June 10, 2013

Dear Family and Friends,                             Monday, June 10, 2013  1:05 p.m. (EDT)

Monday June 3, 2013
Today we hung around the apartment for a little while longer. Then we went hiking. We had a really good hike. We followed Long Trail South a ways until we ran into Smith Brook. We explored a little then hiked down next to it. It was an awesome hike. After that we went shopping and ate at Subway. Elder Smith used to be a Subway manager so he is always giving tips to the Subway workers. We taught Morgan. The lesson was a little shaky. We taught her about the Plan of Salvation God has for us. Then we talked a little about the Book of Mormon. After that we knocked on some doors. Some of the reactions we get are a little funny. It is amazing how rude some people are. One man just opened the door, he didnt say a word, he just shook his head, held up his hand and closed the door.

Tuesday June 4, 2013
Today we were able to get on the computers and look through mormon.org. It is a fabulous website, they have some pretty cool profiles. One of my favorites is about a mother of someone who is deaf.
After that we went to Jaime's house to see if we could have a lesson. She was a little busy. We had some service set up in Bakersfield with someone named Rosalie. She wasnt there so we helped out Sister Jewett pull some rocks out of her yard. There are so many rocks here in Vermont. After that we went to the Bussells and helped Brother Bussell spread some rocks in a root cellar he is making. After that we exchanged with the St. Albans Elders in Enosburg Falls. After that we went to someones house that used to be meeting with the missionaries. His name is Oliver and he is pretty anti-Mormon. He is a philosopher and I think he over thinks things.

Wednesday June 5, 2013
Today Elder Keller and I taught Denise with Brother Cochran. Denise is struggling with the Word of Wisdom and with Tithing. We then pulled weeds at the Municipal Building in Johnson. We stopped by Jamie's house with Brother Bussell and ran into Louise, Jamie's sister. Formerly she hasnt been interested, but she talked to us for a while and saw that we actually cared. We set up to meet with next Wednesday.

Thursday June 6, 2013
Today we had District Meeting. Brother Weed, one of the Young Men in the ward came with us. The Polls made biscuits and gravy, it was awesome. After that Brother Weed came with us to teach. We ended up just seeing the Domonds, a sort of less active family. Then we did some service at 2nd Chance, a second hand store. We tagged stuffed animals. After that we taught the Restoration to Doug. After that we taught Jake about the Plan of Salvation.

Friday June 7, 2013
I heard just today (June 10, 2013) that one of my best friends, Anna passed away Friday morning.  I distinctly remember feeling at some point during this week that she was going to go. This is such a testimony to me that there is a life after. If there wasnt one, how could I have felt that she was going. I really appreciated her and Larry's friendship. I always enjoy to go over to their house and watch NASCAR. I feel like I have a special connection with both of them. Because we always grew up away from our grandparents we always seemed to adopt grandparents in the places we've lived. Larry and Anna have definetly been those people in Montrose. I am going to miss Anna and the time that we always spent talking about life. I am glad to hear that she did pass away at her home. That was one thing she always expressed to me is that she didnt ever want to go to a nursing home. I am definetely going to miss her.
 
Today we did our weekly planning. We got about halfway through it before we had to go teach Jaime. She canceled right before we got there so we had to use our backup plans. After that we taught Phil, and a less active, Arnold. Then we put up a greenhouse for a man named Mike. After that we went to a potluck at the church.

Saturday June 8, 2013
Today we tried to finish planning, but before we did we had to go. Denise has a friend, Keith that works for Ben and Jerry's Icecream. He invited us to go on a factory tour. It was pretty cool. After we were done he got us a pint of it fresh off the line. It was really good. After that we went to Eden. We visited with an older couple, Paula and Marcel, and then they let us help them milk their goats. That was pretty fun. After that we went to Adam and Faith's. We read the Book of Mormon with them for the lesson. We left and I decided to get a Restoration video out of the truck. We gave it to them and started talking about their sick son, Landon. He is 6 mo. old and is on oxygen and a feeding tube. He has had a cold for several weeks. This stresses Faith out a lot. I felt impressed to tell them about Priesthood blessings. I blew it off at first, but felt impressed once again. We told them about it and they requested a blessing for him. We gave him a blessing and he went from fussing and crying at the start of the blessing, to sleeping and sucking on his binky at the end. This amazed Adam & Faith because he never gets calm like that. We testified of the power of the priesthood and that we have the authority to baptize. After that we went to Sister Adams house and Elder Smith helped her with her Math homework.

Sunday June 9, 2013
Today we had church. After church we went and had lunch at the apartment. Then we taught Morgan. We just read the Book of Mormon with her. Morgan works on a road crew as the one that holds the "stop" and "slow" sign. She is Tucker's girlfriend. Tucker is in Colorado right now. He is actually right near Whitewater between Grand Junction and Delta. That was cool to hear that he is going back to where I'm from. After Morgan we went to Denise's and talked to her and her friend Keith. Her husband, Travis gave us about a half gallon of Maple Syrup. After that we met Brian and Felicia. Brian was drunk and asked us if we were cops. We told him that we were missionaries. We talked to him for a while before his wife got home. She was sober so we talked to her about the gospel. She accepted a Book of Mormon and we are going back on Wednesday.

It was definetely a good week.
http://mormon.org/sherri/  

Elder CW Jensen