Greener than green here in Tennessee

Dear Family and Friends

Because of the rain we have had the green explode here.  I am sending a few pictures to show you.  We have been told that we need to soak up all the green we can because there is nowhere even close to this green in the west.
We have so many people telling us how they will miss us and how about extending or how about moving to Tennessee.  The bottom line is that we will miss them but we signed up for 18 months and it is almost done.  We also have family that have now moved to the west and it would be ironic for us to change locations just as we get the majority of our children and grandchildren near us.  We are so looking forward to not having to fly to get to see them and to see them more than once a year.  We might even be able to see some ball games, some recitals, some school programs, some graduations etc.  We will miss Eloise's graduation we think.  We missed Emma's baptism.  But there are great blessings that have come with those sacrifices. Let me just tell you a few we have talked about.  When Porter had his bike accident we thought about it after the initial news and decided that Porter was protected so we could stay on our mission.  We feel that Uncle Gregg has had blessings in his treatment so we could stay on our mission.  We feel that we were to go when we did so Meg and Justin would have a place to live while Justin found work and they figured out how and where they were to live.  We have had financial blessings come while we have been serving.  Grandma Baker has had good care even more than before since we came on our mission.  She is still with us so we could stay on our mission.  We have had friends decide to go on missions since we have come on a mission.  They were probably going to go anyway but we feel blessed that we could encourage and now encourage from home as they serve knowing what they are experiencing.  Those are some of the blessings we feel have come to our family and our friends.

There are other blessings that have come as we think of the things we have studied learned shared and taught.  We have many people that we have learned to love.  That is a blessing.
We have learned to love the young missionaries.  We have so much hope for the future of the church and the gospel.
We have some great ideas about the future.  They are not set in stone but are in the mind and we are prayerful about the future.  Please let us know how you are doing.  We love you.

Spillway at Norris Dam

We had a senior activity this weekend after four zone conferences we were ready for a little rest and relaxation.  Elder and Sister Christensen were in charge and we decided that it would be fun for the outlying senior couple to come into Knoxville area and do something connected to the Smokey Mountain National Park.  So stayed a night in Townsend a little resort town otuside of the entrance to the park.  We then tookthe mission van and went to Cades Cove.  A beautiful mountain area with meadows hills mountains creeks and of course some bears.  The other thing interesting about Cades Cove is that in the 1800 it was a community and so there are cabins and barns and churches through out the area.  There is even a grist mill and blacksmith shop still standing.  As we came to one of the old churches one of the sister's had been there and knew there was an old piano in it.  So we decided as a group we would sing and record our music for posterity.  Telling everyone that we sung a song in a Methodist church while on our mission.  I played and we sang Nearer my God to Thee.

See the little black bear cub there were four of them and the momma

When we got back from our senior retreat dad and I went to see a big dam that backs up the Clinch River which is part of the Tennessee water ways.  There is so much water in this area that they had to place dams in order to help the flooding that would occur downstream.  This is the first one they built back in the early 1900.  Somewhat like the Palisades dam.  They have had a lot of rain so they are sending a lot of water over the spillway.  Have a great week.  Our family has been so blessed please remember to thank our Father for these blessings.  Love Mom Grandma and Sister Christensen

greenest state

Silly missionaries