September 28, 2015-I BELONG TO THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER DAY SAINTS

Family and friends it has been a successful week in the mission oak ward. We have seen tons of success with regards to potential souls coming unto Christ and its been a great reminder for as to who really does the work. because let me tell this week was rough regarding bike problems and things that hindered the work. or at least we thought. 

Monday:

we had a super fun prep day. we did a scavenger hunt and i will send all you pictures of said hunt with what we had to find. i thought some of our pictures were quite hilarious. scavenger hunts are probably the best thing to do for prep day.

Tuessday:

Today we did a ton of biking ! we figure we probably bike up to 30 -35 miles a day. my legs will be tree trunks by the end of my mission. we did a service cleaning out a member of the churches little side portion of her house. got real dirty. but i haven't been that dirty since i roofed last so it was a bout time. we  also got to teach C. who we've been teaching for weeks now. shes so close to being baptized!! we also had a lesson with the family that showed up to church a few Sundays ago and we had a member of the stake presidency come with us . such a great lesson. very powerful. talked a lot about the family and how this is ultimately going to bless their family more than anything else in this world. and at that point they lit up. 

Wednesday:

we received a referral tuesday night from a guy that just moved into foothills ward ( one of my previous areas). He was baptized by our zone leaders when i was in north sac. anywasy this guy is incredibly missionary minded. he said he had a friend in our area he would like us to meet. so he took us to go meet her. it was a great lesson and she committed to read and to prayabout the book of mormon. we also had a dinner at a members home where they were holding a fall party. it was a very long day and we were working pretty hard so we celebrated by eating 7 bowls of soup. we also taught that investigator that got passed off to us last week who has a baptismal day for october 10... hoping all goes well with that! it will be a pretty awesome miracle. 

Thursday:

was an awesome district meeting. it was all about using time wisely and why we should use time wisely. a video was shown called "how do i love thee"- jeffrey R holland. its a mormon message. go check it out. but it was all about how we should love people. not where when or why should we love . it was all about how . and as i studied scriptures on it and watched the video i thought about how the savior loved. and he loved unconditionally . i especially felt this in 2nephi 26:24. if you want a pretty good idea about how God loves us. READ THIS SCRIPTURE. also something that hit me hard is when Holland said. " its not about 'why dont you love me' either."  when i heard that i just got reminded about all of the times ive felt that when i get turned down by people.  I get so frustrated that people couldnt care less about us when we care for them. but its not about that. thats a selfish thing for me to think because the way Christ loves is unconditionally. even when we do not love him back. and thats the kind of love we should all be striving to have for one another. 

Friday:

today we did some more service for members in the ward. we had a great dinner with a member we ate a ton because it was so good. then we had an appointment with a new move in in the ward. turns out the new move in is also a islander... and they like to feed the missionaries.. a lot. so we had another huge dinner and we got put to the test on how much food we could eat. i was sorta impressed with myself. plus it tasted so good. but i was regretting it a little bit after. 

saturday :

we had a lesson with the russian lady that we met during the miracle last week. honestly this lady is incredible. she would be such a solid member ! we are going back real soon !   will keep you updated on that. 

Sunday :

Was a  great Sabbath . but unfortunately there was not a lot of proselyting done :/ all week we have been dealing with flat tires and busted bikes. and currently we have 3/4 bikes that are out of commission and a car with no miles so it was busy trying to get those all fixed asap so we had a way to get around. apparently satan has control over bikes because that has been a battle all week. anyways thats all i can remember from my week ! now lets hear about yours ! i love you all !

Elder Kristensen

Scavenger Hunt! 

1. Something that rhymed with chair 

2. Something hairy

3. Something that smelled bad

4. Picture of a box

5. A work of art

6. Something shiny

 7.A burrito 

 8. A cart

 9. An oxymoron

 10. The letter "A"

September 21, 2015-Life Sucks And Then You See Miracles

Okay family and friends! this week was fairly good and ill tell you of some miraclesand  of lessons i learned ! so itll be a little less organized. 

This week we had interveiws with president jardine. honestly that man is one of the most inspired people i have ever met in my entire life. He just knows how to do it. ill tell you of two miracles. first was on saturday. we honestly had a very Lame day. it was hot so nobody was outside. and not alot of people were home so it made the job pretty difficult. Plus it is the end of the week and we have no food in the house plus no dinner. so we decide to go for a pee break at the church at 6:30 ish . there were people there so we went to see if they could use some help. turns out they were just finished setting up for a wedding reception and they were going to have a lot less people than what they thought come, so they told us to show up in a half an hour to eat food . THE LORD PROVIDES. so we decided to go work for another hour. didnt think anything great was going to happen. tried contacting someone that wasnt home. honestly the most frustrating days regarding the work. it was about time to head back, but we felt we needed to go down the street just a little farther on our bikes, so we did. there was a woman who was doing yard work so we thought we should ask to see if we could help. She said "please!!" so we helped and started talking with her. she is from russia and she knows great english. we later found out that she is super intersted in the gospel and wants to know a ton more aobut the gospel and how it will help raise her son to be the kid she knows he can be. we are going back on saturday. she was so excited to accep tthe book of mormon and read. this contact honestly made the whole day WORTH IT.  and it only happened when we said " lets go just a little farther before we get food." usually thats exactly when the miracles happen when you say " lets go a little further " or "lets knock one more door". I love the Lord and his tender mercies. he really does lead them to us or us to them that are prepared to receive of the fulness. 

so we also got a quick bite to eat , which was a HUGE blessing for us. we were so grateful that the Lord is aware of us and our needs. honestly he always allows away for us to be provided for !

We also taught a lesson after to a man who honestly just has a dark life. And i just want to testify of the light the gospel can bring to even the darkest places ... like its incredible the answers that a person like this man could find in the restored gospel. It brings a profound understanding to everything about this life that we all spend lifetimes searching for . i am so grateful for the knowledge that i have and continue to gain from The Doctrines of Jesus Christ. 

also another miraacle was there was an investigator in the spanish ward that came to church and it turns out shes actually english in our area... and wants to be baptized. on octoer10 . yup Elder H's first baptism and a HUGE MIRACLE on its way! i will keep you updated what happens there. 

We had an incredible sunday school lesson. ive had a constant frustration on my mission and a question in my heart that i havent quite been able to put into words. but this lesson took the question and put it right out there. and it was clear to me what it was. it is 

"how must i learn what i must learn, do what i must do, and become what i must become- not with standing my inadequacy and my ability to achieve?"  

i dont know but i feel as though thats a pretty big question we all ask. and honestly it is through the transformative power of the atonement. which we can access by first partaking of the sacrament EVERY week. the Atonement has the power to change us only if we let it. From the words of my homie Kaden Oviatt " dont ever reject the change god will bring within you." 

my testimony is that God is aware of us. that he knows what we must go through. And he knows where WE must look to receive a remission of our sins and to overcome our struggles. and that is through Christ our Lord. 

I love you all. I love the scriptures. i love feasting on them EVERYDAY. because truly they have the power to "heal the wounded soul"- Jacob 2:8. 

From Your missionary in Sac town California,

Elder Kristensen

September 14, 2015-Anatomy Lessons in California

HELLO

monday :

this was transfer week so everything got all messed up ! it was also my birthday this day so YAY. but we sat in transfer meeting and you kind of know already how today went so moving on !

Tuesday: 

this was P-day ! pretty good . fairly regular ! added some new investigators. infact we found a guy who has ten kids.... we will let ya know how that goes !

Wednesday :

today was a pretty good day ! did some service for a member and then worked.because it was a new transfer we had a stake dinner so that was good. and i had a couple exciting things that happened to me today... but i am only going to tell you of one ! as we were coming to an intersection there was this lady just going nuts at some church people down the street. and we just so happened show up on the corner at the right time. and i think she assumed we were part of that religious group, because she started to get up in my face, and i was trying to chill her out . she made fun of my burnt face ( we were biking all day and im from Canada so what do ya expect) and started tapping the side of my face saying she was going to slap me. and i was so ready to be slapped.. that would have made the best story ! anyways she started walking the direction we needed to go so she got all mad because she thought we were following her. so she yanked down her pants to the knees. im getting an anatomy lesson in Sacramento... 

Thursday:

District meeting ! we had a fun district meeting ! the tables were set up like a boat and we all got on together and the whole meeting was about when peter called the apostles and how we were fishing in life but werent catching anything. but then the lord came and told us to fish a certain way and we were obedient and he blessed us with all kinds of fish. like a good family or a job . or a car. so he established in our minds that he could do anything for us. but then he asked us to follow him , and we had to choose to drop our nets or not. we all have nets we have to drop that prevent us from foollowing the lord just gotta find those out ! 

friday :

we weekly planned. we also had a leadership meeting because this transfer almost 50 perecent of our mission is under 6 months on their mission. we have a super young mission. so anywasy. the thing that stood out to me is the imprtance on focusing on studying the standard works of the churh and also that we are harvesters. not planters or someone who waters. "the feild is white already to harvest." as missionaries we search for those who are prepared. 

saturday :

Super good day ! we worked and saw lots of people . there is a ton of smoke in sacramento because San Andreas ( out in the hills where my first area i served) is potentially going uo in flames. so please send lots of prayers to Ione and Jackson and San Andreas areas. those fires are out of control! lots of evacuations out of San Andreas. 

we also had a stake BBQ lots of people came ! and it was a ton a fun to have a bunch of people there. No investigators showed :( 

Sunday :

MIRACLE.  super cool . there was a family that we didnt recognize that walked in. husband wife and kids.found out husband is a member and the kids are of age to be baptized and are. The Wife came to church the first time in her whole life. wow. its like God literally takes us to them ! 

We also have been putting a huge focus on sacrament as im sure everyone else in the world is. soooooooooooo powerful ! EVERYONE PAY ATTENTION MORE TO THE ORDINANCE OF SACRAMENT. 

Love you all , im happy healthy and doing well :) love you all ! 

Elder Kristensen 

September 7, 2015-TRI-PANIONSHIP FOR A WEEK

HELLLLO FAMILY ! Okay so this week was kind of out of control. One of our zoneleaders a week and a half before actual transfers got pulled to Assistant to the president so we had a zone leader that need to be apart of our companion ship. so we had to split the work between his ward and ours. that was a ton of fun. but we had 5 missionaries living in 1 apartment. that made it really something special. ahaha a few late nights were had. can you blame a bunch of teenagers though ? there was a few highlights that happened this week that were interesting and a ton of fun to say the least . for 1 i did my first baptismal interview ... ever. wow. that is a humbling and a pretty sacred  experience for me. for the first time, i had the responsibility to use the help of the Lord to determine someones worthiness to be baptized. I now have a greater respect to every stake president and bishop out there.  so thank you. This week we also had an interesting lesson with an investigator that we have been seeing all transfer but he hasnt progressed at all. we keep going back because he is 110 % sure the church is true, but he wont keep commitments. so we went in to have a bold lesson with him. and well he kicked us out of his house and called me the adversary. so all in all it went really well ! we also had a zone trainging that was awesome as per usual. 

i am finally 19 ! yup almost a year out on a mission and i am now turning 19. crazy. it was a super cool day ! we started off by attending a transfer meeting , and  then all day picking up a disgusting apartment that we stayed to give to a couple of sister missionaries... yup. they kicked us out and moving us to a different apartment. still the same area though. but we had to completely clean that partment which was nasty. then when we got to our new place it also was trashed so we had to spend time picking that up. For dinner The G's said they would feed me a birthdya dinner. They cooked the best smoked trip tip in the entire planet! it was excellent ! they were so kind ! they also decorated their house and their three kids wrote me happy birthday cards! haha cutest thing ever. i couldnt beleive it. they also went around the table and said something they all appreciated about me. so awesome of them. such a blessing to have them as family here ! Then today i got to go to the temple for the first time since Christmas... lets just say that was much needed. also a very sacred expereincee. much revelation was received. and i have to say and bare testimony of the power of the spirit to testify and bring you further light and knowledge. I know the spirit opens our minds to what is true then expands on it ! such a blessing to have the temple in the mission and also to have the spirit so readily prevellent in my life. and you dont have to be a misionary to be intune with the spirit. Just study your scriptures say your prayers and go to church. then you break the wall that stops you from communicating with god. 

Love you all :),

Elder Kristensen

August 31, 2015-Things Are Wild in the Sunshine State

HELLO

monday :

was a pretty regular p-day. except we played marshmallow paint ball. we set up tables as barricades then had large marshmallows and used them to throw at each other while playing capture the flag. i did not think you could through a marshmallow that hard but it left a couple of good marks on my back!  we also had a leadership meeting . got to talk about the zone and its needs and how we can best help the Lords work in East sacramento! 

Tuesday:

We had another new Missionary meeting for Elder H. pretty regular meeting with the president ! we also had to rush over to an investigators storage unit because we were gong to move a bunch of stuff into her apartment complex. it was sooooo hot outside. but totally worth it . C is great and she did really need the help ! we also had a lesson with her and answered a lot of her questions and concerns ! other than that the day was reaally slow. but we decided to go looking for someone the bishop asked us to go see. we had the apartment number wrong at first but something told us to knock the wrong door anyway. And low and behold God knew better than us because there was a family behind that door that we have sinced added as new investigators so we will see what happens! 

wednesday:

we got to do service for a recent convert in our ward! So boss . he has pluotts in his back yard and i just eat those all day. A plu otts takes everything i dont like about an apricot and replaces it with a delectable plum taste. truly god given. we also helped C finish moving ! 

so probably the funniest most awkward thing happened. while we were teaching this lesson in a park at a bench we heard something behind us at the houses werent too sure what it was ...so we kept teaching. then we heard it again. so i looked behind me and the investigator looked also. and there stood a completely nude lady chasing after her dog. yup. spirit gone. then she was gone so we kept teaching . committed him to be baptized and everything. went really well.    then as we were reporting on the lesson in the car i wanted to take a picture of the n-bench because its funny. and so i unrolled the window to turn and look at the bench and take a picture and then boom there she was again at the bench we just taught the restoration at !! so we peeled out pretty quick .

thursday:

we had district meeting. sorta regular day except for a God given miracle. one of the investigators in our zone is technically not legal in the united states and she had a court date today to see if she was going to be deported or not. the trip was if she stays she gets married and her family is baptized. but if she gets deported she gets taken from her family and not baptized. so our whole zone did a fast to try to get her to stay. that night we got the news that she gets to stay!! fasting and prayer is real :) 

Friday :

Had an extra long weekly planning session to set up an awesome week for this week.other than that. nothing much happened. regular day. 

Saturday :

we did service at the Catholic church again where we serve food to the Homeless people. so always a ton of fun as per usual. we also had to do studies. always a joy ! i love the scriptures so much. im gaining a bigger and bigger love for them everyday. sometimes i wish i could just sit and study all day . we also had a couple activities. one where it was a movie night for all our investigators and also pie in the park for our ward. we are out pof miles so we got a ride to the stake center but half way through we left to go to pie in the park. but we didnt have a car. so we were on foot, YAY

Sunday :

great sabbath day . Elder H and i were both fasting . we had an amazing gospel principles class. and to summarize what we were talking about  we talked about an eternal promise from god. and that is :

What we didnt have then...

what we dont have now...

we will have in the future.

i can testify to everyone that those words are the most ttrue things ive ever heard. especially when it comes down to the Joy that is felt with the eternal family. i know that eternal families are real. we talked alot about our families. and something i have come to know to be true that i have lived the blessed life i have because of the gospel of Jesus Christ and my parents choice to follow the saviour and raise us in the gospel. i feel ive had it so easy compared to some of the people around me. but i see that that is the fruits of following the exmple of christ. his gospel and his organization has been the center of the blessings my family has received it is truly a blessing :) 

 I got to ask the patriarch here a few question but one of the most important questions i asked him was, "what is the most important piece of advice you could ever give to a missionary?" and he replied with " im going to tell you the most important thing i have ever come to know to be true.... and that is families are eternal when you are sealed in the temple of God under priesthood power. so my most dearest advice would be live worthly to enter and be married celestially in the temple of our Father and our saviour Jesus Christ." How powerful is that ? 

that is a Goal i will forever hold dear to my heart and soul. 

Anyways love you all ! 

Elder KRistensen 

August 24, 2015- GREAT SUCCESS

Monday:
Pretty regular p-day. Although I did decide to take elder Oviatt's advice to make calls Monday night to all the people we wanted to see that week to set up appointments. And it worked AMAZING. So props to Kaden for figuring that one out because it made this week super effective !  Last p-day we played hunger games for a zone activity .
We got pool noodles and nerf guns and placed them all in the centre and then went for it and it was totally epic ! So much fun !
Tuesday :
Wasn't feeling to good today , but we went out and did service for a member anyways. And he had a pluott tree which was absolutely incredibly delicious ! I ate like 7 pluotts . Pretty regular working day after that though. We had a few appointments to go to and things to do . Pretty regular Tuesday !!
Wednesday :
 We did zone service ! A ton a fun. We went to the river valley and was cleaning the river for the whole morning. I burnt my neck SOOOOOO BAD. I  haven't been sun burnt yet all that bad until today. Ouch. Was a lot of fun though.  We also had a super cool experience . It was late and about the time for us to head home and we had just had a terrible contact because it was semi contentious. And we spent way too much time there . But on our way out there was a couple that didn't look to happy . And they even pointed at us from across the parking lot. So being semi obnoxious we decided to go talk to them. Apparently they were pointing at us because they were debating whether they should talk to us or not. She had just moved from Utah and always wanted to meet with the missionaries . And he has been struggling in faith a little.  We showed  up at the right place at the right time.
We had a great chat with them and talked about the priesthood .
Anyways we'll see what happens.
Thursday:
 We had a district meeting ! It went really well I thought. It was centered on the trust God has given us. And it was kind of broken up into three categories being 1. The people we serve 2. Your companion 3. Your calling.
It was a great conversation , on how we are planning people's salvation every study that we have. And how we properly plan for people. Also we have been given companions which is a sacred trust from God because God has trusted them to teach certain lessons to their  comps and to also receive certain lessons. I thought it was just interesting how important our companions really are.  And also the sacred trust of our call. We are called to be on a higher plane of thinking and acting as servants of God. And we have been called to do the work God our father and his son Jesus Christ has labored and mourned and rejoiced over for eternity. Of course there is a sacred trust that comes with that.
Friday:
We had a ton of appointments today but they all happened to fall through. Yup. You win some you lose some. Reminds you who really does the work and those days are necessary ! We also weekly planned so that is always boss.
Saturday :
We did another service project laying sod and giving food to the homeless at the Catholic Church again.  That was awesome . We also had stake conference this weekend and elder Hamula from the  seventy came . The adult session was at the night. It was incredible and I needed what was said so bad ! I might attach my notes of some of the things the spirit told me.
I loved. President was there also so it's always great to see him.
Sunday :
 We had stake conference and two of our investigators came ! That was a miracle and a half !! Stake conference was again excellent . General authorities always carry an amazing spirit behind them. They know SO much. I want that knowledge. PLEASE. We also spent some time with our ward mission leader to correlate. Who also gave a talk on Sunday about his story. After a being in the church for a while he moved away from the church. Even was against it and went on a spiritual journey to find what was right. He explained it being like a maverick running around in the wild trying to find what's right. He went to Peru and India and crazy places to find what's right. 30 years later he is back where he started. Because every bit of truth that he found in each religion led him right back here. Back to what his analogy . He said the gospel was that safe carousel or stable that provided protection safety and nourishment. He always seemed to see it but never wanted to go because all he saw was restrictions. The gospel is that safe place where all good things reside. And it is true. There is nothing more true. That is why we all end right back here . It's why we all find comfort in the gospel.

I love you all ! Here is a picture that is like my little peice of home out here !
Elder kristensen