Saturday, December 1, 2012

November 27, 2012 (Perth Amboy)


Sitting in the clerks office in the small chapel in Perth Amboy. Sorry we didn't get to email yesterday. We had a practice for the fireside for all the Latin members/investigators in New Jersey area yesterday and it took up quite a bit of P-Day. I'm doing a spanish version of Silent Night at this huge fireside. It's going to be really cool. I just came up with a finger picked guitar part on the spot and showed the people who were in charge and they loved it. So it will be me at the mic, with a choir singing parts behind me. It's going to be really rad; the practices sound awesome. I'll try to get someone to record it or something so you all can hear it.

This week was grand, but a little slow. Elder Giglio caught a bad cold, and then a nasty virus, so we were in the house for about 3 days, I made some videos on the camera that I thought were funny. I think I was just really bored. The problem is, we can only play guitar on P-Days, so I spent a lot of my time: pacing, making my agenda/planner look cool (aka cut out Carl Bloch pictures from the Ensign decorating the front), singing, eating, napping, studying, reading Jesus the Christ, reading magazines, reading the Book of Mormon in Spanish, out loud, thinking, etc. It's no fun having to stay in doors all the day, the only benefit, I believe, is the chance to catch up on a few hours of lost sleep.

Okay. A little bit of possibly exciting news. Elder Ream (missionary friend, rad piano player, really cool guy) just got called as the new Assistant to the President. And when I was on exchanges with him, he was telling me about how he could see me training in 3 transfers, and that he wanted me to train. Well. Now that he is in a position where he has a say in who does what, and who goes where, that actually might happen. Elder Storey and my district leader were talking with him, and they both told me that Elder Ream was really leaning on the idea of me training. So we don't know for sure yet, but we'll see. That'd be terrifying and fun.

We found a few new investigators on the street the other day. They were 3 young kids (12, 12, and 14) playing soccer in a tiny, asphalt schoolyard. We walked by them to try to visit an investigator but he wasn't there so we walked back that same way and we saw that they had stopped playing. The largest of the three was awkwardly carrying one of the smaller ones to a picnic table with a look of concern on his face. We went over to check it out. Apparently he got hit in the stomach with the ball and got the wind knocked out of him. We talked with them for a few minutes and then taught them about the Restoration of the Gospel. It was awesome. They totally understood and they thought it was cool. We're going to try to convince them to see if we can talk with their parents and teach the family. That would be awesome to teach an entire family. Well see what happens.

I had a humbling moment with my companion the other day. Elder Tippets, our district leader, challenged Elder Giglio to read the Book of Mormon in ENGLISH by the end of the year (originally the goal from President: to read the Book of mormon by the end  of the year with a certain emphasis). Elder Giglio has been doing it, but it didn't seem to me like he was really trying. So we had an intense discussion and in the discussion how hypocritical I was being. I was reading it in English too, my comfortable native language. I realized how dumb I was being and I made the switch over to Spanish this week. It's really cool how i understand things differently in Spanish, and get new things out of the text that I would not have noticed if I would have been reading in English. 
And now our goal is to read every night together, him in English and me in SPanish, just for the last 15 minutes before we crawl into bed and pass out. The first night we did that was amazing. It was unplanned. We both just started reading before bed. I was at a desk and Elder Giglio was in his bed reading. As soon as we were quiet and started to read, the spirit just swept into the room. It was palpable. It's so cool to see the spirit that a simple book can bring> It can engulf an entire room in seconds.

Life is good. I hope all is well with you all, every last one of you that may see this. I'm sorry if I have not written some of you frequently enough or failed to mention you in any of my letters. I love you all and I pray for you all as often as I can. 

Jesus Christ is the Holy Son of God. The Spirit of the Lord is real and has the power the purge evil, change hearts, and bring light into the lives of those who most need it. God's love is ever abounding.

Elder N. H. Christensen

PS - Hymn #133 "Father in Heaven"
PPS - Dad could you send me the lyrics for the Christmas song "Bring the Torch Jeanette Isabella"?


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