Yummy Fish Eyeballs :)

哈喽啊！最近过得如何？Hello everyone! Hope this week was great for everyone! This week started out kinda rough, but it ended on a high! The mission has a lot of ups and downs! But ohhh how I am loving it! Learning and growing so much! But sadly you can’t learn and grow without some challenges and trials to make you stretch and grow! I am becoming and changing so much! It kinda scares me sometimes, but it makes me giddy with excitement to watch the Lord work His divine magic on me haha.

Fun Australian things!

-I guess daylight savings time happens only in southern Australia! So of course the one place in Australia that I am living I get to deal with the lovely daylight savings time! 

-Rockmelon=cantaloupe

-Serviette=napkin

-The pigeons are brave enough to jump on people while they are eating food and they will attack! The magpies are also really dangerous! The news had a story about someone getting their eye poked out! Yikes! 

-This is news from Darwin. It is at the top of Australia and I may get transferred there sometime during my mission, but here are some cool animal facts for animal lovers. Crocodiles and bull sharks are living together in freshwater. Crocodiles sometimes have missing feet or legs because of sharks. Sharks and crocodiles are battling it out up there. One man got eaten 6 months ago because he was standing too close to the water…

Highlights of the week:

-There was a crazy big rainstorm on Monday night and so I missed like five hours of sleep because it was raining so hard and the constant lightning and thunder were keeping me awake! Kinda annoying, but whatever! Was kinda fun! Biggest rainstorm I have seen since getting here! 

-Our power went out one night right as we were getting ready for bed….so we didn't know what lights were on or not….so in the middle of the night the power came back on and all our lights turned on. I woke up and was like oh that's nice then turned over and went back to sleep. I was too tired to get up and turn off the lights haha. 

-We ran an exchange this week and I got to go street contacting on the beach! Helped some Chinese people catch some crabs off a jetty! It was pretty epic! I realized that I was on the literal bottom of the world. On the other side of the ocean would be the Antarctic. Nothing was in between, but water! The beach was beautiful and it was a once in a lifetime experience that I will not forget! 

-I ate a fish eyeball this week! Some Chinese member had bought a big red Chinese fish and I had the privilege of eating the big massive eye! Quite tasty….

-We got to go sing carols by the temple! The Adelaide temple is small, but so beautiful! Loved to hear some Christmas songs and walk around the temple grounds after with our friends! 

-Had some incredible lessons this week! Had some really cool spiritual experiences during these lessons also! This coming week is going to be hype! All our hard work is paying off finally! Hours upon hours of street contacting is turning into hours upon hours of lessons and teaching! We are going to go crazy with the amount of lessons we have this week! Major blessings this week! 

-Our Chinese friends are texting back and progressing! Some of our other Chinese friends are going back to China for the holidays which makes me sad! Going to miss all of them so much! 

Spiritual thought time! :) 

Eternal laws! There are such things as eternal laws! Justice and mercy are some of the main eternal laws! “And now, the plan of mercy could not be brought about except an atonement should be made; therefore God himself atoneth for the sins of the world, to bring about the plan of mercy to appease the demands of justice, that God might be a perfect, just God, and a merciful God also.” Alma 42:15. If you want to understand why the atonement of Jesus Christ is necessary read Alma 42!! It does an incredible job of outlining the necessity of the atonement! This is why we must have faith in Jesus Christ! If we don't understand the atonement and how it allows us to return to our Heavenly Father someday, then there is no point in having faith…why do we have faith in Jesus Christ? It is because of His atonement! This is such a crucial point we teach all our friends! I invite everyone to spend 10 minutes reading Alma 42 and truly striving to understand more fully why the atonement is so important and why we need to have faith in Jesus Christ! 

This is the foundation of everything! Faith in Jesus Christ! We teach many Chinese atheists. I have taken a lot of approaches to teaching them. However, it has all come back to teaching the atonement of Jesus Christ and why we must have faith in Him and then they start progressing up the ladder of faith! If you feel your faith struggling….please read and learn about the Savior's Atonement! I promise it will change your life forever! 

In 2 Nephi 4:4 it says “For the Lord God hath said that: Inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments ye shall prosper in the land; and inasmuch as ye will not keep my commandments ye shall be cut off from my presence.” 

This scripture is repeated with slight variations of wording so many times in the Book of Mormon! And there is a reason for this! It is to remind us how there are so many blessings for keeping the commandments! I have watched so many of my friends start keeping these commandments and then start receiving blessings! 

In D&C 82:10 it states “I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise.” This shows how when we keep the commandments the Lord is bound by laws to bless us! He is an unchanging being! It is comforting to know that as we do our part and keep the commandments we are promised blessings! God will not choose whether to bless us or not depending on how He is feeling…God is bound to bless us! 

“There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated–And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated.” D&C 130: 20-21

Does this not give you motivation to obtain blessings by exact obedience!?

My mission president said this week, “The greatest thing you will teach your friends is prayer! Sincere prayers is how the Heavens are opened!”

Keep saying your prayers and staying connected with your Heavenly Father! 

I invite everyone to know for yourself! Own your testimony like President Nelson always says! Be independent of any creature on earth! Seek to know with all your heart the truths of eternal life! 

I want to end by sharing an amazing promise from the last general conference! 

"I promise you that if we build our lives upon the foundation of Jesus Christ; value our true identity as sons and daughters of God; remember the worth of a soul; maintain an eternal perspective; and gratefully appreciate our many blessings, especially Christ’s invitation to come unto Him, we can find the true happiness we seek during this mortal adventure. Life will still have its challenges, but we will be able to better face each with a sense of purpose and peace because of the eternal truths we understand and live by." Elder Gary Sabin 

As we learn of Jesus Christ and allow the solemnities of truth and eternity to rest upon our minds and hearts and allow them to sink deep into the very fiber and DNA of our being, then we will want to sing for joy:

Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid; for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; he also has become my salvation. Behold, 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 22:2/ 2 Nephi 1:15

Oh how I want to be encircled about in the arms of His perfect love! This life and purpose is much bigger than we are! We sometimes forget that! Our actions show God who we want to become and if we are willing to follow Him or not! 

I am excited for the time when I can hear these words spoken to me! 

"Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord." Matthew 25:21-21

May we all strive for excellence! May we all strive to hear those words someday! May we all strive to become like our Savior, Jesus Christ! The prince of peace! The Savior of the entire world! And He knows and loves you by name! I say this in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. 

No photos this week because google photos is being weird this week! Next week there will be heaps of photos! And some fun ones ;) 

Have a wonderful week! Miss you all! 

Cheers :)

-Elder Jones (zhangzhanglao)