Week 32

Yes.

He came to Mission Resistencia, just next door, and did a video conference with both the missions. He was awesome. Hes a greeat spiritual giant, and rocks. He spoke a lot about being firm missionaries, and the thing that stood out most to me, was that he siad that the 12 apostles asked in prayer what they could do to help make the world a better place, and the answer was ´´keep the sabbath day holy´´. He then said that bishops would be getting more training and missionaries too on keeping the sabbath day holy. It made me never want to watch football on a sunday agian, and i dont think i ever will. And you shouldnt either. If you want, read in Preach my Gospel, lesson 4 of seccion 3, and read the part on the sabbath day. Then follow it.

I did divisions in a little town called Ituzaingó this week. Its a beach town. Seriously. Ive been so used to waliking around on red dirt roads, that walking around on white sand roads was really weird. Wild horses and crocodiles were everywhere, too. I was not expecting that.

Well in the Divisions, we went to ask a reference from one of the oldest members that lives there. She told us to go an visit a guy around the corner. He had listened to the missionaries once. So we went. Turns out, the misisonaries HAD talked to him for a long time, and he had almost gotten baptized. We talked aobut the book of mormon, and he said he had read something simmilar, but it was bigger, and red, and only talked about Jesus Christ. I asked ´´Did you read Jesus the Christ?´´ And he said ´´Yes! thats it!´´ So we found this guy who has read Jesus the Christ and the Book of Mormon, and has gone to church several times, and now is very excited to go to church. And its nuts.

Thats it for today! Have a nice day!

Elder Christensen

Week 31

Hello!

Well as you can guess from the title, the ward had a baptism this week!! But not really. Heres the stroy:

About 2 months ago, Elder Hawk and his old companion were in the mission office doing something on pday, and it was taking all of their pday. They got back to the apartment, and only had a tiny bit of time to go and buy groceries And write a little to their families. They wrote to their families, and bought groceries, and in the line waiting to buy, they started talking to this family. They sounded interested in the gospel, and they noted down their address, and left.

Well they got home, and it was 30 minutes past the time that pday is supposed to end. They debated between staying in and studying to finish pday, or to go out and proselyte. They hadnt studied yet, by the way. They decided to go and find the houuse of the family at the grocery store (which is WAL MART!! the first time I walked in, i said ``america`` under my breath. Its nuts!). Well they found them, and it turns out, that the mom and the oldest 2 sons of 19 and 14 are members. But the dad, adn the daughter of 8 ,a dn the son of 6 are not. So they started teaching them.

Well, to this day, the dad doesnt come to church, but still listens to the lessons we have been teaching to the mom and her children. The mom, has come every week for the past 2 months, and has started, by her own accord, 2 service projects, and still notices more things to do. The son of 14 just recieved the preisthood last week, and passed the sacrament yesterday. The oldest son doesnt reallly want anything to do with us. The 6 year old son rocks it in the primary. He asked us when he was going to be baptized. We told him in 2 years. He then said ``wait- is baptism the thing that wipes away all your sins??`` haha YES.

Anyway, yesterday we had the baptism. One of the coolest members of the ward did the ordinance. Hes theyoung mens president, and i think he visits every young man every couple of days. Hes such a hard worker.

Well thats the story for the week. It was the most notable thing. I really am enjoying this work. We are trying to turn around the culture here to a culture of work. Where everyone goes out and visits every menos activo, and every investigator. And it looks like its starting to work. Its complicated, and we leave on divisions with the members a lot,a nd its awesome to see how much THEIR teaching is improving. Its awesome.

If you want to hear something funny, at the baptism, the bishop announced the schedule of the events. Talks, the baptism, etc. And announced that elder christensen was going to be giving a talk on the gift of the Holy Ghost. Hello. So i was preparing for that. Then we forgot that we had to bring our dessert. So while i was going to be talkking, elder Hawk was going to run with one of the members to a members house to pick up some cookies that we were going to serve for the baptism. And i wasl the only talk, and had to talk until they got back. They took 15 minutes ahah. So i gave a 15 minute promptu talk. I read like 7 scriptures, and i feel like i sounded pretty fluent. But i dont know. Youd have to ask the members.

That is all. I love you all. I really do

Elder Emil Christensen

oh no. this first one is me in montecarlo eating cereal on our deck. It was great.

Week 30

Hello.

Posadas is a great area. Tacuari, the area im in, is pretty much the suburbs. So theres a lot of houses, and a lot of people. And a lot of members. We have had a lot of success in getting the members to come to lessons with us and befriend our investigators, and rebefriend the menos activos.

The elders that were here before me had a lot of success with recent converts and reactivating. In every lesson that i have gone to, they seem like normal life long members, but they only really started making these habits a couple months ago, and have changed so much!

Testimony meeting was awesome in a ward, because we filled up the whole hour, and there were some LEGIT stories. Just be sure that there are some members in Posadas, Argentina with very strong conversions to the gospel.

Not a whole ton happened this week... Im still kinda trying to figure the area out, and weve had to spend a lot of time in the office, so thats wasted a lot of time.

Im very happy, and now i have a vision of how i can be happier. The more I study with Elder Hawk, the more i learn about the characteristics of God. He really is the most selfless being on the planet. He created the world. Why? so that we could live here. He sent His son. Why? so that we could be saved and return to Him. He literally has NO LIFE except to get caught up in ours.HIs work, and His glory ( what makes Him happy) is to bring to pass our eternal life. Our eternal happiness. And we obey HIm and achieve our potential by serving others. because, if we do it right, thats what we will be doing for the rest of eternity. Serving others.

Have a wonderful day

Elder Trevor Emil Christensen

Week 29

Hello.

Yes. Finally going to live the big city life. Its funny because Posadas actually isnt very big, but its the biggest weve got. How we find out, is President emails all the zone leaders the changes early monday morning before the end of the transfer, and then the zone leaders call the district leaders, and tell them whats happening in their distict, and the district leaders call each missionary companionship in their distict. And then on Wednesday, we move to wherever were supposed to go.

So im going to a ward called Tacuari. Finally I will be in a stake. My companion is Elder Hawk. Larry Echo. Just kidding. But hes a gringo, and ive met him once, and hes very legit. Very. Im going to learn a lot about missionary work this transfer. And probably i will learn less about spanish. But i dont know.

Conference. Are those guys good or what?? It was kind of awkward for me, a young missionary, to listen to, like, 15 talks in a row about dating and marriage, but I still thought it rocked, even though it hurt my soul a little bit.

Elder Perrys talk about him and Elder Eyring going to the Vatican was pretty legit. Dale ´´the Dark Horse´´ Relund came out of nowhere and gave a rocking talk about missionary work. I really enjoyed that talk. It was one of my favorites. It was cool. Neil L Andersen mentioned a story about Elisha with the horses and chariots of fire from God going to battle with him, and it was a story that I read THAT MORNING. So that was awesome, because I knew exactly what he was talking about. Elisha is a great prophet. It was really fun to hear the 2 talks in Spanish. I think I was more excited to hear them than anyone else in the branch.

Well I finished the Bible this week, and the Church is true.

Weve been working with this menos activo family for a while now. They give us lunch on Wednesdays, and have started praying as a family every night, but still wont read the scriptures or come to church, but Elder Piriz will continue trying. Well randomly the hermano asked us ´´so what do we have to do to be worthy for the temple?´´ Yeah, baby. So we told him, and apparently pay tithing and hold a calling and come to church and read and pray as a family is reasonable for him. Earlier this week we also helped them keep digging their well. We dug down a couple feet, and I am recognized as a very good well digger.

Elder Piriz had to go to the hospital this week. His arm was hurting. Well we were waiting in the room, and the doctor walked in and said ´´Elders!´´ ... what? We didnt even respond we were so suprised, and then he said, in english, ´´I lived in Utah for a year. I went my sophomore year to Cottonwood High School. Your temple in Salt Lake is VERY pretty.´´ haha it was awesome. So we started talking about how bad our english is getting, and the church. Turns out, he went to church as a high schooler foreign exchange student, and really liked it, but was never baptized, and has never been back since. But he did meet Spencer W Kimball while he was there. We invited him to church, but he said no.

Well i enjoyed this week. I hope you did,  too.

Elder Emil Christensen

My old district leader, Elder Cross left his mark on my new wardrobe

First look at my companion, Elder Piriz. 27, from Marcos Juarez, Cordoba, Argentina.

I was confused at the sheer number of selfies that this guy took

He made me lunch this day!

Someone pushed the button on my camera a little too soon

Our district. The district leader was my companion, elder Piriz. Next to him was Elder Hodson, then Elder Taylor, then me. On the front row was Sister Dempsey from Louisiana, then Sister Anderson from Dubai, then Sister Murphy from Portland, then Sister Retana from Costa Rica.

Elder Taylor, a good buddy of mine. 6'10" and from Layton

At the end of 6 months, it's somewhat of a tradition to burn your tie. My first companion, Elder Silva, must have known that I was going to try to burn his tie, because he gave me one that was completely fire proof

My hair was outrageous.

I spent a lot of time out on this balcony, eating cereal late at night, after planning. I thought it was beautiful

Elder Piriz loved selfies

"Crhistiansen"... Almost got it

One again: Outrageous 

Elder Farnsworth was my zone leader again!

Elder Farnsworth gave me a haircut.

My hair was still outrageous but in a different way

Easter Zone Conference. I love the Jazz

Elder Farnsworth

You can see Sister LaPierre and also, Elder Duke is on the far right, sitting down. No, he's not wearing a watch

It was incredibly foggy every morning. I liked it

The well we dug

The same well

Sister Angelica was the bomb

Our branch president with one of his sons

My last day in Montecarlo

I looked forward to every opportunity that I had to play guitar

This was the mom of the family that we were working with. They were cool

A partial member family that we worked with a lot. Silvana was a returned missionary who was quite a joy to work with. Her husband and daughter started coming to church, and they were good friends of mine.

Week 28

I have no clue what tramites means in english, but it has to do with Argentine visa stuff. It took up one entire day in Posadas, and then all of today, and some of yesterday in Puerto Iguazu. So that pretty much destroyed our week of working. The government requires so much from us! nah, its alright

Well i hope you all are doing well. I know i am.

This week started off wonderfully with our zone conference, and President Lapierre came and spake to us about pressing forward in the work. How to work with members better, and how to be more efficient and spritual as missionaries. He is a very wise man and i love listening to him. It was a great boost.

The 4 dollar backpack that i bought my first week in Paraguay finally broke.. So i had to buy a new one. I told Elder Piriz, and he said okay, and we went to one of the random booths that was on the side of the road. We passed maybe 5 or 6, and stopped at one, and i asked the guy there how much a back pack costed. He said a reasonable price, so i gave him the money, and as he gave me the backpack, he said ´´im a member´´    WHAT? So we immediately started talking to him. Turns out, he lives alone, and pretty much said that the members were his only friends, because he works a TON, and when he went to church, he felt the Spirit and really enjoyed it. He told us his testimony of Christ and of the Book of Mormon, and it was great. He started crying, and said that he missed going to church. We invited him, and he has kept his commitments so far, and it sounds like hes going to progress. Its great how the Lord puts a broken backpack on my shoulders so that we can find new people that can progress in the Gospel.

Our gospel doctrine teacher is the bomb. Her and her husband moved from Buenos Aires a little over a year ago, and they know a TON. they said that they went to the temple at least once a week for more than 5 years, and study the scriptures every day togethere, and its what keeps them so close. They have such a knowledge of the gospel, and really rock at teaching. All of the lessons here rival any lesson i have ever had. I seriously learn so much, and its great. Its awesome to see how strong some peoples testimonies are down here!

We were visiting one of our menos activos, and his son told us that he wanted a preisthood blessing. And his dad has the Melchezidek preisthood, but it sounds like he has never given a blessing, so we got to teach him how to do it, and it was a great experience. That is all

I hope you all are serving each other. Because you know that serving your fellow man is serving your God.

Elder Emil

PS i think i finally figured out how to do an attachment

Week 27

Yes, i finally did it. If this computer was ccapable of sending pictures, i would send it to you, because, trust me, my hair was SO long haha But now im looking like a real missionary, so thats good. Rockin the buzz cut for the first time in 4 years.

Not a ton happened this week. We saw just about no progression. I went on divisions with my favorite zone leader, Elder Farnsworth. That was fun. We went and visited 2 less active members, and had some REALLY spiritual lessons, with just a bunch of examples about answers to prayers,a dn the bleessings of reading the scriptures, but they didnt come to church. We even went before church to pick them up, and they got mad at us. THey told us that they were only going to come when they feel ready to come, not when anybody else tells them. So that was weird. I dont think well be going back there again. Which is sad. I really thought that family would progress.

We also had a lesson with this one 18 year old kid and his 17 year old brother. They were baptized 6 years ago, without their parejnts, and went to church consistantly for at least a year. Then the older 12 year old brother got offended by a member, and stopped coming,a nd wouldnt let his little brother go either. his little brother kept telling us how much he loved the church, and the Elders, and was really quiet. But his older brother was not about to forgive these members, and it was pretty bad. We talked about forgiveness and love for a long time,a nd he would just not budge. We even got so far as to ask him how he expects to be forgiven by Christ at the last day if he wont forgive anyone here. We are commanded to forgive all men. But he would not give an inch. We finally decided to end the lesson,a nd the younger brother gave the most sincere prayer i have ever heard. He prayed that his brother would remember how much they had loved church when they were younger, and that he would find his testimony again. And we left.

ON sunday, our district president, and our young mens president for the district spoke in our branch. And they were two of the best talks i have ever heard. On obedience, and just how they got their testimonies. Plus our district president played soccer for River Plate (the New York Yankees of Argentine soccer), so that was cool to hear him talk. There was not a huge turn out in the branch, and i felt way bad for everyone who didnt come because they really missed out. There are some STRONG members of the church down here. It was really good to see.

Our time schedule just changed, so i lost 30 minutes of sleep.So that was too bad.

As i am thinking about what i just typed, it sounds like i had a really depressing week, but im happy, and im cared for, and im having fun. I know that the gospel is true, and im very happy that i know all of you and I seriously love you all so much.

Elder Emil Christensen

Week 26

Well the highlight of the week was that we had another Preach My Gospel class, and 5 members showed up!! so that was exciting. It was the same class, with practices and all, and Id say that it was pretty successfull. It always suprises me when im just up there teaching, and then one of the members makes a pretty legit comment to what im saying. They know more about missionary work here than i did 6 months ago, thats for sure.

Just kidding that wasnt really the highlight. but there IS a part in Preach my Gospel that has prety much described my life and it is something like ´´some may not accept your message even though they have recieved a spiritual witness that it is true. And you will be sad.´´ And I am sad. But then I remember a scripture that Captain Moroni said, I think, and its something like ´´well everyone else isnt doing very well, but at least IM following the commandments.´´ I hope these shaky references make sense. I always thought id be waiting for someone to get a witness that its true and then watch them be baptized, but now i understand that im waiting for someone to want to come to church, feel the love of Christ through the members, and then get a witness. Who knew?

I went on divisions in Eldorado this week with a guy named Elder Taylor. He is 6´7´´ and was in Carlos Antonio Lopez before I was, so I heard a lot of stories about him. He reminded me SO much of Tad. It was quite strange.

God is such a reality to me.

We had district conference here. President LaPierre spoke, and it was legit. He spoke on Magnifiying your calling. He gave the example of if you dont have a home teaching assignment, you should RUN to your elders quorum president, and BEG him to give you one so that you can assist the Lord in His work and recieve the blessings that you are promised.

Also, before the Conference, some lady started to have a heart attack. We gave her a blessing. And immediately when the words ´´the pain will leave your body´´ were spoken, she stopped screaming, and calmed down. The ambulence came, and she was very level headed... THne the conference started, and we dont really know what happened with her afterwards. But it was cool.

I hear that Paul Baskin is coming to Argentina Posadas Mission. And I am so stoked.

Have a great day.

Elder Christensen

PS i just learned what an ´´attachment´´ is.

Darn i dont think that worked.

Me in Eldorado, and after, our District. My hair is really starting to get SO long