The Color Code ...

Hello my lovelies! It has been another wonderful, hard, missionary
week for me. No place I would rather be. A mission has really helped
me be excited for the future.

The reason I am so late in writing today is because, oh wait, I can't
tell you yet. You will just have to wait and see!

Monday - p-day, we played basketball and emailed. It was a good,
relaxing day. We met with the Domino family again. We went over the
gospel of Jesus Christ using 2 Nephi 31. That is a beautifully simple
chapter that tells us His teachings. Nothing like the Book of Mormon.
We then went and stopped by some people we wanted to visit but no
luck.

Tuesday - We had a zone conference. A zone conference is when a couple
zones get together and have a meeting directed by the Assistants to
the President and the Lead Sister Training leaders, and of course the
mission President. Mission president gave us some good direction on
how to improve our studies in the morning. Very helpful. But the main
theme was baptism. In PMG it says we are supposed to find those that
are prepared to receive our message, the message of the restoration.
The only way to do that is to invite them to be baptized. That was my
biggest take away, so I will be working on that. That went till about
4 and then we went out and proselyted. The only lesson we had Tuesday
was with Glenda. I love visiting with them but it might be time to
move on.

Wednesday - I had exchanges on Wednesday and this time I went with
Elder Cruz. Him and his companion are doing much better. We went and
worked, stopped by a referral, a lady that ordered a bible, and read a
chapter with her and she expressed to us that she wants to find the
true church. Pretty cool! We introduced the BoM and then set up
another appointment to come back. We then went and stopped by some
people in hopes that we could meet with them. Dinner was at 5 with the
good ol' Morins. They made us some yummy Mexican food which I have
come to love. After that we went and had a lesson with some ladies in
our ward. They lost her records and she wants to be baptized again so
we are working with her. Should be incredibly easy. They live out in
the country a little ways. They are awesome! Both 60+ and live in a
nice RV on 15 aces of land. They take care of it themselves and its
impressive. Every once in a while we go and help them with whatever it
is they need. After that we went back by the Morins and picked up the
leftovers. I must say I have been incredibly lucky to stay in an area
for 7 months. I know the people in the ward and they know me, I am
part of the family!

Thursday - Weekly planning. I just realized you probably don't know
what that is. It's just what it sounds like, we plan for the upcoming
week! We plan lessons we want to teach, things we want to do to find
new people, plan for baptisms, etc. After that we had our scripture
study class. 2 successful ones in a row! Then we went and worked for
an hour.

Friday - I don't think much happened on Friday. We went by some
referrals that we received and dropped off items. Invited them to
church and learn more about what we teach. Some said they would like
to come to church others said no thanks. Just one step in the right
direction, one step closer to the gospel. I think we finished up all
the referrals we had gotten which was an accomplishment. We then had
dinner at the Brown home again. Nice people.

Saturday - This day was supposed to be busy, but alas, 'twas not so.
It was busy, but all of our appointments fell through. We figured
there was some place else we needed to be. We went and stopped by a
less active in the ward. They have serious health issues and have a
hard time coming to church. They weren't up for meeting so we walked
around their neighborhood a little bit. We ran into a couple people
and had great conversations with them. One was a younger guy in his
late 20's that had lots of questions. He didn't want to take the
lessons but he seemed very interested. We will stop by later this week
and see if we can teach him. We pretty much taught him the
restoration, not in a formal setting though. Just standing. It was
fun, I enjoy talking about the gospel. We then talked to an older
black gentleman who liked us because we were "fellow Christians," we
get that a lot. We then had Derek's baptismal interview, so he will be
baptized this Saturday. He's so excited, he's been trying to get
baptized for the past 3 years but has ran into roadblocks. He came to
church on Sunday and we had recently taught him about tithing. We were
standing by the door and he comes up and says I made 20 dollars but I
only have the 20 dollar bill but who do I give it to when I have it?
For an 11 year kid he is very ready and very excited. The gospel makes
life so good.

Sunday - We had breakfast over at Bro. Forrest's house, our ward
mission leader. He's a funny guy. We teach the gospel doctrine class
so we then went home and got our lesson ready. Went to church, I love
church. I didn't go last Sunday and it felt so empty. Life without
religion is an empty life indeed. It's a good reminder that everything
is just fine. We met with the Lomas family. Jessica is still very
excited for baptism and it's going to be very soon! Excited for that.

Now, for the fun stuff. Today a lady in Mission Creek ward invited us
and her wards missionaries to go to the zoo and other fun stuff. It
was so fun. Her husband is a top layer for the military so she then
took us to her home which is on base and took us to this funny names
place. She told us all we needed was celery. So we went to the store,
bought celery, cut it up, put it into plastic bags, and then walked
over. We get in there and it's a big open courtyard with peacocks,
turkeys, geese, and ducks all over. So we fed celery and carrots to
the birds. So odd, but so funny. It was bizarre. All of the birds
would eat it out of your hands and were not scared. She then got us
some watermelon and sent us on our way. I will make sure to include
pictures!

All I have to say is the church is true, the gospel is real and very
true, the atonement is real, and we are all children of a loving God.
Life is good when you live the gospel!

I love y'all, have a great week!

Elder Christensen
Do Good Stuff

We went in this aviary place to feed some birds and the birds attacked
us. They scraped my head!

9-7-15 / Elizabeth Street is heaven

Dear friends and family,

Life is good when you live the gospel.

The other elders in our apartment have not been getting along. It has
made for an interesting week to say the least. Me and Elder West have
been caught in the crossfire.

Anyways, Monday! P-day like always, no surprise there. We washed the
car, bought groceries, communicated with family, etc, etc. After p-day
ended we met with Glenda later that night. It is so important to keep
the commandments and remain worthy of the Holy Ghost. If you don't
have it you can't serve God the way He needs you to. We didn't have an
appointment set up with Glenda but we felt prompted to go by so we
did. She was having a rough day and hopefully she was able to relax
and cheer up a little.

On Tuesday we had exchanges. I had the privilege of going with the one
and only Elder Forbush. It was fun. We worked in his area for the day
which is always so refreshing. It's a nice break. He served in the
Mission Creek ward and most of the members in his ward are on the
military base. We had dinner that night with a family over on base. It
was cool to go onto a military base. Very different culture. We then
met with a less active family in his ward and had a good lesson with
them. But on this day we found Elizabeth st! It was glorious. So I
have been in the ghetto for 6 going on 7 months now and working with
people in the ghetto can be hard and frustrating. We somehow ended up
on this street where every house was incredibly nice. It was so
refreshing to find people with money. Sounds bizarre, but it was nice.
We decided to knock on a couple of them. We chose this gorgeous home
with fire on the sides of the door. The guy opened it, said no thanks,
and shut it. It was awesome! I wouldn't have known how wonderfully
glorious these houses were unless I served the opposite first I guess.
Appreciation is a funny thing.

Wednesday we had district meeting. It was an odd one because we only
had me and Elder Forbush and then the sister companionship at DM.
Elder West was a champ and stayed home with Forbush companion who was
sick. We then decided it would be best for elder Forbush and West to
go together for the day so I stayed home with the other elder. They
got a lot done in our area though on Tuesday so that was good.

On Thursday we had weekly planning and our scripture study class. A
non eventful day.

On Friday we had a zone service activity. South zone every week on
Friday goes and serves at the food bank and helps them with whatever
it is they need help with. Our zone, east zone, decided to go and tag
along. It was fun, always good to serve. They had donated to them 6
thousand pounds of potatoes and tons of corn. We put all the potatoes
into a 10 pound bag and shucked the gross corn parts off of the corn.
It took a while to do it all. There was lots of people there, about 30
missionaries, 30 people from a different organization, and a school
class of kids. So we went and helped with the that and then had dinner
at a new families home. They live out in La Vernia, it was a good 30
minute drive over to their home. They are a solid family. They are
trying to share the gospel and do their duty. We helped their kids
know how they can answer questions and then extend an invitation to
act. Did some role playing. It was a fun dinner.

On Saturday I was feeling sick so we went to our scheduled appointment
then went back to the apartment and I napped. In the morning we met
with Derek. He's a good kid, we moved his baptismal date back a week.
He's a funny kid. A good kid, just needs some direction. We then met
with Glenda again. We read a conference talk by Monson with her and
she seemed to enjoy it. After my nap we went to an appointment with a
single lady that recently moved into the ward. We asked Bro. Rohrer if
he would come with us and he said yes. We ended up just riding with
him because it was out next to Floresville (far away). She is a busy
lady and she forgot. Oh well, so we drove back with bro Rohrer too.

Sunday I felt like death so I texted sis. Slaughter. If you're sick
you are supposed to text her your symptoms and she will tell you if
you can leave the apartment or not. She said I was banned to the
apartment for the day. It felt so weird not going to church. Life
would be horribly empty if you didn't go to church consistently. Faith
makes you rooted. Reminds me of ether 12:4. Long, boring day. I ended
up reading Jesus the Christ and the New Testament for the day and
watching videos on the gospel library app.

It was an odd week. They happen! Tomorrow we have zone conference
which is always wonderful.

Alma 34:31 tells us a lot about repentance. Once we repent, truly feel
bad and repent, turn to God, we are immediately forgiven of our sin.
Isn't that incredible? Once we truly confess and forsake there is no
need to feel bad or lament over the past. You are immediately forgiven
so keep moving forward!

Love you all and have a great week!

Love,
Elder Christensen
Do Good Stuff

Here are some choice houses from Elizabeth st.

8/31/15 - The week of our first successful scripture study class!‏

Art by Elder Christensen -

Hello friends and family! Another week has come and gone.

It has been so hot lately. I've been asking people when it cools down
but I get a different answer every time. I think the average say that
it will start to cool down in October so we shall see. They consider
cool down like in the 80's, which at this point I would consider that
cooling down too!

It was a good week. More productive than it has been in a while. It is
so important to prioritize and make the best use of time. So much to
do and not a whole lot of time to do it in. The days fly by. I wake up
and then it seems like a couple hours later I get ready for bed. It's
crazy! At this pace my mission will be over in no time.

On Monday we had p-day, the usual. We then went out and proselyted a
little bit. We met a guy named Sid who said we could come by some time
and share a message. That was a bonus. Actually the whole street he
lives on is great. People were friendly and said we could come stop by
sometime. Even if we just give someone a Book of Mormon it's worth it!
Hopefully they read it eventually.

The BoM is so stinking cool. It's either true or it's not! If it's
true, were right and the church is true and all the doctrine is true
and Jesus is the Christ. If it's not true, there is no truth on earth.
All we have to do to get an answer is truly want to know and then read
it and pray about it.

On Tuesday we met with Sid who we met on Monday, Glenda, and Robert.
We met with Robert about once a week but then he started chemotherapy
and that put an end to that. His cancer is terminal so we talked about
what happens when we die and where we go. We were able to give him a
blessing of peace and comfort. He seemed so at peace with the world
regardless of his situation. He's a good man. He misses his wife so
I'm excited for him to see her again. I wonder what it's like not to
know what's going to happen after you die and then when you die you go
to the next world. It will probably just feel comfortable, like you
are finally home. He came to church a couple times but he was honest
with us and said he doesn't believe any church is right. All of them
are. A lot of people believe that. Glenda is doing ok. She has
listened to the BoM a little bit this past week which is awesome!
She's funny, she keeps claiming that the voice is really creepy and it
scares her. We then met with Sid later that night and we taught the
restoration. It was an ok lesson. He said he would read the BoM so we
will see what happens. We will follow up and see how it's going.

Wednesday was a weird day. An elder in our apartment broke something
in his knee and had a doctors appointment. We didn't know if we would
need to help them get somewhere and what not so we waited for them to
call us and let us know what's up. We then were asked if we could help
a lady moving from New Braunfels move into her home. We said we could
but she needed to get another male to go with us. Nothing ever
happened with that so we went out and worked for the rest of the day.
Normally we meet with the Lomas' on Wednesday and Sunday but school
started this past week and her oldest son just started school. He is
having a hard time apparently so she canceled on us which is fine. It
was a slower day.

Thursday was fun. We met with an older lady in our ward. We now have
two grandmas, Sis. S and Sis. H. She always makes sure we have some
chocolate when we come over and she lines it up on the table for us.
She's a sweet lady. She would love to come to church but her husband
has some health issues that she stays home and helps with. It's always
fun to go out to her house too because she lives about 30 minutes
away. Country is always fun. We were then asked by a guy in our ward
to go and help him give a blessing. We said of course. He came and
picked us up and we went over to the military base hospital where the
guy was. That was cool to see. We helped him out then went back out to
work. Thursday nights is our scripture study night and for the first
time someone showed up! We were actually able to teach a lesson. Me
and Elder West taught it and it was on preparing ourselves for the
second coming using Matthew 25 and the parables taught in it. It's a
good chapter. Lots of good stuff to take away from it. When we have
the class three was are invited. One of those three is a Spanish
branch so the guy that showed up of course spoke Spanish. Me and elder
west were the only ones that couldn't understand him so he would speak
a missionary would translate and then we would speak and they would
translate it for us. It was fun and different. He said he would bring
some people next time so we will see. I thought we did a good job
announcing it but I guess we need to do better. Good day.

Friday we had dinner with the Grunkes. They are so fun to eat with.
Older couple, very nice and fun. I was informed that Donald Trump is
leading the republican side. Hillary or Trump, that will be a blast!
We weren't able to do weekly planning on Thursday so we did it on
Friday instead. Yawn. It was a fun day anyways. We tried to meet with
Derek but for an eleven year old kid he is weirdly hard to meet with.
But he's eleven so what do you expect, if an eleven year old kid kept
his own appointments that would be bizarre. So I'm not surprised. We
were knocking doors on a street and we ran into an old people home.
The owner said we could come by on curtains day and visit with the old
folks. We will have to try that out sometime!

On Saturday we met with Glenda again and read some out of the BoM with
her. That is the best tool we have been given to spread the gospel. We
also met a lady while we were out and about and we taught her a brief
restoration lesson and left her with a BoM. She seemed to be very
interested with the BoM so we will see if she reads it. Then we met
with Michael and his wife. Bro. Rohrer came with us. Such a good guy,
we taught the plan of salvation and it went well. He really wants to
know whether or not this is the truth so he's been reading and praying
about it. He's becoming sincere in his desire to learn. Him and his
wife are excited to have an eternal family. We then had dinner with
the bishop and his family. It was bishops birthday and his favorite
food to eat is cheap out of a box pizza, so we had some of that. We
then were able to contact referrals that we have been given. Very
productive day.

Sunday's are always wonderful. We were asked last Sunday if we could
teach the combined YM/YW class. Our topic was preparing for a mission.
Super fun! The youth are so wonderful. So pure and clean and innocent,
such a good light about them. I enjoyed that a lot. Sacrament was
wonderful too. I remember someone saying something about how the
brethren were trying to get sacrament meeting more Christ centered.
I've been wondering when they are going to release a statement or
something saying please start doing this and what not. Because the
best sacrament meetings are the ones that are centered on Jesus
Christ. The sacrament is always wonderful to take. After church is
over I always feel ready to take on another week! We then had dinner
with the Morrisons. She made a delicious lemon cake for dessert. We
then met with the Lomas' that night. Jessica is doing well, she is
ready to be baptized for sure.

I love the scriptures found in Mosiah 24. I've been using this one a
lot lately when I begin to talk to people because it applies to all of
us so well! In Mosiah 24:9 Amulon, the ruler of the land at this time,
puts task masters over the people because he's not a big fan of them
follow God. In v. 10 we see that when they have afflictions they turn
to God in prayer. But Amulon, not being the nicest guy, says they
can't pray anymore an if they do they will die. Yikes! But the people
continue to rely on God even though it's hard to do so. They rely on
him and show their faith to him by praying on their hearts and
thinking of Him and how good he has been to them. As a reward for
their faith God blesses them with strength. We read the blessings in
v. 14-15. As they turned to God, their afflictions became light! They
weren't so heavy and they were still able to find joy even though they
were going through hard times. The same goes for us! We all go through
had things but the answer to our problems is the same, turn to God. He
will always help you! You just need the faith to try it and turn to
Him. I promise that this works. I'd recommend reading this whole
chapter, it's good.

I love you all very much. May god bless you with His spirit and the
peace that is sure to follow.

Love,
Elder Christensen
Do Good Stuff