Having Charity for All Heavenly Father's Children

Buenas,

Man, what a week it was this past week, I don't even know where to begin. There was a family that was going to get baptized by some of the elders in my district so I went over to their house (the family's) on an exchange to do the baptismal interviews, and everything that could have gone wrong, went wrong. It was just one of those nights I guess. I'm not going to go too far into it, but it was just a mess. The boyfriend of the mom of the family they were teaching never wanted to listen to the elders, and then when I was there he ran out and just started yelling at us telling us to leave. It got pretty intense and since I was on an exchange with a younger elder, I started talking to the boyfriend and it was pretty intense, haha, like he was not happy at all. And then he called someone else and he gives me his phone and the person on the line was yelling at me saying that she's calling the cops and a bunch of other stuff and that she hates us and to never come back, it was pretty crazy. But after my right-handed haymaker nailed his left eye he stopped talking to us and went inside (haha, no, no, no, I’m totally kidding, obviously I didn't hit him, I would never do that, haha). But it was pretty chaotic though. And then I went back over to a different house looking for the family Sunday morning to see if they were coming to church, and while I was talking to the mom, one of her sisters came out and just went off and was yelling at us, too, so it was a "Yell at Elder Christiansen" type of week. It was all good though, it really helped me learn to have a good attitude and to have charity towards all of Heavenly Father's children.

Life is so, so good though and I love being a full-time missionary. I am also super excited because we're having 3-day training again (it's 3 days in a row of Presidente training and helping all of the zone and district leaders in the mission so we can in turn train the missionaries we are in charge of). It should be super fun though, because I loved the last one. I love y’all so much!

I love y’all,

Elder Christiansen

Surprise Text and Photo from South Texas!

Love technology! I got a text message on my phone last night with the photo below attached. What a fun surprise! It was sent by a member in the Hidalgo area, and Ethan and his companion were celebrating a birthday with her family. Such a sweet and thoughtful gesture! We continue to be so thankful for the kind members in South Texas who take such wonderful care of the missionaries! 

Buenas,

Yay, y’all got the photo! It was the Fuentes family's nieto (“grandson”) who was having his birthday party. He was turning 4. It was super fun and we just talked to la Hermana Arrembide the whole time. After the photo she wanted to send it to our mamas, so I was like, ok great!! Sounds like it's been a crazy week though! Good luck Andrew on college stuff! And good job Dad for being a beast at seminario! (teaching “seminary”).

Elder Christiansen is on the back row, on the right.
Looks like it was a fun Disney birthday party!

This week has been good, hard but good. We haven’t had really anyone we have been steadily teaching so it's been a bit of a struggle. It has been a good learning experience though. Life is going well, though and I am still really focused on my mission, even though I've been talking a little bit about college and my roommates and stuff like that. Haha – yep, the time sure is flying. I literally can't believe it! But that's why we have to take advantage of every moment to learn, grow, and help others to come unto to Christ because the time to go home is coming up pretty quickly. I love y’all a lot and thanks for all the support! Pray that we can find families to teach and baptize! I love y’all!!

Con amor (“with love”),

Elder Christiansen

World's Largest Killer Bee!

Buenas,

Cool, sounds like it was a fun week for everyone! That's so cool about Dad being the jefe (“chief”) at the College Board now! It sounds like Andrew is doing great at Ensworth, too, so that's cool tambien (“also”). One of the high schools in my area is the Tigers and their football field has blue turf, but they are really bad. Ok, so quick things for college:

I got an email today from Aaron and him, me, Jared, iDawg, Dirty Harry, Ty, Mason, and Chaka all want to room together when we get back for fall 2015. Mason, Chaka, and Ty won’t be back until winter 2016 though. Ok, yea, I’ll talk to Presidente about the form for BYU.

"It's the world's largest killer bee, right in Hidalgo!"

"And then there's me next to the bee. It's a random, giant statue in the middle of my area."

This week was pretty good, though. We had interviews with Presidente on Friday so that was awesome! He is a very, very inspired man! Yesterday we taught a blind guy and he came to church from his apartment and it was super awesome! If he can make it to church than any of us can, and there is no excuse! But then he told us he didn’t want to learn anymore but we cleaned his apartment and then he played the piano for us for a bit, which was amazing. All is well though and I’m loving my mission! I can't believe how fast it is going by but that's ok! I love y’all!! I’m sending home some pictures, too.

Con amor (“with love”),

Elder Christiansen

Staying in Hidalgo!

Buenas,

Ok so yea, I got my retainer and it fits great. I haven’t gotten my flu shot yet but we’re planning to go. And yes I got Ben and Karli's box and I loved it!!!

So I am staying in my area and so is Elder Thornton! My whole district is staying as well so nothing too crazy happened. This week has been good, though. We've had a hard time finding people to teach lately so we have been trying to improve on that and find people. Those are cool pictures of Andrew. He looks like he's gaining some weight though, haha. I finally got caught up on Conference talks as well this morning so that was good, too. They were all so good! Oh, ok, so one of the zone leaders had to go home to get some tests done because he has been kind of sick so that was pretty hard. He's a super good buddy of mine in the mission, I've served with him for like 7 or 8 transfers, so please pray that he gets better so he can come back. It sounds like y’all had fun in Utah that's cool. That's a cool story about Mrs. Mietchen and her mom meeting Preisdente Uchtdorf too, haha.

Nothing super crazy is happening down here, all is well. Life is good though and I am SO happy to be a missionary and to be having the wonderful experiences that I am having!!!

Paz y tranquilidad (“peace and tranquility”),

Elder Christiansen

Seeing "Meet the Mormons" ... and God Loves Us

Buenas,

So another great week serving the Lord! I'm glad y’all liked “Meet the Mormons” and actually we got to see it as well, and early! We watched it with all the missionaries in a chapel in McAllen on Tuesday morning and I absolutely loved it!!! (I actually really did like it, but it also might be due to the fact that I haven't seen a real movie since “Mulan” on New Year's Eve last year, haha). But I thought it was great! It's playing in a theater down here as well so a bunch of the members have gone to see it and they said that they really liked it. Yes please invite TONS of people to go watch it because it is a great movie to share about the church. Yea, I got a letter from Ms. Shockley and that was so nice, and I already wrote her back (crazy I know). It rained a bit this past week so that was good – it is still super hot and humid. I also got my retainer today as well so that was good. Also someone told me that there is an iPhone 6?!?!?! That's crazy!!!!! Man Andrew's watch tan looks just like mine!!!!!! And that's sick he's going out to BYU!! Did you find out any info. on when to register for classes and stuff? I can do that out here but I just need the dates because I heard another missionary talking about it.

Life is good down here in Hidalgo though, nothing too crazy has been going on. We've been teaching a couple different people but they aren't really progressing so we are hoping to find a lot of people to teach this week. Transfers are next week too so we’ll see what happens. I think I am going to stay but we’ll see. I hope all is well at home. I know that God loves us and that we can feel that love as we keep the commandments and do our best. The Book of Mormon is the word of God and I know that it was translated by Joseph Smith. I know that Joseph saw Our Heavenly Father and His son Jesus Christ in the Sacred Grove and that they came to him to answer his prayer. I know that the priesthood was restored, or brought back exactly the way it was so that way we can be with our loved ones forever and enjoy all of the blessings that come from the Atonement. I love the Lord. and I love y’all!!!!!!!

Con amor (“with love”),

Elder Christiansen

General Conference was Awesome!!

Muy buenas,

Man what a great week!! Conference was awesome! I also loved the talks in other languages (especialmente en espanol). Whenever it came on in Spanish we would all go to the other room and listen to it in Spanish live, it was sick! I only got to watch the first session on Saturday and then the two on Sunday because an elder in my district was sick so I went with him back to a missionary apartment close to the church so he could sleep and rest. It was a good experience even though I wasn’t watching conference because I was there for six hours while this elder was pretty much sleeping and I thought I was going to go crazy!! During this time I: read a ton of the New Testament, studied a map of the greater McAllen/Mission area, read a little book about cool missionary stories, looked at all the pictures in the gospel art book probably 3 or 4 times, did all the dishes in this apartment (it wasn’t ours because ours is farther away), re-organized the community food cupboard, took a 1 ½ hr nap, and then did a punch of push-ups, pull-ups, and curls with the weights they had. I was so bored!!!! It just made me want to go out and work super bad but it was pretty funny. I loved the conference sessions I did see though. Wow!!! (note: you can check out the talks from October 2014 General Conference here).

This was a pretty crazy week for me as well. I went on a super long exchange with an elder because I was doing some last-minute baptismal interviews and it was a blast. We had three food appointments in one day too, so that was fun as well. Yea, I'm not sure if we'll be able to watch that movie or not – probably not would be my guess but let me know how it goes! (He’s talking about the documentary: “Meet the Mormons.”) Yes, I am in the Hidalgo zone. Yes, we beat MBA!!!!!!!!!

Life is good though. I love having prophets and apostles to lead and guide us to do what's right in our lives. They don't make our decisions for us, but they help us to stay on the path and hold onto the iron rod. Also, not trying to be trunky, but I need you to look some things up for me: when does class registration start for summer term and when does the whole housing sign-up start up as well. (I can't believe I just said that but oh well). I love y'all so much and please keep spreading the gospel!!!!

Elder Christiansen

Stoked for Conference ... and Seeing the Ripped Pants

Muy buenas,

This past week was another fantastic week! It has rained a ton here and our car is running real tight on miles so we have had to bike everyday for the past week and a half or so and everyday we just get poured on – it’s really fun, though! Man, a new bishopric, no way?!?!?!?! You know you’re on your mission a long time though when a new bishopric comes in and you don't know any of them...pretty crazy, huh? Wow, Ensworth lost to McCallie? What?! Yea, I'll probably have the Marine cut for the rest of the mission at least, but who knows what will happen after (mullet maybe?!? jk). The food is still great and I love it so much. Yea, I told all the wolf pack how I ripped my pants and they all just loved it. They are all doing well.

Alex isn’t really progressing so that is sad but it's ok because we did a good job with him but we can’t force him, just invite. Oh, and we were at the Fuentes’ house the other day and el Hermano Fuentes told us that he finished reading the whole Book of Mormon!!!!!!!!!!! And he was only baptized a little over a month ago!!!! So that was pretty exciting. They are doing great and they love the gospel.

Hey, someone send some pictures of Andrew. I love y’all so much and get STOKED for conference this weekend, let’s go!!!!!!!! This is seriously like the best time of the year as a missionary, it can't get here any faster!!!!

Amor y paz (“love and peace”),

Elder Christiansen

"This is the picture of me and my torn pants. The orange that you see is my orange
Ensworth shorts; I had to put them on underneath to take the picture."

"And another!"