week ending 11.28.10

Hey everyone,

Well this week has been a good one and a rough one for me.  But I have learned a lot about myself and the meaning of "thank you". Even if you are having a hard time there is always something to be thankful for and show someone that you love them. Like in these 3 photos, these are the 3 people I live with and I love them all - even when they bug me. haha. It doesn't happen a lot. For Thanksgiving we ate noddles with salsa and meat. And at night we made pancakes with chocolate chips, brownies in the microwave, shakes in the blender and all that good stuff. So I am guessing it's not anything like the Thanksgiving you all had - but it was a fun one.

So this week we were on a mission to find some new people to teach and we found some!  One is a family of 3. They are so great and I love them already!  Juan, Verginia, and Constanza. They are looking for something to help them have more faith. We have been helping them and they have loved talking to us. So if you can put them in your prayers so that they can open up their hearts more and keep listening to us so they can progress. Thanks.

So on Sunday something really cool happened! We had lunch with a family that's from Utah. The husband is working down here and they live in a part of my sector that is really nice, really nice! haha. They made us a lunch that was so good - the salad from Cafe Rio. Oh man it was so good, they had the green sauce and sweet pork. Oh man it was the best thing that has touched my mouth! And we played with their kids that speak both Spanish and English. Elder Poole was so happy, he is new and he was like "I can have a conversation." haha - he is funny.

Well, thanks for everything that you do for me and the love you send my way.  Have a good week.

Love,
Elder Christensen

week ending 11.21.10

Hey everyone,

Well I just want to say thank you everyone! I am so grateful for all the support you have given me throughout my mission. Thanks. And I hope that Thanksgiving goes well for all of you!!!!!

This week was super-great, we had a conference with Elder Corbridge from the 70. He talked to us about the Holy Ghost and a lot of other stuff. There was one thing that I really liked a lot and it was this: "the gospel isn't hard, going to church isn't hard, the only thing that is hard is life." I have to agree with him, the world makes all of it hard, the world tell us that being obedient to the Word of Wisdom is lame but the truth is that it's cool to do it.

Because what are some of the blessings for following it?
•knowledge
•strength
•health
•protection from evil
And the down sides of not living the Word of Wisdom:
•loss of free agency (needing to smoke, drink, take drugs)
•loss of money
•bad health
•loss of mind control

I am going to have to say that living the gospel and the commandments are a lot better than not. And the other blessing we get from living it is going to the Celestial Kingdom. Who doesn't want to go there?  It's full of happiness and joy - who doesn't want that? Once again, I say living the gospel isn't hard - it's a blessing. The Word of Wisdom was only a example. We need to be thankful that we have the gospel in our lives, and all the people that have given their lives so we can have it and live it. Starting with Jesus Christ, he gave his life so that we could live the gospel and be saved. And Joseph Smith, who fought to restore the gospel in our days so we can have all the blessing of the gospel. There is a lot more - but there is a lot of thanks we owe all the people that sacrifice to bring the gospel to the world. (okay when I started to write this it wasn't my intention to be like, "be thankful for me and the missionaries," it just came out that way - whoops.) I love you all and I am thankful for you all as well! Have a good week!

Love,
Elder Christensen

week ending 11.14.10

Hey everyone,

Well I have to say that I am loving my new sector because I am in the field again and it's so hot and I feel at home. But the only bad thing is that I have to ride a bike and my butt hurts so bad!  I never want to ride the bike again!  And on top of that it broke on me and I have to go get it fixed. But that's just me complaining - it really is great having a bike because we get around faster and we are still getting things done that I want to get done.  It's fun.

So living in a house with 4 missionaries is a more fun then I thought it was going to be.  I thought it was going to suck, but it's not that bad. This last week we got the crap kicked out of us. We had to do so many things and nothing was going the way I wanted it to go so I was getting a little upset.  But I learned this week that getting upset doesn't help anyone or anything. We just need to do our best to make the best of it and make sure we are being obedient.

There is a little town in my sector that is call "pueblo sin ley" (town without law) it's a pretty funny name.  We finely went there last night and I can see why they gave it that name - but its a good little town and I feel like we are going to have some success out there.

Something I learned today:  some one asked me why did God have to come down from heaven to call Joseph Smith to be a Prophet? So I started looking for scriptures and things in study guide and I found nothing.  And then I was in the bathroom (yes you can receive revelation in the bathroom) and I started to think of the Bible.  The Bible says that Christ and God are one and never says anything about the body of God. And everyone thinks that God and Christ are one. Well, when God come down to call Joseph Smith to be a Prophet it was showing the world that God has a body of flesh and bone and is a different person then Christ. And that comes from the 1st article of faith. Yes, I felt good after finding that out but it came from God - I was so pumped! haha. Just thought I would share that with you.

If you have any questions feel free to ask me about anything, I love getting asked questions! haha.

Have a good week!  Love you all! Please pray that we can find some new people this week! thanks!

love,
Elder Christensen

week ending 11.7.10

hiking on p-day

Hello Everyone,

Well, this last week was a good one - we had a lot of success with Alex a new guy that I was teaching.  Alex is doing good and he went to the Stake Conference.  He liked it and was really happy to be there with us and learn.
I got changed and now I am in a different sector. All the members on Sunday were really sad because they  found out that we were going to have changes - but we didn't know until 12:30am last night and after the call they told us that Elder Nielsen needed to be somewhere at 8am so I had to pack last night. I was packing from 12:30am to 3am and then after that we couldn't sleep much so we talked and we were talking about how much we are going to miss one another. After getting 2 or 3 hours of sleep we woke up at 6:20 am and that kicked my butt. haha. Well, my companion Elder Nielsen will be training now and I am in a city called Colina that is outside of the city  I am with Elder Jones.  Elder Jones is from Boise, Idaho and he is really cool and I am excited to work with him. So I am really happy and I am really excited to be in my new sector and the cool thing is that Elder Stark - my old companion - will be living in the same house as me. So it will be a fun time with him and stuff.

with Elder Jones

Something that I have learned is that we cannot be upset with what happens in life - because everything happens for a reason. The times when something happens and we don't know why - that's when we need to go do and fight. I learned this today seeing that I didn't want to leave my sector but I was called to come out here. There is a reason and I am going to go find out why, and I am going to complete with my purpose. So if anything happens to you - don't ask why is this happening to me - but what can I learn from this or what do I need to learn or what do I need to do. I know if you can do this it will change the way you look at things and life will become easier and the challenges won't be so hard.
I know that this church is true and the work that I am doing for the Lord is true. It's the most important work that I could ever do in my life - next to having a family. haha. I know that Jesus Christ lives and He restored this church to the earth through Joseph Smith.  Because of that, we can be baptized the way that Christ was baptized - the way that is valid in the eyes of God. I love you all and I hope that your week goes good for you!

Love,
Elder Christensen

week ending 10.31.10

Hey everyone,

Well, it looks like my good friend Josh Bair got home from his mission - that's crazy! 

{Josh Bair returns to Utah from LDS mission in New Jersey}

So this week - what do I have to write about? Well, Sunday we had a baptism of Constanza and it was amazing. She is so happy and is making so many friends in the ward and she loves to go to young womens. I am so happy for her and her family they are so happy now and everything is changing for them. And the computer that I am using dosen't have a place to plug my camera in so you will have to wait until next week to see the photos of her baptism.

Constanza's baptism - photo added to blog 11.8.10

Also we are teaching 2 people, Teresa and Eddy.  They are from Peru and they are so great. They are really receptive to us and they love when we go by. Teresa is the aunt of Eddy and they live close to our house and Teresa is a little sick but she has been getting better ever since we have been going by. I don't know if she really understands why but it's so cool to be able to see the miracles in the lives of the people. So if you could put them in your prayers so they can go to church this Sunday they would love that - and I would too.  haha.

Today in the morning we went on a hike and it kicked my butt. It was a big hill and at the top of it there is a big cross and I never thought that I would ever climb that hill but we did it! It is 91 degress today and it's kicking my butt. haha. I have so many photos and videos from the hike so next week I will send photos of it. And when I was like 200 feet from the top I was like, "I am done. I don't want to climb anymore!" haha. And I started to get dizzy and yes, I took water. haha. But I made it and touched the cross so that's a good story I have now. haha.

Something I learned last week, I was studying the forgiveness and it kicked my butt. haha. I learned a lot about it. I learned that I need to ask for forgiveness before the person can even say that I hurt them. I think it might be a little different but it will help me out on the mission and after the mission. And I know that if we can forgive people for whatever they do we can be a lot happier and have the Holy Ghost with us stronger. I know this is true! Well, have a good week everyone and I will be talking to you next week!

love,

Elder Christensen