One Month Later

Hola mi Familia! I can´t believe it´s been a month already since i arrived at the MTC!  We've already recieved our check out check lists which tell us what we do when we check out of the MTC!  Apparently my departure date is supposed to be next saturday! But our teacher said thats really uncommon so it may not be until next Monday or Tuesday, either way, we still don't have any word on visas or reassignments yet so I guess it doesn't really matter!  A lot of us have already fasted for our visas and have prayed about them, so we've done what we've could and now we're just waiting to see what the Lord wants us to do.  It's been an amazing week and I've learned amazing things this week.  During personal study I read a talk by John K. Carmack, titled "Faith Yields Priesthood Power" (or something like that) it's an awesome talk and really made me realize how powerful faith truly can be and how much we, as members, tend to rely on other things and not as much on faith as we should.  We've had some fun experiences, as always.  We were able to commit 2 new people to baptism, one of which we committed them on their first lesson, and Elder Thiriot and I are pretty excited about that!  Fun story though, Elder Thiriot and I taught this new "investigator" and taught her about baptism and had a wonderful lesson.  We committed her to baptism, and then discussed some other things and were about to close our lesson for the day.  I asked Elder Thiriot if he'd be willing to say the closing prayer.  And just as he was about to start the thought came to me...... "wait a minute.... we never even asked what her name is!"  We forgot to do something that was so obvious that even preach my gospel doesn't talk about it!  Elder Thiriot started the prayer and half way through, obviously in spanish, he said "please bless (long pause) this sister...."  It was a little awkward. But hey! Better to learn that now instead of later.  And now it makes for fun story!  I've been having an amazing time here!  I saw RJ yesterday and he seems thrilled to be here!  I've recieved both packages from you and the Andings!  Thanks for all these packages!  I'm going to need all the ties I can get!  Especially if I want to give some to investigators that I will have!  Being the district leader has been an amazing experience and a humbling one...  Yesterday one of our sisters learned that one of her close uncles past away unexpectedly...  It was heartbreaking and I felt the weight of her sorrow pass over to me as well others in the district.  We each wrote her a note, and in mine I felt inspired to share my experiences with losing Kristy.  I let her know that I understood what she was going through and that I knew how difficult it is to lose a loved one.  I shared a few scriptures with her, and reassured her that all of us loved her and would help her the best we could.  I felt prompted to also remind her that she was surround by Melchezidek priesthood holders and that if she should desire a blessing of comfort, I was positive that any Elder in our zone would be more than ready to oblige...  Later she asked me if I would be willing to give her the blessing.  I felt humbled, and although I'd previously given Caleb a blessing was slightly nervous to give my first blessing as a Melchezidek Priesthood holder.  All those feelings melted away however, as we, as a district, laid our hands on her head, and through the spirit, I was priveleged to pass along one of the sweetest blessings that the Lord could have given her.  It was a beautiful experience, one of which I hope to never forget.  Things are going great here!  I love you all and miss you, but I've seen myself grow so much in this past month that I know this is where I'm supposed to be.  After the blessing I couldn't help but recollect the blessing which I gave to Caleb..  And I found the thing that is almost as sweet as giving blessing to any person is watching that blessing be fulfilled.  I remembered distinctly the words I'd uttered at Caleb's ordination that he would be an example to his peers and all those around him.  I'm not sure why this hadn't connected yet, but I was immediatley reminded that Caleb is now President over the 7th grade, and that he would now stand as an example to all of his peers around him.  I love and miss you all!  I'll do my best to send you personalized letters today when I get the chance!  I love you and miss you all and you're in my prayers constantly, I've seen myself grow so much in this short month of my stay at the MTC and I can't wait to see how I progress in the following 23 months.  I love you all.

Elder Jacob Jensen