Bipolar days in Massena-and Easter

So much has happened this past week, but first..
Good News! IT'S WARMING UP!! we are so excited! We don't have to wear coats or hats or Thermals! But now there is mud.... EVERYWHERE. Some days it will be really warm, then freezing and raining just like that. Ugh just like the people the weather is so Bipolar! haha We have been riding bikes everywhere and we get mud ALL over.. haha It's hard to maintain a clean cut appearance when you have mud all over the back of your head...but I digress.

Elder Neus and I had the Opportunity to go down to Potsdam with the Huffs, Our awesome senior couple up here, to eat at one of our Investigators restaurants he works at in S.U.N.Y Potsdam (state university of New York). While we were there I got to tour their Archaeology Dept. and it was super SUPER cool! haha it got me pretty pumped for college!

After that, the Huffs asked if we had ever been to Canada and we said... "Nooo..." so they took us! haha There is an Island on the Reservation that is technically Canada. So we went to CANADA! Elder Neus and I were super excited. I don't know why but we were... AND we saw a Drug Boss's house up there! and I'm pretty sure a drug deal too... so that was crazy!

And if you were wondering what ever happened to that lady we helped with cleaning her house... Yeah nothing too amazing. I asked her when we could come and tell her about that pamphlet we left her, and she said, "Oh my week is pretty crazy" so the i asked her, well is there anything we can do for ya? Lo and Behold she said "oh i have a closet that could really use some cleaning out..." I was just about to back hand that lady when Elder Neus said SURE we would love to! So hesitantly, we cleaned that dang Closet. LET ME TELL YOU right now. NEVER! clean out another persons closet. But, if you really want to know somebodies secrets.. by all means. YUCK! haha But.. we did get an appointment from it so it did pay off... haha.

The last couple days have been somewhat of a struggle for us up here though... Now that the weather is warming up all the Jerks are coming out and making our lives up here... frustrating haha. People Looove to honk and swear at us as we walk by. It kind of took a toll on us for a little bit there. But we read a scripture Sunday morning in D&C 24:15 that seemed to boost our confidence. It reads:

" And in whatsoever place ye shall ^aenter, and they receive you not in my name, ye shall leave a cursing instead of a blessing, by casting off the ^bdust of your feet against them as a testimony, and cleansing your feet by the 

wayside." Kind of harsh, I know, but its the truth. haha

As representatives of Jesus Christ, we are here to share his gospel and do what he would do. HE knows all of us and Loves all of us. "As I have loved you, love one another". It may be hard to "love everyone" but if we strive to do so, the Lord will continue to bless you. This Sunday gives us an overall reminder of the importance of the Savior. And his role in everything we do. Just as it says in everyones "favorite scripture" John 3;16,17
 16 ¶For ^aGod so ^bloved the ^cworld, that he ^dgave his ^eonly begotten ^fSon, that whosoever ^gbelieveth in him should not perish, but have ^heverlasting ⁱlife.
 17 For God ^asent not his Son into the world to ^bcondemn the world; but that the world through him might be ^csaved.
Christ is central in Gods plan. Through him everything is possible, I know that.

I pray you all have an amazing Easter Sunday and remember the True meaning of Easter!

And Be happy!:)

-Elder Jepsen

p.s. The first picture is of a 39 Ford that is this SUPER SICK! the guy who owns it is a WW2 bomber. and the funniest old guy I've ever met.

 39 Ford that is this SUPER SICK!

The second picture is of Elder Neus and I with a member named Brother Stevens in our District haha he's so weird haha

General Conference in NY!

Wow, first off let me just tell you .... Conference was AMAZING! The first on my mission. Its crazy how much more you get out of it when you actually pay close attention and take notes... haha I loved it! What better way to kick off General Conference than to bring out the "hammer" Holland Saturday morning?haha It was absolutely the best way to end our week.  

One of our investigators watched every session with us, and he LOVED IT!

Massena is Kickin! People are now crawling out from their holes and coming outside now that the weather is FINALLY warming up! We can now ride our bikes and see grass! I have never gone this long in my life without seeing grass. I'm not going to lie... I may or may not have cried when I saw all the geese flying back... hahaha.

Our investigators are still working towards baptism. It's coming up here soon! We are still striving to continue to be diligent and finding new people to teach. It seems, every really nice person we meet or tract into are straight up Juggalo's (people who wear clown makeup and listen to Insane clown posse music). I will never judge anyone on their makeup ever again! haha 

I am so Grateful for the opportunity I have to serve a mission, and bring the blessings of the gospel into peoples lives. I love all the people I come in contact with up here in Massena, even if they smell like bog water...

I am also grateful for the opportunities we have every 6 months to be able to hear from our prophet Thomas S Monson. 

Sorry this Email is relatively short today... we played Basketball too long in Potsdam.

Anyways, I hope you all have a great week and go back and read Conference talks!  :)

Stay Sweet 

Bye Now!

-Elder Jepsen

This is a picture of what i call the Goonies St. Its just looks like they would film something that legit here... (this isnt my picture because it is not nearly this green here yet..)

This is one of the MANY weird pictures Elder Neus and I took by the Bridge to Canada!

I spent way too much time on these subject boxes...

Anyway, HEY!

We had a Really good week this last week! Mostly because elder Neus and I were on exchange.... NAH haha i love that kid! WE ARE TOGETHER ANOTHER TRANSFER! we are stoked! We are having so much fun up here in Massena with all this snow and ice. Oh! it snowed 8 inches yesterday by the way. WE have had many opportunities to meet new people lately it's so cool! I absolutely love the fact that not one Day is EVER the same as a missionary. You are meeting new people, and trying new things everyday! It is never the same. (unless you slip on the same patch of ice everyday).

Earlier this week i had the opportunity to go on exchange with Elder Bybee, our district leader in Malone. He has been out for over a year now and has only been in 2 areas, Massena and Malone. He knows a lot about Massena so we tore it up here and practiced Finding like no other! I learned a lot form him, He is now going down to Syracuse to be a zone leader. 

After our exchange Elder Neus and i were back to Poundin that Pavement.We are still teaching the same people, and trying to get them to progress to baptism! We might have 5 Baptisms on May 3rd! we are super excited, so keep your fingers crossed hha. I just know how much this decision will Bless their lives. And i tell them that ALL the time... they must be sick of it haha.

Anywho, elder Neus and I found the NICEST little old lady in a little village outside of Massena named Wadington. She is a widow with the biggest house ever. She gave us ties then i gave her a Book of Mormon. I have never seen anyone get so excited to see a Book of Mormon in my life! haha We are so ready to go back ha.

Finally on Sunday, It snowed this thick Heavy blanket of snow ina  couple hours so they had to cancel church... But we went anyway! ha our investigator family was there so we and the branch president had a little sacrament meeting and we bore our testimonies. It was great! 

BEsides the Snow and Bipolar freezing rain, This past week was a great one! we accomplished a lot!:) And met a bunch of weird people! haha 

It is never a dull moment up here in the Narth country with Elder Neus and the other missionaries. one of the East side missionaries, Elder Black, is going home this week. He was a great example to me, He has done so much for this mission. I consider him my "second Trainer" since my first one was.. eh. haha He is from Idaho Falls so if any of you see him, give him crap for me! haha 

I am SOOO excited for my First General conference on my mission! I challenge you all to have a question in your heart when watching G.C and I promise you will find the answer. 

I hope you all have an amazing week, and Hold Fast to that Iron rod!

Give'em Heaven!

love always,

Elder Jepsen

SPRING!!!...oh, wait.

First off let me just say, I HAVE NEVER BEEN SO EXCITED FOR SPRING IN MY LIFE!! The winter up here has been brutal. Today Massena broke record after record on this "beautiful Spring morning" when it hit a Classic -12 Degrees. We are so ready for this snow to be gone let me tell ya! haha 

But other than that, this last week was a good week! We finally moved into our new apartment. It's super nice not having 4 missionaries in a 1 bedroom apartment, it got pretty crazy haha. 
The work up here is going really well too! We have been teaching this family we met at the Methodist dinner we volunteer at. They are sweet! They have been through so much, and they are beginning to realize how much this gospel will bless their lives. Just last night, the whole family committed to baptism!! We are sooo stoked for them! Elder Neus and I try as  hard as we can to relate to these people to better understand them and discern their needs. We are seeing results! The area is really changing, things are happening up here in the "Narth" (so the natives call it).

This past week has just been a classic one! The harder we work, the more blessings that come from it! Just a regular week up here in Good ole Massena! Nothing to crazy. Besides the terrible weather. It snowed 5 inches on the first day of spring. If that's not Irony i don't know what is! haha

We also have Transfer calls coming up here on Saturday. Elder Neus and I are pretty confident we are not going anywhere, SO keep your fingers crossed! haha We love it up here.

I hope you all have a Ultra mega super Awesome week! 

And soak up all the sun you can for me! :)

Much love,

Elder Jepsen

P.s I finally bought my new camera so i will post more pictures i promise!

St. Patrick's Day, The only time you see green in the North country

Well, Happy St. Patricks day! 

This past week up  here in Massena has been a pretty EVENTFUL one!  Elder Neus and I had a pretty good week teaching wise, and VERY blessed with many many opportunities to serve. 

So on Tuesday we had our Zone meeting, which was alright. I honestly cant say i learned anything i didn't know. BUT we have a new sister in our zone from Italy that Laughs like a zebra... so that's cool..

After Zone meeting we helped a family in our Branch move out of their home. Kind of sad to see the leave. But hey, I'll see them again. ( they actually just moved next to us in Utah .. haha) 

On Wednesday We were able to go to the Reservation to eat at the Buffet in the Awkwesasne Casino! That was super good. But while we were there a storm rolled in and just DUMPED snow nonstop for 2 days! So the rest of the day we were stuck inside... Which is never fun.

Eventually Thursday rolled around, and while we were weekly planning we get a call from the Zone leaders saying "this is the only day we're free  so we are coming up to move your apartments. So pack up you have an hour and a half" 

So there we were running around with our heads cut off trying to pack up our apartment! This later turned into a 2 day task. So we eventually move all our things to the new Apartment where the other Elders live, And it turns out the landlord never turned the heat on so we have to wait until Tuesday to move them out of our apartment. So now, there are 4 missionaries living in a One bedroom apartment... It got old fast.. hahaha

Oh here's a funny story. (if you'd think this is funny) After helping out with the Massena food distribution services downtown in Massena, We got a call from a former Investigator Asking us if we could help her friend move. Ofcoarse we said Yes! we were pumped! So we get to this house she leads us to this back room, and we look in and.... TORNADO! crap everywhere!! literally.. stuff all over and POOP on the ground. She asks us if we could help her organize and move all this stuff upstairs. then eventually paint it so her parents could move in... Reluctantly we said suuuure we can do that. THEN she says "thank you" and goes and takes a nap!! haha Elder Neus was sooo mad.

But we manned up and did it. granted it took us 4 hours but we got it done. And we have to go back and paint...

Luckily to Conclude that stressful day we had the Adult session of District conference in Malone. It was so good! The spirit was definitely there. they talked about Hastening the work in all that we do.

That was the overall topic on Sunday as well in District Conference. 

This past week i was Very humbled to see the blessings that come from service. Even if they are smelly and weird and awkward... haha 

We need always strive to follow Christs example and strive to serve our fellow men!

I hope you all have a great WARM week, wherever you are!

-Elder Jepsen

Killer Week in Massena!

Well Neus and I had a pretty GREAT week up here in Massena! We stayed very busy all week, teaching a bunch of lessons and trying to find new investigators. Our numbers have almost tripled now that the foolish traditions of previous Elders have gone. The harder we work, the more results we see. I LOVE IT!

We picked up a new family this past week. They are super solid! we met them at the Methodist meal we voulenteer at, and they are so funny. So this last Thursday we finally had a lesson with them, and the spirit was SO strong! i have never felt the spirit so prominent in a lesson until then. We were so stoked! haha

Later in the week we helped the family with their genealogy, and we found out that their youngest daughter has a huge crush on one of us (yours truly)... so that made things pretty awkward... Her sister showed me the texts between her and her sister and She wrote a poem about my face and my glasses....
So now we have to tread very lightly when teaching this family. haha

Then on Saturday one of our investigators invited us to her robotics competitions at Clarkson University in Potsdam. That was super cool! I GOT A SHIRT. That pumped me up haha. She ended up getting 4th place overall!  She is so smart and talented for only being 10! we think she might be the key to the whole Farm family. (they are so cool btw, the father of the fam let E. Neus taze him and in turn he had to taze me! ...it was crazy...felt weird)

But overall we had a really great week! From all the people we are meeting to being able to go to the gym every morning. 

OH! we got a sweet gym membership at this super GHETTO gym downtown! i love it. While i get jacked i get filled with asbestos! haha Whenever we workout this little Bulldog/pittbull chills with us every time we lift weights! ITS SO COOL!

I hope you all are Enjoying the weather back home! cause its still FREEZING HERE! 

And i also hope you are all helping out the Missionaries back home. Whether it be referrals or feeding em. It makes all the difference i promise! Missionary work is essential! It just isnt the Missionaries responsibility, but ALL MEMBERS:)

we push that so much up here.

I really hope you all have an amazing week!

And pray for a missionary experience! ;)

Much Love

Elder Jepsen

SCABIES!!!

Well... This past week has been one of the most eventful weeks I've had on a mission... SO MUCH HAPPENED!

First off, to begin the week on Monday we were playing basketball in Potsdam. And i guess i was just being to big of a baller and sprained MY ANKLE! straight up popped out and i fell on my face... so that hurt. But i couldn't let it interfere with the work up here so i just grabbed some crutches and toughed it out! Some one has to show these new guys where everything is! haha (My whole foot is blue it looks so cool)

We also found out the source of Elder Davis' itching. We went to a dermatologist this Wednesday (FINALLY). we thought he had a hair Pholical Infection but,Turns out he has.... SCABIES!  Which are like microscopic spider things that make you itch constantly! which meant we were all possibly exposed... SO WE FREAKED OUT! Elder Blames this all on Missionary Medical it's hilarious. Now elder Neus has it and im the only one that's not infected... so we have to wash everything we wear and sleep on everyday. We start our treatment today so they are very VERY excited! All three of us have been super paranoid lately haha Elders Davis and Neus look like drug addicts because they cant sleep and they itch their skin all the time! .... Elder Davis said "This should've been a plague in Egypt" ahahaha

Other than ALL THAT we have been working hard trying to find new investigators and trying potentials. As well as setting all our investigators with baptismal dates! We are so excited. This last Sunday we picked up 6 new investigators! Although it was tough at first to teach in a trio, it sure is paying off now! haha We all get along Very well. It's amazing how much the work picks up when you get along with your companion! it feels like you are just hanging out  with a friend but you are spreading the gospel in ways you couldn't before. ITS GREAT!

We also split the area here in Massena. It is now a car share area. So some days we walk some days we  drive. we will be moving into another apartment...significantly smaller but no matter! haha Elder Neus and I will now be in Massena West! So that's exciting!

But thats about it...

I hope you all have a great week, and NEVER get scabies....I would not wish that upon anyone haha...

P.s did you know that in the old testiment, these kids were making fun of Elisha because he had a bald head. So these 2 momma bears killed the kids? its weird... look it up haha (2 kings 2:23)

-Elder Jepsen