Week 70: The End Of An Era

Leaving Del Rio last week was pretty hard for me. I'm gonna miss that place. I will always cherish the memories I made there. 

I got to Pleasanton last Thursday and it's been wild ever since! This area is massive so we're driving a lot. We cover about 13+ small towns so figuring out our schedule for the day/week is pretty tough. If I'm being honest this area is quite the train wreck. My companion has no idea what's going on, most of the allotted miles we get to drive have already been used up, some people haven't been contacted in months, and the ward has not been working with us efficiently. I also had to clean the whole apartment when I got here because boys apparently don't know how to clean and I'm constantly killing cockroaches. Needless to say, I've been pretty stressed but I'm ready to get this area cleaned up and running. 

Despite the craziness we've been able to find 5 new people to teach and someone we're teaching is ready to get baptized! So there's light at the end of the tunnel! And something I do like about this area is that it reminds me of Idaho! There are fields and cows for miles and miles. Sometimes I feel like I'm in an old western movie being out here haha. 

Last week when I was feeling down I looked back at some of my first journal entries on my mission and something I said a lot was that I knew my mission would be worth it. At the moment the stress and sadness was overwhelming and being here did not feel worth it. But after I saw the optimism I had at the beginning of my mission I felt inspired to keep pushing forward. This applies to living the gospel as well. There are many times where living the gospel will be difficult but it IS worth it. While the prophet, Joseph Smith, was suffering in liberty jail the Lord said to him, "My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment; And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes" (D&C 121:7-8). Through all our times of trouble, Christ is there with us and we will be rewarded for our perseverance and faith.

- Elder Christensen

Pictures

- Last lesson with Isis and Alex

- The Long family

- A really old house we did service at

- Last visit with Savannah and Ryan

- Last chick-fil-a run with the Del Rio district

- One of the many fields in Pleasanton

- A huge pile of pallets that they used for a bonfire at the Del Rio high school

- Me and my new companion, Elder Rosengren

- The huge pallet bonfire