SO life is weird being on your mission for the holidays...

So the question was, “What did I do with my Christmas money that my mom gave me to give to someone who needed it” (or something like that she can explain), but what I did with it was:

So a couple of weeks ago Elder Anderson and I were walking next to the highway on a side road and we saw a father and son picking up cans on the side of the street. So we went up to them and asked them what they were doing. And the little boy was like “WE ARE PLAYING A GAME!” super excitedly, and the dad was acting kind of awkward, so we were like "can we play?" And the little boy was like, "yes, whoever picks up the most cans wins"! So we helped them for a while and then I got talking to the dad. And I was like, wow this is a cool game and he was like, “I wish it was a game. I was laid off from my job earlier this year and I haven’t found one yet, so I don’t have enough money to buy my son a present for Christmas”... and then he started to get a little bit emotional, but he was holding it together. So they invited us back to their apt. and we sat on the one chair they had and we taught them about how families can and will be together forever through Christ’s gospel. And on the way out I gave him the money so he could buy his son a present. We have been meeting with them ever since and I don’t want to say his name because it is very personal. But I know he needed it, so that’s what I did with my Christmas money this year.

SO life is weird being on your mission for the holidays, it was awesome being able to talk to the/my family and loved ones. It really helped me remember why I’m here, so that others can be with their family forever. My New Year’s resolution is to be a better person, it goes more into depth in my mind, but New Year’s resolutions are important so I challenge everyone to make one. Also as New Year’s Eve comes up, everyone remember who you are and not to party too hard....but just enough haha.

I was blessed this week to hear that Michelle in my last area was baptized on Saturday and I am pleased to announce, I will be entering the waters of baptism with Alex and Aaron this Saturday. So pray for everyone and everything to go through. I love you all so much and man I just love life, haha it’s so rad.

Story of the week….Went to a Waffle House...I may be the first missionary to come home from a parasite in the United States. Haha, exactly what you would expect. I love y’all and I am stoked to be here. I will write next week. I am fixin to go to the Cadillac Ranch (a public art installation and sculpture in Amarillo, Texas) right now so be safe and have a Happy New Year!

Elder C.

I love Christmas...

Hey and fam bam, sorry I was gone last week but I was just sharing the love with everyone!!!! 

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!! I’m so stoked haha, I love Christmas, everyone is so much nicer! I didn’t really realize it! I got a hug today from a lady who was a member of the Church of Christ and she doesn’t celebrate Christmas, so she whispered in my ear “Celebrate the birth of Christ for the both of us”. So we all have to be celebrating Christmas, the birth of Christ, for those who are not allowed too!! 

This is such a good time of year. I always took it for granted. I took Christ for granted....and Christmas. I took the event of his birth for granted, the single event that people had been prophesying about for thousands of years and people years later think about how big this is. Think about how big Christ is. I love him! 

And I love my family! Guys don’t take your family for granted, they are everything and this time of year especially I want everyone to know how much I love you and how much I miss you guys. But more importantly, I want you to know how much Christ loves you. So this time of year take some of this Texas Christmas spirit and be nice to everyone even the people that you are usually mean too! haha life is too short guys...So live it to the fullest and do what is right. We are supposed to be happy! So be happy! 

This week I was able to use my priesthood in the form of a miracle.

So the Oklahoma Mission President called me and asked me and my companion to go to the hospital here and give his best friend a blessing. We get to the hospital, but before, I said a prayer to help me do whatever I was about to do! We walk into Alton’s room, there are doctors in there and they are saying that they are going to have to amputate his leg because of the infection. His leg almost made me want to throw up everywhere haha, it was so gross. But we were like hey, we’re the missionaries and we are here to give him a blessing, so they all left the room. Then he was like I’m scared and I said, Alton if you have the faith to be healed you will be healed. Then I laid my hands on his head and gave him a blessing of healing and many other things that the Lord wanted him to hear! Then we left and went back the next day and his leg was almost completely healed and the doctors said it was a Christmas miracle and I was like yep :). So it was awesome.

We also got to park in the clergyman parking at the hospital which was one of the highlights of the experience hahah.

I love y’all and I miss you, stay strong and be safe. I will see you in two. Elder C.

Just trying to keep things fresh here in Amarillo haha...

Hello....I Love You.....Wont You Tell Me Your Name?

Great song but I found out this week it is not a good way to contact a man on the street working on his car that you just met. Worth it…

Just trying to keep things fresh here in Amarillo haha.

Being on a mission is fun because you are talking to everyone you see and you get to know so many people and I feel like I could say anything to anyone because religion in Texas is probably one of the most touchy subjects ha-ha, it’s awesome.

My new companion Elder Anderson is a nice guy. He is from Rigby Idaho, found out he’s 6'7" 300 pounds. We came out together. He is a huge basketball guy and loved to play/talk about it, so my knowledge of the sport has gone up tenfold. We get along well.

So I have learned a lot in the past couple of days about the Book of Mormon/ Bible. I have had to study that much more because I do most of the talking now.

We haven’t really been able to get out much this week because my companion has been sick or "Bed Ridden" if you will haha, but we still managed to set a baptismal date with Fancy.

She was just walking her dog and I felt compelled by the spirit to open with inviting her to be baptized.....Mind you, I would never do this every time, because that is crazy, but for some reason Fancy needed it. So my message this week is to follow the spirit, even when it maybe super weird or lead you into an uncomfortable situation! It will never lead you away.

And always try to feel the spirit, it just makes you feel good, like I can’t explain it, but the scriptures can in Galatians, look it up.

I love yall it’s been fun, sorry this week was kinda unfruitful, but we found Fancy.

Love, Elder C.

Here are some pics of me with a shaved head.....in the last one our windows froze shut instantly haha, it got to -15 degrees with wind chill this week, it wouldn’t be that bad if the wind wasn’t blowing so much, but since it is, it is impossible on the bike haha.

 

 

This is a season of peace, the season of Christ’s birth...

Hey everyone, I haven’t seen y’all in a minute, I miss you guys this beautiful holiday season!

So transfer calls are in and I am staying in Amarillo and I am stoked about it. There is way too much work to be done to leave here, but Elder Chuck’s fate was not as joyous as mine. He is being transferred for the last transfer of his mission and I am getting a new'er missionary Elder Anderson who’s been out for a transfer. I know absolutely nothing about him so it’s going to be a ball.

I was very Thankful:) for Thanksgiving it was awesome, no joke, I loved it. We had it with Alex and Aaron and Erica Martinez and their grandma, no joke, it was so freaking good. Apparently the lady who cooked it, Erica’s mom, cooked for Rosa Parks, so I was pretty blessed this week, God bless America.

Man time is going by fast, I’ve already been out 4 1/2 months, it feels like I’ve been out for a couple weeks I like it.

Fun fact: I speak Ebonics now...yep haha, it’s sweet!

This week was kinda hard, only one of our six baptismal dates came to church, so I was livid and stormed around town to see why! Not really that mad haha, and we went to Mario’s home and we sat down and talked with him for a little while. He couldn’t come to church because of the hole in his foot. Did I tell you about that? He has diabetes, so he can’t feel his feet and a nail got in his boot for like a week and it is this huge hole in the bottom of his foot it is pretty gross. But we didn’t think that Mario really liked us that much and we were kinda getting frustrated, but then his wife came in who hasn’t participated in the lessons once and she starts talking to us and is like yah, Mario talks about you guys all the time and how much he loves you. You are blessing my family so much by coming over here, is it alright if I listen in on your lessons........GOD is so freakin cool!!! Hahaha I’m smiling like a little school girl at this point trying to keep my cool and say "yes". So pray for them.

We also taught the Plan of Salvation this week. Man are we blessed to know where we come from, where we are going and why we are here. These people had so many questions and I thought to myself, wow, how could you live your whole life to this point without knowing this? Life would be so much harder without the knowledge and it would have almost no point. We are truly blessed.

This is a season of peace, the season of Christ’s birth. Remember Him always and remember you and your family can and will be together forever through God’s plan for us. We are where we need to be, so make every second count. We were walking this week and as we were walking by this house, this car pulls up the second we are walking by, we start talking to them and we teach them the restoration. If they would have pulled in a minute later we would have never found them. So look around every once in a while and see why you are where you are and what you need to do. It will make everywhere that much better I promise.

Thank you everyone for reading my letters. I really hope that I can bless y’alls life just as much as every one of you has blessed mine....

I truly love you and I truly love God

Love elder c

Be thankful this Thanksgiving...

Ho ho ho, it’s not even Thanksgiving yet, everyone needs to calm down hahaha.

Hello everyone, in answer to your question mother, I was able to go to the temple for the first time and probably the last time on my mission. It is the first time missionaries have been able to go because of our mission president in like two years, so it is a blessing and seriously the coolest place ever. You can almost hear God when he’s talking to you. I loved it and it spiritually recharged me!

I do have a home to go to for Thanksgiving as of right now! I am going to Alex and Aaron and Erica’s to eat. They are this family that we are teaching and Alex and Aaron are on track to be baptized. Idk if I’ve told you about them, I think I have, but I love that family they are so cool!

My companion is from Mesa, Arizona, the land of the free and the home of the heat. He said he loved it and he is excited to go back in a matter of 7 weeks. Haha that is the weirdest thing, my companion is almost going home....it happens haha.

So I might be getting transferred on Monday so if you were planning to send me any letters send them by Wednesday or please hold off till I can give you my new address!

So this week was pretty fun...... it was about 5 degrees of fun....hahaha, yah it was cold and windy here and it snowed some and the entire town shut down and we weren’t allowed to drive anywhere, so we were on foot, it was crazy haha. It was a bad time to shave my head, my ears are cold haha. But blessings do come from going hard in the snow. We were able to talk to a lot of people as they were running in their house, had a lot of one-sided conversations with myself haha, but when we knocked on doors everyone would let us in because they were like, wow you guys are going to die, you need to get in here, then they would give us like some hot cocoa, everyone wanted to give us tea which made it a perfect segway into, well we don’t drink tea, which leads to baptism hahaha. There are a lot or really good people in this world I love it haha.

So I have been thinking a lot this week about gratitude and then the talks in church yesterday were also about it (there were 15 people at church because of the snow it was cool:), so often we focus on what we do not have and we take for granted the things we do.... and I have taken people for granted in my life, I have not been focusing on what I have and what relationships I have, but what I don’t have and what will make everyone happy. The only way to happiness is through gratitude. The sin of ingratitude is a weird sin, but still a sin.... look it up! So be thankful this Thanksgiving and remember what we do have and not all the silly little worldly things we do not.

I am Keegan Christensen, I am a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and I carry a message that will bring everyone eternal happiness. I know this gospel is true no matter how hard it is out here, it is still true and I have to stand by what I believe! I just think about what Christ did for me and all of us.......I have to be here.

I love you all and I want to wish you a Happy Thanksgiving no matter where you are and remember to thank everyone, even that guy across the street. I love you all

Love elder c

Go out with the missionaries they need you, they want you haha, not in a weird way...

Edna, John and Mario all dropped us this week. It has been tough, not going to lie, some metaphorical tears have been shed by this odd companionship that we have.

We did find three new people who are much more promising now :). Alex and Aaron are an 11 and 15 year old, they are so cool, their mom pulled up to us and was like, hey I want you to teach the lessons and baptize my kids. So we didn’t say no. We went over and they made us steak it was so good.

Also this week we ran into a guy who swore that he knew me. He was positive that I worked at Burger King and while we’re teaching him the entire time he kept interrupting and was like, yes you do worked there, I know you man I know you! So finally I was like, sure I work at Burger King and we left. It was an awful lesson, his name is Craig by the way and so we decided to go to Burger King for dinner that night just for kicks and giggles and this lady dropped her burger on the ground, so I pick it up for her and started whipping it with a napkin and that guy walked in! And he was like hahahaha, I knew it man you can’t fool me! So that was what happened there.

I was reading a lot in the Book of Mormon this week and it really spoke to me quite a bit. The Book of Mormon is so easy and people try to make it so hard. It is true I know it is true, without this book everything would be chaos. So this week I tried only teaching out it and really it was a lot easier than I thought. Pretty much our entire religion is found in the Book of Mormon. Good day. I wish that I had more to share this week with y’all it has probably been the slowest week ever, but with wind gusts of up to 60- miles an hour. Pray that we will be able to find people who are ready and willing.

Be a member missionary. Go out with the missionaries they need you, they want you haha, not in a weird way, but it makes everything better with y’all there and be nice to people you don’t know at church. Don’t just talk to the same three people every week, try to befriend everyone because that is what people go to church for, beside the sacrament, to make those friendships that will stand the test of time, to go to those people who truly need them and want them, so try it, try to reach out of your shell, why not.

Love elder c

Be a good neighbor like they used to be in the sixties and fifties...

ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS: 

1) Not any pictures with Amarillo people yet, except for Tomas, but I will try to get more to you I promise. I don’t have too much time because I am sending about a thousand pictures today, so the letter is going to be short but the memories forever ;). (Keegan did send 32 pictures, I will attach 6 and the rest will be on the blog. The big guy is CJ who was a ward missionary in San Angelo, then Tomas getting baptized, some of the many strange signs in Amarillo and one of Elder Chuck his new comp fixing the bike.)

2) Nah, nothing really I want to much for Christmas or Thanksgiving, but I will think about it this week and get back to you haha

3) Yes, I did talk with my mission president, needless to say we are besties haha, not really but we are alright. Sister Augustin is my girl though, we talk all the time about life, love and you mom, it is wonderful ahha.

 Amarillo is fun. I like it a lot, the people are so nice it’s not even funny, just random people feed us and are like come here, I will listen to you, teach me about God, but then they don’t want you to ever come back again. Will they say they do, then they are not there and it is kinda sad haha. 

Okay so this week we knocked a street. And we felt inspired to do so, but not a single person wanted to hear our message, not one. And everyone was home. But before we left each house every person said, be careful on this street and similar things like that, every house without fail. Which made me think that no one knows their neighbors really, that they all think they are bad people, never gave them the chance to get to know them, so reach out get to know your neighbors. Be a good neighbor like they used to be in the sixties and fifties. Sure the times have changed, but seriously the teachings back then were beautiful. 

The Book of Alma could be the coolest movie ever made if it were made into one. I know that for a fact haha. I also am teaching Edna, Mario and John. They are all scheduled to be baptized. I will tell you more next week I promise, but pray that they will do it and be comforted. 

Thank y'all for everything. I love you . Now enjoy some signs in Amarillo haha. Elder Keegan

This is how the mission should be...

Hello New York!!!!!!!!! This Elder Keegan Fjeldsted Christensen coming to you live from the hospital is Amarillo Texas, temperature is a solid 51 degrees with a wind chill that makes it 30 it is beautiful and I couldn’t ask for more. This life is a lot different than the life I used to live in San Angelo not going to lie it’s a lot more poor and very few people speak good English its awesome haha. This is how the mission should be. Everyone is willing to talk to us and that is cool but no one is there when we go back so that’s kinda hard.

We baptized Tomas On Saturday and he is one beautiful son of god it was a way cool experience that was a blessing to be a part of. It goes to show that no matter what you have gone through in your life you can do anything with the Lords help and I know that to be true with every fiber of me haha.

Our ward is super weird not going to lie it’s kind of like I’m in a crazy foreign land or something like that. It is really small and the lights make it seem like I’m in prison but the people are all super nice and amazing we had dinner at someone’s house the other night he is the coolest guy in the entire world I loved it God bless America

So I said I would tell you about my homeless friend idk if I already did but he got an apt now so I wanted to share that with you too. We first met him and he had nowhere to live hadn’t eaten in days and he looked like he was about to die and he said he needed our help so the Lord was there to pick him up. We said that if we prayed and he truly had the faith that the Lord would help him that he would make it through these hard times and then we parted ways. Later that day he was walking buy this restaurant and this guy was like hey I feel like I need to feed you for some reason I need to. You can come here every day and I will give you a meal. Blessing number 1 from praying. Then later he was walking down the street and all of these cop cars came up to him and were like get in get in. so he was like okay and he got in the car and they were like you murdered this guy and strangled his girlfriend an hour ago and we are taking you to jail for the rest of your life there is no way you are getting off for this we never make a mistake. so they pull up to the girl who he supposedly strangled and she said that that was him and they started to take him to the police station and they started filling out the report and at this time my friend was in tears and he PRAYED that the lord would help him and said that he had the faith. Then the lady doing the report right after he finished said, “wait a minute.... you don’t have black eye brows” and he was like I know (he’s Bald). Then she was like you’re not the guy..... and he was like I know! and then the cop was like here is ten bucks don’t tell anyone about this and they shoved him on the side of the road... he found us later that week and told us everything and how he wants to meet with us and how he knows God is there and now we are meeting with him and he got a job at that place that was feeding him and he has a place to stay and he knows it all because of the Lord.

Ya it was a little scary that when he was telling us this there was a murderer loose right by us but we still were overjoyed and I am here to say God answers prayers so everyone pray and have faith like Alma when he prays to be loosed from his chains then he rips them out of the wall and the whole building collapses it is awesome!

Okay, I love you all, be safe, be strong. Life is hard I know it but we must carry on!

Elder Keegan Christensen

No matter who you are don’t judge a book by its cover...

Hahaha Amarillo is the place to be for missionary work it is beautiful but for visiting I don’t want anyone to walk through my area I would be afraid for you haha.

It is a sweet city and this is exactly how I pictured a mission should be it is cool going out and talking to all the people it is cool. So I live five miles out of my area though and we are on bikes so it is kinda hard to get to and fro so I eat a big breakfast we leave at ten go and work and get home at nine and I eat din din. That means dinner. haha ya it is madness my new companion is Elder Chuck he is 27 he is a nice guy he has been out on his mission 21 months and we go to work...

So Amarillo is a lot different than San Angelo holy crap everyone its like being in a whole new world I love it. My first day in my area 15 people yelled at us from their cars and 13 of those yells were positive so life is looking up. haha the work is really good here too. Like really good we are teaching a ton of people right now. Sure a couple of them are homeless and sure a couple are drug dealers but hey that’s why we are here. We are all our brothers and sisters. We have been teaching a lot of Spanish people which makes me livid that I don’t know Spanish but there is a cool story a few lines down so keep reading. Well I’m getting pretty ripped from riding my bike even more then I did in San Angelo so for all of you who were curious ;) haha jk so this week we were walking down this street and these two Spanish guys walk up to us and are like come come come so we followed them into their house and no one spoke English there but this guy hurt his leg so he needed a blessing and so I said a prayer that I would be able to understand what they were saying. Then out of nowhere I started being able to understand, things were coming back to me from Ms Harts Spanish class in the 7th grade and we were able to communicate and we blessed him and their home so that was a pretty cool moment when the lord used my knowledge man I love the lord haha.

We also are teaching a humble man named Thomas who has spina bifida and has been in wheel chair his entire life , he is being baptized on Sunday and he is the most awesome humble sweet man in the entire world I wish y'all could meet him.

Sorry this letter is short but I wanted to say. No matter who you are don’t judge a book by its cover. We were teaching this homeless man who I don’t know his name but I call him red hooded sweatshirt and he has no one in the entire world and we were afraid when he came up to us... and idk why I was afraid… I was judging him and that was wrong he is now my best friend in all of Amarillo hands down and we see him everywhere and now since we’ve been meeting with him miracles have been happening I will tell you next week.

I have to go I love you all be safe,

Elder Keegan Christensen

Life is good. I’m happy and I hope you all feel happy...

Hello my name is Keegan Christensen and I am a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ. And I wouldn't want it any other way.

I am about to embark on another thirteen hour bus ride to the beautiful city of Amarillo, TX. With my new companion Elder Chuck. I bet his first name is Norris. I’ve only heard "things" about him, so I am excited haha. I am going to miss San Angelo though. It has really started to grow on me and I feel like a ten year old on the mission leaving his home. This week was interesting without Elder Ashton. I had to step up my game even more and it was worth it. Being two people in training and doing it alone is actually a good idea, we had some good times.

So we took a hike to try to find this giant like-hundred-foot cross this morning, but we couldn't find it, instead we saw like fifty snakes so we screamed like little girls and now we are besties haha.

The Primary Program was this week and it was all I hoped for and more. We had five investigators there and I was like, okay Michelle (that's who I was sitting next to) there is always that one kid that screams every song and he will be your favorite. Sure enough little Eric came through for me in the clutch haha. They loved it and the spirit was totally there and the entire crowd was friends by the end of it and I think that every one of my investigators will be okay when I go.

Elder Morgan is staying here in San Angelo and getting two new comps. One that has been out for a year and Elder Kennedy my MTC comp. It’s pretty cool. Haha they will love it.

So this week there was a tornado warning and it was awesome because it was like a blue sky then all the sudden these purple clouds roll in, then it starts hailing and it’s like 70 degrees outside. It was crazy with a ton of wind. We were out trying to find people, but no one was outside for some reason. It was weird. So we knocked some doors, but no one was home either. I think they may have been in the bath tub. God bless America.

I am excited for snow...

Okay this week was a way spiritual week. I cried. So Michelle and Margret live in our apartment complex and Margret has been like a mom to me on my mission. She is from Scotland and Michelle is her daughter and Michelle isn't a member and she just moved here from Utah and her boyfriend who is a member is going on a mission and she is going to wait for him. And she has had the missionary discussions six different times. But now she saw us and walked up to us and was like, “hey, I want you to give me the lessons”, one day before we even knew who she was. So we were pretty stoked. haha And we have taught her twice and she said she didn't get an answer to her prayer, but she had a dream and it was just her and the Salt Lake Temple. Anyway, I started crying and explained life and bore testimony, then everyone started crying. God is awesome, haha holy crap; He really does answer prayers, like He does. For any question, and I know that I was sent here for her to find me… God needed me here... and that seriously strengthened me as a person that God gave me that gift. God’s ways are higher than our ways, Isaiah 55. Life is good. I’m happy and I hope you all feel happy. Michelle was concerned that she wasn’t worthy of the gift, that she has done too much wrong...... and really I think we all have that thinking. And we should, haha we really don't deserve this gospel, we don't deserve Christ’s atonement, but it was given to us... freely... and it’s ours whether we want it or not. And that really kinda opened my eyes a little bit. Well I love y’all.

I’m fixin’ to go pack my bags and ship out, but I want y’all to know I love you and I am here for you, but so is Christ, He is your best friend haha. I think me and him are bros now. It’s pretty cool.

Stay strong

You are you for a reason

Love

Elder Christensen