There's No Green Like Wisconsin Green

There's a hint for ya about transfers! Wisconsin? Maybe? Maybe not? 誰知道？

But let me start earlier than that! Tuesday and Wednesday Siste Martinez and I decided to hike a little in the woods behind our apartment. It was super pretty! There are tons of interconnecting trails and we definitely ended up in a very different spot than we thought :) and it turns out there used to be a cabin for nuns and we found a clearing with a big statue of Jesus! So that was really cool! 

Anyway, on Tuesday we went to Silver Bay to help a member with some yard work, and we were pulling literal tree roots out of her flower bed, it was an adventure. Then she had us clean up and she invited two nonmembers over for dinner so that was cool! Wednesday, we had a lesson with a lost sheep, and Wednesday night we had a little movie night watching church videos and reloading our emails to see if transfer boards came out, which they didn't until the next day. It was fun though! 

Kay so a little context on the transfer situation here, Sister Martinez and I both whitewashed (both new to the area) into North Shore (Sister's area in Duluth) and had both been there for three transfers. So, we assumed one of us would stay a fourth and one would leave, because President wouldn't whitewash it again so soon, right? Wrong. Thursday morning, we got our transfer boards and found out that we were both leaving, Sister Martinez to St. Paul South and me to Eau Claire, Wisconsin! So, my first transfer! 

I love it here in Eau Claire, my companion's name is Sister Carter and she's super awesome! She is really great at talking to people and connecting with them which I need. But there are lots of people we're teaching and lots of members feeding us so it's just a party all around haha. The Elders here in Eau Claire speak Hmong, and so there are lots of Asians here, but they are all Hmong haha. They might have actually found a Mandarin person though who I could teach!! Fingers crossed :) 

Saturday, we went to a baptism that the Elders had, and it was good! My comp spoke at it. We have a friend on date named Chris and we taught him the word of wisdom yesterday, and he took it really well! We were a little worried cause before this lesson he had brought up the fact that he didn't want to quit some of the things, but he actually committed super easily. Blessings! 

A cool experience (slightly interesting) that we had yesterday was while we were doing some contacting at a park, and Sister Carter said hi to a man passing by on a bike. He immediately pulled his bike over, asked if he could sit by us, and started crying and telling us about some really hard things he was facing. It was really sad. We prayed with him, and he told us of an experience he had with God, who he believes is a woman. And it turns out he has read the Book of Mormon and knew who Joseph Smith was and that he saw God, but that he saw God as a woman. It was a little confusing, but he really appreciated talking to us and said he would come to church! To me it was just a testimony that God loves all of His children and wants to show them that, and often it is through other people. God is aware of all of us, even those who might be a little confused. It was a really cool experience to play that part in God's plan for him and hopefully make his day a little better! 

Spiritual thought for the week: I may have talked about this before, but something that I loved during the mission tour was emphasizing "who" we are and "whose" we are. We are the Savior's. He paid the price for us. Because we are His, because He gave us hope and a chance at Salvation, we should be His tools! After all, He bought us. We can choose to be His tools and instruments. We can choose to be His hands. By remembering "who" we are and "whose" we are, we can know of our purpose here. He paid the price for you and gave you life. What will you give Him?  

 

No Green Like Minnesota Green!

This week was so fire! Lots of ups and downs :) Unfortunately the downs involve the finding and teaching this week...basically all of our people are facing really hard things and kind of dropped off the face of the earth except for Edward. He's still doing great though! We had to push his date back again, but we were able to go over the interview questions yesterday and get a good idea of where he is at so that's nice. 

Ups for this week though: we had a MISSION TOUR! By Elder Gifford Neilson! Ahh it was so good. Thursday, we woke up bright and early at 4:45 AM to head down to Bloomington for our zone conference meeting with him. He shook all of our hands and asked us a few questions as we came in. Later he said that he had done a five second interview with each of us, and he could tell that there were about 85% of missionaries that knew why they were here, and the rest are still wondering. It was crazy! He told us a whole bunch of experiences he has had with the prophet and told us about assigning missionaries (If you want to know more about that just ask me)! It was so so good! At our last meeting he invoked a really incredible blessing on all of us. It was amazing. We also focused a lot on repentance and how the gopsel of Jesus Christ is there for everyone, because we all feel guilt and shame for our mistakes. They weigh on us. It is through Jesus Christ that those mistakes can be lifted, and we can be free and healed. It was so so good!

One thing Elder Neilson invited us to do was to put our "Purpose into practice" and just find find find for the next 24 hours! He told us to pray and have faith like we never have before! We were so hyped. Unfortunately, Sister Martinez and I weren't able to find anyone, and all of our potentials fell through, but it really left me wondering why I'm not as focused on finding or making my prayers super sincere and concentrating my faith all the time! I think that was the point haha, I definitely will be better at putting my purpose into practice now and I know that miracles will come from it!

On Saturday we went to Silver Bay and did some yard work which was fun! Right now I just have to say, MINNESOTA IS GORGEOUS. Seriously, being on the edge of Lake Superior and now with all the trees, it's seriously breathtaking. I've heard that "there's no green like Minnesota green" but I didn't believe it until the grass somehow turned green overnight, greener than I thought grass could ever be haha. 

This week is transfers which is so wild! Sister Martinez and I have been together for 3 which is not common (the term here is "going eternal"), so one of us is probably going to leave. Kinda stressful! It'll be exciting though! 

Spiritual thought for the week: Something Elder Neilson told us that President Nelson had said was about recognizing the real meaning of repentance. He said that in Hebrew repentance is "Shub" which means to turn. In Greek the word for repentance is "metamoeo" (or something like that, I can't read my own handwriting) which derives from metamorphasis, and ultimately means to change. Then the word continued to evolve. In Latin it is "poenitere" which means to punish. The idea of repentance has changed and evolved in meaning. But let us remember that repentance is to change. That repentance is one of the most hopeful words in the Christian vocabulary. That through repentance through the Atonement of Jesus Christ we can have sight restored to our stinging eyes and healing to our pained souls. Love you all and hope you have a great week! 

Wacky Week!

 

Hello everyone! How's life? This week was good! Last Monday we got to do some fun P-day activities with some other missionaries which was great, and we got to today too! We got to go to Enger Tower which is a super pretty lookout place and canal park which was fun, and then today we were able to play spikeball and frisbee and such. It was great! 

Sorry I gotta make this quick but Thursday I went on an exchange with Sister Pryor, and Saturday I went with Sister Pearl! Normally we don't have them that close together except things have been kinda weird and we have transfers next week. They were both great though! This week we found a new person named Tomika, who we are going to bring a BOM to in a few days. It'll be good! 

This week we have a mission tour with Elder Gifford Neilson and I'm super excited for it! 

A lot else happened but I can't remember it at the moment... I hit my six months. Which means I am 1/3 of the way done with my mission. Which is not okay. Weird stuff. 

Spiritual thought for the week: Did everyone get a chance to watch Pres. Nelson's devotional? If you haven't, watch it. If you have, great! Watch it again. So fire. Remembering who we are as children of our Father in Heaven and what we are here to do makes all the difference. 

Anyway, I love you all! Let me know how things are going! And I actually have pictures! Aren't you proud?? 

 

Mexican Bingo!

 

Happy Mother's Day everyone! Whether or not you are a mother, Mother’s Day is a great time to remember the amazing influence we have on others! I know all of you have impacted my life so much in some way or another and I am so blessed to know all of you! I hope you had a great Mother’s Day and a great week! I know mine was good, although a little weird haha. 

Wednesday, we found out that one of our friends may or may not actually be a member...so we'll see how that goes! We haven't found his records yet, but we'll keep looking!

Thursday was fun! We were going to be meeting one of our friends for lunch at this place but when we went everyone was talking about pancake day and there was a sign and everything and we were like "what is pancake day??" But then our friend showed up and we got pancakes! It was a fundraiser thing, and it was just funny cause we had no idea what was going on. Thursday night was a relief society party for Cinco de Mayo that we helped out with, so that was super fun! We played Mexican Bingo! My poor companion has a Spanish last name (Martinez) and so everyone asks if she knows Spanish and starts speaking Spanish to her, but she most definitely isn't Mexican so it's just super funny. 

Saturday, we drove out to Silver Bay for a service project which was fun, we cleaned an oven. It is about an hour away, so we did a bunch of stopbys on the way back in Two Harbors! We also had a phone call lesson with our friend Noah who is like super golden and wants to keep learning! Except he may or may not be in high school, so we'll have to check with him on that haha. It was fun though! 

This week has been sunny, and it's been SO nice! It has still been kind of cold, but I mean I've gotten sunburned a few times haha. Don't worry Mom I bought Aloe Vera gel! 

Spiritual thought for the week: This week I studied a bit about the man who Jesus healed who was born blind. After this occurrence, the pharisees tried to interview him and trick him with their words and make him doubt himself. They accused the Savior of being a devil. The man replied, "Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see." The man was willing to ignore the adversary and look at the results and fruits of what the Savior actually did. He was excommunicated for this testimony. Later, the chapter (John 9) states, "Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when he had found him, he said unto him, Dost thou believe on the Son of God? He answered and said, Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him? And Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee. And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him." Do not let questions or doubts unravel your sure knowledge, even if it may be small. Trust the Savior and the fruits of living His gospel. After all, it is by living His gospel that conversion occurs.

 

I Wanna See a Bear

How's everything going for everyone? As shown in the email title, there have been a lot of bears around! I haven't seen any, but I want to! One was right outside of my apartment one night, there were warning signs on all the doors the next day haha. I wanna see one though! 

Also don't put Cajun seasoning in your oatmeal. Mistakes have been made, and it really shouldn't have the same type of container as the nutmeg :)

This week has been good! Kind of a blur haha but it's been fun! My companion was able to play the violin at the funeral yesterday for the family that was killed, and that was really good! It was kind of a hassle getting permission and everything, but it turned out nicely. 

Yesterday we were able to have dinner at a member's house, and they had Sister Martinez bring her violin and they had us perform a little! He is an accompanist and whipped out a song for me to sing, it was a lot of fun. We also had a dinner appointment with a member who had a ton of different fancy drink flavors that you would mix with water. Like tons. They had a full MENU of drink mixes, most of which I couldn't even pronounce haha. I went adventurous and tried Italian Eggnog, Watermelon Habanero, and Ghost Pepper. I mixed the last two. It was exciting. 

We have a member who makes us homemade bread every week, and last week he made us English muffins. I think I was straight translated. 

We have had so many miracles in disguise this week, it's been so great! 

Spiritual thought for the week: All efforts to do anything begin with the desire. I have had times in my life where I have a hard time summoning the motivation to do much. But ultimately, if we wait for the desire to come before doing a specific action, we will never fully accomplish it to the extent that we could. But the good thing is: we can change our desires! Having our desires changed is part of the conversion process. Everyone faces it. But Jesus Christ provides hope that we can have "no more desire to do evil, but to do good continually." And for those times where it seems like there is just no motivation whatsoever, pray for it! The Lord wants to help you. He can give you the desire you need, although often we need to begin an action for the desire to come. Show the Lord that you are willing to commit to the inspiration you receive. He will give you the desire to continue going. Even if it takes a while, even through all the struggles, He is there for you. Do not lose faith in Him. 

Anyway, I hope you all have a fantastic week! Let me know how you are doing!

Beer Coupons

This week was pretty good! Pretty wild! Last week we got a referral named Christian and he's awesome! We're meeting with him at the Bishop's house tomorrow and it's gonna be so good! 

On Saturday we did a garbage cleanup for Earth Day, it was fun but pretty cold and took 40 minutes longer than planned. Also one of the sponsors was a brewery, so in the goody bags they gave everyone there were lots of beer coupons, I found it hilarious :) 

One thing that I've been thinking about a lot lately is how the Lord preserves us in ways we don't even know. For example, last Wednesday we were going to have an in person lesson with a returning member when our joint teacher let us know that she had received an alert saying that an armed person who was having a mental breakdown was in that area. We ended up just doing the lesson over video chat, but it got me thinking...

 

     If we didn't have our joint teacher:

          -We wouldn't have known about the alert.

               -We would have gone earlier in the day, as it was currently happening.

                    -There typically aren't parking spots close, so we usually have to walk down a ways. 

We later found out that in this incident 5 people and one dog were killed. 

Sorry to make it all dramatic for all of you, I know that this is mild compared to other places. This kind of thing is extremely sad, but it's not a common thing here in Duluth. It just got me thinking a lot about how the Lord protects us in so many ways that we don't see. Never cease to thank Him. 

Other than that, this week was good! We were able to find 2 other people cold calling, and then Christian too! We also got to do more service which was fun :)

Spiritual thought for the week: Whether or not we receive miracles in our lives depends less on whether or not God has the ability to perform miracles on our behalf, and more on our faith. The Lord asks us to exercise faith as small as a mustard seed, but it must be pure and genuine faith. The quality of our faith matters more than the quantity. Lately I have been thinking about how we even know if our faith is of the right quality, and my answer for you who ponder this same question is to ASK THE LORD. He will answer you, and He will give you opportunities to strengthen your faith. Even if you don't know for sure, act until you can get to that point of faith! One thing my mission President's wife often says is "It takes courage to step into a place of devotion." I echo those words. 

I love you all and hope you have a fantastic week! Sorry I forgot to take pictures...whoops.

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A note from Sister Jensen's mom:  I received a very nice text and a couple of pictures from a family in Sister Jensen's area this morning who had the missionaries over for dinner. I am excited that she can finally have in-person dinner appointments! They also had the missionaries sign a guest book titled "10 things I am grateful for..."  Since she didn't have any pictures this week I asked Sister Jensen if I could add them to her letter!

Also, I was asked to speak in my ward on missionary work and so I asked Sister Jensen if she would send me a paragraph to share with the ward. Here it is!

Missionary life is wild. There's so many ups and downs. There is so much joy in seeing someone accept what you teach, and even just in finding someone new! It's also hard and disappointing to see people reject what could help their lives so much. I knew that the gospel of Jesus Christ was true before my mission. But since I have been here, my testimony has increased of the divinity of this work. It is directed by the Lord. There is absolutely no way any of the things we do as missionaries would be effective if this work wasn't run by God. Since I have been on my mission, I have gained a sense of urgency in sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ.

We often take our knowledge for granted and forget that there are people in the world who are living without the knowledge that they have a Father in Heaven who loves them, without the knowledge that they have a purpose here on earth. Recently we taught a man who described his situation as "going in a figure 8." He described himself as a wanderer. People need to know what we know! People need the hope that we find through Jesus Christ. This gospel is not an ethereal concept. It is not a vague idea that is simply used as an explanation for the world. It is tangible. It is concrete. God's plan for us is a physical plan with a concrete purpose, that has specific ordinances and covenants that we can hold on to in our journey back to our Father in Heaven. They help us become like Him, and that is His plan for us. And everyone needs to know this.

 

I'm Dreaming of a White Easter

Happy Easter everyone! I hope you are all doing well! So many miracles this week. So many. But before I get into that, EVERYONE WATCH THIS MISSIONARY DEVOTIONAL BY ELDER BEDNAR. Absolute fire. Honestly, if I could straight up grab your face, shake it, and tell you to watch this devotional, I would. I'll make it easier for you and include the link! 

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/video/missionary-devotionals-2021/2021-08-0260-elder-david-a-bednar-august-26-2021-1080p?lang=eng

Anyway, this week was so awesome! So many miracles! We have definitely been blessed over and over. In the past 2 weeks, we have found 6 people cold calling! So many of these people commented that we called right when they needed it, and they took it as a sign from God. Unfortunately, we haven't been able to get in contact with a lot of them since, but we'll get there. So many miracles! 

Oh! We had transfers on Thursday, and Sister Martinez and I are staying here in Duluth! So that's fun, I'm happy about it! We did face and hair masks Wednesday night. On Thursday Sister Martinez and I were able to celebrate our half birthday together, which was fun. By celebrating, I mean we had french toast for breakfast. Friday was also my 5 monthiversarry which is so wild! I don't like that. But life is so good! 

We were able to contact one of our cold call guys, his name is North and he's so cool! Except during the call it randomly hung up (we still don't know why) and so we still haven't covered the Book of Mormon haha.

Easter was super fun! And snowy :) I'm ready for the summer. I have begun a summer strike, which is not something I ever thought would happen haha. We did an egg bash and Sister Martinez won with her egg named Louella. 

Spiritual thought for the week: In light of Easter, I just wanted to express my gratitude of the Savior Jesus Christ, and the gift of His Atonement and Resurrection. I know that because of the Savior, we can experience hope, joy, and healing. We know that we can start over and change. We know that we can be with our loved ones again. Not everyone knows this. What might be stopping you from sharing this knowledge? 

 Also, I actually broke up my usually mega long paragraphs! Aren't you proud of me??