Rebels With a Cause

Hello from Grants Pass!

My week has been a pretty good one to start the transfer off. We've taught well and had a lot of success in the zone. I'll get to some of the highlights of the week.

So one day we were just straight chilling on this street corner waiting for a member to pick us up for a lesson, when all of a sudden this lady drives up and starts talking to us. Turns out she has had missionaries over helping her in the past and was actually praying for someone to come and help her. Well look who just happened to be standing on the street corner....us! We went over a few days later to help her in her yard, or should I say, small forest. There was grass up to about my thighs in places. We still haven't gotten it all the way finished, but the woman invited us back to help and teach her, which is awesome! It's also been pretty enjoyable. I never thought I would actually enjoy mowing a lawn, but there ya go! (We also may or may not have broken the bishop's lawn mower...whoops)

Elder Cho was out for the count for a day or too, so I was taking over in teaching people while he was resting up. I had 4 different companions in the space of about 4 hours one day. It was a pretty swell day and we were able to teach a lot of people over that time.

We also had an instance where some of the sisters wouldn't answer their phone so we had to go and investigate to make sure they weren't dead. Long story short, they just went to bed early and were dead to the world so they didn't hear their phone blowing up. We were driving around the city at 11 at night! Rebellious.

On a less than happy note, the Jaramillos (have I mentioned them before?) kinda dropped us this week. If I haven't, here's an up-to-speed analysis. So Lilly, Delilah, and Luke are all Mystique's kids. Mystique has a sister who is a recent convert and we've been teaching them with her help. Mystique also has a boyfriend who's a bit of a...not nice guy, and he eventually put his foot down and said we couldn't come over anymore. I told the kids that if I have to come back in 8-12 years to see them get baptized, I will! Everyone has their own timetable for their salvation, so we can only be patient and trust in the Lord. Hopefully we can still get in and see them every so often.

That's about it for this week, I'm grateful for all of the love, prayers, and support from everyone. It makes this big ol adventure a heck of a lot easier! I hope to hear from you all soon. Make sure to properly defrost the windshield BEFORE you start driving as to avoid accidents.

Love you all!

Elder Jensen

email: jensen.chase@myldsmail.net
address: 152 Southridge Way, Grants Pass, Oregon 97527

Hungry Hungry Elder

So. Many. Ribs.

View from the top of Grants Pass

Hanging in our apartment. 

The Week with the Zone Princess

Hey there family and home and friends and people and moms and all!

It's transfer week down here in good old Grants Pass! With transfer news upon us, Elder Cho and I aren't going to be splitting up for the time being. 6 more weeks. It should be a heck of a time and I'm really excited for what's to come.

This week was yet another out of the ordinary experience. So, last week, I told the story of how we had to take Elder Zilles's companion to the airport. Definitely good times looking back on it, but still a bummer to see a good guy go. Anywhooises, Elder Zilles, being without a companion, needed somewhere to go. So who got to hangout in a tri-panionship for the week? WE DID WAHOOOOOOO!!! Elder Zilles was then dubbed the zone princess due to his accompanying us. 

Tuesday we went up to Eugene for MLC. It wasn't my favorite meeting in the world, but there was still some good stuff that was taught that we were able to pass on to our zones during ZTM on Friday. This zone meeting actually went really well and was relatively fun to teach. We were able to talk extensively about planning. And not just any planning, hardcore nose to the grindstone extreme planning. We were also able to focus our missionaries attentions on the Why's of missionary work. Everything we do as missionaries is to help others receive eternal life. We know that God is more than capable of doing this without our help, so I find it an amazing blessing that we're able to be here and be part of the production of such a great work. It's honestly such a blessing, and should be treated as such, not an obligation or a burden or something to endure, but rather a way for both bettering ourselves and those around us more fully.

Amongst other things, we also toured a hotel, sorted some clothes, taught some crazy kids, played intense capture the flag, and bought British treats. All in a day's work for we missionaries. :)

That's about it for this week. Stay tuned for some fun stuff regarding the first week of the transfer. 

Love you all lots!

Elder Jensen

What a reunion with Elder Carter

The family tree

The native inhabitants of Oregon are not interested in the Gospel at this time

Flower Tie Friday

The Zone

Another day in the YSA

Tune my Heart to Sing Thy Grace (aka the time we played airport shuttle)

What a rollercoaster these past few weeks have been. Holy cow, there's so much to talk about.

This week was another crazy one, filled with the most up of ups and the most down downs and everywhere in between. It was a week for growth and strengthening of testimony and refinement into what God wants me to be. But with each and every event, there's something to take away and apply for the better.

Let me first start out by saying that every single set lesson that we had this week cancelled or bailed on us. Every one. We had impromptu drop in lessons and talked with lots of people, but only had maybe 2-3 actual sit down discussions. I've found when you're not teaching, missionary work doesn't feel as fun.

Because we didn't have any lessons, we spent a lot of time trying to find people to teach through tracting, potential lists, and other means. No one was interested, but we sure as sure planted a lot of seeds in the hearts of people.

Like I said before, a lot of our week was really up and down. We went to have a lesson with Fawn and the kids only to find a note on the doorframe saying that they needed to "talk as a family and see if our visits were necessary." We thought we got dropped; dropped like it was hot. After being somewhat devastated for a few days, we went back over to their house to see what the big deal was. Turns out that Fawn is still interested, but gets stressed out when we're over because she doesn't think her kids are listening. We told her that it wasn't a problem and that we could have separate lessons with her and the kids so she didn't feel so stressed. Problem solved and crisis averted!

We also had a specialized training with President Russell and the assistants this week. It was a great spiritually uplifting meeting full of good teachings and the spirit. Even better than that though was our zone testimony meeting we had on Friday. Everyone in the zone was able to share something, even those who we didn't think would and the spirit was SUPER strong! I feel like it brought everyone together and made us more united. Then, in true Murphy's law form, we shattered the screen on our phone, rendering it almost unusable. As the Zone Leaders, we kiiiinnnndddaaa need to have a phone, and we went without one for FOUR DAYS. It was the worst thing. 0/10. Would not recommend.

But then, my saving grace came: General Conference. This was probably the best conference that I've had the chance to listen to in my entire life. I loved all the messages that were shared and the council that was given. The spirit that was felt really gave me a much needed boost and helped keep me positive and focused. Some of my favorite talks that were given include the addresses of President Uchtdorf, Elder Rendlund, Elder Holland, President Nelson, and our wonderful prophet, President Monson. I loved the central themes of family and support for those around us, temples, and the priesthood. From President Eyring starting off the conference with a great promise of the spirit to Elder Holland driving home a powerful testimony of love and support, this conference felt complete. Every address flowed well into the next and brought comfort and peace to me and my soul. Some favorite moments also included the guy in the choir that was crying during "Come Thou Fount", Elder Ballard saying "Snapchat" and President Uchtdorf talking about the Chewbacca costume. Also, I really want to have a British apostle now.

After being on such a spiritual high, we were super pumped and ready to have the baptismal interview for Ray. We had it all set up and were waiting for him to show up when ten minutes go by, then twenty, then thirty. Amidst all the calls and texts we sent to him, we decided to run over to his house and investigate. When we got there, we felt trouble in the air. We walked in and discovered that Ray had relapsed into old Ray habits. Badly. We had a full lesson with him using the things we talked about in conference telling him that he IS worth something in the eyes of God and he can be forgiven of his sins. He finished the lesson in tears and a sweet prayer. We're working with him to get baptized on the 30th of April!

The craziness of this week was capped off with our mad dash around the state of Oregon yesterday. We have an elder that has been struggling and it was suggested by his doctors that it's time for him to go home. What started off as us just taking him up to the mission home turned into us literally driving as fast as missionarily possible straight to the airport. We were FLYING. White knuckles. Constant calls from President Russell. No stopping. It was intense. But, he made it there safe and sound! It was a bummer to see him go, but we know that home is where he needs to be right now. So that's where the majority of our PDay went yesterday, on the road.

Although our week was crazy, it's definitely been for my benefit. These past few weeks have been full of more growth and learning than any other time in my life. It hasn't been easy, but it's sure as heck been an adventure. I feel like President Monson's words at conference really sum it up well. We know where we want to go, so we must make the choices that will get us there. If we choose Christ, we will always choose the correct path for us, even when times are hard. No, especially when times are hard.

Here's looking toward the last week of the transfer! I love you all and hope that everyone has a lovely day/night/morning/evening!

Oh, and I also got my eyebrows waxed this week. It wasn't pleasant.

Love,
Elder Jensen
jensen.chase@myldsmail.net

There is a family in the ward named the Webster's. Guess where they're from?

(I'll give you a hint, it's written on the book)  ((I'll give you another hint, it's Kaysville))

Traditional post-Priesthood ice cream

Our cute lil temple

Happy Easter!

Hello world! What it is?

This week was just straight molasses. Pure snail racing. 100% three toed sloth. Or, in other words, this week was slow. Really, REALLY slow. But, does that mean it was a bad week? NO! This week was pretty good, especially with the celebration of Easter! But, we'll get to that in a bit.

What was the content of this supah slow week you might ask? Let me tell ya. We had a ton of lessons scheduled for this week, like, you'd look at our plans and say "Dang, that's a lot of lessons." But with it being spring break over here, did most of those lessons happen? If you guessed "No", then you'd absolutely correct! We only taught five or so lessons this week due to everyone running around and I was only there for two of them because of exchanges.

Of the lessons we did have, there were some good ones. We've been going through the new member lessons with Kat and she's still solid as solid can be. She's got her limited use temple recommend so she can do baptisms and even got some callings in the YSA yesterday. I'm so proud of her. We've also been meeting with Joe lately too. He's right there man. If we don't get him dunked imma lose it.

This was also one of the weeks where we did a whole bunch of random stuff that made no sense. The Beacon Hill elders FINALLY GOT THEIR OWN PLACE HALLELUJAH WE'RE FREE!! It was kinda weird being all by our lonesomeness in our apartment, but it was time. The apartment manager didn't give them a refrigerator. Lame.

We also helped the Redwood Elders with "moving" one of their referrals. And by "moving" I mean, we CLEANED UP THESE KIDS' ROOMS FOR LIKE 2 HOURS I DIDN'T SIGN UP FOR THIS. WHAT. Maybe I did sign up for that, I dunno. BUT IT STILL WASNT FUN.

The one thing that made this week doable was Easter. What a fantastic opportunity to spend this wonderful holiday in the service of the Lord. What we've been sharing this past month has been just how important this celebration should be for us. Christmas is a fantastic and a great celebration of the birth of our Savior, but I feel that it overshadows the celebration of the most crucial and important aspect of our entire lives; the Atonement, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Because of Him, our lives have meaning and our existence means something. He allows us to live again and be forgiven of our faults and weaknesses. I love Him so much. Hallelujah!

That's about it for me. How are YOU all doing? I'd love to know. Talk to you all later.

Same mish time, same mish channel!

Love, Elder Jensen
jensen.chase@myldsmail.net

Hanging with Elder Zilles on exchanges

Elder with guitar

Spring Rain --> Winter Rain and the week I tried to be German

What it is everyone?! How's it going? How's the family?

This was a pretty good week over here in Oregon. We had a lot of fun stuff mixed in with equal amounts of craziness and excitement, but a good week nonetheless.

We were able to have some awesome lessons this week. One of my favorite developments as of late has been a new family that we've been working with; Stephen, Fawn and their four kids. We actually found them a while ago when we blitzed in our area for new investigators. We've been meeting with them fairly regularly over the past little while and they're SUPER involved. We found out that Stephen is actually a member but has been inactive since his youth and wants his family to have a life in the Gospel. Even though Fawn doesn't have a religious background and the kids are young, they're all very interested and retain a lot of information. I'm excited to see where they go from here.

On Thursday, we had our quarterly interviews with President Russell. It's always a great time to get to meet with President and talk about the Gospel. You know you're on the right track when you get sat down, get asked "Is there anything you want to discuss with me? No? Alright!", have a 5 minute conversation and then you're done. It's a good time.

Now on to the German thing. So there's this member in the ward that met this German lady named Babsi online and decided to marry her. I know, it's kinda weird but just wait, there's more. So the member, Brother Black, wants Babsi to learn about the Gospel but she doesn't speak English well, or basically at all. Brother Black also has some rather eccentric views about the Gospel so you can see where this is going. Brother Black asked us to teach Babsi. On Wednesday night we went over to the Black's for dinner with a family in the ward who's daughter speaks a little German. We have dinner and things are good, but then we come to the lesson. For starters, Babsi didn't know that we were trying to teach her, so she was a little confused during the whole situation. We usually try to establish some expectations with the investigators before we start teaching, but Brother Black didn't like that. He kept telling us to just start going and the Spirit would connect with her. Which is true, to an extent, but when the investigator doesn't know they're being taught, there's not much we can do. What was supposed to be an hour lesson turned into THREE, all through Google translate and a high schooler's German education. It was extremely confusing, but we were able to get the message across well and hopefully she will be receptive.

Other than that not a whole lot has changed. Ray is still super solid and is pumped to get baptized on the 9th. Everyone else is doing just hunky dory and things are swell.

On a more spiritual note, this week I decided to start using a study journal, more than just the notes app on my iPad. It's made a HUGE difference in the way that I study the scriptures and connect with the messages found in them. I encourage everyone to try it out for yourself, it'll change you life!

And now I'm off to the temple. I hope that everyone has a fantastic week. Talk to you all later.

Love,
Elder Jensen

The whole temple crew

Something Different

Good Morning or Afternoon or Evening (whichever specific time you happen to find yourself in whilst reading this entry),

So, this entry is going to be a little bit different. Instead of focusing on what events transpired this week, I'm going to try to focus on the things that I have felt and the things that the Spirit has confirmed to me. It might sound like I'm venting a little bit, but I've honestly grown so much this week it's kinda bonkers. Without anymore frivolity or introduction, this is it.

This week was not good. Honestly it was probably one of the most difficult times in my mission or even in my life, for that matter. It was the kind of week that makes you really rethink some of the things that are core and central to your life; why I'm out on a mission, why we go through the things we do, and the feelings of just giving it all up. What caused this valley in the sign wave of missionary work and of life? I'm not quite sure. I feel like there were several things that may have added up; a weeklong cold, frustration with myself and others, preexisting medical conditions causing all sorts of hullabaloo, things from my past nagging at my brain, stresses of accountability for myself and the Zone, and you name it . . . it was there.

Elder Cho and I went about the week doing the same type of things; teaching, finding, planning, the whole nine yards. But, I wasn't finding any joy in it. Any thoughts of accomplishment or success were dashed by feelings of guilt, anger or thoughts of "this doesn't really matter" I was reaching a crossroads. I could either continue to feel like this and waste my time out here (at least that's how I was thinking) or I needed to fix the situation.

Now, I don't recount this experience trying to get people to feel bad for me, I don't want that. What I do want is to share my testimony of the things that this week helped me learn. Albeit this week was rough, I am truly grateful for the experiences that I've had.

I learned that our trials are here to make us humble. "I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me" I know that without the grief I was feeling, there would be no way that I would truly come unto Heavenly Father with a broken heart and a contrite spirit. I didn't want to feel like this anymore. I literally could not keep living like this.

I learned that God truly does answer prayers. I plead to know what I should do, and I got my answer. I read Alma 5 and within those pages I found insights and comfort that I had never felt before.

I learned that Heavenly Father truly does love every one of His children. No. Matter. What. I felt a peace during my study that I can't deny. I felt the desire to change; to become what God has asked me to be. I asked for a Priesthood blessing and immediately after Elder Cho's hands were off my head, it was gone. Those thoughts and feelings of helplessness, depression and confusion were gone.

I feel I truly learned that the atonement is real and that it WORKS. One of the things predominately occupying my mind was thoughts of regret and guilt for the person I was before I left. I didn't like him, the things he said, the things he did. I felt minuscule under the calling that I was in. I felt hypocritical teaching others the gospel when I myself wasn't living it the way I knew I could be. But this week, I learned to forgive myself. I learned that true repentance is more than just a check and balance for mistakes that we've made. Repentance is our way of showing Christ we love Him, truly showing Him and our Father in Heaven that we're willing to forgive ourselves for our mistakes and the harm we may have caused others, and to turn to them. To become something better than we are.

I'm very grateful for this Gospel and for the church that represents it. I don't know everything and I know that trials and pains will still come, but without them life wouldn't mean anything. Christ's atonement wasn't Him being free from pain or anguish, but instead Him overcoming ALL things for us. For me. For you. I'm so grateful for Him, for the example that He set, showing us that all things are possible, that we truly have someone there who has felt our griefs and sorrows, or in this case - our horrible weeks. Again, I don't understand everything but I know that God is there and sent His son to become our Savior so we can become more like Him. I know they love us and because of that, we can keep moving forward.

Here's to better weeks for all of us, and to the blessings that come through trials. I'm so grateful for all of your love and support. I can't do this without you. Love you all so much!

This is Elder Jensen signing off for this week. Until next time, make sure to floss thoroughly and be nice to the grumpy cashiers (they're just having bad day).

Take Care,
Elder Jensen

The KatTism

Dear outside world,

It finally happened. Kat got dunked, hard-core. But, we'll get to that later.

Hey howdy hey everybody. It's been a good week here in Grants Pass. And by good week, I mean another kind of slow one that's still good nonetheless.

We'll get right on in to the center of the action for you. This week started out with us going up to Eugene for MLC to prepare for ZTM the following Friday. We were instructed by the mission presidency, Sister Russell, and the Assistants. It was a good meeting in all, but at the same time very VERY long. We actually didn't even get back to Grants Pass until like 8:30 that night. But I did have the opportunity to do my first baptismal interview all by my grown up self which was just swell as heck! Her name was Natasha and she was very excited to join the church.

Again, not the most exciting of my weeks here, but still a very good one. We taught some great lessons, especially to Joe Snook and Ray. We introduced Elder Cho to Joe (that rhymed) ((unintentional)) and I had the great privilege to hear Elder Cho's conversion story. It was wild and very spiritually uplifting. We think that Joe's going to finally accept an invitation hear in a little while, so keep your fingers crossed. Ray is also super excited to ditch his old life behind and keep moving forward to the gospel. He's locked in for the 2nd of April to make that commitment so mark your calendars.

I was able to teach my second ZTM on Friday which was great. We talked at length about working with members, the Book of Mormon, and invitations to be baptized. Everyone received it very well and enjoyed what we had to say.

Saturday was by far the best day of the whole week. We had an action packed sushi filled day that culminated with the best of the best being 'tized. The KatTism! It was such a spiritual experience all in true, off the wall, Kat fashion. We actually almost didn't have the baptism because we thought the font wasn't filled, but crisis averted. Kat was complaining how the jumpsuit made her look fat and was worried that the font was going to change colors after she got dunked (which we had to do three times, in true Kat fashion - it was marvelous!). She's awesome. All the silliness aside, she's really spiritual and very solid. She bore her testimony on Sunday and said "I really do know this church is true. If I didn't, I wouldn't have joined it." Such a sweet testimony immediately followed by her softly saying the words "crushed it" to herself as she sat down. It was the bomb diggidy! We finished off the night with an amazing sushi dinner. What else could a guy ask for?

That's about it for this week. Stay tuned for more crazy shenanigans and other stuff. This is Elder Jensen signing off.

Love you all!
Elder Jensen

The KatTism

Sushi Night

Live from Pday