week ending 8.14.11

Hola everyone,

Well, we have good news that Fresia (56), Maria Jose (26), and Jenifer (15) got baptized!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was so amazing! I had the opportunity to baptize Fresia and Jenifer. It was so funny, Fresia was so nervous for it all but when she got out of the water she was so happy! When Jeni came into the font she asked me with a worried look on her face, "I am going to fall?" I was like no your not going to fall. She didn't fall but when she came out of the water you couldn't see her face because her face was covered with her hair! ha ha. I was like oh no but it was amazing! I love seeing the miracle of baptisms. Today after I get off of the internet they invited us to go eat with them and after we eat with them we have a family home evening with them so it's a day full of the Aguilar family. ha ha.

 So we have been working hard but we are missing something and we have found it and we are going to have a lot more success this week. And all the other investigators are doing good and we have a lot of good plans for them. We are planning on having at least one more baptism before I get out of here. So keep praying for me! 

 All the people that want to go to my grandma's house when I get home on August 30th your all invited. Because the next day I go to school so it would be cool see a lot of you!

Well, I love you all so much and thank you for all your support that you have given me during my mission, the next week the email I send will be really short because I will be visiting all my converts and people I love here. Well, have a good week everyone!

love,

Elder Christensen

week ending 7.3.11

Hey everyone,

This week was really cool! 

This is the doctor that I have been going to and the same one the cut me open. haha. So, if anything bad happens in the future, we can all blame him haha. His name is Raul Morales. He is a great guy haha. 

This is a little girl that asked me to baptize her. I didn't teach her but I know her family, they are all members. When they asked Krishna (that's her name) who she wanted to baptize her she said, "the tall, funny one, Elder Christensen" and then she called me and asked me herself.  It was great!  I love that family!

 So we have been working hard this last week and we found some good people that are really interested in listening and a young man that isn't baptized but his parents are members and they want him to get involved in the church again. We are excited to work with him. His name is Leo. So if you could put him in your prayers that would be sweet! 

This week the weather has gotten really cold, there hasn't been a lot of rain - but it's so cold. I am wearing a coat over a sweater, over a white dress shirt, and over an Under Armor long sleeve. And I am still cold! haha. But I bought some long johns and they are great! haha.

I have started to teach English in the church every Saturday and last week I had 4 students.  Yup, it was the other 4 missionaries in my ward (I am the only North American out of 5 missionaries, there are 2 from Bolivia, El Salvador, and Honduras). No one showed up but this week, we have told a lot more people so I think there will be a lot of people there.

It would be sweet if you could put me in your prayers so we can do all we need to do, like be obedient, diligent, happy and all the other things a missionary needs to do this work because I don't want to lose the stride in these last months. Thank you! I love you all and have a good week!

love,

Elder Christensen

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 4.10.11

Hey everyone!

 This week ended really great! We had a baptism of Erick, he is such an amazing kid! I talked about him last week and now he his clean of all of his sins and really to get the Holy Ghost the next week. Also, Jordan was confirmed a member of the church yesterday - but his sister was sick and couldn't make it. I was sad about that but next week she will get confirmed.

All of Erick's family were able to come and see his baptism and they loved it so much and it was really cool! We sang I am a Child of God in English, and they all loved it. Everyone here wants to learn English and a lot of people think they know English but the only things they know in English are swear words. haha.

Another thing that was sweet: I was able to go work with one of the zone leaders, Elder Tialavea. That elder is so cool!  I learn so much from him and we worked really hard and I felt good about our work together. And I did something for the sisters of my district, they were really sick so I took them a lemon pie and cleaned their house while they were working and they were so happy. They are so great - some of the best sister missionaries I have met.

This coming weekend Marcela will be being baptized, and I would love if you could put her in your prayers. When we found her last month she was smoking 20+ cigarettes and yesterday she smoked 0! She is working so hard and making so much progress. She is in a wheel chair and everyone in their house smokes, so it's hard because she can't leave. But we pass by everyday to help her out and take her mind off of smoking. So if you can pray for her, she has been waiting so long for her baptism and she is the sweetest lady. I am going to be so happy for her on Sunday! Thanks.

This is Benjamin, the son of Danilo and Violeta. He is the cuteist kid, and says amen after the prayers. So cool! I love him!

 I love you all! Thanks for all you do for me. Thanks for all of your prayers. Have a good week!

love,
Elder Christensen

week ending 4.3.11

Hey everyone!

First things first:  If you are going to send* me something, you need to send it to:
Elder Jackson McKade Christensen
Mision Chile Santiago Norte
Sucursal Correo Patronata, Casilla 60
Santiago
Chile
*and if you live in the USA, only send stuff through the USPS.  haha.

Well this weekend was a good one - that is for sure! We got to listen to our prophet, Thomas S. Monson, and he had a lot of good things to say to us! And all of the other speakers as well, don't get me wrong on that. haha. I liked the talk Monson gave in the priesthood session about getting married. (Well, now, we all know why the missionaries get married within 1 to 2 years after the mission.... it's because the prophet said so. haha). But the one thing I liked was "choose your love and love what you choose." We need to find the love of our life and when we find her (him for the girls haha), we need to love them for the rest of our lives and do all we can to make sure that we never lose the love we started-out with! A lot of missionaries were like, "oh no, why are they talking so much about marriage?!" But I was like, "oh yeah, now I have a good reason to get married!" haha (just playin' mom.) But I am not scared of it like a lot of missionaries are here. haha. Well I would like to hear from you!  Write me and tell me what you liked about the conference we just had. Thank you!

This week we will be seeing another baptism and the confirmation of Jordan and Guisselle. I am really excited for them. The kid that will be getting baptized is Erick and he is 9 years old. He reminds me of my own baptism when I was 15. His family are members but they are less active. Now that we found him he loves going to church more then going to school and it's so funny! I love this little kid! I am so excited for him and his family this weekend. So be sure to put him in your prayers so that all goes well with his baptism. Thank you.

I am doing a lot better in my health and I am loving the mission. I keep finding all the good things about being here and all the good things of my companion and all the good things of bad things. I can testify that it makes the world a better place when you look at all the good things. When something bad happens be ready to look for the good things in that situation and you will begin to love all things. I invite you to look for the good in all things!

I love you all so much! Thank you for your support! Have a good week!

love,
Elder Christensen

week ending 3.27.11

 Hey everyone,

This Sunday was good for us with 2 baptisms. Their names are Guisselle and Jordan. They are sister and brother and they were so happy to be baptized. We have been working with them so much and so hard and we got them ready in time haha. The day when they were going to have the interview to see if they were ready was nuts! We went past their house to take them to the church a little before 4 and they weren't ready and Guisselle wasn't there. Then we went to the church to wait for them and they didn't come so we cleaned the Font and then we called them at 4:45 and nothing. So we went to their house to see what was going on and they said their mom was sick. But in the end they came and they were ready and all was well. haha. But it didn't help the stress level. haha.

Now we are on a mission to help a kid named Eric and find more people to teach. I am ready to do what the Lord needs me to do! I hope.  haha. We have been working really hard and we are seeing a lot of fruits, and I am happy about that.  Now I want to see more so I have to work harder, so if you could add me in your prayers I need a little more help this week, and for Eric as well. Thank you.


Well I am really pumped to watch conference this weekend and I wish I could just watch it but no I have to worry about getting people there. Don't get me wrong, this is the best thing in the world for the new people to see so I am going to make sure that a lot of people get there. haha. But I really need some help from the leaders of the church! haha don't we all?!

That's what I have for you all this week! I am really happy for the friends and family that I have. I love you all!

love,
Elder Christensen

week ending 1.30.11

Hey everyone,

Well this week was really sweet!!!!!!!!!! Danilo and Violeta got baptized!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! woooooooooooooooooooo they were so happy! I messed up on the prayer and had to do it 2 times, whoooooooopppppssss. But it's all good - Danilo still got a remission of his sins. And we asked them how they felt after and they said, "I feel as light as a feather." It is so awesome to hear the testimony of a new convert and see that they are really happy and that they wanted to be baptized to follow Christ. We had the baptism on Saturday and the got confirmed on Sunday and they were really happy. Danilo had his interview to get the priesthood, he is going to be a Priest this next week! So excited for him and his family! woooooooooooooooooooooooooo! The photo of Danilo and Violeta in normal clothes is right after they got baptized.

Well the other reason why this week was so great is that we found of 10 new people this week! 5 of them came to church and they loved it and the members were doing such a good job to make them feel at home. I am really excited to keep working with them. One of them is named Juan (John) and he is great. He lives alone and travels all over Chile to find work and when the work that he is doing is up he moves. He is a hard working man and he needs your prayers so if you could put him in your prayers so he can keep learning the gospel that would be awesome!

The other 4 are girls, they are so funny. They asked me if I knew the Jonas Brothers and I said no, and then they asked me if I knew Hannah Montana. I said she was my ex-girlfriend and they freaked out. But I told them right after that I was joking. But one of the girls went and got a magazine and there was a photo of Hannah Montana and a boy and they all said that it was me. haha. Crazy little girls. Well, their ages are 18, 16, 10, 9, 7.  We are also teaching their grandma and brother & cousin. This family is so big they all live together in the same lot but in different houses. They are all reading and praying so we are going to keep working with them and see if they can keep the things we ask them to do and if they really want to do this. They are great.

Thanks for all the prayers that you send my way. They are helping a lot, I would not be able to do this work with out them. And thanks for supporting me in this battle haha. Have a good week!

love,
Elder Christensen

week ending 1.23.11

Hey everyone,

Well this week was a good one!  We made a lot of progress this week and I have been really happy with what I am learning with Elder Mendez.  He is a funny kid and always is smiling. haha. So the good news is that the family that we have been teaching has plans to get baptized this coming weekend and I am so pumped for them! They are such good people and they are like, "you guys are our family" but sometimes I don't know if they really understand that we can't do a lot of things - but it's all good. haha. Well, they will be getting a remission of their sins this weekend and we are helping them make plans to go to the temple when the time comes. So when that happens I will be coming back here.  Anyone that wants to come, feel free to join me (with your own money haha).

So we have lost all of our other investigators that we had, but this week we are going to work really hard to get some more. So a thing you can do for me is pray that we find some more people this week. thanks. =)

I have been learning a lot about goals and desires, so I have been thinking a lot about my goals and my desires. I have a lot of goals but are they really my desires?  I found out no. When you have a desire you do all you can to complete it, like in the mission, you will make a goal, present it before God and then make the plans and present those too.  Then you will always be thinking of that desire and pray everyday about it and to all you can do to complete it.  Like my desire number one is to baptize and baptize, so I have to make a goal and then a plan and do everything I can to complete it.  Even when I am just dragging, I have to get up and put on that happy face on and do it because I want to. A desire is something that we want to do. I know that we all have desires but I want you to look at them and really think, "Do I do everything I can to complete that goal?" "Did I make that goal and not do anything?" "How bad do I want to do that (thing)?" I know that this will help you all out because it helped me out!

I love you all and thanks for all you do to help me! Have a good week!

love,
Elder Christensen

week ending 1.16.11

Hey everyone!

This week was a fast one, it feels like I was just on this dang computer yesterday writing the last dang email to you all. haha. Well, let's see what I can talk about this week. well..........................

..................... Danilo and Violeta when to church and are loving it, and on top of that they accepted to be baptized on the 30th of this month!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh, man I was so pumped when they said yes!  I never thought that I would be happier then hitting a grand slam but I found it.  It's helping the people of the world (in this moment the people of Chile.) receive the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Man, I wish I could let you know what that feeling is like but I don't have the words to do in an email so you will have to wait to the end of my mission. haha. So they went on a trip and didn't read one dang thing but they prayed the whole time so I was like, oh man, they aren't very good with reading............... I was wrong!  They got here and started to read and I was like yessssssssss. It was so great and it's nice that they are both 22 years old. We get along so well.  I didn't go one time and I made the mistake of telling them my name =( and Danilo was like what is Jackson?  It's funny because all the people in the USA know me by McKade but all people here in Chile know me by Jackson. So its fun haha. But if you could put this family in your prayers that they can keep reading, praying, and going to church so they can make it to their baptism that would be super great!

So something that is going on here in Colina, there is a stage outside of the city hall and there are all kinds of things going on like plays, bands, classical music, etc. But the bad thing is that we can't go because its during the time we have to work and today we have to start working at 7 and that's when it starts so yah. haha. But there are members that are playing in it and that is sweet. It looks really cool. What else?  It's about 100 degrees here, "I am bakin' like a tosted chesse-it! It's so hot here!" (what movie?) I have to put on sunscreen. I know its crazy - me, Elder Christensen, putting on sunscreen. It's so hot and the sun seems a little bit stronger here than it is in Utah........... I will be glad when it's cold again!  At least I can get away from the cold - the heat there is nowhere to run.
  

Well thanks for reading my email of the week. I hoped you liked it. Have a good week and I love you all!

love,
Elder Christensen

The haircut that I did myself!!!!  good or bad?

 

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

week ending 10.24.10

{Ivan and his son Gaspar, they are such a cute family}

Hey everyone,

This week went good for us. We had people go to Church and Constanza, Camila´s sister, is going to be baptized this coming Sunday so we are really excited for her. We also have seen some crazy weather here - it goes from being super hot to super cold.

We found a family of like 3 families. haha.  They are from Peru and they are so cool. I talked about them last week when they took the photos of us. haha. Well, 2 of the daughters went to church and they loved it and they have read a part in the Book of Mormon and prayed and they feel good about all of it. I haven't really gotten to know them as well as I would have liked but we are going to, and we'll help them find their answer about the truth that we are teaching them. I love finding people that just take everything in just like they have known it before, that's when you know that they have been prepared for the message.

We have been teaching Constanza a lot - trying to help her get ready and in the same time we are trying to help the mom and dad get married so they can be sealed as a family. Man, by the time I am done helping people get married I will be so good at it, I´ll be ready for after the mission. haha. So Constanza is doing really good, last night we asked the questions that they ask in the interview for baptism and she passed but that was only a practice. The real thing will be this week and after she is all ready to become baptized. So if you could put constanza in your prayers to help her keep praying and progressing, that would be amazing. Thanks.

Something that I have been learning through study and the spirit and other things is the justice. The justice is something that we cannot get away from but someone helped us so we can get help through it. Christ is the only person that could have paid the price to satisfy the demands of the law. But the help from Christ doesn't come free, we need to do our part by living the gospel of Jesus Christ. If we do not live the gospel we have to pay for all our sins to satisfy the justice and that means we cannot live with God or Christ or our families so we need do all we can to live the true gospel of Jesus Christ. I know this is true and I know that we can have happiness through Christ, to have happiness is the purpose of life (2 Nephi 2:25). I love you all and thanks for all your support.  Have a good week and talk to you next week!

love,

Elder Christensen.

{the Palomo family, they wash my clothes every week and they help us out so much. love them}

{the Ramirez family, we made pancakes with them last p-day it was fun.}

week ending 10.17.10

 Hey everyone,

Well this week was a butt-kicking week. It was just like getting blessing after blessing! We we started to look up all of our investigators and while we were doing that we passed by like 5 people and they really didn't work out.  But then we came up to one that worked out, it wasn't the person that we were looking for but we found a family from Peru and they are so amazing. We are going to go past their house to teach them this week and help them. But the funny thing was we went in just to say a prayer, because they asked for one - then we told them that we were from the USA and they ran and got their camera. It was funny and the first time that has happened haha. I am happy that I get to have these experiences.

On Sunday we had a baptism, yes that's right Camila got baptized. She was so happy and her sister was so happy and is really excited to be baptized on the 31 of Oct. Maria, the mom, was so happy. But before all that we filled up the font with water that was warm and nice but then something happened. One of the other elders came up to us and said that the water was gone, and that was 20 minutes before the baptism. It took 2 hours to fill the font up with warm water. So we were on panic mode haha. So we brought in a hose and turned on the cold water to fill it up fast. We got it full of water in about 20 minutes, it was sweet. But the down side was that the water was so cold. I felt the cold on my legs for at least 1 hour after the baptism. haha. But I was so happy to be able to baptize Camila and get to know that family and help out the ward that I am in. I have seen so many things happen that I would have never thought would happen, the Lord works in ways that we don't understand some times but they work. We just need to trust in him and all will be good!

 I know that this is the true church of Christ and that the true Gospel of Christ is found in the world today. Thanks to Joseph Smith we have these 2 things that change lives. I am so happy to be so deep into the Gospel of Christ!

I love you all and I am thankful for all the support you give me. 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 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 6.27.10

Hey everyone,

Well this week was a cool one, all the crazy stuff with the World Cup going on and yeah. But I have lost interest in the World Cup, I could care less who wins and loses - but what can you do when you are in Chile and everyone is going crazy about all this stuff? Hey life is getting better.

So on Sunday one of the 70 came to our Stake Conference to talk and to change up the Stake Presidency so that was really cool. We lost our Bishop so we will be getting a new Bishop. The talk that Elder Amado gave was amazing. It helped me a lot and I learned a lot. He talked a little about how we need to focus on the Lord and if we do that - all the things that make us happy will come. And also about people that get offended by someone in the church and then leave, well he was straightforward and said that is the stupidest thing I have ever heard. If we really understood the Atonement of Christ that stuff wouldn't matter to us and we would keep going to church to bring ourselves close to our Heavenly Father. He was great - it was a great Sunday.

Monday we had a BBQ and it was great. Some of the pictures are from it. We had so much meat and it was great because it was free and the family is great. I' havent eaten so much meat in my mission and I think I gained a little weight but then I think I have lost it and am still going down. So I am getting skinny, who would have ever thought that I would become skinny. I didn't - haha.

Last night we helped out the other 2 missionaries in our district have a baptism in our church. We had it at 8 pm. Oh man it was bad planning but we did it and we helped bring Cloudio to our Heavenly Father. its so cool to see all the changes in people and watch someone enter into the water of baptism dirty (its true), but then come out of them clean, oh so clean. I love it!!!!!!!!!!!  That was my sweet week.  Thanks for all the help and prayers. Love you all and have a good week.

Elder Christensen!

week ending 5.2.10

Hey Everyone,

Well this week was really good for us in Conchali 10.  We had a baptism.  His name is Carlos and he is 15 years old.  He is a little gangster but he is really funny and he likes the church and feels comfortable in it, that's always good to hear. We have been working with him for a long time but we got him to the water.  His baptism was really good.  His family was there and now his brother and sister want to get baptized, and his cousin too.  So we are going to work with them and hopefully help them be baptized too.  So I think May is going to be a good month for our Heavenly Father in Conchali 10.

Last week we did service.  We were putting in stepping stones for a family and the father of the family was helping us.  When we would put down one of the stones we would put sand under it and he kept telling us it was anti-earthquake.  Man, he is the funniest guy.  He was a wrestler here in Chile, a luchador.  Just like Nacho Libre, it's cool to hear his stories.

A little about my sector:
We have lunch with a family everyday but Monday, but sometimes the family can't do it so we cook our own food.  Elder Ojeda made some Mexican food, rice with milk.  Man, that stuff is so good.  We have made hamburgers and mashed potatoes (thanks for the packets mom! hahaha)  We only eat out on Monday's.  (Man, I waste so much money on Monday's.)  A sister washes our clothes, all we have to do is buy the soap.  Man, the members love the missionaries. 
My sector is really different than my last one.  I am in the city and there is a lot more stuff going on and it's faster.  But it's not a bad sector, we don't have any problems with the people and we are happy for that.
My ward is really cool.  It's a ward from super old people to newly married to babies.  It's a really nice ward and I love it.  But the building doesn't have heat so it's really cold.  During Sacrament Meeting there was an earthquake, like 5.4 or something.  It was rather big and I was like weeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!  Some of the older sisters got up and ran for the doors.  I just sat there like, "this is fun!" 

These are my sweet new soccer shoes.  They were 30 bucks at the mall and I love them.

Update on me:

-I am 6'2" - still  :-(
-I am 210 pounds - yes I have gained 10 pounds :-(
(I had a hard time getting my suit pants on so I will be working out this week so they fit me.  Man I am getting fat!  hahaha

Have a good week everyone.

Love you all,
Elder Christensen

week ending 4.11.10

Hey everyone,

Well, I got changed, I am now in Santiago in a place called Conchali. It's the same address to send me letters. It's a lot different from San Felipe, but I know I am going to like it.

It was really hard to leave San Felipe and all my friends and converts, but I know that there are people in this new sector (Conchali 10) waiting for me. But I hope that all goes well in San Felipe.

My new companion is from Utah. He is from West Valley just like me but he went to Hunter High. He has been here for a long time and I know that we are going to work really well together and become good friends. I will be sending a photo of him next week because I didn't remember to take one before we got here to write. I will tell you a little more about him next week.

The baptism of Marcela was amazing, her dad came and he was crying, her step mom was crying, and everyone was crying. She has been waiting 2 years to be baptized and the day came and passed with a lot of happiness. I am happy that I got to be a part of it and help her complete her dreams. I love this work, the work of the Lord.

All we have to do in this life is be willing to do what the Lord wants us to do and we will be happy and have fun and be safe and all the good things. It was hard to leave my old sector but I know it's the Lord's will so it's my will too. I love the Lord and all that he does.

I love you all. Take care.

Elder Christensen