New Zealand is doing great, other than their rampant disrespect for American swearwords -- hell, damn, others.... Family, I was wondering if you could eventually send me a mini Book of Mormon -- as small as it gets -- and a New Testament separate from the Old Testament (it's a thin book; don't worry about getting a fancy copy, just the economy style for both the NT and BOM). Both of these can probably be found on some church website. You know better than I do. Thanks.
This week was really good. We found nine new investigators, which is great. One of them was a lady that we had talked to at her door a couple of weeks ago. At first she wasn't interested, but we persisted and she ended up asking if that was our church across the road (it was), and said she'd come on Sunday. We didn't see her that Sunday, forgot about her, and saw her this Sunday instead! We're meeting with her on Tuesday. Miracle. You want more? Alright:
We also had six investigators at church -- really good for us. I don't know about other missions, but that's good for NZAM and especially for Claudelands (my area, for you latecomers). One of those was a lady that we have been teaching for a while who used to attend the Church of Lucifer (I almost think that doesn't even deserve capitalization...), was taught she's a child of Satan (yeah.), and was having trouble adjusting to what we've been teaching her since it is so different. She really likes the Gospel though, and this was her first time at church. A huge step for her, since she flat out refused a few weeks ago.
We have a couple of kids (eight and eleven) set for baptism at the end of the month. Part-member family. We set them the first time we taught the kids -- kids are easy; making sure the family stays active is the challenge. The lesson before that, though, we taught so powerfully through the scriptures. They have so much more power than we do. We taught about baptisms for the dead and why they're so necessary. They (the less active adults) loved it. We are hoping to set the nan as well. She loves our church. She is a great-great-grandmother. Crazy, huh?
We had several amazing experiences this week. The last one I'll talk about was the lesson that we had on Saturday with this Catholic lady who has been gone for weeks. Remember me telling you about her? Yeah, she has really felt the Spirit with us, but is pretty indoctrinated by her church. In this lesson, we taught her and her husband -- first time for the husband. We taught about the three kingdoms of glory, having her read 2 Corinthians 12:2, which blew her mind: "My church doesn't teach anything about this." She and her husband both loved it though. Said it made so much sense. We also taught about the Spirit World and some of the pre-earth life, which again they loved. (Pause for a second. Want to know why they liked it so much? Because it's true! It makes perfect sense. And... go.) After all this, we asked them to kneel with us and pray to know if the Book of Mormon is true. We all knelt, I said the prayer, the Spirit was threatening to utterly annihilate the home with awesomeness, and they both said they felt it was true. So we invited them to church, which we have done before, and they said yes. The next day, we came to see if they were coming, ended up teaching another lesson, and committed them again. All seemed well, and we went back to the flat before heading to church. Then we got a phone call from her and she told us that she and her whole family were going to tell Father Joseph that they had ignored his earlier warning (weeks ago) to stop meeting with us and that they planned on coming to our church next week. I don't think he'll be too happy with them or us. So yes, they missed church yesterday, but everything is going great. I love this family. They most likely won't be able to get baptized before I leave, but Elder Purdon will finish the job and let me know. I'll update you guys on them next week!
Yes, the church is true. I've seen several miracles just this week and I am loving it. I know that part of the reason we were rewarded with these sweet as experiences was our endurance with faith and hope through the tough days where not much happened. The witness truly comes after the trial of our faith.
Still learning, but loving it. Thanks for everything everyone. I know that's broad, but I still mean it. I bet the only things that's keeping me sane are your prayers. Thanks. I appreciate it. Thanks for the letters too!
Love you all, especially you, family.
Your friendly neighborhood missionary,
Elder Zach Jensen
P.S. Lily and Isabel, postcards are coming soon! I'm sorry I'm so slow! Your drawings are the best I've ever seen! Love you guys!
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