Tuesday: So, after we emailed we went and did our normal Tuesday thang and played bingo with "the girls." Holy moly I love them! Hahaha every time they see me with a new Sister they just tease me, but I love it. After that we were able to see the Greens. They are doing so good! They are all progressing nicely and I have no doubt that they will all be baptized soon. We were able to teach them the restoration of the gospel, and it was a good lesson. Every time I have the opportunity to teach and testify of the restoration, I just get a stronger affirmation that Joseph Smith was a prophet and that truly, God loves us! We had a little bit of time left after the Greens so we went and visited Beverly. That lady is such an example to me. She is about 86 years old, been a member for almost 2 years, has had so many trials and hardships since her baptism, but is still a very faithful member of the Church.
Wednesday: Kind of a crazy packed day! We had an awesome zone training meeting. It was so fun getting to see our zone, our Sister Training Leaders, and the Assistants to the President. That trainings shared were so inspired, and exactly what we all needed. Crazy how Heavenly Father works. ;) After wards we all went to lunch together and just had a blast. All of us sat together and decided to play the "would you rather" game. Haha best get to know you game I have ever played. :) We pretty much all just laughed to the point of tears. We stopped to see Joey so that Sister Cole could meet him and also to just check up on him. It is always so sad to see people who were baptized and given the priesthood who fall away. Especially so young... I am grateful though for the opportunity we have to help Joey. I know that Heavenly Father will help us know what he needs. That night, we had dinner with the Bishop's Sister Dianne. She is so great! She lives with Bishop, but is not a member (yet.) :) She somehow found out that some members had fed the Elders steak and felt bad for us, so we basically just devoured a cow that night. :)
Thursday: The morning started out so beautiful... and then came the rain. And then the ice. And then the hail. And then the Tornado. Kidding Mom! NO tornado, but there was a CRAZY blizzard! You know what that means... ga-rounded. I basically just read a lot of the Book of Mormon and then we watched all the movies that we had cause Sister Cole had never seen any of them. That night Heavenly Father threw us a curve ball and un-grounded us around 7:45ish. We decided to be obedient and go out so we knocked doors for about 20 minutes. Haha it was great. And cold. :)
Friday: Weekly planning! Woo! Sister Cole is doing so marvelous! She was able to contribute a lot to our weekly planning, which was nice. :) When we finished that we headed into De Soto and knocked some doors, slipped on some ice, laughed till we peed. Ya know... just the normal. Then we headed to the Jacksons for dinner with the Elders! We must have liked to "would you rather" game a lot cause we played it again tonight. :) The Jacksons are just hilarious and gave the GREATEST answers. :)
Saturday: Jam packed day! You know it's a good day when all the plans that you made got changed to something better. :) We were able to do some Mormon.org time, which was cool cause Sister Cole had never really been on the websites so it was awesome to show her around. After that we were able to do some service for this lady in Winterset. Joan. Sweet Joan. :) She is a lady that Sister Barker and I met back in September but conflicting schedules always made it hard for us to get together. Finally, we were able to find a time and we ended staying at her house doing service for about 2 hours. She is starting to like us now. :) We have another appt. with her on Wednesday so prayers would be appreciated! Then we had unexpected dinner plans with the Tunneys! That family. Holy moly. I love them with all my heart. Brother Tunney is a master chef and made the most amazing orange chicken and we ate on the floor. Haha doesn't get better than that! We had to kind of hurry there though cause we needed to go see the Greens. We stopped by and poor Karissa had fallen on the ice and smacked her head. So we weren't able to stay very long, but she is so sweet and still wanted to read some of the Book of Mormon so we did. On our way out of town, we stopped by the McCalls house and taught them about patriarchal blessings with Brother Tunney. What a powerful lesson! Rhonda was confused on the difference between a regular priesthood blessing and a patriarchal blessing so we got to explain that to her, and the Spirit was just so strong. It makes me so grateful to have my blessing to refer to literally daily. What a gift!
Sunday: This was an amazing Sunday for me... full of a lot of revelation and just love. My Heavenly Father helped me out a lot today! I have been stressed lately with training Sister Cole. I can tell that this is all pretty overwhelming for her, and I am trying to adjust and it has just been a big week. Heavenly Father really blessed me with a lot of inspiration on how to help not only myself but her as well. God is so good! He knew that I needed help and he was mindful. That night, we decided to go and see the Allens! We just laughed with them and made plans for a future family night. We are excited! :)
Today: So far today we have just done a lot of cleaning. After letter writing, we are headed to the church to play some rad games with our zone. Such a great p-day! :) Well, that has been my week here in Winterset. I don't think I will ever get tired of this place! I am convinced it is the greatest area in the Iowa Des Moines Mission. :) The talks that were given this week in Church were so inspired! They were about being a light to others. Being an example of your values. Really exemplifying Jesus Christ in your countenance. What a beautiful topic! I decided to leave you with a talk AND a video this week because they both touched me very deeply. I encourage all of you to watch and to read these links, and then to kneel down and ask your Heavenly Father what you can do to hasten the work.
http://speeches.byu.edu/?act=
http://www.mormonchannel.org/
I am grateful for all of you reading this right now. You have all been amazing lights in my life, and I know that whether you know it or not, you are lights to someone else. Shine like you KNOW how to shine! Shine like a child of God. I pray that you will all have a great and safe week. God bless! :)
-Sister Jensen
"Is this Heaven? No, it's Iowa."
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| My study buddy, Oscar. |
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| Only in Iowa can it be 58 degrees one minute and a hail storm the next. |
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| I have gotten quite used to never knowing if its mud or poo... |
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| The good ole' family tradition. :) |
