Minha novinha

Sister Acevedo

I have had quite the week.  First of all, I received my new companion early Wednesday morning.  Her name is Sister Acevedo and she is from Peru.  Oh my gosh, I can't believe I'm really training after 3 months here.  The days leading up to her arrival I could really feel the influence of Satan reminding me of my inadequacy.  Our mission received 12 new sisters on Monday and we have plenty experienced Sisters to train, but somehow I'm training.  It's funny, I really had such a naive view of missionary work before the mission.  I thought for sure after 6 months...you've got yourself a well-rounded, experienced missionary, but that is so far from the truth!  I've had to rely a whole lot on the Spirit this week and because of that I've seen miracles in my language ability.

Sister Acevedo and I have had difficulties communicating.  She is speaking Portuguese with a Spanish accent and I'm speaking with an English accent so sometimes we misunderstand each other and its really funny.  She is cool though.  I'm glad that she just laugh with me when we can't communicate because let's be real, it's funny.  Sometimes she says things in Spanish because for some reason she thinks I will understand.  After 3 years of high school Spanish...I got nothing.  Portuguese has taken over my brain!  This week she was asking me about "tiendas" and "tiendas" is Spanish for stores.  I heard her in Portuguese (because how was I supposed to know she was speaking Spanish?!) and I thought she said "tendas" which means tents.  Anyways, I stopped at a couple stores for her to see if they had tents.  I didn't know why she wanted a tent, but I wanted to help my comp, ya know?  Later that night it all clicked and we had a good laugh.

I actually got to teach in English yesterday.  There is a country near here called Guyana and the people there speak a funny sounding English.   We were knocking on doors and found this older couple from that country.  They understood English best so I taught the Restoration in English.  Man, it was hard.  I've been going strong in Portuguese for a week now and making the switch was confusing to my brain!  Please don't make fun of me when I come home.  

One lesson we had this week was when we were knocking doors.  An old lady answered and let us in.  We sat down in their backyard with her, her husband, her friend and about a dozen puppies.  When I began to talk the old man (her husband) was like, "I'm sorry, I don't speak English".  And I replied, "I'm speaking Portuguese" and he said, "bad Portuguese".  This is normal here.  I'm probably the first American he has ever talked to.  Then they let us share a message with them and at this point I was a little annoyed.  But I thought, well...it will be good practice for my new comp.  So we started the Restoration.  By the end I could feel the spirit testify strongly that the things we were saying are true.  The friend that was visiting accepted baptism and will are going to visit her next week.  After we finished, I was surprised to hear that man rehearse everything we taught back too us....he even understood the memorized first vision!!!  I was shocked!  I left their house feeling a lot more confident in myself and having a lot more confidence in the spirit.

This week we've returned to Pedro, Simone, and Silmara's house several times to keep them firm and excited about the gospel.  I just think the world of these kids.  Every time we come over they get so excited.  They run and grab their Bibles and their Books of Mormon because they know our role as missionaries.  They know we are there to teach and they are ready to learn.  One night this week we watched the Restoration on DVD.  I love that DVD!  It lays out the message of the Restoration really well and the spirit is always strong.  Silmara, the 8 year old, said something really cute after watching the Restoration.  She said, "I really liked it, I just thought it was a little short.  I would like it to be a little longer".  Sitting in church with them this Sunday during Pedro's confirmation I was so filled with joy.  Not only can I feel my own love for them, but I can feel our Heavenly Father's love. I'm grateful that I was the missionary here when they were baptized.  Their parents really like us too.  We invited them to learn more, but the mom said she doesn't have patience.  I tried to dig a little to know what she meant, but never got a direct answer.  However, they are going to feed us next Sunday so we will prepare a really good message about eternal families!

I've really learned a lot this week and I'm so grateful that I'm here.  I have so much to learn and I've learned so much, ya know?  Right now our only challenge is my companion's legs and feet.  She is not adjusting very well to the climate and bugs here so please pray for her so we can work more.  She can barely put on her shoes.  Her feet are super red and swollen.  I feel really bad for her.  I'm healthy and normal.  My only challenge this week has been with ants.  I was sitting on my bed 2 days ago and noticed an ant so I flicked him off.  Then I saw another...by the time I saw the 3rd ant I lifted up my sheets to find hundreds of ants!  Oh my gosh...it was awful!  I promise you that I never eat on my bed so I really don't know what started it but after a lot of Raid and washing I think I've got it under control.  My prayers at night are a lot different now.  I never thought I would be asking Heavenly Father to keep ants off my bed while I sleep.

Despite all this, I am still extremely happy to be a missionary.  It's really weird, but it's true.  It's like what President Hinckley's dad said, "Forget yourself and go to work".  Whenever we forget ourselves, we can always expect to be happier.  I know this is true.  I love you all.

Sister Jensen

Transfers and Baptisms

Bom Dia!

I've had quite the week here in Boa Vista!  Sister Crane and I have focused a lot of attention on the one family we found on my Birthday a couple weeks back.  They are so awesome!  We've been there every day this past week to teach them.  First we started teaching Simone the 17 year old sister, then Silmara the 8 year old.  They both accepted baptism and love learning!  After their interviews were completed, we went over to practice some primary songs with them so they could sing at their baptism.  We invited their 13 year old brother Pedro to learn about the church too and we were surprised when he stuck around after the lesson to learn the songs with us.  He said he would be baptized too after he visited the church once.

This past Saturday was Simone and Silmara's baptism.  Right before we left to pick them up, it started down pouring!  I've never seen so much rain fall so fast and so heavy!  The roads literally turned into rivers!  When it finally slowed down, we left and waded through the water all the way to their house.  I do not want to know what was in that water!  All the kids were out in the streets splashing around and playing in it.  We got to their house a little late and Pedro told us that Silmara (the 8 year old) had been crying because she was afraid the rain would cancel her baptism that night.  She is so precious!  I love these pure sweet kids that we found.  I know Heavenly Father had been preparing them for some time now.  They are all so kind, so innocent, and really have a strong desire to follow Jesus Christ.  The next day Pedro was baptized after church.  His young men's president baptized him and he received a really warm welcome from the ward.  Now our task is to help them integrate by working through the members.  We also want to start teaching their parents.  Their parents really like us and I think that is because of the feeling we bring to their home.  You just cannot deny that Spirit!

Yesterday we received transfer calls.  We were both pretty shocked because we got the call so late and we both thought for sure we would be staying in Boa Vista together.  But Sister Crane was transferred to Porto Velho.  After the call we just started crying.  It was one of the hardest goodbyes I've had here on the mission.  I will miss her a lot!  Early wednesday morning my new comp will arrive.  She is a greenie and I'm going to train her!  The catch is...she is spanish speaking and I don't know if I remember a lick of Spanish.  I'm not sure which country she is from yet.  It will be challenging for sure, but I'm up for it.  I'm excited to stay here in Boa Vista!

Meanwhile I'm with Sister Melo.  She is waiting for her comp too and it is sister Melo's final transfer her.  Her Portuguese is really tough to understand, but I'm getting it.  A lot of the time I just guess what she is saying.  I can't believe I have 3 months in Brazil already!  The culture shock has long passed and Brazil feels like home now.  I'm so grateful to be here.  I'm so grateful for all that I'm learning and I'm so grateful for another opportunity to grow and learn this transfer.  I hope you all have a good week and remember to look for opportunities to serve others!  Love you!

Sister Jensen

Birthday Miracles

Wow, time is flying by so fast!  Sister Crane and I were talking today about how fast these past 2 transfers have gone by.  Today is most likely my last P day with Sister Crane.  We think she will get transfered because she has been here a long time, but we won't know for sure until Saturday.  I can honestly say that I've loved serving with her.  We've had so much fun and I'm going to miss her a lot.  That's one of the cool side effects of the mission, you make some really solid friendships.  It's nearly impossible to not love the person you are serving with and with Sister Crane it was easy.  We spent the day in centro doing a little shopping and we ended up finding nothing.  Boa Vista is a dead place when it comes to shopping.  Most people here travel to Venezula to buy clothes.  But oh my gosh...literally every store we went in today, we were stalked by the workers.  I'm not sure if they thought we would steal something or if they thought they would make a big sale with Americans in there store.  It was so annoying!!  I started making it into a game.  The minute we entered a store, I started counting to see how long it would take to pick up a stalker.  The average was about 7 seconds.

Thank you for the Birthday e-mails!  It was so fun to read them all today.  Sister Crane and I celebrated our Birthdays in centro today.  After trying to shop, we decided to just get pedicures and milkshakes instead.  It's been a fun day.  On friday (my actual b day) Irma Rose made me and Sister Crane a Birthday cake and gave us a little present.  A lot of members were there to celebrate too.  I never expected getting so much attention on my mission birthday, but when you have a lady in your ward that loves to make cake...birthdays get celebrated!!  Thanks Irma Rose!

Alright, so this week was awesome and we've been seeing a lot of miracles.  We found out this week that we had 3 other investigators at general conference that we didnt even know about!  We havent been able to talk to them yet though because they live super far away.  We also had a chance to talk with Dennis this week.  We had a really great lesson with him where he finally opened up to us and we found out the real reasons why he didn't want to get baptized.  He feels a lot of pressure from his mom to continue in the church she attends, but he told us he knows our church is true.  He said the one sunday he came to church with us, he did really well on a test at school that he wasn't expecting to do so well on and he said he knew that it was a blessing he received from coming to church.  Then he started having lots of questions about the priesthood in the church.  We answered his questions and in the end I felt prompted to ask him if he wanted a priesthood blessing of comfort and his answer kind of surprised me.  He said, "Who wouldn't want a blessing?"  So this past sunday after church a priesthood holder in our branch offered a beautiful blessing.  This week it is our hope that the blessing helped calm his fears so that we can mark another date for baptism.

Another miracle this week happened on my birthday.  It was a Birthday miracle!!  We had some extra time after some appts fell through and I felt prompted to visit this girl named Simon that we found a few weeks back that we could never find at home.  Well on my birthday...she was home!  We felt prompted to teach the lessons a little out of order with Simon so we taught the gospel first.  Sometimes, the Restoration is a big lesson to swallow on the first visit and the gospel is a little easier to understand.  Not always, but sometimes.  We taught her the gospel and when I invited her to be baptized she said yes!  She is really excited!  She is 17 years old so she is in young womens and we are trying to help her intregrate with the girls there.  Her and her sister were at church on Sunday and they both really liked it.  I'm really ecited about teaching them.  We will baptize them this coming weekend.

Since coming to Brazil, I've been really diligent about my language study, but I've been slacking at reading the Book of Mormon in my mission language everyday.  This week I've been going strong everyday and I've noticed a clear difference in my fluency and understanding of the language.  I know that I didn't gain that on my own, but it is the power that comes through reading the Book of Mormon.  There is power beyond our understanding in that book!  We may not have a perfect comprehension every time we read, but it is the mear action alone that gives us power.  When we read, we are being obedient.  And when we are being obedient, Heavenly Father promises blessings.  It is just that simple.

I love the blessings that I've received since being on a mission.  My heart is full of gratitude everyday for the things that I'm learning and for all that the spirit is teaching me, while I'm teaching Heavenly Father's children.  I love my job!  The church is true!  Jesus Christ lives!  I love you all!

Love,

Sister Jensen

Sandal tan lines

My life is so good!  I love being a missionary in Brazil!  This week I had my first encounter with a lizard in our house.  I walked in and he was crawling up the wall.  He got so nervous when he heard us come in that he fell down and I started yelling some Portuguese at him, then he ran outside.  You have to speak Portuguese to Brazilian lizards.  They understand way better that way. Sister Crane found a big cockroach in our sink while doing dishes one day this week.  She screamed and I tossed her the Raid.  We are basically pros at this now.  I also ate capivara again this week.  I'll be honest, now that I know what it is...it is a lot harder to eat.  I think I like eating in ignorance better.

This week we've been teaching a woman named Camila pretty consistently.  We met her one day when we were walking by a less active/recent convert in our ward that was out talking with her.  The less active/recent convert's name is Maria and Camila is her neighbor.  I've had some of the best lessons this week with Camila!  She loves our visits and Maria has been at everyone of them.  I'm convinced there is no better way to reactivate than helping others feel needed and important.  I think it was Elder Utchdorf during conference that said, most people want to do more than just sit and listen to sermons.  That is the truth!  This week Maria has felt so important helping the missionaries.  She has helped bear testimony, teach parts of the lesson, and best yet...she HERSELF invited Camila to be baptized! 

We really do see miracles when members are involved in the work.  It is even better to help recent converts and less actives be involved in the work.  Maria is receiving the lessons again and in turn is strengthening her testimony.  I just beam when I see our members and our investigators getting it.  I can feel only a portion of what our Heavenly Father must feel for them, and trust me..He loves us a lot!

Making peanut butter cookies

I hope ya'll felt that way during conference.  There were several themes talked about during conference, did you notice that?  One of those was obviously missionary work.  Elder M. Russell Ballard told us that it is impossible for us to fail in doing missionary work!  Many of us in the past have viewed sharing the gospel as a burden and it is not.  It is a priviledge!  Just invite with love.  Even if the answer is no, they will never forget the feeling.  You might be one of the "stepping stones" that lead them to finding the truth one day.  Think about it!  We are the only church on Earth that has authority to share the fulness of the gospel.  We are a missionary church!  We broke 15 million members!  Now let's break 16 million!

Another theme was the Atonement.  Let's be honest though, the Atonement is central to everything we do.  Our Savior Jesus Christ suffered all, so we would not have to suffer alone.  Because of the Atonement we can repent.  Because of the Atonement we can be healed.  And because of the Atonement, we can become more like Him.  Richard Maynes said something that was very profound to me, but I don't remember it word for word.  He said, our testimonies can't get into shape from just sitting and watching conference.  Don't we do that sometimes?  We receive spiritual promptings and then there is zero action.  I'm inviting you to act!  I'm so guilty of this.  Last night I set some personal goals to help me improve so I don't become a lazy conference coach  potato.

It is true what Elder Russell M.Nelson, Heavenly Father has known us for a very long time.  He loves us.  I can only imagine how terribly frustrating it was for us sitting in the pre-mortal existance just dieing to progress.  Our Heavenly Father wanted us to know the fullest joy, so He created this plan.  Try not to be upset if sometimes it's not easy.  I have to tell myself that every week here.  Missionary work is not easy.  Sometimes, He requires us to endure patiently.  I so have hope though, that I will one day be like Him.  One day, the pains and trials of this life will be a thing of the past.

I like bringing this message to the people in Brazil.  Trust me, we have it so good.  Our lives are so comfortable.  I am absolutely humbled when I walk into some of the homes here.  The people of Brazil are really special.  There are so giving, kind and close to our Heavenly Father.  I just have the sacred calling to help them find His complete doutrine.  I love being a missionary.  Thank you for your love and for your prayers.

Love (Your Favorite Sister in the Amazon),

Sister Jensen

For my thoughts are not your thoughts

Tudo bem!  It's been another busy week here in Boa Vista.  Sister Crane and I are always busy and we always have a lot of appointments.  Nothing here ever ceases to be exciting.  For example, this week we had a trio for a day with a Brazilian missionary Sister Nunes while her comp went to take care of some things in Manaus.  It was really fun being in a trio and talking in Portugese for a full 24 hours.  (Believe it or not, it's really hard to speak Portuguese when you have an American companion.)  We went to one appointment with a women we met a couple days ago.  This women could not understand anything we were saying...mostly because she wasn't listening.  By the end of the lesson, we found out she really wasn't interested so we asked her to send us out with a prayer.  We really werent sure if she understood us because she started fanning her face with her hands until she evetually bowed her hand and closed her eyes.  Then we sat in complete silence.  At this point, Sister Nunes starts laughing uncontrollably.  Then she snortted and Sister Crane and I lost control until we were all laughing.  Oh my heck, I promise I was trying to be reverant, but some situations we get caught in are just too funny! 

Another downpour

This week we've been really praying hard for some miracles.  We actually even fasted for miracles here.  Everyone we are finding lately just want to learn and are not interested in keeping commitments.  During our fast we tracted into a woman in one of the poorer areas.  She told us to come back the next day.  When we went back, she said she was talking with her husband the night we came by.  she told him that she felt something different when we were there and that she was feeling the same feeling in that moment!  That was a huge miracle.  Another was with a girl that we had been teaching that came from a very wealthy family.  She is 13 years old and likes our visits.  She says she can feel something good every time we are there.  We are sifting out the prepared and the unprepared.  I'm always so grateful when our investigators recognize the Spirit because it helps me to know who Heavenly Father is preparing for us.

We passed by some old investigators this week that work at a restaurant.  They are really dedicated to their current church, but they told us that maybe some day they will want to join our church.  I don't understand the logic.  Anyways, all they know is that they really like us.  They think that what we do is beautiful.  They even gave us referrals!!  They said, "Sisters!!!  You really need to go visit this guy over here.  I will introduce you.  He wants to learn about your church."  They even were talking to their co-worker about us and told her that she needed to mark a time to meet with us.  Hey, we'll take referrals in any form they come!

I'll be honest though, it's taking everything inside of me not to be frustrated.  I never expected the work to be this hard in Brazil!  Didn't we all just imagine that everyone would want to be baptized here?  No, it's not that simple.  I don't know how I can have 50-70 lessons a week and still no one is progressing towards baptism.  Only Heavenly Father knows why.  All things will be done in His timing because He truely knows best.  I just need to have faith in Him and do my part.  Isaiah 55:8...

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord"

Last night we had a family home evening at the home of a recent convert that just lost her father.  It was really special because a lot of people from the branch came to support her.  Sister Crane and I shared a message on the Atonement and there was a really special Spirit there.  I know that the Savior knows us and loves us perfectly.  The only perfect person to walk the Earth, suffered and died so that we could return and live with Him in perfect happiness.  This life is not the end, but it is the testing period.  We need to do all that we can to come to know our Savior in this life, so that we can live with Him in the life to come.  I love the knowledge of the gospel.  I love the peace and joy it brings to my heart and the source of my frustration is that I want so badly for others to have what I have.  Because I know it's true.

I love you all.  Share the gospel this week! :)

Sister Jensen

Work with the Missionaries!

Hey family and friends!
It's been another great week here in Boa Vista!  We've been walking a lot and teaching a lot and now we are just waiting and waiting for the fruits of our labors.  Boa Vista is a fun place to work.  It's actually really tranquil, especially in our area.  We also have a lot more wind than Manaus and a lot less hills.  One thing that is kind of scary sometimes are the random power outages.  They happen all the time!  We had one yesterday during church.  We were in gospel principles and all of a sudden it was dark.  It was funny though because we could hear the primary kids screaming in the other room so we ran over there with a flash light to calm them down.  Luckily the power outages never last too long.

I love our primary kids!  They are so cute and right now we are teaching them the song "A Childs Prayer".  It's funny though because they have to learn it from 2 girls with funny accents.  They are going to sing in sacrament meeting in a couple weeks for "Dia das Crianças" (Children's Day).  Yep, that's a real holiday.  In the states we have Halloween and I guess this is their day to pay tribute to children.  I'm not sure what it will be like yet, we'll have to see!

This week we went to visit a woman named Mosinha in a city far from where we live.  (Well, not far...just a long walk).  Sister Crane and her last companion had been teaching her and she couldn't be baptized because she wasn't married.  They left her with a date to work towards for marriage and a heart shaped box to save up her money.  When we returned this week, she told us they were still planning on getting married and they saved the money so that they could get married by October.  We were so excited!  A lot of couples in Brazil aren't married because it is so expensive for them, but Mosinha wants to be baptized and for the past 2 months she has been working towards marriage on her own without the help of missionaries.  She was our miracle this week!

We also had an investigator at church!  Trust me, that is a miracle!  I'm not sure why, but it's been really hard getting people to church lately.  We walk around all sunday morning picking people up for church and they all have new accuses.  We also invite everyone we see.  A lot of people say, "Oh when your new chapel is ready, I will come".  But this Sunday our investigator named Rafael hussled to make it for sacrament meeting.  It was a really good meeting and the talks were all really inspired.  He told us that he really enjoyed it and he is excited to learn more.  But it is so vital that he continues coming to church!  That's where the members play a huge role.  Fortunately, we had a lot of members talking with him after church and welcoming him.

Our role as members is so important!  And the role and the vision for member missionary work is changing.  It's more than feeding the missionaries and receiving a nice message, it's about working side by side with the missionaries.  We had a Zone Conference this week and our Mission President spoke a lot about how we can improve our work with the members.  Why is that so important?  Because Heavenly Father cannot trust our wards with new members if we don't strengthen what we already have.  Our home ward has been so blessed!  I was so happy to hear that you now have 2 sets of missionaries!  Use them!  Find people for them to teach!  Heavenly Father has blessed the Brighton Ward tremendously to give ya'll 2 sets of missionaries.  You will see miracles as you earnestly try to work with the missionaries.

Remember that we ourselves our testimonies to the world that the church is true.  In Matthew 6:22 it says:

 22 The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine ^aeye be^bsingle, thy whole body shall be full of ^clight.

If our eyes are single to the glory of God, others will see the light of Christ in our eyes and they will want to know what we know.  I'm so grateful for the gospel in my life.  I'm so grateful to be a missionary.  There is no other place I'd rather be right now.  I walk, and sweat, and eat until it hurts because I love my Savior Jesus Christ.  I have never felt His presence so much in my life as I do right now.  I know the church is true!  The Priesthood is restored and I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God.  I know with a surety that God lives and loves us.  He is aware of every detail of our lives.  I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God.  I'm so grateful for this opportunity to share this good news!  I love you all!  Choose the Right!

Sister Jensen

The Character of Christ

This week was my first week into the next transfer and I'm staying here!  Sister Crane is staying with me also to complete my training.  We are really happy to be here another transfer and I'm super grateful to be with Sister Crane.  The work is so much more fun when you have an awesome comp.  Last week I had my first exchange here with a Brazilian companionship and I was really surprised at how well I could understand and communicate with her.  Learning a language is such a rollercoaster experience.  One minute your words are flowing and everyone can understand you and the next minute people think you are a complete idiot.  I take a lot of faith in knowing that the Lord will give me the words when I need them.  My favorite people to talk to are the kids.  They can always understand us and they are so sweet and innocent.  There are some gorgeous little Amazonian children here.  The little girls have sooo much hair and they are so dang cute!

Our focus this week has been finding families.  We do not go home at night until we have at least found one family.  Some nights, it is a real test of faith.  For 2 days last week we were in a trio with Sister Nunes because her companion went home.  One night we went out tracting and it felt like everyone was telling us no.  That doesn't usually happen to us, but continued working until we finally found a family.  I've been trying to be the best missionary I can because I really want to see some miracles in this area.

One family we met this week lives in a city just north of us.  It's about an hour walk there so we only go once or twice a week.  When I first arrived in Boa Vista, we ate lunch at their restaurant and the women said that she had met sister missionaries before.  We had been meaning to go back for a while, but never did until this week.  It's hard to catch them at a good time because they are usually busy working the restaurant.  Luckily, we caught them as they were taking a break to eat and they told us to tell them a little more about our church.  Sister Crane and I jumped right in to teaching the Restoration.  When it was my turn to talk about Joseph Smith I could feel the Spirit really strongly and I could tell that they could too.  I pointed out the Spirit in the middle of the lesson and they were really impressed and invited us into their home to teach more.  At the end of the lesson, we invited them to read the Book of Mormon and pray to know if it was true.  The 19 year old daughter told us that she already knew that it was true because she read some before.  She said one day she was researching prophets and needed more study material.  She said, "Yeah, so I used some stuff I read from the Book of Mormon to finish my research and I shared what I learned at church".  They said they would be baptized if God told them it was true.  They came to church yesterday and I think they had a good experience.  It will be a change for them.  They are really dedicated to their current church and they keep trying to get us to come to their church.  It's so uncomfortable saying no to people.  It's hard for many of them to understand our purpose I think.  

A lot of people here think we just go around "spreading the good word of God" and what they don't realize is that we offer so much more than that.  We are bearers of good news!  The gospel has been restored and because of that families can be together forever.  I love my job!  I is really hard and sometimes discouraging, but it is the most rewarding feeling when I can help others recognize that our message is true.

Another thing I love love love about the mission is the constant need for self-improvement.  I never feel stagnant because there is always something I can be working on.  One thing I've been reflecting a lot on lately is the Character of Christ.  As I've been studying the New Testament along with the Book of Mormon, I've come to understand the Savior's love and example even more.  I love how Elder Bednar defines the character of Christ:

"Perhaps the greatest indicator of character is the capacity to recognize and appropriately respond to other people who are experiencing the very challenge or adversity that is most immediately and forcefully pressing upon us. Character is revealed, for example, in the power to discern the suffering of other people when we ourselves are suffering; in the ability to detect the hunger of others when we are hungry; and in the power to reach out and extend compassion for the spiritual agony of others when we are in the midst of our own spiritual distress. Thus, character is demonstrated by looking and reaching outward when the natural and instinctive response is to be self-absorbed and turn inward. If such a capacity is indeed the ultimate criterion of moral character, then the Savior of the world is the perfect example of such a consistent and charitable character."

I'll be the first to admit that I am far from attaining this perfect Christ-like love.  There have been several times in my life where things haven't gone the way I've liked and I've focused completely inward on my own suffering.  Even now on my mission, I pray everyday that I can recognize my prideful thoughts and eliminate them from my mind.  Often we sin in ignorance.  We justify our suffering and our anger to satisfy the natural man.  But this is not what Christ would do.  Even in His finally moments of suffering on the cross, bearing the sins of the world, He asked Heavenly Father to "forgive them for they know not what they do".

I am so grateful for my Savior, Jesus Christ and His atoning sacrifice that allows me to improve everyday.  I'm humbled to know that He loved me enough, an imperfect person, to pay the price for my sins so that one day I might be like Him.

 48 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, ^apray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true ^bfollowers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall ^cbe like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be ^dpurified even as he is pure. Amen. (Moroni 7:48)

I love you all!  Have a good week and read the entire talk "The Character of Christ".  Here is the link: 

http://www2.byui.edu/Presentations/transcripts/religionsymposium/2003_01_25_bednar.htm

Sister Jensen