May 9, 2011

Hola familia. Crazy news! First of all my companion had an emergency transfer to Beni at 10:30 pm last night. The zone leader called and said that my comp had to pack up and leave. So now I have a new companion. His name is Elder Castro and he is from La Paz Bolivio. So another latino companion. It's good stuff. We were both way sad when we heard this. He wanted to call the mission president and ask to stay here. But he flew to his area in Beni in the jungle this morning and we had to leave by 5 pm. It was so fast. But my companion seems to be a really good missionary, and I am ready to work hard with him. I felt though like yesterday when I was talking, I made it seem like it is easy to get baptisms here, but in reality you only have success if you are really obedient and work hard. There are missionaries here that haven't baptized for 6 months. But I know that through diligence and hard work, that you will recieve a lot of success. So I couldnt send the mail off today (sorry Calli and Carli). Next week I should be. We couldn't with all the transferring. But this week was extra special. One of the reasons was because during one of our lessons we were teaching the spirit was so strong and we were saying things we hadn't before and promising blessings. It really felt like the power and authority that is promised to the missionaries. It went so well and when we taught about Joseph Smith it felt awesome. Me and my comp were really teaching with a lot of unity. We have been getting along way well and things were flowing great, and now he had to get transferred ha ha. I guess that's just what happens. But I will still work hard with my comp and develope strong unity with him too. We didn't get to baptize Hno Ricardo because he was in a diffferent city working and he couldnt make it home in time. So we are going to put a different date down for him to be baptized. He was willing to be baptized way late but we couldn't do that . But we got to help in getting Sayuri Tasima baptized. Her father baptized her and even though her real mom doesn't want her to be baptized. She knew it was right and wanted her to be because she knows this church is true, and so is the baptism that we perform. It was great talking to you guys yesterday. It was hard to say good bye. But til Christmas ha ha. It will be a good time and I will have great stories and experiences to share with you guys. I think that one of the hardest parts of talking to you guys, was hearing the nephews and nieces and their voices. It's all good. We have found a lot of good investigators this week and we got to teach the first vision a lot. Every time I bear my testimony of Joseph Smith seeing God and Jesus Christ, my testimony grows stronger and stronger. It's real. Nothing can burn in your chest that strong and be false. The holy ghost testifies of this and no one can deny it. It's so powerful. I know what I'm doing will bless lives more then I can understand. I will always press forward with dilligence, obedience and with all my heart I love you guys so much and hope you're receiving blessings from my service. Love you tons and I'll talk to you soon. Elder Christoffersen