Transfers and Another Service Project

"I've Got a Jack Hammer!"

Monday, April 27, 2015

Dear everyone,

This past week has been another super busy week. Last Monday we had some great lessons to start the week. I was pretty excited.

Tuesday was another good day of teaching as well. We had district meeting that morning. I gave out the zone t-shirts that we had done. They were actually really cool. Oh and if you want to make your own shirt, the Philippines is where it's at. There are so many places here that can print shirts for you. :) But that's that.

Wednesday was transfers and it was a long day. We went to the bus stop at about 9:00 to help get the departing missionaries on their way but we didn't want to go all the way back to La Trinidad because it's far and expensive so we just stayed at the bus stop the whole day... It was so long. My companion didn't show up until 5:00 PM... but it's all good because it's over :P My new companion is Elder Bayot. He is super cool. He's 21 just like me and he's actually my batch mate. He goes home a transfer after me because he's a Filipino and didn't spend as much time in the MTC but it's still really fun to be working with him.

Elder Tuway (left), Sister Mustaq, Elder Bayot (Brian's Comp)

Thursday was pretty good. We got some good lessons done but nothing super special happened. Friday was just like Thursday. Nothing to special happened.

Saturday was good though. We had another Service project. Or rather we did the same one again. ;P It was a lot of fun to go and demolish more of a building. They let me use the jackhammer again and it was a blast. :) I’m a little sore though.

Sunday was a wet day. I think rainy season is starting up again which means for Baguio every day it's going to rain a ton. :P But it's going to be awesome getting wet again. :P But other than the rain it was pretty good. We taught some good lessons and I introduced some new members to Elder Bayot. Stuff like that.

Well that's all for now. ingat kayo at mahal ko kayong lahat!!!

Elder Christensen

Questions from a Separate Email

Tell us more about La Trinadad?

La Trinidad is the strawberry capital of the Philippines mainly because they can't grow them anywhere else. :P The people here are very busy because it's a city. There is also Benguet State University here where a lot of kids go to school. It also happens to be the capital of Benguet Province. Go figure. I like it here. It's interesting and really cold in comparison to Utah. The people are nice but really busy.

What was a good teaching experience you had this week?

Well I had a good lesson at the beginning of this week. We taught Brothor Ador again. He's actually a Pentecostal pastor which is interesting but we get along fine and he really likes to listen. Our lesson when pretty well with him and we discussed our purpose here on earth. He liked it.

What was a time when you felt the Savior's love this week?

I can't think of any specific thing that happened where I felt his love but in the past few weeks I've felt his support because I've been so tired that sometimes I don't know if I can keep going. But somehow every time I get out of bed and I make it all the way to the end of the day. haha I know that he's helping me there.

Elder Macasaet, Sister Barboza and Sister Mustaq (She's from Pakistan)

Old School that Needs Demolished

Old School that Needs Demolished

At Service Project; Front: Sister Smith who was Just
Released 

Brother Alnie Garumbas, 2nd Counselor

It Took Three Guys to Manage the Jack Hammer

Long Week

Monday, April 20, 2015

Dear Everyone,

This past week has been long. I'm very tired. haha But when is a missionary not tired. :P It started kinda not good when we didn't get our lessons that we had planned on Monday night. kinda lame.

Brian and Elder Pandi

Tuesday was most likely one of the worst days on my mission... ok maybe not the worst but it wasn't good. We had exchanges planned for that day which we still did and that was fine but the bad thing was on our way to district meeting that morning I left my wallet in the jeep we took to get there. :( I'm super sad about that... I can't get money now because I have no cards for the ATM.. But it's ok because President Balledos was able to get me some money so I'm fine. No worries. It's just still a little sad. The exchanges went well, though. I was working with Elder Pansipansi and we had a great time. We taught some good lessons, all that good stuff.

Wednesday was another big surprise and day. Elder Pandi got transferred to San Fernando because he is becoming the new supply manager for the mission. It's cool. It just leaves me as a lone zone leader. I'm with Elder Orr right now because he also doesn't have a companion. But the rest of that day we had to do apartment checks with Elder and Sister Brown. They are a senior couple in our mission. It was interesting to say the least. We had a good time.

Thursday was the good day in the week. We got some good work done which helped take my mind of my problems. :P Nothing super special happened though.

"YOU WANT ME TO PUT THE HAMMER DOWN!!!!!!" 

Friday was like Thursday and I was grateful to get some good work done. But nothing super crazy happened then ether.

But Saturday was awesome. We started the day with a service project. We went out to a school that needed some demolition done. So that's what we did. We took down some walls and other great stuff. :) It was a ton of fun and I even got to use a jack hammer! :D haha It was good to so some real manual labor again. :) Later that day we managed to get back to work and get some good lessons taught but that was the most exciting part of the day.

Sunday was interesting because we had to get up early to go to the stake for stake MCM [missionary committee meeting]. We met with the stake president and talked about what we need to do as a stake. It was good. After that we had church which is always good. The rest of the day was a little hard because we got straight punted by everyone. We had some appointments that we thought were sure and it turns out that they really were not sure. :/ But that night we had a great FHE with Sister Fianza. She is one of the sweetest members here. She was actually baptized by John Bytheway. Fun stories but we had a good time there.

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

Elder Christensen

Exchanges and Some More Exchanges

Monday, April 13, 2015

Dear Everyone,

This past week has been a good one. It started good last Monday with some great lessons and a clean apartment. :P When I first got to this apartment it was a mess and a half. I mean gross. But I finally got everything clean and organized so I felt comfortable cooking there. It's been good to cook again. :)

Tuesday we had my first zone training. It was really good. I gave a workshop about the spirit and how it applies to missionary work. I felt the spirit pretty strong and after my workshop we had a short testimony meeting. It was good. After that we went straight to Baguio because we were going on exchanges with the AP's. Elder Harris ended up working with me and Elder Pandi in our area and Elder Basco went with the Zone Leaders in Baguio. It was a good time and it was interesting riding in the front seat of a car again. But nothing super crazy happened.

Wednesday we went on another exchange. This time I was with Elder Cook. We had an interesting day. We did a lot of walking because we got punted a lot but it was ok because Elder Cook likes to talk. :P We also found this really cool new investigator named Dondon. He just really seems ready to receive the gospel and I have enjoyed teaching him so far.

Thursday was a good day as well. We taught Brother Ador again. He was saying that his family was telling him to stop listening to us but he still wants to listen. It was a really good lesson about the Plan of Salvation and he loved hearing that the fall of Adam and Eve was a blessing and not a curse. He is so cool I just hope he can hold on even with the opposition he is facing right now.

Friday was another really good day. We just got lesson after lesson rolling. Nothing super crazy or interesting happened it was just a good day.

Saturday was awesome because I got to watch conference. :D it was awesome. I learned a lot and loved all the talks. I really liked Elder Holland's talk about the boys on the ledge and how the Savior is always there to catch us when our fingers are slipping through the sand. Oh, but something crazy happened while I was at the stake center in Baguio. I saw sister Elizabeth there. The lady I baptized while I was in Loakan was there!! I was so stoked to see her there. :D :D :D :):) ;) :O :D :P :D :D :D :DDDDD Just thought I would say that.

Sunday was good to. Lots of things learned from Conference. I also saw some more old friends from my first area and it was awesome. But that's about all that happened.

mahal kita!!

Elder Christensen

Great Perspective from Separate Emails:

My Email: [You'll love Brian's response to an email I wrote telling him about the water main that broke in our housing leaving us without water for four days. This was part of my email to him.]

Talk about making you feel grateful for things you normally take for granted! We’ve had bottled water to drink. We use our storage water in the 2-liter bottles for hand washing and sponge bathing. We filled buckets full of water from Barnett’s house that we use to flush the toilets with. Yes, I’ll certainly be glad to get it fixed.

Brian's Response:

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA...  I'm sorry I don't mean to laugh so hard but to be honest losing water for a few days is normal here. and flushing the toilet with a bucket is an every day thing. we consider ourselves blessed when we have a flushing toilet here. :P as for drinking water I think you already know how that works here. :P I'm just saying it just sounds like another day in the Philippines except it's hotter here. :P I just found that really funny is all. we also do our laundry here by hand if you want to try that. :P you've almost tried everything else. :D

MLC and Holy Week

Monday, April 06, 2015

Dear Everyone,

This past week was pretty good. To start last Monday night we got some news that Elder Petingale was going home the next day. We were a little surprised because it was so short notice but we knew he would be going home sometime that week. The only effect it had on us is that now Elder Pandi and I are the only ones in the apartment. It’s interesting but I think we will be fine. Later that night we went to Baguio and got on a bus going to San Fernando because we had MLC the next day. It was super cool because when we got there I met up with a lot of old friends. It was a way nice night.

Tuesday was MLC (Missionary Leadership Conference). It was very long but it was nice as well. We had some good workshops and discussed current mission rules and ways to improve the mission. Over all it was a good experience. The interesting thing about it was that we had to wait for a bus home and it took a long time. We were done by about 4:30 but were not able to get a bus until about 7:00. The funny thing about the bus ride up is there weren't enough seats so I ended up standing the whole ride up to Baguio. :P haha it was fun though.

Wednesday was back to work. It was a harder week for us because of Holy Week and a lot of people went out of town. We still did alright though. But nothing super exciting happened.

Thursday was another pretty normal day for us. Really nothing special to report.

Friday was about the same as Thursday to be honest. We just worked. A lot of people were out and about but not a lot to teach.

Saturday was interesting because we had to go do a baptismal interview for one of our District Leaders. It took a really long time because we had a question for President Balledos but he was in a meeting. So we had to wait for about an hour for him to get back to us. We got it all worked out and the baptism will continue, so it's all good.

Sunday was interesting. The first thing that was interesting of the day was when a police man waved us over to talk with us. I thought we were in trouble or something but he just wanted to listen to our message. So we sat down in the guard station and taught him about the Book of Mormon because they had one in there for some reason. Later that day it started to rain pretty hard so we had to find some shelter under a shed. haha But funny thing was we started teaching the people that were waiting under the shed with us. But as soon as we finished, the rain stopped. :) It was pretty good. But that was about it.

Well that's all for now. Mahal kita!

Elder Christensen