Week of February 18th
Hello Everybody!!!
It has been a wonderful week in the St.
George North area. I don't know if I have mentioned this before but this area
is full of cowboys, people trying to hide (they don't like us), and very good
pie. If you ever have a chance and you are down here go to Veyo Pies it is
amazing and apparently world famous. I am not so sure about the world
famous part.
This week started off with flames. Since
I did not participate in the tradition of burning my tie at six months I made
up for it last Monday night by burning one of my old stained ties. It was fun
and I felt a part of the great missionary tradition. Tuesday came and we found
ourselves busy as ever. We had a lot of lessons planned and then all of them
canceled but one... That is just part of missionary life though. We found things
to do and we experienced a miracle. We got a call from a member who had someone
for us to teach!!! We will talk more about him a little later because it is an
amazing story.
Laura is still doing very well. She come
to church every single Sunday and accepts everything that we teach as true. She
wants to make sure that this is the true church before she joins and is willing
to put forth the effort needed to find out for herself. Please pray for her to
get her answer! I know that she will and that the power of prayer is quite
amazing in helping people to get their own answers. Her Husband Travis who is
also a non-member has started listening as well. Although he is not as
interested and is still not quite sure about us his heart is softening.
Now on to the story that I promised! We
found a new investigator and his name is Eugene. We got the call and met with
him this last Thursday. He is an older Asian man who is a recent convert to
Christianity. He was the most prepared investigator that I have ever found on
my mission. He is only here temporarily with his wife while she is receiving
medical treatment. He feels a pull to Utah that he has never felt before he
wants to move here but his wife wants to stay in California (where they are
from). We had the first lesson and it was nothing new to him. He had been
attending church for 6 weeks straight and had already read all of 1st Nephi. We
set another appointment for Sunday and were planning on teaching the plan of
salvation. We had not planned to invite Eugene to be baptized that lesson. We
were going to do it the next lesson. As we were about 5 minutes into the lesson
the spirit told me more clear than ever before "Elder Christensen invite
him to be baptized now!" I ignored it partly because it was not the plan
and partly because I didn't want to scare him off. Then 10 minutes later I got
the same prompting even louder and more clear "Elder
Christensen invite him to be baptized now!" I ignored it the
second time. As we continued the lesson we got to a point were Eugene said
"What else do I need to learn what else do I need to do?" The lesson
we had been teaching on the plan of salvation was nothing new to him he wanted
more. The spirit took over I succumbed and opened my mouth with the invitation
of baptism. He nodded his head vigorously and said yes. He told us that no one
had just asked him and that he wanted to do. We committed him to the 8th of
March and he accepted. He is soooooooo ready. Lesson Learned always
always listen to the spirit
I have such a strong testimony that the
spirit is a tool given by our heavenly father to lead and guide us. When things
get tough it is there IF WE LET IT. That is the key to simply listen and obey.
To not question and let the fear of the world stop us from being who we
are---sons and daughters of God. I know that Christ lives and that this is his
Church. I love and pray for all of you. As Paul said to the Philippians "
I thank my God upon every remembrance of you". Have a great week and
remember your true identity.
Love
Elder Christensen
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| Elder Christensen getting down to business! |
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| The Elders with their new ride! |
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Week of February 24th
Hello Everyone!!
The sun keeps shining down here in
lovely St. George. I don't know how much sun other parts of the world are
getting but I am loving it down here and enjoying that Vitamin D. We have found
a lot of success in working with the members down here. They are so excited for
the work and we have gone from 0 investigators my first week here to 5
investigators at the end of this last week. We have been working pretty hard
and we have tried to be creative in the way that we work. We try not to just
knock many doors although sometimes we have to. We have found people various
ways like having dinner at members homes and going the ward's blue and gold
banquets and talking to non-members there. The members here are also very
involved in the work in our area. We have also been finding lots of success
working with some of our brand new ward mission leaders who are excited about
the work and giving us lots of referrals.
This week we started teaching an
investigator named Tana. She is from Wisconsin and is married to a less-active
RM. She has had the missionary lessons before but the husband had never been
involved in the teaching. We went over to see where they were after the
missionaries had taken a break for a while. When we got there the husband
(nate) was super involved in the teaching and led the discussion that we were
having. It was great to see that because we had been told to expect the exact
opposite. The spirit was there as we taught about the restoration and we were
able to set up a return appointment.
This last Thursday I got to go on an
exchange with one of my favorite Elders. ELDER GARCIA he is so funny. He makes
everyone laugh and does some crazy fun things. I served with him in a trio back
up in Nephi for a week in the beginning of December so we were reunited for one
night of fun. Pictures to follow.
We ended this week on a miracle. We have
been trying to set up an appointment with the Hoff family forever. It is a
Part-Member family with an unbaptized child. We caught up with them on Sunday
and had a great first lesson getting to know them. They are super nice and have
been prepared by the Lord to receive this message. We will begin meeting with
them more this next week.
All in all it has been a good week. The
transfer is almost over and I feel like it just started. I have been finding
lots of strength in reading the scriptures especially the Book of Mormon. It
has been such a light to me and guide in how to do missionary work and life. I
feel refreshed every time I read from its pages.
I love you all and hope you have a great
week!!!
Elder Christensen
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| Elder Christensen and Elder Garcia acting goofy! |
