Monday

Dear Family,

Wow! Sounds like heaps of things are happening in good ol' Utah. I think I just caught a glimpse of all the changes that are occurring. The whole country is learning of the Church, and I am sure that many hearts will be touched. The best thing you can do is exactly what man of a brother is doing! Sharing the gospel with all those who are willing to listen. I will definitely pray for Mitch. I know that the Lord provides a way and whenever someone has true desire to follow the Savior, through our asking, seeking, and knocking, Heavenly father makes it possible for them to find it. Keep it up, Jake. I am so excited for the whole world to hear the gospel. Every day I see huge miracles and I can't deny that there is method to this mayhem. Heavenly Father knows the best time to bring His gospel to the world in full force. It's happening and it will not be stopped. Please keep updating me with what happens regarding a member of the church running for president.

Dad, you asked for an update on the guy I talked about last time -- Reuben. First of all, I think he's Maori, but i can't remember. He's not white, I know that much. And he got baptized on Saturday! He'll be an asset to the church. Another guy, Phil, that Elder White and I did the teaching for was baptized on Saturday, as well as Jodenne and Deken. We didn't actually see Phil get baptized because we passed him on to another ward in the zone, but it is done and we got to see him yesterday by a Hand intervening and leading him and Jodenne to the house of another lady who came to church for the first time yesterday. Then Phil came to a couple of homes with us and bore his testimony. He was so excited and is one very converted man. We have another young woman being baptized this weekend. Her name is Erana. She's doing great! She is making it through a lot of antimormon stuff. That may be one side-effect of Mitt Romney running for president by the way. Heaps of antimormon materials floating around here. No good. But the work goes on.

There are just so many things happening, it's amazing. I love serving in the NZAM with all of these wonderful elders and sisters. I love you guys too and I wish you a great week. Do what is right, let the consequence follow. I know the Savior lives and breathes and smiles upon our righteousness. Really. Think about that for a second and what Joseph Smith has said of the brightness that illuminates from the Savior. He is a light to every aching heart and is the only thing that will heal us from the pains of this life. Other things might dull the pain, but keep in mind how blessed you are to have the HEALING power of the Atonement. Please share it. The Spirit will reinforce your words and your actions as you "pause to help and lift another," because that is what this life is about. I love you guys and I pray for you. Thanks for everything.

Love,
Elder Jensen

P.S. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MEGAN!!!
P.P.S. You thought I forgot... HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!
P.S.S. It's not that I wish a happier birthday to Mom, Megan (she's just older...).

Good Morning!

Good morning!

This is Elder Jensen from beautiful and sunny (yes, sunny -- sorry Dad) Auckland, New Zealand. There was a nice rainstorm last night which was pretty cool. Last night I woke up around 3:30 am and got right out of bed and onto my knees to pray (unrelated to the rain). I still believe there was a purpose but for the life of me I cannot remember what it was. Elder White asked me what I was doing and when I told him he asked if I knew what time it was. He told me this morning that I sounded completely aware when I told him I knew what time was. Haha but I think I realized that we still had three precious hours to sleep so I went back to sleep. He just laughed at me this morning because I had no idea what I was doing and he said that during the middle of the night I shouted, "Oh yeah!" like I had just had an epiphane. The stress! Haha, no it's okay. I think there are just so many things to do I am going delirious. A couple of times in the past we've had to wake up at 3:30 or 5:30 or something to take someone to the airport or vice versa so my internal clock hates me.

That's kind of the lame part of my week though. We've had heaps of miracles just in the past 24 hours. We had a lot of people at church, including Trinity, the partner of Richard who has been coming to church for ages but hasn't gotten baptized because Trinity won't marry him. In the near future (like tomorrow) we hope to commit them both to get married and baptized this weekend!

Tawera, a guy who I have surely talked about many moons ago, has been coming to church and told us just the other day that he had a drink on Thursday and decided at that moment that he was sick of it, that he wanted to just be happy, and that he wanted to be baptized. Because of divorce complications and marriage, we talked about marriage and baptism happening on the 25th of February. It's a miracle because that's the first time they've considered a date earlier than April in ages.

We were teaching this man named Phil who has heaps of problems, and earlier last week we went to the FHE that he was invited to to catch him and some other investigators. We found him crying, very upset because of a fight he had with his partner -- pretty much all his fault -- so we had the opportunity to bring the Spirit and give him a priesthood blessing. He is progressing like crazy now, after going on a temple trip with members, and is supposed to be baptized this weekend.

On Saturday we finally caught and taught this lady named Sister Fa'avoga that the elders here have been chasing for months. After a song and prayer and few background questions, she explained that she was almost baptized a few years ago after she and her husband had gotten married and he was baptized, but due to something that some members said, she stopped going to church and hasn't been for a while. As she talked the Spirit told us what she needed and we read a scripture with her. The Spirit told her that she needed to let go of those feelings she had and do what is right, then we followed the counsel of an Apostle of the Lord and shared the First Vision to remind her of the truth that has been missing in her life for a long time. She said it nearly made her cry and she knew that she had been trying to run away from it all by not thinking about it. She thought she was happy without the gospel but realized that it was exactly what she needed. We then read the Savior's words in 3 Nephi 9:13-14, and she said "Why do you have to read all the right scriptures?!" She accepted the Savior's invitation and is going to be baptized!

After church on Sunday, we had a lesson scheduled with this lady who Elder White met on the street, but she wasn't home when we went. Instead, a guy and a girl about our age answered the door and Elder White began to share the First Vision with them. When he pulled out his gospel art book to show them the picture, the girl said, "Ooh, that's pretty -- come in." So we went in and taught them heaps of stuff. They loved the pictures in the book and when they saw the picture of someone getting baptized Jojo (the girl) said, "I want to be baptized!" and Mane agreed. So now they're set for February! They agreed to read and pray and even texted us later to let us know their number. They'll be coming to a FHE tonight and are very excited.

Last, but not least, last night we had about a half an hour left in the night and still needed to visit several progressing investigators. But Elder White felt prompted to visit a referral that a member had given us for a man in another area, but still in the zone. So we headed over there and found out that Reuben was waiting for us. He invited us in, we started talking, he said that he went to church today at another ward and that he set up and appt with the elders for the time that we came. They never came and instead we showed up! Reuben told us he had been going to church for a few weeks under the radar, has heaps of friends in the church, has had a Book of Mormon for years, has read it a few times, and knows it's true. So without teaching him anything, we told him he could be baptized this weekend! He was blown away and very happy. This powerful experience finished with him offering a kneeling prayer of gratitude. Honestly, this was one of the most awe-inspiring and spiritual experiences of my whole life. I don't think I've ever had the Spirit testify stronger to me that someone is ready for baptism.

Heavenly Father is in control. He loves us so much. I love that He trusts me enough to help lead His children home. I'm so grateful for the Spirit and the direction that He gives us if we will just listen and act. This week we had the opportunity to listen to the voice of Elder Cook as he talked to the whole mission at a conference and I know that He is an Apostle of Jesus Christ. This is the church of the Living Christ and His work will never be stopped. I love it!

I love you guys as well and I'm very grateful for all you do. Have a great week!

Love,
Elder Jensen

Busy, Busy, Busy

Hey guys,

I'm glad to hear everyone is doing so well -- Whitney especially... oh la la.... You can't edit that out of the email when you post it on the blog! I had a pretty good week as well. We're so ridiculously busy here, I love it. Missionaries are always calling us and asking for something or we get a call from the assistants letting us know of a new big change and we need to organize it, etc. It's pretty fun. Today we have to organize for a car in the zone to be switched to another companionship for a while, had to take a missionary to the hospital, had a companionship study with some sisters that stay about 30 minutes away from us, and will be starting a trade-off tonight with a brand new, mid-transfer district leader to train him on his responsibilities. That's not very interesting though, so I will tell you of some more interesting things.

This missionary that we took to the hospital -- we'll call him Elder Muhammad Ali -- developed or contracted or somehow obtained a big abscess (nasty hole) on his hip that is the size of a golf ball inside. It started nearly a week ago so we've been taking him to the hospital nearly every day. But the first time we went to get it checked out, the doctor told him he was going to have to drain it by cutting it open and scraping it out (yum... is anyone eating right now?). So Elder Ali asked if he was going to numb it up. Doctor Iraqi said that the injections would be more painful than the actual draining process, so we naively trusted in his supposed wisdom. The following procedure was described by Elder Ali as "the most painful thing I've ever experienced." It was crazy! I was in pain just watching. Haha. So that was interesting.

We're teaching this family right now. They are such a miracle. I will tell you of the miracle. I think I may have mentioned it already, but that's alright. One day we were supposed to be going somewhere then we decided to talk to this lady who talked for ages, after which we talked to a boy, which led us to this family who said they wanted to come to church. They also want to get baptized and are excited as for it. They've been to church twice now and they love it. You can tell they just feel the Spirit and the effect that it has on them is amazing. They've had some pretty tough trials -- including a few miscarriages -- and they've been searching for more. It's so cool to see they have finally found it! They told us that just before the first time that Elder White and his companion had run into them over a month ago, they had been praying for help. Then when we showed up the week before last, they said they had just prayed that we would come back! What a miracle. Following a prompting and being the answer to someone's prayer has got to be one of the sweetest experiences in this life. I love this work and I know it's not mine! I was studying the Atonement this morning and it gave me such a great appreciation for what needs to be done with our time, missionary and member alike: we should be doing everything in our power to use that sacrifice and help others to do the same! He loves us and because He does He gives us power to do so much more than we alone can do. I promise it's true.

The area is going well and the zone is getting better. I'm sure I'll have some great news to report next week. My companion is the man and reminds a lot of Elder Samuel Whiting. It kind of throws me off sometimes. Love you guys and hope you have a good week. Ofa atu!

Love,
Elder Jensen

P.S. My typing is getting slower -- this took me an astonishingly long time to write, so I hope you're happy with the small amount of information/testimony that is in it.

Back to the Flagship

Sorry guys! Totally forgot to post this last Sunday!

Dear People,

Elder Jensen here. Guess what, I got transferred. I don't seem to stay in the same area for very long. I have been shifted back to Manurewa. That's where I was district leader before, but now I'm in the zone leader area. It's a pretty big change from Tauranga, since it's double the amount of missionaries to watch over. There are 28 missionaries in the zone. I'm loving it already. Heaps of miracles. They call this zone the flagship because it leads the mission and is the biggest zone. Definitely excited to be here.

Happy New Year! We had a fun new year's eve with many people drunk to the days. Sad. Fortunately we're saving souls. We're teaching a girl named Erina who is progressing nicely. She's set for the 21st but we're hoping to baptize her this weekend. She's ready -- she just doesn't know she's ready. But the Spirit will teach her!

My new companion, Elder White, is the man. He is humble and powerful. He teaches with clarity and definitely helps people to repent. I've learned a lot from him already. Three days ago we had a conference call with the zone and issued a commitment for each companionship to set the amount of people that they want to baptize in January. We had a great response with new sets being called in daily. Elder White and I knew we needed to pave the way, so on Saturday we invited 16 people to be baptized (with dates). Many accepted and just need to get to church now, but it was a powerful reminder that the only thing stopping us from saving souls (and this includes callings in the church and family life) is ourselves! As we follow the example of Book of Mormon prophets and work with unwearyingness to bring people to Christ, the Lord promises, "I will bless thee forever." What a promise!

I know that this is the Lord's work and that life is about preparing to meet Him. We can't afford to let bad thoughts occupy our minds. We need to stay focused on what's most important. 2012 is a good time to start! I love the Saviour and I can't express how grateful I am for him. He is the inspiration behind everything I do. He knows me, He knows when I'm doing my best, and He knows when I'm not.

Love you always! Work hard in this new year and I'll see you someday!

Love,
Elder Zach Jensen

P.S. Time is going too fast I think. Can someone please do something about this and get back to me?

DH Alert

Elder Jensen to the home base,

Good talking to you familia. You all sounded good, especially Jake ;) That is the first and last time you'll ever see a smiley face in one of my emails. Merry Christmas everyone else. I'm doing great and I'm grateful for all your prayers. The work is soaring, probably in good measure due to your prayers. I love serving in the the land of the man and orc. I know that God lives. He loves you! Remember to "live today for eternity." Make sure your decisions today coincide with your desired eternal destination. Helaman 10:1-5 is wonderful. Love you guys. Arohanui! (Much love in Maori).

Elder Jensen

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

Windstorm Mania!

Hey Family and Friends,

Whoa! I love this windstorm business I'm hearing all about. I didn't even know you could have a "wind day" to get school off.... Were there any small children mistaken for birds in all the confusion? I've got to admit, I'm a bit jealous. We don't really have psycho wind like that here in Tauranga. Oh, and this is weird: Elder Walker's hometown also had a crazy windstorm. About the same kind of damage and wind speeds. Very cool.

So this week (technically it's a new week for me, but it's the end of the week for you guys so I will refer to my "last week" as "this week") has been miracle central. The Lord has worked some mighty miracles this week that we might be able to help more of our brothers and sisters to come home. There's so much I could talk about but I'll just mention a couple of things. Earlier in the week, we decided to try some former investigators that we found in our area book. We went to visit one named Ti, out  in Welcome Bay, whom neither Elder Walker nor myself had ever met (excellent grammar if I do say so myself). At the home we met this Tongan guy and asked if his name was Ti (we pronounced it "tie," since we weren't sure). He said yes, starting talking to us a bit, wasn't too keen (interested), then someone pulled up in a car and he told us to talk to her. She said the man's name wasn't Ti -- but he had a son named Ty. Turns out the lady in the car was a member who just moved in with this Tongan guy (her brother-in-law). We set up a time to come back, met the 11-year-old boy, Ty, taught him about baptism, and he accepted the invitation to be baptized on Christmas Eve! The best Christmas present in the world! We had been praying all day that day for someone to set for baptism and the Lord provided! And I don't know if you noticed, but the name in the area book was a woman -- a completely different person with no relation to these Tongan Maoris. We go to visit a former, the former doesn't live there anymore but someone else named Ty does, and members just moved into the household.... Coincidences like this don't just happen. I'll tell you why it did happen. Because Heavenly Father loves His children and wants them to be able to come back to Him and find the most happiness in this life. Of this I have no doubt. Countless times on my mission has He led me to those who are prepared for the gospel. And Ty is definitely prepared. He had great questions, picked it up quickly, prayed that night, read from the Book of Mormon, reminded his auntie to pray, then came to church the next day, despite his nan coming over that morning and talking trash on the church! I love that boy and I love the Lord.

I know I said a couple of miracles, so now let me show you another evidence of God's existence and His Hand in the salvation of souls. The Lord has definitely led me to people throughout my mission, but never has one been led to us like this: yesterday we were talking to heaps of people at a mall during our short break between church meetings, and these two young Punjabi (Punjab is in India) guys walked up to Elder Walker. He was talking to someone else, so they just waited for him to be done. I knew he had already talked to one of them a few minutes before so I didn't say anything. I was waiting for Elder Walker as well since we were going to be late for church -- five minutes till the Welcome Bay ward started. When he finished talking to the lady, the Punjabi man that Elder Walker had talked to before said, "My friend has a question for you." His friend, Gurpreet, then said, "Can I adopt Christianity?" Elder Walker and I thought about it for a bit and, after some private discussion, came to the conclusion that it would be acceptable for this young Indian to adopt Christianity. Not really -- we said of course and asked him what he was doing in five minutes. So he followed us to church, stayed for all three hours, loved it, and... accepted the invitation to be baptized on the 24th of December! Just so you know, Indians very, very rarely are baptized, in part due to the fact that some of them will be killed for doing so. As if this whole event wasn't a miracle enough.

I do know that God is real and that He cares for each of us. Each person matters to Him. Everyone has the potential to become like Him and so everyone needs to be treated as such. Why else would he go to such lengths to bring these people to us? I am grateful beyond explanation to be a missionary for Jesus Christ. I love Him more than anything and I will serve Him until there's nothing left of me. Seriously, I love this work. Thanks for all your support. I love you guys heaps. It's great to know that I have a whole army of support back home to reinforce me with prayers, letters, and packages. If I could ask just a little bit more, it would be that you strive to put the Lord first in your life and become like the Savior. For anyone lacking faith, I've got a million more stories I could tell you to try to prove to you that He's there and He loves you (write me about it and I swear on my little sister's black belt championship medal that I will write you back), but to really build your faith, go to church, study and ponder the Book of Mormon, pray with faith, and BE OBEDIENT to the commandments, "and [you] shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself."

Have a merry month! Talk to you next week.

Love,
Elder Jensen