Cool Stuff Like Bridges and Spiders

Monday, October 27, 2014

Dear everyone,

Brian at FHE

This past week has been pretty good. To start with Tuesday was kinda of a slow day but that's ok because we had exchanges on Wednesday. I went and worked with Elder Bacanowa. He's actually a batch mate of mine which is pretty cool. We worked in his area in Bawang and we walked forever. It's all good though because we had an FHE there and the food was awesome. :P All in all exchanges were pretty good.

Thursday was a little hard. Didn't get to teach very many lessons but I started a new hobby that night. haha We found 2 spiders while we were out and my companion knows how to take care of them and fight them. haha I's super fun. I know it sounds strange but the spiders here are super cool and not poisonous. But yeah that's was fun.

Brian on Suspension Bridge

Friday was another kinda hard day but we managed to get through it. Saturday was about the same but we went to Sili again and that's where the super cool suspension bridge is. It so huge haha. We had a ton of fun crossing it. Then we made the decision that we shouldn't work over there because it's too far away from the church and it's mainly farmers over there so they can't come to church every week. We have to focus our work on areas that people can get to church fairly easily.

Sunday was good. We had church and taught a few lesson but nothing super special happened.

Elder Cabase

Well that's my week. I hope you’re all doing fine. mahal kita!!!

Elder Christensen

Suspension Bridge

Elder Cabase at FHE

Brian's  and a Spider

Great Week

Monday, October 20, 2014

Dear Everyone,

Sonny and Brian

This past week has been a good week. haha We started working with Brother Pepito's son Sonny. He's super cool. He worked with us almost every day this week and we got a ton done. It's the first time in my mission I have ever taught so many lesson with a member present. haha It almost felt like we had another Elder with us. haha

Tuesday was not another palpak (fail) day. We taught some great lesson and we started teaching Sonny's girlfriend Charnie. She's super cool. She’s going to a school of IT in Baguio but spends a lot of time down here.

Wednesday Sonny started working with us and we got so much done. haha We just taught so many people with him there.

Thursday was almost exactly the same as Wednesday. Lots of lessons. Good times. Friday we had zone interviews with President Balledos. But that morning we went out and taught 3 lessons in about 2 hours. I'm not even sure how we did it but we did haha. The interview with President was pretty good. It was a little different because we had it in our apartment but it was good still.

Saturday was a little hard because Sonny couldn't work with us so we didn't teach as much but overall it was still a good day. Nothing special happened though.

Sunday was a little different because we didn't have enough young men to do the sacrament so I had to bless the bread but I forgot that it was in Tagalog and let me tell you it's a lot harder to do it in Tagalog... I didn't mess up though so we are all good. haha The rest of the day was pretty good we finally taught one of our long time potential investigators. His name is Mark and he's super cool. The whole time we were teaching him I was just blown away at how prepared he was for the gospel. He asks tons of awesome questions and really wants to know the truth. I'm super stoked to keep teaching him.

Well that's it for now. mahal na mahal kita!!!

Elder Christensen


Questions from a Separate Email

*Did you see the movie Meet the Mormons? (Your cousin missionaries in the U.S. did.)

No we didn't. To be honest the only reason I know about it is because you told me about it. I think that's just for the States right now.

* In your last letter you talked about a new convert, Mark. When was he baptized? What are the lessons that you give him now?

He was baptized the Saturday before I got here. We actually started teaching his little brother so we are on lesson two. We are going to teach our purpose in this life tonight. They are super cool the only problem is both their parents are less active. We are trying super hard to get them to come back to church but their father works all week and he can't get Sunday off. We are still working with the mother.

* Have you had any experiences where you've seen the ward/branch leaders make a difference in the lives of one person?

Not specifically. No sorry. To be honest we don't have a lot of support from our branches here in my mission. That's one thing that we are all trying very hard to fix in the Philippines. It's just really hard. They all have jobs, families, and lives outside the church.

* How is your health?

I'm doing fine. I'm actually gaining weight here. haha. I did have a nasty head ache last night but that happens when I'm at home. So no worries here.

* How are things going with your new companion?

We are doing awesome. I love working with him. He's super funny. We sometimes stay up talking and then realize it's way past 10:30 But it's all good we are having a great time here.

* What are Brother Deliso's questions about the Gospel?

He more complains about how life isn't fair. He always asks why bad people always seem to be the most rich and don't have any punishments for being bad... He asks us why God lets that happens or why bad things happen to good people. It's really hard because he isn't praying or reading and I think that's his real problem. That and he doesn't have any money to go to church.

* How is Brother Pepito doing?

He's doing great. We are working with his son almost every day and he came to church yesterday. I'm super pumped for their family. They are doing great.

Conference and a Zone Activity

Monday, October 13, 2014

Dear Everyone,

This past week has been pretty good. I love it out here in the Philippines and General Conference was awesome. So to start this past week, Monday night we taught a lesson to our recent convert Mark. He's 16 years old and doing well. It was a good lesson.

Tuesday was another hard day. I don't know what it is about Tuesday here but we just can't seem to teach a lesson on Tuesday. We walked around a lot and literally got nothing done. It was hard.

Wednesday was better. We went to Guesset. It's kinda far out but we managed to get some lessons and we found a new less active we didn't know about before. haha It's kinda sad how often that happens. We start teaching a lesson thinking we have a new investigator only to find out they are just a long time less active member. But it was still a good lesson.

Thursday was another kinda hard day. We taught brother Deliso. He's a retired army guy with one leg. He walks around on a prosthetic leg which is really cool. He's pretty hard headed but we have been teaching him some pretty good lessons.

Friday was pretty good but we still got punted a lot. We went to Sili which is the furthest out we go and we tried contacting some people we had met the last time we were out there but they are all pretty busy. Nothing special really happened though.

Saturday was really good because of General Conference. I loved it. There were so many great talks. That's about all we were able to do the past few days though. We did manage to teach one lesson on Saturday to a man named Rayco. He's supper cool. He has a broken leg right now so he can't leave his house but he was very receptive to our message. He commented that he really liked that we prayed to Heavenly Father and not someone else. I really liked that lesson.

Sunday was about like Saturday we only taught one lesson to a less active man, Brother Pepito. He's really nice and after the lesson said he would come to church this next week because he feels like he's missing a lot. I really hope he holds to that.

Earlier this morning we had a zone activity in Bawang. It was pretty fun. We played a bunch of native Filipino games and we all brought food and shared it with each other. It was pretty fun.

Well that's all for now. mahal kita!

Elder Christensen

Questions from a Separate Email

* From your letter last week, I gather you are still district leader?

Yes I have been for a long time now. haha It's all good though I'm pretty good at it now.

* Can you describe your new area?
      (I saw Naguilian on a google map. Is that the city you're located in or is that simply the zone? Where does you area extend to? Are there mountains? Etc.?

Yeah but we don't live in the city exactly. We live just outside of town but we work on the other side of town so we have to ride through town every day. It's kinda fun. The area is a little hard because we just can't seem to get any traction with our teaching pool so we do a lot of finding and very little success. It's hard but I like it. It's not really mountainous but it is on the way to Baguio so there are some hills. Also you can look up the Naguilian chapel on lds.org and that's the chapel we go to.

* What is the weather situation like in your new area? What about typhoons?

Very sunny pretty much all the time. We haven't had any problems with typhoons since Mario.

* How is the program to get the members going out with you working?

It's not... I'm still working on it but as we all know getting something started for the first time is always the hardest at the start. So we will keep working on it. :P

* Will you please tell me about a good teaching experience you had this week?

Well we taught one of our new investigators and he was supper receptive. His name is Reyco. He's 52 and has a broken leg right now. While we taught him he kept telling us how much he liked that we prayed to Heavenly Father and not some other name. He has a problem smoking but I really like teaching him. I really hope he progresses.


Excerpt from Letter to President Balledos

As far as studies go for this past week I have spent a lot of time in the Book of Mormon. I just read chapter 24 of Mosiah and I really loved the verses about the how the people of Alma were afflicted. Hhowever even though they had such great burdens put upon them they continued to pray and the Lord strengthened the people rather than taking away their afflictions. I feel like that's how our life is sometimes the Lord won't always take away the pain but he will give us the courage to face it, for as perfect love casts out all fear.

So Much Walking

October 6, 2014

Dear Everyone,

This past week has been awesome. I really don't have a lot of time right now so I'll just give you some highlights. So last Tuesday we found some new people to teach after walking around a lot. We didn't actually get to teach any one that day though.

Wednesday was pretty good but I didn't spend very much time in my area because I went to San Fernando for a meeting with all the District leaders and Zone leaders. It was fun to see a lot of old friends there. But that's about all that happened.

Thursday we did a lot of walking and managed to get some good stuff done but nothing special.

Friday was super fun. We went to Sili which is the furthest area we can go to right now and man it's really far. I mean really far. Did I mention we did a lot of walking this past week? haha We had a great time looking up less actives and trying to establish our area. When I first got here it was kind of a mess because the Elder who was here before me was super trunky. But we are fixing it now.

Saturday was a lot like Friday because we went finding members. Most of them have moved or died but we did find two. All in all it's looking pretty good there.

Sunday was good as usual. I really like this ward. Right now I'm working on getting our branch mission leader a schedule for each missionary so he can assign individual members to work with us for 1 hour throughout all our days so we can really get the branch involved. It's pretty awesome.

Today was pretty fun to because we had an activity this morning and I played basketball for like 4 hours strait. grabi. sobrang pagod na ako pero ayos lang. [I’m so tired, but it’s okay.] :) masay yan. [Happy.} haha It's been fun.

Well that's all for now. mahal kita!!!

Elder Christensen