Week 77

Mommy & All,

"Its easy to be on the bottom, it doesn't take any effort to be a loser! Doesn't take any motivation or any drive in order to stay down there on a low level. But it calls on everything in you, you have to harness your will to say I'm going to challenge myself!!"

This week was pretty good. We were able to see Raul and Matilde get baptized this week which was the goal that we put with them so that was great! Rauls younger Brother, Ruben, did both of their baptisms which was a cool thing to see as well and made them all closer as a family. It's been great to see all the changes they've made in their lives from the time they chose to get married to when they decided to get baptized. The best feeling in the world is when you see all your hard work pay off. It's amazing to see how we as missionaries can be such simple tools in the hands of the Lord to bring and present the message of the Restoration to everyone who doesn't already know it. Raul, Matilde, and I have all become good friends throughout this whole process. It's been great to be able to make eternal friends with all that we go through together.

We also gotta teach Ignacio this week. He called us up one day and just asked he we could come over and talk to him. He is really struggling with things in his life and he drinks a ton. He told us that he wants us to help him stop drinking and get out of his problem. We told him about the basics of what we teach about the gospel, about how Jesus Christ knows all of our pains both physically and emotionally, and that as our Savior He is the one who can help us overcome anything we have that troubles us in this life. We also talked with him about the Word of Wisdom and the power of the Book of Mormon. We invited him to read and really study it, and that it was one way to help him overcome is addiction to drink. It's a type of power that's indescribable. Only through our faith and the Holy Ghost can we come to feel it touch our everyday lives and really change us from the inside out.

We are also still working with Brian. We always are able to get him to come to come to the soccer and basketball activities that we have every week, but he doesn't yet have time to come with us on Sundays. On Wednesday, we all lined up to play some basketball and that was really fun and is always a good time to relax a little. We had enough guys that they wanted to play Gringos vs Latinos. So it was Me, Elder Jensen, Taylor, Holmes, and Harper, against Brian and a bunch of members down here. That was really really fun and we really started to become good friends with Brian through things like this. Also just really grateful to be with all these guys right now. They help me to always be a better missionary and just a better person in general as we are all changing and growing together out here. It's been hard of course as the work always is. But these guys make it a little easier just by being great friends and helping me laugh every once in a while haha.

Much Love,

Elder Christensen

Week 76

Mommy & All,

"There's a million streams fanned out like a river delta before you, each offering the path of least resistance. But you're headed up stream." -Rise & Shine

This week was pretty good. We gotta teach Brian this week. We went out and played basketball with him and some investigators that Jensen has and that was really fun as always. So after that we went to his house, we met a guy there named Ricardo. He was a friend of Brian's dad and when we got there, he just sat there really quietly. After a few minutes he started asking us where we from and kinda what we were doing here and what was our purpose. We started talking to him a little about the gospel and what we share with people including the Book of Mormon. After a few minutes he told us that was cool and that its nice that we are out here trying to teach the people who don't believe in God. We told him that we are here teaching all people whether they believe in God or not and whether they go to a church or not. He was really confused and thought it was kinda pointless that we would try and talk to someone who already had their church and believed in God. We told him that there are a lot of people who get baptized into our church who were a part of other churches as well. So he asked how we convince the people to join our church. We told him that we don't convince anyone. We simply present the message that we have to the people, and after that we invite them to ask God if its true not us. We simply share a message and let the Spirit and God to the rest. Suddenly he changed and seemed to thing that was really cool that we weren't going around forcing people to get baptized into our church, we just simply left them an invitation to ask that Being who won't ever lie to us. Then he started telling Brian and Adrian (Brian's Dad) that they needed to listen to what we had to say because its something that he thought they really needed haha so he started preaching on our behalf which was cool to see. He is Catholic and said he didn't wanna listen to us, but he thought it was really cool what we were doing as missionaries. That helped Brian listen to us a little more ha and he accepted to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it.

We also gotta see Raul and Matilde. We have been going over all the baptism things with them and its been going pretty good. Raul is really excited to get baptized, Matilde wants to, but isn't as pumped as Raul haha, so we have been focusing more on her and really just answering all her questions and doubts that she has. We think we are all good to as of right now, and are excited to keep working with them. They have a date for this Saturday to get baptized, so just pray with us that it can all work out okay.

We also found Ignacio again which was cool. We were able to go over to his apartment and sit down and talk for a few minutes. When we got over there, he immediately started talking about baptism with us and how he wants to get re-baptized. He was baptized in the Catholic church and doesn't remember anything about it and knows we have to be baptized when we have sins. He told us the sooner he can be clean the better so that was something cool to hear. The only thing is that he seems to drink a lot so we are working on that with him more than anything. 

Much Love,

Elder Christensen

I wondered what happened to my boy who has a fear of heights until I realized this is really isn't a big drop off like it looks like it is.  See pictures below,

week 75

Mommy & All,

"If things don't work out for you. If things happen that you could not anticipate, what are the reasons that you can think of...that can keep you strong." -Phenomenal

This week was pretty good. Elder Dacuy and I went to work in his first full week in the field and it went well. He has a lot of animo (energy and excitement) and a real desire to share the message we have for people. He also has something about him as well that make people wanna stop and talk to him. We had 3 super random people just stop him in the street, or just start yelling at him trying to catch up to us to talk with us about what he had to share with the people. There was one guy named Ignacio who we met this week. We were just walking down the street to go see some investigators, when this guy from behind started screaming at my comp from across the street and started coming towards us. My comp got super scared and jumped behind me to hide haha. With the history I've had running into drunk guys during my mission, I was already prepping to confront this guy. But as he got closer to us I could see he had tears in his eyes. He came over and introduced himself to us and said he'd been following us for a while trying to catch us so he could talk to us. He told us he was having a lot of problems finding work and just didn't know what to do to find peace and comfort. So of course we got to know him a little more, and introduced the Book of Mormon to him. We read it a little with him there in the street and he accepted it telling us he really wanted to read it. So hopefully we can pass by his house this coming week to share a little bit more with him.

Raul and Matilde also got back from their honeymoon this week. They got back and we got to see them for about 2 min on Saturday, but they told us they were gonna come to church Sunday. So it was great to see them there. After church, we went over to their house to see how they were, and get their feeling again about baptism. We went over and it went really good. Raul told us he was 100% ready, that he is trying to give up smoking, and knows that everything we share with him is true. Matilde had a few doubts when we brought it up with her though. She said that she'd like to get baptized, but she wanted to have a little time to think about it first. So we asked her just to throw out a date of when she thought she'd feel okay with getting baptized. After looking at the calendar, she told us the 21st of October would be good. That was a literal answer to prayer, because that was the exact date my comp and I had in mind for the both of them as well haha so it was great. They are the coolest people and it is going to be really good to keep progressing with them now that we all have the same goal in mind. 

Much Love,

Elder Christensen

They went on a hike to Estancia Tunel, so there are a lot of pictures this week.

Week 74

Mommy & All,

"For what is everyday but a series of choices between the right way, and the easy way." -Rise & Shine

First off wanna give a big Birthday Shout Out to my little bro Brandon here on Wednesday! About ready to be a teenager congrats on making it this far because i thought either Caleb or I would have killed you before this, but you made it! 

This week was pretty good. I gotta make the awesome trek up to Comodoro and then back down. I left Ushuaia at 5 AM Tuesday morning, and got back Friday at 11:45 at night. I gotta spend a little more than 49 hours this week traveling. But overall it was good and we had fun. 

Thursday we had meetings and trainings with Presidente Salerno. After the first Thursday morning video, Presidente told me I had a visitor. I didn't think much of it, assuming it was a member or just someone I'd met in Comodoro, but as I was walking down the hall, everyone stopped what they were doing and stared at me. You know, I'm used to that because it happens every single day when I walk in the street, but usually not with other missionaries since they already know me. So I rounded the corner inside the church and almost fell over when I saw Dustin (my comp from the MTC) with his girlfriend Virginia. When he left the mission, I honestly honestly thought I'd never see him ever again so it was a huge surprise and was great. We were able to sit and talk and catch up and they ate lunch with us. It was also cool to meet his girl who I've heard so much about. Dustin started crying when he saw me which made me laugh and remember the MTC and how he is such an emotional guy. That was the highlight of my week was to see that bro again.

After that we found out who we'd be training. So my 10th comp is Elder Dacuy from Mar Del Plata in Buenos Aires. He is also my 8th Latin comp haha. He is a cool guy who is quiet but funny and has a desire to do the work we were called to do, and just try and help people. He told me that he is also adopted. He was adopted when he was 2 months old, and has never met is birth parents either. So we one thing in common right off the bat which is cool. I think we are gonna have a good time together. He also really likes to play basketball which is PERFECT for what we do down here as I've said in other emails haha. We also had a good mission experience with him. When we were coming back down from Comodoro, we were in the last leg of our journey, traveling from Rio Grande to Ushuaia. About half way between the 2 cities, the bus suddenly died, and we rolled off to the side of the road and we sat there in the middle of no where. They said a rock got kicked up into some tubes and the bus wasn't gonna run. So they called someone to try and get a replacement, or a new bus. So we sat there for about 2 hours waiting for something to happen. Some people thought we would have to sleep in the bus. The temperature dropped to about 25 degrees and since the bus wasn't running, it got a little cold out there haha. But somehow they got it up again and we got here. So he has already started his mission off good haha.

Conference for me personally was really good. I've never taken in more or learned more from any other conference before like I did from this one. More than anything I learned how every single one of us, no matter who we are, We are good enough, we are fit for the calls that we have, and that is isn't enough to just have goals for this life. We all need eternal goals. Because we are all good enough to receive eternal life, which is the greatest gift God can give to any of us. That really helped put things into focus for me.

Much Love,

Elder Christensen