Week 76

The Proposal 2.  Yes. Somebody else proposed to us. We contacted a Menos Activo, and her single, chubby 25 year old daughter asked us if we wanted to marry her. We said no. And that was pretty much it. Nothing too dramatic.

Well I've learned some things about myself from the mission:

1. My face looks weird.

2. I cannot mimic any type of accent. Even in English

3. I talk in my sleep.

The best part of the week that I will share is that we had a KILLER lesson with Diana. We went to the capilla with an RM and a young woman from the ward. We talked about the gospel of Jesus Christ, and at the end of the lesson, we opened up the baptismal font and talked about baptism. We asked her if she wanted to be baptized, and she said that she didn't feel prepared. She has to work on forgiving her father. And just opened up to us about the problems that her dad has and how it has affected her life. She started crying. The young woman went over and consoled her, and then told her stories of her childhood, and they both started crying and were there talking for probably 20 minutes. Meanwhile, us 3 guys who are around 20 years old are just standing there awkwardly watching.

Well it ended very well. Diana continues progresssing, the sky is blue, the ward is great, I'm happy to be a missionary.

We did divisions in Virasoro, and I took a picture with a carpincho, but the computer isn't reading my camera, so I guess you'll still have to wait for that photo.

Love you

Elder Christensen

Week 75

This was a great week.

I bought some new pants. My shoes officially got destroyed beyond recognition, and I bought some new pens, too. So im doing pretty good. Except that I sweat an impressive amount of sweat everyday. I get so soaked that after lunch, we have to go back to the apartment, and i have to change my pants because its so embarrassing. what fun

WE went to talk with a menos activo, and we asked him how he joined the church. He said that when he was 12, he was walking down the street, and he looked ina box on the side of the road, and there was a book of mormon in it! He said he was just intrigued, so he grabbed it, and started reading. Acutally, he read until 3 nephi! Then he stopped. He said that he thought it was just a cool story, he didnt know that there was actually a religion that used its teachings.

well when he was 14,the missionaries showed up at his house, and started ta lking with his family. They pulled out the book of mormon, and he said ``hey! I have that same book!`` and then  they told him what it really was. And told him that to know if it was true, he had to pray and ask God if it was true. He said that he did, and now knows it was written by prophets of God. Then he and the rest of his family got baptized. Cool story. But now hes inactive. Well, as it turns out, he said he was feeling a little bit bad about himself, and he remembered that reading the Book of Mormon made him feel much better, so he started to read it again. A couple months ago! And said he knows he needds to start attending church again. Hes 20. mission-bound,  in my mind, but i dont think he know that yet...

in our ward, normally 110 people attend. But yesterday, it rained, so everyone decided to take the day off, and 27 showed up. Thats just the culture here, so its not that different that he didnt come to church.

Remember the Paraguayan afamily that wwe found last week? Well as it turns out, we gave them 5 verses in the book of m ormon to read, and they didnt read! Except for their 17 year old daughter! And she read, like 10 pages! She said that she felt awesome while she was reading it. She didnt really understand a  TON, but she remembered more or less the storyline, so we know that she read! She also said that she feels the Spirit when she reads it, and that she thinks that its truer than the Bible. But hasnt prayed to know whether its true or not. So thats her next step. But she said that she feels something different, the Spirit, when she talks with us, and she doesnt feel it when she goes to other churches. It was awesome! We talk with her whole family, but shes the only one that has a fire in her eyes.

We also had some great experiences, just walking to and from appointments, and deciding to talk to someone, and then we have an awesome lesson with them. Im not sure if they will progress, but we sure had a good time talking about the book of Mormon and repentance with them.

Have a great day

Elder Christensen

Week 74

Whats up?

This week was pretty great. Kind of stressfull.

The reason why it was stressful was because I was pretty explosively sick the other day. I was in the bathroom for a long while. Im definitley much better, but  heaving for such a long time just sapped all my energy. Thats what happens when i try and cook my own lunch!

Theres a lot of dengue going around here. I really think that half the city of Posadas has it. And paraguays worse. Everyone has it. Not really, but its becoming quite the epidemic. Only one hermana in our zone has dengue, so it has avoided the missionaries here, more or less. But it feels like a ticking time bomb.

One the spiritual side of things, we were walking around, late one night, and Elder Diaz told me that his old compainion had passed this house, and he said that they used to visit some investigators there. so we passed the house, and elder Diaz said we were going to see if they would accept us. We clapped outside, and they came out and told us to come in.

So we went. And it turns out that they DIDNT talk with the misisonaries before. Theyre just some extremely friendly paraguayans! I miss paraguay... everyone would talk with us. Anyway, we just started talking with them, and they asked us which of all the chruches was true, and all the awesome classic questions! We finished the lesson listening to the father of the family pray! It was awesome! Ill tell you if they progress, but we have lots of hope

Elder Christensen

Week 73

Hello

Well im now with Elder Diaz again. He's changed from a super sophisticated, impressive joven to a super sophisticated impressive young single adult. What a big difference it is between 18 and 19! We're working a lot, and we've had many spiritual lessons. Its great to be at his side again.

Well the highlight of the week was sacrament meeting yesterday. Since it was my first week here, they had me bear my testimony and introduce myself. But another hermana, Hermana Reynoso, ALSO just barely got here. So she went first. She's from LA, but her parents are mexican. So she said "I'm from the US, but don't worry, I'm 100% Latina!" Then bore her testimony. Then I went up and said "I'm from the US, and I'm 100% gringo!" The Elders Quorum President didn't stop laughing for the whole meeting. I'm hilarious.

We also had a meeting with the stake presidency yesterday. It was 6 elders, and presidente LaPierrre, and we talked about how the stake is way to dependent on the missionaries for work that THEY should be doing. With regards to menos activos and conversos recientes. So we talked about what we were going to start doing to put a lot of the workload on the members here. Were going to stop doing their job, and then they should become more self sufficient! That's the big push in the church here in Argentina. Becomeing self sufficient temporally and spiritually.

I love you so much

Elder Christensen