Hey there how's it going? Yesterday was the first day of spring and it was so nice! This morning we woke up to slushy snow falling from the ground, hip hip hooray! I hope Orlando was a great time for all those who were there! It sounds like it was from the very little I heard. Hopefully you are all good and busy having fun together and getting ready to leave. Glad the weather was awesome and all the Disney parks were fun! Fyi, I just ordered my contacts from Wal Mart and sent them direct to Norcroft Street. They should be there in 3-5ish days. I had to use my debit card, thankfully I had enough money on it. Mom, would you please look into that; and put the amount of money back on my debit card I spent so that I have enough if anything else like that happens? Thanks so much, let me know what you find out and what you do.
This week has been a great week, my goodness. We've been so blessed it is unreal. I knew that great things were on the horizon and they certainly are coming to pass. Monday was good; had dinner at a recent convert's home. Later we taught my psychology TA and his wife the Restoration lesson - we're doing a program type thing with them that we came up with to get member referrals - and had pie on pi day. Tuesday was a great day! We had District Meeting in the morning with President and Sister Bulloch in attendance and giving our training. They're so awesome. That morning we received a Head Quarter referral for a man who lives in Cohoes. Funny enough, the night before that is the exact area we were planning on working that afternoon and day. We called him right after District Meeting and he told us how we could see him right away! We went right away and taught him! Other details aside, he is such a prepared guy! He recently has gone through a really rough time and knows God has humbled him and that he needs to turn to Him because he can't do it on his own. He met with missionaries before but wasn't really committed to do anything and hadn't even accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon. This time, he says and has already demonstrated, he's fully committed and willing to act. It's really funny and needs to be made mention that right where he lives is an area in Cohoes that we had worked a handful of times in the past weeks. (Even when I was here the first time). We had parked our car literally right in front of his house, even. We kept going back there with not too much happening but it just seemed to be where we went. Turns out he saw us outside walking/working; called SLC and spoke with sister missionaries there and referred himself. So, so sweet. More on how awesome he, Brother Pascher, is in a bit. Wednesday we went and checked out our new apartment we'll be moving into. It's quite nice and the move should not be too difficult, I hope. Later we saw Xiamin Hou and her husband. He's not too interested at the time being but we know that will change as Sis. Hou learns more and more. She's doing great. She's really interested in the Bible, which was her original interest and request, which is good but we're eager to get her reading the Book of Mormon. That night we were saying a closing prayer after a lesson with a Less-active family and I felt impressed that we should call Bro. Pascher. We did so after and he was so grateful that we had. I don't know why really it was so needful but it was just a really simple, neat experience we had. Thursday morning a unique thing we did is go into the Family History Center in our church building and got some information on the services there and family history in general. We learned quite a bit and look forward to using this valuable resource in finding more people to teach. Friday morning we taught Dennis at U Albany. It went good, he's really "academic" about everything but we're continuing to help him. After that we went on exchange with the Elders in Greenwich, I went there (yes, the skunk place; I've been there quite a few times now). I had worked with the elder before, too, but we had some really awesome things happen: ie, tracting into two guys who invited us in and we taught, tracted into a guy who invited us in tried bashing us hard so we left, and a lesson with a less-active who wants to come back and is so grateful we saw him when we did. Saturday was maybe one of the coolest days I've had out here! We switched back in the morning and E. Potter and I then went to a baptismal service of a guy we interviewed last week taught by the elders in downtown Albany. We were expecting investigators there but they didn't show, it was still a great, spiritual experience. After we did some service and painted a room in a less-active's apartment; it was really fun and hopefully will allow us to teach. We then taught an exclusive Spanish speaking woman. We (I) set up an appointment with her last week and Saturday evening we went over with a member who speaks Spanish. It was cool except she turned out to be pretty argumentative and a strong pentecostal. We have another appointment with her this Saturday, we'll see what happens. Then we taught a part-member family. After we taught Bro. Pascher, the awesome guy, with a member we chose to be his primary fellowshipper. We planned to teach lesson 2, Plan of Salvation, but changed mid-course to the Gospel of Jesus Christ as he was talking about his desire to be forgiven of his sins, etc. Such a powerful lesson; we set him with a baptismal date of May 7! He knows all that he'll need to do to get there and is totally willing to do it. He came to church yesterday and stayed for a baptismal service afterward of an 8 year-old. It was really awesome. Two other really great things happened yesterday too. First I gave a blessing to a member and it was really powerful; second, we had a simple prayer answered last night trying to find someone to come teaching with us Tuesday. E. Potter and I both prayed after trying for a while with no luck and right when we finished the phone rang with one we called willing to do it now. Really awesome; prayers are answered.
I love you all so much and appreciate everything you do for me! Have a great week and I look forward to hearing from you all!
Love,
Elder Christensen
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