Week 68

Hello

So transfers came by again.

My beloved Elder Baskin is leaving me to go to Ciudad del Este. But the mission is getting a little bit of a new look. So thats exciting. Im staying here with my second favorite colombian, Elder Quesada.  Ill let you guess who my favorite colombian is.

This week was great. Except that the 26th was probably the hardest day of my mission. Me and Elder Quesada were just about shot after talking with our families. Its extremely hard to be away from home during Christmas. The first one wasnt bad, but the second time in a row just about killed me. Im happy I dont have to do that again.

Time for some positive stuff...

We just learned that 2 houses down from the chapel, a new family moved in! Theyre not members, but they called the branch president, and told him that they want to start attending a church, and have interest in learning about the gospel. Its a family of 9, mom and dad, and theyre kids go to school with our branch presidents kids (and thus they called him). Were going to pass by this week, and see whats up. Im excited.

I love you all

Elder Christensen

Week 67

Merry Christmas.

Love

Elder Christensen

Week 66

Yeah, we went to prison!

Turns out, theres a member who has been in the prison for 2 years, and lives in our area! We heard about him, and decided to go and visit him with his wife!

Hes less active, by the way. Well, we met his wife there, it was about a 20 minute taxi ride, and she asked if we had IDs. uh... my drivers license is always in the apartment, but I had my woods cross high school ID, and i used it, and they let me in. Seems legit.

We met the brother, and as it turns out, he actually started his own church in the prison! Hes a pastor! He brought his guitar and sung us a couple songs, and preached to us for a little bit, and it was alright. He doesnt realyly believe in the book of mormon anymore, and talking to him was almost like talking to an Evangelical Pastor, so im not sure we accomplished too much, but im sure he was happy to get the visit.

we had to walk past all of the cells to get to the courtyard area, and it was just as you would expect a paraguayan prison to be. A bunch of convicts yelling at the big gringo brother as he walks past. It was about as uncomfortable as i have been in the whole mission.

We decided to start talking with EVERYBODY, because weve been a little bit too lazy with it. On the bus, in the street, everybody. We give them the pass along card for Christmas from the church, and invite them to watch the video. One time in the bus, We started talking to a girl with an iPhone (The second iPhone ive seen in the mission!). She watched the video, and liked it, and we started talking. Turns out, her parents are French, Her dad lives in Brazil, she lives with her French Grandmother in a German colony, her brother is studying at Texas A&M, And her cousin lives in Manhattan! She visits them all the time, and speaks English! She was the most cultured person i have ever met! IT was awesome!

I started talking to her about the chruch, and she said that shes been before, because her cousin that lives in New >York is a member! So  we gave her more information about how she can find out how to be saved, and stuff like that, it was great!

Another time, I started talking to this guy, and he said that a year ago, the missionaries visited his house a bunch, and he attended church maybe 5 times! He reads the book of MOrmon, but works on sundays, had to stop attending, and the missionaries stopped passing by. And he wants them to start passing by again! He had a lot of questions. He lives in Elder BAskin`s area. Youre welcome, Elder BAskin.

Also, there was a baptism on wednesday! It was a bummer, because it started raining at midday. And the girl who was going to be baptized only has a motorcycle... And also, when it rains in Paraguay, no one leaves their house. But we had faith that it was all going to work out. We called a few members, and assured them that there was going to be a baptism, and one of them offered to take Damaris and her family to the chapel! As it ended up, about 30 people came! Which is a way good attendence! It was way spiritual. We invited the sister misisionaries from another branch to come and sing a musical number, and it was great.

Wow what an eventful week. Plus, transfers came. And Elder Balcaza is going to Argentina, and the Secretary of Tramites (Josh Blotter of our mission) is going to be my new companion! Elder Quesada! Hes from Cali, Colombia, and has 18 months in the mission. Yet another short companion... hooray. Hugging is EXTREMELY uncomfrotable.

But we get along very well.

I love you.

Merry Christmas!

Elder Christensen 

I WOULD send you pictures, but this computer doesnt allow me to

Week 65

The other day we started singing christmas carols in the plaza. And It was a good experience.

Im writing to you from Posadas, Argentina. I have left my area. We have a meeting here in Posadas today, so here i am.

We will watch a baptism on Wednesday, so that will be exciting.

Ill tell you how everything goes.

Sorry this email is short, but not a lot happened last week.

The Church is true

Have a nice day.

Elder Christensen

Week 64

Well, we helped fix a house this week.

We showed up to the service project at 8, as planned. Waited there for 30 minutes then the Branch President showed up. Then waited for another hour and someone else showed up, and we started goin at it at this house.

I was kind of clueless in what we were going to do. They told me ``service project``, so that could mean anything. Well, the Branch President scales this wooden house, is on top of the roof, and starts tossing us the roofing tiles. We piled them all up. As we were taking the roof off, more people started clearing all of the furniture out of the house. It was insane. I was just kind of standing there with my arms extended out waiting for someone to hand me something.

If you dont know my father, you should know that he is notoriously unknowledgeble about handywork. Anything that has to do with construction. And I take after my father. I was completely clueless what to do when these guys started taking down a wall. Then another wall. They start mixing concrete. It was weird.

They finally sent me over to dig a well. I can do that! We got down probably 3 feet. My hands are jacked up.

Well when we left, they had completely replaced the roof, were rebuilding one of the brick walls, and were starting on another wooden wall. Apparently they finished everything except for some electrical work.

So thats my week. We went to Posadas. Got sick. Way sick. I dont think ill ever be buying ham and cheese from a little dumpy shack on the side of the road ever again! So we were in bed for a couple days, too. What an eventful week!

On the spiritual side of things, While in Posadas, we had to do divisions with the elders in posadas. And we were right next to my old area, tacuari. While we were contacting, one lady said that she knew a family of members. When we asked who, she told us, and I totally knew him! He used to leave with us on visits all the time! Hes the bomb!

So we invaded my old area(hermanas are there now) to go and visit this family. We got there, and as we started talking with the sister there, she told us that her husband, who used to leave with us all the time, was on a ``spiritual vacation`` for the last couple months... NOOO!! He came outside, and we shared a scripture with him. Talked a little bit, and he still bore his testimony of the chruch. We left. I hope we helped him a little bit.

I also memorized the Living Christ in spanish this week. That was exciting.

I love you all very much.

Elder Emil

Week 63

Hello

The week went by really fast. Travelling kills me.

Leaving Saltos was cool. Our branch president there is 80 years old, and is about 5 feet tall and weighs 250 pounds. And calls me Elder McChristopher. Super hilarious. We sang his favorite hymn. How Great Thou Art. And he started to cry! It was such a tender moment.

Elder Balcaza is the greatest. He lives about 5 minutes away from the Buenos Aires temple. Hes teaching me all the Buenos Aires slang. Its super funny. But about every other thing he says, he follows it up with ``dont say THAT as a missionary. its very vulgar`` haha So im not sure if ill be learning all the hood slang for the rest of the transfer. But hes got the heart the size of a wooly mamoth, and about the body of a wooly mammoth, also. Hes huge. Im very confident that no sound minded paraguayan will try and rob us.

Theres one lady here. She lives with her boyfriend and her boyfriend doesnt want to get married. They have 3 kids together. And she has been attending church every week for the past 4 years. And shill has yet to be baptized. On sunday, we visited her. She knows a TON. Go to church every week for 4 years, and i guess thatll do it. Well, her daughter was there, too, who is 10 years old. We started talking to her, and then told us that she wants to be baptized on her birthday this december. Uhhh... we said okay. Her mom told us that she doesnt know why her daughter hadnt been baptized yet. She just... hadnt.

We talked to another member, the primary president, and when we told her that this womans daughter wasnt a member and she was so suprised! The daughter even had an assignment in the primary program!!

So it looks like well be around to see her be baptized. Were in charge of teaching her, because neither of her parents are members, and it shouldnt be too hard, since shes gone to chruch every week for 4 years. Tranquilo.

I am currently in Posadas. We have meetings today and tomorrow. How exciting.

I bought a 2.5 kilogram bag of cereal. Thats what im talking about.

have a nice day

Elder Christensen

Week 62

Well if you want to know how the zone is, look up ``hindenburg blimp`` on YouTube, and any of those videos will give to a good picture.

Yes, i Am in Natalio 10 right now. the branch of Carlos Antonio Lopez. If you speak Paraguayan slang, I am not found here in Natalio. Ill probably be here for a few more days. Ive been working with Elder Andrascik from Syracuse since thursday. Were having a blast. Hes still in his training, so im now considering myself his trainer.

well, the most exciting thing that happened this week was that I got to do divisions in Carlos Antonio Lopez!! Where I started the mission more than one year ago! So exciting! We went to visit a couple of new investigators that the elders had found, and they were some of the same people that I had taught before! It was very funny. The town is very very small. Theres not a lot of new people to find haha

The members are all still great. A couple more people got baptized, but the church attendence is pretty much the same as when i was there last year. Being there brought back so many good memories that i have with Elder Acevedo. I really enjoyed my time there. It was a great day. I took a couple more cool photos during the bus ride. Ill try and send them.

In the past couple weeks, ive been studying the Articulos de faith. And i just try and think of every scripture story and scripture that i can that supports our beliefs. And guess what? The Church is true!

Its actually one of the coolest things ive studied so far, and its awesome.

Have a nice day

Elder Christensen

[Pictures Needed]

Week 61

Sorry that im typing a little slower today. Some bug a couple days ago bit me on my right middle finger, and it swelled up like a balloon, and hurts like the dickens.

I will be home in less than 9 months. If someone gets pregnant today, I will be home for the birth!

Yes, it happened! I went on divisions with the èlder Robert Paul Baskin. It was a blast. He doesnt manage his sector very well, and still doesnt know how to speak spanish, but he sure is trying!

Just kidding, hes doing great! We had a blast going on visits with this one member, and then we went contacting. It was probably one of the best days of my mission. Behind the first day that me and Elder Hutchison met FAnny. Anyway, going on divisions with Paul really made me realize that Utah is awesome, and that I love my family and friends. I had never realized that before. Just kidding. I had always knew it, but being with him rekindled the flame. Well... kindled the burning forest fire thats there.

Thanks for being so awesome, gang!

The missions going great! The zone is a bit of a black hole if you want to be obedient, but whos counting?! Elder BAlcaza is awesome. We really get along very well, and he likes to work.

The 9 year old girl who were working with will be baptized on 2 december, so thats awesome.

We just had a multizone conference yesterday, and because of that, im writing to you folks today. The conference was AWESOME! I love listening to Presidente Talk. And the other missionaries. I just love feeling the Spirit, and I love learning from other people. We talked about a lot of missionary stuff. Mostly having a higher quality of teaching. 50% of the mission has less than 6 months in the mission, so its just a lack of experience that were trying to make up for. Its really weird that im one of the most experienced in the mission.

During the conference, they were trying to get us psyched to do exercises in the morning, so they had 2 elders to a pushup contest. And i was selected... crap. It was technically a tie, but im pretty sure that I lost. I did probably 50, and Elder Eddenfield probably did 60. But it was timed, and we were going both for the same amount of time, but he was going faster. So that was fun.

There have been like 3 people who have told me that the US congress declared the 3rd world war. Im pretty sure that its a lie.

I love you all.

Elder Emil

[Picture Needed]

Week 60

By the authority of the Preisthood of Melquisedec that i hold, this week i gave a child a name and a blessing.

Im not kidding. I was sitting there in gospel doctrine class yesterday, and a recent mother walked in, and handed me a piece of paper. It was a certificate of a baby blessing. Then she left. I was very confused. Right before the sacrament meeting started, i asked our branch president why i had this paper. He told me ´´so you can memorize her full name.´´ What? why do i need to know this babys full name? ´´because the parents want you to bless her.´´

well, so i had about 10 minutes to pray and pray and pray and prepare myself and pray some more. Before the meeting started,  i asked both of the parents if they REALLY wanted me to bless their baby. The father, Daniel, was baptized 2 months ago. He asked me to baptize him. And i did. And now, he told me that he doesnt want to wait a nother few months to get the melquisedec preisthood, he wanted me to bless and name his baby that day.

Well i couldnt really say no. I was pretty calm. I was super happy that the missionary handbook has what needs to be siad in a baby blessing. halelujah.

I blessed her, and it was a pretty awesome experience. Its not that i felt unprepared, but i felt super immature to be doing that sort of thing. I would have never guessed that i would have done something like this on the mission. But i was very happy to have the experience.

So... yes. I cant really remember if anything else happened this week. Changes came. Im going to Encarnacion with Elder Balcaza. Hes from Buenos Aires.

Paul Baskin is my District leader. So im pretty stoked about that.

And also, Carlos Antonio Lopez is in my zone, so i will SI o SI be going back to visit.

The mission blesses you in ways that i never thought were possible!!

Elder Christensen

teaching fanny. she lives so far away.

roberto and alfredo

Daniel is on the left. His wife and baby had to leave early... i couldnt get a picture..

Week 59

The best part of this week was going to help Fanny do Family History work. Shes going to the temple, and we helped her set up an account on FamilySearch.org. I took pictures, but I cant send them. Sorry. Anyway, we were going to help her do some indexing, or at least teach her how to do it. well, we got on to the site, and we tried to find her grandparents on the Paraguay registry. And there were only 1000 names. In all of Paraguay. We couldnt believe it. So we couldnt really do anything. It was really sad.

So now our goal is to contact the chruch and contact the municipality building in ciudad del este and in asuncion and talk to them about giving the church some census records or some baptismal records from the catholic church. But... yeah. Well see how far it gets. Just trying to help redeem the dead down here.

Fanny now teaches classes in church, she goes on visits with us, and even gave a prayer yesterday in sacrament meeting. It was quite wonderful. Transfers are next week, and if i go, i will really miss her. She has remarked about her sadness, as well. I hope she doesnt try and pull anything, like a hug or something like that.

A couple months ago, we were walking in a REALLY far out neighborhood, 5 km from downtown, and... yes. Well, we got a call the next day from a member from La Paloma. She said that her friend from km5 saw us walking around, and had a lot of questions for us, and wanted to learn more about the church. She came to chruch, and has now attended 3 times. We have had several lessons with her, and she just said that she recieved an answer that the Book of Mormon is true! Even her boyfriend attended with her! Well, shes pretty much our greatest joy in investigators right now. Her biggest obstacle is that she is not married to the man that she lives with. Soo.. yes.

We also found a man the other day. We walked up to his neighbors house -a reference- clapped, and then he called us over from next door. So we went. As we walked up, i thought ´´this is the new branch president we have been looking for!´´ I just had that feel. He said that he always sees us pass by, and has always wanted to talk to us. So we taught him about the restoration and the book of mormon. And hes from the Seventh day adventist church. So, as always, he started to combat us about the saturday worship thing. And it kind of destroyed the lesson.

we went back the next day, and bore our testimonies, and he still wanted to combat, but hes just too cool and too valuable. He kind of talked the saturday worship thing out of style, and we shared with him acts 20 7 about the apostoles taking the sacrament on sunday, and the fact that christ resurrected on sundAY and we explained our beliefs. Then he stopped wanting to combat, and we bore our testimonies again aobut the book of mormon, and it ended up a great lesson. Very spiritual. I hope you can get a little sense about it. Well.. he didnt come to chruch, but we will continue with him, He WILL be the new branch president.

we got a gym membership 2 weeks ago, and theres a gay guy there that always stares and winks at me. its very uncomfortable. But its not holding us back from going to the gym.

I love you all.

Elder Christensen

Week 58

Not every week is going to be an absolutely stellar one.

Just a good week. The highlight was that Elder Diaz skyped his family. Hes a great guy. His familys pretty cool. Cordobeses.

well... as i think of what im going to send, i really cant think of a specific experience that i would like to share. I know that the gospel is true, and i really enjoy being a missionary.

I still havent seen Paul Baskin yet.

Fanny is progressing very rapidly. She recently taught the class in the young womens. Shes going to the temple to do baptizms for the dead on 30 nov 2015. She is probably going to get her patriarchal blessing that day, too. She just got a full ride scholarship to her college next year. She is pretty awesome.

I love you all.

Elder Christensen

mcdonalds mcflurry.

Week 57

Hello.

Well this week went by really fast. I was in Ciudad del Este until wednesday, so i was just cruising around out of my area for a while... Good times.  Made a smoothie. It was delicious. I ate a lot of beans and rice. which, believe it or not, is starting to become my favorite meal. I eat so many beans. I used to STRONGLY DISLIKE beans before i came here, and now, i cant get enough!! Oh how the times change. If your wondering what i eat most, itd have to be

beans and rice

corn bread (sopa paraguaya)

mandioka

Noodles with chicken

juice

coke. actually, coke is probably at the top of that list.

Cereal. Just kidding. Cereal is definitely at the top of that list.

Egg sandwiches.

THis week, we had fast and testimony  meeting. And it was wonderful. What really stood out to me was that as sacrament meeting started, the back 4 rows were empty! Everyone sat up front! Such a different sensation for me! It was a crazy sight to see, that everyone wanted to be up front, and paying attention. It had rained yesterday, and when it rains, NO ONE leaves there house. Usually. But we had an abnormally HIGH assistance. All of the children were very calm. It was cool. As in the temperature. The windows were open. It was very peaceful, very spiritual.

As the meeting started, i said inside myself ´´if there is ONE SECOND of silence, im going to stand up and bear my testimony.´´ And there was a constant line. The whole meeting. We even went a little bit over in time. It was incredible. Everyone went up to bear their testimony. Love it. The Church is true.

Back to the temporal.

Today in kickball, elder christensen had an amazing catch. it was raining, so we were playing in an indoor futsol field. concrete. I was playing centerfield, and  someone kicked a long bomb. I was running back, I could sense that the wall was close, but i was closing in on the ball. I kind of jumped, and immediately as i caught it, a metal drink cooler appeared out of nowhere and took my legs out from under me, and i almost flipped completely over it. But i ended up just laying on top of it. It was an insanely good catch. You would have been impressed if you were there.

I ended up 3 for 5 with a triple and a double. I was a home run away from going for the cycle.

I hope you enjoy your day.

Elder Christensen

ps halelujah! pictures!! yes, i am very tall. And if you look closely in the second one, you can see the cooler that almost destroyed me

Week 56

Wow are those guys good, or what??

I dont know about all of you, but I went to conference with some deep, thought provoking life questions that i had, and All of them were answered!! I love conference. We tried so hard to listen to it in english, but it just didnt work out... Elder Christofferson speaks Spanish better than the majority of the translators, if you were wondering. His accent is truly incredible.

Well The new apostoles were called! And my home-boy, Elder Renlund gave another GREAT talk!! He just keeps coming through in the clutch! I cant wait to hear him every 6 months for the next few years!!

If theres anything i learned its that you can know that an urge you have is from the Spirit if you feel it in your heart and in your mind. Both. At the same time. And that I definitely need to be more charitable. I have a lot to work on.

And Devin Durrant gave some awesome insight on memorizing scriptures! It was called meditizar in spanish, i dont know what he called it english, but i thought it was cool, and i need to start memorizing scriptures again.

Well, those are my thoughts. I hope they didnt bother you too much.

Me and Elder Diaz are doing great. A few days ago, we walked past a house and a car pulled in the driveway. we saw a hand pop out the window and wave us over. So we went. We sat down with this guy, his friend, and his wife. The guy that waved us over was WAY drunk. Out of his mind. His friend and his wife were fine. Not sure what happened there. Anyway, He started trying to speak to us in portugese, even though he doesnt speak portuguese, and then after about 2 minutes, his friend told us that we should probably leave. So we agreed, and stood up to leave.

And then the drunk guy got way angry and yelling at us. He grabbed my arm, and Elder Diazs arm, not wanting us to go. Elder Diaz got away, then the guy tried to run after him and grab him. Well, me, 6´3´ and 200 pounds versus a short not to mention very drunk paraguayan is not really a contest, and he didnt really go anywhere. I pretty much held him in place and pulled him back. Well, he eventually let go of my arm, and we drove away. He was very sad.

Thats my story.

Alll of our progressing investigators just moved in with their girlfriends, so thats a pretty solid sign of a spiritual blockage.

I hope you have a joyous day

elder christensen

ps well the computer refuses to download my gorgeous pictures... My sincerest apologies.

Week 55

Hello, world

Well, sorry, but not a whole lot has changed this week. Besides the fact that fanny got baptized and confirmed! The baptism was awesome and super awkward at the same time. They messed up the prayer like 5 times, and didnt go all the way under the water for 2 times, and it was kind of uncomfortable, but finally, everything ended up fine! Whew. It was awesome because its an awesome person who really understands everything she is doing and has 100 percent of a desire to change her life and to serve a mission, and to help others here. Yeah. She has an insane amount of knowledge.

I dont know if i told you, but last year, she was very active in the catholic church. In fact, she was the equivalent of the relief society president. She said that every week for 2 years, she gave a talk, and taught a class in church. What? haha she stopped because she moved here, and then never really had desires to go back to the catholic church, and then started researching other chruches online.... man. I cannot believe her story.

She kind of gave us a hard time about not talking to her earlier, haha

She said one of her favorite parts of being baptized is that now when people ask her what religion is she from, she can say ´´from the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints!´´ She's the best.

Well Elder Hutchison left. And I miss him. And Elder Diaz came. He's an insanely good missionary. I couldnt believe it. Its crazy to hear this guy teach. He will be very successful on his mission, and later in his life. Especially in the church. He lives 5 minutes away from the cordoba temple, and both of his parents and his sister are temple workers. But if hes telling the truth, Cordoba, Argentina is more advanced economically and socially than the US and the chruch is also stonger there than it is in Utah.

Hes got a bit of Argentine pride. But I have a lot of American Pride. So well make a great team.

I hope you read those last couple sentences with a light heart.

I love you all very much.

Elder Christensen

ps i would send you photos of fannys baptism, but this computer will not accept my camera.

Foto de la conferencia Argentina con Elder Viñas

Week 54

Will get baptized on tuesday! tomorrow!

we got changes. Elder Hutchison is leaving... im super sad. ill miss him. but he´ll still be in paraguay. We kind of figured hed be leaving. thats why we changed the date of the baptism to tuesday and not saturday, so that he could be there. i dont know if thats cheating.

well in other news, one of our investigators started reading the book of mormon very intently. like almost memorized every verse. and can barely read. he told us the story of up until lehis dream. so we knew that he serioulsly had been reading a lot. he told us that he started praying, too, and loves it. feels so good. he told us he has real desires to go to chruch and be baptized.

we were thinking ´´this kid is awesome!!´´ he was so sincere, and showed great desire. Well, the next week, we went back, and he hadnt come to chruch. we asked him about why he didnt come. And he told us that he couldnt come because he got baptized in the chruch next to his house! ah!! didnt see that coming! So we explained the restoration of the preisthood again, and he listened intently, and said that hed be willing to be baptized again. but... he didnt come to chruch this sunday.... i guess he changed his life, so thats good. he definitely repented of a lot of things and thats good... but we did not expect that our visits and his reading of the book of mormon would get him baptized into another church

more importantly, we played kickball again today. i was 5 for 5. with 3 doubles and a home run. I probably should have gotten a triple on one of the doubles i kicked, but i made a base running mistake. so i guess im out of my slump.

Elder crhistensen

ps oh!!! my new companion is elder diaz. hes argentino. from cordoba. like elder piriz.

Week 53

Fannys terrific.

She has almost finished the ´´´faith´´ section in her Personal Progress. She just needs to visit a member and share a scripture with her. She just read ´´our search for happiness´and ´for the strength of youth´´ and told us shed be a great visiting teacher. We fasted with her and she talked with her grandma and mom and they both gave her a soft ´´yes´´ to baptism. So the plan is the 26 of september. Me and Elder Hutchison are trying to bring as many handsome 1ñ8 year old jóvenes to her house as posible so that she doesnt have to decide between us to as the one to baptize her. Im only half joking about that.

We went to posadas and learned a lot about leadership. It was super interesting. we read a discussion by Elder Bednar. He said that equally as important as what you do as a leader, its just important as what you leave behind. he said that when he was first called as stake president, the first thing that they told him was that it was now his responsiblitiy to train a multitude of men who would be fit to replace him. and that changed almost everything he did over the next 8 years as stake president... interesting.

We have had many people come to chruch and read the book of mormon this transfer, but none of them have followed the answer that they recieved that it was all true, so that rocks. But I have been very blessed to have met these people.... not that im planning on leaving or anything. But transfers are next week, and me and Elder hutchison are really crossing our fingers that well be together for a third transfer. Cant get enough basketball.

Actually, the other mornign, we woke up at 6, and i was ready to go. ´´Elder lets go! Elder lets go!´´ Elder hutchison says to me ´´no! its raining!´´ i look outside. it definitely is NOT raining. ´´Dude it is NOT raining! lets go!´´ ´´no! its raining´´........ fine. so i hop back in bed and sleep for another 30 minutes then wake up and work out... Thats usually how the mornings go.

Have a kevalicious day

Elder Christensen

PS I completely forgot. One of the other elders´investigators asked me to baptize him. Because im big. Thank you mom and dad.

Week 52

We had to do tramites in posadas. I think paul had done them the day before we got there... so thats a bummer.

this week went by super fast because we travelled so much. we went to ciudad del este for a conference, then went to posadas. we had to go and give two baptismal interviews (they passed), and we didnt get to work in our area a whole ton. But it was still fun.

im trying to think of anything really spiritual that happened this week...

oh yeah. fast sunday. turns out that Fannys mom is very catholic. And doesnt really like us or the church. Fann lives with her and just barely told us... so we told her about a fast. And we fasted with her this sunday. we were in posadas for the last couple days, and we just barely got back, so we dont know if the fast worked. i think it did. It probably did. ill keep you updated. but it was awesome.

Fanny is now reading our search for happiness by elder ballard. she still reads the book of mormon every day. She said that she has looked up a bunch of videos by the church on her phone and has watched them. She also told us that there are a lot of bad videos about the church on the internet, too. But that she hasnt watched any of them. Hooray!

Well, we also got to have an interview with president this week, and he told us that we need to emphasize our search for menos activos and investigators on families with men that can act as leaders in the church. because thats what we are really struggling with here in the mission. So many awesome women, but the men are almost non existant.

have a wonder ful day

Elder EMil

this computer cant send pictures... sorry... i tried.

Week 51

Como vai voce?

Well probably the coolest thing that happened this week was that we picked up a new investigator, started talking to him,  then i looked to the side of his house, and saw a VERY familiar car. it was a 1994 Mazda 626!! haha if you dont remember, that was the car that i drove oh so often. I asked if i could take some pictures of it, and he said it was okay. it was terrific. Blast from the past. There are 3 mazdas in all of Salto, apparently. Mazda is not a very big car company here.

That, of course is NOT the coolest thing this week. Fanny recieved an answer that the church is true! She said that after reading and praying, she just feels like everything that she is reading is true! We talked about baptism, and i shared mosiah 18 8, and she siad that she had already read that scripture and liked it a lot. it was terrific. She will be baptized in a couple of weeks. She is terrific.

I have had an uncurable cold all this week. well, for almost 2 weeks. Ive been taking pills,a nd it just was not getting better. Then on friday, i woke up, and it felt like my face had gotten hit by a truck. I was in so much pain. My FACE hurt so bad! It was one of the funniest things ever. I litterally woke up, and siad ´´my face KILLS!´´ So thanks to the face pain symptom, we discovered that i actually have a sinus infection. And i started taking antibiotics and after 24 hours the pain went away and all of my cold like symptoms and now im better again. Who knew?

Theres this one venezuelan man that lives really close to our house that always yells at us in english. just funny stuff like ´´hey man hows it goin?? Keep it real! Chill out!´´ We always just yell back and its funny. We finally decided to talk with him. He lived in England for a long time, and learned english there. Hes very wealthy, and Changes chruches all the time, but is always very active in whichever chruch hes apart of. We taught himabout the book of Mormon, and he was very interested. Hes super funny, and smart, and understood. I will tell you if he ends up being another Fanny.

I love you too much

Elder Christensen

Week 50

Hello.

Well Fanny is still the best person on the planet if you were wondering. Shes now in Mosiah in the Book of Mormon, has read at least half of the General Conference edition of the Ensign magazine, and asked us what the best book about Joseph Smith was. And weve only had 3 lessons with her! Even in the class of Gospel Principles, she usually participates and asks more questions than anyone else.

She said that she wanted to go to our Branch Night activity (we didnt even remember to invite her, she just heard it announced during sacrament meeting) but her mom wouldnt let her because it was too dark outside. BUT, shes still looking for an answer that the chruch is true. She says that every time she has doubts, she starts reading general conference talks, and feels much better, though. We feel like thats good enough haha. We talked to her about baptism, and she said that shes going to wait for her answer. Well.... Ill tell you what happens.

I got way sick this week, so not much happened. Just got a fever and body aches and a cough. And Elder Hutchison has had a cough for almost 2 weeks, and stays up until about 3 coughing very hard every night. All this week. We havent slept much.. Weve both taken every legal drug known to man, but nothing much has helped. Were still pretty hechos percha. But just with dang coughs.

The most entertaining thing that happened this week was that we found someone that has pet monkeys, and that a naked 6 year old chubby boy tried to sit on my lap.

Have a nice day.

Elder Emil

Week 49

Hey man

Well this just about sums up the week-

Elder Hutchison bought a basketball, and now we run 2 miles every morning to the closest court, and play. It requires us waking up 30 minutes early. its awesome

our branch had a service project at a local elementary school. They invited us to go. we went, and then when we got there, no one else was there. So we called a few people, and they said they werent going, so we ened up doing home.... yeah.

The other missionaries told us that some members are accusing me and elder hutchison of not working. wow. i think thats the first time in my life i have ever gotten accused of NOT working. i always thought that my work ethic was one of my biggest characteristics. So we will continue working. its pretty much just because none of our investigators have come to church in a long time. but we call them on sunday morning, we pass by their houses, and they choose not to come. but... whatever.

one of the missionaries in our branch had to stay with us for 5 days this week. hes been in the mission for 2 months. super new. and all the days, he was giving us advice. most of his advice began with ´´at the beginning of my mission, i did this.... now i do this...´´ and i would just laugh to myself. I learned that i still have some issues of getting frustrated with people. So ill tell you if i ever fix that.

and lastly...

There's this 18 year old girl who lives right next to us. She always says hi to us, and we always say hi to her. its super awkward. shes always just sitting on her doorstep... anyway. it was 8 oclock at night. we had to go to the house because e hutchison had to take some medication, and we saw her just sitting there. we passed her, went to one of our appointments. the people werent there. I was down for just buying a pizza, but my comp said ´´no lets go and talk to our neighbor girl.´´ i had the same impression, but my stomach was ignoring it.

So we went. we just walked up and asked ´´´can we share something?´´ she said yes,a nd went and broght out some chairs. we started talking, and she was super cool. just this 18 year old girl whos really outgoing, but super chill, just talking to us about college, and what not. we were just breaking the ice. she was easy to talk to.

she asked us if we had learned any guarani, and i said yes. how? i sAID THAT  i was studying out of the book of mormon in guarani. I said, yes, we have a nother book of scripture. she said ´´yeah, i know about the book of mormon´´ oh really? what do you know? she siad that she had just read the title page, and learned a bit. She siad that she hadd alwyas been interested in learning about religions, and had always looked up stuff on the internet to find stuff out.

she said that she knew that the book of mormon had other books, like the bible. she siad ´´Nephi... theres 4 of them, right? and jacob... and alma....´´ then she pulled out her phone, and pretty much immediately said ´´omni, words of mormon, mosiah, alma, heleman´´ what??? haha we asked her what she was using to look up the books so fast. she hid her phone. we pressured her. she showed us. SHE HAD THE BOOK OF MORMON APP ON HER PHONE. DOWNLOADED.

Fanny then told us that she was now in jacob 4!!

We asked her how long ago she started reading. 1 month ago!! she said that she had read almost every day

background- the elders have lived in this apartment for almost 5 years, and she had lived in her apartment for more than 1 year. And she said that no elder has ever said anything more than ´´hi´´ to her.

what... it was so suprising. She said that she really likes it. We told her to ask any question she had. yes ´´what is the Atonement?´´ was her fIRST question haha we explained it a bit. Then she asked about the really pretty building we had. The salt lake temple. yes. She said that was it. then she said ´´you guys just had general conference, didnt you?´´ YES. She siad that she really liked what Thomas S Monson said. she said that hes really wise. She also said that shes read a few talks frmo Elder Bednar, and says that she really likes what he says, too.

we were so stunned. Then she asked us if we knew that L Tom Perrry had died. Then she told us that it was okay because they were going to choose a new apostle in the next conference in october.

we walked 2 steps to our pension, and lended her our ensign magazine that has all the conference talks in it.

She told us that she had watched Gods Army. The mormon movie. And liked it... We invited her to church after talking about the book of mormon and the modern day prophets a bit more, and she said that she would love to come. we shook her hand, thanked her then left.

we got to the house and just started crying.

she walked to church yesterday with us and really enjoyed it. She even explained to some of our other investigators the differences between gospel doctrine and gospel principles classes.... 

I am so grateful that God loves us.

Elder Christensen

Week 48

Transfers came and im staying in salto. With elder hutchison. What luck.

AND 2 new missionariaes are coming to the zone. And theyre BOTH Brazillian!! vamos a falar!!

Well... Great week this week. We got a call from the hermanas this week, and their investigator that was going to be baptized on saturday is 17, and HADNT told her parents yet that she was going to be baptized. she lives with her aunt, and her parents are pretty anti mormon people. Well... so we decided to do a fast for her. This was thursday, and she was supposed to be baptized on saturday.

so we called the whole zone and started to do a fast so that she would be baptized. The next day, we got a call. And the hermanas told us a little bit of great news.

That they had brought up the challenge with her and her aunt, and then her aunt told them that she was technically this girls legal guardian and has the legal ability to sign documents in behaf of her. What in the world. In paraguay, too! So that was great. Our fast was answered, and  she was baptized on saturday.

another fun story.

we were just about to end our fast on friday haha by eating some of our favorite lomitos, and then this black brazillian man came up to us and started speaking to us in portugese. we did not understand anything, but it was very apparent that he wanted us to give him food, because he kept saying thaat he was hungry and wanted us to help him out (ok so maybe we DID understand a lot of what he was saying). We sat there for a moment and talked aobut it. We didnt want to give him any money, so we decided to buy him a lomito.

we went there and ate a lomito with him and practiced our portugese. His name was a very random brazillian name, and he has 12 sibblings... thats about all the portugese we know haha as we finished eating he thanked us a ton and left.

well it was good to help him out.

The next day, we had a zone meeting, and one of the elders in our ozne made a cake. And there were stilla couple of pieces left that we sdidnt want... but we had to take it. So we were awkwardly transporting this cake through the city going back to the pension where we were planning on just giving it to a member, when the SAME brazillian man came up behind us and started talking to us again. We offered him the cake, and he took it and left haha what a lifesaver!

well my testimony grew this week. Procelyting is awesome. i love you all with all my giant lion heart.

elder emil

Week 47

There are a lot of Brasilians that come over from the border to buy american stuff at the shopping malls here in Paraguay. I bet you didnt see that coming! But really. Theres almost more Portuguese spoken here than anything else. And its Paraguay, so everyone speaks Guarani. theres almost no Spanish. Just kiddint. Theres still a lot of Spanish.

If you dont remember, i am studying guarani, and Elder Hutchison is studying Portugesse. So that way, we know all 3 languages, and can communicate with EVERYONE as a companionship.

Well, I said something like ``the other elders have been stealing our miracles`` last week. And then a lot of cool things started happening.  A Few appointments we had fell through. So we decided to bury our feelings in food and went to buy burgers from this place that one of our investigators works at. We saw him there, talked with him for a little bit, then a bunch of brasillians walked in and sat down. One of them turned to us and asked ``so where are you guys from?``

Well, turns out last year he moved back to Brazil. He lived in Lexington, Kentucky, for 12 years working at a gas station iwth a bunch of other Brazillians. So we just talked in Englsih because he doesnt speak spanish, and we dont speak portugese.. Turns out one of his best friends in the states is a returned missionary, and he has listened to the charlas before. We talked a little about the church, and that. We talked for a while. He bought our burgers and he bought uys a  coke! it was the greatest. As we were going to leave, Elder Hutchison reached into his baag and pulled out a restoration pamphlet.... in PORTUGUESE!! haha it was the greattest. We NEVER carry around Portuguese stuff. He said that he put it in that day `just incase he had a portugeuse question`` so that was cool.

WE also contacted this one house, and the husband was out back, working, and pointed us to go up front. We turned around, and his wife was getting out of a hammock, ready to listen to us. Pretty much the first thing out of her mouth was ``im just looking for the perfect church. I keep going to a bunch of different ones, but i dont really like them...``` wow. Thats terrific. We invited her to church the next day, and she said ``oh! my daughter is friends with one of the members there, and has gone a few times. She says she likes it!``

Well she came to church, and LOVED it. Plus, one of the members here works with her husband, and she siad that she was very happy to ``finally have gone to this hermano`s chruch`` and she said that she fels very comfortable.

Well it was a great week. Im in Posadas right now, and wont be back until thurshday, but ill tell you how it goes with her,

Have a wonderful day

Elder Emil

One is of us in a taxi coming back to salto from Puente Kyjha

and the other is me waiting for my delectible Lomito sandwich. You can see the delicious meat spinning around on the tasty skewer in the yummy background.

Week 46

Hey gang

Well... without a doubt we just had the funnest zone activity that i have ever don in my entire life. Kickball!! we have a tiny zone, it was only 5 on 5, but we played at the church, and it was finally fun to play a sport again. I did horrible. I probably had 4 errors in the field, but i went 4 for 4, with 3 RBIs, and 3 runs scored, and 3 doubles. we ended up tying 10 to 10 after 2 innings. We were all incredibly unathletic.

Well. this week was super difficult. We focussed last week on contacting a bunch of new people, and we hoping that all would progress and show something cool... but pretty much all of our scheduled things fell through. It was super difficult. we had a ton of citas fall through, and we had a lot of problems with people not wanting to continue, and all that jazz. super depressing. we definitely felt the Spirit in the lessons, and got to know them pretty well, but we left, and they.... didnt do anything. So, of course theyre not just going to all of a sudden think that its true.

But we continue. Were working with the members, were obedient, and we work hard. Plus, ive started doing my worthwhile bodyweight circuits again. So Im sore a lot again. Thus... i am happy.

The other elders here in salto are having a TON of success. Last week, some one got baptized. a young couple that look like they will build the branch here in salto. Plus they found a gfamly who came to the baptism, and asked them ´´what do we need to do to be bapitzded??´´. and they thought that asssisting church and reading the book of mormon was reasonable. and they have followed through. Another young family. AWESOME. PLus, on 2 different occasions, they were walking down the street, and someone called them over. They went. And they were a menos activo woman whos husband wanted to get baptized. They both came to church on sunday. What in the world.... so many miracles. They seem to be stealing all of our miracles haha

well.... ive started studying guarani a lot. I can now pray and form sentences and i understand about as muchh guarani right now as i did spanish 10 months ago. che ndaikatui ñe´´é guaranipe

I heard it was rileys farewell talk yesterday and that she rocked it!! you go girl! I also talked in chruch yesterday. We are SO connected.

I love you all. Sorry i dont have pictures.

Elder Emil

Week 45

Well it was a cool week this week.

Mostly because it was full of divisions. One place, in katuete, we went, and contacted all day. how enjoyable. One of the houses we contacted, a brazillian woman came out and accepted us easily. We talked about her family, and all that fun stuff,a nd then she started totally opening up to us. She has started having alot of problems with her boyfriend and kids, and she said that she had just been really hoping that someone would come and talk to her. she started crying, and we shared just about Christ, and about the importance of families. She said that she was so greatful that we passed by and that she was seriously praying for someone to come along. so well see where that goes. It was cool.

Then we went to Puente Kyjha. There... idont remember what happèned really. But the elders were having some big problems. we just told them to focus on waking up at 630 every morning. We call them to veryfiy if theyve woken up, and then the rest of the day is in their hands. They just barely told us that they had been doing it.

And they have started doing companionship study for the first time in their 8 weeks together. They achieved the normas of exelencia for new investigators, and they said that they dont hate each other anymore. So thats cool. I love obedience. Even the most simplest thing goes a long way.

on sunday, at 11 oclock, we went to take a bus to asuncion. i had to do tramites again. We got there at 12 in the afternoon, and went to the temple. the red eye bus ride is not a fun bus ride, let me tell you. but the temple ROCKS!!! We even saw my first gringoes. They were both from provo. And return missionaries. twas cool. Then we got back at 11 last night. Thus, i couldnt write until today. I took some pictures at the temple, but i was pretty hecho percha, so im not sure if i will send them to you, because i still have a LITTLE pride in my heart, and i really look quite hideous.

I love the gospel. I love you all. I really wish the best for you

Elder Emil

Week 44

Well i love this place.

A while back, we gave a ``read the book of mormon in 90 days`` challenge to a menos activo family living around here. its about 7 pages a day. Weve been trying to do it in all the branch to improve the knowledge of the gospel in the members and also increase their spirituality and desire to share the gospel with others.They said that they were down to do it. So anyway, we came back about 5 days later, and asked them how they had been doing. They had read 50 pages! Way more than they needed to! And they said that they loved it! they even explained to us all that they read and all that  liked. It was awesome. They dont even speak a lot of spanish, but they understood a lot, and then we read some more with them. It was awesome to see. We are actually doing it with the members here, and let me tell you, the Book of Mormon is AWESOME. I have usually just stayed on studying topics, but i started from begining just reading, and my testimony is growing. I know just in the past week i have gained greater knowledge, and i have also grown a greater love for the boook and testimony of its veracidad.

We also had a little meeting in Ciudad del Este. And my old companion, Elder Acevedo was there! I was so excited to see him! it has been i think 6 months since the last time that i had talked to him. And he is still AWESOME. After he trained me, he actually trained Elder Baskin`s trainer, so that makes Paul my nephew.

Earlier this week, we had a district fireside in La Paloma to animate the youth here to serve missions. And instead of animating the youth, i think it animated me. I loved to hear the stories of  the members here who served missions and brought people unto christ. I felt the spirit testify of their testimonies, and i recieved a greater desire to talk to people and help them. I dont really rembmer what exactyly anyone said, but i felt the Spirit, and i really enjoyed it. So that is good.

We have queen beds here.

Last awesome story

We were contacting old menos activos in a far away barrio called Kilometro 5. Im not sure how far away it is from the city, but probably about 3.1 miles, if i could guess. Anyway. We met some pretty cool people out there, including the people that were baptized while Elder Averett was here, ill tell you if they progress, and then we were walking back to the house at about 8 pm. it was really dark, on a really remote road. A policeman pulled over, and i thought``what on earth could they arrest us for??``

Well, we walked VERY quickly past their truck, and they yelled to us ``come here! no dont be afraid! ... where are you going?`` and we said salto. They asked ``do you want a ride?`` uh... yes. so we got in the back of their truck. There were already two big guys with enormous rifles inbetween thier legs, and we squeezed in on either side of them. The driver immediately started talking to us. he asked us where we were from, he asked us a little about the church, then siad that they were the paraguay equivalent of SWAT. And he pretty much talked our ears off for 5 minutes, then we got to town, and invited them to church, and then they left. It was quite funny.

I love you all. I love the church. The gospel is true.

Elder Christesnen

Week 43

I forgot how much i loved Guarani, and Paraguay, and Paraguay. And America. Happy birthday, America, by the way! For the 4th of July, we pledged allegiance to the flag. It was good. And thats it. Actually, then we went to McDonalds and ate a hot fudge sundae.

You heard me. We have Mccy Dees. And a bunch of american malls, and a place called shopping china that pretty much sells any kind of soda or candy that you want. As long as its american. Its the greatest. Theres Burger king, and Chinese food, Its pretty much paradise.

And its paraguay, so the people are way nice to us and everyone accepts us into their house. Last night, even. We were contacting, and we walked up to this young couple, and they were making something over a fire. Cooking. They said ``come over! lets eat dinner!`` and we totally ate dinner with them and then had a lesson with them right after. The people are so great. And i remember more guarani than i thought i did. Its gonna be great to revive it all.

Elder Hutchison is pretty much Nate Evans. But hes from Oregon. Hes probably the nicest person i have ever met in my entire life. And hes way funny too

Well, im happy, im safe. The buses here in salto are nicer than any Le Bus ive ever seen.
It was hard to say goodbye to everyone there in Tacuarì. I met a lot of really awesome people, and  i will miss them. But i was really happy to share the gospel with them and incorperate their lives into my scripture study. I love the scriptures. They are so very useful.

Oh I didn't really do anything for my birthday. No one really knew that it was my birthday mostly because i didnt tell anyone. Im such a fun person!
Elder Emil

Week 42

Yes, im moving areas AGAIN haha

Area number 5. im going to a city in Northern Paraguay called Salto del Guaira. Yes, you heard me. -Northern- Paraguay. Well... almost. But its like a 14 hour bus ride away. Makes Carlos Antonio Lopez sound like a nice sunday drive. Its known as the area most like america. They have mcdonalds. with mcflurries. so i will be spending lots of money on ice cream and getting really fat.

My new companion is Elder Hutchison. Hes from Portland, oregon. Hes cool. He played Lacrosse and i have talked with him a couple times. I even went on divisions with him 3 weeks ago. The dream of the 90s is alive in Portland. Im super stoked hes relatively new in the mission, so were both going to be very new haha. Im so excited to get up there.

Elder Averett is going home tomorrow. He finished the 2 years, and is going back to idaho. I will miss him a lot. I really enjoyed being his companion. I really did.

Theyre making Tacuari ward an hermana area, so thats different.

Well, heres an experience for ya, if you want it.

I was doing divisions with the elders in Centro in Posadas. And we went contacting all night. Its an area that is very closed, with not a lot of members. They do not get into a lot of houses. We walked up to a house, and i saw a family sitting around a dinner table... and i did not want to talk to them. So i looked beside the giant window, and there was a staircase up to the upper leveel of the building. And there was a door bell.... so i rung it. And a 20 year old kid came down. We just said ``hey were representatives of Jesus Christ. Can we talk with you?`` and he said ``yeah, come in`` haha what? since when does that happen?? so we went.

it turned out to be this 20 year old couple. The guy was kind of clueless, but the girl was AWESOME. She sid that she was kind of Evangelical, but not really. She had gone to a lot of churches, and didnt really feel right at any one of them, so she stopped going. She had a ton of questions about what we believed, and all that and was very proactive about finding out our beliefs. it was AWESOME.

Then we started talking about the Book of Mormon, and she was astounded. it was great. We invited them to church then they said ``acutally were moving to Buenos Aires tomorrow.`` and so that kind of killed my mood. But then she asked how she could hear more about the church. I said there was a website. She asked me to write down the website. I did. And then we left.

Well... I hope she finds the missionaries in Buenos Aires... Go, my little seed. Go!

And thats it. It is not such a big coincidence that we found them the DAY before they move to Buenos Aires, and she has been looking for the right church. Well it was really cool to be apart of and it made me happy.

Elder Christensen