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.

muchas gracias

to Amanda (Mandy) for the photo in this week's blog.

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

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.

muchas gracias

to Katia for the photos this week's blog.

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.