Totally in Mexico...Sent: Wednesday, August 27, 2008 9:11 PM

so hey gang,
Im typing from my new mission home. We had some trouble at the airport in mexico, our mission president got stuck in traffic so we havent met him yet but yeah hopefully tomorrow will be better. we have pizza now for dinner so ill talk to again on monday i think. im alive and well and totally in mexico.
elder christensen

(We got to talk to him yesterday as he was traveling airport to airport. He sounded great already so grown up.)

Letter from MTC Instructor Sent:Tuesday, August 26, 2008 5:14 PM

Dear Missionary Parents,This is Brother Hallam, one of your missionary's teachers here at theMTC. What a great group of Elders we had, Elder Graham, Elder Keeling,Elder Farmer, Elder Menet, Elder Christensen, Elder Ashcraft, ElderHeap, and Elder Memmott. I just wanted to write and let you know whatgreat sons you have raised. This truly was an exceptional group, andmost of that is because of your efforts. We had a lot of fun togetherand learned much, both the missionaries and myself. They all workedhard and gave it their best, both with learning Spanish, as well aslearning how to be a missionary. They are off to the field tomorrowand are excited! I promise we did our very best to prepare them, andthat they are more than ready. These missionaries will perform a greatwork in Mexico. Our Heavenly Father needs them to be there, and theyare ready to answer the call. I'm sure it must be hard to have themgone, or at least that is what my parents have told me, but they arein good hands, the Lords. They are ready, and will do great. Thanksagain for all of your efforts to get them where they are today.Shawn Hallam

Who Said the MTC wasn't fun?‏ Sent:Thursday, August 21, 2008 9:48 AM

Hola familia? como estan? cualquier cosa bueno o malo? triste o falic? Entonces... I how is everyone doing? SO i'm just going to write this one letter this one letter seeing as my siblings seem to hate me haha but yeah mom or dad if you could forward this to my sisters that would be great. I will try to start writing everyone a letter just means that the big one will be shorter, idk well will see what happens. But yeah I will just start with the first letter that I got this week and see where we go from there. I'm pretty sure it was from dad but it didn't say so if it's not lo siento padre haha but yeah let's see, totally fine about the glasses, it's only ever really bad after I have been reading for a while and my eyes need time to ujust to things that aren't right there. I haven't gotten the package as of right now pero I am expecting it either today or tomorrow so esta bien.
lo siento hahasold buster? en serio? cimon... and you didn't have to pay them to take it from you too that's way impressive haha no I"m sure you and britton but a lot of effort into it, I wouldn't have minded it for college but i'll settle for the white nissan. Sounds like katie's wedding went pretty good, everyone seemed to ahve the same review of it. SOunds like mike may not be as christensen (loud) as we would like but hey either was britton at first but we always get them in the end haha sorry about the rain, sorry I missed out on the awesome dancing and the song, next time. I'm excited to hear how cooper's first day of school went and also the soccer. WHich he has not reported to me... we all have an opportunity to repent though haha cooper do well in school so mom and dad don't have to get mad. If you are a good student before coming to the MTC it makes it so much easier to study. Gracias por su estoria pardre sobre diezmo. We are still working on translating our experiences into spanish, it takes a little bit of time haha. congrats dad on running every day, maybe we can race again after I get back haha that's fun that you guys got to see sterling and B sounds like they are still up to their usual selves which is always good. I have a picture for sterling coming for him in my next chip, im just pointing to perth and mexico city and it's interesting to see how far it is.K mom's letter real fast.Visa's... yeah idk we have recieved our previsas which is good but we still don't know what is going to happen to us next week, we could be in the mtc, provo, georgia, or mexico so we will see. I figure you and jenny could make a conference call when I call from the airport and jenny put her cell on speaker for danielle and britton but Idk, we will get flight plans before we will worry about that. We got a letter on friday officially putting us on delay. So it wasn't a surprise but it was still disappointing. We had a fast yesterday to understand the will of our Heavenly Father, we will see what happens. I will put my trust in the Lord. Sounds like mom and Dad have the wonderful opportunity to make new friends with the soccer parents, I have faith in you guys. I would ask brad what to do and I would encourage the tournament as well. Glad to hear cooper is not suffering from a fat head yet hahaCongrats to danielle for the money!! that's awesome, way better then anything I did. Glad to hear your roomates will be a great opportunity to learn patience and grow... haha I have all the advice in the world in that area haha congrats mom on having work. Every member a missionary.SO yeah I have six minutes to talk about my week. let's do it. So yesterday I saw dan come down the hall while I was eating so I raced down the hall and met him at the end and gave him a hug and stuff. DId not think I would see him again but at dinner I was looking for him and right there in front of my was stan and dan so I sat down and chatted with them a littl bit but as I said I was ending my fast yesterday so I needed some food so I said I would write him today and tell both of them my schedule. It was good to see them though. (not sure who this next sentence is about) It was pretty good, a lot of scriptures but it was just more of his presence that made it worth going to. this week has been a lot of lessons, we have been teaching in spanish for an average of four hours a day, let's just say I miss spanish at the end of the day haha but yeah this week has been really good with elder ashcraft but the rest of the district has been kind of tense so idkWell my time is up , I love you guys and I'm sorry I can't write more about what's happening but yeah. I love you all and you're in my prayersElder ChristensenDO great!!!

Veterans of the MTC Sent:Thu, 14 Aug 2008

Hola familia!!Well it's that day again so yes here I am to write my thoughts about the last week. I guess I have to start where everyone starts the olympics!!! holy cow does lacey rock haha I'm so proud of her, obviously she probably wishes she could have done a little better with the individual but hey for a first time with all of the world's best not a bad start haha I actually found out monday morning about the silver in the relay from my teacher who has a ipod touch, which is just one of those ridiculously expensive toys that has the internet. He got on a found out for me, I felt pretty good about bragging about my cousin all day haha but yeah I am glad to hear that aunt stacey and uncle aaron are still alive... hopefully haha but yeah I'm grateful for the letters you forwarded. Sounds like they have having a great time in China. Hopefully they won't starve. But yeah great stuff and I hope they continue to have a good time.The wedding! so yeah i'm not totally sure when it's taking place but I think saturday! anyway sounds like everyone is doing great there too, congrats mom so all the hard work and congrats to all the Heath family for this great occasion, I know it will be a huge blessing in their lives. Especially to Katie, congrats cousin, love ya and all the best to you. I am excited to see pictures of it all. Again mom, i'm sure you did a great job with everything and congrats to uncle dave for showing up today haha jk love ya.I'm excited to hear about sterling and what his toughts are about the mission, hopefully he can send me an email of I'll just hear about it from you guys. That will be way exciting to hear about it.SO yeah cooper!!! chayeah!!! seriously!! couldn't think to drop to your favorite brother that you happened to make JV!!! I was going over your letter thinking like oh yeah I could probably ask him about how the 5 mile went and then I get mom's letter today and like cha! for serious!? haha that's so awesome coop, I do however take most of the credit for being a life long coach haha but yeah coop that's quite an achievment, not a lot of people can say that they have done what you are going to do. the last person i know that pulled that off was probably trever jones. AND on that note just a word of cation. Don't let it go you your head coop. You have been blessed by the lord but that doesn't make you better than anyone else. I'm very proud of you but you need to remember your who your friends are during the soccer season. Your a pretty mature kid, I have no doubts that you will make good decisions but remember to be strong to who you are and what you stand for. You are going to be picked on and teased and harassed but you need to be someone that you can be proud of. Be friends with your teammates but remember what standards you have set for yourself and that they might not have the same standards. Be strong coop, I know you will do great. Listen to the coach and work as hard as you can. I expect to hear a weekly report. I want all concerns questions and accomplishments. Being known as my little brother is not the worst thing =)Anyways haha I don't always take pictures of myself haha and If I do it's because there is nothing more exciting.Uh I guess I am done responding to everyone that wrote me.. cough cough haha jk but seriouslyok my life uh not alot has happened this week other than all different sorts of stories and rumors about visas. WE could be getting flight plans as early as tomorrow... yeah so pray hard haha it's pretty crazy being the oldest in the zone. I feel like I should know something haha but yeah it's kind of nice to have all these new missionaries that don't know anything, it helps my self esteem. I haven't seen dan yet but wednesdays are always crazy so hopefully I'll see him soon.. Uh yeah it's just crazy to think that I have been here for more that seven weeks. Idk but lets' see one funny story.... oh yeah so monday night we were jsut walking around saying good night to the new district and we were in one of their rooms and I look on the desk and an elder has a Jared Diamond Rings, little magazine and I just bust up laughing haha and I show elder memmott and he starts laughing and then the new elder goes.. " I already bought my girl a 300 dollar ring. That's all she's getting" haha so yeah MTC for you. Got a new councilor on sunday, teaches spanish at BYU haha greatOk so yeah my time is pretty much up. Love you guys, you are all wonderful and I pray for you frequently. Remember who you are and don't let it get you down haha I love you all and can't wait to hear from you again.
Love Elder Westley Gene Christensen

Doing Great Things In Provo Sent:Thu 8/07/08 1:27 PM

Hola mi familia!!!
Como le va?  Espearo bien.  Well I'm just so overwhelmed with all the
letters and the package i got this week that I don't know where to begin.
Thank you all very much. I guess I'll just start with the Package, it was
wonderful and everything that I could of hoped for. the pictures made me
laugh.  The house look amazing, congrats to everyone that helped.  Thanks
also for lacey's talk, that was very interesting and powerful.  Love the
candy, hopefully I won't love it too much haha
All the letters were great this week and I'll try to answer most of them
and then say some things about me but the computers have been acting funny
today so we will see what happens.  First I actually wanted to have the
chip sent to taylre but if it's too much out of the way than I understand
but if it's posssible I would like that.  Sad to hear that Jenny and
Britton and I guess Danielle are all leaving there pretty soon.  sorry
mostly to cooper but you're a tough kid you can handle it haha jk but yeah
best of luck to everyone going to las cruses, hope everything goes
smoothly.  I loved hearing about dad and cooper's high adventure activity.
Props to you cooper for helping dad out so much and props to dad for going
at a cow with a four iron.  I enjoyed that very much and can't wait for
that stage of my life haha  Glad to hear everyone enjoyed my chip for the
most part and mom, I really wasn't on the screen, I covered it with tape
haha but I appreciate the thought none the less. Thank you britton for not
crushing my attempt at espanol, it's still coming day by day.  Hopefully
next time I'll do half of it in espanol and see if britton can translate it
for you or not and than it will just remain a mystery forever haha  so yeah
I guess I'll just continue on a random tangent and talk about the visa
situation that is going down here in provo. So we have heard numbers as
many as 100 missionaries on delay trying to get to mexico, there are alot
of missions.  and the latest news that the church headquarters just came
out with is that they are going to be sending those missionaries out
starting today to either Salt lake City south if they are not from Utah and
Georgia if they are.  So it is a very good possiblity that I could be
serving here in Provo in about  two weeks.  I got a laugh out of it but
mostly just hope that I won't have to stay here for an extra amount of
time.  I'll keep you posted on what happens next.  Speaking of missionaries
I can't wait to see dan come in next week.  I forgot to tell him in his
letter but tell him to meet me in the caferteria that wednesday by the ice
cream bar haha I'll try to remember too.  Uh let's see back to your
letters.  Oh yes glad to hear that everything worked out well for Danielle
and the roomate situation.  Hopefully it will be a great experience for you
Danielle.  That's way cool to hear that Aunt Stacey and Uncle Aaron are off
to China, I hope they have a wonderful experience.  I actually had a lady
come and bear her testimony to me yesterday in cancanees? i don't know,
whatever they speak in china and I was just staring with a blank face....
haha hopefully they will have translators.  Thanks dad for the tracking
story about ireland.  Hopefully I won't have to do that much tracking but I
understand that missions are all about the effort you are willing to put
forward "pray as if everything depended on the lord, work as if everything
depended on you"  so news about me, I have new zone leaders, elder heap and
elder memmott. I was a little like what? when they first got called but I
know now that they are going to do a great job and they are the ones that
this zone needed.  Oh yeah another random thought, sorry I have alot of
those today, I didn't get a chance to organize my thoughts.  The mexico
city temple opens on nov 16th, guess who will be in mexico on that day and
might be able to help in some way? me haha I can only so, I joke that I
will be the translator for President Monson but really I just think that he
wouldn't know he was at a temple dedication by what i was saying haha maybe
I'll get to direct people or something, there are over 1 million members in
the mexico city area, crazy I know.  We taught in the trc this week in
spanish again, it was great, minus I couldn't understand when the native
investigator talked haha I can hold my own if they speak slowly but luckily
he told us that mexico natives speak twice as fast and he has trouble
understanding them.  I will pray for the Lord's help.  Well sorry again
about having a bunch of random thoughts but hopefully it has been worth
your time.  I love all  of you very much and pray for you like ten times a
day.  Thanks so much for everything that you are and all of your love,
you're great.

Elder Westley Gene Christensen