Tuesday, December 20, 2016

Area: Ottawa, KSCompanion: Elder Cox

Email address:  kenneth.jensen@myldsmail.net  

Mailing Address:
Elder Kenneth Jensen
Missouri Independence Mission
517 W Walnut St
Independence, MO 64050

This week has been pretty interesting. We didn't do hardly anything because Elder Cox has been sick a lot of the week, but the stuff that did happen was pretty cool.

On Monday we stopped at the church to use the wifi to sync our Ipads and people had just finished setting up for the ward party. Well, apparently the Fishers (a recent convert couple) left their phone there so we offered to take it back to them but we had to go to dinner first. So we get to our dinner appointment, it was good then at the end the brother was sharing some of his favorite scriptures and it was a pretty spiritual moment then all of the sudden we hear fire alarms going off and a voice saying "its the wife, its the wife".  Then Elder Cox pulls an IPhone 6 out of his pocket and apparently Sister Fisher was trying to call Brother Fisher. It was hilarious. Later we were curios to see what Bro Fisher's ringtone was for us. So we call the phone and the Hallelujah chorus from Handel's Messiah started playing. It was awesome.

Tuesday morning we had to be up at Liberty, Missouri for a Zone Conference. So to make it on time we had to stay the night with another set of elders. So you have 4 elders, 2 beds and 1 couch, that still leaves someone on the floor, and I was the lucky one for that job. So instead of sleeping on the flat ground, I slept in their tub and it was actually really comfy and I slept really well. The conference was awesome and as a Christmas gift we all did a session in the Kansas City, Missouri temple. It was cool to see 60 missionaries all standing in a little celestial room.

Wednesday Elder Cox was sick, so we went to the church and watched cheesy church videos and played the piano. I took a nap underneath the piano.

Thursday was cool. We were trying a potential investigator, it was probably someone the missionaries had tracted into about 2 years ago. So we knocked on the door and the guy opened it and let us right in because it was cold. He used to live in Wyoming and knew lots of members there. He said that he had always wanted to read the Book of Mormon but never had the chance. We informed him that we had a free copy to give him and he was very excited, he looked like a kid on Christmas. Then as we were leaving we found out that it actually wasn't the person we were looking for, he must have moved some time ago. This guy was just a total stranger and had never really talked with missionaries before. We set up a return appointment for this coming week.

Friday we volunteered at a retirement home and we got to play a game with about 6 old ladies. We all sat around the table and had 2 ft long pool noodles and we just hit a balloon around. It was hilarious and those ladies had the time of their lives. Our job was to get the balloon when ever it fell out of reach.

Sat it stormed pretty bad and we couldn't do a hole lot but we made a couple of visits. The ward party was supposed to be that night but they canceled it because of the bad road conditions. Then on Sunday they canceled church because people have to drive from 45+ minutes on really bad roads to get to church. Since the roads were bad enough they grounded our car, so we ended up walking all day and it was pretty cold. It said about 0 degrees but with the wind chill and the humidity it felt about -15. I learned that no one really likes to talk to you when it's that cold. It was pretty fun though the roads were slick enough and my shoes were bald enough that I literally was skating down the street like I had ice skates on. I'm guessing it looked pretty comical to watch two Mormon missionaries skating down the street. Although Elder Cox being from southern Nevada does not know how to walk on ice. It was a good day.

Thank you so much for all that you guys do, it really means a lot.

Make it a good one,

Elder Jensen



Tuesday, December 13, 2016

From: Kenneth Michael Jensen <kenneth.jensen@myldsmail.net>
Date: December 12, 2016 at 9:37:37 AM MST
To: Mindy Jensen <mindyjensen@hotmail.com>, Donald.Roberts@myldsmail.net
Subject: Week 49

This week has been great with some unique stuff. First off we helped an older couple move a fridge and the fridge was literally frozen. The morning was really cold and it had snowed/iced and the Fridge was covered in ice. So that was fun.

I hit my 11 month mark, that's weird.

On Wednesday it SNOWED! Finally. But i was on exchanges in Olathe and didn't expect the snow so i only brought a lite Jacket. And we were in a walk area. Yay!  So we walked all over Olathe and froze to death and preached the gospel. That was cool. I have also learned that humidity just makes things worse, either colder or hotter. So a 11 degrees here (which thats about what it was). It probably feels like about a -5 back home.

We have had a couple cool lessons this week mostly with Less Active members. We have mostly been sharing the Churches new initiative Light the World. Which is awesome and its all about service.

On Saturday we caught a ride with a member up to Olathe for the Stake Leadership meeting and then the Adult session of stake conference. And at the adult session Matt Pennington, a man i had the privilege to teach and help join the church, was asked to bear his testimony, And it was very powerful. It has had an amazing impact in the way i view my calling and knowing what one missionary, as he is guided and really is just a tool for the Lord to do his work. It is amazing.

Then on Sunday the Fishers a couple in the Ottawa ward were asked to bear there testimonies, and although i was transferred into Ottawa the just 5 days after there baptism, i feel a sense of responsibility for them, I have been able to help them an new converts entering into a brand new world and being the person they can answer questions and seek council. I feel a great source of joy from our union. Nothing has brought me more happiness that seeing someone change there lives and come to a knowledge that God loves them and they are where they need to be.

I am reminded of D&C 15:6 where the Lord tells us the thing that will be of greatest worth to us.
"6 And now, behold, I say unto you, that the thing which will be of the most worth unto you will be to declare repentance unto this people, that you may bring souls unto me, that you may rest with them in the kingdom of my Father. Amen."

I know of no better place to be than in a place where we can affect the lives of others in a positive way. I know that this is the true church. That Jesus is the Christ and it is only because of His Atoning sacrifice that we may become perfected and live as a family with our Father in Heaven again. I have seen the joy that comes to people as they change, I have seen it when people have the "light bulb" moment when everything makes sense and i cannot describe the feeling that comes and the happiness and the honor i feel to have a friendship with these people. And i cannot wait for the time that we may rest with them in the kingdom of our Father.

Thank you all for the support that you have given me you all are examples to me.

Make it a good one,
Elder Jensen

Saturday, December 10, 2016

Area: Ottawa, KSCompanion: Elder Cox
 
Email address:  kenneth.jensen@myldsmail.net  
 
Mailing Address:
Elder Kenneth Jensen
Missouri Independence Mission
517 W Walnut St
Independence, MO 64050

So this week started off pretty cool. A member asked if we could help him out in picking up some food for a local food drive. Even though it was cutting about 3 hours out of our P-day. We meet him at Walmart and he had the money that was donated. As we start shopping we ran into a less active family and were able to have a good contact with them. Then later we saw an investigator couple and were able to set up an appointment with them. Then a worker asked us why we were dressed up and we were able to explain that we were missionaries, and he had actually lived in Utah for a while but wasn't a member, I didn't know that was possible. Then as we left the same less active lady was leaving and we helped her put her groceries in the car. So yeah the Lord knows his children and places them where they need to be. It was a testimony builder to me that service really opens the gates for so many blessings.

On Wednesday we helped a member rake his leaves. I had never done it before and I didn't realize that it is kinda physically demanding. I didn't really realize it until later that night but I was really tired. I made it through nightly planning, no doubt with the help of the Lord, but then in our prayer to close planning I totally fell asleep. Then I guess Elder Cox just left me there. About 15 min later we were sitting in our chairs writing in our journals and Elder Cox started talking to me and I fell asleep again. So then I just gave up and went to bed.

Thursday for Thanksgiving we were invited to a family's dinner in Lane, Kansas - a town that might have 100 people in it. But it was pretty cool and awkward at the same time because they are the only members in their family so everyone else had no idea who we were, but they were extremely nice and the food was good.

The rest of the week was just trying to contact people and trying to find new investigators. No luck yet but we are doing well with less active members, we had some cool lessons this week as well.

Thank you all for all you do. It is really quite amazing the amount that I have been able to experience. I couldn't trade it for anything.

Elder Jensen

This was a good purchase 


Elder Cox didn't believe me that I could sleep in a bath tub, so I did.

Saturday, December 3, 2016

Area: Ottawa, KSCompanion: Elder Cox
 
Email address:  kenneth.jensen@myldsmail.net  
 
Mailing Address:
Elder Kenneth Jensen
Missouri Independence Mission
517 W Walnut St
Independence, MO 64050

So this week started off pretty cool. A member asked if we could help him out in picking up some food for a local food drive. Even though it was cutting about 3 hours out of our P-day. We meet him at Walmart and he had the money that was donated. As we start shopping we ran into a less active family and were able to have a good contact with them. Then later we saw an investigator couple and were able to set up an appointment with them. Then a worker asked us why we were dressed up and we were able to explain that we were missionaries, and he had actually lived in Utah for a while but wasn't a member, I didn't know that was possible. Then as we left the same less active lady was leaving and we helped her put her groceries in the car. So yeah the Lord knows his children and places them where they need to be. It was a testimony builder to me that service really opens the gates for so many blessings.

On Wednesday we helped a member rake his leaves. I had never done it before and I didn't realize that it is kinda physically demanding. I didn't really realize it until later that night but I was really tired. I made it through nightly planning, no doubt with the help of the Lord, but then in our prayer to close planning I totally fell asleep. Then I guess Elder Cox just left me there. About 15 min later we were sitting in our chairs writing in our journals and Elder Cox started talking to me and I fell asleep again. So then I just gave up and went to bed.

Thursday for Thanksgiving we were invited to a family's dinner in Lane, Kansas - a town that might have 100 people in it. But it was pretty cool and awkward at the same time because they are the only members in their family so everyone else had no idea who we were, but they were extremely nice and the food was good.

The rest of the week was just trying to contact people and trying to find new investigators. No luck yet but we are doing well with less active members, we had some cool lessons this week as well.

Thank you all for all you do. It is really quite amazing the amount that I have been able to experience. I couldn't trade it for anything.

Elder Jensen

This was a good purchase 


Elder Cox didn't believe me that I could sleep in a bath tub, so I did.

Thursday, November 24, 2016

Area: Ottawa, KSCompanion: Elder Cox
 
Email address:  kenneth.jensen@myldsmail.net  
 
Mailing Address:
Elder Kenneth Jensen
Missouri Independence Mission
517 W Walnut St
Independence, MO 64050

This week has been fun, it was a little bit of a slower week but still good. Not much happened at the beginning of this week, just talked to a lot of people who weren't interested in the gospel, yet. We learned that both Elder Cox and I are staying in Ottawa for another transfer. And this transfer has both Thanksgiving and Christmas, so that's gonna be exciting. Both Elder Cox and I gave talks on Sunday again. His was on Faith so I talked about Hope. Hopefully it was alright. 

We have decided to try to visit more active people and to ask for more referrals. We haven't seen any fruit from it yet but hopefully this will increase the number of solid people we find.  

We didn't have too many people sign up on our dinner calendar this week and it gets dark so soon now. What we have been doing is making active member visits around dinner time and it usually only takes 2 maybe 3 houses before someone offers us dinner in exchange for a message. So we are still getting in and sharing the spirit with others!

It was rather interesting though, I think we might have become marriage counselors or something. There is a couple in the ward that is struggling and we actually helped her move out (super awkward by the way) but bishop had asked us to try to stop by both of them separately and see how they were doing. We hadn't been able to get a hold of the husband but on Wednesday he actually texted us and asked if he could receive a blessing. Then later she asked us to come over and they were both there and we gave her a blessing as well. It was a very sweet experience and an example to me that real people have real life problems. I think they are handling their situation in the most adult and mature way possible, and that is what will probably save their marriage. 

We have been given many service opportunities and been able to give many blessings this week and it has been amazing. 

There is a less active member that the missionaries have been visiting every week for probably years now, but he is finally coming back to church. He seems to like it and he's been back for about 3 weeks now, and the ward is talking about giving him a calling! 

Anyway, that is my life in a nutshell. Work hard, have fun, the gospel is true everywhere, God loves all of us.

Thank you for all that you do.


Elder Jensen

Saturday, November 19, 2016

Area: Ottawa, KSCompanion: Elder Cox
 
Email address:  kenneth.jensen@myldsmail.net  
 
Mailing Address:
Elder Kenneth Jensen
Missouri Independence Mission
517 W Walnut St
Independence, MO 64050

This week has been good. On Tuesday I went on exchanges with Elder Merrill in the Heritage Park ward. We had dinner with a family whose son just entered the mission field. So they had lots of questions and they basically adopted the missionaries as their proxy sons. They made really good food. It was about 7:00 and pitch black outside but we didn't have anything else to do so we knocked on the door of a potential and a guy hurriedly opened the door and then he looked confused and turned to someone else and said "oh it's not her". Then there was kinda an awkward silence and Elder Merrill said "sorry we're not her" then he basically told us to go away.  

I have had problems with my iPad. The software that the church uses to control the ipads unenrolled itself. So we got a call from Salt Lake saying that I had to fix it. Which ultimately led to me having to completely wipe my iPad and starting it again. So since I didn't have the passcode to do that, I had to just enter my passcode wrong so many times and it wiped it for me. But it took a couple of days to be able to do it because of exchanges. So we got a call on Wednesday and the guy from Salt Lake said I had to do it soon or they would "have to.... take action". So I figured I better do it. And it took so flippin long, like 4 hours. 

President Boyack (the stake president) went out on a team up with us, it was awesome. We just sat back and listened and learned about eternal life. It was super cool.

Saturday we drove all around the middle of nowhere with our ward mission leader, who was sick. Now I might be getting sick, but all is well.

Today we went out to literally nowhere and somewhere, I'll send some pictures.

Thanks for all the support you guys send. You are awesome. Make it a good week.


Elder Jensen

Thursday, November 3, 2016

Area: Ottawa, KSCompanion: Elder Cox
 
Email address:  kenneth.jensen@myldsmail.net  
 
Mailing Address:
Elder Kenneth Jensen
Missouri Independence Mission
517 W Walnut St
Independence, MO 64050

This week has been full of miracles and fun times. Monday we got to go down to Chanute (my first area) and see some sweet people. It was a ton of fun and it was awesome to see people again. Sadly, I didn't get any pictures. 

On Tuesday the Gardner Elder's water line broke so they slept over at our apartment. That was fun. I will say the result of that night was a squirrel hide, some funny videos, an assortment of flavored chicken (including grape jelly) and a LOT of ice cream. 

We also got to do some service putting up plastic sheeting on a super old house from the 1800s. I had catfish for the first time, which was super good and I carved a pumpkin.

We street contacted someone who apparently is a former investigator and is super friendly toward missionaries and is having us over next week. Then I found someone who used to live in Rigby! Small world.

The wards chili cook off was Saturday and it was super good. There was buffalo chili and chili with cinnamon and I had chili with ghost peppers in it. Basically every redneck, hillbilly thing you could think of, it was probably there. And there were lots of non-members there, some of them were actually pretty interested, so that will be cool. I also got to eat squirrel. Kansas man.

Sunday I was really focused on getting a solid new investigator, and I fasted and prayed. Then right after church we got a text from our zone leaders who said "there is a member whose son just moved to Ottawa with his non-member girlfriend". So we went and met them. The address was right but the name was wrong, but they let us in anyway. They were really nice and willing to have us come back! Prayers are answered.
 
Anyway, this week has been pretty awesome. I am loving it out here. It's a lot of work, but the reward of helping someone is incomprehensible. Thank you for all your support. Keep moving forward.

Elder Jensen

I asked for pictures that included his face since he hasn't sent any for a few weeks - and this is what he sent.....

Wednesday, October 26, 2016

Area: Ottawa, KSCompanion: Elder Cox
 
Email address:  kenneth.jensen@myldsmail.net  
 
Mailing Address:
Elder Kenneth Jensen
Missouri Independence Mission
517 W Walnut St
Independence, MO 64050

This week has been good. We have really been working with a lot of less active people and we have seen a lot of people this week.

So where we park our car is right under a couple huge maple trees and there are lots of birds in them and they like to poop on the car, but it's usually not too bad. But the other morning we went out and the car had like mountains of bird poop on it and the first thing Elder Cox said was "oh I didn't think that birds pooped when it was humid" so that was a good start to our day. 

A cool miracle that happened was that we tried to contact a lady who had gone online and ordered a Bible and we were delivering it for her. She wasn't there but her husband was and he wasn't really interested but he told us to go to his grandmother's house. So we did and it turns out that she is a member who was baptized several years ago in Paola. Finding the lost sheep!

Then Elder Cox convinced the whole district to do a "district breakfast" before district meeting. The night before it was decided that it would be a district lunch, but with breakfast food. Elder Cox volunteered us for pancakes. We went and bought two boxes of pancakes and two bags of chocolate chips then made probably 30ish Mancakes - they were huge. So that was fun.

A member made us pumpkin soup... it had chunks of pumpkin and peppers and other things I didn't ask about... I am glad that I have tried it but I probably wont try it again. 

A sister in the ward asked us to help her move and right before we get there Elder Cox is like "oh yeah, so she is moving out on her husband and I don't think he knows about it. So if he shows up its gonna be super awkward." Then sure enough as we and the high priest group leader were moving stuff out he showed up. Luckily I think the sister had told him but it was still super awkward as we were just moving stuff and putting it into a truck. Plus side is the high priest group leader took us out to lunch. 

So those are some of the highlights from this week. I learned lots and had some memorable experiences, it was fun. Thank you for all the support you guys give me. It means a lot. You're awesome!

Elder Jensen

Saturday, October 22, 2016

Area: Ottawa, KSCompanion: Elder Cox
 
Email address:  kenneth.jensen@myldsmail.net  
 
Mailing Address:
Elder Kenneth Jensen
Missouri Independence Mission
517 W Walnut St
Independence, MO 64050

This week has been pretty fun. Monday and Tuesday were spent trying to get in contact with people. One of the investigators was temporarily living in hotels in Ottawa, so we tried tracking him down. We asked hotel management for some personal information that we were pretty sure they weren't allowed to give us, but they gave it to us anyway. So that was sweet.

Wednesday we were helping a family clean out their garage and they had this monstrous desk that we couldn't move very well by ourselves. So we just got a sledge hammer and had a little bit of stress management practice on this desk, that was fun. Then we had dinner with a family  but the husband was sick. They usually come to the church and have dinner there, but since there wasn't another male we just set up a table in the parking lot and had dinner. It was a super windy day, but the food was really good so that was a plus. 

Thursday we had to drive to Olathe because we had to swap our car with another companionships car. As they were handing us the keys they told us everything that was wrong with the car which included two of the tires had small holes in them and we needed to fill up with air every couple of hours. So we drove to Olathe and they put new tires on and got it all fixed up.

Friday we had Zone Training and the Stake President came and trained for like 1 1/2 hours and expounded on many mysteries of the gospel and it was super cool. I loved it.

Saturday we had a baptism for Blake Taylor who is a 9-year old we have been working with. His grandpa is the 2nd counselor and was the one to baptize him. It was a very good service and everything actually went pretty smooth for a change.

We were asked to go visit a lady in the hospital. She was there, but we had to wait like 45 minutes to talk to her. We gave her a blessing which was cool.

We also found out that I am related to some of the members here. The Youngs and Benches. Sister Young and I share the same great-great grandpa - Lorenzo Jensen. Then Bro Young's Grandpa Denzel Jensen is my great grandpa Orland Jensen's brother. Small world.

Sunday I was able to participate in Blake's confirmation and an ordination to the priesthood for another recent convert. Then we were able to teach three RCLAs after church 

So that was pretty much it for this week. Thank you for your patience, you guys are awesome. Make it a good one.

Elder Jensen

Olathe Zone

Saturday, October 15, 2016

Area: Leavenworth, KS and Ottawa, KSCompanion: Elder Peterson and Elder Cox
 
Email address:  kenneth.jensen@myldsmail.net  
 
Mailing Address:
Elder Kenneth Jensen
Missouri Independence Mission
517 W Walnut St
Independence, MO 64050
(We got an email this week that said all packages should be sent directly to the missionary now and not the mission office. If you would like his current address, just let me know. All letters should still go to the mission office. Mindy)

This week has been pretty interesting. Big news is that I have been transferred to the Ottawa Ward! It is the area directly over the Iola ward which was my first area! So that's super cool. I am still in Kansas... but because we are so close to my last area, we are going to try to stop and see some people which will be sweet!

 Ottawa is really cool though and it turns out that I very well might be related to some of the members here.  

So this week has kinda been a whirlwind and I don't really remember what happened the first part of the week. But, I did get to say goodbye to Herbert and got some sweet pictures. Then I came to Ottawa with Elder Cox, who is from Mesquite Nevada. He has been out for 13 months. He is awesome.

We met a couple of crazy rednecks out in the boonies, that was fun.

We do have a 9 -year old who is planning on getting baptized this Saturday. I got to milk a goat, I had Moroccan food, and I wrestled a mini horse. So that's been Ottawa so far.

I am sorry that this is a shorter one. I miss you guys.

Love ya
Elder Jensen

Tuesday, October 11, 2016

Area: Leavenworth, KS and Ottawa, KSCompanion: Elder Peterson and Elder Cox
 
Email address:  kenneth.jensen@myldsmail.net  
 
Mailing Address:
Elder Kenneth Jensen
Missouri Independence Mission
517 W Walnut St
Independence, MO 64050
(We got an email this week that said all packages should be sent directly to the missionary now and not the mission office. If you would like his current address, just let me know. All letters should still go to the mission office. Mindy)

This week has been pretty interesting. Big news is that I have been transferred to the Ottawa Ward! It is the area directly over the Iola ward which was my first area! So that's super cool. I am still in Kansas... but because we are so close to my last area, we are going to try to stop and see some people which will be sweet!

 Ottawa is really cool though and it turns out that I very well might be related to some of the members here.  

So this week has kinda been a whirlwind and I don't really remember what happened the first part of the week. But, I did get to say goodbye to Herbert and got some sweet pictures. Then I came to Ottawa with Elder Cox, who is from Mesquite Nevada. He has been out for 13 months. He is awesome.

We met a couple of crazy rednecks out in the boonies, that was fun.

We do have a 9 -year old who is planning on getting baptized this Saturday. I got to milk a goat, I had Moroccan food, and I wrestled a mini horse. So that's been Ottawa so far.

I am sorry that this is a shorter one. I miss you guys.

Love ya
Elder Jensen

Saturday, October 8, 2016

Area: Leavenworth, KSCompanion: Elder Peterson
 
Email address:  kenneth.jensen@myldsmail.net  
 
Mailing Address:
Elder Kenneth Jensen
Missouri Independence Mission
517 W Walnut St
Independence, MO 64050

This week has been kinda slow, so I will just share some of the highlights.

On Tuesday we had a man call us and said that he had talked to the Sister missionaries at the Independence Visitor's Center and they had given him our phone number. He was interested in our family history resources and wanted to know how to access them. So we told him that we have a family history center at the church building. They went and had a very good time and were very impressed by the church. We set up a time to go see him on Wednesday. We got to know them and invited them to learn more about what we believe and the restored gospel, but they were not interested in learning more. 

We had lunch with this lady from our ward who is 91 and still teaches music at her home. I got to play on a 110+ year old piano and she had a darbuka and a set of bongos and she taught us how to play the Spanish guitar, so that was super cool.

One of the investigators Elder Peterson taught up in Atchison was getting baptized this week so we were able to see that. It was really cool. It is just a branch up there so their baptismal font is a portable one and is basically a waist high 5x5 pool.

Then of course conference happened and it was amazing. We just watched it at the church building, but because we have a deaf family in our ward it was all on the ASL channel - which was very different. I definitely learned a lot more about sign language than I thought I would from conference.

Anyway that was my week. Thank you all for your support. You guys are awesome - thank you!


Elder Jensen

Thursday, September 29, 2016

Area: Leavenworth, KSCompanion: Elder Peterson
 
Email address:  kenneth.jensen@myldsmail.net  
 
Mailing Address:
Elder Kenneth Jensen
Missouri Independence Mission
517 W Walnut St
Independence, MO 64050

This week has been a lot of fun. It was walk week and the beginning of this week was ridiculously humid and hot. You know it was a good day when you can ring out your belt.

We had a little competition last week and by doing things like asking for referrals or talking to people on the street we would get a point. Then the loser has to buy the winner something. But last week we tied, so we each bought something. I bought Elder Peterson a Deadpool mask that actually looks pretty good and he loved it because he loves Deadpool and scaring people like the 1st ward elders. And then in return he got me some sweet Marvel socks. They are super cool but after he got them we looked and they are for people with a shoe size of about 4-6 which I definitely do not wear that size of shoe, but they are still cool.

Tuesday we just walked around and everybody canceled on us and we met some people with very opinionated views on the church and it was like a million degrees... it was one of those days.

Wednesday was super cool. We got called to give a lady a blessing. We don't really know them because they are deaf and go to the deaf ward in Olathe. But it was a really cool experience. Then we were visiting an active family and they asked if we could help give their son a blessing so we got to stand in while his father gave him a blessing. So that was awesome.

Thursday we went on exchanges with the Zone leaders, so Elder Conely came to Leavenworth with me and we had a lesson with Herbert and had some fun times.

Friday we pretty much just went out and tried to find people. We did have a cool experience, we were at a member's house and he asked for a blessing. So we were able to do that.

Saturday Herbert got Baptized! It was awesome and it was really fun. Herbert used to be a professional opera singer so he has a good voice but he can't hear very well anymore. But he was very passionate about the songs we were singing. He was either 2 words behind everyone else or he was a full verse ahead of everyone. And he sang it with all of his might. It was pretty great.  Elder Staheli (my last companion) was able to come and be a witness for it, so that was cool. 
Elder Peterson, Herbert, Elder Jensen, Elder Staheli, Elder Haderly

Then on Sunday Elder Peterson was able to confirm Herbert a member of the church and give him the gift of the Holy Ghost again. Then Herbert got up and bore his testimony. It was really good.

Literally as I was writing this we got a call to go give another blessing. Blessings are the best.

This week was full of miracles and hardships, but it is all worth it and I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Thank you all for you support.

Elder Jensen

Apparently my hair has gotten pretty blond. I didn't realize it until I saw this picture. 

Friday, September 23, 2016

Area: Leavenworth, KS
Companion: Elder Peterson
 
Email address:  kenneth.jensen@myldsmail.net  
 
Mailing Address:
Elder Kenneth Jensen
Missouri Independence Mission
517 W Walnut St
Independence, MO 64050

This week has been a little slow, but it has been good. 

We had another really cool lesson with Mitchell and Angela. Hopefully they will start to progress soon.

We went on exchanges this weekWednesday I went up to Parkville with Elder Reber who just came out last transfer. So apparently they had offered to help these people with their gardening at like 8:00 the next morning. So as we are pulling up we pull into a huge apartment complex, and I am thinking "how does anyone have a garden here?" But as we are getting out of the car Elder Reber tells me "oh by the way they are not going to be here and I don't really remember which one is theirs and we don't have gloves, but its ok because I brought our house scissors." So we walk around to the back and luckily there was only one garden so we assumed it was theirs. And so we just kinda cut and pruned stuff until we were satisfied and then we left. So that was fun.

We had a lesson with this very wealthy family in Parkville who were so super nice. But the lesson was not going well and I could not figure out how to bring it all back. I just kept thinking the phrase: Teach people, not lessons. So I really tried to show my care for them and testified of the Savior and His redeeming power. And it totally changed the mood of the lesson and the rest went really well.

Then on Saturday we knew there was a wedding reception going on later that they wanted us to go to because there would be non-members there. So we thought "Well maybe they need help setting up" so we went right after studies and things were set up but the food was not ready. So they threw aprons on us and we started cooking and serving and we were there until 4:30 because we had to go to dinner. But we took home so many leftovers, it was amazing. We took probably 5 lbs just in fruit. It was glorious.

Also, Herbert had his baptismal interview and he is all set and ready to go for this Saturday. I am super excited - it will be sweet. 

Well that's all that happened this week that was really worth writing about. 
Thank you all so much, your support is so awesome. Thank you!

Elder Jensen

Tuesday, September 13, 2016

This week has been good,
We Had interviews with president Vest I got to ask him some doctrinal
questions which was awesome!
The beginning of this week was So humid it was literally felt like it
was raining but the water drops were just suspended in the air and you
just walked into them.
Then on Friday there was a huge rain storm and from a our apartment
door running to the car we were completely soaked. But the good news
from that since then the humidity has gone down a ton, and the
mornings are starting to dip down to the high 60, it feels so good. I
am excited for winter.
This week we have been trying to go through the ward roster and meet
everybody we don't know. It has been there are some interesting people
in this world that is for sure. But some blessings we have seen from
that is asking members who the know in the ward that could use a visit
and it's been really cool to see the connections from that.
We also got 2 referrals this week! It was so awesome. We contacted one
and she is interested and we have a return appointment for next week!
The other one was a little different. He came out and apparently he
has meet with Elders Before so he knew who we were and was very nice to
us but this week he has had quite the spiritual experience. He says
that the spirit is telling him to do all these like, the sabbath day
is on Saturday and to go and mow his lawn on Saturday like 10 times
and all sorts of things and he has been reading the bible a lot, so
that's good. But he talked to us for like 1 1/2 hours and it was
probably in my top 7 memorable conversations in my life.
Another miracle, we had just got done with lunch and we were driving
down the street to go see someone and a lady that lives just down the
street from us flagged us down. So we turned around and she is this
little 79 year old lady from the Philippines and she asks if we want
to go to lunch with a "lonely old woman" and we said " i guess if you
twist our arms" so she took us to AppleBee's. Apparently she took the
last set of missionaries out and she just likes the company, but we
talked about temples and stuff it was cool.
On Sunday the primary asked us to come in and talk about missionaries
and how awesome missions are. So we spent the whole time in primary
and it was hilarious and very small. There was about 10 kids in both
junior and senior primary.
Well that was pretty much my week thank you all very much for your
support it is always awesome to hear from you.
Make it a good week!

Elder Jensen