Qianbei

I'm happy to inform you that we received news today of our eminent reassignment. The MTC decided they liked all of us Taiwanese missionaries so much that they found a loophole for us to stay. Our visas are not here. Will not be here anytime soon. Taiwan decided to suddenly switch the process by which they grant our visas and absolutely no one has any idea just how long it will take for those visas to get here. 

Here's the situation. We wake up this morning and tend to our laundry assuming that it was still possible for us to leave tomorrow (Sept 5) as originally assigned. Then we sat around all day awaiting 2 pm, when they would make the final call as to whether they would cancel our flight plans or not. 2 came, and we were told that we had no visas and would not be leaving tomorrow, but that they expected us to have our visas by next week and would be shortly on our way. We were bummed.

But then we went to dinner. The other districts told us we had to report to the travel office as a district following dinner and we did so to find out that we officially were going to be temporarily reassigned somewhere in the States in a week at the soonest, possibly two weeks, and then we would leave for that mission the week after. So our MTC time is still approximately two to three more weeks. And then we will head out to somewhere in the states for another 6 weeks. And hopefully, depending on our visas arrival, be on our way to Taiwan in November. 

This is quite the humbling experience for me. I am ridiculously bummed out that I had another 2-3 weeks of the MTC added on to my already ridiculously long stay here, I'll be perfectly honest. I'm not sure this visa situation had the hand of God behind it, or if it was just according to the choices of man, but I believe God is watching how we all handle this. How we handle this says a lot about our character and I don't want to disappoint anyone.

Who would have thought football had so many real life applications. Coach Rigby, Loo, Horlacher, Matua, Esplin, thank you for all you taught me. I remember the many times when you preached that the 4th quarter is the most important part of the game. When you're tired, hungry, sore, hurt, want to go home, and whatever else, that is when you prove yourself as a man. You pushed us to always give it our all out on the field, down to the last second. And it definitely wasn't always fun. In fact it sucked sometimes bahahaha. In many situations those last few minutes can seem to drag on endlessly, but its those who have that power of will to push through the pain who come out on top. It's how you handle those hardest moments that form you into champions. And it is because of you five, and the many others, that I will be able to make it through this disheartening situation. I learned out on the field that you don't let anything get you down, you keep your chin up, push through the pain, and go to work. That is such a valuable lesson that I honestly cannot thank you enough for teaching me. Thank you for building me up for my post high school life. Thank you for teaching me character. You men have made such a difference in my life.

I'm not so much irritated about the reassignment. It will be cool to serve in two different missions I think. I wish I could head out tomorrow for where ever that be but humility is key.

Any words of wisdom from anyone who thinks they have something to say would be greatly appreciated, however, I will be perfectly fine. I am firm in my decision to serve and am grateful in a sense to have such an opportunity to prove my strength. Thank you for all the love and support. You're in my prayers. I hope everyone is well.

Wo ai nimen,

Jin ZhangLao

Elder Jensen