Well this week was a short one for me. I have been working to lighten the weight of having the 2 sectors now and it's going well - so well that we are going to have 2 baptisms this weekend! I am so excited! Their names are Guisselle(16) and Jordan(10) they are brother and sister and they are so great! They love going to church and are so pumped for their baptism. This weekend they couldn't go to church and we passed by in the evening and they told me that they felt so bad that they couldn't go to church. Now think about this: 2 kids that aren't members missed a day of church and felt bad, and how many of us that are members miss a day and don't think twice. We have something so special but sometimes we don't see it. I invite all of you that missed a day of church to say sorry to the Lord and make it there this Sunday because it's something so little but so important in our lives! And I got taught that by two kids here in Chile. We can be taught by anyone and anywhere!
I would like to share with you this story that the mission president shared with us that teaches us some important principles:
The Silent Lesson
A member of a certain church, who previously had been attending services regularly, stopped going. After a few weeks, the pastor decided to visit him.
It was a chilly evening. The pastor found the man at home alone, sitting before a blazing fire. Guessing the reason for his pastor's visit, the man welcomed him, led him to a comfortable chair near the fireplace and waited.
The pastor made himself at home but said nothing. In the grave silence, he contemplated the dance of the flames around the burning logs. After some minutes, the pastor took the fire tongs, carefully picked up a brightly burning ember and placed it to one side of the hearth all alone then he sat back in his chair, still silent.
The host watched all this in quiet contemplation. As the one lone ember's flame flickered and diminished, there was a momentary glow and then its fire was no more. Soon it was cold and dead.
Not a word had been spoken since the initial greeting. The pastor glanced at his watch and realized it was time to leave. He slowly stood up, picked up the cold, dead ember and placed it back in the middle of the fire. Immediately it began to glow, once more with the light and warmth of the burning coals around it.
As the pastor reached the door to leave his host said, with a tear running down his cheek, “Thank you so much for your visit and especially for the fiery sermon. I will be back in church next Sunday”.
Like before if we are going out just a little our fire goes out, but when we get put back in the fire we can catch fire so fast and just take off!
Well if you have anything you would like to know about Chile or my mission ask me because I am running out of things to write. haha. Thanks.
I love you all and have a good week. I hope this message helped you in some way.
love,
Elder Christensen
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