Aug 13

Heya everyone!

So! Great week up here in Chicoutimi! Speaking of Chicoutimi, You should ask Brother Whettstein what years and what areas he served in. Thanks :) Also, the only Hélèn in our ward was just baptized two weeks ago, so the woman he was talking about is probably gone. But I'm told that most of the branch moved away a few years ago, so we're smaller than we were before. :P

 

Anyways, this week was awesome. We went on splits with Alma (yes there is an area of the mission called Alma, and no it's not a church name. The city was named by natives. Hmmm.....), where my good friend Elder Heder is serving! I was in the MTC with Elder Heder, and we rode the plane out here together, so going on splits with him was an awesome experience. He's a stellar missionary, more motivated than most human beings I've ever met. The drive of that man has turned the branch of Alma around completely, they just had a baptism a couple of weeks ago, and they've got two more investigators with baptismal dates, and a whole board full of progressing investigators. Elder Heder is an incredible missionary. So splits was great, it was really cool catching up with him again. We have a phrase in the mission "Miracle splits" because a lot of times miracles happen while we're on splits. That did not happen to us this time, but as soon as we unsplit and I was reunited with Elder Fitzgerald we had crazy miracles and found two solid new investigators. One of them, Martin, just saw one of our pamphlets and came up to us asking if he could have one and if we'd come back and talk with him about it. We're going back to see him again today. :) Missionary work is different up here. The accent is super hard to understand, and no one speaks english, but the members love us with everything they have, and they love teaching with us too. Me and Elder Fitzgerald are praying fervently that we'll be able to have one more baptism in Chicoutimi before he goes home at the end of the transfer. Hélèn is the first baptism Chicoutim has had in about a year as well (Funny how my areas all some to be recently baptism deprived...), but we both feel strongly like the work here is about to start moving like it hasn't in too long. So, keep us in your prayers. :) 

Something I learned during my studies this week that hit me pretty hard was in Mark 4: 15 - 20. It's the parable of the sower, where it talks about the different kind of ground that the seeds fall on, and the end result produced by each of those different kinds of ground. The thing that struck me was that of the five patches of ground, only one became fruitful. There was only a fifth of the ground where the sower sowed the seed that obvious visible results came from, but even the four non-fruitful patches of ground were affected in some way. When the seed is sown, it has an impact. All the time. Everywhere we cast the word of God, everywhere and with everyone that we plant gospel seeds, there is an impact. How extensive that impact is depends in large part on their own agency, on the choices they make, on the "quality" of the ground of their soul. Nevertheless, every patch of ground on which it is sown is changed, and while we can never know before hand exactly how much impact that seed will have, we can know with a surety that if no seed is sown at all, the ground will remain barren. 

Mark 14:4 "The Sower sows the Word"

We all have the seeds. It's up to us to plant them. Don't let those opportunities pass you by. 

 Well, I'm sorry these letters are so short nowadays, but my area is GORGEOUS and I want to make the most of my time in it, so I'm going to call that good for now! Feel free to e-mail me if you have any other specific questions. I love you all!

--
Elder Christensen

From Br. Wettstein:

My first area was Rimouski, which, along with Chicoutimi, are the two furthest north areas in the mission.  Rimouski is on the west side of the Gulf of the St. Lawrence (on the Gaspe Peninsula), and Chcoutimi is on the west side of the gulf on the mainland.  When I was there, the missionaries they sent to Chicoutimi were 6' 6" and 6' 7".  Needless to say, they were the tallest people in the entire city.  When they went tracting, they often scared the people to death when they answered the door (I was also the tallest guy in Rimouski, and I'm only 6' 1").  For some reason, the further north you go, the shorter the people get, so there's a good chance he'll be Gulliver over there.

He should be happy he's going this time of year.  I was there in the middle of winter.  With the wind chill, it got down to 110 below one day.  When it warmed up to a balmy 70 below the next day, we went out and broke off (note: not chopped down) our Christmas tree.  It was stoopid cold.  The waves in the gulf freeze close to shore.  Imagine walking out on the ice, and you have to navigate between 6' waves.

We had a baptism in Chicoutimi of a lady named Helene. I can't remember her last name.  But she's short (natch) and kid of round.  She was a journalist, and she spoke pretty good English for someone from so far north.  I wonder if she's still there . . .

Thanks for the update.  Give Elder Christensen my best.

Chris