Tennessee Winters: NOT TOO BAD

Dear Family and Friends,
          We hope that all of you are well and happy.  We are alive and well in Tennessee.  The last two days have been a little colder with the lows in the mid-20's.  The highs are in the 40's.  There is a mild wind but I wouldn't say it's windy.  NOT TOO BAD, especially compared to the West this year.  We were away to New York when it snowed here in Knoxville so we haven't had any snow.  It's hard to imagine that we haven't had any snow (yet).  People say that towards the end of February it will start to warm up and be Springtime.  We are both looking forward to seeing the trees blossom--the redbuds  and the Bradford pears and the dogwoods and the mimosas and the crepe myrtles.  Spring is just beautiful here in the South.
          This last week we were invited to a dinner sponsored by our bank here in Tennessee.  The person who invited us is a lady we have talked about previously--Ellen.  We first met her when we opened up a checking account in Knoxville.  We taught her a few discussions but she decided not to go any further.  But we are still friends with her and she invited us to this presentation.  It was at a very fancy golf course clubhouse.  We we arrived Ellen was there to greet us and she wrote our names on a piece of paper and put them in a hat.  After a very nice dinner and the presentation they drew names for a couple of door prizes.  I won a basketball signed by the U.T. coach, Rick Barnes.  It was sort of funny because when we went in to the dinner I saw the basketball sitting out on a table and I asked Ellen, "who is Rick Barnes?"  She didn't know either.  Anyway, I am the proud owner of a basketball signed by the head men's basketball coach.  How cool is that?

Train display

Us at the Convention Center

UT Basketball signed by Rick Barnes, Head Coach

Market Square in downtown Knoxville

Elders Leach and Cushing

          Saturday we decided to do a little exploring (P-Day) so we drove downtown and walked around.  We found a Home and garden show in the Knoxville Convention Center that was really fun.  We heard a lecture by Mark Bowe, the star of DIY Barnwood Builders TV Show.  We saw all sorts of new products for homes and yards.  It was fun but we're not in the market right now for those kinds of things.  There was also a really neat G Scale train set-up that I really liked.  After the walking around the show we found a little restaurant for lunch, Blue Coast, located on Market Square.  Then we did a little shopping at MAST General Store which is downtown on Gay Street.  We had kind of a fun afternoon--different than we have done before.

Electric Train  display--how fun!

          Now we don't want you to think that all we do is have fun but really, it's all fun.  We have been busy with Zone Conferences, moving out broken washing machines and dryers and moving in working ones, moving missionary apartments, shuttling missionary cars, inspecting missionary apartments, and feeding missionaries.  Needless to say, I have been busy with medical things too.  It amazes me how many medical problems (much of which are mental health) there are.  We do love the young missionaries.  They are wonderful.

Elders Hill and Tanner

We hope you all have a great week.  Remember to OYM-open your mouth about the gospel to everyone who will listen!  Nothing is more important than the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Love, Elder and Sister Christensen