This is the End...New Beginning at BYU/ Japanese Language Apartment

This is Dallin with his dad in front of the pictures of all the baptisms in Sapporo.  This is the end of Dallin's missionary labors in Japan for now.  Thanks to everyone that wrote to him, read the blog, remembered missionaries in your prayers and for being his friend.  Now let the wild rumpus begin...BYU or bust. 

Last Post...This is the End of Elder Christensen in Japan!

Well, it turns out that President Daniels wants to do an activity with all of the returning missionaries today. So I came into the mission home just barely with Elder Thurber. The past few days in Iwamizawa were amazing! As soon as I got there, we got to work visiting old investigators and such. We were on foot, which normally isn't effective, but Elder Thurber and I were able to teach lessons to nearly all of the people we met. It is amazing how unified we were, even though we haven't been together for a long time.

On Saturday we got to go up to Asahikawa for a music fireside. It was so fun to see all of the members from Asahikawa and the fireside was really good. The closing hymn was Silent Night, and we had Elder Migita play the piano (Mom met his sister serving in Temple Square). He studied jazz before his mission and had his own jazz combo, and the closing hymn was very jazzy. I don't know if it invited the Spirit, but it sure was cool.

Yesterday's church meeting was amazing! It was so nice to see all of the Iwamizawa members one last time. They all have so much love and they were all so happy to see me (and Elder Thurber one last time). They even let me give a talk! The two speakers after me and Elder Thurber both shared experiences where we helped strengthen their testimonies and desire to do missionary work. I loved it and could tell the difference that we made in that branch. And then last night we got invited by two different couples for dinner. Instead of having two dinners, we just had everyone go to one member's apartment and we all had one great meal together. There were 11 members, so nearly half the branch.

Well, I don't want to take up too much time. But I love you. See you soon.

Almost Home

Well, I think that is about it for questions. So here is the exciting news for the week: this week is transfers (and everyone finishing up with me won't finish up for another week), so I get to transfer one last time. From the sounds of it, because it's not official yet, I will be in Iwamizawa with Elder Thurber for our last week! And there will be a music fireside in Asahikawa on Saturday that I will get to go to! I am so excited for it, but there is one potential downside: probably no email next week. So this might be my last email home.
Last p-day we had a lot of fun in the snow and some elder made a really cool snowman (see attached picture). That made traveling on Monday and Tuesday really hard. But by Thursday it was mostly melted and Friday it rained really hard all day long.
The third picture is us, the Moiwa elders, and the 4 Odori sisters after eating lunch at Sister Oda's house this past Thursday. It was really delicious and we all ate a ton. Sister Oda is a really cool member and she loves the missionaries. The meal at her house will be the only meal that I eat at a member's house as an Odori elder. It is sad, but most of the members sort of forget about us because they figure that some other ward is taking care of us. Thus, we never really get a fruit basket or meals at members houses. But we still love everyone.
I had my last lesson with Rusdum, the Philipino father, this past week. At the end, he thanked me for always visiting and sharing the word of God with him. He is so humble and I am going to miss that family.
Well, I don't have a whole lot of time to email today. I am so sorry and I really want to write more. But I guess I will talking with you soon enough. Have a great week. I love you all.

Elder Christensen

The Beginning of the End

Zone Conference

Guess what? It snowed! We woke up to over half a foot of snow this morning. And the other exciting news of the day: we got new cell phones! Too bad they are ginormously big and hard to use. I am glad I will only have to use them for a few more weeks. They are probably the biggest disappointment of my entire mission.

Anyways, as far as my week went, it was fun! We sort of forgot that it was Thanksgiving until the day before. But we got to have a great meal provided by Sister Daniels that was typical Thanksgiving. It was really delicious.

On Wednesday we met a really cool guy in his twenties that told us, "My parents are members, but they don't go to church any more. I never got baptized, but I still remember most of the things from church." We were way excited for him to come to church, but unfortunately he didn't show.

On Thanksgiving (before the delicious meal) we had a Zone Training meeting where I learned a bit. Since it was my last Zone meeting as a missionary I got to give my "final testimony". It was sad and surreal. I never thought I would ever have to do it. But it was a really good experience and we were all able to feel the Spirit.

On Friday we had a cool experience. We were doing some finding near a university and at one door an African girl opened the door. I was a little surprised, but said "Oh hi. Nice to meet you. I am Elder Christensen and I'm from America. Where are you from?" to which she replied, "Zambia. Do you want to come in?" So we got to go in and teach her and her friend Alick (who is also from Zambia) and it went really well. She is only in Sapporo for a couple more weeks, but Alick has been living here for years and he wants to continue meeting with us and learning about the Restoration.

Yesterday they had a Primary program for Sacrament Meeting at the ward in which we attended. It was way good and everyone enjoyed it. There were only about 8 kids, but they did a really good job.

Anyways, sorry this email isn't as good as my recent ones. I sort of can't concentrate at the moment. But I still love you.

Two Year Mark and Counting! and Elder Christy Gets Baptism And...Death of a Pidgeon..Yuck

 First off, I hit my two year mark! How crazy is that!?! I feel so old now. Last p-day I got to watch an amazing video in the mission home with some other missionaries. We found this old vhs that said "Finding Approaches" so we decided to watch it and see if we couldn't learn from it. Well, it was made in 1997 at the MTC in Tokyo, and it was hilarious! They had good ideas with their approaches, but every example had a golden investigator that said exactly what you wish every investigator would say and yet none of them do. For example, after one contact the missionaries asked, "Can we share our message with you at some other time?" and the person responded, "Yes, I have time on Saturday...in the afternoon...around 4:00." No one ever sets appointments that easily, at least not here in Japan. Anyways, watching the video was painful, and yet fun, all at the same time. It was a good way to spend a few minutes on p-day.

On Tuesday we stopped a kid on the sidewalk and started talking with him. He said that he had met missionaries about two years ago in the western side of Sapporo and that he loved those missionaries. Unfortunately, he couldn't remember the name of those two, but I threw out the first name that came to my head that might have served in that area at that time, Elder Raymond. The kid's face lit up and he said, "Yeah, Raymond! I love him. We were way good friends!" Once I told him that I am friends with Elder Raymond he decided that it was fate that we met. He is going to come to English class this week and he says that he is way excited for it.

On Tuesday we also heard a really funny story from a member that we did some finding with. He works at the airport and he related this experience from the day before: He was working at an information desk when a guy ran up and asked where the bathroom was. He showed him the bathroom down the hall, thought it was weird, but then shrugged the incident off. But about two minutes later the guy walked out of the bathroom stark-naked (except for a Winnie the Pooh hat on his head), and started doing some crazy dance in the hall of the airport. He was eventually arrested.   I heard that story and couldn't stop laughing.

On Wednesday when we were doing some housing we had a fun encounter. At one interphone I said that we were missionaries sharing a message of happiness, and the lady on the other end sort of chuckled and said, "Wait one moment." She came to the door and introduced herself...as a member! She is a member of the Moiwa Ward and we just happened to stumble upon her apartment. So we took advantage of the situation and shared a short message from the Book of Mormon before heading on our way.

That night we had a lesson with a really cool kid that is 15 years old. We taught him about God and the Book of Mormon. After explaining about the BoM and the blessings of it we told him that we wanted to give the BoM to him as a present. He put out his hand to reject it (which really surprised me) and said, "I already have one" and then reached into his backpack and pulled out his own copy of the BoM. It turns out that he actually met Elders Thurber and Willis way back in May and had a lesson with them then. He gave me a call yesterday and asked if it is alright for him to bring a friend to our next lesson! He said that his friend wants to meet us! I honestly think this may be only the third or fourth time in my mission that an investigator has invited a friend to their lesson.

On Thursday we had a good lesson with Allen. He wanted to know "Why do we need the Book of Mormon?". We had a really good discussion, and he came up with a really cool analogy. After I had explained the BoM he said, "So if I understand this right, the Book of Mormon is sort of like a lens through which you read the Bible." That is exactly it. Obviously the Bible has been interpreted and taken to mean many different things, but the BoM magnifies, clarifies, and expounds upon the teachings of the Bible in order to help us really understand it.

On Friday, the two year mark from when I entered the MTC, Elder Christy got to baptize a sister into the Moiwa Ward! She had been the investigator of the sister missionaries, but the girl had asked that Elder Christy baptize her. So for the first time in my mission I got to see my companion baptize someone! Up until now, I had always been the one performing the baptisms. And also for the first time, I got to be one of the witnesses. It was cool. Leading up to the baptismal service we had a bit of technical difficulties because Elder Christy got a flat tire one hour before we needed to be at the church. Our apartment is a 20ish minute bike ride from that church, so we had to hurry to our apartment, I fixed the flat as fast as I could, and then we rode as fast as we could to the church. But we made it, everything worked out great, and it was a very spiritually refreshing baptismal service.

Yesterday on our way home from church I saw one of the craziest things ever. A pidgeon was flying across a road, sort of low to the ground, when a crow flew down from on top and knocked the pidgeon down to the ground. (Crows in Japan are huge! and vicious!) The crow pinned the pidgeon to the ground and then proceeded to peck at the pidgeon! I'll let you put two and two together, but just know that it wasn't a pretty sight.

Anyways, that about wraps up my week. It has been another great week in Sapporo and I look forward to the few weeks that I still have left. The chances of me having a baptism before going home are pretty slim nowadays, but I am praying way hard and we are working way hard in order to make it happen. I believe in miracles! I love you all. Thanks for your support, prayers, and love for the past 2+ years! Have a great week.

 

Race to the Finish is On!

It sounds like life is great in America. Japan is pretty good, too. Mom, don't worry about not sending Thanksgiving dinner, Sister Daniels is taking care of us and cooking us a proper meal. But I am enjoying Japan while I am here, so you also don't need to worry about that. And even though you didn't send me a package, I got an awesome package from Gma Fife this past week. It was unexpected, but very welcome.

I am not trunky. Quite often I think, "Oh, I am going to miss ___ when I am back in America" or "I am going to be so happy to have ___ in America" but it certainly isn't making me lazy. If anything, I am working harder now than ever because it is now-or-never time. Like when you are down by a few points with seconds left on the clock. Is that when players give up? No! That is when you give your all, doing everything in your power to see miracles.

Speaking of which, we had a few miracles this week. On Thursday we found a kid named Suzuki and taught him on the street. He is three days younger than me, born the same year. When we got done he said, "I am glad that we met." He committed to coming to church and...he came! He said that he didn't understand most of it, but he liked it nonetheless. After church we had a potluck meal, which Suzuki loved. When we were finishing up eating I asked him if it would be alright to sit down with a member and talk a little bit (have a lesson, for all of you who understand missionary lingo). He said, "Yeah, I actually want to talk with that one guy that taught the lesson today." So we went over and he started asking a lot of questions to a 50 year old brother who had taught our lesson. He asked about the brother's conversion story and about what our church believes. It was awesome! As missionaries we have "Lessons taught" and "Lessons taught with a member present". Normally I would count our lesson as a member present lesson, but that lesson was more like a "Lesson taught with a missionary present" because the member did all of the teaching. It was really good.

This past week we found a snowboarding junkie from Quebec. He was way fun to talk with. And it turns out that his neighbor is a very inactive member that grew up in a nearby town. It is always really weird to knock a door and have the person at the door say, "I'm already a member of your church". Unfortunately he hates the church and his parents and he has no desire of coming back.

This week we had some finding together with a member from the Moiwa ward. We found a 20 year old kid that said that his mom and sister go to our church sometimes. It turns out that they are English class students, and so is the member that we were with, so he knew the kid's family pretty well! The kid committed to coming to English class with his sister next time she comes.

Well, that was about it for the week. We had a lot of rain that made finding a little difficult. I still love missionary work and I love serving in Odori. Thank you for all of your support and love. I love you all.

 

New Companion!!! Elder Christy from Twin Rapids, Minnesota

Dallin's Halloween costume

Hi Family,

I can't believe that everyone is home from their missions. October just flew by. Now I only have one transfer left here in Japan. It feels really weird. I am officially the "oldest" missionary in our mission now. Oh, and I have a new companion, but I am still in Odori. Elder Tuttle got sent up to my bean area, Asahikawa, and I got Elder Christy, coming from Iwamizawa. He is only on his second transfer now, and so he is a younger missionary than Elder Tuttle. I was sad to not see a baptism together with Elder Tuttle, and I most certainly am going to do all in my power to see at least one before the end of my mission.

Elder Christy is half-Japanese, and his Mom is actually from a place in the Iwamizawa area named Yubari. He was born in Tokyo and lived there till he was 5. From there his family moved to Twin Rapids, Minnesota and he has lived there since. He is way good at Japanese, much better than me.
We had a few awesome experiences this week. Last Monday night we went and taught the Filipino family again. Elder Tuttle and I had planned on helping them feel the Spirit, focus on their needs, and review the Restoration. The lesson ended up being one of the best lessons I have ever experienced. Throughout the entire lesson the Holy Ghost testified to us and them of the truthfulness of our message. I have never taught in unity so well with my companion in a lesson before. Ideas flowed easily and we were both able to help the investigators. At one point in the lesson I couldn't think of anything to say in response to a question our investigator asked. I didn't know what to say, but Elder Tuttle started talking and the Holy Ghost testified to me that what he was saying was exactly what our investigator needed to hear. Later on in the lesson, we put in the Restoration DVD to watch it with them and the dad's face lit up as he said, "They have it in Cebuano! That is our native language!" He eagerly watched it in his native language and it really helped him understand the Restoration.

Eating sushi after a training meeting

We had a big snowstorm on Tuesday, and by the time the day was over we had about 4 inches of snow. We were freezing cold when we got home and were happy to get into the apartment. But I heard some air leaking from my bike tire. Somehow I had nicked it and I could tell that I would have a flat tire within a little bit. So I brought my bike up to our apartment, put it out on our deck, and was going to fix it early the next morning. Since I was busy on the phone, I would have no time that night. But Elder Tuttle, being the great companion he was, volunteered to fix it for me since he had a bit of extra time. I was surprised at his nice act of kindness and willingly let him patch it up. He got the job done and we were both pretty happy. 

Elder Christensen, Brother Fuji and Elder Christy

On Saturday I got a phone call from Yoshi san! I don't know if you remember him because he is from so long ago, but we found him my second day in Odori. We had set a baptismal date with him and all seemed to be going well, and then...he stopped answering his phone. Or so we thought. It turns out that he had lost his phone, but now he has it back. He was excited to talk with me and he says that he wants to meet with us soon! Hopefully we can get him back on track for baptism when we meet him next.

Well, that is about it. I love you all so much. Thank you for all that you do!

 

Elder Christensen

Tie on Fire or Happy 21st Birthday!!!

I guess it is cold there, eh? We had some really warm days this past week, but it is forecasted to snow tomorrow! So exciting! Thanks for the birthday wishes and packages, etc. I can't believe how old I am! I don't know why, but the jump from 20 to 21 seems a lot bigger than the jump from 19 to 20 did. Weird. It is weird to think that sister missionaries can't leave until they turn 21, but I am going home now that I have turned 21. I had a great birthday. President and Sister Daniels made us an amazing dinner (flank steak and baked potatoes). I don't know if the steak as just really that good or if it was that I haven't eaten steak for 2 years, but that steak was the best steak I have ever had! Seriously, it was way good. And it probably cost a pretty penny, too. Cheap steak in Japan is more expensive than expensive steak in America, and knowing the Daniels, they didn't buy a cheap steak.

Ok, now for the next exciting news of the week: we met a guy named Kim! (I hope that makes Dad happy.) He is Korean and he agreed to meet with us this upcoming week.

We had some good lessons this past week. I especially enjoyed meeting with the Philipino family this week. So remember how last week I made some kind of comment about blessings from tithing, but then a side note that we hadn't talked about it? Well, guess what they brought up when we were talking with them? That's right, tithing! It was a really good lesson and they seem to understand better than any Japanese person ever. When we were reviewing the Book of Mormon and how it is another testament of Christ, the mom said, "Oh, so there is the Old Testament, New Testament, and Another Testament. That seems nice." She says that a lot: "that seems nice". A Japanese person could never make that connection, mostly because the translations don't line up as nicely as their English counterparts. At the end of the lesson the dad gave the closing prayer and it was really great. I could tell that he loved us and cared about us. Rarely has an investigator prayed so purely for the missionary's welfare.

This week we met a couple of 20 year old German guys and had a fun time talking with them. They were blown away by what we do as missionaries. The both of them are in Sapporo for a year doing civil service instead of mandatory German military service. They were amazed by the fact that we were paying our own money, rather than getting paid. But even more than that, they were amazed at what we actually do. One of them said, "I would never be able to do what you are doing, even if I got paid to do it!" They couldn't believe that we had a curfew, that we actually obeyed our curfew, that we didn't have Japanese girlfriends, that we didn't try selling the Book of Mormon in order to make some money, that we didn't party, etc. They couldn't believe that we are willingly to do this, and that we are even paying for it. It reminded me how special being a missionary really is. According to just about anybody's standards, being a missionary is absolutely crazy. But I know that God lives and loves us, that He sent His Beloved Son to save us, and restored the truth of the gospel in these latter days. Because I know that, I have to share it, even if it means obeying a curfew and not making any money and putting off college for two years. Thank you to everyone that is supporting me in this "crazy" endeavor. Your support means more to me than I can ever express. Thank you.

We had a lesson this week where the guy kept smoking. I was embarrased to talk with people for the next few days because I smelled like a smoker. Ok, not really, but I did smell for a few days.

Anyways, I love you all. Thank you for all that you do.

 

Bird Poop and Lessons

Happy 10/10/10 Day! It has been an amazing week full of miracles. Most importantly, it sounds like BYU won! Ok, ok, that's not most important, but it still finds it's place high up on the priority list.

I find it interesting that the missionaries bore their testimony in our ward today. I can honestly only remember a few times when the missionaries ever came to our ward. Such a difference from Japan where nearly every ward or branch has missionaries assigned just to help out that one unit.

Anyways, I will try to fill you in on all of our awesome experiences this past week. On Monday night Elder Tuttle got his first flat tire of his mission experience. (Ok, this wasn't an awesome experience, but it has some humor connected with it, so bear with me.) I walked him through the steps of patching up his tire. He was pretty happy once he finished the job and he felt pretty accomplished...at least he felt that way until it went flat again the next afternoon. His patch job wasn't as stellar as he had thought and the patch hadn't completely sealed. (Side note: we actually had a couple lessons that we needed to teach and God somehow blessed Elder Tuttle's bike so that it didn't get flat until after we had taught those lessons.) So during dinner time on Tuesday evening, Elder Tuttle went back to work fixing his tire, making sure that he did it completely right this time. He finished the job quickly and mentioned to me that he is now a "pro" at fixing tires. Well, his ego got deflated 30 minutes later when he saw that his tire was deflated yet again. So later that night he fixed his third flat in two days. Now he actually is a pro and I think that his "training" from this past week will prove invaluable later on in his mission.

On Wednesday we had a ton of miracles. We didn't have any lessons scheduled, so it was going to be a full day of finding. But with God's help we were able to teach 9 lessons and spend 4 hours just teaching! We had planned on working in an area to our west, but we needed to go a few blocks east at the first to drop off a DVD to one of our investigators. 2 hours out the door, and we were further away from the area that we wanted to work in than when we had started. He had taught 4 lessons to people on the street and we weren't moving at a very fast pace.

That night we went to house the International Student Housing complex for Hokkaido University. It was way cool and everyone was happy to see two Americans. We talked with people from the Philipines, Vietnam, Bangledesh, Poland, and China. The coolest part about it all was that we got to teach a couple lessons while sitting on couches! Japanese people don't really have couches, but all of the foreingers did, and it was awesome. We found a really good man from Bangledesh that is Islamic. We learned a lot about their religion and we taught him about the Book of Mormon. He had a lot of interest and commited to reading the BoM right away.

On Thursday we had an amazing Zone Conference. It was my last one. In fact, I am now officially the American in this mission with the most time in Japan. I am so old! I am the grandpa of the mission.

Anyways, after ZC on Thursday we didn't have a lot of time left for missionary work, but we really wanted to find a prepared person. So we prayed and headed out. Within 10 minutes we met a guy named Shohei that had met the missionaries a year or so ago. He has a Book of Mormon and wants to know whether or not God really exists. I thought that he seemed prepared, but I didn't realize how good he was until a bird from overheard pooed on him. He sort of tried to wipe it off, all the while keeping his full attention on me. Truely God had led him to us and he knew that he needed to hear our message.  Not even Satn's vicious attempts to distract him with bird tird could sway him.

On Friday we had another miracle. We had been trying to street down one road with no success, getting only cold shoulders and even colder rejections. Elder Tuttle and I decided to switch which side of the road we were on. When we got to the other side, I saw no one in sight on our side. Across the road, on the side we had just come from, I saw people bustling to and fro and I thought, "We must be crazy. Every good missionary knows that in order to find people you have to go to where the people are. Right now the people are there, and we are here." But since we had both felt impressed to switch sides we decided to continue and what happened. Within 10 minutes we were able to stop a nice high school kid and teach him. As soon as his lesson ended, I stopped the very next guy that I saw, and we were also able to teach him. God must have needed us on that side of the road. It was a good experience.

Well, I hope you enjoyed this email. It took a long time to write and now I'm really tired. I try every week to write a good email like this, but this is the first week in a long time when I was actually able to do it. I'll try to make it a trend for the rest of my mission.

Chimichangas with President Daniels

It's October! Crazy! Time is flying by so fast. This past week we had leadership training for 4 days, so most of my week was spent on a chair being spiritually uplifted. We had a lot of really good training and now I feel like a better missionary. Hopefully it will translate into some results. We still can't get a hold of Doi san, our investigator who was lined up to get baptized a couple of weeks ago.

Yesterday we got to teach a guy from Zambia. I think I got a taste of what Bryce experienced on his mission. The guy was really humble and wants to know all about the Book of Mormon. We are excited to keep teaching him. Hopefully he will refer his other African friends to us and we can teach them all.

Also, last night we got to eat with President Daniels at his house. I think he was lonely because his wife and daughter were gone(in America for a different daughter's wedding), so he invited us, the Odori sisters, and the APs over for dinner. He made chimichangas and they were super delicious.

Recently I have worked on having increased love for all of the people that we meet and it has made an amazing difference in my missionary work. We have miracles everyday. Like a kid we met this past week named Kazuya. We taught him a lesson on the street and met him a couple days later. When I asked him why he was meeting with us he said, "I want to know more about that baptism thing that you were talking about." He really wants to get baptized, but unfortunately is really busy studying in order to get into a good college. But we are praying for him.

Pictures...golfing and football

Japan and Meeting Dallin's Mission Mom

I was so happy last week to be able to go and meet Dallin's missionary mom from Japan.  It was nice to be able to ask questions and get immediate responses.   She has been so wonderful to Dallin and he has learned to truly love and appreciate her.  My parting words to Terry were....see you soon!! Yipee. 

Meeting Missionaries from Sapporo

If I look like a deer caught in the headlights, it was because I was trying to keep my eyes open. That is something my husband would do but I think it is pretty funny. This is Dallin's trainer, his fiance ( also served in Japan) and Dallin's friend from SF. He was an AP when Dallin was there. He trained Dallin's trainer. Life is full of unexpected things and I was grateful that I could mouch in on the get together for Sister Daniels at the park and meet several missionaries that served with Dallin. It was really nice. It just seemed like Dallin was close that night. It won't be long!

TV Tower with Elder Tuttle

Golfing on P-day

I just got back from golfing for my first time ever. Lets just say that I'm not a natural like Elder Thurber (who was playing for his second time). But I did a lot better near the end. On the final hole of the day I hit a 1-over. I think that was one of the few holes where I actually counted how many strokes I took.

On the way back from golfing we went to a nearby lake that was pretty. It was fun.

Oh, your assumption about transfers was right. I am still in Odori with Elder Tuttle, and I still love it. This past week was rough because all of our investigators wouldn't answer their phones. We couldn't meet with any of them, so we had a full week of finding.

On Wednesday the temperature finally dropped...by about 5 degrees Celsius. It got pretty cool pretty quick. We went from short sleeves and sweating at the beginning of the week to suits plus sweaters by the middle of the week.

On Thursday we ran into a member on the street and got to talk a bit with him. He is super weird, and likes speaking English, so it turned into a really funny conversation. He said, "I look every day for you. I try to find investigator for you. I find a beautiful women for you to teach. We dislike gross woman. We say, 'Hey gross lady! Your face is gross!'." It was one of the most memorable conversations that I have ever had. I just about died of laughter.

On Friday we saw a ton of foreigners. I started to count, and I got up to 24. It was a lot of non-Japanese people. Out of the people we talked with, there were people from America, New Zealand, England, and then I overheard some Russians. It was crazy.

Doi san and Parental Permission

Hi Family,

Sorry, but this is going to have to be a short email. There are about 25 missionaries in the mission home and they all want to email. We had a dual-zone activity (essentially all of the missionaries inside Sapporo city). We went to a park and played sports.

That is crazy that Elder Evans is coming home in October. That means he is doing one less transfer than me. The end is coming! It is scary!

This week we had a lot of good lessons and Doi san seemed to be progressing well. But he still doesn't have parental permission, so he didn't get baptized yesterday.

We are led by the Spirit and have great experiences finding daily. But we are still struggling to get new investigators. And within the last few days, all of our current investigators became busy, and so we might not be able to meet with them this week.

I love you all so much. If I can, I will write a real letter later today.

 

Elder Christensen

Church in Shinkotoni and translating for Daniels family

Sisters Kaneko, Kawachi, Elders Christensen, Lazenby, Migita, Tashiro at the Shinoro Ward

Football in morning for exercise

ZL Council Meeting. Front: Elders Takashima, Tashiro, Miller, Dadivas. Middle Row; Sisters Kamiya, Kawachi Back: Elders Suzuki Robinson, Thurber, Shoji, Urata, Christensen, Allen, Fetters, Lemme

Hi Family!

It has been another great week here in Sapporo. And for a change, it actually cooled down a little bit (as I am sure you noticed on your iPods...and since when has Mom had an iPod?)

This week we got to meet with Doi san a couple times and he is progressing well! He is excited to get baptized (our goal is on the 19th), and now we just need permission from his parents. Hopefully we can get that this week so that he can get baptized.

We also found a couple new investigators and set baptismal dates with them. One of them is Mongolian, but he grew up in China and speaks Chinese. He is way cool and we have high hopes for him. But he works every Sunday, so we need to figure out how to overcome that little problem.

Yesterday the Daniels family came to church in Shinkotoni (which is also where we were), and so I got to translate. There were Sister Daniels, their youngest daughter, and one of their other daughters with her husband and two kids. I also played the piano for a bit, so I was sort of all of the place.

Sorry for a lack of details in this email, but it is hard to concentrate right now in the mission home. I love you all so much.       Elder Christensen

Hearing from Iwamizawa

Hi Family!

Thanks for the great updates this week. I am so glad that BYU won. And that they're going independent.

Thanks for looking into Japanese housing. Maybe I can take the spot left open by Elder Lottermoser once he gets married. If I couldn't get into Japanese housing, I think I would rather live at home than anywhere else. We'll just have to see what happens.

Thanks for the heads up on the itinerary for when you come. I am sad that Dad won't get to see Hong Kong. Maybe we'll have to somehow get another trip set up for the near future. As far as hotels, I have no clue. I don't even know if Japanese hotels are like American hotels. Are you going to have a car when you come or are we going to be on public transportation? As far as church on Sunday goes, I would certainly like to visit the Iwamizawa Branch. That is about a 40 minute train ride from Sapporo, or an hour drive (I think).

Speaking of Iwamizawa, I got to talk with a couple members from Iwamizawa this past week. A new missionary arrived to the mission this week and he will be with his trainer in Iwamizawa. So Elder Kobayashi (the trainer) came in to Sapporo to pick up his bean, and I got to work with him for a day. He had to call Sister Iwane (I baptized her) and he let me talk with her. It was great and she sounds like she is still strong in the gospel. And then Elder Kobayashi called another member and let me talk with them. It was way good, and it made me miss Iwamizawa.

This week we had a lot of blessings and a lot of trials. For example, I got a flat tire (front tire) on Thursday, and then again (back tire) on Friday. And yesterday we had our best investigator not show up to church. We can't get a hold of him, so we don't know what's up.

But on the flip side, we found some really good people yesterday. And we had a really good music fireside on Saturday. I played a piano solo and did a couple accompaniments. One of those went really well, and one was really rough. But all in all it was a really good time.

Our investigator that didn't show up to church, Doi, was doing really good. He is praying daily and says that through prayer his life plans are becoming clearer to him. And he reads 5 pages of the BoM every day. Hopefully yesterday wasn't an indicator of anything.

We had Zone Leader council on Friday and it was great. Sister Daniels made some amazing enchiladas. Elder Tuttle got to go on exchanges with another bean, and it sounded like they had a rough time, but a good learning experience.

Well, that it about it. I love you. Have a great week.     Elder Christensen

Fixing Lunch for 20 People

Shinto Temple...Dallin is in the back with BYU t-shirt

This week has been another great one for us. We have been riding all around Sapporo because we have gotten a couple referalls from sister missionaries in places sort of far out. So we have a fun time trying to contact all the way out there and all the way back. We usually find at least one good person each way.

For Bryce's birthday I didn't get to do anything special, but I did see two black people that reminded me of Bryce.

We had a great lesson with a guy named Allen on Tuesday (I can't remember if I told you about him yet). He read 3 Nephi 11 and he had a ton of questions. He asked why the people say "Hosanna", how we avoid disputations concerning doctrine, and how we feel about Christians that aren't baptized into our church. It was a really good lesson and we are really good friends with Allen. I just can't figure out how to help him really desire to know the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon.

We had a good lesson with Doi san, the kid that we set a baptismal date with last week. The team-up that we used was a kid that went to the same high school (a long way away from Sapporo), and we had that member talk about why baptism was special to him. He talked about how he got baptized on his eighth birthday and it made his birthday extra special to him. After that we were discussing Doi san's baptismal goal for September 19th, and our team-up perked his ears and said, "September 19th?!? That's my birthday! That is the day that I guy baptized!" So that really strengthened Doi san and he is really excited to get baptized.

He came to church yesterday and had a really good time. As soon as we walked in with him he asked if he could go sit by the two members that we have used as team-ups for his lessons. After church we talked with him and he said that he felt a sacred feeling at church. We discussed the feelings of the spirit and it went really well. We are way excited for him.

Yesterday was the Sapporo Marathon. Normally I wouldn't care, but the route went right across our path from church back to our apartment. I was really concerned that we wouldn't be able to get back to our apartment, but we eventually found an over-the-road walkway.

On Friday we had a Zone Training meeting. It went alright, but I wish we could have prepared a little better. Normally we ask the Relief Society of a nearby ward to fix lunch for us and we pay them the money (whichever building we plan on using, we ask that ward). But there was a mix up in communication and the RS never got asked. So Elder Fetters (the other zone leader) and I ended up fixing lunch for 20 people. It was pretty crazy!

At the top of Maruyama Mountain...Dallin behind hand

Well, that is about it. I love missionary work.

Chris, Robert, Andy, Steve, and Kim at Brick Oven...3 RM's from Sapporo Japan--Fun Times!

Elder Christensen and Elder Tuttle-- Elder C.'s first trainer experience

Jumping Place ...missionaries love it!

It has been another great week here in Sapporo. That is pretty cool that you got to have lunch with Steve, Andy, and Robert. Oh, it feels weird to call them by their first names, especially Elder Fry, because I didn't know him before our missions.

And it sounds like Education Week was fun. I hope that this week goes well, too.

That's pretty funny that you told Sister Payne that I am playing the piano in Japan, because I probably average about 3 minutes of piano playing per week. Usually I have to accompany one or two numbers here and there, but that is it. I have absolutely no practice time, so I have gotten pretty bad.

But since we're on that topic, yesterday President Daniels took me, Elder Tashiro (one of the APs), and two sister missionaries with him to church in a place called Shinoro (a suburb on the outskirts of Sapporo). We were in charge all the time in Sacrament Meeting, so the sisters sang 3 pieces (2 of which I accompanied), we all bore our testimonies, and it ended up being really good. Unfortunately I had to play the accompaniment on the organ because they didn't have a piano in the chapel. It was pretty rough, mostly because the keyboard was split on two levels and both keyboards were extremely short. Luckily, we got a piano for the fireside that immediately followed, and I accompanied another piece. It was a great day at church, even if I didn't know anyone and will probably never be back in that ward.

Something funny was that everyone thought I was an AP. They saw President with two elders, one of which they knew was an AP, so they all assumed that I was an AP. It was pretty weird.

Last p-day we got to have a zone activity where we climbed the nearby peak that overlooks Sapporo. We also got to see a Shinto temple, which was really cool.

This week, like the past few weeks we have met a ton of foreigners. This week we met people from Spain, France, Holland, Saudi Arabia, Korea, China, and Hong Kong. The guy from Saudi Arabia gave us some tips on how to learn Japanese (he is really good and has been living in Japan for the past four years): 1- get a Japanese girlfriend 2- watch television in Japanese 3- read Japanese comics. I am sure that it is good advice (I have actually heard all three of those tips before), but unfortunately as missionaries, we can't apply any of those tips. I guess it just goes to show that God really is helping us out with the language because we can't use any of the typical methods for getting accustomed to Japanese.

We continue to be led daily to great people. Just this last Thursday, there were two instances of us being guided. Both times we were riding our bikes and suddenly I turned, without knowing why. But within 5 minutes of turning, we were able to stop a really good person and teach them a lesson and set a return appointment.

On Tuesday we got a referral from some missionaries in a place called Kitami. They found a cool guy who was from Kitami, but is going to school in Sapporo. He happened to be visiting home for the week, and they found him and taught him. We got to meet him as well (once he got back to Sapporo) and we were able to set a baptismal date with him. At the end of our lesson with him, one of the members from the ward came in and said "Wow, you're meeting the missionaries?" It was someone that went to the same high school in Kitami a couple of years ago. How crazy that they happen to live within the same ward boundaries now. We are excited for our next lesson with that guy.

Well, I had a lot more awesome experiences, but I think that I am out of time. Elder Tuttle is an amazing bean and he is improving at an amazing rate. I love missionary work and experience miracles every day. Thank you all for your emails, love, prayers, and support. I love you all. Have a great week. Happy Birthday Bryce!