FOOTY=RUGBY

Wow time flies haha it is already P day!! Here is my weekly recap!

Monday- We went and balled out at the indoor basketball courts! We went 3-1 on the day and it was a lot of fun getting to play some competitive basketball! After that we went and had dinner at the Johnstones! they are the family that Elder Yardley baptised while he was here and they are awesome! Kieran is 17 and just loves missionaries haha! We had dinner and a lesson at their house and then we went to Roberts house and showed him the Hope of God's Light Mormon message and it was so solid! He is the man and he is building up a strong testimony!

Tuesday- Man we had a solid day! We did some service for Sister Tyson and then after that we got to teach 5 lessons!! We had a solid day and it was good to teach! We went to the Tina'o family's house for dinner that night and man I love that family! Pretty full on day and just a good day with no appointments falling through haha!

Wednesday- We helped a member move to his new house and then after that he shouted us a massive feed! Then we went to FHE with Sister Tyson and The Player family! We had a good scripture discussion! Then we went to the Tiananga's house for dinner! This night was the big rugby game called the State of Origin and it is NSW vs. Queensland and it is like the superbowl for rugby! We weren't allowed to watch it so instead President told us to go knock doors instead so we tracted during the game and man it was so funny! We even got invited with a bunch of like 19 year old kids for a couple minutes and we just chatted with them during the game haha pretty funny! We had no luck during it but we made some good memories haha!

Thursday- Man what a slow day for us haha! We had 2 of our appointments fall through so that sucked! We had one lesson with our investigator Byron and it was solid! We taught him the Gospel of Jesus Christ and he loved it! We talked about how it feels to repent and be baptized and he was just so keen on having that feeling! He even is starting to quit smoking and he decided that on his own haha we had no idea about it! The Gospel is making him want to better his life already and it is so awesome!! Then we went and did some GQing to finish the night haha nothing too crazy!

Friday- We had a good DTM. I trained on Closing the gap between us and Heavenly Father! It was fun to train on! Then we went and did some tracting! Elder Smith Smashed his head on the over hanging part of someones roof so that was fetching hilarious! Once again a lot of appointments fell through except for Robert and Nichola! We had a good Book of Mormon read with them! The Spirit was strong and we got to discern a lot of their concerns! Pretty good day!

Saturday- We went to Junior Amones footy (rugby) game! He is our investigators son! He is a beast and he killed it! Being there made me miss playing little league football back when I was actually good and had good knees hahaha! It was a good time though! Then when we got home we went and had a lesson with a less active member and it was way good! Then after that we jus GQ'd for the rest of the night and not much came from it haha!

Sunday- We had a good time at church! Classes went well and I learned a lot being there! The Ward here is pretty solid I like them haha. After church we had ward council and then we went home and had lunch. After lunch we went out to visit less actives and we were only able to see 2 of them haha so that was our whole Sunday! Pretty good and boring lol.

My spiritual thought for the week is is about courage! I have been reading a lot about Nephi lately and he is the man! He went and did whatever the Lord commanded him and he did so faithfully! I think we are all more like Laman and Lemuel than we would like to admit though. We all murmur at times and we go through times where we are sceptical and we whine and we are slow to do what is asked of us! But as we have courage and strive to be more like Nephi we will see greater blessings in our life! Love you guys and fear no man because the Lord is on your side!

-Elder Jenson

Kieren loves WWE, those are real belts

smile...

he Tina'os bought us groceries.. gotta love Samoans

HULK.. and the ward mission leaders son

cute

Drinking on the job

at the rugby game

RIding the train

FOOTY=RUGBY

Wow time flies haha it is already P day!! Here is my weekly recap!

Monday- We went and balled out at the indoor basketball courts! We went 3-1 on the day and it was a lot of fun getting to play some competitive basketball! After that we went and had dinner at the Johnstones! they are the family that Elder Yardley baptised while he was here and they are awesome! Kieran is 17 and just loves missionaries haha! We had dinner and a lesson at their house and then we went to Roberts house and showed him the Hope of God's Light Mormon message and it was so solid! He is the man and he is building up a strong testimony!

Tuesday- Man we had a solid day! We did some service for Sister Tyson and then after that we got to teach 5 lessons!! We had a solid day and it was good to teach! We went to the Tina'o family's house for dinner that night and man I love that family! Pretty full on day and just a good day with no appointments falling through haha!

Wednesday- We helped a member move to his new house and then after that he shouted us a massive feed! Then we went to FHE with Sister Tyson and The Player family! We had a good scripture discussion! Then we went to the Tiananga's house for dinner! This night was the big rugby game called the State of Origin and it is NSW vs. Queensland and it is like the superbowl for rugby! We weren't allowed to watch it so instead President told us to go knock doors instead so we tracted during the game and man it was so funny! We even got invited with a bunch of like 19 year old kids for a couple minutes and we just chatted with them during the game haha pretty funny! We had no luck during it but we made some good memories haha!

Thursday- Man what a slow day for us haha! We had 2 of our appointments fall through so that sucked! We had one lesson with our investigator Byron and it was solid! We taught him the Gospel of Jesus Christ and he loved it! We talked about how it feels to repent and be baptized and he was just so keen on having that feeling! He even is starting to quit smoking and he decided that on his own haha we had no idea about it! The Gospel is making him want to better his life already and it is so awesome!! Then we went and did some GQing to finish the night haha nothing too crazy!

Friday- We had a good DTM. I trained on Closing the gap between us and Heavenly Father! It was fun to train on! Then we went and did some tracting! Elder Smith Smashed his head on the over hanging part of someones roof so that was fetching hilarious! Once again a lot of appointments fell through except for Robert and Nichola! We had a good Book of Mormon read with them! The Spirit was strong and we got to discern a lot of their concerns! Pretty good day!

Saturday- We went to Junior Amones footy (rugby) game! He is our investigators son! He is a beast and he killed it! Being there made me miss playing little league football back when I was actually good and had good knees hahaha! It was a good time though! Then when we got home we went and had a lesson with a less active member and it was way good! Then after that we jus GQ'd for the rest of the night and not much came from it haha!

Sunday- We had a good time at church! Classes went well and I learned a lot being there! The Ward here is pretty solid I like them haha. After church we had ward council and then we went home and had lunch. After lunch we went out to visit less actives and we were only able to see 2 of them haha so that was our whole Sunday! Pretty good and boring lol.

My spiritual thought for the week is is about courage! I have been reading a lot about Nephi lately and he is the man! He went and did whatever the Lord commanded him and he did so faithfully! I think we are all more like Laman and Lemuel than we would like to admit though. We all murmur at times and we go through times where we are sceptical and we whine and we are slow to do what is asked of us! But as we have courage and strive to be more like Nephi we will see greater blessings in our life! Love you guys and fear no man because the Lord is on your side!

-Elder Jenson

Kieren loves WWE, those are real belts

smile...

he Tina'os bought us groceries.. gotta love Samoans

HULK.. and the ward mission leaders son

cute

Drinking on the job

at the rugby game

RIding the train

halfway through txfers

Man it was a slower week but we had some solid lessons with the people we are working with!

 

Tuesday- We had half a P day because we were having a Zone P day later in the week on Friday after Zone Training! So we went and emailed and then got lunch at the mall. After that we just did some GQing and then we drove to Nowra to meet some Elders from Ulladulla to do trade offs! I got to bring Elder Ellies back with me and he is the man!

 

Wednesday- Had trade offs all day with Elder Ellies and we went to MCM with the Ward mission leader to start the day and that went really good! Then we went out and did some tracting! We got some potentials and met this weird guy who went on for ages about how we shouldn't be called Elders hahaha so that was fun! Then we went and visited the Mackies and shared a message with them! After that we went and did some service for Sister Galloway and then afterwards she fed us some delicious dinner! Then we drove back to Nowra to trade back companions!

 

Thursday- We started our morning off with some service for Sister Lim. We did some tree trimming and mowed her lawn! Then we went out to Kiama to visit a referral named Byron and he is the man! He is now one of our new investigators so that was a huge blessing for us! After that we went and had dinner with Sister Tyson and Sister Zimmerman. Elder Smith and I were doing funny motions to the song Battle Hymn of the Republic and it was just a crack up!

 

Friday- We had our Zone training meeting and it was really solid! The Zone leaders and sister training leaders gave really good trainings about getting to know the Savior better and it was just great! After the training meeting we went to the park by the beach and we grilled up some food and we played a bunch of fun games! One of the games was my childhood favorite Spud! After Zone P day we went and taught Amelia Souris and had a little dinner with them! Then we went to Nichola and Robert's house and taught them about the Word of Wisdom and man it was so solid! The Spirit was so strong and it really softened their hearts to receive our message! They both committed to live the word of wisdom and it was such a miracle!

 

Saturday- We had some service lined up but it fell through. So we went and saw our Investigator Brooke and we got to talk to her for a little and we shared a scripture with her from Alma 36:3! Then after that we went and did some tracting and not much came from it haha. Then it was off to the Kelly's house for some din din! After dinner we went and cleaned our flat up for our flat inspection the next day.

 

Sunday- We went to church and got to teach Nichola during the second hour about the Atonement and boy it was so solid! Then after church we went to see Brooke again but she was sick so we didn't get to see her. Then President and Sister Back came by the flat to inspect it because they are going around the whole mission this transfer and checking flats! So they checked our flat and then we got to teach them one of the 5 lessons we teach people so that was cool! After that we went and had some Fondue at the McColl's house! It was fun getting to know them! Then after that we were hungry for real food so we went over to this new family's house named the Tina'o's. They are this awesome Samoan family that just moved into the ward and they take such good care of the missionaries! They fed us so much food and we were stuffed haha! We got to know them better and share a message with them as well! Their son just got back from his mission in London England so that was pretty sweet to talk to him about! Needless to say they are freaking awesome and I am grateful for them haha! Then we went home and did call ins for numbers from the district/zone!

 

My spiritual thought for the week is a quote from last general conference. "Choose the harder right." - Thomas S. Monson

 

When we are faced with a decision, choose the harder right and not the easier wrong. You will be grateful that you did and you will feel so much better I promise you that! Decisions determine destiny so make the right decisions :) Love you guys!

 

-Elder Jenson

Elder Ellies from Micronesia 

Elder Beazer from Draper, UT

South Coast Zone

Cam and Elder Hunt grillin'

Zone photo.. You'd think Cam was from Oregon with all the gear he represents

Duck facin it up

Cuties

at the beach... the Elder in the hat... we can never see his face

Learning to shave for the first time

Japanese pants from Elder Ino...

DAPTO

Well I don't have too much time today so I will give a quick recap of my week!

 

Monday- We had a normal P day and just went and bummed around the mall after emailing! Then we went to the Mackie's house to teach them since they are less active and then we went to another less active member and taught her a lesson as well!

 

Tuesday-Such an awesome day! We had Elder Gifford Nielsen from the seventy come to our zone conference! He gave an awesome training and is such a good guy! I was so pumped up after his training and just super motivated! He played QB for BYU and changed the game of football because they threw more than any other team! We talked a lot about Alma 17-27 so I encourage you to read it! Then we took the train home and had dinner and went to bed haha!

 

Wednesday- We went and helped a member move a dish washer and then after that went to visit Brooke our investigator and we just had a good conversation with her and left a Book of Mormon with her to read! Then after that we went to our ward mission leader's house (the Tianangas) and we had dinner and then went on splits for the night! We visited a part member family in the ward and just visited them to see how they were doing!

 

Thursday- We went to visit a potential but he wasn't home so we went and saw our man Kieran, who is the kid Elder Yardley baptized when he was here! He was feeling down that day so we cheered him up and shared a scripture with him! He is the man and so it was good to see him! Then we went and saw the Macgreggor family who is pretty weird and crazy hahaha and we shared a message with them! After that Smith got sick so we went home and let him rest for the rest of the night!

 

Friday- We went and taught Brooke the Restoration and man it went so good! She had a lot of questions and so that made it a lot of fun! Then we went and Rebecca Sloan who is a LA in the ward! After that we went and taught a daughter of a part member family and we just read the child Book of Mormon with her! She is only 7 but will be getting baptized when she turns 8! After that we went to teach our two investigators Rob and Nichola and it went solid! We taught the rest of the Plan of Salvation to them and the Spirit was so strong!! Rob also told us that the blessing of healing that we gave him worked and that his knee felt better! That was so cool to hear! Solid lesson and night overall!

 

Saturday- Pretty slow day! We started off by teaching Sue Waters at sister Clough's house and that went good! Then we went and did some tracting and less active visits and we had zero luck haha! Then we went to the Amone's house and had dinner with them! Brother Amone is married to a less active member of the church and he loves the missionaries and he looks out for us so that is sick!

 

Sunday- We had church and taught the Gospel Principles class! Then after church we had ward council! After that we had lunch and then did some LA visits to finish off the day and then we cam home and got all the weekly numbers from the district and the zone!

 

Monday- happy Birthday to the Queen of England! Australians take any chance they can get for a day off haha! We went to do service for sister Knoles but she already had it done so we just had a good chat with her! Then we went to the Tiananga's house for a BBQ with them and another family in the Ward! It was a lot of fun and their son Paki is so sick haha! Then we went and taught the Macgreggors again and the lesson was alright haha they are just pretty strange! Then we went to teach sister Rateni's husband who is a non member! We showed him the video Safety for the Soul by Jeffery R Holland and it was so good! He felt the power in the message and admitted it to us!

 

My spiritual message for the week is about Repentance! When we repent it means to turn away from sin and to try your best to never do it again! It is to have a change of mind! As we repent our views of everything change and we become new creatures through Christ! Love you guys!

 

-Elder Jenson

zone conf

Cam and Tuitubo... and the creeper in the background

Elder Nielsen

#farmlyfe

Yeah.. So his new area is even uglier than the last one... sure would hate to have the beach that close.

at the beach.. rough life

theres our boy!

... we can have coffee right? 

good thing Smith is driving... we all know Cam has a terrible driving record.

little bunny foo foo

Week one in Dapto

What a week it has been here in Dapto! Not nearly as much service and a lot more teaching so I like that haha. Here is the rundown!

 

Tuesday- We emailed at the library and then after that we went to Wollongong to play some basketball at the indoor basketball courts! It was a lot of fun because I haven't played ball in ages and we played these four 18-19 year old kids and we beat them 2 out of 3 games so we showed them how we do it in America baby!! Then we went to an appointment that fell through so we went and visited a less active in the ward!

 

Wednesday- We went out and did a lot of less active visits and saw a lot of success! Its hard to report on all the people we saw because I am still learning who everyone is and what not! We got to meet a lot of people and got a new investigator! She isn't too solid but we are going to work with her and see where it goes haha! Pretty basic day!

 

Thursday- We could not get a lesson in to save our lives! No one would answer and no one would really let us teach them so that was tough hahaha. We were blessed to pick up an awesome potential this day too! We taught her at her doorstep and then we ended up praying with her too! She said we could come back the next day too which was awesome!! Then at the end of the night we had a good dinner and cleaned the flat up too!

 

Friday- I gave my first district training because I got made a district leader this transfer! I gave my training on the Book of Mormon and I felt like it went really well and I had a lot of fun giving the training! After that we went to the mall for some lunch and then it was off to do more visits! We had a lot of set appointments and they all went good! We taught two investigators, Robert and Nichola and they are pretty awesome and have a lot of questions so its fun to work with them! We also got to have a good dinner with a part member family and we got to teach them and their kids! Pretty solid day!

 

Saturday- We got to go to the temple with Elder Smith's recent convert! It was his first time going through the temple and it was awesome! It was a journey getting there though haha we missed our train in the morning and so we were an hour behind schedule, then we went and got the mission van from the mission office, then we had to go to President Back's house so Elder Smith could have a temple recommend interview. Then we had to drive in traffic to the temple and we made it on time but the session was already full so we got to do sealings instead while we waited for Smith's recent convert to finish. I felt like sealings are what I needed to do that day though and the Lord knew it too! I felt the spirit so strong and it was awesome!! Then we got lunch with everyone and we had to make the journey back home on the train hahaha so it was a long day of travel! Then we taught a couple lessons when we got home and had some dinner!

 

Sunday- Man what a rain storm!! It rained so dang hard! There was flooding everywhere like roads and parking lots were swimming pools!! We only had sacrament meeting at church and hardly anyone was there haha so we only had 1 hour of church! After church we went all day doing less active visits and we only had luck when we went to Nichola and Robert's house to teach them! So we worked all day and only got one lesson haha so that is the struggle of missionary life, some days you are on fire and other days you just got nothing going for ya haha but all is well!

 

My spiritual message for the week is from Mosiah 2:41 "And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessedand happy‍ state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed‍ in all things, both temporal andspiritual; and if they hold out faithful‍ to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a stateof never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it."

 

As we keep the commandments we are happy and not only are we happy but we are blessed! What more could ya ask for? :)

Have a good week love you guys!

-Elder Jenson

this is their regular attire once they take off the suit and tie... cute huh?

Parking lot full of rain

hahahahahaha this one killed me... Elder Smith almost fell in... Cam is completely oblivious haha

Happy missionaires...all the time

comp and flat mates

da bois with the ward mission leaders house for dinner

I scream You scream we all scream for ICE CREAM

District

the boys from Mortdale reunited

transfer time for the dingo

I got transferred and I am now in Dapto ward! It is in the south coast so I am still by the ocean haha which is sick! Even better is that my new comp isn't actually new at all! Its Elder Smith! My trainer and my brotha from anotha motha! We are stoked to kill it together and work hard! :)

 

Monday- We went and bowled to see who was the champ out of Elder Laga'aia and myself and..... he won.... I was devastated hahaha! He beat me fair and square though! After that we went to Josh's house and we went on a hike with his family and him! We parked one car at the top and one at the bottom of the track and the plan was for us to drive Josh back up to his car then he would drive back down to get his family. Well silly old me left our keys in his car hahaha so we had to walk back up the track in the dark to get to his car so that we could get our keys so that was pretty funny :) Then we had dinner and a lesson with them which was solid!

Tuesday- We did some service at Mandeni and got golf balls out of the lake with a massive net! Then after that we went to Debbies and did some service for her before dinner! They made LAga'aia and I a massive breky (Breakfast) dinner! It was so dang good! So that was just a day of service! 

Wednesday- Went to the FHC and man no one showed up this week! Kylie did though so we taught her and did family history with her and some indexing! After that we went and did some more service for Debbie. Then we went to Bega to teach the Walker kids and that went really good! After that we went out to the far land of Wyndham to teach Rob! We taught him about the commandments and he committed to live them all! It was a good lesson and the spirit was there for sure! 

Thursday- We went out to Wyndham again to help Norma and Maurice for the day! We had a delicious lunch that was lamb chops from a lamb that had just gotten killed and cut up by the butcher just a week ago so it was nice and fresh meat! After lunch we helped them out with some stuff on their computer and family history stuff. Then we got to play some rumiking with them while the rain was going and after the rain stopped we went out and cleaned the pool for the baptism on Saturday! For evening tea (what they call dinner here) we had a traditional english pork pie! It was really good! Look it up! After that we went to Kylie and Rob's house to teach Rob the final lesson and to go over the baptismal interview questions with him! It was all really good! He is so humble and sincere and I just love him and Kylie! I can't wait till next year when they can get sealed in the temple and I can go to it!

 

Friday- We called into DTM and after that had a nice 12 dollar steak at the bowling club! Then we went and deep cleaned the flat and I started to pack all my stuff! After that I got a haircut from Cymonn for the baptism. Then we went to the chapel for Rob's baptismal interview which went solid!

 

Saturday- It was dunking day! It was 6 degrees Celsius outside and the pool water was about 0 hahaha so it was freezing! I baptized Rob and it went so good! He was so happy and just stoked to be there doing that! He really knew what he was doing was the right thing and you could see it in his actions and emotions! After the baptism we went to help Mitch and Hannah move to there new house! After that we went to Josh's house to have dinner with his family!

 

Sunday- I confirmed Rob a member of the Church and it went really good! Then after sacrament though he tweaked his back and had a seizure type thing and it was really scary! We called the ambulance and they took him to the hospital but he was in good spirits as he left! After church we loaded the car up and said our see ya laters to some members and other friends we made! On the way out of Merimbula we went to the hospital to see Rob. He was doing really good and in awesome spirits! He felt bad for ruining our last Sunday in the branch but we let him know he didn't ruin anything we are just glad he is doing good:) Then we drove to my new area in Dapto and stayed the night there at my new flat!

 

Monday- We dropped off my comps to get picked up and taken to their new areas. My new comp is my trainer Elder Smith! This is his last transfer so I get to kill him off! It has already been so great being comps with him again, we are like the same person and best friends so man it is awesome haha! After we dropped off my two old comps we went and gave a sister in the Ward a blessing and shared a message. Then we went to another members home and met with them and shared a message as well. After that we went to meet the bishop and what not which went really good! I love the area already and the members I have met are so solid and I look forward to serving here :)

 

My spiritual thought is about having good thoughts! Alma 37:36 "Yea, and cry‍ unto God for all thy support; yea, let all thydoings‍ be unto the Lord, and whithersoever thou goest let it be in the Lord; yea, let all thy thoughts‍ be directed unto the Lord;yea, let the affections of thy heart be placed upon the Lord forever." We need to keep Him in our hearts and our minds so that we can be directed for good :) Love you guys have a good week!

 

-Elder Jenson

whats different about this picture? OHHH Elder Smith joined.

goodbye gansta

The final picture

ITS ELDER SMITH...and two other boys... 

Mitch and Hannah

The Wlakers

The Shoobridges

Ben and Cymonn

Sam and Mandy

Its Tom.

Check out that form... pro

Just so you know.... Cam lost.

Loser

poor loser

This is Cam in 5 years.. except Bekah will be in the picture with him..

Norma and Bruce Wright. And their dog.

Look at his cute comp in the background just smiling haha

Its a wombat

hes super happy about the wombat

More like PEACE OUT MERIMBULA

look at that cell phone..

The trio with Rob

Rob's baptism

Probably wasn't super cold...

Mark and Debbie Parker