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
