WEEK 37 - Huanuco

May 29, 2017

Dearest familia and amigos,

This was a very great week, full of lots of little miracles!  I loved this week because I feel like I can truly testify that work is the best medicine to feel happy on the mission. Everyday we wake up, run and just stay busy working and studying until night. Usually I hit the bed, and don't even have time to think, I am sooo dang tired haha. 

I have made a new commitment to fast every week! I am hoping to gain a stronger testimony of fasting, and that it will help me become a better and stronger missionary. This week, we found a lot of news which was super great, but we really really wanted to get people to church.  Last transfer, we really struggled with getting people to come to church so I prayed and prayed that we would get someone to come. One of our investigators "Diego" who has been progressing really well and has come to church quite a few times told us he would come this Sunday so we were super pumped!  Also because he really wants to get baptized and is preparing for the 24th of June. When we got to Sunday, we did not see one investigator and Diego did not come either.  My heart broke, I felt so so sad.  I felt frustrated that we had put in so much effort, and everyone told us they would come and that no one showed up. I tried to just push through it and trust that if we just kept working, God would bless us and eventually we would get investigators at church.  During the intermediate hymn, we stood up and I turned around and in the very very back row in the corner, I see our investigator Querin!  He had come all by himself for the very first time ever. My heart was filled with so much joy!  I felt so grateful that God had heard our prayers and that Querin was able to come.  I could barely get the intermediate hymn out as tears began to swell up in my eyes, and I felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude towards God.  I love this work, and I truly know that it is the work of God. All he asks is that we have a willing heart and he will lead us to the people he needs us to find. As for Diego, well we are just going to have to talk to him about the importance of sabbath day more this week!  

Last sunday, one of the recent converts we have been teaching got called to be second counselor in the young mens presidency!  It is so cool to see all the amazing changes he has made and how much happier he is in the gospel. He is preparing to go to the temple in June and we got to teach him about family history and temples and he got so excited!  I love the temple and I am so glad that he gets to go soon!  I also know that scripture study is so important. I read a really awesome article this week in the Liahona that talked about Lehis dream and the rod of iron which represents the word of God. It is so soooo crucial that we hold onto the scriptures continually as it says, if we truly want to stay strong and faithful all of our lives. Those who leave the church are those who don't keep reading!!!  Read the scriptures and pray to God everyday, don't just be that person who does it only in moments of crisis. Do that, and when the trials come, you will be able to be firm! 

I love you all and hope you have an ammmazzzinnngg weeekk!!!

Love 

Hermana Jensen

My new companion - hermana Schmid

Goodbye to hermana Pliler

Plan of Salvation sidewalk chalk

WEEK 36 - Huanuco, Peru

MAY 22nd, 2017

Hi!

So this week we had transfers and Hermana Pliler left me which made me very sad. :(  We had tons of fun together and honestly she is someone that I will keep in contact for the rest of my life. We would leave to work and say companionship prayer and we would just laugh and laugh and had to always calm ourselves down before prayers. 

I am staying here in Ala Meda and I am with hermana Schmid!  I am also very excited to work with her and another gringa haha!  I really hope that we can help this area out. I have been feeling very frustrated lately because I just feel like I haven't seen that much success here on my mission.  Last transfer we contacted and worked so hard, but we have just been struggling finding people to progress and who are ready for baptism. It has been way rough. Something I am going to start doing is fasting more often to increase my testimony of fasting and also to be able to see more miracles in my mission.  

Ohhh myyy goodness, Hermana Schmid told me that in my first area. my investigator Rossi that I had contacted and taught who was in a wheelchair is now coming to church every week! annddd her boyfriend is now getting the lessons and they have plans to get married this week or the next and soon be baptized. That just really was a testimony to me, that a lot of times we do not see miracles directly in our missions or the blessings. Lot of times we just have to push forward and have faith that we will be blessed for our obedience and service. I know that most of the blessings we will probably never see in our missions but we just have to be patient and trust in God. I know that if I put my all in, that I will leave with no regrets and that I will be able to see the results of what I have done. 

Hermana Jensen

My zone

Mother's day breakfast with hermana Maruja!

My neighbor after we bandaged up her hand

WEEK 34 - Huanuco

MAY 8th, 2017

Hey!

This week was good, not gonna lie,  but by the time Monday rolls around sometimes I forget a lot, but it really has been good. We went on divisions again with the hermanas that serve in Pedro Puelles and I was with hermana Carbajal from Trujille, Peru.  It was way fun!  We get along really well and have very similar personalities so that's awesome.

Hermana Pliler and I found this couple named Luz and Jim this week, and they are literally sooooo great. They were just so cute and so interested and we are just so excited to keep teaching them. Jim plays the trumpet in a band so he travels a lot but we just really hope we can help them progress. 

We're still running every morning and my endurance has built up so much. It's so awesome, cuz we will run and run and when I get back home, I just feel way good and not that tired!  

Saturday to Sunday we fasted and we broke the fast at a members house and ate this thing called causa. It is like a potato sandwich thing with chicken and vegetables. It is good, but when we are with members I feel obligated to eat it all, so I did. And then Pliler turns to me and she is like help me! I can't eat this all... So I did haha and started to feel pretty gross. We have sacrament meeting at 3 and the first hour I felt soooo overwhelmingly hot and gross. During second hour I started to feel dizzy so we went to go sit outside. I ended up throwing up like 3 times at church, and just threw up like all of my lunch... I know gross. At night, our pension Marujah gave me some stuff called mazamorra to eat cuz she said it was smooth and wouldn't harm my stomach but yep threw that all up. I was sick all night, and still feel pretty weak today, but hey that is the joys of being sick :) 

Anyways I love you all!  Hermana Pliler and I talk everyday about how grateful we are to have made the decision to come here on the mission. I just know that I have learned how to draw closer to God, and I am excited to see the changes within me by the time I come home. Although times are hard sometimes, I know they are for a reason and that is when we truly grow the most. 

Love you!!

Hermana Jensen

WEEK 33 - Huanuco

MAY 1, 2017

Hola!

Another great week filled with lots of growing and helping the people of Peru come unto Christ. :) This week we got the amazing opportunity to go to Tingo Maria to do divisions,.  It is right in the middle of the amazon jungle, and it was BEAUTIFUL. We went on a bus and the first part is just like dry mountains, and then there was this part where everything just gets supper foggy and all around is just pure white. And then after like 10 minutes the fog lifts and all around you is just GREEN. Just pure trees and jungle all around you. We did divisions with the hermanas there, and I was with a hermana named Hermana Matos. We contacted a bunch because they are opening an area, so they still do not have too many investigators. We knocked a bunch of doors and we met this guy who is from Belgium, and has lived all over the world, but moved to Peru to the jungle to relax. It was way cool. 

I've heard it is usually extremely hot tin Tingo Maria, but it was actually raining and cloudy when we went so the weather was pretty nice just kind of humid. At night, they did not have beds so Pliler and I slept on this tiny mat thing and they had the fan blowing super hard, and we didn;t have blankets so lets just say we barely got any sleep haha. We woke up though and we went on a walk/jog mostly just to explore the scenery a little more. There is this part by their house where you are literally just right next to the jungle. Like just take a few steps and you are in the amazon. 

The people in Tingo Maria are very happy and fun.  When we went to their pension she hugged us so hard, and was just like so happy to meet us haha. I really hope I get to serve there one day! :P 

Last week, President talked to us a lot about obedience and we have really been trying to get better at being exactly obedient and God has really been blessing us. We have really wanted to find news, and one day we got 6! It was such an amazing blessing, and that was just in one day! I know that the Lord really can work miracles with us, we just have to be willing and show our obedience so that He can then trust us to do His work. Anther miracle I saw this week, was last Tuesday after district meeting, I felt so so tired. I just had zero energy to go to lessons, and we also had to help the elders move and I just really wasn't feeling it. I decided to pray for energy, because I have been obedient about getting the amount of sleep and exercising because I knew that if I was doing my part God would help give me energy. When we went to help the Elders move, all of the tiredness I had was GONE. It ended up being one of the days I have felt the most energy in all of my mission. Another amazing thing that happened is our investigator Diego is most likely getting baptized next Saturday!  He is a single dad, and he has just been so willing to make changes in his life. This week has really great, and I know that this really is the true church on the earth. I know that prayer is very real, it has helped me so much, and I know that God listens and loves us. 

Love you all! God is Good!

Hermana Jensen

Hermana Pliler and me

Tingo Maria

Our sleeping mats