1/4 done with your mission!" What?? Silly time. :P
Anyway, I love being in a threesome again! There's just sometime about 3 humans blocking the entire bicycle lane as you ride down the road that makes you feel super powerful and ready to convert the entire city. This threesome definitely has a different feel than the last one, but both are good! Zuster Whittington is amazing. She has only been a member for a couple of years, and her family is very against her being a part of the church. It's a little weird for me being a member my whole life and almost my entire extended family being members, hearing about her experiences and perceptions. However, she has a strong testimony and her story and that testimony are really blessing our investigators going through similar trials. I can't wait to see how this all plays out over this transfer!
Well, one miracle that I can already tell you about is that one of our investigators, Dudley, has a baptismal date!! This is the same Dudley who was in the hospital a few weeks ago because of medical issues + alcohol abuse. The hospital got him sobered up and we've been meeting with him since then. We had an awesome lesson with him last night. A member, Brother Poli was there and we talked about the Holy Ghost/ the Armor of God. By the end, Dudley said, "God can do anything." And we were like, "Yeah He can! Dudley, do you think He can help you prepare for baptism?" And then Dudley said yes. :) So, we pulled out his calendar! At first he was like, how about next Saturday? Haha we had to explain to him that we should probably give a little more time to come back to church and quit smoking/drinking completely, but we set a date for 22 Feb!! :D
I don't really have anything else to report, but I would just like to say that missionary work, to borrow a phrase from Zuster Manning, is "the bomb.com." Haha, or maybe the BoM (Book of Mormon)! Seriously though, I am SO grateful for the restored gospel in this dispensation, and everything that it entails. It's just true, guys. Read the book, pray to the Father, live the commandments, see the blessings in your life and throughout eternity. It's that simple.
I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week! :)

-Zuster Jensen

Vending machine hamburger

Dinner with Dudley :)

Snow day! :D

Can't think of a fun title for this email, so imagine there is one. ;)

Dear family and friends,

First of all, transfer calls came again last night! I can't believe we are already almost to transfer 3 in the field... but to quell the suspense, I am staying in Maastricht with Zr. Manning AND we are getting a third zuster again! I've been bitten by the threesome bug! It's Zr. Whittington who came in the transfer before us. I've only met her once, but we are excited to work with her and I'm happy to be working in Maastricht for at least 6 more weeks! :)

On Thursday we had exchanges so I worked in Maastricht for the day with Zr. Jaramillo, from Aruba. She's wonderful, so loving! As I've worked with a couple different companions now as well as done 3 exchanges, I have been reminded that no matter what your expectations, no companion is a bad companion. Everyone is so different, but I have loved and felt comfortable working with everyone so far, even if it was only for a few hours. Missions are great! :)

On Friday we went to Belgium again, this time to pick up the finished verblijving card (I don't know what it is in English, but basically it means I can live in Belgium legally if I'm ever transferred there). Fun times!

Yesterday we taught the lesson in relief society. It was the second lesson in the Ezra Taft Benson manual, over prayer. What an awesome lesson! We thoroughly enjoyed preparing and teaching it, and I would encourage you all to read through it if you weren't taught it in your own wards. I especially loved this quote from President Benson: "If we would advance in holiness—increase in favor with God—nothing can take the place of prayer. And so I adjure you to give prayer—daily prayer—secret prayer—a foremost place in your lives. Let no day pass without it. Communion with the Almighty has been a source of strength, inspiration, and enlightenment to men and women through the world’s history who have shaped the destinies of individuals and nations for good." What an amazing promise about such a simple thing! Prayer is personal and costs only time, but it is God's appointed way for increasing our spiritual growth and providing us with inspiration and other blessings. Don't forget to pray! I also loved the following poem quoted in the manual:

"I know not by what methods rare,
But this I know, God answers prayer.
I know that He has given His Word,
Which tells me prayer is always heard,
And will be answered, soon or late.
And so I pray and calmly wait.
I know not if the blessing sought
Will come in just the way I thought;
But leave my prayers with Him alone,
Whose will is wiser than my own,
Assured that He will grant my quest,
Or send some answer far more blest."

I know that this is true. God hears and answers prayers, always in His own timing and in His own way, which is always the way that will bring us the most blessings. :D

-Zuster Jensen

Back to two & herring!

My dear family and friends,
What a week! To begin with, I know you've all been waiting for it... I finally tried herring! To be honest, I didn't have much of a choice since we went to a Dutch member's house for dinner on Mondayand they surprised us with the experience. To be even more honest, it wasn't that bad! At least, the taste wasn't. The texture was a bit hard to get over, but I didn't die so all is well. Attached are some pictures for your enjoyment. :D
On Tuesday we had a wonderful district meeting as well as a wonderful last evening with Zuster Reeder. On Wednesday we said goodbye to her as she is done with her mission! She was definitely an amazing first companion in the field, and I will miss working with her. However, I'm exciting for her to restart her life at home. After leaving Zuster Reeder at the train station with another zuster also going home, we met with a new investigator named Willem. He is this super nice older man who is so exciting to learn about God from us, and he calls us his "engeltjes," which means "little angels." :) It definitely brightened my day to see him after the sadness of leaving Zuster Reeder!
I don't have much else to report from the rest of the week, except that Zuster Manning and I are still surviving! It's harder for sure, but we have been pleasantly surprised by how well we have been able to communicate with people. The Lord helps with every detail in our lives, and the work is the same whether you're only a transfer in or have 18 months under your belt. :)
I want to share a quick spiritual thought with y'all from the aforementioned wonderful district meeting. The district leaders always ask if we have any questions or concerns, and someone asked how we keep the feeling of a spiritual experience with us. As a district the ideas we came up with were: pray always, remind yourself of other spiritual experiences, count your blessings, dare to do something more, keep a study journal, smile, think of others, find something every day to humble yourself, and share your testimony often. Hopefully these help anyone with the same question back home.
For the actual meeting we were talking about progression and self-improvement, and how we should leave ourselves better in the evening than when we find ourselves in the morning. This is an awesome way to motivate yourself daily! Another thought from the meeting was that "the years know much that the days never know." I know that this is true. Sometimes it is difficult to do better daily, since we see little improvement and sometimes setbacks. But as I look back over my life or even just the last couple of years, and I can see the changes in myself and goals fulfilled that I know have made me a better person. I can also see that I still have a long way to go, but I know that with the Lord's help I can get there. And you can too! :)

Much love,
Zuster Jensen

Maastricht this morning :)

Herring! :P

Gelukkig Nieuwe Jaar!!

Dear friends and family,
Welkom tot 2015!! I can't believe it's here already, but this year seems to be very promising and I hope that it is a great one for you all! We all have a chance to set new goals as we lay the old year to rest and begin a new one. And man, do the people of the Netherlands know how to begin a new year! One New Year's Eve we had to be in a 4:00 pm, so we spent the time just getting to know each other better, taking naps, and making yummy food. :) However, it was not so calm outside! The whole day you would hear random bangs as people set off fireworks all over the city. And we're talking about the kind of fireworks that go up high in the sky that are illegal to do yourself in the United States. The space between the bangs increased as the day went on, and then at midnight it just goes crazy! We didn't have the best view from our apartment window, but even in just the sky we could see there were four or five different sets of fireworks, and they just keep going for like an hour! We poked our heads out of the apartment window, and with the constant loud bangs and smoke/firework smell drifting through the air, it felt almost like there was a war on! Crazy! :)
On Friday we had interviews with President and Zuster Robinson. They really are wonderful, and they work so hard for the benefit of us as missionaries and for the people in the Netherlands and Belgium. I'm exciting to continue working under their direction until they go home this July.
That's about all of the news for this week, although I hope to have exciting things to report next week with our investigators! We'll be meeting this week with several people who have been out of town for the holidays, and well as several potential investigators we met recently. Maastricht is ready for some miracles!
As a quick spiritual thought, I would just like to testify of the power of a happiness. This week has had challenging moments, but also wonderful moments as laughter, service, and sharing between companions, members, investigators, and others have brought people closer together. God's plan really is a plan of happiness, and as we find, keep, and share that feeling, the work of Salvation becomes a joyous work that others see and want to participate in. Perhaps that was a bit scatterbrained, for which I apologize; but I really am grateful for God's plan and for the happiness we can find in this life and its effects. Make your own goals for this year to more fully realize God's happiness in your life!
I love you all so much!

-Zuster Jensen

Well, hello!

Dear friends and family,
This week has been quite wonderful, although once again I seem to have very little time to tell you about it. Luckily for my mother she got to talk to me on Christmas, so hopefully she's not too mad at a short letter. ;)
Let me just say that the members in this ward are wonderful, and have been so welcoming in letting the missionaries join in their Christmas celebrations! I am so grateful for this season and for the generosity of the people in the Church and in general.
As a bonus Christmas present, one of our investigators who has been struggling with an addiction and medical problems received some much needed help this week, and it was so wonderful to see him almost himself again when we visited yesterday! I testify that the prayer and fasting can work miracles if we simply have faith.
Speaking of miracles, as a quick thought for the week I want to further testify that God knows every details of our lives. On Christmas Eve we were knocking doors early in the afternoon, and someone let us in. He was nice and let us teach a short lesson, and then at the end he gave us a nice Bible in Dutch that he said was a gift for his son but his son didn't want it. The man didn't want the Bible to be wasted, and seeing that we were representatives of a Christian church, he gave it to us. Not 3 hours later, we were standing at a bus stop waiting to go to a member's house for dinner when a man waiting with us saw our badges and asked if we were "ministers." We explained that we were Christian missionaries, and he asked if we had a Bible. It was completely random, but we were able to say yes, we just happen to have an extra Bible with us and that he could have it! Crazy random things separately, but God knew that someone needed a Bible, so he influenced the first man to give one to us and put us in the right place to give it to the second man. Miracles! :)
Never forget to look for the small miracles in your lives. :)

-Zuster Jensen

Christmas Eve w/ the VanderPluijms :)

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Christmas Day- thanks and love you all! :)

Our missionary :) (from Mom)

(Meant to send this last night, but forgot to finish it off. Hope you all had a Merry Christmas!)

We enjoyed a brief, but wonderful Skype call with our girl early, but thankfully not too early, this morning. She had originally told us it might be as early as 5:30 am, but she ended up calling around 8:00. However, we set our alarms to go off every 20 minutes beginning at 5:30, watching for her email :). Not a lot of sleep was had in this household last night, but it was totally worth it to talk with this cute missionary!

She looks and sounds just as wonderful as she appears in the picture! She's having a wonderful experience & gaining a lot of confidence in herself. No problems with the language it appears, and she absolutely loves the country & people.

It makes us so happy to see & feel the joy she is experiencing in missionary work & in sharing her testimony of the Savior!

Week 13, in which abnormal events occur :)

Hello everyone! I´m afraid this will be a short letter, since we had to email a day late this week. However, here´s my week in a nutshell:
We met some awesome people this week! One of them we met on the train a couple weeks ago, and last week we were able to go teach him a restoration lesson, before which he showed us around the small opera house he is apparently in charge of. Fun! We also met some awesome students from Germany, Poland, England and other places who are all going home for the holidays but we are excited to teach in January! :)
This Tuesday was Zone Training, which was great! We had reminders of how we can improve ourselves and uplifting thoughts on missionary work and related topics. We also got Christmas packages on that day, thank you to everyone who sent letters in it! I loved reading them!
On Saterday there was a couple of musical devotionals put on by the stake which they asked the missionaries to participate in, so we spent the day in Antwerpen (where the stake center is). Since there was a practice run through and two performances, we just listened to beautiful Christmas music all day and sang a little part ourselves. The theme was Stille Nacht (Silent Night), and it was a sort of tribute to the story from WWI where the opposing armies made a truce for Christmas and showed kindness to each other. If you have time, look up the whole story, it is very beautiful.
Sunday is when the craziness went down! Church was nice, lovely musical numbers and such for Sacrament and then we taught the relief society lesson and it went well. However, that night we were biking to an appointment when Zuster Reeder crashed on her bike. It wouldn't have been such a big deal, except that she briefly went unconscious and we weren't sure if anything was seriously wrong. Luckily, a bunch of bystanders helped us call the Dutch equivalent of 911 and an ambulance came. These people are SO NICE! They stayed with us the whole time, directed traffic around us, and helped Zr. Manning and I with our limited Dutch explain to the paramedics that we both had to stay with Zr. Reeder when they took her to the hospital. To make a long story short, Zr. Reeder fainted a couple other times that night but the x-rays and CT scan they took showed no fractures or other injuries, so she is fine. They kept her at the hospital overnight because she was not recovering from the fainting spells very quickly, but they think it was just her body responding to the traumatic even and not actual serious injury. We all stayed home on Monday to let her rest and everything, which is why we couldn't email yesterday- but she feels pretty much back to normal today and all is well!
Well, I must go. But as I've been thinking over what happened and the kindness that was shown to us- by strangers, nurses, doctors, members, other missionaries, etc.- I wanted to share with you my testimony that the light of Christ really is in everyone, and it influences us all to do good. As we share the good news that Christ was born and, through His death and resurrection now lives again, especially at this Christmas time, we are connecting with that light that is in everyone. We build upon the spiritual truths they already and cherish in order to bring them more knowledge and happiness, empowering them to more fully embrace and follow Christ. What a beautiful work! Merry Christmas!

-Zuster Jensen

Maastricht from a ferris wheel :)

My first district

tripanionship fun

building a snowman :)