Pictures!

These came from the Mission President and His Wife today.

Elder Christensen Sister and President Taylor

Elder Collin is in Peoria Arizona

We received a phone call on Tuesday Sept 24 from our missionary.  We spoke for 7 whole minutes!  He said that he was pretty tired, but the flight from Mexico to Phoenix went well.  He traveled with his companion and other missionaries.  Some were going to serve in AZ, while others were waiting for Visas.  He was going to relax at the mission home for the rest of the day, and leave for his new area on Wednesday.  He sounded soooo GOOD!  We weren't expecting a call, and were so glad we answered, and we-both parents were available to talk!

We got an email today saying he was in his first area now and that his new companion is Elder Hicks.  His new p-day will be on Mondays.  Here is his new address:

14300 N 83rd Ave. Apt # 3070 Peoria, AZ 85381

¡Hola Familia y Amigos!

I leave the CCM at 3AM tomorrow, so in about 7 hours! My flight is at 7:10AM  and I believe it is about a 3 hour flight, so I will arive at 8:30ish Phoenix time. I am not sure how things will work out, they haven´t really told us anything yet, but I am sure they will let you know I have made it safely!

 

As for this week so far, it has been quite good. I had a pretty annoying virus the last week, but I am much better now. The doctor gave me some antibiotics, and after some tests he found out it wasn´t a parasite. That was comforting. :P His name is Dr. Christensen! Haha I have met about 15 other Elder Christensens here, no joke. Anyways, don´t worry I am well taken care of!

Richard and Dad, I was pretty bummed when I heard BYU lost to Utah. :( I actually met this Tongan Elder here who grey shirted for Utah last year. Haha, he was sure to make sure I knew the score.

 

I have had some really great experiences in the past few days. My district has become such a brotherhood, I didn´t realize it would be this hard to say goodbye to them all. I really love them all, they have helped me learn a lot here. And yes, I love my companion. It has been one of the hardest things for me so far. But a series of humbling events has helped me to realize that I can and must love my companion. For anyone not familiar with missions, loving your companion may sound odd at first, but I will say it is absolutely essential as representatives of Jesus Christ to be united. If we do not love others as Christ loves them, we cannot help them feel his love for them.

Last night we had a devotional by Elder Richard G. Scott. He talked about prayer and personal revelation, and it was exactly the message I needed to hear. One thing he said that caught my attention was ¨Prayer  is a sacred priviledge...Think of it, the most Supreme being in the universe wants YOU to talk to him, at anytime, at any place.¨ I love that. Just as any parent is concerned and wants to hear from their children, even so does our Father in Heaven wait for us to ask for his help, as a friend at anytime. We are pretty lucky to have such a privilege. The Bible Dictionary under Prayer says something to the affect that God is waiting to offer us multitudes of blessings, but he can only do so when we ask him.

Well my time is short. I love you all! I am so excited to enter the field tomorrow! I am learning so much, and am truly grateful to my parents and family and Heavenly Father for allowing me this opportunity to serve Him.

 

Hope all is well! I will soon be in Phoenix, Arizona!

 

Sincerely,

-Elder Christensen

Last Wednesday Pday in Mexico

(Collin was originally scheduled to leave the MTC on September 24 for Phoenix AZ. He comments on my comment that this may be his last email from the MTC, and wondering when we will be able to hear from him next. Also FYI Anna just got her permit--Cindy-MOM)

 

¡Hola!

 

I hope all is well with everyone! Mom, I have heard that I will get to e-mail again this Sunday, but I am not sure. We haven´t been informed of what exactly will happen, but I am sure that we will be able to let you know that we have arrived safely. The Itinerary for the flight may have changed but I will know by Sunday hopefully!

It sounds like you are all pretty busy! Glad to hear from you guys. Anna, I hope you aren´t making the rest of dad´s hairs turn grey by your reckless driving. :) Just remember, those octogonal red signs mean ¨slow down¨ or something. Also, don´t hit squirrels. They ruin the bottom of your car.

So a lot has happened this week! I will try to give a few highlights. The whole weekend was Mexican Independence celebration, particularly Saturday and Sunday. The entire CCM met in the gym Saturday night for a presentation of ¨Noche Mexicano!¨ We learned a little about the history, sung the national anthem, watched a bunch of Mexican Dances including the Mexican ballet...? Haha I honestly have no idea what was going on, but there was a lot of screaming and shouting ¨¡Viva Mexico!¨ The dancing crew were all native members and sang that Armies of Heleman and As Sisters in Zion medeley at the end, it was awesome. The people here are SO proud of their country, its pretty cool. Also, Sunday night we got to stay up late and watch the live feed of the Mexican President do some short ceremony, and the whole nation repeats what he says saying ¨¡Viva!¨and such. I wish I knew more about Mexican history and culture, but It was awesome anyway. The whole weekend there was constant booming and explosions and fireworks throughout the city. It was very loud, but we all got used to it. They told us not to stay outside Sunday night because the people shoot off pistols into the air all night as a tradition, and they didn´t want anyone to get hit! Kinda sketchy. Hahaha

Oh yea, our district sang ¨¨Come. Come Ye Saints¨ before the CCM devotional on Sunday night! We are pretty bad!! Half the district is tone deaf, the other half sings quietly. Haha So I played the piano and we endured it. Everyone stepped out of their comfort zones, it was sweet. And it didn´t turn out as bad as we had thought either.

 

A couple scriptures I came across this week that I really love. The first is in 3 Nephi 18:32 in the Book of Mormon. The Savior explains that those who disobey will not be numbered among his people, but that ¨ye shall not cast him out...for unto such ye shall continue to minister; for ye know not but what they will return and repent, and come unto me with full purpose of heart, and I shall heal them; and ye shall be the means of bringing salvation unto them.¨  We cannot give up on people! In the words of Elder Holland, ¨Any [situation] can and should be a missionary [situation], if we have EYES to see and EARS to hear.¨ We must always remember that the gospel is for every individual human being. It is the power of salvation and happiness in this life, and in eternal life to come. We cannot judge someone just because they have chosen to take a different path. Rather, we should love them sincerely, and pray for them, and continue to minister unto them. We can truly be ¨the means of bringing salvation unto them¨ if we will listen, both to them and the Spirit. Don´t lose hope! Show those you love that you love them! Show them that Christ can and will heal them, whatever their need is. 

2nd Scripture. At a certain time this week I was not feeling the Spirit. In fact, I was feeling anger, irritation, fatigue, boredom, pride, fear...everything that is NOT of the Spirit. I was struggling with my companionship, and it was affecting my teaching and learning.  All I could think about was MYself, and how hard this was for ME. I opened the scriptures to Alma 34:19 ¨Humble yourselves and continue in prayer unto him¨. I realized that this is the only way we can get through our struggles. Be humble, accept and believe that the Lord will and can help you if you continue praying to Him. This is the exact lesson I needed to learn. We , humble ourselves, we open our hearts to God, and then we forget ourselves and let Him take care of us. Verse 28 tells us that our prayer will be in vain if we have not charity for others.

There is SO much to be learned from the scriptures. There is literally something in them for EVERYONE and for EVERYTIME. If you have not discovered the joy found in the word of God, and the peace found in His mercy for us, I encourage you to do so prayerfully. I promise that the Lord will comfort you, He will run to your aid, if we but humble ourselves and come unto Him. He is waiting to help us, for he loves us more than we can know.

I know that this Church, the restored Gospel, and the Book of Mormon are true. I love it.

I love you all!

Have a great week!

 

-Elder Christensen

September 11, 2013 Letter home

¡Hola Familia!

 

I cant believe how much is going on at home! I guess I sort of expected you all to just hang out for two years without talking or having fun. :D It is super great to hear from you all though! Thank you for taking time to write me individually via e-mail. Also, I got all your letters from August 25th yesterday! Haha The envelope was pretty messed up, I was super excited when I got it though! Also, I got your second DearElder.com letter last week I´m pretty sure, but not the one from Sept 8 i dont think. I think I got some mail today though, so its possible.

Since I will be leaving in a couple weeks and it is crazy trying to get mail out of Mexico into the states, I will respond to all your letters right now. But keep sending me real mail! I will reply with real letters when I get to Phoenix :)

 

Hermano Rogers

It sounds like you are having some awesome scripture study Mom and Anna! It is so weird, I´m kinda addicted to studying now that I´m here. At least when we are in the classroom. Hermano Rogers, our evening teacher, showed us all his study journal from his mission. The first section is called ¨Doctrine¨ and he puts a page in for all the Preach My Gospel topics and then for any other topics he comes across. He puts them in alphabetical order, and just keeps a record of scriptures and teachings for each topic. Then he has Insights, Testimony, Question and Answers, and Quotes sections. Every section is cross referenced with dates and such. At first it seemed like way too much work. But my whole district started using it and now everyone is pumped about studying! It is so much more efficient. I have my own little personal ¨Topical Guide¨ that I can refer to anytime. Anyways, I´m glad Im learning how to effectively study now, because I know it will be such a useful tool for me throughout my mission.

 

Dad, that's awesome you and the Priests went water skiing! I hope you got to show off your slolem skills and thunder thighs. Send all those guys my love, they are the best! I was sad to hear you sold the Jetta, and that that girls dad was disrespecting Velma. Glad you got rid of it though, it needed a new home. Haha Oh, also, I hope you took that mannequin head out of the back of the trunk before they drove it off...if not, no worries. I´m sure they will enjoy it.

Richard and Marissa! I cant believe Lacey is trying to walk around and stuff! I can believe the weird noises though, she gets that from her parents. I got super pumped when I heard that our dear friend Kyle the Interviewer will now be on SNL. I hope that was not a joke, because I seriously got super excited. Happy Anniversary! We are gonna have to do some bike rides when I get home, I dont know if I will get enough time on the bike over the next 2 years. Marissa, thats so cool you are doing the triathalon thing! My district has been waking up at 6:00 every morning to run. Its pretty sweet, it reminds me of our fun times running!

 

Cara, thank you for your advice. It is very important for missionaries to be in tune with the spirit, and your testimony strengthened mine. It reminded me of a David A. Bednar talk we watched this week. He spoke of when he was a missionary in Germany, and he gave Elder Boyd K. Packer a ride to the train station so he could fulfill an assignment on the other side of Germany. Before he left, Elder Bednar gave Elder Packer and his wife 20 Marks in case they needed it for their Journey. Years later, Elder Packer reminded Elder Bednar of this experience. What Elder Bednar had not know was that Elder Packer and his wife would not have been able to cross the border that night because of strict border control, without the 20 marks they had been given. Their passports were not accepted, but they were allowed in with the 20 marks. Moral of the story - Elder Bednar was prompted by the power of the Holy Ghost to give the Packers those 20 marks. However, at the time he did not feel that it was a prompting. His message was that if we are continually living in obedience and worthiness, we will not have to worry whether or not the Spirit is prompting us. Most of the time, we are prompted by thoughts that we thought were our own, and only later do we realize that they were promptings. The Spirit prompts and teaches us in our own mind and personal language. That is so comforting to me.

Jeff, thank you for your lovely toilet paper note! My whole district wanted to take turns holding it - we haven't felt toilet paper that soft in 4 weeks! I really love ya man, and I appreciate all the encouragement. Soon I will write you in Spanish!

 

Everyone else, I love ya too! It is inspiring to hear from you every week! I am short on time, but I want you all to know you are always in my prayers. The Savior´s Atonement is real. His love is real. His plan is real. I am reminded everyday of how true our message is, and how important it is to share with the world.

Adelante con la obra! (the work goes ahead- Hasten the work!)

 

With Love,

Elder Christensen

Cockroach in our room I killed

We patch our screens holes with bandaids and stamps so mosquitos dont get in

Elder Goehring (companion)

Third Week

Here's Collin's letter home for this week.

Hola Familia!

Este Semana pasado ha sido muy rapido! (This past week has been very fast!)

 I will answer Mom´s questions first.

We get to go to the temple every other P-day, so I went again for the second time today, and will go one more time!

And they are still playing the old movie here, but it is still pretty cool because I´m busy trying to understand everything. Today I understood most of it too! We do not get to leave the campus besides for the temple, and if we get super sick. And it makes sense why, when we drive out through Mexico City to go to the temple, it is just insane.

I thought I had seen some crazy intersections in the US, but here they just slap down a road wherever they feel like it! The drivers are equally nuts, but there are hardly ever accidents apparently because the people are so good at driving defensively. They are used to people driving in the oncoming lane to pass in heavy traffic, so they just move to the side. At every intersection where you stop, people will run to every car and try to sell bananas or chips or whatever, and some guy will go in the cross walk and juggle fruit or bowling pins or fire or something just for the heck of it. I don't know if they actually make any money doing that. 

I have not seen my blog, I have an hour each week to email, and I don't think I´m allowed to go to any other sites anyways. I´ve heard that it seems like I am the one updating it though, which obviously I´m not. So you could make that a little more clear, but other than that I don't really care too much. Yes, I am healthy. We get to go outside all the time between classes. We walk quite a ways every day just getting around. The weather is very much like Oregon-Sunny or cloudy and like 75 all day. Although we have had like 2 tiny earthquakes that I couldn't feel, and we have a pretty crazy thunderstorm about every other night. :)) I love it.

Well the weeks are all starting to blur together now, so I will try to remember what I have and haven´t already said. A funny story, a few days ago a worker was cleaning out our room and bathroom (yea I know, spoiled) and I started talking to him in Spanish, or at least trying to. He told me about his family and how he loved working at the CCM, among other things. He asked if we liked the food here. My buddy Elder Gerhart, who is in our room, really doesnt like the food here, except he usually likes the meat they serve. He said ¨Si! Me gusta el carne!¨ Yes, I like the meat! The worker, Francisco, replied, ¨Oh si! El carne de caballo!¨ (Oh Yes! It's Horse meat!)  Hahaha Elder Gerhart didn´t figure out what caballo was till later. :D

So I think I mentioned the Elder Holland talk we watched part of in Church last week, well we watched it again This last Sunday. And then, our teacher Hermana Rodriguez, came in Monday morning, and showed it to us again. I don´t think she knew that was the 3rd time we had seen it, but we knew we were watching it again for a reason. To spare you of all the details, Elder Holland mentioned that missionaries needed to remember the story of Peter after the Crucifixion of the Savior. The apostols all wondered what they were to do after Christ died, so they just went fishing again. They then experienced the miraculous catch, after casting on the right side of the boat. The resurrected Lord sat on the shore and asked Peter, do you love me more than these? Peter, after being asked and responding 3 times that he did indeed love the Savior, finally realized what his calling as an Apostol meant. Christ said, if you love me ¨then feed my sheep¨. Peter then became the rock of the church that he was meant to be. The message of this story was that we as missionaries, just as Peter, have been called of God to serve and ¨feed His Sheep¨. We, too, are to leave our nets, and our boats, and our fishes, and all of our old ways, and follow Him. When He asked ME to leave behind MY nets, and my fishes, and my worldy desires, to come and serve Him, He meant it to be forever. Elder Holland explains that we as missionaries are on the same mission as the Apostols today, we are on the Lord´s mission. It is not our mission. He said that we are ¨apostols with little "a´s¨, and we should remember that our call came from God. I love that comparison. I never likened that amazing story to myself.

We also had some great devotionals from Elder Christofferson and Elder Villalobos. I am out of time though!

I Love you all and hope all is well! I love being a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I know that the Gospel is true, and that it is literally for EVERY single person on earth, whether they know it or not. I love my Savior, and the way he provided, through His Gospel, for us to return to Him and live forever in happiness with our families.

Hasta proxima miercoles! (Until next Wednesday!)

Sincerely,

Elder Christensen