THANK YOU!!!!

Kendall and our family would like to thank everyone who has supported us and him these last 2 years. We love you all and it has been appreciated. We are VERY excited to have Kendall come home next Wednesday, to be able to see him, hug him and under the same roof. Though we are excited to have our little buddy come home, we can't help to feel sad that his mission is coming to a close. We appreciated all the wonderful members, people and missionaries that Kendall has been able to associated with while out there. We can definitely say that he has matured from a boy to a handsome young man. His knowledge of the gospel has also increased. This has been quite an experience with hard ache, sacrifice, and a lot of prayers but we wouldn't have had it any other way.

As in the words of the song "Coming Home" by The Nashville Tribute Band:

"I said goodbye to my old life, I followed my heart more than a thousand miles.
I've lived the joy, I've known the pain. I've felt the hand of God out on that frozen plain.
I walked today on blistered feet and now the echo of these canyon walls makes me want to sing

I've never seen beautiful like a journey's end, when nameless faces become my best friends."


                                

                                                         THANK YOU!!!!!
                                                             -The Christensens

Feb 3rd Pics

Saying goodbye to everyone in the Spring Creek area (his favorite area)

 

 

The Hironymous family

Avila Family

Kelsey Hodson

Elena Kent

All the members who came to say goodbye

The Singer Family

 The Lemmon Family

Bobbi Jo (previous investigator) 

Temple Day

His District

His last baptism

 Joe and Elizabeth O'neill

He baptized Elisabeth

 

Feb 3rd Letter ( LAST ONE!!!!!!!)

Ahh Man This week was the best week of my mission!!!!!!!! So much happened. This has truly been a week that I will never forget so let’s don’t hesitate and Lets GIT R DUN

Monday I went down to my favorite Area in my Mission Spring Creek. And I was able to see some people for the last time. The awesome thing is that everything worked out perfectly God provided a way for me to see everyone I wanted to see. So I first visited with the Hironymous Family, sister Hironymous was like our mother always making sure we got fed and was taken care of so I said bye to that family than I went to go see Leticia. But when i got there she wasnt there but she texted me and told me she would be at the singer's house at 7. So i went to see the Aviala's than I was able to see Kelsey Hodson I didn’t think I was going to be able to see her but I had the time and she was so happen to be home. I sneak up behind her outside of her house she was so happy to see me It was awesome. She is so grown up and she loves missionaries. Then I went over to see the Singers and they had dinner ready for us and we ate! It was awesome, than around 7 we had people show up. She asked me earlier who I wanted to show up and she sent out a email and a lot of people came. I was so happy even some that I forgot to mention they even came. I was able to talk with Elena Kent she is not active because of some things that is making her not come. Some personal issues, but I was able to talk with her and get her thinking more about the truth. I was able to visit with more of the members there. The asked me to give a spiritual thought and they asked me questions. One of the girls there said that I was finally a "man" haha I don’t know what that means but I’m glad I’m finally one! But it was a night that I will never forget and I love those people so much!!

 

BAPTISM OF JOE AND ELIZABETH

Yesterday was the most special day of my mission. I was able to witness and to participate in the baptism of Joe and Elizabeth O'Neill. This Baptism Mean a lot more to me than others now I’m not saying that my others don’t mean a lot to me, but this one was special in a way that I’ll explain later! But we met with Joe and Elizabeth all this week making sure they were prepared and ready. Saturday they even celebrated there baptism early they had a Pre Baptism BBQ. We went there and it was awesome while we were there Joe mention that whenever a Life changing experience happens for them it always rains, it happens to their wedding, and guess what. It happened for their Baptism also!  Sunday came along and they showed up and they were ready to be baptized. They had family come to see them, and we even had our stake president drive an hour to get here for it! So this was a big deal. This Branch saw their first convert family baptism In YEARS, like we are talking 7+ years. The water was cold so that was fun but Elder Bryan baptized Joe and he is a big boy as you can see. Well let’s just say he went down but he didn’t come back up all the way He kind of dropped him and couldn’t bring him back up. Than it was my turn to get in the water. It has been 18 months since I was in the water last. I was happy and I felt the spirit so strong. I baptized her twice because I guess her knuckle came up but its ok she is extra clean!! But while I was sitting there I was just pondering and I felt the spirit was so strong I was in tears. That’s all I felt, was the spirit testifying to me that this is true  I knew that Heavenly Father was happy for me and that he was grateful for my efforts in the mission and he was pleased with me and the work that I have done in The Texas Houston Mission!

I just want to close and wish yall the best in the coming week. Don’t get too trunky for the 12 of Feb. It will come faster than you think than I can tell you all about the experiences in person. Endure to the end and have a good week. Be safe and I’ll talk to yall  soon

 

Elder Kendall Christensen

Kendall's Homecoming

Kendall will be having his homecoming talk on Sunday February 16th at 11:00 am. The church is located at 455 East 100 South in Hyrum. We will be having a lunch served right after at the Hyrum Civic Center (same place as we had his farewell luncheon). The address is 83 West Main Street. We would love to see you all there!!!

Jan 27th Pics

Look at the label he found on the hot sauce

It got cold in Texas but he only got ice not snow

Jan 27th Letter (2nd to last letter!!!)

This week was really Cold!!! We had some snow around Texas but not where I was but we got a lot of ice!!!!!!!

So this is One of my last times emailing yall. So I have one more big letter after this so it’s sad to have this end, but it’s better to hear the stories in person.

This week was a good for us we had some cool things happen to us. On Wednesday we went to go do service at the old people's place where we go and call bingo. Well it was my turn to call it and before I called the numbers there was this man named Mr G. He said “you’re Mormons I said yes we are”. He told me that he is a member and he was baptized back in 1974 in New York. He remembers his baptism clearly! haha I was thinking, you can’t go too far until you are found by someone I thought that was cool. This service is bringing a lot of chances for us to talk about the gospel!!

Thursday was an Amazing day for us! First off we found a new investigator!! Her name is Lupita and she is Hispanic. She is the daughter of a Less Active that we just reactivated she is like 19 years old with 4 kids!! haha yeah weird. But she wants to take the lessons. That was awesome it’s been awhile since we got one! Than that same day we got a call from our Elders Quorum President saying we had a family move into Navasota!! WHAT THAT NEVER HAPPENS!!!!!  They moved from Idaho to here. The husband is the Emergency Manager for Red Cross for about 7 counties right now. But we helped them move in a little bit on Thursday and gave them a church tour! The family of 5 will be a huge impact on our branch! I was talking with the dad while at the church tour he is not active but I was talking and he was talking about being an emergency manager for a county or city and I was like well this is what my dad does and told him and he said who is your dad. I told him and he was like I have met him! WHAT!!! That was like a shocking moment. That is like the third or fourth time I have met someone out here who has known my family!!! So hopefully I can get in with this family before I leave!

I spent my 21st birthday in Brenham on exchanges!! It was a good time. District meeting was cancelled due to the weather. So it was a pretty relaxed day! But I was on exchanges and the weather improved in the day time. We went to this old people home to play bingo and the funniest thing happen. There was this lady her name is Ms. Peggy. Now this lady is not all the way there she was looking at me and I said. What are you doing Ms Peggy? She told me this. Wiping off my lipstick, I don't want to put 2 big marks on you!. She sat there just looking at me and smiling at me. I couldn't but help myself to laugh!!! I didn't know what to do! It was so random and awesome.  We had dinner at CiCi's pizza for my birthday and had a good day! Thank yall for the package it was awesome!!

Saturday was an awesome day. We went to Joe and Elizabeth's to help them get ready for this Sunday for baptism. I think it is awesome, every time we go over there they are always asking questions of what they need to do to be ready. They will be ready and we will have a baptism on Sunday!! But the best part was dinner that night we had one of the best dinners i have had. It was just chuck full of meat and amazingness!!!!! It was a typical Texas dinner. haha

 

Missionary Moment

3 Nephi 5:13

Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life.

This is what i read today! And it stood out to me a lot. This is what I have been called to do for the past 2 years. And this is the calling that I want to do for the rest of my life!

Yesterday at Church I had a thought! We had a lot of people show up and it was awesome. I looked around and most of the people there were families. The soon to be new converts was there as a family, new family and everyone else. It kinda made me realize the importance of families. Everything that our mission president has said about teaching families, apostles and prophets talking about families It all came to me and helped me know that families are ordained of God and there is a huge importance of families in the church. I’m so glad for my family that I have with a mother, father, and sisters strong in the gospel. This has been a time for me to grow in the gospel and the mission was the key for me to get a stronger testimony and knowledge of it! I’m so glad for it!!

I love yall! Be safe, stay warm and I’ll see yall in 16 days and counting haha

Love

Elder Kendall Christensen

Jan 21st Pics

Went back to his first area to say goodbye to the Rios

family. The first family he baptized.

Member's little girls made menus for dinner that night.

Meeting in Caldwell Branch. It is a warehouse

 

Demolishing a house

 

Jan 21st Letter

AHH I can’t believe that I have 3 more weeks. I know I’m coming home but I home here!!

This last transfer has been a very good one for us. It has been very productive and this week has been that way also.

Monday I was able to go down to the Spring Branch to visit with the Rios Family. It was sad to say good bye to them. When I got down there, Not everyone was there the mom was gone with her uncle in the hospital, The dad was at work, and the kids were in and out of the house but I was able to say good bye to some.

Tuesday was awesome. We went to dinner at the Johnson's. We pulled onto the street they lived on and we saw the girls on the corner of the street waiting for us to come!. They were so excited to see us. They gave us all menus for dinner and they put us in certain spots. It was awesome. They are cute kids. And I love how excited they get when we come around Missionaries have that ability to make them go wild both good and bad sometimes for the parents.

Wednesday was a slower day not a lot going on I sat there thinking what we could do to make this place better and get work going I remember a member telling us about how we should go do service at a nursing home so this was sitting on my mind, so we went over there to visit with them to see if we could do some service!. We talked with the lady who was in charge of the activities and she was curious of why we were there. We told her our purpose and what we do. She was surprised that we came in. For one she didn't know there was Mormons here in Navasota and that she was happy we came by to help. She was looking for people and was about to call the High school asking for people and we showed up. She was happy I’m pretty sure we can get teaching opportunities at this place!

Friday we went to Caldwell population of Maybe 5,000 we had district meeting there. Their church is in a warehouse that was converted to a church it’s awesome! We had a good lesson on the plan of salvation then we went to a member's house where they wanted to demo a house! I got to use a sledgehammer and ax Etc. It was awesome. It is also a great stress reliever yall should try it just don’t get hurt. Luckily I didn’t!!!!

Saturday is going to be our bingo day we play bingo twice a day. I’m going to be so good at it! But this time was awesome. So we went looking for the bingo stuff and they never put it in the same spot all the time! We went looking for it when a man stop us and said "hey yall are Mormons'' I said yes sir we are. He later told us he is Jewish and that he studied our religion and read the Book of Mormon and the Pearl of Great Price and that he lost it and wanted another copy. So we gave him one and a potential investigator!! How well did that work out for us!

In closing I’m excited to be able to come home and be with yall! I’m nervous and mixed emotions but I’m ready. I know it might be hard for the first while but it’s something that is going to be worth it. I’m so thankful for all that yall do and thank you for your support. I’m grateful for the time I have to serve my Father in Heaven and to be a missionary. I know the time is short but it’s going to be well worth it. I hope all yall have a great week and I will see yall and talk with yall real soon

Love

Elder Kendall Christensen

Jan 13th Pics

 

At Blue Bell Ice Cream

Oatmeal with Dinosaur eggs. Haven't seen those in years!!

Yum!!!

With less active member and his coworker

 

Jan 13th Letter

WHATS UP!!!

How was yalls week been? The life in Navasota is going pretty awesome so far!

This week we didn’t really do anything really new or exciting it’s sad to let you know that there wasn’t anything really exciting that happened

 Let’s gets to it and let you know what has been going on!!

P-day last week was fun we went to the blue bell ice cream factory! We toured it with some members of the district and some from my last district! It was really fun. We went to lunch than we spent the rest of the p-day in college station and had p-day with the rest of our zone. It was pretty fun

 This week we met with Joe and Elizabeth twice on Wednesday and Saturday afternoon! They are really close to the date of the 2nd for baptism. They came to church this week yes both of them which is awesome! We had branch conference and the stake president wanted to meet with them I heard that it went well. We taught them about the plan of salvation and gospel of Jesus Christ with the law of chastity. They are accepting all of it and don’t have questions so far, the funny thing is they are surprised of how many rules missionaries have to keep and follow. They say we have a hard way of life to live but it isn’t that bad. We had the chance to hear Elizabeth pray for the very first time on Wednesday she isn’t much of one to pray in front of everyone but the prayer that she gave was very powerful. That is one thing I’m going to miss is a son and daughter of god, praying to their father in heaven for the very first time. That is a moment that hits you hard and you can feel the spirit. Joe's prayer was awesome also. He is literally talking with him, and he really likes us and enjoys when we come over to teach them. Oh i almost forgot so we taught them the word of wisdom last week and they are still continuing with that. The cool part of it is that when Elizabeth goes and drinks her coffee in the morning she has problems with her gallbladder. But when she doesn’t drink coffee she is perfectly fine. She told us that God is sending her a message saying that she needs to stop drinking!

 

Yesterday was an awesome day for me personally!  We had branch conference and the stake presidency members and the quorum leaders were all there. Sacrament meeting was awesome It really spoke to me. They had all their talks on 2 Nephi 4 which is known as Nephi's lamentation. The branch president and stake president are up there talking and I’m down in the audience just marking up my scriptures. It was one of those sacrament meetings that we had all the time it was awesome. But the cool thing was the stake president came up to me and talk and was thankful for all we do in this branch he said that he is so glad we have super missionaries like you in this branch he also said that if I ever came to college station that he has an apartment for me to stay at and my family when I come through. This guy is genuine sincere and nice he has met me twice and has stated that. That is awesome.

 

After conference we went to our appointment at ambulance station. There is a non-active member over there and we are able to meet with him. I get there and it made me Truckee haha i won’t lie it did. I get there and it was so real. I thought I was visiting dad at the station. We go in and sit down on the couches and it felt like I was talking to dad when he was at work. I was talking to him about being a paramedic and about the ambulance service at home. My comps just sat there while I was talking to him and his coworker. The funniest part was all of the sudden you get there pager going off! I was like AH MAN THEY ARE GETTING CALLED OUT what happen is they cover a county and there is 3 ambulances that cover it but 2 of them where on calls so they had to go in the center of the county to cover the whole district. It was awesome being there. Before we left he said can we have a prayer so I gave the prayer and I got pictures with him. BUT IT WAS SO AWESOME. While I sat there, I knew for sure that is something I want to do for my career.!!!

 Missionary Moment

 And upon these I write the things of my soul, and many of the scriptures which are graven upon the plates of brass. For my soul delighteth in the scriptures, and my heart pondereth them, and writeth them forth learning and the profit of my children. - 2 Nephi 4:15

 

Behold, canst thou read this without rejoicing and lifting up thy heart for gladness?- D&C 19:39

This is how I feel right now I am truly converted to reading the scriptures. They are amazing I can’t go a day without reading them. They help my day go so much better I just can’t tell you enough how much I love them!!! I encourage you to continue reading them, study them and ponder the message they have it will truly bless your life. I was reading the sons of Mosiah being missionaries and the experiences they have converting thousands of people. It gives me more motivation to become so much better and find those people that are out here. I just want to continue doing this when I come home it’s truly amazing.

 

I love yall be safe this week I think about yall all the time. But don’t become trunky haha

Love

Elder Kendall Christensen

Jan 6th Pics

Editor's note: For some unknown reason, the blog is having difficulty uploading Kendall's pictures for this week up on the blog. I will be trying again later to see if the problem has been fixed. Sorry for the inconvenience!!

Jan 6th Letter

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL YALL!!!!!!!

This week was a very productive week and a week that seemed to go as plan and some things popped up for us that turned out awesome for us. So here is a week in a life of an elder from Navasota

 This week was a week of having Member present lessons that is one stat that the mission focuses on a lot because it give the members involved and it’s the stat that counts a lot. So this week was full of them one of them was our Tuesday dinner appointment as she told us she is having her friend come over she is a non-member and lives in Dallas. The member told us to have a Good lesson and so we did the cool part about it was she was down here for a week and she came to church yesterday and this is the best part she wants the missionaries to come over to her house!!! So we got her info and sending missionaries in the Dallas mission over there. I love it when members bring their friends to dinner or and activity and missionaries are there. It makes an environment that is not too pushy and intimidating. Than they want to meet with the missionaries when they feel the spirit and see that we are not that bad and we have a gift for everyone!!

 Friday was a fun night. It has been getting so cold here right now it’s about 30-ish and it’s blowing and in the night it gets cold so we got invited to a members house for a bon fire. It was warm and toasty!  It was so much fun playing on their huge swing and having troubles and falling in front of them. It’s entertaining for the kids and its funny with this family; they have a nickname for me I’m Elder Batman. They have given us all nicknames Elder Bryan is Elder Candy Man and Elder Sneed doesn’t have one yet but he will get one tho haha

 Saturday and Sunday were busy days for us.

Saturday we visited with Aubrey and Raven they are the 9 year old girls we teach. Well when we were there we taught them and then there grandpa came in and kinda distracted them, But it was good cause we were able to teach him and he is having us over to his house so we can teach him also which is totally awesome. We also met people at a store and we talked with him about what we do and why we are out here! It was just awesome people were just in our paths and we were able to talk with them!!

 

Sunday was interesting but before that we had 3 investigator come to church 54 people attended our branch and 3 of them are investigators. That is awesome One of them was Joe O'Neill, the other were members friends!! Missionary work is real hot out here in Navasota.  We got a call from a member saying he wants us to come bless this house we were like alright we will. We go there and it’s a member’s neighbor’s house and they told us some things that have been going on in there so we blessed the house. Afterward we ask them if we can come by and they said yes. But the funny thing was we found out there last name, and they are a potential family we have been looking for, for about 3 months!!!! So that was way crazy,

 

 

 

 

Joe and Elizabeth!

 

They are doing awesome they are so far good for the 2nd of Feb for baptism. We have been over there teaching them the plan of salvation and word of wisdom. On Saturday Elizabeth wasn’t there for our lesson so we went over yesterday and when we were there they had friends over and they sat down for the lesson and they liked it also. They committed to read more and live the word of wisdom which is awesome. So Saturday when we went over there and they had there inactive father in law and he just went at us pretty much bashing with us. It was ridiculous! But it’s whatever but here is the best part of all this so Joe came to church yesterday for the second time in 3 weeks. It was fast and testimony meeting which you don’t have control of sometimes and it could be crazy but it wasn’t this time.  After the meeting I was talking with Joe and you can tell he was thinking a lot. I asked him what is up? He told me something really powerful he said that when we took him to the church for the first time he was pretty comfortable. The second time he was really familiar with it and loved it but this time was different. He said that when he was in the Hospital he saw this very chapel with this girl in a yellow bow sitting at church and this week there was a girl in a yellow bow and he said that God is sent him a message earlier and he recognized it! He was telling me that God is sending him a message that this is what he is supposed to do. So he is doing some praying and pondering to make sure this is what he wants to do!!! I thought that was super powerful and I know for a fact that God does prepare people. I know that for a fact. I have seen it many times out here he is hastening his work!!!!

 

Missionary Message

 

This week I was reading the Book of Mormon and I found a lot cool things. I LOVE READING It seems like whenever I start to read it I can’t put it down its addicting!!! I love the scriptures!!

 

This week I was reading in the book of messiah with King Benjamin’s address to the people and I found this to be awesome. I found this and it will help me when I become a parent  Mosiah 4: 14-16

 

 

 

14 And ye will not suffer your children that they go hungry, or naked; neither will ye  suffer that they transgress the laws of God, and fight and quarrel one with another, and serve the devil, who is the master of sin, or who is the devil spirit which hath been spoken of by our fathers, he being an enemy to all righteousness.

 

 15 But ye will teach them to walk in the ways of truth and soberness; ye will teach them to love one another, and to serve one another.

 

 16 And also, ye yourselves will succor those that stand in need of your succor; ye will administer of your substance unto him that standeth in need; and ye will not suffer that the beggar putteth up his petition to you in vain, and turn him out to perish.

 

I know that the scriptures can help us out in our lives. It can tell us how to become better in every aspect of our lives. I know that the power of God is real so is the atonement. I have had my testimony of the atonement become stronger lately! I know we need to use it! If we do he will bless us. I’m grateful for all that you do!

 

I love yall and stay safe.

Elder Kendall Christensen