Baptism

Hello everyone!!!! Happy week! So you may be wondering what is so good.... weeeeelll let me tell you.....

GERALD GOT BAPTIZED!!!!!!!

Now, of course I didn't get to be there, but he did email me this week and he said that he was baptized and I am so excited!!!! I have been working with him for 4 and a half months!!! YAY HIM!!!!

Okay so really that was something that I learned today so it doesn't count for my exciting week so here is more of the week.

1. Fab Friday - We had a Relief Society Activity in Auburn Bay ward! I wish I had taken pictures, but there were like 10 non-members there and a couple of less-actives in the ward!! We made fall and winter decorations and Sister Kolodisi and I took the cupcake decorating class with some members.

2. Stake Baptism - We had a Stake Baptism this week. 5 KIDS from Mahogany ward got baptized and we got to be there for the girl in Auburn Bay ward who got baptized.  She is super cute and we got to teach while they were getting dressed after and before the confirmation. It was a great opportunity to share the gospel with members, non-members and less-actives a like.

3. Random Member Present lesson - We were at dinner on Saturday and the member that we were with randomly asked us if we would like to teach a lesson to their non-member friend from Lethbridge. We got to have a great first contact with him and teach him a little bit about the Plan of Salvation and the Love of God... He isn't quite prepared but was very grateful for the lesson and is going to consider the thought of their being a God.

Sister Kolodisi and I are working to get a lot of things started in our wards. There are so many potentials it is just waiting until things fall into place according to the timeline of our Heavenly Father.

My "ponderizing" scripture for this week is 3 Nephi 18:32

"Nevertheless, ye shall not cast him out of your synagogues, or your places of worship, for unto such shall ye continue to minister; for ye know not but what they will return and repent, and come unto me with full purpose of heart, and I shall heal them; and ye shall be the means of bringing salvation unto them."

I know that the Lord loves all of His children. He knows all of us and wants us to turn to him in all of the aspects of our lives. I love you all and hope that you have a great week!

Love,

Sister Jensen

P.S - Sister Kolodisi and I had some extra time during lunch the other day so we took some pictures on a bridge in Mahogany area... they have this cool work out gear there in a park!

It's Thanksgiving Day in Canada

Hello Everyone! 

Happy Canadian THANKSGIVING! 

In case you are wondering... 

Canadian Thanksgiving is a little (but not much) different from American Thanksgiving. 

1. It is on a Monday...

2. Lots and lots of people celebrate it on Sunday as well as Monday. 

3. No black Friday here. 

4. Popular dish is Mashed Carrots and Parsnips. 

5. Brussel sprouts. 

6. Rolls are called Buns :)

Other than that Thanksgiving is Thanksgiving! 

We had a Turkey dinner yesterday and twice today! 

Anyway... this week the work has been super slow. We have not been able to meet with anyone, but we did have 4 Less-active lessons in a day. We are trying to meet with members and lots of potentials this week... we just haven't had any success do to sicknesses and the holiday weekend. I am very grateful for the work that I have been able to do and the mission that I have had. I am very grateful for the gospel and for all of your support. I learned this week that even though people might not listen to the gospel, as we live by the commandments, we are promised that we will be able to be teachers of those around us... even if all we can do is share our testimony with others we can be a light and share the spirit. I love you all! 

Sister Jensen 

Happy Early Canadian Thanksgiving

Hello All!!! Happy Early Canadian Thanksgiving and late Conference Week! 

I don't have a lot of writing time right now but I wanted to let you all know that things are going well in the Canada Calgary mission. 

We are being very blessed and although it can be stressful at times to work in two wards, we always have something that we can be doing. 

We had a ton of miracles here this week! 

This week we celebrated Sister Kolodisi's birthday with Pancakes and then on Friday we had a great day. It started off with meeting a new investigators Erin! She was just walking on the street and we contacted her and turns out she grew up with members, going to church and Sunday dinners!!! YAYAYA!!! We are going to be going back this week and hope that we can start teaching her the lessons! We also went to a Less-ACTIVES house who then said that she was going to watch conference. The spirit was so strong that both Sister Kolodisi left that place on a spiritual high with smiles and happy dances. I know that our Savior is there to help and guide us. We also has a cool miracle with a less-active that our Bishop told us to go see. We went and contacted her and she wasn't home, so we went a street over to contact another person only to realize that we still had another family to contact on the street we were just on. As we went back we prayed that we would be able to get a hold of them and talk to everyone we met. As we went to knock at the door, we realized that the first less-active that we had tried to contact was just coming out of her house to get more groceries and so we mustered up our courage and went and talked to her. She said that she wasn't interested but that she was going through a hard time so we gave her our number and left. We were pretty happy with that miracle, but later in the day she then texted us and told us that although she wasn't sure that she was interested, she missed having the spirit in her home and wanted to have us over for dinner!!! We then also saw her today when we were shopping at Walmart! so cool! 

Later that night we went and saw Hugo a less-active and his nonmember wife Maribella. We took Sister Vincent with us a ward missionary and actually got to talk to Maribella. They said that they would come to General Conference and then came to a session!! We are hoping that this week we can teach them a little bit more especially about temples and that we can help Maribella as well! 

General Conference was amazing! I really felt the spirit testifying to me and I am grateful for the chance that we had to experience three new apostles being sustained. I know that our Heavenly Father wants us to be happy and that as part of His plan he sent his Son to Atone for us. I love you all and hope that you have a great week! !

Love, 

Sister Jensen 

Back in Calgary

Hello Everyone!!! 

So this week has been CRAZY!!!!! Seriously, you wouldn't think that you would adjust so quickly to being in a small area in a small town.... but you really do. When we came into Calgary coming up for transfers I honestly freaked out a little bit because of how big it was.... and it was honestly a little scary being back on Calgary high ways... but I have gotten used to it. So I have gone from my tiny little hour across by foot Medicine Hat area... to a much different situation here in Calgary. If you have already looked at the pictures that I have sent, you know that my new companion is Sister Kolodisi!!! She is awesome and has been out for about 16 months now, so there is a good possibility that I could be her last companion. This is most likely my last area as well and I am going to work hard to make it better then it is now! Sister Kolodisi is from Fiji! So now I have had one companion from North Carolina, one from Arizona, one from Texas, two from Utah, one from Quebec and one from Fiji!!! She speaks English really well now and it is pretty funny because we remember when I was serving in the Foothills with my greenie buster Sister Gardner and both Sister Gardner and her companion were going home, so we spent a day together. I remember telling her that we would be companions together...!!!!!!! 

Okay so now for the news that you are dying to hear (okay maybe not, but I was dying to hear it all Thursday!). When we came up north, which was a super sad but exciting time, we came back to the Transfer station with everyone that was waiting for a companion from the South. The way that Transfers work is that everyone who is getting transferred in the North goes to the transfer station at 9 and then everyone that is going South gets in a van and drives down. Those of the North people that are waiting to get their companion from the south get paired up with another missionary for the day until around 3 o'clock when those coming from the south come up and we meet at the chapel. We then go in for another transfer meeting and get told where we are going and who we are with. Okay big news! I am now serving in the Calgary South Zone with Sister Kolodisi. I serve in the Mahogany ward AND the Auburn Bay ward!!! Two wards!!! Man am I going crazy! So many people to get to know and so much work to do, especially when both wards are so different. I have been praying all week that I will receive the confirmation about why I am here, and I know that I am here because in my last area we worked hard to get member missionary work going and the work going, and that is what Sister Kolodisi will be doing these next few transfers. 

So this is considered South EAST Calgary. I have now served in South West, North East and now South East, so that is pretty exciting. I am back with the Willow Park Sisters as my STLs which is pretty cool, and most of my zone is NOT from Utah. We have an elder from Ireland too! Let’s see what else happened this week. So, Mahogany ward is one of the wards I am serving in now and it is pretty awesome. Their ward starts at 9 o'clock and then we have ward council with them and then we have to book it to Cranston building which is about 15 minutes away for Auburn Bay ward which starts at 1! YAY 7 HOURS OF CHURCH I LOVE IT! (well, I am getting used to it, but I want to be able to love it.) This week Auburn Bay ward didn't have ward council but on normal Sunday's we will be going on splits to each ward, we will both come to Mahogany ward for the start and then one of us will go with a member on a split to Auburn Bay ward council and stay until the ward starts and the one in Mahogany will join when ward council gets out... kind of crazy I know! We are the only missionaries in our zone who has to go to two different buildings for church, but it is an adventure and we get twice the amount of work done so that is good. We just got a new ward mission leader in the Auburn Bay ward! Good luck keeping everything straight because I haven't figured it out yet. I love you all!! Have fun watching General Conference this week! It is an amazing experience and I am grateful I had the chance to watch the woman's broadcast this week. I love you all!!! 

Sister Jensen 

Transfer to the North Country

Hello all,

Okay... so NOT what I expected to happen this week, but today we got our transfer notices and I will be leaving to the North of the mission... :(. Sad day. However, don't get me wrong. I trust that Heavenly Father has a different plan for me. I don't know what yet, but I know that if I continue in faith and ask when things get hard, that my Savior will provide the strength that I need. Okay so on from sad news, let’s talk about the great things going on here in Medicine Hat.

 Gerald is ON DATE!!! OCTOBER 10TH! We are super excited for him, as well as the rest of the ward. It gets a little rough when Gerald is on date. Things start to go from good to bad and he starts to freak out, so we have been focusing on increasing his faith in the Savior. He had a bit of a freak out moment this past week, but is doing okay. I trust that he will continue to progress to his date.

 Let’s see other things that happened this week. We had quite the busy week I must say. After P-day on Monday, things just kept getting busier. We had a lesson with Cathy this week and are excited to teach her and her daughter. She goes in for her last week of treatment this week, so we hope that everything goes well. We also had splits this week that consisted of me going to see the Rodriguez family and Sister Cunningham going to see a potential! I love seeing the hand of the Lord in other people's lives and how they are being prepared. It really is so cool. The potential that we saw has actually had an aunt tell her to read the Book of Mormon and wants to keep meeting with us! I love this work and the difference that it makes in the lives of others.

 We also had the Stake Clothing Give-Away this week. The Stake relief society presidency wanted us to be there the entire time so we helped them set up from 2-8 on Friday and ran the give-away from 9-3 on Saturday. It was like working retail all over again!!! It was so cute because we had member that were shopping for us the entire time and would make us try clothing on, but the best part was being able to help people find free clothing that they stood in need of. We actually got to help a lesser active lady find some clothes as well as an investigator from Rosemary find some skirts for her first time at church on Sunday. AND SHE CAME! It was a great event, and one that would go over well in other places as well!

Speaking of Sunday, Sister Cunningham and I had the chance to play a flute and piano duet in Sacrament Meeting. We played the same duet that Sister Kendrick and I played a couple of months back, Sister Cunningham on the Flute and me on the Piano. It is always nice to bring the spirit in the meeting, and then after the sacrament meeting, Sister Parker (the Stake Young Women's President) asked us if we would be willing to play for the youth fireside that night as well. It was a great time and I am so proud of Sister Cunningham and am going to miss her way too much.

Well other than a flat tire and a couple of other awesome things that was pretty much our week! I love you all and hope that you are continuing in faith. REMEMBER IT IS OKAY TO HAVE QUESTIONS! Just continue forward with faith and I promise that the Lord will provide in time. I love you!!!

Sister Jensen

Medicine Hat District! 

Left to Right Sister Cunningham, Me, Elder Henry (only been out for a month), Elder Malais (District Leader) (going home on Friday, served with him when I first came out), Elder Johnson (training Elder Henry, came out with me, broke my wrist, and we have now spent 9 months of our missions together), Elder Peci (he is from Croatia and will begin training a new missionary this transfer). 

A wonderful week of conferences

Hello All!

What a week. Especially when it comes to the conferences! I totaled an amount of 4 conferences this week and I am a little conferenced out. We had zone conference on Tuesday, and then on Thursday night we drove out to Lethbridge and on Friday had a conference with Elder Martino (https://www.lds.org/church/leader/james-b-martino?lang=eng). Then on Saturday night we had Stake Conference and again on Sunday! Many a conference!

 This week was actually really fantastic! We picked up two new investigators this week. Remember last week I told you about the lady that came to church without us asking her to or us thinking that she would? Well we took her on a church tour this Tuesday and she is now wanting to be baptized and learn more about the church! She is so cool! Her name is Cathy and she has a daughter named Mikyia and has been coming to church all this month! We also picked up an investigator named Ruby! She is so cute and is the neighbor of Leo and Marie and member in our ward. They have been working with her for quite some time now and we just picked her up this week!

 Gerald is doing super well! We had the chance to call him after our two conferences this week driving home from Lethbridge and invited him to think about what the spirit was telling him to do and what Heavenly Father wanted him to do as the weekend unfolded. He came out to every event of the weekend, including the Meet the Mormon's night in the Kin Coulee (Park), both sessions of General Conference and Bible Study. When we asked him he said that he felt like this was the right thing for him to do after every event, and when he came to bible study he told us that he couldn't explain it but that he had had the best day ever! He is doing so well!

This week we have another great community event called the Clothing give-away. The whole community of Medicine Hat is invited so the Stake Relief Society has asked Sister Cunningham and me to be there all day Friday and Saturday... let’s just say that I spent this morning during our cleaning time going through my clothing and seeing what I could donate! It should be a great opportunity! Well that is the scoop for the week. We have lots of appointments this week that we are super excited about! I hope that you all have just a great or even better week! I love you!

I am almost out of time, But I love you all and will promise to tell you more next week! Just as busy!

Love,

Sister Jensen

Happy Labor Day

Hello EVERYONE!!

Happy Labor Day! I don't have a lot of time today, but I wanted to write and let everyone know that things are going great! Sister Cunningham and I have been applying the things that President Miles talked about at Zone Conference and we are finding that as we try to take better inventory and be more organized and put our faith in the Lord that we are finding new people to teach! This weekend at church, an investigator that we hadn't expected to be there came!! Her name is Katherine, and we have been trying to teach her sine I got here, but the Lord has been preparing her and establishing a family in the ward for them! She is so cool! She also has three kids and they are planning to come every week!! 

Gerald is doing well as well!! He was out of town this week, but tried to go to church in Cadillac where his parents live! He didn't end up finding the church, but still he tried which is what matters!! He has been making FANTASTIC progress... it is slow, but he is feeling the spirit and even told us on Friday that he thinks that he is getting pretty close!! Prayers everyone! Gerald needs to be baptized!!!! 

WE HAVE 5 RETURN APPOINTMENTS THIS WEEK!! YAYA!!!!! This week is packed full ALREADY! We have Zone Training this week on Tuesday, and then on Thursday night we will be driving back down to Lethbridge and staying the night so that we can be to a Conference with Elder Martino a member of the 70 on Friday at 8:30!! Plus we also have a fun night planned that day. We will be driving back into town and going to a stake activity called Meet the Mormons! We will be watching the movie Meet the Mormons (which if you haven't seen it you can find it on Netflix) and having a BBQ!! Good week planned! I love you all. Trust that Heavenly Father knows you and also knows all of the people around you!! 

Love, 

Sister Kelliann Jensen