Hello my dear family,
I love you all greatly. You are wonderful examples to those around you of how they can be happy. I know that others recognize it. This week we had an incredible fireside with Elder Packer (the area seventy for California, he is really cool) and President Watkins. Sister Watkins sang a beautiful song as well. Unfortunately I forgot the name of the song :( Anyway the fireside was all about Preach My Gospel and how to do missionary work. They talked about 5 things that we can focus on to help the Lord get involved in our missionary work. I will try to remember them, I left my notes at home. 1) The Lord Prepares. 2) Ward Mission Process. 3) Prayer List. 4) Comments into invites. 5) ?. Well, I remembered almost all of them. Anyway. 2, in the Ward Mission Process we work in Ward Council to talk about people and their needs to see how we can help them become more active and converted to Christ. 3, for the Prayer List we make a list of all the people that we have influenced in our lives and then pray continually to find a few friends who have been prepared by the Lord. I just remembered the first one and wrote it in, but it is, 1, that the Lord prepares. We don't need to pray that we may prepare people for the missionaries to teach, the Lord prepares them and all that we need to do is invite those prepared to act. 4, for comments into invites it means to take a comments that someone makes about the church or you and find a way to invite them to change that idea. For example, if someone says, "Why are you so happy?" in reply you can say, "I would love to let you know. Would you like to come to church with me on Sunday?" Someone may also say something a little more mean such as, "How many mothers (wives) do you have?" and you can simply say, "I only have one and so do the other 350 people who come to church with me on Sunday. Do you want to come and see?" These are two examples of how we can change comments into invitations. I can't remember the last one, but I learned a great deal from the fireside and thought that I would share it with you. I know that these 5 things ( Well 4) can help us in our own lives to find those that are searching for the gospel and need us to share it with them. These few things can enable to Lord to become more involved in our lives. This is what we all want. Who wouldn't want to be a tool in the hand of a master? Someone who knows you, how you work, what you can do, what you need, and what makes you happy. Heavenly Father gives us callings that we may serve with all of our hearts and by doing so find the greatest joy. This week has been another week full of contacting and visiting members. We haven't been able to find anyone who would like to meet with us yet but I know that they are being prepared by the Lord and He will bless us in His own time. I simply need to be patient. I know that the gospel is true and I know that we have a prophet on the earth teaching the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. The gospel has been restored! Let's share it with everyone we can. As we apply ourselves in the work of the Lord, He will bless us and make us grow. I know that this is true, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. I love you all :)
Sincerely,
Elder Christensen
