more baptisms

Here is a quick recap of my week!

Monday- We had a good P day just going out and playing golf!! It was good weather and the course was nice haha so it was a good day! Then at night time we went and had dinner with Sister Tyson and a lesson too!

Tuesday- I was at MLC all day with Elder Bradley and the other ZL's and STL's! We talked a lot about fortifying ourselves against sin, so I will probably train on that at our ZTM! So after having that all day in Mortdale, we were driving home and we got caught in awful traffic haha it took us almost 3 times as long to get home haha it sucked! Elder Bradley and I had some good talks though haha!

Wednesday- We had MCM in the morning and after that we got to go and do some service at the Roach's! We helped with putting a metal beam in on his massive shed haha! Then we had a lot of visits fall through so we went and saw Klaus! After our visit with him we had to go and plan out Byron's baptism and we made the program for it!

Thursday- I was on trade offs with Elder Densley! He interviewed Byron in the morning and he passed! Then we went and did some tracting and we prayed to meet a humble man and BOOM we met a guy named Grant who was humble as and he said we could come back haha it was cool! Then we went and interviewed another baptismal candidate for the sisters and it went good! Then we went and had a lesson with Kieran and taught him about the power of the priesthood! Then we got some news that night that Beazer was getting ET'd out of Dapto to go down to Ulladulla because there is a girl there that liked one of the Elders haha so now we have Elder Scofield in Dapto and he is the man! We will miss Beazer though because he is the man!

Friday- It was a full on day! We had DTM and some finding after that! Then we went back to the chapel and we had interviews with President plus we had to set up for Byron's baptism! The baptism was so good! A lot of people showed up and he was so happy! Some of his family even came to support him! It was just such a cool thing to see him be baptized and how happy he was!

Saturday- We had service for the Sa's in the morning and it was good! We mowed their lawn and then we caught a wrong bus on the way home so we had to do a little more walking then we wanted to haha! Then we went to the chapel for the baptisms that were happening! We had a 10 year old girl and an 8 year old girl get baptized! It was a good service haha it was kinda funny though because the 8 year old girl had to get dunked 4 times because her dad messed up the prayer and stuff and then the 8 year old had to get dunked 3 times hahaha so we were joking that we had 7 baptisms that day haha! After the baptisms we went and helped a member's sister move into her new flat!

Sunday- Church was awesome as usual! Byron got confirmed and as soon as it was over all he said was "wow." haha it was awesome! Then after church we got a less active member's lighters off of him to help him quit smoking and we took the sacrament to a couple who cant come to church! Then we went and saw Nicola and Robert! We gave Nicola's daughter Vanessa a blessing and we also got to share a message with them! They are all doing good though! Then we went home and did our weekly planning and had a good dinner!

We meet a lot of people who say that there can't be a God because of all the bad things that happen in the world. What we need to realize is that God allows our agency and he will not rob us of that! Some people use their agency for good and others for bad and their are results and consequences because of that! The bad things in life make us stronger and build us into the person God wants us to be! Instead of looking at all the negative things in the world, look at all the beautiful things in the world from God and look at all the blessings instead of the negatives! God is there and he is our Loving Heavenly Father! I testify that He lives and so does His son Jesus Christ! They love us and they are REAL!!! Love you all!

Elder Jenson

I guess its all play no work

dropped his elbow

oh hi

maybe he got a hole in one? YEAAAAH RIGHT

zone

da boys w/ the prez

the zone with the prez

he got my package haha

white teeth..

the cutest 

we love him.. but hes an idiot

a tender moment

baptism..

wooo hooo lookin good

yeah buddy

so cute dancing date.... 

Wollongong

Tuesday- We had a good P day up in Wollongong playing some basketball with some other elders and also some random guys! I didn't dunk on anyone too hard so don't worry.. lol! Then after P day ended we went and tried to follow up on some potentials because our appointment fell through, and no one was still interested haha so we went home and had some dinner!

Wednesday- In the morning we had MCM with Brother Tiananga which went good! Then we went home and had some lunch! After lunch we went and did some tracting before we took our car in to get some new tires! After we got the new tires we went and tried to follow up on a potential but they weren't home! So then we went to splits at the chapel and everyone was late haha but then when we finally went out with Bro Tiananga we went to see a less active but he wasn't home, so we went to maccas and he shouted us some dinner instead haha so that was a blessing!

Thursday- We had a good day chocka block full of service! The first service that we did was for Brother Roach! We went and picked up massive tree branches that had fallen down all over his property! It has been like super windy here the past few weeks so there was a ton of branches haha but it was a good time up there like usual! After we got done there we went and picked our car up from being serviced and we went to Jared's house to do some more service for him! We grinded a trailer apart and made piles of the steel haha then we got to have dinner with him and the Brambletts which was nice! Then we went home and took a long needed shower and did part of our weekly planning!

Friday- We had a good DTM with all the new members in our district! We got to go and do some finding after DTM and probably like 10 out of the 80 houses we knocked had someone home hahaha it was a joke! One lady we met was super rude to us and told us to perfect our own country before we come here and so I was like "Do you know where I am from?" She responded "Yeah America" I was thinking ah good on her she could pick out my accent, and so then I asked well what about him (Elder Foa'I) To which she replied "America" I was thinking ah ha! We got ya there lady! I told her that he wasn't from America and she asked him where he was from and he said "I'm from here!" hahahah so then she was like well leave and go to America with him hahaha she was really rude and bitter towards us for no reason.. gotta love it! Then after that we went and taught Byron and went over the baptismal interview questions with him for his interview this week! Things went good and he is excited! Then we went and saw Gayle (our potential) and she was doing good and said she is still interested to listen but she hadn't read the BoM yet because she was busy giving birth to baby goats in her back yard haha so I was like well fair enough we will come by again next week! So she is still doing good! Then we went and saw Klaus which was good and then we went and finished the rest of our weekly planning!

Saturday- We had a full day of General Conference and boy I couldn't have asked for a better day!! It was absolutely amazing and I took so much away from Conference! No one from the ward showed up to the Saturday sessions or to the Priesthood session except for two sisters in the ward and then one brother for priesthood session hahaha it was a joke! After the afternoon session we got to go have a massive feed at the Masima's house and man I felt like I was in the movie Talladega Nights when they just have the dinner with every fast food place you could think of haha that is what we had! We had KFC, Dominoes and Maccas! I had an eating competition with Elder Foa'i and I would say we tied with how much we ate. I had a Big Mac, 2 Cheese Burgers, 3 Medium fries, a chicken leg, a chicken thigh, 15-18 chicken nuggets, and about 30 grapes (to make it a healthy meal) Needless to say I was stuffed haha it was awesome!!

Sunday- We had a good day of General Conference again and Byron was able to come to the morning session and he loved it! After all the sessions of conference we went and saw Kierran and shared a message with him. Then we went and  had dinner with the McColl family and they are awesome! The kids are cute as and they are such a funny family! After we saw them we went to see the Sa's and we got to have a lesson with them as well!

Man I loved General Conference so much and I wish I could give you all my full feelings and thoughts on it! I truly have the feeling of complete and utter gratitude towards my Savior Jesus Christ and to my Father in Heaven! I heard so many great messages about Christ and His Atonement and man where would we be without that! We need the hope that it gives us in our lives and also the power it gives us to overcome our weaknesses! Don't forget the forgiveness we receive for our sins from it! Also I am grateful for the Plan of Happiness that our Father in Heaven has prepared for us! He is so merciful and omnipotent! His plan is PERFECT!! As we follow Christ and rely on Him and His Atonement, we will find our way back to our Father in Heaven! I truly know that Thomas S. Monson is called of God and that all the Apostles are prophets, seers, and revelators! Jesus Christ lives and loves every single one of us! I know God is our Father in Heaven and that out of his infinite wisdom and mercy he provided us with the ultimate plan of happiness which is all made possible through His only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ! I know this Church is the only true church on the Earth today and I know that Jesus Christ is at the head of it! I love you all and I hope you can all come to know these wonderful and simple truths for yourselves as well!

Elder Jenson

It only lasted one day

zone

some kind of zone meeting it looks like

just has a stuffed mouth.

hismouth is full of all of this crap

3 weeks late... oops

So transfers have come and gone and I am still here in Dapto with Elder Foa'i! I am stoked to still be here! Elders Densley and Beazer are still here too so nothing changed for us haha! It is day light savings here and so we sprung forward an hour because it is officially spring here! Sorry Utah haha! Here is my week!

Monday- We had a good P day up in Mittagong where we did a little bit of golfing! It was fun to be out there with everyone and man Elder Foa'i was good for never playing before haha! After P day we just went home and had dinner and got weekly numbers for the zone!

Tuesday- So we did some service in the morning which went really good and then we went to see Byron! He is doing good and we have a set date for the 14th of October for his baptism! He is so excited to be baptized and he is just a whole new person already it's awesome! Then we went to the Sa's house to share a message with them and set a time to come do service for them! Then we went and did some tracting, and after that we took Bro. Tiananga's golf clubs back to him and he took us to dinner with his family haha blessings baby!!:)

Wednesday- Had no success while tracting in the morning and so then we went and did some service for the Sa's until FHE! That went good and the Johnstones came so that was good! Then we went and tracted more and we taught a guy the restoration at his door and we gave him a Book of Mormon so we are excited to follow that up too! Then we had MCM at the Tiananga's home and we had dinner with them as well!

Thursday- Had weekly planning in the morning and after that we went and saw Keiran to see how he was doing. Then we went and tracted until we had dinner at Robert and Nicola's house! They fed all 4 of us Elders and it was a delicious slow cooked leg of lamb with all the fixings! They are the best! :)

Friday- We had a good DTM about asking inspired questions so we went and tried doing that while we were tracting after haha and it was pretty good, it got people to talk to us but no one was interested haha! We met another JW and I asked for one of their Bibles so I have two of them now haha! Then Elder Beazer and I did tradeoffs and we went and saw Klaus and shared a message with him and his wife. After that we had Robert and Nicola again just for a lesson this time and we read Alma 14 with them! I invite you all to read it, there are so many awesome lessons in that chapter that we can learn from for our daily lives!

Saturday- We spent the day cleaning our flat until we got details and after the details we went and I gave a baptismal interview to a Chinese guy who is getting baptized and his English wasn't that good but I could tell that he was ready through the promptings I felt from the Spirit! Then we went to the Roach's house to have a farewell type dinner but no one was leaving so we called it a celebration dinner haha they fed us heaps of delicious food!

Sunday- This was the best fast Sunday I have ever had! After church we went and started tracting for like 2 and a half hours! It went really good too! I wasn't hungry or thirsty while doing it, and we met some awesome people! One was Gayle who is a good potential that we taught at her door and we gave her a Book of Mormon so we will follow that up this week! Then we went and met with a Less active member who said he is too lazy to come back so I lovingly rebuked him and told him that this Gospel is the most important thing he could pursue in his life and I told him we are willing to help him come back if he has the desires. We will see if he ever calls us or anything haha. Then we had a bomb dinner to end the night and end our fast!

Monday- We went tracting in the morning and the first door we knocked was this Greek lady who needed help with yard work so we mowed her lawn right there in full proselyting clothes haha it was awesome to help her out and I felt so good after! Then we went and did some more service for the Sa's and had some food with them! Then we went to Wollongong to sign the baptismal record and to meet up with Elder Bradley and his comp because Elder Bradley is the new ZL, because Elder Hunt got transferred :( I gave him the run down on how to do things and it should be good! I love Elder Bradley! Then we went home and had dinner!

I get to watch General Conference this weekend and I am hoping you all watched it this week! Remember, if we take the words that were spoken and we act on them, then it is considered counsel. But if we don't act on the messages and the spiritual promptings we received, then it is considered entertainment. Decide now to make it counsel and not entertainment! Have a good week!

Love,

trouble maker

some of his zone 

the cutest

....nice bum... where ya from?

He does work sometimes..

finally got a package from home.. spoiled boy.

baptisms

So transfers are this week and so I am not sure who my comp will be or where I will be by the time that I email again haha! My P day will be on Tuesday this next week instead of Monday too so just a heads up! I will let you all know what happens and where I am next week in emails!

Monday- We had a glorious P day spent hiking around at Bass Point in our area! We found a cool little bay that we walked too and we got to play some ultimate Frisbee on the beach! Then after that we got to go to got to Pat and Lez's house for a good dinner and a lesson!

Tuesday- Spent the first part of the day getting Elder Foa'i some much needed supplies and what not. Then we went and did some tracting and we didn't have much success and everyone wasn't interested but all is well! Then we got to go to the Roach's house for some dinner and it was delicious as usual and we had a good night there!

Wednesday- We had a doctors appointment in Wollongong for my companion because he has a broken wrist that never healed from back at home! He is going to have to get surgery where they re break the bones and set them so they heal properly so we will go back again in a couple weeks and work everything out! Then after that we went straight into some tracting and we had no luck but it was good to be out working! Then we went and had a lesson with Byron and we taught him the rest of the commandments! He is looking great for baptism! We just have to set a new date with him because he wants to have a day where all his family can be there! Then we went and taught Brendon and he is doing good and reading the Book of Mormon and we just need to get him to come to church! Then we went and had FHE but no one really came so we just had it with the missionaries and Sister Tyson! Then we had MCM and splits! We went and saw Sister Pickles with Bro. Hewson who is our home teaching companion!

Thursday-We did our weekly planning in the morning and it was good! Then we went out and did some tracting for a few hours. After tracting we went to go and see Klaus but he wasn't home! So then we went and had some dinner and the guy we bought food from gave us a free litre of coke so that was nice of him, and a blessing haha! Then we went to the chapel to make up Rob's baptismal program and after messing up numerous times we finally got it made right and I was able to calm down haha I was getting heated from messing up so many times haha!

Friday- We had a great DTM meeting and we got trained on our purpose as missionaries and it was awesome! Then we went and did finding and I was with Elder Densley for trade offs and while tracting we got to teach a JW lady at her door but she wouldn't accept our message or even let us say a prayer with her at her door haha! Then we went and had district lunch with everyone and it was a good time! After that we went and tried to see Klaus again but he wasn't home... again! So we got to do some tracting instead :) Then we went to see Paul Souris and his family which was awesome because they had a non member friend over at their house and he was full of questions so we got to teach him the Restoration and it was so awesome! The spirit was so strong and I just felt great after! Then we went saw Robert and Nicola. Rob got interviewed for his baptism and he passed of course!

Saturday- It was a full on day! We got to help out at the primary activity in the morning which was water games and it was so fun! After that was over we had to quickly clean the chapel, rush home and shower/change, then go back to the chapel for the baptism! The baptism went so solid! Rob was smiling from ear to ear the whole time it was incredible! The spirit that was there was truly amazing! After the baptism we had a surprise party for Keiran at the chapel too so we had to set up for that and get things ready and we spent the rest of the night there for that and cleaning up after the party!

Sunday- The confirmation of Robert was so awesome! I got to confirm him and I truly felt something special while doing it! I felt the Spirit working through me and I felt the power of the priesthood! He was teary eyed after and he told me that he felt something during that, that he had never felt before! It was special! Then we went and did finding after all our church meetings and we got to go and see Klaus finally and give him a blessing! It was a solid day!

My spiritual thought is about baptism, it is found in Moroni 6:4, "And after they had been received unto baptism,and were wrought upon and cleansed by the power of the Holy Ghost, they were numbered among the people ofthe church of Christ; and their names were taken, that they might be remembered and nourished by the goodword of God, to keep them in the right way, to keep them continually watchful unto prayer, relying alone uponthe merits of Christ, who was the author and the finisher of their faith."

Baptism is an essential ordinance to enter into the Kingdom of God, and living up to that covenant is also important for entry. As we rely upon the merits of Christ and nourished by the Good word, we are able to have strength to continue on this path that leads to our Father in Heaven.

Love you all have a good week!

Elder Jenson :)

Bass point

Ariel

and its their winter... rough life

bass point

Winter is coming to an end.. 

Look... You see that.... ?

Pretty bass point

I guess its a cool rock... 

Beazers one year

Slipin and slidin

fun group

Baptism

baptism

aaaaand another

The cutest comps

Short quick week

Monday- We had a good p day at the beach where we hike to a little island called Windang Island! It was a lot of fun and we also tossed a football around on the beach.. guess you could say that we are locals now.. :) Then we went and had dinner with sister Tyson and we got to have a good lesson on prayer with her!

Tuesday- We got to do some finding in the morning which was fun and we had a few people somewhat interested! Then we went and taught Byron about the gospel of Jesus Christ and it went so well, he loved it! He still hasn't smoked and he is looking solid for his bap date on October 1st! Then we got to go and do some service for Jared and have a good chat with him! He was getting married this week on Saturday so he was excited about that! Then we got to go to the Roach's house for dinner and a lesson so that was awesome as usual!

Wednesday- We followed up on some potentials in the morning and one of them let us in but we didn't have like the best lesson with him because he couldn't get over all the bad things that happen in the world. Then we went to visit some Less actives but there was no luck with that so we went and helped set up for FHE at sister Tysons and we got done setting up really fast so we went and did some door knocking until FHE and it went alright haha we met some really weird people so that is always fun :) Then we had a nice party at FHE for all the bdays in September! Then we went to MCM and had splits after that! Our visit fell through so Bro Tiananga took us to KFC so that was pretty sick haha!

Thursday- Today we did so much service! We helped take a trailer load of rubbish to the junkyard for a member and he shouted us lunch after. Then we went up to the Roach's house to help out to collect wood for the ward bonfire later in the week! It was a good day of service there and they fed us dinner afterwards so how blessed were we? very blessed!

Friday- Had a solid DTM about talking with everyone while finding! I went out and did tracting with Elder Hunt's trainee Elder Olsen and it was a lot of fun! He is so good at tracting already haha I was impressed! Then after that we had to help out at a funeral for an old lady in the ward. It was a good service because it was her time to go, so no one was too sad. After the funeral we went and had a lesson with Robert and Nicola. We taught him the final lesson and planned out his baptism for next week! It was solid and he is so stoked to get baptized!

Saturday- We went and saw Keiran in the morning and shared a scripture with him to help him get coming back to church! Then we went up to the Roach's to help make the final preparations for the bonfire that was at their house! They own 86 acres so that just helps give you an idea of how big their property is haha! We got more wood for the fire, dug a massive hole with the excavator for the bush dunny (portable outhouse thing) and set up all the chairs and what not! The ward activity was so solid and everyone showed up! Made me feel bad because back at home I never went to ward activities haha so I am going to do my best to go to all the ward activities when I get home!

Sunday- We had our usual 3 at church and everything went really good! We got Robert his white jumpsuit for his baptism so he is feeling so ready for it! After church we got to go and have lunch with this non member family we met! The wife met Elder Foa'i and Elder Beazer when they were on trade offs and her husband is Samoan, so they wanted to have Elder Foa'i come over since he is from Samoa! So we went over yesterday and they were awesome! They fed us so much food! She made a bunch of traditional Samoan food for my comp and her husband and then she made me Lasagna, and she is Italian so man it was delicious!! It was good for my comp to get to talk to a fellow Samoan from Samoa and it went really well :) Then we went home and finally did our weekly planning for the week and it was solid!

I want to share a scripture from D&C 82:10, "I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise."

The Lord will always keep His word as long as we do what he commands us to do! I have felt this promise fulfilled so many times in my mission and I know that the Lord truly loves us and blesses us for following Him and for living His Gospel!

Elder Jenson

back in high school i could throw a pig skin over a thousand yards

Elder Foa'i and cam

windang island

oh look a beached whale

they see you ladies... except cam.. he only sees Bekah...

They caught him ridin dirty... shoooooooot

same with elder Foa'i

Wood for the fire that probably lasted a week.

Bro Roach

His favorite dog Deisel

He broke his leg

We didn't start the fire.. its been burnin since the worlds been turnin..

mmm big fire... plastic fork.... and a marshmallow... it probably ended well.

see... all is well...