He's Home!

Elder Jensen returned home from his mission to Fresno, California on July 6th, 2016.

Waiting anxiously 

The brothers

Grandparents

With the sisters

Happy parents!

Seth Colby and Elder Jensen

Elder Jensen and cousin, Rachel

All the babies that were born while Elder Jensen was gone

Well this is it I guess...Week #104

We received Brody's final email today. First of all, we would like to thank everyone for your love, support, and prayers. It has been a great experience for Brody and his family. We can't believe this day has finally come. Brody and his family have truly been blessed by his sacrifice. If you ever want to read how a mission changes someone, read his blog (thanks Rachel). I often go back and read some of those early emails. Brody has grown in so many ways. I know he is looking forward to seeing each one of you again. Brody flies home Wednesday at 12:45. His homecoming is Sunday the 10th of July at 11:00.

Blog – elderjenseninfresno.blogspot.com
                                                                                                                                         

i can't even put into words the feelings that i am having right now. i don't know how two years just flew by like nothing. when i think back it is bitter sweet. i am so sad to be leaving the mission and my home in California. i have learned so much out here in the past two years and i have seen God's hand in so many different daily experiences. a mission is a once in a lifetime opportunity. and i just want to say that i am so grateful and so proud that i have had the opportunity to serve a mission here in the Fresno, California Mission. it was not easy... that's for dang sure. but it was soooo worth it, i wouldn't trade this experience for anything. i remember being in the MTC and saying i couldn't wait to get home. but an Elder said... "i bet you will be one that does not want to go home" i never thought that was possible but here we are! 
this past week was a tough one just knowing that it was my last. i had my final interview with President Clark and we set some goals to keep going strong after my mission. i have met so many great people here and i hate goodbyes. i literately could live here in california haha... sorry for saying that mom!
but on the other hand i am so excited to see all of you and to come home! A LOT has changed and i can't wait to see! i love and miss you all and i will see you soon! #missionaccomplished!
love,
Elder Jensen

Week #103

Brody was very brief this week. He basically told us that he would see us in a week. Brody arrives next Wednesday, July 6th at 12:49. His Homecoming address will be Sunday, July 10th at 11:00 at the South Stake Center on Canyon Road. See you all there.

Hello Everyone! 

well today i am gonna keep it pretty short. it has been a pretty crazy week! so i wasn't able to email on Monday because we went up to Yosemite National Park with some friends! it was really a lot of fun! we went on a hike and i took lots of pictures that i sent! i can't believe that it is all coming to an end... i don't feel ready to come home but i guess it is just gonna happen! i could totally live here in California for a lot longer! i love it here! i am so lucky to be serving here! i wouldn't want to be serving anywhere else! i am so blessed! anyways this past week was a lot of fun... our plumbing in the house went out so right before i stepped in the shower sewage came up through the drain... that was a lot of fun to clean up! it was so nasty!!!! we also had Zone Conference this past week! it was my last one  and i had to share my testimony at it... i almost teared up haha. we have been really busy and are working hard. the time is flying and i am trying to soak it all in while i can! i love my mission and i love what i have come to know for myself! this past week i had an interview with President Clark for my temple recommend and then after that he took us out to dinner. the interview was really cool and i loved just having dinner with him and Sister Clark. this next week is gonna be a good one as well. i have final interviews with President Clark and i have to start preparing for my flight and all of that which i am not looking forward to packing. i never thought this time would come... i just love it here so much that it kills me to think about leaving! California is my home! haha sorry mom and dad! i am sure i will get used to Utah soon enough! but for now this is my home! i have had so many experiences here and just love the people, culture, and the state in general! that is about all that i have from this week! i am gonna have a great last week and look forward to seeing you all soon! i love you all! 

Les Quiero Mucho!!! 

Elder Jensen

Presenting the long awaited helmet picture! 

Week #102

Sorry this is so late. I have been out of town and didn't have any way to pass it on. As you can tell by reading Brody's email, he is doing great. He is having some great experiences. The countdown is on here at the Jensen home. He only has 12 more days. Thanks for all of your prayers and support. 

Hello Everyone!!! 

so this past week has been a great one! i should have quite a bit to write about! i have been super busy and working really hard! i have a couple of stories about investigators to share as well that really made my week great!

okay so first off, we have an investigator named Tiana. she is super cool and we have been teaching her for a while. her previous beliefs were that she believed in praying to her ancestors and stuff. we started teaching her without a belief in God. overtime she has come to know that God does exist. this last week she pretty much taught us the restoration and told us that she has no doubts that God is real and that the stuff we teach is true. it has just been really cool to watch her growth and how she has come to know that these things are true and that God does exist. we are planning on setting a baptismal date with her in an upcoming lesson. 

we are also teaching a girl named Kayla. we found her by just talking to everyone on the street. we have seen her a couple of times and it has gone great. she really understands the importance of our message. we invited her to pray if Joseph Smith was a prophet and if the message we share is true. a couple of days later we went over to see her and she told us that she prayed... she said that she had a dream and God came to her in the dream. She said that God told her to listen to us because we were sent as representatives and that we shared the truth. it was such an amazing experience and just a testimony builder. the work we do as missionaries is SO important! she should be getting baptized in July. it is kind of sad that all of these people are getting baptized and i won't be here. we set a baptismal date with a family of like 8. they all came to church and said that they can't wait to be members. there are so many miracles happening out here! 

okay so as YSA missionaries we get to do some pretty cool stuff. we teach people everywhere. for example, we taught lessons in Jamba Juice, Cold Stone, and Starbucks this past week haha. we have a lot of fun and it is really cool to teach people my age about the gospel. 

so i have a couple more stories.... we are teaching this girl named Tajeray. she plays basketball for the college here in merced and is super cool. she came to church with us and wants to get baptized as well. it was really cool because she told us how much we have helped her. that she can tell that we love and care about her more than people that she has known her whole life!! she has had a rough past but i know the gospel can help her. i am not quite sure how the atonement and all of that works but it does. it is crazy to think that an event that happened over 2000 years ago has impact on our lives and that it is that powerful. it is eternal! 

we talk to everyone on the street! one day we stopped a women and just opened our pamphlet and talked about the first vision. she started crying and asked us the quesion, "do you always make people feel like this in such a short amount of time?" she felt the spirit so strongly and knew what we were saying was true. she wasn't in our area so we told the other missionaries to stop by. 

i have a couple more stories but i will save them for the end. one cool thing i got to do this week was play sports a couple of times. we play basketball on friday and saturday night. also one day this week there were a bunch of kids outside and they wanted us to play soccer with them. so we got out of our car and played! it was awesome! somehow Elder Harrison and i beat them hahaha! i will send a picture of that. 

i am not sure if i mentioned this last week but we were out at the University of Merced and we were teaching a lesson at about 10:00 at night. we were at a table and i saw a raccoon. everyone told me that it was completely normal but it eventually got closer and closer to me. before i knew it the raccoon was under my chair and it was about to attack me haha! luckily some kids walked up and the raccoon got scared and ran away. it was so scary because i didn't know where it was and it was right under me! anyways while we were there we were teaching our friend from China. his name is Eric. his concern is that his mom doesn't want him to join our church but he wants to. we had a lesson on doing God's will. We asked him the questions "if you were to see God tomorrow what would you say to him and what would he say to you?"  he answered the questions very humbly and honestly. after that he looked at us and asked us the same questions for an example. i was shocked and taken back.... it really pierced me. i was speechless. it was a great experience to think about it and really evaluate myself. i realized that i have so much to work on in my life still. my only desire is to stand clean before God and do what he would have me do. it is hard but i know it will be worth it. 

now for my last story that really hit me hard this week. so we went down to fresno to the mission office to pick up some packages for the zone. after that we went to wendy's to eat with a member that Elder Harrison knew down there. as we were there a guy came in with a walker. he was homeless and just had some change. i watched as he got in line and looked up at the menu. i noticed that about 3 people gave him some spare change as he was waiting. when he got to the front of the line he had just enough for a small burger and a drink. i felt so bad inside and i felt true and sincere love for this man. i continued to watch him as he got his food and wen to his table to eat. before he ate i watched as he looked around and smiled to everyone that had given him some spare change. after that he bowed his head and prayed. i am sure that he was thanking God for the food that he had. i started to cry in the middle of Wendy's. here we have this homeless guy with nothing basically and he is thanking God for what he has. i really admired that because i have so much and i am not grateful enough for what i have. i have really been studying the topic that we are all children of God the past two weeks, and as i saw this guy a scripture rang in my head..... it is in the book of Romans and it says-  

The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:

 17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

we are all children of God. i saw this man and i pictured him as my brother and i saw him as he truly was and the potential that he has. this man in the middle of Wendy's is a beloved son of our Heavenly Father. He has the potential to become like him as all of us do. we are joint heirs with Christ! i believe that hardly, if ever we understand our divine lineage and divine potential as sons and daughters of God. i know that this is true, i know that we have a loving Heavenly Father and that he loves everyone. i am looking forward to this next week! 

i love and miss you all! i hope you have a great week! i will see you soon! 

Elder Jensen

Week #101

Brody is trying to soak up every last minute of his mission. He loving the opportunity to serve the lord and the people in the Fresno Mission. He is not looking forward to saying goodbye. However, we are looking forward to July 6th. We received his travel itinerary today. He will be flying home with his long time companion that he had while he was in Lindsay, Elder Lybbert. They will be sitting by each other on the plane. How cool is that?!? His flight arrives at 12:49 on the 6th of July. He can't wait to see you all. 

                                                                                                                                                             
hello Everyone!
this past week was a good one and super busy! i don't really have too much to report on but i have a little bit! first of all we had a baptism! Kassy Garcia got baptized on saturday! she is 19 years old. elder harrison baptized her and then i confirmed her the next day in sacrament meeting. she is such a solid convert. she got up at her baptism and shared her testimony... it was so strong and powerful! it was awesome to see her at her baptism. she is now the only member in her family! it was just all around a great experience. this past week we also had zone meeting. elder Harrison and i trained of course. i conducted the meeting so that was a little nerve racking haha. but all went well. this past week i got to go back to atwater with elder hopkins on exchanges! it was a little weird to be back there but it was an awesome day! i love the people in atwater and the exchange just went by way too fast. the time is still really flying by... i thought it would go slow because it is my last transfer but to be honest it is flying by and i am staying focused. this transfer is already half way over!! i can't believe it. i  have got to play basketball a couple of times this past week with members and investigators so that is always fun. i love playing sports with them, i try to not get too intense or competitive haha. this past week we found a couple of new families from talking to people on the streets. the families are really promising and accepted baptism. it sucks that we are setting all of these dates for baptism that i won't be here for haha. but we are seriously talking with everyone on the streets. we get to meet all kinds of people every day and it is kind of fun to see the responses we get and the way that people react. we get asked some pretty weird questions and you could probably guess haha. we  have a zone meeting coming up in which we have to have like 100 scriptures memorized. so i am working like crazy on that. that is about all going on here. i love and miss you all and hope you have a great week! i will see you all soon!
Elder Jensen

ps.... the warriors are goin back to back tonight!!!!!!!!!

Week #100!

Brody seems to be busier than ever. He didn't spend a lot of time with us today. He didn't send any pictures. Basically,  he says it all towards the end of his email, "don't worry about me I am keeping busy out here!"

Only 4 weeks left. I asked him if he knew his flight information and he replied, "I don't know, if you want the information, call the mission office." Brody is focused and not worried about the little things. We are proud of him and the work he is doing. Thanks for your support. Oh ya, save the date, Brody will be giving his homecoming talk on July 10th at 11:00. 

HELLO EVERYONE!!!!!! 

so this past week has been a pretty dang good one. it has been super super busy! i will try to remember everything that happened. i don't have my planner with me but i will try to remember. so first of all we had our YSA activity on tuesday in Atwater. we played rugby, Frisbee, and water volleyball and ate dinner. it was pretty legit. we had about 9 non members there. we have been goint out the the University a couple of times to visit with some people. we are going to have a baptism this saturday, her name is Kassy and she is 20 years old. we are super excited for her. so i probably mentioned it earlier in my last email but i cover a family ward as well. the family ward is pretty awesome and know what they are doing. this past week we found a family of 7 and taught them the restoration. to be honest it was probably one of the most powerful lessons on my mission. the spirit was so strong. we taught how god has given us families because he loves us and because of that we receive the gospel through men called prophets. these prophets testify of Jesus Christ. we know that christ came into the world and organized his church and called and ordained 12 apostles. which he also gave his authority to baptize to also known as the priesthood. but we know that christ and the apostles were killed off and this authority died with them. the world  then fell into a state of apostasy or a time without a prophet of God. and after that we teach them the first vision and all of that good stuff. at the end of the lesson they were all crying, even the little kids. the dad said the closing prayer and was speechless. we felt impressed to invite them all to be baptized and they accepted the invitation without hesitating. it was so awesome!!! you would think that after 2 years you would get sick of teaching the same thing every single day but i don't! the restoration is so powerful!! 

this past week i also had MLC (missionary leadership council) with all of the zone leaders in the mission, the assistants, and President Clark. it was a really good meeting and i even role played and taught with President Clark. i got to see some of my buddies like Elder Olsen there. it was just a lot of fun. then on sunday i had a meeting with the stake presidency and president clark again on the missionary work here in the Merced Stake. it was a super busy week. i also went on an exchange and have been visiting some other elders in the zone. so don't worry about me i am keeping busy out here! i hope you are all doing the same back at home! i love and miss you all! have a great week! 

Elder Jensen 

Week #99

Brody is in the ZONE. We were getting worried about Brody getting a little too relaxed. According to this email, all that has changed. He sent us an email saying he couldn't chat back and forth today because he needed to stay focused. It's crazy, but he only has 5 weeks left. Thanks for all of your support.

He sent some other pictures that will be on his blog.
                                                                                                                                                               

Well Hello Everyone,
so it has been a really interesting week but a good one for sure! some of the week has seemed long but we have been super busy!! so on tuesday we drove down to the temple in fresno to the transfer hub and to get our new companions. so as i said last week i am with Elder Harrison. He is from Preston, Idaho. and he has been out one transfer less than me. we are in an english area but we both speak spanish so we can still practice together!!! Elder Harrison is actually cousins with the Barkers who live in santaquin! he likes to ball as well! we get along great.
last monday i had to say goodbye to some of my favorite people that i have got to know on my mission. it was really hard and sad. i really have come to love the people that i serve out here. i can't even imagine the feeling that i am going to have when i have to come home. i feel like California is my home now and i don't wanna leave the people out here! i am now about 15 minutes south of atwater in merced. so i get to see some of the atwater people once in a while. i cover two congregations here.... i cover an english ward and then i cover the stake YSA. yesterday at church was a long day. we are at church from 8 in the morning until 3 for meetings and classes. i really enjoy serving in the ysa with kids my age. i taught the lesson yesterday on sunday, we only get around 15 people to sacrament meeting but it is still fun! we actually have a ysa activity every tuesday night, this week we will be eating and playing volleyball. and then on friday nights we go to atwater to play basketball so i get to see my homies in atwater on fridays. we have actually played a lot of ball this week! i miss serving the hispanics so that is gonna take some time to get used to.
so my new apartment is pretty sick haha. i actually live in the basement of some members. they are retired so the house is really quiet. i will send some pics of my new crib!
so now i will tell you a little bit about what i have been up to this last week. so as zone leaders we are really busy. one thing we do is in the morning we go and see other missionaries in our zone and do companionship studies with them to help them out, it is nice to be able to go and see other missionaries! also i work a lot closer with the assistants and President Clark now, in fact i will be having a meeting for the mission with President and the assistants this friday in Fresno. one day this week we had to wake up at 5 in the morning to exercise and then go to a seminary and meet the seniors that will soon be YSA. also since we are serving in the YSA we can be out a lot later, so that day we were working from 5 in the morning until 10:30 at night. i was praying that my last transfer i could keep busy and not think about the time..... be careful what you ask for haha. but even though i am always tired and busy i am loving it! i am on like a spiritual high and feeling the spirit super strong in lessons. i feel exhausted at the end of the day but it feels so good! we talk with every single person on the streets. we chase them down even if they look a little sketchy haha. we even stop the car roll the window down to talk with everyone. most people are pretty nice but once in a while we get a mean one. it is a lot of fun even when they are mean though! we have quite a bit of investigators and one of them even called us up this week because she wanted to wax our eyebrows hahaha! so we went and it was a rather different experience haha.
we have been teaching a lot this week, we teach at the college campus somedays as well. we have set a baptismal date for June 11th and should have a couple more baptisms in the month of June. most of them are YSA. it is so amazing to see how the gospel can change peoples lives! i love sharing it with them and seeing them recognize the spirit! it scares me to think about the little bit of time i have left to share this message, so i just work hard to forget about the time! i encourage you all to do the same haha.
so here in the mission there is a term which is called "trunky" it means that you are too excited to go home and can't wait to get home. i would say that for some of my mission i was trunky but i truly believe that i am the least trunky right now than i have been on my whole mission! the mission is great and i don't want it to end really. it has changed my life in so many ways, i am so grateful for the blessings that i have and the miracles that i have seen! i wouldn't trade what i have learned and come to know out here for nothing! a mission is priceless!
everything i do is because i love the Lord Jesus Christ and i want to serve my brothers and sisters! i look forward to finishing strong!
i love and miss you all and hope that you have a great week!
-Elder Jensen
p.s. congratulations to camri for graduating this past week! and i hope you all have a great summer! 

Week #98

Brody is very sad to be leaving Atwater. He is very sad to leave the people there. They have been very good to him. He is looking forward to his new assignment. He did mention that he is only 15 minutes away from Atwater. I am sure he will find some reason to visit. He sent some pictures. Check them out on his blog at elderjenseninfresno.blogspot.com

Thanks for all of your support. Only 6 weeks left. 

Well Hello Everybody!! 

so this past week has been hecka crazy! a lot has happened: Elder Cardon from the 70 came, we got transfer calls, and so much more! i will save the transfer calls for the last of the email. 

so to start off Elder Craig Cardon came from the 70 this past week to visit the mission. it was a great conference. he is a great speaker and brings the spirit so strong. i really enjoyed the conference with him. i learned a lot of things about the scriptures and how to become a better missionary! it was sweet. i also got to see a lot of my friends from throughout the mission. i got to see Elder Smith again and i saw Elder Mo'o. he goes home in two days so i am glad i got to see him one more time. 

one thing that happened this week is that i got sick for the first time on my mission. it was only a one day thing but i was hoping that i could avoid being sick my whole mission. 

so now for transfer calls..... we got the call on saturday night and i found out that i am leaving the area. i am pretty sad but i knew it was coming eventually. on sunday i got a call from President Clark and he called me to be a zone leader. i will be serving in Merced. i will cover a family ward and the YSA. so i will still get to make some trips to atwater to visit the YSA's out here. i am going to be with Elder Harrison. i will be speaking english... so my spanish missionary days are over which i am pretty sad about. i am going to miss the spanish members and investigators so much and the food as well haha. i will have new responsibilities and it will be a good change hopefully. i am torn a little that i am leaving the area. i am super close with so many of the families and people. i can't really describe the feeling... the only thing i can compare it to is the feeling that i had at the airport when i said goodbye to my family. it is super hard to leave these people that i have come to love. as i have been going around and saying goodbye it has been sooooo hard. but i know that the lord has a plan and that i am suppose to be moved to merced. i am excited for my final transfer and ready to finish with all i got. i hope you all have a great week and that you know i love and miss you all! i will see you soon! take care! 

also i wanted to give a shout out to my homeboy Carson Hill on getting his mission call to the California, Redding Mission! he will be a great missionary and i am super excited for him! Congratulations Carson!  

Elder Jensen