A Different Kind of Joy

Hey my family how is everything going?
   I am here in the mission office in Arevalo. I did my departure interview with President yesterday at 3pm after church and said my final goodbyes to all the members here. It really is harder than I thought. You always are excited to move on to new things, until the time comes that you are supposed to move on, then it is hard. I am happy with my experience as a missionary. I have found a different type of joy that I never felt prior to my mission. It is so comforting and humbling to know I will be a part of others' lives forever. I love you all and thank you so much for all your support to me. See you Wednesday at 4:25 :) I would request just a nice steak (with A1 sauce), broccoli, and potatoes for dinner. I like the plan you gave me.
All my Love from the Philippines,
Elder Garrett Christensen

Zero Trunkiness Here

Hey Guys

   Elder Naylor and I had a good week here and we are happy with our efforts and results. To be honest we had a really, really regular week with almost zero new happenings haha...

   We heard about the Islam hating on Americans haha and the church sent us an e-mail of what we can do to stay away from any problems. It’s safe to say that I am going to be sooo mad if I die the last day of my mission haha :) jk...but serious.

   Let me tell you about a few of our investigators. Edna went to church, She is a 58 yr. old mother of ten. She had her leg amputated so she is in a wheelchair until she can get a prosthetic leg. The problem is the price. It is really expensive. She loves us and we visit her often. She gets bored at her house all day so she reads the Book of Mormon a lot!

   Another investigator named Elanie went to church. She is 27 and really from Antique (by my first area) but works at SM (the biggest mall here in the city)...She was referred by her friend who is also an investigator but in a different area here in Iloilo. She loves the church and wants to be baptized but we don’t know what to do because she is supporting her family and so if she quits her job (she works every Sunday) then she won’t be able to help the family. Hard situation. Easy to say "well God said not to work on Sunday..." but it’s a lot harder to actually tell your boss you are done haha...

   Another investigator is Fritz, he didn’t go to church because he was in hospital but he is one of the smartest investigator I ever taught. He works for the computer company HP which is American. He is a stud.

All is well. We are still working way hard and loving life here. 

Zero "trunkiness" here haha :)

I Love you all

I will write you my last mission e-mail next week Monday, then see you soon! Nobody said they want anything but Macy so tough luck if I don’t get you anything!

Love you Mom, can’t wait to see you all soon. What is the new airport like? Big?

Haha I will see what I can do...(I asked him to wave to me from the plane.) I will probably be shaking haha. I am already way scared. Just a big change of life. Oh well, I gotta do it sometime. I won’t worry about it. I am pretty sure I will be able to e-mail you all next Monday though. We have been going to a different church this whole time cuz our church here in Mandurriao was being renovated. This week is the first time we get to go there! And it is my last week here haha! Lucky...It is the first one ever in Iloilo with carpet and a elevating microphone :) We have fast and testimony meeting this upcoming week. I will miss conference so please save it for me on Tivo or whatever we have. Thanks-Love you lots and we gotta go buy our food.

-Elder Garrett Christensen

Hey Dad,

   I am really happy right now. We are staying super busy and loving life. We did a stake activity this week. It was called "family fun walk" and we had like 400-500 people at this area where people walk and we did a dance thing. It was way rad!

   I am glad you got to hunt a little. How is the weather? What is it...Muzzle?

   I hope I can get back to America and not get killed by some Islam guy haha. But....If I do die, you won’t have to buy me a truck soon haha :)

   We are feeling great. No health problems and excited to get to my last week of work then get home to lovely St. George...Some of my mission buddies are going to visit the first weekend I am home so you will get to meet them. All is well and I love you Dad.

Elder Garrett

Cement Floor & Septic Service Project

Mayor Mabilog

Elder Naylor, Sister Paugadun, President Paugadun, Mayor Jed Mabilog & Me

Ward Fireside 

 I Taught Them How to Tie a Tie

Whats up Guys?

Elder Naylor and I had a great week. On Tuesday we went out to Tigbauan which is like one hour away on a jeep from Mandurriao. It is beautifully placed right on the ocean on the very south west tip of the island. We attended district meeting there and it went well. We then went on exchanges that day. I worked with Elder Jarmillos who is like one of my favorite Filipino missionaries haha. He is one of like two native Hiligaynon speakers in our mission so it is cool to speak Hiligaynon to him and learn from him.

On Wednesday we visited Mayor Mabilog. His secretary called me on Tuesday and asked us to be there at 10:00am so I told President and we were there at like 9:50. We went in and waited, and waited and waited....Until about 10:45 he came in and brought like four bodyguards and a bunch of staff. We shook his hand and President thanked him for allowing us to proselyte in his city without and problems. We then gave him the gift we got for him, the Christus. He loved it so we felt good about it. I then talked to him about our purpose, what we do as missionaries, how long we have been in his city and thanked him as well for allowing us to do all we do here. Elder Naylor then offered to help in service projects and the Mayor said he would call us if he had a service project lined up that we could help at. We then got a tour of his office and part of the City Hall which was cool. I think the Mayor liked us a lot and is warm to us. He even knows members so it was sweet. Then President and Sister took us to lunch at a way nice restaurant. Great day!

On Friday we had a community service project at one of our member’s houses. We mixed cement on the ground with shovels for them to use as a floor cuz before they just had a dirt floor. We also helped with building a septic tank for them to have a CR. We laid gravel around the house and got a great work out. We really enjoyed it. Then they fed us lunch! Also on Friday we had a ward fireside where we had a training to give about how to give more information about the church to our friends to help bring the church out of obscurity. It went okay except only like 10 people showed . aha.

I am loving my time here. Thanks for the help on college stuff. Hopefully I don’t have to register until like November so I can look into it more. It is too big of a distraction here. I don’t need money or anything. I am not spending a lot. But I will look for stuff to buy and bring home for you all. Any suggestions?

We are finding the elect here and loving it. There is joy in doing what is right.

With Love,

Elder Garrett Christensen

Poppa!

Hey you look hurt. (Dad just had carpel tunnel surgery.) I am glad. Now I will for sure be able to beat you up when I get home. You have a weak spot. I am not about this 'sportsmanship' stuff. I will hit you right in the hand haha. My time is running out and we are working super hard. I am really giving it all I have. We are packing our days full of people we can visit and planning to accomplish our goals.

Sorry about the hand. I will talk more about that with you when I get home cuz I don’t know what carpel tunnel is. I thought it was from computers?

Thanks for the sports news.

I will be ready to hunt when I get home, haha don't worry. I will just catch up on my social life as we hunt. I just need an IPhone and service haha jk.

All is well, happy and healthy....Find me a girlfriend :)

Love you dad,

Elder Christensen

 

See You in 3 Weeks

The Flood

Family Home Evening with the Maximo Family - Losers Had to Put Baby Powder on Their Face.

Family and Friends:

   Thanks for all your e-mails. Nothing better than hearing all is well at the homestead haha. Elder Naylor and I had a decent week. The only problem is that from having ten baptisms in August, we lost all of our progressing investigators! So now we are contacting all of our inactive members, which is lots haha and trying to get them back on track, and see if they have friends or family that we can teach! All is well :)

   We taught zone training meeting on Tuesday and it went alright. We didn't get as much participation as we wanted but we talked to the zone about goals, planning, and accountability. We have a pretty sweet zone here right now. I also got to go on splits with Elder Galloway, who was in my room at the MTC. It was cool to work with him although the whole day we worked in his area it was raining and flooded so we had to take our socks off and walk around in our rubber shoes. Lame.

   This Wednesday, President Pagaduan, Elder Naylor and I are going to visit Mayor Jed Mabilog here in Iloilo City. We are excited and we will hopefully help him to understand 1. Who we are, 2. What we do in his city, and 3. Offer help through service or any other ways we can help. It will be fun. I will tell him you guys say hi.

   I wish I could have gone to the Dixie Roundup. It sounds so fun. I miss stuff like that and am excited to see it again next year. Also it’s good to hear all the sports stuff going on. I am sad I missed the Utah/BYU game, but it sounded like a way good game.

   I am just going to set the record straight that I still have not decided where I want to go to school haha. It will either be U of U or Dixie State but I can’t choose yet which I want. Although I do think I want to play football, so that could play a role in my decision, too. Can I make that decision after I get home or do I need to soon for enrollment stuff? Just let me know.

   We had a sweet CSP (community service project) on Friday where we helped build a cement house for one of our members. They don't have a wheelbarrow so we had to put sand in a cement bag and carry it to their house. Good work out.

   I have no clue about my flight plans to Manila, and we do not get to go to the temple. What will we do when I get home? Go straight to the Stake Pres? Then eat some AMERICAN food!

   Yeah mom, the lake thing with Seth Price and those guys sounds fine. I am not picky.

All my love,

Elder Garrett Christensen

Dad, What are you up to now days? It sounds like you are doing well. The only thing is you are not hunting very much...Are you the same Clifford I left in Utah? I hope so...

   This week was alright. We are working hard and hoping to find more new investigators who we can help understand our message! It is hard sometimes but I am happy I don’t feel lazy or tired so I can give it my 100% effort and use the skills I have acquired on my mission. The Utah game sounds rad. I could tell that BYU lost just because of the lack of effort you put into writing about it :)

   I am excited for the Utah weather and dry climate. I am sick of sweating while I get dressed, and study, and even while I shower haha, but I am not complaining. It could be much, much worse.

   I love you and am happy to see you in three weeks!

I feel so lucky to have you as my father.

Elder Garrett

I Just Adore Their Family. It Will Be Hard to Leave Them.

Hey guys what is going on?!

   This week was cool! We had zone leader counsel on Wednesday which was sweet. We learned about having a vision, or goals, planning to accomplish them, and accountability for what we do. President Pagaduan is the one who taught us. Then we ate steak, chocolate cake and vegetables, it was amazing! Sister Pagaduan is the third best cook ever (behind you mom, and you dad, of course).

   Elder Naylor and I were able to have another baptism as well. It was junior and he completed the Maximo family! They also got the Aaronic priesthood and two of the boys passed the sacrament. I just adore their family. It will be hard to leave them.

   We also had stake correlation on Saturday night where we correlate all the missionary efforts to our stake president. It went well. We report on less-active work, how our wards are doing on home teaching and lots of other stuff.

   We also now have a firm appointment for when we can visit the mayor, it is on September 20. We are excited to do that and President Pagaduan is also coming with us. We have a small Christus statue that we will give him as a token.

hhhmmmm...I am out of words...

   Sounds like you had a good time in Mexico. I am jealous of you haha. The weather was probably the same though. Did you love it? This week we don't have much going on. Just work and that's it.

   That is cool about Jeff and Cambria. I am excited for them, and that I will be able to go to their wedding!

Well, that’s all from Iloilo,

Love you all,

Elder Garrett Christensen

Hey dad wassup wichu???!!

   Things here are going well. We had another baptism which went well. I love the photos from Cabo. You guys are so gwapo and gwapa! I am so proud that you are my parents.

   Now maybe you know a little about how weird it is to change foods haha! I feel the same. Sometimes when we can get McDonalds I just feel like I am in heaven for a few minutes haha. except I am now hooked on Filipino food so don't worry, I am not complaining at all!

   I can't believe that Utah got beat by Utah State! Lame....

   Time is flying by and we can never get it back! I can't believe we are in the 20's now of my total days left. CRAZY. Scary but exciting.

I love you dad.

Elder Garrett Christensen

Meeting with Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

 

Double click to enlarge the photo.  Elder Christensen is on the back row, fifth Elder from the right.