September 13, 2011

Hey,

What a week! Well, as you can probably guess by no email yesterday, I was transferred again (What!!!!!!!!!!!)

My new area is the Liberty Ward, but we live in Dayton. It's in the country. My new companion is Elder Jensen. He's been out for about 6 months, and he's from WA. I'm glad to be in the country again, but there were a few people I was sad to say good by to. Along with being transferred, I was released as District Leader.

Another unique thing happened this past week. Last Friday, the mission office called, wanting to know what airport I was going to be flying into! YIKES! Talk about a thorn in your side! In the course of transfers I stopped in the mission office and saw my flight plans! Apparently, I have a layover in Phoenix, AZ. and I'm flying in at about 7:20 PM!!! That's disappointing! I guess I'm not leaving Houston until 3:00PM because it's cheaper. Weird to think about this. I will have to get back to thinking about missionary work!

Got to run,
Love you,
Bye

September 5, 2011

Hey,

Things are pretty nice right now, it's about 85 degrees outside. We've got a big old "cold" front over us :-) if my amateur meteorology knowledge is right. Tropical Storm Lee was nice. It blew a lot of clouds in that cooled things off and it rained quite a bit on Saturday. It's just nice to be out of the stale heat. Tropical Storm Lee mixed things up nicely.

Yes, transfers are this week, and yes Elder Serdar goes home this week. I know he lives in the Sandy area. I don't know if I will get transferred or not. I have a feeling something is going to happen with our companionship, but I don't know. I'm thinking the fact I only have 2 transfers left President Crawford is going to do something.

We don't really have any new investigators. We committed an "eternal" investigator, Dennis, to baptism on 9/24/11. His wife is a member. Missionaries have been going over there for some time now. This transfer has just been a hard one. I think the lord is trying to strengthen my weaknesses. Nothing has really been bad about this transfer, it's just been playing against my weaknesses.

We do have a potential investigator named Cathy, who is a referral from her member friend. I think I mentioned her before. We are going to take her on a church tour on Thursday.

Well, yesterday I wasted $1.86 + tax. I bought a pint of Blue Bell Ice Cream...so why was it a waste? It had coffee in it. It wasn't coffee flavored, but it had coffee in it...that was disappointing.

Well I need to get going. Sorry it wasn't longer with more detail.

Love you guys

August 29, 2011

Elder Tyler Christensen and Elder Wesley Christensen

Hey,

Yeah I did have a better week this week. I received some answers to prayers about why we are struggling, and how we can improve. I also had the opportunity to see a lot of familiar faces this weekend. A lot of the members from Jasper and Fred were at stake conference so that was really nice. A "Tender mercy from the Lord". I saw Ty "Elder Johnson" from a distance, I saw a lot of Guy, I mean Bishop, in him this time, but I didn't talk to him. I did get to talk to Tyler for a few minutes after our meeting with Elder Holland before they strongly encouraged us to go back to our areas. At our meeting on Friday Elder Holland shook everyone's hand, that was cool. I recorded his talk on my voice recorder. It would be so hard to be a celebrity, even a Mormon celebrity. Everyone wanting to shake your hand, etc...I have more respect for the Apostles and First Presidency now. We had a good stake conference too. Pres. Crawford got up and told the stake that "yes, my eyebrows are real" "I was never involved with the Mafia" and said an Elder told him he thought he was a "government hit man" I was thinking to myself "good grief". We also had a good zone conference last Weds. I have one more left on my mission.

I get the feeling form Cameron's Emails that he is pretty excited for me to come home.

Well we're down to the end of Aug. maybe the heat will start to give a little here soon.

A Corn spider on someones front porch we came across while tracting.

I had my Temple Recommend renewed this week by Pres Crawford.

The work is still going pretty slow, but now I'm confident I know what we need to do to pick it back up!
Downtown Houston we had to drive past to get to the Missionary conference.

I need to go,
Love you Bye

August 22, 2011

Hey,

Sigh...another adventurous week...And another one to come. I think the climax of last week was getting food poisoning for the first time in my life, and throwing up for the first time on my mission. We are pretty sure it was the hamburgers we had for lunch on Friday. We ate at about 12:3 -45. I started to feel something around 4:00 Shortly thereafter I started my repentance process. 1. admitting I had done something wrong (eat the burger) 2. I was definitely feeling sorry for what I had done. We went home, I took a nap. At 6:45 I completed my repenting by making restitution (doing my best to make it as though I had never eaten the burger) and I will not be eating there again.... So that was fun...Not. Elder Vainuku got sick too but it took him longer to get sick and he never did puke. We are fine now though, don't worry.

Today marks the beginning of probably the most Intense week of my mission. Today is Zone P-day. Weds. is Zone Conference, Pres. Crawford has lengthened this one by 3 hrs!! We also found out this past week that Elder Holland will be speaking to the 3 Houston missions Friday evening (I'm going to try to get a picture with Tyler, I mean Elder Christensen) The reason Elder Holland is in Houston is because he is reorganizing a Stake Presidency. Well, that Stake Presidency is the Beaumont Presidency. So he will be speaking at our stake conference on Sunday which will be held in the Port Aurthur building. That's right, the church I go to each week. It's going to be a week never to be forgotten.

Elder Vainuku and I have been really struggling with finding new investigators. I think that's something I've struggled with my whole mission, but is really hitting hard now. I don't know that I ever really learned how to find...I learned how to tract, and contact, but I don't think I learned how to find. Yeah it's discouraging/frustrating, Am I the happiest I've ever been on my mission right now? No. Am I going through some stuff right now? Yes. Am I working what I judge to be my hardest/smartest, and am I going to get through it? YES! (It probably has something to do with there not being any 7-11/Slurpees down here. Can you believe that?!? no slurpees! And it's way hotter that Ut.<:-))

Is Robin a Freshman now? I was trying to figure that out the other night. If I remember right she is 14? If she's 14 she would be a Freshman this year. If that's true !!!!!!!! When did that happen!

My goal right now is to make it through the rest of August, it should cool down a little in September and should really cool down in late Sept. - Oct.

Well I need to go. Good luck adapting to the school routine.
Love you guys, Bye!

August 15, 2011

Hey,

It's been a long week...... Cameron just sent me a letter, he sure is trunky for me. Yeah Elder Vainuku and I are doing well. He hardly gets any mail, but that's not because he's so far away. He asked his family not to write him to help him stay focused on the work. Thanks for the Banana Bread by the way.

I'm still thinking Weber and I'm thinking an Information Systems Technologies (IST I think that's what it's called) degree.

I'm Tired......

It's hard to believe Ty only has 5 weeks left.

Hmmm...something special for Nate and Liz.... There isn't anything special that I can think of off the top of my head,besides maybe including a picture or two that I've taken, but I'll think about it. Maybe I could get them a gator head or something..... haha Nate and Liz....

You are farther along than I am in the Book of Mormon. I'm In Mosiah (19?) although it is easier for me to read everyday than you guys.

You're going to sign me up for pageant next year right?

We contacted a Referral this week from a a member in Houston. Her name is Cathy, she is very intelligent. She speaks English and Spanish, (She's white not mexican). She want's to come to church, and take a tour of the church, but she wants to do it in September.

Oh, we also found out that one of our investigators is a Pedophile. Soooo, yeah, President Crawford says that requires first presidency approval. We're not sure if he will ever even be allowed near the church because it might be a Child Safety Zone...So that happened this week....Exciting, but he says he feels the Book of Mormon is true.

Ok I need to go,
Love you guys, Bye

August 8, 2011

Hey there,

I hope you had a fun time at the Cousin Campout.

I can understand how Jacob feels. I was excited to be a senior, and finish school.....Good Times, but I am glad it's him not me.

I think I'm going to make sure I finish the Book of Mormon before I come home also. I'm in Mosiah. (Abinadi)

Elder Vainuku and I are having a great time. We're struggling to find people to see but we're working on it. Just this past week, we received a referral from Bishop. He had received a letter in the mail from a man named John, who had found the church in prison, but had recently been released. We stopped by and he want's to be baptized, but he can't come to church for another 3 mo. because he's under "intensive observation" I guess it's kind of like house arrest. Also, he was in prison for committing a Felony. So I'm pretty sure he can get baptized, but he'll definitely have to be interviewed by Pres. Crawford. (He didn't kill anyone, so far as we know)

We also received a referral from a Member of the church living in Sugarland, Tx. She said she's a convert, she grew up in this ward, and has a friend named Kathy, that she has been talking to her on facebook, that recently went through a divorce, has been reading the Book of Mormon, and wants to meet with us this Weds. So the Lord is blessing us!

Do we get fed? Yeah pretty good, we have a meal coordinator who passes the calendar around R.S. and also tries to fill in the blanks we probably get fed on average 5-6 nights a week. Occasionally, we'll get paid money for our appointments instead of a home cooked meal, (single sisters, family emergencies, ect.) I think I'm going to take that money and buy a new bike seat today, we're doing a fair amount of biking.

We did get a new car this week, well sort of. Our vehicle coordinator had us switch cars with our Zone Leaders because they use more miles than us and their car is also higher on miles. (the church tries to sell the cars at about 50,000 Mi.) So, we still have a 09 Chevy Malibu but now it has 49,000 Mi. instead of 26,000. Both cars have things that are broken on them, but I liked our old car better. We, still have the same amount of miles per month, 1,000.

Shoot, I forgot to shave this morning, I'll have to do it after we go shopping.

Ok, I need to go now
Love you guys.

Get Ethan's papers of asap, bye!

August 1, 2011

Hey,

Yes I'm still in Port Neches. Elder Shepherd got transferred though. He went to Buna. It's a small ward about 45 Mi. South of Jasper. My new companion's name is elder Vainuku (vy (like WHY but with a V) -nuke-ooh) he's Tongan. Not only Tongan, he went straight from Tonga to the MTC, so he's still learning English. So I'll have at least one companion who's not from Ut. I guess Pres. Crawford recently told him to have an hour of language study each morning....Wow, I never thought I would be studying English on my mission. He's been out the same amount of time as Elder Shepherd 7 1/2 mo.

Yes, I got the package, THANK YOU! We were having a rough day and it was exactly what I needed.

The Temple was great, as it always is. I did pray about school. I think I'm still leaning toward Weber because I'm already accepted, I know my way around, I can live at home, it's cheap (ish). But I'm still thinking about it.

Yes, It has probably rained more in the past 2 weeks than it has the rest of my mission.
and the mosquitoes are loving it. :-(

Wow! 20 mo. tomorrow! yikes!

So Ethan's Last Dr. appointment is on Friday? So maybe like 1 mo. until his call?

We're still trying to find new investigators. It seems like that's what I've been doing my whole mission is finding without a whole lot of success. I think I need to ask more inspired questions when we go tracting. We are trying to find investigators, in ways other than tracting also, part member families, Less/In-actives. We got a referral the other day that's in Anahuac (I think I spelled it right). It's on the other side of our area, like 50 mi. away...and there's no phone number! :-( We've got another referral in Winnie, that's like 30 mi. away. It's in the same direction at least. I'm still trying to figure out how we're going to get out there, because we defiantly don't have the miles.

ok well I need to get going

Love you guys Bye!

July 25, 2011

Hey there,

Sounds like your summer is as busy as ever. I'm glad you made it back safe.

Transfers are next week. No, I don't think I'll get transferred, but that's what I thought last time too....

Biking or car? it really all depends on miles. Right now we are ok, but we'll see how the last few days of the month look.

It has been raining a lot lately, which is good. We need the water, but now...Remember how Moses plagued Egypt with a swarm of locust? Mosquitoes up the Wazoo! Holy Cow!!! I've probably killed 30 mosquitoes in the last 2-3 days, and that's what I killed, not saw killed . It's all in the work though.

We get to go to the temple this Weds. that's should be a fun trip. I think I'm going to ponder where I should go to school while I'm there. I think just before pageant I ask you guy if you had any thoughts/recommendations about school since you've "been there, done that.", and also since you might know me a little better than "I" know myself. If you could send me your thoughts I would really appreciate it. :-) Also, if you'd send the memory card back out 'with pictures' I would appreciate that too.

We had Leadership Training this past week. Pres. Crawford sure isn't pres Mouldenhauer! That's ok though, it might also be that Pres. Crawford is brand new and Pres. Mouldenhauer was seasoned.

Right now our teaching pool is pretty empty. They've all been baptized. So we're having to "Prune" our area. By prune I mean stop seeing the same people that aren't coming closer to Christ and are just a way to fill up the day, and star finding new people. Yeah it's hard with how hot it is. But it was never easy for the savior so why should it be easy for us?

Yeah, I heard they had legalized more fireworks in Utah...figures that would happen while I'm on my mission. Oh well i'st not THAT important.

Ok, well I need to go. Stay safe, have fun, write you later,
Love you guys bye!

July 18, 2011

Hey,

We had our baptism this weekend. Lee was baptized (by his father in law) and confirmed. I'm pretty happy for him and his family, They have the temple as their next goal, and a great family friend/ home teacher that will take care of them, and make sure they stay on the straight and narrow.

On the note of baptism, the Beaumont Stake/Zone is really pumped up right now because last month 16 people were baptized, which broke the old 30 yr record of people baptized in a month by 4 and those 16 people represented 1/2...1/2 of the people baptized in the mission. To bad I wasn't here during that month:-( This morning our Zone Leaders told us that we're already at 9 baptisms for this month, so we're pretty pumped up!

I think you should just save the Pageant shirt. I already have more T-shirts than I need. I need to send 1-2 home. That's pretty cool that your going to be on a 75th Anniversary Hill Cumorah Pageant committee next year, and that we don't half to "hope" we'll get in next year. I just realized you're still driving as I type this, that's a LOOONNNGGG drive!

Yeah I like President Crawford, he's defiantly not Pres. Moldenhauer, but that's to be expected, and that's not bad either. It's hard to explain the difference between them, Pres. Moldenhauer had a kind of intensity about him. His big thing was "Obedience with Hard Work". It sounds like President Crawford's thing will be "Preach My Gospel".

Yeah I like Elder Shepherd, he's a hard worker and wants to be obedient. It's hard to believe we've already been together 4 weeks.

Today is our Zone P-day we're going bowling, well I'm not I can't afford it this has been a pretty hard month on my monthly missionary funds. It should still be fun though to talk with friends. The last time I went bowling I just got frustrated because I stunk.

OK, well I'm out of time have a safe trip.
Love you guys bye!

July 11, 2011

Hey,

So it's 91 F and lot's of humidity eh? Now you know what I've felt like for the last month, and the next 2 1/2 months, only in a white shirt and tie. :-)

We have Pres. Interviews tomorrow, I'm excited. We get to go to the temple on the 27th, that's always fun/nice.

This past week we set a baptism date with a man named Lee for 7/16(Sat) his wife is a recently reactivated member, and his 2 boys were just baptized. I'm told he was somewhat involved with his boy's lessons, so he already knew a lot bout the church and he has come every week since I've been here. (wow I can't believe the transfer is half over!) We got a text from his home teacher telling us his Facebook Status said he was on day 2 of no coffee and we hadn't officially taught him the word of wisdom yet!

Also this week, a bold move by the brethren in Salt Lake City, every companionship, or rather, every apartment, has been issued a portable DVD player! Your probably asking "Why in the world would they do that?" Remember those videos that we watched on the internet before I left? Well the idea is that we can watch those, the new ones that came out a year ago, and some other videos that go along with those, like videos of those missionaries teaching lessons. Why? Evaluation it's really easy (for me at least) to see a mistake in myself, if I see it in someone else first. Those can only be watched during study time in the morning.

Right now there is condensation running down the OUTSIDE of the windows at the library! (it rained this morning) YIKES!

Let's see what else?....We have been riding our bike quite a bit because of mile's, and it's just an area that is "built for biking" so to speak. We do still use our car though, trust me.
All right, I'm almost out of time have fun be safe, Please.

I love you guys!

July 5, 2011

President and Sister Crawford and Wesley

Hey,

Well, I guess your all busy with the Pageant.Tthat's funny Ethan's Ishmael 1st son. When I was the second son of Ishmael, the guy who played the first son was a grown man...How old is the 2nd Son of Ishmael?....How old is the girl who plays Ethan's wife? Wait, dad shaved his head? send me a picture! That ringlett beard is the coolest beard I've ever seen!

That's cool you met Bro. Hilton's son. Bro Hilton is the stake Patriarch for the Beaumont Stake.

We met PSC (President & Sister Crawford) last Thursday. They were pretty cool, really nice. He was pretty relaxed compared to Pres. Moldenhauer, not that he changed any of the standards. Pres. Moldenhauer just had an intensity about him. It was different to see Pres Crawford with an Ipad while he spoke. Pres Moldenhauer was using pen and paper. One of his sons got him a IPhone 4. He had no idea how to use it. The assistants struggled for probably 10 min. trying to get their MacBook Pro hooked up to the projector (PSM's was a PC) they eventually gave up.

The works going good. Believe it or not I'm glad to be in the city. Most missionaries don't like it because you don't get to know the members as well because there are so many. But after 7 1/2 months in the country I was starting to feel like I wasn't working hard enough. It felt like we weren't seeing anyone in the evening besides our dinner apt.... because that's the culture in the country, people go to bed earlier. We're working with 3 investigators right now. One's the father of a reactivated family from La. True Cajuns, he makes homemade hot sauce and seasoning from Jalokia (AKA Ghost peppers) I had a LITTLE on my jambalaya the other day....Wheew talk about the fires of Hell. He gave me some dehydrated ones I could try to plant when I get home. I just remembered, he said this pepper comes from India, they RUB it on fences to keep......Elephants away! Yeah, Elephants!

In other news, I heard that Nate Gardner, my trainer, is engaged to Liz Smith, a sister missionary. Wow!

We went out to a place on the edge of our area called Gator Country yesterday for P-Day. I saw a glimpse of the heaviest known gator in the continental US,1300 lbs, and the largest known gator in Texas 13' 4" he wasn't in a good mood so I didn't get a picture, I did get a video but it's to big to email.


So the clock is counting down. I know your all really busy but Mom and Dad if you get the time I would really appreciate any thoughts/advice you have on where, and what study for school next spring. I think I know but you've both walked a path similar to this before and I can see how you could see/know things I don't. I know I thought mom sounded a little.....disappointed I guess at Christmas when I said I was thinking about going to Weber. If you would both write me back about this I would really appreciate it..Ethan too from what he knows about me could give a yay or nay for BYU. Thank you

Well have fun, be safe, stay hydrated, stay sane. Please!
Love you

June 27, 2011

President and Sister Mouldenhauer and Wesley

Hey Guys,

WHOA! what happened to June? Hey So you're driving across the country as I type this huh, with Robin and Stacey?...hmm sounds like fun. ;-)

Port Neches is a pretty big ward. At the beginning of my mission it was covered by 1 set of sisters, so it can be done, but there's enough people for 2 companionship's. I don't think I told you that we live with Members, the Zimmerman's. They're an older couple. They have 2 teenage sons still home. One leaves for his mission in a month the other is about 17. We have a bedroom in their house we stay in.

So today I wrote my last letter to Pres. Moldenhauer, or actually, I wrote my first letter to Pres. Crawford today. Pres. Moldenhauer leaves this week. They bought their old mission vehicle and are driving back to Idaho. We have a Zone Conference on Thurs. where we'll meet PSC (Pres. Sis. Crawford) for the first time.

It's been crazy hot here, at least I'm by the coast so it's kind of breezy. I'm kind of excited because everyone's saying were' probably going to have a hurricane this year and this area got destroyed 3 years ago by Ike and Rita. I'm also excited because I'll get to see members from Jasper and Fred at Stake conference is Aug/Sept.

Well I hope you survive the Voyage out to Palmyra. Have fun, be Safe!

The Bank sign in the back ground says its 100 degrees!

love you guys, bye!