The library has wifi, so we use our iPads there, or else at the chapel or at the Blair's, since they have Wifi. [In response to a question about how and where he accesses the internet for their online missionary efforts.]
I don't know if I ever clarified, I [am in] this area (area 2) with Elder Leung. It used to be a sister's area. My old area was area 6, which was created by splitting area 1 in half when I first got into the field, and areas 1 and 6 were recombined into just area 1 when I left Chinatown. In other words Mom, area 1 is the area currently working with Xxxx, so while I talk with her a bit at church every week, I don't teach her at all, and I don't know how her husband is doing. He hasn't come to church since I came back, but that could just mean that he is working on Sunday. I don't know currently. I'll ask and let you know next week. Speaking of area 1, I'm going on a split with them on Saturday. Guess who we're going to be teaching? I'll give you a hint, he's a ## year old xxxx Chinese man. Even better, we're planning on giving him a baptismal date for February. I have no clue what happened between the time [when he] dropped us back in June and now, but apparently he did some serious humbling. Hoping it's going to be an awesome day. Proof right there that sometimes it takes people a couple of rounds with the gospel before they get it, but that hope is never fully lost for anyone, no matter how many times they might slam the door.
Weather. It's gone mad. We were between 5 and 9 degrees all day yesterday, but with windchill, the warmest it felt was -9, and when we first got to the church it said it was a windchill of -20. Clear blue skies (as blue as they can get in the city), but absolutely ridiculously cold. We only contacted for an hour and a half over the course of the day, some companionships got in 2 hours, but I don't think anyone was longer than that. We weren't even trying to get them to stop and talk, we just passed out free English class cards outside our building. We've given out over 300 since Saturday, and our English class on Monday was already about 10 people larger than normal, so we'll see. We might be getting our English class to finally be a way to find investigators as well as service, which would be nice.
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| Freezing cold in NYC: Elder Christensen is on the far right, Elder Leung is next to him |
Did I ever mention that for reasons I can't explain, my hat continuously slides down the front of my face, to the point where every 20 minutes or so I need to pull it back up, or else give up my ability to see. Also, if Elder Leung looks like he is probably cold, that would be an understatement, he has no thermals or underarmor, he's trying to be 'cool' and survive the winter wearing regular slacks with a jacket or two on top. I offered him some [thermals], since I still haven't opened all the ones you sent me earlier, Mom, but he won't take them.
Also, random notes, I broke a shoelace as I was putting my shoes on after Skyping at the Buckners, and second, the beef jerky is delicious. If you could send some in the next package that you send out, that would be greatly appreciated by Elder Leung and I.
It has been kind of funny to watch and realize that Chinese people don't get the whole "New Years resolutions" thing. They are fine with setting goals, but doing so at a specific time doesn't make any sense to them. I decided to set one though. Seeing as tonight is the year mark of my being set apart as an Elder, and tomorrow is the year mark for going to the MTC, I figure it's probably about time to start trying to read to whole Book of Mormon in Chinese. My goal is to finish it before I come home. Seeing as the Chinese edition is 636 pages, I'll need to read a bit more than a page and a half a day, which means looking up a LOT of characters I don't know.
Mom, I like your thoughts about "wants" versus "needs" purchases, I've definitely learned a bit about that on my mission (some Elders upstate would be out of money by the 10th of the month, and money doesn't come in for next month until the 27th, so they were having to dip into their personal funds a lot).
Happy anniversary,
Your son/sibling in service,
Elder Christensen
陳少駒
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