Short week

                       A beautiful morning at the temple 

            Hermana Glenn sometimes likes pointing out how short I am.

Hello all!
 
It's the time of year when the missionaries in the California Arcadia
Mission have to opportunity to attend a session in the Los Angeles
temple, and today happened to be that day. So today is also our P-day.
So here is the weekly e-mail.
 
First and foremost I absolutely love going to the temple. It was hard
to leave in fact and come back into the real world. The temple is the
place where our souls really belong, because it is the literal House
of God. As C.S. Lewis said, "We aren't human beings having spiritual
experiences, we're spiritual beings having human experiences" and the
temple is where we can remember that. I've been thinking about the
temple so much recently, partly because conference was very temple
heavy this year, and also because we are helping quite a few people
prepare to enter. I also received a letter showing the progress on the
Tucson temple, and hearing about the four new temples during general
conference reminded me of the excitement I felt when the Tucson temple
was announced. (Sorry if this was a little disorganized and doesn't
make much sense, we got up at 3:00 am to make it to the earliest
session, I'm a little sleep deprived).
 
Now on to the progress of the people we are teaching:
 
Carlos: I contacted him a few weeks ago on exchanges and it took us a
little while to find him again, but he's super cool and is doing
really well. He loves coming to church, and hearing about the words of
God. To him it makes perfect sense to be baptized, and then receive
the Holy Ghost. The only problem is he's going a little blind so has a
hard time reading the Book of Mormon, but really enjoys when we read
to him, and we are planning on giving him some CDs soon so he can
listen to it. He's well on his way to being baptized by the end of the
month.
 
Aurelia: This woman is a surprise and a half. First of all she is the
first person to ever call and request a Finding Faith in Christ video
from a pass along card. Secondly she is the only person to actually
call us and ask is when we're coming back after she said she would
call us. Third, she is the only person to ever call us and tell us she
wants to come to church so could we please find her a ride? Fourth,
she is the only person to call us when she has questions about her
Book of Mormon. Finally, she is the only person to have asked us to
move up her baptism date because the one we were thinking was "too far
away." So now she has a date for May 1!
 
And finally Joaquin: to be honest teaching this man is a roller
coaster. As soon as we think he's on the up and up he takes a sudden
turn or plummets. He will either fall of the face of the earth, or
stop keeping some commitment, or something else will happen. Most
recently his greatest struggle has been living the Word of Wisdom. His
date to quit is April 29, and he's had both highs and lows. Tuesday
for example was a low, increased by the fact he was lying to us about
it, but our lesson last night was definitely a high point. He is
slowly learning how to use the Atonement and let others help him
change. The best part is he is learning to listen to the Spirit so he
can begin to change faster. All in all it is an amazing process to see
and be a part of.
 
Things are going really well here. We're getting to know our new are
and new investigators, getting used to living with three other people
instead of just two, and trying to balance biking, walking and using
the car. In other words it's missionary work. I hope all of you are
doing well in each of your personal lives. I think and pray about you
often!
 
Hermana Christensen