Tuesday 16 December 2014

December 15, 2014

Monday

Weird thing happened this day... that being I got my first haircut ever by
someone who ISN'T my mother!!!! Weird right? I felt a little weird. It was
don by a Sister J who has been cutting hair for more than 50 years!
Also terribly hilarious story. We went and got subway to eat a little
breakfast. we noticed that a man standing outside with a sign asking for
$5.00 so he could get a hot meal. So Elder S. , being the Christ like
child of God he is, went and offered half of his sub to this man. We put a
Christmas pass along card with this sub and gave it too him and right after
we gave it to him he turned and started to bash HARD. We were kind of peeved
until we remembered the scripture Mosiah 2:17 in the Book of Mormon.



Tuesday:

We met with a Recent Convert who lives out on a native reserve which is
always fun ! But it was cool because when we were praying as to what to
share with him, Elder S. and I were both impressed to talk about he
Christ like attribute of patience. And that was definitely  guide by the
Spirit of the Lord because it hit home for him and he new thats what he
needed to work on the most. As probably does most of us. We also decided
this day to go and talk to a member to contact some of his referrals he had
for us. He wasnt home but noticed his lawn needed to be raked so in our
shirt and ties we decided to do it. Elder S. had to jump into the garbage
can and jump on it every so often. Quite comical. We also decided to go to
one of our invvestigators house and do it also because he was in a
motorcycle accident and couldnt. It was amazing to see how grateful him and
his wife were when they saw what we did. It reminded me why I like to do
service.



Wednesday

We did exchanges this day with San Andreas. Totally sucked. the San Andreas
Elders literally live in a garage with a toilet. Plus we spent the whole day
driving around so theres not much to talk about here.



Thursday

TEMPLE CONFERENCE. Wow there is lots to say about this day, but first I have
to say I am SOOOOOO GRATEFUL for temples. Everytime you go a new question to
the soul is answered and you feel so peaceful after that you are apologizing
to the guy that cut YOU off on the way home. Peoples work towards or go to
the temple as much as you can. The Lord will bless you for doing his work.
we first got to temple hill (yes the temple has a whole hill for itself and
the drive up is awesome) and did a little conference and lunch. Then a
temple session and we didnt even get home till late.

Friday

The does provide miracles!! we were able to teach 5 lessons this day and
added a whole family !!! Little Ione is prepared!!

Saturday. 

Christmas parade and the ward christmas party happened today !! Ione has the
cutest little traditions! plus the Ward Christmas party was HUGE plus there
was so many non member there!

Also Elder S. and had to sing a song. I wante to share one of the verses
that we came up with.

Because i have been given much i too must serve



I'll leave the comfort of my home to teach thy word



I'll Teach thy sheep who've gone astray



and those who've never known the way 



I'll make thy work my work today



Sunday

Alright here it is... the big news. We had a conference call at 8 to here a
big surprise from President J. and all of us were expecting Ipads. It
wasnt Ipads. 

They are splitting the Sacramento mission with the Fresno mission and
creating a new one called the Modesto CA mission. This mission is
anticipated to start July 1 2015. No one knows whose going to that mission
yet but some will be reassigned to start a brand new mission off. I should
know in Januarary whats happening with me.  No one else in the world will no
about it until tuesday and wednesday.  Only the first presidency of the
church and our mission knows. I'll keep you updated. The Lord is hastening
his work. The sacramento mission is having so much success because of the
Lord. Requiring a new mission.

I love you all, stay sweet,

Elder Kristensen


Tuesday 9 December 2014

December 8, 2014


Alright ! family and friends ! Another week has gone by. WHATS GOING ON!
time flys when youre having fun! So i guess I'll start with the beginning of
my week. Monday:

So it was P-day and a very unsuccessful one at that. Near Ione is Jackson
where they have all the Family history computers soo we desired to go and
write home there so we didnt have to take turns. But according to our Luck
of course the internet wasnt working. we wasted about 2 hours trying to
figure it out. So we rushed to find somewhere else to write. later we found
a memebers house where we all had to Take turns. While Elder R. and Elder
N. were writing Elder Simms and I went tracting in the area to
hopefully get some success. Our Goal was to get at least 5 "no's." Lo and
Behold we got 8! Miracles Do happen ! But really miracles do. I'll talk
about that later. We also had dinner at member's home. These members have
an enormous home on top of a hill with like 50 childern. Super cool family who sounds dangerously close to my own. 


Tuesday:

This day the work of the Lord moved forward! we met J. He is the son to
our dinner calender sister. He is quite rough around the edges. But honestly one of the
nicest people and kind heart I've ever met. We
also shared a message about Personal Revelation with a family.
Basically what came out of that is  IF YOU DONT CARE TO WRITE PERSONAL
REVELATION DOWN IT SHOWS YOU DONT CARE. keep journals everyone.

There is a state prison down the street which accounts for 4000 of Iones 7000 people living here. 


Wednesday:

We met with J. again this day and actually got to know him. He's met with
missionaries before but hated being pressured so we just became his friend.
We also ate dinner at the a member's House( another member of the 5o children family).
There we taught a lesson to K. who brought her boyfriend along

Thursday:

ASSISTANT TO PRESIDENT EXCHANGES. First AP exchange I've ever done. Also
probably the most helpful thing that has happened so far. There is an
unwritten law of exchanges that states that you will always have the most
success in that two hours with the AP then you will ever. In a matter of an
hour and a half we taught 4 lessons and got 2 refferals. Also Elder G. ,
the AP, is amazing and so bold. Some day I'll be a missionary like him.



Friday:

First Zone Training! YAY. i finally got to meet my zone for the first time
since I've been in Ione. The thing about being in the Hills is that we are
extremely isolated. From everything. There's 3 companionships in the Hills
so we are kind of a Zone of our own. So the deal with zone training was we
got a brand new Mission Vision. Our old vision was based off numbers and
baptisms. The New vision still has some numbers but only to raise our
vision. Our Vision now is souly focused on the 100% conversion of our
investigators and also the conversion of our selves. In the last 5 weeks i
can say im more truly becoming converted to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm
seeing the way it changes others lives hugly as well as my own life. The
Lord Truly Blesses everyone and is always looking out for us. and i wish
everyone Could see that. It kills me everytime someone shuts the door in my
face because every person we talk to is a son and daughter of our Heavenly
Father whom he loves. It crushes me now that I have a greater understanding
the purpose of life and why are hear. The great message that missionaries
share isnt about just trying to get people to convert. We first help people
the way Christ would. Thats why we wear his name on our chests. We are all
disciples of Jesus Christ and its our job to help people bring salvation to
their souls but also bring them joy in this temporal life. One of our
Commision say states that we "stand it Christs place, act the way He would
act and say the things He would say." Anyways sorry bit of a tangent.



Saturday:

this day was awesome. I read in 2 Nephi 28-33. awesome chapters. If you dont
know them.. READ THEM. we got to do some service to day for a Brother
who is quite the lovely old man with a Garden the size of my back yard. we
got to harvest all the fruits from his plants and even gave us some homemade
grape juice. which reminds me of my home made apple juice. SEND ME SOME. We
also added two new investigators today. M. was the first. He's 13 and goes
to boy scouts at the church ( which by the way there are more non member boy
scouts in there than members). The next is R. We received a referral for
a lady named B. We knocked on the door and she was kind of interested
but R.was one of her friends who happened to be there who was completely
intrigued by the Gospel so that was awesome.



Sunday: 

Fast sunday. Never seems to go by very fast. But none the less was awesome.
We ate at another member's house for dinner and we ate the classic breakfast for
dinner. Later watched the Christmas devotional at their house ! so Awesome!
the Music was gorgeous!! 



That was my week in a nut shell. The Lord is preparing people. We have to
expect miracles when it comes to missionary work because it's the Lords
work. The only person hindering miracles is ourselves

See yall later!

Elder Kristensen

Companions <3

 Elder R. and my companion Elder S.
My gross rolled ankle

Tuesday 2 December 2014

December 1, 2014

3 Days in Zion!

Alright a lot has happened since thursday! starting with thursday night
where i rolled my ankle playing basketball so bad i couldnt walk ! (good
thing im in a driving area). that kinda sucked. Next awesome part about
friday was we had an appointment with a man called R. His wife is a
member and has talked to lots of missionaries except this time when we
talked to him one of the first things he said to us was "sorry im barfing
right now but i want to get baptized so I'll see ya as soon as possible !"
so wether he actually does get baptized or not ill let you guys know. 

On saturday we were supposed to meet with an A. and T. A young
married couple that were tracted into by the missionaries before us. But
then T got into a motorcycle accident which opened his stomach up. we
were supposed to meet them saturday but they werent home so we left a card
with our number on it. then on sunday for whatever reason i felt as though
we needed to go by there again today. When we got there we were invited to
give him a blessing of healing because he still was in major recovery mode.
They had no idea what it entitled. but after the anointing and blessing was
done and asked him how it went the only thing he said was "as soon as I had
oil placed on my head and you first started praying i had the weirdest
feeling come over me. it wasnt a bad weird but a good weird." and at that
point elder simms and i both knew the spirit has touched his soul. after
which they started asking question and we ended up in an hour and a half
conversation about the plan of salvation that God has given to us . They are
super interested and something good will probably come from it :) ill keep
you updated on them too. it was just awesome to hear about their story and
how the Lord prepares people to hear his gospel. also my companion and i
gave talks on sunday !!! YAY. 

I'm out of time so ill talk to all of you later ! 

sincerely ,

Elder Kristensen


PS i forgot my camera so Ill send some next week!!