Dear Family and Friends April
15, 2013 at 3:07 p.m. (EDT)
Well this last week was pretty good. On Monday we found a new person to
teach. Her name is Marchia. She found a pass-along card when she was cleaning
her son's room and she called the number to get a free Book of Mormon. So we as
missionaries get to be the Book of Mormon delivery boys. We gave her the Book
of Mormon and taught about its importance. She invited us back, so we are going
to see her today.
On Tuesday we taught Denise. It went really well. Brother Cochran came with
us. We taught her the first lesson which is "The Restoration of the
Gospel." We taught her about Joseph Smith restoring the original Church of
Jesus Christ. We invited her to pray about what we taught her.
On Wednesday we had exchanges, so Elder Keller, one of the missionaries
in St. Albans, VT swapped places with Elder Smith. Because of the swap I got to
be the senior companion for the day. It was a little overwhelming, but it was
fun. We taught Carlee about prayer. She has been having a really tough time
lately. She is a single mom, and she cant find a job. So she is always stressed
out. The lesson went really well, and she took the invitation to pray every
evening with her daughter. Since then we have really noticed that she is less
stressed. After teaching Carlee we went to the church and met with the Ward
Council. (A ward is a congregation) In Ward Council, members of the church get
together to talk about the needs of ward members. We also discuss missionary
efforts, and we make sure that new members are being freindshipped. It went
really well and many of the members got excited about people that we are
teaching.
Thursday morning me and Elder Keller drove to Essex Jct. VT for a
missionary meeting. We met up with Elder Smith and we swapped back. Zone
meeting was really good. Our mission president, President Wilkey taught some
really great things. The focus of the meeting was prayer. We read Enos, a book
in the Book of Mormon. It talks about a man named Enos that went out into the
woods to hunt, and while he was there he began thinking about what his father
had taught him about heaven, and what happens after this life. He decided to
pray and to ask for forgiveness for the bad things he had done. He ended up
praying all day. He also prayed for the Lamanites, the enemy nation of Enos'
people.
I really liked Enos 1:20, and I wrote a modern interpretation of it.
"The Vermonters hatred was fixed and they were led by their evil nature.
Vermont being the least religious state, (followed by New Hampshire and Maine)
they rebelled against the prophets. They no longer believed in God and they
were caught up in the ways of the world. Many were thirsty for revenge and full
of hatred towards God and his people. Nevertheless the saints of Vermont did
seek diligently to restore them to the true faith in God. Although their
efforts seemed to be in vain, through the members faith, a change came to the
people of Vermont and many were baptized with fire and the Holy Ghost. It was
through their faith that so great a miracle came to Vermont." Modern
Interpretation of Enos 1:20 and Ether 12:14-15. I have been sharing this with
members to get them more excited about missionary work.
After the meeting
President Wilkey shook my hand and gave me a hug. He leaned over and said in my
ear "It's coming." I'm not sure what "it" is but Elder
Smith said that before he became a trainer President Wilkey would tell him the
same sort of things. I hope he doesn't step me up to a trainer. I'm not ready
for that. A couple of Sisters that I came out with are already trainers.
On Friday we did some service at 2nd Chance, a place kind of like
Salvation Army.
Saturday was by far the best day this week. We offered the Fitzgeralds,
a less active family in our ward if they would like some help with anything.
They took us up on it and invited us to come with them and build their logging
road up in Wolcott. We agreed, so we met them at their house at 7:00 on
Saturday. Sister Fitzgerald fed us breakfast and then we followed them up to
their property. They are logging on their inlaws property. They are trying to
get to some good trees about a mile away from the road. Because it is so muddy
and the tractor is so heavy they lay tree branches on the path that they have
made. This prevents deep ruts from forming where they drive. So that is what me
and Elder Smith did. Brother Fitzgerald, and his son would cut down trees
and drag them forward with the tractor, until they got to a spot that didnt
have branches on it yet. They would cut off the branches and we would lay them
on the road. Then they would drag the log to the pile up the road. It was
pretty fun. We worked really hard and we got pretty dirty with all the mud. We
helped them out until about 12:00. Then we went to the Cochran's house in Eden.
They were boiling sap, so we helped them with that. Saturday was a good day.
On Sunday we had a lot of less active members come to church. Also 2
nonmembers that we are teaching came to church. Carlee and Denise.
It was a really good week. Thank you everyone for supporting me on my
mission. So far it has been a great opportunity to grow. It has been such a big
step for me to come out here. I am a person that likes getting dirty and
working with my hands. Out here on my mission I have to wear a suit all day and
teach people by using my mind, so it has been a challenge, but it is helping me
grow in so many different ways.
Once again thank you,
Elder CWJensen
Once again thank you,
Elder CWJensen