Tayler Christensen

On True Love and Sacrifice

2011-10-26T16:50:00.004-06:00

It has been my pleasure to have met, known, and loved Tiffany Higgins. Let me back up and though, and tell you about a tragically beautiful story that involves yours truly, and this amazing Woman.
Coming into this semester, I knew that i would be tested, tried, and that i would also receive help. I was reminded of the line in my patriarchal blessing which stated that i would be given guidance in the selection of an eternal companion. i came into this semester expecting to not really give anyone the time of day, and just focus on my studies. And then one day, probably the second day of Social Dance 280, we were instructed to cross the great divide and ask a young lady to dance. I had my eye on a girl, and as i was walking over to ask her, my gaze suddenly shifted to a different girl, who then drew my attention wholly, and i ended up asking her to dance. She was polite, and accepted the offer, and turned out to be a great dancer. i myself am nothing special, but i DO know a good dancer when i see one. She was a good dancer. After that class, I asked her if she wanted to go to latin night later that week, with me, and she consented. I got her number, and then began texting her. As it turned out, my plan fell through, as she remembered some plans previously made, which she had forgotten about. I didnt mind too much, it was an honest mistake, and hey i didnt really feel like getting my cha-cha on that night anyway. so then a whole week goes by, and i see her in class a few times, and decide that i really must get to know this girl. so That friday night, me and the roommates went to a party, which was really not that great, but i began texting tiffany. She was by herself, and wandering around campus. I went out to meet her, and we had a pleasant walk and talk around campus and close to where she lived, which as it turns out, wasnt far from where i lived. This first meeting turned into the beginning of something that i will never forget. I immediately, upon getting dropped off suggested that we do dinner the following night, Which she immediately accepted, to my utter satisfaction. I could hardly wait for church to get over the next day. I waited and waited. Granted, i shouldn't have been so eager for church to be over, but i was, and when i got home, and realized that there was still 2 hours before we were supposed to get together. I sent her a text, that said she could come now if she wanted, and she did. That night, we made spaghetti and garlic bread, and it was great. We finished the night with a walk, and a movie. From that night on, we have been together every day. It took only another few days for us to realize that we needed each other. I thought this was the beginning of something very good, and then she told me about her missionary. She had already been engaged once while he was gone, but had since broken it off, and after much prayer, decided that she needed to wait for this missionary to come home, and see what would happen. Somehow, I knew that I would never Be with tiffany permanently.
2 weeks into this relationship, we both realized, with some trepidation, that we were falling in love. For me, it was way too fast and hard, but in all honesty, i loved everything about her. And at this time, we both finally acknowledged it. We had no idea what to do. Now, i know this sounds like puppy love, or something else, but let me explain exactly what was going on. Those of you who have been, or are, truly in love, know that real love means that you're willing to do and sacrifice anything. ANYTHING for that significant other. Well that's what i felt. I knew that she would ultimately be happier with her missionary, and even though i knew that my heart would be ripped out and then placed in a blender, that was, and is, ok. Because she was going to be happy. sound crazy? Maybe. But for me, it was both scary, and liberating. So THIS is what love is supposed to feel like? Well, if this is what it's supposed to feel like, sign me up. I know i'm going to be hurt. And i know that i'll be devastated. But if i can feel like this all the time, I want it. I need it.
Now, words are cheap. I dont know how many times i've said this before to other girls. And while it was true to some extent, i knew that if it came right down to it, it, i really wouldn't do anything and everything to make me happy. There was always the "me" aspect of things. Why could i never mean it before? I dont know, but this time, i meant it for real. And she kind of scared me when she said, "I know." She indicated that so many guys had said that to her before, but she always knew they were lying, but when i said it, she said she could feel it, that it was real, that i meant it. I've heard it from a few girls myself, and i realized that there had been something missing those times. This time, when Tiffany said, "I love you, and I'll do anything for you." I knew she meant it. sincerity. it was real. And this is what it was like to be loved?! for real?! how did i ever live before? this incredible feeling of being truly loved, was almost more than i could stand. Will this really have to end? Really?
It does. Eventually, and probably sooner, rather than later, it'll end, and i'll have to find someone else. But why you ask? why not fight for her? because there's a plan. God answered my prayers, and he answered her prayers too. And she needs her missionary in the long run. So if i truly want to be happy, i have to let her go, right? Right. So, to be completely cliche, I'm letting her go because i Love her. But She'll remain my best friend. She has taught me so much, and i've changed so much. You know you're in love when you decide that you need change so that you're worthy of the person you're falling in love with. That happened to me. She never once has asked me to change. But i realized that there were lots of changes i needed to make, and i proceeded to make them. They say it takes 2 weeks to form a habit. I've done it. Twice. My mom always asks if gospel discussions happen ever. I love that about my mom. But it's true. I love talking about the Gospel, and its kinda weird when i can't talk about it with a girl i'm interested in. But in this case, it comes up frequently, and we talk about anything and everything. I love that we can have spiritual experiences and conversations together.
So what's the bottom line? The bottom line is this: I Fell in Love with an amazing woman who has taught me, inspired me, and helped me become who i want to be. But She needs someone else, and so, here i am, still with her, but ready to let her go so she can be happy. Does it hurt? Of course. Is it worth it? Definitely. I now have a standard. I know how love is supposed to work now. So now, i will never be able to settle for less. Thank you Tiffany, for teaching me how to love.

home and away.

2011-04-12T13:53:00.003-06:00

well this has been a very interesting 2 weeks. I arrived home 2 weeks ago tomorrow. the last couple days of my mission were very emotional, and i really didnt know what to think or do with myself. saying goodbye to everyone was so hard. all my old companions and my companion that i had just trained... it was hard! but finally i pulled myself away from the chapel at transfer meeting, and left with the other departing missionaries. i was happy to be able to visit a family i had worked heavily with , and become very close with whilst in forest lake (my second area). we had a nice visit and then we had to book it back to the mission home so we could have our exit interviews. I had a pleasant visit with some the missionaries that I had known and loved my entire mission, and then got called in for my exit interview. It was a wonderful interview, and President Langeland spoke very frankly, and he gave me some great advice. After the interviews were over, we had a big dinner that included the office couple and the AP's. It was an AMAZING dinner! SO good! and then we sat around and talked for a bit, and then we all gathered downstairs for a testimony meeting. We went around the room, and i could feel the power coming from each elder has he bore his testimony, told a joke, or relived a favorite memory with another brother. When it came time for me, I stood up and was immediately overcome with emotion. This was not my original intake of elders, yet they all welcomed me in, never once judged me for "going home early" and they all just acted as if i was one of them. I expressed my gratitude to them for that, and they just shook their heads as if it was a given. My Testimony has grown so much, and I bore it to them as best I could through my tears. We ended that testimony meeting with "God Be With You 'Til We Meet Again." Its one of those songs that you think is so cliche your entire mission, and then you get to the end, and you mean every word of that Hymn to every brother standing in the room.
The rest of the night was spent getting all our stuff ready, making sure we weren't over the baggage weight, and then finally settling down in the basement, watching church movies, and finally falling asleep, though quite restlessly. When it was finally time to wake up, I rolled out of bed, and put my bedding away, and wandered upstairs for one last Australian breakfast. Crunchy Nut cereal with milk from a 3L bottle, that came from grain-fed cows. And toast. And then sister Langeland also made cinnamon rolls, so that part was actually pretty American, but none of us were complaining. After that, we had to get 17 missionaries through the shower, into their clothes, which was actually faster than expected.
Then, I got a call from the office, which was just telling me that my ecclesiastical endorsement had already gone through and I didn't need to worry about it. So that was a stress reliever. It had begun pouring rain just an hour before we were meant to leave, and didn't stop for us, so a tarp was purchased at Bunnings (something akin to Home Depot) and we got everything in the trailer, and the tarp fashioned just so that nothing could get wet. I had the good fortune of having all my stuff in the middle, so it didn't get wet. And with that, we were off to the airport to say goodbye to Australia, and Hello to the 13 hour plane ride home. It was a long plane ride. I watched Tangled. It was funny. Haha, anyway, so the real tension happened when we got into LA airport. I was told to take my stuff to the terminal, while everyone else got to re-check their bags right away. They were all going to Utah. So I lugged my stuff around until i finally found where i was supposed to check in, and the guys in front of me were being made to lighten their load, and pay an extra 30 bucks! i knew i was over the US weight limit, and i only had Australian money at that point. But as i got to the counter, the lady behind it, told me to put my stuff up, and i watched as the blinking numbers told her it was overweight, and not by just a little, and she just took off the scale, and put it on the conveyor belt, and handed me my boarding pass! I was shocked! The Lord takes care of his missionaries. So then I waited for another little while in my terminal, and then finally got on the little 747 that was going to take me home to Portland. This was where my nerves started to fall apart. I knew that as soon as i stepped off that air plane, that my mission was done. over. the thought was painful, and i wanted to make the plane stop, turn around, take me back to australia, but what about my family? Oh, how i missed them and loved them! yes, i would go home, just to see them again. that was worth it. but then i wanted to go right back out. no questions. Just as the plane was getting ready to land over this city that i loved, i realized something... i REALLY had to use the toilet! So I got off the plane, which was actually the first time i had ever disembarked straight onto the runway, and went straight to the toilet. i was very glad i took care of all that when i finally ascended those stairs. I kept following the signs, and eventually, I came out into the general Airport, and it seemed that all others from my flight had already come this way. But it seems that my family knew i was coming, no matter what, and there they were, so close, and yet so far away! I heard Anna Say it first- "Tayler!" Then everyone saw me. It all I could do to keep from breaking into a run, dropping everything, and getting over to them as quickly as possible. But I held onto my dignity and walked very quickly, up to them. THEN I dropped my stuff, and hugged my mom, and everyone, including the laptop that had Marissa and Cara on skype, and then Uncle craig and Aunt Helen and matthew. These were my people! i was HOME!!! i couldnt have been more happy. And then my mom asked if i wanted to go to Panda express. Then i realized i was so giddy, that i really had no desire for food whatsoever, so we went home. HOME!!! I remembered everything exactly how it was, outside, except Maui. She has gotten fat. Poor dog. I need to talk to Collin about putting her on a diet... anyway. I got the grand tour of the house, with all the new editions, and even had my own bed waiting, and made for me when i got downstairs, and to my delight, there she was. My drum set. oh, i would be whole again! and then i sat and talked to my family for the next couple hours, and then we finally did go out, and get My Panda Express. Talk about a party in my mouth! it was a great way to get ready for official release that came right after that. We drove to President campbell's home, where he invited me into his office, and talked to me for a bit, and then he told me to take my badge off. I went silent. It hurt more than i ever thought it could, and then, like a second dagger, he said, "the other one too" i hung my head, and reached inside my jacket, and took off the badge that was also on my shirt pocket. he then told me that i was formally released as a missionary for the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It was liberating, as well as depressing. I felt the mantle being lifted off my shoulders, but I so desperately wanted it to come back. I realized then that a mission was, as a good friend of mine once said, just like a roller coaster. It was so fun! and you wish you could go again, but you dont, cause if you do, you'll throw up. Ok its not totally like that, but its kinda accurate. anyway, after that, we drove home, i make a phone call to a special girl, which made my day, and then spent the rest of that night talking and celebrating with my family. All this was done on March 30, 2011. it was quite literally the longest day of my life. i was awake for a total of 35 hours. and it was Still all one day. But what a GREAT day! I am so glad to be home now, and to be able move on to the next stage of my life. that is, life itself!

Baptism! March 20 letter

2011-03-21T09:40:00.000-06:00

hello my family and my friends!
what a fast week this has been. sounds like everyone else had their share of interesting this week too. This has been a very unusual week. tuesday, we went down to our district leader's area for a trade-off and had a fun time with them. i ended up spending the day with the DL's comp and we pretty much tracted and did follow-up visits all day. it was fun. then we stayed the night there again, and got up at 2:30 am the next morning so we could be on time for our train at 4 that would take us down to brisbane where we were having zone conference/mission tour with Elder Hamula of the area presidency/seventy. it was so good. very insightful. he's very knowledgable. one of the things that i really liked that he said, that has applied to me on occasion, and to almost everyone, is "if you say, 'thats just how i am, i cant change' you are damning yourself." pretty strong language i know, but i think the missionaries needed to hear that, because after the meeting, everyone was like, "man, that smashed me..." so it was really good for the mission. then we spent all day traveling home, missed our dinner appointment by 2 hours, ended uip with the last yucks from k-fry, and went to sleep ASAP when we got home. it was a LONG day. but it was a good day too. then we spent most of friday getting ready for becky's baptism, since everyone else was gone to the youth temple trip, including Becky's daughter, Tarsh. so then saturday everything seemed to fall apart. except the baptism. but we had like 4 other appointments during the day, all of them cancelled, and i just sorta flipped out... i get so stressed around baptisms... there's so much to do, and it seems like everyone just turns their phones off or goes walkabout at just the time i need to talk to them. it is ever so frustrating. so needless to say, everyone just saying sorry, cant do it on saturday just pushed me over the edge... i just went and had a long talk to God, took a nap, squared my shoulders and went out again. we got emma to come to the baptism, and the baptism itself went well... besides the fact that Becky is deathly afraid of water going over her head, and the first time i baptized her, her elbow was still up... so doing it the second time, she was a little freaked out, but she went all the way under, and it went good. Emma really enjoyed it too. it was good. so then yesterday, we had church, and Emma AND Bill came. finally! Emma really enjoyed it, and Bill liked the gospel essentials class. it was good. and Elder Nai confirmed becky too! it was a good day. then we were able to have lessons with becky and bill and emma after church, and make it to our dinner appointment on time too. it was good. :D so now i'll just be working my tail off to make sure Elder Nai has people to teach when i go, and not leave him with nothing. so we'll see how it all goes. but thats pretty much been the week. its been good. and i'm out of time, so i'll talk to yous later!
love you all so much!
love,
Elder Tayler Christensen

March 13--Spring Ahead

2011-03-21T09:38:00.000-06:00

hello my family and my friends!
im short on time this week, there were lots of emails, and i had to take that quiz thingy...[for BYUI] im glad everyone had a good week! mine was pretty good. found some new people, taught some lessons... sorta. we are teaching becky all the lessons again, but she's had them twice, plus the times when her daughter took them. so we've been having her teach us, which has been really good. all we do is make sure she understands everything, and we just fill in the gaps. its been good. one thing that sorta made my week, was that yesterday we had ward conference, and the stake president got up and talked about the missionaries in the gympie ward for like 5 minutes, and had nothing but praise for us both, as well as me specifically- i dont really know the stake president, but he must have talked to my zone leaders because he mentioned a few things that he could not have known just from our brief meetings... so that made my day/week. besides that we also had a bon fire for a ward activity, and we got Emma to come. not bill though, he had to work... it was kinda a bummer. but she really enjoyed it. i also made cookies because they had a priesthood bake-off... it was kinda funny. didnt win, but got "honorary" 1st place or something like that... :P anyway, thats pretty much the week. sorry this one is short.

ok i love you all!
love,
Elder Tayler Christensen

March Progress

2011-03-07T21:41:00.000-07:00

hello my family and my friends!
well, this has been a very interesting week. it was pretty slow to begin with, but the last couple days were pretty hectic. it all started on thursday. we were a little late leaving the flat after lunch, and i was a little grumpy with myself for being slow, but as we said the prayer to leave the flat, i felt calm, and i was thinking about what order we would see people in, and the thought that we should go see the H.'s (less active family) first was strongly impressed on my mind. so we went there first. Good thing too. we go to visit them at work, because they live really far out of town. turned out sis. H. was on the verge of breaking down. she was over-exerting, and her daughter j. had recently been through a very traumatic experience, and was not handling it well. she asked us to come around on Saturday to give her a blessing, and we agreed. and then she just talked to us. i dont know what happened exactly, but it seems pretty intense. so we just helped her off-load and then we went and took care of out other errands. then we drove down to kawana waters (and hours drive), and stayed the night, and then elder Jensen (DL) and I went to the leadership training meeting. far out. i know why i was never in leadership. those leaders are intense, and they're like the best teachers ever. i got smashed by them! it was a little scary how inadequate i was feeling. it was a good introspection opportunity though and i have made several goals for myself to achieve before the end of my mission. so that was good. then it took us 3.5 hours to get back to kawana waters from brisbane, because we had to pick up bikes for me, cause gympie doesnt have any, and then crutches for another missionary in the district, and then it was pouring rain, and peak traffic. it was yuck. it should only have taken us an hour to get back. we ended up having to cancel our appointments before 6, and then i got to drive for an hour in more peak traffic, with heavy rain, and a trailer with bikes in it. that was fun. that was friday. then saturday we did our weekly planning, and went and gave the blessing to j.. it was kinda a cool experience. i got to be voice, and i was praying hard to be the mouthpiece of God for j., and i felt the spirit so strongly while i gave the blessing. i felt kinda like how Richard explained it to me- i could FEEL what God wanted me to say, but then i had to put it into words. that was the first time that i really felt that. it was really cool, and they were all very grateful. so i set them up with the bishop and a few other people that they trust in the ward, to really get the ball rolling to help j., and the family recover. so i felt very helpful. then that night, we had dinner with b.. it was such a good visit. if you remember i told yous about her when i first got to gympie- she's the one with multiple personalities (17) and who pretty much is a dry mormon. we've been trying to help her decide to get baptized for ages. like over 6 months. so finally after dinner, on our way out, she gave a tie to elder Nai (i already have one from her) and told him he had to wear it in 2 weeks, and that i did too. she'd been going on about what she was going to do in 2 weeks all night, and i had just thought it had something to do with me going home or something, but we finally asked what she was going to do in 2 weeks, and she said "i dont want to go through any more missionaries." at first i thought she was dropping us, and then i realized what she meant as she said,"so i'm getting baptized in 2 weeks. the 19th." i was in shock. i was totally speechless. i had NOT been expecting that. so that was pretty sweet. she was like, i need 2 weeks, because i'll have both kids with me in 2 weeks, and i have to stop smoking for 7 days, so i have some medication and the 15 step program, and i'm going to do them. and then she pulled out her own copy of preach my gospel, told us she read the whole thing, and then told us that she would be able to answer all the interview questions. shock again. i think i might actually hit my 4 baptisms goal. we have a few other people lined up, that we just need to commit. hopefully it goes well. i'm way excited. so that was pretty much the week.

anyway, times up, gotta go. i love you all so much! have a good week!
Love,
Elder Tayler Christensen

ps- mum, thanks for taking care of college stuff, its really taken a load off of me. really appreciate it. love you!

Good bye February

2011-02-28T15:08:00.000-07:00

hello family and friends!
well this week has been a good week. we were able to get a lot of work done, and are starting to move forward with a few people. it has been a good work week though. first off, i'm sure you're all wondering about the baptism. well. we had a lesson with Edward this last week on wednesday, and it went really well. we just went over the rest of the commandments, the baptismal interview questions, and then made a baptism program. he asked me to baptize him :D. so i did. the baptism was on saturday at one o'clock, and it was a very spiritual experience. i enjoyed it, and when edward and i were changing he kept saying how happy and light he felt. then, that morning i was trying to decide which video to show while we were getting changed, and remembered the John tanner story on the new D&C DVD. so we watched that and Edward and I walked in with enough of it left to figure out what was going on and be there for the real tear jerking part. the spirit was so strong and there was not a dry eye in the meeting. it was so good. i'm excited to keep working. and Elder N. is progressing very quickly. i was so scared i would run into some pride issues with him, but he's been very humble, and has the attitude of obedience, and learning. so i've really enjoyed that. it sounds like everyone else had a good week too! Anna, what a great experience that workshop. i'm sure that will have an impact on the rest of your life. you asked how to be a good missionary. i think you were talking about study... well the best way to study missionary work is to just look for all the missionary everything in the scriptures, and then when you read Preach My Gospel, its good to know the lessons, but since you probably wont be teaching full lessons, chapter 1 and 2 are the best, where you study your purpose as a missionary and then study how to study. those are good chapters. those are the only ones new missionaries are allowed to read for the first 3 months in the ABM [Australia Brisbane Mission] as well. so that would be a good start. I'm sure Dad and BJ and Richard could give you some good suggestions as well. Anyway, times up, i've got to go. i love you all so much! have a good week.
Love,
Elder Tayler Christensen

Happy Single-Awareness Day!

2011-02-15T20:41:00.000-07:00

Hello Family and Friends!
this has been a very interesting week for me. we were able to teach Edward again on saturday, and again on monday. the baptismal date is still on for this saturday! there's a lot of logistics that i have to sort out though, so hopefully it all goes well. the other investigators havent really made heaps of progress but they're doing alright. we're having a lesson with cameron and naomi today, and emma and bill are happening sometime later in the week. um... we did some service this week too... i got to use a CHAIN SAW! it made my day. thats pretty much it. nothing too much exciting during the week. the weekend however, and the last few days have been absolutely crazy! as you are probably aware, it was transfers this week, and although i was hoping elder Itaea would kill me off, he got transferred. we found out on sunday night. so we spent monday packing and going to see everyone in the ward so he could say good bye. then at 10 pm on monday the APs called me... they asked me to bring some extra clothes so i could stay an extra day in brisbane... that only means ONE thing... and i knew what it meant so i freaked out a little... so we went to transfers yesterday, and it sounded something like this: "Elder Christensen as been serving in Gympie with Elder Itaea. Elder Christensen will continue serving in gympie with...... a... trainee." so normally trainees dont come in at all until wednesday, and trainers dont pick them up until wednesday night. however, i got a call after transfers that the missionaries coming from the New Zealand MTC actually had already arrived and the one i was training was in that group, so i went to mission home, met him, and then we drove back to gympie. which by the way, is a 2.5 hour drive. anyway. his name is Elder Nai, he's samoan, but he's from sydney. he's awesome. humble as. love it. so this last transfer i dont really have a choice. I HAVE to do and be my best. so prayers in my direction would be very helpful! :D ok well, thats all the exciting news for the week. i love you all so much! thank you for all that you are doing! have a good week. this church is true. i know it is. because i'm the happiest i have ever been in my life. love you all!
Love,
Elder Tayler Christensen

Good bye January

2011-02-08T10:50:00.004-07:00

hello family and friends!
haha, i love how i get on to read all the emails, and when i go back to my inbox to read the next one, theres a new one at the top, and then that happens twice. makes my day. :D ok, well i tried to read fast so that i could write in a bit more detail. this week was so good. not in numbers, just in awesomeness. Australia day was on wednesday- something like the 4th of july, except not. we were meant to proselyte that day, which we did... in Tin Can Bay. which is kinda a resort town, but we have a few members that live there, and we did some tracting, and then had a lunch-dinner party thing with some members of the ward- i played cricket for the first time... its harder than it looks, but i thought it was still just as boring as it looks... probably wont play again... unless yous all want to learn... ya. but it was fun anyway cause we just mocked each other the whole time, and it was fun. then on thursday, we had interviews and training. my interview with president was short. i only had a few questions for him, and he got all the information about the area from Elder Itaea. so it was quick, in and out. and i also had a temple recommend interview after all the other interviews were done. so i have another one. but its only good until june or something like that. so dad, book me in for another temple recommend interview soon after i get home! :D anyway, the training was REALLY good. the zone leaders gave a mean training. i had the opportunity to do some real plays with some newer missionaries, and was very entertained both by their greeness and by their amazement at how elder Itaea and I teach... its really nothing special, we just applied what we were taught like 2 minutes before that. i kinda like being an "old" missionary. except for the fact that everyone tends to remind me how close i am to going home... not helpful when i'm trying to focus everything on the work. but hey, whatever, i gave LOTS of old fogie missionaries crap for going home soon, so its about time that i copped it. hmm... oh, we had a lesson with cameron and Naomi this week. it was good... there was a serious lack to question asking though, and therefore a lack of the spirit... it was sad... i left non-plussed. however, they came to church yesterday, and seemed to enjoy it- however, i will NEVER sit in the back of the chapel with an investigator again. so much noise. anyway. we did heaps of tracting this week, and also did some service, helping some recent converts move house. it was good, i havent met them before and they're really cool. um... what else. went to poached baptism yesterday.... lady living in my area, being taught by the zone leaders... grr... oh well, she had really good fellowship down there, and is down there more often than up here... but they asked us to come so that we could introduce ourselves to her, and get her to get confirmed in Gympie ward next week... she straight up said no, but we are going to see her tomorrow. so hopefully we'll be able to convince her. so that was pretty much all the missionary stuff that happened this week. we went out to tin can bay again this morning to feed the dolphins... unfortunately you have to get in the water to do it, so we just ended up taking pictures of other people feeding them, which was still good, i got some good ones.

the best thing, is that we started doing all of our follow-up visits/calls yesterday, and we have like a bajillion lessons set for the coming week. hopefully we'll be able to make some significant numeric progress. i still have 4 baptisms to go with almost exactly 2 months to go. i'll get them. i know i will. got some REALLY good potentials this week. anyway, i am so happy to be here! i have been blessed with the spirit so abundantly this week! Dad, its true what you say- on the mission God had you over the fire, and does all the pounding there, and the sharpening and honing come later. but i love it here. i love everything i have learned. i KNOW the church is true. i KNOW the book of mormon is true. no doubts. the priesthood of God is on the earth, and the members of this church are the sole possesors of it. we have all the keys needed for salvation. no other church can claim that. this is it. and guess how i know it? not because i've been "indoctrinated" from childhood, not because mum and dad have testimonies, not even because i'm a missonary. its because the holy ghost whispered to me that this is true, and I do NOT have to rely on ANY earthly evidences whether it be man's word or text to know, that what i teach is true, and that it brings the only true and lasting joy you can have. i love it. :D
ok, well, i'm out of time. i love you all so much!
Love,
Elder Tayler Christensen

ps- ran into some JW's the other day- had a good conversation with them about their "literal" translation of the bible as opposed to our "loose" translation of the bible... then i showed them in their bible the word "marshmallow" (job 6:6- compare it, its funny) and was then very entertained as they tried to explain that one, especially when they concluded that it must be some type of plant. :D ended the conversation as quick as i could after that. anyway. just thought it was funny.

you are GOLDEN

2011-02-08T10:46:00.002-07:00

hello my family and my friends!
well, it has been a very good week this week. we had a lot of lessons and we found a few new people to teach! so it has been a very good week. we found a young couple called Emma and Bill. we just tracted into them, and they thought we were J-Dubs, so they started to just tell us they werent interested, and then they started asking us questions, and then they invited us in once they found out that we were mormons, and that we werent trying to force them into anything. so, emma is only 17 and bill's not much older, and both of them have have had very little if any religious instruction. they really enjoyed the message of the restoration, and they had a lot of questions about the plan of salvation, so we gave them sort of a movie trailer of the plan of salvation, which really got their attention, and then told them we had to go, and we'd have to schedule another appointment- they wanted us to come back ASAP so we went back 2 days later, and taught the plan of salvation. they really liked that, and it answered all of their questions. we invited them to church, but they werent able to come. but they said that they would love to come next week. they decided that they really liked us, so last night they also invited us to a bon fire at their house... but we met one of their friends who's pretty much in the same boat they are, and who we were able to talk to about the gospel, and now they're interested too. so its all good. :) then the really big thing that happened this week was a guy called Edward. he's the boyfriend of a recent convert, and he's GOLDEN! he has already read most of the Gospel principles book, and prayed about it and received an answer.(!!!!!) so when we taught the restoration, he was like, ya that all makes sense, i believe that. then we asked him to read the book of mormon and pray about it, which he readily accepted. then the coolest part happened. we usually try to get the investigator to pray on the first lesson we have them. its usually not very easy to do, but in this case, before we go to that, Edward was like, "i feel like i want to pray to close this up... is that ok?" after getting over the shock, we were both like, yes! yes! that is DEFINITELY ok! please! so he prayed. and it wasnt anything special, it had no flowery language, but it was heartfelt and sincere, and the spirit was present. it was awesome. we then set a baptisimal date with him for the 19th of february! :D :D YES!!!!!!!! i am so excited. i've always wanted to teach someone who was golden. :D so its good. anyway, the rest of the week. i know all of you have hear about the massive cyclone that hit northern Qld. yes, it was massive. they're saying its rivaling or exceeding the strength of hurricane katrina. we still arent quite sure of the damage done, or the safety of the missionaries up there. we havent heard anything from our leaders. however, you have no need to worry about me. the cyclone didnt even come close, and it was far enough away that we're not even getting the low pressure front from it. so i'm all safe. i'll update you when i know what happened for sure up north. the weather down here though, has been so hot. and it's been like 1000% humidity. makes tracting mean something. it's great though, almost everyone we talk to offers us water. so we're staying hydrated! yesterday, we had a special training from president langeland and the APs. (thats why i'm late emailing yous) it was really good. president and sister langeland put together a slide show about joseph smith, and the qualities of a prophet, and how he exhibited each one, and gave specific examples. it was really good. then, the APs gave a training on committing investigators to pray, and read the book of mormon. we real-played it, and there was an odd number of companionships, so we got to real-play with president and sister Langeland. that was great. i was really nervous, but president langeland complimented me on my real play, so that was nice. :D thats pretty much been it. ok. well, thats all i can think of, so i'll wrap it up. i hope yous all have a great week! i know this is the true church, and i know that "a man can get nearer to God by abiding by it's precepts." the church is true. the book is blue. :D love yous!
love,
Elder Tayler Christensen

Tracting...and More Tracting

2011-01-24T22:33:00.001-07:00

hello my family and my friends!

well this week has been pretty good. to put it the Aussie way, i've been getting "stuck in to it". really, this week has been full of finding. lots of tracting. lots of GQing. and very little teaching. its been kind of frustrating, but then, Gympie is a tracting area. always has been. so at least i'm not surprised about it all. and hey, i've been getting some of the best sleep i've had in a long time. its been so long since i've come back to the flat utterly exhausted. kinda funny. but it's good. Elder Holland told me on the first day of my mission to go home on a stretcher. well... if i keep this up, i just might. :P dont worry mum, i'm fine. anyway, the sun has been out, it has been getting hot, and getting to be more like last summer. so i'll start getting a mean as missionary tan. so ya, this week we went on trade-offs with the district leader. we live like an hour away from them though, so they came up for the night. it was fun. the next day, we all worked in gympie, and both sets of us were doing heaps of tracting. i was with the district leader, elder Jensen, and we had a very interesting day. we met a a guy in this really sad complex... we think it might have been drug-recovery complex, but the guy had smoked or drunk or drugged himself out of is mind. he still had his faculties, but he must have been like 60, and was speaking and acting like a 5-year-old, and he couldnt read. my heart went out to him, and i was shocked at the poverty of the people in this place... it was so sad. i wanted to help them, but they were there for a reason- they didnt want out help. it made me appreciate all the blessings that i have. i've taken so much of the blessings in my life for granted, and its sickening to me how thoughtless i have been sometimes. really opened my eyes. then after that, we tracted into a guy who was massive, and had a few mental issues- not crazy, just a few things he has deal with. he's been taught before, and even had a book of mormon, and said that he had prayed before, and recently his prayer had been for help to cope with his relapse back to his issues. to which we responded that we were the answer to his prayer. we could help him quit smoking, and get back on track, so its good. anyway, my time is up, so i have to get going. i love yous so much! have a good week.

love,

Elder Tayler Christensen

Flooding

2011-01-10T14:38:00.001-07:00

hello my family and my friends!

well, this has been an interesting week indeed. first of all, I'll let you all know that i am totally safe from flooding, although Gympie is getting hit pretty hard. we are affected a bit, in that there are a few bridges between south side, which is where we live, and the other side, which is where the rest of town is- all the shops and the library and stuff. and the last bridge went under water last night. so we're stuck on south side. however, we saw it coming, and we prepared, and bought extra food and supplies, and whatnot, so we're all good. plus lots of the members live on this side of the river, so we have a good support network. and yes, all the rumors you have heard about the flooding in northern QLD are true. the area that is covered by water is bigger than Germany and France combined- or more than the entire state of texas. Emerald was hit pretty hard. the missionaries there were evacuated, but the water only came like 2 or 3 inches over the floor for them, and they are living out at the Watene's place which is like a little island right now. so as far as i know, the people that i know in Emerald and Rocky are alright, but there is heaps of clean up to do. as far as i know, no one has been evacuated out of home in Gympie YET, but we'll see. right now, the river is 17.3 metres deep, as compared to it's usual 2 or 3. so its REALLY flooded. we've been taking heaps of photos and video, so it will be well documented. ANYWAY, this week has been fun. i met most of the members from the visits we did and also because there was a wedding that we were meant to help at, for a few members of the ward. so i met lots of people. then sunday they asked me to speak for 5 minutes by way of introduction, even though only like half the ward showed up because of the floods. but then the second speaker didn't show up, so they asked me to try and make it a bit longer, like 7 minutes- i tried to do it, but i just couldn't keep it that short... haha JUST kidding, i think i barely made 3 minutes, but it was all good, because the third speaker had a long talk. and it was really good. we also did a few hours tracting in the rain, because it pretty much rained non-stop all day every day. oh, and just for you geographically confused people, Gympie is only 2 hours north of brisbane, as compared to the 15 hours emerald is away from Brisbane. and we had to drive to district meeting on a thursday, which is an hour's drive on the crappiest highway i have ever driven on. and then on the way back, it was also pouring rain. so i could barely see, and i had to keep up with traffic, which was still doing like 90, and i wanted to cry. it stressed me out a bit, but we made it home safe, and i was smashed. it tired me out. so that was fun. then we also had 2 lessons this week. one was with a younger couple called Cameron and Naomi, and they were really good, and they were planning coming to church but they weren't able to because of the floods, so that was o.k., but they are also reading and praying about the book of Mormon, which is good. we also had a lesson with a lady called Celine, who was very receptive, and invited us back next week, and committed to read and pray about the book of Mormon. so things are going well on the proselyting part of things. anyway, that's pretty much the week. oh and mum, you're right, the post and trucks cant get in or out of Gympie, the main hwy is closed, so ya... it'll be a little while before any mail comes through. anyway my time runs short. but it is going well for me, so don't worry! we're safe, and we're still able to work. life is good. :D ok I love you guys so much!

love,

Elder Tayler Christensen

Christmas Phone Call

2011-01-05T21:04:00.003-07:00

Tayler--Elder Christensen, called us on Christmas day in the evening, and right before church for him. We had him on speaker phone with Rochelle and BJ on one cell phone, and Marissa and Richard on another cell phone and we recorded the whole thing. He sounded so good! Here's the highlights of the phone call:

Christmas Day (the day before) He had breakfast at the YM pres house, lunch with some widows, dinner with the Burlowitz(?) family, and evening with the Gilgan family. He said he got his package with us on Monday, and opened the non-wrapped parts of it, and it was his mission party that day, so that was fun. Apparently customs unwrapped the Wheaties box though, so he got that before Christmas, and had much of it eaten by Christmas! He said he hadn't sent his Christmas package to us yet, but he told us the gifts he had purchased. We're looking forward to receiving it. He said he was reminded it was Christmas when he went into people's homes and saw their decorations, but since it's summer it really felt different. The weather was "dumping cats and dogs", so it felt kind of like home, but not really. He said not everyone has a Christmas tree, and most people don't put anything on top, like a star or angel. They go to the beach, swim and have BBQ's. The dinners he had had cool ham and turkey instead of warm meat.
Missionary Days--they study in the morning till 10 AM then go tracking or GQing (Golden Questioning on the street) for 2 hours. For GQing they go to bus stops--especially over by Robina Town Center, and parks and also talk to people they see when they are out biking. They also visit less active and part member families. They try to do service, and it's usually yard work for widows. There isn't as much to do as in Emerald. They usually have dinner with members 5 days of the week. They always leave a spiritual thought like asking everyone their favorite scripture. He shares Ether 12 and his heart surgery story, or does a object lesson with kids where they blow a crumpled paper ball around, then a rock, and he reads Helaman 5:12 about building on a rock and withstanding the devil's mighty winds. They also play Bible Dictionary Baulderdash and compare that to Joseph Smith not guessing to translate the Book of Mormon. Sounds like good family-missionary interaction to me! He said they also add to a book they are making with ward member pictures, hobbies, interests and availability for teaching in their homes. This leads them to ask members who they know that could be taught. He says they have a lot of ward activities, and they encourage members to invite their friends to them.
Funny Stuff--Recently they road their bikes in the rain to a members house. They were so muddy and soaked they had to change into Bro. N's clothes. Sister N. said she would get the stains out for them, so they road home with Tayler in a shirt that looked like a night shirt since it was so big on him, and his companion had Abercrombie and Fitch sweat pants on.
Interesting Australian slang, "giver 'er a fair suck at the siv" or "give a fair shake at the sauce bottle" both mean give a fair chance. "Chuck a turn" means "take it easy". Red heads are blueys. He think it's funny that little kids say "be your pardon". Some people have said he sounds "oddly", but he's all for dropping the "American r's". He can really notice it on the missionaries fresh from the states, and it bothers him. Ha ha. He informs us that the proper way to say Australia is Ustralia, not AHstralia He has an Australian slang dictionary.
He said there was a baptism in Emerald 2 weeks after he left. It was a self referral that came from Rock Hampton, and he had only met with them once. He felt that Eli would be baptized soon. (editorial note--he got transferred before that happened).

Although this past year wasn't filled with baptisms it was filled with a lot of teaching, and a lot of growing and working hard. We are so happy for the experiences Tayler has had on his mission, and for the wonderful example he has give us. It was great to hear his voice on Christmas.

He will be coming home on March 30, 2011.

Happy New Year Transfer

2011-01-05T20:02:00.004-07:00

hello my family and my friends!

well, this has been a VERY exciting week. NOTHING like i expected. we had transfers today, which is why i didnt email yesterday. and the news is that i got transferred?! ya, i was incredulous. i was absolutely sure i was dying in mudgeeraba, but no, elder prina gets to have 9 months there- with a trainee. anyway, now, i am in a little place called Gympie. its as far north as you can go, and still be part of a stake, and not be in the northern zone. its a very interesting place. nothing like gold coast. my new address is: 2/12 loder st. Gympie, QLD 4570. so Elder Prina knows where to send it if you've already sent stuff, and for all future mail, just send it to that address. oh, and i'm back with Elder Itaea, the one rom kiribati that i was with in forest lake. :D

anyway, we had a mean as lesson with jade this week. he's progressing very well. He's making friends, and he's excited about learning. its working out very well. he will get baptized. we dont have a date for him yet, but they'll get it. that was about the only exciting thing that happened.

new years was good, we stayed up for it, and then missed it because we were talking and making a new area map- its laminated! pretty sweet. anyway, new years day was really fun- we spent the day cleaning a little bit, and then a member of the ward, brother Gilgen, took us to his studio, and elder prina has written a parody to a creed song called "6 feet from the edge" and re-named it, "six months from the end of my mission." its not a trunky song. i sent the link for the music video, which we also had a blast making. so that was our new years day.

anyway, i'm running short on time, so i'll talk to yous all later! i'm sure i'll have lots to report next week.

love you all so much!

love,

Elder Tayler Christensen

Elder Prina's Parody Song

Christmas Call is coming! (MOM's blog title!)

2010-12-23T10:06:00.002-07:00

hello family and friends!
well, its been a crazy week, but its been a good one. we had the mission christmas party yesterday, which is why i didnt email yesterday, but it was really good, very fun, and i got your package! :D anyway, i have little time to write this email, but i need to set up whats going to happen for Christmas call! so the family who's letting us use their phone, asked if we could do skype, which we asked president if we could, and he said yes, we can, so thats an option. we can also do the conference call if that works better for everyone, i'm not too bothered either way. just email me back soon, and i'll just buy the phone card, and if i dont need, i'll just give it to another missionary for mother's day. so i'll check my email briefly before i call home. also, i will be calling on Chirstmas day for yous. which is the 26th for me. so i'm looking forward to talking to yous! quick investigator update- jade came to church this week, which was awsesome, he's pretty keen. so we'll have a lesson with him this week. :D ok, thats about it. oh! had a good experience with answers to prayer this week. i've been driving the car around lately to learn the area faster, and it's working good, but i havent driven since forest lake- like 9 months ago, so i was a lil rusty... but i went around another car by going up on the angle curb, but failed to miss the big hole on the other side of it, i scraped the bottom of the bumpers... ya... no visual damage done, but when we stopped the car, there was a very fast drip coming from the bottom of the car, and i flipped a switch... so we called the car coordinator, he told us to take it in the next day, then we stuck a bucket under the car over night to see what it was... it was just watery, so we figured it was coolant from the radiator... ugh. but all night and that morning i was praying that it would be a quick fix because we had a lot of appointments that day in the morning, so we told the car co. everything, then he called half way through the car ride but i didnt hear it... but we were driving on the motorway, and i felt prompted to turn off the AC and just roll the windows down... radiator problem i thought. so the car co. left a message that he thought it might just be the condensation from the AC dripping from the bottom, which would be completely normal... well i checked under the car, and with no AC on, there was nothing dripping from the bottom! :D prayer answered. we wasted a few K's but it was worth it. i obviously needed a little lesson on prayer, and that was a good way to teach it. anyway, thats just a few highlights from the week. i'll talk to you on chirstmas though! :D love you all so much!
love,
Elder Tayler Christensen

December

2010-12-06T09:41:00.000-07:00

hello my family and my friends!
this has been such a crazy week! firstly becasue it rained. and rained. and rained some more. its raining right now. not that i mind the rain here. its warm! nothing like oregon rain. but i suppose its more like the winters that i know, so it SORT OF feels a bit more like christmas than it did last year at this time. i keep walking in to people's houses and seeing their trees up, and going, oh ya, it's christmas time... yay. its just so weird with it NOT being cold. i'm kinda glad i wont live here forever, but at the same time, i think christmas next year would be fun to come here! we'll see though. anyway, sounds like everyone had a good week. Dad, i totally feel your pain with being sick but being uber busy. its no fun. although, i'm probably not as busy as you, but there are some days when i feel like it'll take a miracle to get me through the day. especially the days when we're on the bikes. but i survive, every day. honestly dad, in response to your questions, i'm tired. i always try to not be worn out, or at least act like i'm not wearing out, but i feel like giving up some days and just sleeping for a week. Its pretty hard sometimes too, having the motivation to get up and go to work in the mornings, in light of the fact that i havent had a single baptism for the entirety of 2010. and now, i feel like i'm running out of time. the end of the year seems like it's my cut-off point, even though i have until the end of march. so that's what is REALLY going on inside my head. i know that being a sower is just as important as being a reaper, but sometimes i just wish the reapers would let me help once in a while. but while all this runs around my head sometimes, i have nothing to complain about. i certainly didnt expect my mission to be a "bowl of peaches," so all things considered, i am still very blessed to be here, and i feel the lord's blessing every day. it is ALWAYS there. my patriarchal blessing instructs me to "trust in the lord. do not doubt him, or fear." i've learned that these are quite serious instructions, and they're not always easy to follow, but when i follow them, i have NEVER been let down. and so it has been a week full of blessings. first off, nearly everyone who even sort of knows me in the ward, said happy birthday to me yesterday at church, so that made me feel good. then this last week, we were tracting, and i've been really working on getting out of my timid ways while tracting, and had a chance to be bold. i knocked on a door, and no one answered, but we could hear them around back of the house- normally i feel like i'm intruding walking around to the back of someone's house, so i normally dont, but that day i just felt like i had had enough of being afraid of people. the message i share is more important than whatever they're doing. so i walked around the back of the house, and there were 2 men and a woman, and a little boy. one of the men and the woman are partners, and the boy is their son, and the other man was a friend of theirs. and they were suprisingly warm and friendly, and even though at first all of them said they werent that interested, all of them perked up at some point, as they allowed us to teach their almost 8-y-o son the first lesson. then, the dad, who was very atheist volunteered to take his son to church not this week but next week, and they invited us back for another lesson this week! so that was good. that was probably the best thing that happened all week. the other awesome thing that happened, was that we went to a family called the Wolffs for dinner this week, and they had a good referral for us that from the sounds of it, is golden. so we're excited to be able to teach her, but the other thing was that Bro. Wolff is a physio! but he's not just a physio, but apparently one of the best in Australia, and FINALLY someone told me what was wrong with my back! basically, all the joints in my back got sprained when i had the open heart surgery, and all my muscles got "confused" and then tightened up, and then i subconciously favored those parts of my back, and now they're all out of wack, and my back muscles are significantly weaker than they should be, and way too tight. so he gave me some stretches to do, and recomended this thing called a thoracic back extension rack. he had one at his house, and i tried it- basically its just an arched piece of plastic with two ridges on it, and you lay on it, and it digs into the muscles and loosens them up. he said that its the best thing out there for this type of problem, and is supposed to be used basically for the rest of my life. intitially, every day, but once i actually start to heal up, it'll peter out to about once a month. it costs something like $150 australian to get one, but for a lifetime tool, i think it's not too much, so i asked him to order one for me, and i'd pay for it. but i wanted to run it past yous, especially dad, first. so just let me know. i want to fix my back asap. and bro. wolff is also giving me free physio sessions starting in a couple weeks to help me heal up completely. its awesome! then on saturday, there was district leader council, so elder prina went to that with the other DL and the zone leaders for the Gold Coast zone, and i went on a trade off with the other comp. they're the chinese missionaries in gold coast, and they had a lesson, so we went to it, and i pretty much just sat there, cause the lesson was in chinese, so i didnt know what was going on, but apparently it was a good lesson. anyway, that was pretty much the week. not too much else exciting happened. just hoping to find, teach and baptize someone ASAP! your prayers would be much appreciated. :D anyway, i hope yous have an amazing week! i love you all so much!
Love,
Elder Tayler Christensen

Crazy Week-Dec 2 Post

2010-12-02T10:38:00.003-07:00

Hello family and friends!

well, this has been a VERY interesting week. Elder Prina is the new district leader, and he's been doing very well, he's so humble, but he knows his responsibilities, and does his best to execute them. We have had some better luck this week, with teaching people, we met most of our goals, and had some good laughs on the way. we also had our share of disappointment, but at least it wasnt more than our share. and it soudns like everyone had a good thanksgiving this week! man, yous are lucky, 2 dinners in a row. Guess what i had for thanksgiving dinner? Pizza. Australians really dont get the whole "feast" thing- turkey, mashed potatoes, rolls, the lot. Pizza. :P it was actually a good dinner, and the family that fed us were a less-active part-member family that was moving to brisbane the next morning, so we cut them some slack on that one. oh dad, i had some questions for you, first, Elder Prina came out from Provo, and wants to know where you lived when you were in high school, and i need to know what the name of your Mission was, and the years you served. if you could let me know in your next email, that would be great :). well, this week was, as i said before, Very interesting. it started with a visit that we made to a potential investigator's home. we biked hard to get there, and it started pouring rain on the way, so we got there and we were soaked, then she wasnt there, but her less-active partner was, so we talked to him, and then she showed up, but she wouldnt talk to us, and her partner didnt really know what was up, so she gave us the cold shoulder, and we had to leave, so we were biking back, still wet, and now frustrated, and we were on a pretty busy road, and as i was biking, trying to make it back to our flat on time, out of nowhere, i got blind-sided in the face by a flying bottle, thrown from a very fast-moving car. luckily, it was plastic, so all it really did was startle me. But usually stuff like that makes me mad, and i cant stop thinking aboiut it, and things i'd like to do to that person for like a week, but for some reason i just laughed, and went back to what i was thinking about before that. later, i was reminded of Peter, when he rejoiced that he was able to suffer for the cause of Christ. and i thought, ya. i'm taking some very small things for Christ's sake, and really, its not that bad. the other really interesting thing that happened this week was that we went on trade-offs with the zone leaders, and we taught this lady, whose son is a former investigator, and he was there, but he didnt sit in on the lesson, but he could hear what we were saying from where he was. for most of the time, i was watching him, and he was listening intently, and i could tell that he was feeling the spirit. then i had to use the toilet, and when i came back, his entire countenance had changed, and he was now staring at the fellowship that we brought, with this kind of evil smirk on his face, and his entire body tensed up. it was kinda scary. we found out from him, and from his mum, that and evil spirit possessed him occasionally, and that it had been gone for a few months now, but as he said it, "I was feeling the spirit. thats why HE came." it was kinda scary, but at the same time, i could still feel the influence of the Spirit, so all feelings of fear were gone. Elder Jensen, the zone leader i was with, said that he would bring some people over later, and they would give him a blessing, and get rid of the evil spirit, and the guy was very grateful, and even agreed to come to church the next day. that was cool. but that was pretty much the week. i hope all has gone well for you, and that you all have a good week! I love you all so much!

Love,

Elder Tayler Christensen

2 letters one day

2010-11-23T09:48:00.000-07:00

Hello Family and Friends!
how is everyone? from your emails, sounds like everyone is back to normal, and not sick anymore, ya? Dad, i didnt have time to answer your questions last week, so i'll answer them now. yes, we have the 15 names program here, it's a world-wide program- unfortunately not many wards actually have a fully functional one, including Mudgeeraba. and as for who is senior companion, we're actually co-senior, so we're supposed to switch off weeks being senior comp, but we get along so well, that we just kinda dont have one senior comp, whoever has the better idea is the one that calls the shots. so it jumps back and forth between us multiple times a day. anyway, thats so exciting that the tree business is starting to take off! i hope it does well for sure, imma be broke after the mission! :P and yous are going to utah for thanksgiving! are you going to the gray's again?
My week has been... well... for lack of a better word, interesting. we were all over the place trying to contact everyone. it was so hard! no one seemed to be home, and i think i've lost weight for all the biking as fast as i can up hills, and whatnot. then, we set up 2 appointments for saturday, which were supposed to be really solid, in member's homes and everything, and then everything fell apart on us friday night- we're getting fed up with people around here, so we're just going to find some new investigators. p-day was fun last week though! we played baseball! it was fun, but a little sad, cause the sister i came in to the mission with was there for her last p-day. she's way cool, and today is transfer day, so tomorrow she goes home to new zealand. that leaves me as the ONLY one left from my intake! so since i go home earlier than i would have been, no elders will go home the transfer after i go home. oh well. thats probably good, cause the intake i go home with, theres like 20 of us, so that'll be a big hit the mission. speaking of transfers, we found out on sunday night that neither of us are getting transferred, so we'll be in mudgeeraba through christmas and new years! we're excited for that. i had a few kinda cool insights this week while studying though. one of them hit me pretty hard though. i was reading the last chapters of mosiah, about the sons of mosiah leaving on their mission to the lamanites. this time i looked a little deeper at what might have been going through their minds and through mosiah's mind. a few moments of looking a dates and events, i realized that mosiah sent his sons on a mission to people who were his enemies, and one year later, died, 13 years short of their arrival back in zarahemla. of course they must have known he was nearing the end of his life, as i'm sure he probably did too. i think of the missionaries who's parrents or other famiy members die while they are on their mission. how hard it is for them to stay on the mission! and for another 13 years! how difficult would that be for them? it helped me gain a deeper appreciation for the kind of men the sons of mosiah were, and mosiah himself. anyway, i have to go again, i'm being kicked off AGAIN. so i'll talk to yous next week!
Love you all so much!
Love,
Elder Tayler Christensen

so i got kicked off earlier, so now i get to finish the email from this morning. after we got stood up this last weekend, we had a good day of church, we taught the lesson again in gospel essentials, and then had a good chat to neel prasad- the less-active guy whose wife and daughter are the ones we're trying to teach and baptize. then we had dinner at the Ryan's house. they're a way cool family, and they have a PING PONG table!!! i was so excited, and bro. ryan gave me a game, and i beat him in overtime! so i'm still not too bad at it, which means collin, you better watch out! :P then yesterday, we went out to visit a bunch of people, and it was raining all day, except for when we had to be on the bikes. it always seemed to stop for us. we even went to dinner, and as we pulled up, it was just starting to spit, and as soon as we were in the house, there was a massive cloud burst, and it went until about 10 minutes before we were supposed to leave, and then started again a couple minutes after we got home. it was sweet. many tender mercies. oh, last week we had someone back into our bikes while we were using the car, and they didnt leave a note or anything. the only damage was my front wheel was bent, and elder prina's back wheel was bent, the tire popped, and a spoke was broken, and we later found out, so was the gear thingy. so we carried our wheels to the shop, and had the guy take a look at them, and he had them until the next day in the arvo, when we got them back. that same day, we GQ'd an older guy who immediately just said that he would buy us a coffee, and talk to us, so we sat down with him, (dont worry we didnt actually get any coffee) and he "gave us 20 minutes." well turns out he's anglican, and he wants to teach us. so we talked to him for almost an hour. afterwards, Elder Prina asked me why i didnt say much, and i had to say because i couldnt think of anthing nice to say to this guy- he couldnt "accept a church that was based on the book of mormon and 'prophets.'" it was all i could do to counter that with how HIS church started... it was kinda frustrating... but kinda funny, and then the classic statement when the converstaion turned to politics- "Obama is doing wonders over there, he's such a good president." i wanted to spew. but we had a good laugh about it afterwards. anway, that was the week, so i'll talk to yous later! love yous!

love,
Elder Tayler Christensen

Some teaching! yae!

2010-11-15T10:52:00.000-07:00

Hello my family and friends!

this has been a bit of a trying week, with lots of little tender mercies mixed in. yes, I still have my cough, unfortunately, but it hasnt affected me as badly as last time. i found that cough lollies (drops) work well for keeping the cough down, so i almost constantly have one in my mouth. i went through like 5 bags of them this week. it was kinda funny, but they worked well. also, my brakes on my bike pretty much didn't exist any more, so i had to replace them too. i'm SO glad i learned how to fix bikes- biking high adventures are a MUST for any young man planning on serving a mission. if you cant take care of your bike, you are stuffed! anyway, i also went on a trade-off with the district leader this week- Elder Paki. he's pretty cool, and his area extends down into New South Wales. so there's a round about that is half way in Queensland and half way in New south wales, and we drove around it like 6 times and i took video- funny thing is, NSW is on daylight savings, and QLD doesnt do daylight savings- so on the one half, it was 5 o'clock, and on the other, it was 4 o'clock. it was funny! if the video fits i'll attatch it to this email. and i'm sending that jump drive home soon, cause it's full! 4 GB of photos and videos! anyway, on a more serious note, we were finally able to teach people this week. we taught violet and her family this week- she's a fijian lady who is very spiritual, and also happens to be a pastor at some church in robina. but she committed to read the book of mormon, and to pray about it, and when we asked her if she would be baptized, assuming she got an answer that the book of mormon was true, she accepted! so we were happy about that. no date, but we can work with that. then, the same day, we had a lesson with the prasads- he's a less-active member, who is fijian-indian, and his wife and daughter are non-members- they've been taught before, but anny, the wife was always to preoccupied with her studies, so it never really went anywhere, but she's done now, so we asked if we could start teaching her and zinia (the daughter) again, which they accepted, so we taught the restoration, and it went well! we also had them come to church this week, and they've done that before, but they leave after the second hour- i think because anny is shy and doesnt want to go to RS by herself- but this week, one of the ladies in the ward came up to her after our gospel essentials class, and invited her to RS, and she went! and then after church, like every lady in RS was surrounding her, and talking to her and she was having so much fun! i was like, YES! answer to prayer! it was so good. yesterday we actually taught gospel essentials, and Elder's Quorum. and it was funny, mum, we were teaching about the Holy Ghost too! isnt that amazing how organized the church is? we're on opposite sides of the world, preparing the SAME LESSON! anyway, i'm being kicked off, so i have to cut this short... i love yous so much!

Love, Elder Tayler Christensen

Hello November

2010-11-08T10:25:00.000-07:00

hello family and friends!
what a week this has been! Cara, i totally forgot to say happy birthday to you this last week! Happy Birthday! i hope it was a good birthday, and from the sounds of it, it was. and you turned 19! i turned 19 while i was at BYUI! it was awesome! and mum sounds like that convention thing was really good! lots big mormon names there. and larry's not doing too well is he? thats not good. hope he gets feeling better. i hope things continue to go well for you dad. soudns like being bishop is bringing you a lot joy, being able to help people, and be an answer to prayers. it always feels good when someone tells you that you are an answer to prayer.

anyway, this week was another frustrating week for me, everyone who we were going to teach baled on us. the sad thing is that they had like no remorse- they literally said, "i'll have to cancel on yous" without any explanation or excuses- ugh so annoying. common courtesy just doesn't seem to exhist anymore. oh well. but we did have a lesson with an inactive girl in the ward. she's the daughter of a couple that just recently became active again. she's been anti before, and hasnt ever really given church the time of day. but we started teaching her daughter the discussions (her daughter is only like 4, but it was a way to indirectly teach her mum). so ashleigh finally sat in on the lessons, and this last week she actually came to church! it was AWESOME!!! she even came to our gospel essentials class. it was way good. so hopefully we'll be able to get her back on track. we're excited to see what could come from that. besides that, i havent really had too much going on this week. it was Elder Prina's birthday on sunday, so that was fun. we just did something at the flat, and had cake and ice cream. it was really good. but that is basically all that happened this week. oh, and i have my cough back, so your prayers on my behalf would be greatly appreciated- i know you all pray for me regularly, and i am so thankful for that- i need all the help i can get. ok well, have a good week, i love you all!
love,
Elder Tayler Christensen

Re-dedicating

2010-11-01T12:08:00.000-06:00

Hello My Family and my Friends!

Well, sounds like everyone has had a very fun week! my week was decent, and very spiritual for me. i learned a lot this week, and made a few decisions. so the first thing i know you'll want to hear about is whether or not the extension on my mission got approved- well i'll tell you about that. it's quite interesting. so after i asked president and told yous that i was trying to extend for as long as i could, i began to feel a bit uneasy and not sure it was the right thing to do. i began praying very hard to know if it was really the right thing to do, including in the celestial room in the temple. i didnt have any answer for a while, until friday morning. i was taking a shower of all things, when the answer came. see, i was expecting this spiritual experience with this, the way i usually feel the spirit- that is, with tingles up my spine and goosebumps and the works- what i kept failing to realize was that the spirit works in different ways, not only with different people, but with different times and answers in the same person's life. so im in the shower, and i'm thinking about it, weighing the pros and cons, and then out of nowhere this voice comes into my head- not my voice, which doesnt really happened when i'm thinking- and basically just said something like this: "i gave you your mission call when i gave it to you on purpose- i delayed you coming out because i needed to, but that doesnt mean you get an extension- come home when you're scheduled to come home." and that was that. i wont argue with God. so even though i would love to stay longer, i think God has other plans for me. this was the first time i'd ever felt like i was finally doing what my patriarchal blessing tells me to do- that is to constantly seek the lord's will concerning me throughout my life- finally i understood, and now i'm applying that to myself.

anyway, this week was kinda frustrating in the work side of things. we taught zero lessons to non-members this week, though not for lack of trying. everyone decided to cancel on us, or just not show up. the highlight of the week was the ward halloween party- the first "trunk or treat" party the Mudgeeraba ward has ever had. pretty cool. it was fun, and we got lots of good pictures. i'll have to get them off elder prina though, my camera was dead- oops. so that was fun. church was also pretty good, we had a good lesson about the priesthood in the gospel essentials class, which elder prina and I taught, so hopefully the 2 recent converts from last transfer will be all good with that. besides that, there's not a whole lot to report this week- it was just really frustrating, but elder prina is that man, and has managed to keep himself and me optimistic. i'm glad to be serving with him, it has really made my life easier, and has helped me recover from the stress of Emerald. anyway, thats the week. I love yous all so much! Cant wait to hear from you next week!

Love,

Elder Tayler Christensen

ps- i would attatch pictures this week, but the computers at the liabrary are retarded, and wont let me upload from my camera, so i have to go get a card reader- so there will be photos next week.

Photos from the Gold Coast--New Area

2010-10-30T08:02:00.002-06:00

Week and a Half

2010-10-28T11:28:00.003-06:00

Hello My Family and My Friends!
what a week and a half this has been (haha, get it? its actually been a week and a half... :P). anyway, it has been a long week. We started the week off pretty good, getting a lot of work done, but we weren't finding anyone, and it was starting to get really frustrating. so we were listening to a recording from Elder Prina's twin who is serving in hawaii, and he recorded almost the whole of a day he referred to as his "windows of heaven day." he basically left at 8am and tracted all day in the rain until 9pm. so we decided to do just that the next day on saturday. so we left at 8am and promptly got called by a less-active member to come help him move a desk. so we went over there, and he fed us breakfast, which was nice. then we spent the rest of the day tracting. we got a lot of weak potentials, the "ya sure, you can come back and see how the reading went" but we knocked on one lady's door, and shared a condensed restoration with her, and she was happy to have us come back this week. while we were at her door, she had a friend inside who lived in the same complex, and so when we finished the rest of the complex we saw that lady go back to her flat which we hadnt knocked yet, so we knocked it too. she came out, and was all excited to see us, we didnt even share anything with her, and she's already inviting us to come back and share the message with her! so we have an appointment with her tomorrow (thursday) and her friend at the same time. so we're really excited about that. well, you wanted to know about Elder prina- he's from detroit, MI but left from provo. he's a way cool guy, with lots of very fun quirks. he's like 6'2" and is a very hard worker. we have had so much fun together so far, and we're looking forward getting lots done this transfer. anyway, you were asking about the letter elder Purser wrote. yes, i knew about it, no, i didnt read it. it was obviously something meant for your eyes only. i had thought of writing a few of my companion's parents, but havent yet- it is a good idea though. and speaking of mail, my flat address, is 16 arbour ave. Robina, QLD 4226. i havent gotten mail in ages! please send lots! :D oh, and the reason the email is delayed this week, is because i got to go to the temple! and that always happens on wednesdays. also, we had interviews with president Langeland. i asked a lot of medical questions, to which he was very helpful, and then i asked a question i've been thinking about for a long time- i asked if i could extend my mission. not heaps, just until my visa expires, which is like 2 or 3 weeks after i would go home anyway. but i decided i wanted to stay as long as i possible could. so he said he would look in to it, and let me know what the area presidency says. so i dunno if that throws any plans off, but that would mean that instead of march 30, 2011, it would be april 16, 2011. so it's not set in stone, but it's in the works- if that throws off some family plans though, let me know, and i'll see what i can do. but i really REALLY want be hear for as close to 24 months as possible, and so an extra 2 weeks sounds really good to me right now. lemme know what you think.

The Gold coast is very nice, and i've enjoyed it here so much! it's a nice change from emerald, and it's closer to the ocean, so it's a little bit cooler, which i'm happy about. you can look up the Gold coast online, it's like the most famous beach in Australia and high up there in the world. i live in robina, so you should be able to find it pretty easy.
anyway, this has been a good week, and i look forward to hearing from ya'll next week!
Love you so much!
love,
Elder Tayler Christensen

Oct. 3, 2010

2010-10-12T11:05:00.001-06:00

hello family and friends!

it sounds like you have all had an eventful week! man, its been ages since i went to the beach, that sounds like so much fun! thats definitely on the list of things to do in like 6 or 7 months. oh, speaking of which, 2 milestones happened this week. as of the 30th of september, i have exactly 6 months left on my mission, and by the way, i am the only one who is allowed to talk about that, dont tell me how much time i have left in your emails please! the other one is just kinda funny. as of sunday, elder purser had been out on his mission for as long as i have left to go- it was the "crossover" point. :P anyway, everyone asked about general conference. i dont know exactly when we'll get to see it. its kinda a sticky situation at the moment though... we definitely wont be getting it this next week. possible the next week. BUT, transfers happens this week, so if i get transferred, in all likelihood, i'll miss it in emerald, and since everywhere down south gets it a week after, i'll miss it down there too. so i'm just downloading it, so that if i do get transferred, i can listen to it while i travel down. so that should be good. i got all my bases covered i think. and i know it was awesome, we watched Jefferey R. Holland's talk last night at dinner with the Watene's. it was so good. i loved it. such a contrast from his last 2, but just as powerful. i'm looking forward to listening to the rest of conference.

well, my week was a little bit harder than i had expected. i have some form of pink-eye, thats been bothering me for some time now. i keep getting the antibiotics, but they seem to only be temporary relief. it just keeps coming back. so we'll see if i can get anything else that might be stronger... also, the floods are still out. nothing has really gone down, and 4 WEEKS of RAIN are predicted starting next week. and to be perfectly honest, i would LOVE to be here for it. but we'll see. we had another lesson with Eli this week, and tried to set a baptisimal date, but his parrents said no, so we're thinking of ways we can help them understand how good this will be both for them and for Eli. so hopefully this week we'll be able to do that. we also went to virginia's house again- she's the lady who's partner recently died, and she's been having massive trouble with the estate. we took bro. McKay with us, and he has a law degree, and so he got her all sorted, and on the right track, so she was very grateful. it was really good, and the barrier is basically broken down now, so we are asking her this week if she wants to take the lessons. so we'll see how that goes. and thats bascially been the week. oh, yesterday, we had fast and testimony meeting, and it was so good. i bore my testimony about the savior- i found myself saying things in ways i had never thought of, and it just flowed. it was awesome! i noticed a few of the youth, and one in particular who is pretty wayward, really perk up and listen... it was kind of shocking. but it felt so good, and i felt the spirit confirming everything i said. :D i love it. the church is so true, i cant believe it! anyway, thats the week. I love you all so much! have an awesome week!

Love,

Elder Tayler Christensen

Oct. 12, 2010

2010-10-12T10:55:00.001-06:00

Hello my Family and My Friends!

well, this has been an interesting week. We weren't able to get a whole lot done due to partly my back, which flared up pretty painfully most of the week, and also to the fact that really everybody cancelled on us. BUT, this weekend, we were able to get 2 new investigators at church, and a referral came through that was pretty strong as well. now here's the problem: i got transferred, as you are already aware, so i wont get to participate in any of that. but, i suppose there's no use crying over spilt milk. anyway, yesterday, at 6:55 my plane left from the Emerald Airport, but there were some complications at the airport before that, in that i was over my weight limit, AND when the mission secretary paid for my ticket, the credit card he used got declined. so, i was in a panic, i called the mission secretary, and he gave the number over the phone, which worked thankfully, and then he just waived the penalties for going over the baggage limit. so it was all sweet. so i got on the plane, with no dramas. an hour and a half later, i was in brisbane, where the missionaries in brisbane city picked me up. i got to stay the night with them, in the flat i was trained in! it was fun! then, we went to transfer meeting, and it was weird driving through brisbane... so many people, lots of cars, big buildings... it sorta scared me. :P anyway, at transfers, i got moved to mudgeeraba (muj-ruh-buh), which is on the Gold Coast. My companion's name is Elder Prina, and he's way cool. he was my district leader when i was in emerald the first transfer, and he was in rocky. he's been out just 6 weeks longer than me, so another one that i would have come out with in march, but with whom i will be coming home. so that should be good. the flat is really nice- small, but well equipped, and very comfortable. we live in walking distance from the library and shopping center, and we have a part-time car! yay! :D so that's pretty much been the week, and as for everyone up in Emerald, i gave them my business cards, and they will be keeping me updated with the happenings there, so i'm happy about that. i was very flattered when some people started crying that i was leaving. i really loved being in Emerald. when we come back, we are going there- and when we do, we'll like double the size of the branch, but thats ok, they'll love it. :D anyway, that was pretty much the week. we dont have a whole heap of time right now because transfers took forever, and gold coast is pretty far away from the city, so p-day is almost over, but next week there will be much more to tell i'm sure! aparrently it's a massive ward down here, so i'm kinda scared about that... but i'll tell yous all about it next week.

love yous all so much!

Rain and Floods

2010-09-28T17:07:00.003-06:00

hello family and friends!!!

Cara, your book of mormon discussions are awesome. i'm so glad you get to study the book of mormon the way you are. it really is the best text book on life there is. it just doesnt get any better than that. i had the opportunity to prepare a talk this week on the book of mormon. it was going to be awesome, and i did heaps of reading and preparing for it, but then i found out on sunday that i was the back-up, so i didnt end up giving it, but i LOVED preparing for it. i learned so much. i focused on 1 nephi 19:23- the likening scriptures one. and then i talked about the 2,000 stripling warriors. in the heat of battle, they "observed to obey every command with exactness." it would have been easy for the ones right next to helaman to obey, but what about the ones who are 100 men away? they can barely hear, and they might think, "he has no idea whats going on over here" but even they, were straining to hear, and obey. so like them, we need to pay attention to the spirit, it may be hard to hear, but it's there, and if we listen for it, we will hear it, and then, if we obey with exactness, we are blessed. we dont "die." we wont necessarily be left without wound, but we'll be safe. so it was a good study.

Rochelle, i really enjoyed your email, that story was funny [editors note: from Pres. Monsons talk at RS broadcast about the lady who criticizes the neighbors laundry, only to discover she is viewing it through her own dirty windows], and very applicaple as well. i found that to be the case on my mission. its easy to find fault with companion, leaders, and members, but its harder to look at yourself, and ask, "what do i need to change?" its not easy, but has massive dividends.

One word [for the week]: FLOOD. oh yes. we had rain, hard rain, most of the week- 4 days straight, and on and off the other days. today was the first dry day. it was so fun to work in the rain, but then the main bridge that we use to get to a lot of our member's houses got flooded- like massively flooded, the creek below it usually barely moves, and is like 2 meters below it- now the water is like a meter and a half above it! yes, i have pictures. apparently more rains are coming this week too, so we'll see how things go. also, to top if all off, on sunday i locked us out of the flat- luckily we were able to break in with the help of the watene's. apparently all you have to do is drill into the doorknob where the key hole is and then stick a flat-head in there, and turn. we have to get a new door knob, but hey, it worked, considering there were know locksmiths working on sunday, and the real estate agency wasnt open either with the spare keys. anyway, besides that, we werent able to have our lesson with the Gundersons this week, because they were gone to brisbane, and the rains had flooded 2 bridges between us and them, but we had a good lesson with Eli. well, 2 good lessons with him. he's learning a lot and asking very good questions. very intelligent for an 11-year-old. then, on sunday i was asked to give the lesson in priesthood because none of the elders quorum presidency were there (there's only 2 of them). so we discussed president Uchtdorf's talk from last General conference, the one about charity, where he talked about germany after world war II and how the church helped and the resulting growth of membership, but the resentment towards those who joined because of the food. it was quite good, and i'm glad i had the opportunity to stop and go and discuss as i pleased. surprisingly i had a lot to say, and was able to ask the right questions to the few in priesthood to have a very meaningful discussion. it was SO good! anyway, that has been the week, i love you all so much! have an amazing week!

love,

Elder Tayler Christensen

A lot Done

2010-09-20T08:13:00.001-06:00

Hello Family and Friends,
Well, you all will be glad to know that this week went much better than last week. it hasn't been easier, but we have managed to get a lot done. we taught the gunderson's family again this week. it was a very good lesson. we taught the restoration, and watched the movie, and it went really good! everyone was obviously touched, and we committed them to baptism! YES!!! but we dont have a date yet, so its not set in stone, but we're going to baptize these people! i'm so excited for that! and we've been working with this 11-year-old kid called Eli for a while now. we've been teaching him since i got here, because he's way good, wants to get baptized and everything, his parents just are getting in the way, so its just been kinda laid back for a while, but this week we got serious again, and brought him to church... yes, by "brought" i mean we biked to his house, and then he biked with us to church. we must have looked pretty funny. 2 guys in suits, a little kid in civies, all biking to church. but it was good. then we had a cottage evening. it was way good, and very fun as well. its such a good idea to introduce people to the church in a laid back way to show people that we're normal, not a bunch of high-strung holier than thou people. so that went well. besides all that, its been a pretty slow, but hard working week. and yes, dad i found that i've started just being more the point while talking to people. beating around the bush just isnt cutting it for me any more. it seems like the more i do it, the more opportunity i lose, and the more opportunity i give people to shut me down. its hard to be bold and to the point, but i'm getting to that point where i just cant worry about it anymore. anyway, thats basically been the week. i am so happy to be here. i am learning so much, and finding such joy in seeing other people change. even people who are already members. its so amazing how this gospel changes people. ok, well i think that about sums it up. i hope all of you have an amazing week! i love you all so much!
Love,
Elder Tayler Christensen

Sept. 12, 2010

2010-09-12T21:55:00.002-06:00

Hello my family and friends!

what a week this has been. for lack of a better word, we'll call it Interesting. unfortunately, not much got done this week. we just couldnt get anything done. but this week we have a real excuse. elder P. has been running on basically no sleep for a little over a week... and having experienced that and how dangerous it can be, i wasnt about to let him get on a bike. it was when he started having memory problems and the inability to think of common words, that i finally forced him to call someone. that didnt really help either though. they told us stuff we already knew, and told him to get a sleeping pill, which we already did, and even at the maximum dose, only gave him 2 hours of sleep. but he wont get any more help. its kind of frustrating.. i dont know what. but i'm sure i'll think of something.

anyway, thats been the not fun bit of the week, the fun bit of the week, was that we went to rocky for zone conference! but this one was special, it was also a mission tour- elder Callister from the Area Presidency (and 2nd quorum of the seventy) came too! it was awesome! he's the one who wrote "The Infinite Atonement" which is the one that i asked you to send me, and which i am currently reading. And to top it all off, he gave a lecture on the atonement, and it was based on his book! so i knew what he was talking about! yus... (picture me doing the napolean dynamite thing... :D) and the trainings that came afterwards was awesome. i got to do a role-play with elder Callister, or rather, TO elder callister, and after giving me some improvements which were sorely needed, he said he was impressed! i could have died! its amazing what a compliment from the lord's annointed can do for your confidence. so i came back with a new resolve to be better, and to actually do something to make it happen.

anyway, this weekend was also pretty fun. we had a branch activity, "the emerald chocolate factory." we didnt make any chocolate, but a member has studied the history and the art of making and testing chocolate, and she knew what she was talking about. and she made HEAPS of chocolate, all different kinds, and we did a proper chocolate tasting, so i now know how to tell if chocolate is quality chocolate, or if its just cheap yuck stuff, by looking at it, tasting it, touching it, and even listening to it. it was cool. guess who were the first people to have chocolate? the jaredites and the nephites. ya, its native to central/south america. i thought that was cool.

anyway, then we went to w--- for dinner that night, and that was interesting. they have basically adopted us, and they treat us basically like family. but they have a daughter who's kind of a problem child, and she's been giving them a lot of grief, and whatnot, and they had an argument while we were there over some pretty big stuff... it just made me reflect on the fact that i come from a family that is tight-nit, and gospel centered. i cannot tell you what an eye opener that was. we have it SO good in our family. i know we're not perfect, but i'm so glad we are what and who we are. i love how close we are. it makes me so happy!

i'm praying for you!

i love you all so much! have an awesome week!

Love,

Elder Tayler Christensen

Sept. 5, 2010 when the going gets tough... i suppose it's time to get going. :D

2010-09-12T21:50:00.003-06:00

Hello Family and Friends!

how is everyone? thank you for all of your mail, i really appreciate it. I cant believe school is starting again! thats the last time it will while i'm on my mission! WEIRD!!! and today, the 5th of september, marks my "sweet 16 months" mark or something like that. :P anyway, i hope all goes well with the remodel. Cara, thats pretty rough with your friend. i was sorry to hear that. I'm sorry i cant really say much to console you at this point, as i'm sure all that can be said has been said. but perhaps i can at least give my 2 cents. I dont know your friend, but Christ does, and he loves her. she is covered by his atonement, and she will have the opportunity to accept it. but you already know that. the important part though, is that the atonement, in this case also extends to YOU. remember in the book of mormon that the atonement is often referred to as "the arms of his [Christ's] love." or when someone was repentant, they were "encircled about by the arms of his love." just they could be, so can you be. true, complete healing comes with time, but that time can be significantly shortened when the atonement is used for ourselves, and then we can feel, quite literally, the embrace of the savior. i know we can, because i felt it, and i have had healing happen much faster than it otherwise could. i encourage you study that, and take advantage of it. The atonement covers anything negative in our lives. whatever it is, christ suffered it, and he can help us through it. [editors note: her high school friend was killed in an accident this week]. anyway, Dad its good to hear from you. just yesterday (today for you) was father's day for Australia. i had the opportunity to bear my testimony in sacrament meeting. i get to do that now that i'm in a branch. Everyone was talking about their Dads and how much they appreciate them and whatnot, and i couldnt help but do the same. it kind of took me by surprise, how well it all fit into the gospel, and how our relationship has been much stronger in the last couple of years. then i was able compare that with our heavenly father, and how basically the same thing has happened. i concluded that i was so grateful for my dads. the full force of everything didnt hit me until just after that though, while we were singing the closing hymn. i found myself all choked up and unable to sing (a first for me) as i reflected on how much you've done to impact my life for the better. how i find myself trying to figure out what you would do in certain situations. i am so grateful for you, Dad. I love you.

ok, emotions back under control, i'll tell you about my week. it was difficult. although, in a different sort of way. we were, however, able to have the lesson with the Gunderson Family like we had anticipated. The Gundersons are a very active family in our church, and are from the states, here temporatily for with sister gunderson's family who are Kiwi. none of them are members, but almost all have, of late, expressed interest in the Gospel. Most of all, sister gunderson's sister-in-law, who was the one who got the ball rolling for us. however, she was unable to be there this last tuesday, but we were able to teach her nephew and his partner, and her niece. we taught the plan of salvation, and it was awesome. just before this, we were trying to decide if we should teach the plan of salvation, or the restoration. usually, the restoration comes first. but for some reason i couldnt shake the thought that the plan of salvation needed to be taught. but i just wasnt sure. i kept praying for confirmation, but didnt seem to be getting anything. then, we got a call, out of the blue from sister gunderson. she told us that those that we were teaching had recently lost a Grandfather who had been a major part of their lives, and asked if we could do the plan of salvation for them. it was such a simple thing, and yet it made a world of difference for me. again, close to tears. God really does answer prayers, and he answered mine. and the lesson went very well, and all 3 people are still very interested to learn, and we are excited to teach. that was the best part of this week. unfortunately, the rest of the week was a bit harder. we decided to make this transfer better than the other 2 we've had together, and have made the appropriate efforts, but as we all know, satan has so many ways to divert us from what we need to be doing. if he cant get us the way he normally does, he'll work through someone else. and so he has. this week seemed like we were constantly arguing. nothing major, nothing like a massive fall-out, just little arguments over little things that dont matter. it's quite frustrated me, because this is a problem that i havent really ever experienced. sure, one or 2 arguments here and there, but never like this. I found mostly that it was I who had the short fuse in most cases which also frustrated and concerned me. but we are fixing that as well. this transfer we are going to baptize some important people, and satan doesnt want that, but thats not going to stop us. I'll change everything about me if thats what is required to do what needs to be done, but this time- THIS TIME i refuse to lose. i dont need to see the baptism necessarily, but i need to make sure that it happens. and i certainly will. and by "I" i mean with God's help, God willing. so that's basically how this week has been.

Anyway, thats basically all for this week. I love you all so much! i know this is where i'm supposed to be, and i know that this is God's true church. there is no denying it, it simply could not be the church of any other person, thing or entity. the joy is too real, the change too complete. this is the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ!

love you all!

Love,

Elder Tayler Christensen

August 29, 2010

2010-09-12T21:49:00.000-06:00

Hello Family and friends!

well, this has been a very interesting week. it was the last week of the transfer, and i was very uneasy as to whether or not i was getting transferred. i had mixed feelings, but overall, i wanted to stay. and so i stayed. i have at least another 6 weeks in Emerald. which means that the next time i get transferred, it will probably be to my final area, which is probably the most scary thought i have had in a long time. so i'll be working hard, thats for sure! and the blessings are coming. this last week, we had little meeting with Virginia, the lady we did all that service for a couple months back. she's ready for the Gospel, now all we need to do is show her that that is what she is missing in her life. so that should be good, she really likes us, and she's the sweetest lady. from that conversation though, we learned that she is in some deep financial trouble, which was caused by the fact that she was in a defacto relationship, and then her partner died, which froze all her bank accounts, so she's hurting. but that conversation just led me to another conclusion- i am NEVER going into that much debt, and i will make sure my family is taken care of, no matter what happens to me. anyway, we also had another lesson with the Bams- someone REALLY does not want them to learn or hear any more. we just watched the Testaments with them, but their DVD player wouldnt pick the first channel Audio (the dialogue. so we used their laptop instead, but it couldnt take it, so we ended up using 3 different Media players, to just barely make it to the end of the movie, and then, at the really crucial part of the movie at the end, their kids made so much noise, it wasnt even funny. it was quite frustrating. but they're still open, so we'll try again later this week. the awesome day though, was yesterday. we finally had the Gundersons come up to us and tell us that not only was their sister-in-law interested in the Gospel, but that they had set the appointment for us this coming wednesday. its been a month or more since we first heard about it, and now its finally happening! yay! we also have another appointment with a former investigator, who is newly interested tomorrow, which should be good. we are very excited, and plan on BAPTIZING this transfer! :D the church is so true, i cant believe it. :P

anyway, sounds like yous had an eventful week. Cara, you are finally grown up! how does it feel to be old? :P i hope you get that job, sounds like it should be a good one. good luck lil sister! you'll do awesome!

Anna- you have done what we try to get people to do every day. its awesome. the spirit really does work, doesn't it? just as in Alma 32:28, once the seed of faith has been planted and nourished, the last bit a the end of the verse says, "yea, it beginneth to be delicious to me." the more you get the more you want. you experienced that. the spirit feels SO good, that being without it begins to be depressing and discouraging, but the more you have it, the more you love it, and the happier you become. it is truly an amazing experience, that i am glad you had at such an early age. I didn't have a decisive experience like that til i was preparing to come out on my mission. when i finally had read and prayed, the answer came as more of slap up side the head. it was the, "you know this is true. you have known it for a long time. But what took you so long to finally ask me?" so ya. good on ya. :P I'm proud of you.

Collin, the only thing i could say right now to warn you about sophomore year is that it just gets harder. don't let that deter you though. its also very fun. especially when February rolls around- i hope your winter formal is after your birthday. :D good luck with XC, I'll think about starting to run again... p-days are usually chucked full of stuff to do, so running doesn't generally happen, and there just isn't enough time in the morning. but I'll see what i can do.

Dad, when i read your email, i was floored. GRANDMA WAS TALKING TO SISTER RICHARDS?!?!? that is awesome! i LOVE sister Richards! and that was a boost to my confidence as well. :D and Gabe and Luke sound ADORABLE!!! i cant wait to meet Luke! and become re-acquainted with Gabe as well! :)

Mum, i hope everything you're planning goes well for you. i liked your looking ahead thought. it really is hard to look ahead at the unknown, especially after a major change, but it's so rewarding as well. i cant believe how difficult my mission has been, and yet how incredibly rewarding as well. it really is true that as we continue to look forward with faith, the blessings flow. dwelling on the past, no matter how good it was, never helps is progress. to remember is good, to dwell, is demeaning.

anyway, i hope all is well with yous, and i love you all so much!

Love,

Elder Tayler Christensen

ps- Rochelle, remember that thing you found about "swooping season"? share that with the family- cause its happening now- i got swooped hard on the way over here to do emails. :P

August 22, 2010

2010-09-12T21:45:00.000-06:00

hello Family and Friends!

thank you all for all the of emails and mail, it makes my day when i open my email and there are 10 emails there! i love hearing from all of you. sounds like you had a very busy weekend and have a very busy week ahead. i'm glad both weddings went well, and that everyone was happy with it. tell Ann and Jeff and Birgitte and Stephan congrats from me, i'm happy for them. :D and Cara is seems to be the woman in the hot seat! man, i cant believe you're already going to college! when did that happen? everyone is growing up without me! and Anna- since when were you an awesome public speaker? i was VERY impressed by the talk you wrote. very well written, and i'm sure it was well delivered.

well, this week proved to be harder than expected for us. we werent able to connect with anyone that we had appointments for, besides the members. so that was kinda discouraging. But, i got mail this week, and the package from mum! thank you! have any of you read "The Infinite Atonement"? it is amazing! I am learning so much about it. its the most exhaustive study of the Atonement i have ever seen. it is really good. i'm only like 30 pages and i'm already learning new stuff. so thats awesome.

anyway, the work is going a little bit slower than i would like, but we have some good things coming up, with a few members starting to talk to their families and just a lot of good people asking questions, so thats good. we're working on getting a baptisimal date with someone this week. thats the main goal. so wish us luck, and your continued prayers would be appreciated. :D

other things of note- i need to get more serious about my exercise, i edged someone's lawn this week with a weed wacker, and my right arm has been sore for the last 2 days. that is sickening. unfortunately thats about all that has happened this week though. pretty boring, laid back week. but, as always, i keep going. i cant not keep going. the longer i'm out here, the more i love the work, and increase in my testimony of the Gospel. I know, more than i ever have in my life, that this is the true church, that the book of Mormon is true, that Joseph Smith really did see God the Father and Jesus Christ in that Quiet, Sacred　Grove. but most of all, and most importantly, i know that Jesus Christ is my savior. He suffered for me personally, and knows how to help me through any and all trials i face. I know that this is the true church on the earth, we have all elements of the true church that has always been present and true of God's church. It is the true church. of that, i have no doubt.

I love you all so much! have an awesome week, travel safe to Utah!

Love,

Elder Tayler Christensen

Rain, rocky, BAM!

2010-08-16T08:51:00.000-06:00

hello family and friends!

well this has definitely been an interesting week. we've started to pick up the pieces from the last couple of weeks, and things are starting look up more. with the bams this week, we delivered their book of mormon to them, and they were quite happy to take it, and talk to us. they didnt have anything against us, they just wanted to call it quits on the lessons, but we set up another one with them just to watch the testaments with them, to see if we cant make a bit of a difference. So that was good. we also had a mini monsoon this week. it poured all day one day, and it was the day that we were planning on going tracting most of the day- so we did some house keeping things in the morning to see if it would clear up by afternoon, but it just continued, so we just went out in it. it was flooding in some areas, so there were some BIG puddles which, being me, i couldnt resist riding through them. i got absolutely soaked, and enjoyed every minute of it. :D Elder purser wasnt a fan, and had to find his own way around all the big puddles. but we werent able to contact eveyone that we wanted to, so maybe this coming week will be a bit better. But, this week we had district conference, so we went to Rocky again, and president Langeland was there, as well as president Nielson from the area presidency. it was such a good conference. Elder Nielson talked for a solid hour 2 nights in a row with no notes or anything prepared. it was probably the most inspiring thing i have ever seen. the talks were absolutely amazing, and the spirit was very strong. then last night, we had another training with president Langeland, and lots of things are changing. there is a LOT of new things that we're doing, so it'll take some adjusting. but it was very good, and i really enjoyed it.

anyway, that should about do it. I love yous! have an awesome week!

love,

Elder Tayler Christensen

2010-08-09T09:03:00.002-06:00

Hello family and friends!
what a week this has been. not a whole lot really happened, a few disappointments though. and when i say disappointment, i mean i was crushed. the Bams decided to drop us. they want to just leave it that, and pray about it or something like that. but we will be trying to get them back. we ordered a book of Mormon for them in Afrikaans, and it just barely came, so we're going to drop that around to them this week, and see if we cant repair some of that damage. but we also have had some successes. we were asked to give talks in sacrament meeting yesterday on missionary work, and we decided to just basically teach the restoration and Plan of salvation in our talks. we weren't really sure why. but then, it turns out there were like 5 non members that came to sacrament meeting. one was the close friend of the sis. smiler, the lady who was helping us with the Bams, who normally attends the AOG (Assembly of God) church. so that was really good. it was good. and then one of the elderly ladies in the branch had her entire family there as well, so there were some less-active members and then some non-members there as well, and they really seemed to enjoy it. it was a good sacrament meeting. so that was really good. during the week, not a whole lot exciting happened. just work as usual. but on Saturday, we did some service again, this time At Bro. Watene's house. He's basically re-modeling a trailer, so we helped him rip it apart and start putting it back together. so it was a manly day, cutting steel with a grinder and in a few cases, a gas Axe. that was FUN. oh, and apparently the sparks from the grinder are hot enough to catch your pants on fire... and the ground around you... watch out. don't worry, it didn't burn much, i just have a cool new souvenir on the ankle of my jeans. nothing major. but, it was really funny, and everyone told me to stop lying for the rest of the day... :P [editors note--so it took like 5 minutes to figure out his allusion to "liar, liar pants on fire" ha--funny) so that was fun. and as dad said some time ago- hot steel: that's man glue. but yes the week was a bit boring, but good at the end.

i hope yous all have a good week, and dont worry, my back is doing just fine this week, i started my physio homework again, and it's helping heaps. ok, have a good one! i love yous!

love,

Elder Tayler Christensen

hakuna matata. what a wonderful phrase

2010-08-02T04:51:00.000-06:00

hello hello family and friends!

well, it sounds like everyone had a busy week, and this week isn't looking much more relaxing. :P sorry about the late email, our branch mission leader took us out golfing this morning- it was pretty shocking, it took us 3 hours to play 9 holes... it was pretty embarassing when a girl about 15 years old drove her ball not only further than me, but we're talking like twice as far as me... ya. sad. anyway, thank you for all of your emails, they have made my day. it seems that good and bad weeks have formed a pattern here. and seeing as last week was a good week, that means this last one not so good. my back kinda flared up on me again, and i wanted to shoot something, but it restricted work, and was quite discouraging. we also were supposed to have a lesson with the Bams, but they cancelled on us about an hour before the lesson. we're not sure why, but hopefully something actually did just come up as they said. but the week wasnt all bad. sacrament meeting was amazing. for possibly the first time ever, i was so excited and happy to fast. it was just a good reset for the month, and brought some very good spiritual upliftment. and i enjoyed a good week of studying, and also again, using a jack hammer to cut through concrete and steel. it was awesome. oh, and transfers happened last week, and nothing happened for us. we stayed in emerald. so we're going to make the most of it, i'm doing my best to not get too burned out, but to continue struggling upward so i can finish strong.

Dad, hope church went well for you today. i'm praying for you every day too. and i'm praying for the family as well. anyway, thats about all i have time for. i love you all so much!

love,

Elder Tayler Christensen

i love p-day

2010-07-25T22:13:00.000-06:00

Hello Family and Friends!

well, this week has been a step up from the last one. we actually taught a few more lessons, and finally had the sense to have a member come with us to the Bams for a lesson. It was Awesome. we brought a lady called sis. Smiler. she's a Maori Lady, and she teaches Zumba- i dunno if there's much of that over in the states- but its like a type of dance/ workout thing. apparently pretty fun. but maria had been to a few classes, and so we decided to bring sis smiler. she was a hit. she was able to explain things to them in ways that were just perfect. she even confounded phillip without sounding like she was confounding him! and then she gave us a bunch of advice afterwards- solicited by us, but it was much appreciated. so, Richard, to answer your question, if your missionaries are actually seeking to be their best, advice from you would not only be appropriate, but i'm sure appreaciated as well. i always ask RMs for advice. they always have good stuff. anyway, besides that, we havent really had any new investigators, but we contacted a referral from a member, and turns out that they are recently re-activated J-Dubs. however, we've met them before and they were actually really nice, and we had a very good discussion with them, in that they ended up wanting a book of mormon, and committed themselves to reading! so it was good. hopefully we'll be able to start teaching them soon. sunday, we had an awesome sacrament meeting- good talks. i was asked to give a short testimony and include some personal experiences- its funny how new stuff dawns on you when you bear testimony. you say that you know something, and then all of a sudden, you're like, whoa... i actually DO know that... which means... i know THAT and THAT... and... oh! THAT!! ripple effects are fun. :D

so that was my week. mum had some questions, so i'll answer those.

Are you still spending a lot of time tracting?

yes and no. depends on the day. we've actually kept quite busy this week though.

What service opportunities have you had this past week?

oh, heaps. we helped our EQP re-stump his house... i dunno if thats done at all in the states, but probably not. He lives in what's called a "queenslander house" basically its a one-story house, but raised on pillars to protect against snakes, bugs, roaches, floods, and the like. his house was supported on very old concrete stumps, which he is replacing with steel ones. obviously, this is not the easiest of jobs, as we have jack up the house, break the stump off, dig the rest of it out of the ground, and then dig the hole deep enough for the steel stump to go in, and for the concrete to go in around it. but the best part: we got to use a JACK HAMMER!!! that was fun. :)

Have you done anymore sight seeing?

not really. not much to see in Emerald.

anyway, sounds like yous had a fun week. that hike sounds like fun collin- haha. :P and sounds like your pioneer Day was a good one too. I'm Glad you're having so much fun!

hey, what track did Matthew end up getting at BYU-I?

anyway, thats the week.

by the way! Rochelle, i did NOT forget about your birthday last monday, i just forgot to say something about it... Happy belated birthday! you're 25! Yay! :P glad it was a good day for you. :D

Richard, thanks for the email, its so true that the word repentance is the most hopeful word in the christian vocabulary. i quite agree. :)

ok, well, my time is short. I love yous all, have a good week this week!

love,

Elder Tayler Christensen

Happy Independence Day

2010-07-05T11:41:00.001-06:00

Hello my family and my friends! How are we?

well, this week was a good one for me. it wasn't chucked full of lessons or anything, but things were just good. i loved it. we had another lesson with the Bams. we taught the gospel of Jesus Christ. they loved that, and maria finally had her "ah ha" moment that she actually HAD to pray about the Book of Mormon. so they'll be doing that this week hopefully. we had a good fast for them yesterday too. so that was nice. we dont have another lesson with them until this coming sunday though, so hopefully that will be a good lesson. we'll see. also, we have gained a lot of trust with the members, and we got like 3 new referrals this week that we will be chasing up either this week or next week. one of them lives in blackwater, which is about an hour away, so we have to wait for the family that referred them to give us a ride. besides that, our week has been pretty low-key. today we actually had a decent p-day though. i learned how to play squash- kinda a watered-down version of racquett ball. small ball, not nearly as bouncy, weird racquets, and lines on the wall that you have to hit between. it was fun, but racquett ball remains the favorite of the two. then we went to the white's house. they're a young couple, and bro. white is the branch mission leader, as well as first councilor in the branch presidency. we played like 5 games of monopoly deal- the card game version of monopoly. it's way fun. and very addicting. but that was our p-day. some funny things that have happened this week... we got threatened by a drunk highschooler- they're on holidays at the moment- but as soon as we stopped our bikes, he hopped back in the car he got out of. we had a good chuckle about that. and yes, dad, we laugh a lot. especially right now with 4th of july- apparently the british call it "good ridance" day. to which i replied, that we could call it the exact same thing. and a few joke arguments ensued. [remember Tayler's companion is British] making fun of each other and ourselves, and just being 20 year old guys. it was pretty funny. and we have a lot of fun with our music- we have some dances that always happen to certain songs- its pretty funny- one of the things that if anyone else saw it, we would be so embarassed we would... i dunno-- swap name tags and hope that worked. :P but yes, we have plenty of jokes and laughs. also, this week we did some more service. we finished building a wall, hanging a door, and finishing a bathroom. it was fun. and with all the service we're doing, i'll be a qualified tradesman by the time i leave emerald. :P pretty funny stuff.

well, it sounds like yous had an awesome time in yosemite. what i would give to be allowed in a POOL. but hey, two years, no big deal. i'll get over it. oh, and the pictures i sent last time... i cant remember exactly which ones i sent, but the once of the writing with light were done with a flash light. sparklers would have been cooler, but we were stuck in the flat that day. we also figured out how to take "ghost" pictures... i'll send a few of them as soon as we finish them. so thats that.

anyway, the joint we're at is about to close, so let me know if i left any questions unanswered, and i'll answer them next week. love yous!

love,

Elder Tayler Christensen

2 Recent Pictures

2010-07-03T22:04:00.005-06:00

Tayler with Pres. and Sister Richards

I guess Tayler hasn't lost his sense of humor in Australia....

June 27, 2010

2010-07-03T21:57:00.000-06:00

hello family and friends!
wow, sounds like everyone has been having a blast. that trek sounds like so much fun. i kinda wish i could have gone on another one. but all good. maybe next time i'll get lucky and get to be one of the leaders or maybe i'll just convince someone to let me go, cause i love that stuff. Collin, way to go keeping the christensen rep going at that dance- :P and cara, i bet you were a good ma- i bet your kids just loved you. oh, and by the way i was in the Doty company last time- or as it came to be known, the "bewildered" company. hills are bad, but having to get permission to go through an indian reservation and then having all of them stare at you as you pass through, is pretty nerve racking. :P anyway, this week was really good. we started the week out in Rocky, so that went for like 3 days-ish... we didnt leave until wednesday... so we didnt get any work done until thursday, which was a good day, we had another lesson with the Bam Family. Maria is still just eating up every word, and phillip is getting progressively harder to teach. he's pretty sure he knows everything there is to know, and wont pray about the book of Mormon, which is frustrating. "the word" (the bible) is all he needs apparently. but, we're working on it. we've come up with a few really good things. i finished my atonement study this week as well, and learned a few very important things. when i started it all, my intent was learn more about the atonement, and be able to understand it on a deeper level, and maybe get some deep doctrine out of it. however, i think the most important thing i learned from it was that the atonement is, and is supposed to be, simple. so instead of understanding it deeper, i understood it simpler. which is kinda weird, but i learned to understand it simpler. interesting, that the more you learn about something, the simpler it becomes. and why shouldnt the atonement be simple? the gospel is simple, and if the Gospel is centered on the atonement, then it should be simple too! for some reason, that was like the coolest discovery i have made in a long time. it made me happy. and my testimony of the Atonement has grown so much from it. yes, it's simple, but it is also very involved. I love it though. the more i learn the more want to share it. and funny enough, thats my job. :D so i'm having a ball. but that's basically been the week.
on a more polical note, i heard that Obama just gave like a bit of Arizona to mexico... please tell me that is just a rumor. anyway, before i get carried away with political stuff, i'll just stop it there. i'm glad yous have all had a good week, and no one got hurt. i love you so much! have an awesome week, and have fun in Cali.
love,
Elder Tayler Christensen

Another Week

2010-06-15T10:18:00.001-06:00

Hello My Family and My Friends!

i Just have to start off by saying thank you for all your emails this week. i had another very frustrating week, which seemed to just drag on and on, and i couldn't seem to get anything done. so this was such a nice contrast to the frustration i've been feeling all week. Anna, yours stories were awesome. thanks for sending those to me. i've never actually heard from any of the siblings what they were thinking and feeling during my surgery. just mum and dad. that was so sweet, thank you. Mum and dad, you've done it again, just wrote out exactly everything i've been needing to hear. its amazing how God's tender mercies come at just the right time. well, i suppose you'll be wanting to know why my week has been so frustrating. thankfully, Elder Purser was NOT a source of frustration at all. in fact we've become fast friends, and it just never gets old, bantering back and forth about England and America. anything from the revolutionary war to today's events. its pretty entertaining actually. and mixed in there have been some really good discussions about the Gospel. so, my first impression is officially false, and there are no problems there. the real reason why this week was so frustrating, was because i still dont know the area as well as i would like to, and i still ended up getting lost a few times this week going places that i've been many times. it was sad. also, we had one investigator that we've been trying to have a lesson with, and we tried 3 times before we finally gave up this week, because he went back to work, so he's gone for the next 5 days. it was LAME. we did a lot of service this week though, and got to get pretty dirty doing it, so that kinda eased my tension, which was nice- I learned how to tile stuff. it was cool. that's a messy job that i enjoyed as well. its funny how satisfying it is to get dirty doing service. its totally different from how missionaries usually are. so that was fun. but, most of the week was spent with fruitless tracting, GQing, finding, following up with potentials that werent really interested. the one AWESOME thing that happened though- we followed up with a family- phillip and maria. they're south African. maria was all over EVERYTHING we were saying. hanging on every word. it was awesome. i did most of the talking... i tend to talk a lot when it comes to teaching... been trying to get over it... but Elder Purser was also a very good addition the sorta all in one lesson we had with them. but we set up an appointment with them for this wednesday... which is tomorrow for me. so we're really excited about that. oh, and there last name is Bam... i know how cool is that?! then yesterday was the Queen's birthday, so it was a public holiday, so we couldnt shop or email because everyone is closed! so it was a prime finding day. so we didnt find anyone new, but we made another return appointment with lady that we found last week. so that was good too. but thats basically been the week. this next week will be zone conference. it's be a bit different than last transfer, because President Richards goes home soon! the 1st of July. so for some reason its going to be this coming monday, which most likely means that i probably wont be emailing that day. so just so's you know. but thats it. oh, the new mission president's name is president Langland. he's from Utah (shocker) and he's a delivery doctor, (i forgot the actual name for it...) so thats that. the week. Dad, your prayer sounded like it was awesome. i'm sure it touched a lot of people's hearts. Mum, you did send that CD and i know just the song you're talking about. i listened to it on sunday. it was way good. and whitney, i got your letter, so expect a reply sometime in the next week or so.

ok well, i Love you all! have an amazing week!

love,

Elder Tayler Christensen

Tracting in the Rain

2010-05-30T22:19:00.000-06:00

Hello Family!
Well, its been just another week here in emerald... nothing too exciting... Got some sort of food poisoning again on saturday... that wasn't fun. spent all day with a majorly cramped up stomach, ... it was yuck. but that was the worst of it. we were only able to teach one investigator this week... i'm sure you'll know what im talking about when i tell you we were SUPPOSED to have like 8 lessons this week with investigators, but as luck would have it, they all cancelled on us excpet one. but it was a good lesson. His name is Collin, he's in his early 50's and he a miner. I think he does both Coal and Sapphires. anyway, we had a lesosn with him where we watched the restoration DVD, and he really liked that. it really appealed to him. so we have another lesson set up for this coming wednesday. hopefully all our other appointments for this week actually go through. we'll see though. oh! on tuesday it rained and poured ALL day, and once we got soaked, we had a ball riding through puddles, drifting around corners, and hitting trees so that they let a lot of water fall on each other. but we got a lot of good work done that day, and tracting in the rain certainly has it's blessings. it was a good day. so that was basically the hightlight of the week. the rest of the week was basically a finding week. we didnt really do much else. but we had a bunch of less-active lessons and yesterday at church, 3 less-active members we were absolutely sure we would never see at church all showed up! it was great! and the branch just took them under their wing, and it was just great! but that was basically the week.
sounds like all yous had a fun week- rain is fun... exept for when its cold. yuck. and cara, you have fun in Disneyland. that sounds like fun, and come to think of it, i think you actually have mentioned it before. have fun. :) Anna banana, you're funny. and dont worry, its ok to miss a week of email. oh, Marissa, i got your letter last week and i just sent the reply today, so you should be getting it in like a week or so. Whitney, i still havent gotten your letter yet either, but it should be coming soon. Dad, i know EXACTLY what you mean when you say you wish you could pound the power of the atonement into some thick skulls... probably not in the same you deal with it, but still... its frustrating, ay?
anyway, its getting to be that time. time to go. sorry this email wasnt very entertaining. :P but i'll talk to yous next week!
love you all!
Love
Elder Tayler Christensen

Stacked the Bike

2010-05-23T20:34:00.001-06:00

Hello Family and Friends!

well, it has indeed been a very interesting week. sounds like it was for you too. as for the rain, i've forgotten what it looks like. :( we had it sprinkle here one day, but that was basically it. it was sad. man, that father's and son's sounds like so much fun! its been ages since i was able to actually get dirty in the dirt and the mud. and cara, whats this about you going to disneyland with your friends?! i must have missed that memo, HOW did you pull THAT off? haha well i hope you have fun. dont do anything i wouldnt do. :P

anyway, yes, this week has been fun. on wednesday i stacked my bike for the first time on my mission! :P it was a lame stack though, i wasnt even going fast, and it only happened because i wasn't going fast enough to take my hands of the handle bars and i did anyway, and my front wheel did like a 160, which stopped the bike, but not me. Luckily, i came away with only a bruise on my left hand, a small road rash on my right hand, and some light scrapes on my arms. but, it wasn't nearly as scary as the last time i fell off a bike (and a cliff). Also, i got chased for the first time by a big dog. But i remembered a bit of training at Dad's office and i just swatted his head away with a Book of Mormon, which seemed to stop everything. Elder Mahoney got a kick out of the whole thing.

I also gave a 15 minute talk at church yesterday- assigned on saturday. turned out to be 18 minutes, and it wasnt anything extremely special, but it did the job. Its pretty sweet when you give a talk based on about 6 lines of notes that lasts for as long as you need it to. Apparently it was very well received. I just commented on elder Oakes' talk using my surgery story as the example. it was good. :)

anyway, we didnt get to teach much this week, but i dont remember if i talked about Tim in my last email or not, but we met him last sunday, and we had an appointment scheduled with him for thursday. so on tuesday, we were tracting around where his fellowship lives, and decided to knock on his door, and he invited us in, and told us that he had been meaning to call us all day, to reschedule the appointment for that night, because both he and Tim would be in the Solomon Islands starting Wednesday. lovely how the lord works. we werent even going to tract his street, but we decided to for some reason. anyway, we had another lesson with another investigator, then booked it back to teach this lesson, which went really well. Tim is really good, and very sincere. we'll see how it all goes. but he really liked us, and decided to take us out to dinner at Eagle Boys. (pizza shop) we also learned a lot of cool things about him, like he's ex-CIS (equivilent of our CIA) he knows Josh Groban personally, and for you siblings, you know the song "Home" by Doughtry? came out like a little over a year ago? ya, he wrote it. and there's another song that i've never heard before, called "Kiss the Rain" that apparently made it pretty big, he worte that too. so he's a talented guy, and very interesting.

So that's basically been the week. on Saturday we did basically a full day of service. we helped a lady in the branch put up a shade cloth on her back veranda, which meant that i got to climbe on the roof :D and we did that under the direction of Bother Watene, who happens to be like the coolest member here, and then since brother Watene does so much for us, and since he has had a back injury as of late, we mowed one of his lawns- he lives on a bunch of land. but i got to use a riding lawn mower, :D and the field was very dusty, so I got REALLY dirty :D. so it basically made my week to get out and do my kind of labor. amazing how much satisfaction i got out of working, especially for the benefit of others. it was just great.

I also started that study on the atonement of Jesus Christ. I'm writing down all the references to the Atonement that are in the Book of Mormon, and seperating them afterward based on if they talk about WHAT happened or WHY it happened. I havent quite finished 2 Nephi, and i already have like a page and a half of references the Atonement. its going to take a LOT of paper. :) which is kinda the point. anyway, that was the week.

anyway, thats the week, i hope you all have an amazing sunday and an amazing week!

love you!

Love,

Elder Tayler Christensen

Happy Birthday Anna

2010-05-17T14:36:00.001-06:00

G'day my family and friends! what a crazy week this has been! I loved talking to you all, and hearing your seemingly VERY American accents. i dont know if i sounded any different, but dont worry, i was being sorta self conscious about it, and i am further along with it than i sounded on the phone. :) And Anna banana! Happy birthday babe! you're like what, 21 now? haha jk, 12! ears pierced and make-up?! oh dear, you'll have to send some photos of that, i'm just not seeing it- not my baby sister. well, i hope you have a good day today, and that your first day of young womens was a fun one. :) anyway, if there was a vote, or if my vote counts for anything, i vote we keep the tractor for mowing and rototilling, and maybe it will last for more than a year. :P just my vote though. Cara, congrats on your scholarship and making honour court. thats pretty sweet. :)

anyway, this week was interesting. we had zone conference. normally, zone conference includes a couple of zones at one place, all of which travel something like 40 minutes max to get there. zone conference up north, is very different. we got on a bus thursday afternoon, arrived in Rockhampton 3 hours later, got to go play some laser tag with the other missionaries besides myself, had dinner at the chapel with some members, then we all went to the rockhampton missionary flat. with 8 missionaries in one flat, they had a bunch of inflatable mattresses that we all slept on. now, the next morning was hectic. between 6:30 and 8, 8 missionaries had to shower, iron shirts, and eat breakfast. One shower, one iron one and a half litres of milk. we're lucky we made it. zone conference was held in a class room at the chapel, and we all fit around a couple tables. the training was done by president and sister richards, and it was REALLY good. president gave a really good training on the "Doctrine of Christ" it was way good. i really liked it, and learned a lot. And we also had interviews. My interview was really good. I ran my theory about the love of God that i told you on the phone past him, and he confirmed it. So, I did something right in that study. :) so now i have started the next study, which has to do with the atonement of christ and WHY it happened. so it should be good. um... OH! i ended up conducting sacrament meeting yesterday. it was interesting, and kinda nerve racking. our branch presidency were all gone, or sick, and we had district speakers there! (the equivalent of high council speakers). But, it went alright, and in a small branch like that, no one really minded. and i actually know everyone who was there, so it was all good. Anyway, thats basically it for now. I love you all so much! have an awesome week.

love,

Elder Tayler Christensen

New Area--One Year this Week

2010-05-03T14:04:00.000-06:00

Hello my family and My friends!

This week has been awesome. the area is massive, but there's long stretches of nothing between the towns that are in the emerald branch, so we just stay in emerald, and we are full-time bike. no car. but emerald is small, so it takes like 10 minutes to bike from one end to the other. no worries, plus, it's good for me, my heart is in fact doing much better now. i have a lot more endurance. and as for being out for a year already... technically thats not for another 2 days the 5th of may. i'm not terribly excited for it though, because if there's one thing i have learned while i am out here, it is that i love being a missionary, and the thought of coming home is... scary and uninviting- not anything to do with the family, i just cant picture myself as not a missionary... it weird now, wearing p-day clothes... kinda feel naked. and they told me that when you get realeased, they tell you take off your badge... might as well rip an arm off! Bleh! but ya, not that i'm not excited to see yous but, man... scared. so ya, i'm stomping on the brake at the moment, hoping that time will go a bit slower, but as we all know... the first half to the mission goes slow... not the last half... but i'll be in denial that i have to go home at all til i get there... just because, i have grown so much. i know the pictures make it look like all fun and games, but the reason why i dont have pictures of the work is because you dont feel like stopping while you work. you want to get as much done as possible, and so getting pictures of the work happens only rarely... its an amazing thing to feel the spirit testify of little things you say to people, even when it's not land mark stuff- just little things like, "i know this gospel can make you happy" and "the book of mormon can bless your life in more ways than you could count." its just amazing. the fear of people is gone, "for perfect love casteth out all fear." i wont say that my love for the people here is perfect, because its not yet, but i'm leaps and bounds ahead of where i was at the beginning of my mission. anyway, some interesting stuff that has happened this week- got accosted by a big group of aboriginal Kids asking fo rmoney... we're not allowed to give out money, so we had to say no, but they wouldnt leave us alone... finally a cop pulled over and the kids scattered... i dunno if thats a common practice of theirs, but apparently they can get in big trouble for it... got actually threatened the other day, but it was by a drunk guy who couldnt really stand up straight... but the best part was teaching a guy called Rod. he's wasy cool, pretty young, and has accepted most everything we've taught. he may have a word of wisdom issue, but seriously, who doesnt in australia? but i think we'll be able to hit it on the head here pretty quick. we're on the verge of a couple other baptisimal dates with some kids of an eternigator, but so far we have just been doing a lot of finding, and getting to know the members... there arent that many, i've already met almost all of them. it's a pretty tight-nit branch- like unto a dish- :P and the meeting house.... haha i'll send you a photo, it's tiny, but it's respectable... it's an old fish and chips shop... but ya. anyway, thats been the week... oh! and i'm almost done with the study that president gave me, and i figured out the difference between mercy and grace- yes, there IS a difference... but i'm running it by president richards before i tell everyone just so i make sure i'm right... but it was an awesome day when i figured it all out. :)

anyway, my time is running out, I love you all so much! mum, good luck with your concert this weekend, you're in my prayers! and Cara, dont worry, I got a 3 on the english AP Test- and we all know you can do at LEAST as good as me, so dont worry about it. :D

ok, love you all!

Love,

Elder Tayler Christensen

Hello to the North

2010-04-25T22:30:00.002-06:00

Well hello my family and my friends!

I'm going to take the blame for there not being hardly mail in my inbox this week, because I told you transfers were this week, and as we all know, that means you all get an extra day before you write an email. However, I got a little surprise this week. during weekly planning on Friday, the AP's called elder Wulf and told him he was being shipped up north to Cairns, which is the furthest north you can go. then 10 minutes later they called back again, this time calling for me. they told me that I was going to a little place called Emerald. and when i say LITTLE, by golly that's what I mean. mind you, the area itself is massive, but we only do most of out work in the town, which is about as big as old town Sherwood, maybe a little bigger. so they told me that on Friday, and I had that night to pack and visit people so I could leave the next day. so I got on a train the next day, and 15.5 hours later, I arrived at 4:30 am in emerald- its a mining town- they mine coal and sapphires. its interesting. I got picked up by the branch mission leader, and taken to the missionary flat. I walked in, set my stuff down, talked to the elders there for like 5 minutes, then crashed out on their couch, and then I got up at 6:30 for a normal day. needless to say, I was exhausted. but we ended up watching conference at church... the whole northern zone gets the DVD's later than the rest of Brisbane. so we went to the first session, and then put the elder i am replacing on a bus back down, so he can be at transfer meeting tomorrow. so now my new companion is elder Mahoney, he's been out for 6 months. so this transfer should be good, and i'm pretty sure I'll be here for at least 4 months, cause that's how they generally do it when you go up north. so ya. but besides that, the rest of the week was pretty quiet. I started that study that president richards gave me about the conditionality of God's love, and learned heaps. I filled almost 2 pages of references only to mercy, and of those 2 pages, 6 references had no conditions in them. every other reference to mercy, especially in the Book of Mormon, had definite conditions attached to them. it was pretty intense. but dad, you're right, God's actual love isn't conditional at all, if you think about it in terms of does he love me, or doesn't he, but seeing Him manifest His love, is always conditional. that's just how it is. when we obey, and do what we're supposed to do, then we see the outpouring of his love. it's kinda a hard concept to wrap my head around fully, but I'm getting there. I have to think a bit differently than I have for most of my life, but it's proving to be very rewarding. well, that's the week. and I'm out of time, so I better finish up. I love you all so much!

Dad, hope your first Sunday as Bishop went well. let me know. love you.

Love,

Elder Tayler Christensen

2010-04-20T22:20:00.001-06:00

Tayler Quin Christensen

Tue, Apr 20, 2010 at 8:12 PM

To: Cindy Christensen , Quin Christensen

hellooooooooooooo family! and friends!

well, just to put your thoughts to rest, im not late emailing because of transfers. but that will happen next week. but i'm late because i went to the temple today! it was so great! today it was raining. and we have to take the train to the temple, and we still end up walking something like a mile from the train station to get to the temple. so needless to say, i got a little wet. and then got absolutely soaked afterwards. but the experience in the temple was awesome. i took my patriarchal blessing in with me, and read and prayed about it in the celestial room. talk about a feeling of comfort. there are parts of it that just leave me hanging and make me unsure about a few things that i thought i was sure about. but i got some peace today. the "everything will be ok" one. and then i had another unique experience. i've started to get past the point of not remembering parts of the endowment session, and started trying to figure out the symbolism of many things. I know that those things really only come by revelation. so i prayed for that, for understanding about things, and the funny and amazing thing was, that i fully believed that i would get an answer right then and there. and i did. its amazing how revelation comes. sometimes it comes through the scriptures, sometimes it comes from another person, sometimes random thoughts just pop into your head. in this case, 2 happened. some random thoughts came to me, then i directed myself to some scriptures. they didnt answer everything, but they helped fill in the gaps. now i'll just have to ask a temple worker or president Richards sometime. we'll see. but it was really good. :)

Happy 49 Dad! (man, in a year you'll be 50! thats OLD!!!) :P hope you had a good one dad. I love you.

ok, so now everyone else. Mum, how far away is the spring concert? what songs are the Chorale singing? How was the wedding? man, i saw that marriage coming from like a million miles away... mainly cause i had a heads up from whitney, but hey, still saw it coming. :)

Cara- that sounds great! I'll probably see elder Bartelt in about a week, so i'll let him know about Elder Wilde, and trevor! thats so great! he's finally getting into it! how awesome would that be to see their family get sealed?! that would be awesome. keep up your great work cara, you're doing great. and i KNOW the missionaries there are grateful for all that you do.

collin- i've had similar experiences with tennis... i got whooped 6-0, 6-0 by the #2 singles guy for OES. it was pretty sad i couldnt even return his serves... so ya, i know how that goes. keep it up though, you'll make varsity next year. who's all on the team?

Anna- you read the twilight saga? seriously, twilight?! :P well i'm glad you're getting into reading so much. it's good for ya. you should really pick up Louise L'Amoure though... i think that would be more universally accepted in our family... :P

whitney- back the rex are we? thats great. I hear there's still snow there. hope it's melted off for ya. oh, and you have a (small) package coming. :)

dont worry family, you've got one coming too... with every picture i've ever taken since you got the last SD card. i'm sending everything today.

anyway, i had better get going. I love you all so much! thank you for your prayers! heaven knows you're in mine. especially you, dad. :D

anyway, have a good one!

Love, Elder Tayler Christensen

Great Conference and on

2010-04-13T09:38:00.003-06:00

Hello family and friends!
wow, what a great week. It was still hard to get things moving this week, but we did get them moving. We taught a lesson or 2, and we have some solid potential investigators. So that should be good. Hopefully we'll be able to really get the teaching pool filled again. the highlight of the week was definitely general conference. I was able to attend every session. The priesthood session was my favorite, with elder Oak's talk and elder Rasband's talks as the favorites.They were really good. But my favorite talk out of the whole conference was president Monson's talk during the Sunday morning session. I have often heard that people can feel the spirit so strong that it brings tears to their eyes. to this point in my life, I thought I was a hopeless case of not being to ever feel the spirit that strongly. I proved myself wrong when I listened to that talk. now, I am quite aware that tears do not necessarily mean that one is feeling the spirit, but that was the spirit without a doubt. it was awesome. unfortunately, we weren't able to get anyone that we're working with to the conference, but most of them had something close a decent excuse. also, yesterday we had interviews with president Richards. they were really good. We had a good training from the zone leaders, and my interview with president was really good. I was reading my patriarchal blessing, and the paragraph that refers just to my mission said that I would learn to love the savior more than I could understand at that time. I realized that I hadn't progressed much on that. So I asked president how I could accomplish that. We've been reading the book of Mormon on assignment from him, and each time we have a different assignment. One of them was to go through and underline in red every reference to Christ. I finished that. So then he told everyone to go through and mark in a different color, all the doctrines and principles of the gospel. I'm almost done with that. So he then told me to go through and look at all the references to Christ and write down on a separate sheet of paper every one of them that has reference to the atonement. Now, there's lots of ones that are all about the same part of the atonement. So once you had all of them written down, you group all of the similar ones together. That will be the next assignment for the mission, but I'm getting it early, with a one add-on: I also have to go through and make another list of all scriptures with the love of God that have to do with Mercy, Grace, and Justice. The purpose of that is to show how God's love is NOT unconditional. In almost every case God's love is mentioned in the scriptures, it has Conditions attached to it. So I also get to go through and write down all of those. It's going to take the rest of my mission to get it all done, but it'll be an awesome study, and will hopefully increase my understanding of the atonement, and increase my love of the Savior, "far beyond what [I] can understand at this time." So I'm excited for that.
Anyway, the time runs short. I love you all so much! Let me know how things go with Rochelle's baby. I hope you're doing alright Rochelle!
Anyway, have a good week! Love you!
Love,
Elder Tayler Christensen

Consistent

2010-04-06T11:47:00.002-06:00

hello my family and my friends!
How are ya? sounds like this week has been a very busy one with the Annie production going on all week. that's good. i knew you would all do so well. you were in my prayers every night. I'm glad that it was such a great experience for everyone. what did Collin do? music or tech? anyway, this week has been really good for me. it was still to get everyone out the door, but i succeeded a bit more. we were able to actually get out and talk to people and i made an effort to talk to absolutely everyone. it was a good experience. nothing really came of it, but hey, gotta be consistent before God gives the blessings. I'm ok with that. we really only have one real investigator. its a less-active member's partner. she's catholic and has been asking HEAPS of questions. so we are having another lesson tonight. it should be good. we'll see how it goes. besides that, not a whole lot happened this week. although it was a very entertaining week. we asked Elder Gilbert if we could wax his legs, just because none of us had ever even seen it done before. elder Gilbert is a big Tongan guy- so there was a lot of leg to cover. we did it in 2 days because we didn't have enough time at lunch to do it all in one go. it was way funny- took pictures. we were all going to do it afterward, but due to our lack of experience, we ended up using all the wax on his legs. funny stuff. that was the funny story of the week. oh and guess what? my heart has been surprising me this week. I've found that its getting more and more easy to ride it up the hills and keep up with my companion. yesterday we were 20 minutes away from our flat with only 10 minutes to get there before curfew. we made it right on the dot. we were both nasty and gross, and my bike has no headlight on it- you can imagine how difficult that would be for me in a poorly lit area, but i just kept my eye on elder Wulf's tail light and stayed right on his 6 and it turned out to be good. he keeps forgetting that I'm night blind and so doesn't slow down, which turns out to be ok, because i don't have any trouble keeping up anymore! its great!
anyway, I'm glad yous enjoyed conference. i haven't seen it yet. we don't get it until next week. so it'll be good. and Trevor H. came for it? wow, that's pretty sweet. I love missionary work. member missionary work is the best. keep it up Cara. you're working miracles left and right. Anyway, i should wrap this up. time runs short.
I love you all so much! have a good week.
Love,
Elder Tayler Christensen

Hard-working, exactly obedient

2010-03-28T20:53:00.002-06:00

well hello hello, my family and my friends!
My week has been hectic. we're scrambling for people to teach, and not really finding anyone. unfortunately this isnt helped much, as getting my back side (and my companion's) out the door is like pulling teeth. I never thought that living in a 4-man flat would be so... hard. it's some of the most fun i've had on the mission, but also the place where the most time has been wasted, by all parties involved. I'm trying to get past it, and just try to work hard, and keep to the schedule, but its hard, when no one really wants to move, and all 3 of every one else isnt moving yet, so no one moves. So this week has been a bit harder than any other week, because of the lack of work that has gone on. I never thought that that would be the case. Given, my comp is slightly sick, but he's not that sick, however, I took dad's advice from last week- just serve my companion. So to kill 2 birds with one stone, I bought some bike chain oil last week (because our bikes are old, and the chains are shocking) and i greased everything up for both him and me, and then told him that i greased it up, and that we could go out now because we'll be able to make it up the hills--which worked surprisingly well. By the end of the week we were working well, and we were able to actually teach more lessons as of yesterday. So hopefully we'll get everything done that we want to this week. We have lots of new people that we've been referred to, and a few more potentials from our finding efforts last week, so that should be good.

This week at church, a talk was given about the atonement. It was awesome, and I was really able to feel of the spirit, and felt within myself the peace and comfort that comes from the taking advantage of that gift. It was amazing. it was that spirit which helped me to get myself rolling after lunch, and kept myself motivated to work until it was time to come home. It was because of that, that we were able to teach 2 lessons just from drop-in visits, and set up a few others for later this week. it was pretty good, and i think that my companion and the other companionship had similar success, so hopefully that will help us to be a bit more diligent this week. I refuse to be classed by anyone as the typical, "good, but sorta lazy" missionary. I want to be a hard-working and exactly obedient missionary. So ya, that should be good. Anyway, that's been the week. a week of re-dedication and realization. So, hopefully, this means that I'm going to become better, and more successful. We'll see how it all goes.

On a more happy note, Tia F. from Forest Lake, was baptized 2 days ago! No problems or nothin! :D I was very happy when I got that phone call. Fair dinkam. Anyway, time's running short. I love yous! Good luck with everything this week!

Love,
Elder Tayler Christensen

Bracken Ridge

2010-03-22T20:07:00.003-06:00

Hello Fams!

what a crazy week! we did like almost no tracting this week! it was SO weird! but we werent being lazy, we just had a whole heap of stuff to do- so it was alright. I forgot to mention in my last email that the flat i am staying in is a 4-way flat. which means there are 4 of us in there, and we cover different halves of the same ward. and it's HUGE. but the other 2 missionaries are cool. Elder Gilbert is the district leader, and he's training a new missionary from sydney, called elder Arnold. elder Gilbert is kiwi. it makes everything a bit more fun.

This week we had fun doing the tracting that we did. We found a lady who is keen as to come to church, and to learn about it and stuff. Its pretty sweet. but really, this week hasn't been too eventful- just moving all the time. I'll see if i can't answer some questions. Elder Wulf and I are getting along great. He's a really funny kid, and very dedicated. We have fun, and life's always entertaining. He knows how to work and have fun at the same time. its pretty sweet. He's teaching me how to relax without losing effectiveness. Dad, for your commitment thing- we just finished a transfer where that section was the transfer theme. its pretty sweet. pretty fun. they gave us pretty good equation for it: basic doctrine+ the book of mormon+ a whole lotta love+ sincere testimony= one committed as investigator. or less-active memeber. you can break each of those down and use them to your advantage, each of them are worth study and role play. we spent weeks studying and practicing just that equation. it works well. just on the baptismal update, Tia foley should be baptized this coming saturday, so it hasnt happened yet, but i have permission to call next sunday to make sure it happened. so i'll let yous know if it goes through.

So i forgot to mention where bracken ridge is compared to my last area- i would say just look the 2 areas up on google maps or something, but that's lame. so forest lake is about 20 minutes sounth of the city. bracken ridge is about 30 minutes north. and the area is absolutely massive. it gonna take a while to learn. and the ward is... HUGE!!! there are several people that my comp still doesnt know, and he's been here for 4.5 months! its big. but thats the B-ridge for ya. anyway. thats about it.

im glad yous are all having fun in utah- i cant wait to be a part of that again tell everyone hi for me and dibs on gabe when i get back. :P. sounds like a whole heap of fun. tell bob and kathy thank you for their prayers and tell grandma her letter will be in the mail within the week. Good luck this next week getting back into the ANNIE stuff and school- i'm prayin for all of you. love you all!

love,

elder Tayler Christensen

Transfer to Bracken Ridge

2010-03-15T22:24:00.000-06:00

Hello family and friends!

well this week has been an interesting one. as Dad correctly guessed, a transfer is coming up, and it was today. I have finally left Forest Lake! I'm now serving in Bracken Ridge, which is on the north side of brisbane city. my new companion is elder Wulf. I dunno too much about him, but he seems like a cool guy. this last week though, has been really good. we set a baptisimal date with Tia Foley, she's a 9-y-o who we had a date with a few months ago, but her dad had a problem, and so now hopefully we'll be all good. besides that, the week has just flown by with heaps of tracting, a lot of bike riding, and saying goodbye to people. but it has been really good, i have enjoyed it immensely. i learned how to use a hedge-cutter too. that was fun. i guess. haha. but the elder that replaced me has served in forest lake previously, so that'll be good. umm... not a whole lot else to mention, it wasnt exactly an exciting week, so i'll just answer people's questions.

.

1. What are the finding commandments you mentioned in your last letter?
finding commandments are from the area presidency, they are: tract 2 hours a day, car fast 2 days a week if you have a full-time car, and contact 10 extra people a day. oh, and talk to absolutely everyone.

2. Are you keeping a daily journal? Can you share an excerpt sometime?
yes i'm keeping a daily journal, its detailed, dont worry. speaking of which, i need a new one, im just about to run out of pages in the one i currently have... so if someone could send a new one, that would be great.
3. What are some highlights of the week in terms of seeing the Lords hand manifest in the work?
you always see how happy the gospel makes people. for instance, tia foley. she's so excited to get baptized. she's only 9, but she actually comes to chuch for the sake of coming to church, not for the friends, its great. she has a constant craving to learn more. also, running into random people during the day that are golden as has happened a couple of times, and unfortunately i wont be able to see the outcome of those things, but it should be good.
4. As you approach the last year of your mission, what are your hopes and expectations?
i want to obey perfectly, i want to talk to everyone, and i want to train one person, to keep the posterity line going. apparently i have a pretty mean "mission heritage" so i want to keep it going. but we'll see. right now, im back to junior comp, with a missionary who's about ready to die (go home). so, apparently i have some humbling of myself to do.

and collin, i havent really been chased by a dog yet. sorry buddy. but a guy came to the door holding a knife once... and he was angry, and we quickly gave our spiel, and got off the porch. he didnt say a word. anna, i havent eaten a Koala, they have no meat on them. no worries.

anyway, thats all for now, i love yous, and look forward to hearing from you next week!

love,

elder Tayler Christensen

Rain, rain, here to stay

2010-03-07T21:59:00.000-07:00

well, this week has been interesting. we started it out with a very fun p-day. it wouldnt have been much different from any other p-day, but it was raining- and when i say raining, i mean POURING. we played some footie in the rain- got soaked, and its so weird here- rain doesnt make you cold- it just makes you wet. its AWESOME! its fun to to stop and pay attention to it all- the mud, the water dripping down your face, and the constant drip off all your clothes. its fun. anyway. that set the tone for the very next day. i went on a trade off with Elder Wairepo, one of my zone leaders. he came to my area. we didnt have a car, and it rained ALL DAY. So, to my look of discouragement, all he said was, "well, if you're going to work in the rain, you might as well get wet." so we did. and i have never felt so blessed, and exhilirated in my life. we rode bikes in the rain, and tracted all day. we were led to people who were so ready i couldnt believe it! its amazing how God really prepares people. its great. but we ended up having to go back to the flat twice to dry our clothes for appointments. it was interesting. at the end of every trade off, the one conducting the trade-off does a trade-off review. luckily, i'm not a horrible missionary so it wasnt too bad, the thing that he told me to do though, was interesting, and i certainly didnt expect to hear it from him. He asessed my concerns and my struggles, and then just said, "it sounds like those are all symptoms of the same problem. you dont do the simple things well enough. you keep all the big rules, but you need to focus on the simple things- if you can do the simple things perfectly, like keeping the schedule, keeping the finding commandments, and so on, everything else will fall into place." so i did that. i made a list of all the simple things i struggle to keep up, and then made commitments to improve and become perfectly obedient. that set the tone for the rest of the week. It seems that Elder Itaea had a smilar review, so we both strove to work our hardest this week. we havent had heaps of success yet, but we have a new investigator, and found a few old potentials who we lost, but who were really good. now we have HEAPS of follow-up work to do, and its GREAT. then yesterday, when i was fasting, i felt very peaceful. i felt that i was finally doing what i was supposed to be doing. then, i was asked to give a blessing to a sister who is in a tight situation, but who i know quite well, and have developed a friendship with. i dont know if you remember my email a month or so ago when i expressed that i didnt know if i was giving blessings correctly or not, and dad and richard sent me some very encouraging replies. Richard's especially helped. he told me that many times, words dont come into your mouth, but feelings and impressions about the person you are blessing come, and it is then your responsibility to put them into words. I felt that yesterday. there were no words, but there were several things that i felt she needed to hear, and i said them, and the spirit was so strong. i felt that this time, God really had spoken through me. she kept saying thankyou, but i was the grateful one. FINALLY i know what it feels like to give a blessing, as prompted by the spirit- not my head. so that was the bulk of my week. it was a hard week, but only physically. on that note, ill just comment on my heart- its been a year, as most of you have noticed, since the surgery. i can hardly believe it. at the time, we joked about my "mighty change of heart." well, since then, as i have worked to re-develope my heart, and get it back into shape, i have found that my spiritual heart has been changing as well. it has been a slow, and at times painful process- sometimes more painful than the surgery, as i have been humbled by my own weaknesses. but my heart is changing. i am wrestling and fighting with the natural man, doing my best to "put [him] off." definitely one of the hardest things i have ever done. but the rewards that i have seen come from it- i cant even describe the joy that i have felt. its not a jump up and down and shout type of joy, its a peaceful, totally content joy. the kind of joy that actually lasts. i cant say that i have felt this joy very often in my life, but since being out here, i have begun to feel it more and more often. and the more you feel it, the harder it is to contain. it naturally makes you want to share it. i love it. anyway. the time is running, and its almost out. i'll have to leave it at that for now. I love you all, and i'm glad yous are doing so well. i'll keep Gabe in my prayers- seems like he's having a rough go. keep on keepin on.
I love you!
love,
Elder Tayler Christensen

Long Week

2010-02-28T19:17:00.001-07:00

G'day! family and friends!
well, this week has been... interesting, but i think i will start this out by answering anna's question- Anna, i dont know exactly if the BOJ's portion of the plates are the sealed portion- what i DO know, is that when Ether Hid up the plates, the lord confounded the language and had him bury the Urim and Thummim with them. why? because that record contained the things that people did that had to do with the secret combinations of the devil, and the secret oaths of darkness made by those the devil influenced. now, God didn't want that information available to everyone, because that would cause too many people who wanted to be in high places to get some bad ideas. Also, the ONLY people who can successfully use the seer stones are seers, and prophets. prophets wont use those secret combinations, so they are allowed to interpret those writings. so, mosiah interpreted them, and then didnt let the people read them, but put them with the rest of the record, and now we have them to learn from. hope that answered your question.

anyway, this week was very... disheartening. every last appointment canceled that we were actually hopeful about. it made things very difficult. however, there were a few highlights. first, we had interviews on friday. I LOVE interviews. i get to ask president lots of questions and we have some of the best Zone leaders in the mission, so we received some MEAN training. i love being in the same place with lots of other missionaries, trying to all work together to become better. we have a goal this year of 240 baptisms in the first 6 months. the main quote is this: "if we use last year's methods, we will get last year's results." our goal exceeds by a long shot last year's results. so now everyone is scrambling to get better and baptize more. its hard. but its really good.

Also, we had stake conference this weekend. we were allowed to go to the Adult session on saturday, where the keynote speaker was Elder Hamula of the area presidency. it was MEAN! (and by "mean", i mean awesome!) he spoke about the sealing power and how important that is, especially in light of the many natural disasters that have been happening in the pacific area in the last month. He also spoke about how when parrents live up to their sealing covenants, their children are sealed to them, no matter what. and that sealing will eventually prompt the wayward child to repentance, so that they can inherit the celestial kingdom with the rest of the family. that brought me lots of comfort.

oh! there was also a tsunami warning for australia! but, im far enough inland for it to not affect me, but they later said it was only dangerous for those in a boat. but it was a great day for me, and then p-day was a welcome relief from the stresses of last week.

you'll be happy to know alos that i went to the doctor, and was prescribed this inhaler thing, thats not really an inhaler, but i haven't coughed hardly at all since then. so i'm getting better, and the doctor said i should be all good within a week. so ya. :) any way, my time is up, so i'll talk to yous later! i love you!
love,
elder Tayler Christensen

Finally starting to cool down a bit

2010-02-22T11:17:00.001-07:00

hello my family and me mates!
well, its been only a short time since i last emailed, but its been a good, short time. we have had some success in the past week, with finding- turns out we havent taught a single investigator this week. they all cancelled on us, due to some inclement weather-

we got about 6 inches of rain in like a day. that was fun. i got to dive through some really BIG and wholly unavoidable puddles (darn). but that made for a long, hard finding week, and we're running short on money at the moment, so we decided to move away from using the bus, and we just biked everywhere this week. i didnt realize how not in shape i am! sheesh! i hurt in places that i forgot exhisted. oh, and on p-day, we were training muay thai, like always, and i forgot to put on the cotton gloves before the actual UFC gloves, and so now i cut open 5 knuckles- oops. its been fun telling people that we got locked out of the flat, and so i got in a fight with the door, or that elder Itaea's face can be really sharp if you hit it just right, but not to worry, they're healing very quickly.

collin, dont worry, i didnt forget about your birthday this last week, i just forgot to mention it in my email last week- but i wrote you a letter, that should be getting there sometime soon. hope you had an awesome day, and that you got the things you wanted.

mom, glad to hear that all is going well with the Annie rehearsals. soudns like you are being blessed abundantly. Keep it up. :)

Dad, you are as busy as i have ever seen you. or at least heard of you being. :P Glad to hear it. haha, the goat shelter moving story was funny- i dont envy whoever you had helping you. and it is sad that pumpkin died- :(

Cara, hope your mr. bowmen week goes as you planned- good luck, dont get too stressed about it, and dont work too hard. there's a difference between working hard and working smart- i just learned this. work smart and effective, and then your hard work pays off.

Anna- where are ya babe? havent heard from you for a while. send me a letter! i promise i'll write back! :)
anyway, glad to have heard from all of you, i love you so much! have a great week!
Love,
elder Tayler Christensen

YA!

2010-02-16T21:57:00.003-07:00

Long Time, No Rain

2010-02-16T21:51:00.004-07:00

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

31st Week in Forest Lake. Yeeah boy!

2010-02-07T19:33:00.001-07:00

Hello family and friends!
sounds like you've all been very busy and very happy!
collin, in my last email i forgot to mention that yes, it is ok if you start from wherever you are in the Book of mormon as long as it's somewhere before mosiah. :D

and Rochelle, thanks for the Gabe update, and your interesting insight to teaching by the spirit. i have definitely found those things to be the case as i have steadily progressed.

Dad, your "craft" was hilarious, and your comments on it was the icing on the cake. :P i would LOVE to know how you went with actually getting the ATV into your truck. i hope nothing broke. hopefully your "man Glue" worked for you.

Cara, i'm glad your week has been so eventful and fun. I hope your stomach hasn't been bothering you too much. I was very worried when i heard a few weeks ago that you were struggling with the pain and nausea. I've been praying very hard for you and fasted for you yesterday- its all i can do, so i hope it has helped.

Mom, your Annie stuff sounds like its taking over your life- (shocker- :P) but it also soudns like you've been able to keep everything pretty balanced, and have been able to follow the spirit. Isn't it amazing how God really does want us to be successful in all we do, and helps us even with our worldly endeavors? that has been a huge deal to me lately. God doesnt ONLY bless us with our spiritual needs, but helps us in every aspect of our lives. I love it.

anyway, yous wanted to know about my new comp and, the area that i have remained in for 6 months and counting. well, Elder Itaea (pronounced ee-TIE-uh) is from Kiribati (pronounced KIRR-i-bus). if you dont know where that is, its somewhere between brisbane and hawaii, right on the equator, next to the international date line. its a very small group of islands. Elder Itaea is very humble, very in tune with the spirit, and improving on his English. It has been a new experience for me to add language study to the morning routine. He also has started to get me into the habit taking at least a photo a day, so hopefully i'll be able to keep more current documentation of my time here, and i'll be able to send a few more home. we are getting along great, and we have similar senses of humor, which is fun. I'm learning a lot from him, and i'm happy to be with him for at least the next 6 weeks.

this week we only taught one real lesson, and that was to Sam. she accepts everything we teach her, except for the fact that she thinks that Jesus told the Apostles that the sacrament literally became his body and blood (catholic and orthodox beliefs) and yet told the nephite 12 that they only represented his body and blood, and is concerned that there is an inconsistency. so we're struggling to help her understand that there is no inconsistency, but just different interpretations to Christ's actual words in the NT. its not easy to explain to someone who hasnt grown up with LDS background at all, and i'm afraid to use the JST with her. although that may be the key, it'll either turn her completely off, or really help her out, but its a big risk right now. so we'll see. this is where actual dependence on the spirit comes in. so hopefully tomorrow at our lesson we'll be able to put her concerns to rest.

anyway, i'm out of time, I love you all so much!
Love,
Elder Tayler Christensen

NOTICE: Thi

Photos

2010-02-02T12:18:00.002-07:00

Pre-baptism

The Family

Brisbane City-It's pretty cool I guess...
Ha, Ha, someone actually had this on their house!

I thought Dad would like this sign!

9 Months Out--Just about!

2010-02-02T12:14:00.000-07:00

hello family and... mates!
believe it or not, i've actually started using that word- i've replaced the word "friend" altogether. its kinda weird. but all good. anyway, this week, i suppose i'll tell yous that sunday night i got the transfer call- it went something like this:
"Elder christensen has been serving in forest lake with Elder subritzky, elder christensen will continue to serve in forest lake with... a new companion. :P" so no, i didn't go anywhere, but Elder subritzky left for the sunshine coast, and my new companion's name is Elder Itaea. he's from Kirribus. (i have no idea how to actually spell it). its a small island country near the martial islands. anyway, so i'm still Senior comp, not much change to that. still driver, all good. this last week has been one of the most emotionally trying weeks so far. we had high hopes for all of our investigators this week, but as it would happen, none came to church, one set a baptisimal date, but then backed out, one dropped us for the J-Dubs because she firgured out that she actually had to do stuff to join the church- like coming to church. it was LAME. its been very frustrating trying to figure out how to help each of them progress. oh, and the cough hasn't gone away, but the stuffy nose has. i'm blaming the black mold that is on the ceiling and walls- nothing huge, but man, it sure isn't helping things! however, i've been able to talk more w/o coughing, so thats been good. thats basically how the week went.
so i suppose i'll answer some questions:
You mentioned that you were under some pressure from the ward council in you last e-mail. Could you elaborate on that?
The ward council likes the missionaries to do ALL the missionary work, including contacting new move-ins, visiting the less-actives, finding people that they failed to get propper information from, and so on. they are very unhappy when we dont fulfill these assignments, but dont give us anything useful to go off of- like perhaps an actual referral.
Particularly, I want to know what kind of expectations there are for a senior companion in regards to the ward council and how you think a YM can better prepare for that.
well, you have to prepare lots of progress records, and make lots of phone calls for help with lessons, and people coming to church. you can prepare for that by getting used to talking to people on the phone rather than texting. because you WILL call lots of people that you have never met, and you will never text anybody, unless you're an AP, and only other missionaries for that.
How does participation in APC meeting help prepare YM for that?
learn to prepare actual records for how quorum members are doing, and use them effectively. never come to any meeting with nothing to say or report. there is ALWAYS something to report and and get help with.
What kind of struggles have you had in regards to the ward council?
well, like i said, they want a lot from us, and dont want to give much, except for the occasional dinner, which isn't useful at all when we go. thats just the ward i'm in though- many ward councils are very missionary minded, so just figuring out how to ask the right people for help is key.
anna, you asked if i bear my testimony in fast and testimony meeting- answer is no, our mission has been encouareged not to, unless asked to by a member of the bishopric, or if there is a long silence and an investigator present.
Dad- funny experience- last tuesday was Australia day. it was also the day that Elder Christopherson came to visit the mission! he gave a special mission conference, and then dismissed us to go back to our areas. on the way back, we were all really excited to get back to work, and at a red light, one of the other missionaries who we were riding with knocked on another car window at a stop light- he tried to give a typical door approach, with pamphlet and everything, but just as he was trying to place it on the passenger seat, the light turned green, and the driver of the car GASSED it!
:P anyway, that was the week. hope all is well, glad you liked the letter. have fun with the annie! :)
love,
elder Tayler Christensen

Sick but Serving

2010-01-25T22:56:00.001-07:00

Hello my wonderful family and friends!!!
thank you for all of your emails this week. they have been indeed uplifting and inspiring to the max. :) this week was a difficult one for me. aside from having a large amount of pressure to meet the expectations of the ward council, give a talk yesterday in sacrament meeting, and worry about transfers which are only a week away, i continued to be sick, and for the latter part of the week, was largely confined to the flat. ya. remember how i used to sick for weeks and even months on end? well it seems the heart surgery didn't exactly do much to help it like the doctors said. however, i had some really great experiences this week because of it.

as i said before, i had to give a talk in sacrament meeting. they do it a bit differently here. there are only 3 speakers, of 5, 10, and 15 minute speaking times. i was given the topic of "unity in missionary work" with 15 minutes to speak on it. i was absolutely at a loss as to how to apply this extremely obvious principle in full-time missionary service, to the members in the Forest Lake ward. i had no idea how it applied, and even less of an idea of how i could make it last for 15 minutes. beyond this, i was coughing up a lung- which made for some comic relief- Elder Subritzky said i could just tell a story and then cough for the rest of the time. which made me cough and laugh at the same time-- not the most pleasant experience. however, as i prayed and asked for guidance, i received enough inspiration to apply this principle to the ward members, and to speak about it for 15 minutes. as it turns out, it was actually 16 minutes. :P i even practiced it the night before to make sure it was the right length. i know, what a surprise. thats literally the first time i have actually practiced a public speech of any kind fully before i actually gave it. i was proud of myself. anyway, the morning of my talk, i prayed hard that i wouldnt cough too hard during my talk, and not into the microphone at all. i found that my prayer was answered as i spoke. yes, i coughed a bit, but it wasn't too hard, and only a couple times. AND i didnt cough into the mic. so that was nice for me. and if i do say so myself, it was a fairly decent talk that i wish i recorded. but i felt the spirit working through me, and i felt that i was able to give some freshness to the meeting (yous know how my talks can be... i put my personality into them. :)

unfortunately, due to my sickness, we didn't do much teaching this week, but we did teach sam again, answered some of her questions, and attempted to set a baptisimal date with her, which turned out to not happen, but next time, we're setting one. i think that because she had her friend over, who is catholic, she felt a bit of pressure and didn't want to commit to much with him there, so this week we'll work it a bit differently. also, we taught a lesson to Adrian at church again, and i have to say, i was on a spiritual high from my talk, and it was probably one of the best plan of salvation lessons i have ever given. :D anyway. that was basically my week. pretty laid back, pretty sick, but a GREAT learning experience.

Dad, thanks for your email, it put a lot of things into perspective for me, and gave me some much-needed encouragement.
mom- i cant help but think that you are a prime example of service, and magnifying your talents. its amazing what you are accomplishing. and as for your concerns about me, as they say here in Australia- fair dinkam. or in other words, its all good. i'm staying focused, and outside distractions arent much distraction anymore. prayer works. God Answers. he hears me, and he helps me. and its awesome. anyway, thats the week. i sent off a letter to cara and collin last week, yous should be getting it soon- there are some pics in it. enjoy. :)
i love you all!
have a good week!
love,
Elder Tayler Christensen

Sicky

2010-01-17T20:33:00.000-07:00

Gooday family and friends!
what a crazy week. I'll start with the questions from Marissa.
So, what has been the highlight of your week?
the highlight of my week has also been a highlight of my mission. i have been struggling with some weaknesses of my own for some time, and have found it difficult to always be focused on the work. However, this past week, i have put a LOT of effort into overcoming these challenges, and lots of prayer. then, this week, i have felt the hand of the lord in helping me to focus, and leave those other distractions behind. I find myself more receptive to the spirit, and happier this week, than ever before in my mission. its an amazing feeling.

What's been the funniest thing that has happened to you?
ah, too many to count, but i cant remember many off the top of my head. understand, that many of the funniest things that happen are results of HARD out rejections. however, the other day we had our rubbish bin stolen, and we went without it for about a week. then we walked past a neigbor's house one day, and there it was. so, on the way home that night, it was still out, so my comp grabbed it as he walked by. as soon as he did that, the porch light from the house turned on, freaked him out, and he took off running to our house, rubbish bin in tow. turned out the light turned on because of a motion sensor. I laughed and laughed at him. He eventually thought it was funny too, but he seriously thought he was going to end up fighting some old guy or something.

What have you been the most grateful for?
Prayers. prayers of my own, prayers from yous, prayers from the ward, and prayers from my friends. so, in the words of Jon bon jovi, "oh! im (almost) half way there, whoa! living on a prayer! take his hand, and i'll make it i swear, whoa, living on a prayer!" k, sorta sac-religious, but hey, it worked in my head.

anyway, collin, i've used most of your coin tricks already, and have shown off your CD to lotsa people. they're impressed. Also, you sent me those balloons, and i have no pump, so i cant blow them up. so i tried putting water in them. surprisingly, i could make balloon animals with the water in the balloon, but they aren't very good at handling all the twists for very long, so before i got the bicture, the one i was doing blew up. then i realized that these balloons would make good water whips. and they do. we had a water fight of sorts with them. only like 4 of them, but still, it was fun. haha.
anyway, this week has been interesting. Sam more or less dropped us. cancelled our appointment, and we cant get in contact with her. so we dunno whats up with that. we're giving it one more go tonight after she should be back from work though. however, we had a lesson with a lady called viki, who is from Laos, (next to thailand) who was very interested in the book of mormon, and she came to church on sunday as well. Also, we taught sister coombs again this week, and she had lots of questions about the spirit world. i was so happy that i was able to answer her questions using the book of mormon, NOT including the index! I was also able to answer some of the covington's questions in the same way, just to give veronica (sabrina's sister who lives there) some peace and solace. she's having a rough go at life at the moment. so i was happy to help. the book of mormon is coming alive to me, and i can actually just pull stuff out of nowhere for most situations! it's great! i'm finding that i'm becoming a better teacher! yes, im teaching people now, not just lessons. its great. :)
besides that, i've been working on a head cold this week, just trying to get over it. but its all good. anyway, im sending pictures, hope you get them. im outa time though, love you all!
Love, elder Christensen

SO good to hear from you

2010-01-10T22:28:00.002-07:00

Family! Friends!
well, i should have anticipated that after the flood of emails, would come a time of email drought. it seems that always happens. i guess not enough things happen between wednesday and the next monday or something- or perhaps maybe when you get my email late one week you assume that it will be late the next week- i'll just set this straight once and for all. every transfer we go to the temple. the temple day is ALWAYS a wednesday. because of this our p-day moves from monday to wednesday that week only. so then the next week, the p-day goes back to monday. ok hopefully that cleared that all up.

Anyway, Collin, i got your package, and Dad, i got your journal entries. they were great! both of them were a treat to listen to and read. The magic tricks were funny, thanks collin, and the "collin's greatest hits" CD was great! my comp still doesnt believe you're 14! haha, but it made him feel better when i told him you were closer to being 15 now. haha, Dad, your mission tapes were great, and your testimony was great- although i'm trying to figure out when your testimony was done, cause your voice sounds like it does now on that recording, and the ones you sent home from your mission- haha they sound more like ME with a HARD utah accent. at first i thought you messed up and sent me uncle mark's mission tape, but then you were mentioning all the japan stuff, so it was all good, and it made me chuckle.

:P Also, its interesting that you mention that story from that return missionary- we just had the reverse thing happen in our district here- a missionary had only been out 2 transfers, and was not in possession of a testimony, and lacked motivation. His companion was my companion's last comp. between talking to both of them, it became clear that this young missionary's companion neither helped nor encouraged him to stay on the mission, and was likely a large contributor to this missionary's decision to go home. That missionary then went home on friday. after all the drama that went on, and all the speculation that has been given by other missionaries, i decided that i will NEVER EVER be a contributing factor to ANY missionary's decision to go home early. And i'll remember that experience. so we'll see if I get put to the test.

so, its birthing season is it? i thought that wasnt til like april? or were twizzy's twins aborted really early? thats sad. (editorial note--our goat Twizzy did abort twins very early)

well, this week has been a week of tender mercies for me. At the beginning of the week, i re-read my patriarchal blessing, especially the paragraph having to do specifically with my mission. It told me something along the lines of, i would find great joy in the sure knowledge that Christ new me, and was working through me. WELL. i realized that that hadn't happened yet. i believe that Christ has worked through me, but it hasnt been obvious, and to be honest, i hadnt experienced that "great joy" or "sure knowledge" so then i took a look at myself, and asked, why? why hasn't that happened yet? and i made several goals to re-focus myself on serving him, with an eye single to his glory, so i could then ALLOW Christ to work through me. made a sign for it too. then the blessings started to roll around. so you remember sam? well we had another lesson with her on thursday. we talked about the plan of salvation, and we read moroni 7 with her, because her sister had just had a miscarriage the day before. she really liked that scripture. then, we invited her to a baptism that was happening in our district the next day. that happened on what seemed like a whim, and since we are not allowed to give rides to anyone, and since she's a single girl, we cant ride in her car, we said we come by, and she could follow us to the baptism the next day. she liked that idea. now here's the best part: when we left, we are on foot- no car. and we realized about 5 minutes later that we would not have the car the next day, nor the next. panic. we needed a car. the the Zone leaders called. because of the missionary that went home, his companion then joined the zone leaders. they had had a full-time car, and now we were getting it, full time! they delivered the car that night. so the next day we had a car, and led sam to the baptism, which she thouroughly enjoyed, and at which the spirit was very strong. afterwards, we were talking about her coming to church, and she didnt know where it was, so we said we would come and lead her to it the next morning for church. however, on what seemed like another whim, i just said, its on the way back, we'll just stop there and show you the chapel and then go the rest of the way home. so we did that. turns out that night, the ZL's called and said that the APs were taking our car and giving it to the chinese-speaking missionaries in the neigboring Zone. we were to deliver it that night. which we did. THEN, i realized that we needed to get a ride to church the next morning, and that we wouldnt have been able to show sam the way to church because lo and behold, our ride was late, we were late to church, and sam was already there. she also brought her dad with her. sacrament meeting was... interesting but they enjoyed it. and we're teaching her again on wednesday.

Also, Dad, your stuff all came at a time during the week when i was feeling very weak, and discouraged. your testimony and journal entries and everything else helped me to re-focus on my purpose, and the point of my service. that helped me A LOT. thank you.
Well, my time has run out. i love you all so much, and pray for you constantly.
love,
Elder Tayler Christensen

30 emails and i still have 25 minutes to respond- record reading time.

2010-01-06T15:28:00.000-07:00

Family!!! Friends!!!... Everyone Else!!!
HI!!!
well i had a few questions so i'll answer those first.
first, my flat address is still 81 hampton st, durack, QLD 4077. BUT send packages to the mission office.
How are you feeling--back and shoulders?
pretty good. sometimes i sleep weird and that throws everything out of whack for the day, but its never anything excruciatingly painful.
What did you do on New Years?
had to be in the flat by 5 new years eve, so we got bored, had some sparklers, and NO, we didnt burn anything, BUT we found the firework function on my camera- basically just opens the shutter for longer, and wrote 2010 with the sparkler. then we were in bed my 10:30, but kept talking, so we were awake for the new year. but its just, "happy new year bro. 'night." haha. then we spent new years day with the Falesimas. thats the 3 kids we just baptized. but ya, we played rock band, and DJ hero with them- which we found out later was against the rules (oops) so we repented and we played pictionary with them, talked, explained temple stuff to their parents, then went home, to sleep for the next day of work! ya it was fun stuff-
What is your typical Sabbath day schedule?
Well, it USED to be, meetings at 9, visit people and harass them into coming to church from 10-11:30, go to church at 1-4, go home and study a bit unless we have an appointment, then go to dinner, then go back home. NOW, its church at 9, lunch after that, go visit people and harass people who didnt come to church, trade the car back, study, go to appointments, go to a dinner appointment, then go home. usually nothing too stressful for the sabbath.
Anyway, i got 30 emails from yous! 30!!! sheesh, not that im complaining or anything... haha. but the pictures were awesome! especially the ones of richard that BJ did- i really liked the stink face obama one. that made my day. :P everyone over here thinks he's the greatest thing since sliced bread including most church members, so that was refreshing. :P haha. oh and the one of collin getting his shotgun! ah! priceless. someone walking behind me while i looked at that got really scared that a shotgun was sitting in a 14-year-old's lap with wrapping paper... then when they heard my american accent, they werent scared anymore. it was humorous. i chuckled a little bit. :P anyway, I'm glad you all had such a fun christmas, and new years! it was so great to hear your voices! and i'll tell the covington's that you appreciated them mom, and dont worry, you'll meet them when we come back as a family for a family holiday in the summer. :D but glad yous are all doing so good. and the snow- deja vu- or however you spell that- anyway, we've had it pretty cool and cloudy and rainy for the last week or 2, its been nice, besides the constant 95+% humidity. but ya. good stuff. and we had a bit of luck with tracting- first off, dad, dont worry, we get B of M's for free- we just order a box of 50 from the office when we run out. and no, the TYPICAL Austrlalian doesnt take the Book of Mormon. BUT we've found some very NOT typical australians in the past few weeks, the most promising of which is an 18 year-old girl who previously met missionaries, still had the book of mormon they gave her, AND the pamphlet. turns out it was 2 sister missionaries, one of which is still in my district, the other i saw at the temple today. anyway, we had a great lesson with her (her name is sam) yesterday, and she readily accepted the invitation to read and pray, and to come to church, and she believes everything about Joseph Smith. so we have another lesson with her tomorrow, about the plan of salvation. so that should be good. we also have a few other people who have accepted Book of Mormons, (they're all islander though) who we are seeing later this and next week. so it should be all good. ok, well i have only a few seconds left, so i gotta sign out.
I love you all!
love,
Elder Tayler Christensen

Crazy crazy crazy

2009-12-24T14:05:00.001-07:00

family! friends! i dont have heaps of time, so i'll make this short and simple. Elder Bartelt Got transferred today, and my new companion is Elder subritzky. He's Maori, from new zealand, and he's been in my zone so i already know him. Im senior comp, and driver now, so that'll be interesting. just so yous know, i'll be calling on boxing day, so christmas day for yous, i'll be calling from the covingtons, and i dont know exactly what time it will be, but i'll call for like 30 seconds first, and tell you what time i'll call, then actually call and expect to talk. it should be in the evening though. I'll call the house phone. oh, and yes, i got your package and letters, i got cara's letter, and i got whitneys package. i sent a package home last week, so yous should get it somewhat near to christmas. And im stoked that marissa and richard get to be there! everyone! yay! i get to talk to my whole family! :):):):):)

ok, well, thats about all i can write, but i will talk to yous on christmas! love you all so much!
love,
Elder Tayler Christensen

woses its hot

2009-12-13T19:57:00.002-07:00

hello family and friends!
this week was a big one, so i'll just answer all of your questions and whatnot and then tell yous all about it. :)

What else did you do on your b-day?
WELL we went christmas shopping. used about 60 dollars (hope thats ok) and im sending it all today. and went and trained muay thai with a guy in out ward, and then went to the covingtons for dinner, and i got to BBQ chicken on a super nice grill, i got some really good smelling cologne from sabrina and it was fun. We'll just say that at the end of the day i slept REALLY good.

Did you save presents?
sorta. i didnt look at the pictures on the SD card until then, and they didint work on my camera, so i had to take it to a place and just get them printed. it was really cheap though, and i got a kick out of all of them. Collin's cross country pictures were great. bro, i know how running in the rain feels. and tracting in the rain. and riding my bike in the rain. ya. its fun. eh? i actually like it. it makes me happy.

What are the logistics to talking with you on Christmas?
thats a good question. no one has said anything yet. but i assume that since yous are a day behind and 7 hours ahead, ill probably be calling you on christmas morning for me, and christmas eve in the evening for you. and yes, i will be calling you, UNLESS the phone companies dont charge if you call me. which is how it works for everyone in Australia. its kinda nice. ill let you know next week on transfer day though. oh, speaking of which, we really have no idea if one of us is going or staying. so if you send any mail after this, send it to the mission office, cause i may or may not be here in forst lake anymore.
Anyway, this Week has been a week and a half. not really, but you get what i mean. so monday was all good, yadda yada, tuesday was all sorts of fun- we tracted! and found a couple people who were interested, and a lot of people who thought they knew a lot about the church, and didnt know jack squat- we had to really control ourselves to keep from bursting out laughing- i think the whole street were members of the same AOG congregation. anyway, we had our last lesson with the Falesima kids, and come to find out, their last name is actually p.- but its all good. thursday, we had district meeting, and we went with Elam, who is waiting for his mission call, to visit Tia, and we taught the last lesson and set her baptisimal date for next saturday. then, we went to the Falesimas and went over the interview questions with them, and then our district leader showed up, and interviewed them, and they all passed with flying colours. we were happy about that. Friday was the interesting day though- unfortunately we didnt do much missionary work- we had to go to the doctor- i basically just had to go in to see if i could get recommended for physio to pull my shoulders back to where they are supposed to be, and got it, and so im starting that tomorrow. anyway, elder Bartelt had an MRI for his shoulder, and that was fun. basically we're walking medical bills, but so far the highest baptising companionship in the mission this transfer. saturday was the big day. we tracted for a really long time, found nobody, had a bible bash with a guy (we smashed him) and then went home. ugh. but then, we went to the baptism for the Falesimas. it was really good. we each baptised one of them, including Elam, who sat in for most of the lessons with them, he baptised the youngest girl. it was a great turn out, and it was really spiritual for the parents. hopefully that'll be what they need so that they will do what they need to do to get back into the church. that night, we had the ward christmas party, had lots of people there, and lots of food. I'll tell you what, their christmas party was awesome. they had a live band, who were all tongan, and they sang a lot of spanish songs- you can imagine how that sounded. :P anyway, we had fun. then sunday, we rocked up to church, having stopped by to harass everyone who was supposed to come to church, they all came, and then we confirmed the Falesimas. it was really good. and dad, this time, i dont remember hardly anything. and thanks for that advice you gave me it helped a lot. anyway, after church, i was able to Ordain Dan C. to the Aaronic priesthood. I was touched that he asked me to do it. that was a new experience for me.
so that was the week. so far, i've gotten 2 letters, i havent gotten the packages yet, but im sure they are coming. and whitney, did you get my package and letter yet? i sent them ages ago.
Rochelle, thanks for your emails, they were great! i cant wait to see Gabe!
anyway, i gotta go, i love you all so much!
Love,
Elder Tayler Christensen.

Dec. 7, for me, dec, 6 for you... i get to turn 20 twice. who wouldnt love THAT!?

2009-12-06T21:41:00.002-07:00

Family! Friends!
thank you SO much for all of the emails this week! I have absolutely loved them all! unfortunately now I only have 23 minutes to respond to all 25 of them, but I'll see what I can do- just before I answer all the emails, I'll just fill yous in on some of the events of the past week. We spent the week with a mini missionary, named Kirk. He's 16, and Aussie. He was very knowledgeable, very willing to work, and asked HEAPS of questions. it was fun. We ate at the Covington's like 3 times this week, got into a water fight, (oops) :) then had interviews with president Richards. very educational. then, we had a day of tracting and walking around in cloud burst after cloud burst, and after ruining and partially fixing 2 silk ties from the rain, started wearing only polyester ties whenever there is even the smallest cloud visible. however, the highlight of the week, was Saturday. we went to Isiah Baptism! it was AWESOME!!! and Sabrina is doing really well too. but the coolest thing for me was Sunday. see, Elder Bartelt Baptized, so guess who got to confirm in sacrament meeting... come on... guess! its not that hard. oh. ya. ME! i was scared out of my mind! I'm still not completely comfortable with priesthood blessings, and now i had to confirm in front of the whole ward into a MICROPHONE. AHH! but, as i was excusing myself to go freak out that morning, all of a sudden i got goose bumps really bad (which i weird since the flat is usually somewhere around 80 degrees) and i just felt this overwhelming peace come over me. it was so awesome! i was so thankful it was fast Sunday too, because i felt like i needed that too. anyway, the confirmation came around, and it went just fine, i wasn't even nervous. only problem is i remember the whole thing basically- Dad this may just be me being weird, but everyone always says that if you don't remember what you said, that means the spirit was talking through you. If you remember everything but still feel good about it, does that still count? anyway, Sabrina was REALLY happy, and told me she was feeding me tonight, for my birthday and even said that i could bbq the chicken. (yeah, i asked to do it.) we also set in stone 3 more baptism dates for next week with the Falisima Kids. fruits of the labor coming through!
ok, now with 10 minutes remaining ill try and respond to all your emails. Dad- thank you for your email. it made my day. i about broke down, but decided that the library wasn't the place for that. :) so i kept control. the Christmas trees seem to be going well, and I took a look at the website, and the only correction I can think of for it, is that the mission is called the Australia Brisbane mission, not the Brisbane Australia mission. but other than that, it looks great! Thanks for everything you do Dad! I really appreciated your journal entries from your mission too!
mom- the concert sounds like it was amazing. and ya, i was a little bummed hearing about it and not being able to be a part of it, but i just played some of the eclipse CD and did my vocal percussion to it, and then it was all ok. Haha, drove Elder Bartelt nuts, but hey, you should hear him sing. :P thank you too for your journal entries- i feel special. :)
Marissa- thanks for your email! sounds like you had a blast in Oregon- you going to be there for Christmas or new years? either way, I'm sending your Christmas present to the house. :) yours too Richard. :D
Cara- you're cute. good on ya for getting the 96 on your anatomy test! That's better than I EVER did. and sounds like you had a good time with the concert too. :) When i come home, I'm being in at least one of them even if i have to be a grip.
Collin- 2 letters from you and a snail mail on the way! awesome! Great to hear from you! and sounds like the goat fence putting up was fun! :P
Anna- your cute! Can't wait to hear your voice on Christmas!
Whitney- hope you got your package, and thank you for your email. As always, they help me feel a bit better about myself.
Ok, i have 30 seconds left, sorry its being cut off short! I love you all! have a great week! talk to you soon!
Love, Elder Christensen

ah, the ebb and flow of e-mail

2009-11-29T20:12:00.002-07:00

gooday family and friends!
well the last couple of days have been indeed interesting. since wednesday, we have had lots of lessons. we had another lesson with Tia, and have had to push her date back to the 12th of december. it had been for the 5th. however, as of yesterday, we have talked to Isiah and his family, and now, we are baptizing him this saturday, the 5th, and are giving Dan, his dad the priesthood the next day. :) so that'll be cool. we're getting them to the temple ASAP. oh, last week we got told that we were going to have a mini missionary come. Basically, its just a priest-aged guy who comes and hangs out with us for a week. We met him at the chapel after sacrament meeting yesterday, and then took him back to the flat. His name is Kirk, and he's 16. so this next week should be fun. we have been having some really interesting comp studies as of late. we're studying the plan of salvation in depth, and in the last week, we havent gotten past the pre-earth life yet. its intense, and really really deep- we're afraid we confused our mini this morning... oops. oh well. :) I like deep doctrine stuff, so i'm enjoying the study. I almost have finished the Book of Mormon again too.
so, i got my birthday package! i opened the shirt. sorry. i know its not my birthday yet. couldnt help myself though. i also read Dad's journal entries from his birthday. i enjoyed those dad, thanks.
whitney- i decided what i want for my birthday. a box of wheaties. there is no good breakfast cereals here. :) and i'm glad you had fun at home- black friday shopping- haha something that is not present here. at all.
speaking of which, i actually had a thanksgiving dinner with a family in the ward. it was really good. it was funny too though, their idea of a BIG turkey here is like normal size for us. and there were no mashed potatoes! how the heck do you have thanksgiving without mashed potatoes? it makes for a less-full plate of food. but it was good. there was still plenty to eat. including taro and chop sui. :) that was the samoan twist to the dinner. good stuff. umm... well thats basically it. short week this week, and not much to reply to. so i'll let you know how this whole mini-missionary thing goes next week. and just so's yous remember- next p-day is my birthday!!! im turning 20! send me birthday mail! lots and lots of mail. that would just make my day. :)
ok, well, talk to yous later!
I love you!
love,
elder Tayler Christensen

I am SO dreaming of a white Christmas

2009-11-24T22:02:00.001-07:00

Dear family and friends,
well, if you didn't notice, it was a long week this week. We got to go to the temple today, and consequently, today, (wednesday) became p-day. So. weekly news. Elder Bartelt and I officially decided that we have got to be here for someone. basically all our investigators are children, except one, but this week, after deciding that we just really need to step it up, we finally had lessons with people that we havent taught in ages, ran into emily and james again, started teaching yet another child, set a baptisimal date with that same child, got invited over for thanksgiving on saturday with bro. o'connor- which by the way will be very unique- he's Irish, and she's Samoan. Tarro will be served right next to the turkey cooked the italian way- whatever way that is. haha. anyway, we did heaps of tracting last week, and for the last couple of days, and have found a few really good potentials. unfortunately, most of them are YSA girls. i hope it has nothing to do with our ridiculously good looks. :P anyway. this week what else... OH! Elder Cook of the 12 came and did a special zone conference with Elder callister (area president), and elder gonzales (presidency of the 70). It was awesome! i got to shake their hands! Elder Cook is a great guy. He gave a really great talk, and i learned heaps- forgot my notes though, so i'll tell you bout the particulars next week. Elder Callister is the guy who wrote "the infinite atonement." dunno if yous have ever read it, but apparently its something akin to "the miracle of forgiveness" its the only other book that president richards allows us to read. anyway, he gave a special stake conference the next day, which was EXCCELLENT. he talked about the recent tsunami in samoa, which affected lots of people in the stake, and how he had gone to visit 8 member familes who had lost family- only 1 of the 8 families had been sealed in the temple. he then stressed that we should stop at nothing to enter the temple, specifically he mentioned giving up smoking and drinking. Alcohol by the way, almost comes out of kitchen sinks here, its the favorite pass time of the country- sad part is, im not even joking. so that is a huge problem for lots of people. but, this is the amazing part of the whole day. the conference started at 10. at 8:30 we got a call from sabrina who is the less-active mother of Isiah, who we have been trying to get baptized since day one in this area. She led a riotous life before she had children, and got married, and was sort of a hindernance to Isiah's progression. she's a great friend of ours though, she just didnt set a good example. anyway, she calls us out of the blue to ask when the conference was, we told her, and she freaked out cause she was still in bed. but, she came by herself. after Elder Callister's talk about the temple, and families being sealed, the conference ended and we went back and talked to her. She told us that right then and there, she quit smoking and drinking so that she could get her family into the temple. we were ecstatic! before that, she had told us that she had no desire to give up smoking or drinking. and now a total change of heart? she sealed the deal by going up to Elder Callister and telling him how his talk had affected her, and then within 2 seconds of finishing that conversation, she caught bishop Hannant and set up an appointment for her and her husband to come in. that happened yesterday. we also went over to her house on monday and went over exactly what she needed to do to become temple worthy. basically just taught the 4th lesson. she committed to live all of them. we were happy. amazing how the spirit works. she hadn't planned on coming to the conference, but she couldn't sleep anymore, and "something" kept telling her to get up, and get to that conference. life changer. :D Doesnt get much better than that. anyway, Anna, sounds like your room is going to look sweet as! :) keep being you, babe.
Cara- Aka, "big kahuna" :) i dunno if "big" is quite the right word, but hey, whatever gives you the title of "boss" is gonna be correct. but sounds like you're working miracles for KMM. keep up the awesome work! this world needs more people like you.
Collin- great to hear from you. :P
Mom- thanks for the hydration pack. :) its been a huge help. and your concert- sounds like it's going to be awesome! and looks like you've found a suitable replacement for me- haha, better even.
Dad- thanks for your email. made my day. your encouragement is a huge help to me, especially your reminder that that baptisms dont always mean success. or vice versa.
marissa and richard- glad you got to come up! im jealous. :) have fun!
rochelle and BJ and gabe- thanks for that email! it was cute to read the update on Gabe's walking around and talking. :) cant wait to see it!
Whitney- got your package. :) no birthday requests yet. :) i sent a letter and YOUR package back.
anyway, love you all!
Love,
Elder Tayler Christensen

Long As week

2009-11-15T20:50:00.000-07:00

Well hello there my family and friends!
so, with reguards to the lack of mail- it must be sunday over there or something. no worries. i guess i'll just talk about me for a long time instead.
anyway, this week, though technically a short week, if you're measuring from p-day to p-day, was especially long. Dad, i felt pretty dumb when last week i told you what kind of hydration pack i wanted, when just 10 minutes earlier we had run into the ZLs and they gave us mail- the package containing the one you sent was sitting right next to me as i wrote that- haha. thank you so much! it was a life saver this week. Anyway, since tuesday, we had a crazy week. We had a lesson with the Falisima Kids on tuesday night, and taught the 10 commandments. it was good, i am learning how to teach everyone, including children- its hard to change your teaching style a couple times in one day, but i'm getting the hang of it, no doubt a result of elder Bartelt's proficiency in teaching children, as well the mercy of the lord in assisting me in becoming the tool that he would have me become. wednesday, was probably the worst day of the week. Our investigators Emily and James dropped us. Turns out, after the conversation that we had with emily last sunday, when she tried to talk to her dad again, he wouldnt have any of it, and told her that she was going to stop investigating the church, and that she certainly wouldnt be baptized while she still lived under his roof. so we didnt have much choice in the matter. she did say though, that she would keep reading the Book of Mormon and whatnot, and that once she moved out, (which should be soon apparently) she would contact us again and resume lessons. so we werent excited about that, and with the loss of them, our teaching pool has been reduced to 4, all of which are children, and 3 of which live in the same house. the rest of the day was kind of ruined because of that. but we tried to keep ourselves happy as we still had to tract for another 2 hours. Thursday, we had district meeting, with a new district leader, Elder Ormsby. He's pretty good. i learned a few things from him. mostly about the tracting method and such. after that, we gave the car to the springfield elders, and we tracted the rest of the day. it was hot. but we have a family, the covingtons, (isiah's family) who have basically adopted us. so we had dinner with them, and taught a lesson, the last one, to Isiah. That family is one of the tender mercies in this area. while they are less-active, and getting their son baptized has been a work from the first week here, down to now, they have been great friends, and have helped in our physical relief, and always fill in our dinner appointments if they fall through. we have also been able to have some very spiritual experiences with them, which have resulted in them resolving to come back to church, and get Isiah Baptized ASAP. Friday was likely the hardest day of my mission (note- not the worst, just the hardest.) We decided the night before, that we needed to exert more faith in finding new investigators to teach. so we decided to fast. Saturday though, is much like everyone else's monday. its one of our least favorite days. mainly because we rarely have lessons, and we dont have the car, and we spend the majority of the day walking and tracting. so we fasted that day. about half way into the morning, we decided that it needed to be a food fast only, and that we shouldnt be stupid missionaries and take no water with us. so we were able keep ourselves hydrated, yet still enjoy the benefits of a fast. we found heaps of people who were willing to listen to us, had lessons on doorsteps, and made quite a few return appointments. we also walked, as best as we can estimate, a good 7 or 8 miles that day. it was something like 38 degrees C- which is 90-something degrees F. and it was some high percentage of humidity. basically, we felt disgusting all day. then we had a dinner with the alovilis- they decided that they need a lot of blessings- a fact which we agree with- there are 21 kids living under that roof- so they have us over for dinner as often as possible. they're a good family as well. so, after a long day of fasting, we were exhausted, and we were finally fed, and we walked home, planned, got to bed ASAP. i found that throughout the day, i only ever rarely, and mildly at that, felt any effects of the fast. The lord Certainly was mindful of us as we did our fast, and supported us in it. oh, and i lost something like 1.5 KGs during it too. :) but there have been no side effects of that fast. so i'm thankful for that. Yesterday, every appointment fell through, and we had dinner with the covingtons again. However, i had a great time at church, and the sacrament was especially meaningful for me, as i remembered that the savior suffered everything- not only sins, but also weakness and hardship. He knows exactly what i feel and what i'm going through. I am NOT alone. no matter how much that seems to be the case. i have been supported through everything. it is most definitely a miracle . I also had a great personal study yesterday after church, in the which i read in Jesus the Christ, all about the passion week and the trial, and the crucifixion. tears came to my eyes many times as i imagined how that must have been to witness such horrific scenes of torture, and yet divine submission. How the apostles must have been crushed, and even more, how the Father of us all must have wept for his son, who in the last stage of his life, had to be withdrawn from, so that He could succor his people who had had the spirit of God withdrawn from them. And yet, with his last utterance, "it is finished" how glorious and joyful was the end of his errand. he had fulfilled all that he came to do. and because of that sacrifice, we can join him as joint-heirs of the kingdom of God! My appreciation for the savior has been so increased during this study, and i have loved every moment of it. I would recommend that study to anyone who feels discouraged or alone.
anyway, my time runs short, and i think that this is a long one, so i wont bore yous anymore-
so, i hope you all have a fantastic week! keep me in your prayers. i'm always praying for you.
love,
Elder Tayler Christensen

Transfer This Month?

2009-11-10T10:07:00.002-07:00

hey family!
thank you for filling my inbox! It makes me happy! and who's idea was it to send me the whole ping pong thing? trunky as, bro! haha. but sounds like yous all had a pretty full-on week. Cara, glad your b-day went so well, and i suppose its a good excuse for you to not write me. Dad, i dunno you've sent the package yet, but i forgot to make my request for the hydration pack in my last email- the full thing would be good, if thats ok, if not, the bladder is just fine.

anyway, transfers happened today, and drum roll please...............................
ok its not that exciting, nothing happened. Elder Bartelt and I stayed together again this transfer- we think there's someone we need to baptize- president doesnt generally keep missionaries together for longer than 3 months. but no one's complaining.

oh, and dad, maybe try looking at the forecast before you go out and spray heaps- just an idea. :D and the tree thing- good on yous! that will be way awesome if that deal goes through. i'll definitely keep that in my prayers. and, if it makes you feel any better, this weekend it rained every day, and it dumped hard, and we had a SWEET AS lightning storm. it just stayed above our flat for like an hour, and the thunder shook the flat- it was awesome!

and yes, i did tract in the rain. it was... well, fun. got soaking wet, and then, the clouds cleared up and it got hot, so we didnt change, cause the water was keeping us cool. but we got a member's couch wet- oops. :P anyway, this week was actually rather trying. we suffered for lessons to teach, and out golden investigators- emily and james- emily's parents came home, and flipped a switch when she told them that she was thinking about getting baptized. they went on the internet, and you can guess what they found. virtually everything. so we spent a long time correcting what they found, and we havent heard from them since sunday. We've had a rough time getting stuff done. people have no more common courtesy these days. people will schedule appointments, and then just be gone, or decide that they're too busy when we get there- this is especially trying when we dont have the car. but, life goes on. we will baptize this transfer. its baptize or bust. we've been in famine for 3 monts- time for a season of plenty. anyway, there were no more burnings this week, we ran out of time, and quite frankly, there isnt much around the flat to burn. so thats about all that has happened this week.

oh! just kidding, we had elder Nielson (new area president) come to a speacial zone conference, and that was really good. we had deep clean as well, and i repaired some of my pants- ya i sewed stuff. and it actually worked. :P it was pretty fun. but i suppose this week, my biggest thing has been my use of prayer. prayer is intense when you do it right. AKA-when you're awake and totally focused. but i've had so much help this week just on my own personal issues. like you said dad, im at 6 months, and i feel like i know nothing. i feel like im wasting time, yet i'm exhausting myself every day. i dont know how to better do my job, but im trying constantly to make myself better, a better teacher, better finder, a better companion, and just an overall better person. Change is hard. near impossible without God's help. but, im changing. slowly at first. but its picking up. the change is amazing. the way i think and the way do things is changing, and my attitude towards life is changing. life is GOOD. i realized the other day, that no matter how hard this mission is, i really dont want to be anywhere else than here. Home would be great, school would be great, the beach would be great- and yet, it doesnt even sound appealing anymore. Going home isnt something that i think about all time anymore. when people mention that i'm running out of time, now i tell them to shut up. I love being out here, and now i realize why everyone who goes home, never leaves with a smile on their face- the time is too short. Anyway, im out of time. ill talk to yous later! i love you! have an awesome week!
Elder Christensen

November Already!

2009-11-02T10:08:00.002-07:00

Family! Friends!
thank you so much for all your emails this week! they have definitely made my day! :) Dad- your email cracked me up. especially the thursday garbage day thing- that was awesome. and the huge list of chores to do on the blank calendar day. good fun. I found myself wanting to help with the Goat fence- like i really want to help. haha, i realized this week, that i was shivering in bed and it was like 70 degrees still- im going to be STUFFED when i get home and its cold- im sure it will be entertaining though. :P Dad, thank you for putting my name on the prayer role- it has definitely helped. I have felt much better and more mobile as of late, so all good. oh, and i can touch my toes now! it hurts like nothing, but i can! yay!
anyway, this week has been good.
on tuesday, we went on trade-offs. i went with the greenie and we taught some lessons and did some tracting, and i had the opportunity to teach him some stuff- i didnt know i had anything to teach. so that was cool. i've been working on the new tracting method that we have really hard this week, and i'm starting to get it down now. and its working. :D wednesday, we did heaps of tracting. 5 hours. luckily it was pretty overcast and actually rained pretty hard for the first hour or so. thursday was District meeting, which went well, pretty fun. then friday was Elder Bartelt's birthday, so we celebrated by having a normal day of missionary work, and then spent 5 hours at our main investigator's house playing pool, eating pizza, having cake, and then having the last like 2.5 hours for a lesson and Q and A. it was good. Saturday was just heaps of tracting and walking and visting people. Sunday, we had Emily and James (main investigators) come to church, and they really enjoyed it, and James is really excited to get involved with the ward. We also set a baptisimal date with them for the 21st of november. so that will be good. transfers are on the 10th, so hopefully I'll be around for their baptism. we'll see though. Today we have movie day. :) we get to watch all the movies with the church stamp on them! :D anyway. this week has been really good. i've started being able to recognize the spirit prompting me to say things during lessons, and found that those things that i say as a result, end up helping the investigator a lot. I have been very happy about that.
anyway, my time runs short. i gotta go. i am praying for all of you, i love you all so much! be good!
love,
Elder Christensen
ps. cara- happy birthday on thursday! btw, that day is also my bump mark- 6 months out!

Octtober =Really Flippin Hot

2009-10-25T19:38:00.002-06:00

Dear Family and Friends,
This has been one of the most draining weeks of my mission. The best part of that is that its been mostly spiritual exhaustion. we started the week with heaps of tracting, and teaching a lesson to that couple that we found tracting. we covered LOTS of stuff, and over 2 lessons basically taught everything we knew about the spirit world and the significance of families and why the temple is so important. i think the most common word coming from them was "brilliant." ya they're from the UK.

besides that, we also had interviews this week, and along with interviews, about 4 hours of training on this new tracting method. it was intense. haha, i told president about my back issues, and after the rest of the interview he showed me some yoga stuff to do to help it out. :D i love that man. I asked him some deep doctrine questions and just some nitty gritty details about joseph smith. it was cool. after that, i went back to the training. it was over the training that we received at my first ever zone conference. it was by president richard's son. the jist of the training, was instead of just jumping right into the teaching, to talk for the first 30 seconds and show empathy for any concerns that they may have, testify of the truthfulness of what we share, and then ask for 3 minutes to explain why we're there. its extremely effective, and it is also difficult to do correctly. its something that i have been trying to apply since that first training, but i've struggled to do it right, and to do it every time. but i've worked really hard on it this week.

We also went on trade-offs this week with the Zone leaders. I stayed in my area, and Elder Harmon came in. he's awesome, and he's a great leader. unfortunately, we had NO appointments that day, and so we spent the day finding. lots of tracting. but we found 3 people to teach, which was good, and it helped boost my testimony of tracting. oh, we also didnt have the car, so we walked everywhere- that day i was just exhausted full stop.

then yesterday, at church, the sacrament was really spiritual for me- I read the lyrics to "A Poor Wafaring Man of Grief" and about started crying. i realized how much i had left to grow, and to learn, and to become. i also realized that i've been on my mission for almost 6 months, and i still feel like im fresh as. But, according to president, thats good, at least im not feeling like i'd rather be home, and not on a mission. i just realized how quicky the 2 years goes- i thought it was forever- but its quickly becoming evident that it's not nearly enough time. Anyway, that was a look inside my week! :)

mom, your garden experience sounds... well, not as fun as it should have been. man i miss those tomato fights. (by the way, "tomato" is pronounced "tuh-mah-toe" in Australia.) but i'm sure collin will be happy to take those hoses out of the ground for you. :) and could you send some of the rain and fog my way? please? its getting to be high summer here, although the worst wont come until december or january- but its HOT. and my flat doesnt have air conditioning- we just have like 4 fans running 24/7, and its like 80% humidity all the time. so, please, some rain and fog would be soooo nice. oh, and ya, pickled beets are pretty common in hamburgers here, although not in fast food. i've had it a couple times, but i dont think it goes extremely well with beef.

cara, your BEFY experience sounds awesome. i'm glad you were able to have such an enjoyable time. its great when the spirit actually hits a big group of people like that. and your friend Kelsey being "spiritually exhausted-" that is awesome! I didnt know what that felt like til i got out here. when you feel the spirit that strong, for that long, it actually drains you. :) when's her baptismal date again?

Whitney- glad you got that letter- and yes, i'm gaining weight- im 65.5 Kilos now. i wont tell you how many pounds that is- ill let you figure that out by yourself. :P we'll put it this way though, i have pants that have elastic built into the waist, for the purpose of allowing weight gain, and they're about 2/3 stretched right now, although i've started running again, so hopefully i'll be able to get the extra stuff off. and your BYUI days sound like you're having heaps of fun! good place eh? :)
anyway, cara you should have gotten the letter i sent last week by now... it has some pictures in it. :)
ok, my time's up. time to go. i love you all so much! keep being awesome.
love,
your favorite missionary,
Elder Christensen

Good week, good conference

2009-10-18T20:00:00.002-06:00

Hey Family, and Friends!
well i appreciated the contrast of this week form last week. :) needless to say i had to hurry through the reading so i could get to the writing, and yes mom, i did print a few off that i will be replying to by snail mail. anyway. all of your activities last week and this week sound so fun! i cant believe Gabey is walking and understanding people talking!? dang, i'm going to have a lot of catch up work to do when i get home. thanks for the pictures and the videos, they made my day! that is a cute boy you got there, Rochelle and BJ! and BJ, i'm glad your feeling more like a "natural Man" now that you're 30 and you got a grill. I'll have to show you some cool things that i've learned here when i get back. Dad, you too. i think you'll appreciate them. :P Anna, your letter cracked me up. that sounds like fun. what i'd give to see dad do your hair, and cringe as you try to shave his face. and, no, my dear girl i have not hit or killed any kangaroos yet with the car, i have eaten lots of them though. Marissa- i appreciated all your "A" sillines. :D it made me happy. glad your enjoying school so much more. Rochelle, keep up to work with Gabe! he'll be saying "mama" before you know it, and then that'll be the last thing you want to hear. haha. Dad, thanks for your letter. those 4 steps that you outlined were totally true. i definitely agree. And how appropriate for you to get your inspiration while running. oh, and yes, if you could send the audio of conference that would be great. also, while you're sending stuff if it's not too much trouble, a hydration pack, (a small one) would help HEAPS. Mom! happy birthday! i made you a cake! unfortunately we ate it before i got a picture of it- but i wrote "happy birthday mommy!" on it- with the squeezable frosting pack that came with the mix. :) it was fun. oh and whitney, i got your package like 3 weeks ago- sorry forgot to mention that- and your letter that came in the huge post office envelope thing cracked me up. :)

ok, so this week was awesome! i went on trade-offs and learned a bunch about tracting effectively, and also got to do some tracting in the absolute pouring rain! how fun! :) luckily i didnt have much to do after that, and got to change out of my wet proselyting clothes. it was fun. the next day, we had a lesson with a couple not married that Elder bartelt found the day before, and taught the first 2 lessons to them and half of it to her younger sister. they're awesome! they committed themselve to read the Bood of Mormon, and brought up the law of chastity themselves, and committed to start living it! luckily the couple isnt actually living together. that'll make things heaps easier. we also taught patonu again. he likes everything but is struggling to make the commitments for baptism. he knows what he needs to do, just lacking the desire to do it. he'll come around though. keep praying for him. we also finally got to watch General Confernce! now i know what ya'll were talking about! i'd have to say that Elder Holland's talk, Elder Callister's talk and Bednar's and Ballard's talks were my favorite. talk about a strong testimony from Elder Holland! and the one about father-son relationships hit especially hard as i reflected on when i definitley did not do those things and when i finally started doing them. I'm glad i did that, Dad, i've learned heaps from you since then, and the unstrained relationship has been a huge blessing. those GAs really know what they're talking about, eh? they must be prophets. how else could they all speak things of complete truth, all agreeing with each other, and all only benefitting us? If there was any doubt about the church or the book of mormon or joseph smith, it has been swept away. I Love this Gospel. it truly is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that the Book of Mormon is true, and that we can come closer to God by abiding by it's precepts. Thomas S. Monson is in fact the prophet, seer and revelator of the lord, and is the only man on earth authorized to exercise all the keys of the kingdom. i know this. Joseph Smith really did restore the Gospel in its Fullness through the Gift and Power of God in these latter days. Jesus Christ in actuality, died for our sins and paid the price for all repentant sinners so that we could come back to live with him and Heavenly Father. I know this to be true, because the Holy spirit has witnessed it to me as i have heard it, as well as now, as i have written it.
May God bless you all!
Cara, get better, you've been sick long enough.
oh, and my back is doing better, i talked to a physio guy and turns out i just need to do some other back exercises and stuff, more in the next letter. i have 30 seconds left.
I love you all so much!
love,
Elder Christensen

hello

2009-10-04T19:51:00.000-06:00

hello family and mates! (yes i started saying that habitually)
i got lots of questions from dad, so i'll answer those first.

Have you been able to see all of the sessions yet?
no i havent, in fact, i havent seen any of them, so all of your references to the talks and stuff are great, but i have no idea what you're talking about.
Tell us how conference is handled in Auzieland.
well, it was fast sunday. that was it. people can watch general conference online, but for those who dont do that, in about 3 weeks, the church will send the DVDs of conference and we'll watch it at a chapel somewhere.
How is your comp's shoulder?
its getting better. he still is having to rest it frequently, but its less painful, and he's able to do normal work. needless to say we're not allowed to ride bikes for a while.
Did you get out and about this week?
yes we did. we only had to cut things short once, because we were tracting and elder bartelt forgot his sling, so his shoulder started hurting, but other than that, its been a normal week.
How is Patonu doing?
he's doing well. he's starting to get really into the Book of Mormon. I showed him the war chapters yesterday at church, and he thought it was really cool, and started reading them during priesthood because we were in committees and he couldnt do too much with that, so he read for an hour and loved it. we've also kept having short lessons with them, and it's great to see him go from, "ok it needs to be quick, i have to leave soon" to "ah, dont worry about it, i can leave whenever." that makes us happy to hear that from him.
also, dad asked me about the priests here. they havent been very active that i can tell, but they do have scouting here, and they are all very active in that, but we havent had a ward mission leader til just this last week, and he was released as the young men's president, so he's pretty gung-ho to involve them.
Are you well?
yup! :)
Did Swine flu hit your area?
yup! i didnt get it though. my comp had it right before we came here.
Have you seen the Biskey's?
nope. brisbane is a big place. i dunno if you can contact them, but if you can, tell them i'm in forest lake. if they look online, its one of the furthest south suburbs right next to ipswitch, but still techincally in brisbane city.
anyway, this week was good. we had 3 dust storms, so only one of them made it so that we had to stay in, but it was pretty funny to see everyone washing their cars 3 times in one week. we got a kick outta that.
so this last week, i have been trying hard to watch what i eat, (mom i know your jaw just dropped, dont worry its nothing drastic) because i actually have started gaining weight. not that that's bad, and its still not much, but i realized that not eating healthy has been a contributing factor to why it's been so hard to stay energized and whatnot. so i'm starting to watch it, and eat more fruit and stuff, and it's actually working. imagine that. :P
Also, i dunno if i already told you this, but i started translating the book of revelations, using all the cross references and JST. that book is loaded with stuff. i highly recomend it. Also, this is something that my comp does, if there is anything that one of you want me to study, and then tell you about, like deep doctrine stuff, or whatever, tell me, and i'll do the study, and then let you know what i come up with. :) Also, for those of you that send snail mail, you can send it to:

81 hampton Rd.
Durrack, QLD 4077
Australia
send stuff there until november 1st
well, my time is running short, so i'll wrap this up.
i love you all so much! i am always praying for you!
love,
Elder Tayler Christensen

relaxed and yet crazy week-ugh :P

2009-09-28T20:55:00.001-06:00

Family!
well this week has been... fun. and when i say fun i mean... interesting. haha. it started off alright, p-day generally comes as a godsend, but tuesday we went on trade-offs with the district leader- well elder bartelt did anyway, i went with his companion in my area- i'll just say that it was a car fast day, my companion for the day wasnt the most dedicated guy, and in the middle of it, we got a call from elder bartelt and elder clark that they needed the car. we didnt find out til about 5 that it was because elder bartelt, within 15 minutes of leaving the flat, had supermanned it over the handlebars of his bike, tried to brace himself on impact, and dislocated his right shoulder, which he didnt know until elder clark helped him up and re-located it for him- needless to say he was in some pain. so they take the car back up to brisbane, got some pain killers, got his arm wrapped, bought a sling, and was told by sister richards to stay in the flat unless he had an appointment. so guess what we did for the whole week? well we actually had lots of appointments, but the rest of it was study time! so while i didnt feel particularly accomplished in the work, we did lots of study, and we found a HUGE stack of ensigns dating back to 1985, and we got to read some talks by bruce r. mcconkie, which were awesome, and we've done lots of topical studies, which proved very helpful in out lessons with a less-active lady who is coming back to church, but has been away for a long time so she wants to re- learn everything but we get to have deep doctrine discussions with her, which is more a test of our knowledge- which is rather refreshing, but we were much more prepared from out studies for those. it was really good. oh! we finally got a ward mission leader! we went a whole transfer without one, and so now we get to have a transfer with one! weird, i know, but its been crazy hard to work with the ward without one. oh! but when it rains it pours, this week, after needing to stay in the flat, we had 3 dinner appointments cancelled on us, we had 2 big dust storms and 1 smaller one that made it so we had to stay in the flat anyway, which also got in our house and left a layer of dust everywhere, that was a result of some really big wind storms happening further inland, i ended up washing the car only to have the next dust storm hit an hour later, and to top it all off, our car got broken into, and our motorpass card got stolen, along with Elder bartelt's wallet, his $150 oakleys, all 5 books of mormon, and the ash tray! filed a police report, and stuff- luckily i hadnt left anything in the car, and my sunglasses are worth like 10 dollars so they got left. so we're in the process of recovering elder bartelt's life. good times. oh! mom, you'll probably be getting a random email with a video attatchment from sister hannant- she's the bishop's wife. anyway, last night we had dinner at their house, and they gave me this soft drink called peachy- its basically a peach soda, and its a missionary legend, so the first time a missionary has it, he takes a sip and does "the peachy dance"- basically an interpretive dance of how they feel- so i regretfully told elder bartelt that i hadnt had peachy before, and he let the whole family know, and they then pressured me into it, so elder bartelt has it on his camera, and they took video of it as well, so enjoy! oh, today is transfers, and... nothing changed, both elder bartelt and i are staying. and speaking of elder bartelt, he's asked if i'll ask cara if he can write her- so cara, its up to you, but i think you just might get a kick out of him- similar personality and all- yup. lemme know! :P
collin- got your last email- keep up the running man, running in the rain is awesome. i do it a lot. and highschool does sorta wear off fast- enjoy the freedom while you've got it though. :)
cara- keep it cool. homecoming is just homecoming. have fun with it though! lemme know how everything goes! :) oh and lets hear some KMM stories! :D
anna- keep being cute
mom- you are doing lots of canning. wow. but im glad you had fun in idaho! that sounds like tons of fun! :)
Dad- thankyou for your email. thats EXACTLY what i needed right now, and dont worry, lectures are more than welcome right now. :) keep them coming. but reminising is good too.
rochelle- glad to hear everything's going ok. send some walking pictures of gabe! :D
Whitney- ya the wind's fun isn't it? :P keep up all the hard work, i should be getting all your mail today, so you should be getting a response soon. :)

sweet, well i literally have 30 seconds before my computer logs me off, so imma go now! :P talk to you all later! i love you!
love,
Elder Christensen

that was a lot of emails. thanks!!!

2009-09-20T20:15:00.000-06:00

Hello family!!! wow i love how i ask for letters, and then i get them, and i bare have enough time to read and respond to all of them! :D you get what you ask for though. :P good stuff. anyway, i got some questions this week first from BJ and then from Dad- so ill answer those-
1. Tell us about the weather. its getting increasingly warmer. everyone keeps realizing i havent had summer here yet, and they just laugh at me- im in for a treat. wa hoo. :P
2. What is your mission president like? He's awesome! he's one of those, can be really serious and then be really funny. he's fairly competitive, and is constantly urging us to increase out key indicators. he is extremely knowledgable. in my interview with him last week, he opened his scriptures, and i looked at them, and i was like, WHOA!!!! its one of those things where if i was having trouble getting into the celestial kingdom, if i had those, i'd be automatically in. It was cool. but he really loves all his missionaries, and he loves the work.
3. How big is the city that you're in? well im in the suburbs now, so they're not huge, probably a little smaller than sherwood.

Can you get accesss to a computer to view� and listen to stuff I put on your SD card?
yes, and i can likely play it on my camera too. although making a back up CD probably wouldnt hurt.

Tell us more about your companion.� Are you getting along with each other well? my companion is the man. Elder Bartelt sort of reminds me of jeff smith and jason andus mixed together. He's crazy, and has a ton of energy all the time. he has a quick wit, and gains the trust and love of members and investigators quickly. we bounce off each other really well, and balance eachother out. we're definitely personality opposites, but we're rubbing off on eachother, so its all good.

Is there anyone in particular you would like us to pray for?
well at the moment, we have a few investigators. one of them is named patonu, he's Maori (new zealand), and knows our district leader from back home, so thats how we found him. He has a lot of big things he needs to take care of, but he's willing, he just needs to actually do it. prayers on his behalf would be good.

Are you spending more time on bikes or in the car?
we have a full time car, but we have to "car fast" for 2 days during the week, so those days we either bike or take the bus everywhere, but we've been favoring the bus lately because its been really hot.

Are you running at all?
ya! we go running most mornings. im way outta shape though. its kinda sad. sitting around for the 2 months before my mission didnt help much, but what can ya do? haha.

You should put you camera on movie mode and record your self talking in Australian.
haha, now that would be funny, because i can force it, but im not really talking it yet, and i mix the aussie accent with the NZ accent- so ill get a conversation with Elder Bartelt and I.

I think collin asked me about the weird food i've eaten- well my brother, you better keep this a secret from all your friends, cause this one is good. there's a polynesian food called Tarro. its sorta like a potato. but its kinda purplish, and doesnt look very appetising, but with coconut cream, its really good. but here's the secret- its a natural steroid. you know why polynesians are all so big? its because they eat heaps of tarro. however, you have to work out after eating it, because when you eat it, you WILL gain weight- it just depends on if you make it muscle, or if it sits there and becomes fat- and trust me, its hard to turn it all into muscle- but thats all we'll say about that. :P
anyway, the week in general has been really good. we've done lots of finding, we finally got patonu to church, found some really good potentials, and taught a few good lessons. I keep realizing during personal study that i know so little. i am learning heaps of new stuff all the time. We also had a trade off with our zone leaders- well there's 3 of them so one of them just came to our area with both of us, and he's served here before so it went really well. during the review he kept saying that im a hard worker- and i KNOW that i give in to the lazy side all the time- its hard to keep your energy up all the time, but constantly keeping myself busy is a challenge. so hearing that was good, but it really just made me realize how much i have left to grow. i wanted to do all my growing in the first few weeks of my mission- it doesnt work that way though. so im steadily progressing, learning more and more- hopefully im becoming what the lord would have me become.
Anyway, my time runs short, so i gotta go, i love you all!
Love,
Elder Christensen

the days feel like weeks, but the weeks feel like days- :P

2009-09-13T21:11:00.001-06:00

Family!!!
Guess what? its already week 5 of the transfer! has it really been a month since i got to forest lake? all reconing of time says so, but my head still says, you've only been here a week, son. but its been 4. sheesh. anywho, sounds like everyone has jumped into school headfirst! Cara, that schedule sounds killer. dunno what you were thinkin- but then again i usually dont, so no surprise there. Oh! tell mr. thurman about my surgery, he'll be interested about that. Good luck with your heart of darkness visual- i'd tell you what i did for mine, but i dont remember- just do something diabolical with a barbie or something. that oughtta do it. collin, good to hear from you(Cough). :P I guess last week's report on my physical-ness scared ya or something. or maybe the shock of high school really is keeping you busy. man, i thought sure someone would have at least commented about my request for letters last week- i thought it was hilarious. maybe mission life has made my sense of humor more dry or something- dunno.
mom- soudns like you need a break. good grief. i thought you were busy with music man, and with the chorale concerts before that, but this out does both of those. thats hard out. soudns productive though. :) i hope you recover fully from your exhaustion.
well, mission life is just that. mission life. last p-day, we went tracting in the evening just as a lightning storm was starting. it was AWESOME! we started and it was just could flashes, and then we spent like 5 minutes at a door, and turned around, and it was raining, pouring, in sheets, looked like a waterfall. we got really excited. we got absolutely soaked within 10 seconds, and had some very entertaining door approaches. at one, i tried to show a picture out of a pamphlet, and realized when i looked down that the whole pamphlet was flopped over, and i had to bring it back up so they could see it- it was funny. then at another door, they opened it, and asked if we were crazy. we both answered simultaneously, "yup! we're missionaries!" it was fun. probably the most fun tracting i've had on my mission so far. we had to run from house to house, but sometimes we just stood out in the rain, cause it was fun. but we're starting to see some good things come out of our work. we got a less active family to come back to church after a year of inactivity. the bishop was impressed, as were the previous missionaries who served here. so that was good. we have found lots of people who are ready, and simply have yet to visit them again. we recently were given a challenge by president richards, (aka, a command) to read the Book of Mormon all the way through by the end of the year, and underline every reference to christ. i'm up to 1 nephi 13 and there are already over 100 references to christ. so this will be fun. anyway, this email grows long and cumbersom. I am Elder Christensen, and i close mine epistle to my family.
love you guys!
love,
Elder Christensen

ps. my companion and I made a goal to incorporate more scriptural language into our everyday language, and so we try things out in our emails home- ya its a little weird, buy hey, we're missionaries. what do you expect? :P

First set of pictures May-July

2009-09-13T21:08:00.001-06:00

The Mission May to July 09

hello to all of you at once- :D

2009-09-07T10:27:00.000-06:00

Family!
wow, you should do that car-write-Elder-Christensen-a-letter thing more often! I loved that! :D collin- im up to 80 push-ups and 250 situps every morning- what sayest thou? :P cara- of course you're busy. you're always busy. :) but keep it up. the world needs more proactive people like you. Anna- Way to go baring your testimony!!! that takes a lot of guts to get up in front of a congregation of people and talk to them. good on ya! Mom- a little jealous of the family day, not gonna lie. not so jealous of the heaps of canning. :P i think i prefer 2 hours of fruitless tracting. (pun intended) haha, but i miss harvest time. you feel so accomplished when its all over, and the tomato fight- please tell me you had a tomato fight! :D haha. and i love your analogies. and that one was absolutely true. Dad- glad you enjoyed the letter. i was kinda proud of it when i sent it off. :P and president richards recently pointed that out to me, that the basics of the gospel are all found in first nephi alone. that was awesome. and guess what?! I'm reading Jesus the Christ, and I'm learning heaps! I really have to work hard to not bible bash now though... today i just found the part where it lists all the books that are mentioned in the bible, but arent actually in it- interesting stuff. and i'm starting to get a bigger vocabulary from reading it too- lotsa big words in there. anyway, this week has been really good. since wednesday, the car battery died, we had a 6 hour weekly planning session, went on trade-offs with the District leader, successfully biked 3 miles over pavement and grass whilst in total darkness with only my companion's tail light to guide me, fasted for a total of 45 hours, discovered that Tarro, something akin to a potato, which i eat regularly, is a natural steroid (oops), been cussed off a door step, been threatened by an owner of a massive german shepherd, but above all, found 2 more people to teach! :D so its been good. i decided that i sorta like biking more than using the car. i sprinted up a hill the other day and found another one right after it, and some how made it up, and waited for my companion to walk his up. so i felt good. :) but this week has been one where i learned a lot. the work is totally different when you can actually feel the spirit with you as you work, and everything you do invites it. i found that i say things that i wouldnt normally say, that i'm more bold than i would otherwise be, and at the end of the day im exhausted! i've slept the best out here than i've ever slept in my life! but besides that, i keep learning every day. it is so awesome to learn something new every day during personal study, and then again during comp study. its very intructive. anyway, i love you all, keep writing letters (please!), and have an awesome week!
love,
Elder Christensen
ps- missionaries thrive off of snail mail letters- but some will say, a letter! a letter! we have already written a letter, and we do not need to write anymore letters. know ye not that there are more days that one? and more than one event in a day? why think ye that these need not be reported? blessed is he (or she) that saith, i will go and wirte the letter which the missionary requests, for i know that the missionary makes no letter requests, save he shall be prepared to speedily repond. And i give unto you the parable of the self-adressed stamped envelopes. a missionary gave three of his friends some self-adressed stamped envelopes-unto one he gave 5, to another he gave 2 and to another he gave one. and while he was gone in the far off land, he that was given five envelopes, wrote 5 letters, and then in his zeal wrote 5 letters more, the same with he that was given 2 envelopes, he wrote 2 letters and 2 letters more, but he that was given one envelope, became lazy and lost the envelope that which he was given. and when the missionary came home, he greeted the friend that had written 10 letters with much joy and gladness, and the same with he that had wirtten 4 letters, but unto him who lost his letter, gave nothing more than a fishy, whimp-like handshake. :D :P

good week, cuz.

2009-09-02T07:16:00.001-06:00

hello family!
well this week has been a long one- temple day was today, so our pday changed to today, rather than monday, so sorry about the delay! but its been a good week, and the temple was awesome! learned a few things, and i saw Elder Tuhoro when i came out! so that was happy. got to talk to him a little bit. this week has been really good though, we have still done a lot of tracting, but im starting to get it down, and it's less of a drudgery now. I'm actually starting to enjoy it. those are words i never thought i would say, but it's true. we found about 3 families that we may be able to teach, and we got into a bible bash- oops. but it ended on friendly terms and we moved on. we also found a few less active families that weren't on the ward list, and committed them to come back to church, and they are doing that, and then, as is common of the polynesians- they loaded us up with food. we got a ton of food. which was good, because we forgot about the extended week last week, and didnt shop for it, so we ran out of food! this morning there was no cereal, and no milk, and no bread! i had yogurt. it was interesting. thats a first for me i think. anyway, we also are teaching a few people and they're awesome. we had a lesson with a guy named michael yesterday, and he's ready. he is SO ready for the gospel. im excited to teach him. we're committing him to baptism next week. we're pretty excited about that. oh, rochelle, no, i havent had to cook much yet, but i have used the cook book, it has been very helpful. I have no requests for it right now.
anyway, i hear yous got my package- just so yous know, i got yours too. loved it. :) I hope yous enjoyed those tim tams, cause i hear they sell them at walmart. you'll have to check that out. :) um... mission life... well, its starting to get hot. today was the first day of spring. or maybe it was yesterday, and it was like the first day of spring in oregon! COLD AND RAINY. i loved it! haha, but its back to normal now, so its in the upper 20's low thirties, and its supposedly climbing next week- joy. oh and guess what? there's lots of polynesians around here, and they've been taking their toll on me, so i have some lava-lavas now. they're quite comfortable. i'd highly recommend getting one. Collin, you'd look good in one. :P
oh that party sounds sweet as! Anna, thanks for letting me know about that baptismal date, thats so awesome! and you, little girl, arent so little anymore, are you? sheesh, stop growing! :P glad you're having a good time. cara- well, who'd a thunk it- you're way busy. surprise! haha, hope you enjoy that. you're crazy. by the way, Elder Bartelt wants to write you. :P i'll send a picture next week.
oh, mom, one elder hales told me that you and his mom found eachother via the blogs- how bout some details bout that?
collin- nice to hear from you bro- haha. i have some funny letter-writing scripture things for you- ill send them next week.
whitney- you're probably at college now, so hope you're having a blast! i cant think of any good advice right now, other than dont do anything i wouldnt do- er something like that. I'll let you know if i come up with anything else. :D
one last thing before i close up, i was reading my patriarchal blessing the other day, the part about my mission, and the thought struck me, hey, i'm where i'm supposed to be. and then, BOOM! spirit hit me like a brick wall, and it was awesome! so, i guess i'm where i'm supposed to be. :P who'd a guessed it.
anyway, i love you all! take care!
Elder Tayler Christenesen

Sacrifice brings forth the blessings

2009-08-23T20:52:00.001-06:00

hey family!how ya'll going? :D well, ill start by answering questions i suppose...
Where is your new companion from?
He's from Sandy, Utah
Do you live in an apartment complex, house, ?
its a house... outside my area. :P ya i get to walk or drive into my area every day. fun fun.
Are you still driving a car?
nope, i actually was no longer driver last transfer, and this transfer, Elder Bartelt is the driver.
Does the new ward have a large geographic area, or is the church population dense?
its a pretty large geographic area. There isn't actually a building for it, it has the top floor of a shopping complex, which also has the stake offices in it. so that's interesting
Do you understand all the lingo now? ya, basically. :P
What is your favorite new expression? "sweet as" it works for almost anything, and you can add "as" to the end of anything to add emphasis.
What is the most different expression you've heard? "stuff it/that/you" :P you can guess what that replaces.
How is your health? pretty dang good! no complaints here.
Have you noticed any change in your energy etc, since before your surgery? ya, i can go harder for longer. i can play rugby for like 2.5 hours without getting way tired, just like everyone else! :D
What are some of your challenges and successes since being an co-senior companion? its hard to decide who does what, and who takes the lead on things, but its also been good in that i have a lot more responsibility, so more is expected of me, so i do more. its a lot more fulflling. but we realized the day after we go here, that not only were we white washing and area, we were re-opening it too. it had been closed for 3 months. so, there was absolutely NO investigators, and no one that we really had to visit. so... this week has been more tracting than i have ever done. its intense. and tiring. and kinda boring, but thats the work. so we do it without too much complaint. :P
ok, thats it. anyway, yesterday was church, and that was really good. there are a lot of pretty interesting people there. its a half polynesian ward, and the people in general are pretty cool. one of the high priest group assistants, brother Oconnor, does a lot of member missionary work, and we heard a lot about him before we met him. then at ward council yesterday, we met him. He's italian, and he's loaded. he had the silk suit, the tie with the matching hankerchief in the coat pocket, gold bracelets, rings, a gold watch with diamond studs, gold framed glasses that were also tinted. and he had the classic long, dark hair slicked straight back. We were pretty surprised by that. but he's actually pretty humble, doesnt talk much about himself, and set us up for like 3 dinners with potential investigators this week. so that was cool. The bishop's wife is hilarious. She's spanish (with an australian accent. go figure) and she has an endless supply of energy. she's cooked us dinner twice already. it was way good. she also started a meal roster, and told the ward about it, and so we have dinner every day this week. we're pretty excited about that. and, we made contact with some former investigators and found a few potentials, so we have some teaching appointments this week too! yay! so thats how the work is progressing. its good, hard work. :)
anyway, my time is running out, so i gotta go.
i love you all so much! keep being awesome!
Love,
Elder Christensen

well, it's starting to warm up

2009-08-19T00:04:00.000-06:00

well this has been a nice change from last week! i really enjoyed every email! Cara, i loved yours, that is a great experience you had. The seminary just did a fireside called "A Walk With Christ" singing about christ's last week of life and whatnot. A girl sang his hands, and got choked up right at the end... it was what made the audience crack. not a dry eye in the chapel. it was awesome. I'm glad you're having such great experiences. Hope you get better soon!
Rochelle- i hope you're home when my package gets there. there's lots of Tim-tams and stuff. enjoy. :) and hearing about Gabe made my day! im excited to see where he'll be when i get home! :)
Anna- keep up the good work babe. you'll be out of primary before you know it. dont worry. :D
Collin- write me bro. I read a funny thing that some missionaries wrote about mail, its written like scripture, and uses some well-known scriptures and changes the words around: Then saith the missionary unto his brother, lovest thou me? and his brother saith, yea. and the missionary saith, fill my letterbox. and again, the missionary says to his brother, lovest thou me? and the brother answered, yea elder, thou knowest i Love thee. and the missionary said, fill my letterbox. and again, the missionary saith, lovest thou me? and the brother saith, yea, elder, thou knowest many things, and thou knowest that i love thee. and the missionary saith, STUFF my letter box. ya. i thought is was funny. there's more of them, but that's the best one i think. :P
anyway, there were some questions that dad asked-
I want to know more about the baptisms last week.
well, they were really good. there are pictures in the package i sent home. the member of the seventy that lives in our ward presided and baptized Pires. it was way good.
How are you getting along with your companion?
Elder Tuhoro and I got along great. we had some good success, and lots of fun.
Any new investigators?
almost, but im not around to see if they become investigatros
Can you tell us an inspirational Story? I heard a quote last night that struck me. "every baptism is a miracle." I heard it at a dinner with the stake president, who had all the missionaries in the zone at his house for dinner because every companionship baptized this transfer, which never happens. so that was really good, but as every companionship talked about their baptisms, i realized that every person that got baptized was a miracle. i came to realize that these were choice spirits of heavenly father, and not just a statistic that we reported at the end of the week. it was really good. there is nothing as good as seeing someone progress so far in the gospel.
When is next transfere day?
TODAY!!!! i got transferred to forest lakes in centenary stake. my new companion is Elder Bartelt, and he's been out for one transfer longer than me. we're co-senior companions, so that'll be interesting. we white-washed the area, and there are no investigators or potentials, so we're starting from ground zero. so im going from tracting only as a last resort, to tracting for hours every day. woo hoo!!!! i actually am pretty excited. anyway, time's running out.
i love you all so much! keep up the good work, and tell Amber congrats for me!
Michael- got your email. good thing you're good a spanish eh? haha, chile will never be the same. have a good one buddy! oh, and cherish your time at the MTC. it will NEVER come back! :P
whitney- black ink, dont care if they retract or not, and ya, pretty sure im all good with sticky notes and envelopes and such. thanks :) hope all goes well for you this next week, and im glad you enjoyed the letter!
ok, time really is up now, so, im signing off. love you all!
Love,
Elder Christensen

NO MORE SCARY STORIES!!!

2009-08-10T11:29:00.000-06:00

Dear Family. Ok, even though i have ton running through my mind right now, I'll follow my own protocol first.
Questions:
1. Can you look at Picas web albums if we send the link? uh, ya. i think so.
2. How did the Baptisms go? AMAZING! they were way good, but the week leading up to it was hectic. we changed the program like a million times. the final program was made just hours before. but the confermations were awesome! The preisthood is real!
3. Tell us about your first encounter with a kangaroo, if you have had one. haha, my first and only encounter with a Kangaroo was in a lasagna. I still havent seen a real one- they're pretty hard to come by in the middle of the city, ya know? :P
ok now i get to say whats on my mind. FREAK OUT FREAK OUT FREAKOUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DAD- you are NOT allowed to EVER pass out in front of Mom Again. full stop. next time you want to spray a hill side behind a ditch, use a back pack sprayer. they tend to be a little safer. dont care if it takes longer. oh, and dont try to be your own doctor any more, please? ok. wow. not gonna lie, dad, you gave me a massive fright. thats one thing i didnt want to hear when i was not in a position to do an emergency come home. and the only emergency come home thats allowed from a mission is one i NEVER want take. im coming home early enough as it is. by the way, no, finishing the last 6 weeks in the states isnt an option. im stuck coming home 6 weeks early. could be worse though. a guy just went home 3 months early because of a passport issue. so im counting my blessings. anyway, Dad, remember last month when i told you i was fasting for you? well, the whole day it felt REALLY important, and then this whole last month i was wondering why... well, now i know. Testimony of Fasting just skyrocketed. ok, well, i wish i could reply to everyone right now, but time is short. so ill do what i can.
whitney- im glad your YW recognition went well, keep it up. :)
cara- glad you're having fun. hope your last week of girls camp was amazing.
rochelle- hope you have a good time on your annniversary. ill definitely let you know what i think of the package and the recording.
Mom- Dad's not going anywhere any time soon. :)
Dad- stay off that ATV for a while, k? :P
love you all, glad you're all safe, and (relatively) pain free.
thank you for your prayers. they are much needed and appreciated.

Good week, yup, yup.

2009-08-05T07:25:00.000-06:00

Family!!!! HI!!!!
well, i have a few big things i need to say, so ill say them first.
1. Im coming home early. dont freak out, its just cause my visa expires early, and so ill come home a transfer (6 weeks) early.
2. after talking to president Richards extensively, i decided that ya'll shouldnt come to pick me up from the mission. HEAR ME OUT- i cant go ANYWHERE with you if you come, no beaches, no water, nothing. I have to stay in pros. clothes, and I really just want to be a missionary til they kick me out of Australia. so, keep saving the money, and we'll ALL come back for summer vacation!!! sound good? sounds good to me. :)
3. We are baptizing Pires on saturday at 6 o'clock. :) good stuff
4. we are baptizing Leticia on saturday at 7 o'clock.
5. Um. oh, there's no number 5. :P
ok, well besides that exciting stuff, the week has been pretty interesting. we dont really have any new investigators, and mom, Jay is still here, we're working on baptizing him, but he's pretty tight financially, and is struggling to keep his wife in school. If she's not in school, they go back to nepal, so thats kinda stressing him out, but we're still working with him. Oh, we went on trade-offs with the zone leaders yesterday, and i went to their area with Elder Taufa, and we did some tracting. Actually, a LOT of tracting. we found this many people: 0.
but, its ok, because i learned a lot, and i mixed up my door approach a lot, and it made it fun, so that was good. And we were car fasting, so we took to the bus or walked everywhere. it was funny. oh, just a side-note, the adress i have posted on the blog is the mission office address, it will ALWAYS be the mailing address unless i go up into the Northern zone, in which case i'll send the address to the flat when that happens. also, for packages, and i hope im not too late on this, you need to send them to the mission office, not the PO box. yup.
On a more deep note, we've been meeting with a less-active guy named jeff for a few weeks now. he's an RM, and a convert. He's had it pretty rough. He has PTSD, which makes him freak out about everything including the sky. i'd explain more about the disease, but ill let you look it up- its the same thing that lots of WWI veterans have- post-tramatic stress disease. Anyway, he has an amazingly deep understanding of the Gospel. Now, when i say Amazingly deep, i mean this guy understands things in ways that i never thought about, and some of the things that he knows, he has been physically restrained from telling people. He went through a really rough time that i wont describe, but he never questioned the existence of God, but rather, he just Angry at God for letting things happen to him, and thats why he went innactive. however, after some long discussions with him, he committed himself to come to church this sunday, so hopefully he's on his way back to recovery.
well, thats pretty much it.
cara- tell jeff that i'm way happy for him, and tell him to send me photos!!! and congrats on your YW medallion, thats awesome!!! im preoud of you little sister!!!
collin- sounds like you're having an awesome time, keep it up.
Marissa- sounds like you're having a blast. good job for keeping things completely honest. thats the way to go. you really are sowing seeds of life that will either make or break your family later. so good on ya!
Dad- thanks for that quote. i know EXACTLY who needs to hear that. ME!!! honestly, that put a few questions to rest for me. further, i have come to realize that the deeper i understand things the more simply i can explain things to investigators. so thanks
Mom- sounds like you're having fun in the garden and with that wheat- haha i wish i was there to help, sounds like something i would enjoy. but im in the right place. so no worries. :)
Rochelle- sounds like your doing good too, the only real suggestion i have for you and your friend, is to bear testimony. Use power statements in your testimony. be bold. there is NOTHING as powerful as testimony.
Whitney- Good on ya! im happy for you and your YW medallion, sounds way good! and a new car hey? wanna know something funny? the 2 cars you have, the camry and the carolla are the 2 official mission cars. haha.

well, its time to go, i've overdone my time. but, i love you all, and i am so happy to be here! i know that the lord's work is the best work there is, so i dont feel bad when people yell "get a real job!" at me as they drive by. they dont know what they're missing =)
ok, the book of mormon is true. the church is true. We have the fullness of truth. any questions? No? Good. Have a good week! I'm way excited to get that recording! :D

Elder Tayler Christensen

Lot's of e-mails--YES!

2009-07-27T10:54:00.000-06:00

wow talk about a contrast- last week i got like 3or 4 emails- this week, i got enough to keep me reading almost until my comp got done writing! and dont worry, i dont really feel forgotten, i figured there was just a timing issue. and mom- i thought your mouse story was hilarious- and now the follow up made me laugh some more. you'll be thrilled to hear that the pests hear arent mice. they're termites. and they can chew through anything. haha. and they aren't particularly affraid of people... yuck. luckily there arent any in my flat. its concrete and 3 stories up. so thats all good.
I am SO EXCITED for Erik! man, he will LOVE the MTC and his mission. its like the best thing since before sliced bread.
Those emails that i got from everyone were sure encouraging. Dad, yours especially put lots of things into prospective for me. its been hard trying to convince myself that i havent failed- but that helped a lot and i think ill get over it. This week has been just as hard with almost every appointment falling through. the best part was actually yesterday. We had a lesson with Pires again, and he ate it up, and we challenged him to baptism on august 8th, and he accepted. He wasnt even surprised. He just said, ya, thats what i need to do. So its set. He was also the only one that came to church. so that was kinda... depressing. we had like 6 people lined up. BUT, we had a good day. Also, saturday evening we were called by a less-active member who we had tracted into who has endured some remarkably trying psychological experiences. His understanding of the Gospel is extremely deep, so deep as to the point of he might know a little too much. It was crazy. He told us some unbelievable things that had happened to him, and asked us to bless his home, and give him a blessing as well. I had the opportunity to bless his home. It was amazing what things came out of my mouth. That home will be protected. The blessing that Elder Tuhoro Gave was even more bold. It covered so much, and promised so many things, i was a little concerned at how bold it was... but Elder Tuhoro doesn't remember any of it, so that has been a learning experience for me. This week has been a realization of many deep doctrines, as well as simple ones becoming simpler. I cant believe how much im learning.
ok before i get booted off, im going to answer some questions-
Have you seen any unusual animals, critters, insects?
if only you knew- haha wallabies are starting swooping season soon... that'll be fun
Where do you go to read e-mail? an internet cafe a few blocks away.
What do you typically do on p-day? whatever i feel like- lol usually we do email, shop, play some sport, eat, write letters, etc. just a relaxed day. pretty good.
How big is your ward-members and geographic area? about the size of sherwood, maybe a little bit into tigard. members- about 200 hundred active, about 700 innactive. (ya, i know thats a huge number)
Rochelle, thanks for your email and happy birthday! for your friend, just encourage her to read and pray about the book of mormon. once she does that, everything else will fall into place.
Anna- you're cute. I better get some pictures of your in that play
Richard- thanks for those great ideas! i cant wait to try them. =) im excited for the prizes! :D
Cara- 2 weeks in a row! have you asked the missionaries about teffaney and david yet?
Whitney- keep at it. have fun. summer before college couldnt have been shorter for me. enjoy it. and congrats on your YWhood recognition! send some pics!
oh, and family- PICTURES OF THE SHOW!!!!
ok well i love you all so much, look forward to hearing from you next week!
love,
Elder Christensen

One week at a time

2009-07-19T21:59:00.000-06:00

Well, it has been a very trying week. Besides the fact that most of our appointments fell through, and we haven't found any new investigators, Gorgi chopped us yesterday morning. She wasn't happy about it, but her partner gave her an ultimatum, and she really has nowhere to go if she moves out, so she chose to stay with him for now... and then the brother and sister from columbia were supposed to come to church, and they didnt. Also, Jay, who we set a baptisimal date with for this week didnt come to church either... very frustrating. we did, however, have a myriad of blessings come from that. We were able to recognize early in the week, that this was a critical week and that we would be worked on very hard. why God has seen fit to take away some of these investigators, i have no idea, but, i do know that even when its way hard to find any kind of motivation, with faith, all things are possible. That has been the focus of my study this week, and it has been a huge help. i have found that faith in God, that he will provide for us if we are actively doing the best we can do, brings those blessings. Yesterday, we had a lesson with Pires, who is from brazil about the plan of salvation. This was done in the presense of a Retun missionary and his wife, a recent convert of 4 years, and in the home of Elder smibert who is in the Area presidency. Those things coupled with their testimonies and feedback made the lesson so awesome, and afterward Elder Smibert Told us that we had done an excellent job. Theres Nothing like being praised by an Area Authority. so that went well. Also, the ward missionary who was responsible for getting us meals with the members showed up this week, had made a calendar, and by the end of church had booked us for dinner every night for the next 2 weeks, and is working on next month's already. We started it off eating at her house last night, which proved to be very entertaining, and very refreshing from the intensity of the day. so that has been really good. so today i finally get to relax, which will be nice. Cara, thanks for you email, i really enjoyed it. and i am just not surprised that you are 3 pairs of shoes richer... haha not at all. You should come to brisbane to do some shopping, there's tons of retro shops and specialty shops everywhere, i even saw a timbuctoo down town. but i'm glad that you are getting into service- there is NOTHING that is so rewarding as service. Keep at it. =)
Whitney, thanks for your email, and have fun with that new laptop of yours. :P I really appreciated your spiritual thoughts, definitely gave me something to think about.
and from the absense of an email from mom and dad im guessing that it probably has something to do with the music man being this week or something like that. so no worries. Also, i think ill be sending home a package this week, so ya'll can get ready to some tim-tam slamming. Dont waste them. they're like Gold. Ill include a video on the card i send home demonstrating how to do it. :P But ya, enjoy that. Anyway, I Love you all, and look forward to hearing how The Music Man goes. Be sure to send some recordings if you can. would LOVE to hear some of those things. Take care, be happy, and remember, there is a 5'8 missionary in australia with brown hair that is becoming blonde, getting a sweet missionary tan, and who is gaining weight (!!!) who needs your prayers. :) I'm praying for all of you. Thank you for all the prayers that have been said on my behalf.
Elder Tayler Christensen

week 2, transfer 2, email 2, companion 2

2009-07-13T22:22:00.000-06:00

Hey family! well i got heaps of questions from ya'll so ill start with those-
Rochelle.
questions:
1. Have you had the chance to give anyone the copies of our testimonies in a book of mormon? Do you need more copies? Not yet, but im giving out 2 tonight. as of yet, i dont need any more copies.
2. Any new investigators? YES! we contacted a referral who asked for a missionary visit just on monday, which i think i mentioned in my last email, and its a brother and sister, and they are getting baptized on the 25th or 26th. =)
3. What is your new companion like? He's awesome. he's very different from Elder Power, so that has taken some getting used to, but he's a great missionary, and i'm learning heaps from him.
4. Have you tried vegemite yet? Yes. its not horrible. its pretty much a ton of vitamin b. its pretty salty. not something ill miss.
5. Are you allowed to look at blogs, websites, or web albums? not really, but if its a link that takes me to some pictures, thats fine.
6. Are you guys riding bikes now? yes, our car is only part time now, so we're using the bikes for the second half of the week.

ok, and now dad's questions about my new comp.
Age: 19
Family: New Zealand (native) 2 little brothers, an older sister and younger sister.
interests: He's big into Rugby, likes basketball, and apparently has changed heaps since being out on his mission, and he's very focused. His interests include finding investigators, teaching investigators, and above all, BAPTIZING investigators. :)
home town: Hamilton, NZ
physical description (for Cara): Bout 6'2" probably about 190 lbs or so, polynesian, very fit, dark hair, brown eyes.
quirky things he does and says: wears a sweat shirt to bed, loves oatmeal for any meal... still finding that out. :P
What you love about him: His undying love for the work, for the people, and for the scriptures. I'm able to learn from him, and he's not above learning from me. helps the whole unity thing.

ok. wow. that was way long. anyway, i have had a very mixed week. its has been very hard, and very rewarding. as i said before, Elder Tuhoro is very different from elder Power, in his teaching and how he approaches people and such, so that has taken some getting used to, and i found that i was praying very earnestly for charity so i could get past all the little things and focus on the work. that seemed to help. so now we're doing loads better. we taught Daniel and Liliana 2 lessons this last week, and gave liliana a blessing because she was in the hospital for a kidney infection, and i was the voice (first time EVER). So i was pretty nervous, and in my head, i said, ok, going to have her heal really fast, and... ya. so i started the blessing, and promptly forgot EVERYTHING. talk about a stupor of thought. however, the blessing that came out of my mouth was not anything i would have imagined. She would have a normal recovery, and it would be a benefit to her, but i also talked about some things that she had told me earlier in the week that i had completely forgotten about, and just covered it all. I dont remember the whole blessing, but she was very appreciative. But i was even more appreciative. The lord has made a promise that if we will open out mouths, he will fill them. And that was exactly what happened. it was amazing.
Oh! and remember Jay? long time investigator? we set a date with him for the 25th!!!! I am so excited!! it will be so good! All the other investigators are doing pretty well, Gorgi is moving faster towards moving out so she can be baptized, so thats good.
Marissa-
another thing that i have been doing that helps with slammed doors, is realizing that people arent rejecting me, they're rejecting the message i share. for you, they're just rejecting the service you offer. Its nothing personal. and if it is, shame on them. Anyway, i'm so glad to hear about your missionary experience, i did know cody thompson, he was a good guy. but like you said, hopefully there will be some hearts softened so that Heavenly father can bless more of his children.
Rochelle-
haha, pilates and yoga, i know EXACTLY how you feel. :P its not easy at all is it? :p but keep up the good work! tell Gabe happy birthday for me! Elder Tuhoro and i sang happy birthday to him over dinner on his birthday, so that was fun. :)
Collin- that sounds like an awesome high adventure, it must run in the family indeed. :P keep up the good work buddy. I really enjoyed your email, it has given me a boost of confidence that i really needed. thanks
Dad-
that was an awesome email. I do know jacob, i used to babysit him. I am so glad to hear that he was being taken care of! only the Gospel can help people in that way, and i love that he had instant friends that helped him do everything! those are my sherwood boys.
Cara- no email this week? gyped! haha its ok, i know you're busy with the beach and stuff... :P love to hear from you.
whitney- dont worry! im sending a package home soon with pictures and everything. landscape as well. its a lot like oregon, pretty hilly, but not horrible.
ok, well my time is gone, so imma get on outta here. time to go grocery shopping! FOOD! YAY!!! i ran out of cereal this morning... good timing.
i love you all so much! have an awesome week, and dont forget to pray for missionary experiences!
Love,
Elder Christensen

July Transfers

2009-07-06T23:49:00.001-06:00

Dear Family, friends, and... um... everyone else! :)
Wow, what a CRAZY week! we did so much, and yet so little. I'll give you the highlights first. Yesterday, monday, we found 2 people, brother and sister who just moved to australia from columbia, who went to church for 2 months before they moved, and we were able to immediately set a baptisimal date with them in 2 weeks time. Also, Gorgi expressed that she knew what she needed to do, and just needed to do it (move out). so we're very excited about that. We taught a guy named Pires from Brazil who's fellowship is none other than Elder smibert the area 70 and his son, Bishop smibert. He's Golden. We're looking at a 3 week baptism. :) I'm very excited for that. Also, after much anticipation and expectations, Elder Power got transferred and i stayed in brisbane city. However, now he's my Zone leader, so he didnt move too far. My new companion is the new district leader, he's Kiwi (new zealander), and his name is elder Tuhoro. Really cool guy, I'm really happy to be sesrving with him. Needless to say however, that both Elder power and I were shocked when we got the transfer call and they said that HE was leaving. EVERYONE was shocked. But, i consider myself blessed to have served with him, and that i get to stay here. :)
ok, the house keeping stuff- yes, everyone's emails needs to come through mom or dad, including stuff from siblings. And thank you whitney for changing it up so quickly. that made me day. If there is one thing i have learned, its that complete obedience is the only way that success comes. so, siblings, emails go to MOM, and then to me. and ya, probably should change those details on my blog. These are mission rules, so they're not in the white bible.
ok, i just have to say that i am SO happy that i got testimonies of prayer from like everyone! this week that has beenn something that i have really worked on, and i too have gained a greater testimony of prayer. its an amazing thing. This past fast sunday was especially good. i prayed for what to fast for, and 3 things came to mind directly. i fasted for 3 miracles. 2 having to do with investigators, and one, for Dad. I dont know what that miracle is, but hopefully it happens, cause it felt like he really needed it. so if anything happens, let me know! Also, im happy to hear that the biskeys are coming in august. Tell them to come to the brisbane ward, it meets at kangaroo point at 9 am. its next to the temple, so that should be an easy landmark. Also, yes, i have a tool down by my drum set that has like everything immaginable which includes, but is not limmited to, nail clippers, screw drivers, a flashlight, and scissors. I need it. it should be in the basket with the my drum sticks. :) OH, and by the way, i have some AMAZING pictures of the city at night, and some cool videos of the sunrise and such. I'll send home the SD card with the package that will be coming sometime this transfer. Ok, so i'll answer those questions now.
Are you happy and content? oh yes. i love missionary work more every day.
Do you love your companion? Elder power is awesome. yes, i love him. and Elder tuhoro, I already love that guy. he's awesome.
Do you feel good about your personal efforts so far? GQing is still hard for me. But i get better everytime i do it, my personal efforts have been my best. I get home every night completely exhausted, so i think thats good. :P
Do you have any new insights about your experience with your heart surgery? Yes, we had a long discussion about the need for a broken heart so that the lord can dwell in it, relating back to that EFY song about broken horses. I realized that my heart got broken in 2 ways at once, and one way i will never heal from, because it was the healing. my heart, although physically fixed, is permanently broken spiritually. it has been amazing to see how much more in tune with the spirit i have become. truly amazing.
Do you think your stamina has increased? YES, we play basketball and footie (rugby) on p-days, and for some reason, they always watch me close, cause apparently now im fast or something... :P who'd a thunk? but yes, my physicall stamina has increased dramatically.
anymore questions? no? ok. :)
Cara- thank you for your letter. I absolutely love hearing about stuff like that, and elder nichol and barret are still there?! yes! ask them about David smith and teffany. keep up the good work lil sister, and remember, you NEVER know who is ready, so take a leap of faith, and invite your best friends to church. It will be a blessing to you.
Collin- you better send me that recording of your john shmidt piece ASAP! i want to hear it! and keep up the good work brother, its hard, but it pays off!
oh, tell Eric that the mission is AWESOME!!! He'll love it.
Tell uncle craig to get better soon.
OH! by the way, i got that package on thursday! loved it! thank you so much for that! it made my day and week! :D ok, i gotta go now, but i love you all so much! I know i'm where i'm supposed to be, and i know without a shadow of a doubt that the church is true, and that it is the ONLY church with the fulness of truth on the earth today. keep up the good missionary work!
love,
Elder Christensen
ps, i heard fireworks for a total of 4 minutes on the 4th of july. and i think those people had the cops called on them... oops. :P

long week...GOOD week =)

2009-06-29T09:15:00.001-06:00

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)

Zone Temple Day was P-day

2009-06-24T09:13:00.002-06:00

WOW everyone is doing so many things! i cant even keep it straight in my head! haha, its sounds like everyone is having so much fun, that youth conference sounds AWESOME!!! collin and cara are lucky! and collin- way to go keeping up the christensen tradition at the dances. cant let that one die.
Marissa, its been good to hear from you! and dont worry, i totally get the too busy to do much thing... happens to me every day. :P and dont worry, the door-knocking gets easier. after a while, you learn to laugh at people when they're mean like that. Speaking of tracting, i did a LOT this week. AND it wasn't even bad! i finally got over my fear of knocking on doors and talking to people i dont know! well mostly anyway. but now i can actually talk to people and not trip completely over my words! AND i'm starting to pick up the vernacular and accent... i know some of you will be happy about that. :) Anyway, the week has been so amazing, i went on trade-offs twice. both with missionaries who have been out for only a transfer longer than me, and both of them came to my area, so i found out that i REALLY need to learn how to plan effectively REALLY fast. haha. Elder Power is helping me with that. also, we have a new investigator, we taught her the first lesson on her door step yesterday, because she was home alone, and we cant go in to the flat without another male over 18, so that was kinda a bummer, but the lesson was really good. Oh, and the investigator whom we taught the law of chastity to is still going strong. She knows what decision she needs to make, but her partner is making it difficult for her. But her faith isn't shaken. she's still progressing, and we are helping her move more toward those decisions she needs to make in the near future.
oh my gosh! DAD! HAPPY VERY BELATED FATHERS DAY! sorry, i would have sent you some tim tams so you could do some slams, but as it turned out, We finished off the last 2 packs of them in about 15 minutes last saturday after we taught 4 discussions and committed 8 people to come to church in one day! so that was good.
i cant reply to everyone's email in this one, cause i'm running out of time fast, so im just going to say thank you for all of your inspiring letters- they have helped me quite a lot. :)
but there are SOME things that i want to adress- collin, sorry bout that having to burn stuff all by yourself, i totally know how that goes. one suggestion i have for you is to put some conference talks on you mp3 player. they're great. :) Also, that package, i hope there's some chocolate in it, cause i ran out! :P
OH! i know that lots of you like to just send email because snail mail takes so long, BUT there is NOTHING like getting hard mail... i love it. so if you feel so inclined, get out some paper and a pen.

some things i've learned this week- there is nothing as powerful as a prayer said out loud. its amazing how the spirit can work through you for you as you pray. also, dad you always told me about how sometimes when you're teaching, you say something thats even new to you, and you're like, "whoa... i didnt even know that!" well, i was always like, oh thats cool, hope that happens... and then wa BAM! like 3 times in one week, i just throw stuff out that im like, WHAT! how did i come up with that? its pretty crazy. i love it though. Also, i found that when you pray for a testimony, you get it. i found that i wanted and needed to bear more powerful testimony, so i prayed for it and studied and did all that, and its coming, i really have been able to cater it towards individual investigators, and it has made a HUGE difference. Anyway, I'm running out of time, but i'm sorry that once again my email is late, we had zone temple day today, so today became out p-day rather than monday, so thats that. ok. well, i really have to go now, we still have to shower and get to an appointment in an hour-- by the way, rugby, or "footie" is like the most fun sport ever. ok, I love you all so much! pray for missionary experiences and they will come! also, this is a startling figure- president richards said that something like only 5 people in every ward are ready and willing to help the missionaries with the work- something to think about. :P anyway, now i REALLY gotta go. Love you all so much!
Elder Christensen

Another Week

2009-06-15T15:10:00.000-06:00

Hey family!
ok, so new idea. you should take all of your questions and combine them into one list so i can go through and answer all of them! haha I'll do my best. Also, a re-emphasis on the fact that Mom or Dad are supposed to be the first recipients of any mail i send. President Richards said specifically that that included siblings- sorry to be a kill joy, but i've recently been finding out how many blessings come from complete obedience. Ok, now I'll try and answer all of your questions. :)
Leticia is Ethiopian, her last name is Bandibombe. Gorgi's last name is Askham, she's English. Jay's last name is Singh. he's nepalese. Jay is THIS close to quitting smoking, and we hope to getting baptized. Leticia is waiting for her mom to get into Aus. so she can show her what the church is all about. We're reteaching all the lessons to make sure she understands. Gorgi, made some decisions about her defacto relationship that we weren't thrilled about, but we then taught her a lesson about obedience, and i think she figured it out. We also gave her a blessing of Comfort and counsel. it was really good. So we'll see if she figures it out this week. Also, This week we had 8- count them EIGHT investigators at church INCLUDING a family of 5 who is muslim. The mother is so Christlike. she asked for a BofM after church, and they committed to come to church next week. Thats a very delicate position though. The Mission president has to interview any Muslim Investigators before we start teaching them becuase many of them are refugees and if they go back to their native countries being any form of Christian, they can be tortured and/or killed. But before that they have to be progressing and keeping committments. So they have to read and Pray about the BofM and be coming to church for 3 weeks straight before the interview can even take place, and before we can formally teach them. so that will be an adventure. The members here are great. Every sunday at church, there are 2 or 3 people who just walk up and ask us to come over for dinner. and then during the week they call us up too. The ward mission is AMAZING and the Ward Mission Leader is the best I have ever heard of. Even my trainer is impressed, and he's been out for 18 months! And am i being fed? haha... lets just say that a good portion of the ward is POLYNESIAN. :P that ought to answer that question. I'm pretty sure I am slowly making my way 140 lbs. Oh, and i remember Dad asking about my companion... Go to RubberBall.com and type in NERD. That would answer a few questions. :) but i recently went on trade-offs with one of the zone leaders and he told me that Elder Power is legendary. Most missionaries hear of him long before they ever meet him apparently. And since then, he's not the only person i've heard that from. So i guess i'm pretty lucky. :) He's also one of the funniest people i have ever met- sort of reminds me of collin. but in a marissa sort of way... If that makes sense. :P Ok, this is funny. so yesterday, it was about 15 degrees. so like 60ish. Everyone was walking around it sweatshirts and coats, and even Elder Power had on a sweater. I was walking around in my short-sleeved shirt. Everywhere we went, people invited us in because it was "so cold." oh man, i nearly died every time i realized that they were serious. :P oh, funny thing about driving here. you do about 50 in residential areas, about 60 in the cities, 80 on the highway and anywhere from 80 to 110 on the freeways. Faster if you're in the middle of nowhere. ok, now take all of those numbers and convert them from KM/H to MPH. and imagine that the speedometer has no MPH on it. makes driving really fun. or something. :P Wow dad that's really cool about Brynn! I do remember her. Tell her Hi for me. :D
Cara! so who's surprised you got a 4.0? raise your hand- anyone? anyone at all? No? ya. Me neither. :P haha im glad to know that you're still doing so well. and the telethon thing... haha i know ALL about answering phones for extended periods of time. fun, aint it? Oh, and i DO have pictures for you, but i'm getting a bunch of other stuff to send home too- there's these cookies that they have here- called tim tams. kind of like those fudge-covered graham crackers mom used to buy, but so much better. We do these things called "tim-tam slams" they're fun, you bite off the opposite corners of the tim tam, and then suck hot chocolate through it, and then when it starts to melt, you slam it into your mouth. its way good, i'll send home a pack so ya'll can try it.
ah, the breakfast cereals are lacking. you know how we have like whole isles devoted to them? ya they have half of a short isle on one side in a BIG grocery story. But they have this cereal called crunchy nut- its like honey-nut corn flakes, way good. some culture stuff- people dont say "how you doing?" they say "how you goin?" the police cars look like checkered race flags, they have their own car dealership called Holden, which makes cars much like Toyota and Ford, but way cheaper. Everyone is really laid back. Even the worst rejection i've had has been really polite, and ended with, "have a good one mate." oh, there are no j-walking laws. so you can cross at cross walks, but ya dont have to. oh, and "far out" is the latest term for "cool." there's a bunch of other slang that i've picked up, as well as some of the accent, but that would take pages to write. We'll just say that when i call home, you'll be entertained I'm sure. :)
Collin- sorry to hear your piano recital was kind of a bummer, but knowing you, you prolly rocked the house anyway. The high school really does need mom's help. :P
Anna- Glad to hear you did so well at your dance recital. I bet that'll be a life-long enjoyment for you. I'm excited to see how you'll be when i get back. :) i hope someone took video.
Whitney- sounds like you had a blast at graduation! I'm happy for you! Keep up the good work. :) i sent you a letter a little while back, and I'm sending another one soon, so hopefully you get those soon.

Ok, well, i gotta go, I love you all so much, and i Know that i am where i am supposed to be. Keep up all the missionary efforts!

Elder Christensen

All Hail the Queen!

2009-06-09T22:48:00.001-06:00

Hello family and friends!
well, in explanation of my late email, it was the queen's birthday on monday, and we make it a practice to always proselyte on holidays cause everyone is at home! so we did. most people were home. we had some VERY interesting conversations one in particular with a guy who was probably in his 50's who was a psychiatrist of some sort who wouldn't shut up about how God doesnt speak to man, and how he had the bible all figured out, and how he changes over time... really quite entertaining, but it made me so sad because i realised how lonely and dark a life that must be- but we definitely planted some good seeds elsewhere. then, tuesday was zone conference, which was amazing- president richard's son gave a training on effective tracting and street contacting. i took like 5 pages of notes on just his talk. so that was good. so today, wednesday is the day for p-day. sorry bout that. anyway, its been a crazy week. Leticia, who we started teaching 2 weeks ago, dropped contact with us for a while, cause her mom freaked out again, but came to church again this last sunday. She said she just needs to wait for her mom to get hear, and then calm her down before she gets baptized... so it probably wont happen this transfer, but she IS getting baptized. So we will continue to work with her. Also, We satrted teaching a girl named Georgie who lives with a less-active member. Her partner, Dan, isnt at all interested in coming back to the church, but georgie is eating it up! Completely Golden. we taught her the first 2 lessons last week, and she was so excited! I have never seen someone so intensely focused on what i was saying before. I cant even describe how that room felt, it was amazing, the spirit was so strong, and she wants to learn more so bad. She's reading, and praying and calling her partner's mother who is active for questions she has, and just eating it up! She's been to church every week, and loves it. Tonight is going to be her moment of truth though... Dad i dont know if you remember "The District" but the part where they tell that one couple that they either have to get married or move out before the lady can be baptized... ya we're doing that EXACT same thing with Georgie tonight. We're covering the 3rd lesson and the law of chastity. so hopefully she'll see the wisdom in that. Also, we are teaching a Nepalese guy who the sisters before us had taught, and committed to baptism. He's going to be baptized for sure, but he moved too quickly and didnt include his wife in the decision and she freaked out. so we're still working with him, but he post-poned his baptism. He also needs to quit smoking, so we are working with him on a stop smoking program that the church puts out, and he's already made significant progress.
ok, so i asked my mission president if I was allowed to email the siblings- unfortunately i can't- but i can write to them in this email, and ya'll can email mom or dad and they can forward it to me. sorry guys.
anyway, Dad, you are right, the feelings of inadequacy and homesickness have indeed kicked in. I spent a long time on my knees and in journal and in the scriptures trying to get over it. finally, I just said, this is not about me, or about getting home. its about God's children, and THEM getting home. when i had that thought, i had so much peace come over me, it was almost intoxicating- addictive. it helped me get through the day on monday. now, i think im back to normal. but dad, your advice was well-timed. Also, Just this morning in my personal study, i did indeed read about what makes a missionary successful. Made my day. :)
Collin-
you are so lucky you can play the piano. I am just realizing how incredibly effective it is to learn. you can play ANYWERE, and some investigators love it when you can play a church song for them. Keep it up. Also, you will be interested to know that I am still driving the car, and I'm getting better at it. I'm to the point now that going back to America and driving there will be weird. And no, we actually dont even have bikes. the office still hasnt sent them. we're not exactly sure why.
Cara-
I am so happy to hear that you are doing so well! Ya, you know how the blinker stick is on the left side of the steering wheel and the windshield wiper turner-oner is on the right side of the steering wheel? WELL, its opposite here, so im used to turning on the blinker, and all I do is turn the windshield wiper on! :P oh, and we had our first real day of winter yesterday. it got down to a whopping 67 degrees last night! brrrrrrr!
Anna-
What? no email? hmmm.... well i hope you're doing good, missy. Good luck with your dance recital! i wish i could see it! you'll have to have someone take video or something and send me the SD card.
Marissa-
EMAIL ME. i want to hear about you too. tell me about califoria! and your job, and everything!
Rochelle-
well I'm glad you're feeling better. As it turns out, I didnt catch what my companion had, so im considering myself lucky. also, with that chinese woman that you VT, you are so right about not breaking contact with her! We had a training at district meeting about how crucial it is for investigators and less-active members to have fellowship in the their wards at church and out of church. contact with someone other than the missionaries WEEKLY is vitally important for them. So, you definitley have the right idea, keep it up! :)
Mom- haha... just your luck to go to all that work spraying and then have it dump on you huh? :P sorry to hear that. well the wind sounds like it was pretty intense. i kinda wish i saw it. that would have been cool. hope it didnt rip the flag up- we just got that thing.
whitney-
haven't gotten your letter yet, but they only give mail at Zone conference, transfers, and then the district leader council. so... not often. but we'll see. anyway, i dont know when graduation is, or if it already happened, but im way proud of you!

anyway, i love you all, have a good week! I should be back on schedule next week. :)
Elder Christensen

ps- i remember you asking me if i have minesterial certificate- answer is yes. in fact i have 2. because they spelled my middle name wrong the first time. so i have 2 now. :P go figure. maybe ill send that one home so you can have a look at it. :)

First Days in Australia

2009-06-01T21:51:00.000-06:00

hey family! (and friends!)
wow, this has been such an amazing week, full of many trials, blessings and tender mercies. I left the MTC with full intentions of traveling alone, and hopefully talking to some people. there were 4 other missionaries who traveled to LAX with me, they were all going to thailand though, so we were going to different terminals for the last leg of our flights. i found mine, and checked in, and FINALLY got to call home! that was so good for me, i needed to hear your voices. :) Im glad to hear that the garden has been planted, and that the ATV is fixed! i've been planting my own garden as it were, and am starting to see the fruits already. I'll give you the details from the time that i got off the plane in australia. the plane ride, by the way, was very uneventful, and i slept for most of it. upon arrival in the airport, i had to go through customs, and throw away the bagel that i had, because of the quarantine laws. Also, because i was still sick, i had to go be screened for the swine flu, which, come to find out, i didnt have. but i already knew that. anyway, i got my luggage, and by the way, one wheel of my medium sized luggage broke somewhere in the flight, so, i had to drag it seperately... wa hoo. :P anyway, after making it thought customs, I found President Richards and his wife very quickly, and got to know them a little bit, and then loaded up my luggage, and drove to the mission office with the APs. I had a brief orientation, which by the way, im supposed to tell you, that i can only email mom and dad, but im going to ask for permission to email the siblings as well, but i dont think that will be a big deal. if not, ill just email yall through mom and dad. so after that, i was told that we were going to lunch at the mission home, and then we would get a surprise... which was that Elder Jeffrey R. Holland came to speak to the mission! i got to shake his hand and talk to him just briefly! it was SO COOL! then he spoke about running with everything we've got. he said that we should be coming back to the flat so tired, we can barely make it through daily planning. well that wasnt too hard the first few days, i found i barely made it past lunch, but that was jet-lag. anyway, after that meeting, i met my trainer, Elder Power. he's been out a year and a half, has trained twice before, been a zone leader twice, and district leader 3 times. he currently is the district leader as well. So, He's training, the district leader, AND we whitewashed into the area- which means that he got there the day before i did, so we're both new to the area. the area, by the way, is brisbane city, and our flat is just a few blocks from the temple, which is on the same grounds as the chapel. its beautiful. so, the first thing we did besides go to the grocery store and unpack, was go to ward council. i barely stayed awake, and barely made it home. OH! thats the other thing- my trainer isn't allowed to drive- too many speeding tickets. so guess what i got to do? yup. drive. on the left side of the road, on the right side of the car, and the blinker stick thing is on the opposite side as well, so instead of turning on the blinker, i turned on the windshield wipers... im still getting it down. but its not too hard to adjust... havent had any close calls yet. :P anyway, so the next day i got my first taste of tracting and GQing... pretty much street contacting. i FROZE up, but on the first door when i did the talking, we got in, and had the first lesson, and had a prayer. i dont think that we'll be going back there, but it was a nice confidence-booster for me. anyway, that night we had an appointment with a girl named Leticia- she's from Ethiopia, and she's a refugee living by herself. We went in with fellowshippers who she knows, and taught her about the book of mormon... turns out she has had many lessons before, and even had committed to baptism before, but her mother would call from ethiopia and just yell at her until she promised to not be baptized. so we talked about that with her, and decided that we would pray with her, and we would fast with her this coming fast sunday. she aggreed, and took a leap of faith, and again, made a commitment to be baptized on june 13th! i was overjoyed. it was so amazing. so later in the week, we went to an english class at the church, (there are lots of oriental people here who speak little or no english) and that was good, but afterwards, one of the ladies that was there, asked me what "elder" meant, and that got us started on the first discussion. I gave her a pass-along card, the restoration pamphlet, and the Plan of Salvation pamphlet... she was really interested, and i just wanted keep piling stuff on her, the gospel of jesus christ, the word of wisdom, law of chastity, the proclamation to the world on the family, and the Book of Mormon, but i resisted that, and just let her soak in what i had told her, and she said she would be back next week and would tell me what she thought of it. that was awesome. anyway, after that, Elder Power started get some stomach cramps, and so we didnt go out anymore, that was saturday. sunday came, and we made it to church, and we bore our testimonies... i have to admit that hearing a sacrament meeting all with people who were australian and in that accent was a new experience. i had to really pay attention to what was being said or i didnt understand it. it was pretty difficult. some were easier to understand than others, and the weird thing was that the accent seemed to go away when they sang... i dunno, i thought that was kinda funny. anyway, after that, we made it home again, and Elder Power didnt feel well at all... he had been throwing up the night before, so we stayed in the flat, and rested. Monday came around and that was our P-day, and he still felt horrible, so again we spent the whole day in the flat, but we talked for a very long time and got to know eachother better, and that was really good for us. so just for future reference, i wont be emailing on tuesdays, we just couldnt leave the flat on monday. so ya. anyway, that has been my week so far, and hopefully i'll more to tell you about investigators and whatnot next week. I love you all so much! Im so glad i am where i am, i know that i am doing the work that God has for me to do, and i wouldnt want it any other way. :)
Again i love you all,
Love, Your Favorite Missionary,
Elder Tayler Christensen

It's Official, Tayler is Down Under!

2009-05-26T14:33:00.003-06:00

It is 1:20pm and I just checked arrival times for Brisbane flights from LAX and it said that they all arrived 5 minutes ago--it is 6:20am on Wed there now.

Phone Call from LA-Monday May 25

2009-05-25T23:14:00.004-06:00

We had a great 25 minute chat with Tayler as he was waiting at the LA airport for his flight to Brisbane. He said he had left the MTC at 4:30 PM with 2 elders and 2 sisters who were headed to LA to connect to their flight to Taiwan. He called just before 10:00 PM and was waiting near his gate for his flight which was leaving at 10:30. After 16 hours of airtime he will arrive in Brisbane on Wednesday morning at 6:00 AM--missing all of most of Tuesday in the process. He's traveling alone from LA to Brisbane!

It was good to hear his voice! He said he was feeling pretty good, but has had a cold, and was coughing a bit. The MTC has been wonderful, and he has a great attitude about getting out in the mission field. His days have been full with class, practice teaching, answering calls at the 'call center' (referrals from church media), and everything focused on teaching, not learning about the culture of Australia. I guess he'll learn about that when he gets there. We were pleasantly surprised to find out just this morning when he e-mailed that he would be calling. We'll get an e-mail when he gets to the mission office. We'll keep you all posted!

Departing the MTC Monday May 25

2009-05-21T16:05:00.007-06:00

Here's a quote from a snail-mail letter to Dad:
Hey Dad,

Well, It's p-day, and I didn't get to write you much on email. So here's this. :) But the MTC is GREAT I am so happy to be here. I am very well in body, spirit, and mind. I have a little cold, which my whole district seems to have. So I dunno who started it. But I have been very well besides. My companion Elder Dana is a workaholic, so we work out every night. We figure we'll do this our whole mission, so we'll come back NOT fat, ripped and with an Aussy accent. Irresistible, right? Ha ha. Anyway, he's a hard worker, and we've done well. We try to teach a lesson at least twice a day. I talk a lot, and he bares very powerful testimony. So we've trying to get him to talk more, and me less, and for me to bear testimony more often. We've improved a lot this week.

Also, something that might interest you, is that I got my flight plans this week. I'm leaving the MTC on Monday the 25th at 4:35, and flying to LAX where I have about a 2-3 hour layover. Then I'll fly straight to Brisbane, arriving about 5 in the morning for them. I'll lose a whole day on the flight. Oh, and the kicker, I'm traveling alone. Joy :P
I love you Dad,
your favorite missionary,
Elder Tayler Christensen

This is my district. The guys on top left to right are Elder Radford and Elder Edmonds. The Elders standing left to right, are Elder Deaux, Elder Dana, and me, sitting from left to right are Elder Haynie, Elder Finn, and Elder York.

My district at about 7:00 on Saturday...No exercise period, No P-day, and study ALL day! Needless to say we slept well that night. :)

Had to get one of these...:) [classic pictures]

This last winter was really cold I guess...

[ya, they look like it was rough on them]

Me and Elder Dana jacking a golf-cart thing :p

The MTC is treating me well.

2009-05-18T13:52:00.000-06:00

Well, the MTC is treating me well. It's way more studying than i have ever done in my life. I'm sure that doesnt come as much of a shock to most of you, but hey, its true. I've been able to teach several lessons for practice, (14 this week) and that has been very helpful. we just started lesson 2 this weekend too. its a lot of doctrine to be covering in one lesson, but thats ok. I like it. This last week has been amazing. I have really been able to bond with my district, and we're becoming brothers. yesterday, for sacrament meeting, we sang "A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief" as a whole district. Not gonna lie, it was amazing, and the spirit was so strong, we all had to fight the tears down just so we could finish. On a more funny note, I was in the Referal Center on Wednesday and Took a call from a homeless man in missouri. He was calling from a Hotel Room, and wanted the whole Mormon History. I Gave him a brief run-down, and we had a long conversation about various things. The funniest part was when he started talking about polygamy. He wasn't even fased that it had happened, he thought it was funny, and then when i told him that we didnt do it anymore, he was like, "good, its not a sin, its just stupid. You have to buy all of them jewlery and toiletries, and then they all start PMSing at the same time, and gang up on you..." among other things that i wont repeat. I have to say though, i Got a kick out of it, and so did my district. We listened to it again later in the week. Anyway, thats the week's run-down. Thanks for all the letters, i really appreciate them, keep them coming! :)
Love,
Elder Tayler Christensen

what? has it been a week already?

2009-05-12T14:12:00.001-06:00

what? has it been a week already?

May 11, 2009

well, no, it hasn't, but its close enough right? :) hey family! how's everyone doing? i would send this to cara too, but i dont know her email, so if someone could forward this to her so i can get it that would be great! anyway, the MTC is great. the beds are at least semi-comfortable, the food is dang good, (but nothing compared to mom's home cooked meals) and although there are no wheaties for breakfast in the mornings, there is almost always something that i can drown in syrup, and there is an endless supply of LIFE! haha anyway, on to more serious matters, my district is awesome, we all just clicked right away, and my companion, Elder Dana, is a great guy. one of the elders in my district, Elder Radford knows Aubrey Pape, so that was kinda cool.
This week has been one of the best hardest weeks that i have ever had. It was really tiring. On saturday alone, we had 12 hours of classroom time, 9 of which were with an instructor. it was good though, we practiced door approaches, and once everyone did well, it started getting goofey. But the rest of the week has been full of spiritual experiences. I have learned (at least a little bit) how to teach by the spirit. It's been amazing. My companion and I practiced teaching one of the teachers the first discussion. We had planne how we were going to teach it, and had all the points we were going to discuss ready to go, and i think we might have used 2 of the 9 things we wrote down. It really was amazing. Yesterday, we were able to attend priesthood and sacrament meeting, which was really good. In priesthood, we talked about the atonement at length, and I gained a new appreciation for it. Later in the evening they showed a bunch of films, and my distict saw "The Mountain of the Lord." I know we own this movie, but this time, when i saw it, it really touched me, especially knowing what I know now about the temple, it was a very spiritual experience, and especially since I am focused on the missionary aspect of it, that part really interested me. (If you're not sure what I'm talking about, just watch the movie for FHE tonight, and you'll get it :)

Anyway, just so you know, you can give my email out to people, but tell them to include their mailing adress with the email that they send, because I can only reply with snail mail, but anyone is allowed to send me email.

I love you all so much, and I wish I could have seen you all on mother's day yesterday. I LOVE YOU MOMMY!!!! (you can post that part with the blog if you like:P) But i know that I am where I am supposed to be. This truly is a marvelous work, and the field is white all ready to harvest. I will very soon be thrusting in my Sickle with my might.
Collin, Keep doing what you're doing, you're on the right track buddy.
Cara, if the guys aren't planning on going on missions, they aren't worth your time.
Anna, Keep being cute, keep growing, but stop when you get to like 5'7" or something. Be good! :)
Dad, thank you so much for being the greatest dad ever, you have taught me well, and it WILL pay off.
Mom, i love you so much! thank you for teaching me how to do all those basic house keeping things... I am discovering that there are very few here who have that kind of training.

Give Gabe and Rochelle and Marissa my love.

Elder Tayler Christensen