Baby Shower Fanatics

Hello friends and family! Hope your week has been amazing! I hope you have been enjoying nice warm weather because wow it has been cold here! We had one warm day and I was like yes this is the perfect temperature….then it got super cold again! We are all huddled around our little heater in the morning. I want to give a shout out to all the mountain bikers who are racing during these next couple weeks! I don’t miss those races, but I do miss flying down rush at mach 10 haha.

Weekly Australian things:

-Windows are weird. There is a window, but no screen that you can see. If you want to open the window you pull the window up and the screen comes up from below and takes the place of the window. It was like magic the first time I opened the window haha.

-There is no pay at the pump gas stations. So you have to go in and pay every time you fill up gas! Kinda annoying! And they are called servos. 

-Carrots and blueberries are insanely good along with mandarin oranges fresh off the tree! Best oranges I have ever had and will ever have haha.

-Sometimes at a big intersection people cross the street diagonally, and I still can't figure out if that is illegal or not here.

-There is a 13th grade here! Can’t imagine having another year of high school haha. We can’t talk to anyone younger than 18 because of weird Australian rules so I haven't had the chance to ask many details about 13th grade.

-And some more Aussie slang- heaps, cheers, and good egg. Slowly picking up these words. I am going to come back and will say things and get laughed at because sometimes the vocab is just so random!

Got lots more fun random Aussie things for next week! I wish I could put them all on one email, but it would make it way too long! 

Ok so this week started out pretty hard and was really rough, but it got better as the week went on! Nothing crazy happened, but there were a lot of little funny things that happened! 

-Snoring. My goodness my companion can snore like a train haha. I luckily brought ear plugs because I had a feeling one of my companions would snore. And sure enough my first companion snores like thunder. I am surprised the windows aren't breaking with the noise. Sometimes he will lay down during language study and then within like 2 minutes he is snoring up a storm, and it makes it hard to focus on studying.

-Handstand! So I did my first handstand this week! All my friends who know how inflexible or incapable of this incredible feat would be so proud haha. It was for Family Home Evening. One of the things was to do a handstand in the mall. No one could in my group, and I wanted to win so I was like someone grab my legs and push me up. So I guess it wasn't a real handstand, but hey it made for some funny pictures! And I think it counts! 

-American accent! Sometimes Australians tell me that they can tell I am new to Australia because of my thick American accent. I wasn't really worried about my American accent, but I might have to start working on gaining an Australian accent so I don't seem like a new missionary my whole mission haha.  

-They have this weird sport called footie and I am getting pretty good at throwing the ball haha. It is so weird to see them play it, and the rules blow my mind.

-Working out has been great! I haven't done so many pushups and no cardio haha. I went from so much cardio every week to like no cardio and it's just weird haha.

-We have to text a lot of Chinese people so I am getting good at texting in Chinese and using Chinese lingo and slang to sound like I am a native speaker. It is pretty epic to be texting everything in Chinese now! I am learning their slang.  When I say it they will laugh and shake their heads that a white guy is speaking Chinese and using their slang haha. They all call me an egg. I wont get into the details of what this means, but it pretty much means that I look like an American, but inside I truly am an Asian! I love the Chinese people so much and it has been so fun to talk everyday in Chinese to them! My 12 years of training is paying off! Thank you to all my past Chinese teachers! 

-Quote of the week from my Chinese companion….”When I was a kid I thought air was free, until I bought a bag of chips” He had opened a bag of chips and made this comment after the bag had like 5 chips and the rest was air haha. He was like wow that was some expensive air haha.

-Ok for some reason my companion thought it would be a good opportunity to go to a baby gender reveal party for one of the members in the ward and talk to the non members there. I was very skeptical and did not want to go because I thought it would be a waste of time, but he wouldn't change his mind. We got there and like no joke it was the most decked out baby shower or gender reveal party I have ever seen! Like how many decorations does one little unborn baby need haha. I saw food and then my heart softened a little bit. My companion then decides to sit in the corner because there are too many people. I was like did I just hear you right? To many people? This is a party for crying out loud haha. I guess he is a country boy. My other companion said to him, “Well your wedding will be empty then if you don't like parties.” Haha. I felt like the genie in Aladdin. Aladdin doesn't like the party and the genie tells him “I have been stuck in a lamp for the last thousand years. And this is a party. I like parties. Don't you ruin my party” I personally like parties and was excited to go talk to as many people as possible, but my companion would not join me so I couldn’t. Ughhhh. But the next part gets even better. They decide to play games before they reveal the baby's gender. I was like let's get the show on the road and find out what everyone came here to find out. But oh no we had to play some little games. I thought oh good I wont be called on because I am in the back and am a missionary. But as it turns out missionaries can get called on to do anything at any time haha. I was not happy to be selected…I along with 8 other people had to put a balloon under our jacket and see who could tie their shoes the fastest. Let's just say it was not the most enjoyable experience! I probably looked grumpy on the stage haha.

Ok now for some more missionary focused thoughts haha. Just so many little funny things this week! 

-Cool experience finding on the streets! We are street contacting for like 2 hours in the biggest mall in the city. And wow did we have success! Like incredible blessings! I don't want to take any credit away from the Lord so I wont say anything else, but we were blessed! The coolest experience was when I told my companion that we should go talk to this guy on a bench. But he got up and walked away before we even got close. I was sad because I felt like we should talk to him. Then no joke like 3 minutes later we see him walking back toward us and set his bag on a bench to put something in. I was like oh look that guy again. We walked up and I introduced myself…and long story short he was a Chinese guy and through my broken Chinese (because I was nervous and excited) I taught him a little about the plan of salvation and got his number and we ended up teaching him the next day! He seems really interested! It is cool how the Lord can make up for my bad Chinese, and how he led me to this new friend. We were on exchanges so I wasn't with my Chinese companion to help me out so I had all the pressure of talking in Chinese. We also found another Chinese guy, and the Lord helped my Chinese be perfect in this conversation! Like it was crazy! I was on cloud 9 after. We gave him a Chinese BOM and he wanted to have help understanding it along with the bible! So hopefully we can meet with him at the time he said he could meet! It was a very fruitful day and I loved using my Chinese to talk to God's children on the streets of Adelaide Australia! So awesome and so happy that all my hard work learning the Chinese language is paying off and with the help of the Lord I am able to communicate effectively! 

-This week was a time for reflection and I learned a lot and really want to set some good goals! However, I just want to say wow a mission is so important and incredible! I can now see why everyone comes back saying that if you have even a desire to serve, SERVE! I have begun to realize that a mission is not only about converting other people, but it’s about converting yourself! My wise Asian companion said “A mission is what turns you into a man or woman”. And it’s so true! Like the experiences I am having are going to affect me the rest of my life. Some days are soooooo hard! Like I can't even describe! Other days are some of the best days of my life! I come out of teaching a lesson and am just filled with joy and the spirit from teaching about Jesus! It is a joy I have never experienced before! The joy of finding someone new to teach! The joy of helping others find joy! It is incredible! But most of all I, myself, am becoming converted fully to my Savior Jesus Christ! The testimony and foundation I am gaining is going to help me the rest of my life! If anything good comes out of my mission it will be the fact that I have gained an unshakable testimony of my Savior and come to know Him personally! Missions teach you how to rely on Him like never before! Missions teach you how much joy there is in living the gospel! I didn't think a mission would change me much, but oh how it is changing me in so many ways that I love. However, the changing and stretching hurt sometimes! Lots of sacrifice! I have a great day and I am like missions are awesome. Then the next day is insanely hard, but in the end the joy I am feeling makes it all worth it. It is the joy of being so close to my Savior and feeling His love for me! And the testimony of things I am gaining is just incredible! So I invite you, if you have any desire to serve, go and serve, even if it is for the selfish desire of helping yourself come unto Christ haha. 

Spiritual thought:

My thoughts will be short and random this week. 

What is the meaning of love? This is a question asked by millions of people haha. And I found my answer. Love=sacrifice. In John 15:13 Jesus taught “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” So what is true love? It can be defined as one word: sacrifice. Heavenly Father loved the world so much that He gave (sacrificed) His only begotten Son for us! Jesus loved us so much that He came down to earth and performed the atoning sacrifice that allows us to live with Him again! Jesus was the ultimate example of love and sacrifice! When things get hard I remind myself “How much do I love my Savior?” Do I love Him enough to keep pressing forward and finding more souls to bring unto Him. It helps sometimes to think that Christ suffered for me, and now it's my time to suffer for Him. Love is a powerful thing and I think sacrifice really sums up what love should be. Love in marriage is sacrificing things for your spouse. Sacrificing your own needs, wants, time, and desires for your spouse. But most of all we should all be able to sacrifice things for our Savior. Sometimes it is hard, but if we truly love Him we will be able to do the things He asks of us…

I also had an idea to set goals for myself based off of the 5 temple covenants! Could be a cool idea for anyone who would want to try also! 

And the last thing was a cool connection that was made this week between two scriptures…

It was about being converted to the Lord! Remember in this day and age it is not enough to have a testimony we must be converted! 

In the vision of the tree of life there are many groups that make it to the tree and partake of the fruit. It has fascinated me to see what the differences were in these groups. The biggest thing I wanted to figure out was the difference between the group that partook of the fruit and then fell away and the group that partook of fruit and stayed converted and true to Jesus Christ. It is in I Nephi 8: 24-36. I noticed that one group casually partook of the fruit. This could symbolize going through the motions or just not really putting much thought or effort into what they were doing. They had made it to the tree and partook of the fruit, but that wasn't enough. It is the same with us. We may have felt the spirit or partaken of the fruit of the gospel. But it is what we do next that matters! It is what we do with that knowledge! The other group is almost identical to the group that fell away. There is only one big difference in the verses. The group that did not fall away was the group that fell down at the tree and partook of the fruit….so these people understood what the fruit meant and they fell down. This shows them being humble and how they truly feel about our Savior. It made me think “Do I fall down at my Savior's feet and humble myself and partake of the fruits of the gospel?” I think it is a good question to all ask ourselves. Then I read in 3 Nephi 11:16-17 that when the Savior came to the Americas the people did a certain thing. They fell down at the feet of Jesus, and did worship Him. So we must be humble and fall down at his feet and give all credit and pride to Him. We must give Him our whole souls! We must be converted to our Savior! I invite each one of you to be more converted to Him! Sacrifice our “favorite sins” and give them up! Sacrifice the things that are holding you back from feeling the Saviors full love! This is His gospel and I challenge you to always be partaking of the sweet joyous fruit of His gospel! The mission is helping me know without a shadow of a doubt that our Savior knows each one of us and loves us beyond anything we can imagine! He lives to love and guide us! Have a great week! 

Here is the link to the pictures! 

https://photos.app.goo.gl/7U5KDboA39qpotko6

Also so grateful for my keyboard to type this all compared to using a phone haha. 

Have a great week! Love you all! Keep pressing forward with faith!

Until next week! :)

-zhang zhanglao (Elder Jones)