Gilberto's Baptism!!!

Hello, all! I have the most exciting news ever for this week:

Gilberto was baptized!!!!!!!!

He's an incredible person, with so much faith. The hermanas before me found him during Knock Out, and he wasn't interested, so they gave him a pass-along card and left. But a few weeks later, he called the number on the back asking for a Book of Mormon! He's been reading the Book of Mormon ever since, and actually finished it two weeks ago. And he comes to church every week, even though the first week the missionaries didn't know who he was. :) 

They committed him to be baptized before I came, but when I got here he still felt very unsure about it. He just wanted to make sure he know enough before making this decision. :) We prayed for him a lot, and talked a lot with each other and with him about how to know if he's ready to be baptized. And just two weeks ago, after so many times of telling us he wasn't ready, he told us that he thought he was ready to be baptized on the 10th!!!!!

Next, the biggest obstacle was the water. He's deathly afraid of water, but he knew it was necessary to be baptized by immersion, so he had the faith to go through with it. :) To make matters worse, though, he had surgery on his foot a few weeks ago and it still isn't healed. He's not allowed to get it wet at all, or it'll be infected. :/

So.... we called our mission president, and made sure it was alright, and then made preparations to wrap his foot with a bag for the baptism. We had a pretty exciting trial run: 

But.... It worked! And on Saturday, he had the faith to wrap his foot in a bag and go down into the waters of baptism. :)

He's pretty nervous in these pictures, but afterwards he just couldn't stop smiling. :) 

I'm so, so grateful for the opportunity to be a part of this. :) I love this gospel, and I love being able to help other people receive the wonderful joy it brings into our lives. :) I know that this is the true church, and I'm so excited to continue sharing it with the people here! I love you all!!!

Love,

Hermana Jensen :)

Ps. Exciting news: I'm going to be a trainer!!!!! I meet my new companion tomorrow, so I'll send pictures next week. :) Until then!

Cyber Pictures

This has not been a good month for technology in the Jensen family. Katherine lost her camera memory card (with all of her pictures) and our computer died. We are all finally back up and running. Here are a few pictures:

Katherine is the driver in her companionship! We all laugh because she couldn't find her way around our small city and here she is driving in LA traffic! According to Katherine, her companion, Hermana Velasquez is apparently an excellent co-pilot and has really helped her to navigate the city.

Someone sent me this photo of Katherine with her first two companions- Hermana Barfuss and Hermana Warren.

Crazy huge bugs!

Hermana Velasquez convinced Katherine to get her eyebrows threaded at a Flea Market.

Katherine's Mission District

Behind the Wheel

Hi! I love my new area, and it turns out I'm driving! It's been a fun week of trying to remember how that works. :) I don't have a ton of time, but here are some pictures of families from our last ward!

Hermana Ponce :)

Elisa and family :)

Behind the Wheel

Hi! I love my new area, and it turns out I'm driving! It's been a fun week of trying to remember how that works. :) I don't have a ton of time, but here are some pictures of families from our last ward!

Hermana Ponce :)

Elisa and family :)

Transfers!!!

Hello, all! So.... this is the week! I'm being transferred to Van Nuys! I'm excited to meet my new companion, Hermana Valasquez, and get started working there. :)

I'll be sad to say goodbye to the ward; we have a lot of really great members! I'll miss them a lot. :(

​Hermana and Hermano Enciso. :) The absolute sweetest couple ever! Basically my mission grandparents. :)

​La familia Gonzalez! Super nice. :)

​Hermana Leiva! She's an incredible person. :) She does so much to help the ward members, and the missionaries, and everyone around her! She's always telling us stories about times that she shares the gospel with her friends, family, and everyone around her! I'll miss her so much!

I'm sad to be leaving, but I have a real testimony of the principle that God directs this work. He knows His children, and He is in the details of our lives. He's sending me to where I need to go, and He'll do the same for each one of you. :) He knows us, and He loves us, and He wants nothing more than to help us grow. I testify that He lives, and He will answer you if you reach out to Him in prayer. 

I love you all! Have a great week! :)

Hello, all!

Hi! Another great week of missionary work in the great San Fernando Valley. :) This week, we taught our investigators Norma and Jose about baptism. They have a lot of faith, and they say they feel a lot of peace when they attend church and read the Book of Mormon, but they still don't feel like they're ready to take that step. But when we explained what baptism is, and what we promise when we're baptized, they seemed really excited by the idea. We'll keep working to help them prepare!

We also had a lesson with our investigator who had a baptismal date.... I say "had" because she told us she just still doesn't feel ready. She says she's confident that God will eventually give her the answer that she's looking for, but it's hard to help her understand that we need to act in order to receive answers. We feel the Spirit confirming our actions as we read the Book of Mormon, pray, attend church, and seek to follow the commandments of God. But every time we explain that, she just says.... I'm sure that someday God will tell me that I should go to church. Hopefully we can help her to understand that important principle. :)

It's been kind of an exciting week health-wise in the valley..... The California summer was hot enough that a fire started in Santa Clarita! That's just the next valley over from us. Smoke filled up the whole sky, and ash started raining down, and it blocked the sun so everything was super dark. Everyone has been trying to stay inside, but the missionaries are still working like normal. :)

​

That red dot is the sun. :)

Speaking of health challenges, some districts like to meet once a week during our morning exercise time to play sports and have fun together. But our district got that banned last Friday when we broke our district leader's elbow. :/ The worst part, though, is that three days later his companion (a new trainee) broke his wrist playing capture the flag with our zone! Zone activities haven't been banned yet, but we'll see..... We're keeping the two of them in our prayers. :)

We've been pretty busy this week with studies, lessons, Knock Out, and trying to help our ward share the gospel with their friends. Yesterday our ward finally called a ward mission leader, so we're excited to see how that helps them progress! We also just recently called a Second Counselor in the Bishopric, and he's been a huge help. :) The work is moving forward, and I'm excited to be a part of it!

I hope you all have a great week! Transfer calls come next week, so I'll let you know what happens.... I love you all, and I know that this gospel is true! :)

Love,

Hermana Jensen :)

Exchanges!!!!!

After years of being called a vampire, Katherine proves she can tan in the California sun.

Hello, all! This week, we had exchanges, and it was really great to be able to learn from more experienced missionaries. We had some amazing lessons, and felt the Spirit so powerfully. :)

We also had zone conference, and it was so great! I learned a lot from President and Sister Henrie; they're amazing. :) I think the biggest thing I took away from the meeting is that God is helping us with this work. We need to do all that we can, and go forward with faith, and trust in Him. But if we do all of that, He will guide us, and strengthen us, and help us to know what to do, where to go, and what to say. He is so aware of all of His children. :) He loves us. :)

Studying at Zone Conference

We also got to do a service project with Operation Gratitude! It's an incredible program, and I encourage you all to check it out. :) (see pictures below)

I know that God loves each one of you, and He is aware of you. :) I love you all, and I'll talk with you more next week! :)

Katherine's new apartment came with little potted plants.