Elder Dallin Christensen

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

2010-12-31T16:04:00.000-08:00

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!

2010-12-12T19:28:00.000-08:00

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

2010-12-05T19:51:00.000-08:00

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

2010-11-28T19:23:00.000-08:00

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

2010-11-21T20:23:00.000-08:00

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!

2010-11-15T08:27:00.000-08:00

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

2010-11-01T12:01:00.000-07:00

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!!!

2010-10-25T12:19:00.000-07:00

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

2010-10-10T20:39:00.000-07:00

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

2010-10-04T10:46:00.000-07:00

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

2010-10-03T17:33:00.000-07:00

Japan and Meeting Dallin's Mission Mom

2010-10-03T17:26:00.000-07:00

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

2010-09-29T09:24:00.000-07:00

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

2010-09-27T16:15:00.000-07:00

Golfing on P-day

2010-09-27T13:00:00.000-07:00

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

2010-09-20T20:53:00.000-07:00

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

2010-09-13T13:23:00.000-07:00

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

2010-09-07T10:17:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-30T11:33:00.000-07:00

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.

2010-08-23T12:44:00.000-07:00

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!

Which of These Kids Is Not Like the Others...Is that REally Elder C.?

2010-08-21T07:30:00.000-07:00

Loving Sapporo--Odori Zone

2010-08-15T19:42:00.000-07:00

It has been a crazy, exciting week here in Sapporo! Every day we meet so many people and experience so many things. I think I have contacted a foreigner at least once every day since I got here. We see so many white people! In fact, we picked up a new investigator this week named Allen, who is from Pasadena, CA. It is really weird to talk about the gospel in English, but it is a lot easier to relate the gospel to him.

We actually weren't the ones to find him. The sister missionaries found him, and then did the next lesson together with us and passed Allen off to us to become our investigator. He came to a singles FHE at the Daniels' house last night and loved it. He can actually speak Japanese really well (better than any missionary, for sure), plus he can speak German and Chinese. He loves talking about religion, and he actually majored in Theology when he went to college. But, it will be hard to get him to church because he already goes every week to his own church. But hopefully through activities we can help him build relationships with members, and eventually have that build up to him coming to church. It is an interesting situation that I have never had to deal with before. I would guess that missionaries in America and Europe have to deal with this all the time, but it is completely new to me.

We had a great lesson with Yoshi san this past week. He came to the fireside at the mission home this past Sunday, we had a lesson with him on Wednesday, and we were able to set a baptismal date for September 12th! He seems really solid and wants to come to church. Unfortunately he couldn't make it yesterday, but he has already committed to coming next week.

Another great thing about FHE was that I got to see a couple members from my past areas. There was one brother from the Higashi ward that I hadn't seen for nearly a year. The other brother was from Iwamizawa, but he recently moved into Sapporo! It was way fun to get to talk with them.

This past week we have gotten to go finding with a couple different members. One just got baptized 2 months ago, and the other one got baptized about a year ago. They both love sharing the gospel, and rather than us asking them to help us out, they come up to me and say, "When can I go out to work with you?" I love it! We already have three days this week lined up where we will go finding with those members. It will be another great week.

This past Friday we had a Zone Training Meeting and it went really well. I was really pleased with how the Zone Leader workshop ended up, and I enjoyed working with Elder Fetters, the other zone leader in this zone. We all learned a lot, especially about how to start teaching and inviting to baptism from the first lesson.

I love missionary work. I couldn't be happier. I was so scared when I got the call to go whitewash trainer in Odori, but I am loving every minute of it. I have never worked harder, but I have never felt better. I have to wake up every morning at 5:30 now just so that I can get my journal written in and complete other things every day. I am always dead by the time that 10:30 rolls around, but that is the way it should be.

I love you all. Thank you so much for all of your love and letters and prayers.

New Companion! Elder Tuttle from Lehi

2010-08-09T06:39:00.000-07:00

Dallin's new companion is 4th from the left. They are learning together in Sapporo!

Sapporo or Bust

2010-08-08T19:57:00.000-07:00

I am emailing from the wonderfully air-conditioned mission home! So, I will tell you transfers news, since I didn't really know it last week. I got transferred to Odori (aka downtown Sapporo), the same area that Elder Thurber just left. And the big news: I am now a trainer! My companion, Elder Tuttle just came to Japan this week and we are having a fun time proselyting together. It is pretty crazy because we got whitewashed (we are both new to the area, don't know the members, don't know the investigators, don't know anything!). But we call up Elder Thurber pretty much every day and he has helped us out a ton.

It has been crazy in Sapporo the last few days because everything is so new to me and everything still impresses me. There are big cars, big buildings, lots of foreigners, and tons of cool places. Plus, I get to see other missionaries on a daily basis. It is crazy.

Elder Tuttle is a way good missionary and he has surprisingly good Japanese. He is from Lehi and he plays tennis. The sad news: he is a Ute. President Daniels told me that I need to convert Elder Tuttle; you know, the worth of one soul is great in the sight of God. But actually, he doesn't care too much about the rivalry so we don't really have hard feelings one toward another.

Right now in Sapporo there is a big beer festival going on. The other day we ran into a group of drunk guys that kept acting like they were bowling. It was pretty funny. But for the most part we avoid that area.

Oh, on this past Monday I got into a little accident with a car. Don't worry, I am completely unharmed, but my front tire took a beating. The lady that hit payed for me to get a new front tire, so it is all sorted out now. But it was really exciting, especially getting to talk with the police officer that used really complex Japanese.

Right now in Odori we have an investigator named Harukawa that is set to get baptized on September 12. He is sort of wavering, but I think that we will be able to help him meet his date. Also, this past week we found a really cool guy named Yoshi. Hopefully we will be able to set a baptismal date with him this week when we have a lesson with him.

I love you all. Thanks for all your support.

Transfer news!

2010-08-01T19:10:00.000-07:00

Thanks for the great emails. This past week has been amazing for me. We had our leadership training and I learned so much. On Monday night we went in to the mission home and Tuesday-Friday we had training all throughout the day. We would wake up early (around 5:50), go play sports together, the lucky missionaries staying in the mission home got to eat a delicious breakfast by Sister Daniels, and then we had training 9:00-12:30. Then everyone (all 28 or so of us, about half the mission) got an amazing lunch prepared by Sister Daniels, we had more training from 1:30-4:30, and then we all parted ways. We would eat dinner at whichever apartment we were staying at that night, and then go on exchanges from 6-9, applying the things that we learned at training that day.

I got to go on some really fun exchanges and we saw a lot of success. I feel like a new missionary now that I have had a bit of training. The training meetings were all really spiritual, especially the testimony meeting to finish it all up. We sang Called to Serve, and I have never heard a more powerful rendition of it before. Sure, 2000 missionaries singing it in the MTC is powerful, but having 28 leaders from our mission singing it in Japanese was unbelievably moving.

So, here is some pretty big news: transfers are this week, and I am transferring. President told all of the Zone Leaders which zones will be working in next transfer, and I am going to the Odori zone, a.k.a. downtown Sapporo. I still don't know which area I will go to or who will be my companion, but I am excited and nervous. It will probably be my final area. Chances are that I will go to the Odori area, replacing Elder Thurber who is becoming AP.

Well, I love you all and I wish I had more time to write you a decent email with all of my experiences from this past week. But, there is only one computer and we have an hour time limit for the two of us. Half an hour just doesn't cut it when you want to read emails and write good stuff. I still love you. Next week I will probably email from the mission home, so it might be a bit longer then.

Pictures from the Mission Home

2010-08-01T17:23:00.000-07:00

Vicious Crows In Japan...Believe it!

2010-07-26T12:29:00.000-07:00

I bought a way good-looking suit for about $90 today!

That is cool that Korea did the To the Rescue program. We started it up here in Japan as well (I believe the Area Presidency are the ones that got it started for the Asia North area). Unfortunately, not too many members have been jumping on the bandwagon, so it isn't helping much. Plus, a lot of the inactive members here have no desire to come back to church. I have had many experiences where I tried to visit an inactive member and had them tell me that they want us to stop bothering them. It is sad.

Here's the interesting experience of the week: On Saturday I saw two crows on the sidewalk pecking at something. That is pretty common in Japan. Crows are everywhere and they try to get into everyone's trash. But I couldn't figure out what those crows were pecking at until we rode by - it was a squirrel! So yeah, I say a squirrel ripped in half being eaten by crows. They are vicious here.

Yesterday after church we had a special fireside celebrating the 40 year anniversary of missionaries being in Obihiro. We got to see some pictures from the early days of the ward and it was a lot of fun.

This week's work has been rough. All of our investigators seem to be insanely busy, and so we haven't been able to meet any of them. There have been a few times this week when I was a little down. But on Thursday I had a nice experience. We hadn't had any success all afternoon and we came up to the last house of the area we were going to work. I thought, "Please help us make one appointment God." But there was no answer at the door, and we turned to go to our bikes. After about 10 seconds or so, some lady came out of that house and called after us. She let us teach her a lesson, and it was a great boost for me.

So, I figured out a way to make up for my short emails the past few weeks. I took pictures of my journal from the last few weeks and I will send you the picture files. I just tried to attach them to this email, but this computer doesn't seem to work very well and they won't attach. So I'll just throw them on a USB stick and get it in the mail as soon as possible. BTW, the crappy computers here are the reason that you haven't gotten too many picture attachments in my emails recently.

Tonight I am going in to Sapporo for a leadership training thing. Tonight is Monday night, and I will probably be there until Friday night or Saturday morning! That is a long time to be out of our area not doing missionary work. But I guess that is the story of my life here in the Obihiro Zone.

Short Email but Great Stories from Elder C.

2010-07-19T11:42:00.000-07:00

This past week we had a lot of lessons on the street, but we haven't been able to meet the second time with anyone. We are finding really good people, but they don't show up for the next appointment. We have had a lot of really good experiences at our lessons. I wish I had the time to tell you about them. There was one business man that we stopped and talked with. At the end of our conversation he said, "I just happened to get work off early today, and I met you." I told him that he didn't "just happen" to meet us, but that God led us to each other. He said, "I think so, too." It was a really good experience and I felt the Spirit testify directly to him through me.
Well, that is about all of my time. I love you all so much, even if my emails are short. Have a great week.
Here is a great story that Kim sent to Dallin that happened in our Stake:
Brother Garcia (CW1) is a member of our high council. He spoke in a ward I was visiting this morning. As he began his talk he apologized for his heavy Mexican accent and his awkward English (he really speaks quite well and I love having him on the high council). He told about being called in February to the high council. As President Blair extended the call and explained the duties Brother Garcia thought to himself he could do everything and would gladly accept every assignment except for having to speak each month to the wards in the stake. He remembered a story about a sister in a ward who played the organ (for everything). The bishop felt impressed to have her speak in church and extended the invitation. Without much hesitation she responded, "Bishop, when you play the organ in church then I'll speak in sacrament meeting." While thinking about this story Brother Garcia thought in his mind, "President Blair, when you start speaking in Spanish then I will accept the call and speak each month in English when visiting the wards." President Blair then continued the interview in Spanish. He served his mission in Honduras and was comfortable using Brother Garcia's native tongue. Brother Garcia immediately accepted the call. He has such a powerful testimony. This is his second opportunity to serve on a high council. After returning to his home in Mexico following his mission he was called to serve on the stake high council (age 23). He and his family came to the States quite a few years ago. They have all become naturalized citizens. He is successful in business as an international marketing director. End of story.

Pictures Sent from Sister Daniels

2010-07-13T13:11:00.000-07:00

Zone Conference in Kitami

2010-07-12T10:15:00.000-07:00

Football with Hakodate Zone

Thanks for the great emails this week. Sorry, but I only have 5 minutes until I have to be off this computer, so this email will be short.

This past week was really good. For p-day we went back to the Fuwafuwa Dome and had fun jumping around. I even retaught myself to backflip (the last time I tried was in fifth grade). I got pretty good, so I should be able to flip on a snowboard when I get home.

On Friday we had Zone Conference in a place called Kitami. We had to take two buses for a total of 5 hours just to get there. But it was really good and I enjoyed it. I probably only have 1 Zone Conference left during the remainder of my mission due to the change in schedules worldwide. Scary! I am getting old!

On Saturday and Sunday we had some really spiritually powerful lessons with some investigators. I wish I had time to tell you about them, but it will just have to wait. Even though we had those great experiences, Satan is still trying way hard to stop the work from progressing. But we have a lot of investigators with good potential. Hopefully we can get the ball rolling with a few of them.

Elder Tashiro teaching the Zone in Kitami

The Real Van Ride and the Talent Show Van Ride

2010-07-04T05:22:00.000-07:00

New Companion: Elder Gandy

2010-06-29T20:14:00.000-07:00

Transfers!

2010-06-29T20:07:00.001-07:00

This is a picture of a Talent Night. President Daniels changes the station in missionary van to EFY music and the missionaries come alive.

Hello Family!

Sorry that my email is late this week. We have Zone Leader Council today and tomorrow, so our p-day got moved to today.

Thanks for the great emails from everyone. I can't believe all that is happening back home. Time is just slipping away and I don't know what to do.

This past week and a half has been pretty crazy. Last p-day we drove from Kushiro through the mountains of Hokkaido to see some good nature. We also got to play some park golf, basically a miniature version of real golf with bigger balls. I was terrible at teeing off, but pretty good once I got close to the hole. I guess years of mini-golf helped out a little bit. The highlight of the trip was supposed to be Lake Mashu, but it was all fogged over when we got there, so we couldn't really see anything.

And now for the really exciting news of this past week....transfers! I am staying in Obihiro and my companion will be Elder Gandy. He was in the apartment since before I came to Obihiro, so I already know him pretty well. He came to Japan this past February, so Japanese is still a pretty big struggle for him.

But, I am excited for this next transfer. It should be a good one. It was way hot this week (36 C this past Saturday, the hottest of all of Japan). Thanks for all your prayers and love. Have a great week.

Elder Christensen

Sister Haruki got baptized!

2010-06-14T08:56:00.000-07:00

I am glad that you are getting rain and we aren't. Rain is no fun on a bike. We have had clear skies for the past week or so, and it has really helped us be able to find some good people out on the streets. Our companionship (Me, Elders Shoji, Gandy, and Tashiro) has been interesting: nearly every day I spend the daytime with one elder, and the nighttime with another elder. Sometimes I get to work with all 3 in one day. It is pretty crazy for setting appointments because we say "Ok, we'll see you at (such and such a time)." when in our minds we are thinking "I wonder who will get to come to this lesson." Elder Tashiro (our AP) worked mostly with Elders Gandy/Shoji, so I didn't get to work much with him. I worked with whoever Elder Tashiro wasn't with. It was a great learning experience and I had a lot of fun, but it was really difficult coordinating all of our schedules.

But....I am going to a place called Abashiri tomorrow and I will be there till Saturday, at which time I will go to Kushiro for interviews with President. Everyone in the zone is going to stay in Kushiro for Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. (I might email from Kushiro next week, but I don't know for certain.) But having 3 in Abashiri and 3 in Obihiro wouldn't be effective, so I get to go along with Elder Tashiro and help out the Abashiri elders. Yet another crazy turn of events this transfer. 1 week in Kushiro, 2 weeks with Elder Lowry, 1 week in a threesome, 1 week with rotating companions, and 1 week in Abashiri! It is weird, but I am learning a lot and I have lots of opportunities to help the other elders in our zone.

But now for the real news of the week: Sister Haruki got baptized on Wednesday! It was my first baptism in over half a year, but it seems like the time has just flown by. Sister Haruki's testimony after she got baptized was way strong. She said "Now I am going to work so that one day I can get sealed to my husband and two sons in the temple soon." She really understands the gospel and has a much stronger testimony than a lot of older members in Japan. Hopefully soon her husband's heart will soften and he will listen to the missionaries.

Well, I had a lot of really great experiences this week and I am loving missionary work.

Haruki san and baptism!

2010-06-07T10:19:00.000-07:00

Hi Family!

P-day sure came fast this time around, didn't it? It sounds like life in America is pretty good.

The past few days have been pretty crazy. On Thursday we had a lesson with Haruki san and it went really well. We just reviewed baptism and the Gift of the Holy Ghost. I asked her, "Since you got your husband's permission, when do you want to get baptized?" and she was a little surprised and said, "I get to choose!?! Well, how about tomorrow?" She really wants to get baptized as soon as possible. She got interviewed on Friday and is going to get baptized this Wednesday. Plus, the other elders had a baptism this past Saturday. It was great. It was the first baptism in Obihiro this year, which is sad because Obihiro is typically one of the highest baptizing areas in the mission. We are going to get it taking off from now.

I was the one to do the interview for the baptism this past week, and it was my first time ever doing a baptismal interview. Normally you do your first one as a District Leader, but I never got that opportunity. The interview went well, and it made me appreciate the fact that I can actually understand Japanese nowadays. If I would have done an interview 6 months ago, I certainly would have struggled to understand all of the Japanese.

On Thursday night, Elder Tashiro (one of the APs) came out to Obihiro, and he will be with us for approximately two weeks. Oddly enough, he actually isn't really my companion. He is going out and working with us all on a rotating basis. So the past three days I have had three different companions. It is really crazy and makes scheduling stuff pretty hard, but we are all learning a lot.

Saturday night I found a really good 18 year old guy with Elder Gandy. We taught him about the BoM and he had a ton of interest. I went back yesterday (Sunday) with Elder Tashiro and we taught him lesson 1 (The Restoration). It went really well and he understood perfectly. I prayed to start the lesson and after I prayed he said that he had an indescribable feeling. We talked about the Spirit and helped him understand that he was feeling the Spirit. At the end of our lesson he said, "Is there a prophet on the earth today?" He understood the pattern of apostasy and restoration, and so he logically deduced that there should be a prophet in modern days. It was one of the best lessons I have ever participated in.

The best part about it was right as we were going to go out the door. At the beginning of the lesson I had used one of the BoMs from my backpack and it was on the floor in front of him. I said "Oh, I guess you can have a second BoM. If you don't want it, I'll take it." He said, "I'll take it and give it to my roommate." Yay! He is already sharing the gospel!

I anticipate another crazy week, but it will hopefully go well. I anticipate Haruki san's baptism, and we will hopefully set a few more baptismal dates.

Thanks for all the love and emails. I love you all.

Great Companion-Elder Lowry's last night at Mission Home

2010-06-02T06:42:00.000-07:00

Elder Lowry is between President Daniels and Elder Fry.

Good Bye Elder Lowry

2010-06-01T20:20:00.000-07:00

Hi Family!

It sounds like this past week was really busy and really fun. I am sort of jealous. I had a really busy week too, but it was a little different (I'll explain in a bit). I am jealous that you all got Slurpees (and Mom, it is spelled HUGE, not HUGH. That is a guy's name, like Hugh Grant.). They don't have Slurpees in Japan, or anything that closely resembles them.

Well, on to my week. It was crazy. First things first: our mission's p-day is getting switched to Monday. I guess they have asked all of the missions around the world to have p-day on Monday, so that is what we are going to do. So don't forget to email me by Sunday afternoon/evening (American time), or else you won't get a good email in return.

So, the next item of news: Elder Lowry finished up his mission early last Friday. I was super sad to see him go, because he quickly became one of my favorite companions. He was really fun to work with and a really good missionary. He will probably be going back to BYU in the fall, so maybe we will have to have him over for dinner once I get home, or something like that.

As a result of Elder Lowry leaving, I am now in a threesome companionship with Elder Gandy (from West Valley, UT) and Elder Shoji (from Aomori, Japan). Doing missionary work in a threesome is sort of challenging, but we are making the most of it.

One of the highlights of the week for me was a baptism that they had in Kushiro. When I was on exchanges for nearly a week in Kushiro, I was able to teach and set a baptismal date with an investigator named Ooba san. And he got baptized as planned yesterday! So I got to share in the joy of that baptism, even though I didn't get to be present for it.

On Sunday I got to give a talk in Sacrament Meeting. They asked me in between Priesthood meeting and Sunday School class, so I didn't have any time to prepare. Oh, the joys of being a missionary. But luckily, I was able to give a good talk about unity. I have recently studied a lot about unity because it was the topic for our Zone Leader workshop on Monday at Zone Conference.

I was really nervous for my first Zone Conference as a Zone Leader, but it went pretty well. Everyone seemed to learn and each of the workshops accomplished the purposes for which they were done. After ZC, we got to play Ultimate with a football as an activity, which was a lot of fun.

Another highlight of this week came after our activity: right before heading out the door for some finding, I got an unexpected phone call from Haruki san, our amazing investigator. (The one that has read all of the standard works, including the BoM 3 times through). She called to say "I can get baptized now! My husband said it is alright!" Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay! We are meeting with her tomorrow to set up her baptismal date, and I am hoping that she will get baptized next Sunday. I am so excited for her. I don't know why God decided to bless her/us at this time, but I am grateful to be a part of it and help one more person into the waters of baptism.

That is about it for my crazy week. I will probably get a new companion sent my way sometime soon, but until then I will hold tight in our threesome and work my hardest. I will probably get one of the current Assistants to the President as my companion for the next 3 or so weeks. I'll update you on Monday.

Thanks for the great emails. I love you all and am so grateful to be part of the Christensen family. (But I still don't endorse the family motto/slogan/etc.)

May 25, 2010 Missing pieces to no email last week

2010-06-01T13:06:00.000-07:00

Not to scare anyone but check out his ear. This was an interesting picture sent home from Elder C. ( It think it is Elder Tashiro) Maybe he wanted a record of the cold in Sapporo. Luckily, the weather is changing now and the cherry blossoms are out.

Hi Family,

Sorry about last week's email, or lack of email. Both of our email spots were closed for some unknown reason. I was able to send that short sucker from a Sony Ericsson (cell phone) at an electronics shop, but we had no time and it was hard to type, and thus the short email.

I bet this week is pretty crazy, eh? I can't believe that the wedding is in a few days! Since we didn't get to email, it feels like a week just evaporated out of thin air. And it seems really weird that it is graduation time in Utah. America seems like such a distant world nowadays.

I have been busy here in Obihiro. I get along great with my new companion, Elder Lowry. His family has lived in Tokyo for the past 6 or so years, but lived in Virginia and Maryland before that. He is really smart and wants to become a lawyer, like his dad. It has been weird to hear proper English the past few weeks with him, and it has made me realize how bad my English has become. But that's the way it is.

Last week on pday I looked around at a few shops to see if I could get a suit, but they were all too small. But then I found one! It would cost me about $110 after alterations, and I might buy it next week. We'll see, I'm still debating.

We have recently found a lot of really good people. The best of the bunch would be the Kanagawa family. We had set an appointment with the father, and when we went for the lesson his wife invited us in, and we taught the two of them plus their high-school daughter. They are amazed by the missionaries, and really like meeting with us. I am hoping that we will be able to get them to church this week. If they come to church, they will make friends, have a good time, and I am certain that they will get baptized. But they need to come to church, something that most Japanese people are either scared of or think as a nuisance.

Life as a Zone Leader has been pretty busy. I am on the phone at nights and rarely have time to relax. It has helped me stretch and grow. This next Monday is Zone Conference, and I am pretty nervous for my first ZL Workshop.Anyways, have a fun week. Everyone enjoy the wedding! I love you all. Thanks for all that you do.

Zone Leaders in Dallin's Mission

2010-05-16T09:36:00.000-07:00

Those muscles don't look bad for a missionary!

Pictures from Sister Daniel's blog

2010-05-16T09:34:00.000-07:00

Zone Leader Conference with the Daniels.

Whale sushi and fried whale?

2010-05-12T10:21:00.000-07:00

Hello!
It was so great to hear from all of you. That phone was just too short! And it's the last one! I still have so much time left in Japan, but it seems like the end is creeping up on me all too quick.
Anyways, you may think that I have little to write about since we just talked two days ago...but you would be wrong! The last few days have been crazy! So, after my call with the family, I had District Training Meeting. It was a decent meeting (but it could have been better if I had prepared more). After DTM our Zone Leader in Kushiro (Elder Lemme) notified us that he had to be in Sapporo by the end of the day (because he is the new AP). Because he was leaving Kushiro, he needed me to go there and become companions with Elder Kawahara until transfers. So we hurriedly ate, and then I hopped on the train to Kushiro. I had to ride for an hour and a half by myself, and it was sort of weird having no companion. But I had some good thinking time.
Once I arrived in Kushiro, Elder Lemme headed off to Sapporo and I got to spend the rest of the day with Elder Kawahara. We were able to teach a couple good lessons and set a baptismal date! On Monday night I got a phone call from President Daniels, and I am one of the new Zone Leaders in the Obihiro zone. It is sort of scary, but I feel ready for it. My new companion will be Elder Lawry, who I have only met once before. He was trained by Elder Yoneda when I left Higashi, and he is going on his sixth transfer now. He lived in Japan (Tokyo?) before his mission, so I am pretty sure that his Japanese is better than mine.
Also coming to our apartment will be Elder Shoji, the other new Zone Leader. He is without a doubt the weirdest missionary in the Sapporo Mission, but he is a lot of fun. It is going to be a great learning experience for us as we work together and try to figure how to be good Zone Leaders.
Yesterday we worked really hard in Kushiro and taught a lot of lessons. I really love Kushiro. Too bad I will probably never serve full-time here. Right now we are emailing at the Kushiro church. It is one of the priviledged churches in our mission that actually has internet for the missionaries to use.
Today has been a good p-day. Since I found myself in Kushiro this week, I decided to take advantage of the situation. Kushiro is known to have some of the best sushi in all of Hokkaido. So Elder Kawahara and I ate lunch at a really good sushi place. Best yet, I ate whale! That's right, whale! I had whale sushi and fried whale. It is actually really tasty, and it doesn't taste like fish. After lunch we went to a shopping mall to pick up a suit for Elder Lemme, who bought the suit last week and had it altered (but he's in Sapporo now, and thus he couldn't pick it up). The suits were way cheap (about $65), and I was going to buy one. But, they didn't have my size. In fact, I found out that my size is pretty hard to find in Japan. I am just big, much bigger than Japanese people, especially my shoulders.
That is about it. The missionaries coming from the MTC this week got pushed back a day, so our transfer day switched from Thursday to Friday. And Friday and Saturday are going to be the Zone Leader council in Sapporo. So I won't be back in my own area until Saturday night! My numbers are going to be no good this week. Good thing it's the people, and not the numbers, that are important.
I love you all. Have a great week.

Elder Christensen

It's Almost Mother's Day...last phone call home! Yipee.

2010-05-04T20:44:00.000-07:00

As far as my release date goes, it should be December 10. There shouldn't be oodles of snow by then, but probably about a half foot in Sapporo and a foot everywhere else around the island. I was thinking about having the family come up, and it is pretty hard for me to plan stuff since I can't really access a computer or call people.

I can't believe that Orem got a WINCO! That is way cool. But it sort of ruins the meaning of the name WINCO (Washington, Idaho, Nevada, California, Oregon). Oh well, that makes me happy.

This past week has had its ups and downs, but it was a good week. We got an unexpected snowstorm last Thursday that dumped about 4 inches of snow overnight and into the morning. But around 9 AM the falling snow turned to rain, and thus converted everything on the ground to about 3 inches of slush. We had a lesson at 10:30, and it took us a long time to bike in all of that slush. By the time we showed up at our lesson, we were completely soaked. Actually, we were completely soaked by the first stoplight on our way to the lesson. It rained all of Friday as well. But on Saturday, the sun came out and it was a nice day.

Which was lucky for us, because we had the ward barbeque party. It went really well and was lots of fun. As we were riding our bikes to the park for the party, we got a phone call from a guy that was an investigator about a year ago. He said that he had watched the movie "Passion" (that Mel Gibson movie) and he remembered the missionaries. We invited him to the party, he came and had a great time, and then we got to teach him afterwards. Today we are going with him to some far-off farm that is famous for its ice cream and caramel.

On Saturday night, we were able to pick up another old investigator. God really led us to her, because her teaching record isn't in the area book, and there is no way we could have found her except by God's help. We were just doing normal housing when we met a girl that said she had met the missionaries last year and really liked them. She got busy with school and had to stop meeting with them, and that was that. So we taught her a little bit and set up an appointment for this week.

On Sunday at church they finally announced the site for the Sapporo temple! It took 7 months, but it finally got chosen. And it is going to be in an area that no one had really anticipated. Hopefully they will start construction on it right away.

Things with Elder Nagata are going good. There is only one week left this transfer! So now we hit the homestretch. Unfortunately we won't see a baptism this transfer, but we have worked our hardest.

I love you all. Have a great week. I look forward to talking with you on Monday/Sunday.

Elder Christensen

Whirlwind in Last Few Days!

2010-04-28T12:31:00.000-07:00

The past few days have been crazy, but very fun. I just got back in Obihiro about an hour ago. On Sunday, President and the APs came to church in Obihiro. After that, the four of us elders in Obihiro hopped in the van with President and APs, and we all drove out to Kushiro. It took about 2 hours, but we had a nice deep dive into the scriptures with President. Kushiro is on the far east coast of Hokkaido. For the first time since coming to this island of Hokkaido over 14 months ago, I finally saw the ocean!

Sunday night I went on exchanges with Elder Gandy, an elder on his second transfer. We had a fun time together, but eventually got lost because we are both Obihiro elders and don't know our way around Kushiro. We tried getting back to the apartment, and I felt that we should stop by a shop and ask for directions. Since it was sort of late on a Sunday night, not too many places were open. But I saw a group of high school students in one shop that was still open, and I thought I would ask them for directions. So we went in and asked for directions. As soon as I asked, the shop owner said "Do you speak English?" It turns out that he just moved back to Japan after living in Vancouver for 15 years. He is a former hockey player, and now he runs his own hockey shop. All of the high school kids were players for the team that he coaches. It was way fun talking with him in English, and he printed us off a map from GoogleMaps so that we could find our way back to the Kushiro apartment.

On Monday we had Zone Training Meeting and interviews with President Daniels. As always, I had a great interview and learned a lot from President. After that, I was on exchanges with Elder Kawahara for all of Monday and Tuesday. His companion, my zone leader, went with the other zone leader out on exchanges in another area. So Elder Nagata went back with Elder Gandy to Obihiro.

I had an amazing time working with Elder Kawahara. He is on his first transfer, but he is already an amazing missionary. He is amazing at finding and really good at teaching. The both of us worked with all of our might and we were able to teach 10 lessons in those two days. To put that in perspective, the last time I taught 10 lessons in one week was way back in November. We were able to do it in just two days! Elder Kawahara and I saw miracle after miracle happen as we were going about the Lord's work.

One of those miracles happened on Monday night as we were heading back to our bikes. It was 8:30 PM, and we were going to go back to the apartment. As we were walking, we saw a guy ride his bike across the road about 100 ft. in front of us. I yelled out to him, and he somehow heard me and turned his bike around to come talk with us. Elder Kawahara and I were able to teach him a lesson on the spot and commit him to reading the Book of Mormon. Both Elder Kawahara and myself felt that the man has been prepared for the gospel and was lead our way.

Yesterday we invited a 19 year old member to come with us to a few of our lessons and team-up. The member is half Japanese half American and speaks both English and Japanese. He is currently waiting for his mission call, and he was very excited to go out and see what missionary work is like. He was pretty nervous, but it turned out to be a great experience for him. He said that he wants to go out with the elders again soon. Too bad he doesn't live in Obihiro. Maybe he'll get called to the Provo Mission and you'll get to meet him one day. That would be cool.

Well, that is about it. The past few days have been a worldwind and I am looking forward to the remainder of this week.Elder Christensen

Sister Ishikawa and Zone Conference

2010-04-20T20:09:00.000-07:00

Hi Family,

I hope the weather in Utah is nice. We got snow last night, but it is quickly melting as I type. Mom and Dad: Happy Anniversary!I am glad that my package finally arrived. I was starting worry since I know how unreliable international mail is.

This past week was good for me. Last p-day I got letters from home and from Sister Ishikawa, the 82 year old lady that I baptized about a year ago. She is way nice, and it was awesome to hear from her, especially because the church has become an important part of her life. She sent me a really nice scarf (I think). It is hand woven and looks really expensive.

The highlight of the week was a really good Zone Conference on Thursday. I learned a lot and it was a lot of fun. After Zone Conference I got to go on exchanges with Elder Kinard (currently serving in Kitami) and I had a really good time. We worked together well and were able to immediately implement the things that we learned at Zone Conference.

On Monday we were having a rough day, and no one was talking with us. On the last door before dinner, God blessed us with a miracle and a young guy came to the door. Normally young people are out during the daytime hours, so the fact that a young person was home was a miracle. Better yet, he said that he has interest in religion and often wonders about the purpose of life. We were able to teach him a little and he committed to coming to church this upcoming Sunday. Unfortunately, he is moving to Tokyo next week, so we won't get to continue teaching him.

Well, time is a little short. I love you all so much. Have a great week.

Elder Christensen

48 Cans of Root Beer!

2010-04-13T19:24:00.000-07:00

There are going to be 3 Americans coming (I think), and this will be the biggest group of incoming missionaries in the past year or so.

This past week has been pretty good. We got to see General Conference and I have finally started to pull out of my recent slump of not being able to set appointments. We have had our rough times, like showing up to a lesson with a member team-up only to have the investigator tell us that they no longer had time to meet. That happened twice this week. Getting stood up is a normal part of missionary work, but getting stood up when you bring a member along with you just hurts. But there is really nothing we can do about that now.

General Conference was really good. A certain Elder Tashiro was called as an area seventy - his son came to this mission when I did and we have served together a lot. I barely caught that his name was called because President Uchtdorf pronounced it with a Spanish accent. The other two elders that I was watching conference with didn't realize that the name Tashiro had been said. And one of those elders used to be companions with Elder Tashiro.

A couple of days ago a really nice member gave us tons of root beer! He gave the four of us 48 cans! That is like liquid gold for Americans in Japan. So we will be enjoying root beer for the next few weeks.

Missionary work is harder than ever, but I keep pushing along, trying to improve. Thanks for all of your support and love. Sorry that this email is a little short, but I don't have a lot of time. I love you. Elder Christensen

More Transfer News from Snail Mail !

2010-04-07T13:25:00.000-07:00

2010 March 31st Letter from Dallin
I hope all is going well at home. Things have really started to roll here in Iwamizawa--we have found a lot of young people recently and they are doing good. For example--There is a guy named Numata san that is about 25 years old. I think I told you a little about him when we found him at the train station a couple of weeks back. Well, we met him past Thursday. One of the first things we talked about was the Book of Mormon and I asked him if he had any questions from stuff that he read. He replied "No question, but I had a few spots that I really liked." So I thought "Awesome! He likes the Book of Mormon!" Then he flipped open to the Book of Mormon. We asked him why he was flipping there and he said, " I had a lot of time recently so I read it all. It is a really good book!"   He read the entire Book of Mormon in under 9 days! His favorite scripture was Mormon 9:15. It's a good one, look it up. After Elder Willis and I shared our favorite scriptures, we talked about baptism and were able to commit him to be baptized on April 25th.
On Saturday we met a 15 year old guy named Yashima Sasuke. He let us in and we taught him about God, Prophets, the Book of Mormon, and baptism. He wants to get baptized, but we were unable to set a date with him because he doesn't know how busy he will be once he starts high school next week. But on Sunday he came to church! And he really enjoyed it. Luckily it was Branch Conference and we had a ton of visitors from all throughout our stake (even youth!). Our average Sacrament meeting attendance (about 28-30) was more than doubled as we had over 70 people there! Then we had a potluck lunch after church. Yashima san really liked that, especially when the Relief Society gave us bags and started filling them up with the leftover food.
On Monday we had a lesson with a college kid that is exactly one week younger than me ( Oct. 31, 1989 is his birthday). He is very fun and has tons of interest in the Book of Mormon.
So, all in all, this past week was great. Our investigator pool is the youngest it has ever been.   It is really nice to meet with young people. We have been really blessed.
Which brings me to the sole downside of this all: I am transferring! I have to leave wonderful Iwamizawa, after spending a fast 5 1/2 months here. Seriously, my time in Iwamizawa flew by super quick. So now I am headed to Obihiro, a decent sized ciy in the middle of Hokkaido. It is slightly smaller than Asahikawa, but still big enough that it will be a big change from Iwamizawa.
I heard a ton of good things about the area and the ward ( 80 active members!)   My companion will be Elder Nagata from Osaka. He is on his final transfer.
Oh, and no cherry blossoms are out here. Hokkaido is usually 2-3 months behind the rest of Japan. Remember, we still have two feet of snow covering the ground.
   Elder Christensen

New Companion-- Elder Nagato; Third missionary to the Right

2010-04-06T21:18:00.000-07:00

This is Dallin's new companion...Elder Nagato. We don't know where he is from but we think it may be Japan. Somewhere.

Obihiro and Elder Nagata --Transfers!

2010-04-06T19:49:00.000-07:00

Hi Family!

I am in Obihiro and it is great! It is weird to be in a city with a lot of people. It has been a week of interesting events and a lot of changes for me.

Yesterday I got the Easter package! Thanks Mom (and Dad and Grandma) for the great package. One of the packets of jello got cut open and so everything in the package was coated in raspberry jello powder. It took me a while a to clean, but it all worked out. Thank you especially to Dad for answering all of my questions. It was way fun to read about your mission. I didn't know that you had been the Recorder in the mission home! And you only had 6 companions during your entire stay in Hong Kong. That is pretty crazy! I am already on companion #7 and I still have five more transfers (probably 3 more companions) left to go.

On Monday I finally received a letter from the mission home containing most of my emails from the past few weeks. They had been slacking off, and I hadn't heard a word from home for a few weeks. So it was nice to get emails.

Obihiro is a nice area, and I am excited to work here. There are nearly as many active priesthood holders here as total active members in Iwamizawa. It is a big change for me. We have gone housing with the Ward Missionary Leader a couple times in the past week. He got home from serving in the Fukuoka mission about 6 months ago. I asked him if he knew Elder Cole Chandler and he said "Know him? We were companions!" That was a pretty cool connection.

The weather in Obihiro is much warmer than in Iwamizawa. I went from negative temperatures and a couple of feet on the ground to warm temperatures and snow only in the shadows. A couple of days ago I wished I didn't have a jacket on because I was getting hot. Last night it snowed about an inch, but it has almost all melted by now.

I guess that this past Sunday was Easter, wasn't it? The only reason I knew is because the opening and closing hymns in Sacrament Meeting were Easter songs. They didn't even announce that it was Easter, and I bet that a lot of the members didn't even know. Sad stuff. I miss Easter. Well, I'll get it next year I guess. And for you it was General Conference. I am looking forward to watching conference this weekend!

Last night we went to a really cool restaurant named Najah. The guy that runs it loves the missionaries and he understands all of the church/missionary lingo that we use. The best part, though, is that he has root beer, so we all got root beer floats!

I seem to get along pretty well with my new companion, Elder Nagata. He actually isn't trunky (yet) and we have been working really hard.

Thanks for all of your great emails, letters, and packages. I love you all and pray for you every day. Have a great week.

Elder Christensen

What is Baptism?

2010-03-16T20:07:00.000-07:00

Hi Family!I am in Asahikawa again today because we are having a Zone Activity and tomorrow we have interviews with President Daniels. This past week has been great for me.

Last Wednesday I had a blast visiting Nicole (a member in the Asahikawa ward) with Elders Willis, Hilton, and Crompton. On Wednesday night we came back to Iwamizawa, and since then, Elder Willis has been feeling pretty good.

On Friday we had a great lesson with a lady named Sano san. The day before, we had been contemplating how we could teach her about baptism and help her progress towards baptism. Well, she helped us out a little. We went to her house, chit-chatted a bit, and then she said that she had a question for us. She ran and got her Book of Mormon, came back, and asked us, "What is baptism?" It was way cool. She had read it in 1 Nephi 11:27 (I think), which is the second reference to baptism in the entire Book of Mormon (according to my reckoning). So we had a great lesson with her where we taught her about baptism and the Gift of the Holy Ghost. Unfortunately, we were unable to set a date with her, but she will certainly get baptized some day. Hopefully I we can continue to help her out so that she can get baptized sooner rather than later.

After that lesson, we went to a big building to sit down (Elder Willis needed to take a break). When we got there, up ran Sister Iwane! It was her day off, and she had just been killing time there. So we were able to have a nice conversation with her as we sat. She is just soaking up the gospel. I asked her what her hobbies are, and she said that she liked rereading the scriptures that were used at church the previous week. She is going to be a great leader some day soon.

Sunday, March 14 was White Day, a Japanese holiday, but I totally blanked it. On Valetine's Day, girls give chocolate/candy/etc to guys, and on White Day guys give stuff to those girls. I think it is just a commercial scam to lengthen out the Valentine's candy sales.

Monday and Tuesday were both great days of finding. Both days we were able to have lessons with people right when we met them and they became new investigators. One of them is a girl going to nursing school that has decent English. I am pretty sure that she is in love with Elder Willis, but I guess that is just extra motivation to meet with us. I think that we will be able to get her progressing quickly, especially if she can come to church this week. We have been finding a lot of young people recently, and it is making us really happy. We are being led by the Spirit and finding those people that we need to find. I feel revitalized here in Iwamizawa. If only I could see some of those people accept the gospel and get baptized. But I will probably get transferred out before that happens.

Anyways, I love being a missionary. I love you all. Thank you for your letters and emails and prayers and everything you do for me. Have a great week. Elder Christensen

Sick Companion --Opportunity to Email!

2010-03-09T18:55:00.000-08:00

Guess what? I get to email this week! Because Elder Willis has been sick, we came up to Asahikawa on Monday night and have been here since. It gave me a chance to finally get out and do some missionary work while another missionary stayed with Elder Willis. But he seems to be doing pretty good now, and we are hoping to be able to return to Iwamizawa tonight.

But next week we will be back in Asahikawa for a Zone activity and interviews with President Daniels, and I should get to email again. So exciting. Our new email is run through Gmail and it is so much better!

So, my week hasn't been super busy, but yet there was still quite a bit to write about in my journal. Last Wednesday we got invited for dinner over at Sister Iwane's house with President and Sister Otahara. It was way fun, and great to strenghten our relationship with Sister Iwane and her daughter. On Sunday she gave us some treats and then said "I was debating whether or not to give these to everyone because it is Fast Sunday and all. So just eat these after you are done with your fast." Way cool! She has only been a member for a few months, and she is already talking about fasting as though it is a normal part of her life.

On Friday we went to the hospital and that was crazy. They don't accept credit cards! And they only have one ATM, which just so happens to not accept our cards. The bill ended up being over $700, and we had to pay it all in cash! Trying to understand and communicate with the hospital staff was an interesting task. My Japanese skills were certainly put to the test. But I learned a lot of new words like: insurance certificate, blood test, appendicitis (which my companion luckily does not have), and bloody stool. It was quite an interesting adventure.

Since I was in the apartment so much this week, I certainly got a lot of good studying in. I also experimented with some recipes. I tried making rice pudding and it turned out pretty good.

Well, yesterday was really fun for me. I got to do missionary work in Asahikawa, my bean area from a year ago. I even got to teach English class last night and there were a few old students that still remembered me. I loved it.

That is about it. Have a great week. I love you all.

Elder Christensen

Zone Conference with Elder Aoyagi ...Questions

2010-03-02T20:07:00.000-08:00

Hi Family,
Unfortunately, it looks like all of my emails bypassed this email address and went straight to my new address. And since I can't access that page, I don't get to read emails this week...or next week...or until I leave Iwamizawa, it seems. So I can't respond to any questions or comments this week. I am sure that you all wrote me great emails, and I am grateful for your love.
This past week was rough as far as missionary work goes, but we had some good experiences. Last Thursday we had Zone Conference with Elder and Sister Aoyagi. It was way good and I learned a lot. I even got to have an interview with Elder Aoyagi, but it wasn't what I was expecting.
It started out with chit-chat (where I am from, where I am currently serving, etc.), and then he asked if there was anything missionary related that I am struggling with and wanted his advice on. Then he asked me if I had any questions for him. And then...it was over. I felt like I didn't even have an interview. I was done in less than 3 minutes! I am sad that I didn't have any questions prepared, and I feel that I missed out on a great opportunity. But I was under the impression that Elder Aoyagi would be asking us questions. Plus, we weren't asked to prepare questions. So I sort of felt jipped. Oh well.
On Monday we had a really good lesson with an investigator named Okeda san. I found her with Elder Thurber way back in November, and she is very, very slowly progressing. For the lesson, we reviewed what a prophet is, and then taught her about a living prophet. For the first time ever, she really made a connection with the gospel! She felt that it is relevant to her! She explained that she has a special connection with her husband, and she can always tell when he comes home from work because the mood/atmosphere in the room changes. Then she said, "By the way that you describe the current prophet, he sounds like someone that has that special connection with everyone. He sounds like someone I would want to meet." It was way cool!
Yesterday Elder Willis was sick, so he slept and I had a lot of study time. I also did some cleaning and organizing, and it ended up being a pretty effective day for me. It was the first time in my mission that I have missed a day of missionary work due to my companion being sick. But don't worry, he seems all better now.
That is about it for the week. I love you. Hopefully I can get this email mess sorted out.

Elder Christensen

The fruits of my labors are spreading!

2010-02-23T20:12:00.000-08:00

Hi Family,
Yeah, I am not sure why Elder Willis and I went co-senior. It really doesn't make any logical sense, and it seems like there were other transfer plans in place that got changed. But that's just my guess. But we work together well and we are seeing a decent amount of success.
Our investigators right now aren't progressing very well. We have one investigator that is still good, but she won't come to church until the end of March (long story). I am pretty certain that she will get baptized shortly after coming to church, but sadly, I will probably be out of Iwamizawa by then.
We actually set a baptismal date with one of our investigators this past week! But the next time we went to meet with her, she told us she no longer wanted the Book of Mormon and she no longer wanted us to come meet with her. So that was no fun. It seems like I have had a lot of experiences like that here in Iwamizawa. There are so many people with potential, but Satan works on them and they drop from our investigator pool for one reason or another.
But I did hear some good news this past week. Elder Crompton is an elder that transferred from Toyohira to Asahikawa this past transfer. When I was talking to him this past week, he mentioned something about Brother Nakajima, the golden investigator that I found and baptized when I was in Sapporo. Well, he is still way active, and last transfer he performed the baptism of an investigator that Elder Crompton had. So I have officially baptized someone who baptized someone else! The fruits of my labors are spreading!
This past week we had a lot of ups and downs, but I am still plugging along. Tomorrow we get to go to Asahikawa for Zone Conference. Elder Aoyagi of the Seventy is visiting, and every senior companion gets to have a 10 minute interview with him. No one knows quite what the interviews will be about, but we are all excited...except Elder Willis, he isn't too excited to have an interview in Japanese. But I am sure it will be a great experience.
I love you all. Thank you for all of your love, letters, and everything else. Have a great week.

Elder Christensen

PS - Myldsmail is getting changed. Google will now be hosting it! That means it will be more reliable and probably have a bigger inbox (I hope). My new address is "dallinc@.........com" (I can't remember the exact ending). In 15 days, my current address will be disabled and all emails will need to be sent to the new address.
This actually presents a problem: we can no longer email in Iwamizawa. Our email spot (the library) has blocked the new email site and we can't access it. So I will email next week, and hopefully have good news then. But if not, you may no longer receive emails from me.

From Pres. Otahara and wife--branch president in Iwamizawa

2010-02-23T12:42:00.000-08:00

This is from a card I received in the mail today. It is from the Branch President where Dallin is serving. They are a young couple with the responsibility of many single sisters. They have remembered the missionaries birthdays and other holidays and taken such good care of Elder Christensen. I am looking forward to meeting them someday!!

Although Hokkaido is very very cold Elder Christensen and Willis are working hard. Elder Christensen is always smile and kind. He is our example. Sister Iwane who has found and taught by E. Christensen goes to the church with her daughter every week. We had a baptism since 3 years.! I'm grateful full for his work and faith and I'm so happy that I can work with him. God bless your family. Brother Otahara
I also thankful for Elder Christensen. He is so nice. He always tell us how he is doing and your family and investigators with a smile. I can know how much he loves his family and how much you love him. I like to see his smile. He makes us happy. Love can change people. That's what I think when I see him. We love to work with him. We hope he can stay our ward longer. If there is anything we can do for him, let us know. Sister Otahara

Co-Senior Again

2010-02-16T20:50:00.000-08:00

The Olympics sound exciting. Keep me updated if anything cool happens. There is a 14 year old from Hokkaido that is in the speed skating events. That is a big deal up here (1st Jr. High kid on the Japanese Olympic team).Ok, so now on to transfer news! Elder Willis is staying in Iwamizawa and going senior companion! And I....am also staying. We are going to be co-seniors, just like what I did with Elder Thurber. I don't know why they didn't just have us be co-seniors this past transfer, but it doesn't make much of a difference to me. I am still District Leader, so not a lot is going to change.
I am excited to spend another 6 weeks in this great area. I am really hoping that we can help someone get baptized this transfer. We have an investigator that is slowly progressing, but she still won't commit to coming to church. In fact, nearly all of our investigators won't commit to coming to church. They say that they are busy and they don't have time for church. That has probably been my biggest struggle here in Iwamizawa. But we are going to work hard, give our all, and let the Lord bless us. I have seen a baptism with 4 out of my previous 5 companions, so I intend to see a baptism with Elder Willis.
This past week was lots of fun. Being in Sapporo was great, and the Snow Festival was fun. (It wasn't as good as last year's, but still good.) Also, Elder Willis hit his one year mark last week. I bought him some cool erasable highlighters to celebrate.
On Saturday I finally got the package from home. Mom, thank you so much! The Swedish Fish were all frozen together because the package had been in our mailbox all day. Yesterday I finally got a chance to play the piano music, and it is way fun. Thank you so much!
On Sunday they had an interesting announcement in Sacrament Meeting: the Hiroshima Mission is closing and being absorbed by the Fukuoka and Kobe missions. Sad. Also, a mission in Korea is also closing. The number of missionaries in the Asia North area is getting way low. With transfers this week, our mission is dropping down to 59 missionaries! And we lose more next transfer!
On Sunday, as Valentine's Day, we got a ton of candy/chocolate from the members here. I have been eating it all week, and it is absolutely delicious! My favorite are the Maple flavored Kit Kats (they just got released this past month). Do they have various flavors of Kit Kats in America? I don't remember them ever being around, but I never really paid attention to those kinds of things.
Well, that is about it for the week. I love you all. Have a great week and enjoy the Olympics.

Cross Country Skiing in Japan!!! Wish We Were There

2010-02-09T18:14:00.000-08:00

Last week we went cross-country skiing for pday, and it was pretty fun. It was weird to be back on skis. Too bad I am way bigger than the average Japanese - the skis were about a foot too short, and the largest boots were 27.5, which were really tight on me! So my feet didn't enjoy skiing. But we will probably do it again next week as our daily excercise on pday.
All of last week it was really cold. It was usually around -8, and one day it was down around -12. And that was during the middle of the day. I have no clue how cold it gets at night.
On Sunday, we had a miracle! Saturday night, while planning and setting goals for Sunday I said "Should we pray for a miracle and somehow get an investigator to church and then a member lesson afterwards?" I didn't seriously think that it was possible, especially since we haven't gotten a member lesson or an investigator to church since November.
But on Sunday, a member visiting from another branch brought a friend with him. And the friend lives in Iwamizawa! And we were able to do a member lesson after church! So God blessed us and we were able to see some success.
We were in a slump last week, but it seems like we got out of it. We are back to making appointments and teaching lessons.
Right now we are in the mission home. Yesterday we had interviews with President Daniels and a Zone Training Meeting, then exchanges in Sapporo. I got to go with one of the APs, Elder Senba, and we had a way fun time. We even got fed by a member! Everybody loves the APs, even the members.
Today we get to go to the Snow Festival. It is going to be fun! I love you all. Have a great week.

High Scorer

2010-02-02T20:47:00.000-08:00

Hi Family!
That's too bad that you don't have snow anymore, because we certainly do! In fact, we are going cross-country skiing once we finish emailing. We got it approved through President Daniels, and so we will be some of the only missionaries to ever going skiing on their missions! Sure, it doesn't compare with downhill skiing, but we can still say that we went skiing.
I am sad to hear that you took candy out of my package. I love American candy. Oh well. And yeah, I haven't put on any weight. In fact, I have recently been working out pretty hard and watching what I eat, and I have lost about 2 kilos in the past month.
That is great that Sister Daniels uploaded some music onto the blog. I would assume that it is the cd we all received for Christmas. Yeah, I felt pretty jipped that no one asked me to play something for the cd, but that's life sometimes. Sorry about having nothing from me to listen to. But, this past week I used the piano book that you sent me for Christmas! (the hymn one, not the other one). At Zone Conference each district was supposed to provide a musical number, and since a few elders in my district refuse to sing, I got the lovely assignment.
I was going to play Nearer My God to Thee, but all of the missionaries sang it to thank the sisters that made our lunch. That just happened to be right before my musical number, so in 10 seconds of panic I switched my song to Abide With Me. I just played it from the book, but I had never actually played through it before. So I sightread it for a musical number. I felt sort of guilty, and the beginning was a little rough, but I smoothed it out and it ended up being a decent performance. Just yet another experience of me preparing a piece, having someone else sing it, and then scrambling to come up with something new. Maybe the Lord is preparing me for something...
It is sort of funny how you mention what was going on this time 33 years ago in your email. Do you remember what was going on at this time last year? Exactly 1 year ago I was sitting on a plane, somewhere over the Pacific Ocean on my way to Tokyo. Can you believe that I have now been in Japan for 1 year? Well, it will techinically be 1 year in about 3 hours. Crazy!
Anyways, last week's pday activity and ensuing Zone Conference were great. I ended being the best bowler out of our group of 16 people. I even beat President Daniels (he is usually the best at every sport we play). I think I bowled a 139, 119, and a 136. I know, it doesn't really compete with McKay, but it was still pretty decent. I even got a turkey in my first game.
Yesterday we had a lesson with an investigator and we had a couple sisters from the ward team-up. Sister Iwane teamed up for the first time ever! It was so cool to hear her testify and talk about why she likes church. The weird thing about the lesson is that our investigator is someone that we found the week after we found Sister Iwane. We actually were teaching them at about the same time. But the one investigator got busy and stopped meeting us, while Sister Iwane got baptized and became a member.
Well, that is about it for me. I love you all. Have a great week.

Elder Christensen

Temple in Payson Utah!!!

2010-01-26T20:27:00.000-08:00

I can't believe Payson is getting a temple! And before Spanish Fork! That is lame, but cool at the same time. Why didn't they wait until General Conference to announce the temple?
It sounds like Stake Conference was fun/exciting/great that it's over. That is interesting that Elder Robbins and Elder Gong used a question answer format. Elder Bednar did the same thing when he came up to Hokkaido (at our mission conference and at the Asahikawa Stake Conference).
What's the deal with Haiti? I heard that there was an earthquake, but that is about all I know. Remember, missionaries have no source of information except their families and friends.
Anyways, it was a decent week for me. I felt like we struggled, but yesterday we got a call from President Daniels and his assistants congratulating us on a few good numbers that we had last week. It sounds like our mission is struggling right now, so I am glad to be helping out what little bit I can.
We have found a few really good investigators recently, and we have had a few fun lessons. Yesterday we had 5 lessons! To put that in perspective, last week we had a grand total of 4 lessons (but we usually average about 8 or 9 per week). But yesterday was a great day where we taught most of the day! It was so uplifting. That is what I imagine a mission in South America would be like: teaching for the majority of the day, and finding when you have time between lessons.
Right now we are in Asahikawa because we are going to go bowling as a Zone. And tomorrow we have Zone Conference! Right now I am emailing at the same place that I emailed at when I was in my first few transfers in Japan. It is so nostalgic! I love it. Asahikawa is one of my favorite places in the world.
Anyways, that it about it. Thanks for all of the love, letters, prayers, etc. I love you all. Have a great week.

Elder Christensen

Talking on Cell Phones, Toliets and Communication in Japan

2010-01-20T08:44:00.000-08:00

Hello!
It has been snowing on and off all week here, but today is unusually warm (4 C) and it is drizzling rain outside! We don't like it.
It sounds like you had a fun MLK Jr. Day. We didn't even know about it. But at our lesson on Monday night, the couple said "Isn't today an American holiday?" I was sort of lost as to what it could be, but then they said Martin Luther's name, and I remembered. I am so glad that our country has diversity. A lot of Japanese people talk about the prejudice that goes on in America, but none of them really understand the fact that there is racial diversity in America. It is nice to be able to unite with so many people from different backgrounds that have different perspectives. America really is a promised land.
This week hasn't been too exciting for me, but it hasn't been bad either. On Thursday we rode a train to Takikawa to go on exchanges with the elders there. As we were riding, I got a phone call from Sister Iwane (the recent convert). In Japan, it is impolite to talk on cell phones while riding public transportation, but I couldn't reject Sister Iwane, so I picked it up anyway. (Sometimes there are advantages to being American. You can get away with a things like that.) She had some sad news: her father has cancer and is only expected to live for 3 months. So she was sort of worried about her family, especially because they found out that one of her siblings is not actually her sibling. They have different parents (or something crazy like that...the Japanese was sort of confusing). I was glad to be able to talk with her a little bit. And she came to church on Sunday, so she was able to get the support and love of all of the members here.
Exchanges in Takikawa ended up being a bust because of ineffective planning. Our missionary work was not very effective, and I felt like I didn't do enough to strengthen their faith. I still have a lot of learning to do as a leader.
Our lesson on Monday was really fun. It was with a guy named Nagaoka that we have taught a few times before in his genkan (front walkway by the door). His girlfriend invited us in, so we were way happy (teaching two is better than teaching one!). She offered us coffee, which we politely turned down, but that eventually led into me being able to teach them the basics of the Word of Wisdom. It was a really fun lesson, and the guy kept joking about stuff that we couldn't do. For example, right before we left, the girlfriend asked if we wanted to use their toilet. The following conversation occured between Nagaoka san and his girlfriend:
"Don't offer them the toilet! That's disrespectful!"
"But, it's just a toilet."
"Yeah, but they don't use the toilet. They're Mormon. What were you thinking?"
"Everyone uses a toilet. Even they do, right?"
"That's what you'd think. But everyone drinks coffee, too, and they've never drank coffee before."
About that point is where we stopped rolling on the ground in laughter to tell them that we can use toilets, but had no current desire to do so. It was so funny. It's not as funny when I retell it, but it was one of the funniest experiences I have ever had.
The best part of the lesson was right after that when the girlfriend said "Before you go, I have one final question: where do we go when we die?" I got so excited, but we were out of time and really had to go. So we committed them to reading Alma 40 and we are certainly going to teach them the Plan of Salvation next time we meet. I am pretty excited for them.
Well, that is about it. I love being a missionary. I love having a great family. I love you all. Have a great week.

Still Going Strong in 2010

2010-01-13T09:45:00.000-08:00

Hi family!
Mom, thanks for the great email. It sounds like last week was a week of great experiences and memories. It was pretty busy for me, too. Sister Daniels made sure to call me on the night of the 7th to see how I was. She really is the best.
It is really weird being with a new companion after 12 weeks with Elder Thurber, but I get along great with Elder Willis. He isn't as neat and organized as Elder Thurber, so that tests my patience a little bit, but other than that everything is great. He is a way skilled missionary - his Japanese is great, his finding skills are great, and his teaching skills are great. He will probably go senior companion in Iwamizawa once I leave.
He is from Wilsonville, Oregon, which is just south of where McKay lived when he was in Portland. They may have even been the same stake. He loves soccer and cycling, as well as most other sports. So we have a fun time talking about sports every day.
Being a District Leader is an interesting experience for me. The biggest thing that I have noticed is that my evenings are now full of phone calls, and all of my free time has been lost. So now I right in my journal in the mornings. But I seem to be doing alright as District Leader. I had to run my first District Training Meeting on Monday, which was alright. Usually Districts get together for DTMs, but since our district is so spread out, we have to do it over the phone (on a conference call). That makes things difficult, but I guess that's life.
I am certainly not the best at motivating or inspiring missionaries, but I am slowly learning. Surprisingly, Elder Willis and I had some of the best numbers this past week, so it looks like we're doing something right. Now I just need to help the elders in the neighboring area, who are really struggling. But they have a good relationship with each other, which is a great start to build upon. The other set of companions in our district are one of the Zone Leaders (Elder Tashiro) with the missionary that he is training. Elder Tashiro is probably the best missionary in Hokkaido right now, so I am not at all worried about them.
Yesterday we actually got to go on exchanges with the Zone Leaders, so I had a chance to learn from Elder Tashiro. It was a great day for us, and Elder Willis had a fun time working with our new Zone Leader, Elder Hilton, who is one of his past companions.
Now, a quick note about Elder Thurber's email from last week: unfortunately we haven't been able to meet with Takahashi san again since that first meeting. We have swung by his house a few times, but he wasn't there twice, and the third time he said he was busy. But one day soon we'll teach again. He really needs the gospel.
Anyways, life is good in Iwamizawa. I finally feel that I know what I am doing when it comes to missionary work. Thanks to everyone for their prayers, love, and letters. Have a great week.

Elder Christensen

Good-Bye Elder Thurber--Great Companion and Friend

2010-01-05T21:21:00.000-08:00

Here is an experience from Elder Thurber that we received from his mother in his last email as Elder Christensen's companion:

Elder Thurber is the first missionary on the left

To make last Monday even more exciting, I`d like to share a special experience Elder Christensen and I had as we went housing. We came across a house that I remember a member had said we should visit with Elder Shingaki.....but he never answered the door- the 6 or so times we went. He answered this time. I remembered vaguely that the member said his wife had died and he was lonely. I did a powerful short introduction to eternal families. When I asked him how he would feel if he got to live with his family forever in happiness, he was already gushing out the tears. He quietly explained that his wife had died 5 years ago and let us in. As we started to teach about God, we introduced baptism- like we`ve been doing the last month or 2. To our surprise, he pulled out some paper, wrote the word down, and the date we said that we`d have a baptismal service. When we asked him if he`d want to receive baptism, he answered with a definite YES. We continued to introduce the BOM and the truths it had, including where we went after this life. Elder CHristensen pulled out Alma 40:12(spirit world is like paradise for the righteous) and the tears started coming again. Elder Christensen continued with his own testimonial, explaining that he probably understands a little bit of how he feels as his brother passed away a year ago. He testified of how his family has gained hope that he will see his brother again after this life and how Takahashi san can too. All 3 of us were bawling. We ended with a prayer in which Elder CHristensen blessed him again with hope, comfort and to be able to meet with the missionaries often, and we testified of the holy ghost that we all felt. He has been prepared and needs this message of truth and hope. Maybe the reason that Elder SHingaki and I couldn`t get a hold of him was because we needed Elder Christensen powerful testimony and his experience to relate to such a lonely, sad man. They will continue to meet with him and prepare him for baptism.

He's a Gonna Stay

2010-01-05T21:00:00.000-08:00

I just had to post this picture because it is one of my favorite. A year ago on this date, Bryce wrote his last letter and it was to Dallin. He told Dallin that if he ever had any questions that he would always be here to answer them...no matter how crazy. So now it is a year later and life just keeps running on.

Hi Family!
It is so good to email again! It took me a long time to read all of the emails that piled up the last couple weeks. But thank you to everyone that emailed. I loved them all.
Today brings with it sad news: after two amazing transfers together, Elder Thurber and I are getting separated. We knew that he would probably be transferring, but it is still sad. He is going to Odori (downtown Sapporo) as a new Zone Leader! He just skipped being District Leader and is going Zone Leader on transfer #8 (really fast, at least in our mission). He is pretty nervous, so you should all pray for him. I have no doubt that he will be an awesome Zone Leader and I am so grateful that I got to learn from him and with him for the past two transfers.
I am staying in Iwamizawa, but have been asked to be District Leader. So that should be exciting. I am sort of nervous, but think that I have it pretty easy in comparison to Elder Thurber. My new companion will be Elder Willis, an elder that is only two transfers behind me. He is from Oregon and is tall, and that is about all that I know about him. But I think we will get along great and have a great transfer. I am pretty happy to have him as a companion because I know that his Japanese is about as good as mine and he has been a missionary nearly as long as I have. I am sure that he will be a great companion.
I hope that you got my letter that I sent on New Years. If not, it should come soon.
That is crazy that Rhett is already home. I am sure his talk was great. He always did like debate/public speaking. I don't, still. Don't expect a great talk like that from me when I get home.
Mom, I am glad that you are keeping in good contact with Sister Daniels. It was actually her birthday yesterday (I think) and so all of the missionaries wrote her letters. I tried to thank her for all that she has done, and for always posting pictures. But you'll be glad to know that I printed out some pictures last week, so I'll try to get them mailed to you soon.
That was fun to read everyone's goals from last year. I did pretty good with mine.
Mom and Dad, I am sure that you are having a hard time right now, so know that I am praying for you. I really don't have time to reminisce about Bryce every day, so things haven't been too hard for me. I just keep on working hard, and that occupies my mind. I have no clue how I will do tomorrow, but I think it won't be too bad because we are going to be super busy all day. We'll see.
Well, that is about my time for today. I love you all so much. It was tons of fun hearing all of you on Christmas. We only get one more phone call left! I am still so far away from finishing my mission, but it is scary how fast that day is coming. Thanks for all of your prayers. I love you.

Elder Christensen

PS - One funny note about being with Elder Willis: I am pretty sure that in Japanese, his name is pronounced the same as the word for "virus". And most Japanese people think that my name is "Christian". So now the people of Iwamizawa will have a Christian with a virus asking to come into their houses. It should be good!

2009 Dec. 23 Dinner with Zone

2009-12-28T15:38:00.000-08:00

Christmas for Japanese Missionary

2009-12-16T13:52:00.000-08:00

Hi Family!
I miss all of the Christmas spirit that goes on in America. Most of the people here either don't celebrate Christmas, or just give presents without realizing why we give presents on Christmas.
Anyways, I had a busy, slightly stressful week. On Saturday we had a music fireside after Zone Conference (which was great). Leading up to the fireside, I had tried to put together a Christmas song. After practicing Silent Night for a few days, I was told that the missionaries and YSA would be singing that, so it got axed from my plan. So then I put together a cool arrangement of O Little Town of Bethlehem and thought "No one will do this number. It certainly won't get stolen." Well, on Friday afternoon I found out that a couple other elders were playing that! Because I had no time to rearrange another Christmas song, I had to resort to Be Still My Soul. After Zone Conference I got to practice it twice, and then I performed it. So after having not played that song for three months, I had to perform it. I guess it was alright, but not nearly as good as I had hoped for.
Also, during lunch at Zone Conference, President Daniels told me "Elder Christensen, we need you to accompany Lauren tonight, ok?" (Lauren is their daughter that just got home on Friday from the Hong Kong mission.). So after Zone Conference they gave me the piano music to an Amy Grant song named Breath Of Heaven. I don't know if you have heard of it, but I certainly hadn't! Luckily, they let me listen to it once on President's iPod. Then I figured out how to play it, practiced it a few times, and then the performance. It was weird to perform a piece that, up until two hours before, I had never heard of. But it went well and I was happy to help out.
Another unexpected event from this week happened Sunday at church. While on the train to Asahikawa on Saturday morning, we got a call from a member of the branch presidency. Elder Thurber picked it up and was assigned to give a talk the next day in Sacrament Meeting. Well, it turns out that the member assumed that he was talking with me, and had meant to assign me to speak. So the next day at Sacrament Meeting, Elder Thurber and I were very surprised when my name, not his, was called as the first speaker. So I had no time to prepare a talk. I didn't even really have time to be nervous about the talk. I just had the 10 seconds before I was at the podium, and from there I just spoke. It actually went alright and I got one compliment afterwards, but it sure wasn't an experience that I would like to repeat.
On Sunday, Sister Iwane (the recent convert) and her daughter Jurina came to church. Jurina, usually pretty loud and hard to get still, was super reverant and seemed like an angel! We were so happy, as was the rest of the branch. She adds so much life to the branch. Besides a 6-month old baby, she is the only person under the age of 17 that comes to church. But we love having her come.
The last few days it has snowed quite a bit, so now we have nearly a foot everywhere. All of the roads are covered in a couple of inches of packed snow. For some odd reason they don't believe in plowing roads or using salt on roads in Hokkaido. So the roads have basically turned into ice, and Elder Thurber and I have had a few good wrecks. But don't worry, nothing was harmed. We have a few bruises, but that is it.
This morning I made Goldenrod Eggs for breakfast and it was super delicious. Thank you Mom for sending the recipe!
Well, that is about it. I don't know if I will email on (my) Christmas day because we will be talking the very next day (your Christmas day). So if I don't, have a great week and a half and I will talk with you on Christmas. I love you all so much. Merry Christmas.

Elder Christensen

Remember Kojima in Your Prayers!

2009-12-09T07:13:00.000-08:00

Anways, it has been an up and down week for Elder Thurber and I. Basically we have had a ton of awesome experiences and some really good lessons. We found a ton of good people....But, Satan has been working really hard against us and we were sort of a little depressed on Sunday. We had two people that were going to come to church (really strong commitments), but one got sick and the other just didn't show up. We also met a nice older man, had an awesome first lesson were he felt the Spirit, but now he won't answer his phone or his door. So that is the jist of things this past week: have something awesome happen, and then have something terrible happen the next day that negates all of our positive work. We have so many good investigators now, but none of them have time to meet with us! It is pretty frustrating, but we are still working hard and still finding lots of good people.
On Friday we are going to meet with Fujine san (I think I wrote about him a couple of weeks ago). Well, he just finished reading the Book of Mormon, and it took a whole of three weeks! I have never had an investigator read the Book of Mormon all the way through before! We are pretty excited to meet with him again.
We had an awesome experience the past few days. On Monday night I was looking at an old Potential Investigators list (old missionaries write down phone #s and addresses of people that they find and such). This particular list was from 2004 or 2005, and there was one person named Kojima that had the comment "He is really golden! Please meet with him and teach him!". So Elder Thurber called the number, but got no answer, and we sort of just shrugged it off. The next morning (Tuesday) we got a call, and it was Kojima! We asked if we could meet with him, and he said "Sure, how about this afternoon?". So we met him in the afternoon and had a good lesson. I don't think he truely is golden, but he is probably the coolest Japanese person I have ever met, and one of the nicest, too.
He is 41, but back when he was in his 20s, he was a professional snowboarder! K2 (probably the biggest snowboarding company in the world) sponsored him and he competed in contests all around the world. When he first heard my name he said "Isn't that name Scandanavian?". Anyways, I had a fun time talking about snowboarding with him. I showed him my pictures and asked if he could do a backflip. He replied "Actually, that was my forte." Awesome! He mostly specialized in halfpipe. After my mission he has promised to take me to all of the good snowboarding spots in Hokkaido if I return in the winter.
But besides his awesome past (snowboarding, surfing, paragliding, etc.) he is a way motivated guy. He runs a rest home and is way busy. This morning he gave us a tour of the place and it is way nice. He is busy every day because he lives on the top floor of the building in which the rest home is, so he works 24/7, 365. But, he committed to coming to church tomorrow, and it was a strong commitment! He put a note in his phone, and he told us he would "take time out" of his schedule in order to come. We are way excited because he could make a way strong member. Plus, he has a wife and 3 kids. If that family got baptized, it would do wonders for the branch. Right now, only about 25 members come each week, so a family of 5 would be amazing.
Well, that is about it. I love you all. Thanks for your prayers.

White Thanksgiving!

2009-12-01T20:20:00.000-08:00

Hi Family,
It sounds like everybody had a good Thanksgiving week, including BYU football. Over here we also had a great week.
The highlight was......Iwane san got baptized!!! Miracles truely do happen, and Elder Thurber and I were so blessed to be a part of this one. The branch here is so excited to have a new member. The last time there was a baptism in Iwamizawa was February 2006, so everyone helped out to see that the baptism happened. Sister Iwane is already friends with most of the women in the branch and she loves coming to church. The branch welcomed her by giving her a really nice bouquet of roses (probably two dozen of assorted colors - purple, pink, yellow, orange, and green).
I was the lucky one that got to do the baptizing, and it was the coldest baptism ever! Right before the baptismal service we checked the water and were horrified to see that at least a quarter (if not half) of the water had somehow drained! So Elder Thurber and I went into the baptismal service and left the water in the hands of a member. Well, apparently the water heater wouldn't be fast enough, so they filled up the remainder of the font with cold water. It was cold, the kind of cold that makes you take in a big breath when your foot hits the water. Sister Iwane waited as long as she could before getting in.
Unfortunately, my one-dunk baptism streak came to an end because Sister Iwane's toe somehow found its way out of the water. So I had to do it again. I felt sorry that she had to go into that cold water a second time, but it all worked out. At least it didn't take me 6 tries like what happened at the last baptism I saw.
Besides the baptism, we had a pretty good week. We had a delicious Thanksgiving lunch (thanks to Elder Thurber's mom) of mashed potatoes, stuffing, turkey jerkey, and gravy. It was so good!
The pictures that Sister Daniels sent your way were probably from when they came up on Friday so that President Daniels could interview Sister Iwane. They took us out to eat with President and Sister Otahara afterwards. They even let us get dessert! Unfortunately, Elder Thurber didn't fully read the list of things contained in the dessert he ordered, and I decided I would just get the same thing as him. To our horror (and embarassment), there was coffee jelley in our parfaits! We, of course, didn't eat the jelley, but I don't think that President Daniels will ever let us forget that experience. I am pretty sure that every time I see him from now till the end of my mission, he will ask "Elder Christensen, how has the Word of Wisdom been recently? Has any coffee jelley found its way into your desserts?" Ugh...Oh well. It made for a fun journal entry.
For the month of December, our mission is "giving" a present to Jesus - we are going to invite at least one person a day to get baptized. We are also going to read at least one (if not all) of the four gospels. It should be an interesting month. Hopefully, we can get a few more miracles to come our way and see a few more baptisms this transfer.
Well, that is about it. I love you all. Thank you so much for the emails and letters.

Elder Christensen

PS - I was thinking that I wanted to make Golden Rod Eggs for Christmas, but I have no clue how to make the white sauce. Can you send me that recipe? Thanks. Hopefully we can find the ingredients in Japan.

Birthdays for Elder C. and Elder Thurber Oct/ Nov 24, 2009

2009-11-30T09:59:00.001-08:00

To their dismay, as Elder Christensen and his Orem, Utah companion Elder Thurber got to get a treat for their birthdays, they discovered that the jello was coffee flavor. Yum. The Daniels took the Branch President and his wife and their investigator along with the missionaries out to eat. Here is what Sister Daniels wrote about the Branch President and the Branch:
I just saw you son today and he translated for me during a fireside. He also spoke at church and passed the sacrament. He will keep very busy in this little branch. He is doing so well. When ever I see him he has that very cute smile of his always. He looks happy and him and Elder Thurber seem so be doing great. My regret as I am sitting here writing to you is that we did not get our camera out and take a picture of this branch for you. The branch president and his wife are just this young couple. They do speak english and they are wonderful. President Otahara and his wife look like they could be models and are warm and wonderful. I think there maybe were 25 people at church and mostly women. I wish we could figure out how to share this wonderful gospel and keep them active once we have baptized them. It is a big problem here, as in many other places.

Oh Happy Day!!!

2009-11-25T10:03:00.000-08:00

Hi Family,
Sorry about no email last week. Pday was crazy! Being in Asahikawa for interviews was great. On Wednesday night they had a baptismal services and they had all of the missionaries work during the afternoon so that we could attend the service. Thus, I had 2 less hours of pday time than usual (plus the 3 or so hours of travel time). But the baptism was great. Brother Sato performed the baptism - his first ever! In fact, the last time I saw someone got baptized in that font, it was him. So it was way cool for me to see him being the one baptizing this time. He didn't quite understand the whole immersion principle, so he ended up having to do the baptism 6 times before he finally got the girl completely under the water. Everyone felt really sorry for her, and I am pretty sure that she shed a few tears, but she won't have a hard time remembering her baptism!
So here is the news of the day: Elder Thurber and I get to stay together for another 6 weeks! We are both way excited, especially since Iwane san should be getting baptized this Sunday! (Explanation about "san": you just add it after the person's last name to make it polite. It doesn't really translate into English.) Something interesting about our companionship that President Daniels told us when he came to church on Sunday is that we are the only companionship in the mission where both companions are from Utah. There are actually only about 7 or 8 Utah missionaries in this mission.
Iwane san is progressing a ton and should be ready for baptism on Sunday. She has had quite a few spiritual experiences and answers to prayers. She really feels God's love for her and is excited to get baptized. And she is already friends with nearly every woman in Relief Society and they all love her. When she comes to church, everybody flocks to her and makes her feel really welcome.
Elder Thurber and I are so grateful to be serving in Iwamizawa right now. And we are so grateful that we get to have a baptism here. The branch has been a long time without a new member to befriend, so we are grateful that we can help a little. Hopefully we can keep the trend up and get a few more baptisms in the weeks to come. We have a couple strong investigators that we will probably set baptismal dates with soon.
One guy is named Fujine san, and we had an awesome lesson with him last night. We met him way back on the 13th and taught him lesson one in his genkan (the front part of Japanese houses where you take off your shoes). At that time he said he would read the Book of Mormon, and he didn't want to meet us until he had read it all. He said he could probably read it by the 24th, so that was the plan. Well, he got through the first 470 pages (out of 745 in the Japanese Book of Mormon). He is reading the BoM faster than most members! And he is really soaking it up. He said that as he reads, he makes images in his mind and it is like he is watching a movie.
He had us turn to Alma 29:2 and said that he could relate with the "voice of thunder" that it talks about there. Once he was in a car accident and was hospitalized. While in his bed, he had a dream where he went to the spirit world. He loved it there and it was really peaceful, but then he heard a "voice of thunder" come from the sky that told him "You still have work to do. Return to earth. You need to write a book." And then he came back to consiousness. Well, he ended up going back to school and eventually got a book published.
He is so cool and he loves the Book of Mormon. We think that he could certainly get baptized this transfer. We are way excited to meet with him again. By that time, he'll probably be done with the Book of Mormon.
Well, I hit my one year mark on Thursday. It feels way weird to think that I have been a missionary for a year. And tomorrow will be my second (of three) Thanksgivings as a missionary. Elder Thurber's mom sent him an awesome package for his birthday: mashed potatoes mix, stuffing, gravy mix, and turkey jerkey. So we will have an American Thanksgiving meal tomorrow!
For his birthday I made Elder Thurber what I thought was going to be brownies (Thanks for the mix Brooke!). I was surprised that it used 3 eggs and over a cup of water. But I was even more surprised when it came out as a cake instead of brownies. But the cake was delicious and we enjoyed celebrating his birthday together. President and Sister Otahara came by at night and brought him a present (cookies and American soda pop).
I hope that this super long email makes up for the lack of email last week. I love you all. Have a happy Thanksgiving.

Elder Christensen

Email from Dallin's Mission Mom

2009-11-22T07:55:00.000-08:00

Wynette,

I just saw you son today and he translated for me during a fireside. He also spoke at church and passed the sacrament. He will keep very busy in this little branch. He is doing so well. When ever I see him he has that very cute smile of his always. He looks happy and him and Elder Thurber seem so be doing great. My regret as I am sitting here writing to you is that we did not get our camera out and take a picture of this branch for you. The branch president and his wife are just this young couple. They do speak english and they are wonderful. President Otahara and his wife look like they could be models and are warm and wonderful. I think there maybe were 25 people at church and mostly women. I wish we could figure out how to share this wonderful gospel and keep them active once we have baptized them. It is a big problem here, as in many other places.
I love being here and serving. What a blessing it is to be surrounded my missionaries. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Sister Daniels

Elder Thurber Fills in the Blanks

2009-11-18T07:16:00.000-08:00

After being disappointed at the email received from Elder C. this week, I was happy that Elder Thurber his companion came through and his mom forwarded this email:
DEAR FAMILY AND FRIENDS,
> IT WAS AN EXCITING WEEK. ELDER CHRISTENSEN AND I HAVE BEEN WORKING OUR HEARTS OUT THIS TRANSFER TO SEE A MIRACLE- A BAPTISM IN THE IWAMIZAWA AREA. USING MANY DIFFERENT MEMBERS FOR "TEAM-UPS", AND INCORPORATING THE DAILY CONTACT SYSTEM WITH OUR INVESTIGATOR, IWANE SAN, SHE LOOKS GOOD TO RECEIVE BAPTISM THIS SUNDAY! WE TAUGHT HER A LOT TO MAKE SURE SHE WAS READY FOR THE INTERVIEW SCHEDULED ON FRIDAY ALL LAST NIGHT INCLUDING ALL OF LESSON 3, TITHING, THE OTHER SMALLER COMMANDMENTS AND THE BAPTISMAL PREP INTERVIEW QUESTIONS. SHE GOT A LITTLE OVERWHELMED BUT IT WAS THE ONLY WAY WE COULD DO IT TO HAVE HER READY. SHE IS EXCITED TO BE BAPTIZED AND LOOKING PRETTY SHARP. MY FAVORITE PART OF YESTERDAY`S LESSON WAS WHEN I SAID THE WORDS "WORD OF WISDOM"(IN JAPANESE) HER FACE LIT UP AND AS I FOLLOWED UP ON IT AGAIN- SHE LOOKED AT EVERYONE IN THE EYE AND SAID WITH SOME ZEAL- I`M DOING IT! SMOKING, COFFEE, TEA, EVERYTHING- I`M DOING IT! SHE WAS REALLY PROUD OF HERSELF AND WORKING HARD TO KEEP ALL OF THE COMMANDMENTS :) IT MADE ME SOO HAPPY INSIDE. SHE ALSO HAS RECOGNIZED THE SPIRIT- ESPECIALLY WHEN SHE COMES TO CHURCH. ELDER TASHIRO- MY BELOVED ZONE LEADER WILL COME DOWN WITH US AFTER INTERVIEWS ON THURSDAY SO HE CAN INTERVIEW HER ON FRIDAY. ALL THINGS ARE COMING TOGETHER AND IT LOOKS AS IF A MIRACLE WILL FINALLY HAPPEN IN IWAMIZAWA-- AFTER 3 YEARS OF WAITING. :)
> THE LORD IS TRULY BLESSING US AND MY STRENGTH IS IN HIM. I LOVE YOU ALL- HAVE A GREAT WEEK!
> LOVE,
> ELDER THURBER

Computers Not Working type email...bummer type

2009-11-17T18:57:00.000-08:00

Hi Family,
Computers aren't working for me today, so no email. Sorry. I will try to write a letter, but today is going to be super busy. We have to go to Asahikawa for a Zone Activity, so about half of our pday time is going to be used up traveling.
But I still love you all. Thank you for your prayers and letters.

One Year AGo Nov. 18, 2008

2009-11-17T14:10:00.000-08:00

One year ago today, Dallin, his brother Bryce and his mom were home wondering what to do on this last day before Dallin was to take off for the MTC. He had been packing and wanted a break. It was a beautiful fall day and so we piled in the car and went to Hobble Creek. Bryce wore his flip flops and told us not to walk so fast. We had fun talking and taking pictures of the beautiful fall day. Both Dallin and Bryce were bummed because they didn't get to get in one day of snowboarding together. That evening, Brooke, McKay, Bryce, Dallin and his parents went up to the Stake Center where they met Bishop Cope in the Stake President's office and Dallin became Elder Christensen.
Today I ( Dallin's mom) went to Hobble Creek again. There was snow on the ground everywhere. It was still a beautiful fall day but I think those two boys would have been much more excited today than a year ago to see white, cold snow.
Tomorrow will be the one year mark for Elder Christensen. Hurray for missionaries!

More Than Enough

2009-11-10T19:10:00.001-08:00

It was another great week for me here in Imawizawa. Last night it snowed a little bit, and it is supposed to snow a little every day for the rest of the week. Last Thursday was Zone Conference in Asahikawa and it was great. President Daniels talked a lot about the Great Apostasy and he actually talked about a few things that Elder Thurber and I have discussed in the past few weeks. So I felt very doctrinally prepared for President's talk, and that made it even better. After Zone Conference I got to talk with Brother Hotta and Brother Sato, two of my favorite members from Asahikawa. They came to the church just to say hi to all of the missionaries, and I had a fun time talking with them.
On Saturday night, one of the members called us up and then brought by some food for us. She had bought us pork, beef, and ice cream! So on Sunday we ate beef steak with baked potatoes and ice cream for dessert. We felt like we were back in America. It was so good!
And yesterday we had an older lady team-up for a lesson that we had. After the lesson, we were riding our bikes down the road when she flagged us down from a grocery store parking lot. She said "I have been meaning to put something in the missionaries' fruit basket the past few weeks, but never got around to it. Is it alright if I get something for you right now?" That made us happy, and we said alright. Well, then she pulled out a shopping cart! We thought she was just going to get us a snack. But nope, she wanted to get us a lot. We tried to tell her that our fridge is already full and that we didn't need anything, but she kept picking stuff out. She ended up buying us some really expensive, delicious meat called Jingisu Kan (it is named after Ghengis Khan). It was about $13 for 1 kilo of meat! In all, she spent about $24 on groceries and then handed them over to us. We were so happy, but we really didn't need any of it, so we felt bad. We love this branch so much! Every member that is active has a really strong testimony and they love the missionaries so much.
On Saturday we found an apartment full of foreigners! There were a few Americans, an English girl, a guy from New Zealand, and a guy from South Africa. We only got to talk with the guy from South Africa, but he was way cool. He is from Johannesburg, but he has a lot of family in Cape Town. While we talked to him, I heard in the background that he was listening to Led Zepplin's "Stairway to Heaven". I thought that the music was a good reminder of Bryce, and I know that he would have loved talking with that guy.
Our investigator Iwane san is still on track to getting baptized on November 22, but I still think it will be a miracle if she makes it. But Elder Thurber and I pray every day that we can see miracles happen here in Iwamizawa. We found another young mom this past week named Oketa san that seems like she could potentially be a good investigator.
We are working like crazy. Some days we have a ton of success, and other days we have no success. The Lord really is strengthening us in the refiner's fire. I love working with Elder Thurber and we are serving with all of our hearts.
Thank you everyone for your support. I love you all.

Elder Christensen

Cold and Getting Colder

2009-11-03T20:15:00.000-08:00

I had an interesting week that was good. On Thursday we had a really spiritual lesson with a 17 year old named Wakabayashi. We watched the Restoration DVD and he really felt the Spirit. After watching it he told us that he "came to know of the actuality that Joseph Smith met God and Jesus Christ". It was awesome! Unfortunately, the next day when we called him he told us that his parents are opposed to him meeting with us, so we will probably never get to meet with him again. Bummer.
But on Friday we had a great lesson with Iwane san (a young mother) and we were able to set a baptismal date with her for the 22nd of November. She couldn't come to church this past week, but is coming this week. She is turning into a really solid investigator and we are excited to keep meeting with her and helping her prepare to get baptized.
On Monday we got snow in Iwamizawa! It was only about an inch, but on Tuesday morning we woke up to a foot of snow! But throughout the day on Tuesday, the sun came out and started melting the snow. So we rode our bikes through slush and had a difficult time getting from A to B. We both had a couple good crashes, but we just laughed about them. The snow kept melting, and now there are just traces of it on the ground. It was good while it lasted.
Well, that is about it. We get to go to Asahikawa for Zone Conference tomorrow, so that is exciting. I love you all. Have a great week.

Happy Birthday Dallin!!

2009-10-27T20:46:00.000-07:00

This is a Whopper Burger they are selling in Japan for a limited time to celebrate the "Windows 7" release. Holy Cow!
So unfortunately the library is closed today, and I only have a few minutes on a computer near the train station.
I haven't been cutting anyone else's hair because we don't have the trimmers. In Asahikawa I cut my hair once, but that was it. In Higashi there was a member that owned a beauty salon that would cut the missionaries hair for free.
So, to clear up the confusion: yes, both Elder Thurber and I are senior. And we are both new seniors. So this transfer is full of a lot of new experiences and growing for both of us. But we are having a blast together. I think that right now is the funnest time in my mission. We get along so great and every day we have funny experiences.
This week we found a really good young mother (with a 4 year old daughter), taught her the Restoration lesson, and then she came to church on Sunday. Unfortunately she left before Sacrament Meeting because her daughter was all over the place and she was getting tired. But we are meeting her tomorrow and have high hopes that we can get her back to church this week.
On Saturday I had a great birthday! We were stood up by 3 lessons, which was a bummer, but the Lord blessed us to be able to make 10 appointments! To put that in perspective, usually making 4 appointments is a good day for us and 3 is about average. When we got back to the apartment I put my 16 candles (yes Mom, you only sent 16) on Melon Bread, a delicious Japanese pastry. After blowing out my candles and eating the bread, our Branch President and his wife came buy with a present for me! They brought me A&W root beer, 7UP, and Tim-Tams (Australian/New Zealand cookies). So Elder Thurber and I "Tim-Tam-slammed": basically you drink hot chocolate through a Tim-Tam and then eat the soggy Tim-Tam. It was way good, and it made my birthday awesome.
The next day some other members gave me some SPAM for my birthday. I love the branch here. All of the members are so great.
Well, I am about out of time. I love you all. Have a great Halloween. I will probably forget about Halloween by the time Saturday rolls around.
We were able to read Dallin's companion's letter home and he mentioned to his family that the Branch President and his wife drove 1 1/2 hours to get the Tim-Tam for Dallin. Wow. He also related an experience that Dallin did not include:
Also yesterday we went to a grandma`s house for our appointment to teach her. We started with teaching her how to pray and I offered a simple prayer including a blessing on the grandma. When we opened her eyes, she held hers closed for a few seconds longer and when they opened they were filled with tears. She said thank- you many times in the 1000s of ways that the Japanese language has in it and when I told her what she was feeling was God`s love for her, the tears started streaming. I couldn`t help myself- tears came down my cheeks as well. This was a choice, softened spirit. It`s unfortunate that she has really bad health and is not so good at focusing....I`m sure that she`ll accept the gospel in the Spirit world if not before she`s baptized. Missionary Work is wonderful!

Co=companions and Working Together

2009-10-20T19:58:00.000-07:00

Anyways, life is great here in Iwamizawa! It has rained on and off for the past few days, but it doesn't affect our missionary work too much because we mostly just house. Iwamizawa has about the same population as Spanish Fork, but is a lot more spread out. Plus there are a few nearby towns (Bibai and Misawa) that are also part of our area. My companion has never been to the faraway places, so we may try getting out there before it snows and becomes impossible to get there on bike.
My companion (Elder Thurber) and I get along really well. It is fun to talk about the MTC and BYU and all of the missionaries that we both know (we were in the MTC together for 5 weeks). He is a good missionary, and I feel that he is a better teacher than me. Since he knows the area well and I don't, he has sort of assumed the role of senior for the time being. But we are very united and work together well. Since neither of us has stellar Japanese, we are struggling and growing together.
Iwamizawa is a small branch of about 25 active members, but it used to be quite a bit bigger. In fact, there used to be 4 elders and 2 sisters in this area, but now it is just 2 elders. In the past 10 years or so, everything seems to have declined: members, activity, and baptisms. There hasn't been a baptism in Iwamizawa for over 3 years now, but we are pretty sure that we can see a baptism or two this transfer (and three if we are really blessed). There are a few good investigators here, so we have a pretty good base to work from.
Even though the branch is small, the members are all way good. The missionary fruit basket each week is way good! It is probably the best in the mission. Every week we get eggs, milk, bread, fruit, more fruit, vegetables, and more (lots of good stuff), all from a few members of the branch! They really love the missionaries, and I am pretty sure that this will be one of my favorite areas of my mission. So Mom, I am eating my fruits and veggies.
I gave a talk in Sacrament Meeting on Sunday and was easily able to fill up over 10 minutes. Speaking in Japanese makes my talks go a lot longer. But even though I have no problem filling up 10 minutes with a talk, I still don't think that my talks are any better than before my mission. Maybe they are, I can't tell.

Good Bye Atsubetsu and Elder Yoneda

2009-10-13T20:55:00.001-07:00

Transfers!!!!!!!!! Watch Out Iwamizawa

2009-10-13T20:51:00.000-07:00

Hi Family!
General Conference this past week was really good. We had some technical difficulties and missed half of the Sunday Morning session, so I am excited to get the Liahona next month.
Now, for some exciting news: I am transferring! I am going to a relatively small town called Iwamizawa. It is just a little north of Sapporo, and I am going to be back in the Asahikawa Zone. So I will get to return to Asahikawa for Zone Conference and interviews. My companion is going to be Elder Thurber from Orem (my first Utah companion!). He is one transfer younger than me, but we are both becoming seniors. I don't know how a co-seniorship is going to work out, and it seems that neither does anyone else. I think we are just going to rock-paper-scissors for every decision.
So I am going to have a lot of new experiences this transfer. I am excited and scared, but I know that I can do it. Elder Thurber is a way good missionary, and I am excited to work with him. Iwamizawa hasn't had a baptism since I came to Hokkaido 8 months ago, so we have our work cut out for us.
Well, that is about it. I love you all. Thank you for all of your love and letters. Have a great week.

Spam in Japan

2009-10-04T12:26:00.000-07:00

It sounds like a good week in Utah. The leaves still haven't started changing colors in Sapporo yet, but it should soon. Apparently it is going to get really cold really fast.
There actually isn't a whole lot to write about this week, so I will tell you about the pictures I sent.
The first is us playing my improvised version of Bocce Ball. Every Friday we have a small activity that Elder Yoneda and I plan so that we can get investigators to have a good time at church, in hopes that they will feel comfortable enough to come to Sunday services. Usually we play ping-pong or card games. This week I was in charge of it and I decided we would play Bocce Ball. Unfortunately, we couldn't get any decent balls to play with, so we used ping-pong balls instead. The activity went pretty well, and everyone seemed to have a fun time.
The other picture is us with Sister Ogura, her daughter, and Brother Tashibu. Brother Tashibu just finished up his mission in Nagoya, and it was his first Sunday back in Sapporo. Sister Ogura and her daughter fed all of us dinner. It was sushi, and was way good. After eating, she pulled out her photo album and showed us pictures of various things. She went on a trip to Utah about 20 years ago, and I loved seeing those pictures. They all reminded me of good times. On one page there was a place that looked familiar to me, but Sister Ogura couldn't remember where it was. After thinking for a while I realized where it was - the Pioneer Cemetary in Spanish Fork! What clued me in were the mountains in the background. It was so nice to see Spanish Fork and crazy that an old Japanese member has been so close to our house.
Well, that is about it. I ate SPAM yesterday and it is still way delicious. It is actually pretty pricey in Japan, so I doubt that I'll get to eat it again any time soon.
I love you all. Have a great week.

Room with a View

2009-09-23T10:08:00.000-07:00

BYU and Dying

2009-09-23T09:44:00.000-07:00

We had a great Zone Conference yesterday and a music fireside on Saturday. (Mom, I wasn't next to my companion. He sang tenor and I sang bass. I was standing next to Elder Allen, a half-Japanese elder from Mapleton.) I am pretty sure that President Daniels took videos of all the performances, but I am not quite sure if he got a video of me playing Be Still My Soul. I was first up, so everyone that was late missed me. I really wanted to take videos and pictures at the music fireside, but it is sort of hard to do when you are sitting on the stand. So hopefully President Daniels posts all of those videos. It was a really good fireside and everyone felt the Spirit.
I was very sad to hear that BYU got pummelled this past week. But in all reality, it is a good thing for me: if BYU had gone undefeated this year and won a national championship I would have gone crazy and died because I missed it all. But still, the news was hard to take.
( check out Musical Fireside at Japansapporomission.blogspot.com)

One Big Cougar Fan...in Japan

2009-09-15T20:32:00.000-07:00

Happy Reunions!

2009-09-15T20:26:00.000-07:00

This week was so-so for me, but it had some great highlights. On Friday we found a guy that was "led by God" to us! That is very rare in Japan. The story goes like this:
The day before he met us, his friend told him that if he gave a donation to a certain restaurant, that good things would happen to him. So he gave the donation, and the next morning he ran into an old friend that he really likes. She is "his type". Later that day, he ran into us, missionaries sharing a message of happiness. So yeah, he is really golden.On Sunday we had Stake Conference in Asahikawa. It was awesome! It is sort of weird to think that I have spent my entire mission thus far in two wards, both of which are in the Asahikawa Stake. At conference I got to see Sister Ishikawa, the old woman that I baptized back in April. She is still way active and way happy. It made both me and her so happy to see each other. Better yet, Elder Lottermoser was there too because he is Assistant to the President. There were quite a few members that I got to talk with and it was so fun. It really is amazing to see the fruits of your labors. Seriously, if I went home today I would be a happy missionary.
It was especially nice to be able to carry on normal conversations with all of the members from Asahikawa. Most of them made some comment or another about my Japanese being much better.
Well, that is about it. The temperature in Sapporo has recently cooled down quite a bit and I am back to wearing my suit coat.
PS - BYU is awesome! Go Cougars, beat the Seminoles!

Elder Christensen Enjoying NOODLES

2009-09-08T20:45:00.001-07:00

I am so happy to hear that BYU pulled off the upset! Also, that is way cool that Dad helped Wright sensei. He was my favorite teacher at the MTC and he really helped me a lot.
This week has been pretty good for me. Time is really starting to fly by for me. It is weird to think that I am getting close to my mid-mission mark. I am still a junior and I am still learning a ton every day, but yet my mission is almost half over.
Last Thurday we taught an After Baptism lesson to Nakajima san, the 71 year old that I baptized a couple months ago. He goes to a different ward, so I never get to see him. So I was happy to hear that he still goes to church every week and reads the Book of Mormon and prays daily. He was such a golden investigator! Just like old times, after the lesson he took us out to eat. That made me happy.
On Sunday we had a meal with all of the single adults in the ward after church to welcome Nojiri san, our recent baptism, into the ward. It was really good for him to make some friends in the ward. Unfortunately, he has plans to move down to Kyoto in a month and a half, so he won't come to this ward for very long. All of the members are trying to convince him to stay, so we'll see what happens.
Something interesting that I learned this week at church is that all of this ward's active priesthood holders are converts except for the Bishop, who was born into the church. In priesthood meeting the Bishop had everyone tell their conversion stories, and it was really cool. A couple of the really strong members in our ward joined because they had an older sibling that became a member and then commanded their younger siblings to listen to the missionaries.
Recently I have gotten a lot of compliments on my $18 suit that I bought at the Goodwill in Portland when I visited McKay last summer. It is probably the best spent $18 of my life.
Yesterday I met a Ukrainian, and that was cool. My Japanese was better than his, so that boosted my confidence.
Well, that is about it. I love you all. Happy 09/09/09 day! (I am surprised that McKay didn't mention that in his email to me)

Elder Christensen, Elder Yoneda and the baptism of Nojiri san!

2009-09-08T20:41:00.000-07:00

Missing BYU Football

2009-09-01T20:59:00.000-07:00

Hi Family,
Thanks for all of the great letters this week. Mom, thank you for the amazing package. The Swedish Fish and Reeses Pieces are heavenly. Seriously, they don't have candy that good in Japan. In fact, most Japanese people don't like American candy/cookies/cakes/etc because they are too sweet for them. But I, being an American, absolutely love them. Thanks also for the BYU shirt. I am excited for the season to start and especially to hear how McKay Jacobson does.
Congratulations on hiking 9990. Most people have a hard enough time getting down 9990, so I am impressed that you were able to get up it. It is really steep, so I am surprised that you were actually able to hike it.
Well, this week I got to baptize Nojiri san! It was really good, and I am excited to continue to help him grow as a new member. I also gave a talk in church later that day, so it was a busy day for me at church. My talk was about "Preach the Gospel" which is easy for missionaries, but sort of harder for members. I talked about being a good example and helping others see the happiness and joy that church members have that other people don't have. In Japan, there have been a lot of bad incidences that have been attributed to Christianity, so it is really hard for us to find people with any desire to learn about Christianity. But the younger generation (the unbiased generation) is slowly coming around.
Well, I would love to write more, but I am unfortunately out of time. I love you all. Have a great week. Go Cougars! Beat the Sooners!

Elder Christensen

PS - Transfers are tomorrow, and I am staying in Higashi with Elder Yoneda. He will be the first companion since my trainer that I have spent more than one transfer together with.

Keep the Commandments and Be Happy

2009-08-25T21:04:00.000-07:00

First, Mom, I will answer your question of the day. The reason that you keep getting short emails from me is because I have nearly no email time. We had a busy pday last week, but other than that, our pdays are usually pretty slow and empty. But, I only get 30 minutes on the computer, and about 10 minutes of that is spent reading. Compound that with my companion asking me when we are going to leave, and it equates to short emails. That is also the reason why I haven't emailed you any pictures, too. They take too long to upload onto the computer. One of these days I will get a bunch printed out and mailed to you, but I don't know when I'll get around to that.
The highlight of the week for me was interviews on Friday and seeing Elder Raymond. We had no clue that Elder Raymond was going home two weeks before transfers, so we were really happy that he happened to be in the mission home when we came for interviews. It was nice to see him once last time and say goodbye to him.
We have an investigator that is on track to get baptized this Sunday, so we have been meeting with him a lot. This past week his desire to get baptized really increased, and it has been inspiring to see him keeping all of the commandments. When we taught him one of the commandments, he said that he didn't think that he could do it. So we testified of the blessings that come from keeping the commandments and getting baptized, and then asked him if he would keep the commandment. He said "I will do it. I want to get baptized!" That answer sort of surprised us because, up to that point, he had only expressed a half-hearted desire to get baptized. So we asked him why he wanted to get baptized and he said that he wanted to know what it feels like after being baptized.
So I am pretty excited for him. His testimony of Joseph Smith is still pretty weak, but I have faith that it will grow as he reads the Book of Mormon and prays daily. If he does get baptized this Sunday, then I will have seen a baptism in 4 out of 5 transfers. I have been really blessed to have seen so many baptisms. But our mission, as a whole, is really improving right now and we are seeing a lot more success.
Last night at a YSA activity I got to talk to a member that recently returned home from the Fukuoka mission. It turns out that he was serving in Okinawa at the same time that Elder Cole Chandler was, so they know each other pretty well. So that was cool.
Ok, since you got a question of the week, here is my question of the week: is this Saturday or next Saturday the opening game for BYU football? (against Oklahoma, right?) And is McKay Jacobson redshirting this year? Tyler or McKay will probably be the ones to answer those questions. I am hoping that you will keep me updated every week.
Well, I love you all and I am grateful to be a missionary. Each week has its ups and downs, but when I take a step back and look at everything in perspective, I am really grateful for all of the experiences that I am having. I am also so grateful for all of your support. Have a great week.

2009, Aug. snail mail and pictures from JapanSapporo mission blog

2009-08-21T18:23:00.001-07:00

Dallin wrote some letters home this week by snail mail and in one letter her listed favorite things and least favorite things.
Favorite: little kids that are amazed that a white guy can understand them.
Having a convenience store like 7-11 every few blocks.
Taking off your shoes at the door--I like walking around without shoes on
Guys having crazy hair.
Great customer service...if a store doesn't have what you are looking for, they will tell you where you can find it.
Least Favorite: Everything looks clean on the outside but nearly all houses/ apartments are super dirty and unorganized.
Everything is small...doors, cars, food, etc.
Christianity is socially unaccepted.
No one has good teeth.
Having to take your shoes off even if you are in a hurry and just have to be in the apartment for 5 seconds.
No one dollar or five dollar bills. Anything below ten dollars is change. You get a fat wallet.
Not being able to send mail from your mailbox. You have to take it to the post office or the nearest post box.

Short on Time...again and The Bomb

2009-08-18T20:47:00.000-07:00

Guess what? I'm in a hurry this week, and so it is another short email from me. Sorry.
This past week was the anniversary of the atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. When a member asked me about it, I didn't know what she was talking about at first. I finally figured out what she was talking about, and I said that most Americans don't know when we dropped the atomic bombs. She was in disbelief. "How can you not remember when you killed so many innocent people?" (Ok, so those weren't her exact words, but that is the feeling that her words conveyed). I had nearly the same conversation the next day, and the next day, with people we met on the streets. They all asked me "Are you going to apologize?"
It was really hard for me to answer those questions. First, WWII was before my time. In fact, it was even before my parents were alive. Also, the a-bombs were the end of the war for Japan. For America, the war kept going on in Europe.
So basically I told all of those people that I didn't know what to say, but as missionaries we are sharing a message about peace. Most of them weren't satisfied by that, but it was the best answer that I had. On the flip side, I found it interesting that no Japanese people know December 7. I guess each country remembers what effected them most.
An interesting thing that I realized last night: Sunday was the one year mark of receiving my mission call. How crazy is that? I actually finished my first journal this past week, so I am on to another journal.
Well, since time is short, that is about it for the week.

Hit By a Car or Wierd Call to France

2009-08-11T20:58:00.000-07:00

I had a great week this week. Elder Yoneda and I are working hard and finding a lot of good people. On Thursday we had our Zone Conference and it was really good. That night, my companion got hit by a car! It wasn't a bad accident (it was really slow, and in a parking lot). He didn't get hurt, but his bike got bent up. So he bought a new bike yesterday. Exciting stuff!
On Friday I called the Royce president to see if we were going to meet the next day. He picked up, I asked him if we were going to meet, and he said "Since we're in France on vacation right now, we probably can't meet". It felt weird talking to someone halfway around the world. It was a lot weirder than when I got to talk to the family for Mother's Day. I don't know why, but it was cool.
On Saturday I got a great package from Kira. On Sunday, a little girl said to her friend, "this is the first time I've seen a foreigner". It was funny.
Ok, that is about it for my week. Sorry that my email is short again this week. I love you. Have a great week.

Dallin and the Roast Beef Dinner

2009-08-09T09:07:00.000-07:00

Dallin wrote home last week that he got a yummy roast beef dinner fixed by Sister Daniels. I got on the japansapporomission.blogspot.com and saw him eating that yummy dinner thanks to Sister Daniels for posting! We don't get pictures from Dallin. The missionaries are Elder Tashiro, Yoneda, Christensen and Todd.

No email last week--short email this week

2009-08-07T13:32:00.001-07:00

This is a picnic that the Daniels had for the Missionaries around July 4th. It had American food which the missionaries love!
I get to email this week. But, since time is short, I won't be able to respond to any of your emails.
It was a good week last week. We had a goal to give out 7 BoMs and we did it! The highlight for the week for me was meeting an American that used to be meeting with the missionaries in Osaka. I didn't set up a next appointment with him, but we will surely meet again and talk more about the gospel. It was so nice to speak English and not have to think about what I was saying.
This past Monday I hit my 6 month in Japan mark! I have been a missionary for over 8 months now. How crazy is that?
This past Sunday we heard news at church that the Japanese MTC in Tokyo will be closing in November and all Japanese missionaries after that will go to the Provo MTC.
Well, sorry this is short, but I have to go. I will try to write a good letter today or next pday.

Elder Christensen at Atsubetsu/ Odori Zone Conference breakfast in July

2009-07-27T12:41:00.000-07:00

Transfer News July 21, 2009

2009-07-26T21:30:00.000-07:00

Today is a crazy day in the mission home because the new missionaries just arrived and it is tranfers tomorrow. Speaking of which, I am getting a new companion, Elder Yoneda. He is from the Nagoya area of Japan, and he is a really hard worker from what I hear. I am pretty excited for this transfer. Elder Yoneda is a really funny missionary, and I think that we will have a good time together.
Well, on Sunday we had our baptism and it was great. It is too bad that Nakajima san lives in another ward, so I won't get to see him too often now. But his ward has really welcomed him in, and he will certainly become a strong member.
Unfortunately this week we didn't get any chocolates from the Royce president. Luckily we still had a lot of chocolate left over from last week, so we haven't been wanting.
Well, that is about it. I love you all.

Teaching in the Rain July 14, 2009

2009-07-14T21:54:00.000-07:00

This week was good for us. We have two investigators that are really progressing fast towards baptism. One of them will get baptized on Saturday, and we are way excited. On Saturday we had 5 lessons, which is a ton (at least in our mission). Last week we ended up leading the mission in member-present lessons and we were second in overall lessons. We were also number 2 in appointments made. So it was a really good week for us. We are seeing a lot of success here in Higashi.
Which makes us wonder whether or not we will stay together for another transfer or two. We will find out on Tuesday. Exciting stuff.
This week it rained about every other day. It was a pain, but since we were teaching quite a few lessons, it wasn't as bad as rain usually is.
We had interviews with President Daniels on Friday and that was a good experience. I really enjoy getting to talk with the president and learning from him.
On Thursday I met a college kid who lived in Salt Lake City when he was in first and second grade. It was fun to speak English and get to talk about Utah. I think that my companion felt a little bit left out of the conversation, but it was alright.
On Saturday we had our English class with the Royce Chocolate president. The conversation actually turned to our church and he asked the golden question "what makes your church different from other Christian churches?" It was awesome! So we spent the next half hour teaching him about the restoration and a living prophet. It was a good lesson. For now, he still isn't an investigator, but I am hoping that we can teach him bit by bit each week at our English lessons.
After the lesson he gave us tons of chocolate. It was way more than last time we met. The chocolate was probably worth a total of $150 or more. Our refrigerator is full of chocolate now. I love it.
On Sunday there was a member from Canada that came to church, and she brought a friend (who lives in Sapporo). It was some of the best member-missionary work that I have seen in Japan, but unfortunately it wasn't a local member. The local members here are pretty scared to share the gospel. In a country that is mostly Buddhist or athiest, telling people about Christianity is a pretty big thing.
We met a cool lady this week who married a guy from Camaroon and has 3 kids who are black, but speak only Japanese. It is really weird to see a black kid speak Japanese, but it was way cool.

Japansapporomission.blogspot.com and July 7th letter

2009-07-05T18:04:00.000-07:00

This is a picture from Sister Daniel's blogspot. It is a great site to go to and see pictures and read about Dallin's mission. He looks sooooo good. His companion is below him and is Elder Naganuma.
Here is his letter for July 7, 2009
It sounds like you had a good week (minus no family for the 4th). My week was good too. Our 4th of July activity was way fun, but the next few days I was way sunburnt and way sore.
We are way excited for the remainder of this transfer because we have some really good investigators now. We set two baptismal dates this past week. One of them was with a 70 year old man named Nakajima san. When we first met him on the street a couple weeks ago he tried to take us out to dinner, but we didn't have time. Well, we have met with him quite a few times since then, and he has taken us out for lunch twice! And yesterday he told us that he wants to take us out for lunch every day this week! We talked our way out of every day because that is a ton of money, but we are still excited to go out to eat a few times. But other than taking us out to eat, he is amazingly golden. He read the first 100 pages of the Book of Mormon (which is about 700 pages in Japanese) in 5 days! He is on track to get baptized a week from Sunday, but it will be in a different area, because that is where he lives.
On Saturday we went to a farm and had an "ichigogari" (Strawberry hunting). You basically go in a huge strawberry patch and pick strawberries and eat them. I ate 100 strawberries and they were way delicious! But I think that strawberries must have a high water content because I had to pee a lot after that.
Sunday night we got to go to the mission home for a fireside with one of our investigators. Basically, President Daniels puts on a fireside every other week that talks about missionaries' past hobbies and why they are now missionaries in Japan. He showed highlights of McKay Jacobsen (who served in this mission right before I got here). It sort of made me homesick to see BYU football. The next video was of a sister from Okinawa, Japan who was on one of the best drumlines in Japan. That was also fun to watch, but it also made me sad. So the fireside was very good, and we even got to eat delicious dessert from Sister Daniels afterward.
That is about it for my week. Now a couple questions/requests. When is the stake dividing? And will our ward still be the same? Ok, I would like my baptismal picture from when I was 8. It would probably be best if you somehow sent me a copy. Thanks.
I love you all. Thanks for all of the emails and letters and prayers.

Ultimate Football

2009-07-01T11:22:00.000-07:00

Happy 4th of July (or Canada Day for all you Canadians). We had a big zone activity with all of the missionaries in Sapporo with the Daniels today to celebrate. We ate hot dogs, watermelon, brownies, and root beer. It was way good. And we got to play ultimate (but with a football, not a frisbee).
I don't have my list of things to write about, so this email might be short. Sorry.
Yesterday we had a Zone Conference that was really good. One of the highlights for me was a talk that President Daniels gave on Baptism and Repentance. He gave the talk in Japanese, and I was pleased that I understood about 95% of it. My Japanese is slowly but surely improving. But we had an announcement yesterday at Zone Conference that we now only get 30 minutes for language study, as compared to the 60 that we are used to having. So my improvement in Japanese might slow down a little. I am sort of scared about that.
Well, this week was a lot of finding, with a few lessons here and there. We still don't have any good investigators, but on Friday we met a 70 year old that seems like a good investigator. He actually tried to buy us dinner, after only 10 minutes of talking to him. Unfortunately we had an appointment, so we couldn't go get free dinner. But he came to church on Sunday and he fits in really well with all of the members. The only bad thing is that he doesn't live in our area, so we have to hand him over to some other missionaries soon.
Well, sorry that this is short, but I can't remember much more from the week. Plus I actually am in a hurry. Sorry. I love you. Have a great 4th of July.
The picture shows the back of President Daniels. I tried to download a video but it is too long of the missionaries playing. Elder Raymond is playing with Elder Christensen ( from Spanish Fork). but you would have to see the video to see him. Wha. Wynette

Chocolate and Adventures of Elder Christensen

2009-06-24T11:57:00.000-07:00

That is crazy that Eric Bushman is back. You should ask him if he knew any Naganuma family in his mission. My companion is from the Kobe area, so Elder Bushman might have served in his ward.
I am glad the cd made it to you safely and that you enjoyed it. I would send stuff like that more often, but it takes a lot of time (which we don't have). But yeah, the 3 other elders in the apartment last transfer were lots of fun. Elder Jankowski is finishing his mission in 4 weeks, and he's from Herriman (near the copper mine). You should have him come over for dinner or something like that.
For me, this week was good. We had a lot of finding time because we only have 1 real investigator. But we were able to set 21 appointments - the highest in the mission this past week! But only one of those appointments actually showed up, so we need to work on the quality of our appointments. We need to push more to try and get phone numbers. Anyways, my companion (Elder Naganuma) is a hard worker.
At nights after planning we don't talk a whole lot. I get a lot written in my journal, though.
This Saturday we didn't get to meet with the Royce chocolate guy (one of his employees died, and he was at the funeral). But he had his wife give us chocolate - it was way nice. I am pretty sure that they gave us over $50 worth of chocolate and it is delicious.
Sunday we had Elder Nishihara of the Seventy at church. They had a little girl give a short talk, then a member give a short talk, and then Elder Nishihara had the rest of the time. He spoke for over 40 minutes! He actually went over time by a few minutes. It was way good.
On Monday we had a good Zone Training meeting and then I was on exchanges the rest of the day with Elder Williams (my Zone Leader from LA). It was lots of fun with him. He likes sports as much as I do, so we talked about sports for most of the day. We set 5 appointments in about 4 hours, so that was good!
Well, that's about it. I love you all. Thank you for your prayers.

Elder Christensen playing piano in the background

Video of Dallin learning to play Ukelele

2009-06-17T20:10:00.000-07:00

June 10, 2009 Transfers!

2009-06-17T13:37:00.000-07:00

Letter from Dallin June 10, 2009 Arrived in the mail with CD of tons of pictures!
Family! I know that I probably won't have any time to email today, so I am writing the old-fashioned way. It is a lot slower.
Last week after normal emails, I got to say hi to Mom because she was on the computer. That was nice. What time was it in Utah? Nearly midnight, right? Mom, you should go to bed before then. But it was still way awesome.
On Friday we met some Americans who were members. That was cool to talk in English to members who don't live here. We saw a different American on Saturday. He is a 16-year old member who is spending summer break in Asahikawa with his non-member grandpa so that he can learn Japanese. He came to church on Sunday and I got to try and translate for him. I still don't understand a lot of things they say at church so my translation was pretty bad.
On Saturday we had a party at the church with some members and investigators. It was way fun and really good for the investigators to get comfortable being in the church. One of the members, a 16- year old girl, kept staring at me and i eventually overheard her tell one of the sister missionaries that she thought i was "super cute" and that I looked like a big teddy bear. That was sort of awkward, so I tried to avoid her for the rest of the party.
After the party we went on exchanges so I was with Elder Jankowski for the rest of the day. It was lots of fun because there was a matsuri ( festival) going on. There was a parade with a lot of marching bands. we went to Kaimono Koen to street contact and a lot of various bands were set up playing music. Each block had a different band, and it was lots of fun to hear music as we did missionary work. It made me really miss playing music and listening to music.
Anyways, working with Elder Jankowski really lifted my spirits ( which have been pretty low recently). He really encouraged me and inspired me to do the best I can in any situation I may be in.
So on Sunday I went to work with my new resolve and it helped me feel better and made the time seem to go by faster.
On Monday we had a normal day but we had a special mission at night. Sister White ( one of the sister missionaries in Asahikawa) is going home this week and we wanted to do something for her. so we printed off pictures of fun/cool/interesting things from the past 3 transfers in Asahikawa. we added quotes and funny lines/sayings to some of the pictures and arranged it all so it looked nice. We also wrote her a big thank-you note and signed it. so then we raided the sister's apartment building and decorated their door. It was lots of fun and a nice thing to do for Sister White ( especially since the sisters always do way nice things for the elders). When Sister White saw it she was very happy ( at least that's what her companion said).
Tuesday was a mission -wide cleaning day where we spent 5 hours cleaning the apartment. It wasn't fun, but it was a good thing to do. So last night (9th) we got transfer calls and i am leaving Asahikawa! I am going to miss this district and the ward that I have been serving in, but I am excited to meet new people and see new things.
I am going to Higashi ( literally translated "East"). It is the east side of Sapporo, so now I'm in the big city! In Higashi lives the president of Royce Chocolates, the biggest chocolate company in Japan ( I think). He is friends with the missionaries, and apparently he give them chocolate all the time. Also, his hous is way nice and he has tons of cool cars. Hopefully I will get to become friends with him and see his house.
My new companion is elder Naganuma--that's right, a Japanese! it will be challenging to speak Japanese all of the time, but I am excited. I don't know anything about him except that he has way good English and he attended BYU_Hawaii before his mission. Everyone says that he is a good missionary, so I am excited. He is near the end of his mission. I think he goes home in Nov./Dec. It will be a transfer of learning.
Anyways, right now Elder Jensen is getting a free bowling lesson ( he earned it /won it by going bowling so many times). That is why I won't have time to email but it seems like a good lesson and it is perfect timing for me to write this letter.
I don't know how long I will get to email next week in my new area, so don't be surprised if it is short next week. That's about all for the week. If you had any questions, I am sorry that I didn't answer any of them. I love you all. Have a great week. Elder Christensen

New Area--New Companion

2009-06-17T06:45:00.000-07:00

Right now I am in the mission home (because our apartment is only about an hour away by bike) and I am talking with Elder Geslison about Spanish Fork. It is way fun.
Anyways, it has been a good week. I am in Higashi now, and it is certainly different from Asahikawa. It has rained all week, so that is now fun. Our apartment is way small, but I will survive.
Elder Naganuma is a good missionary, and this should be a good transfer. We speak pretty much all Japanese every day, even though his English is pretty good. It sort of hurts my head after a while, but it is good for me.
On Saturday we went to the house of Mr. Yamazaki, the owner of Royce Chocolates. He is way nice, and he has been friends with the missionaries since 2005. He takes a picture and gets the business card of every missionary and puts them in a scrapbook. He showed us the scrapbook, and I was surprised to see Elder Sean Ludlow from Spanish Fork way back in 2005/6.
On Saturday I also received a package from Grandma Fife and letters from Mom. They were way awesome to get. I can't believe that Craig and Whitney are getting married - that's crazy! The package is awesome, and it includes some of my favorites (fruit snacks, gummi worms, corn nuts, and brownie mix).
On Saturday I got to give a talk in Sacrament meeting (I got called on Saturday night to give it). It actually went really well, and my Japanese is certainly improving.
Umm, there are a few other things that happened this week, but I sort of want to talk to the other missionaries in the mission home. Sorry, I'll write an extra long email next week.
I love you. Happy Birthday Mom and Dad. Elder Christensen