Week 101

Mommy & All,

"If we don't try, then we don't do. If we don't do, then why are we here?" -Shenandoah

This week was pretty good. Still out here trying to get work done.

 

Tuesday we got caught in a nice rain storm my comp and I. People for the last little bit have been talking about another flood that is supposed to hit Comodoro like last year, but it hasn't happened yet. Well, we thought it was gonna happen last week. We were heading to teach Franco and Diana when it started to rain. We had to sit outside their house for about 30 min because they had told us to come over but then had fallen asleep and hadn't woken up yet. But while we were out there it was mostly just a drizzle and wasn't too bad. We were with them for about 45 min talking about General Conference and watched the conference talk by Elder Massimo De Feo about how to become a true disciple of Christ. It went pretty good and they seemed to like it. By the time we left the rain started coming down a bit more, but we made the decision that we were gonna go and see Paula and Jose since we hadn't seen them at all last week because of our busy schedule. That is when the floods began to come. By the time we got to Paul and Jose's house, we were pretty soaked and Jose came out and told us they were eating and to come back Friday. So we started the long walk home. As the streets began to fill with water, my comp and I were at one point up to our ankles as we trekked through the rain. It got to the point we were so wet that we couldn't feel when we were stepping in water and when we were on the sidewalk. So that was another nice time we had here haha.

We did get the chance to teach Paula and Jose last week though. We were able to go and teach them the law of Chastity and ask if they were married and if they weren't if they'd be willing to do so. They accepted the message really well and told us that they wouldn't really have a problem getting married which was good to hear. The only problem is that although they are living together, Jose is still legally married to his previous wife. They are living separate but haven't ever gotten legally divorced. So that is a goal we put with him is that he can get that done sometime to keep progressing towards baptism.

We also got put in a trio this week. The companion of Elder Arismendi, our district leader, went home on Saturday so he got left without a comp. So my comp and I are out here being his comps now. So I will be in a trio until I finish up here.

Much Love,

Elder Christensen

Week 100

Mommy & All,

"The world turns aside to let any man pass who knows whither he is going." -David Starr Jordan

Last week was really busy and insane so we didn't get a ton of work in. On Wednesday, we had interviews with President and then went out and bought everything we needed for the zone conference we had on Thursday. Wednesday night, we also had a Family Home Evening with all the missionaries from Comodoro and Caleta here in Comodoro. Thursday we had a conference with President Salerno most of the day and it was really good. He showed us a video that the church made on leadership and how we can all be leaders. One thing I really liked that Elder Bednar says in the video is that "Leading is about what you do and what you leave." Elder Ballard also says that "Our job as leaders is to raise up leaders who will be better than we ever were." Those were two things I really liked. We went to go see Jose and Paula after but they told us to come back on Saturday. Friday we had an asado or barbecue with the Familia Alvarenga. They said goodbye to me because they are heading to Buenos Aires to serve as temple workers for a year I think. It was really cool to get to know them especially living with them for 5 months the first time I was here in Comodoro. Saturday and Sunday we kept passing by Jose and Paula to get them to general conference, but they didn't answer so we don't think they were home. we had a great General Conference weekend with all the changes and the "rush of revelation" as Elder Holland called it. It is always great to hear from the Prophet of God and I know that President Nelson is the Prophet on the earth today and I received a testimony of that this weekend as well.

Much Love,

Elder Christensen

Week 99

Mommy & All,

"Life is either a daring adventure or nothing." -Helen Keller

This week was pretty good. Our talking to everybody is starting to pay off. 

We were out contacting and contacted this house off the street in this back corner which we honestly didn't think it was a house to start with. Anyways there was a guy named Jose out front working and he came and talked to us. We shared with him the Book of Mormon and invited him right there to accept a baptismal date for April 14th and he accepted which was really cool. On Tuesday of last week, we went back to talk to Jose and met his wife Paula and his little 7 yr old daughter Rosita. We were able to sit down with all of them and just talked some more and Paula ended up accepting the same baptismal date as Jose which was super cool. On Thursday we had our leadership meeting where all the zone leaders meet up here in Comodoro and have counsel with Presidente. After that happened, ¨Presidente Salerno came with us to the lesson we had planned with Jose and Paula. We were able to teach them alongside Presidente Salerno which was awesome. Teaching with my mission president was something I honestly never ever thought would happen. This mission is soooo big and he has so many things to do that he is traveling and doing papers or meetings or interviews every single day. But he took the time to come with us and it was great. Jose and Paula also came to church yesterday so they are progressing and we hope to see them again a couple times this week as well.

Much Love,

Elder Christensen

week 98

Mommy & All,

"Procrastination is the thief of time." -Edward Young

This week was pretty good. We had transfers this week so we were flying between our area and the terminal up until Friday. I saw a lot of good friends go who have helped me, so it will be cool to see the effect they have on the rest of the mission now that they are spreading out.

I had a pretty cool experience Saturday. I went on divisions with Elder Jimenez out to his area to visit an investigator they wanted us to see named Cristina. She has a smoking problem and something going that puts her a step back mentally, yet she has a desire to know the church and search for the truth. When Elder Jimenez and I went over, we talked about the Sabbath Day and how it is a day when we go to church and give thanks to God for what we have as we try to improve. We also talked about the word of wisdom and how through the power of the Book of Mormon and the faith that she has, God can help her stop smoking. While we were there, Elder Jimenez asked her if in these next few days she could get rid of all the cigarettes that were in the house to first try and eliminate the temptation. After he said that she just looked at us, then looked at the box of cigarettes on the table. Out of nowhere she grabbed the box, got up and went and just threw them in the garbage and came and sat back down. I looked at Jimenez like that was awesome! That is the first time in my mission that an investigator has done that on the spot.

Also, another cool thing is that basketball is coming back up here. The first counselor in our ward has a brother who isn't a member. They both love to play basketball and both play pretty dang good.  I was surprised. So he called my comp on Saturday and said that his brother wanted to play basketball with us. We both got super pumped since we both played and we talk about basketball all the time. We ended up winning 3 games in a row (which of course was fun for us) and we are becoming pretty good friends with this members brother. He says he believes in God and is Catholic, but doesn't like to go to church in general. His wife is Catholic and I think active and she wants absolutely nothing to do with us haha. So our challenge is going to be if one day we can get him to church so he can just see how it is. He also wants to play basketball against us again so that should be good too haha.

Much Love,

Elder Christensen

Week 97

Mommy & All,

"And if you don't know what it is that you showed up to do, I encourage you to start figuring out what your purpose is and what your life work is!!" -Les Brown

This week was pretty good. 

We were able to find and start teaching these 2 people named Franco and Diana. Franco is a guy my comp contacted when we were on divisions. He is 20 years old and his whole family are members except him. He told us he didn't get baptized with the rest of his fam because he likes to drink and smoke and party and he told us that straight up. But he honestly has a testimony of the church and has been a bunch of times already and has a desire to truly learn and grow. Diana is his girlfriend who is living with him right now. She is 23 and believes in God, but doesn't know anything about our church. Franco invited us to come back because he wants Diana to learn about the church and Book of Mormon because he likes it and thinks its a really good thing. During the lessons, he is even able to explain things to her and testify with us and its way cool. They even came to church on Sunday when we had Stake Conference. It's also really weird to be teaching someone who is my same because we always treat people like they are older than us. We did the math and he is only 2 months older than me and only a month older than my comp. So its really cool to get to know them.

Another cool thing that happened to us yesterday when we were at the bus stop. We went to the bus stop yesterday in the afternoon to head back to the church to do some stuff. In the bus stop right next to us there were 4 guys who walked up with a bunch of wine and just start drinking and getting lit. The law here with alcohol is that not only can you not drink in public, but you can't even carry it in public. When you buy it you have to put it in a bag or a backpack so that no one can see it until you are inside the property of a house. So as we are there at the bus stop, 3 cops from what looked like Call of Duty roll by on their motorbikes. One of them glances over and sees those guys in the stop next to us. He flips a really quick U-turn and the other 2 follow him. They fly over into the other bus stop and slam all those guys up against the wall like in the movies haha so that was pretty cool. We didn't get to see the end because the bus showed up. But it was cool to see though.

Much Love,

Elder Christensen