(33 & 34)

Hi!

Guess who is back.

      Good to write back to all of you and I apologize for missing last week. Stuff happens. Some big things happened these last 2 weeks so lets go ahead and get into it.

Gongju, Round 2...

     Transfer calls happened April 15th and if you read the title of this paragraph you would know that I am staying here in Gongju! Staying in the same area for 2 transfers is nothing new to me as I did it in Gokbanjeong. What is new to me however is staying with the same companion for 2 transfers... Which did not happen. I got a new companion! He is from Sandy, Utah (Shoutout to Nainey and Grandpa Rog!). My new companion has been in the mission only one transfer longer than me. Yet, his Korean is insanely good. To be fair everyone in this mission is insane at Korean. Just not me yet haha. Something unique and new that will happen this transfer is I am now a strong and independent district member. I don't get to be a district leader wife anymore for the first time in FIVE TRANSFERS. Gongju has seen a lot of success in the first couple of weeks. My new companion and I have met with an insane amount of people and have been teaching quite a bit. The other day we invited these 3 Chinese exchange students to eat with us. They then invited 5 of their friends so we had a meal with 8 people. We couldn't teach 7 of them in depth because of their fear of the CCP. But, one of the friends that was there was randomly from Indonesia. So, we are trying to get to know him and hopefully build our relationship with him. 

Our zone leaders got changed and they are not joking around. Within about 1 week they got together with the Sister Training Leaders and set a goal for us as a zone to focus our efforts on members. They told us to dedicate one hour of our day towards members. They said you can do whatever you want as long as you are building your relationship towards them. Probably the best zone goal I’ve seen. So far our plan for Gongju is to get in contact and meet with all of our inactive members. I'm not entirely sure how to do it or how its going to work but I have faith things will work out.

Hopes, Dreams, and Love.

     Because it’s the start of the new transfer and because of the emotional rollercoaster that was my last transfer, I am hoping and dreaming for a lot of things this transfer. I have prayed earnestly for things to just work out for us in Gongju and for us to bring people closer to Christ. Last transfer was crazy hard to not only see success, but also define it. In PMG it states that "Success is primarily determined on your desire and commitment to Find, Teach, and Baptize." Even when you may not be able to do all of those things. Last transfer "Find" I felt was the only thing we did. The only desire I felt during that time was my desire to ram my head into a wall after trying to speak to people for hours upon hours a day. I had forgotten what it felt like to sit down and teach someone about the Gospel of Christ. I still have no experience of what it’s like to baptize a convert into the covenant. It also didn't help that I had spent the whole transfer with someone who only focused on our imperfections and failures. 

But, I think one thing I had with me always even when it didn't feel like it, was desire. I had a desire to keep pushing to find people, teach them, and eventually baptize them. I really do think I had that. So, why did I feel like I didn't succeed? I feel I was missing something very significant. That something, was Love. Now I don't mean the type of love delivering/receiving compliments to/from someone. No, I mean the eternal type of love. You know, the same type of love Christ had towards literally everyone. That is something I want to focus on more. In fact its something I want to have a desire for.

Conclusion

     Alright, well that's how the start of the transfer is going and I hope that it can continue to pick up speed, snowball effect, get the ball rolling, etc. into something great! I'm excited to serve again here in Gongju its pretty beautiful and the members here are amazing. That is if I can get past all the allergies I've been punched in the face with haha. 

Hope all of you have an amazing week and that you continue to see miracles in life. Ill see ya!

Love Y'all

-Elder Christensen

Tate and his new companion Elder Curtis