Quick Update

Hello everyone! It will be a quick email today! I don't have much time like normal! Hope everyone's week went well! 

Really random weird Australian thing:

-The washing and dryer machine is not connected to the outside. So usually all the humidity and air it creates gets sent outside. But in Australia it just stays in the room and it makes the room very humid and interesting.

-Ripper or rippa means good or excellent. Very fun word to say. 

-Struth in Australia is the equivalent to the high school lingo of the word “sick” 

-A noah is another name for a shark. So if you ask people…. “Did you see a noah at the beach today?” They will know what you are talking about and say yes or no. I tried it and sure enough the Australian didn't think twice about me using the word noah instead of shark haha. 

Weekly highlights:

-We have been counseling and helping many of the zone leaders and district leaders in the mission.

-We have done heaps of office work and solving all sorts of problems.

-We flew up to Alice Springs for a zone conference. It went well and we got to attend a bush wedding. The bush elders took us and it was a special experience! 

-We ran exchanges with the zone leaders in Alice Springs and that was good. We had some spirit filled lessons! The dogs are so distracting sometimes. Always trying to not get bit! 

-Alice springs is not the safest place on the planet haha. 

-Lots of plane flights and drama with that. 

-We flew up to Darwin and had a good zone conference and dinner. Then the following day we flew down after church just in time for President Standley’s devotional! 

-The next week Elder Mitchell and I went to zambreros 3 times! We miss our American Mexican food so much! 

-We went on exchanges with some Elders that were struggling and wanting to go home. We helped them out and got them motivated and determined to keep going and fulfilling their missionary service. 

-We have been doing so much planning and preparation. We are trying to make things more effective, efficient, and productive. 

-Lots of ups and downs! 

-Three words to describe my mission so far: Knowledge, Conversion, Change.

Spiritual thought:

“Sow a thought, and you reap an act; sow an act, and you reap a habit; sow a habit, and you reap a character; sow a character, and you reap a destiny.”

“For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. … We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; … cast down, but not destroyed.”

Mosiah 4:2: “And they had viewed themselves in their own carnal state, even less than the dust of the earth. And they all cried aloud with one voice, saying: O have mercy, and apply the atoning blood of Christ that we may receive forgiveness of our sins, and our hearts may be purified; for we believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who created heaven and earth, and all things; who shall come down among the children of men.”

Applying the atoning blood of Jesus caught my eye. I want to share a quote from Neal A. Maxwell. 

“Brothers and sisters, Christ paid such an enormous, enabling price for us! Will we not apply His Atonement in order to pay the much smaller price required for personal progress? Being valiant in our testimony of Jesus, therefore, includes being valiant in our efforts to live more as He lived. We certainly cannot enter His kingdom without receiving the restored ordinances and keeping their associated covenants, but neither can we enter His kingdom without having significantly developed our charity and the other cardinal attributes (see Ether 12:34). Yes, we need the essential ordinances, but we also need the essential attributes. Yes, we need to keep our covenants, but we also need to develop our character. Do we not sing, “More holiness give me,” pleading that we can be “more, Savior, like thee”? (Hymns, no. 131).”

We truly need to understand Jesus Christ's atoning sacrifice better. It is something we need to take time to ponder, comprehend, and appreciate. 

“Thereby Jesus’ personal triumph was complete and His empathy perfected. Having “descended below all things,” He comprehends, perfectly and personally, the full range of human suffering! (D&C 88:6; see D&C 122:8). A spiritual song sung in this Easter year has an especially moving and insightful line: “Nobody knows the troubles I’ve seen, nobody knows but Jesus” (see also Alma 7:11–12). Truly, Jesus was exquisitely “acquainted with grief,” as no one else (Isa. 53:3).”

Nobody knows truly how we feel except for Jesus. That is why we must turn to Him! We must pray for assistance in our lives. And the one person who knows us perfectly, will send personalized assistance to us.

There has never been a time where we need Jesus more than right now. Look unto Him in every thought. Don't become blinded by the midst of darkness. If you feel lost, return. Turn to the light and chase the darkness away from your mind and heart. The only source of lasting peace and happiness is Jesus Christ. 

I want to close with my personal testimony from Alma 5:43-48. It brings me so much joy to finally be able to confidently say these words. I now desire others to be able to have the same knowledge and conviction that I have gained. 

43 And now, my brethren, I would that ye should hear me, for I speak in the energy of my soul; for behold, I have spoken unto you plainly that ye cannot err, or have spoken according to the commandments of God.

44 For I am called to speak after this manner, according to the holy order of God, which is in Christ Jesus; yea, I am commanded to stand and testify unto this people the things which have been spoken by our fathers concerning the things which are to come.

45 And this is not all. Do ye not suppose that I know of these things myself? Behold, I testify unto you that I do know that these things whereof I have spoken are true. And how do ye suppose that I know of their surety?

46 Behold, I say unto you they are made known unto me by the Holy Spirit of God. Behold, I have fasted and prayed many days that I might know these things of myself. And now I do know of myself that they are true; for the Lord God hath made them manifest unto me by his Holy Spirit; and this is the spirit of revelation which is in me.

47 And moreover, I say unto you that it has thus been revealed unto me, that the words which have been spoken by our fathers are true, even so according to the spirit of prophecy which is in me, which is also by the manifestation of the Spirit of God.

48 I say unto you, that I know of myself that whatsoever I shall say unto you, concerning that which is to come, is true; and I say unto you, that I know that Jesus Christ shall come, yea, the Son, the Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace, and mercy, and truth. And behold, it is he that cometh to take away the sins of the world, yea, the sins of every man who steadfastly believeth on his name. 

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Here are some photos from the last 2 weeks!

https://photos.app.goo.gl/ywebHFyLaskriMYs8

Hope everyone is doing well and are ready for school again! 

Until next week,

Love you all!

Cheers,

Elder Jones (zhang zhanglao)