Subject: Man I'm old and feel it Date: Mon, 30 Mar 2009 22:15

Hello Family on the other side of the boarder.
So yeah.... Im so old haha I keep on telling everyone that i have lost my youth and the next thing I will know is that i am a grandpa, and i dont mean in the mission way. But yeah we are going to fiesta it up son!!(Saturday is Westley's Birthday) more like we are going to wait till sunday night and go with the other elders here. We have a cheese cake ordered from the bishop. Still costing us 200 pesos... haha its cool, still love the bishop.
But yeah speaking of feeling old, i want to sleep right now. district leader is not nearly as fun as it first appeares haha and i dont even have a cell to feel official haha but yeah i think the lack of sleep with the added stress of where are my elders hasn't helped me. Im feeling a little out of it right now but the president and his wife are going to come tomorrow to inspect the house, which has been a pleasure cleaning haha, and im going to ask from some medicine from the Hna. Hopefully ill recover soon cause we need to work this week. And by that i mean that this week was not as hot as the weather. We spent the first two days showing the elders around their area and than two days to work in ours followed by a saturday not to forget.

so showing the elders around wasnt bad, we just got limited on the whole working thing. After two days the elders told me to let them be free and try flying solo for a while. They did alright. Already they are fighting with one of the wards but other then that everyone loves them haha. I knew one of the elders before, he is good, just kind of lazy when his companions are. The other one happens to be the bff of the one elder that cursed my dead dog back to the stone age.... yeah... but he has been chill so far. He keeps asking why im district leader and all i say is, "thats my question too" haha but they are a good pair of elders and im excited to have them.

So saturday: We were going to have an interview with a old investigator of mine that lives over in txs. So the zls had to come. They showed up an hour late and then we still had to travel. We get there, she tells us that her daughter is bleeding out of her mouth and nose and that she needs to go to the doctor. The doctor happens to be by the chapel so we all go together. The interview goes fine and everything, everyone is happy! the next morning I call to see how the baptism went and the elders tell me it didnt happen. Apparently, the night before she had a dream where Christ told her not to get baptized that day because it wasnt her time and that the elders where basically evil for trying to change the timing.... Best part of it was that she stood up and said it in sacrament meeting.... so yeah the members look at us funny. I get to talk to everyone and calm them down haha fun day. i told elder valdez and he started looking up scriptures that talk about how satan can appear as christ, i just put my face in my hands and laughed haha good kid

Most exciting thing that happened this week has washing out clothes by hand. I mean washboard and elbow grease. And im not even talking about my abs... (haha i couldnt help it im sorry.)alright, we have got to go finish cleaning the house and i need to take a nap and prepare a lesson for the meeting.... all in one hour haha just watch me do it. Ok you are all great even if i dont know where you are exactly. Be strong and lean on the Lord when it gets tough. Take notes in conference. Im only going to two sessions so be grateful haha jk but they are men called by God. Their words are scriptures.
Esten bien y cuidense
to the moon and back

con amor

Elder Westley Gene Christensen

Love to the Madre Sent: Monday, March 23, 2009 3:07 PM

Hello Familia,

So first thing is first...
MOM, happy birthday!!! feliz cumpliaños!!! and I only know two languages.
So there it is so I didn't forget. I hope it is a super nice day and that everyone is loving and caring and that they go out of their way to let you know that you are great. Sorry I couldn't be there but I got this thing going haha. What would you like as a present.... that will possibly have to wait till 2010 to receive? But really, love you mom and I encourage everyone to at least send a little shout out to my mom cause she is great and has put up with me for 20 years. It wasn't easy haha love you mom.

ok, so I hope that the rest of everybody else is doing great and happy. Yes, doing happy. English is almost more difficult than spanish at this point. Good times. but I read those letters that I got today and sounds for the most part that everyone is dominating.
But Grandma? Take care of yourself! I hope all is well.
Let me say I don't miss March Madness until people remind me, but go U of A! I assume BYU choked haha
No mom, i do not have allergies here. Its great!
Nano, that's too cool about you Patrearticle blessing. I would have loved to be there but the message for you is still the same. Mission haha andale! We all have our missions is life right? Actually a girl in my ward just got called to chiapas mex. Its pure rainforest and they eat monkey.... haha i want to go! I am sure you will learn alot of things from this blessing. Coop, when are you going to get yours? Also, bro, talk to me man haha whats up, where is the love? you know i have been missing you like a big dog haha as dad would say. Sorry about the loss bro, bite the bullet and work harder.

I can't believe David Parkinson is finishing his mission. Alaska! I want to write him...
Also why are jenny and britton going to Texas? haha its cool, have fun at Sea World, don't worry about not inviting me.
ok my week.
Nothing too exciting like last week. We had to finish a lot of busy work so we really didn't get to do much of the fun finding and teaching thing this week but its alright. I had to go house shopping for the elders that are going to come tomorrow. So difficult and I don't even like the place but its cheap and I don't have to live in it. So yeah no baptisms this week either, just working little by little on the ones we got in the works. We celebrated E valdez completing 2 months in his mission by having breakfast! scrambled eggs and tosadas! he is a good kid and im excited to be with him for another cambio. Quien sabe si el siete lo mismo haha no we are good. Also we had cambios last night and they arrived at 12:30 at night, ridiculous but yeah alot of my buddies from this zone are getting shipped out. It's cool, got another two years to see them again. Also we had stake conference this week in Querétaro. Half of it was devoted to missionary work so that was exciting. But when we went we saw elders that we haven't seen in the zone before and i guess there were emergency transfers because the Presidente is still sending people home.... yeah so that was kind of discouraging but if it needs to be done, so be it.
and really our week wasn't that exciting.
Okay, fam. love you. But for this week it is not equal but slightly shifted towards Mother. Don't be jealous, you all get a turn haha but esten bein, cuidense. You guys are wonderful and great in every way. The church is true and everyone is Mormon, they just don't know it yet.
to the moon and back...

con amor

Elder Christensen

Week of Surprises Date: Mon, 16 Mar 2009 20:45:28

Whats hip hop happening fam?
It was awesome to hear from practically everyone last week, minus coop, lazy kid haha jk bro much love. I loved reading all of your letters and they were all inspiring in one way or another. So right now my knee is not doing so hot. I took some pain pills and stretched and yeah we will have to see. Im not worried, much, just yeah i realized that i just need to hang up the cleats and throw in the towel. Sports are not for me.
Anyways, off my soap box, haha sounds like everyone is doing well. Tay, sorry about all the tests, i hope you survived. Britton thanks for the shout out and way to support my brothers on the other side of the boarder. Haha sorry your computer isnt that great jen haha but really dad was thinking about getting you guys a new one, just that his bike came first haha i hope you two, mom and dad, are enjoying your gifts and yeah i guess you dont have to go to ireland. Mexico is where its at! I am starting to see more tourists here because the weather is pretty nice. I would not mind taking a dip in the pool some days haha this new guy that we are teaching wants to get baptized in a river.... I aint getting into a river in mexico haha apparently its against the rules in this mission anyways.
Coop, hope sports are going well, remember to stretch haha and nano, i know you are not getting married, just checking up like a big brother. and... yeah i hope this week was great for everyone.
ok my week haha full of surprises and fun. So monday in the junta we were thinking about possibly, possilby, having the baptism with the hermana aguliar this week. My dl took that and ran with it. He was going to come wednesday to interview and friday bapstism, cause it was the only day that her godfather could come. So the fun part was telling the hermana haha we passed by to ask her how she felt about this week and she was fine with it because we had talked about it before. But then elder valdez just started saying some... (the truth dumb things) i love the kid i do but sometimes! he started talking about how we have goals for baptisms and stuff and how if we didnt baptize our leaders would get mad and stuff. I was like elder, callete! la verdad haha so the hermana in a space of 5 minutes went from lets do it this week to no i dont want to. I was just like... why? but we talked and the hermana calmed down and chewed me out for not having faith that she knew that the church was true and that she was only kidding for the most part haha it was a dramatic night for me haha but yeah interview wednesday and everything went great. We learned thursday night that we were going to have interviews friday in the morning in quaretaro so yeah.... pleasant surprise of less sleep haha and it was weird cause it was the first interview that i was not terribly excited to go to. I didnt know what the presidente was going to say or really what i wanted to talk to him about. elder valdez went first and i followed in after him. so yeah bad news....elder valdez is going to have a dl as a companion. worse news, im his companion for the next cambio haha yeah.... we are going to have a district there in my little city of san juan and i have been choosen to lead this misfortunate group haha its not because i know what i am doing, let me make that extra clear, but because i have the most experience in my area that the new elders are going to fill. So we loose tequisquiapan and san jaun to them and we keep lomas which i am pumped about. so means cell phone! you can hit me up with a text tay haha oh how i pretend im funny haha also means zls calling every night to see how my band of scrubs is doing haha oh man... this is going to be an adventure. Stayed tunned these upcoming weeks, should be exciting haha. But yeah i know one of the elders thats coming and he is a good kid and i know he will work. also got the package from mom, thanks mom, excited to see all my goodies haha but yeah, there is my news haha yesterday we had our confirmations and everything went great! Now, just got to get the Hermano Aguilar in the font haha and yesterday their son, who is great but hasnt really put much attention into us, teenagers haha commented to his mom yesterday in church that he is going to start taking the lessons from us! there it is!

ok i got to bounce but hey, what did we learn today in class? westley loves his family and others with all of his heart and has random moments where random memories make him sad for just a moment but then really happy directly after because he has those memories. You are all great. I do not boast of my own strength but i will glory in my God!
to the moon and back

con amor
Elder Christensen

Eh, estoy aqui, no se procupre haha Sent: Monday, March 09, 2009 5:12 PM

Hello Land of the Free, Home of the Brave

How are we all doing today? so yeah, lets just get the sorrys out of the way and apologize to everyone that was looking forward to an answer letter that I wrote that got erased. I´m sorry but really I was upset for only like an hour.... or two afterwards but its all good cause I'm here now. so again sorry, but sometimes the dice just don't fall my way.

also, I have not had time this week to reread all of your letters and for that i have a hard time remembering what as is going on in your lives. Its been that kind of week for me so I'm going to mostly talk about me and the last two weeks of my Mexican experience. Coop, i imagine that basketball is coming to an end here pretty quick, good luck with soccer. I cant lie, every time I go out to play with all the elders, i just think, coop could take most of these guys. Your a stud man, keep it up. don't forget about school. Sisters, I don't mean to group you together but you are kind of in the same town and school. No jenny, we don't cook, just little things with the george forman son! so that's clear but we have made a lot of friends in bakery and other stores so we get a lot of stuff free and Danielle, do great things, haven't heard from you in a while, i don't want a wedding announcement before a letter and a name haha

mom and papi, hope everything is going great and that you are staying busy. I will be on the look out for that box mom. I love you two very much and Ireland sounds... wet haha andele!

ok my week.. weeks.
yesterday we had a baptism! surprise! It was a 22 year old kid that had a girlfriend that was a member. flirt to convert is a very active part of our work jk... kind of. But yeah elder Valdez did the ordination and took it like a champ. Just like I taught him, he is a great kid and didn't screw up at all. So maybe not like I taught him... ha ha but yeah that was a good end to a difficult week. It just feels like right now we work all week to find a couple people at the end of the week that listen once and then don't want anything. Like last week we had one new going into Saturday night, one! that's not good and at 8 in the night we found two families back to back! i was so pumped.... and now they don't want us. But yeah haha that's how it is sometimes. I am learning to understand Ether 12:6.
So last week, nothing exciting until thursday when we had a conference with the presidente. We walk in and the Presidente was like, elder Westley Christensen! I just thought it was funny that he called me by my full name because its very rare and because he is like that with me haha but it was a great conference. Pure Power, and the Presidente got up there and was like so i have noticed a little bit of increased frustration in the mission. I understand there will always be some but only a certain level. I was thinking about this last night when elder Holland called me..., I was like Who called you?! oh, just elder Holland. I was like no way! but i guess they are good friends and talk alot. I knew I liked my Presidente for some reason, but elder Hollands answer was pretty cool, he said "Daryl (my Presidente), you know why. Your elders are doing great things. Satan will never be content with that. He is trying harder and harder every day your elders continue doing the right thing" so yeah it opened up my eyes a little bit.
and so after the conference i asked the Presidente what we should do about our three areas because our numbers were... less then bueno haha he just told us to get rid of one, it was impossible to do three. so we did and now that ward does not like us. I wouldn't mind but we still have to go back and do some paper work with them. I don't feel like we are going to get that help haha esta bien.
So this week was pretty average. But ill just skip to the exciting part! So we had a district fast for all the investigatores that were on the fence, baptism wise. Quick side note on the fast, hardest thing ever with no water, anyways we ended it Wednesday night and we visited the Fam Aquilar. The Hna was like, elder do you have a calader? and my comp did and she was like " how does the 15th sound for my baptism?" i was going pretty crazy but her godfather can't come that day so right now we are struggling to find a day before the transfer. So if you wanted to focus your prayers on something... Fam Aquilar. The Hno still hasn't put a date but im hoping everyday to hear those sweet words. I love this family, they have nothing and always offer us things. I want to be there in a year with them in the temple! I liked what Presidente said in the conference that during his mission, he felt that with some of his convert families that he made that pact with them in the pre-mortal life he was going to find them.... he was going to give them the gospel and share so much joy. I feel that way. Good stuff, I want more families like this!
also last night almost had to fight a drunk from beating his family. But didn't have to so it was fine. Sorry for the lack of details, i just wrote this at the end.

Last personal note, hope everyone celebrated my one year anniversary of tearing my ACL. I did with jumping of the tramp, jk dad. No I'm good, it just hurts random days. Idk. but no worries
ok I got to run to get yelled at by my leaders for whatever. I have finally figured out how to be funny and still work hard in Mexico. My dl doesn't like it but yeah, doesn't affect me much haha
ok fam and fans, i love you all. I know i say it every week and whatnot but I truely deeply do, i promise you haha backstreet boys! you are all my testimony, my example, my motivation. Be great because that is who you are. Do great because you want to show it haha wow wes, little tired. Ok, love you all and hope the best. The Church is True. It's that simple.

to the moon and back

con amor

Elder Westley Gene Christensen

Yeah... Date: Mon, 2 Mar 2009 20:48:14 +0000

so i wrote this great letter and as i was going to send it, the computer kicked me off....
sorry fam and fans, next week
Just know i am great, so grateful to be here, doing what the lord wants

to the moon and back
con amor
Elder Christensen