July 9th, 2012

So yesterday at church, we had an awesome turnout! We had two
investigators, but also 4 less actives that came to church. And a lot
of the recent converts. We have been praying like crazy for help, and
the Lord keeps providing it. It is nice to always have His help. When
I started the mission, I thought all success would be determined by
how well I taught and how hard I worked, but I have realized time
after time that the Lord is really the one that does everything. I am
always trying to improve and learn more and try to figure out new
ideas, but the best recipe that I have seen so far is working hard,
being obedient, and praying my guts out for help. The Lord truely does
answer our prayers and desires to help us.

The other day the quote (that I don't know exactly) "The greatest
feeling in the world is when we feel like the Lord has used us to
bless someone else." entered into my head. We were at a less-actives
house. The mom is under a lot of stress a lot of trials. She says she
will never leave her testimony, but she is just having the hardest
time right now. She was crying and crying and we were just listening.
It seemed like nothing good was going good in her life, it was so sad
to watch and hear her. But then she looked up at us and said, "but I
know that the Lord put you in my path at the worst time of my life."
She was one of the ladies that wasn't on the roles of the church that
we just randomly missed a turn and found her. It was true what she
said. The Lord was looking out for her, and she knew it. It also goes
back to that most of our prayers are answered through other people. A
lot of times we pray and pray and can't seem to find an answer, and we
doubt and wonder if God really does answer prayers, then He humbles us
and sends His answer in His time in His way. Whether it is at church,
the temple, in the scriptures, or a random billboard. I know that He
hears and answers every prayer. I am grateful for that. I know He
loves us more than we can imagine. I know He sees us with the
perspective of eternal beings with UNLIMITED potencial while sometimes
we see ourselves as what we are in that moment. He loves and knows us.

Thanks so much for the prayers and love,
Love and miss you all,
Elder Christiansen
P.S. shout out to Elder Faught, the Lord has great things in store for
you! Love you bro.

Elder K

July 2, 2012

So we had a SUPER AWESOME week. It was the best week of my mission
numbers wise. We saw so many miracles. Our mission has goals that we try and reach as missionaries, and this week was the first time that I
had ever reached all of them. We saw the Lord's hand so much and He
put a lot of people in our paths that are ready to hear the gospel. We
have been praying for miracles and families quite a bit. And He
delivered and keeps on delivering. We almost don't have room for all
the miracles haha. We joke around saying that we didn't know we
ordered the premium package of miracles.
We went to knock an apartment complex and the 3rd door we knocked was
a less-active Spanish member that we didn't know was there. She let us
in and we talked. She said her kids are coming down from Venezuela for
2 and a half months to visit. And that they aren't members, so we are
hoping to teach them soon. That was a really cool experiance. And like
10 minutes before we knocked her door, we ran into another member who
was in active, but English.
Also we found another less-active family that we didn't know about
last week and we taught them this week and also gave the mom a
blessing. They have a pretty sad story, but the family is really cool
and the mom knows that the Lord is trying to talk to her! A couple
weeks ago we ran into one of her kids on the street, and he wasn't too
interested, but told me his families' story a little bit. He isn't
living with them at the moment though. There are 3 kids in the family.
1 lives with the mom, 1 with the dad, and 1 by himself. They all live
in the same apartment complex, just different buildings. And so back
to the son we talked to on the street, he wasn't too interested and so
we just parted ways and then last week we saw a lady walking on the
side of the street in the rain. We pulled over the van and started
talking to her, she called us elders, so we knew she was a member. We
talked a little bit and she said that she had been struggling lately
and she knew God sent us there at that moment. Which was true because
we missed a turn, and had to turn around, which took some time, and if
we didn't miss the turn, we wouldn't have talked to her. As she told
me her story, I realized she was the mom of the son who I talked to a
couple weeks before. She gave us part of her address, but we weren't
sure exactly where it was, and she didn't know what building it was.
She also didn't know her telephone number, so we gave her ours. We
left and when we were driving around the complex later, I noticed a
car with a Utah license plate (she came from Utah). So we knew where
she lived after that! (Steady Creeping) haha. And then a couple days
later, our appts. fell through and we were by her house, so we went
over and I saw a kid outside that looked like the son of the mom that
I had talked to weeks earlier. So I asked him if he was a Camacho.
(their last name) he said ya. So we went into their house and it is
just taking off from there!
In my first area we had some investigators that we had to drop because
they weren't progressing. They were a mom, daughter, and grandson.
Blanca, Margeli, Brian. Margeli's sister had sent us a Mormon.org
referrel from where she lived in Miami to visit them. So thats how we
found them. We always assumed that the sister in Miami was a member
along with her husband. Well before I got here, the elders were
teaching a part member family (the wife not being a member) that had
recently moved from Miami. But they kind of lost contact for a while.
This week we stopped by the apartment. And someone answered the door,
but I couldn't see in because no one opens the door all the way! So
Elder Baugh was talking to her through the slit of the door, but he
didn't know who it was because it was an old lady. Then later I kind
of peeped and there was Blanca! She saw me too and we rejoiced a
little haha.(don't know how else to word that sentence?) And
apparently the sister who referred Margeli to us moved here to Orlando
and the mom, Blanca, moves from sister to sister's house to Colombia.
So that was pretty cool.
Well I am having a blast.
Love you and thanks for your prayers and love
Elder Christiansen

June 25th, 2012

So this last week was pretty awesome! We had some amazing lessons. And
we had quite a bit of lessons as well. We also found some new
investigators and a couple of families!
This week it rained and rained. Luckily it was our car week haha. We
drive a mini-van. Shout out to Donny. It is pretty awesome. We can fit
a lot of elders in the car and there is some room in it! It is fun to
pull up to someone's house in a huge car instead of a little one. You
take up just about their whole yard.
We tried to branch out a little bit this week and go explore different
places. We didn't find to much haha. It looks like all the Spanish are
right around us, but that is a very big blessing! I also saw Shaq's
house this week driving to a member's house. Maybe one of these days
we can have Prep-Day at his house and play some basketball.

We set a baptismal date this week which was pretty awesome. And we had
a super killer lesson with another guy. His friend (member) invited
him to hear the lessons a little while ago and he has been
progressing, but we had such a cool lesson. We all have little DVD
playersin our apts. and we got permission to carry it around with us
and we bought this little DVD called Mormon Messages and we just go
around and show them to people. And we watched a video at their house
this last week. The member was crying, the investigator was holding
back his tears like a champ, and we just sat silent after the video.
We didn't say much after that, just asked a couple questions and bore
testimony. It was so awesome. It seems like the best lessons that I
sit in are one's that I don't have anything to do with haha. A really
humbling experiance!
Today for Prep-Day we played a little indoor soccer, it was awesome.
And then some dodgeball and basketball. There are so many elders so
close, so it means a lot of fun. We also did some service at the
temple. That was really good as well. I went bad to my old weed
picking days. The only difference was that it was on temple grounds,
so the spirit was stronger haha. Apparently they have to replace Angel
Moroni every so often because he gets struck by lightning and his head
turns kind of black haha.
This week we are biking. Hopefully it doesn't rain to much. We heard
today that we have another general authority coming in August or
something like that. Should be pretty awesome. I'm excited. Meetings
here are the best. It is undiscribable (sp?) haha. But you just learn
so much and the Spirit just works the whole time so when you get out,
you want to take a nap.
My Spanish is struggling. I get toungue tied here and there, but it is
getting better. I love it.

We met with the Bishop this week and he is super awesome and so is the
ward mission leader. We will be seeing miracles here in the new
future.
I have learned something out on my mission. And it is that we should
always follow the counsel of our leaders. Whether it is the prophet,
mission president, district leader, bishop, etc. When we follow their
counsel, miracles come to pass. And if we are leaders, we shouldn't be
scared to promise results because the Lord will back it up always if
we invite by the Spirit. We have seen so many amazing things because
of listening to our leaders.
Love and miss you all thank you for the prayers.
Love,
Elder Christiansen

June 18th, 2012

 So you don't even know how awesome my area is! Well there is a street
 here that is like little Mexico/South America, so you can just bike up
 and down it and talk to tons of Spanish. It is a big street too, so
 you don't really run into the same person twice too often. The only
 problem is if they are walking, it usually means they don't have a car
 and the church is pretty far away haha, but there are some that do.
 Sometimes I wish I could just build one of our churches right in the
 heart of little Mexico/South America. The work would go crazy! Haha.
 But we meet so many Spanish people it is insane! And a lot are pretty
 positive. We had a baptism this weekend for a guy named Marzolini from
 Colombia. It was awesome. I don't know if Georgianna got baptized in
 Minneola, but I hope so! It is a ward here where I'm at, but very
 small. I guess if they updated the records, they would turn into a
 branch again, and the Spanish people really work towards being a ward,
 so they aren't updating the roster haha. There were probably 80 people
 at church. The building is right across the temple and we do temple
 service every once in a while. We are right in the city with Universal
 Studios, DisneyWorld, Sea world is right outside of our area, and I
 Drive is in it (which is like the tourist spot). The city is awesome,
 and it kind of smells bad too. But there are Spanish, Portugese, and
 Haitan missionaries here. And English. So it is a wide diversity. Our
 apartments we live in are probably the best in the mission (I've been
 spoiled on my apartments) We have a bowling alley (free), basketball
 court, 3 story workout room, Subway, etc. The Orlando Predators
 football team live here as well, so there are some pretty nice cars.

 My body is trying to adjust back to the Spanish food. We can go to an
 appt at 5 and eat and another at 6:30 and they give us more food. This
 week I had Mondongo... Or in English. Cow stomach. The sauce was
 really good and the potatoes were good as well (I think they were
 potatoes) and the cow stomach had no taste, but a really gross
 oyster/rubber texture. So it wasn't too bad. Just made sure I put a
 little rice on my fork to go with the stomach. haha.

 We saw so many miracles this week. Praying for specific things and
 getting them. Prayers are heard and answered! The members in this ward
 are really awesome as well. This place is about to EXPLODE!

 O ya and my Spanish is rough haha but coming back slowly! Sometimes I
 have to stop mid sentance for a couple of seconds to try to remember
 some words.

Thanks for the prayers and support!
 Love and miss you all
 Elder Christiansen

June 11th, 2012

Well I am back into the Spanish work! I am going to Windy Ridge East! And guess what! My dad, my trainer, Elder Spilsbury, is in Windy Ridge West. And that is my boy! So I am really excited. It is going to be fun. If you want to look it up on a map, well just google Disneyworld on google maps and thats my area! I asked President Hall via email where I pick up my season pass, I am still waiting for his reply haha. But I am super excited. I won't be able to come back to see the baptism this coming Saturday, but it is okay, the work goes on. I really loved it here in Minneola and I will miss so many of the people that I met here. There are mixed feelings leaving an area. You are excited to go somewhere new, but sad to leave people you may not ever see again.

So this last week we met a really cool guy named Gustavo from Brazil. He was really prepared to talk with us. We had a lesson on Saturday that went really well and he committed himself to come to church. Which he did come and felt the spirit. He is really cool. The only problem is he is going to Brazil on June 30th for 3 months, so I am guessing the missionaries here will just have to refer him to missionaries there in Brazil.

It has been raining a ton lately. We had an AWESOME thunderstorm last night. It looked so cool. One day it was raining really bad and we were on bikes, and I turned just a little corner, not even sharp, and I hit some pollen (I'm guessing) that was on the sidewalk mixed with some water and before I knew it, I was laying on the ground haha. I was still on my bicylce was the funny part, I did a slide into home base basically. My pants got super dirty and so did my shirt, but luckily I only had two little spots of blood and a kind of sore hip the next day. Feels good to be young still but I swear my body is aging and things like that hurt more than they use too haha. And that same day, my companion got hit by a car haha. Luckily the car was barely pulling out of a parking lot, so it just tapped him a little bit and he didn't fall off. It was a bad bike day. But good news is we later got full car that week and in Windy Ridge, we also have full car. Not to say I don't like biking, but it is too hot haha. I guess in Windy Ridge I won't have to tract as much because people will be walking on the streets. I haven't had an area like that yet where a lot of people are walking outside. And also the temple might be in my area. The church I will go to is on the opposite side of the street as the temple, so it is either in my area or Windy Ridge West's area. It is going to be AMAZING. The only problem is... no hablo espanol. haha. But I am hoping it will come back soon!

I made a lot of friends here in the Minneola Ward, it seems like when they started liking me, I leave haha. Maybe they like me because I'm leaving? haha. But there are some real cool people here that I definitely will have to go visit again someday. I will miss the cool hilly scenery here too, but not riding up them. Right now I am emailing from the library and can see the NTC track which is pretty cool. The guy in our ward from Ireland hasn't qualified yet for the olympics, but he will get it. He needs to run a 10.18 and he ran a 10.17, but the wind was at 3.0 and it has to be at 2.0 or something, so it didn't count. Super bummer probably.

Well Love you all and miss you! Thanks for the prayers! Have an amazing week.

Yours Truely ;),

Elder Christiansen

June 4th, 2012

So it was a pretty good week once again! Some spiritual things happened as well as some random things.

We went on a temple tour with two people who are whats called "On fire." One of them was less active and recently is returning to the church. He is pretty awesome. He read the whole June Ensign the first day he got it haha. It has been really cool to be able to witness his progression. The other person was our investigator. She is reading the Book of Mormon, Gospel Principles, Daughter of the Kingdom? (the relief society book), and some other church book haha. She had prayers answered this week and told us all about them. She also says that she is just feeling so much peace. Her friends offered her some alcohol and she refused it. She is REALLY AWESOME! And she loves church and is telling everyone about her baptism. It is on the 16th. Transfers however are next Tuesday, so I would love to see, but we will see what the Lord wants I guess haha. Also this week we got to give several blessings and also I did my first blessing on a home which was pretty cool. Last night we visited some older less active people and they just love talking those old people! But it made their days, so that was nice to see. I am getting better and better at listening, well at least in lessons haha. But I have realized the power in just listening to others and giving them your full attention.

Some random stuff that happened this week: We went over to a single mother's house and she is scared of frogs and she had one on her back porch. So she asked us if we would capture it for us. She asked me if I was scared of frogs, I said "yes", and she asked my companion if he was scared, he said "no". So as we were walking around to the back of her house, he told me he really was scared of frogs and he just wanted to act manly haha. So we looked for it for a couple minutes and we finally slid open their sliding glass door and it hopped out onto the glass. So I had them get me a broom and my companion had a plastic bag. We can see who the smarter one is haha jk. So I'm trying to sweep off the frog from the glass door and my companion is holding the plastic bag. The members were watching us from the other side and as I was doing it, the frog jumped off the glass onto my companion's arm. Everybody jumped, especially him haha. And he screamed too I think haha. Super funny.

And then the other day I was biking down a hill going pretty fast, and I saw something a little in front of me in my path, and when I got closer I realized it was an albino snake. Super disgusting, so I didn't want to run over it, so at the last minute I swerved and missed it. I was super scared it was going to try and bite my leg haha, so I kind of screamed as I swerved around it also. But all was well. My companion looked at it and thought it was dead, but it wasn't too thick, but it was like 6 feet long!

Well that's all I really got time for. It has been raining like crazy. You are either drenched by rain or sweat. I prefer the rain. Today President told us we aren't biking enough. Sweet....... Haha so it looks like we are in for a lot of fun this summer!

Love you all and miss you. Thank you for your prayers!

Love,

Elder Christiansen!