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

School

Deer,

Hi family and friends. Last week was not just good; it was great! From all the emails it sounds like everyone is finishing up with school. That's nice. Here in New Zealand it works quite differently. The school year starts around February and goes till the end of December and there's no huge breaks. It's interesting.

Things are great here! We just finished a round of zone conferences that were wonderful. I actually don't have too much time today so I might have to leave everyone hanging. Tell you what family, just imagine that you were in New Zealand and it will be pretty much the same.

Nicola Peterser is getting baptized this weekend! She is 15 and has made some big changes already in her life. So different from home -- the teenagers are getting into huge trouble younger and younger these days. Young whippersnappers...

We should be getting a new assistant here pretty soon! We have no idea who, but we love to speculate. We have some great zone leaders so it could be anyone! Don't worry, it might not be for two months, but maybe...

Okay, well, see ya later! Ofa atu.

Love,

Elder Jensen

Dry Cleaning

Hey family,

I am picking up my dry cleaning today! Woo! (SJ...) It is going to be awesome. This is the first time on my whole mission getting anything dry cleaned. Then we'll go over West Auckland ways and play some basketball with Elder White and Elder Williams. Elder White was in South Auckland for seven and a half months (ages) and has been double shifted as a zone leader into a new zone training a new zone leader. That's pretty big. He is amazing though. He loves to do good and to save souls. Elder White was my last companion, just in case you forgot.

This last week was a doosie. We were all over the place for transfers. It all worked out smoothly and there were some amazing last minute changes. This week will be another good one. We are blessed to have Elder Hamula from the area presidency come to our zone leader council as well as all four zone conferences and a come and see fireside. I am very excited to see what he trains us on. One of the greatest things to see and learn from leaders is the insight they gain from their studies. They read a verse with you and you realize that there was so much more to it than you thought. I love to see what kind of questions they ask themselves and what kind of things they look for in their studies to gain such valuable knowledge. I probably would have yawned myself to sleep if were reading this a year and a half ago. Haha.

A few of the new missionaries that came in last week are outstanding. This one, Elder Atalifo, a 26-year-old convert from Fiji, is particularly impressive. He understands why he is here. It's very obvious when a new missionary knows (or doesn't know) his or her purpose. Someone to think about for prospective missionaries. Elder Atalifo is be trained by Elder MacRae, who is incredible as well (his first week here I thought I'd just give him the car keys and let him be zone leader) Now I want to show you more genealogy in my mission than I know in my real family -- Elder Atalifo trained by Elder MacRae, who was trained by Elder Williams, who was trained by Elder Hoffman, who was trained by Elder Jensen (that's me). So I'm related to Elder Atalifo. Very cool.

We taught Brother Low and set him for baptism -- he was keen! -- but then he didn't come to church. We need to bring him back. He's great. We also taught a couple of new investigators yesterday. Sister Parker, a member in Torbay Ward, has a sister whose daughter wants to get baptized, so we had the first lesson last night. The daughter's name is Nichola and the mom's is Sister Peterser. The Spirit was very strong and we know they will both get answers to their prayers about the Book of Mormon!

It's good to know that Heavenly Father tries our patience and our faith. We can't expect to get rewarded with something we haven't earned. I love doing this great work, even with the trying (and sometimes just confusing-not-sure-what-to-do) times. I'm healthy and happy. Oh, I nearly forgot. I'll call next Monday in the morning (my time), probably around 7 or 8am. We have to drive up to a country area on that day so I'lll have some time in the car. Any questions? Oh, I have one -- which number should I call?

Love,

Elder Jensen

P.S. Remember some of those questions you asked me in emails today and I will answer them next week. I am a terrible typer. Someday........ Ofa lahi atu!

Then we got another email from him late last night....

Dear relatives,

You're probably all asleep right now but I just forgot to mention a couple of things in my email earlier today. Thank you for the package! It was great. Elder Kaufusi was impressed with the popcorn. It's not something you see in New Zealand very often. We are ready to use those Mormon Messages tonight when we visit some families. I don't know if you've seen them, but they are awesome! And I mean that in the true sense of the word -- they are awe-inspiring. Anyway, thank you for the package and for the peanut butter chocolate things. Those are real nice.

MEGAN, you cheerleading machine. Keep up the good work! I'm cheering for you down here in NZ. Whitney, I've been telling a few people that you're graduating from university soon (they call it "uni," not college). I think it's cool. Not sure what they think. Jake, do you have a Preach My Gospel? If not, find one. I want to direct you to one of my favorite chapters right now -- Chapter 2. Give it a read and do some of the activities at the end of the chapter. You will love it. And it will help you prepare for a year and a half from now when you're in the field. It's getting close! Dad, picture this: zombie golf. Mom, the new missionaries used to look like deer in the headlights (like I did) but because of new training programs they come out ready to baptize all of NZ. Good thing lots of people immigrate here. And the Americans might start coming soon -- that would mean a huge intake of missionaries because so many are waiting. Yankees attack.

Well, that's it. It's great being a missionary. It would take 20 years to learn on your own what you learn here. Well. Bye.

Love with much heaps,

Elder Zachary Jensen

Transfer Week (A.K.A. Zombie Week)

Dear Family,

In a short time, I will be immersed into the week of all weeks (except
for zone conference week, which is in two weeks from now) with no time
for sleep, lots of time for scrutiny from fellow missionaries, and
some time for nice food -- TRANSFER WEEK. From picking up new
missionaries to letting go of the old ones to speaking at transfer
meeting to making huge changes with documents and such, this week is
killer, to speak casually. I love it though. I'm excited. I love
meeting the new missionaries. There could be a future general
authority in the midst of them. It will be great.

This morning we played basketball with President Lekias and Gary
Wilkinson, who plays for New Zealand's professional basketball team,
the Breakers. He is also a member of the ward in which I serve, not to
mention that he is also a convert with quite the story and played for
the Utah State team just a few years ago. It was great. They're all
better than me, but soon I'll beat them all. They won't know what hit
them. We got to play in the Breakers training facility. That was
pretty amazing. Good experience.

We started teaching this guy named Brother Low. He's an honest seeker
of the truth who knows he needs to make some changes, especially when
it comes to anger and judging others. He asked us to come by. He came
to church on Sunday and is doing well. He's from South Africa.

Some missionaries told us of a miracle they had down in my old area,
Manurewa. They were biking past the house of an investigator that my
companion and I had found when I was there. They had a prompting to
see if he was home, found that he was, came in on some serious family
problems, then boldly invited the husband to be baptized the next day
-- he was baptized on Saturday and the family is doing much better!
Miracles everywhere.

I love this work and the people and the missionaries. It is Jesus
Christ's work! Love you guys. Thanks for all you do.

Love,
Elder Jensen

Baptism!

Hey Family,

On Saturday, an 18-year-old man named Turanga Shelford-Morrell was
baptized! It was a very spiritual baptism. He asked me if I could
baptize him and I was happy to oblige! It was the first time I've
personally done the ordinance in a while. It's an amazing feeling when
you know that the priesthood is working through you. It was also a
good experience for the brother of Brother Shelford's girlfriend.
Brother Shelford originally asked him to baptize him but for some
reason or another he couldn't do it. Instead he participated by
conducting the music. I know that Brother Shelford's baptism wasn't
just for Brother Shelford, but a reminder for the other guy that he
needs to clear up some things in his life so that, when called upon,
he can use his priesthood to save souls.

By the way, Brother Shelford had come to church a couple of weeks ago
and told us about how he had been taught before and was set for
baptism, but didn't feel ready. When we came to teach him the
following Wednesday, we invited him to be baptized on the next
weekend. He then told us that he had been washing his hair in the
shower when the thought came to him that he should be baptized! Then
he just knew. He's so humble -- it's his humility that has allowed him
to have such powerful witnesses. Then we didn't see him till Monday.
When we saw him again, his girlfriend was with him and she told us
that she had flown in from Australia for the week to see Brother
Shelford get baptized! So crazy!

Miracles, miracles....

Elder Kaufusi and I were down in South Auckland on Saturday to see
some of the baptisms throughout the mission. After one great baptism,
we went to have lunch at Jester's Pies -- New Zealanders love their
meat pies and Jester's Pies is the best, but Elder Kaufusi had never
been so I had to show him. It turns out that Elder Kaufusi agreed and
declared that Jester's Pies has the best pies he's ever had (I think I
should be getting some kind of payment for promoting their business --
you owe me Jester's). We walked out of the shop and were about to get
in the car, and I saw a family sitting in their car outside of
Smoko's, New Zealand's greatest tobacco shop (no, just kidding, I
don't know). I went to talk to the dad, a Samoan I think. I was
friendly, asked him where they were from, and then started to explain
who we were when he stops me and says, "I know who you are. I don't
like you. I don't like you guys." I asked why he doesn't like us and
he said, "You believe the Joseph Smith, not Jesus." I then told him of
my belief in the Savior, to which he responded, "You want a smoke?"
Me: "No, thank you, I don't smoke."
Him: "Jesus Christ smokes! So why do you not smoke? He plant the
smokes on the earth, so he smokes, but you don't! Why not?"
Me: "----" (no chance, cut off!)
Him: "I am a minister! I went to school! I know Jesus! You are only
young. You have to know Jesus to tell people about Him. You don't even
know Jesus."
Then I tried to ask for a referral, but for some reason he didn't want
to give me anyone to visit. This is my story. Hopefully that man will
think about what he said and decide to get baptized someday.

I am probably going to do some dry cleaning today, my first time in
New Zealand. We have a big zone conference coming up where one of the
area presidents is coming to train us. He'll also sit in on Zone
Leader Council, so I figure I ought to have a clean suit.

My shoes are still intact.

We went with the Nelsons last week to have lunch at a Thai restaurant.
It was great. Saw another senior couple there that works in the area
office.

Corned beef being fried in the morning, cold soup from a can, and
made-up Tongan hymns will forever remind me of my half-Tongan
companion.

I conducted a fireside last night with several hundred people,
including many investigators. Elder Kaususi had to bribe some crazy
three-year-olds with nursery toys to get them to sit still and not
distract everyone. Gary Wilkinson, who graduated from Utah State
University and currently plays on the New Zealand Breakers (a
basketball team) and is in my ward in North Shore, spoke at the
fireside. It was awesome.

Love you guys. I'm doing great by the way. Bye!

Love,
Elder Jensen