Dear Family and Friends, Monday,
April 14, 2014 at 11:15 a.m. (EDT)
Well this week has been pretty great. I have
my new trainee. His name is Elder Sean Thomas and he is from Hull, England. My last companion Elder Hansen got transferred to
Georgetown Massachusetts. On Tuesday we got a ride from a member and he brought
us down to Manchester. The transfer meeting was huge. We filled up the whole
chapel with missionaries. I saw a lot of my previous companions there. Elder
Simmonds got transferred out of Randolph. He is now in Derry NH. He said that
things are going great in Randolph. CJ, Seth and Ethan's mom hasnt been
baptized yet but she is still working toward it. They have seen some great
progress with several people there.
This past week has been very stressful.
Training is really difficult for me, especially with being a District Leader as
well. It seems like I am going a million miles an hour all of the time. We have
really been working hard this past week and we have seen a lot of success
because of it. We had a great lesson with E and his family. They were all
involved in the lesson. His mom's boyfriend, Francisco fixed us dinner and then
we taught the family about prayer and how important it is. After their lesson
we stopped by our upstairs neighbors, B and T. They are in their mid
20s, both have served in the Marines. They met each other at a Marine function
and they decided to be roommates. We talked with them for a good hour and they
invited us to come back. T asked for a Book of Mormon and we are going to
watch the Joseph Smith movie with them. We found a new investigator the other
day. There is a less active in our apartment complex. He knocked on our door
and introduced himself. We didnt know he lived here because he hasnt moved his
records yet. He invited us to his apartment and we got to know his family and
then we taught a brief spiritual thought. They invited us back for this
Thursday. Things have been going really well.
A brother in the branch told me
that he has a friend that just got his mission call to the Denver South
Mission, which is our mission back home. He is leaving in May. His name is Luis
Patino. So look out for an Elder Patino. That would be pretty cool.
I was studying the scriptures
this past week and came across a scripture in Ether 12:27 "And if men come
unto me I will show unto them their weakness
I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace
is sufficient for all men that humble
themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith
in me, then will I make weak
things become strong unto them."
I have really noticed that this
past week. As I have tried to follow the Savior and push to become a better
missionary as I have been training I have really noticed my weaknesses. I get
really frustrated with that. It has been really tough on my mission to let off
steam and to deal with stress. Back home whenever I became stressed I would hop
in my truck and go for a drive or I would at least take some time to be alone.
As a missionary I havent been able to do this. So I have been really trying to
turn my weaknesses into strengths. I guess the only way I can do that is by
having faith in Christ.
Love CWJensen