3-21-16 What do you call a pile of kittens?

A meowntain!

Crazy week. Lots happened! The week was going normal, the family we
were working with was planning on getting baptized on Saturday, we
were stoping by there frequently and making sure everything was good
and they understood what was going to happen. We had our DM on
Wednesday, nothing different there. Thursday we had weekly planning
and coordination with our Ward mission. Then Friday at about 10:30am
we get a call from the mission president saying that I was needed in
SA ... So I packed up my bags
and left at 2:30 and headed for SA. I have two new wonderful
companions named Elder Hurst and Elder Stanley.

My zone leaders over in RR stake drove me halfway and then my new
companions picked me up from there. I will be in the Castle Hills area
until tomorrow. So from Friday to Tuesday I've been here. I forgot how
much I loved SA. It feels so good to be back. I love the ghetto,
humble, rich, business of SA. I love, love, love it. There is never
ever a dull moment. Now the place I was at in Austin is a different
story. Everyone is rich and nothing exciting or different ever
happened. In short, glad to be back.

Tomorrow I will go to my new area, Live Oak and get my new companions,
Elder Biesinger and Elder Jorgensen. It's funny because I started in
east zone and live oak was in my district when I was in east zone. The
stake just got split though so now it's in Cibolo Valley stake. Going
back to my roots, but at the same time not really. I spent many p-days
at the building I will be at back in the day. It should be fun.

I assume the McNeils were baptized on Saturday and all went well. I'm
happy for them. Everyone needs the gospel, and it's always exciting to
see people take it. The Friday I got to SA the missionaries here were
having a baptism for a lady named Belinda. It was a fun, great
baptism. Belinda is so funny. She is a n older lady, probably in her
60's. We asked her if she wanted to share her testimony after she was
baptized and she said yes. As soon as everyone came back in the room
she just stood up in the front and told her story. She was walking
around looking for management for her apartment complex so she could
get something fixed and she thought the missionaries were management
so she went up and talked to them and they asked if they could share a
message and she said yes. She said we all looked like angels sitting
in the room. It was very sweet. She never misses church. We taught her
yesterday too and the first thing she asked was, "now that I'm
baptized, what's next?" One of the reasons I like SA so much is
because the people live in such humble circumstances but still look
for the gospel or something more in their lives. She barely had
anything in her apartment, but she was content and happy.

The Castle Hills Ward meets in the oldest LDS church building in SA.
It was the weirdest layout of all time. It was honestly like a maze.
It was different than any other church building I had ever been in.
The chapel had a very 70's, 80's feel to it. I liked it, different.

Saturday was also an adventure. Elder Hurst is going home tomorrow so
we celebrated on Saturday by going to red robin and cold stone
creamery. Red Robin is so good. Oh my goodness, I forgot. But someone
payed for our meal! How nice is that? Then we were driving to go visit
someone and Elder Stanley freaks out while driving and pulls over real
quick and starts running to some guy that was thrown off his motorized
wheelchair. He was crossing a busy street and his wheelchair was at
the highest speed and he hit a curb that wasn't flat enough for his
chair to jump over and was thrown off. His hips were not in the right
place and his face was bleeding so badly. We ran over, called 911 and
waited until they came. We then put his wheelchair in a nearby
restaurant and left them with a phone number to call to get him his
wheelchair.

And then we kept on driving, stopped at the person we wanted to visit,
and then went to a new place. As we were driving our car started to
sputter and it wouldn't speed up. By the grace of God we made it to a
gas station and popped the hood to see what was up. We waited for the
car to fix itself because we didn't know what was wrong with it and
then tried driving again. The same thing happened, and by the grace of
God we made it safely to a Walgreens parking lot where we called the
Chevy dealership to come and get it and fix it. Apparently this
happened like two days prior to this. We waited at Walgreens for them
to come get it and they did and then we got rides from members for the
rest of the night. We went and had a few lessons and stopped by a few
people. It was eventful.

Sunday was just a long day. A good day, but long. We get the car back
today so this good mane drove us around and took us to lessons for
like 4 hours. What a good guy. Then got the transfer info last night
at about 9.

I've learned a lot this past week. A lot about faith, belief, hope,
charity, all those good attributes. Someone in their talk yesterday
quoted someone who said that faith, hope, and charity are inseparably
connected; you can't have one without naturally having the others. I
was thinking about that and it's really true. If you really have hope
in Jesus Christ that you are going to be resurrected, that will lead
you to act differently, to faith. If you truly have faith that Jesus
is the Savior of the world and the Atonement works, your desire to
help others and to help them know the truths you know will increase,
you will love others! It's all one big cycle. Gaining one of these
attributes leads to gaining another. I didn't explain it really well,
but if you think about it it will click.

Thank you for your continued support and love. It has helped me
throughout my life and it will help me in the future as well.

Love,
Elder Christensen

PS: My address has changed! I have no idea what it's going to be
because it will change again tomorrow. Don't send me anything this
week. I will let you know my new address next Monday.

Left to right: Elder Stanley, Me, Elder Hurst

The state flower is a blue bonnet and they grow all over the place. Makes it very beautiful.

11/9/15 - "Are you out preaching the word of man?" - crazy guy‏

Dear sweet friends and family,

Running into people that don't have filters is fun. They aren't open
to learning and they don't let you talk, but you do get to listen to
some funny stuff! Such was the case the other day. We walk up to this
guy because we were looking for a less active that lives at this house
and the first thing he is, "are you out preaching the word of man? The
Mormon religion is a man made religion." Oh boy, the best way to
handle these kinds of things is say cool, can we do anything for you?
They normally say no and that's the end of that. It's always fun.

More rain this week. It makes it miserable. It will rain for like an
hour and then stop for an hour. Which makes it so hard to know whether
or not to bring a raincoat or a jacket. We have to take the brushy
creek trail down to vista ridge area so when it rains we are stuck in
walsh ranch. Not bad, but it does get old.

I can't remember if I told y'all or not but we went and helped a
former investigator set up Halloween decorations last week and then
she asked us if we could help her take them down. Service is always
good. She has some health issues and she gets tired quick and needed
help. She wants to take us to lunch on Saturday. To make it productive
we are going to focus on the restoration and the gospel. Hopefully it
works.

In vista ridge and Walsh ranch we only have two not-as-nice areas.
Brown and brown. We were in WR brown and we found an older couple that
invited us back to teach them the plan of salvation. They fell
through, but it led us to a guy named Paul that lives next to them.
Neat how it all works. We also had a LA guy in that same neighborhood.
He had mice allllll over his doorway and yard. It's so weird that we
can go three blocks away from there and be in a nice neighborhood. But
go three blocks towards this neighborhood and it becomes a slum. Weird
right? It's neat to have the opportunity to present people with the
gospel that will truly change their lives if they want to change.
People in poor areas always seem to be more humble.

While we were in this same area we kept going by this really animated
walker with sunglasses on. I always take things like this seriously or
as a sign that we need to take to them. When we saw her we were
already riding our bikes so I knew it was going to be awkward, but o
tried anyways. As we rode past her I held out a card and said hello
ma'am in the hopes she would take it. She was just silent, no smile,
walked on by. It was funny. We also had another LA guy we were trying
to find yell at us through his door "GO AWAY!!" Lots of good stuff
this week.

So sorry this is a shorter one. We didn't have wifi all day and I
wanted to play chair soccer. I promise you are more important! Sorry
:(

In closing, I enjoyed this quote from Elder Maxwell. He's talking to
all the people that can't decide whether or not to be active in the
church.

Do not think, either, about the doctrine that you are a child of God,
for if you do, it will be the beginning of belonging.

Exaltation is our goal; discipleship is our journey. - Elder Utchdorf

I love you all very, very much. I have been reading past letters
before I go to bed and while doing so I have gotten to know y'all
more. It's been so fun!

Have an awesome, possum week!

Love,
Elder Christensen

10/5/15 - Boy do I have news for you!

"If you go to Austin, be careful, it's a wicked place." -Sis. Campbell 

Oh the irony. Guess what? I have been transferred to this place called Austin, Texas. You might of heard of it. I really enjoyed my time in San Antonio and the wonderful people I met there. That will always be my Texas family. But it's been interesting to go from San Antonio, ghetto, to Austin, incredibly nice. Definitely a change! My new companion is Elder Shipley. He has been out for three months and he is from Orom, Utah. He is a musician who is good at pretty much every instrument. He also writes his own music ranging from electronic music to classical. Pretty cool! We cover two wards, Walsh Ranch and Vista Ridge. And the best part is we are on bikes! It has been a blast to ride bikes. I love it. It is so nice to always be outside and around people to share the gospel with. And another bonus, it is cooling off. It hasn't gotten much hotter than 80 this past week so it has been beautiful. Riding back at night is perfection. It feels about high 60s, which makes me think it's going to get cold soon. We shall see! 

We get fed every day. It is incredible. Today we didn't even buy very much food because we only have to buy lunch and breakfast stuff. I don't know, it is soooooooooo different. A total 180. It feels like I have come to a whole other mission. It's also been interesting to go from a Ward where we had so much to do to an area where we don't have a whole lot to do. Hopefully this transfer we will be able to get some stuff done. It also interesting because in SA everyone is living a life of sin and they don't care if anyone sees so it's easy to see the need to share the gospel with them. But here everyone tries to show that their life is perfect, all is well. You have to look deeper for opportunities to serve and find the people that need and are open to feeling the spirit. My motto thus far on my mission though has been "if you do your best God will do the rest." I know that as I do my best to find them it will happen. People have been prepared and they are everywhere. 

So on Thursday we had transfer meeting which is always fun. But I went to the one in SA and if they don't read your name then you know you are going to Austin. They didn't read my name. So you have to load up your luggage in a trailer and then you ride over to Austin for their transfer meeting. It's about an hour and a half drive. Then at the transfer meetings we all sit down, the senior office couples give us some announcements, and hen they do call outs. They will say so and so is with so and so. And then you stand up, go to your new companion and give him an abrazo. And abrazo is a manly hug. And then you stand up front until they read off all the people in your zone. Then you go and sit down! I always get nervous when I get a new companion. Elder Shipley is a nice guy though, so all is well. 

General conference was wonderful. I loved the Beautiful Savior hymn sung by the kids choir. So good. All the talks were wonderful as well. I feel like the strength of the church only increases as time goes on. The apostles seem spiritually stronger than ever. Elder Holland's talk on mothers was great, the ponderize idea is awesome, Elder Nelson always gives great talks, loved Monson's talk on be an example to the believers, Elder Bednar was great, in conclusion, they all were great. Always inspires me to do better and pushes me onward. It's a wonderful time to refocus on the Savior and the basics of the gospel. We watched it with Bro. Greer. He is the Ward mission leader in vista ridge Ward. He has three kids who are hilarious. The oldest is 10. It was fun to watch it at their home. They fed us after the morning sessions were over and then we went and worked a little then went back for more conference. Oh I also loved Eyring's talk about the Holy Ghost. Ya, they were all good. 

Almost forgot, I do live with another set of missionaries. We live in the place called, "the mansion." It's ridiculous. It's not even an apartment, it's a town house. We have two floors, 3 bathrooms, 3 bedrooms, a backyard, a garage, and it's quiet. We have windows in the room we study in so we get the sun coming through in the morning. It's awesome. The other elders we live with are the zone leaders of the zone right next to ours. They make things funny. 

I will make sure to take pictures and send them to you of the area, our home, etc. next week. 

Not much to report on teaching wise this week. Sis. Campbell is on track for baptism next weekend. So is Claudia and Jalissa in SA. Elder West is training a missionary now, Elder Acor is still a zone leader in SA east zone, and now me and Elder Rowland are in the same zone. That's the update on my companions thus far. They are all doing well. 

President Slaughter has been using a scripture that I would like to share. It's John 3:30. He must increase, but I must decrease. We must decrease, just like John the Baptist. Christ must be in our countenances because only then can we help others know the way, the light, and the life. How can we help others know Christ of we don't know Him ourselves? We can decrease and Christ can increase as we study and ponder the scriptures, listen to the council of the prophets, and look to Christ in every thought. I think this ponderizing thing is a wonderful step in the right direction. I'd say give it a go! Some of the blessings promised if we ponderize are as follows: increase of spirituality, able to lift those you love, deeper understanding of the gospel, and an uplifting place for thoughts to go.  It may be hard, but hard is often good. 

Love you! 

Elder Christensen

Do Good Stuff

How many days until Christmas?

As a missionary we actually do listen to quite a bit of music. It's
all gospel and Christ centered of course but we do listen to music.
All the good stuff always ends up being Christmas stuff and it always
makes me want Christmas to be here sooner. Actually the most popular
music on the mission is The Lower Lights, so props to you Cherie Call.
I have become quite familiar with their music.

Every morning before companionship study our apartment gets together
and sings some hymns and has a prayer. The most fun ones to sing are
the Christmas ones which only adds to the longing for Christmas. Far,
far away on Judea's plane is one of my new favorites. Glory to God in
the highest!

On Monday we had p-day, of course, and we decided to go to the Alamo.
It's only like 10 minutes away from where our apartment is. It was
very neat. I can now say I have been to the Alamo. We then had a
lesson with Michael and his fiancé. They are getting married soon and
Michael wants to be baptized. Kinda cool how we got in contact with
them. So we send a scripture text every morning and we accidentally
sent the scripture to the wrong group. Well the lady who contacted us
was in this group and she ended up calling us and setting up an
appointment. Pretty cool! Then we went and met with Derek. He's an 11
year old that wants to be baptized too.

Tuesday, I can't remember what happened so probably not much. I think
we met with Glenda and Christella. Not much progress, but they are
trying.

Wednesday we had district meeting. In our district at the moment we
have us, 1st ward, the other elders on our apartment, mission creak,
and the woodlake sisters. Only 6 missionaries, which is normal.
Anyways, we thought it would be a good idea to have a musical number
thrown in there. We sang a round, a shepherds carol. It was awful. But
fun nonetheless. We then went to a great burger place and had yummy
burgers. Then we had a breakthrough! Every Wednesday and Sunday we
meet with the Lomas family. Aaron has recently gotten a calling as Cub
Scout leader dude so he's gone on Wednesdays now so it was just us and
sis lomas. Well let me back up. Last Sunday when we met with them sis
Lomas said she felt like she was ready to be baptized. Hallelujah! We
have been meeting with her for two days a week since I first started
my mission, in March. Hear baptism is planned for Sep. 26th and it is
so exciting. But when it was just us and her she really opened up and
told us her feelings about church, what she's been praying for, how's
she gotten an answer, what she wants to do, how excited she is to go
to the temple, etc. it was awesome! Now whenever we go over and teach
she is so much more open and relaxed. It's also been so cool to see
her progress. When I first started teaching her she was very shy and
didn't participate much. Everything seemed to be a burden to her. Now
she smiles, laughs, plays with her kids, talks to us openly and to
people at church. She says she hasn't felt this positive about life
ever. She has seen a total change in perspective about life. And when
we used to go over and teach there was always a good feeling in the
home, but last not when we went in it was incredible warmth and just
filled with the spirit. They seem so much closer as a family, so much
more united and happier. So in a year they can go through the temple
and receive the wonderful blessings of the temple. So exciting! Glad I
had the privilege to be apart of their journey. D&C 18:15 talks about
bringing souls unto Christ. It says if you bring once soul into Christ
how great shall be your joy with them in the kingdoms of my father.
The people we help come unto Christ we better like, because we will be
with them for eternity in the kingdom of God. Great verse!

Thursday was weekly planning but me and Elder West have become good friends.

Friday was a slower day. We proselyted and looked for people who would
listen to the message of the restoration. I finally like to proselyte.
It's fun and it feels good to share the gospel. The better you become
at sharing the gospel effectively the happier you are and that comes
from knowledge of how to do it. Preach my gospel is such a good tool
to use and to study, love that book. We then had a lesson with a less
active guy and called it a day.

Saturday was a similar day. Not much to report on.

Sunday was great, like all Sunday's. We had the privilege of going to
ward council this week which is always so fun. Our bishop has really
seen the importance lately of helping the people we bring into the
church stay into the church. It's awesome! We now have his full
support and trust. Things are on the uphill climb for the 1st ward. We
have a great bishop. Good stuff was discussed there. I really think I
came to this area not only to help investigators or non members but
also members too. I have definitely been called to the San Antonio
mission by inspiration! Sister lomas even stayed for all 3 hours and
loved relief society. Great day! We then went over and taught Jalissa
and destiny. They are in a tough spot and I hope they will act on the
message we share. Jesus Christ is there for everyone and to help with
all things. We then went over to the lomas house and had a good lesson
on following Christ and doing what's right. I then had the privilege
to give bro. Lomas sr a blessing. I take the priesthood for granted.
They don't! They see what a blessing it is to have the Melchizedek
priesthood, and they are starting to help me see it too.

Something that I run into a lot here in Texas is people are very
content with what they have. Most people don't have a desire to
change. I read Alma 36 this morning because it talks about what a
belief in Christ can do for us. In Alma 36:3 it says Christ will
support us in our troubles, and our trials, and our afflictions, and
we shall be lifted up at the last day. That is what a belief in Christ
can do for us. It leads to eternal life and complete support in this
life. We also learn in v. 20 that as we turn to Christ our souls are
filled wi joy and light. That is the only way to have that light
within us! It's His light, how do we have His light? Follow Him. It's
a good message. Glad I have the privilege to share it.

I also love in Alma 36:2 how it talks about bondage. I love when the
scriptures talk about bondage. Such good symbolism, only Christ can
free us from the bondage of death and sin and all trials both temporal
and spiritual. His yoke truly is easy and His burden is light.

D&C 76:22 And now, after the many testimonies which have been given of
him, this is the testimony, last of all, which we give of him: That he
lives!

Amen!

I love you all, thanks for taking the time to write and send emails.
It's always uplifting!
Have a great week

Sincerely,
Elder Christensen
Do Good Stuff

6/15/15 - It's getting hot

The past week has been around 95 and humid. I didn't know what it
meant to sweat until now!

We weren't horribly busy this past week. A slower week for sure but
regardless it was a good one. Last Sunday a lady we had not seen
before at church was there with her kids and apparently she's a member
so we tried to talk to her but we didn't get the chance. Thankfully
she came up to us after church and asked us if we would be willing to
teach her kids. We said no and that was the end of that.

Just kidding, of course we said yes and we have had 3 visits and he is
already set with a baptismal date. Julius is is his name and he is
only 9. Apparently he told his mom that he wanted to learn more about
Christ and God so his mom took him and his 7 year old sister to
church. Such a cool experience I get to be a part of. I wasn't sure
how to teach kids or if we should skip over anything but he
understands everything very well. It's neat to see a humble family
relying on the Lord. I certainly wouldn't have seen them that way
without this experience. They are good people who are striving to do
what's right. God really does love all of His children and is aware of
us individually. I am seeing that a little bit more every day.
Something that's really helped me see this is studying the Book of
Mormon. It really makes you more rooted in the faith. It helps build
that sure foundation.

We also have a new ward mission leader so it will be a change to start
working with someone new. He is a former bishop so he will be great.
On Saturday a member of the ward was having a get together with some
of his friends and he invited us over for dinner. He was in the
marines for a while and served in Korea and Vietnam and such. He loves
Korean food so he made Korean food. It was actually pretty darn good
and I enjoyed it.

We didn't get to meet with Baltimore but hopefully we will next
Thursday. We did meet with the Malones though and she is taking her
own sweet time. She is so ready to be baptized I am just not sure how
to help her see that. She also has a hard time coming to church but
where there's a will there's a way.

On Tuesday I had the privilege on going on exchanges with elder McKay.
He's a fun guy and it was a fun day. We had lots of lessons that day.
Tomorrow we have zone conference where we will learn more about how to
study with the iPads.

There's a cool scripture in D&C 84:45 that tells us exactly how we
have more of the spirit with us. All we have to do is understand
truth. We understand truth by reading the BoM, pondering, praying and
acting and observing. As we begin to know and understand eternal
truths we receive light which light is spirit, even the spirit of
Christ. What a cool promise! A good place to start is the articles of
faith. If we understand and have a testimony of each one we will have
an increase of the spirit. Of course we have to be keeping the
commandments and doing what is asked of us but as we do so the spirit
comes.
Love you all, have an awesome Father's Day all you fathers! Love you dad
Do Good Stuff
Elder Christensen

5/24/15 - A tender mercy from Texas ...

Wendy (Kade's mom here) -

I love the kindness of strangers ... I was touched by this photo of Elder Christensen and the little text that came with it:

Dear Sister Christensen, today we were visiting our son in Texas where we ran into your missionary son, serving. I am attaching a sweet photo of him with our precious grandson, named ... Kade Christensen same as your young man! Same spelling and your Elder even pinned his name plate on the perspective Elder. Thought you would enjoy the photo.
Hugs from another Sister C.

THANK YOU!