Living the life Mon, 25 May 2015 11:41

Ola! Tudo Bem!

So yeah this week was another good one. It was actually super productive because now we have some investigators that are progressing and this next week should bring about some miracles! We have one new investigator in particular that is super legit. His mom is a member of the church and lives in São Paulo but she gave us his info and said that we was looking for some help in learning english to improve this teaching, since he is a english teacher. (sorry english is coming out sloppy right now.) But yeah he let us in and we started to talk in English a little bit (suuuper weird) and then the next visit we taught the Restoration and he accepted it all. He loved the idea of having a prophet on the earth today and he said that for sure he just needs to study it out. #BookOfMormon! haha So yeah he is a champ. Didnt make it to church this week because he was on a trip out of town, but this next sunday should be a winner. Same as our other investigators we gained this week. Patricia is good but yeah her house is getting super complicated right now. Didnt make it to church because her mother-in-law dislocated her knee out on the farm and yeah they went out there to help her. Better than the alternative of her husband forcing her to miss church like we thought happened. So yeah keep her in your prayers and all that. Its helping a lot. 

New missionaries arrived in the house. Elder Bezerra - he is from the same state of brazil that João Pessoa is located!! haha His hometome is literally 30 min away by car. haha But yeah he was called to serve here because his town is in the Natal Mission which is just north. But he is the man. Think of an average brazilian and he is your guy! Super funny and hard working. His greeny is from Peru! ha Elder Roja is pretty swag and is trying to teach me his Magic skills. haha Before his mission he did magic in the streets to earn money for the mission. haha he is pretty funny and it is weird to know more Port. than him. Ha its been super fun though and this transfer should go buy pretty great.

Alright I love you guys too much!

Até próxima semana!

love

ELDER CHRISTENSEN

Transfers! Date: Mon, 18 May 2015 12:28

Hey you people!

So lets just get right into it. Elder Wilson and I are still together and we will be serving here in the Branch a little while longer. Our roommates that were serving in the ward next to our area got swept out and so sometime tomorrow we are supposed to recieve another group of Elders but yeah they arent coming until tomorrow because one elder will be training and so he trainie is coming tomorrow. SO yeah we got some changes but it was lame to have to say goodbye to Elder Anderson aka my homie from Arizona. But its all good. Im excited for these next six weeks. 

Patricia is suffering pretty bad right now. She is stuck in a really tight situation right now with family bashing on her and the church and yeah, long story short its just a really poor situation. BUT she is sooo amazing that she walked to church and walked back with 2 of her daughters so that she could participate in church and recieve the Holy Ghost! She is super studdly and I have more respect for her than almost anyone I have met in my life! She really is the example of how to walk by faith and all the Less Active members that brought her into the light of the gospel are looking to her as the hero! A lot of people seem to be having some trouble with marrage things around here and especially at this time in my mission so my message for you guys will be to read the Family Proclimation and stay loyal and loving to your FAMILY! Elder Holland once said that the greatest and most important defining character of Love, is and will forever be LOYALTY. SO help each out and dont hesitate to make a sacrifice here or there!.. booom missionary moment!... and So yeah thats probably the biggest news from the week.

I also bought a Barcelona NEYMAR JN. jersy so yeah its pretty fly and I wear it all the time I can! Haters gonna Hate but NEYMAR is the man. speaking of this.. if any of you guys have requests of things you want me to buy and bring home just let me know here in the next few months... I got the hookups now. haha 

 Elder Anderson

btw UKALELE is still going strong on my end just in case you guys wanted to know... also just saying as well that it would be kinda dope to get a book of ukalele music or something next package.. just saying... haha 

MELHOREIS TODO MUNDO!

Chão Chão 

Com Amor,

ELDER CHRISTENSEN

photo with my shirt and ELDER ANDERSON this morning when they left.

and sunset

One more week until skype!‏ Sent: Mon 5/04/15 10:39 AM

E ai família! Como vocês estão!?

Alrighty so this week feels soooo long just at the same time it also feels like I was writting you guys last week. Started off the week with the move of appartments which was actually super fast and pain free.. Its pretty easy when you only live out of 2 suitcases and all the other things that President wants out of the appartment are half garbage and you can just chuck it in the trash pile on the side of the road... brazil.. haha But yeah it was pretty easy. We are liking our new house with the other Elders that were living there. So yeah I dont know if I made it clear last week but we are living with another douplet right now as compaired to before when it was just us. I am living with 2 other americans and the only one that speaks english is Elder Mather (who is the same elder that was in my MTC district.. maybe go back and see what I wrote about him if you cant remember) haha yeah its been fun regardless. We havent had much success with people in the Roads yet but our members are pretty tight and Patricia is super legit. She is also showing us her Sister and maybe we might have a baptism there sometime as well.  Yeah it definatly is a thing here in Brazil that you only baptize women. Its not even something that happens internsionaly. This Sunday we had stake conference and it was super dope but then we had to head back and have lunch with our less active family.

Super excited for Skype next week! IT will be interesting to speak English for real for and hour or so. No word on how much time yet but it will be enough I assure ya. I will skype from here around 6 oclock. So I think it should give you guys time to GO TO CHURCH! haha no ditching church people! Keep notes of what you want to hear and I will try to make a note of all my best stories. Im stoked to talk to whoever will be there on SKYPE. The 3 way thing sounds dope but I also have this feeling that Jen is gonna go into Labor that very day so lets see... haha jk jen 

                                                                                                         

                                                                                                         

 Our area with soccer feilds

 Old house.. better house

Baptizm of Patricia

                                                                                                          Sandwich for 5 Reais and Coke (Super good)
 Daughter on Patricia that looks like David Luiz 

On the train to the bus station then...

On the bus to Campina Grande!

  New house but yeah you cant see to much... 

LOVE YOU SO MUCH! I WILL CALL YOU GUYS IN 6 DAYS!

Até mais rapaz!

ELDER CHRISTENSEN

Moved Date: Mon, 27 Apr 2015 11:12

Hey everyone!,

SO this week was a pretty interesting one to say the least. We have been knocking a bunch of doors trying to find new investigators and so that always leads to long days with a little bit of annoyance but we are finding some really great people so it all works out in the end. Hopefully this next week we can really start to get some committment from these people and get them to church! Also we were super blessed with teh baptism of Patricia. I think I mentioned her in the last letter a little but she was an investigator that we left for us when we swept in 3 weeks ago. She has been working a bunch recently and she was all set for a baptism before we showed up but something happened and its all fine now. Her husband is a leader in the Asembly of God church and her mother is actually more unsupportive than anyone but she was a trooper and told us that she always knew that being baptized into the church was the right thing to do. Last night she bore her testimony about the power of the Holy Ghost in her life and it was super powerful. She has a lot going against her but it will totaly be worth it in the long run. Her daughters are the cutest things on earth! I was the one who got to baptize her and I felt super priveledged to do it. Cold water, and a bit shallow but hey it works. So yeah now on to the reason for the heading. We moved houses today because for some reason president felt like it was the right thing to do, the only lame thing was that he decided not to tell us we were moving until Sunday night before the move.. yeah.. We moved across the street this morning into the house of some elders that work in the area next to ours.. Not really that close to our area but its closer to our church building so its all good. Doesnt have water on the weekends as well but... its all good! haha 

Yeah skype should be awesome. I am stoked already. I am guessing it would be Sunday afternoon here around 3 or 4 so whatever it would be for you guys just let me know what works better. I can go off of your schedual. oh yeah . So yes Campina Grande is a big city but i work on the outskirts of town.. like 10 min away. The city of Campina has 2 stakes and I work in a branch soo... yeah just to clear up the confusion if there was any. Our LZ work in an area closer to the city but still its just next to ours as well..

Alright well I will try to send some pics now. Using a new LanHouse so I hope this works..

LOVE YOU ALL! Karáka Boi!

Chãozinho

ELDER CHRISTENSEN

jk it doesnt work for pictures today.. I think the converter thing we are using is broken so next week for sure we will get on it and bring another method of sending pics.. 

just know that they are some good ones! haha

loveya

Eeee tá! Mon, 20 Apr 2015

Família, como está!

Hey so this week was pretty good I guess. We still dont really have any teaching pool but we are walking and talking and walking a bunch. It is for sure a little bit challenging but we are liking the members and there for sure is a bit of work to do with less active members and we can for sure strengthen the branch with some off number work if you know what I be sayin. We have one really sweet investigator though that the other missionaries left for us as well. Her name is Patricia and she has a husband that is a leader in one of the Assembly of God churchs and three daughters.. The youngest is the cutiest thing I have ever seen in my life! I keep telling her that she looks like David Luiz .. a brazilian soccer player if you want to look him up you will know what I am talking about.. because she has the wildest hair and she is super chuncky! haha I am really pumped to get to know this family a little more and hopefully we can help her get to the waters of baptism. She kinda has all the odds staked against her. haha 

As far as cool stories I got none today. haha For sure lets whip out the Handbook everyone haha. What can you do when you have no other options other than by MOTO.. just saying.. haha but our branch president is the MAN! I love that guy. We is working so hard. Never in my mission have I seen another person go above and beyond to fullfill their calling. Be like Presidente Silva everyone. Thats my message for today. Now for Mom´s onslaught of questions... Pictures.. I am sorry but this internet cafe is super lame.. Doest work for sending anything.. even downloading sweet videos.. so we are both suffering.. i know. I got my memory cards in order but Im just gonna tell ya now. I got more legit pictures on the cameras of other people... just saying.. we might have to wait until Facebook to get a real veiw of my best moments! haha Money is great. No problems there. Just sometimes if im looking to buy something special I will take money out of the personal card. But seriously not much at all. I am SOOO good on hygene stuff mom. I have like 5 bottles of unopened toothpaste bottles from all your packeges.. I even gave away all that I could. haha perks of having a mom work at the dentist office! Portugues is still coming along and the shoes are perfect.. no worries at all. Mothers day will be awesome.. looking forward to it. Still 3 weeks away but I already got a good house figured out and when it gets close I might but need the skype info again. or I can go back and find it.. whichever.. no idea how to get everyone in but I will let you guys decide that. FIGHT OVER ME! haha jk idk..

ALRIGHT I have to go.. I love you guys so much

HAve a blessed week eryone! Just finished the New Testiment! 

Church is true

COM amor,

ELDER CHRISTENSEN

Sitio Lucas‏ Mon, 13 Apr 2015

Family,

Oh my goodness I love you people. This week was super different and a bit crazy but it always feels good to know that the only way to go is up! haha So yeah our area is super big yet small at the same time. We only have a certin amount of working space if you know what Im saying. But our area also covers a bunch of those out of town ranch gatherings and its super pretty to see a bunch of brazilian farms and mountains in the distance but we only go out there for lunch really because members want to feed us but finding anyone that is gonna walk to church that is pretty far away is almost out of the question. Even the members out there dont go. haha Yep so we have a pretty small branch. I thought Ritzville was pretty small but this Sunday we only had 20 people show up and we didnt even have a third hour cause the stake is busy trying to change stuff around in the branch. They called a brand new branch president as soon as we got here and yeah they are trying to do whatever they can to keep this area excited. So missionary work will for sure be interesting. Alright 2 stories cause they are pretty good: Our first lunch here in the Branch was way out of town. The very end of our area so we caught a bus and road it until the end that drop us off at this tree in the middle of no where. We waited there for some kid to come pick us up named Mosies (aka MOSES crossing the dessert) and he arrived by way of Donkey carradge. So we hitched a ride with him and chilled in the back of this donkey carradge until 40 min later we arrived at this house. Super great people but super funny way of getting there. WISH I had a picture but no we will just wait until next time.

Secound story: Last night our new President wanted to go make some visits so some people which included some people that live jsut out of town. Problem was that he had to lend his car to his wife and only way we could travel was by Motercycle. So yeah we just hopped on back (Elder wilson went with one of the counselers on his Motercycle) and we went. so picture this: I got my nice suitpants on for sunday and they arnt all the flexible which made it super difficult to get on and off without tairing the paints, I got a sweet full incaseing helmet on, and we are cruzing in the Brazilian farms headed to go visit some less active family. But it gets better. All of the sudden president goes "Opa hold on!" and we nailed this speed bumb on the freeway (cause thats the only way they moneter speed in brazil) and we COUGHT AIR! haha it was pretty sick to say the lest. I little sketch but for sure was awesome. President was pretty great about it. He felt bad but I kept telling him it made for a dope story. 

So yeah Im really growing into brazil I love this place and all the difficulties. AND Campina Grande is cold at nights!! I dont need a fan to sleep! #whatup

Family- MOM&DAD- first off, RITZVILLE! what my mind was tripping out when I saw those pictures! Thats my stomping ground! I feel a little bit lame you didnt go visit my people but I understand that you guys had to catch a plane so I understand. Oh yeah so transfers happend yesterday and Me and Wilson are staying. FOR now on the transfers will always fall on a Monday so no more of this writting in the middle of the week garbage. 

Aright well I am going to try and send pics so hopefully you get them. This Internet Shop is super grimmy so lets see how it goes.. Stay strong this week! 

Love,

ELDER CHRISTENSEN

Church is still true. Mon, 6 Apr 2015 12:56

Hey you people.

So this week was a pretty normal one until this weekend. General Conference is the bomb! OH my heck it was so good this Spring! I got to watch it in English, I know I wimped out, but it was so worth it. Loved all the talks and yeah there were some Bangers delivered by Holland and Uchtdorf and ah man the church is so true. And its a good thing that I learned this again this weekend because I got Emergency Transferred! yeaaaa.... haha I KNOW! We were told about this right after the Sunday afternoon session and now I am sitting in a LanHouse in Campina Grande! haha the Other End of the MISSION. And that's not even the kicker. Im still companions with Elder Wilson! I KNOW! All in all I am actually pretty pumped for the new scenery and the ¨more chilled than normal¨nights but it was hard to drop the Bomb on Carmelita like that and Daniel and all the other people that we were close to. Saying goodbye to Carmeleta was super hard. She didnt take it well. It was honestly like breaking up with someone.. kinda weird. But I love her nonetheless and I hope she stays strong. As far as Daniel goes we was super chill about it and he says that he tried to add me on facebook. So if your still about that Nano you can add him if you like. Daniel da Silva. So yeah this week should be an interesting one. It should be the last of the ACTUAL transfer so we will spend it trying to learn our area and gain the trust of the members here. Yeah some super bad stuff went down here so we are kinda scared to poke the bear but lets go for it. It should be a small branch of members too so maybe I will loose more weight! haha 

Still love it here and I cant weight for you guys to hear all the deeper stories once I get back that I dont have time to share right now. #6TransfersLeft... not trunky at all but dang I could easily end my mission in this City. Thats insain.

LOVE YOU ALL BUT I HAVE TO LEAVE..

more details next week!!

ahahaghghg I love my mission but I'm getting some white hairs here people!

pics next week.

ELDER CHRISTENSEN