Week #63

Brody has been working hard. He has worn out a set of tires on his bike. He is down to racing skins. He made some treats for the members…I hope they live to tell about it. Transfers are still a few weeks away. He told us that things have slowed down a little bit the past week or so. He is still enjoying the area and his companion. Thanks for your support. 
                                                                                                                                                                            

Hello Everyone,

How is everything going back at home? This past week here in Lindsay was a pretty good one! There were a couple highlights of the week that I will be sharing today.

First of all, Elder Arnold from the 70 and his wife came and visited us this past week! I am not gonna lie... He scared the crap out of me! Haha he spoke with such power and he would get all fired up! It was really powerful but he was pretty intimidating! He spoke on many different topics and I learned so much from him. One of the main things he spoke on was keeping the end in mind. He explained how missionary work is about keeping the end in mind. For example, baptism is not the end... the temple and generations of members is the goal. He would just stare at you and then point right at you when he asked a question... I was on edge for the whole meeting! Haha the most powerful part of the meeting was right before he left... he bore his testimony to us and that room that we were in had the spirit so strong. It is hard to describe but when he started to share his testimony the whole atmosphere changed and you could feel something!

Another highlight of the week was that I got to go doorbell ditching! So early in the week we got the idea that we should make some bags of treats and take them to the members to thank them for all that they do for us. So we spent some time making some treats and that night we went out with a member and door bell ditched almost all of the ward! It was super fun, I would run and hide behind a car and watch the members look around and try to find us!

We have had a lot of weird situations this last week.... you would think that missionary work is just preaching the gospel to everyone, but it seems like we are also marriage counselors, home finders, and therapists! The mission life is crazy and we never know what situations we are going to run into! That is about all that has happened this past week! I am super excited for General Conference this week and hope that you all are as well! I love and miss you all!

Elder Jensen

sorry, i forgot to add something in the group email.... this past week i was thinking a lot about how God works in patterns. Here is a pattern for you all... it was shared by a 70 a while back. it talks about how the Book of Mormon is a patriarchal blessing for our day... (book of mormon will be CAPS)

-LEHI WAS THE 1ST PATRIARCH
-Joseph Smith Sr. was the 1st patriarch

-NEPHI WAS THE 4TH SON OF LEHI
-Joseph Smith was the 4th son of Joseph Smith Sr.

-NEPHI HAD POLITICAL AND RELIGiOUS POWER
-Joseph Smith had political and religious power

-NEPHI DIES AND THE NEXT IN LINE WITH POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS POWER IS MOSIAH
-Joseph Smith dies and the next in line with political and religious power is Brigham Young

-MOSIAH LEADS THE PEOPLE FROM NEPHI TO ZARAHEMLA IN SAFETY
-Brigham Young leads the people to Utah in safety

-BOOK OF ALMA=MISSIONARY WORK AND WARS
-20th century=missionary work and wars

-BOOK OF HELAMAN= ATTACK ON A POWERFUL CITY THAT NO ONE EVER THOUGHT WOULD BE ATTACKED (ZARAHEMLA)
-9/11= attack on a powerful city that no one ever thought would be attacked (new york)

-THE WAR IS NOT BETWEEN NATIONS BUT WITH A GROUP OF PEOPLE (GADIANTON ROBBERS)
-the war is not between nations but with a group of people (terrorists, isis, etc.)
so in today's world we have passed the book of Helaman and are in 3rd Nephi.......... can anyone guess what happens in 3rd Nephi? CHRIST COMES!!!!!!!!!

Week #62

Brody is changing his apartment into a workout gym.  I will attach some of his fine equipment in the next email. 

Not a lot of activity this past week but good things are to come. Thanks for your support.

                                                                                                                                                                         

Hello to all,

This past week has not been too eventful. I don't have too much to talk about but there are a few things... so this past week we got a call from a lady that is a recent convert from another city. She asked us if we could go and help her non member family with some service in Lindsay. So we went over and helped then put a bunch of bricks on pallets. We talked with the family quite a bit and they invited us over for dinner. So we went there and ate some good carne asada and got to know them. Then the next day they invited us to their grandma's house for dinner with all of their family. It was a lot of fun! It reminded me of going to my grandma's for sunday dinner. This past week we also “tried” to help a kid learn how to drive... let's just say we are lucky to be alive. We almost hit like a pole on the side of the road... haha.

One cool thing that happened this past week was that one of the nights we met with one of our ivestigators that is going through a lot. After the lesson we went to the apartment and got ready for bed... as we were laying in bed we felt that something was wrong... we didn't know what it was but we could not sleep. We heard a gun shot outside then a giant cockroach ran across the floor so that didnt help with not being able to sleep haha. We were just laying in bed reading our scriptures until like 1 in the morning. We didn't know what was wrong and why we couldn't sleep. So we started talking about it and narrowed it down to an investigator and what he needs. I looked at Elder Lybbert and said, “we are inadequate and something from his past is going to come out in the next couple of lessons and we need Bro. So and so there because he can help him and we can't.” Elder Lybbert and I then felt peace and knew that was the problem, we had to figure that out for some reason before we went to bed. After that we fell right asleep. Before that I haven't really received revelation in that way but it was pretty cool, so it will be exciting to see what happens in the next couple of lessons.

That is about all that happened this past week. This next week on wednesday we are having Elder Arnold come to visit us from the 70. I hope you are all doing well! Have a great week! I love and miss you all!

-Elder Jensen

Week #61

Brody sounded great today. He and Elder Lybbert are still going strong. Amie has been waiting for Brody to say that he loves his mission. We are getting close. He said, "I am really enjoying my mission a lot more now." ha. If Brody comes home the end of June, he is down to single digits in months. Wow. Hard to believe. He did admit that time is going by pretty fast now. Have fun reading his stories this week. I can just see him flying over the handle bars. Thanks for all of your support. 
                                                                                                                                                                                
Hello everyone, 

How are you all doing? This past week was pretty crazy and I actually have a lot to write about this week. I have a couple of stories this week. But first of all, this past week two of our members moved to Utah. So we helped them move. It was pretty hard to say goodbye because they were both people that I would see quite frequently throughout the week. I didn't think saying goodbye to people here would be hard but it was sad to see them go. The members here are awesome! Over the past 6 months here in Lindsay I have built some good relationships with the people here. It is just a big ward family here. I am really enjoying my mission a lot more now, I think it is because I don't really desire to be anywhere else right now. The time is going by pretty fast now, I will hit 14 months this week! Now onto the stories...

So one day this past week Elder Lybbert and I were going to visit a less active member. She lives in an apartment complex. When we got there we put our bikes down and started to walk into the complex. There were about 6 Cholos (gangsters) sitting on the other end of the complex and they were all smoking marijuana, so they were pretty out of it. Anyways, when we made eye contact with them Elder Lybbert stared for a second and they started yelling at us asking us if we had a problem with them. They were cussing us out and then they started coming closer to us telling us they were gonna beat us because we were from another gang or something crazy like that. So we hopped on our bikes and got out of there. The world is so crazy and there are drugs everywhere, there hasn't been a day here in Lindsay that I haven't smelled marijuana in the air. Haha

Another thing that happened this past week is that we got a new investigator. He is going through some really tough times in his life. He is going through a divorce and is living in his little pick up truck while his kids and wife are at home. He has had a pretty crazy past and was a Cholo back in the day. He is really searching for help, he is a really cool and nice guy. My mission has been a huge eye opener for me. Just seeing the trials that other people have to go through is pretty tough, but the comforting part is that the gospel can heal us in times of trouble. On my mission I have learned that, the hardest but most rewarding thing is helping others come to know that. Sometimes you just want to freak out and tell the people you are teaching that all they have to do is live the gospel and they will be helped through all their trials. It is hard when people are having a hard time but are not willing to change their lives.

Okay so here is the funny story for the week... I wrecked on my bike! Let me explain though... so it was like 8:30 at night and we were riding our bikes on a road headed back to the apartment. We had just got out of a lesson. Elder Lybbert was biking to the left of me and I was close to the sidewalk. As I was riding I felt a bug in my helmet, so I took it off and was looking in my helmet while biking with no hands. I always bike with no hands but this particular time something happened haha. So as I was looking in my helmet a car drove by and Elder Lybbert had to hurry and swerve out of the way, he swerved at me and because I had no hands I could not move out of the way. So our bike like locked together and my helmet went flying, then my front tire hit the sidewalk and I flew over the handlebars. Haha I ended up hitting a telephone pole and Elder Lybbert ended up in the road! It was so crazy, neither of us really got hurt. Just a couple of scuffs and scratches. I was lucky my head didn't hit the telephone pole because there was a nail sticking out of it... 

This is the last story... so a couple of weeks ago I was on exchanges and was out of the area. While I was gone Elder Lybbert talked with a lady and asked her who we could visit, she told us her neighbor. A couple of days ago we planned on visiting that neighbor. I didn't know where the house was but we started biking down the road because Elder Lybbert knew the house. We got to the end of the road and I said “aren't we going to visit them?” Elder Lybbert told me that he was hoping that I would forget because he had a bad feeling about going there. We ended up going there and after the worst door approach ever they still told us that we could come back and visit them. Yesterday during our studies we planned to see this household. As we were planning we both felt nervous and that we should not go there. We talked about how we felt and realized there would be no reason that God would tell us not to go there. They had invited us back and only good could have came out of it. It was interesting because the night before I was reading a talk on revelation. Something I read stuck out to me... it talked about how Satan sometimes tries to trick us into thinking something is bad when it is not. Because he knows what will happen if we really do it. In this situation we came to the resolution that the feeling was coming from Satan. We still weren't going to stop by and see them that day though, but our appointment fell through and we were in the area. So we went over to this house and they were all outside... it is a family of 5. we went up to them and helped them put their new windshield wipers on their car. While Elder Lybbert finished helping the dad with that, I went over and started talking with the mom. It is a hispanic family so they were really friendly. She asked me what we do because she had seen us on our bikes before. I told her what we did and had a good conversation with her. The dad told us that they were all in another city but he remembered that we were going to stop by that day so they all came back home. After we finished with the windshield wipers we taught them the Restoration and they were really interested. They said that they would be baptized when they come to know that the things we taught are true. They told us that we are always welcome in their house and that their house is our house. It was awesome! They are super prepared for the gospel. I really learned that when we receive a prompting or a revelation we should think and figure out who the prompting came from. Because Satan does not want us to succeed. I am so happy that we went to that house! We are looking forward to working with that family! That is pretty much all that has happened this past week! I love and miss you all! Have a great week!

-Elder Jensen  

Week #60

Well, the good news is Brody gets to stay at least one more transfer in Lindsay with Elder Lybbert. The bad news is Brother Charlie, Brodys good friend in Lindsay, is moving Saturday. Brody has been having some success in Lindsay and is really liking the area. Brody has only really been in two areas. I was thinking, his next transfer could be his last. Hahaha. Anyway, thanks for your support, it means a lot. 
                                                                                                                                                                     

Hello everyone, 
This past week was a pretty good one. To start off, we received transfer calls on Saturday and I will be staying in Lindsay with Elder Lybbert! I am pretty happy to be staying here. This past week we had another baptism, it was the son of the lady that got baptized last week! It was cool to baptize family members in back to back weeks. Now we are just working with the other son to be baptized. This past week we have done a lot of service, for one member we spread gravel all over his driveway. The funnest service of the week was with an inactive member. So he owns a restaurant here in town that just opened and we went and asked him if there was any service we could do for him. he has given us food for free several times. Anyways he told us that we could come back and help him. So last friday we went in to help him and he had us move some boxes and help him with some lifting things. Then he asked us to help in the kitchen because they had just fired a cook and were low on staff. And before we knew it we were cooking the food for the dang restaurant hahaha. We made like 45 burritos, and a bunch of other food. we were pretty much working in a restaurant. Another cool thing that we did this past week is we took 3 young men out with us for a day. One of them goes to Honduras in a month on his mission. It was cool to go out and see people with them! We are still teaching some people that are progressing towards baptism and are trying to find more! That is pretty much it for this week! have a great week!Elder Jensen

A member posted this picture on Facebook of Elder Jensen at a baptism. 

Week #59

Brody is still enjoying Lindsay. Transfer calls come this week. He hopes to be staying there with Elder Lybbert. He had another baptism yesterday. He had a really good week. He is starting to think that some of his siblings have forgotten about him. haha. He was a little bummed because his friend, Brother Charlie, is moving to Utah in a couple weeks. He really appreciates your love and support. Thanks. Brody actually sent several pictures other than the ones attached to this email. They should be posted to his blog shortly. 

                                                                                                                                                                      
Hello everyone! So to be honest i can't remember really what happened this past week. the days all kind of mesh together. this past week we worked a lot with the members, we were with them almost every night visiting people! which is the way that it should be. the highlight of the week was yesterday... we had a baptism! it was awesome, and right after the baptism her 19 year old son walked up to us and told us that he wants to get baptized next sunday! so we are excited for that as well! we are working with a couple of people that are still progressing towards baptism! this week is transfer calls and i am hoping that i get to stay here in Lindsay for atleast one more! we will see though... so today we did something really fun for Preparation Day. a member took us up to Sequoia National Park! we had a lot of fun and got to see a bunch of wildlife and the world's biggest tree! it was super big and crazy to see... it almost looked fake! anyways sorry it is so short but i really can't remember what happened this past week!! i hope you are all doing well and that you all have a great week! i love and miss you all! 
Elder Jensen