Robert vs. No Snow

 (Robert's camera is still broken, so here are some oldies from this summer)

Loloma!!! 

Well, I am staying here in Hopi for another 6 weeks!!!  Woohoo!!!  I was pretty positive I was staying so that was my favorite birthday present.   Elder Pebbles is going to Crownpoint, New Mexico.  Its about 30 miles northeast of Gallup.  It's not on the reservation so he is pretty disappointed.  There are plenty of natives though.  I have to be honest besides being able to talk to y'all Christmas was the most uneventful in my life!  I think what really ticked me off was I had 0 snow at all.  Other then Christmas in Sacramento that one year I have always known snow on Christmas.  But thats okay, I got over it already.  On Christmas day we had a big dinner at the Talaswaima families house.  There son is serving  a mission at the SLC Family History headquarters...pretty cool.  Speaking of Natives serving missions....my new companion is Elder Yazzie.  Yep he is a full blooded Navajo!!! His family is from Dennehotso which is a couple hours north of me.  He is actually from Malta, Idaho.  Dinky little town.  Its good to be back with an Idahoan and plus he is a lot like me so we will have the thermostat at about 30 degrees at night its gonna be great.  Also I talked to him earlier a few days ago and asked him a question that would determine the strength of our companionship..." Elder Yazzie.....do you like monopoly??"  " I love monopoly!!!"  ya we are gonna get along just fine.  If we get angry at each other then we will just have to settle it over a manly throwdown of monopoly.  Now because he is Navajo and Hopi's and Navajo's do NOT like each other at all....in fact they are mortal enemies...we will see how it goes down.

Church was awesome yesterday!  We had probably the easiest/best lesson on tithing on this earth during our gospel principles class with the sister that will be baptized on the 18th.  She was the only one in the class so we were able to focus on her questions.  She said that she was wondering about how we "pay money to the church"  and before we even talked about why or where it goes or the blessings she said " Go get me a slip so I can  give some money!"  She explained that she loved to give and "good mormons give cause thats what Jesus would do."  She nailed it on the spot, we dint even have to teach her really.  Oh ya then she said that she didn't have any money on her to give...we told her that it wasn't necessary to pay until she was baptized but she could if she wanted to.  She looked at us like we were crazy then said " I will just save up all my money until the day i get baptized."  She said that she is perfectly fine with giving everything down to her last penny because she knows that the Lord will take care of her and wont let her starve or be cold if she supports the church.  Now keep in mind that this sister has NEVER heard of tithing in her life and has never come to church in whole life and has been very deep into the Hopi tradition until about 10 years ago then she started seeing that it was all messed up.  Pretty good example of faith.  Also she as a gift to us for teaching her she gave us each drawings.  Elder Pebbles got a sweet black and white pencil sketch of a bear.  It doesn't look like what you would think, its the Hopi symbol of a bear so its a bit different but it still looks awesome.  In Hopi way the bear is the medicine spirit and will keep you safe from evil and keep you strong, so that was really a meaningful gift.  I got a colored sketch of  a Hopi village and a bunch of symbols, its really cool.  When she gave it to me she said that " its to represent that you have lived among us and wherever you go you will know that you lived with the Hopi and are part of our family."  I was very deeply honored by this gift.  You can't go and find a picture like that anywhere in the world except on Hopi that was given "life" as the people say when they make art here they talk to it and put their own spirit into the art and give it "life."  Most of the time when they make Kachina dolls or anything they treat it like their child they are giving up for adoption and want the gift to go to a good home.  So if they give it to you for free as a gift then that means they really trust you.  Pretty special.   

Oh going back to bear stuff for a minute.  We were looking up some former investigators and we met up with this man that the Elders have been working with for 3 years or so now.  He believes the Book of Mormon is true and he can recite back the lessons to us in pretty good detail but he doesn't want to give up the tradition.  (which is usually a cover up for saying that they don't want to give up smoking in the Kiva or just other hallucinogenic stuff) But he has read the Book of Mormon and come to church a bunch but he stopped cause earlier this year the Elders told that because he wouldn't be baptized they wouldn't come over anymore.  PATIENCE CHILDREN!!!  It may take years for some people to finally accept the truth and especially out here with the tradition its hard for people to break from it.  Give it some time!!! But we will be meeting with him on wednesday so we will start up his conversion process again.  Anyways, what I was gonna say about bears...there is this herb called "bear root" or "ha-hoysee" in Hopi that they use for spiritual protection.  They will take a nibble and chew it up then spit it on their hands and then rub it all over their bodies as protection from evil spirits and stuff.  They kinda hide it underneath their shirts in little leather pouch necklaces.  He let us see his and gave us some Ha-hoysee to try.  It looks like a really gnarly little ball of wood but I bit some and it tastes like Maple syrup/celery combined.  Not bad!  I didn't rub it on my self though so don't worry.  Anyways that was pretty cool. 

We also had an experience that I wont talk about because I don't want mom to get worried but I want to mention just for suspense purposes.:)  It involves "galaaniis" or "drunks" and maybe some other things but no need to get into detail.  I am emailing now so hence I am safe.  Thats the end of my experience. Hope you enjoyed it.

To finish off the night Chris really wanted to meet with us.  There was a situation that happened in his life that I don't need to talk about but he is not living with his mother anymore and he is not allowed to see his son for who knows how long which is killing him.  He lives up in Old Oraibi with his aunt so we drove over there to visit him with Elder Pebbles for the last time.  We talked a lot and gave him some support and then as a surprise gift to us he gave us each a Kachina Doll called the Qoqole Kachina.  Or the "storyteller."  Pretty sweet!!!  He said he had made them last February and didn't know why because he didn't want to sell them but he didn't know who to give them to.  He believes they were meant for us.  Good stuff.  I am feeling very blessed and grateful for the Hopi people and just being here.  Thanks for everything!!! GO Broncos!!!

Love Elder Christensen 

Robert vs. Christmas

Howdy howdy!!! 

 Here is a long quote for ya.  " When I was a boy, the Sioux owned the world.  The sun rose and set on their land; they send ten thousand men to battle.  Where are the warriors today?  Who slew them?  Where are our lands?  Who owns them?  What white man can say I ever stole his land or a penny of his money?  Yet they say I am a thief.  What white woman, however lonely, was ever captive or insulted by me?  Yet they say I am a bad Indian.  What white man has ever seen me drunk?  Who has ever come to me hungry, and left unfed?  Who has ever seen me beat my wives or abuse my children?  What law have I broken?  Is it wrong for me to love my own?  Is it wicked for me because my skin is red?  Because I am a Sioux?  Because I was born where my father lived?  Because I would die for my people and my country?  - Sitting Bull ( Teton Sioux)

   Its been a looooong day. I haven't sat in the same seat for that long of a time since the plane trip to Africa.  You can only watch "Night at the Museum" so many times...after the 6th time in a row I was done. But we dont have that convenience out here of just zoning out til you arrive somewhere on a mission but thats ok, gives a person a lot of time to think. I forgot to mention that we had to go to Farmington today and we wouldnt be emailing til later.  We left at 730 this morning and go tthere at 1130.  All for a little oil change!  Our vehicle coordinator was a motor pool sergeant forever so he is very picky about car care places and the only place he trusts for Oil changes out of our entire mission of over 50,000 square miles is Big O tire in Farmington.  Which is over 4 hours from us.  Long day.  I got to see a lot of the southern part of the Navajo Rez and its pretty alright....pretty boring.  But hey President Batt told us our 1st day that our favorite color at the end of our mission would be brown, and I think its becoming true.  The only trees are the Juniper and Pinon trees that are just overgrown bushes so that makes me miss Idaho and Cortez a lot but I guess I was born to be a Desert Rat which I am happy with.  This week we actually got back up to 10 lessons for the week so that was good and we are involving the members a ton with the investigators.  Nearly all of our lessons this week we had a member with us, it was great.  I will share with y'all another experience I had about gratitude and how important it is to be humble. 

During our devotional last thursday at our zone Christmas party President and Sister Batt both spoke and they both had some good things to say.  First off, it has always been kind of difficult for me to understand the atonement and the phrase " Jesus paid for our sins" especially.  I just get confused every time I hear that.  Well Sister Batt sure helped with that in her talk.  She spoke about how she was at the Walmart in Idaho Falls and she noticed a man that was obviously in the "RV tourist attire,"  with a short sleeve Hawaiian shirt, khaki shorts and Croc sandals.  Sister Batt said in her head that he looked ridiculous and said she would never be caught wearing something like that.  Anyways she ended up standing behind this man in the cashier line and in front of that man was a lady that obviously was less fortunate.  She had dirty unkempt hair a raspy voice and seemed that she hadnt taken a shower in weeks.  This lady had some groceries that obviously were for children and babies that she was purchasing but when the cashier rang up the price the lady put her head down and started crying because she didnt have enough money.  She pulled out what money she did have and paid for whatever she could afford from her grocery pile and left.  Which wasn't much at all.  After she was distanced from the cashier the Funny looking tourist guy told the cashier to rebag all of her items and he would pay for them.  He did and the bag boy hurried to find the lady out in the parking lot and gave her the rest of the groceries.  A few minutes later the lady came running back in and wrapped her arms around the man and was sobbing "Thank you" over and over again.  Now this makes sense to me compared to Christ's atonement.  After all we can do, which may not be much for some people to pay for our own sins...thats when Christ steps in and pays the rest no matter how large the debt.  That is "grace" defined perfectly and simply.  No matter how bad or good we are in this life...everyone wil receive a resurrected body because Christ paid for it.  Thats one story.  President Batt then spoke about how when he was on his mission in the Dakota's with the Sioux that all he got for Christmas from his family was 2 pairs of socks and a chocolate bar.  Im sure it made some of the missionaries in the room feel a bit spoiled (including myself) because there was some Elders that received multiple packages over 30 pounds each.  Kinda crazy... But anyways President Batt went to say that after they opened up their packages on Christmas day they went to visit some of their investigators and just to go wish people a merry Christmas.  They knocked on this one tiny little house and a very old Grandma ( or shi'ma as we call them) opened the door and in very broken English told them that she was very happy to see them and invited them in.  Elder Batt and his companion noticed that there was very little firewood and there was 2 small children living there.  They left a short gospel message and left the home.  They decided that "nobody should be cold on Christmas" and they went back to their home and chopped a bunch of wood and went back to the home and dropped the wood off.  Elder Batt then went inside and gave EVERYTHING he had gotten from his family to the little children.  2 pairs of socks...and he broke the chocolate bar in half and gave each child a piece. He said that Christmas was his favorite Christmas of his life. Pretty amazing.  Hearing that made me feel sick to my stomach of how selfish I've been.  I was determined to do something good for someone this Christmas season.   

Well we were coming back and we had a bunch of fruit and and other foods they gave us.  I also got my Garrets popcorn which I was anxiously waiting for!   Well we came into our trailer and looked at what appointments we had left for the day and we headed out with all of the stuff that was given to us and I loaded up a few things from my Christmas package just in case I saw someone who would need something.  Our appointments fell through of course and we didn't have anything to do anymore but we decided to stop by this house where a man lived named "Stevie B" as the town knows him.  We talked to Stevie B a couple of days before and he said to come back...during our short little conversation though we learned a lot about him.  He lived in a very small rundown house...no electricity, no water, lives alone.  Never been married.  Hes 61, and he served in Vietnam for a few years.  He said he has nightmares sometimes from what he had to do over there and when he would talk instead of saying "Uhm" or something as a catch phrase he would make gun sounds...pretty intense.  He said he has never received any help or payment from the government since he got back and he lives day by day just to get a sandwich or anything from the work he might do for someone that day.  He told us that there was one point where he didn't even have enough money for a postage stamp. He then went on to say about how often he has wanted to commit suicide because he receives no help or kindness from anyone.  I was hit pretty deep just listening to him.  We set up another time to come back and said a prayer.  We then had the same idea without saying anything and grabbed EVERYTHING we had from our truck...wood, candy, my entire huge popcorn barrel you guys sent me, and gave it to him.  He was very grateful and I am happy that we were able to help someone feel a little happier themselves.  We plan on bringing some more wood to him on Christmas cause just like President Batt....we decided "nobody should be cold on Christmas."  Gosh 1 year ago from now, or even a few months ago I don't think I would be so sensitive to other peoples needs, now I feel terrible when I think about myself, I can't stand it.  Spending a few months on the Hopi reservation will open your eyes a bit and if you wont humble yourself...the Lord will teach you.  I love it here.  Even if I am basically cut off from "civilization."  One small little grocery store and a bunch of Hopi's is all I need. ( and some wood to chop in case I get bored).  Thank you all to who this email goes to and everything you have done for me.  If you get this email then whether or not you meant to be an example to me...you have and I have noticed and am grateful.

Love 

Gamaalii Christensen

Robert vs. Blue Marbles

Loloma!!!

I have decided to start every email now with a Native American quote...some open the eyes a bit to how badly we bahana (white man) have treated them over the past couple centuries or so...but hey part of the prophecies in the Book of Mormon say that they will be "scattered by the Gentiles" but not quite to the point of destruction.  They also say "The Gentiles shall carry the House of Joseph upon their shoulders" so basically we have to take care of them.  Anyways here it goes.  

"Do not grieve.  Misfortunes will happen to the wisest and best of men.  Death will come, always out of season.  It is the command of the Great Spirit, and all nations and people must obey.  What is past and what cannot be prevented should not be grieved for...Misfortunes do not flourish particularly in OUR lives- they grow everywhere."  - Big Elk  (Omaha Chief)       

Its funny, I remember sometimes in Shiprock and sometimes here you will run into a really old person that has a super thick accent and doesn't speak english very well and they talk like that.  All mysterious and full of wisdom like..  Kinda cool!  Things are going good here in Hopi!  Despite the lack of lessons we have we are seeing a bunch of people come out of the woodwork that we will be able to teach this week hopefully.  I actually got a bunch of stuff to talk about today.   

First off Sunday was awesome!!!  Sunday is my favorite day as a missionary.  I don't think it will be when I get back purely because I won't be able to have that awesome feeling when someone that you've been working all week with to come to church walk through the door...best feeling ever.  But we had 5 people we are teaching come to church yesterday it was legit!  We would have officially had 9 but those other 4 were completely unexpected to come and they surprised everyone. Tell you what, being in the only Hopi congregation in the entire world is really a privilege.  I would put this group of 60 members give or take a few a week up against a Utah ward of 300 and the Hopi branch would win when it comes to showing gratitude, humility, kindness, and friendship to every single person that walks through that door.  Its amazing and I have ALMOST teared up a couple times experiencing it.  Last week the lady we are teaching that has committed to be baptized on the 18th of January came to church for her first time, and of course she is related to half of the people in the branch anyways, but literally EVERY single person got up and made a line and welcomed her and gave her a hug and of course all the sisters were crying cause they were so happy to see one of their family members come to church that never has before.  Our branch president was standing up at the pulpit waiting for people to sit down so we could start the meeting.  Yesterday with all of those new people that came to church the person who was conducting individually called out the names of those that came and welcomed them.  It took almost 10 minutes but hey, its worth it.  Only if every congregation in this church would have a welcoming party like that!!!  Nobody would want to leave!!!  Good stuff... you will have to come experience it for yourself someday.  But during the meeting I was sitting in the very back row smack dab in the middle...surrounded by investigators on both sides it was awesome.  Happy day.

Also we went to pick up a less active member before church started and Elder Pebbles was just waiting in the truck while I went and knocked and I heard this big "COME INNNN!!" from tons of people.  I went in and there was about 30 people having a family breakfast!  Completely unexpected!  There was only like 2 cars outside....ya.  Now it doesn't matter how poor or rich a Hopi is...if you walk into a house while they are having a meal you hear at least one person yell "  Sit down and eat!!!"  ahh music to my ears...so while my companion was sitting in the truck still unaware of my good fortune...and while the person we were picking up was getting dressed I had a hot bowl of whats called "blue marbles."  Its blue corn all ground down into a fine powder with more Blue corn rolled up into little balls and all boiled together.  Its really good actually!  I had never had it yet and it tasted like corn oatmeal.  It was kinda funny though with everyone watching the only white guy in the room eat, I said to myself if this doesn't taste good i better have the best acting job of all time...but luckily it was pretty good!  We were also in a hurry and the guy came out and I still had a lot left so they just yelled "DRINK IT!!!"  so I downed it.  I got back into the truck like...ah man that stuff was soooo good!!!....Elder Pebbles looks at me all funny...what are you talking about?....I just got breakfast! Your loss for not coming with me!!  Yes victory is mine.

Okay next...We had interviews with President Batt on Friday and that went really good.  We talked for about 20 minutes.  He told me that I am the only Elder in a very long time that actually likes Polacca.  I about threw up!  How can you not LOVE Hopi!!?!?  Its da best!!!  Then he told me a joke...He put his arms high in the air and was wiggling his fingers...he said "whats this?"  i was all...i have no idea...He said "its a hopi playing the piano."  That was pretty good...yes Hopi's are short...most of them at least.  But President made notice that I wanted to stay here forever so hopefully I won't be moving anytime soon.

I also had an experience that really hit me deep and made me think how thankful i am for what i grew up with and what i have.  We were having dinner at a members house and we got onto the subject of Christmas.  We asked  one of the young boys what he wanted for Christmas and he put his head down and he meant to say it jokingly cause he had a smile but by what he said there was kind of a heavy pause in the air and everyone sat there for a second in silence....the boy said "I already know what I'm getting...a lump of coal." Oh how growing up as kids in this country and a few more that " a lump of coal" means that you are a bad kid....  I haven't talked to Elder Pebbles about that but after the boy said that and I saw the faces of those around the table.....I knew that family would actually love a bunch of coal for Christmas just so they could stay warm for a few nights without having to worry about that.. I wanted to kneel down and pray for thankfulness right there.  I will never forget that....On the subject of that family one of the family members comes to church but is not a member.  He has been coming for a few years since he moved in but was never really interested.  Now just yesterday he said that he would like to take the lessons!!!! WHOOOO!!!  So we will be teaching him sometime soon.  

Next...Cant remember if I mentioned this earlier but a couple weeks ago we gave a blessing to a young less active lady that was involved in a very bad accident.  She rolled 4 times and her face got all messed up.  Her boyfriend was driving and he had to be life flighted to Flagstaff.  His back broke in 2 places and his right arm...he was really messed up.  The boyfriend is not a member and has never really had anything to do with any church.  But we got a call from her on Saturday night to see if  we could give her boyfriend a blessing.  We took Elder Kamka with us and and we sat down with the boyfriend and explained what a blessing is and how and why and everything so he felt comfortable.  He said he wanted one so we continued.  Elder Kamka said the blessing and afterwards the young guy started crying and said that Elder Kamka said a few things that were on his mind exactly and he also said that after a time in his life he stopped to believe in God...but after the accident he was wondering why he was alive because they both 100% should have died...he says he has renewed faith.  That family happened to be some of the unexpected people that came to church yesterday!  It blew our mind!  We didn't even invite them!  But then we set up time to meet with them this week.  Good stuff!!!  I am so happy to be here with the Hopi people.  Thanks for everything and GO BRONCOS!

Love Elder Christensen 

Robert vs. Survival Skills

From Brittney:

If you would like to send something to Robert for the holidays or his birthday on December 28th, we have a direct address PO Box for him.  Don't send anything valuable to the PO Box, anything of value should go through the mission office address to ensure safe delivery.  Letters, treats, small gifts should all be fine though and will probably get to him a little faster when sent directly to him.  Thanks!

Elder Robert E. Christensen
PO Box 832
Polacca, AZ 86042




Heewahnohtahmo!!!!

Well this week certainly hasn't been my favorite on the mission so far.  We didn't get a lot done and plus on Tuesday night we got super sick and were up til 5am.  It was pathetic it was like that movie....oh what is it...oh "take a chance"  Where the 2 guys are acting as foreign exchange students and then that one night they are exploding out of all ends...that was us. We huddled in our little blankets next to each other on our couch and watch 17 miracles at 3am, it was a sad sight. Then...the next morning come to find out our water turned off!  so we didnt have water for showers or toilets for the next 2 days and plus the churchs water was cut off as well.  Luckily we are eagle scouts and have been trained in the ways of outdoor survival so we "managed."  I wont go into anymore detail than that.  

Elder pebbles is from Cali though so he is a pansy when it comes to snow and cold weather, I had to teach him a couple things.  All in all it was way fun though being sick, it was the most exciting thing that has happened in a few weeks.  Thats how bored we are sometimes.  We did have a few lessons though and we made the most out of them.  For the week, we had zone training and we talked about using the Book of Mormon in our lessons and how to teach the 1st lesson using 1 Nephi chapter 1 only.  It was really good and I got a lot out of this training.  So when we got back we had a lesson with a man and we only used 1 Nephi 1 to teach and it was AMAZING!!  There isn't a better teacher then the Book of Mormon in the world.  Its the new Preach My Gospel.  So I guess that would be a challenge I shall issue to all that want to try it...find a preach my gospel and then find the first lesson "the restoration" in chapter 3.  Look at all the sections and study them then go to 1 nephi 1 and try to incorporate the 1st lesson using that.  Good stuff!!

We had 4 investigators still come to church despite our poor teaching week.  We had the man that baptized, Chris, bring another one of his friends to church this week that is going through a rough time.  She came to Gospel Principles and with the help of Brother Dukepoo we related a lot of gospel topics back to the Hopi tradition especially concerning the plan of salvation and she loved it!!  Its so funny to see these Hopi's be all scared of us and then when they finally come to church they say they can't wait til next week!!  Dont make sense cause then they make an excuse and don't come!!!  Frustration.  Its ok though, I am patient...but I aint that patient!! lets see what else....I got to play around with a wolf!! for reals!!!  There is a member that owns a 100% Red wolf.  Its not that big but still kinda intimidating.  It was really nice to me though and was just like Hunter and didn't want you to stop touching it.  I don't know what else to talk about...its good stuff here and I am happy to be here on the Hopi Reservation.  I want to stay here through the winter. Thanks for everything.  Thats all she wrote folks! GO BRONCOS!

eyeamo singadee!!!

Love Gamaalii Christensen

Robert vs. The Holidays

This is a quick note from Brittney.  We heard from Robert briefly via email on Sunday night this week.  He was taking a road trip on Monday would not be able to write his usual letter to us.  He also let us know that his camera broke (again) and wasn't sure if he could send more pictures anytime soon.  I have a few in reserve, so we'll put those in this post for your enjoyment.  Hopefully, the camera will be repaired or replaced soon and Robert will have a nice, long letter next Monday for us.  

He is doing well, but a little frustrated with the lack of work they are able to do with the Hopi and Christmas holidays currently upon them.  People are busy and there are certain traditions that need to be upheld in the month of December according to the Hopi culture.  Send Robert and email, letter, or package this month.  I'm sure it will help speed this month along for him so he and his companion can get back to their busy schedule.  Address is on the right sidebar of this blog.  Until next week....

 The baptismal font has a retractable cover that isn't very attractive, so they cover it up with a nice white slipcover for the ordinance.

Chris' baptism

Robert vs. December

Chris' Baptism

Heewohnahtahmo!!!

I think for my homecoming talk I will say a prayer in Tewa.  A simple short one but there are literally about 50 people or a lot less in the entire world  that can actually speak the Tewa language so that should be fun.  I am trying to memorize it starting today.  Yes we had the first baptism in Polacca in almost 2 years!!!  It was a pretty awesome experience and there were about 40 people that came so that was amazing.  One thing that I remember with an interview with President Batt is that he said the reason why this mission is so much more difficult to baptize and retain members is because the Native Americans are to be "grafted in" by the Gentiles (us Bahana or white men) basically.  He whipped out Jacob chapter 5 and talked all about it how we are to be their guide and have to put them on our shoulders a lot because Satan has such a strong hold on them its ridiculous.  He went off on how he had attempted to graft some trees when he was back in Idaho Falls and how hard it was but it can be done!  I feel like Polacca is looking on the upside for awhile but we will see about a few weeks into December.  December for the Hopi is a month called "Goouyama" or something like that, they have no written language so whatever.  Anyways Let me tell you just a few of the things that Hopis aren't allowed to do during December...No singing, dancing, drums, loud noises of any kind, no blunt force trauma against the earth so that means no basketball or really any type of sports or activity, no ground breaking, no opening doors after it gets dark, no knocking on anything, no whistling, no loud laughter, and no being outside once the sun goes down...to name a few.  So for lessons we are going to have to call the people and then drive to their house then call again for them to let us in.  Even a lot of the members participate in this because its still part of their culture.  The reason why is December is when all the evil spirits come out.  Thats why its so cold.  Past family members or friends that are spirits now will try to get you to come to their side...(nice way of saying kill you) because they miss you and once it gets dark they become active mostly. People believing in this stuff only gives it more power so hopefully nothing to weird happens, but I'm used to dealing with ancient spirit ritual stuff already so bring it on!!  

Anyways on the better side of things, we confirmed Chris yesterday and he said that he didn't want to get out of the chair and he had a great experience.  I personally don't really want to leave his side because he has such a strong spirit with him.  He's already achieved and understands more about the Holy Ghost then I could ever understand.  Plus!  We went to a lesson with him about an hour after church.  We threw him right into the fire and we didn't tell him to say anything and he just jumped right in and was sharing his experience and feelings on things right and left.  He also grew up with the Hopi tradition so he knows all about that and he related everything we were talking about to the tradition and it made sense to everyone.  After we got in the truck he said "so thats what that feels like!...Next house lets go!"  Then we took him tracting with us and since everyone knows each other here he took us to a couple if his buddies houses and he knocked on the door and everything and actually got us a handful of potential investigators!  This guy is awesome.  His biggest motivation is he wants to be a good example to his son who is about 9 months old.  We also had a primary program for church and Chris said that he was just thinking about how he wants this for his son.  You guys gotta meet him.  He wants to write you a letter thanking you for the scriptures.  Good guy.  How many missionaries can say they took a brand new spanking member to a lesson and tracting though right after church, pretty cool. 

We also knocked into a Korean guy named Kim.  He is an assistant preacher or something and he doesn't speak good english at all.  I asked him in very slow english "what brought you to america?"  he looked at me all confused then I just said bluntly.." why are you here?????"  apparently he was offered a job at the baptist church here after he went to religious school in Korea...so there ya go!  We are going to try and get a Korean Book of Mormon and go back. Nice guy, we'll see what happens and I akskd Tyler to give me some Korean phrases and greetings so maybe I can break the ice a bit by trying his language.  Whoda thunked that you would find a Korean in a town of less then 500 people in the middle of a Hopi Indian reservation.

   Well for Thanksgiving this week we will be at a couple houses so we are taken care of.  Also we had snow! it was awesome!  I was so happy! it must have been Idaho snow though because this morning its basically all melted away.  Thats all she wrote folks!  Have a happy turkey week!  GO BRONCOS!!!

Singadee! 

Love Elder Christensen 

Robert vs. The Funeral

 I am really thinking about buying one of those ponchos.

After the funeral banquet

Brother Naha and the scouts.  We played basketball.

2 puppies that I found outside my door, so we fed them some cupcakes.

Chris was not baptized this week.  His date was moved to the 23rd of this week at 4pm.  There was a big funeral scheduled on the same day so Chris out of respect for the family decided to change the date.  Respectable move on his part so I have no problem with that.  Maybe you heard of the funeral, it actually went worldwide.  There is a family here that are members of the church but are kinda less active.  The Youvella family and we actually had a lesson with them about 3 weeks ago.  There is a boy named Charles Youvella that was 16 and he was the star running back for the football team.  Great kid.  He was what seemed like the  most popular kid in school and everyone loved him.  The Hopi football team went to state for the first time in a long time.  When we heard that they were going then we both knew they were gonna get pummeled because they are so small compared to the white and black kids.  Well unfortunately we were right, they lost 60-6 to Arizona lutheran in the first round playoff game.  Charles played a really good game but during one tackle he hit his head really hard on the ground but he got up and ended up scoring their only touchdown the next few plays.  He then collapsed at the sidelines and was taken to the hospital where he died last Monday.  Weird that I just saw and gave him a bro hug about 2 weeks ago.  There was over 1500 people here at our church in little Polacca, Arizona for the funeral on Friday.  The entire community was pretty impacted.  We helped out with the funeral services and such, it was a sad day for everyone.  So we are going through that with all of the people here.  Its also Hopi tradition that wherever a dead body has been you don't go to that place for 4 days so there was a significant decrease at church yesterday but its understandable.  I think we will try and visit the Youvella family soon  to see how they are doing.  

Yes the package is here, and I will pick it up today but I wont give it to Chris until he is baptized cause its a surprise.  He knows i have a present for him though.   Other then that I will be staying here in Hopi land for another 6 weeks with Elder Pebbles!  Christmas with the Hopis!  WooHoo!  I'm pretty excited actually.  We taught 88 lessons this last transfer with is like triple from what this area usually gets in 6 weeks so we set a goal for 100.  We are going to be taking Chris out with us to lessons because he wants to be the "translator" for the Hopi people.  Pretty sweet.  Even if we don't get a single lesson the rest of our time here it will be a success because we got to hangout with Chris.  He really wants to meet our parents and things already but at least for me he is going to have to wait about 14 months or so.  I am dong awesome and not quite sure I am ready to be 20 years old yet.  We have a little charlie brown christmas tree and we will take lots of fun pictures during christmas. We have some pretty funny ideas but we will see if they happen.  Thats it for da week!  Go BRONCOS! 

love Elder Christensen

Robert vs. Uprooting Trees

 "It was a cool lookin cop car....I had to....and this is a very common site here in Polacca"

10 Months!

Loloma!!!

Things this week were kinda strange but were good in the end.  There 3 basket dances going on at the same time on Friday and Saturday so the whole place was empty and up on the mesas.  We didn't go because it is a big drunk attraction and people get in fights all the time.  We went and chopped wood all day friday and saturday pretty much.  After a few weeks of chopping down tress and whatnot you get the hang of just knowing when you can bend down and grab the tree around the trunk and lift.  Then the tree just pops out of the ground then you just chuck aside this 15 foot tree, it makes you feel like your strong but really the roots aren't down that deep because there is really nowhere for the roots to go so it isn't that big of a feat in the end.  Kinda finding my inner redneck and Indian out here its great.  I love being from Idaho and being in a place where it feels like I am in the middle of Gowen field, now i just need a .22 and my shotgun and I'm good to go.  I have learned about after a long week...Sunday is my favorite day.  Sunday for a missionary is kinda like the judgment day for the week to see how well you did and how many people came to church.  Yesterday was our fast Sunday because we had stake conference last week.  It was really good!  Chris came again and really liked it.  he actually asked to move his date to Friday the 15th so thats when it its going down!!!!!!  Friday at 5pm, if you wanna come be there. just kidding don't come, you can come in spirit but thats it.  Chris is ready.  We had a good lesson with him last night again.  We asked him if he believed that Joseph Smith truly was a prophet and he said "yes I do." My whole body shook when he said that, he is one of the most spiritual people I've ever met.  He told us he considers us his brothers and part of his family and he thanks us and God every time we come over.  I don't care if i never teach a single lesson the rest of my mission, as long as Chris is baptized and continues to live the way he knows he should.  We talked about the Ten Commandments as well and he related them to why Native Americans, especially Hopi people are afraid to follow the "Bahana" religion or white man.  He said that he would be the "translator" for the hopi and explain to them that this is the original beliefs and things.  I guess you could say that I am happy.  Pretty amazing stuff.  I know this is a short letter.  I don't have much to say.  It's kinda hard to stay motivated out here because of the culture.  During December they are not allowed to go outside really, do anything that causes blunt force trauma to the earth, do anything with the ground according to farm work or ground breaking, no singing, no loud laughter, no drums.....ya pretty dead.  So December may be a very difficult month here. But its ok cause guys like Chris will keep us entertained and busy teaching.  Its all good in the hood! Thanks for everything.

Love Elder Christensen

Robert vs. Montezuma's Revenge

"da Hopi boys...mafia style"

Loloma!!!

Things in Polacca kinda slowed down this week due to Halloween and more cultural dances called "basket dances."  They are kinda like the women's initiation coming of age thing.  Pretty cool, but still really annoying because they have been happening every weekend for the past few weeks.  Every village does one and there are 3 mesas with 2 or more mesas on each.  All week people are making crafts and things to throw out to the crowd.  We may or may not go to the one at 1st mesa this weekend since it is like 5 mins away from us.  Just to get some cool Hopi stuff, its nice since I am taller then about 80% of people here as well so I will have a better advantage mwhahah.  But yeah during the winter they do a lot more ceremonies and things so we might be forced to slow down a bit.  We both got pretty sick on Halloween.  I will try to explain the funny story without being grotesque for those of the sensitive stomach and mind.  We both had some "tummy problems" pretty bad and we couldn't stop it.  Every 30 mins or so we would have to go back to the trailer or church all day to use the restroom.  That night....oh boy.  We pulled in after a lesson and I said dibs on trailer!!!  I ran in there as past as possible and he went to the church right next to the trailer.  After I came out I went to go check on him and then I needed to go again really really bad so I ran into the women's bathroom because there is only 1 john in each bathroom.  We were both yelling at each other to check on each other to see if the other was alive still.  Then......the power went out.  It was pitch black and we were both helpless on our separate thrones.  The lights are sensor lights to so its not like you could just walk over and flip on the switch!  So we just had to sit there and then when we heard the power go on we somebody had to get up and walk in front of the sensor.  So i waddled over there and saved the day.  I am sorry if that was a little to much information....I'm still 19....for one more month so let me be 19 haha.

Our main man Chris Lowe who will be baptized on Nov 16th came to stake conference with us yesterday and really liked it.  He is solid and I am learning so much more from him then what we teach him.  He has completely changed his life around.  We had some more awesome lessons by the campfire about dreams and animals and whatnot.  I really am becoming an Indian.  I love it.  My respect for nature and stuff has grown a lot.  The winter weather has picked up here for sure also.  I opened the truck door one night and jumped out, then got the door got blown into me and smacked me pretty hard.  Reminds me of home!  Ive been reading a lot still in the Old testament, that is some cool stuff in there.  Its nice to be able to see where a lot of the commandments we have now came from and all the jazz.  There is an Elder Lords that finished 3 week ago and he was in Polacca for a bit and he is on his tour of the mission with his parents and they are coming to Polacca today so we will take them up to the Mesa and show them around.  He was one of my favorite guys to serve with. He was my zone leader in Farmington and I have a lot of respect for him.  He is going to try and walk on to Utah as a pitcher I think.  He's pretty good, so I'm kinda jealous.
Well I certainly don't know what else to talk about....we had a lesson on top of Walpi...that really old village that was pretty sweet.  Basically were sitting on the edge of a cliff.  I think thats all she wrote for this week folks!  HOORAH! GO BRONCOS!

Love, Elder Christensen

Robert vs. Becoming an Indian

A couple of postcards that Robert sent my Mom and Dad this week

Heenohwahtahmo!!!

Well I can say this for sure.  This last week was my favorite week of my mission so far.  We taught 23 lessons this week, which is my tie breaker all the way back from Cortez.  This week we gonna try for 24.  We did everything yesterday for church!  There was only one bench that wasn't filled and we spoke.  I talked on Christlike attributes.  I was up there for over 30 mins for sure, I got into it pretty good.  Another thing is for sure,  I'm turning into an Indian.  Last night in a lesson and during young mens class we spent the whole time talking about how God answers prayers through different animals. I believe it!  We talked about stories and experiences and things its pretty crazy now that I realize it.  Nearly every time I was ever really angry or sad and I just need a buddy to be with...Hunter would always come and find me and sit down next to me and just seem to be like "whats up man?"  I miss my dang dog.  I have learned a lot about Humility and Prayer this week.  I think we prayed over like 50 times this week together.  Look what happens!  Within another 3 weeks our goal is to get the overflow opened and chairs set up during sacrament.  I have grown slightly attached to this lil Polacca branch.  Like I said before, I ain't coming home!  Your gonna have to come get me!  I told President that he could leave me here forever and just keep sending other missionaries to me.  I love being out here separated from the world. Other then that we had to go to Farmington on Friday for a new windshield, someone slashed our sealing on it apparently.  Fun times!  That was about a 4 hour drive.  I went through the center of the reservation and got to pay Shiprock a visit again.  That drive though is beautiful, there is a place right after Lukachukai called Buffalo Pass.  Oh my heck, it is so pretty we have to drive through it.  It reminds me a lot of the Sawtooth mountains and all those campouts I went on.  Kinda got homesick, also our senior couple that lives next to us the "Kamkas" are from Idaho Falls.  Yesterday, Sister Kamka made some roast beef and potatoes just like what you do mom on Sundays.  That made me super homesick, but it tasted so good.  Especially the potatoes.  After the lesson we had with our man Chris Lowe last night he also fed us some hot dogs and pork chops with A1 sauce!!  A1 is about 9 dollars for a small bottle out here and I gave him a hug and we both agree that we won't really eat meat without A1.  Good times down here in Polacca.  Lessons by campfire...wild dogs running around all the time....chopping wood every day...Native American stories....cant get better than that. 

Love Elder Christensen 

Robert vs. Chops The Woods

 The Ten Indian Commandments

 Navajo, English, and Spanish name tags...don't think he'll get one in Hopi, but that would be pretty cool.

Eagle feathers and "chops the woods"

Heewohnahtahmo!!!

 

Well another week down in Hopi land.  I'm sorry to say mom and dad....but....I ain't coming home.  I am home.  We had a record number of people at church this week.  64!!!  instead of the usual 35 or 40.  It was another interesting sacrament meeting as well.  Try about 1 hour 45 minutes of it....but it was actually one of the best sacraments ever.  Since there are 3 new families that moved in they were all asked to stand up and share a bit and so yeah, that took awhile!  But we had 4 investigators at church and one that we are really working with right now we didn't think he would show up cause it was about 10:50 and he calls me and was all, I'm in the parking lot where do I go?  We ran out the door and grabbed him and sat him down in the front row with us.  He got to see the next 50 minutes or so of sacrament so he's all good.  But the Polacca branch hasn't had a convert baptism since June of 2012.  That's about to change on November 16th!!!!  The same guy that came to sacrament late.  His name is Chris Lowe.  Pray hard for him to forgive his wife and other people that have hurt him.  He's had a rough life.  In fact he has a 7 month old son and he is divorced and he loves his son more then anything in the world you can tell that he just wants to be a good example for his boy and family.  

There was a man that grabbed his son  out of his carseat and threw him on the ground, so yesterday during church we went to young mens with him and the lesson was on forgiveness and he broke down and said he knows that's what he needs to do but its hard for him.  Don't blame him, that's some rough stuff there.  But he wants to change his life and oh man is he ready!  He wants to be baptized pretty bad and we all had a good long talk with the Branch president yesterday to and he already has a testimony its ridiculous.  I am learning a lot form him.  We watched the shortened restoration video yesterday and after it was over we asked him what he thought about it, the first thing he said was that he was angry at the preacher for telling Joseph to his face that he didn't see God and Jesus Christ.  He made a good point that that man was a "man of God" supposedly and he should have been one of the first people to believe Joseph!  Good stuff, never thought of it that way.  Anyways, he is ready. We also have another date set with a lady for December 7th, so we will find out how that goes.

We chops lots of woods...yes that is CORRECT grammar down here.  The stake bought us some brand new axes and oh boy they chops the woods like butter I love it.  Its a lot of fun to teach people that are super into Hopi tradition and then to see there eyes get wide whenever we relate it to the Book Of Mormon.  They believe that there are "tablets" about their people buried in the ground and one day a 'Bahana' or white man will bring them to them, kinda similar eh?  So we show the picture of Moroni burying the plates and oh man there is always a groan like...ohhhh...ahh..something like that its great.  I have gotten very attached to the people here and I never want to leave.  There was a huge rockslide yesterday on the mesa as well, and they believe that when we know that the Hopi traditions have fallen is when the mesa will fall down...yet people live up there still?  So maybe it will all come down while I am here! That would be cool, cause then we would have a very large teaching pool for sure.  I shouldn't hope for that forgive me...kinda.  Elder Pebbles and I get along pretty good, he is 18.  He thinks he's the best teacher in the world sometimes and doesn't just sit and listen to what the people say, then just feel by the spirit where to go from there.  I am learning patience and long suffering for sure, I understand those 2 words now. Anyways things are all good for the only Hopi missionary in the world here.  Hope everything goes well for you people in those big cities.

 

singadee

 

Love Elder Christensen

Robert vs. Tewa

 Traditional Tewa meal.

And homecoming football Rez style.  Hopi high school vs Many Farms.... I have chosen to be a Hopi.  We smoked em 60-0.  Good fun!  Literally everyone goes to the high school game so we decided to go where the people go...

Loloma!- Hopi 

 

No more ya'aat'eeh for awhile.  Wow okay let me pick up the rest of my brain that fell on the floor from all of the questions give me a sec.

 

I email from the church's family history center which I live like 50 feet from the church so its nice not to have to drive forever to go to church.  My trailer is very nice! Yes we have running water and electricity and a washer and dryer so we are pretty spoiled. We have propane heat so we again are very spoiled so we are taken well care of don't worry.  My first Sunday was pretty interesting! They did fast Sunday this week because they didn't before General Conference.  I have had 3 fast Sundays within the last 7 weeks.  Our stake president, President Justice is a fire to be reckoned with.  He took up the entire testimony meeting literally to tell the people here to get it together and we cant be lazy anymore.  He literally said that.  It was good and a lot of people were motivated I think...for the better.  Yes, I did get some pants before I left..its the "new missionary" look with the khaki color.  I really like them and its nice with all of the dust because you cant even tell they are dirty or not.  I also bought a bigger knife...just in case.

Okay so I actually don't live in Polacca, I live in Tewa.  Which is right next to Polacca, gosh there is so much information to talk about my mind is gonna explode.  My area is the entire Hopi Reservation and there is only 1 or 2 gas stations and like 1 or 2 little convenience stores.  We have to drive about 20 miles to get gas in Keams Canyon.  The villages that are in my area consist of...(pronunciation test)...1st Mesa, which inside that is Sichomovi, and Walpi.  2nd Mesa, which inside that is Shongopovi and one other one.  There is also Kykotsmovi, Hotevilla, Bacavi, Oraibi, old Oraibi, Jedito, Coal Mine Mesa and a few more.  There is no Sonic so I don't know where that is, it might be hidden.  We go to Tuba city which is 1 1/2 hours away for district meeting on Thursdays and we do our shopping at Bashas.  Which is a glorified gas station store.  Love it.  YES!! I have a camera and I have taken over 100 pictures already so be patient please.  The members here are very nice, the Hopi people are called the "peaceful people" (makes sense because they are direct descendants of the Anti Nephi Lehi's)  They even have a burial of weapons ceremony.  So history time!  The Tewa people were nomads and they were being killed by other tribes and then one day they came upon the Hopi people and since the Hopi people didn't fight and the Navajo's were raiding them they literally hired the Tewa people to fight for them in pay for food and stuff.  So that's why the Tewa and Hopis are such good friends here and they literally live right next to each other.  The 2nd counselor on the stake presidency lives here and he speaks fluent Hopi, Navajo, and Tewa.  He teaches us every Tuesday for an hour or so about the cultures and languages.  There is so much history here its insane.  There are also many do's and don'ts that we have to be aware of so we don't disrespect sacred sites and the culture.

I think I need to take you guys here someday, you will be in reverence at the spirit that is here.  We are allowed to go up on the mesas where all of those little villages are but we have to be very respectful.  We cant go knocking on doors, only if we have been invited up.  They even have some hopi cops up there to protect the sacred village of Walpi.  There is no running water or electricity there, plus that is where they have some of there Kevas or Hopi temples.  There are 2 huge pillars of stone that are the "HOPI TRADITIONS" and if they fall then they will basically join the church according to tradition so I have to admit sometimes I pray that they will fall down.  Since we are literally in the middle of nowhere and there is nothing to do.  We can come back and email a bit more.  We are privileged to be out here and I am grateful that Presdient Batt trusts me to be 1 of 2 missionaries that serve in the ONLY hopi branch in the entire world!!!!! I get to be here to serve the descendants of the people of Ammon.  I am very honored and understand there is a great responsibility on my shoulders.  The work here though is slow, there hasn't been a baptism here in almost 2 years, and that was a 9 year old.  I need lots of prayers and I will try my best.  I will send pictures now and maybe write a bit later if we have time.  We have to drive to Tuba City to get this big gardening project going and get lots of supplies. 

 

Singadee!!!-Tewa  (be strong, take courage) literal translation.  Cool huh?

 

Love Elder Christensen