Diligent in All Things

Good morning everyone! I hope that you all had a splendid week! I had another good one here in Finland. Also, this transfer is almost over. we have like 2 weeks or something. It really has gone by so fast...it is true when they say each one gets faster. I guess you get in a rhythm and loose track of time or something like that. But anyways it was a great week!

After pday last week we went and ate Sushi in downtown Helsinki...if only i had known we were going to be eating sushi...but it was actually really really good. These Vietnamese friends bought it for us. After sushi, we went on a tour of helsinki. We visited three different churches which were all pretty cool. And then we just walked around and saw some pretty cool stuff. I sent just a whole bunch of pics of the churches and some cool stuff that we saw. Also, in almost every picture that i am in, i look fazed...and confused...or my eyes are closed. I swear i can see still so I dont know why that is. (see the sushi pic) but anyway it was a way fun trip! after this today we are going to go to Suomenlinna...it is a castle on an island. We take a boat to get there. its going to be pretty fun!

Our boy Roman came to church again! We are so happy that he did! He wasn't sure that he was going to make it this time and told us that we didn't need to remind him about it on Sunday morning...so i was pretty surprised when i saw him get on the train. But way happy. He really liked church..and said that every time he has been he has felt happy. I know that that is one of the blessings that come when we attend church. The spirit that we feel there is a good feeling, so naturally we will feel happy afterwards. There is no happiness in the world like the happiness you receive when you are attending church. There is a special blessing there.

I witnessed a really strange event take place at the train station this week. A drunk man and his buddy were standing next to me with their music waiting for the train to come. Then out of nowhere, a giant pigeon lands on his shoulder...I am very confused and think to myself : wow, i havent seen someone with a pet bird in Finland before...this is pretty sweet.....the bird sits there for about two seconds and then the guy turns his head and looks at the bird. Then they both freak out and the guys is yelling and the bird is flapping. but the claws are stuck in the guys jacket and it cant get away. i just die laughing at all this and eventually the bird frees its self. I was the only person to witness this...and i will never forget.

We finally got a fan for our apartment. It is like 80 degrees here and they dont use air conditioning so thats really good. obviously it could be alot hotter but still haha. its good news!

These past two weeks i have really been studying diligence. And how to become a more diligent person in everything whether its missionary work, or what not. As i have been studying, i have been improving. I had a cool experience this week. We were going to the church to teach a lesson...and usually we dont stop people on the way to church because it isn't our area...but i decided that if an african person walked past me then i would stop him (they are usually pretty receptive) but then i got thinking and decided that i might as well talk to them all. So i stopped these 4 people in a row...all Finnish people and none were interested..but then the last guy i stopped i got this feeling when i was talking to him that he was the one we were looking for and that he was really important to our Heavenly Father. He was very cool. he lived in a different city though and wasn't super keen on meeting. but he did take a Book of Mormon and was grateful for it. I got thinking, if he really was the one, why didnt he want to meet? well, maybe this was just an important step for him on his journey to the true gospel of Jesus Christ. He may not be ready now..but this will prepare him to be ready later. I am so grateful that i made that decision to talk to them all. I know that it is important to be diligent in all things. I really like this verse: 

Proverbs 10:4 He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand: but the hand of the diligent maketh rich.

...when we are diligent we find the rich things in the world, and the rich things in heaven. A huge part of God's plan is work! 

i love you all...elder christensen

.....The Day is NOW.

It was a great week everyone! I hope you all had a good one too!

We started this week out with splits. Some of the elders from downtown Helsinki were with us for the day here in tikkurila. Splits are always so successful. you find more on those day than you do on any other daÿ. Maybe it is just because everyone is pumped up or something..but anyway. it was good. We made taco soup for dinner, and I was in charge of making the corn bread...but it turns out that it was corn starch and not corn meal. So I told my good buddy elder Jordan and we secretly made some form of bread. It was the same recipe...just without corn...we used corn flakes though, and some flour. It turned out to be some sort of really dense flat pancake thing. But I must admit, it didn't taste too shabby. Two Fridays ago we made pulled pork, but we made too much and we just barley finished it. It lasted 8 days.

I dont know if you guys remember last week...we had a lesson with this dude named Destiny, and we invited his friends to join in the discussion...well this week we met again with them. One of the other guys name is Roman. He is a stud. Also from nigeria. He actually moved here two weeks ago. He met mormons while he was living in Switzerland. We taught the plan of salvation with him. He is so wise and has some great insights. Basically we have the same beliefs. Anyway, he committed to come to church and also a baptismal date for june 23rd! my very first baptismal date on the mission. So on sunday, we got on the train and headed over to pick him up. Almost everyone commits to come to church. It is one thing to commit and something else to actually come to church. But, sure enough...there he was waiting for us at the train station. He loved church! he stayed the whole three hours. He even made some great friends there. It was so important that the members helped him feel loved and welcomed. Please be sure that you guys all do that. Everyone wants to feel loved dont they? He was also my first investigator in church. It definitely was a great day. Our mission had a record high for investigators in church this week. I must say that the work is moving along nicely. I also had to translate in church for like 4 guys during the priesthood hour. I fear this hour because it is the missionaries job to translate. The only good thing is that they dont know Finnish so they dont know if I am saying what is actually being said. I can pretty much get the jist of what is being said, so i summarize it. and then make up the rest. I taught about repentance. haha. I really love serving here in Tikkurila.

Edward is another really cool investigator that we have...he is going back to ivory coast on saturday which is sad..he has been progressing so well. but anyway, this last lesson that we had with him was odd. We taught the word of wisdom and he was not having it. We told him about it and then he burst out laughing and to be honest, it was quite funny. but then after a minute or so he realized that we weren't joking. It was so sad, we were like breaking his heart. He got so sad that he had to give up coffee and beer. He said that maybe he will try when he gets back from ivory coast.

My comp skyped with his family this week and we went back to the same family that I skyped at on mothers day. They decided that they wanted to do a Grilli...or a bbq for us. BUt they just bought this grill and didnt know how to set it up...so we built it for them when we got there. The food was so so good. They had never done it before so they put all the meat on the grill but didnt light the charcoal yet...so they squirted gasoline in and it splashed all over the meat. I musty say i tasted a tint of petroleum. They also cooked some asian fish and i think it was the best fish i have ever had. they are the best.

During personal study this week I have been reading in Doctrine and covenants. There is that classic verse that everyone knows where it says "the field is white and ready to harvest" There are a couple times in the first few sections where it says

 "Behold, the field is white already to harvest; therefore, whoso desireth to reap let him thrust in his sickle with his might, and reap while the day lasts, that he may treasure up for his soul everlasting salvation in the kingdom of God."

I really like this part of the verse: While the day lasts... The day is now. We are not always going to have this time to reap the harvest. The time is now. I am so grateful that I can be on my mission at this time and to be a part of this work!

I love you all! I am going to go to downtown Helsinki now...should be lots of fun. I think we are going to a chocolate factory...so that will be sweet!

Elder Ryker Christensen

ASK.

Good day everyone! 

I hope it was a great week. Mine was quite busy but super rewarding and fun! 

I will start with Zone conference, It was on last tuesday...that is why we had p-day on monday. It was really good. We talked alot about role plays and how important they are to missionary work. I am not really a big fan of roleplays...but i do think that they help alot with how you teach and talk to people. As an entire zone, we each set the goal to do a role play each day for 21 days in a row so that we can create a habit and then we will just do it everyday from now on. So far we have done like 8 days, and I have really liked it. Some of the stuff we role played we actually got to use in the real life...so thats cool. Doing role plays also builds unity, there was this quote from zone conference that says "Alone you can go faster, but together you can go farther." Especially when we are teaching, unity is so so important. there is nothing like one of us teaching a truth and then the other person testifying of it. They go hand in hand. Also at zone conference, played the piano for the songs...my prelude was quite good.

We had kind of a neat experience this week teaching one of our investigators named Destiny...a man from nigeria...we taught him the first time last week. We got to his house, and before we started we asked if any of his roommates would like to join us...And two of them did! So we taught them all the restoration. The are the coolest guys ever...Prosper and Roman are the other two. They kept calling us prophets and we tried to explain the difference but they wouldnt accept it. They kept saying it was their own opinion...so whatever...maybe next time. But is was super good and they said they would be there the next time we came...and they all want to come to church! We didnt really meet with anyone else this week.

Part of that was because on sunday (mothers day) we had stake conference. We all met at this giant conference center place in downtown helsinki...which was pretty cool. Our recent convert Hien Ha came with us..which is a miracle! He has come to church twice now this transfer and hasnt come for many months...so we are working him good. We think he liked it...he slept through a lot of it though. During stake conference, a new presidency was organized. President johnson of the 70 was there and we chatted for a little bit. Apparently he was born in florida. Also on sunday we celebrated mother's day! And I skyped home. The home where i skyped at is a member's house. They are half chinese half vietamese. They have these two little kids that are like 3 and 5 years old. They are the cutest kids ever. They dont know english or finnish so i couldnt ask them to leave the skyping video. 

Also something really awesome this week was today! Elder jacobsen and I went to the temple! It was way cool. the temple here is super pretty especially in the summer time. Everything around it is all green and sunny. There were like 6 people total in the session. Temples are so important. I read the other day that without the work of family history and temple work, the resurrection would be useless. It would basically allow those people who have died without the gospel to not have a chance to accept it. Temples allow us to make our own covenants, but to also help those that have died without the knowledge of the plan of salvation.

There were some weird things too this week. I sneezed for the first time on my mission, and someone stole my umbrella. That was a low blow. It is supposed to rain alot this week. The weather is super hot right now. On sunday i think that is broke some records or something...thats what our president said. I think it is like around 80 degrees fahrenheit right now. Pretty hot for finland. Also the sun is up from when we wake up till when we go to bed. It rises at like 4 or 5 and then it sets a little after 10. It will keep getting brighter the rest of this month and then in june there will be a big celebration on the brightest day of the year...super big deal here. There are also giant bees everywhere. If someone could look up and see if they sting, and let me know, that would be great because we do not want to get stung by them...and it is super hard to be talking to someone at the door when they are buzzing around your face.

spiritual thought:

I finished the book of mormon recently and just read the Joseph Smith History this week. both talk quite a bit about prayer. Prayer is so important. At the end of the Book of Mormon, mononi says to pray about the book to know if it is true...when reading the bible, joseph smith reads james 1:5 about prayer. He says in 

JSH 1: 13 At length I came to the conclusion that I must either remain in darkness and confusion, or else I must do as James directs, that is, ask of God.

I also found in 1 nephi 15:8 it says : And I said unto them: Have ye inquired of the lord?

Without asking, how can we know for ourselves that the book of mormon is true? This is so so important. I have come to know that Our heavenly father doesn't only want to help us with our needs...but also with our desires...as president Nelson says: the longings of our hearts! I know that prayer is real..there is so much power in it. It is key to our message as missionaries. For those of you reading the Book of Mormon...pray about it.

I love you all!

elder christensen

Cinco de YODA!

Hey everyone! I hope you all had a great week! We definitely had a good one here in Tikkurila. The work is going along here very nicely. We had a very busy week of finding and teaching.

We also had exchanges this week...two of them..super fun but they seem like the longest days of the mission...maybe just because everything is just so different. We made this really awesome cake to celebrate exchanges and may 4th and also cinco de mayo. It looked way cool. It was a mud cake...basically like a brownie cake...they eat it a lot here for dessert. It is really good frozen and with ice cream. I must say that it was a big hit.

Exchanges were very successful. One with the zone leaders, and one with a companionship in our district. My comp is the district leader so we go on splits with every companionship in our district. Thats always fun.

We found two new investigators this week. Another African brother from nigeria, and a young Finnish man named matti. He is way cool. That might have been the best lesson i have taught in Finnish. We invited him to read the scriptures at the end, and committed him to read one chapter....and then he asked if he could read more than one chapter! We were like of course!

We had the opportunity to fast yesterday to become better teachers of repentance. I am so glad that we had this opportunity. We had a lesson with our less active/recent convert yesterday...it was so good and totally led by the spirit. We have known that he has had trouble with the word of wisdom for awhile, but he never has wanted to like share any of his problems. Yesterday we talked about Elder Holland's talk about perfection. We aren't asked to be perfect....heavenly father already knows that we will make mistakes. This is part of our earthly experience. But he does expect us to try our best to be perfect. After that, i asked him if their was anything about the word of wisdom that had been troubling him...many things came out. It was so good. And now that we know his concerns better, we can help him on his path of repentance. I have this weird habit of smiling when people say exactly what I want them to say. When everything works out perfectly, I cant help it. I know that the spirit was there in that lesson!

I am so thankful for this gospel and the opportunity I have to share it here in Finland!

sorry it is a short letter, more next week.

love elder christensen

Random Hail Chunks....

Hei kaikki!

It was a great great week here in Tikkurila! The weeks are just flying by, I feel like we just had p-day like a day ago, but here it is again. We are very busy here...maybe thats why. Lots of work and lots of fun. 

Last tuesday, for p-day, we went to this really cool science museum. It was awesome. There was this floating bike thing that we got to ride which was pretty cool. We also learned about meteors and stuff. 

 Also on p-day, we made these banana bars things that were so so good. Probably the best thing i have every eaten...they were piled with cream cheese frosting and it was the best. (used 8 cups of powdered sugar)

We had a service opportunity On wednesday, after district meeting, this guy asked us to help him move some heavy metal crates. It took all 5 of us to lift it up the stairs and into his truck. Once we got done, he said..."now, just 5 more" and then he laughed. I thought it was the funniest joke i had ever heard. i chuckled all the way downstairs and thought we were just putting our gloves away or something, but he opened up this door and sure enough, there were 5 more. We got them all taken care of though and felt really good about it. He was super thankful for our help. You can never serve too much! 

We also got to teach our good buddy edward again. This was the first time i taught the plan of salvation on my mission! Good thing it was in english haha. Before our lesson, he said he had a really important question. He asked us why we had secret cameras on our name tags. We were so confused. Apparently his friend told him that we were recording him with our name tags. But we showed him that it was just a clip on thing to our suit coats. The lesson went very well. We have such high hopes for him. We were going to give him the baptismal date in june, but it turns out that he will be in ivory coast all that month...which stinks. But we invited him to be baptized when he got back and he said "why not" so, we shall see. He is such a cool guy and we love him so much. 

Randomly during 60 degree weather, it started hailing giant chunks. it was so cool. it was way sunny too.

Spiritual thought:

I listened to president Nelson's talk this week and it is a very good one. He talks alot about the holy ghost. How we can get it, how to use it, blessings of it..etc. I really like this one quote that he gave. "choose to do the spiritual work required for the holy ghost" We can all feel the light of christ in our lives...but in order for us to have the Holy Ghost as our constant companion, we need to be doing some things. There needs to be progression. In a lesson yesterday we were talking with this guy named Hien about learning in the gospel. Once you are baptized, get the priesthood, go to the temple or become the prophet, you never stop learning. We are always progressing in our own understanding throughout this entire life. So that we continue to learn, we need the holy ghost to be with us. There are so many things we can do that can better allow us to receive more revelation and inspiration. (family history work....is always mentioned in talks...the work for the dead is important) we can do missionary work, read scriptures, serve others, anything that is good comes from God. So do good things. I also really like this quote from his talk too : "Good information allows for good inspiration" We need to be learning.

thats all i have...i hope everyone has a great week!!!

love elder christensen