"Made a believer out of me"

Dear everybody,

Hey there, how's it going? From what I've heard it sounds like things are going great. I cannot believe Mom and Ste got to go to the All Star baseball game! Ha, that is such an incredible story; the blessings of the Lord come in all shapes and sizes. That's impressive Ste made so much money with his lemonade stand(s); he is a little entrepreneur. I'm glad that Paige made it back to her (new) home safely and had a good time with all of her fun travels. Yeah, the weather here has actually been really really nice. Today we may get some rain but lately, overall. it has been great. (How hot is it again in Arizona? :) haha). E. Lyman is from Washington state. It's E. Stratton who is from southern Utah and yes he is training a new missionary this transfer! The picture that Mom mentioned in her letter of me and E. Lyman on a country road is one of President Bulloch's favorite pictures he's seen too, ha. Good times. That's exciting that the Tuhaye tournament is this week, I hope it goes well! That course is great. It blows me away how old Drue and Sarah are; hopefully things this summer continue to go well. Papa and Nana you can say hello to the Pearson's for me! That's awesome. It doesn't matter to me when my next package is sent. If there is going to be anything bigger-ish that I'll need to take with me (ie. my running shoes...still undecided on that, by the way) then it'd be better to wait until after transfers. But other than that if there wouldn't be too much additional stuff to take, anytime will be great. And I think I'll be good to hold off on contacts for a bit - they should last through August. So maybe after the transfer sometime would be good. I'll keep you posted. Thanks.

I feel like I say this every time but it's the absolute truth: it's been a great week this week. Last Monday we had a good time playing some mini-golf during the day. That night we had a good lesson with the Westphal's - they're such a great family. Tuesday was a crazy day. On our way to District Meeting we got a phone call from a recent convert I'm really close to. He called to tell me that his wife had passed away just a few hours before. She was baptized at the same time he was in September last year and had lung cancer. Although we knew her passing would likely come soon, it was still a surprise. The greatest surprise, though, was how amazingly well her husband, this recent-convert, handled it all. But more on that later. So that was an interesting way to start off the day. We trained 2 districts on using the portable DVD players we are now allowed to use; they went pretty well. After the second one I was able to do a baptismal interview for a woman being taught in the Bennington Vermont Branch. Doing these interviews is such a neat experience. It went very well. Wednesday we had one more district meeting to go to then we did an exchange for the next 24 hours. I stayed in Albany and worked with E. Matangi, a sweet Tongan elder. We had a great lesson with a less-active member we had taught once before. She's going through a tough time in her family but knows she needs to come back and is planning on coming to church this Sunday! Thursday we saw the Flanders, I love them! Sis. Flanders had read and taken notes on her study of the Plan of Salvation with a pamphlet we left after we taught it last time. They're both doing so well! Later we made preparations for a meeting with the Stake Presidency and then had that meeting that night. We were able to make contact with the girl we are teaching, Monica, who is Namukolo's friend. That is a crazy story in and of itself but we were able to set up an appointment to teach her on Sunday. Friday, the highlights include teaching the Donovan family about prayer. The 10 year old daughter is still preparing for Jul 30 to be baptized. And after that we taught a couple, Kevin and Felicia, whose progress is slow but definitely noticeable. Since they've been praying their lives have been better and in fact the day before we went over Kevin was able to get a job, something he had been praying about and he told us of one fervent prayer in particular which he feels was absolutely answered and that in his words it has "made a believer out of me." Awesome. Saturday we taught the Flanders tithing. They were all for it. That was our only possible hurdle and it's wasn't a problem at all. We're now correlating with the Bishop to get him technically reactivated and ordained a Priest so that he can baptize his wife on Aug 6! I'm really excited. Also Saturday we picked up a new investigator woman, Laurie, and 2 of her kids. She requested a Book of Mormon, we had a great lesson, she's very sincere and even came to church yesterday. Saturday was the funeral service for Sis. Constable. I was chosen to say the opening prayer. It was an incredible meeting - all of his and her family are nonmembers and the word was it was the best service many of them had been to. There are several stories that Bro Constable told me after the service that are incredible - showing him that she is still around and her Spirit lives on. Incredible. He handled it incredibly and is still so determined to go to the temple and be sealed once he's been a member a year. We had 4 investigators at church. It was great. We taught Monica, Namukolo's friend yesterday. She's doing great. And we taught another Part-member family who is doing really well, progressing slower, but it's a miracle we've been teaching them and all the progress. This morning we were asked to give a blessing to a nonmember woman who is diagnosed with terminal cancer. Her daughter is a nonmember, the daughter's husband is a member (in Canada) and their son is a missionary in Tempe. He asked if she could get a blessing. It was a good experience.

Well I am out of time but this week will be great! Amazing things are planned. We have Zone Conference tomorrow which I'm excited about! I hope you all continue to be well and have a great week. Know of my love for you all and thank you so much for all that you do for me.

Love,

Elder Christensen

This work is "divinely orchestrated"

Goodbye Elder Lyman

Dear everyone,

It's great to hear from you all. I'm glad that the long trip ended well and that everyone enjoyed themselves. That is crazy about the bizarre dust storm; sounds like the weather is out of control all over the place. Hmm... Mom I got your letter that you sent while in the car, thanks a bunch. I didn't get the letter that you sent last week until Tuesday; so I didn't respond to anything from it in my email last week. I appreciate all of your letters so much. I can picture the Mesaonians at Sonic in Page like you said. Things have been great here. I'm here with Elder Checketts and Elder Bergman now. E. Bergman will likely be here until August. Sister Gifford is serving in Syracuse I believe. Have you heard how she is liking it and such? I'm far away and don't know anything about it. It is crazy to think that E. Lyman is home and doing 'normal' things. I was actually really impressed with how focused he was. I've really enjoyed all my companions. As far as hanging out with them afterward I could see myself getting together with some occasionally. Being roommates with any? I'm not sure. Only E. Miller went/goes to BYU who I've served with. Namukolo was confirmed by a member in the ward who he and his wife have been our consistent fellow shipper for her. The First Presidency just sent out a letter about not sending "sensitive information" in emails home but in short she is trying to get her visitors visa extended to stay here longer. Jackson looks really big. I like his teeth! Sorry to hear that he had that virus and such. Ste, thanks for filling me in that I'm not on the "loser side" anymore on the program at church. Haha, I appreciate that. Glad to hear things in SLC are going well; so great to hear from you. And of course I hope Paige gets home safe and she and Ben are finally reunited. This week has flown by and has been filled with so many incredible experiences. Honestly I can't think of another time when the work has been going better than it is right now. It's amazing and feels so good. Right now we have 4 people with baptismal dates and many other incredible people we are teaching. On Tuesday we taught an investigator, Gretchen, the word of wisdom and she's already living it. She asked to go over all of the requirements for baptism, ha. We had a good-bye lesson on temples with Namukolo for E. Lyman's last lesson. It went really well. It was cool talking with E. Lyman before he left to see his thoughts on the future and reflect back on his mission experience (he's probably going to be reading this at some point, ha I just realized that. How crazy.). Wednesday, transfer day, I worked in Downtown Albany with E. Schrader. This was amazing; we had a lesson with a recent convert in the morning. The recent convert is an elderly man and he had a home nurse there with him when we arrived. Long story short the nurse asked if she could join our lesson, has met with missionaries before and wants to be baptized! The best part is: she lives in our area, and the fact I just 'happened' to be there was amazing. It was so divinely orchestrated it's undeniable. She came to church yesterday and has so many great questions. We'll teach her this week and hopefully start preparing her for a date to be baptized! Later that day my new companions arrived. We had a good night teaching more lessons. Thursday morning was amazing, too. We taught the Flanders, the part-member, older couple we are teaching who came to church last week. We planned to teach about baptism and the Book of Mormon going in and her/their questions perfectly led right into it. We invited her to be baptized Aug 6 and she accepted and is really excited. Her (member) husband was crying; it was really really sweet. They came to church again yesterday and loved it. It's amazing. We taught and moved the 10 year old Donovoan girl's baptism to Jul 30 so she and the family can come to church more and hopefully deepen their conversion rather than just get her baptized and leave again. Friday, E. Checketts and I went to ZLC in Utica. It was really fun. Every companionship is given a portable DVD player to use in helping us study/prepare for lessons and missionary skills. The church is giving them all over the US and Canada, and probably other places soon, too. Saturday we continued to teach and teach and teach. We're working with a few really neat less-active families/individuals and seeing progress there as well as other investigators I haven't mentioned. On Sunday, yesterday, we had 5 investigators as church; it felt so good. Afterward we taught 3 lessons. Seriously, it's pretty incredible all of the things that are happening here. It's been really cool to be here this long to build relationships with so many people. The ward is like my family and all of these people we are teaching are close friends. Now more so than ever I feel that it is absolutely true that the Lord imparts his love for others upon those he calls to serve in his behalf. Having charity for the people I'm serving wasn't something that naturally came for me. In fact, I don't know how much I had it at all at first. And of course I know I have leaps and bounds where I can improve but I really have a sense of love and concern for these people that I know is beyond me. It's amazing.

Perhaps it's about time I send a memory card home. I'll work on that. Also, I'm thrown off when to expect my next package but assuming it's like 5-6 weeks from now I may ask to have my white nike running shoes sent to me at that time. Don't let me forget, or ask me about it when you're preparing to send it. My other nikes are getting a little beat. I'll see if I think they can make it to the end.I hope you all have a great week. Thanks so much for all that you do for me and for sending your love my way. I love you all.

Love,

Elder Christensen

Serving day in and day out

Fireworks in Albany

Namukolo's Baptism

Michael visiting the New York State Capital Building

Dear all,

Hello and Happy belated 4th of July! It sounds like those of you in Utah had a great time celebrating there and visiting all week. Yeah, I heard about the crazy Arizona heat. There is a family who snowbirds to Mesa every winter and they know everything around there; we had a BBQ with them yesterday and all their nonmember relatives which was fun. It's been a great week. Thanks for the package; it arrived safely and everything inside was great! I thought that it was Stephanie Gifford's time when she was to arrive. Her trainer's name is Sister Etienne (spelling?). It's interesting because she is a Sister that's been serving at SLC temple square but is here for 2 transfers. She'll be starting her 2nd transfer this time, and thus her last. So Sis Gifford will only be with her for 1 transfer guaranteed. You can pass that along to her family, perhaps. Ha. I won't see her, though; I'm not going in to Utica on transfer day. It's all good though. So we did get our transfer calls and my endless saga of craziness continues. I'll be serving with E. Checketts and for a little while E. Bergman as well. We'll be a 3-some here until a 'visa-waiter' missionary (one who comes here to fill in while waiting to get his visa) leaves and E. Bergman will go to the area he is currently serving. Ha, it seems there is never a dull moment here. E. Checketts was actually in Downtown Albany when I first got here to Albany and I know him some from interacting from that. It should be good; he came out with E. Miller and I'll train him how to be a Zone Leader. I actually offered the suggestion that a 3-some could work here again (we became aware of the fact that a 3-some was needed somewhere and President was asking for suggestions). President called me to let me know about the 3-some situation coming here and how much he appreciated the willingness and how he's fully aware of all of the changes and bizarre situations like that I've been in already. That was nice to hear. So that's that. Oh, and to answer..Zone Leaders generally stay a Zone Leader for a while; it used to be very common to stay such until the end but recently some have been sent elsewhere to help with specific needs or things like that. And because Zone Leaders are paired together I wouldn't train a new missionary unless I first went to a different area.

I'll give the run-down of this weeks events. Monday we went to the New York State Museum and saw a 9-11 exhibit followed by a sweet tour of the Capitol building. The Capitol building was really cool and interesting to be there right after the law for gay marriages that was passed. We taught a part-member family that night; perhaps the best lesson we've taught on the Restoration. It was really nice. That night I was then with E. Schrader with E. Lyman going to Palmyra. We taught Jenaro, their recently baptized Hispanic guy. Awesome. Tuesday working in Downtown with E Schrader was good except about everything fell through, oh well. Wednesday in the morning the Palmyra visitors returned. E. Lyman had a really good time, I'm happy for him. That evening we taught a couple investigator lessons, one of which was Namukolo. Thursday we had a great lesson with an older, part-member couple. We invited them to church (which we were a little nervous about with their very active status in the Methodist church nearby) and they accepted! The timing was really perfect, they went on to explain, and we were really happy with it all. That day consisted of a lot of teaching, too. Other investigators and a new, less-active woman we're teaching. I wish I could share her whole story but just very inspired we happened to knock on her door a little while ago and she knows she needs to come back. We taught a new investigator, another part-member couple. The husband has brain cancer and isn't projected to live much longer but we were invited to teach them by their home teacher who asked if they'd like to be taught. It went well; they are the Blairs. Friday was good - a few lessons; not anything too noteworthy other than we saw Namukolo once more before her big day Saturday. Saturday we helped a different part-member family with a move for a little bit. Then we got our transfer calls. And that evening was Namukolo's baptism! The Bishop's son baptized her who we got involved in the teaching process as he is going to Cali to serve soon. I was asked to read a testimony that Namukolo wrote because she was too nervous to get up. E. Lyman said it was one of the most spiritual parts of the meeting. Oh, we also sang "When I am Baptized." The baptism really went according to plan and was very special to be a part of. Sunday Namukolo was confirmed in Sacrament meeting (crazy about the guy from Ivory Coast getting confirmed in SLC too!). The most amazing part was her getting up to bear her testimony in sacrament! She spoke of how during the Confirmation she felt a warmth that she had never felt before and she couldn't help but shiver. It was incredibly powerful and all worth being out here serving day in and day out! Yesterday was good. Believe it or not we got a flat tire on the Corolla! Ha, I don't know what our/my problem is. But hey, E. Lyman was driving again this time and not me. We changed it and are on a donut and will get it looked at today - we think the old tire may just need a plug. And hopefully we get our van back when the new missionaries to the zone come from transfers. At night we saw some fireworks over the city of Albany, it was pretty good; we didn't have the best view. I'm sure it was nothing like the view those of you had at the Country Club. It's been great to serve with E. Lyman and I'm so happy that we was able to go out on such a positive note! It's been a little difficult with his going home as it's made the fact of 'going home' much more of a reality. But all in all it's been wonderful and I know once we ship him off and I get my new companion(s) the reality of home will be lessened.

I hope those of you driving home do so safely and that everyone has a great week this week! I'll be with E. Schrader tomorrow during transfers working in Downtown Albany. Friday I'll be in Utica for ZLC. Should be a great week this week. I love you all so much and truly appreciate and feel your love for me.

Love,

Elder Christensen

Un testimonio corto pero fuerte

Michael at Jenaro's baptism

Dear all,

Hello hello. Great to hear from you all and it's great to hear that things are going well for everyone. Sounds like the California trip was a great time, I'm glad. This may sound awful, but it's weird for me to think of all you guys there and not feeling like I'm missing out too much, or that I would 'usually' be there. I can picture it all now, though, and I'm happy everything was great. I'm shocked to hear that Rachel is more tan than Paige. Wha? Some proof via photo would be convincing. Ha. I hope the wedding went well in San Diego! That temple is so amazing. I would love to go there some time; hope Disneyland is fun! Elder Lyman is leaving tonight to go to Utica for the temple trip (Palmyra temple, Sacred Grove, Book store, etc etc)...luckky. I'm excited to hear all about it though when he gets back! I'm going to be with Elder Schrader for that duration (Monday night through Wednesday morning). I hope it will be a good training opportunity and that I can help him. I got the letter that was sent from California! Thanks to all who wrote. Nice Penguin sticker, glad you guys could hit up the store even without me. ha. We won't get our van back probably until Transfers which are a week from this Wednesday. So yeah, Elder Lyman is leaving then and I'll (99.9% sure) stay here with someone new. Should be a good time. And transfer calls are this Saturday so we'll see what that has in store! (Pday next week likely to be taken on Tuesday, fyi; but plan on Monday like you know :) ha). I don't think we'll be picking any strawberries, Paige; but if you do hopefully it turns out well. Before I forget, today we are meeting some other missionaries and going to the capital building and sweet museum. We're getting some VIP tour from a guy the Downtown Albany Elders know. So that will take any 'free-time' I would have today so if you don't hear from me via letter, sorry about that.

This week has been good. I can't believe it is already week 5 of the transfer and that Elder Lyman's time (and our time together) is over so soon. Last Monday we went and played ping pong with the Downtown Elders (E. Ludlow and E. Schrader). It was pretty fun. That night we had dinner with a recent-convert couple (the wife who has cancer). They are awesome; the wife's situation is really unfortunate and sad but we're trying to help her stay in high spirits. Then, we taught a less-active member we've been teaching about quitting smoking and devising a plan for her to stop doing so. Good day. Tuesday morning we taught Namukolo - she is amazing, more later. Then we went to Saratoga; it is a missionaries 2nd transfer who is serving there so we do a training for him and then work with him/them after. It was a blast to be back in Saratoga. I love that place so much. It was really fun to see all of the green leaves because when I was there it was fall and winter, not much green. I got to teach Phil Brewer again (the big guy who was baptized in March); he's doing pretty well which is exciting. I stopped in the Badger's on our way in for the night. Bro Badger was out of town but it was great to see everyone else. Wednesday the highlight was seeing Dawn (she and her daughter were baptized in December). She's actually in the hospital right now with blood clots in her lungs. The timing of me being there was quite 'ironic.' Her faith was shaken a bit by this but we had a great lesson around her hospital bed. That night was incredible back in Albany. I did a baptismal interview IN SPANISH. Ha. It was the guy I taught in Downtown Albany in Spanish (I had you print 2 pictures of it, he wanted a copy). It was really really cool to be able to do that. It was a bit harder needing to use specific words (from the baptismal interview questions, which I didn't have in Spanish) but we made due. It was great. Thursday we taught a few investigator lessons. Friday we had a cool experience with Namukolo. She's already a missionary and we were able to teach, in addition to her, a girl she befriended in the apartment complex (did I mention Namukolo lives in the very complex where we just moved from in Menands? crazy.) as well as the wife of the couple she lives with! Awesome; she was so excited. We were able to make contact with Jon Morris, sweet investigator who's preparing to be baptized. We hadn't for almost 2 weeks, he was out of town with work off. Saturday we found our 3 new investigator for the week; a head quarter referral for a Bible and he had actually read from the Book of Mormon before which was surprising. We're still trying to evaluate this guy with some different things but we'll see him again this week. Then we painted a shed with a less-active/part-member couple we are teaching. It was a really good experience to build our relationship with them in a less formal setting. That night Namukolo had her baptismal interview and she is all set to be baptized this Saturday, July 2! Yes!! She's so ready and such a blatant answer to fasting and prayers. Pictures next week for sure. Sunday, yesterday, was a definite "the good outweighs the bad" day. Church was nice with 4 investigators there. After, every appointment and thing we had planned fell through; it was a little frustrating but it's all good. That night was amazing, though. Jenaro, the Spanish speaker I interviewed, was baptized! The service was in Spanish and it was BY FAR the most spiritual baptism I have been to out here. The Spanish himnos carry such a strong spirit. At the end of the service it was opened up for testimonies. A woman went right up and bore an awesome testimony in Spanish, and while she was speaking I realized that I had to get up and do so in Spanish. Cliche, I was a bit surprised and reluctant at first at the thought of it but decided I definitely needed to do so. I got up when there was a break and bore un testimonio corto pero fuerte. I've definitely never done anything like that nor did I anticipate doing anything like that on my mission in New York. It was an amazing meeting.

Well, I hope you all have a great week and know of my love and appreciation for all of you and all that you do for me. Stay safe and stay faithful.

Love, Elder Christensen

A week of Excellence

Dear Everyone,

Hello to all far and near. Well actually, by the sounds of it I don't think anyone is "too near" (Wee Sing) to me here at this point with the trip in California. It's crazy, I can picture right where you guys are; especially if you are at Laguna Beach with the Jack in the Box right there and steps down to the beach. Very nice. I hope all of the time together is enjoyable and that you have great weather - of course you will, it's California. Bandera - ha, wow that's funny because I thought about that the other day. I hope Father's Day was enjoyable in Newport. I remember when that temple was just going up there, how cool. I am getting the letters on Fridays that you send, Mom. It's been working out really well. Driving in the Corolla has been good; we haven't had any issues, it's pretty miraculous. I think we are going to be getting the van back next Wednesday. Thanks for the letter, Ste. You are the bomb; way to go at swim team and basketball camp! The Rudats were/are the couple who we found with the ironic "Chris" scenario. (E. Potter knocking on the wrong door, us going back and after visiting with him for 10 minutes realize it's a different Chris who is not a member, ha).

This past week has been a really great one. About two months ago we (Zone Leaders) trained the mission on what are called the "Standards of Excellence." Basically what it is, Elder Ballard some years ago came here and identified some key-indicators (numbers) that would be recognized as "excellent." For example, the number of lessons taught in a weeks, investigators at church, new investigators per week. Anyway, since then it's been a great goal to strive for and finally this week we got it! We were really blessed this week...I'll give you the run down. Monday, Pday, was an eye-opening day, actually. E. Lyman wanted to go to the mall and get some slacks so we went. Long story short, as much as I liked/like going to the mall looking at all the sweet stuff there, etc - I found much more pure/lasting joy later that night teaching Yolanda and Tino in Spanish. I could expound on it all but that was a cool realization that I had. On Tuesday, we had District Meeting; President and Sister Bulloch were there and trained. President taught awesome things about the scriptures, how to read them, why they are written the way they are/hard to understand, symbolism's, etc. Really sweet. After, we had an exchange and I worked with Elder Schrader here in Albany. It was crazy being with him because (1) it feels like just yesterday we were in the MTC together sharing a room, and (2) he basically was, just yesterday, with Paige and Ben at their house having dinner. Crazy. He didn't have anything bad to say about you guys or your food, so that's good ;) ha. He did say that Ben is a baller and doesn't miss any 3-pointers, though ha. We had a good time working together and speaking openly about a lot of things. We taught quite a bit together that day: Namukolo, a less-active, the Donovan's, and an investigator Gretchen. They all went really well. Wednesday morning we (still with E. Schrader) taught a part-member older couple who lives close out by where we live now. We picked up the nonmember wife and have planned to teach them regularly. We're really excited about that. After, E. Lyman returned and Tino and Yolanda made us lunch! It was sweet and legit. They wanted to cook for us really bad so we had some arroz con pollo. It's still hard to believe how sweet the whole situation is with them speaking/teaching in Spanish, ha. Thursday we had 2 good lessons. One with Namukolo the other with a less-active Sister we are reactivating. Friday was a day we didn't have too much going on but it turned out to be a really enjoyable one. We made contact with a potential investigator who was really excited to see us again and is eager to be taught. Dinner was at a young couple's followed by an appointment with an investigator Bro. Waite. Driving there I had the distinct feeling that we should call and invite the member to teach with us who we just had dinner with. He came and it went really well. I've had several experiences lately where I feel a certain way and know that it is a prompting; I'm not the best because it sometimes takes me a couple nudges to recognize/act upon them but I know each time when I'm doing my best to heed the Spirit...and it always works out well. Saturday was one of those days (very rare) where everything we had planned and tried just worked out. We were able to teach 6 lessons (that's a lot here, ha). The most notable is Namukolo. She is amazing and so eager to be baptized! She loves everything we teach and reads on her own a ton and understands everything. It's incredible! The ward is really taking her under their wings and it's just going great. She will have her baptismal interview this Saturday! Yea! Sunday was a nice Father's Day. Church was nice and we had investigators and less-actives present. In contrast to the day before, it seemed that everything we had yesterday fell through and didn't work out. It was all good and we stayed hopeful and diligent. We ended up tracting on "Arizona Ave" which I thought we turn out to be a positive endeavor after all of our appointments and things falling through...not the case. We got yelled at, mocked, and rejected. It wasn't the most enjoyable experience I've had, ha. After we had dinner at the coolest member's; their 6 and 5 year old boys know more about the stories in the Book of Mormon than 50% of the missionaries probably, ha. I want kids like that. Then, lastly we taught and picked up a part-member/less-active couple. The husband isn't a member. Great stuff, we're really excited about it. It seems like E. Lyman and I just always do well with the part-member families (reflecting back on our work in Schoharie as well). Things are going great and I'm happy to be here (even though California doesn't sound half bad either). The work is going really well and this week ahead is going to be awesome. We're working in Saratoga Springs Tuesday to Wednesday which will be a blast to see the people there! Really excited. I hope you all have a great week. Know of my love and appreciation for all of you.

Love, Elder Christensen

All things work together for good to them that love God

Dear everyone,

Hello, how is everyone doing? It's a beautiful day here in the Albany area. I appreciate all of the emails and shout outs. I'm glad that everyone seems to be doing well and is happy. That is exciting about the upcoming trips and such. I hope you all have a wonderful time. Things have been really good here as well. Ste, sorry about the disappointment with the baseball game. It sounds like you did really well though, and that always feels good. For exercise here in the morning we go outside and I either run around or we hit the tennis ball back and forth or play some basketball. Our apartment is legit. Well, actually...hilarious story this morning (there is never a dull moment). The toilet breaks (not even clogged but something weird) and water overflows onto the ground. We get a knock on our door and it's our 'landlady' (the member's wife) and she said water was dripping on her while she was sitting at the front desk of the dental office right downstairs. Ay yi yi...her husband comes up shortly thereafter and he explains how across the bathroom floor there is a vent and it is right above the front desk downstairs and the toilet water was going through and going all over! HA. That shook up our typical morning routine. I can't believe Corey Oaks is home and that James Kempton is coming home soon. Wow. That's really cool for Jordan Gerard, he's a great leader.

This week has been really really good. On Monday evening we went to the Rudat family for our appointment. They met us outside as we were walking up and in the most polite and cordial way told us they weren't going to investigate anymore right now. It's really sweet, though, how cool they were about it and they then explained how they wanted us (or the other missionaries in the future) to keep in contact periodically because they've loved what we've taught and it's really helped them but they are just so attached at their current church it's too difficult to change now. But that their pastor is going to be retiring within the next year so they have a good chance of converting at that point. That was really good to hear; it's neat to think that these people I teach now who may not accept by way of baptism now, perhaps will later - and that I was a part of that. Tuesday we had a good District Meeting. We taught Namukolo with the soon-to-be missionary; she's incredible and doing so well. We taught the Word of Wisdom and she loved it. We also taught to brothers who are less-active later in the day. It was quite heart-wrenching because one of them is a RM who has absolutely no testimony of the church, Jesus Christ, and God. That blew me away. I don't understand how you can do this and deviate from it later. It doesn't make sense. I think it really hit E. Lyman hard because he is returning home soon. Wednesday was a nice day. I worked with one of the Assistants and we taught the Donovans. Only the mom and the 10 year-old were there; we taught the Word of Wisdom and it went great. Thursday was interesting. Long story short, the Assistants were working with us from Wednesday afternoon until Thursday afternoon. This wasn't the original plan so we had to adjust some things and Thursday I had no set appointments or anything (that hasn't happened in a loong time). I was going to be working with Elder Johnson (he's been an Assistant for 4 transfers, this is his last, not too common). In the morning I studied hope and how everything works for good for those who love God (Romans 8:28 - currently one of my favorites). The day turned out great; we even found and taught a new investigator! We swapped out our van and are driving a Corolla. They took the van back to mission headquarters. I had an interview with President Thursday late afternoon. I love him so much and it went so well. He's awesome. We had a testimony meeting with the Westphals that went really well. He's ready to be baptized it's just so hard to teach and push him. He (saying it sarcastically but the results really are true) 'believes' in the laws of physics - to everything there is an equal and opposite reaction. That relating it to us inviting/encouraging/pushing to be baptized. He'll come around soon, I know. Friday I was on an exchange and I stayed here in Albany. We taught like crazy and it was a really good day. Saturday we switched back in the early afternoon. We taught the whole Donovan family and reviewed the Word of Wisdom with them all there. Got a little intense but it turned out well. Sunday, we had 6 investigators at church! That's pretty snazzy. It was really great and everyone seemed to have a great time; ha, our Gospel Principles class was packed. After church we taught the less active Santana family and had awesome good and a great lesson. Sis. Santana has been coming to church the last few weeks! After we had dinner at a members and we had Namukolo come. Bless her heart, she is from Zambia (been here 4 weeks now) and wasn't familiar with mashed potatoes, rice crispy treats, and even our typical salad. She enjoyed it all, though, and it was a really good time. Elder Lyman and I are doing great and having a really good time together. I hope to help him have a really positive taste in his mouth when he leaves the mission field.

Everything is great. Thanks for all that you do in my behalf; I love you all so very much.

Love,

Elder Christensen

PS- HAPPY FATHER'S DAY :)

Happy Hump Day

Dear everyone,

Hey hey. How is everybody doing? It's great to hear from you all! Things are quite peachy here in Albany. It's been a great week. Thanks so much for the Hump Day package and pictures - that was quite clever and cool. It reminded me of "Flat Stanley" from elementary school, very funny. I didn't do any burning or weird/clever thing to celebrate. Some missionaries out here burn a shirt but I forwent that experience; the day wasn't spent without style, though. Happy Birthday Drue!!! I can't believe that you are 16! I hope that you have a great, great year! Sounded like you had a really cool surprise party, too! That's really nice of Elder Zwick (the 70) and Sister Zwick (the niece) to say those things. I appreciate you relaying that, Nana. I'm very impressed with Ste's athletic stories as of late. The baseball games sound really exciting - it's crazy for me to think that I was watching his regular season games last year; and winning the soda isn't bad either. The heart attacking cracks me up! Thinking back, though, those kinds of things were definitely going on when I was that age. Ha. Who did it? Rachel and Tyler, that's cool that you guys are getting Elders in your ward, and that you're having them over for dinner! I've heard those missions are very successful. Congratulations on running the 10K, Paige and Ben!

This week has gone quite quickly and it's been filled with blessings as well. Picking up from where I left off last email (Tuesday)... I went and taught Bro. Morris, our sweet investigator with a member who has been his consistent fellowship. It was so awesome; I haven't seen someone so excited about the Book of Mormon in a long time. He had read through 1 Nephi 13 in 2 days but more significant was his "perma-smile" as he was talking about it and saying how much it is helping him! So exciting. We taught him the Plan of Salvation and he loved it. He's still preparing for July 23 to be baptized! Wednesday we went to the District Meeting in the Albany West district to give the training there. Afterward we went on an exchange with the Schenectady elders. I came back to Albany and was with a brand new missionary who had at that point only been out 1 week, his name is E. Pextan. And of course there is some relation of connection, just like I have with so many others out here, he is cousins with the Wilardson's. Ha, I thought that was really funny and especially because I saw Taylor up at BYU. We taught the Donovan's that night, a less-active family whose 10 year old daughter is preparing to be baptized on July 2. Thursday, the big Hump Day. It was actually a pretty bizarre feeling that I had when I woke up on Thursday, realizing that I have been out a year already. I wasn't really thinking too much about it beforehand but when the day came my mind kept thinking back and realizing how crazy it really is. It was a good day as, most notably, we taught Namukolo, the African investigator who called us last week. She is amazing and doing so well! We have a couple lined up to fellowship her and they came and taught her with us. She's also preparing to be baptized on July 2 and she's so excited! Later that night we taught a less-active Bro. Frank, who we taught the first time the previous week. He's really sincere and on the path, it's so awesome. Friday it was a treat to go back to the same auto body shop that I've been to many times for 3 different van incidents. Ha, the guys there are really cool and hilarious so it really wasn't bad but it was tedious nonetheless. We taught a recent convert couple later that day, the wife who is battling cancer right now, and it went really well. We have dinner with them tonight, yea! It's so cool to see and interact with people who have recently grabbed hold of the Gospel and can't get enough! Saturday we taught Namukolo again, so awesome. We took the Bishop's son who is home from a year of BYU and has his papers in. It was fun going with him and relating where he is now to myself when I was there. And the coolest thing is when he got home from the lesson his mission call had arrived and he's going to Riverside California English. He couldn't be more excited and he wants to keep coming out with us as he's preparing to go. Sunday was a nice day we had 3 investigators at church which wasn't bad although 6 or 7 were committed to come. Perhaps this week. We had several less-actives come who we are teaching which was really exciting. One of which we taught after church and it was a very Spirit-filled experience. Ha, a really funny experience yesterday was talking to these 4 Jamaican guys (1 of which was a member, inactive, who we were trying to contact). Without sharing too many of the explicit details they weren't up to much good but in the end two of them were debating about some doctrine of Adam and Eve, it was pretty hilarious. There are so many funny things that we experience on a daily basis, I wish I could share them all. This morning E. Lyman and I got our teeth cleaned downstairs by Bro./Dr. Alexander. It's very nice. To briefly give you updates on other investigators I have yet to mention...Yolanda and Tino, the Spanish speakers, are doing well. We weren't able to see them this week nor were they able to come to church but they are still awesome and my Spanish is really improving, ha. They both still have a date to be baptized on August 27 that they're working toward. Bro. Westphal is great, we blessed his baby in Sacrament yesterday. We weren't able to see him but we will this week. Likewise with many others, they're at the same point as last mentioned but maybe we were unable to teach them this week. But we have 5 people with dates now and 13 people we are teaching, most of whom are incredibly solid. It's quite amazing.

I love you all so much and hope that your lives are filled with joy and happiness - most importantly, the eternal and pure joy and happiness that is to be had by living the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Have a wonderful week!

Love,

Elder Christensen