7 days!!!

Ermergersh! I report in one week! 7 days! That's crazy!!! It feels like last week that I was sitting nervously in the Bishop's office while he interviewed me for the first time about my mission (that was nearly 8 months ago!!!) And maybe two days ago that I was so frustrated with my papers being delayed due to medical conditions that I thought I wasn't even supposed to go (4 months ago). But it feels like yesterday that I had my roommates, friends, and family all in one place via phone calls and video chats as I opened my call! (about a month ago). This whole ride has been crazy, but through it all, I have trusted in my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and allowed myself to completely give into the will of the Father. It hasn't been easy, and from here it won't get any easier, but I know that it will be worth it, and that is what matters!

I love what Jeffrey R. Holland has to say on the Atonement and Missionary Work:

Anyone who does any kind of missionary work will have occasion to ask, Why is this so hard? Why doesn’t it go better? Why can’t our success be more rapid? Why aren’t there more people joining the Church? It is the truth. We believe in angels. We trust in miracles. Why don’t people just flock to the font? Why isn’t the only risk in missionary work that of pneumonia from being soaking wet all day and all night in the baptismal font?
You will have occasion to ask those questions. I have thought about this a great deal. I offer this as my personal feeling. I am convinced that missionary work is not easy because salvation is not a cheap experience. Salvation never was easy. We are The Church of Jesus Christ, this is the truth, and He is our Great Eternal Head. How could we believe it would be easy for us when it was never, ever easy for Him? It seems to me that missionaries and mission leaders have to spend at least a few moments in Gethsemane. Missionaries and mission leaders have to take at least a step or two toward the summit of Calvary.
Now, please don’t misunderstand. I’m not talking about anything anywhere near what Christ experienced. That would be presumptuous and sacrilegious. But I believe that missionaries and investigators, to come to the truth, to come to salvation, to know something of this price that has been paid, will have to pay a token of that same price.
For that reason I don’t believe missionary work has ever been easy, nor that conversion is, nor that retention is, nor that continued faithfulness is. I believe it is supposed to require some effort, something from the depths of our soul.
If He could come forward in the night, kneel down, fall on His face, bleed from every pore, and cry, “Abba, Father (Papa), if this cup can pass, let it pass,” 16 then little wonder that salvation is not a whimsical or easy thing for us. If you wonder if there isn’t an easier way, you should remember you are not the first one to ask that. Someone a lot greater and a lot grander asked a long time ago if there wasn’t an easier way.
The Atonement will carry the missionaries perhaps even more importantly than it will carry the investigators. When you struggle, when you are rejected, when you are spit upon and cast out and made a hiss and a byword, you are standing with the best life this world has ever known, the only pure and perfect life ever lived. You have reason to stand tall and be grateful that the Living Son of the Living God knows all about your sorrows and afflictions. The only way to salvation is through Gethsemane and on to Calvary. The only way to eternity is through Him—the Way, the Truth, and the Life."

This gives me so much hope! It wasn't meant to be easy, only worth it! These next years are going to be harder than anything I've ever done, and that's OK!

I am so grateful for my Savior's atoning sacrifice and for the chance He has given me to share that truth and hope with the people of Florida. My prayer is only that the Spirit of the Lord can be felt as I bear a witness of these things to Him and that their hearts will be open to the message I am delivering. My wish is that I will bring God's children Home.

I'm so excited to see what the next 18 months will hold!! 

Love Always,

Soon to be Sister Jensen! :) <3