Elder Ballard & Elder Rasband!! (aka best day ever)

This week was an INCREDIBLE week! So many things to tell you all!! I have been asked a lot of times, is your hair naturally that dark?  Also someone asked me if i was Native American. So a lot of people here are confused what ethnicity i am,(some think i'm spanish) so i'll let you all decide. (: I also get called Sister Morgan from a member in the ward, which is not the first time that has happened. So i guess my hometown is more memorable then my last name. Oh i love the people here. Also my Bishop is Kaden Normon's (a kid i went to high school with) uncle! So small world. wahoo! 

We visited a member last Monday night, Sister Ketch. She is so great! I love her so much! We baked brownies with her, and they were going to be done after we had to leave, so she was gonna make us stay the night so we could take them out for her. haha i love it. 

We went to check on a new investigator, she wasn't home, but as we were talking to the husband their little daughter walks to the door with a Book of Mormon and a restoration pamphlet in her hand showing us she still had them. My heart melted. Miracle: We were tracting Saturday afternoon and went to check on a potential. He said his daughter's friend is christian, so we ended up talking to them and they were soaking it up. She was speechless about how yesterday she was talking to her friend about their being more. I was like ahhh miracles. So she doesnt live in our area, but i hope we cant stay in contact with her. Another miracle: We have an investigator on date for Feb. 11!! He is already so involved in the ward even before we started teaching him!! AHH 

Now for the BEST MOMENT OF MY LIFE: Listening to 2 of the 12 apostles and have 9 of the seventies with us at our mission conference along with the Washington D.C. North Mission was aaaamazing. The spirit in our meeting was indescribable. I got to shake Elder Ballard's hand!!! AHH!! He is thee cutest. Guys i am speechless about this experience and will always remember this. In preparation our mission set a goal to find 500 new investigators with baptism invites in 2 weeks. We found 580+. God is amazing. We had 3 trainings this week which was so good and i definitely needed it.  The apostles are amazing. You can feel Jesus Christ and God emulating from them. The priesthood power that was in that room was so strong. I LOVE the priesthood and am very grateful for it. Their teaching will forever be remembered, i couldn't write fast enough!! One thing that Elder Ballard said was, "Whenever i get tired, i picture our Savior in the Garden of Gethsemane and then I find the strength." We can ALWAYS find strength in our Savior. Alot of their teachings were missionary centered, but i am so honored to have had the opportunity to meet these amazing, funny, smart apostles. I know they love every single one of us just like our Heavenly Father & Jesus Christ do. I love you all and pray for you. Have the best week ever!! 

xoxo, sister jensen 

Our Christmas gifts!

snow, prayers, & faith

Hello everyone! I hope the new year is going well for you all!  Well first exciting news... IT SNOWED!! It's all melted now sadly, but it finally snowed a little which made me super happy! It like dusted and the snow plows were out.. seriously they freak out! While we were weekly planning we were talking about this women named faith & her baptism date. We haven't met with her yet, but were ready to put her on date! Sister Horne was like, "Do you think we should change faith's?" (meaning her baptism date) haha i laughed so hard for so long! 

We had exchanges this week and had so many fun lessons and met some amazing people in Fort Belvior. I was with Sister Livingston & she is amazing!! Since I am new to the area and was in a new area for the day i couldn't tell you how many prayers I have said this past week & a half. Seriously i love that everyone calls on me! More blessings right?! (: One time someone told me i spoke like an auctioneer when i said a prayer cause i talk to fast.... haha oops! my bad. 

One night we were tracting and it was super duper cold. Nobody wanted to talk to us at all and we were getting discouraged and just wanted to warm up somewhere. We stopped and said a prayer. Then we felt like we should just kept tracting. Then the next door we knocked on a nice lady listened to us and let us set up a time to come back! AHHH fourth floor (maybe third, haha) last door literally!! It was amazing. So I know that when times get hard & you pray with a lot of faith, God will give you the strength to endure, & He will answers your prayers. I love you all and are grateful for your examples. 

xoxo, sister jensen

Pics: 

Inspirational quote 

SNOW & Go Utes!! (pay attention to the license plate, its meant to be.)  

& finally a selfie 

Franconia!!

I have lots to say this week, so here we go! I got transferred to Franconia!! It is in the Mt. Vernon area & my new comp is Sister Horne! I haven't stopped laughing since we got together. She's hilarious! I am also in a FAMILY WARD. What the?! It's so weird. I pretty much have to relearn how to be a missionary, which is great! Change is good! So Franconia is awesome. Everyone tells me it's their favorite area, so I have been blessed to be able to serve here. I have met thee most amazing people this week!! 

Sister Morris & I in Langley  (old area) spent forever cleaning it out & packing... I unfortunately have accumulated so much stuff. Seriously don't know how that happened so transfers were crazy. Watching Sister Morris go home was somewhat a blessing. I am super grateful & excited i have a year left to serve the Lord. It goes by way wayyyyy too fast. Feels like I've been out a month. Ahh. 

So the people of Franconia are awesome. We have a lot of investigators (which is another big change! Teaching is awesome! Blessings everywhere.) We have twins & their younger sister that we are teaching. They are so cute! They know so much already so it's fun to build upon their faith. One said, "Baptize me!" Haha I love it! They have such a strong desire to always follow Jesus Chirst. The younger sister sat next to me on the stairs & says, "He is sitting by you." (Earlier see was telling us about her invisible friend, so I thought she was talking about him.) So I said, "Oh your friend?" She  then says, "No, Jesus!!" It melted my heart instantly. I got to thinking that is so true. Jesus truly is next to us & watching over us in EVERYTHING we do. We may not always feel Him there, but he cares about us more than we can fathom. Doesn't matter if you are a missionary, member, non member, less active... etc. He loves you & is always there for you!! Coming from a 6 year old girl, it was touching. 

So we have a sister who is 96 years old & is kicking it!! She can stand, talk, walk, sit, read... everything, better then I can! She is not a member (she says she is too old for that 😂) but comes to church & has us come read the Book of Mormon with her every week. She has all her missionaries sign the back of her book with all their info so she can send them cards! Ahh so cute, so I got to sign her book! So mom if you get a card or a call from her, that's why! 💗 she asked me if I was Mexican... I said do I look Mexican? She said, "I don't even know what Mexicans look like!" Haha so funny. I LOVE the people here. It feels like home. I hope you all have a great week. I love you all lots! Happy New Year. Hope you all stick to your goals 😉 

xoxo, sister jensen

January 2, 2017

Trying to revive Sister Morris... 

Leaving my BFF Sister Tankersley 

McLean Zone pic, with us falling in the middle gracefully 

Sister Horne

No more working at the visitor center... so sad! Amazing experience! 

Metroing to D.C. selfie