Please Bless Me, and Help Me Eat This Food.

Good Morning everyone! I hope that we all had a blessed week. This week was actually really warm. It rose way high this week to like -1 degrees...and we started sweating in our coats. It got back down -7 or -8 though but for some reason I forgot that that was cold and went out side with a wind breaker on for the day. It was way cold. We had a ton of crazy things happen this week. I will put my personal study at the end of the letter I think now too. That is usually the best part. At home I would always take my scriptures for granted. Don't do that. This is transfer call week...me and elder fielding find out where we will be going or if we are staying...next p day is on monday because we transfer on tuesday i think. We are pretty excited.

This week:

Was way fun. We tracted a lot like always, but that is good. We ran into this one woman named Pia who met the missionaries 10 years ago. She was pretty interested in hearing our message again. We are trying to set up a lesson with her for this week. I did have an appointment but it got canceled to now we are trying again. we can definitely see her becoming an investigator. We have our fingers crossed. We also opened up a bunch new streets tracting..We are trying to find new places we haven't looked before. We saw the soccer stadium here in seinäjoki while tracting and went up and looked at it. There was actually a game going on. There was an indoor stadium also right next door. The tickets were only 5 euros...but that was super cool...I am trying to buy one of their jerseys...we just need to make our way down to the stadium again.

We had another school presentation also. This one wasnt as good as the first one because they kids didnt have any questions (maybe because it was at 8 in the morning and they were all asleep still) but at the end some of them took Book of Mormons so that was awesome. I kind of like school presentations. we really want to focus on the younger generation. Baptizing older people is good, but most of the time none of their other family is converted. When you baptize a younger person, than he marries and they raise a family in the gospel...that is what we want to try to do.

On sunday night, me and elder fielding went back to our apartment to wash his hands because he was fixing his chain...and right when we closed the door..we remembered we had left our keys inside. We sat there thinking of what we were going to do...it was 8:40 on a sunday night. we ran out side and decided to climb the balcony to get up to our apartment back door. Our apartment is on the second floor.. So i kneel down and he steps on my hands...i hoist him up and now I am standing like straight up with my arms reaching high into the sky(I was way surprised i could hold him up..he is bigger than me) he grabs onto the ledge of the balcony and pulls himself up. But it turns out that the back door is locked to. So he goes skydiving down into the snow...we go back to go inside but we are now locked out of the entire apartment..so we buzz all the doors and someone lets us in. Our neighbor comes outside wondering what all the racket is. and we tell her our situation. We get the number for the "talomies" (house man) he is the guy with all the keys to all the apartments. So he comes in his car and unlocks our door. really nice guy. cost 50 euors. It was fun though. we got in at like 9:30. 

Another experience was yesterday on monday. The harrises (older missionary couple...came just before me...they dont really get a whole lot of training, so they know less finnish than me...sometimes feel bad for them haha) were coming to seinäjoki for the day and we want to include them alot more...because they cant do a whole lot in vaasa (the city where they live) We planned 4 lessons with single ladies in our ward from 1 to 8:30 pm and also lunch. We ate lunch at our place, and then taught the lessons. I love teaching lessons. One of my goals is to just testify boldly. Nothing can go wrong if you do that. The lessons went way good. This gospel really is a message of joy and peace. Sharing that with others is a blessing. Anyways, after lunch, each house fed us food. (and the harrises dont eat a lot haha) first was muffins and cookies, next was ice cream which was so good. I am going to buy some of that today, then we had dinner appointment in a city called lapua..noin 25 minutes away. There we ate chicken and potatoes and chocolate moose. so so good. By this time we are dying because we are so full. I keep laughing every time i see the elder couple look at their plates. I think they are going to be sick. We go to the last house...this poorish lady who we visit every monday and take out her trash. And at 7:00 she was feeding us dinner. We walked in and knew we were in for trouble. I was very full and even prayed "please bless me and help me eat this food" Some of the stuff was questionable and not washed..but it was eaten. I gained 3 kilograms so like 6 pounds last night...going to have to work it all off today. We told the sisar the harrises already ate dinner so they could be spared. Missions are like this sometimes. You have to sacrifice a bit if you want to make difference. 

After dinner when we were leaving, we were talking with the harrises, and elder harris was talking about the atonement and how that wasn't easy for christ. there is a picture of an angel holding him up and supporting him. If it was easy for him, I dont think that it would have worked the way that it does. He needed to be pushed to his limits even as the son of God. We too are expected to push to our limits. I know that he died for us. I am so grateful for him!

personal study:

Read Book of Mormon...I am reading about korihor right now. The wicked never win and never will be able to win. It isn't in God's plan. If you are questioning your testimony, go back to the basics...the scriptures, prayer, church....dont be led way by things that aren't of much worth. It is so easy to go down that path when we aren't doing what we should be doing. Those things are the basis or this gospel...build on that.

love you all!

elder christensen

Best Gummy I have ever eaten....these are very expensive!....but worth it!

"take more if it tastes good"

Good morning everyone!

It has been an awesome week here. Much has happened since last time I wrote, it has been very fun, decently successful, and very cold. Sorry I forgot to tell everyone that I wasnt going to be emailing on tuesday. Our pday got switched to wednesday this week because we were with president aura yesterday in vaasa, for district meeting and interviews...He also brought like 9 boxes of pizza...still wasnt enough in my opinion. Missionaries can eat unlimited amounts I think...sometimes the ward members just keep saying "take more if it tastes good" and so you have to take more. Most the time it taste good though. Me and elder fielding only have 2 weeks left together. Most likely we get split up when the transfer ends...It has been a quick one.

Personal study:

this week I have continued to read about ammon and the sons of mosiah. I am amazed by how much faith they had. Our mission scripture this transfer has been ether 12:18 And neither at any time hath any wrought miracles until after their faith; wherefore they first believed in the Son of God. I love this scripture so much. If you look back at any great prophet or missionary in both the Bible and the Book of Mormon, you can see that a great amount of faith was required. In most of our gospel discussions that we give, focus on this verse. It is so important that we trust in God and christ and that we have faith to act. I really like that it says that no miracles have come until after their faith. It is so easy to sit back and say "I trust in god and know that he will make it happen..." and then just sit there and wait for it to happen. This is a good try...but not good enough if you want progress. Trust in God and know that he will make it happen...but then go help him make it happen. Last night in a lesson with a member( the one we helped moved like 4 weeks ago) (i thought i was having ptsd for a second when i walked into her house) I testified in the little finnish that I know and said that it is so important that we "autamme jumala jotta hän voi auttaa meitä" we help God so that he can help us. Basically we need to be part of the help ourselves.

This week:

Tuesday through thursday we were in Helsinki area with all the other trainees at a thing called return and report. lots of fun. Lots of meetings. basically a three day zone conference. But it was really great and spiritually uplifting. and i got to see elder reed and elder viitanen again(my mtc comps). So it was super fun. On the train ride back, we played phase ten the whole time. super fun. The trains in Finland are awesome. They are electric and super high speed. I almost saw some person on their phone walk into one going super fast my first week here. you gotta be careful. We also got to go to the Helsinki temple! That was a fun experience. 

We have had a lot of success this week finding people to teach. But the problem that we have is that we cant get any return dates..so they arent investigators. After our mission wide fast, the numbers basically doubled. We have 30 something investigators mission wide now. Pretty good. I think I wrote about perti last week. He was the first investigator that elder fielding and I have had. He was found during splits with district leaders. We visited him and he really liked it so he said we could come back in the night and teach again, and also his girlfriend (of 10 days). We were pretty pumped about it. When we go there she was a hard core basher. It was in finnish, so elder fielding did a good job defending our honor. After our lesson, elder fielding said that when you meet a basher, it only strengthens your testimony that what you believe in is true. We are going to sneak back though and visit him when she isnt there though. Cant let him get away to fast.

We also got let into some other homes and taught some awesome lessons. I really like teaching lessons because I can hold my own if it is a gospel discussion in finnish. 

We are trying to be more involved with the members and to try get some referrals from them. We want them to be excited about missionary work. It is so important that members are involved. I love our small little ward a ton...there is this one youth who we take out to eat at a restaurant every saturday. last saturday we went to Hesburger (like mcdonalds) and this saturday we are going to sam burger. I love missionary work! It is great.

It was super super cold this week. I think monday and tuesday it was like  -20 

...Sometimes you can breathe in your nose and then it like freezes your nose hairs. tuesday morning we walked out side and started coughing because your throat froze when you breathed in. 

 

I had another bike wreck this week.I might just put a weekly section for it. This has been my worst one so far. high speed destruction. I am grateful for these experiences because you can laugh about them after. Me and elder fielding were wanting to race our bikes on sunday or monday...so I was like "no..i am going to crash" but than we started anyway. It isnt very smart to ride super fast in ice and snow. We were going really fast, and we were side by side. I was riding my bike funny on purpose just to like stupid like I was sticking my butt in the air and leaning way forward. And then my chain flew off! I was still peddling, super fast though..but no resistance! I flew forward onto the bar between the seat and the handle bars and shouted out in pain. and then the seat stabbed my backside bone really bad. I flew off to the right side and basically threw my bike to the left into elder fielding. His chain shattered into 3 or 4 pieces. I land on the road and do a couple rolls. and then end the crash sitting up with my legs in like a half split position. At first I thought I hurt my butt really bad...but nah...just some good bruises. The early morning sit ups are hard though still. Me and my comp were trying to recover when two old people walked past and asked if we broke our bike. we said yea....and then they kept walking. I dont like crashing my bike...but I like the memories..so I will be happy if I keep crashing.

Our new convert has been having a hard time with his health. he said he moved from our area to go get some help. But we were in his city (ilmajoki) and we decided to just knock his door for fun..to see if he was messing with us..and his tv was on and the lights. no answer though. We get on the bus and there he is in the front row going to seinäjoki. He sees us and puts his hand on the side of his face trying to hide. We went and sat right next to him and he didnt move or anything. It was really awkward for a couple minutes but than I said hello...and we gave him some chocolate. He didnt want to talk to us though. kept trying to hide. We have been praying for him alot and put his name in at the temple. We talked to president alot about him...and he said that more important than him coming to church is that he is healthy. We love him and want the best for him!

I love being a missionary! There are so many things to be unhappy about in missionary work...but you can still choose to be happy! Choose to be happy...it does no good to be angry! Easiest way to be happy is to just be happy...I dont really know other than just choose it.

church is true...I know it! I love you all. Remember to serve each other more this week! (thats another way to be happy)

Mmmmmmm.....Ketchup and Potatoes!

Good morning everyone! I hope you guys are all doing swell. Sorry, I forgot to tell everyone that this week, p-day is on monday. This is because I and elder fielding are going to Helsinki for a thing called "return and report" on tuesday, wednesday and thursday. Me and the rest of my district from the mtc are going to be there. It is a sort of three day meeting where we learn some new stuff and talk about our first few weeks in Finland. It is at the mission home.

It has been a really really good week with missionary work. We got to talk to a lot of people this week. Very fun stuff.

Personal study:

In personal study I read a lot of great stuff. I feel like on my mission, i have read stories in both the bible and the Book of Mormon that I have never heard of before. There is such good stuff in there. These books really are the word of God. The Book of Mormon holds the fullness of the Gospel. As I read both of them together (I think that I talked about it last week) I can really see how they support each other in what they say. I fell like every chapter that I read in the book of mormon is talking about or quoting something that I am reading in the old testament.

Yesterday in alma, I read about the story of ammon. 

Alma 18: 8-10 are three verses that I really like. 

8 And it came to pass that king Lamoni inquired of his servants, saying: Where is this man that has such great power? 9 And they said unto him: Behold, he is feeding thy horses. Now the king had commanded his servants, previous to the time of the watering of their flocks, that they should prepare his horses and chariots, and conduct him forth to the land of Nephi; for there had been a great feast appointed at the land of Nephi, by the father of Lamoni, who was king over all the land.10 Now when king Lamoni heard that Ammon was preparing his horses and his chariots he was more astonished, because of the faithfulness of Ammon, saying: Surely there has not been any servant among all my servants that has been so faithful as this man; for even he doth remember all my commandments to execute them.

Ammon is doing what king lamoni had asked him to do. He is feeding his horses. Just after he chopped a whole bunch of guys arms off. When we are obedient and put forth all our righteous effort, we build trust. Because of this, king Lamoni says that Ammon is the most faithful servant he has ever had! Had ammon not have done his part in being obedient and earning the trust of the king, how could he have taught with the spirit later and have testified to the king about God? There would have been no success.

This reminded me of a talk in the last general conference i think it was. It is one of my favorites. It was in the priesthood session though, so you might not all have heard it. It is called, Earning the trust of the Lord and your family, by elder maynes of the 70. In it, he tells a story of when he was on a business trip with his dad, and they were offered a deal that was not so honest, but would be making a lot more money for the company. It was called a win win situation. They replied that they would get back to the company later that week to give them their reply. When him and his dad got to the car, his dad asked if he should accept the deal. the answer was no. He then explained Listen, Rick, once you take a bribe or compromise your integrity, it is very difficult to ever get it back. Don’t ever do it, not even once.” If we ever compromise our integrity, how can the lord trust us? Especially with those who are seeking to learn more about the gospel? It probably wont happen. God will save them for somebody else.

This week:

We had a very good week. On friday and saturday, the district leader and his comp came to seinäjoki to go on splits with us. On splits we ran into some great people. We found like 5 potentials (where they give us their phone number and say they want to learn more). Elder Jordan and I were even let into two apartments and gave lessons. Really cool. One of them says we can come back and teach again on friday! So that is our first investigator! In the middle of his lesson I was explaining something , i cant remember, probably about the book of mormon. But my foot cramped up super bad as I was talking...haha...and then I like stood up really fast and grabbed my foot and I said something like "ahhhh ahhh my foot!" I think the guy and elder jordan thought I was dancing or something. I stood up for like another minute and kept talking and then everything was good. I have been getting foot cramps a lot for some reason. Missionary work is really fun when you work hard. you get a lot more done too! I tell you that miracles are happening in seinäjoki as we talk. Slowly, people are being prepared for us to find and teach...we just need to find them. Splits was really good and gave me another point of view on how others do missionary work different than us. Sometimes we do the same thing but it is always good to mix it up. There isnt a set way to do finding.

The district missionaries also ate most of our food, so we only had potatoes today and yesterday. I tried this thing that is in the Martian movie...where the guy is stuck on mars with only potatoes and ketchup. I like cooked the potatoes in the microwave, and then dipped them in ketchup. It was actually really good. I am going to be doing that a lot now. 

We did a lot of good tracting this week. Lots of biking around looking for people. On Wednesday, it got to -14 or-13 while we were tracting. We were out at Heikkilä (the far away farming village) when it was time to go back, elder fielding hands were freezing because he didnt have mittens...(i brought mine just in case for the first time ever) and I didnt have a beenie. We have never been so cold in our lives. I think I got permanent brain damage. We never rode home that fast before. It was lightning speed. I am not sure if my legs were getting the blood pumping, or if I was going numb. Since this day, i keep thinking I am hearing the alarm in the middle of the night, and then I get out of bed for my morning prayer. One time it happened three times in the night . It is good though, when I am done praying i look at the clock and get really happy.

The work is real! I have grown so much in every way. the church is true! I have set goals this year.(we all need to) A good one is to read with intent, The Book of Mormon everyday. This brings so many blessings. It will change you if you let it. It is one of president Monson's last talks. One of the last things that he talked about was reading the book of mormon everyday. It is important that we do it.

love you all! keep serving each other!