Elder Jepsen - Mission Entry 49 - WOW, WOW & WOW! What a Week!

Wow... where do I start? So much has happened this last week!

Sunday before last we had Walter Rane visit our ward. His son was to give his newborn baby a blessing and he was going to be there for it. I got to say hi to him really quick and shake his hand and stuff. I didn't want to start talking to him about how much I loved his artwork and that my dad was an artist as well, as he seemed kinda busy and was with his family. Really nice guy though.

Tomorrow we are going to be visited by Elder L. Tom Perry. We are going to have a two hour meeting with him and we are going to recieve valuable guidance and counsel from him as a mission. I can't wait! It's going to be wonderful! He's going to be the first apostle of the Lord that I meet in person! Elder Donald Hallstrom of the Presidency of the Seventy will be there as well. Amazing how blessed you are on a mission!

To prepare for meeting with him each companionship has been encouraged to teach twenty lessons each week and we have been working hard to reach that goal together with the congregation here (which has been great experience). Now we have surpassed that goal and we are seeing so many blessings from it. We found eight new families this week that were "less active" and that are very much willing to come to church and to have us over to teach them. The work is amazing here and I truly enjoy working in this area. Every night we have a dinner appointment with a family, and then we have a member come out and teach with us. Then we go and visit our appointments and the needy and less active members and families of the ward.

Now for other fun stuff, I just found a blender in our apartment and have been making banana milkshakes ever since. So, yes Mama, I am gettin my frooits (fruits, just in case).

My new mailing address is:

Elder Lee Edward Jepsen

2216 Pleasant Ave. S, #101

Minneapolis,MN 55404

USA

Gotta go, gotta mission to do!

Love y'all

Elder Lee Jepsen

Elder Dallin H. Oaks "Religious Freedom" From BYU-Idaho Part 1

Elder Dallin H. Oaks "Religious Freedom" From BYU-Idaho Part 2

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 023 - This is it, I AM HERE now--in MINNESOTA!

This is it, I am here now--in Minnesota! I'm finally here! It took a while but I got here and I arrived in style with everyone waiting (our flight was delayed because of a tornado raging in the south of Minneapolis). It was pouring down with rain when I came and I felt welcome and right at home! It's been "bad" weather ever since! I love this place!

Today has been pretty intense and it's been quite the experience. We had some trainings and info meetings just to make sure we knew what was going on. I still really haven't seen much of the states yet as I've only been at the MTC and the Minnesota Minneapolis Mission Home.

A couple of hours ago we had the meeting where we found out where we were going and who we were to serve with. The way this happened was by seating all the new missionaries with their not yet assigned trainers in a big circle. This was approximately fifty plus elders and six sisters. President and Sister Howell then in turn read the letters that our parents sent describing us, what we did and who we were before our missions (slightly edited for our privacy and protection), so that we all knew all we ever wanted to know--and them some about each other, before going to work. Then we were assigned a companion and an area. I already knew where I was going, as the Spirit had confirmed it to me the day before. The peculiar thing about it was that I just used a lot effort and time just to get to Minnesota. . . and then they go and deport me to Thunder Bay, Ontario (and yes, that is the Ontario in CANADA)! I finally get to Minnesota and then I'm off to Canada. Wonderful, this is all just one adventure after another. Mission travel and transfers usually happens on "Prep-Day" (the very day where I write my mail, shop for groceries and do my laundry). Please don't get dissapointed if that means no mail next week.

While it might sound ironic to go through all the visa problems to go to the US and then they send me to Canada, the country where I was born, does not at all mean that I am not excited. I AM THRILLED and way EXCITED to go up there! It is not unsual for missionaries who go to Thunder Bay to STAY up there for around six months, so they might not be expecting to see me down here again for a while. This means that I might be celebrating Christmas in the frozen north of Thunder Bay! YES! WOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! My chances for a WHITE CHRISTMAS just went up by SEVERAL percentage points! I wonder how one might bicycle in DEEP snow?

I have a bike, do not worry! Which is pretty lucky since a lot of the required mission gear ate up what I originally had intended for a mission bike. But, the Lord knows what is going on and He's got His finger on the pulse. A missionary who had just arrived shortly before me got really sick and had to return home, so he and the Lord decided that his missionary bike could still serve the intended mission, carrying an Elder around the Minnesota Mission. His last wish before returning home was that his fancy new bike should be donated to a missionary who really needed it (ME). This whole mission is becoming a continuos line of answers to prayers as my being on a mission itself is an answer to prayer.

I feel blessed beyond belief as the Lord IS taking care of me every step of the way (lucky thing to be in the Lord's service, He knows a lot of people). While on the subject of blessings, I received this BIG BOX from Anita when we all arrived, it was the BIGGEST BOX there! THANK YOU, THANK YOU & THANK YOU, Anita! You sent me so much nice stuff, towels, bedding and everything I could need and didn't have yet! I feel so spoiled, I will send you a more personal thank you, as soon as they let me! It has been my experience that it is really difficult to find time for more than these e-mails, so please don't be dissapointed if it takes me some weeks (it doesn't mean that I am not grateful), but there is so much to do out here and I have so little time to do it. Much too soon this mission of mine will be nothing but a memory. But from what Mom has already told me about you, combined with the care you put into sending me the items so desperately needed, you are a true Saint and way ahead of me in understanding my situation. That you are one of my mom's friends makes you part of very select group of people that I think all are a lot like my mother and that makes you a GREAT person, THANK YOU again. It's almost like discovering, that I have yet another mother out there caring for me. In the meantime you and a constantly growing list of good people will be in my prayers.

I love you all, every one of you!

Elder Jepsen

My new mailing address:

Elder Lee E. Jepsen
Minnesota Minneapolis Mission
5931 West 96th Street
Bloomington MN. 55438-1715
USA

Elder Jepsen - Mission Entry 020... finally, at the MTC

I'm finally at the MTC and oh, does it feel weird. While I still have a long way to go and lots to learn as I have only just arrived, I was surprised to discover how much I've already learned while serving in Denmark!

I have 2 way cool companions. Elder Taniuchi from Japan, who is going back to Japan for his mission (he plays the ukulele) and Elder Tuiasosopo from the Samoan Islands. The are both very special people and I admire their dedication. I am truly blessed being here, experiencing the spirit and the testimonies of the missionaries I serve with.

I hope you are doing well back home. I recieved a blessing from President Olausson before I left for the MTC. In it he mentioned my family and that they will be blessed and taken care of in my service. The Lord knows our struggle. Later during testimony meeting he made me a promise that with the authority and keys that he held as a mission president, the wishes I had for my family would be fulfilled. I would not need to be concerned, for they were taken care of and they were in loving caring hands. It truly makes me grateful to know that the Lord knows us, I love you all and I am so grateful that we have the priesthood.


Here is my mailing address for the next three weeks:

Elder Lee E. Jepsen
MTC
Information desk
2005 North 900 East
Provo Utah 84604-1793
USA

Following MTC my address will be:

Elder Lee E. Jepsen
Minnesota Minneapolis Mission
5931 West 96th Street
Bloomington MN. 55438-1715
USA

Take care!
Love y'all

Elder Jepsen