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

Life truly is good!‏

Let me first start off by saying THANK YOU SO VERY, VERY MUCH FOR ALL THE BIRTHDAY LOVE!! It was so fun to get a little piece of all of you down here in the heart of Texas. It really was a lovely day and you all contributed to that! 

This week has been awesome! I said good bye to Elder A but we are still in the same zone so we will continue to see each other. My new companion is Elder R. He is incredible! I have already learned so, so much from him and I hope we get to be together for more than one transfer because I have so much to learn from him. Hopefully he can learn something from me too. He is from Utah, can't remember the city but its down in south Utah. He has 7 brothers and sisters and he is the 2nd youngest. He is an awesome example to me! He has a wonderful how can we help attitude and looks for ways to help everyone. Very humble and full of the spirit. 

We have had some super cool floods here in the past couple days. We had a deluge the other day and the streets became rivers. That's not even an exaggeration! We had to go a very different way to get to our apartment because the streets we normally go down/by had knee high water rushing down them into the draining system. Super cool to see. We had lots of opportunities to help others that day. A lot of people would think they could go through and get completely stuck. It was fun. Thankfully no real damage comes from these floods. Apparently though in Dallas and Houston they have had some real problems with the flooding and the wards have been asked to go over and help. The city contacted the LDS church to go over and help which is awesome. So they sent 30 missionaries over to help and the respective wards. I think this weekend its our turn to go and help so that will be fun. 

We continue to work with Jennifer and she is certainly progressing. Her countenance has lightened up and she seems more relaxed. She feels like she needs to better understand the BoM in order to feel ready for baptism so we are working with her to help her get an answer that its true and real and baptism is what Heavenly Father wants her and everyone to do. It really is a big commitment. I can see why people choose to take their time and think it over. 

We had dinner with the H family and they are so fun. She either makes roast beef or chicken and the way they interact is hilarious. Its a husband and wife in their 50's. Bro. H is hilarious and always has some witty, funny comment to make. We found out he was in the special services in the Vietnam War and he showed us all his cool medals and such. There really is so much history to each person! 

We are still working with Baltimore. He has the desire to be happy and we are slowly showing him that this is the way to do so. He smiled this last time we met with him and he is doing better. He even read the BoM!! It is so great when people keep their commitments and aren't just saying yes. He is showing that he wants to change. We will continue to work with him. 

I think this transfer will be a lot more productive than the last. We are off to a great start! Something we both wanted to work on this transfer is working with the ward and getting to know the members. I really do love this ward. I don't think there is a ward on earth quite like the SA1st ward. Humble, great people that want to do whats right. 

https://www.lds.org/prophets-and-apostles/biographies/elder-l-tom-perry?cid=HP_day_date_dPAAST_PERY_xLIDyL1-B_&lang=eng

What a great, great, great, great, great, excellent man. Awesome article! Thats my thought for the week I guess!

Love you all so very much. Thank you so much for the love I feel from your letters and emails. Do good things!

Elder Christensen