This past week we had some serious rain. Me and Elder Shipley had no idea why until we talked to this one lady who said the strongest hurricane ever recorded hit Mexico and the aftermath was coming at us in a straight line. It rained for 2 days straight and we got 9 inches in one day. It was awesome! Though it made a damper on missionary work. We tried to bike around but we became soaked to the bone in a matter of minutes. It was a no go. So we only went to our set appointments and went and visited members we didn't know. It ended up being a fun day. Before the real storm began it would rain for 5 minutes and then stop, rain 5 minutes and then stop. But it became quiet and still or about 30 minutes. Then all of a sudden it began to dump buckets of rain on us. It was quit the adventure! Since we were close to the church we went and took refuge there and waited for it to stop. We were dripping wet so we tried to dry off a little but it didn't work. We ended up being wet for the remainder of the day. All part of the adventure right? I can't remember if I told you the "trail" story, so I will tell you in case I haven't. Since we are on bikes it can be hard to get to certain places in our area. Sometimes we have to come up with creative ways to get to these places. We had been assigned by the ward council to go and talk to this lady, Elizabeth, about taking the missionary lessons and she so happens to live in one of these special, hard to get to places. We looked at google maps on our iPads for a way to get there and thank heavens for Elder Shipley's trail dedication. He found one that would get us to where we needed to go. We get to the place where the beginning of the trail should be and its a construction site. We walk through it thinking the trail is going to be on the other side of the site, which it is. So far so good. We take the trail for a little while until we get to fence number 1. I admit, this was not our best idea nor was it very smart. We hop the fence and get our bikes over and continue on our way. This happens two more times. But we get to this spot where a bridge should be and there is no bridge, only a stream that's about 100 feet wide. Our only choice was to cross it. We get to the other side and go to Elizabeth's house only to find out that she is not home. Turns out she does not want to take the missionary lessons but she wants to come to church and still have her daughter go to activity days. It will take time but they will come around. It sounds like her husband is not too supportive which is keeping them back. Bummer, but there is a plan for everyone. I also had the privilege to go on exchanges with Elder Iverson. He taught me lots, he is a great missionary! He is really good at getting peoples attention and then relating something they say back to the gospel. Something I would like to do better with. Something I am going to work on this upcoming week is being bold and proclaiming the gospel as with a trump! There is no need to not tell people about the gospel. It is the power of God unto the salvation of man. It is what is going to save mankind and the world. Every time I don't talk to someone or bear testimony is an opportunity wasted. There is a quote in PMG regarding testimony by Thomas S. Monson. It says "Regarding one's testimony, remember, that which one willingly shares he keeps, while that which he selfishly keeps he loses. ...Teach and testify. There is no better combination." I think I have learned what that that means this past week. If we don't open our mouths and share our testimony when we are given the chance to do so, we are going to lose it. Kind of cool huh? We saw a very cool miracle yesterday. Normally we call to remind people that they have signed up to feed us dinner a day in advance because we are all human, we all forget. But for whatever reason, we did not call to remind these poor people on Saturday that they signed up to feed us on Sunday. Before sacrament meeting started we went over and asked them if that would still work and they said sure, come on over! We go to dinner and they said they used to be in Walsh ranch but because of the Ward split they are now in vista ridge. They remember a guy that was baptized about a year ago and they said we should go by him sometime. It just so happened that we were going to where he lived after dinner! We end up going by and he comes out on his porch and we talk a little bit and then he invites us in. His friend who was there said he had always been interested in what Mormons believe. We teach him the restoration and he says he will read the Book of Mormon. How cool is that? I am always so impressed by Heavenly Father and how well He knows His children. I promise you that Heavenly Father knows you. He weeps when you suffer and rejoices when you do what is right. Very cool to see the spirit direct the Glazier's thoughts towards that guy and then having us go by. We are truly in the Lord's errand! Because Heavenly Father loves us He desires us to be free from the burden of sin. So He sends missionaries to people who need to hear the message of the gospel; the message that they can be clean and be free from the sins and addictions of this world through Jesus Christ and His Atonement. Something very cool I learned more about this week is the enabling aspect of Christ's atonement. Commonly referred to as grace. All we have to do is ask and it will be given us, as long as we are striving to do what God asks of us. It only makes sense that we receive blessings we show God that we want. We show God we want blessings as we keep the commandments. Mosiah 2:41 "consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual." Blessed in ALL things. Keep the commandments and ask for strength to endure, strength to change, strength to accept the will of God, whatever it may be. We had district meeting this past week as well. It was fine, we have a wonderful district so if it turns out meh then that's ok because they are still awesome. Lots of leaders in this district. Always next time right? Yesterday we had our other Ward primary program. Funny stuff was said . But on our other Ward it was a normal sacrament meeting and the coolest story was shared. This kids grandparents are in Madagascar serving a mission. In Madagascar they have been having awful drought so the people are literally starving. The grandparents had the opportunity to go and deliver food to the people there. The grandma said the picture that will always stay in her mind is a starving mother with a starving baby on her back that looked lifeless. They were escorted by 7 armed gun man because rebels might try and take the food. They get there start handing out the food and the rebels start coming out of the forest. They stand at the edge of the forest and just wait. The grandma thinks it might be a good idea to go over and make friends. She goes over with her translator and asks if she can have a picture with them. They end up being flattered and say yes that would be fine. Originally they saw 14 of them but all of a sudden they started coming out of nowhere and there ends up being 200 rebels with shotguns standing there wanting to be in the picture. It works! They become friends and they end up going over and helping hand out the food to the starving people. Isn't that awesome? Thought that was a cool story, wanted to share. Love the gospel, love Jesus Christ, love all of you! Have a great week! Sincerely, Elder Christensen Do Good Stuff
This is a cane standing on a turtle! We ride by this lake almost everyday.
You might have crows in a power line, but we have vultures. Yes, those are all vultures ready to eat anything that has recently died.
