Instead of 100's all week it has been in the low 90's. Definitely a difference! I first noticed on p-day. Normally after playing basketball and I step outside I feel like I might melt, but last p-day I stepped outside and it was bearable. Some more leaves are starting to fall off the trees, a little more windy, and more clouds. We had a little thunder and lightning storm the other day with a little rain. Anywho, that's the weather update. I'm not sure what the weather man is predicting this coming week. First off, an observation! Texas is different. The people are different. The church is different, but still true. In Washington the missionaries were just there. They did their job, the Ward was there to help when needed, and life was good. Something I have noticed lately is that in Texas everyone looks up to the missionaries. The missionaries are everything and they are another set of leaders in the Ward. It seems like the leadership role of a missionary in the wards is bigger here than in other places. It's not just in this Ward I think. From talking to other missionaries it sounds the same way. I'm not sure why that is, but it is. Of course all missionaries have a huge role in the Ward they serve in, but in Texas it's different. People really look up to you and notice everything you do, and then they will do the same. I don't know, it's different. About the week, it was busy with baptisms! We had Jessica's baptism on Saturday and Michael's baptism on Sunday. We have been working with Jessica since I first got here, 7 months ago. Originally we were helping her husband be baptized which happened the first month I was here. Then, we asked Jessica if she would like to take the lessons and she said sure. She said she liked the change that she saw in her husband. So we taught her every Wednesday and Sunday. We invited her to be baptized and she said no. We continued to teach her for a couple months and then invited her to be baptized again, she said no. We continued to teach her and then asked her if she would like to be baptized, she said no. We then taught her a lesson but before hand we talked to her about her feel is towards the church and what not. She told us her observations and feelings and then we asked her if she would like to be a part of this church. She said yes! We set her with a date and then worked towards it. A month later she was baptized! All the effort payed off. It was very cool to see the change that the gospel brought into her life and the change that will continue to occur as she stays faithful to the gospel. Her baptism was awesome. There was about 15 people that came. Her husband was able to baptize her and when she came back out she looked like the happiest person in the world. The light that was illuminating from her was very impressive. It was so sweet. The people that didn't come missed out for sure. Then we had her confirmation the next day. That was good too! The gift of the Holy Ghost is a wonderful thing. It truly cleanses us and prepares us to live with God. Sunday was also fast Sunday. Fast Sunday's are fun because we get to bear testimony. It's a great opportunity to do so. I always feel for the bishop when someone gets up there and rambles on and tells stories. The bishop in this Ward always tries to keep things on task and about the savior but alas, that is very tricky to do. We also aren't teaching gospel principles class anymore which is so nice. The people that come to that class are investigators and they probably want someone else to teach them. It's fun, but it got old so I am grateful. Michael's baptism was good too! He has been trying to get baptized for the past 2 years but because of some issues he has had to wait until now. But he's baptized now, so all is well! Rachelle, his wife, really wants an eternal family. He does too but not as much. He will come around though. He's a good guy. We've been having to make all the baptismal programs as of late which isn't bad at all. I've gotten pretty good at it. The rough part is finding a way to print them out.in our apartment complex we have a little office area in the main office that has two computers. So we make the programs there. They have a nice printer, but they have been out of ink for the past month. How they print out anything they need I don't know! So making them is easy, getting them printed is the pain. The apartment office is a funny place. They have been trying to hire some new people for a while now and they finally did. His name is Roy, rather funny. But everyone in the office is really mean to him which is so weird. He takes it though, he's a good guy. We listen to their conversations a lot when we make programs. Poor guy. Everyone is really nice to us though. Speaking of the apartment, we are teaching a guy that lives right next to us. His name is Conald. He watches us back our cars out when we leave for the day and he's often out on the steps on the phone. We talked to him one day and he said we could come and share our message with him. He's had a rough life and he was really interested in the BoM. We talked about the plan of salvation and we shared some scriptures out of the BoM we though might help him. He has had a hard life and he has been looking for relief from some mistakes he has made. He said the BoM helped him feel better. It's always very cool to go into someone's house and teach the gospel and feel the spirit, and then the whole feeling in the room is different when we leave. It's like the whole room is elevated to a higher plane. Even if we don't do a very good job teaching, the spirit is always consistent and pulls through. It happened a couple times this past week. We also had a week full of dinners! Every day this past week someone fed us. It was wonderful. We had dinner with the Vaughns which was probably my favorite. She's so horribly independent it's awesome! They are a very funny couple, very fun. We talked about art, family history, and their grandkids! We also had dinner with the Wernetts who bought us pizza. We got lost trying to find their house though. It should of taken like 40 minutes to get there but it took about an hour and a half. Even with the gps it was a struggle. But their daughter that they adopted is interested in being baptized so we will start to teach her. They are fun to go over to because they have 3 fun boys. One of them really likes to draw so I always try to teach him stuff I know. I showed him the color wheel and he thought it was the coolest thing. It was nice to have someone appreciate my art knowledge, even if he is only 10. Then on Saturday the bishop had us over and we had a fun dinner. They have such a cool house out in the country on a bunch of land. It was fun. We had to get the flu shot is week. Apparently everyone in the mission is required to get it. Funny, elder West hates shots so he was a little nervous. But all was well. They switched transfer calls to transfer emails and they come on Tuesday. I will know tomorrow if I stay or leave. My guess is leave, but who knows. All in all, good week! If you would like a good chapter to read, John 4 in the New Testament is a rest one. Lots to learn from the woman at the well. It's very, very cool! Jesus the Christ will help. Have a great week. Love, Elder Christensen Do Good Stuff!
