Independence Week! 18th of September

                                     

This week was great fun. It is the Independence Week of Chile-- the day is September 18.  There are a ton of parties and everyone is really happy. We went to a stake activity with one of our investigators and there were a lot of games like the sack jumping and tug of war, musical chairs, etc. It was awesome.   The missionaries lost every tug of war!    That was sad, but fun. We lost to the married men and the returned missionaries. Also there was a lot of dances.  They were so cool I took videos of all of them but I can’t send them home because the file is too big,  but you can see them in a little while! Also we had a miracle that happened we taught an English class and after, invited our student to come to the activity and he came!   He only came for a little while but was able to talk with some members and enjoy himself. I love when we have activities in the church.

                            It was bound to happen to a guy who is famous for weak ankles!

We have another activity on Friday  that will be perfect to bring investigators too. We had another miracle this week.  We contacted a man a few weeks ago and he is from Ecuador. We decided to go back and see if we could visit him. He answered his door and said “come in come in!!” Music to my ears!   We got to know him. He has a family in Ecuador but he ended up getting divorced and moved to Chile and has been looking for God in his life for about a year.  Tomorrow he is going to come on a tour of the church and I am really excited for that!  He is also a painter and a carpenter and he is really cool! I love miracles.

                                        

       

This week I have been thinking a lot about the things I know now that are important and I was thinking how did I not realize how important they were before the mission. Things like the relationship I have with my family, the importance of Church, a desire to help everyone and actually doing something, real prayer, scripture STUDY.   I heard it over and over and over before the mission but it never seemed to sink in. Now I realize what I missed. I know we still had the best family in the world and we still do. But it can be better, always improving! I know that the little things are the most important!!

I love you all

Elder Christensen

                                         
                                                               Chile has gorgeous Sunsets

 

Just Working!

I’m just working here in El Mirador still. I can’t believe that Will is going to hit the MTC already! I remember when you told me he just got his call. He doesn’t have to worry about Spanish-- it just requires a lot of patience. I am still working on it, but that is ok it is a goal for the whole two years!

I cant believe that Miesha will be going home in December!! I didn’t think I left that much after her but seriously time doesn’t exist here. 

                                    

This week was fun we invited a women named Luisa to be baptized and she said yes but has a lot of doubts.  We have a lot of work to do with her. But I know if we focus on reading the BOM with her she will gain a testimony and that is all we need right? Better said--it is what she needs. 

I also had a funny experience.  We visited a member less active and her son was there so we taught him a little bit and I didn’t think he was a member because she said that she was the only member in her family. So I invited him to be baptized and he said he can’t because he smokes. Then we talked a little more and I said that is ok we can work through it and I invited him again. And it turns out that he was already baptized. So I invited a member to be baptized again hahahahaha it was funny but all good.

This week we also have some different rules. First September 11 has significance too it is the same day of a Government overthrow. So there is always a ton of chaos here. As a result, Tuesday we have to go to the house at 8 and we can’t leave the house again until Thursday. We have to stay inside for a whole day. I think that is going to be super weird but really good too because it will be dangerous outside. There are  still a lot of people who are in favor of the old government and there is total chaos. 

If we obey the rules and we don’t leave the house we wont have any problems so don’t worry about that at all!

Thanks for the pictures I just got them end more if you can! New ones of your vacations etc.. I like the one of BEN Working his heart out in the yard

Les Quiero mucho

Elder Christensen

Especially you MOM I Love you

Un Abrazon

                                

                                

                                

QUE

This week was good.  We were able to find a lot of people to teach and work to help them progress. We are trying to work a lot with the members here because we don’t receive anything of referrals here. Almost all the work we do is with investigators that we find or that the mission sends us. So it is really important to help the members improve and get excited about the work. Also we are going to have a lot of activities here in a couple weeks because the Independence Day for Chile is 18 of September! So we are going to invite a lot of people to come eat empanadas and play with Chilean toys. Trompo is like a huge top that you tie a string to and you can throw it really fast and Volantine is like a small kite but you have control and you can guide it. I want to learn how to fly volantines!  I know people will come to this activity.

This week I think I had the first honest companionship inventory in my whole mission. I felt really bad because Elder Largo was always mad at me. And then In our comp inventory I always get scared to say anything because I don’t want him to be mad at me all the time. This week I tried something new, I talked a little about the goals I had to improve in the mission and the changes I have made in my time here. Then I think that helped my companion open up a little more   And I was able to tell him I feel bad because he is always mad but he said he is trying to improve and he did improve a ton this week. After I felt so good because we really could just be completely honest with each other and help one another.

This week I got caught up in the numbers and I felt really stressed but I know I just have  to work as hard as I can and have faith that we will find people that are ready to make covenants with God and let Him guide us. Today I had some time to just relax because we went to Talagante in the country of Chile and we played some volleyball and had a barbeque!! I had a good time hanging out with the other Zone and it was so calm in the country I love it!! It was fun I am thankful that I could use today to refocus on the work. We are trying to bring more people to church to help them feel happy. I am happy because I am trying to help others be happy and that makes me even happier!! I just like being HAPPY!!!

Les quiero todos

Elder Christensen

I love you mom

Talagante

So we had an awesome week because we had a BAPTISM. On Friday, we baptized A y P Verdejos after they got married. It was a  cool experience and I really enjoyed it. We went to their wedding which was about 20 minutes and then we had the baptism and I had the opportunity to baptize P.   She called me and asked me to do it. First she wanted the missionary who started to teach her to do it but our President said no. Then she wanted her son Roberto to do it but he is not a priest yet. So she asked me. I was more than happy to help her with that. The water was cold but the spirit was so strong it didn’t even matter! I just felt so good after I literally felt like I was glowing from the inside. I don’t know how to describe the experience but it was unique and I will never forget it. Also when A left the water I was waiting for him and I just hugged him so hard and he was crying a little. WOW it was so COOL!  I am so happy that we were able to help them progress and get married and baptized. Now we have to get them to the temple!

                                     
                                                                                                  
                                     
     

 Also I started writing all the blessing that I have seen in  my journal and I really like it because as I write the things I have seen I find more blessings to thank my Heavenly Father for. Then I just feel happy because I can see the hand of the Lord in my life. A big blessing I noticed was in the English class we are teaching. We decided to print an article from the Ensign in English to read with our class. It was about prayer and it talked about a family who lost a son to cancer. Then it just so happened that one of our students, O, had lost her youngest son. And the day we taught English was the birthday of her son who died. She said she almost didn’t come to the class but she decided to come and she said that the article was just what she needed to feel peace and comfort in her life. THAT WAS A MIRACLE!!

                                    

Also this week my companion finally started telling me what he wants to do and sharing his ideas with me. Actually, he kind of exploded with ideas-- it was awesome!  First we were planning a tour of the church and he told me in essence that I was focusing to0 much on sharing scriptures because I had one scripture for every place in the church. He said that the tour would not be very good and then he told me his idea. I was not mad at all which surprised me because he kind of told me my ideas sucked. But I was just so happy that he started to participate more and have ideas and desires what we can do and how we can improve. Also he told me I talk too much in the lessons and I need to shut my mouth. I also was just relieved that he was talking to me and now I know how I can help him. I need to give him more responsibility and help him lead the lessons. That will be awesome! I am happy with our companionship. I just have to find a way to help him feel better when he gets mad. Because when he is mad at me it is for 1 day or a day and a half. So I am going to improve that way. But I am super happy.

                           

Last Can you guys keep sending me awesome quotes that you here from the apostles or prophets or whoever but inspirational quotes.  I love them!   

Thanks I love you all.

Elder Christensen

I love you MOM  and DAD

PS I got called as District Leader 

                           

                                                         My Twin

                                     

MARRIAGE AND BAPTISM

This I have really good news! A and P HAD their interview to get baptized this week and they PASSED.  We have a their baptism scheduled for Friday and it will be awesome! I am really excited for them.  They are finally ready to get baptized. They investigated the church for a year but couldn't get baptized because they had to get married. They will get married and the baptism is right after.  We have to plan the whole baptism.

It has been hard this week as well because I think in the mission we are always doing something new. We never get comfortable and when we do get comfortable, we have transfers or we have some kind of change. I feel this way because I am trying to help Elder L get used the  mission, but I feel like a lot of times he gets mad at me and I don’t know why.  I struggle because he is super shy so he doesn't want to talk to me or in the lessons. But I know I was similar. I was scared to talk before but I know that he just needs to try and it will come. I know if anyone has changed in the mission it is me.

Before, I was so scared to talk to anyone. Now I find a stranger that I have never met and after five minutes we are friends. I had that happen the other day. We were looking for a house and we were a little lost. A man named MW came out of his house and we started talking with him. It was fun because he was really funny. Now whenever we see him, we talk a little and we’re just friends. I know the mission changes people. But I don’t know how to help someone experience the most from the mission because it is a decision we all need to make for ourselves-- To enjoy life. 

President Monson always talks about enjoying the life. He has two talks that I really like Finding joy in the journey and In Search of Treasure. The talks are about doing all we can do now. There is no tomorrow if we don’t act and live today!

I am super happy here I never really feel comfortable because we always have a new challenge or experience to face but that is what makes life fun Right?:)

I love you all 

Elder Christensen

I love you MOM!!

Gift from former companion

Street named after the day before my birthday!

No Letters :(

There happens to be a MAIL STRIKE going on here in Chile so I have not gotten any of your letters and i think it would be better to wait to send the package because it could get lost. Thank you and I love you all a ton. I will notify you when the strike has ended. But for now I won’t get any of the things you send me. 

                                     

This week was good but I made a big mistake. I decided with my companion that to have more success here we needed to have more activities in the church.   We started right away because I was super excited to work and to help bring more people to church.  So we decided to have a movie night and we invited a bunch of people and...No ONE CAME!!  It was sad. Then we tried one more time with the same results.

                                     

Wow! I thought “what is wrong with the people why don’t we have people coming to our activities?” Then I realized what missionaries are. We are just guides to help the ward progress. The members are the real missionaries. So I saw that if we want to have activities we have to work through the members. We had two activities that crashed and died because we wanted to work alone and not help the ward with ideas and work with them. We just give the ideas to the bishop and then we do the best we can to get working.

                                     

So this week I am trying with my Comp to work better with the bishop and so I asked him what he wants for the ward and he had an awesome idea. We are asking every member to pray and work with one person to bring them to the church and they are going to choose one person every year. It is not a lot but it will bring a lot of growth if every member who can bring one person in to the church. Also I offered to talk in sacrament meeting whenever he needed.  Well, I really offered all four of the missionaries to talk and then that same night he called me and asked me to talk in church. I felt good because I think the Bishop has confidence in us as their missionaries.

It was a good week

Thanks for all the support

LEs Quiero

Elder Christensen

I love you MOM!

                                

Ahora el Estudiante es el Maestro

(Now the Student is the Teacher)

We had an awesome week this week. I feel good because my companion Elder Largo is talking a little more. At first he was talking more with cats and himself than with me.  Now it is better and we are becoming good friends. I am really thankful for the advice Peter gave me. He said I just have to be super positive and be natural with him. I don’t have to try too hard and to just be myself.   I think that helped me relax a ton. 

This week I learned a lot from my companion, actually. So we started to fast after lunch on Saturday to get the 24 hours in for lunch the next day. It is always really hard to fast because people always give us food. So we went to the house of our investigators who are going to get baptized at the end of this month and they had cooked hamburgers for us for after we taught them.  I felt super bad so I decided to eat and Elder Largo was really firm so he didn’t eat. He told me it will always be hard to fast so you just have to be firm. So he finished his fast and I had to start mine Sunday. But I learned a good lesson of self control from him.

Also he has a ton of good ideas to play games and apply the gospel to his games and he has a lot of good ways to teach the Gospel and he is sharing his ideas with me now so I feel a lot better., 

He is really sarcastic too and I kind of just roll with whatever he says and laugh.  I can never tell if he is serious or not when we are walking in the street, but he is not sarcastic in the lessons  so that is good.

This week I learned something cool,  Well, I already knew it but I didn’t realize that I knew it. So we were teaching one of our investigators named Raul and he was talking about the nature of God. We are made in his image but not only physically, but mentally. A big difference between us and animals is that we can think and act for ourselves. Our memory is like God, too. Think about it.  We can communicate through writing because we all learned how to write and now we remember the meanings of the letters and words. So God told Moses to write about the creation.   It is like God was talking to us but 2000 years ago  and it works because we learned how to read!!

Other example, Journals are so important because I can communicate with myself from before the mission if I read my journal. If I wrote something in 2010 I can communicate it with myself from 2010 from my words. Through the Journal we can talk with our posterity!! That is so cool. I already write all the time but I am going to keep writing

I have a huge testimony of journal writing now!!

But that is my rant for the week thanks for everything I love you all and wish you the best!

Les Quiero 

Elder Christensen