And The Beat Goes On

As transfers draw nearer, I'm pretty sure the days go faster. It's freakin me out!!!! It was a good week though. Lots of laughter and miracles. :)
Monday: It was just a regular p-day but we got to go out to dinner with our Bishop and his wife, the Barbers, and a less-active family in the ward. SO GREAT! I love them. :)
Tuesday: Today we had exchanges with the Hermanas. Sister Cole went to Des Moines for the day (or as she likes to call it... Mexico), and Hermana Howell came here to Winterset with me. :) Just like old times. I seriously just love her. We talked about life and all things related and just had a great time! We got to attend the Relief Society book club cause they had read, "The Power of Everyday Missionaries." (YOU SHOULD ALL READ IT!!) and they invited us to come and give our thoughts. The best part though had to be the homemade Café Rio. Yep. It was a good night! :)
Wednesday: We met the Hermanas at the stake center to finish up our exchanges and that took up most of our morning. We did some service when we got into town and then saw Karissa. She is doing so well! She is so strong and has so much faith for a little 10 year old. It literally blows me away every time we have a lesson. After that we drove into the wilderness to visit a less-active member. We shared a sweet message on the atonement with her and she sent us home with salsa and ramen. Super random, but we aint complanin. :)
Thursday: District meeting was so amazing today! We got a training from one of our zone leaders and then from our district leader. They are both "pound the pulpit" kind of Elders so it was a good pump-up meeting. :) After wards we got to go see Kathy and do some hard labor. I think I have worn pants more than skirts this week. ITS GREAT! We got to move some furniture around for her, so that was fun. We had to hurry and change after that cause we had an appt with the Scotts. The Scotts are moving in about a week and it makes me want to cry. They have been such an example to me so it was great to see them one last time.
Friday: Weekly plan all day long? Sure. Why not. We had a little bit of time before an appt. at the Jacksons so we knocked some doors. At least we got a nice breeze as they were slammed in our face. Iowans are so humble. :) Kidding kidding!! I LOVE THEM! So we had dinner at the Jacksons with all the Elders and of course it was fun and we just laughed the whole time. That night we had the most amazing drive home. We rolled our windows down (it was 80 outside), turned the heat on in the car, and listened to piano hymns. Wow. Definitely what I needed.
Saturday: SUCH A BUSY DAY!!! We were just goin goin goin. After studies, we headed to Linda and Anns house and helped them clean their kitchen. That took up a big chunk of our morning, and then after we had to go home and shower and get ready for the day. By the time we got to Winerset it was about 3 pm. That didn't leave us with much time! We hurried and did Mormon.org time and then headed over to Binkys house. She is doing so good! She has been reading the Book of Mormon a lot and absolutely loves it! She completely relates to it, so that is just awesome. We were able to teach her the Plan of Salvation and she had so many questions, but by the end of the lesson she just kept saying that she knew it was true. HOLY MOLY!!! We extended a date to her for June 28. It makes me sad knowing that I wont see her be baptized, but also excited that another Sister will be able to come and teach her. I guess ya gotta spread the wealth sometimes, eh? :) r.
Sunday: Weirdest Sunday on my mission so far. Haha I was like the child magnet today... I had about 3 kids surrounding me during all of sacrament wanting to color with my scripture markers. Apparently I need to be more prepared cause the back of every page of our ward directory now has drawings of rainbows and butterflies. Ya know I am a sucker for cute kids!! Then on our way to Sunday school we got roped into subbing a primary class. Haha it was great. :) Then during relief society, half way through the lesson, the Bishop poked his head in and said, "Sisters, just wanted to make you aware we are now in a tornado warning." Um..... WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?! My heart=in my stomach. The coolest thing happened though... the Bishops sweet wife suggested that we all take a minute and pray. So she said the sweetest prayer and immediately I felt peace and knew it would all be okay. Heavenly Father is so awesome isn't he? :) So we finished up at church and headed home. We did some studies and ate some lunch and then headed to the Thomass' for dinner. They are such a cool family and we just laughed. A lot. Then we had a sweet lesson on member-missionary work. Shocker. It was a good Sunday!
Well, there is my week! It literally feels like maybe two days have passed since my last email. TIME! BAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! It freaks me out... especially the fact that I am comin up on my half way mark... This is the best thing I have ever done and I feel like I am finally getting to the point where I truly realize that. I am so blessed!
Okay, so I am sure that most of you have seen this video. I watched it again during Mormon.org time and just sat there bawling like a baby. NO shame. Anywho... I just love how it portrays so many different cultures, but they all have one thing in common... They are children of a loving Heavenly Father.
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/watch/2014/04?cid=HPMO042114721&vid=3408500022001&lang=eng
I know that each of us is so loved by our Father in Heaven. he is so aware of us, and knows us so perfectly. He knows what we need, and when we need it. Never doubt that.
I pray that each of you will have a great week full of many tender mercies! I LOVE YOU ALL!!!
-Sister Jensen
"Is this Heaven? No, it's Iowa."

Best of the Best!

What a week. Hahaha wow.... it was just interesting. It legit FLEW by. So fast. I guess missionary time tends to do that a lot though.
Monday: Pretty sweet thing happened today! The First Presidency of the church saw that our mission was really obedient, so they decided to kind of reward us a little. They gave each companionship with a car 1500 miles a month. THAT MEANS WE GET 300 EXTRA EVERY MONTH!!! We literally yelled for joy. That will help so much! That night we hung out with the Tunney's and it was awesome. Brother Tunney sent each of us home with a dozen pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. You better believe we ate them all. Yum.
Tuesday: We had interviews with President Jensen today! I love that man! My interview was kind of crazy... it went a little something like this...
"So, Sister Jensen you've been in Winterset for 6 months now?"
"Uh... add about 3 months to that..."
"What?!?! Oh Sister Jensen, you are definitely getting transferred."
DAGGER TO THE HEART. Seriously, he said that and my heart dropped to my stomach. I pretty much knew I was getting transferred in a couple weeks, but just to hear him say that freaked me out. Pretty crazy stuff. I also got to meet with Sister Jensen and she is just so cute!!! She seriously reminds me so much of my Nana so obviously I just adore her. Somehow, we got on the topic of going home. It freaked me out. I just kept thinking... I still have 10 months. I got time. But then I started realizing how FAST these last 9 months have flown and I know it will be here before I know it. FREAKS ME OUT. It's fine. That night, we met with the Forbes.  We had an AMAZING lesson with them on the Plan of Salvation. Hey, remember that one time I loved being a missionary? Yep.
Wednesday: We got to start our day off pretty fun at the Turners house. Hahaha We all headed outside to play for a little bit. Basically the children attacked us with wooden swords. (I still have bruises.) After that we got to go to service and hand out cake. That was fun. :) The rest if the day was just a blur. It went so fast.
Thursday: Today we spent about 3 hours in the car shop getting a new tire. Yay. That took up most of our time. Then we got to go see Karissa and it was a SAWEET lesson. We taught her about how her body is a temple. She loved it!!!! She is just so amazing. Sersiouly... I am going to miss her so much. After that we headed to West Des Moines for dinner with the Elgs. Their house is darling and Sister Elg is an amazing cook.  We had a really good Easter lesson with them and then headed home for the night.
Friday: Definitely not the day we were expecting. We did half our weekly planning and then started heading out for a lesson we had in Earlham. We got down the driveway and realized something wasn't right with the car... we spent the next 3 hours getting 2 more tires put on our car. Just one of those weeks people. We only had about an hour to do work after we got out of there so we headed to Earlham to see a less-active.
Saturday: Oh my heavens. Just imagine a 90 acre farm that hasn't had any yard work done on it since the fall... yep. That's where we spent ALL afternoon cleaning it up. I am so sore... We got to go with the Prices to this ladies house... her husband was a member but she is not. He passed away about a month ago so she needed a lot of help on their farm. We worked straight for about 4 hours... luckily, it was a BEAUTIFUL DAY! We got home around 3, and finished our studies and then headed out. We got to go see Beverly! We got to paint her nails a pretty Easter purple, and read her a sweet Easter story. She is so cute! After that, the day just flew by again! We just did a lot of driving around checking in on people. The town was LOADED with people cause Winterset was having it's monthly Bike Night. Haha yep... motorcycles EVERYWHERE. We gonna convert em all. Kidding. :)
Sunday: HAPPY EASTER!!! Today was amazing!! One of the most powerful sacrament meetings I have attended. The Bishopric spoke and those men are just amazing. They all spoke with such power and love. They have truly been called by God to their callings. Church was just amazing basically. And literally everyone came to us and made sure we had plans for Easter. Haha I LOVE THIS WARD!!!! I kind of just want to take them with me wherever I am transferred. No shame. After church we went home and played this SWEET game with the Prices. I am not sure what I did exactly, but I know I ended up with a TON of candy so I'm good. :) Then we headed to the Tunney's! Haha so awesome. We had some amazing food (obviously) and then watched this cartoon bible video of the resurrection. Then we played monkey in the middle. In the house. With a volleyball. YES. So fun. :) I really had such an amazing Easter. It is always hard being away from my family during these holidays but I honestly cannot imagine being anywhere else or doing anything else right now.
Well, there is my week. It was definitely a crazy week and not what we were expecting, but it was what the Lord knew we needed. I hope that you all had an amazing Easter Sunday! I am just so grateful that we have the knowledge of our Savior, Jesus Christ. I have met a lot of people on my mission so far who are completely blinded (mostly by choice) that they have someone who suffered specifically and individually for them. We are so blessed! He has given us so much, and asked for so little in return. I love the story of the rich young ruler... I can definitely look back and see times in my life when I was stubborn like this guy. I didn't want to see the bigger picture of what I would receive if I just did what my Savior asked me to do.
https://www.lds.org/bible-videos/videos/christ-and-the-rich-young-ruler?lang=eng
I love this holiday. It is a time of reflection and improvement. I think that we can all become better then we were yesterday. We just gotta work at it. "Never let it rest till your good is better and your better is best! :) (Thanks Trina!)
I hope you all have a marvelous week! I pray that you will be safe, and that you will feel the love your Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ have for you. I LOVE YOU!!!
-Sister Jensen
"Is this Heaven? No, it's Iowa."

We love Easter. So much.

Typical Tunney fam pic. :) Easter was the best!

Perfectly placed sign :)

Sword fights after lunch? I think YES!

When a member gives you dried seaweed crisps... ya gotta try em.

Yay for coordination at the Jacksons! :)

D&C 6:9

"Say nothing but repentance unto this generation; keep my commandments, and assist to bring forth my work, according to my commandments, and you shall be blessed." One of my favorite things about being a missionary, is seeing promises like this be fulfilled. WHAT A WEEK!
Monday: It was just our regular p-day. We did our email, and grocery shopping and then headed to the church for games. It was a little bit warmer today so instead of playing inside we all went outside and played ultimate Frisbee. Haha that was fun. :) Then we had dinner with the Arzanis. I just love them! Sister Arzani cooked this amazing meal for us, and then didn't even eat cause she had to work. Then after dinner, Bishop took us all outside and talked to us about his Harley for about 30 minutes. Haha that man is passionate about his bike. :) We all just kept joking that he definitely isn't a Utah Mormon. We love him!
Tuesday: One of the most amazing days on my mission.  Most of you know that the last couple weeks have just been really hard... we just weren't finding any success so we spent a lot of our time on our knees praying, fasting, and studying. And the Lord heard our pleas... we invited two of his precious daughters to be baptized today. What a blessing! I really can't think back to a time in this area where we found 2 new investigators in one day. We were very blessed. We are really excited to continue with Susie and Binky and I will keep you updated! That night ended just perfectly with a visit to the Watson's. We got to hear all about Brother Watson's conversion and his mission to the islands of Fiji. Then we role played with him as an antagonist. Haha that was fun. It was just a great day!
Wednesday: Apparently Heavenly Father decided we needed some more blessings cause we found another new investigator today. Her name is Kim and she is awesome! When we invited her to be baptized, she was pretty excited, so that is good. :) She is so much like my family... haha she loves to talk so I just love her. :) It was a fun lesson! That night we got to go see Karissa and talked to her about missionary work. She was so excited when she found out that she could be a missionary just like us. Haha I love that girl!
Thursday: CRAZY DAY! We had district meeting. The trainings were awesome and definitely things that I needed to work on. Afterwards we went to Van Meter for a little bit and did some PPHD. (Prepared People Hunt Down.) My favorite. :) Then we headed to the Christensen's. They actually ended up taking us to the Thomas' house for a work party they were having. The experience we had there just confirmed to me how much I love the spirit. That morning, we were trying to figure out what we wanted to share with the Christensen's and we decided to watch "Reflections of Christ" with them because it is almost Easter. Well, at this work party, a non-member had come. Seriously, "Reflections of Christ" was perfect! He felt the spirit super strong and just thanked us so much afterwards for sharing that with him. Haha I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!!
Friday: Just your normal weekly planning Friday.  We went and saw Kathy. She is just amazing. She has such a desire to do what's right and she really has just changed my life. She is definitely one I am going to miss a lot when I leave... We were able to have a SWEET lesson with her about Jesus Christ and we all just pretty much sat there and cried. It was da best. Then we had dinner with the Jacksons! Yay! Haha seriously us and the Elders just sit there and laugh about all the HILARIOUS things Brother Jackson says. That man... so awesome. Haha  After that we went and saw Linda and Ann and just talked with them for a little bit. I love those 2 ladies.
Saturday: I am not super sure where Saturday went. It literally FLEW by. When we got into town we went and did Mormon.org time and then afterwards headed to Frostees for some ice cream cause it was 80 DEGREES TODAY! No joke. It was awesome. :) After that we went and saw Susie and kind of had a Book of Mormon smack down with her. Those are my favorite. :) Then we did some knocking and street contacting and then went and saw Beverly. We shared a message with her and then she gave us chocolate. Good trade I would say!
Sunday: Today, we really understood what everyone meant when they kept telling us about "tornado season." We walk out for church and it is FREEZING and POURING RAIN. Are ya kiddin me Iowa? I am just happy we made it to church! There were some great talks shared and lessons given. I don't think you guys realize how much I love this ward. It's a problem. After church, the Saxton's had invited us over for dinner so that was fun! We went and helped make everything and it was delicious! We got to share a message with them and us and the Elders sat down with Sister Saxton to talk about some families in the ward. Chill night. Can I just say though that I love Sister Price? Haha on our way home Sister Cole and I were talking about how we really just needed a little something sweet. We walk into the house and Sister Price says, "I made cookies. Do ya want one?" Do we want one... HA! So delicious!
Well, there is my week. Simply put... a week of complete miracles. This week has been a very spiritual and tender week for me. I feel like I grew a lot this week which is something that I am very grateful for. My faith in the Savior was strengthened more than I could have thought through this whole trial=blessings time. This last week, we have done a lot of Easter lessons. Asking people to focus on the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. That is something that I have tried to do as well, and it has been a very strengthening experience. I have a couple of links to share with each of you this week. I ENCOURAGE you to take the time to look at each one. I PROMISE you that they will greatly increase the spirit in your life this Easter season.
https://www.lds.org/youth/video/because-of-him?lang=eng&cid=email-shared\ (ONE OF MY FAVORITE VIDEOS EVER!!!!!)
http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?v=1101418662001#.U0mKCxL45OU.email
http://easter.mormon.org/
Along with these witnesses of the Saviors resurrection, I add my testimony and my witness that he lives! He is risen and he is still here with us. One of my favorite quotes as a missionary has been D&C 84:88. I know without a doubt that my Savior has been with me everyday for these last 8 months. He has changed me in ways I didn't think were possible. 8 months ago today I left everything that I knew to become one of His chosen representatives. I look back on who I was 8 months ago, and just think to myself how far I have come. And it is all because of Him. Truly... He is my Savior and Redeemer. He is my advocate with the Father. He is my older brother. And He is my friend. I love the Savior Jesus Christ with all of my heart. He is truly the "Redeemer of my Soul."
I encourage each of you this Easter season to make it more meaningful than just being a day filled with treats and presents. Celebrate it for what it truly is... the Resurrection of our risen Lord.
I love you all very much and pray that you may have a great week. Remember who you are and what you stand for. :) God bless!
-Sister Jensen
"Is this Heaven? No, it's Iowa."

Hahahahaha. I am pretty sure my BISHOP is the coolest guy ever. :)

For service on Wednesday, we played this game with all the old ladies where we tried to see how many words we could make out of "Chrysanthemum." Haha it was intense. Those ladies were on FIRE! :)

80 degress on Saturday... snowing today. Welcome to "tornado season" in Iowa.

Frostees opened back up this weekend... haha you know that's my favorite! :) I walked up to the window and the owner was like, "Oh my gosh, you're still here?" Haha that made me smile... and then she even remembered my order. So great. :)

Learn, Grow and Have Joy

There is one word that pretty much sums up our week... rollercoaster. Yep. The work, my emotions, the weather... up and down. And then up and down again. I feel like I learned a lot this week though so that is a tender mercy. :)
Monday: Usually for p-days we go to the church and play games with our zone, but today we sat at home. We had no miles left so we literally could not drive anywhere. It was kind of a nice chill day though! That night we had dinner with the Penners, two of my most favorite people.
Tuesday: Today was definitely a crazy day! Luckily, we didn't get any April fools jokes played on us. :) We started off the day with Bingo like normal, and then went and saw the Greens. We had an awesome lesson on General Conference with them, and they were super excited to watch it. Afterwards we went to visit a less-active member whose wife isn't a member. She was going through some really hard trials and asked us to come over and just share a message. It was amazing to see the Spirit truly touch her as we talked about having faith through trials. By the end of the lesson, she was just sobbing. Okay okay... I was too. :) It was just a good lesson! Then we went and saw the McCalls and had a great lesson with them! It was a big faith building lesson for me... sometimes I feel like as a missionary I have to come up with these grand lessons and teach amazing doctrine, but through this lesson my faith was strengthened in the fact that truly, "by small and simple things are great things brought to pass." We just went in and read the Book of Mormon with them. It was probably one of the most powerful lessons I have ever had with the McCall family. I LOVE THE BOOK OF MORMON!!!! Great end to a good day.
Wednesday: Well... the day started out good... We got to go do crafts with "the ladies" and that was fun! Then we did some Mormon.org time. After that we went and saw Alissa and taught her the Word of Wisdom. That is always so fun to teach. :) Then we met up with the Turner family (most hilarious family ever). Then we got the text.... our ONE solid investigator Lisa dropped us. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! You better believe quite a few tears were shed in that moment. We asked her if we could stop by and just talk with her and she let us. She wasn't movin though. It is just so sad to see the adversary working on people... she knows it true she just won't put in the work. To get our frustration out though and to show her that we still loved her... we did her week old dishes. Haha
Thursday: Today I was reminded of how grateful I am to have a loving Heavenly Father who knows me personally. We had a little bit of time in the morning, so we did some knocking and ran into this guy. He was so nice! Then the bomb dropped... he was an atheist. That always just makes me so sad.  After that we met up with our zone at the mall and got some lunch. Then we all headed to the church for some Zone training. HOLY MOLY! It was so inspired. The Hermanas trained on finding, and the zone leaders trained on charity. Just what I needed. :) After training we headed to the Johnsons for dinner. They are the cutest! Brother Johnson is in med school here in Iowa and they have a little 1 year old boy names Jameson. Haha he reminds me so much of my little Zaine... I JUST WANNA SQUEEZE HIM!!! But I cant. (Hardest rule ever.) On our way home we had a little bit of time so we stopped by the Allens! It was totally worth it cause they sent us home with bacon. :)
Friday: Well, today we did weekly planning. We were so excited though because we were supposed to have a lesson with a sweet potential at 3:30. No joke... 3:20... "Hey girls, I need to cancel." We literally just sat there in shock. Sometimes it is hard to see the good during the bad... we literally just sat there and prayed for help. It is really hard being in an area where you feel like nothing is happening. Heavenly Father really helps you realize though that there are prepared people everywhere... you just have to work to find them. We went out that night and did some of the best finding I have ever done on my mission so far! We were just so excited to find, and we were just real with people. Lots of miracles to end a pretty hard day. :) This is why I love Heavenly Father.
Saturday: GENERAL CONFERENCE. That is pretty much all I need to say! We are SO blessed to have a living prophet today who guides and directs this church. My love for general conference has grown so much since being on my mission. We decided to go to the stake center to watch it which was fun cause a lot of other missionaries in the area go too. Can I just take a second to talk about Elder Hollands talk? Whew. If that doesn't slap ya around a little I don't know what will. After the sessions, we went to Walmart to pick up something and we ran into FOUR members of the church. Haha that never happens! One guy saw us and started talking about his kids serving their missions 10 years ago, and just started crying because of the pride and joy he felt in his kids serving. Haha of course Sister Cole and I just sat there and bawled. He was so sweet. :)
Sunday: We decided that since the Prices do so much for us, we could do a little something for them. I finally put the waffle iron I got for Christmas to use! :) We made them waffles, homemade syrup, eggs, and bacon. Haha I know what you"re thinking mom... why did I never do that at home... one day I will. :) Then we watched the first session with them. SO GOOD! After that we headed to town and watched the second session with Karissa at the Tunneys house. We were sad Alissa couldn't come, we were happy Karissa could. I was so proud of her! I could never sit through 2 hours of conference as a 10 year old. She is a trooper. :)
Well, that's my week! It was a hard week, but a good week. I honestly just feel very blessed to even be on my mission. This is the best thing I have ever done. I have grown a lot in my 8 months here in Winterset. I guess that is what a mission will do for ya. :)
I wanted to share with you one of my favorite talks from General Conference. This one really just hit me very hard, and I know that it has a message that is very real for each of us.
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/watch/2014/04?lang=eng&vid=3438304099001&cid=6
I hope and pray that each of you have a very wonderful week. I encourage each of you to seek for the Spirit as you go about your days so that you may know how the Lord wants to use you as His instrument that day. I promise you that he will, if you let him. I LOVE YOU ALL!!!
-Sister Jensen
"Is this Heaven? No, it's Iowa."

Hahaha. Our relationship in a picture. :)

Oh my heavens, I am obsessed with Iowa.

My "little sis" Ashton. She's growin up! :)

This is what happens when Elders ask Sisters to decorate their planners. :)

Luckily, my comp gave me permission to share this... because it truly sums up our week.

Up And At Em!

Well, another week down. You will all be happy to know that I am back and feeling good. :) This last week was definitely kind of crazy... a lot of miracles, heartaches, and some (excuse my language) "oh crap" moments.   
I shall start from the beginning though.
Monday: Remember how I said last week that I was strugglin not to throw up? Well, that struggle ended about 45 minutes into email time. No bueno. I am pretty sure the library hates me now. It's cool. So after that, Sister Cole hurried and finished her email time and then we called the mission nurse to get some advice. She gave me a list of things to buy, and said to go home for the rest of the day. That is always so hard! As a missionary,    1 day means a lot! We had to cancel some appts. which was really sad, but we figured that was better then making all of Winterset sick. So we went home and I just slept it off. It was a crazy day though, because we all got our transfer doctrine today. It was so crazy to figure out who was staying and leaving in our zone. Although I figured I was staying so that I could finish Sister Cole's training, it still kind of blew my mind when the APs told me. 9 months in Winterset. Half my mission. What? I never even thought that was possible! I will definitely just have to make the most of my next 5 weeks here.
Tuesday: Today was definitely our power house day. I was feeling a lot better, so we just busted our butts all day to make up for Monday. We got to go and see a sweet potential that we have been meeting with named Binky. She is so sweet! She has had some really hard trials over the last couple months, and it is just so amazing to see how much the Lord has prepared her through those trials. We had an amazing lesson on the Book of Mormon with her, and we are excited to follow up soon and see what she thinks about it. Then of course we headed to bingo... my favorite. :) After that we did some major door knocking. We got some sweet potentials out of it. One lady whose door we knocked actually was someone that we had seen a lot outside of her house smoking. Well today, we were feelin pretty good so we decided to grab the bull by the horns. We knocked on her door, and basically just said, "We know you smoke. We are sure you're aware it's a bad habit. Can we teach you how to use faith in Jesus Christ to quit smoking?"  I was so scared... I thought she was going to smack me! Heavenly Father is so great though... a big smile just spread across her face and she said, "YES!" Haha we are meeting with her tomorrow. :)
Wednesday: Today was actually our p-day cause transfers were on Thursday. So we just did our normal p-day thing with a few exceptions. We met up with our entire zone at the church to play some games which was so fun! It was crazy though cause this transfer we lost 5 missionaries out of the 18 in our zone. That's a lot! So it was hard saying goodbye, but it will be fun to see them in the future. What was even crazier though was realizing that I had seen 3 of those 5 come into the zone as brand new missionaries... and they were leaving before me. Haha super weird. Then when I thought about it, I realized that everyone in my zone right now, I saw come into the zone. That's when you know you have been in an area for too long. :) On our way home, we stopped and Linda and Ann's to say hi and to share a message. I love those two!
Thursday: Because of some appts. we had made for Friday, we ended up doing weekly planning today. It went pretty good, and we got a lot done so that was nice! We headed into Winterset after and went and saw Beverly. I just love her!!! I painted her nails while Sister Cole read her some stories, and she just looked so happy. It has been one of my greatest blessings to go and visit her once a week. After that we did some mormon.org time, and then we got a call from the Tunneys. Haha Sister Tunney is just amazing. She always seems to invite us over for dinner when we don't have an appt. :) So we ate with them and then watched "Reflections of Christ." Could it get any better? The answer is no people. It can't.
Friday: Wow. What a day. It started out great cause we got to go out to lunch with Sister Koboldt and she is just an angel. She didn't even eat, but she came to pay for us. I LOVE HER!!!! After that, our phone started going off about every hour. The message was always the same... "Hey, I don't feel very good. Can we reschedule?" EVERY appt. we had made today cancelled. Dagger to the heart. We had to put a lot of trust in the Lord, and we had to recognize that to everything there is a purpose. We somehow convinced our investigator Lisa to let us come over, so we did and we taught her the Plan of Salvation. It was a pretty good lesson. She is a visual learner so we took our big whiteboard and drew it out for her as we taught it which was fun. That night was definitely crazy! Ashton turned 16 on Friday (shes growin up!!), so she had a party on Friday at the house. Oh. My. Goodness. There were people EVERYWHERE!!! Let's just say it was a late night...
Saturday: Today was definitely a needed day. We had promised Kathy that we would help her pack up her mom's house that morning so we headed there before studies. We got to meet the new Elder in the ward! He replaced Elder Whiting. His name is Elder Hoskins and he is from Taylorsville, UT. (Tine... do you know any Hoskins?) He is super cool! Been out 5 months, and loves the Lord. :) So we all helped Kathy for about 3 hours and then Sister Cole and I headed to the church to do studies. Then it was district meeting time! Of course we had our "get to know you" district meeting which was fun! All the new Elders are way chill. It's gonna be a good transfer. After that came the best part of the day. The Women's broadcast. Oh my goodness... tears for days. What an amazing experience! The ward had a party before to celebrate the Relief Societies birthday, and it was fun to just gather with all the Sisters in the ward. Then we all went into the Chapel and watched the broadcast. Seriously, it was amazing! The part when they had all the 8,9,10, and 11 year olds stand up and sing... my heart just rejoiced! What a chosen generation this is! I feel so blessed to have the knowledge that I am one of Heavenly Fathers choice daughters. After the broadcast, Sister Cole and I just looked at each other and said at the same time, "I miss my mom." Hahah then tears just streamed down our face. Many of you may not know this, but my mom always tried to hold my hand. Haha any where we would go she would always try to grab it. Well, I never let her. Then in that video I saw so many moms and daughters holding hands, and I just lost it. Haha I WANNA HOLD MY MOMMA'S HAND!!!!!!!!!! You learn the greatest lessons on a mission. :)
Sunday: Just a normal fast Sunday in the Raccoon River ward. Of course, testimony meeting was amazing and I just cried. Because it was the 5th Sunday, we were all combined and the Bishop gave an AMAZING lesson on the Family Proclamation. I encourage all of you to go and read it. You will get something new every time. After church, the Barbers had invited us over for lunch so we headed there. I am just obsessed with that family... haha it's fine. Then we headed home and did some studies, and training, and just sat and talked with the Prices. Good Sunday.
Well, there is my week. Definitely a roller coaster week, but I feel so blessed to be serving in this area. I have worked with these people for the last 8 months of my life, and they have truly become my life. I have studied for them, taught them, cried with them, slapped 'em around a little, and just loved them. These people have truly become a part of me, and I am just so grateful that I have these next 5 weeks to give everything that I have and am to them and to the Lord.  I am so excited for General Conference this weekend. As a missionary, it has truly become one of my favorite times of the year. (Besides Mothers day and Christmas.) :) We are so blessed to have a modern-day prophet who guides and directs the Lord's church today. I know that he has been called by God and given the authority to receive direction from our Father in Heaven. I know that the many other men and women we will hear from have also been called of God to their specific callings. Here is a video that I love. It really reminds me of the importance of General Conference and how it can help us personally:
https://www.lds.org/prophets-and-apostles/unto-all-the-world/general-conference-has-something-for-you-b?cid=HPTU032514617&lang=eng
I encourage all of you to write down questions you have. Approach General Conference this year with faith that your questions will be answered through the Spirit. I add my testimony to Elder Holland's... if you will listen by the spirit, something said will touch you. I love you all so very much. I am grateful for the support and prayers that I receive daily from all of you. I pray you may have a safe and productive week.
I LOVE YOU!!!
-Sister Jensen
"Is this Heaven? No, it's Iowa."

"Sick missionary" diet from the mission nurse....