Week 81

I did a bunch of divisions this week. It FLEW by.

I cant really remember anything too crazy that happened, but I'll tell you one story.

We were on the bus going somewhere. We were walking to our seats, and as we sat down, the guy in front of us said "hi, elder." wow. So we started talking with him. He was like 60 years old, or older. He said that the missionaries used to pass by his house, and we asked him if we could pass by again. He said yeah, and gave us his address.

We passed by. He greeted us quite warmly, and led us in. He rounded up his whole family, and we started to talk. Turns out, the first missionaries passed by his house in 1973, and he attended church a few times. He said that he likes the Book of Mormon, but never got baptized. He hadn't talked with the missionaries since then, and for whatever reason just had an urge to talk with us. We had a pretty good lesson about Easter with his whole family, and he said that he wanted to continue taking the lessons. So that was pretty cool. Not the most spiritual experience, but it was quite a blessing to be given a new family to teach.

As we were looking for his house, we just started asking around. We asked this one guy in his house, and he said "yeah, it's around there. Hey, I was baptized in your church when I was 8." Then we proceeded to talk about how his whole family is members, and how he got offended by the bishop when he was 20, and never served a mission, and fell away pretty hard and doesn't really want to go back, but he LOVES the missionaries. He said that his mother taught him to give us everything. So we pretty much ate a meal at his house. He kept giving us food haha. He's got a lot of problems in his life right now. Addictions to drugs alcohol and tobacco, and he just barely moved in with his girlfriend, and he has a kid who lives way far away. His life is pretty messed up, and were just going to see if he will accept the help that living the gospel brings. I don't really have a ton of faith in him, but I do at the same time, because we're going to go back.

Again, not WAY spiritual, but it was just nice to be handed somebody new to teach.

It rained for like 2 days straight here and its starting to finally cool down a little. I'm in a long sleeved shirt, and I'm not even sweating.

Elder Emil

Week 80

Mba´echapa?

Presidente LaPierre gave us as a mission the challenge to study english enough to be able to watch your last general conference in English. Every single conference session in my mission, I have been in a tiny branch where watching in English just wasn't an option. So I've always watched it in Spanish. But now that I'm a 40 minute bus-ride away from the mission office, I will finally have the opportunity to watch General Conference in English. I will meet the goal that was set by our mission president.

So I'm pretty stoked.

Diana, our investigator is doing OUTSTANDING! She said that every time she reads the Book of Mormon, she has greater and greater desires to be baptized. We set a baptismal date for the 16 of April. We're all pretty excited. She came to church again yesterday, but quickly left right after Sacrament Meeting. That's her next task. To stay for all 3 hours. But, anyway. We were there to teach her a couple days ago, and her sister had a bunch of friends over. She yelled over to the group of teenagers, and asked "why don't we all sit down and chat a bit with the missionaries?" We couldn't believe it! She got shut down, and no one came over, but it was so brave!

It's been crazy to see her change from being really quiet, just kind of, there, and not really doing much, to the kind of person she is right now to invite others to listen to us, and to get to church and to go around and start talking with people, and to reading the scriptures. She said that if she doesn't pray at night, she cant sleep. It's almost as if her heart had been changed by the power of Christ´s Atonement.

In other news, we had meetings in Paraguay. I saw Elder Baskin, and we took some photos together. Too bad the computer here cant read my camera.

But the highlight of the week was that we found a place in Encarnacion that sells Dr Pepper. It was the first Dr Pepper that i had drank in more than 1.5 years. I had forgotten how good it is. It was delicious. I miss Dr Pepper.

Elder Christensen

Week 79

There were transfers this week, and me and Elder Diaz are still staying together, so there wasnt a big change there.

On Sunday, it was fast Sunday, and I decided to fast so that we could find a family to teach. I felt like it was a pretty righteous goal. As the fast was ending, I was preparing myself to start to contact families throughout the week in order to put in my end of the deal of the fast. But it didnt really work out like that.

We ate lunch with a family yesterday to end the fast, and literally as we were leaving the house, a car saw us and pulled over, and there was a family inside, and they said, "hey, were having marital problems, and we really need to find out how God can help us solve them. Do you think you could come over and chat with us?" wow... that was fast haha (did you see the pun there?) But yeah, we said "of course! where do you live?" and they pointed to a house down the street, and told us that we could pass by today at 8 at night.

It was pretty much a huge blessing, and I couldn't really believe it. I'm extremely grateful to have seen an answer to a fast so quickly, and i can say that my testimony of fasting has grown immensely over the course of my mission.

About a month ago, I was sitting in church, and the teacher asked someone what they thought about Amulek's teachings of the Atonement. I thought "wow. It would be interesting to see what each prophet in the Book of Mormon taught about the Atonement, and compare them." It's probably the most enlightening study I have ever done. And it's going to have taken me about 3 months to finish the whole thing. But I don't get worried about taking notes about the storyline, or any other cool facts I find, i just focus on the teachings of the Atonement. It's incredible.

Last week, we were walking down the street, and some dude told us that he was a member, and wanted us to visit him. We passed by like 3 itmes, and he always told us that he was busy, and we set up another appointment, and the same thing happened. Plus we saw a whole bunch of pornography in his house, so we just gave him our number and told him to call us if he needed anything... I was just about positive that we had found the next 2nd counsellor in the Bishopric.

Things dont always work out the way you think that they do.

Elder Christensen

Week 78

Well I went to Iguazu again this week. I finally have my Argentine Identification. Woo hoo. The trip was great. If you didn't know, at the end of the mission here, Presidente LaPierre sends the missionaries that are going home to the falls to see them one of their last days in the mission. And we took advantage of that trip and travelled with them. So I got to eat dinner with all the old missionaries, and I got to travel with them at 1:30 am to the falls. Quite the experience

I helped prepare the dinner. I was with Presidente and Hermana LaPierre alone in the mission home for a few hours cooking. Quite the fun time. Just chatting away about life. I wore an apron. I took a lot of pictures, but I can't send them... so I'm sorry.

Lots of miracles this week. Mostly with menos activos. we were walking back to the chapel one day, we had a mission reunion, and we were hustling. But on the way, and in our rush, we decided that we would go by and invesstigators house to set up an appointment. We walked past some man, and said "buen dia" and he started saying "elder, elder" and we started talking to him. He told us that he was baptized when he was 17, and was way into the church, has the preisthood, was preparing to go on a mission, but when he was 18, he fell hard. and now, he said that he really needs God in his life again. He asked us to pass by, and we did yesterday! Pretty much drugs and alcohol are destroying his life. So we'll see what can happen. But it was quite the miracle to run into him!

Also this week, we were going to buy facturas, an argentine pastry that I love, and in the bakery that we always go to, some dude next to us started talking to us about the church. He attended a few years ago. then the guy next to him said that he, too, attended a few years ago. We were talking about baptism, they had never been baptized, and the Book of Mormon, while Elder Diaz was buying the facturas. The lady that works there, from whom we always buy facturas said "oh I attended before, too! I was baptized in Buenos Aires. But I've only attended one time here because I'm too scared to go alone..." AWESOME!

We passed by the bakery again the next day (I love facturas), and invited her to the stake conference on Sunday. She said that she needs to stop working on Sundays "I know I need to stop working on Sundays... I've set the goal and I'm going to talk with my boss." It was awesome! She literally lives right next door to the church. Little does she know that she'll be the next Young Womens president. Monica.

The last fun thing that happened was that we had Stake Conference, and I was able to see and talk to all the members from Tacuari. There were a couple families that I didn't know if they attended or not, and I was kind of bummed out not to see them, but it made my day to see some familiar faces. Stake Conference was PACKED. We had the whole chapel, gym, stage, and 2 extra rooms set up with tvs and speakers filled.

Transfers came. I'm staying with Elder Diaz. This will make 3 changes together, if you weren't counting. I'm super stoked. My old buddy, Elder Evans is the new Asistente and I'm pretty stoked for him, and also my old companion Elder Hutchison is coming to the zone to be a district leader! So I'll have a ton of contact with him! It's the greatest zone ever!

I love you

Elder Christensen

Week 77

I don't know why all the coolest people in the mission are teenage girls. Well Diana is part of the Paraguayan family that I told you about earlier. She's progresssing a ton. She came to church yesterday! But we couldn't talk to her after. She left very quickly, and we had to travel yesterday to do a baptismal interview, so... were not sure how she felt.

Well the deal is that we passed by one more time and talked with all her family, and her dad was taking up all the attention, and it was one of the worst lessons that i have ever been apart of.

Then elder Diaz passed by her house on Saturday on divisions, so I wasn't there and he told me this- that when they walked past her house, they saw that she was reading one of the pamphlets outside! They had to go back to the pension already, but decided to pass by,  anyway. She said that she had read the pamphlet like 3 or 4 times, but couldn't remember any of it. So she had to keep re reading it until she understood it. She said that ´´were children of God, but in the Premortal Existence, we only had spirits, so we had to come to the earth to have physical bodies, and gain experience. But we passed through the veil and cant remember anything from before...´´ and pretty much explained everything about the Plan of Salvation. He said it was a super awesome lesson. Then she came to church yesterday, and all the teenaged girls in our ward just ate her up. They are so good at hermanamiento.

Well another miracle happened this week. A few months ago, the other elders passed by this one ladies house. She started attending church (like 10 times), and has a way strong testimony of the Book of Mormon and is pretty much a member. The only problem is that her boyfriend doesn't want to get married, and is very anti-mormon. So antimormon, in fact, that he forbade that she accept the missionaries anymore.. So we stopped passing by. Anyway, on Thursday while we were studying, we got a text from an unknown number That said - hey. I'm Cintias boyfriend. And I need to talk with you..-- uh oh. So we replied. ´´okey. We can pass by in the afternoon.´´ trying to play the ´´cool´´ card. and he said ´´no. Come by this morning.´´ sweet mercy! So we passed by.

We got there, and we started talking about something for about 10 seconds, then he just started to cry. Turns out, Cintia left him because hes such a jerk, and he feels terrible. She only left a few days ago, and decided to contact us almost immediately. He said that he never realized how awful of a person he was until just now, and that he wants to change. Hes never prayed before, and he prayed with us. We explained repentance. WE told him that if he continues doing what hes doing then he is going to hurt a lot of people. He needs to be kind, and read the scriptures and pray with his family. Anyway. He accepted it all, and then on divisions on Saturday, Elder Diaz passed by with another missionary, and the whole family was back together again. He said that he's going to continue meeting with us and is going to start going to church with his girlfriend. I hope he knows that hell be the next 2nd counsellor in the bishopric if he decides to follow through on his righteous plans.

Well I also had an enjoyable time on divisions. Me and Elder Evans started talking about random stuff. He said that he loves Dr Pepper. I love Dr Pepper. But then I said that I didn't drink it for the first 6 months of the year to prepare for Ragnar. He loves Ragnar. And running. Then we started talking about running. And high school. He said that he loves AP tests. I love AP tests. We started talking about math next. We both love math. Then I started talking about geography. He loves geography, too. Then he said a quote from the office. Then we started talking about what we want to do when were older. And he wants to be a doctor. So then we started talking about medicine. It was awesome. We're pretty much the same person.

I love you all

Elder Emil

PS I still cant send pictures. Sorry. I tried.

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