July 27, 2015-Quick email this week

Elder Kristensen was transferred this week and was unable to get a ‘big’ email out to everyone so he asked me to send highlights from my e-mail.

From Elder Kristensen: Things are going very well for me :) although I've been transferred out of Lao and Mienh. President Jardine talked to me and said he was going to keep me there . That I was going to be reassigned. But instead he said he felt he had to make me train..... And be a district leader..... And white wash an area. Yup. That is what my next two transfers are going to be like... Is that crazy or what ??  I was heart broken over the transfer especially because my Lao was getting good. And I was starting to communicate with them to :( they were sad to see me go too. It was strange but amazing to see how the love of them was still there even though we weren't able to express it to each other . Btw I'm now in east Sacramento stake in the mission oak ward .

I am so proud of how Elder Kristensen is doing.  His letters home are always uplifting and inspiring to me as his mother.  I want to thank all of you for your support you offer to him.  I know that he appreciates so much all his emails and mail that he receives. I am also so very grateful to all the ‘Bros’ and ‘gals’ Who have had such an influence on Nathan.  I hope that all of you, where ever you are and whatever you are doing, are doing well.  I miss ALL of you!!!

Have a great day!!

Elder Kristensen’s mom

Sister K

Mama K.....and so on! xoxo

July 20, 2015-711

monday:

Normal P-day !  We had a zone bbq though at Elk Grove Park.  that was a ton of fun. we played Beach volleyball and ate a ton of food! 

Tuesday:

we had a lot of Lessons ! we needed to make them a little shorter but there is something to learn in everyday. First highlight, we went to a recent convert and wanted to visit her. had an amazing visit. then a nine year old came in and is a non member. got talking to her, and this girl is brilliant ! and she loves Jesus and she has been to church, and she loves it and we have to set up another appointment. so ya. Cool mini miraqcle that we got to meet this little girl. The recent convert nanees her. we also had an awesome contact with a young couple who were setting on their tail gate. Definition of PREPARED. we taught the restoration and they totally see the need for the restoration and why the gospel is here on the earth. so we are going to see when the next appointment will be . but it was a very solid contqact! we also taught the nicest athiest women ever ! It hurts to see someone not beleive in God. or know of his presence. there is just a peice of their life missing whether they see it or not. we tried to provide with just the oppertunity to be able to come to know of gods love and all she needed to do was pray and read scripture. she still refused. that is the saddest/ hardest part about missionary work. watching people deny something that will bless them for eternity. 

Wednesday:

Had a sweet district meeting. We opened it up with Experiences of when God has been in our missions. so wee all had stuff to share. then we talked about the importance of courage. Ive come to the knowledge that courage doesnt come when you are in the moment that requires courage, but comes when you make the decision before you get into the situation. you have to commit yourself to what you will do right now before the trial comes. David made the decision before facing Goliath that He had faith that God would allow him to win. And once he was put into the situation he already knew. the courage came because his decision was already made. so thats what i learned, i need to make the decsion and commit myself every day to the lords work so when a hard day comes my mind is already made up on what ill do. we also went to go see a Less active. talked to both her kids instead who are unbaptized. both 15 and 12. We got on the topic of repentance and baptism and we asked them what that would mean and they said it would mean "freedom." Such a profound simple answer in one word. baptism is to be freed from anything negative in the world and allows us to use the atonement of christ.

Thursday:

Had a lesson with an Investigator(shes a little older ) and she is the sweetest lady in the world. Her daughter is a member and she is finally deciding to investigate the church and even get baptized ! she is so excited. had a great lesson. then she said the last time we were visiting here and this time, she said she felt like she already knew us. as if we had been very familiar to her.... hmmm. 

Friday:

We weekly planned ! 

Saturday:

Totally open day... FINALLY. first day in weeks where we havent had meetings until 3:00 in the afternoon. so we spent the whole day contacting referrals we needed to contact. and i got to see some parts of sacramento i hadnt gotten to see before ! it was super cool! i love being in the asian work! culture is so much different. such a cool experience. 

Sunday:

we had an appointment with this Meinh lady. Super awesome discussion. then her daughter walked in and joined. And WOW. she is weirdly prepared to hear the gospel. Like completely. we didnt even know what to think after because she was so prepared. she has been looking for truth her whole life she said and she just hasnt known where to find it. she is unbeleivably spiritually intune. she pretty much read who we were as people based off of what animal we would choose to be. Elder P. said a lion. i said an elephant because itd be sweet being huge. then based off that she told us our personalities and in what areas we got along it was real cool ! but the point is she loves god. and we testified to her that we were sent by God to guide her to that truth that she has been searching . after our visit she said that god told her to go home when she did and she said as soon as she walked in and saw us she knew why god told her to go home. 

will let you know what happened. 

so our missions goal for baptisms i s 711 for this year. and because the mission split everyones faith in that goal kind of dwindled. but president promised that God has prepared more than 711 people for us to baptize this year. and since he promised that miracles have been happening and the prepared have been coming to us. its amazing.

Love you all church is true !,

Elder Kristensen

July 13, 2015-Sorry busy! Fast One!

Hello everyone ! sorry this has to be a quick one ! Its been kind of a terrible week when it comes to teaching people. its been super slow because of all of our meetings. we also spent alot of time on the ipads converting the area books into them. Barf. thats like hours of sitting inside and doing paper work. ill hit the highlights though. One of the members surprised us and bought us groceries this week.  i studied a real cool scripture. d and c 1 :19. talks about the weak things taken down the mighty and great one of the world. i always thought that the weak things of the world was satan taking down the strong members. but what i realized it that members of the church are the weak ones to the world because they are humble and willing to submit to the father. thatll always prevail strength to tthe things of the world. i went on an exchange with Elder O ! awesome exchange ! we played a YSA game in this big park. and we gave all the YSA people book of mormons and pamphlets and then sent them loose and we raided the park. the real next big thing is a guy got baptized this weekend !! crazy !! we just need 45 more meinh people in the church until they will recognize it as a language!! we have been teaching this guy for a while.... like 8 months ! it was crazy ill show a before and after picture of him. look at the difference in him!!! just glowing. and so happy. its amazing what this does. also president called like 15 mins before the baptism and said he was coming. SURPRISE> Elder R and i was giving the missionary moment too and hadnt prepared anything yet. so we prepared something real good right before ! it was awesome ! so ya President Jardine Came that was awesome !!! perfect. anyways it was a good week. just a ton of meetings and sitting inside . anyways love you ! 

Elder Kristensen

July 6, 2015-Monday

Monday:

Awesome p-day. Probably the most enjoyable one yet. Laid back and

relaxed. I discovered a new thrift shop better than value village and

twice but nice. It's called Eco thrift. We are making it essential to

our grocery shopping list each Monday. Which by the way, mother you

would be impressed because our grocery list literally just veggies and

bananas and almond milk with some cream of wheat. Healthiest

missionaries around ! Considering the fact that some sports was soccer

I actually loved it . I also learned that Kyle got engaged.... WHAT .

Also we taught a less active, whose goal is the temple. We flipped

open to doctrine and covenants section 64:33-34 and asked her what she

needed to do to get to the temple. Super cool, everyone should read

this scripture if they want to know what God wants and needs of you .

Was so cool to see her teach herself.

Tuesday:

Pretty average day. Except we had a lesson with an investigator who

has a baptismal date for this weekend ... And I'll let you know what

happens later. We did service at a food bank re stacking a pile of

frozen ground beef.... Yum ! It's weird because I met a sister in the

Elk Grove park ( English ward ) ward a few weeks ago at a temple tour

and I remember joking with her that I might serve in her ward. Then we

had dinner with her tonight. That was weird. We also had an excellent

discussion with a less active Mienh woman. Such an awesome discussion . 

We talked about divine potential and what God really intends for her in this life. So many

people can miss that ! What are true purpose is! We aren't just here

to be tested , because if that's all we were here for we wouldn't need

a body. Nor life experience like we are gaining. I studied a bit about

that this week. But our real purpose is to become the exalted people

we will inherently become. Eternal progression. It's everything ! It's

why we repent !

Wednesday :

HAPPY CANADA DAY. lamest Canada day ever. I wore my Canadian tie and

everything but nothing happened ! Not anyone even noticed. The most

exciting part of Canada day was elder B. gave me a call after

planning. He is the only other Canadian missionary in the whole

mission ! So he got permission to call me out of the zone and

celebrate. So that was good to talk to him. He'll be home soon....

That's weird !

Thursday:

Busy day with a head lining miracle ! So there is this Mienh person and Elder parsons has been working with him since January

and even was supposed to be baptized but canceled an hour before back

in feburary. And since then they've been going back trying to set a

date but refused to commit to one but would come to church every

Sunday. We went over there and asked him what he was studying. He said

the book of revelations and all the bad things that are going to

happen in these days. So we showed him in doctrine and covenants

section 1 when Heavenly Father talks about restoring his church and

giving us a prophet because of the "calamities" that he knew would

come about in our days, then said he was ready to be baptized next

week !!  So will keep you updated on that !

Friday:

 ZONE TRAINING . Probably one of the best trainings. We started off

with looking at three doors that had a word on each being love

obedience and change. We had to pick one room. So we did then all of a

sudden the curtains in the room all opened and we were then all in the

same room. The idea is that we all came on missions for one of those

reasons. And it didn't matter what one you chose because it got us

where we need to be. Now we all have to figure out why we want to stay

out. We talked a lot about what motivates us as missionaries . And

related it to a boat and the new youth Theme video of embarking . So

they got a picture of a boat and our names on this picture so I'll

send it so you can see it. But it was cool to get us all psyched and

re evaluate and remember why we are on missions.

Saturday :

Happy July 4! Super busy/ stress/ fun day. It was S's baptism and

wow planning that was busy. But it got done! Such a powerful baptism,

her brother got to baptize her. There was more than 50 people there.

Biggest baptism I've ever attended. After which we had dinner with

Mienh members. Mienh food is amazing ! But also the spiciest thing I

ever eaten. We decide to eat a Thai chili pepper. I'll send you a

picture of how bad that hurt. Because it was Fourth of July and they

didn't want us out after 6 we were able to have a zone activity ! So

we had a chalk fight. Yep. We put ground up chalk into nylon socks and

beat up each other ... How amazing is that .?! I'll send a picture of

that  also !!

Sunday:

The sabbath is always the craziest ... Because we are covering two

wards we are in meetings until 5 pm today. ! Having two sacrament

meetings is actually cool. Double the spirit. But because hadn't

weekly planned we basically did that the rest of the night. By the way

it was fast Sunday and I love fasting !

So I attached the study notes I took during the week . They are kind

of random but maybe you'll like them !!

John 17:3

Eternal life comes from knowing the one true God and Jesus Christ who

the father hath sent.

Eternal life is given by the lord to anyone. But only given by the

lord ( d+c 67:2 and John 17:2)

What does it mean to know God ? (1john4:7-9) knowing God is an action.

With out expressing love to others , or rather without charity we

cannot know God because God is charity and love. If our whole purpose

on earth is to know the God head we must know that of their purpose.

And we must help them fulfill their purpose. We receive a testimony

from Jesus Christ . He gives it to us only when we are willing to hold

strong to it and testify of what ever testimony he has given (d+c

67:4) .

D+c 67:10- it is a blessing to be in the lords work . As long as we

strip ourselves of jealousies fears, and bring ourselves to humility

we will know that Christ lives not with the natural mind but with the

spiritual.

God will let us take the wrong path for just a certain amount so we

may for a certainty know that the other path which we could have taken

is the right one. -Jeffrey r. Holland .

Matt 16:24- if we are to follow Christ we must deny ourselves of all

ungodliness and defeat the natural man (mosiah 3:19) in other words

"take up our cross."

V.26 - what does a man gain with worldly possessions if he loses his

soul in it. Nothing . There is no possible way to progress if we do

not lose ourselves in the service of our God and in the service of

others.

V.27 Christ will come and everyone will be judged based upon our

WORKS. We will be rewarded for what we have done that is of good !

This world is so much more than being a test to see if we are good or

bad souls. We've already proved that in the pre existence ! We have

already chosen Christ. If this life was as small as a test to show

that we are good or bad we wouldn't need this life, nor would we need

a body. We have come here to be "proven here with to see if they will

do all things whatsoever the lord their God shall command them."

(Abraham 3:25). There has to be more , and that is to reach our

eternal potential as divine sons and daughters of God and some day be

exalted and perfected even as he is ( 3nephi12:48)

Humble ourselves to God and to his representatives because his ways

are not ours and he is much greater than we (Isaiah 55:8-9 and Jacob

4:10).

Alma 37:6-7..... By small and simple things the lord brings to pass

many great and marvelous things. D + C 123:16. What are some of the

simple things ? Faith repentance diligence scripture study, fast and prayer .

Okay spirit told I have GOT to do way more fasting than what I am . I

haven't fasted since last fast Sunday I'm pretty sure. And that is not

enough as a missionary especially.

we all have good wolfs and bad wolfs within us. The wolf that wins is

the one you feed . If you have doubt and you feed that doubt doubt

shall over come.  Or you can excessive faith, and faith wil overcome .

The only way to overcome bad wolfs is not to sick the other wolves on

it and attack because then you have an inner battle. The only way to

get rid of the evil wolves is to starve.

The lord doesn't want quantity he wants quality . D and c 4:5 - faith

hope charity and love with an eye single to the glory of God is what

makes us quality .

 1nephi 8:12- as soon as Lehi tasted of the fruit he desired his

family to partake because it was so good ! How badly do I want to give

to my very large eternal family after I have tasted of the fruit ?

1nephi9:6- God prepares away to do all his works among his children !

1nephi10:18-22- he who diligently seeketh finders . Everyone can fin

answers to the questions of life we just have to be willing to ask and

search for an answer. Exercise faith. God will always provide us with

personal revelation today as he did in times of old. He is the same

yesterday today and forever .

Your missionary,

Elder kristensen