Week 18: The Big 1 9

Heyoooo 

The weather really cooled down this week so I was able to wear a sweater!! If you know me, you know I love sweaters. So I was very happy. 

My birthday was on Thursday!! We went out to dinner as a district which was so fun! My mom was so kind to send birthday decorations and have cupcakes delivered to my apartment so we had a little party after 9. We also popped popcorn and watched The Phone Call cause it's the closest thing to a movie that's accessible to us lol. So honestly we didn't do much for my birthday but it was refreshing to not have a birthday all focused on me. We even found two people that night and we had a really good lesson with one of them just a few hours ago!

Wednesday night we had the biggest thunderstorm I've ever experienced. We had about thirty minutes until we needed to be in bed, but we were like let's go outside. So we ran around in the parking lot and got completely soaked. It was seriously so fun.

Elder Gonzales and I decided to do our weekly planning on a playground cause it was the only shaded area at the park. (FYI there were no children at the park) Then this cranky lady walked by and asked if she needed to report us haha. I guess we probably did look a little suspicious but she didn't need to be so feisty about it. 

We had an impromptu lesson with our friend Axel on Friday! We stopped by his house because the last time we called him a woman answered and said she didn't know who Axel was. Come to find out, it was his wife who answered the phone, but she didn't know who we were so she didn't want us to know we had the right number haha. We had a good lesson with Axel though! He was drinking so he was a little out of it but he honestly asked a lot of great questions that we were able to answer. He's really interested in our message and coming to church, so I'm excited to see what will happen with him!

We had an awesome lesson with Miguel this last week! We talked about baptism (again, haha) so I shared my baptism experience and I was on the verge of tears. I was only 8 when I was baptized, but I remember when I came out of the baptismal font I was overcome with the spirit and I started bawling. I knew at that moment that I had done the right thing and that the church was true. When I told Miguel that story the spirit confirmed those things to me again, which really strengthened my testimony. I've never really been one to share my testimony, but since I've been on my mission I've seen how important it is. It's not only good for the people you're talking to but it's so good for you and is one of the best ways to strengthen your testimony. So share your testimony!! No matter how simple or small you may think think is.  

Last night I had the thought to call one of our friends that we haven't been able to contact. He answered and while we were talking to him he started crying and told us that some of his family died recently and his girlfriend betrayed him. We told him that Jesus Christ understands how he feels and that the Book of Mormon can give him peace. He told us that he was praying that someone would be able to help him right before we called. Isn't that amazing?? It's crazy how a simple thought was actually a spiritual prompting. The Holy Ghost works in quiet and simple ways and that's why it's so easy to push off those promptings sometimes. Just remember that those little thoughts you have could be from the spirit, so don't ignore them!

Have an amazing week!

Elder Christensen

Pictures

1. Birthday boy

2. Weekly planning on the playground

3. Rewarding ourselves with mint lemonade smoothie because we hit our finding goal for the week

4. Pretty clouds feat. the moon 

5. My birthday package from the fam

6. Rocking our new jackets that Miguel gave us

7. Dancing in the rain

8. A new innovative way to baptize