January 26, 2015 -YAY FOR ANOTHER WEEK

Alright here it is!

Monday:

Wicked pday ! We went to mcdonalds. we Also decided to go bowling because

we had free passes so that was awesome. Im awful but thats alright! I also

found out that my boy Richard cut his hair. So heart broken i couldnt be

there for it. Also today we got to teach C., at a members FHE. C. is

someone we found just on the street outside of her house as we were placing

flyers ! she now has a baptismal date in Feburary! It was cool because we

got talking about the Atonement, and all it took was bearing a strong

testimony of the Atonement and what it has done in my life and what it could

do in hers, for her heart to be touched by the spirit of the Lord. Bare

testimony friends alll the time! 

Tuesday:

Super Spiritually exhausting days! i was Edified to the max! I went to a new

missionary meeting ( the one i missed to 7 weeks ago...woops) where i

learned a lot of different things about how to plan effectively and help my

studies be more effective and centered around investigators and their needs.

i Also got to work on planning better for my investigators . one of our

assistant to the president said "preparation precedes power" so awesome. I

also got to talk with the president and he gave me some new inlightenment id

like to share with you! He talked to me about the difference Guilt and Godly

sorrow. He asked me what kind of words come with guilt and i said "ashamed,

darkness, saddness etc" and then he asked me if any of those words involved

the saviors plan. and of course i said no. He then went on to xplain how we

guilt is of the devil and makes you look back. but as soon as you start

feeling guilt you are falling into satans temptations. Godly sorrow on the

other hand is the feeling that desires you to make a change. to look forward

rather than back and in the end causes happiness. i invite all you to think

about that and what you uorself may be feeling. 

Wednesday:

The work has really begun to hasten here !Today i finally got my package

from home that had HOME MAD APPLE JUICE. liquid gold literally. i gave a jar

to the man who owns my house ! we also got to take L. to the Temple for

baptisms ! truly an amazing experience to see someone feel that

peace that comes from the temple for the first time! 

Thurday:

Today i did something i probably would have never done before. but we saw

one of our investigators walking down the street that we hadnt been able to

get ahold of  as we were driving and we literally did a solid u turn parked

around the corner, andhunted him down. probably the weirdest thing ive ever

done. but we got a return appointment with him so totally worth it. It was

also awkward because he totally saw us drive by.

Friday:

Today i Learned a lot about faith and its importnce. but because i dont have

time to write it out .... go read the Bible dictionary the word "faith."

mind blowing things in there.

Saturday:

Exchanges with Elder VL.  We learned earlier in the weeek in district

meeting about the importance of diligence. even when things get hard and so

we really tried applying it this day and we were blessed for it! all day no

one was home but we kept jugging along and that night in a matter of 7

houses we taught three lessons and added 2 new investigators!

Sunday :

Church was awesome we had C. and another investigator abd a ton of less

actives which was great ! So awesome to see these people coming back to

church. But i invite all you to read doctrine and covenants 9:8-9 and see

what it says about prayer becasue thats what i learned today.

Have a great week everyone i love you all!

Elder Kristensen

January 19, 2015-SPA DAY

Well I'll just lay out my week again for you guys! 

Monday:

This day marks the first day I've eaten Mcdonalds on the mission. It was an

amazing day. Not just because we went to Mcdonalds but also becasue Elder

S and i bought Face masks. Ultimate relaxing espcially because our walk

in shower.... is also a bathtub with jets. amazing right? Probably the best

thing besides the Gospel. I also learned I'm useless without God. Even the

prophet Alma thinks so. Alma 26:12.

Tuesday:

So something big happened today in the Progression of a recent Convert. This

man lives in a very humble home with no electricity. And when we first met

him he was very clear that he goes at his own pace and no way that he was

going to the Temple any time soon. But this week we met with him we felt a

powerful feeling to invite him to go and do Baptisms for the Dead in the

Temple. He hummed and hawed until we described how important it was... then

he was all for it ! Makes me so happy to see him progress as a new member.

we are going to go with him sometime this week i hope! 

Wednesday:

Nothing spectacular happened today, but just a little bit of frustration

with people who believe they know more about our religion then we do. people

tell us all kind of things that are not true. The internet can hurt a lot

sometimes. DONT BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU READ. We also took our bikes out

again because it was HOT! You get so many more contacts that way.

Thursday: 

We had an awesome district meeting today. Totally inspired. One of the

things we did in it was a real life role play teaching another missionary

about a missionary principle or thing to help them as a missionary as a way

to practice commitments. GENIUS. we took five minutes to pray and seek for

inspiration as to what we should teach and commit them for. I was committed

to have more Faith in Jesus Christ and always remember i work for him. Which

was crazy because the day before i was just studying about that and told

myself i needed to have more faith in Him rather than myself.

Friday:

we did service for 5 hours today in Bro H's back yard. he has a huge

back yard Garden! then we did weekly planning which is terribly boring, then

all you can eat chinese food!

Saturday:

Awesome day ! we definitely guided to people today. we ended placing three

Book of Mormon and added a couple investigators ! Work is booming and it is

awesome to see the progression of this area. we also ate chinese food again

and heard a chinese version of Jon Denvers "take me home country road"

glorious.

Sunday: 

Amazing Sacrament meeting. i have slowly seen what our work in Ione has

really become because we had a couple, 2 single ladies and a family we have

been working with that are less active members at church! super awesome!

hopefully they will be coming back into activity. Also there was an amazing

talk on forgiveness. Forgiving others and being forgiven. It touched my soul

on both aspects. Forgivness is a commandment people ! do it! also You know

your father in heaven has forgiven you when you have done all you can to be

forgiven. Lots learned but im running out of time. So i have to get going !

Everything is going great everyone! i Miss you all and hope all of you are

taking joy in the Gospel! Much Love from you missionary in california,

Elder Kristensen

January 12, 2015-THE POLICE

This week we've had some rather exciting events. Also a very spiritual one.

Monday:

We played tons of basketball and i discovered the Ione Chinese food

Restraunt. Literally the Best thing and the closest thing to Edo that i

have! We also had an amazing experience. Just before we were leaving the

Jackson family history center a women was trying to get in. We let her in

and asked her how we could help. She immediately broke down into to tears

and needed help, and someone sent her to the family history center at the

church to find that. We werent able to physically do a lot for her because i

dont know how to do family history but she just needed comfort and hope. We

were able to provide that kind of hope, and one of the most  touching

opportunities to show Christ like love that I've had.

Tuesday:

Today marks the day I got an investigator with a Baptismal Date. Woohooo.

now we just have to work towards them. I also was able to receive a lovely

letter from my mother. She sent me a letter that included an old lesson plan

of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. My relationship with Christ absolutely

increased!! Totally inspired. One of the most important things i got from it

is repentance takes practice !

Wednesday:

Today we set Goals as a zone. That Goal is to invite people to baptism no

later than the second lesson. It's super important for people to understand

our purpose ASAP. That purpose is to invite others to come unto to Christ by

helping them receive the restored Gospel through Faith in Jesus Christ and

His atonement, Repentance, Baptism, Receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost and

enduring to the end.

so Elder Simms and i did that. we invited someone that night and then Boom!

another person on date.

Thursday:

Most exciting thing today was a young man in our ward was planning on asking

a girl to the formal dance at High School! So boss. This kid wrote a poem

and at the end of the highschool basketball game she was playing went to the

center of the court infront of everyone with a microphone and read this poem

asking her to the dance. Super sly. We werent there but got to watch it on

video. We helped write the finishing line of the poem.

Friday:

Zone Training!! was amazing!! we learned a lot about conversion. And the

Importance of it. A testimony is not enough people ! you have to be fully

converted to the Lord and it takes constant effort. we were invited to

really pray about our conversion and seek to know where we are at and how we

can improve! i invite all you to do the same. Think about Peter and his

conversion and learn from him!

Saturday:

So the worst thing about being in a car area is .... your in a car. all.

day. long. It's Awful. Makes you tired and lousy sometimes. So we decided to

take our bikes out today... BEST IDEA. Fresh air, plus it was warm and you

get to talk to so many more people. We also did more flyer tracting. Which

is awesome! getting so many potential from it! but we pretty much had the

best of both worlds this night. Lots of very angry people but also happy !

Sunday:

Alright today we were able to see the ffruits of our labours and also the

role of the spirit in conversion. today we had 3 less active couples come to

church who we've been working with!! one of the families literally havent

been to church in 15 years! It took being bold but we invited them to church

and they came. I'll just skip to the end of the day. so we got the Police

called on us. Goes to show how exciting the Town of Ione CA is. we were

flyer tracting about 7:40pm just about to turn in for the night and see some

members. there was a house that had a sign that said "do not right doorbell

Ezabel is sleeping! please Knock"... so i knocked. The outside light came

on, someone looked through the eye hole in the door then a house alarm went

off. sounded like a car alarm in the garage so we just let it go and left.

Next thing you know there were 3 police cars ripping around the corner with

their high beams on us. Yup most exciting thing in Ione is two missionaries

and a 16 year old member knocking doors.

Anyways this week has been amazing! the spirit has led us to people and we

have been able to teach more than 30 lessons whether on the street  or in

homes! We've doing our best. 

everyone read Helaman 5:12!

Yours truly,

Elder Kristensen

The Sick nasty bonfire we had! 

This is for my mother! this is the most unbelievable Christmas light house

ever!!! Its a member from our ward!

January 5, 2015 "Now Let Us Rejoice"

So Despite New Years and the Busy part of the Holidays we have had a couple

of very successful weeks! Elder S. and i have exceeded almost all of our

goals for the amount of lessons we teach!! this Last week we taught 30!!!

Unfortunately though we cannot choose peoples agency. we only have one

person technically progressing and a couple investigators we are working

with ! I'll give you guys a little run down of whats happened since i last

wrote on New years day!

Jan 1 Thursdays:

Super Relaxing day !! we spent most of it Playing sport s for like 5 hours

!! Later on that evening One of the Families in our ward invited us to a

bonfire out in the country where a bunch of less active and nonmember people

would be! this fire was crazy!!! and we left just in time becuase they

started jumping the fire with dirt bikes and launching fire works at each

other,  but we got to talk and meet some wonderful people. Trying to get

them back to church! I also had an interesting stud this day. Alma 34:32

Provides us with the purpose of life. it says life is a time to prepare to

meet God and Exercise our labours. BUT, in verse 34 it also says something

else that this life is preparing us for ! i challenge all of you to check it

out ! and give it a little thought!

Jan2 Friday:

"pray Like its all on HIM. Work Like its all on YOU"-wicked quote that our

district leader gave.  Not A lot of anything exciting happened today other

than a lot of contacting and knocking doors! we did add a new investigator

though which is always awesome! Also here is a cool Acronym that Elder R.

came up with While in the bathroom :

Working 

On

Repentance

That 

Heals

You

Cool definition of worthy.

Jan 3 Saturday:

Awesome day! but super long ... we didnt stop working until 10:10 pm. DANG.

but we got to teach So manny people! We added another Lady who has the most

open mind in the world! when we talked about Joseph Smith she Immediately

said she Believes that he has to be a prophet! talk about a prepared heart!

it's amazing to see how the Lord speaks Through his missionaries with the

spirit to touch the hearts of his children.

Jan4 Sunday:

So today didnt go as planned but thats okay because the Lord Controlled

today! We were suppose to have an investigator at church today with her boys

that are sppose to get baptized at the end of the month but Sacrament

started and they werent there. i was super sad, and during the opening hymn

i decided to pray just to ask Father in heaven what the deal was and please

have her come. As soon as i ended that prayer Elder Simms nudged me and told

me The investigator and her childern just walked in!!!! Prayer is real my

friends !! Prayer is real!! not only is prayer awesome but its also a

commandment of the Lord to Pray to him in everything you do and say . I

promise you you will feel and see the difference!

Thats all for now family and friends Love you :) BYE!

Elder Kristensen

 Facetiming Home

 Receiving text messages from families with this picture attached.

Elder S. 

December 29, 2014 Christmas and New Years

Alright Sorry everyone for not being able to write any big emails Lately

just because the Holidays are CRAZY. but Ill give you a run through of my

Christmas and New years ! 

Christmas eve:

So today was a normal working day until 4 pm. That's when our P-day started.

Not Alot of work was done due to the fact Studies take until 11am and we had

district meeting at 12 in San Andres which is on the other side of the

planet it seems. so we never got to spend a lot of time in the Lords

Vineyard seeking out the righteous and the humble of heart. Then we didnt

actually get dinner with a member because we had a wicked zone Activity down

in Lodi where we played basketball pretty much all night. except for a white

elephant gift exchange where i ended up with some stamps. SO WRITE ME

PEOPLE. And we got to have a lovely sleepover at the Zoneleaders house. 8

Elders in one apartment. two mattresses.  

Christmas Day:

We got up at 6:30 as per usual then Headed home so we could do studies at 8

am as per usual then PRESENTS FROM ANGELS ON HIGH. That and Family and

friends! Thank you everyone who sent me their love ! that was awesome im so

glad i was able to get such creative gifts from everyone. especially my

awesome Bro tie from Sis. Oviatt that i have to wear every tuesday with the

rest of the guys around the World !! To remind us we are all as the army of

Helaman Serving our Lord from all four quarters of the Earth. Its truly

amazing how this work is progressing. After which we went to a members home

to skype the family. What a blessing it was to get to see them! All of them

look great ! except for taylor....He was looking especially good. I know my

prayers are being answered when i pray every night for my family members.

Absolutely the Enabling power of the atonement as been blessing them the

same way it has blessed me the last two months out in the mission field. I'm

so Glad for my Savior Jesus Christ looking out for me and those i love.

Then we slept.... for almost three hours because we were just exhausted.

Probably the most relaxing christmas of all time :)

New years Eve:

Awesome night! same as christmas Pday started at 4 pm and we had a zone

activity at a members home in Lodi! Wicked night! They had out door

basketball and tennis , also pool and Air hockey. which is probably the

first hockey related thing I've seen since ive been here. We had a member

from our ward come who is a return missionary from mexico ! this guy is

awesome! we did a count down at 8:45 because we had to retire to the

apartments at 9. We spent another night at the Zone Leaders house and the

Floor has never felt sooooo nice.

New years Day:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE MOST FANTASTIC, GORGEOUS LOVING, EARTHLY MOTHER I'LL

EVER HAVE.  Happy birthday care-bear I love you :) Oh ya dad Happy birthday

5 days from now ;) unfortunately I'll miss it . you Only Kind of old. Love

you. But for today we got up early to go play basketball and Eat Subway and

study and write emails! I studied Alma 34 today where the Prophet Alma the

younger is giving advice to his son Helaman. i suggest you all go read it

becasue it is soooooo powerful. 

Also i read something the other day in The Book of Mormon pertaining to God

and wanting to receive signs from Him so we can know its true. I know ive

wanted signs, but Alma 32:17-19 give a great answer!

Things are great everyone! Looking forward to bringing some people unto

Christ and his church in January there is a few people on the straight and

narrow path !

Re: First Transfer
Surprise Im STAYING ! but We had to say good bye to Elder W.

 Christmas in Cali

 Favourite picture of all time

 Christmas Ties from Jordan McPhee

Christmas present from Mom

Stay tuned later tonight for more pictures!!!