Coincidence? I Think Not!

Hello family and friends.  This week has been another one of the same old same old.  This one definitely ended on a high note.  Well, some good and some less good.  But anyway, let's jump in.

 

First off, thank you for all the insights on the ward council question.  I love what you all had to say.  I'll let you know how it all goes!  Good news on that front.  We have the zone leaders in our ward, so President has a direct feed on how everything is going.  He sent his 1st council Pres. Gutierrez to observe.  Miraculously, everybody (and I mean EVERYBODY) was there.  It was so perfect.  Part of me, going into it, hoped that it would be a typical week with few there, but after it was all over, I realize how perfect it was to have everybody there.  President got to see all the potential that was there.  You could just feel like something cool was about to happen.  He came in and told everybody to forget about what they knew about missionary work, because everything is about to change.  He gave us some cool ideas to use our talents to get to know more people.  One of those was tutoring kids on the condition that they have a nonmember there with them.  Then bishop added, many of our youth are going off to college soon, but all of them had a tough time with math.  Coincidence?  I think not!  So ya, we're going to try to get something going with that soon.  Also, because of the little talk, the young men's president got a commitment from every young man that if we call a day ahead, each would be willing to come out with us.  Cool stuff is on the way.

 

Unfortunately, we have transfer calls this upcoming Saturday.  So next email, you'll be getting an update of what's happening.  Elder Smith and I have been together for 3 transfers (almost 4.5 months) so we are pretty sure our time together is over.  We would love a 4th, but it's pretty unlikely.  Elder Smith has been here for close to 6 months, so we assume he is more likely to go, especially considering I was just made District Leader here. 

 

Cool news, Jaime could be getting baptized this upcoming Sunday!  We think everything is good to go.  This whole process has been a long one, but it could be done this Sunday!  That would be the perfect way for Elder Smith and I to finish out.  As a reminder, Jaime is an excommunicated member we have been working with.  There was a period of weeks when we weren't sure if he was a member or not because he couldn't remember what had happened with all that.  But ya, we're hoping to baptize him this week.

 

The Garcia family are having a bit of a tough time.  I mentioned that the mom, Rosa, was in the hospital.  On Tuesday, they had to release her because they didn't have enough money.  We went by on Wednesday and we gave her a blessing, and now she seems to be doing a bit better.  Hector's original baptismal date was this Sunday, but we haven't taught him everything yet.  We have been focusing a lot on making sure Rosa is okay and comforting them all regarding that whole situation.  We are hoping this delay will mean that they'll be able to get baptized together a bit later.

 

Now, just briefly, there is a ward family that we have been stopping by often because they've been having tons of problems.  Well this week, the daughter started having panic attacks and they had no idea what was going on.  So I was able to talk with her a bit and explain what was going on, and you could just see a huge weight get lifted off her shoulders.  It was awesome to be a part of that.

 

So ya, this week had a lot of ups and downs, but we're going to finish this last week strong.  We're super stoked for it.

 

Love you all, and thanks for all your prayers!

 

Elder Christensen

Thought for the week:  

"The influence of Satan is a lot more flashy and attention grabbing than that of our Heavenly Father.  If you wonder if God is doing anything for you or you don't think he is, then you just have to look a little bit harder."  -- Elder Christensen, Jul 29, 2013 :)