I left a piece of my heart in Tennessee.....❤💔

Wowsa! 

I am sitting down here in amazement and astonishment writing my last email! I will forever be greatful that I have gotten this chance to dedicate my full attention and willingness for 18 months of my life to serve a full time mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I will truely miss Tennessee, Georgia and Kentucky. I have left a huge piece of my heart in Lebanon, Chatt Valley, Tompkinsville, Jamestown, Harrison Bay and Farragut! I have learned so much on my mission and met some of the most amazing people that I have grown to love so much and I can't imagine now not knowing them! 

Alot of people ask me, "is a mission hard?" Or "how do you stay away from your friends and family for that long?" Or "why even put that time aside to do what your doing?" All of those answers to those questions are simple. Yes, a mission is hard but it's not ment to be easy. It helps you to learn and grow and to become a better person in our day to day lives! I am out here because I love the lord and I love this gospel! 

I wanted to say thank you to all of you who have supported me while I have been out here! I know that if I didn't have all of you supporting me, I probably wouldn't have made it to the end! 

I love y'all!!! See you in 3 days!!! 

Love, 

Sister McKenzie Jensen❤

More Pics!

Only 2 emails left!

Hi everyone!!! 

Wow! The countdown begins! 2 more pdays left and 1 more full week. I'm super excited! Earlier I was more nervous then excited but now I'm more excited then nervous. Going home will be great. 

Monday- We did the same old same old. We went to the church and played Nerf and all types of good games! Then we had dinner with the Bass's and went tracting. 

Tuesday- We had Zone Confrence! It was so weird with it being my last one! I was able to give my departing testimony, which was weird but it went well! The theme for Zone Confrence was all about sacrifices and being obedient. It was really good! After Zone Confrence, we went tracting some more and found Lynn. He is a really cool guy! He seemed really intrested in learning more! I'm excited to teach him! 

Wednesday- We did some contacting and yup.. you guessed it, and then went to see Brother Snow. He is a older man that is in our ward but is home bound and only comes to church every two weeks. He is super sweet! Then we did some more tracting and had dinner with the Sach's they are a super sweet family! 

Thursday- We did a bunch of Contacting and tracting. We were able to go visit our investigator Misty! We helped her do family history work. She apperently is related to Sister Noble (very distantly) and she got permission to go and see her. While we were there we found out that we were very distantly related too! She is my 9th cousin to be exact!😉 So, that was pretty cool! Then, we tracted into this girl named Dianna! She is so cool! She told us that she just moved here from Germany about 5 months ago, so she has a really thick accent. She said that she was intrested in learning more and we were able to set up a time to go back and teach her! I was super excited! Then we went and finally had a lesson with Matthew! It went well. He asked some super hard questions so it was alittle bit intense but it went well! Then we had dinner with the Croxall's (my fav family!:) ) 

Friday- We went tracting and we actually got to have a lesson with our investigator Kim who we tracted into a while ago. It went well! We talked to her about the restoration. Then we went tracting and contacting some more. We were actually able to go tracting with this one member. She came on a team up with us to go see Paige but she didn't answer the door and we didnt have anything else to do besides go tracting. She did a great job and was so cute about It! Then we had dinner with the Hamilton's. 

Saturday-  We tracted pretty much all day and it was pouring rain! So, that was fun! 

Sunday- We went to church and went contacting and tracting. After that we had dinner with the Ashby's. They are so sweet! We had breakfast for dinner! It was yummy. Then we went to go visit Sister Cook. She always makes me so happy! 

The Church is true and the book is blue!!😂 

Anyway, I love y'all and hope that you have a safe rest of your week!!! 

Love, 

Sister Jensen 

The one when I hit 18 months!!

Hey guys!!! 

This week has been great! I can't believe that I hit my 18 month mark on Saturday! This mission has really been the bestest thing that I've ever done! Defenetly one of the hardest things that I've ever done! I can't wait to see y'all in just 2 weeks! Please don't get too "trunky" yet,😉 haha! Anyway, here is my week! 

Monday- We tried to go to the Jump Jam and when we got there it was totally packed so we just decided to go next week. So, we decided to go to the church and play games like we normally do. Then we had dinner with the Schmardebeck family! They are the sweetest! 

Tuesday- We had apartment inspections and went tracting for most of the day and did a bunch of contact attempts. 

Wednesday- We were able to go to the bishop store house to do service there! That was fun! Then we went with a recent convert named Ruby to go help her with Family History. After that we went tracting and had dinner with the Wade's. They are just the sweetest. Then we had a lesson with some of our investigators, Bill and Chris. Which went pretty well. 

Thursday- We tracted for most of the day. Suprise, suprise and then went to go try Matthew again. He of corse was about to head out the door so we just set up a time to meet with him on Thursday. 

Friday-  We had District Meeting and did a bunch of contact attempts. We had a lesson with Miss Marti as well. We had to drop her because she just was progressing. She is but VERY slowly. We both felt like she needed some time on her own to think about baptism. 

Saturday- We did a bunch of tracting! We saw a couple of less actives as well. We didn't find anyone cool though. 

Sunday- We basically went to church, did our studies and headed out to go tracting all day! So that was fun. Haha we also got to see sister Cook today. She is just a sweet lady. 

I love y'all!! Stay safe and keep strong!! The church is TRUE!!! 

Love, 

Sister Jensen 

What a great week!!!

Hello fam bam! 

I hope y'all had a wonderful and amazing week! So, your probably wondering  why, I sent out 2 emails this week. I being my crazy self, forgot to write one last week. I just got caught up in other things and playing games that pday so, I just never got around to it. So, I decided to write one from last week and one from this week for my late Christmas present to ya! :) anyway enough of the rambling, here we go! 

Monday- New Years Eve! We had a fun Pday today. We did the same old games and hung out at the church. It was still a fun day. Then we went to dinner with the Moody's. They are a sweet family. 

Tuesday- New Years Day! We started off the day great by going on a walk because we needed some fresh air. Then we went to visit some ladies in the nursing home where sweet Sister Cook is at and talked to her for a while. Then we cleaned out our car and packed for Power ups that night! After we were done with all of that, we went to dinner with the Gwin family. So, Sister Gwin invited 5 of her non member family to the dinner! That was really good cause they asked a bunch of questions about missionary work! After dinner we drove down to Maryville and had Power ups! 

Wednesday- I was able to go with Sister Huffaker for my last Power up! We had so much fun! We basically just tracted all day together! It was also so fun to see Sister Bennett again! What a fun power up! 

Thursday- Sister Noble and I got to work at the mission office for about a hour or so since all the office staff where at the New Missionary Orientation. It was kind of cool! We just sat there waiting for someone to call but no one ever did! Haha!  After the mission office we went and saw Molly! Molly is a recent convert of about 4 months and just as strong as can be in the church. I just love her so much. After Molly's we went tracting (yep, suprise suprise) and we found Dave. He is super cool. Then we went to try to see a couple of people and then had dinner with the Wallace family. That was cool, I got to try Cuban food because Sister Wallace is from Cuba. So, that was fun! 

Friday-  We saw Miss Marti again this week! She is doing well! Then we went tracting some more. After that we went to contact some people. While tracting we found 3 new investigators that day! So, that was pretty awesome! 

Saturday- I had my last interview with President Pickett! So, weird! It was good though! Then we had District meeting and went tracting some more. Then we found Matthew. I have high hopes for that guy! He opened up right away. We were able to talk to him about the plan of salvation and his beliefs about God and Jesus Christ. We invited him to come to church and he was very excited to come! I'm excited to work with him more! Then we did the usuall and went and tried a couple of our investigators. Today, was a good day. 

Sunday- Ah man. What a good day! We woke up, got ready to go and went to church. It was so weird only having 2 hours of church! After church we went home and did our studies! Okay, cool thing happened. Alright, so do y'all remember Elaina from Jamestown? The one that was afraid of water? SHE GOT BAPTISED TODAY!!!! I was able to Skype in and see her! It was such a special moment! I loved being able to talk to her and the people there in Jamestown! After the baptism we went tracting again. Then we had a dinner appointment with another sweet young family in the ward. After that we went and visited Sister Cook and she is doing well. 

Yeah, so I had a great week! It was a week defenetly one to remember! I am so greatful for this gospel and so greatful to be out here on the mission! So, alot of people have been asking when I come home. I only have 3 weeks left and then I will be able to see y'all! So, don't get to trunky!😉 

Love, 

Sister Jensen  

Happy New Years!!

Hello my lovely family and friends! 

Happy New Years!!! I hope you have a wonderful and safe new years. This week has been pretty great. 

Monday- Christmas Eve! We had a fun pday playing games and exchanging gifts. I just love the holidays. After pday, we had dinner with the Baker's who are a sweet family in our ward. After the Baker's, Sister Noble and I decided it might be fun to go Christmas Caroling to visit sweet Miss Marti.  She is doing well and still is progressing slowly. Then we went over to the park to OYM and look at the Christmas lights that they had set up. After that we went home and drank hot chocolate, watched Mr. Kroger's Christmas and read the story about Christ's birth. 

Tuesday- MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! We basically hung out with members all day because they had all signed up to feed us. Y'all I have never been so full in my entire life! We had 3 meal appointments that day! They were all really good! Today was also a bitter sweet day because I was able to talk with my sweet fam!  

Wednesday- We basically tracted all day and tried a couple of people with no luck. We then had dinner with another sweet family in our ward. Then we went over to the nursing home to visit a sweet lady named Sister Cook. She is the sweetest. I just love her. 

Thursday- We tracted for most of the day and found, one really nice young man named James. He was busy at the moment but told us that we can come by next week to share a message about Jesus Christ. So, I was happy about that. Then we had dinner with the Barber's and did a little bit of Facebook Finding. 

Friday- we tracted all day again. Still havnt found anyone. The holidays are just a killer! 

Saturday- we saw Miss Marti again! She is doing good and she s aid that she is going to be at church tomorrow! Yay! Then we tracted and  went street contacting. We did Weekly planning today too. 

 

Sunday- Miss Marti Came to church!!! I was so excited to see her there. We tracted again for most of the day and had dinner with the Croxall fam. Oh they are so sweet! 

Well, that is pretty much everything! I hope y'all have a wonderful and safe New Years! That's all folks! :) 

Love, 

Sister Jensen 

Merry Christmas!!!

Hey y'all!!! 

This week was good! I am absalutly loving the Farragut area! It is super difficult because there are tons of wealthy folks that live here and they are not as receptive as the other folks that I am used to, but for the most part they are super sweet and loving towards us, just not intrested in learning more. I am also absalutly LOVING Sister Noble! She is just the cutest human being ever and is so tender hearted! She is one of my best friends! We sing together we laugh and tell jokes and just have alot of fun! Anyways, now that I am done rambling about Farragut and Sister Noble, here is how my week went. 

Monday- transfers!!! It was so fun to see all of my mission friends and say goodbye to some of my favorite missionaries that were leaving, but also great because I was able to meet Sister Noble! Haha After Transfers I was able to get all unpacked and then we went to see a couple of Sister Ogden's recent converts. (Sister Ogden was with us for a couple of days because she is going to be training this next transfer and they didn't arrive until Wednesday.) I am excited to get to know them these next few weeks.

Tuesday- Pday!!! Pday was great! We chilled at the apartment in the morning and did some laundry and then went and did some shopping. After shopping we went over to the church to hang out. (Like usual) There we played chair soccer, scrap ball, P.I.G, Nerf and a card game called Exploding Kittens. After pday we had dinner with this sweet family in our ward. 

Wednesday- We said goodbye to Sister Ogden and wished her luck in her new area and training, then we went tracting and did a couple of contact attempts. Not alot of success. But it was alright. 

Thursday- We tracted for most of the day, and after that we took a quick break and visited with this cute old couple who are less active in our ward. I found out that they were French so they have super cool accents! They were super sweet! Then we did some more contact attempts and tracting.  

Friday-  We did alot of tracting today as usual. Then we went over to visit one of our investigators, Miss Marti. Miss Marti has been investigating the church for 2 or 3 years on and off and is just the sweetest old lady ever. You would not think that she is her age because she is just so spunky and avtive. I just love her. So, please pray for her progression. 

Saturday- Sister Noble and I started off the day with a baptism that Sister Noble gave a talk and we had to fill up the font. (It was not anyone that we were Tea ching it was just for these 2 little 8 year old girls in our ward.) After the baptism we...yep... you geussed it... went tracting. 

Sunday- We had a great day! It was lots of fun! We went to church. It was cool to hear all of the primary kids sing all those Christmas songs. Fun fact of the day: President Pickett is in our ward now. It is really weird and fun to see them at church! After that we had a set lesson planned with one of our investigators named Paige. She is only 12 and her dad is okay if we teach her. We went over there and she (of course) happened to not be home. Which was a bummer. Then we went and did our studies and went Christmas Caroling with this sweet member in our ward. It was a blast. Then we had dinner with some members and went home. 

I am so greatful for this gospel in my life today. I know that this is the true church on this earth and that Jesus Christ died for our sins. Looking back at my mission and the people I have met while I've been out, makes me so glad that I was able to be so blessed to have been raised in this gospel. 

With Christmas coming up, I encourage y'all to think about our saviour even when times are busy. Never forget the reason for Christmas. Without our savior we wouldn't even have this holiday. 

Be safe and have a wonderful Christmas! 

Merry Christmas!!! 

Love,

Sister Jensen. 

Goodbye Harrison bay!!

Hey Fam!! 

Why am I writing on a Tuesday you may ask? Our transfers were yesterday and they had pday switched to today. I found out that I will be spending my last 6 weeks with Sister Noble down in Farragut, TN!! She is the cutest and I already love her! She is from Mesa, Arizona and has been out for only 3 months! So fresh out of training.  I'm so excited to see what these last 6 weeks will bring. 

Monday- We did the usual.

Tuesday- We had district meeting and did lots of finding and we found some really cool people! 

Wednesday- Zone confrence! It was a ton of fun. We did skits and just mingled with missionaries. After Zone Confrence we had dinner with Hector! He took us out to get some Mexican food which was really good. 

Thursday- We did some service at the habitat and went tracting! We were able to find 3 new investigators! Wahoo!

Friday- We went to a old folks home and we learned some exercise moved to lead the ladies for next week. Then we did weekly planning. Sister Ogden was sick for the rest of the day until our dinner appointment with the Cooks. 

Saturday- We had transfer calls and packed. Then we went to Diana's to quilt and Sister Ogden finally finished her quilt! After that we went over to Adrianna's (a YSA member) for a district fire thing which was fun and said some goodbyes. 

Sunday- We went to church and said some goodbyes there and then we went home and packed some more. 

Monday- We had transfers! There I was able to say goodbye to Sister Erickson who is going home today. I will miss her! Then we went and visited some people. The people here in Farragut are very nice!! 

Yea, that was pretty much our week! This church is TRUE! Have a great week! 

Love, 

Sister Jensen 

The one where we got locked out of our apartment.

Hey fam bam! 

I am so sorry because this week's letter might be a little short. The Harrison Bay ward got split and when it split it messed up our areabook. They are still working on getting all of our investigators back! So, it has been a pretty stressful week. 

Monday- We did the usual for pday and had a dinner apointment with some members. 
Tuesday- District meeting! Which was good. Then we went tracting. We found this one really nice investigator who's name is Diana. We ended up talking to her for almost an hour on her porch. We found out that she has read the Book of Mormon already and loves to study other religions. So that was awesome! Then we went out with a YSA member to go visit some less actives. Then we went to institute to mingle with the YSA members and played some Improv games after. It was fun! 
Wednesday- It was a pretty chill day. We tracted for most of the day and did some weekly planning. 
Thursday- We did a lot of contacting today. We talked to quite a few people to tell them that there would be Elders stopping by next time. Then we had YSA correlation and went home.
Friday- We had our areabook get missed up and all of our investigators went over to the elders. So, we were left with only 3 progressing investigators. We are hoping that they will fix it soon.  
I honestly don't remember the rest of the week. Besides trying to work things out with our areabook. Haha. 

But on Sunday we got locked out of our apartment. So that was fun luckily we were able to finally get back in! 

I hope y'all have a wonderful week! So sorry it is such a sucky email! Haha I promise this next week will be better! 

It's crazy to me to think that I will be listing to my second to last transfer call on Saturday! Oh how time flies by! 

 
Love, 
Sister Jensen 

Ps. I have been lacking at the pictures lately and I'm so sorry! Haha I promise there would be some next Week! 

The one with 3 Thanksgiving dinners!!

Out for 16 months, 9 weeks to go and 63 days left. 

Monday- pday! Did the usual, just hang out at the church and played games. Fun times.  We also went to a (sort of) investigators to quilt and make pillows which was a lot of fun. Then we had dinner with the Barrot's (a family in the Harrison Bay ward).
Tuesday- tracted mostly. Found a couple of solid people. Then had dinner with the Longs, which was good.
Wednesday- We had our district meeting and then went tracting again. No one was home, but of corse it was a day before Thanksgiving. Then we went to see this one less active in our ward who is the sweetest!
Thursday- Thanksgiving!!! We spent most of the day quilting with our investigator Diana, then a family in our ward invited us to dinners we ate dinner, pie and played some games. What a fun day! I also received a email about My Plan!!🤤 which is just making plans for missionaries going home. Which was weird!!!
Friday- We had a 2 Thanksgiving dinner/lunch , with the Brondiacks. They are the sweetest ever! Then we went tracting again and found a solid family. They let us right in a d she even asked for a Book of Mormon so that was pretty cool! After that we just went out and contacted a couple of more people.
Saturday- We did some service at the Habitats center and tracted most the day. Which is pretty much all we do here in this area. After tracting we had a 3rd Thanksgiving dinner with a less active too. That was... interesting. Haha, while she was cooking she had sweat dripping off her face and just talked a bunch.( almost everyone here in Tennessee talks alot)
Sunday- went to church and weekly planned. Didn't really do a whole lot.

Well, that is about everything!! So sorry I didn't write last week!! Love y'all and I hope you have a great week!!!

Love,
Sister Jensen

Quotes of the week:
"I didn't know red hair was a thing?!"- cute little 4 year old girl.
"You're always hungry!"- Hector

The one with exchanges!

Hello my wonderful family and friends!!!

Monday- pday!! We did the norm and had dinner at a members house and tried a couple of people. 

Tuesday- We had district meeting! Then we went tracting and found this really cool lady named Lucrecia. She is so cute!! She let us right in! After we found her we found this younger girl names Joyjoy. Who 5 days earlier moved here from Bangladesh! Crazy! She accepted a Book of Mormon and let us talk to her about the Restoration. Which was surprising because her dad is a preacher of another faith! So that was pretty sweet! After tracting we went to institute. There we were able to play Bingo with the YSA and I won a black out!!! It was awesome! 

Wednesday- We went tracting again. (Suprise suprise.) And tried our investigator Kathleen who as soon as we started talking to bible bashed us and said that we were wrong about our beliefs, so finally we just said "yeah, we are going to go. Thank you for your time!" And headed out the door because we did not feel good about being there! It was awful! Haha after Kathleen's we went to Mutural because a member in our ward wanted us to meet a possible investigator that he had! We were able to meet her! Her name is Sarah! She is so cool! She was actually doing a report for her school about a religion and she happened to pick Mormonism! So she called up a member and asked if she can interview them for her paper. She said that she was reading the BOM on her phone and is on chapter 20 of 1 Nephi and loves it so far so she wanted a hard copy of it! From what I can tell she has a lot of potential! Hopefully she will come to church one of these Sundays. 

Thursday-  We had interviews with President Pickett! Which went good! (Its hard to believe that that was my 2nd to last interview with him!) After interviews we did service at the old folks home and painted the old ladies nails. Which was fun! We also had a lesson with Mary and Dolly! Mary is doing good and progressing well! She still wants to get baptised! Which is good! She is so cute! After Mary and Dolly's we went tracting some more and went to YSA correlation. 

Friday- we had Power ups!!! I had the opportunity to spend the day with Sister Allen! She is so cute! What an intresting exchange that was. While on the exchanges we got to meet Leah finally! (The one that called us back over a pass along card!) She is the sweetest and loved every word that we said! She even accepted to be baptised, but she said that she wanted to pray about it first before she sets a date. After Leah's we were pulling out of the grass which was very muddy because it had been raining alot that day and all of the sudden our car got stuck!!! So, we were stuck for about 20 minutes before the elders came and helped us. Which they couldn't help us get out so we had to call a member. We were stuck for about an hour and 15 minutes! I'm so greatful for nice people to help us out!  

Saturday- we did some service at the humanity center and the. Went tracting!!! 

Sunday- Today was a long day! The Harrison Bay ward  along with two other wards got split! We found out that we are no longer called the Harrison Bay ward. We are called the Collegedale Branch now. Which is very intresting! We don't know what we are supposed to be doing for the next two weeks of the transfer. Haha. But its good though because the lord will work things out! After church we were able to watch the Christmas devotional at the Brondiacks! It was so good! I'm so grateful that I have the oppertunity to hear the prophet speak to us and that we have modern day prophets in the world today! 

I love this gospel, I love the lord and I have a strong faith in Jesus Christ!

Have a great week! I love y'all!! 

Love, Sister Jensen

16 months out!? (11 weeks to go) I can do this!!!

Hello everyone! I hope y'all had a wonderful week!! 

So, as some of you know that I was transfered on Wednesday!! I was transfered to Harrison Bay! So, it turns out that this area covers the YSA Ward and the regular home ward! The home ward is HUGE! The ward members say that it is the largest ward in the stake! 😰 not used to that big of a ward here in the south. Haha but since we have such a big ward we get fed almost every single night!! Which is nice! (I don't have to cook to much!😉) dad and mom it's about the size of a Utah ward! (Not as big as our home ward but about half that size) 

Anyway, the beginning of this week was just mostly saying goodbyes to all the amazing ward members in Jamestown. There were some people that were harder to say goodbye then most. I was sad to say goodbye to Jamestown but I know that this is were the lord wants me to be right now. 

My new companion is really awesome!!! Her name is Sister Ogden and she is from Layton, Utah. We so far get along great! So, that's a plus! Haha

On Thursday we met this lady named Teena. She is cute! She told us that she likes the pass along cards that we hand out because it has a picture of Christ on it. She likes to frame the pass along cards and hang them up! When we asked her if she's read the BOM she said that she got to 2 Nephi and just loves it! We're hoping to put her on date soon! 

So, cool story. We went tracting on Saturday and every time someone doesn't answer the door we put one of those pass a long cards on the door and hope that they see it. When we got back home from a dinner appointment, we received a call from someone telling us that she saw a pass along card on her door. When we asked her if she had a church already that she went to she said no and we asked if we can come by and see her she said yes and that she was intrested in learning more!!!!😰😰😰 So, we set up a day to go back and teach her. Sister Ogden and I were stunned, because that never ever happens!    

Sunday,  was a very long day!  Only because we had to go to 7 hours of church. We went to both the regular ward and the YSA ward. Don't tell anyone but I like the YSA ward better😉. 

Well, that is about it for this week!

I know that the Lord called me on this mission for a reason and I know that Christ lives and loves us all dearly! 

Love, Sister Jensen. 

Ps. I don't have a picture with me and Sister Ogden yet. I will for sure get one next week!