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
