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