New Companionship....following the Spirit.

This week was my companion, Elder Jimenez`s, last in the mission. If I said he was super motivated to work his last week in the mission that would be a lie, but we still managed to get another baptism! Back to back weeks with a baptism, and hopefully we will get another this sunday. 

So on thursday my companion took his backpack into the city center to get it repaired, apparently it was urgent that it was repaired before he got home! He got mad after because he didn't like the color of the string that they used to repair it. Then we missed the bus going back to our area by seconds, and had to wait a whole hour there for the next one. It made us super late for lunch, but thankfully the family we ate lunch with was running late too and they hadn't even started cooking by the time we got there. Lunch with them was interesting...they have this huge rat possum thing as a pet, somebody gave it to them and it just roams around the house and it climbs on people. They taught it a cool trick where they hang it upside down from its tail and it uses its hands to climb back up. That night, the district leader came to give a baptismal interview for our investigator named benjamin. He is 9 years old and his parents are both members recently reactivating, and he was super excited to get baptized! He passed the interview of course. 

On friday it rained a ton. The water draining system in our area isn't just bad, it doesn't exist. All the water just stays in the streets, it becomes a huge river thats impossible to cross Ill try to take a picture next time because you have to see it to believe it. In the evening the main thing was a big farewell party in the church for Martin sayas, a kid who goes on his mission to Peru this week, for my companion who finished the mission, and for a girl named Micaela who is Martins girlfriend and she's going on a mission to brazil in 3 weeks. 

On saturday in the morning we went to the church so my companion could work on his final letter to president...when a missionary finishes his mission he always has to write a final letter to the president talking about his experiences. While he was working on that, the young men came to play soccer at the church.  I was in my church clothes, but I decided to play with them. This was a big mistake because it was super hot and I got really sweaty. That night we were visiting some members, they asked me to make banana bread on the spot! They had all the stuff so I made it and it turned out great! Everyone here loves it...I would recommend to everyone on the mission that they learn how to cook it because it will make all the members love you. 

Sunday was my companions final day in the mission and in the ward of La Madrid, it was also fast and testimony meeting. A ton of people were sharing their testimonies, mostly to say goodbye to martin and to talk about the importance of missionary work. That evening we had the baptism of Benjamin! His parents were super happy, as was everyone else because the spirit was there. The spirit makes people happy! Maybe one of the best things about the baptism was that the girl who was baptized just last week, victoria, offered to give a spiritual thought in front of everyone. She used to be super shy and nervous in the church, so I was really surprised and also happy that she is doing so well in church already! That night Martin was set apart as a missionary..about a hundred people came to wish him off, because he left early monday morning. While I was there sitting on the piano bench a random guy that I had never seen before came up to me and told me my first and middle name, where I was from and he knew tons of stuff about me.  I had no idea who he was I was freaking out but then he revealed himself to be Brian Herman, the guy who made my leather scripture case. So that was how he knew all about me. 

On monday in the morning I took elder Jimenez to the mission home and dropped him off with all the other 27 people who are going home. Both of my trainers were there, Elder Packer and Elder Gonzalez. Its crazy how fast the time went, it feels like just yesterday I was there with them and they had a whole year left in the mission, now im here and they are gone and I have a year left in the mission. Looking back it goes by really fast. That afternoon I went back with a gringo (brand new elder) named Elder Gwilliam, he is still working a lot with his spanish but I took him back to our area and we went to work. I knew that almost the entire mission would be doing absolutely nothing that day...on the last day of the transfer everyone is either traveling or just wasting time. I had the option to stay in the mission home for the day and do nothing, but I really wanted to get a head start on the next transfer. Gwilliam is super new, so I knew I was going to have to do most of it but I felt good, and I felt inspired.  We went and set goals to knock a certain number of doors, and we found a couple really really great people. We were both super guided by the spirit, I can't really explain how it feels but for example we would both stop walking at the exact same time in front of the exact same house without saying anything, because we felt we should knock on it, and we didn't just go door to door we only knocked on doors we felt we should knock on. And by knocking doors, I mean clapping, cause thats what they do here. But the people we found, and the lessons we taught were super good, I talked more than I have in my whole mission because I was the only one who knew how, but it was incredible how well everything went. I just kept opening my mouth.  I didn't even know what I was going to say most of the time, it just came out.  My companion and I where both very happy afterwards. He said it was the best day of his whole mission, it was one of my best too.  I know its because we were working hard and following the spirit. 

Yesterday while we were teaching, several people asked us about the plane crash of that Brazilian futbol team...like why did God let that happen, were they bad people? stuff like that. Elder Gwilliam shared a scripture that is really simple but that I hadn't noticed before.

2 Nephi 2:24 But behold, all things have been done in the wisdom of him who knoweth all things.

Its really simple but true. We don't have to worry about the "why" of stuff that happens, we just have to trust that God knows why. God knows everything, and everything that he does is for the benefit of us all. Maybe that accident had to happen to teach some people something, or to prepare a lot of people for the gospel. I know that it for sure made a lot of people think about whether or not there is a life after death...so now when the missionaries knock on their door with the plan of salvation, they will be ready to understand. So what looks like something bad now, maybe can turn out to be something good if it helps many come to the knowledge of the truth. Thats just how I feel about it. 

Love you all,

Elder Christensen

Look at the top picture closely....how many animals do you see?

Hermana arias from buenos aires who finished her mission today

MTC Squad.

Benjamin's sister.

 The baptism of Benjamin, and everyone that went! 

The Family Luchini, they aren't members but they are friends of the missionaries in the area called parque capital. The two other missionaries in this picture are the assistants to the president in the mission.