February 2, 2015

Dear Family and Friends!

This has been a growing week for me. I'm grateful it happened, and I'm also grateful it's over!

Being here the last 5 weeks has taught me a lot of things. In Ether 12:27 we learn it best: "And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them." (http://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/ether/12?lang=eng) It's funny how we can get so convinced that we are awesome and unbeatable! I love how God so lovingly gives us trials that help us see our weaknesses. Being here is helping me learn how to cope with stress in a new way, and how to help others manage their stress. I'm learning to be more of a person than a robot missionary. Along with having fun and being myself, I'm also learning how to be patient and compassionate. I'm learning to stop justifying my weaknesses. I realize that I can and will change! I know that He can do that for me if I'm willing to put forth the effort. Now I just have to be humble enough to let him change me. 

Along with the trials also have come the blessings. This week we taught 3 new awesome people, all introduced to us by their friends. They all had come to the Welcome Center Expo last week! We also taught our one investigator from our Family Ward named Jake. We have been inviting and inviting him to be baptized, and he kept saying yes but he doesn't know when. Out of nowhere this week he told us, "You should keep March 21 open." He had prayed and felt strongly that he should be baptized that day! The coolest thing is that he is learning to recognize how Heavenly Father communicates to him through the Holy Ghost.

I also had the best experiences tracting I've ever had on my mission. I was on an exchange with an Elder who is being trained in his area. He had only been Tracting once and wanted to go knock on doors in a certain area. We knocked maybe 15 doors and there were 5 who we prayed with and invited us back! If you're familiar with oncoming doors as a missionary you know that's a pretty incredible percentage. It really boosted my attitude and reminded me that God is behind this work. It's not us, and it's not the members, or the church leaders, or even the prophet. These are all supporting factors, but this is God's work, and in the words of Joseph Smith, "the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished." (https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2008/10/the-truth-of-god-shall-go-forth?lang=eng). 

"Remember...that it is not the work of God that is frustrated, but the work of men"

(D&C 3:3; http://www.lds.org/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/3?lang=eng)

I know we are on his side. He fights the majority of our battles, and we just have to be here to do our best. Doing so has been the most fulfilling thing I have ever done in my life. 

I love you all and wish you the best! Happy Groundhog's day!

Elder Collin Christensen

January 26, 2015

Devil's Bridge

Dear Family and Friends! 

Today we hike Devil's Bridge in Sedona and had a blast. It's another natural bridge you can walk across. It was a fun hike too and made me wish I had a bike! And because people in Sedona are kind of crazy, they believe they can jump off high cliffs (like Devils Bridge) with their vortex crystal's and land in another dimension...something along those lines. It's a total hippie town so we had fun. I'll send some pictures!

Elder Madsen tried several times to "fly" off the bridge

Anyways, our week was super packed and awesome. We met some incredible people who are very prepared for the gospel. We also gave several priesthood blessings that were powerful. The Investigators we have are progressing a lot and are so close to baptism! Also, Rachel and Crystal are two new baptized members of a couple weeks, and both are super excited. They've introduced us to their nonmember friends, they're searching for family names to take to Phoenix temple with us on February 7! Rachel also wants to serve a mission when she graduates! There's nothing better than seeing true conversion happen. 

Our annual "Come and See" expo was fantastic! We met so many new people and set up some appointments to teach them! It's really given me a new perspective on missionary work. The church buildings are dedicated, and have a special spirit in them.   When we invite people to activities, we aren't just helping them socialize. We are helping them feel God's love for them through the Holy Ghost. It's powerful and it works! 

Well, we just taught a lot and went to a lot of meetings and other than that I don't have much more to share, other than my testimony. I know that Jesus Christ does live! I know that we are here for an eternal purpose, and that our Savior loves us. He will help us overcome the challenges and experiences we have in this life. I absolutely have been strengthened and carried by Him at times on my mission. I'm learning to rely on that strength, because our own will only last us so long. I've often referred to this comforting scripture:

"And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall."

(Helaman 5:12, http://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/hel/5?lang=eng)

This is quite the amazing promise. It's not just "if" the devil sends for challenges, rather "when." But if we build a foundation on Christ, we "shall" not and "cannot" fall. I know this is true.

I love you all. Have a fantastic week!

Elder Collin Christensen

Walnut Canyon Hike

Walnut Canyon Hike

January 12, 2015

Dear Family and friends,

This week was equally busy as last, which sure makes time fly. I can't
believe it's already been two weeks. 

Crystal got baptized Saturday,and I confirmed her on Sunday, she is awesome! 
She had quite the experience investigating the church, and she has gained a lot of
faith! She is a math major and has a very logical mind, and at her
baptism she shared how she gained her testimony using a spiritual
"proof" or experiment. Her hypothesis was that the church was true,
and that God did exist. And she was going to do some procedures,
assuming her hypothesis was correct. She said these procedures
included beginning to obey the commandments, reading the Book of
Mormon, praying daily, and coming to church. She said she then
examined the results and analyzed whether or not good or bad things
happened because of it. She found amazing things begin to happen in
her life and she knew what she was doing was right. The coolest part
about the baptism was that our investigator Ashley came and felt the
spirit so strong, and after we taught her and she committed to be
baptized! She is still worried about her family situation, but she is
doing all of the right procedures and is seeing the results in her
life. I love that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is so simple and yet can
change any life that lets it. It's awesome!

Elder Madsen and I went to another MLC last week and had some great
training. Right after I went on and exchange with Elder Fife! Haha it
was like dejavu, being back in my old bed, but we had a lot of fun
together. I'm really glad we stayed companions for a while. We ate
some habanero peppers straight just to try and be manly and get pumped
for finding some Spanish speakers, but we ended up just burning our
mouths out and making our faces and eyes sweat. But we ended up
finding a new family and setting a baptismal date with one of the
Investigators we had taught together before I left!

Yesterday we were looking at our week and noticed we hadn't found
anyone to teach in our area yet. So we prayed and felt inspired to
visit some former Investigators. Turns out the one we decided to go
see wasn't there (to our knowledge), BUT right as we walked up to his
door, we contacted one of his neighbors, Zack. It didn't take long for
us to realize he was the reason we were there. Pretty much all his
friends are Mormons and he talked about how great it was when he read
the Book of Mormon all the way through once! Anyways, we taught him
right there and set up a tour at the welcome center (institute) on
campus. I love experiences like these. They remind me that God is in
charge of his work! We just have to place ourselves in his hands and
he will do it! I think so often I lose sight of that and get
distracted, and as a result I'm a useless instrument in the Lord's
hands until I can refocus.

So my apartment is pretty nuts. Elder Shepherd is a 300 pound 18 year
old missionary and for some reason I always lose when I jump on his
back and try to wrestle him... :P he is from Boise, ID. His companion
is Elder Busick, or Elder "Bisquick" and he is from Montana. Then
Elder Madsen is from Topeka, Kansas. We all get along well and have a
lot of fun. I'm adjusting just fine.This week we have another Investigator being baptized.   Her
name is Rachel! Keep her in your prayers, as well as Ashley! Thanks.
Have a great week! I love you all!

Elder Collin Christensen

January 5, 2015

Dearest family,

Happy 2015! It's been a great last week! But I'll be honest, I am dead
tired. 
My new Address is:
315 W. Phoenix Ave. Flagstaff, AZ 86001

My new companion is Elder Madsen! We go home together, and we get
along great. We are both weirdos and the elders we live with are even
weirder. Haha we have a lot of fun. So we cover the University Heights
Ward and the University YSA 2nd Ward together. It's weird being an
English missionary, and not doing any Spanish work. It's nice that I
can stay in the Stake though and still influence the Spanish work.
Elder Fife's new companion is a Spanish Elder named Elder Thiel and
they are still covering all the Spanish work. Overall, the YSA keeps
us super busy. We teach FaceTime lessons almost everyday since a lot
of people are still on break. There are a lot of people we are
teaching who are preparing for baptism, one will be this week! We have
several others who are close. One of them is Ashley who said she
didn't feel ready for baptism. We asked her all the baptismal
interview questions and she proved to us she is totally ready! It
really hit her, and now she is praying about being baptized on
February 7th.

The University Heights Ward is a family ward. Elder Arave actually
served here a few months back before he went home! It is a tiny ward
and a lot of people call it a "dead ward." It's kinda sad to see how
hopeless the ward seems about missionary work. The leaders say that
most the members don't even have testimonies. So one of the things we
started this week was visiting all the members we could. We got over
20 families referred to us in the ward. We are trying to change the
attitude of the Ward by developing their trust. So it will be a
project. But on the bright side our Ward Mission leader is a former
cop and taekwondo Judo ninja guy...so he is teaching us a bunch of
self defense stuff. Haha

Well it dumped snow the night before transfers and continued all day
we were down in Phoenix, so we couldn't come up New Year's Eve. We
stayed with some other missionaries down there, and the next day when
we came back up there was about a foot of snow in Flagstaff. It's been
fun, I decided I better get a coat.

Anyways, I better get going. I love you all! Have a fantastic week!

Elder Collin Christensen

Dec.30, 2014

Dear Family and Friends,
Well I'm getting transferred tomorrow! The weird thing is I'm not
leaving Flagstaff... Haha so looks like I will be sticking it out up
here for a little longer. I will tell you more about the new wards
etc. next week when I know more. Elder Fife is staying here to take
over the Spanish work in the Stake.
We had an awesome week! It was a little bit of a struggle teaching and
whatnot with Christmas, but at the same time Abel came to church! He
committed to be baptized last week, and came for the second time this
week. We are still struggling getting his whole family involved. He is
a super humble man though. We also taught the first atheist Mexican I
have ever met, which was an interesting experience to say the least! I
really found that I have a huge desire to help people accept this
gospel, because it got super frustrating to try everything we could
think of and see nothing come of it. But it's all good! We've found a
couple guys named Juan lately, and we were teaching "Juan" of them
(one of them) yesterday. We have making too many of those "Juan" jokes
together, so yesterday in this lesson Elder Fife accidentally told
this guy, Juan, That Joseph Smith read in "Santiago, Juan (one),
cinco" for James 1:5. We had a good laugh, but it probably isn't as
funny now that I'm telling it...
Seeing you all on Christmas was great! I'm glad to hear everyone
enjoyed themselves. I hope all the born/not born yet nephews and
nieces are fantastic as well!
Well I'm crunched on time today! I love you all!
Happy New Year!

Elder Collin Christensen

Merry Christmas THIS WEEK!

Dear Family and Friends,
We had a spectacular week!! Our District doubled the amount of people
we found and also those who committed to be baptized on a specific
date. It's evident that God is preparing hearts and guiding us to
them. Other than that, we are still struggling with getting people to
come to church. I realized just how many possible excuses there are to
not come. Really, honestly, there are so many other things we could do
that could stop us from coming to church. But the fact is that if we
want to, if we really truly want to, we will be able to come. If we
really understand the importance of coming we will come and it won't
be a struggle. So that's what we are working on.
One man named Abel has been studying with us for quite a few months.
He finally committed to be baptized in January! We are excited for
him, and will be working on getting his family to sit in as well.
Hmm...well I don't know what else to say really. Today we had a
pancake party and played some of games. Haha I know, creative. I'm
excited to talk to you on Christmas! I'm typing this email at the
laundromat, so you probably won't get it till I get WiFi later
tonight. But I will think of some cool stories and experiences to
share on Thursday! I love you all!

Elder Collin Christensen

Editors Note-
Collin will be FACE-TIMING with us on Christmas morning.  We are very excited to talk to him!  It has been 7 months since we have talked with him--since Mother's Day.  We treasure that time, as it is one of 4 times that we get to talk while he is on his 2 year mission.

Dec. 14, 2014

Dear Family and friends! This week was fantastic! We started it off by going to the Mesa temple on Tuesday to get familiar with the visitors center, to see the Christmas temple lights and go through the temple with all the north zones. It was great, and warm! It has been over a year since I have gone to the temple. I love that place. Later on Wednesday we taught 2 ladies, a mother and a daughter, named Teresa and Jessica. They were referred to us by a lady in our ward. Both are going through some difficult divorces, and both are incredibly prepared to hear the gospel. They accepted to be baptized on January 17th! They are awesome. We also found another family we had just knocked into one day when it started dumping snow! They let us in almost immediately. The mother, Bertha, speaks no English, and the father, John, speaks no Spanish. Haha I have no clue how that happened still, but hey they are super cool! It seems like the Lord is preparing more and more Spanish Speaking people here to hear this message. This last week we decided to focus more of our time and effort on helping people come to church since we haven't had hardly any non members at church in a long time. Based on how many people said they would be there, there should have been at least 15 people at church. But 2 of them actually came and we were pumped! It was disappointing that not everyone showed, but to me I was glad that at least two of them got to come feel the Spirit. In our district there's been a difficulty lately with opening our mouths. We had a whole meeting based on this scripture: "Yea, open your mouths and spare not, and you shall be laden with sheaves upon your backs, for lo, I am with you" (D&C 33:9). It was pretty cool to see how each companionship really needed to change and be more open with one another, and also with talking to everyone they see. A lot of problems can be solved and ultimately prevented by open communication. We also had interviews this last week with President Griffin. He is hilarious. He definitely opens his mouth and "spare[s] not." He told me a lot of things I needed to hear. :) Well that's about it this week! I'm pumped for Christmas! Still not sure what we will be doing, but I'm sure we will get fed. And we will definitely get to skype home! It doesn't really matter what time, probably around noonish? Let me know what works best for the family. What are everyone's plans this year? Are you remembering to share the gift of Jesus Christ? :D I love you all, have an awesome week. Elder Collin Christensen SURPRISE!  Here's a picture with Collin's good friend and 1st cousin once removed--Sister Rebeka Kohler.  She is serving at the Mesa Temple Visitors Center!