America, America...! <--- This is even worse, Jake. What does that even mean...?

Dear Young and Old and In Between,

 

This week has been one of interesting circumstances. I was sorely afflicted with an upset tummy, to the point of much trembling and vomiting. However, it may be inferred that such tribulation is only a means of our Heavenly Father to bless us, testing us to reward even further than He already has. I really think that's what it was. It came out of nowhere, bombarded me for approximately 24 hours, than dissipated almost entirely -- still have a cough. It made me realize how much I missed my investigators, how much I wanted to be able to go and teach them and make sure that they were still on track. There are all kinds of problems (Satan... tricky devil...) that can beset investigators in the short time between our daily visits. So yeah, basically I was a little sad that we could not go out and work. It was a good growing experience though, seeing as just a few months before I would have been glad for the opportunity to take a rest. I'm loving the work more and more! The sickness also gave me a greater appreciation for the Atonement. Throwing up was almost too much for me to handle. I was and am so grateful that He went through that specific trial for me. I was in lots of pain, but still happy haha. Our Saviour has been through it all -- He knows how it feels. Please remember that, okay? So ask for help. Think of Him in times of hurt.

 

Man, I am such I slow typer, it's not funny. It doesn't help that I have to read all my e-mails (actually it does, because they make me happy, they make me laugh, and they make me so proud to be the brother and son of such incredible people -- but it doesn't help you guys because then I don't say as much here...). Thus, this e-mail shall proceed to go forth in much shortness of content.

 

This week... Kofe and Te-ehu Tia were baptized! They are amazing people with powerful testimonies of the Gospel, with kids that I swear were raised in the presence of angels (seriously, they probably were). Their kids are recent converts of about two months. Not sure if I mentioned that before. Anyways, a member did the baptisms on Saturday and Elder Cunniffe and I did the confirmations yesterday. They are going to the temple on the 9th of July with the ward to do baptisms for the dead with two of their kids -- first time in the temple for all of them. Someone try to tell me that is not the most fulfilling thing in the whole world. Actually, they plan to be sealed in one year (which I will be able to go to!). So that's better.

 

John and Moe are doing better than ever. We set John's partner for the 16th as well, and she is coming along.

 

The message of the Restoration is true and changes lives. I love it. I love you all. Talk to you next week.

 

Love,

Elder Jensen

 

P.S. Family, please don't give up on me -- I want so badly to answer your e-mails... I loved them so, so much! You are so amazing to me and I am so happy to see how many blessings each one of you is recieving.

 

P.P.S. Thanks Dad. Love you.

Tamaki: The land of milk and honey

Hey everyone,

 

Happy Father's Day! I actually had no idea it was Father's day yesterday. I don't think they celebrate it here. But Dad, I love you! You are the CFO -- Chief Father of Oysters.

 

I don't know if I'll have time to reply to anyone's emails individually, but I just want to say thank you so much. Really, you don't know how much all those meant to me. The past couple of days I have had a really hard time. I've been getting sick (you don't have to send anything Mom!), but I don't think that's it. I still don't really know why it's been so hard, but your emails gave me a lot of strength. Meg, you made me cry again. Miracles do occur. You're right. Don't ever forget that. On Thursday, on a tradeoff, we saw one of our sets (set for the 16th of July) on the street -- John -- and set up a time to meet with him the next day. He was with a friend who was walking ahead of him -- apparently not interested in talking with us -- so we asked John if his friend would like to join us on Friday. He said, "I dunno," so we asked his friend, Moe (pronounced Moy -- Cook Island), and he said sure. So we came over on Friday, read 1 Nephi 2 with them, discussing how Lehi was willing to leave behind everything for God and how Nephi had to pray to know his father was a prophet, then asked them how much they would give up for God. They said, "Everything." We asked them to read and pray to know this is true, then set Moe for baptism, same day as John. It was a miracle! At the beginning of the lesson, Moe was hardly paying attention. By the end, he was engrossed. We came back Saturday and he had read and prayed and said he felt so good after he prayed. He told us it's true. John said he had read and prayed, too -- a couple of times actually -- but he hasn't really felt that it's true. Then we talked about the Plan of Salvation using Alma 22 (I think... just in case you look that up and think, "what were they thinking -- that hardly talks about the Plan," just know that we weren't planning on teaching the Plan -- we followed the Spirit, which is amazing), and at the end John said that while we were talking about it, he came to know it's all true. He just felt it. The power of the doctrine. Then yesterday, they both came to church -- miraculously, since we had to wake John up at 8:10, and Moe's wife told us he said he was sick, but I guess John went and persuaded him to come. Then they came to a fireside in the evening, where our member fellowship told them about the Word of Wisdom... good thing they already had the spiritual witness. Someone mentioned drinking later and Moe said, "Nah, we don't do that anymore." Awesome!

 

I love this work, so much! It's really challenging, but worth it! I love you family! And I love all you great friends. Thanks so much for the package Mom! Loved everything!

 

The church is true!

 

Love, Elder Jensen

It's me...again. Sorry

Family and Friends,

 

I don't have much time today, so sorry. I have a question for all of you. What more do you all want me to include in this big e-mail? I just kinda write stuff and hope you care. Do you want to hear about more investigators, about my preparation days, about my companion, about my area, I don't know...? Please send your ideas and suggestions to the family of Elder Zachary Jensen and they will fill me in. Also, family, you don't have to send your ideas and suggestions to yourselves. That's dumb. Just tell me if you have anything.

 

It was cool because we talked to this guy this morning before we came to e-mails and he is less active and he knows three or four keen people. Pretty sweet eh? It was a miracle because usually we don't proselyte on P-days.

 

Okay, sorry, love you all, thanks for everything. Bye!

 

Elder Jensen

 

P.S. Take your complaints about the lack of longevity of this e-mail to anywhere other than me. Thank you.

 

P.P.S. Emergency! Kelsi Foutz, I need your address! Someone hunt her down please. Kelsi, Send me a letter. Hope everything is great.

Mir-a-cles

Hey everyone,

 

Ah, I was going to tell you about some miracles right away but you probably want to know if I got transferred. I did, to Auckland. South Auckland. Otara, to be exact. The stake is called Tamaki. My ward is Tangaroa. It is a mean ward. I'm loving it already. The name of my new companion is Elder Cunniffe (Australian). He's been great. Since I've been with him, I've been reminded of an e-mail that Elder Samuel Whiting sent from the MTC ages ago. He said he and his companion have pretty much nothing in common, except the Gospel, which is fine, since the Gospel is their life. That almost exactly describes Elder Cunniffe and me. Thanks Sam. Elder Cunniffe is humble and willing to make changes, not stubborn and stuck in his ways like other companions I've had who shall go unnamed.

 

Father, this new flat is tiny. You were talking about Bridger's flat. Yeah this is more like his. And it's a wreck. Completely disgusting. Mom would honestly faint if she had to live in it. Nasty smell. Sticky surfaces pretty much everywhere. Ants. Fleas. Rubbish all over the place. Crusty bathroom surfaces. Shower curtain falling off. And more. Don't worry, we're cleaning it today. There's only so much I can handle.

 

On another note, this area is pumping! Actually, that's not exactly true. Check this out: a missionary in this area did a very, very bad thing. A thing which will cause him to be sent home, if he hasn't been already. And we found out about this terrible occurence because we went to visit a less active member on Friday and basically helped her to decide to talk to Bishop about something she did. Yeah, we later found out from her what this missionary did. It still feels surreal to me. I think wild stuff is understatement.

 

Anyways, Tamaki Stake is supposedly the promised land for saving souls. And we're pretty sure that it was because of this rogue missionary that numbers bombed last month. A few missionaries before him didn't help the area either I hear. Still, none of this matters because my companion and I set some goals for the area that have allowed us to accomplish heaps. We have invited someone to be baptized every day of this new transfer (only three days, but still). I swear to you all that nothing we have been able to accomplish would have been possible if not for our very specific prayers of faith. We have set the parents of three recent converts for baptism on the 25th of June because we prayed to have the opportunity. We prayed for referrals and received five today from Elder Cunniffe's mom. A sister missionary from here is serving in his home ward. We prayed for a family to teach. I think two of these referrals -- plus another from a member in church -- are families. I don't even know how to describe how much my testimony of prayer has grown in the past three days. We have followed the Spirit as closely as we could and miracles have risen from the dust. This has probably been the best half-week of my mission.

 

I'll tell you about one miracle that we had no control over. We invited Kofe and Teehu to be baptized and they accepted (in large part due to our brilliantly inspired member fellowship -- by the way, we prayed that he would be inspired). We invited them to church and they were very apprehensive. Next week, they said. We weren't able to resolve their concern. We prayed hard that night that they would come and guess what! they didn't come.... Just kidding! They did, and the ward was so incredibly welcoming, it blew my mind. We talked to them later last night and they said they had been talking about church all day. They also read and prayed as a family. Their kids are so happy to see their parents accepting the Gospel.

 

I love this work so much. We've been so incredibly blessed to see literally every one of our prayers answered. God lives. He knows what we need. But He wants us to ASK. He who is clean, whatsoever he asketh in the name of Christ, if it be right, it shall be given him. It's true. But don't take my word for it. Try it. The Gospel is amazing! Share it! Mosiah 4:26 -- the Gospel is that thing which you must impart, if you have it.

 

Thanks for everything! Love you guys.

Elder Jensen

 

P.S. Happy birthday soon SJ! Hopefully we'll have a baptism on your day. That would be a mean present, huh? I'll let you know.

Transfers are this week, Not last week

Hey.

This week was a good one because we saved two souls. Oceanna was baptized by Elder Purdon and Legacy by Elder "Stud" Jensen. The confirmations were swapped. It was my first time doing a confirmation (took me long enough, I know). Man, I was scared out of my mind. I know that's a little ridiculous but I have just been really trying to say what the Spirit wants me to say, so I prayed like mad several times before the confirmation. And it went great! The Spirit just took control and I was just chillin there waiting for Him to be done. Nah, but it was really cool and I'm glad I was spiritually prepared to do it. Makes a huge difference. I did realize something though. When the Spirit has nothing more for you to say, just end the blessing. I went just a bit too long and ended up saying pretty much the same sentence twice. Goofy, huh? That's the priesthood for you. The strength of the ocean of God.

Hey, I was wondering, how is Gates doing?

Also, will someone please return Hailey's "Preparation Precedes Power" book that I was borrowing before I left? I can't remember if I already asked someone to do that months ago, but I just remembered about it again, so yeah.... Shout out to Hay, since I'm talking about you!

Good luck Ryan Checketts! I heard the farewell was powerful. Doesn't surprise me. You'll do awesome. Hopefully we can stay in touch throughout our missions -- annual letters maybe, since I don't write much. So, yeah. See you soon (it feels soon -- five months already? Still not sure that's accurate. Time may be faster in the Southern Hemisphere -- someone please confirm)!

Happy birthday in a few days Mekenzie! Love you!

And C-Pain, happy birthday my friend.

So I'm fairly sure I'll be headed to Auckland this week, but we'll see. I'll let you know next week.

I could actually probably write heaps about cool stuff if I really think hard, but I don't have time today. I'm going shopping! For nearly expiring food that is way cheap! Sweet huh?

My last thought: prayer is powerful. So, so powerful. Don't ever think that your prayers are ignored. If you ask in FAITH, you will receive. I promise. I prayed the other day for it to stop raining -- we were caught unawares -- and it stopped immediately. I know this church is true. I know it. I know Heavenly Father wants us to pray specifically for righteous desires, and according to our obedience, he rewards! NZAM saved 194 souls this month. Through faith, diligence, and hard work. And PRAYER.

Bye! Love you guys! Thanks for everything!

Still Alive?

Zach at his Zone Conference

Oh Canada,

That's for Alana. She better read this.

Isn't it crazy that we're all still alive?! Man, we were scared out of our minds Saturday night. May 21st! I wonder what happened. Did the prophet man and his people get caught up in the rapture? Are we in our five months of torture now? I'm sure it will all come to light soon.

So you all remember the Catholic lady I told you about? Who I was really excited for? Yeah, she dropped us. Again. We'll try again to help her realize that the most happiness comes from the message we share, but who knows if it will work this time. I'll let you know. It made me sad. I was so excited for her, especially because we have been working with her forever. But you can't get upset about every single person who drops you because then a mission would be impossible.

Our two kids set for baptism -- Oceanna and Legacy -- are awesome! Last lesson, they really started warming up to us. They were going crazy and laughing and talking and everything, when the day before they were too shy to say anything. They're excited to get baptized. Remember how I said their great-nan, Lucy, is also unbaptized? Yeah, she and Paula (kids' mom/auntie -- confusing relationships; I won't go into it) came to our Gospel Principles class, where we stressed authority to baptize, because Lucy thinks her other baptism is good. Finally Paula caught on to what we were saying and afterwards asked if Lucy needed to get baptized into our church. Now she's on our side, wanting to get Lucy baptized. So she should get dunked pretty soon too. Maybe this weekend. That would be cool.

This week was pretty dang good. We talked to tons of people on the street, got a couple of investigators interested again through the power of the BOM (we seriously did nothing, just started reading it with them), had lots of investigators at church (more than last week), set a lady for baptism next month (Elder Purdon set her on a tradeoff, so I've yet to teach her, but she sounds solid), had an amazing zone conference, found out recent convert Hoby is related to soon-to-be-converts and family, and got cookies on sale. What more can you ask for? More miracles! Through obedience and diligence and faith. That's where it all comes from. We did really well in all three of those this week. Not perfect of course, but better. The challenge is doing even better this next week. Our mission has a thing called PB -- Personal Best. Always work on doing better than you've done. That works in all aspects of life. I'd encourage everyone to take a look at themselves and see what they can improve on. Then just focus on one thing. Try it!

Hey family, I know you're sending a package soon -- will you include one of those scripture mastery cards with all one hundred SMs on it? Just the one, not the four separate books. Thanks. Mother, I'm fine. Everything is great. If I need anything, I will let you know. Thanks for worrying yourself to death.

Well, love you all. I love getting letters and hearing how everyone is doing. I try to respond, but you know how busy things are.... Maybe when I go to some place in the bush I'll do nothing on preparation days and have tons of time to write. But don't count on it. More likely than not, I will be transferred to Auckland next week. We'll see in a couple of weeks.

This work is always rewarding, but especially so when you see the members change their mindset to focus more on missionary work. Please, everyone do some missionary work! Most of you live in Utah, the highest baptizing missions in the world! Guess where all those baptisms come from? Yep, members. Preach My Gospel chapter 9 has great stuff about how you can do missionaries. I'd love to hear about my friends and family bringing the Gospel to people. That would be the coolest thing ever.

Anyways, thanks for everything! See you guys soon (or at least it feels soon because it's already been four and a half months!). Love you.

Your favorite New Zealand missionary,
Elder Zachary Jensen

I refuse to put a subject here

My Fellow Americans (and anyone else who reads this who is not from America -- if you exist, please let me know; that would be cool to have international fans),

New Zealand is doing great, other than their rampant disrespect for American swearwords -- hell, damn, others.... Family, I was wondering if you could eventually send me a mini Book of Mormon -- as small as it gets -- and a New Testament separate from the Old Testament (it's a thin book; don't worry about getting a fancy copy, just the economy style for both the NT and BOM). Both of these can probably be found on some church website. You know better than I do. Thanks.

This week was really good. We found nine new investigators, which is great. One of them was a lady that we had talked to at her door a couple of weeks ago. At first she wasn't interested, but we persisted and she ended up asking if that was our church across the road (it was), and said she'd come on Sunday. We didn't see her that Sunday, forgot about her, and saw her this Sunday instead! We're meeting with her on Tuesday. Miracle. You want more? Alright:

We also had six investigators at church -- really good for us. I don't know about other missions, but that's good for NZAM and especially for Claudelands (my area, for you latecomers). One of those was a lady that we have been teaching for a while who used to attend the Church of Lucifer (I almost think that doesn't even deserve capitalization...), was taught she's a child of Satan (yeah.), and was having trouble adjusting to what we've been teaching her since it is so different. She really likes the Gospel though, and this was her first time at church. A huge step for her, since she flat out refused a few weeks ago.

We have a couple of kids (eight and eleven) set for baptism at the end of the month. Part-member family. We set them the first time we taught the kids -- kids are easy; making sure the family stays active is the challenge. The lesson before that, though, we taught so powerfully through the scriptures. They have so much more power than we do. We taught about baptisms for the dead and why they're so necessary. They (the less active adults) loved it. We are hoping to set the nan as well. She loves our church. She is a great-great-grandmother. Crazy, huh?

We had several amazing experiences this week. The last one I'll talk about was the lesson that we had on Saturday with this Catholic lady who has been gone for weeks. Remember me telling you about her? Yeah, she has really felt the Spirit with us, but is pretty indoctrinated by her church. In this lesson, we taught her and her husband -- first time for the husband. We taught about the three kingdoms of glory, having her read 2 Corinthians 12:2, which blew her mind: "My church doesn't teach anything about this." She and her husband both loved it though. Said it made so much sense. We also taught about the Spirit World and some of the pre-earth life, which again they loved. (Pause for a second. Want to know why they liked it so much? Because it's true! It makes perfect sense. And... go.) After all this, we asked them to kneel with us and pray to know if the Book of Mormon is true. We all knelt, I said the prayer, the Spirit was threatening to utterly annihilate the home with awesomeness, and they both said they felt it was true. So we invited them to church, which we have done before, and they said yes. The next day, we came to see if they were coming, ended up teaching another lesson, and committed them again. All seemed well, and we went back to the flat before heading to church. Then we got a phone call from her and she told us that she and her whole family were going to tell Father Joseph that they had ignored his earlier warning (weeks ago) to stop meeting with us and that they planned on coming to our church next week. I don't think he'll be too happy with them or us. So yes, they missed church yesterday, but everything is going great. I love this family. They most likely won't be able to get baptized before I leave, but Elder Purdon will finish the job and let me know. I'll update you guys on them next week!

Yes, the church is true. I've seen several miracles just this week and I am loving it. I know that part of the reason we were rewarded with these sweet as experiences was our endurance with faith and hope through the tough days where not much happened. The witness truly comes after the trial of our faith.

Still learning, but loving it. Thanks for everything everyone. I know that's broad, but I still mean it. I bet the only things that's keeping me sane are your prayers. Thanks. I appreciate it. Thanks for the letters too!

Love you all, especially you, family.

Your friendly neighborhood missionary,
Elder Zach Jensen

P.S. Lily and Isabel, postcards are coming soon! I'm sorry I'm so slow! Your drawings are the best I've ever seen! Love you guys!