Week 46: Frank The Frontier

Buenas tardes desde Del Rio! It's already been a crazy few days here! Here's the rundown of my week:

My last day in San Pedro we were biking and this guy yelled to us. I didn't feel good about stopping to talk so I kept going but Elder Neddo stopped. I circled back around and right from the get go I could tell this guy was on somethin. He started asking us really bizarre questions while smoking and standing about a foot away from our faces. He then asked if we could say a prayer so we asked what he would like us to pray about and he said, "San Antonio! Mexico! The world...". He told us to move off the sidewalk and then knelt on the grass. We walked over and knelt with him and then he started praying while cussing every 2 seconds. Then he asked us something (I can't remember what it was) and we slowly looked up cause we didn't realize he had ended the prayer. We ended up all just kneeling there as he would ask a weird question and then stare into our eyes for awhile. FYI we were on a really busy road so there were tons of cars passing by probably wondering what the heck we were doing haha. He invited us to his "crib", we politely declined, and I went to give him knuckles and this man full on punched my hand so hard that it bled! We left pretty quick and then about 20 minutes later he showed up at the apartment complex we were at and walked right up to us while we were talking to someone else and reinvited us to his crib. We declined again and he went on his merry way. 

My first day in Del Rio was memorable to say the least. When I got to the mission office I found out we were getting a truck! We named him Frank. Then we drove the 3 hour drive to Del Rio and stopped at a little taco hut in a town called Knippa. When we got to Del Rio I got settled in and then we went to work. We were street contacting to close off the night and we asked if we could share a scripture with a guy walking out of his house. He said yeah so we read a scripture and started talking about our faith in God. He was cussing up a STORM and said, "Yeah I pray to that f*$ker every day!" Uhhh probably not the best thing to say my friend. Anyways... we asked what his name was and he said some Spanish name but that we could call him ice cream. We invited ice cream to church but unfortunately he didn't make it. Then this other guy told us to come back to his shed and he proceeded to tell us that we didn't understand him because we haven't been a marine. Then he blasted this prayer/rap song thing for us as he leaned against his Harley and sang along. He told us to call him dog and that we are his dogs. Before we left, he said that when he first saw us he looked at me and thought, "I know you, I see you, but I gotta deal with this motherf*$ker over here" *referring to Elder Mecham*. Elder Mecham and I couldn't stop laughing about it hahaha. People down here are interesting. 

We also had an inactive member low key bash with us and tell us that our testimonies aren't valid. I wanted to yell and cry at the same time but I didn't. I stayed cool... for the most part. 

Okay but guess what I got asked to do again?? Give a talk! Luckily our branch isn't too big though and it only has to be 5 minutes. 

This week's scripture is 2 Nephi 33:10-11. It says, "And now, my beloved brethren, and also Jew, and all ye ends of the earth, hearken unto these words and believe in Christ; and if ye believe not in these words believe in Christ. And if ye shall believe in Christ ye will believe in these words, for they are the words of Christ, and he hath given them unto me; and they teach all men that they should do good.

And if they are not the words of Christ, judge ye—for Christ will show unto you, with power and great glory, that they are his words, at the last day; and you and I shall stand face to face before his bar; and ye shall know that I have been commanded of him to write these things, notwithstanding my weakness". I love how bold Nephi is. I hope to have the same conviction in the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon truly testifies of Christ and it continually helps me learn of and come closer to my Savior. If any of y'all want to learn more about the Book of Mormon and how it can bless your life, shoot me a message!

I love y'all! 

- Elder Christensen

Pictures

1-6. Saying goodbye to my favorite people in San Pedro!!

7. The purple boundary is our area

8. Last lesson with Desiree!

9. A butterfly that just crawled right onto my hand

10. A beautiful mural in San Felipe

11. Frank!!

12. Bean street 

13. An abandoned house in San Felipe