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 3.21.10

me, Amanda, Fabiola, Elder Davies

Hey everyone,

Okay, something happened this morning that I didn't think would ever happen. Well, I got a call from the mission office and they said that Elder Stark and I were going to be training a new missionary. aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh! I was like, "no I can't do that!" But now I am really excited. And why we are getting a new missionary right now is because he was going to go to the Concepcion mission but that mission isn't allowing missionaries to come, so we are getting them. Oh, and I am still a little nervous to train, it's a good thing that I have Elder Stark with me still. Both of us together will train this kid so well. It's going to be so much fun.


Flia, me, Elder Rich

muchas gracias

to Fabiola for the photos in this week's blog. :-)

week ending 3.14.10

Hey everyone,

Well this week was super good. We had a baptism. Yup, David got baptized! Yes! It was a 3 almost 4 month process. We never gave up on him we just kept working and working. At times I was like we need to just let him go and move on. But every time we went and taught him he was doing better and was reading and praying so we didn't drop him and then one day he said he wanted to get baptized and my heart jumped for joy. I didn't know what to think but I was super happy.

And then after a long fight he got baptized and he asked me to do it and I was like I would be honored to do it. Now he is happy and he said something really funny in the bathroom after the baptism, he said, "soy un santo do los santos de los ultimos dias" (I am a saint of those latter day saints.) I was like, "yup, that's right!" He is so great.

week ending 3.7.10

Hey everyone,

I was asked to talk about my life in Chile and what it has been like after the earthquake.

Well, my house is like half of a normal house, it has one bathroom, 2 bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen, and an upstairs that we don't use. In our back yard we have a lemon tree and a grape vine, they are so yummy. All and all, it's a really good house. For breakfast, I eat cereal and milk everyday. For lunch, we eat with members Tuesday through Sunday, Monday we are on our own. And we don't have time for dinner but I eat snacks when there is time. The sister Jenny in my ward washes our clothes, they have really small washers, and they don't have dryers. (well some do but they cost a lot of money and to use them it's a lot of money) so all the clothes are air dried.
How I get around: well, the first way is by my good 2 feet, they haven't let me down yet. If we need to travel inside of San Felipe or a city close to here they have taxis, colectivo (that's Spanish, I don't know what it means in English), and buses. If we need to get to Santiago we use those buses that are huge, they hold 45 people.
There is the run down of my life right now.

Experiencing the Earthquake

Hey everyone,

Okay this weekend has been crazy here. We really haven't done any work. We were told to stay in our houses all day Saturday, that was super boring. But I will tell you the story of the earthquake.

It was at 3:30 in the morning and I was asleep and I felt my bed shaking so I woke up and I just thought it was another small earthquake because we have had a lot of little ones. I have been in like 2 okay size earthquakes and then this one that was really big. Well, I yelled at my companion and after he woke up it wasn't shaking really bad and then like 10 seconds later it went nuts. I jumped out of my bed to get somewhere and then my companion yelled "let's get outside", I wasn't thinking, I was just freaking out! And on top of that, I couldn't find my keys so I was running around my house during the earthquake. Man, I haven't heard anything so loud in my life. After that we didn't have any light so we found our flashlights. And we still don't have electricity in our house - so we are living off candles and it's pretty fun. It's not that bad. The damage to my city of San Felipe is like nothing, there were some buildings in the center that had damage and that's it, and a lot of people don't have electricity.

I am okay

Hi everyone,

Hey I am okay, I am in the north part of Chile so nothing really bad happened but I was in a 7.2 earthquake. That was pretty nuts, I was sleeping when it hit so it was a fun wake up call. It only lasted for 20 seconds. But I am doing good, we keep feeling little earthquakes here and there. But I am doing good and I will be on tomorrow so look for more tomorrow.

Love Elder Christensen

From President May

Dear Parents of the CSN Mission,

Since the incredible earthquake we experienced in Santiago, Chile yesterday, we finally have a stable internet for now, so we will attempt a massive advisory to all of you, regarding your sons and daughters who are serving as missionaries here:

·ALL of the missionaries in our mission are accounted for, safe, and healthy.

8.8 Earthquake in Chile

McKade's grandpa called the Church Office Building and found out that all the missionaries in the Chile Santiago North mission are safe and accounted for. McKade's former companion, Elder Davies just called me to tell me that he had spoken with many people in San Felipe, and everything is okay there. There is no damage to buildings or anything. I've heard from many friends and family this morning, all concerned for McKade and the people of Chile. One of the main reasons I am doing this blog is so that it can be printed for McKade to have after his mission. Because of that, I am including some of the messages I've received so that he can have them...

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 2.14.10

Hello everyone,

I had a crazy week this week. We had meetings like crazy and a conference for the mission, which was good but really long. I learned something really cool this week. I made this lesson for members in my mission, you should read these scriptures and study them a little and you will understand the atonement of Jesus Christ a little better.
okay in Alma 7:11-13 it talks about what Christ did for us. (atonement)
next in Alma 11:40-43 this talks about why Christ did it.
then in 2 Nephi 31:17-21 this talks about how we can use the atonement of Christ.

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 1.31.10

Hey everyone,

This is Luisa, ya she got baptized! ooh yeah! Man, this lady was so sad when I first met her about 2 months ago. She made some big changes and she has changed so much. Okay, when Elder Davies and I contacted her door she was crying and told us to come in. Everything in her life was going the wrong way, like it was bad. She has had some really hard trials in her life. I won't go into that but just trust me. She smoked a lot and when we asked her to stop smoking I was thinking this is going to be hard. But when we asked her to make a goal to stop, she said, yeah, let's do it. I was like, wait a second, what did you say? So I asked her again. man, the Lord works in ways we can't see and understand but i know that He is there working, because I have seen it. Even though I have only been here for 3 months and 2 weeks or so, I have seen some amazing stuff. I love this work.

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 12.13.09

I just want everyone to know how much I love my GREAT GRANDPA BOB!!!!! I love him so much! I love you grandpa - you have helped me so much and I am so glad I have you in my life!!!!! =)

Okay this week was pretty good!!!
Johnathan got confirmed, and he showed up right after the first song and my companion was going crazy. he kept saying, "please let me have a confirmation that doesn't have troubles" but he got there. Johnathan is such a strong young kid, i am excited for him to grow up in the church and become a strong missionary.

week end 12.6.09

hey everyone,

today is the start of my 2nd change, (a change is every 6 weeks). and i am still in San Felipe. I am so happy i am staying here for another change, because we have so many good investigators up here and i hope have a lot of baptizums this month. oh and it doesn't feel anything like christmas here, seeing that it is 96 degrees plus everyday.
I dont know what i like more dying of heat or frezzzzing, and everyone tells me that it is going to get even hotter here, all i say is "oh great!" but i love it here i am so happy and just loving the mission.

okay so this week was a great week, we found 6 new investigators. and all of them seem like they are ready to hear the gospel i just hope i can tell them about it in a way they can understand.

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.

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 11.8.09

hello everyone!

well once again i can't send pictures from this computer so you will have to wait until next week maybe.
well this week has been good.

TUESDAY
on tuesday's we have zone teaching and that is always fun but boring at the same time.

WEDNESDAY
nothing fun happened. lol

THURSDAY
nothing fun happened again.

FRIDAY
well today i had to travel to the mtc for new missionary training, and it was a 1 hour and 45 min. bus ride then 20 mins on the subway. its always fun to travel. but it was nice to see all the elders that i was in the mtc with. we shared stories from our first week, one of the got robbed all ready. so funny. but after that we had to travel back to san felipe.

SATURDAY
i cant remember what happened.

SUNDAY
well sunday was fun, not. i did not understand one thing that was going on at church so i was getting mad. 3 hours of hearing blah blaljksdhfasñldkfhasdfhñasdkfñ

saldfksffklsjhf. thats what it felt like. blah lol.

okay i can remember some of the experiences from the week. okay one of the doors we contacted a lady lived there with her kids and her kids came to the door and they went to get her and see came around the corner and her shirt wasn't quite on and her chest was showing it was a little scary. lol. all i could do was laugh. okay something every similar happened, we were teaching a lesson and this ladies shirt was hanging down really far and was showing pretty much everything, try teaching a lesson with that in your face, it sucked. and then her daughter sticks her hand down the moms shirt and yeah blah! that's all i have to say. another moment when you have to laugh. okay this was a funny one, we were contacting and this guy that doesn't like us very much walked past and yelled "LOOK" but in spanish, ("mire") and then flipped us off and we just smiled and said "oh okay" good times in the mission. this one happened last night. we went to the investigators house a man and his wife, their daughter served a mission and same with her husband. and they told us after the lesson that they were going to do the same thing and asked how did you get here. it was cool. okay with the parra family the dad didn't stop smoking so we had to push the date to this sunday so lets hope they will be ready. i am praying so hard for them.
well, you all are in my prayers. i miss you all. but i am loving this to much. lol

bye
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