what a week.
let me start out with last wednesday, right after I emailed. how do you feel about mayo? as in the nasty substance that people put in food that doesn't need it. my feelings are utter repulsion. I still remember this one time before my mission, I saw this girl do a dare and she ate a whole huge spoonful of mayo, and when she put it in her mouth I turned around and puked. looking at it makes me shake I hate it so much. it's not a normal feeling I realize, but I hate it. haha. so anyway. the other day at a lesson, this woman tried to make us "american" food instead of malaysian food. the dish was noodles, mayo, and raisens. just like that. it was dripping with mayo. straight mayo. I looked at it and tears welled up in my eyes because I knew I had to eat it. I legitimately said a prayer that I would be able to eat it fast enough and not puke in her house. I ate about five big bites and then stealthily without anyone noticing threw it out the window. and I got away with it. and I came home, thought about the whole experience, and puked. hahaha. what a gross story, right? sorry. way too much information. I always tell too much information. but it was nasty!!! geeze. that's not american food, right? noodles and mayo? if it is I'm scared to come home!!!! give me sardines and fried bananas any day!
there is a member here whose alcoholic and abusive dad just passed away. it's actually very sad, but also very good at the same time. she suffered so much every day because of his actions. and he's gone now. but anyway, that brought up the topic of "malaysian after death rituals" much like lent. I think. anyway. for 100 days, their family can't do anything fun. they can't go to parties, if there is a birthday, can't celebrate. if it's a holiday, (even Christmas!) they can't do anything. they can't go on trips, nothing. for 100 days. and the first week, they couldn't sleep at night. they have to stay awake all night. something about the dead person's spirit walking around and...something something something. that part was a bit confusing. they also keep the body for a week. haha. it's intense! they asked about what we do after people die in the united states, and I couldn't even think of anything. people get drunk? are really sad for a while? some people try to party and do fun things to distract themselves? regardless...I'm grateful we don't have to sit and do nothing fun for 100 days.
so we are teaching this family, well, a mom and her little kids. one is nine. I think I mentioned? they are a miracle. the mom is melissa's age, and she has a nine year old son. she's so grown up! I was shocked when I found out how old she is. and it's so sad, all her family lives in a kampung like 8 hours away, and she has no siblings. so she's so alone here! so she calls us her little sisters and she asked us to call her "kakak" which just means older sister. but only at her house, she said to call her "sister" at church so we don't get in trouble:) haha. she's incredible. she made us this thing called "ubi" the other day, it's like this steamed potato thing that's like chewy, and they put crushed nuts in the middle and wrap banana leaves around it and steam it again. something like that. it looks just like a tamale, basically same idea just different ingredients. they were sooooooooo good. we're going over there during our lunch in a few days so she can teach us how to cook them. and every time after our lesson we play with her kids for a few minutes while we wait for the bus. lately I've been playing badmitton with Larry, the five year old. and it is hysterical. we both suck so bad and these old wrinkly chinese men come out from their wood houses and smoke cigs and watch us and laugh. occasionally yell at us in chinese, and larry tells me that they are just trying to give us tips. haha. life is good. our last lesson, this last monday, we were teaching the plan of salvation. and we were trying to make it interesting and suspenseful so the kids would listen, and we were talking about how Heavenly Father wants us to come back to heaven, but nothing that has sin is allowed to live there. so Hendrry, he's nine and is going to be baptized in a few weeks, with this look of complete desperation yells, "jadi, macam mana!!!!!!!!!??????" (so, how can we!?) it was SO adorable. I like was beaming. so then we explained about Jesus Christ, and the Atonement and how that lets us go back. and after, we were asking him about how he felt and if there was anything confusing and he just had this serious look on his face and said that he was grateful for Jesus Christ. he was so sincere. that whole family is. sooo sincere. so humble. so innocent and pure. they are the most incredible people. I get teary eyed just thinking about them.
so I had a really rough few days, a couple of bad things happen I won't mention, followed by my first experience of someone yelling at me in my face for 30 minutes about how I'm wrong and the church is wrong and all of these other ridiculous things. it's a hard situation, I couldn't leave because hite was talking to someone else, and I also couldn't say anything. so I just stood there and took it until she had to catch a breath and we were able to escape. all part of the learning process. but anyway, it was a hard few days. by sunday, we went to sister josie's house to eat lunch and teach angel, and I was sitting at her table and she just looked at me and goes, "I can see on your face something is wrong." and I looked at josie, and I just started sobbing. like sobbing! very embarrassing! I'm still a little mortified but I'm saying this so you can understand how amazing josie is. so there I am, just sobbing. she keeps asking me questions and I try to answer in between my sobs. angel is sitting right next to me and she just was staring at me with these devastated eyes. and I'm a nerd and bawling. so josie walks over, and gives me this huge embrace. huge hug. and I cried on her shoulder for probably ten minutes. and she just sat there and let me. and then when I finally let her go she sat me down and told me so many encouraging things. like seriously, I haven't heard anything like that the whole time I've been on my mission. she said so many things that sunk so deep. and the part that killed me most was when she said even though sometimes I can't understand people and people can't understand me, she said they still can feel my love. she said people can feel the love and that is more than enough. she is going to get one of the biggest houses in heaven I know it. while she was talking I was crying even more because I was so grateful for her and her support. and then, to make it even more unbareable! angel hands me this paper, a "surprise". so I open it up and she had drawn a picture and wrote me a note, and this is exactly what it said: "sister jensen if you cry don give up. one day, you will know, you love Jesus Christ, so we can help you. I tell you a secret, all people are the best. I love you, so don give up. love angel" after I read it, I lost it again!!! hahaha. like a baby. but angel is like a little sister/my own child. I love her more than I can say. and same goes for sister josie. I've said it a thousand times but they are my family here and I hope you guys can meet them.
so much happened this week I could keep typing but my times on it's way out. so I'll leave with one cool scripture that I loved. it's in 2 Timothy 2: 3. "endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ." that was Paul trying to cheer up Timothy. apparently it was a bit rough. I loved it because I have never heard being a disciple of Christ referred to as being a soldier. but it's true! you dodge bullets all day. and most days, you feel like you're fighting with everything you have just to keep standing. but, it's for Christ. everything for Him. for Him I can do it.
I hope you all have a good and safe and happy week. I love you all:)
Wednesday, August 31
Wednesday, August 24
hari cuti lagi
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| Lisa and Angel |
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| Lisa, Josie and Sister Hite |
so I'm forewarning you, this week was very vanilla. not a ton of crazy things happened. so the email might be a bit slow. I'll try to dress it up a bit.
so I will start with a spiritual/funny story. we started teaching this new family, that is sooo amazing. we teach a wife, and her three kids. one little boy is nine, and the rest are little. they are AMAZING. I adore her. she lives in a sketchy area, and she is always soooo terrified of us getting hurt when we walk to and from her house. she texts us a thousand times and we have to call her every night when we get home. she's a doll. she made us these little scone things the other day that were so tasty. anyway. so we wanted to put her and her oldest son on date for baptism. they are super solid. so we get to the point in the lesson, and we're just feeling it. if you have been a missionary, you know what I'm talking about. it feels like you're on fire. so I look at hite, and she goes for it. the second she starts to say something about baptism, their little baby girl pees. they don't wear diapers very often here, just little shorts. so the shorts caught absolutely none of the pee. and she happened to be standing up right in front of me. in seconds the floor is completely soaked, and she starts playing patty cakes and splattering her pee all over the place. at this point, no one had noticed yet, and I was trying so hard to not draw any attention to her so hite could ask them to be baptized without any interruption. well, very typical, they notice, and there's big giggles from her brothers and her mom starts scrambling around trying to clean it up and hite and I were trying so hard not to laugh. thankfully, they were ready. and they accepted our invitation to be baptized, regardless of the interruption. :) it was a big moment. I am SO excited for their baptism. can't even wait.
on a lighter note, we are teaching this indian boy that's super rad. he teaches me tricks on the rubics rubix cube after our lessons. he can do the whole thing in 49 seconds!!!! a whole thing! it's insane. I've completed it once. and then my brain can only think in colors after that. it's a mess for sure.
four times people have asked sister hite and I if we are really sisters. they seriously think we are. what!! hahaha. we always laugh and say yeah, but she got all the asian and I got all the orang putih. very funny. I don't know why people think we look alike. it's weird.
oh oh! here is a good story. so angel, you guys know angel. my favorite girl on earth. she looooooves to play around. so the other day, josh groban was on in the background, and she was dancing around and told me to carry her. so I pick her up and we're spinning around, when angel yells, in her adorable little chinese accent, "YOU RAISE ME UP!!! SO I CAN STAND ON MOUNTAINS!!!!" hahaha. she was singing the josh groban song. josie and hite were like doubled over they were laughing so hard, and I almost dropped her. haha. it was funny. I want to bring her home with me.
this morning we went to josie's house and she taught me some reflexology. she gave me tons of papers with like the pressure points of the body on them and all that. it's sweet!!! she said she'd teach me so I knew how to do it good. I'm amped.
I never want to have to eat KFC again in my life. it's like a delicacy here, so every once in a while people will get really amped and they'll feed us KFC. it's like a special treat. usually it's tolerable, I don't particularly like it at all but I can handle it. but this week, we had to eat it THREE times. ick!!! I felt my arteries harden. very nasty. I'm gonna have to come home and take medicine to clean all my arteries out from all the cholesterol and MSG I have to eat every day. haha.
speaking of, what does MSG do to you again? do you know? I forgot. but everything has MSG here. am I going to die when I get home?
wow yeah, I already ran out of stuff to talk about. sorry, this week is a boring one.
maybe next week I'll have something juicy.
I love you all!!
Wednesday, August 17
Salemat Pagi
hai!
another week another week! and here are the updates:
we had a baptism this past saturday. veronica. :) it was so amazing. she is 17, and in our branch we have a really really big young women group, and basically every single girl came for her baptism. it was a party! the fellowship was amazing and it made her life I think. I sat with her and walked with her through everything, she made me practice baptizing her like five more times, I had to talk her down about the water thing (she's scared of water and can't swim haha), she practiced bearing her testimony to me in the bathroom twice before she walked in after the baptism to give it. she wouldn't let go of my hand (which she was clenching so hard I didn't have any circulation!) she's adorable and it was such an amazing amazing experience. she was glowing. hite made fun of me because she said I looked like a little kid I was beaming so much. haha. I was. it was a golden day.
I found out at about ten that night, the night before sunday, that I needed to give a talk in church. adoi! I was so nervous. I had no idea what to speak on, plus it was late, our church starts at nine in the morning, I was a bit worried. however, I was surprisingly calm at the same time. I've changed a lot. at home I think I would have died about that. but on a mission, you get used to teaching with absolutely no notice. I spoke about prayers, and how we receive answers to our prayers. I shared a few parts of one of my favorite general conference talks, uchtdorf's, about waiting on the road to damascus. he said something about how our prayers aren't answered while we're kneeling, they're usually answered while we are on our feet serving. I think that's very true, and also something I think is easy to forget. I have gotten into the mindset sometimes where I subconsciously just sit and wait. which is ridiculous and fruitless. I also used one of my favorite scriptures, ether 12:6. talks about faith and how sometimes, we don't receive a witness until after the trial of our faith. trials are necessary, and they don't come because we did something wrong and we're punished. God loves us, and He wants us and needs us to grow. it's as simple as that sometimes. when we have trials, we grow. our faith grows. and after, we can look back and see and gain a stronger witness and testimony that God does love us and does answer our prayers. every one. and that even in the moments we think we're lost and alone, the Lord really is carrying us. I have thought about that image a lot, about the Lord carrying me in his arms, walking with me through darkness. I can see it very vividly in my mind, almost like I've really seen it in real life. I think it's beautiful. and I know it's true. the Lord carries us if we call on Him.
so I probably talk about angel and josie a lot, sorry. I always have stories about them. but josie has been on this kick lately that I am a "budak kecil" (little kid). she says I'm just a little kid. like my mannerisms, my smile, apparently everything about me makes her laugh and think I'm like a kid. at first I was really hurt, I'm supposed to be a grown up missionary! not a little kid! but she yelled at me the other day because I said I was trying to be quiet and more grown up. haha. she yeeelllllllllllleeddd! she told me not to change. so I guess it's not too bad. I guess I always knew I was secretly still a little kid. but the other day at church angel had this big huge bar of chocolate that she was eating, and I was starving, plus it was chocolate, so of course I went up to go eat some. haha. so there we were at church, in the foyer while everyone was chatting and such, just minding our own, talking and eating chocolate, when I hear josie just laaaaauuuugggghhhhhhing. laughing so hard! so we look over and she goes, "see! she's a little kid! her and angel are the same age!! just eating chocolate!!!" honestly, it was not even that absurd or childish I thought, all we were doing was eating chocolate! but it makes me happy because sister josie gets such a kick out of it. I told angel the other day that my grandma has called me angel my whole life and she loved that. ironic a bit. they are my family here.
I am turning in to a malaysian!!!!!!! no joke. when I'm hungry, I don't want to eat a sandwich anymore. if we go eat, I get rice or noodles. and fish and vegetables. lots of curry. when josie makes rice porridge, I feel like I'm eating comfort food I've eaten my whole life. it's weird! the other day we had fried rice with little dried sardines in it and I was in heaven it was so delicious. yesterday I stayed at the larson's because hite had to get her visa stamped, and they cooked like normal food, normal american food. potatoes, meat, the works. and I didn't even want it! it was like gross actually. I didn't have a taste for it, and all I kept thinking of was that I wished it was a nice bowl of noodles with eggs and sardines. however, I don't like ALL malaysian food. which leads me to my next story.
so pig is hard to find here, since the muslims can't eat it. so you really only get it in chinese restaurants because they don't care. so we went to a members restaurant to get some lunch, get to know her, and talk about a referral she might have. we sit down, we order our food, and it comes out and it's so delicious!! so good. so we're eating, so happy, and the sister was SO nice so she kept talking and kept yelling at people to bring us out more food. basically she brought out a plate of everything they make at the kedai. lots of fish balls (little hot jelly ball things with smooshed up fish guts inside), all kinds of chicken, fish, beef, pork. everything was pretty good, although I was happy just with my noodles. but if malaysians love you, they bring you food. and we were really touched she was feeding us so much. so we kept eating. when at last she brings out this plate that looked kindof like meat. she said it was pig. but it was black. since when is pig black? so we eat, and it's disgusting. but she's watching, so we keep eating. it had the weirdest texture ever. turns out, it's pig intestine. I wanted to hurl. hahaha. plus I was soooo full already. hite didn't particularly like it, and the sister was watching us eat it, and I wanted to cry because I didn't know how we were gonna finish it, so I took my fork and speared like five pieces, drenched them in this burning hot chili sauce, ate them all in one bite, and chased it down with my milo. although I prayed I had something a little stronger to get it down!! haha. it was funny. moral of the story, avoid pig intestines if you can.
the work right now is keeping us so so so busy. it's incredible. it was slow for so long but now we've got a lot going on. a miracle. we've also starting teaching a few families, which has been a dream of hite and mines for a while. theres nothing like teaching a family. every day my testimony of this work, and the influence of the Lord in this work, is rejuvenated. I had a thought the other morning, "what would I be doing right now if I wouldn't have come on a mission?" and I seriously almost had a full fledged anxiety attack. words can't adequately describe how grateful I am that I came. and for all of the people who got me here. thank you all.
my time is out now unfortunately, but I love you all so much!! be safe and be strong.
I love you I love you.
another week another week! and here are the updates:
we had a baptism this past saturday. veronica. :) it was so amazing. she is 17, and in our branch we have a really really big young women group, and basically every single girl came for her baptism. it was a party! the fellowship was amazing and it made her life I think. I sat with her and walked with her through everything, she made me practice baptizing her like five more times, I had to talk her down about the water thing (she's scared of water and can't swim haha), she practiced bearing her testimony to me in the bathroom twice before she walked in after the baptism to give it. she wouldn't let go of my hand (which she was clenching so hard I didn't have any circulation!) she's adorable and it was such an amazing amazing experience. she was glowing. hite made fun of me because she said I looked like a little kid I was beaming so much. haha. I was. it was a golden day.
I found out at about ten that night, the night before sunday, that I needed to give a talk in church. adoi! I was so nervous. I had no idea what to speak on, plus it was late, our church starts at nine in the morning, I was a bit worried. however, I was surprisingly calm at the same time. I've changed a lot. at home I think I would have died about that. but on a mission, you get used to teaching with absolutely no notice. I spoke about prayers, and how we receive answers to our prayers. I shared a few parts of one of my favorite general conference talks, uchtdorf's, about waiting on the road to damascus. he said something about how our prayers aren't answered while we're kneeling, they're usually answered while we are on our feet serving. I think that's very true, and also something I think is easy to forget. I have gotten into the mindset sometimes where I subconsciously just sit and wait. which is ridiculous and fruitless. I also used one of my favorite scriptures, ether 12:6. talks about faith and how sometimes, we don't receive a witness until after the trial of our faith. trials are necessary, and they don't come because we did something wrong and we're punished. God loves us, and He wants us and needs us to grow. it's as simple as that sometimes. when we have trials, we grow. our faith grows. and after, we can look back and see and gain a stronger witness and testimony that God does love us and does answer our prayers. every one. and that even in the moments we think we're lost and alone, the Lord really is carrying us. I have thought about that image a lot, about the Lord carrying me in his arms, walking with me through darkness. I can see it very vividly in my mind, almost like I've really seen it in real life. I think it's beautiful. and I know it's true. the Lord carries us if we call on Him.
so I probably talk about angel and josie a lot, sorry. I always have stories about them. but josie has been on this kick lately that I am a "budak kecil" (little kid). she says I'm just a little kid. like my mannerisms, my smile, apparently everything about me makes her laugh and think I'm like a kid. at first I was really hurt, I'm supposed to be a grown up missionary! not a little kid! but she yelled at me the other day because I said I was trying to be quiet and more grown up. haha. she yeeelllllllllllleeddd! she told me not to change. so I guess it's not too bad. I guess I always knew I was secretly still a little kid. but the other day at church angel had this big huge bar of chocolate that she was eating, and I was starving, plus it was chocolate, so of course I went up to go eat some. haha. so there we were at church, in the foyer while everyone was chatting and such, just minding our own, talking and eating chocolate, when I hear josie just laaaaauuuugggghhhhhhing. laughing so hard! so we look over and she goes, "see! she's a little kid! her and angel are the same age!! just eating chocolate!!!" honestly, it was not even that absurd or childish I thought, all we were doing was eating chocolate! but it makes me happy because sister josie gets such a kick out of it. I told angel the other day that my grandma has called me angel my whole life and she loved that. ironic a bit. they are my family here.
I am turning in to a malaysian!!!!!!! no joke. when I'm hungry, I don't want to eat a sandwich anymore. if we go eat, I get rice or noodles. and fish and vegetables. lots of curry. when josie makes rice porridge, I feel like I'm eating comfort food I've eaten my whole life. it's weird! the other day we had fried rice with little dried sardines in it and I was in heaven it was so delicious. yesterday I stayed at the larson's because hite had to get her visa stamped, and they cooked like normal food, normal american food. potatoes, meat, the works. and I didn't even want it! it was like gross actually. I didn't have a taste for it, and all I kept thinking of was that I wished it was a nice bowl of noodles with eggs and sardines. however, I don't like ALL malaysian food. which leads me to my next story.
so pig is hard to find here, since the muslims can't eat it. so you really only get it in chinese restaurants because they don't care. so we went to a members restaurant to get some lunch, get to know her, and talk about a referral she might have. we sit down, we order our food, and it comes out and it's so delicious!! so good. so we're eating, so happy, and the sister was SO nice so she kept talking and kept yelling at people to bring us out more food. basically she brought out a plate of everything they make at the kedai. lots of fish balls (little hot jelly ball things with smooshed up fish guts inside), all kinds of chicken, fish, beef, pork. everything was pretty good, although I was happy just with my noodles. but if malaysians love you, they bring you food. and we were really touched she was feeding us so much. so we kept eating. when at last she brings out this plate that looked kindof like meat. she said it was pig. but it was black. since when is pig black? so we eat, and it's disgusting. but she's watching, so we keep eating. it had the weirdest texture ever. turns out, it's pig intestine. I wanted to hurl. hahaha. plus I was soooo full already. hite didn't particularly like it, and the sister was watching us eat it, and I wanted to cry because I didn't know how we were gonna finish it, so I took my fork and speared like five pieces, drenched them in this burning hot chili sauce, ate them all in one bite, and chased it down with my milo. although I prayed I had something a little stronger to get it down!! haha. it was funny. moral of the story, avoid pig intestines if you can.
the work right now is keeping us so so so busy. it's incredible. it was slow for so long but now we've got a lot going on. a miracle. we've also starting teaching a few families, which has been a dream of hite and mines for a while. theres nothing like teaching a family. every day my testimony of this work, and the influence of the Lord in this work, is rejuvenated. I had a thought the other morning, "what would I be doing right now if I wouldn't have come on a mission?" and I seriously almost had a full fledged anxiety attack. words can't adequately describe how grateful I am that I came. and for all of the people who got me here. thank you all.
my time is out now unfortunately, but I love you all so much!! be safe and be strong.
I love you I love you.
Wednesday, August 10
One last light order
Please watch this for me pages/mormon-messages-gallery?lang=eng#moments-that-matter-most
hello!
the past few days have been wild. we have been running around non stop. it has been SO nice. I've been out of business for way too long. it feels good to be a real live normal working missionary again. hallelujah!
it's been a few days already since I've been home from singapore, but I still miss it:( I miss sister norton!!!! adoi. I was a bit bummed to leave her and that beautiful city!!! it is sooo different from where I am. maybe I'll get lucky and get to serve there one day. if not, I'm going back!
so since it's the most recent thing on my mind, I will tell you a rather embarrassing story that happened last night. so there is a less active member we visit sometimes, and she has these adorable two little boys. the oldest one loooooves me, but he kindof violently loves me. you know how little boys are. he beats me up. but last night I was wearing that cute green skirt you sent me, and he kept grabbing on to it and running around in a circle. so I was spinning in a circle with him, trying to get his hands off before he ripped my precious skirt. well, there was a LOT of spinning for about five minutes until I got pretty fed up. so I quickly picked him up in hopes of startling him so he would let go. WRONG. his cute little hands clenched on harder than before, and because I picked him up and spun him while he was still holding on, it ended up pulling my skirt completely off my butt. like, completely. he pantsed me. skirtsed me, if you will. and the best part? the two local lesbians that always blow kisses happened to be watching, about ten feet away. so yes, they saw the whole thing as well. I screamed and dropped joel and pulled my skirt up but the damage had been done. I think it's safe to say I reached the color of red that you only see on firetrucks and stop signs. it was a goodie:)
so we have a baptism on saturday!!!!! she is this adorable 17 year old girl, she's iban, and she is sooooo sassy and boy crazy. needless to say, we are kindred spirits:) I love her so much. we have fun teaching her. I remember back to our first lesson, we taught her how to pray because she had never done that before. I think I wrote about that? well she prayed and it was so touching to be there for her first prayer. but she kept asking me about praying before we left, so I told her that prayers come from our hearts. we can pray about anything we want. things that we love, things that we're scared of, things we're worried about, maybe we just want to say how happy we are, whatever. and she still was apprehensive about it. so I told her that until she felt more comfortable just praying, she could write down a little prayer that she thought would be good, and then as she was praying if she forgot or got nervous, she could just look at the words on her paper. anyway, I told her this, and then we left. the next lesson, she was SO amped, and she pulls out this adorable little paper with her prayer written on it. she had scratched out so many different words so many times, rewritten everything, it was adorable. and on it, part of her prayer was (in malay) "thank you for sister jensen who taught me how to pray" basically, I took one look at that and I lost it. it was a really special moment. especially because she's so sassy! she's not cuddly like that haha. but that was really sweet I thought and I was really touched. missions are incredible. they are the biggest blessing. I am so blessed to be able to be a part of helping someone learn to pray. it's just unreal sometimes. it's unreal at just how real the work we are doing is.
we have been spending a lot of time at this one house, and in one of the rooms lives this man and his family. we have taught the man a few times, he is kindof intense. but we have only taught his family once. I adore his family. one of his daughters is the one that farted in my face. haha. anyway, I particularly love his wife. she is super sweet. anyway, when we were over there we had invited them to come to church (like we have been doing since day one) and they always say they can't promise. and week after week, they never came. until this sunday. when what do you know, all six of them strolled in to sacrament meeting. together. the whole family TOGETHER! at church!! ahhh. words can't describe the feelings in my heart. seriously. so cheesy, but it was one of the happiest moments of my mission thus far. seeing a whole family come together to church. we are so excited and gonna keep trying to help and encourage their family. weee.
so I'm reading the new testament, probably mentioned, and I am almost done with the Acts. I must say, I love Peter. but I LOOOVE Paul. he is a stud. I love him because he is the perfect example of what the gospel can do in someones life. I mean he was naughty naughty and doing all sorts of bad things. then, on his way to go do more bad things, he has a vision. immediately following that, he changes his life. he becomes a disciple of Christ, and then an apostle. and the rest of his life, he works his butt of going all over the "world" preaching the gospel. and he was persecuted! he went through allllll sorts of hard things. people were mean to him. and he just kept going, it seems like it wasn't even possible for him to get discouraged or tired. he just kept going. I loved that. I forgot my bible today or else I'd share a few verses that I particularly loved, but basically all of acts is really good. I found such a strong example in him and his journey that he made in his life, and it gives me hope and comfort that it's never too late to change your life and follow Christ. we just have to do it. and when we do, when we decide to stop the things that are killing us spiritually, and decide to turn to Christ and move forward, He doesn't say, "yeah, you made some stupid mistakes so I will never respect you as much as the other people that didn't make those mistakes..." He loves us. Paul became an apostle! I also think of Alma the younger in the same regard. our pasts are forgotten when we repent and turn to Christ. I always think of one of our recent converts when I think about that. his was the same thing, he made such a huge journey in his life, and now he is SO SOLID. he is so solid. it makes me emotional to see just how much his life has changed, and to hear him tell me how grateful he is that he found Christ.
I'm not sure if I've mentioned Angel...she is this little recent convert. she's 8. she's beautiful. and basically she is my favorite little person on earth. her auntie is the member that always feeds us and cooks delicious food and cakes. yeah, basically I adore the two of them more than I can say. when everything else fails, there is always Angel and Josie. they're my family here. anyway, it was really hysterical. the other day Angel was trying to teach me chinese. and she kept yelling at me because I could never sound just right. she literally was yelling at me. haha. it made me think of tomas and how I'd always get annoyed when I could never make the right chinese noises and he'd keep making me try. its hard! chinese is hard. but I love it and I'm gonna learn it when I get home. yesterday though Angel gave me this little drawing she had done of me and her and it was so cute. my hair was even drawn in like the true mullet I'm rocking right now:)
I love life a lot. it's scary how fast it's moving. sister hite goes home in less than two months. that's weird! sad. she's devastated. it's gonna be weird for me too, having a new companion. maybe I'll get lucky and they'll send me Norton:) haha. just playing. everyone in the whole mission knows we love each other so that will never happen I feel. oh well.
anyway. I love you all. have a good week okay?
happy good day!!
(that was an sms we got from an investigator who likes to show off his english...)
pictures:
1. me, hite, and ANGEL my darling. we were having fun. and I look ghetto but it's okay. the mullet is difficult to wear so it ends up being slicked back with a bun. isn't angel gorgeous?
2. me, an investigator, emma (the darling from england who did a 5 week rotation here for med school), and some random lady that wanted to be in the picture. :)
3. me and norton together AT LAST!!!!!! that is my 6 ringit (2.5 dollar) grandma dress I bought at the thrift store:) we decided we look older and fatter hahaha.
4. this was on a members balcony in singapore. their apartment was absolutely unreal. you guys would have flipped.
5. adrian, me, hite. adrian is soon to be elder harun! he is leaving this week. he will be serving in the salt lake city south mission! pretty sure it's the south one. you should send him a package or something while he's in the mtc. he's adorable. it's a big day for his family and the branch. I can't believe he's going to my home while I'm in his! haha. life.
it's been a few days already since I've been home from singapore, but I still miss it:( I miss sister norton!!!! adoi. I was a bit bummed to leave her and that beautiful city!!! it is sooo different from where I am. maybe I'll get lucky and get to serve there one day. if not, I'm going back!
so since it's the most recent thing on my mind, I will tell you a rather embarrassing story that happened last night. so there is a less active member we visit sometimes, and she has these adorable two little boys. the oldest one loooooves me, but he kindof violently loves me. you know how little boys are. he beats me up. but last night I was wearing that cute green skirt you sent me, and he kept grabbing on to it and running around in a circle. so I was spinning in a circle with him, trying to get his hands off before he ripped my precious skirt. well, there was a LOT of spinning for about five minutes until I got pretty fed up. so I quickly picked him up in hopes of startling him so he would let go. WRONG. his cute little hands clenched on harder than before, and because I picked him up and spun him while he was still holding on, it ended up pulling my skirt completely off my butt. like, completely. he pantsed me. skirtsed me, if you will. and the best part? the two local lesbians that always blow kisses happened to be watching, about ten feet away. so yes, they saw the whole thing as well. I screamed and dropped joel and pulled my skirt up but the damage had been done. I think it's safe to say I reached the color of red that you only see on firetrucks and stop signs. it was a goodie:)
so we have a baptism on saturday!!!!! she is this adorable 17 year old girl, she's iban, and she is sooooo sassy and boy crazy. needless to say, we are kindred spirits:) I love her so much. we have fun teaching her. I remember back to our first lesson, we taught her how to pray because she had never done that before. I think I wrote about that? well she prayed and it was so touching to be there for her first prayer. but she kept asking me about praying before we left, so I told her that prayers come from our hearts. we can pray about anything we want. things that we love, things that we're scared of, things we're worried about, maybe we just want to say how happy we are, whatever. and she still was apprehensive about it. so I told her that until she felt more comfortable just praying, she could write down a little prayer that she thought would be good, and then as she was praying if she forgot or got nervous, she could just look at the words on her paper. anyway, I told her this, and then we left. the next lesson, she was SO amped, and she pulls out this adorable little paper with her prayer written on it. she had scratched out so many different words so many times, rewritten everything, it was adorable. and on it, part of her prayer was (in malay) "thank you for sister jensen who taught me how to pray" basically, I took one look at that and I lost it. it was a really special moment. especially because she's so sassy! she's not cuddly like that haha. but that was really sweet I thought and I was really touched. missions are incredible. they are the biggest blessing. I am so blessed to be able to be a part of helping someone learn to pray. it's just unreal sometimes. it's unreal at just how real the work we are doing is.
we have been spending a lot of time at this one house, and in one of the rooms lives this man and his family. we have taught the man a few times, he is kindof intense. but we have only taught his family once. I adore his family. one of his daughters is the one that farted in my face. haha. anyway, I particularly love his wife. she is super sweet. anyway, when we were over there we had invited them to come to church (like we have been doing since day one) and they always say they can't promise. and week after week, they never came. until this sunday. when what do you know, all six of them strolled in to sacrament meeting. together. the whole family TOGETHER! at church!! ahhh. words can't describe the feelings in my heart. seriously. so cheesy, but it was one of the happiest moments of my mission thus far. seeing a whole family come together to church. we are so excited and gonna keep trying to help and encourage their family. weee.
so I'm reading the new testament, probably mentioned, and I am almost done with the Acts. I must say, I love Peter. but I LOOOVE Paul. he is a stud. I love him because he is the perfect example of what the gospel can do in someones life. I mean he was naughty naughty and doing all sorts of bad things. then, on his way to go do more bad things, he has a vision. immediately following that, he changes his life. he becomes a disciple of Christ, and then an apostle. and the rest of his life, he works his butt of going all over the "world" preaching the gospel. and he was persecuted! he went through allllll sorts of hard things. people were mean to him. and he just kept going, it seems like it wasn't even possible for him to get discouraged or tired. he just kept going. I loved that. I forgot my bible today or else I'd share a few verses that I particularly loved, but basically all of acts is really good. I found such a strong example in him and his journey that he made in his life, and it gives me hope and comfort that it's never too late to change your life and follow Christ. we just have to do it. and when we do, when we decide to stop the things that are killing us spiritually, and decide to turn to Christ and move forward, He doesn't say, "yeah, you made some stupid mistakes so I will never respect you as much as the other people that didn't make those mistakes..." He loves us. Paul became an apostle! I also think of Alma the younger in the same regard. our pasts are forgotten when we repent and turn to Christ. I always think of one of our recent converts when I think about that. his was the same thing, he made such a huge journey in his life, and now he is SO SOLID. he is so solid. it makes me emotional to see just how much his life has changed, and to hear him tell me how grateful he is that he found Christ.
I'm not sure if I've mentioned Angel...she is this little recent convert. she's 8. she's beautiful. and basically she is my favorite little person on earth. her auntie is the member that always feeds us and cooks delicious food and cakes. yeah, basically I adore the two of them more than I can say. when everything else fails, there is always Angel and Josie. they're my family here. anyway, it was really hysterical. the other day Angel was trying to teach me chinese. and she kept yelling at me because I could never sound just right. she literally was yelling at me. haha. it made me think of tomas and how I'd always get annoyed when I could never make the right chinese noises and he'd keep making me try. its hard! chinese is hard. but I love it and I'm gonna learn it when I get home. yesterday though Angel gave me this little drawing she had done of me and her and it was so cute. my hair was even drawn in like the true mullet I'm rocking right now:)
I love life a lot. it's scary how fast it's moving. sister hite goes home in less than two months. that's weird! sad. she's devastated. it's gonna be weird for me too, having a new companion. maybe I'll get lucky and they'll send me Norton:) haha. just playing. everyone in the whole mission knows we love each other so that will never happen I feel. oh well.
anyway. I love you all. have a good week okay?
happy good day!!
(that was an sms we got from an investigator who likes to show off his english...)
pictures:
1. me, hite, and ANGEL my darling. we were having fun. and I look ghetto but it's okay. the mullet is difficult to wear so it ends up being slicked back with a bun. isn't angel gorgeous?
2. me, an investigator, emma (the darling from england who did a 5 week rotation here for med school), and some random lady that wanted to be in the picture. :)
3. me and norton together AT LAST!!!!!! that is my 6 ringit (2.5 dollar) grandma dress I bought at the thrift store:) we decided we look older and fatter hahaha.
4. this was on a members balcony in singapore. their apartment was absolutely unreal. you guys would have flipped.
5. adrian, me, hite. adrian is soon to be elder harun! he is leaving this week. he will be serving in the salt lake city south mission! pretty sure it's the south one. you should send him a package or something while he's in the mtc. he's adorable. it's a big day for his family and the branch. I can't believe he's going to my home while I'm in his! haha. life.
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