New Mission President!

This week has been another crazy week as we have prepared for the new mission president, but as well as that we have seen some incredible miracles. We have spent alot of time in the office. So we have been doing reports for a good portion of the week, and also we have been trying to get introduction conference and interviews planned for these coming weeks with the new mission president. 

But before I talk about that I want to talk about a very great experience we have had this week! 

 This last week we were able to go to the temple for a specialized training with our Mission President and the temple president! And that was such a special event for us. We were given some question in the previous week that we were able to ponder on. Our President gave us these questions after reading in D&C 138

On October 3, 1918, President Joseph F. Smith was studying the scriptures and was “reflecting upon the great atoning sacrifice that was made by the Son of God, for the redemption of the world” (D&C 138:2).  He received a vision of the spirit world.  During the vision, he witnessed the spirits of the righteous.  He explained that these individuals “had been faithful in the testimony of Jesus” and that they “had offered sacrifice in the similitude of the great sacrifice of the Son of God

Here are the questions he gave us. 

1. What does it mean to “offer sacrifice in the similitude of the great sacrifice of the Son of God?”

2. What implications does this have for me and the type of sacrifice I need to make in my life?

3. How do temple covenants help me to offer such a sacrifice?

As we pondered on these questions I had such a sacred experience where as I studied I truly felt so enlightened and like I had truly received. I felt so prompted and inspired that what it means to offer a sacrifice in the similitude of the great sacrifice of the Son of God, means a couple of different things. 1, that we need to follow him, and that starts with the covenant of Baptism. And when we follow him we promise to take Christ's name upon us, always remember Him, and keep His commandments. But what also really stuck out to me was the fact that we need to completely submit our wills to our Father in Heaven's. Christ was the perfect example for this. 

We see time and time again how his whole life he was about the Fathers business, (Luke chapter 2) and did our Fathers will. So as we approach hard times, we need to pray and seek what Gods will for us is. And as we obey him and his will, he is going to bless us, and we will become better Disciples for Jesus Christ! Also we are here all with the same purpose. We all are here to prepare to return home and live with our Father in Heaven again! And that is exactly what God wants for us. So we are here to serve people and help them along the path that leads to eternal life. 

I wish I had more time to share more of this experience with you. Well this was preparation for our temple trip on Tuesday. We went and had a wonderful session at the temple. And after we were able to go to one of the training rooms and have a discussion with the Mission President and Temple President! During this discussion I learned so much! We talked about these questions that we have pondered, and again I just felt so good, and learned so much!! I know that I have been so blessed for this opportunity! Again I wish I had more time to talk about it, because this email does not do the experience justice. 

Wednesday

We and Elder Hillebrant had new leadership training out in Magnolia. We went and had the meeting with all the new missionaries who have been called to a new leadership position. That meeting was a couple hours long, but I feel like it was a good meeting. I was pretty nervous at first with this training. A lot of the missionaries in the training were missionaries who had been out a lot longer than I have. But many of them said that the meeting really helped them feel prepared to go and have there different meetings, so I was happy to hear that. On the way back Kyle texted us, and we set up an appointment with him for the next day. 

Thursday 

We also were able to meet with our investigator named Kyle this week. I can't remember if I mentioned him in my former email, but he was being taught by the missionaries up until the point of baptism. The week before he told his parents he wanted to get baptized, and his parents were upset with him and his decision and ultimately talked him out of having that desire.  

Since then he stopped reading the Book of Mormon, and so the previous week we had a lesson with him and talked to him about reading the Book of Mormon. Then we had set a return appt for this last Thursday. Well we decided for this lesson we wanted to bring up baptism with him again since it had been a couple months since they discussed it. We decided to have a lesson at the temple and we wanted to bring our mission President. 

So we went and we taught about the true nature of God. How he has a body of flesh and bone (D&C 130:22) and how he shows his love to us. And just had a sweet lesson where the spirit was strong. We invited him to be baptized and he hesitantly said yes. Well before we went on I asked him if he had prayed to know if baptism was something God would have him do, and he said he hadn't prayed and asked. Well we committed him to pray and to ask God, if the lesson we had taught him about the true nature of God was true, and to also ask if he should be baptized. 

Friday 

 We got a message from Kyle early that morning. He told us that he had received and answer to his prayers. He told us that he ready from Mosiah Chapter 10 until Alma Chapter 30 that night. He read about 120 pages from the Book of Mormon!!! He said he then prayed about Gods true nature, and about baptism, and he had such a sweet experience. 

He told us that night after he got to bed he had a dream in which he came to know that God had a body of flesh and bones, and confirmed that he should be baptized. God told him in the dream to follow his heart and soul on this one. He told him that he would lead Kyle to making the right decision. 

When we heard about this experience our minds were blown!! Both of our jaws were dropped and the spirit was so strong as he told us his dream. Well we asked him if we could meet at the temple again Saturday afternoon. 

Saturday

Well the time came to teach Kyle again. We got to the temple around one, and it began to start pouring rain. We ran to one of the sides of the temple under some trees, and there was an older lady who was trying to stay dry. We told her we could go run to our car and get her an umbrella. So sprinted through the rain storm towards the car, and we ran right by a big group of people who were huddling right by the temple doors waiting for the rain to stop. We probably looked ridiculous, but we were determined to help this lady. 

Well we got to the car, grabbed the umbrella, and right as we opened it and took 10 steps, the rain completely stopped, and we were completely soaked. We got back and the older lady thanked us for running all the way to grab it, and we went our separate way. 

Well we get a message from Kyle after saying he just woke up, and wanted to reschedule for 3. Well we went to go pick up a member who could come and teach with us. When 3 came around we went and taught another great lesson with Kyle. He told us more details of the dream that he didn't mention in the messages he sent us. But we have committed him to be baptized July 26th, and he accepted! 

Sunday 

We were scrambling to get on our way to church. The morning we spent in the office setting up the interview schedule for the coming weeks. When the time came we went to our car to drive to church and noticed on of our tires was flat. Luckily we were blessed to be at the mission office. We ran inside and grabbed the keys to our 2013 Silverado and we were back on our way! I guess that is one of the perks to being able to be in the office! It has been fun to drive a Silverado again. So we are using that car until Tuesday when we can get our van in to get our tire repaired. We have been so busy this week we haven't had time to take it in. 

That has been our week. Even though it has been long, it has been so worth it. I have felt the spirit so strong, and we were able to accomplish the things that we needed to get done. I know the Lord has let us see so many miracles this week!! God is so good to us, and he has blessed us so much! I know that this is His work, and as we do our best to do his will, we will be blessed more than anything else! I would invite y'all to continue looking for missionary experiences! I know if you pray, you will find opportunities! I Promise that and testify of it! 

I hope y'all have a wonderful week! 

Elder Joshua V. Christensen

Transfer week!!!!

So this last week was the first week of transfers, and it was a busy week. I loved every moment of it though.

So Monday towards the end of emailing I checked an email from President Pingree, and he asked me to give him a call when I had a couple of minutes. He said he wanted to talk to me about transfers. So I went out of the room from where my companions were. No worries, I was still in sight and sound of them so we are good! But I called President Pingree, and he then on the phone asked me if I would be willing to come and serve as and assistant in the office! This came out of no where!! I was pretty dang nervous, but I accepted the call, and told him I would do my best!! 

   Well Tuesday was transfers, and I just kinda was walking around the parking lot helping missionaries get on there ways. After we loaded up the trailer with the luggage for the departing missionaries. I felt so weird doing this, but we then had the chance to go and take these missionaries around to different trainings and to the temple that day!! We got to go through and go to the temple with them. It was such a blessing! 

After we went to the temple, we went to take them to the mission home for a dinner and a devotional!! And it was such a great devotional! The Testimonies were so powerful and sincere! Many of the missionaries that have gone home this transfer I became close to!! They are all so great! We then went to take the elders back to our apartment for the night. We had to then drop the transfer van of at the mission office and pick up our van. After having to get some other things ready we got back to our apartment at about 10:30.

   Wednesday we went and began to pick up the departing missionaries and took them back to the mission home for breakfast. They ate breakfast, and then we were off to the airport. I had to say goodbye to some of those missionaries that I came close to. It was hard, but I was happy, and thankful for all that they did. After we dropped them off and got them checked in we went back to the mission office to start filing some different reports. 

We were expecting the new missionaries to come in that day around 1:30 pm.  We got back to the airport around 1:15, and we ran in there to get there in time. Well we had a big storm that came through, and caused all of the flights to be delayed. We were waiting at the airport for about 3-4 hours waiting for our missionaries to come in. During this time me and my new companion Elder Hillebrant had the opportunity to eat lunch with President Pingree, Sister Pingree, and their daughter Kate. I twas such a great experience to be with them!  It is going to be hard to see them go. We love them so much! I know President Mortensen will be great also! I am excited for things I will learn from him, but I will for sure miss the Pingrees. 

   Well we finally picked up the new missionaries. We greeted them right as they came off the plane! After talking with them for a little bit got there luggage, and we brought  them back to the mission office for some training. While they were in training we were doing more reports on the computer. Then after we went to the mission home and had a dinner and devotional! All of these missionaries have such a great spirit about them! I know they will do so great! 

   Thursday we had the training meeting for new missionaries and their new companions. We had the chance to take the new missionaries to another room and present some different training for them. Again they have such a strong spirit that they bring with them, and we had a great meeting and training. After that we got them on there way, and we went back to the mission office after lunch to do some more numbers and transfer things. 

But that afternoon we got the chance to go out and meet our ward mission leader. His name is Moroni, and so everytime I see him I call him Captain. He is so cool, and he is all about helping hasten the work! I think we will see some great miracles with him. 

  Friday we had some more things in the office, but then we went and taught one of our investigators named Kyle. He is pretty cool, we are trying to work with him to read the Book of Mormon. That is really what he needs right now. So after we had a good lesson with him, we left and as we drove away, we saw he was in the parking lot reading out of The Book of Mormon. It was great! 

Saturday we did our bed route. We basically went and drove around the mission the whole day delivering mattresses, and other items. We had to go get mattress from some apartments that no longer had 3 missionaries and take them to apartments that then needed an extra bed. We were at the office from 10-11:30ish. Then we began to sing as we drove and drove and drove. and drove. We didn't get home that night until about 9:40 pm. It was a long day, but it was so good! We got that finished and we were happy!

  

They told me that the first and last week of every transfer can be crazy at points, but from now on things will slow down a little bit! We are trying to be out and working at every moment we get. I love this chance. It is also so crazy, because next Monday we will be going to the airport with President and Sister Pingree to get the new mission President and their family. 

Sorry this email was so long, but just wanted to give y'all and update! Things are going well here! I love this new opportunity that I have! I have felt so blessed my whole mission to be out here and to work! I love this gospel so much! I can't wait to get back out and to work hard! This is such a great work we get to be apart of! Please be anxiously engaged in helping hasten the work! I know it will bless your life more than anything else!

Hope y'all have a great week!

Elder Joshua V. Christensen

I will sent more pics next week, I left my cord at the apartment, but if you go the the mission blog there are some good pics on there from our week! (Pictures in the post above are from the mission blog).

Transfers

Hey I found out that I am getting transferred! It was a quick six weeks. I am not sure if I will be be staying in Cypress or where I will go. But from what it seems like they may be putting zone leaders back together in the mission before the new mission president comes in two weeks! There is a chance that I might be going back to the area I started in, so that could be kinda fun. But I will send out my new address once I receive it! So until then please don't send anything! 

Follow up from Elder Christensen on his transfer after his original email:

I don't know the address yet, but I just received a call from president Pingree, and he has asked my to come and serve with him in the office as an assistant. Holy cow!!!!!!!!!! I am so nervous!!! But I am excited for the opportunity!! This is such a big shock!! Once I find out the address, I will let yall know next week! but really in all honesty you can just send mail to the mission office and I will get it! Ahhh any advice!!

This last week was good! I am going to have to keep it pretty short, but we saw some really great miracles this last week. We were able to get in with different members and less active members and were able to go through some of the missionary lessons with them. There is a member named Brother Howery. Right now at the moment he isn't very interested in coming back to the church. But over the past few weeks we have been able to get in and talk a little bit with him!! He is such a nice guy, and I think he is getting to a point where he will be ready to come back. This last week we talked with him and he brought up over and over family! And so by the end of the night we taught a lesson on eternal families!! It seemed to go over pretty well.

I wish I had more time this week to write but these last few days have been so dang crazy for me. Next week I will have a longer email. But I just also wanted to say happy fathers day to all the fathers!! I love one of the mormon messages by the church, and I invite yall to watch it! It is so good!! It is called

Earthly Father, Heavenly Father

I have such a testimony that God is our loving Heavenly Father!! He wants us to be happy while we are down here on the earth!! He has given us our familes to bless our lives! I know that as we read the scriptures, pray, and go to church as a family when we can, that our familes will be strengthened and we will feel a great sense of love for each member of our families!! I know this to be true! I have experienced in my life, and I am seeing first hand how it is blessing other families!! 

I hope yall have a great week!

Elder Christensen

Spiritual Awakenings

Hey Everyone!! Things are going well here!! This past week was a little bit slower, but we saw such a great miracle happen. So on Wednesday We were out working on the other side of our area. We were trying to stop by different less active members as well as investigators we haven't seen in a while! Well we were working till around 2 and decided to go grab a quick lunch. 

So we went in and had lunch, and after we were leaving and someone came up to us and asked us if we spoke Spanish. Well my companion Elder Alvarenga speaks Spanish. So he started talking with him, and the guys name was Gerardo, and long story short he came from California and he is trying to start a new job. Well he needed somewhere to stay for a couple nights until he would start his new job the next week. We gave him the address to our church, and the missionaries phone number in the Spanish ward if he would ever be interested in coming and seeing the building. We told him we would also see if we could find him a place to stay for a couple nights. 

After we left, and we were trying to meet with a couple more people and 30 min later we got a call from Gerardo, and he was at the church and wanted a church tour. So we biked over there and gave him a tour of the church! Elder Alvarenga did all the speaking. He also began to go into the restoration and I was listening very close. I could understand a lot of what they were talking about. By the end of the tour Gerardo committed himself to be baptized one June 21st! At the end he also asked about a priesthood blessing! I was expecting Elder Alvarenga to give it, and then he asked me to do it. I accepted and gave him a blessing in English, but I know the spirit was telling him what  I was saying! I felt that this blessing was truly directed by the spirit, and that he felt the message of what we taught him was true! 

At the end he let out a sigh of relief and told Elder Alvarenga that he felt really really good! We went our separate ways but we kept in close contact with him. Just in that first night he began reading the Book of Mormon and got through 2nd Nephi, and he said he prayed to ask if it was true and said that he knew it was true and once his family comes up from Mexico he wants his whole family to be baptized as well! It was such a blessing to be able to talk with him and to hear that!

  

Also this week I had the chance to go to my final MLC with President Pingree!! And it was such a great meeting! Topic was on spiritual awakenings! We went through Alma chapter 5. And we talked a lot about what a spiritual awakening is and how we experience them. And there was a common pattern that we see happen during a spiritual awakening! 

1. Usually there is some kind of trial or struggle.

2 We begin to read the words of God

3 We have a facilitator that helps us during this time!

4 Act of faith, which is where we begin to read and pray with sincere intent to know its true and to change!

5 And the spirit testifies to us of the truthfulness of that! 

I wish I had more time to go more into detail with all of these, but it was such a great experience to really see how they all play into each other! I would invite all of you to read in the scriptures and look for examples of when this happens. I know that we all go through out points in our lives where we have spiritual awakenings! 

Our life here on earth is about Spiritual awakenings and becoming closer to God and more prepared to meet him! 

Now the trials I am going through right now are preparing me to become more enlightened by the spirit! It makes me have a completely different look at my life and the things I go through! I would just also invite you to look back through your life and ponder about spiritual awakenings in your life! And then think of how they helped you to become a better person and closer to God! 

I know that as you do this that you will feel a greater relationship with Heavenly Father, and you will have your perspective changed to see how we can grow and change! I know this to be true, and I leave that with you in the name of Jesus Christ amen.

I hope all y'all have a wonderful week!

Elder Joshua V. Christensen

Doctrine and Covenants 123:12

From 6/2/14

Hey everyone! Things have been going really well! This week I was able to see a couple of really cool miracles! 

12 For there are many yet on the earth among all sects, parties, and denominations, who are blinded by the subtle craftiness of men, whereby they lie in wait to deceive, and who are only kept from the truth because they know not where to find it.

From Monday night until Tuesday night I was able to go on exchanges with one of the district leaders who has been out just a little longer than I have. And while we were on exchanges we saw some very cool miracles! So that day was great because of how many lessons we were able to teach! They had a lot of set appointments, and we just went from investigator to investigator. Now there was one or two that ended up falling through, but we came up with a good back up plan for what we would do it that happened. Well one of them included going to one of the complexes in there area and trying to meet with one of there investigators while we were there. 

Well we went there and actually ended up talking with someone else they have been trying to teach for a while! Well we started to share the plan of salvation with him, (Eric) and his wife came over and was going to listen. And like 2 min in she stopped us and said " how do you guys know what to teach?" And we explained how we have different lessons we will usually teach, but we go by the spirit. She then asked us to go inside and teach her teenager. So we went in and we began to talk about how God blesses us when we are obedient, and the spirit was there, and they started to asked some very inspired questions. Those questions we used to lead right into the restoration. 

Because me and Elder Nygard have been out about a year we both are very comfortable with teaching the doctrine, and we were able to teach very well with each other. The spirit was so strong and we were able to bare powerful testimonies! It was such a miracle to see how the conversation both ways was directed by the spirit! Well this family was getting ready to move and they wanted the Elders to come back one more time before they move, and they said that they want to find missionaries in Washington to continue to teach them! I know that God has prepared this family for the gospel, and I know they will be blessed as they continue to follow the promptings of the holy ghost. That was just one of the great miracles we have been able to see this week!

We also recently got a referral  this last week, and went over to teach a guy named Alberto. He didn't have a lot of time so we left him with a copy of the Book of Mormon. And some pamphlets that he wanted. And we were then biking around his house a couple days later and we thought we saw him in his garage so we went up and began to talk with the guy! Well it wasn't Alberto, but it turned out to be his brother. So we began to teach him the restoration because he was very interested in learning what we believed. We taught him and he was very receptive! He said he wants us to come back and teach him more, and he also said he is going to read and to pray to ask God if the Book of Mormon is true!!

Had another lesson this week with a kid name Kyshi! He is way cool, we started to talk with him, and he had a couple mins. He said he would talk to us and wanted us to teach something to him. He said he had seen missionaries before, and they had taught him just a little bit. But we asked him if there was anything in particular he wanted to learn about. We we started to say different gospel principles that he could choose from. He said he wanted to learn about life before we were here on earth, and about Jesus Christ, and about life after death. And so we decided to just teach the plan of salvation. 

Again it was a great lesson! We were able to teach him powerfully! He had different questions, and we answered them and we able to help him understand! By the end of the lesson he said, I feel so weird right now! I feel as though I was asleep. But now I feel like after you taught me this that I am beginning to awaken. The spirit truly taught him about the plan of salvation and touched his heart was able to help him see and understand it. We also gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon to read. He seems very interested and  we will get to meet with him again tomorrow hopefully!

It has been a great week, and I have been so blessed to be able to serve this mission and to meet so many different people! I know that Jesus is the Christ and that as we learn about him and his plan that we will draw closer to our Father in Heaven! I know we have a purpose here on the earth, and it is to prepare our selves to return to live with Him someday.  We all have the same goal, and I know as we look for people who are prepared then we will be led to them! Many don't know the truth because they know not where to find them! 

You hold the responsibility to show them where that truth is. Pray for opportunities and you will be given them.  I know as you do yo will be blessed, and you will be able to strengthen your commitment to follow Christ, and strengthen your family relationships. ! I testify of the truthfulness of that and I say that in the name of Jesus Christ amen. 

I hope y'all have a wonderful week! 

Elder Joshua V. Christensen

We are a peculiar people!

from 5/26/2014

Hey everyone! I hope y'all have had a great week! This week has been very similar to last week. We had a lot of appointments that fell through, but it was still a good week! 

We have been trying to start going through different parts of our area and get to meet the members and less active members here. We had a cool miracle happen while doing this. So we decided to go to a certain part of our area and go through the list like I mentioned. So we did that and we came to a name of a guy in our ward. His name is Brother Potter. He is a less active member. So we got into the area of where he lived, and he lives in a gated community in our area. Well we go and knock on his door, and he answered and was surprisingly happy to see us. He said it was the first time in 5 years that he has seen Elders. He said that alot of missionaries must have been scared away by the no soliciting signs, and the no trespassing signs in this community. 

He let us in and we started to talk with him a little bit, and he was so friendly. He gave us water and starting telling us about himself. He was telling us about how he met the missionaries, and how he became a member. He then told us that once he remarried, his wife wanted to go to a different church. So he stopped coming so he could go to church with his wife. I really felt that if we keep coming back to his house that we will be able to help him out. He travels alot for work, but he invited us to stop by at anytime, and he will let us in and give us some water! I just know that as we are looking for opportunities to help others out, and are really including God in all of our plans that he will bless us. I know that we were led to Brother Potter, and that we will continue to see miracles as we do this! 

    This week we also had zone conferences! And we had such a great training by President, and the assistants. So the main point they were getting at was that we need to always be following God in all that we do. We need to follow the spiritual promptings that we receive. They used different examples out of the Book of Mormon and the Bible. For example in the Book of Mormon when King Noah is questioning about what to do with the prophet Abinadi. As Abinadi taught, King Noah had the thought to release him, but his priests were telling him that it was Abinadi at fault. 

There was that point that he could have listened to the spirit, and followed what God would have him do, but he listened to the voice of man. Our mission President went on to say that as missionaries we are weird! And we need to be! He used the example of how missionaries have to have someone stand behind the car to back it up. That is weird! But that is what we have been asked to do! And as we follow it, we will be blessed! Now when he was talking about this he said we are weird because we all have points where we need to heed to what Gods says, and ignore the voice of the natural man. In 2nd peter 2:9 

  

 9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

  

    As members, and as missionaries we need to be peculiar. We need to be examples to those who are not of our faith! We are weird! The world is changing at a rapid rate, but as we hold fast to the truths of the gospel, we are going to be blessed for it! I know and testify that as we do everything we can to help bring people to Christ, and we follow all of Gods commandments with diligence, and follow all of the promptings of the spirit, meaning acting upon them immediately; God will help us and protect us. He will comfort us when we stand in need of comfort! The Gospel truly is the way that our Father in Heaven wants us to be  happy! Even though in the worlds eyes we are weird, in Gods eyes we are preparing ourselves to live with him again! I know that to be true!

    I am sorry that my emails lately have been shorter, we haven't been have as much time to write. But I hope that all of you are doing well. Please always look for chances to share the gospel with others! This is Gods work, and we are blessed to be apart of it.

I hope all y'all have a great week!

Elder Joshua V. Christensen    

Klein Stake Youth Conference

The article below was published in the Deseret News. It is about the youth conference that Elder Christensen attended.  See the link attached.  Photos below from the Youth Conference blog.

https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v1/url?u=http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865602829/?user%3Dapp&k=wlPCrglRP6kzT4RbABWMaw%3D%3D%0A&r=9SVBJf5xTvi1k4BxcZim24UNm8MWYQGNxjJFn9vKdnE%3D%0A&m=XfMnjQXTWl%2FtYFfdgEXTmOvu3jjSsoasc44iZKkSITI%3D%0A&s=48a14f1a0216471f249053a03e8ce2e3f6e0e68317c8ac9b36d990cca45d6336

3-day youth conference encourages participants to become perfected in Christ

By Ramona Siddoway

For the Deseret News

Published: Sunday, May 11 2014 10:55 p.m. MDT

Updated: Monday, May 12 2014 9:36 a.m. MDT

Summary

Teens in the Klein Texas Stake gathered for their youth conference, “Becoming Perfected With Christ,” giving youths the opportunity to re-enact experiences from the Book of Mormon.

Two nights and three days, 335 sunburns and a fight with the Anti-Nephi-Lehies.

This all took place during Easter weekend.

Youths and leaders in the Klein Texas Stake of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints gathered on 1,300 acres of private land for their youth conference centered around “Becoming Perfected With Christ.” This Book of Mormon-themed conference gave youths the opportunity to re-enact experiences from this book of scripture, including making their own family Titles of Liberty.

Each participating youth was assigned into one of the 16 “families” that were complete with a Nano and Tano (mom and dad) and a big brother or sister who also served on the planning committee.

After a brief meeting at King Benjamin’s tower — a 26-foot tower built with telephone poles — the youths traveled through the "wilderness" where they were subjected to mists of darkness (provided by fog machines), walked in an uneven field wearing blindfolds as they held onto an “iron rod” (made of PVC pipe) to finally be greeted by Lehi (portrayed by Lloyd Stutz) standing under the Tree of Life.

A large oak tree had been wrapped with several strands of Christmas lights and illuminated with additional floodlights to stand out as the Tree of Life in the darkness of the night.

“Lehi addressed the youth in his own Book of Mormon style of language, his message one of relating the events of the vision to their current dispensation,” Stutz said. “They were encouraged to pray many times per day, search and ponder the word of God continually, and to go and make a difference in this world. They were reminded that they are here in the latter-days to do more than just to save themselves, but also to prepare the world and its people to reach their full potential before the return of Jesus Christ.”

But it wasn’t just the youths that were touched.

“I felt the warm connection to Lehi as I prayed and prepared for this event,” Stutz recalls. “Standing in the dark night next to a beautifully lighted giant oak tree was a very spiritual moment for me. The youth stayed focused as Lehi addressed them with all of the tenderness of a loving parent, who wanted only for them to partake of the love of God.”

The next two days involved various workshops where youths listened to leaders speak about missionary work, scripture study and watched several live vignettes portraying Book of Mormon scenes and events.

Split into two groups, each army was rallied for battle by none other than their own Captain Moroni as he discussed the Title of Liberty. A few battle cries later, the two teams ran out onto the open meadow where a full-fledged whacking began.

It took nearly a year of planning to pull off such a large undertaking.

“Each of the youth on our committee was chosen for a reason,” said Greg Lyman, the Klein Texas Stake Young Men's president. “They each brought their own unique skills, personality, spirit and experience that we needed to pull off an event of this magnitude. And most importantly, they all worked together to seek the will of the Lord as they prepared this conference for the youth of the Klein Texas Stake.”

"We have a prophetic priority to prepare the youth,” said Tom Kunz, first counselor in the Klein Texas stake presidency, “to deepen their discipleship; to help prepare them for the increased expectations the Lord has for them. They are the modern day army of Helaman."

Another week of miracles in Silver Pines!

Hey everyone!! Things here in Silver Pines are going great!! I am still trying to get use to the area, and learn to get around it better. I feel like over all, I am learning the area really well. I am trying to learn all of the names for the ward members though. So this week has been a good week, but sadly we had a lot of appts fall through on us. But we did see some great miracles happen. 

  The first part of the week we were wanting to go to the other side of our area. And one of my companions didn't have a really good bike, and he fell a couple of different times, and one of the times he bucked the rim of his tire. Well this caused us to walk a little ways to where were were planning to go. Now at first you hear this, and it doesn't sound fun at all, but Heavenly Father blessed us with people to be put in our path. 

We got close to where we were going, and we stopped at a bus stop right as someone got there. I went over and started talking to him about if he went to a church in the area, and basically began to start into the restoration with him. Elder Alverenga came over and was teaching with me. Elder Allen was trying to call some members to see if we could get some help getting to where we needed to be. And while me and Elder Alverenga were teaching, another man came over and sat next to us. So I turned and began to teach him about the message of the restoration. We talked with them for about 30 min, and then the bus came and they had to leave. One of them took The Book of Mormon, and the said he wanted to find out if it was true, and the other took the pamphlet and said he would read the pamphlet. Both of them live out of our area, but we gave them our number if they had questions or wanted to talk to us more. I know that sometimes things don't work the way we expect them to, but as we keep showing our faith and we work hard, Heavenly Father will send blessing our way and show us miracles. 

Another great miracle happened this week. We met with a new investigator yesterday named Armon. He came to church last week with one of the members of our ward and said he had some questions for us. We went and met with him yesterday, and we spent the 1st hour and a half answering his questions. They were really good questions, and he was very sincere about learning. After we answered his questions he wanted us to start into the first lesson with him. 

So we taught him about the message of the restoration. It was a longer lesson, but it was a great one! By the time we had finished teaching him, he had said he wanted to read more then we asked him to read. He understood all the things we had taught, and he understood Christ's life so well!! .   I also at the end asked him " Armon, what would it mean to you if this was all true." He said he would look more into joining the church. Then we talked to him about Christ setting the example of how to return home to live with God again, and asked him why he thought Christ was Baptized. And he said to show us the example, and he committed himself to be baptized once he finds out if this is true!! This was another great miracles for us to see! Again it just goes to show that God does prepare his Children to recieve the gospel! I know that he was prepared and is wanting to take the steps to build his faith in Christ. 

To finish the week off, we went to a members home for dinner. The husband is active, but the wife is less active. We actually went to give the wife a blessing about a week ago. She was in the hospital getting a procedure done. She was in a lot of pain, and I had the opportunity to give her the blessing. While we sat there before we gave her a blessing, I was praying and asking what I should say to help her. And as I pondered, I wasn't sure what I was to bless her with. And the scripture D&C 84:85 came into my mind.

Neither take ye thought beforehand what ye shall say; but treasure up in your minds continually the words of life, and it shall be given you in the very hour that portion that shall be meted unto every man.

I knew that the Lord would tell me what I would need to say. I began to give her the blessing, and I remember saying that she would receive comfort and relief from the pain that she was in, and that soon this would pass. I felt so strongly that I could bless her with this. Well we left that night from the hospital to go back to our apartment.

Well when we went back last night to see them the wife came and told us how she felt after we gave her the blessing. She said she still felt pain, but it was almost like there was a weight that was lifted off of her. She had a tube that went into her lungs, and it was causing her alot of pain, and she said she knew that it was still there, but it was almost like she couldn't feel it anymore. As she was telling me this, her eyes began to water. It was such a blessing and a testimony builder to me. 

Sometimes as we get up to give blessings or speak to other, or what ever it may be, we may be nervous that we won't say the right things. But I know, and I testify to you that if you are worthy, and your are prepared, that the holy ghost will tell you exactly what to say, and you will be able to fully accomplish all that our Heavenly Father would have us do. I know that to be true, and I bare witness of that!! 

So don't every be afraid to talk with friends about the gospel. Those who hold the priesthood, don't be afraid to exercise it! Just be worthy and ready! 

I am excited to be apart of this great work! I know we will continue to see miracles this week! 

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

Elder Joshua V. Christensen

Welcome to Silver Pines

Hey Everyone things are going well! As many of you know, I have been transferred to a new area. I am now back in the Cyprus Stake, and I am serving in the Silver Pines Ward. It is a good ward, and it seems to have a lot of potential. I am also back in a bike area, and I am in a trio. 

My companions are Elders Allen, and Alvarenga. Elder Allen has been out 3 months, and Elder Alvarenga have been out 8 months, and is waiting for his visa for Brazil. This week has been alot of biking and trying to get around and meet investigators. It seems like this ward that the sisters work more with the members, and we are to be doing a lot of teaching. We are trying to work it out so there is more of a balance. 

 So Monday I just got everything all packed up and went out to say goodbye to all of the members! I had a lot harder time saying goodbye than I thought that I would! After being there 9 months I became very attached to this ward! It almost felt like I was leaving on my mission again. I tried to get in with as many members as I could, but sadly wasn't able to see all of them. But it was a good night to see everyone! 

( Saying Good bye to some friends in College Park)

I also got a call from the mission president that night telling me where I was going. But he told me I would be going out to serve in Silver Pines, and he told me about the companions I would be having. I was kinda nervous to come back to Cyprus but I was ready to go where I needed to go. 

Tuesday we drove down, and I found my new companions, and we had to do some things at the mission office, but then we drove back and started to go around the area.   This new area is very different from the woodlands. It is alot more of a humble place.  There aren't very many trees in this part of Texas either and it can get very windy. This last week we got hit pretty good by a storm. 

We were biking close to 1960 and the 249.  It started pouring rain! I have never been so wet! We were biking, and I ended up hitting a lip in the road and ended up wrecking on my bike. I tried to catch myself with my leg, and it hit and it bent my knee the wrong way! It didn't hurt super bad, but for a couple of days it was felt very weak. It has been doing a lot better today though. 

Lets see, what else happened this week. We got in with a new investigator that seems very promising. She seemed very interested in having us come back and teach more. Her name is Tyna and her sons name is Kendrick. They are so kind and sincere. We will hopefully be meeting with them sometime this next week. 

  It was kinda hard this week to say good bye to all of the members back in college park. I am going to really miss being with them. It is such a great ward and area! I will no doubt miss it! But I was very blessed to have an opportunity to back on Saturday for a baptism. I just had to try and find a ride to get back up there. Well I was trying to think of who could take me, because I hadn't really met alot of the ward members. 

But I realized that there is a family that I know here in the stake that I knew back in Utah. So I gave them a call, and they were able to get me back up to College Park. The lady that was baptized was named Laura. The College Park sisters taught her, and I had a the chance to give her a blessing a couple weeks back. I guess she remembered my name, and so she asked me to come back and to baptize her. It was such a cool experience to help preform the ordinance of baptism. This was the first time on my mission where I got to baptize someone. 

(Right Before the Baptism)

She has some physical disabilities, and needed some help getting baptized. So Elder DeLuca and I baptized her. And we got to go and do it a a swimming pools at a members house! It was so cool! It was a great baptism service! The spirit was felt so strong, and even though I was only gone a couple of days,  it was great to be able to see all of the members! 

(Members I saw at the baptism again!)

To finish the week I had a blessing of being able to go and skype my family. I had such a great time being able to talk with them! I also got to see my older brother for the first time in 1 year. Last mothers day I was home and skyped him, and this year it switched!  It was been a great week.

Sorry it was a shorter email this week, but I hope yall have a great week!

Elder Joshua V. Christensen

College Park, I will miss you!

    Hey everyone!! So I found out that I am getting transferred. I have been serving in College Park for the last 9 months, and have loved it so much! I am sad to leave, but ready to see what else I need to do. I am sorry for how short this email will probably be, but I just want to share and experience with you that happened....

     So all of you may remember last transfer I thought I was totally gone! Brother Marshburn received a calling and was active again, and so I thought my work was complete here in College Park. 

Me and Brother Marshburn!

Well when I found out I was staying last transfer  I was really surprised. I thought my work was done and didn't understand what else I still needed to do. Well I tried to just keep going and working hard, and I didn't feel like I found anyone else that I was sent to find. We met lots of different people through out last transfer, and had great opportunities for service. But I think I know why I was suppose to stay one more. 

We have an investigator named Morgan, and I have mentioned him before but it has been quite a while. I met him back in October, and we started to teach him the discussions. We met with him time and time again over the last 7 months. After teaching the restoration with him in October, we just continued through the coming lessons. And we just felt he wasn't grasping the principle of priesthood authority. So since I have been here we have taught him the restoration like 3 times and many other lessons on the priesthood! 

But over the last two transfers I didn't really get to work much with him. Every time I was on an exchange that is when he would be available to meet. So I didn't really know where he was at or how to help him next. A couple weeks back he came to church and during priest quorum he said something that told me he still wasn't understanding priesthood authority. So over the past couple weeks we have tried to get in with him to teach him again, and I didn't know if I would get in with him before the end of the transfer. 

Well we got an appointment for last Saturday, and during the lesson the spirit was there so strong, and he came out with an answer. So I will be talking alot about the lesson from Saturday. But other stuff we also did this week was just meetings in preparation for zone meeting. I went on a couple different exchanges to help some elders move to a new apartment, and also to finish planning for the great meeting we had. 

Saturday

 I started my study with a very sincere prayer to know what to teach Morgan and how to teach it. And I saw so many miracles that morning. I felt prompted to talk about Christ's life on earth, the Great Apostasy and The Restoration. And as I began to study these things I had questions begin to come to mind that needed to be asked to Morgan, I felt like I was given the knowledge to know how to teach him! I don't even really know how to explain it, but it was just so cool to see. 

By the end of my study I felt that I had this framework in my mind of how the lesson needed to be taught. We didn't have time to role play the lesson, but I just told my companion that we need to teach him differently that we have in the past, and he asked how. I wasn't very sure at the time I just felt we needed to be more bold and teach more in detail on this subject. 

 We we got there and decided we wanted to go outside to teach the lesson. So he opened it perfectly a scripture from 1 kings 3 :10-14. It talks about praying to God for Understanding, and it will be given. And from there we just started right into going and teaching about what Christ did while on the Earth. I asked him what he believed Christs purpose in coming to the earth was? 

Morgan: "Well he healed many of the people and he suffered for our sins and died for us."

Me: Morgan How was Christ able to heal those people?

Morgan: "Well to say the least, he had some kind of Power"

We then explained how that power he had was from God and was called the Priesthood. We then talked about how he preformed many miracles, and the greatest being the Atonement. I asked him what he understood about the Atonement.

Morgan: "Well as we accept Christ as our savior and redeemer, we can be saved and be happy while we are here. He also can be forgiven.

Me:" What does it mean to accept Christ? How do you do that?

Morgan:"Well first you pray and ask to be forgiven and do better. Also you accept him by following what he says, and following his teachings."

 I then was prompted to go to Mathew 3, which talks about Christ getting baptized. And I asked him by did Jesus travel so far to get baptized by John? And when I mentioned he went about 100 km to be baptized he just looked at us and said, "I never thought of that before! He must have had that power and authority!"

 We then took him from scripture to scripture as I was prompted!  We went through these scriptures during the lesson...

Hebrews 5:4

John 3:5

Mathew 10:1-10

John 15:16-18

Luke 10:1

back to John 15

Amos 8:11-12

2nd Thesolonians 1-4

And then we ended the lesson with Joseph Smith History, vs 1-20? 

Moroni 10:3-5

Acts 2:37-38

This was the way the lesson went! And we went through Christ's life, the apostasy and the restoration and it was incredible! And the spirit was there, and I truly feel that it was guiding me, and telling me what to say. Most of the questions that I asked I truly felt like were inspired, and I could have never come up with them on my own. And I was also using so many different scripture references. There were parts where it seemed like he was teaching himself the doctrine! The spirit was truly communicating with him! 

We were there two hours with him teaching him, and finally at the very end, everything thing just clicked! He understood everything that we had taught! He started saying, I finally have received the answer I have been looking for! He look at us and said it is because of the Priesthood authority that we are able to to make it to the celestial kingdom,  if we do everything that we can to follow the example that Jesus Christ set. At the very end the spirit hit us all so strong, and he said What should I do now? And Immediately a scripture came into my head!  Acts 2: 37-38

37 ¶Now when they heard this, they were ^apricked in their ^bheart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men andbrethren, ^cwhat shall we do?

 38 Then Peter ^asaid unto them, ^bRepent, and be ^cbaptized every one of you in the ^dname of Jesus Christ for the ^eremission of sins, and ye shall receive the ^fgift of the ^gHoly Ghost.

   

He looked at us and said, "I need to be baptized this Sunday! ...Wait I need to get to church these next couple weeks so I can get baptized! I now know what Gods mission is for me! This is the answer I have been waiting for! " 

The spirit was so strong and I just have such a solid testimony of the fact that as we include God in our lives, he is going to support us. He will help us to know what to say and who to help! I know this is true! This whole lesson brought me back to a scripture that I love. D&C 100 4-7, and I just invite you to go and read it. 

4 Therefore, I, the Lord, have suffered you to come unto this place; for thus it was expedient in me for the ^asalvation of souls.

 5 Therefore, verily I say unto you, lift up your voices unto this people; ^aspeak the thoughts that I shall put into your hearts, and you shall not be ^bconfounded before men;

 6 For it shall be ^agiven you in the very hour, yea, in the very moment, what ye shall say.

 7 But a commandment I give unto you, that ye shall declare whatsoever thing ye ^adeclare in my name, in solemnity of heart, in the spirit of meekness, in all things.

 8 And I give unto you this promise, that inasmuch as ye do this the ^aHoly Ghost shall be shed forth in bearing record unto all things whatsoever ye shall say.

I know that God has suffered me to come to Houston for the salvation of his Children. I know there are people prepared for me to meet! And I know that as I open my mouth, It will be filled! I will not be confounded, and Gods work will continue to move forth! I know this to be true, and this is my testimony and I bear witness of that! 

  

 I am sorry this email is shorter and doesn't go into very much detail about the lesson like I would want, but I will try to talk more about it next week. Please pray for missionary opportunities and You will see so many blessing! This work can only be hastened if the members and the missionaries both work together. Pray to know where you fit into it and I know the Lord will guide you and help you know what you need to do. 

Elder Joshua V. Christensen

 The Bishop and his wife

 This is the Richter family.  They are some of the members of our Ward!

 Some field that we found.

 Another pic with Elder Neville

Elder Neville and I Taking random serious photos! This was during one of our exchanges this last week.