Hamm

Greetings from Hamm!

It was a crazy week, but I LOVE my new area! My new companions are awesome, and it's actually kinda fun being in a Drit (trio) again.

Really quick, for everyone who asked, here is my new address:
Sister Kristin Jensen
Kirche Jesu Christi (<<-- Must be included)
Bokumerweg 210
59065 Hamm
Germany
(And don't worry, letters sent to my old address will find their way to me. Sister Römer said she'd forward them on.)

I really like Hamm. It's a bigger city, and there are no contacting restrictions! I didn't even realize how awesome it is to be allowed to walk out your door and immediately start contacting. Because of the weird proselyting restrictions in Friedrichsdorf, I've never really experienced that. Another benefit is that the apartment is enormous! It actually has multiple rooms! Haha. And it is decorated with very 70's decor. Like... olive green paisley, fringed lamps, lace curtains, and a burnt orange couch. It reminds me of Harold and Maude. We even have an ORGAN in the apartment. I'll have to send pictures. :)

So, a little detail on my new companions:
Sister Jackson - She's 2 cycles younger than me on the mission, and a lot of fun. She's from Oregon, actually! Medford. But she grew up in Heidelberg on the military base, and then lived for a while in Nevada. She's still struggling with German a little, but she's fearless!

Sister Gardner - 2 cycles older than me on the mission. We get along really well and have a lot in common. She's actually one of the sisters that I've always thought I'd like working with eventually. She is 23, and a nurse. She's from Logan, UT.

Oh, another really cool thing about Hamm is that the whole city is obsessed with elephants. Jessica would love it here. There are elephant sculptures everywhere! I guess Hamm is home to the largest glass elephant in the world, and because of that the city has made elephants it's symbol. So far I've seen at least 20 elephant statues around the city. And quite a bit of elephant graffiti.

We've been crazy busy since I got here. There's lots to do. A lot of it is working with less-actives. This area doesn't have a lot of investigators, but we'll change that soon. We have a lot of really cool ideas. For example, next week we're starting up an English class and running an article about it in the newspaper (with a picture of us! :) ). We're also going to start attending bible study groups in local churches. Not to crash the party, but just to get to know people who are already interested in religion. Stuff like that. I'm excited!

I loved General Conference, particularly the talk from President Uchtdorf from the first session. It helps me to think that God loves each of us, he knows our worth, and no matter where we are, he can find us just fine. No matter where we are, the people around us are God's children and all have the same goal (whether they know it or not) to return to live with Heavenly Father. Nothing is worth getting in the way of that.

I love you all! Thanks for the support.

Love,
Sister Jensen

P.S. If any of you RMs have good, creative ideas for finding people -- things that worked in your missions -- please email or mail them to me, and we'll try them out!