Gearing up for a new companion and the area being split

October 21, 2013

Dear all who have an ear to hear!

Wow, where do I even begin! Two weeks…I went on exchanges with my zone leader Elder Owen, where I learned I needed to have more faith in being able to speak the language, and subsequently received my own personal witness that I will learn this language!

We had the typhoon hit, which killed the power for 5 days. The water pressure was off and on, usually off, but when it was on, we stocked up on water! It was very interesting! So I still haven’t been able to watch all of conference. The church had a generator, but it kept overheating, so I’ve only seen 2.5 hours total! But it’s all good! The lack of power got to both me and Elder Owen as we just were getting sick of it, but I was able to keep my perspective when I thought about the people actually affected by this!

 On Wednesday I gave a workshop on receiving revelation through prayer at District Meeting, which went ok I think. Elder Owen said it helped him, as he’s been praying to know which college to go to when he gets home, so maybe it did something!

 October 18^th may have been the best day of my whole life! Random investigators started progressing out of nowhere; we just made so much progress! 

Brandon and his kabahays with Sister Leah and her little sisters

The members have been feeding us a ton, because transfers are coming, and Elder Lungay will most likely be leaving. I am sad to see him go, and he’s sad to leave, but he has been in this one area for 7 ½ months! So I’m prepping for a new companion! 

Also, my area is being split with some new sisters! So we will have two companionships in this ward! We’re giving the close, city areas to the sisters while we elders will teach out more in the “bukid” or country areas. It will be different for sure, but I’m excited! And we get to open a different part of my area that we haven’t been able to visit yet! So way cool!

Brandon and his kabahays (housemates): Elder Lungay, Elder Owen & Elder Iligan

As far as scriptural insights goes, I found a series of scriptures in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-22. My favorite is 16, “Rejoice Evermore.” There is always a reason to rejoice, we just have to look for it!

I love you all!

--Elder Christensen

Brandon with a baby carabao (water buffalo)

Brandon with his district

Brandon, Elder Owen and the Assistants

Brandon with a random Lebron James poster in town

Elder Spiderman!

REJOICE EVERMORE

I just heard from Brandon!!!  I am SO HAPPY!!!  He didn’t have a lot of time, but I will pass on what he wrote and then add the additional things he said as we emailed  back and forth for a few minutes:

Mom!!!

I'm so sorry I wasn't able to email on Monday!!! We had a typhoon last Friday night that wiped out all the power in Nueva Ecija, which is like from Bountiful to Provo, and so we didn't have power until two nights ago. On Monday there was no power for a hundred miles in any direction. It was quite an adventure!

We just got authorization from the president to send a quick email to our families under the discretion of the zone leaders. So I'm fine! Some of our food went bad, and it was really hot in our apartment, but I'm good! In fact I learned a lot from the experience. I learned not to count what you don't have, but count what you do! So I'm ok, I'm fine, no problems here! So yeah.

 The work is going forward. This is my last week with Elder Lungay, which is crazy. Anyways, I don't have a ton of time. I love you so much and everything's fine here!

A simple awesome scripture that sums up how I've tried to deal with no power: 1 Thessalonians 5:16—REJOICE EVERMORE.

Love you!

 --Elder Christensen

And now for the answers to my questions:

….I'm alive!!! Hahaha- we had a killer typhoon that knocked out the power!!!

….I'm doing just fine! Great, actually.  Our water and power has been on and off the past couple of days, but it's getting steadier now! Without power...dark! Ha--I relied heavily on that flashlight you gave me. Actually around 8 o’clock it gets bright because that's when the moon comes out and it’s pretty full now. We've been able to teach a couple times by moonlight! Kinda cool! 

How are you? I hope you didn't worry that much. I've been praying for you that you would not worry too much.

….We’ve done a little bit of service.  Our area didn't get hit as hard actually-- some rice plants got damaged and some signs got blown away, but everything else is good!

…. I promise I won't miss (emailing you) if I can help it. I'm so sorry, Mom.  I didn't mean to make you worry. Just always know that I'm safe. I am called and protected by God. And I can survive here, even without water and electricity as I found out! And it has not affected the work at all, thank goodness!

In response to asking him if he’d been able to see conference yet:  ....I have not still! Get this, we had a generator at the stake center, but it overheated twice! So I've seen 2.5 hours of conference out of the 10 that I wanted to watch! We're going to download the talks sometime and watch them at our apartment.

Hahaha-- I love you guys! Well, l I have to get going. I still have language study! Then out to work! Or in Tagalog: Aalis po ako, kasi may aral na lingua pa rin! Mahal ko kayo talaga!

‘Til Monday!  I love you!  Bye!

No Email from Brandon.....Typhoon Nari hits the Philippines-Angeles mission hard, especially in the Nueva Ecija province, where Brandon is......

We didn't hear from Brandon on his Pday, a first in the 4 months he has been gone.  I found out from other missionary moms of the Angeles Mission that none of them heard from their missionaries, either.  As I started researching on the internet, I found that Typhoon Nari (called "Santi" in the Philippines) struck his mission hard this weekend.  I'm sure he is without power, and may be for several days.  His province, Nueva Ecija was greatly affected by the typhoon. We are praying for his safety and the safety of all in his region, until we hear from him.  Please join us in praying for Brandon and all that were affected by this typhoon.

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/506131/with-santi-out-cleanup-starts-in-4-regions

 http://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1330868/philippines-begins-clean-operation-after-typhoon-nari

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/philippines/10374617/Typhoon-Nari-batters-the-Philippines.html

Flooding from Typhoon Nari

Thank you so much for your prayers.

Angela

The Most Spiritual Lesson of my Mission & Some Cool Scriptural Insights

Hello All!

What a week it has been! Tuesday I went on exchanges with an elder from my batch, Elder Rebelde. We had a great time together! That day I had a cool moment where, while teaching a recent convert, we shared Alma 34:32-33. That scripture hit me in a new way. We don’t have to wait to repent! We don’t have to be stuck in a state where all we can do is wallow in regret and shame! We can change NOW! And that’s why I’m out here! To share that awesome message! It fueled my desire to talk with everyone I met the whole week!

Lots of our investigators are progressing and building testimonies, but not coming to church. This week is conference for us, so hopefully we can get some more people to listen to a prophet of the Lord in their own language! 

On Thursday I got really frustrated with the language during companionship study. Elder Lungay and I have been trying to speak more Tagalog, as that seems to be the trick to learning faster: speak the language all the time, especially with your companion. Anyways, he really helped me that morning. He said, “You can’t learn everything all at once.” And he’s right. All I can do is just keep going! So I did! And on Saturday, I really felt like I was able to speak the best Tagalog I had so far.

But on Friday, the Assistants stayed with us because they went on exchanges with the Zone Leaders. Super fun! We had a service project with them where we cleaned and help prepare a member's new apartment, which was super fun! I got to know the assistants a lot better, and one of them is the trainer of my trainer’s trainer! Or my great grand-father! That’s pretty cool! 

Saturday I had another insight that was pretty cool. While sharing 2 Nephi 2:11, I realized how no one can truly know the blessings of obedience without knowing the sorrows of sin. Paul even touched on that, saying the sorrow of sin leads men to repent. So not only is sin an unavoidable part of life, it is a necessary step for us to come closer to Christ in the great plan of redemption. If we never turn away from Christ, we will never know what it is like to come unto Him. Thus, there must be opposition in all things! Kinda cool!

 We taught a lesson to the Valiente family, the family I talked about last week where the mom wanted to become worthy to return to Father. And man, that was the most spiritual lesson of my mission! The spirit improves my speech a lot too. I put together sentences that I had never tried before in that lesson, and they were correct (according to my companion). I am better able to discern when those we teach have concerns or questions when the spirit is strong. The spirit is everything! They accepted an invitation to be baptized!

Church was good, but many people we have been teaching didn’t come this week, which was a bit discouraging, but we were able to make some progress with one certain investigator later on that day. Usually she has a hard time staying focused and remembering what we teach, but she was much better yesterday!

This morning we went to Milka Krem, which is this super awesome dairy/café where everything is made with Carabao milk. It was soooo good! 

*Note: Carabao is a swamp type domestic water buffalo found in the Philippines. Milka Crem is at the Philippine Caraboa Center (PCC), which operates to conserve, propagate and promote the carabao or native buffalo as a source of milk and meat as well as draft animal power and hide to benefit the rural farmers. 

And that brings us to now.

To close, I wanted to make a list of things that I have done in the Philippines so far that I would not have done back home: Ride on the back of a motorcycle side saddle. Eat quail (like it was prepared and cooked, but when they handed it to me it still had the head and wings and legs and everything!). Eat pork fried in boiled pigs blood. Eat WAY more coconut than I used to. Shower using a bucket. Walk until I start falling apart, yet love every minute. Share my testimony every day. Bring souls to Christ. Be an instrument in the Lord’s hands.

I love you all, this work is so important, and I know this is the Lord’s Kingdom. Remember, if you believe that this church is just another church, that’s all it will ever be for you. But if you have the faith that we hold the power that split the Red Sea, makes the blind see and the lame walk, then you might begin to understand the “Visions and Blessings” of this dispensation. Miracles happen. Visions are real. Revelation is received. Angels visit the earth, and Christ will too.

--Elder Christensen

I thought I'd add some questions and answers from my emails from Brandon!  Here are a few:

1.  How was your week?

My week was super good actually! We taught the most lessons (I think) and had the most OYMs in one week than I have in any other week of my mission! Way fun week, I had lots of cool spiritual insights as well!

2. What are your mission’s rules about what is required before a person can be baptized?  Do they have to go to church a certain number of weeks, etc.? 

That's a good question! We would baptize MUCH more if we didn't have these requirements, but then we would probably have that many more less actives. OK- so 4 Sundays of church attendance, and you can't miss twice in a row (unless a valid reason). Next is 4 consecutive weeks of living the Word of Wisdom. And of course, all the baptismal interview questions found in PMG. Reading the Book of Mormon, all that jazz! 

3.  How are things with your companion? What's he like? Do you work well together? Do you have fun together?

Where do I even begin!  We are great!  I love him to death.  We only have about two weeks left together.  I'm sad this will come to an end.  We've done good work together.  What is he like...He's a bit like Anna actually!  But always, I mean always happy!  I've never heard him get sad about anything.  Sure there are times when he isn't as happy as other times, but for the most part he's just enthusiam, which has really helped me.  We work great together.  We have a system working right now where I lead the lessons, introduce the general points and topics, offer what insights and ramifications I can, then he goes even deeper because, well, he speaks better Tagalog than I do!  And Mom, we laugh all the time!  Pretty much in between every lesson after we talk about how the lesson went we just talk and laugh and have good times.  I was talking to Elder Owen (ZL & housemate) last night, and I said that even though I know there are many miracles and great times ahead in my mission, I don't know if I will have a better situation than I have right now.  I'm just trying to take in every moment!

Fastest week yet and another baptism!

Hello All!              

                                                                                                                                

The fastest week yet by a long shot! I cannot believe I’m sitting down to a computer again. On Tuesday I felt a little sick, and it must have been something I ate, but it wasn’t too bad. We still got some good work done that day! 

Wednesday was sweet!  We, as a district, all had pizza after our district meeting, which was way fun! I realized that we hadn’t challenged quite a few of our investigators to baptism, and there really was no reason not to. So I think I challenged four people to baptism on Wednesday? I don’t know, it was fun though! And they all accepted and wanted to be baptized, even though a few didn’t want to set a date. I also tried squid that day! It was alright, super salty. It ranks somewhere around raw broccoli  in terms of tastiness.  

On Thursday Brother Jeff got home from his mission in San Pablo mission, and joined Elder Lungay and I in proselyting. He said he wants to work with us more, which is totally good with us! That day we taught one lesson that stood out was when we had an investigator tell us she totally believed all we had taught, but that she is just waiting for that feeling of the Holy Ghost to confirm it to her. It was interesting.  It’s the opposite problem we usually have! 

On Saturday…Saturday was just a weird day! Even though pretty much everything was a fiasco organizational wise, we were able to baptize Oscar Esteban. He was an investigator of 5 months, and it’s been a long journey for him. The next day at church he just looked so clean. He really wants his wife to be baptized, and she comes to church every week, but she is just slower to accept our message.

Elder Christensen, Elder Lungay and their new convert, Oscar Esteban, who was baptized on Saturday!

 Later, I had to deal with some Elders who were perfectly ok with blowing off work for a couple hours until we had a set appointment at six. That was frustrating, but literally the zone leaders happened to be walking down the street and they helped me out.

Later on that night, I taught the most frustrating and most difficult lesson of my whole mission. I was going to lead the lesson with this less active family. As I started, they started laughing at my Tagalog, which is pretty normal. I apologized for my lack of knowledge, but they still didn’t stop laughing. Even the dad, who is usually a stern man, was laughing at me. I started to get discouraged. I kept teaching, and it just got worse. I tried to tell my companion to take over, but he didn’t understand me. I kept going until I asked my companion to explain a passage, then I just stopped talking. I couldn’t say a word or even look up without them laughing at me, so I just sat there. I was very frustrated. However, when I took the sacrament the next day, all my frustrations just seemed to go away. There is great power in the sacrament, never forget that. Also, I then felt more love from the ward members and fellow missionaries, more so than I ever have in my mission, the rest of that day. It’s amazing how the Lord tries us before the blessings come.

I am so happy to be a missionary. We have so many investigators with potential for baptism, and I pray that the spirit may touch their hearts and turn them to Christ and the saving ordinances of his Gospel.

Lastly, I would like to make a request to all who email me: DO NOT TALK ABOUT CONFERENCE NEXT WEEK! I can’t see it for another week, and I would rather just experience it like everyone else.

I love you all, I pray for you, and thanks, as always, for your support as I continue this adventure here in the Philippines!

--Elder Christensen

My First Baptism!

Hello all!

So I think I’m not going to talk about much except for MY FIRST BAPTISM!!!

But before we get to that, some random highlights throughout the week!  Tuesday was zone conference, which was super cool! I learned a ton and got to know a lot of the other missionaries in my mission. 

Zone Conference:  Brandon said that their mission in so big and transportation is so slow that they have zone conference with half of the mission at a time (over 90 missionaries there).

Riding in a jeepne with other missionaries to zone conference

On Wednesday we had a community service project, where while building a house, I killed two deadly poisonous centipedes! You don’t really get that back in Utah! 

On Thursday I discovered that ants were eating away at my garments? Yeah, not cool, so I made sure I sprayed just about everything with permitheren (bug killer/repellant). Later on that day I had a cool experience where Elder Lungay changed the lesson plan suddenly, but it ended up leading to a baptismal invitation. I’m so glad I have a companion who was in tune to the spirit.

 On Friday we had another service project, where I got to get nice and muddy working on a farm! I got to go on exchanges with an American, Elder Black, that day as well, and I learned a lot from him!

Oh yeah! On Thursday our neighbors in our apartment complex knocked on our door because they wanted to switch apartments with us because they had family next door to us. We saw their apartment, and we were sold. It was so nice! So on Saturday morning we switched apartments with them. It even has a shower! No more using buckets for a while!

Brandon's new apartment!  It even has a shower!

After that, we headed to the baptism. Once everyone arrived, we heard some great talks from ward missionaries/fellowshippers. I was blessed with the opportunity to baptize. I got to be the one who helped Reynaldo Beltran Dela Cruz Jr. participate in a saving ordinance. After he came out of the water, we hugged right there in the font! When we were changing I asked him how he felt, and he said “wholly new.” At that moment in time, I don’t know if I’ve ever been happier in my whole life. It was just pure joy. Ah it just vindicated everything we do as missionaries. I want to invite everyone to be baptized now! It’s just the best! I can’t wait until a year from now when he can go through the temple, and I can go through with him!! He is just so golden, so sincere.

Brandon and Reynaldo Dela Cruz ("Brother Allan") right before he baptized him!

The next day at church, he was just radiating. He just looked so pure to me. Elder Owen said that he could just feel his spirit, and that he was glowing. It just so happened that my Mission President and his wife, President and Sister Martino, were at the church for a meeting with the zone leaders and local leadership. After sacrament I introduced Reynaldo or “Allan” to them. Sister Martino, upon shaking his hand, leaned over to me and said, “Gosh, he has an incredible spirit.” And it’s true. He wants to go to the temple as soon as possible to be baptized for his parents. He is destined for great things in the Kingdom of God.

Back row, starting from left:  Sister Valles (bishop's wife), Sister "Auntie" Sheridan (ward missionary that feeds them every Sunday night), Renaldo Dela Cruz Jr aka "Brother Allan" (who was just baptized!), Brother Ernie (in bishopric), and the sister who referred Allan to the them.

Front row, from the left: Elder Lungay (his comp), Bishop Valles and Brother Arthur (ward mission leader)

 I have never loved my mission, my family, this gospel, and my life as much as I do now. Thank you all for your support, Mahal ko kayong lahat!

--Elder Christensen

No Transfer and an Upcoming Baptism!

Brandon and his trainer- neither one transferred!

Hello all!

 So what a week it has been! Tuesday was transfers, but nothing changed for me or the other Elders in my house. 

On Tuesday we taught a less active, who always invites us in and listens, but never takes it too seriously. We prepared a message more catered to his needs, and it hit home. He even started to tear up when he asked what to do when we are trying our best to be righteous and the blessings don’t come.  It was way spiritual! I also realized that the question of why there are so many churches is just something I’ve always known and just taken for granted. However, in the Philippines it is a very apparent question. It feels a little bit like Palmyra back in the day with people calling “Lo, here!” and “Lo, there!”

 On Tuesday we got caught in a huge rainstorm without an umbrella. We had to walk about an hour in the pouring rain, which was actually quite fun! However, I woke up with a cold on Wednesday, which I am still fighting now! I can still go out and work and whatnot, it’s just a little bothersome! In the morning, I rested and did lots of praying to figure out if I should stay in bed or go out to work. No definite answer came, so I took it to the scriptures. I just opened up my scriptures to Helaman 10:4, and I got my answer of what I should do. We went out to work, though I felt pretty bad. But a tender mercy came when we taught one Tatay that is all scheduled for baptism in two weeks. He had Word of Wisdom problems, but is all good now. However, I wasn’t sure he was ready for baptism until that lesson. The spirit was just super strong as we talked. I knew he was ready. 

Stopping to pose by a rice field

On Saturday, we had a zone community service project, which consisted of me hauling sandbags through a knee high river in jeans! An adventure indeed!

 Also, I don’t know if I mentioned this or not, but next transfer we will be getting new sisters in our ward, so my area will be split. Kind of exciting, but kind of sad that I won’t be able to continue teaching some of these people. 

Sunday was a harder day. We taught our investigator who is getting baptized this coming Saturday, but at this point he’s teaching us. He is just so ready for this! Our other lessons were frustrating for me, I don’t know why. I just didn’t have anything to say I guess. Well, that is until we taught this less active family. I’ve talked about them before. I don’t know if I am allowed to use their names, but I’ll just call them the “Saturday” family. So usually the mom is the one with all the questions, so we prepare our lessons more to her. However, she wasn’t there this time so we changed tactics. I felt like we should share 2 Nephi 25:26 with Brother Saturday and his late twenty something daughter. It worked. It was super spiritual, and I felt like I was able to express my feelings in Tagalog adequately. It was the highlight of the day for me for sure!

All is well in the Philippines! And if all goes according to plan, I will have baptized my first convert by next email! I love you all and thank you all for your continued support!

--Elder Christensen

Also- from my personal email from Brandon:  I asked him what the Filipino people were like.  He said, 

"Filipinos...they are kind of forward, super nice, very smiley, very considerate, and they love to talk! There are these things called "kwentohan" which literally means story time, but its just when you sit and chat for a while. Sometimes it's hard to teach, because they just want to kwentohan. Oh well! I love them so much. I don't know if I could be a missionary in America, Americans are too mean!"
When I asked him what he meant by "kind of forward" he said, "Well today for example, this girl at the burger stand we go to sometimes said, (in Tagalog of course) "You have beautiful eyes--If you want to, we should trade." Or if you gain weight, they will just tell you that. Or if you have a zit, they will point it out! It's just friendly conversation here. This one nanay is always worried about me, because I've been getting skinnier and she thinks I'm sick!"

Other pictures:

Sleepy companions on a bus

Brandon pointing out one of many spiders in his apartment