Hallo! Well, this is officially my last P-day as a missionary. It feels really weird... I think I haven't really grasped yet that I'm going home in a few days. To sum up my mission, here's a classic missionary poem. I heard it in the MTC, but after 18 months it means even more to me now. At the end of my mission, this is pretty much how I feel: A mission is a strange experience, It's a trial and it's a test. A mission throws you at the worst And yet teaches you the best. They told me this would be the best period of my life, But I guess they didn't explain it all too clear. I came out looking for a bed of roses; I just wasn't expecting all the thorns I've found here. Since I've been out, I've never been so happy, I've never been so depressed, I've never felt so forsaken, I've never been so blessed. I've never been so confused, My mind has never been so clear; I've never felt my Heavenly Father so distant, I've never felt Him so near. I've never felt so discouraged, Never so full of hope. I feel I can go on forever, I think I've come to the end of my rope! I've never had it so easy; I've never had it so tough. Things never have gone so smoothly, Things never have gone so rough. I've never traveled so many valleys, I've never ascended so many peaks, I've never met so many neat people (I've never met so many freaks!) I've never had so many ups, I've never had so many downs. I've never worn so many smiles, I've never worn so many frowns. I've never been so lonely, I've never had so many friends! Man, I hope this is all over soon, Gosh... I hope it never ends. I am so happy. I'm just so happy. Alessandra got baptized and confirmed this weekend, I ended my mission with one of my favorite people in the world, Sister Bognar, and I have so many amazing friends and memories here. I'll see Mom and Jess soon, and the rest of you shortly thereafter, I'm sure. I love you all so much. One of the things I said to myself when times were rough was, "the time is NOW, and I'm ready to be a part of it. Hurrah for Israel!" Thank you for being there for me, everyone. I know I was meant to come here, and I know I'm now meant to come home. I feel so at peace. That being said, I still have a couple of days left so I'm trying to keep emails short so we can go hit the streets! Lots of love, Sister Kristin Jensen P.S. Included is a picture of Sister Bognar and I, drawn by an Elder in our district.

Living the Dream!

Hi everyone!

This has been the best week of my mission. Iwona got baptized, and we´re having another baptism this weekend, with our investigator Allessandra! She´s been investigating for about a year, now, and she is so ready!

But that´s not all. We got some amazing news in the mail today, from the mission office:
"Es gibt so viel Erfolg in der Mission, wir wollten euch nur kurz Bescheid geben. Es wird getauft wie verrückt! Vorletzte Woche, gab es 9 Taufen (wir haben die Zahlen seit 2006, und es gab noch nie 9 Taufen in einer Woche), 5 Taufen letzte Woche, und 8 werden diese Woche getauft! Das ist durchschnittlich über eine Taufe pro Tag!"

And for those that don´t speak German:
"There is so much success in the mission that we wanted to tell you all about it. There are baptism like crazy! The week before last, there were 9 baptisms (we have the numbers from 2006, and there was never that many baptism in one week), 5 baptism last week, and 8 more will be baptised this weekend! On average, that is a little more than one baptism per day!"

The revelations for Germany are really coming to pass! We can just feel it in the air. And so many crazy miracles happened this week that I don´t even know where I could start! Hard work is being paid off, and the whole mission is feeling a new spirit of hope. It´s such a good feeling.

Sister Bognar and I are working hard and having fun. Things are going really well. Everyone please pray for Allessandra as she gets ready for her baptism!

Love you all, enjoy the pictures,
Sister Jensen

Happy Easter

Hallo!

I hope you all had fabulous Easter celebrations! We had a good Easter here, too. In Germany, they have a four-day Easter weekend, beginning with Karfreitag (Good Friday) and ending with Ostermontag (Easter Monday... no idea if that has real religious significance, or if they just get an extra day off work. :)) It was a good opportunity to talk about Jesus Christ, and to go door-to-door singing Easter songs. I think I sang, `Christ the Lord is Risen Today` about 100 times.

Another fun Easter tradition here is to have an Osterbaum, which is the same idea as a Christmas tree, but for easter, and not a pine tree, and they hang decorated blown eggs on it. Some are really cool.

We had some really good lessons this week, and there are some new people we´re really excited about, too. Also, my host sister from the MTC, Sister Braaksma (the one who greeted me, took my luggage, and showed me around the MTC) just got home from her mission, and her home ward is Duisburg, Germany, so I see her at Institute every week! It was such a random coincidence. But then it hit me... she was in the MTC at the same time as me, so if she´s home, I must be going home soon, too! Weird.

My two favorite quotes from this week:
“The greatest battle of life is fought out within the silent chambers of the soul. A victory on the inside of a man’s heart is worth a hundred conquests on the battlefields of life. To be master of yourself is the best guarantee that you will be master of the situation. Know thyself. The crown of character is self-control.” - Unknown author, quoted by President Kimball

"your eternal destiny will not be the result of chance but of choice. It is never too late to begin to choose eternal life!" - Randall K. Bennett

I have been studying apostasy, and I read some really interesting verses about it in the New Testament. Everything makes so much sense when you understand the pattern of prophets and apostasy, and when you understand that, then it´s so obvious that a restoration had to happen. If I was a theologian, and I didn´t have a knowledge of the Restoration, I don´t know how I`d even tie my shoes in the morning.

Iwona´s doing great and is very excited for her baptism this weekend. We called her yesterday, and she had been feeling really depressed because her friends are still being so weird around her and not talking to her because of the church, and she was feeling lonely, but then she said, `So I just went out and talked to some people about the church, and gave them some of those cards you gave me´ (passalong cards). If only everyone had that attitude! And one time we called her in the evening, and she was reading Doctrine & Covenants to her kids as they fell asleep. I am just so impressed by her. I feel like I´m the one who´s learning from her, not the other way around.

That´s about it for this week! I love you all!
Sister JensenHallo!

I hope you all had fabulous Easter celebrations! We had a good Easter here, too. In Germany, they have a four-day Easter weekend, beginning with Karfreitag (Good Friday) and ending with Ostermontag (Easter Monday... no idea if that has real religious significance, or if they just get an extra day off work. :)) It was a good opportunity to talk about Jesus Christ, and to go door-to-door singing Easter songs. I think I sang, `Christ the Lord is Risen Today` about 100 times.

Another fun Easter tradition here is to have an Osterbaum, which is the same idea as a Christmas tree, but for easter, and not a pine tree, and they hang decorated blown eggs on it. Some are really cool.

We had some really good lessons this week, and there are some new people we´re really excited about, too. Also, my host sister from the MTC, Sister Braaksma (the one who greeted me, took my luggage, and showed me around the MTC) just got home from her mission, and her home ward is Duisburg, Germany, so I see her at Institute every week! It was such a random coincidence. But then it hit me... she was in the MTC at the same time as me, so if she´s home, I must be going home soon, too! Weird.

My two favorite quotes from this week:
“The greatest battle of life is fought out within the silent chambers of the soul. A victory on the inside of a man’s heart is worth a hundred conquests on the battlefields of life. To be master of yourself is the best guarantee that you will be master of the situation. Know thyself. The crown of character is self-control.” - Unknown author, quoted by President Kimball

"your eternal destiny will not be the result of chance but of choice. It is never too late to begin to choose eternal life!" - Randall K. Bennett

I have been studying apostasy, and I read some really interesting verses about it in the New Testament. Everything makes so much sense when you understand the pattern of prophets and apostasy, and when you understand that, then it´s so obvious that a restoration had to happen. If I was a theologian, and I didn´t have a knowledge of the Restoration, I don´t know how I`d even tie my shoes in the morning.

Iwona´s doing great and is very excited for her baptism this weekend. We called her yesterday, and she had been feeling really depressed because her friends are still being so weird around her and not talking to her because of the church, and she was feeling lonely, but then she said, `So I just went out and talked to some people about the church, and gave them some of those cards you gave me´ (passalong cards). If only everyone had that attitude! And one time we called her in the evening, and she was reading Doctrine & Covenants to her kids as they fell asleep. I am just so impressed by her. I feel like I´m the one who´s learning from her, not the other way around.

That´s about it for this week! I love you all!
Sister JensenHallo!

I hope you all had fabulous Easter celebrations! We had a good Easter here, too. In Germany, they have a four-day Easter weekend, beginning with Karfreitag (Good Friday) and ending with Ostermontag (Easter Monday... no idea if that has real religious significance, or if they just get an extra day off work. :)) It was a good opportunity to talk about Jesus Christ, and to go door-to-door singing Easter songs. I think I sang, `Christ the Lord is Risen Today` about 100 times.

Another fun Easter tradition here is to have an Osterbaum, which is the same idea as a Christmas tree, but for easter, and not a pine tree, and they hang decorated blown eggs on it. Some are really cool.

We had some really good lessons this week, and there are some new people we´re really excited about, too. Also, my host sister from the MTC, Sister Braaksma (the one who greeted me, took my luggage, and showed me around the MTC) just got home from her mission, and her home ward is Duisburg, Germany, so I see her at Institute every week! It was such a random coincidence. But then it hit me... she was in the MTC at the same time as me, so if she´s home, I must be going home soon, too! Weird.

My two favorite quotes from this week:
“The greatest battle of life is fought out within the silent chambers of the soul. A victory on the inside of a man’s heart is worth a hundred conquests on the battlefields of life. To be master of yourself is the best guarantee that you will be master of the situation. Know thyself. The crown of character is self-control.” - Unknown author, quoted by President Kimball

"your eternal destiny will not be the result of chance but of choice. It is never too late to begin to choose eternal life!" - Randall K. Bennett

I have been studying apostasy, and I read some really interesting verses about it in the New Testament. Everything makes so much sense when you understand the pattern of prophets and apostasy, and when you understand that, then it´s so obvious that a restoration had to happen. If I was a theologian, and I didn´t have a knowledge of the Restoration, I don´t know how I`d even tie my shoes in the morning.

Iwona´s doing great and is very excited for her baptism this weekend. We called her yesterday, and she had been feeling really depressed because her friends are still being so weird around her and not talking to her because of the church, and she was feeling lonely, but then she said, `So I just went out and talked to some people about the church, and gave them some of those cards you gave me´ (passalong cards). If only everyone had that attitude! And one time we called her in the evening, and she was reading Doctrine & Covenants to her kids as they fell asleep. I am just so impressed by her. I feel like I´m the one who´s learning from her, not the other way around.

That´s about it for this week! I love you all!
Sister JensenHallo!

I hope you all had fabulous Easter celebrations! We had a good Easter here, too. In Germany, they have a four-day Easter weekend, beginning with Karfreitag (Good Friday) and ending with Ostermontag (Easter Monday... no idea if that has real religious significance, or if they just get an extra day off work. :)) It was a good opportunity to talk about Jesus Christ, and to go door-to-door singing Easter songs. I think I sang, `Christ the Lord is Risen Today` about 100 times.

Another fun Easter tradition here is to have an Osterbaum, which is the same idea as a Christmas tree, but for easter, and not a pine tree, and they hang decorated blown eggs on it. Some are really cool.

We had some really good lessons this week, and there are some new people we´re really excited about, too. Also, my host sister from the MTC, Sister Braaksma (the one who greeted me, took my luggage, and showed me around the MTC) just got home from her mission, and her home ward is Duisburg, Germany, so I see her at Institute every week! It was such a random coincidence. But then it hit me... she was in the MTC at the same time as me, so if she´s home, I must be going home soon, too! Weird.

My two favorite quotes from this week:
“The greatest battle of life is fought out within the silent chambers of the soul. A victory on the inside of a man’s heart is worth a hundred conquests on the battlefields of life. To be master of yourself is the best guarantee that you will be master of the situation. Know thyself. The crown of character is self-control.” - Unknown author, quoted by President Kimball

"your eternal destiny will not be the result of chance but of choice. It is never too late to begin to choose eternal life!" - Randall K. Bennett

I have been studying apostasy, and I read some really interesting verses about it in the New Testament. Everything makes so much sense when you understand the pattern of prophets and apostasy, and when you understand that, then it´s so obvious that a restoration had to happen. If I was a theologian, and I didn´t have a knowledge of the Restoration, I don´t know how I`d even tie my shoes in the morning.

Iwona´s doing great and is very excited for her baptism this weekend. We called her yesterday, and she had been feeling really depressed because her friends are still being so weird around her and not talking to her because of the church, and she was feeling lonely, but then she said, `So I just went out and talked to some people about the church, and gave them some of those cards you gave me´ (passalong cards). If only everyone had that attitude! And one time we called her in the evening, and she was reading Doctrine & Covenants to her kids as they fell asleep. I am just so impressed by her. I feel like I´m the one who´s learning from her, not the other way around.

That´s about it for this week! I love you all!
Sister Jensen

Our Hilario(us) New Investigator

Hello, everyone!

I was really re-charged and inspired by General Conference. It was a little hard to concentrate while juggling investigators' kids, but I still had some really strong impressions that came to me while listening to the talks. I'm sure you've all had similar experiences, but I could have sworn a few of the talks were talking directly to me.

This week, we got a referral! (One of 6 referrals I've gotten my whole mission). In most parts of America, missionary work is almost entirely referral-based, but in Germany they are few and far between. This one came from the Hawaii temple Visitor Center. A family from Germany -- The Hilario family -- was on vacation there. They hadn't planned to visit the temple, but they decided to go, just to use the bathroom. They met some sister missionaries there who spoke their native language (Tagalog -- they're from the Phillipines), and in the end asked if they could have a tour after all. A few weeks later we got the referral that they wanted a copy of the Book of Mormon, which we delivered, and they invited us to come back and teach their family! We're meeting with them again on Wednesday.

Other than that, everything's going really well. I registered for my BYU classes last week, including German 330. :) Should be good!

I love you all!
Sister Jensen