Teach people not lessons

This last week was another good week. Our numbers for teaching lessons were down, but I am okay with that because we taught more people. We had Zone Conference last week and that is something that I learned about. Is that we are constantly teaching. Why we eat, sit, email, find, teach, etc... We are teaching. And we should be teaching people and to their needs instead of just teaching what we study. We saw some miracles with that (later in letter).. We also learned about the power of testimonies. President Hall told a story that he heard about his friend's son that served in Hong Kong... One night he was on exchanges and 9 o clock was approaching to go home, but they decided to talk to one more person. They walked and found a person and started talking to him. The guy said that he traveled a lot, knew Mormons, knew the message, and wasn't interested but thanked them and kind of started to walk away. The missionary felt impressed to bear his testimony, so asked the guy if he could and he said yes and he shared it with him and then they left in separate directions. That guy then went on vacation and the missionary had no knowing about him and the guy said that his testimony just stuck in his mind and kept coming back. So as he was gone, he decided to take the lessons and him and his family got baptized.. Cool right? Well then the guy came back to Hong Kong and went to church and the same missionary was still in that area and so the guy went up to him and asked if he remembered him, he said he knew the face, but didn't know where, so the guy told him and told him that him and his family got baptized. He told them that next week he would bringing some more family to church and he wanted the missionary to teach them. So the next Sunday he brought 36 family members to church that were from mainland China! And the missionary taught them and a couple weeks later there were 36 baptisms in that ward... Cool right? Well that was a HUGE number and really not common haha. So the Area Authority came to the mission and interviewed the missionaries to make sure they weren't being disobedient and going over to the mainland because the church is very protective of that. They told him the story and then even Elder Holland came over to interview them! And they told their story and all was OKAY haha... Cool right? So then with in another month 100 more people came from mainland China and got baptized as well in that ward!!! Cool right? So 136 total baptisms in about 2 months from 1 simple testimony. The other miracle is that the 3rd branch I think? in mainland China was started from that. Sooo... I am going to share my testimony with others a lot more! And I hope you do too.

Saturday we were STRUGGGLING. We had like 6 lessons set up at one point and the first five canceled haha. So as we were walking down the street, I looked at a house and saw a "casita" (a decoration Spanish people always have that is just a little house by the door usually.)... And I had the thought to knock it. I was sooo just frustrated that I had no idea how the spirit was with me haha, but anyways we knocked the door and a guy comes out and tells us his name before we could talk, starts talking a lot, and invites us in, but I could tell he was handicap or something wasn't quite right, so I said.... "well... Umm.. we just want to pray with you right here outside." haha and he looked really confused, but I just did not have a good feeling about going inside, so I was thinking to myself, "Elder Christiansen, you are horrible at following the Spirit" haha.. So then all of a sudden a car pulls up in the driveway and she rolls down her window and talks to her brother and tells him to go inside and tells us that he is handicap. So we start talking to her (in Spanish) and she says she has heard our message before and just doesn't agree with it and isn't really interested and she is getting baptized in some other christian church... So I ask her what her doubt was or whatever. And she explained to us that she understood that the Book of Mormon was actually our bible. She thought we believed the real bible is a fake bible and that Moroni buried the REAL and TRUE bible haha. She said the missionaries that taught her in Puerto Rico couldn't really speak Spanish and it had been 15 years. I was on exchanges, so my companion didn't speak Spanish, so I went on to explain everything and the Restoration and bore testimony talked with her, asked some questions and at the end we both were enlightened by the spirit, it was freezing cold outside and I just had a white shirt on, but the spirit warmed me up haha. And then she said, "next week I'm coming to your church and I want you to teach my daughter and her family as well!" She said she couldn't come this Sunday because she had to go to her church. I told her that this Sunday was testimony meeting and very special and so she said with a smile, I'm coming tomorrow then! So that was cool. Sunday came and she didn't show up, and neither did a lot of investigators that we were sure would come. I was upset a little bit. But then testimony meeting was a little crazy you could say! The craziest one I have ever been in for sure. So I am glad they didn't come at the end of the day... I had to repent for bickering... like always. At the end of the day I learned, teach people not lessons, bear testimony, and the Lord has a purpose for everything and knows best!

 

Well love you all! Thanks for your prayers!

Elder Christiansen

#GMC$