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."
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