April 13, 2015

Family and Friends:

This week was awesome! Damien got baptized and he is pumped to go to
the temple with us soon! He bore his testimony of how his baptism for
him was the fresh start he had been looking for, and even invited some
non member friends to come! The Spirit in those baptismal services is
unique and it's no question to me that those who choose to be baptized
are following God's will for them. I'll attach some pictures!

This week we had a bunch of meetings, so it was the longest I've
stayed in Phoenix in a long time. After our MLC I exchanged with Elder
Taylor down there, who grew up in the Mexican Colonies in Chihuahua. I
learned a ton from him and we had a good time. It was crazy seeing so
many Spanish speakers again! During our exchange we had a Spanish
Specialized Training done by a professor from Spain! We had a family
from my first ward in Peoria bring their taco truck by and feed us all
lunch too, it was awesome. I miss that culture so much! The Spanish
speaking population and missionaries here makes me so happy. A lot of
them don't have much, and yet most of them are happier than any
English speaking person I've met. I think a lot of it has to do with
things like outlook, perspective and priorities. Most everything they
do is for their families, and not for themselves. It wouldn't be fair
to say they are all this way, and English speakers are all the
opposite, but it's always been something I've loved since I began my
mission.

This week we had a Zone meeting about online Proselyting. Since we
haven't had it for a while as missionaries, most people don't miss it.
It was viewed as just a distraction. Yet the prophets and apostles
have said missionaries will use Facebook to move the work forward. So
we took away everyone's phones and said we wouldn't have them for a
while. It was pretty hilarious to see because everyone was freaking
out. No one knew what they'd do without their phones because it's so
helpful in missionary work. Finally we told them we weren't really,
but that we have to change our mindset of how we use Facebook so that
its as resourceful to us as our phones are. It will be cool once we
get back on to see how things change and how the work picks up!

Funniest door we knocked this week was a less active members house. No
one answered so we knocked again, and within seconds a Great Dane
opens the door and walks out to greet us. No humans home, just the dog
welcoming visitors! Haha Animals must be getting smarter.

Well, today we played racquetball with our investigator Arnaud and his
friend Tyler, who's a member. It was super fun, was going well until
Elder Searle pegged him real hard right where it counts. Poor kid, we
will see if he wants to keep meeting with us when we see him tonight.
Haha
Love you all! Have an awesome day!

Elder Collin Christensen