Loving the People

Okay, so it was a really good week. I can't believe our teaching pool. We are teaching around five great families. It's unreal.

We set a baptismal date with one of our investigators this week for the 11th of October. He is a great guy. It was one of the best lessons I have had in my mission. He had concerns about how his friends and family would feel if he joined the Church. This week while reading the Bible, I came across a scripture that dad shared with me when I started my mission in Matthew 19:29. It talks about how when we give up family and friends for the Lord we will receive an hundred fold. We shared this scripture with our investigator as we taught about baptism and as we shared it with him I realized that I can see this coming true in my own life. I thought about all of the wonderful people I have taught and worked with on my mission and how they have become friends and family for me. It was a really special moment as I testified of that and told him about the eternal family he will have and the example he will be for his family and friends and how he can help bring them into the church. Elder G offered a perfect baptismal invitation and our investigator answered with a big “For sure!”. We are really excited.

We have also had some great teaching experiences and extended commitments to people. I know the Spirit has been there and that it has been felt by those we are teaching.

Another big miracle this week was HERMANO P CAME TO CHURCH!!!!! I nearly jumped through the roof when I saw him walking up the steps with his son on Sunday! HUGE VICTORY. I am so excited to start teaching him.

Elder P is not in our house but his MTC companion is with Elder H. Sounds like he went farther south.  Elder W and Elder Y are the two new elders in our house. They are great. Elder W is from Vernal and Elder Y is from Alpine.

We had 10 investigators in church yesterday. We were stoked about that. We also found a great new couple last night. Their son was born on the fifth of September and it was cool as I expressed some of the blessings dad had mentioned in his letter to me before my birthday this last month. I really felt the Spirit and it was a special lesson for me. I feel so blessed. I hope President Bluth will bless me with another cambio here. I love the people we are teaching with all my heart. There are so many surprises in this work.

I love you so much. Hope you are all well.

You guys are the best!

Love you tons, 

Elder Christensen

Independence Day

We have been very blessed with a lot of great investigators this last cambio and I feel like we will have a lot of success this cambio. The people we have been teaching are amazing. I am so excited about them. They are fantastic. They are the real deal. I really believe that each one could get baptized really soon, but each has a few challenges. Please pray for them. I am grateful to be teaching so many men and young families. The church needs good priesthood leadership and each one of these men are good sound people who understand and will be these great leaders. I am so excited to be teaching such great men; more than anything else. What a blessing. 

 

Chilean flags hanging at every house for Independence Day

Independence Day was great. All of Chile is required to put flags up or they get fined, so that was cool to see. We had a good rest, but I understand why missionaries don’t get much rest, because it makes you trunky. 

Chicken dinner with the missionaries that live in our house.

We have cambios tomorrow. Elder G and I are going to stay here. Elder U is going to open a new sector and train in the same area as Elder N from Holladay. Elder Q and Elder H are going to train as well as they stay in our house. I really hope Elder P gets to train in our house, that would be awesome. He has a 2 in 17 chance. But the trainers this round are really great!

 

Super Sandwich - our favorite P-day stop.

I am feeling very blessed by the Lord and know that I can trust in Him. I am so grateful that I have this opportunity.

Love you all!

Elder Christensen

Springtime

I am doing very well. Sorry, I really don’t have time. We had a little bit of a rough week. This week is the Chilean Independence Day, so it will be crazy. Technically our P-day is Thursday this week, but we have time to write today. I hope everything is going well.

Service Day with Elder G

Elder Q from Mexico and Elder H from Columbia

We had a great service day on Saturday, cleaning out the cemetery. Spring is in full swing here now and it is awesome! Love the weather. Beautiful flowers everywhere. Sorry I don’t have time to write much. I promise a big letter next week! 

Finding

I am doing really well because every day we are finding good people to teach. We have been very blessed to find some great families. Lots of future priesthood holders to teach. 

We started teaching this great guy. He was a reference from a member in a different part of Los Angeles. He has a herniated disk in his back and hasn´t been able to work for quite a while. The doctors have been trying to help him but I think he still has some things to find out. He is such a good guy and has a great young family. They are still starting off and struggle with the things most young couples do. He told us that it has been really hard for him not to work and just wants to be happy. 

We helped the other elders with a wedding on Friday. The couple they were teaching got married this week and we were able to help them out so that was really great. Craziest day ever. I am sorry. I didn´t have much time to write today I have been doing some other stuff on the computer. 

I am well. I will try to write more and send pictures next week. 

I love you tons.

Thank you mom and dad for the special letters last week. I love you tons! I can’t believe I am 20. 

Great Moments

I have had a good week. 

Last week we had interviews with President Bluth. He is so great. Sister Bluth made homemade oreo cookies for each of us so that was really nice and reminded me of home. I absolutely love those cookies. They are fantastic. That is one thing I do miss, good homemade cookies. 

We worked really hard this week. We are talking to everybody we possibly can, trying to find some new investigators.

It turns out the nice guy we were teaching who was going to be baptized this week left on vacation for a while and we are not sure when he will get back. So it’s not looking to good for his baptism this week. 

We have great news from the family we are teaching. The parents need to get married. The Dad is fantastic he really wants to get baptized and attend church with the family. He came to church for the third time this last week and is doing great. We haven’t been able to teach his wife very much but this last week we were able to teach her about the restoration and it went really well. Elder G and I felt really good after. We have high hopes for them. 

Then, after a lot of contacting last night, we found a really great family. Definitely a miracle. The mom was baptized when she was 13, but is inactive. We shared with her and her husband last night and it was great. They were just happy. We felt very happy as we taught them. The husband is a really great guy and I really feel like he will get baptized. They have a nice 5 year old son who was the first one on his knees when we asked if we could end in a prayer. 

I am grateful for the mission because it is great time to learn. I feel really humbled and grateful. We had a zone conference this week and I really liked what we were talking about. We talked about Ether 12:27 and how every time we try to strengthen our relationship with God we find difficulties. I know this is true because I have never felt more imperfect than on my mission. I feel like I am constantly aware of my imperfections and when I get over one, another one pops up. It can be frustrating, but it all goes back to the process of becoming, as Meg said it in her talk. I am grateful for this time of growth and hope that I can continue to grow. We also talked about how we strengthen our relationship with God through gospel ordinances. We are so blessed as members of the Church to be able to come to know God through ordinances because we have the priesthood. As we talked about this I was thinking about how can I prepare myself better each week to participate in the sacrament. That is such a special time and I feel like I can prepare myself better so that I can take advantage of that time each week to come to know God even more. 

This week as we were working Elder G and I were talking about what makes us happy. The Gospel makes us happy, my family makes me happy and great moments make me happy. When I say great moments I think of moments where I am standing on top of the ridge in Lambs Canyon, or at the top of a mountain after a hike. Floating down the mountain on a great powder ski day. Sitting on the back patio in the evening. Riding down the boardwalk at Newport when the sun is setting in the ocean. Running out onto the football field after the half with the lights on. Working out in the yard early in the morning. Driving home with dad after going to a big sports game listening to the postgame report. Going to Costco with Mom. Walking through the streets of Chile trying to share something I love. Those are some of my great moments and there are many more. But these are moments where I feel peace and pure happiness. So my invitation for all of you is to go out and look for your great moments. 

Have a great week.

Love you tons,

Elder Christensen