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