July 2

Bon Semaine mes chers!

 

How is everyone doing? I heard Jacob is moving back to college and quitting pizz hut, THAT'S gotta be exciting! What else is new in the Christensen family world?

 

My week was fantastic. Now that it's over. We started out just averagely, except we did exchanges on Wednesday which is ALWAYS a blessing! Miracle splits. :P My new district leader Elder Williams is on his last transfer in the mission, and is positively bursting at the seam with little tidbits of wisdom he wishes he would have known at the beginning of his mission. I really learned a lot that day, and a lot of it was stuff that I think other missionaries have been trying to teach me, I've just been too stubborn to learn. He talked a lot about why we have Junior and Senior companions (because if any of you know me you probably won't be surprised to hear that I sometimes struggle when I'm told NOT to take charge of a situation.... hah...), and he asked me a really good question. He said "Elder Christensen, you won't be a greenie forever. Someday soon you'll be the experienced missionary, and someone else will be looking at you for guidance. When that time comes, what do you want from that other missionary?" It just hit me then. We're always trying to do our best, and to be the best, and to take all the responsability, to "lean on the arm of our own understanding", and sometimes we try too hard. Maybe this is a problem that most of the world doesnt struggle with, but hopefully there's someone out there besides me that can learn from this. :P But, the thing I took from it was that everything is important. EVERYTHING. It's a concept that gets talked about a lot, that the feet are just as important as the head, but it really came home to me this week. The Lord asks us to serve in the church for two reasons, A) He needs us there to help others learn and grow, and B) He has something He wants us to learn. So the phrase "magnify your calling" doesn't mean "Act like you're an Apostle all the time", it means be the best Relief society President you can be! It means be the best home teacer, the best Junior companion, whatever it is. It was a very humbling experience.

 

After our miracle split on Wednesday, we had a few very unproductive days. We were lead on by a member family and ended up spending HOURS at a bbq, doing nothing of any interest, then our investigator changed his mind on working on his house and didn't update us, just stuff like that. We still spent time with our investigators and stuff, we just FELT unproductive and helpless. Then Yesterday was Canada Day (a tiny Canadian version of the fourth of July), so we weren't allowed out after six p.m..... and it was looking like another heplessly unproductive day, but! Miracles do happen! We were busy all day long, we were super productive, and we spent the evening with a ward family that made us feel like part of said family. Yesterday was a great day. I'm beginning to feel like enduring to the end is the principle that missions are designed to teach people. :P

 

Well, that's about it for this week. I received a great spiritual thought from Elder Bruner that I'm going to steal instead of coming up with my own. It's about chastisement. In the Bible, Jesus chastised Peter a lot. Like a lot. I could be wrong, but I think Peter was the person in the Bible who received the most direct chastisement from the Lord. But, why? Peter was a great guy, why was Christ so hard on him? Doctrine and Covenants to the rescue! D&C 95:1, "The Lord chastises those He loves". Whenever we receive chastisement from the Lord, it's meant to better us. To make us stronger. Jesus Christ also chastised Judas Iscariot in the Bible. The difference between these two Apostles of the Lamb, chosen as such for their great potential, was in the way they reacted to chastisement. Peter humbled himself, and learned, and was shaped into the man who would hold the church together after Christ was gone. Judas became angry, and refused to learn, and ended up betraying his Savior. Think about it. Think about the last time you were given some "constructive criticism" by a loved one, or a church leader. How did you react? I'm afraid I have a tendancy to follow Judas' path, and become angry. Therein lies misery. Please, all of you, seek out opportunites to learn! Ask your spouse, your parents, your children, how you can be a better father, mother, husband, child. Accept their advice, accept chastisement gladly, learn! Humble yourselves, let the Lord bring you low, so that he can lift you up.

 

I love all of you! And so does the Lord. Til next week!

 

--
Elder Christensen