Dear Family,
What a week!! It's been a big week and looking over it, it's hard to know where to start. On a high note, we had an awesome week numbers wise and we "hit standard" for the second week in a row! It's been good to see that we've been filling our time with meaningful activities that are bringing forth "good fruit". The other good news is that we had three investigators at church! It was AWESOME!!
I need to tell you about one of our investigators. His name is Greg and I don't want to jinx it, but he's pretty golden! We met him on the bus about two months ago. We got his number and put it in our area book and kind of forgot about it (yeah, I know. Not the best follow-up....). On tradeoffs this past week, Sister Koch and I were making calls and she called him and set up an appointment. We met with him and it could not have gone better! And then what made it better, he actually came to church and liked it! It's pretty miraculous! I am so excited to be teaching him and there is the great possibility that we could have an investigator on date to be baptized!
So as the title of this email suggested, we got our first reminder of what is awaiting us this Winter. I'll admit, I'd forgotten about those lazy winds! I can't remember if I told you what Sister Hess said when we got off the plane in Michigan earlier this year. She said, "Have you ever heard of 'lazy winds'? They're winds that are too lazy to go around you so they go right through you!" If it wasn't for the wind, the snow would have been quite enjoyable! We and the members joke about "The Evolution of Coats" and I'm sadly on my big winter coat now. Some people have one more coat in their evolution before the final one and once it starts getting colder, I'm going to be adding A LOT more layers. Why do sisters buy really big skirts: so our pajamas can fit under them.
Something I have been thinking a lot about recently and I feel like my whole mission is repentance. It's caught my eye in the scriptures and it's something I don't think I understood before my mission. I always thought of repentance as "hell fire and brimstone" but it's actually more than that. It encompasses healing through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. In Preach My Gospel it says, "Ideally, repenting of a specific sin should be necessary only once. However, if the sin is repeated, repentance is available as a means of healing." In 3 Nephi 9:13, Jesus Christ invites us to use the power of the Atonement to be healed from the effects of sin: "Will ye not now return unto me, and repent of your sins, and be converted, that I may heal you?" What an amazing invitation! I feel so imperfect as a missionary, to the point that it hurts sometimes to realize how human I am! Sometimes I want to lament as Nephi did in 2 Nephi 4. But I am reminded over and over again that "repentance is progress, not perfection". Perfection is our ultimate goal but Heavenly Father doesn't expect immediate results. Don't be too hard on yourself because of your imperfections but turn towards our Heavenly Father each week and "try a little harder to be a little better" (President Gordon B. Hinkley).
I love you all soooooo much!! You are all so wonderful! I feel so blessed to have you as my family!! Have a wonderful week!!
much love,
Sister Jensen :)
PS I knew I had an amazing story to tell you and I just remembered it! I have a testimony of fast offerings! It's the best!
So we had NO MONEY last week. I had $0.57 on my missionary card and Sister Fehlman had a little more than that on her's. In addition to that, the elders had also called us two weeks ago to say that they had four boiled eggs and no other food so we gave them a big bag of our food. So last Monday we were up a creek with no money and not a lot of food (spaghetti, spaghetti and more spaghetti). Sister Fehlmand and I talked about it and I expressed my thoughts, "Sister Fehlman, I paid my fast offering yesterday and we gave the elders our food because it was the right thing to do. Heavenly Father will provide a way for us to eat this week."
Because we had no money, we decided that we were going to buy tortillas and milk and yogurt and eggs and live off of that and whatever random things we had lying around our apartment for a week. As we were going home, our "taxi driver"/member Chasity said, "Sisters, that's not a lot of food." We told her that we were going to tough it out for a week and that we would be fine. About an hour later, Sister Fehlman and I are standing in our kitchen and Sister Fehlman says, "What is Chasity doing here?" We walk outside and Chasity walks up with five bags of groceries! We were blown away! We felt SO BLESSED and just humbled that Heavenly Father had answered our prayer. But it didn't stop there!
This last week we had three dinner appointments (something that NEVER happens to us) as well as enough leftovers from one of the dinners to feed us for the rest of the week! Then we had a friend buy us dinner on Friday night. So not only had Heavenly Father met our needs, but He poured out blessings that we really didn't have room (in our stomachs) to receive it! We were so blessed!! It showed me how aware Heavenly Father is of us and how much He really does love us. It also showed me how real blessings are when we choose to keep the commandments. I know that there are blessings for keeping the commandments, sometimes even immediate blessings.
I hope this gives you a little more faith in Heavenly Father's timing. I know He loves each and every one of us and He will answer our prayers!
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| Our Michiganary, Sis. Jensen |
Love,
Sister Jensen :)
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