Part Two....

Alright, so this week we had the christmas conference for the whole mission...yeah I know its weird, it was on the 23rd for those who are in the city and it repeated on the 25th for the other half of the mission, who are in areas that are far away. I had to go to both of them because my companion was going crazy with the choir.  It was really fun to see all my friends from all over the mission, even some that I haven't really seen since the mtc. It was great, there was a talent show, there were some pretty funny acts, and president got everyone a gift. The gift was a pillow, it was a little suspicious because pillows are reimbursable because it's for the apartments! But oh well. Even though president dressed as santa and his assistants danced around as elves, it didn't feel like christmas at all, maybe that is just because thanksgiving hadn't even arrived yet. 

After the conferences, we had the choir performances. The first performance on Wednesday was kind of rough because there were a ton of audio problems. The speakers kept making a really loud screeching noises, it was really uncomfortable, Im sure my companion was not pleased.  On friday it turned out a lot better! There were no audio problems at all, and all the songs turned out really good! The spirit was there, and a lot of investigators that were invited had a good experience. My companion was happy, he has been editing the video a lot and he posted it to youtube and stuff. With all his all his choir work done he can finally "die" in peace. His mission will be over in exactly one week. It hasn't been the worst transfer ever but to be the last companion of a missionary going home is never a fun experience in general! On top of having my companion finishing his mission, I had to hear 27 elders and sisters who are going home share their final testimonies. Some of them didn't even take it seriously, but the ones who did were really spiritual. Its not good to think to much about all the people going home, a lot of them are my friends and 2 of them were my trainers. Its crazy to think about how the time has passed...one year ago I was in Ituzaingó with elder Gonzalez from paraguay, and he was talking about how he had a whole year left...now he is going home and im the one with a year left.  Im really feeling like ill be a trainer soon because 22 new people arrive next tuesday. Ill be in the place of elder Gonzalez at this time last year. A year still sounds like a long time but that time can go quick. Also I think I will be doing a lot of things differently then my trainer did with me...I haven't had a lot of good examples for me in my mission but Im going to be one for my "hijo".

Unfortunately, with the 2 conferences and all the crazy stuff going on, we didn't get a whole lot of teaching done during the week. But I can report something really good! We had a baptism! With all the stuff thats been going on it kinda got lost amid the other stuff, and I can't remember if Ive kept you guys updated on it.  But her name is Victoria, shes is 13. Her cousins are recent converts that are super strong in the church already, her mom and brother came to her baptism and they liked it a lot! The spirit was super strong and everyone at the baptism was happy! 30 people came, me and my companion played a special musical number with the piano and flute, "cuando me bautice" its from the primary hymnbook. Playing that song made me think a lot about my time in the primary. It left a really good spirit in the baptism and everyone was very happy afterwards. 

Oh, on sunday we had the Primary Program! Normally I wouldn't be involved of course but me and my companion were playing the instruments for all their songs, and it was seriously the best experience ever! Not for playing the piano, that was actually hard because the piano is way out of tune and is very old! But I loved being with all the little kids, its the first area in my mission that has had a big primary but they are seriously the best. They would always just run up to me and give me hugs all the time for no reason and they were always happy. Kids are for sure the best people in the world...now I know why the saviour said "And again I say unto you, ye must . . . become as a little child, or ye can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God” (3 Nephi 11:38)

That doesn't mean be like a little child in the sense of not having responsibility, or breaking stuff and running around crazy! What I've learned from spending the past 3 Saturdays with the primary kids, is that when Jesus tells us to be like little children, he is saying that we should be happy! We should enjoy our life, explore have fun like a little kid. And he is saying be humble! The little kids are more humble then you might expect. While we were practicing one of the songs, they were singing one of them wrong because it was what they knew. They thought they were singing it correctly. The primary president asked me to teach them the correct way to sing the song, and I did. It made me think because the kids did exactly what I said without asking why, or trying to keep going with their own way of singing the song. They accepted that I knew what was best for them. Thats how we should be when we listen to the teaching of Jesus, and the prophets, and our church leaders. Sometimes we think we know whats best for us, but the truth is that God is the one who knows whats best for us and he has a plan for us. We need to be humble and meek and happy like little children, in order to have the faith to accept Gods will for us and to accept that when he gives us commandments, he knows whats best for us. I know that God knows what he is doing! We just have to trust him. 

So anyway, back to Victoria and her family. Her mom is widowed...Victorias dad died when she was 6. Its really sad and im sure its had a big impact on them, I just want to help. I know that the gospel can help them, the mom and little brother (8 yrs old) haven't come to church yet but they came to Victorias baptism and they liked it a lot. Im sure they will come to church next week and eventually get baptized! Also, Victorias aunt and uncle are getting married and baptized on the 21st of december, and her other uncle and aunt are going to get married and baptized in January! Her whole family will be members soon hopefully. Victoria is already working on her personal progress because she wants to get the medallion, and she told me she wants to go on a mission! Its really good. We also have potential to have other baptisms next weekend, we will see what happens. 

I think I get my new comp on wednesday, and my companion finishes his mission on tuesday. I don't really know if ill be able to email next tuesday or when, but maybe the next time Ill have my new companion! Just pray that he is a worker..

The pictures are of the whole group at the baptism, of Victoria, Elder Jimenéz and I, and me and my companion playing the piano and flute, I didn't even know they took this picture.

I love you all, I hope you all had a good thanksgiving. Next Thanksgiving Ill be home!

Love, Elder Christensen

BE The Salt of the Earth.

Alright so I officially went past the one year mark on the 18th! I wore my shirt that says "finish the mission" to celebrate..I thought making it to a year would be a big deal but I feel the same...nothing has really changed, except for that I have a feeling I will have to train next transfer! That would mean I would basically have to handle everything, and it would be a challenge, but I am super excited. My whole mission I have wanted to work hard, but I can't control the actions of my companions. However when I am senior companion I will have more control of that and I am excited to be able to work as hard as I can for this next year and I know that it will go by quick!

Thursday was probably the best day of the week, so Ill just start there, we went with the parents of the family Lòpez (the kids are already baptized) and the family Rodriguez (kids also baptized) and we took them to the office where they did all the paper work they need to do to get married! That has been the only thing holding them back from being baptized so I am super excited for them and they and their families are also very happy! They will be married on the 21st of december, sadly my companion will already be home, but I will be here to see it! 

Apart from that, basically the entire week was taken up by choir practice. My companion is super super busy with that as he directs all of it. I am sorry but I don't have a lot of time so that will have to suffice as a summary of my week! I will say that I am also playing the piano for the primary program and it is so fun! I love the little kids! There are some of them however that like to climb on me while im playing/spill ice cream on the piano and other disruptive things but its okay haha! 

We also helped some lady construct a wall in her house! Im getting good at mixing cement haha...

I just wanted to share something I learned in my studies this week. Its about "the salt of the earth", its something we talk about a lot in the church but something I didn't really understand completely until this week! 

39 When men are called unto mine everlasting gospel, and covenant with an everlasting covenant, they are accounted as the salt of the earth and the savor of men;

 40 They are called to be the savor of men; therefore, if that salt of the earth lose its savor, behold, it is thenceforth good for nothing only to be cast out and trodden under the feet of men.

 41 Behold, here is wisdom concerning the children of Zion, even many, but not all; they were found transgressors, therefore they must needs be chastened—

 42 He that exalteth himself shall be abased, and he that abaseth himself shall be exalted.

Short description: The people who are the salt of the earth are the people who have repented, been baptized, and made covenants with God to take the name of Jesus upon them and follow him! The "salt" will never lose its savor with time! Only when it is "contaminated".  How can we avoid contamination??

1. If something isn't clean, don't think it.
2. If its not true, don't say it.
3. If its not good, don't do it!

Obviously we aren't perfect but if we try our best to follow those 3 points everything will be okay! Thats what I wanted to share with you guys this week! I love you all, be safe!

Elder Christensen

"FINISH THE MISSION"

 I went Ice Skating this week!!

Hard to Believe....My One Year Mark.

I will have completed a year in 3 days, I can't believe it! It's crazy how far Ive come with the spanish and getting used to everything here. A new elder that just arrived here from georgia spent the day with us yesterday and it was awesome to see how far Ive come..and funny to remember how bad I was at spanish in the beginning. 

So yeah on wednesday we visited a family of members, they are from Bolivia. The guy has a grandson who was running around like crazy, he is 3 years old I believe, and I asked them what his name was and they told me Ethan...and I was like what?? And they said "yeah his name is Ethan, we named him after the mission impossible movies". I couldn't believe it, hahah thats the line I always use when Im explaining why I have such a "weird" name. (That is exactly how we came up with his name!) Thats the first time Ive ever met someone named Ethan in Argentina! That day I also found out that Trump won the election! Everyone was talking about it. They all ask me my opinion about it and I don't really know what to say because i am not up to date with it, but I was really surprised trump won! Someone told me that the Dollar already went up haha.

On Thursday we had choir in the morning, Im kinda of sick of it because there is a lot to do in our area and I only go because my companion directs it, but its fun to see a ton of friends there because any missionary in the mission can come to the practices if they want to sing! In the evening we got a call to go and visit a sick man named carlos. He had never been to our church before but he was sick and he wanted a blessing. I gave him the blessing and it was a really spiritual moment, the man started to get really emotional. He was going to go into surgery the next day, we haven't been able to visit him yet, but I am excited to pass by and see how he is doing, he told us he wants us to come back and visit him. In the evening we visited some members and they had the Argentina Brazil match on, the guy put on a Brazilian jersey, I couldn't believe it because most argentines are pretty serious about the national team and would never vote for another team. 

On friday my companion cancelled a service project we had scheduled to go do some choir work.  It was really frustrating for me, I think choir takes up too much time. Its okay though, we were able to get some good work done in the afternoon. We visited our investigator named Victoria and her brother mattias.  We were able to get them super excited for their baptism! There was an uncomfortable moment where victorias cousin showed us a picture of victoria dressed up as the catholic virgin, and victoria got super super mad and started attacking and beating her cousin who is only 10 haha but it turned out alright. She wasn't the only violent person we heard about that day. In the night we visited some less active members, and they told us that they wouldn't be able to keep their appointment with us because their brother got violent and started breaking things and yelling at them so the police came and took him to jail. I wanted to help, but I had no idea what to do so we said we would come back another day. This day I also met another new gringo missionary and he told me an epic story about him on a bus but Im not putting details here haha because its really gross. 

On saturday in the morning we went to....choir! yep thats right. That took all morning, then in the afternoon we had another choir practice! But this one was different, me and my companion are playing the piano and the flute for the primary kids! for their sacrament program. That choir I actually like because I love the little kids and there is a ton of them! They are so so funny! After that we visited a man who was baptized 4 weeks ago but he has not been confirmed still...he is married, but they of course haven't been sealed in the temple because he isn't a member yet. We read from the temple magazine about how families can be eternal, and it was a really good lesson. Its my favorite lesson to teach because it is such a happy thing! Who doesn't want to be with their family forever? We are the only church in the world that has this message of how we can be together with our families forever! The man got very excited to be confirmed and to do everything possible to be able to go to the temple and get sealed for eternity to his wife and kids. He is going to completely change his life! That night I stayed up late cooking banana bread because we promised to bring some to eat breakfast with them, and I had to keep the promise haha. 

On sunday we had 11 investigators come to church! Including the people I made the banana bread for, so it was worth it. Some of those 11 people are going to be baptized at the end of this month or the beginning of the next month.  I am super happy for them! It was also my companions birthday, he just now turned 20 and he is finishing his mission in 3 weeks! 

On monday my old companion from arroyito elder ramirez came to visit me here in cordoba, it was really fun to see him and meet the person he is training. The kid he is training is very new and he is going through culture shock.  I was able to talk to him a lot and he told me it did him good to be able to speak english for a little bit haha!

Today for p-day we went up into the mountains and we hiked to the top of one.  We could see the whole city beneath.  It was beautiful! Today was probably my favorite p-day of my whole mission. Ill try to send all the pictures! 

For my spiritual message I would like to share a link to a youtube video - THE WILL OF GOD

If you have already seen it, it doesn't matter! Watch it again and think about the message...it will make you feel grateful for the trials and hard things in your life. Just remember that everything that happens, happens for a reason and is to help us grow. IF we are doing whats right and keeping all the commandments, we have nothing to worry about because God will always make sure that everything that happens, happens for our benefit to help us learn and grow. It might seem hard in the moment, but we will be grateful for what we have learned later down the road! 

I love you all...the church is true. There are so many evidences that a person can be logically convinced that the church is true. That alone would be enough to convince me to join this church. But what really matters is the testimony of the spirit. This is 2 timothy 1:7

7 For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.

If you feel feelings of love and power (as in self control/discipline) while at church, this is just another testimony of the spirit! Keep that in mind my friends. 

Be safe! Enjoy the last few days of Obama haha...

Elder Christensen 

The place we went for pday and the new kid from georgia that is having a really hard time, but Im showing him how everything works.

The city from the mountain, and the zone

A weird "pizza" we ate, its really a sandwich but the bread is a pizza its super super messy to eat haha

God loves us, He has Given Us Divine Potential

Happy election day...vamos trump, construya la pared!!!!! just kidding. I don't really care who wins I haven't been thinking about it, I'm not there and I don't know what they stand for...however something interesting is that everyone who knows I'm American stops me and tries to talk to me about politics and the election.  Its kind of embarrassing because they actually know more about it than I do...Ive been out of it for a year, so when some old dude is yelling at me about trump and asking me why I support a racist, and blaming me for their problems, I have no idea what he's talking about and I just laugh awkwardly...

Anyway, I found an Orlando City jersey for sale here, I bought it of course. I was really surprised to see it because Ive never seen a single jersey from the MLS here but when I did, thankfully it was orlando! I have a really nice collection of jerseys...They are really cheap so I buy them a lot, ill send a picture sometime. 

On wednesday we did a lot of stuff, the main thing during the day I remember was visiting the Family Lopez and informing them that we set an appointment with the civil office, or whatever its called, so that they can get married, then baptized! They were pretty excited about that! While we were there, somebody called us to give a blessing to a super old lady that had fallen while trimming her roses. Not the first time I'd heard of that happening. But when we got there it was seriously shocking the damage that had been done to her face. Both her eyes were hugely swollen and red, beyond description, and her nose was broken and bleeding and she had bandages all over her head. I can't really describe it, its something you have to see, but it was scary, and more than anything I just wanted to help her. We gave her the blessing and it was really good...we visited her later on during the week and she had improved a ton! Her eyes were basically completely healed it was great to see. After that we went back to the family Lopez and I helped some of the kids study for their english exams this week. 

On thursday we had our zone meeting. The church where we had the meeting was next to walmart, the only one I know of here. We went there to buy a pull up bar because my comp is going home soon and he wants to go back "in form" but there was a tonnnn of people there, it was black friday. Everyone was buying huge tvs and stuff. Oh hahah we got really good news in the meeting...now that its super hot here again, president brought back the siesta! So we can sleep from 3-4 in the afternoon, and stay out in the street until 10:30. It makes sense...if you try knocking on someones door during that time they become your instant enemy haha. 

On friday we had choir practice in the morning. Im pretty sure Ive already said that my companion directs it, its a lot of work, it takes up a lot of time to be honest, but I feel bad for him because lots of the missionaries don't pay attention to him haha..for lunch we ate with a family called the Keims...they told us a crazy story about how when their daughter was 13, she was walking in the street with her cellphone and she got robbed, and they hit her on the head or something and she ran off and got lost, and completely lost her memory...she didn't know who she was, or where she lived, and didn't recognize her parents. And she didn't recover her memory until 3 months later. Crazy story they should make a movie out of it. 

That night we visited the family Lopez again and "weed whacked" their grass for them. Then we visited their neighbors, because they are related, and it was really good! There is 3 of them there, the mom, a daughter named victoria, she's 13, and a kid named mattias, he is 8. The lesson was super good and the mom was really interested in coming to church!

On saturday we had a service project, but I didn't go with my companion I went with elder melo from uruguay. Because my comp had to go do something, yep you guessed it, choir business. The choir takes up so much time. The service project was really good, we were shoveling cement and repairing a ladies house that was collapsing. In the afternoon, we went to the area of the elders from "9 de julio" to help them with their talent show activity. However, when it was time to start nobody had shown up....and nobody ever ended up arriving but a couple little kids, so they cancelled it. It was rough haha

On sunday we had 7 investigators come to church...all of them had been before except victoria. She was super super nervous I basically had to force her to go to her classes but afterwards she was happy! Testimony meeting was interesting...some guy went up there and was sharing his testimony, and then out of nowhere he proposed to his girlfriend...haha it was interesting, lots of people started crying. she said yes. Another interesting thing was that after church a girl opened her mission call...everyone stayed there to see so there was over 100 people there watching. She got called to peru, the mission where my companions house is haha. So he will go home just in time to be there when she arrives haha...I also played piano for all the meetings in the church on sunday. I didn't play in my last area, because they had people to play but now its good to be playing again. This is the biggest ward I've been in Argentina, and Im super happy that there are tons of members! Im used to 15, 20 members, 40 max. So it should be good! 

A scripture that I would like to share this week is from the Bible...Romans 

8: 16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:

 17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

 18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

Doesn't that make perfect sense? If we are children of God, then obviously one day he wants us to be able to become like him. That is the wonderful truth that is taught not only in the church, but is found in the very bible that everybody has, yet not many people know about it. God loves us and has given us a divine potential...but read verse 18. Sometimes we have to suffer in this life...why? To learn, to gain experience, and to be shaped into what God wants us to be. And, maybe most importantly, so that we will be able to appreciate the happiness and Glory that we will be able to feel and have in the world to come! There are countless scriptures like this one that say that in this life we will never be able to understand just how good heaven is...we just have to endure this life and persevere until the end, and it will all be worth it!

Keep the faith! It will all be worth it...

Love, Elder Christensen 

Sorry I didn't take any pictures, the one I did take is of the Plaza Colon in Cordoba and a church that is there. 

New Area.....La Madrid

We don't have bikes here in La Madrid...that means we walk all day everyday and I am super tired! Its been a pretty good week though! I like my new area so far.  There are a lot of members, and they are all super nice. They tell me that this area is pretty dangerous..the last missionary who was here before me told me he has been robbed twice here. So I stopped wearing my watch when we go into the hood, and I don't carry my camera around anymore i'm sad because it will mean less pictures but I will still try to take as many as I can. 

So wednesday was my first full day here in this area and we were just going around meeting all the members and investigators that we already have here. They always ask me how much time I have in the mission and I say "11 months.." and its surprising because they always say "wow you're almost done!" in all my other areas the members always said "oooooh you still have a ton of time left...not even close to being done" but its crazy the time really does go by quick after the first few months. Its november, the same month that I started the mission a year ago. Its crazy! Anyway, my companion lost the lunch calendar so we didn't know if we had lunch on wednesday or not...so we just cooked noodles in the apartment, my comp was trying to drain the water but we don't have a strainer so it was difficult. He burned his finger and dropped the pot and the noodles spilled everywhere it was awesome....the noodles had a strange flavor but we ate because we were hungry! I also forgot my umbrella in someones house that day.

The picture they put on the food sign up calendar!!  Smart boys!

On thursday we went with a member to try and visit some people but they weren't home. So we just continued visiting members, today I met the ward mission leader, he is a return missionary from peru he is pretty cool. We also visited a guy who was baptized 3 weeks ago but he hasn't been confirmed yet! So he just has to come to church this next week to get confirmed. 

On friday we visited a lot of members who are inactive to try and help them come back to church! Something Ive been doing is the first time I go to someones house, I bring all the pictures of my family etc. and show them, and it really helps the people to open up fast! We can become friends really quickly, I would recommend it to anyone who is in the mission right now. In the evening we had a really good lesson with an older lady, she was super nice! But then she told us a story about when she was a teenager, their family had too many cats so they put 4 of them in a bag and killed them by beating the bag with a stick. I was seriously disturbed by that story.  She told us right after I showed her all my pictures which include about 5 with the cats. 

On saturday in the morning we went to the mission office because my companion had to go there for some official choir business...he directs the choir. While there I found my first companion in argentina, elder gonzalez from paraguay. He was there because he wanted a word with president, he was unhappy because of some of the changes, he isn't district leader anymore haha. But he came with me to the hospital to get my ankle looked at, the skin on my right ankle is messed up I don't know what happened but they gave me some treatment so hopefully it will be fine haha. Elder Gonzalez is really something. Every time he talks to somebody he does this fake laugh that sounds exactly like whiz khalifas laugh, its so funny. 

On sunday we had stake conference! It was really good, we had invited a ton of people but I have no idea if any of them went because there was a ton of people there and I couldn't find anyone. The main idea of the conference was forgiveness! It was great to see a lady I was sitting next to have a change of heart, and tell us that she was going to forgive somebody she has been fighting with. After the conference we had choir practice which was 4 hrs long...being companions with the person who directs the choir is really interesting haha. 

Thats about it! Im out of time I would write more but I cant...ill send pictures tomorrow I forgot my camera today haha.

Love Elder Christensen

Looking SOOOOOO Good with new companion :) 

Velmoooooos Belgranoooooo.....?

Flowers by the Temple

Temple :) 

Family of Investigators.