Feb 18

I learned a lot this week.

The week started out pretty normally, a lot of miracles though. :) I am sincerely enjoying having Elder Mieville for a companion. His little thickly-accented french voice filling my days with uplifting sentances such as "Freaking old people" and "look! Blacks! contactthemcontactthem!" In french it is actually politically correct to say "Blacks". No one gets offended about that, it's just a descriptive term. That's gonna be a tough habit to break when I come home.

But in all seriousness, Elder Mieville is a great missionary. He's taught me a lot in the transfer we've been together. I think the most profound thing he ever told me was about service. We were talking at the beginning of the transfer about what made the best leaders we'd ever had in the mission, trying to improve ourselves, and he said "I think that if you want to be a good leader, you need to serve the missionaries." It was very simple. It made me think "yeah, duh." But as I was reflecting on it, and reflecting on myself, and the way I interact with other people, I found myself wondering. Do I really serve these people? Am I more focused on loving and serving those around me, or on bettering myself? They both sound like worthwhile things to do, but there's this really small, sort of stillish kind of voice in my head that keeps telling me that I shouldn't matter as much as those around me do. 

Food for thought.

Anyways, back to the week. Monday through thursday was normal, friday was where the fun started. We spent all day Friday and most of Saturday....... shopping. For an apartments. I may have mentioned this before, but we're getting a LOT of new sisters in the next two transfers, so we have to go find places for them to live.

Still not a fan of shopping, but we did finally get a nice one picked out and set aside.

Saturday night, the world fell over. As we were going through our usual nightly routine we got a call from Sherbrooke! That's the area where my dear friend and MTC companion Elder Bangerter is working! So I cheerfully answered the phone (it was his companion Elder Hansen), and started chatting away. He asked how we'd feel if He and Elder Bangerter came to blitz our area on Sunday. "Well, I'd feel great! But, why?" Sherbrooke is about three hours away from La val. I had a right to ask. "....Elder Bangerter's Dad died this morning. We're in Montreal right now."

Oh.

Elder Bangerter flew home this morning to go to the funeral and help out his family a bit, but he's coming back on Thursday to finish his mission. That man is such an inspiration to me. They ended up coming over on Sunday and I spent the whole day with him. That was good. He's actually doing really well, all things considered. Throughout his whole mission he's been studying faith. He told me yesterday, "I don't want to have the faith to move mountains, or make water come out of a rock. I just want to have the faith to not be moved. I want to be in 'the Lord's rest', where I know that He will protect me. I want to be able to stand in the Lions den and know that the Lord will take care of me, and that it'll be alright." 

From what I saw yesterday, I think he's already there. In the MTC I knew a nervous kid that wasn't sure why he was doing what he was. Yesterday I saw a man, calmly facing the trials he had in his life with the surety that he was where he needed to be, that The Lord was by his side, and that he didn't need to fear. 

 Elder Bangerter is an incredible man, a better missionary, and an even better friend. I'd like to ask all of you to keep him and his family in your prayers for me.

May we all strive to develop our faith in the Lord, so that we as well may enter into the Lord's Rest, and be therefore able to overcome any trial through which we might be called to pass.

I love all of you! Thanks for the prayers and the love and support! This church is true, and this gospel makes bad men good, and good men better, and if there's one thing a mission has taught me it's that if we will give ourselves to it we'll all be better off for it.

Elder Christensen

Feb 11

A personal msg from Justin to all of you blog readers:

Do me a favor and say thank you to everyone that takes the time to read my blog eh? It's for them that I write. :) Oh man.... If you re-read that last sentance again you'll notice that it's a bit funny.... that's because it's structured with French Grammar. It's contaminating my english. I'm doomed. :P

I'm glad to hear everyone's doing well. I'll send more in a minute. :)

Love you!

And here's his letter:

 Alright, today we don't have a zone activity, we're only driving an hour and a half north to visit an investigator, so I have a tad bit more time. ; )

So! This week was intense.

Monday, zone activity. 

Tuesday, regular work and logistics for zone conference

Wednesday, Zone Conference and a meeting with President Cannon and our stake president to discuss missionary work in the stake. THAT was cool. We talked about interactions between missionaries and members, ways missionaries could improve, ways members could improve, how we as missionaries could help the members, and logistics of the wards and where the work is progressing. We have a ton of less actives on the north face of the Island of Montréal because a lot of people on the Island don't have vehicules and there aren't any church meetinghouses in that area, so the stake President gave us the go to pull a couple of priesthood holders out of one of the neighbouring wards and start up a group smack in the middle of them. Now we just have to find a building for them, and an apartment for the new missionaries. It's exciting. :)

Thursday, Splits with one of our district leaders. Elder Umana, from Chile. I practiced my spanish. ; )

Friday, Weekly planning.

Saturday, a good old-fashioned un-interrupted day of regular missionary work. Ahh. Refreshing. :)

and Sunday, Six hours of church. There's a lady named Taïna who just moved here from Haiti a couple of weeks ago that we spend most of our sundays with. She was baptized in Haiti the week before she moved here to Canada, so she's still a bit lost, but she's great. :)

Saturdays are becoming by far my favorite days. I feel like it's on Saturday every week that we get the most done. I mean, we do a lot everyday, but Saturday is the day when we get out and get our hands dirty, so to speak. I like Saturdays. :)

The best thing I learned this week was about love. As I was running around at zone conference like a chicken with its head cut off trying to make sure everyone was in the right place at the right time with everything they needed, My dear friend Elder Teuira grabs me by the shoulders, looks me in the eyes, and says "If you have an interview with president, fine. If you have things to hand out, alright. No matter what you have to do, and how quick you have to do it, it's ok, as long as you do it with love. If you do anything without showing the people around you how much you love them, it's not ok, no matter how important it is." Ouch. Right. Thanks Boss. So, I took a deep breath, relaxed a bit, and proceeded to have a very enjoyable zone conference and make a bunch of new friends, while still doing everything I was supposed to be doing. If it wasn't for Elder Teuira always getting my back, I think I'd be a terrible missionary. ; ) The thing he told me is true, for me and everyone else in the world. The instant we get stressed, short-tempered, angry. As soon as we lose our patience, and start caring more about doing whatever we're doing than about the people we're doing it with and for, we cease to be christlike. We lose the spirit. What we're doing is no longer a good thing, no matter how effective, productive, or positive it looks on paper. That's what I'm working on right now, with my investigators and all of the missionaries around me, and I'd like to ask all of you to put a focus on that back home to. With your children, parents, siblings, students, whatever. Show them that you love them with everything you do, and you will improve your relationship with them, improve your relationship with your father in Heaven, and see His influence more fully and clearly in your lives.

I love you all, and I'm so dang glad you're all there watching my back! I keep you all in my prayers. have a great week!

Elder Christensen

Feb 4

Alright, we have zone activity today, so I have about 3 minutes to write you everything..... uh.... uh... uh.... Go!

This week was crazy. We split with the Assistants, and Elder Teuira took me Metro contacting. That. Was Crazy. Your stuck in a Metro full of people, and your job is to talk to as many of them as possible, and you have no idea when theyll be whisked away by their stop, or their train, or something. Its great! Someday, when Im a big boy, I will serve on the Island of Montréal for reals. Then well Metro contact every day. For now, it was just a small taste, because Laval doesnt have Metros. :)

Other than that.... quest-ce qui cest passé cette semaine?

Tuesday we had a District leader Training, where we taught our District leaders everything we learned in Zone conference, so they could go teach it to their districts after. 

Wednesday we split the assistants.

Thursday we tried to move a piano....... long story short, we decided it looks good where it is. 

Friday we had to plan for next week, including the zone activity that we have today

Saturday we finally got to WORK in our OWN AREA! So we knocked on a lot of doors, and found some people to teach next week. 

Sunday, we had a woman show up at church that was baptized in Haiti two weeks ago and moved here last week, and we had the baptism of an autistic 9 year old named Joshua. That was super awesome. :) Cool family. The whole ward was excited to see him make that choice. His parents wanted to wait until he made it on his own, instead of making him get baptized at 8. It didnt take long. Hes a bright kid. Smarter than I was at 9, thats for sure. :)

That covers JUST enough of my week to remind me...... how little information I actually gave you. My bad. I promise I will write more next week! I love all of you! Ill share a quote with you before I leave.

-Science is organized knowledge. Wisdom, is organized life.

Maybe if I had a bit more Wisdom Id have a bit more time to write you as well. ; )

Alright, spiritual thought and then Im done, go read Corinthians 9:19-23. they used it in Zone council as an example of how to teach people, but starting at their level, not above, not below.

I hope you like it. Have a good week!

Love,

 

Elder Christensen

Jan 28

This week was so busy....... Wednesday we went to the Island of montreal to do splits with the elders in Monteray. That means that I spent all of Wednesday.... in a Spanish area! Most of you reading this will recall that I do not, in fact, speak spanish, and therefore expected this to be quite an enjoyable day of listening to lots of soothing voices.

As usual with this kind of thing, I was wrong. The lessons we ended up having were with people who spoke more english than spanish, and my companion for the day, Elder Alvarez, is from spain, and doesnt speak a lot of english. The good news is, I really like teaching people about the gospel. :) Then, I left my sack there. That was terrible. A missionary without a Sack is like a bumblebee without wings. Good for just about nothing. I felt so.... so.... naked.... all of thursday. Fortunately, we had zone conference on Friday, so we went Back to the island of montreal, in bumper to bumper traffic, and reclaimed my beloved sack. 

Consider me grateful.

Also! Zone conference was INCREDIBLE! A meeting with president, the assistants, and all the zone leaders, where he just TEACHES us things! Things which he then expects us to take and teach to our zones. Again, not exactly a vacation, but still super amazing. :)

Speaking of Learning, I have been bewildered time and again by just how much we as human beings are capable of learning. Am I the only one thats ever stopped to think about that? So often in life, I learn so much about something, and I find myself thinking that NOW I know everything there is to know, so now I can go teach this thing to other people, since I know all about it, only to find later on in life that I didnt even know MOST of what there was to know, and I still have a whole lot to learn. Since coming here to Canada, I think that the activity that has consumed the most of my time and attention has been learning. Even in teaching other people, I find that I learn. Theres this wonderful sensation, when you teach with the spirit, where words start to come out of your mouth that you dont really recognize, and you find yourself saying things you didnt know you knew, and you get the impression that you are learning just as much, if not more, than the people that you are supposedly teaching.

I love my Job. :)

Also! Im out of time. but I wanted to leave you all with a little challenge this week. If ever you find that you are sad, or upset, or bored, or in any other way experiencing any sort of negativity in your life about ANYTHING, go bear your testimony to someone. Anyone. Whether they know who you are or not. Whether they are a member of the church or not. Whether they CARE or not. When we bear our testimonies, they grow. When we bear our testimonies, we LEARN, a lot like Ive been learning out here, about ourselves. About what we know. About who we are. Bearing testimony frequently increases faith, adds to your knowledge, and, I am convinced, brings the spirit into your life quicker than just about anything else, and is therefore one of the best ways to combat bad days.

Just a thought.

I love all of you! thanks for everything!

Love,

--

Elder Christensen