Listening to the Spirit

Dear Family and Friends,
Here are some pictures from a recent P-day excursion to "Mt. Scott" which isn't really a mountain. :-)

We had a great experience on Friday. We went with a member in our ward-- "Sister Forbes"--to see a guy that had ordered a Lamb of God DVD from a pass along card we left in his door. We had a district meeting about the Doctrine of Christ and especially how the Prophet and the 12 Apostles have asked us to invite people to be baptized in the first lesson. This is something that is often surprising to members so we told this sister about it. That when we paused, we weren't struggling for words we were trying to listen to the Holy Ghost and allow the Holy Ghost to speak to the investigator.


So we got there and listened to "Bro. Bradley" and asked him several questions about his religious/spiritual life. Several times I was about to make a comment and I felt like I should just listen and then two seconds later he would say something important that helped us understand him better.

Sister Forbes and Sister Esau (my companion) both bore great testimonies and we built his knowledge of the gospel off of the things that he had shared with us. I felt the spirit very strongly in that lesson! After we had talked about prophets, the apostasy, Joseph Smith and The Book of Mormon, I asked him, "What do you think of the things we've shared with you?" He said that he believe what we had told him and that it seemed to him that the Book of Mormon was just there to add additional light and truth. Inside I was shouting Yes!!!!! Exactly right!!!!! He gets it!!!!!!!!!! We asked him to be baptized, and he said yes. We invited him to be baptized on Nov. 12 and he said yes and put it on his calendar!

After we got in the car Sister Forbes said she learned so many things during that lesson, and that now she understands why we invite people to be baptized in the first lesson. She mentioned how she always wants to tell people about everything at once and how she sees now that you have to start where they are at and build from there. She said that we did an excellent job in teaching him. It was so nice to hear her say that!

Learning to know when to listen and when and what to teach has been something that I have had to learn on a mission. I remember before when I would talk about the church I was all over the place and trying to tell people everything at once. A convert told us of his experience talking with the stake president who explained to him that you have to start with the roots and the trunk of the tree and then you have to get to the branches and then to the leaf on the outermost limb of the tree. Just like God teaches us line upon line and precept upon precept, that's how we have to teach others!

Love,

Sister Lila Jenson

Sept 12 Humility and Pride

Dear Family and Friends,


We found 5 new investigators, and now we just have to help the ones we do have progress and come to church. We currently have about 20 investigators and it is going to require a lot of mind space to think and pray about all of them. (Another reason I didn't want to teach students with mild/moderate disabilities--I would have had a case load of 30-80 students!) I really hope I don't end up being a relief society president. But I am grateful for all the opportunities God has given me to serve. And if that or something similar becomes the case then I will deal with that bridge when I come to it.

I was thinking about humility and pride and the results of those two this morning. Every time I see a weakness it's like there is a fork in the road. I can turn left and be prideful and the weakness won't get fixed or I can turn right and be humble, ask for God's help and work through that weakness and get it fixed. It sucks to stare your weaknesses in the face but as someone once said "It's better to face fear once, than to always live in its shadow." (I got that from some Ensign article. We've got stacks of them in our apartment and it satisfies my desire to read.)

I think when I get home I am going to read lots of different things and read all the time. I love to read. 1 hour of personal study is not enough I want to read all the time :) I guess it was a good thing I was an English minor :)

It's true that we should bear testimony of the joy of living the gospel instead of just the knowledge. I try to bear testimony of both. I have seen so many less-active members who have a perfect knowledge of the gospel, but it's the joy in living it that they don't have. It's not having a deep knowledge of the principles of the gospel and the details of how or why things happen, but the person that we become by living it that makes the difference. Hence the primary song "I'm a Child of God" doesn't end with "teach me all that I must know" but "teach me all that I must do" (to live with Him again).

I know that if we let us living the gospel will change us into who we want to be and who Heavenly Father wants us to be.

Love,

Sister Lila Jenson

Leaking ceilings, Zone Conference and a plea for letters!

Dear Friends and Family,


This week we had an adventure. The lady upstairs moved out and the movers took her washer and dryer, but the connection was leaking. So we come home and our washer and dryer and carpet was all soaked and there was a hole in our ceiling with water dripping down! The lady came home a few minutes later and we thought the water got shut off, but it leaked all night. I set an alarm for every two hours so that I could get up and empty out the bucket that was catching the water. The next day the repair people came and "fixed it" but it still has been leaking so we'll call them again today. But a leaky ceiling in no way takes away from how awesome this week has been!

On Wednesday we had our Zone Conference and we learned more about planning and how to have effective companion study. It was great and I learned a lot. I know Satan works the hardest on us when we have the most potential for growth, because all last week I was struggling to be excited about missionary work. But towards the end of the week I applied the Doctrine of Christ (Faith, repentance, baptism, Holy Ghost, Endure to the end) and I felt much better. We had a training by Pres. Taylor about the Doctrine of Christ. He had a chart where we listed concerns in missionary work in rows, and then across 5 columns was the principles in the Doctrine of Christ and we talked about how it applies to any concern and any question.

And for Zone Conference I organized a musical number! (Completely out of character for me, right?) We organized it beforehand so it went really well though we only had about 10 minutes to practice together. We had about 9 missionaries singing and we sang "I Am a Child of God" out of the hymn but on the chorus of the first verse some missionaries sang in Spanish and after the second verse Sister Esau and I sang in Kiribati (her native language) and then after the third verse it was all the languages together. It was fun :) and it was something different.

We just had an awesome zone conference and this Monday a zone p-day! We played 4 square, 9 square, dodge ball, scatter ball and a basketball game called Poison. I am so sore today but it was worth it.

Sister Esau has helped me be more faithful. Before lessons I was getting myself all stressed out before we went to go see them about what we were going to teach. But Sister Esau mentioned something about it and now instead of fretting before a lesson we always pray before we go see them. This has made a big difference and it has been a "small and simple thing" that has brought about more faith in my missionary life. That way we go into a lesson with faith and relying on the Lord instead of in fear and "trusting in the arm of flesh" (A phrase that my mission president uses all the time!).

I love you all, and if I don't yet, I'm praying for charity so I will ;)

Sister Jenson

P.S. Just wanted any of you reading this to know that even if you haven't written me a letter yet, I would still love to hear from you. I remember feeling guilty writing a missionary who only had a few months left because I hadn't written them before that. But now as a missionary I realize it doesn't matter. I would love to hear from anyone! And I promise letters in return. So if anyone wants mail :) write me a letter :)