The Lord Provides!

Hey everyone! It was another great week to be back in the Woodlands! We were able to see some great miracles happen this week! We ares till trying to get some more traction in the area with how new we are still, but little by little we are getting there. We were able to meet with alot of Less active members. And it has been so great to see how involved the members are getting! There really is just this renewed excitement in the ward for missionary work! It is amazing! 

Tuesday we also had interviews with our Mission President, and this time around we did them just a little bit different. In the past we would have big groups of  missionaries come in and they would receive training as the mission president would pull people out to interview them. But this time we had them on a schedule where a new companionship would come in every 30 min. So we had them come in shifts. And while one was being interviewed we were with the other looking through their area books as well as help train them about how we can get wards more involved with new member discussion of recent converts. 

So that took up almost our whole Tuesday. So even though it was sad that we weren't out working in our area that day we still saw miracles. We were able to help missionaries have a raised vision of what they can accomplish in there wards, as well as during interview we kept getting texts from some of our ward members. 

So one text came from a member of another ward asking if we could come help them move an investigator into our ward boundaries that following Sunday and that she has been very receptive to the gospel and wants to come to church. And then we also got another message that  Sister Chappel was in contact with one of our former investigators that was really close to baptism while I was here. And that she was setting up a time for us to meet with her! So even though we were out of the area miracles were happening! 

And then also Sister Hoyer went over to get a limited use recommend to go do baptisms for the dead at the temple. She came with her family two weeks ago to the temple grounds tour. And after she decided that she wanted to renew her recommend and learn more about family history. So it is really cool because we will actually have the opportunity tonight go over and teach them more about family history! So we are so excited for that! 

This week we also realized that we needed to spend more time out finding because we didn't have  a big teaching pool at the moment! We have a lot of great potential coming, but at the moment it is smaller. So we talked with each other and said that we needed to put a great effort in to find those who were being prepared by the Lord. And then for the next few days we set new goal and plans for finding. 

Thursday we saw a great miracle with finding! So this week has been pretty rainy here in Houston. We have had some intense thunder and lighting storms. And we promised from 6-8 that we would go knock doors. And so we started right at 6. And the first 15 min were great. But then it began to start raining. So we went back to our car to grab our Jackets, and we put them on and then we started walking back and the rain turned into a crazy storm! We were soaked in like 10 min easy! And it rained like that the rest of the night! 

We went door to door and people just started laughing at us because there are to Mormon missionaries who are soaked still trying to go out and find people to teach. And it was fun being out in the rain, but for the first hour and a half that was the response we would get from people. But we did meet a lot of really nice people through out that time. But we just kept going knowing that we had committed to the Lord to do better, and we knew that we would provide someone for us to teach! 

And then at 7:30 a guy named David opened the door! He saw how wet we were and asked us how we were doing. And then after he asked us which denomination we were from. And so we told him that we were from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. He was nice but immediately said "no no I am quite fine, have a nice night" And so I asked him if he had heard any thing about the church or had any questions that we could answer. And he just replied back saying, " No it's the fact y'all have another Bible that I don't like." I then asked him if he would allow us to explain our belief on The Book of Mormon, and that he didn't need to accept it, but just let us explain it. He sat quietly thinking for about 5 seconds, and then opened the door and told us to come inside.  

 He left the room for a second and he was going to grab us some towels, and then I asked if he had his Bible that we could use because it was so wet we left our full set of scriptures in the Car. As he left to get it I turned to Elder Graves and told him to pray for me. I wanted to use a different approach to explaining The Book of Mormon than I have used a few other times. I think I have shared this way with y'all a few times, but I would explain with talking about the 12 tribes of Israel. 

 So when he came back we had and opening prayer, and I asked him about what he understood the Bible to be. And he explained that it was the word of God. And I asked him how the word was revealed to God's children. And he then said how it was revealed through the prophets and the apostles. And then I asked him, who was the primary record keepers of the Bible, and he didn't know that one, so I just explained that it was primarily the tribe of Judah, and that is why the Bible is reference in the scriptures to the stick of Judah. And he then understood that part. 

I then began to talk about the 12 tribes of Israel and how they were God's covenant and chosen people. And he agreed with that. I asked him if God were to reveal his word to the other tribes also if it would hold equal weight with the Bible in terms of being the Word of God. He said absolutely. I continued to talk about how we know that the Bible is the record form the tribe of Judah, but I asked him what happened to the other tribes of Israel. He said that they were carried away into Babylon. And I asked him how many tribes were carried away. And he wasn't quite sure. So I told him how 10 were carried away. 

So I said, " ok so 10 were carried away into Babylon, and then we know about Judah, what happened to the other tribe?"    He replied, "oh my goodness, the lost tribe!" And by this point he is like on the edge of his seat. He was asking me to tell him about it. So I opened up in his bible to Ezekiel 37: 15-18, and he read about the stick of Judah and the Stick of Joseph coming together and being one in our hand. So he said the stick of Joseph is the missing tribe. 

This whole time you could tell that the spirit was testifying to him. And then told him he was correct and then pulled a copy of The Book of Mormon out of my back pack and put it on the table and he just went silent. He understood, but he was still a little bit hesitant. 

And so my companion started testifying immediately about the Book of Mormon, and then committed him to read the Book of Mormon. And he said he wouldn't read the whole thing but he would commit to read for two hours out of it and then pray and ask God if the things we had taught were true! The spirit was so strong and you know that he felt it. And he asked us to come back in about two weeks. So we left with a prayer and he offered it and he was so open and sincere in wanting to find out if it was true!  

So we again see how merciful the Lord is to us. And that as we do our part that the Lord will place people in our path. I was so nervous to explain the Book of Mormon that way but that is what I felt I should do, and the Lord helped fill my mouth with the words needed. I am so grateful for the spirit and for my Father in Heaven! This is such a great work to be involved in. And like I said in the beginning we planned from 6-8 to find, and we walked out of his house right at 8:00. The Lord provides according to our faith and desires if it is His will. 

Well to finish off this week, we helped move the investigator into our ward, and it was a great experience, and she was very interested in coming to church and starting to learn. So she will be at church next week, and hopefully we will start teaching her soon after that. 

And Sunday we had a wonderful stake conference! It was such an inspired meeting, and then we were able to go meet with some different members in the ward. We had two other families that wanted us to come over to meet there neighbors and try to start teaching them! So we just see the Lord continuing to bless the area!  So it was just a great week! 

Well I hope y'all have a great week! 

Elder Joshua V. Christensen

I am going home... to College Park!!!!!

  Hey everyone! So it has been quite the week! Many of you may remember how last week I told you I was getting transferred! Well I found out this last Tuesday where I was going! Turns out I am back in College Park!! It is so crazy to think! I left college park about 1 year ago, and I was there for about 9 months. I was so excited to hear I was going back to this ward! 

When I was hear last time we had so many great things going on, and the trust with the members was amazing. But I guess after I left over the next several month the missionaries and members didn't work as closely together and so the ward wasn't feeling that same missionary excitement, but things were still going really well! The companionship that was here before me and my companion( By the way we got white washed into the area, so we are trying to get everything figured out.) did a great job and bringing and bond back between the members and the missionaries. So things are really beginning to pick up in this ward! This week alone we have been able to see so many miracles! 

It has been a crazy week, but so good! Because we are new to the area we went around to all of the different auxiliaries, We met with Bishop Dowdle. Him and his family were really excited to see me again, and I was excited to see them. We met with bishop 3 different times this week to discuss the needs of the members and places he needed us to stop and and visit. So already we have gained his full trust, and we are seeing amazing things happening! 

We also met with the Elders Quorum  president and the relief society President, and the High Priest group leader. and so on. So we have been able to get alot of information this week about the ward and the needs of the ward. We are so excited to be here in the ward and to just work as hard as we can! 

In addition to that we had a baptism this last week, we got to the area and then found out there was a baptism. So this week we met with the investigator and finished up the lessons with her. Her name was Juany. We had an incredible lesson with her this last week at the Jensens home. The Jensens are the ones who found Juany. They saw here and her roommate trying to unload furniture out of a moving van up 3 stories of stairs. They offered to help, and brought members from the ward to help, and little by little over the last 3 weeks it lead her to investigate and decide that she needed to be baptized. 

She has an incredible story. She comes from a rough background, and as she learned more and prayed to know, she said the spirit came to her so strongly and she knew that she needed to be baptized! So as I said we had a great lesson with her. We taught the laws and ordinances lesson with her and talked to her more about how she was feeling about her baptism. We also covered the restoration of the priesthood and family history and temple work! Her understanding of the gospel is incredible everything we taught she understood. 

And one question I love to ask while teaching about family history is, " Have you had any ancestors on you mind lately?"  Now this sounds like a weird question to ask, but so far on my mission every time I have asked this question they have said yes, and it has been a relative that has passed away. And we then explain the reason for why they are thinking of them. We will reference to the promise found right at the end of the book of Malachi, where he prophesies about how Elijah will be send and the hearts of the father will turn to the children and the hearts of the children to the fathers. 

We told Juany the reason why she was thinking of them was because her ancestors have accepted the gospel, and they are fully ready to take that next step, but on there own they can not. That is why baptisms for the dead are so important as well as any other temple ordinance.  And after teaching about this the spirit was so strong and Juany knew it was true. And that only made her that much more exited to get to the temple and start doing family history work! So just a great week! 

It took quite some time though to get everything ready for the baptism. There were so many details that we had to get figures out, but we were able to finish! It was a great baptismal service, and she even brought her room mate, and she felt the spirit so strong also! So hopefully we will begin to be able to teach her! 

And to finish the week, I had a wonderful experience at church! I was able to greet all of the members and see how they were doing! So many of them were so excited and they want us over in there home to teach them and there families! It is so amazing.  But Sunday evening we got a late phone call from the assistants, and they wanted me to come down to the temple that evening and give one of the tours of the temple grounds! I gladly accepted and we went down to the temple grounds that evening! 

We had so many people again! Alot of the groups were bigger than last time! We can see the Lord hastening his work. The group I helped tour last time was about 35 people. This time around I did the full tour on my own, and then the group was around 64 people just in my group. These tours are amazing! So many people have there visions raised and are wanting to work towards getting to the temple so bad! 

We brought a part member family from the college park ward. And the husband isn't a member, but you would never expect it! He is so awesome! But their whole family came to the tour and was in my group! And after they started asking more questions! So in two weeks we are going to start meeting with them! The spirit is so strong while we were walking around and talking about the temples! When they hear about all the parts of the gospel of Jesus Christ that were restored  back to the earth, the spirit can easily testify to them that it is true! They can feel that peace on temple grounds! Such a great

And to finish the night we met with different members and we just talked about missionary work and so many members are beginning to be more open to looking fore missionary opportunities. This week alone we have seen so many miracles. And then this morning we got a call from our bishop. And he has asked us what we did this week! He was so excited because he got and email from the Part member family we were talking about and the wife wants to get a limited use recommend for the temple and start doing our family history. And the ward has been working with this family for a little while! So we just see how much the Lord is guiding his work right now! It really is amazing!  

And one more miracle to add to that we are in our office emailing right now and like 15 min ago someone I met while I lived in this complex walked in and started talking to me! He said after I left he met with some missionaries and then for a while he stopped. But now he wants to start meeting. And he said I need to be baptized so we can start working towards that! What is going on! I just again know and testify that this is the Lords work. He stands at the helm and leads us each and every day! And as each of us as members and missionaries come together we can assist our Father in Heaven in His work! I know this to be true!

I hope all y'all have a great week! 

Elder Joshua V. Christensen

General Conference/ Final week in Tomball

(Josh's email from Monday April 6th)

Hey everyone! This week was a wonderful week! I so very much enjoyed being able to hear from our beloved Prophet and the apostles! There was so much great council that came over this last weekend. That is one thing that I just love about General Conference is the fact that as we  go in prepared with questions and we are prayerful about them, we will receive answers. General conference is just so inspired! And it builds my testimony so much of how Christ church truly is on the earth again, and he is at the helm leading us through his prophets and apostles.

 We had some other amazing experiences this week! We taught one of our investigators named Anca, and we retaught the restoration to her. And as we began to teach about the restoration, and we recited the first vision, she had an a ha moment where the spirit testified to her about prophets. It was amazing we were teaching her out in this park, and after the first vision we were just quiet. And after a few moments of silence, she said oh my goodness. Until this point I hadn't even entertained the thought about prophets. But what if there are prophets on the earth! That would be amazing! And she just kept talking about how amazing it would be. And in follow up to her excitement we invited her to come listen to general conference. 

Now unfortunately some things came up and she wasn't  able to make it to conference. But she will go back and watch some of them, and then we will be meeting with her again this week. But some thing else she said really stuck out to me. She said in the past she met with different people to learn more about theology and to increase her knowledge of different religions.  But she said after the lesson that is would now be different. It was more a spiritual thing for her now. 

We also tried to meet with Julie and Madison and we talked with them last night. And Julie said that her and Madison still want to be baptized May 2nd and they are planning on it. So we talked with them about the expectations and the things that would need to happen in order to have her be ready to be baptized. So that was great and we will meet with her this week also. But a cool miracle with their family happened this week. 

So Julies Husband in the past has not been very open to the missionaries. And so during the times we have gone over there the past few months we have been able to talk with him more and more. And then on Friday when we talked with him he asked if we could go running together the next morning around 6:00 am. We said that we would love to, and then after he said " Once we are done running maybe we can sit at a picnic table and you can share a thought or message with me that can help me" Oh my goodness I was so excited when he said this! Over the past few months the lord has continued to soften his heart and prepare him to listen to the restored gospel. 

And so that next morning we went and ran with him, and we felt prompted after to show him the Because he lives video. And at first he said he really liked that. But after talking with Julie last night we found out after seeing it and talking about it that he went home and showed Julie the video and started talking about it! We see the Lord is continuing to open doors to help others experience the joy that God wants them to feel. We will hopefully begin to teach the whole family. 
​

One more miracle I wanted to share real quick happened when I was on exchanges this week. So I went to the memorial springs ward, and while we were there they had planned to drop by a few of the members in that ward. And while we were biking from place to place, we biked past a man who was getting something out of his car. And we passed by him and I had the thought come in to my mind that we needed to turn around and talk to this man specifically. And so I called a head to the missionary in front of me and said lets turn around.  

We went up to him and I started talking to him about the because he lives video, and then he stopped me and he told me that he use to be a member of the church like 20 years ago. I was very shocked. He said that he was baptized shortly after high school and use to go teaching with all the missionaries, but then when college came and the time for marriage he became "too busy" to continue. But he still fully believes that it is true. And he then asked me where the closest church building was at and we gave him the address for it. We had a really good discussion with him. 

So that ward will pull his membership record in, and then he also said we could come back and talk with his family. So it may be a great opportunity for those missionaries to go back and teach the whole family and elevate there vision to the temple where they can receive the blessing of being able to be sealed for all time and eternity. 

It just was a blessing to that the spirit prompted me to turn around, and I was so happy that I recognized it and then went and acted upon it! I have said it so many time but truly how great of a blessing is it that we are able to help others come closer to Christ! It is a wonderful blessing! 

Well I hope y'all have a great week! 

Elder Joshua V. Christensen

Also just so you know I found out that I will be getting transferred this week. So I will head to my new area tomorrow. 

Because He Lives

Hello everyone! What a wonderful week we were able to have! Like I mentioned last week we were able to have the missionary department with us this week. And they did such a great job at training us, and helping us see what things we could do to improve. 

Tuesday night my companion and I had the opportunity to meet with them, and then we went out that night on splits with our Mission President. It was great to see him and his family again also! But we went to dinner with President Mortensen, and we were just telling him about how the zone is doing. We were telling him about all the great things that were going on with the wonderful missionaries in our zone. We truly saw some incredible miracles this month with in the zone. And  the Lord blessed us as we were able to elevate our vision as a whole. 

From there he came with us to a couple of teaching appointments, and they were very powerful. We taught a recent convert about temples and family history, and his mom came and listened. And after the lesson she told us that she would like to begin taking the missionary lessons again. So we met with her 1 other time this week also and she is praying to know if she should be baptized at this time of her life. 

Then following that appointment with the recent convert we went over to another members home to meet with Brenda. We finished teaching her the Laws and ordinances lesson, and as always you could see how prepared she was for her baptism. Following that we went back to our apartment and had a planning session with President, and overall it went really well. He gave us some great pointers about what things we could do to improve, but he said we did a great job with focusing the planning on the people we were working with. 

We were able to find a couple new investigators this week that we will begin to work with, so we are excited for that! The Lord is blessing us so much! 

With the missionary department being in town we had a big MLC (Mission Leadership Council) meeting. It included all of the zone leaders and the sister training leaders and the district leaders. They trained us on how we can plan more effectively. As well as we were trained some different skills to help us be more effective teachers and help our investigators better progress and be prepared for baptism. Our meeting went from about 9:00 am until about 3:00 pm. So it was a long meeting but it was really good! 

They also showed us the new video that the church has produced. It is called " Because He Lives." It is amazing, but I will talk a little bit more about it at the end of my email.  

We had our zone meeting the next day, and it went very well. This last month the zone put a lot of hard work into accomplishing the goals that we had committed to. And we were even able to exceed the goal we had for this month. And with all of the training the missionary department gave us I can just see the zone continuing to see that same success. So I am excited to see what the future has in store for this zone and stake.

  We also had Brenda's baptism on Friday, and it was a fantastic service! And then on Sunday is when we were able to confirm her a member of the Church. But she just mentioned how great she felt after being baptized! And now they are set on working to get to the temple to do baptisms for the dead and also in one year to be sealed in the temple! It is such a great blessing! 

Well going back briefly to what I said earlier, the church has put out a new video. The link can be found just below, but I would just invite you as you watch this video, think of who comes to mind that you could share it with. And in what way you could help others to see this wonderful little video. 

Helives.mormon.org

This is such a wonderful little video. I want you to ponder just for a minute on the way you felt as you watched the video. What does it mean to you that Christ has risen. Because Christ truly has risen it means that we can receive a forgiveness of our sins, but not just that. We can have a hope in the Resurrection of Christ. We can know that He overcame the bands of death, and by so doing He bridged the gap to help us overcome the effect of the fall. 

I have found my self often this week thinking of the hymn #136 And I love just reading through the lyrics. Again I would invite you to think of the same question. What does it mean to you that Christ Lives. 

I know that my Redeemer lives.

What comfort this sweet sentence gives!

He lives, he lives, who once was dead.

He lives, my ever-living Head.

He lives to bless me with his love.

He lives to plead for me above.

He lives my hungry soul to feed.

He lives to bless in time of need.

He lives to grant me rich supply.

He lives to guide me with his eye.

He lives to comfort me when faint.

He lives to hear my soul's complaint.

He lives to silence all my fears.

He lives to wipe away my tears.

He lives to calm my troubled heart.

He lives all blessings to impart.

He lives, my kind, wise heav'nly Friend.

He lives and loves me to the end.

He lives, and while he lives, I'll sing.

He lives, my Prophet, Priest, and King.

He lives and grants me daily breath.

He lives, and I shall conquer death.

He lives my mansion to prepare.

He lives to bring me safely there.

He lives! All glory to his name!

He lives, my Savior, still the same.

Oh, sweet the joy this sentence gives:

"I know that my Redeemer lives!"

He lives! All glory to his name!

He lives, my Savior, still the same.

Oh, sweet the joy this sentence gives:

"I know that my Redeemer lives!"

I know that Christ Lives, and I truly am grateful for his atonement that he made for us. I have found so much joy and comfort come as I have turned to my savior. And because he lives, he will answer us, and he will help us. No matter who you are, or what you have felt Christ can help you. That is what the wonderful message of the Gospel of Christ is. 

Please this week find at least one person that you could share this video with. I know by you sharing it with others that you will be able to help someone feel closer to Christ this Easter season. The video is powerful and the Holy Ghost will testify of the truthfulness that He lives. 

And just think of how blessed we are also this next weekend to hear from the Prophet and the Apostles and hear them testify about the divinity of Christ. They truly are witnesses of Christ, and I know that as you listen to them this week end and you prayerfully consider the questions you have going into conference that you will be able to find and answer.  

Take the time to be prepared to receive what the Lord wants you to receive by going to the Temple, and by reading your scriptures prayerfully! And as you do this you  will be able to feel uplifted and edified! I know this to be true and I testify of it. 

Well I hope y'all have a great week! 

Elder Joshua V. Christensen

Who let the dog out!

Hey everyone one! So this last week has been another great week! We were able to see some really great miracles with the area. We were able to teach Brenda a few more times and  right now she is still good for baptism this coming Friday. We are really excited for that!  It has been so cool to hear how excited and set they are for going to the temple in one year also. They are both progressing so fast!  

And in addition to that the zone will be having 5 baptisms just this Friday! I think a few weeks ago I may have mentioned about how at MLC we committed as a zone that we would get 6. Well we were really nervous because some of the people that we were expecting to be baptized were struggling with a few things. And so we talked with the elders and decided that we would pray specifically that this family could be baptized. And on Friday we heard that they were back on track fro this upcoming week end and instead of 6 we will be having 7.  So we will be able to achieve the goal that we set. And we can just see that the Lord truly is hastening his work! It just goes to show that as we put our faith and trust in the Lord he will bless us according to the righteous desires of our hearts. 

We also got a call from our mission president this last week, and he told us that this week the missionary department will be coming to town. And he wanted to have us go out on splits with them. So the missionary department guys are like the experts of missionary work! So we are excited to be one of the 3 companionships that get to go with them. We will learn a lot of great things from it. Then this coming week we will also have a MLC that is from the missionary department! So we are excited to see the training they come prepared with! 

At the end of the week we went to help an area in our zone that has continued to have a harder time when it comes to finding. So we decided to do a district blitz. So we brought in 4 companionships to this one area to help them find people to teach. 

Well we got to the place we were going to meet at and we got there a little early and some of the other area came later. But we decided to open with a prayer and in the prayer we asked for an opportunity to talked with someone else before the others arrived, and that we knew with he Lords help that we could teach. And then after we start knocking some doors. 

And the first was a nice guy. He was a Jehovah's witness, but he wasn't very interested in talking with us. So the 2nd door we knocked a guy answered and immediately told us he was not interested. And he didn't seem very happy to see us. And all of the sudden his little dog went out the door and just took off! Like I have never seen a little dog go so fast before. And he didn't seem to have any intentions just stopping. Well of course now the guy who answered the door is even more mad with us. He told us to leave, and now that his dog would never come back. 

So we went out and instead of knocking we tried to find this guys dog! So we walked for about 10-15 min trying to find it with no luck. My comp wanted to just stat knocking some doors again, and we just a talked for a bit about trying to find this guys dog. And I just remember saying that if this is the Lords will we will find his dog.  So were walking back to the car to meet some of the other elders, and then out of no where this little white fur ball runs across the street! My companion almost yelled "there he is!" And so we started going after him to get him. He saw us and started running towards us. I crouched to pick him up, and was ready to dive on him if he was going to run off another way. But luckily we got him! 

We started walking him back to the owners home. And my companion had a great idea to pray before we brought this dog back to thank the Lord and to ask for a opportunity to teach. And in his exact words he said please allow us to be able to have a discussion with this man. Well once we closed the prayer we rang the door bell again and gave this guy his dog back. And he was so happy. And then he put his dog inside and stepped out on the porch and closed the door behind him. And he looked at us with a smile, and he said alright this calls for a discussion what do you have for me! 

My companion and I just turned to each other knowing that this was a blessing from the Lord. We were able to teach him about the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ to the earth. He has a really busy schedule, but I know because of sincere prayer the Lord opened up that opportunity for us to teach!

The Lord truly is in every detail of his work! As we rely upon him and ask for his help he will be able to help us! You can see even from this simple act of service it opened up opportunities to share the gospel! What a great blessing!  I know that to be true! 

Well I hope yall have a great week! 

Elder Joshua V. Christensen

Temple Tours and the Blessings of Elevated Vision

  Hey everyone so this week was a great week! And just as always time continues to just fly by! I am excited for what is going on here in the mission. So this week we were able to meet with our investigator Brenda again, and she is continuing to progress. And right now she will actually be getting baptized a day earlier that we had originally planned for. But she is so excited to be there and to learn! 

We taught her the gospel of Jesus Christ this week, but before we began she started the lesson by saying, " So I have been reading a lot as you know, and I don't feel like I have had an experience with the holy ghost where I felt it super strong like my husband did, but I can't deny that this is true. I know that this is the true church and I know that the Book of Mormon is true. I have seen how much closer it has brought me and my husband, and I am ready and anxious for my baptism." 

Now as a missionary this is something that brings you so much joy to hear! When you see someone accept the gospel and apply in their life, and then see the increased happiness they have: its priceless! 

I have truly loved that aspect of my mission! 

But again while we may see that baptism is necessary, we know it is not the final step. We know that we must continue to push forward and endure to the end. Because we are human we make mistakes. But because of the gospel of Jesus Christ we can exercise our faith unto repentance. And as we partake of the sacrament we can be clean again! What a wonderful blessing. And then we keep working hard until the point when we can enter into the temple of God to be able to receive other necessary ordinances. 

So also this week we were blessed with such a great opportunity. We got a call on Saturday from the assistants, and they asked us to come be some of the tour guides for the temple ground tours that we were able to do yesterday. I was so excited when I heard of the opportunity we would have to give the tours of the temple grounds. 

President Mortensen started this just last month. And last month when they did it they had between 200-300 people come to the tours. We were some of the first missionaries to be able to help out with these tours so it was really exciting! We went to the temple on Saturday to meet with President, and he walked us through how to give the tours. 

At first we were pretty nervous realizing how big a responsibility this was. But at the same time we were so grateful for the opportunity to give tours of the temple grounds! What a blessing! So we were there for almost 2 hours and then we practiced. And obviously we had to go home and study that night to be ready. 

​( Random picture while we were at the temple on Saturday! 

Well Sunday comes and we were just about as excited as we could be! We show up to the temple around 3:00 and we are just going through and practicing so we will feel better about doing it. And then at 4 is when the tours would begin. At first it didn't look like quite as many people would come, but then at once you see about 80 people walk around the corner of the temple. And from their they just kept coming! It was so cool! By the time the temple tour was over we had about 200 or so people that were able to come!  

One of the reasons I Loved this so much was because when people came to the temple. They left with their vision raised. Like I said earlier in order to really experience all the blessing God wants us to have, we have to make it to the temple. 

Now during the tour we talk about the history of the Houston temple being built and how the land was acquired. We also talk about the Angel Moroni and how he is the fulfillment the prophesy we read about in the the book of Revelations (Rev. 14:6-7)  in the new testament. We talk about how when Christ was here he established a church but just as the bible prophesies there was be a period of time in which it would not be found here on the earth. But in 1823 the angel Moroni appeared to the prophet and delivered to him a record  later on that he translated through the power of God. We know that to be the Book of Mormon. And as we read and ponder and pray we can come to know that it is true. 

After that we talk about the doctrine of baptisms for the dead that was restored to the earth. And how when we go to do baptisms we are able to liberate our ancestors from their sins by preforming baptism in their behalf. This was an ordinance in Christ original church. We learn in in 1CRN 15 29. . Christ taught the doctrine of how baptisms is necessary in order to inherit the kingdom of God.  Then we talk about that is the reason why we put so much emphasis on family history as a church! Because we know the gospel of Jesus Christ is for everyone! So then we help find our ancestors and help give them that opportunity to accept the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

And then my favorite part of the whole tour is when we end at the front doors of the temple. Because we talk about how in the temple we learn more about the plan of salvation. We discuss how in traditional Christianity the false doctrine has crept in that that marriage only lasts until death. But we also know from the bible that the Lord intended for marriage to last far beyond death. We read in 1st Crn 11:11 ,

"neither is the man with out the woman neither is the woman with out the man in the Lord." And we also remember from the Bible that Christ is teaching his apostle Peter about the keys of the kingdom and how what ever Peter shall seal on earth shall be sealed in heaven. Now this power and authority to baptize and seal is back on the earth today. It is the same authority in which Christ had and gave to his apostles. And it is the very authority and power of God which was used to lead and direct Christs church! 

This authority was was restored through the prophet Joseph Smith by Peter James and John. 3 of Christs original apostles. And now that same authority is here and for the purpose and sealing our families together forever. Just think of how amazing this is. This is truly what the Lord intended for his children! That is why temples are so important. And at the end I was just able to bare as strong of a testimony as I could about how our families can be sealed! 

It was such a wonderful experiencing to be on temple grounds and to feel of the great spirit there. And it was a great opportunity for the spirit to confirm the truth to those who came. There were many people who came to the temple and received the answer that they needed to be baptized and instead of that being their end goal, they had there vision raised to the temple! 

This was the case with Brenda! She started asking us after the tour how soon she could go to the temple. And her and her husband are both committed to doing everything they can in order to be sealed! They want those blessing. And truly Heavenly Father desires all of us to receive these blessings! 

The gospel of Jesus Christ is truly eternal. And it is here to help us and those who have passed on return to our Father in Heaven! And at the center of that is our Savior Jesus Christ! He came and suffered and died in order to help us be clean and return home to our Father in Heaven! That truly shows how much our Father in Heaven and Jesus Christ Love us!  I know these things  to be true! 

Well I hope y'all have a great week! Please keep looking for missionary opportunities. And remember to focus your sights on the temple. I would encourage you to go to the temple frequently! I know blessing await you and your families as you do this! 

Elder Joshua V. Christensen

The Joyful Burden of Discipleship

March 7th - Happy 20th Birthday to our Missionary!

This week has been a good week! We had so many great adventures this week. We had MLC this week, and it was such an inspiring meeting. 

President Mortensen had us ponder on the question of, " What would we need to do differently as missionaries in order to double baptisms." As we were there we were able to council as zone leaders and sister training leaders about how we could accomplish this. President Mortensen then told us that this is the new vision that the Lord has in store for our mission! And immediately the spirit testified to me that this was true! President Mortensen then went on to explain how the missionary department will be taking our missionary count from 270 to about 200. Now this wasn't to big of a surprise for me because in previous transfers as an assistant we counseled about which wards we would pull missionaries from and where we would place the ones we have to still get the same amount of work done. 

 But we came together as zones to discuss what we could commit to in terms of how many baptisms and our efforts with setting dates. And we felt like for the month of March we could commit to 6 baptisms as a zone. So that is what we committed to. And so we continued to council and discuss what kind of efforts it would take in order to accomplish the new vision that the Lord has for our mission. And at the end President Mortensen said to us, " this might sound arbitrary but I want each of you to say your committed if your in." And he proceeded to go around the room 1 missionary at a time, and each missionary then said they were committed. At this point again the spirit filled the room and testified to us this is what we needed to do. So I am excited for what the Lord has in store. 

After the meeting I sat pondering on the best way that we could take this back to the zone. This was exciting to hear, but at the same time you felt this wonderful burden upon you to make sure you could present it well to our zone.  So I continued pondering and my thoughts went to some of the great missionaries we read about in the scriptures. 

I started reading through Alma 17 and 26, describing the way that they prepared themself, and as well as the success they were able to have. Well I pondered on this over the next several days, and little by little I felt I was able to receive revelation of ways that were could share it. Elder DeLuca and I counseled about what we wanted to accomplish and how we would go about teaching it powerfully. And we truly were able to feel the Lords help. And we felt that as we got up on Friday to teach that we were able o help elevate the vision of the zone. The spirit truly was strong this week as we taught. 

It was also a testimony builder to me because this week as I have looked back through the baptisms that took place over the last year here in the Klein zone, I found that we averaged to 2-3 baptisms a month. Well this was exciting to me because like I said before during MLC we committed that 6 would happen. And so we can see that the Lord is having this doubling baptisms take place! Right now for March we have a potential of having 9 people baptized into the church! How exciting is that! The Lord is truly hastening his work!   

But we also knew that the meeting would not be enough to  get this change to take place. It would take consistent follow up and accountability through our district leaders and the zone. So that is now what we are working on in order to elevate ourselves to a higher level of commitment.  

Also this week we were able to meet with our investigator Brenda. And she told us earlier in the week that she was ready and excited to be baptized at the end of the month. She said she was ready to be baptized for a remission of sins and feel clean again! We are so excited for her! 

We met with her yesterday also and when we first arrived she said, I have kinda  a weird question for yall that is kinda off topic. But I hear so much about the temple but I have no idea what it is. And then Elder DeLuca and I  just looked at each other and smiled. We came prepared that day to teach about family history and temple work. As we told that to Brenda and the spirit began to fill the room.

We taught about the importance of baptism and how it is needed in order for us to return home and live with God. It is the "key" that can unlock the gate that leads to him. And we asked her about everyone else in the world who had died with out a knowledge of Christ and his gospel. How would they get that key? And she just looked at us and said I am not sure, but I feel like the Lord would provide a way for them. 

We then testified that he would and we talked about how in the spirit world they have that opportunity to learn about the gospel. But because they don't have bodies they can't be baptized. And we then talked about the temple and about baptisms for the dead. We talked about her ancestors and how she holds that "key" for her ancestors salvation. And the spirit was so strong and she felt it! What a wonderful blessing it was to be able to teach her about the temple! By the end of the lesson she could not stop smiling! It was amazing. 

Well to finish the week, we were out knocking doors for almost 2 straight hours in the rain! We knew with this new vision that we had to make sure we are still out finding. And we knocked over 30 houses on this long street, and each of them said they would not listen to us, and many of them were in all honesty very rude. But door after door we kept going because we knew what our message could mean for a family. We knew that we would find someone who was being prepared.  

We finished knocking all the houses on the street. We were very wet by the time we had finished and on top of that as we were walking back to our car a police officer pulled up. Someone had called the cops and said that there were two guys dressed in dark slacks and coats who were going door to door. But this is where the Lord blessed us, we tried to still be as happy as we could, and the cop got out, and it turns out that she was a member. She looked at us and laughed and said so you are the two guys who are going door to door? We laughed and said we are, we are trying to find those who the Lord has prepared.  

She saw how wet we were, and she said that there was no problem with what we were doing. She let us go, and we continued back to our car. It was a tender mercy that she was a member. I have had other times on my mission where cops are called and they aren't always the nicest. But we went home that night knowing that we had done all we could that day to find who was prepared. 

It could have been so easy to just give up half way through, and go back to the car. it could have been so easy to say the people here aren't interested, and it is too cold and wet, but the fact is the message of the restoration is far to important.   I know how important this message is to the world. I know of the power and the peace that it can bring to the lives of families. 

It truly is a joyful burden that we are blessed to be able to carry to the world! At times it may get rough, but the Lord will always be there to help lift our burdens as we come unto him. I know this to be true! We are all blessed to be able to be instrument in the Lord's hands in bringing souls unto Christ. I love this gospel, and I know it is true. 

Please continue to do all you can to share it with friends or family. I know as you do so it will bless your life forever. And know that you truly do have the Lord on your side and he will guide you on what to say and what to do. I testify of that!!

Well I hope y'all have a great week!

Elder Joshua V. Christensen

Waste and wear out your lives in the service of God

 Hey everyone! Things continue to be amazing here in Tomball! The Lord is hastening his work. This week we were able to set 3 baptismal dates, as well as we have two of our recent converts who are committed and actively working towards getting to the temple to do baptisms at the end of the month. What better work could we be involved in! 

 I have said it so many times, but this gospel truly is such a blessing. I just think of the miracles that we were able to see this week, and again how the Lord places those who are prepared and searching in our path. We were able to teach one of our investigators that we found last week. Her name is Anca, and we were able to go to the park and walk around with her on Wednesday. She had so many sincere questions about the Book of Mormon, and about the plan of Salvation. And she just mentioned how excited she is to continue to learn. 

She originally is from Romania, and is going to be moving to Canada in a few months. She was going to leave sooner, but she is waiting for a couple of things to be finished before she leaves. So we will have the opportunity to continue meeting with her. We also invited her to a baptism in our zone this week and to church, and she was about to come but she had something come up last minute. But she said she would love to come in these coming weeks!

We were also able to teach one of our new investigators named Matt about the Book of Mormon and the restoration of Christ's church. And once he was taught about prophets he was so excited and he said how it made so much sense that there should be prophets on the earth today. And he said at the end of the lesson how he feels as if God has been leading him to the church. The Spirit was strong and we were able to leave him with a soft baptismal commitment and he accepted.  We will be hopefully seeing him this coming week. 

One of the other big miracles we saw this week was with our investigator named Brenda. I talked about her a little bit last week. She has come to church 3 weeks in a row and she is continuing to learn and progress. When we met with her yesterday she said she had been reading from the Book of Mormon and has felt as though she is becoming a better person by reading it. We talked to her about if she has had a chance to pray about it yet, and she said she wants to do it when she can go to a quiet place and ponder and really ask God if it is true. I wish I could explain it the way that she did, but she was so sincere in her response. Again you can see how she is a sincere seeker of truth. 

  Well she was keeping her commitment to read so we were able to move on to the plan of salvation. And we were able to teach it powerfully to her. She was able to answer the questions and you could just see her countenance lift as she began to understand the plan of salvation and how it relates to her. And at the end of the lesson we were able to talk about the Celestial Kingdom and how we have lives with our families eternally there. And then at the end of the lesson we invited her to set the goal to live in the Celestial Kingdom and explained how we can get on the path that leads back to our Father in Heaven. 

We read through John 3:5. We discussed how Christ taught us the way to enter on to this path. And we discussed how it is through baptism that we are able to start on that path. Once she read that it totally clicked for her! And we then let the spirit testify to her of the truthfulness of that. And then after a few moments, I looked at her and said, " Brenda, do you now see why we invited you to be baptized last time we met?" And she just was quiet for a second and replied how it made sense to her now. 

The spirit was strong and we invited to her to prepare to be baptized one March 28th. We explained how baptism was just a short term goal, and is ultimately not the end. The end goal is to return home and live with God again. But as we follow Christs example through baptism we put ourselves on the path and can prepare our self for returning to live with God. She accepted and is ready and excited to meet again. We will be able to meet with her tomorrow to continue to help her be prepared for her baptism. 

The Lord is providing! It again just makes me think of the scripture in D&C  18:10-11

10 Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God;

 11 For, behold, the Lord your Redeemer suffered death in the flesh; wherefore he suffered the pain of all men, that all men might repent and come unto him.

The Lord wants all of his children to return home and live with him again! And EVERY soul is great in the sight of God. 

 13 Therefore, that we should waste and wear out our lives in bringing to light all the hidden things of darkness, wherein we know them; and they are truly manifest from heaven—

 14 These should then be attended to with great earnestness.

 17 Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed.

I know that as we follow this council in D&C 123 that we shall have great joy as we bring souls unto Christ! And that the Lord will be able to use us as instruments in his hand in bringing much good to his Children! I know this to be true and testify of is as one of His called representatives. 

I would just invite you to ponder upon other things you can do this week to help someone closer to Christ. I would also invite you to pray specifically as families for missionary opportunities, and I promise you will be given them. 

Well I hope y'all have a great week!

Elder Joshua V. Christensen

The Great Sifter

Hey Everyone! 

This week we saw more amazing miracles with finding. We were able to find 3 new investigators that we are beginning to teach. 

We are still working with some of our areas that are having a harder time finding. And we went over for a companion study to work on finding and role played talking with people. It helped us so much. We talked with them about bringing up families and how they can live together forever with the people they talk with. Everybody loves talking about their families! And alot of time people become more comfortable with talking with us once we try to relate to them. Well after practicing this with them during companion study we were able to use it that night. 

The previous night of planning we prayed to know where the Lord would have us go. And we felt prompted to knock some doors in a neighborhood near a member's house we were going to eat with. We didn't know exactly which street but we knew we wanted to be in this neighborhood. So after the dinner appointment that next night we went out and we prayed again to know which street to visit. And we felt prompted to go to a certain street. 

We began knocking, and the first person to answer really didn't want to talk with us at all. But we tried the next house with no answer. And then on the 3rd knock we had a teenage girl answer the door. It had look like she had been crying, and we began to talk to her about who we were and how we had a message about families, and how through Jesus Christ our families can live together forever.  And she look at us and said, " this is so interesting that you came tonight, my boyfriends dad just passed away a few hours ago." 

Immediately the spirit testified to us that we truly had been led to her. We were able to talk there on her porch with her for the next 45 minutes about the plan of salvation. She thanked us at the end of the lesson, and we asked her if she would be willing to meet again. She wanted us to follow up with her sometime in the coming weeks when things calm down, and hopefully we will be able to meet with her. 

Well after we left we received a referral for someone named Lois. It just said she was in the Hospital in our area, and that she wanted a blessing. So we went over and met her and it turns out that she wasn't a member. Her member sister referred her. She hasn't learned alot  about our faith, but she wants to learn. She doesn't live in our area, but she is an older lady who we gave a blessing to in the hospital. We were able to give her a blessing, and it went really well. She told us how after the blessing the most calming and peaceful feeling come over her. She said it was something that she has never felt before. She then told us how she wants to start reading from the book of Mormon, and how she wants us to begin teaching her about the church and the beliefs. And so we have been teaching her and we hope to go back to teach her tonight. The Lord truly is blessing us with people who are being prepared! 

The 3rd new investigator we found this week is the wife of a member that is coming back to activity. They both came to church for the 2nd week in a row, and they came up to us and said they wanted to start meeting. So we set up an appointment for yesterday at our Bishop's house. And we went to teach about the restoration. And it was so great to have our Bishop there. He gave great insight and had a lot of comments that helped resolve different concerns with this sister. 

It was amazing also because we had started to talk about the Book of Mormon and she said she was already a good way through 1st Nephi. Now already you can tell that she is being prepared. The book of Mormon truly is the best tool to see if someone is prepared. I believe it was President Ezra Taft Benson that said that the Book of Mormon is THE tool to find those who are prepared. It is the great sifter. If someone is willing to truly read the Book of Mormon and ponder in their heart the message that it contains then ask God the eternal Father if these things are true. The Lord will reveal to them the truth. I know this to be true! 

This last week we have seen how the Book of Mormon is the great sifter and through it we were able to find those who were prepared. When we ended the Lesson with this sister we committed her to read and pray, and she said that she would. And then we invited her husband to pray at the end of the lesson. And as he prayed he began to cry. He felt the spirit so strongly as he prayed to God and asked for a reconfirmation of the truth. Seriously being out on a mission is the greatest blessing I have had so far. To see peoples lives changes because of this gospel is incredible. I think of D&C 18

 15 And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!

 16 And now, if your joy will be great with one soul that you have brought unto me into the kingdom of my Father, how great will be your joy if you should bring many souls unto me!

 17 Behold, you have my gospel before you, and my rock, and my salvation.

 18 Ask the Father in my name in faith, believing that you shall receive, and you shall have the Holy Ghost, which manifesteth all things which are expedient unto the children of men.

I know if we follow this scripture we shall have great joy with in our families. And I love how it ends with saying if we ask our Father in faith believing we will receive, the holy ghost will manifest the things we should do. I know this to be true and I testify of it. 

So I would just invite each of yall to again pray for missionary opportunities. Pray and think of people in your church quorums or classes that you could reach out to and lift their spirits. Think of those your home teach and visit teach. What can you do to help them feel Christ love and strengthen them. I promise you as you have this mindset, great shall be your joy! I testify of this. 

Well I hope y'all have a great week!

Elder Joshua V. Christensen

Miracles in Tomball!

So we had a great week! I wish I could explain all of it but we are really short on time. But this last week we were able to find 4 new investigators. I will explain some of them real quick. 

One of the new investigators names is Paul, and we met him at a apartment complex in  our area. And we began to just testify and teach about how families can be eternal. We asked him what it would mean to him to know that his family can be together forever even after death. And he grew up Catholic, and so he said it would be incredible and so relieving to be able to know that. 

And so we began to teach him right there about the restoration of Christ's church and the priesthood and how it is through the the priesthood that we can be bound together with are families forever. We referenced Mathew 16 where Christ is teaching Peter and the apostles. And we talked about the keys of the kingdom that Christ would give to Peter was the power to seal and bind families together. And he asked if we could come aback and talk to him more about it! 

Another experience that had was with a former investigator this week. We went a back to teach her and her daughter. We taught them the restoration, and this time around you could tell that some more things clicked with them. About 4 years ago there was another daughter of the mom that was baptized. And she is currently up at BYU. 

At the conclusion of the lesson we talked to them about baptism. And they said that it was something that they wanted to work towards. But if they did continue they would want to be baptized when her daughter Cathy was home form BYU. So we are going back tomorrow to set a date with them for the last week of April or the 1st week of May. 

At church yesterday we also had two non members there that we may begin to teach in these coming weeks. They were both from part member families. And they have come consistently to church for the past few weeks. So we are excited to see what great things happen with them. 

Also this last week we went on exchanges with one of the district leaders. And we had a good exchange with them. They had a good planning session the night before, so they were prompted to go to a certain members home to check on them and see how they were doing. 

And so we knocked on the door and the family came to the door and they had been going through a really hard time. So we were able to go in and teach them about hope and faith in the atonement. By the time we had left they felt alot better and the mom asked me to give her a blessing. And so my companion and a member and I were able to give her a blessing. I am just so grateful for the way we are lead in this work. 

The elders the night previous had a prompting to visit this family and there ward, and then as we went into teach teach the spirit directed the conversation and as well as the blessing. I know that the Lord will continue to guide us! He truly is yesterday today and forever! Because he loves each of his Children he will listen and answer their prayers. I know this to be true with out a shadow of a doubt! 

Well just to close the week we had a zone conference and a mission president fireside! They both were so wonderful! This work is so great and so true!

Please keep praying for missionary opportunities! The Lord is hastening his work! 

Well I hope y'all have a great week! 

Elder Joshua V. Christensen

The field is white and ready to Harvest!

Hey everyone! It has been a great week! I don't have a ton to report this week, but Nikki and Pamela were baptized this last Saturday. It was a great little service! We had a harder time getting in with them to get things planned, but we were able to get it all figured out! And it was great! They had the majority of there family was able to attend which was great! Elder DeLuca Baptized Niki and then I was asked to baptized Pamela. 

It was so awesome to see how excited they were for there baptism. We went by this week like I said to plan the baptism but as well as that we taught them the last few principles of Lesson 5 which talks about missionary work and temples and family history. And when we talked about missionary with them they were about as excited as they could be! We asked them who they wanted to invite to their baptism and they just started listing off members of there family and extended family that were less active members or even not members of the church. They also talked about inviting different friends to attend. It was very neat! 

We sadly weren't able to see them confirmed on Sunday though because we had meetings the Stake presidency that morning. But they said it was so amazing. And then even brought some family members to church. Their older Brothers name is Orian and he said he wanted to start learning more. He is about 14 years old, and had a great time at church being with the teachers quorum. 

Other than that the only other thing to report on is specialized training and interviews. It felt quite different not being apart of the training with President and the Assistants. While I missed that for the first part it was still very nice to be able to listen to the meeting and help give feedback and training more one on one with the zone. We also had members of the stake their to discuss how to work more effectively with ward councils and with the members.

  So during the stakes training I went back with President Mortensen and had my first interview with him. I walked in and he looked at me and said, "Wait a minute is this our first official interview together since I have been here?" We kinda joked about it, but he said he was with me so much with training and we had contact almost daily he didn't need to interview me! But I had a great interview with him. 

We discussed more about the zone and potentially some changes that may take place with the zone. And then also he talked to me about where we are at in terms of getting on the Tomball lone star campus. He then helped me to think about some personal goals that I want to set between now and the end of my mission. So It was a great discussion and a great week! 

After my interview I just went back in and we helped train the missionaries on finding more effectively and we actually did role play door approaches with them. So we had 4 different doors they would knock on in the church building, and then they would practice talking to the person who answers the door and how to make it a conversation that is focused on the person and their families. And I think it did a lot to help the missionaries feel more comfortable. 

And looking at the key indicators this week again almost all of our areas have found new investigators each week in the zone! We know that along the way we are hear to plant seeds, but our main purpose as missionaries is to harvest. That is what all of our responsibilities are. 

I love how in the Doctrine and Covenants section for it says, if ye have a desire to serve God, you are called the work. The Lord needs every single one of us to accomplish his work as it hastens! I would invite you to think about if you have the desire to serve God, and if you don't how can you get it? Also what can you do to show God that you have a desire to bless his Children?

I love how in Enos it talks about the great change that took place in Enos after he had received forgiveness of his sins. He then began to pray for his brethren the Lamanites. Once we experience this change we want to bless the lives of others just as Enos did! But it doesn't just take prayer, it takes mighty prayer. 

I just have such a strong testimony that this is the Lords work, and he is preparing his children to receive the gospel. WE are seeing so many great things happening! 

Well I hope y'all have a wonderful week! And I would please just ask you to pray as a family each day for missionary opportunities. Be specific. I promise you that the Lord will bless you to see opportunities as you do this! I know that to be true! 

Elder Joshua V. Christensen