And Another Week Bites the Dust

Monday, May 25, 2015

Dear Everyone,

This past week has been busy. kinda like every other week I have as a zone leader. :P I think it’s funny to notice that I've gone down to San Fernando once a week for the past 3 weeks. But don't worry. I'm not going back down this week but I will next week again. :P haha

So to start last Monday was a little crazy because we had to move out the Elders in Quezon Hill apartment and clean everything there. I kinda felt like I was our working with dad at the duplexes again. :P haha We got it all done for the most part. All we have left to do is move a fridge to another apartment. But that's about it.

Tuesday was a good day. We went to work and got some good work done. We met one of our recent convert’s father-in-laws and had a really interesting first lesson with him in the which we taught most of The Restoration. He said he had a lot to think about. It was interesting.

Wednesday we went back down to San Fernando for a follow up meeting about the mission tour. It was really good and we went over some new goals. Our mission’s standards all just doubled. :) They are really focusing on getting us to talk to as many people as possible in a day. The goal is 30 people that we testify to about some part of our message in a day. It's actually really cool and I've met a ton of really cool people.

Thursday was one of the best days of the week. We just kept teaching straight lessons to everyone we planned for. That never happens. :D haha. It was good.

Friday was another good day of teaching with a lot of good times but nothing out of the ordinary or strange.

Saturday was a bit of a hard but good day. We were struggling to find and teach. We finally found one to let us in and he happened to be a Muslim Chaplin for the army. I can honestly say after our 2 hour discussion with him I understand Muslim's a lot better than I did before. He was pretty smart. Really interesting experience.

Sunday was Stake conference so we went to Legarda for church. It was fun but we were late because the traffic in La Trinidad is crazy bad right now. We were in a jeep for over an hour. :(  But it's all good. We made it and it was a good meeting.

Well that's all for now. ingat po kayo lahat at mahal ko kayo din.

Elder Christensen

Part of Brian’s Letter to His Mission President

As for my studies the past week I have been reading from 1 Corinthians I really liked when Paul taught again the principle that we are not our own but rather temples of God because the Holly Ghost dwells in us. as Paul puts it "ye are bought with a price" and I believe that is true. our sins have already been payed for we are left to ourselves to decide if we accept that and follow the commandments that come with it. It reminds me of my need for the spirit in everything I do as a missionary because without it I can no teach or do anything in this work. I know that to be true and hope to urgently teach that principle to my zone as well.

Mission Tours

Monday, May 18, 2015

Dear Everyone,

This past week has been awesome. But so busy. :D So to start on Monday we had a zone activity. We played lots of games and just had a good time. Right after that I had to hurry to a computer shop and call home for Mother’s Day which was awesome as well.

Tuesday is when things got a little intense. We had to go back to San Fernando again because of the Mission tour. Elder Bowen from the 70 came to our mission and had a meeting with all the leaders of the mission first. I learned a lot. One of which is that I was a little trunky to be perfectly honest. But we believe in the atonement and I am repenting. ;) But that was the big event for that day.

Wednesday we went to work, and man did we go to work. One of the things Elder Bowen talked to us about is opening our mouths to more people. What we started doing was being less picky about who we try to talk to... it works. :P We had a lot contacts and return appointments. Good day.

Thursday was the big meeting for the mission tour with all the missionaries from Baguio, Agoo, Bawang and La Trinidad. It pretty awesome as well. And after that we kept working again. :P good stuff.

Friday was an off day. We talked to a ton of people but everyone was busy. It all works out though.

Saturday was another good day. We got one of the YSA to work with us and with him we taught a ton of great lessons to new investigators that seem pretty interested. :) I'm excited to see where this all goes.

Sunday was another good day because we got more of the members to work with us. :) I'm super excited and hope that it will continue into great thing's to follow. :)

Well that's all for now. Mahal ko kayo lahat!!!

Elder Christensen

Part of Brian’s Letter to His President

As for my studies this past week I have been reading from 1 Corinthians. I really liked in the first chapter verse 26 and 27 when Paul states that "God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise." I really liked that because I acknowledge my weakness and am doing my best to rely on the Lord in all I do rather than leaning to my own understanding because my understanding is weak in comparison to that of an all knowing God who loves me. I know that in spite of my weaknesses the Lord will help me overcome them all.

Busy, Busy, Busy

Monday, May 11, 2015

Dear Everyone,

This past week has been sooooo busy. haha I kinda like it that way though because it makes it so I can't be trunky.

So to start the week on Monday night we went down to San Fernando because we had MLC [mission leader conference] the next day. So we couldn't really teach anyone that night. But it's all good, meetings are important.

Tuesday was a good day. We had MLC. We talked a lot about improvements to be made and so forth. We also have a mission tour this week. Elder Bowen is coming so we have to go back to San Fernando tomorrow afternoon for another meeting with him. :) It's going to be fun. :)

Wednesday we went back to work and had a great lesson with Dondon. He is doing really well with the lessons but he is just having a hard time getting to church. But he says there will come a day when he will go. That night we also had an FHE. But when we got there the aunt of the house was a little surprised because the kids who told us didn't tell her. :P But it ended up ok and we had a good time anyway.

Thursday was ok. We got punted a lot so we were a little sad but we still got some good work done.

Friday was interesting because we didn't have a lot of lessons but they were all super interesting. We taught one about the temple and family sealing but when we taught it they got stuck because they think that other churches can act for God as well. It's hard to accept that there can only be one authorized person on the earth to hold this priesthood key. They are struggling to accept that but I hope they can find the answer as they pray and read more about it.

Saturday was super busy. We were trying to get as much done as we could and it took a lot of work. We had to do an interview at 1:00 for a baptism and then we were trying to make all of our other appointments work around that. It was hard but a good day nonetheless. The other interesting thing was that there was a baptism in our ward at 3:00. So we had to work around that as well.

Sunday was another busy day because right after church I had to go to the Guisad Chapel because we had to practice for a musical number because of the coming zone tour this week. Don't ask me how I got picked to sing for that but I did... haha

Well that's about all for this week. Mahal kita!!!!

Elder Christensen


Part of Brian’s Letter to the Mission President

As for my Studies this past week I have been reading from Romans some more. I liked the verses 20 and 21 in chapter 9. Paul asks why we would we question God and his doings in our lives. He relates us to the potter’s clay. He states that the potter has power over the clay to make it into whatsoever thing he desires. We must then be humble ourselves because sometimes it is better for us to go through the refiners fire so that we can become what the Lord would have us be rather than what we, with our limited understanding, think we should to be.

Where Does the Time Go?

Monday, May 4, 2015

Dear everyone,

Punishment from FHE

It's May and I can barely believe it. I refuse to be trunky. :P haha But it's weird to think that it's been 21 months since I left on my mission... ok that's enough about that lets get back to the work. So last Monday was interesting. We got punted so we went finding… at night. It's always hard to go finding at night because it's dark and people might think you’re trying to steal something.. :P But anyway we found this one lady and we taught her the first lesson and it went pretty well. After that we had a little family home evening. The pictures attached are the punishment for the game we played. :P

Tuesday was pretty normal. Nothing super crazy or interesting happened.

Wednesday we had exchanges. I worked with Elder Bolima in our area. It was fun and we had a lot of really good lessons that day. All in all it was just a good exchange.

Thursday was hard but not the hardest day. We just had really hard time finding. We talked to so many people and so many of them just said no. But that's ok. We kept going.

Punishment from FHE

Friday was another better day we taught a lot of good lessons and made some new friends. The only sad thing is when we get commitments for them to come to church and then they don't come.. that's when I get a little sad because we have great lessons and I know they feel the spirit but they just don't act on what they feel.. but it's ok because the work just keeps moving no matter what. the time will come for all of them if we just keep trying. :)

Saturday was an interesting day. at the end of the day we were pretty tired and didn't know where to go exactly because we got punted so we sat down on the side of the street to think for a minute when a guy walked by and asked us about our religion. the conversation continued until we taught him a full lesson explaining the apostasy and the restoration. he was so well versed in the Bible it was crazy. he said he reads the whole bible once a year. We had a good lesson with him right on the side of the street under a street lamp. haha it was pretty awesome.

Sunday was good as far as church but not good as far as work.. it was manny pacquiao's fight so every one was watching that. We just couldn't get any one at home or available the whole day we just walked around.. it was kinda sad. but it's all good life goes on. :) "don't worry, be happy" - Mr. Fish :P

Well that's all. mahal kita!!!

Elder Christensen

Part of Brian’s Letter to His Mission President

As for my studies this past week I have been reading from Romans. I really liked chapter 5 in verses 3-5. Paul talks about how he glories in tribulations because it works patience. Patience brings experience and with experience we gain hope. With our hope, or trust in God, we gain love for God by the power of the Holy Ghost. I love how it explains that sometimes answers come only after we are patient enough to receive the guidance form the Lord on his time. So with diligent effort and with long suffering we can always obtain faith unto great works.