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