Tarzan

Dear Megan, Lil' Jake, Brother Jacob, Whitney, Mother, Father, and other family and friends,
 
Good afternoon! Almost evening for you. It's a nice sunny day in South Auckland. This morning, as we were about to leave the flat, Elder Naicker pointed out to me that I had a couple of small holes in my pants, in the back. I honestly don't know how long I've been proselyting with those.... I got them all patched up though, thanks to Elder Naicker's iron-on patches. You want to know the beauty of missionary work? Everything you own seems to fall apart relatively quickly, and you don't get clothes dry cleaned for one to two years (still haven't). It's enjoyable. No really, it's good fun.
 
This week has been one of many miracles, especially the end of the week. The first half seemed to be going very slowly with not much happening, but I realized as I accounted to one of my leaders in mid-week accountability that I hadn't been doing what I'm supposed to. I was teaching and talking to everyone, but I wasn't inviting with as much boldness and faith as I should. The next day, Elder Naicker and I invited six people to be baptized! Heavenly Father then blessed us with all six accepting the invitation -- two set with a date -- and many investigators at church. In one of our wards (we cover two), there were many new faces, some of them our investigators and some visitors. Some people in the ward even approached us, excited about all the new people, and we think that this will really help the ward to get moving and help us with the work. They've had relatively few baptisms this year, so we think they were just discouraged. The work moves forward without the help of the members, but only at a fraction of the pace that it could with member involvement. Help out the missionaries! It brings blessings to them, to you, and to those you help to share the gospel with.
 
Earlier this week we found this part member family while talking to everyone on the street. They invited us over because the less-active guy, Anaru, wanted to get back into church, and his nonmember partner, Alex, was really interested in eternal families. We went and taught them and their niece, Ivory, on Friday and had a powerful Restoration lesson! As we were talking to them at the beginning, Ivory (17) said, "I want to get baptized!" Haha yes! We taught from the scriptures and testified of the truthfulness of Moroni's promise in chapter ten. You could see Alex and Ivory just glowing with the Spirit. We trusted in Heavenly Father and invited them to be bapized on the 20th of August. Ivory eagerly accepted with a huge smile, and Alex accepted more hesitantly, saying she'll have to pray and come to church and see how it is. The next day, we watched the Prophet of the Restoration (amazing movie!) and the Spirit was so thick I nearly passed out. Nah, but it was another powerful lesson. We taught nearly everything in the missionary lessons -- Restoration again, temples and the Spirit World, faith, repentance, baptism, the Holy Ghost, Word of Wisdom, and Law of Chastity. Haha, I know, crazy huh? No way, because we followed the Spirit and did everything we could to prepare them for the trials ahead. Ivory just loved everything. Alex said she believed Joseph Smith was a prophet because she felt it. She described her feelings as warm and tingly. The Holy Ghost! We committed them for baptism again and they full-heartedly accepted. It was just a testimony strengthener.
 
Out of time. I'll be back soon in a few minutes to tell you the rest.
 
Elder Jensen
Much love

I dunno

Oh Darling, I love you so. Where are you? Post this on the blog!
Hey Family,
 
Sorry, four minutes today. This week we had a wedding and a baptism of a guy named Willy who has been investigating the church for seven years. He has heaps of faith and is an inspiration. We have another guy set to be baptized this Saturday. He received a blessing from the missionary before me to help him quit smoking about three weeks ago and he hasn't felt an urge to smoke since. So we taught him about the power of God and how this church is the only one to have it and helped him to see how anything is possible with faith. At the end of that lesson, he was very excited to be baptized.
 
I Love the Gospel and more than anything I know that God answers prayers. Love you all!
 
Love Elder

Ps. Also just a little small fact, because of one of Zach's friends, Ashley who is waiting for Zach's other friend Lee, and because Lee and Zach left on the same day, we know that Zach has been gone exactly 200 days and there is only 530 days left to go. A small dent in the process, but a dent nonetheless!

New Stuff. Heaps of it.

Hey!

 

So quite a lot has happened since last week. It's pretty exciting and I'm doing a lot better in terms of back and sickness. Mother, if my back was bad, you know I would have told you more about it. A physio is like a doctor's clinic -- sort of -- and she basically just massaged my back, gave me exercises to do, occasionally did acupuncture, and once did this other thing that I have some pictures of (which I should send today, given I have time). Cool though, huh? Acupuncture. Sweet as. Oh, and I just pulled a muscle or something playing basketball. And about being sick, I did take the antibiotics, and it worked well (unless time just healed it... which is what I'm pretty sure happened... medicine... psh).

 

I got transferred! Already! On Thursday. Elder Cunniffe and I were saying how it would be funny if I moved across the road to this other area in another zone called Chapel Downs/Clover Park. But we were thinking that's unlikely because he had already been in Tangaroa for four and a half months, so he'd probably be the one to be transferred. Tuesday night, talking to President Lekias about interviews for some investigators, and at the end of the call he says, "One more thing Elder Jensen." Uh oh... (just kidding, I'm a good boy!) "We are calling you to be a district leader in the Manurewa District" (across the road haha). So now I'm a district leader. It's so time-consuming. I have no time to write in my journal, barely have time to eat, and my prayers now include four other elders AND their investigators. It's awesome though! I love it. It's giving me a greater appreciation for leaders in the church and mission and for Christlike attributes. I have also been double-shifted with Elder Naicker into this new area with two wards (double-shift is where both missionaries are new to the area, so neither knows it already). So the latter half of this week has been a huge challenge and such a blessing! I have already felt inadequate, which has caused me to rely more on the Lord. Life is good right now! I love this work and these missionaries and these people of New Zealand.

 

Because my three investigators were being baptized across the road in Tangaroa, I got permission to go to the baptisms. John and Neashia got married right before, then John and Moe got baptized! It was awesome, even though I didn't actually get to see them go in the water (too many people). Unfortunately, Neashia didn't get baptized because her mom decided to go psycho, telling her essentially, "you were born a Catholic, you're going to die a Catholic." It was one of the saddest things I have ever seen. So I took Elder Naicker with me into a side room and asked if I could pray for her. Awesome Fijian Indian that he is, he said of course (he's already my favorite companion). I prayed for Neashia and for understanding. All I can tell you is that the power of God is real. He comforted me beyond what any person could have done. He did help me understand and the calming influence of the Spirit overwhelmed me. He's there. He listens. HE ANSWERS. Of this I testify, my wonderful friends and family.

 

Elder Naicker and I are excited nearly out of our minds to work in this area. This is his first time in the city (been out nine months -- first comp to be out less than a year and a half...) and he likes it a lot. We have already been privileged to invite two souls to be baptized and look forward to inviting more. We came into the area with one already set for this Friday (22 July). His name is Willy and he is keen as. He has a powerful testimony and I'm so blessed to be able to witness his marriage and baptism and help him with his final preparations for baptism. I love him already. We also have a guy named Pui set for the 30th of July. He will take some work, but he has a testimony of priesthood blessings and the reality of this work. One more guy Steven, set for the 13th of August, is awesome and keen to be baptized. I love them all!

 

The gospel is amazing and saves and changes lives. I'm so grateful to be His servant. I love you guys and thank you Lee and Heather for the inspiration! Bye!

 

Love, Elder Jensen

New Mission President

Hey everyone,

 

How are you all doing? I'm doing pretty well. I'm kind of sick again. It's really annoying. So yeah, I'm kind of just dealing with that today.

 

I wish I could have heard Matt's homecoming talk. Sounds like it was amazing. I wish I could talk to him and get some advice or something. It's really incredible how much I have learned since I have been out and yet so often I still feel like I don't know anything, so any help I can get is much appreciated. Yesterday we had a pretty terrible first lesson with this Filipino woman, and our member freely chastised us for it. So I'm working on my "How to Begin Teaching" skills. Man, Preach My Gospel is probably one of the best tools on the planet.

 

Holy guacamole, I think I am falling asleep.... I took some medicine this morning and it seems to be knocking me out, while at the same time not getting rid of the cold. It's okay though, because I am now better understanding that every trial or challenge we face in life is just a means of Heavenly Father blessing us more. Every time something threatens to impede our progress here in Tangaroa, shortly thereafter miracles bombard us. For example, we pretty much had only three investigators for the past two or three weeks, so we just kept talking to everyone and doing our best to find more. Honestly nothing seemed to be happening. Then this week, we hit a nice goldmine of 12 new investigators and two new sets, one for this month and one for August. I'm so tired.... It was a great week. I'm dying here.... Probably one of the highlights of the week was something that happened yesterday.

 

I've been trying to convert the physio that I see for my back, but not having much success.

 

This lady who hates us with a passion told us how wrong we are partly because of this: she proceeded to show us a picture of an egg she once found with another egg inside of it. "See?! It's an egg inside of an egg! Don't you get it?" I still don't get it....

 

Yesterday we called Moe's wife (Moe is set for this coming Saturday) to see if Moe needed a ride to church. He has been suffering from gout, some kind of condition that apparently feels like a screwdriver is being wedged into your bones, and Alisha (his wife) was doubting that he'd be able to come to church. So, starting Saturday night, we fasted that his foot would be healed. When we called in the morning, Alisha said he wasn't coming to church (devastation!), and -- to make matters worse -- she said he wasn't interested in learning anymore. To be frank, this blew our minds. So, tying to ward off discouragement, I prayed for nearly the whole five-minute walk to his house that I would receive understanding and peace. We knock on the door, and guess what -- he's standing there in his church clothes and a half-grin plastered across his Cook Island face! Wait, are you coming to church? Yeah, of course. What about your foot? It feels fine. Barely hurts at all. But Alisha said.... (jovial laughter) Yeah, I was messing with you guys. Miracle! Haha, Alisha wouldn't even turn around from her breakfast to face us.

 

The moral of that story is that Moe is hilarious and that fasting works! The fast was answered light speed! His foot was healed that morning! My testimony of fasting has just exploded from this experience. If you fast in specifics and with faith, you will be able to accomplish so much more than is possible with just prayer. Just like when the twelve apostles asked Christ why they couldn't cast out a certain unclean Spirit and He told his them that some evil spirits can only be cast out with "much fasting and prayer." I can see this to be true.

 

I love being a missionary. No where else can your faith grow like it does in the mission field. To anyone who is considering a mission, please search the words of the prophets, ponder them, and pray about it. Make sure you're doing the right thing. If you should go on a mission, He will tell you.

 

Nothing in this world is more important than living the Gospel of our Lord right now. Please don't put it off. If you don't have the testimony to live it, then read and pray until you do. I promise it will come. If it doesn't, feel free to beat me to a pulp in a year and a half. I'm so grateful for all your support -- your letters and especially your prayers. I love my Savior. He lives. He knows me. He knows you. He's waiting for you. You will have to stand before Him someday sooner than you think. I believe that with all my heart. I hope I come back (in a couple of years) to valiant soldiers in His army, who "can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth [them]" (Philippians 4:13).

 

Love you family and friends. Sorry if this e-mail was lame or didn't make sense -- I think i'm partly under from the meds. See ya soon.

 

Your NZAM Elder,

Jensen

I forgot to mention that there is a new mission president, named President Lekias. Good man.

 

And I have three baptisms and a marriage this weekend: John and Neashia (married and baptized), and Moe (baptized).

 

Okay, I think that's all. Well... bye.

 

Edler Nesnej

Independence day

Fellowcitizens,

 

It's a good day here in Auckland. It's kind of freezing and I almost forgot it was the Fourth of July. The only reason I remembered was because an American member in our ward mentioned something about rootbeer yesterday. Okay, is that a thing? To have rootbeer on the Fourth of July? I can't remember that ever being a big thing. I mean, I know we have rootbeer floats sometimes, but I didn't think that was an American thing. Apparently it is. I haven't had rootbeer since the MTC. How sad is that? Not that sad. But still.

 

To be honest, some people overuse the phrase, "to be honest." I sometimes feeling like saying to them, I do not think that phrase means what you think it means.

 

This week wasn't too bad. We have been meeting with our sets for the 16th of July -- John; Neashia, John's partner (I know, it's a disgusting word and the plague of NZ); and Moe. They're pretty much our only investigators. We've got one other guy named Bucks set for the 30th, but we have only seen him once, unfortunately. Moe is doing great. He reads heaps of the Book of Mormon every day. He's somewhere in 2 Nephi after a couple weeks of teaching him. His less active wife, Alisha, is now planning on coming back to church, and they hope to be sealed as a family in a year. They both have strong testimonies of all that we teach them. Their kids are just crazy. Haha, just a few days ago, Elder Cunniffe taught the parents and the more mature kids while I looked at pictures with three younguns; just like we had done the day before with John and his kid, just flip-flopped -- I taught John and Neashia while Elder Cunniffe looked at pictures with Ioane (that's an "i" -- pronounced yo-on-eh).

 

So I was just trying to think of something else to tell all yous guys. Haha just kidding. Nah, but then I remembered... my our bikes were stolen last night while we were in a members home! We walked outside and there was Elder Cunniffe's helmet just sitting on the ground. Haha, funny huh? The zone leaders weren't too happy with us, but since we had just reported some good stats, they couldn't rebuke us too much.

 

So we were sitting in sacrament meeting, listening to one of the last testimonies, when this little (I think five-year-old) kid comes up and sits down right in between us, squeezing on in. He sat with us till the end of the meeting, copying everything I did. I helped him follow along with the song, then, after the prayer, he got up and left with a handshake and a salute, followed by a "Yes sir!" which he always says. Haha, he's a funny little kid. His name is Siosaia Takataka. That really cheered me up. I had having a hard week. We talked to over 200 hundred people on the street, had a lot of lessons, and set one more for baptism, but for some reason it was just hard.... All of our appointments with new people fell through, except one on Monday -- probably 15 to 20 lessons. Little Siosaia made my day. Seriously, sometimes in this work you find solace in the smallest things.

 

The New Zealand name for ground beef is mince. Is that the same in America and I just didn't know it? And bell peppers are called capsicums. Here in South Auckland, the people are not nearly as anti-American as they seemed to be in Hamilton. The people here are so humble -- lots of islanders who are way nice. I have developed a strong distaste for white people. This will surely be a problem post-mission, but we won't worry about that now.

 

One thing I learned this morning as I studied is that it is so important to study the scriptures every day to the point that we feel the Spirit and He gives us a greater hunger and thirst for righteuosness. That is what keeps us strong and healthy members of the church. That, and diligent prayer -- really talking to your Heavenly Father -- and going to church with the right mindset. I promise that your faith will grow and your concerns and doubts will be resolved as you do these things. Test it. Love you guys. Have a good week. Thanks for all your prayers and emails and love.

 

Love, or in Elder Whiting's terms, bitterly,

Elder Jensen

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