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

Elder Christensen: Letter 01/28/13 Florissant, MO

So I'm in my new area Florissant Missouri. Pretty exciting area. Very different from all my other areas. We don't have a car. We get to ride the public buses and the metro link. We aren't too far from downtown St Louis:)  This is the biggest area in the mission and we are starting from scratch. This area was shut down for a couple transfers for reasons I won't say to save my mommy some worry LOL!!:) Love you mom! My comp is great he is from San Diego, California. We get along great and we both are in pretty good shape so that's good in case anyone tries to mess with us!!  This area is too fun! No joke, we are the only white people who get on the buses and we get tons of free Jerry Springer entertainment every day on the bus! Ha! Ha! They crazy!! Funniest bus story I got is the bus was super packed and this huge black lady was standing next to this old black man and he leans over and lets out a fart.  Then it starts to smell and he opens his mouth and points to the big woman to blame it on her and she yells at him "uuh uuhh You betta don't I saw you lean!!" So we are always saying "you betta don't" now lol too funny!! Then one day our bus had a flat tire and it was like 9 degrees outside. Super cold! So we all sat on the bus and had to wait 30 minutes for the new one and this other big black lady has her 4 kids with her and they are running all over the place and she was like "awwwww hellll sit yo @*$ down all ya all I've been doin dis all day. Dey just don't stop!" then because the bus was leaning (due to the flat tire) her 6 year old boy started sing Lean wit it, rock wit it. Lol everyone on the bus was entertained by her and her family!!

On the more spiritual side we met with some potentials in Bellefountain and met Mary. We set a date with Mary. We met with her for the 1st time this Sunday and the spirit was super strong :) She is having a rough time with her job and being away from family so she was very humble and receptive! We also met a couple that's wanting to improve their lives together. They aren't married yet but once we can get them married they will be baptized !! I'm very excited to get the work rolling in this area once again!:)

So on Saturday this 18 year old black kid was making his own rap and every other word was the F- word and was bagging on us for being in suit and tie. I wish I could've taken my name tag off for 5 minutes and dropped that kid!! He had his 2 kids with him too and his 17 year old wife. So messed up! Then he was like I don't give a F*&# anyone got a problem with me stand up! I wanted to so bad !!!! That's been my hardest challenge in this area is putting up with people like him!! There is a lot of good black people in this area and in our ward too. There is alot of crime though so its very hard!!  MY patience in very important in this area !!  For the most part thoough people respect us and love us. Some gangs out her protect us which is nice!! Like when we go to bellefountain on Canaan st they have our backs lol were in the C-Hood ! Good Thing Christ will protect us as well !:)  I'm looking forward to having many more fun mission stories like these ones :)

 

Love you All and hope to hear from you soon my new address is:

23 Quick Dr. Apartment 3

Florissant, MO 63031

Love Elder Christensen

Elder Christensen: Letter 01/22/13 Dunk N Dash

So the baptism was amazing everything went perfect and the spirit was so strong !! I had to learn the prayer differently than what I was originally doing wasn't the full prayer. So I had to learn almost double in 30 minutes lol but i did it!! (He had to learn the prayer in sign language for this baptism) Everyone said this was the most spiritual baptism they have ever been to.  Amanda's mom was also there to support her. I saw this spirit had really effected her as well and after the baptism I talked with her and gave her a Book of Mormon.  We also had our other investigator Crystal there and she said that was so cool and she whats to learn more about why we get baptized and brother Mendenhall is fellowshipping her like there is no tomorrow. She is babysitting his kids and going out to eat with them. It won't be long til she gets baptized either !! that would be really cool if I could come back to see her baptism !! then I confirmed Amanda the next day and she had a testimony of the Holy Ghost already. She lost her keys after the baptism and we looked all over for them and they were no where to be found. Then I told her to pray and ask where they would be .  She did then told Juli the member to take her to the college where she waited for the bus and at the bus stop barely sticking out of the mud was her keys and her testimony grew so much from that. It was very cool to see!  This Sunday I got to say goodbye to everyone in the ward. It was hard but not too bad. Everyone said the new elder has some big shoes to fill and they are so happy that I got to serve in this ward!! I could come back as a ZL (Zone Leader) maybe ha ha who knows??  Dean West a convert from last year couldn't thank me enough for all the help I've done on his half-way house. That will one day be a huge missionary tool !! He also said that he has never heard of a missionary getting 2 baptisms in that short of time in this ward. Ha! Ha!  Well I love you all and hope to hear from you soon!!:)

Love Elder Christensen

Transfer: Area #4

I found out today that Jeff is getting transfered this next Wednesday to Florissant, MO. This is a suburb outside North St. Louis. It is not super safe there I am told, so make sure you are praying for his safety! He has had such good success in his current area, I know he will be sad to go, but I am sure he will do great in the new area as well. He was super bummed on his last transfer too, but once he started Springfield, he now says that this has been his best area so far.

I also got to see a bunch of pictures and videos of Jeff that the ward missionary posted on Facebook. There were pictures of the baptism that Jeff did today with Amanda and some videos of Jeff making crepes. It was fun to see the pictures and videos and know that he is doing so good.

One thing that has happened recently is that Jeff has been having cluster headaches. These are extremely painful and one of his eyes swells, droops and waters a lot when he gets these. You are supposed to get a CT scan if this happens so that they can rule out other causes (like brain tumors) but so far Jeff is refusing to get this done. I think he is worried about getting put in the mission home office or something like that if the Mission President knows about it. I am still working on nagging him to get this done, so hopefully he will. If not, we may have to call his mission president to get it done.