Last Post. The Person I Converted.....was ME.

Well, I cant believe that this is actually my last p-day in Argentina...I never really thought this day would come. It feels like just yesterday I was getting off the plane in Córdoba, not being able to understand a word people were saying. And it feels like just yesterday that I was getting to my first apartment with my trainer and he was telling me not to worry, because the mission goes by really fast, and I didn't believe him. But at the same time, I feel like Ive been here in Argentina my whole life, I barely remember the united states. Its hard to explain how I feel, but the whole 2 years passed by in the blink of an eye. I feel like the only proof I have that the time has passed is that I can actually understand the people perfectly now, and my shoes are really worn down. 

I will take a portion of the scripture in Jacob 7: 26: And it came to pass that I, (Elder Christensen), began to be old; wherefore, I conclude this record, declaring that I have written according to the best of my knowledge, by saying that the time passed away with us, and also our lives passed away like as it were unto us a dream...

That basically explains how I feel. This will be my last email, sometimes it has felt as much of a struggle writing them as if I were engraving on plates of metal, but I think I will miss doing it and I hope you guys have liked reading them. 

Well, this month was my last month in the mission and we were able to have 3 baptisms! We met our goal for the month, and two of the baptisms were this sunday! It is a great way to be ending the mission, Ill tell you a little about the week. 

On wednesday we had a lesson with one of the girls who was baptized, her name is Aya (the one who was born in Algeria), and the lesson was mainly to make sure she was doing alright for the baptism on sunday and to see if she had any questions, she ended up having a ton of deep doctrine questions, I was kinda worried about talking about that sort of stuff because I feel like investigators are still in the "leche" stage, not ready for the "carne", but when they ask direct questions I feel like I should try and answer them. Thankfully I had good scriptures to back up everything, and I was surprised by how well she understood everything. I need to remember that she studies this kind of thing in College. She was also really mind blown by some of the things we talked about (psalms 82:6) but she felt it was true and was feeling pretty happy about new knowledge. 

Thursday was a great day, we had a lesson with Clara in the morning, and we knew it was going to be really important in deciding if she was going to be baptized this weekend or not. We got there and we still had to teach the law of chastity and tithing, but I wanted to make sure she didnt have any doubts about other stuff before teaching that, and I wanted to make sure she had her answer from God. So we started talking, and at first she was saying no, she still isnt ready, and saying she wanted to do it later and stuff, just not this sunday. I had no idea what to say, all I could remember was that the day before in my training with my companion Elder Ericksen we studied the importance of listening to the investigators, and there was a quote from Elder Holland that said we dont have to worry about what to say, because something in what they (the investigators) say will always highlight a point of the gospel that we can teach about, and that the spirit will give us what we need to say. I know the promise is true because something she said, I dont even know what, made me think of Ether 12:6, and I knew 100% that was what she had to read. I had her read it, and I know in that moment she got her definite answer, she just started crying and the spirit was really strong. After reading that she knew she just had to take a step of faith, and she asked what she had to do to be baptized. So we taught the law of chastity and tithing, and set up her interview for friday. A lot of other stuff happened that day too, we had a lesson with some kids named nahuel and benjamin, they have a lot of problems but we set goals with them to stop smoking in time to get baptized on the 19th, and they are committed to doing it.   Also that night I had do to "informes", reports of the missionaries that I have to send to the zone leaders, and I put some church music on, and this song came on that really made it hit me hard that Im finishing the mission. That was the first moment it really hit me and it was really bittersweet. 

Friday was another really spiritual day, clara and aya passed their interviews in the morning, and then in the afternoon I went to a different little city out in the country to do a baptismal interview for the hermanas in my district. It was a really spiritual lesson with the 4 missionaries and the lady named maira plus her mom and sister who are members, but Maira just kept saying she doesn't want to take the step yet. In the end we just ended up doing the interview anyways, it was really long, she knows everything, she just was saying she wants to get a better answer before proceeding. So I had her say a kneeling prayer with me at the end of the interview, and I told her to ask God if it was all true, and she did. I felt the spirit so strongly, and I know she did too, she started crying a ton and afterwards she said she felt really good and that she knows really that its true, but she still doesn't want to get baptized this month. I dont get that, but I can be happy knowing that we did our part. 

We had a lot of other good lessons this week, but I dont have time to write about all of them, but Ill just say that Clara and Aya were both baptized on sunday! I baptized Clara, and my comp Aya. They were both nervous but afterwards were super happy! The water was also super nice. It was amazing how Ayas and Claras faces changed after being baptized, they were both smiling a ton and they just seemed so happy. They seemed to be radiating light. The only sad thing about it was that it will probably be my last baptism of the mission...

We had a hilarious lesson on monday, I dont have time to write all the details but ask me about it after my mission if you want. 

Well, this is it. The last scripture I will share with you all is famous, but I will give you my take on it. 

Doctrine and Covenants 18: 14 Wherefore, you are called to cry repentance unto this people.

15 And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!

16 And now, if your joy will be great with one soul that you have brought unto me into the kingdom of my Father, how great will be your joy if you should bring many souls unto me!

Everyone already knows this scripture...starting out my mission I thought "wow if I can just baptize at least one person, who stays active their whole life and makes it to the celestial kingdom, I can be happy." 

But now I think of this scripture in a different way, its something I realized in the past month, that I had never thought of before. That "one soul" is yours...If we labour all our days crying repentance, being obedient and working as hard as we can, we ourselves become converted. The mission wasn't just for the people I have taught, it was also for me, and for my conversion. But in the process of our own conversion, we can also be the means of brining many other people to repentance and to be able to start their own conversion process. If what the scripture says is true, It is the greatest happiness someone can feel. For 2 years I havent been doing very many things the world would call fun, yet I have never been so happy. I love the mission, I cant believe its ending, I love the church, I love the temples, I love the gospel, and I love that I will be able to keep participating in it forever. All I can say is that to people who have the chance to go on a mission, GO, it will change your life forever, and you will grow to love it. It might be hard in the beginning but dont give up, it gets better everyday. My grandpa said something to me the night that I was set apart, that I havent forgotten. In the moment I didnt know if it was true. He said "In two years, leaving Argentina will be just as hard as it is leaving your home now". At the end of the two years, I can say that what my grandpa said is true. The thought of leaving Argentina and all the people I´ve met here breaks my heart. I love Argentina so much, and I know that anyone who is thinking about going on a mission will grow to love the country or state where they serve just as much, so just go on your missions. To anyone on the mission right now, all I can say is serve with all your heart, be obedient, and enjoy it while you can, because some day it will end. We aren't perfect as missionaries, but trying to be obedient is important. The missionaries who are obedient, work hard and love the people are the ones who get converted. So dont waste your time on your missions. To anyone reading this at home, I know that members are super important in missionary work. A grand number of people that were baptized in my mission were references from the members who loved their friends enough to share the gospel with them. I hope that I can keep being a missionary when I get home and forever and that I can share the gospel with some of my friends who still havent had the chance to hear it. 

Thats it. I wouldn't trade the mission experience for anything!! 

 I love you all and I cant wait to see you guys soon! 

Pictures: Baptism of Clara and Aya, some pretty purple trees that bloom in springtime here, the city at night from the roof of ayas apartment building, and me really tired. 

Love, Elder Christensen

Last Time Visiting the Cordoba Temple.......

Hello my friends,

Cant really believe this is my second to last p-day, this last transfer has gone by really fast. Only 2 weeks left...Hopefully I can take advantage of it and enjoy every moment! 

Its crazy that even after being here for so long, and for being a missionary this long, that you dont ever become a perfect missionary, I keep learning new things every week, and becoming a better person, especially thanks to studying the scriptures and the spiritual experiences that we have in lessons and in district meetings. Its also interesting that the mission never becomes something easy, even after experiencing so many things it can still get hard, people are still rude to us when we knock on their door, etc. but even with all that I wouldn't trade the mission for anything. I feel like I have learned so much, and still have a lot to learn, so I hope I can continue on an upward trajectory when I get home. 

We went to the temple today, It was such a beautiful morning, it was nice and cool and the sun was out, and the gardens of the temple in Cordoba are so nice. I love walking up to the temples. After coming off the busy streets, the gardens where the temple is seem so quiet and peaceful, and the temple is so pretty, when I look at it there is no doubt in my mind that the church is true. I think the same goes for all temples, you can feel something really special there. 

While there, I read a scripture in D and C 132:50 Behold, I have seen your sacrifices, and will forgive all your sins; I have seen your sacrifices in obedience to that which I have told you. Go, therefore, and I make a way for your escape, as I accepted the offering of Abraham of his son Isaac.

This scripture was Jesus talking to Joseph Smith, but I always try to apply them to myself. I was just in there thinking about my mission, and how it was possibly the last time I will enter the temple as a set apart missionary (it will be closed when I finish the mission), and I was just praying and thinking about a lot of stuff. I was thinking sure, it was a sacrifice for me to come on the mission. I gave some stuff up, and sacrificed 2 years of my life. It hasn't always been easy, but Im sure it wasn't easy for Abraham to have to sacrifice his son (almost). Its not always easy what we are asked to do, but I know that when we make the sacrifices obediently, it is always worth it...and many times it doesn't turn out to be as bad as we thought. Abraham didnt have to sacrifice his son in the end, God just wanted to see if he would be obedient. In the beginning I thought the mission would be super hard and I expected the worst honestly, but it has been a lot of fun and a super great experience for my life, I wouldn't trade it for anything. 

I dont have a lot of time, Ill just say a couple of the best things from this week. One was that Clara came to church, she is one of our best investigators, she is about 50 years old and has wanted to come to church for a while. We picked her up in a car (she doesn't walk too well because she has broken both of her legs in the past), it was her first time but she really liked it!  She is set up for a baptism on the 29th of this month, I really hope everything goes well! We also have had a lot of lessons with our investigator named aya, the one who is from algeria. She is cool, we are lucky that her best friend and neighbor is a member, who always reminds her to read and pray and stuff. We had a really good lesson with her yesterday, we talked a lot about the commandments (word of wisdom, chastity, etc) she doesn't have a problem with anything except coffee...she says she doesn't understand why its bad in small amounts, but she accepted to try not drinking it for a week to see how she feels! 

We are also teaching a lady named Maria de los angeles (me and my comp call her maria from L.A.), she has a lot of health problems, I think it might have something to do with her chugging straight from 2 liter soda bottles 24/7. She and her family remind me a lot of the "mighty vikings", we are trying to help them, I was able to make her a lot of promises about her health if she follows the word of wisdom. 

Im out of time, I never get to say all that I have to say, But I hope you guys are doing well! Love you all, here are a few pictures of our zone at the temple! 

Love, Elder Christensen

Uncovered: The SECRET to Being Happy.....

Its super hot here, almost unbearable and it isnt even summer yet, I think I might be getting out of here just in time. 

We have had a good week, last week we were feeling a bit disappointed because only 2 people had accepted a baptismal date, the goal for the mission is to have 10 people accept baptismal dates per week, obviously all of them dont end up getting baptized, maybe 1 out of 10 progress. Thats why its important to talk about baptism with everyone. me and my companion were doing weekly planning sunday night and we were feeling really motivated to meet our goals, and we made a deal to never fail to meet the mission weekly standards again...the standards have been raised recently, the goal is to find: 20 new investigators a week, teach 21 lessons, have 10 people accept a baptismal date, and have 8 investigators in church. Obviously the last one we cant really control, but the other 3 depend a lot on our dedication. I only have 3 weeks left and I really want to make sure I give everything, leave it all on the field. So we went a full this week, that means like going crazy, and I think we walked more than I ever have in my whole life. We were able to meet all the goals, except the one about 10 baptismal dates, after working as hard as we could we had 9 on saturday night...I didnt understand because we had done all we could to try and find the 10th person, but on saturday a lot of appointments fell though and we weren't able to. I was a bit sad but I felt okay because I knew we had tried out best...on sunday God gave us a miracle though, a member had brought her friend with her who wasn't a member, her name is aya. We were able to talk a lot about baptism in the gospel principals class, and she really liked it, after sacrament meeting I was able to invite her to get baptized on the 29th and she said yes...for me that was a little miracle, it was like God gave us a gift because he noticed all our hard work. I feel like Ive never been so tired, I fall into bed each night and fall asleep during my before bed prayer, not to mention that my feet are destroyed from walking 24/7 but I am super happy, I know that this is what missionary work is supposed to be and Im really happy to be able to say that Im doing all I can. I feel really happy and I feel my testimony grow everyday, I love the mission and I love the people and I love the church. 

We have a lot of really great investigators right now, there is a lot to say about them but I dont have a lot of time. One of them who is really special is named Laura, and she is only 11 years old but I have really enjoyed talking with her, she is really small but talking to her is like talking to an adult, she understands the gospel principals and the scriptures better than most of the adults I talk to and she is really spiritual. She is also super fancy, shes like an adult trapped in a childs body. Talking to her has made me remember some of the scriptures in 3 nephi where Jesus blessed the children and their tongues were loosed and they said incredible things, that couldnt be written. Because she has told me a lot of her experiences, she has seen angels multiple times, and if I told people about it they probably wouldnt believe me but she says it in such a simple matter of fact way that I believe her 100%. And she applies the scriptures so well, she is seriously incredible and I want her to get baptized really bad, she said she would walk the whole earth to get baptized or to do what God asks her to do, I just hope her parents feel the same way. We dont know them very well still because they have laura talk to us in their front yard. As of now she is set up to be baptized on the 29th. 

Here is a scripture that I read this morning:

 4th Nephi:15 And it came to pass that there was no contention in the land, because of the love of God which did dwell in the hearts of the people.

16 And there were no envyings, nor strifes, nor tumults, nor whoredoms, nor lyings, nor murders, nor any manner of lasciviousness; and surely there could not be a happier people among all the people who had been created by the hand of God.

The mission has been so great, I never want it to end, its been really really hard work, we dont do a lot of things that the world would consider "fun", but I have never been so happy, I can really feel the love of God, and I know that the promise is true, that if we keep the commandments, God will help us to complete our missions on the earth, and we will find Joy in doing so.

The secret to being happy: Keep the commandments + serving others = happiness

Love you all, Hope everybody has a good week!  I have attached a few pictures from the baptism 2 weeks ago that I forgot to upload! Graciela is super happy!

Love, Elder Christensen 

Things that make you go.....hmmmmmm.

Hey guys, I cant remember if I wrote this last week or not, but this week was the first week that they changed the schedule, the time for waking up now is 7:00. It used to be 7:30, which was super nice, I didnt think waking up 30 mins earlier would make a huge difference, but I have felt so tired this whole week. Its hard to go to bed at  10:30 when we get home at 10 and there are 4 of us in a tiny apartment.  

This week was really good, we had to knock a lot of doors trying to get more investigators, which was hard at times because this neighbourhood is pretty well off, but we were able to find a few really good people. 

One of our investigators is this kid named Axel, he is 17 and he has been meeting with the missionaries for a while, he really wants to change his life but he has a lot of problems, the worst of which are drugs and tobacco, he has been trying to stop and we set a lot of goals with him this week, hopefully he can keep them. But he has been asking us forever to watch this Christian movie with him, he asked so many times, and also this week another investigator recomended it to us, so I finally told him we would watch part of it with him but that we would have to leave after an hour and a half to go to another appointment. He said a lot of what he knows about God he learned from this movie. It was called "la cabaña", I think in english it would be "the cabin" or "the shack". Lets just say I did not like the movie, God was a middle aged black woman and the holy ghost was a chinese girl. Its not like it was bad, but the whole movie just seemed more like a story from greek mythology than anything else. So now we have to work with Axel to un convert him from that movie haha. 

Oh we also had a baptism this week! Graciela, the lady that I interviewed last week, was baptized and confirmed. Her baptism was one of the best I have seen, all the members were there because they all know her, and she has been waiting so long to get baptized it just made it really special. She got really emotional walking into the font. Im so happy for her I cant even explain it! The font actually worked pretty well for once, the only thing was that it didnt have a plug for the drain, so we used a bag with a rock in it. 

Sunday was good, I got to meet all the members here finally, Im only going to have 4 weeks with them but I think it will be great. There were a lot of testimonies, I was waiting for a break so that I could share mine/introduce myself, but there was none so I ended up being the last one. Also during Gracielas confirmation, she got a nosebleed...the spirit was too strong. I also had to teach the gospel principles class, they never tell us ahead of time so I have gotten pretty used to imrovising the classes. I think that will be useful for me.

We had a lot of good lessons this week, also a lot of funny stuff happened. Im not going to type all of them, but one was when a couple jewish guys with huge beards asked us in english if we were jews, they didnt even know spanish. I asked them what they were doing here and they said they were looking for jews, and trying to remind them who their family is. Then he asked me how long its been since Ive been home, I said 22 months, and he said I was breaking one of the 10 commandments, "honor thy father and thy mother", he said I should love my parents a little more and go home, then he drove off.

The other person who spoke english to us this week was a pagan, he had tons of tatoos on his head and he didnt want anything to do with us. 

The best thing was maybe when a 20 something year old girl with a binkie around her neck came outside and told us her mom wanted to talk to us, when we went in the mom started to cry really loud, and asked us why we didnt permit blood transfusions. She thought we were jehovas witness, we told her we werent and she immediately stopped crying, which was super fake, and said "wait, what?" It was pretty funny, we were able to teach her because we were already in her house, we have a second appointment on thursday we will see how it goes. 

Today for pday we went on a tour of a chocolate factory, it was super cool and it was 100% free! And they gave us a ton of free chocolate as well, it was super fun. Lots of other good stuff happened during the week but Im out of time so ill attatch some pictures to end! 

pictures: paulo dybala, one of the best players in the world, he started in cordoba, the factory, its called "arcor"

Love you all, have a super good week! 

You Will Never Regret Serving a Mission.

Hello! Its been a super super good week. I love the mission so much I just enjoy it more and more as it goes a long.  The mission is seriously so amazing and if anyone reads this and has the chance to go on a mission, you should go it will be such a good experience for you and you will have so much fun and learn so much and meet so many great friends and great people and you will become close to God...just do yourself a favor and go. 

Loved this week, my new companion elder Ericksen is super new, Im finishing his training and of course he is still learning spanish, but I am super happy to be with him, he is excited to be working hard and I think he is going to be a great missionary. 

I also love the area, Alta Cordoba is kinda downtown, super pretty buildings, lots of cool restaurants, and so far the people have been super great. I still havent got to know the ward that well because of general conferance, but this sunday I will meet all the members! Oh and I did go inside the church, its huge it has 2 stories. That was kind of suprising to me, because it isnt even the stake center, and I think it was the first time Ive seen a 2 story chapel. 

You all have your own conference notes, I just want to say I loved Elder Rasband's talk, there have been a lot of "coincidences" happening in my own life so I kinda felt that he was talking for me. Also loved the chilan shout out. 

We went to a super cool place for p-day, its called Carlos Paz, I have been there before about 11 months ago, I might have written about it but its a super touristic place up in the mountains. I got super burnt climbing that mountain, I wasnt expecting it to be so hot either, its been really nice here but its starting to get hot again. 

My favorite part of last week....We have an investigator named graciela here. Well it actually feels weird to call her an investigator, she has been attending church for 5 years but hasnt been able to get baptized because her husband didnt want to get married. Well just 2 weeks ago she got married, she is super happy and excited for her baptism. I arrived just in time to do her interview for baptism, during the interview there was a little special moment, she had done something in the past and she was really worried about it and felt bad, she asked me if it was so bad that the baptism wouldnt work to erase it, she asked if it was possible that she could be forgiven. And I just said of course it is, and promised that after the baptism she would be 100% pure and forgiven, and she started crying a little and was so happy. I felt so happy for her too and it just made me love her a lot, Im really glad I got to meet her. She is good to go for baptism and confirmation this weekend! Its going to be great. 

We didnt have a ton of time to work this week because I arrived half way through and we had general conference and stuff, but we were able to meet a lot of cool people, there have also been a ton of little coincidences happening, thats why I liked rasbands talk so much. One example was an investigator named guillermina that we met yesterday, she was actually a mystery reference from other missionaries, they had her address but only half of her name, and when we got to her house she said she hadnt talked with any missionaries and she was really confused and so were we, but she decided to let us in, and we had a super amazing lesson with her. And half way through the lesson, we found out that the lady who was there cleaning her house was also Mormon, and that her daughter is on a mission in mexico right now. Also the investigator knows a girl who we taught in cosquin named candela, the subject came up because this lady is a hockey instructor. Alsoo, the lady recommended a christian movie for us to watch, and just that week another investigator had lent us the movie "to watch" and we happened to have it in our bag at that very moment and we showed her. She said she got goosebumps. It was just so many "coincidences" at once, she said she knew God was trying to tell her something and I know God sent us there to visit her.

Lots of other good experiences this week, dont have time to write all of them. We met a guy named baltazar, which is kinda close to bautizar, I accidentally said bautizar when I was saying his name to him it was funny. 

All I can say is that I know the church is true, I feel it more than ever during each conference, the most spiritual moment for me was when "I believe in Christ" was one of the closing hymns, it reminded me a lot of the MTC. Also I know nothing happens by chance, if we follow spiritual promptings. Keep that in mind and you will see how God is working in your life! 

Have a good week! 

90th P-Day !!!

Today is my 90th pday in Argentina, what a milestone. The big news this week is that I got transferred after only 6 weeks in San Francisco :( I couldn't believe it, I loved san fran I was super happy there and expecting to finish my mission there! I loved the members and I was just starting to become really good friends with them, and I was also living with some of my best friends in the mission. This is the sad part about the mission, but the saddest part is that I will be saying goodbye to it all in 6 weeks... I can´t believe it. I had a talk on sunday, my first and last talk in san francisco, and included was my "testimonio fiel" which is that every missionary who leaves an area has to give his testimony in church the last sunday. But it was really hard to say goodbye to san francisco, even though I was only there for 6 weeks, because the whole time I was talking I just kept thinking about how Im going to have to say goodbye to Argentina soon, and I dont want to. Lately I've had a lot of people telling me that they can tell I love the mission, and its true I really do and Im going to be pretty sad when its over. I just want to enjoy it as much as I can for the next couple weeks and work hard so I dont have any regrets! 

Its been crazy this weekend, just visiting tons of people to say goodbye, as always I had to end up leaving my packing for the last minute cause I wanted to spend as much time as possible visiting people and hanging out with the missionarys I lived with there. Im really going to miss elder Mooneyham, Fausett, and Baute! And of course everyone in the zone! So yeah I finished packing at 3 am this morning, got up at 5 to take the bus, and when I got to my area I fell asleep for about 5 hours. 

My new companion is named elder Ericsen, he is my "stepson" because he already had his dad (elder Taylor) but he finished the mission today! So I need to finish his training, I am actually pretty excited for it! He is from Utah, we also live with another elder from Utah and one from Brazil, sao paulo. Im the district leader here, there are 6 of us in the district, 2 sisters, we are excited to meet them on thursday. I think its gonna be a good transfer! 

I dont have a lot of time to write, Ill send a lot of pictures though and Ill send some scriptures to study. Promise Ill have a better email next week! 

These scriptures I shared in my talk on sunday, they talk about a definition of eternal life (knowing God), and how to get to know God (knowing Jesus), how to get to know Jesus (service), and how we can serve (in the vineyard, missionary work, to fellow man). 

The scriptures are John 17:3, John 12:6-7, Mosiah 5:13, and Jacob 5:70-75. Read them in that order and think about them, I learned a lot from these scriptures, they came to me in that order while I was praying, so I just wanted to share it with you guys! 

Love you guys, talk to you next week!

Elder Christensen

Professional Photography Session

Not a lot of time at all because Ive been working on my BYU essays for 3 hours, so this will be nice and short. 

We had a good week of teaching, we had great success in finding new investigators with a lot of potencial, as well as inviting the investigators we already had to be baptized. The lady named Carina who went to church last week with her two daughters, well we had a great lesson with her, we invited a member to visit her with us and they became really good friends, I think it helped a lot in the lesson. They lesson had so many distractions, people came in and went out of the front door every 5 seconds for the whole lesson, and one of the little girls who is usually super calm was screaming bloody murder right when we were trying to talk about baptism, but in the end we were able to teach the importance of baptism again and invited them to be baptized on the 24th. She said yes, as long as her husband says yes, which isnt a for sure. She also said she wants to ask him in person, and since he is a truck driver he could potentially be gone for weeks or months. Hopefully that can work out, we promised her that if she prays before asking him, God will soften her husbands heart. Hopefully it works out, and that she will be brave enough to ask him over skype. 

We met another family, they were old investigators, and they were super happy to see us when we got there, they said they didnt know why the missionaries had stopped coming by. They have a 10 year old daughter named nahara, we love her she is super funny and she is really interested in God for someone her age, her mom says she is always asking to be baptized and that the mom has been planning to get her baptized for a while. She didnt really care what church she was baptized in, so we offered ours and she accepted. The mom is super nice too, she is reading the book of mormon and the only reason she cant be baptized right now is that shes not married. We are going to try and help her to understand the need to get married so that she can get baptized as well! This has happened a few times in my mission, that people have been super ready for us, and only havent been baptized because the missionaries stopped passing. God knows when the moment is right, and he sends us back to them when they are ready. 

We also got a reference from an elderly man in our ward, he took us to teach his grandkids, whose parents are inactive members. We had a great lesson with them too and are working with them to have a baptism for a kid named Gastón on the 8th of october!

A funny experience was that a family in the ward asked me to go out to their little farm in the country to take their anniversary pictures because they think the missionaries have nice cameras. They had some pretty funny poses, there was over 40 pictures, I felt like a profesional photographer. Sadly I deleted most of them already but I saved some of the best ones so that you guys can see a small sample. In the picture I attatched, they asked me to get on another elders shoulders to get a nice angle..

Thats about it Im sorry there is no time to write more and Im really tired from writing my essays, but Ill attatch a lot of pictures to hopefully make up for it. 

Love you all, have a good week! ​​

Family picture sample.

Our Apartment.

Skype Blesses Families.

Hello! I hope everything is okay after the hurricane, it was pretty big news here, I think they hyped it up a little bit on the news, they said it was the strongest one that ever touched land in Florida and everyone was telling me that it was going to destroy everything. I was hearing all this the day after the crazy earthquake in mexico, the week after the crazy hurricane in houston, and ive also heard there are a ton of fires in the west of the USA. I dont know if all the information im getting is correct.  At least it sounds like everything is okay back home. 

Anyway, we have had a pretty good week here, on wednesday the members actually gave us a reference which isnt something that happens everyday, it was a guy named hermano Toncovich, we had never been to his house before but he called us and invited us to lunch and said he would have people there for us to teach. His house was so far away, he lives on a farm kinda out in the country and we had to walk so far to get there, we felt like the original  missionaries of the restoration walking so far. We had a pretty good lesson with this guy, his name was marcelo and 3 months ago his wife passed away, she had cancer, and he is now left with 2 kids. He said he is kind of angry with God, but we shared a video with him, I think in english it might be called "Mountains to Climb". Its a mormon message but its really good, he liked it so hopefully he can let God help him find happiness in his life again. 

We did an exchange on thursday, I went with my "grandson" elder Faucett, it was pretty fun, not many missionaries get to go on exchanges with their "nieto" in the mission, we had a good day, we visited that really good family I wrote about last week I think (Valeria, Julio, and 2 kids) they are the ones that sell home made bread, churros and stuff, when we visited them they were really busy making dough and stuff so we didnt get to teach a ton, but at least they gave us tons of bread and churros, they didnt want to let me give them any money for it, so I hid it in their house, I hope they find it. 

Friday was just a normal day, we had a soccer activity that night for investigators and youth in the ward but it was really cold and rainy, so unfortunately only a few people showed up. My companion also messed up his knee playing a little. 

Saturday his knee was hurting him a lot, he wanted to stay and rest and have me go out with someone else, but the other missionaries already had appointments. I felt like we needed to go out, because saturday is the most important day in inviting people to come to church, and I didnt want "the curse" to continue. So he agreed to go out and visit a few people, and Im really glad we did! We visited an investigator named Carina, and her 3 kids (Im sure ive written about them, but I cant remember what ive written in the past weeks). We were able to help her a lot I think, because she was really sad because her husband (who is a truck driver) wasnt going to be coming home that weekend, and maybe not for a while. Because when the temperature starts heating up, he transports ice cream, and he goes to buenos aires, cordoba, rosario, and uruguay, and he never is able to come home. Last year he wasnt able to come home for 6 months. That basically sounds like the worst job ever. But she was really sad because she was scared that it might happen again now that winter is ending and he has to transport more icecream. But I showed her how to use skype, she didnt even know that it existed, and we also helped her set up the Book of Mormon app on her phone so she can listen to the scriptures instead of reading (she has bad vision). That made her feel a lot better, and she agreed to come to church on sunday! 

It was raining and super windy and cold sunday morning, but we got up early and we had made pancakes and maple syrup to eat breakfast with them (maple doesnt exist here, but one elder has an extract to make it yourself) and after breakfast we took them to church in a taxi, two actually because there was 6 of us in total. Taxis are expensive, but I dont care how much it costs if they actually go. So she went with her 3 daughters, 2 are older than 8, and I think they really liked church! The members did a really good job greeting them and being friendly, and the girls had a lot of fun in primary too so I think they liked it! We went back to visit them this morning, Carina is super happy because she has been video calling her husband a lot and they are both happy to have discovered skype. We think that family has a lot of potential! 

Im just happy the curse is ended and we had investigators in church, its great that its a family, usually its just one or two people out of the family and its sad because they dont all share it together, but when its a whole family or at least the majority, you can focus a lot more on the aspect of familias eternas. 

In my studies this week, I dont think it was a coincidence that I was reading in the book of helaman, and I arrived at chapter 12. I was kinda sad just thinking about all the natural disasters that have been happening lately, and wondering why, but I think its pretty obvious why. It was the perfect time to study chapter 12, here are a few of the verses.

1 And thus we can behold how false, and also the unsteadiness of the hearts of the children of men; yea, we can see that the Lord in his great infinite goodness doth bless and prosper those who put their trust in him.

2 Yea, and we may see at the very time when he doth prosper his people, yea, in the increase of their fields, their flocks and their herds, and in gold, and in silver, and in all manner of precious things of every kind and art; sparing their lives, and delivering them out of the hands of their enemies; softening the hearts of their enemies that they should not declare wars against them; yea, and in fine, doing all things for the welfare and happiness of his people; yea, then is the time that they do harden their hearts, and do forget the Lord their God, and do trample under their feet the Holy One—yea, and this because of their ease, and their exceedingly great prosperity.

3 And thus we see that except the Lord doth chasten his people with many afflictions, yea, except he doth visit them with death and with terror, and with famine and with all manner of pestilence, they will not remember him.

North America is probably the richest continent in terms of resources, or at least one that has prospered a lot, but its crazy to see how so many people have stopped caring about religion, or even stopped believing in God, they dont care about the commandments, they just do whatever they want, following the easiest path, and we have so many things and there are lots of people that are so so prosperous. I think the only way for us to stay humble is with chastisement. But when a parent punishes their kids for misbehavior, its not because they dont love them, its to teach them not to do it again, its the only way to help them learn, and its for their own good. 

23 Therefore, blessed are they who will repent and hearken unto the voice of the Lord their God; for these are they that shall be saved.

All God wants is for us all to repent and come back to him, he doesnt do anything thats not for our benefit. All we have to do to "prosper in the land" is keep the commandments, and I know God will bless and protect us. 

Thats about it this week! Hope everyone stays safe and has a good week! 

Love, Elder Christensen