Testimony

Hey everyone!!! 

So I will be staying in College Park at least one more transfer!! I feel like I have said that every transfer for the past few months, but I am glad that I am able to stay here. Elder Peterson will be heading out, and I will be helping finish Elder DeLuca's training. 

Temple day with my companions

But I am excited for this next transfer, I feel that we are going to continue to see miracles here in this area! We had another good but busy week this last week! I have a bunch of meeting and things this week, so I was one alot of different exchanges. So we will go ahead and start into the week! 

Monday

We went over to a members home, and was able to teach Chris, a less active member in the ward. The past few times we have met with Chris it has gone pretty well, he would participate in what was being taught. And so we went in and we wanted to teach him the Plan of Salvation, and we were prepared to share that with him. So we started to teach him, and it was going very well, but at the end of it we invited him to pray about the Plan of Salvation and to ask God if it was true! He said he would do it. But he had a question about something and I felt so prompted to share a scripture with him and the spirit was there, and you could tell that he felt it. He was beginning to push back a bit more, and he was trying to take the scripture out of the context it was written in, and he began to start arguing a little bit. We bore out testimonies of what it meant and tried to explain it the best we could, but It just all goes back to what I have been taught and experienced since I have been out. Contention will drive the spirit away in any situation, so sometimes all you can do is bear your testimony and leave it at that! 

I know that testimony is the way the the spirit can work through you to touch the hearts of others. It is the Holy ghost that is able to carry the message into the hearts of Gods Children and it testifies to them and bring those feelings of love and peace. I have seen that so much as I have been out and worked with different people. Testimony is very precious and it  is a powerful tool that we all should seek to strengthen. And the only way we can strengthen our testimony is by living the principles upon which our testimony is set. So if you feel that your testimony is not as strong in a certain principle of the Gospel, I invite you to live the principle and to plead with our Father in Heaven to be strengthened, and I promise that your testimony will grow and you will be blessed for it! 

Tuesday

Tuesday we went out and were just meeting with different members, and then that night we went to mutual to see if our investigator Morgan was with the young men. But he wasn't there. But we were able to see him later in the week which was good. Over all it was a great day.

Wednesday

We went and did our weekly service over at Panther Creek inspirational ranch, and it was good like always! It is such a blessing to be able to work with the kids there and help them out. And then after that we went on a small exchange for the rest of the afternoon. Me and my zone leader companion were preparing reports for Stake Correlation that would take place on Sunday. But then that night we went and walked the water way and tried to talk with the people who were there. 

Sign at Panther Creek

Thursday

We had an early morning with going to the Temple, but it was so worth it! Everytime we go to the temple I just feel so great afterwards! I can't fully explain the way I feel, but I just feel so peaceful and I feel that I am really able to receive answers to my prayers and to questions that I may have. 

Following this we went back to our area and we had  our weekly meeting with Bishop Cheney and then we helped him out with some service things that he needed help with. It is always good to help the bishop out. When we can we do this so we can try and be the missionaries that are helpful to the bishop and the ward! If we are these missionaries then we are able to do more work, and really have the trust of the ward members. After that we did weekly planning and really just trying to include  God in our planning, and see how we can accomplish his work in this area!

Friday

Me and Elder Neville went on exchanges up in the Conroe Wards. The Conroe Elders ended up going to the temple during that day, and so me and Elder Neville were up in there area working. We really wanted to see miracles with finding in these two wards we were working in. So we started working in the Conroe 1st ward and we were just out in different parks and walking around on roads and some busier roads trying to see if we could find people to talk to as we walked. And we truly did see miracles we were able to talk with different people. 

Tracting with Elder Neville

But after doing this for a couple of hours we went back to the Conroe Elders apartment to change into service clothes and we did some service tracting. And we went back to similar areas and knocked on doors and asked if people needed any service done around there home. When we did this people saw that were normal people, and they were more willing to listen to us as we would talk with them. And so because of that we were able to talk with different people and actually by the end o the day we were able to get 3 new referrals for these Elders. So we did experience so many miracles, and they came through faith and diligence. And we showed that by talking with everyone we could. Even just by offering service we were able to help others out. When we do service more people are willing to listen to the message of the Restored Gospel and it can bless so many lives. I know this to be true and we did our best to find those who were prepared for this great message.

Saturday 

We were able to get in with a bunch of different members and see how they were doing and it was a great day. I thought that I was the one who would be leaving this transfer, but I guess I am staying one more! But over all it was a good day! 

Sunday 

I had an earlier meeting for stake correlation and it was really great! I enjoyed it. I love being able to meet with the stake presidency. It is always great and I love the insights that are given. Also that night we had a stake Priesthood meeting. And it was really good! The focus was on strengthening families and the power and authority of the priesthood. 

The stake president likened the priesthood to a hunting bow. And I love the visual, if we are unworthy of being able to  use the priesthood, it is like drawing the bow back with an injury! Many times it can't be done and it is painful. But as we are worthy of the priesthood then we are able to use it. 

The priesthood  is such a great blessing, and I am so grateful for that! It really has blessed my life so much! I am so happy for the blessing of being able to use it, and we actually went and gave a blessing to our investigator yesterday and they are always great experiences and he said after the he felt so much better! The power of the priesthood is real and it is powerful, I know this to be true! 

All the miracles that we experienced this week really helped my testimony grow! And I am so grateful for that and all that it does for me. I know this work is true and that it is God's work. I know he is hastening it and I am so happy to be able to continue to be apart of it! I love my mission and I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world! 

Sweet Ride

Hope all y'all have a blessed week!

Elder Joshua V. Christensen

God is aware of his Children!

Hey everyone! I hope all y'all had a great week! Things have been going really well here! I am a little nervous to say, but I think that this may be my last week in College Park. We will find out for sure on Sunday, but I have already been here for almost 7.5 months. That is usually the longest they have kept a missionary in this particular area. But we will see how it goes! But I am glad to have been able to serve here! It really is such a great place!

Tuesday

 We were able to go and meet with Andrellia and teach her another lesson! We had the Sister Missonaries there with us, and they will be helping us teach her! We had a good lesson on gospel of Jesus Christ. And she seemed to understand it! She always asks alot of really good sincere questions! Originally she was scheduled to be baptized at the end of the month, but now we will be working with her to move it back. 

She hasn't been coming to church so that is something we are going to be working on with her. She has a really busy schedule sometimes, and then she was out of town the past couple weeks. But this next Sunday we are expecting her to be there, so that will be great! To end the night we just went over to the water way and tried to see if there was anyone that we could talk to. 

Wednesday

We went over to the Sister Zelzulka's home with Brother Dowdle to help her with here fence. The fence in her back yard has been broken for the last 7 years. And when we heard about it we told her we would go help her out. So we went and were able to help her put up the fence, and we cemented in the new posts. And got it all back up and working for her. It took a couple of hours, but it was good to be able to help her out!

 This is the Fence:

 There is Elder Christensen (where's Waldo):

It was pretty messed up! 

We were also able to help clean off her roof and help her with some other things going on around her house. And then that night we just went around and visited with the members of the wards and shared messages on prayer and faith with them! And I am just so grateful for prayer and the power of it! I know that as we use it daily in our life we can grow closer to our Heavenly Father! I know that is so true! I have seen it so much since I have been out here on my mission! 

Thursday

 We went to Bishops neighbor named Roy and got to be with him for a bit, he showed us his pool table, and then after that we had to leave because we had an appointment with Morgan. But the sisters were able to teach him a lesson, and from what we heard it went really well for them! Roy asked alot of questions about how we can receive answers to prayers. 

Our appointment with Morgan went well. We taught him about the commandments that God gives us! And he understood them all really well! He believes everything thing that we have been teaching him.

Friday I went on exchanges with another companionship in the zone. We went to their district meeting and were able to see things that went well and some of the things we can help them improve on. But over all it was good! We just went over how to extend better commitments. And so it was good!  

After that for most of the day we ended up doing service with them. But we tried to stop by some different potential investigators for them. But none of them ended up being home. But we had a good message with that family that night. And at the end of that night we switched back into our areas. 

Saturday

Our mission President now gives us one hour each week that we can go onto family search and learn more about family history! And I really enjoyed that! As I use family history more it makes me feel so much closer to my ancestors! And I just feel so much happier! I think that is one of the blessing that can come as we strive to do family history! Well after that I went on a split with Brother Harris and we went to meet with Brother Marshburn. It was a really good visit! Brother Marshburn and Brother Harris connected well. They have a lot of stuff in common with each other. 

But we shared a message with him and it went really well! And he mentioned to us that he was able to meet with bishop earlier in the week and that they had a great discussion! But he also mentioned to us that he wants us to come over sometime when his kids are there and start teaching some of his children more about the church. They are all members, but many of them are inactive. 

Sunday 

It was a good morning with the meetings and things we had, but sacrament meeting was the best part of the whole day!  In the beginning they started out with people who were receiving callings! And Brother Marshburn was called to be a family history consultant in the ward! I was so happy! I have been working with him over that past couple months, and to see him come back to activity has been such a huge blessing for me! I really truly feel that I was sent here to this ward to meet him and to help him! 

It was no coincidence that I came to this ward and met him! He is back and he is working on getting his temple recommend renewed! His son is getting ready to go on a mission and he is just so happy to be back!  

I know that this email isn't very long this week, I have been pressed for time. But I just want to bare testimony that God is aware of all of his children! I know that he listens to our prayers and that he does answer them! I know that if I am transferred out this next week that I have completed the work I was suppose to do here in the College Park Ward! 

I am grateful for the opportunity to be here and to be serving the Lord! This truly is his work and he does lead and guide us to the people that are prepared to hear this great message! What a great blessing and privilege  we get as members of the church to be apart of it! I would again invite all y'all to please pray for opportunities to help those who are around you! And find ways to serve them! I know that as you do you will be blessed and you will have so much joy! I know this is true and bare witness of it! 

I hope all y'all have a wonderful week!

Elder Joshua V. Christensen

Another great week to be in The Woodlands!

Hey I hope everyone has had a great week! Things have been going pretty well this week! Monday was just the same as usual, but we will just go right into Tuesday!

Tuesday

So on Tuesday me and Elder Neville (my zone leader companion) went to our mission leadership council meeting. It was really good as always! I really think that this is one of the best meetings you can attend as a missionary! I  really wish that the whole mission could participate in this meeting! I know that the training presented in these meetings are direct revelation from God to President Pingree! It is always to cool to see that after you receive the training that you are able to go and use it back in your areas. But that went all morning, and then we went to the mission presidents house for lunch and then went back to our areas to start planning on how we wanted to present the training to the rest of the zone and the goals that we wanted to focus on this month. It took a little while to plan, but we felt like we could present the training for zone meeting. 

As soon as we were done we got back with our other companions and we had to go straight to a dinner appointment.  Well my companions had some exciting news for me. They met with Morgan, and he asked if he could be baptized! Background with him was we found him back in October and have been teaching him on and off, he believed that the church was true but wanted to be apart of all the churches! So we have been working with him for several months, but it was exciting to hear that he wanted to be baptized! But that is about all that happened on Tuesday

Wednesday

We met with Randy, and introduced the addiction recovery Program with him on Weds. He is really trying hard to quit smoking. But we sat down and talked with him about this program that this church has. And he just kept telling us that he felt like he wouldn't be able to give it his all while he tried to do this. So we just talked wit him for a while and tried to help him see how much happier he could be if he were able to quit smoking. He has smoked for many many years and so it will be hard for him to quit but I know that with the atonement that he will be able to quit smoking if he really wants to. 

While I was talking with him I had the thought of family history pop into my head and so we think that we will try to get him more involved with that. I know that there is real power that comes from doing family history and I know that his ancestors will be able to help him out so much. And we have even heard all of the promises from general authorities. 

Do you young people want a sure way to eliminate the influence of the adversary in your life? Immerse yourself in searching for your ancestors, prepare their names for the sacred vicarious ordinances available in the temple, and then go to the temple and stand as proxy for them to receive the ordinances of baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost. As you grow older, you will be able to participate in receiving the other ordinances as well. I can think of no greater protection from the influence of the adversary in your life. 

That comes from Elder Richard G. Scott, and I know that that promise is for any of us. There is so much protection that comes from being able to do family history. I know that is so true! To finish up the night we just went to some different members houses and we were able to teach them some of the missionary lessons.

  

Thursday

We went to the funeral of the member of our ward that I mentioned in last weeks email. There was such a great spirit that attended the funeral. During the early hours of the day we went to help clean the church and prepare for it, and then we did weekly planning and then we went to the funeral. But over all the day was really good!

Friday

We had zone meeting and I was stressing out about having everything ready for the meeting. The meeting was scheduled to start at 9:30 am, and we had one final talk before we (me Elder Neville, and the sister training leader) went into start the meeting. 

And it also was my birthday this day, but I didn't want to make a big deal of it. But I walked into the meeting and there was a whole bunch of balloons in the front of the relief society, and I was so dang confused! Well it turns out that the College Park Sisters got them and put them up there! They found out from other members in the ward that it was my birthday! So that was kind of fun. But over all the meeting went super well. 

After the meeting I had another meeting with the District leaders, and it took a little longer than I expected. Then we just went out to the water way and tried to talk with different people that were there. We ended up being able to talk with 28 different people and invited them to learn more. We had so many different kind of replies, but we were able to teach a couple different lessons, and we have some new potential investigators! 

And then to end the night we went to some members and they ended up surprising me with a cake! So it was a fun night, and we were able to get a  lot done that day!

Saturday

Today we were on our way over to our ward mission leaders house to talk with him a little bit. And on the way over I had a thought to go to a less active members house that was near. And just that morning my companion was telling us about his study about listening to the promptings of the spirit and acting upon them. And we all wanted to do better about acting upon promptings. 

Well this less active I have been trying to meet for months, and we pulled up and he was outside in his yard working on his car. So we were able to talk with him for almost an hour! It was such a blessing and a miracle to be able to get in with him and see how he was doing! Then the rest of the day we went to different members and went to the water way again and talked with a bunch of different people again! The water way has been one of our best street contacting places by far! So I have really enjoyed it!

Sunday was a great day! We went to church, and Brother Marshburn was there again! From what it looked like he seemed to have a great time! It was just such a great day! But that night after we had gotten done with walking around market street to go home, I looked at the clock and saw that we would still have about 10 min to do something before going back to the apartment. So I had the thought to take a different road back to the apartment, and then while we were on that road we got a message from out ward mission leader to see if we could give his wife a blessing. And we were literally 30 seconds away from his house! 

So because we took this different road home and we listened to the spirit we were able to make it to his house and give his wife a blessing and help them and get back on time! I love seeing tender mercies of the Lord! I am so grateful for this inspired work I get to be apart of and I love being here in Texas so much! There is nothing better that I could be doing at this time than serving the Lord! I Know that is true!

Well I hope all y'all have another great week!

Elder Joshua V. Christensen

Gods Purpose and Plan for us

Hey Everyone! I hope everything is going well! This last week has been a really good week! Monday we had dinner with some members of the ward, and then we just went to the Waterway to go and to try and do some street contacting. So that was pretty much all that happened on Monday, but it was still a good night! We invited alot of people to learn that night, but none of them were interested. We returned home that night after doing that and just planned for the next day. 

Tuesday

We went around with a couple of different members, we only got in with one family during the day, but we were staying busy. That night we were going to go over to Diana's house. Quick reminder, we met Diana in the mall while walking around and talking with people. She said that she was going to be moving, so a couple weeks ago we helped her move, and she said that she would invite us over for dinner. Well we went there and met her parents and her daughter and they made a really good meal for us! But before going there we talked about how we wanted to discuss the Plan of salvation with them. 

And even from the moment we showed up, they were prepared. Diana's dad named Bert had already started reading the Book of Mormon and said he has been enjoying it, and they were also asking all the right questions. "Why do Mormons put a focus on family history, what do you believe about when we leave this world," and other questions talking about the temple. And so after dinner we started right into the plan of salvation. And I feel like it went pretty well. The spirit was defiantly there, and they were very receptive to the things that we talked about. They said they would continue to read in the Book of Mormon, but it was just a great night! 4 new investigators, and even better than that it was a family! We were defiantly blessed so much to be able to meet them and teach them!

Wednesday

Speaking of Family, on Wednesday we had a zone conference, and it was all focused on family history and genealogy! We talked about how we can use family history more effectively in our areas.I love this quote that we talked about during the meeting.  “People typically have spiritual feelings as they talk about families.  People also feel the Spirit as they are taught about the doctrine concerning why we do family history work” (PMG, 165).  Many are now being prepared for the gospel by the Spirit of Elijah which is “a manifestation of the Holy Ghost bearing witness of the divine nature of the family” (Russell M. Nelson, General Conference, Apr. 1998). 

I have seen this so much during my time here in Texas. Look at just the day previous, we found a family  and we were able to talk to them about family history. I also know that Diana and her family were prepared to hear that message. Another quote that really stuck out to me was, “It was made known to me that it is because the righteous dead who have received the Gospel in the spirit world are exercising themselves, and in answers to their prayers elders [and sisters] of the Church are sent to the homes of their posterity so that the Gospel might be taught to them, and that descendant in the flesh is then privileged to do the work for his [or her] dead kindred.  I want to say to you that it is with greater intensity that the hearts of the fathers and mothers in the spirit world are turned to their children now in the flesh than our hearts are turned to them” (Melvin J. Ballard) 

I know that this is true and because of it I am so grateful! I would like to invite all y'all to really get into family history! When you are doing family history you are doing missionary work. I know that it is true so please make and effort to do it. I know it may be hard sometimes but it will make a difference in your life. I know that to be true!

Thursday

We did our weekly planning, and we received some incredible revelation for the things we needed to do in our coming week with our investigators. It was great! But also this day we decided that we wanted to go and meet with a member of our ward who has been completely paralyzed  except for his right arm for about 14 years. For this email we will call him Brother Z. And about a month ago he was diagnosed with  terminal Leukemia. We have been going through the lessons with him and two weeks previous we taught the Plan of Salvation. And it was great! 

But when we went he was alot weaker than the previous time! He could barley speak, and his wife told Elder DeLuca that Hospice said he only had 24 hours to live! I didn't know that, but I told him that we would come back and see him soon. After my companion told me about that I was sad, because I thought that would be the last time we would get to see him. I have got to know him so much better over the last 7 months, and it was hard for me to think that. But I had to keep thinking about being a missionary and work. We had some other appts that night, but none with investigators. But over all it was a good day. The spirit was strong and we worked hard. 

Friday

We went on exchanges with another Elder, while Elder DeLuca went with the District Leader on an exchange. It was a pretty good day. Nothing to exciting happened, but we were able to go and meet with some different members and share lessons with them.  Over all a good day!

Saturday

This entry will be pretty long, but it was just such a great day! We started out by doing our studies in the morning, and then later that morning we got a text from a number asking if we could help them real quick. We said sure we would love to, but who is this? Turns out it was James Marshburn! I was so excited when I heard he wanted us to come over and help him real quick with his truck. He has been trying to replace his a/c compressor, and it seized up his car, so he needed some help replacing it. We went and helped him. My comps were helping him from the top part of the engine and I was helping him underneath the car. I just kinda help hand him stuff and did some different things when he told me to. After about 2 hours we completed it, and we got to talk with him for a bit and he said that he would for sure come to church! It made me really happy to hear. 

After we volunteered at the woodlands marathon and we helped from about 1-5 with cleaning it up. We had most of our district there, and we were able to talk with some different people. It was good! But then that night we went back and got changed, and we went back out and we were wondering what we should do because we had appts fall. And Elder DeLuca mentioned we should go back to check Brother Z, now we didn't know if he had passed on or how sister Z was doing, but we tried calling and we got no answer. We were wondering if we should still go over or if we should not worry about. And we decided to at least drive to the house. 

In my head I kept thinking of Thursday when I promised him we would come see him again. So we drove there and pulled up in the front, and we didn't know whether we should go in or leave. And so we decided that we should pray about it. We prayed and after the prayer I said another little prayer. I asked my Heavenly Father if we should not bother them, and I felt like I had a stupor of thought ( D&C 9) and so I then asked Him if it was his will for us to go inside. And I felt so warm after. I knew that we needed to go inside, and then my other companions agreed so we went to knock on the door. 

Sister Z answered and told us to come in. She was just getting ready to feed her dog, and we saw through the door way Brother Z was still hanging on, but he was very weak. We went in and sat down by him and Sister Z began to tell us about how they met and their love story. We were talking and it was hard to see Brother Z he was so weak, and he kept coughing. And then there came a point where he reached up his hand grabbed sister Z's hand and used all of his effort to say something. And Immediately sister Z knew that his time had come. He was getting ready to pass through the veil. And she embraced him and kept telling him that she would be ok. 

Shortly after he passed on. I could not help but to cry. I had worked with Brother Z since I have been here. This was the first time I have ever witnessed  someone pass on. After he had passed on, there was such peace in the room. We all knew that Brother Z was in a better place, and that he was free from pain. My testimony on the Plan of Salvation has grown so much this week. This experience really makes me so grateful for the knowledge that I have about the plan of salvation. I know that because of Jesus Christ that we will be able to see our loved ones again. Jesus Christ overcame the two barriers that keep us from returning home to our Father in Heaven. 

We read in The Book of Mormon, in Alma 7:11-13 all the things that Jesus Christ suffered for. He suffered for our sins so that we can receive forgiveness as we follow that example that Jesus Christ set. As we build faith in Jesus Christ, repent or in other words make changes in our lives to become more like Christ, are baptized by someone who holds the proper priesthood authority of God and receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost we can truly receive a full remission of our sins and fell clean and happy! And also because Jesus Christ was resurrected  we will be able to have that same opportunity to have resurrected bodies and be able to live with our Heavenly Father again. I know that the Plan of Salvation is Gods plan of happiness for us and through it we can see our loved ones again. I know this to be true and I can not deny it. 

This gospel brings so much joy to me and that's why I am out here serving. I know we were led to that home that night and I know that God is mindful of all of his Children. I know how much it can help others and so I would also encourage you again to please pray for missionary opportunities. There are those who are prepared that are waiting for an invitation to learn. I know as you pray you will know who to invite and when and how to invite them . I now this to be true. I bare witness and testify as a representative of Jesus Christ that these things are true and say that in the name of Jesus Christ amen.

Sunday

Today was a great end to the week! Fast and Testimony meeting was so powerful and so spiritual. Also about 20 min into the meeting Brother Marshburn walked in! This was such a tender mercy to me! He was there, and I just was so happy to see him back at church! He is such a great man, and he was touched by that meeting. He talked about how strong the spirit was and it brought tears to his eyes. It has been such a great week and am grateful for the miracles I have seen, and for the tender mercies of the Lord.

I hope all y'all have a great week!

Elder Joshua V. Christensen 

This is God's Work

This week has been a long week, but so full of miracles! I will just start off with what happened on Tuesday.

So Tuesday we started out day out with studies and with some training things that needed to get done. Well right after this we decided to go out and go around to get Elder Deluca introduced to the members in the area. So we went out and tried to meet with a list of families in our ward we wanted to get him introduced to. So we were able to get in with a couple of the families that we wanted and we shared our mission standards with them, and committed them to pray to know if they are true, and to pray to have missionary experiences. 

So after this we had to run to the apartment because I needed to call the mission office and report some numbers that they wanted. We decided to go check on some referrals after this and while on our way to one of the referrals, we passed one of our member on the road and followed them to there house to talk to them. We talked with Sister Prows because one of the referrals we got lived over by her house. And she was telling us about the referral and about some of her neighbors that she will be trying to have missionary experiences with. Sister Prows told us about one of her neighbors that found out they had brain tumor. And she said that she was going to talk to them and see if they needed help with anything. And she said  she would call us once she talk to her neighbors. 

After talking with her we went to check on the other referrals and we didn't have any luck getting in with them. We were getting ready to go to a dinner appt and wanted to go also check in with a less active member in our ward that we didn't really know. So right as we were getting ready to go talk with him our phone rang, and Sister Prows told us right after we left she went inside to get the key to check her mail, and then went out and saw the neighbor that was struggling. She asked if the neighbor wanted to have a priesthood blessing. And the neighbor said she would like that. 

Later that night we were able to go over, and my two companions stayed at the Prows home, and I was asked by brother and sister Prows to go and help out with the blessing so it wouldn't be so many people showing up. And this experience was truly one of the coolest experiences I have had on my mission. I watched as Brother Prows sat down with his neighbor. And he explained how Jesus Christ came to this earth and preformed many miracles while he was hear. He healed the sick, caused the blind to see, and even raised the dead. So many great things he did! And he told her that through her faith and through that authority we held she could be healed. 

Well I was able to anoint her head with the oil and Brother Prows sealed it. And the spirit was so strong while we were there. There were some cool things that were said, and she defiantly felt the spirit. I am so grateful for the priesthood. I know that it is truly Gods power here on Earth to help serve others, and to help others return back to our Heavenly Father. It is by that authority that baptism and other saving ordinances can be preformed so that we can return to live with God someday. I know that is true.

Wednesday wasn't quite as exciting. I sat in an office for 3 hours with my Zone Leader Companion and we prepared for stake correlation. So during that time our companions were out between the two areas. But it was a good experience for 3 new missionaries to go out together and invite others to come unto Christ. 

Thursday we had weekly planning, and then we went around to visit with a couple of different members. But that night we were able to meet with one of our investigators named Andrellia. She was a referral from the Conroe Sisters. We were teaching her the plan of Salvation and it was a good lesson. We invited her to be baptized,and she accepted for March 29th. We will probably be handing her over to the sisters here. 

But after I went on a split with our Ward mission leader Brother Harris, and he said during that lesson he could feel the spirit. He had his daughter there and was trying to keep her quiet. But he said he knew when we were testifying because he just felt the spirit so strong! It just really goes to show how much the spirit takes part in the conversion process. I know that through the spirit lives can be changed and others can experience a change of heart. It was so great to experience. The couple appts we had scheduled fell through, so we are going to go again tonight so we can get those done. 

Friday me and my zone leader comp did something different. Instead of going to our district meeting, we decided that we will start to go to the other districts in the zone. So we traveled to the Conroe district that day. We got there at 1015 and district meetings was to start at 1030. We saw the Conroe sisters and they asked why we were there. We told them what we were doing, and then they laughed and said district meeting didn't start till 1130. Well me and my companion didn't want to sit down for an hour and wait so we decided to go our finding. We got some cards, opened with a prayer and went out. 

We walked up this road and saw that there was a Walmart. So we went around and asked people if they needed any help as well as we invited people to learn. We also walked in and tried to see if anyone would come and talk to us. Well we were able to talk with just a few people but we grabbed some food real quick so we would be able to get back to our areas after. And while checking out we also put a copy of The Book of Mormon with the food and she picked it up and she just looked at it and asked what it was. And we were able to talk to her about and she actually seemed interested, and so we got a referral for the Conroe Sisters. So that was a huge miracles to us. It just shows that when you put the Lord first and you do all that you can to serve, God will put people who are prepared in your path! I know this is true and I know that goes for any of us looking for experiences to share the gospel.

Saturday we went to a baptism for a investigator I got to help teach a couple times in the Woodlands ward. And that was good. Baptisms are always where you can feel the spirit. And then the reset of the day we went around and visited members. That night we had dinner with a family and asked them to pray at the end of the lesson and to ask to have someone placed in our path that is prepared for the gospel. We went to the mall after and started to try and talk with people. Half way through I got a call that I  needed to return. So we went to sit on a couch by one of the stores. I sat on the end and sat a guy on the other side of me. I sat on the side on purpose to try and put my new companions in a position where they could work together to share the gospel. 

So they started to talk to him and he was interested in learning more. So after the phone call I pulled up another couch, and we pretty much taught him the plan of salvation and restoration. We read about the atonement in Alma Chapter 7, and we pointed out that Jesus Christ didn't just suffer for our sins, but he also suffered for all of our pains afflictions, temptations and sickness. And because he has felt that for everyone he is able to help us out. And that really got him thinking. We gave him a copy of the book of Mormon and right as we were going to ask him to read his sister came out of a store and he had to leave right then. So we weren't able to get his number but it was just the answer the the prayer of the members. 

We truly had someone who was prepared put in our path tonight. I know that is true and I am grateful for the chances I get to see miracles everyday! God is a God of miracles. As we show our faith and have open minds and eyes.. We will see them. 

Sunday I had Stake correlation and it is great to see how much love the stake presidency has for the stake. I know that this is the case always. But during these meetings they really discuss what ways we can help the members, and how we can help the recent converts. It is such a great blessing to be able to see this and participate in it. 

That morning we also had a great missionary meeting with the ward auxiliaries. We set some great goals for missionary work in this area for the coming year. And then we had church and had some of the less actives families we are working with come. 

I love this great and glorious work I am involved in. I now that as we reach out and help all of Gods Children we can bless there lives and bring them close to Jesus Christ. "I am disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life." 3rd Nephi 5:13 I know this is our divine calling as members of the church. This is our goal to help all of Gods children return home. I know this is true. And I have come to this knowledge through diligent scripture study and prayer. 

Please look for these opportunities. They will bless your life and the life of others. I know this is true and I bare witness of it in the name of Jesus Christ amen.

I hope all y'all have a great week! 

Elder Joshua V. Christensen

Another week in The Woodlands!

 Hey! Things have been going well, it has been kind of a crazy week, but we have seem some cool miracles! So Monday we did our preparing for the week, and we had dinner with one of the ward members in our ward, and our investigator named Ben came with us. He connected really well with this family, and had a good lesson that night. 

  Tuesday was the day of transfers, so we weren't expecting to go up because we hadn't heard anything about us needing to be there. We were getting ready to start our personal study, and then about 10 min before 8:00am we got a call from the other Elders in our District, and they said that we needed to be at there apartment and needed to go with them to transfers! They got a call in the morning saying they needed to go and they needed us to go with them. So we grabbed our stuff and we went over and went down with them to transfers. But on the way to there apartment and we got a call from the assistants and they asked if we would be willing to train another missionary. And we accepted the opportunity to train, and then went down to transfers. 

The other zone leader got transferred out, so they called a brand new one, and I will be training him on how to do the zone leader stuff here in the stake. So once we dropped Elder Stewart off, we left and we were with Elder Neville. For Tuesday and Wednesday we were over 3 different wards! So the good news is we were super busy! We were teaching investigators in there wards, and a lot of inactive members in our ward. 

We taught one of there investigators named Angel both of the days that we were together. He will be getting baptized this next week, and so that was cool to be able to take part in teaching him. 

Also that day we went to a less active member in the Woodlands ward, and there was an older man that needed some help with brushing down his pool. And so I was able to help him out. It was a quick job, but it was fun to be able to help him out. He looked at me and asked if I had done it before, and I told him that I did that kind of stuff for 3 summers at a pool that I worked at.  

Weds

We were still between the 3 wads, so we were nice and busy. We did get to go back to Randy's house again and teach him the rest of the commandments. He has been working really hard to quit smoking since we met with him last. I know that as he continues to show his faith to the Lord that he will be able to over come this. He also loves coming to church, and has continued to come and stay for all 3 hours! 

That night we met with another investigator in The Woodlands ward named Jose. He was so kind, and he had a lot of great questions. We also had there ward mission leader come with us and help us out. We taught him the plan of salvation, and it was a good lesson! The spirit was strong, and we taught it simply and did our best to help him understand. In the beginning it was a bit hard because his dog was all over the place barking and knocking stuff over, but overall it was a good lesson. Having there ward mission leader there was so good, he bore really sincere testimony and it helped the lesson so much. It strengthened my testimony on how much a member can help out in a lesson. 

Thursday

So today we went and picked our new companion. And his name is Elder DeLuca. So me and Elder Peterson will be training him. I will finish Elder Petersons training this transfer, and then we will both help with Elder DeLuca. But he will be a great missionary. Both of my companions are really good. I can see the work really getting ready to hasten in this area. 

So after we got back from picking up our trainees, we went over to our bishops neighbors house. His neighbors name is Roy Stone, and he has a big putting green in his back yard, and we went over along with the sisters and bishop and had a little competition with him. It was fun, and the winner of that would take on bishop and Roy.  Well I was lucky and I ended up winning and so I moved on to play against Roy and Bishop, and it was fun and it was close, but I finally got warmed up to his green and started doing a lot better! 

Well it was a good activity and we got to know Roy better. After he asked me to give the thought because I won. Bishop talked with him before hand, and told him that as missionaries we go out and invite others to come unto Christ. So we sat down and we just talked to him about Christ's atonement. It was a good little discussion. He was asking us questions and he said that we could come back and talk with him some more. So that will be cool!

Friday

We had district meeting,and we went and helped bishop out with something, and then from there we went and taught the plan of salvation to a family in our ward that was struggling a bit. And that went over really well and we talked to them about what we could do to help them. But after that we were getting ready for dinner, and the member that was making us dinner ended up just bringing the food to us, and then we got to talk to her a bit. She is one of the members that is coming back to activity and you can tell that things have been going better for her since she has come back.  

And then to finish the night we went and met with our Ward mission leader. And we were able to share the mission standards with him, and the spirit was really strong. They said that they would pray for people who they could introduce the gospel to. 

Saturday.

So today we went and just visited members, and tried to get in with a bunch of less actives. We have been getting Elder DeLuca introduced to everyone. And we were actually able to get back into Brother Marshburns house! That was such a blessing to be able to get back in again.  More and more lately we have been able to get in and help in out with things. So that has been a huge blessing! We are just seeing a huge reactivation effort going on here in the ward right now! It is so great!

Sunday

I always look forward to Sundays. I love being able to partake of the sacrament and renew my covenants and to be able to just feel peace and happiness. So that has been good. And then we met with Morgan and he said that he will be going to church this next week with us. We sat down and had a lesson on the Gospel of Jesus Christ and also focused on priesthood authority. But it turned out to be a great lesson! And that was just overall a great week. We finished the night with street contacting on the water way and we have 2 new potential investigators, so we will see how it goes.

I know that his gospel is true. I am so glad to be apart of this church and able to be our hear and share this happy message! I can't think of anything else better than being able to share this message! I love being here, and I just am so grateful for the opportunity I have be here in the College Park Ward. This is a great ward, and I am excited to see the work move forward. I know that this is our Heavenly Fathers work, and as we include him in everything that we will be able to be lead and guided in our lives! Please continue to look for opportunities to serve! They are out there! 

Well hope yall have a great week!

Elder Joshua V. Christensen

I am staying at least one more transfer!!

This week has been filled with more miracles and great opportunities to serve! Monday we just had our preparation day. 

Tuesday 

I had MLC, so I went up and met with all of the zone leaders and sister training leaders and with the mission president and we had another meeting and talked about the training that will be presented for this month. But we had a great discussion on light and darkness. And we read alot out  Doctrine and Covenants sections 50 and 93. They had some great scriptures in them. But one of the main things we talked about was how we can add more light into our missionary work in out areas. And I wish I could describe the conversation we had better, but I can't. The spirit was so strong and just had an incredible lesson.  

But some of the ways that we talked about applying this lesson in our work are, things like obedience to the rules. As we are obedient we are able to receive blessing and are able to see more miracles in our life. We also talked about how we can add more light by keeping things clean. Whether it be the apartment or the car, or anything like that, that is how we can receive more light into our lives.  After this we went straight in to our role play and me and Elder Stewart really seem to teach well together, and we had a great role play. But it was good to be able to hear the things that were taught there. 

After that we traveled back and we started planning on how we would present this training at our zone meeting. So after a couple hours of throwing ideas back and forth we were able to come up with a good lesson plan on how to present this training. And we came up with a fun activity that would catch all of the missionaries by surprise. Also that night we went to the mall and street contacted and taught like 3 different lessons! It was such a blessing. We were able to talk to some different people because members would stop us if they worked at stores and invite us to come and talk to there friends. 

Weds

We volunteered at at PCI and we were able to get alot of stuff done that day. But after we volunteered that morning we went aback to our apartment and we changed and got ready to go teach a lesson to Randy. So we taught him the first half of the commandments, but we really emphasized the word of wisdom. And it went over really well. He committed to stop smoking, and we gave him a priesthood blessing. He really is continuing to have a desire to change and come closer to Christ. 

Thursday

We went over to the bishops house and helped him with some things he needed, and boiled some deer skulls with him. But this is always been good because we sit down and talk about the missionary work that is going on here in the college park ward! But it was good, and we were able to have a really good lesson with bishop after. We talked to him about our new mission standards to baptize weekly and he is ready! He wants to find a way to really get the members to act on the promptings they have. I know that as we continue to come together as the members and the missionaries, then this work will move forward so much! I know that this is true! So the spirit was there and now bishop is even more excited to get the work moving forward! And tonight we saw another big miracle! 

We went and knocked on Brother Marshburns house, and he let us in. This was the first time I have seen him in  a while, and he was excited to see me and we talked alot again. For those who don't remember James Marshburn worked for my grandpa years ago and actually knows alot of my family! And so we were able to share stories. He talked about how he always felt like he was apart of the family. And I looked at him and told him that he will always be apart of our family. And I think that really helped him. He opened up even more and we just had a great discussion! But that was such a miracle as well! 

Friday 

We had zone meeting, and I was conducting this time. And the meeting went really well. We always seem to be very short on time, but it was still a great meeting. The big part of the training was on inviting people and helping them keep commitments. I know it can be hard, but I know that when we are able to help investigators and members keep commitments there are able to be blessed. They open up doors that will bless there lives forever. So after this we did the role play and I was just going from group to group and giving advice where I could. But at the end we gave all the missionaries a pen and paper and told them that there was a picture we drew on the board in the gym that they would go in and draw. 

So we told them they had a couple min and then they started to go into the gym. They sat down and then we turned the chalk board around and the missionaries saw if for about 3 seconds and then all the lights turned off. We told them they needed to draw it in the dark and add as much detail as they could to it. And then after the couple minutes were up we had them draw it in the light and see the difference. We then compared this back to the training given in the meeting we had.  But that was a great lesson and it turned out to be a great day. We were able to get in with some different families and teach lessons to them.

Saturday

Today was a day where we saw more miracles. We went and got in with different families. We wanted to go check up on randy though and so we went and knocked on his door and he wasn't home. But then I remembered an apartment we wanted to go knock on and check from a previous referral in the last year and we knocked on it and it was a whole family of less active members that wanted to start coming back to church. That was such a huge blessing! We talked with them for a bit and they said they wanted to come back. And so we told them we have church at 11 and they said there are going to really try to start coming. 

And then we got there information and brought there records into our ward. But right after we left, we ran in to another less active family who is also wanting to come back to activity. So we taught them a lesson also! It was a great day! We are seeing so many opportunities to help reactivate members! This is just as big and important as helping someone get to the gates of baptism. So I know that as we continue to do this that we will be blessed and we will continue to see the hand of the lord in our lives! So please look for opportunities to serve those around you!

Sunday

We had meetings all morning, but they went very well. And then church is always a blessing. It is one of the best parts of the week to be able to sit down and to partake of the sacrament and renew the promises with my Heavenly Father. I always feel peace and just feel happy every Sunday after coming out of church. And then the rest of the evening we went around and taught the missionary lessons to different members. I love seeing when members get excited to do missionary work. It is such a great blessing, and I know that once they get more involved the work will move forward, and we will be able to continue to see the work hasten here and in the places we live! 

I know this is true. I have seen this through out my mission. Members influence the work so much so please pray for the missionaries in your area and for missionary experiences. And if you do I promise you that you will be able to have incredible experiences and the Lord will lead you to those who are prepared!

I hope y'all have a great week!

Elder Joshua V. Christensen

Follow the Promptings of the Spirit

Howdy Y'all!!

Things this week have been pretty good! We have had a very blessed week. So starting with Monday, we had some members sign up on our dinner Calendar to feed us that night, but at the same time bishop really wanted to have us over that night, and asked to see if we could have the other family switch him days. So we were trying to switch days, but then I found out that they would be having a less active member over that we have been trying to meet with for months now. So I felt that the impression to meet with them,  So what we ended up doing was we went on splits. 

My companion stayed with the Bishop and the other missionaries, and I ended up going over to this other families home to have family home evening with them. We had a good dinner, and then I ended up kinda teaching solo cause I was with the members on the split. But the less active member was participating in the lesson, and it was really good. We went over the Doctrine of Christ with him, and actually had a really good discussion. So I was glad I was able to help them out that night. I know it was defiantly what I needed to do that night to best fulfill my purpose as a missionary.

Tuesday,

We had dinner with one of our investigators Ben. After we ate, we sat down and watched the restoration video on Joesph Smith. The spirit was there, and I think it really helped Ben out. He has talked about how he wants to make sure that he is doing this for himself, and not because of the members. And we are so glad he understands that. We then talked to him about how he could find out for himself if that was something that God would want him to do. And he looked at us and said, "Well I guess I need to be reading the Book of Mormon more. And then we told him that is exactly how he would be able to find out for himself. So we committed him to keep reading, and we will continue to help him out the best that we can. 

Also that day we had an opportunity to meet with a new investigator that we have. Her name is Andrellia  and she is so prepared. We had a great first lesson with her, and are excited to see her progress. She had so many great and sincere questions. We may end up handing her off to the sisters though. She is mid 20's, and it would be easier for the sisters to meet and teach her so that may be the next step.

Wednesday,

We had the opportunity to go to the temple on Weds, and I just love going there so much! I can't even explain how much joy and peace it brings in to my life. The Spirit is so strong there, and I love being able to go and find answers to prayers. And I love the knowledge that comes from the temple, and knowing that families can be together forever. This is truly a blessing in my life! 

Well after the temple, we had an appointment with Randy D. He is the one who has been coming back to church. And we were able to have a really good discussion with him. He explained to us some of the concerns that he is having, but overall he really wants to continue coming! He is seeing how much of a difference comes from going to church. And I know that is so true. 

Church is the great chance when can go and partake of the sacrament, and renew those precious covenants or promises with God. That is where we can continually feel as clean as we do when we decide to get baptized. God loves us so much and that is why he has given us the doctrine of Christ to make us happy! It is his way to bless our lives as well as our families! 

Thursday,

We had weekly planning, but then that day we got a call from some members that needed some help with some stuff.  So we went over to there house and helped them for about one and a half hours. By the time we finished we went back to our apartment to finish our weekly planning. But that night we went to the mall, and we could see the tender mercies of the Lord. 

My companion and I were having a bit of a rough time, because we didn't have a lot of teaching opportunities that day. But that night we were going through the mall trying to talk with some people. And we had some members stop us and thank us for what we were doing. They said that they could tell there was something different about us. They said something that really made me feel good and feel of the love that my Heavenly Father has for me. They said "even in the mall, where it is loud and crazy things going on, the Spirit shined through us and all the people that see us could recognize it. They said they saw us walking towards them and they could just feel something different when we walked towards them. And that was such a blessing to me. 

It goes to show that if we are doing whats right we can have the Spirit with us. And we can make any place a place where we can know of the love God has for us.That helped me and my companion out so much that night and I am grateful for the chance we had to be able to talk with them and share a lesson on Jesus Christ with them. The Spirit was just so strong where were and it was just and incredible feeling!

Friday,

We had a good district meeting, and then we just went around trying to visit with different members that day. Alot of people were gone or busy this day, but that night we just walked around a big park and also went back to the mall to street contact. But we had someone recognize us and they ran from one of the stores to catch us. They saw we were missionaries! 

They were asking us questions about what we believed about Joseph Smith. And so we were able to teach her about the restoration. And she wanted to have a copy of the Book of Mormon, so we gave that to her and gave her our number. So hopefully she will will read it and then give us a call. She seemed pretty interested though. But it just goes to show as we continue to show our faith to the lord, he will put people in our path who are ready to hear the gospel. The mall is been a blessing because of the lessons we have been able to teach there! 

Saturday,

We went and met with a member who has been going through a bit of a hard time, but we got to see how he was doing. He is such a great and faithful member! But then we went to help a less active sister and her family. She needed help moving a bed into her sons apartment, and originally we thought it would just take like and hour or two because she wanted to feed us also. So by the time we got the service done it was close to 6:00pm and it was a bit of a long day because there was alot of arguing going on with the family and it was hard to feel the Spirit. 

But we kept trying to help in any way we could, and at the end of the night we asked if we could share a lesson on the Book of Mormon. And then the Spirit took over and the less active sister started asking us questions, and we were better able to help her understand. And for some reason after one of the questions I asked started sharing our missionary purpose. And then I connected it in with that is why it is important that we go to church. And it just totally clicked for her. 

She understood that she needed to start going to church again, and she told us how she had a desire to go through the temple and started asking us how can I get back on the right track so I can go through and we talked with her and had a super spiritual discussion. I know that because of the Spirit we were able to help her. 

This whole week I have seen how the influence of the Spirit can truly guide each of us in our lives and can help bless the lives of others. I know that is true. So when you receive promptings, make sure to act upon them. When you act you are blessed beyond measure! I now this is true. 

Keep looking for these great opportunities to serve! They are out there! I love y'all and hope you have a truly wonderful week! 

Elder Joshua V. Christensen

Howdy Y'all!

       

    Hey! So this week has been a pretty good week. Last Monday we were able to meet with one of the investigators who has been waiting about a year now to get baptized. She has been waiting for the support of her spouse. But Monday we were able to get to meet with her and the Bishop and talk some things out. She talked about how she is still very interested in becoming a member, but still wants full support from her spouse, which totally makes sense. That is how it should be. But she said she wants her husband to meet with the bishop so they can talk a little bit. But it was a really cool experience. 

The spirit was defiantly there, and at the end we got to share a lesson with her that I really think helped her out. But it was a great way to spend that Monday night, and then following that we were able to go over to our ward mission leaders home to teach him the lesson on commandments, that way my companion would be able to practice teaching them. It went really well, and I feel that we had a good conversation on the ones we discussed which were Prayer, and studying the scriptures. So that was a great night. 

Tuesday

It was a little bit of a slower day for us. We went out around 12 after having all of our studies and our training we have to do and then lunch. And we went around to a couple of different members that day. We were also trying that day to continue to find new people to talk to, so we just walked around a couple of different parks that day. And then later that afternoon we were able to go and volunteer at a food bank, where we helped organize food for those who were in need of it. We did this for about 2 hours that day. We then had dinner with family in the ward who I did not know to well, and I was able to get to know them better. We were able to teach them a lesson about prayer and scripture study as well. 

Wednesday

We had interviews with the Mission President, and also had the Assistants present some training to us. They talked to us alot about the topic of teaching simply with love and by the spirit. So we all practiced doing this in a role play where we taught the message of keeping the Sabbath day holy in about 4 minutes. But I felt like during this training and the time I had to spend with President Pingree I was just so excited to be able to go back and work again. It was a good recharge for my spiritual batteries. 

But after this me and my zone leader companion went on exchanges just for the afternoon. We had to prepare for Stake Correlation that we had on Just yesterday, but it took us a couple of hours to finish that all up. We were planning this night to have a lesson with one of our investigators Jenny, but it ended up falling through last minute. We were trying to meet with a lot of our investigators this week, but alot of the appointments fell through. So now we are trying to reschedule with the majority of them. 

Thursday

We did our studies and we also did our weekly planning. But right after that, we went over to our bishops house. He wanted us to go with him over to his neighbors house so we could introduce our selves to him, and then he wanted to do a couple of actives with us. One of them was golf related. In his back yard he has a big putting green, but because of the storm we went into his shop where he has a little one. And they wanted to see who could putt the best. So it was a fun activity where we were able to get to know him better, and do something that he enjoyed doing. So that was fun. 

This day was pretty cold, and we had freeze warnings, and actually got a some ice and a little bit of snow. It was crazy and we are actually expecting more of it tomorrow. But after bishops house we went to more members to teach them the missionary discussions. And that night just walked around the mall and market street to try and find others that might be interested in learning more. We have really been trying to find more investigators this week so that we can have more in our teaching pool so we can continue to stay busy. 

Friday

Alot of members were home today because of the storm that we had. But also this day we did some tracting! And people were really nice! We tracted for about 2 hours in about 34 degree weather, and so it was a blessing because more people were willing to talk with us. But we had a miracle happen to us at them mall. We just went in and started walking around. And about 30 mins in, a lady named Dianna stopped us at the customer service desk, and started asking us questions. She had different questions about Joseph Smith and about other things about our church. And we were able to answer them. We gave her a card with our information, and she said if she had anymore questions she would contact us. She was very nice though! So we want to try and go back and talk to her the next time we see her. 

Saturday

 We did service for the majority of the morning. We went up to a homeless shelter up in Conroe and helped them reorganize some of their storage facilities. It was a great experience to  be able to help them out and we got to meet some people with some really cool stories. But we got back around 2 30 and then got ready, and then we just went out for the day and followed the same patter as the rest of the week. 

Sunday

Sunday was a little long but it was good. I had to wake up at 515 so that I could get ready for our early morning meeting with the mission president and stake presidency. I dropped my companion off with Elder Stewart's companion and then we went to this meeting. We talked alot about the missionary work going on in the stake. We had other meetings and things that morning, and then church. But after church we went and visited with members, and just walked around trying to meet new people. We then got a message from one of our investigators named Morgan. I haven't talked as much about him, but we met with him in December, and he seemed to be struggling, so we went over and talked with him, and tried to help him out. By the end of the night he seemed to be doing much better. 

But he told us he believes in the Mormon religion, but he also wants to be apart of other faiths as well. So we are still working with him, but he is so awesome and he is doing well. Then to finish the night we ended up walking for about 2 hours to try and find those who were around different parks, and we were able to teach a lesson to someone who was in a park and we were able to invite a couple other people to learn about the gospel. I know it was God who put those people in our path and helped us to be able to talk with him. 

So I know that there are those who are out there who are ready to hear the gospel. We just need to do our part as members and pray for opportunities to find them. Please continue to pray for the missionary experiences. I promise you that if you will be able to have them. And also just pray for the missionaries in your area. Pray that they will have success. I know that this will help them as well. I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to be out here serving a mission, and I know this is where I am suppose to be right now. Great things are happening here in the mission. 

Well I hope y'all have a wonderful week. 

Elder Joshua V. Christensen

Pictures from Texas Houston Mission Blog

We found the pictures below on the Houston Texas Mission Blog that included Elder Christensen.

The first picture is from the December 2013 Christmas Conferences.  The picture includes about half of the mission.

The second picture is from recent training meetings with the missionaries in each area.

Teach Simply, with love, and by the Spirit

  So when we met with the mission president a little while ago for MLC, he talked a little bit about this statement that I put in the subject of the email. During the training for that day he asked us to go and take the training we received to zone meeting which was a couple weeks ago. Well along with this he asked us to do follow up on this training with all the companionship in the zone. 

So the training that was received for this was, to teach the message of the restoration simply with love and by the spirit. The goal was to teach it simply enough that you could do it in ten minutes, and that the spirit could really testify to the investigator of the truthfulness of the message. So we presented this in the zone meeting we had a couple weeks ago and this week was doing the follow ups. 

Monday,

Monday was just a day where we did a lot of traveling. I had to drive an Elder out to Cyprus so he could do some stuff for his visa that he is waiting for. So then with that we just got the rest of the stuff we needed to do for that day. That night we just went around to different members and taught them lessons found in Preach My Gospel. And then did normal street contacting until we needed to return to the apartment. 

Tuesday,

We just went to different members also that day, and then following this we went tracting. Now I really don't like tracting, and especially here in the Woodlands it is very ineffective. But we were really trying to show our faith to the Lord by inviting others to learn. Also, as part of our new mission standards for the year, we are asked to try and invite 25 people a day to learn about the message of the restored gospel. So just this month as a zone we decided to keep track of how many Invitations to learn(ITL) we make. So we went tracting to try and get up to this 25 ITL Goal we had set. Well we went to a little over 25 houses and out of that only had 7 ITL's. So we just from there went and met with some more members to teach them the missionary discussions. But that was our day. 

Wednesday,

We went over to a less actives home named Randy Davidson. He has been inactive more many years, and we went and knocked on his door about 2 months ago and he expressed to us that he wanted to start coming back to church. So the past few weeks he has been coming to church. So we decided it would be good if we went back and started to teach him the missionary lessons as well. He seemed to really enjoy the message of the restoration. And so we are really trying to help him truly understand the doctrine of Christ, as well as help his testimony grow of the restored gospel. 

What will be good is it will also give my new companion opportunities to see how the lessons are taught, and to better understand the doctrines and principles found in them. But Randy has this sincere desire to come back. He talks about how each week he just looks forward to Sunday because he enjoys it so much! I love just seeing the change that takes place when God is involved in our lives and when we live the commandments and really make the gospel central in our lives! 

Thursday

Today was follow ups for the training, so we went around to the Conroe 1st and 2nd ward Elders. And we just did the role plays over again in zone meeting. We sat down and went over the training again and then straight in to the role play. It turned out really well, and we had some great experiences. But after we met with the Conroe 2 Elders, we drove to the apartment and we were going to do the same thing with the other Elders. But we showed up and we were getting ready to start, and I did the same thing. We talked about what it meant to teach simply, with love, by the spirit. 

So after that we began the role play and they taught first. They did well, it was a bit broken up, but for the most part the spirit could really be felt. I love being able to role play and then still be able to feel the spirit just as strong as a real lesson. And so then we began to teach after and I thought it went ok but I had a feeling to stop and take a little longer on of of the principles of of apostasy. I asked 3 different questions while I taught. I asked,

1 Does God love us as much as he did his children in the New/Old testament times?

2. Does God have the same power he did in the New/Old testament times?

3 Do we need God as much as the people did in the New/Old testament times?

I felt prompted to say these and at the end of the role play the Elder commented on how that was something that they were were looking for. And it just made me feel good to have recognized that prompting and to teach it. So God really can help us and us as we listen to the promptings of the Holy Ghost. 

After this we started to head back to our area, and we needed gas. Well I had a silly little thought just to get a car wash while we were there, but we were running a bit late for a meeting with our bishop we needed to get to. But I just had that thought again so we got the car washed, but it didn't dry the car very well. So we pulled back up to the pump and dried it off with paper towels, and this lady asked us what we were doing, and where we worked. So we started to talk to her and told her we were missionaries, and we taught her about some of our beliefs. She said that she was interested in learning more, so we got her information and actually got a referral for some of the other missionaries. 

But again we see listening to the Spirit gives us opportunities to help others out. If we didn't get that car wash we never would have met this person. So I just know that as we do our best to follow the spirit in our lives we will be blessed. We will be helped and we can bless the lives of others. I know this and I testify of this to you! 

Friday, we had district meeting, and then just went out for the day to find people to teach. We got a call from Adriann and she told us she was getting ready to go in for a surgery. So we went to visit her in the hospital and then we we able to teach another lesson to her to help comfort her. 

Saturday was kinda a slower day as well. We were able to teach some of the members in our ward and then for a little while we walked around this big park and were able to talk with some different people. But for the most part that was pretty much our week. It was a good busy week. I am so glad for the opportunity I have to be serving in this area and for the chance I have to go declare this gospel to those around me! What a blessing it is! I know this gospel is true. I know that because I have read in the Book of Mormon and pondered its writings in my heart, and then I have prayed to my Heavenly Father, and through the Holy Ghost I was able to come to this knowledge and experience this happiness in my life! 

This is my invitation to y'all, read the Book of Mormon and even if it is just a small portion, ponder it and and pray about it, and I know that you will be able to find an answer. I know that this is true and I can promise that to you as a representative of Christ! 

Well I hope everything is well for y'all, have a wonderful week!

Elder Joshua V. Christensen