Hello my amazing Family,
Did you know that you are the best family on earth? Its true. I love you dearly and I know that Heavenly Father is proud of the things that you do every day to help build His Church more fully upon the earth.
This week I had my first real experience with a broken heart. David decided to discontinue our lessons until he is able to have his feet on the ground and we had to let him make that decision. Through the past few weeks of teaching him I have grown to love and respect him more that anyone I have ever known other than my family. We had our last discussion with him and just before prayed more fervently than ever that we would be able to rely wholly upon the Spirit of the Lord and teach David with our Heavenly Father's words. We went and prayed again that we would be guided in knowing what to say. During our meeting we simply bore testimony and stated the truth of the gospel. The Spirit was very strong and we all had tears in our eyes but David said that he could not leave his friend and be separated from her. We gave him a hug goodbye and he said that he would be certain to give us a call as son as he had control of his life. Elder Christensen and I walked back to our car and I felt I could do nothing more. It pained my soul to hear him reject that light that had given him so much. But I constantly pray for him and I know that Heavenly Father has a plan for him. That day I realized to a small extent the love that our Heavenly Father has for us and the pain that he feels when his precious children are lost and do not quite desire to be found yet. I fasted this Sunday for David and felt that I should bear my testimony and share the words of the hymn, "Dear to the Heart of the Shepherd". It shares the message of our Heavenly Fathers true love fore all of His children and I felt the Spirit strongly while bearing testimony. I know that our Heavenly Father loves us and my Charity has been able to grow as I have been able to serve. Take every opportunity possible to serve all those you can. This is where true love and happiness comes from and then be grateful for the service you have been blessed to render to those in need. I still feel pain for David's choice but the Spirit is my constant comfort letting me know that my Heavenly Father loves David even more that I do and will do all He can to help David perfectly. In our times of service and love we can reach hardships that will break our hearts and throw off our personal goals or those of others, but I know that as we lean upon the arm of the Lord and learn from Him we will be taken care of and have no need to worry about our personal lives.
As we take care of others Heavenly Father will always take care of us. Helaman 10:4 "Blessed art thou, Nephi, for those things which thou hast done; for I have beheld how thou hast with unwearyingness declared the word, which I have given unto thee, unto this people. And thou hast not feared them, and hast not sought thine own life, but hast sought my will, and to keep my commandments. And now, because thou hast done this with such unwearyingness, behold, I will bless thee forever; and I will make thee mighty in word and in deed, in faith and in works; yea, even that all things shall be done unto thee according to thy word, for thou shalt not ask that which is contrary to my will." I leave this with you along with my testimony. I know that this Gospel is true and if we want to grow closer to God all we need to do is live the Gospel. As we do so we will be filled with light and joy beyond measure and we will not need to fear during our times of trial. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Sincerely,
Elder Christensen
