Faith

Hello friends and family! I hope you are all enjoying this Christmas season. It has been a great week we have been able to find some awesome people. We have knocked on so many doors this week! It is so much fun I love it! Elder Lamont and I play a game where we have to knock on every house that has a nativity, it has been fun, sometimes Elder Lamont will talk to people in his British accent, it's pretty funny. 

We have had a really good conversation with a man this week, we were talking about prayer and he told us he doesn't pray anymore because he had prayed for this specific thing for 10 years and he thinks that God didn't answer his prayers. We discussed it for a while but nothing we said really hit home with him, so I did some studying on that subject and I came across President Uchtdorf's talk 4th floor last door, he says in the talk: 

 "Yet some might ask, “If faith is so powerful, why can’t I receive an answer to a heartfelt prayer? I don’t need a sea to part or a mountain to move. I just need my illness to go away or my parents to forgive each other or an eternal companion to appear on my doorstep with a bouquet of flowers in one hand and an engagement ring in the other. Why can’t my faith accomplish that?”

The second thing faith cannot do is force our will upon God. We cannot force God to comply with our desires--no matter how right we think we are or how sincerely we pray. Consider the experience of Paul, who pleaded with the Lord multiple times for relief from a personal trial--what he called “a thorn in the flesh.” But that was not God’s will. Eventually, Paul realized that his trial was a blessing, and he thanked God for not answering his prayers the way he had hoped.

Trust and Faith

No, the purpose of faith is not to change God’s will but to empower us to act on God’s will. Faith is trust--trust that God sees what we cannot and that He knows what we do not. Sometimes, trusting our own vision and judgment is not enough." 

I love that, I often ask in my prayers for what I think I want, but something I've realized is that I need to pray in faith, that doesn't mean I have faith that God will give me what I want, but faith meaning I have faith that whatever God wants to happen is what is going to help me the most in his plan for me. I loved this week, I grew a lot. Thank you for all of your support and love. I have enjoyed all the letters I have received from you guys. They really do mean a lot. I love and miss you all. Merry Christmas!

Elder Christensen🌻

Christmas Time!

Hey everyone! I hope you are all enjoying this time of year, I know I
am! It is a bit weird being away from home for Christmas time, but I
am so glad I am out here in Kansas! We have been getting in the
Christmas spirit this week! We decorated the house, listen to
Christmas music, and have been drinking way too much egg nog, so it's
been really fun! Kansas is awesome, the people have such a strong
faith in Christ, there are so many houses with nativities, it's so
cool!

Anyways this week was another great one, I'm pretty sure I say that
same thing every week, but it's true! I love my mission! So we have
been knocking on a lot of doors this week, which is different than
what I have done in the past, we usually would just talk to everyone
who is outside, but now it's getting cold and well... there's nobody
outside. So we have been knocking on doors and trying to share with
them the light the world video, we have watched that video so many
times, but it's still good! I'll have that song down on the piano by
the time we are done! We have met some super awesome people this week!
We have met a man named rob pastor and he is awesome, we have also met
Justine and Alberto, they are awesome too! Hopefully we can continue
to progress them. Keep them in your prayers!

We had zone training in Salina this week and it's always great to see
the zone. Our zone has some really great missionaries and I learn a
lot from them. I also have been having an awesome time reading the
Book of Mormon. As a mission, we have been reading the Book of Mormon
and we are all going to finish on Christmas Day and read Moroni 10
together as a mission. It's been a really great experience to read the
Book of Mormon again. As President Monson puts it, "If you have not
read the Book of Mormon, Read it!" I strengthen my testimony every
time I read the Book of Mormon and the power it has.

Well I love you all, I really do. I thank you for your support. You
are all in my prayers. Love and miss you all and I hope you all are
having a great holiday season!

Elder Christensen🌻🌅

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Pie!

Hey everyone! I hope you all had a great thanksgiving. Thanksgiving
was great here! We were able to eat at a members home which was
awesome. They made some awesome food, it was really good. We also made
some pie, apple pie, banana cream pie, and of course my favorite,
cherry pie. It was a really good day.

On Tuesday we had the awesome opportunity of being able to have zone
conference in Wichita with elder Andersen of the seventy. It was a
really great experience to have him answer some of our questions and
help us become better missionaries. I also got to reunite with my MTC
comp Elder Goldsberry, so it was all around a great day!

Last pday we were in hays. We got to hang out with the hays district
and that was a good time. We visited all of Elder Lamont's friends
there since he served there 6 months ago. It was really fun.

This week we have been traveling a lot, we have been to Topeka,
Wichita, Hays, and Larned all in one week. It was good to see more of
this beautiful heartland of America! Kansas is awesome, we have found
lots more cool people and have started our Christmas initiative, Light
the World, it is awesome! If you haven't watched it yet, I invite you
to check it out and share it with as many people as you can.

Anyways it's been a great week here. I think I say that every week,
but it's true, Kansas truly is an awesome place and I am loving my
mission. Thank you all for your support and love. I love all you! Have
a good week!

Elder Christensen

Missions are the best!

Hey everyone! So this week was so good! I got a new companion, his
name is Elder Lamont, he's an awesome guy. We are going to have a lot
of fun this transfer! Anyways, this week was really good! We found
this couple named Chad and Lydia, they are awesome. We were knocking
on random doors one day and they opened the door and let us in and
they were very interested in the Book of Mormon! We are excited for
them.

Last week on pday we went golfing in Salina. It was a lot of fun even
though I am terrible at golf...  on Wednesday I said goodbye to elder
Madson, he is a great guy and missionary, I will miss him.

Yesterday we went to Topeka for the mission president devotional. It
was really good, Elder Andersen of the Seventy was there and he spoke.
It was a good time.

On Saturday we knocked on this guys door and he was nice at first,
until we brought up the Book of Mormon... then he started calling us a
cult and told us to throw the Book of Mormon in the fire. So that made
me pretty mad and we bible bashed for a bit...(I know I shouldn't) but
it was fun haha.

But we have had a good week with a lot of fun experiences and cool
things that have happened. Missions are awesome and I wouldn't rather
be anywhere else. Thanks for all your support. I love and miss all of
you!

Elder Christensen

November 17, 2016 Last week in training

Hey everyone! So this week was my last week in training and with elder
Madson. It was fun but I'm glad to be out of training! So transfers
are this week and I found out that I will be staying in great bend for
another 6 weeks and that my new companion will be Elder Lamont. I am
really excited, it's gonna be good to be in great bend for the
holidays!

So anyways, this last week was really good! We have continued to find
a lot of new people. We were talking to everyone we could see this
week and we found a few pretty solid people! So we are excited about
that. We are working with one lady named Amber and she is awesome, she
has 6 kids with her 7th on the way this week, so it's been a little
crazy at her house so we have tried to get the ward involved in
helping her out. But we are super excited about her!

Yeah so not much happened this week but it was still awesome, because
every week here in the KWM is awesome. So I will give you more details
next week, about my new comp and stuff. But thanks for everything you
guys do and all your support. I love and miss you all.

Elder Christensen

November 7, 2016 Good times

Hey everyone! Hope you are all doing great! So this week has been
pretty good. We had a lot of meetings and so we weren't able to work
as much, but it was still great!

On Thursday we went over to Junction City for zone conference and got
to see my MTC boys Elder Crane and Elder Stirling. So that was fun.
Then on Friday we went to Salina for Zone training which was really
good. We also had regional conference on Sunday, and Elder Rasband
spoke which was really awesome.

Mark Crain, our recent convert has come out with us a lot this week
which has been awesome! His testimony and conversion story really have
helped people. There are so many people we are working with, but we
are just trying to commit them to this gospel and help them understand
how much it can bless them.

We have also had a ton of people yell at us this week, idk why but
people were just a lot more mean this week for some reason haha, on
Saturday every person we talked to rejected us, which was really
strange, because Kansas people will usually at least listen to us. But
it's all good! We are so excited for our last week before transfers.
It's going to be a good week! This is my last week in training, so I'm
excited!

Well everyone I hope you are all doing well. I'm loving Kansas more
and more each week as well as this gospel. Thanks so much for your
support and prayers! Love and miss you all!

-Elder Christensen

October 31st, 2016 Happy Halloween!

Hello everyone! Happy Halloween to you all!🎃 I hope your day is going
well and that you all had a great week! This week was awesome for us!
We are enjoying our Halloween today dressed up as missionaries!

On Tuesday I went on exchanges with one of my zone leaders Elder
Mortensen, he is a Springville native and it was a good time. We met a
lady this week, we were looking for someone else and we just happened
to see her, so we talked to her and she loved what we had to share,
she came to the ward party that night and had a great time. She said
at the party that she wanted to get baptized this weekend, we told her
we wish she could, but there's just a few things we have to do first
haha, so we had a lesson with her at the church with Mark and he told
her about his conversion story and it was awesome to see him testify,
but she is so awesome and I'm so excited to continue to teach her. On
Friday we found a ton of new people, we talked to everyone we saw and
were able to find 6 new investigators in one day which was super cool!
The people of Kansas all have such strong faith in Christ so a lot of
them are very receptive to the message we share.

On Sunday we had Marks baptism!!! It was so awesome to see him enter
the waters of baptism and change his life and turn towards Christ!
Just a few weeks ago we saw him walking down the street and we decided
to talk to him, he rejected us a few times but once he finally read
the Book of Mormon, the spirit let him know it was true, and after
that it has all been smooth sailing towards his baptism. He says "this
feeling is better than any drug." It was the most amazing thing to be
able to see him change so much in just a few short weeks. Awesome
experience and something that has changed his life as well as mine.

It has been an awesome week! So grateful for all the miracles and
blessings I have seen on my mission. I love and miss you all. Thank
you all for your support! Have a great Halloween and week!

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October 24th, 2016 John Smith

Hello everyone! This week has been great. We have been working hard to
find new people and we have found a ton of new people this week. So
that's been good. We have been working with Mark. His baptism is next
week so hopefully he can continue to progress towards that. He has
been doing awesome! A few days ago we were with him outside his house
and one of his friends came over and started telling him all of this
stuff about "John Smith" AKA Joseph Smith... But mark wouldn't take
it, he told him he knew this gospel was true and that he is coming so
much closer to Christ. So that was cool to see him defend his faith
like that, he's such an awesome guy!

So this week we haven't done anything too out of the ordinary. We have
just been doing what missionaries do I guess, walk around and talk to
people. But it's been fun, we went to the Great Bend football game
with 3 of our investigators, so that was fun. On Tuesday I went on
exchanges with Elder Winegar, we were walking down the street and we
saw this guy, so we went up to him and talked to him, he was a big
huge black guy, he told us he was Pastor Brown and invited us to come
talk inside... You can guess what happened next, he just wanted to
prove our religion and "John Smith" wrong, we probably stayed a little
too long, but it's pretty fun bible bashing with people. I know we
should just bear testimony and get out of there, but you've gotta have
some fun every once and a while haha.

But it was a good week, I really do love Kansas and the people here. I
love seeing people change their lives and come closer to Christ. I
really have strengthened my testimony out here. I have seen that this
church can truly change people unlike any other church. Thank you guys
so much for the support! I love and miss you all!

October 17, 2016 Miracles are real!

Hey everyone! So this week has been by far the best week of my
mission! So on Wednesday we were walking down the street and we saw
this guy, so we decided we should go talk to him. At first he was a
bit hesitant to talk to us because he thought we were jw's haha but
when he found out we are Mormons he gave us a chance. So we talked to
him and invited him to church and to be baptized, he said he would
come to church and be baptized, he said to us he had been looking for
a way to get closer to Christ and he believed God had placed us in his
path, so that was awesome. But the next day we got a call from him and
he said he talked to his family and they told him a bunch of stuff
about the church and he told us he didn't want to talk to us anymore,
so we were super disappointed, but the next morning we went to his
house and talked him through some stuff and he said he would come to
church and give it a chance. But then a few hours later he called us
again and said he really didn't want to talk to us anymore and that he
is happy with his own church. So we then went over to his house again,
he said he wasn't going to come to church, but we just invited him to
read from the Book of Mormon after we left and he said he would... 20
minutes later we got a call from him and he said he wanted to go to
the church right then, so we picked him up and went to the church with
one of the members of the ward. We gave him a church tour and it was
the most spiritual things I've ever been a part of. He said he knew
that this was where he is supposed to be and thanked us for not giving
up on him. He came to church yesterday and he absolutely loved it! He
is super excited about the church and about getting baptized. The Lord
provided an awesome miracle and it was so awesome to be a part of!

This week was super awesome, we have really put our trust in the lord
and he has provided so many miracles this week. My testimony has been
strengthened so much this week and I know that God is aware of each
one of us and he cares for us and that if he needs something done, he
will get it done. Thanks for your support, I love and miss you all!

October 10, 2016 Good Week

Hey everybody! Hope you are all doing well. This week has been another
good one, we saw a bunch of cool things. We were able to have a bunch
of investigators at church yesterday so that was awesome, they are all
ready for baptism they just have these things we are trying to help
them work through, but they are all so awesome! It's been a lot colder
here this week, so it's been harder to talk to lots of people, because
no one is outside ever, so we have had to come up with new ways to
find people to teach.

It was Elder Waldron's last week here, he is now home in Idaho which
is sad. I am going to be here in great bend for another 6 weeks with
the same companion Elder Madson, I'm glad I'm still here because we
have so many awesome people we are working with.

I love my mission, it is hard work but it has helped me grow so much,
I love seeing people change and turn to Christ. It is he best feeling
when you see that desire to come unto Christ in someone. I love seeing
how much happiness this gospel brings to people. Good week here in
Kansas! Nothing really new with me, but we are still working hard.
Shout out to Lincoln and Brighton and their decision to be baptized,
love you guys! Thank you all for all your love and support, you guys
are the best!

-Elder Christensen