Living Water

Hello my dearest family,

Guess what!?!?! Tanner and Ali are getting married on February 18th!!!!!!!!! AHHH!!!!! I wish them all the best and I am guessing that there will be some travelling this week. I love you all. Let me tell you about what we discussed in Church on Sunday, it was really cool. We talked about John 3-4 and discussed the terms "Born Again" and "Living Water."

During our discussion of being "born again" I had two words pop into my mind. Sanctification and Consecration. When we are baptized with both the water and fire we are born again. In baptism we make a covenant with God in which we decide to consecrate our lives to Him. We then give Him our old lives and allow the Spirit to sanctify us so that we can start a new life dedicated to our Heavenly Father's service. I know that through the Spirit and the power of the Atonement our lives can be cleansed of sin. I know that our faith is what gives us power to accomplish all that is asked of us. Through our faith and action we are then given the opportunity to have the Spirit sanctify our lives. But we need to show the Lord that our promise to Him is something that we take seriously.

"Living Water"

John 4:10 "Jesus answered and said unto her, if thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to me, Give me drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water." In this verse Jesus is talking to the Samaritan woman at the well. I realized that in just a few words Christ teaches this woman how to receive revelation through prayer. He says that if the woman knew who Christ was and that He was sent by God, the woman would have asked God and received revelation, "thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water." One definition of living water that I was given that day was revelation. I know that God lives and that He speaks with man through revelation. That is why we have a prophet. He is called as one to receive revelation for the Church and the World. But, we can receive revelation specific for us as well through our faith, prayers, scripture study, and church attendance. I know this to be true.

Sarah, I have thought a lot about you recently. I know that it can be hard to adjust to adult life. To live away from family. I have found that something which helps me to stay strong is my knowledge of who I am. In the front page of the Young Women Personal Progress Book it states, "You are a beloved daughter of Heavenly Father, prepared to come to the earth at this particular time for a sacred and glorious purpose." I know that these words are true. I would invite you to read the talk from President Uchtdorf titled, "Your Happily Ever After" and really ponder who you are.Then write down on a card one sentence to help you remember and read this card each morning. I know that as you do this you lay a foundation that destroys the lies that are thrown at you during the day. I know that Satan works hard to tear down the righteous women of this world but remember "You are a beloved daughter of Heavenly Father, prepared to come to the earth at this particular time for a sacred and glorious purpose." You are a daughter of God. If you wake up each morning and infuse truth into your mind then the lies of the world will not matter.

Do you remember the book "You Are Special"? The one with the wooden men and women who give stars to those who they think are good and dots to those who they think are bad. One of these wooden men wasn't able to do anything to impress the others and so he would get dots all the time. It made him depressed. Then he saw one girl who had no stars or dots. When the others would try to put stars or dots on her they just fell off. The man who had the dots (I think his name was Punchinello) asked her how she did it. She said that every day she would go and see Eli. Eli was the maker of all the wooden people. So Punchinello decided to go see Eli too. He went in and Eli told Punchinello about who he really was. This allowed Punchinello to rid himself of the dots and not care about the opinions of others. We have the opportunity each day to sit with our Heavenly Father and be taught by Him in our personal study. As we allow God to tell us who we really are we do not need to worry about the cares of others. This gives us the ability to be happy, even in times of great trial. I know that as you are able to put truth into your mind each morning it will give you the strength to stand against the lies that are thrust at you. With truth lies will be able to roll off of you like water off a ducks back. I remember mom and dad using that phrase a lot when we lived in Pennsylvania :) I love you Sarah and so does your Heavenly Father. I can't be there each day to tell you how wonderful you are, how incredibly proud I am to be your older brother, but your Heavenly Father is and He is perfect. Let Him tell you who you truly are and nothing else will matter. You are a strong woman. You are faithful. You have a divine nature. Your individual worth has grown already and will continue to grow with your constant gospel study. You have great treasures of knowledge. You know the importance of your choices and you are accountable for the things you do. You are a woman that shows her good works and glorifies her Father which is in Heaven (3 Nephi 12:16). You have great integrity and because of these things and your decision to grow in these areas you are a woman of virtue. I know that God lives and loves His children. I know that we all have a purpose. We are given talents for our joy to be full. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Sincerely,

Elder Christensen

Motivation to Receive

Happy Chinese New Year!

I am so grateful to be on a mission. Can you believe that I have already been out a whole Year!?! I have found my problem. My problem is that I am lazy. I find ways in which to procrastinate. I find ways in which I can do something less effective that keeps me from having to go out of my comfort zone. I find ways in which I can justify my fear. I think that everyone feels these same feelings. No one likes to go out of their comfort zone. No one wants to constantly be pushed just a little beyond their limits.

Many, if not all of us can find ways to fill our time with the good instead of the better or best. It is just so easy. But, if we truly want to be happy there is no shortcut. "Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life..." (3 Nephi 14:14)

How do we keep ourselves always doing that which is best and allow ourselves to enter "in at the strait gate" (3 Nephi 14:13)? We enter the gate one step at a time. Through our temperance and virtue we are given the opportunity to walk in a straight course to life eternal. Temperance is self-control. Virtue is not something we strive for but rather it is something we attain through righteous living. Virtue is something that comes because of our "temperence, patience, brotherly kindeness, godliness, charity, humility, [and] diligence." (Doctrine and Covenants 4:6).

How do we then motivate ourselves to knock so that we may receive? We could be motivated by our trials which compell us to be humble but "he that is compelled in all things, the same is a slothful and not a wise servant;" (Doctrine and Covenants 58:26). There must be a better way. We must choose to be humble. Alma chapter 32 teaches us about how to choose humility. "Yea, he that truly humbleth himself, and repenteth of his sins, and endureth to the end, the same shall be blessed—yea, much more blessed than they who are compelled to be humble because of their exceeding poverty." (Alma 32:15) The next verse of Alma 32 gives us a little more insight: "Therefore, blessed are they who humble themselves without being compelled to be humble; or rather, in other words, blessed is he that believeth in the word of God, and is baptized without stubbornness of heart, yea, without being brought to know the word, or even compelled to know, before they will believe." (Alma 32:16)

To allow ourselves to be motivated we must have Faith and Hope. This belief in things that we cannot see is what will bring us to a desire to test the word of God. This is our motivation and through this faith and our constant study and prayer we gain the motivation to "walk blameless before him, that ye may walk after the holy order of God, after which ye have been received" (Alma 7:22). Thus giving us the opportunity to see the blessings that come from our "temperance, patience, brotherly kindeness, godliness, charity, humility, [and] diligence" (Doctrine and Covenants 4:6). One of these is Virtue. I know that through our constant building of faith we may be filled with a desire to know. Through this desire we will be motivated to live righteously and we will be able to attain the blessings the Lord has in store for us. These blessings will then motivate us even more to be diligent. Through our diligence I know that we can accomplish great things. I know that Heavenly Father loves us. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Sincerely,

Elder Christensen

PS I hope that makes sense I was kind of studying and typing at the same time. Thank you for the pictures. I love you all. I am jealous that you get to ride bikes. That is one of my favourite things to do but I need to drive a car. All day long. I know that as we "go and do" (1Nephi 3:7) we will be blessed.

The Gospel Brings Hope

Hello my wonderful family,

I love you all. Thank you for your continual prayers. Jennifer is in Ghana until February 9th. I think that David is doing well. I haven't been able to talk with the missionaries recently to keep in contact with him. The fact that I haven't heard anything bad is a good sign. This week has been another tough one. I continue to see the trials of being with a companion that has a completely different cultural background than you do. Often times when you say one thing that makes sense to you it has a very different meaning for the one receiving the message. There is just a different understanding that we have and a different language that is spoken. My brain is fried today. I can't really think of anything that I want to say. So I will share my testimony:

I know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the only true church on the earth. I know that we have a prophet of God who leads us in the ways of righteousness. I know that as we are able to live in the way the Lord has asked us to live we will be filled with happiness and joy that is inexpressible, we will be filled with the Holy Ghost who can guide us through any trial in our lives if we allow Him, and we will be able to have a hope and assurance that we will live together with our Heavenly Father and our Families forever. I know that Jesus Christ lives and that because of His Atonement we can have these blessings in our lives. I love this gospel and I know that it is true.

This gospel brings hope.

Let us share this hope with the world!

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.