Happy Christmas Everyone

Hello Hello my sweet family and friends! Happy Christmas! I can't believe that this week is already Christmas! I mean wasn't it just American Thanksgiving like 2 days ago!!!!????!!!!! Not fair!!!!!!! Any who let me give you the update! 

So Sister Layton has left the area :( sad day for us all but she was excited so that is okay. She is serving in Taber now as an STL so I will see her at MLCs which is super exciting! 

So my new companion is.... drumroll..... SISTER CONNORS!!!!!! She has been out for 10 months and came out with Sister Kendrick. She served in the West of Calgary and then down in a little town called Magrath. She is from... Murrieta, CALIFORNIA. NOT UTAH! So I still have only had 2 companions from Utah AND 0 from Idaho! Sweet! Okay not that exciting but still sweet! 

She is the nicest and I am excited to get to know her more over these next couple of months! 

This week really has been crazy! With Sister Layton being here for 6 months she had a lot to pack and a lot of people to say good bye to. It is always sad, but still super fun and exciting. We got to see Shannon this week before she finished school and then her mom agreed to come with us to the Nativity Pageant last night which was amazing (as always). This is the last year that our stake is in charge of the Pageant and they really did a great job. 

Eddy has moved his baptismal date to the 2nd of January which is SOOOO EXCITING! We have the stake center all booked, his brother will be here and he will be prepared! 

So other then that it has been a pretty normal week. We have been doing a lot of finding and contacting, but because it is Christmas a lot of appointments are falling through. BUT that is okay and we are still having fun and trying. I am grateful for this time of year to be able to grow in my understanding of my Savior. I am grateful that Heavenly Father is aware of my needs and the needs of those around me and am glad that I have seen so many wonderful things. This upcoming week should be great and I hope that all of you have a wonderful Christmas! Be Safe! 

Love, 

Sister Jensen 

New Zone Picture

New Companion

Another Transfer

Hello Hello Hello every one! 

Well... sad news... :(... Sister Layton is leaving me to go to the south of the mission... my guess is that she will go either to Cardston or Medicine Hat (which I would love)... but I am rEEEAaaaalllLLLyyyyy going to miss her. Luckily we live in the same state and are going home at the same time so it won't be too big of an issue. I just hope that because she is going south that I will see her again before we leave. 

Okay so other then that sad news this week has been AMAZING! (Like always!)

Crazy food, crazy fun, and great progress in the work! 

Let us start with the CraZy food of the week! 

Tuesday: SUPER SPICY PABLANO SOUP... okay it was really good and not that crazy but I felt bad leaving it out because it was out of the normal. 

Wednesday: (Here is where the fun begins) We have had dinner with our member Sister Anderson before and she promised us that next time we have dinner at her house she is making Jamaican food... which includes.... wait for it.... GOAT!!!!!! We had goat curry! It is actually really good and I wasn't sure that I would like it.

Thursday: Sushi! (okay not weird for me but it was really good). A member decided to take us out for dinner.... I really like Sushi. 

Saturday: We had Escargot! The Guidis are an French/Italian couple in our ward and they always make great food. She wanted to make us a traditional holiday meal so we had a four course meal of Escargot, Cappelini in Bouillon, Lamb steak, (a cheese course with both Italian and French cheese) and Pie... Blueberry pie. I love them. They are so missionary minded and the are the couple that have been helping us with Eddy. The best! 

Sunday: Organic foods! 

Okay so enough for making you hungry... it was just a really strange week in the food department! 

On to the more eventful and miraculous things! 

Miracles of the week: 

Last week we got a phone call from a lady named Shelby. She has a friend that is LDS and she needed some help getting to the food bank and back so she called us up and we set up a member who could go with us to take her and talk to her about the gospel. Tuesday was the day! Sister Bauer drove us all to the Food Bank and we got to see what it was like to be on the other side of the conveyor belt for once. Shelby and her kids are allergic to gluten so she got special foods, but got the food that she needed. Sister Bauer was a great fellow shipper as she has a lot in common with Shelby and on our way home we talked a lot about her beliefs and what she knew about the church. We are hoping to be able to sit down with her this week before transfers! 

We also have been in contact with Kory and Catherine a couple of other potential investigators who are really struggling financially right now. It has been really great to support them and gain a relationship with them and they have taught me a lot about trusting in the Lord. They said that they might come to church this upcoming Sunday, so hopefully they can make it out. 

We had an amazing District meeting this week. I am really going to miss this district as most of them are getting transferred but I am super proud because most of the Elders in our district have just come out and they are all training a new missionary this transfer. 

On Thursday we did another round of Christmas wrapping in the mall. It is always a fun time but this time we didn't have another set of missionaries with us we had two volunteers. Their names were Shelby and Lina. It was great talking with them and we got into a natural conversation about religion. One was super into Christianity and the other was Chinese so it was great to hear about their cultural. I love Sister Layton because she is always looking for chances to share what she knows and she was trying to get them to ask questions so that she could share and by the end of the day we had only wrapped 5 presents (it wasn't busy at all), but we had taught the Plan of Salvation to them so that was amazing. I really felt the spirit and hope that it helped them start off the Christmas season right! 

We met a new less-active. Heavenly Father keeps helping us find new less-actives to teach. Seriously I think we found a least a new one every week... Hmm...  well I am okay with that. 

Sunday one of our members brought their Friend Sophie to our Stake Christmas Music Festival! I seriously love this ward! 

Okay so other fun events of the week! 

Check it out! We went to the Calgary Tower and had lunch as a district! The tower has a restaurant at the top that looks out over the city and it rotates as you eat so you can see the city from everyside. The picture on the top consists of some of my area... including the bit of downtown that we cover. 

We went to our young women's activity to try to get to know a nonmember part member girl who comes to church every week and made cute little sock snowmen... THEY ARE SO CUTE! And we got to know Mckenzie better too! 

The Wildwood ward asked us as a district to sing at their ward Christmas party... which as so happened to be a ward Christmas lunch. We sang Oh Come All Ye Faithful and it went pretty well. Elder Linford who covers wildwood was on the Voice and so that whole ward has been pretty hyped on missionaries singing. It went well. I think that this zone has been the most musical zone I have ever been in which I love! We also got to sing for the Stake Musical Fireside which was great. We sung the First Noel and because Elder Clabaux is French we sang the first verse in French. We also sang with the Stake Choir. 

(Soooo sorry this is so long... you can skim and just look at the pictures if you want)

We also made a poem this week so encourage the Christmas Book of Mormon challenge that we extended out to the ward. It goes as follows. 

Twas 2 weeks before Christmas 

and all through the ward

all the members were learning 

about Christ the Lord

All there coats were hung 

in the coatroom with care

in hopes that the spirit

soon would be there

All the children were singing

by their teachers were led

while visions of Prophets

danced in their heads

And mom in her dress 

and dad in his tie

had just settled down 

for a lesson in 3 Nephi

They learned and they listened 

there was quite the chatter

you may ask "Well, why?"

and this was the matter:

The star in the sky

more precious then Gold

gave the luster of Mid-day

as the prophets foretold

The star was a symbol 

or Hope,love and birth

they knew in a moment 

Christ has come to the Earth

Now this is the story

the Book of Mormon Shares

that Christ did come 

and YES! He does care! 

You all have a witness

We know that it's true

Here is our challenge

we give it to you

Hand out a copy

to friend or to foe

it will bless you

no need to feel low

We are here to support you

to lend you our aid

we hope with this poem 

your day has been made! 

Well that is the week everyone! It was great with a lot of events! I love you all! 

Have a great week! 

Love, 

Sister Jensen 

Hello Family and Friends! 

Crazy things going on here in the city of Calgary or as many people call it the YYC (apparently that is the Airport sign for Calgary... I don't know but it has become really popular here). This week has been pretty sweet with our zone training meetings in the North and in our own Zone. We had quite the week and ended up going up to Airdrie for some splits with Sister Durrant and Sister Pipkin. We have a lot of things that are going to happen this coming week which includes quite a few potential investigators as well as a Stake Christmas musical fireside. We also had a Hot Chocolate Stand on Saturday as a zone and handed out the #asaviorisborn cards for the new Christmas video this year. (If you haven't seen it, please go to christmas.mormon.org)! 

Our ward Christmas party was this week and it was crazy. There were so many family members and friends and nonmembers there that there had to be two extra tables set up. I didn't really know where to start when it came to talking to people but we had Eddy (our investigator there) as well as 3 less-actives and some friends. Heavenly Father is really opening the opportunities for us in this area. I love that he is helping us to see that their are chances to testify all around us if we just take them. Other then that this week was pretty normal. We still went to the food bank and weekly planned but it did have some Christmas flare on it with Ginderbread houses during our dinner appointments and Christmas devotionals and Choir practices. I am grateful for this season that I have to focus on my Savior. I really have a desire to strengthen my testimony of Christ so that I can continue to live according to His will for the rest of my life and I am grateful to my Heavenly Father for giving me this chance. 

There are going to be some pretty crazy things going on this next transfer. We had a complete stake change happen in Calgary this past week. Our stake didn't get changed at all, but there was a whole new stake created and all of the other stakes were rearranged! Crazy! I am grateful for the chance that I have had to serve with Sister Layton and as a missionary. I hope that you all have a great week and that you know how much I love you. Don't forget the reason for the season! 

Love,

Sister Jensen 

Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire

Hello Family and Friends! As always... WHAT A WEEK! I still truly love it here in the glorious Calgary area. Every day I get to look at the beautiful skyline of Calgary, walk up breathtaking (literally) hills, and work with and serve amazing people in this area. I couldn't feel more blessed to be spending this time in this area.  

Some highlights of the week! 

First off I would like to apologize for not emailing much last week.... I need to learn to balance my email time ha ha! 

Anyway! As you can tell by my subject line this week was awesome! 

We went to the Guidi's (our Italian/French) family for Dinner on Tuesday. It was beautiful outside... about 5 degrees so Sister Layton and I didn't even wear a coat just a light sweater. When we got there Sister Guidi met us at the top of the outside stairs (they live in the basement) and told us in her awesome French accent that we better go see what Brother Guidi is doing. So we walked over to a fire pit that Brother Guidi was standing by and Sister Layton asked "What are you making Brother Guidi" his response... (in his amazing Italian accent) "Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire"! So I have now tried roasted Chestnuts and I must say they are quite good. We had a traditional french meal that day including a cheese platter before Dessert! As we went to leave Sister Guidi asked us if we needed coats and we said that it was beautiful outside and then we walked out and saw that we were smack dab in the middle of a snow storm.... you think that I would have remembered that Calgary is the most bipolar when it comes to weather... It was a great night with a great lesson with Shannon and Bishop and then ending with getting stuck on a hill by our house. The elders had to come rescue us.... it was great!

Wednesday we had our Arm Activity (Additional Relief Society Meeting) which was a fun Christmas dinner. It was awesome because we had three less-actives, a ward missionary and a visiting teacher to one of the less-actives all at our table! It was great! We had a great time and have appointments set with 2 of the 3 less-actives this week. 

As always we helped out at the Food Bank this week! It was awesome! As I was helping someone out to their car I chatted with him and he said that our churches are Beautiful. He was from Nigeria and as I got talking to him I offered for the Sisters in his area (which happen to be some of the Sisters that we serve) to get in touch with him. He said yes and I gave him our number to call if he had any questions. Even though we go to the food bank to serve, I still love being able to share my testimony with people and help them to remember the love of God. 

That night we went to our dinner appointment and had an awesome miracle! We had the chance to help make dinner for Sister Redfern and Sister Dow. They heard that I like to make Fried Rice so that is was Sister Layton and I cooked... however we didn't realize that when we got there that the rice that she gave us was Brown rice and it takes 45 minutes to cook... but we didn't have that time do to a lesson with Eddy later. So if response we did what any missionary would do and said a prayer.... AND THE RICE COOKED IN 30 MINUTES INSTEAD OF 45!!!!!! Ha! Who says prayers aren't answered! We had a great lesson with Eddy that night and then drove up to the North to go on exchanges with our Hermanas (the Spanish Sisters!). I went up again to the North to stay with Hermana Dean and we had a great time learning from each other. She is one firecracker missionary only being out for 3 months in the field. It is kind of cool because when we decided who is going where for an exchange we do a lot of praying and a lot of thinking. Normally we don't have a lot of trouble, but this week we couldn’t decide until right before the exchange. I had originally thought that I would be staying in the area with Hermana Dean and Sister Layton would go to the North with Hermana Ratliff, but we still had some confusion until we decided that I would be going to the North and Sister Layton would stay here....and it felt right! It is crazy that Heavenly Father really means to study it out in your minds and then ask if it be right because I know that I had thought it out and I felt off when I asked but I was too stubborn to think that I could be wrong. Moroni 10:3-5, be humble, ask God if the thoughts and feelings you have are not true and then listen for the Holy Ghost... God will tell you!

Sunday was unlike any other Sunday. All of Canada this weekend didn't have church but watched instead the Montreal Temple Dedication! So now I have been to two! It was a special experience and we had both a less-active and recent convert come! I loved it! We also made dinner for a potential investigator with one of our ward missionaries Sister Brule (Spaghetti and Pudding with crushed Candy Cane!) and took it over. Kory and Katherine were a referral from a member in the Foothills stake and they just moved it from Edmonton. They are struggling but were so nice and accepted the invitation for us to come back this week for a message. They are the sweetest and I know that the Gospel of Jesus Christ will really bless their lives. It has been a good week with many miracles! I hope that all of you Americans have an amazing Thanksgiving Day on Thursday! Thank you so much for all that you do! I love you! 

Sister Kelliann Jensen

Hello everyone! 

Sounds like this has been a great week for you! I will be praying for you as well on the direction that you should take. I agree though... no Jensen ever needs to be involved in Politics. I get Sarah's emails every once in a while. It is nice to hear how she is doing and it is weird to me that she has already been out as long as she has. I really enjoy serving as a missionary and would never exchange the things that I have learned here. In the words of President Hinckley "It remains the best and most productive 2 years of my life...still". This week was full of amazing things and lessons. We did two trainings this week; One up in the North Zone for our Sisters, and one in our own Zone. It is amazing to see the hand in the Lord as you pray and ask for guidance on what to do. We also spent a lot of time at the Temple of Thursday (see mom's email for more info). On Friday we had Zone Conference's with President Miles and the Foothills zone. I got to see Sister Kendrick, Wagstaff, and Allard again which is always fun. I really enjoy having President and Sister Miles in our mission. The work is improving and our mission is becoming even better than before. 

Saturday we went on Exchanges with the Airdrie Sisters. I went up to Airdire with Sister Durrant who if you remember is someone that I came out with. I really enjoyed being able to teach and learn from her as well as be concerned with and a part of their missionary work as well. It has been a crazy but amazing week! I wish that I could share more! Next Sunday is the Montreal Temple Dedication! It should be awesome!

Things are a lot busier here in the Calgary Zone and as an STL. Now I have more responsibilities then I did before to prepare for and this week has just been ridiculous when it came to study time because we were always at a meeting and didn't always have time to do anything but prepare for the meetings which we are going to, however that doesn't mean that I am or have giving up on the challenge we are doing. It just means that I too am behind a little. I just started the book of Jarom... so I really don't know where we are supposed to be this week, but I have really enjoyed what I have read so far. Enos is still one of my favorite books and as I read it on Wednesday it really prepared me for the training that we gave to the Elders. You know what I learned this week? I learned that the Book of Mormon really is a witness of Christ. It answers the question of the soul "How can a belief in Christ help me" because it is literally witnesses and testimonies of Prophets and how a belief in Christ helped them, their families, and how it could/did help their societies. It is amazing! I love reading the Book of Mormon and know that as we read it we will find a better understanding of who Christ is and how he can help us! 

Oh we went to the temple as a district on Thursday! We got to do Baptisms (which I haven't done in 8 years), and we took a name all the way through. And it was our own Family History. I did the name of Hansine Olsen, whom was born in Denmark and then I also found another name for one of the Elders to take through Thomas Grimmett. It was such an amazing experience to take a name through all of the way and I learned so much about the Plan of Salvation and why the Lord does what he does. We truly are His children and I feel like everything on this earth is to prepare us to live and accept the principles and laws of Heaven. I love you so much. I don't have too much time but I wanted you to know that the Lord does love you! I am excited to see you in a couple of months and I got my November package yesterday (it is nice to get mail more regularly again). Thank you for the Winter stuff, it is needed. As far as Christmas goes I would like letter from everyone (especially those of who never write me... JOSH... DANNY) and I am in need of less grungy white undershirts but other than that I really am doing great. I learn to make new outfits every day, and I am not too tired with what I have. I might be in need of new brown boots, but really that it not a necessity. I love you so much! Thank you for being my constant support! 

Love you Forever! 

Sister Kelliann  

Downtown Calgary

Temple Day as a District

Family Dressed as the Beatles

What an Amazing Week!

Man do I ever love being in the Calgary 5th ward. This area is amazing! And being with Sister Layton is the best! Now just because this area is amazing doesn't mean that there isn't a lot of work that we need to do to get better, but there is so much potential here and we feel like there can really be a big change as we all serve the Lord in Unity. 

This week has been crazy... like 3 in 1 crazy. Sister Layton decided that she wanted to straighten my hair on Wednesday! 

We had a lot of this going on this week and that also included my first ever Mission Leadership Council (MLC). This is a meeting where all of the leadership in the mission get together and we have a giant council (kind of like a ward council) and we try to figure out new goals for the mission and areas of focus with President. It is a time for Revelation and Sister Layton and I are grateful for the things that we learned. We ended up giving a presentation on Members and President asked us to do our musical number for the closing hymn.
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Our main focus for this area is going to be (okay for me at least) focusing on my Savior. We have trainings that we are doing this week and the questions we asked our zone and Sisters to ponder was "What does a belief in Christ do for me"? And you know what I have really learned that this week. We need to have Christ as our center. Plain and simple. 

We had a cool miracle this week. We were preparing for a dinner message and Sister Layton had a scripture in mind about what to share so as she was looking for it I was praying and asking Heavenly Father to know what to do. I had an impression come to my mind to do the message in 3 Nephi 11:15 about when Christ visits the Americas and shows himself unto the multitude. As I finished explaining it to Sister Layton, she turned to me and told me that that was the scripture that she was looking for. I loved it! We shared it at our dinner message which consisted of our member Stephanie and her non-member friend and guess what her friend Savannah texted her yesterday asking her if she could help her find a church and missionaries around her to teach her!!!!! Miracle! 

We had a lot of other amazing things that happened this week but I don't have the time to write them all out. Sister Layton and I both have really bad memories so it has been interesting but good because we get things done right away so we don't forget. We go on our first set of exchanges this week! Oh and we had a traditional Chinese Dish called Hotpot this week with a Mandarin Member. I would explain it... but you might just want to google it. This upcoming week is going to be, in the words of Sister Layton, "hoppin". I love you all! 

Love,

Sister Jensen  

Transfers, Halloween, and First Day of Snow

Hello Hello Hello Everyone!

Must I say what a week! I guess that I will break the news early in the letter today but I am now serving almost in the heart of Calgary in the Calgary 5th Ward... (Not to be confused with the Medicine Hat 5th ward)... and my new companion is... SISTER LAYTON! We came out together and we are both from Arizona! Also more exciting news... on Monday night after pday this past week, Sister Kolodisi and I were getting home and finished with planning so we started to pack. It had been a good day, but it was kind of hard to leave people that I had only known for a few months. Anyway as I went to my bed to fold my clothes and put them away I saw the phone and had the impression that I should probably look at it... and as I did I saw that President Miles had called and as I listened to the voicemail I learned that he not only called, but he called for me. So I called him back and long story short I am not only serving in the Calgary 5th ward with Sister Layton, but I was also extended the call to be a Sister Training Leader with Sister Layton over the sisters in the Calgary North stake (we are the only sisters in the Calgary Zone). That means that Sister Layton and I get the chance to look after these sisters and we will be going on exchanges with them periodically.

The beginning of this week was pretty hectic, and Sister Kolodisi and I spent most of it packing, cleaning and tying up lose ends in prep for the sisters coming in. We made lots of notes in the area books and spent quite sometime saying goodbye and making sure the the new sisters were still welcomed in investigators and less-active homes. Hopefully they can fit in together! Transfer weeks are always hard, but it was quite fun all the same. As transfer day came along, Sister Kolodisi and I had to say our goodbyes and we went to the Willow Park Chapel. She was going South and I stayed North so once the meeting started we had to part our ways :(. But the best thing about transfers was that I got to see Sister Kendrick, Sister Allard, Sister Milius, Sister Wagstaff, and Sister Howard, which are Sisters that I haven't been able to see in forever! (Especially Sister Kendrick who we both thought would never see each other again on the mission). She is now serving as the STL over Willow Park so I will be seeing her more often now.

It is amazing that Heavenly Father will give you assurances that you are in the right place at the right time. After I got my transfer notice that I was staying North, everywhere that I could go continue to cross my mind. I felt like I could go anywhere in the North and has no idea what Heavenly Father had in store for me. However when I got my STL call, that narrowed the pool to four places, Willow Park (which would have been the same zone that I just came out of), Calgary Central (where I am now), Foothills YSA, or Banff. I thought that I could go to any of the places...except Calgary Central because Sister Layton just finished training so I figured that she would get transferred and the her baby would need to be greenie busted. President had told me that I would be with another STL so I kind of ruled that one out. All week I went back and forth on where I would be and that continue until I got to transfers and I was sitting there and learned that Sister Layton was staying in her area... and at that point I knew that I would be going with her to Calgary 5th ward. And you know what is also cool? We both had the same impression.