8 Months

Hello Family!!!

Seriously!! Can anyone believe that it has already been 8 months since I left for Canada, because I can't. Really now, it is the craziest and also the hardest, and funniest, and most growing period of my life, and I am seeing more and more why Heavenly Father needed me to come out on a mission. After we left the MTC we all thought "Every member should do at least 12 days in the MTC"... but know I am thinking every member needs to go on a mission. If I had not come out here, I don't think that I would have the spiritual knowledge that I have now... for years to come, and I am grateful for what I have learned about this gospel. I have a feeling these next 10 months will be a lot of learning how to personally apply the Atonement in my life as well as in lives of others.

This week we had some really good finding moments. Sister Kendrick and I have now, after a transfer of doing everything else we could, resorted to tracting... however we have found a new system for it!! We will be getting 3 notebooks and writing down the street names and house numbers that way we can keep track of who was home and who wasn't. Wish us luck. We have a lot of potential investigators after this week!! And we are really excited about picking them up. I believe last week I told you about Minal and Arun... but this week as we were going to our Thursday night Missionary Correlation meeting with Brother Doig we had another awesome opportunity in finding. Brother Doig wasn't quite ready for us when we got there, so Sister Kendrick and I decided to knock on his neighbors doors. When we went to the corner house, a man named Vaick answered and we told him about church and He said that he has been down before and that he wanted to learn more. We gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon and he asked us if we wanted him to read some of it before we came back.... SO EXCITING!!! We have an appointment with him tonight!!! Also Morgan our 13 year old investigator brought 2 friends to church on Sunday!! 2!!! And they also came to the Fireside that we had that night!! She is AWESOME!!! Remember when I told you a couple of weeks ago that Sister Kendrick and I helped Sister Bullock pull out a Juniper bush and we talked to her neighbor who was walking to the mail box?? We she is now a potential and has been getting fellowshipped by the ward!!! We are going to go help her plant her flower bed soon!!! Things are picking up in our area!! I love you all and sorry that I don't have a lot of time!! Crazy week ahead but exciting stuff!! Have a great week!!

Sister Kelliann Jensen

Hi Dad!!

I have been doing a lot of thinking this week about what the gospel has done for me in my life and what it can do for me. I feel like it is time for me to really get ahold of and strengthen my testimony. It scares me where the world is at, and I don't want to be the person that the world wants me to be, however it also scares me to think about who Heavenly Father thinks that I can be. I have really felt the push lately to come closer to Heavenly Father in prayer, but it is also having the courage to take that step and really push myself to becoming who the Lord knows I can be. I will be doing a lot of praying this week for courage. I have seen a lot of miracles on my mission. I have also seen the way the Lord is preparing me for my future. It is kind of scary to think that I have no idea who I am going to be and what future I will have, but Heavenly Father does know and He is preparing me for it. It is also kind of cool. Have I ever shared my favorite scripture with you? It is Ether 2:24-25. It has been a favorite since the beginning of my mission, but it has lately taken on a new meaning for me. I love you so much and love that you love to do wood work. I am grateful to our Heavenly Father to giving me such an amazing dad who is so inspired and always knows exactly what to say. I know that you truly do hold the Priesthood for our family, and am also grateful to know that you are using it righteously... even if you don't know that you are. I know that this gospel has blessed me and our family more then I can comprehend, and sometimes I wish it could all just be laid out so that I can show our investigators and clearly explain it. I just sent an email to Sarah. I hope that she is adjusting well. I also hope that you are doing well. I love you so much and am excited to be able to see you on Skype in a couple of weeks. We don't have a dinner appointment set up for Mother's Day yet, so I am not sure exactly what we will be doing about it yet.

Have a great week!

Love Sister Kelliann.

Hi Mom!!!

No I can't believe that I have been out for 8 months!!! Does it feel like 8 months for you? It really only feels like 2 weeks, however at the same time it feels like forever. It sounds like we will both be doing some adjusting in the next couple of months. We get our new mission President in about 8 weeks... so after this transfer we will have a 5 week transfer and then we will have a new mission president. And I will most likely be in a different area... which will be weird. With a different companion. I am working a lot now on really building my relationship with my Heavenly Father. It is crazy to think how much he has done for me throughout my mission, but He seems to be telling me that it is time to step it up and really become who He needs me to be. I don't really like change as much as you do...

Thank you so much for the Birthday/May package!!! I love the shoes!! I wore them with my Lace dress on Sunday!! I will show you when I see you in a couple of weeks! It is really nice to have my camera back…but of course the computer isn’t liking my camera right now so I will have to get more pictures to you when I get a usb card reader. And the Party in the BOX!!! BEST PACKAGE EVER!!! I think that we are going to take the Piñata to PDay because the day before is an Elders birthday and the Day after my birthday is Cinco De Mayo!!! We haven't tried the mug cake yet... We are waiting to my birthday for that. I can't believe I am going to be 20. It seems like just yesterday I was 16. I am having a mid mission mid life crisis as SIster Kendrick would call it. Crazy Crazy. Oh and I broke down and read the cards... I cried. I love you so much!! Have a great week!! I know that you can understand the new iPods... and hey if they really give you trouble pray about it and then search the scriptures... you could find some help! Have a great week!!!

SIster

Getting some Spring in the Step!!!

Hello all;

Calgary has been full of Spring time this week!!! Expect for the random 4 degrees Celsius blizzard that happened during dinner on Tuesday, things have been going great!!! Sister Kendrick and I are really starting to push ourselves hard to be able to reach the goals that we have set for our area, and So far the Lord is really consecrating our efforts!! 

Miracles of the Week:

Sister Willicome had to go to Cardston for a couple of days this week, so we walked her dog Ramsey for a 2 days. We decided to take the opportunity to find someone new that we could teach. Before we went out, Sister Kendrick and I said a prayer that we would be able to find people that have been prepared and the first people that we found on the trail was a couple named Minal and Arun. They came up to us after asking which area we were coming from (the walking path extends from Saddletown past our area) and then Minal read our name tags. She was super interest and we scheduled an appointment for them on Sunday!! We went on Sunday. They are from East India and speak Hindu and are Hindi, but want to learn about Christianity. However, when Sister Kendrick and I were talking about the Book of Mormon the Spirit was soo strong that Minal committed to reading it even before we could ask her. It was so cool to see the spirit work on them and see the changes in the faces!!! They also will be coming to the ESL class on Friday and will be coming to church on Sunday!! It is very interesting working with a family that we have to start on Square One, but Sister Kendrick and I are so excited for them!!!

We have also found so many new potential people that we could pick up as Investigators. We have been focusing our attention of some Part Member families, and we have been able to find 4 or 5 potentials. We were sitting in a surprise lesson (I say surprise because we were going to visit a Less-Active member in the ward who moved to a different part of our area and she wasn't home but her daughter who is not a member was) and I couldn't help but noticing how much a difference the Gospel would make in her life. I was so proud of Sister Kendrick for being bold and straight up asking her if we could teach her. They will be leaving for Lebanon this week, but we will be teaching her when she gets back.

Sister Kendrick and I also spent 3 hours walking to and from Taradale to Coral Springs talking to people on the way and finding people while we were out. We were really tired after that.

Funniest Thing that Happened to Us:

On Thursday we had about 20 minutes before we needed to drive out to Skyview (it is about a 15 minute drive from Taradale) to go to our Missionary Correlation meeting with Brother Doig. We wanted to use the time, and I felt like we needed to go to see a slightly less-active members house. When we stopped by we learned that they were doing really well and that they planned on coming more to church as they knew that their new daughters health was going well. As we were there time quickly went from the 20 minutes that we had allotted to 45 minutes, however neither of us felt like we needed to leave. During this entire time we were sharing our message and getting to know them, their dog Dolly kept coming up for us to pet her or lick us. She was probably the softest dog ever. The mom kept telling her the entire time to go lay down or to get down and that it was rude, however secretly Sister Kendrick and I really enjoyed petting the dog.... A lot. When we got done we quickly called Brother Doig to apologize that we couldn't come and he said that it was alright. We then found out that his wife was just getting home, and we wouldn't have been able to go into the house anyway because it would have just been him and us. The family we visited also came to church on Sunday!!

I am really beginning to see what a difference this gospel and the Atonement make in the lives of those around me. It is an amazing feeling to have the Spirit of the Lord work through you and help you as you teach the Children of our Heavenly Father. I truly know that this church is true, that the Book of Mormon is true and that it is also evidence for us that we can know for ourselves if Christ's true church has been restored to the earth. I love you all and hope that you are having a marvelous week!!!!

Love,

Sister Kelliann Jensen  

Hi Dad!

I did notice the difference this week as a result of the Facebook and I am glad that we are on the same page. It is so much easier to feel the spirit when we are not distracted by the things that go on in the world, especially in my favorite parts of the world. I will not be checking my facebook like that again. Live and learn. It is always such a miracle for you with the Choir. It always makes me happy to hear that as you try your hardest to magnify your calling, the Lord consecrates your efforts!! I love you so much! Hope you are having a wonderful week!!

Love Sister Kelliann

Hi Mom!!

I really love the new bench!!! Sometimes I wonder what is going through people’s heads. But then again, I am really learning to love the peace that comes from centering our lives and families on Jesus Christ! I have seen the difference that it makes in the lives of others and my own life!! I just sent off my third edition of Family Letter Evening! It is kind of a fun way to make sure that I write every week (which has been hard for me) and also allows me to follow the council of the Prophet. Thank you for the dress!! I really love it and in the words of Sister Kendrick "it fits like a glove"!!! We have been having really wonderful weather this week!! It has been about 10 degrees Celsius all week which is about 52 degrees in the States. I haven't even had to wear a coat for most of the week!!! or Sweater. We are working hard here in Prairie Winds and I am specifically working on building my Faith in the Lord and my life around my Savior. I have realized that I am just so much more happy when I can just look at life through the Gospel then through the world. There is so much more peace and it really is like I am offering people an $100 dollar bill as I walk around. We found two new investigators this week!! I will be telling you all about them in my mass email!! I love you so much!! Thank you for everything that you do for me. I will be sending out your mother's Day package soon!! Have a great week!! Don't let the world get you down!! Oh and have you and dad gotten to go to the Phoenix temple since it opened?

Love,

Sister Kelliann

The work goes on!

​Hello all;

I must say that I love serving as a missionary in the spring time!!!

This is the first week of a whole new transfer and I am grateful that I get to spend it in Prairie Winds with Sister Kendrick!! I really can't believe that I have been serving here for a whole 3 months now. Time really does fly when you are serving the Lord. We have set goals for our area, and we are super grateful for the help that the Lord is giving us in His work.

This week has been full of really exciting things. Although we haven't had any baptisms, our investigators our doing well and we are working hard to find others that need and are willing to hear about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. It has also been a week full of service opportunities!!

It is so funny the random things that you learn how to do on your mission!!

In these past two weeks I have done many things that I feel will be really helpful in my future.

1. Ripping out carpet.

2. This week we did all sorts of service. Sister Kendrick and I ripped out a Juniper bush. So much fun, there we lady bugs crawling all over me!!! I tried to save them as best I could but when they fall into the pile of branches that you are stomping on you can't really do anything about it.

3. We moved 50 lbs. side walk blocks. That was quite the blast.

4. We tore apart an outdoor fire pit.

5. We raked leaves and held a bon fire for a member that was getting rid of a bunch of junk.... (this was mostly the elders but we did rake a lot of leaves!!)

Let’s just say that I will have to wash my jeans this week. Out of all of this we have a new potential investigator too!!

Sister Kendrick and I have also started looking for new ways that we can find in our area!! Tracting (or going door to door) can be really hard in our area because of the diversity of cultures, so we are looking for other ways that we can find people!! We had two awesome things this week that we tried. 1. Drawing the Plan of Salvation out in Chalk. 2. Walking this awesome path that we have behind the house. There are loads of people that walk that path on nice days after dinner...and that seems to be our slowest hours of the day!!!

Our investigators like I said earlier are doing really well! We had a miracle with Kirsten this week where we were going to go to the library to Facebook, but when we got there at our normal time, we found out that it closed at 8. Kirsten hadn't been responding to us since Conference, so we were afraid that she was avoiding us, but when we turned to leave Sister Kendrick pointed out that Kirsten and Lochlan were sitting at the tables off to the side. We went over and talked with her, resolved some concerns and set up an appointment to teach her son the next night. The next night we taught the Plan of Salvation using a white board and Kirsten had more questions that we were able to answer. She has been thinking that she needs to ask in prayer to know if the Book of Mormon is true, which of course is correct. The next day at church, not only was the Sunday school lesson on knowing if the church was true... but the Relief Society lesson was mistakenly on Joseph Smith and know that He is a true prophet of God. We had another lesson with her last night and watched Joseph Smith: The Prophet of the Restoration. I am grateful for my testimony and knowledge of this gospel and the help that the Lord gives us as we do His work.

Jasleen, our 14 year old investigator, is doing really well too!! She wants to be baptized but wants to make sure that she has a firm testimony before she is!! We are starting the lessons over with her (and Morgan, our 13 year old investigator, is going to help us). Kevin, the fiance of one of our Recently Returned Less-Active members (whom we have Family Home Evening with on Monday nights) is amazing!!! He has completely turned his life around, and although we don't get to see him often (he is a truck driver), we know that the Lord is protecting Him and helping him become who He know that Kevin can be.

I am so grateful for the work that I get to be a part of. I have a testimony that our Savior knows each of us, and although sometimes life can seem hard, if we stop and trust in him we will be able to live a life of abundance. I am grateful that we can pray to our Father in Heaven and ask Him to know if this church is true. I know that I have gained a testimony and that by abiding by the Commandments of Christ, and trying our hardest, we can learn to trust more in God and have that guidance in our life that we truly need. I hope that everyone will have an amazing week!!! If you haven't read 2 Nephi chapters 9-10 recently I strongly suggest that you do!!

https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/2-ne/9?lang=eng (This is the link to 2 Nephi 9 if you don't have a copy of the Book of Mormon on you!!!)

Hello Mommy!!!

Things in Canada are going pretty well. This week has been a crazy realization as I realized that in this next transfer many things will be happening.... I will be turning 20... I will have been out for 8 almost 9 months... Mother's day is the week of my birthday (by the way best birthday present ever). And we have so much work going on I can hardly keep my head on straight! I just took a little bit of time to look at all of the Facebook post for the people that I love. I didn't realize how much I had been missing all of you until I got on today, but I think I will take a little time out of my email time and do a Facebook catch up as well. I have my family posts of a separate page during the week, so that I do not get distracted, but I think it would be okay to look at them on Mondays!! We don't have iPad’s and probably won’t for a while!!

Oh and now Sister Martin is home, so Sister Kendrick is my only companion left on a mission that is still out!! CRAZY!

This week has been super busy! We have done soo much that I can hardly remember what we have done. Well I guess I should tell you that we are now the only two sisters in our entire Zone. That is 20 missionaries and we are the only 2 females. That has been a weird adjustment I must say. But the Elders have been really nice to us, so we really can't complain.

I will break up the week into categories.

First: Service!!!

It is so funny the random things that you learn how to do on your mission!!

In these past two weeks I have done many things that I feel will be really helpful in my future.

1. Ripping out carpet.

2. This week we did all sorts of service. Sister Kendrick and I ripped out a Juniper bush. So much fun. There we lady bugs crawling all over me!!! I tried to save them as best I could but when they fall into the pile of branches that you are stomping on you can't really do anything about it.

3. We moved 50 lbs. side walk blocks. That was quite the blast.

4. We tore apart an outdoor fire pit.

5. We raked leaves and held a bon fire for a member that was getting rid of a bunch of junk.... (this was mostly the elders but we did rake a lot of leaves!!)

Lets just say that I will be having to wash my jeans this week. Out of all of this we have a new potential investigator too!!

Serving in Calgary in the Spring has so many opportunities!! I really love that we can just walk around outside and talk to all of the people on the street. Sister Kendrick and I have been doing some new finding actives, including drawing the Plan of Salvation out in chalk at the park (which we think we are also going to do downtown), and walking this awesome path that is full of people after dinner when it is really nice outside. Although winter missionary work is nice...I am really grateful for the summer that I get to be in Canada as a missionary.

I will tell you more about the people I am teaching in my mass email!! I love you so much... I might have gotten a little carried away looking at everyone's Facebooks so I don't have as much time as I would like, but live and learn. :) I am so proud of you and I can't wait to see you on Mother's day. Thank you for everything that you have taught me throughout the year. I am and will always be eternally grateful.

Pictures to COME. I haven't gotten my charger yet, but I will soon.

Love you always!!  

Sister Kelliann Jensen

Happy Easter!!

Hello Everyone and thank you all for the wonderful updates!! It was wonderful hearing from all of you and it makes me happy to know that Heavenly Father is looking out for the ones that I love. I don't have a lot of time this week but I wanted to bare my testimony that God loves and knows each one of us! He knows exactly why we are here, He knows why we have to go through the things that we do, and He knows that it is Christ's gospel that is going to help us get through it. 

A lot of you have been asking me about General Conference!! I got to watch General Conference at the Stake Center here in the North East!! I must say that I have never felt so spiritually directed in my life! I did something that I have never done before which was go into conference with a question. As I watched I learned more about God's purpose in sending me out on a mission, more about how I can come closer to Him, and more about the Atonement then I have EVER been able to understand before. I know that this Church is true and that by living the Gospel of Christ, we can overcome even our biggest trials. My Favorite talk was by Elder L. Whitney Clayton of the 70. His talk on search for light really touched me, gives me the courage to search for that light, and become the person that God knows I can be. I am grateful for my Savior and His atonement. I know that as we follow his Gospel and commandments that we are able to access the power of the Atonement, and that we are never alone. 

We had the chance to have 6 investigators watch General Conference this week!! Things are going well here in the North East. Oh and this week is Transfer week, and Sister Kendrick and I have just found out that we are staying together for a least another 6 weeks. I dearly love her, and the people that I serve with in this area. I promise that I will write more next week!! Have a fantastic week!! 

P.S - Here are some pictures from the Week!! Sister Kendrick, Elder Campbell and Elder Perry and I did a Hot Chocolate stand with the Because He Lives survey in about 45 mph!! It was the BEST!!! 

Love Sister Jensen 

Hi Dad!! Thank you so much!! I absolutely loved all of the conference talks and will also be studying them for these next 6 months!! It sounds like there has been some crazy reno going on at home... am I even going to recognize it when I get back? I got an email back from the Sister Jensen at sarah.jensen@myldsmail.net but she is not our Sarah... would you happen to know what her email is.. I love you so much. Thank you for the music!! We might get Morgan our 13 year old investigator to play the flute for us while Sister Kendrick plays the violin and I am on the piano!! Have a great week!!

Love,

Sister Kelliann

Hi Mom!! I can't believe that Dad bought a motorcycle. You should tell him that I refuse to let him drive it. Wait... do you still have the red car? Conference was amazing!! I absolutely loved it and can't wait until I can get my hands on those talks to read them and study them. I will let you know when I get the charger. Thank you so much I hope that it didn't cost you a fortune. Tell Grandma that if she gets a Facebook that she can be friends with me!!! I love you so much!!

Kelliann