Family! Friends!
well, i should have anticipated that after the flood of emails, would come a time of email drought. it seems that always happens. i guess not enough things happen between wednesday and the next monday or something- or perhaps maybe when you get my email late one week you assume that it will be late the next week- i'll just set this straight once and for all. every transfer we go to the temple. the temple day is ALWAYS a wednesday. because of this our p-day moves from monday to wednesday that week only. so then the next week, the p-day goes back to monday. ok hopefully that cleared that all up.
Anyway, Collin, i got your package, and Dad, i got your journal entries. they were great! both of them were a treat to listen to and read. The magic tricks were funny, thanks collin, and the "collin's greatest hits" CD was great! my comp still doesnt believe you're 14! haha, but it made him feel better when i told him you were closer to being 15 now. haha, Dad, your mission tapes were great, and your testimony was great- although i'm trying to figure out when your testimony was done, cause your voice sounds like it does now on that recording, and the ones you sent home from your mission- haha they sound more like ME with a HARD utah accent. at first i thought you messed up and sent me uncle mark's mission tape, but then you were mentioning all the japan stuff, so it was all good, and it made me chuckle.
:P Also, its interesting that you mention that story from that return missionary- we just had the reverse thing happen in our district here- a missionary had only been out 2 transfers, and was not in possession of a testimony, and lacked motivation. His companion was my companion's last comp. between talking to both of them, it became clear that this young missionary's companion neither helped nor encouraged him to stay on the mission, and was likely a large contributor to this missionary's decision to go home. That missionary then went home on friday. after all the drama that went on, and all the speculation that has been given by other missionaries, i decided that i will NEVER EVER be a contributing factor to ANY missionary's decision to go home early. And i'll remember that experience. so we'll see if I get put to the test.
so, its birthing season is it? i thought that wasnt til like april? or were twizzy's twins aborted really early? thats sad. (editorial note--our goat Twizzy did abort twins very early)
well, this week has been a week of tender mercies for me. At the beginning of the week, i re-read my patriarchal blessing, especially the paragraph having to do specifically with my mission. It told me something along the lines of, i would find great joy in the sure knowledge that Christ new me, and was working through me. WELL. i realized that that hadn't happened yet. i believe that Christ has worked through me, but it hasnt been obvious, and to be honest, i hadnt experienced that "great joy" or "sure knowledge" so then i took a look at myself, and asked, why? why hasn't that happened yet? and i made several goals to re-focus myself on serving him, with an eye single to his glory, so i could then ALLOW Christ to work through me. made a sign for it too. then the blessings started to roll around. so you remember sam? well we had another lesson with her on thursday. we talked about the plan of salvation, and we read moroni 7 with her, because her sister had just had a miscarriage the day before. she really liked that scripture. then, we invited her to a baptism that was happening in our district the next day. that happened on what seemed like a whim, and since we are not allowed to give rides to anyone, and since she's a single girl, we cant ride in her car, we said we come by, and she could follow us to the baptism the next day. she liked that idea. now here's the best part: when we left, we are on foot- no car. and we realized about 5 minutes later that we would not have the car the next day, nor the next. panic. we needed a car. the the Zone leaders called. because of the missionary that went home, his companion then joined the zone leaders. they had had a full-time car, and now we were getting it, full time! they delivered the car that night. so the next day we had a car, and led sam to the baptism, which she thouroughly enjoyed, and at which the spirit was very strong. afterwards, we were talking about her coming to church, and she didnt know where it was, so we said we would come and lead her to it the next morning for church. however, on what seemed like another whim, i just said, its on the way back, we'll just stop there and show you the chapel and then go the rest of the way home. so we did that. turns out that night, the ZL's called and said that the APs were taking our car and giving it to the chinese-speaking missionaries in the neigboring Zone. we were to deliver it that night. which we did. THEN, i realized that we needed to get a ride to church the next morning, and that we wouldnt have been able to show sam the way to church because lo and behold, our ride was late, we were late to church, and sam was already there. she also brought her dad with her. sacrament meeting was... interesting but they enjoyed it. and we're teaching her again on wednesday.
Also, Dad, your stuff all came at a time during the week when i was feeling very weak, and discouraged. your testimony and journal entries and everything else helped me to re-focus on my purpose, and the point of my service. that helped me A LOT. thank you.
Well, my time has run out. i love you all so much, and pray for you constantly.
love,
Elder Tayler Christensen
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