Another awesome week

Hallo,

Well, yet another awesome week! As always! Sister Schenk and I are having an awesome time.

Highlight of the Week: Ninow's goodbye party (see attatched photo)

President and Sister Ninow end their mission this week, and my new mission President arrives on Wednesday. We had our last Zone Conference with the Ninow's last week, and Sister Schenk and I wrote a little song for them and performed it, and then yesterday the Assistants organized a surprise party at the Ninow's home. There were about 10 missionaries, including us, and it was really sweet. We sang "God be with you 'til we meet again" (Sister Ninow cried) and presented them with a scrapbook from all of the missionaries. It must be very emotional for them. They've been on their mission for three years!

Lots of other eventful things happened apart from that, though. First of all, Sister Schenk's stalker showed up at church again yesterday. Have I told that story yet? There's a creepy old man who was in her old ward in Frankfurt, and he wrote her a love letter, and then started showing up at our ward building here. A couple of the brothers got him to leave, but Sister Schenk was still a little shaken up. We talked to President, and he said he might have to transfer Sister Schenk to a new area if it continues, but he doesn't want to do that, obviously, so Sister Schenk is writing her stalker a letter telling him she's not interested, and to leave her alone. He also now has a restraining order on our church building, which should help as well.

Other things of note:
- We taught primary yesterday and they were so cute. There's a four-year-old boy from England who told me he wants to marry me. It was adorable.

- I'm going on my first ever split this week! It's pretty rare for sisters to go on splits, because we're so spread out. Anyway, I'm really excited because I'm going on a split with Sister Cannon!

- We celebrated the first day of summer by breaking out our winter coats and scarves again. It was freakishly cold! But today it's 35°C (about 95 degrees) and feels like real summer, haha.

Love you all!
Sister Jensen

Busy busy busy

Guten Tag!

Sorry my email is coming so late. We almost didn't have p-day this week! But we've been fabulously busy and lots of good things have happened.

Highlight for the week: We got transfer calls and Sister Schenk and I are staying together!

We were both so excited. We had actually called President on transfer call day, with news about a baptismal date we had just set, and we purposely called a little later in hopes that he would just go ahead and tell us if we were moving or not, and so we got to hear it direct from the source! A sneaky tactic I think I'll try to employ every six weeks, haha. But then of course I'll have to have lots of baptismal dates to tell him about. Which could happen, the way things are going! the work is really going well, and we're meeting with so many cool people.

Another awesome experience was on Saturday. Sister Schenk and I went to a baptism in Frankfurt, because it was for someone who Sister Schenk had taught when she was there. We did a musical number for it, as well, which reminded me very strongly of when I was little, and Jess and I sang at everyone's baptisms, haha. Louis came with us to the baptism, and he said he really felt the spirit, and it helped him to understand baptism.

Louis is doing great! He has such strong faith. He reads in the Book of Mormon every day, he hasn't missed church yet. I think he's really on track to find his answer. I think the most wonderful thing about our message is that everyone can find out for himself if it's true or not. No one has to take our word for it. I think some people are afraid to, because it would mean that they would have to change their lives, if what we are saying is true. But there are so many people out there who have been looking so long for answers, and for truth, that they'll do anything to know. Those are the people God speaks to!

So our p-day has been sort of spread over three days (a few hours at a time), but we did have time to go to a really cool park where they took a bunch of old, historic buildings from all over Germany, packed them up, and shipped them to a park really close to where I live. They built a little city out of all these old houses, so it's like a museum, but a whole city. They even have actors who dress up in 1700's clothing and walk around, churn butter and all that jazz. It was really cool! I'll try to attach some photos.

We went with an investigator, and Brother and Sister Orum from our ward drove us. Brother Orum is from Denmark, and he reminds me SO much of Grandpa Jensen. But with a really thick accent.

Well, that's about it! I'm having such a good time. We had a couple of days where everything seemed to be going wrong, and we missed every train, and every appointment fell out, etc., and we were pretty discouraged, but we talked about it, pepped each other back up, and now it's going great again! Satan will have to find a better way to get us down. ;)

I love you all! I hope all is going well back home!

Sincerely,
Sister Jensen

God speaks through the Book of Mormon

Hello everyone!

Highlight of the week: Louis!

This was such an amazing story! There was a man who walked up to the church during the week, two weeks ago, and a member talked to him and the next week brought him to church. We met him there and started teaching him last week. We asked him what prompted him to find the church, and he said:

"I lost my job and left my wife and son in Italy to come here and find a job. A family from Nigeria took me in [Louis is also from Nigeria]. I was in their living room, and I cried to God asking him if he really cared, and if he did, why I was having so many problems. Then I saw the Book of Mormon lying on their coffee table. I picked it up and opened it to a random page. I read the words, 'now is the time for your troubles to be over.' Later I tried to find the verse, and I can't find it. I told the family, 'Where is this church? God has spoken to me through this book, and I have to find this church.'"

Needless to say, he found the church, and luckily an English-speaking member drove up just as he arrived and was able to talk to him. The woman that took Louis in is Sister Dirisu, an inactive woman in our ward, and she had just gotten back from Africa two days before she met Louis. It is just so amazing, a miracle really, how everything worked out! It strengthened my testimony that the Lord knows every single person on this earth. He doesn't see us as one big mass of people. He watches out for every person, and he hears every prayer.

We're meeting with Louis again tonight. He was at church yesterday and he bore the most beautiful testimony about the Savior, and how loved and welcomed he felt in the ward.

Anyway, lots of cool things happened this week, and we found a few new investigators, but that experience is really the one that stands out.

The other really memorable one was that a man invited us in as we were going door to door, and it turns out he's a big Evangelisch preacher with a huge congregation, and he grilled us for about an hour and a half on what we believe, the bible, the final judgement, baptism, you name it. It was so hard to not argue with him, which is what I would normally feel compelled to do. But instead we just calmly explained what we believed and bore humble testimony, and the spirit was so strong. At the end, he said, 'You're not at all what I expected Mormons to be.' (Yes! That's the goal!) and he said we could come back any time.

Thank you all for your prayers and support! I'm praying for all of you.

Lots of love,

Sister Jensen

Exhausted, but happy.

Hello everyone!

I have come to realize that the most satisfying days for me are the ones where I come home super exhausted, knowing I've worked hard and well, and flop into bed and fall asleep instantly. A couple of nights ago I actually woke up around midnight still kneeling at my bed, having fallen asleep while praying, haha.

The highlight of the week: 4 investigators came to church yesterday.

And we only expected one! The other three just walked in completely on their own. Two were people I have never met before, but we're going to start teaching them this week!

Also, Sister Schenk and I sang in church on Sunday. We did an acapella version of 'I feel my Savior's Love' in German, with harmony, and it went really well!

What else... oh, the other day we were at an appointment in Rosbach (the furthest north city in our area) and it went late so we missed our train, but we had an appointment in Ober-Ursel that we had to get to, so I suggested we bike back to Friedrichsdorf, about 1/3 of the way there, as fast as we could, and try to catch our train connection. But just as we were passing Friedrichsdorf we could see that the train had already left, so we said, 'Okay, let's bike to the next city and catch a different train!' but then we didn't catch it, so we ended up biking all the way from Rosbach to Ober-Ursel, which is about 30 km, and then we missed our train coming home, so we biked back to Friedrichsdorf from there! In total I think we biked 35 km that day, which is the same distance as a marathon! (Although luckily we didn't have to run it, haha).

A couple of people you could pray for this week:

Emmanuel - He's 14 and decided he wants to be baptized. The only snag is that his father was a member and is now inactive. His dad even served a mission, but now he's sort of against coming to church. He's letting us teach Emmanuel, but pray that his heart will be softened. Sometimes it's hard to bring the spirit into our lessons, because his dad is really sarcastic and tries to trip us up in what we're saying.

The de Luz family - SUCH a cool family! We've been teaching them for about 4 weeks now, and the wife is severely pregnant. Like... the baby could come any second. Pray that everything will go well with the baby!

Okay, that's pretty much it. I love you all!

Love,

Sister Jensen

Best week ever!

Hello,

This week was awesome! The highlight was: we taught more lessons and found more new investigators this week than in any other week in my whole mission so far!

Man, everything just seemed to be going right this week. We had a lot of "finding" time this week, which is always pretty exhausting, but we just had a good attitude about it, and it was amazing! Sometimes we go hours at a time with nothing but slammed doors in our faces, but it is so worth it when that one person stops and listens to you and realizes that you have the answers to the questions they've had for years and years.

A couple of really cool experiences:

Last night we were going door to door, talking about happiness, and a lady poked her head out her window and I shouted up to her, 'What does the word 'Happiness' mean to you?' and she just stared at us for a few seconds and then said, 'Um... just a moment, I'll come outside.' All of a sudden I was panicking because I didn't know what to say next, but when she came outside I just said, 'when we understand who we are, it makes us happy' (I felt like I was quoting a Michael McLean song, but oh well). We asked her who she thought she was, and she said, 'I've been asking myself that for a long time.' We taught her, gave her a Book of Mormon, and then made a return appointment.

We were still sort of in shock as we turned the corner, and there was a man there, and we started talking to him about the Plan of Salvation, and we asked him what he thought happened after death, and he said, 'I've been asking myself that a lot lately.' Almost the exact same answer! We taught him and made a return appointment with him, too.

I had a couple of really, really hard days this week, too. Sometimes I get into slumps, and I just feel exhausted and down and not wanting to work, and not believing that anyone will listen to us, but luckily Sister Schenk always helps me to refocus and be happy again. And then the next day, when she's struggling, I help her! I suppose we go two-by-two for a reason. :)

Well, that's about it. So many cool things are happening in Germany. There are some awesome prophesies about missionary work here, and they're starting to happen!

Also, my President Ninow goes home in a few short weeks, and we'll have our new mission president, President Lehi Schwartz (A native German from Nürnberg). It'll be sad to say goodbye to the Ninows, but also exciting to see what changes will come!

Love you all,

Sister Jensen

P.S. Grandma Jones - Thank you so much for the Kool-ade! It arrived intact! I laughed so hard when I saw it, haha. I'm going to use one as a bribe for the Elders. I don't think they'll be able to resist Kool-ade. :)

Zone Conference

Hello everyone,

It's been such an awesome week! The highlight was.......... Zone Conference!

Zone Conference is always fun, because we get to see the other missionaries and catch up with them, but more than anything, it really builds me up and gives me renewed energy and inspires me! Although it's a lot like what they said in conference, about how General Conferenced is there to 'comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable', haha. Same with Zoko!

Sister Schenk and I also got new haircuts, which was fun, and I dyed my hair a new color, too. Gosh, this week has felt like a month! I just flipped back through my planner, and it feels like an eternity since I last emailed. I don't even know which experiences to share, because so many cool things have happened in the last week!

Oh, we have bikes now, so I feel like a "real" missionary now. I even biked through a rainstorm yesterday! We have girlie bikes so we can ride in skirts.

We also went out to this super far away part of our area this week. There are a lot of little dorfs (tiny towns) in our area, and since we don't have a car, there are parts of our area that I still haven't seen, even though I've been here for five months. But finally we went to this tiny town called Glashutten (Sister Thaden always called it Outer Darkness), and it was so misearable! Haha. There's only one bus that takes you there (a two-hour ride), and once we got there we realized there was only one main street, all the shops were closed, and the place was swarming with bugs and mosquitoes! We visited a less active there, did some doors, and then waved goodbye forever. The next pair of sisters can visit it in a few months. :)

We have been doing a lot of contacting this past week, and it is hilarious to see how people react. Some people have the craziest excuses to hang up on us. I was talking to a man through his Klingel (like... doorbell/intercom thing) and he said, 'Oh no, sorry, I've been kicked out of the church' and we said, 'Which church?' and he said, 'Uh, whichever one yours is' and we said, 'Do you know which church ours is?' and he said, 'I've been kicked out of EVERY church!' and then hung up, haha. There have been some other funny ones, too, but I can't remember right now.

Also, everyone thinks we're Jehova's Witnesses. In fact, some real Jehova's Witnesses actually thought we were other Jehova's Witnesses, and got all excited when they saw us, until they realized we weren't from their church. That was an interesting conversation.

This week has been so busy, and Sister Schenk and I are having so much fun! She has a really pretty soprano voice so we sing together while we're going door-to-door, and we're constantly laughing, and it just makes the work so much fun.

I hope all is going well at home! I love you all!

Sincerely,
Sister Jensen

P.S. I attached a photo of Sister Schenk and I (note the matching outfits, haha. I borrowed some of her clothes).

Love,
K

Sorry it's a week late...

Hello!

Well, the highlight of this week: Mother's Day Calls!

It was so great to talk to Mom and Jess yesterday. Our mission is allowed to use Skype now, so I actually got to see the both of them! It was so much fun. It went by waaay to fast, though. I wish we could have talked for a few more hours!

I picked up Sister Schenk, my new companion, last week. Right from the start we are getting along really well, and we have a lot in common. She served in Frankfurt for the last two cycles, and she learned a lot there that I think is going to help this area a lot, and already we're seeing a lot of success!

We contacted a referral last week for a really cool family, the de Luz family, and we've already met with them twice and have another appointment for tonight! The spirit is really strong in all of their lessons. I'm also learning tons about contacting (street contacting and doing doors and stuff).

It's really sad that Sister Thaden is gone, though. :( She was also so awesome. But I'm sure she's really glad to see her family again. Right at the end of Sister Thaden's mission, Friedrichsdorf started to see a lot more success, tons of temple tours, a lot more lessons, etc. I think it helped a lot, because then Sister Schenk and I were able to hit the ground running.

I really feel a lot of hope that things are changing for the better in Germany. There are a lot of cool prophesies that missionary work is going to explode here, and I feel like it has already started! I just need to do my part here in Friedrichsdorf, and I know we'll start finding a lot of people who are prepared and ready for us.

I love you all!
Sister Jensen

P.S. I'm cutting my hair short again today! I'll send pictures next time. Love you! Bye!