P-Day #17 - Comps Toenail Removal

Hey, It was a bit of a crazy week. I don't know if I have written about this in my previous emails or not, but my companion has had an ingrown toe for quite a while now, and it just kept getting worse and worse. He's been talking about going in to get it taken out for weeks, but he was scared to do it, and anyone who has ever had an ingrown toenail will understand why. So this week, we finally went to a clinic to get it taken care of. Now my comp has previously said that the operation to remove his toenail in America was the worst/most painful experience of his life...and remember, that was in America, the country with the best Medical Care in the world. And if that was bad, just imagine how it was in Argentina. The doctor walked in wearing street clothes, that should give you an idea. 

So yeah, I won't go into detail about the operation but it was pretty gross, and my comp was confined to his bed for 3 days on doctors orders. I expected to be in the apartment all day doing nothing like I did with my last companion, but the Guatemalan elder who has 18 months in the mission decided that that is something he would enjoy, so he took turns volunteering me and elder pace to go out on exchanges together and work in his area for him. I never volunteered to do that, but I had no problem doing it. It was interesting, because elder pace and I are both fairly new (he has 8 months) and we both still aren't top at spanish. I was nervous because it was going to be my first time really taking control of a lesson in spanish without a senior companion who knows the language. There were a couple moments where the people couldn't understand us, but we just repeated ourselves and then they were always able to understand, and everything worked out! It was awesome to see how far I've come with the language, and sure it might be ugly sometimes, but I can basically say what ever i want now and have it make sense. Me and Elder pace even taught a first lesson with a family, and it went really well i thought (the secret was the banana bread we made them).

On saturday, me and elder pace worked in my area. We visited just about every person in the area book in one day it felt like, but everyone was busy with one thing or another and we couldn't get into anyones house. However the highlight of the day for me was when we talked for a couple mins with our investigator Rodrigo. He is pretty quiet usually but he seems to have real intentions to learn. I asked him how his reading went, and if he prayed, and did he get an answer? He was excited to tell me that he had a dream, of the book of mormon sitting on a rock, with a pillar of light descending upon the book. He said that now he knows the book is true. That made me really happy of course! I've never had any kind of dream like that, but apparently its common in this country. Thats the second time this has happened in the last month. He wasn't able to come to church yesterday because he didn't have a ride. The dad in member family who we count on to help us out with driving rodrigo and genesis now has a job on sundays. He is also the president of the elders quorum. Great.

However, the best thing that happened this week was that we finally got Cristina Rivadera to church! On tuesday, we had a nice talk with her and she got emotional and said she would come to church for sure on sunday. I came by with Pace on saturday to confirm plans (we had a member named norma lined up to drive the 3 of us). When we got to her house at 8:30 sunday morning, she was waiting outside all ready to go! It was a nice change from last week, when we knocked on her door for 20 mins to no avail. From her house we went to Normas house which was just one street over. However, norma didn't answer her door. We knocked forever and i literally looked through the key whole and saw her walking around. It made me so mad!! We even texted her the night before and she said she would do it. Whatever. We ended up taking a taxi because Cristina doesn't walk super well and if we didn't we would've missed half of church. I felt bad but it was for a good cause. right? 

If all goes well, Cristina will be baptized on saturday. We are meeting with her tomorrow! 

I could write more, we started meeting with this kid Atila (the hun) again, and its going really well he is cool and asks a lot of good questions! He feels the need to repent for stealing lots of oranges from his neighbors in years past. I can relate to that, because i once took oranges from my neighbors tree and threw them into his pool while he was out of town! Haha but I'm out of time to write. 

Love, Elder Christensen 

Member Missionaries Matter Most!

I’ve completed 5 months in the mission now. Time is really weird in the mission, sometimes I feel really new but I also feel like I’ve been here forever sometimes. I feel like I should be a lot better for having 5 months in the mission. Patience is hard for me sometimes. Especially when it comes to investigators and coming to church! The rivaderas didn’t come to church again. We thought we had a really good lesson with them earlier in the week , we thought it might’ve changed things but maybe not. It doesn’t help that the hermanas phone is broken. 

We had a good lesson with Rodrigo and his mom this week too. Normally his mom doesn’t join in, she has her own religion she says and she wasn’t interested. But she told us about how she was having a problem in her life last week, and she saw the book of Mormon so she opened it randomly and read something that helped her with her problem. Now she wants to listen to us too. Cool! 

I see more and more how important the members are in the missionary work. The Abraham family was there with us in the lesson with Rodrigo, (their families are good friends) and it made the lesson so so much better.  Its so much easier to get people interested when they have friends in the church. Rodrigo wanted to attend on Sunday , but then the familia Abraham decides not to show up. Therefore neither did Rodrigo or this girl named genesis that wants to get baptized. Abraham’s helped so much by coming to our lesson, and then turn around and kill us by not bringing our investigators to church. Missionaries and their investigators live or die by the decisions of members.  

The highlight of the week must’ve been church or lunch on Saturday. Lunch on Saturday we had with members from the other ward (they have like 80, we have like 25 people who attend). They made a meal called pollo a disco, which is a ton of chicken, onions and other vegetables all cooked over a fire in a big kettle. Its amazing, I need to learn how to make it for when I get back! 

On Sunday, I liked the lesson we had in Sunday school, which focused on Mosiah chapter 4. My favorites part is 27-30 

27 And see that all these things are done in wisdom and order; for it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength. And again, it is expedient that he should be diligent, that thereby he might win the prize; therefore, all things must be done in order.

28 And I would that ye should remember, that whosoever among you borroweth of his neighbor should return the thing that he borroweth, according as he doth agree, or else thou shalt commit sin; and perhaps thou shalt cause thy neighbor to commit sin also.

29 And finally, I cannot tell you all the things whereby ye may commit sin; for there are divers ways and means, even so many that I cannot number them.

30 But this much I can tell you, that if ye do not watch yourselves, and your thoughts, and your words, and your deeds, and observe the commandments of God, and continue in the faith of what ye have heard concerning the coming of our Lord, even unto the end of your lives, ye must perish. And now, O man, remember, and perish not.

For me, its basically saying that we will never be perfect in this life, but that’s okay. That’s why we have Jesus and the atonement. But, we do still have to our best to try to be perfect and to get better and better and improve everyday so that one day, in the next life we can be perfect like God and Jesus are perfect! Eternal progression. 

Hope Everyone is doing great! Love, Elder Christensen 

Pictures:

1.The most delicious meal ever

2.This kid insisted I wear his hat and let him take a picture hahah

I'll send more in another email it only let's us send 2 in one 

3. the other two pics were unlabeled :(

15th P-day

Hey guys. 15th p-day in the field, and next week ill have 5 months in the mission! Hopefully I can start getting a lot better with the language now that im getting used to it. I think what would really help me is to get a latin comp whose first language is spanish! (Unlike my first comp, from paraguay who spoke guarantee! Some weird native american language or something). 

For p-day today we went out into the country and had a big BBQ, but we didn't know we were supposed to bring our own cups, knives, forks, and plates. It would've been nice to know. After we ate we played soccer in a really muddy field, It was still fun though.

Another frustrating week with the investigators. The Rivaderas were progressing really well, and they even accepted a baptismal date for the 16th. But for them to be baptized, they have to attend church one more time. They promise us every week that they are going to come to church, so we make arrangements to pick them up sunday morning, or afternoon according to their schedule. This sunday, they promised us they would attend at 9 am sunday, in our ward. ( there is another ward that starts at 6 pm that we have tried to get them to also). So we show up there at 8:30, and they are all sleeping. We knock on their door for 15 mins and they never answer. So we came back in the afternoon to invite them to the6 pm ward but by that time it was the siesta again and they were sleeping, again...we knocked for 20 mins and they never opened the door. We are going to have to get serious with them i think! When they break their promise they aren't only lying to us they are also lying to God. I try not to get frustrated when they don't come to church because as long as we do our part, its up to them and their agency and we have to respect that. 

We have a promising investigator named rodrigo. He is a teenager, and he really really wants to come to church! He's curious, and he said he wants to come closer to God. But he has no way to get to the chapel, so we also have to rely on members to get him to church. Its not the most secure way because either the members or the investigators always seem to sleep in. What is with this country and sleeping 24/7? 

Yesterday was fast and testimony sunday. Its kinda funny in our branch because there are so few of us! Normally about 20-30 attend each week, so basically we just wait for every single person to share their testimony and once everyone has gone the president closes the meeting early haha! There is a recent convert in our ward named Gonzalo, and I sat with him during the testimony meeting. The missionaries are supposed to disperse and sit with new members or investigators during meetings. Gonzalo asked me what he should say in his testimony, and then he went up and did exactly what i said and he was soooo excited when he came back! I love Gonzalo, he is learning so much and he comes to church every week. 

We had to get rid of the illegal tortoise :( Teancum was his name. We asked many members if they wanted to take him in but almost all of them gave us a hard no. But finally someone said yes! Its the family that washes our clothes for us, they are the best. They actually aren't even in our branch, they are in the other ward. We made sure to tell them that it was illegal but they seemed to be okay with that haha.

I read a little bit in D and C this week. There are a lot more good scriptures in there, more than I remember . In chapter 15 verse 6 it says;

 6 And now, behold, I say unto you, that the thing which will be of the most worth unto you will be to declare repentance unto this people, that you may bring souls unto me, that you may rest with them in the kingdom of my Father. Amen.

That says quite plainly that missionary work is the most important thing we can be doing, and not just for missionaries, for everyone. Missionary work is scary sometimes, that's true, but imagine how happy we will be in heaven with those people who we shared the gospel with! I still get homesick all the time, but that's why i'm here. I know its important. 

The picture attached is the last picture We took with the tortoise, and the elder with me is morales, from Guatemala. 

Love, Elder Christensen 

Say Hello to Teancum.

Hey I hope you all had a great weekend! Conference was amazing for me. I was able to watch all sessions except the priesthood session, and IN ENGLISH! I was very excited for the opportunity to be able to watch conference and understand. Something I took for granted before my mission, when I used to only look forward to conference because it meant I didn’t have to get dressed in my church clothes on Sunday. I can tell you now that I regret not taking conference as seriously as I should have. Conference was a lot different for me this time around. It really depends on the attitude with which you watch it, and for me this weekend it was a spiritual experience. I’m sure that you all took your own notes so I won’t write a ton about what I learned, but I will say that I could feel very obviously and powerfully that those men who spoke to us are truly called of God, that they love us and that God loves us. As Elder Holland said, the first great truth in the universe is that God loves us more than we can understand. I know that these things are true. 

Other than conference, this week had been kinda sad. We experienced a disappointment when the 4 investigators who promised us they would come to conference on Saturday with us if we helped them make empanadas to sell that morning. We skipped our companionship study to help them do that, then came back when it was time for conference. We even had a member with a car there with us to take them, but they weren’t home. They had gone to a party in the city. It made me sad and it made my companion really angry. People just don’t know what they are missing out on. 

The two other elders in our apartment baptized 4 people the past 2 weeks. Obviously I’m happy for their success, I just wish I could emulate it. I just try to remember that the baptisms are for the Lord, not for us missionaries. They aren’t a statistic. Yes obviously try and baptize as many people as you can but remember its not you doing anything, its God and the spirit. When I see missionaries using their number of baptisms to settle a dispute among themselves it is just so wrong. That’s called getting prideful in the work, and we should be more like Ammon in alma 26. Especially we need to remember that without God we are nothing. 

12 Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever.

Just because we didn’t baptize anyone last week doesn’t mean there weren’t any miracles. We gave hermana Rivadera a blessing of health on Wednesday. When we got there she appeared weak and said she had  pain in her bones. We gave the blessing and then left. When we came back she told us about a warm feeling she got during the blessing, which started from her head and went down her whole body. After we left she said all her symptoms left and she felt “bien”. She testified of this to her children who we are teaching also. How they can follow up that miracle by skipping conference to party in the city I’ll never know. As long as we are doing our part though its okay I guess. 

There were some changes in our apartment this week. Our new elder is from Guatemala, and he is a good person and a good missionary. We 3 gringos are also glad to have him rather than a chileno living with us because he can’t boast that his nations soccer team is better than ours. The day he arrived actually USA beat Guatemala 4-0 haha. Anyways, I went on exchanges with that Guatemalan elder on Tuesday and it was fun to talk to him all day and see how my Spanish has improved. I still have a really long way to go, but there has been improvement. 

Something horrible happened this week. They called and told us we aren’t allowed to take the siesta anymore. It was a real blow. Without the daily hour long nap I feel so weak and tired. Its crazy how fast I got used to having it, now I don’t want to live without it. There’s nobody in the streets even in the city from 2-6 anyway, so its almost pointless for us to be outside. But oh well I’ll find a way to live without my nap. I managed it for 18 years before my mission so I guess I can do it again. 

We had an interesting experience with an investigator this week. Maximiliano, the guy who knew about kolob. He said he would read the book of Mormon All Night! and then ask for an answer. We kinda didn’t feel too good about that. Its impressive that he was going to read all night but getting a testimony is a process that won’t happen all in one night. We told him about Alma 32 and how faith is like a seed, it takes time and nurturing before it can grow, before we can get the fruits. It takes patience.  But he was like no, if I don’t get an answer tonight I don’t want anymore. So he read all night, from the time we left until 4 AM, and he read from page 1 all the way to 4th nephi. Woah! But when we got there in the morning, he openly told us that he had read it looking to disprove it and find faults with it. And of course he didn’t find any, his biggest “doubt” was that he didn’t think it was possible for the nephites to build a temple so quickly ( in 2 nephi 4 I think ). We were like huh? It doesn’t even give a time frame, they could’ve been working on it for years. All his other doubts and questions we were able to completely resolve and show how it was in line with the bible. However, he still wouldn’t believe. He said until I have a vision or dream or something from another world, I will not believe. He even said if he got an answer he still wouldn’t be baptized because he still needs to investigate every other church. Good luck buddy, there’s 20k Christian churches in the world. What I learned from this experience is that we really need to have good intentions when we ask for an answer. If we want to get an answer, we have to have every intent to act on it. As far as I’m concerned, someone who just reads the book trying to prove it wrong rather than hoping its true will never get an answer, and is no better than the Pharisees asking Jesus for signs, yet still unbelieving. 

I have one more thing to report. We were talking to some people we randomly contacted at their house and it turns out they’ve been members for 14 years but haven’t come to church for about 13. Anyways, while we were there, this little girl comes up to us holding this huge tortoise and asks of if we want it. Duh we wanted it. We carried him back to the apartment and made him a nice salad. He’s just living in here with us now, he eats about 2 whole tomatoes today and a bunch of lettuce and apple pieces. His name is Teancum, but I don’t know how long we will be able to keep him. I have a bad feeling its illegal haha. 

Shout out to my cousin Seth Dana who got his mission call to Brazil! 

Hope everyone is well!

Love, Elder Christensen 

I love getting a sneak peak at their apartment!!

What about Teancum's poop??