life in Bodocongó Mon, 20 Jul 2015 11:51

Hey there,

So great to hear from all ya. So this week was pretty fast, pretty normal, pretty much a week of trying to find other people to teach so it was a lot of street contacts and knocking on doors. We lost track of André for a few days which was pretty frightening but it all worked out fine when we randomly just past by in the afternoon (he is never at home in the afternoon because of work) and found him right after his lunch break. He is so excited about the gospel! He has already invited all his friends and they are actually interested on making the visit too! haha So yeah no worries about him. His family is still slacking behind a little bit but she works as a Mid-wife I think and is helping this one lady with her new born right now so she was pretty much in the Hospital all weekend. Another problem that we face with Andre and his family is that he is leaving this weekend most likely to work in João Pessoa. And then will be gone for another 20 days.. I know its  pretty lame but he is super solid and will return and the whole bunch of them will be getting baptized here in a while, including his references! haha Lets see though.. SO yeah other than all that its been pretty good. Living with 3 brazilians is a little different. I thought I knew conversational portugues to an extent but then I forgot that there are other things to talk about other than the gospel so a whole nother world of Portuguese is being opened to me haha. As far as a funny story I dont know if I got one for you guys this week. But stay posted I will work harder to get you one this next week.

Alright guys I got to go. Church is true. Book of Mormon is the word of God. #readitERYday

loved dads quote to I figured I would end with it as well;

Since you have already reached the stares, reach for the Son!

AMOR

ELDER CHRISTENSEN

ps packege stuff - GARMETS yes that would be sweet and the rest can just be candy and junk food. Its fun to show my investigators a little bit of america so the more american candy the better. and yeah thats all I can think of...

What up!‏ Date: Mon, 13 Jul 2015 10:24

Family! 

Hey so this week was a pretty normal week for us. We are still trying to get a hang of the new area and get a few more lessons put together with Investigators and Members. We recieved a refferal from someone in our ward and we met them Tuesday night. Such a sweet and prepared family. The head of the house, Andre is such a sweet guy! He has had quite the journey to be where he is right now and He is super humbled and ready to learn and become a part of this gospel. Its so fun teaching him because he just soaks it up! Its like his first meal of the gospel after 30 years of spiritualy fasting.. and he is hungry! haha His wife and son are a little bit hesitant still and didnt come to church yesterday even though they both swore they would so there is something there and we will be working on that this week. The goal is to baptize the family together but with work and vacations and things I dont really know for sure when it will happen. Keep posted though. Other then this family, everyday was just filled with little things that are so normal to me yet so strange at the same time. Getting 20 reais from some random guy in the street, roads filled with mud, taking a shower with a 2 Lt POP bottle that we have to reserve for the weekends when we dont have water. Just the normal. So other than this I dont really have much more to update you guy on. Elder Paiva is super legit and yeah its definatly weird being the only american in the house and not having that cultural bond but Im learning a lot. 

Alright you guys I know this letter is kinda lame but just know that Im loving my mission and all that comes with it everyday!

Im readin D&C right now too with the BofM so its been fun the see all the great things that were restored at the same time the church was getting started up again. Church is truer than true. Im really into Moroni 7 and I share it with people a lot. Charity never fails.

Amor com todo meu coração gente!

ELDER CHRISTENSEN

Happy Birthday AMERICA!‏ Date: Mon, 6 Jul 2015 11:53

Yep yep!

So good to hear from you guys! This week for me was a bit interesting and a little difficult as far as missionary work but it was still really fun to be learning a new area and working with a different Comp and be working in a ward again. haha This week it rained.. A LOT! Pretty much everyday there was a slight sprinkle constantly! It was pretty annoying because nobody is in the street or is willing to answer the door, because you have to leave your front door to go answer at the gate, which is in the rain. But yeah we are just trying to learn where the members live and meet all of the old investigators that the other missionaries were teaching. They have had 3 baptisms in the best 2 transfers were none of them was Confermed.... yeah so they are kinda hard to work with and Im betting they arnt that converted so we will pretty much be trying to build a new teaching pool this week. Elder Paiva is super cool. He is that white kid on my right in the distric picture. Super cool and we are getting along pretty great. He is helping me a bunch with Port and he is a really good teacher. He works hard too so this transfer should be great. I am excited. Church is pretty great too because when we have meetings or anything I can almost always keep in touch with what is happening in the Branch. (Same building but they have church in the morning and we have church at 3:30 pm) So its good to hear how my people there are. I love branches. You become really close to all the members. In fact I also ran into Anderson (my investigator for Sitio Lucas) on the way to this Internet Cafe so yeah its awesome being this close still. No one knows if I will stay here until I finnish the mission but the last american that was in this area did the same thing that I could potentialy do (4 transfers and then DIE in the area) 

So rest assured I am loving it here in BRAZIL!

4th of July only made me a little but trunky but lets put the pedle to the metal now. whats to rush.. you've got the eternities anyways! This is what I say when people ask if I miss you guys anyways.. ahha

K AMOR Meus queridos! there are soals to be saved!

tchão 

ELDER CHRISTENSEN

TRANSFERS!‏ Date: Mon, 29 Jun 2015 11:52

Hey Família!

So yeah this week was the week of transfers! I got transfered to another area but in the same district. So its pretty close to where I was but different house and different area but same Chapel. Area Borocongo! haha yep and I have a NEW comp! haha Who would have thought it? Right now I am with Elder Vaira and he is from Brasil! My first real brazilian, and he is white! Looks pretty american and everyone up here in the Northeast is brown so... But he seems pretty chill. I am sweeping the area with him which means that neither of us were there before and have to start over from scratch. I will miss my old area for sure! Sitio Lucas is finally starting to give way to all our work and we had 7 investigators there. Because people actually went! Anderson and Nedi went again and even though they say that they dont have the intrest to be Baptized I think that Anderson is starting to give way to the idea.. I love that family I cant wait to hear good things here soon. Also a bit of info, In my house I am leaving with 3 brazilians so I will be learning alot here pretty quick. Elder Wilson stayed there in the Branch and so I will still see him at District meeting and stuff. Strangely I can feel his absence right now. Miss that crazy kid. I grew alot with him. But yeah lets see what happens this week. Sorry all this info is spilling out but yeah dont really know how much else to stop it. Today will be unpacking and trying to get used to all these new people and try to make everyone like me.. Christensen habbit haha. Other than that, winter just started up here in Brazil which really just means more rain. But things really have cooled down here in Campina Grande! Super nice!

Alright so a few things before I forget. SO I lost my Patriatical Blessing so that would be sweet if you could just fax me a copy in the next email.. 

and... no thats all I can think of.

LOVE YOU GUYS SO MUCH!

AMOR

ELDER CHRISTENSEN

better week by far‏ Sent: Mon 6/22/15 9:12 AM

Family!

What is up you people! So yeah to start off this week was a whole lot better than the last week. We started off with a surprise split with our ZL without any reason or call ha. Then we had a blitz in our area (all the missionaries from the District come and work in you area for a while) on Thursday and Saterday we had a Branch Party to celebrate São João which is a huge thing here in Campina Grande! And this Sunday we had our INVESTIGATOR family come... and I gave a talk as well. So it was a pretty fast week and I will try to cover the best details for ya. So yeah the Blitz was pretty good I guess. We gained a lot of people that we could pass by on Friday. But none of them had real interest or any desire to go to church. If the blitz did anything it was to show our LZs that we are trying the best that we can even though we arent throwing down 2 Baptisms a week. haha no but in all honesty its all good. SÃO JOÃO is in full force now! haha So here in the North East they have this celebration to remember the pinoneer ranchers back in the day with basically an entire month of party. As tradition everyone eats corn and they have like 20 different traditional plates of corn. haha Everyone wears plad and the women wear their hair in pig tails and fireworks every second and any time. They even have 3 days in spacific where everyone is supposed to put fires infront of their houses, so yeah be waiting for that photo. Yeah its pretty tight. Our branch went out to a park named Parque das Pedras (Rock Park) to this house that was litterally made completly out of bolders! They have this huge water reserve as well and everyone went on top to take pictures and everything. IT was super pretty and orange.

 I look super orange because Helton (a brother from the branch) changed the filter of the camera to enhace the dopeness of the colors.. his words.. but in portuguese. so yep!then after we chowed down on some corn with Palminha, bolo de macaxeira, and other stuff. They have a traditional dance here called a Quadrilha and it is super sick. I will have to teach you all when I get back. Its brazilian square dancing! oh yeah and everyone listens to FORRO! haha (i cant even explain it in words) THEN MOST IMPORTANTLY! Anderson and Nedi went to church this sunday! They already have told us a few times that they have no desire to change religion but I know they loved church and they actually knew a ton of people that were already members so they felt right at home. I also gave my first talk in Portuguese! I wasnt a big deal because the mission kinda took away my fear of talking in puplic and the size of our branch helps too.. haha I only feel a little bad that maybe it wasnt the best grammer yet. haha But hey seemed to be laughing at my jokes so I think it worked fine. This next week is the last of the transfer so yeah we have arrived at another transfer where I dont want to leave the area because of the few people that are finally progressing and the few people that we are finding here are really starting to pick up! The lord knows better though..

 The blurry food pic is a food named Buchada! Its a stuffed stomach with intestans and other delisious stuff. SUPER TASTY.. dont let its looks or other descriptions lie to you. Another traditional North Eastern thing.. but a majority of the people dont like it.. haha only us true brazilians.

the other pics you can figure out. also 

Até próximo!

ELDER CHRISTENSEN

E tá doutor! ‏Date: June 15, 2015 at 8:16

What is up my family!

So this week was another bumber. Basically everything we have worked for these past 11 weeks here have been close to irelevant. Nobody was at church yesterday even most of our members. And yeah there was a few that came from the Sitios (Ranches) but only because President Silva (our branch president) picked them up. Patricia didnt make it. Other less actives are super lazy and dont come. Our investigators say they will come until Sunday morning and nobody shows and or answers their phones. We only have 3 roads that we havent knocked completly yet. Our ZLs and liders are asking what we are doing wrong. Elder Wilson is getting stressed. Im right with him. 6 months is way too long for any human being to be together with out the bonding factor of MARIDGE! haha But its just another week in the books and another week with little blessings and miracles that made it all worth it. This last tuesday we went to an endless pizza joint with out Branch President. Super good! Still brazilian pizza, which is super different because they dont use tomato sauce or real dough. Throw a few toppings on it and it all tastes the same though right? haha But it was pretty fun. Other than that we had a split this week and I walked around with a Brazilian Elder fresh out of the MTC. He was super fired up to call people to repentence thats for sure. haha He is a little proud right now but just give him a few more weeks and he should calm down hopefully. haha Our house doesnt have water for 4 days out of the week now. And for some reason I cant sleep all the way through the night as of recently. haha sorry this letter isnt suposed to appear like a complaint letter Im am just updating you all with my life. haha

SPEAKING of playng piano. I play the piano for our branch. Ok its a recording but i am there to keep the beat and follow the director. haha its pretty tight.

Everyone keep strong. I stole the General Conference talks LIAHONA from one of our members because our mission is pretty slow on getting the missionaries anything so thats what I will be studying like crazy! Modern Day PROPHETS!! they are the best.

6 more months!! Im gonna start my serious work out schedual for you guys now. Im coming home an awkwardly tanned , BUT FIT, studmuffin.

LOVE YOU MUCH!

Chão 

ELDER CHRISTENSEN

Family!‏ Date: Mon, 8 Jun 2015 11:43

Hey, its my favorite time of the week already!

Crazy fast how time flys when you are knocking doors for 10 hours in one week! haha Half true statement right there but its all good. This week was a little bit of a mental test on our sanity but we have a few new people to work with so it was worth it. Right now was have two families that are pretty great. The first we found some time back and still they havent made it to church. It was all set up to go this week but we have no idea what happend. We are planning on passing there tonight to try and catch them but who knows.. Maybe the desire is still lacking. This other family we found Friday night are actually a pretty great family with potential. Fathers name is Anderson and he as a semi-active catholic but he loves to talk to us about the gospel. We met the wife as well and she is super pumped to learn more about the church. Given the fact that we found them on Friday, they didnt make it to Church even though we called them the night before and they said they would go. My prayer is that they will find time in there crazy busy schedual to meet with us more and go to church. We need a miracle here!!!

One couple just walked into church sunday and there story is super awesome. He said that he was in a library when they were throwing out old "never read" books when we found a Book of Mormon and felt impressed to read it. He took it home and asked his girlfriend if she had heard of the Book and she said she was Baptized there but never returned for some reason. So they both decided to walk  about 3 miles to go to church in out building. While they dont live in our area, we were stoked to meet them and they should progress here with the Elders assigned to their area. So MIRACLES DO EXIST!

Alright you cool kids.

Chão! Vos Amo!

ELDER CHRISTENSEN