1 Year As A Full Time Missionary!
G’day mates! This week I will hit 1 year as a full time missionary! Time has flown so quickly! I can't believe I have been down under for 1 full year! I have learned and grown so much in this 1 year. I can't even imagine how many more experiences I will be privileged to have this coming year! I would never trade this year for anything!
Life has been insanely busy and I haven't had a p-day to write an email the last 2 months! It has been go go go 24/7! It is just how I like it! I am always amazed at how much we can accomplish in one week. The Lord consecrates our time as missionaries to allow us to accomplish the most work possible. I will try to give some quick updates on what has happened the last couple months of my mission.
Fun Australian things:
-Vegemite sandwiches made the Australian way are actually pretty tasty.
-There is a kitkat bar that can only be found in Australia. It is called a kitkat aero. It is very tasty. It is a mixture of a kitkat and a york mint put together.
-Australia loves chicken flavored things: chicken salt, chicken flavor chips, chicken seasoning, chicken flavor french fries, chicken flavor anything.
-I have been working out in the mornings the past month with a redback spider on the garage door as a friend to keep me company. This week I went in and it was gone. I got a little nervous but worked out as usual. An Australian Elder came in this week and saw it on the wall and said it was the second most feared spider in Australia and super dangerous. He also said it was the biggest he has seen! We showed a new American Elder and he was terrified. We then had a fun time playing around with it until we finally smashed it with a stick.
-Australians consider a different song to be their national anthem rather than what the national anthem actually is.
Monthly highlights:
-I finally got sick. I have been blessed and it has been a major miracle, but I have gone my entire mission without getting sick. I was a month away from going a whole year without getting sick. However, I finally got sick. I rested and got a blessing and then after a day I was healed from a sickness that was taking Elders 2 weeks to recover from. And it was another miracle I was healed so quickly because the next day I hopped on a plane to Darwin.
-We flew into Darwin and ended up driving from Darwin to Alice Springs over the course of a week. It was 16 hours of driving and 1501 km. We stopped and did exchanges with Elders along the whole way down. We first stopped in Katherine and spent the day there. We then headed down to Elliot. We were driving at 150 kmph. It is so nice to actually go fast in the Northern Territories. There are no speed cameras on Stuart Highway which is heaven compared with all of South Australia’s speed cameras! The roads are interesting because sometimes there are all these sparkles in them....I think they may break up seashells or sparkly rocks to put in the concrete.
-We were driving to Elliot and the community was so small that it wasn't listed on any of the road signs until we were almost there haha. The exchange in Elliot went really well. The conditions in Elliot were very 3rd world. However, the members there are so faithful and wonderful. Some of them had even been to the temple. We met with the Bill mob and had a great lesson. The kids in the community attacked our cars and it felt like a zombie apocalypse haha. Elliot was fun because everyone knew our proper title of “Elder”. Everyone would say “Elder Elder!” I never have been called by my proper title more than that little community! And they would correct each other if they said anything differently.
-Saw a dingo and lots of wandering cows on the drive down to Tennant Creek.
-Tennant Creek was a shorter stay and then we drove the 5 hours down to Alice Springs. Passed through what is called the “devils marbles” which was really cool!
-Spent a day in Alice Springs running exchanges and it was a really fruitful day with many wonderful experiences and miracles!
-The next day we went out “bush”. It was an experience I will never forget. From sleeping on a cot in the middle of the bush in 0 degrees, to mulga bore which is a community that 98% of people are members, to 3 different sacrament meetings, to meeting the muglabore hardrock band, to engawala, to harts range, to burritos after burritos, to a baptism, to off roading, to changing a flat tire, to meeting the bird mob and famous Gary bird, to feeling the spirit and giving blessings, to seeing margaret and floyd, to an aboriginal funeral, to just experiencing the bush with the bush saints and the hard working Elders….all in all it was an experience I will never forget. Words cannot describe what it was like. An experience that I will hold close to my heart the rest of my life.
-We got to welcome our new mission President into the mission. It was heartbreaking to watch President and Sister Johansson leave, but it was incredible to welcome in President and Sister Standley and their amazing family! It has been an eye opening experience to watch the transition of mission presidents! It has been wonderful, but also very stressful. I have been going non-stop for so long! Things are starting to calm down and things are settling. We had an MLC and zone conference down in South Australia where there were 120+ missionaries.
-We then went on a mission tour with President Standley and his cute family up to Alice Springs and then up to Darwin. The zone conferences went well and we were able to accomplish a lot of things!
-The President took my companions and I to a jumping crocodile river tour on p-day. It was a pretty awesome experience and thankfully I didn't get eaten by the giant saltwater crocodiles! I had front row seats on the boat and I got splashed by the crocodiles when they jumped out of the water. It felt like a Jurassic Park experience - out in the wild with these massive dinosaurs. Nothing like the Australian outback! The tour guide said that there were 400 saltwater crocodiles for every 1 mile of the river. Sharks also lived in the river.
-This week I took my companion of 9 months to the airport for his flight home! Kinda crazy to watch him go! Now it is just me and Elder Mitchell. We had incoming missionaries and transfers! Transfers were pretty crazy with Sisters being sent up to Darwin.
With all the flights coming and going we were running on very little sleep trying to pick up and drop off all the missionaries to where they needed to go.
-Here is a church news article on what has been happening in the Northern Territory and the bush saints. I have had the privilege of meeting these people and experiencing their testimony and sweet spirit. The gospel of Jesus Christ is for EVERYONE! Please don't be an obstacle to the Lords work.
-All in all, the last month or so has been hectic! I have enjoyed every minute of serving the Lord. There are so many stories and experiences that I don't have time to share. Hopefully, the stories above suffice until I am able to expound more in person. Missions are truly life changing if you let them change you. They are not easy, but nothing easy is rewarding. Plus, who doesn't like a good challenge?
Spiritual thought:
In Matthew 17:20 it says “And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.”
Jesus Christ uses the analogy of a mustard seed for many reasons. Not only can the analogy of a small seed growing into a tree of faith be used, but the mustard seed has another unique characteristic. It is completely solid throughout the entire seed. It is not hollow like other seeds. So even though our faith may be small, as long as we strive to make it whole like a mustard seed, we can have the power to move mountains.
We need our faith to be whole in the knowledge that we do have. Then we can believe in the rest and have that belief slowly turn to faith and then into knowledge. As we follow the steps of the gospel of Jesus Christ and grow and stretch our faith God will give unto us line upon line.
(2 Nephi 28:30 For behold, thus saith the Lord God: I will give unto the children of men line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little; and blessed are those who hearken unto my precepts, and lend an ear unto my counsel, for they shall learn wisdom; for unto him that receiveth I will give more; and from them that shall say, We have enough, from them shall be taken away even that which they have.)
I have come to learn the difference between capacity and conversion. Your capacity may be small but your conversion within that capacity can be whole. Then God will stretch your capacity and then we fill that capacity to make it whole again. And line upon line God grows our faith and increases our capacity and conversion. Then the seed begins to sprout and grow into a tree unto everlasting life.
Continue to plant that seed in your hearts! Let it grow and swell!
This is the invitation extended: Alma 32:28 “Now, we will compare the word unto a seed. Now, if ye give place, that a seed may be planted in your heart, behold, if it be a true seed, or a good seed, if ye do not cast it out by your unbelief, that ye will resist the Spirit of the Lord, behold, it will begin to swell within your breasts; and when you feel these swelling motions, ye will begin to say within yourselves—It must needs be that this is a good seed, or that the word is good, for it beginneth to enlarge my soul; yea, it beginneth to enlighten my understanding, yea, it beginneth to be delicious to me.”
These are the promised blessings:
Alma 32:41-43: “But if ye will nourish the word, yea, nourish the tree as it beginneth to grow, by your faith with great diligence, and with patience, looking forward to the fruit thereof, it shall take root; and behold it shall be a tree springing up unto everlasting life. 42 And because of your diligence and your faith and your patience with the word in nourishing it, that it may take root in you, behold, by and by ye shall pluck the fruit thereof, which is most precious, which is sweet above all that is sweet, and which is white above all that is white, yea, and pure above all that is pure; and ye shall feast upon this fruit even until ye are filled, that ye hunger not, neither shall ye thirst. 43 Then, my brethren, ye shall reap the rewards of your faith, and your diligence, and patience, and long-suffering, waiting for the tree to bring forth fruit unto you.”
President Nelson has said,“The Lord understands our mortal weakness. We all falter at times. But He also knows of our great potential. The mustard seed starts small but grows into a tree large enough for birds to nest in its branches. The mustard seed represents a small but growing faith. The Lord does not require perfect faith for us to have access to His perfect power. But He does ask us to believe. My dear brothers and sisters, my call to you this Easter morning is to start today to increase your faith. Through your faith, Jesus Christ will increase your ability to move the mountains in your life, even though your personal challenges may loom as large as Mount Everest.”
I invite you to have faith unto a mustard seed. Make it whole. Be converted. Build your foundation upon the rock of Jesus Christ. Then watch for your capacity and conversion to grow.
It is a gift to be happy. Heavenly Father gave it to us before we left His side. Gave it to every soul before we left. That happiness and gift is what we call the light of Christ. It is the light that lighteth every soul. Choose to have it. No matter who you are or where you are you can choose to have it. Choose to be happy! Too many people are sad. Shine the light of Jesus Christ. The guide to the scriptures states The light of Christ is “Divine energy, power, or influence that proceeds from God through Christ and gives life and light to all things.”
Here is one last analogy for today:
A soft heart is one that is sensitive to the Spirit, Elder Renlund said. “A hard heart, the opposite of a soft heart, is spiritually fatal .”Elder Renlund, who was a physician by profession, explained that a stiff or hard heart has difficulty filling with blood, which can lead to heart failure. “In the same way that a hard heart has a difficult time filling with blood, a spiritually hard heart has a difficult time filling with the Spirit.” In 2 Nephi 33:1-2, Nephi explained how people who harden their hearts will not let the Spirit transport the words of God into their hearts. “But behold, there are many that harden their hearts against the Holy Spirit, that it hath no place in them; wherefore, they cast many things away which are written and esteem them as things of naught.” King Benjamin summarized how to create and maintain a soft heart, when he declared that individuals must “always remember that redemption comes only because of Jesus Christ, that without Him our situation is hopeless. That prompts us to humble ourselves. That motivates us to pray daily, and to stand firm in our faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement. The natural consequence is that we will ‘always rejoice, and be filled with the love of God, and always retain a remission of [our] sins; and … grow in the knowledge of the glory of him that created [us]’” (Mosiah 4:12).
All God asks for is a broken heart and a contrite spirit….
When you minister….sometimes people ask “why have you come?” You say, “because we love you”. Some say, “I feel that I am just another number in the church…” Then you can say, “Whenever you feel that you are another number, remember that you are number one to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Jesus leaves the 99 to go for the 1. You are never forgotten. God knows all and sees all. Jesus Christ suffered individually for everyone. He knows you better than anyone else on the earth. Trust in Him.”
Do you believe? Are you willing to receive?
You will never hear Heavenly Father say. Are you worthy? It is always “will you receive?”
You don't have to jump through hoops and ropes to receive forgiveness.
Repentance=receiving. Heavenly Fathers greatest gift was His diving Son, Jesus Christ.
You have been given the gift of repentance. God's part is done. It is now our part to receive. Repenting is receiving Jesus Christ. Please receive Jesus Christ. He will heal you. He is the Savior.
The Doctrine of Christ is Christ. People sometimes forget this. It would be sad to know the doctrine, but not Christ. The doctrine doesn't save you….Jesus Christ does.
“Ko Si Su Pe”
This is a tongan phrase meaning “Only Jesus”
This is all we need. Only Jesus.
I testify that Jesus is the first and the last. He is who liveth and He who was slain. He is our advocate with the Father. He is the way, truth, and life. He is the light that ligheth the way back to eternal life. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Here are the photos! Hope you enjoy them!
https://photos.app.goo.gl/
Once again, sorry that it has been forever since my last email!
Have a splendid week :)
Cheers,
-Elder Jones (zhang zhanglao)
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