Mar 20

(A note from Mom: SO SORRY, Everyone, for neglecting the blog. I just got busy, and then caught a nasty cold this past week. Here ya go!!)

Hey Friends and family!

Alrighty! This week has been awesome! We got flight plans last Thursday. I depart the MTC on Tuesday the 27th (In one week) at four in the morning. :D That means that any mail that would arrive here after that point won't get to me, so PLEASE go find my Canada mission address on one of those post cards, and update my mailing address on Facebook and the blog. I'M SO EXCITED TO GO TO CANADA!!! :D :D :D Man, Our branch presidency talked to us about enduring the end, and the special blessings the Lord has in reserve for those missionaries who stay at the MTC until the very end Mentally as well as physically, so I'm working on that, but it's tough some days! But I'll do good. Also! Neat story, I was on a Sunday walk to the temple two days ago, about to leave to go home, when up comes Mike Woofenden, building coordinator, to ask us for some help. We got to go into the provo temple while it was closed and empty to help him lift a HUGE bench from behind the pulpit in the chapel where you wait before endowment sessions. Apparently they've installed a mural behind the bench. It was SO COOL to be walking around inside the house of the Lord in UTTER silence! I can't even express to you how great that opportunity was. Also, my new companion elder Maryott is doing physical therapy after having had surgery on his right shoulder, so I get to leave MTC campus with him twice a week every week! I go to babylon all the time! :D It's really weird being in provo now, because I can't look at or think about anything the same way that I did before. Everything changes through the eyes of a missionary. Hmm... What else.... We threw birthday parties! We decided to throw our teachers some surprise birthday parties because we won't be here for their real birthdays. So we got a bunch of balloons, two miniature pine trees (Don't ask how.) and a bunch of other assorted gifts, and threw them each a party! It was very fun, and they were both very appreciative. Apparently no one celebrated Sister Dix's birthday this year but us, even though it was in January. So! It was pretty cool. We got Sister Dix a very manly punk rocker birthday card, and we gave Brother Starita a little pink card that read "For our special little girl." It was so funny I about died watching him read that. Whoo! :)

Also! I got a letter from Daniel Forbes! :D Now I'll be able to keep in touch with them a bit better, so that will be good. Man, there's always so much to talk about and so little time! I have three minutes left, so I'll share a story. My companion had to stay back from the mission field for his surgery. He's been in the MTC for sixteen weeks, and it was REALLY hard on him because He didn't know why that happened to him, and why he couldn't go. It's been a real struggle for him. But! We got a new district of tahitians in, and one of them had some pretty tough struggles as well. Elder Maryott was able to give him a blessing that literally changed his outlook on missionary work, and since then he's only been improving here. Elder Maryott had to stay back here for a reason. There's a moral here. No matter what happens to us, there's always a purpose. God has a plan in mind for each of us, and it's a plan that will make us happy. The only way we can truly experience something sad AND purposeless, is when we make poor choices, fail to listen to the spirit, and inflict it on ourselves. I know this church is true, and I'm so excited to get to CANADA! I pray for them, and you, every day! I love all of you!

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Elder Christensen