The Quantum Mechanics of Houston Texas Weather

NOVA or Bill Nye should really do an exposition on the only place in the world where one can simultaneously stand in the sun and be rained on.... or where I can kick around some dirt in the sun and then trudge ankle-deep in flood waters in the rain on the same day. Yes, this place is exists people. It's real, it's free, it's called Texas, and in a sentence: I love it.

 The story of the week: I arrived in Houston! After six-weeks in the Missionary Training Center and waking up at 4 AM for a 3-hour plane ride I arrived in my home for the next 1.9 years, the great Lone Star State. First thoughts: it's green, humid, and really stinky...but I already love it! After a much needed home-cooked meal and a good nights rest, we were whisked into a church building and given our areas. For the next six weeks I've been assigned to be in the Houston 1st Ward, right smack dab in the middle of the city! 

It's an awesome ward, with 10 missionaries and a ward list of over 600 members. Needless to say I was so excited and a little overwhelmed at the prospect of trying to learn the names of 600 people. But when Sunday rolled around, my companions Elder Fails, Elder Valentine and I were excited to meet everyone, only to find 3 families and the bishop present. It turns out this area has an active ward of only about 50 people, which means there's a lot of work to be done :) 

The area is pretty great as well, I take in almost all of the Southern part of downtown and extend down to the Guatemalan and Hispanic areas on the outskirts of the city. We go from teaching in skyscraper apartments to teaching in run-down shacks in the same day. The only difficult part has been the rain. It rains a lot here...today was my FIRST time seeing sunshine since arriving in Houston! With that much rain, the streets were quickly flooded and my companions and I have spent the last three days trudging through ankle deep water. 

I have to admit that when I was called on my mission to the United States I didn't think that someday I would be sitting in a powerless church building, next to a Honduran family I met only moments before, trying to sing louder then the sirens outside, with flood water seeping into the building as we sang. That was a surprise to me on Sunday. I never expected it, but I also never expected to love it so much. I know that though it's hard, every footstep is absolutely worth it. When I get sad because I'm tired, wet, and homesick, I remember the people that we're doing this for. Those people that have nothing of physical value and need help, to teach to those that feel they have no purpose in life, and to be a friend to those who need a friend. No matter how alone you feel, you are never alone, you just have to keep moving forward. 

Con mucho amor, 

Elder Jensen

Here's that one time I was supposed to be taking a selfie with my companions but they got in the car and I had no idea. Yeah funny joke guys....