Hello everyone!!! How is life? I will now take the liberty
of assuming that you answered in a positive and happy manner. To which I would
say; that is so good. I'm glad to hear that. What have you been up to? At this
point, I'm guessing you say something that is considered something fun. In
reply I say; awesome! That's sooo cool! Sometime, we will totally do that
together. It'll be sweet!! But now, I've got to burst your little happy bubble.
Cuz my week has been better and all y'all will never have this same fun that
I'm having with me. But some of you will get to do the same things and some of
you have already done them. We just won't enjoy doing them together. Sad day.
But not really! It's still good!!
First!! As usual. Thanks to the Mama and Papa Mac for the
letters I got this week. Those were wonderful!! Thank you for keeping me with a
constant supply of reading. You are wonderful!!!
Ok. Let's talk about my week a little bit. So back in the
beginning of the week, my zone had our zone interviews with President Sperry.
Let me tell you, he is a wonderful man!! I'll be honest. Back in the day, you
tell me I've got an interview, I wouldn't be super excited. But interviews are
wonderful things! It is nice to have a good chance to talk with your mission
president. So those were wonderful. Plus we ordered pizza. Skipped the rice.
Woohoo!!
I did exchanges again with Elder Broadhead. My companion is
the district leader and they are the only other elders in our district, so when
we do exchanges, we go with them. Elder Broadhead is the man. He is not even
done with training yet. But he lays down the law like he's been here for over a
year. It's wonderful. Neither of us are wonderful at Tagalog. I think I mention
this every time. But we still always manage to have a wonderful day with great
lessons. On this particular day, we ran out of scheduled people by about 4.
That leaves us 5 hours to improvise. We had a lot of people cancel on us. So we
just went where the Spirit took us. We talked to tons of random people. Mostly
kids. People always told me talk to kids. They will help you improve your
language. But at the start, I couldn't understand them or say anything to them,
so I figured that was a load of worthless advice. Come to find out, once you
can speak a little and understand just a bit, talking to kids really does
help!! They are the best! I have been talking to loads of kids as of late. It
is a great time!! They like talking to a white guy. And it's even better if
it's two white guys!! So with Broadhead as my companion, we struck gold. People
of all ages call out or yell weird things at us a lot. It's kind of something
you just have to get used to. But we tried something new. Every time a kid
would say something to us, we'd stop and talk to them. At first they are always
shocked and a little shy. But then, when they see you just want to talk to
them, and in Tagalog, they get excited. Once you stop, a group starts forming.
We get about 30 kids within 5 minutes, every time we stop. And they will just
talk to you forever. The best part is this; it is a sneaky way to talk to
adults. Kc, if you talk to an older person, they will be quick to tell you they
are busy or they don't have time or they aren't interested cuz they are
Catholic or something. But if you talk to kids, they can't help but listen.
They don't feel like they are being attacked by the white people. So they
listen. So we talk to kids. We tell them who we are and why we are here and
what we are doing. We tell them how our message will help them and their
families and we tell them where our church is. We tell them we would be happy
to talk with their families. And we tell them we will be walking that day every
day so they can talk to us any time they like. The adults always listen. I'm
hoping it will be a tactic that will start to pay off. Anyway, on exchanges
with Elder Broadhead, we talked to tons of kids. We probably stopped and talked
to about 6 groups of them. We actually got a lesson with an inactive family
that Elder Doria and I have been unable to teach since we got here. We also ran
into a random member that we've seen at church but never visited. We were
definitely lead by the Spirit in what we said and where we went all day. It was
a great day.
Also, kind of on the same subject of kids. Yesterday, Elder
Doria and I got punted on our final appointment. On the way back to the main
street, we ran into a group of kids and started talking to them. Elder Doria
says that even he was impressed with how much my Tagalog has improved. I'm
still terrible. But it's nice to hear from someone that you're improving at
something. Makes you feel good.
There's a funny thing that happens when you serve a mission.
Before you serve, and maybe after, perhaps this will sound familiar to you all.
You're in Sunday School and the teacher asks a non-rhetorical question and says
that you can't give the SMA's for an answer. Don't tell me to read my
scriptures, go to church and pray. It's the same thing on the mission. No one
wants to hear the SMA's. For real. But I've come to realize something. The
SMA's really are the answer to almost any problem!! If you will do those things
every day with some real intent, you will be set!! You will take care of some
major problems in your life. But no one wants those answers as the answers to
their problem. It's just like the bible story of Naaman. He goes to Elijah,
wanting to be healed of leprosy. Elijah tells him to submerge himself in
the Jordan River seven times. Naaman doesn't want to do it. His servant points
out that if Elijah had asked him to do some great thing, he would have done it.
But because of the simpleness of what was required, he wouldn't do it. It is
the same way for us. We will be teaching someone. They have a problem in their
life that they want us to help them with. The first thing I will ask them is if
they are going to church, reading their scriptures and saying their prayers.
Chances are, they aren't doing one or more of those things. When someone has a
problem, my first advice is always to do their SMA's. They always seem a little
put out that my answer is the SMA's. "Really? That's it?" They are
disappointed! Seriously, that is all you have to do!! It's so easy!! If you
just do that, you will take care of so many problems!! Your desire to sin will
almost completely bounce ship! The SMA's are the SMA's for a reason. It's a
reason that the answer is always one of those things. Heavenly Father gave us
those tools to protect us and to help us come closer to Him. If we will do
those things, which we are commanded to do, we will be blessed. It's a true
story.
Another fun fact for all of you. The Atonement is real. It's
definitely something that I have needed in my own life and it's something that
everyone else needs too. I love being able to teach people about the Atonement
and how it is something they need in their lives. We all make mistakes and sin.
Siyempre, kc, tao lang. Your mistakes bring guilt. Your heart gets heavy. I
know the feeling. But that's what makes the Atonement such a beautiful gift in
our lives. With the Atonement, we can all change. And that's something that
people sometimes overlook when they think about repentance. Repentance brings
change. You have to change as a person. When you change, when you repent, when
you fully use the Atonement in your life, your guilt and your pain and the
heaviness in your heart is all swept away. I've seen that here in the
Philippines time and time again. We find people that are weighed down with
sins. Life is hard and sad and full of remorse. And then we get to introduce
the Atonement. As people truly use the Atonement, you get to watch the weight
get taken away. They get a light in their eyes and they become happy!! Like
with the story of Alma and the sons of Mosiah (my favorite people) who were the
vilest of sinners. Alma says his soul was wracked with endless torment? Or
maybe the pains of Hell. Or maybe both. But then, he talks about becoming a new
creature. And the wonderful peace and joy that comes with it. And of course,
with the change that he made, he and the sons of mosiah became the greatest
missionaries of all time!! The power of the Atonement is real. It helps people
to give up their sins and to be able to forgive others for their sins. I
promise it. I know it.
Anyway. It's been a lovely week. I hope you all enjoy my
email, full of me being a little on the preachy side. Sensya na. But, I love
you all! Thanks for everything!!
Much love,
Elder Christensen
P.S. I seriously didn't take out my camera this week. So no
pics. SOORRRY!!
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