1-11-16 / News flash!‏

Me and Elder McNeil are swapping apartments with the Sister
missionaries. They live outside of their area and it would save them
lots of miles if they lived where we live now. So, alas, I will not be
living in the mansion. My new address is: ....

If you have sent something to my old address, no worries! I will be
able to get it with ease. This might be a blessing in disguise. We
have been wanting to work more in the Vista Ridge Ward and now we will
be living over there. And now we will have easy access to wifi and
now we will have a gym! What a blessing. On to the good stuff!

We have been playing tennis on our p-days as of late which has been
fun. But we always had to call members and borrow their equipment.
Last week someone at church brought us tennis rackets and donated them
to this area. Too nice huh? Serving has been our biggest weakness.
Takes way too much practice! We played tennis, had some fun and then
went and planned a lesson with a member.

Update on Kasey and Clare, the friends of the member missionary. We
had a lesson on Tuesday with them and the members about the plan of
salvation. We have started to notice a trend of people believing in
God but not seeing the need for Jesus Christ. The belief that there
are many ways to heaven, not only through Christ. That's what Kasey
believes. But she always thinks very deeply about the lessons and
always keeps her commitments. We invited her to come to church and she
came! And she enjoyed it! We are doing our small part of inviting and
the Lord is doing the rest. I think it might take some time but I
think someday she will be baptized. The gospel will help us through
anything.

On Tuesday I had the opportunity to go on exchanges with Elder
Iverson! We went over to his area and had some lessons and some fun.
Exchanges to another area are always so nice. You get to sit back and
relax; watch and learn! He has a lot of apartment complexes in his
area so we worked in those. We also stopped by a less active guy who
is a glass artist for a living. He makes these glass marbles with
galaxies in them. They are pretty darn cool. We stopped by and he
showed us all his cool stuff he's made and collected over the years.
It was a good way to get in the door, and it was nice of him to show
us. It was neat.

Then I went on exchanges with Elder Mecham! He is a green missionary.
I remember the struggles of being a new missionary. Hard, but the only
thing you can do is push through and rely on the atonement. Really
that's all we can ever do! But we went to Torchy's Tacos so it was all
ok. Not much happened that day. Lots of biking, but not much talking
to others.

Oh update on Paul! We had our second lesson with him. I wasn't there
but it went very well! We brought a member with us and they became
instant friends. We even met a couple of his kids. We are trying to
get them involved and slowly but surely it's happening. He continues
to read the BoM. All because the spirit told us to knock on his door.

It was weirdly cold this week, which makes biking miserable. But once
again, the only thing we could do is push through! It really doesn't
even get that cold but the humidity makes it cut to the bone.

We are being way too blessed right now. I feel like we haven't done
too much but we are being blessed with people to teach and good stuff
to do. The Hester's are going to be baptized on the 30th of this month
which is great. There is a child of record that wants to be baptized,
we have progressing investigators, the Lord is good. We were biking
the other day and some guy pulls over in his car and tells us he was
investigating the church for 13 years but was never baptized. He then
invites us over and we have a lesson. Hopefully we will be able to
help him have the peace and happiness the gospel offers. It was kind
of funny because the other people there were devout Catholic and they
love their bibles! We ended up looking at their bible collection. They
had like 7 bibles all throughout one room, open to different pages.
Some people have very different beliefs. It's interesting.

We got all our stuff moved today. It really wasn't bad. The only
painful part was fitting all our stuff in the car and making one trip.
Other than that, it was fine.

Anyways, it was a good week. Life is so very sweet when you keep the commandments and strive to do what is right. I love you all so very, very much. Thank you for taking the time to write me! I always look forward to Monday and reading your emails. It's so ought full and I am grateful for your dedication to do so. 

Love,
Elder Christensen

Thanksgiving in Texas!

Elder Christensen
Thanksgiving in Texas - 2015

Letter from the Mission President

We received this letter in the mail from Elder Christensen's Mission President ...
Letter dated: October 8, 2015

During General Conference ...

Little note from Kade's mom - (Wendy)

We didn't know if Kade had been transferred and had been praying for him all week. He had been in his first area for 7 months!

Shortly after after Elder Holland's talk (during General Conference) on Mother's, I received this email from a kind member of the church in Texas - (This touched my heart!)


Hi Sister Christensen,

I'm a ward mission leader in Elder Christensen's area in Cedar Park (just north of Austin). We've had the pleasure of having him and his companion, Elder Shipley, in our home for Conference, and after Elder Holland's talk thought we should send a quick note and picture to his Mom!

I'm really excited to be working with your son. He's clearly an outstanding missionary- he teaches with the spirit and has been working diligently the entire time he's been here. 

Thank you for supporting him on his mission- we're blessed to have him serving in our ward and stake!

Nathan G

8/31/15 - The week of our first successful scripture study class!‏

Art by Elder Christensen -

Hello friends and family! Another week has come and gone.

It has been so hot lately. I've been asking people when it cools down
but I get a different answer every time. I think the average say that
it will start to cool down in October so we shall see. They consider
cool down like in the 80's, which at this point I would consider that
cooling down too!

It was a good week. More productive than it has been in a while. It is
so important to prioritize and make the best use of time. So much to
do and not a whole lot of time to do it in. The days fly by. I wake up
and then it seems like a couple hours later I get ready for bed. It's
crazy! At this pace my mission will be over in no time.

On Monday we had p-day, the usual. We then went out and proselyted a
little bit. We met a guy named Sid who said we could come by some time
and share a message. That was a bonus. Actually the whole street he
lives on is great. People were friendly and said we could come stop by
sometime. Even if we just give someone a Book of Mormon it's worth it!
Hopefully they read it eventually.

The BoM is so stinking cool. It's either true or it's not! If it's
true, were right and the church is true and all the doctrine is true
and Jesus is the Christ. If it's not true, there is no truth on earth.
All we have to do to get an answer is truly want to know and then read
it and pray about it.

On Tuesday we met with Sid who we met on Monday, Glenda, and Robert.
We met with Robert about once a week but then he started chemotherapy
and that put an end to that. His cancer is terminal so we talked about
what happens when we die and where we go. We were able to give him a
blessing of peace and comfort. He seemed so at peace with the world
regardless of his situation. He's a good man. He misses his wife so
I'm excited for him to see her again. I wonder what it's like not to
know what's going to happen after you die and then when you die you go
to the next world. It will probably just feel comfortable, like you
are finally home. He came to church a couple times but he was honest
with us and said he doesn't believe any church is right. All of them
are. A lot of people believe that. Glenda is doing ok. She has
listened to the BoM a little bit this past week which is awesome!
She's funny, she keeps claiming that the voice is really creepy and it
scares her. We then met with Sid later that night and we taught the
restoration. It was an ok lesson. He said he would read the BoM so we
will see what happens. We will follow up and see how it's going.

Wednesday was a weird day. An elder in our apartment broke something
in his knee and had a doctors appointment. We didn't know if we would
need to help them get somewhere and what not so we waited for them to
call us and let us know what's up. We then were asked if we could help
a lady moving from New Braunfels move into her home. We said we could
but she needed to get another male to go with us. Nothing ever
happened with that so we went out and worked for the rest of the day.
Normally we meet with the Lomas' on Wednesday and Sunday but school
started this past week and her oldest son just started school. He is
having a hard time apparently so she canceled on us which is fine. It
was a slower day.

Thursday was fun. We met with an older lady in our ward. We now have
two grandmas, Sis. S and Sis. H. She always makes sure we have some
chocolate when we come over and she lines it up on the table for us.
She's a sweet lady. She would love to come to church but her husband
has some health issues that she stays home and helps with. It's always
fun to go out to her house too because she lives about 30 minutes
away. Country is always fun. We were then asked by a guy in our ward
to go and help him give a blessing. We said of course. He came and
picked us up and we went over to the military base hospital where the
guy was. That was cool to see. We helped him out then went back out to
work. Thursday nights is our scripture study night and for the first
time someone showed up! We were actually able to teach a lesson. Me
and Elder West taught it and it was on preparing ourselves for the
second coming using Matthew 25 and the parables taught in it. It's a
good chapter. Lots of good stuff to take away from it. When we have
the class three was are invited. One of those three is a Spanish
branch so the guy that showed up of course spoke Spanish. Me and elder
west were the only ones that couldn't understand him so he would speak
a missionary would translate and then we would speak and they would
translate it for us. It was fun and different. He said he would bring
some people next time so we will see. I thought we did a good job
announcing it but I guess we need to do better. Good day.

Friday we had dinner with the Grunkes. They are so fun to eat with.
Older couple, very nice and fun. I was informed that Donald Trump is
leading the republican side. Hillary or Trump, that will be a blast!
We weren't able to do weekly planning on Thursday so we did it on
Friday instead. Yawn. It was a fun day anyways. We tried to meet with
Derek but for an eleven year old kid he is weirdly hard to meet with.
But he's eleven so what do you expect, if an eleven year old kid kept
his own appointments that would be bizarre. So I'm not surprised. We
were knocking doors on a street and we ran into an old people home.
The owner said we could come by on curtains day and visit with the old
folks. We will have to try that out sometime!

On Saturday we met with Glenda again and read some out of the BoM with
her. That is the best tool we have been given to spread the gospel. We
also met a lady while we were out and about and we taught her a brief
restoration lesson and left her with a BoM. She seemed to be very
interested with the BoM so we will see if she reads it. Then we met
with Michael and his wife. Bro. Rohrer came with us. Such a good guy,
we taught the plan of salvation and it went well. He really wants to
know whether or not this is the truth so he's been reading and praying
about it. He's becoming sincere in his desire to learn. Him and his
wife are excited to have an eternal family. We then had dinner with
the bishop and his family. It was bishops birthday and his favorite
food to eat is cheap out of a box pizza, so we had some of that. We
then were able to contact referrals that we have been given. Very
productive day.

Sunday's are always wonderful. We were asked last Sunday if we could
teach the combined YM/YW class. Our topic was preparing for a mission.
Super fun! The youth are so wonderful. So pure and clean and innocent,
such a good light about them. I enjoyed that a lot. Sacrament was
wonderful too. I remember someone saying something about how the
brethren were trying to get sacrament meeting more Christ centered.
I've been wondering when they are going to release a statement or
something saying please start doing this and what not. Because the
best sacrament meetings are the ones that are centered on Jesus
Christ. The sacrament is always wonderful to take. After church is
over I always feel ready to take on another week! We then had dinner
with the Morrisons. She made a delicious lemon cake for dessert. We
then met with the Lomas' that night. Jessica is doing well, she is
ready to be baptized for sure.

I love the scriptures found in Mosiah 24. I've been using this one a
lot lately when I begin to talk to people because it applies to all of
us so well! In Mosiah 24:9 Amulon, the ruler of the land at this time,
puts task masters over the people because he's not a big fan of them
follow God. In v. 10 we see that when they have afflictions they turn
to God in prayer. But Amulon, not being the nicest guy, says they
can't pray anymore an if they do they will die. Yikes! But the people
continue to rely on God even though it's hard to do so. They rely on
him and show their faith to him by praying on their hearts and
thinking of Him and how good he has been to them. As a reward for
their faith God blesses them with strength. We read the blessings in
v. 14-15. As they turned to God, their afflictions became light! They
weren't so heavy and they were still able to find joy even though they
were going through hard times. The same goes for us! We all go through
had things but the answer to our problems is the same, turn to God. He
will always help you! You just need the faith to try it and turn to
Him. I promise that this works. I'd recommend reading this whole
chapter, it's good.

I love you all very much. May god bless you with His spirit and the
peace that is sure to follow.

Love,
Elder Christensen
Do Good Stuff

8/24/15 - Woof!

Hello again my friends and my family.

This week was a swell week.

Monday: soccer for p-day, fun! Then we went and played basketball. Me
and elder west balled it up. I can't seem to beat him. He gets me in
game 3 every time. One of these days I'll get him. We then had a
lesson with the Domino family. They are all members except the husband
and he is coming along quite nicely. They came to church yesterday!

Tuesday: For whatever reason they decided to do transfer emails
instead of transfer calls. So we got our transfer email on Tuesday. I
will be staying in the first ward with elder west. Transfer 5! Almost
half my mission will be here. Crazy!

Wednesday: I think we had a thunder and lightning storm on Wednesday
which was so random. It was fun though. We had an appointment with a
lady in our ward but her power went out. She called us and said its
raining too hard don't come over! But it wasn't raining where we live.
She loves way out in the boonies and it seems to rain there then come
our way. Our area is so much fun. We have the city part but then about
75% of the area is all country. It's fun. We went and visited another
family in our ward to help them with their missionary work. We drove
50 minutes to get to their house and they are still in the ward
boundaries. They drive 50 minutes every Sunday with 5 young girls.
Talk about dedicated!

Thursday: The mission had a lot of cars taken away lately so we were
asked to go to transfer meeting to help transport people. It was nice,
I always enjoy hearing our president give us wise words of counsel. So
we helped some elders get to their apartment them we went out and
worked for the day. We have a new elder in our apartment, elder Cruz.
He's a nice guy, very social. He cooks us food which is always
appreciated. We then took another elder back over to stone oak which
is about 30 minutes away so he could get his new companion who came
from Austin. Lots of driving that day!

Friday: I cannot remember. Something happened, but what? I'm not sure...

Saturday: Our teaching pool is running low again so we tried to find
new people on Saturday for most of the day. We did have an appointment
with Glenda though to break up the day. We then had dinner with the
bishop and his family and they invited the Lomas family over for
dinner as well. Super fun to have dinner with them. Always a good
conversation and good food. We then went to the church to work more on
transferring data from the paper area book to the iPad.

Glenda isn't very interested in the gospel but she really enjoys
having us come over. So we go over and share a message/lesson with her
from time to time. It will take time but she might come around. We
will see! Only God knows.

We also started visiting with a sweet older less active lady. She's
like a grandma! Now we have two. Sister Heckenlievely and Sister
Sullivan. Fun, sweet ladies.

I think it was Tuesday but we almost got eaten by a pack of dogs. We
went to go knock on a ladies house and we almost step on her porch and
all of a sudden we hear ferocious dogs start barking and running at us
from the back yard at full speed. So scary. I tell elder west to start
running but he's paralyzed with fear. I start running but they are way
too fast so I just stop and wait for death. But thank heavens they are
well trained and the lady just yells at them to stop so they do. She
then yells at us to never come back. I really thought we might get
bitten a few times. So that was exciting.

We also saw some gorgeous sunsets these past few days. Always a bonus!

I am continuing to enjoys the mission life. Studying the scriptures
each morning is a wonderful blessing and is a huge boost and prepares
me for the day. All the growing pains and heat and dogs are worth it!

It was a good week. I enjoyed it lots. Lots of growth! Elder west is
doing well. We continue to grow together each day.

Jesus Christ lives and He is our Savior. It is the truth!

I love you all! But so does God and because He loves you, you can trust Him.
Do Good Stuff
Elder Christensen

6/8/15 - Lots of Service!

With chainsaws ...

Hello all, this week was a fun one.

It was me and Elder R's first week and it was a good start. On
Monday or Tuesday, whichever one, I got all the birthday cards.

 I'm
not sure if I told y'all or not but someone tried to peel off the
apartment mail box so it's broken. We now have to pick our mail up at
the post office so it takes a little longer for me to get mail. But
boy was it fun to have 6 birthday cards waiting for me. Y'all are
awesome! Loved it and love y'all.

 Some highlights from this week:

Our zone got iPads!! It is soooo cool. I have every ensign going back
to 1971 and every conference talk going back to 1973 all on this nifty
little thing. It makes studies faster. But it is making me a tad lazy.
Now when I use normal scriptures I don't even want to look up cross
references I will just get my iPad to do it. Only downfall. We are
going to have a zone conference on the 16th and learn more about how
to study with them. It will be great.


 On Wednesday we helped some members of our ward pack up their
apartment and move it all into a truck. I have been sick this past
week and wasn't feeling to good but felt like we really needed to go.
Thankfully we did because we were the only ones there for a while
before bishop showed up. We really can be the answer to others prayers
when we decide to listen to the spirit. Along those lines we also went
on Saturday to a small town about 67 miles away from where we live in
San Antonio to help with flood clean up. We never see the news but
apparently we have had some really bad flooding and peoples houses
were picked up off the foundation and carried away. 

But we got up at 5
and got ready then went over to a members house who offered to give us
a ride. When we got to the meet up location we got these cute little
jerseys to put on that said Mormon helping hands. Then we went to the
next meet up spot and got our assignment. They broke the groups up by
wards so we were the 1st ward group. Our assignment was tree clean up.
We went and helped people who requested help. The water picked up
debris and trees and carried it and it ended up stuck in people's
trees and yards with no way of getting rid of it. So we went in with a
bobcat and chainsaws and cleaned it up. Very fun. 

We all felt unified
by the end of the day in getting the job done. It was a pleasure to
serve alongside such wonderful people. We might do it again next
weekend, we will see! Some people were assigned to house demolition
where poor people lost everything in the floods and their house was
destroyed. That would be rough. 

But we got done with one house then
drove up the road to see if the group next to us needed the bobcat.
They did but when we got out of the car this lady was standing there
and asked us are you here to help me? We weren't but we helped her
anyways and she bought us lunch and when we were all standing there
when we were done she said I was just praying that someone would come
and help me. It was sweet. So many opportunities to help others if we
just look outside ourselves.


 I was thinking the other day about Christ and how inadequate words are
to express our testimonies of Him. The spirit can speak where words
cannot. So something I am going to start studying is how to bear a
powerful testimony of Christ through the spirit. There is a verse in
the bible, sadly I don't know where, but it says if a man testifies of
Christ it is through the spirit. So if we testify of Christ it
automatically has power from the spirit. Cool scripture.

How grateful we should all be for the gospel. I take it for granted
but I am beginning to see how precious it truly is. 

Just the simple
truths of the gospel are incredibly powerful. For example: we have a
living prophet on the earth today, God is our Father, Jesus is the
Christ, He is the Son of God, God speaks to man today, prayer works,
God loves us, He knows us, etc, etc.
Those small things that we take for granted have affected us so deeply
and how deeply they can affect the lives of others if we would only
share them. Seek to obtain my word, then we can share it, because we
know it and love it!



Love you all! Have a great week!

Elder Christensen

Do Good Stuff