June 6, 2011

Hola familia , This week was pretty good but diferent. I got my second area ha ha, and I love it! It's a lot further away from the city and it's not flat. It has a bunch of hills that look more like mountains, but they are too small. It's kind of like a canyon and our area winds through it. My companion is elder Villacis and I was called as senior companion. We aren't in a ward. We're in a branch. So it was a big change, because I am used to alot more members. But there was only like 25 people or so who went to church. But we are going to work hard to find those who have been prepared for the gospel. I like contacting in the hills because the people are very humble here and the houses are cool. They are built with the roofs that are made with those plants and the walls are mud and wood. It's pretty crazy. My comp doesn't know the limits of our area, and we can drive for an hour in our area in a bus and not reach the end. It's really pretty and I will be sure to take some good pics. But we have been teaching a bunch and we taught this guy who is around 70 years old and his wife cant hear really well, and she can't read. But he is very sincere and so is his wife. She is very humble and happy. It's hard to explain but its really cool. We are trying to figure out how to teach her because she can't read or hear very well. We also did some service just me and my comp and we helped clean up where she lives. It's sad because she had some kind of disease in her leg and they had to amputate it. After that her husband abondoned her and she was left with the kids. So they work to support and help her and she stays in her bed the whole day, We swept the floor which was only dirt and gathered up the garbage. It's sad what she has to go through but she has a son who is serving a mission right now and he is the only member, so we will continue to help her and teach her the gospel. We hope that things will work out. It was funny though the night of transfers. The family who cooks for us called and asked if I had to transfer because they didn't want me to leave. I said yes and they all said, "oh" through the phone . It is sad to leave because we got a long so well. They were an awesome family to spend time with. We got to teach the mom, her nephew, and neice. I hope in the future things will continue to go well for them. My comp is a good worker and knows the gospel. We get along way well too, He has exactly a year more then I do in the mission. It was crazy in the morning we were driving to the internet place in a micro and a road block just started with poe`le shouting and they threw tires in the road and big tree stumps and tire rims, so no one could pass and we heard fireworks banging. We left just in time to not get put in the middle of it, but it was crazy ha ha. But my Spanish is continuing to improve and I love feeling the spirit strong. When we teach, I know my Savior's hand is in this work and will lead me to those who have been prepared and need the gospel. I love all of you a ton and love hearing from you Elder Christoffersen

May 23, 2011

Hola familia. This week was a week of many experiences. Especially in contacting people. We had some funny and interesting experiences. First we contacted this Jehovas witness and she started to tell us where scriptures are that say we shouldn't have a prophet or something like that. She told us which scriptures in the bible. So we said that we have the bible, lets look them up. So we looked up the first one and it wasn't where she said it was, ha ha. She tried to repeat it from memory and my comp said "oh thats found in this part", and he looked it up and explained it to her. She then gave us another scripture, and we looked it up and it wasn't there either and it just happend to talk about prophets and apostles and teachers. It was great and we read this. She said "oh well its time for my nap. I'm very tired. It was nice talking with you." then she went back into her house. Then we contacted this African guy and he just happened to know English, Spanish, Portugese,French, and his language in Africa. He was very intelligent! He was also a professer in Oklahoma and in Brazil. He is way against almost all the Christian religions because they had wars in the past. But he said he believes in some source of an almighty power, and it has a wierd name. But he believes in Christ,so that was very cool. We're gonna try to see if he will let us visit, even though he said he doesn't want to talk about religion. Then we contacted this guy that told us we could teach him and then he wasn't there for three days straight or couldn't listen. But we were persistent and he let us in Saturday. The funny thing is that his son is a cock fighting trainer. He has like 8 cages of these roosters that he trains to fight. They cost around 500 dollars. The cock fighting is way popular here and you can win 5 to 10 grand if you win. But it was way funny. He was telling us how you can tell a good fighting rooster from another. But we taught him and he promised us he would go to church this coming week. Before we could ask when we could visit him he said "but can you visit me between Sundays when there isn't church so I can learn more?" and we said of course. It was way cool that he wanted to learn and was willing to ask. Then we contacted this guy yesterday who has a girlfriend and a kid. He really wants to marry her but he says they are having a lot of problems. And he wants us to help him become a good father and a good example. We also were talking to him and he told us he wants his wife to dress modestly and he asked what we thought about modesty because other churchs don't care to much. We showed him "For the Strength of the Youth"pamplet and he pointed to one of the girls and said that this is how I want my wife to dress. It's way cool and it shows he has been prepared for the gospel. Ricardo was confirmed a member yesterday and Jhampier passed his baptismal interview. We are still looking hard for families to teach. We had a very spiritual experience with this mom and her son. They had been baptized in the Catholic church but we taught them about baptism. The spirit was so strong. The mom had this look on her face of doubt when we started teaching. But after teaching her through the power of the holy ghost, she accepted to be baptized if she learns to know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and if she finds the Book of Mormon to be true . We will continue to work hard. With diligence and obedience,you truly reap what you sow. Love you guys so much, Elder Christoffersen

May 30, 2011

Hola Familia. How's it going? My week was definitely interesting. But all in all it was another good week in the mish. We worked really hard and had some good trials. A lot of the people weren't letting us in to their houses to teach. They had a lot of excuses and such, but we kept working hard through our trials. Then at the end of the week when we had our investigator, Jhampier's baptism, he told us he couldn't do it that day, and scheduled it for Sunday. So I was pretty sad, but we kept working hard. Everything turned back around when I saw the investigators that we were priviledged to teach and baptize come to church. Even the less actives that we have taught came to church. This made me way happy and I knew without a doubt that my work was not and will never be in vain to the Lord. We never know who or how we are helping people when we are serving the Lord. It has a profound affect on many people. But I got permission from the President to go eat dinner for Mother's day here on the 27th and eat dinner with the mom and daughter we baptized. They gave us two big plates of food to eat and I don't know how I ate it all, but it was awesome! We got to give the grandma a libro de mormon in quecheua. It's a language here that some of the citizens speak. Some of them can't speak Spanish. But she was happy and she is attending Church and will most likely be baptized soon. Then we got to eat dinner with the family that cooks for us and we had lasagna. I love lasagna! It was so good. We gave the mom a bible and some gum from United States ha ha. She loves the gum and wanted a bible that had the old and new testament in it, because her Catholic bible only has the new testement. She isn't a member. Only her daughter is, and she is secretary in the relief society of the stake. I don't know if that is right in English. But I was privileged to baptize Jhampiert yesterday. It made me very happy. He has been an investigator for years and finally accepted to be baptized. He said the water was freezing and his feet were numb, but everything went well. But something sad happened. There is a mother of this member in our ward. We were talking to her and her mother Thursday night, and then she died the next day on Mother's day. It was way sad. The other thing that was sad was that her mom wasn't a member her whole life. She even supported her son and her daughter to go on missions. She just didn't believe. She finally gained a testimony and accepted to be baptized, and then she passed away. I felt way sad, but I had this strong feeling that everything was perfectly fine for her because she was willing to be baptized and because of the Temple work for the dead. It was a strong feeling and I got teary eyed with this feeling and for the member talking about her mom. But Transfers(cambios) are this week, so we'll see if I will move areas or have 6 more months in Bajio ha ha. I will let you know next Monday. Things are great, and my health is good. On Wednesday I can even start exercising again. Thanks so much for all of your love and support. I will continue to serve faithfully. Elder Christoffersen

May 9, 2011

Hola familia. Crazy news! First of all my companion had an emergency transfer to Beni at 10:30 pm last night. The zone leader called and said that my comp had to pack up and leave. So now I have a new companion. His name is Elder Castro and he is from La Paz Bolivio. So another latino companion. It's good stuff. We were both way sad when we heard this. He wanted to call the mission president and ask to stay here. But he flew to his area in Beni in the jungle this morning and we had to leave by 5 pm. It was so fast. But my companion seems to be a really good missionary, and I am ready to work hard with him. I felt though like yesterday when I was talking, I made it seem like it is easy to get baptisms here, but in reality you only have success if you are really obedient and work hard. There are missionaries here that haven't baptized for 6 months. But I know that through diligence and hard work, that you will recieve a lot of success. So I couldnt send the mail off today (sorry Calli and Carli). Next week I should be. We couldn't with all the transferring. But this week was extra special. One of the reasons was because during one of our lessons we were teaching the spirit was so strong and we were saying things we hadn't before and promising blessings. It really felt like the power and authority that is promised to the missionaries. It went so well and when we taught about Joseph Smith it felt awesome. Me and my comp were really teaching with a lot of unity. We have been getting along way well and things were flowing great, and now he had to get transferred ha ha. I guess that's just what happens. But I will still work hard with my comp and develope strong unity with him too. We didn't get to baptize Hno Ricardo because he was in a diffferent city working and he couldnt make it home in time. So we are going to put a different date down for him to be baptized. He was willing to be baptized way late but we couldn't do that . But we got to help in getting Sayuri Tasima baptized. Her father baptized her and even though her real mom doesn't want her to be baptized. She knew it was right and wanted her to be because she knows this church is true, and so is the baptism that we perform. It was great talking to you guys yesterday. It was hard to say good bye. But til Christmas ha ha. It will be a good time and I will have great stories and experiences to share with you guys. I think that one of the hardest parts of talking to you guys, was hearing the nephews and nieces and their voices. It's all good. We have found a lot of good investigators this week and we got to teach the first vision a lot. Every time I bear my testimony of Joseph Smith seeing God and Jesus Christ, my testimony grows stronger and stronger. It's real. Nothing can burn in your chest that strong and be false. The holy ghost testifies of this and no one can deny it. It's so powerful. I know what I'm doing will bless lives more then I can understand. I will always press forward with dilligence, obedience and with all my heart I love you guys so much and hope you're receiving blessings from my service. Love you tons and I'll talk to you soon. Elder Christoffersen

May 16, 2011

Hola Familia, My new comp is a great worker and he is willing to improve. So in our service it is definitely a good thing our personalities are a little different. But it's all good, because we both are strong in obedience and we know the reason we're here. This week passed by way fast and I learned a lot and had many good experiences. I am starting to improve a lot faster with my Spanish, thanks to the help of the spirit. It's pretty crazy how much you can learn in a day and learn every day how you can improve to be a better missionary. I realized that you can always improve in using the spirit and recognizing what the holy ghost is testifying that we need to do. I baptized Bryan Friday and it felt awesome to be a tool in the Lord's hands and help bring another person closer to Him. It's not just baptizing the person, you also need to make sure they have all that they need to be able to attend church on their own and to know the importance of enduring to the end. It's a big responsibility for the missionaries to have to do this as well. But we are working hard with our converts and we're recieving a lot of blessings. The mom and the daughter that I was privileged to baptize are very active and don't miss a week. She also went out of her way to ask me for help filling out her tithing. She really doesn't have much to give and doesn't earn much. But she is will to pay because it's a commandment, and she knows she will recieve blessings from it. It's always a joy to see her and talk to her at church. We are working hard to find families to teach. We found one family that we just happpened to contact outside of the church. it was way cool and they were way willing to listen to our message. So I hope that we can make everything work out for them. Also we are teaching a few others. We were walking past this park where this guy was sitting. He looked way depressed. So we contacted him and he told us he broke up with his girlfriend. So we shared a short message with him and gave him a pamphlet. He told us he would come to the church and explained to us how he read in the scriptures and felt that the Catholic church was wrong. It's the first time I have ever heard someone here say that the Catholic church is incorrect, ha ha. It was great and by the way Ryan, he had a new Yankees bracelet, ha ha. It was cool. The Lord is truly here for us always, and protects us. He will always provide for those who show their love by obeying His commandments. I am thankful for this opportunity to show my love for my Savior, family,friends, and my ward. Love you and miss you tons, Elder Christoffersen

May 2, 2011

Hola familia. Another good week here in Bolivia, but this week was a little bit different, ha ha. It was like 95 degrees here and a lot of humidity! My comp and I were sweating bullets! We kept saying, please bring the cold and clouds. It's Crazy because most of Bolivia is under the clouds, but our area of Bajio was splitting the clouds just enough for the blazing sun to shine through, haha. Then the next day there was a circle of no clouds and the sun was shining through again in our area, ha ha. But afterwards, I think we got our request answered, because today and yesterday were way cold! So "ask and ye shall recieve". But thanks dad for not letting me leave without my thermals because they are very nice to have in the cold here. But the good experiences are that this week we have two baptisms. The daughter will be baptized by her dad and then the 17 year old was asked by our district leader who he wanted to baptize him. So he was asking me who gets to do it, and I said anyone who is worthy can. So he said "I want you to do it Elder Christoffer", ha ha. (that is what all of the people here call me if they dont know how to sound out our last name.) But this was so awesome and made me feel way good. So I will have the privilege of baptizing him this week. He is an awesome investigator and has gone through a lot. He had drinking problems but he's willing to give up his achohol for the Lord and he will read the Book of Mormon now and pray when he is discouraged instead of drinking to get over his problems. We are also working with this 28 year old guy who is an awesome investigator. I love being able to teach him. He says that in his heart he feels that all of this is true and he wants to believe, but in his head it's different because his whole family is of a different religion. He also works for this school that is Evangelico, so it's been rough. But he says he is prayinjg to get an answer and we fasted for him so I am praying things work out for him. I also got to share a verse from Matthew that says "the spirit is willing but the body is weak." And how our spirit is always willing to do what is right and to know the things of God but the body is weak. A lot of times we do things for more of what our body wants instead of what our spirit wants and needs. But another experience I had was that I was having trouble for awhile talking in Spànish this week and I didn't know why. I got down on myself for a day, and I tried to study harder. But then I realized that I have been doing good and I have enough Spanish to teach, I have taught and they have understood, and the words came well. So truly what I need to do is rely more on the Spirit because that is what helps me out and brings the words to me. I realized without relying on the Spirit I can do ok, but with the Spirit it's a whole different world. You can feel the power of the Spirit testifying of truths. It's an incredible feeling that you can't describe in worlds. Thanks a ton for your love and support. I will talk to you Sunday. Love, your son, Elder CHristoffersen