week ending 4.17.11

 Hey everyone,

Well this week was a week full of things! We had a lot to do! We planned the baptism of Marcela and it turned out so great! It was a baptism to remember - not going to lie - I was like it's going to be interesting. But it was so amazing! Danilo, my convert, did the baptism but I went in with them to help carry her into the font and hold her in the water. We didn't fill the font all the way up and we had her sit down while we did it and it was sweet. I held her legs down and Danilo did the baptism.

But something that was really funny, we sang I Am A Child of God in English but we forgot the last part of the last line and we just stopped singing it was bad and really funny. haha. Well, something else cool happened... Danilo was called to be the president of the Young Men. That man is doing so well, they are planning on going to the temple in a year. So, yes mom we will be coming back to Chile next year so work on your Spanish! haha.

We also had a sweet activity in the church that we planned and ran. We bought 12 cakes and played games and shared a small message, and all the members and investigators loved it. haha. One of the games that we played was where we made teams and put them in a line and the last person had a small balloon hanging from their pants and the person in front is the only person that can grab the balloon. Oh man, they were throwing everyone around people ended up on the floor and it was so funny! I am going to do that for a activity when I get home. haha.

We also did some service for a member and we painted. We painted a wall then when we were alone I painted my name on the wall so they will alway remember me. They were not mad but they were like, "Sweet! Now Helmick you do it too!" haha. But the family we did it for is a family that I love, they are so sweet I am going to be sad when I have to go. But that is the mission. haha.

This week we have  a lot of plans to do a lot of good stuff! Please put us in your prayers that we find that family that is waiting for us please. Thank you. Have a good week and I love you all! It's a joy writing you all!

love,
Elder Christensen

week ending 2.6.11

Hey everyone!

This week started off so great! We started to find so many people and our investigators were so excited for everything getting ready to go to church. Man, when that happens you feel so happy and all you can do is get on your knees and give thanks for all you have to our Heavenly Father. We are teaching two different families that are just great! One is Cristian and Stephanie and they are so great, they have talked with missionaries before but they are ready this time. Cristian told us he wants to get baptized and he is ready. His wife was like "I am a little bit tougher than him." I laughed when she told us that and we asked her why and she gave us a lot of different excuses. But we are working with them and they will be progressing here soon! The other family is great we just got to know them.

Something really amazing happened, I got to witness Danilo getting the priesthood! I was so happy watching that and he is so happy and all. I am really happy for them and I am planing to come back to Chile to see their sealing in the temple! =)

We went to lunch one day with a new family that lives in our branch and they live in this part that is really rich. When the husband (not a member) came to pick us up he was white and had a deep voice, I was like your not Latin. haha. He is from Canada and is really funny, he was crackin' jokes the whole time. I loved it. But this sister is so great she is like I am going to spoil you guys even if you don't want it, so I asked for Life cereal. haha. The cool thing was that they have two baseball gloves and Elder Stark and I threw a little and I let one go really hard and broke one of the gloves. Know what that means? I still got it. haha. It felt good - but I felt bad about the glove and he said it's all good and that they don't get used. haha.

So that is a little about my week. I really don't have anything else to say except have a good week and I am glad to hear from you all! Talk to you later!

love,
Elder Christensen

week ending 1.2.11

Hey everyone!

I am so pumped for the year 2011!  I have so many goals and stuff that I want to do before I come home. I am going to just work so hard that when I come home I am going to sleep for 3 days straight so don't make any plans anyone because my 3 days of sleep are really important. haha. No, I'm just playin. But I am really going to kick my own butt this year and just do everything I can so I can help out the people of Chile and just lose myself in the work!

Well the good news is that we have a family that we are teaching.  Danilo, Violeta and Ben went to church and Ben, the little boy, was running all over the place and just loving it. He went to the primary and loved it and left with the biggest smile on his face. Danilo and Violeta loved it and were talking with people and answering questions in the classes. Oh man, I am so excited for them, I am going to give everything I have to help this little family and the crazy thing is, they are only 2 years older then me haha. I can't imagine myself in their shoes.

The new year was fun, a family in the ward brought us dinner to our house because we had to be in the house at 10 pm so they brought us food. Then we made a fire in the back waiting for the new year and we started screaming at 12 it was great! I was into 2011 and sleeping before any of the people in the USA got to 2011. That's funny haha!

I am not complaining or anything but I am so hot - I am going to die of heat. I have not sweat so bad in my life!  It is so hot and we had a sports day on the 31st and I got so burnt thanks to my thinking, I am tan I won't get burnt. False I got burnt haha. But I took my baseball glove and ball and Elder Stark took his glove and we got to throw and I still can throw the baseball really far and really hard. It made my day and I am so happy that I got to throw. The beat thing ever! haha.

That was my week and thanks for all the support that you all give me! Have a HAPPY NEW YEAR! Talk to you next week!

love,
Elder Christensen

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 10.10.10

 Hey everyone,

This week has been a crazy one, but a really good one. So we have been working really hard with our friend Karl and we were a little scared this week because we went on a road trip for work to the south part of Chile for 3 days so we could see him. The reason why we were nervous better said is because his goal for his baptism was Sunday and we wanted him to be ready. On Friday we finally got to see him and we did the pre-interview and he answered everything really well and we both felt that he was ready.  So we called the zone leaders and planned the interview for Saturday.  He passed the interview(long story short) and on Sunday he was baptized!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And he was so happy, I have loved to see the changes he has made in his life. He told us, I am one of those lost sheep and I am coming back to the fold. It was so cool. Oh, the water for the baptism was about 100 degrees, lol but we got it cooled down in like 10 minutes while everyone was waiting for them to get in the water. My bad, I was the one that made it too hot but I didnt know. haha.

And for Camila, she will be baptized the coming Sunday and we are really happy for her. she has been really sick these last couple of days so if you could pray for her health that would be great! Thanks.

Well that's all I got for this week. Thanks for reading and supporting me. Have a good week and I love you all!

Love, 

Elder Christensen

We found this roll of stickers in the street and we took it home and we didn't know what to do with it so we put it all over us and taking it off sucked. They were high powered and it felt like they were pulling my skin off. But it will be a good memory. haha.

week ending 9.20.10

Hey everyone,

Well this week was a good week for us!  We had a great time because Chile was in party mode!  haha. They celebrated 200 years of independence so they gave everyone 4 days off of work and all that fun stuff. Our ward had a sweet activity that we went to and the pictures are from the activity - and yes, I had a good time. The one where I have flour all over my face is from a race where we had to spin 20 times then run to a chair and thread a needle and then run to another chair and drink/eat this drink they have here - it's call "mote con huecillos" it's really good.  The next chair had a bowl with water and a spoon that we had to pull out with our mouth then the last chair they had a coin hidden under a pillow of flour and we had to get it out with our mouth and my mouth was full of flour - but on the good side I won! haha. It was super fun.
After the games we went inside to watch a show that they had planned and they had all types of dances from Chile and they were really cool.  I took a lot of pics and videos so it was a good night for my camera.  I want to come back to Chile and learn the dance that they have here and dance them of course.  haha.

 So about the people we are teaching, we have been teaching the guy from Austria still and he is super cool, he prays in German and I have no idea what he is saying - haha. but it's cool, it's fun to teach him and he loves the church and keeps coming to church every Sunday, he will be getting baptized next month. Then we have a family of 4 - a mom and 3 kids (22,15,12).  They are really amazing, they are passing for some tests right now but they are ready to hear the gospel so I am really happy that we found them and have the chance to teach them. We are also teaching a little 9 year old girl - her mom is a member and they want to go to church and this little girl is like a sponge, she just takes everything in and understands everything. That's what you look for on the mission. haha.

Well if you could put Karl, from Austria. Carolina, Carolina, son, Monseratt, the family, and Camila the 9 year old in your prayers it would be great! Thanks.

Love you all - have a good week!

Love,

Elder Christensen

week ending 5.30.10

Hey Everyone,

Well I guess this week is a cool but weird week. I can't turn 20, I want to be a teen forever. haha - joke not really. I think it's going to be different, but we will see on Friday. Today we are going to have a party with 2 other missionaries too because today one of them turns 20. So we are going to cook tacos and we bought a cake, (3 leche). Oh I am so pumped to eat that cake.

This morning we did something fun, and I forgot my camera but we woke up at 5:40 to go play soccer. Oh man it was so much fun, and I'm not going to lie - I was doing great. I scored a lot of goals and had some assists. But how we play soccer here is on a really small court.  It's a little bigger then a tennis court and it's called Baby Futbol. Oh it's so much fun, I like it because its really fast moving and everything. Elder Ojeda and I kick butt when we are on at the same time. hahaha.

The photos are of me in the baptismal font, we went to the church and helped the ward clean it up and my job was the font. I was like, this is just like baseball, we clean and get the field ready for a game. Well I was getting the font ready for a baptism, well - once we find someone to baptize, haha.  It's really fun doing things with the members of the wards to get to know them better and to see how much they love the Lord and the sacrifice they are willing to do. I love my job!!

Here are some questions that I am going to use to contact people on the street. I am going to write them down in Spanish and in English:

¿Cree en Cristo y lo acepa como su salvador?

Do you believe in Christ and accept him has your savior?

¿confía tanto en el salvador que acepta su voluntad y quiere hacer cualquier cosa que Él le pida?

Do you trust the the Savior that you accept his will and want to do whatever thing he asks you to do?

¿Tiene tal fe en Cristo que obtiene respuestas a sus oraciones?

Do you have such faith in Christ that you can obtain answers to your prayers?

These questions made me think a lot myself, it's good sometimes to ask yourself questions like this to see where you are at. So read them and think about them is my invitation today.

Thanks for all your help and support. Have a good day and week. 

peace,

Elder Christensen

felicidad = fotos

I absolutely LOVE photos of mi hijo in Chile!  Elder Christensen is able to only email a few each week and some weeks he doesn't send any.  Thanks to Amanda, Fabiola, Jenny, and Katia I have hundreds of photos that I wouldn't have otherwise.  These photos are from Fabiola.   ¡Muchas gracias a mis amigas en Chile!

week ending 4.18.10

Hey everyone,

Well, more about my companion, Elder Ojeda.  He lives in West Valley City, Utah, he went to Hunter High, he loves to play basketball and go snowboarding, and his birthday is June 4th!  Now, how crazy is that?  We have the same birthday and have some of the same loves and we live like 15 mins. from each other!  We have become really good friends and have had some good laughs together already. It's fun, we are working hard to find those people that are waiting for us. I am loving it so far.

This week we worked hard and saw some fruits of it: we found a family of 3 looking for something more. They are a young family the girl is like 5 months old or so and is super cute. And Carlos and Sofia are super awesome. They love when we come over and love to learn. They have so many questions for us and the lessons we are teaching them are answering all of them.  It's so crazy how these things work, I love seeing the hand of God "Do Work!" but they have a little shop that they both work in and its hard to find time to teach them and its even harder to have them close up for Sunday, but we are doing our best.  Please add them in your prayers.

Here is something from my mission president, it is super good and it helped me out a lot:

     

"As we seek to gain a greater understanding of the Atonement through our personal study of the Book of Mormon and Preach My Gospel, let us not forget the importance of our own personal learning by faith. This we not only study and read about the Atonement but we must apply in our lives. We must be doers of the word and not just “readers” of the word. The following is a powerful recipe that comes from Preach My Gospel for becoming more like our Savior Jesus Christ:

“Even after we have accepted Christ and repented of our sins, we may fall short and sin again. We should continually try to correct these transgressions. In addition, we should continually improve—to develop Christlike qualities, to grow in knowledge, and to serve more effectively. As we learn more about what the Savior expects of us, we will want to show our love by obeying Him. Thus, as we repent daily, we will find that our lives will change and improve. Our hearts and our behavior will become more Christlike. We will come to feel great joy in repenting daily."  Preach My Gospel pg 63

This is so true!  We need to be the doers when we know the gospel of Christ, not be the readers. we need to help those that don't know it or are having a hard time following it. If we really understood the doctrine of the atonement of Christ nothing would stop us from going to church or reading the scriptures or praying or following the commandments. It's so simple at times and people so close around us don't know it's that close. We need to share it with them. (2 Nephi 2:8). 

I know that this is the true church and the only church that has the power to save people and to bring them to live with God, Jesus Christ, and their families. I didn't really understand the meaning of why we do the things we do, and now I do.  It's because we love our Heavenly Father and our brother Jesus Christ and of course our families, when we have a true love for Christ we will do what ever it takes to follow him.  I know that Christ lives and is blessing all of us every day.  But we need to do our part. I love you all.

Have a good week.

Love,

Elder Christensen.

Well, I think that Chile just doesn't want me to send photos - because every computer I use sucks or is broken in some way.  So there won't be photos again, sorry.

week ending 4.4.10

Hey everyone,

Well, everyone has been asking about Easter and how it's celebrated down here. As far as I know they don't do a lot. They hide some eggs and that's about it. It's not that big here I don't think, but there were great feelings still.

Okay this weekend was amazing!! I love Conference! I learned so much this weekend, and I enjoyed so many of the talks. I forgot my notes that I wanted to share with you so I am going to try and remember some of them. One of the quotes I loved was, "If you give a man a fish it will feed him for a meal, but if you teach a man how to fish you feed him for a lifetime." I loved that. It made me think of the Lord and when he called his apostles that were fishermen, he told them follow me and I will make you fishers of men. He taught them what they needed to know so they could feed for a life time and so they could share it with everyone. That's how I feel, that I have been taught something amazing that will help me forever and now I am sharing it will others so they can be feed forever by the word of God. I never really looked at my mission like that until I heard that, it makes me feel honored to be sharing this message.

week ending 3.28.10

Hey everyone,

Yes! I found a computer that let me upload photos. It's a good thing too, because we went on a hike the other day. It was really fun, but there was one thing that wasn't fun that happened to me. We were going down the hill and there are a lot of cactus and I slipped a little and I got cactus spikes in my butt. Oh man, that was something I could have done without. But all in all, I had a great time.


Okay we got a new Elder this week. His name is Elder Jensen and he's from Sandy, Utah. He came out of the MTC speaking really good, he doesn't have any fear to do anything. But it's a lot harder to train than I thought, even though there are 2 of us doing it. But we are having a great time. I think I hear this from Elder Jensen every 10 mins. "they talk so fast! how do you understand that?" and then he told us that the first couple of days all the sentences sound like one word, but now he is picking out more and more words. He is getting better everyday. It's cool to watch someone grow in the mission and to have a hand in it. I hope I can help him more and more everyday.

week ending 2.21.10

Hey Everyone,

Okay - this week was a good one, well a good one to test my faith. I took this test by the horns and lived it up and learned a lot. I love doing this work, sometimes you don't see the good stuff right off the bat but we need to have faith and hope that it will come in the future. And I have learned that I need to have hope and use my faith to show that I have hope that God will give me help with every thing. I have been trying to become the missionary that my Father wants me to be.

week ending 2.7.10

Hey everyone,

Well, this photo is of me and Elder Stark doing some service for a family. We ripped grass out of this garden for 2 and a half hours it was really fun. Not only did we destroy the ground, we dug up onions and ate them. The first one we ate was so sweet and tasty but after that they tasted bad. The lady that lived there could smell us really bad, I just laughed. It was a good time.

This photo is of Luisa and us being little kids, it was really fun. Luisa got the Holy Ghost this week and she started to cry after she got it. I can't believe the change she has made. She went from having no spirit at all to just glowing with the spirit. I can't wait for her to grow strong in the church.

week ending 1.24.10

Hey everyone,

This week was a little different and a little harder, because of the changes. It took this week to get used to my new companion and how he taught. But now we are ready to do some work and baptize the people of San Felipe.

Yesterday I went on changes with another elder and a member and we were on bikes, that really sucked. I haven't ridden a bike for so long and it kicked my butt. And on top of that my back tire went flat and it was so hot. But I felt like a missionary. I was laughing the whole time, and thinking what am I doing. But I am having a great time.

week ending 1.17.10

Hey everyone,

Well today I sent my companion home, yep that's right, my trainer left me so I am getting a new comp today. I am going to miss Elder Davies, he helped me so much and I am glad he was my trainer. chow Elder Davies.

Okay this was a tough week for me and Elder Davies because our investigator, Estefy, decided that she didn't want to get baptized anymore. She loves the church and everything. We spent 4 hours this week with her trying to figure out what happened. She had so many different stories and stuff. But we went to talk with her family and we found out that her sister has been telling her bad things about our church and that she shouldn't get baptized. That was tough for us to hear. We tried to straighten things out with everyone but it didn't work. So that was tough.

week ending 1.10.10

Hey everyone,

Sorry about last week the computer was really stupid.

New Years Eve: First off I went to sleep at 11:30 so I really didn't do anything for New Years Eve but I was really sleepy so I wanted to sleep. lol. The best New Years yet.

The day of New Years, we were trying to contact people but lets just say most were sleeping or really drunk. Well, we were walking down this street and we saw a taxi driver helping a drunk guy into his car. The driver asked if we would help him take him somewhere, and we said sure. While in the car the drunk guy opened a beer outside of the car and the beer flowed in to my face. It was pretty gross. And when we got him out, his hands were covered in beer and it got all over Elder Davies. So we went home and washed up a little. It was funny.

Happy New Year!

Hey everyone,

These last couple days have been good, I got to talk to my family on Christmas and that was really good. It was weird to hear their voices and it was fun.

We had a baptism this Sunday, but I don't have my memory card to send photos of Christmas and the baptism so that will have to be next week. The girl that we baptized is amazing. Her friend is a member of the ward I am in and they are so strong. When she shared her testimony after her baptism, I knew that she has been waiting for this for a long time. I was so happy that I could help her out and share the message of love with her. And the funny part of it is that she lives in Viña del Mar, so we stole her from that mission. hahahahaha. That's right - go Chile Santiago Mission.

Merry Christmas

Hey everyone,

It has been a long time since we have talked - hope you haven't missed me. Well I am doing great down here in Chile.

It does not feel like Christmas at all down here, seeing that is it 95 degrees plus everyday. And down here they don't do anything on the 25th they do everything on the 24th. Open gifts and that jazz. Tonight we get to stay out till 12am with a family. I am so pumped to party, well not really party but sit in someone's house and eat A LOT OF FOOD!!! YESSSSSSSSSS!!!!!! I will let you know how I feel after tonight.

Okay we had Christmas dinner and a program at the mission home, I haven't eaten so much food in my life. I was like, I haven't seen food like this for 2 months, "get in my belly!".

That was a bad night, and the crazy thing was we didn't get back to San Felipe til 12:30 at night and it was a little scary walking around that late at night. Nothing happened, although a HUGE dog came at us and that was scary, I mean this dog was BIG! but I growled back and he ran like a little kitty. I´m huge!! lol

Well, I love you all. I hope you have a good Christmas!!!

take care,
Elder Christensen

week end 11.29.09

hey everyone,

so this week has been a great week! i have been able to speak spanish okay and at least tell people what i want to share, i never thought i could.

Elder Corbrigde of the 70 came to my ward this sunday and shared an amazing testimony and it was like the only thing i understood. he was really nice and he was happy to see the missionaries smiling and happy. it was a cool experience.

this week we had an talent show in the ward that i am in and it was way funny, i have videos of most of the acts and i have video of the things i was in. oh man it was so fun and i had a great time, but it took up 4 hours of one of our days so that really hurt us with the work but i am trying to say its okay lol. i loved it and it was a good stress reliever.

week end 11.22.09

hey everyone,

it's been a month and i am loving the mission, i am working hard and having fun. but this week was a little tough, because we worked really hard and didn't find anyone new to teach but our investigator, Johnathan came to church and he took out his earring so he is getting ready for his baptizum on the 6th of dec. yessssssssss!

okay, this week has been a crazy one, and the only things i am going to tell you about are some of the fun and crazy stuff that happened this week.