HALF TIME! August 18, 2014

Hello!

I feel like every week I say that it has been the busiest week of my
mission, but this last week really was the busiest and craziest! We
ended up doing splits 4 nights last week! (Splits are when a missionary companionship "splits up" taking another companion, or priesthood holder from the church with them on their appointments)
I've honestly never visited
nor taught so many people. We are seeing the blessings come from
having our investigators/less active members build relationships with
the active members. We were able to visit quite a few Spanish people
on our splits, and we had a bunch come to the group yesterday for
translation! We finally have an Activities Coordinator for the Spanish
group now! We're going to have monthly activities for them, which will
be a good start to getting everyone together again. Since the Branch
dissolved, they haven't had many activities because everyone had
something against someone else. :P
Sadly, Steve, who has been preparing for baptism for over two months
now, postponed his baptism yesterday, which was going to be this
coming Saturday. We don't know why at all, but it caught everyone by
surprise. But we know it will work out and he can continue towards
that goal! We also are now teaching 3 other people preparing for
baptism on different dates in October! Names are Jerry, Christina, and
Josh. Each of them will have some things to quit and work through
before baptism, mainly smoking.
So we usually spend the night at the English Elder's apartment in
Williams on the weekends so we can find Spanish people out there. On
Friday night we were looking for a lady named Gloria we had talked to
before, but no one was home. Elder Kwock had felt like we should go
back around the fence, so we did and ended up finding an old
investigator who we thought had disappeared named Jose, just sitting
there on his bike! Turns out, he is separated from his wife, who ended
up being Gloria, and he was at their house waiting to say hi to his
daughters. Well I don't know how, but Gloria eventually showed up and
we were able to teach them all together about how the gospel will
unify them! It was interesting, and now looking back on it we realize
God placed us in a situation where we could provide help to a broken
family. They accepted the Libro de Mormón and we plan to see them next
week again! Miracles like that happen everyday. Sometimes we just
don't recognize them until later. During our morning workout once I
was in a pretty bad mood, just cause I didn't feel I was doing much
good or receiving many blessings. I remember having a lot of negative
and complaining thoughts. I even remember thinking "Geez, the birds
don't even sing here!" Well, I realized right then that I wasn't even
listening for the birds, and once I opened my ears I realized, there
were tons of birds singing! Of course I wasn't going to hear them if I
was too worried about complaining. It taught me to just be "grateful
in my circumstances" as Elder Uchtdorf puts it. To enjoy the little
things that make it all worth it. Miracles like these with this family
make it all worth it! :)
Alright, I love you all! Have a great week!

"15 For can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have
compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I
not forget thee, O house of Israel.
16 Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls
are continually before me" (1 Nephi 21:15-16).
http://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/1-ne/21?lang=eng

Elder Collin Christensen

August 11, 2014 The Year Mark THIS Week

Familia y Amigos míos!
This week has been a little less crazy but equally exhausting. We
found two new Spanish families that are solid! There's such a
difference when you teach real truth seekers than when you teach
someone with little desire. Those lessons with Miguel and Alberto
helped remind me of why I'm here and what my purpose is.
Steve and Kevin were both at church, as well as several less active
members we have been visiting! We planned a Family History evening
with them and some members so they can go on a temple trip with the
Elders Quorum in September. They are both stoked! They could both use
your prayers as they approach these couple weeks before their
baptisms. Kevin has already been facing a lot of adversity and
temptation particularly with the word of wisdom issues he left behind
about a month ago. We love these guys and know they will be alright.
We had a Zone conference this week as well! President Griffin has
changed a lot in the way we do things, and for the better. He best one
I have been loving so far is an extra hour of companionship study
completely for studying doctrine and practice teaching. It's helping
me not only to strengthen my testimony, but also my knowledge,
understanding, and preparation. While that's a whole hour we could be
teaching, I really think it's better. It is helping us learn how to
teach so much more effectively and powerfully.
Well, I can't believe it's already been a year! The time has flown,
but I also feel like I've been a missionary forever! I'm excited to
make the most of these next 12 months!
I love you all!

Elder Collin Christensen

Buenos Dias! August 4, 2014

Hello!

What an awesome week we have had! Five investigators came to church
for an awesome testimony meeting! We finally started working with Mark
again and he stayed for the second hour of church for the first time
ever. He was bored in Sunday school so I think he will be in Gospel
doctrine next week. But we had gone over earlier in the week to teach
him (his wife is a recent convert of a few years, from Peru) and he
just unloaded his testimony on us! He still isn't quite sure if he
knows yet, but we can tell that he does. We had invited him to read
Alma 32, and when we came back he had read it 3 times! For him he said
it was and answer to his prayers. The Spirit is working miracles in
his life right now. He is one of the most sincere investigators I have
ever taught and we are hoping to help him start preparing for baptism
as well!
 
We began teaching another part member family last week as well. Jerry,
the nonmember, is a super sincere Navajo guy. They only have a couple
young kids and by the end of our first visit with them they decided
they needed to build their family on the foundation of the Gospel of
Jesus Christ. They showed that desire by coming to church yesterday,
and his wife Shelley hadn't been for probably 15 years! Oh yea, then
their dog bit both of us. Elder Kwock has a nice hole in the back of
his suit. Haha
 
On my mission I have had so many little experiences with being led by
the Spirit and not realizing it until later. I wish I could write them
all out, but we had some huge blessings come this past week from the
Spirit, like finding people in just the right moment and just the
right place, or saying the right words that help people recognize God
loves them. It's just a testimony to me that The Lord is hastening His
work, and WE have to keep the pace if we are going to be of any use to
Him.
 
Well, it rained a lot this last week. I've never heard so many people
pray for more rain, especially at church. I guess we take it for
granted in the northwest! :D
Well that's about it for this week! I love each of you! Have a splendid week!

Elder Collin Christensen

July 28, 2014

Buenas Tardes familia y amigos míos!

This has been one of the busiest weeks of my mission! I have never
talked to nor taught so many people. We found some new solid people to
teach just by talking with everyone we saw and praying with them.
Almost 10 less active members came to church, plus Kevin and Steve of
course. They are progressing really well, and they will be going home
teaching and visiting the temple hopefully before the are baptized.
The Cedar Hill Ward is really putting them under their wings, and
we're super grateful for that.
This week I've been reading through the book of Ether in the Book of
Mormon. One of my favorite verses in chapter 6 really helped me to
understand how willing The Lord is to help us, to forgive us and to
save us.
"And it came to pass that when they were buried in the deep there was
no water that could hurt them, their vessels being tight like unto a
dish, and also they were tight like unto the ark of Noah; therefore
when they were encompassed about by many waters they did cry unto the
Lord, and he did bring them forth again upon the top of the waters"
(Ether 6:7)
http://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/ether/6?lang=eng
I love that! Sometimes we get thrown around by life, and sometimes we
fail and fall beneath the surface. I know God can always bring us back
to the surface if we pray. He also teaches us how to build our
"vessels" so they are tight and we don't get crushed when the storms
do come. We build ourselves upon the foundation of his Son Jesus
Christ and his gospel by reading, praying, repenting, and attending
church regularly. I love what the Book of Mormon can teach us!
Well that's about it for the update this week. I love you all!

Elder Collin Christensen

July 21, 2014

Hello Family and Friends!

My new companion is Elder Kwock! He is the man! He's Hawaiian, Chinese
and Japanese and we get along a little too well! Partially because we
are both obsessed with ping pong... oh yea, he is an English
missionary so it looks like we've got another hybrid companionship
here! Don't know what The Lord wants me to learn yet, maybe that I
shouldn't assume or expect what I think I need? :D the Spanish Group
is still struggling, we had two people at church, which was better
than some other weeks. We are trying to work with the Stake Presidency
to get some leadership in the group and more activities happening.
We're praying to figure out how to keep it alive without making the
same mistakes that were made last time they had a group.

Well last week we were running all over the place introducing Elder
Kwock to all the members. I realized why Mom made me bring mosquito
repellant! We got eaten alive this weekend in Williams and Ash Fork.
It was a pretty good way to get in peoples homes because they felt bad
for us. We had some cool experiences with just saying prayers with
people. Even though Elder Kwock doesn't speak Spanish, he is super
good at always trying to pray with people. I think we tried to say a
prayer with everyone we talked to. Some of them would be sitting on
their couch eating ice cream, watching TV and straight up tell us they
were believers but they were too busy for a prayer. Other people were
nicer, the coolest one was a lady who told us they weren't interested
and we convinced them to let us pray with them. After praying for
their needs and for their family, we asked them how they felt during
the prayer. It was incredible to hear them describe the Holy Ghost and
not even know what it was. That family invited us back another day!
The power of prayer is so real. Imagine how happy Heavenly Father, the
greatest being in the universe, must be to hear one of his children
talk to him! He always answers. I know it and I love it!

So we are sitting here in the laundromat waiting for our laundry to be
done, and a guy just walked up and asked us what we teach! He was
originally trying to get us to register to vote, but he's got a friend
on a mission in the Philippines and so we just taught him right there.
It was awesome! He was excited and said we could come teach him more
on Sunday.

Steve and Kevin are still doing great! They have a lot of support from
the ward. Kevin just gave up tobacco, coffee and tea cold turkey two
weeks ago and is feeling great. I think he just was waiting for a
reason to quit. Doing so has strengthened his testimony of a modern
day prophet! His experience fulfills this scriptural promise from
Christ himself:
"16 Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his
that sent me.
17 If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether
it be of God, or whether I speak of myself" (John 7:16-17).
http://www.lds.org/scriptures/nt/john/7?lang=eng

I love you all and I love this work!

Elder Collin Christensen

July 15, 2014

Querido familia y amigos,

Well first off, looks like Elder Blake is getting transferred tomorrow. I'm a little bummed, he has been an awesome companion and friend, but I know the Lord has plans for him somewhere else. I've learned a ton from his humility and diligence, and I'm looking forward to being a better companion and friend in the future. Plus I will be getting a Spanish speaking companion (hopefully...)! 

 

We have had another busy week! The best part was being able meet with Kevin. He is on fire and is planning for baptism on August 30th! It's a ways out, but we really felt it would help him prepare right and feel ready by then. He could honestly be baptized next week if he wanted, but he prayed about the 30th of August and felt it was the day he needed to choose to be baptized. We are so grateful for real people who are seeking real conversion through real commitment. It's refreshing after seeing other things fall through. Both Steve and Kevin are already looking forward to going to the temple. These two people were both introduced to us by different members in different circumstances. I can't stress enough how important of a role members play in this work! 

 

We don't do much at all other than help people along the path of spiritual conversion. Believe it or not, social conversion is just as important, especially for investigators and new members, and as missionaries we can't do that very well. So I'm grateful for the fruits that we have seen come from members living their testimonies. 

 

The second coolest thing was seeing a less active sister we have been working with for about 3 months at church for all three hours! Again, we were invited by a member to come teach her with him, and now she has been coming to church for 3 weeks straight and it is changing her life. She is so obviously more happy too! She told us she wants to start paying her tithing again, inviting her friends and preparing to bring family names to the temple. Nothing is cooler than seeing that change happen in someone's life!

 

M. is another investigator we are pretty hopeful about. He is stubborn, but equally as sincere about knowing the truth as was Kevin and Steve. He asked us for a priesthood blessing in our last lesson, and told us that since he has started taking the lessons with us he has received new job opportunities he had been searching for and praying for for a long time before! He still isn't accepting that as his answer yet, but he is running out of questions/excuses/concerns every lesson, and feeling the spirit more and more.

 

Another highlight was meeting President and Sister Griffin on Wednesday! They are awesome people and are adjusting really well to the mission. We are excited to get to know and work with them a bit more.

 

We were able to spend some more time on familysearch.org this week. It is so interesting to see where we come from! But there aren't many stories online so it's hard to know who they are. So please, if you have stories or pictures of people, log on and post them! These stories will bless the lives of future generations. If you don't want to, send them to me and I will! :) 

I love you all! I love this work! 

Until next week,

Elder Collin Christensen

Happy late 4th of July!

Dear Family and Friends!

Happy late 4th of July! I hope you all made the most of it! We were
asked to stay in all night to avoid drunk drivers and such. So we
watched church movies in Spanish! Haha it was fun I guess.
This week we had a hard time keeping appointments with people since it
was family/vacation week. But we still managed 20 lessons and found
some cool people! One is Keith, who manages a motel and to whom we
taught the Restoration while he replaced a toilet. Haha weirdest
lesson ever. He's got some interesting ideas, but wants to learn!
Another was a guy named Tory. His wife's parents are members and had
referred them to us through church Headquarters. This area is bouncing
with opportunities. Last night we totaled the lessons we have set up
for this week and it was well over 30. A good number of them are new
people too! I'm not too sure how we will manage that many lessons, but
we are ready to do what we can to make it work and let the Lord work
miracles!

Both Steve and Kevin were at church yesterday. They are probably the
most solid people we are teaching right now. Steve is already looking
forward to going to the temple with family names once he is baptized!
His baptism will be August 23rd now. He has to leave town next week so
he can't do it then anymore. We were worried for a while he had gotten
cold feet and didn't want to be baptized anymore, but our prayers were
answered and he's still solid!

Yesterday I was struggling with what to do with the Spanish Group
here, because people have just stopped coming, even though we are
teaching more and more Spanish lessons. Among that were some other
things that were bothering me which I chose to pray and fast about. In
Fast and Testimony meeting, my testimony of fasting was truly
strengthened. What the speakers said was good, but what the Spirit
spoke to me was better. I had to start writing things down because so
many thoughts were coming to my mind. Later, there was an awkward
situation in Elder's Quorum because apparently no one had been asked
to prepare a lesson. Of course their solution was "Ask the
missionaries, they can help you!" Well we sure love to help! Haha the
Spirit prompted me to teach a lesson about Testimony and Conversion,
something I have been thinking about a lot lately. I don't know where
the lesson came from, because I can say it wasn't me teaching it! The
Spirit gave me words, questions and ideas to share and it was one of
the coolest experiences. I was grateful the Spirit had prepared me
during Sacrament meeting, even though I didn't know why at the time.
Afterwards a brother came up to us to say that he hadn't had a
spiritual experience at church for a quite while until that
discussion. If God could put words in a clumsy 19 year old boy's mouth
to help just one person, that is evidence to me that he loves his
children, and that his purposes were achieved. I am grateful for the
Holy Ghost, which testifies of truth, and which shapes us and molds us
into more Christlike people. If we allow it to touch our hearts,
change our hearts, and then TURN our hearts outwards, God will work
miracles through you and I, His imperfect children.
I know God speaks. His top priority is the happiness and Salvation of
every one of us. If you don't feel you have a testimony of that, make
the changes necessary to find it out by going to church, reading the
Book of Mormon and praying sincerely each day. Doing so will change
your life! If you have received a testimony through the Holy Ghost,
don't let it sit there and burn out! Keep it fueled by doing the same
things you had to do to receive it. True conversion is illustrated in
the Book of Mormon by the Lamanites: "as many of the Lamanites as
believed in their preaching, and were converted unto the Lord, never
did fall away" (Alma 23:6). Nurture it, strengthen it, act on the
knowledge you have received, and then SHARE IT! :) And never
underestimate the power of a simple heartfelt testimony.

I love being a missionary! I don't know of anything better than
watching hearts and lives change for the better. I apologize if I ever
sound preachy, I just want everyone to know these things! :)
I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Elder Collin Christensen