How many days until Christmas?

As a missionary we actually do listen to quite a bit of music. It's
all gospel and Christ centered of course but we do listen to music.
All the good stuff always ends up being Christmas stuff and it always
makes me want Christmas to be here sooner. Actually the most popular
music on the mission is The Lower Lights, so props to you Cherie Call.
I have become quite familiar with their music.

Every morning before companionship study our apartment gets together
and sings some hymns and has a prayer. The most fun ones to sing are
the Christmas ones which only adds to the longing for Christmas. Far,
far away on Judea's plane is one of my new favorites. Glory to God in
the highest!

On Monday we had p-day, of course, and we decided to go to the Alamo.
It's only like 10 minutes away from where our apartment is. It was
very neat. I can now say I have been to the Alamo. We then had a
lesson with Michael and his fiancé. They are getting married soon and
Michael wants to be baptized. Kinda cool how we got in contact with
them. So we send a scripture text every morning and we accidentally
sent the scripture to the wrong group. Well the lady who contacted us
was in this group and she ended up calling us and setting up an
appointment. Pretty cool! Then we went and met with Derek. He's an 11
year old that wants to be baptized too.

Tuesday, I can't remember what happened so probably not much. I think
we met with Glenda and Christella. Not much progress, but they are
trying.

Wednesday we had district meeting. In our district at the moment we
have us, 1st ward, the other elders on our apartment, mission creak,
and the woodlake sisters. Only 6 missionaries, which is normal.
Anyways, we thought it would be a good idea to have a musical number
thrown in there. We sang a round, a shepherds carol. It was awful. But
fun nonetheless. We then went to a great burger place and had yummy
burgers. Then we had a breakthrough! Every Wednesday and Sunday we
meet with the Lomas family. Aaron has recently gotten a calling as Cub
Scout leader dude so he's gone on Wednesdays now so it was just us and
sis lomas. Well let me back up. Last Sunday when we met with them sis
Lomas said she felt like she was ready to be baptized. Hallelujah! We
have been meeting with her for two days a week since I first started
my mission, in March. Hear baptism is planned for Sep. 26th and it is
so exciting. But when it was just us and her she really opened up and
told us her feelings about church, what she's been praying for, how's
she gotten an answer, what she wants to do, how excited she is to go
to the temple, etc. it was awesome! Now whenever we go over and teach
she is so much more open and relaxed. It's also been so cool to see
her progress. When I first started teaching her she was very shy and
didn't participate much. Everything seemed to be a burden to her. Now
she smiles, laughs, plays with her kids, talks to us openly and to
people at church. She says she hasn't felt this positive about life
ever. She has seen a total change in perspective about life. And when
we used to go over and teach there was always a good feeling in the
home, but last not when we went in it was incredible warmth and just
filled with the spirit. They seem so much closer as a family, so much
more united and happier. So in a year they can go through the temple
and receive the wonderful blessings of the temple. So exciting! Glad I
had the privilege to be apart of their journey. D&C 18:15 talks about
bringing souls unto Christ. It says if you bring once soul into Christ
how great shall be your joy with them in the kingdoms of my father.
The people we help come unto Christ we better like, because we will be
with them for eternity in the kingdom of God. Great verse!

Thursday was weekly planning but me and Elder West have become good friends.

Friday was a slower day. We proselyted and looked for people who would
listen to the message of the restoration. I finally like to proselyte.
It's fun and it feels good to share the gospel. The better you become
at sharing the gospel effectively the happier you are and that comes
from knowledge of how to do it. Preach my gospel is such a good tool
to use and to study, love that book. We then had a lesson with a less
active guy and called it a day.

Saturday was a similar day. Not much to report on.

Sunday was great, like all Sunday's. We had the privilege of going to
ward council this week which is always so fun. Our bishop has really
seen the importance lately of helping the people we bring into the
church stay into the church. It's awesome! We now have his full
support and trust. Things are on the uphill climb for the 1st ward. We
have a great bishop. Good stuff was discussed there. I really think I
came to this area not only to help investigators or non members but
also members too. I have definitely been called to the San Antonio
mission by inspiration! Sister lomas even stayed for all 3 hours and
loved relief society. Great day! We then went over and taught Jalissa
and destiny. They are in a tough spot and I hope they will act on the
message we share. Jesus Christ is there for everyone and to help with
all things. We then went over to the lomas house and had a good lesson
on following Christ and doing what's right. I then had the privilege
to give bro. Lomas sr a blessing. I take the priesthood for granted.
They don't! They see what a blessing it is to have the Melchizedek
priesthood, and they are starting to help me see it too.

Something that I run into a lot here in Texas is people are very
content with what they have. Most people don't have a desire to
change. I read Alma 36 this morning because it talks about what a
belief in Christ can do for us. In Alma 36:3 it says Christ will
support us in our troubles, and our trials, and our afflictions, and
we shall be lifted up at the last day. That is what a belief in Christ
can do for us. It leads to eternal life and complete support in this
life. We also learn in v. 20 that as we turn to Christ our souls are
filled wi joy and light. That is the only way to have that light
within us! It's His light, how do we have His light? Follow Him. It's
a good message. Glad I have the privilege to share it.

I also love in Alma 36:2 how it talks about bondage. I love when the
scriptures talk about bondage. Such good symbolism, only Christ can
free us from the bondage of death and sin and all trials both temporal
and spiritual. His yoke truly is easy and His burden is light.

D&C 76:22 And now, after the many testimonies which have been given of
him, this is the testimony, last of all, which we give of him: That he
lives!

Amen!

I love you all, thanks for taking the time to write and send emails.
It's always uplifting!
Have a great week

Sincerely,
Elder Christensen
Do Good Stuff

8-3-15 / Another week has come and gone‏

It was a good week. We had a zone training meeting on Friday. It is
always so nice to have something like that to break up the days.

On Monday we had p-day. Having iPads has made our email time go up
quite a bit, so we emailed for like 2 hours, bought groceries, cleaned
the car, got a haircut, and ended up playing basketball for a little
while. I think we might go to the Alamo today and see whats up. I like
playing basketball though, it's a good stress reliever.

Tuesday we had exchanges again. This time I went with our district
leader Elder Forbush. He's a great guy, has good enthusiasm for life.
We didn't get too much done that day but it was fun none the less.

Wednesday we had quite a few lessons. Ward council asked us to go by a
less active lady in the ward. We went by and had a nice lesson with
her. She just has some stuff going on that isn't allowing her to come
to church. Hopefully it will pass and she can be active again. She
wants to be. We have also started sending a scripture text in the
morning to a group of people and she always loves it. Scriptures are
great! Elder Bednar in one of his talks said to read the BoM through
and look for one thing in particular. When you reach your old age you
will have a collection of BoMs that you have read and marked for a
specific topic. I've always thought that that would be cool to do but
never really had the dedication. Well I'm giving it a go and it's a
fun way to study. I'm liking it thus far, would recommend. Anyways, we
then had a lesson with a kid named Derek that wants to be baptized.
He's 11 and we should be able to make that happen fairly soon. We then
met with Jessica that night and went over 3rd Nephi 11 hoping that it
would motivate her to be baptized. It didn't work, or so we thought...

Thursday was weekly planning. Boo, next day.

Friday was zone meeting!! For whatever reason our mission has gotten a
lot of cars taken away. Thankfully not ours, but I think there's only
like 4 in this zone that have cars now. We were asked by our leaders
to go and pick up some elders and take them to e meeting. Every other
transfer we get the privilege to have an interview with president
Slaughter. I'm going to miss that man when we leaves. But that was a
good experience, so knowledgable. That meeting went from 9-3 and then
we headed home. We then had dinner with some members in our ward and
that was fun. Had a good talk about missionary work and how to share
the gospel. We then headed over to meet with Glenda and Christella.
They are interested but not interested. Not sure how to help them
progress to the next step. We set Christella, the mom, with a date but
we will see if she's sincere. Once we get them a CD player and the BoM
on cd they can then choose to use their agency and listen to it or not
listen. Hopefully they choose to listen.

Saturday we actually had the opportunity to proselyte all day! We got
a new app called the area book planner which is the area book and the
planner combined. So we never use paper planners anymore, ever again.
It's been an adjustment for sure. But it's given us every referral
since the dawn of time so we have been trying to go by them and make
sure someone that was genuinely interested didn't fall through the
cracks. Most of them are out in our brown area which is the country.
Lots of driving is required when we go out to the boonies. It was fun.
We ended up driving past a house me and elder Acor drives by like the
very first week I was on my mission. I wanted to go by this house but
I couldn't find their address in the area book. It just so happens
that we drove past it! We went in and had a nice little lesson and
they said we could come back and continue to teach them. Pretty cool
miracle! We then had dinner with out bishop and his family and some
other members in our ward. Fun dinner, good food, good company. We
then went and stopped by a few more people then headed home.

Sunday was fast Sunday. I love fast Sunday's. Such a clearness of mind
that comes with fasting. Love it. We had a great fast and testimony
meeting. It was a very spiritual Sunday. Normally it's not that good,
but I have felt the growth in the ward. I'm not sure what it is, but
it's awesome. We then had a linger longer potluck after church and had
some good food. Then we had a lesson with Jessica late that night and
she finally feels ready for baptism. So awesome! So we set her for a
date and I am going to be bummed if I'm not here for it. We started
working with her when I arrived, for 5 months! She is so excited to
have an eternal family and go through the temple. Such a good Sunday.

Keeping the commandments is the way to grow in the gospel. It is the
way to be taught by the Holy Ghost and receive knowledge. Keep the
commandments, read the scriptures, and pray frequently and the
mysteries of God will be revealed unto you.
Love you all so much. Thank you for the support, it is truly
appreciated! Love the emails and letters 
Have a swell week!

Elder Christensen

7-27-15 / Thankful mission cars have spare tires!

Hello family!

I wish I could send you my voice telling you what happened this past
week. I think I'm going to look for a way to do that, but until then
emails will be the vehicle for communication.

Lots of good stuff happened this past week.
Monday we had p-day. The Alamo is part of the missions here in SA so
we went to one of the missions. There is like a chain of them along
the SA river. We went to the one closest to us, it was about a 15
minute drive. I believe the name of the one we went to is the San Juan
or San Jose mission. Pretty neat, there was a big square wall and in
the back center was an old church with some cool little side rooms
that we could walk around and look at. Then we ended up playing
basketball. It was a good p-day. It's so nice to have Sunday and then
p-day. I love going to church. Always gives me the energy and boost I
need to get through the week.

Tuesday we had exchanges. Exchanges are always fun, it's nice to
switch things up for a day. O went with good ol' elder MacKay. We went
out for the day and the first house we stop at we somehow run into the
curb. It was a weird curb, not sure how it happened, but it did. We
were driving so we didn't hurt ourselves or anything. So we go and
visit the person we were stopping by and then take off. The car starts
driving very funny so we pull over to see if it's ok and we had popped
the tire. Oops! Thankfully all the mission cars have spares in the
back. After some struggling we get the spare on and drive to a place
to have them fix the tire. We wait there for about 2 hours then we are
back on the road. We had dinner later that night with some members in
elder MacKay's ward who made super good tostadas. I ate way too much
and then we went out for the rest of the evening. Was a fun day.

Normally Wednesday is our district meeting day and so we were getting
ready for that when we got a call from our zone leaders. They asked us
to go and help at plum creek ward, in Kyle, with their missionary
camp. So we drive up there with mission creek, it's about an hour and
15 minutes away, fun drive. We have no idea what we're doing until we
get there. It's a cool camp called camp Helaman where full time
missionaries take 2 of the campers and go have a lesson and then knock
some doors. I was assigned a younger guy and an 18 year old. It was a
fun day. Our mission president also came and talked at the camp and I
always enjoy hearing his comments and wisdom. We did that and then we
drove home around 9:30-ish and hit the hay when we got home. Another
solid day.

Thursday we ended up having district meeting which is always good. We
have a good district. And normally it's tradition to have district
lunch at Panda Express, but we went out the day before so we didn't do
it. And then we had a lesson with Glenda and Christella. Christella is
Glenda's mom, can't remember if I told y'all that or not. But we read
a little more out of the BoM and went on our way. They are doing
better. The light of Christ is shining through, they are coming
around! Since they are both blind we have been trying to get them the
BoM on cd. We decided to go and drive up to the distribution center to
see if we could buy one. We get there and it turns out they aren't
making them anymore, but the sweet lady that works there says she has
one and would be willing to give it to us. She has her daughter go and
grab it and drop it off for us. Everything always works out when you
are trying to do what's right. That is truth! Since we rarely get to
go near the temple we walk around it and take some pictures. It is an
incredibly gorgeous temple and I love the feeling of incredible peace
which comes from that sacred ground. The scripture that says peace
which passeth all understanding is spot on. That was also a good day.

Friday we ended up doing weekly planning which was fine. We have an
awesome older couple that invite us over for dinner every once in a
while. We had dinner with them which I always enjoy.

Saturday was Julius' baptism! We put Effort into putting this one
together and it paid off. The spirit was wonderful and sis. Cato
invited a lot of her family to come. Hopefully they felt the spirit
and have the desire to have that with them even more. Kevin, julius'
dad, loved it so hopefuly we can get him baptized next. We had to do
almost everything to set this one up and we could not have done it
without the Lord's help. It all came together very nicely. After the
baptism we went home changed and hen went to our ward Pioneer Day
activity at bro. Felker's gun range. Super fun and relaxing. I love
this ward so much, I'd be totally fine if I stayed here for the rest
of my mission. They did a BBQ pig which was delicious. Texas BBQ is
the best. Some of the best food I have ever had.

Then Sunday we had church which I always love. Then we had a surprise
dinner with the Gonzalez family which was nice of them. Then we went
to the stake center to have our stake priesthood meeting thingy. It
was awesome! People here in this stake know how to get things done.
They had 3 return missionaries bear testimony of the atonement, they
had the patriarch talk about being receptive to revelation, stake
president guy talked about going from good to great, other stake
presidency guy talked about the oath and covenant of the priesthood,
and the stake president talked about the Aaronic priesthood and the
duties they have. It was solid.

We had a pretty darn cool experience the other day with Christella. I
promised her that as she grows closer to God and puts Him first in her
life God will provide for her and her family. Well we go back on
Saturday and have a lesson with her and she says I thought of you guys
the other day. She then goes on to tell us that a lady walked up and
they ended up chatting for a little bit and somehow it comes up that
Christella needs groceries. This lady tells her that they she has
groceries she would like to give Christella. She goes and gets them
and brings them to her. The promise that we made to her happened! If
that doesn't show her that God loves her and is aware of her I don't
know what does. The Lord really does work through us to bring to pass
the immortality and eternal life of man. I thought about that a little
bit afterward and I realized that he spirit has directed me every day
since my mission has began. We have been in the right place at the
right time every single time. There really is a golden thread that
weaves our lives with others and it's very cool to see that thread.

I was talking to a guy named bro. Mendez on Wednesday. He is a convert
to the church, was baptized a year ago, and looks about mid 60's.
Missionaries knocked on his door and he let them in and was soon
baptized. He said he prayed that he would find the truth and it came.
He had a good insight from Nephi. He talked a little about Nephi's
journey to find truth. For some reason that really stuck with me. I
have learned this past week that a sincere desire to learn,
obedience,prayer, study, and sanctification lead to us knowing the
mysteries of God. D&C 76:114-116, 1 Nephi 2:16, 1 Nephi 10:19, D&C
52:14-17 and lots of others! Check it out.

Have an awesome week my lovelies. Thanks for the letters this past
week, y'all are so sweet!
Love you lots!
Elder Christensen