A Different Kind of Joy

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

Zero Trunkiness Here

Hey Guys

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

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

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

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

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

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

Zero "trunkiness" here haha :)

I Love you all

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

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

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

-Elder Garrett Christensen

Hey Dad,

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

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

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

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

Elder Garrett

Cement Floor & Septic Service Project

Mayor Mabilog

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

Ward Fireside 

 I Taught Them How to Tie a Tie

Whats up Guys?

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

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

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

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

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

With Love,

Elder Garrett Christensen

Poppa!

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

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

Thanks for the sports news.

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

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

Love you dad,

Elder Christensen

 

See You in 3 Weeks

The Flood

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

Family and Friends:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

All my love,

Elder Garrett Christensen

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

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

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

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

I feel so lucky to have you as my father.

Elder Garrett

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

Hey guys what is going on?!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Well, that’s all from Iloilo,

Love you all,

Elder Garrett Christensen

Hey dad wassup wichu???!!

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

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

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

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

I love you dad.

Elder Garrett Christensen

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

 

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

Prim & Proper -- Wild & Crazy

He is a Man of God

Hey whats up ya'll? Things here in Mandurriao are going well. It started out this Monday. We had a sweet Family home evening with the Tabujara family! They also invited our recent convert, Aileen so it went super well! Then on Tuesday, we had maybe the most rad day of my mission! Elder Bednar came and from 1-4 pm spoke to us missionaries. It wasn't like a normal talk though. He asked a lot of questions and also allowed us to ask questions which was cool. I personally didn't ask any but there were some that were asked which I learned a lot from. He is a man of God. No question about it. I also got to see some of the members from Sibalom, Pototan and Roxas which was cool since they all had a big meeting with Bednar as well.

Wednesday was my birthday and Elder Light was packing as well so it was alright. We had lunch at a members house where we ate pork sinigang(probably my favorite Filipino food) and chicken curry. Then we taught a few lessons. Then we ate at another member's house who cooked beef stew, and lasagna since I requested it! it was the sweetest thing ever!

Then Thursday came and one of our members took us to Arevalo for transfer meeting. Elder Light got transferred to Nueva Valencia, Guimaras which is in the mountains haha and they only have a few members so it will be good for him :) He is from Billings, Montana, and goes home with me in October.

My new companion is Elder Naylor from Davis County, Utah. It is kind of weird training a new zone leader but not too bad. We get along pretty well. He is about a year into the mission so still pretty young and hopefully I can help him in my last few weeks here. I like how dad's subject on his e-mails are the amount of days I have left haha. dork.

This will be a fun week. We will have the baptism of one of the Maximo kids and also have zone leader counsel and stake correlation with Pres. Torres, our stake president.

I had a sweet birthday and am having a sweet time here. I hear that Mitt Romney had a cool speech or something haha?

Anyway I love you all and can't wait to see you soon :)

Elder Garrett Christensen

Hey dad, Things here are going really well and we are staying super busy. I love it here in Mandurriao! I am jealous that you are all in Mexico although I bet your weather is similar to ours here. We had an earthquake here which was cool. We weren't hit directly but we felt it and it was 5.0 here in Iloilo. No damage to anything though. Yes, Elder Light was way cool like me, I miss him a lot. My new companion is cool though. Just not the same as E. Light. We got along so well. But it is okay cause I am training him to be zone leader so this transfer will go way fast and I will be sitting in my lazy boy watching NFL before I know it :) Thanks for the update on sports. Thanks for being the man! Who is your home teaching companion right now? Who do you visit?

Love you lots.

Elder Christensen

 

Best Week of My Mission! :)

Maximo Family Baptism

August Zone Conference

Hello:

   This was probably the best week of my mission! :) Starting out on Monday, we had a sweet family home evening which was held at this guy Rex's home. They just transferred here from Jaro, Iloilo which is close but now they are in our ward. Rex used to be a stake president so he is a baller and super good at English. He works for the Philippines Embassy. On Tuesday, we had to get the Maximo family interviewed for baptism! They were interviewed and all eight passed so no problems. The sweetest day was for sure Saturday. We had come back from splits and we worked in the early afternoon then at about 5 pm we went over to our church to get stuff ready for the baptism. When we got there, our boss of a ward mission leader, Siopao, had almost everything ready except for the clothes we had to borrow from a different church building, which we also had to hand wash haha. So many clothes! We started to get worried at about 5:55 when they still had not showed up to their baptism which was supposed to be at 6pm. At about 6:15 they rolled up on their tricycle and we were all super happy. It was a combined baptism with another ward and sister missionaries so there were nine total people baptized and it was way rad! We put the Maximo family in their clothes and then went to the sacrament hall to do the opening stuff. We heard a few talks then Elder light, Bro. Siopao, and I sang 'nearer me God to thee' that is my fav. hymn, (You should see if you can schedule something to get that sung at my farewell, but I will not sing it haha, mens acepella choir preferably)...My first singing in front of people occasion...It went well though. Then we baptized! I baptized Rex and Romnick, Elder Light baptized John Carlo and Anthony, Bro Loberisco baptized Victor and Jocelyn, the parents, and Kyle baptized Christine. One of them, Junior, was not able to be baptized due to a bad flu! We then went back upstairs to the sacrament and listened to some amazing testimonies from the father, mother and then Christine. Best day ever.

   Then on Sunday we did the confirmations! I did two, Elder light did two, stake clerk did two and our bishop did one. They were really welcomed great by the ward!

   Well we found out that Elder Light will be transferred so I will end my mission here in Mandurriao which is great! Elder Light is going home in October too, so we knew one of us would be leaving Mandurriao!

   I got my final stuff for my flight. I will fly into St. George at 4:25 pm, so.....see you there :)

   We get to listen to David A. Bednar tomorrow so that is cool. Then my birthday I have members feeding us lunch and dinner, then on Thursday Elder light will leave so we will have lots of things happening this week!

   I don’t care about my homecoming, but I would like to have some rice and Filipino food which I can cook, but not only Filipino food haha...I don’t care about the colors haha.

   I love you all lots and thanks for writing.

ps......I got Koby Taylor's letter. i can’t believe Konner has diabetes. That’s too bad. But please tell Koby and Melanie thanks a lot.

Love, 

Elder Garrett Christensen

Dad!

   Everything here is going so well. I am loving life and we just baptized the Maximo family! The sweetest family I have ever taught!

   That is cool about all the trades and different things going on with sports. Especially, Peyton Manning. Yeah the heat is a killer of fun haha that is how I feel while we walk around sweating. It just exhausts you but whatever I hope you get out hunting soon! I will be staying Zone leader of Iloilo Zone until I go home in October. Elder light will be transferred. I like him a lot and will miss him.

All is well and I love you lots dad,

Elder Garrett



Filipino No Good Eating Grass!

Hey everyone how are things going?

   Elder Light and I had the best week! We were able to be a part of Clarence's baptism which was sweet. We were actually at a members house and we were just setting up a time she could work with us and she said "hey, see that girl (talking about one of her employees in her in-home loan business) go talk to her and teach her" So we did and from day one she was really a great investigator. The first time we taught her about the word of wisdom she quit using cigarettes, alcohol, and coffee and hasn't used them since! Not even once! When we taught her the law of chastity, she dumped her boyfriend because he did not share her standards haha. She is just really sweet...

   Oh Yeah, I haven't gotten a hard copy of my travel plans home, but I was told over the phone about them! We leave from Iloilo to Manila, then from Manila to Tokyo, Japan, then from Tokyo to LAX, then from LAX to SLC, then from SLC to St. George. I am not sure what time I will fly into St. George, but I was told we get into Salt Lake around 1pm. So maybe we could assume that like 3-5pm I will land in St. George on October 10. See you there. :)

   We played soccer this morning at the Arevalo chapel which was way fun, even though I am not a super natural soccer player haha. We are getting excited for Elder Bednar to come visit this month. And also, I got what they call in the mission my "trunky letter"...which essentially says that 'you are almost done, don’t slacken your work effort or start thinking too much about home or other matters.' It was cool to get. I have seen people get them throughout my mission but it seems like you will never get yours, well I did. Also getting flight plans was cool, but I still feel focused and happy to be here.

   The relief society (best women on earth) have started planning me a birthday party dinner thing at one of their homes. She says she will cook me lasagna because that is what I requested haha :) I am getting so old. Mom, did you ever think I would be 21 years old?....I didn't haha.

   Something funny happened this week I thought I would tell you about...We were walking down the street and there was a place with trisikads parked (which is like a tricycle, except hooked to a peddle bike and not a motorcycle) and the drivers there are just sitting there waiting for passengers and one got up and started walking to us and said, in English "Filipino no good eating grass".....haha we were laughing because he didn’t laugh or anything. He just turned around after he said that. We are still unsure of what he meant? I guess you can make your own interpretation. 

   The Maximo family will be baptized this week! All eight of them! They attended the baptism of Clarence too! We are super united here, like a big family and I love it.

Elder Garrett Christensen

Dad, what’s up?

   Things are going so well here, I am loving it and happy to be here. We had a baptism last week and will have another eight this Saturday. We are super excited. That is funny that you are counting my days haha. I haven't really been counting days, just weeks, cuz I am sick of washing my clothes by hand. And we only do it once a week so every week down is sweet since I will never do it by hand again when I go home...at least I hope not!

   Good to hear that football is going well and that Dixie had a good game too. I hope you get to go hunting this week and have a good time in the outdoors!

Love you dad,

Elder Garrett

Love you lots...

Hey everyone:

   This P-day has been a bit weird so this will just be short and I won’t be able to e-mail all of you individually. Sorry. This morning we did our laundry from 6-8am then we cooked breakfast (fried rice) then did our studies. At 11 we came to e-mail, and we did for like 15 minutes, I e mailed Pres. Pagaduan. Then the power went out haha so we left. We went and ate then went to a shop place to contact a referral who makes basketball jerseys. Then we went to a place to try and get an X-ray (cuz we have to get one before we go home) but we waited forever and they said they couldn't do it because I have no permission slip from a doctor....So we then came back now to e-mail but we are running out of time and we have appointments tonight at 6...

   The Maximo family came to church along with some other investigators, 11 total. One was referred to us from a member and she will be baptized this Saturday the 18th. Her name is Clarence and she is the bomb haha.

   I saw a photo of Taylor Webster so that was cool, I am glad he is doing well. I know it is pretty crazy for me to be getting close to that point.

   Our zone training meeting went well on Tuesday and we are having a lot of good success from the missionaries in our zone. They are working hard and being pretty obedient haha.

   Regarding the flooding, we are fine here. We have heard a lot about the people in Manila too and it seems bad but as for us we are fine, no problems! 

   No dad, I think I will bring home quite a lot of stuff. I have some things I will leave like some of my shorts, pants, socks and stuff but lots of my stuff is still good so I will still bring that home. I am happy that all of you are doing well and that you are staying happy and healthy.

Love you lots,

Elder Garrett Christensen

I Will Never Take a Washing Machine for Granted...

Hey mom, I noticed that the first thing you mentioned was "I hope you had dry feet this week"...funny you say that because I don't think there were more than one or two days that Elder Light and I came home with dry feet haha. I am not complaining because it really isn't a big deal.  Also the shoes we buy are rubber so it is fine. Actually my shoes are still wet from last night so I am wearing different shoes, the ECCOs that you sent me a while ago. We have had crazy weather in our area the last few days. On Tuesday, President and Sister Pagaduan texted us and said to tell all the missionaries in our zone to not leave their house while it is raining hard and also that they have to go buy an umbrella and raincoat. I still have and use the umbrella you gave me mom! Everyone says "whoa, you have a double umbrella!" since it has two things on it for wind ventilation. They said there is a typhoon in the Philippines but not in Iloilo itself.

   We had eleven investigators at church. The Maximo family came again and they really enjoyed it. We also had Edna- the one with an amputated leg that we have to carry up the stairs- come for the second time in a row. The others were Clarence, who has a super strong testimony of the restored gospel, Book of Mormon and stuff, and her friend and roommate, Clydee. The only problem is they are 19 and 20 year old girls. So we are taking members with us every time we visit and they now have lots of friends. Clarence actually said she is not on very good terms with her father and she asked us for help on that problem. She also said that when she prayed about the Book of Mormon, she had a dream about her family being together and really happy and she said she just feels good about it. We could potentially have ten baptisms on August 25. That is the date for all those people. Hopefully all goes well!

   This week we had Zone Leader Council on Wednesday which was sweet. I like most of the zone leaders in our mission haha. We ate pork steaks which was good. Then on Friday we had zone conference which is the whole zone together for training. We learned about how to rescue all of our less active members here. We also have a new training thing going on for monthly zone training meetings, which is 2-3 hours and Elder light and I teach it. We have it tomorrow so we will see how it goes. It sure takes a lot of planning!

   That photo I sent you of the boy riding the karibaw is not mine. I took it from a member’s home. I thought you would like it though.

   Ok so I thought of one thing that would be different than America that I can tell you about. It is shopping at a market. It is a big place maybe like 3-5 acres full of people selling their thing like fish, pork, chicken, eggplant, cabbage, corn, mangoes, cheap jewelry, and almost everything else you can guess. You can ask someone how much stuff is and they will usually tell us it is higher price than it should be since we are American and "rich" so you can try to talk them down. 

   This morning we were hoping to play basketball with Jason, an American from Alaska that went to Utah State. We went to the court at 7am but it had rained hard so we couldn't play. He said "oh well, let’s just go get breakfast" so we started driving and after like five minutes we heard something pop in the engine so we looked and it was a hose going from his radiator. We went to the closest mechanic shop and asked who was the mechanic there. They pointed at this little tiny guy and we almost laughed haha, but he started fixing it and after like 20 minutes he said it was good and charged him 300 pesos (roughly 7 dollars) for labor. We thought it was expensive but he (Jason) just paid it.  Then we left. About 100 feet down the road, his car like broke down again haha and he was flooring it but there was like no power. So we went back and had the guy look at it. He said the spark plug was blown so we said ok and he started fixing it. We then took a taxi to McDonalds and had breakfast on Jason haha :) When we got back the guy was done and wanted to charge Jason 400 (roughly 9 dollars) pesos labor this time. We knew he was just jacking us because that is like four days of usual labor so we talked with him about it and stuff. It is just annoying that there is no set price on things so if you are American, automatic price increase! Oh well haha...

   Things are going so well here. I love it. I am going to do my best as long as I am here.

Love you lots,

Elder Garrett Christensen

ps....I promise I will never take a washing machine for granted when I get home :) I am so sick of hand laundry hahaha

Hey dad how are things going for you? Sounds like you are enjoying life and staying busy. That is way good! This week I will officially have less than two months left on my mission! You might think since I know that, I am lazy and ready to be home haha but it couldn’t be more different! I feel so happy about being a missionary. I love the work. I love(most) the people. I have learned so much and Elder Light and I always talk about the things we have learned here and how we will apply them in our lives after the mission. Something I have learned is you need to understand, before you are understood. I think it is a great principle for all people. We use it every day. I am loving my time here but I know I will continue to work hard and then when i get home, I will take whatever circumstances come and do my best. Thanks for all your support and love. Sorry you will miss the archery opening weekend. I don’t have any dates or time yet of my travels. Sorry. I am also excited for updates on high school football.

Love you,

Elder Garrett

Pictures from July 22 Letter

I Just Blab About Nothing....

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

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

A Brilliant Idea

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

Homecoming on October 14

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

Pizza Hut & Veyo Pool

ZLC Pictures with President Pagaduan! Enjoy & Halong!

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

I Hope I Die Here

Hey y'all what is going on?

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

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

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

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

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

All is well in Mandurriao!

Love, Elder Garrett Christensen

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

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

Elder Garrett Christensen