Hooray! Staying in San Jose!

Here is Brandon’s letter.  He didn’t mention it in this letter, but he became the district leader with this last transfer! 

Hello all!

So, transfers came and went, and I am still in San Jose! That means I get to have Christmas here! I’m so happy! So that’s good news! I do have a new companion, Elder Soberano, as my last companion Elder Olila returned to Tarlac to be a zone leader there! It was quite the change! No one thought that was how transfers were going to go down, but it did! So yeah, I’m still here in San Jose! I’m so blessed to still be here!  This is a fantastic early Christmas gift!  

So yeah-- this week was nuts! So we went to work as normal on Tuesday, and then on Wednesday we found out the transfer announcements, then went out and visited all of the people we were closest with, and it was rough for Elder Olila. He really wanted to stay here for Christmas as well. Transfers itself were pretty cool. I got to see my good friend from the MTC, Sister Thomas for the first time since then! So that was pretty sweet! My new companion was actually assigned in this zone in a neighboring area back in the day, so he sort of knows his way around San Jose!

So yeah, the highlight of Friday was when I got to teach Tatay Oscar again, the second baptism in my time here. He’s just got such a desire to do what is right. When we said that men are that they might have joy, his eyes lit up and said how happy he is when he keeps the commandments. I love that guy, and his wife and daughter are currently taking the lessons from us, so hopefully they can become one happy family in the church.

The highlight of Saturday was when we were teaching our golden investigator, Brother Michael, and we followed up on his word of wisdom problem. He wasn’t really making any progress there, but when we explained that if he didn’t stop smoking today, he couldn’t be baptized on January 4, something just clicked! He swore off cigarettes. His pack was empty, and he said he wouldn’t buy another pack! It was awesome. Some representatives of another church came by our investigator’s Joy and Jhel’s house, so we had to explain some doctrines that they brought up to them. But they said they believed us and not them, so that’s good!  They’re still on track for baptism. 

Sunday was awesome, as I got to see all these people I love so much at church again. In the afternoon, we had what was called a one day mission, where just a ton of people from the ward came out with us to OYM all afternoon, which was awesome! We had lots of success, and found a couple of people who really want the gospel! That was awesome. And that brings us to now!

So yeah, I love this life, this area, my mission, and most importantly my Savior. Around two thousand years ago the start of the most important event in the history of the world began with the birth of our Savior. I’m so excited to be able to spend the celebration of his birth here in my “hometown” of San Jose.

San Jose cathedral with Christmas lights

 Maligayang Pasko! 

--Elder Christensen