Family History Center closed..‏Date: Tue, 9 Sep 2014 12:49:

Hey family! Sorry for the wait on the letter but where we normally go to do emails, (family history center in cheney stake center) was closed and so therefore we had no other way to email you. So hopefully this short letter on tuesday will get you through the next week! We have had a pretty slow but normal Ritzville type week. New investigators come and go but the problem with people here is that they are too friendly to say "No" when they really just aren't that interested. Never before I came out on my mission could I have thought that I would want someone to get all mean and closed right away in a contact instead of them letting us come by over and over while they sit inside and pretend not to be home. We picked up one new investigator however that came to church this week! Her name is Patti and a tree fell down on her house when the HABOOB swept through, giving us a reason to knock on her door and ask if she needs help with the clean up. Turns out that she has been contacted before by missionaries and that she would love to start to learn more about the church! Who would have thought that Heavenly Father would just drop a tree on someones house in order for us to find someone!

Temple was awesome. Watched the 2nd of the newest films and it was not my favorite but still legit. I love having the temple as an option in this mission. Sometimes it's what gets you through the transfer! Elder Tekanene is the man! I love this kid. We pretty much laugh all the time. The only times that we ever get frustrated with each other is when I forget that he is from an island and comes from an entirely different culture than I could imagine. We get along perfectly and yeah it will be hard to ever contact him after the mission but he has a facebook and is planning on going to BYU-Hawaii after so who knows?! 

New Bishopric! Crazy. I guess I never thought about how long they have been together before! That's exciting though. Let me know what goes down. Dad could be pulling a fast one on all of us so who knows! I can't believe the Charles is home! That's insane. And B has his release date already! Ahhh that's too fast! 

Thanks for calling SLC! It would make you happy to know that people are getting VISA's left and right around the mission. There are two that I know of right now (both from Texas actually) that are headed out at the end of the transfer. Elder Owens (if you remember him) is leaving and he is the one that came out here with me from my MTC district! So yeah who knows I could only have one more left in this mission... Looks to me like they will just keep missionaries through the transfer so If I did get mine in the next 4-6 weeks I would be here through October. So no need to hurry up on the B-day package! haha I do want some Green Chili though! New shoes would be awesome too because my poor nikes are thrashed from all the service and P-day stuff. Some casual nike braatas would be sick. haha jk you really don't have to send anything.

You all sound awesome and I am glad each of you had a chance to write me. I am seriously blessed to have such an awesome family!

I don't think we have any more time to write you specifically back but just know that I read all of them! Dad get better soon! TODAY IS YOU STINKIN BIRTHDAY! ya old man! love your guts. Your my hero!

K love ya all,

ELDER CHRISTENSEN

Holidays...‏Date: Tue, 2 Sep 2014

Hey all you people,

Well this week as you know we had a holiday on Monday and thus the letter on Tuesday. "American's celebrate weird things.." - direct quote from Elder Tekanene. So yep we have been prepping ourselves for the the long work week. Today we are actually not taking our P-day because we are going to the Temple on Thursday. Because we live so dang far from anyone else we have permission to write today anyways because we wont have any reasonable amount of time to on Thursday. This week was pretty slow but fruitful. We found a new investigator in a Motel complex that our Less Active owns. She is pretty cool and her husband was baptized 3 years ago so she said he has been trying to get her interested about going. She hasn't been to church yet but maybe next Sunday! Other eventful things that have happened to us have been us finding out that one of our towns that we cover for our branch is not included as part of our mission area.. and that getting a parking ticket there is surprisingly not fun at all. haha You don't even want to get me started. It was super dumb. Holy smokes I am getting frustrated just thinking about it. haha So Elder T and I usually have to make our way out to this middle of nowhere town once every so often just to see if we can find out where the "member" that used to live in the rotting meth lab trailer happened to move just so that we can update our branch member list. We get done talking to this guy who assures us that if we ever wanted to take a load off of this preaching the gospel business that we could just swing on by and play some x-box, to which we said, "yeah.. thanks so much for that offer but we gotta bounce!". So we are headed towards our next town when we see this sign for a waterfall. And we both look at each other and were thinking that there is no way there is a waterfall in the middle of this nothingness. We take the little exit and look out at this waterfall. We get back to the car and the park ranger lady just finished putting a ticket on our car. I walk up and start talking to her about how we were just stopping by and that we weren't planning on camping or anything and we had no idea is cost anything just to look over a fence she just looked at me, looked away and walked off... So dumb. Turns out that if you don't pay ten dollars straight up to look at this lame excuse of a water fall then you get a 100 dollar ticket... I know.. it was so dumb and we called the mission office and they were cool about it but there is pretty much  nothing that they can do about it. Turns out that it is actually a half mile just outside of the mission area.. haha so yeah the mission office was understanding and the mission boundries don't even cover half of our branch area anyways soo.. yeah they didn't really care! haha bottom line of this story is don't get parking tickets outside of your mission area! also Washington State Park people are dumb...but they are still children of God. 

You guys seemed to have a pretty sweet week. I know they go by so fast it's unreal! Mom&Dad - Mom I know that by this point you pretty much are freaking out about the ticket. Don't worry. We already took care of it and its all settled. I love you and I am sorry I let you down! haha Wedding pictures looked amazing! You defiantly have a talent my mother. Thanks for calling SLC! Glad to hear they didn't forget about me! Last night I had a dream in Portuguese which was weird cause I don't know how to speak it.. haha yeah its kinda just one of those things where if I got it I would be stoked but I really don't think about my VISA at all. I kinda forget that I wasn't actually called here quite often, until a member reminds me by asking about Brasil. NANO! I didn't forget your brithday! I just held back from telling you until TODAY! I WISH YOU THE BEST WITH YOUR NEW AGE AND THAT YOU LIVE LONG AND PROSPER. Get off my back already about this guilt trip thing... jk I love you homie. (ps you can always remember that I will remember your birthday as the day I broke mission rules and got a parking ticket!)

Also I was finally able to watch the videos! haha I love them all. Sorry I let you down west but we cant afford ice (not even ice trays).. haha CONWAY you animal I am so proud of you. I first watched Britton's and I had no idea Conway was behind him cause the video was kinda choppy and then all of the sudden I heard the scream! haha SO FUNNY! I busted out laughing. Conway you are such a stud. LOVE YOU ALL,

ELDER CHRISTENSEN

Meetings‏ Sent:Mon 8/25/14 1:47 PM

Hey Family,

I wish I had better stories to share with ya but honestly this week was a bunch of meetings and empty houses! David and his family are doing great. The older kids are having a hard time feeling motivated to start this church going life but I can't blame them. It will take some getting used to I think before they start his whole process. Still really great kids though. So yeah we had a zone conference on Wed and then on Saturday we went to see Elder Johnson on the 70 talk to us as he was passing through. Great talk and great meeting but I hate driving so much! Me and Elder Tekanene are really close to the Senior Couple in charge of the mission cars and we told them that there was no way in hadies that we were going to go under our monthly allowed miles of 1600 and we will probably go over by 400 miles. He told me that as long as we get baptisms I can do what ever I want. #AbuseThatPermission haha but seriously other than that we had no luck with anyone in our area. No body is progressing in town. My favorite less actives are out of town. Sometimes Ritzville can be a really hard area but I am gonna be here for a while I think so gotta get comfy. I really do love this place I just hope for more out of it! We have new ZL's in our area and one in particular always asks for rides from us as we approach town and stuff and He is awesome. He is like my best bud. He is super bold in his teaching and pretty much calls everyone out! His stories crack me up and for whatever reason he reminds me so much of West. There ya go bro. I've replaced you.

You guys seem to be all about this ICE challenge thing! I got a bunch of videos but my lame family history computer cannot view them I haven't seen them yet. I will try another computer right after I email this but from what everyone else here tells me about it, It sounds pretty funny. 

I washed a HEFER! We were helping some other elders out at a county fair and walked by some FFA kids that were prepping their cows for show. I stopped and asked one of them if I could help wash their cow and they totally let me! I will attach a picture. Also DAD everyone had a blue cord FFA jacket! I totally felt like part of the group. I was like "I wore one in HS for a WEEK!"

Hopefully I will see the ice bucket stuff! You guys are incredible and know that I love ya.

Com amor todos pessoas!

ELDER CHRISTENSEN

SAND STORM & BAPTISM‏ Date: Mon, 18 Aug 2014 11:32:5

Oi Familia,

What a week! probably one of the craziest of my mission but who knows.. Its all pretty much a blur at this point! Before I forget to write about it, This Tuesday we had this crazy dirt storm in Ritzville called a Haboob! haha look it up its no joke! We were in the library just doing some service when all of the sudden there was this lady that went to the door and started freaking out about this wall of dirt! We didn't really pay much attention until she kept going on about it and so we looked from the window and literally saw a wall of dirt headed towards us! If you're having a hard time picturing it just think of the movie the MUMMY! #insane... The windows went black! We walked outside because I wanted the experience of course and I couldn't even see my own hand! It was gnarly! At the end of the storm there were trees in the streets and scattered across the golf course. There was even a huge tree that just crushed this poor house on Division St.! haha Yeah.. I don't even know what it is about the planes of Washington but apparently this happens all the time. SO yeah that's how my week started! ok cool so now that I remembered to tell you guys that Its on to the important stuff! #socialmediablitz #baptism #SOOSICK #mnmspokane

One of my most favorite days on the mission by far! It was so much fun to see how pumped everyone was about missionary work and getting pictures of us and more importantly going out teaching with us! I don't know how many pictures of me you saw but there was a bunch others that were put out by members here and I hope you get to see them! It was a blast! We had some seriously good moments and I think the mission got some really good publicity out of all of this! And then there was the baptism of DAVID!! That man is so awesome! It was incredible to watch him get dunked! Elder T was asked by David to do it because David said he saw it in a dream! How sick is that! So yeah He got baptized and we had everyone from the branch basically there and his kids all came to the Baptism! I have a picture I will send of their family but its kinda blurred so its not my favorite. As far as the next people to be baptized it will definitely  be coming out of this family! On Sunday he got the Holy Ghost and gave an impromptu testimony!! I was smiling so big haha! He thought I put the President up to it! haha Yeah I have found that the more I stay here in the Spokane mission the harder it will be for me to leave this place! I could potentially be here for when this family gets sealed and David goes through the temple and if I were to ever get my VISA it would be hard to not be here for that! #missionaryproblems Love this family though! (Peggy too.. just thought I would add that)

Know that I love you all! Much love!

Te Amo

ELDER CHRISTENSEN

Gonna get DUNKED!‏ Date: Mon, 11 Aug 2014 11:27

Family,

This last week was so awesome! As you may have guessed from the title, OUR INVESTIGATOR IS GETTING BAPTIZED!! yeah yeah! Oh it was the sickest lesson ever! We were thinking about it for a while about how we thought David might just be ready to set a date for his baptism. We go in and start talking about any questions he might have and then he says, "So when can someone be baptized, like what does it take?" haha yeah.. he is the man! We set him up for this Saturday, the 16th! We are so stoked I can't even tell you. That whole day we were on cloud nine because right after that we went over to teach my favorite Less Active family in Odessa and she made be a plate of Snicker doodles for us and she kept telling us about how she was excited to come to church at the end of August!  Didn't even phase us that right after that we taught another investigator in town and he started talking about  underground German prophets and there connection to Alien spaceships. Naw, you cant get me down when there is a Baptism in the near future! So yeah like I was saying he is going to be baptized this Saturday evening at 7 o'clock . 

Oh I don't think I have even told you guys about this but on the 16th of Aug, we are also having a SOCIAL MEDIA BLITZ for the people in the Spokane mission boundaries. "The Book of Mormon Musical" is coming to Spokane and the mission has planned out this orchestrated effort to combat all of the negative attention the church will get from that with positive and accurate postings from members in this area about what #RealMormonMissionaries do! They have been planning this for a while and most of the younger members of the wards who actually use Facebook and Instagram and Twitter have been recruited into the effort to shadow us throughout the day and post stuff about what we do! So yep, this is going to be on the 16th, which means that the people shadowing us here will get to post about our baptism!!! Not that I'm a competitive person when it comes to missionary work but, no doubt, our day is going to be THE BEST! I am sure you can follow all of the posts online if you search the Hashtag: #mnmspokane <this is the hashtag that will link all of the postings together!> If you scroll through that at the end of the day I am positive you will see yours truly! 

Another thing that happened this week was transfer calls! Neither I nor Elder Tekanene is leaving but Elder Goins (the elder from the pool table picture) is leaving.. Sad days. But we will have a new DL and we have no idea who it is yet.. So that will be interesting!

Alright, love you all with all my heart.

Com Amor,

ELDER CHRISTENSEN

Blisters..‏ Mon, 4 Aug 2014 11:38

Oi Familia!

What it do what it do! This week has been another awesome week in the books.  We had a really long stretch of time between P-days last week considering we had to work on Monday in order to attend the Temple on Friday but (because I don't live and work just to get from p-day to p-day) it wasn't bad. Monday started off with a laugh. Thanks for the Drugs mom! haha still cracks me up. I have not made the cookies yet but I need to. Its hard to find time and motivation to get the oven stared in an apartment with no AC and it is 110 degrees outside. But then the rest of the week went by pretty great. We organized a lot of our efforts and pin pointed some people that are worth working with and created a lot of routes and things so I pretty much know the area down to the dot by now. On wednesday we had a district meeting and then exchanges after. I was in Davenport again and got to play some more pool! We did a whole bunch of service and I met someone who was semi-related to the Cardon's in White Rock so yeah that was cool. We then met with our investigator family (David)  in Oddessa! They are awesome as ever and we had a great lesson. They came to three hours of church yesterday! So stoked about it. But anyways we also had a great experience with teaching a less active / part member family out in Oddessa as well. They have never really been receptive to missionaries before and most of the people in the Branch don't even know them because they apparently never open the door or let anyone from the church in. BUT! We have been getting in recently and I feel like she, (sister R) , is going through a phase after just having had knee surgery and her husband <member> is also looking for something more, more help or peace. Anyways, yeah they LOVE us. No joke, I don't even know why or how but we just really started hitting it off! She is awesome. Holy cow. She keeps promising to make me Snickerdoodle cookies ever time we see them, and the other lesson she said something along the lines of, "Well, I guess we better start coming to church then if you guys are going to keep being so persistent!" haha YES!! She is still pretty restricted with her knee but they will be coming at the end of this month probably! I am really excited about the work going down in this area!

And then to kinda cap it all of we went to the Temple on Friday!! What What! Yeah it was the BEST! New movie in case you haven't heard. Don't know if they have it in Alb or anywhere else yet but I would imagine they do. It has been out for at least a week or so! Anyways, yeah it was a much needed experience. I can testify that there is no place like the temple anywhere else on earth. You can feel the spirit so strong! After the temple we did some shopping in some stores that we never get access to usually. Went to Burlington Coat Factory and let me tell ya, missionaries go ham in that place. SO CHEAP! I have to confess mother... promise not to get mad at me.. I may or may not have bought a grey Suit. !!! haha I KNOW I KNOW but it was sooo worth it and very much needed. 1st reason- Black suit on 100 degree weather Sundays... nao bom! 2nd reason- I AM TOO FAT!! I can no longer call my self a 32 waist. I am at least 34 or 36!! haha Therefore going to all the effort to have someone let out my pants might not even work. 3rd reason- it was only 100 bucks. I'd say that is a screamin deal! 4th reason- last but not least I look dang good in grey.. So yep I did it. 

Alright everone.

Much love, have a great week! BYE

ELDER CHRISTENSEN

Lots of Pictures Date: Mon, 28 Jul 2014 12:26:

Family,

This last week seemed like one of those that just barely crept along and then all at once the end of the week just got slammed tight with awesome lessons and experiences. So to skip all of the lame stuff we will go to Saturday. A brand new family just moved into this outside town like 45 min away from Ritzville and they were at church 2 weeks ago. The wife is a member that grew up in a less active home and she just decided to start coming back and taking online classes through church related programs. She married this guy named David, who is not a member, like 4 months ago and they are kinda like the Brady Bunch with kids from both sides. Anyways he is really interested in learning more about the church! He apparently has some ties to Brigham Young and he said in our lesson that, "He has just always felt like he was being pulled towards to the LDS church." I asked if he wanted to be Baptized as soon as he felt of the truthfulness of this gospel and he said "well ya for sure I would" haha It was the best! I love this family! They are incredible! They came to church yesterday and for whatever reason the speaker went on a 10 min tangent on how awesome Brigham Young was and I was loving it. I kept leaning forward in my seat to look at David! haha Yeah yesterday was a crazy day actually.

Funny story, We have this investigator in town who is pretty much crazy and she has been in an out of rehab and church and whatnot but she is the nicest person ever. We get a call from her like 10 min before we have Sacrament with a 7 min long voicemail (no joke) saying that she needs a ride to church. So we grab Brother K (who is slightly crazy as well) and we head out in his tiny car covered in dirt to go pick up our investigator. We are driving at most 5 miles under the speed limit and his trunk keeps popping open so we have to stop every block or so to close it. We eventually just decide there is no hope saving it so we ride with it open. We finally reach her and pretty much force her in the car because by now its almost 10 after the hour and we might miss sacrament. She starts jokingly yelling at brother K while he is driving to "Put the PEDDLE  to the METAL or we gonna miss the free food!"... yeah .. I know... she is a process.. haha but we eventually get there as they are on the last verse of the sacrament hymn . #madeit #NotAReverentMorning

These pictures are from elder folu..old stuff but I hope you enjoy it!!

​Here are the Hampsterball pictures  from pioneer days in Davenport from last week that i mentioned in my letter. I just happened to be by the computer and just checked to see if he finally forwarded the pictures to me so here you go...

 

Alright, that about wraps it up I think,

I exercise pretty poorly actually. I am honestly starting to get a belly and I can no longer fit into my suit pants.. all is not well. haha So I need to start getting my act together. We are in a 24/7 car area but our town is small enough to go walking or biking or something. Because I don't have a bike or anything I have to borrow from members. My Branch Mission leader here lent me his electric bike with a motor on the back wheel. It's pretty much a motorcycle that only goes 10 mph haha. NO HEALTH BENEFIT WHATSOEVER! I will have to send pictures sometime. I don't need any extra storage. I still have a few gigs of memory to use on what I came out with so no worries. 

K I think that covers it.

LOVE YA 

ELDER CHRISTENSEN