Elder Christensen: Letter 10/29/12: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly Ha! Ha!

Sooooo the baptisms are great. Rob said he would be baptized after his finals are done in one month, and James asked me to baptize him on November 11th, so I had to tell him i couldn't because....... the bad news is I'm getting transferred to Springfield, Illinois. So all that work and success I wont get any of it, but that's life for ya. You work, work, work, and finally get somewhere and they take it all away!!  That's probably the worst feeling I've every had in my life when an investigator have really connected with you and wants you to baptize them and you have to tell them you cant!  I hope none of my friends ever have to experience that on their missions!!

 On a more positive note I will be the senior comp in my new area though... Our ward mission leader was really mad that they're taking me out so fast. He said there is no doubt in my mind that the reason you where here wasn't just for James and Rob.... He said Brother Ellington was another huge reason of why I was sent to this area I got him and his wife on the path to go to the temple and become sealed!! They have a lot of family issues from the family business that I was able to help them with... my last lesson with them was Sunday night and the spirit was so strong my comp didn't say more than 3 words but everything just flowed and was perfect. Just what they needed to hear in their lives at that moment. I'm glad I could help them:) They were converted about 1.5 years ago and slowly had been falling away but I got them back in gear and now the wife took the reigns and is running to the temple as fast as she can:)  They both thanked me for everything I have done for them and helped them with and he told had I not came to this area he would've left the church to stay at peace with his family.  Now he is trying to keep the peace in the family and get to the temple to help strengthen his testimony rather than just using his wife's testimony!  What I thought was super crazy was when I first got to this area his wife was the weaker of the 2 all the way through their conversion.  Then when times got hard for both of them she became the stronger one!!

Elder Christensen: Letter 10/22/12 1st Baptism???

My First Baptism Date. AHHHHHHH!!!

So it's been set and we are teaching like mad now !! 11-11-12 is the date we are shooting for. His name is James he wold go to the YSA (Young single adult) branch. He was there this Sunday and we taught him between our Shiloh ward and YSA.  He was super respective and has read the BOM before and wants to be Baptized so he can have the gift of the Holy Ghost !!  This week we also met with Rob again and taught the WOW and we set a goal for him to stop drinking and he has been sober for this week and is willing to continue as we are meeting which is super cool!!  Rob came to the ward chili cook off, loved the members and the chili, and so did Michael Jackson and we had a great time. I do miss my mom's white chicken chili though everyone else just doesn't compare!  Michael Jackson talked with us about baptism and some of the concerns he had. We helped him through alot of them and haven't set a date with him yet but this week that's our goal for him:) I'm loving this new area I'm hoping I don't get transferred next Wednesday... ha ha! One of the converts/ward missionaries emailed President Clark and told him that he can't take me or Elder Dazley out of this area because were doing way better than the ZL's (zone leaders)that used to cover this area!! Hope he enjoys that letter ha ha! We also found a mission bike for me to use and I've been loving riding it. I didn't however enjoy it when i got a flat tire 6 miles out from our apartment in Lebanon.... It kinda was my fault but I couldn't resist the jump! I needed some excitement from the ride ha ha:) ohhh, also I guess the front brake was on the whole time, but I couldn't hear it rubbing and that made pedaling alittle bit harder lol.

Love you all and hope to hear from you soon!!

Love Elder Christensen

Elder Christensen: Letter 10/15/12

So we just got a new investigator. His name is Michael Jackson and he just moved to belleville but the girl he is dating livse in Newbaden, which is in our area so we are hoping to get him rolling in this area:)  He was super involved in our 1st discussion and he really enjoyed hearing my testimony and he said I feel comfort in the things you have told me and I feel like this whenever I come into the Mormon church which is why I'm coming back!  I explained how the spirit feels and how he could continue to feel this feeling and he is excited about coming back to church next Sunday to take the next lesson.  He was fellowshiped into the ward by his girlfriend and she is a less active member but they don't live together which is awesome !!! That's a 1st for me on the mission.  He had tons of questions on what we believed and we answered every one of them and I was shocked at how much I remember and how the spirit guided this discussion. It was so smooth and peaceful I'm hoping one day I can say I baptized Micheal Jackson on my mission lol!!  We didn't get the chance to meet with Rob this week because he was out of town, but he did call and asked me question that he had about things he had researched about our church that wasn't from a church website and I set all that straight then backed it up with scripture. He was shocked as to how fast we proved everything wrong!  Getting ready for the Chili cook off having some members bring friends that might be intrested in hearing more about our beliefs should be great:) hope to hear from all you soon!!
Love Elder Christensen

Elder Christensen: Letter 10/8/12

PRAY ALWAYS!

So my crazy story for the week....  Last P-Day we saw the arch and went to the ghetto called "paint Louis." It's 6 miles of solid graffiti and gang wars in paint. Anyways we were running late to get back and catch our metro, so we ran 3 miles of the wall and my backpack had unzipped itself from all the swaying of my books and stuff back and forth.  So my wallet and my camera fell out we hadn't noticed til we had got to the metro platform. So we grabbed the next bus to take us to the end of paint Louis, and the road didn't meet with the trail so it felt a lot like "Call of Duty" when they are running through the abandoned train yard and there is shrapnel everywhere.  We hopped over 15-foot chain fences, and one was 35-feet tall with barbwire so I lifted up the bottom part for my comp to slip under. I got some minor cuts from that, but my adrenaline was so high I didn't feel anything!  We also jumped through slow moving trains and trains that weren't moving at all.  I kinda left my comp in the dust! When we got to the trail I didn't want him to hear me pray. This was one of my most powerful prayers I've ever had!!  I was so scared but when I prayed I found great comfort in the Lord and he promised me I would have my wallet and camera back.  I ran up to this black man in his late 30's and asked him, "have you seen my camera or wallet?"  He was really scared. He thought I was going to jump him ha ha !!   I described the items he said no but if I see anything I'll wait at the other end for you. I said I would give him a reward if did find the things and sure enough he found both my items only told me he found the wallet, and he found it empty of cash, of course.... I knew this man had also found my camera but wouldn't give it to me so I said I'd give him $200 if he found the camera. He said I'll look for it tomorrow. I knew he had my camera. The next day he woke up called and said I found it where you wanna meet? I had informed the police on my situation and it was just like in the movies. Tony pulled up asked for the reward and I gave the cop hiding in the building behind us the signal. He came out and ripped this guy a new one!!! I've never heard any man yell as loud as he did!! I got everything back other than the money he stole out of the wallet, but it was well worth it to have seen him get chewed out like that for stealing and with-holding my stuff from me!!! I also have a even greater testimony of prayer now because of it:) Love you all hope to hear from you soon!!

Love Elder Christensen

Elder Christensen: Letter 10/1/12

This new area is amazing! The member are helping us with referrals to their friends and we are hoping to get to work with them and get some baptisms out of it! We have been tracting tons in the meantime walked 13 miles Friday after our service at the food pantry. We have a meal calender going around and you're right the members love to feed us!!  Right now we are teaching one person whom I tracted into. His name is Rob and he is a young college student going into a physics major. We had planned to meet this Sunday and we ran into him Saturday and he said I'm so excited to see you guys but you're 1 hour late. We then told him it wasn't Sunday ha ha and he said oh great so we can meet then I cant wait!! But then he got called into work and we missed him but he left us a note so he really cares to meet with us which is good! 

Testimony meeting was really great with both the wards we cover!  I bore my testimony about the role the temple and prayer and my story of when I had to make my choice with football or pharmacy tech and how I prayed to know what to do in the South Jordan temple parking lot in my truck. lol they loved it so much like all the sisters were balling...  Then the branch leader said can I share your story to the other wards I cover and I said sure.  So I hope that this experience I've had will impact someone's life as it has done so in mine!! Hope our teaching pool gets bigger as we follow up with the members this week love you all !!

Love Elder Christensen