Shoveling in the Snow Storm....

Wow, this week was superb! So many good things!

Oona is going to be baptized on the 16th! woowoo! It is way cool! She came to church with us this sunday and loved it again. Also our friend Pekka came as well. in our lesson with Oona on wednesday, we taught the Word of Wisdom and how it is a blessing from Heavenly Father. She drinks coffee and tea, but she could see the blessings from being obedient to Heavenly Father. When we invited her to live the word of wisdom she said yes! Heavenly Father loves us so much, that is why he has given us Commandments! Every single one of them is for our benefit. Why on earth would we be given something that isn't?

Some interesting things that happened this week was snow Shoveling...mid storm! This non member dad that always asks us to help him with yard work and moving heavy things gave us a call in the morning, so we headed over there. I drove into this parking lot that was unplowed and we squirmed around for a little bit but eventually got quite stuck. We had to go get some shovels and dig our selves out. But as we were shoveling this guys land, we were in the middle of a snow storm so by the end of shoveling new piles had begun to grow. we shoveled for like 2 hours and it was way fun. I dont think my back muscles have ever been so sore. 5 days have gone past already and i can still feel it. 

We are heading down to Helsinki for a couple days. We have a big meeting with all of the trainees and trainers. I remember when I went when I was a young elder and it was so fun to see all of my MTC group again! We are way excited. We also get to go to the Temple so that will be great. We are going to take some pictures of us there and show it to Oona and get her excited to go to the Temple after her baptism. 

We got a new car! 2019 Toyota Prius! It got picked up from the store with 29 km on it. it is very exciting. Lots of cameras in it, and beeping noises. Our fire alarm has gone off like 5 times already this month. We have one in our bathroom that i just wrapped up in some towels that has been going off for 5 weeks now. Every time we open the oven all the hot air goes up or something. But every time it goes off I get PTSD and brought back to that time i pulled the fire alarm at school. It is ok though. 

I love tracting. It really has become one of my favorite parts of the day. i love the possibility of being let in to some ones house. I have seen that if I ask to come in, then we might have one or two let ins a week! It is all about asking though. just like prayer. If we dont ask for something most likely we will not receive it!

I have been studying Charity this week and learned something new. Charity/love is just like faith. It requires action. The more we show, the stronger it becomes. I have seen just this week how those times where maybe someone is unkind or annoying or there just isnt a whole lot of love...maybe the answer is we just need to start building it. Show a little and let it grow! I know that this is true! When we serve with all our might and strength and HEART we will see so many miracles!  

This is the best two years!

Love Elder Christensen

3.5 Salmon Steaks......

Wow, what an awesome week we just had! One of the best ones yet. It got to -21 degrees yesterday. I almost perished.

I talked about that one girl we found last week named Oona. She is way way good. We had another wonderful week with her. We felt that we should Invite her to be Baptized. So in our second lesson we invited her to be baptized on the 16th of February. She was pretty interested in Baptism but said that she wasn't ready yet for that date...wanted to wait a little longer. We promised blessings of following Jesus Christ and committed her to come to church to feel the Spirit there. I didnt get to talk with her a whole lot at church because of other assignments, but I talked with her on the phone after and she said that she felt the spirit so strongly in church and that everything was telling her that she was ready. She asked for a baptismal date and is super excited! She also texts us everyday to ask for a new chapter to read from the Book Of Mormon. 

I think one thing that we really miss out on quite often, is the blessing of Church. It is a time of inspiration and worship. if we want to, we can get so much out of being there on Sunday. It is so easy for us to turn it into a routine thing that we just do on Sundays. Being able to see the difference that church makes in the lives of those who haven't had it before has really made me think of what I can make it for myself as well!

We had a very filling dinner appointment this week. An 86 year old grandma (same one that we had to hide the dessert in a baggie on christmas). She fed us 3.5 salmon steaks each, two full plates of mashed potatoes, salads, two toasts, half a container of ice cream each and a whole strawberry short cake. As i was eating the cake a i saw a vision of me driving our car on the way home and throwing up all over the place. I took not another bite. 45 minutes later a less active member invited us over to eat pizza. they bought us each a full pizza and luckily my stomach had digested enough to eat one and a half slices. the Pizza toppings were chicken, blue cheese, and peaches. A very interesting combination indeed. 

Missionary work is going so so well! I remember being in the MTC and one of my teachers said that he loved the Finnish language so much because it is the language which he was speaking when he came to know who Heavenly Father really was and who his Savior was. I can say the exact same thing. I might have thought that I knew a decent amount about them before I came, but now I can see that I knew just a small fraction of it all, and still i know very little. I am so grateful for my time here in Finland!  

I was reading in 2 nephi yesterday and this one verse really stuck out to me : 

2 Nephi 20:15

Shall the ax boast itself against him that heweth therewith? Shall the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it? As if the rod should shake itself against them that lift it up, or as if the staff should lift up itself as if it were no wood! 

The ax can be so sharp, maybe even brand new, being able to cut a tree down in just a couple swings. But if no one uses it to cut, what is its use? If we did not use the saw to saw, it would be useless. We depend so much on others. Especially in missionary work i have seen that no matter how good you think you are, or how good you want to become...if you don't allow the spirit to lead you, you are going to have a difficult time finding success. Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost are those that lead us...we need to be willing to be lead, and that is when we can magnify our callings and assignments!

love elder Christensen! 

Follow the Subtle Nudges.....

Wow, this was a way good week!

We had lots of snowstorms. It is not very cold in Pori because we are right on the coast and the water warms it up, but we do get quite a bit of snow. i slipped and fell 5 times one day. Once was way bad. We knocked this door and these teenage girls opened up. They saw us and got scared. Their parents were not home so I said we could come back later. As we started walking away i looked back to give them a smile...but i saw that they took out their phones and were recording us. upon noticing this, i slipped and fell down all of the stairs and landed in a heap on the ground. Everything turned out ok though. 

We had a wonderful Zone Conference this week. we are trying to get better at working with the members and also start working with Family History in missionary work. exciting times! I left my Scriptures and my Preach my Gospel though in Tampere...which is like 90 minutes away. I get them back tomorrow thankfully...but I have never felt so useless as I have tried to study this week. Everything is in there...all the answers...all of the important information of Heavenly Father's plan. I am so excited to be reunited with them again! 

We had a first lesson with a young college girl this week. We met her a couple weeks ago talking to people on the streets! One of the best lessons I have had on my mission. She was friends with a member when they were younger and she remembers the feelings that she got every time she prayed with their family. We taught her the Restoration and she was very excited. On sunday she came to church and loved it! We have about 25 people each sunday...21 grammies and 4 preisthood holder grandpas. They all did such a wonderful job of befriending her. It is so amazing how much good each one of us can really do. And it doesn't matter how old.  Every convert and investigator needs a friend in church. A year or two ago an apostle said to the wards here in Finland that we will get new converts as soon as we are ready for them. The Pori branch is being prepared and I am so grateful to be serving here! Our investigator said she was coming back next week for sure and we have a lesson this thursday....it is going to be a big one!

Another cool experience this week, we went and taught this man. At the end we asked him to pray for success that day as we tracted around his place. We actually had someone that we wanted to find, but we only had their phone number. As we were tracting I saw this group of houses that I thought looked good, and that we should leave and go start them....at the 3rd door we knocked was that girl we had been looking for. Huge miracle!! Before my mission I always thought that missionaries have some sort of amazing spiritual promptings all the time telling them exactly what to do and say. I know now that it is not like that. We do have amazing blessings and gifts from Heavenly Father...but usually for me they are not clear exact answers or impressions. A little thought here, a little nudge there. we are to use our agency and to work diligently. When we follow those little thoughts we see amazing miracles. Also, so many times in lessons or in just talking to people, you dont feel anything on what you should say, and maybe you dont understand anything the person just said to you. But when you open your mouth and start talking...maybe the first sentence comes out really weird or something...but then you start to get little thoughts here and there. I know that the Holy Ghost is guiding me here in Finland! I am so grateful every time that I have followed those little nudges! 

Heavenly Father really is a God of Miracles!

Love you all!

More Than Just Good Enough

Moi kaikki!

Wow, what another wonderful week! They honestly just keep getting better and better. I see so many miracles now days. When I really push myself to do more than just good enough, that's when it becomes so much more rewarding! I am emailing today because tomorrow we are going to Tampere for a zone conference, should be a fun one.  

Yesterday, which was sunday, we had an amazing day. Church was super good. Our investigator pekka came! the first time in over two months! He even rolled his wheel chair to the front, stood up and bore his testimony of the Book of Mormon and how it has helped him to stop smoking! I really wanted him to hear my testimony so I got to go up as well and it was a great experience! 2019 is going to be such an amazing year the the ward here in Pori. There are people who are ready! It is exciting stuff. 

We also met with this less active member. We talked with her about the importance of following the prophet. She is having a rough time and we promised that if she was obedient that she would be blessed. And she was like "oh, they promised, that means it has to come true!" so on sunday she showed up at church, an lo and behold her friend from high school who lives in Rovaniemi,  like 8 hours away by train was visiting for the day. They had not seen each other for a long time. And the friend bore her testimony and said lots of nice things and it was a really good experience for our less active friend! It is a testimony to me that Heavenly Father is watching out for us and is always wanting to help us out and give us that needed boost!

I read some really good verses about attitude. 

D&C122:4 And although their influence shall cast thee into trouble, and into bars and walls, thou shalt be had in honor; and but for a small moment and thy voice shall be more 

terrible in the midst of thine enemies than the fierce lion, because of thy righteousness; and 

thy God shall stand by thee forever and ever.

and then also D&C 123:16-17

16 You know, brethren, that a very large ship is benefited very much by a very small helm in the time of a storm, by being kept work ways with the wind and the waves.

17 Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed.

We cannot always determine our circumstances. Sometimes we are going to be in some pretty big storms. or sometimes someone else's influence might cast us into trouble. But we can determine our attitude. we can cheerfully do things and then stand still and see all the blessings that are given to us from our Heavenly Father. 

We made some cookie dough shakes this week. by far the best dessert I have ever tasted in my life. Also found 3 new investigators!! One was a man and I asked if we could use 15 minutes of his time and he said no, so I said 10, and he said no...so 5 and he said that will work. We talked about forgiveness and prayed with him and he got way interested way quick. We will meet with him next sunday!

love you all! 

New Year, New Me.

wow, what a week! New year New me! I had my 20th birthday yesterday! It is way crazy. I do not feel that old at all! It was a way fun day and lots of miracles! There were actually a lot fireworks too! 

In District Council, we set the goal to talk to 10 people a day that you wouldn't usually talk too. And at first that seems like a small number because we are supposed to talk to everyone, but in reality it is pretty tough to find someone that you just normally talk to. But we went about doing it and I have seen so many miracles and this will definitely be a changing point in my mission. We had quite a few miracles yesterday. here is a story of one in particular, copied and pasted from my letter to president Aura : We had an awesome experience yesterday street contacting after a lesson fell through. We were contacting around this apartment complex and we had two options, an older grandma who was walking in a parking lot towards her car, or a younger man in the opposite direction throwing his trash away. We felt that we should talk to the man, so we hurried over there. But when we talked to him he was not very happy with us and walked away quickly. We thought that perhaps we had chosen the wrong person to contact...but we decided to go back and check if the older grandma had left yet, and she had not! She was getting in her car. So we hurried over and offered to scrape her car for her. which was the thickest ice i have ever tried to scrape. as we were scraping she tried to start her car but it wasn't working. So after about 8 tries or so elder Kimball asks her if we could pray with her and ask God for help. And she said ok. So I said the prayer and She gave it one more try. After a couple seconds it was trying, and i was thinking "come on, come on" but then it started right up! All 3 of us knew that it was a blessing from a loving Heavenly Father! It reminded me of a talk that President Holland gave when he and his son were driving there truck but had gotten lost. They prayed to know where they should go, they felt that a certain road was the right one, but they went down it and ended up being the wrong choice, so they went back and took the other. He told his son that perhaps Heavenly Father allowed us to go down the wrong road, so that we could know for certain what the right road was. 

That was such a big lesson learned for me! Follow the spiritual promptings that we receive every single time! Heavenly Father knows what he is doing!That lady did not end up being interested but what an experience for all 3 of us! That is something she hopefully wont forget! As we testified that we were representatives of Jesus Christ and that Heavenly Father knows her personally we could all feel their love. 

We had another cool experience yesterday street contacting in the middle of a blizzard. We walked all through the town for a couple hours looking everywhere but we couldn't find anyone that was interested. but then we turned around and saw this guy walking towards us so we waited for him and stopped him. He was in a kind of rush because he was going bowling. But we started talking about the Book of Mormon and how it is additional knowledge about Jesus Christ. His eyes lit up right when we said that and he smiled and said "of course I want to meet and learn about this!" It was a way good birthday!

A couple days ago, a member took us out to this steak house. And bought us a 3 course meal. some shrimp, blue cheese steak and chocolate fudge. so so good. Maybe the best steak I have ever had. 

But anyway, for a spiritual thought: I was reading in 2 nephi this week and this verse really stuck out to me. 15:12  And the harp, and the viol, the tabret, and pipe, and wine are in their feasts; but they regard not the work of the Lord, neither consider the operation of his hands. it is so easy for us to not see heavenly Father and Jesus Christ's hands in our lives. be careful and always be grateful!

also, 2 nephi 15:8-9, 11

8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then I said: Here am I; send me.

9 And he said: Go and tell this people....

 11 Then said I: Lord, how long? And he said: Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate;

Lets be eager to do the work of the Lord until the work is done or until there is no one too talk to or serve!

love you all and have a happy new year!

love elder christensen