Sept 23rd Pics

At a member's home teaching some non member kids

His District

Elders Hill, Griffths, Mckell, Rios, Rodriguez, Christensen

Sisters Rainsdon, Daniel, Bowden Possin

What a handsome young man he has become over the last 19 months

Sept 23rd Letter

All righty!!!!!!! How are things going UTAH!!

 Guess what a miracle happened the past 2 days. It has cooled down to the low 80's WHOOP!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That is a miracle for me because it’s so hot and humid that I felt like I was back in Utah again. It was awesome!!!

 Monday was pretty fun. It was P-day and guess what I did??  I went golfing and I didn't do so badly!! I only had a couple balls go to the right, but they mostly went straight and far It was awesome!!!  It felt so good to go golfing again. Then we went to the Church and we played basketball and it was so much fun. Since i started to lose weight and work out more, I have felt better and play a lot better. So basketball I was all over the place No I wasn't the sweeper but I was the only one rebounding and making shots. It was way fun. That night we had a missionary who served in this area come back to say good bye to a family. Well we went to the dinner and the family was awesome and you saw what happened at the end of the night we had a Pixy Stick eating contest and I WON it was hard!!! But I'm proud of it hahah

 The next day I was on exchanges with an Elder and we had all the day lined up and I was so happy because we were going to be busy but guess what?? They all cancelled Oh the joys of missionary work having things thinking they are going the way they are supposed to and then boom it is something else or it cancels. So we did something for the first time and that was going Proselyting at a Mall. Now that is super weird and awkward at the beginning, but we just sat there waiting for people to come up and talk with us as we are reading the book of Mormon. We’ll all of the sudden we get some coming to talk to us but it was a member. He took us out to go get a Cookie and a drink at one of the stores it was pretty awesome. The funny part was that we were with other missionaries and they saw us and they thought that we got someone but we told them it was a member, but we are going to go do this now and go do missionary work at the mall FUN TIMES.

 We did our weekly service at the Horse Ranch on Wednesday morning from 8 am to about 2pm in the afternoon but this week was a bit longer. We were there until about 5pm in the evening  Sister Siemens was buying some more Feed ( Hay, alfalfa? etc ) and we went with her in her truck to this place and she was buying some bails of feed, Now in the beginning it was loaded was by a fork lift. Now dad will know that these things are not the lightest things in the world they weigh about 150 pounds. Well she needed someone to help her unload it when she got home and guess who as able to do that? THIS GUY!! It wasn’t that bad tossing and stacking the bails it was something that I enjoyed. She was so appreciated of me and she called me her HEEVE MAN!!  haha

  Saturday was amazing we play basketball at the church. Members come and brought there nonmember friends, and families there and it was a good way to be able to do missionary work, and fellowship in a non-intimidation environment. You will never guess who I saw there?? One of my old Investigators from Spring Branch Jesse Adame. He walked in and I was shocked I haven’t seen him in about 1 1/2 years. We sat there catching up with him and I was talking with him about his family and how work is going and what not and I asked him if he is seeing the missionaries and he said I’m going to do it again. I was pretty happy with him He said something to me that I was shocked with. He said that he knows that church is true and that the gospel is true. But he is waiting for more of a confirmation to know that he is making the right decision and that he doesn’t want to be a hypocrite in living the standards. I was still happy cause after that long going without seeing the missionaries and not going to church he still has that conviction and knowledge and testimony that he know that its true but he said that he still needs a little push!! I hope and pray that he will be able to join before I go home!! Only time will tell.

 I’m sorry that this is short but the one thing that I am excited for is that we have another BAPTISM this week!!! Her name is Marissa Moreno she is 10 yrs old and she is excited and so are we!!!

 "If you have any question about whether a particular movie, book, or other form of entertainment is appropriate, don’t see it, don’t read it, don’t participate"- Thomas S Monson

 This is a quote of a talk that I was reading in my studies. President Monson was talking about us standing up for our standards and how we need to be able to stand for what we know is right and this quote is what I have been thinking about this whole week. In the beginning I wasn’t that good of doing that and I am still working on it but if we ever have any doubt of what we should be doing DONT DO IT Walk away and do something that you know is right. Be that influence on others. “Let thy light shine and not hide it under a bushel."

 I love yall and hope yall have a great week.

 Elder Kendall Christensen

 

Sept 16th Pics

The mission office

Every Saturday they set up a stand in front of the church building for free Book of Mormons, Bibles and videos

Look what Kendall found this week:

DAD!!

Fire truck

HIS TRUCK!!!!!

Sept 16th Letter

How is it going yall?!

I’m really sad to hear that Grandma Stimpson isn’t doing well. :(  I am defiantly praying for her and I wish I could be there but I know I’m supposed to come out here.

This week was a very interesting thing a lot of things happened so let’s get you updated on everything that has been going on in my life for the past week.

Tuesday was a very interesting day. We go to a gas station to fill up our car with gas and we are having a hard time get some gas. The transaction is going through but it will not pump gas to us I tried like two pumps and I left to go to a Chevron and it worked for me there. Not even before I get the nozzle into the pump I get a call from the car coordinator saying that I have been charged 200 dollars’ worth of gas. I was like no and explained the situation, well I guess the first pump I was at someone put a card Reader in it and scanned our card and copied it and make a transaction. They shut down our card and we had to drive an hour away to get a new one but knowing me and my luck that I have It didn’t surprise me that this happened.

Wednesday was a hard working day. We did service from 8 am to 2 pm so pretty much a full day and it was hard work.  We went to the horse ranch to do service and the work that she had us do was to level out a stall so she brought her front end loader and brought three loads of clay! Now clay sucks. So this was going to be fun we had to shovel the dirt in and then pack it down to make it level guess what part of the job I did the most yep the packing. I had a tool that had a square shape that weighed about 15 pounds and I had to slam it down to the ground to smash it and to level it out, I LOVE IT my arms were tired and got huge blisters on my hands but I was in heaven I think I lost about 5 pounds in sweat!!!!!!!!!!!

This week we received a referral from mormon.org someone who was interesting in our church so we went on Thursday we called her up and she told us to come by at 5pm. Well of course she was not home so we went off and tried to her later. We came back around 7pm knocked on her door and all of the sudden we hear someone screaming FAGGOT!!!!!!!!!!! I turned around and noticed that there was a man hiding behind of his garage and a bush’s. Elder Rios and I turned at each other like what just happened. Than He yelled Queer Bait!!! Than all of the sudden you hear his mom say this “what are you doing that is totally inappropriate what are they doing to you." The boy said “they are in my territory" The mom Said” I don’t care they are not selling anything do that again and you’re not going tomorrow." The boy was like “well mom" It was funny. I was a little angry cause I hate getting that all the time. But it peoples way of making fun of us when we really know who they are saying that to!

Marissa Moreno.

This week was a pretty amazing week with her we had an appointment with her Friday. And it was a powerful one we were concerned because she has a date for the 28th of September and she still needs to come to church. That was our purpose of talking to her Friday we get in and it was awesome how God made the conversation go to the importance of church attendance. The family is going through a lot they have a grandma that is really ill and a lot of family problems. And again I was there Therapist (ugh) but it was good cause it put that fire in them to come to church. So this week after calling them a lot and having members go over there early to get them out of bed and ready. They came to church MIRACLE and for a record to they stayed for 2 hours when they were only coming for the first hour. The ward was impressed we brought them to church!!!!!!  That made me feels like I am still making a difference here.

Sunday was so funny! First it was my 19 MONTH MARK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Five months left oh yeah but the ward mission leader and us went out to visit less actives. It has become very successful for us we hope to get more people involved but only time will tell. We went to this in active house and boy was it different. Let’s just say he is very "creative" if you want to be nice but he is gay.  haha we went in to visit him he hasn’t been to church since he was converted. And our objective was to bring him to church on Sunday we told him that it was the primary program and how special it is and he got all nervous and freaking out he doesn’t like kids. So he gets all nervous and sweaty and freaking out he was very interesting, after our visit the ward mission leader told us not to go over there again.

In closing I want to let yall know that I love our savior. I know that we go through rough times but we have to go through those to have better times. I’m grateful to be out here I’m learning a lot of myself and how I can be able to become better. I know that he gives things to overcome, that seems small or big. I know that we have prophet on this earth I can’t wait till general conference. I am grateful for my family and the support and love that i have from them.

I love yall have a great week. Kick some UTAH Butt!!

Elder Kendall Christensen

Sept 9th Pics

Service at Dolores's

 

Sept 9th Letter

HOWDY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

 

I heard that y’all got some rain in Utah!! Good for y’all. Send some this way please! We need something to cool us off!! It’s hot!!!!!!!!!!!! 

 

This week was awesome. We worked hard and we are seeing a lot of things go right in our area and in our lives. So let’s get to the down and dirty. 

 

Marissa Moreno is doing well. We are having a hard time getting her family back to being committed to come to church. They just don’t know the importance of why we come to church. But Marissa is doing really well with her lessons. She is remembering what she is learning. The mom told us that her number one priority is to get her daughter, Marissa, to be baptized! So hopefully we are able to get her to be ready by the 28th of September for her baptism. 

 

We had dinner with a member family who lived in Cache Valley for 12 years (in Logan). And they always go back to Utah (Cache Valley). They have been there for the past 3 weeks. I got to talking to them and they know Danny Leishman's dad and the business that they have, ‘Mountain Shadow Cabinets’. So we were discussing some people we might know. We don’t know a lot of people. But it is awesome. Everywhere I go I always find someone who has either lived in Cache Valley or know people there. So needless to say, I got more connections here on my mission. Haha!!

 

Thursday was an awesome day. First we were able to contact this family named Krushinsky. This family meant a lot to me the very first time I met them. They are elderly and they have a hard time getting around and walking. They are so similar to Grandma and Grandpa Barlow. We went over there and they are so sweet together. I honestly felt like I was talking to Grandpa and Grandma. They were so happy to see us there and to have the missionaries. They needed help changing light bulbs and little things that they can’t do anymore. I felt so bad for them. But it made my heart so soft. I love them. Bro Krushinsky had the shakes and the wife can barely walk. They are so amazing! I love them and I love how I could brighten up there day!

 

 Later that day we got a call from a less active member. Now getting a call from them is really surprising cause they always have their phone disconnected. Her name is Sister Fernandez. We gave her a blessing last Sunday. She was nervous cause she was losing her sight in her right eye. The doctor told her that she has a torn retina and her eye sight is hanging on by one little "string" or vein and that she has 72 hours, if she loses her eye sight, to get to a hospital to get it back. So she wanted a blessing on Sunday and she asked me if I would give her a blessing. Now that brings us to Thursday. She called us and told us that she has witnessed a miracle. We go over to her house and she said that the doctor diagnosed her with a really bad infection in her eye. She was so happy cause before, the doctor wrote down her serious problem, but now it became something less. She was so happy when the doctor told her what had happened and she said out loud, “The blessing from my missionaries worked!” Sister Fernandez said that the doctor turned around and smiled. She knew that he was a member of the church. She told me that I have a special gift and she was so thankful for the blessing and that God is looking after her and blessing her. That made me feel really good knowing that I’m making a difference in people's life because I’m serving the Lord as a missionary. 

 

Saturday we went over to Dolores Sanders House to do service. We had about 20 ward members over there helping her to clean her house and to landscape her yard and make her house better so she won’t have to worry about it anymore.  4 missionaries can’t do it alone! It was amazing to see the ward come together and to serve and help a new ward member. That is what the church is all about!

 

Sunday was awesome. There was this concert that was provided by our Church and the Methodist church here in this area. It was called the ‘Lest We Forget’ concert. It was an opportunity for us to come together as followers of Christ and to remember those people on 9/11. It was amazing cause they were honoring all of the military. But the one part that hit me hard, of course, is when they honored the firefighters and EMT's. They had them all stand up to honor them. I felt like Dad was there and he stood up. I was of course crying cause of the sacrifices that they make to help keep us safe. And I can’t wait to be able to be part of that. I know without a shadow of a doubt that I want to do that. I love serving others and this is a way to be able to do that. 

 

In closing I wanted to give you a brief summary of a story that I learned out here and how it applies to us. 

 

A man was sleeping at night in his cabin when suddenly his room filled with light, and God appeared. The Lord told the man he had work for him to do, and showed him a large rock in front of his cabin. The Lord explained that the man was to push against the rock with all his might.

 

So, this the man did, day after day.

 

For many years he toiled from sun up to sun down, his shoulders set squarely against the cold, massive surface of the unmoving rock, pushing with all of his might. Each night the man returned to his cabin sore and worn out, feeling that his whole day had been spent in vain.

 

Since the man was showing discouragement, the Adversary (Satan) decided to enter the picture by placing thoughts into the weary mind: "You have been pushing against that rock for a long time, and it hasn't moved."

 

Thus, he gave the man the impression that the task was impossible and that he was a failure. These thoughts discouraged and disheartened the man.

 

Satan said, "Why kill yourself over this? Just put in your time, giving just the minimum effort; and that will be good enough."

 

That's what the weary man planned to do, but decided to make it a matter of prayer and to take his troubled thoughts to the Lord. "Lord," he said, "I have labored long and hard in your service, putting all my strength to do that which you have asked. Yet, after all this time, I have not even budged that rock by half a millimeter. What is wrong? Why am I failing?"

 

The Lord responded compassionately, "My friend, when I asked you to serve Me and you accepted, I told you that your task was to push against the rock with all of your strength, which you have done. Never once did I mention to you that I expected you to move it. Your task was to push.

 

This story Hit me Really Hard cause that is how these 2 years have been like. I’m working so hard, praying harder than ever, wanting to give up. But I don’t know the big picture. But God does. He wants Us to succeed. I know that if we put God first in our life and do everything he wants us to do, Hard Or Easy, Big or Small, it’s all part of a glorious plan. I want y’all know I HAVE A TESTIMONY!!!  I KNOW HE LIVES!!! My favorite scripture brings me chills every time. That is "… and by the power of the Holy Ghost ye shall know the truth of ALL Things." -Moroni 10:5

 

I love y’all so much. I’m proud to be a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and to represent him for two years and to be able to bring souls unto Christ

 

I LOVE Y’ALL

  

Elder Kendall Christensen

Sept 2nd Pics

Dolores Sanders' Baptism

 

Elder Moulton, Elder Barney, Dolores, Elder Christensen and Rios

Sept 2nd Letter

HOWDY YALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How is it going in UTAH!!! Is the state still on fire or is it out? What is the update on the whole thing??

This week was a better week a lot of drama and stress with the baptism but I will talk about that in a bit but let GIT R DUN

This week was transfers and Neither Elder Rios  or myself got transferred which is nice, that means that I am still on my streak of being with my companions for 3 months at a time and hopefully I will be in this area for 6 months so I can go perfect record in my area. I also have a perfect streak with having a baptism with every single one of my companions so far I am being blessed for my service out here in Houston Texas.

We had the opportunity finally this week to meet with an investigator. Her name is Marissa Moreno! She is 10 yrs of age and she is in a part member family. She has been taught by previous missionaries and she was supposed to be baptized about a month and half ago, but they have been going back and forth from Mexico and here. I guess Marissa’s Grandma has been super sick so they have been visiting with them. Now that the Grandma is doing better, they are home more often. On Wednesday we went over to their house and taught her, even though she has gone through all the lessons, she still has a problem remembering things so we have to repeat the same thing over and over again and that is what we did. We taught them the restoration again! And after we still asked if she still has a desire to be baptized and she said yes. We set a date of The 28th of Sept to be baptized and they said that they can do it!! Now the hard part! We have to make sure they come to church every week, and they have a history of being flaky! Let’s hope and pray that everything will go as planned and Marissa will be baptized in a month!!

 

DOLORES BAPTISM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

This baptism was a very meaningful one and also one of the most stressful one that I have been part of! For one we taught her everything within 4 weeks and she was baptized after. Now that is a lot of cramming lessons in as much as we can, Due to the fact that we only were able to meet with her once a week! On Wednesday we called to check up on Dolores to see how she was doing! And making sure that she is keeping all the commitments and commandments and the one that we were struggling with was chastity .So Thursday was her interview and we needed to make sure that everything was all good and if there was anything she needed help with, we could overcome them before the interview. Well when we called her she still had her boyfriend at the house! And we kept telling her that she needed to do something about it. Well she finally got it and she pretty much kicked him out!! This was super hard for her, her boyfriend and us! For one she was super sad that she had to do it, but much respect to her for standing up for what she knows is true. She had that sure faith in Gods commandments and that she was willing to follow them, She was really upset and we kept comforting her and letting her know that she is doing everything that God is wanting her to do and to help her live that life that he wants us to live by! She came to the interview and told us that her boyfriend hates us!! Which I don’t blame him. Cause we are not trying to break up families but keep them together. But with some peoples agency it has the opposite effect. Saturday was awesome she was baptized around 2 pm! And she was so happy and grateful that we were in her life and to help her out. You can just tell that she was much happier and lighter! Elder Barney baptized her. And I Confirmed her!!!

Missionary Moment:

During the baptism I sat there thinking and Pondering, How sweet of a moment this was. For both Dolores Sanders and for us Missionaries as I sat there I began to tear up because it hit me how important my mission is to me!! These are real people that I am helping and bringing them closer to Christ! If I would have never came on my mission I wouldn’t have come into contact with these people that I have brought closer to Christ. I’m glad that I made the choice of coming on a mission and to let God us my talents to help others and to touch their hearts and want them to make that change. I don’t know what I would be if I have never came on my mission. It has taught me so much, how much I rely on God for things. How much he has blessed me and my family, and how much other people need Christ in their lives. I have become a different person, wiser, More mature (i hope others see that in me) But it has taught me a whole lot about myself and how much I need to live the gospel. This is my testimony that I have and hold cherish

Love yall so much and have a good one. Take it easy and See you soon

Elder Kendall Christensen