Mom Note:

It was so precious to be able to see Elder Coy on skype! We spent a precious hour talking with him. Some grandparents thought he looked thin, some thought he had filled out and matured, so I guess he's somewhere in the middle and doing great! :).  We enjoyed hearing about his typical day, the strange foods he eats(bread is bought as a dough and it is fried), and we loved hearing about how much he loves the work.  He used the words of Joseph Smith and said "Mom, don't worry about me, I am well enough off!"  We were able to join in family prayer over skype and said a tearful goodbye, (at least on the Mom's part :)). 

Here's the letter we received afterward.  

I love you so much!

I know we just called, but I wanted to take this chance to briefly update on this week.

Last monday we walked to the church with Acui, Lena, her husband Kenyang, her brother Dundong, her daughter Senia, and their friend (a younger kid) Rolland and had a wonderful family night with them. We watched Finding Faith in Christ and played badminton, and Brother Kong even came. We have met with them several times this week, teaching them the Restoration and the Plan of Salvation among other things. They are very eager to learn and are now on date for a little less than a month. They also came to Church and had a series of awesome experiences, including the most reverent Sacrament Meeting we have had since I have been here, and hitting it off extremely well with the members in Sunday School. It was awesome.

We met with Ela this week as well. She was having some struggles in her life, some personal, and others including a tooth ache, bringing her children up righteously, and inviting her husband to learn of the gospel. We were inspired to ask if she would want a priesthood blessing. She didn't know what what was, but after a brief explanation she did want it. Parker anointed and I gave the blessing. It was simple and beautiful. Afterwards though she testified that it was exactly what she needed. She said she had had a private, personal prayer the day before, and the blessing was an answer to it. She also felt a peace and a strength, as also something seemed to leave her body.

Madeline has apparently been struggling. She hasn't been answering our phone calls, and she was never home when we tried to meet with her. She apparently was very attached to Elder Capener, the elder before me, and seemed to change after he left. She did come to church, but only for about 30 minutes.

Ingang is doing great. We have yet to settle a baptismal date, but we have hopes to do so this week. Her daughters seem to be increasingly busy and harder to meet with. We did have a cool experience in Permai though. We met a more educated teenager which had met missionaries before. He spoke some English, and we eventually met some of his family in his house with him and shared a Book of Mormon. We don't yet actually know his name though, because he had met Parker before and Parker didn't remember.

It was so great talking to you! Love you so much!

-Elder Christensen 

This is the greatest work in the world and I love it so much!

So, to preface this letter, my ever-loving Grandmother told me last week that she felt like I was holding back all the hard stuffs that may be happening here. To one and all, I have been telling you as it is! Glorious!

Then this week happened.

Whether this has been a Hard Week or not, I'll let you decide for yourself.

I sponsored Milkshake Monday. Delicious.

This last Tuesday we were late to District Meeting. 

Elder Misa'alefua has left with some other Elders down in Sibu Jaya to go on splits as Zone Leaders, so Elder Hill was with us for the day. On the way there, Elder Parker was talking on the phone with Elder Wilson, went down an awkward incline, and crashed into Elder Hill on Elder Baranov's bike. It somehow not only popped the tire but bent the rim as well. 

After District meeting and lunch we walked to the friendly bike shop people to get that all fixed. It turned out to be an awesome blessing because while Elder Parker was in the shop, I was able to contact a very nice and prepared man named Joseph. We have yet to meet him, but he asked us to bring him an English B.O.M. sometime.

That night we were also biking home when we randomly decided to get some Pau's at our favorite place to do so. When we arrived, there was an entire Chinese Family there celebrating a 69 year old Chinese Auntie's birthday with a mountain of food. They instantly sat us down, and Elder Parker, having lived in China for 2 years, spoke to them whilst I ate. :). It was awesome. 

Wednesday we ended the splits and went to 'The Healthy Restaurant'. Everything on it's menu says Healthy, so it has to be good!

Afterwards we went to Ela's house for lunch. We talked, and talked, and talked some more, got rained in, and ended up talking for almost the entire day. It ended up being good for her though, because she was facing some very challenging challenges, and wants to bring her husband to the church. We were able to really meet him for the first time, when he came home from work. She also asked us to fast for that to happen.

Elders Baranov and Misa left at 4 A.M. the next day for M.L.C. in Singapore. Right after Comp. Study, Lawren, a Recent Convert in Branch 1, asked if we liked food. He had BARBECUE for us at the Church! It was so good! We also met Rodney for the 1st time, his friend and also a recent convert. The Barbecue was from a Branch 1 social or something. He also asked Elder Parker to try and teach him some piano skills while we were there.

Afterwards, we had an appointment fall through so we decided to go on a walk. It was a pleasant day, and we saw some Chinese kids playing Ultimate Frisbee. An hour later we were sweaty, dirty, and happy with a bunch of new friends and potential contacts that I can't talk to. The Chinese Elders should be happy.

We also did get to meet with Ingang, taught a simple lesson of the 10 commandments.

Saturday we had a text come in from Madelin. We had gone shopping with her after she came to one of our lessons and she said that the Watermelon was too big and perfect to eaten by her family alone, and she needed help. We were more than happy to sacrifice our stomachs. We had a baptism that night, and I was asked a couple hours before to share the Holy Ghost talk, as the original speaker had flaked out. It went well, the gift of tongues is great, and I shared Dad's story of being prompted to change lanes on a foggy day. (Mom Insert. Jeff was prompted to change lanes and obeyed and would have driven straight into a beam extending from the back of a truck going much more slowly, and it would have broken his windsheild and hit him in the face). 

Sunday, we had a cool experience. Earlier in the week, we had been walking home because of another flat tire, when we saw some Iban people standing in their front yard near our house. We started talking to them, and they wanted us to come back. We asked if they wanted to walk to church, as they were in easy walking distance, and we set up a time to walk with them Sunday morning. When we got there, nobody was home. We called and found that they had skipped breakfast and had ALREADY WALKED THERE! They were sitting in Branch 1's sacrament when we got there and got to witness a confirmation. We taught them after church and right now their only hang up is coming from an R.C. (Roman Catholic)

background, and asking about the Apostasy. They're awesome.

Today we want to go play pool!

Love you all! This is the greatest work in the world and I love it so much! I bore my testimony of what I knew of the Savior in sacrament meeting!

-Elder Christensen

So much to say, and only one letter for it! Here we go!

 EVELYN GOT BAPTIZED! GLORY HALLELUJAH!

This is what she said: 

Subject: Friendship

Thank you so much elder Christensen for your sharing. I feel so happy.

My kids and elders......

Glad to be your student and have you as my teacher and friend.

God bless you.

Evelyn Cheong

Wonderful family, missions are the greatest thing ever invented. You should all try it some time.

Anyway, more exciting stuff.  We had a lot of really cool things happen this week, the most prevalent being how Ingang has progressed. We taught her a couple different times this week, with different members attending, and she is hungry for more. She also decided to push her baptismal date back because she wants to be baptized with her family. We started teaching her two older daughters and their friend this last week as well, and the work overall is flying! 

We had two meetings with a less active named Jangu and his family, who live out in Kampung Bahagia (Village of Joy). The first one we dropped by and went to dinner with them at a fun little place called Wonderful, where we had dinner and ABC. I don't know what ABC stands for, but Elder Wayment used to call it Happiness in a Cup. The Second time, Elder Parker had a brilliant idea, loading the entirety of the last Conference onto his flash-drive (we have the legit copy that can play in English, Malay or Chinese in 1080p) and bringing it over. We watched some with them. While there, we also met their house-mate or something that lives upstairs in their house named Willie. He could read well, and took a B.O.M. and pamphlets. 

On top of that, on the way home Elder Parker was inspired to visit a less active I had not yet met named Kajup. When we did, we found that two of his non-member brothers had moved in next door, and we had a big mini-family night together that night. We hope to start teaching them this week.

We also had some crazy things happen. Elder Misa'alifua wasn't feeling well, so he took some de-worming medicine. I ended up staying home with him while Elder Baranov went on splits with the Marteeny's, one of our Senior Couples, and Elder Parker went with President Kong (Elder Kong's father). We hung out, watched Mormon Messages, and he practiced a Fiji Dance he wants the Zone to do for the upcoming Talent Show in the next Zone Conference (he is really stoked about it). We created a new tradition this week, Milkshake Monday. We make them at home. 

Also, this last Sunday, Sister Norlia, the Sunday School Teacher, asked me out of the blue to teach Sunday School. She and Elder Parker apparently needed to go do something with President Billy. The lesson went well though, it was on Moses and the Brass Serpent. Thanks for the Family night mother!

Anyway, the Zone Leaders have MLC this week, which means MAIL! I love you all!

The Gospel is so true, and I can testify that EXACT obedience brings EXACT Blessings and Miracles all around!

-Elder Christensen

In his handwritten letter this week he shared this:

An elder from Fiji gave an extremely powerful testimony.  This is his first transfer in the field, being trained by an Elder from my MTC group.  He spoke about Elder Rasmussen coming to do housing checks, and asking if his mattress was comfortable.  He thought of his family at home.  They were all sleeping on mats on a cement floor.  Through tears he said that the mattress in his apartment was the first he ever slept on.  He said it was comfortable. 

These sweet precious pictures are of Ingang's children, Sebastian, 15, laying down and Desmond, 10, in the wheelchair. Coy said Desmond is really sneaky, and Sebastian is fun.  He mentioned last week how grateful he was for his time in special needs mutual.