Hey family,
I am picking up my dry cleaning today! Woo! (SJ...) It is going to be awesome. This is the first time on my whole mission getting anything dry cleaned. Then we'll go over West Auckland ways and play some basketball with Elder White and Elder Williams. Elder White was in South Auckland for seven and a half months (ages) and has been double shifted as a zone leader into a new zone training a new zone leader. That's pretty big. He is amazing though. He loves to do good and to save souls. Elder White was my last companion, just in case you forgot.
This last week was a doosie. We were all over the place for transfers. It all worked out smoothly and there were some amazing last minute changes. This week will be another good one. We are blessed to have Elder Hamula from the area presidency come to our zone leader council as well as all four zone conferences and a come and see fireside. I am very excited to see what he trains us on. One of the greatest things to see and learn from leaders is the insight they gain from their studies. They read a verse with you and you realize that there was so much more to it than you thought. I love to see what kind of questions they ask themselves and what kind of things they look for in their studies to gain such valuable knowledge. I probably would have yawned myself to sleep if were reading this a year and a half ago. Haha.
A few of the new missionaries that came in last week are outstanding. This one, Elder Atalifo, a 26-year-old convert from Fiji, is particularly impressive. He understands why he is here. It's very obvious when a new missionary knows (or doesn't know) his or her purpose. Someone to think about for prospective missionaries. Elder Atalifo is be trained by Elder MacRae, who is incredible as well (his first week here I thought I'd just give him the car keys and let him be zone leader) Now I want to show you more genealogy in my mission than I know in my real family -- Elder Atalifo trained by Elder MacRae, who was trained by Elder Williams, who was trained by Elder Hoffman, who was trained by Elder Jensen (that's me). So I'm related to Elder Atalifo. Very cool.
We taught Brother Low and set him for baptism -- he was keen! -- but then he didn't come to church. We need to bring him back. He's great. We also taught a couple of new investigators yesterday. Sister Parker, a member in Torbay Ward, has a sister whose daughter wants to get baptized, so we had the first lesson last night. The daughter's name is Nichola and the mom's is Sister Peterser. The Spirit was very strong and we know they will both get answers to their prayers about the Book of Mormon!
It's good to know that Heavenly Father tries our patience and our faith. We can't expect to get rewarded with something we haven't earned. I love doing this great work, even with the trying (and sometimes just confusing-not-sure-what-to-do) times. I'm healthy and happy. Oh, I nearly forgot. I'll call next Monday in the morning (my time), probably around 7 or 8am. We have to drive up to a country area on that day so I'lll have some time in the car. Any questions? Oh, I have one -- which number should I call?
Love,
Elder Jensen
P.S. Remember some of those questions you asked me in emails today and I will answer them next week. I am a terrible typer. Someday........ Ofa lahi atu!
Then we got another email from him late last night....
Dear relatives,
You're probably all asleep right now but I just forgot to mention a couple of things in my email earlier today. Thank you for the package! It was great. Elder Kaufusi was impressed with the popcorn. It's not something you see in New Zealand very often. We are ready to use those Mormon Messages tonight when we visit some families. I don't know if you've seen them, but they are awesome! And I mean that in the true sense of the word -- they are awe-inspiring. Anyway, thank you for the package and for the peanut butter chocolate things. Those are real nice.
MEGAN, you cheerleading machine. Keep up the good work! I'm cheering for you down here in NZ. Whitney, I've been telling a few people that you're graduating from university soon (they call it "uni," not college). I think it's cool. Not sure what they think. Jake, do you have a Preach My Gospel? If not, find one. I want to direct you to one of my favorite chapters right now -- Chapter 2. Give it a read and do some of the activities at the end of the chapter. You will love it. And it will help you prepare for a year and a half from now when you're in the field. It's getting close! Dad, picture this: zombie golf. Mom, the new missionaries used to look like deer in the headlights (like I did) but because of new training programs they come out ready to baptize all of NZ. Good thing lots of people immigrate here. And the Americans might start coming soon -- that would mean a huge intake of missionaries because so many are waiting. Yankees attack.
Well, that's it. It's great being a missionary. It would take 20 years to learn on your own what you learn here. Well. Bye.
Love with much heaps,
Elder Zachary Jensen
