Kangaroos don't attack humans....

Hey everyone here is the weekly update from down under! 

Monday- we had a normal P day, emailed, shopped, and got some haircuts for my comps. Then we went to a member's home for dinner and service! After we did both of those we went on a little bush walk with them to a place called moon beach! It was so sick! There were some kangaroos hopping around when we were walking back down and I was so sketched out haha I was scared we were going to get kicked in the face, but apparently they don't really attack people and if they do then you just climb a tree :)

Tuesday- We drove to a part of our area called Eden. While we were there we also drove to the border of Victoria and New South Wales which is where our area ends haha. Then we tried to visit a less active family in the ward but they weren't home and after that we just did some tracting. After that we went to a members home to help them with service then we had dinner with them and shared a message!

Wednesday- We went to to family history center to visit some non members who come there to do their family history. Then we went and did some service for a less active family where we just mowed the lawn which was huge and then we vacuumed there walls which had spider webs all over them! Then we went to teach some kids from a member family and the oldest one who is 14 isn't baptized so we are trying to work with her to get baptized! So we taught them then we went to this fish n chips shop where two of our 4 investigators and a guy from our branch president go to for a game night every Wednesday! They play games with miniatures which is a way complicated game haha so we just interact with a lot of non members there and talk to them!

Thursday- We had some stuff dropped off to our flat by senior missionary couple and then they took us out to lunch which was sweet! Then we went back to the flat and packed all of our stuff for the weekend because we were traveling up to Canberra for the weekend for Stake Conference and Zone Conference. So basically this whole day was just driving to Canberra haha nothing too exciting.

Friday- We had an amazing zone conference with Pres and Sis Back! We had really good trainings and we learned a lot! I felt so edified and pumped up at the end of the whole thing! Then after Zone Conference I went on trade offs with my main man Elder Yardley in his area! We did some less active visits and we taught 2 lessons that night which was nice for a change since we don't get as many lessons in Merimbula! Then we went home and learned some cool card magic tricks haha.

Saturday- We did some more treade offs and I was with Elder Sirithananon who is from Thailand! He is a tailor back at home and he knows how to dry clean suits and change ties into skinny ties! He is literally the man! So we went and did some less active visits and we ended up teaching one lesson about the truthfulness of the Book Of Mormon to a less active! Then we went to the adult session of Stake conference. We had Elder Liota of the seventy there for it and man he gave a powerful talk! Between him and the testimonies given by recent converts, man the Spirit was so strong and everyone could feel it! Investigators there could feel the truthfulness of what was being spoke! We also got to hear from Pres and Sis Back again and it is always such a pleasure to hear from them! 

Sunday- We had Stake conference that morning and once again the Spirit was so strong in there! Elder Liota gave another POWERFUL talk! I loved it all, he really just draws you in when he gives a talk! Then after that we ate lunch with some members from our branch that traveled up for conference! Then we did trade offs with Elder Tuitubo and Elder Tafengatoto but sadly all the appointments we had fell through haha so nothing too much happened.

My Spiritual thought for the week is the Standard of Truth, 

“The Standard of Truth has been erected; no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done.”

― Joseph Smith Jr.

This work is moving on no matter what! Nothing can stop it! I know this is the Lord's work and I am so grateful to be apart of it! I know this church is true! I love you all have a good week!!!

Love, Elder Jenson

Yep... I'm not going to visit.

Fast forward 5 years.... 

Hiking to moon bay with the shoobridges 

what up playaaaaa.. He's in Eden

cuz this is real life

Lets just go hang out on the beach for P day... 

In case we forgot who he was... its ELDER JENSON

He went to Victoria

BYU or Oregon? 

Not real life... 

HELLLLPPPP

the trio

Cuties

LOOK its Elder Yardley. He looks happy to be with cam haha

KANGAROOS MAAAAATE (also, 6 months down)

Alright so my first week in Merimbula has been pretty good! It is a beach town where a lot of people come for vacation and where old people retire haha! It is a beautiful place! The work is pretty slow here but we are hopefully going to change that! haha I love my companions I really lucked out with them! There are some great members here as well that treat us really well so that is a blessing. Here is my week!

Monday- Spent the whole day driving from Sutherland all the way down to Merimbula. It was about 7 hours of traveling for the day! Then we got here and went and did some service for a family here and had some dinner with them!

Tuesday- P day! We had service in the morning where we helped wheel burrow some concrete for a family in the branch! After that we went and got some food and emailed! After emailing we went to some awesome view points and some really cool beaches! After that we went and did service for another family in the branch and had dinner with them!

Wednesday- We went to go to the Family history center to help out and see one of our investigators but no one was there! So we went to the old flat that the missionaries lived in last transfer and grabbed the last of the stuff that needed to be moved to our new flat. We got some lunch then we went home and organized our stuff! Then we went and visited with a non member that used to be an investigator that likes having missionaries around and his cousin who lives with him who is one of our investigators! They ended up having us over for dinner so that was cool! 

Thursday- We went and cleaned the old flat and made it look good for inspections! Then we grabbed some lunch and we did some GQing around the shops in town. Then we went and visited one of our investigators at her work! We haven't been able to get in contact with her but she said she wants to meet with us again so that was good! Then we did some grocery shopping for some food in the flat and we did our weekly planning. Pretty slow day.

Friday- We had to listen to DTM over the phone hahaha so that was fun! Then we went and met up with two of the senior couples in the mission and got a new mattress from them for Elder Cherrington and we finished pulling out all of the stuff from the old flat and moving it to the new flat. After that we went to the Branch activity at the park and ate some snags (sausages) from the barbie and played some footy (rugby). While playing footy I ended up trucking a little kid that I did not see when I was running, he wasn't part of the branch activity it was just a random by stander. One of the ladies with him was getting mad at me even after I was apologetic and I felt way bad haha but luckily she backed off. Then later that night when we were leaving this lady was giving a piggy back to a kid she was with and she was racing the two other adults she was with and she tripped while running and smashed her face into the ground and spilled her beer hahaha it was pretty funny to see. Oh and on a good note the kid that I trucked ended up being just fine and the mom wasn't mad at all and she was way cool about it when I went over and talked to them again and said sorry :) Then after the activity we went and helped mow a massive backyard! Also Elder Cherrington and I hit our 6 month mark so we burned a tie in our backyard of our flat haha.

Saturday- We had to put a new door on the old flat and we had a non member that lives right next door to us, who is friends with the missionaries, help us out. After we were done with that we went back to this guys house and had a chat with him. He said a funny quote to his sister in law that was there, "If you want to join a religion, you could do a lot worse than the mormons! They're good blokes." hahaha he is so awesome! Then after that we got some food and got some mormon messages from the computer and we went home for the night!

Sunday- My first time going to a branch instead of a ward! I counted 11 total adults in the congregation and the rest were kids hahaha and our meeting house is just a small little building right next to a fish n chips shop! Then after church we had branch council, then we went home for a later lunch. After lunch we had to drive to Bega which is like 40 k's away to deliver the sacrament to two elderly ladies. After that went home and organized our flat and cleaned it up, and had some dinner.

My spiritual thought for the week is on letting our light shine! "A sacred light comes to our eyes and countenances when we have a personal bond with our loving Heavenly Father and His Son." Elder James E Faust. We must always strive to keep the commandments and do what the Lord asks us to do so that we can show an example to others and so that we can let our light shine. As we do this we will create a bond with our Father in Heaven and His son Jesus Christ! Love you all! Have a good week :)

 

The church meeting house

I want YOU

I mean... Australia can be pretty rough this time of year.

yeah... definitely rough

This is fake...Pambula beach (look it up)

Oh.. another beach..

pretty bird... pretty bird. A member in their area made them balloon animals

real ugly...

Glad I'm not there...

a little more country than his last area

Just the beach behind their house.. NBD

are those deer in the front yard? nope.. kangaroos, mate

Elder Cherrington and Elder Jenson before the 6 month tie burning

SIX MONTHS DOWN, BABY! that's a quarter of the way done..

 

Transfers!! He's in Merimbula, Australia

So I have been transferred!! I am now in a new area called Merimbula! It is a small town about 6 hours away from my old are hahaha I am in the bush!! Merimbula is a small resort town that heaps of people come to for vacation because it is a nice beach town! It is so beautiful here and I love it, I just feel like I am camping haha. I saw my first kangaroo ever today as well so that was pretty dang awesome! My new companions are, Elder Cherrington from Tuscon Arizona and he is the man! We came out together in the same intake and he is just a stellar missionary and an old friend from the mtc so that is awesome! Our other companion is Elder Laga'aia who is like a special missionary from North Sydney! He is so awesome! He isn't really that special he just has ADHD and struggles with teaching in lessons. He is so happy all the time and so positive and I love it! He loves talking to people and he is so good at it! I lucked out with my comps! 

So I don't have my journal to write about this past week so I will make sure I have it for next weeks letter! It was way sad to leave Sutherland! I made so many great friends there and I know I will be in touch with them even after the mission! It is weird coming from the city to the bush haha I am in a branch and it has about 30 people in it and it is made up of a lot of children haha which is way new for me! I am going to have to do some adjusting but luckily I have awesome companions to help me do that! We do heaps of service here which I am happy about because I like service :) We did some concreting this morning so I am following in my daddy's footsteps haha! Yesterday was all driving for like 6 hours! It was so long! Bright side Elder Yardley was with me in the car haha he drove and I was shotgun rider! He is the man and it was so good to catch up with each other! He is in my zone but we are 3 hours away from the closest elders haha so I won't be seeing too much of anyone for awhile! Sorry this is a small email. I just forgot my journal and there wasn't too much that happened my last week in Sutherland other than Emma Kendrick got baptized on my last sunday in the ward! All is well here for me! I miss you all and I will get a better email next week haha! Have a good week! :)

TOO MANY PICTURES TO LABEL... Hell on earth...