Just one of those weeks...
 |
| Grateful for the Ortega family! |
Hello!
I don’t even know where to start. It was just a weird week,
full of its ups and downs, just one of those weeks were we had no success at
all and everyday our for plans for Amelia changed…and not for the good.
But I’ll start off with positive things of the week. I hope
everyone had a solid Thanksgiving. I am sure it was either 30 degrees or 75
degrees back home in SLC lol! We were lucky here in IA, it was a perfect day, sunshine and
70, not complaining. We started the day off with a zone wide run up to the
capitol building. It was a blast. Fifteen of us running in the middle of
downtown Des Moines (streets were closed for traffic for some reason) We felt like Rocky running up those last couple steps once we made it up
to the top. Good times. We then of
course felt like that was enough exercise for the day so we went back and
chilled before stuffing ourselves at a couple members’ homes. Solid
Thanksgiving. Of course I missed all of you a little bit but my Des Moines fam
took me great care of me.
 |
| Inspired by Rocky |
Now for the bummer part of the week, along with zero success
finding new people, it was a roller coaster ride of emotions with Amelia and
the Luis’ whole family. Monday night we stopped by their house. After talking
with Luis, he explained that Crystal, for some reason or another, feels
threatened. Not because of him but just because of so many other things going
on. She wants to move back to Detroit with her family. Hearing that news
shocked us. Didn’t really know how react and had no idea what to plan for.
Friday rolls around, after talking with them a couple times during the week, and we walked up to the porch and found Luis just sobbing. For
a good hour and half he just opened up to us.
He was so upset about the plans Crystal was making to move within the
next week or so. He is scared and nervous for his kids. Apparently the
situation they would be moving to in Detroit is not good, hard living
conditions and Crystal’s family is an interesting group. So on Friday night we
were pretty certain that Amelia’s baptism was not going to happen.
Saturday comes, Luis says they are now planning to leave in
a month or two. We were stoked. We felt like that was enough time to baptize
Amelia, and even enough time for Luis. I then thought I could get ahold of my man,
Cole, and other missionaries in Detroit so once they moved they could have
someone looking out for them. We had things planned out and continued to
prepare for Amelia’s baptism…I was feeling solid.
Well, on Sunday, Luis showed up to church alone. Amelia is
usually always with him but turns out Crystal wouldn’t let her come to church,
or any of the other kids. Not what we wanted to hear. We, along with Luis, were
super bummed. Stopped by later to talk to all of them and just see how they are
doing. Talking with Crystal we were told that they were moving on Friday. Now
that was the WORST thing to hear. At this point, I’m at a loss for words, no
clue how to explain to you guys, let alone to myself. But the one thing I’ve
learned is that the adversary works so hard against those trying to accept the
gospel!
But everything will be okay. God has a plan for Amelia, Luis
and the rest of their family. Luis is still on date for the 14th of
January and he even could be baptized earlier. If for some reason, Amelia and
the fam are still around she could be baptized along side her dad. But that
plan could easily change, just like all the others!
 |
| Luis and Amelia |
Love you all! Sorry for the rambling letter full of my
frustrations. I’m still having fun and loving the work. And it looks like I
won’t need to break out my winter coat for another week so I’ll take it!
Defecil es bueno!
Elder Christensen
p.s. s/o to Katia, big 17 on Friday!
 |
| view from the Capitol |
 |
| Well fed missionaries at the Jesperson's home |
Comments
Post a Comment