I'm melting on Christmas

Unfortunately I haven't received my Christmas package yet (thanks AU post :( ) Hopefully all the packages and things hopefully came today, the post was closed yesterday. 

This week has been fairly relaxed with Christmas approaching. Friday was a scorching 46*c or 115*f!!!! Fortunately the mission has a rule that we are not allowed to door knock or  street contact over 40*c or 104*f. Even when it is in the 90s we try to always be wise in what we are doing. 

The cool thing is that that day we were still able to finally meet with a man named Roy who we ran into at the beginning of last transfer and have been trying to contact him for a long time. He had been taught before and loved the missionaries but had just been too busy with work to make time. We were able to meet with him a few times and do some service for him. He is moving to Sydney which  is sad but he wants to still meet with the missionaries there so we will pass his information to the Sydney Elders.

We also found another man who is an Aboriginal. Something not very common in this part of Australia. They as a people are very spiritual so it will be interesting to see how teaching him goes. 

Mostly just enjoying Chrismas this week. Christmas is very special as a missionary, people's hearts are softened and it is amazing how when you  look for the little things in life, all the little miracles, then your day will become much brighter.

Love you all,

Elder Jenkins 

Taylor says he "channeled my inner Aunt Laurie" and made a birthday cake for one of the Sister Missionaries.

 This is the famous Blue Lake in Mt Gambier. It turns bright cobalt blue from Dec-March. It is an extinct volcanic crater and is the source of the town's drinking water.

 Some more beautiful Australian countryside.

While in Adelaide a few weeks ago for training, Taylor went on a hike with some other missionaries to some waterfalls but there wasn't much water.

Summer Soup

Prayer has been a incredibly important part of the work here, we pray probably 20 times a day. Before lessons before finding... ect.

I have really learned how prayer and revelation work, as me and Elder Matson have learned to work together and gotten to work, it has been awesome. I was looking back kind of prideful and felt we needed to door knock exclusively with some member work but I needed to relax and try Elder Matson's way and do more member work and follow up with people there were taught prior or found but never taught.

My testimony of the power of the Atonement and how repentance is changing to come closer to God has been strengthened incredibly here on the mission.  

Thursday was good visiting Dez. We were able to offer a prayer after being prompted and he really liked it. For some reason we hadn't thought of it till then. 

We also went to a members home we go to for a meal once a week. He loves the missionaries and is very missionary focused but unfortunately he does not have any tastebuds, LITERALLY! Normally the food is alright but we had his "legendary" summer soup, made with all kinds of citrus and rice blended up and the egg whites and tomatoes all blended up but still chunky. If you haven't thrown up yet you got farther than some other missionaries. I managed to finish the giant bowl he gave me but my companion could only finish about half before he almost threw up. Definitely the weird/worst food item of the mission. (Taylor has told us about eating this several times on his mission already.)

Friday we were able to find our first new friend of the transfer named Mark, he was a referral from the sisters and it turns out he was taught previously by the other missionaries and we had his records! Funny things like that happen all the time.

Saturday was a lot of biking trying to follow up with people. We had stopped at the chapel to get some water and use the toilet  (they don't say restroom here, just toilet) when we got a call from the Elders Quorum President asking if we could come help put a window in his house because it was too big for one person to lift. When we walked up we figured it would just be quick but he was still re-building part of the wall, he had hit a water pipe and had to repair it but wanted the window in before dark, hence us being there. The construction of homes here is mostly large limestone bricks with mortar, it was cool to see the wall get built up and also talk about some new areas we can go visit members. When it came to the window was when it got crazy. This window was probably 12 feet long by 4.5 ft. So man handling it into the hole with just 3 people was pretty tough. They gave us pizza which was awsome because I learned I actually don't mind supreme pizza. I am definitely an adult now. It even had shrimp or prawns as they call them here which was different, but good.

Sunday through Monday was a trade off with the Portland Elders so i got to go down to Portland which was super  awesome. Almost everyone there is so nice and we met tons of people who had never even seen the missionaries before, something that never happens in Mt Gambier. 

Tuesday was awesome because I got do some service for one of the sisters' friends who was found by us last transfer. Her and her daughter are progressing really quickly and it was awesome to hear that from the other missionaries. 

The gospel is true, there will always be rough times but there is a better patch always.

Sincerely,  Elder Jenkins 

This week was really fun. My training #2 at the Mission Office was mostly on getting us excited for the work again and some new ways to find and teach. Because  of all the meetings my companion had for ending his mission and what not, I got to spend a few days with the Zone Leaders, either in a trio or on splits. The Zone Leaders are in the Mt. Barker area. It is an area that I really want to serve in. The members are amazing and the people seemed cool as well. My Zone Leaders, Elder Norman and Elder Sawada(who was unfortunately transferred to Darwin) are awsome. I got to spend a lot of time specifically with Elder Sawada.  He is from Japan and a very hard working missionary. 

The best part was having Thanksgiving with some members and then having another feed a few days later. But the most interesting meal appointment  we had was with some members that had a Japanese exchange student. Elder Sawada was able to teach her a bit and we had a Japanese feast. Miso soup and rice that is famous in japan and a few other things. Im sure Grandpa Ridge will love to hear about it. 

Transfers happened and my new companion is Elder Matson, from Idaho. He is excited about the work which is awesome.   He likes to talk a lot which is good some times but other times it can be tough to get quiet. But it is alright to have differences. (Glad he's learning this early on!)

Portland also got a new elder who is from NZ and is Tongan who has some cool stories.(The missionaries in Portland often come to Mt Gambier for P-day and stay overnight with Taylor and his companion for church. That's why he talks about the Portland Elders so much). 

This week has actually been really long and I am glad. But it's time to get back to work. The gospel is true and I feel your prayers every day because  sometimes they are the only thing that keep me going when it is tough.  

Staying in Mt Barker during transfer week with the Zone leaders Elder Sawada and Elder Norman. Taylor's trainer, Elder Hymas is in the red hoodie. 

The Australian countryside.

  

I 

Ups and Downs

The weeks are quick here in  Australia but the days not so much. Dez is good, he is very kind and he is moving along slowly. Ben, unfortunately, dropped us. He felt like we had done what we needed to do. I guess he didn't understand the purpose of a loving Heavenly Father, so this week has mostly been finding.  Very little success unfortunately but that is how it goes sometimes.

We have a meeting all day on Thursday at the mission office so on Wednesday we have to drive up there.  Sorry for the short email I've been sick so this week is a blur.

A small story that happened on Tuesday, most of the people in Australia are not interested in religion or in ours but sometimes we have the best conversations with people. Like this older couple working in their front garden yesterday, we talked to were Catholics but he was from Italy and just loved to talk. It was fun to just get to know them and show them we aren't trying to force anything on people and that we are human. Other religions that try to do missionary work are often forceful and give us a bad reputation.  We just have to be normal and natural. 

Teaching has become my favorite thing to do on the mission because the Spirit is even stronger when you testify.  Having the Spirit guide you in every thought is the best.

Love, 
Elder Jenkins

Mars bars are easier to find in Australia!

NO RAIN!

We had Stake Conference this week. The big focus was on members helping the missionaries and how we all need to invite less active or inactive members back. There are 2300 people in the Marion stake and only a little over 700 people regularly attend! I think that will be a big focus next transfer. 

This week flew by. Friday we had weekly planning and we drove to Portland (a little over an hour to the South East) to help them with a family history booth at a local market. That was really fun and it was cool to see somewhere else. Saturday was the town Christmas parade. We thought this would be a good day for finding but unfortunately almost everyone was just watching the parade and wouldn't talk to us. We were invited to attend the leadership session of stake conference as well that day so that was really good. 

Sunday was stake conference which I talked about and then after lunch we started tradeoffs. I was with Elder Jones. We went to go visit Ben, although we have had a few great lessons he still does not seem to realize that God is a loving Heavenly Father. I think if he can come to that knowledge everything else will fall into place. We have invited him to church and to help us with some service we are going to give. Hopefully, if he can come to church he can see the full picture if that makes sense. We also did some door-knocking and found two people and got return appointments, we will see how those go. 

As we were door-knocking we stopped and talked to a man who was working in his garden. When we started talking he said he had worked in the states for a while in Houston. Come to find out he had worked in Sugarland and knew where Pearland was! He went on to share how he had always known there was a God and had been religious on and off. However, for the first time in 2 years he had gone to church (his wife's not ours) we talked for almost an hour just in his driveway and we will meet with him again soon. 

Monday we went street contacting before tradeoffs ended and met a few people but nothing really in the way of appointments. After lunch I was back with Elder Hymas and we went and visited Dez. He is always fun to visit and to talk to and he has started to progress as well. 

Tuesday was a long day, after lunch my companion and I  felt sick so we took the car and visited a few people. We got to share a video that came out for Light the World that the missionaries have early  access to called The Christ Child. It is an 18 minute film on Jesus' birth and it is so well made, it brings me almost to tears when I watch it. Check the Light the World website  but I would encourage you to watch it when it is released. 

I love you all

Ofa otu (Tongan for i love you)

Elder Jenkins 

 In Portland running a Family History booth with the Portland Elders.

Eating dinner

Tim Tam Slam

This week has been pretty crazy. The weather here has been all over the place. One day it 

was hot and sunny and the next it was back to rainy and windy. Mostly however it is

 raining, trying to rain or just windy and rainy. We had a little bit of success but not heaps

 of it. We found a new person named Ben who was taught previously but hadn't been 

taught for some time. He is not much older than my companion so he is more open and really 

eager to learn and come closer to christ which is amazing. 

This Sunday was the primary program, which was super entertaining. Although I am half 

way across the world the church is still the same and it is true. Seeing the little kids reminded 

me how much I love Parker and Emma (Love the rest of you too). Although we didn't have

 much success this week Alma 29:14 comes to mind about rejoicing in others successes. Both 

the Elders down in Portland and the Sisters had a friend at church this week and the Sisters 

said theirs wants to come again. We will check how Portland went today.


Another experience we had yesterday was people trying to Bible bash. This man we met 

randomly invited us to come talk. But it ended up that his wife was just trying to convert us.

 He was more open to just hearing our beliefs and sharing his, but she was just wanting us 

to pray to "really know because only one of us was right." It was interesting because the 

spirit was not there. Having the spirit with me as if he was a person there has been amazing 

And to have it be gone was hard, I truly am weak with out the strength of the Lord. 

This experience taught me something far greater, and that is that I KNOW the Book of 

Mormon is scripture and that Joseph Smith is a prophet who truly established Christ's church 

on the earth. The only way we can know that is if we read it and do as moroni directs in 

chapter 10:3-5. I have done it and testify of its truthfulness, and I would invite those who read

 this to truly study the scriptures and to pray, even if you have previously. Use the foot notes 

and study a hand full of verses, This is something I have done on the mission and now feel I 

can quote scriptures or think of them in times of need.

Sincerely, Elder Jenkins







Elder Jenkins and Elder Hymas have been doing lots of walking in the rain this week.



They were able to do service two different times doing some yard work for people.

Taylor eating his first Tim Tam Slam. He is dipping it in Milo which he says is similar to hot 

chocolate. So, if you'd like to try it get yourself some hot chocolate and head to your local 

Target, (ours sells 3 flavors or Tim Tams) and enjoy a short sip of through the cookie then 

quickly pop the cookie in your mouth.





Trying his first Australian meat pie (not sure what the difference is).



Elder Jenkins

We walked, and walked, and walked!

This week has been interesting for sure.

 Thursday was incredibly hot at 36* C or 96 F.We walked and were out in the heat for 6-7 hrs trying to find people that we got heat exhaustion pretty bad. We had to go and cool off before we went to a dinner appointment because we were so exhausted. My companion got it worse but I did better cause I wore a hat! The scripture Mosiah 4:27 came to mind with this. 

Friday was a huge day. We found 3 new people! We met a man as we were walking to meet with someone else and he shared with us his spiritual experiences, something that doesn't happen often, and we gave him a Book of Mormon and set a return appointment.  We have had a hard time getting back with him but hopefully next week. We then met with some men from the Congo we found the day before and gave them a Swahili book of Mormon. I've learned that the people who come over from Africa are incredibly kind. 

Saturday through Tuesday has been a blur. Lots of door knocking or street contacting which is extremely difficult when much of the area has been done in the last 2-3 month's and there are not many people in town willing to talk. So we walk, a lot of rainy days and waving to those who are uninterested. But I wouldn't trade it for the world. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is here on the earth and it is our job to share it. I have never been so "consistently and resiliently happy" as was said in this last General Conference. Patience has been something I have improved upon so much already and I can't wait to continue.

A man from the next town over who recently has had some tough challenges but Taylor and his companion were able to give him a blessing.

Taylor has said the "birds here are weird!" There is another one with a yellow head (not pictured) that nests in the ground and will start attacking you as you are minding your own business walking down the road.

Taylor and his companion, Elder Hymas, from Utah.

Welcome to Mt. Gambier

**Elder Jenkins has been assigned to Mt Gambier a town of about 28k people. It is on the Eastern edge of his mission and is a nearly 5 hour drive from Adelaide and about 20 minutes from the Southern Australia Coast.**

It has been quite cold here. In the teens to 20s c*. It is very beautiful, lots of birds too. 

The building is very small, in fact, the ward only typically sees about 15 to 30 on Sunday. It should be a  branch.


I did sleep well on the plane, I got about 7 hrs. I haven't had any problems sleeping, actually. Unfortunately, we didn't stay in Auckland long-- the flight was delayed so we literally ran through security and across the airport to make it to the flight to Adelaide. 

My companion, Elder Hymas is great, he is from Utah on his last transfer here. He has helped me be a bit more patient.

We feed our selves mostly, we have had crepes and lots of nice things. 

They abbreviate a ton, especially when greeting each other. So that is hard, but most of the time I understand what they are saying. People here are just very casual and laid back. It kind of reminds me a bit of Kooskia (the small town Amme and Scott met). 

Strange food of the week is a hard one. Either rice and eggs (because it's an interesting but cheap meal) or KFC. We had KFC for some conference and it is was way better than back home, they have chips!

We visited a Tongan man in the next town over who lost his 9 moth old son. He was hurting but shared his testimony of how he knows he will see him again. We gave him a blessing and when we walked in the room the spirit was palpable.  

I have been working on my patience with the work and I have seen it bless me. On Saturday as we were going back to the flat we talked to a man who had been taught previously and even remembered the missionaries names but had to stop because he was working too much. Hopefully, he will feel he has time for us. Yesterday after some conference we went on splits with the Portland missionaries.  The last door we knocked on we found a man who was covered in tattoos but shared how God has just come into his life and changed it so dramatically. I was able to share my testimony with him, and we will return when he gets a "room sweep" or couch. The other pair of elders also found a new person and we also got an appointment! People often are very casual about time here. So it is hard to get appointments sometimes. 

Peace out Provo and Arrival in Adelaide

Elder Jenkins left the Provo, Utah Missionary Training Center on Monday, October 21 and arrived in Adelaide Australia on Wednesday, October 23. 

 The 2 pictures above are Taylor and his MTC District in front of some murals at the MTC. He says the murals are "printed on cloth and back lit and are beautiful and look real"

Some pictures of the Temple and views of the snowy Utah mountains

When he arrived in Adelaide he spent some time training and meeting the Mission President before leaving for his first area.

Sister and President Marquis and Elder Jenkins

 Some views of the countryside.

Distant Cousins and a Little Bit of Silly

One of the days we've been in here in the morning it was 28 degrees. Yikes! It usually warms up to about 70 degrees but there was snow on Mount Timpanogas for a while.

Our other teaching visits went much better this week. We're learning so much as a companionship and I feel like I'm learning a lot as well. Having the spirit so much with me has been awesome. 

Some of the food has been a little better but I definitely miss eating fresh food and things that aren't so heavy. One of the few desserts I had was a peanut butter cheesecake with chunks of Reese's cups in it. It was actually quite good, though not as good as Dad's.

 Our district gets along really well and we try to sit as a group on Tuesday and  Sunday devotionals. We have our half of our floor to our selves and one other district or two because a bunch of people left but we didn't get any new missionaries. Travel information arrived on Friday(He's scheduled to fly out of LAX at 10:30 pm on Monday Oct 21). However, no word on Visa's but we are worried about my companion's as some information is indicating that he may have to wait (looks like his companion will serve in the Arizona Tempe mission for a time until his Visa is ready). I'm learning so much on how to teach by the spirit, and how to teach simply. I've got some pictures incoming as well. I don't know what else to write about. Let me know if you have any questions. 

***We got to video chat with Taylor this morning.  He told us about another Elder Jenkins he met in the MTC.  They have figured out that they are 5th cousins on Taylor's Maternal Grandmother's side through the Godfrey line---not the Jenkins side like we were thinking! This Elder is from Cache Valley which makes sense too.  The church makes the world so small! This other Elder Jenkins is called to serve in the California Ventura Mission and we wish him all the best!

Elder Jenkins squared

Taylor's MTC District

Back Row: Elder Latu, Elder Thomas, Elder Cope (Taylor's Companion), Elder Jenkins (see above)

Front Row: Sister White, Sister Castaneda, Elder Carsner, Elder Taylor Jenkins, Sister Hatch, Sister Mabey

Taylor's comment about this picture:

We were seeing how many people we could fit in 1 elevator.  So far it's 21, or 22 if you count the Polynesian Elder as 2--he's basically a linebacker.

It appears that this cat lives on MTC campus or maybe just spends a lot of time here. 

First Week at the MTC

Glad to hear that the construction wasn't too bad getting back home. That's really cool though that you ran into Elder Schaap. His dad was the best seminary teacher I've had. 

There has apparently been some delay for some missionaries going to Australia so, hopefully, it won't be for me. If there is only a one week delay then I will just stay here at the MTC. If there was more than a week delay then I'll get sent to another mission where they can easily send me on my mission to Australia when they get my Visa. So far the food has been okay but not great, but I'm doing my best to eat lots of bananas and apples as they don't have many other options for fruit. To answer the kids' question I didn't have any ice cream, the only treats I've had has been a few small cups of soda and one cookie.  So far the weird food item of the week has been bananas because I eat a ton. I've been eating 3 to 5 bananas a day and probably 2 or 3 servings of salad most days.  we just finally started getting exercise time the past couple days and it has been really nice to work out because the day few days before that we're not as easy. My companion is also going to Adelaide as well and he is super great and very mature. He is a bit older than I am so that is nice. In fact, the whole zone is really pretty mature and we get along really well. One of the other elders is also a Jenkins and so that has been kind of interesting. Both his companion and another elder in our district did not show so he got moved to another room with his new companion so we were able to get a room that normally has 4 people to just the two of us!  So far the only hard thing happened yesterday.  There are these practice teaching classes where you teach someone who is an actor, although we felt like we were prepared, we totally got lost and the survey we later received from the "investigator" was very harsh. Hopefully we can learn from this experience and do much better next time. 

General Conference  was really great and I stayed awake most of the time taking notes. I still managed to dose a few times despite sitting in some of THE.MOST. UNCOMFORTABLE.  chairs on this planet! Fortunately  I didn't  do what one of the sisters did. She fell asleep sitting up and fell sideways into a wall before she woke up! Sure made a lot of noise.  

The Adventure Begins

Reporting to the MTC

October 2, 2019

Today Taylor reported to the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah. He will be serving as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints for the next 2 years.  He will be serving in the Australia Adelaide Mission.

The Australia Adelaide Mission covers the center third of the continent--from Adelaide on the South to Darwin on the North.  For perspective, that north to south distance is the same as Los Angeles, California to Nauvoo, Illinois.  Some transfers may be done by airplane, which I don't think Taylor won't have a problem with!

Taylor will stay at the MTC for approximately 3 weeks before he flys to his mission.  For now his Preparation Day is Tuesday. I, Amme, will update this blog as I get information from Elder Jenkins.  Check back weekly or subscribe if you'd like to stay informed on all that he is doing. He is excited to serve and share the restored gospel of Jesus Christ with the people of Australia!