Investigator giving birth on my birthday...today!

20 down, eternity to go…

If you didn't know I turned twenty today and man it is weird haha, I beat teen pregnancy! (As my investigators said).

Today I have been thinking a lot about the last 20 years of my life and how old my parents and brother and sisters are haha. In the last ten years of my life… I went through puberty, high school, friends, relationships, states, phases, I’ve made mistakes… a lot of them, I have had success… (here and there) and I have grown in more ways than I can comprehend. And looking back on these last years, sure I have some things that I guess I regret here and there but truly over all I wouldn't really want to change a thing. If I hadn't done the things I have done I would not be “the me” I am today, I would not have the conviction that the gospel is restored that I have. I would not act the way I do. Sure bad things have happened all throughout my life but really the past is history. We learn and we move on and start anew every day to become better and stronger.

This is going to be a pretty groovy couple of years coming up I think. Some even bigger decisions are going to be made. Where I go to school, my future career, my spouse, and if I can keep the same tone of the gospel I have on my mission. And though all these things are happening. I am not afraid. I will not fear because I know the Lord will take care of it.

Today was also pretty solid because Mark and Heather, my investigators, went in this morning to have their baby, and they called us and asked us to come give Heather a blessing beforehand at 6 A.M. Feb 23rd 2015, so my day started off pretty sweet, having a baby of one of your best friends born on your b-day is awesome. And after we gave her the blessing she sighed and smiled and said she felt so much better. Then I hugged Mark for a long time and while I did that I thought about how scared he was when we walked in the room. In a few short hours he was going to be a father. Then after the blessing and after the hug, things just seemed to melt away and peace came into the room. It was incredible. I am not ready to have a kid right now I have realized, that is why I am on a mission and not home married to my future wife. I still have a couple steps I need to make to be the father I need to be. So with the years to come, do not fear for the Lord is your Shepard…

I come home this year and it is weird, kinda sad, but kinda happy, don't worry about me out there cause I am doing good:). I am happy to give on my birthday for the Lord and for my friends, family and future family.

I love you all so much please be safe.

love elder c

Picking up a dog (literally) on Valentine's Day....

So Valentine’s Day sucks haha, just kidding but only kinda. The whole day was us going out and talking and trying to teach people, but they were all too busy doing things with their girlfriends and wives, and as a missionary we can only be with a dude, so people were giving us weird looks all day. But it happens, seasons of love are good. It’s good that they are strengthening their relationships on that day and coming closer as a couple... while I am chasing down a dog that was in the middle of the street that jumped out of a guy’s pickup and he had a bad back so he asked me to pick it up for him..... What a day haha.

But ya, I said this week I was going to talk a little bit about drawing lines in the sand. We were visiting with a less active member of our congregation and we were talking about drawing lines in the sand and being the person you need to be. In life tons of crap will come our way and tons of decisions we will have to make that are important will just show up out of nowhere without any warning.

For Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, they had a similar story, they were faced with the challenge of king Nebuchadnezzar. He had made a golden image and he gathered everyone together and told them when the bell rings or when the music plays, bow down and worship this image I made and if you don't, I will cast you into the furnace. I don't think it is a coincidence that he gathered everyone together, a lot of times in our life we are faced with peer pressure and if everyone else is doing it, it’s a lot easier to justify it and do it as well. So literally everyone that was gathered together, bowed down and worshiped the idol.

I’m guessing 50 percent only did it because everyone else was. Everyone except the crew of 3, the dream team, they stood up for what they believed in and said no. And they said that they “care not for to answer the king”. So they were bold, they didn't care what he would do to them because they already made up their minds that they would only serve and worship their God. The only God. So the king gets the furnace super-hot and throws them in right. And while they are in there, Christ is with them and saves them. I like that it says “the image of the 4th being was as the Son of God” because there is no way that an evil king hundreds of years before Christ was even born could know what Christ looked like. So I believe that when we see Christ we will know Him…

 Anyway, they were saved and made rulers and kings. So they stood up for what was right and were rewarded. I challenge everyone out there to metaphorically or literally think about some major things in life and find out where you stand. I know that as you do this when the time comes you will know what to do.

I love you all and I am sorry it was short this week. I have to go, be safe.

Love elder c

Back on a bike and there are such things as happy endings...

I like to ride my bicycle, I like to ride my bike, I like to ride my bicycle, I like to ride it where I like…if you couldn't tell I am back on a bike haha. Some other missionaries in Sonora’s car broke down and they are in a small town so they need a car.... apparently .... but they asked if anyone in the city would offer up theirs, so we said we could. And the day we did that the weather turned from cold to 75 and sunny for a week now so we are blessed haha. Only downside is that we have to bike a few miles to get to the edge of our area, but no big deal.

This week was rad. I learned a lot about myself this week. I think I have grown more in a different way than I ever have before :) So a while back we were teaching a less active member in our ward who was not willing to come back to church because of anti-Mormon literature, which if you didn't know, more anti-Mormon literature is printed about an hour away from me than anywhere else in the world. So if you know me you know I am a passionate guy when I know something. And if I come to the knowledge of it I will defend it till the day I die. So this conversation got a little bit intense we will say nonetheless and I blew the spirit all over him haha. Then we left and we did not stop by for a while after that. A couple months to be in fact. And I was feeling pretty weary about the whole thing.

So we went back and they let us in the door. And instead of coming with my passionate approach like I did last time, the spirit told me to just love and I saw this man for who he truly is and we just loved him. Then he really started opening up to us and it reminded me of the scripture in Doctrine and Covenants 121: 43. It says something along the lines of you can only chasten those whom you love and if you chasten someone, you have to show them love immediately after.

 I then applied this to my family and future family to see how I could best help them. And I thought about how me and my wife are going to get into fights and when we do, we always have to say something positive after we do to make things right. In the scripture it says how we must afterward show a greater love for them. And it is sometimes hard for us to have a greater love for someone we just got mad at. I know that with the little fights if you can get through it, it will only make you stronger, and the love I have for this less active has grown so much now.  I also learned a lot about drawing lines in the sand which I will share more about next week.

 But I love you guys so much. Be safe out there in this world. You are in my prayers and I am here for you… and by the way the less active member came back to church this week. So there are such things as happy endings haha.

love elder c  

I am I am a religious man...

I am I am, I am I am, I am I am a religious man.

This week was pretty rad, it’s like a whole new world here in San Angelo with a new companion, it really does change everything the person you are with haha. So I am seeing how important an "eternal companion" is going to be haha.

Heard that the Patriots won the Super Bowl, haha everyone was pretty intense about it down here, I seriously believe that Super Bowl Sunday is the hardest day for missionary work in all of West Texas! Even If the two teams playing are two teams that everyone here could care less about haha!  It’s awesome. So many people wanted to have us come by and watch it with them. I was pretty sad I had to say no, but I completely think it is a direct blessing that me being on a mission is the two years that the Seahawks make it to the Super Bowl. So your welcome all of the Seahawks fans out there haha.

But this week we had a pretty powerful lesson with a guy named Chris. A few years back he was in his house and a member of a rival gang came to his window where he and his little 10 year old brother were sleeping. The rival gang member shot through the window six times. In result hitting his younger brother in the head and him in the arm. He then picked up his brother and ran him to the hospital down the road. He said that no God would let that happen. No God would let his little brother die like that. Answer me that question Elder Christensen, answer me that question. No one has been able to tell me the answer before....

I paused for a long while... it seems like it would be easy to answer him, but for some reason the spirit was telling me I needed to say it just right. I began to tell him about God’s love for all of his children. Even the gunman who shot his brother. Then the conversation moved to God loves us so much He will not interfere with our agency. We then began to teach him about our purpose on earth and who we all truly are. Sons and daughters, Princes and Princesses to the God of the most high. We read Alma chapter 60 with him. Then the spirit told me to share with him something that I believe is too sacred and personal to share with the world, but after our conversation concluded there was silence for a long time. He then said, “thank you.......I can feel Him”. We then hugged, we said our loves and then we didn't talk again. It was a powerful experience. There is a God. I know him, I... have never felt him more strongly than on that day. And I will spend the rest of my life trying to get that feeling again. Sometimes God works through us in ways we don't understand, but I plead with all of you to let Him lead your life. I promise you won’t regret it.

I am blessed to be a missionary and I love being exactly where I am. I love you all so much.

Love elder c