Merry Christmas THIS WEEK!

Dear Family and Friends,
We had a spectacular week!! Our District doubled the amount of people
we found and also those who committed to be baptized on a specific
date. It's evident that God is preparing hearts and guiding us to
them. Other than that, we are still struggling with getting people to
come to church. I realized just how many possible excuses there are to
not come. Really, honestly, there are so many other things we could do
that could stop us from coming to church. But the fact is that if we
want to, if we really truly want to, we will be able to come. If we
really understand the importance of coming we will come and it won't
be a struggle. So that's what we are working on.
One man named Abel has been studying with us for quite a few months.
He finally committed to be baptized in January! We are excited for
him, and will be working on getting his family to sit in as well.
Hmm...well I don't know what else to say really. Today we had a
pancake party and played some of games. Haha I know, creative. I'm
excited to talk to you on Christmas! I'm typing this email at the
laundromat, so you probably won't get it till I get WiFi later
tonight. But I will think of some cool stories and experiences to
share on Thursday! I love you all!

Elder Collin Christensen

Editors Note-
Collin will be FACE-TIMING with us on Christmas morning.  We are very excited to talk to him!  It has been 7 months since we have talked with him--since Mother's Day.  We treasure that time, as it is one of 4 times that we get to talk while he is on his 2 year mission.

Dec. 14, 2014

Dear Family and friends! This week was fantastic! We started it off by going to the Mesa temple on Tuesday to get familiar with the visitors center, to see the Christmas temple lights and go through the temple with all the north zones. It was great, and warm! It has been over a year since I have gone to the temple. I love that place. Later on Wednesday we taught 2 ladies, a mother and a daughter, named Teresa and Jessica. They were referred to us by a lady in our ward. Both are going through some difficult divorces, and both are incredibly prepared to hear the gospel. They accepted to be baptized on January 17th! They are awesome. We also found another family we had just knocked into one day when it started dumping snow! They let us in almost immediately. The mother, Bertha, speaks no English, and the father, John, speaks no Spanish. Haha I have no clue how that happened still, but hey they are super cool! It seems like the Lord is preparing more and more Spanish Speaking people here to hear this message. This last week we decided to focus more of our time and effort on helping people come to church since we haven't had hardly any non members at church in a long time. Based on how many people said they would be there, there should have been at least 15 people at church. But 2 of them actually came and we were pumped! It was disappointing that not everyone showed, but to me I was glad that at least two of them got to come feel the Spirit. In our district there's been a difficulty lately with opening our mouths. We had a whole meeting based on this scripture: "Yea, open your mouths and spare not, and you shall be laden with sheaves upon your backs, for lo, I am with you" (D&C 33:9). It was pretty cool to see how each companionship really needed to change and be more open with one another, and also with talking to everyone they see. A lot of problems can be solved and ultimately prevented by open communication. We also had interviews this last week with President Griffin. He is hilarious. He definitely opens his mouth and "spare[s] not." He told me a lot of things I needed to hear. :) Well that's about it this week! I'm pumped for Christmas! Still not sure what we will be doing, but I'm sure we will get fed. And we will definitely get to skype home! It doesn't really matter what time, probably around noonish? Let me know what works best for the family. What are everyone's plans this year? Are you remembering to share the gift of Jesus Christ? :D I love you all, have an awesome week. Elder Collin Christensen SURPRISE!  Here's a picture with Collin's good friend and 1st cousin once removed--Sister Rebeka Kohler.  She is serving at the Mesa Temple Visitors Center!

December 8, 2014

 Flag Zone!

Dear Family and Friends!

We had a decent week! One of the best things that happened was that 3

Spanish speaking members came to church! We are still working on

getting our investigators there but it's a process we are working on.

Also at MLC we received some awesome training from Brother Littlefield

and Gonzalez from the Missionary Department in Salt Lake. After an 8

hour training I definitely raised my vision for what is possible in

our mission. Sometimes we limit what is possible for ourselves by not

setting the right goals that are helpful for us.

Lately I've been working on hope and positivity. I had a lot of

opportunities to practice this week too! It was great. I'm learning

that sometimes when you go one or two full days of just flat knocking

and no responses, the Lord still will use you if you do everything you

can. We did, and at the end of the week we found some of the coolest

people! So I'm learning a lot. Living in positivity and hope to me

doesn't necessarily mean that your hopes and expectations will never

be dashed. But it means that the Lord can use us, stretch us, humble

us, and show us what can be possible with his help.

So anyways, today we went to the Grand Canyon National Park! Funny

enough, it's in our area. So I took a lot of pictures, and they all

kind of look the same. But we had a good hike and a lot of fun!

Tomorrow we are going to the Mesa Temple! It will be awesome!

I love you all! Have a fantastic week!

Elder Collin Christensen

Dec. 1, 2014

Dearest Family and Friends!

Hope Thanksgiving was a great one for you all!  We had a relaxing day
inside and ate with an awesome member family. Then Elder Fife
challenged me to a game of chess, and promised me he wouldn't play
with a Queen...it reminded me of my awesome brothers, especially when
he slaughtered me still. Haha
Well we had a pretty busy week and got into a lot more member homes.
The coolest thing is the church's Christmas Initiative "He is the
Gift." I bet you have all seen the video already, but if not check out
http://www.mormon.org/christmas. This is such an inspired initiative this
Christmas season. At a time when most people get caught up in the
hustle and bustle of Black Friday and Christmas shopping, many others
also wonder where the true meaning of Christmas has gone. I think it's
a good reminder for every single one of us that Jesus Christ is God's
gift to us! And that we should try to discover (or rediscover),
embrace (or re-embrace), and share (or share again) this Gift if we
truly comprehend its value. We are seeing this initiative work
miracles and soften hearts here! With one family we ran into, we just
showed them the video and later read the Christmas Story in the Book
of Mormon, as told by prophets on the American continent at the time
of Christ. It has immediately sparked people's interest and turned
into opportunities for us to testify of this second witness of Jesus
Christ!
So no one is really progressing that we have been working with. Most
people either work, don't have transportation, or don't think anyone
will be at church so they don't come on Sunday. Kinda hard to get
people at church if they're all waiting for everyone else to come
first. Haha I know it's only been two weeks since we have been
focusing solely on Spanish speakers. It's just one of those things
where the fruits might not appear as rapidly as we had hoped. But we
are certain good things will gradually start happening.
I tried to send some pictures mom but I don't know if they went through!
I love you all! Have an awesome week!

Elder Collin Christensen

Pictures Below!

                                       

November 24, 2014 Happy Thanksgiving

Hello Family and Friends!
This is coming out so late today because we decided to take our
District hiking to the top of Mt. Elden! It was a lot of fun, as well
as my nap right after. :D So this will be short but I will try to hit
all the highlights of our CRAZY week.


First of all, we finally got more missionaries in our Ward! It was a
miracle because we lost a bunch of missionaries, 26 in the whole
missions, so many areas had to be combined. The new missionaries are
Sisters McCombie and Wooden, and they have a lot of energy! It will be
so good for this ward. We are now focusing our efforts 100% on Spanish
speakers. Because of that we found 2 incredible families this week! I
will tell you a little about one of them, Filiberto and Magdalena.
They are a middle aged couple with about 4 children who we just
contacted on the street like 4 months ago. They had tons of questions
and I thought they were going to keep us there all night! At the end,
we all kneeled and Magdalena offered the most sincere prayer asking if
the Book of Mormon was true. The Spirit that filled that room was
undeniable. It was such a powerful experience for their whole family,
we all just stayed kneeling for several moments after the prayer. It
was a testimony builder to me of Moroni's promise:
 
4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye
would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these
things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with
real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it
unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.
5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.
Moroni 10:4-5
http://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/moro/10?lang=eng

We are excited for the successes and trials that lie ahead! It will be
a growing experience, for us as servants of the the Lord, for those we
will find, teach, and baptize, and for the work of salvation here in
general.


So for Thanksgiving we will be eating with an older lady in our Ward
and some others and will spend the rest of the day inside!
I love you all! Have a happy thanksgiving!

Elder Collin Christensen

November 17, 2014 Still in Flagstaff!

Dear Family and Friends,

Yes, it's cold in Arizona! Transfer week is is week, and it looks like I will be up here in Flagstaff through Christmas. Woo! Sometimes I wonder if they forgot about me up here... But that's ok, I love the ward and the work! Don't worry mom, I will be sure to get a jacket. The one a member gave me literally reaches my knees. I look like a dwarf.

Well we had an awesome week with the temple dedication and cultural celebration. Were you able to watch any of it online? There were a TON of youth and we were there pretty much all day. President Monson and a Uchtdorf were there as well as Elder Oaks, but we hardly saw them. President Monson is a happy guy and said some pretty funny things on both occasions. One the things that hit me the most as he dedicated the Phoenix Arizona temple was the insight that we are all temples of God. How dedicated are we to Him? A "re-dedication" and consecration of ourselves to our Savior perhaps is necessary on a regular basis. As I reflect on my efforts to be a consecrated missionary I am reminded that there is still so much more of myself that I can give and dedicate to Him. On that note, here's two of my favorite scriptures!

"25 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.

26 For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?"

Matthew 16:25-26

http://www.lds.org/scriptures/nt/matt/16?lang=eng

"15 And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve....but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."

Joshua 24:15

http://www.lds.org/scriptures/ot/josh/24?lang=eng

The rest of our week was awesome too, other than the many appointments falling through. We should have some families committed to specific baptismal dates before the end of the month. The Begay Family was baptized on Friday and was able to come to the Dedication! We are starting their new member lessons because they just moved into our ward. We are also receiving tons of referrals lately, because we are asking for them! One neat story was after we shared a video with a Less Active sister, we asked who she knew who would benefit from seeing that video as well. She mentioned her daughter, so we found her on Facebook and sent the video to her. Sure enough her daughter was going through a rough time and she said the video turned her whole day around. Later we had several experiences right in a row with being in the right place at the right time to help certain people and find new people to teach! I love being the Lord's hands in working small but sure miracles to bring his children closer to him. I've seen it happen over and over again! 

Well I think that sums up this week. I'm grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It's sole purpose is to cleanse us from our mistakes, guilt, and pain and allow us to enjoy the Holy Ghost with us always. I know it's true. I'm grateful for the ability to repent daily and trust that God will be with me as I do my best.

I love you all! Stay warm and awesome!

Elder Collin Christensen

November 10, 2014-Thankful

Hello Everyone!


I hope you're all doing swell and getting excited for Thanksgiving! I
forced myself to think about some things I was thankful for this last
week. I wish I didn't have to be reminded by a national holiday to be
thankful, but I guess it's a good opportunity! I think out of the many
blessings I have, I'm most grateful for my family and for my testimony
of Jesus Christ. As President Uchtdorf said, "this personal testimony
of the gospel and the Church is the most important thing you can earn
in this life" (Receiving a Testimony of Light and Truth;
http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2014/10/receiving-a-testimony-of-light-and-truth?lang=eng).
I'm grateful that I have one, and that it can still grow, and that I
can trust in it when I doubt and when I have trials.


This week we stayed very busy and had another Zone Conference in
Sedona. It answered a lot of the questions I have been having. And I
scored on a free flu shot from Walgreens! Also, Aabrey and Valerie got
baptized! I don't have pictures yet...but they are awesome girls. It
was a good step for their parents in coming back. We've been
struggling to find new people lately and had a lot of our prospects
fall through. But one family we found is super Golden! Dan and Shannon
are the parents, and Karlin is the oldest son. Not only are they
extremely open, but have already seen the blessings of the Gospel in
their family as they have started praying together. We are excited for
them!


Well I don't know what else to say for this week. We are doing the
work and work is changing us. I'm humbled everyday and brought to my
knees. I'm learning to trust in my Savior Jesus Christ, do my best,
and as Elder Wirthlin said, "leave the rest to Him."
I love each of you! Keep being solid!

Elder Collin Christensen

November 3 Grateful to Be a Missionary

Dear Family and Friends,

Our week was packed full and flew by! We started out by going on exchanges. While in the other Elders' area we knocked on the door of a referral for their ward. They came to the door and said "no English..." They were pretty surprised when they found out I spoke Spanish, and what was even funnier was when the dad told his daughter to tell us he wasn't home...as if I couldn't understand them. Haha So then I started talking to him and he asked us to come back in April... Anyways, stuff like that happens quite a bit actually. It keeps things entertaining I guess. 

Later in the week we went to the Temple Open House again, this time just as our district of missionaries, which was incredible as always. I love that Heavenly Father always will reconfirm the truth to us, literally time and time again. It strengthens my testimony each time I feel the Spirit teach me something and helps me know that I'm on the right path, and that this message is true. 

Well on Halloween we couldn't go out in the evening to proselyte, even though I'm sure plenty of people would have loved to see us in our costumes. "Hey look it's a Mormon missionary! How creative! Here's your candy, now get off my porch!" We got to have a Zone activity though which was awesome. We play Chair Soccer, Death Ball, and Speed Ball a lot in this mission and I don't think it'd be worth it to try and explain each of these games. 

We had an awesome Stake Conference this weekend and had some less active Spanish speaking members come just in time to hear President Uchtdorf speak about the new Phoenix Temple and the need for everyone to be worthy to hold a current temple recommend. It definitely got them motivated! Unfortunately President Uchtdorf wasn't there in person, but it was still an awesome conference. 

One revelation I had during stake conference was that I need to bear my personal testimony more frequently, multiple times during lessons and everywhere really. As I have begun doing so, the Holy Ghost has filled our lessons. They still aren't perfect, but at least the Spirit is there and we have the chance to point it out and help our investigators discover their own growing testimonies. Another revelation is that I need to sacrifice more of what I want for the benefit of those we are helping, be it my companion, investigators, members, or leaders. These are all things I hope to be able to improve on and grow to love doing.

I'm also grateful for how the Holy Ghost has been guiding us, and helping us to make important decisions. There are many elect here in this area and the way God's hand has guided us to them has just been incredible. An example is Taylor, who messaged us randomly this week and told us she would like to be baptized on December 6th! I decided to start writing in my journal every night about how God's hand guided and impacted the work that day. It has helped me realize how little we can actually do on our own, and be able to keep a positive outlook.

We are struggling with balancing the Spanish work here. There is much of it to do but we are kept busy every hour of the evening all week with mostly English work, going on splits with the members 3-4 times a week. The members here really are looking forward to having another set of Missionaries to help.

I am grateful to be a missionary! If you are a family member, friend, non member, or anyone really, I want you to know that I know that I am not wasting my time here. Actually there isn't enough time! This work is true and it is right. If you aren't sure of that yet, I invite you to find out! God will always reveal truth to those with sincere hearts and real intent. Message me on Facebook (Elder Collin Christensen) if you'd like to talk about it!

I love you all!

Elder Collin Christensen

October 27--Phoenix Open house and More

Dear Family and Friends,

Well, we had a roller coaster of a week! Definitely had some highs and
lows, but all in all I am grateful for each of them. We met some super
interesting people this week... One was a previous investigator who
has abused drugs most her life. She called us and told us she had some
evil Spirits in her home...so we went over to say a prayer and she
proceeded to tell us how Happy she is when we come, and also when she
gets high because it's more fun to play with her animals when she is
high. :P it was funny for us at the time, but looking back it's pretty
sad to see what can happen to your life if you hand it over to what
the world has to offer you. Then another guy (who had been
drinking...) stopped us on the street to try and convince us to stop
preaching the Book of Mormon because "it just couldn't be true, and is
unnecessary." He would not give up, until he heard us bear our
testimonies from the Holy Ghost. He couldn't do anything to discredit
that, no matter how hard he tried to discredit everything else. It was
neat! He was pretty hilarious though, especially when he got down on
all fours and began to imitate a tadpole, terra-dactyl, and Ape for
us. People....haha. We also ate Quail, Bison, and Elk this week. Today
we explored the Lava Caves which was pretty cool...and cold...and
dark!

We got to go to the Phoenix Arizona Temple open house with 3
investigators (Francisco, Josh, and Shania). It was incredible! I love
the Spirit found in the temple. Each of them felt it for sure, and it
impacted their perspective and feelings about the church for the
better. Afterwards Josh kept going on about how amazing he felt, and I
just asked him "so when do you want to be baptized?" He responded
without hesitation "ASAP, bro...ASAP." :D he has some things to work
through still, but his testimony was strengthened and desire to do
good increased. I'm just plain amazed at all the work that goes into
making temples what they are, and grateful for the chance to use it as
a teaching tool. I know the temple is God's house, and there we can be
receive blessings that will last for eternity.


One rough part of the week was last Saturday, when F. told us
he didn't feel ready for baptism in two weeks. He has a ton of
influences working on him right now. He has felt the Spirit confirm
the truth of the Book of Mormon and of Jesus Christ as his Savior, but
he is just struggling with a lot of doubt and confusion. The Holy
Spirit witnessed to me the truth as I was able to share how the
Atonement of Jesus Christ has changed me. I chose to fast for him on
Sunday, so he could figure out his life and know what he should do. I
love this guy, and I felt an increase in love for him yesterday. I
felt an increase in love for the people in general. There is something
special about feeling God's love for another one of His children.


A. is doing well and is still on for Baptism on Nov. 8. She has
ADD and a pretty short attention span, like any kid, but her mom is
super supportive and her brother just got the Priesthood! She was in
the Primary program last week and did awesome.


Well anyways, I should wrap this epistle up. I am grateful for this
Gospel. I am grateful for the unconditional love our Heavenly Father
has for every single one of us. I'm grateful we can choose each day to
follow his perfect plan. Sharing that message these last 14 months has
truly been the greatest joy of my life.
I love you all! Have a fantastic week!

Elder Collin Christensen

October 20, 2014

Dear Family and Friends,
This is super late, and it may be a little shorter than usual! Today
we played Flagstaff football, which was actually just flag football.
We had a crazy good week though! F--, T--, A-- and
C-- were all at church and they are all super solid. We had
some spiritual lessons with each of them this last week, and they had
a ton of support from the members.  [Two of them] are both about
10 and belong to families that are coming back to church. They will
both be baptized Nov. 8 as well! It has been fun working with the
younger kids who are learning and want to be baptized. They have a TON
of energy and excitement about the gospel. It's forcing me to return
to the basics, and understand how simple the Gospel of Jesus Christ
really is!
This last week I set a goal to think of an write something positive
down for every hour. It was super hard, and I definitely missed quite
a few hours. But I noticed my mind and heart started to change and I
really started to be a happier person, and love others. I love Jesus
Christ so much. He can make our biggest weaknesses become strengths,
but it doesn't just happen overnight. The ability to change our
natures is such a blessing!
Some funny/interesting things that happened this week:
We were asked to go to the Flagstaff Medical Center to say some
prayers and give some blessings to a couple members. Unfortunately I
didn't remember the names that went along with the room numbers we
were asked to visit. The names were Felicia and Gary, and to my bad
luck Felicia must have had a recent haircut and I asked her if she was
Gary. She didn't like me too much...
We went to Williams and taught a lady who the English missionaries had
started teaching but who spoke mostly English. Her name is G---.
We didn't know anything about her, and we soon found out that she
didn't really know anything about herself either. She told us she has
epilepsy...so we realized she hadn't comprehended much of what we
taught her. Haha The sad part is she loves it when missionaries come
because she feels the spirit and can remember a little better. So
we'll see how much we can do there.
We told a guy he needed to stop drinking in order to prepare to be
baptized, and he told us he just wanted to stay Catholic then... Haha
:/
I was praying in a lesson and trying to ask that the "Holy Ghost would
dwell" in the home we were at. Only after did I realize I had actually
asked that the Holy Ghost would die there. Morar vs. Morir.... Haha I
had a good laugh at myself.
Oh yea! I ate some fermented cabbage from Korea! It was sorta good in
a weird way.

Well anyways, I love each of you! Have a great week!

Elder Collin Christensen

13 Octubre, 2014

Hola Familia y amigos mios!

How is everyone? What are the plans this winter? Well this week wasn't
quite as newsy as last week was. But we did have a great week and
managed to reach/get close to the goals we set even though it was a
transfer week. I've been thinking a lot about goals lately, why we
have them, how we set them, how to reach them etc. I feel like we
rarely accomplish anything worthwhile without first setting a goal or
at least having a vision of what we hope to accomplish. I love the
idea of "beginning with the end in mind." Isn't that great? We don't
have to wonder how things will turn out if we begin a task with the
perspective of what we hope to achieve. Going off of President
Monson's talk in Priesthood session, if our rudders aren't set, or
better yet, not even in the water, we will most likely go in circles
or wherever the wind takes us. In other words, we will only become
what the world makes of us rather than what God can make of us if we
set righteous goals and act for ourselves with his help. I love it! So
I'm trying to become more focused on setting and achieving goals.


We had 4 investigators show up to sacrament meeting, plus a lady named
Taylor who just walked in and said she wanted to learn more from us!
Turns out, her fiancée is a long time member of the church and hasn't
come for years. He ended up coming for the last 2 hours. They are such
a cool couple! They watched general conference last week just out of
nowhere on their own and loved it, so they decided to come and see
what our ward was like! Anyways, the Spirit is so real. Only the Holy
Spirit can move people to come seeking with sincere hearts like that.
And we are seeing it start to happen more and more.


We found two other legit Spanish speaking families this week, who are
also super sincere. It is so amazing to teach people who actually want
to learn, after teaching so many people who don't really care either
way. Haha it's refreshing for sure. One sister in our Ward invited her
roommate to listen to us last week, to help her overcome some
substance abuse. She was totally pumped about it apparently, but then
we started teaching her and she just got up and said "I'm sick of
this!" and walked out of the room! Haha it was kinda funny, but also
sad because she seems to be a quite bipolar. Anyways, we run into all
sorts of people around here.

Well that's about all I can ramble out this week. Thanks for all your
encouragement and support! I love you all!

Elder Collin Christensen

Conference Weekend and Good News

Hello Family and friends!

We had a fantastic week! Not only was General Conference incredible,
but we found some awesome new people and got a lot of exciting news!
We will be participating in the cultural celebration for the Phoenix
Temple with some song in sign language (it's like Primary all over
again) and also helping set up the furniture after the open house and
before the dedication. We can go to the open house once a week if we
go with an investigator! It will be an exciting next transfer! Elder
Fife and I are both staying in the Cedar Hill ward.

We also became the first mission in the world to go completely, 100%
digital! Yea, no more papers for us! It is exciting and also a little
scary. There are so many effective things we can do now, and our
mission has more access to applications than any other mission in the
world. We are in a way pioneering/revolutionizing the tools used for
missionary work. Since we were some of the first missionaries to get
iPads and Facebook, I think the missionary department trusts us quite
a bit. That's why it's a little scary. But some of the things we can
do now are create baptismal/event programs, fliers, spreadsheets to
organize and present information etc. So it's been fun! All the
missionaries also got to watch the new film Meet the Mormons last
week. Does anyone know if it will be coming to Portland at all? If
not, you can request it at www.meetthemormons.com. I was honestly
surprised at how good it was! It will help a lot of people understand
who we are more and feel the Spirit without making them feel we are
pushing doctrine on them. So yea! Watch it! There is so much positive
media the church is creating for us to use to flood the earth with
good things!

So Francisco is the man. He is on fire and has already read over 150
pages in the Book of Mormon (he started a week and a half ago!). We
reset a baptism date with him for Nov. 8 due to scheduling conflicts.
He is so pumped. He loved Priesthood session of Conference and also
Sunday afternoon! He has been looking for some reason to turn his life
around, something he knew God wanted him to do. He has gone to other
churches and never knew if he believed in Jesus Christ and always
fought inside against what he read in the Bible. Since reading the
Book of Mormon, his heart has changed 180 degrees. He dropped
completely all the substance abuse and other issues he had, and he
tells us now that not only does he know the church and the Book of
Mormon is true, but that he now knows Jesus is his Savior. What a
testimony builder for me! At times I have underestimated the power and
Spirit behind the Book of Mormon, but it truly is that second witness
of Jesus Christ. The promises are sure that all who read sincerely,
seeking truth from God will come to know by the Holy Spirit FIRSTLY
that Jesus Christ is their Savior, that Joseph Smith was a prophet of
God, and that the true Church of Jesus Christ has been restored. We
often stress too much perhaps that if people read it they can know he
church was restored. But what a powerful witness it truly is of Jesus
Christ and his Atoning love for all of us. The Book of Mormon truly
can change lives.

Our lesson with S-- yesterday at Bishop's house was an eye opener
for me as well. She has had such a hard time lately accepting the Book
of Mormon and is still scared to open it up, read it, and find out it
is true. We felt prompted to just bag the lesson we had planned and
read with her in the book of Alma chapter 32 of the Book of Mormon.
She could relate with the people Alma was teaching who were kicked out
of their synagogues (she recently was kicked out of her last church).
As we read about planting the seed of the word of God, and nurturing
it with faith, diligence, and patience, this lightbulb suddenly went
off and she understood what she needed to do! It was so cool! We
hardly did anything, but the Spirit taught her truth, and her
"understanding [did] begin to be enlightened, and [her] mind [did]
begin to expand."
Alma 32:34
http://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/alma/32?lang=eng

For some reason when General Conference comes around its like
Christmas time for missionaries. It's like new updated toys! What a
neat opportunity we have every 6 months to listen to God's Prophets -
prophets! Just like Moses, or Abraham, or Nephi to whom God spoke
personally. Anyone can know these men have been called of God if they
will just listen to their words. My favorite talks came from Elder
Jorg Klebnigat and Elder D. Todd Christofferson. Honestly I loved all
the talks, but in particular these two. They highlighted the fact that
we are all agents and can ACT to change our circumstances with the
help of our Heavenly Father. This email is already horrendously long,
so I will just paste the links to their talks and invite each of you
to go back and study all the talks! A pattern that helped me get a lot
out of conference is by asking myself "what is the doctrine they are
teaching?" And "what are they inviting us to DO?" True gospel learning
comes when we not only hear, but also DO the will of God. I know these
things are true. I know God has called prophets again to lead us. It's
the smartest thing to do if we want true happiness now and forever.

I love you all!! Stay awesome! :))

Elder Collin Christensen

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/watch/2014/10?lang=eng&vid=3821222904001&cid=8
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/watch/2014/10?lang=eng&vid=3820719493001&cid=10