Rough Week

Good day everyone!! Hope life has been going great and everyone is doing well! Hope school is going well for those that are in school! Not missing the drama that I am sure is happening right now hahaha. But at the same time the drama was pretty fun sometimes. This week was really hard! One of my companions got sick so we just had to sit at the flat a lot. Or we just couldn't do much and so I got really homesick not doing anything and had only my thoughts to keep me company! Truly work is the best thing to do on a mission! I love to work and I wish we could be working harder! Both my companions are addicted to facebook. They would rather sit on facebook all day then work hard, and I am about to blow my brains out! Transfers are this week so hopefully whatever happens I will end up working twice as hard as I have been currently! I just love work and it frustrates me when we are not going 100 miles per hour working for the Lord! Every minute is precious and not to be wasted! It is so hard for me to be patient haha. 

And guess what!? Transfers were yesterday and I have been assigned to be a zone leader over our zone. So I will be able to work hard now! So excited for this opportunity! But that means weekly emails will be smaller since I will be soooo busy haha. 

Random Australian things!

-Everyone wears flip flops around the flat because there is always an occasional stink worm or spider on the ground. There are small little spiders everywhere!! 

-Drop bears! These are a famed Australian animal haha. They are a vicious koala looking animal. However, they have massive claws and everything! They live in the trees and then drop and attack animals and people! There are videos I have been shown of these drop bears waiting on roofs and then dropping onto people when they walk past. They target the eyes and just pretty much maul you. Go look up videos of drop bears attacks. Hoax or real?

-”I shout” means I will pay for you. Literally no one will say I will buy you dinner. Or can you buy that for me? It is always can you shout me dinner? Or I will shout you that candy bar. It is so funny and I am totally saying it without a second thought haha.

-Every Australian person I meet has a different personality and accent. Similar to how American accents are based on geographic location. Like the southern vs the western vs the eastern accent. In Australia it's the same way! Adelaide's accent sounds the most like a British accent. Fun stuff!

Like I said, this week was really slow and nothing much or crazy happened…here are some of the random things I thought of…

-I turned my phone language into Chinese so that is fun!

-All our friends went on vacation so not many lessons this week which added to the depressing week.

-Getting stronger from working out literally every morning! Running around in circles in our backyard to get some kind of cardio in.

-We went and played laser tag on p day! So much fun! The Jones family is renowned for being insane at laser tag and sure enough I upheld that tradition! Somehow I destroyed everyone even though I haven't played laser tag in years haha. 

-A Chinese guy we met was so shocked I could speak Chinese so well that he took a video of me speaking Chinese! It was so funny! He literally could not believe his ears or eyes that a little white boy was speaking Chinese so well haha. He was on vacation and will meet with the missionaries back at his home haha! So it was a success! I am like a secret weapon the Lord has to stop the Chinese people and make them talk with us because they want to see me talk in Chinese haha. It always piques their interest.

-Made some banger salads this week.

-My companion has no concept of germs (sorry for the gory details, but like he blows his nose with his hands then touches me) so I can't believe I am not sick already! Major blessing! He does wear a mask, but that doesn't make up for all the other germs he spreads. 

-One companion was sick and the other doesn't like to talk much or only when he has to, so I barely spoke this week. Like one day I may have said a total of 10 words haha. So for someone who loves talking/interacting with people, this week was absolutely brutal.

-Missions are hard but good. 

Spiritual Thought!!

Here is a good scripture that made me think this week!

Jacob 3:1-2 “Look unto God with firmness of mind, and pray unto him with exceeding faith, and he will console you in your afflictions, and he will plead your cause, and send down justice upon those who seek your destruction…lift up your heads and receive the pleasing word of God, and feast upon his love; for ye may, if your minds are firm, forever.

What does having a firm mind mean? In Alma 57:27 it also talks about having a firm mind… “Now this was the faith of these of whom I have spoken; and they are young, and their minds are firm, and they do put their trust in God continually.” This is referring to the stripling warriors. Having a firm mind is having faith in Jesus Christ as our Savior and Redeemer! The stripling warriors did just that and look at the outcome they had! They were protected against all odds! I invite everyone to have a more firm mind! Increase your faith and like President Nelson always says “own your testimony”. I challenge you to strengthen your testimony of Jesus Christ in any way you can!!

Here is a suggestion!

Jacob 4:6 “Wherefore, we search the prophets (general conference), and we have many revelations (personal revelation) and the spirit of prophecy (the spirit guiding, directing, and testifying to us); and having all these witnesses we obtain a hope, and our faith becometh unshaken, insomuch that we truly can command in the name of Jesus and the very trees obey us, or the mountains, or the waves of the sea.” 

Faith is powerful! Growing our faith and gaining a witness for ourselves is by studying the prophets, gaining personal revelation, the spirit, and the scriptures! Once again, faith is powerful! Powerful enough to work miracles!! God works by our faith! Now miracles sometimes seem improbable or hard to comprehend. Jacob gives this sound logic in Jacob 4:9 “For behold, the power of his word man came upon the face of the earth, which earth was created by the power of his word. Wherefore, if God being able to speak and the world was, and to speak and man was created, O then, why not able to command the earth, or the workmanship of his hands upon the face of it, according to his will and pleasure!” 

By our faith, and according to God’s will we can see miracles in our lives! Faith is the power behind so many blessings! We must have faith that God will bless us and as He sees our faith and when we put forth effort (because faith is an action) we will see miracles in our lives! Our prophet has asked us to seek and expect miracles in our lives!

The Bible dictionary gives a good definition of miracles! I have found the bible dictionary very helpful in explaining some simple, but important gospel topics like miracles, prayers, and so on. It explains these big concepts simply! Very nice! One line says “Miracles were and are a response to faith and its best encouragement. They are never wrought without prayer, need, and faith…Miracles are a part of the gospel of Jesus Christ.” Sometimes it is hard to recognize the everyday miracles! Sometimes we get caught up in the one time big miracles that happen every once in a while! We should be looking for daily miracles! I heard a suggestion once about a miracle jar. I have started my miracle jar. Get a jar (mine was a peanut butter jar) and then put it on your nightstand or next to your bed. Then get small slips of paper and a pencil. Every night after or before you say your prayers, think back through the day and find a mini miracle that happened, then write it down and put it in your jar! As you begin to think about where the Lord has helped you in your life, you will start to recognize His hand more often! And then maybe you can express gratitude for that miracle in your prayer! It doesn't have to be big! Just something where you saw the Lord's hand in your life! And if you look for His hand you will see it in the details of your life! In 1 Nephi 1:20 it says “I will show unto you that the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith, to make them mighty even unto the power of deliverance.” This is so true! He has chosen us! Tender mercies. If we have faith, then we can have the power to be delivered or strengthened in whatever we may be experiencing in our life currently! If the word miracles carries too big of a connotation, then use the word tender mercies and write down tender mercies you saw throughout your day! I promise as you look for these miracles/tender mercies, you will be shocked to see how many are in your daily life! How long will it take before bed to write down one tender mercy you saw during the day? Maybe all of 5 seconds! But its impacts will be greater than 5 seconds haha. Just a fun thought! When I get back, I want to see your jars!!  

The world does not want us to acknowledge God or that God has the power to help us! It is crazy to see so many atheists in the world! We must pray and ask God for help and He will help us in His own time and way! He will never leave you! He is always there with open arms ready to help and guide you! We must remember to pray and ask! He is our loving Father and we are His children! Talk with Him! “The object of prayer is not to change the will of God but to secure for ourselves and for others blessings that God is already willing to grant but that are made conditional on our asking for them. Blessings require some work or effort on our part before we can obtain them. Prayer is a form of work and is an appointed means for obtaining the highest of all blessings”

Love this thought on prayer! Pray for those miracles and tender mercies! Make Jesus Christ more part of your life and daily routine! And most of all strive for the spirit! Once you feel the spirit, you will have a witness that this gospel is all true and all other questions or doubts can take a backseat because you know that the spirit has testified to you that it is all true! No one can tell you that you haven't felt the spirit. It is a feeling that is undeniable! Seek for it and seek for the spirit’s guidance in your life! 

That's all for this week! Love you all! Miss you all! Keep living life and having an absolute party!! 

Here is the link to a couple pictures…not too many this week sadly so enjoy the few! :(

https://photos.app.goo.gl/YFecXwBw72oEX4HS9

Until next time

-zhang zhanglao (Elder Jones)