Adventure of the week! We were going by prospective elders the other day and we had stopped by this certain house but a lady always shooed us away, so we had never talked to the guy we wanted to talk to. We went by and he happened to be out in his garage so we got to talk to him. He was intoxicated beyond all belief. He shook our hands about 20 times, but the first time he shook my hand he pointed out that I had some bike grease on my hand. He looked at it for about 15 seconds and then started rubbing the spot on my hand that had grease and said "you need to get that off little man!" He was way friendly to us. He ended up giving us some soda and part of his venison summer sausage. He isn't too interested in the church at this moment, but he was nice to us. For that he will be blessed. When we were about to leave he told us he was grateful that we were spreading the word of God and that he "loved you big." It was a weird exchange between us and another human being. We had a zone meeting this past week instead of district meeting. All the zone leaders go to a meeting called mission leader conference and get trained by the mission president. The zone leaders then go and train the missionaries in their zone on what they were trained on. It was nothing super new or exciting. We were trained on how we can teach simply and what drills we can do during companionship study to help us teach simply. But it was fun to see the zone. The whole zone hasn't been in a meeting together in a while. We also learned about the new video the church has put out for Easter called Hallelujah. Videos are always fun to use as a missionary. Transfers are next week. I'm guessing I will stay here another transfer. 5 transfers in SA and 5 transfers in Austin. At this pace I will go to four areas my whole mission. Time is going by so fast. I'm almost at 13 months. I was thinking about this before bed last night and it won't be long that I will be going home. That was a motivating thought! Grateful for each day. Makes me want to do and be better each day. Chelsea, Kaitlyn, and Megan want to be baptized. Their baptism will be this Saturday. As with everyone that joins the church, I hope the Ward puts their arms around them and helps them with the transition into a whole new world. They have family that's in the Ward so that will help. They have a goal to be sealed in the temple, that will be the best motivator. Jason and Pang came to church last Sunday and we had a lesson with them on Wednesday. They said they were nervous walking up to the church but once they were on the chapel they said it felt like home. That was good to hear! But since they are new to Christianity they feel like they need to read the bible first. That's their priority at the moment, even though they have been reading a couple chapters from the BoM each day. They are church shopping and trying to find the one that God wants them to join. We talked to them about praying to know which ones true and they said they don't feel ready to ask. If they did get the answer it was true, they feel like they don't have the faith to accept it. They are so close! Jason wants to serve God and give his all to Him, he just isn't sure which church is the right one. God will certainly, eventually, help him be baptized. Exciting stuff. When we first started teaching them they weren't so sure about Jesus Christ and believing in him. The other day we asked the if they felt like they had faith in Christ and they said yes we feel like there is a Christ. Its cool to see that seed of faith grow. I was talking to the Elders Quorum president and the point was made that evolution definitely couldn't be true because of how incredible the human body is. But then he said that believing in a supreme creator doesn't sound any more ridiculous to me than evolution, it's just faith. That's a valid point. It's important to put our belief and faith in the right thing. For example, if you put your faith in boars, nothing is going to happen. If you put your faith in Christ, you will have eternal life. I also went on my last exchange of the transfer. Last but not least, Elder Orton. The poor elders that go on exchanges with me. They come to my area and I'm the only area in our district that doesn't have a car. They go from a nice car to riding a bike all over the place. We had a odd day with appointments in Walsh ranch and vista ridge. We started off the day by biking an hour to WR then to VR then to WR and then finally home. It was about 4 hours of biking that day. It didn't help that it rained all day the day before and in the morning, then the sun came out to make it perfectly humid. It wasn't bad for me, but Elder Orton hadn't been on a bike in a while. We actually had tons of rain and thunder this past week. It was so refreshing. I think it rained every day and we had a lightning and thunder storm almost every night. Texas has some weird weather. Sunny for 4 months straight then a random week of rain. Me and Elder Camire moved our beds into our room because the snoring was so loud I couldn't sleep. So now we sleep right next to a window. But we were sleeping and we heard a loud boom and the room light up like the sun was outside our window. I look outside and it looked like it was afternoon. The lightening would strike and then not even a second later you would hear the thunder. It would shake our apartment complex! Every time the lightening struck, the lights outside would flicker and our power went out a couple of times. It was exciting. It was louder than normal so I assumed it must of been right above us. My suspicions were confirmed when our appointment with some members who lived down the street canceled because their house was struck by lightening. Yikes! Thankfully their house didn't burn down or anything. Then of course since it rained brushy creek trail was a mess. Mud all over the trails and our pants. But that's what washing machines are for right? It was fun. Now we are back to too hot and sunny. The high today is 91. The whole daylight savings thing is weird too. I did not realize the difference an hour of sleep made. It was almost 8 before the sun went down. It was really nice for riding bikes, didn't have to use our lights very much. I really like the description of the Holy Ghost by the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 51:3. If we are striving to follow Christ then we will be comforted, another word used for the Holy Ghost. The feelings that come from following Christ and remaining worthy of the spirit is found in the last part of this verse; joy, gladness, thanksgiving, and the sound of melody. That sounds comforting to me. The Holy Ghost is called the comforter because it brings comfort in a not so comfortable world. If you have been baptized you have been given the gift of the Holy Ghost and, if worthy, these blessings are yours! Love you amigos y familias! Have a good week! Love, Elder Christensen We met this little guy during a rain storm. I saw one just hanging out in the street and thought someone must of thrown it out of their car. Then we kept biking and they were all over the place. Really, really random. Not sure where they came from.
The mighty round rock zone!
From left to right.
Front row: I'm not sure.
Back row: Elder Goeckeritz, Elder Mecham, Elder Shipley, Elder Orton, Elder Ostler, Elder Rallison, Elder Babb, Elder Wesche, Elder Camire, and Me
Some pretty clouds during a storm.
No comments:
Post a Comment