Elder "Happy Dragon"

Hey Mom!

I am super duper good :) Yes we actually do have P-day today. Normally we don't
but because transfers are this week we kept the week normal and will actually
not have to go home early, we'll stay out until the regular time. Anyway biggest
news, transfers came! I and Elder Smith are staying and Elder Sharp is going
home :( BUT the good news!!! We're getting another missionary (this is my fifth
trio, basically a professional at them now) and guess who it is?! Remember my
trainee? Elder Newby? HE'S COMING BACK!! He, Elder Smith, and I will be in
Houston 8 this transfer and I am SO excited, he is really one of my favorite
missionaries. Anyway so that was super exciting :)

This week was really good. We had P-Day and went to Cheesecake Factory with the
Assistants (sorry about the $$ I promise that was just a one time thing) because
it was Elder Sharp and Elder Fails (my trainers) last full pday!! It was fun the
assistants are really great, and they live in our apartment complex!! So we
always have a good time :) Then on Tuesday we had an exchange with the other
Elder Jensen in the zone and I went English missionary for a day, which was fun.
Then Wednesday we had service again, always fun!! Then Thursday we had district
meeting, and Friday we had a mission conference!! It was all about tenacity and
becoming more tenacious missionaries, I got called unto repentance a lot but it
was totally worth it, GREAT conference I learned a lot :) Then on Friday we had
an exchange with the VIETNAMESE elders in our zone!! SO much fun, it's crazy how
different they have to work. Lots of OYMing ("Open Your Mouth") people on the
street and asking where Vietnamese people live. I even got a new Vietnamese name
(because English names don't work so all elders have to receive a new name based
on their personality) so I am now ELDER PHUC LONG (pronouced foop-lawm) which
means happy dragon (or coincidentally gospel dragon as well) which I think is
super sick :) AND I got to teach English class so they all call me that now!
That was our week, Saturday was just exchanging back and then doing 4 baptismal
interviews. Sunday was the best day ever, 4 people got baptized!!! That super
cool investigator Amilcar and Leirys brother and sister and cousin. It was an
amazing service and lots of people from the ward showed up. It made it a great
service!! Then after that, the sister spanish ward in the stake had a play about
missionary work so we went and watched 7 missionaries from our zone preform in
that. Overall it was a GREAT week, I am on top of the world and so excited to
see what we do next transfer! I expect good things to come :)

Thank you so much for everything you do mother, that email gave me a lot of
animo (cant remember what that means in English can you google translate that
lol?) I think it's like inspirations. That made me feel like a much better
person. Thank you for always looking for the good in me, all of those skills are
things I am still trying to improve on! The last one especially...I have felt
the spirit so much as I teach, I honestly feel that I teach with more power and
always know EXACTLY what I need to say and do, the power of the Spirit is real,
I know that more than ever now. I love repenting everyday and being worthy to
have the constant companionship of the Spirit. Thank you for all you do for me
mother, you are the best example to me. You taught me to always love, never
judge, and how to always listen. I know that you taught me every point on that
list. Dad helped too, he taught me that and how to be a leader and work hard
until the job is done. Between the two of you, I learned everything I know!!
Thank you for your wonderful example. I love you a lot mommy. You and Dad
inspire me and our family makes every second out here worth it. I love this
work, I KNOW that this church is true and that this is what I need to do right
now in my life. I miss you all, love you lots!!!


Elder Jensen

 #BestZoneDoesService

 Houston 8th Ward Missionary Squad

A family they love being baptized!

Just a Quick Note

Just a quick note today...

Hey mama!

I'm doing well, my week was super good!! Same thing as last week haha, our zone had a combined total of 486 service hours, everyone was working hard! Then on our off days wednesday we had zone meeting together which is always a blast and on Friday picked up an elder who just had surgery and took him with us for the day. Rather than that it was a pretty normal week, lots of service and a lot of teaching in the nighttime :) Also, there was a change in the MTC so like 2 transfers ago we had a 7 week transfer, which moved everything back by a week so originally we did have transfers this week, but they were pushed back so the transfers will be next wednesday! No word on any changes yet, most likely scenario is that I stay with Elder Smith. But we'll know for sure on Monday! Also to answer your question, p days are pretty normal around here, we just email shop and then go play basketball or volleyball or something like that. It's our day to just chill and not be stressed or busy :)

 Elder Jensen's "Richmond Family"!

Elder Jensen gets to wear the "yellow shirt" :)

Hey first of all thank you thank you for your letters!!!! You're the best :) Aw wow that's crazy!!! Can't believe it's that hot, we've hit  104 a few times this week but it's still pretty nice. I'm glad you had a great week, Girls camp sounds like a blast!!! I'm so proud of you, that sounds like the best experience ever. You're the best :) also, that's a great question! So the best way to OYM ("open your mouth") is to just talk to people and get to know them! Ask how they're doing and get to know them, then you just have to find a way to work it into a gospel conversation, there's no magic bullet but it always works as long as long as you listen. There's a promise in PMG where Elder Holland says if we listen no matter what we will find something that highlights a gospel principle. That's the secret, just listening, still working on that myself :) I'm glad you guys are doing well miss you and love you all!!

This week was crazy!!!! So levy is still doing alright, we didn't see him at all this week but it's going bit by bit. We're also still visiting sandys family and now also leirys family too! Her little sister hasn't been baptized so she has a date and we're working to that :) We also found this awesome guy from venezuela named Amelicar! Golden investigator...he read the whole pamphlet we left him and when we came by he taught US the restoration so cool :) he will get baptized not this sunday but the next! Also transfers are not this next week but the week after, so in 2 mondays we'll drop Elder Sharp off at the mission office! So we actually only taught 10 lessons this week because we had a TON of flood service. It was absolutely crazy. So this area just south of us, Rosenburg and Richmond got flooded really bad these last couple weeks so they called in the army of missionaries to help. Our zone and Elder Escobars zone came so we had 50-60 missionaries everyday. It was the same thing over and over again this week. Wake up at 6:30 get dressed, pick up the english elders, drive 45min down to rosenberg, leave headquarters at 8AM and bust houses down from 8AM to 2/3PM then we speed home, shower and go out from 5PM-8PM then go to sleep then restart the next day :) I.AM.SO.TIRED. but its awesome, I love it :) we had such a great time and it's been such a great change of pace to do so much service, awesome week, love it out here :) our zone had a combined 487 hours of service in 3 days! It's been awesome, President Hall even came out this week to help, he was smashing out drywall like a pro! That was really the highlight of the week. And it looks like we'll be on this work rotation for the next 2 weeks (and maybe even longer we'll see) but yeah it was really awesome :) that's the story for this week! Anyways mom I love you so much! Thank you for everything you do for me, I hope that you are doing really good. Love you lots :) miss you lots!!!

Love you,

Elder Jensen 

 Doing tons and tons and tons of flood service!! :) He loves this- can you tell?

Dear Mom....

Hey Mommy!!

I can't even believe what a mission does for me. It has fundamentally changed who I am and why I do what I do. I love it because I know that it's preparation to become the best father and husband that I can become. Every time I go through a trial I'm okay, because I know that God doesn't give me more than I can handle and I know I'll come out the other side a better person. That's my philosophy now! Just work as hard as I can and trust in God and everything works out for the best :) I love it out here!

This week was great, we had Elder Foster from the 70 come and tour our mission (that's general authority #6 since I arrived here, Houston is either doing super good or super bad still can't tell) and he talked A LOT about working with members. He promised us that if we become a mission where we assist members with their missionary work we will baptize 300 a month. His testimony of member missionary work is so strong, he is the most successful Mission President that has been in the church in the last 30 years!! He served as in California and during his time, they baptized 3000-4000 people a year!! Can you believe that?! He was out baptizing most foreign missions. It was really awesome to hear him talk and to meet him as well. Rather than that we've been working with Sandy's family and also a new Recent Convert named Cleofas and her family, and were still with Levy 10 weeks later. We feel good about him though he continues to progress bit by bit. Rather than that nothing too excited, crazy storms and crazy people but that's just Texas :) 

Thank you so much for your message about David and Goliath, that's exactly what I need to hear. That's fascinating because that's all about missionary work. God doesn't just magically turn us into who we need to be, he plants us in good soil and expects us to work to achieve our potential. I know that's true because I see it every day. The harder we work the more people we find, it's as simple as that. I really have learned such great lessons about working hard and becoming the best missionary I can be. This week was a great week of learning and growing. Everyday it gets better and better. Tell everyone I say hi and miss them! I can't wait to hear how everything goes this week! You are the best mom ever and I'm sure the best girls camp director too, thank you for all you do. Love you lots mother!!! :)

Elder Jensen

 With all the "Elder Jensen"s in the mission :)

 With a new friend

Catching the coolest MP around helping the hermanas wash their car!

Dear Mom....

So first of all, yes I got your package thank you so much!!! Second of all, thank you for sending that other package! I ordered those patriarchal blessings a little while ago but totally forgot because they took forever! Also as far as flooding goes, we are okay! Apparently this is normal, but normally we don't get this much until the end of August and we just started flooding season 6 days ago...haha so yes this is shaping up to be a pretty wild summer, I can't wait to see my first hurricane :) (jokes jokes I don't think a hurricane has made landfall here in a little while) we haven't been affected to much but apparently the flooding out in the edge of our zone was really bad. We've got six Elders over there pretty much for the entire day.

Anyway, aw 117?! That's CRAZY! That's so hot haha, but I definitely miss the hot weather as compared to the humid Texas weather. I'm glad you guys had a good week of summer though!! Tell Ethan that day camp was one of my favorite parts of my cub scout adventures. It was so much fun! Also let Lizzy know that I am super proud of her, that is AWESOME! Tell her that she needs to get super good at saving her money :) (#lessons that I wish I hadn't been stubborn and would have listened to mom and dad better) Also yay for Katey and swim team! Always my favorite part of the year, she's going to be a really great swimmer :) Also yay for you and Dad!!!! That's so great that you guys are going up to girls camp and AP camp!!! You guys are the best because you're able to take that on. You and Dad are my role models for real :) Glad you guys had a good week!

We had a good week this week! Still working hard on finding new people to teach, this week we decided to start focusing on our recent converts so now all of Sandys (the girl from last week) aunts have a date for the end of June and we hope that the two little girls in the family as well. Rather than that we're still working with Levy, it goes slow but he always makes constant progress forward. We have goals to find more people this week so we can get some new people to teach (which yes will include some knocking doors so we can get the real mission experience :) ). But Leiry was baptized this week! It was a great service, the ward has basically adopted her because her member mother is super inactive and so we had a TON of support from the ward. 

Thank you for your letter this week it really helped me, to be 100% honest it's been a pretty tough week.  I am doing so good mommy I love my mission so much. I feel as if I have changed so much and it was never all at once, it was like you said, here a little and there a little and slowly I have becoming the person that my Heavenly Father wants me to be. I know I was never the perfect kid, I really am sorry for all the headaches I caused you and really for everything that I did that was rude, offensive, and just dumb. I now know who I am and who I'm supposed to become. I know my divine potential! Along with that, though, I am not perfect- but I have gotten really really good at trying. That talk from Jeffery R. Holland always gives me hope because he says we receive eternal life based on how hard we try. My goal in this life is not to become perfect, but to become perfect in trying to become like my father in heaven. I LOVE MY MISSION. It makes me a better person and each day I am doing better and better. I will forever be so grateful that you and Dad always taught me hope, that I need to keep moving forward no matter what. I have learned that no matter the trials life tosses at us, if we keep moving forward we will make it out on the other side alright. I love you so very much, thank you for all you do as my mother. I hope that you know how much I love you. Have a great week!!!!

Love,

Elder Jensen

 Elder Jensen trying his hand at Empanadas!!

 Leiry is baptized! :)