Sorry, my iPad keeps doing this, please respond to "Breanna.jensen@myldsmail.net" and not this email, thanks!

Hermanas Jensen y Greenberg

El sept 19, 2016, a las 1:28 PM, Crystal Lake Florida Tampa Mission <274590010@mormon.org> escribió:

¡Hola mis queridos amigos! Espero que todos de ustedes están bien y que cualquier lugar en que están está tratándoles buenísimos! 

So this week has been great! We have been out working really hard and have had a ton of lessons with Members of the Branch present, so it's been awesome! We also have met some really cool people this week and I am excited to see them progress!

Biggest thing I learned this week is that Taco Bell does not sell real Latino food. We went their with Lioneidis and his mom Idalmis, who are from Cuba, and got the Freezes, strawberry flavor. Well, they did NOT like them. Lioneidis kept saying "Es demasiado ácido!" Which means, it's too sour! It was funny too because they looked at the menu and we're basically like, all of these things are so weird! It was pretty entertaining to sit and talk with them while hearing all of the English conversations around us from people eating. Made me feel like a "peculiar people" for sure.

Life has been different without Hermana Whitlock. It's just different going from 3 to 2 and having one less testimony at the end of a lesson. It always makes me feel like there is something more to be said, when there isn't necessarily. But it has been good for Hermana Greenberg and I to unify a little differently and I think I have gotten to know her a lot better this past week. We just got the transfer list too, so we have 6 more weeks together! I'm pretty stoked to see what we do this transfer because there is still SO much potential out here! Also super stoked to see what Hermana Whitlock does out in Tampa, she is going to change some loves for sure!

I think really the only other super exciting things this week are that we went to the other District's District Meeting (since I'm a Sister Training Leader) and it blew my mind. Seriously, I felt like going to another District would just be lame because I wouldn't know everyone as well, and that the District Leader wouldn't know what I needed to hear, but I forget that he speaks by the Spirit, and the Spirit knows what I need to hear! It was so cool! Everything was very spiritually led and got me super pumped to get out and teach!

I also read a talk this week called, "I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee" from October 2013 General Conference written by President Thomas S. Monson and I wanted to share this little part from it: 

 "Were it not for challenges to overcome and problems to solve, we would remain much as we are, with little or no progress toward our goal of eternal life. The poet expressed much the same thought in these words:

Good timber does not grow with ease,

             The stronger wind, the stronger trees.

The further sky, the greater length.

The more the storm, the more the strength.

By sun and cold, by rain and snow,

In trees and men good timbers grow.

Only the Master knows the depths of our trials, our pain, and our suffering. He alone offers us eternal peace in times of adversity. He alone touches our tortured souls with His comforting words:

"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

"Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

"For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

Whether it is the best of times or the worst of times, He is with us. He has promised that this will never change.""

How great the love of God is, that He can call a prophet to receive and relay a message He has for us, even before we needed it. My spirits were lifted as I read the words of this servant of God, and it has helped two other Missionaries that I have shared it with this week. I know that Thomas S. Monson is a prophet and servant of our Heavenly Father. He has the ability to receive and relay the message of God to us, His children, no matter what it is that we may be struggling with. God is aware of us, He loves us, and He sends His servants to bless us. We only have need to "come unto him" and let our burdens be swallowed up in Him. I am so grateful and excited for the opportunity to hear the words of His servants in the coming weeks! I know that they will lift and inspire us to follow Christ with a greater determination and am so excited to see how their words inspire those I know and love.

Have a wonderful week!

¡Besos y abrazos por mis amigas y saludos a mis amigos! 

Con amor,

Hermanita Jensen

También, vimos a ese serpiente el sábado! 

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"I Will Not Fail Thee, Nor Forsake Thee"

¡Hola mis queridos amigos! Espero que todos de ustedes están bien y que cualquier lugar en que están está tratándoles buenísimos! 

So this week has been great! We have been out working really hard and have had a ton of lessons with Members of the Branch present, so it's been awesome! We also have met some really cool people this week and I am excited to see them progress!

Biggest thing I learned this week is that Taco Bell does not sell real Latino food. We went their with Lioneidis and his mom Idalmis, who are from Cuba, and got the Freezes, strawberry flavor. Well, they did NOT like them. Lioneidis kept saying "Es demasiado ácido!" Which means, it's too sour! It was funny too because they looked at the menu and we're basically like, all of these things are so weird! It was pretty entertaining to sit and talk with them while hearing all of the English conversations around us from people eating. Made me feel like a "peculiar people" for sure.

Life has been different without Hermana Whitlock. It's just different going from 3 to 2 and having one less testimony at the end of a lesson. It always makes me feel like there is something more to be said, when there isn't necessarily. But it has been good for Hermana Greenberg and I to unify a little differently and I think I have gotten to know her a lot better this past week. We just got the transfer list too, so we have 6 more weeks together! I'm pretty stoked to see what we do this transfer because there is still SO much potential out here! Also super stoked to see what Hermana Whitlock does out in Tampa, she is going to change some loves for sure!

I think really the only other super exciting things this week are that we went to the other District's District Meeting (since I'm a Sister Training Leader) and it blew my mind. Seriously, I felt like going to another District would just be lame because I wouldn't know everyone as well, and that the District Leader wouldn't know what I needed to hear, but I forget that he speaks by the Spirit, and the Spirit knows what I need to hear! It was so cool! Everything was very spiritually led and got me super pumped to get out and teach!

I also read a talk this week called, "I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee" from October 2013 General Conference written by President Thomas S. Monson and I wanted to share this little part from it: 

 "Were it not for challenges to overcome and problems to solve, we would remain much as we are, with little or no progress toward our goal of eternal life. The poet expressed much the same thought in these words:

Good timber does not grow with ease,

             The stronger wind, the stronger trees.

The further sky, the greater length.

The more the storm, the more the strength.

By sun and cold, by rain and snow,

In trees and men good timbers grow.

Only the Master knows the depths of our trials, our pain, and our suffering. He alone offers us eternal peace in times of adversity. He alone touches our tortured souls with His comforting words:

"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

"Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

"For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

Whether it is the best of times or the worst of times, He is with us. He has promised that this will never change.""

How great the love of God is, that He can call a prophet to receive and relay a message He has for us, even before we needed it. My spirits were lifted as I read the words of this servant of God, and it has helped two other Missionaries that I have shared it with this week. I know that Thomas S. Monson is a prophet and servant of our Heavenly Father. He has the ability to receive and relay the message of God to us, His children, no matter what it is that we may be struggling with. God is aware of us, He loves us, and He sends His servants to bless us. We only have need to "come unto him" and let our burdens be swallowed up in Him. I am so grateful and excited for the opportunity to hear the words of His servants in the coming weeks! I know that they will lift and inspire us to follow Christ with a greater determination and am so excited to see how their words inspire those I know and love.

Have a wonderful week!

¡Besos y abrazos por mis amigas y saludos a mis amigos! 

Con amor,

Hermanita Jensen

También, vimos a ese serpiente el sábado! 

El Cambio, el Progreso, y el Saber

¡Hola mis queridos!

This week has been one of a lot of growth, for me personally, other Sisters in the Mission, and the Mission as a whole. 

I will start with a little analogy of sorts.. So once upon a time I was 15 and my birthday wish came true, I received a cellular device that allowed me to talk to literally anyone at anytime. I had a blast, texting and calling people and for the first two weeks it completely occupied all my attention. Now, the reason I received the phone was not really to text and call everyone I knew in the whole world, it was to prepare me to receive my license and gain the trust of my father in order to drive the car to school in the mornings and to work, and to everything else I had been begging rides for in the past. So I had a long sit down with my dad (which by the way, I did not appreciate at the time) and we discussed some rules with respect to the phone. Now, I'm going to compare these rules to the Law of Moses, but please do not take this the wrong way. They were very particular and if I didn't obey them, there were specific consequences. I will give you a few examples:

We are not to text before homework is finished, during FHE, mealtimes, school, other family activities, or after 9pm.

We are not to use the phone within our bedrooms unsupervised.

We are not to use the phone as an excuse to not spend time with company.

We are not to exceed 80 sent messages per day.

Half of the sent messages are to be to boys and the other half to girls.

Now, to some of you these sound weird, to others they make sense, when I first heard them I hated them, but they make sense to me now. They were each put in place to teach me a specific principle in using the phone. Such as: The phone should not take priority over your family. It can be a destructive tool and should be used with caution. It is not meant to control us, but can if we let it. We must use it as a tool and not be ruled by it. It shouldn't be used as a dating device or as a way to spend the whole day with someone else instead of the people you are around. Things like that.

Well, after a few years, I had finally learned my lesson in all of the rules and had recognized the guiding principles to utilizing a phone. My father lifted the rules and I began to govern myself. I left for college and grew to a point that my phone was a menace and I preferred to spend time with my friends in person than to be attached to it every waking moment. I really only utilized it to communicate with family and friends that were still in Oregon and to listen to music. It became a very minimal part of my life, so much so, that when I visited for Thanksgiving and found that all my siblings were on their devices for most of my visit, I was a little sad. I had learned that the phone was supposed to augment the relationship I had with them, instead of take away from them. 

Now, why am I sharing all this? Well, this week we had a Zone Training Meeting, and a few of the rules the Mission had prior were lifted. They could be compared, in a way, to the rules my father had set forth, or to the Law of Moses. They were absolutely necessary at the time and have helped us grow as a Mission to be obedient and follow the example of Jesus Christ. However, we have learned the principles behind such rules and are moving towards a more principle based way of Missionary Work. In fact, the bar hasn't been lowered at all, it's been heightened. Companionship Unity, and unity with spirit has increased in importance as well as the accountability. We will be growing a lot during this time of change and it will serve to prove our conversion to the Lord and to His laws. Our obedience is still an outward expression of an inner commitment to follow Christ, but that expression is decided between companionships and the Lord. 

I am so excited for this all because I know it will help our companionships have more unity and that the blessings we will receive are going to be even greater than before. We will continue to see "miracles of biblical proportions" as we move forward with faith.

If you are super curious to know our "rules," read the Missionary Handbook and Preach My Gospel, because that is what we have been instructed to do -- go back to the basics. :)

Also this week, many pictures... Hermana Whitlock has been transferred to Tampa, so it is just Hermana Greenberg and I now. :( we are excited for her, but sad to see her go to a new area. I know she will bless Tampa immensely! 

Con mucho amor!

Hermanita Jensen

A Stormy Week

Mis Queridos!

This week has been wild! Everything started out normal Monday morning... Until our car died at 9:15PM when we were SUPPOSED to be returning home for the night! We got a jump and made it home before 10, but we also realized that we had left our phone at the church, so we had no one to contact about it. Luckily I had our District Leader's phone number and we called him from the phone of the same member that gave us a jump! That was a good thing because we found out that our District a meeting would be in another building the next day! 

Flash forward to Tuesday and we are feeling out of luck! Our car was dead again in the morning, so we said a prayer and started knocking on doors. It was quite a change because this time we were asking for help instead of offering it. The first door we knocked on led to a nice neighbor of ours who gave us a jump and we made it to District meeting on time. (Still no phone). We contacted the vehicle coordinator through email and he had us go to a shop and get the battery replaced. By the time we made it back to the church for our phone, the Elders had already retrieved it! We got it back safe and sound, and had only missed calls from the Zone Leaders and Sister Training leader, wondering about what on earth had happened to their comrade. 

Wednesday the storm hit, and we were stuck inside or out in the rain all day. Thursday, we were again inside most of the day, but received a call from Elder Casperson asking me and Sister Gessel to book it to Tampa in order to beat the storm and make it to the Missionary Leadership Training the next day. We met up and drove out to Tampa and stayed the night with 12 other Sisters! Look at all of us! 

There were Air Mattresses EVERYWHERE! 

Yep, it was a crazy night.

Then we had the crowning event of this week. Our Missionary Leadership Council. It was so spiritually invigorating, I can't even tell you all! We had all come prepared to discuss certain things, but nothing could have prepared us for the Spiritual Fire and Zeal of President Cooper. He has such a love for this work... It was amazing to see the Spirit work through all of us and confirm to all of us that the things we discussed were right. I still can't shake the feeling.

When I got back to Lakeland, we shared the Book of Mormon with a family that is probably the most prepared I've seen to accept our message of hope, and I found out that my companions had set a date with the first person I really met in Lakeland! He will be preparing to get baptized this month! 

We also worked on our Companionship Unity this week, and it brought this wonderful man to tears just an hour ago. He is preparing to be baptized and as my companions and I testified of the truth, he felt the Spirit witness to him that it is true. He is working so hard to prepare to follow the Savior and I am so excited for him! 

Also on Sunday, Jacklyn was confirmed! It was such a miracle!

I also witnessed a change in the Bishopric of the Highlands ward. Bishop Adams, who has been serving in that capacity for the last 6 years was released and Bishop Hendricks was called. They are both wonderful men. The Stake President described them using words from the Bible:

"2 A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach;

3 Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous;

4 One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity;

5 (For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?)

6 Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil.

7 Moreover he must have a good report of them which are without; lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil."

He talked of how these men had been called of God to perform a great work and it made me think of my own calling as a Missionary to preach the Word of God.

I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to be here in Florida, bearing my witness of Christ to all those I see.

Have a wonderful week! 

Amor,

Hermanita Jensen

A Stormy Week!

Mis Queridos!

This week has been wild! Everything started out normal Monday morning... Until our car died at 9:15PM when we were SUPPOSED to be returning home for the night! We got a jump and made it home before 10, but we also realized that we had left our phone at the church, so we had no one to contact about it. Luckily I had our District Leader's phone number and we called him from the phone of the same member that gave us a jump! That was a good thing because we found out that our District a meeting would be in another building the next day! 

Flash forward to Tuesday and we are feeling out of luck! Our car was dead again in the morning, so we said a prayer and started knocking on doors. It was quite a change because this time we were asking for help instead of offering it. The first door we knocked on led to a nice neighbor of ours who gave us a jump and we made it to District meeting on time. (Still no phone). We contacted the vehicle coordinator through email and he had us go to a shop and get the battery replaced. By the time we made it back to the church for our phone, the Elders had already retrieved it! We got it back safe and sound, and had only missed calls from the Zone Leaders and Sister Training leader, wondering about what on earth had happened to their comrade. 

Wednesday the storm hit, and we were stuck inside or out in the rain all day. Thursday, we were again inside most of the day, but received a call from Elder Casperson asking me and Sister Gessel to book it to Tampa in order to beat the storm and make it to the Missionary Leadership Training the next day. We met up and drove out to Tampa and stayed the night with 12 other Sisters! Look at all of us! 

There were Air Mattresses EVERYWHERE! 

Yep, it was a crazy night.

Then we had the crowning event of this week. Our Missionary Leadership Council. It was so spiritually invigorating, I can't even tell you all! We had all come prepared to discuss certain things, but nothing could have prepared us for the Spiritual Fire and Zeal of President Cooper. He has such a love for this work... It was amazing to see the Spirit work through all of us and confirm to all of us that the things we discussed were right. I still can't shake the feeling.

When I got back to Lakeland, we shared the Book of Mormon with a family that is probably the most prepared I've seen to accept our message of hope, and I found out that my companions had set a date with the first person I really met in Lakeland! He will be preparing to get baptized this month! 

We also worked on our Companionship Unity this week, and it brought this wonderful man to tears just an hour ago. He is preparing to be baptized and as my companions and I testified of the truth, he felt the Spirit witness to him that it is true. He is working so hard to prepare to follow the Savior and I am so excited for him! 

Also on Sunday, Jacklyn was confirmed! It was such a miracle!

I also witnessed a change in the Bishopric of the Highlands ward. Bishop Adams, who has been serving in that capacity for the last 6 years was released and Bishop Hendricks was called. They are both wonderful men. The Stake President described them using words from the Bible:

"2 A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach;

3 Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous;

4 One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity;

5 (For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?)

6 Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil.

7 Moreover he must have a good report of them which are without; lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil."

He talked of how these men had been called of God to perform a great work and it made me think of my own calling as a Missionary to preach the Word of God.

I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to be here in Florida, bearing my witness of Christ to all those I see.

Have a wonderful week! 

Amor,

Hermanita Jensen