Hello my dear splendid family, (Hey that's a new one ;)!)
I love you all very much. We were able to see Brother Pan twice this week with our Ward Mission Leader, our Ward Mission Leader is wonderful, and we helped Brother Pan to learn about Enduring to the End. We taught him about those things and then answered any questions he had. He was able to pass his baptismal interview and will be baptized on July 23 at 8:00pm. He is excited and we are excited :D Also, this week we were able to meet with Keeler again. I don't remember if I told you about him. Well, he is a piece of gold that fell from the sky ;). A recent convert named Andy Black called us last week on Tuesday and asked if we could meet his friend the next day at 4:00pm. We said sure and had a great meeting.
Keeler is about 19 and has been a christian all of his life, but even though he was praying and reading scripture he never felt anything. We taught him a little bit about prayer and invited him to pray. He said okay and the next day we texted him and he said he feels that he has had an epiphany (if that's how you spell it) and wants to continue meeting. We met with him a second time and before we started to teach about the Restoration we invited him to be baptized. He said yes and accepted a date for August 13th. We then taught him about Joseph Smith and the First Vision and how through scripture study, prayer, and church attendance Joseph Smith was able to learn the truth. We also shared how the priesthood authority to perform baptism was necessary to access the Atonement. During the lesson the Spirit was very strong. Keeler has a hard time reading and has always had trouble understanding them. We invited him to pray for God's assistance in studying the Book of Mormon. Since that day Keeler has read through chapter 2 of 1 Nephi and has seen a great improvement in his ability to understand what he reads. Miracles happen, I know it because of Keeler's and Brother Pan's experiences with learning of the gospel. Keeler really wants to come to church and find friends, but he hasn't been able to for the past two weeks and won't be able to next week because he will be travelling. Please pray for him. He already knows this gospel has something different. He knows that the church contains the truth and he desires to join himself to it. Pray that the way will be opened up for him and that he may see more miracles happen in his life because of truth.
Brad is doing okay we haven't had contact with him this week because he has been out of town. I hope that he has been able to read the Book of Mormon. I think he is still not quite willing to move forward in fully immersing himself pursuit of truth. I know that prayer brings about great things and I know that through small and simple things, great things come to pass (Alma). Reading a book is easy to do, but reading the Book of Mormon brings about greater conversion in our lives. Prayer is a very easy thing to do, but prayer to our Father in Heaven helps us to truly know of His reality. Attending church each Sunday can seem like a chore, but it opens the opportunity to receive the Holy Ghost for the rest of the week. I know that this gospel is true and I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the true church of our Heavenly Father here on this earth.
We were able to give Ivan a Russian Book of Mormon last week and Panda accepted a Chinese Book of Mormon. We have also found a couple of members who speak Russian. We hope that they will be able to meet with Ivan and help him come our to church and understand the truth contained in this church. They will both come to church next week if they are able to. We will work on helping them grow in interest. Hopefully they will be able to attend the baptism this week. That will be a great springboard into more missionary excitement for the Ward and Branch.
Please pray that Brother Pan's baptism will be a day to remember. Please pray that all will go well. The adversary is real and doesn't want it to happen but with our faith I know that we can thwart his plans. We also taught about prayer this past week in one of our english classes and had three of our students ask for Chinese copies of the Book of Mormon. We are excited that the work is moving forward. I know that Jesus Christ lives and I know that His Atonement is real. This has been a great week and I know that the excitement is building in the Ward and Branch. I love being a missionary. I heard that Jing Hao hadn't been able to come to church for the past few weeks and so I invited him to come up to the baptism as well. Hopefully it will help him to remember his covenants and build his faith so that he can press forward and not lose hope. I love you all. I leave you my testimony in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Keeler is about 19 and has been a christian all of his life, but even though he was praying and reading scripture he never felt anything. We taught him a little bit about prayer and invited him to pray. He said okay and the next day we texted him and he said he feels that he has had an epiphany (if that's how you spell it) and wants to continue meeting. We met with him a second time and before we started to teach about the Restoration we invited him to be baptized. He said yes and accepted a date for August 13th. We then taught him about Joseph Smith and the First Vision and how through scripture study, prayer, and church attendance Joseph Smith was able to learn the truth. We also shared how the priesthood authority to perform baptism was necessary to access the Atonement. During the lesson the Spirit was very strong. Keeler has a hard time reading and has always had trouble understanding them. We invited him to pray for God's assistance in studying the Book of Mormon. Since that day Keeler has read through chapter 2 of 1 Nephi and has seen a great improvement in his ability to understand what he reads. Miracles happen, I know it because of Keeler's and Brother Pan's experiences with learning of the gospel. Keeler really wants to come to church and find friends, but he hasn't been able to for the past two weeks and won't be able to next week because he will be travelling. Please pray for him. He already knows this gospel has something different. He knows that the church contains the truth and he desires to join himself to it. Pray that the way will be opened up for him and that he may see more miracles happen in his life because of truth.
Brad is doing okay we haven't had contact with him this week because he has been out of town. I hope that he has been able to read the Book of Mormon. I think he is still not quite willing to move forward in fully immersing himself pursuit of truth. I know that prayer brings about great things and I know that through small and simple things, great things come to pass (Alma). Reading a book is easy to do, but reading the Book of Mormon brings about greater conversion in our lives. Prayer is a very easy thing to do, but prayer to our Father in Heaven helps us to truly know of His reality. Attending church each Sunday can seem like a chore, but it opens the opportunity to receive the Holy Ghost for the rest of the week. I know that this gospel is true and I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the true church of our Heavenly Father here on this earth.
We were able to give Ivan a Russian Book of Mormon last week and Panda accepted a Chinese Book of Mormon. We have also found a couple of members who speak Russian. We hope that they will be able to meet with Ivan and help him come our to church and understand the truth contained in this church. They will both come to church next week if they are able to. We will work on helping them grow in interest. Hopefully they will be able to attend the baptism this week. That will be a great springboard into more missionary excitement for the Ward and Branch.
Please pray that Brother Pan's baptism will be a day to remember. Please pray that all will go well. The adversary is real and doesn't want it to happen but with our faith I know that we can thwart his plans. We also taught about prayer this past week in one of our english classes and had three of our students ask for Chinese copies of the Book of Mormon. We are excited that the work is moving forward. I know that Jesus Christ lives and I know that His Atonement is real. This has been a great week and I know that the excitement is building in the Ward and Branch. I love being a missionary. I heard that Jing Hao hadn't been able to come to church for the past few weeks and so I invited him to come up to the baptism as well. Hopefully it will help him to remember his covenants and build his faith so that he can press forward and not lose hope. I love you all. I leave you my testimony in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Sincerely,
Elder Christensen
