TEMPLE WEEK

This week was an awesome week! Now that we only have elders in our district I was able to go on an exchange down in Rensselaer Indiana. It's like 45 minutes away from Hebron and it's even smaller than Hebron is! In the Hebron ward we have other cities though other than just Hebron that we cover, the largest one is called Crown Point and that's where we live. But Rensselaer just has a bunch of baby cities that are all smaller than Hebron and the area is HUGE. So I got to go there for a day with Elder case, he's a missionary who has been out for 20 months and we went and knocked with much glory. Some people complain about knocking doors but hey it's starting to get exciting to knock doors! You find people to teach! There are people out there! It’s pretty cool how the lord really does prepare people for us to teach. 

This week I turned 19 too so that was pretty cool. Thanks for all the birthday wishes! It couldn't have been a grander birthday. On my birthday we were able to go to the temple with our recent convert, Catelynn, for her first time. She just got baptized last Saturday and within a week we were able to set up a ride with some of the best members in the world, the Updikes, and we were able to share the experience of her first time in the temple. It was way cool. One of the members, Chase Updike, baptized Catelynn and then Elder Jensen baptized Chase and then I did some of the confirmations. It was awesome and Catelynn was able to bring her own names and said she felt the spirit especially strong for the names that she brought and for those who she was related to. So basically it was the best birthday present ever to be able to go to the temple with her for the first time and some of the greatest people in the ward and with the greatest companion ever. 

Also there are some people here in Indiana who are one of a kind. There's a man named Brother Smoot who is literally a legend. I just have to take a picture with him because I can't even describe this man but I'll just say he's one of a kind. 

Also there is a Sister Phillips. So sister Phillips in the ward sings Happy Birthday over the phone to like 6000 people a year and it's funny, when she meets you she'll run up to you and get your phone number and your birthday and your name and shows you a newspaper article that says something like "lady makes people happy and sings happy birthday to a ton of people." And it's super funny like she does it for like 2 hours every day probably. So she got me and Elder Jensen on his birthday and whenever investigators come to church she tracks them down and gets their birthday. It's the funniest thing. So I got sang to by the legendary birthday lady. 

On Saturday it was raining like crazy! It was awesome! We didn't get totally soaked because of rain jackets but it's kinda funny because when it rains and you knock on people's doors, people are extra revolted because you look like a disgusting wet creature who probably smells like nature, so it's not AS effective as usual, but we still found some potential people that day. 

Sunday we had daylight savings, which I was not at all excited for because we'd lose an hour of sleep! But whatever, we pushed through it and woke up in the morning and were like aw man it's dark! But then it doesn't get dark until 7:00 PM now! It’s like every missionaries dream. When it got dark at like 4:30 back in December... That was the most horrible thing ever but now it is light and I'm so grateful we can now find at a time when more people will be home! 

Also we got a call from Catelynn yesterday saying that she had gotten her patriarchal blessing and she said she wants to serve a mission. How cool is that!? She is so awesome. And then she also brought a friend to church. Like why can't we all be like Catelynn, then missionary work would be a lot easier! 

Yesterday we also had a dinner appointment with two families! So there was like 15 kids and we got to teach them all a lesson and it was so so so fun but we didn't have time to do a study that morning so we were like oh man what should we do so we decided to do the thing where you take the can and slam it on your finger on the Book of Mormon and talk about how to hold to the word of God and read Helaman 3: 29-30 (for you missionaries reading this this is like a pretty great lesson to do with kids haha) but literally like half the kids afterwards wanted a turn putting their finger on the Book of Mormon and then smashing the can on it. Literally I thought that lesson had been used a ton and everyone had already seen it but these kids were amazed haha. It was super fun. 

So spiritual thought: I read 3 Nephi 18 this week and really got into studying the sacrament! It is so important and awesome! The sacrament is a sacred ordinance and a great blessing and is truly the most important part about going to church! There is no better way and time to repent and improve our lives then now, and each week when we take the sacrament we get to reflect about how we're going to do that. I'm super grateful to be able to partake of the sacrament by the proper priesthood authority. 

Last thing this week we were knocking some doors finding some elect and there was this one house with this horrifying mean looking dog and I was like heck no I hate big dogs that can generally bite your neck off so I decided to not knock but Elder Jensen is like "no I'm bold" so he walked up there anyway and the dog was literally trying to attack him but every time he would turn around and look at it, it would just jump back and then he'd turn his back on it and it'd go after him again. This thing was like stinkin boo from Mario. And nobody understood that reference here so I hope somebody does. Long story short nobody was home and Elder Jensen is alive but only because he used to hunt bears with a bow and arrow so he is scary to large dogs I guess. 

Anyway, have a great week everyone! The church is true, and that means that the Lord’s kingdom is once again established on the earth which is kind of a big deal, so it's great to let people know! 

Elder Jensen 

Pics:

Me being me in front of the temple

Us with Chase Updike

Us and Catelynn

Us 

The most meaningful birthday wish! I love my brother! 

 

 

 

Elder Jensen thinking about his little sister back home...