Week 92

(Monday, September 8, 2014)

Hello family and friends!

This week was another roller coaster week!  Man, it's draining me. We'll get the lows out of the way again.

So, part 1.  No contact with Nancy still.  We have decided we won't try again till Sunday night to give her a little bit of space.  We got really close to having contact with her on Saturday, but it wasn't the best circumstances.  So we'll see how that goes.

Part 2.  Santiago was doing SOOO well.  We took Bishop with us on one of the lessons and we were super stoked about how well everything was going.  We still had daily lessons with him.  He slipped up on Saturday, cancelled the lesson we had Saturday night, then didn't come to church.  Buh...so close.  We hopefully will see him today.

Now the good stuff.  This part made my week.  It was awesome!

So Sandra came to church again (4 weeks in a row! She's headed for Raul and Rosy status!)  After Sacrament Meeting, we were talking and there were two things that she told me that blew my mind.  As you are reading this, keep in mind that we have been teaching her for a month.

So in our first lesson with her, we also taught her sister.  She didn't act quite as interested, but we still saw some potential.  We haven't seen her for about a month.  Sandra said that she has been talking to her about how awesome church is, but that she isn't interested at the moment.  Now get this!  She said something like this, "So ya, at this point, I don't want to keep forcing her.  I have seen the changes in myself since I've been coming to church and I know it will help her, but if I try forcing her to do it, she won't get anywhere. So I think that I'll just keep talking to her about what things we talked about in church and how it's helped me.  Then, with time, she'll see my example and want to come."  Speechless... Whenever there are moments like this, I feel like my responses are always super unintelligent.  Something along the lines of, "Uh, well...yes...exactly.  I totally agree with what you said. Wow, you're smart."  I don't know.  I always feel like a dork.

Well, in case that wasn't enough, here's something else from that same conversation.  "So I was talking to Alonso about some stuff, and he brought up some stuff that his mom said about the Evangelical church that she goes to.  Then as we were talking, the question came to my mind: Why are there so many churches?"  Pause in the story.  At this point, I'm hoping she says, "I remember you told us that..." or "I remember reading in the pamphlet that...".  But her response was even better.  Continuing... "So I picked up the Book of Mormon and opened it to a random page and I got my answer.  If I remember right, it was in 3 Nephi 27.  It said something about if it's Moses's church it will be named the church of Moses and if it's the church of a man then...I don't know, something like that.  Then it said if it's Christ's church, it will be called in his name.  Then I thought about the name of the church.  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Christ's name is right there.  So this church must be true."  Again, it was followed up by a super unintelligent response.  Speechless. Uhh...ya...that's right.

In case you're wondering what the verse in 3 Nephi 27 says, here it is:

And how be it my church save it be called in my name? For if a church be called in Moses’ name then it be Moses’ church; or if it be called in the name of a man then it be the church of a man; but if it be called in my name then it is my church, if it so be that they are built upon my gospel. (3 Nephi 27:8)

Ya, wow. But wait, there's more.  Still the same conversation.

Sandra: "So Alonso still isn't sure if it's okay to get baptized a second time.  His mom said that you should only get baptized once, so he's not really convinced of that part yet." 
Me: "Okay, so you were baptized in the Baptist church, so why do you want to be baptized again?"
Sandra: "Well I don't feel like it counted.  They don't have that power since it's a church of men."

She is amazing.

Thanks for all the love and prayers and support.

Elder Christensen