April 11, 2016-Whhhhhhaaaaaat?

ok family this week has been incredibly good ! So I will send you pictures and explain.

1.      D. got baptized ! That was an awesome experience to see him be baptized, d. was a friend to a member in our ward and introduced him to the gospel. He took the discussions from us. At his baptism he told us s experience of when he finally took the information we Gave him to God and explained his answer. Essentially he said that because of his answer he received there is no other decision that is better than this one. And I can testify to you that that is true. Making covenants with Heavenly Father is always the best decision you could possibly make. The joy is indescribable .  Also super cool , R. performed the baptism!! R. was recently baptized and has received the aaronic priesthood , giving him authority to perform the baptism. So he did. Such a blessing to see him use that. 

2.      D. and p. got baptized ! D. was a street contact that elder t. and I had. He was just so prepared and is so committed to the gospel. I am so grateful to have met him ! Eternal bonds have been made. We got to see N. baptize him.  N. was also recently baptized and he received the priesthood too. N. comes out with us ALL the time. P. is from Nigeria and has been living with brother M. who baptized him. P. just was super prepared and ready to receive the gospel. 

3.      This is my tribute to my companion elder t.. I love this elder . I love him to the moon and back. He has looked after me and has helped me grow so much. The saviors love emulates off of him. He is a brother and has become one of my best friends. He is one of the lords best servants. The lord could not have called a better elder to serve me and the rest of His children . Elder t. has been transferred to a new area. He will training a new missionary and opening up a new area . I miss him . But I know that he will do an incredible job in his mission. That was a heart breaking transfer call on Saturday. 

4.      Monday we decided to do some district driving range activities . So we got to hang out there and drive some golf balls. That was SO MUCH FUN. We really enjoyed ourselves. We are going to try to make p-days more enjoyable. 

So yes transfers happened is week. I will be staying in natomas 3rd are and tala'ofa. I will still be a district leader ( best job by the way ) and I will be training again !! I love training new missionaries ! So much fun... They are giving yet another try because I didn't do it right the first couple tries. The lord is giving me a chance to repent. 

Tuesday I was super sick . Caught the flu. But no worries. 

Thursday after district meeting we went to Taco Bell and someone bought us food. So that wa cool but even cooler was that the lady and husband that bought our food was the parents to Keaton Gibbs Mtc companion who served in Halifax Canada... So that's crazy. 

I love you all ! Elder kristensen

April 4, 2016-REVELATION

Hello family ! 

I'm going to send you pictures of everything cool that has happened this week. First picture is of the temple tour we went on with 2 of our investigators and a recent convert. D and P are both being baptized this week. Elder T( a senior missionary from the office) offered to do a special one just for us. Went very well and was very powerful. It was a blessed night. 

The second picture is when we had zone training. Zone training was focused on three Christ like attributes acts needs work and that was diligence, virtue and gratitude . I got to train on diligence. Which is one of my favorite things to do. Lots was learned and the zone this month should hopefully be blowing it up. 

Third, our entire zone was sick this week and we were the only few that weren't. What kept us healthy you might ask ? Gatorade and water. 

Fourth , elder D ( one of my past companions ) goes home next week. Elder Dis one of my best friends that I have gained on my mission. I love this elder to death . So before he went we planned a temple trip together. So we went and did an endowment session together then went to lunch. He flys back to Japan. Miss him a ton. 

Last, I was asked to attend Missionary leadership council. For whatever reason they asked all e leadership to be there, so this picture is of all the leadership in the mission. The meeting was very long but very good. No lots of revelation was received. I also felt very inadequate as a leader , so I definitely learned humility at the meeting. But it kind of left me wondering how possibly can I reach my goal. But immediately the atonement came to my mind . I finally realized what it really meant to need to rely on the atonement for something I know I could not do. And I finally humbled myself to recognize in the past to see how much he has helped me. Then this weekend at conference the words were said " Jesus was the perfect leader because he was the perfect follower." Boom that's how I could do it. I need to follow the councils of my leaders and mission president and doing the work even more than I did before. 

Conference was amazing. I got an answer to every single question I had. The church is true. The prophets are truly men called and ordained to a sacred calling to bless us . I love the lord and his gospel. It's true. 

Love you all ! Elder kristensen