Mmmm Kangaroo Meat

Good day everyone! Hope everyone has a splendid week! Big news! This week I decided to try some new Australian food! I bought a kilogram of kangaroo meat at Woolies last week! And I made some roo salad! It was really good! I am a fan of kangaroo meat! I will be sad when I come back from a mission and I won’t have the option to buy kangaroo meat at the local grocery store.



Fun Australian things!

-Busking! The busking is getting crazy in Rundle mall! Anyone who remotely has some musical talent comes to this mall and just sets up a hat and starts to play! Some crazy instruments and some crazy voices :) There are now kids setting up pots and pans and playing drums with them…it sounded pretty good! There were people dressed up as cows and playing the trumpets! Funny stuff!

-Kolas come out and find water or get in cars for the air conditioning and wont get out! I guess it gets so hot that they will do anything to get cool haha.

-Pigeons! There are soooo many pigeons all over! They are aggressive and not afraid of humans! I have just never seen so many pigeons in my life.

-Temperature changes! The weather here is just crazy! One day it was about 75 degrees. Nice weather! The next day it was 106!! Not joking! It was mega hot! And then the very next day it was 75 again and then the next day it was in the 50/60s and I had to put my jacket back on! Like how does the weather go from 75 to 106 in one day!?! I put a short sleeve shirt on for the first time since coming here on the 106 degree day, but then I am back to wearing long sleeves haha. 

-Lot of cockroaches at night time! Big massive ones! And bats! And the spiders are coming out big time! Massive webs all over the place! I am finding spiders all over my flat now! I vacuumed up 3 while I was cleaning haha. As long as they stay stuck in the vacuum, I am a happy guy! 

-Australians are honkers! They love to honk their horns! If you are a second late on a green light there is a honk! 



Highlights from the week!

-We met a random Chinese guy on a bus last week and talked to him for literally 1 minute! He invited us to his flat for dinner! So we went to his flat.  He and his flat mate made us dinner! It was authentic Chinese food! Very tasty! They made us shrimp, spicy chicken, and chicken wings that were soaked in coca-cola and soy sauce. Very interesting! Fun times though! We start talking and find out that one of them is studying winery in college. He opens a mini fridge and it is packed with wine! He pulls out a wine bottle and asks if we want some haha. He points to his patio and it is filled with 50 bottles of wine that he had drank the past couple months. I looked at my companion and we shared a look like oh boy. But I was not deterred. We left a Chinese Book of Mormon with them hehe! Just a funny story! The Chinese people are just so nice and friendly! Like who would invite someone over to dinner after meeting them on the bus for just 1 minute!?! 

-We are teaching a homeless man. He called us and was so excited to tell us that he found a house! So funny interacting with nice homeless people!

-We found 11 new people this week! Hopefully 1 of those people will turn into someone who becomes really interested! And 8 of those people were found during the 106 degree day haha.

-Handed out a lot of copies of the Chinese Book of Mormon this week!

-It is crazy how atheist Australians are!  

-We have a baptism for our friend Robert this week! Super excited and the whole baptism will be done in Chinese! We have everything planned and are just waiting for this Saturday! Robert is a special soul! I have really enjoyed teaching him! The coolest thing is that one of our Chinese friends who got baptized a month ago will be the one to baptize Robert! So special! 

-My companion has decided to learn Chinese! So that has been interesting to say the least! He also wants to move to China after the mission. 


Spiritual thought:

遵守接命-This means to keep the commandments in Chinese. When you break down the characters it means “to keep the commandments is to defend yourself” Defend yourself from what? Defend yourself from everything that is striving to drive you away from the safety of Jesus Christ! 

-Something that has come up this week has been the quote and saying salvation is an individual matter, and exaltation is a family matter. Elder Christofferson said, “The sealing power makes individual salvation and family exaltation universally available to the children of God.” Think about this and what it means to you and your family!

-Elder Oaks said “When we give thanks, we see hardships and adversities in the context of the purpose of life. We are sent here to be tested. There must be opposition in all things. We are meant to learn and grow through that opposition, through meeting our challenges and through teaching others to do the same.”

- In 2 Nephi 2:2 it says “He (God) shall consecrate thine afflictions for thy gain” We must go through hard to experience good! The hard times shape us into the person God wants us to be. We have to go through hard times to gain the character of Christ. And Christs promises that He will be there for us as we change and experience hardship! In D/C 98:3 it states “Therefore, he giveth this promise unto you, with an immutable covenant that they shall be fulfilled; and all things wherewith you have been afflicted shall work together for your good, and to my name’s glory, saith the Lord.” Many times in life it is hard and at the moment we do not think the trial or hardship is helping us! However, the Lord has promised blessings and promised that the afflictions will be for our good! It is so comforting to know that the hard things we go through are for our good and are consecrated for our gain! What a beautiful promise from a loving Heavenly Father! 

In D/C 58:2-4 it says “He that is faithful in tribulation, the reward of the same is greater in the kingdom of heaven. Ye cannot behold with your natural eyes, for the present time the design of your God concerning those things which shall come hereafter, and the glory which shall follow after much tribulation. For after much tribulation come the blessings. Wherefore the day cometh that ye shall be crowned with much glory; the hour is not yet, but is nigh at hand.” Listen to this! This is truly incredible! We sometimes forget who is in charge! God is in charge! God who loves us and is in the details of our lives! He promises that after tribulation come blessings! And He is the one person in the world that can’t break a promise! We may not see it right now or fully understand, but we will be crowned with glory in the future! This life is short! We must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ! We must be anxiously engaged in a good cause! This cause is the greatest cause on earth! Individual salvation and exaltation for our family! And it is our job to help others be right about eternity! For eternity is the right thing to be right about and the wrong thing to be wrong about!   



Thanks for reading the email! Hope everyone has a great week! Here are a couple pictures from this week! 

https://photos.app.goo.gl/JcaEnAmXffR8qPTj6



Love you all!! Enjoy the holiday season and don't take for granted the time you have with family and friends! 



-zhang zhanglao 

















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