Monday, June 17, 2013

Last one :(

Well I wish I could reflect on my whole mission and let you know how I feel about everything, but words really aren't able to describe it. It has been such a blessing to so many people and I have a heart full of gratefulness for that.

So there was a great experience this last week. Sunday the 9th, I fasted for just one more miracle my last week in my new area in Apopka. It was amazing! We were so blessed!!!! With more than just one.
1) This 21 yr old named Gabriel had been investigating for a while, but never came to church. Sat. the 8th we visited him and were going to drop him, but instead we felt like we should give him one last chance. So we invited him to church. He said he would go if his family went. Well Sunday came and his family didn't come, but he came by himself. We went to the YSA class with him and he made some friends! Then this last Saturday we had an appointment with him and he said he really liked church and felt peaceful afterwards. He came yesterday to church as well and enjoyed it. He is getting baptized this Saturday! :)
2) We set a baptismal date with Melissa and her two boys for the 29th of June. They are amazing!
3) THE COOLEST ONE! So yesterday we were tracting and we felt like we would see a miracle. And so we knocked a door and the guy to my surprise let us right in without even a great contact haha. We sat down and it was him and his wife. He said his gma and mom were Mormon, but that he wasn't ever baptized that he couldn't remember. And we talked a little bit and he said he was in the military. I asked him where he was stationed. He said, "Oh in a naval base in Nevada." I was like "Wait! Fallon?!" And he said yes. Haha. So we became best friends like that. I asked him if he ever went to the dentist. He said yes. He thought his name was Christiansen haha. Said he was young, kind of bald and had glasses. I told him that he has some hair still. So I think his dentist was Donny, he said Donny would remember him because he had to like order a whiter tooth or whiter paste because his teeth were too white for what they had and so Donny like ordered one straight from his pocket or something. His name was Brandon. Ya, he and his wife are going to get baptized! 

Monday, June 10, 2013

MIRACLE WEEEEEEEEK!

Your prayers worked miracles this last week! It was an amazing week. So last week I told you about Armando and asked you to pray for him. He is the one who visits only for a week at a time about once every other month. So Sunday he came to church and we couldn't get an appt. with him. He told us he was leaving on Friday. So Monday we bought him a white shirt (we thought maybe that's why he hadn't got baptized cuz he didn't have a white shirt... haha.. hey it happens) Anyways it was a good excuse to go over, so that night we went over and gave him the shirt but he was real tired, so we couldn't teach him, he didn't really seem interested in talking either so I lost a lot of faith in getting him baptized this last week. Tuesday from 12-6 we had tracting planned 6-7 was a lesson and 7-8 was a dinner with a less active family and we had some people to visit after the dinner. So we hit 5 o clock and we are dead from tracting. And then both our 6 o clock and 7 o clock canceled. We were soaking wet from the rain and we were pretty frustrated, so we continued tracting and went home at 6 to dry our clothes and grab a bite to eat. As we thought what to do, Armando came to our mind. So at 7 we took over one of my comps ties and a picture of him and his family at the temple that my comp printed off from the temple tour we did with them at his last visit a month and a half ago. He answered the door, he said we could sit down, we gave him the picture. Then he told us he was thinking about getting baptized that week! So we told him, yes yes yes yes do it. please. So we got his interview on Wednesday for him and baptized on Thursday! It was a miracle and a half. I realized the blessing of the appointments canceled on Tuesday and had to repent for thinking I knew better than the Lord and for not accepting His will at first and murmuring. Anyways I called up President Hall for permission to confirm him as well at the baptism since he was leaving Friday and wouldn't be at church. He said yes, and I invited him to come to the baptism, and he came. He actually knows the family really well. And at the end he said a couple of words. He mentioned how he and Sister Hall were praying for him that they would see him get baptized before they left on July 1st. POWERFUL. EVERYONE was praying for him including many of you and I am so grateful for that. His name was even in the temple! :)...
 
Then on Friday, President called me to tell me I would be getting Emergency Transferred. So that night I packed up my stuff and went to APOPKA. It is still in our district, and I knew I was going to be getting ET'd over there because the elder had some joint problems and couldn't walk real well and doctors couldn't figure it out and President had been talking to me quite a bit throughout last week and warned me that I would probably leave. He was such a good elder. It was sad to see him have to leave. He will be back though once they figure out how to help him. So my last week of my mission is in a new area. We had a baptism on Sunday here with a guy that I have met a couple of times because of exchanges. So that was cool haha. And this week my old area has a baptism as well on Saturday. The Lord has blessed me so much at the end of my mission. It is great! :) I love it.
 
Pray for me to love tracting my last week please. I still am doing fine on teaching and getting out and doing missionary work. But I am dragging my feet when the appointments fall through and I know we have to tract. haha. I'm gonna finish strong though!
 
Love you all!

Monday, June 3, 2013

Livin' la vida loca!

So I am really loving life right now. Just trying to get as much out of the short time that I have. Things have been going great though. Our companionship is doing amazing and we are having a blast. We had some new investigators come to church this week and also we had the couple that has to get married come to church on Sunday. And we had the one guy that goes to Texas and back come back and he came with his family. He is pretty awesome. His name is Armando and his family is all baptized, but him. He knows it is true, loves the BofM, keeps the commandments, goes to church every Sunday in Texas. Wants to be baptized, but just hasn't done it yet. I am baffled on why not. We are trying to get him to receive the blessings of the gospel this week. Please pray for him specifically and also pray for miracles. We have been being blessed a lot. We found a kid named Andres. He is 20. Good heart and very sincere. We have passed by 3 times now and he loves it. We are going to try to get his family involved. The group here is doing good as well. They are doing some missionary work. We are going to an FHE tonight with a family and their friends that they invited over. And also a member that just moved here and came to church yesterday said he has a referral for us. So we are super pumped about that. I have started to write down life lessons that I have learned from my mission. It is amazing to reflect and see how the Lord is preparing me for the future. I have realized that my mission was a blessing and not a sacrifice.
 
We are loving life, we have a good week planned ahead of us. Please pray for miracles. We love them! thank you for all your support, love, and prayers!
Love,
Elder Christiansen