Week 77: Ingrown Toenail Part 2

So remember how I had an ingrown toenail? I had to get one removed from the other foot this time! WOOHOO! I guess tracting isn't so good for them toenails.

We hit some record high numbers this week which was cool. We taught over 40 lessons.

Workouts are as intense as ever at Jake's.

Life is good up here in Johnson City (minus the whole toes thing)

Thanksgiving was pretty great. We had one meal at 3, and then another meal at 4. It was pretty rough to try and eat that much food in a short period of time. I also played football for the second time in my life (The first time being the turkey bowl last year). I'm pretty bad at football.

If Y'all haven't heard of the Light the World Initiative, then you are missing out. It's like a 2-minute video about how we can bring the real spirit of Christmas back by serving others. https://www.mormon.org/ It's right on the front page.

Hope Y'all are having a good time! Christmas is jumping up just around the corner.

Love,

Elder Christensen

Week 76: Hype

So since P-Day was so fun today I don't even remember what happened last week; all I remember is that we taught like a ton of lessons.

So we start out with some working out and so I recorded one of my sets (Attached).

Then right after that since we didn't do legs we went straight to the trampoline park to record some dope videos!

Then we went to subway and now they have $6 footlong sub of the day, so I got myself a sweet onion chicken teriyaki and it was dang good.

And now here we are, sitting around emailing. Just figured I'd tell y'all how cool P-Day was so you could be jealous!

Transfers are this Wednesday and Elder Simonson and I are staying together! WOOHOO!

I have way too much adrenaline pumping right now to write anything so I'm going to sign off here.

Love y'all!

Elder Christensen

Week 75: Mansion

So me and Elder Simonson were knocking some doors in a crazy rich neighbourhood and we usually get 0 response from rich people. But this one guy we knocked on his house and the pillars were seriously like 30 ft high! 

We hit a Beaver Squirrel (Groundhog) and Elder Simonson wanted to skin it so he attempted and it didn't turn out so well.

People here have been talking politics like crazy because of Trump's win, and I'm just sitting here twiddling my thumbs like "lol I'm a Canadian"

I failed to take any pictures this week because I'm not very smart at taking pictures, so I guess this is about all I have for Y'all! 

PEACE!

Love

Elder Christensen

Week 74: Bouncin'

Well, we had a pretty stellar P-Day today! We started out by working out at Jake's, and then we cleaned up by going out to a trampoline park! I will attach a video and a picture for Y'all.

Elder Simonson and I have been doing lots of great work lately. Since daylight savings just happened, it gets dark at around 5:30, and the culture here in the south is basically to not knock on anybody's door after dark, but we do it anyway. Haha! Some people get really annoyed but when you fight through all the hard stuff you get blessed with success in the end! Sunday night we ended up teaching 3 lessons when it was pitch black outside to non-members that we knocked into.

Johnson City is the BOMB! 

It is Elder Sharp's birthday today so we are going out to Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner. SUPER excited since I've never had it before.

(Left to Right)

Elder Bradford, Elder Painter, Elder Welch, Elder Simonson, Sister Tanner, Sister Wood, ME!

Love Y'all! Enjoy this Video!

Elder Christensen

Week 73: Ingrown Toenail

So this last week was pretty fun! We had a good chunk of people show up for church! I also had to give my first Zone Training and that was pretty fun.  We talked about Goal Setting, and emphasized it on setting daily goals for missionary work.

On Tuesday after a few hours of knocking doors I started noticing that my toenail was hurting pretty bad.  It started looking pretty bad, like worse than any other ingrown toenail I've ever had, so I talked to the Mission Doctor and he told me to get it looked at by a professional. Long story short, after limping around for a couple days I got it cut out by a podiatrist! I didn't have the stomach to watch him do the operation so he put a screen up so I couldn't see. It took 4 numbing needles in my one big toe for me to not feel the pain!  The coolest part about the whole situation was that he let me keep the part of toenail that he cut out and it is now chilling in my journal so I can totally send pics if anyone wants to see it!

Right after the surgery I went out knocking doors because my toe was still numb. I was walking a little wonky but it was super fun!

On a side note, I actually took quite a few pics this week so here you go!

After a workout with Jake (I've lost almost 10 lbs in the last three weeks)

Simonson and I walking into the beautiful mountains

Just me

Week 72: Hydration is Key

We had a pretty dope lesson with one of our investigators. She is super awesome. She was already on a baptism date when I got here but we had her over to a members home for dinner + a lesson and it was great! She ended up bringing her 3 kids to church this Sunday.

,

Anyways, my muscles are extremely sore from my workout this morning. I actually got dehydrated, haha. I almost passed out a few times but then I drank a gallon of water. (Side note: when you drink a gallon of water you need to pee like every 3 minutes.)

Since my head still hurts from being dehydrated I'm going to call it quits for this week!

Love Y'all

Elder Christensen

Week 71: Tired

Wow!  I just got back from a 2-hour workout at a member's home. His name is Jake and he has been working the missionaries to the bone for the last couple of years! Here is a picture of the crew post workout:

Elder Simonson and I have been working our tails off! We actually had a super awesome experience last night.  We went and contacted a couple of potential investigators in the Areabook and we showed up to a house full of 8 people! They invited us in to eat tacos with them and of course we couldn't refuse that since it was around 7:30 at night and we hadn't eaten since 12:00 and it was like a bowl of cereal or something. Anyways, we chatted for a while and it turns out the house owner and his mom who was there are from Canada! They are Maple Leaf fans and it took every bit of willpower in my body to not hate on the Leafs. We ended up sharing the Restoration with them and had a very long Q&A block at the end of it where all of them were asking very sincere questions. We placed 3 copies of the Book of Mormon with 3 of the people there and a few others said they would just share with someone who got one.

All in all, this Johnson City place is pretty cool! 2 of my previous companions have served here, Elder Goldsberry and Elder Farnsworth, although they are both home now :'(

I'm actually feeling the effects of the workout just typing up this email. My arms are so sore I don't know if I'll be able to hold a basketball, but that's what we are about to go play so I gotta sign off now!

Love and Miss all of you!

Elder Christensen

Week 70: Johnson City

Well, transfer calls were this morning and I will be moving to Johnson City! My companion will be Elder Simonson. I actually happen to have a picture of me with him so I'll attach it. (We are the 2 in the middle)

​

Oh, I'm also going to be a Zone Leader, so that's pretty lame.

Elder Rosengren will be training a new missionary here in Sparta! I'm going to miss this place but it was good to me while I was here for 6 weeks.

Well, I have a ton of stuff to pack and a lot of stuff to do today so I'm going to sign off early. Peace out guys!

Love

Elder Christensen

Week 69: Alcohol

Well, tomorrow's the big day guys! I turn 21! I'm finally legal drinking age in America. WOOHOO! Although I've already reached legal drinking age once before, it does me just about as much good as it did last time: nil.

General Conference this weekend was pretty great. I must admit I am terrible at staying awake, but Elder Kazuhiko Yamashita had an excellent talk about being "Ambitious for Christ".  So what does it mean to be ambitious for Christ? Does it mean to go to church each Sunday? Does it mean to read your scriptures daily? Does it mean to make sure to pray continually? Although these are all good things we can do to improve our relationship with Christ, I think that if we are to be Ambitious for Christ we need to have a genuine love and a general yearning to better ourselves and do what we know what we need to do.

Well, this last week was pretty crazy. On top of conference, we taught tons of lessons. It's a sad thought to think I will have to leave this area after only being here for a short 6 weeks, but I guess we will have to wait and see what will happen!

I miss and love all of you! 

Elder Christensen

Week 68: Donkey

Well! This last week was pretty cool. We have still been staying super busy. I feel like we meet 500 new people every day.

The weird thing about a white wash is that I have no idea if I'll be staying in my area or not! It's definitely possible for me to leave after only being here 6 weeks! 

As per usual, I am at a loss for words. All I can say is that being a missionary is awesome! 

Miss and Love all Y'all!

Elder Christensen 

Me fearlessly petting a donkey. (I was really scared)



Waterfall pictures:

Week 67: Bees

We have been busy busy busy... LIKE BEES! 

Now that you have figured out what the title is referring to I feel satisfied.

We have been trying to keep our sanity as we have been going around meeting all of the people that the missionaries prior to us were working with, and because of that we have been insanely busy!

We are going to a place called Ozone Falls today so I have to cut this super short. If you want to know how pretty it is you can probably google it!

I'll send pictures next Monday.

Love Y'all!

Elder Christensen

[Ozone Falls]

Week 66: DEEEEEESTRUCTION!

So last week I mentioned that I would be going on a hike later that day. Well, that sure happened! It turned out to be a grand total of 12 miles of hiking, and it wasn't flat for all of it. About half the trail was either straight up or straight down, so it was pretty crazy. I think that's probably the biggest workout I've ever gotten in my life! 

Anyways, this week has been pretty awesome! I'm surprised at how quickly Elder Rosengren and I have been able to learn the area! The members around here are so awesome too.  

So we've been working a booth at a fair for like the last 10 days. Basically we just sit there and talk to people about Jesus and give out balloons to kids.  After our last day of the fair (Saturday) we caught wind of a Demolition Derby that was happening right beside the fair, so of course Elder Rosengren and I had to go see it.  It was probably the most entertaining 20 minutes of my life, just watching cars drive into each other as hard as they can, I'll attach a video.

Well other than being destroyed and watching cars be destroyed it was a pretty normal week.  I look forward to hearing from all Y'all!

Love

Elder Christensen

Week 65: This is SPARTAAA!!!

Literally, this is Sparta! Welcome to Sparta Tennessee.

I participated in something called a whitewash. That is when both
missionaries in an area leave and 2 new ones come in at the same
time. Usually only one will leave at a time so there will always be
someone who knows their way around, but with a whitewash, neither
missionary has any idea of what they are doing when they get there.
Luckily for us the Ward members here are super awesome and have
totally helped us out a ton! I'd say we are already pretty well
aquatinted with the area. Oh right, my companion's name is Elder
Rosengren. He's from Vegas, baby. He's super chill. We get along really
well.

One thing interesting about our whitewash is that we actually took
over a sister missionaries area, so we have spent the last 5 or so
days de-girling the apartment, and I would say we aren't even half way
there. (Side note: this is the nicest apartment I have ever seen on my
mission).

Today we are going with some of the young men in the branch to a place
called "Virgin Falls". It's like a 6 mile hike, so hopefully my fat
won't weigh me down too much. 

Can someone explain to me what Labor Day
is? Like I don't actually know anything about it other than its the
end of summer.  



Well, I guess I better cut this short. I am writing on an iPad and
y'all know I have very strong opinions about iPads. I miss and love
all of you!

Elder Christensen

Week 64: Waterfall Transfer

Well, transfer call was this morning; I will be moving to Sparta
Tennessee! That is on the western edge of the mission!

Well, I really don't have time to type right now, but here are some
pictures of a waterfall we hiked earlier today:

Week 63: Hellcat

Well this was a VERY exciting week! They sold all of the cars in the mission and we got to pick our own new ones, so I chose a Dodge Hellcat!

So really what happened is there was a pretty good sized car show in downtown Forest City. There were over 400 cars! This was one of my favorites so I got a picture with it.

We have been finding lots of new investigators lately, just trying to get them ready for baptism! Other than that everything is pretty normal. It just hit me that my birthday is like less than 2 months away! I will finally be legal drinking age... again...Not that that even matters!

Hope y'all have a great week. I miss all Y'all!

Love

Elder Christensen

Week 62: Service

Now, what kind of service is Elder Christensen talking about? I know I can read all of your minds. I'll give you a hint, it's not the kind of service that you do in tennis when you serve the ball. Just kidding, it is. I went on an exchange with Elder Simonson and I got to go to Asheville NC which is a very weird place, although it's pretty good. We played Tennis for our early morning workout! 



Speaking of Asheville, there are actually 2 sets of missionaries there. We went downtown with them to do some finding because there are like a billion people there. One of the Elders was challenged to a game of Connect 4 by a random dude on the street corner. The terms were as follows: "Loser has to freestyle for 30 seconds on a topic of the Winner's choice." Little did we know that this Elder was super into Free styling back home, so he gladly accepted the challenge and lost pretty quickly.  The topic chosen by the winner was "Mormons" And we got to hear a missionary rap for 30 seconds while the other guy beatboxed. It was pretty dang awesome.

But really I was going to talk about real service, like when you go out and help people. We got a lot of opportunities this week to help members with some things, and the blessings because of it were awesome! One family we helped gave us a whole bunch of groceries!

SCRIPTURE TIME!

"And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God"

(If you can name that scripture without looking it up I'll give you a high five.)

Basically when we serve others we get super blessed for it, so go help someone out! Not only will you help them and bless them in their life, but you can also gain experience through helping others, and build great relationships!

Anyways, I'm super excited to finally get a chance to play basketball again so I'm gonna sign off here!

Love Y'all!

Elder Christensen

Week 61: Eggs

So my companion Elder Thwaits is allergic to eggs. Guess who ate eggs yesterday?

I went on an exchange again this week, this time with Elder Jeffries. He's a vegan... in the South... but he's a pretty cool kid! We had a ton of fun and got to teach quite a few lessons together.

Sorry for the shortness of this email. I'll do better next time; please forgive me.

Miss Y'all

Elder Christensen

Week 60: Pokemon

Pokemon? What the heck is Elder Christensen talking about Pokemon for in his weekly email? Well, you see, it's been a pretty popular topic, even down here in the south. We see people walking around all the time glued to their phones, only to find out that they are playing this new Pokemon game called Pokemon Go. Alright, I know you guys are still wondering why the heck I'm talking about this.  It basically all leads up to this picture right here:

I love this sign! I just had to share it with everyone because I thought it was pretty freaking hilarious.

Other than hearing stories of people being hit by cars because of this game, it's been a pretty good week! I was able to go on an exchange with and Elder in the district named Elder Cook. He's a pretty cool guy. I didn't take any pictures because I suck at taking pictures.

Anyways, that's about all this noggin' is spewin' out right now so I'm gonna have to stop trying to think of things to say.

Love Y'all!

Elder Christensen

Week 59: Pretzels

So I found my new true love. Pretzels.

Now I'm not talking about those hard crunchy small ones that you get in a bag; I'm talking about the BIG SOFT SALTY ones! BIG SOFT AND SALTY THY TASTE SO GOOD! I've literally eaten a couple dozen of them in the last week. 

I went on an exchange with Elder Constantino and we had a blast! We found a new investigator via a member referral and taught a super cool lesson! 

The Work is good here in Forest City.

Stay frosty my friends.

Keep cool.

Be chill.

Elder Christensen

Week 58: Hotdog Man & Turkey Bacon

Well, this past week was pretty cool, I guess. Transfer call was today
and I found out that Elder Constantino will be in my district again!
Exciting news! I am not being transferred, since I need to complete
Elder Thwaits' training.

We had a pretty cool zone meeting, we took pictures, since this was
the last time the district would be altogether before transfers.
Notice how well coordinated the picture is?

We met a pretty cool young family this week. Actually Elder Thwaits and Elder Dewsnup met him last week on an exchange. They forgot his name so he was referred to as "hotdog man". I guess he was eating hotdogs when they met him. Anyways, Elder Thwaits and I went back and had a super strong lesson with him and his wife! After we finished, his wife said, "do you want to hear something really weird?" Of course I want to hear weird stuff. Apparently she had been talking with her best friend from high school about an hour before we arrived. Her husband never told her we were coming, because he forgot we were coming. She had been thinking about which church to raise her kids in, and her friend magically decided to talk to her about our church, and then to top it off we knock on their door and had a super cool experience. She was in tears while she was telling us all this. Experiences like these make missionary work worth it. To see God's hand in all things is great.

On a side note, we found a place that we can buy expired groceries for super cheap. I can buy 3 lbs of turkey bacon for $2.00. I haven't been sick yet, so I guess it's all good in the hood.

This is about as long as I can bear to type on an iPad, so I'm going to stop right about here.

Love y'all
Elder Christensen

Week 57: Busy Like a Bee

Whole lot of cool stuff happened this week, including me taking over 30 pictures! 

Just kidding I didn't take any. (Will that joke ever get old?)

I did my first Baptism interviews on Friday, which was weird, because I had to do 3 all at the same time! One of them didn't speak English, so I had to use an interpreter. Basically I had no idea what I was doing. I was also on an exchange with an Elder that I've been exchanged with before -- his name is Elder Park -- I was in his area this time (Hendersonville NC) and it's crazy! They teach nothing but Micronesian people.  Their culture is so much different than what I'm used to. I literally felt like I was in a whole different mission.

I was pleasantly surprised to find out that Elder Thwaits had found 5 new investigators in my 24-hour absence! Good job kid!

We have been teaching people like crazy, trying to prepare them for baptism.

I played a game that is super fun with the elders in my district, it's called "Liars dice". It's from Pirates of the Caribbean.  

Well, that's all folks.  See y'all later.

Love,

Elder Christensen

Week 56: Shenanigans

Happy 4th of July!!! Whatever that is.

I'm emailing on my iPad again because all of the libraries are closed.

Elder Thwaits and I had to go to Knoxville for a "follow-up training
meeting" where we got trained on a few things. We got to see Elder
Goldsberry again and his Trainee.

Elder Thwaits decided that he wanted to try handling the area alone on
an exchange (missionaries switch companions for 24 hours). It started
out with me forgetting to give him the car keys -- whoops. He had no car
for the whole 24-hour period, so he went and assembled my bike and his
bike and they rode around on those for the entire exchange.

I finally got the pictures for the waterfall hike too!

I hate iPads.

Love Elder Christensen

Week 55: Bread

Well, we have been so busy lately that we haven't been able to take our lunch hour a lot of the time, so that means a big breakfast and a little bit of improvising. My companion snagged this picture of me while I was driving one day:

We went on a hike last week, so I have a ton of pictures of that. Oh wait! I didn't get them from the other missionaries. If I play my cards right I should be able to get those pictures and fire them off!

Well, that's pretty much all I've got! I guess I'll spice it up next week a little bit.

Love

Elder Christensen

Week 54: Happy Father's Day

WHELP! Happy Father's Day to all you fathers out there! Hopefully you got to sleep in on Sunday!

This week was pretty cool. Yesterday was Zone Conference so that's why this email is a day late! Whoops!

We are going on a hike again today, so I don't really have a whole lot of time, but I want Y'all to know that you are awesome, and I miss you!

Love,

Elder Christensen

Week 53: Overboard

WHELP! My new trainee is named Elder Thwaits (pronounced twaits, like saying "weights" with a t on the front) He's the one in the back in the group photo with his arm in the air. Side note, all of those missionaries are part of my mission lineage.

Left to right: Elder Tutasi(my uncle), Me, Elder Darrington(my cousin), Elder Thwaits(my son), Elder Goldsberry(My Dad), Elder Shurtleff(my Grandpa), Elder McNaughton(My brother).

Anyways, this week was pretty great. Did a lot of finding and found some new investigators, one in particular will be my crazy story for the week:

We were knocking on some doors in an apartment complex I hadn't been to before, and the 4th door we knock on the dude just yells "COME IN" And I'm like "Sure" (This happens ever once and a while and it's always funny to see people's faces when they realize they just invited Mormons into their house, jaws literally drop every time.) He was pretty cool, younger guy and he had some even younger guys with him. They were playing some Grand Theft Auto on the Xbox One when we came in and we just started chatting with them about stuff. Eventually we asked if we could share a message with them, and we did. Then we were just about to leave and set a return appointment when the home owner gets a call from his ex-wife telling him she's outside with his 2 kids for him to pick up. He runs outside really quick brings 2 kids inside and he's holding 2 hoverboards (those things that you stand on and ride like a segway but with no handles? Yeah, those). 

I immediately start commenting on how cool these things were and his little kids (age 8 and 5) start riding those things around the house like nobody's business, doing spins and all sorts of cool tricks. After a couple of minutes of the father watching me in awe he offered to let me try one, and of course I say yes. And me being the genius that I am decided to give my iPad to him so he could record me riding a hoverboard for the first time. I was going to do a ton of spins and show off all my skills and stuff. Unfortunately my plan didn't turn out the way I wanted it to, and I'll let the video do the rest of the explaining. Moral of the story, they are putting some crazy things in chicken nuggets these days and kids have supernatural powers that allow them to ride these complicated pieces of machinery as if it were easier than walking.

Well I miss all y'all and I look forward to reading your emails this week!

-Elder Christensen

Week 52: Turtle Tossing

Well all sorts of cool news just came in.

Our Mission is absorbing the eastern part of the Nasheville Tennessee mission. This means that our mission now covers the Cookeville stake, so that's pretty cool.

Transfer call was about 20 minutes ago. Elder Hull will be leaving and I will be getting a new companion. Like a really new companion. Like I'm training a new missionary.  They also thought it was a good idea to make me a district leader; not sure who's idea  that was.

Not sure what my new companion's name is or anything. I will probably find that all out on Wednesday when I meet him. I have to drive 3 hours one way to go pick him up, and then drive 3 hours back to my area, so Wednesday is going to be exhausting.

Now for my crazy story this week.  We were on our way to one of the outer parts of our area, and we noticed the truck in front of us start slowing down to a stop and pull off to the right, I noticed something in the road so I pulled off too. There was an older couple stopped on the other side of the road panicking not knowing what to do. There was a snapping turtle in the middle of the road, and it looked like it was a bit injured. It may have been run over a tiny bit or something.  Anyways, the dude in the truck in front of us gets out and starts trying to pick up the snapping turtle with zero fear, but this thing was being a twerp, it kept on trying to bite him, and the dude kept dropping the turtle. Eventually he got a hold on it after dropping it several times and in frustration decided that instead of gently placing it off the road, he would toss the thing with all of his might while yelling "YOU'RE WELCOME!" And of course I'm standing outside the car with my jaw dropped trying not to laugh out loud. The turtle soared through the air into a ditch and that was the last we saw of it. Moral of the story, don't try to bite people when they're trying to save your life.

Well that's all I got for this week, I love and miss all of you!

Elder Christensen

Week 51: Memorial Day

We finally got to play some basketball today Our district has been
really good at conserving miles, so they came down today to play some
basketball.

It's also Memorial Day, I think it has something to do with like
remembering people who died in the war.

Well, everything has been going pretty solid in Forest City North
Carolina. I'm writing this email on my iPad, and I'm sure most of you
know how much I hate writing emails on my iPad. So this is going to be
pretty short.

We are creeping up on transfers, it's not going to be this Wednesday
but the one after. So next Monday I should have some new info. I'm
certainly staying in this area but I'm not sure what else is going to
happen.

Love and miss you guys!

Sent from my iPad

Week 50: Squirrel Meat & Hawai'i

Goodness gracious great balls of fire! We have been teaching a ton of people lately. It's getting exhausting! It's really good though.

I managed to add another name to my hit list on Sunday. A squirrel managed to run right in front of my car while I was about 200 feet from the church, and it was honestly pretty sad, I didn't really want to kill the squirrel, but God had a plan for him, I guess. Not nearly as satisfying as when I hit the raccoon.

Other than my recent animal abuse, there hasn't been a whole lot of super exciting things happening. We had a Hawaiian Luau at the church on Saturday, and of course I took several pictures for everyone. Actually, I didn't. I seriously have a problem, guys. I need to just start walking around with a GoPro on my head so that I don't forget to take pictures.

I'll try and take some neat pictures this week.Talk to you guys later!

Elder Christensen

Week 49: Destruction

Well, I heard about all of those Forest Fires in Alberta. Sounds pretty dang serious. Hopefully it doesn't progress any further, but it seems like a pretty serious natural disaster.

This week was like super, super busy, like more busy than any other week on my mission, and random little miracles kept happening.

People kept on asking us to teach them. Like that's super cool! I managed to set a new personal best as far as lessons taught in one week and people who accepted a baptismal commitment in one week. Basically our teaching pool is huge and everyone is awesome!

Forest City is full of destruction, but not the bad kind of destruction, like the good kind of destruction. Y'know?

Well, as always, I will attach all of the pictures I took, because I take pictures on a daily basis. Okay that's a lie, I never take pictures, but I do have some for this week!

That's a big pile of leaves Elder Hull and I raked up.

That's Elder Park on an exchange with me. We were teaching one of our investigators who had a wheelchair, and he got to sit in it and have a fun time leaning back.

That waterfall picture was from several weeks ago, but I only got it like today, so there it is! It was pretty hard to climb up the waterfall.

Love you guys!

Elder Christensen

Week 48: Happy Mother's Day

Shout out to all the moms out there. Hope y'all had a happy mother's day!

We were required by the Assistants to the President to create a 5 second or less video of us saying "Happy Mother's Day" to Sister Griffin (the Mission President's wife).

What ended up happening was this video, so I hope y'all enjoy! Even though I've gained 40 pounds I can still soar like an eagle.

I miss all of you! 

Love

Elder Christensen

Week 47: Tic Tacs

Well, this week was pretty fun! We've been going on lots of teamups with members and finding new people to teach.

I can't really think of any crazy stories that happened this week, although I feel like I should mention the fact that it is literally impossible to put a package of orange tic tacs in front of me and not have it completely eaten in like 5 minutes.  I even try to only put one in my mouth at a time to make them last longer, but before I know it I've eaten the whole thing!

Sorry for my lack of creativity this week; I'm literally drawing a blank.

Love and Miss all of you!

Elder Christensen

Week 46: Poop

Well, this week was pretty eventful.

We went on a hike on Tuesday and got some sweet pictures of some waterfalls, but whoopsy, I don't have those pictures. I'll try and get them today, haha.

On Wednesday we went and helped some 90 year old members who have a farm. We shoveled out goat stalls and I seriously almost died. It didn't smell too good and it was a huge workout.  I also breathed in a lot of barn dust so my lungs were hurting for a few days but it was all worth it because they took us to an expensive restaurant to eat afterwords.

Another interesting thing that happened is that we went to the birthplace of Abraham Lincoln. Apparently he was born in Bostic, North Carolina and not in Illinois like the history books say.  Historians have come to confirm that this claim is true but they aren't going to change the history books because of the hassle.  Here's a picture of me and Elder Hull standing on the foundation that Lincoln was born on.

Well, we are probably going to go on another hike today so I have to cut this short.

Miss / Love all of you!

Elder Christensen

Week 45: I Finally Took Pictures!

Check out what I found in the county newspaper:




Yeah, that's right, that is definitely the picture of Jesus that our church owns that is on the front of the restoration pamphlet!

Anyways, we have been doing SOOOOO good here. Like it's been friggin' crazy! We have been getting so many members to take us out on team ups and to participate in our lessons!

We even got a baptismal date yesterday with this awesome black dude.

Anyways, I still suck at taking pictures but I did manage to get this one of me after a district meeting!

We are going hiking like super soon so I have to keep this email really short!

Love Y'all

Elder Christensen

Week 44: Member Missionary Work

Wow, this last week has been pretty awesome! For some reason whenever we talk to members and I ask them if they know anybody we could go and visit, they almost always tell us people to go see! And when we go see them they welcome us in with open arms and we have a pretty awesome lesson with them!

I'm really liking it down here! In fact, I've been liking it so much that I forgot to take pictures again! WHOOPS... Sorry guys, I know, I'm an idiot.

I don't remember if I mentioned this already but my District Leader is actually a missionary that came out the transfer after me when I was in Maryville (and he was also in Maryville) so we had a pretty awesome reunion! I got to go to his area with him for a day on Friday and teach some of his investigators with them. Pretty much everyone over there is Micronesian, which I had never even heard of before, but we taught like a whole ton of people and it was awesome!

Well, like I said, I don't have any pictures but next week I PROMISE I will take some pictures!

Love / Miss all of You!

Elder Christensen

Week 43: Forest City, North Carolina

WELL! I GOT ETd!!! WOOHOO!!!!

Just kidding. I miss Rockwood so much already :(

An "ET" is an Emergency Transfer. It's for when missionaries have to be moved between regular transfer cycles for certain reasons (usually involves not being able to get along with your companion). I was one of 4 companionships affected, according to the President. I basically just drew the shortest straw and had to take a hit for no reason and move to the complete opposite side of the mission. I got along with Elder Patterson really well so I'm sad that I couldn't finish the transfer with him but I guess I had to take one for the team.

I've been here since Wednesday and boy is the scenery beautiful, like it is really pretty out here. If I were smart I would have taken pictures so that you don't have to take my word for it, but I'm pretty bad at the whole picture taking thing.  I'll try to remember to take pictures this next week of some of the scenery and my companion.

My companion's name is Elder Hull. He's pretty cool. He's really into knives like me so we get along pretty well.

I'm still the driver so I should be able to learn the area pretty quick. I'll most likely only be with Elder Hull for the remainder of this transfer cycle (about 3 more weeks) so I really have to step up and learn this place good.  

Our area is pretty giant, like a few times bigger than my last 2 areas. We cover like 3 counties. Since we only get a certain amount of miles we can drive each month, mile management is very important.  

Well, sorry for such a long update and a lack of cool stories; hopefully something awesome will happen this week that I can share with all of you guys.

Miss you all!

Love,

Elder Christensen