Xxxxx didn't show up for Stake Conference for some odd reason, so I was lucky enough to not need to translate. The adult session on Saturday night was particularly good, it was held in New Canaan, Connecticut. That's about an hour's drive away from us, and we were trying to decide if it was worth the miles. In the end, Elder Hernandez and I decided to go, and the rest of our district stayed. IT WAS AWESOME. Spiritual supernova pretty much. We had three 25 to 30-ish aged sisters who told some very powerful stories about miracles in their lives, and then we spent 45 minutes listening to the parents of one of the children who died at Sandy Hook Elementary during the shooting last year. It was the first time either of them had given a church talk since the event. Then we all listened to the Stake President tell the story of how is older brother died when he fell out of the truck that he (the stake president) was driving (his older brother was 28 and had 4 children under the age of 6). All these stories had 2 themes that they focused on. Families and Forgiveness. At the end, they gave everyone in the audience a pink balloon, asked us to find something we hadn't forgiven yet, be it a childhood grudge or something very recent. Anything that we couldn't bring ourselves to forgive, and then they asked us to think about how much the Savior forgave us, and what he went through for us, and what others were going through as a result of our not being able to forgive. Then they wanted us to go through that same process after the meeting when we went outside, and decide that the balloon was the thing we hadn't forgiven yet, and let it go into the night sky. Words are truly a failure to try and describe that event.
We have recieved a little more info on the FaceBook missionary work. Specifically, I can now tell you that every missionary is going to be allowed 3 hours of FaceBook time every day. That feels like way too much for me, but I'm sure they have reasons for that amount of time being given, so I'll wait and see.
President promised me in the interview that he will get me back down to Chinatown at the end of this cycle or else next cycle. That said, he also promised Elder Blonquist that he would be serving upstate during the summer, and he still hasn't left Chinatown. Basically, what it boils down to is that his plan for me is what I've been expecting, but I recognize the fact that his plan is allowed to change as he continues to receive revelation for the mission. Barring new revelation however, I will be back in Chinatown before Christmas.
Ethan told me his soft date for going home is Dec. 26. I'm going to ask that you don't buy him too many new white shirts to replace the ones he left in Africa. We have some shirts out here that are super-slimfit that I can't currently fit too well, but which I'm sure would be great for him. I figure if he's giving me Africa stuff for Christmas, even if I won't be able to enjoy it for another year, at least I can give him something from New York.
Thank you for reminding me about Pumpkin Pie and Cheesecake mom. It reminded me of the fact that I had one of the sisters in Chinatown give me the recipe for a Pumpkin Cheesecake that she made once for everyone that was exceedingly delicious. I'll try and send that out to you this week. Consider it as me thanking you for the crackers, skittles, and the tic-tacs. (Those tic-tacs lasted about 6 hours. The sad part is that that is an improvement.)
I heard about a missionary dying in Idaho, is that the same Elder that you mentioned?
My gratitude for the suit. It fits pretty well, I might get it taken in a little in the Jacket, but the hemming was decent lenght. Everything else in my wardrobe is doing well, I have avoided developing any substantial sweat-stains on my shirts, although they are starting to look a little faded, probably from being washed with bleach so much. I never needed to break out the extra 5 short sleeve shirts, so I'll still have plenty of bright whites come next summer. My shoes are doing really well too, the heels on the walking ones are a little worn down, but aside from that, they're all in solid condition, and the boots are still hardly used. Some new size 43 Echo shoe insoles might be a good Christmas gift though, by that point the ones in my walking shoes are going to be pretty well worn, although since they're leather, they will probably be completely useable without problem to the end of my mission if you already have other ideas for my Christmas package.
Elder Hernandez is great. He goes home probably on Feb. 4th if memory serves. He's a bit interesting, but he's definitly willing to work and has the right motivation.
UEA and Davis Cup. What the garbage. What happened to summer? The leaves are stunning here, I've taken a fair number of pictures. I'm afraid that it isn't just your kids at home who are noticing that the days are getting shorter, Mom. Its actually really troublesome for us, because if tracting is ineffective beforehand, then it is pretty close to down-right useless once it gets dark outside. Nobody opens the door when they can't even see who're the people knocking. I guess that's when we'll save the 3 hours on FaceBook for during the winter.
Love you all,
Your son/sibling in service,
Elder Christensen
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