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!!