Elder Christensen: Letter 8/27/12

So this week in Farmington we had a really good heart to heart with our investigator Ron.  He really opened up to us about some of his struggles and with his living situation he probably won’t be getting baptized soon or in our areaL  We had zone leader exchanges this week and that was ok… We went tracting for 5 hours before our dinner appointment had no success there!  I can’t believe how many people just don’t care about God or religion its crazy!!  My comp found 1 new potential investigator in his 5 hours of tracting we had an appointment set up for that following Saturday and she bailed…  Got some cool numbers for you though!!!!  Since I’ve been in Farmington I’ve walked 195,479 steps, this month alone we’ve walked 66,407 steps, so we are tracting about 8.76 miles a day every day!!  My highest day so far is 21,564 steps which was 16.21 miles.   We have a car area but I feel like we never use the car. Ha Ha Oh well. I like walking anyway.  I’m getting the feeling that this area has been tracted out and I’m running out of ideas on how to find new people to teach..?  It’s so crazy everyone here is kind of in their own world we ask people who have lived here for 20 years if any of their neighbors would be interested in hearing our message, and they say I don’t know any of my neighbors ….. Very different from Utah!  

On the positive side of things our ward attendance is still climbing the bishop’s goal is 200 people for one Sunday.  The bishop really loves me I can’t figure out why yet??   I don’t feel like I’ve really done anything in the Farmington area yet….  My own personal testimony and scripture knowledge have grown tons though!!  I got my very 1^st Missouri Rain last night. It was so cool the streets were flooding over the curb and lightning striking every 5 seconds. It was like a dream come true!  Keeping my head up !! :)

Elder Christensen: Letter 8/20/12

So this week in Farmington out investigator Ron I told you about wants to be baptized! AHHHH I’m so excited we have a couple of things that we are working with him on but he told us for years he has been scared of being baptized and when we read 2nephi chapter 31 he said the spirit was so strong and telling him he needs to be baptized as soon as possible. He loves reading the Ensign so he reads those every day and he said he has been reading those for a couple years and he really enjoyed the stories in them. He said the spirit has never been as strong with him as he has been studying now! It’s so amazing to see the small and simple changes in someone’s life as they are progressing to make the decision to be baptized. I’ve come to realize that missionaries can only do the best they can do but the true conversion comes from the spirit! We have also been tracting tons this last week now that my foot is good to go, haven’t had any luck there L We have walked about 35 miles this week though so I’m burning off all my family meals. The people of Farmington are pretty mean they don’t wave back for a friendly hello they slam doors in your face some crazy people out in the boons even come out with guns ha ha. That’s missionary work for you though if it was easy then everyone would do it… We also have been visiting tons of less actives and have even got some of them to renew their temple recommend. I believe we have truly earned the trust of the ward back from those dumb missionaries making poor choices. The ward is feeding use very well now they want us to come over all the time to teach their kids. I’m hoping that with that trust they will invite us to teach some of their friends that aren’t members of the church! Member referrals are such a big part in baptisms out here. Also I one of our part member families her oldest son just turned 12 and has accepted the role of a deacon they don’t have a lot of money so I bought him a tie, and he loves that thing she keeps telling me that he wont take it off ha ha. So on the down side of the week on the way back home from our appointment with the Urling family for dinner we got pulled over for speeding my comp got a ticket so I might be driving from now on. The funny part is we were going so fast that we sped past 2 cops in about 4 miles they clocked us at 74 so must have been on the uphill part of the roadJ I’m so glad I wasn’t driving!! My goal is to have no tickets on my mission! So my comp was really down that night and I wanted to help in any way that I could. So I saw that our watermelon was going bad and I knew we had a baseball bat in the weight room so I let him smash the watermelon he felt much better after that! We also had the chance to watch President Monson’s Birthday celebration on BYUTV that was so cool I learned a lot about our prophet and his life he is such a good man! They also had plenty of great musical talent there people from phantom of the opera, and they sang his favorite golden days songs. I’m surprised how many of the golden day songs that I knew from the few Broadway plays that I’ve seen such as “The Music Man” brought up lots of old memories from 10^th grade. Time flies by!!!!

Letter to Mom: 8/13/12

I thought I would share the letter that Jeff wrote to me this morning. I try to ask him a few specific questions so that at least he will answer those. We usually also get a handwritten letter about avery 1.5 weeks and he tends to write a lot more in those than he does in the emails. We also got an email from one of the members in the area where he is. They had fed him dinner and wnated to tell us how spiritual Jeff is and what a great job we did raising him, so he also comments on that below. Here is the letter below:

Yes the lightning storms are amazing out here!!!!! They have heat lightning too where is doesn't rain and its just lighting with no thunder. Have only had one of those but it was out of this world!! It was like a giant strobe light in the sky and didn't stop!! I really wish I could been at the wedding (cousin Steven's wedding last Friday) but I was in spirit! I wrote Cortney happy birthday in my journal. I didn't forget it ha ha that was weird but I only have to miss one more of her birthdays lol they time is flying already!! Ohhhhh Kyle (Kyle Cortez, Jeff's friend just came home from a mission last week.) I bet he has changed so much since I've seen him.( So ya the Morgans or Felix that Todd worked with is such a cool family that reminded me so much of our family at the dinner table and the oldest boy was teasing his momma OH I miss those days!!  They didn't really like Farmington but they have another house in Utah in Pleasant Grove I think so maybe you will get to talk to them one day?  And tell Kyle to write me!!!!!!!  My comp is from Kaysville, Utah by Lagoon ish area but he will be home in December but he is a great guy we've finally warmed up to each other !! It's very weird though like I'm the junior companion but in every discussion I'm always leading it or talking with the people more than the veterans lol?  But in my patriarchial blessing it says you will be called to an area were your skills and talents will be used to there full potential!  Ha ha I bought the safe for a reason....... (Jeff bought a fire proof safe before his mission and we have had 3 fires this year close to the house!)

Elder Christensen: Letter 8/13/12

This week in farmington was a good one we broke the ward attendance record by 20 people yes!!!  So the ward when I first got to farmington averaged bout 80-90 people but we've been working on less actives and part member families and are now averaging 140-160 every week... so I haven't baptized anyone yet but I can see that we are making a difference and that's huge for me being a new missionary so I have some success to look back on when I have those down days! So our down time is spent with less actives and part member families.   Also we have Ron one of our potential investigators who has been looking into the church for about a year now. I challenged him to read 2nephi ch31 and 32 but he didn't do it so the next time we met with him we read ch 31 together and at the end I challenged him and asked him to be baptized and to set a date for that goal and he really was thinking hard for a date that he would be ready so know we are helping him prepare for that! Our discussions have really gotten deep with Ron and he is gaining so much knowledge from it I'm hoping and praying that he will pray to know the things that we teach are true!!!! I don't have lots of time to write this week because our library is closed for cleaning and the park hills library is a joke its so packed!!  Our other investigator is Josh and we had a great time with him and his family on Saturday for his birthday party we played football and elder Christensen and I owned it up! We built lots of trust with Josh and his mom that day and will be meeting with them this Wednesday with 3 members who know them very well and are helping us get them to church and baptism :)  hope everything works out this week is a big one for us ! I love you all and your in my prayers!!!!

Love Elder Christensen

Elder Christensen: Letter 8/6/12

Hey everyone I’m so excited to be able to walk all day again we had a lot of success this week but it was all less active member work it was amazing!  So it was fast Sunday and we had 2 less active part member families there and one of those families went to Nauvoo over the week and just bonded as a family.  They all said the spirit was so strong they said they didn’t ever want to leave.  Their testimonies were so strong and powerful I couldn’t believe it.  The father of the family is the least active and he decided that his testimony was ready so after 38 years of being a member and just going through the motions and hearing everyone else’s testimonies.  He wanted to share his for the 1^st time with his family and the ward it was very spiritual!  Their daughter Colleen is 17 years old and she is the most active member of her family she has great friends in the young woman’s group and they keep each other on the right path.   Our goal for that family is to get her father the priesthood and have their family sealed in the temple for time and all eternity.  Families are so important and I want my family to know that I love them so very much!!  It reminded me so much of those days where my whole family would give their testimonies!  So we are working on some new investigators that we have found one of them his name is Ron he has been investigating the church for 1 year and is always asking really great questions.  I challenged him to read 2nephi chapters 31 32 and to pray to know that this is the true church.  I know that if he does this god will answer his prayer!!  We had a ward baptism this week as well is was very cool it reminded me a lot of when I was baptized by my father I can remember so much from that day its one I’ll never forget.   It also reminded me of my farewell talk hope it was good ha ha I don’t remember a lot of the things that I said but that’s when the spirit takes over for you.   For service this week we had the opportunity to serve food to the seniors at the senior center is park hills and all the old ladies love us and they are a blast!  Then we do the dishes there as well every Wednesday its getting fun because I’m finally getting to know all the people there.  We have lots of missionaries and sisters leaving our district this week and some will be going home this Wednesday so we had a very spiritual district meeting this week and I was the role play investigator.  It’s so hard for me to act that out because I always use my best friend Evan and I realized what I should’ve done for him while I was at home and how it was a mistake not to share the gospel with him!!!  I wish I could’ve swallowed my pride sooner for now I feel like I’m too late to help him L  This experience has taught me a very valuable lesson on humility though I’m very thankful for the opportunity I have to grow from this experience and be a better missionary!!  I had my 1^st Zone leader Exchange this week as well and it seems that wherever I go that I can connect with whoever we are teaching better than the missionaries that are in that area. The people love what I have to say to them but its not me at all the spirit of the lord tells me what to say and I don’t argue with it.  One investigator shared with us his 1^st 18000 foot skydiving video and explained how that feeling was indescribable.  So I related that to the spirit of the Holy Ghost and how we can tell how it feels but you have to experience the joy of the spirit on your own and now he wants to get this gift and be baptized at the end of the month!! The zone leader was very impressed and couldn’t thank me enough, but I don’t get to baptize him L   So I’m kind of bummed on that but I’m so very happy for him and his wife !!

Elder Christensen: Letter 7/30/12

Hey everyone so still not a lot going on in Farmington but having better luck than the week before… so this week we had our super activity we bought out the whole section at the cardinal game it was awesome !  It was a very high scoring game the cardinals had 2 homes runs and score 7 runners total the dodgers had 4 total with no home runs.  It was very nice to see all my buddies from the mtc again elder Sims and elder Harris are my bros! Then after the game we went to forest park I love that place there is some much to do there and the people that are there are so funny.  They all thought we were selling drugs though because we were dressed in pros clothes ha ha.  I also got to meet a lot of the other missionaries at the talent show all the poly elders love me and they treated me like their own… we played rugby and football but I couldn’t really do much with my foot so I was always the QB.  Still was tons of fun I haven’t thrown a football since last summer with my cousin Steven when we hoped the fence to the Herriman high school field and played there ha ha good times !  Then after we played our games they taught me the Hakka again it’s been forever but now I know it really good again so cool!  Elder Elkington is from New Zealand and told me lots about the island and the culture there sounds so cool but he loves the states and the people here. Elder Vaka is from California and is Samoan he is playing football for Cal State when he gets back.  Elder Tiko is also Samoan he is so funny he would run into random groups of missionaries and be like HEADS UP and everyone would duck but there was no ball so funny ha ha ha ha!!  So ya me being down because of my foot really sucks but I’m getting to know the scriptures much better and I’m getting to know my companion much better as well.  He is from Cassville Utah and is the 3^rd child of 4 kids he has been on his mission 18 months and served in Farmington for 6 of them ha ha he will be a Farmington legend by the time we are done.  He is a great missionary very obedient to the rules unlike my last companion!  He and I are getting along much better now that he knows more about me and I know more about him.  Alot of the member have very god things to say about him and it always makes me feel good to because they're always saying elder Christensen is the best missionary we've had hahaha !! We are trying to get a teaching pool running but don't get any member referrals and that means lots of tracting which i cant do til hopefully this weekend ill be 100% back to normal by then so i can do more work than i have been able to do... its really depressing not being able to psychically go out and knock on doors to do the lords work. We have been visiting lots of part member families and had one family attend church this Sunday they're the Vinson's family they have a beautiful young daughter Kaleen that 17 years old and she has been the only on who come to church she has really great friends to help keep her on the path as well.  So we as missionaries are trying to get her father worthy for the priesthood and get the whole family active but its really hard to get a appointment with them they're very busy with work and kids...  I know if we can just sit down with them and talk about how the gospel blesses families and about their daughters testimony and experiences they will be so strong!:) 

Elder Christensen: Letter 7/23/12

so another week in Farmington this week was one of my favorite weeks because we did tons of tough labor i pounded down 8 poles 6 feet in the ground to hold the Pters family docks in place and i also installed a water slide for them for the pioneer day activities they will be doing i got 5 huge blisters from doing that ha ha so it was really hard to shake hands the rest of the week because they were so sensitive!! they we helped the basset family rip out all the carpet on their main floor and started restoring the old wood floor underneath it.  then the we helped brother Urling update his dental office he bought in the st Genvieve area those dental chairs are so heavy!! then he gave me some bleach for my teeth ha ha :)  Then we helped 2 new members move out from the other members home we had to lift a hot tub on to their trailer was not very easy with 2 elders and a bunch of old people lol!  so This week we tracted like mad and did get any success there but we gave out 4 book of Mormons and alot of pass along cards.... the potosi branch had a baptism this week and we filed the fount for them be we kinda forgot about it and i flooded into the hallways ha ha were making history here! So wee have tried everyday to meet up with kenrae and her father just haven't had any luck there:/ i now she is looking for a job everyday and doesn't like living with her parents so we cant really teach with the spirit there but her cousin is one of our less active members and we are trying to work through her but haven't got anything rolling yet.  So after all of our crazy service projects for the week i told my companion we deserve a lil break so we went shopping and this place, its the black market of st. Louis its in a town called paigdale so i bought  true religion  Clogne and a huge bottle or diesel and aqua di gio, and a bulls hat ha ha and some more tracting shoes just in case i burn through my old ones but they are holding up really good so we shall see ha ha then when we where is st Genvieve and the Mississippi river was right there so we had to see that its crazy how much coal and stuff goes down that river boats are like 2 miles long i took videos of it on my camera.  We have one new investigator his name is James miller he is way spiritual we are just trying to get another appointment with him but he is super busy with his job and 5 kids but we aren't giving up!  We also attend this Scripture study class every Tuesday night and we met Ron there and he is really into that class but doesn't come to Church he lives with another member but they aren't married so we are trying to see how we can get him to baptism because we feel he really wants more than what he is getting from the book of Mormon Right now.  So I'm sorry i don't have any super big spiritual experiences this week..... just lots of service...