Christmas in Utica

Dear everyone,

Hello again! Merry Christmas! It was great talking with everyone in Mesa. It's great to hear everyone is doing well. I hope that everybody's Christmas was great! Mine certainly was very enjoyable and filled with the Spirit. The pictures are great to see. Thank you to everyone for the nice gifts and things you sent me! Your love is very evident and I feel it from whereever you may be. My address is the PO box in Whitesboro - we don't even have a mailbox at our apartment, haha. But thanks again to all.

Things are going great in Utica. It's been an incredibly crazy and crazy fast week! So much has happened since I last emailed last Monday from Rome. Monday I got to Utica and E. Miller and I worked that night. Tuesday we were in the office in the morning preparing some trainings and then we went to the airport to pick up the new missionaries that afternoon. That blows me away that Paige and Ben were on the same flight with the missionaries going home, especially Elder Farrens. How cool. I mentioned that to President and Sister Bulloch this morning at our "Staff Meeting" and they got a kick out of that. President then said it's likely I will see them with traveling over that direction and such. He then gave me permission to have dinner with them if/when I'm in the area if I/we feel so inclined. Ha! Soo..there is some food for thought :) . Crazy that I was so close to Paige and Ben at Syracuse airport on Tuesday too. We then were with the new missionaries the rest of that day and night. Back at our apartment we had some missionaries stay the night who traveled in from way up north, most notably E. Boyakin was there. Good times. Wednesday we had the transfer. That morning consisted of breakfast with them at the mission home and trainings. Then we were with a missionary working with us until Friday which was ZLC. Anyway, it's just been a whole lot of good stuff this past week. On a more Spiritual note, I talked about the experience with Gail yesterday and on Christmas Eve. Again, we just talked to her going into her home and she told us how we were absolutely God sent. She came to church and loved it. I'm really excited for her. Also, after talking on the phone E Miller and I had a great experience. We went to visit a part-member family and ended up teaching their relatives there. By the end of the lesson there were like 7-9 people there listening to us. Coolest part is a couple that was there. When we asked the wife to read the Book of Mormon she said, "You'll think I'm crazy" ...and went on to explain a few weeks ago she was cleaning the new home they moved in to and found a copy of the Book of Mormon and has been reading it! She and her husband are very interested too! Ha. We have an appointment tomorrow! So cool; E Miller and I were pumped about that. It was really cool happening right after being on the phone with you guys. The Lord blessed us as we did our best to be diligent, even on the holiday.

This week won't be nearly as crazy. We are working in Auburn Wednesday to Thursday. Also we will be preparing the training we will be going around and giving at all of the district meetings starting next week. I'm looking forward to the week ahead. E Miller and I are having a great time; it's great to be with him again. I love you all so much and appreciate all that you do for me.

Love,

Elder Christensen

Good Bye Rome

Dear everyone,

Merry Christmas! I love this time of year so much. It's great to hear from those who wrote. Hopefully everyone is travelling safely. And those who already have, hopefully you are enjoying your time together. It's great to hear that Kim's surgery went without much complication; I pray that the recovery process can be as best as possible. The classic Christensen Christmas dinner and gathering in Salt Lake sounds like it went off without a hitch. How fun. Also, Johnathan's wedding sounds like it was a good time. I'm happy for him and excited to meet his new wife.

Well, it's definitely a unique, cool thing when my family knows what is happening with me regarding transfers before I tell them. I wasn't sure if you would know because I had forgotten whether the Lewis family was leaving before Sunday or not (looking back at last weeks email I see that they leave tomorrow). Nonetheless, the cat's out of the bag; my time in Rome is up and I'll be serving in Utica with Elder Miller as an Assistant to the President. I'm really looking forward to the opportunity for a lot of reasons. First, it will be very fun serving with Elder Miller ~18 months after serving with him the first time. We are quite different people now than when we served together in Schoharie Valley. As well with the capacity in which we are serving, our circumstances will be much different. I'm excited to associate with President Bulloch a bit more personally and learn from him. Also, it will be very fun getting to know all of the missionaries in the mission. This transfer (every other it switches off between a Zone Conference and the following) Elder Miller and I will be going around to each of the Districts in the mission and training at one of their District Meetings. That should be a good learning experience. And as we travel around we will be going on exchanges (or blitz's) where we work with the Zone Leaders there. Elder Miller informed me that I'll/we'll be giving 4 different trainings this week. With the new missionaries coming in we will go to the airport tomorrow to pick them up with President and Sister Bulloch. We will assist in training them tomorrow night and Wednesday morning (when the actual Transfer day occurs). Also, we have Zone Leader Council on Friday where we will be training as well. I enjoy training and getting in front of people like that so I'm excited for all of these things. There are going to be more things that I'll be doing differently from what I have been with the new assignment as an Assistant, more to come on that as I find out more what they are. I know my time on Pday's will be a bit more limited, ha. Also, Utica (the area; which has been coinciding with the Utica Ward boundaries) is going to be split in half now. Sister missionaries are coming in to cover 1/2 of it; actually Sister Pitts who has been in Ithaca is coming and training a new missionary. Anyway, I'm excited for the transfer ahead.

I've really enjoyed my time in Rome. It's interesting how we often don't appreciate the things that we have until they are taken from us. Although it certainly hasn't been butterflies and roses the entire time, looking back it has certainly been a great experience. I have grown a lot and learned a lot. I've especially enjoyed serving with Elder Bowles. He is a great missionary - from whom I've learned a lot - and who is now a good friend. Even though I know that people appreciate my service in the midst of my serving them, it becomes much more evident how much they appreciate it/me when I'm leaving. It's always a rewarding reminder. There were 2 investigators who came to church for the first time yesterday, which is great! Lois is taking the news of my leaving pretty well I feel. Hopefully she travels to Arizona this winter and those there in Mesa can meet her. She went to the Palmyra temple on Saturday and did baptisms for the dead, went to the visitor's center, and the Grandin Building (printing press). She LOVED it so much. We visited her briefly that night and she was on cloud 9. She's eager to go back to the temple and now more eager to bring her family into the gospel. I think her niece, Shar, will be taught here soon by Elder Bowles. We had some great experiences this week, too. We taught the Jamaican family I think I mentioned last week. Wow. They're so prepared and they are already preparing to be baptized on February 4; they remind me of Namukolo. (Speaking of which, it will be really cool getting to go back to Albany on exchange and probably see a lot of the people I know there!) It's great to see the work here in Rome pick up and I know that it's in good hands.

I hope that you all have a very Merry Christmas! Play some chimes for me and watch Wee Sing together at least once, ha. As far as the phone call is concerned, I have no idea what I'll be doing Christmas day in Utica. I assume that 1:00 or 1:30 (3 or 3:30 NY time) will work for the phone call. Don't be overly concerned, I'll make it happen. I'll call the home phone in Mesa. I look forward to speaking with you. I will bring all of the Christmasy things I have with me to Utica, of course. Enjoy this wonderful time of year. I love you all so much and I appreciate greatly the things you do for me and the people that you are.

Love,

Elder Christensen

PS- I may send home a box today with miscellaneous things I don't need/can send home with the transfer. So you can open it right away; I'll put in my memory card so you can look at that with everyone there.

I'll be in Utica today at 4. My transfer is happening early (rather than Wednesday) due to Elder Farrens' group flying home tomorrow rather than the usual Thursday, because of Christmas.

I'll be expecting some fun pictures in next week's emails :).

Love you all.

Let us seek after His love.

Dear everyone,

Hey there. Hope everyone is doing well. It's great to hear from all of you, as usual. By the sound of things, Ste had a very exciting 12th birthday! I enjoyed all of the pictures. I can remember my 12th birthday like it was yesterday. I can especially remember going to school the next day (after I hadn't been there on my birthday due to being in California) and walking up the portable ramp to Mrs. Muehling's class and explaining what I did and why I wasn't at school. I'm sure Ste will remember it that vividly too when he's a missionary. How exciting that he received the Aaronic Priesthood. It's hard to believe he is that old (mainly because it feels like I was just there). And I see that between the Hungry Howies, choice of cake, and going to the Penguin store, much was done in my honor, ha. How exciting that April 16 is the big day for Jennings #2! I hope that Kim's surgery is successful and without complication; she's definitely in my thoughts and prayers. I am all set as far as slippers go but I did remember that postage stamps are always a good thing to have and wouldn't be a bad gift :). That's hilarious that Elder Stratton keeps reminiscing to Paige and Ben about he and I together. He's such a great guy; and how crazy that Elder Becerrill came on exchange that night and ate over at the Lewis'. Good stuff. I have yet to get Mom's letter this week. Tell Jordan Southworth thanks for the card he sent me. That was nice. But 1-1:30pm Arizona time shouldn't be a problem for calling at this point; knowing more next week with the transfer situation and such I'll let you know better then (Monday or Tuesday, depending on when we take Pday with the transfer).

Things are plugging along in Rome. Elder Bowles and I are enjoying our time serving together. The past week certainly wasn't without disappointment and trial, although looking back it really wasn't too bad. We had a really cool experience on Friday afternoon. We had been working really hard trying to find people to teach and after a bunch of things hadn't worked out, we were getting out of the truck to go try a potential investigator that was found months before who neither of us knew. But as we were getting out we saw a little way down the street a woman pull in her driveway, get out of her car and start to walk inside her home - I felt strongly that we needed to approach her and talk with her. Miraculously she had troubles with her keys, by the looks of it, and we were able to get there before she walked inside. After introducing ourselves and briefly sharing truths with her, she invited us in. Her name is Sharon and she has two (respectful, well-behaved) sons, 11 and 16. She and her family are very interested in being taught, coming to church, etc. One of the coolest parts is they're Jamaican (and a well established family)! ha - and the 11 year old son had on a Manchester United (soccer) jersey and I gave him a hard time that I'm a Liverpool fan. Anyway, they're such a blessing to us as Elder Bowles and I had/have a goal this week to find a family to teach. Tuesday night we have an appointment with them. Lois is going to the temple on Saturday with a small group to do baptisms for the dead. She is extremely excited and I'm extremely excited for her. She's solid as a rock. There is no doubt that this week will be interesting waiting to see what is happening with the transfers. I'm going on exchange tomorrow and will be working in Oneida - I've never been there before so it should be a good time.

Hopefully you all are safe and well and are enjoying the wonderful Christmas spirit. I know that the love of Christ brings the sense of peace and togetherness we detect greater at this time of year. Let us seek after His love. Have a great week. I love you all so much.

Love,

Elder Christensen

The most wonderful time of the year!

Dear everyone,

This is absolutely the "most wonderful time of the year!" I love the Christmas Spirit, or Christ Spirit, in the air. I largely attribute my fond feelings for this time of year to Mom, knowing how special this season is to her and being brought up with that. There are so many great memories, mostly family traditions, that come racing back into my mind around this time of year. Speaking of which, it was great to see Jackson's picture in front of the TV watching the irreplaceable Wee Sing Christmas, hahaha. He's going to keep the tradition strong - hopefully his father (Dermey) is okay with that ;) ha. It's great to hear from you all. How exciting that Rachel is having a girl! That sounded very right. I'm incredibly happy for the Jennings family. Did you mention when your due date is? It's hard to believe that Ste is turning 12 this week! I had forgotten about the Faith in God award, but I'm very pleased to hear that he got it. We had heard that there was some crazy wind in Utah this week but it was definitely new and more personal news to hear of trees falling down like that. That's a great outlook, especially at these times, to count our many blessings. By the sounds of things a lot of you feel that I am going to be transferred; ha, I suppose we will see. You haven't been too far off in times past with your transfer thoughts. I hope Elder Stratton and Elder Papa have a great time at the Lewis' tomorrow night. I don't have anything to mention that you should tease Elder Stratton about (yeah right), but perhaps if you have the ability to do so you should make no bake cookies for dessert - they're his absolute favorite. The First Presidency Christmas Devotional is definitely one of my favorite church meetings. We watched it last night at the same members' home where I watched General Conference. Lois came, too, which was very nice; she loves the choir and always wants me to point out "Uncle Mark". I received the advent calendar(s). Thanks a lot - I'm up to date on them, no worries. I was trained well in my advent calendar skills. Does Ste do all of them each day back home? Lucky, haha. With that package I got the pictures with Kevin visiting the house - I gave the copies to Lois at church yesterday and she loved them. She wants to give Ste a hug real bad, ha. She may go to Mesa to visit sometime this winter season, that'd be interesting - I'll keep you posted.

What are we going to do today? Elder Bowles was up in Lake Placid last winter and has really hard core winter gear (too warm for here), so we are planning right after this to go to Marshall's and possibly JC Penny to look for a coat for him. It's been so nice and warm here though, I feel so blessed. We've really only been in our suits, no coats yet really. I've found that I've acclimated to the climate a bit, thank goodness, but I'm definitely still an Arizona boy at heart. Elder Bowles and I are having a really enjoyable time together.

I've certainly felt the blessings from Heaven this week. It's been filled with its up's and down's, just like any other, but looking back the up's undoubtedly outweigh the down's. The 10 year old boy who has been preparing to be baptized this weekend has sort of fallen off; we haven't been able to teach them these past 2 weeks (due to cancellations and difficulty in getting in contact with them). They're on our radar still but obviously their reactivations and the boy's baptism are a little ways out. Zone Conference was this Wednesday and it was such a Spiritual feast. All of the training was centered on The Book of Mormon. My favorite, without question, was President's closing training. After making it clear that a testimony of The Book of Mormon only comes through the Spirit and because of our faith, he walked us through some of the more 'academic' evidences that reveal the divine origin of The Book of Mormon, which confirm the Spiritual witness we already have. We discussed complex Hebrew language parallelism structures (ie. chiasmus, etc) as well as simple Semetic writing patterns that are saturated throughout the book (reference Elder Holland's Safety for the Soul talk where he mentions some of these things). There was a lot more that we discussed that really was edifying. We're not to go and pronounce these things to investigators trying to initially come to know the Book of Mormon is God's word but, again, for one with a witness from the Holy Ghost already they confirm them. The similar principle taught in D&C 63:9, Mark 16:17, Ether 12:6, etc. Anyway, things are going well as we found 4 new investigators this week! One of which is a total miracle. She is a lady in her 70's (I'm telling you, I have had more success with elderly women than any other demographic - what's with that) with great faith and she loved the message of the Restoration! We have an appointment with her on Thursday and Lois is coming with us too. It's going to be great. Oh, and I worked with Elder Shurtz this week on exchange. That sure was fun, especially with the timing of it at our 18 month mark. With that in mind, can someone look into what is entailed for me to take a class or two this summer before going back to the Y at MCC? Also, is there anything for BYU that we'll need to do before I get back? And, working at the MTC, is there any information you can find out about that?

Thanks for all that you do for me. I love you all so much.

Love,

Elder Christensen