week ending 7.11.10

Hey everyone,

Sorry for not sending a letter the last week, we had changes and I had some medical problems so I didn't have very much time to write so I just wrote to my mom and some other people. But here is the letter for this week. =)

I am going to start talking about my photos, there is one of me and my companion Elder Nielsen. He is from Payson, Utah and he is a great elder and we have been having a lot of fun and working hard. I am excited for these next 5 weeks. There are 2 photos of my house I think one of the kitchen and the other is were we sleep. My bed is the green one, all my blankets are green haha. I sleep with 2 blankets and 2 sweaters, PJ bottoms with sweat-pants. and I still get cold sometimes.  It's hard to find places with central heating, and plus our electricity has been out for the past week so we haven't had hot water all week. So the first 2 days we showered with cold water, well I am a girl so I didn't get all the way in and then the one picture with the pans and cup is how we have been showering. We heat up the water on the stove and then take it in to the bathroom and shower like that. It's really funny but it works really good. I am hopping the mission will pay the bill so we can have light and hot water. haha, but I am happy.

 Well, Elder Nielsen and I are opening a sector, there were sisters in our sector and they took them out and put us in there so we had no idea where anything was. It's was a blast getting around with a crappy old map, but we did it. And then I made a sweet map from the phone book. The part of Santiago that I am in is called Huelen. It's really close to the center of Santiago and it is a big sector. One time we got a address from a member to go visit a member that is less active and it was at the bottom of our sector and when we got to the street, it was like a main street. There were no houses at all and we got a little lost and we walked for at least 45 mins or more. It was a fun little thing that happened to us. But we got it down now so we will be good.

Well, the sisters had the love of every member so when we show up to the door they are like were are my sisters. Oh man I am sorry but they left and now we are here. But now everyone knows that we are there so I hope I don't have to hear that anymore haha. But the sisters had a baptism and we helped the girl get to church and get confirmed so that was amazing to see. All in all my week was great and I am doing really good. Thanks for all your prayers and stuff you do for me. Have a good week and I will talk to you all next week I hope!? hint hint hahaha.

love, 

Elder Christensen

week end 11.15.09

okay this week was great!

TUESDAY
i went on a division with a elder quispe from Peru and he is so funny. it is a biking mission and i was ridding through the middle of farms and almost took out a cow, man he was lucky he got out of my way. i also rode through about 30 goats, man i was thinking what in the world is going on. and where in the world am i? but just riding through the country side was so cool and pretty. there are farms that go up the side of mountains and i was thinking what in the world are they thinking, its a mountain for crying out loud. lol. but we were teaching a lesson and there was a cat next to me and i looked over near the end of the lesson and the cat had given birth right next to me on this sofa, i was stunned. lol. and the ride home through the fields at night with a little light on the front of my bike was a little crazy. but it was fun. and i had to speak spanish because he didn't really speak english but he would try and it was funny to hear him try to speak english. that was my fun day.

WEDNESDAY
nothing really cool happened besides that we walked for about 3 hours straight getting out to one area of our mission and tracting and walking back, it was the hardest thing ever, but my feet felt great which was a plus.

THURSDAY
nothing too fun happened just worked hard.

FRIDAY
same as thurs. just worked hard and had a good time.

SATURDAY
i went on another division and the elders name is Hoyos he is from Colombia. he is one of the zone leaders in my zone. he is a great guy, i was making him laugh so hard. but we worked so hard! the sector that he is in goes from san felipe to argentina, it is so big and we don't have bikes. but we went to a part that is full of flites (gangsters) but nothing happened lol. this little place is were the jail is at and it is a pretty poor area but we talked to a lady that got baptized on sunday as well, she is an amazing lady, and her daughter can play the digeri doo, well i don't know how to spell it but the thing from australia. after that we got in a taxi, okay there are so many taxis and buses here it is nuts, they cost about 600 pesos for one person and that is 1.20 dollars and it doesn't matter how far. but we traveled for 15 mins and it was weird hearing rap from america. well not really because music from america is everywhere here.

okay the best day of the week, SUNDAY!!!!!!!!!!
i woke up and got all my clothes for the baptism ready and we left the house at 9am and that's when i started to memorize the baptismal prayer and i was memorizing it from 9am to 1pm which was the baptism. oh my gosh i was so nervous and i dont know why. but i got to baptize the mom and son, it was so amazing! i was so happy all day long. i never knew how happy i would be after a baptism. i was so blessed to have my first baptism be a whole family. it was so cool! =)
okay, later in the day it was funny, some teenagers started to throw stuff at us. (the kids in one area of my sector don't like us at all and they yell things and throw things but i don't care). my companion caught one of the things they threw at us and acted like he was going to throw it back and it scared them and they said "gringos can catch." it was funny. i caught everything they threw at me and just dropped it. but it was already the best day so they couldn't bring me down.
today the college in san felipe, their soccer team played for the national championship and won, on their way there they took out a power house college called colo-colo, it was a crazy day here. but not as crazy when they played for the championship and won it. everyone was going crazy. but it was so cool. now they get to go play all over south america.

well that was my week it was fun and the best one so far in my mission. well i hope everyone is doing good and i miss you all and love you all so much!

peace elder christensen

week end 11.1.09

so i have been in the field for a week now and it is so amazing! i am learning so much and working hard. i have no idea what is going on half the time but i have picked up on the language somewhat so i have an idea of what they are saying. speaking back to them is difficult, i don't know a lot of words still so its tough but my companion has been here for 21 months so he is helping so much, i love him. his name is elder davies from riverton. i am loving this so much, but my feet hurt so much. lol

TUESDAY
i got here on tuesday morning and spent the day at the mission house and went through some training and ate and took a nap which was needed so much. then i got to meet my companion, and it was elder davies, i was so pumped. he is like 6´5" about 210 pounds. he is so funny and he is working me so hard. well, we got my bags and headed off to our mission and house. my mission is 2 hours by subway/bus from santiago. its called san felipe. its a town right in the middle of the mountains. its a pretty little town. the houses are so little, most of them are just one level and have no carpet mostly tile floor. i have been in one house that had dirt floor. its so different here. and we taught a lesson and i was like on my first day i don't understand anything. well, i just bore my testimony and shared a scripture. the family we taught was the family parra, they are getting baptized on sunday, i am so excited.

WEDNESDAY
my first full day in the field. we started the day off with zone class and training. we met everyone in the mission and talked a little and then split into districts and went over the numbers from last week, i wasn't here so i didn't know what was going on. then we practiced the 1 lesson and then went back to the gym and went over everyone's numbers and the stake pres. came and talked to us. it was cool besides i didn't understand anything. lol. after that we went to a members house, her name is Jenny and she cooks us lunch on tue, wed, and thurs. and also does our laundry. she is so nice, i love her so much. then i we were off to work. we contacted some and taught some lessons and my feet were so sore at night. i have never walked so much in my life.

THURSDAY
our alarms didn't go off so we didn't wake up on time and it was nuts. i thought i was going to be in so much trouble but we just got up and got started on time still some how. lol. everyday we start off with 1 hour of personal study then 1 hour of comp study then 1 hour of language study. i have never studied so much in my life. but i am learning so much. and on this day we have comp planning for the next week for 2 hours, it seems like a long time but we didn't get to plan everything i was like what. after that we went to jenny's for lunch and she made some crazy stuff, it was rice with potatoes, meat, peas, carrots, and some other stuff. it was good. and she makes the fruit thing its a bowl of fruit that is amazing! i love the food down here. after that we taught some lessons and contacted, we contact around 20 people a day. that means we share a short message with 20 people. we don't really knock on doors because they all have fences around them with sharp metal things on it to keep out the robbers. so we yell "Hello". its pretty fun. oh there are so many dogs here. it is nuts. and most of them have ticks and the ticks can get up to the size of a baby grape. but you just act like you are picking up a rock and they take off running, its so funny. they are such chickens. and i got blisters on both feet after this day, my feet are getting worked. my i have never walked so much.

FRIDAY
once again we wake up and study and work out. then go contacting for 2 hours then have lunch. and then go teach people and contact. and i was so tired today, wow. this is a lot harder then i thought.

SATURDAY
some stuff again. but we got to teach this family a mom and 2 kids, the mom is an inactive member. and we got her daughter to get ready to get baptized on the 29th of nov. i hope she stays strong and gets baptized. oh she lives in the "blocks" apartments. they are a little run down but hey they are wonderful people.

SUNDAY
okay my first sunday, well we had a meeting with the bishop, counselors and all those fun people. i didn't understand that at all. man its get lol. and then we stood out side greeting everyone and that was fun everyone was so happy and just seemed so alive. then the meeting started and they had me get up and say who i was, where i am from, how long i have been here and i bore my testimony. it was funny, i made all the members laugh. and it was fast and testimony meeting, and it is weird to feel the spirit and not know what is going on at all. but all the members come up to me and just start talking and they all talk to fast and i have no idea what they are saying and its like they expect me to know. lol not. but i am having a great time and i miss everyone back home. take care and pray for the family parra that they will be ready on sunday to get baptized. have a good week and talk to you on monday (my p-day). oh one more thing, this stupid keyboard is set up way different, its so annoying.

love you all,
Elder Christensen