Fruits of the Labor‏

Hello everyone!
 
Another week gone here in La Cuidad del Verano Eterno. My comp and I
are enjoying the heat, rain, and all of our investigators that are
progressing! We are really seeing the fruits of our labors at church.
Yesterday 6 of our investigators made it to Sacrament meeting. Another
man also came for his third time, that lives in a city called Maranura
a few miles up the Vilcanota River from Quillabamba. We are planning a
visit there with our branch president, and we are excited to teach him
and invite him to follow our Savior by being baptized! We have 2
baptisms coming up on Saturday, so wish us luck! Jose Luis, and
Grimaldo. Grimaldo is about your age, dad, and was a reference of a
less active member that we activated after 15 years of being inactive.
He loves the church, and has a real desire to progress in the church.
We have been very blessed to have been teaching him, and Cecilia (the
“newly” active member). We continue to teach Rina, and she has been
passing through some problems, but we are helping her through them.
She introduced us to her sister, who seems really interested in our
message and we have a lesson with her on Saturday.
 
So, on Wednesday the whole zone will be traveling to Cusco for a
conference with Elder Waddell, the area authority of the South America
Northwest area. We are excited to hear from him and to learn more of
what he has prepared for us.
 
Our districts have changed up a bit, and now the elders from Echarate
(a sector about an hour down river from Quillabamba) are now in my
district. This week, maybe next, I am planning a work visit to help
them out there. It should be interesting to get to know Echarate, I
hear its a pretty cool place.
 
So you sent the package? Sweet! Anything last minute... um, anything
you think! I appreciate anything. I will let you know when it gets
here! Thank you so much! Oh, and mom, you need to buy "The Work" cd.
You will love all the songs on it. Really. Such a good album.
 
So, something else cool that happened in church yesterday. Basically
to make a very long story short, my comp and I were walking in the
street one day, and I felt the need to talk to a person that was
walking in the street. He happened to be an inactive member. We talked
a lot, and we finally extended him the invitation to come back to the
church, and promised him many blessings. Well, yesterday he came! In
elders quorum, he related the story about a man in his boat that
started sinking. Well, this man started to pray to God, asking him to
save him. Well, all of a sudden, a boat showed up and tried to save
him. But the man said, “No, God will save me.” So, the boat left. Then
another boat showed up, and another, when finally the boat sinks and
the man dies. When he got the chance to talk to God he asked, “Why
didn’t you save me? Did I not pray for your help?” Then, responding
God, said, “Son, I sent 3 boats to save you, and you still were too
stubborn to accept them. ” Anyway, so he related this story to us as
missionaries. He said that two or three times before we talked to him,
he said that he had seen us pass by in different parts of the city
until one day, we finally talked to him. I thought that was pretty
cool. After the class he said, “Thank you, I have felt a hole in my
life, and now I feel complete.”
 
Something special for me that I love about my mission, is to just lose
myself in the lessons we have. To just focus on the investigators,
their needs, and their questions, and be able to answer them in detail
so that they can understand every principle we teach. I can truly say
that I feel I am losing myself in this work, and I am so happy. More
than I have ever been! True happiness. To live the Gospel of Jesus
Christ is such a blessing. For everyone who gives it a try. I am
having experiences that will bless me for the rest of my life here in
Quillabamba. I am loving every minute. I love all of you and hope you
have a great week! You are all in my prayers.
 
Love,
Elder Christensen
 
pictures... one panoramic of the view outside our apartment window,
and another of a giant tree here in Quillabamba!