The Empty Sea, Volume 2

We can't believe how quickly these last two weeks went by. After a tough first few days, the MTC ended up being a wonderful experience. Chase said in every letter how anxious he was to get into the field and begin his missionary service. Today he got his wish!!  This morning Chase was part of a group of 26 missionaries that flew to Eugene. (We found out that a group of 34 missionaries from the Eugene Mission were released and traveled home on Tuesday. Big changes happening in Oregon!)

Faith promoting story coming up.... Since families don't see their missionaries off at the airport anymore, like in the good-old days, we were really excited for Chase to call us from the airport to say goodbye. He was supposed to arrive at the airport around 6 am and would board the flight around 10:30. That was a huge block of time and since we are not morning people, we weren't surprised that by 9 am we still hadn't heard from him. We waited semi-patiently but when it was about 30 minutes before he should board the plane we (mom) started to panic. We figured he might be having a problem finding a phone since the group of missionaries was large and there aren't that many old-school telephones at the airport. Even though it was just a small thing and being able to say goodbye to our missionary certainly wasn't a life or death issue, I was hopeful we could still have the chance to talk to him. I said a quick little prayer that somehow Chase would be able to find a phone before it was too late. Not even one minute later our friend Clay called Darin from the airport. Clay was on the moving sidewalk walking one way and passed a big group of missionaries walking the other direction. Even though it was only a fast glance, Clay thought one of them might have been Chase so he called Darin to see if Chase happened to be flying out that morning. There truly are no coincidences! Darin said yes and explained that we were actually waiting to hear from him. Clay immediately went after Chase and gave him his cell phone to call us. What a sweet reminder that the Lord is always mindful of us. If it matters to us, it matters to Him. Needless to say it was a great phone call. Elder Jensen was happy and excited and ready to go. We love him and can't wait to hear about his experiences in the mission field.  

Following is an email from his last day at the MTC.

Hey Everyone!

Things are going really really well here. I'm actually kinda bummed that I'm going to have to leave now after all of the great friends that I've made. It's been such an amazing experience for my testimony and for my conversion to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We've been able to teach people here at the MTC and honestly that's been my favorite part of being here. We had this investigator named Lisa, a sculptor with a son that joined the church a few months ago, and she was such an amazing woman. It was so special for us to see her come unto Christ and watch the Spirit work in her. I felt such a genuine love for her and can only imagine how great the actual mission field is going to be. I honestly can't think of a cooler feeling that being able to share the Gospel with people. I get so happy when I can help bring the Spirit to someone and fulfill my missionary purpose. 

This is Elder Jensen and Elder Osborn, one of Chase's favorites from the MTC. Elder Osborn is called to serve in the New Zealand Hamilton Mission and hopefully he will run across our good friends Jay and Rachel Preston who live there. Elder Osborn's visa did not come through in time for him to travel with his group so Elder Jensen and his companion Elder Zilles adopted him and became "a new powerhouse companionship". I can only imagine. ;) Elder Osborn will serve in Phoenix until he can travel to New Zealand.

The District with President and Sister Menlove

Elder Jensen and his MTC companion Elder Zilles

Elder Jensen and Elder Braden Ross, a friend from Kaysville

New address:

ELDER CHASE JENSEN
OREGON EUGENE MISSION
55 W. 29th AVE., Ste. A
EUEGNE, OR 97405