May 20

Dear World

Some days, you wake up.

I mean, you wake up every day. Some mornings you wake up quickly, some slowly, some days your happy to wake up, other days you wake up looking forward to going back to bed, but most of those days aren't that significant. 

But.

Some days, you wake up. You realize you've been out of it for a while. Days, weeks, minutes, whatever really. It's an interesting feeling. That happened to me this week. It was a neat experience. It was on Tuesday actually. We were sitting in a car driving somewhere, and I sort of just woke up! And, consequently, the rest of the week was much more interesting than it probably would have been otherwise.

If that seems unusually like something you'd read at the beginning of a chapter in a mystery book, blame Elder Bangerter.  :P

So, Tuesday everything got really cool. We teach these two kids every week that were recently baptized. We see them twice a week every week, and we've just about used up all the little object lessons we could think of, so Tuesday we decided to test our creativity a little bit and try to come up with a way to reteach the restoration that they would really enjoy! our finished lesson plan looked like this

Twisties

Video

Phone prayer

Stringamajig

Prophet says

Car priesthood

Dispensation station

That doesn't look like much of anything, but what it was was a big hit! The kids loved it. We'll probably do things more like that in the future. :) That was sort of the way the rest of our week went. It was one of those weeks we have so often where nothing REALLY works out, but we manage to get all sorts of things done anyways. All week long we had odd little miracles, like one potential standing us up (which looks like a bad thing initially) that ended up with us teaching TWO lessons to a really solid investigator that we haven't been able to see for a month (which is a REALLY good thing!). Little things like that, but all week long. Nothing really went according to plan this week. At least, not according to our plan. I get the funny feeling it's all going exactly according to God's plan. 

Elder Wright and I have been praying a lot about how to help this little area, and where to spend most of our time, and it almost felt like this whole week was the Lord showing us which people we really ought to see..... it was kind of cool. We also had a lot of odd service projects. Mowing a lawn, painting a house, clogging a toilet (no, really. Clogging it. That may not have been what the man wanted us to do, but that was the end result of what he asked us to do. I don't want to talk about it.), all sorts of little things. Also, we've begun a new kind of competition this week. Who can kill the most mosquito's each day. I think Elder Wright's record is somewhere close to two hundred and fifty thousand. That's what it feels like anyways. I've lost count of all the bites that I have, but! The work goes on.

We have succesfully located and begun teaching the only Haitian man in all of Hawkesbury. Mission accomplished.

Anyways, all of that unorganized mess combined together to make a really nice week. :) And! To top it all off, I just found out today that one of the first people I ever taught as a missionary will be getting baptized this weekend, and I just might be able to swing my way into going. :D If you're going to pray for something, pray for that. :P His name is Greg Martin, you may recall him from emails about a YEAR ago, and he's amazing. There is nothing in this life that I have yet found that is more fulfilling, more thrilling, more enriching, than being there to watch someone change their life.... to see people's minds be opened, to see walls of stubbornness fall. It's incredible. :) So, I'll get back to you next week with the results on whether or not I made it out to that.

Thanks again for your support! have a good week! happy victoria day!

May 13

Hey again!

 

Well, I just spoke to my family yesterday, and told them just about everything I have to say (like EVERY other missionary in the world), so I guess I'll just list off some highlights from the week.

We went to a lesson with one of our investigators and she.... had a nervous breakdown. On the phone with us. She sort of.... went a little crazy.... and just kept repeating herself and saying things that didn't make sense to noone in particular. We're gonna give her a wee little break.... :P My companion is on the greener side of missionary life and he looked at me afterward and said "that's the weirdest experience I've ever had on my mission...." To which I couldn't help but reply "Don't worry, more will come." :D

We have a member of the branch who shall remain nameless for animosities sake, who is a former TJ (jehovah's witness) and has retained many interesting beliefs from that religion. We'll call him Tom for this story. Tom recently had a vision identifying himself as one of the hundred and fourty four thousand (of which he bore testimony in sacrament meeting), and iis also..... eighty four years old. He was baptized four years ago, and he's always trying to invite us over so he can "teach us things about the bible that will probably surprise us". Well, this week we finally caved because we didn't want to hurt his feelings. 

Have you ever tried to argue religion with an eighty four year old jehovah's witness? If not, I'd recommend avoiding the experience. 

He has since informed us that he will no longer be able to come teaching with us, and he even sent a letter to one family in the branch warning her not to listen to us because we don't teach from the bible. Tom is an adorable old man, and probably my favorite member of the entire church. :) I love him. 

Don't worry, he's still active. :P

Other than that we had most of our lessons cancel on us, we met most of the less-actives in the branch, and most days we had a lot of miracles. Mostly, the week was wonderful. :)

I'd also like to share a little something that one of our teams brought to district study on wednesday, just a bit of a joke.

mission president

Leaps tall buildings in a single bound

Is more powerful than a locomotive

is faster than a speeding bullet

walks on water

talks with god

Assistant to the president

Leaps short buildings in a single bound

Is more powerful than a piston engine

Is as fast as a speeding bullet

Walks on water if the water is calm

Talks with God if special request is approved

Zone Leader

Leaps short building with a running start and favorable winds

Is almost as powerful as a piston engine

is faster than a speeding BB

Walks on water in an indoor swimming pool

Is occasionally addressed by God

District Leader

Barely clears a quonset hut

Loses tug of war with a piston engine

Can fire a speeding bullet

Swims well

Talks with Animals

Senior Companion

Makes high marks on the wall when trying to leap buildings

is run over by locomotives

Can sometimes handle a gun without inflicting self injury

Dog paddles

Talks to walls

Junior companion

Runs into buildings

Recognizes a locomotive 2 out of 3 times

Is not issued ammunition

Can't stay afloat without a life preserver

Mumbles to himself

Greenies

Falls over doorsteps when entering buildings

Is stronger than most toy trains

Wets himself with a water pistol

Plays in mud puddles

Doesn't dare speak.

I thought it was funny, and I hope you all appreciated it! Unfortunately, it's also not entirely true (obviously). As I was reading it, I was reflecting about the missionaries I've met and worked with, and it was interesting to see how universally it has been the new missionaries that I've looked up to the most. When I first arrived, all I wanted was to be like the older missionaries, to be as experienced or as knowledgeable or as spiritual as all of them. Now, as I've spent a little more time out here, all I want is to be more like the new missionaries. As hopeful, as full of Faith, as spiritual, as unphaseable. It made me think of Christ, and the way He looks at children....

Just a thought.

well, have a good week everyone! Til next time!

May 6

Like Coming Home

That's what driving into Hawksbury felt like on wednesday. Coming home. :)

It's been a long time since I was in a tiny little town in the middle of nowhere, but there's nothing that really replaces the way that feels.... I've always had a soft spot for places like this. Snow college is in a similar place, in Ephraim. Jacob lake is sort of like that too... heck, even Grandma's house in Salem, they all have the same feeling.

Peace.

Tranquility.

Warmth.

It's the kind of place where people don't honk their horns, where everybody knows everybody else, where even the people that have already said no to missionaries a thousand times stop their cars to come say hey to us and ask where we're from and say "god bless you for the work you're doing". It's friendly. It's quiet. It's home, for the next six weeks at least. I'm going to be really happy here. :)

My companion is Elder Ryan Wright, from.... well... all over the states. His family is currently in Alaska, but his dad's in the airforce so he's moved everywhere from north dakota, to texas, to, well, alaska. He's a great Elder. :) 

My first week here was very typical of my entire mission... most of what we had set up fell through. We didn't have that much set up to begin with, given the area we're in, so we had a lot of time to knock and pass-by people. The only really solid appointment we had was with our two recent converts, a couple of kids named Roger and Abby, and their Mom. Sister Proulx. ( I think that's how you spell that.... fun side note. In French there are fifteen different ways to spell the sound "oh".... so I'm never quite sure how to spell peoples names... :P) Sister Proulx has been a member for a long time, but due to a tough situation around the house wasn't able to be very active in the church. Thanks to a little bit of luck, and a whole lot of blessings, that situation recently cleared up to the point where the missionaries were able to come visit them, and they've been happily integrated into the branch-family since then. :) Roger and Abby are the only kids we have in the branch, and they're adorable. I think Abby is nine and Roger is ten, but I could be wrong.... either way, they love missionaries, and we love them. We're at their house quite often. 

Other than that, most of the cool experiences we had this week involved other less-active members of the branch that Elder Wright didn't already know. He's been here for a few months, and has already knocked on literally EVERY door in Hawkesbury (minus maybe seven....give or take.), so instead of re-knocking where he's already been we've been trying to visit members and set up a game plan for the coming months. We've already met some really cool people, and we're excited to work with them, and I'll for sure keep you posted on how they come along. :)

With that, I've got to scamper. but! I love you. And I love being a missionary. and I love the gospel. Over the short time that I've been a missionary so far I've seen so many lives changed  by the gospel of Jesus Christ.... so many families blessed. I have no doubt that any family, whether they're struggling, in need, or doing well, will be affected for the better by contact with that gospel. That's why were out here Eh? To help people. I hope all of you reading this always remember that. We're here to help. All of us, all the time, anyone. We're here to help.

Have a good week everyone. :)

 

Elder Christensen

Apr 29

FREEDOM!!

Hey there everyone!

Sorry again that I sent about nothing last week... It was one of those days where you just have too much to do. :P But! I'm free from days like that. Hah!

Hold on, I'll explain. :)

So this week was wonderful. The last two weeks were both wonderful, actually. Elder Murphy and I have been really trying to improve the way that we work here in Laval, and it's starting to pay off. We've been having more quality time with more quality people. It's a good feeling. And en plus, as if that wasn't enough, I feel like we've been learning SO MUCH about how to be good missionaries! It's been a really intense couple weeks. Really busy, but really good. :) 

The start of this week was an odd thing that doesn't happen alot, but is nice when it does. We had all of our lessons fall through on Monday, so we got to spend a little bit of time with the member that we had brought along and just get to know him. His name is Guy (pronounced Gi, like the thing you wear in Karate) Simard, and he's the coolest members of the Church I've ever met. One of those guys (Hah! Get it?) that had a really rough life before finding the gospel. It actually took him three years after meeting the missionaries before he had PERMISSION from the area authorities to get baptized.... so that should say all you need to know. But! As of this month he's been faithfully attending church for the last seven years, and a faithful member for the last four. He has the smallest appartment I've ever seen in Québec, barely enough money to survive, almost no contact with his family, and he's the happiest man I've ever met. Why? Because of the gospel. He comes out teaching with us a minimum of twice a week (if we take him less he calls us and complains) and he's been talking about taking his vacation time in June to come knock on doors with us. It's impossible to describe guy, so I attached a picture of me and him. He's everything you can expect to find in un vrai québecois. :)

It was good to spend some quality time with guy. Then, the next day we met with an inactive member and his girlfriend. They recently made the decision that she needs to get baptized, but they didn't really care much in which church. We just happened to knock on their door the same week.... coincidence?! She's awesome. She understands the gospel WAY better than her member boyfriend. Usually we invite people to read and pray, and they never find the time because they don't think it's that important. She complained because we didn't give her enough chapters for homework, and said she's already been praying. 

That's quality. :) Or, as we say in Canada, That's a miracle. :D

Other than that some highlights from this week were picking up an elder with no companion who had carpooled up from ottawa with the sisters (don't worry, he's not apostate, just a special situation. :P), and ZONE COUNCIL! Oh, we had a name change, it's called mission leadership council now. No no, I promise, it really IS important what you call it. ; )

And then, the biggest event. Saturday. transfer calls. FREEDOM!!!!

I'm being released as a zone leader. :) That's the good news. No more stress,  just a little small town area called Hawkesbury (in ontario, in ENGLISH.... that's the bad news...) and only a little baby district to worry about. I'm super stoked. :) The bad news, of course.... is that I have to leave my beloved ward, and my beloved branch, and my beloved companion, and my beloved investigators...... it's really bad news actually.... I've always said that being transferred is my least favorite part of missionary work, and it's still true. But! I've learned here, I've loved here, I've seen the work go forward here, and I know the Lord has something in mind for me elsewhere. An important part of faith is believing that The Lord knows better than us, right? Right. So! Sorry there wasn't more spirituality in this letter. That one I'll have to do better on... but! I love all of you, and the next time I write you, I'll be in a different country! (Not literally..... but if you ever come to Québec you'll agree that it's really not Canada. :P)

À la prochaine!

 

Elder Christensen

Apr 22

Ugh.

What.... it's monday already? I just emailed you like yesterday I swear....

anyways..... what in the world happened this week..... I'm so dang tired.

Right! This week we had a split with mascouche! Wednesday we went to a district study over there, and we picked up my dear friend ELDER HEDER! :D Elder Heder was in the MTC with Elder Bangerter and I, and we're now all in the same zone together, which is awesome, and we got to have a wonderful split on wednesday.

Oh man.... I just managed to tell you about one thing that happened this week, and I'm out of time..... poop..... I'm sorry I'm awful at this weekly writing thing.... I'll do better next week? We have transfers coming up this week, so I'll have exciting news next time I'm sure.

Well, better something than nothing? I love you all!

 

Elder Christensen

Apr 15

Hey Everyone!

So, this week we had some extremes. Namely, snow, and fire.

First, we had snow. It snowed this week. We got six inches of snow, in april. What? Who does that? Well, it happened. Weird eh? so we broke out the snowshovels and had ourselves a second christmas, shoveling everyones snow. :P But, that was alright.

Other than snow, this week was really good! We've been finding a lot of potentials over the bast two weeks that we never really managed to get anything set up with... until this week! We saw a lot of the " fruits" of our labors. That was neat. :) Probably the coolest guy we found was Akre. Akre was a testimony to us of the principle of Talking to EVERYONE. We saw him in the street, headphones in, and on his cellphone (multitasking), powerwalking towards us. Sometimes it's easy to just ignore people like that, because They obviously won't be happy to meet with us, but Elder Murphy and I had set a goal that week to contact like mad men, so we stopped him anyways. He gave us around four seconds total, so we didn't even tell him who we were we just asked for his phone number and told him we'd call him. When we called him it turns out that He actually had recognized us because He's seen us before in the Ivory Coast where He's from! That was neat. our first visit with him was short and not too exciting, but when we came back we found out that his sister had just died that morning. Right there, we felt the weight of our calling a bit, as he looked at us and said "I'm sort of in denial... and I don't know what to do..... can you help me?"

Akre's doing a lot better now, but feel free to keep him in your prayers. Speaking of keeping people in your prayers, I almost forgot to tell you about the other extreme part of our week. Fire.

There's a family in the ward that just showed up here from Mexico a month and a half ago, the Mendoza family. Br. Mendoza was released as a bishop in Mexico to come here, and him and his wife are some truly amazing people, as are all of their children. They showed up with next to nothing, except a hope and some Faith, and Br. Mendoza set to looking for a job while the ward outfitted their family with all the love that Latter-day saints can provide. (That makes for a lot of love!) Then, misfortune struck, and Br. Mendoza slipped on the ice and broke his leg. They just showed up, so they don't get the whole "free health-care" thing yet, so that was quite a challenge... but! The whole family of six faced it with a smile, and they've all been doing wonderful anyways. I look up to this family a lot.

Yesterday we got a phone call from the relief society president saying their appartment had burned down. We ran down to help them right away, and saw the last thing I could have expected from a family that's been through as much as they have. When Br. Mendoza saw me he came hopping up to me with the one crutch he'd made it out with.... and his same huge warm smile and said "my friend! It's good to see you! Did you see my appartment? I think the devil doesn't like me very much." Then he laughed at his own joke. What a guy.

I never stop learning from that family.... even the kids were the most positive people in the world. They're a family that truly realizes what is important in life. Family. They all made it out alright, noone was hurt, and even though they have to start again from ground zero, None of them seemed the least bit affected by it. Just another trial. Just another opportunity to grow. Anyone remember Finding Nemo? Just keep swimming? It's like their family motto. They're awesome. :) I think we could all benefit from the attitude and the mindset that they have. How often do we let the little things in life turn into a big deal? how often dow e let ourselves get taken out of the action because something material has been lost? How often do we lose sight of the big picture, of what's really important? Please, I'd like to ask all of you to pray for the Mendoza family, and to remember them and their faith the next time you find yourself getting upset or discouraged. With the gospel in mind, nothing is all that bad.

I love you all, and I hope you have a wonderful week! Keep on keeping on!

Love,

Elder Christensen

Apr 8

Howdy Everyone!

And thank you all for being patient with my zone activity last week! Now I've got a little bit more time.

A little. :P

The last few weeks have been really interesting here in the Canada Montréal Mission. We've had a lot of new missionaries show up (some of them unexpectedly), and a couple of changes in the basics of our missionary life-style. We're all sort of just.... adjusting right now. but! It's fantastic. I feel like change brings about the biggest growth in people. No one likes to change, because it drags us out of our comfort zone. we'd all rather just stay in our little box and.... well.... stagnate. It often takes an exterior force to cause us to change. A missionary inviting us to pray, a church leader reminding us of basic gospel principles, or even a friend or sibling asking why we do things the way we do. Whatever the case may be, people, as a general rule, don't change unless we are invited to. That's something I've learned about the gospel recently. That's the way the church functions. We invite people, member and nonmember alike, to change.

Why? 

Because in change lies growth. Change is what shapes us, forces us to become something more than what we already are, and prepares us to cope with the many challenges that we will all, inevitably, be faced with. 

I'm a fan of change. :)

As for what we've been DOING with our time.... well. The usual. We spent a large chunk of our last week looking for a new apartment for us to move into when our landlord sells his house, but we got that taken care of, and now we spend most of our time doing my favorite part of missionary work. Knocking. :)

This last week we had a zone study, with a bit of a surprise attached! The one team of sisters in our little zone was running late, and showed up during our opening exercises. I turned to the door to welcome them, and got the best present in the world. 

My dear friend, sister Brooklyn Renshaw, showed up to the mission a bit earlier than we expected, and got put in a trio with the other two sisters in my zone. :D I went to highschool with sister Renshaw, and was super excited to see her. :)

We also had interviews with President Cannon during that zone study..... the last official interview we'll ever have with him. The president Changes in July. Weird. I love interviews. :) 

Alright, if you want to pray for anyone, pray for the Clark Family. They're a wonderful little family that we've been teaching recently, and they are doing amazing. They're all praying fervently about the book of Mormon, and Conference may have been the thing that did it for them, but a few extra prayers never hurt anyone. ; )

I'm sorry this e-mail is a bit scattered, but I'm out of time again, so I'm going to have to let you go now. Have a good week everyone! I love you all! Don't be afraid to change!

 

Elder Christensen

Apr 1

Justin had zone conference so he didn't write a letter. His mission mom sent a photo, but I can't get it to upload. I'll try again later. (And by later, I mean, after my computer-savvy son comes for a visit and can figure out what's going wrong for me.)  :)