I only have black shoes, so a brown suit might not be the best idea, maybe a gray one, although I might beat you to it. I'm going shopping today for Khakis potentially, they fall into the new approved list of proselyting clothing. How's that for a weird thought? I might just buy a suit at the same time if it's cheap enough. Also, I might be buying a shoulder bag, the APs told us that President is going to ask us to stop wearing back packs at Zone Conference tomorrow (apparently a lot of young men walking around with black back packs looks a bit like we're terrorists, and they've decided to phase it out.) Don't worry mom, I'm not going to empty my personal account for clothing/bag just yet.
Xxxx is back in town, we're meeting with him today. We also picked up 1 new investigator, Xxx Xxxx, but we're not too sure how solid he is, he says that he feels like the book of Mormon is really similar to the bible, but he can't tell how we're different from any other Christian Church. We've already taught him the Apostasy 2 times.
I'm still good on watches, I only bought the fake Rolex for the sake of having done so/getting a Rolex, but the other one still works perfectly fine, so no problems there.
I got to weigh myself for the first time since I came out here......170. Not the worst I've ever been, but I've decided that I'm walking about as much as I was at college, and so if I just start eating the way I was in college, I should be able to lose the weight pretty fast. The only problem is that the gas is STILL down in our apartment, which means I can't brown hamburger or chicken meat for the tortillas that I would eat at BYU. I'll figure something out though. Curse the convenience of those delicious Hao Yun buns. On the topic of food and health, my advice would be not to eat sweets even on holidays and such, that gives the implication that they are desirable, but not feasible on a regular basis. It's much more effective if you can convince yourself that it isn't a case of "I can't eat that, I'm dieting" but more like "I don't want that, it doesn't sound very appetizing."
I'm going to get to talk in church in about 4 days, but not for sacrament meeting. Me and Elder Wang are teaching Gospel Principles on Sunday. Not sure what topic. My ting de dong has gotten a lot better, but I still have a lot of times where if its my first time listening to the person, I don't understand all of what they're saying, it seems to take me about an hour to get used to someone's accent. As far as speaking goes, I'm still improving, just hoping I reach competency before I get sent upstate. Thankfully that's still probably 4 to 6 months away.
The weather last week was.........HEAT. 5 days in a row were something like this: 94, 95, 96, 96, 97. Thank goodness it's now down back into the mid 80s for the moment. Contacting in that weather is as bad I think as the dead of winter. Nobody wants to stay outside longer than they have to. Except for us. We're outside LONGER as a result of that. Good thing the Tree of Life provides a lot of shade while contacting. It finally rained again yesterday for the first time it felt like in forever. Hot rain is so weird feeling.
The ward liked the show, 5 of them were allowed to bear testimony on the experience last Sunday. Really cool. Also, Xxxx Xxx Xxx had a freak out when I told him that the Lehi he was taking pictures with was probably my dad. Apparently nobody remembered to tell him. Sister Yan (the Relief Society President) just commented on the fact that you were both younger than her. I think she might not have been expecting that.
Love you all, Glad you made it home safely,
Your son/sibling in service,
Elder Christensen
Sunday, August 18, 2013
July 16, 2013
My lesson of the week: If the watch is only 25 dollars and says it's a Rolex, not only should you not trust it to actually be one, you should also assume that it will break fairly quickly. Well played street vendors, well played.
My actually spiritual lesson of the week was in the form of a contact. I saw a man with long bright pink hair, a decent number of face piercings, and a lot of scars on his arms pushing a stroller with a bag in it. I said the obligatory "how are you doing sir?", he kept walking, and then suddenly turned around and shouted "There you are!" Naturally this was a bit of an "oh crap" moment, but 10 minutes, 1 Book of Mormon placed and a restoration pamphlet given later, I realized that especially in NY, you really can't judge a book by it's cover.
Sister Hazen's spiritual experience went thus: she took us all up to the top of the hill, set up the chairs in a circle on the grass, had us close our eyes, and as they played church hymns, they put objects in our hands that were to remind us of the savior's life (fake lamb doll, small cross, bundle of cloth, stuff like that.) then we had a free for all testimony meeting the next day after we all went to the church sites.
I'm going to guess that Pres. Morgan will say that the new dress code thing doesn't count for us, not hot enough during the summer, and he HATES sandals.
After determining that I am sick and tired of my new suit pants being exceedingly tight, I have started to work out my abs again. It currently feels like someone ran over my stomach with a lawn mower. That's what I get for not working them out in close to a year.
Most recent P-days have been spent doing group activities as the zone, so not really games, but doing a lot of fun, almost vaguely touristy stuff. (I still have yet to go into Grand Central Station, even though I've ridden trains through it a large number of times.) Speaking of the subway, I've now memorized about 60% of the subway system on Manhattan, I'm going to miss trains when I get home. I think I'll use the Front Runner and Trax a lot. Buses are still a weird thing for me.
Use the talking time Robin, the people there are ones who DECIDED to be there, in some way shape or form, every single one of them WANTS to have you talk to them. Trust me, it's easier than trying to talk to Chinese strangers, most of them hate talking to people they don't know. Even if they've already had cast member talk to them, it will help them pass the time better, without as much boredom tempting them to just go home and come back later on one of the other nights.
The Blairs said they liked pageant, although they got a little wet the first night. Also, they showed me some pictures of you all in costume, If you could send me some of those next week though, that would be fun.
Service project of the week: cleaning out a hoarder's apartment. The guy had computer parts from back when dad was in High school I think. Plus about 3000 floppy disks, 6 joy sticks, 12 flight simulator games, and I would estimate about 100,000 pages of manuals on how to run various ancient computer programs. Oh, and a number of other crazy things. Super fun.
Love you all, Drink a lot of water, (I am)
Your son/sibling/companion in service,
Elder Christensen
PS, Have fun seeing my ward! Make sure you communicate through Pres. Buckner so you know where they are/what day they come, and take pictures!
My actually spiritual lesson of the week was in the form of a contact. I saw a man with long bright pink hair, a decent number of face piercings, and a lot of scars on his arms pushing a stroller with a bag in it. I said the obligatory "how are you doing sir?", he kept walking, and then suddenly turned around and shouted "There you are!" Naturally this was a bit of an "oh crap" moment, but 10 minutes, 1 Book of Mormon placed and a restoration pamphlet given later, I realized that especially in NY, you really can't judge a book by it's cover.
Sister Hazen's spiritual experience went thus: she took us all up to the top of the hill, set up the chairs in a circle on the grass, had us close our eyes, and as they played church hymns, they put objects in our hands that were to remind us of the savior's life (fake lamb doll, small cross, bundle of cloth, stuff like that.) then we had a free for all testimony meeting the next day after we all went to the church sites.
I'm going to guess that Pres. Morgan will say that the new dress code thing doesn't count for us, not hot enough during the summer, and he HATES sandals.
After determining that I am sick and tired of my new suit pants being exceedingly tight, I have started to work out my abs again. It currently feels like someone ran over my stomach with a lawn mower. That's what I get for not working them out in close to a year.
Most recent P-days have been spent doing group activities as the zone, so not really games, but doing a lot of fun, almost vaguely touristy stuff. (I still have yet to go into Grand Central Station, even though I've ridden trains through it a large number of times.) Speaking of the subway, I've now memorized about 60% of the subway system on Manhattan, I'm going to miss trains when I get home. I think I'll use the Front Runner and Trax a lot. Buses are still a weird thing for me.
Use the talking time Robin, the people there are ones who DECIDED to be there, in some way shape or form, every single one of them WANTS to have you talk to them. Trust me, it's easier than trying to talk to Chinese strangers, most of them hate talking to people they don't know. Even if they've already had cast member talk to them, it will help them pass the time better, without as much boredom tempting them to just go home and come back later on one of the other nights.
The Blairs said they liked pageant, although they got a little wet the first night. Also, they showed me some pictures of you all in costume, If you could send me some of those next week though, that would be fun.
Service project of the week: cleaning out a hoarder's apartment. The guy had computer parts from back when dad was in High school I think. Plus about 3000 floppy disks, 6 joy sticks, 12 flight simulator games, and I would estimate about 100,000 pages of manuals on how to run various ancient computer programs. Oh, and a number of other crazy things. Super fun.
Love you all, Drink a lot of water, (I am)
Your son/sibling/companion in service,
Elder Christensen
PS, Have fun seeing my ward! Make sure you communicate through Pres. Buckner so you know where they are/what day they come, and take pictures!
July 9, 2013
Where is this rain of which you speak? It hasn't rained at all here since you started driving out. Still super humid though.
Congratulations to Dad on successfully getting yet another cool part, to Wes on getting a specific part, but one which he has already had, and the rest of you for getting decent random parts. I noticed that Wes had a very appropriate beard in his pictures, but I guess the wig didn't match his natural beard color.
We had a missionary coordination meeting a few weeks back in Bishop McConkie's work office, which also happens to be President Buckner's work office, that's probably where he saw me.
Chinatown is becoming very different from how it was when I got here. Elder Cook is the new district leader AND training Elder Radford, who comes out next week. Elder Foley is the new AP, so he is leaving Chinatown for probably the last time of his mission (he goes home in December). Elder Blonquist is the new Zone Leader companion for Elder Mok, and a new Sister today being trained by Sister Lee makes up for the fact that Sister Chan and Sister Chen have received a transfer to..........SALT LAKE CITY TEMPLE SQUARE VISITOR CENTER! They're going to be there for about 3 months, and then come back to New York. I'll send you some pictures of them, and if you want, you can go and try to find them. Speaking of people from my mission who might be coming out to Utah, Xxx (the recent convert I baptized,) is planning on going to General Conference in October. Apparently if you have a Passport that is from outside the North American continent, they have a big bloc of really good seats reserved in the conference center for international visitors, and you don't even need to get a ticket.
Transfers were today. I'm still with Elder Wang, which means he broke my record of sending people upstate after they were my companion. On the positive side, I've finally started to figure out how to take advantage of having a native speaker companion, and now I have at least 1 more cycle to implement these improvements.
I don't know if I ever told you that I am now the proud owner of a fake, probably illegal, 25 dollar Rolex, which was obtained via street vendors who were selling them to the next group of people over for 90 dollars. (They would have been really mad if they could understand what we were saying to the vendors in chinese. That's what you get for being a tourist.)
I'm not sure how they do the translation for Chinese, but the ward has been taking people up to the pageant for some years, so I'm sure they have something figured out (Xxx is planning on going next year, she didn't get involved in the church early enough to schedule herself to go this time.)
I'll make sure to give the Blairs Dad's number, and you can set it up with them.
Love you all, Have fun at the Hill,
Your son/sibling, (and for the duration of Pageant, companion) in service,
Elder Christensen
Congratulations to Dad on successfully getting yet another cool part, to Wes on getting a specific part, but one which he has already had, and the rest of you for getting decent random parts. I noticed that Wes had a very appropriate beard in his pictures, but I guess the wig didn't match his natural beard color.
We had a missionary coordination meeting a few weeks back in Bishop McConkie's work office, which also happens to be President Buckner's work office, that's probably where he saw me.
Chinatown is becoming very different from how it was when I got here. Elder Cook is the new district leader AND training Elder Radford, who comes out next week. Elder Foley is the new AP, so he is leaving Chinatown for probably the last time of his mission (he goes home in December). Elder Blonquist is the new Zone Leader companion for Elder Mok, and a new Sister today being trained by Sister Lee makes up for the fact that Sister Chan and Sister Chen have received a transfer to..........SALT LAKE CITY TEMPLE SQUARE VISITOR CENTER! They're going to be there for about 3 months, and then come back to New York. I'll send you some pictures of them, and if you want, you can go and try to find them. Speaking of people from my mission who might be coming out to Utah, Xxx (the recent convert I baptized,) is planning on going to General Conference in October. Apparently if you have a Passport that is from outside the North American continent, they have a big bloc of really good seats reserved in the conference center for international visitors, and you don't even need to get a ticket.
Transfers were today. I'm still with Elder Wang, which means he broke my record of sending people upstate after they were my companion. On the positive side, I've finally started to figure out how to take advantage of having a native speaker companion, and now I have at least 1 more cycle to implement these improvements.
I don't know if I ever told you that I am now the proud owner of a fake, probably illegal, 25 dollar Rolex, which was obtained via street vendors who were selling them to the next group of people over for 90 dollars. (They would have been really mad if they could understand what we were saying to the vendors in chinese. That's what you get for being a tourist.)
I'm not sure how they do the translation for Chinese, but the ward has been taking people up to the pageant for some years, so I'm sure they have something figured out (Xxx is planning on going next year, she didn't get involved in the church early enough to schedule herself to go this time.)
I'll make sure to give the Blairs Dad's number, and you can set it up with them.
Love you all, Have fun at the Hill,
Your son/sibling, (and for the duration of Pageant, companion) in service,
Elder Christensen
July 3, 2013
The Blairs are going to be at the Hill on the 12th or 13th, but it isn't decided which yet, I also haven't tried to set up a specific place yet, their plan is to get seats somewhere in the front sections, so I told them they probably want to be there around 6 or 7, but since it is opening night, I can't really say for sure what time would be good for them to try and save seats. They're just going up to visit the sights with their family, they aren't helping out with any of them.
We play ultimate frisbee every Pday morning at 6 AM for an hour. I've gotten a lot better at throwing a frisbee for some reason since that tradition started about 2 months ago.
There is a new Elder and a new Sister coming in to Chinatown this next week, and Elder Williams is probably coming back down from Yorktown too. Basically what that boils down to is that there is a roughly 1 in 5 chance I am training next cycle, someone is going to get the call from President warning them about it by the end of today. That would be madness if they weren't a native speaker.
This last week has been making up for the lack of contacting we've been able to get in for the preceding few weeks. We did probably 8 to 10 hours of contacting over the last 2 days, but we got some decent potentials, and 1 new investigator out of it.
I was reading my setting apart blessing a few days ago, and I noticed that it said I was called to share the gospel in Chinese or in English. That made me feel really bad, since I hadn't really been trying to talk to the non-Chinese people that much recently. The next day I was able to give a Book of Mormon to a black guy going to Dominican republic who said he would read it on the plane ride. And ran into a guy from Nigeria who we were able to help resolve some issues about tithing with, gave him a pass-along card.
Got to go suit shopping with Elder Wang last P-day, and got told I looked like I was a security officer. Interesting way to start a contact.
6 months. Poop. I hope the next 18 slow down a little more. That's weird, the Sisters who come out this cycle will be the one's I go home with probably.
Love you all, have fun upstate,
Your son/sibling in service,
Elder Christensen (who is starting to forget a couple of words in English, but can still remember what the Chinese word is. That is one of the most disturbing moments when that happens.)
We play ultimate frisbee every Pday morning at 6 AM for an hour. I've gotten a lot better at throwing a frisbee for some reason since that tradition started about 2 months ago.
There is a new Elder and a new Sister coming in to Chinatown this next week, and Elder Williams is probably coming back down from Yorktown too. Basically what that boils down to is that there is a roughly 1 in 5 chance I am training next cycle, someone is going to get the call from President warning them about it by the end of today. That would be madness if they weren't a native speaker.
This last week has been making up for the lack of contacting we've been able to get in for the preceding few weeks. We did probably 8 to 10 hours of contacting over the last 2 days, but we got some decent potentials, and 1 new investigator out of it.
I was reading my setting apart blessing a few days ago, and I noticed that it said I was called to share the gospel in Chinese or in English. That made me feel really bad, since I hadn't really been trying to talk to the non-Chinese people that much recently. The next day I was able to give a Book of Mormon to a black guy going to Dominican republic who said he would read it on the plane ride. And ran into a guy from Nigeria who we were able to help resolve some issues about tithing with, gave him a pass-along card.
Got to go suit shopping with Elder Wang last P-day, and got told I looked like I was a security officer. Interesting way to start a contact.
6 months. Poop. I hope the next 18 slow down a little more. That's weird, the Sisters who come out this cycle will be the one's I go home with probably.
Love you all, have fun upstate,
Your son/sibling in service,
Elder Christensen (who is starting to forget a couple of words in English, but can still remember what the Chinese word is. That is one of the most disturbing moments when that happens.)
June 25, 2013
I miss panic-mode mom...(sigh)
Tell Cameron I wish him good luck on the test tomorrow!
So...Melissa is now a mom. Didn't she only announce she was pregnant about 2 weeks before I went into the MTC? That went fast.
Thank you for the new suit mom, it is quite wonderful, with the only exception of it being a little tight on the waist. I actually went down a belt size when I put it on (for the record, I've been the same belt size ever since I started in the MTC, but the new suit pants forced me down a loop.)
Going on splits is a fairly regular thing, usually about 1 time every 3 weeks, this time was different though because instead of going with Elder Blonquist (district leader) or Elder Cook, who both live in my apartment, I went with the zone leaders, who are elders Foley and Mok. Brilliant teachers, the 2 of them.
The Chinese is still coming along, its just a matter of time mom. Think of it this way, in Taiwan, I would already be nearly fluent by now, but only in listening to Taiwanese people, who don't really have that much of an accent. Here, you have to also be at least somewhat capable of understanding Cantonese accent, and nearly fluent in fujianese accent comprehension, and we still get a decent amount of exposure to northern accents as well, so I might not be picking it up as fast, but I will understand a lot more people. Or maybe I need to just ram my head against a cinderblock wall again.
Street contacting is the same as it always is, just now there are more people on the streets, so there is a higher number of them that are willing to stop and talk to us. YAY! No new investigators yet though, but a couple of decent potentials. Oh, and Basketball contacting was banned in this mission about 2011 if memory serves.
Fun spiritual insight for you. In Chinese, repentance is hui(3)gai(3). It literally translates as something to the effect of Guilt (hui) Change(gai). My new comprehension of repentance more accurately falls into GaiShan, which means to improve.
Xxx Xxx Xxx is basically dropped for the time being, he's having a really hard time.
Xxxxx is in Connecticut for the summer to get money to keep going to school in the fall, so we might have some phone lessons with him soon, and try to put him in touch with a ward up in Connecticut.
Xxx Xxx = my first baptism. I'll send you the picture along with this email. PS, it's really hard to baptize someone when the font is leaking, so the water is only knee high.
Going to the temple today, so not a lot of time,
Love you all, don't die (its a little bit hot right now, it's 90 degrees outside)
Your son/sibling in service
Elder Christensen
Tell Cameron I wish him good luck on the test tomorrow!
So...Melissa is now a mom. Didn't she only announce she was pregnant about 2 weeks before I went into the MTC? That went fast.
Thank you for the new suit mom, it is quite wonderful, with the only exception of it being a little tight on the waist. I actually went down a belt size when I put it on (for the record, I've been the same belt size ever since I started in the MTC, but the new suit pants forced me down a loop.)
Going on splits is a fairly regular thing, usually about 1 time every 3 weeks, this time was different though because instead of going with Elder Blonquist (district leader) or Elder Cook, who both live in my apartment, I went with the zone leaders, who are elders Foley and Mok. Brilliant teachers, the 2 of them.
The Chinese is still coming along, its just a matter of time mom. Think of it this way, in Taiwan, I would already be nearly fluent by now, but only in listening to Taiwanese people, who don't really have that much of an accent. Here, you have to also be at least somewhat capable of understanding Cantonese accent, and nearly fluent in fujianese accent comprehension, and we still get a decent amount of exposure to northern accents as well, so I might not be picking it up as fast, but I will understand a lot more people. Or maybe I need to just ram my head against a cinderblock wall again.
Street contacting is the same as it always is, just now there are more people on the streets, so there is a higher number of them that are willing to stop and talk to us. YAY! No new investigators yet though, but a couple of decent potentials. Oh, and Basketball contacting was banned in this mission about 2011 if memory serves.
Fun spiritual insight for you. In Chinese, repentance is hui(3)gai(3). It literally translates as something to the effect of Guilt (hui) Change(gai). My new comprehension of repentance more accurately falls into GaiShan, which means to improve.
Xxx Xxx Xxx is basically dropped for the time being, he's having a really hard time.
Xxxxx is in Connecticut for the summer to get money to keep going to school in the fall, so we might have some phone lessons with him soon, and try to put him in touch with a ward up in Connecticut.
Xxx Xxx = my first baptism. I'll send you the picture along with this email. PS, it's really hard to baptize someone when the font is leaking, so the water is only knee high.
Going to the temple today, so not a lot of time,
Love you all, don't die (its a little bit hot right now, it's 90 degrees outside)
Your son/sibling in service
Elder Christensen
June 19, 2013
Chinese is right on the edge right now for me (or so it feels). I have finally learned to some extent how to hear the actual words in the long stream of strange sounds, and my vocabulary is large enough that I can actually recognize a decent amount of what is said (depending on the topic of conversation), but I can't quite get the words in Chinese to just instantly mean what I know they mean, I still have to think for a second before I can understand, or else sometimes just translate it into English first (which can take longer, especially since if I try that, I tend to forget about 70% of the sentence.) On the cool side, I can actually read the scriptures in PinYing and typically understand what the verses are, even if I have to guess some times on a couple of words. (not characters at all though)
Elder Wang actually sweats a ton more than me. He'll be dripping if he's sitting in a suit at 70 degrees, which is really funny to watch. I need to wash my sheets this coming week anyway because I'm going on splits with the zone leaders next Tuesday, and Elder Mok DESPISES sleeping in other people's beds precisely because they don't wash them enough.
The Dragon Boat Festival was fun, but I forgot my camera (sorry). We ended up not doing the raingutter regatta aspect, which was good because it was way too much effort for the turnout that we got (decent # of people, but 0 children). I also found out afterwards that we are not allowed to be outside after 6 on Halloween and New Years, and only until 8 on the 4th of July. It's still windy here, and it hasn't gotten above 80 yet, most of the time it hovers between 60 and 75, which is pretty nice.
Had my 2nd interview with President Morgan, we talked about pageant a lot actually.
If you see my ward on 18th-20th, or the Blairs between the 12th and 13th, say high to them for me. (my ward is all Chinese, with a bishop who is 6"5', and the Blairs are wearing missionary tags.) I might try and organize a specific time and place for you to meet (near the information kiosks for example.)
Elder Blonquist's Grandparents and little brother came and visited with him for 1.5 hours yesterday, he said his brother had grown about a foot (he's 12.) Apparently it is okay to meet with some family members briefly, with the mission president's express approval. Too bad you don't have a car while you're up there.
YAAAAAAYYYYYY, Granola.
If you find any new suits in a 39 or 38 inch chest, preferable 2 slits on back, 2 buttons, please send them out, or else I am going to need to fix the pinstriped one fairly soon. (how do you think that suit would look if I told them to put on elbow pads? that might be cheaper.)
Tell Robin to learn how to drive one of the other cars, it will help her get more practice, and she might need to drive one of them still come fall.
John Thompson is training his firstborn son, who also happens to be named elder Christensen (from Oregon, probably no relation).
Love you all,
Your sibling/son in service,
Elder Christensen version Chinatown.
Elder Wang actually sweats a ton more than me. He'll be dripping if he's sitting in a suit at 70 degrees, which is really funny to watch. I need to wash my sheets this coming week anyway because I'm going on splits with the zone leaders next Tuesday, and Elder Mok DESPISES sleeping in other people's beds precisely because they don't wash them enough.
The Dragon Boat Festival was fun, but I forgot my camera (sorry). We ended up not doing the raingutter regatta aspect, which was good because it was way too much effort for the turnout that we got (decent # of people, but 0 children). I also found out afterwards that we are not allowed to be outside after 6 on Halloween and New Years, and only until 8 on the 4th of July. It's still windy here, and it hasn't gotten above 80 yet, most of the time it hovers between 60 and 75, which is pretty nice.
Had my 2nd interview with President Morgan, we talked about pageant a lot actually.
If you see my ward on 18th-20th, or the Blairs between the 12th and 13th, say high to them for me. (my ward is all Chinese, with a bishop who is 6"5', and the Blairs are wearing missionary tags.) I might try and organize a specific time and place for you to meet (near the information kiosks for example.)
Elder Blonquist's Grandparents and little brother came and visited with him for 1.5 hours yesterday, he said his brother had grown about a foot (he's 12.) Apparently it is okay to meet with some family members briefly, with the mission president's express approval. Too bad you don't have a car while you're up there.
YAAAAAAYYYYYY, Granola.
If you find any new suits in a 39 or 38 inch chest, preferable 2 slits on back, 2 buttons, please send them out, or else I am going to need to fix the pinstriped one fairly soon. (how do you think that suit would look if I told them to put on elbow pads? that might be cheaper.)
Tell Robin to learn how to drive one of the other cars, it will help her get more practice, and she might need to drive one of them still come fall.
John Thompson is training his firstborn son, who also happens to be named elder Christensen (from Oregon, probably no relation).
Love you all,
Your sibling/son in service,
Elder Christensen version Chinatown.
June 11, 2013
I've decided I don't really like contacting in English, it tends to just be super awkward for some reason. I guess that's a good sign, since I seem to be more comfortable talking with people about the gospel in Mandarin than in English. I'll have to reverse that when I go upstate.
Yankie's Games are really strange to go to as a missionary. REALLY strange. But also really fun. You'll get a few pictures from that at some point.
We talk a lot in English and a lot in Chinese at the apartment, it seems to mostly depend on what we're talking about, and how focused we are. That said, I've caught myself several times transferring into Chinese without meaning to do it, and in some cases without even noticing, which is a promising sign. Now if I could just understand what everyone says a lot better, that would be great.
If you want to send him (Elder Wang) a package, feel free to. He really likes Essential Oils (ironic then that he's companions with me, since he has to use a diffuser in the apartment every day, or else he complains it smells, and I can't even tell what the difference is between our apartment and the subway scent wise.) And his family is FROM China, but lives in California, so he can get some packages, he just doesn't. Speaking of which, I'm out of granola bars again. :-) A water bottle would be good too.
I have been wearing just short sleeves about 50% of the time these last few weeks. Which is a good thing, since all 3 of the suits I have out here now have holes in them. (Sorry mom, the replacement you sent out has a few holes in the fabric on the inside of the jacket that are I think going to grow quite rapidly once I have to wear suits every day again, and the other suit is just really old, there's a tear forming on the left leg right below the side pocket, not a seam ripping, the fabric is coming apart.) It's not an urgent thing, but if you find another suit in my size, preferably 2 slit in the back, 2 buttons, I would like that. I am going to definitely need another suit, or else get the pinstriped one repaired, by about October or November at the very latest I think.
I went on splits yesterday with Elder Blonquist, and we met some of the nicest, and some of the most truly New Yorker people I've ever met. 2 people ASKED to give us their numbers, and 2 cussed us out, telling us that they'll call the cops if we tract their building again (we might be going there tomorrow, its supposed to rain, so contacting won't be any good on the streets. Not like the cops would do anything to us anyway, all the non-american missionaries have green cards or visas.) Oh, and its really awkward when you're talking to people on benches in the park, and then realize that you're out-numbered 2 to 5 by the Jehovah's Witness missionaries who are also contacting in the park. Yes, that is what every day is like for Elder Blonquist (he's the one who met the black guy in Columbus Park with the sword that I told you about. He's a magnet for crazy stuff.)
We've been working on our hardware merit badges this week. We're doing a Dragon Boat Festival party for the ward next Monday, which means that, since everyone in the ward is busy, the missionaries get to arrange it. It's really interesting when you realize that no-one on the island of Manhattan has done a Raingutter Regatta, which means that 4 19/20 year old missionary Elders are going have to figure out how to make the boats and "raingutter". We're using popsicle sticks for boats, with shiskabab sticks as masts, and we found some 4 inch PVC, which we are now going to work on cutting, and putting together some kind of frame for it to hold it up off the ground. This might end up being the most Ghetto Regatta ever, but it's going to be interesting, one way or another.
It sounds like a lot of stuff is changing pretty fast back home. It will be odd to see how different things are in another what...19 months?
You mentioned something interesting about "missing the point of the mission". Some of the missionaries (I'm being completely serious when I say I am NOT one of them) have been getting a bit down and out about the fact that recently they haven't been able to get any investigators who were actually interested in the Gospel, only in translation help really. The single largest lesson I have learned since I started my mission was that repentance is not supposed to be an action. It's supposed to be a way of life. I've been thinking a lot about how my mission might just as well be about the people who I teach now as about helping me figure out how to live the gospel correctly. Also, many of these people will come into contact somewhat regularly with missionaries for quite possibly years to come. Several of our current investigators are proof that it can sometimes take many encounters with missionaries and members before they really start to feel the desire to learn more, so I figure, if they don't have interest right now, that's okay, there will probably be more chances for them to accept later on. And my street contacting is getting better too, which is always fun.
Love you all, Eat bacon,
Your son/sibling in service,
Elder Christensen
Yankie's Games are really strange to go to as a missionary. REALLY strange. But also really fun. You'll get a few pictures from that at some point.
We talk a lot in English and a lot in Chinese at the apartment, it seems to mostly depend on what we're talking about, and how focused we are. That said, I've caught myself several times transferring into Chinese without meaning to do it, and in some cases without even noticing, which is a promising sign. Now if I could just understand what everyone says a lot better, that would be great.
If you want to send him (Elder Wang) a package, feel free to. He really likes Essential Oils (ironic then that he's companions with me, since he has to use a diffuser in the apartment every day, or else he complains it smells, and I can't even tell what the difference is between our apartment and the subway scent wise.) And his family is FROM China, but lives in California, so he can get some packages, he just doesn't. Speaking of which, I'm out of granola bars again. :-) A water bottle would be good too.
I have been wearing just short sleeves about 50% of the time these last few weeks. Which is a good thing, since all 3 of the suits I have out here now have holes in them. (Sorry mom, the replacement you sent out has a few holes in the fabric on the inside of the jacket that are I think going to grow quite rapidly once I have to wear suits every day again, and the other suit is just really old, there's a tear forming on the left leg right below the side pocket, not a seam ripping, the fabric is coming apart.) It's not an urgent thing, but if you find another suit in my size, preferably 2 slit in the back, 2 buttons, I would like that. I am going to definitely need another suit, or else get the pinstriped one repaired, by about October or November at the very latest I think.
I went on splits yesterday with Elder Blonquist, and we met some of the nicest, and some of the most truly New Yorker people I've ever met. 2 people ASKED to give us their numbers, and 2 cussed us out, telling us that they'll call the cops if we tract their building again (we might be going there tomorrow, its supposed to rain, so contacting won't be any good on the streets. Not like the cops would do anything to us anyway, all the non-american missionaries have green cards or visas.) Oh, and its really awkward when you're talking to people on benches in the park, and then realize that you're out-numbered 2 to 5 by the Jehovah's Witness missionaries who are also contacting in the park. Yes, that is what every day is like for Elder Blonquist (he's the one who met the black guy in Columbus Park with the sword that I told you about. He's a magnet for crazy stuff.)
We've been working on our hardware merit badges this week. We're doing a Dragon Boat Festival party for the ward next Monday, which means that, since everyone in the ward is busy, the missionaries get to arrange it. It's really interesting when you realize that no-one on the island of Manhattan has done a Raingutter Regatta, which means that 4 19/20 year old missionary Elders are going have to figure out how to make the boats and "raingutter". We're using popsicle sticks for boats, with shiskabab sticks as masts, and we found some 4 inch PVC, which we are now going to work on cutting, and putting together some kind of frame for it to hold it up off the ground. This might end up being the most Ghetto Regatta ever, but it's going to be interesting, one way or another.
It sounds like a lot of stuff is changing pretty fast back home. It will be odd to see how different things are in another what...19 months?
You mentioned something interesting about "missing the point of the mission". Some of the missionaries (I'm being completely serious when I say I am NOT one of them) have been getting a bit down and out about the fact that recently they haven't been able to get any investigators who were actually interested in the Gospel, only in translation help really. The single largest lesson I have learned since I started my mission was that repentance is not supposed to be an action. It's supposed to be a way of life. I've been thinking a lot about how my mission might just as well be about the people who I teach now as about helping me figure out how to live the gospel correctly. Also, many of these people will come into contact somewhat regularly with missionaries for quite possibly years to come. Several of our current investigators are proof that it can sometimes take many encounters with missionaries and members before they really start to feel the desire to learn more, so I figure, if they don't have interest right now, that's okay, there will probably be more chances for them to accept later on. And my street contacting is getting better too, which is always fun.
Love you all, Eat bacon,
Your son/sibling in service,
Elder Christensen
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)