Tuesday 18 August 2015

August 17, 2015

Okay itll have to be a quick on this week ! 
I just want to be able to tell you of a couple mircales and things that happend. first off there was a baptism for an investigator i taught down in Elk Grove. i got transfered out before her baptism but they allowed me to go back and this baptism was super special because there was 5 people bapitsing her. ill send a picture. the other miracle that happened this week was while we were sitting in zone conference i got this strong impression that we needed to go see this certain family that dropped us the week before. it was a very strong prompting. as we walked out of the conference elder H (my comp) came up to me and said that we needed to go see this family that dropped us.  at that point i was sold. we had to go see this family that dropped us flat. dont know why, but we both were moved enough to go see them,. so we did. THEY WELCOMED US BACK ! whhaaaaaa!? we'll see what happens. also we fasted on sunday so that anyone we were working with would come to church. we had this super solid investigator named C come to church! she is so awesome ! probably will get baptized. she has so much faith. we will see what comes of it in the next few weeks. 
i Have been studying a lot about peoples ability to become. ive come to know that life isnt as much about what you have accomplished in this life but rather what you have become. What we become is greatly manifested in what we do. but God ultimately looks at the person we become. and the only way that we will become what we  are intended to become is through the atonement of christ accessed in the restored Gospel . We are blessed. we must take that blessing and use it ! 
Love you all ,
Elder Kristensen 







August 10, 2015-Monday

Monday : p-day loves to fly by. Quickest day of the week and even to go as far as the most busy. We did our usual shopping with our brand new companions fro, the Mtc !! Haha we are going to have to teach them how to shop thrifty ! We also did the usual write emails and and play zone sports .  We also had the opportunity to teach L. ! He was baptized a week before we got to the mission oak ward.  This kid is awesome !  Other than that not much else happened today .
Tuesday:
Was kind of a miracle day! Why was it a miracle ? Well for starters we had cloud cover for the first time in months!!  So we were excited to be on bikes! But then we remembered we gave our helmets to the zone leaders . So we couldn't bike. So we used the car that would possibly shut off on us at any time!  But no worries because our day was BUSY. we met a for,re investigator that was actually going to drop the missionaries. But then we caught her walking her dog by some chance and she immediately felt the desire to ,set with us and build her faith in the lord ! That was cool!  The other cool thing was the elders in the zone (4companionships, 3 of which are training new missionaries ) went out for dinner to talk and see how the new missionaries are doing and taking a second to realize stress with each! It was a lot of fun to be honest. Went to jacks urban eats. Totally worth it. We also met a former investigator named C. She is so prepared ! She talked about how she is tired with sitting on the fence with getting baptized and talked a ton about how comfortable she feels at the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and how she knows that it has to be of God. And on top of that we talked to her Spanish neighbor who is also super receptive to the gospel and is looking forward to meeting with the Spanish sisters. 

Wednesday :
This was literally a day of miracles. Our zone has set a zone goal to invite a certain amount of people to be baptized by the end of the transfer. So all of our contacts some how now end up going back to inviting some one to be baptized by priesthood authority. And wow let me tell ya... That brings a TON of miracles. When the lord sees that  you are willing to invite anyone to be baptized, he puts the people in your path who have the desire to be baptized. We met SO many people prepared to receive the gospel today. And even put a few on date. I'll let ya know if anything happens with that.  We also had another appointment with C. to sing her happy birthday , but she was busy on the phone. But we did see the sisters teaching C's Spanish neighbors. But not just one but part of the family. And they extended a baptismal date and they accepted !  Goooooooo Spanish sisters!   Also while we were biking there was a guy with a flat tire. And I had a patch kit in my bag so we pulled over to help him out. So we patched his tire and as we talked he was saying how much he loves missionaries and how they always go over. Turns out this guy knows one of the members that I knew back when I was in foothills but he lives in a different ward. So that's weird. But that ward calls him a "dry Mormon" because he is doing everything he needs to to qualify for baptism but he just won't get baptized !!  So we invited him to make that decision and commit to it. Alright last cool thing of the day. End of the day we decided to go see one more potential. It was in a ghetto apartment complex where they were having a big party in the court yard. There have been a couple times on my mission where I've been nervous going to some places , but this time I was sort of terrified. And turns out we didn't even hav this potentials apartment number so it was useless to be there. Until an older man  sitting in a lawn chair called us over. Turns out one of his best friends is a member of the church, who visits him four times a week to take him to different appointments 
And do different things. They met because missionaries brought him over as a fellowship per a few years ago. But then he moved out of the area and into ours and hasn't been in contact with missionaries until we saw him that night. It truly was a miracle. 

Thursday:
We did service for a recent convert clipping some shrubs. Always a good time. It's a chance to wear civilian clothes which always feels strange. Today was ultimately lame because we had to take a car down to Elk Grove to the dealer ship (30mins away) to drop the car off then wait for three hours to find out that it will have to stay over night! So we had someone come pick us up. And the rest of the night we had some appointments that we had to get to. We had our ward mission leader come to this inactive mans apartment . We had an unbelievable lesson! This guy said he felt so prompted by the spirit to talk with us. Then shared his story how he is trying to get back on his feet. And we invited to take Christs "yoke upon [him]" because his "yoke is easy and burden is light." Sometimes you see when people feel the spirit. through our discussion directed by the spirit and the experiences our ward mission leader shared he was overwhelmed by the spirit. It was incredible! 
Friday: 
ZONE TRAINING. Zone training is always amazing. We had to read a talk called " the challenge to become " by elder dallin h. Oaks. EVERYONE READ IT. If you truly want to know what your real purpose in life is you'll read it accompanied with the Book of Mormon. I received a lot of insights and personal revelation.  Given straight from the spirit. I also read a talk called "whom the lord loveth the lord chastens ." And in a nut shell don't turn away the very rebukes and chastening from the lord that allow you to become. As soon as you do,  you keep yourself separate from God and your eternal divine purpose. We also had to go pick up the car today. So there goes another couple of ours because it was terrible traffic. We had L. a 17 year old boy just baptized come out with us to appointments. It was awesome to see him bare testimony of his conversion and why it was so important for him to be baptized by authority. 


Saturday: at first today didn't seem like it was going to go well at all. But yes God does provide ! We started it early with a service project that involved us moving so,e things out for a garage sale. Did some studies but then we had to go to an appointment that some members came with us to. One of the best lessons I've ever witnessed ! It is the best feeling when you see the light bulb go off for someone regarding the restoration. Then we had an amazing dinner. Had a ton of  Asian food. And log story short we were going to take L. on a temple tour but we were going to have to cancel but then our dinner appointment pulled through and said that they could take him so we could go. And inspired also because they had a none member girl who also joined us for the occasion! Miracle! Once we got to the temple it looked like there was a small picnic for a ward or something. And turns out it was all the Lao people having a Lao picnic ! The tender mercies of God ! I helped be apart of this picnic but then I got transferred and I was bummed I didn't get to attend ! But some how the lord still made it happen. It was crazy to see all the Lao people again. I love them all so much. 
Sunday :pretty good Sunday expect we had to stay inside all day because we had to weekly plan. But it was elder P. birthday so we celebrated !!! 
Great week! I attached some of my study notes ! 


Doctrine and covenants 1:19- I've been reading that scripture wrong all along. It states the the weak things of the world shall come forth and break down the mighty and strong ones." I always figured that we were strong ones and some of us would fall. But nope personal revelation today, we are weak to the things of this world but the weak shall confound the learned and strong things of the world. Because God is more powerful than the power of the world. And calls upon the unlearned (18 year old elder kristensen) to declare his gospel by the power of his spirit. It pushes me to use the spirit and rely on him . 
Pray often
 Praying is a commandment. As we ask in faith sincerity and real intent we will receive answers to prayers. We can feel the Holy Ghost and know of his presence as we are taught new things, minds are filled with inspiring and uplifting thoughts , hearts will have feelings of peace joy and comfort, and we will want to serve others. Generally we can't describe the feelings of the spirit but we will know them when we feel it. 2nephi32:8-9 pray always and before all our doings that it may be for the welfare for our souls. Salam teaches a man not to pray.
Enos1:12 God grants to the desires of our hearts and because of our faith. 
Alma 34:17-28 - God wants to hear from you no matter where you are. Literally everywhere. He also wants to here anything, no matter what it is . And when you are not praying let your heart be full always drawn out in prayer for the welfare of my soul. 
Doctrine and covenants 6. 
Unreal chapter . V. 14 if you ever wonder why you are where you at while in the service of the lord and feel doubt within know that the spirit has always provided you with instruction to be where you are at.  I love this chapter. I feel like it just talks directly at me. Impressive to say least. 
Alma 37:33 - faith can overcome any temptation
2cor7:10- godly sorrow will drive you to repent and worldly sorrow will drive you to death.  
God is our loving Heavenly Father
God loves us infinitely. We are his children and he wants to see our success. He only hates sin because he hates to see us fail to reach our divine potential. He mourns when we mourn, he smiles when we smile. For his "work and [his] glory" is to "bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." (Moses1:39) we are our fathers' glory. We are what makes him glorified. We are what bring him eternal joy.  





Tuesday 4 August 2015

August 3, 2015- SAC TOWN

HELLO FAMILY AND FRIENDS 
alright i gotta go fast again. 
Monday :
So the mission does transfers a little bit differently. so we do a transfer meeting now where we meet at the mission office and its a big surprise who your companion will be and your area. so i found that out. and a couple of crazy things happened there. First was i saw elder D. my previous companion. i love that guy so much. he Honestly is one of my best friends. He also gave me long awaited chop sticks that his mom sent from japan :) he is still in foothills ward. other crazy thing is that i saw elder B!! and now he is sitting at home back in Edmonton. thats crazy. third thing that happened was One of the best members from the foothills ward just moved into the Ward im in right now. HOW CRAZY IS THAT. i love that family so much , blew my mind.
Tuesday was P-day. I was placed with ELder P as we waiting for our companions to come in from the mtc. we had a busy pday preparing the apartment and buying groceries for our brand new companions. we live together (4 of us in an apartment like Ione). so thats always a blast.  super busy day
Wednesday :
We got our new companions! i got Elder H from Richfeild Utah. This guy is awesome ! he is suoer excited. i love being with a new missionary. it reminds me of so many of the good things that we do as missionaries and reminds me of how important the little things are . Its been super hot here. biking has been insane in it . but worth it . there are some amazing members in this ward and im so glad i get to be here with them. 
Thursday:
had my first district meeting ever... that was interesting ! it wet pretty well i think ! tried really hard to establish that family like relationship in the district. again just another day of biking in the heat!

Friday:
Another busy day of working and seeing people. weekly planning and contacting. 
Saturday:
At our dinner appointment we started an hour late . so we had a two hour dinner appointment. woops. but it was for good reason. because right before we started we looked out the back window and saw a dog mauling some chickens and the chickens were scattering so we had to chase a dog away and trrack some chickens! 
Sunday:
First day in mission oak ward. went really well. that chapel is gorgeous ! we basically had meetings all day and studies. 

Ive been studying alot lately of the the things that the Lord ENtrusts us with. and wow its a lot. And i read  a scripture in doctrine and covenants 12:8 this morning that just changed things a little bit for me. i suggest you all read it. but essentially what it says to assist in the  Lords work you have to be full of love , have faith , hope and charity, and be temperate in all things the Lord has entrusted us with. I feel i like in all those aspects. but all are necessary and kind of a task for a life time. but i just want to testify of how important real pure true love is for the childern of our heavenly father. Its everything. You have to Love. and not just love out of selfish desires. that is when we change. thats when we become more as the savior. Only through the Atonement of christ can we accomplish these things. 
Love you all, church is true and the book is blue,
ELder Kristensen