week 16

Mom & the Homies,

"Change the way you look at things, and the things you look at Change." -Wayne Dyer

First I wanna give a S/O to little bro Caleb for playing a heck of a game it sounds like Friday Night against Logan. You look better in the SV jersey than I ever did haha seriously. Keep the Bane alive.

This week I talked in Zone Conference on Tuesday about Obedience. President Salerno has beaten us to death about obedience and that,s about all we have talked about since he arrived in the mission. Possibly because there are some missionaries who aren't that super obedient I'll just say that. Its a real bad cultural thing in the mission. But Elder Jimenez (From Herriman. Didn't play football but still gives me tons of crap about the game. Got here a transfer before me), Me, Elder Harris, and Elder MacDonald (From Mt Crest, didn't play football or basketball. Got here a transfer after me) are trying to change that tradition. It is one of our goals. We also went to Ushuaia again on Wednesday for a conference with President. It was really really good and just re-strengthens everyone to be better and President Salerno is GREAT. I like him a ton and he loves to make jokes so I really like that too haha. He is perfectly fluent in Spanish, English, and Portuguese so he can literally talk to every missionary in the mission in their own language when he wants. Also, it was great to see Elder Harris again as well! He is doing AMAZING things for the people for Ushuaia. Great to catch up with him!!

I encourage all of you this week to read Mosiah 27 and 28! Its about Alma the younger and the 4 sons of Mosiah. Great Story! 

We are now doing a lot of service here in Chacra 13. Hermano Nelson is a less active member in our ward and we do a ton of service for him. He lives in a little TINY house about 3 feet behind the house of his ex-wife who he divorced last December. He lives with his 10 yr old daughter Augustina and his little tiny poodle Luna. Last week we helped him tile his bathroom and Thursday we helped him clean all the garbage in his lawn and under his house because there is garbage everywhere here haha. But unlike my Bro Colton in the Dominican Republic, we dont need a permit to clean it up. He says he doesn't come to church because he wants to see his ex-wife as little as possible (even though he lives in her backyard which is a whole different story) but she is inactive as well so we are trying to work with him. Him and his daughter were just baptized in 2014. I also got to weigh myself Thursday for the first time in Argentina. I weighed in at 113 Kilos which is about 249 lbs. I left the MTC at about 243. Putting on a little weight haha. Hermano Nelson also loves English and loves to learn it and try to talk it so he makes me talk in English all the time haha. Thursday, he wanted me to pray in English. So for the first time in the mission, I prayed out loud in English. It was one of the hardest weirdest things I have ever done. I have already forgotten a lot of the prayer words in English and it was so hard to keep myself from flipping to Spanish which was cool. Its just so weird to hear an English prayer here especially out of your own mouth. I'm far from having the language but that is a good start. 

Much Love,

Elder Christensen