Jan. 21, 2013
Hey! Man it's been a crazy
week!!! I have so much to tell you, so I am writing you this on Saturday.
Because my P-day is now Saturday!! Because I am an Office Elder. But I will get
to all that later. So last Monday - after we did all our shopping etc. the
other elders - Turpin and Taylor came to our place, we got pizza from little
Caesars and played Monopoly. That night we went to Bro. Rick’s house to read with
him and have dinner. Then we went over to Moms house for dinner also. That was
my last day in Philly! Tuesday morning we got up at our regular time got all
ready then packed away all my little things that I hadn't packed yet. Brother Carter
picked us up at 8 and we headed to Broomall about 35 minutes away. This
transfer meeting was crazy!!! There were a ton of missionaries there and ended
up being a ton of changes!! They split 3 of the zones. So we now have 10 zones
instead of 7. They also split a couple of areas in half. So they started
transfers and got through a few of the zones. Then they get to a slide that
says Office Elders. And everyone's wondering, what's that? But I was thinking
that would be kind of cool. So then they call Elder Flakes name (he is the one
that replaced me in Medford, and he has been there ever since) and he comes out
to the middle. Then they call my name, and I run out and hug etc. cause that's
what you do, and then walk off together to the side. We're both thinking, what's
an office elder?? Hah. We had no idea what we did as office elders or where our
area is etc. Anyways transfers finished and we all headed to the chapel for President
to talk to everyone. President said that he wanted to talk to everyone that was
doubling into an area - which means us. Anyways eventually after talking to a
lot of missionaries and taking pictures etc. we made our way to the Office and
met with President. He told us that he didn't entirely know what he wanted us
to do. But he told us we were called to this position because of our knowledge
of computers, and also because the 2 senior couples that are currently running
the office will be leaving when he does around July. So he told us to learn
everything that they do/know and to learn it and to improve it. He also told us
that he wanted to make sure we don’t lose our "missionary edge" that
he still wants us out teaching every day. He also hinted that we would probably
be here when the new Mission President comes, because he wants us to help with
the transition. So we still had no idea what we were doing but we were excited.
So this week has just been crazy and if I were to tell you everything we've done and learned this letter would be forever long. So I’m going to try to summarize a little. So pretty much we were in the Office the rest of the day. We will primarily be working with the Baileys (records & financial secretaries) but will also be helping the Houses. Elder Turpin and his Companion Elder Pond were stuck here in Broomall because their truck was in the shop. So they stayed with us for the night at our place. Our apartment is right below the Assistants apartment, so we’re neighbors. We live really close to the mission office. Our apartment was a wreck for some reason. I guess there have been a lot of missionaries that have come in and out of this area recently, and some other elders have been using the apartment as like a halfway hang out spot or something. So this whole week we've been doing a lot of cleaning.
Wednesday - We got "Van Certified" in the morning, had to watch a video, answer questions etc. It’s so that we can drive the Mission van around. The Goldens (new missionaries) flew in last night, so they all showed up at the mission office this morning. We got to meet all of them and have lunch with them. Elder Kauwe was one of them; he originally came out with me then went home in February and is now coming back out. We were really excited to see each other. Our whole MTC group has kept in contact with him over FB while he was home. We also got to see the Goldens get paired with their new Trainers, which was fun to watch. There were 18 new missionaries in this group! Which is huge! We will have 25 next time. After that we learned more stuff in the office, learned how to order nametags, and do other financial stuff. I guess we’re also supposed to write a manual on everything that they do in the office so were also taking notes. We also drove Elder Potesio and his new missionary to their area in Philadelphia because it was too late to take the bus, and they had luggage. So I was able to drive through my old area.
Our apartment didn’t have any food that wasn’t super old, so we went and got some basics that night. Elder Turpin and Elder Ponds truck was finally ready that night, but they had to stay with us again because their area is Susquehanna which is at the very top of our mission. Half of their area is in NY.
Thursday - Had District Meeting. Then found out that there were a few service needs. So we spent the afternoon driving all over Philly and other parts of PA. We had to go pick some mattresses up and drop them off and deliver some other stuff to missionaries. Our mission used to have Service Missionaries until recently. But President recently got rid of the service elders and just split up the service needs between 3 Broomall companionships. Ok anyways that was a long day, did lots of driving. Oh we also finally got our Area book that day, with all the people missionaries used to teach here etc. Were pretty much starting over.
So this week has just been crazy and if I were to tell you everything we've done and learned this letter would be forever long. So I’m going to try to summarize a little. So pretty much we were in the Office the rest of the day. We will primarily be working with the Baileys (records & financial secretaries) but will also be helping the Houses. Elder Turpin and his Companion Elder Pond were stuck here in Broomall because their truck was in the shop. So they stayed with us for the night at our place. Our apartment is right below the Assistants apartment, so we’re neighbors. We live really close to the mission office. Our apartment was a wreck for some reason. I guess there have been a lot of missionaries that have come in and out of this area recently, and some other elders have been using the apartment as like a halfway hang out spot or something. So this whole week we've been doing a lot of cleaning.
Wednesday - We got "Van Certified" in the morning, had to watch a video, answer questions etc. It’s so that we can drive the Mission van around. The Goldens (new missionaries) flew in last night, so they all showed up at the mission office this morning. We got to meet all of them and have lunch with them. Elder Kauwe was one of them; he originally came out with me then went home in February and is now coming back out. We were really excited to see each other. Our whole MTC group has kept in contact with him over FB while he was home. We also got to see the Goldens get paired with their new Trainers, which was fun to watch. There were 18 new missionaries in this group! Which is huge! We will have 25 next time. After that we learned more stuff in the office, learned how to order nametags, and do other financial stuff. I guess we’re also supposed to write a manual on everything that they do in the office so were also taking notes. We also drove Elder Potesio and his new missionary to their area in Philadelphia because it was too late to take the bus, and they had luggage. So I was able to drive through my old area.
Our apartment didn’t have any food that wasn’t super old, so we went and got some basics that night. Elder Turpin and Elder Ponds truck was finally ready that night, but they had to stay with us again because their area is Susquehanna which is at the very top of our mission. Half of their area is in NY.
Thursday - Had District Meeting. Then found out that there were a few service needs. So we spent the afternoon driving all over Philly and other parts of PA. We had to go pick some mattresses up and drop them off and deliver some other stuff to missionaries. Our mission used to have Service Missionaries until recently. But President recently got rid of the service elders and just split up the service needs between 3 Broomall companionships. Ok anyways that was a long day, did lots of driving. Oh we also finally got our Area book that day, with all the people missionaries used to teach here etc. Were pretty much starting over.
Friday - First thing we did was follow Elder House
to the Toyota dealer so he could drop off a car to be fixed, then he got in
with us and he showed us around town. (Did I mention I’m driving a nice Chevy Silverado?)
Then we went to check on our actual car which was in the shop. Found out it
would be out later that day. Our car is a 2013 Chevy Cruze. Then we had to go
do some service for some lady in our ward, she needed some shelves moved from
her old job to her home, which took about two hours, mostly traveling. Then we
did lots of office work, did Facebook. Then we finally got to do some
missionary work, we just put a few names into my GPS and stopped by.
Saturday- Stopped by people in the morning, had lunch, and then went into the office to do some work. (The office is closed on Saturdays, because it’s the Sr. Couples P-Day) But Elder and Sister House were there anyway. And Elder House told us he had talked to President about our idea of switching our P-Day from Monday to Saturday, and President said it was fine. That way we can be in the office more if we are on the same schedule as the office couples. So we found that out Saturday afternoon, so just this time we’re splitting our P-Day between Saturday and today. Anyways we did a little more shopping and dropped off my suit at the dry cleaners. Then we met with our Bishop that night. His name is Bishop Kim, he is Korean. He is a really nice, funny guy. He invited us over for dinner on Sunday. OH COOOL NEWS: Kevin and Dawn went and did Baptisms in the DC Temple for the first time Saturday!!! They got baptized for Kevin’s Grandparents. Super cool beans.
Sunday - We had PEC in the morning. The ward was very excited to have 4 new missionaries, because they haven't had any for a while, or just had a lot of Elders get transferred in and out lately. So we were very welcomed. I’ve never had so many people want to have us over for dinner before! Bishop said he wants us to have meals with members 80% of our week! Fine with me! We went over to Bishops later for dinner. (FYI our ward is shared by 2 companionships like my last ward; one of the missionaries is brand new) So we drove together. Bishop invited all the Korean people over to his house for dinner also so we could meet them. They made Korean food for us - which was my first time having it. It was good, interesting... And that was pretty much our day. Man this week has just been crazy, crazy, crazy. Learned a ton, we've been given access to like everything! So I have lots of passwords to remember, lots of notes to take, lots of driving. We’re going to be really good friends with the Sr. Couples in the office, they are awesome and funny. We’re hardly at our apartment, and haven’t even fully unpacked yet. We've already started to try to change some stuff in the office to make things more efficient. Basically Google Docs/Drive is going to be our best friend. We’re trying to put everything online and make things simpler. I really, really like it so far, it’s a lot of fun. I and Elder Flake get along really well. We've both been involved with the Masses. Dawn sent us a card on Friday that said how happy see was that we are companions, etc. The whole Medford ward was super excited to hear the news! Well my eyes pretty much sting right now. Monday is a super busy day. All of the numbers for the past week gets reported today and it’s our job to enter them all in, create graphs and spreadsheets, submit stuff to SLC etc. So we were like nonstop busy all day.
Saturday- Stopped by people in the morning, had lunch, and then went into the office to do some work. (The office is closed on Saturdays, because it’s the Sr. Couples P-Day) But Elder and Sister House were there anyway. And Elder House told us he had talked to President about our idea of switching our P-Day from Monday to Saturday, and President said it was fine. That way we can be in the office more if we are on the same schedule as the office couples. So we found that out Saturday afternoon, so just this time we’re splitting our P-Day between Saturday and today. Anyways we did a little more shopping and dropped off my suit at the dry cleaners. Then we met with our Bishop that night. His name is Bishop Kim, he is Korean. He is a really nice, funny guy. He invited us over for dinner on Sunday. OH COOOL NEWS: Kevin and Dawn went and did Baptisms in the DC Temple for the first time Saturday!!! They got baptized for Kevin’s Grandparents. Super cool beans.
Sunday - We had PEC in the morning. The ward was very excited to have 4 new missionaries, because they haven't had any for a while, or just had a lot of Elders get transferred in and out lately. So we were very welcomed. I’ve never had so many people want to have us over for dinner before! Bishop said he wants us to have meals with members 80% of our week! Fine with me! We went over to Bishops later for dinner. (FYI our ward is shared by 2 companionships like my last ward; one of the missionaries is brand new) So we drove together. Bishop invited all the Korean people over to his house for dinner also so we could meet them. They made Korean food for us - which was my first time having it. It was good, interesting... And that was pretty much our day. Man this week has just been crazy, crazy, crazy. Learned a ton, we've been given access to like everything! So I have lots of passwords to remember, lots of notes to take, lots of driving. We’re going to be really good friends with the Sr. Couples in the office, they are awesome and funny. We’re hardly at our apartment, and haven’t even fully unpacked yet. We've already started to try to change some stuff in the office to make things more efficient. Basically Google Docs/Drive is going to be our best friend. We’re trying to put everything online and make things simpler. I really, really like it so far, it’s a lot of fun. I and Elder Flake get along really well. We've both been involved with the Masses. Dawn sent us a card on Friday that said how happy see was that we are companions, etc. The whole Medford ward was super excited to hear the news! Well my eyes pretty much sting right now. Monday is a super busy day. All of the numbers for the past week gets reported today and it’s our job to enter them all in, create graphs and spreadsheets, submit stuff to SLC etc. So we were like nonstop busy all day.
But I will be receiving all mail
and packages at the Mission office Address. Umm I think that’s about it!
Loves,
-Elder
Jeremy Jensen
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| Sister House |
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| Sister Bailey |
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| Elder Flake showing off their Truck |
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| Getting Cleaner |
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