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!!! :)