Jaiden's 11th Birthday

I will post more later, but here are a few pictures for now of Jaiden's 11th Birthday! 

Out to lunch with Mom at the Pizza Factory the day before!

 Opening Presents! 

 Jaiden was excited that she had made her very first cake! 

 Her new PJ's! 

Pack Meeting -- Josh Wolf

Josh received his Wolf today at Pack Meeting.  He actually got it last month before his birthday but had to miss that pack meeting because it conflicted with his choir concert.  So he got it today instead. 

All Josh has at home are basketball shorts which don't work well with a scout shirt and so I decided to step it up a little by getting him some official scout shorts.  He didn't grab his belt but probably will next time in order to get one more jolly rancher during uniform inspection! 

Jenna had fun playing with her good friends, Clarissa and Anna.  It is nice that they all three have brothers in cub scouts so that they can play together at Pack Meetings! 

Summer Fun!

Cute neighbor kids in our yard playing with Jenna (and Jared -- ha ha!)  

MTC Letter 2: MTC IS ALMOST DONE

Hello World!!!!

This has been the longest and shortest week and a half of my life. The MTC has ruined all concept of time I thought I once had haha. But I have learned and grown SO MUCH it's insane. After facing my fear of teaching like six times a day I'm starting to get a little less scared of it. I've learned just how necessary it is to teach by the spirit, and we have truly seen miracles because of it!

The day we arrived at the MTC, we had an orientation to introduce new missionaries to a few of the new investigators they had on campus. Then, as a group, we tried to share a message of hope with them. (which was extremely difficult because we had been at the MTC for mere hours and literally knew nothing.) 

It started to get better though as we went from investigator to investigator; Except the last one.  I'm going to change her name to Rebecca for privacy reasons. Rebecca had been through SO many hard things that I would never wish upon ANYONE. Everyone tried to share our message of hope with her, but she simply would not have it. She believed that because she prayed during many of her times of trial and Heavenly Father didn't answer her prayers, she obviously wasn't worthy of his support and he didn't love her.

Did I mention she's also a huuuuge talker?  Every time one of the missionaries tried to explain our message and God's love for her, she would shoot them down and talk for 20 minutes explaining why they were wrong. Needless to say, we were terrified. Two days later, Sister Forsgren and I received our TRC investigator assignments (two more people that we would be teaching all this week) and...Rebecca was one of them!! Not gonna lie, I panicked. Our whole district was panicking for us haha. Our nerves were calmed through much prayer and priesthood blessings. 

We've met with Rebecca three times now - the first two were difficult. She's such a talker, we were only able to get in about 3-4 sentences in our whole 45 minute lesson! And most of it she didn't seem willing to listen to or accept. BUT, we kept praying and praying that her heart would be softened and she would be willing to listen to and ponder about what we had to say. Last night was our third time meeting with Rebecca, and we were able to read a section of the Book of Mormon with her, and answer a lot of her questions/concerns AND SHE BEGAN TO UNDERSTAND. Miracles DO happen, folks. 

She has met with SO many pairs of missionaries here and hasn't seemed willing to listen with an open heart with any of them. Until Now. We're taking baby steps, but it's SO hard not to be overjoyed at her progress. I know that the Lord answers our prayers in his own way and timing. He loves all of his children SO much. I know that this church is true and I am so excited to find the children of God who have who have been prepared and are ready to receive his gospel. I'm so grateful for our savior and his atonement! It is truly the most amazing gift. The peace and comfort we can receive from that throughout our times of trial is truly a miracle. 

Love you all!!! 

Love, Sister Jensen 

Pictured: 

Our awesome district

The cute sisters in our district. I love them ♥ my companion is the one in the red! 

 

 

Janelle's "End of School" Party

Janelle asked me if she could have a few friends over for an "End of the School Year" party.  I said that would be great.  She took care of it all herself and so I didn't need to really do anything for it.  She made little invitations and then invited her best friends: Layla Purdy, Brea Bulkley, HeidiWakefield, and her sister Jaiden.  They ate dinner with us and then the girls played games, jumped on the tramp, and watched "High School Musical 2!"

 

Jaiden, Josh, and Jenna's Elementary School Awards

When the year winds down the kids start coming home with all kinds of awards!  Jaiden, Josh, and Jenna all received the Arrowhead Medallion. Josh and Jaiden received the Presidential Educational Award.  Jaiden received an award for being in the Arrowhead Elementary School Choir for the last three years. Josh and Jaiden also received awards for their reading minutes.  Jaiden received the "Give Me Liberty" award -- which takes a lot of effort! This year the kids who earned the "Give Me Liberty" award received a Kendama instead of a trophy.  Kendamas are the big thing right now and so she was pretty excited about that!  I am so proud of their kids for working hard in school and doing their very best work!

Jaiden's Fifth Grade Graduation and Program

Jaiden had her Fifth Grade Graduation and Patriotic Program today.  She sang a duet along with another girl and they sounded great!  This is the fifth time I have seen this program (two more to go) and I love it every time!  Jaiden also received the "Give Me Liberty" award!  Here is Jaiden with her best friend, Emily -- they were excited to be able to serve together on the Student Council this year on the Library Committee!

 

 

     

 

Jenna's Kindergarten Water Party!

It ended up being windy and chilly for the kindergarten water party today.  Several water games were changed at the last minute to non-water games.  We have had an unusually cool May.  I am certainly not complaining about that -- except when it happens during a water party!  It was loud and chaotic, but the kids still had a great time in spite of the cool weather.

MTC Letter 1: The MTC is AMAZING! (Letter from Sister Jensen)

Helloooo my lovely brothers and sisters!! 

The MTC is AMAZING. Oh goodness, I just love it so much, I don't even know where to start. and I've literally only been here for like two full days haha. I've learned SO MUCH already!

Our teachers are sister Bertoldo and Sister Badham. They are seriously the cutest and we all just love them!!  

My companion is Sister Forsgren from Stanley Idaho, and she is such a sweetheart! We get along great. :) This morning we taught our first progessing investigator! (Who, coincidentally, is also our teacher haha) We were stressing so bad. We seriously made a lesson plan, studied it 97 times, prayed 97 more times, you get the idea. But it actually went really well! Obviously every investigator isn't going to be as responsive as she was, but the spirit was SO strong and all of our fears were calmed the minute we entered the room to meet with her. 

Speaking of the spirit... We were discussing with our teachers all about the power that we have access to as missionaries and how a lot of our time in the MTC is teaching us how to access that power. I've only been here for a short time but I've already grown so close to the spirit!! I've been lead to scriptures, gotten promptings, etc, and It has been WONDERFUL. I can't wait to see how much the spirit influences our teaching as we continue to grow!  

Something else I love about the MTC is that we literally pray every ten minutes hahaha. It was weird for a second, but now I seriously love it!! It definitely helps the spirit be present ALWAYS and that is SO beneficial. So I challenge all of you to make an effort to pray a whole lot more!! Just simple things; count your blessings and thank Heavenly Father for his hand in your life, ask for his support in becoming better and closer to Him, etc. I promise it will change your life! 

Thanks for all your love and support, it seriously means so much to me! :) I love you all!!

Love, Sister Janika Jensen

PS I had pictures..but we can't figure out how to upload them haha. Sorry mom.

Jared's Talent Show

Jared did so awesome in his school talent show today!  He performed Circus Tricks along with several of his friends, one of his teacher's, Mr. Ord (the master juggler), and even his Vice Principal!  You can watch the performance here:    Jared's Circus Act

 

Tyran Keyes, Josh Wilde, Austin Condie, Jake Brown, Jared Jensen

Jared Eagle Scout!!!

Jared had his Eagle Board of Review tonight and so he is officially an Eagle Scout!!