Photos

Photos from Farewell Dinner in Roxas City

Missionary Life is BUSY ! ! !

Hey My family and friends! This will be short since we are in Iloilo City right now to go to the dentist for Elder Verzo. We are rushing and these computers suck and are taking forever to load. Things this week were awesome. When I got to my area I sat down and did the math of what was going well and what wasn't. One of the numbers we record here every week is called lessons taught with a member present. Our mission goal is 15 per week and when I did the math, I found the average for the last three months was 5.2 per week so we made that our goal to get that higher. This week we were able to exceed it and get 20 so we are excited with that and that the ward is getting involved more. We only had one investigator at church so that was a bummer but its ok. I loved seeing Macy and Brecks pictures from Thailand. That is also great about Levi Ogilvie getting his mission call to Florida. Please tell Kyle happy birthday from me. I miss that guy haha. Well I gotta go. I will send pictures and do the Dixie Elder thing next week. Sorry. I don’t have enough time to now. Okay, we are getting off. We gotta run to the denist, hair cut, shopping and drive all the way back to Pototan. Missionary life is BUSY!!! Love your son, brother, brother-in-law, friend, cousin, etc.. Elder Garrett Christensen Mom, Thanks for everything that you do for me. Love you! Hey dad, Pototan is great. I like it a lot. I am getting close with the members and they are way sweet. Sorry I have no time but I love you and thank you for your e mail. I miss you tons dad. I'll write more next week Elder Gary Hey Britt: I am also excited to see you pretty soon! You will be so big! I am glad you weren't too "overwhelmed" this week to e mail me :) I am glad that dad is teaching you how to shoot and you will be great when I get home! Love you, Elder Gary

I got to eat at McDonalds!

Hey what’s up? This week was a pretty good week here in Pototan. To answer your questions: Our house is one house but split into three sections. Our section is the biggest and pretty nice. Under us, is a member named Gina Torrecampo, she is a single mother but her kids are going to school far away in Luzon. She is awesome! Then next to us is our Branch President, who is single. He is sweet too. They cook for us sometimes. The town itself is huge. It is not a city at all though. Everything is way spread out with tons of rice fields and trees and far areas. I will focus our work right in the town area though so we can get more at church haha. One funny thing that happened this week was after church yesterday, I went on splits with the Branch President and the 1st counselor to visit inactive members. So after we had visited a few members, they decided to go buy bread and drinks at the store haha, on Sunday. It really is a different world here haha. Can you imagine Bishop Bundy and Jon Bowler taking you out for dinner on Sunday night after doing some visiting haha. This week we also had interviews with President Pagaduan in Lapaz, which is like a 40 minute jeepney ride into Iloilo City. It was sweet to talk to him about ideas for my area. After that, we went to the dentist for Elder Verzo, since he has been having lots of pain lately. When we got there he told us that this was his second time ever at a dentist (he is 25) and his teeth are a mess haha. He had to get one tooth pulled since the dentist could not save it from all the cavities. We have to go back next Monday to get more work done on him. But I got to eat at McDonalds so I was happy. :) I like most of our investigators here. We only had one at church so that sucked but we will work hard this week and get lots more. We should have two or three baptisms in February so we'll see. I like my companion a lot, he is different, but super nice and is really trying to learn English, he is probably the worst in our mission at English haha, but he is funny and trying to learn. I am glad all is well there and I love hearing from all of you back at home. Time is flying and I will be there in no time haha.I love you all,Elder Garrett Christensen Mom, Yes I got the journal so thank you a ton! I heard she loves it haha! I think for my package maybe just razors and some toothpaste. Maybe like two more bottles and I will be good the rest of my mission. I just don't want to run out cuz the toothpaste here sucks. I will try my best to write Grandma and Papa Joe to thank them for the Christmas money they sent. I love you lots and hope you aren't too stressed with work! Go get a massage for me :) I Love you most :) Love you momma. Thank you mom, I love you mom and thanks for helping me! Hello Dad and Brit: I didn't get an e mail from you so I am sure you are busy so I will just e mail you both and let you know I am doing awesome. I am feeling happy and healthy. My area is cool but it is huge! We have to ride a lot. We also walk a lot more than I did in Roxas haha. I heard the Patriots are doing well and the 49ers have a shot too! That is crazy. How is your winter going? Is it still cold there or not really? Here it is still really hot but I am used to it so it’s okay. What’s going on with school Britt? How are all your classes? How is work Dad? Are you liking the more mild weather there? Is mom staying busy with work? I bet she is. What sports are going on? High school basketball? I am doing awesome here and loving the mission. I love you lots Dad! and you too Britt! I miss you both!Love, Elder Garrett Dad:That’s too bad The Utes suck this year haha. I don’t really care enough about basketball though to be upset. That’s crazy it could be a Patriots vs. 49ers Super Bowl! I am shocked the 49ers are doing so well. I am happy though, I like them. That is good you are staying busy with young men’s and everything haha.I Love you Dad!Your Son, Elder Christensen

Transfer to Pototan! I feel like a champ right now!

Whats up everyone?! I will start off by saying right now I am in Iloilo Province in the town of Pototan! It is a small town. Kind of like Sibalom. It has tons of farms and we walk lots! Way more than we did in the city haha! My companion right now is Elder Verzo from the Philippines. He in seriously tiny, like five foot nothing, but he is sweet. He is really new to the mission though so it will be a good challenge for me. He is only about 5 months in the mission. I won’t lie, I was way sad leaving Roxas City, I loved it there. The members were awesome, the food, the house, just everything was sweet. Thursday night before I left, our awesome members took us out to dinner! It was Joy Eyao, Joan Tan, Vicky Eyao and Wilma Clavell. They are so sweet haha I will miss them! They took us to a way good restaurant and we got dinner and dessert. I will also miss our investigators there in Roxas. Another weird thing about here is that it is only two of us at the house. To be honest I don’t like it way well. It is just weirdly quiet. What is cool is that we live right next door to our branch president, President De Pablo, who is a good guy too! My health is doing awesome! I have almost no symptoms of anything. My cough is gone. My stomach doesn't hurt. My congestion is all gone! I am way embarrassed that you all fasted, but thanks haha it worked. I feel like a champ right now! My area right now is struggling. We have like five total investigators haha. I couldn’t tell you how many we had in Roxas, so many! We will be focusing a lot on rescuing less actives and through that we will find lots of new investigators. Our ward has about 250 members but only 65 go to church. Our area is also GIANT haha it is so big its nuts. Everything is good, no problems so thank you all for everything and I love you all. Bye Elder Garrett Christensen I love you momma! Hey Dad, What’s going on? It sounds like you are all doing well and enjoying yourselves there in St. George. My health is doing great and I am in my new area called Pototan. It is okay, just a weird change. My companion is nice though. We don’t have a lot in common but we both want to work hard so we will be okay together. That stinks about Tadd Challis. He would have probably been Dixie’s star. I have no roomies so that is weird since I have only been in 4-man houses since I have been on my mission. Thanks for the NFL update. It was good to hear all that’s going on with that stuff. I am glad you are staying busy with your church calling. I miss you tons dad and love you more! Elder Garrett Hey Britt, Yes I feel a lot better thank you for asking. My stomach ache is gone so that is nice. That is sweet that you guys are doingwell at soccer. I am happy that you are sticking with it haha. That is cool that you are starting track soon. Good luck! I love you lots, Elder Gary

I have an amoeba...

Christmas dinner

Barbara's Baptism

Kids at Christmas service project

Christmas Service Project

Baptism of Mary Joy (age 14)

The stake center

Me at an investigator's house

Hey what’s up family. Things this week have been...okay? Monday throughTuesday were good but then my stomach started killing me again, as in killing haha like it was way hard to even stand and walk. So Wednesday we went to the doctor (a gastro specialist) but her clinic was closed on Wednesdays so we just worked regular that day despite pain. Then Thursday we went back to the doctor. I had to do a blood test and then she had me lay on a table while she felt where it was hurt. It is the lower part mostly. After a few minutes and her questions, she was sure now that I do not have an ulcer, but I have an amoeba...So all I can do now is take medicine and hope it goes away soon. I don't know a ton about amoebas but I don't think it is super hard to get rid of so we'll see! I am not sure what it is from either haha? The part that gets more crazy is on Thursday I also had a really bad cough and congestion. Until now I have my cough but we were able to work well so no biggie. That is cool you are friends with Joan and Joy Eyao. Yes, Joy is Joan's niece so they are kind of close. They are both way sweet. I love the members here in Roxas. They are the best! They have helped us so much! If I transfer this week I will be way sad to leave the members here. We ate again at Joan's house yesterday for Sunday lunch and it was delicious like always, they are sweet. Our church is now at 1 pm which is weird after going to church here so long at like 8 am. I like it though. It is nice and we get to do studies in the morning and then go teach! I am glad you got my letters. I hope they were okay. I ran out of stuff to say haha. I am also way proud that you guys cooked chicken adobo, Although (no offense) the picture you sent me isn't what it looks like here ahha :) It’s okay, if you liked it then it’s all good! I will cook it when I get home. I love it. All is well here and I love you all, thanks for your support. Elder Garrett Christensen

Haha thanks mom : ) Love you Hey pops: My stomach is doing okay right now. At least today haha it feels good. That is too bad those kids flaked out on you for reffing basketball. I love hearing about the NFL. I miss it soooo much haha I am stoked to get back to that in a few months! I never heard that Chunner got surgery. What happened to his shoulder? Hopefully he will be okay. Hey I heard something happened to Tadd Challis this year? Have you heard anything about that? Mike Sharp commented on it in one of his letters in the Dixie Elder. Transfer week is this week and I could transfer so we will see what happens?! Love you and miss you, Elder Garrett

New Years was WILD!

Hello everybody. mainuswagon nga bag-ong tuig sa inyo tanan 'to! This week was pretty good. I will start of by saying we had rad, successful Christmas and New Year’s baptisms! The only thing is we aren't getting a lot of support from our ward at the baptisms so that stinks but we will talk to them about it. New Years was WILD! It was way crazier here in the city than it was last year in Sibalom (my first area, which is kind of in the hills.) We had a curfew at 5:00pm so that was a bummer but we got to hang out in the house and talk to the roommates. Blew up all the people here A TON of fireworks. We tried to go to bed at 10:30 which is when we go to bed every night and I fell asleep for like twenty minutes, then from like 11-12 midnight it was just nuts. It was seriously like we were in a huge war zone. It was so insanely loud. Like thousands of fireworks. Small ones, ones that go high in the air, ones that just sound loud as gunshots, everything you can imagine, insane is the only word to describe it. I got a video of it on my camera. My stomach has been weird. It isn't hurting as bad as it used to but it is....not working correctly haha. I am going back to the doctor tomorrow so we'll see. I also got a different kind of sickness this week ha I have a bad sinuses. But it has gotten better the last few days. It isn't affecting the work though so it’s all good! It sounds like you guys are having fun up at Brian Head. It is hard for me to imagine snow. I cant wait to snowboard and ice fish again. Also the pheasant hunting looked like it was fun! Good job Breck! Something else weird happened this week. A member here (she e-mailed you a while ago mom, her name is J E has a boyfriend that got shot and killed by a shotgun this week. Turns out it was a mistake and the shooter shot the wrong guy, but J's boyfriend got killed. Crazy huh! She is a good friend of ours. She was obviously super sad this week but she went to church yesterday and said she wants to do his baptism for the dead so that will be cool. I love you all and it was good talking to you all last week. Love, Elder Garrett Love you Mom. Letter for Garrett's buddies in the mission field - January 2012 Dixie Elder Hello my boys, How are all of you doing throughout the world? I hope all is well wherever you are and that you are enjoying your service. We are pretty excited here. We were able to have successful Christmas, and New Year’s baptisms here in Roxas City. We have a lot of good happening here in our area so we are excited for January and February too! I love hearing from all of you and reading how you are all doing in the service of the Lord. I am loving it here in the Philippines and I am sure you are all enjoying your countries/areas as well. I can’t believe how fast time is going. Sharp and I now have less that 10 months, Webster is almost packing his bags up haha its nuts...Something our mission has been doing is trying to complete families and it has been really cool getting to meet part-member families and be able to help complete them so they can go through the temple someday. I love hearing your stories and I think about you lots. I hope you are all working hard and see ya'll soon! Elder Garrett Christensen Hello my papa Things here are going well, no complaints...That is crazy that the NFL is close to being done. I will be there for the next one! yay! It sounds like you guys had fun pheasant hunting. Where did you go? How did Dre do? Haha thats funny that the Jazz suck this year. They lost all their good players haha. Everything is well here and no problems. I love you and miss you tons! Elder Garrett Hey britt. I am excited that you are getting better at snowboarding. I bet you are so good now! Keep practicing. It was good talking to you last week. You are so big now! I can't wait to play with you again soon! Love Gary