Letter from the Mission President

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

9/21/15 - The Whale Bible and it's still hot -

I realized I did not post this letter. So this is out of order .... Letter from 9/21/15 -
PS: This letter is SO Funny. We laughed until we cried. :) ENJOY.

My dearest friends and family,

Another week has come and gone. I have hit 7 months in the mission
field and this transfer ends next Thursday. We shall find out if I
stay or leave next Tuesday. If I stay, I will be in the SA 1st Ward
for 9 months. Zoo wee mama! That's a long stinking time. But alas, if
I am meant to stay I am meant to stay. I don't think I would mind at
this point. What's another 6 weeks? Not much compared to 7 months. I
love this Ward. It's a good one. Very humble, nice people. And there
is always stuff to do in this area since its massive. We definitely
have had dry spells before but at the moment that is not the case,
knock on wood. 

There are these things called media referrals which are
always fun to get. People will request things on lds.org such as a
bible or BoM or some free movie, and then we get a text saying what
they want, where they live and a phone number if they gave one. About
99.9% of the time people request bibles which is ALWAYS interesting.
If we get a request for a bible it's either a lovely child of God in
the country or in the ghetto. 

We had a wide variety of both this week.
Let me begin....

 1. Katrina. Requested item: Bible, could you also bring me a large
print bible because my husband can't see very well. Thanks!


 This is a complicated order. Step 1, order the giant whale bible from
the mission office. Step 2, wait 2-3 weeks to get the whale bible.
Step 3, pick up the bible the size of a whale, this thing was huge!
Step 4, take the bible to Katrina and her husband. They live over in
Adkins which is about a 30 minute drive. The only time we could go and
take it to them was at about 8 so we set it up with her and then we
were on our way! They were nice people, but interesting. We sat there
and we tried to share something with them and I think we achieved. He
was talking about his come to Jesus moment and we related it to Alma
36 when Alma the younger comes to God and is filled with light. Her
husband loved to share his knowledge about the bible, sometimes he was
right and sometimes wrong, like all of us. But here are two
highlights: Jesus Christ and Satan had a scripture battle and God put
Moses in a cave and then put His hand over the cave entrance so Moses
couldn't get out. Bizarre! Bless his heart. They introduced us to
their talking bird, Paco. They made us tacos, they are in the taco
business, and they gave us water and fruit snacks! Good exchange for
the whale bible if I do say so myself. At first they were a little
nervous about the BoM but they opened up to it a little. They both
took one so hopefully they read it. The gospel is the answer to all
problems, it's awesome! If they turn to it and follow its teachings,
they will find happiness. Oh, the people you meet in the middle of
nowhere in Texas.


 2. Gallon. Requested item: Bible

Plot twist, we meet her and she is wonderful and very nice! She
ordered one for her husband who recently had a bone marrow transplant.
We had a nice conversation and asked if we could say a prayer with
her. She said of course and we said one. People in the south love to
hold hands when praying so this was a hand holding prayer. It's funny.
But if it pleases their hearts than all is well. The spirit was there
and hopefully she felt it and wants that feeling back. She said she
would call us when her husband is feeling better and she would listen.
Hopefully they can hear the message of the restored gospel soon.

3. Antonio. Requested item: BoM in Spanish and Bible

We could not get a hold of this guy. We tried by his house three times
and each time we tried a very old lady would answer the door, say
Antonio was not there, and then talk to us for a while. She liked us
to call her Grandma Julie. Then one night we stopped by at about 8:30,
and this being the ghetto, she was way nervous to answer the door. A
mistake on our part. Anyways, I think she had her daughter answer the
door and she snatched those books from us and that was the end of
that! We will go and stop by a couple more times and see if we can
catch this mysterious Antonio. Hopefully we will be able to, if it's
meant to happen it will.

 4. Jana. Requested item: Bible

She lives out in La Vernia, another small city out in the middle of
nowhere. This one was about 35 minutes away. The country always makes
me a little nervous because I never know who is going to answer the
door or how many dogs they might have. You never know what to expect.
This one was looking like it might be one of those kind of situations.
We knocked a couple times and eventually a younger girl, I imagine her
daughter, opened the door and said she would give it to Jana. Most of
the bible requests don't want to talk to us at all, most of them just
want the free bible, which is fine, the bible will bring them closer
to God too.

Those were our bible requests this week. I guess Katrina was a while
back, we finally got it to her this week though. They were fun to do.


 Next weekend we will have 3 baptisms which will be awesome! So this
week we set up baptismal interviews and what not and worked with the
people that are going to be baptized. Next weekend we have Jessica
Lomas, Claudia, and Michael. All are very ready and prepared! And then
this weekend we had Derrick's baptism, which I will talk about.

Derrick is 11, soon to be 12, and has been trying to get baptized
since he was 8. Due to some family issues he has not been able to do
so. Some stuff changed and worked out so he was able to get baptized.
We taught him the lessons and set him with a date and he was good to
go. He has come a long way since we first met him. But at the baptism
we asked his grandma to say the opening prayer. In her prayer she
thanked God for allowing Derrick to be baptized and having everything
work out. She said she had been praying for this day for a long time.

The spirit was so strong and a lot of people showed up! It was a great
baptism, and afterwards we had cupcakes, juice, and cookies.

A couple of weeks ago we taught him about tithing and told him it was
a commandment that we promised God we would do. That Sunday he came
up to me and said I made 20 dollars but I don't have 2 dollars yet. He
was so excited to pay his tithing. He is very excited to be a part of
a community and be a part of something important. If he Ward gives him
responsibility and helps him feel even more apart of the Ward family
they will have a great new member.

The other day we had dinner with the Allreds. They are awesome! They
live about 40 minutes away in the country close to Floresville. Last
year their house burned down so they built a new one. They have two
young kids and the husband is a nurse. But they were still laughing
and smiling. Nicest people. They have the biggest spiders all over
their front porch. They also have some very fat hens and a couple
dogs. A cool garden too.

On Tuesday we had zone meeting. Me and Elder West gave trainings. The
focus as of late has been inviting people to baptism. The mission in
numbers has gone down in baptisms and the leaders have been worried
about it. It was a great meeting. Going back to basics to figure out
how we can get more people to come unto Christ through baptism. It's
so important that this church is on the earth. Without it we wouldn't
know Christ's true teachings and as a result we wouldn't know what it
is we need to do to return to live with God. Or even know the way we
need to live to have happiness and joy.

I was reading in Helaman 14 the other day. It talks a lot about the
atonement. We often think of the atonement as Christ's suffering in
the garden and on the cross. Central to the atonement is the
resurrection. Without the resurrection we would not be able to be
brought into the presence of God, if we couldn't be brought into the
presence of God we couldn't be assigned a reward for our works. If we
couldn't be assigned a reward we would all be lost. But because there
is a resurrection and we will be brought into the presence of God, we
need a way to be clean when that time comes. The way we become clean
is through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. That happens through
repentance. As we turn to Christ for a remission of sins we can
experience what Enos has felt, what Alma has felt, what anyone that
has turned to Christ has felt. The people of King Benjamin, the
Lamanites, the Nephites; the BoM is a book of repentance and the hope
found in Christ.

Sunday was wonderful. Church is so good and up lifting. No better time
to think of the Savior than during the sacrament. There's a great
Mormon message called Always Remember Him. I would recommend it! Also
a great conference talk on the sacrament called Blessings of the
Sacrament about how we can make it more meaningful.

Anyways, the church is true, Christ lives! And we know that because
Joseph Smith saw God and His Son Jesus Christ. If you don't believe
Joseph, read the BoM, it's evidence that Joseph Smith was telling the
truth.


 Hope y'all have a great week! Share the gospel with your friends, they
will be eternally grateful. They are loved by God too and He wants
them home!



Sincerely,
Elder Christensen
Do Good Stuff

Ps. In the 90's all week....

Kindness ...

Photo via text - at dinner!

Photo via text - at dinner!

So thankful for all the kind people in Texas who feed the Missionaries and take the time to send me photos :)!

~ Wendy

10/12/15 - Hot, Heat, Burning, Fire, Scorch, Inferno, Scald, etc.‏

All these words describe Texas, even on October. I thought it was

cooling off, but alas, twas not so. It's supposed to be about 90+ all
week. People are nice though and give us bottles of water quite
frequently. The concept of bottled water is bizarre. Water, which is
everywhere, in a plastic bottle.

Since we cover two wards we do a solid 6 hours of extra church. I love
it, the only bad part is getting motivated afterwards to ride bikes. I
really like two sacrament meetings. In the SA 1st Ward no one played
the organ so we had an electric organ that played itself. But this
limited us to 10 of the sacrament songs. I became familiar with those
ones. Sometimes it would just do the most random things. It was an
unpredictable organ. But in the two wards I'm in now they both have
organ players so we have full range of the hymn book. The little
things we take for granted. We really don't know what we have till
it's gone. Both wards are so rich, such a difference between the two
areas. Of course I received a warm welcome. Lots of good, kind people.
I think I've gained some weight too from all these dinners.

In our Walsh Ranch Ward we attend the priest quorum the third hour.
For some reason we have been asked to do so. It was fun. Youth are fun
people, lots of energy and excitement. I guess I'm still a youth, but
I sure do feel a lot older.

We might be moving from the mansion soon. The lease is almost up on
the mansion, the other elders in our mansion ad moving out sometime
this week and they haven't told us where we are going yet. It's tricky
because they can move us to apartments but the closest ones are at the
bottom of vista ridge and if we get moved there it's going to be quite
the journey to get up to Walsh ranch Ward. But who knows, we will see
what happens.

For the mean time our most common path is the brushy creek trail. It
takes us wherever we need to go! It's shady too so it's nice.

At the moment we have 1 investigator. Her name is Gabi. The
missionaries have been working with her for a while. She is in her
40's with a few kids. We met with her this week and she feels like she
has yet to get an answer as to whether or not being baptized is what
God wants her to do. As to whether or not this is the true church. Me,
Elder Shipley, and our Ward mission leader fasted that she would
receive her answer. Now we wait and see. Of course she will get one.
God always keeps His promises. Since we only have 1 person we are
working with consistently we do a lot of knocking. The primary program
is coming up so we are going to work with the members and hopefully
get them to invite some of their friends to the church.

We also went by these potentials, Jason and Jennifer. We knocked on
their door and they let us right in. We sat down and talked a little
bit about his background and his beliefs. We had a nice chat and we
would of taught him a lesson but due to some circumstances we did not.
We invited them to church and they said yes! Absolutely! But they
didn't come, we will invite them again and hopefully we will be able
to teach them. We get a lot of people that say yea you can share your
message but we won't change. I haven't been very good at taking these
opportunities to teach but this week I'm going to do better. Since we
also don't have too many opportunities to teach and testify each
person is a golden chance to do so. Whenever someone is on the street,
begin to testify immediately and hope they are receptive to the
spirit. I think this area will really help me with my ability to talk
to people as well. It will be good.

Me and Elder Shipley get long great. He is easy to get along with, I
think I'm easy to get along with, therefore it's easy. We've been
ponderizing this past week and we set a goal to do so the whole
transfer. It's awesome! It invites the spirit and helps you in your
thoughts, behaviors, feelings, really with everything. Outlook,
kindness, etc.. Pretty cool!

We also had our first district meeting this last Wednesday. It was
fun, the spirit was there, therefore it was a success. We will get
some district pictures next Wednesday. Due to zone meeting we will not
have district meeting this week. They want to take me to all these
good places to eat here in Austin so we started with this place called
Torcheys (Torchies?) Tacos. It was really good. We will try something
new next week. Sister Rey had us over for dinner this week and made us
some phillipian food. She made some great egg rolls. I was impressed!

Slow week missionary work wise. We will be led to where we need to go,
all is and will be well!

I was reading in 3 Nephi the other day in chapter 17. In this chapter
Jesus Christ prays for the people. In PMG there's a chapter called
developing Christlike attributes. Under the charity section there is a
scripture study box that gives you scriptures that show how Christ
showed His love for all of us. I was reading those and I think 3 Nephi
17:14-17 fits in quite nicely. In v. 14 it says "Jesus groaned within
himself, and said: Father, I am troubled because of the wickedness of
the people of the house of Israel." The word groaned is powerful.
Shows His deep love. This teaches us about the character of Christ. He
never thought about himself. He was always and always will be
concerned for His brothers and sisters. He knelt down with the people
and prayed for them and with them. In v. 15-17 we learn how the people
felt about this. They felt joy! They felt the since and genuine love
Christ had for them. As we develop and pray for the love of Christ we
can help others feel that love. And that love brings joy. Jesus Christ
is so dedicated to our joy, I believe He is constantly working for our
benefit and always striving to prepare us for His gospel. Even if we
don't see it or feel it, He is always helping everyone. I've seen that
more than ever serving a mission. It's a priceless thing to see.

Love you all. Have a great week!
Do Good Stuff

Sincerely,
Elder Christensen

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

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

9/28/15 - God Bless America!

Instead of 100's all week it has been in the low 90's. Definitely a
difference! I first noticed on p-day. Normally after playing
basketball and I step outside I feel like I might melt, but last p-day
I stepped outside and it was bearable. Some more leaves are starting
to fall off the trees, a little more windy, and more clouds. We had a
little thunder and lightning storm the other day with a little rain.
Anywho, that's the weather update. I'm not sure what the weather man
is predicting this coming week.

First off, an observation!

Texas is different. The people are different. The church is different,
but still true. In Washington the missionaries were just there. They
did their job, the Ward was there to help when needed, and life was
good. Something I have noticed lately is that in Texas everyone looks
up to the missionaries. The missionaries are everything and they are
another set of leaders in the Ward. It seems like the leadership role
of a missionary in the wards is bigger here than in other places. It's
not just in this Ward I think. From talking to other missionaries it
sounds the same way. I'm not sure why that is, but it is. Of course
all missionaries have a huge role in the Ward they serve in, but in
Texas it's different. People really look up to you and notice
everything you do, and then they will do the same. I don't know, it's
different.

About the week, it was busy with baptisms! We had Jessica's baptism on
Saturday and Michael's baptism on Sunday. We have been working with
Jessica since I first got here, 7 months ago. Originally we were
helping her husband be baptized which happened the first month I was
here. Then, we asked Jessica if she would like to take the lessons and
she said sure. She said she liked the change that she saw in her
husband. So we taught her every Wednesday and Sunday. We invited her
to be baptized and she said no. We continued to teach her for a couple
months and then invited her to be baptized again, she said no. We
continued to teach her and then asked her if she would like to be
baptized, she said no. We then taught her a lesson but before hand we
talked to her about her feel is towards the church and what not. She
told us her observations and feelings and then we asked her if she
would like to be a part of this church. She said yes! We set her with
a date and then worked towards it. A month later she was baptized! All
the effort payed off. It was very cool to see the change that the
gospel brought into her life and the change that will continue to
occur as she stays faithful to the gospel.

Her baptism was awesome. There was about 15 people that came. Her
husband was able to baptize her and when she came back out she looked
like the happiest person in the world. The light that was illuminating
from her was very impressive. It was so sweet. The people that didn't
come missed out for sure. Then we had her confirmation the next day.
That was good too! The gift of the Holy Ghost is a wonderful thing. It
truly cleanses us and prepares us to live with God.

Sunday was also fast Sunday. Fast Sunday's are fun because we get to
bear testimony. It's a great opportunity to do so. I always feel for
the bishop when someone gets up there and rambles on and tells
stories. The bishop in this Ward always tries to keep things on task
and about the savior but alas, that is very tricky to do.

We also aren't teaching gospel principles class anymore which is so
nice. The people that come to that class are investigators and they
probably want someone else to teach them. It's fun, but it got old so
I am grateful.

Michael's baptism was good too! He has been trying to get baptized for
the past 2 years but because of some issues he has had to wait until
now. But he's baptized now, so all is well! Rachelle, his wife, really
wants an eternal family. He does too but not as much. He will come
around though. He's a good guy.

We've been having to make all the baptismal programs as of late which
isn't bad at all. I've gotten pretty good at it. The rough part is
finding a way to print them out.in our apartment complex we have a
little office area in the main office that has two computers. So we
make the programs there. They have a nice printer, but they have been
out of ink for the past month. How they print out anything they need I
don't know! So making them is easy, getting them printed is the pain.

The apartment office is a funny place. They have been trying to hire
some new people for a while now and they finally did. His name is Roy,
rather funny. But everyone in the office is really mean to him which
is so weird. He takes it though, he's a good guy. We listen to their
conversations a lot when we make programs. Poor guy. Everyone is
really nice to us though. Speaking of the apartment, we are teaching a
guy that lives right next to us. His name is Conald. He watches us
back our cars out when we leave for the day and he's often out on the
steps on the phone. We talked to him one day and he said we could come
and share our message with him. He's had a rough life and he was
really interested in the BoM. We talked about the plan of salvation
and we shared some scriptures out of the BoM we though might help him.
He has had a hard life and he has been looking for relief from some
mistakes he has made. He said the BoM helped him feel better. It's
always very cool to go into someone's house and teach the gospel and
feel the spirit, and then the whole feeling in the room is different
when we leave. It's like the whole room is elevated to a higher plane.
Even if we don't do a very good job teaching, the spirit is always
consistent and pulls through. It happened a couple times this past
week.

We also had a week full of dinners! Every day this past week someone
fed us. It was wonderful. We had dinner with the Vaughns which was
probably my favorite. She's so horribly independent it's awesome! They
are a very funny couple, very fun. We talked about art, family
history, and their grandkids! We also had dinner with the Wernetts who
bought us pizza. We got lost trying to find their house though. It
should of taken like 40 minutes to get there but it took about an hour
and a half. Even with the gps it was a struggle. But their daughter
that they adopted is interested in being baptized so we will start to
teach her. They are fun to go over to because they have 3 fun boys.
One of them really likes to draw so I always try to teach him stuff I
know. I showed him the color wheel and he thought it was the coolest
thing. It was nice to have someone appreciate my art knowledge, even
if he is only 10. Then on Saturday the bishop had us over and we had a
fun dinner. They have such a cool house out in the country on a bunch
of land. It was fun.

We had to get the flu shot is week. Apparently everyone in the mission
is required to get it. Funny, elder West hates shots so he was a
little nervous. But all was well.

They switched transfer calls to transfer emails and they come on
Tuesday. I will know tomorrow if I stay or leave. My guess is leave,
but who knows.

All in all, good week! If you would like a good chapter to read, John
4 in the New Testament is a rest one. Lots to learn from the woman at
the well. It's very, very cool! Jesus the Christ will help.

Have a great week.

Love,
Elder Christensen
Do Good Stuff!