October 26, 2015-Trunk or Treat

Alright family  it's been an incredible week ! I'll give you the low

down. It was transfers so that made things particularly interesting !

Monday we had a transfer meeting where I went with elder h. He has

been transferred to north highlands in north sacramento . The area

right next to foothills ward. Great area ! He'll come away with a lot

of interesting stories. And because my companion doesn't come in until

Wednesday I have a temporary companion. Elder g. Elder g

started his missionary life in Lodi while I was in ione . So I've been

serving with and around him for a long time ! I love elder g! He

also will be living with me and his two new trainees. It was hard

trying to work with a temporary companion. We didn't really know what

to do and it was 8:30 pm and almost called it quiets  because we were

just lost as to what to do. But we figured that there was everything

we had to do ! So we just decided to pray and knock doors somewhere.

In 3 doors we found 2 new investigators, and not just any

investigators but Spanish investigators ! Again , the lord blessed you

for just saying " let's go a little farther ."

Tuesday was a pretty regular p-day except that we had a Spanish dinner

with a member right below the recent convert v who has been

baptized for about two weeks. By the way she is doing insanely

awesome!! Every time we go over there she has at least one scripture

marked and ready to share with us! She always carries her Book of

Mormon with her to read when ever she can. Anyways I love Mexican

food. I ate like 15 corn tortillas. Something is wrong with me.

On Wednesday we got our new companions straight out of the Mtc ! My

new companion is elder H from Washington! He is awesome. It

was cool. I swear the spirit told me who my companion was going to be

. When i saw all  of the new missionaries come in I shook his hand and

I knew that it would be him. I knew it ! It was kind of like the same

thing as when I got my trainer. We get along well, we listen to the

same music and everything. His first couple days in the mission have

been incredibly busy !! His first day we had lots of appointments to

get to. Great way to start. My first day was a little less exciting

because we spent our days driving to and from ione and Lodi

Thursday we had district meeting . Not anything to special ! Had an

appointment with the family that showed up to church. We hadn't seen

them in weeks so we were getting worried. Turns out all is well and

they are back on track ! We also correlated with our awesome ward

mission leader brother G !

Friday was a busy day filled with weekly planning and a leadership

meeting with appointments here and there. Again non-stop work with

elder H!

Saturday we did lots of service including mowing the lawn for brother

m and getting a health lesson. He's really actually smart and he

always has something to teach us when we are there.  We also helped

moved a 1000 pound grand piano with 5 different elders. It's like a

square grand piano that is 120 years old. Apparently it's the type of

piano Beethoven would play. There was also a trunk or treat for the

stake. I don't think I have seen that big of stake event in my entire

life before !! And there was SO many non members. We all went as

missionaries. It was incredibly fun. I don't think I've had that much

fun in a while ! So many friends and family there that I love ! Plus

we got to take over for president J and hand out some candy !

Saw V there who brought her family and neighbors !

Sunday was awesome because it was the primary program so that is

always something special !! Everyone says it's the highlight of the

year. Which I can agree with. The children are the most pure people

there are so the spirit comes off so much stronger . We also had the

E (the family that showed up to church ) family and C come

to church to catch the same spirit. We also had great classes so that

added to the spirit of the sabbath. Just overall awesome .

It was a great week.  I am so happy to be staying in this area at

least another 3 months! I love the people and the investigators and

members I serve ! I know the gospel is true. I know faith in Jesus

Christ is the most important thing we can have ! I studied a lot out

of alma 32 this week. EVERYONE STUDY IT.  The words on those pages if

studied carefully will renew your faith. I have received some deep

enlightenment on how my faith can be increased through simple belief

and just a desire to believe. That's all you need. If you want to know

what's true and if God really is there and if Jesus Christ really is

the savior of the world. All you need is a desire and a willingness to

experiment on gods word. You will find.

All my love ,

Elder kristensen

massive mario maze that members set up out of cardboard for the trunk or treat. way cool. 

and non other than manny M doing his thing with a puppet and a harmonica ! 

October 19, 2015-Welcome to the 916

dear family ( and friends even though you are still family ), its been a splendid week here in the "916"

i hope that all you got my email last week , and sorry about the previous week.. i had a little miff with a busy preparation day. oh i also have to apologize for today . its transfer week here so prep day is today ! ill come around to transfers! 

so first off i went on an exchange with Elder S who was transferred in around the same time i was back in LODI zone almost a year ago. that was the first exchange ive done in 3 months. and thank goodness for it because it was a ton of fun ! the biggest thing i learned from that exchange is to remember to laugh! life and the work of salvation is meant to be joyful. Make jokes and be positive. "come what may and love it" neal a maxwell once said. it was just a good reminder of the Joy that missionary can truly bring. sometimes satan just likes to cloud your mind with the negatives. THERE IS SO MUCH GOOD !  we also went college contacting at SAC STATE . i have never been surrounded by so many people my age and of the opposite sex my whole mission. slightly overwhelming. 

Elder H and i a couple weeks ago helped this newly wed couple moveinto our apartment complex one night because he almost broke his foot and couldnt walk. they still had big dressers and things to take in so we helped out! it was awesome. they said thanks and we were on our way and every so often wed see them and say hello annd things but not much more than that but they would always thank us. then after a long hard hot day of biking with elder Hafen we came home to a necklace on our door step with a note that said "thanks for help moving the dresser from T and J a @ 70 . a heirloom for luck, and blessing from god !" it was a necklace with the mother mary on it. i couldnt believe it. i was filled with what the scriptures would say "exceedingly great joy." 

what a blessing that something so simple could mean so much. especially with the day that we had.  we felt we had to do something back. we didnt know what to give. 

so we decided to give the thing that meant the most to us... the Restored gospel of Jesus Christ. so we wrote our testimonies in the book of mormon and wrote down the scriptures that meant the most to us. and told them if they are EVER having a bad day or need something more than what the world is offering them- just to open the book and start reading anywhere and they will receive the help or the thing they need. 

Tender mercy :

we decided to go out for dinner for elder H and i last chance . so we went to beach hut deli. best sandwich shop. and a byu foot ball game was on so that was lucky. had to really fight to keep my head at the table.

so church was awesome ! V is an incredible new member ! she is willing to do anything to get to church. i also gained a new appreciation for mothers because we sat with her and tried entertaining a 2 and a 4 year old. WHAT ?! how do you mothers do it ! especially if your husband had to sit up on the stand to fulfill his church calling. my hats are off to you. and shout out to my mother Care-bear because she had 5 children to deal with . i will never doubt the sacred calling of a mother again. we spent most of that day cleaning top move apartments because of TRANSFERS.

Thats right ! transfer calls ! it happened ! Elder H is being transfered out ! totally not expected and i am training for the second time in a row ! what ?! they didnt think i did a good enough job so they are giving me a chance to repent ! hahaha and im moving apartments AGAIN back to the apartments i was in a transfer ago hahah im tired of moving . but i love this apartment ! its weird to be back ! looking forward to a another 3 months  here ! 

love you all 

Elder Kristensen

okay so if any of you know me and my car, i had the "guardian angels" (pokemon) who sat in the dash of my ford escort. they were with me in my car accident and they always looked after me haha so when i left they stayed in my car and my sister inherited them . then they became traveling guardian angels and they went everywhere with my sister and she would take pictures with them in different places . and send them to me. then i got a package the other day with the traveliong guardian angels to carry with me and take pictures now! they stay in my bag at all times. 

this other one is elder H and i's companionship tie. again sent by my sister . 

also elder B  

. i love this missionary. he is going home for the second time because of injuries on the mission. pray that he will heal up and get back to the feild ASAP

October 12, 2015-SORRY-Also, I had a Wonderful 2 Weeks

OK family and friends I'm sorry for being bad about writing last week.

I'll try to give you some updates so that you know what's happening

with me and my area. Last p-day I just got caught up writing letters

and doing other things.I promise I'll give you sufficient update. And

I hit up some highlights.

First off some comedy :

Elder H had to Pee super bad so we went "toilet tracting "to see

if anyone would let him use their toilet. So we finally got to a

Spanish lady who is going to let him in and use the toilet. He almost

got into the bathroom until a man stepped out of another room. This

man is the same man who yells at us every time we come into that

specific apartment complex and not 15 minutes earlier he yelled at us.

Can you believe that? The one house that would let us use the toilet

happened to be the house of the man who hates mormons. So I was

killing myself laughing and Elder E didn't get to Pee. He kicked

us right out.

Okay now for some answered prayers:

First-this happened sometime last week but as we are biking down one

of the major streets, watt Avenue, there was a side road that led into

residential area and I saw two ladies one wearing a bright pink shirt.

They were too far away to stop and we were on the way to an

appointment. So we kept going. But I felt the impression that we had

to go back. It was almost kind of like an inner battle. It took me

almost 3 or four blocks before I decided to say prayer. But as soon as

I asked "father is that someone you want us to see" the answer came

strongly as "yes she needs you." With those words and the warmth of

the Spirit on the back of my neck I could not deny the spiritual

prompting. So we biked back half a mile to chased after these two

women. We caught up to them and started talking. They were very nice

and open to talking. We talked for a little while until an inspired

question was asked and then there was pondering by both women we were

talking. The lady in the pink shirt just had her father die of cancer

not more than a week ago. so we testified of the price of salvation we

testified of comfort that comes from knowing where we came from why we

are here and where we're going.how could anybody deny  that being a

message from God. I testify God knows each of us he knows what we need

and when we need it. He will give us according to our desires,even if

we don't know our own desires . We are all searching for truth whether

we see it or not. I was able to see this message was able to bring

hope someone in dire need. Truly an incredible impression I am

eternally grateful for following. I've strived to be that servant that

the Lord can rely on for anybody he needs me to serve and for whatever

task he needs accomplished. What a blessing it is to know that the

Lord trust me and my companion that much.

second -this week V was baptized. She is absolutely a miracle.

She has incredible faith. she hasn't questioned anything and  has put

complete trust in her father in heaven. Sometimes I think I should

follow her example. She has been a three-week baptism. She's so

willing to accept the Lords will. She has three of the cutest kids in

the entire world. It's crazy how you feel

eternal bonds be made as you teach eternal principles. I have felt the

joy that is talked about in the doctrine and  covenants section 18.

"How great is [my ] joy  ...for just bringing one soul into the

kingdom of God." Pray for her and her family as trials are on their

way.

Therewere lots of people that attended. Lots of nonmembers. Plus the

spirit was superstrong. President Jardine showed up. So that always

makes the baptism. It was very spiritual every talk was on point and

every hymn was perfect. All the new missionaries sang "nearer my God

to thee." That was incredibly powerful. I love baptisms. Just knowing

that that person is seen as perfect in God's eyes touches the soul.

And we have that opportunity every Sunday as we partake of the

sacrament. So get to church!

Some more comedy:

To everyone surprise elder H Plays piano. So he played the piano

at Vs  baptism. Did pretty good on the opening song. But on the

last song he struggled on starting. When he finally got going he

realized it was the wrong song. And everyone else was confused what

was going on. Then he turned and said "can I get a book an English

hymn book this one is in Spanish." He was playing out of the wrong

hymnbook. It was hilarious. Perfect lightness to the baptism.

One last miracle. The night for Vs baptism we were biking and

it was dark. We ran into N on the street ( that's her husband) and

had a great conversation with him. First time we've had to bond with

him since we taught Vanessa. 20 minutes before we saw N we realized

we didn't have our phone and didn't know when we lost it. When we

finish talking to neck we decided to pray to know if we should go back

to the apartment to see if it was day. It would've ended our day early

but  we felt a strong impression to try to find the phone. Middle of a

saying a prayer on the side of the street and as soon as I said the

words "where should we go to find our phone" N came running back

saying "hey elders my wife just called she said she's got your phone

at the house." I couldn't believe it didn't have a phone all day and

then in the middle of our prayer he came back saying they had the

phone. Another testimony that God loves us and is looking out for us.

Of course General conference was excellent I'm sorry I don't have my

notes I felt spiritually renewed and edified by modern day prophets

and apostles. I'm so grateful for the inspiration and revelation that

they received so that we may receive answers to our prayers. If you

have questions go watch conference it has the answersthat is a promise

from our father in heaven.

One of my favorite talk was by President Uchtdorf. It was all about

making the gospel more simple and learning to have it work for you. I

testify itcan work for anyone. That's what the Atonement  is for.  I

love you all I must go and play volleyball because that's the first

time ivehad that my whole mission. It's a miracle!

Love elder kristensen