I realized I did not post this letter. So this is out of order .... Letter from 9/21/15 -
PS: This letter is SO Funny. We laughed until we cried. :) ENJOY.
My dearest friends and family, Another week has come and gone. I have hit 7 months in the mission field and this transfer ends next Thursday. We shall find out if I stay or leave next Tuesday. If I stay, I will be in the SA 1st Ward for 9 months. Zoo wee mama! That's a long stinking time. But alas, if I am meant to stay I am meant to stay. I don't think I would mind at this point. What's another 6 weeks? Not much compared to 7 months. I love this Ward. It's a good one. Very humble, nice people. And there is always stuff to do in this area since its massive. We definitely have had dry spells before but at the moment that is not the case, knock on wood. There are these things called media referrals which are always fun to get. People will request things on lds.org such as a bible or BoM or some free movie, and then we get a text saying what they want, where they live and a phone number if they gave one. About 99.9% of the time people request bibles which is ALWAYS interesting. If we get a request for a bible it's either a lovely child of God in the country or in the ghetto. We had a wide variety of both this week. Let me begin.... 1. Katrina. Requested item: Bible, could you also bring me a large print bible because my husband can't see very well. Thanks! This is a complicated order. Step 1, order the giant whale bible from the mission office. Step 2, wait 2-3 weeks to get the whale bible. Step 3, pick up the bible the size of a whale, this thing was huge! Step 4, take the bible to Katrina and her husband. They live over in Adkins which is about a 30 minute drive. The only time we could go and take it to them was at about 8 so we set it up with her and then we were on our way! They were nice people, but interesting. We sat there and we tried to share something with them and I think we achieved. He was talking about his come to Jesus moment and we related it to Alma 36 when Alma the younger comes to God and is filled with light. Her husband loved to share his knowledge about the bible, sometimes he was right and sometimes wrong, like all of us. But here are two highlights: Jesus Christ and Satan had a scripture battle and God put Moses in a cave and then put His hand over the cave entrance so Moses couldn't get out. Bizarre! Bless his heart. They introduced us to their talking bird, Paco. They made us tacos, they are in the taco business, and they gave us water and fruit snacks! Good exchange for the whale bible if I do say so myself. At first they were a little nervous about the BoM but they opened up to it a little. They both took one so hopefully they read it. The gospel is the answer to all problems, it's awesome! If they turn to it and follow its teachings, they will find happiness. Oh, the people you meet in the middle of nowhere in Texas. 2. Gallon. Requested item: Bible Plot twist, we meet her and she is wonderful and very nice! She ordered one for her husband who recently had a bone marrow transplant. We had a nice conversation and asked if we could say a prayer with her. She said of course and we said one. People in the south love to hold hands when praying so this was a hand holding prayer. It's funny. But if it pleases their hearts than all is well. The spirit was there and hopefully she felt it and wants that feeling back. She said she would call us when her husband is feeling better and she would listen. Hopefully they can hear the message of the restored gospel soon. 3. Antonio. Requested item: BoM in Spanish and Bible We could not get a hold of this guy. We tried by his house three times and each time we tried a very old lady would answer the door, say Antonio was not there, and then talk to us for a while. She liked us to call her Grandma Julie. Then one night we stopped by at about 8:30, and this being the ghetto, she was way nervous to answer the door. A mistake on our part. Anyways, I think she had her daughter answer the door and she snatched those books from us and that was the end of that! We will go and stop by a couple more times and see if we can catch this mysterious Antonio. Hopefully we will be able to, if it's meant to happen it will. 4. Jana. Requested item: Bible She lives out in La Vernia, another small city out in the middle of nowhere. This one was about 35 minutes away. The country always makes me a little nervous because I never know who is going to answer the door or how many dogs they might have. You never know what to expect. This one was looking like it might be one of those kind of situations. We knocked a couple times and eventually a younger girl, I imagine her daughter, opened the door and said she would give it to Jana. Most of the bible requests don't want to talk to us at all, most of them just want the free bible, which is fine, the bible will bring them closer to God too. Those were our bible requests this week. I guess Katrina was a while back, we finally got it to her this week though. They were fun to do. Next weekend we will have 3 baptisms which will be awesome! So this week we set up baptismal interviews and what not and worked with the people that are going to be baptized. Next weekend we have Jessica Lomas, Claudia, and Michael. All are very ready and prepared! And then this weekend we had Derrick's baptism, which I will talk about. Derrick is 11, soon to be 12, and has been trying to get baptized since he was 8. Due to some family issues he has not been able to do so. Some stuff changed and worked out so he was able to get baptized. We taught him the lessons and set him with a date and he was good to go. He has come a long way since we first met him. But at the baptism we asked his grandma to say the opening prayer. In her prayer she thanked God for allowing Derrick to be baptized and having everything work out. She said she had been praying for this day for a long time. The spirit was so strong and a lot of people showed up! It was a great baptism, and afterwards we had cupcakes, juice, and cookies. A couple of weeks ago we taught him about tithing and told him it was a commandment that we promised God we would do. That Sunday he came up to me and said I made 20 dollars but I don't have 2 dollars yet. He was so excited to pay his tithing. He is very excited to be a part of a community and be a part of something important. If he Ward gives him responsibility and helps him feel even more apart of the Ward family they will have a great new member. The other day we had dinner with the Allreds. They are awesome! They live about 40 minutes away in the country close to Floresville. Last year their house burned down so they built a new one. They have two young kids and the husband is a nurse. But they were still laughing and smiling. Nicest people. They have the biggest spiders all over their front porch. They also have some very fat hens and a couple dogs. A cool garden too. On Tuesday we had zone meeting. Me and Elder West gave trainings. The focus as of late has been inviting people to baptism. The mission in numbers has gone down in baptisms and the leaders have been worried about it. It was a great meeting. Going back to basics to figure out how we can get more people to come unto Christ through baptism. It's so important that this church is on the earth. Without it we wouldn't know Christ's true teachings and as a result we wouldn't know what it is we need to do to return to live with God. Or even know the way we need to live to have happiness and joy. I was reading in Helaman 14 the other day. It talks a lot about the atonement. We often think of the atonement as Christ's suffering in the garden and on the cross. Central to the atonement is the resurrection. Without the resurrection we would not be able to be brought into the presence of God, if we couldn't be brought into the presence of God we couldn't be assigned a reward for our works. If we couldn't be assigned a reward we would all be lost. But because there is a resurrection and we will be brought into the presence of God, we need a way to be clean when that time comes. The way we become clean is through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. That happens through repentance. As we turn to Christ for a remission of sins we can experience what Enos has felt, what Alma has felt, what anyone that has turned to Christ has felt. The people of King Benjamin, the Lamanites, the Nephites; the BoM is a book of repentance and the hope found in Christ. Sunday was wonderful. Church is so good and up lifting. No better time to think of the Savior than during the sacrament. There's a great Mormon message called Always Remember Him. I would recommend it! Also a great conference talk on the sacrament called Blessings of the Sacrament about how we can make it more meaningful. Anyways, the church is true, Christ lives! And we know that because Joseph Smith saw God and His Son Jesus Christ. If you don't believe Joseph, read the BoM, it's evidence that Joseph Smith was telling the truth. Hope y'all have a great week! Share the gospel with your friends, they will be eternally grateful. They are loved by God too and He wants them home! Sincerely, Elder Christensen Do Good Stuff Ps. In the 90's all week....
