Missionary Life

Family,

Hi. Last week was great -- so much going on. Heaps of mid-transfers with American missionaries getting their visas are making life really interesting! It's nice. Elder Nelson kindly bought me a new mattress because the current one has a massive hole, so that should be nice.

I traded off with a Manukau zone leader last week. It was good to see how 'in the details' he is. He was very thorough in his nightly calls and strove to cover everything necessary to get someone baptized. He really wants to learn how to be more loving. He said he wants to care about people more. We both learned much from the trade off about how necessary it is to gain the respect and trust of the people and especially the missionaries. We talked about developing and exercising Christlike attributes to gain that respect and trust. By the end of the trade off I felt that he had a greater understanding of why and how to love others more. This was exemplified in his patience while we talked with people on the street. He is very straightforward, but I could see the patience showing more on his face. He has grown so much since our last trade off a few months ago and he will continue to!

I also went on trade off with a Manurewa zone leader last week. He is quite impressive. He has a great ability to assess a situation and know what to do. He seems to be pondering a lot. We were able to experience some wonderful miracles with prayer as we sought to know exactly where the Lord needed us. We talked a lot about his own trade offs and how he can make them very uplifting experiences for the other missionary with much learning. He was excited to apply it. He said that usually when he has a question or a thought he just thinks about it a lot and asks the Lord in prayer, and generally he receives an answer. He is very spiritually in tune, so I believe that he does receive many answers through prayer, but then I asked him why he has a companion if not to talk with! He laughed and realized that they should counsel more. I love him! He has so much potential! They are doing great in Manurewa.

Lastly, I traded off with a Whangarei zone leader and Elder Hoffman (the missionary I trained months ago) on Friday. I was only with each of them for a very short time, but learned a lot. Elder Hoffman has so much faith! We went out and talked with everyone we saw, finding someone to teach almost every time we opened our mouths. Elder Hoffman is also doing a good job at getting members involved. The zone leader has grown so much in confidence since I was with him last and has a great desire to follow the Spirit. He has a presence about him that causes other missionaries to respect him and trust him. At times he can give very constructive and specific feedback that will help his missionaries to improve quickly. We talked a lot about knowing HOW he saves souls weekly so that he can teach others how to do the same. We talked a lot about D&C 50 -- learning by the Spirit as you teach by the Spirit and how important it is to use what the Lord has given us to teach: the scriptures. He is an excellent missionary!

In all these trade offs, one thing stood out the most: change. All of them are changing and becoming more like the Saviour. It was a great week!

Our investigator, Chantelle Christoffersen, got baptized on Saturday! It was amazing. She has come a long way since the first time she texted us only two and a half weeks ago. She has given up smoking, loves the Book of Mormon, makes fun of me all the time (just like President Lekias and everyone else---I don't understand...). The ward is so excited to help her! Everyone was asking us if they could have her at their house for a new member lesson. She already has visiting teachers assigned, and she has a solid understanding of covenants, so she is really strong. Her little six-year-old, Melody, is so funny. She is wild.

We had a great run to the airport this morning to pick up six missionaries at 6am! I love it.

Remember how you once said you don't always like the same stuff sent each week, so this is what I'm going with this week. It may not mean much to you, but this is my week! Great stuff. Okay, well, thanks for everything!

Love you!

Elder Jensen

Malo Soe Fua!

Hello family,

What a nice week and day it has been. Last night we had a huge Come and See Fireside. There was estimated 2000 people there--members, missionaries, and nonmembers. And guess who conducted this massive event? ... Take a guess... come on... it was me! I was on crowd control and conducting the fireside. It was crazy. There were souls as far as the eye can see. I exaggerate, but I don't exaggerate in saying that this was probably one of the biggest firesides in the history of New Zealand. People were crowded shoulder to shoulder in the foyers; there were screens set up in four different rooms outside of the chapel; drapes were opened so that people could look in from the outside. There were so many people because one of the best rugby players in the world came to share his conversion story. His name is Jonah Lomu. He is famous, even if you have no idea who I am talking about. Anyway, he was just baptized a few months ago, so we invited him to be our keynote speaker. He is a great man, and his wife is wonderful as well. They were very patient with all the people and bore great testimonies. He will be very influential in helping the church spread farther in New Zealand, I reckon. It was a good experience for me to inform people that their car lights were on, crack some dry jokes while announcing the program, and tell people they were being a fire hazard. Elder Kaufusi did a great job with the technical stuff. He didn't miss a beat.

So that was nice. Remember Sister Christoffersen? I think I told you about her last week. She is doing great! She cut down to one smoke yesterday! Choice, huh? Her six-year-old daughter, Melody, loved the fireside last night. She was taking all the cookies afterwards. Sister Nelson, an office missionary, sat by Sister Christoffersen and talked to her for a while. She is getting to know everyone in the ward! She had dinner with the Mercer family Saturday night, meets a new member almost every time we come to teach her, and loves church and meeting people there. She is looking forward to her baptism this Saturday. It will be great.

We are having some changes here in our area. The assistants' area has always been neglected too much because of all of our responsibilities, but things are opening up so that we can be in our area almost every day of the week. We have a goal to save eight souls next month. We are really looking forward to all the miracles. The emails will just keep getting better. 

We met a few Samoan young men on the street yesterday who have been to church heaps in Samoa and even a few times here, who are not baptized but have graduated seminary! How bout that? They are keen to have us over so hopefully we'll go this week and see if we can baptize them in the near future.

I love serving the Lord. It is the best experience. A brother in the ward just finished his mission in Adelaide, Australia and came back this week. He called us up the very same day he returned--not yet released--and told us he was ready to come with us and teach anytime. He came to a lesson with us a few days later with Sister Christoffersen and was great! You can tell that he just loves the work so much. He said he is converted to the NZAM now!

Elder Kaufusi spoke on Sunday, first time in this ward even though he has been in the ward for six months. He did a great job. Elder Kaufusi has such a great love for people that you just KNOW that he cares for you, no matter how he says it. His parents must be proud! The ward members would have definitely felt it. We really feel that this ward is going to get going. It is an amazing feeling seeing members experience the Spirit of missionary work! There is nothing better, I promise. President Lekias said something interesting earlier. We were talking about one of the wards in the mission that hasn't had missionaries in it for quite some time. The ward feels very subdued, not much zeal or fire. President said, no wonder--there are no missionaries! It is the Spirit of missionary work that livens up a ward and a soul. It is the ultimate expression of gratitude, to give what you have.

It was transfers last week so we were zombies once again, and it was wonderful. "Unwearyingness" is the key to the power (Helaman 10:4-5)! It was a great week and we the next few weeks will be very full-steam-ahead as well, if you know what I mean.

Well, I have typed a lot, my hands are tired, my hour is up, and I am off to buy food or something. I love you and am very grateful for you! Thank you for sending me all the genealogy stuff. It is exactly what I was hoping for. We have so awesome ancestors! They are pretty tough. Red beard... haha. Okay, bye!

Love,

Elder Jensen

Another Week

Dear family,

What a wonderful week. We are going to save heaps of souls. Hey, I don't know if I ever mentioned this, but there is a missionary in the mission--in the area right next to ours--with whom I went to high school. His name is Elder Soule'. He speaks Chinese. Well, now he speaks Chinese. He and his companion are doing great. They just stopped by the office to pick something up.

Last week the mission saw the beginnings of big changes. We had a zone leader council and decided to remove the goal that the mission had for Preach By The Way. To you, that means nothing. To me, it means everything! That is the number that we use to track how many people we talk to each week. Now we are just getting rid of it and we say, "In the New Zealand Auckland Mission, we TALK WITH EVERYONE, strive to BECOME PMG MISSIONARIES, and seek to be OBEDIENT WITH EXACTNESS! Why? To SAVE SOULS WEEKLY!!!" It is true. We just talk with everyone we saw. It's great. It really gives you a personal accountability to get each soul you meet.

Yesterday we were visiting a few investigators in the roughest area in all of North Shore to get them to church. This was just an hour before the start of sacrament. As we were driving through the area, we stopped to talk with a few street-dwellers. No, they lived in homes. Then this lady about Whit's age came up to Elder Kaufusi while I was talking with the local drug lord and friend (the drug lord is keen by the way). I could hear her talking with my companion and for the life of me I couldn't figure out what accent she had. I thought it was French or Italian. When I finished talking, I walked over to them and Elder Kaufusi said she wanted to come to church but needed a ride. So we walked her over to the local Tongan members, the Toia family, who then gave her a ride to church. On the walk over, I found out she was a member and she was from California, but lived in Utah for a bit while she attended BYU! Crazy American accent.... It was a huge miracle though, because she was in a very dangerous part of town and Heavenly Father just led her straight to the missionaries. I know that Heavenly Father loves His children, but especially His daughters. They mean everything to Him and He will go to great lengths to keep them safe. Her name was Nichole Lealou or something....

Last thing--on Tuesday we got a random text from a lady named Shontel, who said that she wanted to come back to church and change her life. She has been to church before, so we thought she was less-active, but she said she has never been baptized! After some discussion over the phone, she expressed that she would like to join the church. After a few lessons now and some fellowship from the Sloan family, she is excited to stop smoking and get the gift of the Holy Ghost by the 23rd of June! She came to church, loved it, was an active participant, and is looking forward to next week. Sister Christofferson is prepared. The Lord leads us to those who are looking for help, and sometimes He leads them to us!

Well, all is well. Thanks for all you do! Love you guys! Have a nice week in America.

Love,

Elder Jensen

Transfers

Dear Family,

You know, it's really strange, getting all your emails and hearing about what it's happening. It's like a whole different world. I hear about "BBQ parties" and "swimming" and stuff like that... one question: how many investigators are there? I'll teach them. Have them write me and I might actually write them back to teach the gospel.

Transfers are coming up next week. We had our first round of transfer planning earlier today. We also played basketball with President Lekias and Jared and Joe Hamula, the boys of Elder Hamula (area president). That was nice. In the last two weeks, Elder Kaufusi and I traveled from the bottom of the mission to the top and back down! We traded off with 14 companionships and gave trainings at a few meetings. I love visiting with all the missionaries. There are some amazing elders and sisters here.

We lost the keys to our chapel this morning... not good...

We saw Nicola (the latest convert) on Friday and gave her a blessing because she was feeling sick. Her whole family was there for the blessing (nonmembers) to watch and they were very interested. I think we are going to baptize the whole family! Father, mother, sister... How cool is that? I've still never baptized a complete family, so this is it! We saw Nicola again at church and asked her how she felt; she said she felt great the very next day. What a miracle.

We went to this great restaurant/fast food place in Ngaruawahia (near Hamilton) called Poppa's Takeaways on our way home from the trade off extravaganza. It's owned by a member, the former ward mission leader there. He is awesome. He fed us for free because we're the missionaries. We were on a hunt for food other than McDonald's, Subway, or Burger King (our diet), and low and behold, we found "The Works Burger," the best burger of all time. It was amazing, then we had kumara fries. Kumara is the best vegetable of all time. Turn it into fries and you've got heaven on a plate (no, that's not true -- it's an exaggeration).

I taught this lady last week and she starting crying because she was feeling the Spirit so much as we talked about faith and how she can quit smoking and she can know why her father is having heart problems and where he'll go when he passes away, and now she wants to get baptized. I was thinking about that and how everyone was talking about Grandma in their emails. That's really sad to hear about her. She will find those that need her on the other side and be led back to the gospel. I know that is true. I love Grandma so much; she's had a big impact on my life. It's good that it's about time for her. If there is one thing that makes this gospel so amazing, it is the knowing. We know why we are here, where we came from, and to whom we will return. We know how to stay with our Heavenly Father. We know that He doesn't just want us back; He wants us back to stay. Grandma is going home.

I love you guys. I'm really thankful for everything you do, and for the prayers especially. Have a wonderful week.

Love,

Elder Jensen

This email is from last week, sorry i forgot to post it:
Dear Family,

Hi, how are you? I'm doing great. Nicola Pieterse was baptized on Saturday and confirmed yesterday. She's 15 years old and most of her immediate family are not members. It was a powerful service. Her cousins, the Parkers, are members and they arranged the whole thing. They had prelude singers, good speakers, Brother Parker the baptist, and other musical items. And fancy baptismal programs. Very fancy. The Spirit was really strong. Some of the family members were crying, others were asking questions. It was so good to see. I love this ward--Torbay. We actually adopted the ward not too long ago--it's not our main ward--but they have a great love of missionary work. Before a convert baptism in March in their ward, they hadn't had a convert baptism in two years. Two years. So when we came into the ward (we received Torbay just before the March baptism--her name is Fana), we told them that we wouldn't have time to work the ward except to teach referrals from them. So what did they do? They started loading us up with referrals! We've started teaching a few now and Nicola was one of them. There is another man we're teaching in the ward named Brother Low, but he has been tied up with family issues. I know he'll come around though, then get baptized. He wants the peace too bad to leave it now. The members in Torbay love us and we love them. It's great going to their ward and talking with bishop, and they recently called a new ward mission leader named Brother Rapata, so things are going great on that front. Missionary work is amazing when the members are involved.

Last week was miraculous one. We had splits with different missionaries every day of the week except Saturday and Sunday, so Elder Kaufusi and I didn't even teach a lesson together, but that's not why it was miraculous. The first night I was with Elder Williams in Massey (25 minutes west of our area) and we taught a lady named Koa. She is a bit hesitant about going to church, but after a lesson where the words were given to us to speak, she was full of courage and ready to come to church. Faith is like driving a car at night.... 

Then we picked up a new missionary on Tuesday who is waiting for a visa to Papa New Guinea. He went with Elder MacRae and Elder Atalifo (Elder Atalifo, whose trainer's trainer's trainer's trainer is me!).

Then we went back to both Elder Kaufusi's and my old area, Clendon, Manurewa to trade off with Elder Alder and Elder Barney. Elder Alder and I had a great time, especially when some of the sisters in the zone found out that their baptismal set for the 26th of May (three days off) was in fact not married to his partner (even the investigator thought he was married). The sisters rounded up a member for a ride and the lot of us took off to Internal Affairs (to get a marriage license); the officials told us that there was not enough time to make the marriage happen in three days, but Elder Alder didn't give up. We explained about the baptism and everything and how they thought they were married(!), and this heroic Korean lady told us of that she could make it happen if we filled out some other papers, came in the next day before 10am, and some other stuff that I tuned out (she was really nice but I got a phone call from another missionary telling me about a miracle in their area). I asked about the whole situation yesterday and the elders said that it all went through and they got married and baptized on Saturday! What a nice surprise.

We then went down to my old stomping grounds--Hamilton--to trade off with Elder Byam and Elder Smith. Near the end of a good split and while digging up some dirt in an investigator's backyard (service is good, especially in a suit), Elder Byam and I had a great talk that I know will help the both of us in our missions and our lives. It was an amazing experience and my testimony of the power and authority of this calling grew a lot.

Last, but not least, President Lekias, Elder Kaufusi, and I hopped on an airplane and flew down to Gisborne! About a 50 minute flight. It's the most remote part of the mission and it is awesome. We went to a district meeting with the small zone and then I went out with Elder Lamb and Elder Allred. They loved having us there. We finished with dinner (President's shout) at Sunshine Thai and shared the miracles of the day. One of our miracles was teaching this less active man named Brother Madden. He told us it had been ten years and one month since he had spoken to God. We listened and we asked questions. The miracle: the Lord allowed us to see right through his rugged sailor and soldier attitude. We were prompted to share Alma the younger's conversion story with him. As we read, his attention was fixed on the story. He told us that he actually felt hope that he too could overcome his anger towards God that originated when, ten years ago, his mom and grandmother were taken suddenly from this life. He also felt that he could overcome the chains of smoking and drinking and whatever else he's doing. He asked how he was supposed to do it, and the answer came when we watched the Mormon Message "Choose This Day" from President Eyring (thank you so much for sending those!). He knew he had to pray. He knew he had to pray that day. So he committed to doing it that night (he wouldn't pray with us). It was so incredible. I loved it.

I love this work. It is the best! Other work is just boring or you don't get paid enough. But here you get paid daily in blessings (they don't use the word cheesy here, but if they did I would). I love you guys and I am very grateful for you and your prayers! Have a great week.

Love,

Elder Jensen

P.S. Congratulations Bree! Getting married? Wow. What is his name? Also, did you get my letter? I sent it your school address. Okay, love you bye!

Then he sent this a couple hours later:

Dear fellows,

I forgot to mention that here in New Zealand you are hard-pressed to find a good donut, but after we landed back in Auckland (flying from Gisborne), President bought us some donuts from Dunkin' Donuts at the airport! They were nice. I love donuts...

Love,

Elder Jensen