Well, We Are Halfway There

Kind of funny to think that a year from now we might be eating lunch in some fancy restaurant. ;) 

I am doing very well. I have had some of the best weeks of my mission! I absolutely love training. Especially someone like Elder G, who is so easy to teach and so willing to go to work. We have really gotten after it and things are looking really good. I feel like I am learning just as much as he is, if not more. He is a great missionary, and I love the energy he brings. 

We are teaching some great people. L is a really nice guy we are teaching and will probably get baptized next week. We are also teaching two other people who really want to get baptized but can’t because they are not married and we haven’t had much of a chance to teach their partners very much. It is frustrating to have two people who really want to be baptized but are held back by their partners. But things are looking better for them every day. 

I really just feel good. I have definitely felt a lot happier and a lot more at peace. I really just enjoy my calling. It is fantastic. I am grateful for the wonderful opportunity to talk to so many good people every day and try to help them out. I am excited for this next year. 

We had a great conference with Elder Zabellos of the Seventy this last week and this week we have interviews with President and Sister Bluth. 

I am doing great! We are just trying to talk, teach, and testify, to as many people possible. That about sums it all up. I read a talk by Elder Holland where he said to just go to work as hard as you can and let the Lord point you in the right direction. That is definitely what I go for. I love you all tons and hope you are well. It is interesting; I really have just found more peace and joy than ever before. I think I am really learning to just put everything on the Savior. It is incredible when you really, and I mean really put that trust in Him. So much peace.

Send my love to everyone! 

Elder Christensen

Your Time Expired

Hey, I hope you are all having a great week! 

It has been kind of a crazy week for me. Monday night I was in a trio with Elder Q and Elder U. We had a good day but it is really different in a trio. 

On Tuesday, I was with a different missionary in the zone. He was really kind of an interesting guy. He is like a tae kwon do champion or something from Uruguay and he taught with lots of stories out of the Old Testament in each lesson. Not that there is anything wrong with that, just a different approach. I like the short, powerful, simplified but intensified Book of Mormon approach the best. On Wednesday morning I traveled to Concepcion to get my new companion Elder G. 

 

My new companion Elder G

Elder G is a great guy. He is from Kansas City, Missouri. He has run a couple of marathons and is 18 years old, just out of high school. He is really great! We almost always speak in Spanish and he is learning really fast. He likes to work hard and I am excited that we are really getting after it now!

Thursday, Friday, and Saturday were pretty normal missionary days, nothing big to report. 

Sunday was something else though. So I had to speak in Church. I was assigned to speak about Charity. I hadn’t had much time to write my talk this week, so I was a little stressed. I also got really sick on Saturday night with a cold and sore throat. So I pretty much just came home and went to bed. Sunday morning I scribbled out a brief outline with some stories I wanted to share.  So we went to church and we had two investigators come, but one came a little late while I was leading the music for priesthood (bad idea in the first place, especially because I had kind of lost my voice). She came in the middle of the song so I kind of dropped off to show her to the Relief Society class. After that we had two good classes. But our Sacrament Meeting was pretty crazy. The first speaker kind of called out the ward for not being better about fellowshipping. That was quite something. So it was a little bit tense after that. Then I get up there and I had lost my notes. Oops. So I Just started sharing some of my ideas, doing the best I could. Then I found my notes in the talk I was quoting from President Monson. I also wanted to share a little bit from that letter Claire’s Japanese friend wrote to her, to show the impact little acts of kindness could have. But I made the mistake of trying to translate from the pulpit. Bad Idea. As I was translating, a member from the bishopric passed me a small piece of cardboard that had scribble in big bold writing “YOUR TIME EXPIRED”. Oops. Dad, I hope when you do that it is a nice polite little note. I felt like the guy was yelling at me through this note and it kind of threw me off. I will try to send a picture next week. My camera died. Anyway, I finished out with my testimony and ended up getting emotional as I thought about Claire’s good example. Shucks. Well it all worked out all right, but I did lose my voice later that night and I still feel a little sick today. 

That is how my week went, how about you guys? 

Love Everyone

Hi, everyone! 

I hope you are all doing well. I love hearing from you each week. It is very gratifying to hear about how well you are all doing and I feel so happy. 

I am also excited to hear that Charlie is playing well in football and I hope he has an awesome season. He is always a champion in my book. Charlie, you are the man and I expect you to be the hardest working player on the team. Please do it for me, you have no idea how lucky you are to be playing football. Enjoy every game and every moment. I would like a schedule and a game report each week. 

I am excited for Claire and Emma to be starting back up at high school soon and I want to give them some counsel. LOVE EVERYONE. I feel like I have really learned a lot of sympathy for others here in the mission. I have come to learn that everybody is struggling with something and that they are fighting their own battle. I know that high school is a very difficult and also a very critical time for many teenagers and that everybody just wants to be loved. You two can give that love to them in a very healthy and uplifting way. You two have incredible potential to be powerful influences in the lives of many. You can come to love absolutely anybody once you understand their problems and their trials. As you serve them, you will come to love them. Please reach out and lift others. When you two are righteous examples and have the courage to stand up and do what is right you will give others the courage they need to do the same and it will spread like wild fire. Look for the kids in the corners, the kids sitting alone, the awkward kids and reach out to lift them. You can have an incredible impact on the lives of others. Please lose yourselves and build others. I promise that if you work hard all of the bad test days, late nights, friend drama, grumpy teachers, and whatever other junk there is in high school will all work out. If you reach out to others you will find greater joy than you have ever known. Please do it for me. Don´t ever judge anybody. You don´t know their side of the story. Please look beyond the surface. I love you both and I know I am preaching to the choir. But you don’t realize the powerful influence you have. I want you each to read or listen to a talk Elder Holland gave at BYU called, “Come Follow Me”. I have been touched several times as I have thought about the girl who didn’t feel like she could come to their 20-year high school reunion. Please reach out and lift others. 

I am doing well. It has been kind of an interesting week. I had a great experience with Elder M as we visited some of his converts. It is absolutely incredible to see the power of the atonement and how it changes people. I am so grateful for this time as a missionary and I am learning to treasure every minute of it.  

I am so grateful for my Savior. I want to come to know Him more and more. He is incredible. I hope that I can come to understand His love more and more every day. I know the Church is true. I know this is all right. Sometimes we just have to hang on and literally hang on and trust in Christ. I am so grateful for my challenges, my struggles and my pain because I know they bring me closer to Him. He loves us! 

Teaching

Hello!

This week we had a couple great experiences. Yesterday, we had a nice young father in church. He seems to be very receptive and he survived quite an interesting lesson about tithing, temple work, and family history yesterday in church. All followed up by singing, “Praise to the Man” (one of my favorites, but a little awkward when you spend your whole day telling people we don’t worship Joseph Smith). He said that he really liked how the people at church look out for each other and take interest in the other peoples lives. He said you can go to another church and nobody has a clue about anybody else. He has a couple of difficulties ahead, so hopefully that works out. 

We are also teaching a nice mother who has been suffering from several personal challenges. When we visited last week she said that after reading Alma 7, she had felt that the Book of Mormon was true and had actually defended us at a birthday party she went to later that day after hearing lots of anti-Mormon stuff. She accepted to be baptized but we haven´t been able to find her lately. 

I am also really excited for the other missionaries in Galvarino. They haven’t had many investigators lately, but found a really wonderful family a week or two ago. I am happy for Elder Q, the new elder from Mexico. He is a wonderful guy. I really admire his ability to find the good in everyone and make friends with everyone. 

Thank you for all of your love. You are amazing. Please keep praying for me! I am doing great but I find so much strength from your prayers! Love you tons! 

Please tell Gram thanks for the great fudge! That made me super happy! 

I also got a kick out of Jeff’s letter last week about scout camp. Reminded me of dad pushing the guy in the lake when he was a kid.

Love you tons!

Elder Christensen