I'm 20 Years Old TODAY!!!

Today is my bday! 20 years old..time flies I really can't believe it. Last night I stayed awake in my bed until 12 so I could feel myself turn 20. As soon as that happened, I just started trying to remember as much about the first 20 years of my life as I possibly could...I was awake for a long time just thinking. I remembered stuff I didn't even know that I had remembered, such as a sandbox at our old blue house in Utah, and playing with toy cars on the floor in the hotel we used to live in when I was about 4, or when me and my brothers used to bury star wars action figures in the backyard and then forget where they where and never be able to find them again. That one made me laugh! ...and of course a lot of more recent stuff! It was a cool experience though honestly, and it made me happy to be alive.  I'm grateful for everybody who has had an impact in my life thus far. I love you all!! I also prayed a lot after that and had some personal experiences. I just want everyone to know that I know that God loves us all, and that he knows us really well. He's our dad, and I know we`ve got a mom up there too, and that she misses us. We were with them before, and more than anything I want to be able to be with them again. It all depends on what we do here! 

We have had another good week here in cosquín. On Wednesday we didn't have a lot of appointments so we where out "knocking doors". I just say that so you can understand, really we clap our hands really loud and the people come outside. I can't remember if I had explained that before. Anyway, we were in a super rich neighborhood, and getting rejected hardcore. I mean real hardcore, some people when they saw it was us, just turned around and went back inside without a word. Another guy came out with a knife and yelled at us. It wasn't too fun. So we prayed out there in the street, harder maybe then I have in a long time to receive inspiration. The inspiration I received was to visit our investigator Juan. We went to his house and.....he wasn't home. I got really disappointed, but I remembered that everything happens for a reason. I knew we were there for a reason, so we went over to the house directly in front of his and clapped. A lady came out with 2 little kids, and all morning we had been trying to talk to people about the restoration, but I went with the blessings the gospel has for families with her and it went really well. She seemed really happy and we got an appointment with her. Her name is diamela. 

Later that night I also cut my hair, I love having the clippers it saves me a ton of money. I also cut elder Larsens hair, this other kid that lives with us. People gotta start paying me for this. 

Thursday was just us getting up way earlier than normal to get on a bus to go to cruz del eje, it was about a 2 hr ride. We had a zone meeting there, it was the usual not sure if it was worth 350 pesos. My companion did some tie trading there and got some sweet deals. 

Friday was a decent day, we had a first lesson with a guy named americo, he lives off in the woods at the foot of the mountain. It was a really cool trail to get to his house. Afterwards my companion found a tick on the back of my shirt, so that was lucky. That afternoon my companion also tried to help some guy fix his car, but he couldn't figure out the problem. However, the guy saw that we were people with good intentions and he invited us to visit his home some day and introduced us to his 11 year old son. 

Saturday was when I started getting a bit sick with my cough. Also I felt pretty sick after I drank a whole liter bag of yogurt...thats right, I drank a bag of yogurt. Im going to miss this liquid yogurt when I go back home. We had a first lesson with this lady named Liliana...she is really great, she is a bit traumatized because she was a nurse in the war argentina had with England in the 80s, over the falkland islands...she said there was a grenade thrown next to her at one point, and a soldier tackled her to protect her and save her life, but the soldier died. Not sure 100%  if its a true story or not, but I believe her. I hope we can help her out. She came to church on sunday and she loved it!

Sunday was fast and testimony meeting...we had two investigators there, Liliana and a girl named ximena who is 25, and has a 1 year and 9 month old daughter named lucila. I absolutely love lucila! She gives me a hug every time she sees me. Ximena we met in the market during the festival, and she said she had talked with missionaries a few months ago and that she never went to our church but she had always wanted to. So she came on sunday for the first time, I think she liked it. Lucila was really happy in the church, she was running around like crazy and kept trying to go up on the stand. My companion wanted to share his testimony, so he went up and was doing great! He called me up to help him translate a bit but I know that everyone felt the spirit and got a little bit happier when he talked. I shared mine right after him and tons of members offered us lunch afterwards it was crazy! 

Monday my companion got really sick, we think its the flu or something but he couldn't work so I went on a split with elder Larson because I had some super good appointments set up, one of which was with diamela and it was one of the best lessons of my whole mission. She is one of the most prepared people I have met. She understands everything so well before we even teach it, it was unreal. I hope she comes to church this week!

And then this morning was my bday. my 3 roommates surprised me with some stuff, I don't know how they went out without waking me up but they bought a bunch of donuts and facturas (argentine pastry) at 6:30, (remember we get up at 7:30 now) and then came in around 7:20 singing happy birthday! they had made a card and they bought me a soccer ball as a present! It was really nice and a lot different then my last birthday a year ago. That day, my trainer laid in bed about all day and I bought myself a cake and ate it alone. It was rough, but im just glad that Ive come so far since then! Im super happy to be training, and to know spanish, and most of all to be in cosquín. Ive only been here for 3 weeks but I think it will be one of my favorite areas of my mission!

Ive still been studying the Pearl of Great Price lately. Its a book you could read in a day, but I have been taking it super slow and have been thinking about it a ton. What Id like to tell everyone today is that writing down your thoughts while reading the scriptures makes it a whole different experience...there's a scripture that says if an elder writes something in the spirit, it becomes scripture. Or at least personal scripture, but the way you can tell if what you write/say is from the spirit, is if you learn something from it. Ive surprised my self a ton from my writings and everyone should try it!

Im out of time...I love you all! Have a good week! 

Elder Christensen

We love you Ethan!  Happy Birthday Son.