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Camron's FINAL letter

Hola familia, This week was a really good one. We worked really hard and we were very blessed. We were blessed to have Felipa and her son Gabriel to church yesterday and also the 9 year old son of a less active family that we are helping to reactivate. I am sure December will be a great month for my companion and it's truly because of the fruits of hard work. Maritza that was baptized last week was at church with her husband and they are both a lot happier than they were before. It's really a blessing to get to see converts keep the commandments in their lives and get to see the blessings that take place when they do. It was a great sacrament meeting yesterday too. The three young men that sent their papers in to become missionaries recieved their callings and all three are going to Venezuela, and they are all going into the mtc the 10th of April. Two of them are in the same mission. It was great to hear their testimonies and how excited they are to go out and serve the Lord. Another young man, Rodrigo comes out to teach with us once in a while and is almost done with his papers. He will be receiving the Melchesdek priesthood here in a couple weeks. It's great because he was less active and a convert. We helped him along with the help of the others that are preparing to go out on their missions. Now he is active and excited to go out on a mission of his own. We have found a lot of new investigators and they are pretty good investigators too. I showed the picture of the temple in Cochabamba to one of the fathers we taught and I felt like I should ask him what he thinks of when he sees this picture, and he said, "the house of God."  It was really cool to hear that someone who has never seen a temple and doesn't know anything about it, just by seeing a picture, knew it was the house of the Lord. What a priviledge we have as members in the kindgom of God to have His house always available to us. My comp now really wants to become a leader in the misison and I'm trying to help him so that he can become one. I'm sure that with the sincere desire that he has, that he will be a great leader. To become a great leader is all about humility, diligence, and obedience. With these three factors everything else comes in to play. I Love you guys and hope you have a great week!   Elder Christoffersen

  P.S. See you in person very soon......

Nov. 19, 2012

Hola familia, This week went really good and ended even better. We worked hard and we were priviledged to be able to help Gary and Maritza get married Saturday and then afterwards Maritza was baptized. It was a really good night! It went really well and was planned very well too. They were so happy and you could tell that keeping another commandment will always make you happier in life. They are going to be awesome members of the church. They are going through a lot of hard times and this usually always happens because the Lord is shaping them into true saints in these latter days. It always requires difficult times to see how much the Lord truly loves us and how we need to put our trust and faith in Him so that we can overcome these trials in our lives. But it always helps us become and transform into the people that our Heavenly Father wants us to become. We also got to help out two eight year olds be baptized. One of them was the daughter of a convert.  She is reading the book of mormon and has already read all the way to Alma and is juist 8 years old. But when we were doing the baptismal service the 8 yeart old girl hadn't arrived yet and  the other 8 year old boy was really scared to get into the water. They were trying desperately to convince him for like a half an hour. We were thinking that we were going to just have to end up doing the service without them. But then his sister took him to a room to talk with him and he finally was ready and right when he came back, the other girl got there. We could see that things worked out perfectly so  that all three could be baptized. The Lord always will work things out in His way and in His time. We were also very surprised at church when the mom and little brother of this guy who is preparing to go on a mission came to church. We never thought she would come because she usually doesn't take things very seriously when we teach her. But she stayed all three hours too. It was way cool to see her and her son was even way surprised when he saw her walk into the church.  We are hoping that everything will work out with them and we will work hard on our end so that it will. I love you guys a ton.     Love,   Elder Christoffersen

Nov. 12, 2012

Hola familia, This week was really good and we worked hard once again. We were able to find some great people to teach. Gary and Maritza finally did their paper work and they are planning on getting married and baptized this Saturday the 17th of November. Seems like they chose a really good day to get married. They are going through some pretty hard times lately because they just got kicked out of their house. It was because of a fight that they had with his mother-in-law. The step dad is also becoming a really big problem. But the Lord put us in their path right after their fight happened. They were driving to go look for a house and we just happened to be walking down the road where they were driving. When we got into their car, they told us that they wouldn't be able to take us to their house to teach them. They then drove and parked under a big tree by some stairs. They were very sad and Maritza was crying. We then got out with them and sat on the stairs to teach them about how our Heavenly Father qualifies us for His special blessings and many times to gain those blessings we go through some really hard times. We told them that everything that happens to them will bless them if they will only come unto Christ. We shared with them a couple of scriptures and they seemed to feel a lot better. I'm not really surprised anymore how we always seem to be in the right place at the right time. This is truly the Lords work. He knows what's best for every one of us and what we need to do to be happy is to keep His commandments. There aren't coincidences for the Lord. Everything goes according to His will and in His time. To me it seems like a miracle how everything works out perfectly. That is why it is really important to be in the right place at the right time, and to be ready and worthy to do the Lords work. Because without Him, we cannot succeed. I am sure this is going be a great week and that we will have many more miracles to experience. I Can't wait to let you know how it all goes . Love, Elder Christoffersen

Oct. 22, 2012

Hola familia, This week was pretty good. I received my last transfer and I was sent back to Santa Cruz.  It's gonna be a great transfer.  My new companion's name is Elder Yamberla. He's from Equador and what is really cool is that he can have long hair!. So he has this pony tail looking thing and it's way cool. He is the only one in the mission that can have long hair. It has to do with his culture. But he is a great companion, he works hard,and we get a long. We are teaching this couple. The husband is a member but his wife isn't and this week they are going to get married. Afterwards, she is going to be baptized. It's going to be great. They have the best last name ever. I have wanted to teach a family with this last name my whole mission. It's Paniagua which means "bread and water" its the best. But they are really awesome and they are going to be great members. They truly want the gospel in their lives and I am sure it will really help them out a lot. The weather here is a lot cooler. It's like 100 degrees and it feels a load better. There has just been a lot of wind lately and here in Santa Cruz there is sand. So it lifts up in the air and hurts when it gets into your eyes. But it's worth it having the wind to cool things down. It's funny too because my area is right next to plan 3000, my area before Puerto Suarez. But the members are great and I'm sure we're going to have a good cambio. Well I look forward to talking to you guys next week. See you later.       Love,   Elder Christoffersen

Oct. 15, 2012

Hola familia, This week was pretty crazy. I got a little sick with the stomach flue but I got over it in two days. It's not the worst I've had so it was all good. I'm 100 percent now so we are working hard once again. We had a couple of trials with our investigators and we had a rough time getting them to church. But we still have a lot of hope that the Lord is going to guide us to a family that needs the gospel in their lives and that are going to be very thankful to recieve it and also live it. We had a long day of talking to people Sunday. The sun was really hot and we weren't having much success but we finally made an appointment with a couple that we had found last week. The first lesson we taught them was about the book of mormon and we also gave them a copy. They were going to go to church yesterday but they couldn't go and they felt bad when we got to their house yesterday. They thought that we were going to be mad. Once we arrived there they asked us if we had come to get our book back from them. They also told us that they were sorry. But we explained that it was ok and we began to teach them again. It was cool too. The lady told us that she had a dream that the second coming happened and that she was judged and God told her she had already had her chance to follow His gospel and that she didn't accept that opportunity when he sent his servants to knock on her door. She said that she woke up crying because it was so real. She then said that after her dream, she prayed that she would be able to have a chance once again before He came. Right after that, we got to her house and she thinks that we could be the answer to her prayers. Elder Blaser and I testified that we knew we were the answer to her prayers and that He is giving her this opportunity to enter into His kingdom so that she can be, and will be prepared for the second coming of Christ. We left that appointment really surprised and really excited to be able to teach them. We truly hope that they can continue to progress and that the Lord will continue to prepare them to accept our teachings and that they will be able to act upon what the spirit teaches them. They are a couple with 2 kids back in Sucre that are waiting until their house is completely finished out here so they can come live here too. Whatever happens, we know the Lord will prepare the way. Once again, I'm excited to tell you how things go next week. I hope you all have an awesome week.   Love, Elder Christoffersen 

Oct. 8, 2012

Hola familia, This week was pretty good. We made it to Santa Cruz and this time without any problems! We got there 15 minutes early too. We had a great concillio and we learned a lot. We were able to work a couple days before conference started, and we were privileged to find a couple families that seem like they could progress. It was sad that Rocio and Jorge had to go to Santa Cruz last minute and the day before conference so they weren't able to go. But things with them still seem to be going pretty well. I had a pretty cool and funny experience in conference. During the last session there was a 9 or 10 year old kid that was the son of this couple that were married and baptized here in Peurto Suarez that I was to help out with my first transfer here. He sat next to me the whole session and he had his note book and pen out and every time I wrote down notes he would copy me. It made me write a lot clearer so that he could actually read it too. It was really cool and it makes me think that he is going be an awesome missionary. Seems like this generation of kids becomes more and more strong in the gospel. Truly shows the importance of setting a good example for those who are younger and look up to us. It's awesome to see how he and his parents are staying really strong in the gospel and you can tell that it truly makes them happy. It's crazy to see how happy the gospel truly makes people. When you live it daily the family becomes and stays strong and becomes edified upon the rock of Christ. It's so sad to see families with problems and know that if they would accept the gospel and practice it in their lives that these problems will become strengths. We truly hope that this week we will be able to help at least one family to understand those precious blessings that their Heavenly Father wants to give to them. It's good to know that we will have the support of our Heavenly Father in obtaining these desires that we have and that he will not abandon us. Never. Just like they said in conference, our testimonies are treasures. And it's a huge blessing to share these treasures with others and even a greater treasure when others gain their own treasures and you are able to take part in helping them find them.  Love, Elder Christoffersen 

Oct. 1, 2012

Hola familia, This week was pretty good. It started out getting cold for a bit, and then turned back to being really hot. But we worked hard and the Lord guided us to a few really good families that we are hoping will be able to progress. But I have a pretty funny story. We were walking one day and while walking under this pretty big tree, we saw some small parrots eating some fruit and they looked pretty cool. So we stopped and we looked up at them for awhile. It was weird because they stopped eating and looked at us too and they just sat there in the tree and didn't move. We were thinking they were going to fly away because they usually get scared. But they didn't seem to care. After awhile, I put my head down and started to walk away, when all the sudden, BAM!  Something nailed me right in the head. It actually hurt a little bit. My comp just starts laughing his head off and he said, "right when you put your head down and started walking, one of the parrots hurried and grabbed a fruit and dropped it, and it hit you perfectly on the head." ha ha. Dang parrots are pretty smart. When we started walking, the parrots all started to make noises in the tree like they were laughing and celebrating. Again we were also walking on the road one day, and we saw something out of the corner of our eyes. We looked and saw an animal running in the road and we finally realized it was a monkey ha ha. It was funny because we were thinking maybe a rabbit, but it was a monkey and a wild one too. It was pretty crazy. But we had a good week teaching Jorge and Rocio. They had almost decided that they weren't going to investigate the church anymore. This made us pretty sad, but we didn't give up. During the lesson, we told them how much they meant to us and how confident that we were that the Lord guided us to their house and He is preparing them to enter into His kingdom. The spirit was so strong. We taught them more and explained how important it was to try and find out if the church was true because of all the blessings that they would receive when becoming part of it. It is awesome to testify how only the church of Jesus Christ can bring celestial blessings to families, and that you cannot and will not ever be able to find families and generations of families that are more blessed than those that have the restored gospel in their lives and are living it. It truly becomes obvious that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints is the only true church on the face of the earth, and that it was put on this earth to prepare us and our families for the second coming. It was awesome to see that Jorge and Rocio made the decision to come to church, and they really enjoyed it. My comp and I were so happy when we saw them come in to the church. The messages in sacrament meeting were awesome. We had a combined class at the end of the block that was awesome. It could have possibly been the best day of church that they could have chosen to come. We got to watch the restoration with Rocio and Jorge along with our branch president and his wife. They shared their testimonies about how they know the church is true. It was awesome when President promised them that they would receive an answer to their prayers. It seems like we are in a battle against Satan in every lesson we have with them. But when you follow the holy ghost and teach with love, he will never come out on top in the end. Well I hope you guys have an awesome week, and I can't wait for conference. It's going to be great!          Love,  Elder Christoffersen

Sept. 24, 2012

Hola familia, This week was a pretty crazy week for us. We traveled out to Santa Cruz as a zone Tuesday at four in the afternoon. It was pretty fun going as a zone. We all ate dinner together and we talked and got to know everyone a lot better. Everything was good. We slept pretty well and once we were on the train for about 15 minutes, the engine on the train broke down and we had to wait for two hours. It was pretty crazy because it was raining really hard outside and water was leaking into the train too. But after awhile, they came with another train behind us to push us to the train station. We were in the train for about 18 hours. It didnt stop raining at all so we ended up waiting around the train station for another 2 hours. We finally ended up getting taxis to take us to the hotel that we were going to sleep in. But we did get to the meeting just on time to start and Elder Usedo from the Seventy came and was the speaker during the conference. He was such an awesome speaker and he's really good at teaching. He focused in all of the things that we needed to do to become better missionaries. We could truly feel the spirit really strong during the meeting. We were able to fly back in a plane from the meeting in Santa Cruz. It was still somewhat hot when we arrived, but a little of the cold front from Santa Cruz was making it's way over. Then the next night it rained so hard with really loud thunder. It made our weather here feel pretty good. But it has now gotten way hot agian. We had a pretty good experience with a pastor of one of the largest churches here in Bolivia. It's called the "Asembly of God from Bolivia". We taught this pastor about the restauración. We  taught him and testified to him that we are members of the true church of Christ that is here on this earth today. He then asked me "so are you telling me that I'm wrong and my church is false, and that my baptism wasn't correct?" At this point I was wondering, wow what am I going to tell him? I just felt inspired that I should tell him to ask God. To our astonishment, his face and his eyes lit up and he said "that is a really good answer. We need to ask God." He said he had never done that and that he thinks it would be a good idea because he had never done that ever before. We then took out the book of mormon to show him the proof that God has given us to show that His kingdom is here on the earth today. We opened up the book of mormon and shared with him a couple verses from second Nephi 23 and in 25, 26, and 29. While reading this he became very amazed about the doctine in the book of mormon and how much it talks about our savior Jesus Christ. He said, "this is marvelous!  I didn't know you guys had this doctrine in your church." Then we both testified that the kindgom of God has been placed here on the earth again for the preparation of the second coming and that Jesus Christ is at the head of His church. We told him that he will become to know of these truths if he comes unto Christ and asks his Heavenly Father. We gave him a book of mormon and we made another appointment to come back. We pray that he will continue to have these desires to know of the truth. We are working hard and really trying to find a family that needs the gospel in their lives so that we can be tools in the Lord's hand to guide them and help them take steps to enter into the straight and narrow path. I have a very strong feeling of peace inside of me that God will bless us no matter what happens, and that He will provide the way. I Hope that all of you have an awesome week.    Love,   Elder Christoffersen