NOOOOOOOOOO!!

I am getting transferred today! :( I love this area so much and the people that I have met. I wasn't happy to come here and now I don't want to leave. I am going back to Clermont! I was in Minneola which is in clermont and that was English work. Now I am going to be in Clermont still but doing Spanish work. We will live in the same complex that I lived in in Minneola haha. My companion is elder Jimenez de Mexico. He moved here though when he was 8. He is pretty cool. I would be upset to go there, but I learned my lesson last transfer. The Lord knows best. So I am happy to go sad to leave. Bittersweet is the lifestyle on the mission for sure! Today we have to switch houses with the sisters because their house is huge and ours is small and there are a new set of elders coming in and well I would be living with them but I am getting transferred. So I get one night there. There is a jacuzzi bath tub in the master bedroom. I was looking forward to that haha. But I guess I will have to test it out tonight lol. It is seriously so big! There are a lot of new areas in the mission. It is crazy. I think that is the hardest thing for President Hall. Is to get housing for all the missionaries.

This week we had a great Sunday. We had some investigators come to church! Lalo came. He should be baptized here pretty soon. The 20th. We had Maria like always! She is doing good. Then we had the girl named Brenda from Argentina come. She is pretty cool. She just moved here and so no english. And her spanish... well... its different. I will call her on the phone and be like "Hola, como esta?" And then all I hear is, "kdjafljdklajklfdjiefei voz che djkfjsdkl como estas? Ask Donny what that means. But she uses a lot of different words than the other spanish countries. So it is pretty funny to talk to with her. And she has a different tone of voice and accent. instead of saying playa (beach) like ply-ya she says it like ply- sha and she says aysha instead of ay-ya.. it is spelled ella. which means her. So sometimes I have to think for a while to understand her haha. and she talks fast. She should be baptized sometime soon too! It is crazy to work with her because she is argentinian, her member friend is Puerto rican, and her other friends that we teach are from Ecuador. So we got all types of spanish going on including our gringo spanish. Good times.

 

We definitely saw some miracles this week. Especially at church. I had a question that I brought to church and the answer came to me as I was sitting there in sacrament meeting. Our gospel principles class had like 20+ people in it! full of investigators/Less Actives/recent converts, us and the teacher, WML and 2nd counselor of stake presidency. It was a real peaceful drive home. I love days like those. Where you just feel the peace and love of the gospel. The Lord is blessing us so much. The branch works really hard here! They are amazing. It is a blessing to be here!

 

I love you all and miss you!

Elder Christiansen

Hola

Here I am writing again! These weeks go by way to fast. And a lot of times, I sit down and I can't even remember too much because everything is just going by so fast! This week was another good one. As President Hall's time is counting down he is pushing us more than ever. I love it. Right now we are focusing on teaching everyone we see and asking them if we could share a message with them and if we aren't teaching someone we are finding. And there is no down time never. It's really hard because people love to talk about sports, life, etc. but we are being told to basically get down to business, get out asap, and go find someone else to teach. I like it. I feel like it will change our mission. It is really getting us fired up. A lot of us work hard, but insanely hard is the next step I guess haha and I am excited for it!

 

Well a really cool investigator just moved to P.R. for two months. She is the one that always feels the spirit really strongly. We took her on a church tour this week and she walked in the chapel and it was like a brick wall of the spirit hit her right in the face. Yup, best believe. She loved it! And we had two hermanas their from our branch and it went really well. It is kind of good she moved though because she goes to a church here, but it isn't in P.R.! But ours is. So she will probably get baptized in P.R. She is loving the BofM! It is really amazing to work with her and just adds to my testimony as well as the truth to the BofM.

We also were tracting the other day, met a lady from Ecuador! She was older and pretty lonely. We asked if we could say a prayer with her. She said yes. We asked her what she needed in her life and then prayed accordingly. She started crying during the prayer and then we taught her the restoration right after it on her porch. It was a really great experience. There is no better feeling than truely blessing others.

We have another investigator named Carlos from P.R. He is a tough one! The spirit is definitely working on him though. Chipping away at him little by little. We taught him the Plan of Salvation and it made a lot of sense to him. And he really liked it. And to my surprise we actually set a baptismal date with him haha. It was definitely a miracle. IDK how it happened but he is doing really well and his heart is being more and more softened.

I fixed my bike this week finally. It was a pain in the neck! It has been out of order for like 2 months haha and we are running out of miles, so I had to fix it. I learned a great lesson though. Take care of your stuff and if something little breaks, fix it because in the future something big will break. And then the other one is: if you don't know what you are doing, take it to someone who does know what they are doing. I truly have learned a lot from my bike hahahaha. And it is a testimony of how we learn more through trials and afflictions than through easy riding ;)....

Love you all, miss you! Keep praying for those miracles! I love them

Elder Christiansen

Holaaaa

Well we had a pretty good week! Last week I think I told you all about a lady that we talked to and she felt the spirit and said she would come to church but didn't... And so this week we would call her, visit her and had no luck.. So we thought we lost her :(.. But one day we knocked her door and still no answer, so we walked down the street to another house and no answer as well, so we returned back towards the car and her brother came out of the garage. We told asked him if he would get his sister for us haha, as he opened the door she was right there and she saw us so she hurried up and ducked out of the way, he came back and said that she was sick. So we asked him to ask her if we could give her a blessing. He went back in and she actually accepted it by some miracle! haha.. So we talked with her, gave her a blessing and she told us how a friend had told her some "anti" garbage etc. And so we talked some more and she said she felt so peaceful and she knew it was the spirit. And so we just testified of it and at that moment no one in the room had a doubt that our message wasn't true. It was an amazing experience. The internet can lie, but the Spirit can't. And so she was going to come to church again but got sick.. This missionary business is a #headache... but a rewarding and happy one haha.

 

I just have to tell you about how awesome of a member that Ivelissee Rodriguez-Ortiz is! So she is ALWAYS looking for opportunities to share the gospel. She is a convert of about 5 years and she really has put the gospel first in her life. And she is so happy because she has done that. She has a powerful testimony as well. Last night one of our investigators called us and said she needed a ride to Orlando (about 45 minutes away) for her daughter's doctor appointment who is learning how to walk again after being in a full leg cast. The investigator's husband has a car, but he has to work far away, so we called Ivelissee last night to see if she could help out the investigator and without knowing when or what she said yes to help. We have a lot of members in our branch that are like that and it has been such a blessing to serve her. They have taught me soooo much and I really would not rather be in any other part of the world right now.

We are happy and safe

 

Love and miss you all, thank you for your prayers, they mean the world to us

 

Elder Christiansen

Teach people not lessons

This last week was another good week. Our numbers for teaching lessons were down, but I am okay with that because we taught more people. We had Zone Conference last week and that is something that I learned about. Is that we are constantly teaching. Why we eat, sit, email, find, teach, etc... We are teaching. And we should be teaching people and to their needs instead of just teaching what we study. We saw some miracles with that (later in letter).. We also learned about the power of testimonies. President Hall told a story that he heard about his friend's son that served in Hong Kong... One night he was on exchanges and 9 o clock was approaching to go home, but they decided to talk to one more person. They walked and found a person and started talking to him. The guy said that he traveled a lot, knew Mormons, knew the message, and wasn't interested but thanked them and kind of started to walk away. The missionary felt impressed to bear his testimony, so asked the guy if he could and he said yes and he shared it with him and then they left in separate directions. That guy then went on vacation and the missionary had no knowing about him and the guy said that his testimony just stuck in his mind and kept coming back. So as he was gone, he decided to take the lessons and him and his family got baptized.. Cool right? Well then the guy came back to Hong Kong and went to church and the same missionary was still in that area and so the guy went up to him and asked if he remembered him, he said he knew the face, but didn't know where, so the guy told him and told him that him and his family got baptized. He told them that next week he would bringing some more family to church and he wanted the missionary to teach them. So the next Sunday he brought 36 family members to church that were from mainland China! And the missionary taught them and a couple weeks later there were 36 baptisms in that ward... Cool right? Well that was a HUGE number and really not common haha. So the Area Authority came to the mission and interviewed the missionaries to make sure they weren't being disobedient and going over to the mainland because the church is very protective of that. They told him the story and then even Elder Holland came over to interview them! And they told their story and all was OKAY haha... Cool right? So then with in another month 100 more people came from mainland China and got baptized as well in that ward!!! Cool right? So 136 total baptisms in about 2 months from 1 simple testimony. The other miracle is that the 3rd branch I think? in mainland China was started from that. Sooo... I am going to share my testimony with others a lot more! And I hope you do too.

Saturday we were STRUGGGLING. We had like 6 lessons set up at one point and the first five canceled haha. So as we were walking down the street, I looked at a house and saw a "casita" (a decoration Spanish people always have that is just a little house by the door usually.)... And I had the thought to knock it. I was sooo just frustrated that I had no idea how the spirit was with me haha, but anyways we knocked the door and a guy comes out and tells us his name before we could talk, starts talking a lot, and invites us in, but I could tell he was handicap or something wasn't quite right, so I said.... "well... Umm.. we just want to pray with you right here outside." haha and he looked really confused, but I just did not have a good feeling about going inside, so I was thinking to myself, "Elder Christiansen, you are horrible at following the Spirit" haha.. So then all of a sudden a car pulls up in the driveway and she rolls down her window and talks to her brother and tells him to go inside and tells us that he is handicap. So we start talking to her (in Spanish) and she says she has heard our message before and just doesn't agree with it and isn't really interested and she is getting baptized in some other christian church... So I ask her what her doubt was or whatever. And she explained to us that she understood that the Book of Mormon was actually our bible. She thought we believed the real bible is a fake bible and that Moroni buried the REAL and TRUE bible haha. She said the missionaries that taught her in Puerto Rico couldn't really speak Spanish and it had been 15 years. I was on exchanges, so my companion didn't speak Spanish, so I went on to explain everything and the Restoration and bore testimony talked with her, asked some questions and at the end we both were enlightened by the spirit, it was freezing cold outside and I just had a white shirt on, but the spirit warmed me up haha. And then she said, "next week I'm coming to your church and I want you to teach my daughter and her family as well!" She said she couldn't come this Sunday because she had to go to her church. I told her that this Sunday was testimony meeting and very special and so she said with a smile, I'm coming tomorrow then! So that was cool. Sunday came and she didn't show up, and neither did a lot of investigators that we were sure would come. I was upset a little bit. But then testimony meeting was a little crazy you could say! The craziest one I have ever been in for sure. So I am glad they didn't come at the end of the day... I had to repent for bickering... like always. At the end of the day I learned, teach people not lessons, bear testimony, and the Lord has a purpose for everything and knows best!

 

Well love you all! Thanks for your prayers!

Elder Christiansen

#GMC$

Hey!

How is it going around the world? I hope all is well. Things are going great here in Del-Rico. We had a pretty great week again. Especially towards the end of the week.

I got my new companion, Elder Bieber! From British Colombia Canada... So EVERYONE talks to him about his name haha. Great on contacts. But as he knows of, he is not related to him. But we think he is somewhere down the line. #GottaGetOnThatFamilyHistory... He is pretty cool. Big guy. about 6'5" so I look like a enano (midget in spanish)... But its allll good. He also likes to golf so HELLO P-DAY golfing. We had a great first week together. He goes home in December.

So this Friday we visited the two sisters that came to church last week and the activity. Eliana and Nena. Nena is visiting from New York for a long time and Eliana's husband is working in New York and visits here and again. They are from Ecuador. We went over with their friend that is a member (Ivelissee, Mrs. Missionary Work Herself) and when we pulled up to the house EVERYTHING was pink that could be pink. House, chairs, etc. haha.. Quite a site. Might take some pics for ya. And we got inside and there were pink rugs, etc. and they had a friend over named Jose. He is from Costa Rica "Pura Vida" (its like their main saying in Costa Rica).. So we taught the three of them and they were real cool. Liked the Restoration. Gave BofM's, committed to church but couldn't go cuz something came up, got return appointment with dinner! with all 3 of them. So that was a great little miracle. They are really cool.

Then on Saturday we had another pretty cool day. We visited this lady named Natasha from P.R., taught her outside (no guy) and we brought a P.R. member with us and she seemed to have the question "why does God allow evil and suffering to happen if He loves us?" And so we taught the PofS and at the end of the lesson, she said it all made sense! So I feel like that was able to answer her question, so that was great as well. And her and the member seem to get along good. And Natasha wants her hubby to learn as well, but he is a little hesitant, but I think we will be able to teach him this week :)..

Later that night we visited this guy named Lalo.. He went on a trip to Miami with a member that lives in Jacksonville for like a week to work and the member talked to him about the church and everything and they even went to church and Lalo really liked it. And so the member gave us the referral and we visited him. When we got there on Saturday, he had the bible, BofM, and all the pamphlets except 1 haha. The member did a very good job at preparing him. So we shared the Restoration with him to make sure he understood it all. And when we were talking about Joseph Smith he was saying he believed it is true. He hadn't had the confirmation of the spirit yet, but just believed that it was true. We then had the impression to have him kneel down, say a prayer, ask if it was true, and then wait. So we deviated a little from the lesson, and invited him to pray right there. He said the prayer with us all knelt and said amen. We waited, waited and waited. We were praying and praying that the spirit would testify to him the truth. I noticed that he kept praying after he said amen. We probably waited 2-3 minutes, then he looked up and said, "yes.. It is true." And the spirit filled the room :)... And then we talked a little more and set a baptismal date with him for the 19th of April. He will be coming to church this week! It was a great experience to be apart of. That is the greatest thing about our message. is that no one has to take our word for it, but that they can just ask God if it is true and that the Spirit will testify to them that it is true as long as they have faith, a desire to act, and have a sincere heart. It is the greatest message in the world. It is a blessing to know that our families can be together forever and also know what we need to do so our families can be together forever. This message truly helps others and helps them accomplish their dreams and desires. The truth doesn't hurt, it heals.

Today we have P-Day with the whole district, should be fun, going to a park and do some stuff haha. Kite fighting maybe? lolzz

Love you and thank you for the prayers. Miracles, Miracles, Miracles :)

Elder Christiansen
As President Hall always says... "Onward"

Hola

So this week was amazing it ended so awesome! There was an activity at the church on Saturday for Valentine's Day. A dinner that you payed for to help the YW do or go something or somewhere haha. Missionaries free though. :) So me and my date, Elder Sharp, went. It was pretty good. And we have this member, Ivelissee Ortiz (Eee-Bay-Leas) who is just amazing. She shares the gospel like no one else I have ever seen in my life! And she just recently enrolled for English classes at the college here and so she is just preaching the gospel like crazy! And so she brought two ladies that she met at class to the activity :).. And then her husband, Javier, brought his friend and his son to the activity as well. And then there was another lady who brought her friend, but she lives over by Orlando, so we can't teach her, but will see if we can send other missionaries over to her... And we invited all 4 of them to church on Sunday. Sunday came along and BOOOOM! Best Sunday of my mission! Hands down. We had Ramon (ivelissee's uncle) and his gf Carmen come who are not members. Then the 2 other friends of Ivelissee and their kids, then the two friends of Javier, then Marta (more to come on her), Maria came, some YW's bf haha, and this other lady named Isabel who her friend brought her! So there were about 10 non member's at church! 6 of them we have taught, two of them we have and appt with, one said we could stop by, and we didn't set anything up with the bf yet. So we were blessed beyond belief so that was amazing! And then after church Marta de el salvador, got baptized! And 6 of the remaining 9 stayed for the baptism and then there was a little dinner afterwards! I think the church frowns on food after church, but hey, we like to party :).. So it was the best best best Sunday ever. Miracles like crazy. Marta is amazing. She was so happy yesterday. The Spirit was felt strongly and it was just a wonderful baptism. It was a blessing to teach her. She is on the kindness level of Grandma Jean if that makes sense. Just sooo sweet and caring.

 

Also this week we taught Ramon and Carmen (ivelissee's uncle) and we taught the Word of Wisdom, they through away all their coffee stuff and smoking stuff right there with us and committed to stop that night! And they have a baptismal date for April 13th :).. It is so amazing to see how willing people are to change to have the spirit in their life. It is the greatest possession we can have.

We also taught this other guy named Carlos. He is really cool. It was a sweet lesson. We taught him before and left him the Book of Mormon and he read part of it then he got on the internet looked up stuff and kind of got anti-ed, so he brought that up, then we taught him the doctrine, all of his doubts were just erased right there on the spot, the spirit took over the lesson, then we started just asking questions, bearing testimony, teaching doctrine, and just being bold with him, it was amazing. At the end of the lesson he could feel God loved him, he knew there was a purpose to this life, he felt that Jesus Christ could heal him, and he knew that the internet is garbage and that the spirit is the true teacher. It was awesome!

Your prayers are working miracles over here. I love you all

Elder Christiansen
143

Feb. 11, 2013

Well after all of my prideful past emails of how awesome this area is and how it was on a roll, the Lord decided to humble us a little bit. It wasn't a bad week, just every week was getting better and better in all the numbers for the most part. But, the Lord blessed us a lot. We just didn't have to much success at finding our teaching really but it is alright, this week we will make it a better week. That's what life is all about just progressing and trying our hardest. We knocked doors for like 5 hours Saturday and probably a total of 15 hours between Tuesday to Saturday and didn't find too many people, so we have to change it up a little bit! :) The definitely best part of the week was Sunday. Our top investigator, Marta, de El Salvador came to church and then we taught her afterwards. She has a baptismal date for this Sunday after church and is progressing really well. Last week we taught her the word of wisdom and she gave away her coffee and hasn't gone back since! She is the sweetest most kind lady ever. She is about 58 years old I think. She is just amazing. It has been a blessing to teach her. She just wants to follow Jesus Christ and do what is right. If all goes well she will be baptized this Sunday! :) So the week really wasn't that bad to be honest haha.. And some members brought a friend that they met at the gym to church and she seemed to like it, we have an appt with her this Wednesday. Also I gave a talk about scriptures in sacrament meeting. That was a good experience, learned a lot. So Sunday was pretty bomb to be honest.

We are teaching this one guy named Ramon who is the uncle of a member. The coooolest member ever possibly. And a while ago we gave him a blessing for health and we have taught him about 3 times now and last time he was telling us how he has just been so happy recently and feeling more peace than ever and his health is good, and he thinks it is because of the blessing and our visits and teaching him the gospel. Se llama el espiritu santo mi amigo! :) He has almost died like 5 times and God saves him every time, so he thinks there is a reason he is still alive. So that is awesome :)

We have a pretty cool week planned ahead of us so I am excited about that. We are going to teach a part member family tonight. The husband isn't a member and has been married to his wife for 10-ish years. Has read the BofM twice (his wife told us) and has had the discussions several times. She is active they are from Colombia. So we have been praying for him quite a bit. He is a really nice guy.

Wellll Things are good. Weather is really nice. Work work work. Thanks for them prayers! Love you all. The church is true

143 Elder Christiansen