3-21-16 What do you call a pile of kittens?

A meowntain!

Crazy week. Lots happened! The week was going normal, the family we
were working with was planning on getting baptized on Saturday, we
were stoping by there frequently and making sure everything was good
and they understood what was going to happen. We had our DM on
Wednesday, nothing different there. Thursday we had weekly planning
and coordination with our Ward mission. Then Friday at about 10:30am
we get a call from the mission president saying that I was needed in
SA ... So I packed up my bags
and left at 2:30 and headed for SA. I have two new wonderful
companions named Elder Hurst and Elder Stanley.

My zone leaders over in RR stake drove me halfway and then my new
companions picked me up from there. I will be in the Castle Hills area
until tomorrow. So from Friday to Tuesday I've been here. I forgot how
much I loved SA. It feels so good to be back. I love the ghetto,
humble, rich, business of SA. I love, love, love it. There is never
ever a dull moment. Now the place I was at in Austin is a different
story. Everyone is rich and nothing exciting or different ever
happened. In short, glad to be back.

Tomorrow I will go to my new area, Live Oak and get my new companions,
Elder Biesinger and Elder Jorgensen. It's funny because I started in
east zone and live oak was in my district when I was in east zone. The
stake just got split though so now it's in Cibolo Valley stake. Going
back to my roots, but at the same time not really. I spent many p-days
at the building I will be at back in the day. It should be fun.

I assume the McNeils were baptized on Saturday and all went well. I'm
happy for them. Everyone needs the gospel, and it's always exciting to
see people take it. The Friday I got to SA the missionaries here were
having a baptism for a lady named Belinda. It was a fun, great
baptism. Belinda is so funny. She is a n older lady, probably in her
60's. We asked her if she wanted to share her testimony after she was
baptized and she said yes. As soon as everyone came back in the room
she just stood up in the front and told her story. She was walking
around looking for management for her apartment complex so she could
get something fixed and she thought the missionaries were management
so she went up and talked to them and they asked if they could share a
message and she said yes. She said we all looked like angels sitting
in the room. It was very sweet. She never misses church. We taught her
yesterday too and the first thing she asked was, "now that I'm
baptized, what's next?" One of the reasons I like SA so much is
because the people live in such humble circumstances but still look
for the gospel or something more in their lives. She barely had
anything in her apartment, but she was content and happy.

The Castle Hills Ward meets in the oldest LDS church building in SA.
It was the weirdest layout of all time. It was honestly like a maze.
It was different than any other church building I had ever been in.
The chapel had a very 70's, 80's feel to it. I liked it, different.

Saturday was also an adventure. Elder Hurst is going home tomorrow so
we celebrated on Saturday by going to red robin and cold stone
creamery. Red Robin is so good. Oh my goodness, I forgot. But someone
payed for our meal! How nice is that? Then we were driving to go visit
someone and Elder Stanley freaks out while driving and pulls over real
quick and starts running to some guy that was thrown off his motorized
wheelchair. He was crossing a busy street and his wheelchair was at
the highest speed and he hit a curb that wasn't flat enough for his
chair to jump over and was thrown off. His hips were not in the right
place and his face was bleeding so badly. We ran over, called 911 and
waited until they came. We then put his wheelchair in a nearby
restaurant and left them with a phone number to call to get him his
wheelchair.

And then we kept on driving, stopped at the person we wanted to visit,
and then went to a new place. As we were driving our car started to
sputter and it wouldn't speed up. By the grace of God we made it to a
gas station and popped the hood to see what was up. We waited for the
car to fix itself because we didn't know what was wrong with it and
then tried driving again. The same thing happened, and by the grace of
God we made it safely to a Walgreens parking lot where we called the
Chevy dealership to come and get it and fix it. Apparently this
happened like two days prior to this. We waited at Walgreens for them
to come get it and they did and then we got rides from members for the
rest of the night. We went and had a few lessons and stopped by a few
people. It was eventful.

Sunday was just a long day. A good day, but long. We get the car back
today so this good mane drove us around and took us to lessons for
like 4 hours. What a good guy. Then got the transfer info last night
at about 9.

I've learned a lot this past week. A lot about faith, belief, hope,
charity, all those good attributes. Someone in their talk yesterday
quoted someone who said that faith, hope, and charity are inseparably
connected; you can't have one without naturally having the others. I
was thinking about that and it's really true. If you really have hope
in Jesus Christ that you are going to be resurrected, that will lead
you to act differently, to faith. If you truly have faith that Jesus
is the Savior of the world and the Atonement works, your desire to
help others and to help them know the truths you know will increase,
you will love others! It's all one big cycle. Gaining one of these
attributes leads to gaining another. I didn't explain it really well,
but if you think about it it will click.

Thank you for your continued support and love. It has helped me
throughout my life and it will help me in the future as well.

Love,
Elder Christensen

PS: My address has changed! I have no idea what it's going to be
because it will change again tomorrow. Don't send me anything this
week. I will let you know my new address next Monday.

Left to right: Elder Stanley, Me, Elder Hurst

The state flower is a blue bonnet and they grow all over the place. Makes it very beautiful.

1-18-16 / Dick Cheney, fast cars, and missionary work, Oh My!‏

Me and my companion were walking down the street and we passed by this older man raking his leaves. We ask him if we can help and he says something in Spanish and then says, "I've got more work than Dick Cheney!" We try to have a normal conversation with him but he wasn't having any of it. So we walk away. But we need to go the same way back to get to our bikes so we pass him again and try to start up a conversation again. Round two. He tells us like 3 times he has more work than Dick Cheney. Odd huh? The people you meet on a mission. 

We were also biking this past week going towards the poorer part of our area when I look over from the top of this hill and I see what looks like a Ferrari. I want to go and check it out so we do and there ends up being tons of expensive cars over in this random little area. 5 Rolls Royce, 5 Aston Martins, 3 Lotus', and a Ferrari. Why? We have no idea. But we did take some pictures!

That was really fun. Always nice when something new happens. 

This past week was also our Zone Meeting! Every other transfer we have interviews with our mission President, President Slaughter. So this was a transfer where we had the opportunity to have interviews. I always enjoy them. Its fun to talk to someone that is so knowledgeable of the gospel and you know cares about you. I will miss him when he leaves, which really isn't too soon. I think he leaves summer of this year, June I believe. It will be here in a blink of an eye. It will be interesting to see how things change as a result of getting a new head honcho. As long as the missionaries keep on being awesome then all will be good!

We have the smallest zone in the mission, 10 people. Some districts have more people than we have in our zone. Not sure what happened there. 

I gave you the wrong address last week. I actually live here:

The pictures of us standing in front of a house looking thing was us in front of the mansion. (From last week)

We are all moved into our new apartment. Its really nice. But it makes getting to Walsh Ranch a pain. Brushy Creek trail actually goes all the way next to our apartments so all we have to do is hop on that trail and it takes us there. Its simple but it just takes so much time. We biked for an hour and a half to get to an appointment. Its like we drove from Austin to San Antonio. I think it was around 10 miles. But that is the only downfall. We have been working a lot more in the VR ward which has been super under worked. Its been fun. Our ward mission is coming along too. We recently got a new ward mission leader and some new ward missionaries who will help out. It will be nice. 

Mason, Martin, and Melinda are going to be baptized on the 30th of this month. That will be an exciting day for them. They are so ready. The ward is very supportive and ready to help them in anyway! 

We are also teaching a 10 year old girl named Andy from China. This sweet family adopted 3 kids from China and Andy has cerebral palsy. The parents want her to be baptized so our bishop and the Stake President talked to President Slaughter about it and he said it would be a good experience for the family and that we should teach the lessons. It has been fun to teach her and her family. She is the sweetest little girl I have ever met. She gets so excited when we teach her because we talk to her. She can't talk so we aren't sure how much she understands but its good review for the family too. Grateful for the opportunity I have to meet such wonderful people. 

People are so good to us. Missionary protection and blessings is a real thing!

We got our monthly phone call from Diane the other week. She wanted some help taking down her Christmas decorations. She is a funny lady. She always tells us how much she hates cats even though me and Elder McNeil love cats. She always tell us that cats will eat our faces. Weird and probably not true. But we helped her take down her Christmas decorations and chatted while we did so. I'm not sure what it will take for her to accept the gospel but Heavenly Father does. All in his timing. 

We didn't meet with Kasey or Paul last week due to scheduling conflicts. We will meet with them this week and hopefully help them come to know that the gospel is true and help them see how it can bless their lives. 

​

A while back we were asked to help with our ward primary's Great to be Eight baptism preview thing. We had that last night. It was fun to help out and be apart of it. We were asked to teach about baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost. Its a great topic. We are baptized to show Heavenly Father that we are willing to follow His Son and keep the commandments. To help us keep this promise we are given the gift of the Holy Ghost which then sanctifies us and helps us keep our promise to strive to live as the Savior would. 

Weather has been beautiful and sunny. Some cold days but thats bound to happen. 6 hours of church has prepared me for another week!

Hope you have a great week too. 

Love you all lots!

Love,

Elder Christensen

Alma 7:23-24

11/23/15 - I am grateful for...‏

Jesus Christ and the Atonement, above all else! I am also grateful for
birds, painting, and nature. I am grateful for family and kindness,
and unlimited amounts of chances to get things right! And vultures,
you can never forget to be grateful for birds that eat dead animals.
Don't think too long about it, gross thoughts will come....

This week has been fun. Lots of stuff has happened. We have no idea
how long we are going to have Leander's car. We only use it when we
are in a pinch, which has happened a few times and we have been
grateful to have it. It's really started to get chilly this week too.
My poor hands are dry and cracked, but nothing lotion can't fix. It's
so deceiving. During the day it will feel perfect, blue sky and sun
shining. But then around 6 when it gets dark it becomes rather cold.
Grateful for sweaters, jackets, and coats. It only caught us off guard
a couple times before we learned. People that tell you Texas doesn't
get cold are so full of bologna. Trust me, It gets cold.

We had some ridiculous wind that made biking miserable. Thankfully
that was only one day. Probably nothing like Spokane winds, but not
fun nonetheless.

(more random stuff)

The pond we ride by almost everyday was still super high, like 20 feet
above where it normally is, on Friday. We rode by on Sunday and it was
back to normal. How they got rid of so much water I have no clue. But
I'm ok with it being back to normal. Now the turtles are back!

Tuesday was a good day because we had zone conference. We were taught
how to ask better questions and the importance of doing so by the
Assistants and other leaders. President Slaughter then gave us a
training on keeping the sabbath day holy. The brethren have said that
if the missionaries can improve their sabbath day observance and then
help the members do so, the face of the church will change. Pretty
cool huh? We talked about that a little bit. The take away for me was
the brethren aren't going to give us a list of do's and don'ts. But
any activity we feel is appropriate and makes the sabbath a delight is
appropriate and is the goal. Focus on the outcome! How will we feel as
a result of this activity? We also talked about gaining trust with the
members and things we can do and then President opened it up to
questions.

Later that night we had a very brief lesson with Gracen. He has a
baptismal date set for Dec 12th. We should be good to go, he's an
awesome kid! We then had dinner with the Gray family and did some
proselyting.

The Round Rock stake is so missionary oriented I love it. Every month
we have a missionary breakfast at one of the stake president's homes.
They make us delicious food and we end up having a missionary
discussion at the end. Always motivating and always fun. They taught
us how to use just serve, but Washington received that training so
long ago. I was ahead of the game. But we have an opportunity to help
serve thanksgiving dinner to the needy at a Catholic Church. Our zone
is going to go and do that together. It will be a good experience.
People are so good to us. We have been asked so many times if we have
thanksgiving plans. You're probably wondering the same! Me and Elder
McNeil are going to do the service dinner thing and then go to a
members home for food! We are then going to help him paint a room and
then probably go and proselyte a little bit. It should be a great day!

This stake is awesome. Three times a year they have a 'Why I Believe'
fireside and they have coverts bear testimony and share their
conversion stories along with beautiful music. It was so powerful. One
lady named Jeanie was approached by missionaries with no desire to
change her bad habits or change at all. She didn't care why she was on
earth and had no desire to find out. She said the missionaries could
come by and they always did even when she didn't want them to. Slowly
she opened up and came to church and slowly grew to like the church
and the teachings. She was so impressed by all the people that were
members of our church and she wanted what they had. She went on and on
about the little things we take for granted being lifelong members
that she deeply appreciates. It is always so nice to hear different
perspectives, and she had a great perspective! Another guy, Perry,
grew up on a tiny Caribbean island. His mom was deeply religious and
started out Catholic. She had questions that her pastor couldn't
answer so she left. She went on a journey to find God. Perry said
every week they would go to a different church. They eventually went
to every church on his island and his mom wasn't satisfied with any of
them. His dad one day was working for a man and at the end of the
workday the man invited his dad and his family over for "bible study."
That's what they thought it was, but it was really FHE. His mother was
introduced to the BoM, the pearl of great price, and D&C. All her
questions were answered from the new scripture and shortly came to
know the church to be true. Later on a stake was organized and they
became active. Perry, at the age of 14, wasn't so sure what he
believed. He went on his own journey to find God and did it the same
way his mother did. One night he was watching his sisters when he felt
a prompting to go to a religious gathering that was going on. He
listened and went. While he was there a man asked him what church do
you go to and why are you here? He answered I am here to learn and I
am from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The guy then
took him about 50 yards from the gathering and asked him again what
church he was from. Perry said the same thing. The guy then told him
everything wrong and bad about the church you could say. Perry said an
overwhelming peace came over me and I told him that Jesus is the
Christ, God is my father, the BoM is true, and Joseph smith was a
prophet. The spirit bore testimony to him that the church was true,
and his journey was over. Then ANOTHER powerful conversion story was
told. It was great! I'm running out of time so I will give you the
gist. He lived in Norway, he came to America as a foreign exchange
student, the family he lived with was lds, they prayed to know what
they needed to do, they gave him a BoM, he was baptized at the age of
19 and now is in the stake presidency.

If you want to see what a positive, powerful affect the gospel has on
individuals and families, go on a mission. You won't be able to deny
the power and the truthfulness of the gospel.

Elder McNeil is the best companion I could ever hope for. I consider
myself nice, but he is so nice. He is so obedient and tries so hard to
do what's right. Is so kind and charitable to others and strives to
see the good in them. I am grateful for our companionship and his
great example!

We have had so many funny things happen to us. When you work with
people all day it's inevitable. They are hard to explain, but I will
give it a go with one of them. We were visiting less actives in a
older neighborhood when we see this older lady struggling with
something. We offer our assistance and she lets us help. She is 73 and
is trying to cement caulk some cracks in the outside of her house. She
clearly has no clue what's she is doing, but good on her for trying
right? The cracks are absolutely tiny, and don't need to be covered at
all, but she is selling her house so she wants it to be perfect. She
ends up being hilarious. We couldn't figure out why the caulking gun
wasn't working, we got it to work but she couldn't do get the cement
to come out consistently, we ended up doing most of it for her but it
was hilarious. She got sooooo excited. You kinda just have to meet her
to know how funny it was. Her name is Diana and we have an appointment
with her tonight.

The sweetest lady, Jalene, asked my mom for my favorite foods and then
made them for me when we went to dinner. How nice is that?

So many good people are members of this church. I love to be a part of
it and grow with others!

My favorite scripture this week is Mosiah 2:22. We are asked to do a
lot but when we keep the commandments, all is well. The promise for
keeping the commandments is found in Mosiah 2:41. Keep the
commandments and I promise you life will be great and peace will fill
your days.

I love all of you and I am grateful for all of you in my life. Have
the best thanksgiving and know that I am thinking about you! Eat good
food and be happy!

Love, love, love,
Elder Christensen

11/16/15 - Winter has fallen upon the city of Round Rock‏

It's a whopping 50 degrees, which isn't even cold. But because of the
painfully hot summer I have become a huge wimp. I've had to pull out
my jackets and sweaters a few times now. It's not bad walking around
but biking in the chill air can be a bit cold sometimes.

Anyways, on to more important news. I have a new companion! That last
transfer was the fastest transfer ever. It felt like only a couple
days ago me and Elder Shipley first met. My new companion is Elder
McNeil. He is fun and we should be able to get lots done this
transfer, which is always such a blessing. He is my oldest companion
yet! He has been out for a year, he is from Arizona (Sho Low), he is a
soccer player and has 5 siblings. He is the second oldest. It will be
fun to serve with him.

Lots happened this past week. We found a new person to teach. His name
is Fabio and he has recently moved here from Brazil. He has a wife and
a two year old son. Elder Shipley had knocked on his door in the past
and he said we could come by sometime. We went and knocked on his door
and he said, "hold on, I have something to show you." That's the
translation, or what he meant to say, kind of a language barrier. But
he comes back down stairs and to the door and shows us a Book of
Mormon in Portuguese. He says he has been reading from it with his
nephew. How cool is that? (I might have told you that part already).
We set up an appointment and we taught him this week. We taught him
and his wife the restoration and he expressed to us that he just wants
to know the right path that leads to heaven. A very prepared man. We
told him that the prophets will always show us the right path. He then
asked "how do I know if someone is a prophet?" We told him that a
prophet has to have the priesthood and the priesthood is in this
church. The BoM and prayer is the way to know. I didn't do the best
job answering his question, but we will meet with him again. He said
he would read and pray. We have an appointment with him tonight!
Always fun to teach lessons.

We also met with Gracen and Gabi again. Gracen is doing great! We
taught him the plan of salvation this past week. At the beginning of
the lesson we explained that the pos answers some big questions such
as where did we come from, why are we here, and where are we going. We
asked him if he had ever asked himself those questions. He said yes I
have, not all at the same time, but at different times I have asked
myself that. When I was ten I was still thinking about nothing
important. We then explained a little bit about how families could be
sealed in temples. He thought that was the coolest thing. He said my
mom and sister always told me that after we die and go to heaven we
wouldn't know who our family was, but I always knew that was wrong! He
is one incredibly prepared 10 year old. He is living with his uncle
who was baptized about 9 months ago. Because of his uncles choice, he
has been introduced to the gospel. Our choices matter. The only
problem I could see us running into with his baptism is his mom not
giving him permission. But we will see.

Gabi is doing ok. She has some pretty big concerns at the moment with
the doctrine and the church. A while back we taught the plan of
salvation and she had a problem with the fact that if her family
didn't become lds her family wouldn't be together forever. She has
expressed to us that her family doesn't want to be baptized lds. They
think church is too long and too boring. She's struggling, she might
stop meeting with us soon. We tried to teach the plan again because
she said she didn't understand it but she had concerns with everything
we taught. She is a very knowledgeable lady, hopefully she comes
around and decides to do what is right. She knows what she needs to
do, it's now a matter of doing it.

Tuesday was also the day we got transfer emails. So that's when I
found out I was getting a new companion. Same area, but new companion.
It also meant that my district was being switched up. Elder Hunt,
Shipley, and Sister Storms all left. Sad day. Elder Meachum, who's
name is also Kade, is in the district, and so is Sister Angulo. Funny,
because she was in my last district. I think this transfer will be a
bit trickier than last as a district leader. I think the district will
need more help and guidance. We shall see!

We helped someone put together chandeliers. It was fun, I guess. It
helped save them so time so it was service. Service is always good.

We transferred on Thursday. That was interesting. Austin transfer
meeting is at 2 so it leaves so much time to be nervous. I always get
nervous when I get a new companion. It's awful. So just prolonging the
time when you find out who your new companion is is awful. But like
always, transfer meeting was great. The chapel that it was at was only
25 minutes away which was nice. At every transfer meeting they are
starting to have musical numbers. Sister Weber sang come thou fount.
It was incredible. She has quite the talent. She is a small lady but
she has a loud, powerful voice. We were all impressed. Elder Baker is
training, and to make a long story short he can't drive. So guess who
has their car until he can drive? We do! It's been nice to have one.
We could totally use a car in this area. It's big enough.

I've seen twice this week what divorce can do to families. Don't get a
divorce, work it out. It hurts everyone involved. We met with a less
active lady who is struggling with her beliefs. Thankfully she is
willing to stay in contact with the church. It's a sad situation. Me
and Elder McNeil afterwards were like ok our hearts are broken now.
Kind of neat how we were able to meet with her. We stopped by a
previous day to meet her and she said we could come back. Long story
short, our plans feel through. But the spirit show d us EXACTLY what
we needed to do. The spirit said go to the orange area, and go to
Jennifer. It was really cool. She let us in and we figured out what we
could do to help her. The spirit is real, and like President Monson
says, when you're on the Lord's errand, you deserve His help.

All in all, great week!
Trials help us grow. And it has been incredible to look back 9 months
ago and see how far I have come. I have really, truly learned that the
gospel is the only way prepare ourselves for the great and last day.
God loves us so He has restored the gospel so we can know the way.
Live the gospel, be happy. A mission is a wonderful thing!

Love you!
Sincerely,
Elder Christensen

A few photos - Bumper stickers and flooding

11/2/15 - Truly, sweet is the work!

Hello friends and family! Another week has come and gone. I can't
believe week 5 of this transfer has begun! That means transfer emails
are next Tuesday. Crazy! We will see what happens. Our zone leader,
Elder Tovar, just became the new assistant to the president so we will
see who our new one is! Which makes me super bummed, because he was my
last zone leader as well in east zone. Ever since I met him I hoped I
would be able to go on an exchange with him. I had my chance to when I
went on exchanges with the zone leaders but his companion went with me
instead. Hopefully I will have another chance to before he goes home.
Love that guy. He is a hard worker!

I hope everyone had a great Halloween! Isn't it crazy how fast the
holidays come and go? Everyone was so excited for it, but now it's
gone just like that. The good holidays are coming up now. I'm going to
miss y'all and grandma's incredible cooking. Rolls, 7 layer jello,
turkey.... Mmmmm. If I'm in this area again we will eat dinner with
the Cramer's. I like them so it will be fun.

Speaking of Halloween, it went well for us. We don't have any specific
rules from our mission president for Halloween but he gave us
suggestions for things we could do inside. We had dinner with the
Hansen family. She made some delicious chili and rice and then we
talked to the people she invited over to join them. It was about 6:15
when we left and we rode through one neighborhood and got plenty of
unkind, weird looks which was uncomfortable so we decided it would be
safest to go home. On our way home a middle aged couple called out to
us and we went over and had a conversation about religion on their
front porch for an hour which was awesome. They were devout Catholics
but they love Mormons because we are also devout. It was nice, they
were nice people. During the day we just proselyted like normal.
Weirdly enough no one was home. I'm pretty sure out of the 30 people
we tried only 10 answered.

So yes, it has rained like crazy here as of late. It has been way fun!
Some tornados touched down all around Austin. And downtown Austin was
completely flooded. Was kind of cool to see on the news. But anyways,
the trail we ride is the brushy creek trail and right next to that
trail is, oddly enough, brushy creek! When it rains that creek becomes
a gushing river and that trail gets destroyed. It becomes one giant
muddy mess! We were a little worried on Halloween that we wouldn't be
able to get to dinner because brushy creek trail is the only way to
get there. Thanks heavens the Lord is aware of all of us and some
members offered us a ride to get over there. There's is little bridge
that leads to a neighborhood that goes over brushy creek and water was
rushing over it. See the photo at the end of the email. It's been an
adventure. Lots of beautiful sunsets as of late too.

We had district meeting this past Froday. I love my district. I
thought my other districts were good, but this one is awesome! A bunch
of great missionaries and great people. Love them lots! Sister Storms
is going home next week and we will miss her. I'm very impressed by
her not showing it at all. She doesn't seem homesick or ready to be
done, she is finishing strong! After district meeting we have district
lunch. I think our favorite place to go is Torchies tacos. It is
delicious. I am always impressed whenever I eat there. They have a big
menu of different tacos they make and I order two tacos and a drink,
sometimes queso which is delicious chip dip. Yummy stuff!

I always enjoy testimony meeting, but these two Wards really struggle
with it. I consider myself kind of patient with others, but man, it
truly is a test of my patience with others when fast and testimony
meeting happens and everyone tells a story. I think the only time
Christ was mentioned was at the end, in the name of.... It was awful.
Two people gave their testimonies and there was five minutes left.
That's my rant for the week. Moral of the story, please keep your
testimony centered on Christ and the basic doctrines of the gospel.
Let's really give sacrament meeting back to Christ.

We have continued to bike around and stop by less actives and
prospective elders. We are making progress! We started to work smarter
this last week and it payed off. We met some families who said they
would like us to come back or stop by when we are in the area. Last
night for example, we went by a single guy on the records and he has a
wife and 3 kids who aren't baptized but said we could come back next
weekend because that's when its best to catch them. We talked for a
little while and they opened up. We also met a single lady who was
raised LDS but has fallen away. She was also totally open to us coming
back. She has a husband that isn't a member. There is so much work to
do, it's all about looking in the right places. 5 weeks later, we
finally have some direction in the work! We are going to start meeting
with a recent converts nephew who now lives with him. Lots to look
forward to! I struggle a little bit in this area with my lack of
helping others. It feels as if we don't help as many people in this
area. Not as many people wanting helping or seeing the need for it.
But I was reminded this week that I really do have lots and lots of
opportunities to help. It's up to me to see them and see opportunities
to serve as just that, service. No matter how big or small. As we were
going by less actives and PE's we stopped by a family we didn't know.
We knock and it turns out it's an active single mom in the Ward.
Sister Duncan! It turns out her brother in law is Weylan Duncan, who
used to be in Columbia Ward when we were there. Funny huh? But she
asks us if we have dinner and our dinner fell through so we said no.
She invited us to come back during dinner time and we gladly accepted.
A homemade meal is a beautiful thing to missionaries. We go back and
she chats our ears off, but at the end she says thank you so much for
coming back, I adding get to have adult conversation very often. She
is a single mom with an autistic younger son who requires lots of
attention, and a 10 year old. I'm sure it was a wonderful break for
her to talk for a little bit and relax. Apparently Heavenly Father
needed us to go and listen that day. Not as many big things we can do,
but lots of little acts of service. But isn't that the truth for life?
We all have tons of opportunities for little acts of service
throughout our days. As we serve daily, we love those we serve. We all
want to express our love for others anyways, and small chances to do
so are given to us everyday!

I had the privilege of going on exchanges with Elder Hunt on Friday.
He has only been out for 3 months but he is awesome! I learned so much
from him. He doesn't take anything personally and works so well with
others. He tries to have fun and shares the gospel at the same time.
Great thing to learn! They have been incredibly, incredibly blessed as
of late with prepared people to work with. They have been working with
a lady named Diana who knows the gospel is true. When we she found out
she couldn't be baptized unless she was married to the person she
lives with she almost instantly filed for divorce. Now she is just
waiting for the divorce to be finalized so she can be baptized. How
cool is that? So excited for her to experience the blessings of the
Holy Ghost. It truly is an incredible gift. We also met with a family
that a 16 year old referred the missionaries to. It was one of the
most powerful lessons I have ever been in. The 18 year old daughter
said she wants the truth and is willing to do anything to find out
what it is. By the end, she understood that reading the BoM and
praying about it was how she was going to find out if it was true. She
said if she finds out this is the truth and it's what is good she will
do it, be baptized. How cool is that? The spirit was so strong the
whole time. The dad also sat in the lesson and the younger brother as
well. Everyone wants to be baptized except the dad. Hopefully he comes
around, and he will. It might take some time though. He said that he
didn't understand why God would use prophets back then and not now. So
obviously he will come around. It was a very, very cool day. In
conclusion, elder hunt is awesome and it was a great day. Exchanges
are way fun and I get to learn a lot. Win win.

I was studying guidance from the spirit this morning and President
Eyring gave two talks on this topic this last general conference. One
of them was in the priesthood session. But in that talk he says we
find out what we need to do, and then the Lord will magnify it. If we
find out our role is to be friends with others and share with them the
light of the gospel, the Lord will do the rest to help them come to
Him and His gospel. He magnifies every good thing we do. Nothing good
we do goes to waste! Very cool talk, I'd recommend it.

Share the gospel my friends, life will be sweet as can be! Love you
all. You are all awesome and God loves you very much. Everything we go
through is intended to help us become stronger. The stronger the wind,
the stronger the trees! Have a blessed week!

Love,
Elder Christensen
Do Good Stuff!

10/26/15 - Raining and flooding, again!

This past week we had some serious rain. Me and Elder Shipley had no
idea why until we talked to this one lady who said the strongest
hurricane ever recorded hit Mexico and the aftermath was coming at us
in a straight line. It rained for 2 days straight and we got 9 inches
in one day. It was awesome! Though it made a damper on missionary
work. We tried to bike around but we became soaked to the bone in a
matter of minutes. It was a no go. So we only went to our set
appointments and went and visited members we didn't know. It ended up
being a fun day.

Before the real storm began it would rain for 5 minutes and then stop,
rain 5 minutes and then stop. But it became quiet and still or about
30 minutes. Then all of a sudden it began to dump buckets of rain on
us. It was quit the adventure! Since we were close to the church we
went and took refuge there and waited for it to stop. We were dripping
wet so we tried to dry off a little but it didn't work. We ended up
being wet for the remainder of the day. All part of the adventure
right?

I can't remember if I told you the "trail" story, so I will tell you
in case I haven't. Since we are on bikes it can be hard to get to
certain places in our area. Sometimes we have to come up with creative
ways to get to these places. We had been assigned by the ward council
to go and talk to this lady, Elizabeth, about taking the missionary
lessons and she so happens to live in one of these special, hard to
get to places. We looked at google maps on our iPads for a way to get
there and thank heavens for Elder Shipley's trail dedication. He found
one that would get us to where we needed to go. We get to the place
where the beginning of the trail should be and its a construction
site. We walk through it thinking the trail is going to be on the
other side of the site, which it is. So far so good. We take the trail
for a little while until we get to fence number 1. I admit, this was
not our best idea nor was it very smart. We hop the fence and get our
bikes over and continue on our way. This happens two more times. But
we get to this spot where a bridge should be and there is no bridge,
only a stream that's about 100 feet wide. Our only choice was to cross
it. We get to the other side and go to Elizabeth's house only to find
out that she is not home. Turns out she does not want to take the
missionary lessons but she wants to come to church and still have her
daughter go to activity days. It will take time but they will come
around. It sounds like her husband is not too supportive which is
keeping them back. Bummer, but there is a plan for everyone.

I also had the privilege to go on exchanges with Elder Iverson. He
taught me lots, he is a great missionary! He is really good at getting
peoples attention and then relating something they say back to the
gospel. Something I would like to do better with. Something I am going
to work on this upcoming week is being bold and proclaiming the gospel
as with a trump! There is no need to not tell people about the gospel.
It is the power of God unto the salvation of man. It is what is going
to save mankind and the world. Every time I don't talk to someone or
bear testimony is an opportunity wasted. There is a quote in PMG
regarding testimony by Thomas S. Monson. It says "Regarding one's
testimony, remember, that which one willingly shares he keeps, while
that which he selfishly keeps he loses. ...Teach and testify. There is
no better combination." I think I have learned what that that means
this past week. If we don't open our mouths and share our testimony
when we are given the chance to do so, we are going to lose it. Kind
of cool huh?

We saw a very cool miracle yesterday. Normally we call to remind
people that they have signed up to feed us dinner a day in advance
because we are all human, we all forget. But for whatever reason, we
did not call to remind these poor people on Saturday that they signed
up to feed us on Sunday. Before sacrament meeting started we went over
and asked them if that would still work and they said sure, come on
over! We go to dinner and they said they used to be in Walsh ranch but
because of the Ward split they are now in vista ridge. They remember a
guy that was baptized about a year ago and they said we should go by
him sometime. It just so happened that we were going to where he lived
after dinner! We end up going by and he comes out on his porch and we
talk a little bit and then he invites us in. His friend who was there
said he had always been interested in what Mormons believe. We teach
him the restoration and he says he will read the Book of Mormon. How
cool is that? I am always so impressed by Heavenly Father and how well
He knows His children. I promise you that Heavenly Father knows you.
He weeps when you suffer and rejoices when you do what is right. Very
cool to see the spirit direct the Glazier's thoughts towards that guy
and then having us go by. We are truly in the Lord's errand!

Because Heavenly Father loves us He desires us to be free from the
burden of sin. So He sends missionaries to people who need to hear the
message of the gospel; the message that they can be clean and be free
from the sins and addictions of this world through Jesus Christ and
His Atonement.

Something very cool I learned more about this week is the enabling
aspect of Christ's atonement. Commonly referred to as grace. All we
have to do is ask and it will be given us, as long as we are striving
to do what God asks of us. It only makes sense that we receive
blessings we show God that we want. We show God we want blessings as
we keep the commandments. Mosiah 2:41 "consider on the blessed and
happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold,
they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual." Blessed
in ALL things. Keep the commandments and ask for strength to endure,
strength to change, strength to accept the will of God, whatever it
may be.

We had district meeting this past week as well. It was fine, we have a
wonderful district so if it turns out meh then that's ok because they
are still awesome. Lots of leaders in this district. Always next time
right?

Yesterday we had our other Ward primary program. Funny stuff was said
. But on our other Ward it was a normal sacrament meeting and the
coolest story was shared. This kids grandparents are in Madagascar
serving a mission. In Madagascar they have been having awful drought
so the people are literally starving. The grandparents had the
opportunity to go and deliver food to the people there. The grandma
said the picture that will always stay in her mind is a starving
mother with a starving baby on her back that looked lifeless. They
were escorted by 7 armed gun man because rebels might try and take the
food. They get there start handing out the food and the rebels start
coming out of the forest. They stand at the edge of the forest and
just wait. The grandma thinks it might be a good idea to go over and
make friends. She goes over with her translator and asks if she can
have a picture with them. They end up being flattered and say yes that
would be fine. Originally they saw 14 of them but all of a sudden they
started coming out of nowhere and there ends up being 200 rebels with
shotguns standing there wanting to be in the picture. It works! They
become friends and they end up going over and helping hand out the
food to the starving people. Isn't that awesome? Thought that was a
cool story, wanted to share.

Love the gospel, love Jesus Christ, love all of you! Have a great week!
Sincerely,
Elder Christensen
Do Good Stuff

This is a cane standing on a turtle! We ride by this lake almost everyday.

You might have crows in a power line, but we have vultures. Yes, those are all vultures ready to eat anything that has recently died.

Kindness ...

Photo via text - at dinner!

Photo via text - at dinner!

So thankful for all the kind people in Texas who feed the Missionaries and take the time to send me photos :)!

~ Wendy

10/12/15 - Hot, Heat, Burning, Fire, Scorch, Inferno, Scald, etc.‏

All these words describe Texas, even on October. I thought it was

cooling off, but alas, twas not so. It's supposed to be about 90+ all
week. People are nice though and give us bottles of water quite
frequently. The concept of bottled water is bizarre. Water, which is
everywhere, in a plastic bottle.

Since we cover two wards we do a solid 6 hours of extra church. I love
it, the only bad part is getting motivated afterwards to ride bikes. I
really like two sacrament meetings. In the SA 1st Ward no one played
the organ so we had an electric organ that played itself. But this
limited us to 10 of the sacrament songs. I became familiar with those
ones. Sometimes it would just do the most random things. It was an
unpredictable organ. But in the two wards I'm in now they both have
organ players so we have full range of the hymn book. The little
things we take for granted. We really don't know what we have till
it's gone. Both wards are so rich, such a difference between the two
areas. Of course I received a warm welcome. Lots of good, kind people.
I think I've gained some weight too from all these dinners.

In our Walsh Ranch Ward we attend the priest quorum the third hour.
For some reason we have been asked to do so. It was fun. Youth are fun
people, lots of energy and excitement. I guess I'm still a youth, but
I sure do feel a lot older.

We might be moving from the mansion soon. The lease is almost up on
the mansion, the other elders in our mansion ad moving out sometime
this week and they haven't told us where we are going yet. It's tricky
because they can move us to apartments but the closest ones are at the
bottom of vista ridge and if we get moved there it's going to be quite
the journey to get up to Walsh ranch Ward. But who knows, we will see
what happens.

For the mean time our most common path is the brushy creek trail. It
takes us wherever we need to go! It's shady too so it's nice.

At the moment we have 1 investigator. Her name is Gabi. The
missionaries have been working with her for a while. She is in her
40's with a few kids. We met with her this week and she feels like she
has yet to get an answer as to whether or not being baptized is what
God wants her to do. As to whether or not this is the true church. Me,
Elder Shipley, and our Ward mission leader fasted that she would
receive her answer. Now we wait and see. Of course she will get one.
God always keeps His promises. Since we only have 1 person we are
working with consistently we do a lot of knocking. The primary program
is coming up so we are going to work with the members and hopefully
get them to invite some of their friends to the church.

We also went by these potentials, Jason and Jennifer. We knocked on
their door and they let us right in. We sat down and talked a little
bit about his background and his beliefs. We had a nice chat and we
would of taught him a lesson but due to some circumstances we did not.
We invited them to church and they said yes! Absolutely! But they
didn't come, we will invite them again and hopefully we will be able
to teach them. We get a lot of people that say yea you can share your
message but we won't change. I haven't been very good at taking these
opportunities to teach but this week I'm going to do better. Since we
also don't have too many opportunities to teach and testify each
person is a golden chance to do so. Whenever someone is on the street,
begin to testify immediately and hope they are receptive to the
spirit. I think this area will really help me with my ability to talk
to people as well. It will be good.

Me and Elder Shipley get long great. He is easy to get along with, I
think I'm easy to get along with, therefore it's easy. We've been
ponderizing this past week and we set a goal to do so the whole
transfer. It's awesome! It invites the spirit and helps you in your
thoughts, behaviors, feelings, really with everything. Outlook,
kindness, etc.. Pretty cool!

We also had our first district meeting this last Wednesday. It was
fun, the spirit was there, therefore it was a success. We will get
some district pictures next Wednesday. Due to zone meeting we will not
have district meeting this week. They want to take me to all these
good places to eat here in Austin so we started with this place called
Torcheys (Torchies?) Tacos. It was really good. We will try something
new next week. Sister Rey had us over for dinner this week and made us
some phillipian food. She made some great egg rolls. I was impressed!

Slow week missionary work wise. We will be led to where we need to go,
all is and will be well!

I was reading in 3 Nephi the other day in chapter 17. In this chapter
Jesus Christ prays for the people. In PMG there's a chapter called
developing Christlike attributes. Under the charity section there is a
scripture study box that gives you scriptures that show how Christ
showed His love for all of us. I was reading those and I think 3 Nephi
17:14-17 fits in quite nicely. In v. 14 it says "Jesus groaned within
himself, and said: Father, I am troubled because of the wickedness of
the people of the house of Israel." The word groaned is powerful.
Shows His deep love. This teaches us about the character of Christ. He
never thought about himself. He was always and always will be
concerned for His brothers and sisters. He knelt down with the people
and prayed for them and with them. In v. 15-17 we learn how the people
felt about this. They felt joy! They felt the since and genuine love
Christ had for them. As we develop and pray for the love of Christ we
can help others feel that love. And that love brings joy. Jesus Christ
is so dedicated to our joy, I believe He is constantly working for our
benefit and always striving to prepare us for His gospel. Even if we
don't see it or feel it, He is always helping everyone. I've seen that
more than ever serving a mission. It's a priceless thing to see.

Love you all. Have a great week!
Do Good Stuff

Sincerely,
Elder Christensen

During General Conference ...

Little note from Kade's mom - (Wendy)

We didn't know if Kade had been transferred and had been praying for him all week. He had been in his first area for 7 months!

Shortly after after Elder Holland's talk (during General Conference) on Mother's, I received this email from a kind member of the church in Texas - (This touched my heart!)


Hi Sister Christensen,

I'm a ward mission leader in Elder Christensen's area in Cedar Park (just north of Austin). We've had the pleasure of having him and his companion, Elder Shipley, in our home for Conference, and after Elder Holland's talk thought we should send a quick note and picture to his Mom!

I'm really excited to be working with your son. He's clearly an outstanding missionary- he teaches with the spirit and has been working diligently the entire time he's been here. 

Thank you for supporting him on his mission- we're blessed to have him serving in our ward and stake!

Nathan G

9/28/15 - God Bless America!

Instead of 100's all week it has been in the low 90's. Definitely a
difference! I first noticed on p-day. Normally after playing
basketball and I step outside I feel like I might melt, but last p-day
I stepped outside and it was bearable. Some more leaves are starting
to fall off the trees, a little more windy, and more clouds. We had a
little thunder and lightning storm the other day with a little rain.
Anywho, that's the weather update. I'm not sure what the weather man
is predicting this coming week.

First off, an observation!

Texas is different. The people are different. The church is different,
but still true. In Washington the missionaries were just there. They
did their job, the Ward was there to help when needed, and life was
good. Something I have noticed lately is that in Texas everyone looks
up to the missionaries. The missionaries are everything and they are
another set of leaders in the Ward. It seems like the leadership role
of a missionary in the wards is bigger here than in other places. It's
not just in this Ward I think. From talking to other missionaries it
sounds the same way. I'm not sure why that is, but it is. Of course
all missionaries have a huge role in the Ward they serve in, but in
Texas it's different. People really look up to you and notice
everything you do, and then they will do the same. I don't know, it's
different.

About the week, it was busy with baptisms! We had Jessica's baptism on
Saturday and Michael's baptism on Sunday. We have been working with
Jessica since I first got here, 7 months ago. Originally we were
helping her husband be baptized which happened the first month I was
here. Then, we asked Jessica if she would like to take the lessons and
she said sure. She said she liked the change that she saw in her
husband. So we taught her every Wednesday and Sunday. We invited her
to be baptized and she said no. We continued to teach her for a couple
months and then invited her to be baptized again, she said no. We
continued to teach her and then asked her if she would like to be
baptized, she said no. We then taught her a lesson but before hand we
talked to her about her feel is towards the church and what not. She
told us her observations and feelings and then we asked her if she
would like to be a part of this church. She said yes! We set her with
a date and then worked towards it. A month later she was baptized! All
the effort payed off. It was very cool to see the change that the
gospel brought into her life and the change that will continue to
occur as she stays faithful to the gospel.

Her baptism was awesome. There was about 15 people that came. Her
husband was able to baptize her and when she came back out she looked
like the happiest person in the world. The light that was illuminating
from her was very impressive. It was so sweet. The people that didn't
come missed out for sure. Then we had her confirmation the next day.
That was good too! The gift of the Holy Ghost is a wonderful thing. It
truly cleanses us and prepares us to live with God.

Sunday was also fast Sunday. Fast Sunday's are fun because we get to
bear testimony. It's a great opportunity to do so. I always feel for
the bishop when someone gets up there and rambles on and tells
stories. The bishop in this Ward always tries to keep things on task
and about the savior but alas, that is very tricky to do.

We also aren't teaching gospel principles class anymore which is so
nice. The people that come to that class are investigators and they
probably want someone else to teach them. It's fun, but it got old so
I am grateful.

Michael's baptism was good too! He has been trying to get baptized for
the past 2 years but because of some issues he has had to wait until
now. But he's baptized now, so all is well! Rachelle, his wife, really
wants an eternal family. He does too but not as much. He will come
around though. He's a good guy.

We've been having to make all the baptismal programs as of late which
isn't bad at all. I've gotten pretty good at it. The rough part is
finding a way to print them out.in our apartment complex we have a
little office area in the main office that has two computers. So we
make the programs there. They have a nice printer, but they have been
out of ink for the past month. How they print out anything they need I
don't know! So making them is easy, getting them printed is the pain.

The apartment office is a funny place. They have been trying to hire
some new people for a while now and they finally did. His name is Roy,
rather funny. But everyone in the office is really mean to him which
is so weird. He takes it though, he's a good guy. We listen to their
conversations a lot when we make programs. Poor guy. Everyone is
really nice to us though. Speaking of the apartment, we are teaching a
guy that lives right next to us. His name is Conald. He watches us
back our cars out when we leave for the day and he's often out on the
steps on the phone. We talked to him one day and he said we could come
and share our message with him. He's had a rough life and he was
really interested in the BoM. We talked about the plan of salvation
and we shared some scriptures out of the BoM we though might help him.
He has had a hard life and he has been looking for relief from some
mistakes he has made. He said the BoM helped him feel better. It's
always very cool to go into someone's house and teach the gospel and
feel the spirit, and then the whole feeling in the room is different
when we leave. It's like the whole room is elevated to a higher plane.
Even if we don't do a very good job teaching, the spirit is always
consistent and pulls through. It happened a couple times this past
week.

We also had a week full of dinners! Every day this past week someone
fed us. It was wonderful. We had dinner with the Vaughns which was
probably my favorite. She's so horribly independent it's awesome! They
are a very funny couple, very fun. We talked about art, family
history, and their grandkids! We also had dinner with the Wernetts who
bought us pizza. We got lost trying to find their house though. It
should of taken like 40 minutes to get there but it took about an hour
and a half. Even with the gps it was a struggle. But their daughter
that they adopted is interested in being baptized so we will start to
teach her. They are fun to go over to because they have 3 fun boys.
One of them really likes to draw so I always try to teach him stuff I
know. I showed him the color wheel and he thought it was the coolest
thing. It was nice to have someone appreciate my art knowledge, even
if he is only 10. Then on Saturday the bishop had us over and we had a
fun dinner. They have such a cool house out in the country on a bunch
of land. It was fun.

We had to get the flu shot is week. Apparently everyone in the mission
is required to get it. Funny, elder West hates shots so he was a
little nervous. But all was well.

They switched transfer calls to transfer emails and they come on
Tuesday. I will know tomorrow if I stay or leave. My guess is leave,
but who knows.

All in all, good week! If you would like a good chapter to read, John
4 in the New Testament is a rest one. Lots to learn from the woman at
the well. It's very, very cool! Jesus the Christ will help.

Have a great week.

Love,
Elder Christensen
Do Good Stuff!

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.