11/9/15 - "Are you out preaching the word of man?" - crazy guy‏

Dear sweet friends and family,

Running into people that don't have filters is fun. They aren't open
to learning and they don't let you talk, but you do get to listen to
some funny stuff! Such was the case the other day. We walk up to this
guy because we were looking for a less active that lives at this house
and the first thing he is, "are you out preaching the word of man? The
Mormon religion is a man made religion." Oh boy, the best way to
handle these kinds of things is say cool, can we do anything for you?
They normally say no and that's the end of that. It's always fun.

More rain this week. It makes it miserable. It will rain for like an
hour and then stop for an hour. Which makes it so hard to know whether
or not to bring a raincoat or a jacket. We have to take the brushy
creek trail down to vista ridge area so when it rains we are stuck in
walsh ranch. Not bad, but it does get old.

I can't remember if I told y'all or not but we went and helped a
former investigator set up Halloween decorations last week and then
she asked us if we could help her take them down. Service is always
good. She has some health issues and she gets tired quick and needed
help. She wants to take us to lunch on Saturday. To make it productive
we are going to focus on the restoration and the gospel. Hopefully it
works.

In vista ridge and Walsh ranch we only have two not-as-nice areas.
Brown and brown. We were in WR brown and we found an older couple that
invited us back to teach them the plan of salvation. They fell
through, but it led us to a guy named Paul that lives next to them.
Neat how it all works. We also had a LA guy in that same neighborhood.
He had mice allllll over his doorway and yard. It's so weird that we
can go three blocks away from there and be in a nice neighborhood. But
go three blocks towards this neighborhood and it becomes a slum. Weird
right? It's neat to have the opportunity to present people with the
gospel that will truly change their lives if they want to change.
People in poor areas always seem to be more humble.

While we were in this same area we kept going by this really animated
walker with sunglasses on. I always take things like this seriously or
as a sign that we need to take to them. When we saw her we were
already riding our bikes so I knew it was going to be awkward, but o
tried anyways. As we rode past her I held out a card and said hello
ma'am in the hopes she would take it. She was just silent, no smile,
walked on by. It was funny. We also had another LA guy we were trying
to find yell at us through his door "GO AWAY!!" Lots of good stuff
this week.

So sorry this is a shorter one. We didn't have wifi all day and I
wanted to play chair soccer. I promise you are more important! Sorry
:(

In closing, I enjoyed this quote from Elder Maxwell. He's talking to
all the people that can't decide whether or not to be active in the
church.

Do not think, either, about the doctrine that you are a child of God,
for if you do, it will be the beginning of belonging.

Exaltation is our goal; discipleship is our journey. - Elder Utchdorf

I love you all very, very much. I have been reading past letters
before I go to bed and while doing so I have gotten to know y'all
more. It's been so fun!

Have an awesome, possum week!

Love,
Elder Christensen

6/15/15 - It's getting hot

The past week has been around 95 and humid. I didn't know what it
meant to sweat until now!

We weren't horribly busy this past week. A slower week for sure but
regardless it was a good one. Last Sunday a lady we had not seen
before at church was there with her kids and apparently she's a member
so we tried to talk to her but we didn't get the chance. Thankfully
she came up to us after church and asked us if we would be willing to
teach her kids. We said no and that was the end of that.

Just kidding, of course we said yes and we have had 3 visits and he is
already set with a baptismal date. Julius is is his name and he is
only 9. Apparently he told his mom that he wanted to learn more about
Christ and God so his mom took him and his 7 year old sister to
church. Such a cool experience I get to be a part of. I wasn't sure
how to teach kids or if we should skip over anything but he
understands everything very well. It's neat to see a humble family
relying on the Lord. I certainly wouldn't have seen them that way
without this experience. They are good people who are striving to do
what's right. God really does love all of His children and is aware of
us individually. I am seeing that a little bit more every day.
Something that's really helped me see this is studying the Book of
Mormon. It really makes you more rooted in the faith. It helps build
that sure foundation.

We also have a new ward mission leader so it will be a change to start
working with someone new. He is a former bishop so he will be great.
On Saturday a member of the ward was having a get together with some
of his friends and he invited us over for dinner. He was in the
marines for a while and served in Korea and Vietnam and such. He loves
Korean food so he made Korean food. It was actually pretty darn good
and I enjoyed it.

We didn't get to meet with Baltimore but hopefully we will next
Thursday. We did meet with the Malones though and she is taking her
own sweet time. She is so ready to be baptized I am just not sure how
to help her see that. She also has a hard time coming to church but
where there's a will there's a way.

On Tuesday I had the privilege on going on exchanges with elder McKay.
He's a fun guy and it was a fun day. We had lots of lessons that day.
Tomorrow we have zone conference where we will learn more about how to
study with the iPads.

There's a cool scripture in D&C 84:45 that tells us exactly how we
have more of the spirit with us. All we have to do is understand
truth. We understand truth by reading the BoM, pondering, praying and
acting and observing. As we begin to know and understand eternal
truths we receive light which light is spirit, even the spirit of
Christ. What a cool promise! A good place to start is the articles of
faith. If we understand and have a testimony of each one we will have
an increase of the spirit. Of course we have to be keeping the
commandments and doing what is asked of us but as we do so the spirit
comes.
Love you all, have an awesome Father's Day all you fathers! Love you dad
Do Good Stuff
Elder Christensen