I am here in the MTC. It is cold here ;) I had a wonderful first day. I arrived a day before all of the other missionaries because I am considered an international missionary. I have a dot that means they need to see how good my english is :). Well, like I said I had a wonderful day and since I came in on a tuesday I was able to go to my first devotional yesterday. Elder Richard G. Hinckley came and talked to us along with his wife Sister Hinckley. We sang a few songs and I recognized the conductor for the music. He was in Hong Kong a little while back and I forgot his name but I think it was something like Brother Benchley. It was exciting to see him though I didn't get to talk with him yet. Elder and Sister Hinckley gave wonderful talks and made a few points that I know are important for missionary work. Sister Hinckley told us to work on writing in our journal every day for at least 5 min because writing in a journal can help us see the Lord's hand working in our lives. I have come to find this out for myself earlier and I know that it is an important task and the reason we have the scriptures today is because the prophets took the time to write in their journal. Elder Hinckley gave us counsel to personalize our message and really bring out why the gospel is important to us and how we came to know the things we know. Also, he told us to love the people. After devotional we shared what we learned from the meeting. I know that it is so importa
nt to love the people that we teach. I thought about why we learn the language of the people we are teaching and why I was learning Mandarin when most of the people in San Jose probably speak both Mandarin and English quite well. Then the thought entered my mind that the reason we learn their language is to show our love for the people. When we learn their language we take the time to really know how to explain the simple truths of the gospel to the investigators in a way that they understand.I have my Box number for you to send me packages when you want :)
The box number is: 243
so if you look in the packet that I left at home you can find the rest of my addresses. I love you all and know that this gospel is true :)
Sincerely,
Elder Christensen
P.S. I was also able to meet the mandarin missionaries and take a class with the missionaries who have been here for about 6 weeks and found that my mandarin isn't terrible but can still use a lot of work ;)
