The time just keeps on going!
The days, on occasion, feel slow, but the weeks go by so very fast. I am
grateful I get to stay here another 6 weeks. Vista Ridge and Walsh Ranch are
great wards and I am looking forward to serving the people.
My new companion is Elder Camire
(Kuh-mare-ee). I still struggle with his name, its kind of embarrassing. So for
now I just call him Elder, I think I am starting to get it though. He is from
Paradise, UT in Cache Valley. Hopefully we will be able to work together to
help strengthen peoples faith in Christ. I have a picture of us but a lady took
it and she said she would email it to me and she hasn't yet. If it doesn't come
today you might have to wait until next week. Sorry!
This week has been interesting.
A lot has happened! I can't remember if I told you last week (here we go
again), but they switched up transfers. Since the brethren have said no more
transfer meetings, it was a little hectic with it being the first time doing it
differently.
Backstory,
the New Hope ward and Leander ward were split in half. Two new wards were made
so
the Elders that covered NH and
Leander were then covering 4 wards. Yikes. They brought in two new Elders to
cover NH and Liberty Hill ward. One of the Elders was one my former companions,
Elder Shipley. We are in the same district. What are the odds? Kind of funny.
They got transferred in thought without a phone, car, or a place to live. Kind
of sketch. But we got everything worked out, so now two more Elders live with
us in our apartment, which has been kind of fun. But my companion didn't get
here until Wednesday, so I was companion-less for a couple days :'(
I just hung out with some Elders
for one day and then another set of Elders for the other. It was fun. Then on
Wednesday we drove into Austin to the stake center to pick up my compa. He was
supposed to get there at 8:45 pm but didn't get there until 10. We just had a
good game of basketball going on. Good times. But that was the beginning of my
week, so not much work was done.
Then on Friday we had some
lessons. One of them was with Jason and Pang. They are doing well. They can't
see it themselves but there is more light in their home and lives because of
the gospel and their willingness to read the bom and experiment upon the word.
They are starting to open up to us a little bit which is nice, starting to
become friends. We brought up baptism this lesson and that kind of freaked them
out. They recognize that its a huge commitment, but we told them it was a very
joyful, hard path to walk. Hopefully they choose to do whats right. They are so
smart and they understand, now they just need to act on the knowledge they have
received. We asked what it was like to read the bom for the first time
and Pang's response was, "it has a lot of similarities to the bible. Adam
and Eve and disobedient children and so does Lehi. That shows me that God is
interacting with them the same way in the bom and bible." Who says that???
No one, just the incredibly prepared. So that was cool. We taught the Plan of
Salvation and they had a lot of questions answered. We got to the fall and we
turned to 2 Nephi 2:22-25 and said that this tells us what would of happened if
Adam and Eve would not have partaken of the fruit. Pang said, "oh I have
always wondered that!" Then Jason afterwards said, "That makes so
much sense! I had always wondered where Jesus Christ had came from and why He
was chosen as the Christ." All I have to say is, if they don't get
baptized, that will be a silly mistake. They know and see the truthfulness of
this way too much.
We had some beautiful days this
past week, it was in the mid 70s to low 80s. It was gorgeous. Biking around in
that weather is lots of fun. Much better than 30s and 100% humid. But as soon
as the sun goes down it gets way cold. Then you need like 2 jackets and
gloves.
Fast and testimony meeting
always attracts an interesting crowd. Walsh Ranch has one f the best Fast and
testimony meetings I have ever been to, but yesterday a lady got up and went
baptist mode. It was very entertaining. Going to a baptist church where they
preach and get loud would be so entertaining, but you wouldn't learn much. I
can see the appeal. Every time someone did something she agreed with she would
yell "Amen!" It was awesome. The bishop called up some kids who were
baptized the day before and he said something like we are grateful for these
children and the decision they have made to follow their Savior, and then the
awesome yell from the back, AMEN! All throughout sacrament meeting. It sure
spiced things up. We had never seen her in our life but she said she was a
member directed to the church today by the holy spirit. She had a lot of people
say hello and say thank you for the testimony. I bet she is a great lady, just
out of the ordinary for a LDS service. Fun though! It must be hard to be a
bishop when someone gets up there and starts saying off the wall things. Hard
judgement to make.
The South-East area is
implementing this new plan to help members become more active and help people
that have not received ordinances to get them. We met with the WR bishopric to
discuss the plan and it sounds like it is going to be awesome. The ward council
comes up with a list of people that need additional ministering and then the
missionaries go with members identified by WC that would be best and teaches
them and addresses needs. Then its reported to the ward council through the
ward mission leader. Then if no progress is being made, we identify someone new
to work with and help them receive ordinances and set goals. We will see how it
goes, but I am excited. I think it will make the WC and missionaries more
unified. Sometimes it feels like we are off doing our own thing and the WC is
doing something else, which isn't very productive. But this will help. New
wards, new plans, the Kingdom is growing. Exciting time to be apart of the
work.
We had another baptism this week
for Andie! It was so sweet. She is the sweetest little girl and she was so very
excited. There was a difference in her countenance after she received the gift
of the Holy Ghost. It was cool to see. They are a great family and I was
grateful to be apart of helping them. They then took us to lunch and has us
over the next day for dinner. Lots of good people in the world.
Because of the Restoration we
know that we existed before we came to this life. We know that we had a
decision to make before we came to this life. That decision was who to follow,
Satan or our Heavenly Father? We know that we chose to follow Heavenly Father
because we exist! We have bodies. Those that followed Satan do not have bodies
and they never will. But not only did we follow Christ, we were among the noble
and great ones. We were taught before we came to this life how to labor among
the vineyard to help others return to live with Heavenly Father. In Alma 13 we
learn that all who hold the Priesthood were chosen and prepared before the
foundation of the world to hold it. In Alma 13:6 we learn our duty, to teach
the commandments to others, that they too might have everlasting life. What
trust we have been given! Knowing that we existed before this life and made the
correct decision to follow Christ makes me want to be and do better. I want to
help ion this cause. I know that this is true. I know this is true because I
know the BoM is true. The Restoration really did happen.
I love you all! Thanks for your
kind words and thoughtfulness. Have a great week!
Love,
Elder Christensen
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