Dear
Family and Friends: Monday, March 17, 2014
at 10:41 a.m. (EDT)
Well this last week has been
pretty fantastic. I am really starting to enjoy my new area.
On Monday we went
to Freeport to do our emails for lunch we ate at a Johnny Rockets. We went and
checked out the LL Bean stores. I really wanted to get something, but I dont
have any money, or the space to carry anything, but lo and behold when I got
back to the apartment I found an LL Bean Sidebag that another missionary left.
I dont know if I told you but we have to use sidebags now. We cant use
backpacks. So that nice backpack that mom and dad got me just sits at the
bottom of my suitcase. Kind of a bummer. But I like the sidebags better for
missionary work because it doesnt crumple up papers like the backpack does.
The
LL Bean stores are huge. They are like a mall of their own. Its pretty cool. I
also cut my hair. I buzzed it to an 1/8 of an inch. I really like buzzing all
my hair off. Its definitely something I will do even when I get home. Elder
Hansen also got a haircut. I am so glad
that mom and dad taught me how to budget. Grandma Jensen told me that she might
teach me how to do her budget when I get back home. I will definitely take her
up on that. I have really come to realize the value of money on my mission.
Back home I spent a lot of money that I could have saved. It seemed like I had
a lot of money to blow because I had a constant flow of money while I was
working.
On Tuesday we did some service
at the Freeport Community Center Food Bank. We get a lot of food from there as
well. After that we tracted Lower Mast Landing Rd in Freeport. I find the most
success with tracting the less populated roads, because door to door salesmen
dont normally knock doors on those roads, so more people are more friendly to
people at their door. After that we met our Zone Leaders in Portland for an
exchange. Elder Hansen went to Saco with Elder Hales, and I stayed here with
Elder Harper. Elder Harper came out the same time as me. I went on an exchange
with him this time last year. We were in a trio in Barre, Vermont. He is a very
good missionary.
On Wednesday It rained all day.
It never ceases to amaze me how much it precipitates out here. I had never seen
it really rain all day until coming out here. Out in Colorado we just get a few
minutes of rain and thats about it. No wonder it is so green out here compared
to out west, but I wouldnt trade the dry Colorado weather for anything else. We
did service at the FCC food bank again. We tracted Upper Mast Landing Rd in
Freeport. We ate at a members house, the Crawfords. We chipped up some ice on
their driveway.
On Thursday It snowed all day.
We didnt do much. We gave a Book of Mormon to a lady who asked for one on Lower
Mast Landing Rd when we were tracting. We forgot to bring one, but it turned
out all right because she said we could deliver it later. She might be
interested in the future.
On Friday we taught a lady
named Laurie, She is very interested in learning. We werent able to get a full
lesson in though, because her husband had to leave. As missionaries we are not
allowed to be in a home with a lady unless theres an adult guy there. We taught
another investigator that evening, Ethan with a Priest from the Branch, Matt. Matt is only 16 but he is a great teacher. After that we knocked on a
former investigators door. They invited us to come
back next Wednesday.
On Saturday we met as a Zone to
have a Zone Meeting and to have an interview with our mission president. After
the interviews we had the Adult Session of Stake Conference. I saw something
really cool while we were there. There was a few black people that were sitting
in front of us. A lot of the black people in Portland are straight from Africa
and speak French. During the meeting, there was a missionary that knew French
and he was whispering in a man's ear telling him what the speakers were talking
about. There was also a young black man that was translating it to two black
women. I guess there are so many French speakers interested in the gospel here
in Maine that they are going to send some French Speaking missionaries here.
Pretty neat. I was amazed that someone would come to a meeting that they dont
understand unless someone translates it for them.
On Sunday we had the regular
session of Stake Conference. Our Stake has so many people that we had to meet
in an auditorium. We went to a middle school in Westbrook that has just been
built. The middle school is much larger and much nicer than my high school.
They had a huge auditorium where we met. It was really cool. We taught a less
active member after that and then we had dinner at the Crowley's house. It was
a really good day.
Elder Carlton William Jensen