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