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!

December 8, 2014

 Flag Zone!

Dear Family and Friends!

We had a decent week! One of the best things that happened was that 3

Spanish speaking members came to church! We are still working on

getting our investigators there but it's a process we are working on.

Also at MLC we received some awesome training from Brother Littlefield

and Gonzalez from the Missionary Department in Salt Lake. After an 8

hour training I definitely raised my vision for what is possible in

our mission. Sometimes we limit what is possible for ourselves by not

setting the right goals that are helpful for us.

Lately I've been working on hope and positivity. I had a lot of

opportunities to practice this week too! It was great. I'm learning

that sometimes when you go one or two full days of just flat knocking

and no responses, the Lord still will use you if you do everything you

can. We did, and at the end of the week we found some of the coolest

people! So I'm learning a lot. Living in positivity and hope to me

doesn't necessarily mean that your hopes and expectations will never

be dashed. But it means that the Lord can use us, stretch us, humble

us, and show us what can be possible with his help.

So anyways, today we went to the Grand Canyon National Park! Funny

enough, it's in our area. So I took a lot of pictures, and they all

kind of look the same. But we had a good hike and a lot of fun!

Tomorrow we are going to the Mesa Temple! It will be awesome!

I love you all! Have a fantastic week!

Elder Collin Christensen

Dec. 1, 2014

Dearest Family and Friends!

Hope Thanksgiving was a great one for you all!  We had a relaxing day
inside and ate with an awesome member family. Then Elder Fife
challenged me to a game of chess, and promised me he wouldn't play
with a Queen...it reminded me of my awesome brothers, especially when
he slaughtered me still. Haha
Well we had a pretty busy week and got into a lot more member homes.
The coolest thing is the church's Christmas Initiative "He is the
Gift." I bet you have all seen the video already, but if not check out
http://www.mormon.org/christmas. This is such an inspired initiative this
Christmas season. At a time when most people get caught up in the
hustle and bustle of Black Friday and Christmas shopping, many others
also wonder where the true meaning of Christmas has gone. I think it's
a good reminder for every single one of us that Jesus Christ is God's
gift to us! And that we should try to discover (or rediscover),
embrace (or re-embrace), and share (or share again) this Gift if we
truly comprehend its value. We are seeing this initiative work
miracles and soften hearts here! With one family we ran into, we just
showed them the video and later read the Christmas Story in the Book
of Mormon, as told by prophets on the American continent at the time
of Christ. It has immediately sparked people's interest and turned
into opportunities for us to testify of this second witness of Jesus
Christ!
So no one is really progressing that we have been working with. Most
people either work, don't have transportation, or don't think anyone
will be at church so they don't come on Sunday. Kinda hard to get
people at church if they're all waiting for everyone else to come
first. Haha I know it's only been two weeks since we have been
focusing solely on Spanish speakers. It's just one of those things
where the fruits might not appear as rapidly as we had hoped. But we
are certain good things will gradually start happening.
I tried to send some pictures mom but I don't know if they went through!
I love you all! Have an awesome week!

Elder Collin Christensen

Pictures Below!

                                       

November 24, 2014 Happy Thanksgiving

Hello Family and Friends!
This is coming out so late today because we decided to take our
District hiking to the top of Mt. Elden! It was a lot of fun, as well
as my nap right after. :D So this will be short but I will try to hit
all the highlights of our CRAZY week.


First of all, we finally got more missionaries in our Ward! It was a
miracle because we lost a bunch of missionaries, 26 in the whole
missions, so many areas had to be combined. The new missionaries are
Sisters McCombie and Wooden, and they have a lot of energy! It will be
so good for this ward. We are now focusing our efforts 100% on Spanish
speakers. Because of that we found 2 incredible families this week! I
will tell you a little about one of them, Filiberto and Magdalena.
They are a middle aged couple with about 4 children who we just
contacted on the street like 4 months ago. They had tons of questions
and I thought they were going to keep us there all night! At the end,
we all kneeled and Magdalena offered the most sincere prayer asking if
the Book of Mormon was true. The Spirit that filled that room was
undeniable. It was such a powerful experience for their whole family,
we all just stayed kneeling for several moments after the prayer. It
was a testimony builder to me of Moroni's promise:
 
4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye
would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these
things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with
real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it
unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.
5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.
Moroni 10:4-5
http://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/moro/10?lang=eng

We are excited for the successes and trials that lie ahead! It will be
a growing experience, for us as servants of the the Lord, for those we
will find, teach, and baptize, and for the work of salvation here in
general.


So for Thanksgiving we will be eating with an older lady in our Ward
and some others and will spend the rest of the day inside!
I love you all! Have a happy thanksgiving!

Elder Collin Christensen

November 17, 2014 Still in Flagstaff!

Dear Family and Friends,

Yes, it's cold in Arizona! Transfer week is is week, and it looks like I will be up here in Flagstaff through Christmas. Woo! Sometimes I wonder if they forgot about me up here... But that's ok, I love the ward and the work! Don't worry mom, I will be sure to get a jacket. The one a member gave me literally reaches my knees. I look like a dwarf.

Well we had an awesome week with the temple dedication and cultural celebration. Were you able to watch any of it online? There were a TON of youth and we were there pretty much all day. President Monson and a Uchtdorf were there as well as Elder Oaks, but we hardly saw them. President Monson is a happy guy and said some pretty funny things on both occasions. One the things that hit me the most as he dedicated the Phoenix Arizona temple was the insight that we are all temples of God. How dedicated are we to Him? A "re-dedication" and consecration of ourselves to our Savior perhaps is necessary on a regular basis. As I reflect on my efforts to be a consecrated missionary I am reminded that there is still so much more of myself that I can give and dedicate to Him. On that note, here's two of my favorite scriptures!

"25 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.

26 For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?"

Matthew 16:25-26

http://www.lds.org/scriptures/nt/matt/16?lang=eng

"15 And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve....but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."

Joshua 24:15

http://www.lds.org/scriptures/ot/josh/24?lang=eng

The rest of our week was awesome too, other than the many appointments falling through. We should have some families committed to specific baptismal dates before the end of the month. The Begay Family was baptized on Friday and was able to come to the Dedication! We are starting their new member lessons because they just moved into our ward. We are also receiving tons of referrals lately, because we are asking for them! One neat story was after we shared a video with a Less Active sister, we asked who she knew who would benefit from seeing that video as well. She mentioned her daughter, so we found her on Facebook and sent the video to her. Sure enough her daughter was going through a rough time and she said the video turned her whole day around. Later we had several experiences right in a row with being in the right place at the right time to help certain people and find new people to teach! I love being the Lord's hands in working small but sure miracles to bring his children closer to him. I've seen it happen over and over again! 

Well I think that sums up this week. I'm grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It's sole purpose is to cleanse us from our mistakes, guilt, and pain and allow us to enjoy the Holy Ghost with us always. I know it's true. I'm grateful for the ability to repent daily and trust that God will be with me as I do my best.

I love you all! Stay warm and awesome!

Elder Collin Christensen

November 10, 2014-Thankful

Hello Everyone!


I hope you're all doing swell and getting excited for Thanksgiving! I
forced myself to think about some things I was thankful for this last
week. I wish I didn't have to be reminded by a national holiday to be
thankful, but I guess it's a good opportunity! I think out of the many
blessings I have, I'm most grateful for my family and for my testimony
of Jesus Christ. As President Uchtdorf said, "this personal testimony
of the gospel and the Church is the most important thing you can earn
in this life" (Receiving a Testimony of Light and Truth;
http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2014/10/receiving-a-testimony-of-light-and-truth?lang=eng).
I'm grateful that I have one, and that it can still grow, and that I
can trust in it when I doubt and when I have trials.


This week we stayed very busy and had another Zone Conference in
Sedona. It answered a lot of the questions I have been having. And I
scored on a free flu shot from Walgreens! Also, Aabrey and Valerie got
baptized! I don't have pictures yet...but they are awesome girls. It
was a good step for their parents in coming back. We've been
struggling to find new people lately and had a lot of our prospects
fall through. But one family we found is super Golden! Dan and Shannon
are the parents, and Karlin is the oldest son. Not only are they
extremely open, but have already seen the blessings of the Gospel in
their family as they have started praying together. We are excited for
them!


Well I don't know what else to say for this week. We are doing the
work and work is changing us. I'm humbled everyday and brought to my
knees. I'm learning to trust in my Savior Jesus Christ, do my best,
and as Elder Wirthlin said, "leave the rest to Him."
I love each of you! Keep being solid!

Elder Collin Christensen