Springfield Episode 11: The Saga Continues

Hey everyone! How's everything going? Is everyone having a good holiday? I hope so! It's transfer week in the good old Willamette Valley, so you KNOW that things are happening. But I'll save that for later. I know, I'm evil. My bad.

We actually had a very nice week to finish the transfer out. Along with some really good lessons, we also were able to enjoy some more of the Christmas cheer. We were able to meet with a lot of our investigators and contact a lot of people. We had a great lesson with Xavier, where he remembered most of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That kid is pretty bright. We're really working to get around the obstacles that come with being a ten year old boy, and we hope we can get back into the baptismal discussion again.

We were also able to meet with Ken Moxley. It was a very spiritually led discussion. I asked Ken, "Ken, straight up what is your reservation about being baptized?" To which he said that he still wasn't quite sure if it was right or not. We were then able to discuss the small and simple things and recognizing the spirit. He is making good progress. He asked us for a priesthood blessing, which we feel was really beneficial to him. Once he gains his own personal testimony, he's going to be a rockstar member.

The ward Christmas party was this week. Let me tell you, the Second Ward knows what they're doing over here. They know how to have a party! I was a little unsure on the whole "Cowboy Christmas" theme that we were going for, but it turned out really nice. It was well attended and a whole lot of fun!

We also had the Stake Christmas concert on Sunday night. There was no devotional or anything, just good music. It was lovely.

And transfer news! So my transfer sixth sense was pretty accurate. Elder Wikan is shipping out to the Eugene 3rd Ward and my companion is now Elder Gneiting (pronounced night-ing) After just a few hours with the guy I'm already super excited for the transfer. He's only been out for 3 months, but he's incredible. We're going to do some amazing things here in Second Ward!

That's it for me though, I hope everything is going well for all of you. Thank you so much for everything and anything that you do, not only to help me, but also everyone around you. The world needs more of that!

Much love from Oregon!

Don't be dumb.

 Elder Jensen

We definitely did CHILL OUT because it was like -1500 degrees outside
(ok not that cold)

A nice field of Spring

LOOK AT THIS

WOWZA

DAS BOOT

The "Crazy Oregon Story of the Week" goes to.....
this picture of Organic Gatorade. Only in Oregon!

Springfield Episode 10, I think? #LightTheWorld

Happy December Everyone!

The holiday season is in full swing over here in Oregon, but instead of snow, we have rain. So it's a little different, but it's all still good.

We had a pretty slow week work wise (say that ten times fast) but there were some aspects to it that were just awesome. We met with a few of our investigators this week (the one's not too wrapped up and busy) and had some good lessons.

We got back in with Shellie again. She's doing pretty well and is focusing her Christmas on trying to be happy and help others. You know what that sounds like? The new #LightTheWorld Christmas initiative! We showed it to her and she loved it. We're going to see if we can wrangle her in to coming to church with us on Christmas Day, but we'll see.

Speaking of the initiative, isn't it great? I LOVE the approach the church is using this year with service and active participation. It's been a really great tool in talking with and teaching people. Plus, the advent calendar is just the BEST idea ever. I hope everyone is taking advantage of it.

Back to bidness. We also met with Xavier this week. After our train wreck of a lesson with him last week, we had a very pleasant time reading from the scriptures with him. He's a good kid, but we're working on developing the habits he needs to build his own testimony. It'll be a process, but the results will be great.

In the month of December, the Springfield Stake puts on what's called the Crèche exhibit. It's this HUGE nativity festival with live music, lights, and hundreds of nativities that were donated or volunteered to be shown. We got to help set up and go and see the finished product too. It was spectacular! There were so many gorgeous nativity scenes and it really put me in the Christmas spirit.  That topped off with the First Presidency devotional made for a special weekend.

There was also a parade. It was the most eclectically assembled ensemble I've ever seen, but it was still really fun!

So, I don't know if I've ever quite painted the picture for everyone of just how Coconuts Oregon is, so we're starting a new segment called:

Spotlight! Crazy Oregonian Story of the Week! (I may have stollen this idea from Elder Joey Merrill)

This week's spotlight goes to two people; Cat Kid and The Bus Master. We had this kid who was probably no more than ten years old get up and bear his testimony on Sunday and it was 10 minutes of him talking about his Mom's relationship issues and cats. The bishop had to tell him to get to the point like three times. It was hilarious. Also, there was this guy at the bus stop who would, very loudly mind you, state that he knew EXACTLY where the bus was, 24/7. 365 days out of the year. He said something about a sixth sense he had. It was weird. Also, update on Ghost Homeless guy, we still haven't found him...

That's about it for me. Transfers are also this weekend, so we'll see if things get shaken up or not. Thank you all for the love and support. I hope you have a great week and stay warm. Much love all around!

Floss,
Elder Jensen

Caution: Chase Crossing (the bottom says living green which is funny because Oregon)

2nd Ward Gang

Le Creche

Springfield Zone Gang

Only in Oregon would you have a special section of your parade dedicated to Volkswagen busses

Willamalane Service Crew ft Ann

Springfield Episode 9

Hey there everyone, it's Elder Jensen in Oregon!

This week was...different? I'm still trying to decide if it was good, or not to be honest with you. It was just kinda odd. I think odd is the best way to describe everything that was going on.

So, our progressing investigators are dropping left and right. Shellie isn't able to meet with us, Xavier is too busy being a 10 year old to pay attention to lessons (I don't really blame him, but still), Tim has kinda fallen off the complete face of the earth, and Laura just won't come to church. It's been rather frustrating trying to rally everyone together, but we're sticking to it!

As stated above, our lessons this week weren't the greatest in the entire world. Xavier just would NOT pay attention if his life depended on it. It was the first lesson that I've had where we had to cut it short because he was there, but his head wasn't. We're hoping that we can keep working with everyone going forward though.

Thanksgiving was wonderful! I've really been reflecting and pondering lately about how truly blessed I am with everything I've been given; much of which I do not deserve. My amazing family, friends, and those I serve with, constantly astound me with how loving and caring they are and how much they truly bless my life. I'm so thankful for a loving Heavenly Father who gave his Son for me, and for all of us. I'm grateful to be sharing that with everyone in Oregon.

For dinner (at 3:00, does that still count as dinner?) we went over to the Luke's house. They must have had like 25-30 people there, full house (plus, not all of their kids made it, so they were expecting more!) It was kinda weird to be there with so many people, but it was still awesome and I was so thankful for them inviting us over.

The Christmas initiative launched this week. #LightTheWorld. It's absolutely INCREDIBLE and I love it so much, I've had the little piano riff stuck in my head for days. I love how the church is making it so interactive for everyone; really putting an emphasis on serving and helping others is a great idea. I've seen the best way to appreciate and become more like Christ is to serve those around us, so this initiative will be great.

Fun story time. Walking to Thanksgiving dinner, we met Nathan. He seemed like your average Oregonian homeless man: friendly, talkative, weird things on his feet, the works. As we're passing him, we start to have a conversation. Long story short, he was interested in coming to church. Cool we say, and give him the details. Coming back from dinner, we meet him again. We start talking a little bit more and this guy is just absolutely cuckoo for coca puffs. He starts going OFF on some dot matrix algorithm about heaven and hell and angels and giant space cubes and the rainbow and all this jazz. We're drawing massive blanks here. Then, to top everything off, he asks if we could baptize him. We were super confused, but said that we'd talk about it at church.

Saturday night, we're leaving the church when we see a large blue lump on the front steps. Great I think to myself, a homeless man. (It's not uncommon to see this, especially in Eugene) We go to open the door and tell him he can't sleep there when he all of a sudden pops up and starts talking to us. It's the same guy! He was just SO excited to come to church the next day that he decided to crash right there. We told him we didn't want him to get in trouble, so he agreed to scamper off to somewhere else.

The next day at sacrament meeting, nothing. No Nathan to be seen. And we haven't seen him since. He may or may not have been a ghost, so hold tight.

The end.

Anyway, we're excited for this next week. I hope that you all have a great week as well. Thank you for all the love and support, it means so much. I'm thankful for YOU! Yes, you!

Much love! Keep it real.

Elder Jensen

Aptly named

Oh yea, we had exchanges this week too. It was fun.

Springfield Episode 8: Raining Cats and Dogs (and goats and horses...)

Howdy Folks! It's Elder Jensen here in the good old OEM.

It was another pretty half-decently-ok not too bad week in Springfield. There are a lot of good things that could start taking off here pretty soon, but right now we're on the grind. Looking for people to teach in the pouring rain can be pretty fun when it's not the worst thing ever. But we press on!

The holidays are apparently super rough for investigators over here. We had quite a few people who said that they're just too busy to meet with us over the next few weeks. Shelli said that she wasn't going to be able to see us until January so that was kind of the pits. The lesson that we had with her was still nice though. We also had a few other random and scattered lessons. We met with Ken again this week, he also said that the next two weeks or so would be rough, so it's kinda slowing down with him. But he's RIGHT THERE when he decides that he's ready. It's all just a matter of time.

Holy cow we walked just absolutely EVERYWHERE this week. In the rain, in the dark, in the cold, in the park. Over here, over there, we seem to walk everywhere! We also tracted out this entire apartment complex in one day, and no one yelled at us! So that was dandy.

Let's see what else happened this week... Oh I gave a conducted a baptismal interview. The sisters in the 5th ward have an 11 year old girl on date for baptism next week and I got the chance to interview her. It was an awesome experience. She's super solid and it was awesome to help her out.

We also talked to this crazy lady on a bridge he other day. The conversation was muffled but one in that I did get out of it was the quote, "I believe that Jesus Christ walked across the Atlantic Ocean!" There's Oregon for you in a nutshell. That's about it though.

This next week should be more exciting, so stay tuned.

Thank you all for all that you do. Love you all. Don't do drugs.

Elder Jensen

Not a shabby view

Watch out for random bridge ladies

Springfield Episode 7: This Town Apparently IS Big Enough for the Two of Us!

Hey there friends and family and people who happened to stumble upon this here letter of mine.

I hope everything is going well for you. This has been an eventful week here in the city of Springfield. So, like I said in last week's email, we had another set of Elders double transfer into the area. We spent the first few days referring some people over to them so that they weren't just working up from scratch. It's been pretty fun having a second set of missionaries in the ward again. Dinner with four missionaries vs two is significantly more fun.

So, to add to the confusion of everything, Elder Finlinson's companion, Elder Terry, tore his ACL, MCL, and part of his meniscus, so he was hobbling around on crutches for a while. But, President Russell decided that it was best for him to head home and get the help that he needed. After we packed all of his stuff up, Elder Finlinson got to hang out with us for a day while his new companion, Elder Baker, came up. While we were waiting for him, we went to visit a former investigator named Ken Moxley. We knocked on his door pretty late, but he still let us in and we talked with him for a good while. In the discussion, he said that he's been thinking a lot about baptism and decided that was something he wanted to do. We weren't able to pin a date down with him specifically, but he made a goal to pray for a date that he feels will be what Heavenly Father wants for him. He even came to church with his wife, a less active member, and stayed for the entire block! That's commitment right there. I super excited to continue meeting with him. The spirit was so strong during his lesson. He's going to be a great member someday.

Other fun things that happened this week. We had interviews with President Russel on Saturday. It's always great to have some one on one time with your priesthood leaders. He was able to help me out and answer some questions that I had, which I was super appreciative for.

We also changed some guy's tire in the pouring rain last night. He hit a median on his way to pick someone up and pulled off to see what the damage was. We ran on over there to see if there was anything we could do to help out. We ended up changing the tire for him completely. One of his buddies who he called after it happened came over to assist, and it turns out he was a less active member. God truly does work in the most mysterious of ways.

Also, we met a guy who's name translates to (apparently) A Scarecrow Born in Hell without a Soul. He took a Book of Mormon. Nice guy.

That's about it for me. Thank you all for the love and support!

Have a great week.

Love,
Elder Jensen

Much needed round these parts 

The silent protector of the Pacific Northwest

Apparently in Eugene they'll wrap your food up as a duck, if you don't finish it 

Springfield Episode 6: ZL for a Week

Hey party people. Elder Jensen here coming at you live from Springfield.

This was an awesome week. Actually, this was probably one of the best weeks of my entire mission, but all for strange reasons. Allow me to explain.

Last Sunday night, the 30th, we get a call from the assistants asking if I would come to MLC on Tuesday. So, there was a lot of confusion. The next day, we figured out that one of the ZLs in Springfield got called to be one of the Assistants to President Russell, so Elder Ellis needed someone to help him teach ZTM on Friday and they asked me to fill in.

This week consisted of meetings. Soooooooo many meetings. Tuesday we had MLC, which is combined with all the Zone leaders and Sister Training Leaders from throughout the mission. It was nice to be able to be back there and feel the spirit from all the other missionaries. We discussed the things that we wanted to teach at ZTM during the meeting, and we came up with the topics of discussion for Friday. The meeting was definitely lead by the spirit and I came away with some great insights.

The next day, guess what happened? ANOTHER MEETING WOOT! We all met up together in the Eugene Stake Center with five and a half other zones of missionaries. Needless to say, there were a lot of us there. We talked about a lot really good topics and were taught by President Russell about great things. We also had some awesome announcements of things that are coming up, so there should be plenty of fun things happening, especially for Christmas!

Friday we had ZTM. It was such a blessing to be able to teach again. We talked a lot about things that we as a zone could work better on. The things we ended up teaching involved repentance and the love for our Savior. We emphasized that all that we do in missionary work stems from our love of the Savior, and we should continually seek for ways to improve ourselves through repentance. It was probably one of the best meetings I've ever been to. The spirit there was super strong and I was so grateful to be able to be a part of it.

Other than that, there isn't a whole lot of things to report. I spent most of my week being a Spanish Zone leader, so I'm not sure 100% what even happened while I was out but hopefully good things! (Also, being a Spanish missionary was super fun)

It's a good thing that Elder Wikan and I are staying together this next transfer. They're going to have me be a district leader this time around and we get another set of missionaries in our ward, so it should be a blast!

That's about it for me. I love you all so much! Thank you for all the love and support you all give me. Take care and don't be square.

Stay classy San Diego,
Elder Jensen

Elder Redding is going home and I'm so sad :( 

Springfield Zone

SPRANGFIELD

Springfield Episode 5: Halloween or Normal Day? You Can't Quite Tell...

Hey there everyone. It's me, Elder Jensen again. How's everyone's day been? Having a Happy Halloween I hope. Stay safe, if there's a gun inside your candy bar DONT EAT IT.

Things have been moving slowly up here in Springfield, but they've been moving. The weather has let up a little bit, so Elder Wikan and I aren't walking around town looking like Sith Lords with our hoods up. It's been a blessing.

We've had the opportunity to do a few different things in the vineyard this past little while. On Wednesday, we helped out at the local Adult Activities center and their Meals on Wheels program. It was an awesome opportunity to help some of the members of the community. Old people are the best oh man. It was a blast!

We didn't have too many lessons this week, but the ones that we did have were great. We retaught the Plan of Salvation lesson to Xavier and tried to make it fun for him. I think it worked. We cut out a bunch of paper circles, labeled them with the different steps of the Plan, and then had him put the pieces in the order he remembered them. I think he got a lot out of it.

We also had a two hour long discussion with a less active member who wound up getting baptized into the seventh day Adventist church. We discussed points of doctrine and differences/similarities between the two. Most of what we talked about we agreed on; probably about 90% of it was exactly what we believe. It was cool to get that perspective and knowledge about other's religious beliefs.

On Saturday, we had our ward Halloween party which was combined with the First Ward. It was a huge blast! Chili cook off, trunk or treat, and good company. What more could you want? I opted to dress up as a nerdy Spanish missionary (thanks in part to Elder Adams and the name tag he lost in Corvallis) and on Sunday, we had the primary program. It's always sweet to see the kids go up and speak about what's important to them. It was great.

Other than that, not a whole lot to report. This week is going to be jam packed though. We have lessons and meetings and transfers and more (Oh my!) So I promise next week's letter will be better.

Until then, thank you all for the love and support. I hope you all have a wonderful rest of your week.

Don't talk to strangers.

Love,
Elder Jensen

First + Second = Third?

Hola, soy Elder Adams (ft Elder Bowers)

I got my holidays mixed up