3 Languages

One of the counselors from our ward. A few members. Me, Elder Williamson,Elder Dadbe, Elder Scott, then Elvis (the groundskeeper)

Whats up everyone?! This week was really good/weird. Well I went in and finally got my tooth to where we thought it was finished but then that night it started killing again and was giving me a really severe headache. So we talked to the member/dentist and she said to come into her office the next day. She took out the filling and now it is just open haha but it feels way better. She extracted more infection too so now it should be all out I guess? It has been a few days now and it feels good so I hope it’s all done. Yes I am on antibiotics. I think it is ok mom. Don’t worry about it :) So this week in the Philippines on Friday was "San Juan" which is where they celebrate the "birthday" of John the Baptist. I am not sure who told them it is his birthday but everyone goes out to the beach and swims and stuff all day. All the men get hammered drunk. It is a funny day here. There was this one drunk guy who kept asking me if I was from America and I kept saying yes and he said “Where?” so I said Utah and he kept saying Uutah Jazz, Utah Jazz!!!" haha I was like yes, the Utah Jazz. Then I started messing with him and getting him to say funny things in English. It was kind of a baseball team joke so it might not be funny to everyone but I. told him to say "ay yo wassup doooo!" and he kept yelling it haha Drunk dudes here are better at English than sober ones. We also had a visitor this week. Brother Michael Douglas. He is from Salt Lake and served here in 1999. He is here visiting for his first time with his dad. They gave talks in church yesterday and he just started crying. When he served here it was in a little house with 25 active members. Now we have a church with 140 active members and growing very quickly. We had three investigators at church. One was the boyfriend of a returned missionary who is less active haha but he is doing well. Still struggling with word of wisdom but trying to stop. Anther was a 17 year old named Myra. She will be baptized July 23. She was tracted into and now is doing so awesome. She went to church and loved it. She has probably been one if not the best investigator I have had. She was definitely prepared. Everything we say she does instantly. Wow you guys are always so busy! I am glad that Trevor's reception went well and Britt did well at her track meet. I can’t believe Trevor is married haha. Regarding the people here mom. Nobody here farms. Everyone here is a fisherman. They have these little boats and fish like all day every day. We have a few investigators that are fisherman and we have a very hard time getting an appointment with them. I am stoked for Nick Accordino and Colton Gust to get into the MTC soon. Dallen will also be in there before he knows it. He is lucky to have a temple in his mission. It would be cool to go to the temple here and do a session in Tagalog. My language now is about 70% Tagalog, 20% Aklanon and 10% Ilonggo. I will send you a photo of the dictionary we have to use here since there are so many languages. I hope you all have an awesome time in California, and everyone is happy and healthy :) Hey I better go but I love you lots, thanks so much for the Gatorade packets and the stew!!! It was so good! I love you so much! Love your son Elder Gary I love you all! Hey Britt! This week for me has been going really well. I like it here lots and am having lots of fun! I am proud of you for making the soccer team andIi hope you are practicing hard! I love you lots! Hey there poppa of mine, Things have been pretty good this week. A little weird, but no complaints. I have a question for you guys. When Jordan was born, why were you inactive? Just lazy, or didn't care, or what? We have trouble here getting people to church sometimes so it would be cool to hear your story of why. I hope you all have fun in California and are safe. I love you and miss you lots.Love your son, Elder Christensen

New Comp - Elder Key-Macdonald

What’s up my peeps?! Things here are going well. Thursday I went on splits since Elder Williamson left. I worked in an area called Altavas. It was nice and I worked with a kid who is from Mindanao, Philippines so it was fun. They had three baptisms Saturday there. I also worked there Friday, then Friday night all the new missionaries who were being transferred into our zone were on a bus that passes through Altavas so I got on the bus and started going to my area. My new companion is Elder Key-Macdonald from Auckland, New Zealand (I believe where the Gublers are) he has been out over a year and he seems cool so far so I think we will have a good transfer. Also Sister McDonald from St. George transferred into this zone so there are two of us from St. George here haha. It was good seeing all your photos! Although it just makes me hungry for good food haha. It sounds like you had a good time and I was glad to hear you were all safe and happy. That crab dinner looks like the one we got in Cancun last year on the beach haha. It was so good! I am still in New Washington. We also got to go into the Sampaguita resort. It is pretty nice but like you said Mom, it is pretty cheesy haha and weird. I was bored in like five minutes haha. We only had one investigator go to church yesterday so that stunk. His name is John Berba. He can’t be baptized for two years since he has two children with his girlfriend, then she left him...So he doesn't have a very ideal situation. I got a letter from the Empeys this week and also Uncle Paul. I also got my debit card so thank you mom! That is cool to hear about the missionaries. I know Eric Carter pretty well so that is cool he is going close to Mike Sharp. I also got your package this week Mom and all the food has been awesome haha. Thank you so much! I also love the Werther's candies so please tell Grandma Sherry thank you for me! This week we didn't have really anything crazy happen. We are starting a thing where every Monday night we will play basketball with the members and less actives and hopefully start getting some of them activated. We had one unfortunate thing happen. We had one investigator named Erwin Cajurao who was progressing well and reading and everything. He is a seaman so he is pretty much on call at all times. Whenever they need him, they call him to go to Manila and board a ship. He got called last week to go there so he will be gone potentially nine months! That was a bummer but we are still teaching his wife and she is awesome. I am glad you took dad to dinner for Father’s Day! That was nice haha. People here celebrate Father’s Day too so everyone was telling me Happy Fathers Day yesterday haha. People here think I am like 30 years old since I am so much bigger than the people here. When I say I am 19 they freak out haha. It’s funny. Things are going well and I love you all! Have a good week! Pops, whats up stud?! Not a lot is new here except my new comp. Elder Key-Macdonald. He is from New Zealand and has a funny accent but seems cool. That is sweet about the college world series. What happened to Dallen Reber? Why isn’t he still playing with Kentucky? Did he get dropped or injured or something? Like why isn’t he finishing the season? Or are they already done? I’m glad Mike Sharp is doing well. Trevor’s wedding will be cool. They are getting married in the Salt Lake Temple? I also can’t believe that Jaron got a mission call. I’m getting old dad haha :) Things here are going well. I am studying the Book of Mormon and the New Testament lots and I like it a lot. How was spraying boats for dedicated hours? Can you believe the bow hunt starts in only like a month and a half or something. That was quick. You better get a big buck with your bow haha :) Anyway I love you lots dad. Thank you for always being an awesome example for me and for teaching me to be a good dude! I miss you more than you know and love hearing from you weekly! I hope you had an awesome Fathers Day. Know that you are greatly appreciated from here in the Philippines. I love you tons! Love your son, Elder Garrett Hey Britt, what is going on? Things here are going very well. What are you up to this summer? Are you excited for cuzzie camp at Laguna? I would be haha. That was cool that there were trikes in San Diego. Did you get to ride one? That’s all we ride here everyday haha. I can’t wait to actually sit in a car! Anyway I love you Bert!

Root Canal

A part of my area where we teach quite a few people.

Notice the bamboo power lines!

I broke a member's couch because I am too heavy!

Arvin is a ward member. Sampaguita is in the background.

My lovely family :) Kumusta na kayo diyan? Things here are going really well. This week was pretty good too. So Thursday I went in to the dentist for the root canal. At first the numbing medicine she gave me was weak haha so she gave me more and more until it went away. The member/dentists clinic was nicer than I expected. She has a nice adjustable chair and a tv and sanitizing equipment. It wasn't anywhere near as bad as I expected. I have to go back tomorrow to get a permanent filling so it will be good. The pain is gone so I am excited! Also one of the elders in my house, Elder Dadbe from Philippines is going home tomorrow so it has been weird helping him pack and he keeps telling us he will miss his mission. I feel bad for the Filipinos that come on missions and go home because even though we don’t have that much money every month compared to normal life, we are still rich compared to people here. But anyway this week we had a couple going away parties for him, one that the ward put on and another was done just by a member family that he was close with. Also more big news is that Elder Williamson will be transferring this Friday so I will get a new companion on Friday so there will be two new guys in our house this week. I liked him a lot so it will be fun to see what I get Friday haha :) I am stoked to hear about Dallen’s mission call. I bet that mission will be similar to Taylor and I's! What is going on with that newsletter thing you wanted me to write to mom? I also can’t believe that Dallen will leave so soon! Barely over a month. I have a firm belief that when we get our calls. It is at an inspired time. At first I didn’t want to wait for three months but when I got to the MTC and the field I realized that I needed that and that I was with the people needed to be with. I would love to hear from him if he will e-mail me. I will write him through letter and it will probably just go to the MTC through pouch mail. This Sunday was fairly lousy. We had zero investigators at church which has only happened a couple times in my mission. It is way frustrating when you get promised by 5-10 people that they'll go to church and not one of them comes! This week we also tracted a lot and had a rough week. We went to a richer area in New Washington and everyone has gates and stuff and we actually talked to quite a few people but nobody would let us teach them. We do have some pretty good investigators though so I still have lots of hope! Wow I am proud of Britt for doing the track meet and making it to state! How is San Diego? I have met a few people here who have relatives there so look for Filipinos haha! Tell them "kumusta daw kayong lahat?" :) I am jealous that you got to go to Beaver. That is one thing I took for granted. Cheese! Here there is no cheese other than nacho style liquid stuff. It stinks haha but later today since Elder Williamson is leaving we are going to this hometown pizza place that is really good and the pizza is somewhat similar to America! That is awesome to hear about all the missionaries. I know almost all of them and am way excited for them to get out in the field. They will have challenges but they will love it. I hope all is well. This week is Macy’s birthday and also Father’s Day on Sunday so happy, happy birthday to Mace. 23! "bata ka pa lang" which means you are still just a baby :) And Dad, go grab a good steak or something for me this week for Father’s Day, you deserve it! I love you all Your son, Elder Garrett Christensen

Recognizing the Spirit

Hey everyone. How are you all? Things here in New Washington are going well! First off, I have not gotten your box yet. I am not sure why? Maybe later today it will come in our cargo? I can’t think of anything I want in another one.....haha. Thank you for doing my debit card! Sorry to always be a burden to you. I feel guilty when I ask things from you because I feel like I am always asking so much. Thank you for it all. I did not yet read your letter about Jordan but I will print it and read it later. Thank you. I also got all the pictures haha I love them all. The goat, hat and shed are all rad. I do have some bad news though. I had a tooth filling fall out a while ago but it didn’t hurt or anything so I just told myself I would wait until I get home to fix it, but just this last week it was getting super sensitive and giving me super headaches. So I went to a member/dentist in Kalibo and she looked at it real quick and touched it and it was killing. She told me I have an infection and will have to get a root canal. I am nervous but I have talked to Sister Pagaduan a lot and I will do it tomorrow I guess. She has given me some medicine for it to stop swelling and stuff but it still hurts when I eat and drink. It is tomorrow and the lady is a member...It only costs 3500 pesos...or like 60-70 dollars for everything so I will just pay for it with mission money and then take it out of my debit when my card gets here. Oh well! Part of the job! This week my focus was on recognizing the spirit. What is the spirit? How does it guide us as missionaries? How does it guide us in everyday life? As I studied I learned a lot about how to let it guide me during lessons. I learned the different ways it will speak to us and what happens if we don’t follow it. I actually had a few very interesting experiences too. First, right after I had studied about the spirit, we had a lesson with a less active girl about 18 years old. We had planned to teach something and when we got there as she was praying for us, I really, really felt like I should talk to her about what I learned and ways we can use the spirit in our lives. I read from Helaman about how sometimes it is a still small voice and I told her ways the spirit can help all of us if we are worthy of it. As I was testifying, she began to change her countenance and seemed to be getting emotional. Our bishop was working with us so he began to testify as well and she continued getting emotional. Finally at the end of the lesson we asked her what she was feeling and she said the spirit and that we really touched her. I was grateful for the guidance of the spirit in knowing what I should share to her. We also have an investigator named Myra Nerval. She is 17 and we tracted into her. She is taking care of a grandma at a different house so she does not live at home. We have been teaching her for a while and she has been awesome. She always asks questions and keeps commitments. So yesterday we went to her house to teach her about faith and repentance. We opened and she said she had no questions from her Book of Mormon reading. So we continued to teach her faith and repentance. After we were about to close the lesson, I felt like I should bring up the Book of Mormon again, so I asked her if she had prayed to know about the Book of Mormon, she kind of just went quiet. I followed up with asking what her feelings about it were and she said, without hesitation "totoo siya" or in English "it’s true." It was really awesome to hear that she got an answer from her reading and prayers. The book is so powerful. So much so that if we read it diligently and pray about it, you will receive an answer. It is so easy. Yet so overlooked. I am excited to help Myra in her journey looking for truth. So on another hand, I am super stoked to hear about James and Dallen. My guess is Dallen to Philippines(or Asia somewhere) and James to Spain(or Europe somewhere.) Hopefully I get one of them at least. I hope they both come to my mission haha :) We need some quality missionaries here. There are too many slackers. Anyway I love you all,have a happy and healthy week! Hey dad. That sounds like a fun dedicated project. Is it still 40 hours for the 3 years or is the program different now? That is cool that Mess will be back coaching in Utah! It will be good to see him again. He was an awesome coach. I loved reading your thoughts on Jordan, it was just for my personal benefit, just curious so thanks. How is the summer sun feeling? Is it getting nice and toasty? It sure is still hot here even though it is supposed to be rain season. Oh well. How is Britt? Keeping you busy? haha I bet she is! Anyway love you dad and miss you lots!! Hey may may and Breck! I got the picture of the hat from Boston and I love it! I will fo sho be rockin that a few days after I get home! Things here are going well in my area and with my companion. I am excited for you to get done with your EMT classes. I still haven’t changed my mind about being a doctor. It will be rough going to school but I know it will be worth it. I am glad Boston and Hank are doing well. That is cool about your friends being married. I bet work will be picking up for Breck, too now that it is almost summer......ps...I met a missionary here from Vegas who always goes to the cheese factory in Beaver when they drive to Salt Lake! Haha, it was so funny to hear that. I didn’t know other people were as lame as us! Oh, I got the lyrics to that song like "I Like to look at Rainbows Whenever there is Rain" in Tagalog and it is way cool. A girl sang it during a meeting here. I think I remember that being a song you liked May May. But if not...sorry haha. I will send the lyrics to you in a letter. They are cool :) Anyway love you guys tons and miss ya too! Hey Barb! Wow you did so good at the track meet! I can’t believe how fast you are! I agree. It has gone by very fast. Wow I can’t believe you are starting soccer already. You will be great. Just practice hard! I love you lots Britt and miss you! Be nice to Papa!

No Salt After 6

At the bowling Alley last week. (I sucked!)

The Kalibo Zone

Musta na Kayo jan?! Things here in New Washington are going really well. I can’t believe James and Dallen turned in their papers this week. I am way happy to hear that. I can’t wait to see where they get to serve! Our week has been interesting. We had a few average days then Thursday we had a zone conference in Kalibo, where President and Sister Pagaduan came with the AP's and did a training. He talked a lot about doctrine. Sort of like if someone has a problem with the law of chastity, he probably doesn’t understand the principle of obedience, which means he probably doesn’t understand the plan of happiness. Everything is in some doctrinal category and "true doctrine, understood, changes attitude and behavior." It was a really good training. I will forward you the photo from it. I do have some funny stories though. So Thursday night we were on our way from one appointment to another at about 7:30pm and we stopped at a chungee (little street store) to buy some salt. Elder Williamson asked for salt and the lady acted way weird like "why are you buying salt" and he said "so we have some to cook with, we are out" haha then she said "well it’s past 6pm" and we were like "yeah we know, what does that have to do with anything" and she told us that it’s like a rule. It’s bad to buy salt after 6pm....we frustratedly asked her for the salt again and she finally gave it to us haha. Apparently it’s some religious thing here? Another story was in sacrament this week. It was the sacrament so everyone was quiet and reverent (sort of) and this kid began crying. He was maybe like 6 or 7 and his mom went to grab him and the kid started yelling "BABOY, BABOY, BABOY!" which would be like yelling "PIG, PIG, PIG!" to his mother and everyone heard and I was laughing haha. It was funny but the mom wasn’t very happy haha. So I went to get some money the other day and my debit card from home is expired haha! Can you please mom see if you can get me a new one? I hope you can and just mail it to me or something. I also have some questions I would like to ask Elder Joe Rebman. Tell him to E mail me if he can. I want to know if he has any tips for me regarding tracting/teaching. Just anything he found that worked really well and helped people understand him. Also, how he tracted and got people to loosen up to them. We are tracting a lot here and having good success but I feel like maybe he knows tips that could help us as we serve here in New Washington. His help would be awesome! I can’t believe all the missionaries leaving and coming home. I know so many of them and it is awesome to hear where they are going or have been. Things are going so well here. I love you all!

I heart my Mommy

Happy Birthday Mom!

We teach an English class here! Just me teaching important English to Filipinos haha :) My friends and Mace will laugh. Im not sure if Mom and Dad will get it haha. Hello everyone! Elder Gary here. Things were okay this week. It was probably one of my most frustrating weeks as a missionary. Like all of our appointments were falling through and we also had people that were progressing tell us they do not want to continue listening to us. We had one funny experience with a lady sort of trying to bash us but she was not very well educated haha...she said her "born again" pastor had authority from God because he studied Latin in college....we were like "uhhh..." haha we didn’t know what to say so I just tied it into Joseph Smith haha. Apparantly if you study Latin and start a church, you have authority haha? I guess we will just be tracting a lot this week. I actually don’t mind tracting. I think it is sort of fun meeting people and shocking them when we can speak the language haha. The language is good here. I can pretty much get everything by now. We use a lot of Tagalog here so it is good. My comp and I are getting along fine too. That is rad that Britt is a brace face haha. Dork! I really liked the picture though! When I get home your teeth will be all perfect and pretty! That is cool that Canyon View did so well in the state tournament. Also Desert Hills. I bet dad was loving life at the ball field with all those games haha that will be fun when I get home. The big talk here is about the NBA. Everyone talks about the Heat, and Bulls....I don’t have any clue who even plays for them but I said the Bulls would win haha, nothing to back that up. Just my gut feeling :) This upcoming week we have what is called zone conference. President Pagaduan comes up with his wife and the assistants to president to do a training for all of us. It will be good to see what they say. I like all of them a lot. Plus we get free food so that is always a bonus! I can’t believe school is almost over already. I am OLD now! I have already been a year out of high school. Life is all downhill from here :) haha jk. Today we have planned to go into Kalibo and go....bowling haha! I am excited. Apparantly there is just a guy that keeps score and puts the pins up by hand but I have also heard it is a machine so I will let you know next week. The weather was more like summer this week. It never rained and was just super hot and humid. It was fine though because I assume it will get better every week from now on and will get cooler and more rainy. I thought you would want to know that I am officially done with one full journal. I have kept a good journal every single day of my time in the field and almost every day at the MTC. I have an extra so I don’t need a new one yet. Maybe in 6 months or something. Mom I was thinking about something this week. I would like you to describe to me your feeling when Jordan died. Your thoughts on his death. If you had a strong testimony at the time? If you knew where he was going? If you were mad at God for allowing that to happen? Just everything I wanna know about your and Dad's feeling when that happened....Also I would like to say super, super happy birthday to my mom! I love you tons and wish I could be there to give you a hug and gift! That is cool about your trip to San Diego. I remember going to that baseball game against the Reds and the Reds hit back to back to back home runs when Griffey was still playing for them. It was awesome. We were on the third base line and dad saw some people by us he knew. Anyway, things are good. I love you all so much! Love ang inyong bituing anak na Si Elder Garrett V. Christensen (Your star child) :) Wow Fram Bam I can’t believe you got braces! They look so good on you so thanks for the picture! It is going to be so sweet when you get them off and your teeth are so pretty and perfect. All the boys are going to like you too much but it will be okay because I will be home and I will scare them away :) Are you excited for summer? I know I always loved summer when I was your age! What are you going to do this summer? Play with mom and dad, and Mace and Berk too! haha? I love you Barbs! See ya! Hey, I have a little extra time so I thought I would just say something to Mom. I just wanna tell you Happy Birthday and how thankful I am for you in my life. I thought lots about you this week since your birthday was coming up. I can’t imagine my life with any other mom. I know I was so spoiled and did lots of dumb things when I was in high school but you always showed your love to me and helped me. You never forced me to believe the things I believe. You just showed me by the example you set. Here I see so many parents that are either in different countries or just don’t care about their kids and I hate it. You always worked hard and I thought of a story about when I was young and we and when we still lived in the big pink house. During tax season you always left really early in the morning and so even though my school started at like 8, I would always wake up at like 6 (when you woke up) and go in your room just to talk to you and hang out with you before you left for work. Then when you got home we would go on walks and stuff and I loved it. I never realized how important families are until I got here and have seen so many broken families and seen how awesome my family is. I truly have been given much. I am so happy to know that if we live accordingly, we will always be together since we made the step of going through the temple. I know you have worked so hard for me to be here and prepare me. I also know of the sacrifices you are making at home for me to be here. And I am doing all I can to make everything worth it. I know that Britt will be an awesome young woman if you let here grow and don’t force her into things. She will make mistakes, just like I did (and do) but she will grow into an awesome daughter and sister if you just keep setting an example to her and spending time with her like you always did with me. I am so thankful to have a mom that I could take to dinner and a movie and have a way fun night. Other people don’t have that and I am so thankful for it. Thank you for being you, you are my mom and I couldn’t be happier about it. I love You! Hey Dad what is going on? This week was okay but didn’t have as good as I had hoped work wise. My health is doing great. I feel pretty good except just tired like all day everyday haha. We walk a ton here in New Washington. Maybe like 5-8 miles every day depending on the day. It takes a toll on me sometimes but I am just kind of used to it now. I bet that was fun seeing your old buddies at the Canyon View game. I do miss baseball and football a lot. Nobody here ever talks about either of those. Here it is basketball and basketball only. I hate it haha since I suck at basketball. Are you going to the Spanish Fork vs. Snow Canyon game this week? I wish they could both lose haha jk...Anyway I love you dad!

Another Day in Paradise

Hello everyone. I will start off by saying congratulations to Ben for getting his call. Chile will be awesome and I bet he is stoked to get out to the field. I'm sure Joe has been telling him stories and helping him prepare. This week went really well. It seemed to fly by to me. My new comp is elder Williamson from Vidor, Texas and he is way rad, I like him a lot and we get along well. I have learned a lot from him. My new area is called New Washington and is right on the beach so it is cool. The only thing is that the people here are a lot more wealthy than the people in Sibalom so they are way more prideful and it is hard to get people to listen to us. We have been tracting a lot and I have one funny story. We tracted into a rich house and we said "tagbalay" which is what you say since they have no doorbell. At that point we heard a guy say "ahhh, it’s the Mormons" then he began talking to someone and it was quiet so we couldn't hear what he was saying, then a little boy walked out the door and stared at us as he slowly took the rock out from under the open screen door, he then closed the screen door and then the main door haha. It was funny. We do have a really good ward here and a few good investigators. Calling for Mother’s Day was way awesome. It was way good to hear all the things you have accomplished in my time away from home. I am so proud of Britt in track and the science fair! Keep working hard in sports and school Barb! Also Mace and Breck seem to be doing so well. I am very glad. Mom and Dad are still way awesome of course haha. I have some cool pictures that I will send from the beach and also this week we had a stake jubilee celebration which is the celebration of the missionaries in the Philippines for 50 years now. They did dances and talks about the church on a more local level here in Aklan (which is like saying Washington County.) The language here is called Aklanon and they also speak lots of Tagalog so I am actually using lots of things I learned from the MTC. The Aklanon is way hard though. Most of the words I can’t even say because they do a weird thing with their throat when the word has a letter E in it. Anyway, things are going well. Love you all! Hey Barbar! Things here are going really well. I love you so, so much too! I miss you lots but I am glad the time is going fast for you. Time is going fast for me too. I have already been gone almost seven months! crazy huh! It rains lots here. You would love playing in the mud here and the ocean haha. Love you barbs! Hey Dad! Things went really well this week. Just another week in "paradise" haha. I am glad to hear about the boat. What happened at Havasu? I wonder why it would not run, that is weird. Sorry to hear that the weather is getting hotter. I have definitely gained a better respect for you now that I have to walk all day in this weather. I just sweat a ton and there is no air conditioning, so the only way to cool off is with a fan and not everyone owns one, so standing in shade is the best we have haha. It has officially began rainy season here. It rains every day for at least a while. The other night was the hardest I have ever seen it rain ...ever! It was so, so hard while we were doing studies. Things are well here. Love your son, Gare bear. Love you Pops!