Elder Jepsen - I Am a Missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and I LOVE IT!

Our team has changed. I now work with Elder Omohundro and we both call Elder Taylor our trainer. Elder Omohundro is very eager to work, we get along great and I'm happy to serve with one who has so much experience to draw on.

It's been a difficult week, to be perfectly honest I've been struggling with taking over this new area but on the other hand some incredible miracles have happened.

It's a satisfying experience when we are allowed the blessing and experience it is to bring someone to church. As usual, they'll often be a little uneasy around a crowd of new faces but as they feel welcome and (if they have opened their hearts sufficiently,) feel the Spirit, they end up enjoying the experience.

An even greater experience is when we have another baptism to look forward to and it could seem that we soon might have that blessing as well and life is good!

It's a beautiful thing to have the privilege that I have, sharing the gospel, that God's love is available to everyone who honestly decides to seek Him, with an open heart. It moves me deeply that I am allowed this blessing in my life, to serve God and see His blessing become apparent to others as they too seek what God has to offer.

As missionaries we ask a lot. We are not offering a book, a membership in a social club or "Pudding of the Month Club." We ask that people reconsider their view of life itself, priorities and goals. We ask people to change, and it can be a challenge to consider as great a change, as a commitment to live according to God's directions can be.

The people we meet come in various levels of preparation for the gospel. For some it's an all new world of difference, and for others it's as if the introduction of the gospel is the only natural next step in succession of their preparatory steps to this particular moment in their lives. But, if facing it with an open heart and wanting to know, the gospel is an eyeopening experience unlike any other and it's truly great to help guide people in the discovery, that God lives and He really cares.

I appreciate that both of you Mom and Dad, and my brothers Paul and Lee all served missions. Now it's my turn and I am glad to be here, it's a GREAT blessing. I am a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and love what I do!

I hope you have a great week. You're in my prayers and I'm grateful for everything you have done and do.

Love,
Elder Jepsen

Elder Jepsen - Mission Entry 73 - It's Never Too Late To Find God

Paul, you're quite the brother and example. Here's a GREAT BIG CONGRATULATIONS from me to Brittany and you! I will be one of your new brothers, Brittany--hope you don't mind, I will do my best to be a good brother. I am sure you know you have already made a great impression on me (what missionary could ever resist such an introduction, I don't know). Sorry that I was unable to attend but, you know how it is. I really wanted to be there.

Once again it's transfer time and I got my transfer call. I am going up north,... to Hibbing, Minnesota! It's going to be great! I've really enjoyed the time that I've spent here and have made so many new friends, people that changed their lives and mine too as I saw how much God's word and spirit could help. There are so many people here that I will never forget and I feel fortunate to have witnessed their conversions as I am just here to facilitate the process. I love this.

Time is impossible to hold on to. I feel like I am just beginning to getting the hang of this as I realize that my own mission is very nearly over. Depending on how long I am to stay in this next area, it could be my last area. I better not start getting "trunky," I just don't have the time for that and there is so much work to be done.

Everyone was suspecting my departure as I was already pushing the limits for time, so I got to bear my testimony in Church yesterday. I am going to miss so many people here and I love them so much but, I am also looking forward the adventure of tomorrow, new place, new people, new challenges and new things to learn. I am so grateful for this experience as a missionary, serving God.

We had a baptism this week! This man has been checking out the church for the last thirty years now and decided it is a good thing. I suspect he considered it a good thing before now or he wouldn't have hung around for thirty years. All his friends and family are happy for him, it was a very special experience. It has also been a blessing to see him make this commitment, bringing his family together in sharing this important covenant.

This week we met with our main investigators, Kenny and Vanessa, and they started off our meeting by saying that they had some questions about something that they read in the "Gospel Principles" manual. They commenced to ask about this "Eternal Marriage" thing and what that's all about? I thought "Could I have imagined a more perfect teaching cue, if I tried?" This is not a question commonly asked by the people we teach but, they did ask and God certainly had prepared them for the answer! We proceeded to teach them about God's plan for our families and how they are eternal in nature. It became an absolutely unforgettable and stellar moment, the Spirit of God was very much present and very strong--and YES, I love being a missionary!

Love y'all

Elder Jepsen

Elder Jepsen - Mission Entry 71 - Miracles Happen, again and again!

Miracles happen, again and again! In fact, this whole week has been full of them and it's absolutely amazing! The blessing of witnessing such an abundance of miracles around us makes us want to be better missionaries, in an attempt to live up to all the many blessings around us. But, the harder we work at serving God by trying to be better missionaries, the more He blesses us--again. There is no way of describing the feeling, it is just beyond words but, I like it!

We have been blessed with a total of six scheduled baptisms just this last week. Three of them are new people and the other three have been giving it some thought for a while. There is no easy way to put that feeling into words when you see people changing their lives but, I'm so grateful to see it happen and I am so happy for the people experiencing this for themselves.

Saturday evening we were biking home and met the Spanish speaking Elders. They told us of a less active member they had met up with that hadn't been in church for over a decade, but wanted to come back to church.

When Sunday came around she walked with the help of her crutches and her fiancée Tim, the whole two blocks to church, suffering from both knee and hip problems and the stifling heat that all "enjoy" at the moment. She was able to actually meet with the Bishop as well, almost as soon as she arrived. She was so grateful to come back to church, and it was amazing for us to witness. We went over later to administer a blessing for her knee operation on this Tuesday.

May God be with you, always!

Elder Jepsen

Elder Jepsen - Mission Entry 63 - Blessings and Joys of Missionary Work

We are continuing to work a lot with our favorite family. A really awesome highlight from last week: Two of our new baptisms bore their testimonies in church! It was GREAT! (fast Sunday was this Sunday as we have Stake Conference next weekend) Their testimonies were so pure and delightful, it was a pleasure to hear! Their whole family was so proud of them they spontaneously clapped (kinda unexpected, but the whole thing was so honest and pure from the heart).

I don't quite know how to express the feelings that I experience when I see good people discovering God in their lives. It has no equal and feels good on so many levels but, I just don't know superlatives big enough--I love being a missionary.

I'm really sorry to hear about Jennifer's accident. I really hope that things work out for her... How old is Clara getting these days? Somebody asked me about my age and I answered twenty-one--wait, twenty-two--wow, I'm old and then they just laughed at me.

I'm also really sorry to hear about our car and I hope that you will be able to find some solution to your transportation. As for my transportation, it's also having some troubles and and I've been fixing and tweaking quite consistently. I've noticed that I always seem to have small traces of grease somewhere on my person now. Not that I give it much thought, I'm really grateful that I'm in this particular mission. Minneapolis is probably the most "biking" city in the States! another reason to why I'm supposed to be here:) I just love biking!!

My companion is going home next week, he's prepped and sent a lot of his stuff home.

Now that I know that I'll be getting a new companion I'm once again left in suspense? Ah, the uncertainties of missionary life.

Well, I love y'all and I pray that you'll find a solution to the the whole automobile thing...

Elder Jepsen

Elder Jepsen - Mission Entry 62 - Traffic Violations and a Lesson on Repentance

Once again we had quite the week! Our baptism last weekend went great! The people attending were overwhelmed by the good spirit there and it was an all together pleasant experience for all. Our meeting ended and then the event took a turn that I had never before imagined. The activity hall was right next to where we had the baptism and suddenly a basketball made its spontaneous appearance. Before long we were all busy having a round of hoops with the whole family. Soon a member of the bishopric showed up and joined us for a short while - it was like taken right out of a musical. We all had a great time and it was an unforgetable baptism.

Bicycle rules here in the States are quite different than home in Denmark. People bicycle on the sidewalk and this is all legal and an acceptable practice. Well aware that in Denmark such behaviour would make enemies of the police and become an expensive prank I have had to seriously redefine my boundaries and that almost always has the potential of trouble. If bicycling on the sidewalk is acceptable, then (it seemed) there is a lot less holding back our creativity when rushing to another appointment accross town and getting through congested downtown traffic.

Just the other day we met a police officer when stopping at a traffic light (also on a bicycle) who had tried to catch up to us for three whole blocks (Police bicycles are apparently not equipped with sirens). I should have known it was too good to be true that having this much fun on our bikes was legal. It turned out that bicycling on the sidewalk really wasn't a problem but, pretty much all the other stuff was. He soon began to list our many traffic violations within just three blocks and totalled it up to a ninety dollar fine!!! After having sufficiently scared us into repentance, he thankfully let us go and it WORKED. I have been repenting ever since and perpetually paranoid since that day. I can now say that I am and have been a good law-abiding citizen. No worries Mom... I learned my lesson! ;)

The weather has been impossibly hot and muggy the last few days, it's terrible and almost like Denmark at its worst (or best depending on point of view) and I'm quickly getting myself a good and healthy missionary tan!

Thank you for all your prayers. Love y'all

Elder Jepsen

Elder Jepsen - Mission Entry 58 - Faith in God Will Make the Most Amazing Things Possible!

WOW, what a week! My birthday turned out to be quite the experience. It was a good day with a lot of good appointments and lot's of good work. I experienced a whole new angle on the concept of trials: Everyone wanted to feed us (not that people here in any way lack hospitality) but, this was all within the limitations of one day. I generally try to please the people around me and this was NOT what you could call a sacrifice! I suppose one could say that I surpassed my nutritional requirements on my birthday! It was great fun and the only way to repent was hard work and lots of crazy bicycling to work it all off! To top it all off I had received two nice packages in time for my birthday, one from Grandma and another from Ximena in Barcelona. My birthday couldn't have been better.

We got our transfer calls today. Elder Noffsinger is going home this week as was the plan, dismissing any element of surprise, or so I thought. Change was inevitable but, what I didn't expect was my president telling me... "Elder, you've done such a fine job with sending Elder Noffsinger home that we're going to have you send one more home! - My first thought was "AAAARGH!" as I seem to have no choice but to develop some form of immunity to getting "trunky" and the only antidote that I know of is hard work.

Now for the really awesome part of my conversation with our President: He said that I might get to train a new missionary after the next transfer if I do a good job in this upcoming transfer. I might get to train a Swedish Elder fresh from the MTC... Scandinavian power!

We've recently met this girl with five siblings that also showed an interest in the church. The whole family attended church last Sunday and they loved it! I hope and pray all goes well for them, learning and building on their relationship with God. They are great people and faith in God will make the most amazing things possible.

Our baptism last week went well. We're all very grateful that she finally was able to enter this new stage in her life and now she seems ready to begin reaching for new levels. I have faith that she will be a great asset to the church here.

The weather here is great and we're enjoying it a lot. We occasionally get some massive thunderstorms that just pour and pour, but that's no reason to abandon the bike. Most bikes over here come without fenders, as did mine. Being without a rear fender is particularly problematic in thunderstorms with heavy rain, as it it makes for an experience similar to what I might imagine to be spending a day seated on a bidet--fully clothed!!! Having pity on my now fully marinated body parts, my good companion bought me a fender as a birthday present, a near life-changing experience! I am going to miss Elder Noffsinger. He is an awesome missionary and it has truly been a pleasure serving with him.

I gotta go, there is more missionary work to be done!

Love y'all!

Elder Jepsen

Elder Jepsen - Mission Entry 56 - Amazing Strength and Empowerment of Faith

It was good to hear from you. I look forward to my news from home every week. But this week especially, Eric's mail made me laugh and brightened my whole day. I love you kiddo, you're a my best little brother!

So biking around has been a blast. We've been enjoying the beautiful weather. I'm told summers here can get HOT, being of Viking blood this has me a little worried as heat, humidity and I don't work that well together.

The other day we were out teaching with one of my favorite members. He's blind and has a great sense of humor. He has taught me a great deal of appreciation for the blessing of sight and allowed me some insight into the "blind" world or helped "Open my eyes" towards blind people (sorry 'bout the puns, but I am amazed at how much we rely on seeing). We worked out a challenge for me doing my whole morning routine without turning on the lights and just relying on the other senses... I tried and found it very interesting, although it never totally allows me understand the life of a blind person, being able to open my eyes or turn on the light and see at any time. I totally appreciate my gift of sight but, to walk a step or two in another persons shoes does help me gain a different point of view and I appreciate that.

One could expect there to be a saturation point in these weekly e-mails. Always more baptisms, more faith, more miracles and more happiness but, it doesn't bother me one bit. I love it here and the more, the merrier. Just keep it coming and yes, we have another baptism coming up and it's great!

Sometimes I feel as if I am sitting on the sideline watching all these miracles happen in front of my eyes, as people discover and develop their potential in faith. The empowerment and strength available though faith comes as a surprise to most people. It is great to see the progression from when we first meet someone and to when they realize that no matter how fast they decide to move, God's ahead of them awaiting and accompanying their arrival at this new point in life. I enjoy how even the newest members in the church has something to offer the rest of us, they contribute a great strength to the church.

Yet another baptism is scheduled for the beginning of May and is a miracle in itself. We taught an object lesson for the "Plan of Salvation" in the chapel for a mom and her daughter. The spirit was very strong and both of them committed to be baptized together. The husband and father will be released from prison on the day of the baptism and will be able to see his family get baptized (he's already a member).

I hope that you are all doing great... I really do miss you, and can't wait to see you all again one day. A letter should be coming your way Mom and Dad, within the next couple of weeks.

Love you all,

Elder Lee Jepsen

Elder Jepsen - Mission Entry 51 - I Wouldn't Want to be Any Other Place Than Right Here, Right Now!

Things are going great. We are blessed to bring several less active people to church and it is awesome! I feel it a great pleasure to serve here. I could praise this area to the skies all day long. The ward leaders are doing a lot of work to ensure that our time is never wasted and our work goes as smooth as possible. I consider it an honor to be on their side in this work. The ward here has an exemplary degree of dedication and willingness to do what has to be done to optimize their missionaries efforts.

I am grateful to the Lord for surrounding me with missionaries and leaders that I can look up to and learn so much from. A mission is truly an opportunity for constant progression as long as you keep challenging yourself.

I love this area. We bus around a lot and we get to see many interesting scenes on the way to our appointments. It is not uncommon to see a police cars with big flashing lights arresting somebody right there on the street as we ride by on the bus. The contrast between people being arrested laying prostrate on the asphalt in between moving cars and the people we teach who are sensitive to gentle whisperings of the Holy Ghost is one to really make you appreciate the gospel.

The snow is finally melting. I have not seen a lawn or any greens the last four months and was surprised the other day when the snow gave way. I had nearly forgotten the color green.

Give Jennifer a shout out from me! Respect! My sister is rocking with all the smart people! Yes! Kudos to her from me!

We have two people getting baptized this weekend and they are awesome! We have just been working with them the past couple weeks, but they have been working with missionaries before us for a year. So I'm just blessed to be at the end of the line. We'll be setting everything up for the baptism for Saturday.

I am continually humbled by the Lord trusting me with teaching these wonderful people about His gospel. It is as if I am not doing anything and yet I get all the credit and joy from the experience. The people we find, decide for themselves to listen, first to our message, then to the promptings from the Holy Ghost. They want an answer to their prayers and they decide to listen to and follow that answer. As we teach these people, they read the scriptures that hold the directions for bringing God into their lives. I haven't made them a product, I haven't created anything and I am not doing anything of my own. God is already there for them and the gospel is already there. Reading the scriptures is nothing new and living Gods commandments is nothing new. Certainly praying to God in earnest humility is nothing new. Joseph Smith tried prayer and it worked for him, I tried it and it worked for me. All I do is share what I know and feel about God, His gospel and my experience in trying to align my life with God. It is all really so simple and yet it changes lives everywhere around us, every day.

Gotta go. Love you all!

Elder Lee Jepsen

Elder Jepsen - Mission Entry 43 - Two Baptisms and Praying For More

Happy thirtieth anniversary, Mom & Dad! Thank you for all the work you've done putting up with us kids over the years. You guys are great. Happy anniversary!

We had two baptisms this weekend! I got to baptize one, and confirm another, my first ever! I was so nervous!!! Everything went well and the Spirit was very strong. Some of the people we teach attended the baptism and enjoyed it very much. It is awesome to be able to see the miracles that that happen with faith.

While some of the people we teach are like living miracles others are getting cold feet, but then some things just don't happen but by prayer and fasting, so we better get to it again. I do pray and hope it all works out in the end. The big things in life should all be approached with prayer and fasting, then you can be assured that not only are you doing the right thing, but you have God backing you in what you do.

Sorry to hear about Dad, hope he gets better soon. He sure has been putting up a good fight. I have sent letters to all but one, which I'll write today and all will be well. I'm getting much better at not stressing about letter-writing anymore, so I can actually write them with a little more flow. I even wrote one to the Ward which should have arrived by now, as well as one to the junior sunday school. I love you all and I wish you the best.

Love you all!

Elder Lee Jepsen

Elder Jepsen - Mission Entry 42 - Baptisms coming up!

I have experienced the coldest day in my life -29° Celsius (-20.2° Fahrenheit), but things are great! We are teaching some people that are very much looking forward to their upcoming baptism this month, I know I am looking forward to it! Applying the gospel changes people so much! It's amazing to see how the gospel has such an impact on peoples lives.

So you have snowy white beaches in Denmark now? Isn't that just my luck. The one year where I am not in Denmark and you get both a WHITE Christmas and ICE! Not that it's in short supply here in Thunder Bay. Well, I hope that life is well in the now cold Denmark. I've recently been battling a bad cold. I was man-challenged to buy the nastiest medicine out there to get rid of it. Can you guess it, Mom? Buckley's, it's almost worse than the cayenne and garlic mix Dad used to make us take to get well (which I must admit was EFFECTIVE). Well, this was particularly nasty, but it works too - and you don't get garlic breath! I suppose straight cayenne might have done the job just as well.

The Olympic torch came through Thunder Bay, but we were late for the ceremony and saw it really quick. It was all right, nothing fancy. They had some local musicians play some stuff while we were there and it was nothing really to write home about, but here I am doing just that. Now I can say that I've seen the Olympic flame and I guess that's something. :)

We spent New Years at a recent converts place. He made us a lot of food, and sadly enough I was not well, so my enjoyment of the good stuff had its limitations. Oh well! We went home afterwards and went to bed early, as is appropriate for missionaries. This was my first New Years Eve where I did not stay up 'til past midnight.

I love you all! It was really nice talking to you and hearing and seeing you all again. Time flies way fast over here. I am afraid that one day I'll wake up and be home, wondering where all the time went!

Love y'all

Elder Jepsen

Elder Jepsen - Mission Entry 39 - Thunder Bay -18° Celsius (-0.4° F).

Christmas greetings from the now colder Thunder Bay with a chilling temperature of -18° Celsius (that's -0.4° Fahrenheit) this morning. Well it's cold, but we love it. We're working hard and life is good. But things freeze when it's cold, so we thought we'd check if Lake Superiour was walkable yet and it is! I walked on Lake Superior! If it hadn't been walkable it would have been a really dumb way to find out, I know, I know--probably not the smartest thing in the world to do. But hey, who said I was a genius?

In a another few weeks they'll start building whole villages on the ice, that stays up for the whole winter. Each hut is there for one reason only and that's for housing a fishing hole and themselves. They bring out their comfortable chairs and start fishing. If that's where everybody goes for the season, I wonder if we will end up knocking doors on Lake Superior this winter???

As cold as it sounds, it's not bad. I believe my skin is getting thicker, or maybe the outer layer of my nervous system has simply lost all feeling. No one knows and I am too numb to find out.

Waking up in December is a special treat with the Christmas calendars waiting to greet me. Every day, they're there to remind you how great an idea they are and every morning I smile thinking of the people with me here in my heart and yet so far away.

I know I can't expect more than I have received, as I have already received much more attention than I ever could hope for and I feel so spoiled. But because of some rumours coming my way that it's not over yet, if anybody asks then please ask them to send cards and greetings for Christmas to my Thunder Bay mailing address:

Elder Lee Jepsen
1216 Walsh Street E, Apt. A
Thunder Bay, ON
P7E-4V4
Canada

A couple of weeks ago I began changing my approach to addressing the Lord on the subject of missionary work. My thought was that serving the Lord we ought to include Him more in our work and consult Him more on how to direct our efforts. Now we are experiencing a little wave of miracles coming our way. We have no less than seven people with baptismal dates for our companionship, and the other Elders in the district have five! January is looking good, a wet month with plenty of baptisms. It seems that time spent on knees are rewarded with having to spend more time on our knees, in gratitude! We feel extremely blessed and we have so much to be grateful for. It's like I am on a whirlwind tour of a mission where everything that just happens to fall into place perfectly? But then, with God in charge why shouldn't they? I just work here--lucky thing too or I could mess things up real quick. Our success is really just an indication of God's love for the people we teach. I know and feel it deeply in my heart, that God loves every one of these of His children and wants for them to learn more about what He has in store for them. It's exiting to be a part of it.

A Merry Christmas to you all, I love and miss you. You're a great bunch!

Elder Jepsen

Elder Jepsen - Mission Entry 030 - Choosing to Serve the Lord!

We had the first snow in the mission this week around Buffalo, Minnesota, just North West of Minneapolis and way South of Thunder Bay, Canada, where I am stationed. We are actually getting snow as well now, it began on October 10 where we woke up to 1.5 cm of snow (Canada is METRIC unlike the US).

A woman who had called us up to be taught and baptized on her own initiative (see the details on enclosed link:

http://only2years.blogspot.com/2009/09/mission-025-1-800-dial-baptism.html

an entry that assigned us the distinction of "Blog of the Month" on the Internet), is now baptized and confirmed a member and a Sister of the church. YES, I am so happy for her it's enough to melt all snow in ten block radius wherever we walk (they can probably track our whereabouts on the weather satellites)! Her experience was nothing short of personal revelation that she then followed and acted on promptly, you've got to admire such faith! She will be a great sister and valued addition to the Thunder Bay Ward. Her baptism happened on her birthday and went very well, the confirmation last Sunday was another great experience. It was special having my first baptism and we're working on more to come. ;)

Thank you for your mails and thank you so much for helping me recognize my growth, I don't even think about it and much less notice it on my own out here. I find myself busy looking for progress in the people we teach. We are currently teaching a good amount of people about the gospel and I feel very blessed to be able to see them progress and to get to know them. They're my best friends with whom I'm sharing the gospel, I love it here.

Monday, October 12 was the Canadian Thanksgiving and I must say I have a lot to be grateful for. No, not just that I am in Canada and that we had a great Canadian Thanksgiving which I really enjoyed, but generally. I am just so happy to be here serving on a mission. Although I for these two years spend every day serving God to reach as many of His children as at all possible, to let them know that He cares for them and cares about their choices, I still seem to gain the greatest benefit of all. It can be hard work and it seems, get REALLY COLD, but besides that there is no downside. Well except the constant lack of time, there is just not enough hours in a day.

It is amazing how little time you have on a mission, time just flies and there is so much to do. I have discovered a mission to be a lot like life in that you have a heap of choices to make on how to spend your allotted time and each choice will have some effect on your direction. The choices available to me today depends on the choices I made yesterday, last week or last year, as today's choices will influence not only my tomorrow, but the future of those around me--an awesome responsibility. Life continually depends on choices.

I am so grateful to the Lord that I can be here on a mission. While I chose to prepare for this goal within the options available to me, it didn't happen without others making choices that made it possible for me to achieve it, thereby having an immeasurable impact on my present and future life, as well as the lives of the people I get an opportunity to reach and teach--and for that I am eternally grateful and forever indebted.

I hope life is going well for you at home. I miss you and think about you... now and then. :) You are in my heart and prayers.

Well, gotta go. Don't worry about me. I'm in good hands (in spite of the fact that Thunder Bay apparently has more stabbings per capita than anywhere else in Canada).

Grateful to be on a mission. Love you all!

Elder Jepsen
The Dane (born in Canada)

Thunder Bay Link: http://www.thunderbay.ca/home.htm

Elder Jepsen - Mission Entry 029 - Adversity & Affliction

I hope you're all enjoying the last sliver of heat before winter kicks in. If you have been following our weather (or my mails), you probably know by now that our weather changed pretty quickly over here and that last sliver of heat didn't even show up. Winter hasn't begun yet and already it's FREEZING! I hear that they already have snow up in Winnipeg. I have also been told that Thunder Bay usually has lots of Northern Lights during the winter, I can't wait! Oh, HOLD ON FOR JUST ONE MINUTE--I am not in a rush after all, winter here (it seems) is going to be COLD!

I have promised myself not to buy junk at all, as we get enough cake and stuff from members, maybe that will allow me to save up for some winter gear. Thanks for reminding me though :)

We had a baptism and it was GREAT! I view a baptism in the proportion of one of life's most important experiences for the person being baptized, they will think back to the spirit they felt on that special day and draw on it when adversity and difficulty strikes. It is important that nothing gets in the way of that experience and to ensure that everything works out right is quite the responsibility and seemed to take a good deal of planning, but the Lord helped and it was successful. I guess I was stressing a bit more, still being such a greenie I was very worried that everything would work out properly. It worked out great and everybody was happy (especially Sister Kathryn) and I was relieved when we were done.. It is truly a priviledge to be one of the Elders that played a part in Sister Kathryn's baptism and I pray that the testimony she now has will continue to develop and be a source of strength for others that come her way. It's my prayer that the Lord will continue to bless this area, as we continue to show commitment in our work.

Our intended viewing of General Conference didn't exactly go as planned. The Saturday session worked perfectly for a while, then suddenly something went wrong and we lost our signal. We eventually routed it through a computer and got some sound out of it. For the second session we went to a members home and got there in the middle of Elder Hollands talk about the Book of Mormon, GREAT talk, I loved it!

As a continuation on the previous General Conference, it was also good to hear how the First Presidency admonished us to help each other through life, as bothers and sisters caring for each other and in the process to learn from both our own mistakes as well as others. I have myself benefited from others being there for me on many occasions and I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for others helping me to whom I am eternally grateful. When the opportunity has arrisen I have also occasionally lent a hand where needed and where I could, but not all things are so easily cut and dry, or readily understood.

All I have is one pair of hands and it seems like single drop in a great ocean, when so many are in need of some sort of help. Not every problem that comes our way is of a dimension to be solved in the time frame of a sitcom on TV or by fighting an imaginary enemy in a quick game on the computer. Real life problems can't always be solved by everybody pitching in for a Saturday or two (although a good many problems can be helped that way). Some problems are bigger than that and bad things do happen to good people, everywhere and all the time.

When I observe the people around us all and the troubles they fight to uphold life itself and everyday responsibilities, I find it difficult and petty to complain. How can I ask anything of God for myself when I am healthy, alive and have the opportunity to do what I so enjoy, serving Him on this very mission?

It seems that everywhere you turn, people are having their share of problems and yet they fight them bravely and upright. Sometimes it is as if you find the best of people amidst the greatest gathering of obstacles and problems--I have so much to learn!

Well, I gotta go (the work is waiting and time is running).

Love you all! (muah!)

Elder Jepsen

President Henry B. Eyring - Adversity and Affliction - Part 1 of 2

President Henry B. Eyring - Adversity and Affliction - Part 2 of 2