April 27, 2015 -COME UNTO CHRIST

here  it is monday:

Today i learned a lesson on obedience ! Obedience is not just obeying rules. obediences is following commandments out of love for the savior. we should want to obey because of what he has done for us. something you always have heard but you reallly got to take time to internalize it. john 14:15. 

Tuesday:

Exchange with the zoneleaders. I was with Elder F. for the day and it started off amazing! He is such a good missionary filled with a bundle of knowledge! He offered  so much advice and i need it thats for sure. but we started off by seeing a lady named who we met in a complex. turns out she is a friend of a member in the ward and we had the oppertuinty to teach her. The spirit was SO strong. both Elder F. and i teaching with perfect unity and she was able to receive a preisthood blessing from us. annnnnnnnndd she says she wants to get baptized next month!!! what what. Lord is taking care of us thats for sure. another valuable lesson i learned was while teaching another investigator we focused so much on the issue that she wasnt getting an answer. then Elder F. just stopped and said " we Love you, keep doing what you are doing, you will get an answer." after which he quoted one of our prophets. he said " dont ever let a problem to be solved become bigger than a person to be loved." im going to carry that with me my whole life.

wednesday:

Pretty regular day. we taught R.  the Restoration and she still wants to be baptizeed! thats a bonus.

Thursday:

Today was the day that D.L., one of our  Investigators was getting baptized and it was sooo amazing! the day before he was aasking alot about what the "rush" felt like after you come up out of the water and we told him hed have to wait and see. We got to see him experience the "rush" and that was the most amazing thing ive ever seen. 

Friday:

Exchange with Elder P. TOday was slow in their area but we did service for this guy who had a ton of cool stuf we got to help him go through and organize! they also had a baptism i was able to attend to tonight. 

Saturday:

We started the day early doing service in the river valley for a helping hands project. we spent time cleaning up garbage in the river calley and after they fed us hot dogs and cookies ! such a bonus. pretty much took up our morning! after which we had to weekly plan. which is never really exciting . but today was mostly preparation for the sabbath

Sunday :

okay here we go... big day . D.L. was confirmed a member of the church today . two amazing talks were given which were so good! very blunt about the ten commandments! He basically took the ten commandments and expanded on how they relate to other commandments . like how thou shalt not kill is related to the word of wisdom. We requested a gospel principles lesson today because we were suppose to have an investigator come but she had to leave after sacrament. but it was an unreal lesson on the spirit. dont have time to talk about it,... but just know hes real! but in the class, an investigator getting baptized that night bore her testimony without even knowing it. that was powerful and brought such a special spirit . thats right J. and two of her boys got baptized t !! that was amazing ! super spiritual. I love giving talks on the holy ghost ... i have so many experiences up my sleeves to use. like losing keys in the tissue box and praying to find them or losing the Lord of the Rings movie when i was young and i needed to find it.  ALso while biking we ran into this lady who moved into the area recently and she said that she was going to be baptizd in another area with her family  but they moved. so we will see what happens with that miracle!

Was quite a week. love you all ... love the Lord. Praise him forever!

April 20, 2015 -EXICITING WEEK

Hello friends and family ! its been an interesting week. Here it is :

monday:

So i happen to be a little low on money but we went to buffalo wild wing today. I wondered how i was going to pay and get through the month but  half way through our dinner the waiter came up and said someone had paid our bill for us! that just shows how Loving the Lord is! I was being not responsible and  He still blessed me.

Tuesday:

I moved my laundry into a basket and grabbed a snack i realized i lost my planner and that for sure i left it at their house. so we raced back to look and it wasnt there. We went back to the house we were just at and we were able to provide some scriptures .She recognized that we really were servants of the Lord because we showed up right when she needed us the most. Its amazing to see the Lord use us as ways to confirm to people there is a God. also my planner felll into the laundry basket.

Wednesday:

We Contacted this lady and turns out shes been less active for her whole lofe then not two minutes later a man came running out of his house saying he was less active and hes been looking to contact the missionaries in the area forever. super cool. We also taught J. Who has a date for next week, and she wants her two kids to be baptized too!

Thursday:

We had zone conference ! super good. mostly a repentance call  on keeping record updated and working on keeping our relationship with the ward well! we also got news that in the next 6 weeks we are getting IPADS. what up! we also got tiwis in our cars... its like a cop that sits in the front window. 

Friday:

Went on an exchange with Eldr F..

Saturday:

The B's got baptized!!! Its the family i had the blessing to teach! So awesome to go back to Ione and see everyone and especially get to see them baptized They have overcome so many trials ! love that . The Atonement is real!

Sunday:

Today we thought just started to fall apart. we had an investigator with a date drop us and a baptismal interview cancelled and so many appointments fall through. but then in the end everything turned out. we were able to give a blessing J. after she said that she just had a complete warmth come over her and light chills ... so awesome when people recognize the spirit. The strength of the spirit and the priesthood is legit. 

Also Look at the word JOY. The J stands for jesus and the Y stands for you. and the only thing that keeps you between jesus is O which is Obedience. 

Love you all 

Elder KRistensen

April 13, 2015-The Real Life of a Missionary

Hello Everyone! prepare for a super lame week !

I forgot my journal plus This week was more of a building the area week!

Monday:

So we challenged some more guys on the street to some ball.... and we won again. its all Elder J. though! That guy is a tank. We also met this girl who is the definition of PREPARED. Everything she said was perfect and she will be getting baptized the beginning of next month she even came to church this Sunday! 

Tuesday:

So last week we biked towards this girl, took her dog pooh from her, and now have her on date. Super cool. There was also a huge rain storm today. And it was my first time biking in the pouring rain as a missionary... best / worst time ever!  we also got to teach Spanish people how to speak English as a service project. Good thing I don't know any Spanish. PSYCHE.

Wednesday:

The Lord has seriously put us in the right time and place every hour of this day! Taught lots of Lessons. But numbers mean nothing when no baptisms happen so we are still working on that ! We were searching for a member to come teach with us tonight and couldn't find anyone until we just decided to ask the members who fed us to come with us ! They had never been with the missionaries before but turns out they were the PERFECT fellowshippers. Again the Lord is getting his work done the way he wants with the people he wants. We also taught this other guy who was drinking, but also very faithful to Jesus and so we showed him John 14 :15 where Christ says "if ye love me keep my commandments".. so he dumped his beer out right then and there. The scriptures are pretty powerful! 

Thursday:

Had to go on an exchange today Because Elder J. had a Leadership meeting for 7 hours so it was Elder B. and I's time to shine as a new golden companionship! We taught more Spanish people English today ! we Also got to go to a Super awesome couple with the coolest boys! 

Friday:

Nothing special just a regular day!

saturday:

We offered four hours of service building a fence for a guy down the street from the church in our proseltying clothes ! That was sweet. 

Sunday:

Fast sunday... never very fast. But super awesome testimonies. there was one testimony that stood out.  He said the first couples months into his mission he had one guy grab him and physically threatened him. This brave missionaries last wish was to at least bear his testimony of Jesus Christ and this restored church. At that point the spirit was so strong the man dropped his knife and the missionary ran off. sweet right ? but how often do we find satan at our own throats ? pretty mmuch everyday but the only way to shake him off is by our pure testimony and conversion !

Love yall,

Elder Kristensen

April 6, 2015- General Conference

ALright peoples Here it is:

monday:

LITTLE BOY STOLE MY PEN. it was actually my fault because i left without asking for it back. totes okay. The Lord keeps putting us in at the right place at the right time. Right after we finished talking with one of our investigators there was a lady who was walking by in tears. so usually that is a good sign for a missionary to go talk to them. This lady just had a death in the family. We sat and talked with herfor a while about gods plan and her purpose and she was then calmed right down. This church has got to be true because there is no way two 18 year old white boys could calm down that big of a storm she was going through!

Tuesday:

Crazy day ! super busy and taught lots of lessons! We took a non member investigator to come and teach a couple lessons with us because we needed another male. that was interesting.

Wednesday:

we had a pretty cool experience with a less active struggling with addiction. 

Thursday:

Regular day... had all kinds of meetings soooooooo it kind of made proselyting hard. 

Friday:

ZONE TRAINING .

So legit and it was all about moving forward and not backward. there is no middle ground.. its either we are moving forward or youre moving backward there is no middle ground. Also talked about Peter and how when christ came and asked him to come follow how he dropped his net immediatly and asked us what are some of our nets we have to drop to follow christ more.

Saturday/sunday:

GENERAL CONFERENCE. I loved general conferencee soooooooo much . i wish i had more time because i could tell you all kinds of things i loved...  but just remember to STAY BY THE TREE OF LIFE. 

Love you all

Elder Kristensen

March 30, 2015- FOOTHILLS

alright folks here it is!

Wednesday:

First day in the Foot hills Ward area. Super awesome. Im on a bike. Lots more people. Lots more exercise. Alot less food. hahaha we had a service project wherre we made pb and j sandwhiches. like 700 of them. or so we thought. turns out they messed up the order and we made double that. so we had 700 extra that went to the missionaries. And Elder J. and I Just moved into a new apartment so there was zero food. Yes that was my food for the next week! and we wwanted to be obedient so we didnt go shopping for anything else. yes my new Companion is Elder J. from Layton Utah. This guy is awesome ! He's been out 6 weeks more than me. And, he's a district leader so we both don't know whats going on !

Thursday:

Pretty regular day. We went and we saw a less active the Elders before me tracted into. Her name is T. and WOW! She is so spiritual and desiring to come back. She said what she had no idea how she got to the church building but she got there just by walking. I have never met anyone so grateful for the missionaries yet. Just the one encounter with her on the street has changed her life !  The next was a guy named R. under us . We were coming in late (woops) but we caught our neighbour who just had a sister pass away from cancer and we gave him a quick Plan of Salvation lesson on the hood of his car, and he loved it ! It's amazing the comfort that the plan of happiness can bring! And it's a good thing we caught him at the right time! Some divine intervention there.

Friday :

SOOOOOOO today We did a huge service project. It was at California expo center and what it was was an organization that did free dental work for anyone ! You can imagine how busy that would be. There were people lined up out there for longer then 24 hours. but we were used as escorts for the patients across the expo center. They fed us dinner which was pasta but they bought huge trays extra and gave it too us when we left to go home. But on our way out there was probably about 100 people lined up to get their teeth worked on the next day and we felt we had to give them the pasta! so we did and started to leave , when we realized how upset these people were that we didn't bring out forks and knives and plates. Just kind of made me think of the Saviour and how he did what he could to help but it wasn't ever good enough. but we did get them what they needed to eat and everyone was happy and felt super awesome after that. 

Saturday:

We went back to help again with this big dentist thing! This time they had wayyyyy to many bags of baby carrots. So Elder M. and I stood at the exit giving bags of these little carrots away. For almost 3 hours. People thought we were crazy trying to give them carrots after they went to the dentist .... BUT some were super grateful ! we also taught A. today. cool experince. She  was talking and elder J. and i both flipped open to a scripture and thought it was super awkward because we didnt know who should read theirs. so i let him go ... we flipped to the exact same( not even generic ) scripture. Just proves how the spirit works the same between us as missionaries ! super cool.

Sunday:

 The ward is awesome .. We had a ward member give us a ton of food. Running out of time. love you and the new area!

This wheel has been crazy spiritual we have been placed in peoples paths who need the Lord the most and that does not happen by accident. The spirit has guided our actions to complete his work. We have become instruments in the hands of god. I'd tell ya amore about it but im out of time ! BYE

Elder KRistensen

March 23, 2015-Forgot my journal WOOPS

Hey everyone sooooo i forgot my journal so i dont remember anything about this week but i will do my best

Monday :

I think it was a normal pday. finally got to play volleyball for the first time

Tuesday:

Idont remember either so im just gong to think of highlights.

We have been trying to meet with a members neighbor since ive been in Ione and her name is J. we would talk to her everyone once in a while while she was out side. but couldnt ever set anything up. But Sunday night was a little different. We had a very sincere conversation with her and set something up for yesterday. And we had an amazing lesson regarding the restoration and she even said she would be baptized when she found it was true. J. even said she was trying to come up with any excuse that would have stopped the meeting yesterday from happening. and she couldnt. she could not bring herself to cancelling and she didnt know why. That was completely and utterly the spirit. the spirit invites us to do the right thing always. She felt the convincing power of the Holy Ghost so strongly. and that is because God knows it'll change her life so much and so well that He sent His spirit to her. 

Ummm there was also a mission farewell for a member here who got his mission call when ! first got here and leaves tomorrow thats super cool! ummm we also got to go to the temple this week with C. and do baptisms which is always super spiritual! so awesome to see how well she is progressing! 

The family we are teaching are going to push their date back a couple weeks to get over some vices, but after that they will be baptized! super excited for them also. People always talk about this glow about us because as missionaries we are close with God. I didnt get it. i didnt see how that was posssible rather. but i Have seen it with this family. they were coming from such a rough place and their lives are changing and the glow and liveliness is in them. so awesome to see ! 

also added 4 new solid investigators this week. annnnnnd last night we got transfer calls....

I have been booted out to Foot hills ward in the North Sacramento stake ! Apparently has nothing to do with hills... which might be a nice change for me because thats all ive seen for 5 months ! super excited to try something new but im going to miss this area so much and all the good that is here right now . anyways thats the quick highlights of what i could remember . Love you all! 

Elder Kristensen

This is M. he is nice and going on a mission

March 16, 2015-Apostles

monday:

so not to much happened today but we played this game called milk jug lacrosse. try to picture what that would look like!

Tuesday:

We had interviews with President J. I seriously Love my mission president. this man has to be the most genuine person ever! I really do feel his love for his missionaries.  he made us read some scriptures in Romans 8. i suggest you read the last two verses in that chapter becasue they are very true and very powerful!

Wednesday:

soooo the last couple days ive been praying about how to make my studies more effective or how i can have better study habits. and it constantly has come to me to keep a good study journal..... i dont know what a good study journal looks like but im going to try ... so good luck to me! we also had to drive up to Folsom for a doctors appointment and it is amazing to see that THERE IS MORE TO THE WORLD THAN THE HILLS. seriously strange to enter civilization. Also the Girl that we baptized a couple weeks ago now has a temple recommend and we will be attending the temple this weeks!

Thursday:

Little bit of a hard day. nothing seemed to go our way but we had an awesome district meeting. We were studying and talking about Talks that Elder David A Bednar of the quorum of the 12 gave us. They were "converted unto the Lord ", "praying in Faith" and "learning by faith". And i will talk about them more later.

Friday:

Okay i can talk about the talks now because they were given to us to prepare for a training that we did with Elder Bednar. SOOO AWESOME. Apostles are spiritual giants and ive never seen so much inspiration at one time and there is no way im going to be able to have time to write everything ive learned. But basically it was a question and answer period and we could ask him anything ( besides anything super deep). But a couple highlights are basically We are all agents ! and agents Act. we are not objects to be acted upon. So when we pray, we pray about what should we do to receive something we want not just pray for something and expect to get it without work. For example if we prayed for a new investigator but just sat in the apartment all day. there is no way we are going to be blessed with a new investigator. the same implies when we are studying. He also promised that if anyone were to read the Book of Mormon everyday they would never fall away from the church. and that was a pretty bold but honest promise from an apostle. One last quick thing. someone asked " as an apostle have you ever seen Christ?".. almost everyone rolled their eyes but Bednar gave the Best answer and said " Through time I have received a witness that Jesus is the Christ that goes beyond the 5 senses of the human body." if that is not the most amazing thing ever I dont know what is. And that is going to become a life long endeavour for me to obtain. Because that is the witness that will keep you truly converted and that is a witness we can all receive. We got to shake their hands. Never washing my hand again

Saturday:

We worked up at preston Castle again and got a little sappy from moving lots of pine tree twigs. awesome right ? then we went to the Market to buy some sandwiches and all of a sudden E walks in! the lady we do service for at preston and bought us all lunch ! tender mercies.

Sunday:

The sabbath is always special. C's mom came to church so hopefully we will teach her soon! almost all of our actively teaching investigators showed up today! 

Im super out of time so i have to stop there. but my testimony has grown so much from hearing from one of the Lords apostles. He really has called prophets again on earth.

Love Elder Kristensen