Winter has definitely not fallen upon the city of Round Rock. The other day it was 76 degrees and 96% humidity. That is absolutely miserable. I know what y'all mean when you say you would go outside then feel like you need a shower. The sweat is awful! But oh well, the humidity cannot stop the work from progressing. No unhallowed hand, including humidity! Believe it or not a lot happened this past week! First and foremost, we had Gracen's baptism. It was a great baptism! I don't know if I have mentioned this but in my last area we had to do literally EVERYTHING to set up a baptism. It was always so stressful and so much work. But now, we have wonderful Ward mission leaders who set the whole thing up. We didn't have to worry about a thing and it was so nice. We showed up at the baptism, felt the spirit, and enjoyed. It also helped that more people in these wards are active and willing to help out and support. 1st Ward has great people, just not as many active members. Anyways, the baptism was great and Gracen was so very happy. He was smiling ear to ear and walking on clouds. It did my heart good to see someone embrace the gospel and let it affect them. Sweet is the work. It still amazes me how perfect God's plan is for each of us. It is a complete miracle that this kid came in contact with the gospel. He is living with his uncle who was baptized about 8 months ago. Because his uncle joined the church, Gracen was able to as well. We have been given A Savior is Born to use for our work and it has been so much fun to use. The times we do get to share it are such a treat! People never regret watching it and it invites the spirit to testify that Christ is our Savior. It also makes it super easy that it's downloaded to our iPads. Last time we had a video to share with people it was super inconvenient. We had to try and use their phone to watch it. Awkward and ineffective. But now we have iPads so all is well. We also had a general authority and his wife tour the mission, Elder and Sister Pino, of the seventy. He addressed the missionaries twice, once in SA and the other for the missionaries in the Austin area. It was a spiritual feast! He said everyone in this mission is very blessed to serve here. He said it was a great mission for two reasons, 1) because of us, the missionaries, he said we are great missionaries, and 2) because of President and Sister Slaughter, they are great teachers and leaders. He said he has a kid on a mission and he was hoping he would come to the TSAM. He bragged about us for a little bit. Then we went over our call letter. In D&C 15,16 the Lord calls two people to serve missions and the only difference is the name. But in the heading to each section it says it is "intimate and impressively personal." How could that be if the only difference is the name? Because they had been called by the Lord through a prophet. The Lord knew where He needed them to go, who they would help, and what they would do. He knew them! The same goes for us, our call letters are all the same but they are all intimate and impressively personal. We have received a letter from President Monson telling us exactly what the Lord would tell us. We then went through the letter piece by piece, and elaborated on our duties and roles as missionaries explained through the Prophet. It was wonderful! Elder Pino also talked about teaching doctrine and helping others understand doctrine. He said once people understand doctrine, they change! If people don't understand the doctrine, they do not change. He also wanted to make sure that we understood that the doctrine of Christ is a very concrete thing; faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. He spoke for two hours but it felt like 30 minutes. I was very hungry for more, but two hours was all we got. It was such a privilege to get even that! He bore a powerful testimony of Christ at the end. What does special witness of Christ even mean? Who knows, I tired to find a concrete answer in the scriptures and I think I found one. In D&C it says a special witness of Christ is to bear testimony of His resurrection and His flesh and bones. Hmm, interesting aye? After the conference we then had a wonderful BBQ provided by Rudy's. Yum. We are still trying to work with Diana. We ran into her at HEB last Monday. I can't remember if I said that or not. She is so funny. She asked us if we were a cult because she had heard from someone that we were, she asked us why we bought a bag of candy (she thought our cereal was candy, never good), she told us pickles are delicious, said she would soon be flying the Islamic flag over her house, etc. etc. She acts really bubbly but underneath the facade is one smart woman. She picks up on more than she lets onto. We went by on Friday to invite her to church. She said she would come and she was planning on it but alas, she didn't come. She once again made us laugh non stop. We called her last week to remind her about church really early in the morning which was an oops on our part, at about 8. Apparently she can't sleep very well so we woke her up when she finally fell asleep. She was not a happy camper about that. She threatened to rip our throats out, and then said "then the old man that you brought to my house won't be thinking she's so nice anymore. He will be saying, what's that vicious little thing running around the church?" Hahahahahaha! She nuts, but so very funny. I really, really hope she comes to church one of these days. We don't want her soul to be lost, and neither does Heavenly Father. She also mentioned that the pickles she bought were hot and they "blew her head off." So inappropriate, forgive me. Hopefully it makes you smile! People that are of the world must look at us as very, very peculiar people. Really they don't know any better. They are trying to move forward with the light they have been given. We have biked so very much this past week. So much so that the my whole body is exhausted. I know I'm receiving strength from Heavenly Father. There is no way I could have this much strength to move forward without His divine help. We have been trying to help a 12 year old in our Ward named Hunter. He is in an awful situation but is such a good kid. We have met with him twice this week and he always seems to enjoy it. His grandma appreciates it too. His grandma is the sweetest lady. She appreciated out visits with him so much that she went and bought us a pecan pie and then left it on our porch. She even wrapped it with a bow and wrote Merry Christmas! on it. What an angel! Little acts of kindness are so appreciated! Today this older gentlemen couldn't get these big bags into his truck so we went over and helped him. He was so thankful! Little acts of kindness make big impacts. Walsh Ranch and Vista Ridge had their Christmas parties this past weekend. We went to the last hour of the WR one and it was fun. It was really nice to relax and drink some hot chocolate. And it seemed like everyone had a really good time, big smiles and bright eyes were seen! We intended on going to the last hour of VR party too for some reasons I thought it ended at 8 so we went to the church at about 6:50 but they were already leaving. We missed that one. Sunday was wonderful. Partaking of the sacrament is such a blessing. It's also such a great environment for the spirit to confirm truth to our souls and hearts. We sang the beautiful hymn Tis Sweet to Sing the Matchless Love for one of our sacrament meetings. What a moving hymn! We also sang Angels we have heard on high. That is also a great hymn! Anything that helps us remember Christ is good in my book, and in the BoM. In VR Ward our Ward mission leader is moving so we are getting a new one, Bro. Cramer. He's the guy we had thanksgiving dinner with and helped paint. They also have the cutest cat ever. More time with him means more chances to pet his cat. I am so grateful for the commandments. I can testify with a perfect knowledge that the commandments are there for our benefit. I promise that the commandments are a 100% guaranteed way to peace. And since we are human, we will break them. The way to regain peace after we break a commandment is turning to the Lord. Repent, change, forsake pride and recognize His ways are much, much better. They really, truly are. I learn this a little bit more each day. In my foolish pride I forget He seeth the upper, and I the underside. One of my favorite stories in the BoM is the story of the people of Helam, found in Mosiah 23 and 24. Alma heard the words of Abinidi and believed. He then taught the people that were desirous to hear and change. They were eventually baptized in the waters of Mormon. They then flee from the people that want to destroy them and start their own city, named Helam. They are doing everything right, but are still given some intense trials. They remain faithful to the Lord throughout their trial and eventually are freed from them. Instead of becoming bitter or upset towards the Lord, they allowed their trial to help them become more humble, strengthen their faith, and increase their patience. They persevered and overcame trial only through their knowledge of their correct knowledge of the gospel and of the Savior. They knew the gospel, know who they were, and acted accordingly. That is what got them through! Merry Christmas! Love y'all! Transfers emails are tomorrow and I'm not sure what's going to happen. My guess is we both will stay. But of not my address will change. If that happens, I will try to get it to you as quick as possible. If you were planning on sending something I would recommend sending it to my home in Washington and then my mom can send it to the correct place. She is a miracle worker and can get it to me before Christmas (maybe, most likely, possibly). Anyways, life is good! Love, Elder Christensen Our very lame Christmas decorations! Kind of funny. We didn't have any Christmas tree decorations so pass along cards work right?
Christmas would not be Christmas without the Christmas Devotional! Utchdorf was very right when he said that there is something sublime about Christmas music. That's probably my favorite thing about this season, is the beautiful music that reminds us of Christ. The Mormon Tabernacle Choir always does such a great job, and last night was no exception. They sing those songs with ease! I really enjoyed Elder Bednar's talk. It was fantastic! Really the whole thing was. We ended up watching it with an older, single man in our Ward. His name is Rex Adamson and he's 84! He is the funniest old man and he loves missionaries. We were trying to think of someone we could watch it with and then we both thought of him. He seems lonely so I'm sure he appreciated the company. We did too! It was a great night. Earlier Sunday we had stake conference. It was stake conference. When you go to meetings and church and what not you have to convert all the information to missionary information; how is this applicable to missionaries? They talked a lot about goals for going to the temple, family history work, missionary work and so on. Lots of good things to look forward to after the mission. It was a good spiritual feast! On Wednesday we have another spiritual feast coming our way. Elder Pino of the seventy will be addressing us for about 4 hours. It is going to be awesome! Gracen's baptism will be this Saturday and that will be great as well. He's a good kid and it is definitely the right thing to do. We had another lesson with Diana this week. It was another, very funny lesson. She said she would come to church but alas, she did not. We ran into her at HEB again and we chatted a little bit and laughed, like always. I also had the opportunity to go on exchanges with Elder Mecham, the new Elder in our district. He has a great desire to serve and do what He is asked. It was fun to go on exchanges with him. We needed serving a little bit and helping an older, single lady with her yard. She has a grand vision of having a flower garden. It will be some serious work but if she is dedicated she could do it. And she truly appreciated the help because she could not do much by herself. And hopefully she joins the church! We then had a couple other appointments that night. It was a great day. I still love being Elder McNeil's companion. He is the best! Me, Elder Acor, and Elder McNeil made a gingerbread house. It's gorgeous! We also played soccer on an actual soccer field and it was a total blast. That's why is email is so short and I apologize!
