The Jensens

We really like the Jensen’s. Elder and Sister Jensen are a CES missionary couple, based in Bangalore. Our first Sunday here they invited us over for dinner. We arrived not knowing up from down, and left several hours later with brains packed with 21 months-worth of knowledge by proxy: how to find bleach, moth balls in the drain keep cockroaches at bay, the best variety of string bean, recommended restaurants, corn powder is the name for corn starch, and, above all … shopping savvy.

Have you read The Tipping Point? The Jensens are mavens. For example, it is from them that I learned we really had been ripped off at the Mysore Silk Emporium. When I showed them the sari we bought, they were not only able to tell me that we’d paid too much for the sari, but they were able to say how much we were overcharged and where we could buy sari’s of similar quality for cheaper.

We spent seven hours together on a whirlwind shopping tour of their favorite haunts. It was fascinating to watch them in action. Sister Jensen had a knee replacement several months ago, here in Bangalore, and do you think that slows her down? No way.

We visited a silk shop or two in different parts of town, the wholesalers street, and a jewelry store. The shopkeepers who had met the Jensen's on previous visits would light up when they saw them walk in. I don’t think this is just because they hoped they would score a sale. The Jensens are extremely friendly, warm people. For example, after serious wheeling and dealing over the color and cost of some suit material, Elder Jensen made his purchase. Elder Jensen told the shopkeeper that he had been in India two years. The shopkeeper asked how he liked India. “Oh,” Elder Jensen says, pausing and beaming from ear to ear, then, sincerely, “We love India.” They shake hands and are fast friends.



Our last stop was at a jewelry store down the street from the Jensen’s home. The lady next to Sister Jensen is the shopowner. The guy next to Elder Jensen is Sattish, a friend of the Jensens who they hired to drive them to and from the office. Sattish used to work at the Call Center for Dell – but the hours were lousy, so he quit after 6 months and took up driving auto rickshaws.

The lucky thing for us is to know the Jensen’s also live in the Northwest. If anyone is interested in going on a 2 week salmon fishing trip with Elder Jensen in August, he’s looking for takers.