Hello my loving Family :)
This week has been crazy :) and a LOT of fun. We now have two investigators with baptismal dates (incase I haven't told you already) Jing Hao is one who will be baptized on the 25th. His date was changed so that his parents could attend. Also, Justin (Zhang Zhun Ping) who is such a wonderful investigator and person. He has such a different way of looking at the things we teach in comparison to the other investigators we have taught and learns quickly. That is most likely why he is a student at MIT ;) Oh boy. I love this gospel. I have started reading through the Book of Mormon (I might have told you this before as well) as my mission president has asked us to read it by October and look for specific instances of receiving and teaching revelation. I am now in the Isaiah chapters and they have come alive in comparison to the other times I have read through them. My understanding of the Atonement and the plan of Satan has grown incredibly. Oh mom I have an answer to your question but I don't remember where the scripture for my reasoning is. Anyway, I have read 2 Nephi chapter 9 recently and I love the many ways in which Isaiah says "O the great plan of our Heavenly Father" (or something to that effect) and then explains why he says these things. He shares why the plan of salvation is so great and why the Atonement is so amazing. I wish I had my Book of Mormon with me :( So, my thoughts went back to a little while ago when Dad told me that there was a sunday school lesson in Hong Kong where you talked about the two different plans that were presented in the pre-mortal life and why Satan's plan was a threat. I have thought about this a lot and have come up with an answer that of course is still in modification but it makes a lot of sense. Satan's plan to bring all the souls to earth and bring them ALL back to heaven but all the glory would be given to him. How could this work? I never thought about this before, but Satan is fulfilling his plan in the world today. He is showing us exactly how he would accomplish this plan. Through lies and addiction he would make us need to always go to him for satisfaction and relief from our physical needs. Like someone who smokes needs to go to the store and buy a pack of cigarettes or else he would not be able to satisfy the aching desire for a smoke. We would be going to Satan asking him for this relief and he would demand our loyalty in return. Then, when we all die we would not be able to live with our Heavenly Father we would have to live under the rule of Satan because we would still have the same desires and feelings of need that we had on earth. We would be thrust down to outer darkness and thus all of the glory that God has would go to Satan. But, none of us would be Gods and none of us would be eternally happy. The plan of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. As we have all seen in our own life it is to help us have eternal joy and be self developing. We are given the tools that lead us to constant progression and eternal happiness and shown the way to use them through the example of our Savior. As we strive to do all that we can to follow the example of Jesus Christ we are given blessings and eventually we become Gods. The difference between these two plans is that one teaches us how to fish and the other just gives us the fish when we ask. Satan and churches all around the world cause their members to need to go to church and need to see their pastor before they can make their own decisions. They don't learn more about the bible for themselves they learn from their pastor or preacher and then throughout the rest of their week they don't think about God any more. Jesus Christ and his one true church teaches us all to learn for ourselves the truth of the gospel and to dive into the scriptures more deeply as we see fit. Thus we progress and grow and are able to give talks and our own sermons and testimonies about the things we have learned to be true. I just thought of things as I typed so it might jump around a bit but make what sense you can out of it.
Now mom to give you my answer to your question: Who is the creditor in the story of the creditor and the debtor? The law. We judge ourselves and when we get to the feet of our Savior we know that we have sinned and we know that we have done wrong. The creditor is the consequence of the law. As Alma states "we would fain be glad if we could command the rocks to fall upon us and the mountains to hide us" from the presence of God when he comes. I think it is 2 Nephi 7:1 that talks about what I am trying to explain. I will make sure to give you more correct version of this answer next week :) But that is along the lines of my thinking
so far and I promise that I will continue to think about this. It always happens. Just like that Sunday school lesson coming back into my mind.
I love you all and I know that this gospel is true. I know that Jesus Christ lives. Oh a quick story. We had an investigator named Yun Bo who we had been teaching for a while. She was living with her sister who is 15 years younger than she. Also her daughter had lived in Shen Yang until about 2 weeks ago. Yun Bo planned to move when her daughter came and we weren't too worried about that. She found a place and her daughter came. So, she moved but she hadn't given us an address because she was staying with an older woman's home while renting a room. We then tried to call her on her cell phone and found out that Yun Bo had been using her sister's phone because the phone Yun Bo had was very expensive. So, we lost all contact with this investigator. We weren't sure what to do and so we prayed. We prayed that Yun Bo would come to church that week or continue to come to the English class we teach on Tuesday nights. We also tried to ask her sister for Yun Bo's address but her sister never got it. Yun Bo didn't show up to church that week. So we continued to pray throughout the next week and we remembered her describing the place she worked and tried looking for her. We found her car and left a card with a little note hoping that the situation wasn't going to be awkward. She didn't come to church the next week. We continued to pray. We wen't to dinner at a member's home and while driving there we found her car again but this time it was parked near the home in which she was staying. We weren't sure if we should leave a card or not and so we just left the situation alone for a little while. This past Sunday we went to church and had our meetings before church afterwards we set up the translation equippment in the Relief Society room (where we have sacrament for our branch) and I walked over and met a woman who was brought to church that day by a member. I then went to take my spot passing out the programs and the branch clerk said, "Did you see that Yun Bo came?" I said, "No... where." He gently turned me around and pushed me forward and I walked passed a divider for the middle of the room and there she was. Yun Bo was at church again but this time she had also brought her daughter. It was so wonderful to see them at church and we will continue to pray that she will come to church. Through this experience I know that our Heavenly Father answers specific prayers. I know that our prayers were answered by God. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
I could only quickly skim through the e-mail you sent me before I wrote this letter and I know that you have written some great things. I just realized yesterday that I might not have wished Sarah a happy birthday. I am so sorry Sarah. I will make it up to you by getting two baptisms this month okay? ;) I love you and I promise that I thought of your birthday before it happened and was planning on saying Happy Birthday before. If I have already said it I am still sorry and wish you a wonderful time in school :D.
Well, Tanner it is exciting to hear that you are back. I know that you served a great mission and I am excited to read more of your short note to me. I love you and I have prayed and will continue to pray that your transition will go smoothly and that you will be guided by our Heavenly Father to get back into the swing of things quickly. I am grateful for your example and I love you again.
Audrey, your awesome I love you too. Have a great time in Utah and Hawaii. You can do anything you put your mind to. Trust me, I did ;) I love you.
Rebecca, you have such a great smile and your happy attitude makes all around you joyful. You are wonderful and I love you.
Jeffrey, you have probably grown to great lengths since I last saw you ;) I love you and you have a contageous smile. Your laugh is awesome too. I love you.
Mom and Dad. I would not be here on a mission meant specifically for me if I didn't have you two as parents. You have followed the spirit in guiding your children and I know that you still do I love you both and thank you for your constant support.
Sincerely,
Elder Christensen
