Long Time, No Rain

hello family and mates!
wow, what an interesting week this has been. i dont even know where to begin. it was hard. aside from not making a whole of progress with sam, (she WANTS to believe in supererogation- ugh- look it up. :P) so that made things a bit difficult, but dad, you're right, if we want her to believe in joseph Smith, She's gotta see everything he's done, including JST.

well, i went to the temple today. it was AMAZING!!! i learned a lot and gained lots of new insights. and i decided to shrink my patriarchal blessing to pocket size so i could have it in the celestial room. turned out to be a really good idea! i was able to do some introspection and make some goals and then ask for help. it was so good! oh, and i found out earlier this week that if you don't keep praying for help to overcome temptations and trials, they come back- its like taking antibiotics- just because the symptoms go away doesn't mean you can stop taking them. you have to keep taking them afterward, and then the disease will actually go away. likewise, you have to continue to pray and ask for help even after the biggest temptations start to fade, and dont stop ever, until it literally has become a strength. so it was good for me to learn that.

this week we actually taught another lesson to leigh- she's from 2 transfers ago and has been on holiday for a LONG time, and finally came back. so we taught the plan of salvation to her and her daughters, and it was taken very well. she spent like an hour talking to bishop afterward. it was cool! so hopefully we'll dunk her soon.

now about my cough, i dont have an appointment for it yet, but it will be happening soon, because i have to get a prescrition for that medicine i need, and the chemists here wont sell it to me, so its a matter of doing it [getting a doctors prescription]. thank you by the way for the information about it, it was very helpful. so thank you for all of your prayers, i have felt them, and i have been totally relieved from the cough for periods of time during lessons when i needed to talk a lot. thank you.

dad, for how to get guys [YM preparing for missions] to study the book of mormon, just ask them where in the BOM these stories and principles are: christ's coming to america, alma's faith chapter, moroni's promise, and the chapter in alma that talks about life after death, resurrection, and the "this life is the time to prepare to meet God" chapter. if they dont know where even one of those things are, and know what is contained in them, just tell them they cant be a missionary, cause they wont be effective. those are the minimum [things] that you need to know to teach anyone anything. and a basic knowledge where most events in the BOM take place is invaluable as well. so if they intend on serving, they need to know their stuff.

anyway, my time runs short, i'll send a picture of me and my comp, let me know if it works.
love you all so much!
love,
elder Tayler christensen

ps-congrats Cara! not that there was any doubt that you'd make it... :P [BYU Provo acceptance]
pps- rochelle, thanks for the update, i love hearing about yous :D