2014-05-11 "Man will fly someday!""Ha! Just like a ROCK!!!!"

Hello there my beautiful family!!!

So basically, the rundown this week is gonna be less than amazing this week... but that's ok because I just talked to you all!!!!! Which was super good by the way! Love you!!!

So, this week, on Tuesday I went down early in the morning to Naga for transfers. Since Elder Packard was just going over to Basud, he didn't travel with me. So my temporary companion was Elder Panti (yes, like ladies underwear...). So me and my Panti rode the bus together, kinda weird first of all that I had a Panti to call my own, and even weirder that I left it on the seat next to me!!!! Haha, he's a good elder though, just one transfer older than me. Way cool. When we got down to Naga I saw Elder Tuitavake!!!!! Love that man!!!! You guys will all have to meet him when we get back. He says he'll probably move out to Utah and go to BYU. I am super excited for that! Man that man is an animal! (Pops, that's a good thing, in a sense I am saying that he is super awesome... He is very awesome, see previous emails for confirmation) Then we had a big meeting where we all got paired up, and I got a Filipino!!!! I am super pumped! In just a few days my Tagalog skills have gone way way way way waaaaaaay up!!!!!! The name is Elder Mariano. He is the stuff. After that we had a three hour buss ride back. We had time for one visit that night to the Santillan family. They are awesome.

This week was really slow with the split area. We spent tons and tons of time tracting and looking for LA to teach. It was a pretty successful week. We have a lot of potentials!

Yesterday was Elder Packard's B-Day! Because he is still in my District tonight we are having an FHE and we are bringing a cake for him! Its gonna be the bomb. Elder Mariano has a b day in a few weeks too... Dankness (Pops, this one means pretty much the same think as Dope, or Awesome... another good word. Actually, I wouldn't suggest Dope for your vocabulary, but maybe dankness would be a good one! I do like that word... anywho...).

Other than that, the old AP just got "Kicked out of office." Now he is our ZL. Pretty cool stuff. And because the ZL's live with us, he is now my kabahay. Dankness (There's that word again... a good one. Nephi should have used it, I do believe it would make the scriptures a little bit more interesting to the rising generation.. wait, get this, how sick would the scriptures be coming from a teenage american... like Dallin! Except three years ago... that would be pretty rad [this one Pops is somewhat like Dank or Dope... Except this ones origin is more from the punk era... also known as a word coming from Brenna McAllister...] ).

Other than that this week is getting really fuzzy... much like a mold, or a fungus.. except not, more like a drunk kind of fuzzy.. don't worry, I'm clean!

Well, I love you all! I'll talk to you all next week!!!! Peace Out! (A traditional way of ending letters in some cultures. Mostly cultures of punk and awesomeness.. In other words it says, "So long, fair well, see you later, have a nice day, keep the peace in the air, Peace is not "In with the hood" insinuating that violence is, Outside is peaceful, or in Tagalog, Kapayapaan sa labas!, which makes absolutely no sense....).

2014-05-05 "Lump in my oatmeal!"

Hello Family!!!

Its been a wonderful week here in the Philippines! And its hot hot hot!!

So this week has been kinda crazy! We have transfers coming up, and we had Sister Santillan stuck in the hospital... crazy stuff!!! Splitting the area has been kinda crazy. Its official. Elder Packard is headed over to Basud, and I am staying in Daet. The bad news is, all of our new investigators, everyone we have been finding, all the work we have  been doing... has been in Basud... So, I will have the Santillan Family to work with, a new comp, and a lot of tracting to do!!!! Haha, it'll be good fun. New comp eh? Thats some pretty salty stuff!!! I'm crossing my fingers that he is Filipino. I really need a Filipino if I am ever gonna get this language down!!!

So, last monday we had Sister Santillan in the hospital. She couldn't get out cause she couldn't afford the procedure and she had to pay before she could leave... so our amazing bishop pulled a miracle, and now momma Santillan and baby are now happily at home!!! We are super happy about that!!!

Hmm, so last week, our wonderful ward mother (Sister De Gouzman.. Bishops wife) made me and my comp 150 ice candies... thats a ton!! Ask dallin, its really good, and a lot of it. So we have been eating that all week, and we are not finished yet... So thats been nice.

So we have neighbors.. go figure. You would have thought we would have realized that sooner. Suprise! One is white! That is super weird. There are no white people here. If we ever see white people here, either they are missionaries, or it is Stan... our neighbor. Anywho, he had us over the other day and fed us Pork Chops... delicious pork chops. He has a grill... those don't exist here... It was nice to talk to him. He is super friendly, but he isn't to interested.... sad day... we'll keep trying with him.

Our other neighbors who actually live in the same appartment, just a door down, we got to talk to them this week! They are super nice and invited us to come talk to them some time. We totally will!

So Adrian... The one with the phobia. We have been trying to help his family life too. He and his mom don't trust each other at all. And they have a hard time together. He really needs his moms support if he is gonna overcome his fear. Well, the report this week is that there is improvement!!! We had a super intense lesson with him and his mom, we were trying really hard not to offend people but also open them up a bit. The lesson was a success!!! We talked to them separately and they both say there is improvements in the home and they are doing a little better... Hopefully the improvements continue!!! Adrian is totally awesome. And the reason they are improving is because they are reading the Book of Mormon and doing things that invite the spirit into their home!!!

So, its transfers now. Half of our district is being transfered... I'll spend the next couple days traveling to Naga, getting my new comp, and then getting started into our rather baren area. Its gonna be awesome!!!

Well, sorry if the email is no good, but I am outa time, gotta run. Love you all!! Keep being awesome! Peace Out

2014-04-28 "There is no such thing as bad news. There is just news."" Tailung escaped!"".... That is bad news.."

Hello there family!!!!!

How are all you beautiful people doing?!?! It sounds like your all awesome, which is just fantastic. So, once upon a time, it was another totally awesome week here!!! Sobrang astig yung lingo ko! Pero, medio mahirap sa martes at mierkoles dahil masaket si Elder Packard. Kailangang namin stay sa loob yung bahay namin... medio dissapointing yan...

So, yes, Tuesday and Wednesday we had to stay inside because Elder Packard (companion) was hurt. Basketball.... tut-tut rough yan! Poor guys ankle... "Last night, my toe... was as big as my face!" Yup, so we were inside. But Tuesday we had bishops wife check it out, and while we were out we went and taught a lesson, and then the next day he was feeling well enough by night for an appointment. So thus far my record is perfect. Even with sickness and injury I have been out proselyting every day of my mission... yeah. That's whats up son! Just because I said that I am gonna end up breaking my ankle next or something....

So, this week was a good call though! We taught lots of good lessons, and Adrian! Man that boy is a stud! He still wants to go on a mission.. last week while we were out walking he had a session... it was pretty bad. It took us several hours to calm him down. But man he is a stud. Because of that we knew that returning was gonna be really hard. I didn't think we were gonna be able to go back for a while... but the very next day he went back with us!!!! He is still improving like crazy! Love him. He still teaches with us when we teach Ryan. And now Ryan is improving well too! Tonight we are gonna have a FHE with him. I am super excited for him. He is gonna teach the lesson. What would be really cool, because of his fear of leaving far from his home, if he overcomes his fear enough to mission, maybe it would be possible he would get called to the Naga mission to keep him close to home... and then get this, I train him! It would be super tight! And very unlikely, but possible!!!

So our favorite family, the Santillan now has two new members of the family (well, kinda....)! Their dad went and picked him up from Manila this last week. He is 11. Way tight! Their family is amazing and they are progressing way well! Only hold up is the marriage... the children might have to get baptized first because the marriage might take a while. They were waiting to start on that till sister had her baby, and this morning, she had her baby!!!! And she is super cute! We went and saw her this morning at bishops. The scary thing was that sister didn't do well and they were actually afraid that she might not make it, but like... two minutes ago we found out she will be ok. So we are super excited! There family just went from 5 to 7 in like... 7 days.

This morning we had a district activity on the beach. We played volleyball... It was super hard to resist the urge to jump in the water and jump in the waves.. oo, that was rough. But I did it! I'll try to get a pic for ya.

Haha, we were teaching Leo this week about Adam and Eve... haha, we were like, "so, what happened when they ate the fruit?" Cause he said he knew the story... he was like, "uhhh.... they turned to stone?" Hahahaha, not quite. Close, I think your thinking salt, and that would be Lots wife. Or maybe Medusa... Hahaha, it was funny though. He is still doing awesome. But he has lots of work so its hard to teach him.

So the other week we found Ten friends hanging out that are all way interested. Gloria is the nanay that lives there.... so Gloria and company.. Yup, they are super awesome. Lots of them already want baptism... its just hard to teach them all together... but they are leaving on a trip today (some of them), so I probably won't be seeing them again. But they are super dope!!!

Anywho, that's all I can remember for now. Peace out! Love Ya!

The First one is us on the Beach.. playing Volleyball.

This is part of our area... by the way that green grass is the path we were walking on... its super gorgeous... be jealous!!!

Oh, and I invented a rat trap.. that's what that last one is... Here are the ingredients:
1 medium sized bucket
Water

Instructions:

Fill the bucket mostly full of water.

Yup, that's it. We had 4 rats commit suicide in the bucket. I think they were trying to drink and then fell in. Tight!!!! Yup, that's our lesson for today on how to get rid of rats! Love you all! Peace Out!!!

2014-04-21 PICS!!!!

Us on the beach for the service project.

This is Bishop and his wife and one of his daughters. Bishop is a stud!!! Love them!

That's Adrian on the left with his Bagong Gupit! Pogi siya. And Ryan on the right. The investigator that just came back and told us he wants to be baptized.

Oi! And I just figured out how to send that as an attachment!!! That last pic is the Banana Soup that Ryan made for us!

2014-04-21 "They call him P-diddy for short. What, cause it takes all day to say "Puff!" Whew! I'm exhausted!"

Hey there fam!!!!

So its been a good week here in the Philippines! A little bit slow because its Holy Week. But a good week never the less! Unfortunately, I am already overtime, so I gotta write this fast and get outta here!!!

So on Monday we had a FHE with Bishop and our Investigating family the Santillans!!! It was super good! Bishop is a stud, and I love the Santillian family. Best Family ever. And there was food. "Can life get better? I submit that it can not!!!"

We played a slow game of football this week with maraming punts! But it was cool beans because it gave us time to find new investigators! Not to many though, because everyone was out for holy week. Not gonna lie, it was a temptation that I faced to preach on a soap box out in the middle of one of there conventions. Holding the Book of Mormon over head yelling, "Magsisi Kayo!!!" or in other words, "Repent ye!" But I resisted the temptation.

The other thing that was awesome is that we got caught up in a parade of greif for Black Friday. They all had candles and marched solemnly to a very depressing song with a statue of the Savior crusified in the front... That was interesting.

Also, one of our investigators that dissappeared came back and said that he got an answer that he needs to be baptized!!! That was nice. He has a lot of work to do before that, but it was super tight! Then he made us delicious banana soup for dinner!

Oh, and one of the elders here played for Highland back in the day! We got to talking and we've totally been playing against each other for years!!! It was fun to talk to him.

Tom moved... He didn't get baptized... and he is going back to a house of Jehovah's Witnesses... That'll be interesting. Hopefully he will find missionaries there and he will decide to get baptized... but that was pretty sad to see him go.

Brother Santillan has a kid in Manila that he wants to get baptized with their family. So Sunday he left up to Manila to go get him! He is gonna be baptized too! Super excited for them! I'll try to get a picture of them to you today or next week. They are my favorites!!!

We got to go to Mercedes Saturday for a service project! It was super awesome!! The beach was sobrang maganda! And It was actually a pretty clean beach. There were lots of kids there that now all consider me to be there best friend. Yeah, that's whats up son! Pretty much anybody 6 years and younger thinks I am the best. Because you see when your that young you have fun without talking. Everyone else realizes how hard it is to talk to me and I am the "eh" missionary...

And, McDonalds opened up right down the street from the computer shop. So we totally had a big mac last week! What?!?!?! That was awesome.

And I just deleted this email. Luckily I got it back though... that was intense.. like the fire at the circus! Not very unmuch like camping.

Anywho, sorry this email sucks.. like a vacuum. Gotta run! Peace Out!

2014-04-13 "And we played the first thing that came to our heads, and it just so happened to be. The best song in the world. It was the best song in the world."

Hello Family! I hope you all had an awesome week!!! I'm really sorry, my emails are starting to get lame... because once again I am outta time and gotta run!!! But, First of all, I love the fam! Air Hugs to yalls! Second, conference was dope! We just got to see it yesterday! super dope yan! Ok, and now, I'll have to be brief, like the underwear.

So, Joel is actually leaving for two months now, and when he gets back, he won't be in my area. So Joel is gone. That was sad. But he is still super dope!

Once upon a time I was forced to drink tons and tons of soda... I am not saying i like it yet..... but its growing on me... like a fungus. Not very much unlike a mold, slightly different from a mushroom. But it doesn't taste as good as either.

Also, my fear of spiders has not changed. A certain family found this out. And now they wait with baited breath for my coming always to throw spiders at me! Yeah!!!! I kinda set myself up for that... But, to prove that I was not a little girl I let them put a particularly large one in my hand..... man my insides felt.... squeamish. I didn't like that.

You know what I did like? The curry that I made this week. You know what I didn't like? The feijoada that I made... I didn't notice that the beans were "salted." Ya, It was like trying to eat the ocean with some rice and some very very sweet meat. Worst flavor in my life. So my cooking isn't perfect. But, no matter! We are really good at top ramen! This week we are gonna try Mac and Cheese!!! They don't really have cheese, but I'm gonna give it a try!

We met this lady named Gloria about two weeks ago. We started teaching her and her 10 friends that she happened to have over. Now they are all coming and are committed to baptism!!! We are super pumped for them!

My Tagalog is a work in progress. People give me some very funny looks sometimes. The beautiful thing is that I don't know what I have said wrong! Like, the other day as we were leaving this part member family, I was talking to the mom and asked her if between visits she could help him identify when he reads and stuff, the feelings of the spirit. It came off that she thought I was saying she was distracting from the spirit during the lessons and she was very offended until we finally cooled the fire... Woops!!!!

Anyways, this is just a rubbish letter. But I gotta run! Love you all! Peace Out!!!

2014-04-06 "It did not matter how many foes he faced! They were no match for his bodacity!!!!"

Hello Family!!!!!

So, twas another unreal week! But this week I truly have no time!!

So basically, the awesome things, we had Zone Conference. President is an amazing man. For part of ZC though, we watched a talk by Tad R. Callister. The Blue Print of the Church or something like that. Kinda an unreal talk. Everyone should watch it!

And this week we killed it! Like... yeah, on record this is the best week we have had. We found heaps of people. We have heaps of people moving towards baptism. We have Less Actives coming back to church. Adrian is teaching with us! He is getting over his Phobia! He actually looked it up and its a thing. Its got a name... yeah, but he is starting to do very well.

Tom is going super awesome! He has his Baptismal interview this week!!!!! Such a stud siya! He is leaving soon though, which is sad. He introduced us to someone else in his area and she has a baptismal date now!!!

If you don't remember Joel, he is the one that asked for missionaries and now he reads everything he can get his hands on. He cant afford to go to church in Daet, but now that it is in Basud, he can walk there!!!! I am super excited for him. His problem is now the same problem that everyone has here. He needs to get married, which is expensive, so he won't be able to do that for a while.... Sad day. Love Him!

This week I literally talked to everyone and there Dog!!! We have a couple new investigators as a result, at my Tagalog is improving a ton!!! Hopefully when I talk to Dallin at Mothers Day we can speak in Tagalog!!! Its gonna be a thing.

You know what else is a thing. Spaghetti. I totally had a dream last night that the children here were chasing me trying to eat my Spaghetti. Basically imagine Braxton McCallister running away from children with spaghetti in hand, being a ninja. That was my dream. Except that it was me. And not Braxton. Only the power of the spaghetti combined with me and my awesome mind, can I ever achieve awesomeness like his...

Anywho, we were missionaries this week. We did awesome missionary things. Like teach. Confound smart people (like a random reporter that wanted to bible bash), and basically be awesome. That was us. But I don't have time to fill you in on the details, so imagine the spaghetti, and imagine me, and imagine missionaries, and you are imagining my week.

Love you all! Hope that's good enough to satisfy the cravings you all have to know whats going on in the life of Elder Christensen. Oh, by the way, you need to imagine meat balls in the Spaghetti.

Love You all! Peace till next week! (afterward, there will be major destruction!!). Gotta run!

2014-03-30 "Why do you have a bag on your head?!?!

Hello my beautiful family!!! How are yalls doing?! I heard a certain brother of mine is back in the area! Give that man some lovin for me!

Well, as far as I go, my week was super maganda! We found an apartment for the new elders. Now president is not sure whether he wants to do an emergency transfer and split the area now (the most likely thing is that Packard and I will be split if that happens, and Packard will go with the new area) or wait till the end of the transfer.... We shall see. The work was a little bit slower this week but it was still a super good week!!

First, Alma came back from Manila! She left right after we baptized her. She is still going to Saudi Arabia for the next two years starting Thursday, but it was super good to see her again at church yesterday!! She is awesome!

Good news, Tom decided he is not leaving yet! so we will still be having his baptism in.. 3 weeks now? Yeah! I am super pumped for him! Apparently he has just been blindly believing us this whole time, and we finally got him to pray about the Book of Mormon and he got an answer! Finally! It has been strange arguing the counter arguments so that he realizes that there may be a possibility that it isn't true in order to freaking get him to pray about it! But he did pray, and he did get an answer, just like we promised him he would!

The Santillans are amazing! I will try to get a picture for you! There dad had kinda the same thing happen this week as Tom. But he has an amazing testimony, and amazing faith. They are gonna be baptized at the end of the month. They are gonna be having a child probably this week. And the baby will be the Brother of Jared!!! (Jared is his 3 year old brother... cutest kid in the whole world. We are good pals...).

Haha, so one time we were on the jeepney, and I was talking to this old guy, but he couldn't really here. I ended up inviting him to listen to us right before he left, but I had to basically shout it... yeah... after he left I turned around and felt like I was a vulture eyeing my prey! I turned on them and I could feel all the heads looking away from me. Then it was just like, alright, who wants to talk to me next! Bring it on! Hahaha, yeah, woops, cats out of the bag, I want you all to listen to me!!!!

Bah, I always forget the journal..... Well, Cool story about a kid we are teaching. His name is Adrian. He has a phobia of leaving his neighborhood and hasn't even left it in three years. He does everything we ask him though and he has a lot of faith. He wants to serve a mission some day. But cant leave his neighborhood. We've had a string of like, 8 lessons with him that have just been KILLER AWESOME!!!!! Spiritual monster lessons those. Well, he has a lot of faith, but we all decided, its time to start exercising his faith. So we decided, since his problem is fear, we are walking him out to his "boundary," going a little bit further, he gets scared, we have to stop, and then we teach a lesson, bring the spirit really strong, and it chases the fear away. And he can enjoy that area. And then we keep walking, when we have to stop again, we say the closing prayer there, and then walk him home. He progressed a ton this week!!! The main road his about a 15 minute walk from his house. He could walk about five minutes from his house... we are hoping to reach the main road withing the next two weeks or so. It'll be a while before he can make it to church, but it is good to see him exercising his faith and getting out! He's the stuff! Love him.

Well, that's kinda it for this week! I love you all! And I hope you have tons of fun. Dallin still can't get married till I get home, so Dallin, "You better get comfortable down there, real comfortable." -Remember the Titans.

Haha, Peace out Family!