It's really starting to feel like fall over here in Oregon; we've got leaves a changin' colors, rain a drizzlin', and temperatures a droppin'! It's been super nice to melt a little bit every time we take a step outside. With a change in the weather also comes a change in people's attitudes, so we've been working to try and talk to as many people as we can. We've definitely seen a lot of blessings in the past few weeks together.
The headline story for this episode would have to be that tansfer calls were this weekend, and it was pretty up in the air about what was going to happen. Will I stay with Elder Searcy and finish training him, or will I go and have him stay? We decided that we had a breakdown of 49.9% chance of the first and a 49.9% chance of the second with a .2% chance of something else happening. Elder Searcy has said before "If you want to make God laugh, make an assumption", and that was never manifested more than when we got the call Friday night that fell into the category of the .2%. I'm going to leave Philomath and head down to the Springfield 2nd Ward with my new companion Elder Wikan. Now here's the crazy train Mr. Osborne, Elder Searcy is out too. He's going down to Winston in the Roseburg Zone to be follow-up trained by an Elder Larsen. We really didn't see that coming, but to make things ever weirder, they're shutting our area down. There won't be any missionaries in Philomath for at least six weeks. It's a bit of a bummer that there won't be anyone here to help us build off of the foundation that we set while I was here, but everything works according to God's timing.
I think that's probably the most important lesson that I've learned during my time in Philomath; that no one can ever really know what the big picture is except for our Heavenly Father. We sometimes try to handle everything ourselves and put our confidence in our own efforts, but there really isn't much we can do. Faith is us putting our trust in The Lord and his plan for us, even if we don't fully know why things are going a certain way or why we're doing something. There have been so many times where I've just sat in my bed at night and thought "What am I even doing here? Nothing is making a difference." I realized later that we have NO idea what's going on behind the scenes; where seeds are being planted, where people are being prepared, or what God has in store for us. He's truly in the details and works by small, simple, and VERY specific means. While I may not know right now what the future holds for Philomath, I'm definitely proud of the work that we did here and am grateful for the opportunity I had to serve with these great people.
We broke the news to the ward council at church on Sunday. The ward was at a little bit of a loss for words, but handled the news fairly well. Most everyone had the attitude of "we need to get our crap together if we want missionaries back in our ward" which I think is an answer to prayers. I think that Philomath is will get a huge push of member missionary work now going forward.
Other than saying goodbyes to people, not a whole lot else happened this week. On to a new adventure down in Springfield!
Thank you all so much for everything that you do. You're fantastic! Have a great week.
With love,
Elder Jensen
142 Pleasant Street
Springfield, Oregon 97477
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| My two sons! Guess what? Elder Carter is going to train so I'm going to be a Grandpa |
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| Last District Meeting |
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| The Fongers - a family we loved to teach! |
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| The Pankella's one of my favorite families |
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| The Haslam's (who were basically my family in FLMTH) plus Mark and his girlfriend Tiffany |
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