The Craziness

Hello Everybody,

It's been a really good week in Grants Pass. Elder Black and I are getting around to all of our investigators and making a lot of progress.

We've been working with a young woman named Kat who's friend with the YSA kids. She's super solid and loves coming to church and to FHE activities. She should be close to getting on date soon.

This week we also had the world wide missionary broadcast from the general authorities and missionary council for the church. It was such an awesome experience to be able to have council from the Lord's anointed and hear them talk about how we can be better missionaries. Immediately following the broadcast we had a nice specialized training with President Russell and the AP's. It was a really great and spiritual day.

 This week, the first crazy Zone Leader duty happened. So, a long story made short, we had some threats made against some of our missionaries in the zone. This caused Elder Black and I to wake up at 5:00 in the morning, drive down to Cave Junction, pack up their apartment, drop them off at our apartment (where they will be living for the next month), and then take our Chevy Cruze up to Roseburg and give it to Elder Carter (*one of his companions when he served in Roseburg) who is now serving in North Bend. Elder Carter's companion is having some back problems and they need a car. It's been a crazy day to say the least, but super fun. I'm excited for the next few weeks. 

Love,
Elder Jensen

Saw Elder Carter in Roseburg

Teaching Kat

Pants Grass

Friends, Mormons, Countrymen, lend me your ears.

Howdy! It's been a full week over here in Grants Pass and things have been great. This has been the first time on my mission where I've felt like I'm actually serving in Oregon. It's super duper rainy and there are trees EVERYWHERE! It's pretty fantastic.

My companion this time around is Elder Black from Clearfield. He's a stud missionary and we get along really well, which is always a plus. He's been training me to be a Zone Leader which is an adventure in and of itself. We are responsible for our own area plus six others. We're also accountable to the Assistants and President Russell for what goes on in the zone, and have to train and teach at the Zone Training Meetings every month. There have already been a few long nights trying to help everyone out, but it's so much fun.

One of the best things that comes with being up here in GP is that we cover two wards, Murphy Creek and Three Rivers YSA branch. Holy cow, the YSA is SO much fun! And that's where this week will begin. The very fist thing that I did after getting here (after shopping and all that) was to go to the YSA family home evening. It kinda felt like being around a big group of friends while simultaneously doing missionary work. We do a lot of fun stuff like volunteering at the local food bank and soup kitchen, but the majority of our week was spent visiting and having lessons with our investigators.

The teaching pool here is awesome. There are so many solid people to teach and lots and lots of potential investigators. It's nice to have a full schedule all the time for once. Some of the coolest people that I was able to meet included Joe Snook (and investigative reporter who wants as much information as possible before he makes a commitment on the church), the Jaramillo family (the cutest and most spunky little kids ever) and Emma Ice (a fairly recent covert who walks with a backward walker thing and just loves the heck out of the gospel). I'm still trying to get a hang of everyone and everything out here but it's been great teaching everyone and going to two different sacrament meetings.

I hit my six month mark last week. It's been such a great experience serving the people of Oregon. I've grown and learned so much over these last six months. I can't wait for the next 18!

Love,
Elder Jensen

Happy 6 months ceremonial tie burning

iPads are fun

I replaced the guy in the blue sweatshirt

Tracting in the forest 

This is a story all about how my life got flipped-turned upside down...

HOLY COW. This week has been just absolutely off the wall with stuff to talk about. So, I'll start at the beginning.

On Monday night Elder Best, the other District Leaders, and the Zone Leaders went up north for Missionary Leadership Conference. I went on an extended exchange with Elder Wagstaff who was serving in Lakeview. We had a really great time together. We taught a woman named Heather and were really able to show her that by having her in this gospel, not only will she be blessed, but so will so many others. She really connected with that and committed to coming to church on the 17th! Elder Wagstaff also got the chance to meet Lesley and have a good lesson with him.

Elder Best got back later in the evening on Tuesday with everyone. Come to find out, Elder Hinton (Elder Thurgood's companion) was called to be an assistant to the President, so that means Elder Thurgood got to spend the entire rest of the week with us! So for those keeping track at home, that's 2 new missionaries I got to be with this week< Thursday was the next new companion adventure. While the DL's, STL's, and Elder Thurgood planned Zone Training meeting, I went out with Elder Greer who just so happens to be a Spanish speaking missionary! The next few hours consisted of us going around talking and teaching in the Spanish language. Now, I don't speak any form of Spanish whatsoever, but hearing Elder Greer testify of the restored gospel and of the Savior was such a special experience. I could really feel the spirit even though I couldn't make hide nor hair of what was being said. This gospel is truly universal and I love that so much.

Friday was the day of ZTM. Poor companion-less Elder Thurgood had no one to help him teach. It was actually kind of funny. It was a wonderful meeting where we talked in depth about the converting power of the spirit and how we must truly feast on the Book of Mormon to testify of its truthfulness. Also, President Russell made a surprise visit to the meeting which is always fun! He truly brings the spirit with him when he's around us. After ZTM, we had a great lesson with a girl named Leah. Leah has lupus and had actually gotten home from the doctor just a few minutes before we went over to teach her. At her appointment, the doctors told her that she may not have the opportunity to live to see her 30th birthday. This poor woman is only 26 and has two awesome kids. The spirit strongly impressed us to change our lesson plan completely and teach her about the Plan of Salvation and why we go through trials. She really seemed to connect with what we said, and was very grateful for the message.

Then...we road tripped. Elder Thurgood covers the Keno branch which extends all the way down to the city of Dorris, California, so we went on an adventure. And what an adventure it was! The people down there were not super friendly, but now we can say that we tracted in two states on the mission. Also, Elder Best got to pump his own gas which he enjoyed very much.

Friday night was the night that things got crazy. This weekend was transfer calls, and at ZTM President Russell said that only one companionship in the zone would be staying together through transfers, so we all started to make predictions. I thought for SURE that Elder Best was going to be leaving, but I had this feeling that something else was going to happen. When President called us with our information, he asked me if I would leave Klamath Falls and go to Grants Pass to be a Zone Leader. I was shocked! I haven't even been a District Leader yet, but I was being called to help lead a zone. I was very humbled that the Lord has enough faith in me to leave my area, start over again, and take on this responsibility. I'm excited to go to Grants Pass for this next adventure.

The rest of the week was spent packing up and saying goodbye to members and investigators. Even though my stay in Klamath was short, I'm very grateful for the chance I had to spread the gospel there! On to GP!

Love,
Elder Jensen

2016

Root a Toot Happy Scootin Newtin New Year!

This was a good week in Klamath Falls. It's been cold as heck over here, like 9 degrees with windchill that makes it seem like it's -15, but that just makes it fun. Some of the highlights of this week include New Year's exchanges and the most amazing tacos ever.

On Wednesday, I went on exchanges with Elder Thurgood, one of the Zone Leaders in this area. Now, the thing about when I go on exchanges is that when I do things tend to not go as planned. All of the lessons that we scheduled fell through, tracting wasn't successful, and to top it off we got stuck in a snowbank for an hour! Don't let people from New Mexico drive in the snow.

New Year's was a party! Especially when you have to be in by 5pm. In case you couldn't catch the sarcasm in my words . . . it was not that fun. But ringing in the new year was still a trip. It's weird to think that it's 2016 now. It was nice to be able to hangout with everyone in the zone.

We also ate amazing tacos for dinner last night. Like bring a tear to your eyeball good.

On a more missionary related note, we're finally starting to come off of the "It's Christmas don't bug me please" season and getting back in with people. It was great to get into the groove of doing work. We had another great lesson with Lesley and I think that we're about to make a breakthrough where he starts to progress.

This week will be the last week of the transfer, so we'll get more news about what happens with me and Elder Best soon. Stay tuned.

Happy New Year!
Elder Jensen

The icicles here are crazy sauce

New Mexi-Snow

The Falls

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!!

It was a wonderful holiday in Oregon. The week was slow in the whole "go and teach and have lessons and stuff like that" aspect of missionary work, but that happens. Surprisingly, not a whole lot of people want to talk about religion at the time of year where it's most predominately celebrated. But, we did have a good week. We had another awesome lesson with Lesley and a great lesson with a woman named Sandra and her inactive boyfriend, Will. After about two months of trying to get in the door we were able to have a sit-down lesson with them. The spirit was very, very strong. Hopefully we can get them coming to church too.

HOLD ON TO YOUR SEATS FORLKS WE'RE TALKING ABOUT CHRISTMAS, WAHOO!!

This Christmas story starts on Christmas Eve at the Red Cross taking people's blood (we didn't actually take anyone's blood, we just gave them juice). The rest of the day was spent with members having festivities and eating lots and lots of sugar. The best part of the Eve was the zone testimony meeting at the stake center. It was an amazing experience to be able to hear fellow servants of the Lord bear testimony at Christmas time.

AND THEN IT WAS CHRISTMAS!!!!!

Oh man, what a wonderful day. I got the chance to talk to my family via FaceTime which was an absolute delight! It was so great to actually be able to see their faces. I don't know if I've ever seen my mom so happy before in her life! It made me feel good to know that I was able to make their Christmas special.

Other than the normal missionary Christmas stuff, like watching a movie and hanging out with the other missionaries, we were also able to spend time with the members around the area and in the ward. It's been such a privilege to be able to teach and testify of the Savior at this time when we celebrate His birth. I couldn't think of a better way to spend the holidays than right here in Klamath Falls, doing the Lord's work. I testify that He truly does live, and loves all of us personally and perfectly.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone!

Elder Jensen

Christmas Countdown

Merry Christmas Everyone!

It's looking like it's going to be a white Christmas here in Klamath. A REALLY white Christmas. Seriously, it's been snowing nonstop for 3 days. It's made for some really precarious driving situations. But, that's beside the point because it's almost time for CHRISTMAS HOLY COW I'M SO EXCITED!!!!  What better time to be sharing the message of Jesus Christ. With the Christmas season comes a bit of trouble coming up with lessons and finding people to teach. We didn't let that get us down. Even though we didn't have a ton of lessons, we enjoyed all the opportunities we had to teach. Hopefully next week will be better (which it will because Christmas).

Among our various activities for this week was our ward Christmas party. It was combined with the Spanish speaking branch and we had a FIESTA, complete with with tamales and latin dancing (which we did not participate in). It was really fun to see all of our investigators come and enjoy time with the ward members.

Even though it was slow, we were able to get in a few great lessons. We taught the Malsi family again and it was incredibly spiritual. They are really considering having their kids baptized, which is an amazing development. They just want to make sure they have all the information on the commitments that they're making. Now we just need the parents to understand the priesthood and all that jazz, and they'll be solid too. We were also able to get in with Lesley, who's really starting to understand the things that we teach. And then Miranda too who should be on date here pretty soon.

I thought I would have more to talk about this week but looks like I'm out. We did have an ugly sweater photo shoot, so that was pretty exciting. But, other than that this week has been rather slow. Hopefully I'll have more to report after Christmas. Which reminds me, have a very Merry Christmas!!

Love,
Elder Jensen

Our church with the Articles of Faith engraved on the side 

Klamath Falls 5th Ward represent

Making friends 

Christmas in Klamath

Dear Familia,

Feliz Navidad! (I was feeling especially Spanish today). How's everything going back home? It sounds like you've all had quite the week, that's for sure. Holy cow, that's a TON of snow you've gotten recently. We've been getting a bunch as well, but I'll explain more about that later. Tell Nash that I would like to be able to see him in one piece when I get home! Hopefully everything heals up nice and neatly.

Klamath Falls hasn't been all THAT sketchy, just a little bit. I've only heard 3 gun shots so far during my time here. Just kidding . . . or am I?  I've never once felt scared or threatened on my mission so I'm not too worried.  The city has actually been really good. A common theme in Oregon is that people tend to stay in their hometowns for life, so we've come across a lot of people with deep roots in the city. Klamath Falls also has a very distinct smell, but I'm getting used to it.

Our bikes have been put away for the winter because we have a car! (that I get to drive, word up!) We don't have al the miles in the world though so we walk around sometimes. Our apartment is actually out of our area, so our new central hub is the church building. The church is unique because it is one of only a few buildings that has the Articles of Faith engraved on the side.

My week has been really, really good. We've been teaching a ton of people and getting a lot of good work done. There have been days where we are going straight from one appointment to the next with barely enough time to eat dinner.  There was a day that we taught 5 lessons back to back! It was awesome!!

I've really started to connect with the ward and with our investigators. I'm pretty sure that I've met everyone that we're teaching and oh boy, there are some real characters. We've had a few 2-hour lessons with Lesley, the self proclaimed Brotha, a few lessons with some hyperactive grade schoolers, and then there was the time a guy told us being a stoner was the best thing ever.

Among all the crazy, we've also had a lot of really spiritual uplifting events happen. The most noteworthy one happened yesterday, so I guess it's good that P-Day was switched to today.  We had a specialized training and interviews with President Russell. I alway love hearing from him. He brings such a special spirit when he addresses us, and I love it. He talked extensively about how the mission isn't our mission, but The Lord's. We also talked about Christmas and specifically what gift we would give to the Savior to celebrate His birth. That's something we could all take to heart as we get closer to Christmas.

After the interviews we had a lesson with a less-active member named Carl, that one of the ward members referred to us. He told us that we would be lucky to even get the time of day from him, let alone get in the door. But, for some reason he let us come in and hear about his situation. We felt the Spirit very strongly as we shared ways to grow our faith. We tried to help him understand why God gives us trials. He seemed to take the lesson very well and invited us back! It was definitely one of the greatest lessons on my mission thus far.

This wouldn't be an Elder Chase Jensen email without some fun shenanigans. Like the fact that we've totally decked the heck out of our apartment. A member gave us a Christmas tree, like a full sized 7-foot tree that's now comfortably sitting in the corner. Also, it snowed a TON down here, and really quickly at that. It made for some precarious driving situations on the hilly side of the neighborhood. One day during lunch we made a very sad looking snowman, so that was an adventure. Also, when you're out walking in the middle of a blizzard, watch out for ice. That's all I've got to say on that one.

Stay safe, stay warm, stay classy, stay away from drugs, and most importantly, stay strong!

Merry Christmas to all!!

Love,
Elder Jensen

He was destroyed by enemies shortly thereafter

Fa la la la la la la la la

Winter

Elder Way - we got excited!