good news of the week:
Wes finally got his hernia taken care of! He is now recovering, near the mission home (whatever that means), and it sounds like everything went well with that! I will update more on that when I hear from him on Wednesday (hopefully)! And other good news, Wes finally enlightened me this week on his what his schedule is like! So now I have a little better idea of what he does all day every day and of what his apartment's like! OH and he enlightened me on the love the brazilian women have for the missionaries... one more thing to worry about while he's gone I guess! :)
june 23rd email..
answers time!----
Schedule:
6:30wake up
630-7 Excersizes ( i swear i spelled that wrong it looks stange.. whatever.)
7-8 get ready, eat "breakfast"
8-9 personal study
9-10 comp study
10-1030 language study
11 leave the house
11-2 lunch for 1 hour inbetween 11-2 oclock
2-9:30 teach, walk, contacts
9:30-10 plan tomorrow
10-1030 shower
10:30 sleep.
the apartment is tiny tiny tiny! ha its cool, its 1 room and a bathroom.so the fridge oven study desks and beds are in the same room haha.
we dont do much on pday today we´re going to a members house today to kick it with them they have 3 kids. 2 boys that are like 15 and 12 and a daughter thats like 3 years old. but we went to the zoo a while back. sometimes we just sleep. ha
money. we get like 40$ a month to spend on everything. food groceries, bus, etc. i dont have money to buy cool stuff to bring home but im gonna figure something out. cuz my personal credit card got blocked haha so it doesnt work. :) its all good!
the members are cool now. i dunno why they like me. the members didnt like the missionaries when i got here the hated the missionary that left before i arrived. ha but they like us now!! so its all good!
girls. you know i dont like girls!! just kelsey! but the woman here like the missionaries. ha i guess they did like a questionare or what ever its called and the mormon missionaries are the number 2 fetish in Brasil. haha i think fetish means that people like them. i dunno really.? but yeah. i know that youre gonna get all mad at all the girls in brasil now haha but you know that im a missionary and im serving the lord so i dont pay attention to them! ha k i decided i wouldnt tell you this till i got back. but, ill tell you to get it out of the way! in itatiba we were buying crackers at the supermarket and i went to the entrance to get our backpacks while elder pedroso paid for them and i looked over and there were 2 girls entering the store looking at me. so i made the angry face haha and looked forward. like i should! as they passed i heard, "Mmmm.." haha and one of them almost ripped my butt cheak off ha... so.. there you go!! but thats it dont worry!! but there isnt a problem with snakes here so its cool.
And. yes, ill have surgery tomorrow morning at 9am. ha so yeah.. thats about it!!!
-Elder Christensen
And here's part of his letter to his family..
this week has been good! we had a mission conference yesterday to say goodbye to Pres Castro Deus and he gave an awesome talk.he said something that i thought was so awesome. seriously. i think he stole it from a nike commercial or something. ha just kidding but its sweet. he said,"Vida é doura, por quem é mole!"
it means, Life is hard, for those that are soft. not the meaning of soft as in soft hearted. soft as in week minded. it made me think about times that ive thought in my head, "dang it its so hot today, no one will open the door, i cant get enyone to talk to me, etc." I realized that my faith was "mole". that things are only tough if we let them be. if we let the situation beat us. we always have the savior by our side if we are willing to do what is right. but we have to have faith and be strong. be willing to fight.
Doesn't he sound great?! Hopefully he'll still email on Wednesday and I can give a better update on the surgery recovery! keep him in your prayers!
Monday, June 28, 2010
Sunday, June 20, 2010
cutest picture ever!
So, that couple on facebook wrote me back today! Here's what the message said..
Kelsey, it´s a pleasure to meet you too! Today we took pictures with children in Primary, the children love Elder Christensen, he is awesome with them! Oh, he also speaks Portuguese very well! So, while he stays here, we can ask what you need! :) You guys are a cute couple!
How nice huh? I have been so excited about this allll day! And.. she sent me this incredibly cute picture of Wes and all the primary kids!
Isn't it adorable?! I opened this and cried. It's been so fun to get these pictures and talk to someone who knows him on his mission!
Kelsey, it´s a pleasure to meet you too! Today we took pictures with children in Primary, the children love Elder Christensen, he is awesome with them! Oh, he also speaks Portuguese very well! So, while he stays here, we can ask what you need! :) You guys are a cute couple!
How nice huh? I have been so excited about this allll day! And.. she sent me this incredibly cute picture of Wes and all the primary kids!
Isn't it adorable?! I opened this and cried. It's been so fun to get these pictures and talk to someone who knows him on his mission!
Saturday, June 19, 2010
yay for technology!
So today I got on facebook and had a friend request from a couple with a different looking name. I was really confused why they would add me and didn't think much about it. Later, I looked and with the request they sent me a message telling me that Elder Christensen had lunch at their house today and asking me to add them! Of course I did, and they had this cute picture of Wes and his companion eating at their house! (yes i took it off their facebook, i'm sure they won't mind!)
How cool huh? I wrote them back, and i'm hoping they speak english and tell me more. The message I got was in english, but you never can be sure! But how amazing is technology these days seriously? I can talk to people wes saw just a few hours ago! I just thought it was so exciting and wanted to share! And.. i guess that means he tells people about me, which is also super exciting! ha i'm a nerd I know! :) I'll write again if I get any new information from them!
How cool huh? I wrote them back, and i'm hoping they speak english and tell me more. The message I got was in english, but you never can be sure! But how amazing is technology these days seriously? I can talk to people wes saw just a few hours ago! I just thought it was so exciting and wanted to share! And.. i guess that means he tells people about me, which is also super exciting! ha i'm a nerd I know! :) I'll write again if I get any new information from them!
june 16th
so i was really hoping that Wes would send emails after he went to his doctors appointment, but of course that didn't happen! he was writing then rushing off to go, so unfortunately I have no more information on the status of the hernia or surgery, and won't until next Wednesday! So I will keep you posted as soon as i know anything!
Okay, so I usually don't put stuff on here from my emails, but I thought the testimony Wes bore in his email this week was super strong and simple and I wanted to share it with you, so here it is..
Kels, i know that this the Christs church. i know that every bit of it is true. i know that Christ loves me so much that he bled from every pore for me. That he, hanging on the cross, didnt accept help, and though able to give up the ghost at what ever moment he wanted to, he stayed, for hours, with dull nails driven through his hands wrists and feet, being rudely mocked the whole time; because he loves me. i know that he had my face engraved in him mind. and how much i would desprately depend on him. I love my savior. i love the Church. I know its the Only path to happiness. The whole world can try to trick themselves in to thinking other things with bring happiness. but theyre wrong, other things cant. Only this church and its teachings can make anyone happy.
and here's the family email.. :)
i have to run to the doctor right now! but things here are so good. yesterday was really weird. it was the first game of brasil in the world cup, and the country stopped! seriously, we couldnt find anywhere to eat lunch yesterday. and in Downtown campinas, we could walk in the road!! there werent cars, people, or anything. it was mid day in those old western movies. ha it was completely dead. but, We worked of coarse! :) we had a family home evening last night and played some funny games and shared good messages ill try and send a video next week im so sorry im in such a hurry!!! we dont have any baptisms scheduled this week.. but next week is promising so we gonna keep working and teaching and wait fo rthe lord to extend his hand. i love you all!!! ill talk to you soon!!
Elder Christensen
Okay, so I usually don't put stuff on here from my emails, but I thought the testimony Wes bore in his email this week was super strong and simple and I wanted to share it with you, so here it is..
Kels, i know that this the Christs church. i know that every bit of it is true. i know that Christ loves me so much that he bled from every pore for me. That he, hanging on the cross, didnt accept help, and though able to give up the ghost at what ever moment he wanted to, he stayed, for hours, with dull nails driven through his hands wrists and feet, being rudely mocked the whole time; because he loves me. i know that he had my face engraved in him mind. and how much i would desprately depend on him. I love my savior. i love the Church. I know its the Only path to happiness. The whole world can try to trick themselves in to thinking other things with bring happiness. but theyre wrong, other things cant. Only this church and its teachings can make anyone happy.
and here's the family email.. :)
i have to run to the doctor right now! but things here are so good. yesterday was really weird. it was the first game of brasil in the world cup, and the country stopped! seriously, we couldnt find anywhere to eat lunch yesterday. and in Downtown campinas, we could walk in the road!! there werent cars, people, or anything. it was mid day in those old western movies. ha it was completely dead. but, We worked of coarse! :) we had a family home evening last night and played some funny games and shared good messages ill try and send a video next week im so sorry im in such a hurry!!! we dont have any baptisms scheduled this week.. but next week is promising so we gonna keep working and teaching and wait fo rthe lord to extend his hand. i love you all!!! ill talk to you soon!!
Elder Christensen
Sunday, June 13, 2010
pictures!
So these pictures are actually from the May 19th email, but i wanted to put them in a separate post so they would be at the top and not get lost in all the emails! Again, the captions i put on the top are how Wes described them!
isn't he cute?
Nações. ghetto. the dangerous area of itatiba
sugar cane i think.. ha we went to a members house a few pdays back for lunch and had some of this
the sunset every night here
me and president Castro Deus after multi zone conference
BATIZMO Carlos da Silva
district meeting
pretty dope graffiti -just fyi, wes wore/wears? michael jordan shoes and clothes like every day, so of course he loved this! :)
isn't he cute?
Nações. ghetto. the dangerous area of itatiba
sugar cane i think.. ha we went to a members house a few pdays back for lunch and had some of this
the sunset every night here
me and president Castro Deus after multi zone conference
BATIZMO Carlos da Silva
district meeting
pretty dope graffiti -just fyi, wes wore/wears? michael jordan shoes and clothes like every day, so of course he loved this! :)
the past month or so..
so i didn't realize that i haven't updated since april 14th.. it is now june 13th. so i'm warning you in advance, there will be a LOT of emails. i know it is a lot to read, and i don't expect you to read all of them! but i do want to put them all on so maybe someday wes can go back and see them all in one place together! so again, i'm sorry about the length of this! read what you want and enjoy :) also.. excuse the spelling and grammar errors! He is usually in a big hurry when he writes, so sometimes it struggles and i really don't want to take the time to fix it! ps.. i usually put the emails to his family on here because there is more information about the mission in them, which i'm sure is more interesting for you all!
June 9th
HEY MAMA!
whats up? things here are pretty cool. its been hot during the day here, but freezzzzing during the night its been crazy! but its good! mom thank you so much for the email. it was so good. im so glad nate called you to be there. thats so awesome. i cant describe how i felt reading what he said. simply because i know what kind of an impact he´s going to make on peoples lives. thanks for that mom.
Im so glad to hear that grandmas doing better!! tell her to keep getting better and hang in there for another year and a half deal!? ha
anyway. this week was difficult with investigators. especially finding new ones. the world cup is starting so the streets are litterally empty and people wont answer the door. that was a tough part about the week. but we had lunch at the patriarchs house on thursday and he they had the May ensign out on the table. i hadnt seen it yet. but i looked at the cover with pres Monson and the SMILE he has on his face. if theres anyone on the world that dares to say that he is not completely happy i want to hear it. so,, so the question is, how is it that he is so happy? and the answer is so so easy but so easy to forget at the same time. i started thinging about how the gospel brings happiness in our lives. we have all had times when we werent doing everything right. where we weren´t obeying commandments. because we get tricked into thinking that not doing what ever it is that we´re supposed to, or doing what we arent supposed to, is going to make us happy. but we can all look back at that moment in our lives weather it be right now, or years back, and say that we arent or werent happy. All anyone wants is to be happy! and we have the perfect example of how to get there and stay there leading our church. its so great to know without a doubt that this is the true church on the earth. i know it with out a doubt mom. there isnt another on the whole wide world that can make anyone happy! how blessed we are to have already found it. how blessed we are to not be confussed, and to have the answers. People can say any thing they want, that they heard from there neighbors, grandmas, neighbors, dog about the church. but the church is perfect!! its doesnt have faults!! no one will ever prove it wrong, because ITS TRUE!
i hope everythings going well!! im gonna write a talk for lacies baptism today and ill send it nexy week, cool deal?? i love you so so much!! talk to you soon!!
PS! i found a scripture for you. and i wont change my mind :) haha
D&C 103:36
thanks for everything!!
later!
Elder Christensen
June 2nd
hey everyone!!
how are you? im awesome like usual! my companion is waiting for me so i gotta hurry!!
but things are so good here. its pretty crazy here, itatiba was pretty calm. this week we were doing contacts and a man aprouched us and started talking to us. asking questions, where are your guys from? what kind of church is this? blah blah. so we talked to him for a while. he said, "im not on the right path in life. i know it. but im a god fearing man. so i respect you two. and i have your back." then he started to tell us, "i know my proffesion is wrong, but im careful not to kill children because i know god doesnt have patients or forgiveness for that.
but i know that the drugs i sell kill fathers and mothers, but i have to make a living." he went on talking to us, and as missionaries we were just talking to him like an old pall. telling him things like, you can change, you can find the right path, christ can help you. things like that. so he told us he liked us a lot and he liked to talk to us. at the end before he left, he said,"my name is João Paulo, conhecido como O Rei do Crime de Campinas." (john paulo, the king of crime in campinas) haha it turns out he´s an extremely powerful drug dealer here. ha so its good he likes us!! but anyway. that was the crazy experience of the week.
We´re having lots of spiritual experiences with our investigators as well i promise i just dont have time to tell them in the email, next week i promise!!
i love you all!!! im doing so well!! i know that this is christs church and there is no other path to happiness!
E. Christensen
may 26th - transferred to the city, campinas!
hey fam!
it was good to hear from you today!!! it sounds like youre all really good!! things here are good! i only have one update this week. i got transferred to Campinas! right here in the center, and its huge!! its a cool place, and its way easy to do tons of contacts because theres so many people but, the bad part is that lots of people treat us like animals ya know? BUT!!! i still love them. at least if i do my very best to share the gospel with them, their blood wont be on my hands so thats comforting. hows it going over in saudi and utah? sounds legit. my companions name is Elder Carvalho. hes cool, he´s a little dude. ha he is from the north where its really hot and they have tons of fruit.i feel bad cuz i really dont have tons to say, this week went so so fast! OH! ha oh yeah we had a baptism! it went well and everything! the only problem is that after the font was about half way full the water decided that it didnt want to continue coming.. ha it just stopped. we did like every thing to figure out why but we still dont know. anyway. ha we just had to baptize her on her knees, but everything went well! ha i was bumbed to be transferred because this week we were planning on giving a training on teaching. because some of the members love to teach with us and do divisions with us, but they get really excited to share everything, and in the middle of the resoration we´ll ask them to bear testimony on the book of mormon or going to church, and we end up getting a lesson on the restoration, as well as word of wisdom, pornography, tithing, missionary fund, and about any other random thing you could think of shoving into the first lesson. ha so yeah.. but i left the training for elder pedroso. everything is well here! no new info on the surgery. just goin goin goin!!
i love you all! The church is true. there is no other path
Elder Christensen
may 19th
HEY EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
whats up??? things here are awesome!! it looks like we´ll have another baptism this week so thats good! it rained today for the first time in a while! so its nice and coldtoday! dad, i bet its way pretty there, i hope youre taking pictures! give everyone a hug for me! thanks for the advice on the surgery, i sent an email to president just barely saying pretty much the same thing. we´ll see what happens! ps, are they english speaking missions there? Mom it sounds like it was awesome to have everyone over! i hope you had so much fun! im glad that grandpa is doing well. i hope you gave everyone a hug for me!
so, heres the spiritual experience for the week.this family we´re teaching has 4, Jacó-father, Ivoní-mother, Tiago-filho, Maiara-daughter. the dad is a little out of the picture because he works every sunday so he cant be baptized yet. but we´re teaching the whole family anyway because the keds can be baptized. tiago has 22 years, and maiara has 14 years. we were working with them hard, teaching and all, but we werent working with the mom much because she was very cold and didnt show much interest. but we invited the whole fam to come to church with us on sunday. ivoni said shed go with the tiago and maiara. so wewere excited, but they didnt show up. so we went over after to see what happened. it ended up being that tiago works until 5 inthe morning so he was too tired and didnt feel up to going. so ivoni and maiara felt a little shy going alone. so, we started talking to them a little more, and without us asking ivoni said, today wasnt a good day. we asked why and she said, because we didnt go to church.. we were blown away because how she had been towards us before ya know!? she continued to say that, they have had people from every different church in their home. but no one leaves the same feeling that we do. she said that she likes having us there because of the feeling in the home. and said that she knows that the church is true and that thats where she needs to be.
It was so interesting. it was like not going to church gave her a testimony in a way! because she felt an emptiness and was sad for the rest of the day, and relized that its because she wasnt there. so she realized the importance of going.
it was touching to hear such a pure simple testimony from someone that has never had contact with the church.
We have transfers this week.. ahhh. nobody likes transfers. unless you have a crapy companion. but my companions a stud. oh well. we´ll see what happens!!
i hope everyone is well! i love you all!!! take it easy!
Elder Christensen
PS mom a year ago from sunday we were down at snow trying out! WOAHHH
and next week was graduation.. could this year have gone any faster?!
love you!!!
may 12th
I'm doing so well! i feel like having this hernia, working thought this pain in the heat, has helped me to rely on the power of God. and helped me to have faith and know that if i continue to work and do my best, the Lord will put people in my path that are ready to hear my voice. there are only two weeks left in the transfer and its crazy! every transfer is a dream! thats why its so important for me to work like every day is my last because soon it will be. how are things with the kids dad? is it just a big party over there every day after work? ha just jokin. hopefully theyre doing well in school and all that jazz. it was good to talk to mom on sunday! i was worried it would leave me trunky but it didnt, it was just a good breath of air! I sure do love you guys, i hope you know that id do anything for you! im praying for you constantly. Youre a huge inspiration to me dad, thanks for every thing you do, and for the continual path that you lay for me to follow. talk to you soon!!
Elder Christensen
may 5th
another short and sweet email from wes! he did talk a little about 2 nephi 2:25. He was saying how it's such a simple yet profound scripture, we exist to have happiness. He then asked me the question, are you happy? i think that's a good thing to ask ourselves and to always strive for, happiness is the purpose of our existence! it was a good reminder for me, and hopefully all of you! just somethin to think about!
april 28th
wes was in a huge hurry to catch a bus to go to the doctor, so the email was super short!
april 21st
hey yall!!!!!!
wahts up??
first off i have to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to chase and chandler!! everyone has to sing happy birthday to them for
me, and hug them both till they mean it :) hehe
and also props to dad for scaring chandler. i hope he didnt make mom
clean his filter.
im in the biggest hurry ever today, but everything here is going so
well!! crazy at times but im learning so so much.
start with the unusual. this week, we were talking to a lady who was talking through
her window up about 15 feet and her dog that was at our level decided to
start peeing on me. ha i only got a little on me because im a ninja but
it was pretty funny. my comp didnt hesitate to laugh out loud. Also
this week i got kissed. yes kissed.. ha i dont think ive ever been more
embarrassed in my life. i dont really get embarrassed! but holy crap i
wanted to die, and again my comp didnt hesitate to laugh. ha im pretty
sure now im the most well known missionary in the mission. hernia and
got kissed. crap. ha other than that, all was well this week!
its very hot again. were hoping to have a baptism this week. his name is
Carlos. pray for him. holy cow we went into another part of town
yesterday called Jardin das Nações. the complete other side of the city
from san francisco. i thought san francisco was ghetto. its pretty
tranquil in san fran, usually we are out of there before its dark. but i
was nervous during the day in nações! serious favellas. we taught a
lesson and this lady was crying because her son is in jail for having
guns and selling drugs... its a problem here.
things are well! im going to pic up my visa thissaturday in Sao paulo!
cool eh?
im praying for you all and for grandma.
i love you all!!!
i gotta run, ill talk to you soon! thanks for everything!!
Christ lives!
WEs
SOVA!!! :)
June 9th
HEY MAMA!
whats up? things here are pretty cool. its been hot during the day here, but freezzzzing during the night its been crazy! but its good! mom thank you so much for the email. it was so good. im so glad nate called you to be there. thats so awesome. i cant describe how i felt reading what he said. simply because i know what kind of an impact he´s going to make on peoples lives. thanks for that mom.
Im so glad to hear that grandmas doing better!! tell her to keep getting better and hang in there for another year and a half deal!? ha
anyway. this week was difficult with investigators. especially finding new ones. the world cup is starting so the streets are litterally empty and people wont answer the door. that was a tough part about the week. but we had lunch at the patriarchs house on thursday and he they had the May ensign out on the table. i hadnt seen it yet. but i looked at the cover with pres Monson and the SMILE he has on his face. if theres anyone on the world that dares to say that he is not completely happy i want to hear it. so,, so the question is, how is it that he is so happy? and the answer is so so easy but so easy to forget at the same time. i started thinging about how the gospel brings happiness in our lives. we have all had times when we werent doing everything right. where we weren´t obeying commandments. because we get tricked into thinking that not doing what ever it is that we´re supposed to, or doing what we arent supposed to, is going to make us happy. but we can all look back at that moment in our lives weather it be right now, or years back, and say that we arent or werent happy. All anyone wants is to be happy! and we have the perfect example of how to get there and stay there leading our church. its so great to know without a doubt that this is the true church on the earth. i know it with out a doubt mom. there isnt another on the whole wide world that can make anyone happy! how blessed we are to have already found it. how blessed we are to not be confussed, and to have the answers. People can say any thing they want, that they heard from there neighbors, grandmas, neighbors, dog about the church. but the church is perfect!! its doesnt have faults!! no one will ever prove it wrong, because ITS TRUE!
i hope everythings going well!! im gonna write a talk for lacies baptism today and ill send it nexy week, cool deal?? i love you so so much!! talk to you soon!!
PS! i found a scripture for you. and i wont change my mind :) haha
D&C 103:36
thanks for everything!!
later!
Elder Christensen
June 2nd
hey everyone!!
how are you? im awesome like usual! my companion is waiting for me so i gotta hurry!!
but things are so good here. its pretty crazy here, itatiba was pretty calm. this week we were doing contacts and a man aprouched us and started talking to us. asking questions, where are your guys from? what kind of church is this? blah blah. so we talked to him for a while. he said, "im not on the right path in life. i know it. but im a god fearing man. so i respect you two. and i have your back." then he started to tell us, "i know my proffesion is wrong, but im careful not to kill children because i know god doesnt have patients or forgiveness for that.
but i know that the drugs i sell kill fathers and mothers, but i have to make a living." he went on talking to us, and as missionaries we were just talking to him like an old pall. telling him things like, you can change, you can find the right path, christ can help you. things like that. so he told us he liked us a lot and he liked to talk to us. at the end before he left, he said,"my name is João Paulo, conhecido como O Rei do Crime de Campinas." (john paulo, the king of crime in campinas) haha it turns out he´s an extremely powerful drug dealer here. ha so its good he likes us!! but anyway. that was the crazy experience of the week.
We´re having lots of spiritual experiences with our investigators as well i promise i just dont have time to tell them in the email, next week i promise!!
i love you all!!! im doing so well!! i know that this is christs church and there is no other path to happiness!
E. Christensen
may 26th - transferred to the city, campinas!
hey fam!
it was good to hear from you today!!! it sounds like youre all really good!! things here are good! i only have one update this week. i got transferred to Campinas! right here in the center, and its huge!! its a cool place, and its way easy to do tons of contacts because theres so many people but, the bad part is that lots of people treat us like animals ya know? BUT!!! i still love them. at least if i do my very best to share the gospel with them, their blood wont be on my hands so thats comforting. hows it going over in saudi and utah? sounds legit. my companions name is Elder Carvalho. hes cool, he´s a little dude. ha he is from the north where its really hot and they have tons of fruit.i feel bad cuz i really dont have tons to say, this week went so so fast! OH! ha oh yeah we had a baptism! it went well and everything! the only problem is that after the font was about half way full the water decided that it didnt want to continue coming.. ha it just stopped. we did like every thing to figure out why but we still dont know. anyway. ha we just had to baptize her on her knees, but everything went well! ha i was bumbed to be transferred because this week we were planning on giving a training on teaching. because some of the members love to teach with us and do divisions with us, but they get really excited to share everything, and in the middle of the resoration we´ll ask them to bear testimony on the book of mormon or going to church, and we end up getting a lesson on the restoration, as well as word of wisdom, pornography, tithing, missionary fund, and about any other random thing you could think of shoving into the first lesson. ha so yeah.. but i left the training for elder pedroso. everything is well here! no new info on the surgery. just goin goin goin!!
i love you all! The church is true. there is no other path
Elder Christensen
may 19th
HEY EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
whats up??? things here are awesome!! it looks like we´ll have another baptism this week so thats good! it rained today for the first time in a while! so its nice and coldtoday! dad, i bet its way pretty there, i hope youre taking pictures! give everyone a hug for me! thanks for the advice on the surgery, i sent an email to president just barely saying pretty much the same thing. we´ll see what happens! ps, are they english speaking missions there? Mom it sounds like it was awesome to have everyone over! i hope you had so much fun! im glad that grandpa is doing well. i hope you gave everyone a hug for me!
so, heres the spiritual experience for the week.this family we´re teaching has 4, Jacó-father, Ivoní-mother, Tiago-filho, Maiara-daughter. the dad is a little out of the picture because he works every sunday so he cant be baptized yet. but we´re teaching the whole family anyway because the keds can be baptized. tiago has 22 years, and maiara has 14 years. we were working with them hard, teaching and all, but we werent working with the mom much because she was very cold and didnt show much interest. but we invited the whole fam to come to church with us on sunday. ivoni said shed go with the tiago and maiara. so wewere excited, but they didnt show up. so we went over after to see what happened. it ended up being that tiago works until 5 inthe morning so he was too tired and didnt feel up to going. so ivoni and maiara felt a little shy going alone. so, we started talking to them a little more, and without us asking ivoni said, today wasnt a good day. we asked why and she said, because we didnt go to church.. we were blown away because how she had been towards us before ya know!? she continued to say that, they have had people from every different church in their home. but no one leaves the same feeling that we do. she said that she likes having us there because of the feeling in the home. and said that she knows that the church is true and that thats where she needs to be.
It was so interesting. it was like not going to church gave her a testimony in a way! because she felt an emptiness and was sad for the rest of the day, and relized that its because she wasnt there. so she realized the importance of going.
it was touching to hear such a pure simple testimony from someone that has never had contact with the church.
We have transfers this week.. ahhh. nobody likes transfers. unless you have a crapy companion. but my companions a stud. oh well. we´ll see what happens!!
i hope everyone is well! i love you all!!! take it easy!
Elder Christensen
PS mom a year ago from sunday we were down at snow trying out! WOAHHH
and next week was graduation.. could this year have gone any faster?!
love you!!!
may 12th
I'm doing so well! i feel like having this hernia, working thought this pain in the heat, has helped me to rely on the power of God. and helped me to have faith and know that if i continue to work and do my best, the Lord will put people in my path that are ready to hear my voice. there are only two weeks left in the transfer and its crazy! every transfer is a dream! thats why its so important for me to work like every day is my last because soon it will be. how are things with the kids dad? is it just a big party over there every day after work? ha just jokin. hopefully theyre doing well in school and all that jazz. it was good to talk to mom on sunday! i was worried it would leave me trunky but it didnt, it was just a good breath of air! I sure do love you guys, i hope you know that id do anything for you! im praying for you constantly. Youre a huge inspiration to me dad, thanks for every thing you do, and for the continual path that you lay for me to follow. talk to you soon!!
Elder Christensen
may 5th
another short and sweet email from wes! he did talk a little about 2 nephi 2:25. He was saying how it's such a simple yet profound scripture, we exist to have happiness. He then asked me the question, are you happy? i think that's a good thing to ask ourselves and to always strive for, happiness is the purpose of our existence! it was a good reminder for me, and hopefully all of you! just somethin to think about!
april 28th
wes was in a huge hurry to catch a bus to go to the doctor, so the email was super short!
april 21st
hey yall!!!!!!
wahts up??
first off i have to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to chase and chandler!! everyone has to sing happy birthday to them for
me, and hug them both till they mean it :) hehe
and also props to dad for scaring chandler. i hope he didnt make mom
clean his filter.
im in the biggest hurry ever today, but everything here is going so
well!! crazy at times but im learning so so much.
start with the unusual. this week, we were talking to a lady who was talking through
her window up about 15 feet and her dog that was at our level decided to
start peeing on me. ha i only got a little on me because im a ninja but
it was pretty funny. my comp didnt hesitate to laugh out loud. Also
this week i got kissed. yes kissed.. ha i dont think ive ever been more
embarrassed in my life. i dont really get embarrassed! but holy crap i
wanted to die, and again my comp didnt hesitate to laugh. ha im pretty
sure now im the most well known missionary in the mission. hernia and
got kissed. crap. ha other than that, all was well this week!
its very hot again. were hoping to have a baptism this week. his name is
Carlos. pray for him. holy cow we went into another part of town
yesterday called Jardin das Nações. the complete other side of the city
from san francisco. i thought san francisco was ghetto. its pretty
tranquil in san fran, usually we are out of there before its dark. but i
was nervous during the day in nações! serious favellas. we taught a
lesson and this lady was crying because her son is in jail for having
guns and selling drugs... its a problem here.
things are well! im going to pic up my visa thissaturday in Sao paulo!
cool eh?
im praying for you all and for grandma.
i love you all!!!
i gotta run, ill talk to you soon! thanks for everything!!
Christ lives!
WEs
SOVA!!! :)
okay so i lied..
so when i began updating this, almost a month ago now, i promised i would finish within the next couple days. As you can see, i lied. So now, a month later. i will get this blog completely up to date! Wes is doing awesome, as you will see! And he finally has a doctors appointment this wednesday to (hopefully) see what they will do about surgery and everything for his hernia! So i will update with the results from that as soon as i can!
Thursday, May 20, 2010
more to come.
mom.. i promise within the next couple days i WILL update all the way to this weeks email!
update :)
why may you ask am i a month behind on my cute missionary's blog? well you see, it has ben a crazy month. I have been busy with finishing finals, going on a trip to mexico, and helping with wedding plans. Wes has been super busy working and figuring out his hernia, causing short but still amazing emails and no pictures. but never fear, this week i got a wonderful email and PICTURES :). Don't get me wrong, hearing from him every week is amazing, but seeing his cute face is even better!
ps. a short update on the hernia: The truth is, I'm not really sure exactly what is going on! He does have to get surgery and will get it someday in the next couple months, maybe tomorrow for all I know! So hopefully everything goes well with that, and he recovers well and I will write more when I know when and more details!
april 14th email and pics!
picture of one of the cool parks by our house. this is the one where that crazy guy asked if we were scared of guns and stuff.
This is after lunch with members. Elení and Lucas. lucas is one of the guys were woking with. he´ll be going on a mission in the next year hopefully.
hey fam!
everything here is awesome. everything is going well. this week was a good week for the most part. Douglas wasn´t baptized. that was the down point. the second time we had people at the church with the font filled and he didnt show. again on saturday after we clapped out side his house and knocked on the door and his window we spent hours in between lessons looking for him. the baptism was schelduled for 730 in the evening. we finally got ahold of him at 7. he said that he had been in him home all day and wouldnt open the door. the night before he fell to drugs again after nearly a month. the reason he wouldnt open the door or say anything was because the night before he didnt have any money. so.. conciquently people are looking for him to get there money which he doesnt have. we got ahold of him on money and went over to tell him we cant visit him anymore because he hasnt been true to his word and weve used so much time helping him that could be with other people. I realized that i have developed that "love for the people" that everyone talks about. it was seriously sad. we took a picture before we left (i put on a happy face) because we didnt know if we´d be transferred this week or not. and we were on our way. hes going to be moving soon so i wont see him again. i can only hope he finds his way out of this mess hes stuck in with his life and that his family sticks around.
we took a bunch of pics this week with members and investigators not knowing if we would be here in the coming week. Neither of us were transferred! we hew! so we´´ve got another 5 or 6 weeks here.
things with the language are awesome now. for the past week or two im at the point where i dont have problems talking or understanding so thats a blessing.
hmm what else is going on.. oh yeah, we got to watch all of conference exept the priesthood session. it was pretty good. ha the apostles use big words.. ha but it was fun. we have a lady in the ward that sings like a fire truck. so in the middle of the sessions when we stood to sing it was absolutely impossible not to laugh. thats how it usually is when shes in sacrament meeting.
dad, im not sure exactly what the problem is here with the numbers of missionaries. i think it has to do with a few things. its not quite as much of an expectation here. also i think alot of it has to do with a simple lack of testimony and family support. other than that im not sure. we´re working with 2 guys in the ward here 4 or 5 nights a week doing divisions with them. theyre both 18. one is pretty solid on going the other not so much but he´s coming around.
things are awesome. im best friends with my comp.
i love the people, the scenery and the gospel.
thanks for everything and for the emails! i love you all!!
Elder Christensen
ps. a short update on the hernia: The truth is, I'm not really sure exactly what is going on! He does have to get surgery and will get it someday in the next couple months, maybe tomorrow for all I know! So hopefully everything goes well with that, and he recovers well and I will write more when I know when and more details!
april 14th email and pics!
picture of one of the cool parks by our house. this is the one where that crazy guy asked if we were scared of guns and stuff.
This is after lunch with members. Elení and Lucas. lucas is one of the guys were woking with. he´ll be going on a mission in the next year hopefully.
hey fam!
everything here is awesome. everything is going well. this week was a good week for the most part. Douglas wasn´t baptized. that was the down point. the second time we had people at the church with the font filled and he didnt show. again on saturday after we clapped out side his house and knocked on the door and his window we spent hours in between lessons looking for him. the baptism was schelduled for 730 in the evening. we finally got ahold of him at 7. he said that he had been in him home all day and wouldnt open the door. the night before he fell to drugs again after nearly a month. the reason he wouldnt open the door or say anything was because the night before he didnt have any money. so.. conciquently people are looking for him to get there money which he doesnt have. we got ahold of him on money and went over to tell him we cant visit him anymore because he hasnt been true to his word and weve used so much time helping him that could be with other people. I realized that i have developed that "love for the people" that everyone talks about. it was seriously sad. we took a picture before we left (i put on a happy face) because we didnt know if we´d be transferred this week or not. and we were on our way. hes going to be moving soon so i wont see him again. i can only hope he finds his way out of this mess hes stuck in with his life and that his family sticks around.
we took a bunch of pics this week with members and investigators not knowing if we would be here in the coming week. Neither of us were transferred! we hew! so we´´ve got another 5 or 6 weeks here.
things with the language are awesome now. for the past week or two im at the point where i dont have problems talking or understanding so thats a blessing.
hmm what else is going on.. oh yeah, we got to watch all of conference exept the priesthood session. it was pretty good. ha the apostles use big words.. ha but it was fun. we have a lady in the ward that sings like a fire truck. so in the middle of the sessions when we stood to sing it was absolutely impossible not to laugh. thats how it usually is when shes in sacrament meeting.
dad, im not sure exactly what the problem is here with the numbers of missionaries. i think it has to do with a few things. its not quite as much of an expectation here. also i think alot of it has to do with a simple lack of testimony and family support. other than that im not sure. we´re working with 2 guys in the ward here 4 or 5 nights a week doing divisions with them. theyre both 18. one is pretty solid on going the other not so much but he´s coming around.
things are awesome. im best friends with my comp.
i love the people, the scenery and the gospel.
thanks for everything and for the emails! i love you all!!
Elder Christensen
Monday, April 12, 2010
april 7th email and pictures..
What a pretty place he's at! It is SO green and so pretty. I am so jealous of him! He sent some really cute pictures again this week, so here they are! And the titles are what Wes said about the pictures! enjoy...
just walking to an investigators home
us making dinner. all we had was hot dogs and tomato paste. ha so.. we ate
after dinner eating outside
we were walking to the home of and investigator who lived in a pretty area so we took a picture. and were using our snake faces. the mean face we give the snakes. ha
waiting for dinner to cook
and the email......
hey everyone!
whats crackin,its really cold here right now! yesterday was crazy! we had to wear sweaters! other that the weather change, not much new here, other than that the computer im typing on this time is weak sause. ha ghetto! we´re still just workin like crazy! we have a baptism this saturday because our investigator that had a date for last sunday didnt show up to the baptism. his mom scared him out of it. but hes firm this week and it will happen this saturday. ill sent pics of the baptism. i made a plan this month that every month ill study one Christ like atribute. this month is faith, its been interesting to study what things really mean and to study how i can live more like my Savior. Something that ive found is that if we have faith, we know with a surity that we Will recieve eternal life. Because if we have faith, we dont only have a hope of things promised but we will do the things necessary to get there. faith is a principal of action. mental or physical action. which moves you to choose the right. and on and on and eventually we find our selves at the feet of the master. hope you like the pictures this week, hope the fam is well and everyone is well!
TCHAU!!
i love you!
just walking to an investigators home
us making dinner. all we had was hot dogs and tomato paste. ha so.. we ate
after dinner eating outside
we were walking to the home of and investigator who lived in a pretty area so we took a picture. and were using our snake faces. the mean face we give the snakes. ha
waiting for dinner to cook
and the email......
hey everyone!
whats crackin,its really cold here right now! yesterday was crazy! we had to wear sweaters! other that the weather change, not much new here, other than that the computer im typing on this time is weak sause. ha ghetto! we´re still just workin like crazy! we have a baptism this saturday because our investigator that had a date for last sunday didnt show up to the baptism. his mom scared him out of it. but hes firm this week and it will happen this saturday. ill sent pics of the baptism. i made a plan this month that every month ill study one Christ like atribute. this month is faith, its been interesting to study what things really mean and to study how i can live more like my Savior. Something that ive found is that if we have faith, we know with a surity that we Will recieve eternal life. Because if we have faith, we dont only have a hope of things promised but we will do the things necessary to get there. faith is a principal of action. mental or physical action. which moves you to choose the right. and on and on and eventually we find our selves at the feet of the master. hope you like the pictures this week, hope the fam is well and everyone is well!
TCHAU!!
i love you!
Sunday, April 4, 2010
cute new pictures!
Some cute fun pictures! I love that he can just attach them to emails so I get them right away and they are already on the computer so I can just put them on his blog! He looks so cute, but still so skinny! Maybe he will fatten up before he comes home.. who knows! Enjoy the pictures!!
Mr. Mix Milkshake.. He says it's very popular there and very good!
A graveyard.. he says they're crazy there!
Near Centro, where they live
Said they got rained on BIG time this day.. it didn't even matter anymore. They were just jumping in puddles and everything because they were just walking home and completely drenched! good times!
in San Fransisco
Just outside the gates of Chamonixe
Mr. Mix Milkshake.. He says it's very popular there and very good!
A graveyard.. he says they're crazy there!
Near Centro, where they live
Said they got rained on BIG time this day.. it didn't even matter anymore. They were just jumping in puddles and everything because they were just walking home and completely drenched! good times!
in San Fransisco
Just outside the gates of Chamonixe
a little behind......
Life is crazy and busy as a college student. So, yes I have gotten a little behind on the blog. I will post the past 2 weeks of emails here and then some cute new pictures on a seperate post. Seems like Wes is doing incredible, he is a wonderful missionary just like we all knew he would be!
Email from March 31st...
hello everyone!!
i have to start off, dad thank you for your email! seriously. it got me way pumped! im pretty sure rocky music will be playing in the background the rest of the week! thank you!
Things here are awesome. seriously im loving everything. my companion is such a stud, and we are in an amazing area. lots of cool things happened this week!
i think it was friday, we went and ate in a neighbor hood called Chamonix. WOW.. so, this neighbor hood is in the outskirts of the map, but the map distorted things to fit it on there.. ha so we walked to this members house for just over an hour.. we thought we were lost forever but we made it! its a gated community and the guy at the gate took our visa numbers, our licence numbers and took pictures of us.. ha thats how rediculously nice it was. lots of the houses had their own futebol fields and all sorts of different things. but this community i guess is the 2nd best place to live in the world. because of the housing aswell as the greenery. the air is about as good as it gets. supposedly here in itatiba the air quality is good. the food was really weird though. ha but its all good.
We´re still teaching that couple celse and cleoniçi, we taught them the word of wisdom. we werent sure how it would go but it went so well. its amazing how everytime you have a lesson like that that you arent sure how your going to teach, i get reminded that its not me doing the converting, i just need to teach the truth and have faith, and the spirit will do the testifying.
We had our first run in with a crazy drug addict the other night. My comp only has 8 months in the field so it was a first for him too. we got off the bus, did a few contacts and were on our way home for the night when this guy came walking towards us saying something, we couldnt understand so we met him and spoke with him for a bit. he did the classsssic, pretend like i have interest in the church then ask for money to buy bread. (bread.. right........) so he did his routine, and we did ours. "sorry amigo we dont have money to give you, as missionaries we're volunteers we arent paid and we dont have money to give you sorry." so of coarse he starts his ahh what? i know you have money, how did you ride the bus if you dont have money? what happened to helping your neighbor? bla bla bla...... so we just said sorry we dont have anything for you, we didnt want to argue so we turned around and started leaving, at which point he got mad and started yelling at us. ha then it got good, he asked us if we were scared of guns a couple times, and then asked if we were scared of being kidnapped and ransomed!!!!!!!!! hahaha we just had to leave before he went completely crazy, it was funny. he hasnt said anything to us since. we see him just about everyday in the same park, but hopefully he´ll stay chill now.
General Conference this week!!!!! Wehew! it will be interesting to listen in portugues. ha im excited. we can watch it if we have investigators there with us but if not we cant so we have a bunch of investigators coming with us to listen to a prophet of god speak.
This week we were teaching a lesson is a neighborhood called Jardim Ipe, and at the end we always ask if they have family or neighbors that could use a prayer or anyone who is having a hard time. we were pointed to a neighbor whom supposedly had bad spirits, so we walked over after the lesson and clapped at the gate, and talked for while, but it turned out that she was just crazy.
This week has been really awesome working with our investigators, helping them get over problems and helping them with things in general and watching them grow, and change and become happier people. its been an awesome week.
My companion is a staight up stud. we´re having a great time. OH yeah, i just remembered, on sunday we had lunch at a members house and we got there and clapped and this thing came running around the corner and jumped up on the gate. not even joking, the first time ive been scared in a long time! ha seriously scared. this dog is the biggest thing ive ever seen, ha standing on all fours its head is mid torso on me. its was like a horse so we waited in the middle of the road for someone to come out. but it ended up being a nice dog. lunch was amazing as usual. im not sure how im not huge by now, i get stuffed full of food daily. but im fine with it.
This week our zone got an award for the most baptizing zone in the mission. also elder pedroso and i got an award for having certain numbers of key indicators in one day. its called Dia Fogo. fogo means big fire. dia means day. the word fogo is used here in the mission to signify work, or when the spirit is strong or things like that. sorry ha hard to discribe. but it jsut means we had a really good day of work!
anyway.. things are awesome here! im loving it! i hope everythings giong well! i love you all!
Wes
Email from March 24th...
Ópa!!!!
whass goin on??
things here are cool. just preachin the word.
things are ok with my health. i talked to sister castro deus at the multi zona and basically ive just been told to take it easy. but i got sick of that quick. im not going to take it easy for 2 years. so im just doing things like normal and if all the sudden it gets really bad ill go get it looked at. so ya its all good.
how are things with school out??
We´re teaching 3 people right now that are awesome. (not only three people. just 3 people that i want to talk about.) Daví, is 18 and way cool. he likes me a lot and is excited everyday when we go teach. he´s a trainer, and lives with his mom and siblings, and likes Bob Marley a lot. ha.. so i get a long with him well. hes excited about baptizm and his date is Abril 4th. The other 2 people are Celso and Cleoniçi. they are married and probably 40 years old. Celso is hillarious and loves us. cleoniçi always goes and gets water for us right when we arrive ha they´re awesome. but last night we went over and taught the atonement and we asked if we could start with a prayer and Celso said, yeah i want to say it! ha (usually people are very timid saying prayers in front of us so it was supprising). he started praying and just prayed for us. we started teaching them 3 days ago, and had taught 1 lesson before this prayer. we taught the restoration saturday, they came to church with us sunday and we went over monday for 10 minutes and tried to teach but Celso was way drunk and thought everything he said was hillarious and he wouldnt stop talking ha so we just gave them another part of the Book of Mormon to read and marked the same time for tuesday night. (last night). so,, this prayer meant a lot to me. this Catholic guy Celso just met us a few days ago, welcomed us into his home and loves us already. in his prayer he said, "God, thank you for these missionaries im my home. i knowyou guided them to my door. i know their work is hard and that people dont accept them but help them know that they are always welcome in my home for anything they need. They´re my friends, i love them, and they
will be my brothers forever. bless them with safety, heath, and love."
It was an awesome prayer. and it meant a lot. i know that we´re being guided to these homes. Its so amazing to me because there are so many people here but we are somehow guided to people like Daví, Celso, and Cleoniçi. its certainly not by chance. i know that the Lord is a larger part of this work than we know. im so greatful that he loved my enough to bear my sins and die for me.
Thanks for all of the love and support!
talk to you soon. I love you all!
-Wes
Email from March 31st...
hello everyone!!
i have to start off, dad thank you for your email! seriously. it got me way pumped! im pretty sure rocky music will be playing in the background the rest of the week! thank you!
Things here are awesome. seriously im loving everything. my companion is such a stud, and we are in an amazing area. lots of cool things happened this week!
i think it was friday, we went and ate in a neighbor hood called Chamonix. WOW.. so, this neighbor hood is in the outskirts of the map, but the map distorted things to fit it on there.. ha so we walked to this members house for just over an hour.. we thought we were lost forever but we made it! its a gated community and the guy at the gate took our visa numbers, our licence numbers and took pictures of us.. ha thats how rediculously nice it was. lots of the houses had their own futebol fields and all sorts of different things. but this community i guess is the 2nd best place to live in the world. because of the housing aswell as the greenery. the air is about as good as it gets. supposedly here in itatiba the air quality is good. the food was really weird though. ha but its all good.
We´re still teaching that couple celse and cleoniçi, we taught them the word of wisdom. we werent sure how it would go but it went so well. its amazing how everytime you have a lesson like that that you arent sure how your going to teach, i get reminded that its not me doing the converting, i just need to teach the truth and have faith, and the spirit will do the testifying.
We had our first run in with a crazy drug addict the other night. My comp only has 8 months in the field so it was a first for him too. we got off the bus, did a few contacts and were on our way home for the night when this guy came walking towards us saying something, we couldnt understand so we met him and spoke with him for a bit. he did the classsssic, pretend like i have interest in the church then ask for money to buy bread. (bread.. right........) so he did his routine, and we did ours. "sorry amigo we dont have money to give you, as missionaries we're volunteers we arent paid and we dont have money to give you sorry." so of coarse he starts his ahh what? i know you have money, how did you ride the bus if you dont have money? what happened to helping your neighbor? bla bla bla...... so we just said sorry we dont have anything for you, we didnt want to argue so we turned around and started leaving, at which point he got mad and started yelling at us. ha then it got good, he asked us if we were scared of guns a couple times, and then asked if we were scared of being kidnapped and ransomed!!!!!!!!! hahaha we just had to leave before he went completely crazy, it was funny. he hasnt said anything to us since. we see him just about everyday in the same park, but hopefully he´ll stay chill now.
General Conference this week!!!!! Wehew! it will be interesting to listen in portugues. ha im excited. we can watch it if we have investigators there with us but if not we cant so we have a bunch of investigators coming with us to listen to a prophet of god speak.
This week we were teaching a lesson is a neighborhood called Jardim Ipe, and at the end we always ask if they have family or neighbors that could use a prayer or anyone who is having a hard time. we were pointed to a neighbor whom supposedly had bad spirits, so we walked over after the lesson and clapped at the gate, and talked for while, but it turned out that she was just crazy.
This week has been really awesome working with our investigators, helping them get over problems and helping them with things in general and watching them grow, and change and become happier people. its been an awesome week.
My companion is a staight up stud. we´re having a great time. OH yeah, i just remembered, on sunday we had lunch at a members house and we got there and clapped and this thing came running around the corner and jumped up on the gate. not even joking, the first time ive been scared in a long time! ha seriously scared. this dog is the biggest thing ive ever seen, ha standing on all fours its head is mid torso on me. its was like a horse so we waited in the middle of the road for someone to come out. but it ended up being a nice dog. lunch was amazing as usual. im not sure how im not huge by now, i get stuffed full of food daily. but im fine with it.
This week our zone got an award for the most baptizing zone in the mission. also elder pedroso and i got an award for having certain numbers of key indicators in one day. its called Dia Fogo. fogo means big fire. dia means day. the word fogo is used here in the mission to signify work, or when the spirit is strong or things like that. sorry ha hard to discribe. but it jsut means we had a really good day of work!
anyway.. things are awesome here! im loving it! i hope everythings giong well! i love you all!
Wes
Email from March 24th...
Ópa!!!!
whass goin on??
things here are cool. just preachin the word.
things are ok with my health. i talked to sister castro deus at the multi zona and basically ive just been told to take it easy. but i got sick of that quick. im not going to take it easy for 2 years. so im just doing things like normal and if all the sudden it gets really bad ill go get it looked at. so ya its all good.
how are things with school out??
We´re teaching 3 people right now that are awesome. (not only three people. just 3 people that i want to talk about.) Daví, is 18 and way cool. he likes me a lot and is excited everyday when we go teach. he´s a trainer, and lives with his mom and siblings, and likes Bob Marley a lot. ha.. so i get a long with him well. hes excited about baptizm and his date is Abril 4th. The other 2 people are Celso and Cleoniçi. they are married and probably 40 years old. Celso is hillarious and loves us. cleoniçi always goes and gets water for us right when we arrive ha they´re awesome. but last night we went over and taught the atonement and we asked if we could start with a prayer and Celso said, yeah i want to say it! ha (usually people are very timid saying prayers in front of us so it was supprising). he started praying and just prayed for us. we started teaching them 3 days ago, and had taught 1 lesson before this prayer. we taught the restoration saturday, they came to church with us sunday and we went over monday for 10 minutes and tried to teach but Celso was way drunk and thought everything he said was hillarious and he wouldnt stop talking ha so we just gave them another part of the Book of Mormon to read and marked the same time for tuesday night. (last night). so,, this prayer meant a lot to me. this Catholic guy Celso just met us a few days ago, welcomed us into his home and loves us already. in his prayer he said, "God, thank you for these missionaries im my home. i knowyou guided them to my door. i know their work is hard and that people dont accept them but help them know that they are always welcome in my home for anything they need. They´re my friends, i love them, and they
will be my brothers forever. bless them with safety, heath, and love."
It was an awesome prayer. and it meant a lot. i know that we´re being guided to these homes. Its so amazing to me because there are so many people here but we are somehow guided to people like Daví, Celso, and Cleoniçi. its certainly not by chance. i know that the Lord is a larger part of this work than we know. im so greatful that he loved my enough to bear my sins and die for me.
Thanks for all of the love and support!
talk to you soon. I love you all!
-Wes
Sunday, March 21, 2010
a quick update
Wessy and his companion! He said this picture was his companion's idea.. I'm not so sure!
This is Wes's current companion.. Also a native Brazilian, but much lighter than the last one! Wes says he's a pretty cool guy!
This is Wes's current companion.. Also a native Brazilian, but much lighter than the last one! Wes says he's a pretty cool guy!
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
cute pictures!
So I know I'm way behind on what's been going on since Wes got to Brazil, and I promise to catch up someday.
But for today, I will just post his email he sent with cute pictures! He looks soo skinny! He told me last week that his belt didn't fit anymore so I asked him if I needed to send him one or if he could get one there. Then today he said, my belt fits again, not because I gained weight, I made a new hole! Ha and he said he has had to fix his shoes a few times already. Look how far he has come, he used to be like OCD about his shoes being clean and looking clean. Oh the life of a missionary :). So here is today's email and cute pictures!
hey yall!! whats going onn?!
things are good here! i got a new comp yesterday and he is awesome. elder pedroso. hes brazillian. we had a baptism on saturday and it was so cool, hisname is jaime. very cool guy and very excited about the church. we have lots of people we are working with right now to get them baptized who have accepted the baptism commitment and have a testimony of the B.o.m. just workin workin workin.im trying to send pictures but it wont work. grr! i hope things are going well there! the city im in is Itatiba. it is west of Campinas. and San francisco is far west in Itatiba. mom i got your dear elder yesterday! and no i dont get taxed for packages, so packages are welcome!!!
i cant believe its been 4 months! that makes it sound like a long time! ha it has gone so fast. its kinda crazy. sorry the emails kinda lame this week. i really dont have many storys or anything this time. just workin and searching for the elects! we´re thinking about doing baptismal commitments in each contact now. because there are so many people here ready to hear the message that spending 30 minutes in someones house that doesnt really want christ just honestly is wasting time that we could be teaching someone that is searching! so we´re making our contacts a little more bold. if they´re elect they´re elect. we hew! i figured out the pictures! i hope you can see them and i still look like the same person a bit!! anyway, i gotta run but i hope you are all doing well. i love you all!!
Elder Christensen
But for today, I will just post his email he sent with cute pictures! He looks soo skinny! He told me last week that his belt didn't fit anymore so I asked him if I needed to send him one or if he could get one there. Then today he said, my belt fits again, not because I gained weight, I made a new hole! Ha and he said he has had to fix his shoes a few times already. Look how far he has come, he used to be like OCD about his shoes being clean and looking clean. Oh the life of a missionary :). So here is today's email and cute pictures!
hey yall!! whats going onn?!
things are good here! i got a new comp yesterday and he is awesome. elder pedroso. hes brazillian. we had a baptism on saturday and it was so cool, hisname is jaime. very cool guy and very excited about the church. we have lots of people we are working with right now to get them baptized who have accepted the baptism commitment and have a testimony of the B.o.m. just workin workin workin.im trying to send pictures but it wont work. grr! i hope things are going well there! the city im in is Itatiba. it is west of Campinas. and San francisco is far west in Itatiba. mom i got your dear elder yesterday! and no i dont get taxed for packages, so packages are welcome!!!
i cant believe its been 4 months! that makes it sound like a long time! ha it has gone so fast. its kinda crazy. sorry the emails kinda lame this week. i really dont have many storys or anything this time. just workin and searching for the elects! we´re thinking about doing baptismal commitments in each contact now. because there are so many people here ready to hear the message that spending 30 minutes in someones house that doesnt really want christ just honestly is wasting time that we could be teaching someone that is searching! so we´re making our contacts a little more bold. if they´re elect they´re elect. we hew! i figured out the pictures! i hope you can see them and i still look like the same person a bit!! anyway, i gotta run but i hope you are all doing well. i love you all!!
Elder Christensen
Friday, March 5, 2010
phone call
Okay so I know I am SO behind!! School all of a sudden got out of control and I feel like I don't have a long block of time I can just sit down and do this. But I'm going to try and do a little bit at a time and get all the way caught up of what's been going on in the past 3 weeks! I will start from the very beginning.... the much awaited phone call from the airport. I took a few notes of things that he told me had been going on in the MTC and what he had heard about his mission, etc. So here goes..
-first off, he told me about how he almost got in a fight with a British guy who was bashing American in the MTC.. ha ha wes
was like "do you have a problem?" and I guess the kid backed off. It's good for him to practice self conrol though. They were
told they would probably be mugged atleast a couple times on their mission (SCARY!!) and that they can't fight back AT ALL!
I guess the gangsare super crazy, so they can't cause any problems. If you know Wes, you know that he loves football and he
loves standing up for himself, so this could be a challenge! No I'm sure he will be totally fine!
-He told me that on the way to the airport he took tons of pictures out the window of places he had memories of! Kind of
crazy
when you think about not seeing all those places again for 2 whole years!
-He heard in the MTC that Campinas is a really nice area. He said it's like bigger houses than other places and just a pretty
city!
He told me that there is a big University there and the dental students go out and find monkey's in the streets and sedate
them and work on their teeth! I'm not sure if that's true but if it is that's kind of funny and super crazy!
-Apparantly there are massive snakes in Brazil! Like huge, he's hoping he doesn't run into any of those
-He met this kid from another district the last few days they were in the MTC cause they were both waiting for their visa's. His
name is Elder Royder (not sure how to spell that) and he said they were so much alike! I guess they liked all the same music
and sports, etc. He said they should've been best friends in high school! So hopefully he can somehow stay in touch after the
mission!
-The pictures i posted below that says missionary model? I guess he didn't know his companion was taking them, they were
just joking around and then he forgot to delete them so he sent them to me and was super embarrassed!
-He said when he got there they would be able to exercise in the morning and he got a cool workout program from this kid
named Elder Reedhead from Arizona that he was excited to try! I haven't heard how it's working out, I'll have to ask!
-He lost 20 pounds in the MTC!!! And he is continuing to lose as he's been down there. He said in his email this week that his
belt is too big, won't even fit on the tightest thing! I thought maybe he was just losing muscle but I guess his waste is getting
smaller too!! So crazy!
-I tried to complain to him about school on the phone and then he told me they had to go to classes for 5 hours straight!!! That
made me feel a LOT better about my 50 minute classes. 5 hours is a really long time!
Those are just a few things that I wrote down that he told me on the phone! He sounded a little nervous but way excited to get down there and get to work!! It was so fun to talk to him, but hard to get off the phone! Felt like I was saying goodbye all over again! So yeah, he sounded awesome and he's still doing awesome!
-first off, he told me about how he almost got in a fight with a British guy who was bashing American in the MTC.. ha ha wes
was like "do you have a problem?" and I guess the kid backed off. It's good for him to practice self conrol though. They were
told they would probably be mugged atleast a couple times on their mission (SCARY!!) and that they can't fight back AT ALL!
I guess the gangsare super crazy, so they can't cause any problems. If you know Wes, you know that he loves football and he
loves standing up for himself, so this could be a challenge! No I'm sure he will be totally fine!
-He told me that on the way to the airport he took tons of pictures out the window of places he had memories of! Kind of
crazy
when you think about not seeing all those places again for 2 whole years!
-He heard in the MTC that Campinas is a really nice area. He said it's like bigger houses than other places and just a pretty
city!
He told me that there is a big University there and the dental students go out and find monkey's in the streets and sedate
them and work on their teeth! I'm not sure if that's true but if it is that's kind of funny and super crazy!
-Apparantly there are massive snakes in Brazil! Like huge, he's hoping he doesn't run into any of those
-He met this kid from another district the last few days they were in the MTC cause they were both waiting for their visa's. His
name is Elder Royder (not sure how to spell that) and he said they were so much alike! I guess they liked all the same music
and sports, etc. He said they should've been best friends in high school! So hopefully he can somehow stay in touch after the
mission!
-The pictures i posted below that says missionary model? I guess he didn't know his companion was taking them, they were
just joking around and then he forgot to delete them so he sent them to me and was super embarrassed!
-He said when he got there they would be able to exercise in the morning and he got a cool workout program from this kid
named Elder Reedhead from Arizona that he was excited to try! I haven't heard how it's working out, I'll have to ask!
-He lost 20 pounds in the MTC!!! And he is continuing to lose as he's been down there. He said in his email this week that his
belt is too big, won't even fit on the tightest thing! I thought maybe he was just losing muscle but I guess his waste is getting
smaller too!! So crazy!
-I tried to complain to him about school on the phone and then he told me they had to go to classes for 5 hours straight!!! That
made me feel a LOT better about my 50 minute classes. 5 hours is a really long time!
Those are just a few things that I wrote down that he told me on the phone! He sounded a little nervous but way excited to get down there and get to work!! It was so fun to talk to him, but hard to get off the phone! Felt like I was saying goodbye all over again! So yeah, he sounded awesome and he's still doing awesome!
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
he's leavin' on a jet plane! finally!!
Wes is finally on his way to Brazil!! He's probably boarding his flight in Salt Lake right about now. He flies to Dallas and has a 4 hour layover there and then he'll finally be on his way to BRAZIL!!! He sounded excited but nervous on the phone! I think he's ready to get ther and start serving, just doesn't know what to expect! It was so good to talk to him! He told me he's lost 20 pounds in the mtc!! That's a lot! He's gonna come home being so little and skinny! I will post more information after I talk to him when he's in Dallas. Not sure how long it will take to hear from him once he gets there or how he can even communicate! I will have to get used to not sending same day packages and getting letters once a week! But I'm just so happy he finally gets to start his real mission and see the difference he can make in people's lives!! That's all for now!
Sunday, February 7, 2010
GOOD NEWS!!!
Wes finally got his visa!! He got it on Friday, and is leaving for Brazil on Tuesday. He is scared I'm sure, but he is really excited to get to Brazil and to get out of the mtc after 3 long months!! Here are some pictures of the last month in the mtc. Very eventful, with a few trips to the doctor! Enjoy!!
okay so this looks like bad news, but it's actually good news! Wes had a bump in his finger that he got removed and it's recovering nicely!
Wes has become quite the photographer in the MTC, as you can see!
Wes and some guys.. not sure who! Probably in his district..
Wes and his district! Probably the last one taken.. everyone started getting their visas!
Wesley and Sam, one of his best friends from high school!
missionary model?!?
another great pic by the up and coming photographer.
Wes and Sam again, notice wes's massive cast!
Wes and his companion at the temple
Going to the doctor to get his warts off!
NASTY WARTS!! ewww.
Wes and Caleb Loveland, a friend from high school that's going to Mexico
Wes and his good friend in his district Elder Crosby
okay so this looks like bad news, but it's actually good news! Wes had a bump in his finger that he got removed and it's recovering nicely!
Wes has become quite the photographer in the MTC, as you can see!
Wes and some guys.. not sure who! Probably in his district..
Wes and his district! Probably the last one taken.. everyone started getting their visas!
Wesley and Sam, one of his best friends from high school!
missionary model?!?
another great pic by the up and coming photographer.
Wes and Sam again, notice wes's massive cast!
Wes and his companion at the temple
Going to the doctor to get his warts off!
NASTY WARTS!! ewww.
Wes and Caleb Loveland, a friend from high school that's going to Mexico
Wes and his good friend in his district Elder Crosby
Sunday, January 24, 2010
update..
So I know no one really reads this, but maybe this update for me to read in the future and remember what was going on with Wes right now on his mission.
Latest update on the visas from wes.. he said he thinks they will be at the mtc for 5 more weeks then go stateside. But he has no idea.. no one really does. That's just his latest thought I guess, so we will see. Also, Wes had surgery on Friday on his finger at the hospital. I haven't heard how it went yet, but I'm sure it went well. It was just a small surgery so I think he's okay. But one of my neighbor's, Maryanne Bushnell told my mom today that her and her son Brody saw him at the hospital on Friday. Brody knows Wes so he went and talked to him and his mom asked him who he was and he said that's Wes, Kelsey's boyfriend. Then she told my mom, "Joeen, tell Kelsey he's glowing!" This made me a little teary eyed. Everyone that has told me they have seen him, (I know a few people that work at the mtc, etc.) says that he looks great and happy. So from what I hear he is doing awesome, which is so good to hear! That's all the updates for now. More to come when I get more..
Latest update on the visas from wes.. he said he thinks they will be at the mtc for 5 more weeks then go stateside. But he has no idea.. no one really does. That's just his latest thought I guess, so we will see. Also, Wes had surgery on Friday on his finger at the hospital. I haven't heard how it went yet, but I'm sure it went well. It was just a small surgery so I think he's okay. But one of my neighbor's, Maryanne Bushnell told my mom today that her and her son Brody saw him at the hospital on Friday. Brody knows Wes so he went and talked to him and his mom asked him who he was and he said that's Wes, Kelsey's boyfriend. Then she told my mom, "Joeen, tell Kelsey he's glowing!" This made me a little teary eyed. Everyone that has told me they have seen him, (I know a few people that work at the mtc, etc.) says that he looks great and happy. So from what I hear he is doing awesome, which is so good to hear! That's all the updates for now. More to come when I get more..
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
email from wes to kelsey.. january 19th
kels hi!!! how in the world are you?? i hope so so good! and maybe sleeping right now?? :) so another week has gone!!its gonna be gone before you know it!! make the best out of this time that you have to grow close to your savior! his heart did break for you. so he could empathise with you and you could have someone to lean on while im gone. lean on him!! he wants to comfort you just let him! every day i feel like i get a glimpse of how much your savior loves you and how he feels about you. i'll talk to you soon in my letter!! im out of time in 30 seconds so i gtg! your the best!
Love
Wes
Love
Wes
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Letter right before Christmas
Family
Just so I don't forget, Mom, yes you can for sure sell the sound system, Chandler can have those jeans for sure! (Only if he rocks em like a beast:) ) I hope christmas is so awesome! I want to hear about everything! :) Our district has 12 people. 9 Elders 3 Sisters. Everyones been getting presents so you don't need to send any for anyone. How are things? I'm sitting by Sam Atoa at the fireside right now, we ushered tonight so we got dope seats! Neil L. Anderson is speaking tonight, his wife is speaking right now. Time is getting faster and faster. That didn't make sense. Time is moving faster and faster. Things are good here! I tell everyone about you guys all the time! In fact, last night I told my room mates last night about how dad and I have this little, scare each other war going on and about how dad made me pee everywhere when he hid under a blanket in my room! Ha good times! I hope this Christmas is the best any of you have ever had! P.S. the red package I got today.. I'm assuming it a christmas present ya? I just didn't want to open it. But now that I think of it.. it's wrapped like a christmas present so that's a really stupid question :) oh well! Thanks for all the support and all that you do! I have a favor to ask! Will you send me a tie? It's textured. Super old school. Like white with brown and orange. That'd be cool! :) I love you all so much! Be safe! I'll talk to you all so soon! Now, everyone hug and kiss each other. :) Until Chandler feels it! Ha ah man, love you guys! Bubye!
-Elder Wes
P.S. Fav. Scripture right now is, Isaiah 40:3
Just so I don't forget, Mom, yes you can for sure sell the sound system, Chandler can have those jeans for sure! (Only if he rocks em like a beast:) ) I hope christmas is so awesome! I want to hear about everything! :) Our district has 12 people. 9 Elders 3 Sisters. Everyones been getting presents so you don't need to send any for anyone. How are things? I'm sitting by Sam Atoa at the fireside right now, we ushered tonight so we got dope seats! Neil L. Anderson is speaking tonight, his wife is speaking right now. Time is getting faster and faster. That didn't make sense. Time is moving faster and faster. Things are good here! I tell everyone about you guys all the time! In fact, last night I told my room mates last night about how dad and I have this little, scare each other war going on and about how dad made me pee everywhere when he hid under a blanket in my room! Ha good times! I hope this Christmas is the best any of you have ever had! P.S. the red package I got today.. I'm assuming it a christmas present ya? I just didn't want to open it. But now that I think of it.. it's wrapped like a christmas present so that's a really stupid question :) oh well! Thanks for all the support and all that you do! I have a favor to ask! Will you send me a tie? It's textured. Super old school. Like white with brown and orange. That'd be cool! :) I love you all so much! Be safe! I'll talk to you all so soon! Now, everyone hug and kiss each other. :) Until Chandler feels it! Ha ah man, love you guys! Bubye!
-Elder Wes
P.S. Fav. Scripture right now is, Isaiah 40:3
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