This week has been great with a lot of mixed emotions.
I left Lincoln on Tuesday and I was pretty sad to leave Elders Santacruz and Riley. I first went to Gridley, and then from Gridley a member named Juan came and picked me up all the way up to Redding which was about a three hour drive with stops and gas. Juan was a cool.
I am back with Elder Christensen and we are good friends. He a super diligent Elder and very patient. He has been doing a lot of English work up here so we are already teaching some awesome people with faithful testimonies about Christ and his sacrifice for us.
It has been a cool experience this week working in a Ward. There are a ton of nice members and they like helping us out in any form. We had a Christmas party on Saturday and we at a lot of tacos and it was a good opportunity to meet members of the Ward.
On Sunday, it was a spiritual experience being apart and seeing the new branch being organized. Although we were few and the room was small, I felt we were apart of something important. The leaders of the branch are super humble and there was a sweet spirit that was super peaceful and happy. It seems the members here in Redding are super excited and have a lot of faith. I heard that some of the members have been praying for quite awhile now to be able to listen and hear during sacrament meeting in their native tounge.
One thing that I have been thinking about lately is how urgent and swift the prophets and ancient people in the Book of Mormon were as they came to comprehend the gospel and the joy that comes from Jesus Christ. In the vision Lehi had when he ate of the fruit that was pure, he immediately wanted to share it with his family. When Enos prayed and received a remission of his sins, he first thought of his brethren, and when Alma the younger gained his strength back after seeing an Angel started to preach the gospel! As I have been pondering about the joy the gospel brings to my life and the Atonement of Jesus Christ, the more I feel I need to share it with others and how important it is. I know that the Book of Mormon is true and that Heavenly Father wants us to communicate with us so that he can help us. Love you!