Tarzan

Dear Megan, Lil' Jake, Brother Jacob, Whitney, Mother, Father, and other family and friends,
 
Good afternoon! Almost evening for you. It's a nice sunny day in South Auckland. This morning, as we were about to leave the flat, Elder Naicker pointed out to me that I had a couple of small holes in my pants, in the back. I honestly don't know how long I've been proselyting with those.... I got them all patched up though, thanks to Elder Naicker's iron-on patches. You want to know the beauty of missionary work? Everything you own seems to fall apart relatively quickly, and you don't get clothes dry cleaned for one to two years (still haven't). It's enjoyable. No really, it's good fun.
 
This week has been one of many miracles, especially the end of the week. The first half seemed to be going very slowly with not much happening, but I realized as I accounted to one of my leaders in mid-week accountability that I hadn't been doing what I'm supposed to. I was teaching and talking to everyone, but I wasn't inviting with as much boldness and faith as I should. The next day, Elder Naicker and I invited six people to be baptized! Heavenly Father then blessed us with all six accepting the invitation -- two set with a date -- and many investigators at church. In one of our wards (we cover two), there were many new faces, some of them our investigators and some visitors. Some people in the ward even approached us, excited about all the new people, and we think that this will really help the ward to get moving and help us with the work. They've had relatively few baptisms this year, so we think they were just discouraged. The work moves forward without the help of the members, but only at a fraction of the pace that it could with member involvement. Help out the missionaries! It brings blessings to them, to you, and to those you help to share the gospel with.
 
Earlier this week we found this part member family while talking to everyone on the street. They invited us over because the less-active guy, Anaru, wanted to get back into church, and his nonmember partner, Alex, was really interested in eternal families. We went and taught them and their niece, Ivory, on Friday and had a powerful Restoration lesson! As we were talking to them at the beginning, Ivory (17) said, "I want to get baptized!" Haha yes! We taught from the scriptures and testified of the truthfulness of Moroni's promise in chapter ten. You could see Alex and Ivory just glowing with the Spirit. We trusted in Heavenly Father and invited them to be bapized on the 20th of August. Ivory eagerly accepted with a huge smile, and Alex accepted more hesitantly, saying she'll have to pray and come to church and see how it is. The next day, we watched the Prophet of the Restoration (amazing movie!) and the Spirit was so thick I nearly passed out. Nah, but it was another powerful lesson. We taught nearly everything in the missionary lessons -- Restoration again, temples and the Spirit World, faith, repentance, baptism, the Holy Ghost, Word of Wisdom, and Law of Chastity. Haha, I know, crazy huh? No way, because we followed the Spirit and did everything we could to prepare them for the trials ahead. Ivory just loved everything. Alex said she believed Joseph Smith was a prophet because she felt it. She described her feelings as warm and tingly. The Holy Ghost! We committed them for baptism again and they full-heartedly accepted. It was just a testimony strengthener.
 
Out of time. I'll be back soon in a few minutes to tell you the rest.
 
Elder Jensen
Much love

I dunno

Oh Darling, I love you so. Where are you? Post this on the blog!
Hey Family,
 
Sorry, four minutes today. This week we had a wedding and a baptism of a guy named Willy who has been investigating the church for seven years. He has heaps of faith and is an inspiration. We have another guy set to be baptized this Saturday. He received a blessing from the missionary before me to help him quit smoking about three weeks ago and he hasn't felt an urge to smoke since. So we taught him about the power of God and how this church is the only one to have it and helped him to see how anything is possible with faith. At the end of that lesson, he was very excited to be baptized.
 
I Love the Gospel and more than anything I know that God answers prayers. Love you all!
 
Love Elder

Ps. Also just a little small fact, because of one of Zach's friends, Ashley who is waiting for Zach's other friend Lee, and because Lee and Zach left on the same day, we know that Zach has been gone exactly 200 days and there is only 530 days left to go. A small dent in the process, but a dent nonetheless!

New Stuff. Heaps of it.

Hey!

 

So quite a lot has happened since last week. It's pretty exciting and I'm doing a lot better in terms of back and sickness. Mother, if my back was bad, you know I would have told you more about it. A physio is like a doctor's clinic -- sort of -- and she basically just massaged my back, gave me exercises to do, occasionally did acupuncture, and once did this other thing that I have some pictures of (which I should send today, given I have time). Cool though, huh? Acupuncture. Sweet as. Oh, and I just pulled a muscle or something playing basketball. And about being sick, I did take the antibiotics, and it worked well (unless time just healed it... which is what I'm pretty sure happened... medicine... psh).

 

I got transferred! Already! On Thursday. Elder Cunniffe and I were saying how it would be funny if I moved across the road to this other area in another zone called Chapel Downs/Clover Park. But we were thinking that's unlikely because he had already been in Tangaroa for four and a half months, so he'd probably be the one to be transferred. Tuesday night, talking to President Lekias about interviews for some investigators, and at the end of the call he says, "One more thing Elder Jensen." Uh oh... (just kidding, I'm a good boy!) "We are calling you to be a district leader in the Manurewa District" (across the road haha). So now I'm a district leader. It's so time-consuming. I have no time to write in my journal, barely have time to eat, and my prayers now include four other elders AND their investigators. It's awesome though! I love it. It's giving me a greater appreciation for leaders in the church and mission and for Christlike attributes. I have also been double-shifted with Elder Naicker into this new area with two wards (double-shift is where both missionaries are new to the area, so neither knows it already). So the latter half of this week has been a huge challenge and such a blessing! I have already felt inadequate, which has caused me to rely more on the Lord. Life is good right now! I love this work and these missionaries and these people of New Zealand.

 

Because my three investigators were being baptized across the road in Tangaroa, I got permission to go to the baptisms. John and Neashia got married right before, then John and Moe got baptized! It was awesome, even though I didn't actually get to see them go in the water (too many people). Unfortunately, Neashia didn't get baptized because her mom decided to go psycho, telling her essentially, "you were born a Catholic, you're going to die a Catholic." It was one of the saddest things I have ever seen. So I took Elder Naicker with me into a side room and asked if I could pray for her. Awesome Fijian Indian that he is, he said of course (he's already my favorite companion). I prayed for Neashia and for understanding. All I can tell you is that the power of God is real. He comforted me beyond what any person could have done. He did help me understand and the calming influence of the Spirit overwhelmed me. He's there. He listens. HE ANSWERS. Of this I testify, my wonderful friends and family.

 

Elder Naicker and I are excited nearly out of our minds to work in this area. This is his first time in the city (been out nine months -- first comp to be out less than a year and a half...) and he likes it a lot. We have already been privileged to invite two souls to be baptized and look forward to inviting more. We came into the area with one already set for this Friday (22 July). His name is Willy and he is keen as. He has a powerful testimony and I'm so blessed to be able to witness his marriage and baptism and help him with his final preparations for baptism. I love him already. We also have a guy named Pui set for the 30th of July. He will take some work, but he has a testimony of priesthood blessings and the reality of this work. One more guy Steven, set for the 13th of August, is awesome and keen to be baptized. I love them all!

 

The gospel is amazing and saves and changes lives. I'm so grateful to be His servant. I love you guys and thank you Lee and Heather for the inspiration! Bye!

 

Love, Elder Jensen

New Mission President

Hey everyone,

 

How are you all doing? I'm doing pretty well. I'm kind of sick again. It's really annoying. So yeah, I'm kind of just dealing with that today.

 

I wish I could have heard Matt's homecoming talk. Sounds like it was amazing. I wish I could talk to him and get some advice or something. It's really incredible how much I have learned since I have been out and yet so often I still feel like I don't know anything, so any help I can get is much appreciated. Yesterday we had a pretty terrible first lesson with this Filipino woman, and our member freely chastised us for it. So I'm working on my "How to Begin Teaching" skills. Man, Preach My Gospel is probably one of the best tools on the planet.

 

Holy guacamole, I think I am falling asleep.... I took some medicine this morning and it seems to be knocking me out, while at the same time not getting rid of the cold. It's okay though, because I am now better understanding that every trial or challenge we face in life is just a means of Heavenly Father blessing us more. Every time something threatens to impede our progress here in Tangaroa, shortly thereafter miracles bombard us. For example, we pretty much had only three investigators for the past two or three weeks, so we just kept talking to everyone and doing our best to find more. Honestly nothing seemed to be happening. Then this week, we hit a nice goldmine of 12 new investigators and two new sets, one for this month and one for August. I'm so tired.... It was a great week. I'm dying here.... Probably one of the highlights of the week was something that happened yesterday.

 

I've been trying to convert the physio that I see for my back, but not having much success.

 

This lady who hates us with a passion told us how wrong we are partly because of this: she proceeded to show us a picture of an egg she once found with another egg inside of it. "See?! It's an egg inside of an egg! Don't you get it?" I still don't get it....

 

Yesterday we called Moe's wife (Moe is set for this coming Saturday) to see if Moe needed a ride to church. He has been suffering from gout, some kind of condition that apparently feels like a screwdriver is being wedged into your bones, and Alisha (his wife) was doubting that he'd be able to come to church. So, starting Saturday night, we fasted that his foot would be healed. When we called in the morning, Alisha said he wasn't coming to church (devastation!), and -- to make matters worse -- she said he wasn't interested in learning anymore. To be frank, this blew our minds. So, tying to ward off discouragement, I prayed for nearly the whole five-minute walk to his house that I would receive understanding and peace. We knock on the door, and guess what -- he's standing there in his church clothes and a half-grin plastered across his Cook Island face! Wait, are you coming to church? Yeah, of course. What about your foot? It feels fine. Barely hurts at all. But Alisha said.... (jovial laughter) Yeah, I was messing with you guys. Miracle! Haha, Alisha wouldn't even turn around from her breakfast to face us.

 

The moral of that story is that Moe is hilarious and that fasting works! The fast was answered light speed! His foot was healed that morning! My testimony of fasting has just exploded from this experience. If you fast in specifics and with faith, you will be able to accomplish so much more than is possible with just prayer. Just like when the twelve apostles asked Christ why they couldn't cast out a certain unclean Spirit and He told his them that some evil spirits can only be cast out with "much fasting and prayer." I can see this to be true.

 

I love being a missionary. No where else can your faith grow like it does in the mission field. To anyone who is considering a mission, please search the words of the prophets, ponder them, and pray about it. Make sure you're doing the right thing. If you should go on a mission, He will tell you.

 

Nothing in this world is more important than living the Gospel of our Lord right now. Please don't put it off. If you don't have the testimony to live it, then read and pray until you do. I promise it will come. If it doesn't, feel free to beat me to a pulp in a year and a half. I'm so grateful for all your support -- your letters and especially your prayers. I love my Savior. He lives. He knows me. He knows you. He's waiting for you. You will have to stand before Him someday sooner than you think. I believe that with all my heart. I hope I come back (in a couple of years) to valiant soldiers in His army, who "can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth [them]" (Philippians 4:13).

 

Love you family and friends. Sorry if this e-mail was lame or didn't make sense -- I think i'm partly under from the meds. See ya soon.

 

Your NZAM Elder,

Jensen

I forgot to mention that there is a new mission president, named President Lekias. Good man.

 

And I have three baptisms and a marriage this weekend: John and Neashia (married and baptized), and Moe (baptized).

 

Okay, I think that's all. Well... bye.

 

Edler Nesnej

Independence day

Fellowcitizens,

 

It's a good day here in Auckland. It's kind of freezing and I almost forgot it was the Fourth of July. The only reason I remembered was because an American member in our ward mentioned something about rootbeer yesterday. Okay, is that a thing? To have rootbeer on the Fourth of July? I can't remember that ever being a big thing. I mean, I know we have rootbeer floats sometimes, but I didn't think that was an American thing. Apparently it is. I haven't had rootbeer since the MTC. How sad is that? Not that sad. But still.

 

To be honest, some people overuse the phrase, "to be honest." I sometimes feeling like saying to them, I do not think that phrase means what you think it means.

 

This week wasn't too bad. We have been meeting with our sets for the 16th of July -- John; Neashia, John's partner (I know, it's a disgusting word and the plague of NZ); and Moe. They're pretty much our only investigators. We've got one other guy named Bucks set for the 30th, but we have only seen him once, unfortunately. Moe is doing great. He reads heaps of the Book of Mormon every day. He's somewhere in 2 Nephi after a couple weeks of teaching him. His less active wife, Alisha, is now planning on coming back to church, and they hope to be sealed as a family in a year. They both have strong testimonies of all that we teach them. Their kids are just crazy. Haha, just a few days ago, Elder Cunniffe taught the parents and the more mature kids while I looked at pictures with three younguns; just like we had done the day before with John and his kid, just flip-flopped -- I taught John and Neashia while Elder Cunniffe looked at pictures with Ioane (that's an "i" -- pronounced yo-on-eh).

 

So I was just trying to think of something else to tell all yous guys. Haha just kidding. Nah, but then I remembered... my our bikes were stolen last night while we were in a members home! We walked outside and there was Elder Cunniffe's helmet just sitting on the ground. Haha, funny huh? The zone leaders weren't too happy with us, but since we had just reported some good stats, they couldn't rebuke us too much.

 

So we were sitting in sacrament meeting, listening to one of the last testimonies, when this little (I think five-year-old) kid comes up and sits down right in between us, squeezing on in. He sat with us till the end of the meeting, copying everything I did. I helped him follow along with the song, then, after the prayer, he got up and left with a handshake and a salute, followed by a "Yes sir!" which he always says. Haha, he's a funny little kid. His name is Siosaia Takataka. That really cheered me up. I had having a hard week. We talked to over 200 hundred people on the street, had a lot of lessons, and set one more for baptism, but for some reason it was just hard.... All of our appointments with new people fell through, except one on Monday -- probably 15 to 20 lessons. Little Siosaia made my day. Seriously, sometimes in this work you find solace in the smallest things.

 

The New Zealand name for ground beef is mince. Is that the same in America and I just didn't know it? And bell peppers are called capsicums. Here in South Auckland, the people are not nearly as anti-American as they seemed to be in Hamilton. The people here are so humble -- lots of islanders who are way nice. I have developed a strong distaste for white people. This will surely be a problem post-mission, but we won't worry about that now.

 

One thing I learned this morning as I studied is that it is so important to study the scriptures every day to the point that we feel the Spirit and He gives us a greater hunger and thirst for righteuosness. That is what keeps us strong and healthy members of the church. That, and diligent prayer -- really talking to your Heavenly Father -- and going to church with the right mindset. I promise that your faith will grow and your concerns and doubts will be resolved as you do these things. Test it. Love you guys. Have a good week. Thanks for all your prayers and emails and love.

 

Love, or in Elder Whiting's terms, bitterly,

Elder Jensen