A Good Normal Week Of Hard Work

你好！哈喽啊！Hellooo! Hope everyone is doing just swell this week! I am guessing it is getting colder and the leaves are turning colors! I miss biking through those leaves! Enjoy the fall time weather and sights while they last! 


This week was great! It wasn't as filled with crazy stories as last week. It was just filled with lots of hard work and daily grinding! Really getting into a routine and the weeks are starting to go by faster! The days seem really long because we fit so much into them, but the weeks go by fast! 


Fun Australian things:
-So the Australians are really into their sweet chili. Don't know what it is haha. They love to eat chips (french fries) by dipping them into sweet chili! Then they love to put sweet chili into their cream cheese. Interesting flavor mashup, but it works. Fun times!
-Porkie, fardinkum, yous, goodonya. These are all fun Australian phrases that I hear and say on a regular basis haha. 
-Instead of “Can I give you a call later?” Australians say “Can I give you a ring later?”
-Sometimes there are protests in the city on Friday or Saturday! Kinda crazy! Some really crazy people. 


Alright, some highlights for the week!


-Hours upon hours of walking up and down Rundle mall finding souls to invite unto Christ! I have the craziest conversations sometimes! So many atheists and buddhists haha. Get shut down left and right. I said to my companion, “Man when I get back from the mission and ask for a girl's number and she says no, I won't even feel a sting. I will just move right along haha.” It is so funny to talk and hear everyone’s various viewpoints on religion! Some are very nice and some not so nice. 


-Had a drunk guy come up and start swearing and hanging his arm all over me while I was trying to talk to someone else. So that was nice. 


-Best moment of the week…I was talking to a Chinese guy and gave him a Book of Mormon. He was going back to China so he will take it with him. By the end of our conversation, he was like “can I give you a hug?” Then proceeded to give me a hug haha. I was so shocked. Usually people are running away from us because they don't want to talk with us. And this guy gave me a hug! Made my day. My companion felt left out because he didn't know what was going on in the conversation because it was all in Chinese. But when he saw me get a hug he asked for a hug from that guy also haha. It was so funny. The guy was just handing out free hugs that day! 


-Learning or maybe guessing everyones birthdays hehe ;) (if you know you know)


-Met Americans for the first time in Rundle mall. And we talked about basketball which made my day!


-Got new Chinese name tags that are in simplified Chinese!


-I love how shocked the Chinese people are when I just suddenly start speaking in Chinese! They take a step back in shock. Or they are like "wait, what did you just say?" Or the best is when they just respond in Chinese without skipping a beat then realize that I had just spoken Chinese!


-Our neighbors from Sri Lanka invited us over for their birthday! And they had ordered pizza and so I got to chow down on pizza which was sooo good! I haven’t had pizza in so long! Made my week!


-Saw a couple bats this week!


-There is a shop we walk past everyday. In the store windows it has massive muffins. I am waiting for my birthday and then I will splurge and buy myself a muffin! 


-Felt the spirit a lot this week! It was amazing! The coolest was when we showed a video about Jesus to a stranger off the streets who had come up into the branch. After the video ended he said, “Whoa, I feel so good, I feel so much peace, I feel something that I have never felt before!” My companion and I were more than happy to help him understand what that feeling was. Just so cool how a simple video of Jesus can bring the spirit! 


Spiritual thought time!

-I love the sunflower analogy! A sunflower turns to face the sun, as the sun moves throughout the day. Then during the night it moves to where the sun will return! We must look unto God everyday! We must follow Him and turn our heads to His light and love! A sunflower knows where it can receive light, warmth, and nourishment from….the sun! We know where we must turn for light, love, warmth, and nourishment…our Savior Jesus Christ!! Let us turn to Him!

-Make time for the Lord! It is hard sometimes, but oh so worth it! Read the Book of Mormon with an intent to apply what it teaches! Don't read to read! Actually do something about what you know! 


You can't hang around the church and expect or hope to gain a testimony! It’s not like osmosis haha. You can't just put the Book of Mormon on your face and fall asleep and then expect to wake up and be a changed person from all the teachings! It takes focus and determination! Jesus Christ invites us to do and to be! There is a big difference between a to do list and a to be list. The “to be’s” should be behind our “to do’s”. The gospel of Jesus Christ is a gospel of becoming! To “be”come a new person! Think of commandments or assignments in the church as less of to do’s but more of to be’s. These things help you become! Reading scriptures and prayers are helping you to “be”come the person the Savior wants you to be! 


In the end, we must remember the final words of Moroni “Come unto Christ, and BE perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace (I might substitute grace for the enabling power of Christ atonement) sufficient for you, that by his grace (enabling power) ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace (enabling power) of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God. If ye by the grace (enabling power) of God are perfect in Christ, and deny not his power, then are ye sanctified in Christ by the grace (enabling power) of God, through the shedding of the blood of Christ, which is in the covenant of the Father unto the remission of your sins, that ye become holy without spot.” And remember that the word perfect in Chinese means to be “beautifully complete.” So when you try your hardest and still come up short, just know that you can turn to Christ and His enabling power to help you “be”come the person He knows you can be! 


Some last final thoughts…

-If you can't stand any more then try kneeling. If you can't stand the pressure and hardships of your life then try getting on your knees and bringing your loving Heavenly Father into your life! 

-Living in the church isn't supposed to be stressful, it's supposed to be cheerful! Find the joy that is intended for this life! 


I have been in awe and pondered a lot about how blessed we are to know what we know as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints! We have found the truth! We have found the light! We have found eternal life! We should be more grateful and in awe of how blessed we are! So many people are without this light and joy and knowledge! It is so sad and we take the knowledge we have for granted! I invite each of you to take a moment to ponder what you know and what difference it makes! Don't be ashamed of what we know! Take the time to share the gospel! It's better to offend a friend then deny him the opportunity for eternal life! What we know is incredible! The world lacks this joy and knowledge! 


If you believe and know that this gospel is true then act on that belief! Belief is not good enough nowadays! Do something about it! If you know it is true then seek and expect miracles! If you know it’s true then follow what the prophet and apostles are telling us to do! If you know it's true then what can you sacrifice to show that you know it is true! Come unto the Savior! He is waiting with open arms! We have the memory of our past life with Heavenly Father and our Savior embedded in our souls! Don't take that memory for granted! This life is short! Every thought and action will be brought to judgment! I feel an urgency in the work! Most of the world is blinded from the things that truly matter! 


Let us remember what we know! It is truly incredible! And if we truly know, what changes will you make in your thoughts and actions because of the simple fact that you truly know that Jesus Christ is your Savior…


I love you all! But most of all, I know that your Loving Heavenly Father and Savior love you! 


Here are the few pictures from this week….https://photos.app.goo.gl/Q6jYefEJWRx4PkQ78


Love you all!
-zhangzhanglao (Elder Jones)
















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