Big Update: 18 Months/The Return To The City 1

Well well well I am back! It has been a crazy past month and for various reasons I have not had time to write an email! So I will have to catch up on everything that has happened in this email! 

Weird Australian things:

-In America, the bishopric sits on the right of the pulpit. But in Australia the bishopric sits on the left of the stand. 

-In Australia everything is just a little bit off. Or just they do things on the other side or other way of everyone else. It’s on the other side of the world so I guess they have a good reason for always doing things the other way! 

I have officially hit 18 months on my mission! I will be home in 6 months! Time flies! I am thoroughly exhausted, but continuing to give all my heart, might, mind, and strength to the Lord. It is the last leg of the race. The last quarter of the game. The difference between the winner and loser is decided in the final moments of any competition. And I relate this to my mission. I am in the last leg of the race. The last quarter of the game. This separates the strong from the weak. The diligent from the lazy. It determines who will rely on the Lord and their drive to be a disciple of Christ and fulfill their purpose of inviting all to come unto Jesus Christ! 

Big changes in my mission life. I finished my 9 months as AP 2 weeks ago and now am back in my old area! City 1! And my new companion is Elder Sun! We are zone leaders! He is from chongqing China! Very unique! I never thought I would have a companion straight from China! He didn't have any MTC so I trained him for 2 weeks more than a year ago! And now we are back together! Both a little older and wiser! 

We are getting along great and I am picking up on a lot of Asian things with him! He makes some great Asian food and I feel very Chinese as I eat dinner with chopsticks and when we had hotpot 2 days in a row! 

He is also helping me change and become a better person! We are helping each other with our goals and dreams! 

Being back in my old area of city 1 has been a blast because I have been able to reconnect and reach out to friends I found and used to teach more than 18 months ago!  

Well here are some little updates and highlights from my past couple weeks:

-My mission President's son got called to Ghana! It was fun to be at his call opening! 

-Weird but crazy transition to AP to Zone Leader

We had MLC and President turned to the AP’s and said "Elder Jones can you...." and then realized that I wasn't AP anymore haha. Everyone just laughed. I have been called up for random things to help with the past couple days which has been funny. The tech stuff or random administrative things. 

-I was able to welcome in the new missionaries before I left being AP. I got to welcome in a good friend I knew from Draper, Utah! It was weird seeing someone I knew so well in Utah! I was like wow the world does exist outside of Australia haha. 

-We got to go do baptisms at the temple with a new member Peter Bu! Fun times! 

-Everyone in the city speaks Chinese except for the Sisters....so that has been really fun! 

-We have had a couple days of beast days! 7 lessons straight! From 12pm to 7pm! 3 lessons with members participating and 1 person put on date and 3 recurring lessons set up! 

-We found 6 new people one day and just finding so much success in the city! We are having so many people to teach and not enough time to teach everyone! We have really expanded our vision of missionary work and it is exciting to see the new heights we are reaching! Our zone is performing the best it has ever performed since I have arrived in the mission! It is the smallest zone but has some of the best missionaries and so it is preforming the best haha. (President may have said we are the best district in the mission). We are all having to keep humble and remind ourselves it is the Lord magnifying our humble efforts! 

-Had some confrontational moments with the APs and STLs the past couple weeks. But thankfully they have been resolved. I have lost the energy and patience to deal with the small little insignificant annoyances that are happening haha. Somehow the role of an STL is not in line with the standards right now and oh my...if you know you know. 

-Oh I couldn't be back in the city if I didn't run into my good old bible basher friends! We were walking down the familiar alleyway and they were walking up it. It was the ultimate showdown. Jkjk. I was actually happy to see them because of all the fun memories I have had with them. The leader sees us motions down another side alleyway to all his friends and says, "Come on guys it's the mormons." Then the one bible basher turned into like 5 or 6 with their signs and everything. They start yelling and shouting at us. We push through and make it to safety haha. Another bystander explodes into anger and starts yelling and swearing at the top of his lungs saying that he is so done with all this religious stuff. 

 -English class success. English class is going really well and we are seeing so much success from revamping it! 

-Mass text! Sent a mass text out and it was fun to see who responded out of the probably close to a 1000 people we texted and invited to church! James W who I taught a year ago remembered me and is going to come in for a lesson next week! 

-Finding- we are going crazy with finding! Elder Sun is helping me refine my street contacting and people skills! 

-We had a great lesson with RJ. We had a beast member from Montana, America come and teach with us and it went great! We taught a picture perfect restoration lesson! Fun times! I love teaching the gospel! 

-Shaun drove us home and then his car broke down and started smoking everywhere! Yikes! We then had a long 30 minute walk home in the dark. A weird experience that I will never forget. 

-Adelaide has the big bike race happening! If you know the Tour De France. Well this is called the Tour Down Under! 

-So many amazing things happening and fun stories that I can’t share them all here. 

Spiritual thought:

I really loved this thought this week about church. Many people go to church to get something out of it. They want something that will benefit them. Then when church doesn't give them what they want or what they expect they stop coming or go inactive. 

Instead we must change our mindset. Instead of going to church to get something out of church, we must go to church to express our gratitude to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Go to church to worship Almighty God. Go to church to renew your covenants. Go to church to help others. Go to church expecting to give and express gratitude instead of expecting something from church. And as we do this we find that we do gain something out of our church worship. 

Many people don't believe in modern revelation! If you don't believe in modern revelation, why should you pray? The claim that God has ceased to talk with man is unbelievable! The Church of Jesus Christ is built on modern revelation! 

The Book of Mormon is written for our day! 

The Book of Mormon combined with the spirit is your most powerful resource in conversion

Joseph Smith said, “The Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book.”

In the restoration of the Church where was the Book of Mormon in the timeline of events? It started with the 1st Vision then the Book of Mormon. 

Then came the priesthood and the organization of the church....

This illustrates how important the Book of Mormon is! 

We often forget how much the Book of Mormon applies to our day. 

Mormon chapter 8 says:

34 Behold, the Lord hath shown unto me great and marvelous things concerning that which must shortly come, at that day when these things shall come forth among you. 

35 Behold, I speak unto you as if ye were present, and yet ye are not. But behold, Jesus Christ hath shown you unto me, and I know your doing

This is so clear! Mormon who compiled the book of Mormon saw our day! He gives us this warning...

38 O ye pollutions, ye hypocrites, ye teachers, who sell yourselves for that which will canker, why have ye polluted the holy church of God? Why are ye ashamed to take upon you the name of Christ? Why do ye not think that greater is the value of an endless happiness than that misery which never dies—because of the praise of the world?

Mormon included 1/100th of all the records that he had available. 

It is 531 pages of about 1000 years of history. 

It is interesting to note that the book of Omni is only 3 pages long. It covers 231 years of history. It talks of the record being passed down throughout a time of total wickedness. No prophecies. No revelations. 

It is interesting to note that 4th Nephi is 4 pages long. It covers 286 years of history. There was total righteousness. No wickedness. 

So 515 years of the 1000 years of history is covered in 7 pages. 

Mormon saw our day. He saw that it wasn't complete wickedness nor was it complete righteousness. 

So Mosiah to 3rd Nephi is 261 pages and 130 years of history. It covers things that are problems in our day. How to deal with unbelievers ( Korihor, Sherem, Nehor), different government systems, corruption (Gadianton robbers), false traditions, priestcrafts (teach the philosophies of men and what people want to hear. The Prophet tells us truth and what God wants us to know), warnings (of procrastinating repentance, indifference by saying "all is well in zion", the pride cycle), chastity, the correct mode of baptism, the most authoritative and complete information on the Atonement of Jesus Christ, Holy Ghost, law of justice and mercy, life after death, miracles, the devil, becoming sons and daughters of God, nature of God, sanctification, little children and baptism, joy and happiness....

the list goes on and on....So many things that the Book of Mormon provides that no other book or AI genius could provide. 

What was the Book of Mormon prophets preparing the people at the time it was written? It was preparing the people to live with the resurrected Lord. 

Likewise, the Book of Mormon is preparing us to live with the Lord Jesus Christ when He returns. 

Elder Holland in his talk "Safety for the Soul" states: "If anyone is foolish enough or misled enough to reject 531 pages...if that is the case, then such a person, elect or otherwise, has been deceived; and if he or she leaves this Church, it must be done by crawling over or under or around the Book of Mormon to make that exit."

The Book of Mormon stands as a stumbling block for anyone who wants to leave the church...

I invite anyone who hasn't read the Book of Mormon to....read it! I invite you to read the Book of Mormon, to ponder in your hearts the message it contains, and then to ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ if the book is true. Those who pursue this course and ask in faith will gain a testimony of its truth and divinity by the power of the Holy Ghost. (See Moroni 10:3–5.) Those who gain this divine witness from the Holy Spirit will also come to know by the same power that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world, that Joseph Smith is His revelator and prophet in these last days, and that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the Lord’s kingdom once again established on the earth, preparatory to the Second Coming of the Messiah. 

Apply this promise regularly to strengthen your own testimony of the Book of Mormon.

I testify that I have come to know for myself that the Book of Mormon is the word of God by using this divine process of asking God. The spirit has borne witness to me in an undeniable way that the Book is truth. It has become a keystone of my testimony. I know that I know and God knows that I know and I cannot deny it. It's all true. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. 

Have a great week! 

Hopefully I can be more regular with these emails! 

Here is the pictures: https://photos.app.goo.gl/DA8RM8EahjUowJHd9

Cheers, 

Elder Jones (zhang zhanglao)