Birthday and Stuff

I'm sorry that you've been getting my letters so late lately. It's not my intention to ruin missionary Monday or anything like that, it's just hard to sit down and focus when there's so much going on that I need to do. But, I've got some down time right now, so I'm here to report.

This week was pretty nifty. I think. Maybe? There was definitely a lot of good things that have happened here. On Tuesday, Elder Wells came up from Cave Junction to go on exchanges with me. We had an absolute BLAST! He actually served in the Murphy Creek/YSA area about a year ago, so it was a lot of fun going around and having people recognize him. He's a great guy, one of my favorite missionaries I've gotten to be around. He gave me a ton of great advice and support as we sat and watched the sunset (he goes home at the end of this transfer, so it was a nice capstone to the time we've hung out) ((did that sound sappy? Good, that's what I was going for)

We set up that night for specialized training the next day. President and Sister Russell were there and taught us. The best part was the church's director of vehicles presentation that was given, he was hilarious. Also, we spent a ton of Tuesday morning waxing all the cars in the zone to beat out the cars in the Roseburg zone (who were also at the training). We lost. I was upset. THEY DIDNT EVEN WAX WHAT THE HECK?! Later that night, we bashed with some dudes. It was greeeeeaaaaaatttttt.

Other than finding some new people to teach and setting up lessons, there wasn't a whole lot of new stuff going on here. The best part of the week was definitely Sunday. Murphy Creek had their Ward Conference wherein the Stake President spoke. President Nelson; butt doctor. He's great. The address he gave talked about how if we knew when the second coming was, would we change the way that we lived the sooner it got? The gospel is something that we need to be living at all times; not just something where we say "Oh, I'll do this or that when I get older, or when this happens, et cetera." President Nelson challenged that ideology by saying that this gospel isn't just a checklist of things we do and then BAM CELESTIAL KINGDOM. It's something that we become. We need to let the gospel change us, not have us try to change the way the gospel works for us. I really enjoyed that meeting.

Later that day, we met with Brother Jessee, the stake high councilor over missionary work. He's also an amazing man, one I respect very highly. He gave us great council and commended us for the work we do here in Grants Pass, regardless of the circumstances that surround us. With the mission really harping on everyone for not producing, it was great to get that spiritual confirmation that we're actually making a difference.

And after a birthday filled up with free drinks, songwriting, spicy spaghetti, and a nerf war with the YSA, I'm capping off this week.

Thanks again everyone who takes the time to read and write and pray and support. It really makes everything a bit easier to deal with.

Until next time, look both ways before crossing the street and don't eat the yellow snow (or anything yellow for that matter).

Love and love and other sign-offs,

Elder Jensen

Birthday party with the YSA - pardon my zombie face