There and Back Again

Well everyone, the time has come. I'm going home tomorrow!

First off, here's a little summary of my mission:

• MTC (Provo, Utah) - 2 months
• St. Genis-Pouilly - 3 months, 10 days
• Lyon - 5 months, 15 days
• Toulouse - 5 months, 15 days
• Grenoble - 6 months, 28 days

And my comps: 

• Elder Fristrup, 
• Elder Pien, 
• Elder Jenkins, 
• Elder Bleak,
• Elder Zhu, 
• Elder Pien again, 
• Elder Peron, 
• Elder Preator, 
• Elder Alvarenga, 
• Elder Masterson.

When my sister went home from her mission last year, my brother gave her a good piece of advice that I've treasured ever since: "You won't be a perfect missionary at the end of your mission any more than you'll be a perfect person at the end of your life." There have been numerous times on my mission I didn't feel good enough or wondered why I didn't feel like the spiritual soldier I thought I should be. It really is all about how much you trust God :) Mission life was never meant to be easy, but I've loved it!

While I was serving in Toulouse, I had kind of an epiphany: I realized that it's okay if the extremes of my life don't happen on my mission!  It's okay if my time on the mission doesn't include the absolute happiest, saddest, hardest, and most spiritual days of my life. In fact, I seriously hope that's not the case! I fully expect and hope that during the rest of my life, I will have happier, sadder, harder, and more spiritual experiences than I ever had on the mission. Keep in mind, that doesn't diminish the value of the experiences I've had! Au contraire, they're even more valuable for having prepared me for the happy, sad, hard, and spiritual days to come. The MTC was a great training experience for the mission, but the mission itself is a great training experience for life. I will treasure the experience of my mission for the rest of my life.

I know Jesus is my Savior! I know that He directs this work, since there's no other way that such a motley crew of college kids in white shirts and ties or skirts could have so much success in bringing God's children to the truth of where we're from, why we're here, and where we're going. We learn a lot about those truths in the temple, so it was especially awesome to finish my mission with the dedication of the Paris Temple. Wonderful experience :)

I love you all! See you on the other side :)

Elder Garrett Jensen

江长老

I held a 3200000000 year old space rock

Pretty much all the announcements at church for the past month or more have been about the Paris temple dedication. Not complaining :) T-minus 6 days! 🇫🇷

Last week we had zone conference and talked about, among other things, true love and eternal marriage. Nottrunkynottrunkynottrunkynottrunkynottrunky Sœur Brown is a spunky mission mom, so she showed us a compilation of all the times Wesley from the Princess Bride says "As you wish." Oh man. She also shared the story of how she and President Brown met, it was sooooo funny :) we talked a lot about the temple of course, including how personal this blessing is to the French people. As missionaries, we kind of mentally divide the country into North and South (Paris and Lyon missions), but that line doesn't exist for people that actually live here! A temple in Versailles is a temple on mainland French soil, and that's a big deal! Cool thought :)

Toward the end of zone conference Sœur Filbrandt (from Bern, Suisse) and I had the opportunity to go up and bear our testimonies, it was really cool :) I know Christ lives!

After zone conference we had kind of an adventure: all four of us Elders had to hurry from the Ecully chapel to the Lyon gare so we could catch a train back to Grenoble to catch a bus out to Allevard to have dinner with some members, but literally 10 seconds after we arrived in the gare, our train was cancelled. The next train after that was shown as cancelled as well, so there was no chance we would make our bus. We went to the desk and exchanged our tickets for some going the long way around through Chambéry and down to Pontcharra, a town close to Allevard. We also took a train back from Pontcharra to Grenoble, so we were pretty much outside Grenoble for 15 hours that day. Got free tiramisu once after zone conference and once at the mangez-vous though, so it was worth it.

Wednesday we went to visit an awesome young family in the world who lives out about 35 minutes from Grenoble, it was super fun :) the day after that we went to see a referral we got from a member, but it didn't go so well. We rang at their gate, but the husband just opened the window, yelled that they weren't interested, and closed the window. We called the member and asked what to do, and his answer was "just try again!" The couple in the house didn't look so happy to have two Témoins de Jehovah back ringing at their gate, but the husband donned shoes, a jacket, and an umbrella (it was raining; we kind of looked like wet rats) to come out to the gate and talk to us. We explained we were friends of this member and that we weren't here to force him into religion or even try to convince him or anything, but he was super closed. So sad :'( But remember, rejection doesn't mean you're a bad missionary! Even Jesus got rejected!

At the end of the week we hung out in centre ville with a Jesuit geologist. Really cool bro, knows a lot about rocks and had some super nice crystals for sale. He told us about how his career proves the existence of God, since there's no way perfectly formed crystals and gems and stuff don't have a divine creator. I wholeheartedly agree with him :) He also let me and Elder Masterson hold a rock that was 3,2 billion years old, made of pure iron, and somehow made its way to the Earth from somewhere in the asteroid belt. Dope.

Something else big happened this week: I finally finished reading Jesus the Christ! For all who don't know, it's a fancily-worded, highly intellectual, over 750-page book all about Jesus Christ, written by an apostle back in like 1915. I started it in the MTC almost two years ago, and just finished this last week. Having learned more now about Christ before this life, during His mortal life, His mission after the Resurrection, and prophecies about Him that have yet to be fulfilled, I can once again testify: I know that Jesus is the Christ! Essentially, that means He is the one who volunteered and was chosen by God to sacrifice himself for all the other billions of God's children. The purpose of life is to be on the winning team, God's team, when Satan will be vanquished just before the final judgement. However, that victory could only be possible if Christ succeeded in living a sinless life and in atoning for our sins. He did! Thanks to Him, we have the opportunity to live with God again :)

Love you! Hasta luego!

Elder Jensen

江长老

French garden

Pics

We found ancestors' names that need temple work done! Yaayyy!

This is a guy with a bunch of roller blade wheels fixed on a dope Iron Man-type suit, I literally read about him in the news before my mission! And then we saw him in Valence! Holy cow!

In that tan colored tile on the other side of the road, it says "here stood the rampart of the 3rd century."

🌸 April flowers bring May showers 🌧

If I could describe this past week in a word, it would be "wet." For some reason, early to mid-April was kinda warm and plenty sunny all the time, but the past couple weeks have just been rain rain rain every day. Hopefully it'll clear up soon!

As for things you actually want to hear about, there's not a ton of news. We got to see our old less-active recent convert, she's pretty nuts but just as her as ever. We were supposed to see another less-active, but he got pretty sick so had to cancel.

Thursday was district meeting! That was fun, we talked about how and why to teach with the Spirit as well as about inviting amis to act. No action = no results!

On Friday morning we were supposed to be heading to Valence on exchange, but we barely missed our train. It was my fault! Once we printed out the tickets, I grabbed them and just ran but accidentally left Elder Masterson behind since he didn't know the gare as well as I do after six and a half months here. Too late I looked behind me and realized what had happened, but still assumed he wasn't far behind. I was in the train waiting for him, ready to hold the door if it tried to close, but after about ten seconds I started to really wonder, so I got off and jogged back into the gare to find my companion. To all you missionary trainers out there: don't run away from your trainee and assume they know where to go! I apologized and then we sat in the gare and did studies until the next train two and a half hours later. Once we got to Valence we met up with our district leader Elder Gaspar (hilarious/crazy Cape Verdean/Portuguese/Dutch) and Elder Vera (Chinese-speaking Argentine/Uruguayan/Canadian). They're quite the équipe. We had a fun time porting! Elder Vera and I met a kind Italian babysitter who might be interested! She mentioned that just that afternoon they'd had an American girl from Oregon of all places teaching the kids English! Small world, eh? That night we went to Valence Ward Council, it was almost entirely focused on being ready for the Paris temple dedication. I'm soooo eexcciitteedd

We also went to MacDo three times that day, but don't worry

The next morning I took about five wrong turns on the way to the gare to come back to Grenoble, so we missed that train as well. It was raining so I ended up being completely soaked, along with the paper sack carrying my clothes. It had basically disintegrated by the time we got close to the gare, so I just wrapped all my stuff in a towel and called it good.

On Sunday I got to bear my testimony in sacrament meeting! It was awesome, you really do get close to a ward when you stay for so long. That night we went to one of my favorite family's places for dinner, and they're pretty politically minded so, it being the night of the French presidential elections, they pulled up the news right as they were about the show the results! Congratulations to Emmanuel Macron, may he reign in righteousness all his days.

Today we went shopping. Voilà quoi.

A really cool thought was brought up in district meeting that I'd like to share with you!

Imagine that God only had 2 children: Jesus and you. You both come to earth and live your lives and, of course, He is perfect and you are not. You make a lot of mistakes as we mortals tend to do. Jesus Christ would still have atoned for all your sins and all your pains! He loves you that much! His love isn't just for God's family in general, but for each one of us individually. Think about that one for a bit :)

Love you all! See you soon!

Elder Jensen

江长老

Pics

Those are our transfer numbers

Never thought I'd stay a night outside a missionary apartment

A kind dude took a picture for us today. That long straight road behind us is the street we live on (and longest avenue in Europe...?)

"Historical souvenir: NAPOLEON came down into this hotel where he stayed the 7th, 8th, and 9th of March 1815 on his return from the Isle of Elba."

Grenoble is a pretty swaggy place ("baby foot" means foosball, as in "baby football")

Check your pocket for the keys before you close the door

Well, this has been one of the most eventful weeks of my whole mission. I'll try to elaborate:

Last Monday we did a cool hike and had an amazing view. It's called Le Moucherotte, I'll send pictures!

Tuesday actually wasn't too crazy, we went contacting and found a nice young Vietnamese guy :)

Wednesday is when things really started going down. All four of us Elders were at a member's house for lunch down the street from a McDonald's (known in France as MacDo). We had noticed that some gendarmes were closing down the tram line outside and putting up yellow tape everywhere, but we had no idea why. During lunch, the Sœurs called us to let us know that a less-active had just called them saying that there had been an explosion in the bathroom of the MacDo. That was super weird déjà, but after lunch we're walking home and we get a call from President Brown instructing us to return to our apartment as quick as possible and to stay there until further notice. We all figured it wasn't a terrorist attack (more of a situation like the one in Elder Renlund's October 2016 talk), but better safe than sorry! We did that and then, also acting under instruction from President Brown, called our families to tell them briefly what had happened and that we were okay so they wouldn't worry if it showed up on the news later that day. The time difference a fait que my phone call was a rather harsh 6 am wake-up alarm for my poor mother, but she handled it nicely :) Love you Mom! President called back an hour later to liberate us, but said that we should probably avoid MacDo that night. So, that was an experience.

Thursday: The same member who had fed us the day before wanted us to meet him en ville so he could give us some bolognaise sauce he had made. It was super super good :) In the early afternoon, the other Elders went to Valence (more than an hour's train ride away) for an exchange. Remember that. That evening we met with Umberto and helped him prep for his first ever sacrament meeting talk! Afterwards, we popped back into the apartment for a couple minutes and then headed back out. Key detail: our apartment door auto-locks. I closed the door behind me and felt my pocket to make sure I had everything. Not only did I not have everything, I had nothing! I had my cell phone, but no bus pass, no keys, no cards, rien. Normally we'd just ask the other Elders to come open it for us but remember where they were? Yep, Valence. We went over our options (break down our front door, go through our neighbor's apartment and climb onto the balcony and break down that door, call a locksmith (way expensive), or maybe just ask the Sœurs if they had a extra key laying around since their apartment used to belong to an équipe of Elders). We took the last option and while waiting for the Sœurs to bring any extra keys they could find, talked to Francisco, an old Spanish guy who sits outside the church pretty often. The Sœurs came, we tried their extra keys, nothing worked. We called the office and asked the office Elders what we should do, since they have extra keys for every apartment but they also live in Lyon which is an hour and a half away. We tossed around a lot of options regarding trains and where we might possibly stay the night, but finally they just asked President what he thought we should do. He thought we should try to find a member to stay with for the night! Our first thought was in fact the very member who had given us the bolognaise sauce earlier that day, since he has a nice apartment and lives nearby. We called him to explain the situation, he said he'd check with his roommate, and we bought Domino's pizza. He called back saying that we could come, and that's how we ended up spending the night trying to fall asleep in two big armchairs with our feet propped up on this member's coffee table. We watched a conference talk with him and he told us all about the upcoming Presidential elections. It's pretty nuts.

The next morning we had breakfast and tried to do some studies, then just wandered around the city contacting until the other Elders came back. They did and we got their keys, but then they promptly went straight back to Valence to retrieve Elder Stephens' wallet that he'd accidentally left in the Valence gare. That night we saw a less-active family and discussed Christ's Atonement using the New Testament Children's Stories book. It went well!

Saturday was the baptism of someone the Sœurs have been teaching. They used to be a member, but had their records removed a long time ago, and recently decided to come back!

Sunday there was practically no one at church. All the members had been at the Bern Temple all week and then went to see the Paris temple over the weekend, so it was one of the lowest attended sacrament meetings I've ever been to. Par contre, I just heard that the Versailles Ward (where the temple is) had about 700 members at church! That's what happens when half the members in France visit Paris on the same weekend.

Today we hiked a bit around the Bastille. Since it's Labor Day here, there is absolutely zero public transport running. We've walked a fair amount today :/

Despite the turbulent times we live in, whether on a nationwide scale or just within your own heart and soul, know that there is one thing that will never change: God loves you! He wants what's best for you so He lets you endure trials to help you grow. Thanks to Him, we have our families and friends and the sunshine and mashed potatoes and purple flowers and everything else that is good in the world :) Remember that love next time you're in distress!

Love y'all, see you later!

Elder Jensen

江长老

Cool pics from today's hike

Ooooohh

The gang

That slide thing is the abandoned ski jump from the 1968 Olympics. Cool, eh?

Just wow. If you follow the chain of snowy mountains off to the left, you'll see Mont Blanc (below and to the right of that puffy cloud).

Please work with the members

Hello friends and family :)

I've realized recently just how easy it is to be teaching amis no problem one week, and be fresh out the next week. We've been out contacting, but it hasn't been very effective. Nevertheless, we press on! We met with a member this past week for lunch and he gave us about five referrals for friends and coworkers of his! Yay! We haven't started teaching any of them yet, but we've started making contact with them and they seem pretty cool. Hopefully that will lead to at least a few new amis coming soon!

In other news, we got to have dinner this past week with an awesome member family. We shared a message about the Paris Temple, which works really well with the members right now because a lot of them are going to the open house this week! This week is actually Grenoble's reserved week at the Bern Switzerland Temple, so a lot of members are taking the opportunity to pop up to Paris at the end of the week after spending a few days in Suisse.

Sadly, one of the major events of this past week was my companion's falling ill.... kind of a rough go when he's just arrived in a foreign country, struggles to communicate with the locals, and was having a hard time staying awake even when he wasn't sick. Still, Elder Masterson's a trooper and didn't complain :) he just had a cold that lasted for a few days before spreading to both Elder Graff and Elder Stephens, but even they've mostly gotten over it by now. I would hope so, since today for p-day we hiked a mountain that overlooks the whole valley and when the rest of us stopped partway up (still a spectacular view) and turned around, Elders Graff and Stephens carried on and reached the summit, coming down a couple hours after the rest of us. We had been told by a member that it was an easy hike, but we found out fairly quickly that it wasn't. In fact, it was the opposite of easy. Still a fun day :)

As a mission, we're focusing on finding our ancestors and bringing them the blessings of the temple. That's what we're trying to help our members and recent converts do, so it seemed appropriate not to exclude the missionaries themselves! I spent some time on FamilySearch and found a couple names, but they're not my direct ancestors. I'll keep looking, trusting that the Lord will guide me :) the work that we do as missionaries isn't just for a few people, or even a few million! It's for everyone! Everyone currently on the Earth, everyone that will live here, and everyone that has lived here before. That's why temple work is so important, it takes the same blessings we've received and offers them to our ancestors who never got to receive them during their lives. That is God's work :) (Moses 1:39, Pearl of Great Price) I know it's true!

Now, go to! Find your families! Godspeed!

Elder 江
(Jensen长老)

Pics

Les Hommes en Noir

Fraaaaaaance

Plant trying to eat a building? Not sure exactly

Funny ad :)

Pics

Elder Masterson and I

Three trainers on a bench

I'm a white girl

Now I'm a wizard

The Master's Son

Bonjour à tous!

Man, this has been a crazy past week. First, you should know that in the past week, I've had Domino's pizza three times, kebabs twice, Chinese buffet once, and KFC once. Bleh. I want a fresh salad with some olive oil and raspberry vinaigrette.

So yeah, I have a fresh, shiny, new comp straight outta Utah! Sort of, he's actually from Southern California ☀️ His name is Elder Masterson (hence the title of this email, hehehe) and he's a great guy. One of the first things I noticed about him was his slim suit and European-style shoes, both of which he got in the US of A. A lot of missionaries leave the mission looking like that, but not many come in that way! Hashtag swaggiest blue in the mission 🕶

After meeting Elder Masterson on Wednesday afternoon, we all went to the Parc de la Tête d'Or to go contacting! It was interesting, our last contact was these two girls from Paris who had heard about a temple being built in Versailles and were actually interested! They didn't want to give us a phone number, but hopefully they'll get in contact with the missionaries là-bas.

Thursday morning we went porting :) we went to Dardilly, this super nice neighborhood in Ecully sector, and had a blast. Elder Masterson never studied French before the mission, but he did great and continues to do so! They grow up so fast.

We got back to Grenoble around 20h00 Thursday night, so we didn't have time to do anything but dinner. Friday, we went over to a member's place for lunch and watched a conference talk with him, so that was fun. Then we saw a 78-year-old recent convert whom we see practically every week. It's hard for her to come to church because of health problems, but she's really funny and individual (best word I can find to describe her). Elder Masterson didn't understand a word she said, bless his heart. However, it's not entirely his fault, I blame it at least partially on her severe lack of teeth.

Seeing Elder Masterson go through so many "firsts" reminds me of me being a blue. His first Sunday was kinda rough, just like mine. Feeling lost, still jet lagged, trying to understand but failing and getting tireder because of that, etc. Things get better!

Also relating to the title of the email, here's a little thought for you: often the word Master in the scriptures refers to Christ, but I'd like to use it this once to refer to Heavenly Father, unequivocal Master of the Universe and all things past, present, and future. In that case, the Master's Son refers to Jesus Christ, who was sent by His Father to Earth to redeem us all. Christ was born like all of us are and was pretty normal at first. However, as He grew He learned who He really was and eventually realized what His duty was. Instead of backing down, He "drank the bitter cup" and suffered beyond anything we can imagine. To top it all off, He was crucified. His apostles were ready to let it go at that, accept that Christ had suffered all things for all people, be grateful for it, and then "go a fishing." God had other plans. The message we hold and the reason that we don't display the symbol of the cross is this: Christ was resurrected! He conquered death! No one had ever done that before! It was impossible, which is why the apostles didn't understand when Christ told them that He would be crucified and then rise on the third day. Rise he did, and because He lives we too will live again. Resurrection is a free gift given to everyone, no restrictions. Without that, we wouldn't be able to inherit "all that the Father hath." Without the gift of His own life, we would have zero hope at ever achieving any degree of joy after this life. Everything was weighing on Christ, and He won. Happy Easter :)

Tonight, make sure you say a little prayer of gratitude for Him :) then do it again the next night. And the next. And so on and so forth. Gratitude and Humility are godly virtues, you know!

I love you all! Christ loves you more!

Elder Jensen

江长老

Mr. Grenoble

To one and all,

When I first started the mission, I was told that it's normal to stay two or three transfers in a ville. Staying four gives you bragging rights, but staying five or more gives you the coveted title of "Mr. (name of the ville)."

So voilà :) I'm staying a fifth transfer in Grenoble! At the end of this transfer it'll be about 7 months total that I've been here. 鏖长老 has departed into a faraway land of wonder known to all the world as Marseille, one of the most dangerous cities in Europe. Needless to say, it was his dream ville. Hashtag no fear.

So what about my new comp? Truth is, I don't know who it is yet. I'm training again! I'm sitting in the Lyon young adult center right now, after sitting at the gare all day and helping put heavy suitcases on trains, take them off trains, and eating at Burger King ;) There aren't a lot of blues coming in, just five Elders and one Sœur. Nice cozy little group.

Saying goodbye to Elder Alvarenga was weird, we've spent the last five and a half months together. It was time to change though, we both knew it. This past week was cool, the Grenoble sœurs had a baptism! It's a woman who's been taking the lessons for about six months and is the friend of a member family. Member work works! :) it was a really good baptism, some other amis came to see how it worked and they interacted well with members and Elder Abney sang as always. He, by the way, left to St. Raphaël today. I was in Grenoble before he arrived and I'm staying when he leaves. Weird.

Something I've learned a lot out here (that I'm always trying to apply to myself) is the important of constant effort. Yeah sometimes a lot of force is useful, but most often I think slight pressure over a longer period of time brings the change you want! I'll give you some examples: teaching Chinese amis! You can't just force someone to believe in God. It comes little by little, over a period of months or years, as you point out times that God manifests himself in our lives. Through simple, sincere prayer and regular scripture study, subtle feelings or just snippets of thoughts (which come from the Holy Spirit) eventually all snowball into a solid testimony.

Example number two: we have a recently reactivated member in Grenoble who has been in a rough situation for a really long time. We've been working with them for a little while, and sometimes this member is really happy about coming back and is full of hope! Other times they'll shy away and express negative feelings that don't come from God. Still, we've never given up and we've prayed a lot that God will help this member solve their problems. Today I found out this person's life just went through a major development that will allow their spiritual progress to skyrocket! We didn't do a single big, important, grandiose thing, but through just little things God worked a miracle :) Never give up! Even if you think nothing is changing, keep it up and you'll see the light :)

江长老




Our reaction to transfer calls




We walked a recent convert's dog




This adorable French-Mexican baby was eating Elder Graff's plaque :)




Homemade poutine!




Poisson cru! With Heiva from Bora Bora

Pics

The crew




Gregory lives in that (it's basically an apartment building)




A sign on the way up the Bastille warning me to watch my heart rate and take deep breaths




Horchata in a bag

Things is heating up...

...in a number of ways. First of all, the weather itself is a lot warmer! I've gone without a sweater a few days lately, spring really has sprung here in Grenoble! I was looking at some pictures from when we first got here and I'd forgotten that the trees were all still green and leafy back then, but winter came fairly quick after that. Almost 5 1/2 months later and the trees are nice and green again :)

Secondly, the Paris temple! The stake youth are all going to Lyon to practice for the cultural assembly, as are youth in other stakes from all over the country. We've been trying to prepare people to go to the temple since before I got in the mission and the time is nearly here! Aaaahhhh

Thirdly, transfers! Calls are coming this Friday, and given that Elder Alvarenga and I have been together for 4 transfers we're expecting a change. What that change will be I just don't know, but it'll be interesting for sure!

Last week we hiked up to the Bastille, the fort overlooking the city of Grenoble. We hiked it once in the morning 3 transfers ago along a trail and last transfer we took the bubbles (cable cars) up, but this time we took the stairs. Be ye warned, it's not for the faint of heart, faint of lung, or faint of quadriceps. About halfway up I was dying, due to the severe lack of cardio from which I've been suffering for a long time. Exercising at 6h30 in the morning is hard. I stopped to rest for a few minutes and took it easier on the way up and ended up being fine, but all 6 of us were mighty sore the next day!

This past week we went to drop a letter at our recent convert's house in the hills down south of Grenoble. We hadn't been able to find it last time, but we did this time! It would've been a lot easier if he'd told us he lived in a massive château. I couldn't get a real decent picture of it, but I'll send you what I have.

Thursday was district meeting! We had a suivi on Zone Conference and Hope and how we're going to help our amis have this hope for the future. Something that I really liked from the meeting (I don't remember who brought this up) was that we don't just wear a plastic nametag with Christ's name on it. We have been called by God himself and set apart by the power of His priesthood to represent His Son Jesus Christ! It follows that we should have the ability to promise blessings to people with the assurance that they will come true. For example, "If you pray sincerely to know if the Book of Mormon is true and promise God that once you receive that answer you'll do your best to follow His will, I promise that you'll receive and recognize an answer." Or another example: "I promise that after your baptism, as you keep reading the Book of Mormon, praying daily, and attending church regularly, your marriage will become more stable than it's ever been." These are big, important promises! However, God wants to bless His children with the truth and He has called us to help bring it to them.

This brings me to a scripture I really like:

"Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not." (D&C 6:36)

It was quoted in General Conference too :) I should have more to say about General Conference later, but the initial thought is this: it was really good! I watched most of the Conference in French with Elder Graff, it was good motivation to keep me alert since if I even start to zone out I immediately don't understand. Funny how foreign languages work sometimes. There were a lot of good talks, I don't think I could choose a favorite right now. I'll be watching the Sunday Afternoon Session this week sometime, it's the only one we haven't seen yet.

I hope that spiritual thought is enough for y'all today! Love you lots! If you have questions feel free to email me!

Elder Jensen out
江长老

"You can't eat rice for 3 meals a day." -Elder Abney

Howdy everybody! I hope you're doing well. If you're not doing well...

1) Take a deep breath.
2) Smile slightly.
3) Get out a piece of paper and write down all the things you have to do in order to feel better, whether it be physical, emotional, spiritual, etc.
4) Rank them in order of importance.
5) Do the most important one first.
6) Once it's done, reward yourself with something delicious, like tiramisu.
7) Continue down the list in like manner until your life is figured out.
8) Thank me later ;)

We had a good week! It really flew by just like the week before, and the week before that, and the week before that, and so on and so forth. Mission life is crazy. Did you know that?

There's something I forgot to mention that happened to us last week or the week before: we were to our way to the museum in centre ville and Elder Abney and I, like the obnoxious Americans we are, were speaking to each other in English. A woman standing a couple feet away leans over and says with a sly smile, "Vous êtes en France, parlez français." ("You're in France, speak French.") Before either of us could get a word out, Elder Alvarenga stepped directly between us and the woman and proved to her (very politely) that he was a native French speaker. He finds lots of opportunities to do that! Turns out she had been visited for a while by sister missionaries a long time ago, and she was fairly nice.

This week was Zone Conference! Lyon and Ecully Zones got together, it was really fun :) We had a great conference about hope. President asked for a show of hands on how many équipes were teaching amis who are ready for baptism, but don't want to get baptized. Too many hands went up, as they've been doing in other zone conferences. We discussed how we can help our amis see that the commandments and commitment to Christ and new responsibilities are nothing compared to the joy that is set before them. The restored Gospel of Jesus Christ brings sooooo many blessings, and too many of our amis haven't internalized that. This foundation of faith and hope starts with our example as missionaries (read: guides), so we discussed what a hopeful, repentant missionary looks like. Now we just have to go out and be that missionary :)

Other things we did this week: Pass out flyers and set up/take down for a blood drive they held here at the chapel. It was kinda fun and we got free food :)

We went to a single sœur's house and got sooooo full on couscous. I thought Elder Alvarenga might throw up, but he's a tough cookie.

On Saurday I had an exchange with Elder Graff whom I met at Camp Helaman back in 2014! Small world :) We did some passes up in the hills of Northeastern Grenoble and it rained all day and we walked up a huge hill and got soaked and then a very kind Muslim/Jewish/Christian man offered us a ride down. More blessings for him :)

Something else from Zone Conference that I loved was a quote from Elder Battezzato, currently Lyon zone leader: "There is no way that a loving Dad sent us far away from home without a way to come back." It's so true! I love the simplicity of the Gospel. Either Christ lived or He didn't. He did! Either He was the Son of God, or He wasn't. He was! Either He atoned for our sins, or He didn't. He did! God loves you. He always has and always will. He answers prayers, even when we think He doesn't. I've had times in my life when I was discouraged and had doubts, but I've already had too much evidence of the truthfulness of the Gospel to deny it. Count your blessings :)

Love you mucho!

Ciiaaaoooo

江长老

Pics 2

My comp is abusive

Elder Graff ft. The Great Apostasy

Paris Temple President on his last Sunday!

Lion and snake and sunshine

Photos

Fr. Bertola and Brigliadori ft. Cane sword and revolver

Us celebrating Pi Day with a couple tartelettes

nuff said

language study

possibly the most random thing I've ever found in a missionary apartment

Um green I guess? Subject lines are hard

Sorry all I'm a little out of time! Busy doing important things you know...

To start things off, here's a conversation between two bros I overheard in the tram:

"Qu'est-ce que tu fais là?"
"Je prends le tram, et toi?"
"Moi, pareil."

That translates to:

"Hey, what are you doing here?"
"Taking the tram, you?"
"Same."

It was kinda funny.

Elder Jensen hipster quote of the day: Before I discovered Chinese New Year, St. Patrick's Day was my favorite holiday 🍀 I made sure to wear green on Friday, I hope you did too!

Besides that, we had a pretty good week. We saw Gregory, he's ben really busy with work as normal but he's doing well. Just trying to get him ready for the Paris temple! Him as well as all the other recent converts and less-actives and everyone else. The ward had a little activity after church where they made letters for every member in the ward (particularly focused on less-actives) with an invitation to the Paris temple, to make sure as many people as possible will be able to participate. It's coming up so fast! This Sunday was also the Giraud-Carriers last Sunday in Grenoble! They're going to be the temple president couple in Paris and they start service at the end of this week. Sad to see them go, they're amazing. Happy though, since it means a great work has bien progressed in this great land!

On Thursday we went with a bishopric member to bring the sacrament to that older Italian member who just had knee surgery, he's walking and stuff now so he's recovering well. He showed us his cane sword and revolver and we exchanged ties with him :)

This week I was reading in Jesus the Christ, a great (albeit heavy) book all about His life and teachings. I read about the Parable of the Talents, found in Matthew 25:14-30. In it, the author explains how it's a human tendency to point out faults in others that we ourselves actually possess (see verse 24). That's something I'd never thought about before, but I've noticed is actually true! I've noticed that when I have un-Christlike thoughts towards people or am tempted to criticize, it's a great opportunity to turn inward and look for that flaw in myself. More often than I'd like, I find it! Then I'm more prepared to be patient, long-suffering, full of love, etc. as well as just fix that flaw in myself.

Isn't Christ just the wisest person ever? (p.s. the answer is yes ;)

Love you all! Have a great week!

And don't forget to be charitable, you'll feel lots better :)

Elder Jensen
江长老

My name is Elder John Rogers

No, I don't sleep in until 11 am or do nothing all day. If you remember from The Best Two Years, Elder Rogers almost had less months than Elder Calhoun had years. I take that to mean that Elder Rogers had 3 months left, or about two transfers. I also am in my 15th transfer, it's super weird.

Today was pretty chill, we went to the mall and then played volleyball in a park downtown. Nothing much to report, volleyball was just super fun :) it's been craaaazy warm lately, même pas besoin d'a sweater on certain days.

Last week was fun! We tried to go drop off a surprise letter to our recent convert who lives out in a teeny town outside Grenoble. We took a bus there and tried to find his house by walking up a long hill forever, but it turns out he lived way down at the bottom where we started and we just didn't see it. Finally we found his mailbox but still never found the front door. That should tell you a little something about French architecture 😒

On Saturday the Sœurs had a baptism! It was really nice :) the woman that got baptized was actually a friend of a couple from Mulhouse who have a son serving in our mission. I've met him once or twice, kind of fun to meet his parents :)

We met a less-active from Tahiti (question mark, he's white and French but lived on Raiatea for a while/grew up there? I'm still not sure) and hopefully he'll be coming back to church soon :)

In other news, CHINESE PEOPLE ARE THE FREAKING BEST 🇨🇳

Our friend Richard we met at the Chinese shop back in January and we've been playing cards with him for a few weeks now. We've also done a chapel tour and the first three lessons with him, he's really thoughtful and asks such good questions. Honestly that's my experience with Chinese amis, they ask ridiculously good, insightful questions. He's really humble and funny and I just want him to get baptized so he can have the best life possible. Yes he's happy already, but the Gospel offers potential growth and joy beyond your wildest dreams, and who wouldn't want that? He also says our Chinese is really good which is totally a lie but he's just super nice.

Here's an interesting thought, taken from D&C 101:7-8:


"They were slow to hearken unto the voice of the Lord their God; therefore, the Lord their God is slow to hearken unto their prayers, to answer them in the day of their trouble.

In the day of their peace they esteemed lightly my counsel; but, in the day of their trouble, of necessity they feel after me."

Verse 8 was cited by a member during the priesthood lesson on Sunday, and I liked verse 7 as well when I read it tout à l'heure. How many times do we (read: I) think, "I really need to get up and get working" and then don't? It happens to me more than it should. I'm partially stealing from the train of thought of another missionary whose letter I read today, but indecision is itself a decision! There is no lukewarmity to God! We all know how to tell between right and wrong, but how quick are we to act on that knowledge? There's a reason little kids at church run around with rings that say "Choose the Right" on them. It's because it's sooooo important, and it's so important to do it as quickly as possible. Sorry if I'm rambling a little bit, but I hope you pulled something out of this that you can apply to your life :)

Love y'all!

江长老

Christian Graff

Do you remember Christian Graff from Camp Helaman? He's from Kelso, Washington and he now lives in our apartment in Grenoble! He's in his 6th transfer. We were both at Camp Helaman in Oregon in 2014, small world huh?

Pics

It was really wet so I taped plastic bags around my feet.

Our adventure in Herbeys

Windows painted on the side of a building

Milestones

Hello world,

Today is March 6th. My mission call came two years ago today! I remember riding my homemade skateboard down to the mail room at BYUH and my heart skipping a beat when I found it stuffed into my mailbox. As exciting as that was, the next day was even crazier when I actually opened my call...

But I can't get too reminiscent now, I still have some time ahead of me! This week has been pretty good, including one of the craziest "coincidences" of my mission. More on that later.

On Tuesday we did some things... I don't remember honestly. Maybe that was the day we passed one of our amis randomly to check up on him working on Word of Wisdom and getting him to church, he didn't end up coming but we still have hope! Also we went to a tea shop to talk to the Chinese woman inside, she was so cool! When she found out we were learning Chinese, she immediately went into teacher mode and starting writing vocab on sticky notes and teaching us good grammar and stuff, it was awesome. She even took a Book of Mormon! :D

Okay here's the crazy experience of the week:

Wednesday we were invited to go to lunch with a less-active member we've been working on, he took us to this nice Italian restaurant and the food was super good (I got chicken with olive oil and lemon juice, pretty simple but so yummy). That afternoon we had decided to business contact an American/Canadian/English store we accidentally found one time, but we couldn't remember where it was. We wandered around in the rain forever combing the streets of downtown Grenoble, but finally had to give up. Back at the church we looked on Google maps and found it, deciding that we'd go at 10h the next morning. Now here's the weird part...

The next morning around 9h, we got a text from the same less active we'd eaten with the day before. He asked if we would come to a particular address at 10h, the exact same address as the store we'd already planned to go to at 10h! We told him yes of course, but didn't explain the "coincidence" (read: miracle) until we met him in person. He wanted us to come to the store so he could buy us some classic American/Canadian goodies, but the fact that we had planned to come to that exact store on that exact day at that exact time, having never told him that we were planning on it? Man, it was crazy. When we explained it to him, he mentioned that he's noticed God's hand in his life like that a lot lately. Super cool experience :) and that, my dear friends, is how we ended up with cans of maple syrup flavored baked beans in the apartment.

On Friday we taught our old ami, the almost 80 year old one. The lesson was kind of intense as usual, but still good. That night we had a ward party! I was never certain what the point of the party was, but it ended up being a good way to meet some new friends! Our awesome Chinese ami brought a friend whom we hope to start teaching this week and we met another cool guy from La Réunion. There was the option to wear costumes for the party as well for some reason, so naturally 鏖长老 and I donned our 帅est kung fu shirts and hats. The members loved it, people were taking pictures of us all night 😎🇨🇳🍜

Saturday was fun too, we weekly planned and had game night with one member and one ami (no one else showed up, too bad so sad. More chips for us).

Something fun about serving in France is that you can't always tell that someone's not native just by looking at them. For example: there were a ton of visitors at church on Sunday, so I went up to an older dude after sacrament meeting and (in French) asked his name. He replied with a very American name in a very American accent. Confused, I asked (in English this time) where he was from. San Diego. Turns out he had served a mission in France like 40 years ago and comes back to Grenoble for a week every year to go skiing. I didn't realize, but everyone in the ward knows him and he knows them. Still speaks amazing French, it was a funny happenstance :)

Remember all: God's in charge! There are no coincidences; everything happens for a reason! If you look for that reason, you'll find it. James 1:5 and Matthew 7:7 :)

Je vous aime!

江长老

Pics

Hi Kenny

After Italian food

MLK Jr. sighting

Ohhhh yeeeaaahhhh

Maple syrup beans and root beer

Ward party making me trunky

Eternal Marriage

Unsurprisingly, the subject line once again has reference to transfer results. I say "eternal marriage" because Elder Alvarenga and I are staying together again! I know other missions might be different, but doing four transfers in a row with the same companion is nigh unheard of here in the beautiful France Lyon Mission. I honestly only have one unconfirmed report of that possibly happening a couple years ago. Of all the many options we saw for transfers, this was not one of them. In fact, we expressly stated several times that we couldn't possibly stay together for a fourth transfer. And yet...

The Lord has plans, and ain't nobody can frustrate those plans! Satan has tried in a myriad of ways, but it's always been in vain.

So, the week: Tuesday was a good day! At 11h, we met our 78 year old ami and he took us out to lunch :) that was super fun. He took pictures of us so he could remember us once we left (we told him one of us would almost definitely leave), he's pretty adorable. That afternoon we were supposed to have a couple other rendez-vous but they both fell through soooooo I don't remember what we did actually. That night though, we went with a member to visit a younger woman whose husband is somewhere in France on military assignment. That was a fun visit, she made us coconut cake :D

Wednesday I was on exchange with Elder Mason! In the morning all four of us went to Voiron to see a very nearly 90 year old member. She comes to church every week and even brings a bar of chocolate for all the missionaries. She's a sainte. (yes that e is there on purpose ;) part of what makes her a sainte is the fact that she'll give anything away to someone she thinks needs it more, including her oven. She likes to make "cake" for the missionaries, but with no oven that's a little tricky. Her "cake" consists of butter, sugar, and cocoa all mushed together and flattened in a pan. If you imagine it as fudge, it's actually pretty good but still ridiculously sweet and fattening. We tried to finish it because she insisted, but once your mouth is numb and your stomach doesn't feel so hot anymore, it's hard to keep eating. Hashtag missionary probs. In the afternoon Elder Mason and I saw Gregory! He hasn't been able to come to church lately because of work, but he got to come yesterday just for sacrament meeting which was already an improvement :)

Thursday we got to see Umberto and teach him about the priesthood. Yesterday after church he had his interview with the bishop and will be receiving the Aaronic Priesthood next week! Yay! :D

Friday morning we tried to study but it was hard to focus. Around 10h President Brown called and gave us the big news about transfers. Elder Mason left today headed to Vitrolles (right next to Marseille) and Elder Abney got Elder Graff from Kelso, Washington. Fun to have a fellow Northwesterner in the apartment! 🌲🌲🐿🌲 On Friday from 13h-15h (1-3 pm) we were helping a family from Angoulême move a couple trucks full of stuff into a storage box. We went straight from that move to another one for a single sister in the ward that lasted until 20h (8 pm) that night and then for another 3 and a half hours the next day. We were pretty sore, but that's okay.

Today we said goodbye to Elder Mason and Sœur Rutter (she's going to Clermont-Ferrand) and then wandered around town for a while visiting cool basilicas and stuff. For Grenoble's relative fame, it's actually crazy small. Usually we take trams, but when it takes 20 minutes on foot to get from one side of the city to the other, we just walk sometimes.

On Sunday, Elder Alvarenga and I taught the Gospel Principles lesson on Sacrifice. I learned a lot :) there were two things I really liked: 1) If you sacrifice something you have a lot of, you're not really making a sacrifice. 2) The purpose behind making a sacrifice should be because we love God and thereby our fellow men, not for the intent of receiving a reward. Yes sacrifice brings blessings, but that shouldn't be the motivation behind the action. When we truly love God, we're willing to do whatever He asks, whether or not we're going to receive anything. That's how love works! I still have a long way to go in this regard, but it'll come little by little.

Love you all!
Elder Jensen
江长老

Repent ye, repent ye

Hi everyone! I'm out of time! Soary aboat that 🇨🇦

The highlight from this past week was Umberto's baptism :) I sadly don't have pictures, they're all on my camera...I'll try to get you those next week.

On Sunday we went to the hospital to visit an older member who just got knee surgery. He's the one who knew Elder Alvarenga's family back in Peru like 50 years ago. He's super funny, still in good spirits despite the knee problems :)

Also, we had Zone Conference! It was really good, we talked more about the temple and helping people understand why we have it. Who knew there were so many benefits to having a temple, or maybe 150? ;)

Joanna came to Grenoble today, we went up to the Bastille (mountainside fortress overlooking the city). It was cool :) we took the bubbles! C'est à dire, the little spherical cable cars. Here's some inspiring media.

The title of this email is because I had a rather intense experience this week where it was brought to my attention how much we really need Christ. It was a tough experience and still is, but I realize better know that there really is only one way to salvation. I will cite some scriptures:

"Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?" (Matt. 6:27)

"And moreover, I say unto you, that there shall be no other name given nor any other way nor means whereby salvation can come unto the children of men, only in and through the name of Christ, the Lord Omnipotent.

For behold he judgeth, and his judgment is just; and the infant perisheth not that dieth in his infancy; but men drink damnation to their own souls except they humble themselves and become as little children, and believe that salvation was, and is, and is to come, in and through the atoning blood of Christ, the Lord Omnipotent.

For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father." (Mosiah 3:17-19)

These scriptures became pretty poignant this week. Please oh please oh please, don't be like the Pharisees and fall into the trap of self-righteous complacency! Acknowledge your nothingness before God and humbly, sincerely ask Him to forgive your many, many faults. Without Christ, our advocate with the Father, we don't have a chance.

Love you!
江长老