Emu Sighting!

February 18, 2020

Unfortunately no one came to church. But that is our big push this week to have people at church. 

As a zone we were able to find 30 new people last week! That is incredible since the goal for the whole mission is about 100. And there are only 6 companionships in our zone. Faith and diligence play a huge part as we work. 

We met a super nice lady named Annie we are trying to get a solid appointment so we can bring a member to help when we teach her. 

We met a man named Phil yesterday who seems pretty keen and another lady who might be as well. 

The climax of the week was spilling chicken all over the back seat of the car while on the way to the chapel for district council.  Just kidding! Pete is on date for baptism!!!!! We shared the Wilford Woodruff conversation story and taught priesthood authority; something we had been planning all week and it went exactly as planned.  Before the lesson he kept saying he felt like he has come closer to God and that God has a plan for him. Preparation is key when teaching, otherwise there is no sense of direction. 

(Pete also showed us his massive 6x6 truck and his trailer he is building I'll get a picture next time)

It is crazy that it has been almost 6 weeks in Broken Hill. I feel like I am just starting to feel where everything is. 

I guess next week you will see the next installment of did I stay or did I go. (We find out Saturday if we are being transferred or not).

I saw my first emu today! It was pretty cool!

Sincerely, Elder Jenkins 

A view of Broken Hill

Emu walking randomly down the road. It's a little hard to see. It's in between the pole and the tree.

Car Issues

February 11, 2020

It is absolutely insane how quickly this week has gone.

We were able to meet with two of our investigators, the other two were busy or we missed them. 

Their names are Bruce and John. They are older men who have a religion but are very humble and willing to listen. Bruce is actually just visiting from the Philippines and so we will probably be sending his information to missionaries in the Philippines when he leaves in a week or so.

This week we were really busy with driving to Mildura for Elder Cozzens doctors appointment and with car trouble. We had a flat tire on Wednesday not long after we called. Fortunately, the car has a full size spare and we had it changed in about 10 minutes, we just had to head over to a tire repair shop before we left Thursday. 

Driving 6 hrs in one day on Australian outback roads was not very fun. I did get to go with the zone leaders for a bit though while Elder Cozzens was at the doctor with the senior couple. Friday came along and we were exhausted from driving so much in one day, so planning for the week was a bit difficult. Saturday was much better and we were able to start reteaching a man who was taught prior. It has been hard to keep track of what actually happens the days go by so quick. Our car battery died and we had to use the car a lot on Sunday so we prayed and it ran for the rest of the day which is amazing! 

We are hopefully going to see Cally and Devlin to help them make it to church and see if there is anything we can do to help them come to church. We will also be meeting with Pete on Friday and teaching him about priesthood authority and the sacrament to try and get him to church.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is true, whether in the Australian Outback or the middle of New York City. It is universal and there is nothing that can shake that fact. Joseph Smith is a Prophet and he restored the true church upon the earth.

Sincerely, Elder Jenkins

Rain!

Feb 4, 2020
We had a solid lesson with Pete about prophets and modern revelation which was awesome. We hopefully will see him at church on Sunday and also a few others. We found 4 new friends in 2 days! It's really cool to see that as we exercise faith that the Lord will put people in our path. 

Getting people to church has been a little bit hard but I am hoping we can see a few of our friends at church.

We had a big rain storm this week. The first real rain in 2 years. 

The gospel can truly change us for the better, I have seen it in my own life and the people I have met in Australia. If we allow it to change us it will make us far better than we can ever imagine. 

Elder Jenkins 

Taylor and his companion Elder Cozzins from North Salt Lake.

Pretty cool road sign!

Dust storms are common in Broken Hill.

This is blurry but there was so much dust in the air it looks like its evening in the middle of the day. 

Tons of Teaching

Currently we are teaching the most solid people and we have lots of people we are trying to re-contact. 

Pete: trucker for the mines, he is Pentecostal but the church here fell a part. We found him door knocking and he is really keen! We have taught him a bit about the Book of Mormon the first time and invited him to read and he did! We also send him a daily verse and he sends us one occasionally. He even defends us against his church friends. We taught him the rest of the restoration.  And he felt like it all made sense. His schedule is all over the place so we will see how he goes making it to church.

Rylan and Jason: Rylan is an 8 year old boy who wants to get baptiszed. We are teaching him with Legos and he helps us teach his dad Jason who is interested but acts like he is not. His mom is a member. We just have to help them come to church.

Devlin and Cally: Devlin is an 11 year old boy who wants to learn about Jesus. He actually really wants to come to church. Sunday was his birthday and he was super excited to come to church and he came with his mom! She is kinda doing it for him but she definitely saw how church helped her boy and little girl who is 6. 

Ashley: young dad who wants to know how bad things happen to good people. He has been through a lot and we are going to try and show how the gospel can do that.

Most of this week was playing catch up and also teaching some members and recent converts about the priesthood to prepare them for that. We drove up to Mildura on Sunday for Zone Conference and will head  up Thursday. 

Devlin and Cally came to church and we had a super solid lesson on the restoration with Pete. 

The gospel truly is amazing. Although a mission is really hard and sometimes you don't have the motivation. But when I get up and go work it is amazing to see how people's lives can change. 

Elder Jenkins