Elder Christensen: Letter 03/18/13 Muddin'

So this week was an ok week. A lot of our appointments fell through which wasn't fun, but it got better by the end of the week... So we got to do some awesome service this week. We helped Brother Brooke's move from his old house to a newer one still in the ward. When we got there, the U-haul was stuck in his neighbors lawn up to the front axle in mud. I saw this and thought of all the stupid pictures on Google of people who park on bridges and boats and their car is messed over!  I came up with the idea that if we load all the heavy boxes over the back wheels and get another truck pulling from the rear we could get it out and over the curb where it was high centered. Sure enough it worked and we where able to provide the service we where there for. I love helping people move on my mission. It feels a lot like what I did at home ha ha!

 

We also found a new flea market this week just off the freeway. It's in storage units and pretty ghetto, but they have tons of nice stuff, so it will be harder for me to save my money now ha ha! They have Dr.Dre Beats for $30, Affliction pants and Jordans way cheap but I'm holding out the best I can!! I did by some new B-Ball shoes for $20, Jordan Aero Flights. They looked a lot like my dream shoes from the movie Space Jam. I'll get to test those today when we play basketball with the Radichel family!!:) 

 

We went tracting a lot this week but nobody was home. Stupid holidays! They ruin missionary work lol! This week I just finished reading Jesus the Christ and that's the longest book I've ever read next to the Bible. I did learn a lot from that book about our Savior and his life. I'm a little bit more angry towards Jews now though because in the book it makes it so clear that Jesus is the Christ and they couldn't see that for some reason but its all part of the plan... I've read all the books that I wanted to on my mission and now I'm going through the Old Testament and highlighting all the key points in the chapter headings so I will have quick references to whats going on. I've already done this to the New Testament and the Book of Mormon and D&C and the testimonies of the witnesses and the prophets. I've learned so much scripture it blows my mind as to how clueless I was about my church before and now I'm realizing there are many Mormons that don't know anything other than the primary stories lol. But that's why its a lifetime study. You can never know too much about the gospel!! I'm so happy I'm in a state side mission where I can study the Bible instead of another language :)

Another really great thing this week Julie from my last area called me and told me that Amanda and Grandma Hurley both went to the Nauvoo Temple last week and did Baptisms for the dead there for their Grandmothers. They loved the temple so much and couldn't believe how beautiful the building was and the spirit was so strong there!! I'm glad to say that I didn't just put them under the water and that they're truly converted to the gospel:) It doesn't matter if you baptized 200 people if only 10 of them stay active and keep their promises to God. You've really only brought 10 people to Christ. These people aren't just numbers they are souls and my new goal is to do my best to not have any people who fall away!! Julie will be coming up to the city this Saturday to tell me more about how Amanda is doing so that will be great :) I hope everyone is well and I hope to hear from you soon!

Love Elder Christensen

Elder Christensen: Letter 03/11/14 Tears may fall but a man will rise!!

Well this week we got some solid new investigators and they are so funny. Ones name is Ladonna and I read her this scripture from the restoration pamphlet and she was like, "ohhhh that scripture was a good spanking for me! That spank is telling me to get in the word!" I was with a member, brother Davidson at the time. Ha! Ha! He got a kick out of that as well. He said, "Elder I've never seen a missionary spank one of their investigators with doctrine before!" Ha! Ha! It was fun!!! 

 

My new comp is awesome but got some bad news this week. He had a girl waiting for him. They've been dating for 3 years and she just wrote him off, so he is super down. I gave him a blessing and I'm keeping him as positive as I can but that's pretty rough!! He has two 3-inch binders full of letters from her, 14 pages a week and all of them say I'll be waiting for you and how much I love you ... I feel so bad for him I'm doing all I can to help him!! I'm so happy none of the girls from home really liked me. It's really kept me focused on the Lords work.:) I've written one letter and I've gotten 1 letter and that's enough for my whole mission! lol. So my advice to anyone who is reading this and preparing for a mission is to get a job and live at the gym so you have no energy for girls or energy to get into trouble!! He talked with president Clark yesterday and he seemed a little better. Then president Clark pulled me aside and said, "Elder Christensen I know you're the missionary that can get him through this. You're one of  the happiest missionaries in this mission and everyone of your companions talks very highly of you. That's why I've moved you all over the place!  There is a lot of missionaries that struggle in this mission and come to see me and want to go home early but after they serve even just 1 transfer with you they are a new man!!" I really had to contain my emotions but I was so happy to hear that from him because I was wondering why I had been moved so much!! I don't think I'm the happiest missionary but I would say I enjoy a lot of the things I've been able to do in my mission!  Everyone says oh the mission is the best 2 years of your life, but I would say they are wrong!! I say the mission is the best 2 years FOR your life! It's by far the hardest thing I've ever had to do but I'm already seeing the long term effects this work has had in my life and those whom I have served with:)

This week Mary sent a way awesome text saying she knows she needs to quit smoking so she can be baptized and reborn in the spirit so she can fully turn her life around. It was so cool reading that! We also met with Martin and Alecia. They are so awesome and prepared. I really hope I can be a part of their baptism. They have definitely found a place in my heart! I love every moment I get to be with them because I can see what great members they will be and the effect it will have on their daughter will be amazing!

Well I love you all and hope to hear from you soon!
Love Elder Christensen

Elder Christensen: Letter 03/04/13 New Comp

Well, this week has been great. Every day after transfers has been a blessing! :) I Love My New Comp. His name is Elder Shivers. He is from Chandler, AZ and he has been on his mission for 20 months. I'm still the Senior Comp which I find very weird!! This week we met with Eric White and had a great lesson and talked about baptism and he said I need to be baptised. I know Ive prayed about it, I just need to figure out how I would get in the font and everything with my medical issues. He has been on bed rest for 10 months. I'm pretty sure he had a problem with his colon and things didn't go to well but we are hoping that we will have him in full health at least able to to be baptised sometime in April. Hopefully I'll be staying here that long!  I've been cursed and haven't been in a area longer than 3 months so we shall see ha ha:) 

 

So our funny black story for the week is Elder Shivers is a pretty tall thin guy. He is 6'4 and about 160 lbs and we were waiting for our bus and this drunk black lady comes up to him and says "Hey there looking for a good time I've got some sauce here for you" Elder Shivers says no its too cold and your drunk lol" Then she says "its cuz I'm black isn't it?"  HAHA! Then she comes up to me and I'm like " Oh DEAR here we go again.... She says "Hey yo friend don't think I'm pretty! What's wrong wit him?" I said, "It's cuz he is white." She then says "you're right, we black people need to stick together!" LOL She was so drunk she thought I was black!! This place gets better and better!!

 

We had alot of great lessons this week and had a lot of support from the ward :) This Sunday was Stake Conference and it was amazing because Elder Hawk from the quorum of the seventy shared a football story and talked about how life is a football game and made a lot of the same connections I did. It was so cool! And I gave my talk a little while a go and Mary said hey you and this guy must know each other huh? She really enjoyed the talks and felt the spirit, so it was a great Sunday :) Then we went to the Radishel's for dinner and it was so much fun. I love that family so much. They remind me so much of my family at home :) We played games with them and enjoyed the company. That's the best way to end the good week !! Well I love you all so much and hope to hear from you soon:)

 

Love Elder Christensen

Elder Christensen: Letter 2/25/13 I made IT :)

So this week In Florrisant we got a hard snow storm with a thick shelf of ice on top of it. They closed a lot of the roads down. For 2 days we lost power for 1 hour at our Apartment from 9-10, but I enjoyed planning in the dark. Ha! Ha! We met with our new investigator Ron during the start of the storm and he was very surprised that we were walking out in that crazy storm!! He was very interested in the BOM and said he would read and pray about it which is music to my ears. :) I kinda felt like he was looking at the BOM in a historical sense and I could see it wasn't clicking for him, so I shared some of my personal experiences from reading this book and bore my testimony and it seemed to break that barrier, so we will see how his study and prayer went this Saturday.:) Hopefully we can get him to church this week!!

 

We had a lot of appointments fall through this week, but that's ok... Mary came to Church and loved every minute of it. This week was Ward Conference and she enjoyed the talks on how we teach by the spirit and how Christ taught the same way.  She was even an example in the 3rd hour. The Stake President asked her, "Mary how do the missionaries teach you? Did they read everything out of a manual? Did they ever ask you any questions? Did you feel the spirit?" I was so HAPPY with her answer and testimony of how and what we've taught her. She is Great!:) Then he asked me what I did prior to meeting with Mary. How I prepare to teach and how I teach. It was great. This new curriculum will be amazing !

 

We got Transfer Calls This Saturday and I'm staying in Florrisant and my Companion is going to Fenton. My prayers were answered!!:) (This is what the title of this email is referrring to. Jeff has had a really difficult time with this companion as did the people who had him before Jeff. he was nearly sent home in his previous area, and Jeff was just praying everyday that he wouldn't loose his temper with him and get through it.)  I can't wait to meet my new companion. He's been out longer than me, but I will still be the senior Companion. I was the only one from my whole district who is staying. They white washed the other areas (transferred everyone else out of the District) so I will be leading the district meetings for the 1st couple of weeks and I'll be showing all the new missionaries how to not get shot in this area hahaha !!

 

So For MY funny moment this week. I got told I had a sexy butt by a 300 lb woman. She said "mmmmm hmmmm that's some good white meat!" I was like OMG this is just like White Chicks hahahaha! I love how bold some people are out here! It makes me laugh so much :) This will be a fun transfer. Anything will be better than my last one!! I would even rather have cluster headaches the whole transfer than serve another day with my last companion lol. He will either change his ways or get sent home :)  Hope everyone is enjoying this beautiful SNOW and enjoying life. Love you all!!

Love Elder Christensen

Elder Christensen: Letter 02/18/13 Good Times

So this week was a hardcore finding week for us. I finally was sick of not Tracting (he has had a difficult time with his companion who has not wanted to do anything) so we had exchanges and Elder Terrazas and I tore it up !! Found 6 new this week. I would say 2 of them are pretty solid. One guy, his name is Ron, he is an older man. His house looked like a cabin from Montana, so I was like we have to hit this one. We did and we talked about the restoration. He is Catholic and wouldn't mind hearing more this Thursday.  I told him I was from Utah, but had also lived in Missoula MT for some time and he said ahhh yes I love Montana wish I could just drop my house there. Its beautiful country and I lived up by Helena for 4 years.  So we hit it off and it was awesome. Can't wait to teach him more and get him to church :)

 

Martin and Alisha really enjoyed my talk last week and brought it up in our lesson this week how it had gave them hope for one day making it to the Celestial Kingdom and they can't wait to be married in our church and get baptized. :) This won't be in my time. They will be baptized after July 18th but its cool to know my testimony and talk is keeping them focused :)  Mary this week just finished the Book of Mormon and is starting over again to get a better understanding of everything, and we also taught her about tithing and how when you become a member you can pay 10% and receive these blessings. I had shared my testimony on this and she was really feeling it. I could tell. Then the next day we came to pick her up for church and she was just crying saying I can't make it today the medication they have me on is making me super drowsy and sick. But she gave us an envelope with some change in it and said you give my tithing to the bishop I need these blessings right now !  I was in so much shock! I almost couldn't speak that she is so willing to pay tithing and she isn't even a member yet and she just knows that she will get those blessings regardless of her membership!!!

 

Then after church we came by with the bishop to see how she is doing and had a great lesson on the atonement and how she will be a great member to our church.  She then says I'm so sorry I couldn't make it to Church this week. I really wanted to go but Satan is just doing everything he can to get me down, so I wont do what I know is right! We talked more about Joseph Smith and how Satan tried to stop his prayer and the coming of the BOM and she said I'm not going to let him win! I'm coming no matter what from now on!! Then we met 2 new investigators with bishop in the same apartments. He had gotten a call for a blessing from someone he had never even met before. She had gotten his number from a friend whom he helped out years ago and she said my daughters broke her arm and she wants to learn more about your church. Could she get a blessing ? The Bishop was all over that and we will be meeting with her and her 12 year old daughter this week. :0 Then we went to the Radishels for our Sunday Dinner / Family Night. That family alone has made this area for me. There is some much humor there and it is so fun. The kids look up to us and love having us over!! I love You all !!!!

Love Elder Christensen

Elder Christensen: Letter 02/11/13 Bathroom contacting works!

This week we did get 2 new investigators. I was peeing at the St. Louis Bread Company and this guy Markus who was on the same bus that took us there started to talk to me, and while peeing I taught the restoration in 60 seconds! lol He said he would like to hear more on Thursday. After washing my hand, I wrote his info down and gave him a card. Ha! Ha! They don't teach you that in the MTC! I call it "Urinal Contacting" Ha! Ha!:)

 

We also had Mary come to church this week!! She loved it and enjoyed my talk. A lot of people did. It was by far the best talk I've ever given :) This one lady showed me all her notes and it blew my mind. She had almost my whole talk down. I can't ever write that fast, but she really enjoyed it!! Then this morning the Bishop called me and said that was the best talk he's ever heard from the missionaries. It's good I don't stay in areas long or they would ask me to give another one lol!  Mary really enjoyed it because we had just taught her the plan of salvation and she said it all made sense, but then my talk made everything more personal. So that was good for me to hear cuz I was super nervous for this talk. It doesn't matter what position in the church you are, you still get jitters. Ha! Ha! 

 

This week we also got to do some service. Finally! I love service!!!!! We got to tear down a condemned house. So much fun! This ward has a lot of resource !!  Well for P-day today its Zone P-day so we will be playing soccer or dodge ball... dodge ball would be good to relieve some of my stress. Just have to try no to kill anyone this time... I love You all and hope to hear from you soon!

Love Elder Christensen

Elder Christensen: Letter 02/04/13 Week 2

So this week we met with Mary, our newest investigator, and I'm very impressed with her efforts in her studies!! We had asked her to read 2Nephi32 and she read 206 pages! Crazy she was in Alma 44 in 4 days and she said once I finish the book of Mormon I'll start over and re-read it all again! I really like this book!!  We just need to get her to church. She was sick this weekend as was I lol Stupid - 8 degree weather and running doesn't sit well in your lungs...  Then we had a super solid appointment with the couple who is waiting to get married. They really enjoyed the lesson I taught this Sunday on eternal marriage. That was kinda weird teaching people about marriage when I haven't been married lol... The spirit was super strong there and I just knew what to say and where to take them in the BOM and D&C... Hope my talk I have this Sunday goes well as well! It's on the plan of salvation and thats by far my favorite lesson to teach!! :)

 

We didn't find any new investigators this week :/ It's really hard to find time to go tracting in this area. The bus us takes up so much of our time and people all have headphones in and don't want to talk to you on the bus ...  We have been playing Frisbee golf on p-day's. We will be doing that still even with the snow its too much fun. We get the whole district to play and whoever has the worst score buys everyone drinks. Ha! Ha! I haven't lost yet and I don't plan on losing today:)  My comp gets so mad every time we play because I have been 1st place every time and he hates losing at anything. So I love to rub that in his face HaHa !!!! Church ball is AMAZING here my comp and I are the only white people who play from the ward for good reason. They're pretty dang good !! 2 of them can dunk pretty good. They make rebounds fun! lol and their dreads smack you in the face when they roll to the basket. Maybe I'll grow some when I get home...?  I'll have to get a picture of us playing with them this week its too fun! And I had my ipod on me to see how far you run in playing basketball for 2 hours and it was 6 miles so NBA must be 12 miles a game! That's why they are so toned!! There is some good teaching opportunity there with a couple of them. We will have to get on that this week :) Love you all!

Love Elder Christensen