the blue lagoon

Here is the recap for the week! :)

Monday- We emailed and got a massive feast from Maccas while we did that haha. Then we went to Bournda Lagoon with the Shoobridges! We got to take some sweet pics of us jumping off a sand dune and we ran 1.5 k's with the kids to help them train for their triathlon this week! Then we ate some dinner and walked around the beach a little bit! Then we went back to their house and shared the new Easter video with them!

Tuesday- It was rainy and so it made it hard for us to do any service for anyone and so we had a really slow day. We went to the Parkers house that night and we had a nice dinner with them and shared the Easter video with them as well! Go look it up!

Wednesday- We went to the FHC and visited everyone there and did a little family history ourselves! Then we went and taught Atika about the Plan of Salvation! Things went well and she is still excited to be baptized! She will be getting baptized in the Wright's swimming pool so that will be cool haha! Then we went to teach Kylea at the Wright's house and have dinner! We taught her about the Plan of Salvation as well! She understood it all because she has been reading a lot of stuff from LDS.org and Mormon.org! She is so awesome! Her husband sat in on the lesson too and he is so supportive of everything and he really like everything that we taught! They both find such peace in the messages we share! Kylea says that she feels so much peace when she reads the Book of Mormon and stuff on the church's websites! We are really hoping to set her husband on a baptismal date soon too because he is coming to church with her too! He is really supportive of her and she has good fellowship from the Wrights so things are going really well with her and we are super grateful and feeling blessed!

Thursday- We went and tore up a mattress for a member who owns a motel and we did it in record timing he said haha. Then we went and worked on the Shoobridge's shed for the rest of the day. The sucky part was all the progress we made on it has to be undone next time we come over haha because the roof is slowly going crooked so we need to unscrew that and fix it. Any of you who know me probably know how excited I was after that hahaha I tend to get frustrated with little projects easily when they don't work like I want it to haha just ask my mom :) Then we had dinner with them and talked to Josh about the branch and all the progress that is going on!

Friday- We called in for DTM in the afternoon, then it was down pouring outside again so we were limited for what we could do. Then later on we went to Ben and Cymon Parker's house for a delicious dinner and a message! We got to play some fun games with their 3 kids while we were there too so it was a solid night there! 

Saturday- We got to go and do a devotional at the stake young men's camp out that was at Bournda National park which is in our area! We had a good devotional about preparing to serve a mission and we answered any questions that they had so that was way cool! Then we went to the lake with them and helped out with the activities there and just got to get to know everyone! Then we got to be the judges for their master chef competition! They made us some delicious mexican food and I was so impressed to be honest haha! Then we went and did some service/visits with the leaders and young men! I got to go with the Stake President and some other guys to visit a less active member in Cadello! It was good to finally make contact with this member! Then we went and had some mallos around a campfire and then we had to go home because it was almost curfew haha!

Sunday- We had Branch Conference and there were a lot of members that came down from Canberra for it plus all of the young men! For the opening hymn we sang The Spirit of God and holy cow the Spirit was so strong when we sang that! It gave me the chills. It was pretty legit not gonna lie! Then we got to teach Kylea after sacrament about the Gospel of Jesus Christ! The lesson was solid as usual and the Spirit was so strong! She calls the Gospel and the Book of Mormon her medicine haha because it helps her to feel calm and happy and at peace :) Then we had a munch and mingle down at the park where we got to eat some fetching awesome food and mingle with members! I love being in a branch and getting to know everyone personally! It is just like a big family! Kylea and her husband came to the munch and mingle as well and they get along great with everyone and the fellowship is so awesome!! They had american hot dogs at the park too so I made sure to eat my fair share of those haha I miss american hot dogs! Then we went and took the sacrament to the ladies in Bega, did some studies, and made some bomb BBQ chicken and mashed potatoes! 

My spiritual thought for the week is from Proverbs 29:18, Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he. 

We must keep to the vision or goals that we have for ourselves and constantly set new goals. As we do that and prayerfully ask for help and guidance we will be blessed and happy! We are happier as we keep the commandments of God and submit ourselves to his will! 

Love you all have a good week!

-Elder Jenson

isn't he the cutest? Yes.

HIIIII-YAAA

Jumping off the sand dunes..

pew pew pew... 

woah ninjas.

Cameron and Alex

Cameron and Hailey

Cam and Elder Cherrington

Squad

Cute little belly boy

Family time

HE CAN COOOOOOK

Our special boy.

such a G catching fish out of the ocean

Monday- We just did emailing, shopping, and got some haircuts. Then we went to the Shoobridge's home for dinner! We played spike ball with them and it was a lot of fun! Elder Cherrington and I beat Josh and Naomi pretty soundly! It was a fun night with them!

Tuesday- We had a pretty slow day this day up until we did some service for the Parkers! We got there and we did some concreting for their new aviary that we built! I learned how to mix concrete and stuff so that was pretty cool! Then we went inside and talked with Mark who is the dad of the family and he is just the man. He is so down to earth and he loves to talk and tell stories hahaha and Debbie (his wife) always asks him to do stuff but he is partially deaf so he doesn't hear her plus he just ignores her a lot too, it can be pretty funny! Then we ate some prawn that they caught the night before and I learned how to shell a prawn and take its head off so that was cool! The prawn was really fresh and delicious! Then we shared a message with them about having faith in Christ and having your burdens be made light through Him!

Wednesday- We came to Family History at the Chapel and we did some more family history! I got to watch some of the Face to Face with Elder Holland and it was really cool to hear some advice from an apostle of God! Then after that we went and did some service at the Walker's house. Then we taught Atika the Restoration of the Gospel and we moved her Baptism to one week earlier on April 2nd! We are so excited for her to be baptized! Then after that we went and had dinner and went over to Tom's to visit him! 

Thursday- We went and worked on the shed for the Shoobridges and got some of the roof done. Then we went to a funeral service for a lady from the branch. I never met her but it was cool to get to know her through her funeral service. Going to funeral's are a really spiritual experience for me, it is so comforting to know that they are resting from their cares and sorrows in a paradise. I know life continues to on after this life and I am so grateful for that! Then after that we went to the luncheon at a golf club and we sat with Atika and her sister Hailey. While we were eating Atikia brought up her baptism without us saying anything! She is so excited to be baptized and its cool to get to work with her to get her to the big day! Then after that we had splits with some of the branch presidency and I got to go with Josh Shoobridge! He is the man! We had no luck with our visits, but we found out that some people have moved haha but we had some good talks and he shouted me a shake and a mcmuffin from maccas! Pretty solid day!

Friday- We had our ZTM over the phone! It sucks not being able to be there for the trainings in person haha but what can ya do! Then we went to the Branch activity later that night at the park. We played touch footy with all the kids and the Branch President and we ate some good food together! Then we went over to Tom's house to visit him and have a good chat! Pretty slow and boring day to be honest haha.

Saturday- We woke up and went to Sam and Mandy Parker's house for some delicious breakfast! Then we helped to set up a tent for their son's birthday party later in the day. Then we left there and went to hurry and go help out our neighbor to move his old fridge out and put the new one in! Then after that we went back to the Parker's house to help them out some more with setting up with the party. Mandy bought these water balloons that fill up 30 of them all at once and we filled them up for her and after that she gave us some extras to fill up for ourselves so my comps and I had an awesome water balloon fight! Then we helped decorate some more and whatever else needed to be done. Then we got invited to stay for the party and we helped out with everything and helped eat all the food :) haha we got to mingle with non members and show our fun side so that was nice! Then after that we went fishing with our neighbor that we helped move his fridge earlier in the day! We went right to the beach behind our flat (2 minute walk) and we fished with him for a couple hours and got to know him better! He is an old guy and you can hardly understand what he says haha but he likes us and we like him! I caught the only fish that night and I think that it was one of the biggest fish I have ever caught! I felt pretty G catching a fish out of the ocean in Australia haha pretty cool accomplishment! Then we went and got some late night maccas for dinner after that!

Sunday- We went to church and one of our investigators Kylea came because she is finally back in town! We taught her the Restoration during Sunday School and had her friend in the Branch Sister Wright sit in on the lesson with us. The Spirit was so strong in that lesson! It was the coolest first lessons I have taught on my mission by far! We invited her to be baptized onApril 9th and she said yes! She said that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has filled a hole in her life that she didn't know was there! She said that she feels like she has finally found what she has been looking for her whole life! I was on the verge of tears when she told us that and I was just so blown away and so ecstatic for her and the decision she has made! Man it was just so legit! I love being a missionary!! We don't get to teach that many lessons here so that's why this was so cool and such a big deal haha! We now have two baptisms one week apart! We are truly feeling blessed down here in Merimbula! Then we went to Branch Council and after that we went home for some lunch! Then we went to Bega to take the Sacrament to two sisters but one was not feeling well that day so we only got to see one, which was still good and we were happy about it! Then we did some studies and watched Mormon Messages at the flat and ate dinner! 

My spiritual message of the week is on our choices we make. 

"This life is the time to prepare to meet God. We are a happy, joyous people. We appreciate a good sense of humor and treasure unstructured time with friends and family. But we need to recognize that there is a seriousness of purpose that must under gird our approach to life and all our choices. Distractions and rationalizations that limit progress are harmful enough, but when they diminish faith in Jesus Christ and His Church, they are tragic." - Elder Quentin L. Cook from his talk "Choose Wisely"

We must never take our eye off of our Savior Jesus Christ and we must always make choices that are in line with his teachings. As we do, we will be blessed beyond our imagination and we will be lead to greater things and our happiness will increase! I testify that to be true! 

I love you guys have a good week!! :) 

-Elder Jenson 

At this rate... they wont finish the shed for another year or so.

With Emmit at the funeral

Da boyz

Gangstaaaas

cuties

cuz one picture of the three of them wasn't enough haha

Elder Laga'aia burning one of his 3 shirts left for his year mark

Strike a pose.. realizing that will be his shirt one day

Strike a pose

after the water balloon fight... I wonder if he ever works? haha

massive balloon

He lives the dream life

Only one to catch a fish boiiii

Beachin'

Monday- After we emailed we went to the Shoobridge's house to play some card game with Josh and then we did some service for them by helping with their shed and some other yard work. Then we had some delicious stuffed zucchini for dinner! Twas a pretty good day!

Tuesday- We finally got money on our church card and so we went and did our grocery shopping and bought heaps of groceries to stock up the flat! Then we went back to the Shoobridges house to help with more service and after that we went to the Parker's house to do more service them! We helped to clean up the yard and build an aviary! I am learning a lot of cool little things here like how to build heaps of different stuff, yard work, and concreting! Look out world lol! Then we had dinner at the Parker's house and we shared a mormon message called Refiners Fire and it was really good go watch it!

Wednesday- We went to Bega to visit some less actives and man we had no luck hahaha everyone has either moved or they are not interested in the church anymore! We did tract around a couple houses around the Less active's houses and we got a potential that we will follow up on next week! Then we went to discuss having a sit down with one of our investigators Atika who is 15 and her mom so we can discuss our goals for her and invite her to be baptized. Her mom is a member of the church and her and her 3 foster kids come every week. The other two have been baptized but Atika has not yet been so we want to make that happen! Then we went and helped Josh for a little again that night then we had some pizza that Elder Cherrington's dad ordered for us from America! It was so good! Then we did some more studies to end the night since after like 8 here there isn't anything for us to do unless we are at a member appointment.

Thursday- Since our area is so massive and we only have so many k's we can use for the month with our car we can only go to some parts of our area like once a month and so we went to Quaama to visit a less active who used to be a mission presidents wife! She remarried a new guy who is in the Anglican Church! She seemed like she still had strong faith and that she still loves the church! She said that she loves the light that she see's from us, after we shared our message with her! So Quaama is really close to an area called Narooma which is in the south coast zone and its where the Senior Couple missionaries the Jensens are serving and they have been wanting us to come up for dinner for awhile. There was two people that are getting baptized in Narooma and they needed to be interviewed and so Elder Jensen got permission to have Elder Cherrington and I give the interviews so we got to go up to Narooma and see all the cool sites to see there with the Jensens then we went to give the interviews which was so cool to do for the first time! It is great to see the light in the eyes of those who are ready to make that covenant with our Heavenly Father! I love this gospel and the power it has to change lives! It is so true!! So then we went back to the Jensens for a massive feed with them and the sister missionaries in Narooma and their Branch President and his wife! Then we drove home which took like an hour and fifteen minutes so not too bad! 

Friday- We called into DTM in the morning/afternoon time and listened to the training. Kinda hard to hear it all haha. Then we went and did some service for the Walkers and after that we went home and showered super fast and drove out to Wyndham to have dinner with the Wrights! They are the parents of the branch president, and they are from England. We had a delicious traditional English meal with all the veggies, meat, yorkshire pudding, and sticky date pudding! It was so good!! Then we played a nice game of Rummiking! It was way fun I like that game! Then we shared a message with her and her husband who is less active! Great day and better night! 

Saturday- Went to the Shoobridge's to do some more service for them. We worked on the shed for like two hours and got all the bracing screwed in! Then we went home and made some food. Then we went to one of the many Parker's kids house and did service for Sam and Mandy! We helped clean up the yard and move some stuff off the side of the house so that there was no where for snakes to live in haha the snake they saw in their yard not too long ago was a way poisonous one so we were very careful not running into that haha luckily we never saw it. We did catch some lizards though so that was fun! Then after working in the yard until the sun went down we made some dinner! After that we sat down and discussed missionary work with them. They are prime examples of members helping the missionaries with the work! They have a list of people they want to share the Gospel with and thy are setting up ways that we can meet them! 

Sunday- We had church which went really good. After church we met with Atika and her mom to discuss what our plan and goals are for her. We set a baptismal date with her for April 9th! We are hoping that it can be bumped up a little closer but we are so excited about setting her on a date! The Lord has really helped prepare her and The Spirit was so strong when she accepted the invitation to be baptized! Then we went and took the sacrament around to the elderly sisters that can't make it to church. After that we tried to do some LA visits but we had no luck! Then we went home and broke our fast with a delicious meal that was ground beef, cream of mushroom soup, all over rice with peas on top! Then we did some studies after dinner and called it a night!

My spiritual thought for the week is Alma 37:37, Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good; yea, when thou liest down at night lie down unto the Lord, that he may watch over you in your sleep; and when thou risest in the morning let thy heart be full of thanks unto God; and if ye do these things, ye shall be lifted up at the last day.

 we must have constant communication with our Father in Heaven morning and night. As we do the Spirit will be with us and we will have direction from the Lord. The Lord wants to hear from us, he misses us and loves to hear our voices when we pray to him. 

Love you all have a good week!

Love, Elder Jenson

 Cool rocks in Bermagui which is in our area

da gang

they have a new gang sign... they're the coolest

"camel rock" it looks more like "dragon rock" if you ask me.

Big Majestic mountain

Mystery Bay

Where they baptize in Narooma

LOOK! It's a seal

Cute lil' guy

Australia Rock

View from Jensen's Flat

the drive home

almost got punched in the face... by a kangaroo

This has been a good week and a busy one! I will give yous the rundown!

Monday- We were still in Canberra so we emailed at the Australian National Library so that was pretty sick! Then after that we went to the chapel and played games with the whole zone! It was a good time haha all the elders got pretty competitive, go figure hahaha! So after that we went to Costco with an Elder who has a Costco card and got American shredded cheese, Krusteese pancake mix, and skippy peanut butter! The cheese here sucks so it was nice to get some good cheese :) Then we stayed one more night in Canberra because President didn't want us driving home so late.

Tuesday- We went and helped the Woden elders with some service that morning. After we did some service we packed up and started driving back home. When we got back we went to the Shoobridge's house to do some service for them. We helped to build a massive shed for them, it isn't done yet so we have a project to work on for a little now! Then we had dinner with them and shared a message about how much our earthly and Heavenly parents love us! 

Wednesday- We went back to the Shoobridge's home and worked on the shed some more and then we talked with him for a little! Then we went home and showered and had some dinner! After that we went to one of our investigators house and we talked to them for a little. They were too tired for a message but it was good to talk with them for a little! Then we went to the game night again and talked to everyone there! They all enjoy us coming around and it is good exposure for us because they are all non members! 

Thursday- We went and volunteered at Potaroo Palace which is like a zoo and we just raked leaves to make the paths look better for people to walk on! Inside the zoo they have kangaroos jumping around freely so I got to pet a kangaroo and it was hectic!! I was so scared hahaha but I guess these ones are harmless so they wouldn't attack me so that was good! There was also some Dingoes, owls, flying foxes, wallabies, Koala, and wombats there! Then we did weekly planning adn went to a PEC meeting with the branch presidency!

Friday- We had to call in to listen to ZTM  and we did a nice workout while we listened to the training! Then we went home and had some lunch, visited our neighbors Tom and Ian who are non members and then we went to the Branch activity at the park for some snags on the barbie and a game of footy! I didn't truck any by standers this time thankfully! Some of the kids in the Branch are Less active and Elder Laga'aia is so good at talking with everyone and he is always so happy that he can get them to talk and pen up so that was awesome to see! 

Saturday- We went to the branch activity at the lake where all the primary was there and they invited some of their non member friends which is a great time for us missionaries to establish a good friendship with them and show them that we are just normal humans :) So we walked like 500 meters from the lake to the beach with some of the guys from the branch to watch them do some boogie board surfing and the waves were so big! They have been big because of the Cyclone that hit Fiji! So that was a fun time to mingle with members and nonmembers all day! Then that night on of the members took us to an Indian restaurant and I have never had Indian food before but it was really good! Mine was pretty spicy so I sweat a lot while eating and drank a lot of water but it was good! 

Sunday- We had a special broadcast for the pacific stakes only and we got to hear from some auxiliary leaders and general authorities! My favorite talks were by Elder Cook and the general president of Sunday School! They both talked on using Scripture study, prayer, and church attendance as a way to fight temptation that comes our way and how if we do those three things that we will keep our faith nourished and we will stay strong in the church! Then after church we had a slow basic day, we did some studies, met with Tom and Ian and planned out our week a little more!

My spiritual thought for the week is on the three basic gospel principles that we need to do everyday and every week. Prayer, scripture study, and weekly church attendance! I know that if we have fervent morning and night prayers with our Father in Heaven we will have his Spirit with us and we will have the guidance that we need and also the strength we need to get through the day! Scripture study WITH prayer is another huge thing for us! As we read and ponder the scriptures, especially the Book of Mormon we will connect with the Heavens and draw closer to our Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ! Last but not least Church attendance is what caps it all off! That is where we get to dedicate 3 hours of our time to learning of Jesus Christ and His Gospel and it is where we get to renew our covenants with our Father in Heaven by partaking of the Sacrament! We have the Lord's promise that as we partake of the sacrament worthily and keep his commandments that we will ALWAYS have His Spirit to be with us! I know these 3 things can keep us all strong during the days and weeks and even years! I know that by doing these things that our faith will increase and we will never have to worry about falling away from this Gospel! I know these things help and that they have so much power to change us and make us who our Heavenly Father wants us to be! I love you all have a good week and let me know if you ever need anything or if you have any questions shoot me an email! 

Love,

Elder Jenson

plate spinners

blurry plate spinners

The national library

da boyz on P-day

who knew Cam was capable of building things? Not me

UFC workouts are pretty intense?

kangarooooooooos

Look at the look the kangaroo is giving Cam haha. He was a little nervous if you couldn't tell

the lake

da trio at the lake