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!
