January 2020

Hello family. We are settling into our missionary responsibilities and we are anxious to begin a weekly letter to all of you.

We will plan on sending a weekly email either Sunday evening or Monday morning. This is generally the best time to do this. Mom and I will rotate writing the letter week by week. We will try to tell of what we’ve been doing as well as our thoughts and feelings.

Please keep us informed about all that is transpiring in the family. We will also try to make regular calls. We will not be able to call everyone each week, but we will try to talk to everyone at least every other week.

We know you probably are already aware, but Sister Lewis’s father passed away yesterday. She is flying home this evening. The funeral will probably be on Monday. Mom and I were at the church yesterday with President Lewis at a Zone Conference. Sister Lewis left early to return to the mission home so she could video conference with the family during the final moments of her fathers life.
After the conference, we drove President Lewis back to the mission home and went with him upstairs. Sister Lewis was in the kitchen, doing baking (just like LaCinda, always busy). We had a tearful, sweet time, sitting around the kitchen table, talking about her father.

Could someone send some flowers?Jay, please reimburse from our account.

We love you all! It is wonderful to be serving as missionaries!


Love, Mom and Dad

HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM CAMBODIA:

Dear Family:

We are long overdue to send you an update on what has been happening on our mission here in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.  I am writing this at about 5:30 pm on Monday, January 6. Most of you are asleep, but will soon awaken to the first Monday of the New Year.  For me, this was always a difficult day.  The excitement of Christmas and New Years, coupled with an extended break is now followed by the stark reality of back to work or school, with the prospect of another vacation looming long into the future.  Oh well, it is part of the rhythm of life and the incredible highs followed by often sluggish lows.  We are all part of this as we continue on this telestial journey.

One of the unexpected benefits of a mission in a non-Christian nation, is that we didn’t really have a Christmas break. People here went about their lives just as they do most everyday. We tried to celebrate, but we have to admit that it just wasn’t the same. Perhaps the best part of Christmas for us were two things.  Number one, of course, is that we have the distinct blessing of being able to serve our Savior full-time. What a blessing and joy! The other blessing of Christmas was viewing from afar the gatherings of our families and the joy you all had in just being together. I can’t think of many more blessings than these.

Since arriving in Cambodia on November 17, we have had so many experiences.  We have traveled around the mission with President and Sister Lewis. This took five days and four nights. We traveled “around the lake” as they say, to Kampong Thom, Siem Riep, and Battonbong. We attended Church in Kampong Thom and experienced the calling and setting apart of a new Branch Presidency. An interesting thing about this is the First Counselor in the Branch Presidency is a young man named Conner McGavin.  Anyway, I was asked to say the prayer as we concluded calling him to this position. I wasn’t sure of his last name, but I mentioned McGavin (and it turned out I was right).  After the prayer, I asked him if the name was correct. He said “Yes” and then I asked him if he had relatives in the Salt Lake area.  He said, “yes” again. I asked him where, and he said that his grandpa was Gordon McGavin and he lived in Holladay.  I said, “Well, you won’t believe this, but your grandpa lives in my parent’s ward. Turns out, this young man’s dad is Blair McGavin.  I told him that we knew his dad and his uncles because we basically were all in the same ward and close to the same ages.

I’ve said this many times.  In the Church, wherever you go, you are no more than a click or two from somebody you know.

I may have told most of you this earlier, but while we were in Kampong Thom for church, a busload of people arrived on Sunday morning.  It was carrying 33 people from a small village called Sandan that is located about a two hour drive to the north. Only six of the people on the bus were members of the church, but they all came to attend. After our block meetings, five of the people on the bus were baptized.  Then, the two young men who were baptized were given the Aaronic Priesthood and ordained to the office of Priest.

Just last week, Sister Jensen and I traveled again to Kampong Thom with the Lewis’s.  On Sunday morning, we arose early and started to drive to Sandan at about 6:45 am. We arrived at 8:45 am.  As we drove up to the house of Jen Kha, there were many people waiting in the front. The men and young men were wearing white shirts and ties. They were also barefoot. We held Sacrament meeting and then Sunday School and Primary during the second hour. There are 50 red plastic chairs that the church has provided so they can all attend Sacrament meeting while sitting in chairs. There were almost 70 people in attendance, and only 11 are baptized members. After the meetings, Elder Richardson, the only missionary we took with us (who can speak Khmer), taught a Preach My Gospel lesson to six investigators.  They all want to be baptized.

One fun event was the Primary.  There were 27 children in attendance for Primary.  Sister Lewis and Jensen were assigned to “run” the Primary.  The adults walked up the stairs to an open room above the room where we held Sacrament meeting. This is where we had the adult Sunday School. The Young Men and Women (10 in attendance) held their meeting outside, sitting around a table. As we tried to have our Sunday School meeting upstairs, there was a lot of loud singing and laughing coming from below. The adults had a hard time paying attention to the lesson on Come Follow Me materials. They kept kneeling over and looking through the cracks to see what the children below were doing.

You can imagine what they were doing.  Singing songs like “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes” and the “Hokey Pokey” and stuff like that.  The kids were loving it.  I have to tell you that Sister Jensen and Sister Lewis, when working together form a dynamic duo!  They knocked it out of the park and the kids did not want to leave, even after they said the closing prayer.  They stayed and wanted more of the “Hokey Pokey”!

Last week we also travelled for the first time to Takeo Province. We went for two events that are both related.  One was to observe the training that was given to doctors and nurses at the Takeo Provincial Referral Hospital. This lasted for two full days, on Thursday and Friday.  Also during those two days, three trucks took loads of medical supplies to about 15 district health centers. Some of these places were way in the “back woods”.  Sometimes as we drive through some of these areas, it brings back memories of Vietnam and the kinds of villages we used to drive or walk through during patrols. We are now, obviously, in a far different type of world.

One thing I do want to mention is that Cambodia is a nation that is still trying to get back on its’ feet. The Khmer Rouge killed nearly 25% of the population from April 17, 1975 to January 7, 1979. Most of those who perished were the leaders, teachers, business people, military, etc. They basically lost a generation of their most learned people. Now, they are trying to regain what was lost. It is difficult for this nation, where the average age of the population is probably about 22-24 years old.  You don’t see too many people who are our age.

I will send a few photos and try to label them so you may correlate it with some of the narrative in this email.

I wish to close by saying that the Church is true.  The Book of Mormon is given to us by the hand of God.  We are totally blessed this year to be able to study it together as a Church. I hope and pray we all make the best use of this blessed opportunity.

Love to you all,

Elder and Sister Jensen

“We love being missionaries … the greatest work in the world.”

We flew to Siem Riep yesterday. When we flew back to Phnom Penh, there was a large fire in town. I don’t know how they handle that. Haven’t seen a fire truck yet.

January 19, 2020

Attached is a letter from us for this week.  I also have an attachment of a document I produced for the PathwayConnect class that we are leading.  We love you all!

Hello to our family, this letter is being written by dad. Mom and I have discussed writing our letters to you and we have decided that we will write a letter every Sunday. One week I will be the main writer and the next, mom will be the primary writer. Each of us may add a thought or two in addition to the main letter that is written. 

We have now been on our mission for more than two months. So much has transpired, it almost seems as if we have been here forever. You probably are interested on what it is like to be working as Senior Missionaries. Well, the day-to-day activities we do are quite different from the types of things I did when I served my mission in Japan. The difference is more of what our core assignments are as Senior Missionaries. 

But ultimately, the work is the same, “to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man”. In other words, this is not our work. This is the Lords work and all we can strive for is to serve with all of our heart, might, mind, and strength. By the way, we often hear that term and we probably don’t think too much of what it really means. I am sure that I do not have a perfect understanding, but the more we serve, the more I am realizing that the Lord has given us our own strengths and talents and experiences. All of these can work together when we consecrate (dedicate) ourselves to His service. He has a way of using us in ways that we could never have imagined. 

For example, already I have been in circumstances where I have been able to recall experiences I have had in life. These may have been in our marriage, our family, or at work. Here in Cambodia, you often get the notion that most people are just working to get through each day and have enough rice (food) to keep on going. This creates a sort of “heads down” approach to life. This means that you don’t really lift your head to try to see the big picture or the long-term view. Instead, you are just trying to squeeze through the traffic of life to try to get to your next place. If something gets in the way, you try to deal with it IN THE MOMENT. Thus, there is not a whole lot of strategic thinking or planning by a large part of the population. 

This focus on the moment may result in missed opportunities. Years ago I read and studied a book by a man named Peter Senge. The book is titled “The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization”. Well, I have had numerous opportunities to call upon the concepts and principles that I learned in this book. These opportunities have come as I have worked with members of the church here who are struggling to deal with long-term problems, often using common thinking and practices. The other day I was talking to a brother who has a lot of responsibility here. We were talking about how responsibilities need to be given and shared with a broader number of priesthood holders here in Cambodia. The problems reminded me of an analogy that Peter Senge used in his book. I have shared this with some of you in the past. 

He talks about the development of aircraft after the Wright brothers demonstrated that you could fly with a powered-airplane. As soon as they demonstrated this, people were not lined up at a ticket counter to board a Boeing 747 plane to fly around the world. Instead, little-by-little, people in various laboratories or garages or hangers, were working on problems of flight and trying to make it better. Gradually, these incremental improvements came together and resulted in better and safer aircraft that could expand the envelope of what was possible with flight. 

After about 30 years, larger, multi-engine aircraft were beginning to be built. In 1934, Boeing built the model 247. It was a great aircraft, but it was not quite capable of taking off with enough weight to carry enough passengers or cargo. As a result, it couldn’t fly high enough, fast enough, or far enough to really make money. Only 300 or so Boeing 247s were built and sold. 

In 1935, Douglas aircraft came out with a newer aircraft. It was called the DC-3. It almost looks identical to the Boeing 247. There is one critical difference. Both aircraft were constructed using the latest important innovations. They have a monocoque construction for the fuselage that gave it great strength at reduced weight. They also had radial-cooled engines that produced greater horsepower because they could be sufficiently cooled by the airflow. They had retractable landing gear, which reduced wind resistance during flight. Finally, they both had a new innovation that was called “variable-pitch propellers”. This enabled the propellers to be used for increased thrust during take-offs, and then they could be trimmed during flight to reduce wind resistance and maintain speed with less fuel consumption during flight. 

Well, the DC-3 and Boeing 247 were identical except for the critical difference. Engineers had invented something new called “wing flaps”, and the DC-3 had them, while the Boeing 247 did not. With wing flaps, you can change the shape of the wing and thus increase lift at takeoff. This allowed the aircraft to fly with much greater weight. You could carry more passengers or cargo, and thus, make more money. For the first time, airlines had an aircraft that could make them a lot of money. As a result, more than 18,000 of the DC-3 (or variations) were built and flown. In fact, this became one of the most successful aircraft ever. There are still DC-3s flying and making money for people who use them mainly for carrying cargo. 

You are probably asking, what does all this have to do with anything? 

The concept is that often in life, we are faced with problems and obstacles. We try our best to try to solve the problems, but often, it just doesn’t quite work. This is usually the point when individuals, families, teams, or even organizations decide to scrap the whole thing because it just doesn’t work. They “throw it in the trash can” and start over. 

Very often, however, what is thrown out are not bad ideas. They are lacking that critical last piece. This is one of the key concepts that Peter Senge was trying to convey in his book. Thus, the title of his book was “the Fifth Discipline”. He is talking about a final, critical piece (the “fifth” piece) that can enable us to succeed where others just give up. That piece is “systems thinking”. This means, always be thinking of things as a system. If you are in a family or any type of organization, you are thinking, “What is it that we need to learn that will enable us to incorporate a new idea to help solve our problem?” 

We should be thinking: What about wing flaps? If we incorporate something new to our thinking, what is the constraint that can be dealt with that will help us get over the top in solving our problem(s)? 

Here in Cambodia, there is a critical need for ‘systems thinking’. I have sent you photos of the power poles here. They represent heads-down, immediate solution thinking. There is no long- term principles applied in the way power lines are thrown together. It thus becomes a metaphor of the third world. 

This is understandable when all you can think of is: “Where will I get my next meal?” But sooner or later, your economy and capacity grows past that and it is time to learn how to think strategically. Welcome to Cambodia. 

With this theme that I am speaking of, I was reading a talk from the last General Conference. It is by Elder L. Todd Budge and titled: “Consistent and Resilient Trust”. I love some of his thoughts. Here is a quote: 

“Sorrow prepare you for joy. It violently sweeps everything out of your house, so that new joy can find space to enter. It shakes the yellow leaves from the bough of your heart, so that fresh, green leaves can grow in their place. It pulls up the rotten roots, so that new roots hidden beneath have room to grow. Whatever sorrow shakes from your heart, far better things will take their place.” 

He also talks about the account of the Jaredite’s journey to the promised land and uses it as a metaphor for our journey through mortality. I love how he describes what the Lord promised to the brother of Jared. He said he would “go before them into a land which is choice above all the lands of the earth.” 

One of the things that mom and I are learning is that when you are a missionary, you are constantly and consistently relying on the Lord to go before you. A week ago, just a few minutes before the start of Sacrament meeting in one of the branches we support, the Branch President came up to me and said, “Would you give a talk in Sacrament meeting? It looks like our fourth speaker did not show up”. In moments like that, you don’t stop and think, “Can I or should I do this?” No, you reflect that you have been set apart as a servant and representative of the Lord Jesus Christ. Whenever an opportunity arises to do His work, you willingly and gratefully accept the invitation and go forward with faith. 

Sometimes, you don’t even have time to think when the invitation is given. Several weeks ago, our Area Authority, Elder Kannekam, was here in a Priesthood Leadership meeting for the East District. He pointed to me and asked me to come up. Then he said, “Would you share what a Branch Council is supposed to be?” He literally asked me that while I was standing in front of everyone. When I opened my mouth to speak, I had no idea or thought of what I would say. But I can tell you that, literally, words were put into my mouth. They were not my words at all because my brain was not functioning. I don’t think I could have told you my name at that point. It was almost as if I was watching myself say words. As I watched myself speak, I was amazed at what I was learning about the purposes of a Branch Council. 

This is how the Holy Ghost works with us when we truly surrender ourselves. That is when we became a tool in the hands of the Lord. He just works through us, not because of any great wisdom we have. He just speaks through us and we get to learn as part of the process. For greater understanding of this, see: DC 50: 21-22. 

By the way, Elder Budge explained in his talk how the Jaredites realized that they could not cross the great oceans on their own. He said: “the only way they could make it across the great deep was to put their trust in Him.” Then he says, ‘it is recorded that the Jaredites then ‘got aboard of their ... barges, and set forth into the sea, commending themselves unto the Lord their God.’ To commend means to entrust or to surrender.” 

Thus, what we really learn about doing missionary work is that we must commend ourselves unto the Lord. We need to surrender our wills to His will. And guess what? This isn’t just about missionary work, it is about the whole Plan of Salvation. Ultimately, if we are to become like our Father in Heaven, the only way we can do it is to surrender ourselves to Him. 

Well, I sure went off on all of that! Why on earth did I write all of that? I will tell you. 

Before I started writing, I said a prayer and asked the Lord to guide my thoughts as I wrote to you. I thought I would be giving you a day-to-day account of our activities this past week or so. I thought I would be telling you about the PathwayConnect class we are helping to lead (which meets on Thursday evenings). There are 17 students there. I was asked to be a “guest speaker” and share how my career has evolved. I created a hand-out. I will send it as an attachment. 

I thought we would tell you of the amazing meetings we had on Friday. One with the Hong Kong office, and the other with the Senior Missionaries. Mom and I ended up conducting the meeting and I took notes and handed them out. I will attach that as well. 

Or, I thought we would tell you of the “Happy Family” (Family Relations) class that we are going to take over from Elder and Sister Armstrong (who will soon be leaving to go home). This occurred last night. I told the story of how a member of our Tokyo branch gave us some advice on how to handle our child in church. As a result, Ryan quickly learned how to sit and (sort of) pay attention in church, while the other kids his age were wolfing down food, playing with toys, and crawling and then walking all around the chapel during Sacrament meeting. 

Those are just a few things. 

Cambodia is a country with wonderful and endless potential. The work is moving forward here. 

I want to end by sharing with you something you probably already know. Sister Lewis’ father passed away last week. She has flown home and is now with family. The funeral will be on Tuesday (we think). She will be in Utah and Arizona until about January 29 or 30. You may want to attend the funeral or reach out to LaCinda and express condolences from our family. 

We love you all. The gospel is true and the gathering of Israel is the greatest work that is going on in the world today. Nothing else comes close. Be strong in your families and please, please, use the Come, Follow Me resources. This year is a great opportunity to inplant the Book of Mormon as the great foundation for all of us. 

By the way, President Lewis has asked me to share my conversion story in several of the Zone Conferences. As I have once again shared this testimony, it reminds me of the great goodness of God and how His hand is always in our lives. It has also reminded me of the great and wonderful power of the Book of Mormon to bring us closer to God. 

May you turn to Him with all of your heart, might, mind and strength. May your testimonies run deep and may we all hold firmly to the rod as we make our way to the Tree of Life, that we might partake of the sacred fruit of that tree. Thus, may we all feel the love of God in all of our moments upon this earth. 

In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. 

Elder and Sister Jensen