Carnaval!‏ Sent: Mon 2/16/15 8:20 AM

Hey family!

Just being a missionary and  stuff. This week was a pretty slow one and we had a lot of appointments drop because of Carnaval. Not that our area has a bunch of part parties or things like that but more because everyone left our area for the parties. Carnaval is continuing these next two days but should be done by Wednesday. So yep we are still roughin it out here in the beach. No really good investigators yet and cant seem to get people to go to church. We have one investigator that we first found super drunk. He was pretty funny and we marked a day later to stop by his place, thinking that it would be a wash anyways. Turns out that, he is still interested when he is sober. He is a funny guy and I like him but his progress is super slow. He would rather feed us than listen most of the time. He is a great humble kid though. Also we had a group of 20 yr olds in Jacaré stop us and ask us where our church was and if they could go. They stoped us.. haha Really cool people but they didnt go this week. Honestly would have been a miracle because Jacaré is 20 min away and the Train doesnt work on weekends... and it was carnaval weekend.. so maybe next week. Things with Elder Wilson are interesting as ever but I am learning more about myself and the gospel. Putting your shoulder to the work is the best way to forget about problems. Language is coming. Still slow but I can understand more than I did 6 weeks ago and I can say almost anything I have to. Depends of the person if they can understand..

Rash is no problem anymore. Not important. We have more fans in house now so sleeping is better. Keeping in touch with washington as best I can. Only having an hour to write people is difficult to get everything off to people. I havent heard from the Elder family recently so I wish I had better contact with them. I have heard that that area is hurting right now. I still miss that place so much. 

Alright so you guys are having a blast this week. Mom&Dad you guys are awesome. Enjoy the beach and things this week. Lamsons and Kodras too! Dont know what more to say for you guys! Dad - Maggie looks more like a hockeyplayer than a birthday girl hahha loved it. HAPPY BIRTHDAY maggs! Thats so crazy. I only left a month ago guys this isnt possible. Ellese I loved the song and dance too! Have fun you guys! West&Stasia&Brooklyn! You guys sound great. Loved the pictures. She looks so much like you gixtureuys. I think it is a perfect mixture! Enjoy the new diet! If a caveman cant make it.. we dont eat it. haha Just know that all I eat is cookies and soda.. and rice beans and noodles everyday of my life...... haha 

Keep on being strong guys! Love you all and have a great week. Hey read a conference talk this week! I have been reading them like crazy! There is a talk in Portuguese that I read by Ucthdorf in November 2011 that i dont know the title of in english but it was super sweet. Super dope. I recomend it. 

MUCH LOVE!

Com amor! Tchão! 

ELDER CHRISTENSEN

Heat Wave‏ Date Mon Feb. 9

Hey everyone, 

So great to hear from all ya. This week was pretty laid back and I dont have a whole lot to say. But yeah we have been working hard here in Cabedelo. It has been pretty hot here recently and sleeping has been almost impossible because we dont really have any fans or anything. I think i might have developed a weird sun rash thing on my elbows and legs so I constantly itch them in the night and drive myself insane. Our area still hasnt given us too many investigators yet and everone we talk to doesnt go to church. We dropped Jorge. He didnt come to church again and who know if he ever will... SO yeah we are starting all over again. 

I only use the backpack as a small overnight bag if i have exchanges. I already had a side bag that I inherited from a less active in my first area in the states. But here we just walk around with scriptures in hand. Only a Book of Mormon. It was a little hard to get used to at first but it makes since for how hot it is so it works. Package hasnt arrived to ME yet but if it has gotten to the office I have no idea. You only get packages during conferences and stuff like that. So maybe I will know by the end of the week if it has arrived because we have a meeting tomorrow. Im looking forward to the love though! I live about 30 min by train from the Mission office. I dont think our mission has a mission home (that is used like a normal mission home at least) and if they do I havent heard of it. Only an office. And nope i never hear from them. Even if they do call I dont deal with any of it. 

Just know that I love you guys! I know that this church is true. Being here in Brasil has brought me to a very fine line! haha I look back over and over and wonder to myself how on earth I am dealing with all of this. Then I look back over all the miracles that I see in my life. Not even just for me but for the people around me. Undoughtably, Heavenly Father has a plan. The best part of his plan is that it wont let us down. Its not a joke or a half hearted promise to us. He has promised us happiness for eternity. He knows that maybe the current situations that we find oursleves in arent easy. But he loves us enough to let us learn from them, To grow from them. He knows that everything we go through here on earth will determin how our life will be with our families in the eternity. I know that he sent his son Jesus Christ to redeam all mankind. I know that he has done this because there would be no other way. I know that he has done this because I feel happy when I think about it. I feel the peace that comes from living the Gosple that Jesus taught long ago. I know that we have prophets and apostles on the earth again. That they guide us and help us to know and feel more of Gods enduring love. This churh is His. 

You guys keep on keeping on. Keep praying for me! You dont know how much I rely on it!

LOVE ALWAYS

ELDER CHRISTENSEN

pictures

Two from When I was in Bessa and the beach! 

THe other is just a picture of our current kitchen. Maybe you wanted to see Idk haha

Roller Coaster ride Date: Mon, 2 Feb 2015

Yo Yo familia! Tudo Beleza?

Ah man what a wild week. So started off pretty slow but then the weekend came and oh man it was an interesting one. This week I had a drunk lady kiss my hand, interviews with Presedient, dropped baptism (that I was going to baptize in?..? haha), 2 mile hike in the bushwack projects, another 'footdusting' with the result of an angry drunk brazilian running out the door at us, and waiting for a train in the rain with a less active and an underaged 11 year old smoking a joint that was given him by the less active we met. All in all it was a pretty wild week. haha As far a details that you would probably be interested in knowing, we had a baptism planned for this man named Jougie (Georgies) and he is a really humble guy. Super sweet, super poor. Problem is that he is no where  ready to be baptized in my opinion. So anyways we still planned one out and got him interviewed saturday night and all was set, when sunday morning rolled around he was no where to be found.. so yeah this is the 5th time he has missed his baptism, I dont think he is truly converted enough. After we had the interveiw he asked if I would do it but either way it never happened so thats that. No real no investigators or anything cool like that. We are still just trying to establish ourselves here and meet some more people. I am beginning to like the area more and we have some sweet youth in our ward so its all frosty.

Mom's questions: So we live in a house. Its got 2 main sleeping rooms and a hallway that we fit our desks in and then a kitchen. two bathrooms. So I sleep on the floor of this neon orange room with a bed and a fan on the floor.. trying to keep me cool. We have Elder André from São Paulo, Brasil and Elder Alburqueque from Peru living and sharring the work here in the ward. Super cool dudes. Elder Andre was with me in Bessa (first area) and so we already know eachother and Elder Alb is awesome as well. I havent had to cut my hair in a while. Not since the last time. Its still pretty short so hopefuly I can make it though the transfer. Language is good. I think that I can get along on my own with very basic stuff but I never understand everything that a person says yet. Its still coming. Most of the time its pretty easy to talk in the streets and make contacts because we say the same things pretty much over and over again and get the same responses most of the time. Drunk people are a whole nother ball game.. And there are a LOT here let my tell ya.

Family. You guys rock. Mom&Dad- SNOW day! What thats sick! I would kill for this! Enjoy it and stay warm! 

I cant think of much more to write. I got to hit up some of my people so..

Até Mais!

Amor

ELDER CHRISTENSEN

ps I couldnt find my card to send photos so wait till next time.. haha sorry

Hey there family! Date: Mon, 26 Jan 2015

Hey there family!

Alright so I will just get down to my week then. I am honestly beginning to think that Heavenly Father is prepping me for some really wild kids in the future because I have never learned more about patience in my life!! haha The new area is good but everything is super slow right now because we dont have anything to work from. The area that we came into used to just be an area for sister missionaries and it is huge!! All the members live basically in one half of the area and so the sisters primaraly worked there for the sake of having people to work with. OUR half of the area is not this area! haha We work 3 different towns and they are a pretty good difference away from one another so we have to use the train if we want to get out there. The people here are super different than in Bessa and have a lot less money and are diffenatly more humbled but location is still a huge problem for us. But its all good. More about patience... Elder Wilson is a great kid, just wants to work which is great, but lets just say we have had a couple interactions in the road that were a tad interesting! haha oh man I must really have some insane kids when I am older. haha But i have faith that this transfer is going to be one of learning and loving.

Mom's questions: So we eat at members houses pretty much everyday for lunch. Lunch is 2 hours and we pretty much just eat a normal amount of food and then just hang out with them to fill the rest of the hour. The sun is at its worst during this hour so the mission just dicided that because no one is outside or doing anything that they would place our dinner hour right after our lunch hour (hence 2 hour lunch). This means that dinner doesnt exist here. The only things we make in house are things we make for breakfast or snacks after 9 oclock. Since I dont eat breakfast (sorry jen) I pretty much only use the kitchen to make some Quisquis or something easy like TopRoman. I eat a lot of cookies as well! haha Thats pretty much all I buy on mondays.

In all honesty the temperature here would be great if I didnt have to wear pants and a shirt and tie in it. The wind keeps it cool at night but you also have to remember that the only source of cooling yourself down is taking a cold shower or useing a fan to blow warm air at yourslef. (this only works if your already sweating and will only continure to work as you sweat!) haha 

Alright this was a pretty good letter I think. haha I have a bunch of picture too and I will try to send them next week if I remember to bring my camera. Right now Im going to go rest up, cool down and prep to distroy some brazilans in soccer this afternoon with our ward!

MUCH LOVE,

tchão gente!

ELDER CHRISTENSEN

Transfers and Humpday‏ Date: Wed, 21 Jan 2015

Yo yo Familia!

Hey everyone! So yeah a lot to talk about this week so lets get into it. Aright so all of our work in Bessa is starting to pick up! We had a investigator actually come to church! She is pretty incredbile. Super humble and she came all by herself even though her family baled on her! She is super prepared and not doubt will be baptized and maybe her sister as well. But yeah also we found some sweet people in the road the other day eating some green mangos in the street and then a few days after we went back and had a huge block party lesson in the road with all the neighbors and such! Ha they are some pretty hilarious people though. This one lady was totally for the BookofMormon and testifying for us that it was the real deal and she has never read it! haha so they might be a solid group of people. On top of this I celebrated my year mark with SUBWAY and soda... muito. haha It was pretty normal other than that though. Crazy to believe its already come and gone.. so quick! 

Transfers came! I got moved and Iam one neighborhood over from João Pessoa in a place called Cabedelo. There will be 4 elders in a house that used to be a sisters place. So we are sweeping in and all we really know is that there will be a baptism tonight.. haha I already know the bishop here and a family that lives here and they pretty awesome so I am pretty stoked. Elder Wilson (from texas) will be my companion. He has been out for one more transfer than me but he has always been in Brasil so he speaks pretty well. I am stoked to learn a lot more here though. We have tons more people here that will be taught I think so it should give me some space to get out there and teach and learn faster. Our area is on the tip of the Penninsila so we have a beach in 3 different directions. just in case you wanted to know!

Family! I love reading all your letters! I could just sit here all day and read and never write back but i need to! haha I dont have much time today to get into detail but next week I will! Jenny! Lanbsons! Congrats!! Thats so awesome! Zone Defense time! haha I like Wyatte the most... I think I coached a kid named sawyer in soccer and he was a pest so thats my reasoning. Maggie your walking! What!! Parents your the busiest people of all time. Dad, pumped about th raise. Your deserve it. Brooklyn you will greatly help the broncos one day! btw- Im going for Seahawks.. Gotta rep my Washington blood! haha 

Até mais família! Eu processo bora!

Gotta go!

Love 

ELDER CHRISTENSEN

1 Year mark!‏ Date: January 12, 2015 at 6:53am

Hey everyone! 

Can you believe it! One year out already? I dont understand it. I thought that 2 years was a long time but turns out it really just feels like 2 months. So yeah I will oficially hit one year this Thursday! No idea how we will ring it in but it will most likely be by walking around and knocking doors or something! haha But really they have a couple of Subways here so maybe I will just go out to eat there and get a taste of america right quick. Subway here is super fancy and expensive so it will be worthy of such an achievement! This past week was pretty good. Still dont have a really good progressing ivestigator but we are working hard. At the end of the week we found some really great people that will hopefully come to church the following week so we are praying for that. They really are some incredible people. Within 30 min of knowing them they were already pullin out the crackers and Coke and trying to feed us while at the same time the lady at the house changed the music from Bob Marley to a gospel CD to fit the atmosphear! haha So that was pretty great. We are finding it a little bit easier to get people to agree to Church in the afternoon in the brand new chapel. But they still doesnt mean that they go. The new chapel is like a 20 min bus ride and it really is a 3 hour commitment to go.. So yep we are just tryin to finish this last week of the transfer with something acomplished! 

Shoes are great. No problems there. Language is comming I thnk but I really think that what I need now is a new location with a brazilian comp. Where I cant get a away with speaking english when my comp cant understand and a ward that hasnt already decided that I cant speak anything so they actually try to talk to me instead of elder loveland. haha 

Ukulele is perfect. and Life just keeps on movin. No really funny thoughts or stories today. Got kinda sick at the latter end of this week and am still just tired and trying to get over it. Just a head cold. 

Family!- Mom&Dad - I dont think that you guys have been home for longer than a week since I left for my mission! Have fun in SD! (everone that chooses to wear Orange- SORRY THE BRONCOS LOST AGAIN! bummer guys.. it just really hurts me to see you guys get hurt again.) (now that there are 2 babies in the family Half of my emails are just straight pictures of baby..) 

ALRIGHT I LOVE YOU GUYS!

Have a great week 

Tchão gente!

ELDER CHRISTENSEN

2015! January 5, 2015 at 7:14

Oi OiOi! Familia! What it do!

Here we are in 2015!? What happened to 2014?  Man, time is moving fast! Well my week was pretty good. Really slow here because everyone is partying and living up the vacation time so everyone was gone to the beach or busy drinking! haha Brazilians go ham for the holidays. So yeah we did the best we could this week. For new years night.. we slept!! And I dont regret it! haha It was pretty anti-climatic. In other news, our ward also moved over to another church building so we have a brand new chapel and its pretty fancy. It has that AC and everything. The micraphone actually works from the pulpet so for the first time I have actually had a chance at understanding people in the chapel! What else.. Not much I can think of... We are still trying to shuffle through all these people we find everyday and actually find someone that is sincerly interested so keep us in you prayers. I know there has got to be someone here! 

In other news, I bought a Ukalele! After 1 year of waiting, I now im a proud owner of a miniture toy guitar! haha But seriously though the Ukalele is high quality and it was pretty cheap once you convert it over into US dollars. For P-day today we will most likely go get some grub and take it easy. Might play some soccer in the afternoon. I need to wash all me pants because everyone of them is stained blue because of the Book of Mormon that keeps rubbing off on my paints! haha #missionaryproblems 

FAMILY! I just want to tell you how incredibly happy I am to have all of you in my life. I love how close we have all stayed together and how much it means to me that everyone of us is living the gospel of Jesus Christ! Seriously though.. if being on my mission has opened my eyes at all it would be that now I have an overwelming amount of pride and joy from my family! Keep up the work everyone. We are just so great! haha

Romans 5: 3-5 is a pretty sick scripture if you want to read it! Helps me for sure!

Alright! Stop. I love you. 

BYEE

ELDER CHRISTENSEN