E ai E‏ Mon, 16 Mar 2015 10:00

Hey family.

So this week was pretty dang interesting. We started off by finding out that some lady in our ward is wanting to get baptized again because the first time she didnt get the holy ghost #instaLessActive and so this created a rift when a few schedualing plans but me on high aleart of whether or not she is ready. Luckly all went well and only a few people almost died because of my wrath.. haha But its all good now and she is still preparing for a baptism this week. (sorry if you still dont conpletly understand all the details of it but it really isnt important, you can ask me when I get home.) This sunday we had almost everyone go to church that is a legitiment investigator! Daniel came! I love that guy! He is prepping for a baptism next week so lets hope it all works out! And Carmeleta pulled off a miracel to make it to church for her confermation! She orignally had work and that was going to pull her away for going but we prayed hard and she ended up walking to church on her own when she found out about not having to work and arrived just in time for sacrament! She is awesome! Right now though I have the fear that she is way to attacted to us as missionaries! Not good. I hope that she can develope those relationships with some of our members #allaboutthatmemberwork though.. So yep this week we are just preppin for two baptisms and trying to make a week without wanting to kill someone! haha It will be fine.

I dont really know what else to tell you guys! I thought my last letter was pretty good and had a great story too but apparently you all want more for me!! haha. Being a missionary is kinda the same thing over and over again so I dont know what to tell ya! Portuguese is coming along! I can speak it a whole lot better than when I arrived. I am still trying to learn more words and frases that dont have to deal with a gospel topic but its all good. With every improvement in portuguese I begin to feel like a missionary again. Moms Qs- haha of yeah Meals.. alright there is something you guys need to learn about Brazilian culture right now. They eat the same thing every day! haha Rice, Beans, Noodles, and some kind of meat. I like it for sure and there are curten members that make it better than others. I had fish one time the other day and it was super good. idk though. Its all the same. ha Fruit here is where its at though and I have grown to love bananas. Idk why but here they are just so much better. I like Goiaba a bunch too. Fruit here is where its at. You cant knock a mango down in the back of your appartment and eat it in the states like you can here! Cookies are just normal cookies. Nothing compaired to Oreos though... (next package please?!) American snacks are hard to come by here. They have Doritos but its just not the same.

Alright Gente (people) Today we have a zone p-day for the first time since I got here so I am pretty excited to have a P-day thats actually worth it like there were in the states! Im planning on Soccer for at least 5 hours and we are gonna fire up some meat! Im looking forward to it! Love you all and have a great week! 

ps GO CATS

Com Amor,

ELDER CHRISTENSEN

nother week in Date: Mon, 9 Mar 2015 12:07

Hey everybody.

Yep so this week was an interesting one. One of those that wakes you up and makes you realize that there are only 5 more to come. Ha the other Elders have calmed down a little bit. I had to do a humble check right quick and stop being so angry about the situation. People are only disobedient when their testimonies are hanging low. Just means they need more love than normal. Same for Elder Wilson. This kid is gonna teach me a lot I tell ya. haha The most important news from this week was that Carmeleta got Baptized!! I was kinda on the wishywashy side of it when it was being planned and how that day started out but luckly the spirit touched my heart after it all and I know it did for her so I can rest assured that she will take that promise with her for the rest of her life. First real baptism in Brazil and while it wasnt the same of how it was in the states, Church is still true! Her sister also came to support her and she was really fun to get to know last night. We are super blessed to have Carmeleta in our lives and her sister was super greatful that we were there to help her sister. Our other investigators are draggin their feet hard core so that will be the focus this week.

In other news too, I killed a fly last night with my PEN! Yeah it was dope. I was just chillin there with my journal at the end of the night like always when this fly just kept going at it. I was like "fly back off me bro or your gonna get yours.." then I swatted my pen at it and cliped it or something and it fell to the ground and i killed him! Other success story of the night. 

I should get the V-day package tomorrow and I am stoked to see whats inside. I have all these brazilian people to share my american candy with so I am hopeing its stuffed. Thanks for the report on Hayden and the Family! Sounds awesome but so weird at the same time. What is home?? ha jk Thanks for reading my letter at the thing.. I am stoked to hear that the ward is going strong. Didnt realize that I grew up with three Dallins.. and I give brazil a hard time for naming everyone Maria! haha 

Alright you party animals. Hang in there till next week! Thats what I will be doing!

Muito Amor Veu!

ELDER CHRISTENSEN

Transfer week! Date: Wed, 4 Mar 2015 12:50

Editors note! Seriously having a missionary is amazing! what a great spiritual fix everytime I read his letters. Love it!

pics are from last P-day when we visited the fort of cabedelo!

Hey family,

So yep we had trasfers this week but everyone stayed so its really not a big deal. Surprizingly I have learned a bunch from this last transfer so I am ready to see what this one will bring. As well I get to stay here and see Carmeleta get baptized and maybe our other sweet investigators as well so this next transfer will be great. Still with elder Wilson and we are actually getting along super well. I have learned that if you want to learn to love someone all you have to do is be obedient and preach the gospel together. If you are like the other elders in our house you get along only because your disobedient and ready to go home. So yeah this is the one thing that is gonna be the struggle here this transfer.Half of our house is falling off the loose end right now. Back to Carmeleta! She is so incredible! She is probably one of the most humble, nicest people i have ever met! Like food off of here own plate kinda nice. I love her! She is quitting café right now and she has been to church and is loving the idea of having a great ward family in her life. She still has a little fear of baptism still but with every visit we discover one more reason why and work on resolving it. We also have another investigator named Daniel and he is the boyfriend of a member. He is a stud and a half! He is progressing super fast and the only thing that it lacking is going to church. Hopefully he can come this week. He is about 33 years old. I told him once "Hey, você é o cara!" (you're the man) and now evertime he sees me he says the same thing to me! ha ha dont know why it its pretty funny! I love our investigators in this area so the more I think about it the more excited I am for another 6 weeks. "curb investigator" kinda fell through so yeah idk we are working with it still.

Also we had our stake conference as well so thats pretty crazy! Snow up the wa-zoo for you guys! Thats sick! Got the email forwards about Stokes and Daniel. Daniel sounds so good now! So much of a difference! And where is stokes going? All I know is that he is learning some redonk language and is still in the MTC.

Well know that I love you guys with all my heart! 

Com amor!

Chão 

ELDER CHRISTENSEN

 Carmeleta and our breaking the café addiction party!

And a youth that lives in Jacaré named João Lucas! He is a stud and a half

Blessings unseen..‏. Date: Mon, 23 Feb 2015 12:34

Hey everybody! 

Man well this week was actually a pretty great week. Started off with Carnival and companion splits and many crazy things. Carnival turned out to be nothing that bad at all. Saw a few street parades and mostly just people drinking outside there houses. So no its not that good and if you ask most of the people in the street if they are excited they usually say its just a huge apostate holiday. ha Splits this week have been interesting. For the first time here in the mission I have spent 2 days being the only person that could speak English and i also had to take over the area twice. All seemed to roll out smoothly and I am beginning to gain confidence in my ability to speak as well. So thats a positive. We also had an investigator at church yesterday! It was pretty great. She isnt that converted yet and we are still working a bunch on trying to get her excited about the gospel and baptism and other things but for the first time since being here I am starting to connect with my investigators. Cameleta is way cool. So we will continue to teach her this week.

We also had a pretty cool experience last night. All of the people we planned on seeing last night fell through and so we were sitting down on the curb thinking of what to do next. Then so lady called for us like 3 houses down across the street and asked us what time is was. So we walked over there and just taught them about the church. Heavenly Father will always hasten his work. Nothing can stop it. haha They also had the cutest 2 year old boy there and I was playing pretty hard core with him. haha I was thinking the entire time about Conway and the jokes I would play on him. This kid was so fascinated when I took the water cup I was using and put it to his ear and tapped on the end of it. haha It was so funny. He kept trying to do it to me! haha So yeah we are really excited about these new investigators.

I also got to hear from the Elder Family today! aghh my heck I LOVE THAT FAMILY! They are doing so well down there. They have a calling and are teaching the youngsters for second hour! David is preppin for the Melckesidick priesthood and they plan on getting sealed in AUG! I am so stoked for them. All of you better get preped to meet this family when I get back! Also thats insane about Hayden! I didnt know it was so soon. like Tomorrow! haha Glad to hear about B too. Life after the mission is so real now for me. But hey its not a distraction. I have 14 months almost! haha 

I love my mission. I love my savior Jesus Christ. I know this church is the restored true and everlasting gospel. 

I got so many friends going home this transfer that I need to write!

Com amor! 

ELDER CHRISTENSEN

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