Goodbye Naperville

Hello everybody! This week was the last week of the transfer and it has been absolutely amazing! First off we got our transfer calls last night, and our area will be closing :( but it will not be in vain because I have never learned more than I have in this area. My awesome companion, Elder Dodson, has taught me so much and I've learned a ton from him. I don't think I've ever knocked doors as much as I have here! It’s been a crazy time! 

So Elder Dodson will be going to the Chicago YSA where I was born into this great mission. He will be able to continue the work that my papi and I were doing! As for me…I guess the homie who pulled out the gun on us last week was foretelling the future because I will be going to serve in the Hyde Park ward in the south side of Chicago! It’s also known as Englewood, which is supposedly a pretty dangerous place, and I would ask my mom to not look it up on internet. But I'm soooo pumped! I will also be the only white person within quite a large radius besides my companion whose name is Elder VanTassel. Elder Dodson says it will be quite a culture shock so I'm super pumped! And I get to stay zone leader and go to MLC and have revelation poured into my mind! Yay! 

So some highlights of the week: 

I was able to go on exchanges with Elder Harker, who is an elder from enterprise. He actually comes from a polygamist background until he was baptized at the age of 18. He has an amazing conversion story that was pretty cool to hear about. He actually served in this area a year ago so he got to see all the old stuff and had dinner with some of his favorite members here. 

My second exchange was in Wheaton with Elder Weinmuller. Wheaton has the most churches per captia in the United States so a lot of people answered the door like "Do you know where you are?" And we were like "yeah do you know what we're sharing with people? THE TRUTH." it was super awesome and we got to teach some pretty cool Africans there. 

Also Illinois taxes are awful and everybody is leaving. It's pretty funny but also not. I've never seen more U-Haul trucks in my life. Like everybody is getting out of here. We helped people move like twice this week. The first time was at president’s house because the new president is coming on the first of July, the second was a family in the ward. There were two families moving at once so the elder’s quorum helped one and we helped the other and got the whole thing finished in like 3 hours. It was crazy. But also we're not supposed to use our time moving so we woke up early to go help them and it was way exhausting but a good time! 

Also we went to a Mega church this morning because Elder Dodson has been here for 6 months and we've heard everyone talk about Calvary church but we've never actually seen it. Let's just say it is yet another testimony that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true. And the truest and fullest gospel there is and ever will be. 

Well that's about all the excitement from this week! Until next time! 

Elder Jensen

Pics:

Prepping for Mega church 

What an interesting backpack

Elder Weinmuller and I

We tricked the sisters into taking a polygamist Pic with Elder Harker haha. 

Tired while moving at presidents 

Cool, That's In the Bible

Good morning and happy Monday! I don't have a huge update this week because it was a short week from our last p-day switch, but we had a pretty fantastic few days! 

We were able to go to the temple on Wednesday and enjoy feeling the spirit of revelation pour upon our souls and you can't go wrong with that! It was interesting to see some of the changes that were made in the endowment session from when I last went 6 months ago! 

We also had the last missionary leadership conference with President Bingham before he goes home! It was absolutely amazing and there were some very insightful things we talked about that the mission needs to improve on to see some more progress! It was a super awesome experience and I'm excited to improve my missionary skills this summer!

Also this week actually right after the hype of MLC we felt like we could go and convert the world! So we went and starting knocking some townhomes in Naperville and this one dude opens the door and we introduce ourselves and he was like "one second" and Elder Dodson was like "great he's going to go and get his Bible to start a bash or something." So, anyway the dude comes out WITH A GUN!  Like for reals, this is like the Chicago suburb haha! Anyway, he's like "did you guys even see my sign!?" And it said “no soliciting” so I told him that's absolutely perfect because we're not soliciting and then we invited him to read the Book of Mormon.

He told us that we were lucky we were in Naperville or else he'd "blow us off his porch." Like what are you bro, the big bad wolf? So naturally we try to make our contacts diligent and let them at least reject our offers three times before we leave so because he literally just told us he can't shoot us, we asked him one more time if he wanted to learn more but the dude wasn't having it. Told us proudly he had read the whole New Testament by the time he was in 6th grade so there was no purpose to learn more. It was pretty funny because Elder Dodson was on the south side for 6 months and he never was threatened with a gun until he happened to be in the sweet little suburb of Naperville where people read the Bible with 6th grade educations, clearly understanding the wonderful message Jesus taught haha.

So overall a good week with a lot of finding! Since we dropped our whole teaching pool we've been trying to find the elect and bigger our teaching pool with those who are prepared to receive the gospel. It's been a work in progress and we're excited to see it continue! 

Hope everyone has an amazing week! 

Elder Jensen

The Ring Doorbell Strikes Back

So this week we have the opportunity to go to the temple and so we had a p-day switch which means we got to do some good ol Monday working! 

This last week has been pretty awesome. First off remember those ring bells that have cameras on them? So I decided to stop earth bending when people didn't answer because yeah, they definitely film you. So I took a new approach!  Now whenever people don't answer the door, I just get right in front of the camera and say something like "after centuries of being lost, original truths have been restored by a loving God through a living prophet. We have evidence of this that you can hold in your hands, read, ponder and pray about for yourself!" Then I hold the Book of Mormon and just say "comeuntochrist.org."

Well, Elder Dodson thought it was funny for the first few times but then he just thought it was pretty stupid. So I do this every time, contacting the world one doorbell at a time. Well finally Elder Dodson does it. He's seen me do it a million times and finally decides to do it himself and says, "Correct principles of salvation. Comeuntochrist.org." So we continued knocking the street until we came to the other side and this lady comes out and was like "Don't you respect NO soliciting signs?" We said, "No, we are not selling anything" and she was like "I saw you on my ring bell. What do I have to do so you don't come back?" She did not think it was very funny haha. The first response from his first doorbell contact! My boy Elder Dodson is going to be a doorbell contacting wizard! 

We also we're able to go on exchanges with the Spanish Elders which was pretty unique since I literally do not know a lick of Spanish, so my man Elder Tu'avao had to teach all the lessons mostly on his own that day. But whenever I saw a white or black person you know I was running after them. Now I know what it's like to be a language missionary I guess haha. I got to ride a bike that day that had no brakes and my comp for the day was like "Oh yeah we use our shoes as our brakes, forgot to warn you." Still alive and definitely almost got hit by cars at least three times. Thank goodness for helmets. Anyway, after the exchange was over we hit up this Mexican ice cream place which had Mexican Twinkie (called Gansito) ice cream which was legendary. Like probably just as good as Coldstone. So that day was pretty awesome. I love riding bikes! 

We also had zone conference. This was President Bingham's last one and it was absolutely phenomenal. Talked a lot about pre-earth life and what it means for our missionary purpose and also about how to stay active for the rest of our lives. Mind is always blown with that man as my teacher, he will be missed. But also we have one more MLC with him so we are extremely blessed and excited!! 

Also we were tracting this week in Naperville and we road our bikes to the area we were going. There was this group of kids outside, they kept following us around. We talked to them and asked them about summer, if they're happy school was out, what sports they like to play, etc. One girl said she liked to do gymnastics and showed us she could do the splits, so naturally I did a backflip and all the little kids started freaking out. Then after we finished knocking the neighborhood we grabbed our bikes and Elder Dodson was like "You all wanna have a bike race!?" They were all super pumped so we had a race on the little court they lived in and then they were like "When are you coming back?" Well, only one family said we could come back and their kids were outside playing and so we told all the kids we were going back to teach those kids’ family and those kids looked so smug. All the other kids were like "Why aren't you coming back to teach my family?" So I'm pretty sure like half the kids are going to try and convince their moms to let us come back and teach them haha. Jesus taught the children, so we are too haha. What a diverse place though!  There was a Russian kid, an Indian kid (there are so many Indians here if I haven't mentioned that already), two African American kids, some white kids, Lithuanian kid, etc. It was pretty awesome! We’re excited to go back and teach that family! 

That's about it for my week! I had a few thoughts from zone conference and also many of my studies. President Bingham gave us a poem he wrote called "saved by grace" which literally threw down. It was legendary. I've talked to several people who tell me they're saved by grace and my studies this week really dived deeper into that. I found myself jumping around in the scriptures. As I was reading in Mosiah 4:2 I noticed it said "apply" the atoning blood of Christ. Thought it was interesting that it said "apply" and not "accept."

I also read a bunch from 2 Nephi 2 and Moses 4. Something that really hit me hard in Moses 4 was in verse 1 when Satan says "I will redeem all mankind, that one soul shall not be lost." As we all know Satan's plan required no opposition and no consequences. We would all be saved, but where would be the growth? The infinite divine potential we all have in ourselves? The power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ needs to be applied. Not just accepted. Satan's plan was to have us saved; Christ's plan was to let us choose to become something.

I'm grateful for the chance we have opposition in all things that gives us the chance to exercise our agency, the chance to "apply" the atonement of Jesus Christ, the chance to not only be saved but to become something. In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints we don't just stop and be happy at the fact that we're saved, but we try to show we're grateful by becoming what God would want to have us to become. The church is true. The gospel of Jesus Christ makes us, the children of God, of infinite worth with divine potential. I'm grateful for Jesus Christ and the role He plays in my life! 

Well I hope everyone has an amazing week! 

Love, Elder Jensen 

1. Legendary ice cream

2. My old comp at Zone Conference (Elder Jensen) and we just happened to be wearing the same ties 

3. Me and my current comp, Elder Dodson

4. Missionaries trying to teach the people of Naperville like:

5. $

6. Neighborhood squad

7. A dope bird’s nest

8. Saved by grace

Mini Missionary

So this week was the usual accept for one awesome thing we had at the end of the week! The Rockford IL stake was setting up this thing where they were sending all the youth with missionaries for a weekend and there were a lot more youth than missionaries so they went to 4 different stakes! Well we got a brother named Gavin with us for Saturday and he came back to come to church with us on Sunday. The man was like the exact same human being as my main man Austin Meyer so it was definitely a good time.

Obviously we didn't want to break Gavin and make him not want to serve a mission, so we decided to refrain from doing the usual Saturday thing and knocking doors for the whole day because it is the golden day! So we scheduled 6 lessons that day, including some at the same time. We were slammed. Well after one lesson we had all the rest of the 5 lessons cancel so our poor boy had to get a taste of the glory haha. We took him knocking doors and showed him the ways!

That day we were able to get let in twice and find two new people, and teach two restoration lessons. After one of them where the person we found literally had thoughts like "Why are there so many different churches?" "Why wouldn't call prophets today?" and after the lesson Gavin looks at us in awe and says "Did you see that?! We sniped that guy and got in his house!!! I felt the spirit SO STRONGLY MY BRO'S!!!!" now my man told us he's super excited for his mission which made both of us way happy although we didn't get the day we had originally planned for! He even got the last door contact of the day! I was so proud and grateful it was a chill dude rather than some born again who actually think we're devil worshippers.

Some other highlights of the week: although our area isn't looking exactly on top right now we were excited to see 2 other companionships in the zone have baptisms this last weekend. We set goals as a zone for each companionship to get 1 baptism in the month of June. So far we're starting off well!

I was able to go on an exchange with an Elder named Elder Holtom, so that was pretty awesome. We'll be going on several more exchanges before the end of the transfer! One of them next week I'll be in a Spanish area and everyone knows my cultural ability is all in the Indian nation so pray for me.

Also we likened the scriptures unto ourselves as Nephi advises ;) 

And I bear record that Elder Jensen and Elder Dodson did seek diligently to restore the born again Christians unto the true faith in God. But our labors were vain; their hatred was fixed, and they were led by their evil nature that they became wild, and ferocious, and a blood-thirsty people, full of idolatry and filthiness; feeding upon beasts of prey; dwelling in tents, and wandering about in the wilderness with a short skin girdle about their loins and their heads shaven; and their skill was in the bow, and in the cimeter, and the ax. And many of them did eat nothing save it was raw meat; and they were continually seeking to destroy us.

The church is true! The scriptures are actually pretty awesome and great power comes from them. 

Hope everyone has an amazing week! Elder Jensen

Pday adventures

Our boy Gavin 

Gavin contacting the elect 

Elder Holtom and I 

My main Colombian man Elder Vargas