FACEBOOK! What what??

What a crazy week! So many great momentous things happened. I'll just list them there are so many!

- We found an amazing family to teach who are so unbelievably nice!

- I had the Best corn of my life!

- I got tackled by a dog.

- Taught a family of atheists.

- and so many great memories.

-oh... and we got... FACEBOOK!!

YEs! The New York Utica mission can now use Facebook to proselyte. It is such an amazing tool. Since we have such a large area we can use it to keep in touch with people on the very corners of our area! We can use it yo uplift and inspire our investigators in active families and in active friends and family back home. It was announced at Our Zone meeting on Thursday. Everyone was so excited. We were told to edit and modify our accounts. We have many rules and can only be on for an hour. SO if there is anyone you feel could use some help or you could refer us to please let us know! ADD ME!:)))))...or i'll Inevitably add you ha!

Besides that great news things are going very well here! Elder Richins and i have alot of fun but work very hard. We knock on doors a lot! And missionaries have been here for ages. So at one point or another almost everyone has talked to missionaries. Which get kind of annoying... "Have You ever seen missionaries before?" Person: "Yes...everyday...." hahahaha Sucha small town. 

But we love it! The ward here is amazing. And everyone is Hilarious!! ....I think its something in the water....

Anyway, I hope you all had a great week and Continue to have a great week this week! 

I Love you all! Til we write again..

Love

Elder Jepsen

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P.s Sorry my email was late... the computers at the church were MEGA slow. And the Libraries are never open because they hate God!...nah i don't know why haha

Picture: We went Cray fishing Yesterday!:)

Culture Shock!

Well Good Mormon Everyone!:)

Allow me to expound on my CRAZY CRAZY week.

So Monday and Tuesday completely consisted of Packing all my junk i have accumulated in Massena, Then saying my goodbyes to everyone. Which was kind of hard, I had grown so close to everyone up there.

Then on Wednesday we had transfers! What a long and spiritual day! Many great missionaries in this mission went home last week... it was super weird to see them go. 

It took us 3 and a half hours to get to Utica from Massena, Then took us 2 hours to get to Albany. The van we came up in was the Zone leaders van in Albany. We had 5 missionaries and their MASSIVE LUGGAGE!! And guess who had to be squished in the back seat with all of it because no one else would speak up? .... Yes, yours Truly! haha .... blessings.

Anyways, Albany is HUGE! the buildings are amazing. we drove right through it... then straight to troy which is the epitome of Ghetto. haha its so great! Elder Pettit and I got to troy and met Elder stoddard and Elder Hutchenson. There they drove us to our apartment. And by this time i was VERY nervous because i just saw Troys apartment and... it didnt look so hot. So we get to Cohoes then proceed to the "Island" which is between the Hudson river. Right below a State park. Then, we go in the apartment and... its SO SICK! It's like a Super old penthouse! haha 

..Tender Mercy... 

Elder Hutchenson is from Rose Hill Utah and a studly soccer player. He is Hilarious!! every little thing he does. He reminds me of mr. bean! He has been out for about 2 transfers. And these last four days he is taking over an area for the first time and EVERYONE canceled or bailed on him. He was so discouraged he thought it was him!:( I told him that is missionary life and you will Always have some of those days! haha He is great. 

Cohoes Troy and Lansingburgh are completely different from my last Area! Did i mention it is ghetto? haha People come up and talk to us and ask us questions! we can talk to people all day its so nice! Now the next step is getting the Hutch to doing it by himself:)

The first Full day i was here, A strange guy named Dan came up to us and asked us If we like the German flute or Hermonica better then proceeded to play very loudly and sporadically.... Then he gave me some of his drawing and poetry. I wont go into too much detail on the poetry but let me tell you its just.... Great . The last one ends like "so ends the prickly  life of Larry the French Fry" hahaha But i digress.

THIS WARD IS AMAZING!! they are willing to teach with us and help spread the gospel. They are just eager to work! ah i love it. PEOPLE FEED US!!! i cant believe it. I have never just wanted to hug everyone in sight before in my life. haha

We had a great discussion in Elders Quorum yesterday, about secular things and spiritual things... which turned into a Debate. Then I pulled out a scripture i LOVE in Collesians 2:8. I urge you all to read it! IT reminds me not to believe in the deceit of men and of sciences. But to believe in Christ!:)

I hope you all have a great week!

And i look forward to telling you more zany stories of Albany next week!

Love always,

Elder Jepsen

 this is the bridge between Cohoes and Waterford- probably the least ghetto view you can find:)

our apartment! 

Ch ch ch ch CHANGES!

HEY! everyone, I hope you all had an amazing Mothers day!:) 

For me it was a PERFECT way to end such a crazy week by seeing My Mom and Dad and my sister. It was so great to hear their voices and see their faces. 

..they are still there so that's good.. haha We had A lot to talk about because this last week many things happened.

We had our Branch BBQ that we put a lot of time and effort into, and it turned out just Great! we had many many people show up and have a good time and share stories about Family History. It also boosted our numbers on Sunday so that was good too haha.

On Saturday Elder Neus and I Helped try to find Hypodermic needles in the parks up here with the Chamber of commerce (which was crazy btw) Then we helped this really nice lady with here big time yard work and changed her views of Mormons, YES! But after that we got a call from our Zone Leaders.... 

They told us the changes that are happening around the Mission and..... that I am being transferred to... North Albany. I think Cohoes to be more exact.. haha. It IS A Brand NEW walk area. I was in Shock! I am now going from the Smallest branch in the Mission to the biggest ward in the mission. It is definitely going to be different than the north country. I will be serving with an Elder Hutchenson. I am going to miss Elder Neus! It never felt like work when we were companions it always just felt like Chillin with your best friend. I'll miss that studly son of a gun! haha

It is sad to have to leave all the people I have grown to love and care for and all the weird back woods things I see up here but, I know I have been called there for a reason. And that is where the lord needs me:)

SO in memory of my Massena, where I was "Born" this email will probably be shorter than usual so i can just post pictures of the fun I've had the last 6 months!

Thank you ALL so much for all the love and support you give me! I promise i will always keep you Updated for the next 3/4 of my mission!:)

Love always the Northerner at heart....

Elder Jepsen

Keep NY NORMAL! (it's going to be a bumper sticker soon, just watch)

We work hard...

Splits with Elder Adam- They really bonded

"I'm Alive!!!"

Wow... the M.t.c... What an a amazing place! The second you walk in here you instantly feel the spirit and it never leaves! I love it! But thats probably because im only here for 2 weeks. some Elders are here for 12 and they look like they are dying! They keep us sooooooo busy here with no time to ourselves. which in a way is a good thing i guess we have 16 hour days with 3 meals a day and they feed us very well... its all you can eat so im pretty much loving it here. ha its kinda what we look forward to here! ha sorry i couldnt email yesterday, they changed our p-day to Tuesday and its our only p-day so thats a bummer...but our travel plans are official, we leave on the 26th at 3:30 in the morning to New york. We have a layover in detriot and then its off to Syracuse! we are pretty worried about packing for the plane.. Because of all the fees but i think we'll be alright! we'll say a prayer haha. This first week in the MTC was pretty crazy, and very stressfull they put a lot on your plate, especially for 2 weekers. On thursday they wasted no time and interviewed My companion and i and made us Zone Leaders! so that gave us even more responsibility.. haha!

My companions name is Elder Adam, and i couldnt ask for a better companion! we are alot alike and we get along real well. he is super funny and we really push eachother. We are teaching 2 investigators, 1 an actor and another a real investigator and we teach really well together! i hope the mission pres. makes us companions at one point....

Everyone in our Zone is pretty much all gone they all went to Australia and indianapolis. But we get 2 weeks worth of missionaries tomorrow because they dont send in missionaries the week of thanks giving. So we have to show them around, make them comfortable and kinda freak them out a bit! our District gets along really well we go everywhere together! and get sick all together! we all came down with some weird cold... its been a big challenge. We also had a chance to go through the Provo temple and it was just straight up amazing! we all instantly felt better. 

but I have seen alot of old friends here! its great to see familiar faces! But to Tell you the truth, my comp. and i, i think are kind of getting some type of cabin fever... we are kinda going crazy! we just want to be in the field already. 

My testimony has grown so much, just being here for 1 week! we have so many spiritual experiences! its so great. I wish i could tell you more but i dont have much time, it took half the time typing in the emails haha and i still didnt get them all so, by all means forward it to who you seem fit!
I hope everything is going great back home! Feel free to fill me in! I would love to hear from you!

P.S. i would send pictures but the computers here wont let me yet, so be ready for a lot of pics next week!!

Love always, Elder Jepsen

MTC Bound

Today Elder Jepsen officially entered the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah! We are so proud of him and his decision to devote two years of his life to serve the Lord and the people in the Utica mission. We know that as he proceeds forth in this work that he will learn and grow in many capacities and be able to help many along the way. We love you Elder Jepsen. See you in two!

Drop-off! Bittersweet!

Photo Cred: Paul Jepsen

Last family photo for two years!