$600 Dinner

Welcome back to another week of your favorite missionary here in the baby island of Taiwan (your answer better be Sister Jensen or else you're fired)! This was a busy week, so I'll get into it! 

Monday we had a member meal at TGI Fridays (the most expensive restaurant I have ever been to) (with a member who wasn't even ours) and he made us get all five courses and to give you an idea of how much an entree was, one of the steaks was 1200 kuai. Yeah. It hurt my soul to be doing this but he told us we could eat or leave. And afterward he took us to an American store and gave us a bunch of American food brands which was awesome! But pricey. You wanna know how much he spent on us that night? More than 600 dollars in American money. It hurt my soul but it was fun! 

Tuesday we had a big group temple tour with 35 people! We even had tour guide microphones and everything. This was a history tour, and I learned my words all that morning Exciting! It actually went okay though so that's a blessing! They asked me to share my experience about coming to Taiwan and we were all able to testify about Jesus Christ which was really great. We ended up getting like 14 referrals from the tour!!! Blessings! 

Wednesday was zone conference which was awesome, and then we had the English Group that night. Thursday we went to TGI Fridays again with another member! What can I say, I'm an expensive missionary! Friday we helped with a ward Halloween activity for another ward and we had a friend come! It was super fun! Saturday we had a choir practice for the Christmas concert and then we watched a devotional by Elder Uchtdorf that he gave to the Asia members! It was good! And Sunday wasn't too eventful, but it is always nice and refreshing.

Spiritual thought for the week: At zone conference we learned about a "damper." It is a very heavy and large thing that is used to stabilize buildings during earthquakes and recenter them. We were invited to consider if we have a damper in our own lives, and what is it? Do we have something we are built on that allows us to stay strong during struggles and recenters us during our personal earthquakes? I would like to invite you all to read Helaman 5:12 and consider how Jesus Christ has helped recenter you in your life, and what makes Him the best damper. He is always the ultimate foundation and can help us become recentered. 

       

 

Nativity pics, birthdays, earthquakes, and all that fun stuff

大家好！How are all of you? I hope everyone had the most lovely and fantastic week! Mine was good and busy. Let's get into it:

Last Monday we had a member dinner at this cute little European place, and I tried escargot! It wasn't bad, I'll take it over pig stomach :) after that we had another lesson too!

Tuesday we had district council and that's about it, and Wednesday we took the pictures for the Christmas concert! I played Mary, which was fun, we were there for a long time and then had a meeting about the Christmas concert songs afterward. Exciting! I can attach some pictures from it. Then we had our GECG! 

Thursday we had exchanges, I stayed in Jinhua with Zhang Jiemei and both my comps went to Danshui! It was a little stressful because I was leading the exchange and have been here for two weeks, but it was good! That evening we went to the library and put cards and flyers in a bunch of the books, which felt super illegal haha. It was fun though! 

Friday was my birthday! 20 now...so old! That morning we got a call from one of the elders not in our zone who said that they would be teaching a friend who would be going back to China in a few days, and they wanted her baptized tomorrow, and asked us to come help teach the last 3 lessons. So we went to the church, and then my comps who were still in Danshui called and were like "Hey one of our potentials wants a temple tour right now" and so we ended up calling the Xinan sisters to have them help with the lesson (which actually took 6 hours) and we did the temple tour. Luckily Zhang Jiemei used to serve in Jinhua haha. Then we also had a surprise lesson with an RC after which was fun! Then we had weekly planning, and the sisters in my apartment surprised me by taking me to a lasagna place for my birthday and also surprised me with a cake later! So that was super sweet of them. Then we had another temple tour and that was it for the day! 

Saturday we had lots of temple tours! I don't remember what else happened. Then Sunday we helped with an FHE activity which was fun! A speaker came and talked about organization and cleaning haha. Good times! 

Spiritual thought for the week: Isn't the temple just amazing? I was thinking about the temple and ordinances for the dead, and there is absolutely no way temples would exist if this church was not run by God himself. It just would not make sense, because doing ordinances for those who have passed away doesn't make any temporal difference for us. It would be pointless unless we believe what we do, that this is God's church and through His sealing power our relationships can last beyond this life. Through His priesthood we can offer an invitation of love and give others the choice to accept the grace of Jesus Christ. What a privilege, one that would not make sense if this is not His church. 

 

General Conference 🔥🔥🔥

So General Conference was fire. Am I right or am I right? For those of you who are wondering about why I'm mentioning it this week, general conference was this weekend for Taiwan ;) and we got to watch it at President's house! Pros of being right next to the mission office :) Anyway...

Monday, we played games and such and that was a grand old time! Tuesday, we had district council and some other stuff which was good! I'm the EUL (English Unit Leader) again this transfer, which is fun, but I have to do my trainings in Chinese now so that will be an adventure. 

Wednesday, we had MLC which was great! For our zone vision we are going to be having a Bingo sheet with different goals and things to help make it fun for our zone. It'll be a good time! After that we had our English conversation group, which was pretty good, we oversee the parent child group and had a little boy who was all over the place and climbing on everything and it was all around a little chaotic but an adventure! My comps have it pretty much down to a science so it's all good. OH OH also we had a temple tour with our friend Barry (林弟兄) and set him on date! It was literally the easiest date set ever!! YAYYY BARRY. Then we had a meeting about the Christmas concert! I'm excited! 

Thursday, we had a temple tour for some missionaries in Taichung and then we had a (supposedly pass of but he's not actually interested) lesson with the Xinan sisters. The guy was really funny but spoke so fast and kind of yelled the whole time, so I got absolutely none of it haha. We love those. 

Friday, we had zone council, weekly planning, and ate hot pot with a member! It was good :) 

Saturday and Sunday we had General Conference! We also had a dinner with some members last night who are super sweet. It was good!

Spiritual thought for the week: One of my favorite talks in general conference was Elder Holland's.  In it he stated, "It is one of the most powerful paradoxes of the Crucifixion that the arms of the Savior were stretched wide open and then nailed there, unwittingly but accurately portraying that every man, woman, and child in the entire human family is not only welcome but invited into His redeeming, exalting embrace." What does it mean to you personally to know that the Savior's arms are always stretched out toward you, and always ready to embrace you? That He invites all to come and experience His rest? He is speaking this to YOU. Not to someone else, not to a family member or friend, but YOU. If He was here, He would let you feel His hands and feet. He would hold your face in those hands where the reminder of His love for you will forever be imprinted. And He would gently assure you that He did indeed do it for you and invite you to be healed through repentance.  Is His invitation to you more meaningful to you than whatever could possibly get in the way? And if not, why not? 

 

I'm So Ready For Christmas 🎄

大家好！你們今天怎麼樣？ 

Welcome to the Sister Jensen update about the last 5 days! It was pretty fantastic :) Last Wednesday we went to the temple for P-day and got to do an endowment session! It was really special. It was in Chinese, but we had translation so it's all good. 

Thursday, we had transfers! I moved to Jinhua and am in a trio with Sister Chen and Sister Li! There are both super sweet and helpful and are super encouraging. It's been super fun so far! We have 5 sisters in my apartment so that's super fun! Last Thursday was a little crazy cause I had to bounce between companionships for a second, but it was fun! I also didn't have a dresser or a bed at the time, but we made it work :) I've got one now! 

Friday was good! We were able to go to the temple with a recent convert who was doing baptisms for the first time which was super special. I love the temple! Actually, my companionship is basically the "visitor center" companionship! We don't have a visitor's center, but we give temple tours all the time where we talk about some of the symbolism of the temple and how it fits the culture here. I've got lots of words to learn with the symbolism and history of the temple, but it's such a blessing to be next to it! The rest of the day was pretty much planning our week and stuff for the zone vision! We had a friend who told us she would get baptized in two weeks, but her family is worried about her so please pray for her! 

Saturday was super busy but good! That morning we had two temple tours and another lesson, and then we had a meeting with the zone leaders, and then we did a service for a whole bunch of old people doing Tai Qi which was nice haha. Then that night we had a recent convert fireside that I sang at, it was pretty good! 

Yesterday we had church and a lesson after which was good! I also had a meeting with the president about the Christmas concert because he wants me to help with it which I'm excited for! Then we had a lesson, and this six-year-old girl was brushing our hair during it and it was super funny haha. That's pretty much it! 

Spiritual thought for the week: From the Book of Mormon, we learn that at the day of judgment, we will be perfectly aware of our sins and mistakes, and perfectly aware of our righteousness. The scriptures say (2 Nephi 9:14) that the righteous will be clothed with purity. There is no reason to be ashamed because we are clothed and clean. Being in the temple this week really made me think about the relationship with this and our covenants. In the temple we wear sacred clothing. It is through our covenants that we are literally "clothed with purity, yea, even with the robe of righteousness." We are pure and worthy to enter the Father's presence. When we are clothed with righteousness and clothed through our covenants, we have no reason to be ashamed.