Great Moments

I have had a good week. 

Last week we had interviews with President Bluth. He is so great. Sister Bluth made homemade oreo cookies for each of us so that was really nice and reminded me of home. I absolutely love those cookies. They are fantastic. That is one thing I do miss, good homemade cookies. 

We worked really hard this week. We are talking to everybody we possibly can, trying to find some new investigators.

It turns out the nice guy we were teaching who was going to be baptized this week left on vacation for a while and we are not sure when he will get back. So it’s not looking to good for his baptism this week. 

We have great news from the family we are teaching. The parents need to get married. The Dad is fantastic he really wants to get baptized and attend church with the family. He came to church for the third time this last week and is doing great. We haven’t been able to teach his wife very much but this last week we were able to teach her about the restoration and it went really well. Elder G and I felt really good after. We have high hopes for them. 

Then, after a lot of contacting last night, we found a really great family. Definitely a miracle. The mom was baptized when she was 13, but is inactive. We shared with her and her husband last night and it was great. They were just happy. We felt very happy as we taught them. The husband is a really great guy and I really feel like he will get baptized. They have a nice 5 year old son who was the first one on his knees when we asked if we could end in a prayer. 

I am grateful for the mission because it is great time to learn. I feel really humbled and grateful. We had a zone conference this week and I really liked what we were talking about. We talked about Ether 12:27 and how every time we try to strengthen our relationship with God we find difficulties. I know this is true because I have never felt more imperfect than on my mission. I feel like I am constantly aware of my imperfections and when I get over one, another one pops up. It can be frustrating, but it all goes back to the process of becoming, as Meg said it in her talk. I am grateful for this time of growth and hope that I can continue to grow. We also talked about how we strengthen our relationship with God through gospel ordinances. We are so blessed as members of the Church to be able to come to know God through ordinances because we have the priesthood. As we talked about this I was thinking about how can I prepare myself better each week to participate in the sacrament. That is such a special time and I feel like I can prepare myself better so that I can take advantage of that time each week to come to know God even more. 

This week as we were working Elder G and I were talking about what makes us happy. The Gospel makes us happy, my family makes me happy and great moments make me happy. When I say great moments I think of moments where I am standing on top of the ridge in Lambs Canyon, or at the top of a mountain after a hike. Floating down the mountain on a great powder ski day. Sitting on the back patio in the evening. Riding down the boardwalk at Newport when the sun is setting in the ocean. Running out onto the football field after the half with the lights on. Working out in the yard early in the morning. Driving home with dad after going to a big sports game listening to the postgame report. Going to Costco with Mom. Walking through the streets of Chile trying to share something I love. Those are some of my great moments and there are many more. But these are moments where I feel peace and pure happiness. So my invitation for all of you is to go out and look for your great moments. 

Have a great week.

Love you tons,

Elder Christensen