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