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

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

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!!

November 27,2014

Alright soooooo its been a crazy week and a half but i feel as though it has

flown by me so fast i can barely even see it all happening. to answer a lot

of peoples questions. My Companion is Elder S is from southeast Idaho.

This guy is a total homie. we get along great. plus hes an awesome

missionary. he's been out for a total of 21 months. My first area is Ione

California in the hills of sacramento! so no i am not in a biking area but

we get a jeep instead because some of the areas we have to drive NEED 4x4.

Elder S. and i are white washing this area so we are trying to get to

know everyone. and learn how to get around. there is only about 7000 people

so everyone knows everyone. the only way we can do missionary work is

through the members pretty much. we live in a house with two other

missionaries who do work in Jackson about 15 mins away.

we've had a couple of cool experiences but first: 

it was 700pm and we didnt know exactly what to do because we didnt know

anyone so of course we prayed . and for whatever we both felt the impression

to go see Brother H, our land lord. so we went over knocked on the

door and lo and behold his wife had three of her none member best friends

over that shes been too shy to give the book of mormon too. so we went into

a mini lesson and broke the religious ice ! thats the lord using us to

definitely move his work forward!!

second:

this one isnt actually about my companionship and i, but is actually our

roommates. they got called by a less active to give a blessing to a baby

that was 13months old that had an ear infection that caused the baby girl to

have seizures. so they raced over there in the morning. spent two hours in

the hospital, gave the blessing , hour and a bit later the babies

temperature dropped to normal, ear infection gone,  and no more seizures.

friends and family that is the power of the priesthood. not even the doctors

could explain what happened. the the Lords power this baby was healed. We

all need to give more appreciation to the priesthood. because it works

MIRACLES.

THIRD:

i gave my first priesthood blessing of comfort to my companion whos

grandfather died on sunday. i was a little nervous but i knew the lord would

guide me to say what he needed . and he did. the priesthood is awesome.

so regarding success in this area. well the work is slow. both my companion

and i are brand new to this BUT  we have lots of potentials and are

reactivating quite a few members, which is just as important as baptism.

part of what we need to do is endure to the end as well as be baptized with

proper priesthood authority. 

Immediately when i met president jardine i felt his love for me the same way

a father would love his childern. they are alll so comforting.

i cant wait for all you guys to read my journal sometime. but im running out

of time. its a lot easier if you all write me 

California Sacramento 

mission office 

8267 Deseret ave 

fair oaks, CA. 95628 

its nice and hot down here !! feels like 20+. love it.

love elder kristensen

also pdays are monday but because its thanks giving its today !!

(ill send more monday because i have  pday then.)

 1.the boys of district 43-c MTC

2. Sacramento, CA with Elder O. and Elder D.

November 18, 2014

Here's the latest from Elder Kristensen! He is on his way!

sooooooooooooo i dont actually have my journal with me so i cant give

specifics for this week but a couple of cool things happened regarding

missionary work and the spirit that happened between my companion and i.

something ive tried really hard to do this week is ask inspired questions.

really look and seek for the questions the spirit would have me ask my

investigator to have them do some real soul searching.

my investigators were T and M. which by the way BOTH committed to

baptism before the end of the month. (both investigators were fake but were

real people from peoples missions). but anyways i might as well just talk

about today real quick.... i landed in Sacramento California which is

AWESOME. yes it is warm and yes im tooooooo hot. but ill get over it !

because im about to do the lords work and im terribly excited .

so i did my first bit of missionary work today. from salt lake city to

Sacramento 

i sat next to a guy on an air plane. .. talked the WHOOLLEEE TWO HOURS. so i

shared the pass along cards with him and left him at that. crazy. the lords

work is awesome.

im glad to be out of the MTC... it was like a spiritual prison. Literally .

plus the food has never made me feel worse but the spirit there is soooo

strong.!!! ill let you know more on the next pday when i have my journal and

more time !

for now,

Elder Kristensen

California Mailing Address

Elder Kristensen SHOULD be leaving for California tomorrow. So, get ready to bookmark this page and to use it often because here is his mailing address until we hear otherwise:

Elder Nathan Michael Kristensen

California Sacramenta Mission 

8267 Desert Ave

Fair Oaks, Ca 95628

United States

I know he would love to hear from everyone. So get out the ol' pen and paper and write him some good old fashion snail mail. Even if you feel like you don't have much to say, he would love to know he's being thought of back home. Now, are you finding yourself asking "What should we write about? How do we get it there? What should we send?" Well. There are a few official suggestions for you. Now are you asking,"Letters? Clippings? Candy? What to send a missionary?" Don't fret. There's an answer for that too. Just click on the questions you have and you will be directed! 

And for those of you who are visual, here's a nice picture to help guide your thoughts when writing Elder K at a quick glance: 

Don't worry if you don't hear back from him right away! He must be busy proclaiming the gospel and all. 

Enjoy your correspondence! 

First Letter!!-November 12, 2014

Here is our first glance of Elder K's experience...He is only in the MTC until Tuesday, so I will be posting his Cali mailing address soon. If you would like, you can use the site, Dear Elder that Nathan mentions below. 

No mission field pictures yet-not sure if we will have any for a while until Elder Kristensen figures out the system there. 

Enjoy! 

alright here it is mom my first Email home. I just have to start off by

saying my companion has gotten like a bazillion of dear elders..... send

some more ;) and yes i got your delcious cinnamon buns and yes my entire

ZONE ate hem faster than i could get just one. dear elder is legit so use it

as much as possible for sure. 

alright ill give a quick run down of my week and how it went.:

when i got here it was a little bit confusing and awkward because i got

stuck with international kids so i couldnt understand anyone except this

elder from new zealand. total bro though. i slept in a temporary room and it

was totally awkward. the next day i finally was able to meet my companion

and take my dork dot off ( an orange sticker they put on your name tags).

that was definitely a feeling of moving up in the world. and i met my

companion. his name is Elder M and he is quite the guy. think about me

and how im like.....then think directly opposite of what im like and that

would be elder M including every pet peeve ive ever had. the Lord

definitely sent him to me as my first companion for a reason. Basically what

you do here is sit in a class for 9 hours a day, eat and sleep. the Days

literally feel like weeks up until your first sunday. thats when everything

becomes real and you enter into a routine. This place is sooooooo spiritual.

every time you enter into a building you can feel the spirit hit you like a

wall of righteousness . when kyle talked about feeling like angels literally

walked the halls of the MtC.... He wasnt kidding.

Seriously ive learned more about the gospel in 7 days than i have in 18

years. Personal revelation is real and i can bare witness to that. 

my zone is awesome except we just said good bye to our old zone leaders who

were soooooo cool . Elder K from tonga was soo sick. hes serving in

provo.

i think its more important to focus on what im learning rather than what im

doing. okay first biggest thing thats hit me was that we watched a video of

a devotional by David A Bednar called "the character of Christ." EVERYONE

MORMON OR NOT HAS TO SEE THIS VIDEO. it is literally life changing. its

about turning outward like christ does and avoiding the natural man turning

inwards. he gave the example of how after Christ for all of our sins and

left the garden, he saw the ear of the guard which had been chopped off by

one of the apostles. Christ went and he fixed the ear of that guard. i dont

know about you but if i just bled from every pore i would not be thinking

about a little minor wound of someone else. thats the Character of christ

which is being selfless. seriously watch the devotional. 

THERE IS TOOO MUCH TO WRITE WHOLLY .

i also want to share another quick experience with you that i had regarding

the holy spirit. Yesterday we listened to talk by Bishop Davies, part of the

general authorities. that devotional was so powerful but what really

testified to me in that devotional was the music that played. during praise

to the man sang by the mtc choir i said quick prayer asking if i could have

some sort of reassurance of the lord in my life. at the most powerful part

of the hymn i was touched by the Lord. Literally i felt like our Father in

Heaven touched my soul. when Nephi describes being filled with the spirit

thats kind of how i felt. from head to toe i tingled and a rush of warmth

came with it, and lo and behold i started crying. ive never felt the spirit

so string. and thats all because i prayed .

another quick thing i learned about prayer is i should have been praying

ALOT more. praying is real and it works. you will see gods hand in your

daily life so much stronger if you "pray always." also in the bible

dictionary under prayer it mentions a few things. first being we need to

pray in the name of christ but also in the mind of christ. what does that

mean you ask? well let me tell through my own personal revelation which has

changed how i pray immensely. it means that if Jesus Christ were to pray to

heavenly father for us in our certain circumstance, what would Christ be

praying for us. and trustme the spirit will tell you what that is. the

second part of it says how praying isnt us trying to change Gods will for us

but rather securing for ourselves the blessing that God is already willing

to give us. to me thats so powerful. Our heavenly father is waiting there

with a bucket of infinite blesssing waiting to poor onto us as long as we

pray with whole hearted faith in him. HAVE FAITH FOOLS. 

also next spiritual thing. its just a quote from a talk which says

"testimonies is not enough, we all must be converted to jesus christ"

we all need to work on being converted and not just have a testimony because

a testimony is not good enough.

I LOVE DOING THE LORDS WORK AND BEING A REPRESENTATIVE OF JESUS CHRIST.

elder muir and i are teaching two people right now. Tali and michael. tali

is real.... sort of. shes one of our techers. and michael.... no one knows

if hes real or not. but the mtc has had 7 baptisms in the last two months

becuase some none members have volunteeered to be taught by us .. so good

luck tooooooo me and my companion!

okay ive got to go soon so ill just say i love you all. soooo much.  keep it

real .

Elder Kristensen

Open House

Thank you all who came out to show some support for Elder Kristensen! And for those of you who couldn't make it,  the support vibes were felt! Here are a few snapshots from the open house...a SMALL sample of those who were there.

Bonus pic! Classic Kristensen Gangster (missing Makinna and Clavin).

Welcome to Elder Kristensen's Blog! 

Stay tuned to stay up-to-date on Elder K's mission experiences. Nathan's mom and sister will be posting updates here!

Here is some info you might like to have: 

Nathan has been called to serve a 2 year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (check it out!) in Sacramento, California. (Surfs up dude!-Just kidding, not allowed to surf on a mission). 

He has been preparing for months, and an incredible series of nail-biting events had to happen in order for him to be able to get to where he needs to be! (a.k.a. at the Missionary Training Centre in Provo, Utah).

Elder Kristensen will be at the MTC for approximately 2 weeks (until November 19). You can send him letters (and packages) at this address until he goes to Cali: 

Elder Nathan Michael Kristensen

NOV18 CA-SAC

2005 N 900 E Unit 188

Provo, UT 84604

United Sates 

Stay tuned for his California mailing address. It will be posted when we get word he is en route to The Golden State. 

ps. check out this super cool temple in Sacramento