The Spirit brings such a peace and comfort to me.

Hello!

It's a beautiful day here in Utica, NY. I hope you all are doing well and it's great to hear from you. Today is as crazy of a day as they come with all of the things that Elder McCleve and I are trying to accomplish (in addition to teaching at 3, 4:30, & 7:30). Getting ready for the upcoming transfer and all of the trainings that that entails has us very busy. It's great though, I wouldn't want it any other way. I'm happy Ste is so excited about Spring Break - I love(d) going to Utah that time of year to snowboard/ski AND golf! Jordan Gerard is home! How cool and exciting for their family. What are his plans? That's too bad about the homecoming time situation. (It would be cool to have a topic to speak about/relate stories to if possible, when the time comes). It's now light until around 7pm with 'Springing forward' the time. My new companion is Elder Williams, coming from Albany. He's been out about 14.5 months and is great; I'm excited to be his companion. With the new mission president coming in it makes sense to have him here who can span the gap and know how things work by the time he arrives. I have no idea if I'll stay here next transfer or not - it's pretty up in the air. I definitely have had the most companions in our mission out of the people currently serving, ha.
This past week has been great preparing the transfer and making plans like that. Elder McCleve had a great time at Palmyra and I enjoyed working with Elder Baird for the day while he was gone. Yesterday Martin and his 3 kids came to church! They loved it and turns out he knows a sister in the ward because they used to be neighbors a few months ago. The sister said when he lived by her that he was one of her favorite neighbors because he is such a good person, etc. We have a great Hispanic recent convert who has befriended him and is teaching him with us so we have high hopes for this family! I called Gail last night and invited her to a RS dinner Friday night. She was pleased to hear from us but is going to be out of town and unable to come to the dinner. She was happy to receive the invitation, though. We'll see how that all pans out. Things are great. I'm doing great. I really enjoy the opportunity to serve here in Utica; I'm growing a lot, I feel. The greatest thing is feeling the influence of the Spirit daily in my life. The Spirit brings such a peace and comfort to me. It also enables me to do things beyond my natural capacity, for which I am so grateful. Constantly striving to obtain the blessings and guidance of the Spirit is so important to me. I hope it is to all of you too.

Thanks for everything you do for me! I love you.

Love, Elder Christensen