long week...GOOD week =)

Family! Friends! HELLOOO!!!
Well, it has been a very, very busy week. Even since wednesday. Just as a heads up, next week is transfers, they happen every 6 weeks, and that will be on tuesday, which will also be p-day. so expect an email, which will likely be brief mondayish. =) ok, answers to questions

Where do you go to read e-mail?
Theres an internet cafe about 1 K from our flat.
Do you have a time limit?
the white hand book says an hour for email.
Can you print out letters and read them later?
yes, but i rarely do.
What are you doing for service?
anything and everything. We cleaned someone's kitchen just last week.
How many wards are you working in?
just one. it used to be 2 areas, with 2 sets of sisters. We replaced both of them, so we combined 2 area books, and 2 areas, and that has made things much bigger, and much easier.
How many meals each week do you eat with members?
it depends on the week, however the bishop and WML got together this week, and are making a meal roster for us that will have us being fed by members every night for the next 6 months or so. so thats exciting. :)
Are you cooking?
yes. :)
Is there any food you can't buy, that you're used to having?
WHEATIES. PANDA. ya thats pretty much all that i'm lamenting at the moment.
Well, as long as im talking about food, ill go ahead and tell you a few things that i HAVE been eating that will NOT be in the states. first, i had a kangaroo lasagna the other night, and found out that "fish and chips" translated from australian to american means "shark and really yummy french fries." yup, i ate SHARK. and there's no such thing as fries here- they're called chips. that was really interesting. Really yummy too.
ok, enough about food, how bout the work, right? WELL. :) we had a tracting day on saturday. This was elder Power's (brilliant) idea. So, we went tracting ALL DAY. but the lord blessed us. we had a lesson with the second person we talked to, and really didnt even get close with anyone else. but that was good, becuase it motivated us to keep going and get really excited about things. and then, just the night before, we had a recntly returned missionary invite us over for dinner. He's and AMAZING cook, and make us this really good chicken, with some toppings i've never heard of, and avacado, and whole grain mustard. Is there whole grain mustard in the states? cause its WAY good. oh. here i am talking about food again. ok, well, as long as im here again, its a good thing this is the last week of the month, because i just spent my last dollar today on groceries that will HOPEFULLY get us through the week- we'll see though. :P
Ok, well, we have one new investigator who we found tracting, his name is michael, he's pretty sincere, and i think he felt the spirit when we taught him. it was really good. we're seeing him again on thursday. i'm really excited. our other investigators are all the same as last week, and honestly we're kind of frustrated with them because they all want to learn more, but we've given them all the discussions, but one thing or another is holding them back from baptism. We're trying to help them but they aren't making it very easy, however, we did weekly planning for like 6 hours on friday. (and thats NOT an exaggeration) and we did some role plays of us to the investigators, and that turned out to be very helpful to us in determining the root concern in all of them, and then coming up with ways to resolve them. so this week, we're putting them to the test, and praying that they work. Some of them are VERY straight forward. so i'll let you know how those go. :)
haha, well there were a few very interesting people that we met while tracting, a few "born again" christians who had lots of bible references to use against us that they interpreted in some really interesting ways that i didnt quite understand how they came up with them. but really, their main argument was, "a bible! a bible! we have got a bible, and there cannot be any more bible (2 nephi 29:3)" amazing how accurate the Book of Mormon is.
one guy tried to give us his number and stuff so we could call him and he could help us be saved. It was entertaining and saddening at the same time. After a while, we finally had to say, no, we know what we know, and nothing will change that. full stop. (by the way, the term "full-stop" is equivalent to our, "period").
anyway, i have found that an emergency procedure has helped me through all of this. I ask myself some basic questions. "Is the book of mormon true?" uh, yep. "any questions?" uh, nope. "good." its become somewhat of a joke, but it works, and keeps us in good moods.
Also, this week Elder Power and I have had some very lengthy discussions about what Sin actually is, and what repentance actually is. Elder Power has done lots of research and study, and is only just scratching the surface. This morning, we talked about how at the root of all sin, there is a law that is broken, and at the root of all law, there is a punishment. there cannot be any law that is not enforced without a punishment. so punishment is the basis of all this. we read in d and c 19 about kingdoms of glory and who goes where, and we also went to d and c 76 and read about "eternal damnation" and "eternal punishment" Interesting that it says "never ending punishment" and not, "punishment without end." I'd tell you everything we got out of that, but I'll let ya'll study that one out and see what you learn. we learned quite a lot and spent an hour talking about it, so. there is much to be learned from modern-day revelation. :)
ok, well, i have to go. You are all in my prayers, I love you all so much!
Elder Tayler Christensen
ps- FAMILY. I need ya'lls mailing addresses! send em send em send em! (immediate, extended, pseudo, you name it. FAMILY)