City Life Is Crazy Life

Hey mates! Hope everyone had a splendid week! The weeks just go by slowly but surely! Life moves on whether we want it to or not! Time is so precious! There is nothing we can do to get time back! Don't waste the precious time we have been given! 

The weather is starting to turn cool again over here! It is darker sooner at nights and in the mornings again. So crazy that I have made it to fall. I am excited to experience the Australian fall time! The leaves are just starting to show signs of turning colors. I hope everyone is starting to enjoy the warmer weather in Utah.

It was probably the most mild summer I have ever experienced in my life. It never got super hot for weeks on end like I thought it would. Living next to the beach does have its benefits. 

Fun Australian things:

-Stick fences! There are just stick fences everywhere! There are like no normal fences or walls. They are just made all out of these sticks. I can't imagine if there was a fire….the whole nation would burn down with all these stick fences burning! 

-There is a bike bar! If they weren't selling beer, I would think it is so cool! It is a big wagon thing that moves as people pedal. There are seats and then pedals underneath. There are about 10 seats on each side and everyone pedals and it moves. There is a bartender in the middle and he serves beer and everyone drinks and laughs and do things people do at a bar. It is a wild sight to see as you are walking or driving down the road next to this bike bar! It just acts like another car on the road, but just slower haha. It just travels around the city. 

-I have driven soooo much! I think I will end up driving more in Australia than I had in America before I come home. I am nearing 1000 km driven! Australia loves their roundabouts because they are cheaper to make than putting in traffic lights. And the worst roundabouts are the double roundabouts! It is two massive roundabouts connected together and wow they are so confusing sometimes! I am going to be a pro at roundabouts when I get home…except it is the opposite way in America and you yield differently than in Australia haha. Don't be in the car with me the first time I drive in America again! 

-Ohhh and the last thing for this week is that the big dipper in Australia is upside down haha. Things are always flipped in some way when you are on the other side of the world!

Weekly Highlights:

-Had a great FHE last week and we had the opportunity to go to the beach with our friend Dean. It was awesome! We spent all p-day on the beach with him. He bought us lunch at a nice restaurant on the beach side. It was so relaxing to eat delicious food while watching the ocean waves and have the ocean breeze running through my hair. It was the most perfect day! He then bought us what is considered by locals the best ice cream in Adelaide! And wow, it was probably the best ice cream I have ever had! Sooo awesome! We then sat on the beach for 2 hours and just talked. I haven't done something that normal in a long time haha. 

-We had a great district council meeting on Tuesday and had another lesson with Dean. He passed his baptismal interview and then he brought sushi for us to eat during the lesson! First time having sushi and I enjoyed it! I didn't like trying new foods before a mission, but now I have a whole list of crazy foods I have eaten haha. 

-Wednesday and Thursday we had to run exchanges with Elders that were not doing good things. I had to be with the Elders that were disobeying and causing all the problems…. sooo those were kinda 2 long days! I was grateful to get my companion back and press forward in the work!

-Friday, I had the privilege of doing a baptismal interview all in the Chinese language for a friend the other Elders in the city are teaching! It was such a surreal and tender experience being able to do the complete interview in Chinese! The Chinese man was so serious, which was not like his typical self. He answered the questions and it was a great experience for both of us! We both felt and recognized the spirit and we walked out very happy and peaceful. 

-The Lord is blessing us to fulfill our goals. I literally don't know how it is possible! We always set goals every week that are just possible to obtain, but stretch us so much. They have been the same goals each week and each week I don't know if we will be able to reach them…but somehow as we work with all our heart, might, mind, and strength, the Lord provides a way! It is so cool to see our goals fulfilled as we put in the work and are consecrated, obedient and diligent missionaries! I literally couldn't tell you how it happens, but it is truly incredible. A miracle every week that we are able to do what we do!

-Saturday was a cool day. The two days before we had spent a long time in Rundle mall finding. We had gotten a lot of numbers…but for some reason, I had forgotten to save one of the numbers. But out of the blue we got a text Friday night asking us if we could meet up on Saturday! The only text I had sent this person was “nice to meet you” and “thanks for being so friendly.” And then we get this text asking us to meet up! I couldn't remember who this person could be. We said yes! And on Saturday we met up at a little breakfast shop and we had breakfast and this man asked a million questions and we were able to teach a lot of the restoration and answer his questions. He ended up being a Malaysian man that I don't remember talking to haha. So cool how the Lord inspired him to text us because we wouldn't have if not. A little miracle! We hope we can get another time to meet with him. 

-We got free chocolate drizzled strawberries from a stand in the mall because the owner respected us and all the hard work we do each day. So that was yummy. Games night was fun and we had a good lesson with Eric. We had a new Chinese friend show up to games night and when he walked in all our Chinese friends asked if he was from China.  He said yes, and they were all so excited to meet him and greet him. He loved it! So happy and grateful for our other friends helping our new friends feel welcome. He was also shocked when I started speaking Chinese ;) 

-BIG NEWS!!!!! MIRACLE!!!! We are going to have 4 baptisms on march 2nd!!! We are going to be able to baptize Dean! The other Elders will baptize a Chinese man named Peter (the one I did the baptismal interview for) and the other Elders will baptize a Chinese man that is leaving Australia in 2 weeks forever and a Vietnamese lady that they have been teaching for months!! It is going to be epic!! 4 baptisms in the city!! All next Saturday March 2nd! We are going to have a talk in English, Chinese, and Vietnamese to cater to all three languages haha. We are over the moon excited! All these friends have been around for a long time and so we know each of them very well. I love each and every one of them with all my heart! I am so excited to see them all dressed in white in less than a week! Exciting times!! 

Spiritual thought:

If you want to see the Lord's hand, look for it! Acknowledge His hand in your life! And I also want to extend an invitation: acknowledge the Holy Ghost when you feel it. Our families, communities, and friends would benefit if we would point out and acknowledge the Holy Ghost after a sincere and humble prayer, after scripture study, after a good heartwarming conversation, in a church meeting, or whenever the Holy Ghost is touching your heart and mind. Please share and I can promise that you will start recognizing the Holy Ghost more often! 

The Lord always works in small and simple ways! Prayer, scripture study, going to church, and many other things are small and simple, but bring big things! Even great things! Miracles! 

Alma 37: 6 Now ye may suppose that this is foolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise. 7 And the Lord God doth work by means to bring about his great and eternal purposes; and by very small means the Lord doth confound the wise and bringeth about the salvation of many souls.”

I have had many friends read those words and they always say something along the lines of “wow, those are words of wisdom….that was deep”.

The Lord has blessed us so much. And where much is given much is required. Go read the lyrics to the hymn “Because I have been given much”. And the hymn “Count your blessings” Count your many blessings…name them one by one and you will be surprised to see what the Lord has done… 

The Lord is blessing us and sometimes in our world of phones and gadgets and trying to have the most we overlook what God has blessed us with. And it is always the small and simple things, but they are always the big and great things. The things of eternal worth. The miracles in our lives. 

I invite you to write down some of those blessings God has blessed you with as an activity at family dinner. By the end of the meal, I promise you will have a full page of things the Lord has blessed you with, a sense of gratitude, and the Holy Ghost will be in your minds and hearts as you turned your thoughts to Him who is the giver of all good gifts! 

This scripture stood out to me this week:

10 And again, when they thought of the immediate goodness of God, and his power in delivering Alma and his brethren out of the hands of the Lamanites and of bondage, they did raise their voices and give thanks to God.

How can we liken this scripture to our lives…?

I love the line of “the immediate goodness of God.” Sometimes we think God will bless us in a couple months or years. Or maybe when we have done something or changed ourselves to be better. I want to remind everyone of the immediate goodness of God. God is in the details of our lives and there is His immediate goodness! There may be trials and tribulations in your life, but there is also the immediate goodness of God! I invite you to look for the immediate goodness of God in your life this week! 

This scripture also teaches how God has the power to deliver us from our bondage. And how we need to be grateful for what the Lord has done for us. Oh, how we need to sing praises to His holy name! 

Recently, I have felt overwhelmed with everything going on and being the one in charge and the one at fault if anything goes wrong. Sometimes I don't know if I can do it all on my own…then I am reminded of the Savior and how God is helping me! Then I have the peace of God resting upon me (Alma 7:27). It truly helps to remind yourself that you have God the most powerful being in the universe on your side and a loving Savior who has experienced everything you are going through and is helping you through it! 

I want to end the spiritual thought with a poem found in one of the talks given by Elder Holland! 

“If you are lonely, please know you can find comfort. If you are discouraged, please know you can find hope. If you are poor in spirit, please know you can be strengthened. If you feel you are broken, please know you can be mended.   

In Nazareth, the narrow road, 

That tires the feet and steals the breath, Passes the place where once abode 

The Carpenter of Nazareth.   

And up and down the dusty way 

The village folk would often wend; 

And on the bench, beside Him, lay Their broken things for Him to mend.   

The maiden with the doll she broke, 

The woman with the broken chair, 

The man with broken plough, or yoke, Said, “Can you mend it, Carpenter?”   

And each received the thing he sought, 

In yoke, or plough, or chair, or doll; 

The broken thing which each had brought Returned again a perfect whole.   

So, up the hill the long years through, With heavy step and wistful eye, 

The burdened souls their way pursue, Uttering each the plaintive cry:   

“O Carpenter of Nazareth, 

This heart, that’s broken past repair, 

This life, that’s shattered nigh to death, 

Oh, can You mend them, Carpenter?”   

And by His kind and ready hand, 

His own sweet life is woven through Our broken lives, until they stand A New Creation—“all things new.”  

“The shattered [substance] of [the] heart, Desire, ambition, hope, and faith, 

Mould Thou into the perfect part, O, Carpenter of Nazareth!”   

May we all, especially the poor in spirit, come unto Him and be made whole.”

I also add my humble and sincere testimony that Jesus Christ —the carpenter of Nazareth— has the power and ability to mend all things broken in your life! He stretches forth His nail-pierced hands and invites all to come unto Him! Don't deny the help He is so willing to give you! Jesus Christ is the only way! His is the only name whereby we may be saved. He is the light, the life, and the hope of the world. His way is the path to happiness in this life and eternal life in the world to come! I so testify in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

I want to thank everyone for all the prayers on behalf of me, my friends, and my area! They are so appreciated and felt! Miracles are always happening each day! I am so happy and grateful for the opportunity to serve the Lord with every fiber of my being and heart each and every day! 

Here are the photos for the week! Fun videos of a Japanese rock band in the mall! 

https://photos.app.goo.gl/2vupuGt8cER54gvq8

I hope and pray everyone has another wonderful week! Keep living life to its fullest with Jesus Christ! 

Until next week…

Cheers,

-Elder Jones (zhang zhanglao)