Man I love mission holidays!

Dear Family,

Agreed, Skype is the best. Also agreed about my comp- Sister Wester's pretty fantastic, I'm really really grateful I'm yet to have a crazy or awful companion.

So Sunday ROBIN GOT BAPTIZED! It was such a sweet baptism too, the Spirit was so so strong. It was so reassuring to know that even though teaching him didn't at all go along the "normal" way missionaries plan their investigators to progress, the Lord took care of him and it was definitely the right time for him. His wife was so cute too, she had a bag packed with everything he needed like a week early and every time his baptism was mentioned she'd reach over and grab his hand. Ahhh I love families! I can't wait for them to get sealed in the temple, I really think they'll do it in pretty much exactly a year since that's been their goal for about 9 months now lol.

Things were hectic getting ready for it though, especially since we lost our phone over the weekend..... So we couldn't make the last minute calls we needed to. When I got my stitches out we used the phone in the doctors office, then that night we got home and realized it was missing. So the next day we went by the office to look for it...And they were closed until January 7th. Awful. Thankfully our amazing branch president loaned us one of their phones that they don't use much so we survived, but we didn't have about 90% of the phone numbers we needed. We got a new phone on Monday, and then Tuesday a less active/investigator family we're teaching called us and said they found it in their drive way. So we're going to try to dry it out and then see if it works. It would be nice to get all our investigators' numbers again.

Kelsey unfortunately missed church on Sunday, so her baptism is going to be pushed back a bit. We haven't talked to her in a while, due to the afore mentioned phone fiasco, but we're hoping to see her this weekend and reset a date.

So like I told you, we had a Book of Mormon Read-A-Thon for Christmas! So Christmas Eve from 1-9 and Christmas Day from 8-2 we read it as a zone and got just a little over half way through it. So we'll do the rest New Years Eve and New Years Day. It's SO much fun! District meeting yesterday we just shared insights and talked about how much we loved it. Perfect combination of much needed socialization with other missionaries and getting pumped full of Spirit. I love getting the big picture too, we talked about how complex the time lines and stories are, and what a miracle that book is. The patterns and words and themes that are repeated are incredible, and getting to just rip through the book just shows how impossible it is for a man to make that up. It's also added a whole new level to the study of the New Testament I'm doing right now, ever since then I have all these new connections being made as I read the Bible. Sister Wester talked about how the Book of Mormon is promised to bring us closer to God than any other book and so when we're reading it we're able to grow closer to him more easily in everything else we do. I LOVE IT!

The rest of Christmas was really sweet. We went and visited 2 older woman. One is a woman we tracted into, Barb. She's a staunch Roman Catholic who lives alone and is super lonely, so we just went by and sang some Christmas songs and read some scriptures with her. She said we can come teach her, so we're praying she's open to our message and not just company- but either way, we feel really lucky to have met her. She told us after we sang with her that earlier in the day that we first knocked on her door she had prayed that God would send her someone to talk to since she has pretty much zero human interaction, so she knew we were an answer to her prayers. We also went to the hospital and sang for an older member of the ward who's there sick, who's family was also sick so unable to visit her. It was a really special experience to spend the evening with 2 people who had no one else to spend Christmas with.  Man I love mission holidays!

I think that's pretty much it....Love you all. It was awesome to see you :) Hope the rest of everyone's holidays are awesome, and going back to school isn't too terrible. Bye!

The long awaited appendix story

Well hello, long time no email! Haha so I have about a billion things to email about, not surprisingly, so sorry if I forget anything.

Okay, so here's the long awaited appendix story: (It's funny cuz at first I was like, ugh I can NOT tell Mom this story till post-mish but then you got a phone call so now you get all the juicy details! Sister DeRuvo literally photographed the entire thing so one day I'll show you the slide show of it lol) So it's funny because actually either Sister DeRuvo or I were sick every single day that week, but I guess it started Thursday night at a dinner appointment, my stomach was killing me which was pretty standard so I went to the bathroom just to relax for a second and keep up the happy face for the members and I ended up getting sick. I didn't tell Sister DeRuvo till we left and got home, she almost killed me haha then the next day my stomach was again really upset so I decided I needed a nap after lunch and ended up getting sick again and finally decided to just take the day off. It was kind of a weird decision since I usually sleep till I can function again and go back to work that night but I think I was just exhausted from feeling sick constantly so I finally listened to Sister DeRuvo and took a day off and just layed around.

Then Saturday morning we had our studies and towards the end of our training hour my stomach started hurting again but I decided I wasn't going to tell Sister DeRuvo because she'd make me stay in again and I didn't want to take 2 days in a row off. But then over the course of the next 10 minutes it went from hurting to being kinda excruciating so after we closed training I went and layed down, and 10 minutes later was curled up in tears on my bed and throwing up from sheer pain. Thankfully right at that moment my district leader called, he said he had thought about calling the day before several times but never did and then felt bad when he found out that night I'd been sick so when the thought came to call us he decided he better not ignore it. So he and his companion drove over and gave me a blessing, and then Sister DeRuvo and I went to the ER.

I got really lucky, it was only like a 2 hour wait and the pain was coming and going in waves so I was able to survive until I got an IV in my arm. The funny thing is everyone kept asking if the pain was on my right side and it wasn't, it was in the center right under my rib cage. But the doctor came in and was pushing on my stomach and when he pushed on my appendix it literally made me cry. So he said it was probably my gallbladder, possibly an ovarian cyst, and maaayyyybe my appendix so he booked me to come back Sunday morning for an ultrasound (When I told that to the mission nurse she encouraged me not to change it to keep the sabbath holy and even though it's too bad go ahead and get it done in case they can't do it for a few more days and I was like, are you nuts?? I"M NOT DOING THAT!! I hurt here! I'm getting looked at NOW! lol she thought I'm way more righteous than I am....)

So Sunday we went for what we thought was just an ultrasound and maybe get some drugs, and at this point I felt a little silly cuz the pain was gone unless you pushed on my stomach and I was worried I was over reacting, then after I got the ultrasound We sat around for like another 2 hours waiting for results and feeling bad we were missing church. Then finally a nurse came in and was like "Well it's your appendix so let's get you on some antibiotics and prep you for surgery!" and we were like WHAT?! Haha and I think that's when Sister Scott started calling you. They said just one end if it was swollen on the ultrasound, but after surgery the doctor said the whole thing was really infected so good thing they got it out. (Sadly no, no one showed it to me or offered to give it to me in a jar!) I'm just lucky they even found it, I've heard so many horror stories this last week from people who's appendix burst and I'm so grateful the doctor found that despite my claims that my right side didn't hurt.

Side note, Sister Scott told me my parents seem very obedient and now they understand why I'm such a good missionary :)

And I've seriously been a walking miracle ever since then. I got home from the hospital Monday afternoon, went to Branch Council Tuesday night, and have worked almost a full day ever since then. We usually have either spent some time in the apartment working where I can kinda rest as we do stuff, or I've had to come back and nap for about an hour, but other than that I'm back up and running and yesterday we did totally full day so I'm pretty happy. In fact President and Sister Scott came to Woodstock for church this Sunday (that was a major shock haha) to check up on me and Sister Scott told me I was looking better than President so don't worry about me at all. I'm still a little tender sometimes but I'm pretty much fine. I get my stitches out on Thursday.

The really crazy thing is how amazing this week has been, it's seriously been like the best week I've had in over a month and we spent half of it in the apartment! But God's a God of miracles, and I told that to President and he said "Well you're doing what you're supposed to so he's going to bless you!" And so true. Mostly though I'm accrediting the awesome week to my new rockstar companion, Sister Wester, who's just this giant ball of faith. She's a convert, she joined the church about 2 years ago and is the only member of her family. (In fact, most of her family is pretty anti the church and her being on a mission). She came out with Sister DeRuvo and was actually trained in my zone so I knew her a little bit. But she is so excited about everything and wants to baptize everyone we meet- the branch presidency is already calling her a "firecracker".

We had some amazing miracles this week. There are 2 part member families Sister DeRuvo and I tried to see the entire 3 months we were here and couldn't, and we saw both of them this week and are now teaching the non-members in the family. One of them would have not happened if Sister Wester wasn't here, we invited the husband Ryan to meet with us again like 5 times before he said yes, and after time number 4 I was like fine so what you want stinker and ignore the Spirit I know you're feeling, but she asked AGAIN when we could come back and he finally said if we came back on Sundays he'll listen. It was a cool experience! The Spirit was crazy strong, he doesn't believe in God but there were several times when we were talking he would really focus in and his face would change and you could tell it was hitting him what we were saying. He's just trying to play it cool and not admit it, but we're really excited about him.

We're really pumped now to go work with more part member families more seriously, I love seeing families be united through the gospel. And Sister Wester seems to have a special passion for it, especially because she came from a YSA ward and hasn't ever worked with families before, so I think we'll have alot of success with her faith.

This week we also moved up Robin's baptismal date to this Sunday, the 23rd! And Kelsey reset a date for December 30th, assuming she gets work off- if not January 6th. Both of them are doing so amazing, Kelsey is the cutest. We asked how praying has been and she said "I can just feel now God is with me, and never understood why people said they knew things about God but now I get it because I know this is real!" We were beaming, to say the least.

Did I tell you Sister DeRuvo went up to Owen Sound? So she'll spend Christmas where I did, I'm so excited for her! I gave her a list of my formers with instructions to pray about and baptize them.

Well, this is now crazy long, I think that covers the gist of these last 2 weeks. I won't even get in to everything that's coming up the next 2 weeks, I'll just update you on skype/next email. Love you all! Talk to you on Christmas :)

Sister Jensen Update

Dear friends & family,

There will be no weekly email from Sister Jensen this week.  Instead she will be spending her p-day recovering from having her appendix removed. 

For the past couple of weeks Rachel has had some stomach issues that could not seem to be explained.  It was originally thought to be an acid reflux issue.  The mission Dr called two weeks ago telling me he tried to get her something for it, but it wasn't available over the counter in Canada.  And since he isn't licensed to prescribe medicine in Canada, he called it into our pharmacy and I put it in her Christmas box I was mailing the next day.  If the online tracking is correct, her box should be delivered tomorrow.  I am assuming she will no longer need the medicine. 
Anyway, yesterday she went into the Dr. again because of her stomach and they did some blood work that showed her white blood count to be elevated.  They decided she either had a problem with her appendix, gall bladder or ovarian cysts.  They sent her home that night and told her to come back in the morning for some more tests.  Today they did an ultrasound and decided it was her appendix and it needed to come out.

Rachel's mission President and wife called us several times to keep us informed of what was going on.  We also received several emails from a Sister in the branch Rachel is serving in which contained more details about her day, including the fact that Rachel was seconds away from getting into the OR but was bumped due to an emergency c-section.  But it all worked out and the surgery took place this evening.   And once she was out of recovery and moved into her room, we were able to call and speak to her.  Rachel sounded really good, and said she didn't feel any pain even though they hadn't given her any main medication.  (We didn't point out to her that we were pretty sure she was being given pain meds through her IV.)

Rachel should go home tomorrow.  Transfers are on Tuesday, and Rachel will be staying in Woodstock but getting a new companion.  We are told the branch will help out so that Rachel can recover from her surgery and assume her new companion will be sent out on splits during the day.
We are very grateful that Rachel received so much love, support and care this weekend.  The Lord truly looks after his missionaries and their families!   

Have a great week!

Pictures, pictures and more pictures

Sister DeRuvo, lighting a paper towel on fire by holding it to a hot burner so we could light my birthday candles hahaha!

When she dyed her hair blue- see the streaks?

Sister Tuia, when we instructed at leadership conference

 

Melted strainer # 2 

We get a lot of spiders in our parking garage.....

The morning we woke up to snow!

Perfect snowflakes

CANADIAN WINTER

Ann (member wife of Robin) making us a carmel-pineapple dessert thing after one of our lessons ....cooking involved pouring rum on it and lighting it on fire.

American smarties vs. Canadian smarties

Decorating our Christmas tree!

Companion picture

Hilarious panoramic picture with Sister DeRuvo and the double rainbow that was over the chapel.

...look closely at her arms hahahaha

Hope that's enough photos to make up for not sending any for 2 transfers :)

This week was great!

Dear family,

First off, I find it SO hilarious that Dakota is in every family picture you send me these days. Approved.

So it's probably about time to start coordinating when I should Skype home on Christmas.... It will probably mostly be based around Sister DeRuvo's schedule, since Italy's time difference is slightly larger than Texas', but if you know already any time that isn't good let me know so we can start planning that. (We won't finalize yet because transfers are this weekend so we have to see if we're even still comps, but the sooner I know the better anyways.)

This week was great. Robin came to church for the second week in a row, the most he's been since we came here! We reset him with a date for December 30th and are exciting that he's actually working towards it this time. Sister DeRuvo and I are both determined to not get transferred this weekend, we're baptizing way to many people the next month or two to go anywhere! He, Shane, and Kelsey are all doing so great. We also had one of our former investigators, John, randomly come to church again, which was great. We still aren't meeting with him, but it's good to see he still feels a connection to the church.

This transfer's going to be crazy though... Every comp in our zone is finishing up training except 2, and 2 Elders are going home, so there's only 1 companionship in the whole zone who is most likely not getting changed. NUTTY.

This morning I finished the Book of Mormon again, which was awesome. I've never deep studied it like I did this time, and I love that even after that I feel like I only just scratched the surface of what that book has to offer. It's been really cool studying these last 2 transfers because every district or zone meeting we've had they've expounded no a principle I had just been reading and pondering about. I love how the Spirit always teaches you exactly what you need from the scriptures right now, it's always perfectly relevant to me personally. And now I can start studying the new testament again for the Christmas season :)

I think that's pretty much life. I'm going to FINALLY email some pictures, so I'll end now and do that. Love you! Talk to ya in a week!

I BAPTIZE THE BEST PEOPLE IN CANADA

Morning Houston!

We got our first SNOW! I mean, it's snowed a few times but never stuck, so this is the first one that counts. And we had our first great snow adventure! So we're doing this thing called the living Christmas card that involves us going singing to the members friends, so we were going to the church to type up the cards for it and other things like that, and the snow is falling so perfectly so we decide to take a few pictures in case it stops by lunch time. So we throw our stuff in the church, take a few pictures, and head back in only to discover I forgot to pop the lock open and we just locked our church keys, car key, and phone inside the building. Awkward! We had to walk to the nearest member's home to borrow their phone and ward directory and get a member of the branch presidency to come let us in. In this hour of wasted morning we made learned that Sister DeRuvo does not own water proof boots haha she was a little wet....Then she slipped down a hill and got REALLY wet.

Thanksgiving was well celebrated! I think I should have 5 Thanksgiving dinners every year from now on.

This week was pretty exciting, we had several people at church and set a couple of people with baptismal dates. We're really excited about Shane, who we found last week and who set a goal after church yesterday for the 23rd. He's working on his brother and her mom as well, and we're slowly worming our way into his mom's heart so we have high hopes for that. (I don't know how I'll ever do missionary work without Sister DeRuvo as a companion, she can sweet talk her way with everyone! It's awesome!) We also started taking our recent convert, Jody, out teaching. That might be the best thing I've ever done. He got so excited after the first time he texted us specific days he was open asking us to make an appointment he can come with. I BAPTIZE THE BEST PEOPLE IN CANADA.

Wow, I can't believe Dad's not Bishop anymore. I guess I'm not gonna write an email about the ward mission process now lol sorry for never answering that one Dad. And oh my gosh I can't believe Sophie's going on a mission! Love it! Sounds like the entire Silver Pines young women is shipping out- GOOD.

Sorry, that's all I've got this week. I'll add a hilarious conversation with Sister DeRuvo and close up. Love you! Talk to you later!

S.DeRuvo: "Is it itching of scratching?

S. Jensen: "Itching. Unless it's scratching."

S.DeRuvo: "No, it's itching."
(I'm the world's greatest English teacher.)

'Ello chaps!

'Ello chaps!

Don't worry, I'm feeling much better. But sickness is flying around Ontario, pretty much everyone I know and meet are either sick, recovering, or catching something. Yikes.

Totally forgot my camera btw, so pictures next week? Maybe?
Sister DeRuvo melted a second strainer this week, again by putting it on the burner she just used to cook. Thankfully she caught this one pretty fast so it didn't burn all the way through and is still usable.

Leadership training this last week was so good! Most of my favorite missionaries were there, though not all because turns out they had 2 and so only half the mission was there- so no Sister Williams. Sad. Elder Kenning was there though, we had a fun fight over whether we'd been out a full year yet (silly kid was counting the MTC, but really my year mark isn't for another week and a half.) Instructing for the conference was SUPER weird though, usually just President Scott and the assistants speak but we did an hour and 2 of the zone leaders did an hour. Don't know if anyone else got anything from it but I learned tons- that was probably the reason I got asked to do it lol. Weirdest part was when we broke off into groups to role play and I realized I was supposed to walk around and listen to people and give feedback like the mission president and APs always do. Sister Tuia and I were like, are we allowed to do that? Basically I went and just sat in awe at how some of the Elders teach, it was really fun.
THIS week we having a sisters exchange, and all my worlds are colliding. I'm going to serve in Guelph (one of Sister Casners old areas she always talked about) with Sister Brown (who SIster Williams trained) while Sister DeRuvo works in Woodstock with Sister Loar (who Sister Tuisku trained). MIND BLOWN! I'm excited.

This week we found 2 AWESOME new people to teach. Kelsey is Kathleen's friend, the one I mentioned last week. She's super cool, super open, and has awesome questions. We're also teaching Shane, a guy in his 20s we've actually passed several times walking down the street and everytime there's been someone else there as well that we end up talking to instead of him (none of which were ever interested). Finally we stopped him and he let us come by. We're hoping to get his mom and 2 brothers he lives with involved as well!
We also set Bill with a baptismal date in December, and he continues to be fantastic. We taught about the restoration and he got so excited about the Book of Mormon and can't wait to read it. He loved the cross references to the Bible too, I get the feeling he's going to be very deeply studying it- GOOD.

No I am not ignoring American Thanksgiving- in fact, we're being fed I think 4 Thanksgiving dinners this week. We only got 2 for Canadian Thanksgiving hahaha. Apparently my American pride is a little less subtle than I flatter myself, I thought I do so well playing the Canadian role but everyone is super excited to feed me this week. I'm making fruit salad like we always do for one of the families, and he's making green bean casserole for me even though he thinks it's the most pointless dish ever. I haven't managed to convince anyone to have a pie night for me though. Ah well.
I'm STOKED to be getting a package Mom, thanks!!

Have y'all heard about the Christmas campaign the church is doing? Basically they're gonna flood facebook, youtube, and mormon.org with Christmas. One of the best parts is they're adding an option on mormon.org for people to request the missionaries to share a Christmas message with them. They emailed us about how to make the Christmas lesson plan and it's going to be amazing. You guys need to get everyone you know to let the missionaries come by and do it! Seriously, start asking your friends, it's really non-intrusive and really beautiful. You should have someone over like every week of December for the missionaries to do it with!

Oh and don't worry Mom, I've planned out recording blessings. I'm going to keep a journal for each of my kids and write every blessing they ever get in it until they're old enough to have it themselves and write down what stuck out to them after the get a blessing. I'm a little obsessed with the priesthood lol.

Hmm, I think that's all my life right now. I keep having dreams about Erin, last night I dreamed I was her trainer on her mission. We wasted alot of time though learning trapeze acts and missed a few appointments. Maybe it's a premonition that she'll get called to Toronto! Or maybe it's a prompting I need to start practicing circus acts with my companions. Not sure which yet.
Anywho have a great week! Love you lots!