Elder Jenson Mission Blog: NEW YEARS

Hello Friends and Family, long time no talk! haha I feel like I haven’t talked to any of you since LAST YEAR!! LOL!! hahaha ahh those jokes never get old to me :) Well let me give yous the run down of the past few days.

Wednesday- We had P day, so we emailed for a little, then we went and played some basketball at a park. Not the greatest P day but it was still pretty fun! Then after P day we went and did some finding on the train and we got some dinner!

Thursday- Started our wonderful morning off with some service for a family in our ward. I got to trim the hedges with an electric trimmer so that was pretty fun! I like doing service like this because it is training me and getting me ready to take care of my own yard when I have my own house hahaha! Then we raked some leaves and what not which wasn’t all that bad at all! Then they fed us some delicious leftovers from the night before and we shared a message with them. Then we did more finding on the train until about 6 at night because at 6 we had to be in our flats for the night because of new years eve. So when we got back to the flat we had to do our weekly planning for the up coming week so yeah it was pretty much the best new years eve ever!!!! hahaha and while we were planning we had some pizzas delivered to our flat that the amazing Bekah Anderson ordered for us all the way from the U.S.! We were really grateful for that and it made our night a lot better! After weekly planning and goal setting we just kinda hung out in the flat and ended up going to bed at like 9 because we were both really tired!

Friday- New Years Day! We had an AMAZING District Training Meeting that morning! We had our lesson on pride! I didn’t realise how prideful I was until this lesson! We got taught that pretty much every bad decision we make or wrong thing we do, can be traced back to pride. It is so true if you think about it! We commit sin because we think that we know better or we make a wrong choice to please man or ourselves. We must always strive to make decisions that please God and not men or ourselves. It is something that is super hard to do! Pride is not an easy thing to over come but it is so worth it when you do! We talked about how we need to not murmur about new rules that come out in the mission because ultimately it isn’t president making the rule but it is coming directly from God. Likewise when a new commandment comes out from the Prophet we need to just accept it, because it is coming from God. It may be hard to understand at the time but that is why we get on our knees and pray to our Heavenly Father for understanding! I just realised during that, how I have complained about rules before and it really chastised me! I am going to strive to just accept new rules when they come out and not question them or complain! Our mission really struggles with disobedience and it has been hard to stay away from it, and I myself have messed up out here and made some wrong choices, but after this training I had a new outlook on things! It was a huge wake up call for me and a slap in the face! It was the exact lesson that I needed to hear at this point in my mission! I was able to share my story about at the beginning of my mission where I struggled really bad with home sickness and anxiety. I was able to share about how much of a humbling experience that was for me! It truly was, because it showed me that the problems I faced are real and that many others go through the same thing, and I was able to see that I wasn’t the least bit perfect! So after that training My companion and I walked out of there just so ready to focus on our obedience and to work hard! I am grateful for that training and the eye opener it was for me. So yeah that was a great meeting :) After DTM we went and did some service for an elderly lady in the ward and we shared a message with her afterwards. Then we went and taught a lesson to Rolf at the chapel and it was on the Gospel of Jesus Christ and it went really good! After that we just did some finding on the train for the rest of the night.

Saturday- We did so much finding on this day hahaha! We started the morning off by finding on the train, then we went and taught a lesson to a Less Active member of the ward who has been coming to church more lately! Then after that we did more finding on the train up until our dinner appointment at Maccas with a member! After that we began our fast for the next 24 hours. After we began that, we went and finished the night off with 3 more hours of finding on the train! Hahaha it was a lot of fun doing all this finding because we both like riding the train! We didn’t get any potentials out of it but we did talk to heaps of people! I had struggled for a little with confidence to talk to people on the train, so I had talked to people on the train the last transfer but not as many as I should have! Elder iino is pretty fearless when we go finding so it gives me courage and pumps me up to talk to people as well! It is easier to do finding when your companion actually talks to people as well hahaha! So I have enjoyed finding a lot and I have been pretty fearless talking to people because I figure I have nothing to lose. haha my purpose while I am here is to invite others to come unto Christ and I can’t do that if I don’t open my mouth, and what do I have to lose if they say no? Yeah it sucks but I just move on to the next one haha!

Sunday- Really good day at church! Elder iino finally got to meet all the ward and he loves them! They love him as well so it is awesome! After Church we went to the Liehr’s home so that Elder iino could meet the family! They all loved him and we had a grand ole time just talking and laughing at stories! Then we went and shared a couple messages to a member, and then to a less active couple! After that we came home and broke our fast!! We were both so hungry haha we pounded heaps of fizzy (thats what they call soda here) and then we just cooked up so much food! We would eat something then be like “still hungry” and go eat more haha so it was a nice way to end a fast! After that we went over to the Lee’s home to share a message with them and it was great! I love going over there they are so nice and easy to talk to and they just crack me up all the time when we talk! :)

So my week was really good! My companion and I have really hit it off and we are having a lot of fun together! We have had a lot of good laughs since we have been together and we have been working hard and plan to just smash it this transfer together! He is one of my favorite companions I have had! So I am grateful to be with him and I am looking forward to this transfer! :)

My spiritual thought for the week comes from Mosiah chapter 2, verse 17… and it quotes “And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God.”

Serve others and look for opportunities to serve! When you feel prompted to help someone, talk to someone, or even smile at someone DO IT! You will never regret acting on those promptings and you will be happy from it! Not only will you be happy but the person you are serving will be happy, and your Father in Heaven will smile down on you!

Love you all heaps! Have a wonderful week and start this new year off with a bang aye? Talk to you next week!!

-Elder Jenson