Well, as you can guess by the title of this post, my week was
constantly up and down, heartache and pure joy, laughter and tears. Just
everything good and bad that could have happened this week, did happen.
That's missionary life I guess. :) Here we go:
Monday: Monday was just...Monday.
Haha One exciting thing that happened though was that it was the 14th
of October, which means it was my "click day." My official 2 month
mark. Seriously so crazy! It feels like I have been here forever, but no
time at all. So to celebrate, I took a 2 hour nap. It was wonderful. :)
Tuesday: Just a chill day. We did some finding and some
walking. Our dinner appointment was awesome though! We had it with some members at
their brothers house. Coolest house I have ever seen! It was like dome
shaped and apparently is supposed to be tornado proof. I know where I'm
goin if a tornado hits! ;) Anyways, we watched the cheesiest movie. Haha we aren't quite sure if it was
mission approved, but they insisted and it was about the pioneers so we
just went with it. Wonderful night! And they lived in the boonies so
that literally took up our entire night so that was that.
Wednesday:
DAY OF MIRACLES! Literally... miracle after miracle after miracle.
Hands down one of the best days of my mission. It started out wonderful
with our service at the Assisted Living home. We painted milk jugs! Haha
it sounds lame I know, but it was so fun! We painted them like
pumpkins, and ghosts, and witches, etc. As missionaries, we really
don't get a lot of time to have a creative outlet so it was wonderful. We
probably liked it a little too much but we have no shame. After
service, we had to make about 5,000 calls so we took some time to do
that. In that hour that we made calls, we had appointments set up for the rest
of our week. We literally had like no time left in our week! That was wonderful! When I
first got here, we had a lot of time to walk. We are seeing the fruits
our labors people and it is so great! We also were able to contact
people that we have been trying to for weeks but who never called us
back. Wednesday
every single one of them answered and set appointments. Literally a
miracle. We are blessed! We also got a couple referrals and that really
doesn't happen a lot. Let's just say that tears of joy were shed that
day. :) We also had dinner with the Canovas again and they are just a
darling family. And, it was potato soup and pumpkin chocolate chip
cookies. My favorite. :)
Thursday: We had zone training and as always, it was fantastic. Our leaders
always know what to say! They focused a lot on member-missionary work
again, and also on just making sure that we aren't too hard on ourselves. It
made me realize that I am! Most of the time, I think I am just the
worst missionary ever. When we don't have a lot of work or when things
aren't going good, I blame myself. Well the training really helped me
realize that I am a good missionary. By being here and staying, I am a
good missionary. It helped me realize that if I don't believe in myself,
I can't believe in the people I am trying to help. Something to work on
for sure. After training, we all went to lunch at the mall and that is
always fun. The best part is probably the stares that we get. Haha we
always seem to smile a little bigger when we notice people staring. :)
After lunch, we headed back into Winterset for our doctors appointments. SHOTS!!
I literally wanted to cry I was so scared. I hate shots all together
but I just wanted my mom to be there with me. Haha luckily, I survived
and I am still here. That's a real shocker I know. I also have to give a
big shout out to my whole Jensen Family! I came home to the greatest
letter that night from a bunch of my family members. Words of
encouragement are the greatest thing you can get as a missionary,
especially on a semi traumatizing day. Haha so it came at the perfect
time. Thank you to you all!!!
Friday: Friday
was kind of a rough day. We did our weekly planning, and then headed
into Winterset to see one of investigators, and it was quite the lesson.
It started out wonderful! We read the Book of Mormon with her and she
was really into it. We were just so excited for her because she had
accepted a baptismal date and was progressing so much! Well, at the end
of the lesson we asked her how she was feeling about her baptism. She
had absolutely no recollection of us asking her about
accepting a date. Heart=shattered. Literally wanted to cry. She was our
one super super solid investigator and she can't remember a thing. We
have prayed a lot about her these last couple days and will see how this
week goes. Friday night
was fun though. We had dinner with all the missionaries in our ward at
our mission leaders house. That is always fun, and it was nice to kind
of get my mind off of things. We did find out though that one of the new
missionaries we had gotten in our ward decided to go home Thursday,
so we welcomed Elder Tappen as the newest Raccoon River missionary! We
are glad he is in our ward now, but we are so sad for the Elder who
decided to go home. This is hard, but it is worth it. To top the whole day off, I got a package from my mom. Haha
seriously guys, my mom is the greatest. THANK YOU MOM!!! :)
Saturday: Saturday
was supposed to be the greatest day. We had all of these appointments lined up
and we had so many potential investigators to see and it should have been
wonderful. Well, we also have this wonderful thing called agency. People were
cancelling on us left and right. It was so crazy to just see all of our plans fade away. Luckily though, because Heavenly Father loves
us, he let us keep some of our appointments which was good. :) We officially
have a new investigator. His name is Cameron and he is a 14 year old boy
who is so prepared to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. He was a
referral from one of our ward members who is his friend. We had a
wonderful lesson with him and when we invited him to be baptized, he
didn't even have to think before he said yes. Haha that is probably one
of the greatest feelings ever. Inviting my brothers and Sisters to enter
the waters of baptism and to make that covenant with their Heavenly
Father. A feeling I would not trade for the world. So although Saturday was hard, our night made it a great day. God is good people. God is good.
Sunday: It is so funny how fast things change on the mission! Just 7 short weeks ago, Sunday
was the hardest day for me. It was the day I missed my family the most
so I even kind of dreaded it. Now, it is the best part of the week! I
look forward to Sunday
more than any other day! The Raccoon River ward is absolutely
amazing and getting to see every member once a week is wonderful! After
church, all of us missionaries went to the Barber's house and had lunch
with them and their 2 children and their families who live in our ward
as well. We may or may not have stayed for 4 hours... haha. It was so
fun! It did make me miss all of my Sunday
night family dinners though. Those are one of the things I look forward
to most about coming home. It reminded me about how blessed I am to be
part of a family who is so close. That night, we went to the stake youth
standards night with the Prices. It was so great! It was so funny
because the family we sat by asked me where I was from so I told them,
and they actually have a nephew who goes to Lone Peak who I worked with
in my peer tutor class. How funny is that?? What are the chances right??
That was kind of cool. :)
Well, that was my week. Crazy right?? Oh, the life of a missionary.
Haha really though... it is so crazy. I never would have
thought. One thing that has really stuck with me though from my zone
training on Thursday
was the scripture 2 Timothy 4:7- "I have fought a good fight, I have
finished my course, I have kept the faith." What a wonderful scripture.
It goes along with a talk by President Monson called, "Be a finisher."
What a wonderful talk. I invite all of you to read it. When I look at
this scripture I think of my mission. I think of enduring to the end and
being a finisher of my mission. But, I think that it can be applied on a
larger scale... what is our end goal as members of this glorious
church? The Celestial Kingdom. We can only do that if we endure to the
end, and become "Finishers" as President Monson said. So I invite all of
you to evaluate your life right now. Are you fighting a good fight? Are
you finishing your course? Are you keeping the Faith? My dear family,
as you cling to the scriptures and prayer, as you attend church EVERY Sunday,
and as you come unto Christ in all that you do, you will be a finisher.
You will be able to endure to the end with all of your might. I am
grateful for the opportunity my Heavenly Father has given me to do this
as a missionary. I WILL fight the good fight, I WILL keep the faith, and I WILL be a finisher. I owe my Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ all that I have and all that I am. This is the least I could do for them.
I love you all and I am grateful for each of you every day. Never
forget that I love you and that I miss you dearly. Keep the faith and
endure to the end! I LOVE YOU!! :)
-Sister Jensen
"Is this Heaven? No, it's Iowa."
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| A picture of the Des Moines Stake missionaries at the Mormon Helping Hands project last Saturday. :) |
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| My first shots without my Mom. Haha it was a little traumatizing, but luckily I have a companion who was willing to hold my hand like my mom always would. I am blessed! :) |
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| As Sister Missionaries, we don't have pockets to carry around all of our stuff so we decorate our planners to make little pockets. Well, decorating a planner is kind of a milestone. That means that you made it through 6 weeks of being a missionary! WOOO! This planner will mark the end of my training and the next 5 weeks. Crazy right?? |
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| The Raccoon River Ward missionaries. :) L-R: Elder Hodges, Elder Tappen (Brazil visa waiter), Elder Kay, Elder Mealy AKA Demon eyes(Brazil visa waiter), me, and Sister Barker. Basically the best set of missionaries you have ever seen. Just sayin. :) |
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| Me and Sister Barker with our ward Mission leader, Brother Jackson. He is wonderful! He has been a member for about 2 and a half years now. We love him. :) |
