Pictures Courtesy of Marlo Anderson...THANK YOU!!!!!

2014/01/20 "Rockadoodle"

Hey dearest family of mine!!!

This letter is gonna stink this week cause I am super short on time!!!!!!! First, thank you thank you to mom, g-ma, and Stephanie for dear elders and packages. They were fantastic! Second, I am doing more than awesome here! Every day here is pretty much my dream day! I cant think of anything that I would rather be doing! (well, maybe a ski day with Scotty would be cool, but I think you get the point;) This place is the best!

We got our new district this week.. its crazy to think that I'm not the newbie here now cause it feels like I just got here... They are all super tight! I love those elders and sisters! They are all the best!

One of the highlights this week was when our teacher had me practice teaching on him... not him pretending to be an investigator, but my teacher who knows the gospel better than me and speaks with a lot of power... the spirit is always so strong when he talks... this is kinda like me teaching pres G... just.... doesn't look to me like I'm gonna be able to teach him... but, being a missionary my purpose is to invite others to come unto Christ and everyone can come closer to Christ... and the spirit knows exactly what they need... So I started just by talking to him about his life and then the spirit came and showed me where to take the conversation. It was the coolest thing ever! I knew we were both feeling the spirit and at the end he said thank you and that he actually felt like I had inspired him to be better. It was the craziest thing ever! I know for a fact that I could never have taught him anything, but the spirit did, and it was way cool to watch the spirit work! Basically every day here is like having a buffet where all they serve is the spirit! And I love it!

My comps are total studs! I look up to them so much! I learn from them every single day! I feel like they are the best people ever!

Also, all the elders in my zone love you mom, and g-ma! haha, because we all enjoy the spoils and have super awesome good times!

We went to the temple and the dude was there again yelling at us that we were all going to hell. But this time we sang hymns as we walked past and it was awesome how he totally had no effect on us and we still felt the spirit! haha, sucka! fail! Yells all day at some 18 year olds... fails his purpose! haha. anyways... There is more awesomeness from this week, but I am outta time! I love you all so much! And I am doing super fantastic! I hope you are all having awesome times! Peace Out!

2014/01/13 "Cause you are a baboon and I am not"

Hey what up family of mine?!?!

I hope you are all doing simply marvelous! I am still just LOVING the MTC! The sad part of this week was that some of my favorite missionaries headed out to the Philippines... exciting for them, not so exciting for us... We will get a new district Wednesday though, hopefully the kids are pretty cool. So basically, starting from yesterday. This week has been a lot of Tagalog, a lot of gospel.... and a lot of spirit filled experiences!!! It is so great to be here! I love always being around the spirit.

Tagalog is coming surprisingly fast (compared to Spanish anyways...). Sometimes a feel frustrated and I feel like i should know more... but then I remember that I have been here less than two weeks and it is a miracle that I speak as much as I do! I freaking love my teachers SO much!!! Brother Kaka from New Zealand and Sister Briggs from Boise Idaho. I just feel like every single lesson or activity or whatever was like... the best thing I've ever done!! Its amazing how fast the days tick by here. I feel like I have known these elders forever and at the same time I feel like I just got here yesterday! Every night when I go to bed I feel exhausted but at the same time I feel like I just woke up!

So, the most interesting thing that happened this week was when we went on our temple walk yesterday. As it turns out, not everyone in Utah likes the church. There were two protestors outside the Provo temple yelling at all the missionaries that we "cannot work for our salvation," and that, "we can only be saved through GRACE! You are all going to HELL!" Ya, it was a little weird to have some guy yelling at us. so I said good afternoon and walked away. As we walked past and Elder Tuitavake tried to shake his hand... to which the man yelled, "I do not shake MORMONS HANDS!!!! YOUR ALL GOING TO BURN! Repent of your evil ways!" I thought it was kinda amusing cause if you think about it, he is contradicting himself... if all I need is faith in Christ to be saved by grace.... then whether or not we tried to do good deeds (heaven forbid we might try to live a christ like life!) then we'd be on our way to heaven anyways... Not to mention, doesn't Christ teach to love your neighbor in the bible... like... everywhere! Where's the love bro! I wanted to go give him a hug and tell him to "feel the love!" haha, i think I would have been knifed or something though. his way of thinking is confusing if you think about it.. anyways, we walked away and had a nice time on the temple grounds... I thought the story would end there, but the man was back today when we went to a temple session this morning. He was back with a couple of friends all yelling at the missionaries that we were going to burn unless we repented... That was an interesting experience. I felt bad for him... he seemed so hateful and it seems to me that the gospel is EXACTLY what he needs!

Anyways, sitting in the temple with my comps was just too awesome!!!! They are the best! We have our moments of frustration with each other, but I think everyone gets frustrated at one time or another. The point is, if we say something stupid, 5 minutes later were apologizing and working things out. Anyways, they are the greatest elders ever and I TOTALLY lucked out to get them as comps!!!

Anyways, its been a lot of work this week, a lot of fun, and a lot of feeling the spirit! Its the greatest thing ever! I Love you all very much and miss you all! If ya get a chance, send a letter in the mail. There is no better feeling in the world than pulling out a letter addressed to Elder Christensen! You should see the dance moves we are able to pull out when I go to get the mail ;)

Fun fact, I seem to wake up 5 minutes before the alarm goes off every day... its pretty awesome. And then I am always the first one out of bed! Kachiga, Kachiga!

Also, another fun fact, if you ever decide to scratch your leg with a pen, make sure you check to make sure that the point isnt out... Ya, I spent about 2 hours drawing on my pants during class before I realized that my whole right knee was just COVERED in ink! I am hoping the ink comes out with this stain remover that I am using....

Anyways, I hope you are all doing marvelous! Keep being awesome! As president Hinkley always said, "be a little better, do a little more." Something like that...

Peace Out Family!!

Oh, and I forgot to bring my cord with me, I'll try to come back later to send some pics, but we may have to wait till next week... sorry!

Just missing my boy....

2014/1/4--"You wanna know my process? It starts with a holla! And ends with a cream sickle... ya, and if there's time, Thunder Cats!"

Hey super awesome family of mine!

I hope everyone is doing just fabulous! I LOOOOOVE the MTC!!!! And pretty much, I know so many people here. Jackson Lloyd, Alex Tamaang, Payton Thomas, Sister Hale... its been kinda crazy how many people I bump into that I know. Anyway, the MTC is just super fantastic! Its been a crazy amount of learning, and I spend enormous amounts of time in the classroom (as expected), but I freaking love it! And it's amazing how much Tagalog I learned in just the three days in the classroom that I have had! The first day was the craziest, after showing me around and getting my books, we went straight into the classroom (I was the first one there by about 15-20 minutes) and then Brother Kaka (our teacher) just started speaking to me in Tagalog, pointing to things on the board and such... It was crazy hard, and it was just the two of us, but after a few hours of Tagalog being spoken at me, I actually started understanding some! Haha, it's crazy hard, but super awesome! Anyway, so my companion never did show up to the MTC, so now I am in a threesome with Elder McMurtrey and Elder Tuitavake. They are both super studs! We have such a good time together. Oh, and the quote at the top comes from Pych! One of my favorite quotes... Elder Tuitavake quotes Psych with me all the time, so hence the quote. 

Our district is really tiny, there are only five of us. Three Elders and Two sisters. They are all super dope! So is our teacher. Brother Kaka! And the food is pretty fantastic too! I'm not too picky, so I enjoy it rather a lot. We have so much going down right now, but the only thing that I think I am struggling with is the language. I get along great with companions, and the teaching isn't too bad, except that it's in Tagalog. They had us "teach" an investigator in Tagalog yesterday.... yaaa.... hahaha, I thought I knew some Tagalog until she started asking questions... I mean, even if I understood what she was asking, I could never come up with any words to answer her with!!!! Bah! That was slightly frustrating, but hey, for a third day, we were doing pretty fantastic, if I do say so myself! Our zone is pretty cool, we have really cool zone leaders, but they head out to the Philippines this week. 

Bah, I took a couple pics for you guys, but I didn't bring my camera! I'll see if I can send them later. Our zone has been on the Saturday schedule for p-days, but now cause of the new year, we are switching to Mondays, so you guys should here from me again on Monday and I'll try to figure out how to send the pics then. 

So basically I love it here. Even though class is long, I love class, my district is amazing, my comps are awesome, the spirit here is awesome... just, everything in the MTC is just the freaking best!

Oh, and I did indeed get the package! Haha, ya, the first day I opened up my bags and went, "Noooooooo!" cause I left my new scriptures at home (haha, "really, how are you going to do that, when your not even wearing pants! Noooooooooooo!" haha, for you Stephanie! Name it!). We are going to look for a microwave today so we can eat said OBCC.

Also, Elder Tuitavake has an amazing voice, and some of the sisters sing too! So we eat quickly, and then with the extra time that we have, we go do some singing. Its so dope! you should here Elder Tuitavake sing! Stud... 

Well, that's really all I've got for today. Josh, Stephanie, Mom and Hannah Lynn all promised me letters! So I expect some emails next week! haha, either way, I freaking love it here! I hope you are all just doing simply marvelous! I love you all! Peace out fools! 

P.S.- I don't have anyones emails until people write me! So, if you want me to write you... Write me something! haha

Oh, and another p.s.- I don't know addresses to send real letters to, I don't know grandmas house, and I don't know the address for Michigan... I mean, its like 14** Iroquois Lane, but I don't know the zip.... it might be 48104... but I'm really not sure, so if you guys want the handwritten letter that I wrote, you'll have to send me an address ;)

The Journey Begins...

We dropped Elder Christensen off New Year's Day at 12:30.  We had a great morning eating french toast at Kneaders, then we even had time for some games before saying goodbyes and heading out the door.  Elder Christensen was so excited to get going!  Mom is a little less enthusiastic...