The Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ

Hello again! It's been another great week here in the San Fernando Valley!

This week, I've really become aware of how much God is involved in missionary work. He loves us all so much, and He wants us to find and teach His children. And we see His hand in our lives every day as His servants. :)

Almost everyone here is Christian, and at first when talking with them it was very easy to just talk about Jesus Christ, and how His teachings can help us. We would tell people we had a message about Jesus, and they'd say, "Oh, wonderful! I'm Catholic". And then they would listen, and say thank you, and move on.

But I was reading Preach My Gospel, our handbook, and it said that we should make sure to talk about the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ every chance we get, since it's our unique message to the world. And... it's a little scary to do that. Everyone wants to talk about Jesus, and they're happy when we share a message about Him. But when we say that the gospel was lost after His death, and brought back to the Earth through the Prophet Joseph Smith, they disagree. And it's scary. :)

But as I tried to share more about the Restoration with everyone we talked to, I came to realize that this is what people need to hear. Because if the gospel of Jesus Christ really was restored to the Earth, then they need to change the way they act. They need to start following the prophet of God, and accept HIs word as revelation from God. 

I know that The Gospel was restored through the prophet Joseph Smith. And I know that today we have a living prophet, President Thomas S. Monson. I know that the Book of Mormon is true, because I have read it, and prayed about it, many times. I know that God is not silent, and has not changed. He will always answer prayers, He will always reveal His truth to the world, and He will always be a God of miracles. :)

I'm so grateful to be sharing this message with the world. :) I love you all, and I hope you have a great week!

Love,

Hermana Katherine Jensen :)

New Missionary Training

New Missionary Training

¡La vida en la valle!

Hello, all! It's my first Preparation Day in California, San Fernando, and I'm so excited to talk with you all! Last week was kinda crazy, and I''m sorry I didn't send an email out, but this week I want to tell you all about the valley!

So, President and Sister Henrie are in charge of all of us, and they're amazing. They picked us up from the airport, and fed us waffles and ice cream, and we did some orientation stuff, and then we met our companions and got going!

My companion is amazing. Her name is Hermana Barfuss, which is German for barefoot. She works super hard, and she's really patient as I try to figure out how to be a missionary! Also, her Spanish is a lot better than mine, which is great since I'm usually pretty lost when we're talking to native speakers.

So, this is a new area for both of us, and I think it's been closed for the six weeks before this. We're mainly working from the paperwork other missionaries left, which is a little interesting, but it's been fun so far. :) And we met a lot of the members during church yesterday, so hopefully we can work with them to find people to teach. :)

Part of our mission culture is something called "Knock Out". Basically, every day from 4:00 to 6:00 we go out and knock on people's doors and invite them to hear our message! I was super nervous the first day, because that just seems scary, but the people here are so nice. Even when they're not interested, they're polite about it, and lots of times we get to have really cool discussions about their beliefs and their lives in general! 

The first day, I was running on maybe 2 hours of sleep, and I hadn't gotten to buy food yet, so I was kind of dreading knocking doors for two hours. But about fifteen minutes in, a man asked us if we had eaten yet, and he brought out two bowls of delicious lentil soup! We sat in his front yard, and ate dinner, and had a fascinating discussion about God and how God loves all of His children, all of the people on Earth. We taught him about our faith, and about how the gospel of Jesus Christ was restored to the Earth, and invited him to pray and ask God if this is the truth. It was amazing. :)

We definitely see a lot of miracles during Knock Out, and it's become my favorite part of the day. :) Hopefully we'll be able to have more lessons this week, so I can tell you all how that goes next Monday!

For now, I love you all, and I hope you have an amazing week! I know that God loves all of you, and He will always take care of you. :) We are in His hands, each one of us. :) 

I love you!

Love, Hermana Katherine Jensen :)

 Leaving the MTC early in the morning

President and Sister Henrie

Katherine and her new companion Hermana Barfuss

Headed to California!

We got to talk with Katherine on Sunday for Mother's Day! It was great to hear her voice and hear how happy she sounded. 

On Monday, all of the other missionaries in her District except Hermana Luthy left for their new areas. They had class like normal but they were combined with other Districts. She said it was really hard to concentrate in class because she had just said goodbye to some of her best friends. :( After class, they packed their bags late into the night and had to be up early so they could leave for the Salt Lake airport at 3:50!

They took a bus to the train station. The train took them to Salt Lake where they made a transfer to the light rail which then took them to the airport. By the time she called us at 7 am, she had already had quite the adventure!

She met up with a few more missionaries who are headed to San Fernando. Some of them are going English speaking and a few others are going Spanish speaking but they already knew Spanish so they didn't have to study as long at the MTC. We got to speak with them all and feel their excitement! 

We are so happy that she had a great experience at the MTC and are looking forward to her new adventures in California!

At the airport

Last night with Hermana Luthy

Celebrity Sightings and other news!

Hi, all! This will be fast, because time isn't a thing here, but this week has been amazing. :)

So: Last Tuesday night, we had a devotional, and my district and I were in the fourth row from the front. And guess who should happen to be speaking? None other than Elder Oaks! (Elder Oaks is an Apostle) That was an adventure and a half. :) He answered a lot of the questions my companion and I had, and we learned so much!

On Wednesday, we got to host new missionaries for probably the third time in a row. But this time, we hosted international missionaries, and one of the sisters was from Nepal. She seemed really familiar, but I knew she had been at BYU, so I figured I had just run into her there. Later on, though, I found out her dad is in Meet the Mormons! We actually got to watch that movie Sunday night, and it was really amazing. :) I love the experiences of so many different members of the church. :)

See picture of Bishnu Adhikari from the movie Meet the Mormons and his daughter

We leave the MTC next week(!) and it just feels like we've all grown so much. Especially in our Spanish- it's crazy to think that I didn't even speak it a month ago!

I love you all, and I'm praying for all of you! I know that this gospel is true, and that Jesus Christ is at its head. I testify that He knows and loves each one of you, better than you know yourself. :) It's such a blessing to be able to share his gospel. :)

I love you all! have an amazing week!

Love,

Hermana Katherine Jensen :)