Soo . . . Funny story

31st  August  2015

On Thursday Two weeks ago I "lost" my wallet, I spent the next couple of days trying to find it and to no avail. I on Monday then emailed my wonderful mother and informed her of the situation. She apparently took it well.

Unbeknownst to me at that time my.......wonderful.... Companion was arranging for us to pick it up from the member whose car I had left it in. He said to me Elder Lets go.

I said Ohk and signed out. we get out of the Library and the first thing he says to me after I ask where we are going "We are going to get your wallet," For literally 2 seconds I wanted to slap him around the back of the head. "Elder" I said to him.... "I just told my mum I lost it...." "oh" was his reply. On Thursday still wondering if my mum had cancelled my cards. We get in the car and go to the mission office. In which the proceeding drive the Redland bay Elders (who we were in the car with) proceeded to ask if I had found my wallet (My reply in the affirmative) they then continued how my Nana had been talking to them and that my mum was (as she said) "Deeply concerned." When we arrive at the mission office I decide to ask the wonderful Sister Mickelsen to inform her (my mum) about the "One coin" being found.

That's the end of that saga, unfortunately not as thrilling as some movies but entertaining all the same

Elder Jackson Fankhauser.

Words of Wisdom

31st August 2015

This week Has been awesome, busy and entertaining. Normally I would not put those three words together in a sentence but it was... Busily entertainingly Awesome. There we go perfect description. 

This week we had the opportunity to.... Baptize!!!!!!! These two Awesome Girls Skye and Michaela Doyle. They are 11 and 8 respectively. They are so pumped and energetic and awesome. In our first lesson they blew me away with some of the questions they asked me. A lot of them I just couldn't answer because.... well let's just say I have had to adjust my teaching to a Submarine type teaching. And the submarine has to start in shallow water. They even sung a song at their baptism.

We are currently working with their mum Jo, and their dad Tim (Tim is well he was Less Active not now though) to get her baptized and to get them in the Temple next year to be sealed!!!

We also met Tony Renwick last week, he is quite a guy, awesome and in a way inspiring (the inspiring as to not go that way). Shared with him a pamphlet and we have seen him about 8 times so far. He even came to Church yesterday. The first time we met him he told us a little of his story and so far we have learned about, three years of his life. 

Words Of Wisdom

First of all Keep the Word of Wisdom (Its a life Saver.. (literally))

Do UN-Two others as you'd do unto you (Karma EXISTS it just isn't called Karma)

Thirdly Don't Forget to Sing your way Home

Arise and Shine Fourth

Five Watch out for Wasp's hives

Six Learn from others mistakes not your own

The Key to the Kingdom of Heaven is  being  happy and hea7thy in the gospel

It isn't to L-Eight to chan8e

Don't walk close to the Line Put a Wall in Between and you'll be fine IX

TIN -   Try   It    Now

Always look towards the "light" and build upon the "rock"

Elder Jackson Fankhauser.

Wallet stress relief

28th August 2015

So on Friday 28th August we received this.

Sister Fankhauser,

I am writing this in behalf of your great son – he has found his wallet!  So no more worries!!

Sister Mickelsen

Mission Secretary

Having spent 4 days contemplating what to do regarding money, I.D., and other things I was an extremely happy missionary mama. 

More photos

25th August 2015

After being starved of photos, I was absolutely delighted to have received some more from his Aunty Kris who was over on holiday.

Below is the email that accompanied the photos

Hi Stephanie we googled Cleveland chapel & found out it was 20ks north east of here & their ward met at 9 so we drove up & got there early, two missionaries were standing out on the roadside waiting for someone so I walked around to where they were but as I approached they started to move off so I called out excuse me elders, & they waited, I realized he hasn't recognised me so I said we're investigators & we're lost, can you help? Wasn't until I was right in front of elder F that he smiled with recognition! He said when he heard my voice he thought he knew it. Only had a few minutes before their ward started so took some photos which hopefully I can send from my phone. Gave him a homemade chocolate cake that made them both smile! Hope you like the photos! Asked him if he had a message for you, he said, love you guys, & wait for Christmas! He looks good looks like he's lost weight xx

Feeling blessed.

Losing yourself .... And Your Wallet, in the work

24th August 2015

This week has been some examples of spiritually losing myself in the work, and some pretty funny literal losing not only myself but my companion who is brand new to the area as well.

The Spiritual motivation for this last week has been to be Better and to Push Harder. Both Physically and Spiritually.

After Taking a wrong turn down into a park which, (I very wrongly assumed would lead to a shortcut to a street) took us to one of the outlying streets of our boundary, to say the best thing out of it was that I found a short cut to avoid the main road, the unlucky thing was that I did something to my bike and now it is buckled, so looks like we may be walking a little bit, until I can get someone to fix it or until I fix it myself.

Pushing Hard on Saturday as I not only battled the Heating element that hangs over Australia, (Sometimes too close, and it's not even summer) but also dealing with a fever (I missed out on staying at the flat for the day by .2 of a degree Celsius) Knocked on about 100 doors and we clocked over 60 contacts and got free oranges and chili's out of it.

Still suffering the effects of the "Fall" (Fever Australia Loopdy Loop) I typed in the wrong address into the GPS and went the wrong way, Facing the possibility of Riding into Thornlands (40 minutes) and back, a miracle occured, and the Capalaba elders arrived back, we took the car and drove into the night

The Fever came to a bitter end on Sunday when The Sweetness of Chocolate Chip Cookies were "given unto them that Hungered" and Pizza was "Given to the Servants of the Lord" Great way to finish the week

Also Included on Sunday was a surprise-ish visit from Aunty Kris who well she couldn't hug me so she gripped my hand as tight as a normal hug.

Other than that I lost my wallet sometime on Thursday. Still trying to find it. We are told not to engage others in Fasting for a special cause but I do think I am going to need a miracle to find my wallet.

We had the oppurtunity to be able to stay for an hour of Roadshows here in the Cleveland stake.

And I shall leave you with a short little quote from one of them before I finish, and I am pretty sure this is how most people view missionaries (we actually had one guy say this to us in a more drawn out way)

You Gringos (Mormons/Missionaries) are Crazy!

The Church is True. The Work is Hard. The Weather is Hot. But the show Must go on!

Elder Jackson Fankhauser.

Photos finally !!!!!!!!

19th August 2015

Finally today we received photos. It has been 3 months since we have physically seen our missionary. And as his mother I have yearned to see him. My prayers were answered by not only a photo but another one also taken this very day at the Brisbane Temple. Thanks to Emmeline Sunnex who happened to be there the same session as our missionary. 

The first photo shared is Elder Fankhauser, Lennox and Elder Tupou at Lennox's baptism. What a special day for Lennox as she made her first steps to enter the Kingdom of God.

Elder Fankhauser, Lennox and Elder Tupou

Elder Gustafsson and Elder Fankhauser Brisbane Temple

Vision is Paramount

19th August 2015

Yesterday we had District meeting (Basically a group of missionaries reporting to the District Leader and then given a training by one of the missionaries on how to be better missionaries)

And it was My turn, or at least My Companion who is the District Leader had the Inspiration to get me to share the Training this week


Successful plans lead to Successful time management and when you master time management you can Master your life.

I focused on Planning by the Spirit and in the Mighty ABM (Australia Brisbane Mission) we have a Motto it goes like this

Vision Is Paramount

Obedience is the Price

Faith Is the Power

The Spirit is the Key

Love is the Motive

Christ is The Reason

And I Applied these things to how to Plan effectively and there are 8 steps that lead to successful plans.

1. Prayer - All things begin with prayer, through prayer we can ask for guidance and Direction on the things that we need in our lives

2.Outcome - Knowing what you want the outcome to be, can help you determine how well you are doing in your goals

3. Date - Setting a date for when you want this to be completed by, as Henry B Eyring said "Someday means Not This Day"

4.Obstacles - These are things that are going to stop you or things you need to overcome before you can achieve your desired outcome.

5.Resources - These are the skills that you have, the people you know, and the things you know

6.Detailed Plan - A detailed plan is one that has every detail worked out as to how you can use the resources you have to overcome the obstacles you may face.

7.Massive Action - A plan requires action to be taken Upon it. You can't expect a plant to grow if you won't water it.

8.Leverage - Something that will help you to continuously push to achieve that goal, a driving force that helps you accomplish it.

So To pair up these Principles of Preparation and Our mission Motto

Prayer  = Spirit is the Key

Outcome + Date + Vision is Paramount

Obstacles + Resources = Obedience is the Price

Detailed Plan + Massive Action = Faith is the Power

Leverage = Love is the Motive

And why do we make plans? To be better than before.

And one of the Things that Christ Said is Be ye therefore perfect even as My Father  and I are Perfect

Christ is the Reason

The Reason  we can live again with our Father in Heaven is because He Loves us so much He was willing to lay down His life for His Friends.

Elder Jackson Fankhauser.

New Companion, New Vision

12th August

Yesterday was transfer day!!!

It was the first Transfer meeting I got to go to because my previous companion Elder Tupou went up to Cairns to become a ZONE LEADER!! Im super excited for him. 

A little Story on how I met my new Companion is;

On Monday afternoon Me and Elder Layton were together because Elder Layton's companion went to the Mission Home(He was finishing His Mission) and so we were companions.

On this fine Afternoon we went to pick up Elder Gustafsson, who had just flown down from Innisfail, and so we were in a 3-way companionship until Yesterday at transfer Meeting. 

At the transfer meeting we were sitting down next to each other we were sitting next to each other and then President Henderson called out our names, up we stand look at each other and almost start laughing.

Elder Gustafsson is from Iceland (yes thats right Iceland, you know the greenish country next to the Icy Greenland) He is awesome!!! and I can not wait to start working more with this Australian Sounding Icelandic.

Scripture for this week is Matthew 6:19-21(New Testament)

also look at Jacob 2:18-19(Book Of Mormon) and also Doctrine and Covenants 11:21 (Doctrine and Covenants.)

Well sorry guys have to go for today. Have fun and Enjoy Life

Elder Jackson Fankhauser.

Put Your Shoulder to the wheel

3rd August 2015

The world has need of willing men (and women).

This week I had the opportunity to see the spirit in action as a Father watched his daughter get baptized. The family at the moment is less active but not only him but the little girls sister also felt that power of the spirit. I hope that this is a key factor in helping them return back to the fold and continue on their path and endure to the end.

This week was also a time of reflection and gaining of wisdom. Especially from one Brother Jerry Brown. (DJ Jerry). He is such a great motivator and delivers such a great spirit whenever he talks. This weeks lesson in Priesthood was about two questions. The first: What brings light into my life, and the Second How does my light shine and What does it look like?

These two questions got me thinking about the scripture in Matthew 5:14-16 And the basic message of this is that we need to let our light so shine. Jesus Commands us to be perfect even as I, or your Father in Heaven is perfect (Book Of Mormon 3 Nephi 12:48) This light that we need to shine is the manifestation of the Light of Christ within us. The light of Christ is truth. And Truth only comes from, either His voice or the voice of His servants (Doctrine and Covenants 1:38), who know his secrets (Amos 3:7)

Search these Commandments for they are True and Faithful.(Doctrine and Covenants 1:38)

Engaging Members. By the Spirit

 27th July 2015

This past week we have had a specialized training from our mission President to more closely refine the things that we were taught by Elder Pearson.

He organized it using the Equation to Success for a missionary and added the very important fact that: It has to be by the Spirit.

This week we have had some pretty good miracles while out finding and teaching, but one of the biggest miracles was getting 10! member present Lessons, in each of these cases the members were able to help explain or add their own knowledge to what we were teaching.

We also had the privilege to have two of the young men in our ward come out with us for trade-offs on Saturday. Together we were able to be more effective in our area, but as well as that I got to teach the young man I was with a few things, as well as being able to build up a better foundation for the relationship between members and missionaries, I also invited him to share his experience with us this upcoming Fast Sunday to share how great this Latter-Day work is.

Another miracle was that Lennox our recent Convert who got baptized last week helped us open the door again to teaching her cousin Jade. Jade shared with us a few concerns and with the Help of Chris (an RM of the Philippines) and Talia we hope to be able to help her Come unto Christ.

Yesterday Me and Elder Tupou were invited to a training session of the ward leaders and according to both Elder Cooper and Elder Tupou that means that someone is going to become a  District leader or Elder Tupou is going up to Zone Leader (My guess is in the Brisbane stake)

Well we will find out soon enough. Transfers are only two weeks away!

If you ever want time to go by quickly serve a mission or start getting busy with the gospel because the days literally fly before your eyes.

Farewell and Salutations

2 Nephi 31:11 - 12

20th July 2015

This Week We had a miracle.

Our investigator Lennox was welcomed into the Fold of the Shepherd and became one of the newest members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

Throughout this last month and a half we have been teaching her about the principles of the Gospel and building her faith in Jesus Christ and his Atonement. On Saturday the 18th of July I had the Privilege to baptize her and then on Sunday take part in the Confirmation and her receiving of the gift of the Holy Ghost. It was splendid. The Scripture in Doctrine and Covenants rings so true "Remember the worth of Souls is great in the sight of God. For behold the Lord your Redeemer suffered the pain of all men, that all men might repent and come unto him. .... And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father. And now, if your joy be great with one soul that you have brought unto me into the Kingdom of my Father, how great will be your joy if you should bring many souls unto me"

I know that this work is true and that it requires a great amount of faith to do it. I hope to be able to invite more souls to come unto Christ and this I leave with you in the name of Our Savior and redeemer, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Doctrine of Preparation

30th June 2015

These last two weeks were one of the most spiritually and physically exhausting periods of my mission so far, but i am grateful for it.

This Last week has been Preparation for the Arrival of Elder Pearson. And Yesterday we were blessed to be able to hear from him. Of all the things he talked about I found that the subject of preparation was one that stood out to me the most, because i know that back at home I was never prepared fully for anything, and now because of that I am much more determined to be more prepared than ever before. I learned the steps of creating a Goal. You first start with;

1. Trust in the Lord. 

2. The Outcome - What you want to have happened and accomplished by the end. But most importantly is setting a date to achieve that Goal.

3. Challenges - Things that may stand in the way of achieving that goal

4. Resources - The skills and qualities that you have as well as other people that are around you

5.Detailed Plan - Using the resources that you have to overcome the challenges that you may face. Looking at it from different angles constantly trying to make improvements

6. Massive Action - Praying about the action to take and being determined to act on the answer you receive.

7.Leverage, or in other words a reason for doing it. And with most goals planned Love is the general motive.

Sorry for the no email last week but I was a bit under the weather.

This week was as I like to call the last three days an abundance of Two Dinners. Three or four times this last week we had members give us a dinner and then the next house we went to was dinner time as well. So I unfortunately may have to be rolled off my mission if this carries on.

Also another thing that happened this week, that seemed to have alerted almost all the "Older generation" in this ward was the announcement by the United States, and we attended a ward YSA gathering and this was brought up by the leaders. One thing that stood out to me was two different comments. The first being that as we get closer and closer to the second coming the more wicked and farther from God the world is getting. And the second was concerning equality. When these two things were said a scripture popped into my mind from Moses 7:18

This talks about How the Lord called his people Zion (In the Days of Noah) and they were of one heart and one mind. So as this scripture says, the closer we get to God the more Equality there will be. Henceforth if everyone knew and obeyed the Will of God then the World will be equal. Unfortunately that isn't going to happen until the millennium.

We also had a few run ins these last three weeks with religious debates of a sort. The first one was when we were on Trade Offs with the Zone Leaders. Mike is a Christian I wasnt too sure which denomination but me and Elder Goddard knocked on his door and he invited us in (Both of us at this time unaware that he just wanted to debate. We go in and a discussion starts. After a few slip ups on his part we dismissed ourselves with him having confessed that He believed that The Godhead was the true nature of God and then trying to cover himself multiple times.

He then called two days later and after a brief exchange of words both of us hung up.(havent heard from him since)

The second we have a return Appointment with. His pride and joy were the Pauline Epistles which he brought up frequently and then hastily dismissed when we brought up baptisms for the dead (1 Corinthians 15:29) the Three Kingdoms. (1 Corinthians 15:40-42). Hopefully we will be a little successful in bringing him about to a convincing of our words, which are the words of God. I liked this experience the most because it called for a time to be bold, and unwavering in the faith. During that time I can testify that I have never been more certain than any other time in my life.

Away from the encounters and on to the Investigators. Lennox is getting closer, she seems less nervous now which is always good. And she brought her cousin on Sunday, Jade who was a former investigator of ours. They were both asked a question concerning why they were there. Lennoxs answer didnt surprise me too much but Jade said that she felt drawn to it and she knew it was the right thing. Hopefully we can get her back on track as an investigator but if not we will leave it for others to reap the seeds we have sown.

The Atonement

24th June 2015

A short little something that I learned this week.

The Atonement is Universal and Eternal.

But He is our own personal Savior.

And It is only through Him that we can BECOME like our Heavenly Father

Miracles falling like the rain

15th June 2015

The song in my head this week has been the Baptism Medley. I love this song and it is such a great thing that has been able to be bought to pass. This week We have set two Baptismal Dates both for the 18th of July. Unfortunately we may not be able to go to one of the baptisms because they are moving to Ipswich this upcoming week, but the other is a miracle within our Zone and that is Lennox. We met her just over three weeks ago and the Lord has truly prepared the way for her. She is currently reading through the Book of Mormon, and we received a message today saying that she has written down a lot of questions, which is great for us because we get to teach her more!

As well as setting the baptism date with Leeana we also got to teach her parents the restoration.

Another Miracle this week was teaching Jack and Chantelle a young couple that are amazing people and eager to learn more as well, they also gave us suggestions on somewhere to eat.

Another small miracle, It actually rained!!!!!!!!!!!

Also Yesterday it looked like it was going to pour down on us, but during the prayer Elder Cooper (Capalaba) asked for the Sun to shine throughout the day. During that whole day from 10:30 through to 6:30 at night it didn't rain. Then at 7:00 the Heavens released themselves

Also our Final Miracle.....

The Creation of the Redland Bay Ward. So that is another Ward in the area. Which means that it is time to start working harder, because as Stake President Fell (Of the Cleveland Stake) Said, we don't want to wait 20 years for this to happen again.

I will finish this week with the Lyrics

I like to look for rainbows, whenever there is rain. And ponder on the beauty of an Earth made clean again. I want my life to be as clean as Earth right after rain. I want to be the best I can. And live with God again

Staying safe in the Rains of Forever Sunshine in the Queensland State

Hastening the work

 9th June 2015

This Week has just flown by and it helps that we have Elder Cooper who has less months than I have years left of his mission in the Flat. Our Flat contains the Cleveland and Capalaba ward Elders and we recieved exciting news on Sunday about a true hastening of the work.

These two wards are going to be split and made into a third ward, little knowledge on it at this point but we all(Us missionaries and ward members alike) have our guesses at what is going to happen. We are having a meeting this Sunday, much like the one that Lake and Deanwell had but this time it is for a NEW ward to be created. How great is that.

The people we are teaching at the moment vary in backgrounds but two specific ones I want to bring up is Lennox and Chantelle. Lennox is actually the cousin of another of our investigators and we have been teaching her at her cousins home. She is really receptive and understands what we have taught her so far. I taught the Plan Of Salvation Lesson to her and i used the Little Laminated plan that my mum prepared for me.

We had our first lesson with Chantelle just yesterday and my companion Elder Tupou taught with a little bit of my help the Restoration of the Gospel, we left her with a Book Of Mormon as well as the Restoration DVD for her and her partner to watch, we are hopefully going to be able to teach him Later tonight

Thank you all for your support

Letter on Arrival in Brisbane

Dear Fankhauser Family,

We are delighted to report that your son, Elder Fankhauser, arrived safely at the mission home in Brisbane, Australia!  Your son is an impressive man filled with the missionary spirit; we are thrilled that he will be serving with us in this great mission.  We will be watching over him in all his labors while he is here.  Elder Fankhauser has an excellent trainer, Elder Tupou, and they will learn much serving together in the Cleveland area of the Cleveland Zone.  

You should be receiving an email each week from your missionary, and he should be receiving one from you as well.  Though they are immersed in the work, they do miss home, and a loving letter from family is comforting and reassuring. We are grateful for your support of us and as an expression of our gratitude and appreciation, we have created a webpage for you to follow: australiabrisbanemission.com.  We will post pictures of our missionaries and will do our best to capture all that is happening in our mission; especially the missionaries' joys and successes as they labor in the Lord’s vineyard. As they email us pictures of their baptisms, we will post those as well.

We are so happy and humbled to be able to serve the Lord along with your son, Elder Fankhauser.  Great blessings are in store for not only your missionary, but family at home as well.  We know that you will experience marvelous blessings as you support your son while he serves the Lord honorably and obediently on his mission.  We pray for the Lord's blessings upon you, your missionary and his other loved ones.

Love,

President & Sister Henderson | Australia Brisbane Mission