no investigators

Monday- We had our zone pday at the park! We played some good sports like kickball, dodgeball, and then just some random games! It was super hot outside but it was fun! After Pday we had to go and clean our flat because we had an inspection the next day! After we cleaned the flat we made some dinner and went to bed!

Tuesday- We did some tracting in the morning in the 40 degree heat and man I was sweating from every part of my body!! When we got back for lunch we ate and then chilled out in the bedroom where the air conditioning is! Then we went and saw a less active named Frances! He is an RM and its sad to see RM's who have gone less active.. doesn't make sense to me! It was a good time getting to know him though and the lesson went good! Then after that we did some more tracting until we had to go to the chapel for splits! Then for splits we went and saw some people and had some good visits!

Wednesday- We had service in the morning for Carmel and we just mowed her lawn and did some cleaning up for her! Then we went back home and got changed and drove to Mortdale to get my comp a new Opal card (the card that we use to ride busses and trains) After we got back from that we went and did some GQing at the station! Then after that we went and saw the Newlands and had a lesson with them!

Thursday- We went in the morning to try and find some good sun hats because we are sick of getting cooked while we tract haha we didn't find any that are approved for missionary standards but we will keep looking! After that we did some service for Leni Latu and helped move around some furniture and what not! Then we went and did some finding at the train station until we had dinner at the Ah Mu's house! It was a good dinner with them and they are an awesome family!

Friday- We had DTM in the morning where we just had a good discussion on answers to questions that we have or our investigators have! Then after DTM we stayed and practiced the haka for a little bit and then we went and picked up a new workout machine from the side of the rode! Bro Ah Mu helped us to pick it up! Then we went and did GQing at the station for a couple of hours until dinner at the Matamuas! We had a solid lesson with them about doing missionary work and hopefully something comes from it!

Saturday- I was on tradeoffs with Elder Laga'aia and we literally tracted all day haha! It was pretty good we didn't really find anyone, but it felt good to work hard! At the end of the day we went and got some dinner where a member works and she gave us a really good discount so that was a blessing from a long day of work haha!

Sunday- We had ward council before church, then we had church which went really solid! It was a spiritual sacrament meeting about the true meaning of Christmas and everything was way good! After church we went and tried to follow up on some potentials with no luck, so we went and saw Bobby, who is a less active member! We talked to him for awhile and played with his puppy pitbull! Then we went and did some GQing at the station. Then we had to go to another companionships flat and talk to them because they are having some issues with each other, so we just tried to talk to them and see what is going on! Hopefully they can continue to work it out haha!

So the work is pretty slow here right now! We have 0 investigators and not too many less actives that are willing to come back. We are finding like all day every day it feels like and its tough to find people to teach right now because everyone is so darn busy hahaha! All is well though! We just gotta keep putting our shoulder to the wheel and pushing along! :) I hope you all remember the true meaning of Christmas and that you keep Christ in your heart and mind all year long! Remember He is the gift! Love you all have a good week! Merry Christmas!!

Elder Jenson

seek ye first the kingdom of God

Monday- We had a normal P day and didn't get up to a whole lot, but it was nice having a day off haha! After P day we went and had dinner with the Matamua family and we had FHE with them and another family from the ward! I over ate... as usual!

Tuesday- We did finding pretty much the whole day haha! We just went and knocked doors, and GQ'd around the train station as well! We didn't have much success but we did find a former investigator as we knocked doors so we should be able to go and teach him again soon which will be nice! That night we got to go to the Paki's house for a delicious dinner and a good lesson! I lost my voice this day so teaching and stuff was funny because I sounded like I was going through puberty all over again haha! But they invited us over for Christmas too so that will be fun!

Wednesday- We did service for an non member lady who's name is Carmel! We helped her to clean up her yard for Christmas time and what not! Then we had some good lunch with her! Then we went and did tracting for 3 straight hours hahaha it was a good time! Then after tracting we went and visited a less active member who was cool but super awkward and didn't talk a whole lot so it was weird.. After that we went and got some dinner and called it a night!

Thursday- We did service at the Latu's house this morning and I was sick the whole time! When we got home I just slept the rest of the day until our appointment that night! I hate colds!!! Haha the dinner appointment we had was with a less active family and we got to play a game with them and teach them a good lesson about the new #LightTheWorld thing for Christmas!

Friday- We had DTM in the morning and then after that my companion had to meet with the school advisers for a little bit and then after that we had a good little farewell party thing for some of the missionaries leaving this next week! Then we went and got some lunch, made our Christmas cards and then we did finding at the train station! Sister Paki made us some dinner again this night and so we went and picked it up and ate it at the flat! It was like café rio sweet pork but it was chicken instead! Sooooo goood!!!:)

Saturday- We had a lesson with the Archers in the morning which was good! Then we went and did some finding at the train station again! After finding we went and helped set up for the Ward Christmas party! We helped to make some Otai (a delicious tongan drink made from watermelon, milk, sugar, and coconut shavings) Then we had the ward Christmas party which was super fun and there was so much food!!

Sunday- We did some finding in the morning before we went to church. Church was really good, we had some good lessons on service! After church we went to the Pikula's home for dinner and a lesson! After that we went and watched this orchestra/choir sing at the chapel! It was a good turn out a lot of people cam! I got to see Elder Foa'i there too which was cool haha I miss that guy!

My spiritual thought is from 3 Nephi when Christ is teaching the Nephite people and this is His counsel to them,

3 Nephi 13:30-34

 30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, evenso will he clothe you, if ye are not of little faith.

 31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we beclothed?

 32 For your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.

 33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.

34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficientis the day unto the evil thereof.

SEEK FIRST THE KINGDOM OF GOD!! Heavenly Father knows of our needs and he will make sure that we have what we NEED, if we seek His Kingdom, and do His will!

Love you guys!!

Elder Jenson

serve others

Monday- We did our emails and went to the mall to browse around a little bit! Then we went to the chapel and started to learn the Haka for Christmas conference! After that we got to go and follow up on some potentials with no luck and then tried to see some less actives but no one was there!

Tuesday- We had a full on day of finding! We started off with tracting in the morning and we found a few potentials! then we went and had lunch at the flat. After that we went and followed up on some potentials and also went and saw two less actives! After that we went and had splits at the chapel with the ward mission leader and Bro. Ramirez! It was good because we went and visited some active members and they were home haha!

Wednesday- We had Zone conference the whole day with President and Sister Back! It was super good and I felt pretty uplifted and inspired afterwards which is always great! After Zone conference we just did some GQing at the train station before we went and had dinner.

Thursday- We did service in the morning for the Latu family! We painted another bedroom in their house which was good for the world wide day of service #LIGHTtheWORLD! Hahaha after service we had MCM with our ward mission leader. Then we went and visited Vera and Bobby, a less active couple and they were awesome! We had a really good discussion with them about the plan of salvation and why bad things happen to good people! They also had the cutest little puppy too so I enjoyed playing around with it haha!

Friday- We did our weekly planning in the morning and then we stayed home the whole day because my companion was sick! So while he slept I got to do heaps of extra studies and I learned so much! I have learned to love studying and reading on my mission which is a huge blessing because I hated it before the mission haha! It was a nice day to be able to just have heaps of time to read and learn more.

Saturday- We took the bus around all day and did finding haha! Some members saw us walking and gave us money for lunch so that was nice! We tracted for ages in the heat and we had no potentials haha but we did meet a lot of Hindus! After tracting we went to the Ormsby's house for dinner and they were so awesome! They have the cutest kids and it was just a great time there! This ward has so many great families! After that we did some GQing at the station and then walked home in the ghetto hahaha we were lucky no one stabbed us ;) we did get yelled at by people driving by though haha haters gonna hate!!

Sunday- I woke up sick this morning haha so I took a power nap before ward council! After we had ward council and then church we went and visited some members with the Elders Quorum president! Then we went to have dinner at the Pikula's house and we had a nice baked ham! It was the perfect way to end our fast!

I love in the Book of Mormon how we are able to gain a better and deeper understanding of the Atonement! We read in Alma 7:11-12 that the Atonement covers more than just sin but it covers EVERYTHING!!!

Alma 7,

11.And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the wordmight be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people.

 12 .And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he willtake upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he mayknow according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities

I can testify that the power of the Atonement and Christ's grace is real and it can change us and transform us into true followers of Christ and we can become like him through it! Love you all have a good week and remember to serve others this month!

Elder Jenson

bump, set, spike!

pee day

glasses are def. his thing 

cuties

zone

president and sister back

tracting

they designed this church to look like the ones back home

Thanksgiving week

Monday- We had some fun over at the chapel playing some volleyball! The real fun started after pday when we got to got to the Matamua's house to have dinner and a lesson with the Rondo family! The Rondos got interviewed for baptism as well that night! They passed and were super excited about being baptized! 

Tuesday- I was gone at MLC for the most part of the day! It was good to get to discuss the missionary work with the other ZL's, STL's and President and Sister Back. I got to see a lot of my good buddies there too so that is always a bonus! After I got back we went on splits with some guys from the ward and visited two families which went really good! Its been good getting to know the members better! 

Wednesday- We did some service in the morning for a lady that the elders used to do service for back in the day! We got to pull some bricks out of the ground and we just did a little bit of yardwork! It was bloody hot that day though and the flies here in the summer are the worst thing I have ever experienced in my life haha they just fly on your face and they do not leave you alone!! After that we went and changed and got ready to go and visit a less active family! They were super nice and they seem ready to come back so we will see how things go! The dad is an RM so he is pretty solid! After that we went and set up for the Rondo's baptism! The baptism went solid and even though I haven't known them that long, it was super cool to witness their baptism! There was 3 of them that got dunked, the mom, dad and the daughter! The two other kids aren't old enough for baptism yet but they go to primary! After the baptism we had a good munch and mingle with the ward :) 

Thursday- We got a  call from bro Latu for some service so we went to his house and helped to paint his son's bedroom, and he fed us some lunch as a reward! After we finished there I went on tradeoffs with Elder Ballard, who is the other zone leader, so we could go and prepare for ZTM the next day! After we finished that he and I went to a dinner appojntment at the Ah Mu's house! They are an awesome family and they had the best food ever!! I am going to put some weight on in this ward haha! 

Friday- ZTM was this day and man it went pretty good! I got to train on using our time wisely and being diligent! I really enjoy giving trainings! After the meeting we went and had some lunch at a Pizza Hut buffet which was solid! After that we did our weekly planning and then we went over to the chapel to help and set up for the big stake activity the next day called "The Spirit of Christmas." We did that for the rest of the night and then a member shouted us some maccas which was pretty sweet. Did I mention that I might gain weight here?

Saturday- We met with the Archers in the morning and we shared a good message with them! After that we went to go and finish setting up for the activity and then we stayed and helped out the whole day! After the activity we cleaned up and then we went and got some dinner! After that we went to get our lesson plan ready for the YSA class we were teaching the next day.

Sunday- We taught the YSA class about the Atonement and we had a really spiritual experience with that! During Sacrament meeting the Rondo's got confirmed and I got to confirm Brother Rondo which was an honor! After church we saw a less active member which was kinda awkward because it was like talking to a statue that could answer questions hahaha but it was all good! After that we went to the Bishop's house and had a massive feed and then we got to discuss the missionary work with him and also share a message with him and his family! 

Matthew 5:14, "Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid."

I encourage you all the Light the World this Christmas season by doing one kind act of service every day from December 1st- December 25th! Got to LDS.org to learn more about how we can #LIGHTtheWORLD! Love you all!! 

Elder Jenson

pics from conf

cuuuuute...

He didn't tell me who this was.... so your guess is as good as mine.

definitely shouldn't take up painting as a career.

woah...look at that floating head.

what a sight for sore eyes.

cuteies.

setting up for some activity

marriage...

lookin' good!

they are excited for christmas...check out those ties.

Dunkin' day for Brendon

Man the week flew by and boy was it a good week!

Tuesday- After emails we went and did some shopping and then we went to the chapel to play sports with the zone! We just played some volleyball which was good though because I haven't played it in ages! Then that night we went on splits with one of the members in the ward and we only managed to see one person because no one else was home haha. After splits we went to the Agoo's house to schedule an appointment with them and to share a little message with them!

Wednesday-  We started our morning off by doing some tracting which went really good! Then we went and followed up on some potentials after lunch. After that we met with Amanda who is one of our investigators and she was good, she just has a problem with smoking and drinking so we are working on that with her! Then we went to get to know some members after that and we met the Latu's and then we went to the Paulo's house and we showed up right when they were having dinner so they invited us to stay haha MIRACLES!! It was a mean feed! I think I might gain weight here with all the Polynesian families in the ward haha!

Thursday- We tracted in the most ghetto part of our area which was really fun haha! We met a lot of weird people and I think half of the people we met were on drugs but all goods because we found some people that were good! We found a less active lady who wants to come back to church so that was a cool miracle! After tracting we did 1/2 of our weekly planning, and then we went to MCM. After that I got to go and meet the Bishop real quick and also the Matamua family! After that we tried some less actives but had no luck so we just went and had dinner. Then we went to see the Agoo's again and they fed us... so I had two dinners haha! Then we got to share a message with them.

Friday- We had DTM which went really good! We cleaned up the chapel afterwards and then we went to meet with Amanda but she cancelled on us. So we went to KFC and Elder Laga'aia shouted for us! It was awesome haha but it was like 35 degrees this day so we went tracting after lunch and boy did the KFC weigh us down! Me and my comp were just dripping in sweat for the 2 hours of tracting! I am pretty sure I sweat off my lunch haha! It was funny talking to people at their doors because our sweat was dripping off onto the ground and people were like "man you guys look hot!" I was thinking to myself, hmm how could ya tell?? hahaha but a lot of people gave us water and so that was sweet! We got a lot of potentials too so it was good! After that we went to visit some less actives but we had no luck so we just finished our weekly planning and had some dinner.

Saturday- We went to follow up with some potentials in the morning with no luck haha one guy was an atheist and he just wanted to bash so we tried to end the conversation and leave but he wouldn't let it happen so in the middle of all the rubbish he was saying, I just said have a good day and walked off. I was sick of listening to the guy and nothing we said got through to him so it was a waste of time to stay there any longer haha. He got me pretty pissed off though! After that we got to see the Archers who are a less active family and it was a good visit! We got to go down to Dapto after that for Brendon's baptism! He was so happy to be getting baptized and it was such a good program! I got to see Bro Tiananga and also Robert & Nicola again which was awesome! It was good to see Elder Foa'i again too haha his arm is healing up nice! After that we went and had dinner and read the Book of Mormon with the Newland family! They were really cool and the son was funny as!

Sunday- We had ward council in the morning before church which was good! Then we had Church at 1 which is awesome as a missionary haha! We got to teach the Rondo family during one of the classes and they are getting baptized this Wednesday which is awesome! They are a really cool family and they are solid! After church we made the baptismal program and then we went and took over some sheet music to the Matamuas! They invited us in for a feed but we had a dinner appointment an hour later so we had to decline haha but we said we will take a rain check! After that we went to the Pikula family's home for some dinner! They are a solid family and they are so dedicated to helping us with the missionary work so I am stoked to work with them!

“Brothers and sisters, all the Lord expects of us is to try, but you have to really try!”

-Gordon B. Hinckley

I love this quote because it is so true!! As long as we are truly trying our best then the Lord is going to be happy with us and we can know that we truly are good enough, and that our sins are forgiven! I know that this quote is true! I have felt the power of the Atonement in my life and also the love that the Savior has for me and I am so grateful for it! :) Have a good week!

Elder Jenson

I have no idea who these other Elders are except for the one in the middle haha Cam didn't say.

Ghetto part of Australia... 

Livin' in a gansta's paradise

his new area. 

Where they've been sleeping.. the room on the right is Cams ;) 

Hangin' out in the living room...

dis cutie...

nice glasses bro..

Brendon's baptism

and another.

BYEEEE Dapto

Hey so I got transferred out of Dapto and I am now in Macarthur ward which is like 45 minutes north of Dapto haha it is pretty ghetto here and it is a tougher area so we will see how things go! I am with Elder Schwalger who is from Samoa so I am on my second Samoan companion haha which is pretty sweet! I am in the same flat as one of my old comps Elder Laga'aia which is way fun! Well here is a recap of the last few days!

Thursday- We spent a lot of the day letting Elder Foa'i rest but we did get to go and have a dinner appointment with the Tina'o family that night which was good! During the day we got to email a little since Elder Foai hadn't had his pday yet and then we did a little bit of grocery shopping!

Friday- We had DTM like usual which was really good! After DTM we had to go and get some xrays for my comp and after that we had a district lunch with everyone at the chapel! Then I went with Elder Scofield to our appointment with Brendon and we taught him about the commandments which went solid! He is getting baptized on the 19th of November and I will get to go back for it which will be sweet! I am the one who gets to baptize him too! Then after that we went and did some service for the Lim family and we had dinner at the Roach's after that! Everything was really good there and it was sad it was my last meal there haha! 

Saturday- We had a busy as day! We had painting at Robert and Nicola's in the morning and I went with Elder Densley to that. Then we went and grabbed a few things from the shops before we went to a baptism for a 8 year old kid in the ward! After that I went to a dinner appointment with Elder Scofield but the members forgot about it which was cool with us haha we just went and got some ice cream instead! 

Sunday- It was my final day in Dapto which was sad! I had to say bye to everyone at church and then after church we had a little farewell party at Sister Tyson's place which was really nice! Then after that we went and got the transfer details from the computer. Once we got all that we went to the Tiananga's house for dinner and to say bye to them! It was sad to say bye to them I really loved that family! Then I went home and packed all my stuff! 

Monday- I had to travel to my new area and then get unpacked! Once I was unpacked we went and did some tracting which went alright we found two potentials! After that we went and met the ward mission leader and he is a pretty good guy! Then we went to give a blessing to a member in the ward! 

It is weird to be in a new area but I know that this is where the Lord needs me! I am ready to testify to the people here in this area and share the gospel with them! I love this work and I know that this Church is true! I love you all have a good week! :)

Elder Jenson

This should really be on the cover of the Ensign

District

The Roaches 

UFC 96

well… I guess they are a little excited for Christmas

Maybe too excited

Rob and Nicola

Sister Tyson

The Tianangas

He doesn't really have THAT much stuff….

Peace n' blessings

Sayin' his goodbyes

His new roomies… look who's back?