July 28, 2014

July 28, 2014

Greetings from Lorain!

So I was transferred to the "Lorain West" area... but it covers a little bit of Lorain, and then Amherst and Vermilion. And I am really loving it so far! It is a nice area... IN CIVILIZATION (there is a Chipotle within 4 minutes of our apartment... dreams come true everyone) and not a single Amish. It is completely different than my last area. It is a fun change! And we already had 2 baptisms.... so yeah things are going pretty darn good. And being full proselyting is the best thing EVER. Okay it has only been like 5 days but I love it.

Leaving my last area was sad though! It is always sad. I feel like I should be used to it by now because I get transferred more than anyone else in the mission (probably not a good thing... haha maybe there is something wrong with me...oh well) but it is still hard breaking the news to our investigators. It was depressing saying goodbye to Gene. He has been one of my favorite investigators ever. I have so many funny memories with him. (That reminds me I got the bird video off his computer... I will send it to you somehow so you can laugh your heads off). Our last lesson with Michael last week was super awesome. He committed to get baptized on September 6th! It was so cool! He also has cut out coffee so much and he was almost completely done reading the Book of Mormon. He said "Okay what book can I read next now that I am almost done. I want more." it was awesome. He was the most solid investigator I have had my whole mission... which made leaving pretty depressing. But the cool news is I know he will keep learning and growing in the Gospel and that he will get baptized.

Wednesday was transfers and I was so excited to meet my new companion and get to my new area. My new companion is so cool. Her name is Sister De Wilde (it is pronounced like devilda... like curela deville... but with a da at the end...) and she is from the Netherlands! I have always wanted a foreign companion. It is so fun. Also she is like one of the funniest people ever so I have been laughing my head off the past few days. She speaks super good english but she still says things really weirdly sometimes and it is the best. Plus she is just cool and we get along super good so it is going to be an awesome transfer.

We had a pretty busy week! We have lots of investigators and we actually had 2 baptisms on Friday. It was a mom and her 9 year old daughter. Their names are Melody and Emylie. The baptism went super well! Melody was really nervous I could tell.. but Emylie was so excited. If you could have seen how big her smile was right after she got baptized.. it was the cutest thing ever. Then later she bore her testimony and she said "I feel like Heavenly Father made a perfect copy of me.. and took away the other one and now I am the clean new copy." And she was just so happy. It was adorable. Baptisms are just really fun and the spirit is always so strong. It was pretty cool to get transferred here and then have a baptism the next day. This ward is having 4 baptisms my first week here.... so basically this ward is on fire and this area is awesome. I am so excited to be here. I can't even wait to see how the next 6 weeks will go.  I am already praying that I will get to stay AT LEAST 2 transfers here. Pray for me. Thanks.

I haven't gotten to meet a lot of the investigators yet but I did meet some. One was named Cecil and he is actually one of the meanest old guys I think I have ever met... but it was actually pretty funny. I think that 90 percent of my mission will be me teaching old guys.

We also met with this lady named Selena. She is super nice and we had a really good lesson about the Plan of Salvation. Which especially lately is my favorite thing to teach because it is the most comforting and amazing thing in the world and I want everyone to know about it. Selena also came to a fireside we had last night and she really liked it! She seems like she has some solid potential. I will keep you updated on her.

Saturday night I almost got to witness a fight. So we were, as Sister De Wilde calls it, having a "Bible Read" with this guy named Brother Clapper... and it was pouring rain outside so we were meeting in the hallway of his apartment building.. and let's just say it is pretty ghetto... anyways this guy was banging on the door and Brother Clapper said "I am not authorized to let anyone in. I cannot be held responsible" and we thought it was super messed up and weird especially because it was a fat storm... but we were like okay... well eventually the guy got in the building, and was NOT happy with Brother Clapper. And he wasn't the smallest or nicest looking guy.. and he didn't have the nicest things to say...He was like "I am a man of God too and YOU KNEW IT AND WOULDN'T LET ME IN" and he was coming at us.. and I think he was drunk possibly... but then his wife came out of nowhere and started screaming at him and somehow pulled him back. It was crazy. And super entertaining. But after that things calmed down and we had a good Bible read. hahah.

My companion and I decided we are going to start keeping tack of how many times a week we have to lie and tell people that their dog is cute when it really isn't. That is like the world's most common missionary lie. Because some people have the ugliest dogs but we can't say that so we have to say "Aww your dog is so cute" when really it is hairless and nasty. Take a guess of how many times we will say it this week.... you will be surprised.

Church was really good yesterday! The ward is very welcoming to say the least. On the FRONT of the program there was this big thing that said "WELCOME NEW SISTER JENSEN" with information about me (it said the phrase, "Sister Jensen hails from American Falls Idaho"... hahahaha so funny) ... it was the best welcome I have ever received that is for sure. Maybe a little excessive haha.

Sunday school the most CLASSIC thing happened. So there is this guys named Rodger in the ward... and he looked super familiar... and I finally figured out why. So in the middle of Sunday School this old guy gets up and says "I don't mean to take up your time everyone. But there is a Sister in here that I knew before. And I need to thank her. Sister Jensen, I have something to show you." Then he whips out this photo album, stumbles through it for a few minutes, and then finds a picture of Kirtland... turns out I took him on a tour before he was baptized! So he wen ton to say "I will always cherish this day. Sister Jensen took me on a tour of Kirtland on November First" and then he went on to say how it changed his life and how he will always remember it. It was really cool and super funny at the same time. I remember taking him on tour and it is pretty cool that he actually remembered me, and it is cool that he enjoyed it so much! But the way he made the announcement in front of everyone was super hysterical. I am slightly terrified he is going to talk about it in testimony meeting next week.... haha. Oh well it was a good time.

It was just a super hectic and good week. Being new to an area is always challenging because you know no one and have no clue what you are doing... so I am excited to get the hang of things and figure everyone out. The people here seem really nice and normal.. which is fun. I am enjoying being in a new place having new people to meet and learn from. And there is a real grocery store so things really are looking up people.

Oh and here is my new address so everyone can send me letters ( I know you have been DYING to send me some....) :)

1310 Shaffer Dr. Apt A.,  Lorain OH 44053