"Mom, you're embarrassing me in front of my friends"

Hello Family and Friends, this time I decided to include the little snippets that E and I were lucky enough to snatch while he was answering and writing emails today....It is almost like we are texting.  I have learned that if I check my phone one million times between the hours of 12:00 - 2:00pm, I will catch the first reply from Elder C. and then I can answer his questions, and vice versa.

Soooooooooo......if you have something pressing,

let me know and I may be able to get an immediate answer next Wed.

(hmmmmm.....that doesn't even make sense.)

Good thing his friend Arielle shared her private stash of photos with us, 

(after I threatened, and begged....j/k)

cuz otherwise we'd have been stuck with only the guy in the hat this go round :(

Some of this will make more sense in a second: 

Me to Eth,

Why was the blanket thing embarrassing?  

Hopefully you have caught on....if you say you need something in your emails....It's gonna be a hot topic, and we will try and meet your needs ASAP.  Your friends and family are going to come to your rescue.  If you happen to say your are dying for Swedish fish.....Look out dude!  No one wants to see their boy suffer or be shivering at night.  So it is kind of a magical situation to know at least 30 peeps are waiting for your correspondence.  Once in a life time for sure.  Not sure we will be able to do the same while you are in Argentina....but you've got another few weeks to milk it at the MTC if you think of anything ;)  

ps - what DO you need/want for Christmas????  

LOOK HOW HANDSOME AND GOOD HE LOOKS!!

Plus his companion also = perfect companionship.

yes my companion is going with me. apparently a good website to buy cool ties/socks is nickersltd.com i think. I haven't looked at it so i don't know. but if you want to get me any cool ties/socks that would be awesome! also if there are any ties with animals or magical creatures that would be awesome! cds don't really work, we aren't really allowed to play music.

You would really want more socks? You can wear crazy ties like that?

yeah. my teacher actually complimented me on red socks and a sock tie. everyone who was freaking out about it is wrong so tell the world that sock ties are not only allowed but highly coveted in the tie trading industry. 

..................................................................................

Okay here's my longish email.

It's kind of hard to write a ton. We are in class between 8-12 hours every day, so not as much happens compared to the field. 

Good things that happened this week: We got one of our "Investigators" to commit to a baptismal date! First one! But this guy is also our teacher so don't get too impressed. 

There were some spiritual experiences but nothing super super powerful. We learned a better way to study. It involves tearing down your beliefs by questioning them, and then researching them and praying about them and building them back stronger: "no man can be saved in ignorance" blind belief isn't enough. So how it works: 1. Ask a question about anything. Anything you want to learn more about or even stuff you already think you know. 2. answer the question to the best of you abilities. 3. ask another revised question based off the answer you just gave. 4. repeat the process until you've build your beliefs back up though scripture and prayer. 

Sorry i feel like I've done a horrible job explaining. But i recommend this method to anyone who studies their scriptures at home (which should be everyone!)

 We had a devotional with the yw general president or something but she talked about how sometimes god lets bad things happen to us so that we can grow back stronger the way he wants us to be. Compare it to a gardener pruning plants. They grow back stronger and more fruitful. God loves us enough to hurt us so that we can become better. Kinda scary but its a good way to think about hard time. My teacher said that when we are going through hard times, we are on the verge of something great. Either because God is pruning us, or because we are so close to becoming really good that satan is trying his hardest to stop us! So if we just get back up, and keep moving forward, we will end up a lot happier than we have ever been. 

Other things that happened: My mom called the front desk and told them i was cold at night. So they called me up there and gave me an extra blanket. "Mom you're embarrassing me in front of my friends!" it was funny. But when i got back to the dorms i told everyone that there was a problem with my visa and that they were going to transfer me to the salt lake mission for up to 6 months while they figured out my visa. Hahahaha and they all believed me and got depressed so i had to tell them the truth. 

One of my companions reckons he got attacked by satan yesterday. He excused himself from the room hyperventilating and came back with a bunch of revelation about crushing the serpent's head. It was interesting. We weren't sure what to believe cause he's always talking about getting revelation, literally 24/7. Maybe he's just some kind of seer. I'm going to attach a picture of the other guys in the dorm with me and my companion. In the picture, The seer guy is the one wearing that hat that makes him look like one of the dwarfs from the hobbit. If you look closely you can also see that he is wearing long johns under his shorts. These are the guys that i have to deal with 24/7 hahah. It's hard to live with people that i didn't choose haha. It's impossible to get a moment alone. But my companion is super awesome. He's been writing fake dear john letters to girls that he dated before he came on his mission hahah. Teachers here say living with companions is like preparation for marriage, but i just don't think it's the same hahaha. At least in marriage you get to choose who you live with! 

We have a lot of study time. As I mentioned, 8 hours on some days and 12 hours on others. It's kinda rough sometimes. We always find awesome scriptures though. Check out: Zechariah 5:1 and Joshua 1:9. The Joshua one is reassuring during hard times. (Sorry if i got the references wrong im doing this from memory because i forgot my journal.) There were a lot more scriptures but I can't remember them right now. 

I'm sorry i don't have any new pictures. I keep forgetting to bring my camera when we go to walk on the temple grounds, and that's when we take the most pictures.

I'll have more to write when i get out in the field!

I miss you all!

Love, Elder Christensen 

PS - Tell grandpa thanks for the scarfs and hoodies. I love the scarf. Also, thanks for the mismatched gloves....hhaah ill probably pass those down.

Peace Out.

No Really.....Peace be unto you.