April 2

Heya family!

 

So, my P-days here in the field will be on Mondays from now on. Ta-da!

 

I travelled here to Canada with 2 other Elders. We talked to a lot of people about the gospel and why were here, spent an hour walking from one end of the detroit airport to the other just to get to our gate, and were bought lunch by a friendly member of the church (we tried to say no, but as it turns out some people REALLY don't like to be told no....). It turns out there are members of the Church EVERYWHERE! And everyone notices missionaries! People would stare at us trying to figure out why we were in suits, and then we'd make eye contact and smile and they would freak out, drop their eyes, and speed up to get away from us. People aren't used to noticing eachother I guess. :P My mission president, his wife, and the two Assistants to the President were at the airport when we arrived here. The airport was a nightmare. We were in the immigration office for two and a half hours trying to get visas. Holy cow. But! We left a pass-along card and a commitment to learn more about us with the immigration officer, who had no idea who mormons were. :P So that was good. I met Elder Day! I definitely knew him from school. There's another Elder here who I went to School with. Elder Rasmussen. So my first day I stayed at the mission home with President Cannon, and the second day I hopped on a bus to shuttle down to my first area.... Chappel Hill. A ward in Ottawa city. My first area of the mission is English speaking. I knew this would happen. :P But! I love it. My companion is named Elder McLean, and he's from Australia. I really enjoy him, and we get along great. :)

 

My week has been INSANE so far! I mean really, incredible. When I got to the area, we went out for my first dose of poutine, the fries covered in gravy that brother Whettstein raves about, and it was great, and then we went straight to our first appointment. A haitian man named Rousseau.... who speaks french only. What? So my first appointment was in French, in my English speaking first area. Such is life? It was good. He's a cool guy. I walked into an area with 13 investigators, but only 8 of them are progressing, so we've got a lot of work to do. Some miracles for you! We went out finding on one of my first days and we hadn't been praying before we tried to find, so I asked Elder McLean if we could pray before we went out this time and he saied "Oh, right, of course we can!" So we did. We saw a very small woman standing on the street corner in the dark IMMEDIATELY after we got out of the car. She surprisingly did NOT run away from the two men walking out of the dark in big coats towards her (Hah!) and we had a pleasant chat, taught a brief lesson, and set up a return appointment. My very first new investigator. :D There is POWER in prayer. I can't stress that enough. Miracle number two! During conference (which I was able to watch at the church) the satelite dish started having problems. I said a quick prayer, and as soon as I said the word "Amen" and open my eyes, the problems disappeared. Bam. Some might call that chance, I call it my own personal little miracle. Dad loves His children. :) Also we had a woman come up to us after the last session of conference and begin telling a tale about her ex-husband. I didn't understand the point of it, until she started talking about the church too. Her ex isn't a member, but because their son is he's been keeping up to date on church news, conferences, and reading the book of mormon. He's reading it faster than his son and ex-wife are. So she said she hadn't wanted to talk to us, because she thought it would be awkward since he was her ex and everything, but she felt the spirit touch her heart during the conference and she knew she had to. We called him ten minutes later. He was in the middle of reading the Book of Mormon, and just started laughing when he heard who we were. We have an appointment next tuesday. The church is true. I've seen SO MANY MIRACLES in my short time here, it's amazing! And while I've been especially blessed by a ward that's more active in missionary work than most, and area that's been very prepared, I know that God blesses all of his missionaries with the same spirit that I feel out here. Joy. The reason behind missionary work. Joy. :) I'm out of time for this week, but PLEASE go read and study the conference talks! They were some of the best I've ever seen! And mom and dad, thank you for always striving to raise our family with the gospel. You two are the best. :)

 

Josh, Jens, and Jake, I love you too. Even when I'm arguing with you. ; ) Thank you for always being there for me. And Jenseny, don't worry, I'm sending you an e-mail later today. I didn't forget about you. Sheesh. ; )

 

Spiritual thought!
Well, prayer. Is my spiritual thought. Nephi councils us to consult the Lord in all our doings. Or was that Alma? Either way, it's good advice. Remember, God is our Father. We are His children. Think about how much earthly fathers enjoy hearing from their family, especially when they're away from home. Our Heavenly Father is the same way. He misses you. You're far away from home. Prayer is the way you can pick up the phone, and give Dad a call. Think about it.

 

I love you! More than you even know and more than ever before, I love all of you. Keep me in your prayers? You're always in mine. :)

 

Love,

Elder Christensen.