hey family!how ya'll going? :D well, ill start by answering questions i suppose...
Where is your new companion from?
He's from Sandy, Utah
Do you live in an apartment complex, house, ?
its a house... outside my area. :P ya i get to walk or drive into my area every day. fun fun.
Are you still driving a car?
nope, i actually was no longer driver last transfer, and this transfer, Elder Bartelt is the driver.
Does the new ward have a large geographic area, or is the church population dense?
its a pretty large geographic area. There isn't actually a building for it, it has the top floor of a shopping complex, which also has the stake offices in it. so that's interesting
Do you understand all the lingo now? ya, basically. :P
What is your favorite new expression? "sweet as" it works for almost anything, and you can add "as" to the end of anything to add emphasis.
What is the most different expression you've heard? "stuff it/that/you" :P you can guess what that replaces.
How is your health? pretty dang good! no complaints here.
Have you noticed any change in your energy etc, since before your surgery? ya, i can go harder for longer. i can play rugby for like 2.5 hours without getting way tired, just like everyone else! :D
What are some of your challenges and successes since being an co-senior companion? its hard to decide who does what, and who takes the lead on things, but its also been good in that i have a lot more responsibility, so more is expected of me, so i do more. its a lot more fulflling. but we realized the day after we go here, that not only were we white washing and area, we were re-opening it too. it had been closed for 3 months. so, there was absolutely NO investigators, and no one that we really had to visit. so... this week has been more tracting than i have ever done. its intense. and tiring. and kinda boring, but thats the work. so we do it without too much complaint. :P
ok, thats it. anyway, yesterday was church, and that was really good. there are a lot of pretty interesting people there. its a half polynesian ward, and the people in general are pretty cool. one of the high priest group assistants, brother Oconnor, does a lot of member missionary work, and we heard a lot about him before we met him. then at ward council yesterday, we met him. He's italian, and he's loaded. he had the silk suit, the tie with the matching hankerchief in the coat pocket, gold bracelets, rings, a gold watch with diamond studs, gold framed glasses that were also tinted. and he had the classic long, dark hair slicked straight back. We were pretty surprised by that. but he's actually pretty humble, doesnt talk much about himself, and set us up for like 3 dinners with potential investigators this week. so that was cool. The bishop's wife is hilarious. She's spanish (with an australian accent. go figure) and she has an endless supply of energy. she's cooked us dinner twice already. it was way good. she also started a meal roster, and told the ward about it, and so we have dinner every day this week. we're pretty excited about that. and, we made contact with some former investigators and found a few potentials, so we have some teaching appointments this week too! yay! so thats how the work is progressing. its good, hard work. :)
anyway, my time is running out, so i gotta go.
i love you all so much! keep being awesome!
Love,
Elder Christensen
Musings of an LDS Millenial
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
well, it's starting to warm up
well this has been a nice change from last week! i really enjoyed every email! Cara, i loved yours, that is a great experience you had. The seminary just did a fireside called "A Walk With Christ" singing about christ's last week of life and whatnot. A girl sang his hands, and got choked up right at the end... it was what made the audience crack. not a dry eye in the chapel. it was awesome. I'm glad you're having such great experiences. Hope you get better soon!
Rochelle- i hope you're home when my package gets there. there's lots of Tim-tams and stuff. enjoy. :) and hearing about Gabe made my day! im excited to see where he'll be when i get home! :)
Anna- keep up the good work babe. you'll be out of primary before you know it. dont worry. :D
Collin- write me bro. I read a funny thing that some missionaries wrote about mail, its written like scripture, and uses some well-known scriptures and changes the words around: Then saith the missionary unto his brother, lovest thou me? and his brother saith, yea. and the missionary saith, fill my letterbox. and again, the missionary says to his brother, lovest thou me? and the brother answered, yea elder, thou knowest i Love thee. and the missionary said, fill my letterbox. and again, the missionary saith, lovest thou me? and the brother saith, yea, elder, thou knowest many things, and thou knowest that i love thee. and the missionary saith, STUFF my letter box. ya. i thought is was funny. there's more of them, but that's the best one i think. :P
anyway, there were some questions that dad asked-
I want to know more about the baptisms last week.
well, they were really good. there are pictures in the package i sent home. the member of the seventy that lives in our ward presided and baptized Pires. it was way good.
How are you getting along with your companion?
Elder Tuhoro and I got along great. we had some good success, and lots of fun.
Any new investigators?
almost, but im not around to see if they become investigatros
Can you tell us an inspirational Story? I heard a quote last night that struck me. "every baptism is a miracle." I heard it at a dinner with the stake president, who had all the missionaries in the zone at his house for dinner because every companionship baptized this transfer, which never happens. so that was really good, but as every companionship talked about their baptisms, i realized that every person that got baptized was a miracle. i came to realize that these were choice spirits of heavenly father, and not just a statistic that we reported at the end of the week. it was really good. there is nothing as good as seeing someone progress so far in the gospel.
When is next transfere day?
TODAY!!!! i got transferred to forest lakes in centenary stake. my new companion is Elder Bartelt, and he's been out for one transfer longer than me. we're co-senior companions, so that'll be interesting. we white-washed the area, and there are no investigators or potentials, so we're starting from ground zero. so im going from tracting only as a last resort, to tracting for hours every day. woo hoo!!!! i actually am pretty excited. anyway, time's running out.
i love you all so much! keep up the good work, and tell Amber congrats for me!
Michael- got your email. good thing you're good a spanish eh? haha, chile will never be the same. have a good one buddy! oh, and cherish your time at the MTC. it will NEVER come back! :P
whitney- black ink, dont care if they retract or not, and ya, pretty sure im all good with sticky notes and envelopes and such. thanks :) hope all goes well for you this next week, and im glad you enjoyed the letter!
ok, time really is up now, so, im signing off. love you all!
Love,
Elder Christensen
Rochelle- i hope you're home when my package gets there. there's lots of Tim-tams and stuff. enjoy. :) and hearing about Gabe made my day! im excited to see where he'll be when i get home! :)
Anna- keep up the good work babe. you'll be out of primary before you know it. dont worry. :D
Collin- write me bro. I read a funny thing that some missionaries wrote about mail, its written like scripture, and uses some well-known scriptures and changes the words around: Then saith the missionary unto his brother, lovest thou me? and his brother saith, yea. and the missionary saith, fill my letterbox. and again, the missionary says to his brother, lovest thou me? and the brother answered, yea elder, thou knowest i Love thee. and the missionary said, fill my letterbox. and again, the missionary saith, lovest thou me? and the brother saith, yea, elder, thou knowest many things, and thou knowest that i love thee. and the missionary saith, STUFF my letter box. ya. i thought is was funny. there's more of them, but that's the best one i think. :P
anyway, there were some questions that dad asked-
I want to know more about the baptisms last week.
well, they were really good. there are pictures in the package i sent home. the member of the seventy that lives in our ward presided and baptized Pires. it was way good.
How are you getting along with your companion?
Elder Tuhoro and I got along great. we had some good success, and lots of fun.
Any new investigators?
almost, but im not around to see if they become investigatros
Can you tell us an inspirational Story? I heard a quote last night that struck me. "every baptism is a miracle." I heard it at a dinner with the stake president, who had all the missionaries in the zone at his house for dinner because every companionship baptized this transfer, which never happens. so that was really good, but as every companionship talked about their baptisms, i realized that every person that got baptized was a miracle. i came to realize that these were choice spirits of heavenly father, and not just a statistic that we reported at the end of the week. it was really good. there is nothing as good as seeing someone progress so far in the gospel.
When is next transfere day?
TODAY!!!! i got transferred to forest lakes in centenary stake. my new companion is Elder Bartelt, and he's been out for one transfer longer than me. we're co-senior companions, so that'll be interesting. we white-washed the area, and there are no investigators or potentials, so we're starting from ground zero. so im going from tracting only as a last resort, to tracting for hours every day. woo hoo!!!! i actually am pretty excited. anyway, time's running out.
i love you all so much! keep up the good work, and tell Amber congrats for me!
Michael- got your email. good thing you're good a spanish eh? haha, chile will never be the same. have a good one buddy! oh, and cherish your time at the MTC. it will NEVER come back! :P
whitney- black ink, dont care if they retract or not, and ya, pretty sure im all good with sticky notes and envelopes and such. thanks :) hope all goes well for you this next week, and im glad you enjoyed the letter!
ok, time really is up now, so, im signing off. love you all!
Love,
Elder Christensen
Monday, August 10, 2009
NO MORE SCARY STORIES!!!
Dear Family. Ok, even though i have ton running through my mind right now, I'll follow my own protocol first.
Questions:
1. Can you look at Picas web albums if we send the link? uh, ya. i think so.
2. How did the Baptisms go? AMAZING! they were way good, but the week leading up to it was hectic. we changed the program like a million times. the final program was made just hours before. but the confermations were awesome! The preisthood is real!
3. Tell us about your first encounter with a kangaroo, if you have had one. haha, my first and only encounter with a Kangaroo was in a lasagna. I still havent seen a real one- they're pretty hard to come by in the middle of the city, ya know? :P
ok now i get to say whats on my mind. FREAK OUT FREAK OUT FREAKOUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DAD- you are NOT allowed to EVER pass out in front of Mom Again. full stop. next time you want to spray a hill side behind a ditch, use a back pack sprayer. they tend to be a little safer. dont care if it takes longer. oh, and dont try to be your own doctor any more, please? ok. wow. not gonna lie, dad, you gave me a massive fright. thats one thing i didnt want to hear when i was not in a position to do an emergency come home. and the only emergency come home thats allowed from a mission is one i NEVER want take. im coming home early enough as it is. by the way, no, finishing the last 6 weeks in the states isnt an option. im stuck coming home 6 weeks early. could be worse though. a guy just went home 3 months early because of a passport issue. so im counting my blessings. anyway, Dad, remember last month when i told you i was fasting for you? well, the whole day it felt REALLY important, and then this whole last month i was wondering why... well, now i know. Testimony of Fasting just skyrocketed. ok, well, i wish i could reply to everyone right now, but time is short. so ill do what i can.
whitney- im glad your YW recognition went well, keep it up. :)
cara- glad you're having fun. hope your last week of girls camp was amazing.
rochelle- hope you have a good time on your annniversary. ill definitely let you know what i think of the package and the recording.
Mom- Dad's not going anywhere any time soon. :)
Dad- stay off that ATV for a while, k? :P
love you all, glad you're all safe, and (relatively) pain free.
thank you for your prayers. they are much needed and appreciated.
Questions:
1. Can you look at Picas web albums if we send the link? uh, ya. i think so.
2. How did the Baptisms go? AMAZING! they were way good, but the week leading up to it was hectic. we changed the program like a million times. the final program was made just hours before. but the confermations were awesome! The preisthood is real!
3. Tell us about your first encounter with a kangaroo, if you have had one. haha, my first and only encounter with a Kangaroo was in a lasagna. I still havent seen a real one- they're pretty hard to come by in the middle of the city, ya know? :P
ok now i get to say whats on my mind. FREAK OUT FREAK OUT FREAKOUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DAD- you are NOT allowed to EVER pass out in front of Mom Again. full stop. next time you want to spray a hill side behind a ditch, use a back pack sprayer. they tend to be a little safer. dont care if it takes longer. oh, and dont try to be your own doctor any more, please? ok. wow. not gonna lie, dad, you gave me a massive fright. thats one thing i didnt want to hear when i was not in a position to do an emergency come home. and the only emergency come home thats allowed from a mission is one i NEVER want take. im coming home early enough as it is. by the way, no, finishing the last 6 weeks in the states isnt an option. im stuck coming home 6 weeks early. could be worse though. a guy just went home 3 months early because of a passport issue. so im counting my blessings. anyway, Dad, remember last month when i told you i was fasting for you? well, the whole day it felt REALLY important, and then this whole last month i was wondering why... well, now i know. Testimony of Fasting just skyrocketed. ok, well, i wish i could reply to everyone right now, but time is short. so ill do what i can.
whitney- im glad your YW recognition went well, keep it up. :)
cara- glad you're having fun. hope your last week of girls camp was amazing.
rochelle- hope you have a good time on your annniversary. ill definitely let you know what i think of the package and the recording.
Mom- Dad's not going anywhere any time soon. :)
Dad- stay off that ATV for a while, k? :P
love you all, glad you're all safe, and (relatively) pain free.
thank you for your prayers. they are much needed and appreciated.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Good week, yup, yup.
Family!!!! HI!!!!
well, i have a few big things i need to say, so ill say them first.
1. Im coming home early. dont freak out, its just cause my visa expires early, and so ill come home a transfer (6 weeks) early.
2. after talking to president Richards extensively, i decided that ya'll shouldnt come to pick me up from the mission. HEAR ME OUT- i cant go ANYWHERE with you if you come, no beaches, no water, nothing. I have to stay in pros. clothes, and I really just want to be a missionary til they kick me out of Australia. so, keep saving the money, and we'll ALL come back for summer vacation!!! sound good? sounds good to me. :)
3. We are baptizing Pires on saturday at 6 o'clock. :) good stuff
4. we are baptizing Leticia on saturday at 7 o'clock.
5. Um. oh, there's no number 5. :P
ok, well besides that exciting stuff, the week has been pretty interesting. we dont really have any new investigators, and mom, Jay is still here, we're working on baptizing him, but he's pretty tight financially, and is struggling to keep his wife in school. If she's not in school, they go back to nepal, so thats kinda stressing him out, but we're still working with him. Oh, we went on trade-offs with the zone leaders yesterday, and i went to their area with Elder Taufa, and we did some tracting. Actually, a LOT of tracting. we found this many people: 0.
but, its ok, because i learned a lot, and i mixed up my door approach a lot, and it made it fun, so that was good. And we were car fasting, so we took to the bus or walked everywhere. it was funny. oh, just a side-note, the adress i have posted on the blog is the mission office address, it will ALWAYS be the mailing address unless i go up into the Northern zone, in which case i'll send the address to the flat when that happens. also, for packages, and i hope im not too late on this, you need to send them to the mission office, not the PO box. yup.
On a more deep note, we've been meeting with a less-active guy named jeff for a few weeks now. he's an RM, and a convert. He's had it pretty rough. He has PTSD, which makes him freak out about everything including the sky. i'd explain more about the disease, but ill let you look it up- its the same thing that lots of WWI veterans have- post-tramatic stress disease. Anyway, he has an amazingly deep understanding of the Gospel. Now, when i say Amazingly deep, i mean this guy understands things in ways that i never thought about, and some of the things that he knows, he has been physically restrained from telling people. He went through a really rough time that i wont describe, but he never questioned the existence of God, but rather, he just Angry at God for letting things happen to him, and thats why he went innactive. however, after some long discussions with him, he committed himself to come to church this sunday, so hopefully he's on his way back to recovery.
well, thats pretty much it.
cara- tell jeff that i'm way happy for him, and tell him to send me photos!!! and congrats on your YW medallion, thats awesome!!! im preoud of you little sister!!!
collin- sounds like you're having an awesome time, keep it up.
Marissa- sounds like you're having a blast. good job for keeping things completely honest. thats the way to go. you really are sowing seeds of life that will either make or break your family later. so good on ya!
Dad- thanks for that quote. i know EXACTLY who needs to hear that. ME!!! honestly, that put a few questions to rest for me. further, i have come to realize that the deeper i understand things the more simply i can explain things to investigators. so thanks
Mom- sounds like you're having fun in the garden and with that wheat- haha i wish i was there to help, sounds like something i would enjoy. but im in the right place. so no worries. :)
Rochelle- sounds like your doing good too, the only real suggestion i have for you and your friend, is to bear testimony. Use power statements in your testimony. be bold. there is NOTHING as powerful as testimony.
Whitney- Good on ya! im happy for you and your YW medallion, sounds way good! and a new car hey? wanna know something funny? the 2 cars you have, the camry and the carolla are the 2 official mission cars. haha.
well, its time to go, i've overdone my time. but, i love you all, and i am so happy to be here! i know that the lord's work is the best work there is, so i dont feel bad when people yell "get a real job!" at me as they drive by. they dont know what they're missing =)
ok, the book of mormon is true. the church is true. We have the fullness of truth. any questions? No? Good. Have a good week! I'm way excited to get that recording! :D
Elder Tayler Christensen
well, i have a few big things i need to say, so ill say them first.
1. Im coming home early. dont freak out, its just cause my visa expires early, and so ill come home a transfer (6 weeks) early.
2. after talking to president Richards extensively, i decided that ya'll shouldnt come to pick me up from the mission. HEAR ME OUT- i cant go ANYWHERE with you if you come, no beaches, no water, nothing. I have to stay in pros. clothes, and I really just want to be a missionary til they kick me out of Australia. so, keep saving the money, and we'll ALL come back for summer vacation!!! sound good? sounds good to me. :)
3. We are baptizing Pires on saturday at 6 o'clock. :) good stuff
4. we are baptizing Leticia on saturday at 7 o'clock.
5. Um. oh, there's no number 5. :P
ok, well besides that exciting stuff, the week has been pretty interesting. we dont really have any new investigators, and mom, Jay is still here, we're working on baptizing him, but he's pretty tight financially, and is struggling to keep his wife in school. If she's not in school, they go back to nepal, so thats kinda stressing him out, but we're still working with him. Oh, we went on trade-offs with the zone leaders yesterday, and i went to their area with Elder Taufa, and we did some tracting. Actually, a LOT of tracting. we found this many people: 0.
but, its ok, because i learned a lot, and i mixed up my door approach a lot, and it made it fun, so that was good. And we were car fasting, so we took to the bus or walked everywhere. it was funny. oh, just a side-note, the adress i have posted on the blog is the mission office address, it will ALWAYS be the mailing address unless i go up into the Northern zone, in which case i'll send the address to the flat when that happens. also, for packages, and i hope im not too late on this, you need to send them to the mission office, not the PO box. yup.
On a more deep note, we've been meeting with a less-active guy named jeff for a few weeks now. he's an RM, and a convert. He's had it pretty rough. He has PTSD, which makes him freak out about everything including the sky. i'd explain more about the disease, but ill let you look it up- its the same thing that lots of WWI veterans have- post-tramatic stress disease. Anyway, he has an amazingly deep understanding of the Gospel. Now, when i say Amazingly deep, i mean this guy understands things in ways that i never thought about, and some of the things that he knows, he has been physically restrained from telling people. He went through a really rough time that i wont describe, but he never questioned the existence of God, but rather, he just Angry at God for letting things happen to him, and thats why he went innactive. however, after some long discussions with him, he committed himself to come to church this sunday, so hopefully he's on his way back to recovery.
well, thats pretty much it.
cara- tell jeff that i'm way happy for him, and tell him to send me photos!!! and congrats on your YW medallion, thats awesome!!! im preoud of you little sister!!!
collin- sounds like you're having an awesome time, keep it up.
Marissa- sounds like you're having a blast. good job for keeping things completely honest. thats the way to go. you really are sowing seeds of life that will either make or break your family later. so good on ya!
Dad- thanks for that quote. i know EXACTLY who needs to hear that. ME!!! honestly, that put a few questions to rest for me. further, i have come to realize that the deeper i understand things the more simply i can explain things to investigators. so thanks
Mom- sounds like you're having fun in the garden and with that wheat- haha i wish i was there to help, sounds like something i would enjoy. but im in the right place. so no worries. :)
Rochelle- sounds like your doing good too, the only real suggestion i have for you and your friend, is to bear testimony. Use power statements in your testimony. be bold. there is NOTHING as powerful as testimony.
Whitney- Good on ya! im happy for you and your YW medallion, sounds way good! and a new car hey? wanna know something funny? the 2 cars you have, the camry and the carolla are the 2 official mission cars. haha.
well, its time to go, i've overdone my time. but, i love you all, and i am so happy to be here! i know that the lord's work is the best work there is, so i dont feel bad when people yell "get a real job!" at me as they drive by. they dont know what they're missing =)
ok, the book of mormon is true. the church is true. We have the fullness of truth. any questions? No? Good. Have a good week! I'm way excited to get that recording! :D
Elder Tayler Christensen
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