Grandma & Grandpa Idaho: God's Creations are a Testimony of Him

Dear Family and Friends,
In Knoxville they have what is called the Dogwood Arts Festival and Dogwood Trails. In the springtime the dogwood trees blossom everywhere and there are marked routes to drive in your car to see them in particularly beautiful neighborhoods. We went out on Saturday afternoon drive to see them. We drove on 3 of the trails. One of the neighborhoods was one that Susan and Andrew had taken us into when Grayer was a baby and we visited them in Knoxville. We came back being in awe and wonder over the beauties of God's creations. We really enjoyed this and felt our testimonies of our Father in Heaven strengthened. I'm going to include some photos of this activity. We consider ourselves so blessed to be here in Tennessee.
We were able to participate in a wonderful baptism last night. A lady and her son and daughter were baptized in our Ward. We first met them when we first arrived in Tennessee. It's taken them a long time to be taught and get ready. The lady's husband did not join and leaves the room when the missionaries come to teach. She and the kids were confirmed to be members of the Church in sacrament meeting today. This brings a lot of enthusiasm to the Ward. We are hoping that the spirit of missionary work will spread and grow in our West Hills Ward.
We are busy with a series of Zone Training Meetings again. We will be traveling again 4 days out of 5 this next week. We try to turn these long days of travel into something fun too. We did learn in the MTC that "if you are not having fun then you are doing something wrong." Anyway on Friday we will be in Asheville, North Carolina. So we will be spending a little time to drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway. This drive has been on my "bucket list" to do before we leave Tennessee. Our time is getting short now. We have been told by our Mission President that we will be released on June 7th. When we think about being released it's easy to be distracted from the things we should be doing as missionaries. We do need to make plans but do it in such a way as to not take our focus off of the mission. There is still lots of work to be done. We love the work and are grateful for the opportunity to serve.
We love you all and wish for you to have a great week. Remember, "be good, don't be bad."
Love, Elder and Sister Christensen, TKM