ONE more month.. ONE

Man what a quick week that was... I will be home before we know it ;) Here are some updates for ya.

-We put our investigator Layne on date for the 15th of July! We are hoping we can get him to church so that we can actually get him baptized on that day so pray for him! 

- Worst thing ever happened, freakin MLC got cancelled so we didn't get to go up to Sydney for a meeting with Pres and all the other ZLs. The next one we will have is in two weeks with President Bingham. President Back had kidney stones so I guess that is a good excuse to cancel it... haha he is all good now though! 

- We did some service with some other elders where we helped a non member lady move. They are teaching her ex husband and they need her to give permission for her ex to bring their son to church. Hopefully it softened her heart haha if not she definitely got a good use of our free labor :) 

- We had a good dinner and meeting with the YSA parents from Tuggeranong ward. We were able to meet with them and the bishop to see what we can do to help strengthen the YSA in that ward. 

-Had good success with our sport night. We had a non member and 2 less actives come to it so we were happy about that! 

- Went to a ward BBQ in the morning on Saturday and it was a decent turnout haha it was freakin cold as during it though. 

- Got to go watch a few of our YSA in their rugby game and we ran into one of the less actives we have been trying to see for ages so it was so good! It is nuts here with the rugby comps though because no matter how old you are you can come play. They have so many different comps for people to play in. I really wish it was like that with football in Utah haha.

- We met with Jono and his family for dinner and a lesson. The lesson was about repentance, and it was a good object lesson. They seemed to enjoy it. Then Elder Lammi serenaded us on the guitar because he is dang good at the guitar and has the voice of an angel. He plays songs for us in the flat all the time which is sweet haha.

I am loving it here!! My comps are the best and so is my area! President Back leaves this weekend which is sad, but we get to see him one more time this week so that will be our goodbye to them until we meet again in Utah haha. 

My spiritual thought this week is from Mosiah 4:9,

"Believe in God; believe that he is, and that he created all things, both in heaven and in earth; believe that he has all wisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in earth; believe that man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend."

If we feel like we need some more hope in life all we have to do is follow the counsel here from King Benjamin. I truly know that God is there and I can't even begin to tell you how much better that makes my life! I would be nothing without my faith. The Lord knows all things so if there are things we don't understand in this life, just be patient because one day will come when all things will be made known to us. Stay strong in the faith and press forward. Love you all!

Elder Jenson

1 of 6

It is scaring me how fast the weeks are going by... its good though.. but I hate it at the same time haha! Some good things that happened this week are,

- Had a good p day spent at the Australian parliament  house. Did some good site seeing! 

- Met with our new investigator Layne. The sisters were teaching him but they got pulled out of the YSA program so we took over some of their work. Layne is a good Christian kid who really loves the Bible. He isn't bashy or anything which is so good! We try our best to use the Bible and the Book of Mormon while teaching him. We taught him about the Plan of Salvation which was super good.

- Did a lot of finding this week. Mostly door knocking again. I love my companions and we have a dang good time while we do it so I don't even mind at all! We have a fun game where we carry around a dictionary with us and then we give a random word to whoever's turn it is. The best part is we increase our vocabulary while we do finding haha.

-Had a cool miracle while trying to visit a YSA. His little brother was home who is like 17 and he had his friend over who happens to be 7th Day Adventist. He was super nice and we just played pool with him. He had a lot of good questions and is really trying to find the truth in his life. We are hoping to go back to the family's house and teach him so we will see what happens! 

- Had a good lunch appointment with a young mexican couple in the ward and it was such good food! They made us some bomb burgers and we tried some of her spicy guacamole and it was hot!!! 

- Met with Jordan Amosa this week and had a good lesson about repentance with him, his younger brother and his brother's friend. They both came to church the next day too so I guess something might have stuck with them and motivated them to come.

- Had a dinner with the Barber family again and we got to talk to Josh more about preparing for his mission and just cracking some jokes with him. We have gotten pretty tight with that family so it has been good! 

I love this quote from Elder Ballard from the last General Conference,

"I have observed that those who accomplish the most in this world are those with a vision for their lives, with goals to keep them focused on their vision and tactical plans for how to achieve them. Knowing where you are going and how you expect to get there can bring meaning, purpose, and accomplishment to life."

Coming to the end of my mission has really made me contemplate goals that I have and where I want to be in the future. I truly have learned to love setting goals and trying my best to follow them. I have been able to write down a few for when I get home and I know that they will help me to stay on the pathway back to my Father in Heaven. As we prayerfully set and keep goals, we will progress more than those who don't have goals. Love you all and have a good week!

Love,

Elder Jenson

ugly tie transfer

Far out what a week it has been! I STAYED IN CANBERRA!!! I am with Elder Hunt still and we added a solid companion into our trio! His name is Elder Lammi from Bundaberg, Australia! He is the man and we will have some good fun with him! I am so stoked to be staying down here in Canberra and to finish my mission with these guys. Here are a few highlights of the past week.

- We had a sick zone pday which was a lot of fun! We played tons of sport at the chapel and I didn't even get competitive!;) 

- Srijit came to Brett's house last night for a FHE and we had the best curry ever! Then we had the best lesson ever with him too! We talked a lot about trusting and following the Lord.

- Had a solid lesson with Jordan Amosa and his family during the week which was something they really needed.

- We had to deep clean the flat this week and so that was a miracle to have a nice clean flat again haha.

- We did service at Vinnies

- Did a lot of door knocking due to the semester just finishing at the Unis haha so we will be doing a lot of tracting most likely this transfer which will be some good fun! 

- Elder Hunt and I got called to be Zone Leaders again for our final transfer so we are stoked about that! We will get to go to a couple meetings in Sydney this transfer. Some will be with the Backs and the others will be with the new Mission President, President Bingham! 

- Elders Hunt, Cummings and I are wearing the same ugly tie every day this transfer. Probs gonna wear mine home too haha.

- I am also challenging myself to read the whole Book of Mormon in 6 weeks.. should be good.

Things are really good here though and I know that I am going to finish my mission really strong down here! I have good comps to help me work hard and I have awesome people we are working with to help keep me focused. I love my mission and I am so stoked to give it all I got to finish off this great ride! One little thought I have is from our lesson last night with Srijit. We talked a lot of Nephi's go get em attitude and how it is so important that we trust in the Lord and follow the path that He has for us. He promises us that He will not leave us on our own, but He will lead us, guide, us and walk beside us. I love you all have a good week! 

Elder Jenson

at the parlament

the backstreet boys

maybe 'Nsync

definitely 'Nsync

They're gonna wear the same ugly ties this whole transfer.... 

golfing is missionary work....RIGHT?

Far out what a good week for us here! Lovin life down here in the cold city of Canberra! We are about to go into the final week of the transfer so this Saturday we find out our final transfer details. I will see if I finish my mission here in Canberra or if I get shipped somewhere else to finish. I really hope to finish here though. So yeah just a heads up next week I will be emailing on a Tuesday, so that is Monday for you back in the states. Well here are some deets from the week.

-We went to the driving range for Pday so that was a lot of fun! (pics will be in another email.)

- We had a really solid lesson with our investigator Srijit. We watched to Restoration video with him and he really liked it! He has been reading the Book of Mormon, he came to the ward curry cook off and to cap it all off he came to church this Sunday! He really enjoyed his time with us this weekend and the Ward did so good at fellowshipping which was awesome! 

- We have increased our finding this week. We did a lot of finding at the universities and also some door knocking. President really wants us to find some investigators to teach and baptize! We are pushing ourselves and doing our best to find the elect haha.

-We had a good dinner with the Barber family! We issued them a missionary challenge for the month of June so it will be fun to work with them for the next month and help them get involved in the work of Salvation.

-Had some solid lessons with a few of our less actives. We met with David Dwyer again this week and we discussed getting a patriarchal blessing with him. Then we met with Jordan Amosa and read Alma 32 with him and discussed faith. Then we got to see Nigel Ah Wong and teach him more about the Spirit. He even took a selfie with us for his snap chat story which was pretty sick because he plays on one of the professional rugby teams down here haha.

-I got a flu shot this week too. (this is just to make my mommy happy.) :) 

-We held a sport night at the chapel and man it was one of our best turnouts we have ever had with it! We had a few of the less active boys come to it and so that was a lot of fun getting to connect with them more. 

This week was really good and I am grateful to be here! One thing that stuck out to me in sacrament meeting yesterday was someone gave a talk on the parable of the prodigal son. He talked about how when the prodigal son returned home, the father was so happy to see him and he showed him so much love! It really hit me when he said that we have a Father in Heaven who loves us even more than that who is always there waiting for us to return to him. It is hard to imagine the love that Heavenly Father has for us, but that really helped to paint a picture in my mind of how much he truly loves us. He loved us enough that He sent His son to die for us. God is good and he loves ALL of us! Have a good week!:)

Love

Elder Jenson

fast week

Man this week was really good for us! Here are some highlights from the week!

- Had a really good FHE at Brett's house with a few of the ysa boys in the Belconnen ward. WE were able to talk to them about being "all in" instead of being one foot in and the other out. Twas a good powerful lesson and I really love those guys so its fun to spend time with them and teach them.

- Had my final zone conference with President and Sister Back. We learned a lot on the Atonement and repenting. It was a powerful conference and I love President and Sister Back so dang much! I could not have asked for better mission parents! 

- Did some good finding at the Unis this week. We got kicked off one day so we just went back the next day! It is finals time right now for the students so they are all stressed to the max haha but luckily we are still able to have some good conversations with them and a few are keen to meet up again! 

- We met with Kono and his family and they have a non member cousin that was there who lives tight by us actually, so we are going to hopefully start teaching him because he was pretty keen! We had a good lesson at the house though about goals. 

- We finally got to see Jarom again and see how he is doing. He is a semi active 18 year old and he is really in need of friends and good pick me ups so that is what we are trying to give him. It went well during our visit though.

-We went to one of the less active YSA guys footy game and he was injured so he just sat by us and talked to us so that was sick! There were two other ysa guys who were on the other team too which was sick! We always find some good success at those games because all the boys play or come watch haha.

- We sang in sacrament meeting which was fun, it was a Tongan hymn and it is really beautiful when sung right.. we did pretty good.. I think haha

- We had dinner and watched the CES devotional last night at the chapel with the YSA and we had a decent turn out so we were happy about that! 

Man I have been studying a lot about the Atonement and how it is truly infinite and eternal! These verses from the Book or Mormon really struck me when I read them,

Mosiah 4:6-7

" 6 I say unto you, if ye have come to a knowledge of the goodness of God, and his matchless power, and his wisdom, and his patience, and his long-suffering towards the children of men; and also, the atonement which has been prepared from the foundation of the world, that thereby salvation might come to him that should put his trust in the Lord, and should be diligent in keeping his commandments, and continue in the faith even unto the end of his life, I mean the life of the mortal body—

7 I say, that this is the man who receiveth salvation, through the atonement which was prepared from the foundation of the world for all mankind, which ever were since the fall of Adam, or who are, or who ever shall be, even unto the end of the world."

The Atonement was prepared from the beginning of the world because it is our only hope of Salvation! Without it we would never be able to make it back to live with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Luckily for us we do have the Atonement though and as we use it and apply it in our lives it lifts us to heights we never could have imagined. I know this is true! Love you all! 

Elder Jenson