It's that time...

Hi this is Katie Jensen with "Baking with Sugar Babe" Today we are going to learn how to make MTC Casserole. You will need a cup of anxiousness, 1/3 cup of nervousness, a dash of missing the family, a pinch of stress, and about 25,000 gallons of EXCITEMENT!!!! AHHH! Bake for about...what time is it? 9:38. Bake on 350 for about 2 hours and 12 minutes and BING! You will have a golden brown, moist Sister Jensen.

OH MY GOODNESS!!! I can't believe it is actually that time...holy crud. I have been waiting for this for 21 years!!! AH! And now it's here. I am a mix of emotions, but ultimately it comes down to desire and drive to do my best. I can never ever repay my wonderful Savior for all that He has done for me, but I figure if I do all that I can DO, like serving a mission, than He will appreciate any bit of effort. The Gospel is a wonderful and beautiful gift that has blessed ever single aspect of my life, and I want others to have that too. I want everyone to be happy and to know that they are children of God and know what the Savior has done for them. Ever single person is loved, no one should feel left out. I am so incredibly grateful for the opportunity that I have to do this, to serve my Lord and have fun doing it!!! My good friend has been constantly reminding me to work hard, but to have fun and find joy in everyday, and that is what I am going to do. John 21:15-17 describes pretty well HOW I feel about serving a mission and WHY. "'Lovest thou me?' 'Ye Lord, Thou knowest all things. Thou knowest that I love thee.' 'Feed my sheep'." Ok, I will.

I GOT MY MISSION CALL!!!

AHHHHH!!! FINALLY! After much time and tribulation I got my mission call, haha! It was on a glorious Thursday afternoon on May 15th. As I was lounging on the hammick bronzing my skin (I live such a hard and demanding life) my mom walks through the back gate and said, "Katie, you might want to get off the phone for this." Now, I had no clue it would be my mission call because my stake president told me that my call was delayed a few weeks, I was anxiously awaiting a letter from a close friend that had just entered the MTC. So you can image my extreme surprise when my whipped out from behind her back a large white envelope. "AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!" We both were screaming, jumping up and down, tears streaming down both our cheeks (my mom is the best about sharing someone's current emotional state, I love her so much for that). After the initial shock of actually holding my actual mission call, the realization of having to wait to open it hit me! "Oh no! No one is home!" Talk about a difficult and LONG day. My mom kept saying, "Let's just open it...just us girls." Oh my goodness MOM! You are so bad tempting me that way! At one point in fact, she grabbed my envelope and pretended to tear it open! I almost had a heart attack! After that I had to put it up in my room for safe keeping. That day I learned about patience from my father. He said he would be home at 7 so I figured, ok, I can wait until 7. I get a call at 7, "Hey hun I'm just leaving (AHHHHH- I'm thinking) it will be about 7:30, wait for me you have to wait!" 7:30 rolls around....no Dad. 7:45 (He knew it would be 7:45!) Dad walks through the door, "AH! OK EVERYONE TO THE KITCHEN!!!" We all gather around the kitchen table, cameras poised and ready to shoot, both brothers and best friend on the phones ready for the announcement! I was so excited! As I tore open the white envelope and began to read, the line which read, "You are called to serve in the...OH MY GOSH!!!!!!" I couldn't believe it! KOREA DAEJEON!!!! That was the absolute LAST place I ever thought that I would serve!!! But how exciting! How exotic! How...difficult!

I am so glad that I was able to share that experience with my family. There is nothing like the feeling of extreme happiness, rejoicing one with another for the accomplishment of a loved one. I am so incredibly grateful for the relationships that my family has, we are so closely nit and love the company that we each give.

I feel so blessed and absolutely humbled to be called by the Lord to serve in the Korea Daejeon mission. Oh my goodness, I still am on a high from opening that letter, and honestly I hope that I never loose that feeling. The gosepl is an amazing gift that I CAN NOT wait to share with God's children. I know, I KNOW, that Joseph Smith was visited by God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. The gospel has been restored on this earth, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints holds those sacred keys and truths that will lead us back into the presence of God and to His Kingdom if we live our lives in such a way. We are lead by a true prophet of God who is counciled by God Himself. How can it not be true? Look around and compare the lives of those living the true gospel, to those that are not, and the evidence of happiness and love and the light of Christ are so visible. I am so grateful to my Father in Heaven and loving Savior for this wonderful opportunity to serve.

Faces of Angels

Have you ever read a scripture that has just totally caught you off guard? You are just going along reading verse to verse, and then BAM! there is that verse, that causes you to choke up and reread over and over? That's what happened to me the other day as I was reading in Helaman chapter 5, verses 35 through 39. Nephi and Lehi, the sons of Helaman, are preaching in the land of Nephi and the Lamanites capture them and put them in prison. Well, the land is so wicked that they are overshadowed with a cloud of darkness, the Lord then speaks to them to repent and as He does so, the earth trembles and the walls of the prison crumble. Nephi and Lehi then come forth from the prison, and what do they do? The preach unto the people- I love it! Oh my goodness, just read these following verses and think about how they make you feel, verse 36, "...He saw through the cloud of darkness the faces of Nephi and Lehi; and behold, they did shine exceedingly, even as the faces of angels. And he beheld that they did lift their eyes to haeaven; and they were in the attitude as if talking or lifting their voices to some being whom they beheld. And it came to pass that this man did cry unto the multitude, that they might turn and look...And they said unto the man: Behold, what do all these things mean, and who is it with whom these men do converse? Now this man's name was Aminadab. And Aminadab said unto them: They do converse with the angles of God." Oh my goodness, isn't that so good? How wonderful it would be, to be the faces that shine forth in the darkness, as angels. And then to look up into the Heavens and behold the Lord, and to converse with Him and His angels. We can do this!!! Perhaps literally see the face of Jesus Christ, it is possible, but it is definate that we can talk with our Savior whenever and wherever. And we are able to be the light in the darkness, to have the appearance of an angel. As I have been preparing to serve my mission, now more than ever I have been striving to be my very best self, to be a good example to those that I work with, and I hope that I can be that light, and be caught talking to the Lord through my example. I pray that we all can be caught doing good, causing others to stop and notice, we truly have something special to share, so let's go about doing good.

BME- Best Missionary Ever

Wow...it's true

You know how they tell you that each time you read the Book of Mormon, different verses stick out more because of something that might be happening in your life, or learning more, or perhaps just actually really reading the words! Haha. How true this is. This morning I was able to witness this. So this morning as I was reading in Alma chapter 51 about the kingsmen wanting a king rather than a free government, and how the Lamanites planned to go to war with the Nephites, and the kingsmen would not fight so Moroni decided it was time to knock these prideful, noble-blooded men off their highhorse and stand with their fellow men and fight. Verses 17-19 really stuck out to me and it really surprised me that it had not been highlited, and I realized that I must not have understood the impact of the meaning behing the verse with the previous times I had read it, "And it came to pass that Moroni commanded that his army should go against those king-men, to pull down their pride and their nobility and level them with the earth, or they should take up arms and support the cause of liberty. And it came to pass that the armies did march forth against them; and they did pull down their pride and their nobility, insomuch that as they did lift their weapons of war to fight against the men of Moroni they were hewn down and leveled to the earth. And it came to pass that there were four thousand of those dissenters who were hewn down by the sword; and those of their leaders who were not slain in battle were taken and cast into prison, for there was no time for their trials at this period." The last sentence is what really hit me. Now I know that when it says "trials" it is talking about a court type situation, but when I first read it, I read the word "trials" as their problems- pride, lack of humility, hard-headed. And interpreted this verse as saying that when there is a cause, a time to serve on a mission perhaps, the Lord and His servants have no time for our "trials," I need to prepare myself now and push those trials behind me, no, not push them behind me, but to overcome them and destroy them. I need to step up and fight for the Lord's cause and not let myself doubt my capability because of my trials. Wow, well I could be totally off on the meaning of that scripture, but I learned a lot from it :) BME- Best Missionary Ever baby, best missionary I can be.

Words of wisdom...

Today in Relief Society we talked about Martin Harris and the lost manuscripts. As I listened to the lesson, and how over and over Martin Harris asked Joseph Smith to enquire the Lord in regards to allowing Martin to take the manuscripts and show them to his wife, and after three times of Joseph asking the Lord, and the Lord telling him no, finally the Lord said yes, but Martin had to enter into a covenant with the Lord following specific instructions on who Martin could show and to return them. Ultimately what happened was Martin and Joseph's biggest fear- the manuscripts were lost, gone, stolen, who knows- but Martin did not have them in his possession anymore. I sat there in class thinking "Why on earth would Joseph pester the Lord so many times when the Lord repeatedly said No?" And then I got to thinking about how many times I have done that very same thing, asking the Lord for things when He obviously has said No, and yet, I still pester and ask. I think we are all guilty of this, and something that the teacher said really caught my attention: "We have to be careful about what we pray for because we might get it, to our detriment (harm)." The Lord knows what is good for us, even if we don't see the harm in it, He knows all and we must be satisfied with that. Who better to guide our lives but Jesus Christ Himself?

The Testaments

HI! So I'm sure you have heard of the movie called "The Testaments" and let me just say...WOW. I absolutely love that movie. I first saw it while I was living with my favorite BYUI Bishop, Bishop Galbraith's house this past summer. Let me tell you, that is THE BEST WAY, beside reading your scriptures, to start your day. Every single time I watch that movie, I cry. And I'm not talking about tears lightly trickling down my cheeks, I'm talking about big o'l elephant size tears streaming down my face. My heart is just so touched when I see how much the Savior did for all those He came in contact with while He lived on this earth, the scenes that show Him forgiving the adulteress or the crippled man, the absolute pure love that shows on the Savior's face causes a flood of warmth to wash over me and I can't help but just fall to my knees and thank my Lord for loving all of us so much. Not only did Jesus Christ do so much in His earthly life, but He has done for all, when He atoned for all of our sins, pains, sadnesses, hurts, sicknesses, His atonement was for everyone. Everyone is effected by the Atonement of Jesus Christ. We owe so much to Him for His eternal love. And every time I watch "The Testaments" I am reminded, and engulfed in His love. Oh my goodness, I can not express how much I love my Savior...just...HA I dunno even know how to express it. A LOT. I love Him A LOT :)

The Restoration

Haha, so last night I was working at Buckle, and realized it was 5 til 7, and my manager asked me if I had gone on my break yet, I told her no, so she said I had 45 minutes. Well I booked it to mission prep, which...I didn't realize was a little bit further of a drive than I had anticipated :) I walk into the class and it's just me and the teacher and a guy. I stayed for about 20 mintues and then I had to leave so that I could make it back to work. Lemme tell ya though, I learned SO MUCH in those 20 short minutes.
The topic yesterday for mission prep was "Which is the true church of Jesus Christ?" The teacher had us read Joseph Smith History, chapter 1 verses 17 and 18. Verses 18 and 19 in particular caught my attention, "My object in going to inquire of the Lord was to know which of all the sects was right, that I might know which one to join...I was answered that I must join knone of them, for they were all wrong; and the Presonage who adressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight; that those professors were all corrupt; that: they draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, they teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof." My teacher said that for some reason this scripture tends to upset people of other religions, they take offense to it, HA! I wonder why...? I always thought that that scripture was referring to the people- the preachers, and priest, etc, BUT my teacher asked me WHAT exactly was said that was an "abomination in his sight," was it the teachers he was referrering to? No. It's not. This scripture is not bashing the people, because in all honesty their hearts I believe are somewhat in the right place, it's their CREEDS that are an abomination to God. So what is a creed? Creed is a system or codification of a belief or opinion. The creed is referring to is the Nicene Creed that was created in 325, adopted of the belief of the Greeks that the body is evil, therefore God does not have a body is only spirit. That being the case, they don't believe that we are God's children, and that the Godhead is all one mass. And THIS is why God said that "their creeds are an abomination" because they have taken away the body of God, lumped together Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost as all one spirit, and taken away our identity with the Father as His children.
It was all very very interesting in those 20 minutes of class, and I'm still trying to just soak it all in.
It's been nice being here in Kennewick, able to talk with people about the church. Ha, there is SO MUCH I don't know, and find hard to answer but I have found, that whenever I don't know the answer to their question (sadly more often than I hoped) if I just answer with my testimony and faith of the gospel, they seem content with that answer, they might not agree, but they seem satisfied. I just hope that people can see the love I have for my Savior in my countenance. I believe that each of us can be tools in the hands of Jesus Christ, as long as we have the courage and faith to testify what we know, however much or little that may be.

The Great Apostasy

Morning! Alrighty, well the mission preparation is coming along great! I now have my missionary physical exam and dentist appointments set up, so that is all taken care of! So this morning I was studying in Preach My Gospel (PMG) about the Great Apostasy, what it is, why it happened, and how we overcame it. It's so interesting to see how the Bible and Book of Mormon both talk about abominable churches and the characteristics of them, what they believe and the false doctrines they teach, why can't people make the connection?! A scripture, one out of the many, that stuck out to me today while studying: 1 Nephi 13:37 "And blessed are they who shall seek to bring forth my Zion at that day, for they shall have the gift and the power of the Holy Ghost; and if they endure unto the end they shall be lifted up at the last day, and shall be saved in the everlasting kingdom of the Lamb; and whoso shall publish peace, yea, tidings of great joy, how beautiful upon the mountain shall they be." Absolutely beautiful and encouraging words for all those that share the gospel, whether that be missionaries or members, we all have that opportunity to "bring forth Zion" and be "beautiful upon the mountains." There is so much more that I can say about this topic, but for now I am going to close the subject of the Great Apostasy. Really good study though in PMG pgs. 35-36

My heart is truly full as I study the words of our beloved Savior, Jesus Christ. As I sit here and listen to the words of my favorite hymn, 136, "I Know that my Redeemer Lives," I can't help but rejoice in knowing that He lives, He lives my prophet, priest, and king; He lives to bless me with His love, He lives to plead for me above; He lives, all glory to His name, He lives my Savior still the same, Oh sweet, the joy this sentence gives- I know...that my Redeemer lives.

So today has been awesome! I really dove into Preach My Gospel as I studied this morning. Today I learned about periods of apostasy and periods of dispensations, what they are and the reason behind them. Apostasy is when the Lord's church is not upon the earth and Dispensation is when the Lord has one of his servants (latest example: Joseph Smith) introduce the gospel back on this earth through the guidance and revelations of Jesus Christ. How sad to think though, that the whole earth could be so wicked, that the Lord saw it fit to remove the preisthood from off the earth. How grateful I am that I am living in a time where I know that the power of God- given to man for the benefit of His people- will never been taken away again, at least not in this last dispensation. AND! Oh my goodness I had a real eye-opener last night, and I can't believe that I didn't know this before, but when refered to as the FIRST resurrection- first is not numerical, it stands for best or CELESTIAL. So when it says that you will be apart of the FIRST resurrection, it is meaning that you will be apart of the celestial glory. Too cool! Can't believe I didn't know that, haha almost 21 years in the gospel and just now figuring that out- wow the temple is going to blow me away :) For now I need to get ready for mission prep. I'm out!