aug 15th 2011

Familia,
 
   Hows everyone doin? im so tired today... went had a multizone activity and we went to central park in san jose and played football, soccer and stuff.. it was way fun buy im so tired! 5 out of the 9 zones came, so there was a lot of elders and sisters. I was ballin it up in soccer once again... i scored like 5 goals.. and some of these elders play for national soccer teams. Theres like 5 Elders that play for the national team of Honduras, El Salvador and i think theres one from Guatemala. And i showed them a lil somethin.. haha
  Thats crazy girls camp is already over madre.. but good now you wont be so stressed and naggy all the time ;) Majerle and Maddi didnt go tho?? what slackers!!
  Thats awesome that maddi made the soccer team!! is there team good tho? haha is majerle still just lazy or what? Theres a girl in our ward here that reminds me of majerle, always sleeping and her personality reminds me of her a ton too! Theres a lot of people here that remind me of family members! Oh and does she drive my car or what?
  Thats good that work is so good!! Chase is working for you right? How are the hansens anyway? When does braden have his baby again? thats soooo crazy!!! i bet hes excited about both the baby and football. I did kinda miss football today when i was playing it.. but not that much haha
  So we have two babtisms this saturday so im excited but other than that we dont really have much :( In two days we contacted 11 familys and put appointments with them and everything to teach them. It was like a record for the mission of family contacts i think! haha so i hope they dont bail out... but well see!!! This lady that is getting babtised saturday day is like 50 years old and also her grandson that is 12 years old is getting babtised. The son of the lady was the bishop of our ward here in garabito like 10 years ago and he went on a mission and everything.. but she is NOT a member.. crazy huh!! But we started teaching her and everything and she wants to get babtised! She is way cool and same with the grandson. But i still want a family of 5 to babtise... i love teaching families so much!! when we have family investigators it is a lot more fun!!
  OOhhh thats good there was a fire by Jeffs house :) because fires are so good for deer and elk.. so by the time i get back that area will be infested with deer!! :) by the way... im sooo jealous you are going to Elk camp this week... wow thats crazy!! So this thursday you are going to Scofield then? or where? And how long are you guys going for? You better tag out dad! You can use both the tags in the same area then? Hows the bow feeling.. are you gonna be able to hit one under the pressure? What are you guys gonna sleep in? Who all is going.. Tyler, you, buck, brandon? Have you lifted your truck yet??! What kind of arrows are you gonna use this year? and whats your guys game plan to hunt? are you gonna take the fourwheelers?... i want to know ALL the details!!!
  Ive lost a lil wait.. when i left the MTC i was like 195 and now im like 185 i think. But i also have a lil gut.. i think from all the rice and beans.. everybody has a gut here! haha its funny! We can go to the gym right by our house if we want but im too lazy to wake up at 5 in the morning in order to go. But like 3 months before i come home im gonna hit the gym like crazy :)
 You took buck jeeping? haha how did he like it? were the rocks even big tho? I bet he was crying ether way!! So i get my leather cases for my scriptures finally tomorrow... it took forever but they are gonna be so sick. The case for my book of mormon has the picture of christ coming to the americas in front with the mayan temple and on the back is the picture of Samuel the lamanite on the wall with all the arrows being shot at him. Im way excited!! I havent taken many more pictures.. i need to start again taking more!
  Well i love you guys and good luck this weekend dad.. better get something and send me all the pics!! :)
Love
  Elder Christensen

aug 8th 2011

Hola mi familia!
 
    I want to right you in all spanish buy it takes to long for you guys to translate it! haha
how are you guys?? im doing good! It doesnt rain as much right now which is good and bad... good cuz im not soaking wet all day, and back because its twice as hot now so im soaking wet but with sweat! haha
 Thats awesome girlscamp is this week mom! i bet your excited!! youve always been ment for that calling to be with the young women!! I wish i was there to help too.. haha
 Dang i miss the family reunions a lot!! How was it? was mostly everyone there? were the hansens there? Thats crazy that erica is the head coach!!! Ahhh i miss the cutrer boys!! haha are they playing for Alta then? I wish i was there to go watch them! And that sucks about Jeremy :( i will definately pray for him!!
  Tryouts for maddi already? i hope she made it!! when does she find out?? And is majerle doin dance or what? Yeah i write joe and lisa all the time!! i miss them!! Yeah im getting kind of sick of this area.. its just cuz i feel like ived talked to everyone here and right now we dont have as much investigators! So yeah i would like to have changes the next time. Hopefully! Some days i really almost hit my comp in the face haha its so tempting! but im trying to get a long with him.. hes just so different!!
 The highlight of my week?.. When i went on divisions with two other elders last tuesday and wasnt with elder cerrato hahaha We worked in the area of them for a day and had some great lessons with cool families and then that night we played Risk.. it was way fun!:)
  Yes all the people that i have babtised are still progressing and keeping there covenants with the lord and everything! Richard, Reina, Allan, and Ramsés, the family that i babtised, are doing great!! They went to the temple to do babtisms for the dead 2 weeks ago and go to church without fail :)
 Thats awesome that work is doing so well dad.. and yes tell me everything.. i like it! I hope the work keeps coming and i hope by the time i get home you have built the biz of so much that we can go hunting every weekend :) Keep working hard.. haha
  AHHHhh thats so sick you have 4 tags!! im so jealous!! i have a dream of hunting like every night haha Its hard not to think about it!! i try to focus totally in the work but there are times where i just day dream of flingin an arrow at a big bull elk or somethin!! I cant wait to get back and buy the newest hoyt carbon... not PSE! haha Oh yeah dont go to Humphreys... go to Jakes archery... that is way better!! The scofield trip will be so awesome!! what days are you guys going?
  Yeah you better get that book when you get back!! Its sooo awesome!! Make sure you read it!! On Pdays we mostly just sleep, which is awesome cuz i dont have a lot of energy... Ever!! I think next week were doing a zone activity.. going to a waterfall in one of the areas in our zone.. so that will be way cool! ill send the picks! :)
 Theres this one family of members in my ward that are having marraige problems and its way sad. This guy, Jóse, is like the coolest guy ever... hes like 30 years old and use to be a big drug dealer in the Leon Trece, but 3 years ago he got taught by the missionaries and was babtised and then got married to this lady a year later and she had to kids before and then all of them got babtised! his conversion story is awesome! But the past couple weeks theyve been having problems and like 5 days ago the wife left him and took her two kids.
Hes been way sad and weve been teaching him a lot. But yesterday we were sitting in sacrament meeting and it had started and all the sudden we see all four of them walk into the chapel together... it was awesome!! :) so hopefully they can work everything out.. they still havent gone to the temple and gotten sealed yet so they need to put that as a goal!! Jóse is the guy that posted a picture of him and i on facebook... have you guys seen it?
  I cant wait to come home and be able to talk to all the mexicans and stuff. And be able to order food at mcdonalds without the order being wrong! ;) I cant wait to come home to my family.. i get home sick a ton but i know this is where im suppose to be. But love you guys!! have a good week!
  ¡¡Pura Vida!!
Love
   Elder Christensen

Hola familia
 
  So this last week weve been working hard and everything and completed all of our goals for the week and more. We got 10 new investegators and we were teaching them but for some reason all of them just werent progressing or anything and we lost them all. :( But whatever.
    Anyways how is everything going? Dad you didnt answer my questions about work... And about all the crime.. its ok dont worry about me! I cant die... my patriarchal blessing says im gonna have a wife and kids so obviously i aint gonna die!! haha And yes i have heard of ´´blending in´´ thats why i have a mohawk hahaha everyone here has a mohaw, and im not lying.... everyone! haha Thats sick about your garden and stuff! Of course roxy chill with you out there shes the best dog ever! i miss her! theres sooo many bulldogs here!! And you didnt answer me about the hunting trip you guys are going on... where is it to again? and what are you going for during that trip? cuz you are gonna buy an Bull elk tag too right? did buck get a new bow yet?? Thats awesome your work is doing so well mom!! Do you still work the same hours?
  Yeah my new comp is a little bit better but ugh sometimes he pisses me off haha but its all good!! So i heard Emilys getting married huh? crazy. The hamburgers are great they are like a crown burger hamburger almost but way better!! we get one like every night!! Lil buck can walk now?? what the crap thats crazy!! Oh and you never told me if you bought the book yet... Exploring the lands of the Book of Mormon?? ugh you guys have to buy it!!
  Yeah ever since Vasquez left im been way homesick and triste. Its hard when your not liking your comp and your investegators arent progressing and everything!! I hope this next week will get better! I hate thinking about home!!! Its definately the hardest thing ive done ever! but its always way cool and i there are times where its easy and amazing! haha
  Madddddiii happy birthday!!! :)
    So in about a month are changes again and i think i might have changes.. i would like that.. a new area... new people.... new comp :) haha but we´ll see what happens!! Yeah did i tell you i traded my ipod touch to elder lanza for his 120GB ipod brand new... its so sick.. and it has like all the videos of the church on it and tons of church music and a lil country... ;) haha its tite! Well aways i love you all and ill talk to you next week...
Elder Christensen

 Reina got babtised and we completed the family... and they are progressing and everything... infact they went to the temple last week and did babtisms for the dead and they loved it.. they even took some of their own family names to do! they are so awesome!

 These fruits are called 创momones chinos创 and they are the BEST tasting things ever!!!



Crazy new post

Hola familia!

   Thats crazy work is so busy dad... but thats good right!! How many employees do you have now? Is the business growing back to how it was? Yeah you better break out the bow... but DONT touch my arrows or my broadheads!!! You all are going to scofield?? when are you going? ugh im jealous! so you drew a deer tag and then just gonna buy an elk tag over the counter? thats sick tho! 

   So ive had my new comp for about 4 days now, Elder Cerrato from Honduras, i dont know what to think of him... haha Hes definately not Vasquez... who i miss like crazy now! He doesnt talk very much and we dont have anything in common and i dont really like him... but its all good! haha And i pretty much teach the whole lesson because he doesnt talk much, but hes a hard worker..

  Clark has his new comp now that lives with us, his name is Elder Fernadez and hes from mexico like vasquez. Hes way tite and funny. Oh and i have my book, Exploring the Land of the Book of Mormon.... Its SOOO freaking awesome!! its about 950 pages and it is so amazing!! Dad get on the internet or go to desseret book right now and buy it and read it!! Ive never read a cooler buy except for the BOM its self haha it talks about the Olmecs(Jaredites) and the Mayans(Nefites and Lamanites) and how they were the only civilizations alive during the time period of the book of mormon and it has so much proof of the book of mormon that its crazy!! You HAVE to buy it!! Im already on page 150 haha

   We have a ton of new families, we have 2 differnt family babtisms for the 13th of august and 1 for the 6th also. One of the families is a family of 4 and they are awesome.. the only problem is is they arent married, but they can get married the same day and their babtism. They have two kids, 8 and 11 years old. I have pictures of the last two babtisms but i forgot my camera at the house.

  Oh and by the way i had a gun put to my head on saturday night... haha classic!! So we were walking by our house saturday night knocking doors and stuff and we see this lady named Jamie. And it was weird because i met her once before. The first time i met her she just got robbed and ran and found the closest people to her which was us... this was like a month ago. But saturday night we passed by this house and Jamie was just leaving, it was her moms house, and she was like can i walk with you guys so ïts safer and so we were walking a little and we were talking and setting up an appointment to teach her and everything and the we stopped walking and challenged her to be babtised the 13th of august and she said yes. And then right after that these 3 guys come up to us and one of them pulls out a gun and says give me your stuff.. but all this is in spanish. haha and the one with the gun goes up to her and takes her purse and then points the gun at me and says give me your bag, i said no way man and then one of the others tried to take it from me and i pushed him and then said leave and they ran away! They were all like in their 20s or so! And they got away with her purse and my comps agenda thing. I wanted to beat the crap out of them but they had a gun so it wouldve been awkward!! But can you believe it.. the same girl that was robbed a month ago that we met, we see her again on saturday and she gets robbed again..... crazy! But then after we called the cops and helped her and walked her home. Then we went and got a hamburger!

     Then the next morning at like 8 we were walking to pick up this family that lives in Leon Trece to bring them to church right.. and we get to their house and were knocking they door and all the sudden a guy tries to grab my bag... and he had a bag over his right hand and said he had a gun in it. So i grab his left arm and twist it and push him off me and tell him to leave and then we argued for a little bit and stuff and then i was like sit down. So he sat and i was like your going to hell if you do this anymore and then he was like i know i know. Then i asked his why he does this, he said For the money. and i was like yeah but its wrong and told him he can change. And this he was like how? and then i said well first of were going to church right now and you should come with us. and then we started talking a little bit and stuff and he was like im sorry gringo, your cool. I he said i was about to stab you before i came up to you but i dont know why i didnt. and this he lifted up his shirt and showed me his 12 inch knife haha and then gave me a hug and left. haha he was like 28 years old or so. And then the family finally came out and said they couldnt come to church that day :(

   But the past two days have been a little crazy but its all good. haha But today was awesome.. we had an activity with our both our wards, Garabito and Clarks ward Tibas. So all four of us went, me clark fernandes and my comp. They had xboxes and ping pong and fuseball and food and drinks and soccer and stuff. It was way tite!! I was killin it at soccer today, i scored like 5 goals against like all the amazing costa rican players haha but im wayyy tired now! But it has been a great day!

  Um in the package please send more socks, the same ones from missionary mall. My black watch that matt has, but he is going to bring it to you i hope soon. And idk a Elk calender from Kings camo if they have it yet... but if not just find another elk calender. And idk what else.. name some other things that i might need..?

  Well i love you and will talk to you next week. :)

Elder Christensen

July 20th Letter

Dear family,

¿Como está? So i got my new comp and were just chillin here in the internet cafe. It is weird not having Vasquez here.. i already miss him! but its all good. My new comp is from honduras and he has 19 months in the mission. I dont really know much about him yet, but he seems pretty cool. Today we had the change meeting and everything.. it was cool and i got my books :) exploring the land of the book of mormon.. its soo tite!
  last saturday our two babtisms went well, we babtised the 12 year old kid and then the wife of Richard also. So now we completed the family and they are all awesome. We going to teach them tonight and watch the joseph smith movie with them... im excited. They are working now to be able to go to the temple and get sealed. Which is a year from now, but still i am going to be here still and i can go to it :) So that will be awesome!! The other family that we have commited to be babtised the 6th of next month.. they would be babtised sooner but theyre going to nicaraqua for a couple weeks to visit family there. They arent married but we also commited them to be married the same day as the babtism in order to be babtised. They have a little boy that has 2 years. They are awesome too and are progressing also. We also have another couple that we are teaching. They are progressing but they have marraige problems so were working with them and still teaching them. They also have a babtism date for the 30th of this month but i think we need to work with them more to save there marraige and everything. But the work is good. we are contacting a ton of families. We contact like 3 families a day there are a lot here!
    These last two days we were kind of slacking tho, because Vasquez wanted to say good bye to the members and stuff before he left, Vasquez didnt want to leave the mission, he was sad it was over. Mom we only live as 4 elders, we dont actually work with the other elder usually, they have their own area and everything. haha
   Thats crazy that Lowell is gone now.. i hope the business does well. How many employees does dad have? Does he still have a lot of work? I miss roxy soo much... everyday i see like 4 bulldogs(there are a ton here) and i always think about when i see them. haha 
   That story about that girl is awesome mom. Yeah missionary work is fregin awesome, i want to teach everybody i know and show them the truth when i get home! haha especially our famiy!! 
  So do you have a copy of my partriartichal(my splessing is all messed up from spanish) blessing there? Yeah where it talks about hunting and everything is so awesome, and how through hunting(being a hunting guide  ;) im gonna be able to teach a lot of people the gospel. thats tuanies! 
  Yeah there are some hard days.. especially when i think about home i get really home sick and there are times where its so hard! But i know without the mission my life would have sucked haha i love the mission and the book of mormon. Ive always known the church was true but i didnt have like a strong testimony but when i read that book or when i see the first vision of joseph smith in the movie i know its true! I think out of all the things of the church i have the strongest testimony of the book of mormon. Its just so obvious that its true to me that sometimes when im teaching im thinking in my head ¨how do you not believe this..¨ haha I love the movie The Testaments, and the Joseph Smith movie too.. there are so fregin tite!!
  Well i love you all and i will talk to you this monday :)
Elder Christensen

Hola familia!
  How is everyone? thats crazy that it was the forth of july already!! Hows work going now that your without Lowell dad? tell me everything..
Well last saturday we went to the temple... but not to do a session.. we went cuz a familia that Elder Vasquez knows that was in his last area invited us to their sealing!! They are a family of 10 people... crazy huh!! and they are sooo nice and awesome... we got to chill wit them for like 2 hours before we went into the sealing. So we go through and do the session, and then we go into the sealing room and there were a ton of people there from their ward. it was cool. and then all the kids come... all 8 of them all dressed in white... and they get sealed.. it was the coolest thing ever!! it was so spiritual! it was fregin awesome!!!
  Then after that we got done around 2:30 or so and headed back to Garrabito. We filled the font up, called all the members, got the babtismal clothes ready, and everything. We go and pick up the family, Richard, Reina, Allan, and Ramsés. the babtism is at 5 and we get there and start to change and then all the sudden Reina tells us she drank coffee that morning... :( so we were like what??.... ugh that sucks. So then we talk to her and she says she´ll get babtised next saturday.. so were like ugh whatever... haha And then we start the babtism and i babtise all 3 of the men. It was cool and everything but it wouldve been cooler if Reina was babtised the same day... ya know? oh well.
  So we have to babtisms next saturday.. Reina and a boy that is 12 years old. Hes way cool too. his aunt is a member and he lives with her now. And one day he told his aunt that he wanted to be babtised so she called us and weve been teaching him and hes getting babtised Saturday. We are teaching this other really cool family that lives right by Richard and Reina... tonight were gonna have family home evening with the two families and a member family also.. so im excited for that!! Hopefully well find some more families too to be babtised.
  So Elder Vasquez heads home on the 21 of july. so next week. Crazy huh? he doesnt want to leave, hes sad haha but yeah im gonna miss him and its gonna be weird getting another companion. But it should be good!! Its weird being in a trio right now cuz we have to work in our area(Garrabito) and Elder Clark´s area also(Tibás) until the 21st when both me and Clark are getting new companions.
 I went to clarks ward yesterday because we had to take a family to his ward to church, so i got to meet all the members there too.. it was cool. There are about 5 members that could be my future wife... so we´ll see... theres one in partucular hahah ;) The girls here are so fregin hot!! ugh but its all good haha   
Love you guys... talk to you soon
Elder Christensen

2011 4th of July letter

Hola family..
how is everyone? im great, just chillin! Happy 4th of July... thats crazy!! haha what are you guys gonna do today?!
  So last week we found a new part of our area and we have been working there a ton. We have 3 families over there right now that we are teaching, its awesome! One of the families is getting babtised this saturday!! :) sick huh? they are  a family of 4, the parents, and then two boys, 15 and 13! they are awesome and im so excited to babtise them! :) We had a really good lesson with them last night and the spirit was so strong! we are going to teach them everynight this week before their babtism! So pray that everything will work out!
  Also Elder Lanza, the other elder that was companions with Clark, he finished his mission yesterday, and changes are in like 2 weeks so president just made us (me,vasquez,clark) a trio, so now its just us 3! haha but its all good! Ive had a trio twice now.. wierd huh!
  Hopefully well find some more families this week to.. thatll be good :) Well what else has been going on?? ive been out 4 1/2 months crazy huh, some days are really fast and some days are slow but im lovin it! i can speak spanish!! :).... more or less but its comin along haha Hows the relatives? i miss everyone a ton!! Well i guess theres not much more to say... haha you guys didnt write very much this week... ;(
Well i love you all and cant wait to hear from you next week.
Love Elder Christensen :)