Another Classic Week Down Under
Hey friends and family! Hope everyone's week has been just splendid! I am guessing the weather is starting to get cool and the leaves are starting to turn! Enjoy it! Meanwhile, it's starting to warm up a little bit over here! And the spiders are coming out. I wake up and the grass outside is covered in spider webs and literally everything has some sort of spider web on it haha. And it's only going to get worse.
Fun Australian things:
-The rules of the road are so weird…some streets you can cross diagonally. So like all traffic stops and you just walk diagonally across the intersection.
-The stop lights aren't overhead like in America, they are on the sides of the road so it is hard to tell what stoplight is meant for what thing.
-The speed tracker things are just crazy. I hear crazy stories every week where someone goes 5km over the speed limit and they get a 1000 dollar fine!
-I was driving in a car at night and then there was a massive flash across the road. And my companion was like oh the car in front of us just got “flashed” which means that the speed camera took a picture of the car and they will be getting a big fat ticket in a couple of days haha. The technology behind this whole speed camera system is insane!
-Stink worms are the worst. Somehow they always get in our flat, and if you kill them they stink up the whole place. So you have to dispose of them outside.
Next week, I will explain a crazy Australian animal that everyone keeps talking about haha.
Some highlights of this week:
-I can see the ocean from the 7th floor of our church building! Fun to see the sunsets over the beautiful ocean! And the small boats in the distance! Australia is so beautiful!!
-Last p day was really fun! We played basketball for like 3 hours straight! Somehow, I am almost back to my dunking abilities…so close but yet so far haha.
-Getting the hang of street contacting. I can pretty much walk up to any stranger now. There are some crazy people in the city. But I am a Book of Mormon handing out machine. Somehow I can convince people to take a free book and read it.
-I guess in Chinese culture you always do business over dinner. So we are having at least 2 meals a week where we meet up with someone at a restaurant for dinner. So that is fun. I was struggling to use chopsticks and Elder Hung said it was so painful to watch me try and eat and he wished he could just feed me instead of watching my futile attempts haha. I was like I need more practice. I need to buy chopsticks. Our friend heard that and said, “Just ask the restaurant staff.” I said, “No, that's ok.” He said, "Oh no, just ask and they will give them to you.” He called them over and made me ask. Long story short they just said I could take them with me! So I got a free pair of nice chopsticks from a Chinese restaurant haha.
-I went on exchanges this week and knocked a lot of doors! Always hoping for someone friendly to open the door haha. It is always a mystery to see who is behind the door! Kinda scary sometimes, but by the end it was getting fun!
-We had some guy take us to play pool in a bar with all these war veterans! They were insane at pool and helped my pool game so I am pretty much a pro at pool now haha. You know they are serious when they bring their own pool sticks and gloves and everything.
-Learning more Chinese courtesy. I did two things this week that were not very courteous. Somehow, after 12 years of learning their culture, I still don't know everything about it haha. It was fun to just laugh it off and remember not to do those things again…
-Picked some fresh lemons off a lemon tree! And the parks in Adelaide are just gorgeous! So incredible! All the trees here are just massive!!
-Talking Chinese puts me on cloud 9 every time! Chinese people are always shocked when I can speak Chinese haha.
-Bus finding is fun! The Lord really helped me and showed me some cool miracles with finding people on the bus! The Lord is willing to work through you when you are ready to put in the work and have faith in Him!
-The city I guess is one of the most dangerous areas in the mission haha. We are dealing with a big problem right now and its been a crazy last couple days! The mission president and everyone is getting involved! We had the area general seventy come to church at the branch yesterday along with the whole stake presidency! Crazy! The sisters got a call from the mission president to pack their bags because they have to leave the city immediately! I guess the danger is too great. Everything is getting out of control and we don't really know what is happening haha! Really devastating to see the sisters go. There is always something exciting happening. The thrill of some danger always puts some adrenaline pumping through you haha.
-I don't know if any of my friends remember my purple hands, but this week they came back and I was making smiley faces on it and all the Elders and Sisters were very concerned for me haha. They were like you need to see a doctor and they were about to call, but I convinced them I was fine haha. Funny stuff!
Sometimes the mission can be so boring or just routine but sometimes it is so crazy! It is always the extremes!
Spiritual Thought!!
If no one in the world believed in the gospel or Jesus Christ anymore, would you still believe?
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland taught, “Some blessings come soon, some come late, and some don’t come until heaven; but for those who embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ, they come.”
We all must be reconciled with Christ! When we sin, we distance ourselves from our Loving Savior! The word reconcile in Latin means to sit down again with someone or something…so when we repent it is like we are sitting down besides Christ again ready for His divine help and strength!
My companion, Elder Hung, and I had a deep conversation about faith and being converted to Jesus Christ. We help a lot of atheist people come to believe there is a God. Or people believe there is a God, but are searching for what God and what church does that God support. We came to a conclusion that we must really build faith in Jesus Christ. He is truly the foundation of everything! Through Jesus Christ we can make it back to Heavenly Fathers presence! That is why we say “in the name of Jesus Christ amen” at the end of our prayers. It shows through Christ we can eventually make it back to our Heavenly Fathers presence! Helaman 5:12 reminds us to build our foundation upon Christ and then we cannot fall no matter how strong the temptations or winds of the adversary are!
Faith is the key to excellence! The powers of heaven are governed by faith! We need to cultivate more faith in our Savior! Faith precedes any miracle we are praying or hoping for! We must always remember that we have “power given to do all things by faith”. Miracles are happening and still happen in our day and age! President Nelson has reminded us that we will see the greatest manifestations of the Savior’s power in the coming days! We must look for those manifestations of that power. We will see it flow into our lives as we exercise faith! Faith is an action so we must show God, and put forth effort in doing things that require faith! Now we must always remember that we must trust in the Lord in all things! Sometimes our miracles or prayers are not answered in the way we hope for! Elder Holland gives a great talk called “Waiting on the Lord”…go read it! It's all about having faith in the Lord's timing of blessings! We have to trust in God’s will even if we don't understand it! Sometimes it can be very hard!
https://www.
Faith in Jesus Christ is so important! And that is what we are trying to really drive home to our friends! Faith in Jesus Christ is the motivating power in all of our lives! Please take time to learn more about Him and the power He can bring into your life! And oh how He can bring power if you have faith and trust in Him with ALL things!
“The Lord hath redeemed my soul from hell; I have beheld his glory, and I am encircled about eternally in the arms of his love” (2 Nephi 1:15) Ohhh how I cant wait for the moment when I can run to my Savior and give Him a hug and feel his embrace! It will be the most precious thing ever…take a moment to ponder what it will be like to see our Savior Jesus Christ again. What will you say? What would He say to you? And most of all what will it be like to look up into His eyes and know you are hugging the person that suffered and died for you, carried you through your entire life, was there for you through every high and low, and loves you beyond anything you can imagine, and has made it possible for you to return to His and the Fathers presence again!
Jesus Christ is the gatekeeper of Heaven and employeth no servant there (2 Nephi 9:41) and is waiting with
outstretched arms for a hug from you! Now is the time to prepare!
Here is one last quote… I was sent this quote last week and it really hit home.
"I do not know why we have the mini trials that we have, but it is my personal feeling that the reward is so great, so eternal and everlasting. We may feel to say to our merciful, loving Father, “Was that all that was required?“ I believe that if we could daily remember, and recognize the depth of that love, our Heavenly Father and our Savior have for us, we would be willing to do anything to be back in their presence again, surrounded by their love eternally. What will it matter, what we suffered here if, in the end, those trials are the very things which qualify us for eternal life and exaltation in the kingdom of God, with our father and Savior?“
Here are the pictures for this week! I thought I didn't have a lot this week but somehow I do haha. I wish everyone the best week and I invite everyone to keep making Jesus Christ part of your daily life! Love you all!
https://photos.app.goo.gl/
zaijian!
-zhang zhanglao (Elder Jones)
Comments
Post a Comment