As If In A Dream...

G'day, 哈喽啊, I hope and pray that everyone had a great week! It has been a busy crazy filled last 2 weeks, but I have enjoyed and found joy in serving our Lord and Master! 

Weekly Highlights: 

-Spent a good amount of time in Rundle mall the last 2 weeks! A couple highlights are that we found 7 new friends to teach in only 3 hours! We had a run in with a crazy homeless guy! He approached us and asked if we believed in God. We, of course, said yes and tried to end the interaction because anytime anyone approaches us, it is unusual and usually means trouble! He instead gets really close to our faces and said "Aliens built the pyramids so that means there is no God so go kill yourself. Go kill yourself right now. I mean it.” And then he walked away. 

I thought I had heard everything people had to say to me in that crazy mall, but even for me it was a new one! I didn't really understand the logic behind that statement haha! 

-We had a zone conference and that was good. President had us give an English class training to both zones and also come attend another zone conference to give the training. It was probably one of the best trainings I have given on my mission! The whole mission is now doing English class and using it as a finding method. 

-Speaking of English class, we are finding so much success in the city with it. We are finding so much success that it is becoming too successful! We don't have the resources or enough missionaries to accommodate for everything and everyone. It is one of the rare times on the mission where you say that something is being too successful! It is a good problem to have.

This Saturday we had just under 30 people come to our English class! It has gone from 2 people to 30 people in just 2 months! We have a google form with 150 responses! We have people off the streets just rocking up now! I posted on all these Chinese facebook groups and now we have heaps of Chinese people coming along with all the people from South America! It is amazing! And 90 percent of people who come are interested in learning more about Jesus Christ! Miracles abound! 

-I had a fun exchange with Elder Liao from Taiwan! It brought me back to the first transfer struggles and challenges. But it was a good fun exchange!

-We had a lesson with our friend Eric and we had Bishop join us. It was the perfect lesson for him to join. He brought up his concern about alcohol and pornography and we had no idea! He just completely opened up to Bishop for some reason. It was amazing! For some reason Bishop and Eric are best mates haha. At the end of the lesson Eric was telling us that he wanted to get baptized! Bishop took us out to get burgers after the lesson and Eric was on cloud 9! His facebook story went from being depressed to telling everyone that it was a great day with a picture of us 4 at Bettys Burgers! 

He came to church the next day and loved the musical items! He said, “Wow, they sounded just like angels and they must have practiced for hours!” He will hopefully continue to progress to being baptized! 

-President called us and told Elder Sun and I that we might be in charge of starting a Chinese group in the city! If that happens, we will be so busy! We are praying that it gets approved!

-The lease on our M1 centre building is up! So we got to join President and his wife for lunch and then were able to inspect the available places to rent out with them. It was so fun seeing the behind the scenes and helping President make the final decision with the realtor! 

-Well Elder Sun got sick and that meant I got sick! So it was not the funnest week! It was a grind to push through the sickness! We probably infected half of Adelaide haha! We would meet a friend and then the next day call them and they would tell us that the "right side of their throat was hurting"...Elder Sun and I felt so bad haha. 

-Our district leader asked for an emergency exchange and so that was fun to do while we were both sick. It was a rough exchange, but hopefully we were able to help both the Elders. We ended the exchange by making them dinner at our flat and so that made for a great end to the night!

-We had our Chinese friend Shi Shaun Chen drive us home after our lesson! That was so fun talking to him all the way home!

-We had a zone council at 8.30pm with everyone and that was very very interesting! Thankfully by Sunday morning all the contention and tension was gone! Phew! No fun!

-Had dinner with our new member Robert! Hadn't seen him in a long time! We got to enjoy some authentic Chinese food....and tried some tasty pork blood...it was an experience!

-Sunday night Bishop Raeside invited all the missionaries, new members, and progressing friends over to his house for dinner! There ended up being 45 people there! It was a party! It was amazing because all the Chinese people were able to connect and grow relationships! And guess what the main topic of discussion was that night?! Baptism! All the friends on date were asking the new members questions and by the end other friends were wanting to get baptized and the friends on date wanted to move their date forward sooner! They were practically fighting over who could be baptized first! A very unique problem to have haha. A wonderful problem! It was really a dream come true! We got to sit back and see all our hard effort finally reap rewards! It was amazing to see all the new members we have baptized over the last 18 months fellowship with our other friends! 

-We have had some amazing lessons! So spirit filled! There is nothing like having the spirit in the lesson and having the friend engaged and soaking in everything! Some of the most powerful, peaceful, wonderful hours of my life thus far! My companion and I always walk out of the lessons on a spiritual cloud 9! If only, all the lessons could be like that and all the friends would be receptive! 

-We have had some long days and it reminds me of the words of the prophet Jacob "by saying that the time passed away with us, and also our lives passed away like as it were unto us a dream, we being a lonesome and a solemn people, wanderers, cast out from Jerusalem, born in tribulation, in a wilderness, and hated of our brethren.” 

The mission is incredible, but I feel you are able to feel in a very small part of what Jesus felt when He was on the earth. To taste what it must have tasted and to understand what it means to be cast out and hated by those who do not believe in the Almighty God!  

Spiritual thought: 

I love one title of our Savior: Redeemer.

Redeemer. Why is it Redeemer not redeemed? It is because He is continually redeeming us. It is active. It is not passive. He is actively redeeming us as we repent and turn to Him! 

Elder Sun and I have noticed a trend! It is that church members who share the gospel are the strongest and most faithful members! They are the ones who have testimonies built upon the rock of Jesus Christ. 

We have found that the ability to share the gospel equals the strength of your testimony. It is the law of restoration. As you give of your testimony and share the knowledge you have, you receive greater light and knowledge in return! 

That is why part of our baptismal covenant is to share the gospel! We don't share the gospel just because God asked us to, but because God knows it will help us remain steadfast in the faith! It will help us be fearless in the faith!

As President Nelson has said:

"Thus, missionary work is an essential part of the great gathering of Israel. That gathering is the most important work taking place on earth today. Nothing else compares in magnitude. Nothing else compares in importance. The Lord’s missionaries—His disciples—are engaged in the greatest challenge, the greatest cause, the greatest work on earth today."

I invite everyone to find some way to share the gospel in a normal and natural way! Its as easy as loving, sharing, and inviting! Actions sometimes speak louder than words! Let people see the gospel in action! Let the gospel be personified! 

I promise that as you share the gospel you will be blessed with Joy and peace (see Doctrine and Covenants 18:10–16; Alma 26:11, 13, 35; Alma 36:24–28).   Sustaining power from God (see Mosiah 18:8–13; John 15:4–5).   Protection from temptation (see 3 Nephi 18:24–25).   Forgiveness of sins (see Doctrine and Covenants 62:3).

I testify that missionary work is truly the greatest cause on earth today! And the amazing thing is that everyone can be a part of the greatest work that God has for us! 

Remember that God is love! All He wants to do is to bless us and love us! However, it is our agency that sometimes prohibits God from blessing us!

President Nelson said, ”The covenant path is a path of love—that incredible hesed, that compassionate caring for and reaching out to each other. Feeling that love is liberating and uplifting. The greatest joy you will ever experience is when you are consumed with love for God and for all His children. Loving God more than anyone or anything else is the condition that brings true peace, comfort, confidence, and joy."

We must learn to love God and His children! We will then find the joy and happiness that we are all continually seeking! As we love our Heavenly Father and Savior, we find true peace! 

We must remember that all of God's commandments are to help us find true joy! Commandments help us live the way that God lives! And the life that God lives is a life of pure joy and fulfillment!

I will finish with something that stuck out to me in PMG this week: 

"Like other commandments, the commandment to love God is for our benefit. What we love determines what we seek. What we seek determines what we think and do. And what we think and do determines who we are—and who we will become."

What will you seek? Who will you become? I testify that you are all a son or daughter of God that loves you and you have the potential to become like Him! 

Have a great week! 

Here are the pictures:https://photos.app.goo.gl/KAdNCtTnSqtW86UM9

Love ya all! 

Cheers,

Elder Jones (zhang zhanglao)