Oct 22

This week snuck up on me. I just feel weird today, because my brain keeps telling me that I was in this room writing you all an e-mail YESTERDAY, but my planner keeps telling me there's been a whole week in between.... If being a missionary has taught me anything, it's to trust your planner. :P

Anyways, the first part of our week went pretty normally. The zone leaders came to our district study, which was exciting (we have district studies on Skype every Wednesday. I'm not the biggest fan... I just like being in person more. But, that's a bit hard when the other teams are more than an hour away. :P), and we did splits with Alma! I got to go spend some time with my good friend Elder Oviatt again. This split was particularly frightening, because I left Elder Thia here, in Chicoutimi, with the other Greenie from Alma. Two missionaries on their first transfer, alone for twenty four hours...... It was an act of faith. At the end of the day they didn't break anything or hurt anyone, but they were grateful to be in a truck. In France you can't drive until your 18, and getting a license is RIDICULOUSLY expensive, so elder Thia hasn't driven that much.... :P

Then Friday came. Friday was intense. We went to do weekly planning, and as we were planning we started talking about a woman named Chantale that we had invited to be baptized the week before but then we hadn't seen since. I felt like we ought to go see her, so we ditched planning and went to pass-by. She was home, which was good news, except that when she answered the door she said "If I had wanted to talk to you, I would have called. I'm grieving right now, and I would appreciate it if you would just leave." Dang it. So we left, but stubborn little me just couldn't let it go at that, so we went home, rolled up our sleeves, and set to work! We made her a little homemade card with a picture of Jesus on it, wrote her a letter, baked her Banana Bread, popped over to loblaws to buy her flowers, and went to doorbell ditch her with the whole bunch. I felt a bit silly, wearing a white shirt and tie, sneaking down a road, in broad daylight, with a bouquet of bright yellow flowers...... but I've done sillier things in my life I suppose. We dumped it on her porch, banged on the door, and ran as fast as we could! Or rather, Elder Thia ran as fast as he could. I, on the other hand, saw something extremely interesting on the sidewalk and felt the irresistible urge to take a closer look.

 

I didn't fall. No matter what Elder Thia says.

 

We both managed to get out of the way before she opened the door, so the operation was a success, and we went back to planning. Only we got a phone call not too long afterwards, and it was Chantale! She was really touched that we'd taken the time to do that for her, and she invited us back over. Conclusion? Banana Bread = Miracle. I'd like to include a special thanks to the young woman that gave me the recipe. This is not the first investigator that's been saved by the bread.

Anyways, that fiasco took most of our day Friday, Saturday wasn't much, but Sunday we had four non-members show up at church. :D A couple that we tracted into came an hour early because they couldn't remember what time it started, and instead of leaving they waited there for people to start coming. They. Are. So cool. 

Also! We got transfer calls Saturday, and my entire little district is staying together! :D I was quite happy to hear that. But, we're losing one of the Zone Leaders, which is depressing. Elders Laguan and Teuira are among my favorite missionaries, and I really enjoyed having the both of them for zone leaders. But! Elder Teuira is going to make a great AP. :)

Alright, that's my news for this week! Thanks again for all the prayers and support. You're all the best. :)

Love,

--
Elder Christensen

Oct 15

Hey, sorry, not a lot of time so this one will be short.

Our week was...... A roller coaster. On Tuesday we saw our investigator who was going to be baptized on Sunday, and he went overboard and denied believing in anything that we'd taught him and told us lots of very unusual things about himself.....which was... unexpected.... then, later that day, we got a phone call with a referral from the office. 

We went to see her the next day, Wednesday, and she turned out to be an investigator that Elder Fitzgerald had told me about that had loved everything about the church, and then seen some anti-Mormon garbage about the temple and called the missionaries, dropped them, moved, and changed her address. Apparently she had a dream about us and realized that this is what God wanted for her. Also unexpected. It was super cool, because she had some very weird beliefs about us left over from that anti-nonsense, but she was set on us anyways. It's just like more icing on the cake every time we tell her that this or that isn't true, and she gets all excited because she wasn't sure if she'd be able to accept it. (example, she thought we worshiped Thomas Monson.... uh.... what?) 

Thursday was normal, which was unusual for this week.

Friday we went to see the other investigator that we had that was going to get baptized, and he basically told us that his life had been wretched when he found us, but that it's all better now so he doesn't want to meet with us anymore. Also unexpected.

Saturday we went by to see an Investigator that we haven't been able to see in weeks because he plays football and he's been crazy busy, who hasn't been coming to church or reading his scriptures, and has stiffed us on our last several appointments with him, and all of a sudden he opened up to us and started asking tons of questions about faith, and he decided that he's ready to get baptized. Also unexpected. Then we went out knocking and found two separate families on the same street that met with missionaries over a year ago and would love to have us come back over again. VERY unexpected.

then Yesterday our miracle referral didn't show up to church (also unexpected, given the lesson we had with her...), but some guy that we met a few weeks ago and we've only seen once randomly DID show up to church. Also... unexpected.

I guess a better definition for this week would be unexpected.

Last week we were planning the baptisms of two individuals, and this week.... we're still planning baptisms for two individuals. But they're two different ones.... and we're still not sure exactly what happened with ANY of the four of them.....

I'd like to testify to you that God DOES in fact, have a plan, and that He always knows what's going on, even when it looks, to us, like nothing but insanity. Lots of things went wrong this week, but even more different things went right.... It's just impressed on me something that my best friend Richard Bruner wrote this week too. We actually do a lot less than we think we do. Mostly, we're just here, and God puts us where He wants us when He wants us there. Pretty much the only influence we have on the situation is what our attitude is about it. Which, oddly enough, is the most important part, because our attitude is what dictates whether or not and how much we grow from our experiences, as well as in what way we affect those around us. God only gives us a teen tiny bit of responsibility, but it's the biggest little bit He could give us.

Life's a funny thing.

--
Elder Christensen

Oct 8

Howdy everyone!

So, as I stated above, this week was marvelous. Monday we headed down to Quebec city, for an activity with the zone, and we took the scenic route through a national forest.

oh.

my.

gosh.

That was the single prettiest drive I have ever made in my life. Oceans of fiery red, vibrant yellow, and bright orange, with dark creen pine trees scattered throughout. Turns out Quebec has some very large hills. I would even call those small mountains. It was breathtaking. There's nothing quite like driving through the fire of Autumn and all of a sudden passing a break in the trees and seeing a lake, sitting perfectly still, reflecting the clouds hanging so low in the sky you can practically touch them.... Quebec is.... amazing. 

It was a perfect start to an amazing week. Zone study was, as always, spiritually uplifting and fantastic, and we had interviews with President Cannon! Sister Cannon is a doll. She took our pictures to send them home to our mom's. :P After a great couple of days in Quebec, we trucked up to Rimouski to do exchanges with them. The missionaries there are incredible. Elder Pihatarioe is the new missionary that Elder Pehrson is training. He's from Tahiti, and like most polynesians, his testimony could move mountains. I drove up with him and we talked about everything. He's going to be a stellar missionary. Elder Pehrson continues to exceed all expectations as well. I feel like I'm surrounded with the Lord's elite.... It makes me feel very small sometimes. :P But! I'm in a great situation to learn eh? :)

Thursday morning we left Rimouski at 9 to make a six hour drive back to Chicoutimi, then we had friday to WORK, and then conference started Saturday. We didn't have a lot of time in our area this week, but we had an abundance of spiritual nourishment, so I'm sure we'll make up for it next week. :)

CONFERENCE. BLEW. MY MIND. 

I feel like the world is about to be flooded with 18 year old boys and 19 year old girls, and the spirit they'll carry will is going to rock us. I'm super excited. :) Elder Jeffrey R. Holland definitely gave my favorite talk, but they were ALL incredible. We're so lucky to have these men to lead and guide us. Anyone that didn't get a chance to watch that conference, I exhort you. Hop to it. It's worth it.

I don't have a ton of time, because we were driving all last week, so I'll keep this short, I just wanted to share my favorite quote from Conference.

Men. Can. Change.

That's the message we're sharing with the world. That's the hope of the gospel. That's what Christ does for us. Really, at the base of everything else, THAT is the miracle. Change. The ability to CHANGE your nature, to turn AWAY from the things you're inclined to do. "Prone to wander, Lord I feel it. Prone to leave the God I Love". Inside of every single one of us there is something that wants to do bad things. We, as humans, are naturally inclined to sin. If we rely on our own strength, on our own abilities, we will fail every time. Trust me on this one, I've got a pride complex and I like to do things by myself. ; ) But really. "Lean not on the arm of men..." because that Arm is weak. That's the point. Do you get it? We can't do it. We can't do anything. We can't work hard enough, we can't learn enough, we can't BE good enough to get back off of this world, back to the world where we belong. We're like mice trying to climb up a glass wall. If we try to do it on our own, we're destined to fail. But we don't have to fail. Christ came down here and gave his life, so that you and I can climb that wall. So that we CAN do it. So that we can change our nature, so that we can get home again. Take a minute to think about that. That's something special.

I love you all. And I love my savior. And I love my Father. (Yes dad, you too. *wink*)

Love,

-- 

Elder Christensen

Oct 1

Salut mes amis! 

No worries about the short message mom, mine will be short too. We have a zone activity today, so we'll be driving down to Quebec city in about an hour. :P Then we have a zone study tomorrow, and interviews with President, then we're driving up to Rimouski afterwords for a split all day Wednesday, and then Thursday morning we're taking a five hour road-trip back to Chicoutimi. Basically, we only get three days in our area this week, but it'll be a super good week quand même!

So, this week was fabulously miraculous. We found five solid new investigators that each deserve their own story.

First of all, Caroline and Daniel. We were out knocking on doors on Wednesday, and we knock on the door of this younger girl. We start by asking a few questions about God, and her relationship with Him, and she ends up telling this crazy story about how she was pregnant, but she lost the baby, but then they found ANOTHER baby (apparently she had been pregnant with twins, but they hadn't noticed the second fetus yet), and then she develloped a huge tumor right next to the new baby they just found, and they told her that there was no chance they could save the baby, and that she was going to lose that one too. So her conjoint (either husband or boyfriend... we're still not sure...) prayed SUPER hard, and the tumor disappeared. Then she asked "do you want to see the baby?!" Duh. So she goes and gets Sarah, her adorable 21 month old girl, and says "alright, I'll listen to your message, and the baby will too." We taught her about the plan of salvation, and during the closing prayer her conjoint came home. Awkward. Turns out he already has a book of mormon because he collects religious texts, but he's really curious to know more about us. He kept asking questions, so we ended up teaching him about the restoration. :P They're amazing.

Then we found Ameni-felix and Jean-alex, two young African boys. Actually, we found their atheist older brother and devoutly catholic father, and after chatting with them for a few minutes the atheist told us to wait a minute, because he knew two boys who would love our message. He went and grabbed his two younger brothers, who are currently baptists (diverse family) and they contentedly listened to our message, and excitedly accepted the books of mormon we offered. The best part? They play football with one of our other investigators, and their dad thinks of our Elders quorum president like one of his own sons. Also amazing.

Alright, best for last. We went on exchanges this week, and I sent elder Thia to Alma. He comes back with a story for me. Alma has a recent convert named Roger, who was baptized the week before I came to chicoutimi. Roger has a friend named Manuel, who he met a few years ago. Manuel was wandering around Alma, a bit lost, and stressed for finals at school, and Roger saw him and invited him into his house because he thought the poor kid looked stressed. They've been friends ever since. When Elder Thia went to meet with Roger, Manuel happened to be there, and to be WAY interested in the Book of Mormon. The best part? He lives in Chicoutimi. Hehehe. :D So we met with him this week too, and we found out that he's got drinking problems, but he's trying to quit, and that's what pushed him to search for God. He is the single most prepared investigator I've ever met. I'm so excited to teach him. :)

Alright, out of time, but! I read an amazing quote today from my dear friend Sister Bice that I wanted to share with all of you.

"One of the great needs in our day is for Latter-day Saints to have
 balance in our lives – balance between zeal in keeping the
 commandments, and patience in achieving our goals; balance between a
 whole-hearted devotion to truth, and loving acceptance of those
 (including ourselves) who fall short. And in our personal lives there
 needs to be balance between a type of discontent – in which we are
 constantly striving to be better than we are – and what Nephi calls “a
 perfect brightness of hope” (2 Nephi 31:20), which is the quiet but
 soul-affirming anticipation that if we trust in the Lord and seek
 earnestly to do our best, He will make up the difference in time and
 eternity." -ROBERT MILLET 

Her mission president shared it at a conference. I encourage you to read into that a bit. There are two sides to every coin, and perfection lies right on the edge. Fortunately, we never have to fight the battle tout seul when we have faith in The Lord. Stay close unto Him, and He will stay close unto you, and strengthen you in all things.

I love all of you! I'll talk to you next week!

Love,

--
Elder Christensen