I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY

Aloha!! How was everyone's week?! So good?! Sweeeet. 😊 well my pictures basically tell my week, so I'll let them speak for themselves.

 One thing that my pictures don't capture is a random guy at a gas station hugging me... let me tell you, it was awkward. He was acting like he knew us mumbling sisters sister & was super excited so he came & hugged me, as Sister Winward walks away fast. He just followed us around for a good while & when Sister W had to back me out, I gunned it & she jumped in the car. He was a nice man don't get me wrong, but we were a little nervous.  #onlyonamission 

We met some awesome people this week. & our investigators are doing well. Right now we are playing the hide & go seek with all our investigators. We can not get in touch with them! But it makes for some adventures!! We met a sweet man. He was super interested & excited to read the BOM!! So we texted him asking how he liked it & he dropped us.... We were super sad. Also met a cute couple from Florida, who is golden. We talked to them outside for about an hour. Everything we said they loved & were questioning their church for multiple reasons, but when we told them how our church does it they LOVED it! I LOVE BEING MORMON.  

We were able to go to the temple to do baptisms for the dead!!! There were 6 of us sister missionaries who got to also do baptisms!! The Franconia youth came, so it was so fun to see everyone again. What I was thinking about a lot in the temple is the priesthood & how the priesthood makes everything work! It makes everything organized. Our church runs off of the power of God. I am so grateful for the priesthood & the role it has played in my life. I know I wouldn't be here with out the priesthood. I am grateful for the men who sanctify themselves & are always worthy of giving a blessing. I am grateful for Jesus Christ & Heavenly Father for letting us receive so many blessing because of the priesthood. I LOVE THE PRIESTHOOD. 

Love you all!! Have a gooooooood week 💗 

xoxo, sister jensen

P.S. quick super cool story. So we had missionary leadership meeting this week & we all talked about who the pioneers where in our family to join the church. One elder talked about how his grandpa & grandma were the first ones to join. The elder who baptized them, that was his only baptism his whole mission. So the elder was invited to speak at one of his grandparents funeral. They invited all those who are descendants of the grandparents & members of the church to stand. About 90 people stood. This elders mission was worth it. Look at how many lives he touched from just 2 baptisms. It was so powerful as our Elder was sharing his story Thursday. All you hard work doesn't go unnoticed. It remind me of this scripture:

D&C 18:15 And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!

Pics:

Walks around the Marine Museum round 2 💗 

 Little Iwo Jima statue outside of the the Quantico Marine Base gate. 

 Trying to be cool. 😂 

A recent convert who is AMAZING. 

 When appointments fall through... 80% of a missionaries life. 😂  

 Update on our pday adventues: wanted to drive the boarder of Richmond mission & DC South (since we are the bottom of the mission) ... & couldn't turn around when needed.... So we experienced a little tiny bit of Richmond. 😂 

 & Prince William National Forest. So good to be in the woods again!! 

I LOVE THE WASHINGTON D.C. TEMPLE 💗 Good to see Franconia youth & my baby!! 🤗 

"See Others as They May Become" -President Monson

Heyyyyy my family & friends!! 😊 Good news is Sister Winward & I will be staying together another transfer!!!! Yay! We are super excited. This week we also moved apartments, so that we real fun in the heat! Plus we moved into an elders apartment, so you can imagine we had lots of cleaning to do!! 😂

 

I swear I have short term memory loss, so I don't remember half of what happened this week! Haha but church yesterday was AMAZING!! God truly answered our prayers. We had lots of recent converts, less actives, & investigators at Church! Oh & get this... there was a cute family that the Bishop told us to go talk to. The husband tells us he is a less active in the Spanish ward & he wanted to bring his little daughter & his wife (who's not a member) to the English ward so she can understand what's going on. So we are going by this week to teach the wife!! The area is exploding, so many miracles! Side note: Elders are coming back to our ward Tuesday, thank goodness! We need help! 👍 

 

So every 6 weeks our mission does a fireside/devotional where recent converts & returning members share their story & missionaries have to come with less actives & investigators. We went last night & oh my goodness it was the best. The spirit was so strong. We brought one of our investigators who by the way loved church, can't wait to come next week, is being baptized on Aug. 26, & is already planning on speaking at our next fireside!! They are amazingly prepared. 

 

But the stories that were told by the recent converts blew my mind. People do change. There was a couple that shared their amazing story & the husband said... (prepare for the cutest thing ever) the ONLY thing on my bucket list.... is to be sealed to my wife in the temple. He was crying as he said it. It just helped me learn that we should see people as they can become, not as they are. Everybody has potential & is a Child of God. I have truly come to learn this on my mission as we talk to everybody. It has helped me develop greater love for the people & for my Savior. So try it out, see others as they can become, not as they are. & President Monson gives a WONDERFUL general conference talk on it: "See Others As They May Become" October 2012! It such a good read! READ IT!! 

 

Love you all. Thanks is for all you do!! Ahh. I. Love. It. Here. 💗 

 

xoxo, sister Jensen

Pics:

Temple pic from last week! 

I love cute quotes!!

It was our AWESOME used to be neighbors 😭 1 year anniversary!! 

Virginia = home. 💗  

Our last pday activity @ the Huntsman Home:

selfie w/Sister Huntsman

Oakton & Woodbridge Zones

AREN'T THEY THE CUTEST???! I LOVE THE HUNTSMANS! 

miracles on miracles on miracles

Hellooooooooo 😊 this week flew by. Geez its crazy. I remember returned missionaries would always say, "Days feel like weeks & weeks feel like days." I was like what?! But now I totally understand. 😂 

Update on guess my ethnicity: the new ones I got this week are French, Urkranian, German, Arab, & Italian. Haha 😊 Guess it helps living in SUCH a diverse area. 

So many miracles!! In Malachi 3:10 it says, "Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it." 

But this can be so applicable to lots of different instances. Give me all you have & I will pour down my blessings upon you! I have seen this fulfilled this week in our missionary efforts. At the beginning of the transfer all we did was find, find, find, but now we have so many things to do & appointments to go to its AMAZING. God is soooooo good. I KNOW when we GIVE all we can & keep His commandments there will be so many blessings coming our way. 

For instance:

-we had 2 friends (investigators) at church!!! They are married, Luis & Daisy, & one day we just street contacted into Luis. They left the church address & our phone number at home & were not too sure where to go. But they said well God will help us get there. & they found it & were on time!!! At church Luis asked, "What do I have to do to join the church?" Ahh. 

-Jules, our recent convert, went to the temple & did baptisms for the dead & we got to go with him. I LOVE THE TEMPLE!!!! 

-members are bringing their friends to church & asking us to teach them. 💗#everymemberamissionary 

- our ward loves missionaries & missionary work!! (We have a rockstar ward missionary/recent convert who wants to do everything!!) I LOVE Quantico! 

- we have a friend Christian, who is SO excited & prepared by the Lord to be baptized on Aug. 26!! 

I could go on forever. But I am so grateful for this chance I have to serve. It has changed my life & who I am. I love Jesus Christ & I know he knows & loves you. I KNOW he lives and that He stands at the head of this church & this amazing work. 

Have an awesome week. Thanks for all you do!! 😊 

xoxo, sister jensen

July 17, 2017

Pics:

7/11 slurpees 💗 don't mind if we do on a HOT July day. (Still trying to love the humidity, haha) 

Random photo shoot. 

Painting!!!

Exchanges with Sister Wayment! She's been here for 5 weeks & is already killin' it. 😊  

This week we bought a total of 13 balloons & left it with a note on members, investigators, & sisters doorsteps. It was so fun!! Maybe a little too fun? We couldn't see in the car... Haha 🎈🎈🎈  

When we got out of the temple it was a thunderstorm. Were we scared? Uhh maybe a little bit. We were soaked in 0.2 seconds. 😊 so much water in my eyes my contacts were falling out 😂 haha

Celebrate. Good times. Come on.

Heyyyyyyyy fam & friends!! Honestly, I don't feel like writing much this week.... so you get pics (: but I'll give you some highlights (even though every second is a highlight) :  

1. Our neighbors are my FAVORITE. They always knock on the door & check in on us & ask if we need anything. So this week we had dinner with them!! So we were able to teach them & when we asked if we could come back & teach them they said, "I was waiting for you to ask!!" Yay!!! Miracles right next door. 

2. We were talking to people on the street & Sis. W was talking to this man we approached so I went to talk to 2 others that were going inside. Turns out they both are less active members (one lives there & one lives in PA)!!! The best part is she has been wanting to come back to church & we went back & taught her & got her into LDS Tools & Gospel Library!! So cool!! & we went back to teach her cousin, Christian, who earlier was the man Sis. W was talking too. The spirit lead us to be there right when we needed to be. SO COOL!! 

3. I have again been asked if I am Native American. So that's 3 for Native American & 2 for Spanish. But today I got a new one.... Egyptian. Haha to myself I look 100% Caucasian! But totally a complement. 😂 

Alright love you all lots!! Keep killin' it. Go team, Go! 

xoxo, sister jensen

Pics:

The 4th adventures!! I LOVE THIS GOSPEL & I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!! 

 We went trash diving on exchanges for our lost phone that was thrown away. But no worries... we got it sanitized. 

Pic with my fam President/birthday twin. 

Marine museum with the Lake Ridge sisters!! 

Tan lines from our 50 different pair of shoes. We are proud of them. Haha next to a motivational sign... judgment. Aka: don't judge our tan lines.

Happy 4th of July from the Nation's Capital 🇺🇸

What a week. 🍉 This week was a long one, but all is still good in the hood! 

So one day we are out in the scorching sun, not a soul wanting to talk to us... ya ya & so on... & we were feeling a little discouraged. But attitude is everything, so we pep talked ourselves up, said a pleading prayer to our Father in Heaven & got out of the car to hit the pavement. One of the first people we talked to ended up being a miracle!!! At first he wasn't too Interested... so I explained the pamphlet we gave him in more detail & he opened right up. He tells us to come over to the side walk & he shares this story that has changed his life for the better. (I'll try & simply tell it!) 

There was a piece of trash shoved in the grass one day. He walked past it 3x before he stopped, picked it up, & put it in his pocket. He went to go throw it away later & it opened & it was a picture of Jesus Christ. He said his life has NEVER been the same since 2 weeks ago. He started believing in Christ again. He pulls out the card to show us & guess what?! It was a #princeofpeace card!!!!! Tears came to my eyes & Sis. W just starts crying. The spirit was so strong as he told us his story. We told him that we done with all of our cards & showed him the Prince of Peace video & he was blown away. We have to call him soon to set up an appt. (Cause of the holiday) & he wants his 2 grown some to come join. Ahhh MIRACLE. I was so humbled that God knows us & he WILL place prepared people in our path if we have faith & work hard. It was just what we needed. God just takes care of all of us. 👍 

Saturday = another car fast. Wahoo. This time we were fancy & rode bikes! Hahaha the humidity in July, in the middle of the day, ya you could say we were sweaty messes. Hahaha. We got SO many weird looks. Girls on bikes, in this heat, in dresses?! Haha good news is we got sore muscles & some cool tan lines. 😊 

🇺🇸 LOVE YOU ALL!! HAVE A GOOD INDEPENDENCE DAY🇺🇸

xoxo, sister jensen 

Pics:

Rivals schools, uh oh 🙈 

Exchanges 👍👍 

Sister Bargeron ft. a beaver? 

#princeofpeace 

Biking, thank goodness for baskets. 🚲 

When you are totally out of supplies & you have to use chastity pamphlets, LOL @ us. Update on      where the pamphlet went: to a teenager boy who insisted he take it... 🙈 uh oh. Hehe 

 THE QUANTICO CREW is now split up... They left us their work this morning. Pray for us! 

 One of my fav. pics of the Savior. I KNOW he knows & loves you!!!  💗