no pics this week

Well I don't have heaps of time to email this week due to skype, so it will just be a short quick one haha. The week was really good! My family knows most the deets from skype so there isn't much to tell! Here are a few quick moments of the week.

- Got dropped by Alex (our investigator) We found out she is gay so she isn't too keen on the church's stance on gays..

- We did some service at Vinnies and also down at brother Amosa's house.

- We made some good contacts with our LA's this week and had some of them at church

- Had a good sport night at the chapel and had a lot of non members come to it.

- Did a lot of finding at the Unis.. a lot! With all the evil in the world going on the best thing we can do is not be overcome by it but to be the best we can and let the light of Christ shine through is to overcome the evil around us. God is great and He loves us. He is there and He always will be. Be the light that shines in the dark! Have a good week and stay safe! Love you all! 

- Had interviews with Pres and Sis Back which was our final ones before they go home on July 1st! 

Nothing too crazy this week haha just the basics and I am way too lazy to look back on my week and write everything out haha sorry bout it! 

Romans 12:21

"Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good."

With all the evil in the world going on the best thing we can do is not be overcome by it but to be the best we can and let the light of Christ shine through is to overcome the evil around us. God is great and He loves us. He is there and He always will be. Be the light that shines in the dark! Have a good week and stay safe! Love you all! 

Elder Jenson 

p.s. forgot my camera in the car so no pics this week... sorry :) 

found my 2$ coin.

This week has been good for us! We have been having some fun as a companionship and we are seeing some good success here! I will give a few highlights of the week again to save us all some time haha :) 

- We had a solid lesson with a less active ysa! I got prompted to suggest that we go visit him and I was pretty doubtful in the prompting but I followed it anyways and it turns out he was home and the lesson was so good with him! We never catch him home so it was pretty cool haha

- I lost a 2 dollar coin at the mall on pday so I prayed that I would find it and boom my eyes were taken right to it haha so God really does care about us even with little silly things like that haha.

- We did some volunteer work at a place called Vinnies, it is basically a D.I. haha. We just were in the back sorting through clothes and we always put on the girl clothes and it gives all the old ladies a good laugh! 

- Had a good catch up/lesson with Ezra. He is preparing to go on his mission to Cebu Philippines! 

- We had a lesson with Alex about the Plan of Salvation and she had some concerns about the fall of Adam and Eve, so we had a good discussion on that and we were really able to gauge where she was at as we had that lesson so we feel like we know what our next steps will be with the lessons we teach and what not. We are hoping to set a baptismal date with her soon! 

- We got to have a good lesson with Jack about the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I think it was pretty eye opening for him as we discussed what Christ actually went through. We set a new baptismal date with him for the 3rd of June. 

- Went to one of the less active boys footy game this weekend and it really helped us gain his trust. He came to church the next day for the full 3 hours too which was solid! He also mentioned how he has a friend who is keen to learn and get baptized so we will keep you updated on that haha! 

Other than all that the week has been pretty good! We are seeing good progress with the people that we are working with and we are enjoying ourselves while we do it haha. I am loving my mission, my area, my comps, and just everything! Life is going good! 

My spiritual thought for the week comes from Alma 61:9. So Pahoran just got rebuked by Moroni via letter about being a lousy leader and what not. The only bad thing is that Moroni doesn't know the full story of what is going on in the land where Pahoran is. Instead of getting offended and telling Moroni off and telling him how he should get to know the facts before he blows up on him. He says this,

"And now, in your epistle you have censured me, but it mattereth not; I am not angry, but do rejoice in the greatness of your heart. I, Pahoran, do not seek for power, save only to retain my judgment-seat that I may preserve the rights and the liberty of my people. My soul standeth fast in that liberty in the which God hath made us free."

We choose to be offended... so the biggest thing I learn from this is that we must be quick to forgive, and forget. Forgive others and move on from it. Do not look back. The quicker we can get good at doing these things the better off we will be! Remember the Savior Himself as he was hanging on the cross told Heavenly Father to, "forgive them for they know not what they do" This is a Christlike attribute that isn't easy to obtain, but boy does it make life easier! Love you all have a good week!

Elder Jenson

new shoes dumpster shoes.

So the new transfer just started today and I am on my final 12 weeks of my mission!! Pretty surreal and I am ready to finish strong. I am still in Canberra with Elder Hunt, but we got a trio this transfer and our new comp is Elder John from Guyana! This is his final transfer so we get to kill him off. Pres said he put him with us so that we can help him finish strong! So I will jot down a few highlights of the week for yous :)

- Got a new investigator named Shrijit who is over here from India for Uni. He is super interested and wants to have the peace that Christ can offer in his life. 

- We went to the dawn service for Anzac day here and we had to wake up at 4 in the morning for that so that was fun hahaha but Brett Baker made us some good waffles for breakfast afterwards at his house. Brett is a good guy he always takes the missionaries to stuff and takes care of them.

- Had a good turn out to institute this week and we had a good game of volleyball afterwards with everyone. Makes it easy to connect with people through sports haha. 

- Had a good break through with the Sekona family which was good! We had a powerful lesson about reading the Book of Mormon more and living its teachings.

- We had a good lesson with Alex and she is progressing really well! He committed her to read the Book of Mormon every day and to pray about it every day as well for a week! 

- Had a good lesson with Nigel (less active rugby player) and he has been reading his Book of Mormon ever day since we last saw him so we were stoked for that!! He is such a good guy.

- We had a good dinner with the Barber family and got to meet their two sons who are in the youth. One of them got his mission call to Perth this past week too so it is good to help him prepare to go out. We made a solid connection with the family though and they invited us over again in a couple of weeks at church the next day hahaha. 

- We haven't been able to meet with Jack or Tinnai for a little, but they are still in our teaching pool. We are hoping to get to see them this week. 

Everything is going really good here though! It is looking like this is where Elder Hunt and I will spend the rest of our time on our missions which is sweet!! We really want to finish here together. My little thought for the week is about Christ's love for us,

1 John 4:19

 "We love him, because he first loved us."

The more I learn of the Atonement of Jesus Christ the more I learn of His infinite love for all of us. He truly is the light and life of the world. He gave His life for all of us. I am grateful for my Savior's love. The more I serve the people here the more I feel His love for me and for everyone I meet. He is real and He lives. 

Elder Jenson

Rugby

You will get the title to my email a little later...

Tuesday- We had Pday and we went and played golf as a flat! It was just a little pitch and put course but it was good fun! After that Elder Hunt and I went to MCM/dinner at the Clarks house which went really good! 

Wednesday- We met with Alex and discussed some more questions she had. She was thinking about dropping us and not taking the lessons but we basically just told her to please give us a chance haha and we invited her to church to see what it is like. Then we went and met with the Sekona family who has heaps of YSA in their family and it was a really spiritual lesson with them! After that we tried to go and visit a few more people but no one was home sadly haha. One of the YSA took us to dinner before institute which was sweet haha. Then we went to institute and we played volleyball afterwards with everyone because heaps of people showed up! 

Thursday- We played some basketball in the morning with some of the less active YSA boys which was a good time for us to connect. Then we went and visited Komiti and had a good lesson with him and his younger cousin. After that we went and met with Taylor Rossel and had a good lesson with him and his parents. He always arm wrestles new missionaries and so he challenged us and I thought I was gonna win but..... yeah moving on hahaha. We had MCM at Bretts house with the other missionaries and we got to update him on all the LA's we are working with. Then we went and did some of our weekly planning

Friday- DTM in the morning went really well, we learned about asking inspired questions. Then we went and did finding for the rest of the afternoon and we got shut down so much it was insane hahaha it was rejection after rejection for us! We had a good laugh at it though. Now comes the best part of the week!!! President Back gave the whole zone permission to go to a professional rugby game!! We went and watched the Canberra Raiders vs. Manly Sea Eagles! It was a sick game!! Holy cow I can't even tell you how much fun it was and how good the game was! It went into overtime and everything! We got some of the YSA boys to come too and we one of the Ward mission leaders and another member come along to be our chaperones haha! Far out it was the coolest experience ever! We all lost our voices by the end haha. 

Saturday- Had a quick service in the morning and then we bussed down to the bottom of our area to go and see someone but they weren't home so we ended up tracting instead. We got told we weren't real Christians by some born again guy and so that was crack up haha. Then we came back up to the north side and did our weekly planning and had dinner! 

Sunday- Alex came to church which was so good! The Gospel principles lesson was on the apostasy and restoration which was perfect! She said she really enjoyed church so that was good! The rest of church went good for the day. Then we went to go and see Ephrim and he invited us to stay for dinner so we did and it was solid. We had a good lesson with him and his family. 

My spiritual thought for the week comes from Alma 38:9

"And now, my son, I have told you this that ye may learn wisdom, that ye may learn of me that there is no other way or means whereby man can be saved, only in and through Christ. Behold, he is the life and the light of the world. Behold, he is the word of truth and righteousness."

There is no other way that we can get to Heaven. No matter how hard we try and no matter how good we are, we will always fall short. Luckily for us Christ has already paid the debt in full. Through Him we are able to find new life, light and strength. The first principle of the Gospel is Faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement for a reason, it is the only way that we can find true happiness and be saved from our sins. I know this is true with all my heart! 

-Elder Jenson

lazer tag

Yeah look umm.... I will do my best to recall my week haha! I will just give some highlights of what happened! 

-Played Laser Tag with the zone on pday and my team won all 3 games... Not that anyone was keeping track lol.

- We got to have a FHE with Jack and Jordan Amosa! Jack is dating Jordan's younger sister so he is always over at the house which is good haha! 

-We went to a baptism for one of the investigators that the sisters were teaching! He is a cool YSA guy from Africa! He plays basketball with us a lot and he asked me to speak on baptism at his program because he thinks I am funny haha (he is one of the very few who think I am) The service was on Good Friday though so that made it really good! 

- We did finding from 10am-6pm one day because it was Easter weekend so everyone was out of town haha so we had no better options! It was a lot of fun though and we had some good chats with the few people that were at the Unis.

- We taught Tinnai this week too and she is feeling comfortable in the church that she is in right now because it is what she is used to... So we are working with her and helping her receive a testimony of the Book of Mormon. She is still doing good though and really receptive.

-We went to a sports day yesterday with heaps of the YSA boys. A lot of them are less active and we have been trying to see them for ages!! The only way that we are usually able to see them is through sports though.. It was good though because we got to strengthen our friendship with them and gain more trust! Plus there were a ton of non members there so there is a lot of potential with the whole group! 

Man other than that it was a pretty solid and basic week haha! We are starting to see a lot of progress with our area and the people we are working with! I really love it here and I love my mission!! 

Alma 33:23

And now, my brethren, I desire that ye shall plant this word in your hearts, and as it beginneth to swell even so nourish it by your faith. And behold, it will become a tree, springing up in you unto everlasting life. And then may God grant unto you that your burdens may be light, through the joy of his Son. And even all this can ye do if ye will. Amen.

I have been able to see the seed of faith grow in my own life and in the lives of others! It is truly an amazing thing to witness and feel! I know that the promise is true, if we live the Gospel and plant the seed, then it will grow! If we read the Book of Mormon with even just a desire to believe, then we will see our faith grow! I know the Church is true!! Love you all have a good week!

Elder Jenson

General Conf.

Well here is the run down from cold as heck Canberra haha! 

Monday- We had a good sports P day at the chapel with the zone! Then after that we had FHE at Brett Bakers house with heaps of the Less active YSA boys in Belconnen Ward. 

Tuesday- Freakin heck we got roped into some service this day which went for ages!!! We helped a family move and there were some of the YSA boys there from Woden ward so it was really good to get to know them better! After the service we had a lesson with Alysha and it was good because we learned that she just likes the fellowship at church so we just told her to keep coming along then haha. Then we had institute which was super good! 

Wednesday- We had some more service for Zac this day which went good! We just painted the ceilings of his family's house! Then we went and saw Chris Stubbs one last time before he leaves. Then we went and had a good lesson with Jack about the big 3 commandments! After that we went and got dinner before our meeting with the Tuggeranong bishop! We got some names from him to go and visit which was good! 

Thursday- Went and saw Komiti for a quick sec and got a mean feed while we were there haha so blessings for sure! Then we tried to see Jordan but he wasn't home so we went and weekly planne until our mcm with the Clarks! After the Clarks we went and did some ward listing! 

Friday- We had a good ZTM and learned a lot about loving our neighbors! After that we went and did finding at ANU for awhile which was really fun! Then we went and had dinner and got ready for the YSA sport night. We had a good turn out and had some non members there too including Jack so we were stoked about that! 

Saturday- ALL DAY GENERAL CONFERENCE BABY!!!!!!

Sunday- MORE GENERAL CONFERENCE BABY!!! Then we had to go out to work after hahaha we went and had dinner with Jono and his family  which was so good! Then we tried to see Jarom Perry but he is sick so we will go back later in the week!!

Conference was so good man I freakin loved it all!! I loved the quote by Elder Bednar, "Please learn to love being and remaining worthy. Be worthy. Stay worthy." 

I love the feeling of being worthy and it is only possible through the Atoning sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ. I love learning how to be more worthy and about the tools we can use to stay worthy :) 

I also loved the talk by Elder Sabin about being All In!!! We can't ahve one foot in the Gospel and another in the world/sins. We must either be All in or all out, there is not neutral ground! 

I truly felt the Spirit testify to me this weekend that this truly is the Lord's church. He is at the head of it all! The prophet and Apostles are truly called by God and they really do hold all the keys and authority to run and govern the church. Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ LIVE!!! I know it without a doubt! THE CHURCH IS TRUE BABY!!!:) 

Love you guys!

Elder Jenson

18 months pants burning ceremony

Monday- We played some footy with the boys from the zone for Pday which was a lot of fun! We are all out of shape lol. Then for the night we went and played some footy with the less active YSA and then did some visits after that and met Jono, one of the YSA in Belconnen ward! 

Tuesday- We saw Chris Stubbs in the morning and it was super good! We just talked to him about the MTC and what not because he goes on his mission next week and he is going to the Provo MTC so he is stoked! Then we went and did some more service for Zac and his family! We did more painting and we hung some doors up hahaha we didn't do it right though so his dad had to fix it but hey its a learning experience! Then we went and had institute to end the night and we were able to set up some appointments with people!

Wednesday- Went and saw one of the YSA from Belconnen ward in the morning and had a good chat with him and a lesson on standing tall as a Mormon! Then we went and had some lunch and did some finding at ANU! We talked to this girl who saw the Book of Mormon musical and she was so keen! She had so many questions and she was stoked to see real mormon missionaries haha her name is Alex and she is from Russia! So we set an appointment with her for the next day to teach her! Then we went and saw Ezra Afele who just got his mission call to Cebu Phillipenes and we are going to help him prep for his mission in the next few months. Then we had a lesson with Jack about Baptism and the Holy Ghost, it was a solid lesson! Then we had MCM and dinner at the Clarks house to end the night! The Clarks are so awesome and Sister Clark makes the best food! Makes me miss my mom's homemade meals :)

Thursday- We saw Alex in the morning and answered all her questions and taught her a little and her response to it all was "Why does this all make sense??" So she is going to hopefully be an investigator when she gets back from her holidays on the coast! Then we had lunch on campus at ANU and went to Focus! We got to talk to a few new people and share what we thought about the topic which was being taught. Then we went home and weekly planned until we had MCM at Brett Baker's house. After that we went and had dinner at Chris Stubb's house and he invited over one of his non member friends that we could meet and we got his number at the end of it all so we are hoping to meet up and teach him again! 

Friday- We had Zone conference all day followed by some interviews with P Back! It went really good and I learned a lot about being more consecrated and also about repentance! We played Jeopardy with the whole zone and my team smashed it!! I got told I couldn't answer any more questions because I was the only one answering! It was fun though haha. Then after all that we had a BBQ with the YSA at the Stake YSA parent's house which was so good! We had some good chats with YSA that we never have had chats with before so that was solid! I did my best card magic trick for them all too and they were stunned hahaha needless to say I felt pretty B.A.

Saturday- Yardley was down here for tradeoffs with us which was sick! We did service most the morning helping someone move. Then we went to lunch with Zac so Yard dog could see him haha. Then we went and had a lesson with Alysha which went well.. we aren't sure how much she is retaining but we will work on it haha. Then we went to one of the YSA's footy games and we got to chat with one of the LA's there which was a big miracle! Then we did some studies to end the night because we didn't get to do them in the morning.

Sunday- We went to Belconnen ward in the morning, Jack came and it was good! Then we went to a special YSA only sacrament meeting at an unused chapel in the stake! It was a good turnout and there was some bomb food afterwards which is always a blessing! Then we did ward listing on the south side the rest of the night and we had no luck haha but all goods!

I just want to testify of Jesus Christ and His Atonement! I know that the power of the Atonement is so real! I have felt my burdens lifted off my shoulders and I have felt forgiveness through repentance. I literally have felt the weight lifted off of me and onto my Savior! I know that he is real, nothing else can bring me this much comfort and peace, that Jesus Christ brings me! I know He lives and I love Him!

Have a good week!

Elder Jenson