Week 101

Area: Gallatin, MO

Companion: Elder Wolfley

Email address:  kenneth.jensen@myldsmail.net 

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

This week was so amazing. Things are really starting to get going here in Gallatin and we are so excited.

Mon was awesome. We went fishing at a member's pond and we built ourselves a little fire and roasted hotdogs. Man, it definitely is not the city.

Tuesday we met with the Baldwins, a part member family. The wife and kids are active but the husband is not a member. They had been working with them for a while, but they had their next door neighbor over and we were able to have a short spiritual lesson and ask for a return appointment. They offered to feed us dinner later this week.

Wednesday we helped out at a food pantry run by the Seventh Day Adventists, it was pretty cool and fun. We went on exchanges so we had to drive about an hour to meet the other elders half way, eat lunch, then drive an hour back to our area. But we were able to meet with a few members and get to know the ward a little bit more. I wish my IPad would take better pictures of the stars. The skies at night time are amazing. I will try to use my actual camera and see if I can get a picture for next week.

Thursday we had Zone Training and then interviews with President Love.

 

We met with an active couple who have inactive children and unbaptized grandchildren... so we went and met those people and they want us to come back and teach the lessons!! It was perfect.  We also started teaching another part member family, the Ellingtons. The wife joined the church a few years ago and now has a new boyfriend and 3 kids who are not baptized, but would like to be. :)

Friday we met with the Baldwins again and their neighbor, LaWanda. We had a very spiritual lesson with them about the doctrine of Christ and they both committed to be baptized at the beginning of January.

Saturday we spent most of the day getting in contact with a few potential investigators and meeting with members. We were supposed to meet with the Ellingtons. It was a very good day and I feel like we are getting to know the ward better and building those relationships.

Sunday - Church was really good, it was all about tithing. Elder Wolfley and I got to teach a mission prep class. It was way fun to answer questions they had and then to help them teach the restoration to each other. We were able to see more members and have another lesson with the Baldwins. We read 2 Nephi 31 with them.

I love it out here in Gallatin, it’s been a crazy ride so far but it has been fun. Thank you for all your support and prayers. Keep going strong, the Lord Loves you.

 

Elder Jensen

Our new car... I like it.

Week 100

Area: Raytown & Gallatin

Companion: Elder Martinez & Elder Wolfley

Email address:  kenneth.jensen@myldsmail.net 

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

Alright this week has been crazy, but it has been awesome!

Mon - was a solid P-day. Sports, a little shopping and emailing.

Tuesday was pretty fun. We went to a cool restaurant named Jazz. Apparently a member owns the place and so we just had to tip the waiter and we ate for free. It was really awesome.
 

 

While we were there we were called to give a blessing at a hospital which was perfect because the restaurant was literally across the street from the hospital. The Lord never ceases to amaze me. The blessing went very well. Later that night Brother Rogers “kidnapped” us, meaning he knows that we aren't allowed to leave the zone but he wanted to take us to a good restaurant. So he just didn’t tell us where we were going and all of the sudden we ended up in Kansas... but he took us to a place call Cocabolas. It was a pretty nice place but Taco Tuesday meant $2  tacos that are usually like $13. Later he took us to the only WW I museum in the country. We just got to look out over downtown KC, it was beautiful. Shout out to Elder Martinez who sat on the wall at the overlook and all of the sudden a voice over an intercom said “Please no sitting or laying seductively on the wall”. It was pretty great. Then we stopped in and saw Union Station. Also amazing and pretty breath taking.
 

  

Wed - I pretty much packed and said goodbye to some people that I have grown very close to here in Raytown.

Thursday was transfers. I picked up my son (Elder Wolfley) and found out that we are going to GALLATIN Missouri! Adam-Ondi-Ahman is literally in our area. It is a pretty sweet area. Gallatin has about 1,700 people and is by far the biggest town in the area. But we get to drive a TRUCK! I was so happy when I found that out. And I’m glad we did because day 2 we had to drive through a corn field. Elder Wolfley is sweet. He is from Moapa Valley, Nevada likes to hunt and shoot guns.

Fri - We traveled around and got to know some of the members here. 

Saturday - We got to do a lot of service. We helped a few people move, we moved some metal beams, and painted a deck. Then the ward had their Christmas party. It was a lot of fun and they had us be the cupcake judges. 

Sunday was really good. Gallatin has one of the largest chapels in the church. It is kinda funny looking but imagine literally two chapels worth of benches, one put in front of the other. So from the podium to the last row is a solid 150 ft. The ward is awesome though and a surprising amount of members live here. A lot of them have moved from out of state because they had a spiritual impression that led them here.

Being a missionary is awesome and so much fun. This week has been nuts but a blast. #gooutwithabang

Love ya all,

Elder Jensen

 

Week 99

Area: Raytown Ward

Companion: Elder Martinez

Email address:  kenneth.jensen@myldsmail.net  

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

Hope your turkeys had a good Thanksgiving!

Monday- The Zoo! It was so awesome! I love all the animals, so I'm always torn because I feel like they need to be freed but they're so cute and have life pretty good there. But it was a blast! Personal favorites were the penguins, elephants and cheetahs.

Tuesday- Had a couple meetings in the morning then for dinner we hit up a Mexican restaurant with a member and had some fried ice cream.. it was super good. Then we went to more meetings and saw Kim McBroom to finish off the night. He is a good guy but you never know what’s going to happen when you go over.

Wednesday- Helped a member hulk a fridge from one house to another. It was kinda cold, I guess you could say it was pretty "frigid". Then had some stellar district meetings. Later on I got to go to the ASL class since my companion teaches it. It was pretty fun. I really enjoy learning

Thursday- Thanksgiving was awesome as ever. We had a really awesome lunch with the Maupin family. Elder Martinez told them that he was the favorite child in his family and they doubted so they called his mom right then and there and his mom totally supported the statement... I didn’t say whether or not I was the favorite, but we all know 

Friday- We hit up a Chinese buffet and guess who was there? The Inde 4th Elders! (Who is one of my past companions) Then right when we were almost done the lady told us someone paid for us! We're not even in Utah! Is this what it's like to serve in Utah? Later that evening we did some baptismal interviews, I got to interview the father of a family and it was so awesome to see someone with a strong testimony like his!

Saturday- Exciting stuff! I got a training call so I’m going to be a Dad my last transfer! Four other elders and I drove up to Liberty, Missouri to the mission home where the mission president and the assistants trained us on how to train. Later that night we went to the Christmas devotional and watched the lighting of the visitor's center. It made for a fun night.

Sunday- We had an amazing breakfast for dinner, it was super good. It was a pretty stellar way to end the week.

It was a really good week, but because of the holiday nobody was home or they didn’t really want to talk to us. So not much happened missionary work wise. Either way it was a fun week. This weekis transfers and I am more than likely leaving. I’m sad to leave Raytown but I will go where I am called.

 

Week 98

Area: Raytown Ward 

Companion: Elder Martinez

Email address:  kenneth.jensen@myldsmail.net 

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

We are going to the zoo today, so sorry if I don't get back to anyone.

Tuesday- Got to go on an exchange with Elder Smith! We have served around each other before, but we had a blast with each other and got to teach a lot of really cool people in the Inde 3rd Ward!

Wednesday- Had dinner with some really spunky old people, they're what I hope my wife and I become eventually. Finally made it back to the ASL class! I hadn't really gotten to go in a while since Elder Martinez got moved in but everything lined up so I got to go. We ended the night with good ole Kim McBroom, we stop by every week to check on him. He's a cool guy who used to investigate the church but now we just visit with him and he reads scriptures with us and plays the guitar so it's always refreshing. He always says the craziest stuff and it’s awesome.

Thursday- Went on another exchange but with Elder Martinson. He was my companion last transfer for two weeks so it was awesome to spend some time with him again. He is an awesome missionary who loves the work! We got to take out a young man, Dion, who just put his mission papers in. We didn't snag any pics though... but a day with Martinson in Raytown was good enough memory for me. 

Fri - Not a whole lot happened as far as proselyting. Right as we started our comp study we got a call from an investigator that we hadn’t been able to get a hold of for a while. He talked at us for a whole hour. And the long and short of it was he wanted to know when church was. Then we got connected on Facebook and he, while speaking to me on the phone, sent all sorts of pictures. Stuff from his trips and vacations to family photos and all sorts of different things. Then he asked for a picture of me and I didn’t exactly feel comfortable doing that so I told him he can just see my picture on my profile. So he found it and said "You know you're a pretty good looking young man. Alright I saved that picture to my phone now so I will always have it." Kinda weird, kinda creepy but whatever, it’s all a part of the mission life. 

Saturday- Got "kidnapped" by a member who always takes us out for lunch and dinner but he had to "kidnap" us because he wanted to take us to an amazing Italian buffet way far away and he knew we wouldn't let him go there if we knew.. but it was well worth it! I'm still stuffed! Later on we went back to the Church of God.. it was definitely interesting and we learned quite a bit more about what they believe. Then I’m pretty sure he asked us to be baptized and join their church. We told him our stance and we would stay in the church and he pretty much told us we were wrong, but all is well. We left on really good terms and gave him a restoration pamphlet.

Our zone had a new plan this week to do a "Miracle Power Hour". So every companionship between the hour of 3-4 would pray for miracles and work with everything they had in a specific finding activity. It was truly awesome to see how much the Lord blesses His children, we had so many little and big miracles. The missionaries loved it. Definitely something we will do again.

It was a great week. We got to share the gospel, knock a few doors, teach a couple lessons, and feel the outpouring of the spirit. Thank you for all you do to support and uplift others and myself! See ya later!

 

Me Shaving a GBBM (Good-looking Bald-headed Black Man) aka Patrick Murphy

Elder Jensen

Week 97

Area: Raytown Ward

Companion: Elder Martinez

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 crazy busy, but it has been a blast. 

On Monday we had dinner with a super cool family. The father is from the Cook Islands and is a master carpenter so he made the actual fish hook from Moana but with real tribal carving. It was awesome looking. I wasn’t able to get a picture with it but he is going to be making us fish hooks soon so I will get a picture with it.

Tuesday was craziness, we were just running around the zone trying to get things done and working on administrative stuff. We had another lesson with Diamond, the guy from the other church who is teaching us basically what they believe. They believe that God the mother is here on the earth and that she is in Korea. They have pictures of Her all over. To some that would sound crazy but hey so does God the Father and Jesus Christ appearing to the boy Joseph. The lesson he taught was basically why they believe in the Trinity. We stated our views and it was amazing how the spirit guided the lesson. We asked if he believed that God will answer prayers through the Holy Ghost. He said “yes” so we read Moroni chapter 10: 4-5 with him and basically told him that if he wants the truth from God he could pray about it.

We were also able to catch up with a few people we have been trying to work with. We also got fed venison, it was a good day.

Wednesday we got to go help do car inspections, it was petty fun but took up our whole morning. It was alright because we drove right by the only Costa Vida in the mission so we stopped by and had lunch.  

Thursday we went and helped with car inspections again but in Olathe. It was weird but fun to be in Olathe again since I spent a year of my mission there. But as we were leaving lunch we ran into a deaf member of the Olathe 3rd ward where E Martinez served for 6 months. So it was definitely a “Divine Coincidence”.

We had another lesson with Kayla this week. As we were pulling up, a girl who was probably 17 knocked on the door we were knocking on. We debated what to do and we decided to go and talk to her anyway. The girl said that she was looking for Kayla as well. Then Kayla's mom poked her head out the door and said “Kayla will be here in a few minutes” so we just kinda sat there on her front porch waiting for Kayla. The girl really didn’t want to talk with us so we just stood in awkward silence for 4 ish minutes... it was great. But then Kayla did show up and we had a great lesson with her and it sounded like she had actually invited her friend to come listen to the message. The friend still was very disinterested but it was great to see Kayla still excited about being baptized! 

We had our Book of Mormon study class that we have every Thursday night. It was awesome more people showed up! And we get to spend the night with brother Murphy.

Fri we had Zone Conference. All the missionaries got smart phones and are now authorized to use Facebook. So it was a lot of training on how to use the technology. Elder Martinez and I gave a training as well. We pretty much made phone calls the rest of the day trying to collect information from the zone.

 

Saturday we cooked brother Murphy breakfast, that is always fun. He just makes everyone laugh and he roasted Elder Martinez. It was super funny. We found a few people knocking around. We even accidentally knocked into a member of the ward.  We did service last week for a family in the Independence 1st ward so today they took us to an old diner that serves chili. But they also do all you can eat tacos. :) We had a little eating competition and we ate 12 tacos, it was a good day. Later, Brother Rogers took us to an original KC BBQ joint that was super good as well.

Sunday - Brother Bruce, a less active we have really been working with, gave a talk in sacrament meeting and brought his girlfriend to church! It was awesome. Then another member brought his non-member girlfriend to church. We visited with both of them and we are going to start teaching them the lessons! 

It was a great week here in Independence. Thank you all so much. I love it here and I am so grateful for the opportunity to serve here.

Elder Jensen

Week 96

Area: Raytown Ward 

Companion: Elder Martinez

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 crazy busy, but a great week.

Mon - We were able to contact several people and set up return appointments. A man approached us at Walmart and invited us to his bible study.

Tue - Halloween was a good day. We had to do some administrative stuff. We had dinner with a family from Tonga and they fed us forever. It was awesome. We got a referral for a less active member who wanted to get back into church and meet with missionaries. We knocked on his door but he wasn’t there, so we tracted around his house and ran into these two really cool ladies. One is a young mother and one is an older lady. They both asked us to come back on Thursday. 

Wed - We had a meeting with all the Zone leaders and we got the new phones. Every companionship in the mission is going to get a galaxy J3. They are pretty nice, but super weird to get used to. We are also on Facebook now, also really weird to see everyone’s posts. I am excited though for the new technology it should improve the work in the area.

Thurs - We went back to the two ladies we found on Tuesday. The first one came to the door and was really excited to meet with us. She had looked in the Book of Mormon a little. So we taught the restoration and invited her to be baptized on Dec 2nd. It was a great lesson and our team up was a young man who is about to go out on his mission. He did great testifying. She asked if we could come back. It was sweet. As we were teaching, a random guy walked 12

Fri - We went on exchanges with the assistants. So Elder Merrill (my last companion) and I were working around Raytown, just like the good ol’ days.... 4 weeks ago. It was pretty fun though.

Sat - Today was awesome and crazy. We had a bit more administrative stuff to do like figuring out the miles missionaries can drive. We set up for interviews with our mission president. We had a great lesson with a less active member who really wants to come back to church and his wife and kids to be baptized so hopefully things get rolling with them.  Then we went to a bible study, that same guy (Diamond) who invited us on Monday. When we showed up he said that they were in the middle of their service so we caught the last half of the service. Everything was Korean but they spoke English. The only Korean person there was the preacher. It was was really interesting, but is was good. They taught pretty good principles but not completely the truth. Then we had a bible study with them, it was also good and we are going to go back and try to invite Diamond to the visitors center. It was definitely an experience to remember.

Sun - We had stake conference and it was awesome! Elder Hintze from the Quorum of the 70 came. It was a good day.

Thank you all for the love and support, I’m loving it out here in Missouri. The Lord loves you and will help you.

 

Elder Jensen

 

Week 95

Area: Raytown Ward 

Companion: Elder Martinez

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 boring, not going to lie. It has been a lot of meetings and administrative stuff. 

Although on Monday it was 8:55 pm and we were on our way home and decided to try one more person. We met a cool guy who is a member of the ward, but doesn't come very often. He was pretty welcoming and said we could come back this week!

Tue - We took a young man out with us. He was just ordained an Elder and put in his mission papers. It was cool to answer his questions and talk with him.

Wed. - We went to 4 different meetings :) The mission is getting Facebook, so we got to log in and make some changes to our profile... it is super weird. I still have no idea what the rules are but I'm assuming I can friend people, I just can't chat through out the week, but still really exciting. We also get smart phones next Wednesday!

Thurs - We did our weekly planning and took Brother Murphy to a scripture study class at the Visitor's Center. It was a great class and a lot of people showed up. It has definitely been getting colder here. So Bro Murphy is in a wheelchair and as we were about to push him outside he asked if it was cold outside. We replied "no, its not to bad". Murphy grabbed his beanie then we headed out. As soon as the wind hit him he almost yelled "This is white mans weather! I'm cold" Then the whole rest of the ride he talked about how black people are built for the cold. It was pretty funny. 

Fri - I went on exchanges to the Hill Park area with E. Hamblin. Hill Park is the area with the Visitor Center, the Community of Christ Temple and conference center, it has downtown Independence, and it has the Temple Lot where Joseph Smith dedicated the ground for the Independence temple. So a pretty cool area. We were out contacting people and we sat down for a little break. Elder Hamblin said he wasn't feeling super good so we went inside to rest for maybe 30 min, it was about 4:00. So I took a nap then about 40 minutes later I heard him in the bathroom throwing up, poor guy. There was nothing I could do for him so I went back to sleep... So we stayed inside the rest of the night. I got to read and watch church videos.

Sat - The ward had a big campfire activity. We roasted hotdogs and marshmallows and then Bishop Searls gave a message all about missionary work. It was a great activity. We got to go early and set up for the event, so I got to chop wood and do a little manual labor for a change. :)

Sun - The whole church service was focused on missionary work. It was awesome! I am so pumped for the ward to catch a hold of the spirit of missionary work. It is going to be great.

Thank you all for the support. I love being a missionary and I know it is a short time that I have to serve the Lord. I have been impressed recently of the power of the Book of Mormon. If you read it every day, you will never fall away. I know this to be true and I ask all of you, including myself, to make a more dedicated effort to read the Book of Mormon. Make it the Most Important part of your day. 

Thank you, love you all.

 

Elder Jensen

Week 94

Area: Raytown Ward & Riverview Branch (Kansas City, MO)

Companions: Elders Horne & Martinson & Martinez

Email address:  kenneth.jensen@myldsmail.net 

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

Alright, this week had a ton of changes. New companion, almost a whole new Zone, but same ward. Transfers were this week. Elder Horne got transferred to Olathe, as a 6 week trainer and he is whitewashing, what a champ! And I returned to Raytown fulltime.

Monday - We had dinner with a Marshallese family, one of the daughters had a non-member boyfriend over. So we were able to teach the restoration and give him a Book of Mormon, it was a good night.

Tue - So for the past week I had been catching a cold and it was just getting worse and worse so finally I broke down and went to the doctor. She told me that I had a sinus infection, an ear infection, and bronchitis.  So I guess I had good reason to feel sick. She gave me some medicine and told me good luck. For most of the rest of the day we rested and I tried to recover.  We had dinner with an investigator family, they were the cutest little Mexican family. They made some amazing homemade Mexican food, it was awesome. 

Wed - I was still recovering, so the other Elders prepped their apartment for transfers. They are sharing with a new companionship in their apartment so they had to move a bunch of things around. 

Thurs - Transfer day! My new companion is Elder Martinez, he is from Moses Lake, Washington. I am super excited. I have served around E Martinez a bit before. We came back to Raytown and unpacked then tried a few people. We meet the fiancé of a less active member who seems really promising. We had dinner with our WML and then took Brother Murphy to a scripture study class at the Visitor's center. He is so funny, we just laugh the whole time. 

Fri. - We mostly did weekly planning and running around collecting things that missionaries forgot at transfers. We had dinner at Steak & Shake, then had a lesson with Bro Bruce. He is doing really well. He is almost at full activity, and he accepted the assignment to speak in Sacrament meeting! 

Sat - We had correlation with our WML, which included chocolate chip pancakes :) We were able to contact a few people and had a lesson with our High Priest Group leader. 

Sun - We had church, it was nice to be back in Raytown. We tried to find some new people, had dinner with the Clarks (who are from South Africa and moved here because...it's Zion). They are super cool. 

It was a pretty fun week, I am feeling much better now. There were a lot of changes in the zone, only one companionship stayed the same and out of the 17 companionships 11 are training new missionaries.  It should be a good transfer. I am so happy that I get to be a missionary in the Lord's Kingdom on the earth. It is a huge privilege and I get the feeling that I need to make the most of it. Thank you all so much, you are amazing examples. Thank you!

Elder Jensen

I was very sick and trying to do my laundry. I came upstairs and went to fold my laundry and apparently fell asleep.

We found a Frog on top of our car.

 

 

Week 93

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 really and seems to have flown by.

Mon - We had a choir rehearsal to prepare for a musical number in Zone Conference.

It was 4 sets of Elders, some sang English, some Spanish, some in American Sign Language.  I had never conducted a rehearsal, so that was a first.

Tue - We had Zone Conference for most of the day. Elder and Sister Echo Hawk came to the conference. Elder Echo Hawk is a member of the 70. It was amazing to get to hear from him. Then we had MLC right after where he talked with a smaller group of us.

 

Wed - We went to the second round of zone conference. Since my zone is the biggest, we had to split the zone in half. So I got to go to both meetings. I met with the Stake Presidency to talk about the missionary work in the stake, those are always cool meetings.

 

Thurs - We did our weekly planning which was weird since I'm am in a trio, but the only one representing Raytown. So I did weekly planning by myself, which is much different than normal. We also had our Book of Mormon study class that happens every Thursday. We had a member of a restoration branch come. He had a Book of Mormon that was very well marked up and he knew it very well. It was really cool. I don't think he is particularly interested in joining our church but likes the class.

Fri - We had a few people from Salt Lake come and observe our mission. The mission is getting smart phones and Facebook, so we were the experiment. They had to see what the mission is like before the phones and stuff.  We did our daily planning at the church building and he basically watched us plan, study, and proselyte. It was a little weird but fun.  And both of my companions got trainer calls!! So E. Horne is going to be a 6 week trainer! I'm probably more excited than they are.

Sat - We got to do some sweet service setting up for a kids Halloween enchanted forest. It was way fun, we got to move hay bails, set up tarp walls in the trees, and all sorts of stuff. I got to spend about an hour with Elder Pauley, who is deaf. We were suppose to hang these camouflaged tarps in the woods with ropes. Pretty logistical stuff and we couldn't really talk to each other, but we worked pretty well with the little sign language I know.

Sunday was another great day in the service of the Lord. We mostly tried to contact people and get back in contact with old investigators. 

 

Thank you all so much for the support, it is always great to hear from you!

Elder Jensen

 

Week 92

Area: Raytown Ward & Riverview Branch (Kansas City, MO)

Companions: Elder Merrill, Elders Horne & Martinson

Email address:  kenneth.jensen@myldsmail.net 

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

 

Hey everyone, this week has been crazy and busy. I will try to give details but my brain is pretty fried now.

Tue - We actually did some proselytizing and had a great lesson with Brother Bruce.

Wed - We had meetings literally all day :)

Thursday - Elder Merrill got a call to be an assistant to the President. So he was emergency transferred to be in a trio with the assistants.

Fri - We tried a few people and packed and we were asked to help set up for a big service project for tomorrow. We were supposed to be there for maybe 20 minutes but it turned into more like  3 1/2 hours. 

Saturday - We went and helped at the actual service project. It was held at the Community of Christ (RLDS) auditorium. It is basically the equivalent of the conference center for us. It was a huge project to help the needy and homeless. So there were companies offering free services like hair cuts, job resumes, and medical check ups. Our job was to guide people around. The ward made care packages with towels, toothpaste and copies of the Book of Mormon.  I don't have the pictures of the event right now, but hopefully I will get them soon.  Afterwards we exchanged, E. Merrill went with the APs and I went with the Riverview Elders (Horne and Martinson.) So now we are double covering. The Riverview area has downtown KC MO. Its kinda sketchy, but its been a lot of fun.

Sunday we went to Riverview for church, it is a small branch with about 40 people, its pretty fun.

Anyway, sorry this week has been kinda short. They have kinda thrown me into the fire and I'm trying to get everything done that I need to. Thank you for all the emails this week, it was great to hear from you all!

 

 

Elder Jensen

 

This keeps us warm at night.

Week 91

Area: Raytown, MO
Companion: Elder Merrill

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 and kinda weird at the same time. 

Mon was awesome. We had a lesson with a member who is returning to full activity. We had planned on reading out of the Book of Mormon with him. The ward also wanted us to talk with him about preparing to receive the priesthood. So we get there and visit for a minute and Brother Bruce says "Well why don't we read out of the Book of Mormon" he flips open to a random page and says "Lets read this one, Alma 13" which as we came to find out was the perfect chapter on the priesthood and some of the responsibilities that come with it. It was divine intervention for sure.

Tuesday was full of administrative stuff but we were able to talk to some very nice people and we will hopefully get in contact with them this week. I also met the epitome of a grumpy old man that told us to go away, it was pretty funny and I just had to take a minute to laugh. 

Wednesday we went to several district meetings and then had dinner. Then we had a meeting with the Stake Presidency and our Mission President. Afterwards we felt impressed to try a family who use to investigate the church about a month ago but all of the sudden they turned a 180 and completely turned away from us. So we went and knocked right as they were pulling into the driveway, they were trapped! Luckily they were happy to see us again and we are going to start meeting with them again! It was surely the Lord leading us.

Thursday we talked to a couple people at McDonalds, no takers but it was fun. Then we went on exchanges with the Riverview Elders. The Riverview branch covers Downtown KC MO. So it was a lot of fun.

Friday we saw some really cool miracles, people who just let us right in and share a message with them. We saw a house that had a business sign that said "Da Candy House" so naturally we stopped to see what it was, really hoping it wasn't a drug house. As we walked up there was a family sitting outside. We were able to talk with them and learned that the man's wife had passed away at the beginning of September and he was really looking for peace. The Spirit put into my mind the scriptures to share with him and we had a tender moment. He said that he would like us to come back. Sadly, Da Candy House was not open at the moment but we knew we had found what we were looking for.

Saturday and Sunday were awesome, General Conference was amazing. I really enjoyed Elder Rasband's talk about how there are no coincidences. The Lord knows us and loves us. He would not deprive you of the opportunity to serve those around you and be a light unto the nations. Stay strong and push forward. 

Also, there are a TON of Polynesian people in Independence so we were fed well in between sessions. And everywhere we went people would see us and either give us the food in their hands saying "Elders, please eat" or "You still look hungry, go get some food" and they would usually make sure we got some. It was great, I think I found my people.

Thank you for all of the love and support, it is great to hear from you! Missions are the best, I am loving it out here in Missouri. #ZION

Elder Jensen

Week 90

Area: Raytown, MO
Companion: Elder Merrill

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 and kinda crazy, so here are the highlights:

 - Showed up at a recent converts house to wish him a happy birthday and came just at the right time for cheesecake :)

- Exchanges with the Assistants

- Interviewed a 17 year old kid who is going to be a great member of the church

- Visited a less active out in the boonies who randomly had a Gibbon Ape

- Went to the Independence Visitor Centers with some investigators 

- Had interviews with our Mission President Love

- Met a guy from Israel who speaks 5 languages, taught him about the Book of Mormon and we have a return appointment for this next week!

- A recent convert from my first area went to the temple!!

- Jeffery and Jo both came to church again!

It was a great week, I love being a missionary.

Thank you for your support. You are all amazing!

Elder Jensen