December 2, 2013
Hello Family and Friends!
It is great to hear the
Christmas trees have been selling so well! I got pretty stoked when I
heard we sold 80 trees in November. When I tell people sometimes I have a
Christmas tree farm back at home, they seem to all wonder why anyone
would get a real Christmas tree, let alone plant hundreds of them in
hopes people will buy them. Clearly they are Arizonians and don't know
the color green, not to mention lacking some Christmas Spirit, so I
forgive them. And tell Lacey I am lovin her new kicks! Hahah She is
adorable. Anna, I heard you hefted a tree up our deck..I also saw a
picture of you falling trying to carry it. :D haha Dad, I hope you write
a story about the community of crazy animals living under your vet
hospital. Mom, I am praying for you and the concert this year! I hope
all is going well!
Well, Thanksgiving came and went! Pretty much felt like another
day, except that we had to be inside all day. I realized that I am
grateful for leaving the house...also for members who compete to feed us
on Thanksgiving, and pretty much any day, for hats and sweaters, for
members who invite investigators to their homes for dinner without us
asking them to, for Thanksgiving dinners 4 days in a row. I am grateful
for a dedicated Bishop, and for the Holy Ghost which continually
strengthens and guides us. I have a few pretty remarkable stories that
happened this past week.
We had a Thanksgiving Lunch with the Ameros, who we
live with, Friday and they invited an investigator named S. H.
to join us. S. is at least 70 and comes from Nazi Germany, and comes
to church every week. She asked us if we could talk about the Word of
Wisdom, and so we had a good lesson. After the closing prayer, she
excused herself, went outside and lit up a cigarette. Haha! I looked at
Elder Cardwell, both of us giving the "Are you serious?" look, or maybe
it was the "Didn't we just teach the Word of Wisdom and she committed to
try and live it?" look...regardless, we had a good laugh. S. has
good intentions really wants to join the church, but is pretty addicted
and wants to know for herself that quitting is the right thing to do. I
guess in D&C 89 where it promises us "treasures of knowledge, even
hidden treasures" can mean that the Holy Ghost will help us gain a
testimony that the Church is true, when we live the law of health that
the Lord gave us.
I don't remember if I already told this story, but I will tell it
again because another miracle happened this week. So a few weeks ago, we
were trying to find this potential investigators home. When we pulled
up, we saw that right outside the the house there was a raving party
going on...well I looked at Elder Cardwell and said "I am not walking up
to that house." I was scared out of my mind. So we said a prayer,
asking what we should do, and for courage to get out of the car. I was
still scared, I honestly felt like a little kid, but for some reason we
felt like we just needed to go and talk to the people at the house. So
we did, and this completely wasted drunk guy, who was definitely not who
we were looking for, runs up to us, hopping up and down and doing all
sorts of weird things, and cussed us out for a solid 5-6 minutes. He
then made it very clear we were to leave his property immediately. Well,
I thought it was pretty funny afterwards. This week on Wednesday, we
had a dinner appointment with some members. Well, we walk in, and there
sitting on the couch is the very same man from the party house 2 weeks
earlier! He had been invited to join us for dinner by the family. He
totally remembered us, and was clearly embarrassed. The interesting
thing was that neither my companion nor myself felt the slightest bit of
grudge toward the guy. In fact, we had one of the most spiritual
lessons I have ever had after a dinner appointment! We gave him our
number and he said he would call us if he ever needed anything. Now, why
did we meet this unlikely man twice in a row, in the most unlikely of
circumstances? Honestly, I have no idea why. But if we hadn't gotten out
of the car that day, we may never have been able to know and love and
help this man feel the Spirit in that members home. He still hasn't
called us, but there is no doubt in my mind that the Lord placed him in
our pathway for a reason, perhaps a reason we will never know.
Another quick story, this week we had quite a few lessons cancel. I
learned I am grateful when lessons cancel, because then we belong to
the Spirit and where He needs us to go. On one such occasion, last
Tuesday night, we didn't know where to go for the hour, but Elder
Cardwell just said, "Hey lets go see Sister R." who is a recent
convert/less active Spanish member. So we went. Well, we found her there
in severe pain after having fallen earlier that day at work. We offered
to give her a Priesthood blessing which she clearly wanted. I still
don't have much experience with giving blessings, but I truly felt the
Lord's love for this Sister as I did so. Afterwards she bore her
testimony to us about the Power of Priesthood blessings, and said "Dios
me los envio a mi." God sent you to me. Moral of the story - never doubt
the thoughts and impressions that come into your mind, even if you
think they are just your thoughts. The Holy Ghost works through our
thoughts, and if we act in faith that the Holy Ghost is guiding us, we
will truly become instruments in the Lord's hands, and become the means
by which he "succors" his people. Everyday I am still learning to trust
in the Spirit, and I can't say it is easy. But I am grateful to be
learning, and to have Elder Cardwell as my trainer.
Well, I am sure I have bored you all half to death
or sleep or a death-sleep. Either way, I love you all and feel your
prayers on my behalf every day! I love the work I have been called to. I
am so happy to hear of so many who are preparing and leaving on their
missions! I can tell you all it has been the best choice I have ever
made. Keep on moving on!
Love,
Elder Christensen
P.S. So...apparently we get to Skype on Christmas...
Oh, I forgot! We taught a lesson on Facebook this week to a girl in Brazil! It was pretty sweet.
Also
mom, I studied your studies on Psalms 23. It was so cool, as I was
reading through your notes and analyzations, I was reminded of a
scripture I recently read and then decided to do something similar with
it. And it was so closely tied to Psalms 23! I have some great studies
lately, i would send you my notes but I think I will let you read them
yourself. :)
The scripture was in Alma 37:37-47. I love it! Also I have been
studying Moroni 7 with a similar breakdown on faith. It sounds like I'm
super organized but its not really yet. Haha
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