The Lord is Hastening his Work Continually!

Hey everyone! Things are going well! I told you a little bit about last week. And I mentioned that I was able to have an interview with Elder Corbridge. And that was very cool! He just began by asking me about why I ended up coming out on a mission and I explained to him the reason that I had. And I told him about just some of the experiences that I have been able to have so far on my mission. And we just had a great conversation about that. 

And towards the end he opened it up to me and asked me if I had any questions for him. I can't honestly say I had no questions coming in to my mind right away. And I sat and pondered for just a few seconds. I then turned to him and said, " In your thoughts what can I do to be the most effective missionary? And in addition to that I might be training again in a few transfers so what can I do to prepare a new missionary the best I can? 

I am on the right side fourth row

He replied after about a minute of pondering. And it is cool to see a general authority answer through the spirit. Elder Corbridge would just close his eyes and think. You could tell he was discerning the spirit and the thoughts that he had. And after thinking for a little bit he look at me and said effective teaching. "The best thing that you could do is become and effective teacher. And that same follows for what you can do if your training." And this had been a cool trend for me to see because we are continually been working on our way we teach! We are really helping bring out the truth from the learner and help them to have their own personal spiritual experience. 

Elder Corbridge also gave me some other advice and said if I used this I would be able to be an effective missionary and an more effective member later on down the road. It was a great chance to be able to spend that time with him and I truly had learned so much! 

2nd Day of Conferences with Elder Corbride. I am on the 2nd row

next to the Mortensens and Elder Corbridge.

The rest of the week we had a couple different teaching appointments as well as a couple of different exchanges that we went on. We were able to teach one of our new investigators named Nick. He was an investigator from when Elder Halterman served in a neighboring ward. We got in with him and had a great lesson at the church with him. We taught him the restoration again. The last time he heard it was back in February. It was so incredible and the spirit was so strong. He said there were certain questions that he had for years, and as he talked them out with us the spirit worked through him and he answered a lot of these questions that he had. And then we would help teach the gaps that he didn't quite understand. But by the end of the lesson he was just glowing. He was so happy! So we are going to be hopefully meeting with him this next week to continue teaching him. He sadly didn't make it to church this last week but we will help him come. 

  Following that night we went over to a former investigator we had. And we tried to talk with him. And he was looking all over his house for more cigarettes because he ran out. And while he was looking one of his friends walked in. His friend looks at us and says I can't believe that your here. And he sounded happy to see us. We introduced ourselves to him and found out he was actually baptized a couple years back. He said that he had a blessing before he was baptized to help with his addiction to smoking. And he said that after the blessing all his cravings went away. He said later on down the road something happened that made him upset and he ended up choosing going back to smoking. And he said since then he hasn't been able to quit again. 

Now during this time our former investigator was still being frantic about getting another cigarette and tried to get this friend to go with him to the store to get some. And he look at him and said nooo. I am staying and talking the missionaries. He mentioned how there had been many points in his life where he asked God to show him that he still loves him. And everytime he did this he would run into different sets of missionaries from our church. And he said and it happened again tonight. He said " I wasn't even planning on coming over here tonight but I prayed to ask God to help me today and I felt I should come over here and I find y'all here! God answered my prayers again! And he mentioned how he wanted to to quit smoking again. 

  At this point I received a very strong prompting. I asked him" Hector do you have the faith that through Christ you  can be healed from your addiction again?" And he said "Yes I know that I  can!". And then I asked "Hector do you have the faith that a priesthood blessing can heal your right now?"  And he said Yes I do!" He had conviction in his voice. I then invited him to receive a blessing.  He only had one cigarette on him and he said that he wanted to throw it away because he knew God could heal him. And we were able to give him a blessing. 

And I felt the spirit so strong as we gave him the blessing. And he said after that his desire to smoke was gone again! He was so so thankful! And he acknowledged that it was through God that was made possible! What a wonderful experience it was. And again it strengthened my testimony that God is aware of all of his Children!  I know that the Priesthood is a real and powerful power. It is Gods Power here on the earth and is used to bless the lives of his children! I love this gospel so much! 

And to finish the week we had exchanges up in College Station and Huntsville. Both days we were on campus for Texas A&M And at Sam Houston University! I love working on Campus so much! It is so much fun and it is so easy to talk with people! And so many more people are open to listening! It gets me really excited because this week we will hopefully start proselytizing on  a smaller campus called Lone Star so we will see how that goes!!! 

Things are going so great! And right now in the mission we are seeing us double baptisms. And average month for this mission is around 40 and has been like that since the mission began. And now this next month we are getting close to 90! The Lord is hastening his work and I am just so grateful to be able to be apart of it! What a great time we live in! 

Please keep praying for opportunities and ways to get involved with the missionaries! I promise you it will strengthen your family and yourself against any temptations that may come! I know that to be true! 

I hope y'all have a great week! 

Elder Joshua V. Christensen