Wednesday, February 3, 2016

Fall is here! October 5, 2015 Week Fourteen

Hey y'all!

The long awaited time has come!  Many Texans have prophesied of its eventual arrival.  Elders have pined for it, members have sustained us for it.  What is this beautiful, magnificent event?  Autumn.  Seriously, Texas falls have the most beautiful weather I've ever seen.  The high is  about 80, the low is about 58 or 59 degrees, it's always sunny, there's a perfect breeze (or lack thereof), and the humidity is no longer a hindrance.  Walking around all day is now a joy, instead of a dreaded experience.

Another thing that all the missionaries have been waiting for came- General Conference!  In order to more fully capitalize on the opportunity, Elder Griffin and I made fliers to use as we contacted people.  I can't describe how many people were excited and interested by the ideas of a living Prophet, modern Apostles, and continued revelation.  We saw a lot of success come from using conference in our missionary work.  I don't know who gave my favorite talk.  I liked Uchtdorf's from the Saturday morning session, Anderson's from the Priesthood session, President Monson's from the Priesthood session, Holland's from the Saturday afternoon session, Bednar's from the closing session, Maynes' from the Saturday morning session, and many more!  Picking a favorite's too hard when all of these are revelation from God to us.  I loved when Stanfill talked about the Hiawatha trail, since I've also biked it and had a lot of cool experiences. When I first went into the tunnel he talked about, I was at the back of the group, and my bike light fell out.  I was instantly plunged into darkness; finding the scattered pieces of my light in the darkness was one of the most nerve-wracking things I've ever done, since the nearest source of light was 2 miles away!  I also loved seeing James B. Martino.  He's a local hero around here; there's a megachurch over in Denton (a city in my mission) called Denton Bible Church.  It's one of the world's biggest sources of Anti-Mormon literature, and it actively attacks our members (verbally, not physically). One day they strung up a bunch of temple garments across the windows; Martino, one of the richest people in the area, said that unless the church took them down, he would buy the building, demolish it, and then give the land to the LDS church so that they could build a temple there.  Denton Bible took them down pretty quickly.

One of the highlights of the week was when we taught the O'Briens again.  We knew that Kathy(the wife) had a lot of issues about the Plan of Salvation, especially the three kingdoms.  We prayed so we could know what to say to her, and we were able to do just that.  It turns out her issue wasn't whether or not she believed it.  She was worried that mistakes she had made in the past would keep her from being with her family forever in the Celestial Kingdom.  She was so scared that when she died, her sins would keep her from being with her husband and children.  When we explained the power of the Atonement to her and how she could repent of her sins, she was so touched! We also read D&C 137 with her, and explained how we would not be judged for sins we had committed before we knew that what we were doing was wrong.  She's progressing so fast, and she' s super excited to get baptized!

I'm so happy that I can be out here and serve others.  Seeing the difference the Gospel of Jesus Christ makes in the lives of people brings more joy than anything else I've ever experienced.

Hope y'all have a great week!

Elder Jensen.

Joke of the week: And the Lord said unto John, "Come forth and you will receive eternal life." But John came fifth, and won a toaster.


Scripture of the week: Isaiah 54:10
10 For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee,neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee.


Elder Griffin & I saw this the other day. It really made me glad to be
at the top of the food chain! The spider was about as big as my thumb!


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