Hello family!
I wish I could send you my voice telling you what happened this past
week. I think I'm going to look for a way to do that, but until then
emails will be the vehicle for communication.
Lots of good stuff happened this past week.
Monday we had p-day. The Alamo is part of the missions here in SA so
we went to one of the missions. There is like a chain of them along
the SA river. We went to the one closest to us, it was about a 15
minute drive. I believe the name of the one we went to is the San Juan
or San Jose mission. Pretty neat, there was a big square wall and in
the back center was an old church with some cool little side rooms
that we could walk around and look at. Then we ended up playing
basketball. It was a good p-day. It's so nice to have Sunday and then
p-day. I love going to church. Always gives me the energy and boost I
need to get through the week.
Tuesday we had exchanges. Exchanges are always fun, it's nice to
switch things up for a day. O went with good ol' elder MacKay. We went
out for the day and the first house we stop at we somehow run into the
curb. It was a weird curb, not sure how it happened, but it did. We
were driving so we didn't hurt ourselves or anything. So we go and
visit the person we were stopping by and then take off. The car starts
driving very funny so we pull over to see if it's ok and we had popped
the tire. Oops! Thankfully all the mission cars have spares in the
back. After some struggling we get the spare on and drive to a place
to have them fix the tire. We wait there for about 2 hours then we are
back on the road. We had dinner later that night with some members in
elder MacKay's ward who made super good tostadas. I ate way too much
and then we went out for the rest of the evening. Was a fun day.
Normally Wednesday is our district meeting day and so we were getting
ready for that when we got a call from our zone leaders. They asked us
to go and help at plum creek ward, in Kyle, with their missionary
camp. So we drive up there with mission creek, it's about an hour and
15 minutes away, fun drive. We have no idea what we're doing until we
get there. It's a cool camp called camp Helaman where full time
missionaries take 2 of the campers and go have a lesson and then knock
some doors. I was assigned a younger guy and an 18 year old. It was a
fun day. Our mission president also came and talked at the camp and I
always enjoy hearing his comments and wisdom. We did that and then we
drove home around 9:30-ish and hit the hay when we got home. Another
solid day.
Thursday we ended up having district meeting which is always good. We
have a good district. And normally it's tradition to have district
lunch at Panda Express, but we went out the day before so we didn't do
it. And then we had a lesson with Glenda and Christella. Christella is
Glenda's mom, can't remember if I told y'all that or not. But we read
a little more out of the BoM and went on our way. They are doing
better. The light of Christ is shining through, they are coming
around! Since they are both blind we have been trying to get them the
BoM on cd. We decided to go and drive up to the distribution center to
see if we could buy one. We get there and it turns out they aren't
making them anymore, but the sweet lady that works there says she has
one and would be willing to give it to us. She has her daughter go and
grab it and drop it off for us. Everything always works out when you
are trying to do what's right. That is truth! Since we rarely get to
go near the temple we walk around it and take some pictures. It is an
incredibly gorgeous temple and I love the feeling of incredible peace
which comes from that sacred ground. The scripture that says peace
which passeth all understanding is spot on. That was also a good day.
Friday we ended up doing weekly planning which was fine. We have an
awesome older couple that invite us over for dinner every once in a
while. We had dinner with them which I always enjoy.
Saturday was Julius' baptism! We put Effort into putting this one
together and it paid off. The spirit was wonderful and sis. Cato
invited a lot of her family to come. Hopefully they felt the spirit
and have the desire to have that with them even more. Kevin, julius'
dad, loved it so hopefuly we can get him baptized next. We had to do
almost everything to set this one up and we could not have done it
without the Lord's help. It all came together very nicely. After the
baptism we went home changed and hen went to our ward Pioneer Day
activity at bro. Felker's gun range. Super fun and relaxing. I love
this ward so much, I'd be totally fine if I stayed here for the rest
of my mission. They did a BBQ pig which was delicious. Texas BBQ is
the best. Some of the best food I have ever had.
Then Sunday we had church which I always love. Then we had a surprise
dinner with the Gonzalez family which was nice of them. Then we went
to the stake center to have our stake priesthood meeting thingy. It
was awesome! People here in this stake know how to get things done.
They had 3 return missionaries bear testimony of the atonement, they
had the patriarch talk about being receptive to revelation, stake
president guy talked about going from good to great, other stake
presidency guy talked about the oath and covenant of the priesthood,
and the stake president talked about the Aaronic priesthood and the
duties they have. It was solid.
We had a pretty darn cool experience the other day with Christella. I
promised her that as she grows closer to God and puts Him first in her
life God will provide for her and her family. Well we go back on
Saturday and have a lesson with her and she says I thought of you guys
the other day. She then goes on to tell us that a lady walked up and
they ended up chatting for a little bit and somehow it comes up that
Christella needs groceries. This lady tells her that they she has
groceries she would like to give Christella. She goes and gets them
and brings them to her. The promise that we made to her happened! If
that doesn't show her that God loves her and is aware of her I don't
know what does. The Lord really does work through us to bring to pass
the immortality and eternal life of man. I thought about that a little
bit afterward and I realized that he spirit has directed me every day
since my mission has began. We have been in the right place at the
right time every single time. There really is a golden thread that
weaves our lives with others and it's very cool to see that thread.
I was talking to a guy named bro. Mendez on Wednesday. He is a convert
to the church, was baptized a year ago, and looks about mid 60's.
Missionaries knocked on his door and he let them in and was soon
baptized. He said he prayed that he would find the truth and it came.
He had a good insight from Nephi. He talked a little about Nephi's
journey to find truth. For some reason that really stuck with me. I
have learned this past week that a sincere desire to learn,
obedience,prayer, study, and sanctification lead to us knowing the
mysteries of God. D&C 76:114-116, 1 Nephi 2:16, 1 Nephi 10:19, D&C
52:14-17 and lots of others! Check it out.
Have an awesome week my lovelies. Thanks for the letters this past
week, y'all are so sweet!
Love you lots!
Elder Christensen
