What happened to July? This has been one crazy summer. I'm going to try to catch up a little bit on the past few weeks.

This was a picture I found of K.C. and Katie when we were up at Strawberry fishing right before he left. So Sweet. I miss him so.
He is doing so good though. We have got a few emails from him and he sounds happy. He is really focused and determined to learn this language. He is growing and learning so much. He said in his last email that he is really getting a lot of help from the Lord. He is able to learn and memorize very quickly and recognizes that he could not do it without His help. He likes his companion and doesn't seem like he has had a hard time adjusting to life at the MTC. He said "It's not that I don't miss you guys, because I do, but I am not homesick or even thinking about what's going on at home. " I can't stand the thought of him being lonely or homesick. He has such a tender heart and is pretty sensitive, so that was really good to hear that he is happy.

I miss listening to him play the piano. I sat down last night and played out of some of the books he was always playing out of and had a small meltdown. They are getting fewer and farther between now though so I guess thats something.

I will post his emails.

Candice's friend that works at the MTC was able to look up K.C's ID on the computer and sent this to her.

HEY Family‏
From:
Kelley Jensen (kcjensen@myldsmail.net)
You may not know this sender.Mark as safeMark as junk
Sent:
Tue 7/21/09 10:57 AM
To:
pj1459@hotmail.com
Hey guys! Hows everything at home? Things are going well here, the days are getting easier. Sunday was great, Its was a much needed break from class all day. My companion is pretty funny and we get along well so Im having fun now. Russian is still super hard. Its just not natural for me to make the noises that they make. They will put like 4 consonants in a row and you have to pronounce all of them. And they use a bunch of English letters but they dont make the same sound that they do in English, so basically its confusing. We sing hymns in russian at the begining and end of every class and its kinda funny to hear us try to say the words at the right tempo...I guess you kinda have to be here to understand. We are learning lots though, and we have to memorize tons of russian stuff. On wednesday we are teaching our first "investigator", we have to talk to 3 people for 5 minutes each in all russian and then we have to ask them if we can teach in English. then we will teach the first lesson. So its a little stressful. Im glad we have tuesday as our Preparation day so that we can get ready. But I think it will go well, my companion is smart so we usually end up doing just fine when we practice our approaches. Hows dad doing at work? I wish he didnt have to work so hard. Hows home mom? I hope youre not too lonely, Candice better be coming everyday to see you. Tell Kate happy birthday for me, I mentioned it in a letter but I doubt it got there on time. Hows Dougy Buhler? I loved the letters you guys sent me, it really helps to get you through another day. Ive noticed sort of a pattern with the language here. They will give us tons of stuff to memorize and then I start to feel super overwhelmed, and then I pray that I will be able to remember and learn this language and soon I dont have a hard time remembering what Ive learned. I know that the Lord called me to serve in Russia for a reason and I know that he has blessed me and will continue to bless me. I couldnt have learned this much without his help, and theres no way Ill ever be able to teach in Russian with out him. I dont really know what to say, I just hope you guys arent worried about me because Im doing just fine. Tell Marsha Thanks from me, How great is she?! Please keep the letters coming, they really brighten my day, Its just nice to know that someone was thinking about you, you know? I dont know if you guys already know but I am scheduled to leave the MTC on October 7...and I will be emailing you every tuesday so if you write me on monday night I can reply to your message. Love, Ctareishna Jensen...I couldnt figure out the russian one so just Imagine that looking lots cooler. Ps. I love your guys, pray for me.


HEY!!‏
From:
Kelley Jensen (kcjensen@myldsmail.net)
You may not know this sender.Mark as safeMark as junk
Sent:
Tue 7/28/09 11:50 AM
To:
pj1459@hotmail.com
Hey guys! Hows home? I just got done reading all of your emails and I am just thinking how lucky I am to have a family like you. Thanks for the letters throughout the week, thats the best. Things are going really well here, this week has flown past! I cant believe its Tuesday already. But its a good thing because if all of the weeks were as slow as the first one I dont know if i could make it. We are still just learning tons everyday. last Wednesday we went and taught fake invesigators. So we have to do like 15 minutes of pure Russian, so we are supposed to tell them that we are missionaries and that we teach people about the Book of Mormon and the gospel of Jesus Christ and some other stuff. But eventually we said all of the Russian words that we new and so we just sat there in silence for a little bit...it was a little awkward. But eventually we asked if we could teach them in english and the said yes. So we taught the first lesson and it went pretty well. My companion talks tons so I just chime in when I feel like I have something important to say but otherwise he does most of the talking. We have learned tons of Russian since then so this week we are supposed to pretend that we are tracting so we have to do some door approaches and talk about families and set up appointments and stuff like that. So yeah, the language is coming along, we are just getting into grammar and stuff like that, its incredibly complicated. We have to know all sorts of english grammar and then decide how to conjugate based on what case its in...its hard to explain but we use a very complicated chart that i will send home when I dont need it any more so you can see it. My companion and I are still getting along great. We laugh a lot, but we seem to be the only ones in our district ever telling jokes or anything, and I think that one of the sisters strongly dislikes my companion because he is always joking around. Tell Mark and Gordon thanks for sending me emails. I appreciate the package but I would appreciate it if you could send the next one Sans Peanuts... hahaha I should have enough to last the rest of my mission, thanks for that. I have a few things that I need you to send me, please. My black and grey shoes with the red inside, my cufflink shirt, some more beef jerky..it was a hit, maybe some pictures of the prophet or christ...but not in a frame, just something I can hang up. Also, I need some stationary and maybe some protien powder....thats a lot of stuff, Im sorry. But it doesnt all have to come right now....just some time in the near future. Dad im glad to hear that work is ok for you, I will try not to worry anymore. Mom, I love you, what have you been doing with your time the past two weeks? I just want to let you guys know how much my testimony has grown in the past couple weeks. On sunday one of the sister missionaries from Russia bore her testimony and about how she joined the church, it was incredible! I just want so badly to find someone just like her that needs the gospel in their lives. I know that there is no better place to be than where I am now...except maybe Moscow. But I just want you guys to know how much I am growing, Im so excited to go teach people in Russia.LOve Elder Jensen.