November 6, 2013
Hello family,
I have been transferred to Prescott
Valley! I will be serving with Elder Cardwell, and he will be finishing
my training for the next 6 weeks! We serve in the Stoneridge English
ward and the Estrella Spanish Branch. We live with a family, but
they will be moving in a couple weeks. So I will keep you updated and
let you know when we get an apartment and a solid address. For now, if
you need to send anything, just send it to the mission office in
Glendale! Please spread the word or something. :) Thank you!
-Elder Christensen
November 11, 2013
Hola Familia!
Well, Prescott Valley is sweet! I will send some pictures next
week, but I love this place! And the leaves are actually falling here,
so now it actually feels like November. It is pretty cold too in the
mornings. I guess I will have to be getting a sweater today so I can be
obedient when it gets under 65, which is like everyday. Elder Cardwell
is awesome! He is from Riverton, Utah.
Well, the Stoneridge ward is so great! The members here are so nice
and open to missionary work. Our ward mission leader is 80 years old and from England! He is the best, and really keeps us on our
feet. It is hard being in an English ward and a Spanish Branch. There
are 6 missionaries in the Spanish Estrella branch but there are about 30
people who show up to church each Sunday,
if that. So we have like 95% English work we are responsible for, and
very little time for Spanish work. So, my Spanish is suffering a little
bit. I am loving it here though!
So before I even got home on Wednesday
night, we stopped by a less active member.. He is a disabled veteran, and he is probably the most
humble person I have ever met. He called us, asking if we could give him
some scriptures to read to help him feel better. Neither of us had ever
met him before, so we told him we would come by his house that night.
We talked to him for a solid 40 minutes, and he kept telling us how good
it felt to have missionaries in his home again! He is an alcoholic, and
trying very hard to recover through the Church's Addiction Recovery
Program. But he has very little self confidence and struggles a lot. We
read with him Alma 31:31, 38 Here, Alma asks not for the afflictions he
is suffering to be removed, but rather for the strength and ability to
overcome them. Because "he prayed in faith" the Lord blessed he and his
brethren that they should not hunger nor thirst, and every affliction
they had was "swallowed up in the joy of Christ." We showed him a
mormonmessage from President Uchtdorf about patience (on my nifty
iPad!). The Spirit was so strong! I bore my testimony to him about the
reality of the Atonement, and Christ who will "succor" us in our
afflictions if we have the faith to ask him for patience and strength.
We talk to him everyday on the phone now, and he tells us how he is
doing. He is the man!
I really love missionary work, because everyone,
myself included, is on their own pathway to complete conversion to the
Savior. I thought I would be more excited about baptisms on my mission,
but here I am. And I can honestly say that there is no better feeling
than helping someone in need by bearing simple testimony. It doesn't
matter who they are! We are all children of God, and we are all
Spiritually ill. I am strengthened by other members all the time. It is
real proof that we are ALL missionaries, ALL called to the work by a
Prophet of God! I love this work, I love my Savior!
God bless you all, you are in my prayers!
Love,
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