Week 37

I really love this place

This week went by so fast, im really not even sure what happened.

But i will tell you a story.

Saturday was an awful day. The elders from the branch next to us has a baptism this week, so we had to give the hermana an interview on saturday. We knew it was coming,a nd they knew it was coming, and we constantly hounded them for the time that it would be at, because we had a ton of citas that day, and they always told us that they had to check with the hermana. Well saturday rolled around, and we planned our day, and just pretty much gave up hope on giving the interview and didnt plan on it. After lunch, we got a call from the elders that we had the interview right then. Thanks. So we went.

We had to walk to their area, and we got to the intersection where we planned on going, and long story short, they werent there, and we called them, and they were lost, and we were lost, and then 4 hours passed by. And then we both finally learned where we were at, and agreed to meet at a certain location. and then 2 more hours passed by. and they were 15 blocks away, as it turns out, so we had to walk way over to them, and it started raining, and we didnt have umbrellas, and i was freaking out, and some guy was playing basketball, and then ran off the court and started yelling at us, and it was awful, and then we finally found the elders and went to this hermanas house to interview her. by this time it was 730, and the whole day was wassted i felt like.

Well this girl was 12, and i was kind of unsure of how the interview was going to turn out. But as it just so happens, a few months ago, she had a dream that a latino and an american found her and baptized her. then a week after that, she met the missioinaries, and has gone to church every week since then. She has recieved many answers to her prayers and her neighbor is a member and goes with her every week. She was the most prepared knowledgeable 12 year old girl i have ever met. It was awesome to hear her give her testimony. And to end it off, we started talking about our favorite Book of Mormon stories. it was nuts.

Well by the time we got back to our area, it was 8 45, and we needed to go back to our pension within 15 to 45 minutes. I was just pplannin on eating an ice cream to soothe my pains of a very frustrating day, but i just decided to go to the family that we skyped at´s house. Theyre all members except for the dad.

We went, and the dad has a really good relationship with us, and 3 months ago, he hated themissionaries. Wouldnt even look at Elder Hawk. Hated the missionaries. Well we were talking for a little, and then we just watched the 5 minute video of Elder Holland giving his testimony of the Book of Mormon. And it was way spiritual.

Then he told us he had started reading the Book of Mormon.

Hallelujah

have a great day

Elder Christensen

Week 36

I was way sick this week, but thats a different story. I got a blessing, and we still left every day

Well... Elder Hawk is leaving me. Hes going to train in Miguel Lanus. Poor guy. Ill miss him. And ill be with another Gringo, Elder Averett here in Posadas.

Well this week was one of the best ever because we got to see a baptism!! A faather baptized his 13 year old son, and 2 months ago, they were inacitve! Now they both have a lot of drive to work in the church and spread the gospel, and its great. It was a perfect day.

I was way sick. On thursday night, i just didnt feel very good. I asked for a blessing, and went to sleep. And then on friday, we went out and worked and i was doing fine. Saturday, too. except at the baptism. I was dying. And everyone came up to me and asked me if i was okay, and i told them that i was a little bit sick, and they all started telling me all their witchcraft healing methods, and then literally EVERY SINGLE PERSON at the baptism was talaking about my illness. It was really uncomfortable. I never want to be sick again just so i can avoid that.

Well another highlight of the week was seeing the dedication of the temple of Cordoba Argentina!

Every chapel here was an extension of the temple. And the Spirit was just as strong in our stake center as it was in the temple! it was awesome! i loved it! It was a great experience! I really could not have been happier to be sitting in the temple again. Elder D todd Christofferson and President Uchtdorf were there. Elder Christofferson Directed, and he speaks spanish SO WELL!! Just as well as any gringo i have ever heard! He praactically has a latino accent! I could not believe it. Who knew? President Uchtdorf gave a wonderful message on helping  your neighbor. We go to the temple to remind ourselves of how we should be always, not just how we should be in the temple, and it should give us that light to share with other people.

Also, the new temple president in Cordoba is from Posadas, anad his son is our stake president. So everyone here knows him personally, and we got to see our stake president on the broadcast,t oo, sitting in the audience. it was pretty cool

Well i was loving it. One of the perks of being sick, is that you get to sleep without a timer. I always expected that if i did that i would sleep until like 5 at night, or through a whole day. But i woke up at 8. It was quite disappointing, really. Well... yes.

Love you all.

Elder Emil

oh. one of these pictures is me playing with our stake presidents Boxer.

Week 35

Yeah, you heard me! It was wonderful to call my family.

Well this week was very uneventful, so i will tell you all of the family... This one family in our ward. There are 4 that live in the house. Mother, Father, and their daughter and their daughters husband. The mother was baptized a LONG time ago, and is very active in the church, has a calling and all and is very outgoing. The daughters husband was baptized when he was 8, but didnt really go to the church ever again. Well, about 4 years ago, none of them had been going to church, and the missionaries found them. the 4 of them, plus a younger son that was living with them too. Well, as it came to pass, They all ended up embracing the gospel really well.

The daughter and son got married and the daughter got baptized. The son then got baptized, too. The father, however, did not want anything to do wiht the missionaries or the church. Well, now, the son is serving a mission in Brazil Saltos mission, and is very successful.

About 10 days ago, the moms sister died of cancer. It was very sad to see, and the mom is the only member in her family, and her whole family was kind of tearing eachother apart over this death in the family. But she was very certain that there is life after death and of the plan of salvation.

When we walked in to the house to call our families, they were all talking with their son. And he haçd not yet heard about his aunt. so they had to tell him there over skype. he was crying,a nd it was very hard to watch and all, but it was probably the dad that helped console him the most. The dad has changed a lot in just a month that i have been here.One of the first days that i was here, we had lunch with us, and he ate and then left immediately so he didnt have to hear the message we brought. but now, we have had several full blown discussions with him about his family and the eternities and God and church, and hes really opening up. he even said one time ``when i get baptized.`` ... so its cool.

anyway, where am i going with this? i dont know. wait. yes i do. i remember. My family asked me to bear my testimony in spanish to them on the skype call. And prettymuch i just talked about how blessed i felt that they went to the temple and taught me about the plan of salvation, and how we can live together forever because of it, and how happy it made me. And i looked at the family that we were with, and the mom was just crying..

Well. I am truly grateful for my family. and my friends. all of you mean a whole lot to me, i want you to know it

Have a nice day

Elder Trevor Emil Christensen

Week 34

Happy Birthday,5 days ago, Drew.

Well this week I have been in Ituzaingò the whole week. So heres a story about what happened in Posadas!

The Elders were eating lunch at one of the oldest members of the ward. A great old lady. Hilarious. And they asked if she knew of any less active members that they could go visit (this happened about a week before i got to the area). She said yes, and described a man that lived on a flag lot (SUCH a long driveway, way off of the road) that came to church for a while.

So they went. And he was really excited to see the missionaries, and said that he was waiting for someone from the church to come and contact him. He had just gotten over heart surgery, and was now able to walk far distances. So they asked him what his goals were to come back to the church. He said he wanted to recieve his endwoment, and he wanted to get his patriarchal blessing. Wow that is unordinarily specific. Well they kept talking, and he asked if one family was active that he was really good friends with. They had never heard of this family. He described their direction, and told them that they should go and try to visit.

Well they went. And it turns out, this man was baptized the same time as the first time, AND was baptized with his wife. THey all joined the church about 8 years ago, and were super active. The second man was the ward misison leader for a time. And he also has a young family. >None of them were 8 when they got baptized, but one of his sons is now 13.

Well they have both come to church every week since, and we are working on preparing the father to baptize his 13 year old son, and they have all come to all the ward activites, and its awesome, and were all very happy, and theyre all sharing the gospel, and we could not be more thrilled, and im very happy to be a part of this work.

Have a nice day

Elder Trevor Emil Christensen

PS my favorite PDay activity: single leg broad jumps at the church

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