SPRING SPRING SPRING

Dear Family and Friends,
          Spring is a glorious time of the year in Tennessee.  Blossoms are everywhere, including right outside our windows at our apartment.  Right now the cherry trees and the redbud trees are at their height of blossoming.  They are everywhere--even on the sides of the freeway.  Last week it hailed quite hard and the blossoms on the Bradford pear trees were knocked off so the pear trees are not in bloom now.  The maple trees are leafing out now and some of them have a reddish color to them so they are beautiful too.  We were so lucky to have had two springs to enjoy on our mission.  We aren't necessarily sorry that we only have one summer (very hot and humid).
          We had a very busy week this past week--lots of travel.  On Tuesday we had a special fireside given to the missionaries by a young singer from Nashville named David Archuleta.  He came and sang and talked to the missionaries in the Stake Center.  Elder McNeil was going to accompany him on the piano but he wasn't able to play one of the songs so he asked Sister Christensen to do it the morning of the fireside.  She didn't have much time for practice but she did really great.  David Archuleta is an exceptional young man with exceptional talent.  He is not very tall and looks to be only about 14 years old to me but I think he is about 24 or 25.  He surely has a great voice.  He came to the Stake Center a half hour early to warm up and go through the numbers.  We got to meet him then.  I took a few photos.

Cherry Blossoms just outside our apartment

David Archuleta, Cecile, Elder McNeil

          On Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday we had our last three Zone Conferences of this series.  Friday we were in Cookeville, which is about half way to Nashville.  So we decided to head on over to Nashville right after Zone Conference.  We were invited by the Lamberts to stay overnight with them.  The Lamberts had a son serve in the Tennessee Knoxville Mission.  We knew him and had met his parents at the Nashville Temple last year.  We've stayed with them several times now.  They live very close to the Tesla Supercharger station in Nashville, which makes it very convenient for us.  They are also very close to the Temple.  We went to the early morning Temple session yesterday and then came home in time for Mom to get to the dinner before the Women's broadcast.  We are so lucky to have met the Lamberts.  Brother Lambert is a counselor to the President of the Tennessee Nashville Mission.  We took them out to dinner Friday night to try to at least show them a little appreciation for letting us stay with them.

Redbud tree outside our window

David Archuleta warming up, Cecile playing

Nashville Temple

          We are still rejoicing over the best news we have received--that Justin has received a job offer to work at Primary Children's Hospital.  This will be a huge blessing Megan and Justin and their family.  We have been praying and fasting for this blessing to come for quite a while now.  The Lord has answered our prayers.  Congratulations to Justin for this great news.

          We love you all (y'all) and pray for you all (all y'all) every day.  Thanks for the support you give to us.  

Love, Elder and Sister Christensen, Dad and Mom, Grandpa and Grandma

Tennessee and the Civil War

Dear Family and Friends

We had no idea that Tennessee was as involved with the Civil War history as it is.  Tennessee was the second state with the most battles fought in the war second to Virginia.  So many places are part of the civil war history.  Just in Knoxville we can drive around and see signs that indicate an event from civil war history occured there.  Yesterday for P-day we went to a place near Chattanooga that is called the Battle of Chickamagua where is the second largest national battle site next to Gettysburg.  You can drive through out the park or bike or hike or ride horses.  It is acres of wooded hills and some open fields with a creek passing through it.   Some of the pictures we took will show you the lay out of the land.  There are over 600 monuments in the park and a very nice visitor center and picnic area.  It is run by the national park service and was the first national battle field park.  It is very much like Gettysburg but I think it is bigger in area.
Just a few things I came away with in this experience is that are freedom cost much in lives and property.  I also realize this one war gave  our country it's only war between the citizens of the same country that  lasted years not just a day or a month.  It was also a war that still has feelings between the north and south.  The healing has not completely been healed though it is mostly healed.  We still see flags that are confederate flying from homes.  We still hear people talk about the war with them referring to (our) side had the better generals but the north had the industry.  It is really rather a miracle we healed as well as we did but the battle field of Chickamagua is one way they healed.  The North veterans shortly after the war wanted to do a reunion so they planned to do it at Chickamagua and invite the south veterans and it healed some of the feelings as they decided to make this area a monumental park for remembering what happened there.    The division of a nation is still felt today as we hear and read the political battles that we face today.
How we need the blessings of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  The Prince of Peace is never more important to teach than today.  Please get on mormon.org on March 31 and download the new Easter message from the church.
Please make it a FHE lesson with your children.  Talk about the civil war and how that almost destroyed a nation that Heavenly Father needed to bring the gospel to the world.  Talk about how the division in people and political views can stop the gospel being taught.  It should not stop the work of the Lord if it does then Satan has won.  We all have political preferences but those should not stop us from reaching out to someone that does not have the gospel.
When at the battle field park we were going to walk over to an area to look at leaving the car I thought  take a passalong card with you.  So I stuck into my pocket.  As we were going back to the car on the side walk was a biker he had stopped and was doing something on a computer.  I asked him how many miles were in the park and he asked if we biked dad was then standing near me and we talked a little about biking in Idaho and he told us he puts 10.000 miles on his bike a year.  He was a older guy with a beard that had beads and silver things wrapped into it.  His eyes were clear and good and I said we are missionaries for our church and I would like to give you this card about our church and invite you to check out the web sight.  Are you a christian?  He said yes but that he does not go to church.  His wife does but not him.  Then I said to him someday you may want to have a church you can go to this would be the church to look into.  The Savior Jesus Christ knows and love you.  He looked at me and said thank you (very sincerely).  It was as if no one had ever told him that.
We then parted ways but I left a seed.  Hopefully someone will offer to water it and he will be ready.
We finished our day in Chattanooga and came home feeling blessed to be Americans and to be able to pay taxes that keep places like this taken care of for us to visit and remember our history.
This week we will do three more zone conferences that will end the six until we start back in a week with zone training and we will be on the road again.  We got a new senior couple this past week.  They will be in the office taking the place of the Cleghorns that are being released.  They are the Weatherspoons from Oregon.  We took them on their first field trip to Chickamagua.
We love you all looking forward to hearing from you.  Thank you when you take the time to write us or txt us or phone us.  It makes us feels like we haven't been forgotten.
Love Mom Sister Christensen and  Grandma

At the visitor center with the Weatherspoons

Union solider with the spencer repeating rifle
can fire 6 shots without reloading

A tower monument that you can climb and look out over the land.  

  

Front of the Visitor Center

Time Is Growing Short

          We have been enjoying the mildest winter we have ever experienced.  East Tennessee is so beautiful right now.  Just outside our bedroom window is a redbud tree that is starting to blossom.  The Bradford pears and hackberry trees and Jane's magnolias are already in full blossom.  They are everywhere you look.   We see cardinals and mocking birds all the time.  We love serving in Knoxville.
          We have been thinking about how fast time is going and about how little time we have left on our mission.  We are all settled here and we know what we are supposed to do.  When we get home we will have to start making decisions again.  Things aren't so decided for us already when we get home.  We have had the goal of serving a mission together for a long time but now that goal is realized (almost)--well, we haven't got that far yet.  We have to make some decisions about what to do.  We have thought about asking the Bishop if we could serve in the Temple.  But we are trying to be careful not to think too much beyond our mission so we can still focus on what we are supposed to be doing here.  We don't want to get trunky and the our eye off the ball--we still have much to do before we go home.  Mom is working with a lady that runs a picture framing shop and I am working with my barber and also my friend from the gym.  We still have occasional contact with the lady at the bank that we met when we first got here to Knoxville.  They haven't accepted the gospel yet but we pray for them and continue to try with our own personal missionary work along with the things we do at the mission office.  We also are continuing to work on the West Hills Ward to keep missionary work going among the members and to keep our FHE group going.  There are those in the Ward that are strengthened and lifted because of it.  One thing is for sure--we will miss Tennessee when it's time to go home.
          We pray for all of you every day.  We love you and hope you all have a great week.  We pray that your prayers will be answered.
Love, Dad and Mom, Elder and Sister Christensen

March has come in with some more Cold

Dear Family and Friends

After we boasted about nice weather we have had some chilly days.  Well chilly for people like Tennessean's.  We even got down in the low thirties.  We had to wear coats and gloves again.
So the weather is not very stable here either.  We even had tornadoe touch downs in our mission nad thankfully no destruction.  We ended last week with two days of Zone training finishing off the last two zones.  One in Kingsport and one in Asheville.  We decided to spend the night in Asheville so we didn't have to travel all the way back to Knoxville and then out again to Asheville.  So we went from Kingsport to Asheville going through an area that dad has wanted explore.  It is Davy Crockett state park.  Here the famous Davy Crockett was born.  He was not born on a mountain top but down by the Nolachucky river.   They had a replica of his cabin home.  He was a very talented man because he could live off the land which at the time was all frontier area (Tennessee).  He was a statemans because he ran for a seat in the house of representatives.  He was a good trapper and hunter and did some time in the service.  When he did not win another win another congressional seat he left the area and decided on Texas where he participated in the Alamo and lost his life in that battle.
The day was rainy and there wasn't anyone around so we took a few pictures and left.  But at least dad can say he went to the birthplace of Davy Crockett king of the wild frontier.  
We also explored the resort town of Brevard.  It has some cute gift shops and we found a good toy store.  They had a ton of playmobil sets which I love.  A funny thing happened while we were at the stop light in Brevard.  We could see some people walking down the road in the middle with long black robes on holding a can in their hands.  They were going up to cars but we were not sure what they were requesting from the cars.    Well as they got closer I said to dad these look like pastors or priests.  Sure enough the man came to our car and asked us if we wanted ashes.  We looked really puzzled.  He put his figure in the can and said ashes to go.  We still did not get it.  We must have looked dumb so he explained it was ash Wednesday.  Then we realized they were Catholic priests and offering something that they must do for Ash Wednesday.  We declined and drove on.  I think Ash Wednesday it the beginning of Lent which catholic are to forgo something they want to show their ability to sacrifice.
Thursday evening a group of our FHE friends decided they wanted to go see a show called Hidden Figures.  It is about three black women who helped in the NASA space program in the sixties and how smart they were but prejudice made it hard for them to contribute.
We have some birthday's in March Audrey, Sarah Jane, Justin, Flori.  We wish you all a great birthday.
On P-day we went to see about a walking trail near the Fort Loudon Dam.  It is a big earthen dam on the Tennessee river.  We then dicovered a marina and park not far from the dam and walked around a little by the water.  We saw some people fishing then we saw that there is a warnng about eating the fish caught there.  That you should not eat more than one a month because of some chemical in the water.  You were not to eat catfish or some other types that were in the water.  I thought I wonder how many people obey the signs because there were quite a number of people fishing.
This past week I stopped by to say Hi to my art gallary lady that I met 6 months ago. I think I mentioned she is reading the Book of Mormon.  I started her with 3 Nephi because of the Savior visiting.  She has read to Ether.  This week I plan to stop by and talk to her about The Family A Proclaimation to the World .  She asked me about prophecy from our prophet.  I am excited to talk to her about this because I know how it speaks such truth and people that our good people see how the family is being attacked and they don't like it but they don't know what to do.  Most everyone that is a good Christian agrees with the Proclaimation.
We are also going to a city in our mission called Forest City NC.  It is three hours away from Knoxville.  We have to help move an apartment which is an old old place to a newer place.  We know that the furniture and beds are very old and need replacing so we are bringing up new things for this apartment.  Then the president will put in some elders next transfer.  Well that is the news from Tennessee. We love you all.Mom Sister Christensen and Grandma

At that Fort Loudon Dam

Inside the Davy Crockett Cabin

Davy Crockett wall of states monument
every state had a different stone with state name

Spring Is Busting Out All Over

Hello Family and Friends,
          The weather is very spring-like here in Tennessee.  Some days are so warm we have used the AC in the car.  Other days are cool and we have to wear a coat or at least a jacket.  The umbrella is a constant friend too.  The Bradford pear trees are in full bloom along with the crab apples.  There are others that I don't know the name of yet that are blooming too.  It's only February and we are just not used to seeing these things when it is still officially winter by the calendar.  We are not complaining; we are just making note of it and really enjoying it.  We missed the only snow storm of the winter because we were in New York at Grayer's baptism the weekend there was snow in Knoxville.  We are not complaining about that either.  Missions can give us many advantages other than the obvious ones  that would come to mind--being immersed in the gospel and missionary work and service etc.
          Last weekend I go special permission from President Griffin to leave the mission for the funeral of my oldest sister, Carol Wride.  She was 79 years old and had been suffering from a bad heart for many years.  She got weaker and weaker and finally passed away quietly and peacefully at home in the care of hospice.  Out of the eight in my family there are only three of us left.  Mom and Dad and my sister, Linda, and my brother, Robert, and now my sister, Carol have all passed on.  I have only my two older sisters, Ann and Joyce, left.  I don't necessarily like being the next in line to go.  I so enjoyed the funeral, however.  It was done in a way that would please the Lord.  The plan of salvation was taught so well.  Carol was my dear sister and I will miss her.  My children loved their Aunt Carol and all but Susan's family were represented.  I got to see Robert and Amy and Megan and Jon's wife, Melinda and the grandchildren.  It just so happened that Jon and his daughter, Audrey, came to visit us in Tennessee the same weekend of the funeral.  Jon and I passed each other in the air--I was flying west and he was flying east.  Cecile stayed here in Tennessee to be here for Jon and Audrey.  After I returned to Tennessee on Sunday night I got to see Jon and Audrey too.  I'm thankful I was able to go to the funeral.
          Our visit with Jon and Audrey was so good.  Before I returned to Tennessee they went with Cecile on a hike in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park to Laurel Falls.  Smoky Mountain National Park is not far outside of Knoxville.  They attended Church together in our West Hills Ward on Sunday.  On Monday I was back and we went to Pigeon Forge and went to the Dixie Stampede which is an indoor rodeo/dinner show.  On Tuesday we went to Chattanooga to the Aquarium.  Wednesday was the day for all the fun to come to an end--Jon and Audrey flew home.  The rest of this week has been mission office activities and Zone Training Meetings.  We love out mission and want to be here in Tennessee a little longer.  We are not quite ready to come home.
Love,  Elder and Sister Christensen

I learned that Smoky is spelled without an "e"

Laurel Falls

Hiking 

In our missionary apartment

This is how I remember my dear sister, Carol

Dale next to the casket

Carol loved yellow roses

At Ben Lomond Cemetery

Carol is right next to Mom and Dad

At the Aquarium in Chattanooga

February, at our apartment complex

At our apartment complex

Happy Valentines Day this week

💕💕Dear Family and Friends
We have had a good week.  Sometimes the weeks fly by and others times they seem to be slow and forever.  This week we were busy because we are trying to get a new apartment set up for the new senior couple coming into the Chattanooga area in the next couple of weeks.  I have helped our housing missionary senior sister go shopping for needed items for an apartment.  We provide everything that is needed but the towels and sheets.  We even hang mirrors and put throw pillows on the couch and rugs on the floors.  Most of the furniture is second hand fairly nice DI suff but the marttress is new and the recliner is new.  This apartment is in a really nice complex with two swimming pools and six BBQ patio areas and a large commons area a large screen TV, conference room, kitchen, and pool table.  We think they will need this because they are going to be working with the YSA branch and it can be a draw for the young adults to come and spend time wiht them.  The couple coming is from IF but we don't know them but they go to Barry Bennett so they know dad.  All the people at the office were excited to meet the couple that was going to the same mission Dad was in.
This coming week is transfers and new missionaries coming in and old missionaries returning home.  So Tuesday new missionaries come Wednesday we orient the new missionaries, Thursday the old ones leave.  I have some things to do to get journals ready for the old missionaries.  They each get a journal that I put together.  They really get excited about their journals.  Another thing they really like is a letter I send to them from the president that congratulates them on baptisms.  They all want those letters that come from the president when they have been involved with a finding teaching or actually baptising the convert.
We have watched a recent convert struggle with the decision to be baptised because the missionaries that helped her were transfered shortly after she joined the church.  She is single lady in her thirties and the president asked us to keep her under our care.  So we had her for dinner and invited a fun single sister in our ward to come too.  The lady is not in our ward but is in the ward in our building.  We found out today that they gave her the assignment of picking up a man named Brother Kenney.
He is a man that is in our ward an older man about 86 that would come to church because we picked him up and took him home.  He doesn't drive anymore.  He lives in an assisted care place.  When the time changed in Jan.  to the early time he just could not get it together to come to our ward because it was to early.  A little like grandma.  So we suggested to a man in the ward of the new convert that maybe she could bring Brother Kenny to church with her at the later time.  Brother Kenney was glad.  This sister is glad because she has someone to go to church with and bring to church.   So anyway things seem to be better for this sister that just joined because she is needed.  Brother Kenney can go to church and the Christensen's can feel good that both people our being helped.
We have to be always thinking of ways to bring people to Christ.  It may not be in a formal way with lessons and baptisms but everyone needs to be encouraged to feel closer to Christ.  Sometimes it is just bringing someone else to church that can't go without you.

Our FHE group is getting stronger and we feel good about the work that is being done there.  This week we are meeting and making little Valentine treats for some of the less active members of our ward.  People that we haven't seen for awhile or people that live alone.  We like trying to be inspired as to what our ward needs.  Tonight we are going to visit a couple that are older and they have her older father living with them.  It is fun to get to know people by going to their homes.  Because we are missionaries we can ask if we can come and most of the time we our invited to come.  If we didn't have the missionary badge on people would wonder what we were coming for.
Badges really help get you into doors of members also.  We our so private most of the time that we are suspious of people asking to come over if they don't have a purpose.  What if the purpose was to just visit and talk.  I like Jon and Melinda's walk about for that reason it gets neighbors talking with each other and they learn where everyone lives.
Well I better finish this letter.  We send our love and hope you have a great week.  We are sad to have had to say goodbye to our Aunt Carol this week but we know that she was tried of living in the body that didn't want to work anyore.  Carol was still willing and ready but the body just wasn't cooperating.  Thank you for supporting Uncle Dale and his family by attending her funeral.  I really love funeral and I will really miss this one.  Someone please take good notes for me on her life.  She is one wonderful lady.  I always felt so loved by her.

Love Mom and Grandma and Sister Christensen

these two elders needed a cleaning lesson
so I told them to get in their grubbies and hit the shower

dad had visited this apartment to check on a sick elder he came back
reporting that the apartment was a mess.  So we told them we would give them three days then we
were coming to inspect.  Dad said it was a transformation.  They did a really good job of cleaning.
We call it celestial housing and they get their picture in the mission newsletter.  

Took these cute sisters to Chocolate Monkey after apartment inspections

took two elders to lunch after they helped us move in a senior couples
Apartment  Sister Coburn on the left Elder Smith in the middle and me

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