I Love My Mission!

Hey there people!

Well, this was a great week! and a super fast week too! We didn't do too many things nor was it like the funnest week but it was good.  But first, all of the elders from Tingo were here in Huanuco and all of them stayed in our room. There were 6 of us and it was a party!! They got to Huanuco on Sunday and then we had p-day Monday together, and a multi-zone meeting on Tuesday and they left on Wednesday. 

   

So, let's start off with the Monday P-day that we had. On Monday we had a multi zone p-day. It was super cool. Not the best multi zone that we have had yet, but we played a bit of soccer and ran quite a bit! Then we played kick ball with President Silva. Haha!! he accidentally punched a few missionaries, because he flew into the bases way to fast! It was super funny! And then we had our zone meeting and then after we ATE LASAGNA (I do declare that, that is spelled correctly!!!) It was super good!!! Not the best ever, but it was some decent lasagna!! 

Tuesday we had multi zone meeting and it was really neat. I learned a ton! At the multi zone meeting I could really feel and it was confirmed to me that President is a man called of God to lead our mission. He really cares about us, he wants us to be happy and to work hard, but most of all he wants us to be super obedient. Which I think is great. I feel like I am being 98 percent obedient, not 100 percent because if I was 100 percent I would be perfect and then be translated! But, I am striving for that 100 percent and will continue to throughout my life. I feel super good about myself. I feel like I have less energy to get the work done, but I know that it is my Heavenly Father testing me to see if I can and will work under all situations. 

Then the rest of the week was full of basically teaching active members, and less active members. We have dropped a bunch of investigators because none of them want to progress. So we are back to contacting quite a bit to find new investigators. Hopefully some who have been prepared to receive this gospel. 

Wednesday we made pizza and lasagna AGAIN!!! haha It was so much better this time. This time I made the pizza. It was decent!! A girl in the ward made us the lasagna, it was amazing... other than the fact that she added some weird ingredient! Really, I was so confused as to why she would make such an amazing plate of food and put egg plant in it!! Not good like American lasagna!  haha CRAZY RIGHT!  I didn't even know what the heck an eggplant was until then!! hehe

So last week I told you about Raul, he is super cool!! He came to church for the second time in like 15 years. I love this guy and I feel like we have made a connection, hopefully he will continue and progress! Also, Familia Santiago are a super cool family whom I hope will continue to work and progress in the gospel. They really want their daughter to get baptized and the husband (her dad) is still thinking about it, (his wife is already baptized.) I love this! It's great! And it's true! That is my week. I have to go. 

I love you all,

Elder Christensen

Luke making Pizza and a girl from their ward making Lasagna

Elder Bullock and Elder Christensen

Elder Bullock was Luke's trainer. He is now an AP.

Elder Christensen and Elder Albrecht

Two crazy Alta boys!

Crosses in the streets of Huanuco

I'm in Huanuco Just for Me

Well family and friends, 

I realized I have an awful English vocab. jaja (not in bad words. I just don't really remember English words.) It seems to be getting worse!

I have about a year left in the mission!! haha crazy right. It's flying. My hump day is September 8th, but I think my release day is somewhere around August 10 or 16, 2017! The mission is crazy, and it's going by crazy fast! 

I have had a great week. First off, we got to go to Real Plaza. Real Plaza is just like a crappy Peruvian version of a mall. It is super small in Huanuco, but, I mean, it has escalators, so that's cool! I haven't seen one of those in almost a year! So Elder Schully and I went up and down like 3 or 4 times just cuz I won't see another one again in a really long time. I also was able to hold a Guitar Hero controller. jaja!!! IT WAS SO AWESOME! I cleaned a part off and then I kissed it! haha  I was so tempted to play it, but I prayed for help and the tempation went away! That was probably the hardest thing that I have had to do in my whole mission!! That was harder than 3 months in Carhuamayo. jaja! Really, I'm just kidding! But, we also got to browse through all of the stores. They are not that cool. But, I did see a really cool TV that I had never seen before. And now I kind of want it. It also had a snowboarding movie, called The Art of Flight, playing. I was so happy to see some snowboarding. Then we went and ate grilled chicken with potatoes. I didn't eat the potatoes. After last Monday I will never eat another potatoe again!  

Selfie in a nice mall restroom!

Eating a hamburger at the mall! It was soooo good!

Luke hadn't had a hamburger for a long time!

Luke at Real Plaza.

He found a Guitar Hero .... he's obviously missed his Xbox 

Luke and his "babes"!

  

So that was Monday. The rest of the week I was super happy, even though it was an awful week of work. We had a ton of lessons, about 26, but we had 3 people kick us out of their house, and like another 5 people open the door and close it right away! Then we came to a house, it's address was Jr Progreso 666 (sounds a little scary, huh!). I walked over and contacted it just to see what was up in the house. I knocked on the door and they didn't answer, so I rang the door bell like 2 times. Finally this old man walked out, he was so furious at us. He asked us, "what is with your awful manners in ringing my door bell?" He said that two times then yelled the third one. Then my comp started to talk. He said, "we are missionaries. and we are here to help you to learn about the gospel". Then the dude was so furious! He then asked me very angry, "WHY DID YOU RING MY DOORBELL?"  so I said, "WHY DO YOU HAVE A DOORBELL", then he stopped! and I said we are here to save you, so why are you treating us so awful? He then said "I don't care about God!!" and slammed the door! After that I just started laughing! That normally would make us feel bad, but i just started laughing, even my comp was laughing. In fact, I am still laughing about it. I've never been treated quite like that!

It's hard here in Pedro Puelles. And I have come to the conclusion that this area is for me to learn. It is for me to learn patience and also for me to be able to realize what I really want most in life. I have an hour or more a day of just meditation. I really do love reading and pondering about the gospel, what it does for us, why I'm here and what I'm learning. I really love the mission just because it is helping me change so much spiritually and mentally. I'm learning and I'm growing through the trials that we are facing here, it's hard. It's hard for many reasons, one, because not one person in this whole dang area wants to listen to us. It just makes me a little bit sad that no one wants to listen to us. Most don't even give us a chance. We are teaching some really cool and great people, but they won't ever come to church and they can't progress if they don't go to church. I just wish they could see the whole picture like we see it, then they would give everything to have what we have in the gospel. My comp and I are really helping the ward out though, and I'm sure that is partly why we are here too. They (the leaders) are really changing so fast. That makes me happy to see them do things the way they really need to be done. Funny when you grow up around it all of your life you take so many things for granted in the church, just knowing the week to week running of the church seems so simple, but not to these people here. I don't have any other cool stories or people to write about. I'm out of time so next week I'll tell you about a guy named Raul. I will explain his story. He is a less active and I leave a message with him every time we see him, and I feel like it's changing me. This guy is litterally changing my life and changing my attitude with his stories. That's all for this week. So, until next week ... 

Love you all,

Elder Christensen

Elder Christensen and Richard

Cooking tacos at the Bishop's house

Luke and a parrot

Heavenly Father Hears our Prayers

Um, well, it was a great week...I think!

So this week has been decent. We have been working hard! We didn't have a lot of time to work this week, but when we worked, we worked hard. 

So, this week was great. We started off beating a bunch of dudes in soccer like 23 to 7 haha!! Then they got mad and left and forfeited, but we had an amazing p-day, and we got to play soccer, so even though we don't really have that many things to do anymore, we found the best of things we can do. Later that day we went to a Family Home Evening. But, the family we went to to have FHE with isn't the most sanitary, plus they are potato farmers (but then who isn't a potato farmer here?) They gave us some food. I got a plate of like 7 giant potatos and some cheese. Then I started laughing and I just kept thinking that they were joking and were going to bring out some like sour cream, haha or something else to put on the potatoes. Nope! I ate like 7 giant potatos with just like 2 slices of cheese, it was pretty dry! I am still laughing, but I know that Heavenly Father is looking out for me because he blessed me enough to be able to finish those flipping potatoes, and not offend them! Then we were heading over to another Family Home Evening and we had a lady ask us for a blessing for her husband. Then after the blessing they gave Elder Campbell and me a whole Panetone to eat, RIGHT IN FRONT OF THEM, panetones are not small!! They are actually very large. Then we had to eat the dinner that our Pencion had prepared for us. Aww! I'm still full and it has been a whole weeeeeeek! 

On Wednesday Elder Campbell and all of the other gringos took a hike and left me alone in Huanuco. But my new Zone Leader got here and he is a gringo so, yeah, that's pretty cool right? His name is Elder Schully and he's from Logan, Utah. Then a little later my new comp, Elder Cano got here. He has 14 months in the mission, and also just got out of CARHUAMAYO, (we have a lot in common!) and he is from Lima. He is a pretty good missionary, he works dece hard, but he doesn't always really care about the rules.

Then Thursday I saw the GLASSET FAMILY!!!!! That was just like the greatest thing in the whole world!!!! Just seeing a family of white people, from Draper, Utah was the best! They delivered the package that you sent, brought us some candy and also gave me some great advice, which I really needed and appreciated! Thanks Glassets for taking the time, it meant a lot!!! It really was super cool!!

Elder Cano, Elder Christensen and Cody Glassett

Cody served in the Peru Huancayo Mission from June 2014 to June 2016

Elder Cano, Elder Christensen, Cody and Paul Glassett

The Glassett's are from Draper and they were visiting Cody's mission

Elder Cano, Elder Christensen, The Glassett Family

An amazing thing happened last night. I have been praying super hard these days to receive an answer about something. I felt a great urge to listen to my farewell talk. So, I pulled out the CD and listened to it. Nothing in my talk really had any answers, but it was great to listen to it again. After the talk I had the thought to listen to the song that Tanner Townsend played. It was the piano solo "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing". Wow, I felt like someone was wrapping their arms around me and hugging me, and whispered to me, and told me what to do. It was amazing. It actually brought tears to my eyes, and I realized how much Heavenly Father loves me. He is so mindful of each of us, and he is there if we will ask Him. He wants to help us, and lead and guide us. I got my answer, and a stronger testimony of my Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. They live.

That was my week. And... I just want to say to Marci that you better be careful because when I get home I'm gonna give you a knuckle sandwich. I just need to bug you again! (Most boys tease their sisters, he loves to torment his aunt!)

love you all,

Elder C. 

Elder Campbell and Elder Christensen

Elder Christensen and Elder Campbell

Dietamar and Bobby the Dog

Elder Christensen and Crazy Richard 

Matius, Gelhin's Baby... Gelhin in the back

"The Stairs of Death" in Luke's area and he walks up and down them

several times a day, every day

A part of Luke's area in Huanuco (Pedro Puelles)

The houses on the hill are typical to Peru

A street in Luke's area with a few mototaxi's

The Glassett's said that his area was very pretty and 

very well maintained, and seemed very safe.

Things are Happening in Pedro Puelles

Hey there folks!

So this week was a great, slow, but fast week. Haha! I have been super happy this week. I don't really have that many things to write about these days. There is just nothing that is happening right here in Pedro Puelles because President changed the rules, and we can't leave our area on P-day anymore. Well, actually I guess he just put a rule into effect that President Henderson wasn't as strict about. So for p-day we went to a chapel in Primavera and played Signs and played a little soccer with some members, and we also played some volleyball. The rest of the week we just worked and did a bunch of pre-interviews for the sister missionaries in Primavera. 

I learned how to solve an 8 sided rubix cube, and it really wasn't that hard to learn. Campbell also figured it out! But yeah, we are still just contacting like crazy and teaching a bunch. So that is great! We found this new family named the Santiagos and they are super cool. They own a restaurant and they invited Elder Campbell and me to go and eat there last week. They had some of the best Peruvian food I have eaten since I've been in Peru. Actually, they have the best restaurant in all of Peru, and you know Peru is known for their fine cuisine! 

So yesterday (Sunday) Elder Campbell and I decided to go visit a less active. His name is Raul. He has been less active since he was like 14, and he is 33 now. He has a super strong testimony. He told us how through the past few years many missionaries have passed by his house and have stopped to visit with him, but he has rejected all of them. But, when Campbell and I passed by he just felt like he needed to let us in. I was sitting there in awe! And then he told us this crazy dream that he had where he was dying and Jesus came down, and Raul was begging Jesus for his life back. He said that he was begging for a second chance and he said that Jesus told him to go to church. Well, he had that dream about 4 years ago and he still hasn't gone to church. So now he says he will come to church. He has promised us that he will for sure come to church this next Sunday.

Yesterday was Hermana Keeler's birthday. She is in our district so we had a birthday party in the Hermana's Pencions house at night, with the ward. It was pretty fun. Birthday's are great here! Those are the highlights from my week! This week is transfers and I know who my new companion is because President messed up and we can all see every change in the mission!!!! So, I'll be staying in Huanuco in Pedro Puelles and my new comp is Elder Cano from Lima. I'm working hard, you keep working hard! Everything's great! Until next week ....

Elder Christensen

Last week before Gelhin's baptism

Hutchy and Scrappy and Hutchy's girlfriend!

Hermano Martine is a great man!
He is the High Priest Group Leader and the husband
to the Hermana's Pension.

Happy Peruvian Independence Day!!

Hey there people of America!!

HOW WAS THE 24TH OF JULY!!! So here it is not a holiday! So we didn't do anything! haha!! On Thursday, July 28th it will be Peruvian Independence Day and they will celebrate all weekend long with fireworks and everyone will drink and get drunk! I will just play with my Trompo! I am getting pretty good at it. Elder Campbell and I have Trompo wars, and play super fun games. If you don't know what a Trumpo is go look it up on the internet..... A Trompo or Whipping Top is a top which is spun by winding a length of string around the body, and launching it so that it lands spinning on its point. If the string is attached to a stick the rotation can be maintained by whipping the side of the body. The string may also be wound around the point while the trompo is spinning in order to control its position or even lift the spinning top to another surface. These toys are popular in Latin America where the name trompo emerged, but there are many different local names. .... I watched some videos on YouTube, and it looks really hard, but very cool!

But this week was super fast .... yet super slow (can that be possible)? So this week we played soccer at the church with all the missionaries in Huanuco. We were playing great and I was learning to do some new moves!! 

Last Tuesday we had a super great lesson with Gelhin. We were getting her ready for her baptism that was scheduled for Saturday, July 23rd. She told us that she had a dream that she was dressed in white, and then she saw two Gringos. (Yeah, that would be me and Campbell) haha!! Why can't I have any dope dreams like these Peruvians!! We have been finding some other great people to teach too, and we have been working super hard this week. We also have some more people that have accepted a baptismal date!! It's so great! But then we literally just contacted the rest of the day on Tuesday. 

Wednesday we did the same exact thing as every other day.  We were walking along and this dude just gave me a brand new Trompo. It's so cool, and we have been getting super good at it in our free time. I now have like 4 different Trompos. But that is only because a Trompo costs like 1 Sole, maybe 2 Soles maximum. Also, on Wednesday Elder Bartschi came and stayed with us because he and my comp, Eder Campbell, were going to Huancayo for some reason. So we went and got Fetucchini Alfredo. And then we bought a Paneton ....  Paneton is a type of sweet bread originally from Milan, but is now popular in Latin America. It is usually prepared and enjoyed for Christmas and New Year. This is Wendi talking now, Paneton is really not that good! But I'm glad he likes it! ... and some Root Beer Floats. jajajajajaj! They were sooooo goooooood! So, because Bartschi and Campbell went to Huancayo I had to stay with the Zone Leaders. I was with Elder Carrasco and he is super funny and a little crazy. So we just talked all night about crazy things we did before the mission. He is about to finish his mission next transfer so he is a little trunky. haha 

Then on Friday morning we got a call from the Assistants and they gave us some of the worst news!!! So, from now on we can't have p-days basically... really, we just can't leave our areas unless we receive 'permission from the Zone Leaders'. So from now on we will not be able to play soccer and do a lot of other cool things basically!! So unless it's a Zone activity we're in our area alone on p-days! But I will be obedient and follow the rules. Later Friday afternoon we did some baptismal interviews. 

Saturday we had a BAPTISM, but something crazy happened! It always seems to go that way here! We had an interview and we planned for everything and it was all ready to go. We were going to have 4 baptisms here! So awesome! Gelhin got there on time and the other 3 didn't show up until like 5:30. We planned the baptism to be at 4:00. Also, the other wards were having a baptism at 3:00 but they didn't start until 4:00 haha. What am I talking about! That's just any typical Peruvian activity, to say you will start at 4:00 and then really start at 5:30!) But we did have the baptism of Gelhin and it was awesome! She was so excited and so happy! It was great to have a new member in the Puerto Puelles ward after almost a year!

The baptism of Gelhin. The Hermana's, Elder Campbell and Elder Christensen

Gelhin in the middle.

Also, I have seen so many dang animals die in the past few weeks! It's crazy!! I made a chicken jump off a cliff on accident haha!! And I'm pretty sure it died. It wasn't moving.... sorry chicken. Well, that's my week! And I'm out of time. This work is the greatest ever! Have a great week!

Elder Christensen

Elder Campbell and Elder Christensen

Elder Christensen balancing a cookie on his head!

Looks like he's a silly as ever!

We're Working Hard and It Feels So Good!!

Hey there you GRINGOS!!!

     

So that Gringo thing was kinda like a joke that everyone here knows!! haha  I was just walking down the street and a guy saw us and yelled GRINGO!!! with all of his might. haha. Then he ran 2 blocks to come and give me a hand shake!!! It was the best!! THESE PEOPLE ARE CRAZY, but I really do love them. Recently I have just been loving everyone. 

So this week was a great week full of working hard and having a little fun too. We also talked to President (we are super big homies now) and, No I was not sucking up to him (well not that much anyway! jaja) But to start off this week, we were playing soccer with all of the zones in Huanuco and it was super fun. I realized that Tingo killed me. I was getting better at soccer and I was really pretty dece but now... no! I Suck. I don't even know how to play, haha! But we had a great time still. We played for about 3 hours then played a little of Extreme Signs. Yeah, I am sorry the p-days here in Huanuco just aren`t as cool as they were in Tingo. And, also this week I think I'm finally over Tingo! It was super hard to leave there, but I'm ok now, I don't really miss it that much anymore. I do think about the people there a lot! 

Tuesday we had a really great lesson with Hermana Gelhin (Helen) she is getting very excited for her baptism. She is reading everyday and praying and everything. It's so great! She has a baby that is the cutest baby. He loves me and Elder Campbell. Gelhin is going to be the first baptism in the ward here since last August. I am so very glad that I got to be a part of her conversion and help her out. She is so great!

I feel like Elder Campbell and I are basically opening up this area. When we came here there was no one to teach! Other than Gelhin we didn't have anyone! We did have a few less actives. So E. Campbell and I have been working hard. This week we set the record of my mission!!!! with 106 contacts, and these contacts are like great contacts, I'm excited about a lot of them! We also have 9 new investigators and have had some super cool lessons!  We taught 26 lessons last week!! It is actually really fun to have a comp that likes to work. The last comp I had that actually wanted to work was Elder Bullock (my trainer). This week was really just super great!!! 

On Wednesday Elder Crosland and Elder Compton came to Huanuco and we had a party then on Friday we had interviews. I got there and President walks up to Elder Campbell, Crosland, Bautista, Daza, and me, and asked us if we wanted to try TOCUSH jaja I tried tocush!!! I am only the second person in the mission to try it! It smells SO BAD, I wanted to cry. But you know my competitive spirit came out, and I do love a good challenge! The taste wasn't too bad, it was mixed with apple, I'm sure that helped!

Then I recieved my package, and THANKS MOMMY for the package I finally have a camera now and I am pumped about it. I got some great videos. and pics.... but I forgot my converter to download them today. Sorry! 

This week we have just been working super hard! We have this family that we found, and they were ready to be taught! Their name is the Moris Family. They are way cool. We taught them like 2 lessons and we asked the whole familly to get baptised. The dad and daughter accepted, but then we asked the mom and she said, "Can I get baptised a second time?" I said, "OF COURSE" (thinking that she was saying that she had been baptised in like the Catholic church or something. But then the spirit told me to ask if she was talking about our church! And she said that she was baptised into the LDS church when she was 8 and went inactive immediately. Then after some more talking we figured out that they aren't married. They said that they didn't feel like they knew each other good enough. But I then asked her, "How do you not know each other enough? You have a 13 YEAR OLD DAUGHTER; A 7 YEAR OLD DAUGHTER, AND A 7 MONTH OLD SON?" I would hope that you know each other!! I chuckled then I asked when we could get them married. They accepted, and said they would get married, but in a few months. So we'll just keep teaching them, and they will get baptized after they get married!

So that was my crazy week! This church is true and this is the greatest work ever! 

Love you all,

Elder Christensen

Zone Conference in Huanuco 

Elder Campbell and Elder Christensen both far right

Tocosh (also known as Togosh) is a traditional Quechua food prepared from fermented potato pulp (corn is less common). It is often prepared for celebration events and has a strong odor and flavor. Tocosh can be used as a natural antibiotic because penicillin is produced during the fermentation process. Medicinally it is used for the common cold, gastric ulcers, pneumonia, and altitude sickness among others. The Incas believed it was a gift from Inti for preservation of the body.

Elder Christensen tried Tocosh for the first time.

It does not look good!

We're Gonna Change Pedro Puelles!

Hey there people!! 

I am so sorry I don't have much time to write today. I have a little less time for internet this week, but I will try and make this a great letter. 

This week was a week full of contacting. We only had 18 lessons, but like over 100 contacts!! Now I just want to go and sleep all day long. So the thing about being here in Pedro Puelles is that we don't receive any references. As much as we ask people and ward members they won't give us any leads or help us out. I feel like they do not like the missionary work here. Well, actually, the members here do not like the missionaries at all. Mostly because some dumb missionaries ruined it for the rest of us! So, we have to do all of the work. I don't want anyone to think that I'm whining in my letter, I am just saying that this is a hard area, and I will show them that we can change this area!!

 

I have heard some great quotes this week, and some great sayings. I really like something that Elder Crosland told me and my comp when he came to Huanuco and stayed with us. He said, "God sends missionaries to areas that the people are progressing so that they can help the area, and He sends missionaries to hard areas so that they, themselves, can also progress." So that is what I am going to do here. I am going to make them both happen.

 

So how is everyone? I am doing great. I am always tired. But Campbell and I work hard and we are teaching with the spirit. We are doing great at finding the people that are ready to be taught. We have found a few cool people that could progress and that we think could be getting baptised in the next few weeks to months. We are teaching a lady named Gelhin (I talked about her last week). And we also have a family that we found that are like golden investigators! They are so cool. We still haven`t returned to the house that we were kicked out of, haha. 

Elder Campbell and I are doing so great together and we are having a super good time. About 2 to 3 times a week we are able to have Pizza Hut! haha It is so awesome and just makes the day so much better. Yeah, in America, not that great... but in Peru, it's a treat!!!

 

P-day last Monday was not really anything that cool. All we did was tried to play Capture the Flag, but it just turned into a giant soccer game. jaja! So basically we will just be playing a ton of soccer here in pretty sure. And that's ok! Also, we were going to a lesson last week and I saw a kitten get thrown out of a window and land on the ground, and flip down some stairs. I'm pretty sure it broke it's back, I couldn't pick it up, but I sat next to it until it died while I was petting it. It really made me super sad.

 

On Friday the Elders from Tingo came to Huanuco and stayed with us. Elder Crosland (my old comp) and Elder Compton stayed in our room and we had a great talk until like 3:00 in the morning. Then we woke up and talked to President. We had a super cool multi-zone meeting. We were all super scared to talk to him because of what we'd heard, but it turns out he is super cool and is just a kid like we all are. He really is pretty young to be a mission president! haha Then on Sunday we had church and President was in our Sacrament Meeting. It was great to have him there. Well, that was my week. I promise to write more next week, but I have to go. Love you all, and be safe.

Elder Christensen

His camera was stolen and so he didn't send any pictures this week. A new camera is waiting for him at the mission office. I hope they get it to him soon!