a little about Jasmine.

Jasmine was born February 28, 1993 to Vaughn and Lisa Jensen.  She is the youngest of five. Our dad has always said he had farmer's luck when it came to his children because all of them are boys except for four. Jasmine was raised on the family farm in Emmett, Idaho. It was here that she first learned the value of hard work in her life. She spent her summers in the hot Idaho sun, irrigating, picking rocks, and operating heavy machinery, among other things. Our family worked hard together, and we played together too. Every year we would go on a family camping trip at the end of the summer. Dad and Mom would pack up the horses, sheep herder tents, bedding, the four girls and one boy, and drive hours and hours to the chosen remote forest trail head that would lead to our vacation destination. We would walk for hours, taking turns on the horses, and singing songs together. Many favorite family memories are of these trips. Including little Jazzy sneaking into the coolers to take bites of cheese directly from the block.

Jasmine always participated in lots of extra curricular activities. She was involved in 4-H, where she showed the horse she loved, learned to cook, sew, scrapbook, quilt, decorate cakes and many other domestic skills. Jasmine is the cake boss of our family. She would create beautiful birthday cakes for all the members of our family whenever there was a birthday or other occasion to celebrate. When Jasmine is around the oven is hot, and there are always sweets.

Music has always been present in our home since our mom is a talented singer and guitarist, and Jasmine followed in her footsteps and loves to play the violin. Though at first screechy, nail-on-chalkboard renditions of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and "Mary Had a Little Lamb" were played over and over and over, seemingly overnight she began to touch our hearts with the beautiful violin hymns and music she played.

Jasmine is a gifted athlete. She has participated in many sports, soccer, softball, swimming basketball, volleyball, and her favorite: tennis. She played tennis through middle school and high school, and earned an athletic scholarship to play collegiate tennis before her mission. Her ability to lead and influence others for good shone when she was chosen to be the ladies team captain. Jasmine always played hard, but she never sacrificed her integrity for a point in her favor, and has always been courteous and friendly to her opponents. Jasmine was first in her conference in both brackets she played in for ladies singles and ladies doubles. She uses her talent in the sport to serve others, she would give pointers and tips to all those who asked and gave free lessons to anyone who wanted to learn. I coached tennis for the local middle school and Jasmine was always willing to talk about drills, or technique and even though she was taking 19 credits, and playing tennis for her school, she would find the time to come to the courts at the city park and help the 60 middle schoolers learn to love the game.

Jasmine is ultra modest, and probably wouldn't have told you half of the stuff I just gushed about, but trust me, thats just the beginning of the sweetness that is Jasmine. We have many names for the baby of the family, Jazzy, Jaz,  Jazzle, Jazman Tazman, Jazmataz, Lady Jones, Aunt Jaz, but we know that her favorite is the one she goes by today: Sister Jensen.

Jasmine's Birthday.

 Jasmine's first camping trip. September 1993.

 My dad and Janeen on Chester. 

Jasmine (asleep in Mom's arms), Mom, and I on Smokey. 

the girls.

Jasmine, Janeen, Jacqueline, and Jannelle. 

 Another camping trip. 

 Jasmine sneaking into the cooler. 

 July 1997.

 Langer Lake with our family, and Grandparents.

 Pinion Peak Look-Out, with our cousins, the Wests,

and Grandma and Grandpa Jensen.

Winter Olympics 2002, Salt Lake City, Utah. 

Jensen cousins, and Ukrainian TV Crew. 

 Jazzy shoveling corrugates.

The family on the farm, irrigating/shoveling corrugates together. 

 Jasmine at bat during a softball game. 

 Induction to National Honor Society.

Junior Tennis, with doubles partner. 

Senior Tennis, singles, districts. 

 Horse 4-H

 Sewing 4-H

 Jasmine's senior picture. 

 college tennis.

 Family Pictures 2013

Waiting for the Jeepney

"Waiting for the jeepney to Sta. Cruz for conference. Sometimes it can be quite hard to catch a ride."

Outside the church.

Sister C. and Sister J.

Sister Jensen and Sister C.

Sister J.

Sister H.

Brother N.

Hitching a ride on the branch jeepney.

Another Glimpse of the MTC

Jasmine had the chance to send more pictures of her time in the MTC! These are some of my favorites so we were excited to get them. 

"On the bus to the airport, on our way to the Philippines!"

Conference, oh Utah, so close to home.

Hello Everyone!

This week I went to STa. Cruz to watch General conference on Saturday, but there was no power. They tried to use a generator at first, but it just kept turning off and on so it didn't work very well. But the next day we had power again and we got to watch the Sunday session. Well, we missed the beginning because we couldn't find a bus or jeepney that was going to Santa Cruz. But it was so great to see a part of America again. It made me miss home a little. You know you all have it really good where you are right? America is great! The counsel of the Prophet and apostles was great. It is so amazing that we have modern revelation for direction in our lives. God gave us apostles and prophets in the past to help the people and to guide them. God is unchangeable so of course we have them now :). 

I am sending some pictures on here of our branch President's daughter, J's, birthday. It was great! We had rice... rice cake.. hahaha Lots of rice. And then real cake. The frosting was like flan like stuff with flower designs in the top. We call J. Candy tsyokolate because she is always singing that song. It is the Filipino version of "If all the rain was gumdrops" you know what I am talking about. 

Life is good here. This morning we had a special treat. Spaghetti. I never thought I would miss my mom's spaghetti so much. I regret not being so grateful for it before haha. 

the people here are great. They are kind and loving people. Sometimes there are cultural differences that are hard. My trainer is very harsh to me sometimes, but to her it doesn't seem that way. I think it is an asian mentality thing.. They can be strict people, but I have also seen very loving and fun Filipinos. We have transfers on the 23rd. I hope I stay here in Masinloc. I love it here and they have shakes that are delicious. Plus, I am just getting to really know the people here and better relate to them and love them. Well, each day I have to work hard. Work hard to be friendly, to speak the language, to understand it, and to love the people. Sometimes I just wish I could relate to them as easy as I do to Americans. 

An Elder in our district is from New Zealand and a sister too. We were talking about it over there and I think I would like to go there someday. It sounds a lot like Idaho. I think I would like it there. They are really kind people too.

Well, Love you all! Until next week!

Love, Sister Jensen

J. with gifts from Sister Jensen.

Well, Still Here in the Philippines.

Dear Family and Friends,

This week has been a week of ups and downs for me. I am still struggling with the language and working hard to try and overcome that. But! I got to have exchanges this week because my companion is Sister Training Leader (STL) and it was a wonderful experience for me. I got to be with Sister S. who is from New Zealand and she had just gotten a package from her family with New Zealand Cadburry chocolate and she shared it with me. It was probably the best chocolate ever. It was so good! I have also decided that New Zealand sounds like the best and that the accent is super cool. If I ever go on a mission again I hope that it would be there because the food sounds amazing and it doesn't sound too different from Idaho. I also got a package from my family that I am forever grateful for. I have such a loving family and I realized how wonderful my family is until I got here. Next week we get to watch General Conference here and I am very excited. Sister S. helped me realized that missionary work can be fun! It doesn't always have to be super stressful and I can just be me and love the people. She is a very loving person. I am so grateful I got to see how missionary work can be. Fun and exciting! The most fulfillment in missionary work comes from really loving the people and feeling concern for them and their welfare. Something interesting for you all that you may not know. Here they go around on bikes selling balute and icecream ringing bells. They call the icecream on the street dirty icecream haha. No worries, we aren't allowed to buy from street vendors so we stay clean. The other day in STA Cruz I saw a man happy as a clam with cake. Cake is a specialty here. The relief society president here invited us over for lunch. When we got there it was a Filipino feast with pancit and other filipino dishes. It was her birthday.. People here are always doing that. Instead of expecting gifts on their birthdays they give instead. They are so loving and selfless. And of course it was delicious! I also got called miss world on Sunday. I guess I look like their new miss world here Megan something from Olongapo. Hahaha You will have to look her up and decide for yourselves. 

Well, I love you all! Take care and ALWAYS be safe! I hope to see you all when I get home! 

Love, 

Sister Jensen

"Sister E., the RS president with me on the mountain in Atob Baloganan and of course sister J. and I. Maganda (beautiful) ba?"

"The C. kids carrying chairs to come sit with us. And a view of the ocean."