Called To Serve Him, Heavenly King of Glory, Chosen Heir to Witness for His Name.

This Week Began like any other. Except for the snow. Thats uncommon in Oregon. Anyway, we received a call from the bishop saying that my mission call was in the mail as of the last friday. It was sunday. I was so excited, that meant that it COULD be there by monday! Well monday came and went. so did tuesday. wednesday was an interesting day. I swore it would come that day. We ended up checking like 3 times. the third time, was about 8 pm, and we decided to use the van to go down the driveway to the mailbox. Going down was just fine. However, there was no mail at all, let along my call. On the way back up my driveway, we got around the first bend before we lost traction. we started spinning, and ended up breaking both sets of cables on the van. Now unable to go anywhere, and since all the boys were there, there was no one up at the house jump on the ATV and come down and get us. so what did we do? we walked the remaining half mile up the driveway, and put the chains on my dad's truck. we went in and warmed up, and then went back down the driveway and this time left collin at the house just in case. So we went down, and connected the van to the truck, and that was a painstakingly frustrating process itself, but my dad would know more about that than me. Anyway, once we got them all connected, My dad got in the truck, and i got in the van, and with our phones connected, started up the driveway. We made it without incident, but we just barely made it. We haven't take the van out again since, but we knew at least now that we would not be taking the van to pick up my sister and brother in law from the airport the next day. So the next day rolls around, we take a friend to the airport, and do some christmas shopping, and then get Marissa and Richard. We came home, no problems, checked the mail, and there was a huge stack of mail. No envelopes big enough to be the call though. On Friday, i woke up late, and did very little in the moring. finally 3 o'clock rolled around, and i could no longer take it, so i hopped on the ATV and drove to the bottom of the hill. there was yet another huge stack mail in the box. but this one was different... there was a BIG white envelope around it all. I excitedly took it out and looked at the return adress- The church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints- President's office. I looked at the recipient- ELDER Tayler Quin Christensen. I shouted, yelled, whooped- and a car drove past, with lots of people in it... i smiled and waved. then put my head down, got back on the ATV and raced back up to driveway. Upon ariving home, i stuffed the call up my sweatshirt and then carried the other mail in. My mom said she was sorry i didnt get my call, but marissa saw right through it, and i had to take it out and wave it in front of everyone. My dad wasn't home though, and my sister was unreachable, so i had to wait to open it. FINALLY after a few hours of snow play, at about 7:30, we called my sister Rochelle, my grandma, and a few other relatives and i was ready to open it... but then my dad and my Rochelle's husband BJ decided to set up the web cam. that took about 5 minutes. the whole time they were doing that, i had ripped open the envelope, and had the letter and the packet in my hand, but couldn't yet take it out... FINALLY the web cam was set up and i pulled the letter out and scanned it quickly. Now, before this My family had taken a poll on where they thought i would go. Knowing my family, i was not surprised to hear things like Russia, Bulgaria, Poland, and- heaven forbid- siberia. I personally had been hoping for Germany. I read it out loud. "You are assigned to labor in the Australia Brisbane Mission." THere was a deafening roar as my family cheered and yelled. I was very happy. I realized a little later that my mission would cover the whole North East quarter of australia, and then another realization hit me... it was in the souther hemisphere... all my seasons will be opposite from home. That will be interesting. There is so much more to tell but i will not bore you few readers. I will end now with my testimony. I know that I have been called by God to work in Australia. I know that that is EXACTLY where I am supposed to be. I know that this i God's work and that this is his true church. I know that Joseph Smith really was the intrument through which God restored the fullness of the Gospel to the earth in these latter days. I know That Christ suffered and died for all, and that thorugh him, all can be saved and return to live with heavenly father. I Love heavenly Father And Jesus Christ. This is Truly their work, and I am honored to be able to take part in it.

I know there aren't that many pics... i gotta get the other ones from my friends... dont worry, I'll have them soon. :)

This is Why i Love my Family

So upon arriving in Utah, I was greeted by all the men in my family watching the BYU-Utah football game. BYU lost. sad day. Anyway, i had massive amounts of junk food, and games, and AH! it was great! and then my sisters and mom got back, they all got their hair cut. they all look so cute! but then again, they always look cute... oh well. haha. Anyway. On suday we went to church, and that was good, and then we came home, and all of a sudden i was no longer tired. weird, huh? so My brother-in-law and i played a computer game, called Armegatron while the rest of my family took naps. eventually we got all the guys playing this game. its pretty funny. not even like a high-excitement game, just fun. haha. anyway, monday, we went and saw my grandma, and she was perky, and fun, she told us great stories, and it was so fun! then came home, and made dinner, then we had FHE, and that was good, and i consecrated oil for the first time, and that was neat. So then we were going to watch a movie, but we started playing Armegatron again, and that didnt end up happening... pretty sure we played for almost 4 hours. is that sad or what? Anyway, today i slept in and then watched narnia with my younger siblings, and made fun of it with them, that was fun. then i went and played raquetball with all the guys. Didnt win except when i played my little brother, and then the second game of doubles playing with my dad against collin and BJ. Fun! then we had dinner, which was amazing, then we watched a movie-Charade. its a good one. so that brings us to now, and now im going to sleep.
lata
Tay

The Power of Priesthood

Last night I as able to help perform a priesthood blessing for my friend Anny. I was already at the apartment and Anny was pretty sick from what I can tell. I'm not really sure what it was, but it made her vomit earlier in the day, and was keeping her from moving or talking much. Her Roommates called one of their FHE brothers to come over for the blessing, and he came over soon after. I, being inexperienced in such things, performed the anointing. Their FHE brother sealed the anointing and gave the blessing. It was such an amazing experience! I could feel the spirit so strong whlie he spoke, and he blessed her that she would be able to go to all her classes and keep up with her work. Today, when i went to devotional, I sat with them, and Anny was back to being herself, and said that she felt all better. For my first time ever participating in giving a blessing, I'd say that was a pretty big Faith-builder. I knew the that the priesthood worked, but that was the first time that I had ever put it to use myself.

rain, rain, go away. or just snow.

ba haha. its RAINING! i brought the Oregon whether with me. not cold enough to snow, but cold enough to be 33 degrees! UGH! its actually pretty funny, cause they usually have snow by halloween. And its almost thanksgiving! and that pretty much puts me out of a job until it starts snowing again... i NEED that snow!

Oreos are my new staple food.

Forever a VIKING. FOREVER ULTIMATE!!!!

Much could be said about bad sportsmanship as well as bad calls in athletics. It seems that you can always blame the ref for losing a game. In ultimate frisbee, there is no such accusation. There are no Refs. Not even on the international level. Its in the spirit of the game. You call your own fowls. Everything is called by the players. And only those who are involved can call anything. It is for this reason, that sometimes a player or players can change the outcome of a game by calling fouls left and right. Such a thing happened today. In most cases I wouldn't care. However, it is because of this that my team the Vikings, have lost there seat in the Ultimate Frisbee playoffs. Am I bitter? maybe a little bit. This is the first time that I have lost a game in which I dont feel Defeated. I feel robbed. I try to be a good sport about everything and shake things off quickly, and I usually succeed. However, its so much more than the game, its the team. I dont feel bad for myself. I feel bad for my team. We developed a bond that few other teams have. That Bond has kept us together and made us successful. Last night we beat the first team we lost to by an emabarassing margin. 13-4. Stomped them. The Vikings came together. We were tight. Like unto a dish. So is it really over? NO! I love these guys. We will all forever be the Vikings, brothers. No matter what happens to us in the futute, we will all belong to that brotherhood. We are FOREVER VIKINGS! FOREVER ULTIMATE!!!! TO- THE- FRISBEE!!!!!

Fun With Chloe!

Dancing is so much fun when there's no instruction! ba haha.

Halloween weekend fun... :)

OK. this is my amazing 5k team. And yes, that really is the magic school bus, and yes, that really is a shopping cart.






this was supposed to be our "serious" photo... you can see how well that turned out.

ok almost all the girls here are related. Nicole Hess is on the far left, then next to her is Kayla, then Maranda, and on my other side is chelsea. They are all richardsons. It continues to Emily, then to a girl whom i have never met until that night, and then Richard, and his friend.

This was us at the beginning of the race. Maranda, the one in front, with the awesome hair and kinda scary eyebrows is the injured one, who we pushed in the shopping cart for the whole race. and guess what? we PASSED people. not that many people, but we didnt come in last, and we did the whole thing in under 35 minutes. 'Cha think of that?




This is what our costume looked like before it all happened. It was pretty. I did the outline for the "The" on the side there... mmhmm.


Anyway, after a somewhat embarassing start, and a realization that it was going to be one hard race, since half of it was uphill, i finally sucked it up, took my spot pushing the cart, and ran. it was so much fun! I got to know everyone better, and we sang, and it sounded horrible, but it was still awesome, cause we were singing, not complaining. Anyway, we Won the costume contest, and now we all get free t shirts that say "midnight 5k" on them. its going to be sweet. After this night, I realized that I had two ultimate frisbee games the next day. one at 10 and one at 2. We lost the first game to a team we have stomped before, by 2, but then we got our act together, and beat the second team by about 8 points. Needless to say, I ran myself ragged, and paid for it dearly the next day. Stairs became my mortal enemy. Walking uphill became my worst fear. being sore in every muscle in my body is not fun. But, it was so worth it. mmhmm, yep it was! Oh! and I got 2 new bruises that would put a dancer's bruises to shame. I got cleated hard on my foot.... had to loosen up all the laces on my left shoe just so i could walk. good stuff! and my right forearm looks funny, what with all the whiteness and a big, ugly blue spot in the middle of it... from a frisbee flying faster than a speeding bullet... from like 5 feet away. Anyway, that was the weekend!

pumpkin carving fun...

Cause thats just how we role. :)











oh so fun... someone bumped me right after this... i actually licked that stuff... eww...






this is my new FHE sister... she's here for the second half of the semester... we get along pretty well. I think we were pretending to be zombies...?

HSM3!

OK so on friday i went to go see HSM3 with my friend Eve. ok i dont care what y'all think of me, cause i liked it. the music was awesome, the dancing was too, and there was more of both. i personally thought that it was better than the first 2. no problem. Collin, you need to see it, listen to "the boys are back." best song. fo sho. Anna, feel free to call me whenever and we can talk about it to your heart's desire. The rest of you, i never thought i would actually say this, but i recommend that you go see it.