Dear Family and Friends,
This is super late, and it may be a little shorter than usual! Today
we played Flagstaff football, which was actually just flag football.
We had a crazy good week though! F--, T--, A-- and
C-- were all at church and they are all super solid. We had
some spiritual lessons with each of them this last week, and they had
a ton of support from the members. [Two of them] are both about
10 and belong to families that are coming back to church. They will
both be baptized Nov. 8 as well! It has been fun working with the
younger kids who are learning and want to be baptized. They have a TON
of energy and excitement about the gospel. It's forcing me to return
to the basics, and understand how simple the Gospel of Jesus Christ
really is!
This last week I set a goal to think of an write something positive
down for every hour. It was super hard, and I definitely missed quite
a few hours. But I noticed my mind and heart started to change and I
really started to be a happier person, and love others. I love Jesus
Christ so much. He can make our biggest weaknesses become strengths,
but it doesn't just happen overnight. The ability to change our
natures is such a blessing!
Some funny/interesting things that happened this week:
We were asked to go to the Flagstaff Medical Center to say some
prayers and give some blessings to a couple members. Unfortunately I
didn't remember the names that went along with the room numbers we
were asked to visit. The names were Felicia and Gary, and to my bad
luck Felicia must have had a recent haircut and I asked her if she was
Gary. She didn't like me too much...
We went to Williams and taught a lady who the English missionaries had
started teaching but who spoke mostly English. Her name is G---.
We didn't know anything about her, and we soon found out that she
didn't really know anything about herself either. She told us she has
epilepsy...so we realized she hadn't comprehended much of what we
taught her. Haha The sad part is she loves it when missionaries come
because she feels the spirit and can remember a little better. So
we'll see how much we can do there.
We told a guy he needed to stop drinking in order to prepare to be
baptized, and he told us he just wanted to stay Catholic then... Haha
:/
I was praying in a lesson and trying to ask that the "Holy Ghost would
dwell" in the home we were at. Only after did I realize I had actually
asked that the Holy Ghost would die there. Morar vs. Morir.... Haha I
had a good laugh at myself.
Oh yea! I ate some fermented cabbage from Korea! It was sorta good in
a weird way.
Well anyways, I love each of you! Have a great week!
Elder Collin Christensen
Tuesday, October 21, 2014
13 Octubre, 2014
Hola Familia y amigos mios!
How is everyone? What are the plans this winter? Well this week wasn't
quite as newsy as last week was. But we did have a great week and
managed to reach/get close to the goals we set even though it was a
transfer week. I've been thinking a lot about goals lately, why we
have them, how we set them, how to reach them etc. I feel like we
rarely accomplish anything worthwhile without first setting a goal or
at least having a vision of what we hope to accomplish. I love the
idea of "beginning with the end in mind." Isn't that great? We don't
have to wonder how things will turn out if we begin a task with the
perspective of what we hope to achieve. Going off of President
Monson's talk in Priesthood session, if our rudders aren't set, or
better yet, not even in the water, we will most likely go in circles
or wherever the wind takes us. In other words, we will only become
what the world makes of us rather than what God can make of us if we
set righteous goals and act for ourselves with his help. I love it! So
I'm trying to become more focused on setting and achieving goals.
We had 4 investigators show up to sacrament meeting, plus a lady named
Taylor who just walked in and said she wanted to learn more from us!
Turns out, her fiancée is a long time member of the church and hasn't
come for years. He ended up coming for the last 2 hours. They are such
a cool couple! They watched general conference last week just out of
nowhere on their own and loved it, so they decided to come and see
what our ward was like! Anyways, the Spirit is so real. Only the Holy
Spirit can move people to come seeking with sincere hearts like that.
And we are seeing it start to happen more and more.
We found two other legit Spanish speaking families this week, who are
also super sincere. It is so amazing to teach people who actually want
to learn, after teaching so many people who don't really care either
way. Haha it's refreshing for sure. One sister in our Ward invited her
roommate to listen to us last week, to help her overcome some
substance abuse. She was totally pumped about it apparently, but then
we started teaching her and she just got up and said "I'm sick of
this!" and walked out of the room! Haha it was kinda funny, but also
sad because she seems to be a quite bipolar. Anyways, we run into all
sorts of people around here.
Well that's about all I can ramble out this week. Thanks for all your
encouragement and support! I love you all!
Elder Collin Christensen
How is everyone? What are the plans this winter? Well this week wasn't
quite as newsy as last week was. But we did have a great week and
managed to reach/get close to the goals we set even though it was a
transfer week. I've been thinking a lot about goals lately, why we
have them, how we set them, how to reach them etc. I feel like we
rarely accomplish anything worthwhile without first setting a goal or
at least having a vision of what we hope to accomplish. I love the
idea of "beginning with the end in mind." Isn't that great? We don't
have to wonder how things will turn out if we begin a task with the
perspective of what we hope to achieve. Going off of President
Monson's talk in Priesthood session, if our rudders aren't set, or
better yet, not even in the water, we will most likely go in circles
or wherever the wind takes us. In other words, we will only become
what the world makes of us rather than what God can make of us if we
set righteous goals and act for ourselves with his help. I love it! So
I'm trying to become more focused on setting and achieving goals.
We had 4 investigators show up to sacrament meeting, plus a lady named
Taylor who just walked in and said she wanted to learn more from us!
Turns out, her fiancée is a long time member of the church and hasn't
come for years. He ended up coming for the last 2 hours. They are such
a cool couple! They watched general conference last week just out of
nowhere on their own and loved it, so they decided to come and see
what our ward was like! Anyways, the Spirit is so real. Only the Holy
Spirit can move people to come seeking with sincere hearts like that.
And we are seeing it start to happen more and more.
We found two other legit Spanish speaking families this week, who are
also super sincere. It is so amazing to teach people who actually want
to learn, after teaching so many people who don't really care either
way. Haha it's refreshing for sure. One sister in our Ward invited her
roommate to listen to us last week, to help her overcome some
substance abuse. She was totally pumped about it apparently, but then
we started teaching her and she just got up and said "I'm sick of
this!" and walked out of the room! Haha it was kinda funny, but also
sad because she seems to be a quite bipolar. Anyways, we run into all
sorts of people around here.
Well that's about all I can ramble out this week. Thanks for all your
encouragement and support! I love you all!
Elder Collin Christensen
Conference Weekend and Good News
Hello Family and friends!
We had a fantastic week! Not only was General Conference incredible,
but we found some awesome new people and got a lot of exciting news!
We will be participating in the cultural celebration for the Phoenix
Temple with some song in sign language (it's like Primary all over
again) and also helping set up the furniture after the open house and
before the dedication. We can go to the open house once a week if we
go with an investigator! It will be an exciting next transfer! Elder
Fife and I are both staying in the Cedar Hill ward.
We also became the first mission in the world to go completely, 100%
digital! Yea, no more papers for us! It is exciting and also a little
scary. There are so many effective things we can do now, and our
mission has more access to applications than any other mission in the
world. We are in a way pioneering/revolutionizing the tools used for
missionary work. Since we were some of the first missionaries to get
iPads and Facebook, I think the missionary department trusts us quite
a bit. That's why it's a little scary. But some of the things we can
do now are create baptismal/event programs, fliers, spreadsheets to
organize and present information etc. So it's been fun! All the
missionaries also got to watch the new film Meet the Mormons last
week. Does anyone know if it will be coming to Portland at all? If
not, you can request it at www.meetthemormons.com. I was honestly
surprised at how good it was! It will help a lot of people understand
who we are more and feel the Spirit without making them feel we are
pushing doctrine on them. So yea! Watch it! There is so much positive
media the church is creating for us to use to flood the earth with
good things!
So Francisco is the man. He is on fire and has already read over 150
pages in the Book of Mormon (he started a week and a half ago!). We
reset a baptism date with him for Nov. 8 due to scheduling conflicts.
He is so pumped. He loved Priesthood session of Conference and also
Sunday afternoon! He has been looking for some reason to turn his life
around, something he knew God wanted him to do. He has gone to other
churches and never knew if he believed in Jesus Christ and always
fought inside against what he read in the Bible. Since reading the
Book of Mormon, his heart has changed 180 degrees. He dropped
completely all the substance abuse and other issues he had, and he
tells us now that not only does he know the church and the Book of
Mormon is true, but that he now knows Jesus is his Savior. What a
testimony builder for me! At times I have underestimated the power and
Spirit behind the Book of Mormon, but it truly is that second witness
of Jesus Christ. The promises are sure that all who read sincerely,
seeking truth from God will come to know by the Holy Spirit FIRSTLY
that Jesus Christ is their Savior, that Joseph Smith was a prophet of
God, and that the true Church of Jesus Christ has been restored. We
often stress too much perhaps that if people read it they can know he
church was restored. But what a powerful witness it truly is of Jesus
Christ and his Atoning love for all of us. The Book of Mormon truly
can change lives.
Our lesson with S-- yesterday at Bishop's house was an eye opener
for me as well. She has had such a hard time lately accepting the Book
of Mormon and is still scared to open it up, read it, and find out it
is true. We felt prompted to just bag the lesson we had planned and
read with her in the book of Alma chapter 32 of the Book of Mormon.
She could relate with the people Alma was teaching who were kicked out
of their synagogues (she recently was kicked out of her last church).
As we read about planting the seed of the word of God, and nurturing
it with faith, diligence, and patience, this lightbulb suddenly went
off and she understood what she needed to do! It was so cool! We
hardly did anything, but the Spirit taught her truth, and her
"understanding [did] begin to be enlightened, and [her] mind [did]
begin to expand."
Alma 32:34
http://www.lds.org/scriptures/
For some reason when General Conference comes around its like
Christmas time for missionaries. It's like new updated toys! What a
neat opportunity we have every 6 months to listen to God's Prophets -
prophets! Just like Moses, or Abraham, or Nephi to whom God spoke
personally. Anyone can know these men have been called of God if they
will just listen to their words. My favorite talks came from Elder
Jorg Klebnigat and Elder D. Todd Christofferson. Honestly I loved all
the talks, but in particular these two. They highlighted the fact that
we are all agents and can ACT to change our circumstances with the
help of our Heavenly Father. This email is already horrendously long,
so I will just paste the links to their talks and invite each of you
to go back and study all the talks! A pattern that helped me get a lot
out of conference is by asking myself "what is the doctrine they are
teaching?" And "what are they inviting us to DO?" True gospel learning
comes when we not only hear, but also DO the will of God. I know these
things are true. I know God has called prophets again to lead us. It's
the smartest thing to do if we want true happiness now and forever.
I love you all!! Stay awesome! :))
Elder Collin Christensen
https://www.lds.org/general-
https://www.lds.org/general-
We had a fantastic week! Not only was General Conference incredible,
but we found some awesome new people and got a lot of exciting news!
We will be participating in the cultural celebration for the Phoenix
Temple with some song in sign language (it's like Primary all over
again) and also helping set up the furniture after the open house and
before the dedication. We can go to the open house once a week if we
go with an investigator! It will be an exciting next transfer! Elder
Fife and I are both staying in the Cedar Hill ward.
We also became the first mission in the world to go completely, 100%
digital! Yea, no more papers for us! It is exciting and also a little
scary. There are so many effective things we can do now, and our
mission has more access to applications than any other mission in the
world. We are in a way pioneering/revolutionizing the tools used for
missionary work. Since we were some of the first missionaries to get
iPads and Facebook, I think the missionary department trusts us quite
a bit. That's why it's a little scary. But some of the things we can
do now are create baptismal/event programs, fliers, spreadsheets to
organize and present information etc. So it's been fun! All the
missionaries also got to watch the new film Meet the Mormons last
week. Does anyone know if it will be coming to Portland at all? If
not, you can request it at www.meetthemormons.com. I was honestly
surprised at how good it was! It will help a lot of people understand
who we are more and feel the Spirit without making them feel we are
pushing doctrine on them. So yea! Watch it! There is so much positive
media the church is creating for us to use to flood the earth with
good things!
So Francisco is the man. He is on fire and has already read over 150
pages in the Book of Mormon (he started a week and a half ago!). We
reset a baptism date with him for Nov. 8 due to scheduling conflicts.
He is so pumped. He loved Priesthood session of Conference and also
Sunday afternoon! He has been looking for some reason to turn his life
around, something he knew God wanted him to do. He has gone to other
churches and never knew if he believed in Jesus Christ and always
fought inside against what he read in the Bible. Since reading the
Book of Mormon, his heart has changed 180 degrees. He dropped
completely all the substance abuse and other issues he had, and he
tells us now that not only does he know the church and the Book of
Mormon is true, but that he now knows Jesus is his Savior. What a
testimony builder for me! At times I have underestimated the power and
Spirit behind the Book of Mormon, but it truly is that second witness
of Jesus Christ. The promises are sure that all who read sincerely,
seeking truth from God will come to know by the Holy Spirit FIRSTLY
that Jesus Christ is their Savior, that Joseph Smith was a prophet of
God, and that the true Church of Jesus Christ has been restored. We
often stress too much perhaps that if people read it they can know he
church was restored. But what a powerful witness it truly is of Jesus
Christ and his Atoning love for all of us. The Book of Mormon truly
can change lives.
Our lesson with S-- yesterday at Bishop's house was an eye opener
for me as well. She has had such a hard time lately accepting the Book
of Mormon and is still scared to open it up, read it, and find out it
is true. We felt prompted to just bag the lesson we had planned and
read with her in the book of Alma chapter 32 of the Book of Mormon.
She could relate with the people Alma was teaching who were kicked out
of their synagogues (she recently was kicked out of her last church).
As we read about planting the seed of the word of God, and nurturing
it with faith, diligence, and patience, this lightbulb suddenly went
off and she understood what she needed to do! It was so cool! We
hardly did anything, but the Spirit taught her truth, and her
"understanding [did] begin to be enlightened, and [her] mind [did]
begin to expand."
Alma 32:34
http://www.lds.org/scriptures/
For some reason when General Conference comes around its like
Christmas time for missionaries. It's like new updated toys! What a
neat opportunity we have every 6 months to listen to God's Prophets -
prophets! Just like Moses, or Abraham, or Nephi to whom God spoke
personally. Anyone can know these men have been called of God if they
will just listen to their words. My favorite talks came from Elder
Jorg Klebnigat and Elder D. Todd Christofferson. Honestly I loved all
the talks, but in particular these two. They highlighted the fact that
we are all agents and can ACT to change our circumstances with the
help of our Heavenly Father. This email is already horrendously long,
so I will just paste the links to their talks and invite each of you
to go back and study all the talks! A pattern that helped me get a lot
out of conference is by asking myself "what is the doctrine they are
teaching?" And "what are they inviting us to DO?" True gospel learning
comes when we not only hear, but also DO the will of God. I know these
things are true. I know God has called prophets again to lead us. It's
the smartest thing to do if we want true happiness now and forever.
I love you all!! Stay awesome! :))
Elder Collin Christensen
https://www.lds.org/general-
https://www.lds.org/general-
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