Merry Christmas 2010

Hello Everyone!

My Christmas was just great!  I spent the 24th with a family that is amazing.  I am going to have photos of them to show you. Enzo the dad, Maria the mom, and Maxi and Seba their 2 sons. They are so cute, we got to help Santa Claus and bring out the toys for the boys while they went and looked for him outside. Because in Chile Santa comes at night on Christmas Eve at 12:00. It was so sweet to see the look on the faces of the little kids when they saw their new toys!

Then on the 25th I got to call my mom and family! It was great! It's crazy to hear the voices of my mom and of my family members, sorry family haha. But it was nice. We spent the day with the Alomia family, they are from the USA and they made a Christmas lunch which was just great! haha And I got 2 ties from them and they are so sweet! haha.

So to tell you a little about Colina, well it's up around 98 degrees and its just cookin me everyday! I wear sunscreen and it still kicks my butt but what can you do? ummmmmmm go out and work for the Lord with all your heart, mind, might, strength, and will. When I do that I don't even feel the heat I don't think about the house I just work and work and love it and love it! haha. I love this work, I love Colina, it's a small little town and we have about 5 smaller towns that we have to ride bikes to.  It takes about 20 to 45 minutes.  The one that is far away - we haven't gone if we go we will be taking a bus! haha.

Well, that's my week and I just want to say Have a HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE! Here comes 2011! One year until the world ends in 2012 haha NOT! Well, have a good week everyone! Peace and love!

Love,

Elder Christensen

{Christmas eve with an amazing family}

{Elder Christensen & Elder Mendez at the mission home Christmas dinner}

{the yard he sat in as he was talking to family on Christmas day}

{Jessica sent a Christmas gift to this beautiful girl in Chile}

{pumpkin pie MK made for Christmas dinner}

week ending 12.19.10

Hey Everyone,

Well today was a sad but a happy day! I got a new companion and he is from Mexico.  His name is Elder Mendez. He is really funny and I think we will get along just fine. haha. So we got together around 1:30 today and its only 3:45 here and we already have been making jokes and stuff. I hope he can help me loosen up a little, I have been really stressed with the work but the work always goes on and we will see fruits here soon.

Yesterday we went to see a family that we contacted in the street and when we got there they let us in and we started to teach them and they were just sucking it all up, it was sweet! haha. They were so excited and they are going to pray about Joseph Smith and they said they want to get baptized! And we will be doing everything to help them, they will be going on a trip here soon but that wont stop us. haha. Their names are Danelo (dad,22), Violeta (mom,22), Ben (son,almost 2). They are awesome.

So something I learned this week is that I need to learn more about love with patience. When I lose one of these things it's all downhill from there.  So if anyone has a thought or anything to help a poor missionary out I would love for your help. One thing that I learned is that the prayers helps out so much in any situation that you are in, even when you lose your patience. But the thing that we need to do to have love and be patient is have the Holy Ghost, and how do we get that? We are obedient. So almost everything comes down to being obedient.

Thanks to all that wrote me and i hope that everyone has a MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love you all and have a great Christmas!

love,
Elder Christensen

week ending 12.12.10

 Hey Everyone,

So this week I have learned something that I wish I learned a long time ago. It's about the way of praying. So I have always prayed but nothing really came of it, I was just doing it to do it and stuff, but I learned something really valuable. Well there are a couple of things you need to understand about prayer, the praying is work, it's not easy. When you get home and you are beat in to the ground and it's time to pray its going to be tough but you have to fight to pray. The other thing we need to learn is the nature of God. When we understand that it will be easy to pray to Him and we will want to pray to Him. And another thing is we need to understand that we are going to be receiving revelation during our prayers so we need to have a pen, paper, and a flash light. Why would God give you revelation if your not going to remember it or use it - so we need to be ready to write it down and all. I have a testimony of this, I have learned and started to pray and not complete and I have been receiving a lot of help and revelation. So I invite all to learn and put this in practice.

So about our week, we have been finding and dropping a lot of people. We have been working hard but we have a lot of work to do. We are working with the members more and still trying to work in the streets just as hard! And I have been feeling the pain in my legs. haha. Well, that's all I have this week for ya, sorry that its short!

Love you all and thanks for your help. If you could throw my companion and I in your prayers so we can find a family that would be sweet! Thanks.

love,
Elder Christensen

week ending 12.5.10

Hey everyone,

Well, this week was a tough one for us - but we fought through it and we ended up kicking butt. We completed a lot of the goals we had. I feel so blessed when we get to help the children of God and share a message that can change their lives. So we are doing ore best to find new people to keep helping the branch and doing all we can for the members in the branch. I learned a little more about love this last week, I was reading in Ether Chapter 12 - I think verses 33 and 34, it talks about love and charity. I keep gaining a big testimony of the principle (love), without it I wouldn't be anything.

I have a really funny story for you guys! I was riding on my bike and to let you know this bike has been welded together. lol. Well, I just fixed it on Saturday and it cost a good amount of money. That night I was riding a little fast and all the sudden the bike broke in half! My legs got all tangled up in the bike and I was sure I was going to eat the ground but I was helped by something, (angles), and I landed on my feet. This is the second bike crash that I have been in and both of them I landed on my feet and walked away so I am doing good. But it was just funny that it happened and I am fine - just thought I would tell a funny story. haha.

So we got a Christmas tree from a family that we are teaching, (Elizabeth and her daughter darling). We bought lights and I put the silly rubber bands I got from Mandy on it so it's a sweet 2 or 3 foot tree. I will be having a fun time with that tree, I hope Santa brings some gifts to put under the tree! haha.

I am going to be going now so I will talk to you next week! Have a good week everyone!

Love,

Elder Christensen!