Letter from Sept 22nd

Thanks for your words of wisdom Dad. Your right about me finding the elect people but it is still sad to see those who don’t want to change or dont' have strength or the will to change. Most of the people here are old so they have a hard time remembering what we teach! It is also really hard to help them understand that they need to stop practicing their ceremonies because it breaks the first 2 commandments! I don’t know maybe those are not very good things to say to help them.

There are a couple of people here who say they know the bible very well and we end up having bible bashes. My companion hates these kinds of situations but I love them! Thanks for those scriptures that you sent me. I know I will probably use them.

Everything at home sounds like it is going well. You mentioned hiking in your last letter Dad. When you guys come and pick me up in two years, I will have to show you some awesome hikes! Yes, it does include some cliff dwellings. Oh and by the way, next month I will be needing some winter gear, because it is getting pretty cold. Well, that is it for now. I know things will work out for you guys! Be Safe!

Love Devon

Letter from Sept. 21st

Hey,

Thanks for the news update on some of the things that have been going on. I guess I have a few more updates about what has been going on here. We did not make it to the fair in Window Rock because we already had plans. It is an extra trip we can’t really afford. We only have 1,500 miles per month we can use. We are planning on having 4 baptisms this next month unless I get transferred out next week or something but most likely not. I haven’t gotten any packages other than my bike but I am sure they are on their way.
So I found out that everyone in our zone are total video freaks but I am still the biggest of them all! The only people I can really talk to without someone getting all weirded out is an Elder Harbin and an Elder Shreeve and a sister missionary who is obsessed with Assassins Creed like myself! So that is pretty fun to talk to them.
If you have sent music I could really use it. We are in the car a lot and at night it is super nice to have something to listen to. It can be any genre as long as it isn’t intense music. Anything that is uplifting or makes you feel good is okay.
Teaching is going better but it is still a challenge to make people come to church. I am trying to be nice to these people but I am too bold when it comes to teaching. Sometimes they get a bit ruffled when I teach the lessons because I am so bold but I am doing better. I do love the people I teach and they teach me more patience because they think very slowly and take their time in responding.

I am so grateful that I have such a wonderful family! I love you so much mom and dad. You guys are the best! Tell everyone I love them!

Love, Me

Letters from Devon

Sorry everyone I am a little behind on the information from Devon's handwritten letters. The following blogs are from 2 letters we received from Devon last week.

Happy reading!

Yah Tee!

Yat tee! (Hello)
This week has been pretty fun but it has also been rough. We were never able to extend our baptismal dates because everyone ditched us!! I also don't know what is going on with the mail. It hasn't shown up at all for the last 2 weeks because the mission office holds it during transfer week till they know were everyone is going!! But other than that I should be ok.
My new companion Elder Marple is pretty fun!! We both can cook and we taught ourselves how to cook rice in a crockpot!! That is great that grandma and grandpa are doing well and that they had fun on their trip! People here have had huge gardens as well this year and next spring they are planning to start a town garden in Tohatchi at the church so hopefully that goes well.
When winter rolls around people don't have gas heaters except for the missionaries and at the church so we go and chop woods for a ton of people! Yes, that is what I said chop woods. People here have funny accents like for pants they say "pantses" and they also say things like "talkings so funny stuff" like that so its fun to hear how they talk!
It has already snowed in Flagstaff and from what I have heard everyone is expecting this winter to come early and to be very cold. Some gloves and a scarf would be great!
I hope everyone is doing well and I'm so glad you guys haven't killed each other yet without me being there. So just hang in there for two more years and I'll be back!! If anyone wants to read the Book of Mormon with me I'm in Alma Chapter 30 so if you would like to start reading there we can like share everything that we have learned each week. Does that sound good?
I have taught priesthood three times and have given two talks and I also take care of the sacrament!! I'm so gratefull for all of your support and your strength and your testimonies! It really helps me to be able to do stuff like that.

Love, Elder Christensen

Staying in Tohatchi

Well, todays weekly email is going to full of news! First off I'm not getting transfered but my companion is. My new companion is someone I have met before in fact he stayed the night with his companion during zone conference! I haven't gotten any mail since Wednesday and I am dying!! They hold it the Wednesday before transfers so they can send it to the right place and it doesnt get lost. Other than that I am doing well.

Some of the investigators we have been teaching or rather talking to are some wonderfully weird hippies lol! Their names are Barbra and Joseph and they are the coolest people and they are super smart! They are artists now both of them gave up their huge careers to live in Tohatchi!. Barbra was a biochemist for along time and got into cloning! She had to quit 4 years ago because they were cloning people and the people in her office would stare at her all day. It kind of creeped her out and she couldn't sleep so she quit! Anyway she has alot of crazy stories like that. She is a trained medicine woman but doesn't practice it because she says it's just not her thing! Joseph her husband is also crazy smart and was a neuro-surgeon! It's nice to talk to them.

I haven't had anything good to eat yet besides some steak. I have to be honest though, Navajo food is really bland and tastes like corn but other than that its okay. Well I have a busy day planned so TTFN!

I'll send pictures as soon as I get the new memory card!!

Love ya!
Elder Christensen

Dinhabizzahd!

Well hey thanks for the email! I love you guys and I am grateful for your love and support! Things here are getting so much better everyday because I just quit caring about some of the numbers and stuff lol. I love how I can do that!! Any way, this weeks email is short because I have had kind of a wierd week. We have been helping some elders in our mission with baptisms because they have been so busy. In the last two weeks they have had 9 dates set and 6 baptisms. They just set more today so we are pumped!! And we found 6 invetigators in one day and we will be setting dates for them next week so I'm really excited!! We have really picked things up here in Tohatchi and we will be setting a record with baptisms here if all our dates follow up! This week I have had some wierd stuff to eat like smoked blue corn which is gross and mutton!! Anyway not much else has happend other than just helping people prepare for winter! It has also rained a ton down here which has been really nice! Ok so my word of the week is Dinhabizzahd which means "word of the people" or basicaly it's what the language is called and no its not Navajo. Well its good to hear from all y'all and keep me posted on things. I will keep you all in my prayers.

Love,
Elder Christensen

Super Busy Week!

My weekly e-mail to y'all this week is kind of short because it has been super busy for me! Last week there was a Zone Leader Conference and all of the leaders and elders went to Farmington. Last Sunday night we stayed in Gallup with the Zone Leaders and Monday and Tuesday I spent hanging out with some of the other elders. I do believe that the timing for this conference was definatley inspired. I went to a lot of appointments with Elder Totten and Elder Hunsaker. There was a family they wanted to extend a baptism date to. We got talking with them and we got into the lesson about the commandments. The Zone Leader extended a baptism commitment to the kids because the mom is already a member and she has 4 kids. Anyway they extended a date and commited them to be baptized. I felt inspired to ask the dad a question, "Brother Smith as you come to know these things are true will you be baptized with your family?" He hesitated but said he would! It has been great to see the spirit work on someone because it makes them think about things that they might not have ever thought about before. Then the spirit testifies to them that what they are learning is right! So that was on Tuesday. When my companion and I returned we had a really good day of teaching in Tohatchi. Then the Zone Leaders wanted to go on exchanges so then I ended up in Gallup on Thursday. We went looking for potentials and talked to some Nuns who were walking around for a minute which was fun! Then we helped some new members move into the ward and the husband was battling cancer. We talked for a long while and then somehow the Sister Missionaries ended up at the same house so we talked for a solid hour! Before we left the dad asked me to give him a blessing! I know right! My first transfer and I have already given 3 blessings. One of healing, one of comfort and a confirmation! It really does fulfill the blessing that the Stake President gave me when he set me apart. I have also seen alot of things so far that my Patriarchal Blessing said would happen. It amazes me how the Lord works and that he will keep all of his promises if we keep ours!
Really quick to answer some of your questions. The people we teach are all Navajo or at least married to one. Most are traditional Navajo's where they perform their native ceremonies and prayers. They believe all religions are true and we all pray to the same person but the Navajo pray to what they call "The Holy People" and also the pray to four sacred mountains, one in each direction. On P-Days we mostly lounge around, we have massive Nerf wars with our Zone and play some other sports. We go shopping once a week and have to buy food to last us a whole week on $130! This is really hard because on the reservation we get fed maybe once a month if we are lucky. It is a little frustrating but I guess good for budgeting.
The cleaning is going better. We had a mice problem but hopefully we got them all. We have a fly probelm and a small spider problem now. I have gotten really good at catching files in a water bottle and shooting them with my nerf gun! Other than that we are doing good.

I love you all and am stoked to hear back from you!
Love,
Elder Christensen

Till the Cows Come Home

Thanks for the letters and for reminding me of what I need to do to make the time go by faster. I got over being homesick fairly quickly and I know it has been a big blessing from the Lord.
Things have been picking up in Tohatchi lately and we are hoping to extend 7 baptismal invitations. We hope to baptize them all before the end of this transfer. I can't believe I have already been serving here for 4 weeks! I have 2 more weeks left in the transfer but I hope I will be able to stay for one more week. There is so much work left to be done and we are working Super Hard! Oh, something funny happened this week. After I read Dad's joke about the cows (see joke below) the last couple of days the cows have pushed opened our gate and have woke us up with all of their mooing. At like 5:00 AM!! We looped a chain around the fence to keep the gate closed but we will see how that holds up.
Oh, and we did some service last Friday that took us 5 hours! We have been destroying a trailer home which has been super fun! I will send pictures of it but it was good to be able to relieve some of the stress on the walls, toilets, sinks, mirrors and oven.

Thank you everyone for your love and support!
Love,
Elder Christensen

JOKE: There were these cows grazing in a pasture and one of them looked up and bellows out a big MOOOOOOOO! Then one of the other cows lifts up his head, turns to him and says, "Hey, that's what I was going to say!" HA, HA.

Do You Believe in Revelation?

Well, I have settled in here and I still can't get over the fact that there are only 25 people who come to church. The other churches here, like the Catholic and the Pentecostal, have their parking lots full every week. It's depressing but we are still working hard and we have 3 investigators that are in the same town. Two of them are Catholic and one is Pentecostal. We gave them all a Book of Mormon and challenged them to read it! The lady who was Pentecostal knows the Bible very well. My companion tried to explain the Plan of Salvation to her but she did not understand it as well as we thought. We are trying to go back next week to teach her the first lesson. It was my first time meeting with her and as my companion was teaching her, I looked at her and blurted out "Do you belive in revelation today?" It was so funny because I saw that my companion had this look on his face like, "Are you crazy?" She looked at me funny then she was quiet for like a minute. I realized that I probably should not have said anything but then she replied that she did believe. I told her about the Book of Mormon and from there we some how got on the topic of the Godhead. She showed us a scripture that Heavenly Father, Christ and the Holy Ghost are all one. We said, "No, they are one in purpose." and we read her a scripture from the Bible where Christ is telling plainly that they are all seperate and she did not believe us. We had a nice Bible discussion and told her to read the Book of Mormon, to pray about it and then we left. Weird I know.

That's it for now.
Talk with you soon.

Love Elder Christensen