Notes from Christmas Skype Video Call

Here a notes from our Christmas video call with Garrett. He asked us all what we got for Christmas. He asked if his bedroom is “still intact”. He said he liked the 12 days of Christmas gifts we gave him. He especially loved the little photo album I made him and the candy. He had Macy and Brittney stand together to see how Brittney has grown so tall. He said Britt should play basketball since she is so tall. He laughed and laughed when Cliff said he got a leather coat from Santa. He said “what are you going to do with that?” We described our Christmas Eve party. He asked about Court and asked how Jeff and Cambria are doing. He asked if Brad is “big” since the football schedule I sent him said Brad’s weight is 195. Britt showed him her cat, Harley. Macy described the home improvements she and Breck have made to their house. He asked about what our vehicles are. I described my new Kia. Macy and Breck and Dad all still drive the same vehicles. He said his roommate, Elder Scott, said “he’d hook us up” to go pheasant hunting in Nebraska. Elder Scott comes home in February, but will probably go to BYU. Garrett misses his companion, Elder Price, who is now in New Washington. Nearly everyone who is interested has already been baptized in New Washington. He said: A barangay is a small place like Diamond Valley, but part of a bigger city. Like Cox Landing is a barangay of St. George. I’m at an internet café. It is just a bunch of computers. “ It has aircon”. (air conditioning) That’s what it’s called here. In my first area I got a lot of letters, but now it’s you guys, Mandi Mathis, Mark Johnson and Kyle Sherwin and Aunt Lisa. I don’t really hear from any of my buddies who are on missions. We get our mail every Friday. Kyle Sherwin writes me an e-mail and then I write him a hand letter back. It usually takes about two weeks for him to get my letters. I love Kyle’s parents a lot. Kyle wants me to go to University of Utah with him when I get back. Macy, Breck and Britt showed him their braces. We showed him the journal we bought for a sister missionary at his request. More quotes: For Christmas Eve we taught a recent convert who is 74. The people give us a treat and glass of water or Sprite at our visits. We went over to the stake center, which is in the middle of the city and there are four wards in Roxas City. There is a man from England who married a Filipina. He has lots of money so he paid for hundreds of street kids to have lunch. On Christmas Eve, we were able to serve them food. It was really fun. I took pictures of the poor kids. The man also gives them gifts. Garrett showed us pictures of the kids. They had a baptism this week of a lady named Barbara. He loves the camera he took on his mission. It continues to work well. He found a paper at an investigator’s that said “I have a crush on Elder Christensen, because he is cute and I like him. “ We laughed! The Filipinos sit with their shoes and bum on the ground. They are comfortable with it. He showed us pictures of JoAnn Tan and her husband who feeds him every Sunday. She is my friend on FaceBook Garrett’s stomach “hasn’t been terrible. Whenever I eat it hurts. I went to a doctor about a week ago. She thinks it is from me taking Ibuprophen. If it’s not better in another week I’m supposed to go back. He asked if we have tried any Filipino food. He wants us to make chicken abode and try it. “It’s so good on rice.” He only remembers eating rice once a month when he was home. Now he eats it with his spoon in his right hand and his fork in his left hand. The fork puts rice into the spoon. The people make disgusting fruit salad with mayonaise. Since mayonaise is expensive they think the missionaries will like it. He says “sorry we’re full”. It is a Christmas tradition. Also, they’ll gut the fish and leave the scales and fry it. “I never, never eat that. I hate the fish. I tell people I have an allergy. Some of my companions like it.” “They eat chicken and pork, but never beef. Beef is too expensive. I’ve never eaten it at a member’s house. Everything has a sauce. They use meat as part of a rice topping with sauce. They also grind up fish for “fish sauce”. Balut is a delicacy here. They have pig brain and cow tongue. I’ve tried cow tongue and it wasn’t too bad. I think I’ve gained a little weight. At the doctors I was just 85 kilos (just under 200 pounds). That’s about what I was when I came out on my mission. I’ve lost muscle and gained some fat. We told him about our upcoming Brian Head trip for New Years. Britt showed him her new bedspread fabric. He asked about the bulletin board (shrine) where we put the world map and pictures from his mission. Breck showed him his new snow board. It says hello in different languages, but we couldn’t find “Kumusta”, hello in Tagalog. He got the run-down on what snowboard equipment everyone planned to use. He said “I would wear my football girdle when I went snowboarding so that whenever I hit a rail I would have a cushion for my tailbone.” “I’m way stoked that Brother Weaver is in the branch presidency now. He told me greeting for you. He is awesome. He said he would come to church with us in America when he visits America.” (Garrett baptized Brother Weaver in February 2010.) There are four sister missionaries in Roxas City. We get along well with the sister missionaries here. We are with them a lot. I like them. How many people went to church in our ward today? Not your family! We told him we didn’t go to church because Macy and Breck forgot their clothes and we were putting together Brittney’s new bedroom set. He said “that’s about as good as the excuses we get here. We have 318 members, but like 60 go to church. Yesterday we had 30 people. “ We had 3 dinner appointments on Christmas Eve at 5, 6 and 7. Christmas we ate at Joann Tan’s who is a member. She is on Facebook. We had a really relaxing day because nobody wanted us to come. We said hi to Elder Adams and an Elder from Hawaii who taught Garrett to play the Ukali. Garrett got a kick out of us trying to pronounce the places we’ve read about in his letters. He is currently speaking Illongo. In New Washington he spoke Tagolog and Aklan. He can’t speak Aklan very well, but he can understand it. You have to gurgel your throat and he can’t do it. He spoke Kinaraya in his first area, Sibalom. He said: “We were talking about how we communicate. We mix all the languages and English when we talk in our apartment. For example there is a word here that means “I didn’t say it”. We use it a lot. When I first got to the Philippines I hated it to be honest. My companion could barely even communicate with me. My investigators couldn’t understand. I enjoy it a lot now. It’s cool being able to talk with them. “ We updated him on Gramps. He asked if Gramps is going to church. We updated him on Papa Joe and Irene. We updated him on Grandma Sherry and Amanda. Joe Rebman, Amanda & Shay and Ben Rebman. He said he might want to be a foot doctor. He asked about “Court’s Emple” and condo in Brian Head. He said: “We actually talk about sports a lot here. We miss it because we can’t watch it, so we just talk about it.” Breck, Macy & Cliff confirmed several trades and updates on sports. He said basketball is the big sport there. “You can be walking down the street and you can see like four different basketball games going. It is all on dirt floors and they play in their flip flops. We play basketball every Monday. I still suck, but it’s fun. They also like boxing.” He asked about Brittney’s school classes. She said school is “boring”. He said “mingnow” is how they say boring. He got the run-down on Britt’s love life. She said “I have a crush.” He got a run-down on Breck’s motel and Breck and Macy’s upcoming trip to Thailand. It seems like he said “Ahhhh” a lot. (I’m not sure if this is a language thing or not.) He said: “The Philippines is kind of like the Mexico of America. Everybody wants to get out. Like they go “abroad”. They work in Hong Kong, Asia, China. They all want to work abroad because there is “bad work” here. He asked about the Bri Leavitt family and how Bri’s construction business is doing during the poor economy. He is shocked that Taylor Leavitt is already married and is glad Taylor and her husband have good jobs. He asked about Mikayla McDonald. We asked what he wants in his next box. He said all his clothes and things are fine. They buy rubber shoes there that last like two months and cost about $5. “I won’t need shoes. I really don’t need anything. It is nice to have like candy and stuff. Maybe like Jerky and some pickle sunflower seeds.” “I gave the consecrated oil to the ward and saved some for my next area. Transfers are January 13. In your mission you have like 18 or something and I only have like 7 left. I’ll probably only have like 2 more areas. Here it seems like a day is really long, but then I look at a calendar and say like whoa it’s December 23! I’ll be honest. I miss Elder Price a lot. Do you remember like Joe Rebman who had a companion he really liked and then got a transfer. That’s how it is.” I’ll probably get a new area on January 13. I haven’t heard much from people who were with me in the MTC. It’s crazy how far we are from each other.” “I like it when you send pictures from home.” Macy asked how he feels about coming home. He doesn’t think about it much. “ I can’t imagine driving a car. Here you either drive a Jeepney or a tricycle. You go out into the street and stick out your arm. You hop on and tell them where you are going and they drop you off. Being at home would be way weird.” He is excited to go to the lake when he gets home. We told him about the new businesses in St. George – Kneeders, Petco, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Paradise Grill, the Patio Grill, the new airport. Rebel Sports moved from the factory outlet mall to the same building as Hurst’s. He asked about Joe Rebman’s homecoming. He asked how Joe’s English was when he returned. He said, “My simple conversation is fine, but deeper words that I haven’t used aren’t at the top of my head. I’m nervous to go to college, because my English isn’t good. “ He asked about Macy’s EMT certification. She is just under a paramedic, but doesn’t want to go back to college to become a paramedic. It was fun and she is sad that she is done. He asked what Brittney used to say for swimming when she was little. She said “Whoosing”. He asked about the deer hunt. “I’m looking so forward to sleeping in my bed. The matresses are so thin here. My back hurts every morning, but by afternoon it’s fine. It a little twin and I’m not used to sleeping on that. I’ve had a queen my whole live. “ He yawned several times during our call, so we told him he needs a nap. He said, “that’s just how it is here. I yawn all the time. We don’t have any time. In the afternoon and night I feel fine. Everyday it’s 10:30 we go to sleep 6:30 we wake up. I’m always a little bit tired.” “The people on the street are usually nice. I never feel worried because I’m so much bigger than them. They always yell stuff at us. They work construction and in the evening they get drunk and brave and talk to us. They’ll tell us to take a shot with them. Some even buy us Sprite and give it to us. A lot of people are nice to us because we are American. They have seen American’s on t.v. The members are really nice. They are always surprised that we can speak the language. It will be weird to come home and not be stared at all the time. Like here everyone stares at us all the time. When we’re back we will just be regular dudes.” (Apparently since he does everything with his companion or roommates, he thinks as “we” instead of “I”.) I asked him to tell us the story about the little girl who was so shocked that he knew their language. It is my favorite story from his mission. He said the little girl just kept touching her mom’s shoulder and saying “he looks like an American, but no, he knows our language.” He said “She never did want to accept that I’m American.” He also told us the story of the little girl who said Joseph Smith “is super, super good looking” when Garrett showed her a picture. “The little girls are way, way sweet. The little boys are sweet too, but then they grow up.” It was hot. Garrett kept wiping his lip of sweat. I mentioned that he doesn’t describe things in his letters anymore. He said “When you’ve been here so long it just seems normal. It would be like you trying to describe hoping in a car.” His house is “not as bad as his first one, but not as nice as his second one.” They have a small confection oven – like 10 X 10 inches. They cook nearly everything on a gas burner. They use bucket showers. They don’t use toilet paper. It’s just normal. “When I first got here, I was like I’ll never do that. It’s so much easier. You just use water. In every bathroom there is a bucket full of water and like a scoop that you scoop water with. It’s hard to explain. You splash it off and then after you wash your hands you put alcohol on your hands which kills like 99.9% of the germs. I think it’s actually cleaner, but I don’t know. When I get back I’ll decide. “ The sister missionaries came into the internet café. Sister Simeito, Sister Patrico, they said “hi” to us. One is Filipina, but lives in Seattle Washington. The sisters looked at the screen and we could see them stand behind Garrett looking at us. They look darling. The sister thanked us for the journal. “When you come up to an old person you touch the top of their head with the top of your hand. It’s blessing them.” “The bottom third of the Philippines is native missionaries only. They won’t let Americans serve there.” The call continues…. I haven’t had time to transcribe it all yet.

Malipay nga Paskoe akon Pamilya

Malipay nga Paskoe akon pamilya! (Ilonggo so if you said it to a Tagalog person they would not understand it. It means Merry Christmas....In Tagalog Merry Christmas is "Maligayang Paskoe" ) Things this week have been pretty good here in Roxas. My stomach has been going kind of crazy. I went to a 'gastroenterologist' doctor and she gave me medicine and thinks it might be a small ulcer or something. She thinks it might be from taking Ibuprofen my whole life and especially when I had my hurt tooth a few months ago I took it a lot so I wouldn't be in pain and could focus on the work. So it should get better fast. I feel good this morning.(I usually am emailing around 9-11am here.) On P-days, we do studies in the morning and then come straight to the email place. I will call as early as possible but it will probably be around this, normal time. I am loving the 12 days of Christmas haha I had the pizza last night. It was good. We do have pizza here but it’s not usually good so it was nice to eat it last night. I also love the pine nuts (sooo good), Hersheys chocolate (my roommates love you too, haha), necktie, toothpaste, just everything is way good so thank you! Regarding the typhoon, yes it affected the people of "Mindanao" a lot which is southern Phils. But it has not affected us. It just rained a lot this week. We have caught glimpses of news here and it is so bad there. A lot of people have died. I am really excited for your business mom. It sounds like you are putting a lot of work into it. I am sure it will pay off. I am excited to hear more about the new office in St. George. We are still going to have a baptism on Christmas Eve (possibly two) so we are excited for that. I also sent you a letter in the mail but don't open it until after we talk on the phone for Christmas, okay. :) There is one for each of you. Sorry I didn't have time to do one for the entire family. Just read them an e mail or something. Tell them I love them lots. Sorry but I also I also have a request from a district-mate from here in the Philippines. She wants a journal and she is really pretty poor so can’t afford one. Just the same one as the one you sent me. If you can, please send one in my next package. I told her it will be her late Christmas gift. I asked the sister missionary what kind of journal she wanted and she said she wants one like "cute" haha, so you choose mom what kind but it’s for a girl so try to get a "cute" one. She also said she wants it pretty small. So you don't have to buy a big nice one. Just buy a small, 'cute' one for a sister missionary. Maybe like the size roughly 6" X 4 1/2. I will trust you and Britt or Macy to buy one. Thank you. Love you. I have some extra time so I want to share a story....Last night we went to an investigator named C N, the sister in law of H who we baptized in October. She has had doubts about our message. I felt the impression to ask her this question. "If Jesus Christ was sitting here with us and you had to ask him a question, what would your question be to him?"...She thought for a while and then said "I would ask where the right path is for me to go to return to him".....When she asked that I immediately thought of 2 Nephi 32 which is about the right path returning to our Father. We opened and shared to them and I really felt the spirit in that lesson. It went well and now I feel strongly that she will be baptized. She asked questions about " What are the regulations of being baptized and stuff" I hope you like that story. One more awesome thing we found out about this week at zone conference (where president comes and talks to us in Roxas) was that Bro. Jim Weaver from Sibalom............IS NOW IN THE BRANCH PRESIDENCY! That is crazy huh?! I was shocked but so stoked to hear someone I baptized is now in a leadership position. It is so cool to feel like I helped someone like that and now he is involved so much in the branch there. I love this work here. All is well with everything and Christmas season is here. People here are doing funny caroling at night where the kids go from house to house asking for money and singing Tagalog Christmas songs. I love this season. I also can’t wait to talk to you all. I love you all. Merry Christmas. Elder Christensen Hey Britt I love you lots too! I am in Roxas city...pronounced (ro-has) and it is really “cityish” but fun to be here. That is cool soccer is done. I am excited for you to start track. I can’t wait to talk to you next week. Love you. Love you lots, I love you guys lots and the next time I talk to you it will be on the phone face to face haha I love you all lots and can’t wait to hear more stories and what’s going on. Love you, Elder G Christensen Hey papa what’s going on? Things here are going really well in Roxas. It is good to hear all the bowls. I miss watching college and NFL. I am glad the Dolphins are doing a little better. I hear the Packers are way good. Who beat them? That’s one thing a am excited for when I get home since it will be football season. Things are going well here and we are staying busy. My comp doesn't quite have the same desire that Elder Price and I did so I kind of have to keep him going and do everything but he is hanging in there. Our work is going well. We should have baptisms this week. I am loving it here. I can’t wait to talk to you all. I can’t believe it has been seven months! Love you and miss you. Elder Garrett Christensen

We Have Some Sweet New Investigators

Hello, It was good to hear that you are all doing well and enjoying your Christmas season. Vegas sounds fun and so does the NFR. (I wanna go there next year if possible.) I bet the parties were also really fun. I miss stuff like that. As for me, I am doing great. Not a lot happened this week except we have some sweet new investigators. This woman, E B, was a referral from a less-active member we re-activated and so we have been teaching her with the help of our member. She is "Catholic" but doesn't believe in the things they do so she started studying with the "saksi ni Jehova" which is Jehovah's Witnesses but she said in their Bible study they try to teach you how to fight other religions and she didn’t think that was right, but now she started listening to us she said our teaching her and the Book of Mormon makes her feel "busog" which is like "full" or like "satisfied" so that was cool to see. She will be baptized on January 7 hopefully. We also should have two baptisms on Christmas Eve so that will be fun. My companion and I are doing well. I like our roommates too so life is good. I have had a weird stomach ache this week for like five days but I have been talking to Sis. Pagaduan and I think it has been getting better so no big deal. They really take good care of us. What plans do you all have for Christmas? Anything fun going on? We have a few dinner plans going on but nothing too sweet haha. About calling, will you please figure out my SKYPE account thing again haha. Sorry I don't remember the password or username. Just e mail me the password and stuff so I can log-in on Christmas. Thank you. Last night at the stake center (not our church, but it’s in Roxas City also), we watched the first presidency devotional. It was sweet and of course it was nice to hear the prophet and think about Christ. I am loving the work here and all is well here in God's Country. Love You All, I love you momma girl! Elder Garrett "Ako Pa" Christensen Kumusta akon pinalangga nga amay: Things here are going really well Pops! The NFR sounds fun, I remember the year I went, we had a sweet laser show before it started. Do they do that every year? Sounds like the Christmas parties were fun as well. What NFL teams are doing well? Is college football over? I heard they are having a strike for NBA. Is that true? Anyway, all is well here with Elder Williamson and I. We are working well and have lots of people listening to us. Love you dad, and miss you! Tell the whole family hello for me at the Christmas party and that I say "malipay nga pasko" or Merry Christmas Elder Garrett Hey Barbs. I am doing well. I am glad you are doing good also. Aeropostale sounds fun and I am glad you got lots of clothes there. I am also glad that your cat is healthy. How is your Christmas season going? Did you go snowboarding yet? I love it here and I love you! Bye bye, Elder Gary

All is well here in God's Country.

Well this is Elder Christensen with some crazy news from Roxas. We had transfers this week and like we expected, Elder Price transfered (He transferred to my old area, New Washington), but here is the shocker haha. My new companion, is also my old companion haha. I am assigned with Elder Williamson(my companion from New Washington.) I am not sure what happened since I have never heard of that happening before but its true haha, we are back together. It is okay since we get along well but it will definitely be a big change. I wont lie, I miss Elder Price and the way he was about the work. He was a stud and I will chill with him post-mission. Other than that, I got one other new roommate. Elder Latu from Hawaii is also here in my house. He lives by North Shore, Hawaii(where we went when we visited Hawaii) and he is cool too so we are all happy and healthy. Regarding the work, it has been getting better and better, but we have still experienced challenges. We had a family of three with baptismal dates on December 24 but when we visited them on Saturday, they told us the Father will not allow us to visit them again. So that was a bummer but we still have five people with a baptismal date for December and January so we are excited for the progress of our area. Regarding calling home on Christmas, we are allowed to use Skype(including the video this time) but I assume we will call on Monday which will be Christmas there? I will let you know when we get more information. I got the package this week so thank you mom for all the gifts and pizza stuff! I also love the M & M's! I wont lie though, I opened the calendar since we were planning for January and had no calendar. I love all the photos and it is a way sweet calendar! I left all the other gifts unopened though so I will do the twelve days thing like last year. That is rad about Tyler Condie and Tanner Theobald, if I remember right, didn't Dallas Theobald also go to Brazil? That will be sweet for those two. When do they leave? Like February-ish? I am not sure about Jim Weaver's nephews or where they are from, I bet you could find out faster than I can by e-mailing him since I cannot e-mail him back and a letter to him takes a couple weeks. Anyway we had a good week and have a lot of good investigators that I am excited to help come closer to Christ. I love the work here and am happy and doing well. I am thankful for you all. I am thankful for the Church I Love You all, Elder Garrett Christensen Hey Britt how are you? I am glad you are doing well and loving life. I am excited for you to be able to go snowboarding, I miss that a lot. I bet it would be fun to do that! I can't wait to be able to go with you again! I heard you did great at your piano recital! Good Job! I love you and miss you! Bye! Elder Gary Hey Pops, whats up with you? Things here are going great. Both of my new roommates love sports so we talk lots about sports so that is good. What is the update on the NFL? who is doing well and who is...not doing well haha. I can't believe the NFL is slowly coming to a close. Is it playoffs already? Have you been scouting at all or not yet for deer? Have you been ice fishing this year yet or is it not cold enough yet? That is cool someone Elaine knows is coming here to my mission. They will just love it haha. It has been super hot the last few weeks but its not unbearable. It hasn't affected the work at all. I loved seeing the picture of you fly fishing on the calendar mom gave me, it looks so pretty up in the mountains. It is pretty here too but just different. Here it is tropical. Palm trees everywhere and everything is green year round but there, its pine trees and stuff like that so it is just different. I love it here but I am excited to get back to pine trees and four wheeling at Boulder Mt. haha. I am also stoked for a little fishing/relaxing. It's coming up faster than I can imagine so I am trying my best to work super hard. All is well here in God's Country. I love and miss you Dad, Elder Garrett

The Lord Really is Blessing Us!

Roxas City is the seafood capital of the Philippines

Thanksgiving Dinner Elder Price and I by the Sisters house (ocean) Elder Sunico and I in my area

Hello Everyone: Things here this week went very well. We worked super hard and finally saw some great results. We went from four investigators with a date for baptism to seven this week and had more at church this week too! For Thanksgiving, we went over to the sisters house (in Roxas City also) and they fed us chicken, stuffing (sort of), mashed potatoes (only the second time in the Philippines I have had that!) and gravy. It was okay but nothing compared to home haha. I appreciate the sisters for cooking though. Your party sounds like it was a lot of fun. I look forward to being at the next one :) I am also excited that Britt's team won gold at the soccer tournament. Congrats! That also sounds cool about Koby's party at that dance place. I bet you all had fun. I can’t believe Christmas is approaching already. I don’t know what we are going to do. What are your plans? I will call though I think. We will just see when we get closer to that time. Elder Price and I are doing well but transfers are this week so Wednesday we will find out if one of us will transfer (probably Elder Price) but who knows, maybe we will stay one more transfer together. I haven’t gotten the package yet. Maybe I’ll get it this week. I love you all and thanks for everything. We have some sweet investigators. Also another cool story. Jim Weaver, the American I baptized in Sibalom, just had his two nephews baptized into the church! Awesome huh?! I love the work and all is well. Love you! Bye! Elder Garrett Christensen Hey Pops, Whats going on? Things here are going really well. I am loving life. I am not stoked for Elder Price to leave (which he might on Friday) but we won’t find out until Wednesday. I missed Thanksgiving. It wasn't that great here. I wasn't homesick or anything but it was just a regular day. We are now seeing progress from our hard work and it is awesome. This transfer (last six weeks) Elder Price and I taught 189 lessons. The mission goal is about 125 so we beat it by about 70 so that tells you how we are doing haha. It feels good to get out and work! I love the people here, they are great (usually.) To answer your question I have now performed in 13 baptisms (not including others that I taught that were baptized after I left) and they are all active from what I know. They have all sprouted into other baptisms as well so I am happy. Quail hunt sounds like it was fun and Dre is doing okay. I am glad he bit the head off that bird haha. Are you feeding him?! I am doing well and have no compaints! Love you and miss you lots! Your son, Elder Christensen Here is my November letter to be included in the Dixie Elder, a monthly newsletter than Mauri Webster puts together for me and my friends who are serving around the world: Hello Elders, I don't have a ton of time to write this so sorry it won’t be super detailed. I am still in my third area, Roxas City. I am with Elder Price still and we are doing awesome. He is a super hard worker and I love him as a companion. As of right now we have seven investigators with a baptismal date and they should be baptized on Dec. 24th so that will be sweet. I can’t believe how fast time is going. James, I heard you gave an awesome talk and I am stoked for you to go to France. How are all my boys doing in South and Central America? What about everyone in America? I can’t forget you either Elder McDonald! I hope everyone is doing well and staying busy. I have good news about one of the investigators I taught and baptized in my first area. His name was Jim Weaver. He is from Florida but living in The Philippines right now. I taught him in English and he was baptized in April. He mailed me with the awesome news that his two nephews (who I never taught) just got baptized into the church! So remember that our work isn't affecting just people, but entire families for the eternities! I hope you are all staying happy and healthy. I miss you guys and think about you all lots. You guys help give me inspiration to work hard every day. Elder Price and I have seen awesome results just from being obedient and working hard! The Lord really is blessing us! I love you all lots Elder "Ako Pa" Christensen

Hey Britt, My favorite food at home was steak and shrimp. Here it is chicken adobo or chicken menudo. They are really good to put on rice and eat. Good job on your soccer tournament. I am glad you won. I hope you are playing aggressively and fighting to be the best on the team! I love you lots! Bye! Elder Gary

"You Are Probably Your Mother's Pride!"

kamusta na akon panimalay :) I am way stoked for James to get going. That will be a bummer that I won’t see him for over three years haha but oh well. He is a stud and I am sure he did sweet. I am glad he threw in a Twilight movie reference into his farewell talk. So before I tell you how I "feel," I wanna tell you some things that happened this week I thought you might like to hear. First of all, Our chapel here is two stories. We have a member here who has cancer in her leg and cannot walk at all. She has a wheelchair but there is obviously no elevator here so when we got to the church Sunday morning, I volunteered to carry her up into the sacrament hall. So I grabbed her like wedding style and carried her up the stairs and set her at the piano since she is our pianist. When I set her down she was saying thanks and she said "siguro ikaw and bugal sang imo nanay" or in English "you are probably your mother's pride" haha I was laughing. She is tiny so she was easy to carry but she was so thankful. Just relates well to James' talk I guess. We also learned this week that the Philippines was voted as the world's third most politically corrupt country in the world. I don't know what the first and second are, maybe Nicaragua is up in there haha, I don’t know? As for how I feel, We (Elder Price and I) feel a little bit frustrated right now. We feel like we could not be working harder. We are constantly talking and trying to help our investigators, but we just aren't seeing the results we want. Our vision of the area is a lot better than the results we are having, which is frustrating. It hasn't affected us. We are still doing all we can but that’s how we feel right now. I also feel like I am getting a lot closer to Christ amidst our struggles. I have been studying the "Jesus the Christ" and I love it. It puts into detail all the things that Christ did. All of his teachings, things he did and why. It is amazing. I feel happy with where I am and who I am with. I feel like I miss you guys but I find myself thinking about home less and less every day. I feel joy when people accept commitments and keep them. I feel sad for people who turn us down and coincidentally turn down Christ' church. Sorry I don’t have a lot of cool stories this week. I met a girl from Oregon who wants us to teach her to speak Ilonggo, but she doesn't live in our area so we referred them to her. Hopefully she will learn the language and about the church. It sound like you are all doing well. I love you all lots and miss you. Happy Thanksgiving! "pagustohanay kamo kaon ha!" "Eat all you can!" Elder Garrett Christensen Hey Pops, Whats up?! It sound like Hurricane finally got their championship which is cool I guess. I bet Breck was super excited. Things here are going well. We are working as hard as we know how. A normal day is like this. 6:30 wake up, shower get dressed, eat 8:00 personal study 9:00 companionship study 10:00 leave the house and go proselyte 12:00 lunch 1:00 language study 2:00 proselyte 9:00 return home and plan for the next day 10:30 be in bed! Haha, it gets tiring sometimes but it is okay. We stay super busy all the time. It’s like there is no extra time to do anything. They don’t have Thanksgiving here so we are just going to buy a chicken and eat lots of it I guess haha. Thanks for the sports report. I love you Dad and miss you lots! Your son, Elder Christensen Sorry i forgot my cord to send photos but I got some sweet pictures this week. I will send them next week. Please Send me some photos of the Thanksgiving party and the "turkey bowl" haha Love you! Hey britt. No they don't have Thanksgiving here, so it is a bummer huh? We will still buy lots of food to get full. They don't have turkey here either, so we will just eat chicken. That is good all the "kasapatan" or "animals" are doing well. Good job on your soccer. I bet you are the best. Keep practicing and work hard to be the very best at everything you do! I love you! Elder Gary

Crazy... to Even Think of Being Really Cold

Whats up family? I had a really good week here in Roxas City. Elder Price and I are working hard and doing okay. We aren't quite seeing the results we hope for but we aren't doing bad so it’s fine. Maybe we are being hard on ourselves. We are finding a lot of people, but they just don’t seem to be "the elect." They will have us in their homes but won’t do things to progress and learn about the truthfulness of our message. I am shocked about my bank account being so low. I feel like I haven't spent anywhere near that much but I have had a lot of things I had to buy so maybe it’s correct. Plus, I forgot the packages I have sent that are each like 5000-7000 or like $120-180. Sorry! I have been trying to be better with my money. That is crazy that Desert Hills and Hurricane are in the final for football. Did Spanish Fork go 3A this year? I bet Doug is excited about that haha. We had a pretty regular week. We found an indoor gym here that is wood floor and everything so it was way fun to play basketball on. We rented it out for two hours and played this morning from 10-12 so that’s why I am writing later than normal. That is crazy for me to even think of being really cold. It is always so hot it will be a crazy shock to go back into cold weather. That is way sweet about Nate Binks being home and talking. I like the story too. It is sweet how crazy things happen like that on our missions. The times we are the most frustrated and down is when crazy things happen and help us out. I bet his life is crazy adjusting back to home life. I got a letter from Evelyn the other day and I bet Brad and Emily are doing well. That would be rough to live so far away from where they are comfortable. Things here are going well and we are doing our best. I am loving life although I was a tiny bit sick this week. I had "sipon" which I think is like a "sinus" or something like that. I had a sore throat and a little cough and stuff but it didn’t affect our work at all so it’s good. I love you all and thanks for writing! Elder Garrett Christensen Hey here is Elder Christensen from the real "God's Country" How are you doing dad? I am doing well and we are working hard. To start off, this week was a boxing match of Manny Paquiao who is Filipino. So on Sunday the entire country stops and watches the fight. It made the work hard but was cool. He won after 12 rounds, is what a member told us, so everyone was happy here. That is cool that Nate Binks is home. That is coming up faster than I can even imagine! I will try to make the best of my time here. That is cool you got to go hunting for some pheasants. Elder Adams and I were talking just last night about pheasant hunting and Elder Colling said "Whats a pheasant? Like a squirrel?" Haha we were laughing, but he is from L.A. so I guess he would not know. We have a good friend here in the mission from Nebraska that said he will hook us up for pheasant hunting after the mission. That is also cool that the Utes are doing well. I hear they have a good defense but their offense sucks. Is that true? Anyway I love you lots dad and hope you are loving life. I love you and miss you akon tatay. Halong gid!

Rats? Just maybe one or two a week....

Hey everyone: Things here are going very well. I will answer your questions before I forget. Regarding toilet paper.....haha the people, unless rich, do not use toilet paper. There is toilet paper at the stores but most don't buy it. Nice restaurants usually have it in the bathrooms but sometimes they don't. Really if you want it, you can always be prepared but if not, it’s not a big deal either. They just use alcohol as a disinfectant so they aren't as dirty as it sounds. Regarding meals, the poor people here usually just eat a ton of fish so at any given meal they usually don’t have much meat, but since we cook at home, we do lots of meat so we are okay. When we eat at member’s houses, they are usually the rich ones so they have lots of meat too in their "sud-an" which is "rice topping" in English. In a given day we usually eat oatmeal in the morning, either chicken adobo (my favorite), chicken curry, or pasta at lunch. Then for dinner we are usually tired so we just cook like top ramen type things. I have seen lots of rats but none as big as a cat. The biggest ones are probably like the size of a softball at the stomach, so maybe like a small cat. They are nasty but they aren't like over populated in my area. Just maybe like one or two a week. Regarding Filipino culture that I won’t forget is maybe, you don't walk in the house unless they say "sulod" which is "enter." You always take your shoes off at the door. You don't sit down unless they tell you to "pungko." Also when you walk in between people that are talking you have to bend down and put your hand out in front of you and say "scuse" so you don't interrupt them in their conversation. When I dream, I either dream in English or Ilonggo. I see white and brown people so just mixed. I don’t dream a lot though. I hope that answers your questions. I am super stoked for Brock Aldred (Philippines Cauayan Mission). That is rad! I actually have some friends from the MTC in that mission. I am glad that you are doing well and having fun in Utah. I miss that weather that you guys have right now. It still rains here about every day for a couple hours. This week I was on splits with an Elder for three days, Elder Sunico from Manila and we had a lot of fun. The Filipino Elders are always the best cooks. So he cooked for me and I loved it, although they use tons of oil haha it is so good. That is sweet that it is snowing again there. That sounds fun camping too! I love all of you are hope you are all doing well, I am! Elder Garrett Christensen Hey Brittney, Things here are going super well. I like it a lot and Elder Price and I are working super hard and get along great. That is funny that you wore my uniform to school. I bet you had the best uniform ever! I love you Barbara. Bye! Hey Dad, what is going on? I am kind of worried about my bank account. I usually take out maybe 1000-3000 pesos a month which is like $20-60 American dollars but that’s all usually unless I need shoes or something big. I bought some Adidas shoes last month cause my ones from America are broken. Other than that I should have plenty but I don’t check it so maybe check the spending. I also had to pay $7,500 for my tooth which was pretty expensive but how much do I have in my account? I had like $2,000 American dollars at first but I have had lots of wasted money on the dentist thing and usually I spend more money than the mission money just cause I eat lots. Thanks for your concern. Here the sun goes down around 6:30 every night and it is hard for work because people go to bed so early but whatever. Thanks for the sport update. That is rough about the Colts, they haven’t won a games haha ouch. Anyway I love you Dad thanks for everything. Love you! Elder Garrett

Hump Day....Just Another Day

Elder Price & I at Hermane's baptism

Our ward youth with the Bishop in the middle (green shirt) at a service project.

Hello everyone, isa ka tuig na ako diri! Well Elder Christensen here in another day in paradise :) haha. Things this week went awesome. We had the baptism of H N who is 22 and awesome. He was supposed to get baptized on October 1 but had some problems so we pushed it back. It went awesome. There was member support and the service was great. There was also an 8 year old ward baptism so they just did it with us. That is cool that people here are all adding you on Facebook. Ellen Rose is from my last area in New Washington but Joy Eyao is from my area here in Roxas. Her friends are investigators. Earlier this week we went to one of our member’s house named Jaime Aldea, and he strengthened my testimony even more about the Book of Mormon. He was telling us his conversion story (he was baptized two months ago) and he said he was skeptical until he decided to read the B.O.M. and then he said these words..."It's there." It is way true. We forget sometimes how easy it is to find answers to problems and truth in this world. It is all there in the Book of Mormon. This week I also finished the New Testament which was cool, but now the Old Testament is harder but fun to read. For my "hump day" I was on splits with my zone leader and we worked in his area and it went well. Just another day haha, nothing special. I am amazed at how fast it came and went though. Tomorrow here in the Philippines is "all souls day" so places are closed and they all go to the cemeteries and pray for their loved ones. I can’t think of anything I need for Christmas. Maybe another bottle of the toothpaste Macy sent a while back. Other than that whatever is fine. Hey mom what scripture is on my missionary plaque at the church? That is cool about Taylor's wedding coming up and also Margo Brown's son going on a mission. Things here are going well. I am happy and healthy. Love you all, Elder Garrett Christensen Hey dad it was good to see some pictures of you on the horses and know the horses are getting worked. Although that is probably the first time since I have been gone haha. Also, how is my boy Dre? I bet just as mellow as ever. Things here are awesome, Dad. I can’t complain (except about the weather being crazy hot). Other than that it is going well and we are working super hard. I love my roommates and companion. We are tearing it up. I miss the deer hunt and it sounds way fun. That is too bad there wasn't any deer in SC for you. Next year I know there will be. So was the hunt 9 days two weeks or what? That is cool that Nate Binks is home. I bet life for him is weird. My "hump day" was cool I guess. I thought lots about all the things I have learned over the last year. I can’t even describe all the things but I know I am a ton better prepared for life after my mission. Tell the Leavitt's hi for me and send me a wedding invitation if you can, I would like to see it. Love you tons and miss you too! Elder Gary Hey Britt: Halloween is tomorrow that is awesome. They don't really have Halloween here. People have heard of it but they don’t celebrate it at all. Too bad huh? I am excited for you to go to school and see all the other costumes. How was hunting? I bet it was fun huh? I love you Barbara! Bye, Elder Gary

So Far .... I've Taught 1,062 Lessons

Helloo, How is everything going? Things here are going great and we are having a great week! I will be honest, not much happened new this week. Friday was our transfer day but nobody from my house transfered. Elder Scott(my roommate in New Washington) transfered here to Roxas zone about an hour from my house and I am excited about that. He is a good missionary. This week Elder Price and I had a full, uninterrupted week of work and it went great. This week I actually taught the most lessons in a week of my entire mission! I did the math last night and so far in my mission I have taught 1,062 lessons both to investigators, and less-active members! I thought that was a pretty cool. That is fun that the deer hunt was this weekend. I bet you guys had a blast. Macy does cook super good dutch oven. I wish I could eat some of that haha. My tooth is 100% and I just have a little sort of filler thing so my teeth will not move. it is going great. Elder Price's foot is 100% now too so we are tearing it up! To answer your question mom, Roxas City is really not that big, but lots of the people here live in what are called squatters, which is a tiny house with lots of people and just bamboo floors, walls, and the roof is made of "nipa" or "pawod." I don't know what that is in English, just look it up. So there are probably more people here than in St. George but the actual square mileage is less for sure. I do like it here a lot and there are a lot more people here so if a lesson falls through, we can easily contact people on the street. The people here seem more willing to listen than my last areas though so that is nice. Elder Price said his mom is Kelly Price and she has a Facebook and also a missionary mom. Elder Adams mom also is a missionary mom, her name is Monica Adams. They are both studs and we all get along awesome in our house. We all take turns cooking lunch and dinner for everyone. I will miss them when they transfer. We were at a members house this week and she was on facebook so I told her later that night to message you so I wrote your name and told her to. Did you get a message from a girl named Joy Eyao? She is a less active member. She is nice but we are trying to get her to church haha and reading. Things are going great here! I love you all! Halong ang akon mga bibes! Elder Garrett Christensen Barbara, what is up my girl? I hope you are loving soccer and having fun! I am having lots of fun here in The Philippines! What are you going to do for Halloween? Here I eat lots of "chicken adobo" "menudo" and chicken curry is good too. I also love "lumpia" Love you Britt! Bye Hey dad that is good that the deer hunt was fun even if it wasn't too successful. I am glad you at least had fun. Did you go to the "deer hole" or where else did you hunt? Is the hunt 5 or 9 days this year? Are there any new hunting rules or anything that the DWR has changed this year besides the lottery dedicated thing? That is too bad that Utah got beat by Cal. haha looks like they arent hanging well in the pac-12 huh? Things here are awesome and I am loving it here. Hopefully Dixie can handle Juan Diego. Did Juan Diego go 4A? Why is Dixie playing them? okay I love you dad! And miss you lots! Elder garrett Christensen

Photos

My Roommates with a Palahubog or drunk dude... The street by our house and our house flooded

Elder Price's infected foot

I am Close to a Year...

Family of Mine: How is everyone back home? Things here are going great and we had our first healthy week in a long time! My tooth feels great. No problems. Elder Price's foot feels great too and we worked super hard this week. We actually have five people right now with baptismal dates so that is exciting. We only had three investigators at church yesterday though so that wasn't as many as we hoped. Church has been going good though and we are seeing lots of blessings from trying to get close to the ward members. We have a member, J T (she has facebook and is good at English if you want to look her up) who feeds us every Sunday at lunch. The food is money haha. I love Sunday lunchtimes. We also found ten new investigators this week which was good. We have been a little discouraged by converts going inactive. In years past the missionaries would baptize anyone who would agree but now there are a lot harder guidelines. So like most of those converts go inactive and realize it is not easy to be a member of God's true and living church. they fall away due to persecution, different religions in their homes, other church buildings being closer to their homes, etc. We have been working with them and doing well. That is too bad about the Elk Hunt (but I told you so dad!!) I bet you had fun though being out in the mountains. I can't think of anything else haha.....This week we had interviews with Presiident Pagaduan which went well and he was able to help strengthen us up to work even harder. I feel super lucky to have Elder Price as my companion. During my interview with President he asked me how our companionship is doing at following mission rules. I told him "Elder Price and I actually talked about that the other day and we could not think of a single rule we were breaking" haha of course he was happy to hear that. Elder Price and I get along great and work harder than I ever have. I love this point of my mission. I am close to a year. The language is fine now. I would say I have no problems anymore with it. The ward is okay. I have no complaints. We have a missionary leaving from our zone this week going home. His name is Elder De Los Santos. He is from Baguio, Philippines but grew up in Vernal, Utah. Since he has been on his mission his family moved to St. George and he is going to Dixie State so that is cool. Other than that, it was good to hear from you all! love you all! Elder Garrett! Hey dada it was good to hear from you. I am glad you had a good week even though you didn't see any elk. (Told you so :) Things are going well with the apartment except it was a crazy storm here this week here and our apartment flooded haha. We spent all Friday morning cleaning it up but it was okay not a big deal. That is good that dixie beat SC. Too bad about Dixie state though haha. Love you dad! Elder Garrett Christensen Hey Britt whats up? Things here are going really good and the weather was crazy this week. It rained really, really hard and our house flooded haha but it was fun. That is fun that you got to ride Red and go hunting. How was it? Fun? How is school and soccer? Crazy about Taylor huh? Love you Barbs. Elder gary

General Conference Was Way Rad

Elder Price in the hospital

Elder Price, Me, Elder Adams

Mini Ball Bowling

Elder Price, Reynelyn & I

Reynelyn's Baptism

Hello Everyone: This is Elder Christensen writing from Iloilo City. Some bad news (but don't freak out momma)...My tooth was doing great last week until about Wednesday it started feeling sensitive but was okay. When I woke up Thursday morning I had a severe headache and my tooth was hurting badly along with my jaw (the signs of infection). So Thursday through Sunday I just was taking pain pills and trying to deal with it, but yesterday it was super bad. So this morning Elder Price and I woke up at 4:30 and got on a bus and made the three hour trip here to the dentist. He said all has been done that he can do and now the best thing to do was pull it out. I agreed despite Elder Price's questioning haha. So as of now I have no tooth! You can’t see it though so it is no problem. Right now we are at SM which is like a little taste of America. It is a huge mall here in Iloilo and is awesome with stores like Adidas,Nike, and other American stores. They also have things like Pop-Tarts, and Snickers and stuff! boo yaaa! So right now the dentist is making me a removable denture thing that I can have me last a year and then when I get home we will figure out what to do. Just as long as it doesn't affect the work anymore I am okay with it! This week here in the Philippines we had General Conference and it was way rad! I loved all the talks. Especially about missionary work and Jeffrey R. Holland's talk was money as ever. I am glad he is from St. George haha I brag about that to members and missionaries. The sister missionaries also cooked us lunch so that was good too. I am really liking my area In Roxas City. I am getting to where I am confident at the new language and we are doing great with investigators. We should have two baptisms on October 29 so that will be awesome! The weather here was crazy last week. Super rainy but the last few days has been nice. That is cool that Kameron Ivie is getting home or just got home. I am sure he was a great missionary. That is funny about the Baptist people trying to dog on Mitt Romney. It is the same here. The Baptist pastors (one we tracted into the other day) are handing out flyers and going door to door...not to share their message, but to tell people that the Mormons aren't true haha. It makes me laugh. My testimony is strong as ever that this is the true Church of our Father in Heaven. I am so grateful for the Book of Mormon. Just like Elder Callister's talk in conference, if it is just the bible, there are millions of interpretations, and therefore, millions of churches. That is why God gave us The Book of Mormon. Just like on a boat when you sink one anchor, you will stay in the same place but with no consistency. You will always be spinning around and that is why we need two anchors (The Book of Mormon) so we are steady and immovable. Mom, feel free to send tons of photos haha. I never get sick of that! I am glad you are having a good time and fed the Elders, continue to do that! It is the best. Do your best to help them and create friendships with them! I better get off now but I love you mom! That was a cool story about the scuba place, Mom, I want to scuba here really badly when we come back. We should go to Boracay! I hear it’s awesome and I have seen pictures too! Anyway I love you all and hope you are all doing well. I am thankful for you. Bye bye! Your Son, Elder Garrett Christensen!

Hey Britt: Things here are going great and I love it here. How are things in St. George? That is too bad that you guys lost yesterday! Sorry… Just keep practicing and you will get better and better. That is cool about your report about the Philippines. How is your boyfriend in language arts? I got your letter and your picture in the mail too! Thanks! Tell Momma thanks for the Dixie Elder! Love you Barbs! Elder Gary Hey Dad, How are you? Things here are going great. Did you get to watch conference? I hope so cause it was sweet! I learned a ton from it and know those things were meant to help me in my work right now. I especially loved the Priesthood session. We have such a sweet gift of being Priesthood holders here on earth and being able to act in God’s name here for him. I hope the hunt is going well and how was the marathon? Alright, love you and miss you lots! Elder Garrett Christensen

We were admitted into the Capiz Doctors Hospital

My Star Family: Hey what’s up? This has been a fairly lousy week to be honest. So Monday, Elder Price's foot was killing him and them Tuesday we all had a meeting in the morning at 8. The whole time during the meeting his foot started dispewing liquid, like puss and blood. We called Sister Pagaduan and she said that we had to go to the hospital. When we got to the hospital, the doctor said we needed to immediately get an IV in him with antibiotics which would require us to sleep there for two nights. If we did not do that, the infection would spread and possibly cause further complications. So we were admitted into the 'Capiz Doctors Hospital' from Tuesday-Thursday night which means that no work at all got done in our area. It was boring but it was ok. Elder Price and I sat there for hours and talked, studied, wrote letters (with permission) and slept haha. The bed I slept on was tiny and uncomfortable but oh well. We had air-con which was a bonus. His foot now is okay looking. He still can’t really walk so I don’t know what will happen this week. We will see. On a better note, we had the baptism of R. A. (H. was not able to be baptized due to some uncleared things that we are working on) but it went well and I baptized her. I am excited to see general conference. It is a completely different experience when you are on a mission, way better haha. Plus we might have a couple investigators/recent converts there to watch. The only thing is that it is in English, so they won’t understand like 95% of it, haha oh well. Last night we had a member feed us and it was so good. She cooked shrimp, bihon and some other things that were good. We are trying to build good relationships with our members here. Regarding the food Mom, I like it when they cook for us to be honest. It feels like they really care. But cook a few things so they have an option. For example when people cook us fish, I hate it, but since it is the only thing there I have to eat it or look like a jerk. Don’t stress about it though. We are 20 year olds and will eat practically anything. Thanks for feeding the missionaries though. That is awesome! The storm did not really affect us. It did hit here a little but since we were in the hospital it was okay. No homes or anything were affected I don’t think. All is well here. That is funny about a Garrett Christensen getting arrested haha I bet people think it is me. Anyway, things are going well and we will continue to do our best with Elder Price's foot. My tooth feels great. No pain at all! I love you all! Elder Garrett Christensen Hey Papa: Things here are going well. I am happy and healthy. My companion isn’t though haha. We were in a little bit of a sketchy hospital but it all went well. That’s too bad to hear about the Red Sox and the AL East. Also sad to hear the Utes lost. That is crazy about Nate. I am exactly one year behind him. I am sure he is freaking out right now haha about to go home. I am sure it will be cool when you are close to go home but it will be a weird feeling. I am glad to have plenty of time left. That is cool that you found some bucks, bulls for you guys. I bet Breck will love it to see some Elk. Thanks a lot for the scores on sports and for keeping me updated. I hope you get more time this week to go hunting. Love you and miss you lots! Elder Christensen Hey Britt: How are you? What’s going on? How is school going and what are your classes? How is soccer gong? I hope you had a good conference and snack on day! Love you! Elder Gary

I ate a RIB-EYE STEAK!

Hey everyone: This week went really well here in Roxas City. I like my area except it is a little hard and we seem to be having trouble getting people to keep progressing. It seems like sometimes when we visit people they aren't too super excited to see us, but it is okay. We tracted quite a bit this week and didn’t have the best success. This ward isn’t super active in the missionary work so that is our main focus right now. We should have two baptisms this week though, H. N. (22), and R. A. (19.) They are doing well. H. N. had to get interviewed by President Pagaduan due to past troubles but is cleared to be baptized. Yesterday we had three investigators at church. Last week Elder Price and I were walking and it started raining really hard but we had an appointment and no umbrella so we just kept going. Turns out he got a blister from his wet shoes and it ended up getting badly infected. Right now it is big, purple, and red and he can’t wear shoes so he has to wear these sandal things right but it’s okay. My tooth has felt great this week. No problems :) All is well so thanks for your prayers. Nothing this week is too new to be honest. I didn’t get any pictures either so sorry. What is going on with Elder Ben Rebman? How is he liking the MTC? I also thought about Dallen this week. He just got to Chile this week right? I am excited for you and your hunts that are coming up. Gotta love fall! Too bad there is no fall here. It is raining here really hard right now. There is a "baguio" or a storm here right now in the Visayan region of the Philippines. I can’t think of anything for Christmas mom, I am doing great and don’t think I need anything. Maybe you could throw in two or three more bottles of that toothpaste Macy sent me. I like it a lot. Last week we went to a place called Moon Cafe in Iloilo and I ate a RIB-EYE STEAK!!! My first steak in eleven months haha. It was so good. It had mashed potatoes also which you rarely see here. Plus in American dollars it was only $9 so I got it haha. Well worth it. I can’t believe I have been gone eleven months. Yikes! Thanks for the money in my account mom, I should be good for now but maybe I will use it sometime. I had a dream about Macy and she was speaking fluent Ilonggo to me haha. That was funny when I woke up. I am doing my best to write to everyone that writes to me. Even if it is short. I want everyone to know how thankful I am. Please tell Mandi that I got her e-mail and will write her and send it soon! Alright, I love you all! Goodbye my family. Halong, Elder Garrett Christensen Hey Britt, Whats up? I hope everything is going well and you are liking school, and soccer and everything. I bet you are so, so good at soccer. Just keep practicing and you will be the best! Things here are good! Love you! Hey Papa: Things this week went well. Elder Price and I taught more lessons/people than anyone has in our area for years haha. He is a really hard worker and we have the same drive and work ethic. It is going great with him. My roommates are great, too, so no complaints. I am excited about the hunts next week. I hope you get to see some animals and hopefully a thirty-point buck! Send me some pictures of you guys out in the mountains! Thanks for the football updates too! I love you tons and miss you too! Elder Garrett Christensen Hey mom: I just thought of something. I usually write everyone in the family specifically except you. I guess it’s just since I usually do it in reply to your e-mail which is always the longest haha. How is work going for you? I am way proud of you for teaching the Gospel Doctrine class. I bet you are learning so much. It’s just like on my mission. At first I knew the gospel was true but I didn’t have a conviction or anything like that. But through my studies, teaching, and helping others understand it, It has built a deep conviction in me that this is the church of God here on the earth. The Book of Mormon is so real and true and for our day, given especially to us. I know that as you continue to "lift where you stand" and teach Gospel Doctrine class, that God is sculpting you to be what he needs of you and helping you continue on you path of eternal progression! I am so lucky to have a mom like you. Never think I have forgotten about you! I think about you lots. I am not homesick by any means, but thinking of how blessed I truly have been. I love you the most. Your Son, Elder Vonnie Boy

This week's pictures

We Have to Help more People Come to Christ!

Hey everyone. First I would like to shout out to Utah for whipping BYU. Put a big smile on my face here even across the world :) Also Reggie Bush is playing for the Dolphins? What happened there? Any other trades/transactions like that that I should have known about six months ago haha? This week has been a weird/okay week. First of all, my tooth started hurting again and when it hurts it gives me intense almost migrainal pain in my head so I talked to the dentist and he said to come to his shop. The only problem is that Roxas is 3+ hours from his shop, so Elder Collins, Elder Adams, Elder Price and I came down to Iloilo for my dentist and they also had some training to go to since they are Zone Leaders and Elder Price is District Leader. So while they did that I worked three days in an area called Arevalo which is in Iloilo City. I worked with two elders named Elder Ball and Wilson, both of which entered the MTC with me on the same day and traveled here together. It was fun and they have a great area. We then went home to Roxas on Friday night and worked as much as we could. Then on Saturday, President Pagaduan came up to do a baptismal interview with a candidate of ours that has some serious sins in the past so he had to talk to President. He will be baptized October 1. He is 22 and a great guy. I am glad that you are having a good time at home and everyone is staying busy. We have been so busy here it’s nuts. I feel like I look at a calendar and its September 1 then the next day it’s September 15. It’s crazy here. I am loving my new companion. We get along great and both have the same desire and vision of our area. This week we will work harder than ever. We have to help more people come to Christ! I got a letter for my birthday from Grandma Hirschi, so please tell her thanks and I love her. I also got letters from the Ogilvie family and Brother & Sister Christian. I'll write them back. Next time you see them, tell Bill Sherwin and Jaime Nyberg hello back for me. I am loving the work and stoked to be where I am right now. Thank you to all of you for all you do and your sacrifices for me. I have been given much. I love you all! Elder Garrett Christensen

New Area - Roxas City / New Comp Elder Price

Hello everyone This is Elder Christensen from my new area, Roxas City! It has been wierd for me adjusting to the city environment but I like it a lot. There is better food too :) My new companion is Elder Price from Riverton, Utah and is a stud. I am way happy to work with him. He is very obedient and hard working. We will get along awesome. We had six investigators at church yesterday and church was great. I am in Roxas 2nd ward. There are four wards here in Roxas City. We should have at least a couple baptisms coming up soon so we are excited. This is supposedly the "seafood capital of the Philippines" so maybe I will get some good food? Even though I hate fish, maybe crab and shrimp :) My roommates are the Roxas zone leaders and I like them a lot too. Great missionaries. Elder Adams from Murray, Utah and Elder Collins from California. Your pictures look like you had a ton of fun at Lake Powell and sounds like everyone is doing great! I am also happy to hear Dixie beat Pine View. That is always good to hear. This week I got your package. Thank you very much for everything! Also the Dixie Elder is always good to get. I am proud of Britt for doing soccer and tell Breck happy birthday! I can't believe it is time for the rodeo again! Breck, Mace, Britt and I went to it last year and it was way fun. Regarding the tooth, I believe I will only have to go back one more time and he said the cap thing will cost 6,500 pesos, or like 100+ dollars which is a lot cheaper than America so I guess that's good. But I feel fine and am happy here in Roxas. I love you all! Elder Garrett Christensen Hey pops. Things here are going great and loving the work here in Roxas City, Capiz. That is too bad that Utah got beat. Thats no good. That is crazy BYU played Texas though! Thats cool. Where was it? Has NFL started yet or no? I hope it gets cooler for you so you can get out in the hills. That might be one of the things I miss the most. Just time out in the mountains. Now I am in the city so I dont even see a mountain haha. Our apartment is ok, too. I saw a huge rat the other day during a lesson. There are lots here I have heard. We also have a lady that lives on a busy street corner and has lived there for 13 years. She doesn't leave the corner. Her hair is in gnarly dreads and she has worn the same clothes for years. It's crazy but things are good. Thanks for being a great dad and for the oil in the package. I love you tons and miss you more! Alright I am off! We are going to play basketball with the zone and I am about to ball them all up! Love you all! Elder Gary....p.s. now I have to learn Ilonggo haha I hate the languages in this country! Your son, Elder Christensen Hey britt how are things going with you? I hope all is well and you are having a good time with school and sports. Are there a lot of handsome bachelors in your sixth grade class? :) haha jk jk. I am very proud of you for doing soccer and being a good girl for mom and dad. I love you tons! Bye! Elder Garrett

Pictures

Elder Farnsworth and Sister Pagadaun at the dentist

Me in a "CR" or bathroom

Elder Key and I at Navarro house - crazy member in our ward and so, so funny

Sad to leave New Washington

Hello everyone. Another week has come and gone from New Washington and I have heard some sad news. I will be transferring on Friday to a new area. Where, I have no idea but all I know is that I will miss the people, members, investigators, roommates, companion, food, and everything else about New Washington! We are having an awesome time and seeing our work progress everyday even better. Sometimes we have too many people to teach and we cannot fit them all in a day! We had three investigators at church this week which is okay but some that committed didn't end up coming. That always is a bummer. Can you believe that it is September already and conference/my hump day is next month? Yikes! I am glad you guys are all having fun at Lake Powell and I hope the house boat is fun. Tell dad to stop driving so fast in the main canal so mom won’t yell :) I miss the boat. That is another thing I will miss about New Washington is the ocean and seeing it everyday. I truly have been blessed to be here. This week I got in the biggest fight of my mission. We went to a new investigator who was a referral from a member. When we got there, his pastor from the "Church of Christ" was there and he wanted to argue. At first we just told him to be quiet so we could share our message but he kept talking and not letting us share so we started bashing with him(we shouldn't have, but did haha.) He thought he knew the scriptures well but Elder Key and I worked him. He brought up stuff like the priesthood, living prophets and apostles, the name of the church, apostasy...all of which we are able to scripturally back up :) At the end he said "well I don’t think you should come back, you are just wasting your time" and then he closed his scriptures and said "I will say a closing prayer" then he prayed that we would "malalaman ang katotohanan" or "come to know the truth." We spanked him. Other than that not a lot happened. I went to Iloilo again to do the tooth and it feels great now! No problems at all. I will be getting a ceramic crown on Thursday so then it will be done. Things are going well and I am loving life. Love you all, Elder Garrett Christensen Dad: Hey how is everything going. First of all, I found out something cool this week. If you remember Alema Key, the middle linebacker from Springville my senior year...Well that is Elder Key's cousin and he knew him. Other than that, things are going well and I am loving it here. That is good that Tanner is doing well and a good player. I am also glad that everything is good with Dixie football! Also I am glad that Utah is doing well. BYU is oh well....haha How is Lake Powell? I bet you are all having a good time. Anyway I love you lots Dad and hope all is well. Love Elder Garrett

Hey Britt how is everything going? I hope you are loving Lake Powell and things are going well. How is soccer and everything going? I hope all is well. I hope you are being a good girl. Love you tons!

Baptism of Maria Mae Nerval

Hey everyone, this is big twenty year old, grown up Elder Christensen from Iloilo :) How is everything going there? Things here are great. I will start off by saying that we had an awesome baptism this week of Maria Mae Nerval who is the sister of Myra. So both the first and second baptisms of this area are in the same family. We had it on Saturday night at 7:30. It was late so Myra would be able to make it from work. The thing here is most people are in bed by like 8 or 9 at the latest so things at night are hard here. But we had a lot of members there and it went well. So last night (Sunday) Elder Farnsworth and I drove 4 and a half hours down here to Iloilo so I can go to the dentist later. Sister Pagaduan is taking really good care of me here. Other than that, our work really has been blowing up in New Washington. We keep finding new people that are progressing and going to church. We found two new families that are listening to us and doing great. I am glad that you guys wrote Brother Weaver from Sibalom. He is an awesome guy and I was super lucky to teach him. Right now I am at the mission office e-mailing (where president and all the office people work.) No mom, we were not affected at all by the storm in Manila. The weather here has been great. Overcast so it’s not hot but not raining too hard. I feel weird today in my mind I feel like I should be celebrating but the thing is that I am so happy. This is an awesome birthday so I have no complaints. I love being here, with these people and this place. Sorry this is short but I will send pics. I love you all! Elder "over-the-hill" Christensen Hey dad, you look good in the Pilipinas jersey! Hopefully you like it and can find any reason to wear it haha. Things have been great this week. I am going to the dentist in a half hour and then I will make the long trip back up to Aklan. I am excited for you all to go to Lake Powell and have some good, family time. The boat house will be cool too. How is the football/hunting/paradise season going? Anything new? Hopefully all is well. I love you and pray for you all! Elder Garrett Hey Britt, life here is going awesome. I really like it and am having fun. How is your new school with all your new classmates? I bet tons of boys are checkin’ you out! How are all your friends and your soccer team? I hope all is well. I love you!

We shouldn't even have a P-day

- Me climbing a coconut tree -

We did a service project cutting down weeds with a 'binangon' (machete)

Hey family what’s hattnin?? Things this week went very, very well. I was joking with my roommates that we shouldn't even have P-day and we should just work today but they all declined haha. I am glad that the package got to you and I hope all the stuff fits and made it there without getting ruined. Hopefully you like it all too! I probably will only send maybe one or two more in my mission so if you really want something, tell me. Thanks for the suggestion Mom, I will look for a nativity scene here. This is going to sound mean/bad but what grade is Britt in? 5th or 6th? Does she go to Tonaquint now? She looks really gwapa/maganda in her pictures haha. Looking older though for sure. I can’t believe I am almost twenty! The next time I e-mail I will be 20. I am not sure how I feel about it. Oh well. So this week we had what is called zone conference which is where Pres. and Sister Pagaduan come up and do like a training type thing for us. We learned about how to be a better companion, and also how to improve on some teaching skills like asking questions, listening, committing, etc. It went really well and I learned a lot. We also got portable DVD players for every companionship which is rad. We are allowed to watch all the church movies so hopefully nobody abuses it and gets them taken away by watching other movies. Every night as an apartment we have watched a movie or a segment of a movie and it is sweet. We also had stake conference this Sunday which went very well. The temple president and his wife came up from the Cebu temple. They are from Idaho and were nice to talk to. Our area is on fire right now and we are having a blast. Maria Mae (the sister of Myra) is going to be baptized this Saturday the 27th. We also are very close to getting John Ray married so he can be baptized. We have been doing a little bit of finding this week and it turned out well. We found a family, the father and mother are never there but it is an 18, 17, 15, and 14 year old They are all listening and have great questions and yesterday they told us they think what we are teaching is true. We told them to pray and read so they will know for sure. They are the Castillo family. My tooth is fine. I think I will go to Iloilo this week to a doctor. Don't worry. Sister Pagaduan is on the ball and is really worried so it will get taken care of. My health is great. My spirits are great. The work is great. Regarding the guy from last week. He was actually forced to leave the city. So that guy is no longer in New Washington. They made him move back to where he is from. So don’t worry about me getting stabbed haha. I love it here in New Washington and am glad to have at least another two or three weeks here, possibly more. I can’t think of anything I want for my birthday. I truly have been given much and anything is fine with me. Maybe some money would be good so I can buy some new pants here. The benches we sit on here are cawayan, or bamboo. And since they use nails on it, it is really easy to rip the seat on pants so I need to get some new ones made. I am glad that you are all happy and healthy and i Love you all more than anything. Love, Elder Garrett Christensen Hey Britt! How are you? Things here in the Philippines are going really well! I hope you are liking school and having fun but getting good grades! How is football/hunting season? That is so awesome that you scored! Keep practicing and you will be the best! I love you Barbs! Hey dad what’s going on? This week went awesome. I have no complaints. That is cool that football is started, I can’t believe it, but it’s cool haha. Who are the good players for Dixie? What grade is Tanner Webster? I am glad they got a good win. Also that sounds fun that hunting season has started. GOTTA LOVE FALL! I definitely think fall is my favorite season even though it is the same weather here haha. How is work going? Is it starting to cool off there or is it super hot still? Our health is all doing great! We are working hard and really seeing the fruits. Our daily planners are always full of people that we can help come unto Christ! I hope you have a good week and find some time to catch a ball game and hunt too.! I hope your jersey is good and fits. You should send a pic! haha love you dad! Miss you too! Elder Garrett "sharp shooter" Christensen