I Just Blab About Nothing....

Hey good afternoon :)
   I really enjoyed reading all your letters so thanks for writing and letting me know what’s up haha.
   Well maybe the first thing I want to say is that we just got news that David A. Bednar is coming to our mission on August 30 and speaking to all the missionaries for a while. What is sweet, is that it’s in my zone so we will be super involved and it will be cool getting to know him, or at least saying hello.
   We had twelve investigators at church this week so way successful. That is the most I have ever had at church in one week so Elder light and I are seeing great fruits from our labors. The Maximo family will not be able to be baptized on August 4 but maybe sometime in August. I sure hope so.
   It was super stormy this whole week. Our feet were constantly wet and the power was out all last night and yesterday morning for a while. It is pouring right now too.
   We also were able to contact more government officials so that was cool. We had a cool service project this week where we fed little malnourished kids and we also weighed them and recorded it. It was really fun talking to them and helping.
   I am super happy that Brittney did well at the Junior Olympics and I hope she had a good time in Baltimore. Sounds like Washington D.C. was cool too. I would like to go there someday haha.
   I can’t believe Mauri is in Nicaragua with Taylor...It is almost surreal to hear that he is done haha. I bet he is happy that he served well and will be happy to see his family after so long.
   I feel like I have nothing to say anymore on these E-Mails....like I just blab about nothing. But I love you guys and hope you have a good week.
Love you all lots,
Elder Garrett...

Hey dad how are you?
   Things here are going really well. We are having a lot of success and seeing lots of people grow closer to the Lord! It is way rad.
   Sounds like you enjoyed your trip to the east coast. Was it hot there? Hotter than St. George? The weather here is whack right now, constant rain and wind. We are always wet. It is better than being too hot though I guess?
   That is cool that Elder Webster is almost home and that they went to pick him up in Nicaragua. I bet Mauri loves that! I am happy that I will get to see you all in a few weeks but it will sure be weird. You will need to take Taylor to dinner or something and let me know how it goes.
Love you lots Dad.
Elder Garrett

A Brilliant Idea

Hey!!! How is everyone?!
   Things here are going so well. Elder Light and I are loving Mandurriao! That’s all I have to say haha....but since you have something to read, I will tell you about a project we have been doing this week....So in the Philippines, each Barangay (a small community, like diamond valley would probably be split into two barangays) has a captain, who is the head of the barangay, and I think seven or eight kagawads, which are the counselors. Our vision is that the missionaries get more involved in the community so when we see people they don’t think we are students or anything, they will know exactly who we are and what we do here. So what we have been doing is getting our more influential members to go with us to the captains of their barangays and Elder Light and I will 1. introduce ourselves, 2. explain what we are doing there in their barangay and 3. offer our help to them like service project, English lessons or whatever! We really love it and it has been sweet. We have already met two of the captains in our area. We have appointment to meet the other ones this week, but we have like ten more to meet just in my area so it will take a while.
    We also were proselyting this week and we saw the photo of the city mayor so I said "hey, I just got an idea, what if we went and met the mayor?"...Elder Light said "that is a way good idea, let’s ask president if we can" so I called president Pagaduan and asked and he said that was a brilliant idea, and he wants to go with us! So that will be our focus this week, trying to get an appointment with the mayor of Iloilo, we will just introduce ourselves and I think give him some sort of gift as well but we will see what happens.
   Our work is going great. We also learned that Elder David A. Bednar will be visiting Iloilo in August so i will probably get to meet him! he will be here about the time of my birthday! That is cool news, huh?
   Elder Webster is probably already packed and ready to go home! It’s nuts. Time is fast....Mom, to answer your question, I think I will be home on October 10 because we here are a day ahead of you all. But I don't have flight plans yet..
   Do we have the same stake president? Same address?
   That is cool that the Chelsi Run went well again!
Love you all lots,
Hey dad what is going on? Things here are going very well! We are loving our area.
   That is neat that Devin is going on his mission already. He was just barely a junior when I left! I am old!
   I hope Britt does well in her track meet back east! Sounds cool you get to go back there. I hope you like it.
Sounds good about the homecoming thing I guess. Whatever works! What time is our church even at right now in Diamond Valley?
I love you and miss you lots.
Elder Garrett

Homecoming on October 14

Hello everybody whats going on?
We had another rad week in Mandurriao. :) Our favorite family came to church again and they are well on their way to getting baptized in August. We were also able to contact, teach, and set a date for a referral from a member! Her name is Clarence and she already has a sweet testimony of the Book of Mormon! She read it and prayed about it, and just like the promise says, she found out that it is true! She came to a baptism with us on Saturday, that other elders had, then afterwards Elder Light and I had a stake correlation with the stake presidency and we shared the missionaries needs so we can all help each other with the Lord's work!
Elder Light and I are getting along great and loving life here in the city! Best food, best members, best investigators...everything is the best! We have started talking a little about what things are going to be like when we go home, not getting trunky or lazy at all, a matter of fact, I feel like I am working the hardest I ever have!... but it's unavoidable to think about haha...We can't even imagine what it will be like. Such a crazy thing to think about. I got my e-mail from the office today that says my flight is October 10. Not sure what time, but they will e-mail that to you sometime soon. I think I will be fine doing the homecoming on Oct. 14 or whatever. I don't want to worry about that yet haha. You just take care of that please :)
This week, Bryan Collins, and Seth Price (Elder Collins and Price) e-mailed me and Collins even sent picture, haha. It was sweet. They are my boys. It is the sweetest thing to hear from them!
I am glad you are all doing well and loving life. We really are so blessed! Dad, congrats on your new job title, whatever it is haha. You are the man! Mom, keep up the good work running Britt around wherever it is she is going. You are like super mom.
I am loving the time I have here. I love this mission. I have learned so much. I love you all and take care this week!
Elder Garrett Christensen
Hey dad, how are you?
Things here are great. I love it here. We are having a lot of great things going on in the zone and especially in our area...Being a zone leader is fun because we get to see the numbers of all the missionaries in our zone and sometimes it is frustrating due to lazy guys, but others are working so hard...(on another note, Elder Light and I are killing everyone in numbers :)..haha joke...but serious!
Congrats on the job. I prayed for you that you would do well! Macy told me you had a interview or something.
I don't know about the different hunts. You just decide and I will do whatever because I do want to hunt I just don't want to worry about dates and stuff right now haha. Sorry to be a burden to you.
I love you lots dada and hope you are happy and healthy.
Love Elder Christensen

Pizza Hut & Veyo Pool

ZLC Pictures with President Pagaduan! Enjoy & Halong!

Hey family whats going on? This week was sweet and we had a great time. The Maximo family came to church again and they really enjoyed it. Brother Maximo said that he is completely done smoking and using alcohol so we are excited for him. They are still on line for August 4 unless we see any other problems.
Last week we had zone leader council (I will send a picture) which was sweet. President taught us about repentance and we learned a lot. We also got to account for the efforts of our zone. We did alright but have lots of room for improvement. We then had the best lunch ever! It was Pizza Hut, iceberg salad, and a baked macaroni casserole things haha. It was so good. Sister takes good care of us. It was even better because it was July 4! America day :)...By the way, how was your America day? We also got to go on splits this week. I went with Elder Jenkins, my buddy from my first area. He is kind of nervous because he is going home in August so he is close. It was fun to talk with him though and teach for an afternoon.
This upcoming week we have another training. Wednesday and Thursday in Arevalo with all the trainers, district leaders, and zone leaders so it will be fun seeing all the missionaries.
I loved hearing all the things going on back at home and I am glad to hear that all is well with you. Elder Light and I are doing awesome and I actually was telling him the other day about Veyo pool, then something crazy happened and we met a couple missionaries that know people from Veyo and stuff haha. It was funny I was laughing because I was just talking about it with my comp. We are both happy and healthy! Sorry this is short.
Love Elder Garrett Christensen
Hey dad whats going on? Thanks for writing.
We had a really good week this week! We are seeing great things. Sorry I have nothing new to tell you guys ever. I feel like I just say the same things over and over. We are enjoying our service.
That is way awesome about Tori, Steven Nelson, and Travan Topham. Tell them all I am way happy for them! They are making way good decisions it seems like. That is something I never realized until my mission is the importance of making good decisions. You have been a good example of that for me.
I miss you lots and love you. Only three months haha. It's way too close.
Love you
Elder Garrett

I Hope I Die Here

Hey y'all what is going on?

   This week was pretty rad. We waited for a call from president all day Monday and Tuesday to tell us we would transfer...but nothing came! So that means Elder Light and I will be here together another nine weeks (this transfer is three weeks longer due to some MTC program they are doing in which they will start teaching the missionaries Hiligaynon instead of Tagalog for our mission and Bacolod mission, that is why I had to decide to go home in October or November.)...So the next transfer day is Aug. 31, right after my birthday...Then I will be on my last transfer until October 9 or 10 when I will go.

   We have the sweetest people here in our area! I hope I die here haha and don’t get transferred to another area before I go home, but President doesn't like killing ZLs or people in the office so they always get stepped down before they go home. That happened to Elders Price, Adams, Jenkins, and Collins so it will probably happen to me although I don't want it to!

   The Maximo family came to church again and they are doing so well! They are the best! Also we were finally able to teach Aileen's (the woman we baptized in June) husband, Romer...We hadn't talked to him since he was in Manila but now he is here on vacation until tomorrow when he will go to get on a ship for nine months! Crazy job!

   This week was fun though because we had 15 missionaries leave and 17 come to our mission so we (since we live in the city) got to work with them when they had down time. It was pretty surreal seeing Elder Price and Collins and those guys leave. They are my good buddies. They were good missionaries in every sense of the word. Then on Wednesday and Thursday we worked with brand new missionaries. I worked with Elder Brown from Morgan, Utah and also Elder Baldwin from Blackfoot, Idaho and they were sweet. Of course they were way quiet when we taught since they can’t speak yet, but I had a really good time answering their questions and helping them adjust a little to life here. Then on Friday was transfer meeting so we all met up in Arevalo and had a sweet meeting where all the greenies met their trainers and others were transferred to their respective new areas. Elder Baldwin turned out to get trained where I was trained, Sibalom, Antique so that will be sweet for him!

   I am loving life here and we have a sweet week this week. We (Elder Light and I) get to teach zone meeting tomorrow and then interview all the companionships. Then on Wednesday we have zone leader counsel in Arevalo with all the ZL’s. Then on Thursday and Friday we will have missionaries (trainers and district leaders) work with us since they have a training.

All is well in Mandurriao!

Love, Elder Garrett Christensen

Hey Pops, Whats going on...I am staying in Mandurriao so I am excited. That is too bad that Brock came home, he would have loved it out in the field. I heard Tadd Challis will be going to the Philippines on his mission. Do you know what mission? That is cool that you had a busy week and that The Littlewood's will probably move to Provo huh? Who did Tori Leavitt marry? Is he from St. George?

   Everything is going sooo well here I am loving my area and companion and everything is awesome here! We have sweet investigators and all is well! Love you lots dad. Take Care!

Elder Garrett Christensen