December (photos) -

We are always so grateful to the 'Texas Angels' who take photos on their phones and text them to us!

Above are a few Texas Text Moments :)

12-25-15 Gifts from the heart ...

We were all so touched by Kade's wonderful Christmas gifts to each of us! He drew us photos and included words from a hymn or children's primary song with the art ...

Gifts from the heart - are the best!

Thanks Kade - we love you too.

12-25-15 Christmas Skype with the Family!!

It was such a GREAT start to our Christmas morning! We were able to connect with him at 9 AM - It was wonderful for all of us to visit together and share stories and testimonies.

Kade bore his testimony to us and it was so touching to feel his love for the Savior, and his love for the people of Texas and his commitment to the gospel.

We ended our time with a family prayer. It was hard to say good-bye but we are so thankful for his service and for a loving Heavenly Father who is ever mindful of each one of us.

Merry Christmas Elder Christensen - We LOVE you! :)

~ Your Family

12-14-15 It's almost Christmas ...

Thank you for the lovely Christmas box. I must admit, I started opening them a day or two early. I couldn't control myself! The tree has been put to great use!

Also, anytime should work for us for the skyping shenanigans. Would we be able to do 9 your time, 11 ours? Let me know what works! 

Again, thank you mom! Love you lots. Looking forward to talking soon!

Love,

Kade

12-14-15 - Summer's back. But that doesn't make any sense! It's December!‏

Winter has definitely not fallen upon the city of Round Rock. The
other day it was 76 degrees and 96% humidity. That is absolutely
miserable. I know what y'all mean when you say you would go outside
then feel like you need a shower. The sweat is awful! But oh well, the
humidity cannot stop the work from progressing. No unhallowed hand,
including humidity!

Believe it or not a lot happened this past week! First and foremost,
we had Gracen's baptism. It was a great baptism! I don't know if I
have mentioned this but in my last area we had to do literally
EVERYTHING to set up a baptism. It was always so stressful and so much
work. But now, we have wonderful Ward mission leaders who set the
whole thing up. We didn't have to worry about a thing and it was so
nice. We showed up at the baptism, felt the spirit, and enjoyed. It
also helped that more people in these wards are active and willing to
help out and support. 1st Ward has great people, just not as many
active members. Anyways, the baptism was great and Gracen was so very
happy. He was smiling ear to ear and walking on clouds. It did my
heart good to see someone embrace the gospel and let it affect them.
Sweet is the work. It still amazes me how perfect God's plan is for
each of us. It is a complete miracle that this kid came in contact
with the gospel. He is living with his uncle who was baptized about 8
months ago. Because his uncle joined the church, Gracen was able to as
well.

We have been given A Savior is Born to use for our work and it has
been so much fun to use. The times we do get to share it are such a
treat! People never regret watching it and it invites the spirit to
testify that Christ is our Savior. It also makes it super easy that
it's downloaded to our iPads. Last time we had a video to share with
people it was super inconvenient. We had to try and use their phone to
watch it. Awkward and ineffective. But now we have iPads so all is
well.

We also had a general authority and his wife tour the mission, Elder
and Sister Pino, of the seventy. He addressed the missionaries twice,
once in SA and the other for the missionaries in the Austin area. It
was a spiritual feast! He said everyone in this mission is very
blessed to serve here. He said it was a great mission for two reasons,
1) because of us, the missionaries, he said we are great missionaries,
and 2) because of President and Sister Slaughter, they are great
teachers and leaders. He said he has a kid on a mission and he was
hoping he would come to the TSAM. He bragged about us for a little
bit. Then we went over our call letter. In D&C 15,16 the Lord calls
two people to serve missions and the only difference is the name. But
in the heading to each section it says it is "intimate and
impressively personal." How could that be if the only difference is
the name? Because they had been called by the Lord through a prophet.
The Lord knew where He needed them to go, who they would help, and
what they would do. He knew them! The same goes for us, our call
letters are all the same but they are all intimate and impressively
personal. We have received a letter from President Monson telling us
exactly what the Lord would tell us. We then went through the letter
piece by piece, and elaborated on our duties and roles as missionaries
explained through the Prophet. It was wonderful!

Elder Pino also talked about teaching doctrine and helping others
understand doctrine. He said once people understand doctrine, they
change! If people don't understand the doctrine, they do not change.
He also wanted to make sure that we understood that the doctrine of
Christ is a very concrete thing; faith, repentance, baptism, receiving
the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. He spoke for two
hours but it felt like 30 minutes. I was very hungry for more, but two
hours was all we got. It was such a privilege to get even that! He
bore a powerful testimony of Christ at the end. What does special
witness of Christ even mean? Who knows, I tired to find a concrete
answer in the scriptures and I think I found one. In D&C it says a
special witness of Christ is to bear testimony of His resurrection and
His flesh and bones. Hmm, interesting aye?

After the conference we then had a wonderful BBQ provided by Rudy's. Yum.

We are still trying to work with Diana. We ran into her at HEB last
Monday. I can't remember if I said that or not. She is so funny. She
asked us if we were a cult because she had heard from someone that we
were, she asked us why we bought a bag of candy (she thought our
cereal was candy, never good), she told us pickles are delicious, said
she would soon be flying the Islamic flag over her house, etc. etc.
She acts really bubbly but underneath the facade is one smart woman.
She picks up on more than she lets onto. We went by on Friday to
invite her to church. She said she would come and she was planning on
it but alas, she didn't come. She once again made us laugh non stop.
We called her last week to remind her about church really early in the
morning which was an oops on our part, at about 8. Apparently she
can't sleep very well so we woke her up when she finally fell asleep.
She was not a happy camper about that. She threatened to rip our
throats out, and then said "then the old man that you brought to my
house won't be thinking she's so nice anymore. He will be saying,
what's that vicious little thing running around the church?"
Hahahahahaha! She nuts, but so very funny. I really, really hope she
comes to church one of these days. We don't want her soul to be lost,
and neither does Heavenly Father. She also mentioned that the pickles
she bought were hot and they "blew her head off." So inappropriate,
forgive me. Hopefully it makes you smile! People that are of the world
must look at us as very, very peculiar people. Really they don't know
any better. They are trying to move forward with the light they have
been given.

We have biked so very much this past week. So much so that the my
whole body is exhausted. I know I'm receiving strength from Heavenly
Father. There is no way I could have this much strength to move
forward without His divine help.

We have been trying to help a 12 year old in our Ward named Hunter. He
is in an awful situation but is such a good kid. We have met with him
twice this week and he always seems to enjoy it. His grandma
appreciates it too. His grandma is the sweetest lady. She appreciated
out visits with him so much that she went and bought us a pecan pie
and then left it on our porch. She even wrapped it with a bow and
wrote Merry Christmas! on it. What an angel! Little acts of kindness
are so appreciated! Today this older gentlemen couldn't get these big
bags into his truck so we went over and helped him. He was so
thankful! Little acts of kindness make big impacts.

Walsh Ranch and Vista Ridge had their Christmas parties this past
weekend. We went to the last hour of the WR one and it was fun. It was
really nice to relax and drink some hot chocolate. And it seemed like
everyone had a really good time, big smiles and bright eyes were seen!
We intended on going to the last hour of VR party too for some reasons
I thought it ended at 8 so we went to the church at about 6:50 but
they were already leaving. We missed that one.

Sunday was wonderful. Partaking of the sacrament is such a blessing.
It's also such a great environment for the spirit to confirm truth to
our souls and hearts. We sang the beautiful hymn Tis Sweet to Sing the
Matchless Love for one of our sacrament meetings. What a moving hymn!
We also sang Angels we have heard on high. That is also a great hymn!
Anything that helps us remember Christ is good in my book, and in the
BoM. In VR Ward our Ward mission leader is moving so we are getting a
new one, Bro. Cramer. He's the guy we had thanksgiving dinner with and
helped paint. They also have the cutest cat ever. More time with him
means more chances to pet his cat.

I am so grateful for the commandments. I can testify with a perfect
knowledge that the commandments are there for our benefit. I promise
that the commandments are a 100% guaranteed way to peace. And since we
are human, we will break them. The way to regain peace after we break
a commandment is turning to the Lord. Repent, change, forsake pride
and recognize His ways are much, much better. They really, truly are.
I learn this a little bit more each day. In my foolish pride I forget
He seeth the upper, and I the underside.

One of my favorite stories in the BoM is the story of the people of
Helam, found in Mosiah 23 and 24. Alma heard the words of Abinidi and
believed. He then taught the people that were desirous to hear and
change. They were eventually baptized in the waters of Mormon. They
then flee from the people that want to destroy them and start their
own city, named Helam. They are doing everything right, but are still
given some intense trials. They remain faithful to the Lord throughout
their trial and eventually are freed from them. Instead of becoming
bitter or upset towards the Lord, they allowed their trial to help
them become more humble, strengthen their faith, and increase their
patience. They persevered and overcame trial only through their
knowledge of their correct knowledge of the gospel and of the Savior.
They knew the gospel, know who they were, and acted accordingly. That
is what got them through!

Merry Christmas! Love y'all!
Transfers emails are tomorrow and I'm not sure what's going to happen.
My guess is we both will stay. But of not my address will change. If
that happens, I will try to get it to you as quick as possible. If you
were planning on sending something I would recommend sending it to my
home in Washington and then my mom can send it to the correct place.
She is a miracle worker and can get it to me before Christmas (maybe,
most likely, possibly).

Anyways, life is good!

Love,
Elder Christensen

Our very lame Christmas decorations! Kind of funny. We didn't have any
Christmas tree decorations so pass along cards work right?

12-7-15 - Wonderful! Councilor! The Mighty God! The Everlasting Father! The Prince of Peace!‏

Christmas would not be Christmas without the Christmas Devotional!
Utchdorf was very right when he said that there is something sublime
about Christmas music. That's probably my favorite thing about this
season, is the beautiful music that reminds us of Christ. The Mormon
Tabernacle Choir always does such a great job, and last night was no
exception. They sing those songs with ease!

I really enjoyed Elder Bednar's talk. It was fantastic! Really the
whole thing was. We ended up watching it with an older, single man in
our Ward. His name is Rex Adamson and he's 84! He is the funniest old
man and he loves missionaries. We were trying to think of someone we
could watch it with and then we both thought of him. He seems lonely
so I'm sure he appreciated the company. We did too! It was a great
night.

Earlier Sunday we had stake conference. It was stake conference. When
you go to meetings and church and what not you have to convert all the
information to missionary information; how is this applicable to
missionaries? They talked a lot about goals for going to the temple,
family history work, missionary work and so on. Lots of good things to
look forward to after the mission. It was a good spiritual feast!

On Wednesday we have another spiritual feast coming our way. Elder
Pino of the seventy will be addressing us for about 4 hours. It is
going to be awesome! Gracen's baptism will be this Saturday and that
will be great as well. He's a good kid and it is definitely the right
thing to do.

We had another lesson with Diana this week. It was another, very funny
lesson. She said she would come to church but alas, she did not. We
ran into her at HEB again and we chatted a little bit and laughed,
like always.

I also had the opportunity to go on exchanges with Elder Mecham, the
new Elder in our district. He has a great desire to serve and do what
He is asked. It was fun to go on exchanges with him. We needed serving
a little bit and helping an older, single lady with her yard. She has
a grand vision of having a flower garden. It will be some serious work
but if she is dedicated she could do it. And she truly appreciated the
help because she could not do much by herself. And hopefully she joins
the church! We then had a couple other appointments that night. It was
a great day.

I still love being Elder McNeil's companion. He is the best!

Me, Elder Acor, and Elder McNeil made a gingerbread house. It's
gorgeous! We also played soccer on an actual soccer field and it was a
total blast. That's why is email is so short and I apologize!

This gospel and church is so true. Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world. Find ways to serve Him and show gratitude to god this Christmas season. He will help you to do so! He loves you and I love you too. 
Everyone is so good at writing me and it is so appreciated. I can feel the love! 
Love y'all!
Elder Christensen 

11-30-15 "ITS KIND OF LIKE MY STORY WITH THE UFO!!" - Diana‏

Hello dear family! It sounds like y'all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I did too, so we are very alike! We had dinner with the Cramer family, which was super fun. They had their parents over and then their 5 kids. They have a 7 year old kid named Tate who is absolutely hilarious. He just speaks whatever is on his mind and it sure causes some laughs. They also have the fastest, most adorable cat named Sammy. I got to sit and pet that cat for a while and it was nice. Its a light/dark gray mix with pretty blue eyes. If i could just steal their cat I probably would, but I wouldn't because they would miss their kitty. And it is a rule that we can not have any pets. Sad day...

So we had a great meal and then we helped Bro. Cramer finish painting his theater room. It was kind of comical because he has this giant wood thing so he can have two levels, like a movie theater. We finished painting and then the three of us try to move this wooden platform but it was so stinking heavy, we didn't make it budge. Soon enough we have everyone in the house trying to move this wooden platform. We didn't have enough arm strength so we all end up kicking it trying to move it. It looked SO funny. we eventually got it to where it needed to go, but it took some serious work. We ended up at their home for about 4 hours. We tried to do some missionary work after that but people weren't very receptive, or they just didn't answer the door. 

OH, how could I almost forget? Our zone signed up on just serve to go and help serve a turkey lunch at a catholic church. The main leader dude (pastor maybe?) was very serious about us not proselyting or sharing our beliefs to people. They ended up having way more people than normal show up to help so they asked us to go and talk to people that looked alone or listen to those who needed to talk. We sat down at a table where a middle-aged woman was sitting by herself. The conversation was tense at first but after about 15 minutes she opened up. Then a homeless looking man sat down at our table named Jose. I think the reason these people ended up opening up and talking to us was because Elder McNeil speaks spanish and they were native spanish speakers. They tried to convert both of us to Catholicism. I was thinking about it afterwards and its really because they love us. Why do we share our religion with others? Because we love them, so it was sweet of them to do so. Funny and a role change, but sweet.

Now going back to the title of this email... You may remember last week when I tried to tell you how funny Diana is. Well we had our appointment and I probably laughed the whole lesson. I couldn't control it. It was awful! She is so funny, but I have no idea how to share how funny she is with you! But we told her the Joseph Smith story and, when she says things she doesn't just say it, she uses a story to explain what she wants to say. Its comical. But she related our story to her story about when she was around 20 she and her husband saw a light in the sky and they think it was a ufo. She then went on to explain how its hard for us to believe her story, and its hard for her to believe ours. Shes actually turning out to be an awesome investigator. We invited her to read the intro to the bom and we called her a couple days later to see if she had read it and she said yes, and that it made total sense. She then talked about the witnesses and what not which we didn't ask her to read. We have a return appointment tomorrow! I love that lady.

It was also kind of a weird week. I wasn't with Elder McNeil for 2 whole days! I went on exchanges with Elder Rallison on Tuesday, which was good. He is a good guy and he helped me see lots of little thigs I could change and work on. Always appreciated! Then on Wednesday I went on an exchange with Elder Baker. They live with an old lady and they call her Abuelita. Kind of funny, but it was the day before Thanksgiving and we taught a few lessons. We helped some guy put up the rest of his Christmas lights. These weren't any ordinary lights, they were dancing lights. This guy programmed his whole station and lights so they dance to music. Pretty incredible if I do say so myself. It was another good day, but 2 days away from your companion is a long time and I was glad to be back.

Gracen is doing great! He is going to be baptized on the 12th of Dec., so two weeks from now. That was the easiest baptism ever, all we really had to do was teach him! 

Its been getting colder and colder. I have been wearing 3 coats when we go and bike. Its helped me stay toasty and warm. Its been nice to see everyone with their families this past week. It seems like the holidays just soften the heart , it does for me at least. I become a lot less critical or judgmental and more accepting. Now only if that could stay with us all year!

The church has put out a new video called A Savior is Born. Its different, but very good. Its really given to us and made for us to share with others. I invite you to share it with someone this week. And along with the video share your testimony of Jesus Christ with someone. Pray for an opportunity to do so and with a real desire to do so and a chance will come!

Here is the link:

www.mormon.org/christmas

It is a wonderful time to be alive! Yes we have lots of turmoil and challenges in the world, but I can't think of a batter time to be alive. The only way to have light and warmth in this life is to go to the source of all light and warmth, the Babe of Bethlehem, the Prince of Peace, Christ the Lord. As we come unto Christ we see that "In the depth of winter..there lay within [us] an invincible summer." I testify to the truth of that statement! As we come unto Christ, keep His commandments, and do what is right, we will be filled with an invincible summer. That summer will be through Christ. 

Mosiah 16:9 - He is the light of the world; yea, a light that is endless, that can never be darkened; yea, and also a life which is endless, that there can be no more death.

I love you and think of y'all lots. Have a sweet Holiday season! Serve others and it will be.  

love youuuuu!!

Elder Christensen