Hello my loving family,
This week has been a good one. I have felt the hand of the Lord guiding me in my life and almost pushing me to do things that I truly need to do. I have learned a lot. We have been asked to read the Book of Mormon by October 2010 and highlight the passages that we find with regards to revelation. I have been doing so and it has strengthened me a lot. I feel so blessed and know that the Lord loves me and my Heavenly Father loves me. We were able to talk to Justin this week and have a great conversation about the Gospel. He is such a smart person and he asks great questions. The best thing though is not that he asks great questions but that he takes the time to listen and to improve himself. As I said before he has read a few talks from General Conference and he has found how they can improve his life. Also, he is willing to change. As we talked with Justin he told us that his family relationship with his father hasn't been very good and so when he hears that we have a Heavenly Father he automatically repulses the idea. So we changed the approach a little and made sure that he felt comfortable. We helped Justin to know that our Heavenly Father is our best friend and when we talk to Him in our prayers we can talk as though we are talking with a friend. This made me think of the book "Clean Hands, Pure Hearts" in the chapters where the author talks about getting a new god. If you think of Heavenly Father as a person who hates you and this makes you scared of that image then, get rid of that image. Heavenly Father is not there to condemn us or bring us down to the "gulf of misery and endless wo" (Book of Mormon) that is Satan's desire. Our Heavenly Father is there to build us up and help us to reach our greatest and fullest potential, and He is there to give us love at all times. I have felt this love and the joy that it brings and I know that our Heavenly Father loves us. As we talked with Justin that night I also thought of how to relate the gospel to Computer Programming since Justin is getting a doctorate degree working with software. I told him that if he were to read a C++ Programming book he might not understand everything all at once but as he worked with the book and tested the programs that the textbook had he would learn and understand what codes worked and what codes didn't. This is like the Book of Mormon. God gives us this book filled with formulas on how to attain happiness and how not to attain happiness. Nephi found happiness through following the prophet and learning from God. Laman and Lemuel did not found happiness because they went after the things of the world. As we input these formulas in our lives we see that they truly work and this gives us a testimony. Sometimes our computer is slow to get a response and that is when we must have patience and humility. The slow connection is not because the code is wrong but there is a problem with the memory being cluttered or there are too many programs working at once. Justin really liked this and understood the reason for having a Book of Mormon. He is a great man and I know that the Spirit guided me through the lesson to strive to teach in a way that was understandable for Justin. At the end of the lesson Justin even said a prayer :) It was a good prayer. Not in the usual structure ;) but it was still a good prayer that was heartfelt. I pray that Justin may truly understand the Gospel and it's importance in our lives and desire to always come to church. He has been blessed with the opportunity to come to an area that has a mandarin branch. He will learn what he needs to learn and then go back to MIT and go to an English ward. But, because Heavenly Father loves him, Justin was able to hear the gospel in his own tongue so that he could truly understand the good news that is available to all men who come unto Christ. I love this gospel and I know that it is true. Congradulations Sarah again for your wonderful award and I know that you will be blessed.
Sarah, I don't know if you thought of this but if you are able to take a nursing class at BYU Hawaii and take care of Uncle Bob that will help you already have experience. I just thought of that when mom told me about you maybe being able to take care of Uncle Bob when Nikki needs a break. The Lord works in mysterious ways. But, these mysteries are unfolded to us when we take the time to sit and study and ponder. I think that your Heavenly Father might be telling you something when He gives you the opportunity to go to Hawaii, study nursing, and be able to gain experience in the field through taking care of your Uncle. Just maybe ;) I love you and want you to know that you are a great woman who can do anything you want so long as you take the time to work at it. You can learn all things if you take the time to learn. That is the one catch, we must put our faith into action! I love you so much.
Family again. You are all wonderful and I hope that you all know that you truly are sons and daughters of God. Even you mom and dad :) and don't forget that He loves His children. I have been humbled recently enough to open my eyes and see that I need to feel of my Heavenly Father's love and truly converse with Him. We all need it more than we know or realize and we mustn't let our pride get in the way of our joy. Use your faith and you will achieve great things.
Sincerely,
Elder Christensen
