Howdy y'all!
I have not heard one person with a southern accent yet and I am disappointed! Apparently I need to get out of the city in order for that to happen.
Anyways, this week was long! I don't know why but it just was so thank heavens its p-day!
I think the re-occurring thing I learned this week was my role and purpose as a missionary. They pound this into your brain and they try and give you a head start to understand this in the MTC ... but I think I am finally starting to get it. I am learning grace for grace. I also spent a lot of my personal study this week trying to understand the nature of God and our true relationship to Him. It is so strange how we as humans don't learn unless we are forced to.
On my mission I am forced to learn and confront what I believe and truly know. I have expressed this thought in past emails but it fits here too. We can know something, the info can be in our minds but we don't truly know. We don't truly understand how this bit of knowledge fits into the puzzle. We do not see how this knowledge applies to us. I think knowledge applied to self is wisdom. Well knowledge applied to self is the beginning of wisdom because once you see how it applies to self you can apply it to the world and all that you do. And that's one aspect of God's nature.
He has all the knowledge and He knows how to use it and apply it to all things. Therefore making Him the wisest of the wise. So anyways I was studying my relationship to God and His character and it just made me have more questions. Trying to understand God's nature is ridiculous and I referenced some conference talks and they pretty much said as we keep the commandments and understand the relationship between the Father and the Son we will begin to understand who They are and who we are to Them. If anyone has any ideas on this topic please share your knowledge! But there is an excellent talk by Holland called the Grandeur of God. I recommend it!
I am often overwhelmed by how much I have to understand. Its truly incredible! I think that's going to be my personal goal this week. To constantly strive for revelation. I am learning that the carnal mind and self cannot learn these things. I think Doctrine and Covenants gives us the answer in 121:45. Look it up, I am too lazy to write it out.
Central to our ability to learn is Christ. I need to and we all need to have faith that these things will be revealed to us. I guess patience is key aye?
Oh this is always a problem, I cannot remember what happened this past week!!!
We did ride our bikes again which was super fun. I love riding bikes and hopefully I get put in at least one bike area. Something about it just puts you on the same plane as other people. People begin to see you as real people, but whenever we use the car we seem to be like robots or something. I don't know. But it was fun.
There is this thing called Festival going on right now which is pretty much like a week long party so we did not have a lot of success trying to stop by people because no one was home. Which was fine, we stopped by a members house to get some water. Hes a nice guy, he always gives us HEB gift cards and helps us out when ever we ask.
We bought a ton of food last p-day. I have not had to learn how to budget for myself yet which is probably a curse but its made this whole money thing easy. Me and Elder A live the law of consecration so normally we just buy meal food and then make something together. Its fun, I enjoy cooking with him and making food.
We also some how got viral infections. We both had coughs last week but instead of taking it easy and resting so we did not get sick we did the opposite. So on Saturday me and Elder A called sister s (The Mission Mom) because we had no idea what was going on and she pretty much told us not to leave the apartment so we listened. That was a long, long day. I cannot believe that I would do that all the time before I left on my mission. Sitting still and doing nothing for long hours at a time is painful to say the least.
So we got sick this week, rode bikes, tried to find some new investigators which continues to be a struggle. But the members in the ward are starting to feed us dinner a lot more which is appreciated. It is starting to become very humid here. It was 87 and 98% humidity the other day. Can you saw ew? It was bad.
Aaron is still going strong. He is trying to help his wife see how the gospel will bless her and how she needs it. He said he has been taking a step back and letting her come to it instead of forcing it on her and its working. So we will meet with her and teach her the lessons. They have a wonderful family and I hope they come back.
Kenneth and Jeannie have kind of dropped off the radar. They were ready for baptism but some complications arose so we had to wait. I don't know I am a little worried about them and I hope they come to their senses. But whatever happens happens.
We also taught a new guy this week named Kenneth. He requested a bible and we went over and asked him if we could teach him as well and he said yes. So we taught the restoration and invited hi to read the BoM. He did when we went back but his wife is hesitant so hopefully he will come to church regardless of what his wife thinks. So many individual trials people go through to come to the knowledge of the gospel. I am so glad we have a loving Heavenly Father who is aware of these peoples needs and concerns.
We also taught a guy named Jordan this week. He is a lost guy in his 20's who is looking for some guidance so we went over and taught the restoration. Hopefully he will read and come to know what we have to share is true.
I continue to become more excited to share the gospel everyday and hopefully you guys are sharing the gospel and your light as well!
I would love to hear from all of you and I do apologize that I don't send letters very often. It just takes a lot of time that I don't have. You don't even need to write me a letter just a short email saying hi would truly be appreciated!
I love you all and I really hope all of you are doing well. Keep on keepin on!
Elder Christensen
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