Christmas

Dear home bound people,

Elder Jensen here. Hi. Last week was a great one. Due to lack of time, I will quickly write many scattered thoughts.

Weekend before last: Funny as Kiribati boy, Tebuti Toareti, was baptized! He's 14 and loves fish and rice. Sarah Russell got baptized! That was a huge miracle, since she tried to back out the last week, but she felt the Spirit too strongly with a blessing and some lessons. I was so happy when she got in the font, I almost cried. Nah, not really, but it was powerful. She's 24, Maori, funny as, loves dogs. Solid convert! Matira Maney was baptized as well, just two hours after Sarah! Another crazy miracle, as the weeks before this she had been in Auckland for ages, even though she was set for last weekend for nearly a month. In a massive miracle moment, she decided drop smoking and other issues and get baptized. She is 48, Maori hard, and has a slightly insane son who tried to kill his brother last Monday evening (we witnessed attempted murder and called the cops! Cool -- he sat in on FHE the next night...). Our Punjabi Miracle Man, Gurpreet Dhoat, is getting baptized on Christmas Eve. It's going to be a white Christmas! This will be the first Christmas he ever celebrates. He's looking forward to it. He rode the bus with the ward for and hour and half to see the temple lights in Hamilton last weekend and when I asked him about it he said, in his choppy Indian accent and with a smile on his face, "Very good -- Holy Ghost." Score one for the republic! The wards are loving all the baptisms. It's a good feeling coming to church and seeing that a good portion of the congregation is made up of recent converts. We've had some pretty big trials this last week, but it doesn't really matter, because when we have a determination to do something, the Lord tests us to see if we're serious about it. In one or two days this weekend, we had two or three huge miracles finds and sets (for baptism) text us and say things like, "please delete my number" and "don't come around again" but then on Sunday we had members bringing four new people to church! Two of them are going to be getting the lessons within the week. Ether 12:6 very accurately describes my mission experience and I love it. What better way to grow.

I love you guys and I'm excited for Christmas to see everyone thinking even more about the Savior. Don't forget what it's really about and remember how much He loves you. MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Love,
Elder Jensen