Tuesday, December 10, 2013

This week has been a... "blast"...

Well, I really don't have much to write because I just emailed on Wednesday night! This week really has been crazy! Since Sister Barker got her kidney stone "blasted" on Monday, we literally stayed in. All week. We got out a couple times but only for about an hour or two. SOOOOO weird. Here's the low down on the rest of the week though:
Thursday: We literally sat inside all day and watched the Joseph Smith movie and Legacy. About 10 times each. It was awesome! While Sister Barker slept I had some time to organize our area book, do some
crafts, and organize our cupboards. Haha it is amazing how productive you can be when there is literally nothing else to do. :)
Friday: We actually got out for a bit today! We scheduled an appt. with Karissa one of our investigators so we got out to go and see her, and she ended up cancelling on us dangit! So since we weren't able to
see her, we headed home and spent the rest of the night chillin.
Saturday: Today we got out for a whoppin 3 hours!! That is progress people. We saw Deloris which was nice cause it had been a while and we also stopped by the Assisted Living home to say hi and they actually
were having a concert type thing. The music company that Brooklyn (the girl we live with) is in went and sang songs for them so that was fun for us to sit and listen. Got us into the Christmas spirit. :) After that, we went and did mormon.org time which was awesome! I watched the cutest videos... here are some of my favorites:
 http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?v=2874125972001
http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?v=911104763001
*This one is the Christmas version of "From the mouth of babes" so it's pretty much my favorite. :)
http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?v=911161814001
I invite you to watch them all, they are absolutely wonderful and truly reminding us to keep Christ is Christmas.
Sunday: Church was amazing! We had to leave our house around 7 to be to ward council at 7:30 which was crazy because it snowed A LOT Sunday morning! Haha we scraped the ice off of our car for about 10 minutes. No biggie. Sacrament was awesome! We were a little sad because Karissa wasn't able to come (which means no baptism on Saturday...) and Deloris ride fell through because of the snow so we were totally bummed about that. We were happy though because Sister Barker and I had the opportunity to sing in Sacrament. We chose "I Believe in Christ" and I don't think we could have chosen anything better. It was an amazing experience. So many members came up to us after just sobbing saying thank you over and over again. It was a very powerful experience. Heavenly Father has truly blessed us both with a gift, and we are determined to use it. After Church, we went to the Barbers for their big family Sunday dinner. Haha it still makes me miss my family dinners, but it is getting better. We had great food, fun company, and we even played phase 10. My favorite. Haha SOOOO good. :) We had to leave pretty early though to head to the stake center for the Christmas Devotional. I hope you all had the opportunity to watch it because it was fantastic! Wasn't Elder Nelson's talk amazing?? Haha the music video with the kids had me sobbing. No shame. It was just a wonderful uplifting night! Driving home was definitely scary... I have never been a good winter driver, but I am counting on Heavenly Fathers protection! :) Well, that is my week! Nothing too exciting... but we are determined to have the best week ever this week! We're gonna baptize all of Winterset! Okay kidding, but we are gonna try. :) I hope you all had a wonderful weekend full of Christmas decorations and Christmas cheer! I cannot believe Christmas is almost here... Also, that rhymed. That was pretty cool! I also just wanted to share a little bit from my study this morning... Ether 12 is one of my favorite chapters so I study it often. This morning, something stuck out to me like it never has. In Ether 12:6 it reads: And now, I, Moroni, would speak somewhat concerning these things; I would show unto the world that faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith. As I thought about that verse, I thought about the witness it promises. What witness will I receive? Well, if you look in the footnotes, it directs you to Leviticus 9:6- And Moses said, This is the thing which the Lord commanded that ye should do: and the glory of the Lord shall appear unto you. Glory. My witness will be the glory of the Lord. What a promise! Then I started thinking... well what is a trial of my faith. I decided that a trial of my faith happens on the daily. Trusting that heavenly Father will lead us to the people who are prepared, going out into the cold, sharing my testimony, opening my mouth and talking to everyone, being with a companion 24/7, being a missionary... these are all trials of my faith that I do daily. By continuing on in our lives and obeying the commandments, that is a trial of our faith. At times, it
seems impossible. It seems like a hill ya just can't climb. But, if we endure it well... our witness will be the glory of our Lord. I loved that, and just thought I would share. Anyways, I love you all and pray for you everyday. Each of you means so much to me and I am so glad you are all part of my life. Have a great and SAFE week! I LOVE YOU!!!!
-Sister Jensen
"Is this Heaven? No, it's Iowa"
It is officially winter time in Iowa! I get to walk... in a
winterland... everyday of my life. Its Fantastic!
This has been our spot for the last 7 days. Ha!