After the trial of your faith....

Dear Friends and Family,
This week has turned out to be a really good week, but it's been hard work!
Monday was good. We did some finding and went to Amie N'Jie's in the evening. She gave us some food, so that was great. She's the sweetest lady. She makes me laugh.
Tuesday we also did a lot of finding. Then in the evening we went to see the Mason's. I love that family! It was so great. David "Danger" Mason told us the story of how he came to join the church. He said that he was working at the coast as a surf instructor, and had no interest in religion at all. However there was this one girl that he was working with that seemed so strong in her faith. He was intrigued by how strong she stood in her faith even when surrounded with so much worldliness. He started to ask her questions, and even met her family. He saw that they were all the same! He didn't understand how they could have such faith that would affect every aspect of their lives. He wanted something like that. But he said, that little did he realize that it came with a whole package, like a testimony and the gift of the Holy Ghost. It was great.
Wednesday we had District Meeting. It was supposed to be our last District Meeting with Elder Voneiderhausern, but then he wasn't there! That was sad, but it was a good District Meeting anyway :) Then we got to see Carol Shooter. She was doing well, and we talked a lot about Visiting Teaching. It was cool. We want to get her involved as soon as possible. Then we had a very long bus ride home... oh boy. haha, and then we went finding for the rest of the evening.
Thursday was a busy day. Early in the morning we met with a young man named Felici. He's great. He's honestly trying to look into a lot of churches. Then we went with Elders Hatch and Spekschinder to see Carol so she could have her baptism interview and she passed! :) Then we went to see a woman named Aldjia. She's searching for something, but she's not sure what. Then finally in the evening we went to do some service at Ursula's. We helped a bit in her front garden with some trimming, and with hanging up her washing. It was really nice. And she made us an amazing meal. Then in the evening we went to see Dominique with the Lidders. I don't think she's ready, and not very interested... but maybe someday she'll figure it out.
Friday haha, welllll..... we had a lot of meetings. We did planning all day, and we had correlation. Then in the evening we did some service, in helping set up for a wedding at the chapel. AND it was Jonathan Young and Rebecka Lee's wedding! Jonathan said to tell Micheal that he loves him very much :) I thought that was so much fun, because it was an unexpected service opportunity. Then we went to a barbeque with some of the ward members by the canal. So that was great.
Saturday morning we went with Mr M to the Martins house and watched The Testaments. I love that movie. So that was really nice. Then we did some finding, and we went to see Amie N'Jie again, because she's soooo sweet and she wanted to feed us again. So that was good :) Sunday was an amazing day! We arrived at church and none of our investigators were there. Then we looked out the door and Sylivia Hollands (less active) was standing there with her nonmember friend Sandra. That was sooo cool! And it turns out that Sandra was the one that convinced Sylvia that she should come to church, because she had heard so much about it, and she wanted to come. Awesome, eh? Then as we ran outside to greet Sylvia someone came up and tapped Sister Jensen on the shoulder, and it was Susan, Giovanni, and the boys, Alex and Sam! It was a wonderful surprise because we hadn't been able to see them in a long time. Sacrament meeting was phenomal, the whole thing. Especially when Elder Green spoke about how he found his testimony on his mission. Giovanni was touched by his sincerity, and afterwards said to Sister Jensen, "That's why I invited you back. A lot of people knock on our door, but there was a light about you." It was AMAZING. Also, the boys were about to not go to primary again, but then the ward mission leader's son, Matt, came and asked them if they would come with him, and they did! Giovanni and Susan loved Sunday School, and the boys enjoyed Primary. It was perfect! Sister Jensen and I had to teach the youth Sunday school, and it was so good. The youth here are amazing! They were so well-behaved, and thoughtfully answered every question we asked, and after it was all over Nichola Perry even thanked us for the lesson! :) Then after church Sandra asked for a Priesthood blessing, so she got one and it was great. And we went home with the Lidders, and after church Reginda said that missionary work had never been her thing, and that this week was the first time she had ever been teaching, and in church she interacted with the investigators, and then she said, "I think I like it." haha, it made me so happy. The Lidder's make me so happy. They are a funny couple. Sunday was so perfect. And it doesn't end there. Because even after that, we went finding for the rest of the evening. We got a lot of appointments and even one really cute Muslim young woman who invited us in, let us teach her, and is going to let us come back later in the week! It was a wonderful way to end the week, and I am so grateful for the Lord's tender mercies, because, to be honest, this past week was hard work, and spiritually draining. It seemed like no one wanted to listen, and some people were very anti, but Heavenly Father is in control, and the blessings come after the trial of your faith!
I love the gospel of Jesus Christ. It doesn't always immediately make sense logically, and it can't be proven by science, but if we test the seed, we will see that it is good. :)

Mom- I can't believe school is started already! Crazy! The trunkiness has set into the ward here, because Elder VonNeiderhausern went home on Saturday and Elder Green and I are preparing to go home. It's so weird, and everyone keeps coming up to say goodbye. I'm going to miss it here. But I still have a week and a half left :)

Nathan- You are so silly! It sounds like you are a very good boy in school. I love you!

Everyone- I love you!

Love,
Sister Ison