March 12, 2014

I learned an interesting thing recently. Apparently it is very rare for Asians to like people touching their backs. This seems to fly in the face of the fact that there are a million massage parlors in Chinatown, but it seems that is mostly for the tourists, and that the Chinese people themselves primarily use acupuncture and herbal/natural cures. This makes me feel even more fit for a Chinese speaking mission, as I still don't really like people touching my back.

So the temple session I attended this last Saturday was in English with Mandarin translation available again. It seems that an English ward from upstate decided to schedule their ward temple trip during the time that the Mandarin session was scheduled, so they decided to switch to English with translation, since there were a lot more English speakers than Mandarin speakers. The fact that I've been able to go twice this cycle though is still a wonderful blessing.

Xxx Xxxx Xxx got baptized this last Sunday! He's been working with missionaries on and off since elder Huang and Elder Barton found him (they were companions before elder Williams [the Elder who trained Jacob] ever made it to the MTC). It is always fun to see just how much people can change over time, particularly when they are actively making use of the Atonement to enable that change. One of the funniest parts of his story is that he used the excuse "I've made a covenant with God" to tell his friend why he didn't want him to share his cigarettes with him anymore. 

We ran to the Chrysler Building this last Saturday, and then decided we would run 42 Street for an Avenue or 2, just so that we would be able to run past Grand Central Station on our way back. We also passed within a block or two of the Empire State Building on the way home too (we ran up on 3rd ave, and came back down on Park Ave). A total distance of somewhere around 5.2 miles, so now elder Zander wants to start working more on speed, since we've gotten up to a good distance. 

The following is a list of all the places I've gone running over the last 2 transfers.

Freedom Tower/Ground Zero

Battery Park

Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges (more times than I can count)

Empire State Building

Union Square

NYU

Grand Central

Chrysler Building

Places we want to go if we are still companions next transfer

Rockefeller Center (5th ave and 50th street)

Times Square (7th ave and 45th street)

Columbus Circle (Broadway and 8th ave and 59th Street)

Lincoln Center (The Manhattan Temple, 65th street, 9th ave and Broadway)

An interesting fact I've learned about New York is that once you reach the numbered streets, it is almost exactly 20 blocks per mile.

We lose one of the sisters next week. Sister Khong will fly to California to live with her sister for a couple months, then take the long plane ride back to her native Singapore. We will also be losing the Blair's at the end of the month, they will be driving back to Sandy, UT. You met them at the [Hill Cumorah] Pageant last year. See if you can go to their homecoming talks, it would be fun. The next ones will be when we then lose Elder Zander and Elder Blonquist in 7 weeks (end of April). Lots of changes should be coming soon. Such is the nature of life.

I made the mistake of eating too many of those bran muffins in one sitting again. Why must they be so delicious, and yet TOO healthy for you if you eat a lot?

I had the opportunity to bake 4 cakes this last week. One for the potluck we had on Thursday (carrot cake), 2 for Xxx Xxx Xxxx's baptism (confetti cake) and one for Sister Astle's birthday (red velvet cake). I learned something interesting from this. All cakes are made the same way. Add mix, one cup water, 1/3 cup oil, 3 eggs, blend 2 minutes at medium speed, bake at 350 degrees. The only differences were what kind of frosting to use, and how long you kept it in the oven for.

Spring is finally coming! It was 60 degrees yesterday! I never would have though I would call anything over 40 warm, but we've all been super excited every day that it's gotten past that the last week. I think the last time it broke 40 before this week was 2 days before Christmas, when it was 70 degrees for some strange reason. I don't know if we will have a storm or not, but the weather is definitely improving.

Love, your son/sibling in service,

Elder Christensen

陳少駒