week ending 8.29.10

Hey everyone,

Well this week I hit the one year mark in the mission and it was lame and hard. But my companion made me a little surprise and put stuff on my bed like you can see in the photos.

He is a great companion helping me remember that I am half way done. I think my family is more excited than me, because I don't want it to end. haha.

I'll tell you about something that happened to me and something that I learned this morning:

I have been having a hard time lately and I have found out why. I am reading in 1 Nephi 8 where it talks about the iron rod. I have followed the rod to the fruit and now I am ashamed.  (1 Nephi 8:25).

like what it says in the Bible;

Romans 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ; for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth.....

2 Timothy 1:8 Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord,....

We shouldn't be ashamed of our testimonies and the gospel of Christ. I think I am ashamed because I love the world more at this time. So I need to forget the world and not be ashamed.

There is some strong quest in Mormon 8:38 .....Why are ye ashamed to take upon you the name of Christ? Why do ye not think that greater is the value of an endless happiness than that misery which never dies--because of the praise of the world? The one that hit me the most was ...because of the praise of the world.  Man that's me.  I have been searching for the praise of the world. That will only take me to an endless misery - so something needs to change.

There is a lot more to my study about this topic and man, I learned so much that I need to learn to love the fruit and not be ashamed of what I believe and stand up strong against the world. I love the gospel - it's changing me so much.  I am becoming a new person every day.

So I have a testimony that we need to build our testimonies upon the rock, (Christ) and when we do that - when the devil comes to get us we will be ready for the attack. Thanks for supporting me for this year and all the prayers that you have sent my way. Now if you could keep Leti and Guillarmine in your prayers it would be great - thanks!

love you all.

Love,
Elder Christensen

week ending 8.22.10

Hey everyone, 

Well, my mom asked me how the family that we have been teaching is... they are clean from all their sins if that gives you an idea how they are. haha. Oh man, their baptism was so amazing! I had the privilege to baptize Carolina and Janaby, They are so amazing! They are so happy now and Cristian gave his testimony after the baptism and he couldn't talk he was so emotional. I even started to cry a little. Just to let everyone know, Cristian made some of the biggest changes I have ever seen in my life, he stopped smoking, drinking and drinking tea in 2 days so he could be baptized and now they have the goal to go to the temple in a year! I know what true joy is now, this is why I am giving myself up to help others. I love this work!

the baptism for the family! so happy, a great day!

 

On Saturday Elder Scott for the 12 was in Chile and gave a talk but we didn't get to hear it. It's all good - we got to hear Elder Costa from the First Quorum of the 70. He is from Brazil and is amazing.  I learned a lot about the mission and making goals that are big! When we think big we will do big things and I want to do big things so I have a lot of goals that are big. I am going to do all I can to complete them. He also taught us about the Holy Ghost and what the role of the Holy Ghost is.  Now I know what I need to do to have the spirit and keep it and help other people have it and keep it. I am excited for this next year, oh man, I am going to be done with a year this Thursday. Oh man, the time has gone by way too fast! But I am loving it.

Well, I had a good week and I am ready to have another one.  Please help a family of 2 we are teaching, a mom Guillarmina and her daughter Leti, with some prayers. Thanks for your help.

Have a good week and I love you all!

love,
Elder Christensen

we made mac and cheese with hotdogs, it was great.

Cristian made this for me and Elder Nielsen, it was great.

week ending 8.15.10

Hey eveyone, 

Last night we had changes, but nothing got changed for us so Elder Nielsen and I are here together for another 6 weeks. oh yeah man! haha. I am really pumped for this next change and the things I am going to learn  from it. The last change I learned a lot of things and one of the things I learned that has changed my life is LOVE! I have learned how important love is in our lives.  I have been trying to show my love for all the people I serve and get to know, and I do it by doing service for them, even if it is just a little act. But I know now if I dont have love for what I am doing or for who I am with (companions, wife, kids, family) it's not going to be very fun! I now understand what I need to do to make things work out, forget myself and focus on others and help them through their problems and when I do that they will be happy and I will be happy. Man, what has happened to me? I am growing up and I like it. I never thought i would like growing up and learning all these things but it's cool. It all started with my love for my Savior, if I didn't have that I wouldn't have come here and I wouldn't have grown and learned so much in my life! But it's great and I am loving life.

 
Well, a little about the family we are teaching, they are doing great! They went to church this last Sunday and are all down with the lessons and are going to be baptized this coming Sunday so we need your help. If you would put them in your prayers - Cristian, Carolina, and Janaby - that would be great. So I was in church and Carolina was sitting next to me and all the little girls in this ward for some reason love me and always wave and smile at me, well, Carolina was like, "man, you have a lot of girlfriends!" I told her it comes with the job! haha, not really, but I thought it. I love this ward and I love Cristian, Carolina, Janaby and Martina they are great!   

Here are some photos for you all to enjoy. Look how skinny I am getting, I have lost almost 15 pounds in the last month. noooooooooooooo! I am going to try and get that back, I came into this sector at 210 and I am down around 195 or so. oh man. =( Well, I am out. Until next week... have a good week!

Love you all!

Elder Christensen 

week ending 8.8.10

Hey everyone,

Well this week has been a good week, I have learned a lot about myself. I was talking to my companion this morning and I am sure of it now, I am sure that I am sensitive and that's just how I am. And I don't care what people say, I am going to be the nice guy. Even though the world puts in our minds "nice guys finish last" we will see who finish last after this life haha. Sorry that was bad. =)  But I was trying to understand how I can be a strong person without being mean or hurtful and I think I found it or maybe not. haha. I have been searching for this answer for a long time now and I keep finding little things here and there, but I will find it.

This Sunday the family we have been teaching went to church and they liked it.  So that was the highlight of my week even though we missed the sacrament because we went to their house to walk with them but they decided to be slow, so I was like, "oh no, let's go." But I was just being nice and telling them you have a little bit more time. Next week I will get them to church on time. Make sure you put them in your prayers please. (Cristian, Carolina, Janaby.)

I was reading in the Book of Mormon and I came along a scripture that made me think and troubled me. It was in, 2 Nephi 6:14

 "And behold, according to the words of the prophet, the Messiah (Christ) will set himself again the second time to recover them; wherefore, He will manifest himself unto them in power and great glory, unto the destruction of their enemies, when that day cometh when they shall believe in Him; and none will He destroy that believe in Him."

I was thinking what does it mean "to believe in him." Because everyone says that they believe in Christ so does that mean all will be saved? Now you can see the predicament I was in this morning. haha. So I went to something that's called the study guide (or see D&C 20:29) that's in the Spanish scriptures and I read about "believe" and it brought up 2 things that stuck out to me. "Faith and Repentance" so I was like how can I put those with believing, well lets see how I did. haha.

•Faith- a part that talks about the true faith and what happens when people have faith and when they don't. When people have faith they repent and do good for others and do the things that Christ and God ask them to do. When people don't have faith they fall in to iniquity (Moroni 10:22). But what is faith? Well, if we read Ether 12:6 it teaches us what is faith and how we gain it. That faith is things that we can't see, and we gain it after our tests. And if you can prove that wrong, your good. But good luck.

•Repentance- to repent is a change of heart and of how we think. But a "true repentance is born for the love of the Lord and the true desire to obey the Lords Comandments" (study guide in Spanish pg. 20)

in Alma 42: 16 teaches us that we will not repent of our sins until we get punished, it's true no one will repent until they feel bad or someone tells them that, that is bad.

In 2 Nephi 9:22 we learn that if we become like little kids and repent, Christ will let us in, so we need to be humble and become like little kids.

In Moroni 6:8 tells us that God will forgive us every time we repent so we can repent every second and we will be forgiven. It's cool! haha.

So that's what I learned and I know what I learned is the truth and I am going to study this more because I don't feel happy with my answer. haha. I know that the Church of Jesus Christ is the true church on the earth. It has been a battle for me to get that testimony, but I got it and I will never lose it.

And for my sickness last week, I had a cold or something like that. But it lasted for a day or 2 and now I am good and lovin' life. haha.

Love you all and thanks for your time and prayers.

Love,

Elder Christensen

week ending 8.1.10

Hey everyone,

 

I was having a good week and then I got sick and I was told to stay in the house. So that brought my spirits a little down, but I was talking to a member one night and she was asking some questions. I started to receive thoughts that weren't mine, I knew that they came from my Heavenly Father.  I told her that when we are going through hard times we need to be happy, because, when we are sad, satan is attacking us because he knows that we are doing something good. He is going to do everything he can to bring us down and not enjoy what we are doing. So next time you are having a hard time, go to our Heavenly Father and ask for strength to overcome satan and enjoy the good things in life. And then another thing came into my head - it was a scripture from the Bible, James 2:26.  It talks about that our faith is dead if we don't have works.  Works are those little things we do, for example, pray every day, read the scriptures, go to church, follow the commandments, try and become like Christ every day, set goals, forgive others, and most of all forgive ourselves. If we can do some of those little things everyday we will have stronger faith. I know this because I have been putting this in practice and it has been working for me. I know that this is true, I know the Church of Jesus Christ is the true church on the earth. I will tell anyone that, that I come in contact with. I love my Savior.

 

love,

Elder Christensen