A Little Light on Broadway St.

Oh hai!

Yeah Broadway [shady part of town in San Fran] is pretty funny. The investigator who lives on the street just got baptized yesterday which was really great. Such strong faith. First of all he's 79 years old which is pretty ridiculous that he's receptive to our message at all. Also, he's living on social security so his income is $400 a month, $350 of which goes to his rent so when Elder Luo and I found out you still have to pay tithing on social security last week we were like... uh oh.... But then when we taught it to him he was just like "ok, yeah i think I’ve heard about the commandment before. No problem." So crazy. And then maybe a 5 dollar fast offering. 5 dollars for the whole month! Except I do think he has family that sends him money every so often. Still. He's the man. I think we're gonna teach him a couple more times this week before his confirmation. So cool. Oh and the last time we visited him it was like 7 pm again and there was some proprietor of one of the strip clubs who watched us walk past and was like "hey guys come on in! Take a break!" We just laughed and were like "Yeah I guess 10 minutes wouldn't hurt..." jkjkjkjkjk lulululul.

This week I was on exchanges for a lot of the time since my companion Elder Luo was attending a training conference in Oakland for all the people in leadership positions like district and zone leaders, and trainers. So I was with Elder Zhang, this hilarious guy from Beijing. Glad to be back with Elder Luo though. I actually feel like a missionary when I'm with Elder Luo since with Elder Zhang it's just like super casual since all he does is joke around. He's a good missionary though. Just has a really unique way of doing things. He's only got 3 months left which I can't even begin to conceive of at this point and probably shouldn't try to think about since I've only been out like almost 3 weeks. Things are going pretty well though so no worries.

Yeah, Dad, I'm pretty much eating as well as you will be for the next 3 weeks (while Mom’s in Utah). Elder Luo's not such a bad cook and Elder Zhang is not bad at all although the food that he makes isn't really the healthiest in the world (he's like 250 pounds himself... so...). Oh man and the Daily City elders' apartment is so gross hahaha! I cleaned their sink when I was over there just cause it was beyond disgustingly dirty. Elder Luo and I were laughing about it last night. Our apartment is actually really nice. The downtown one. It's pretty big and we even have a dishwasher (xi wan ji) and a disposal (Di sa po sa ou le) (I actually don't think there's a word for that...). The Chinese program only has 2 missionaries to an apartment as far as I can tell. Don't know about the English program. We each get $140 a month to live on which isn't too much but seems to be doing pretty well actually. Although, Elder Luo said that in the English program it was a lot easier to live on since members invited them over to eat like every single night whereas in the Chinese program, once a year would be pretty good haha. Elder Tang, our district leader, said he's lost 12 pounds since being in the Chinese program hahaha.

My companion Elder Luo and I get along really well. He's a really good missionary and I'm learning a lot from his example. Despite the fact that some jokes don't really get through due to cultural differences, we still joke around quite a bit and he's good to only speak Chinese all the time so I can practice. Really hardworking and whatnot which is good.

Yeah I remember the Xu family (in Washington, D.C). I thought they all got baptized though... Guess not... that's awesome that William Xu is still active. Takes so much faith and commitment to be the only one in your family who's a member. Man, home teaching. I never realized how vital that is before I came out on my mission. I've only been out three weeks but it's already so evident that there are somany less actives in the Chinese branch which easily could've been avoided had people done their home teaching... As it is it's pretty darn lax in the branch... so the missionaries do a lot of the home teaching type visits. Not in my zone so much since we have like 2 member families that live downtown haha but in daily city there are loads of less active members. Things would just be so much easier if everyone did their home teaching! So good on ya dad!

Thanks so much for your letters mom and dad. Your support means a lot to me. I can't imagine being out on a mission and having your parents not being supportive so thanks so much. Thanks for your examples to me. I'm still trying to build my faith and develop reliance on the Lord and I think it's” man man lai-ing” [coming little by little].

Rained this last week for like 4 days which was annoying but it's super nice today. Going to go check out fisherman's wharf with the Chinese elders serving in the Sunset area today which should be fun. Although, Elder Luo says there's no way to have fun in San Francisco without loads of money... which i guess is partially true... anyways, things are going well. Love you guys! Have a great week!

Love,

Ian

News from the Field - at Last!

Note: We received a very short note from Ian last week so I didn't post it. We put it down to it being Columbus Day and the libraries being closed, but, evidently, it wasn't the problem. He has redeemed himself with this long, newsy letter ---

HERROWWW! So actually even though it was Colombus Day last week that's not the reason why we were here in the apple store emailing you. This place is actually the most convenient place for us to write emails haha. And it turns out the website for email isn't blocked on the laptops so I'm using a laptop this time to contact you which is way better since I can actually write more than a paragraph without shooting myself in the face. (With my imaginary gun.)

That's hilarious and awesome that that girl Tracie contacted you about me. I have absolutely no recollection of meeting her and I have no recollection of giving anyone your email address. But that's super cool she sent you an email and thanks for her number. I'll make sure to call the referral center tonight and get some English speaking missionaries to contact her. Thanks.

So anyways, that's so cool you got called as the relief society president! You're gonna be so great! Of course they called you to be the relief society president in the ward. You're like righteous as (Yay for Auzzie expressions!). Also, now that you hold the most powerful position in the women's heirarchy, you can exercise unrighteous dominion and make everyone in the relief society bake you things!!!! Mwuahhahaha!

And yes the mission home called me to tell me they had received the blanket you sent me so I'll get that at some point. Meanwhile Sister Wade is loaning me a blanket to use which is really nice of her. And also she gave me a pillow.... which is kind of awkward cause if I return the blanket i'm wondering if i'll have to return the pillow too... I guess just wont... since it's comfortable... and i'd know since it's so dang hard to get up in the morning haha. Like I seriously think that's the hardest thing in my mission right now. Getting out of bed. 6:30 is far too early to be awake ha. But running in the morning is good. Like actually kind of tolerable. My companion never did it before I got here but I decided if I'm gonna be anywhere near as pro as joel was on his mission, i'd better institute as pro an exercise program... although I'm not sure about the marathon since there are so many hills here and yeah... we run them...

I'm in downtown San Francisco right now. I think there are 12 Chinese elders total both in Oakland and San Fran. So there are 6 elders in my district covering the Daily City, Sunset, and San Francisco areas. It's pretty cool. I've already had my share of crazies come up and say stuff to us haha. Like this woman the other day who was speaking English but I had absolutely no idea what she was saying. I caught something like "devils in Salt Lake City who think they're representing me" and then other than that I was like... uhhhh... and then she was like "yeah i'll see you then!" And then we left. But aside from that not too bad. We do a lot of street contacting. Which involves walking around looking for people who look Asian and then saying "Ni hao! Ni hui shuo zhongwen ma!?" And if they stop and listen then we set up an appt and if they're ABCs then it's basically just kind of awkward and they get annoyed that a white person can speak Chinese and they can't.

Sorry if this email seems kind of disjointed but I'm thinking I'm typing faster than I'm really formulating coherent thoughts. It seems like time just flies by on p-day since we meant to get here like 20 minutes earlier but ended up arriving at like 5:15 so I don’t have a whole lot of time before I have to go.

We have a baptism this Sunday which is cool. We actually had 3, but 2 of the people scheduled to be baptised (in the Sunset and Daily City areas) decided they weren't prepared or they just didn't want to at all which is a shame. But the guy in OUR area is still on schedule! He's the man. His name is brother Zheng and he is like 78 haha. It's hilarious cause he just moved onto Broadway Street which is like the seediest part of downtown since it has loads of like strip clubs and topless bars and whatnot. So basically every time Elder Luo and I go and visit him we have to like walk super quick and keep our eyes down haha. People always like walk or drive by and shout, "You boys are in the wrong neighborhood!!!" And we should back, "We know!!!" Hahaha. It's cool though. Our biggest focus now is trying to get him to build faith in the Book of Mormon since he's already a big fan of the Bible. Last time we visited him we prayed right there to know if the Book of Mormon was true and the spirit was super super strong. I just hope he felt it. His friend in the church and person who referred him to the missionaries, Sister Luo, was out in LA last week but just got back today so she should be really helpful in getting him to follow through with the baptism which is good.

Oh btw, do you think you could send me out a cookbook or something? I mean Elder Luo and I are getting by... but having some recipes would be really really good so we don't have to starve that much. Speaking of which, I'm like down to 150 pounds again so I guess I've already lost quite a bit of weight from the MTC haha.

So I think I'm probably going to learn Chinese better here than I even would in Taiwan since I really am SLYing (Speak Your Language-ing) all the time and only speaking Chinese since Elder Luo is a REAL LIVE CHINESE speaker! But Joel told me that the elders in Taiwan don't really SYL that much with their companion which I think is super vital if you want to get a grip on the language and I really am speaking it all the time.

I'm still working on relying on the spirit for guidance in what to say and who to talk to. I think I have a pretty good recognition of when it's around but not like listening to it and following promptings. Anyways, yue lai yue hao I guess.

Haha a Jack Johnson song just came on! Yeah! Anyways, that sounds like a good plan dad to not unpack before mom gets back since she'd probably just make you rearrange everything anyway haha. Glad the weather is good. It's not bad here either although sometimes it gets a little cold at night. PRetty darn shufu if I do say so myself. Better than Toronto.

Ok well I'd better go write Joel and Michelle. I love you guys! Thanks for your support and for your examples to me! I think that's probably the biggest thing. We had a lesson in church on Sunday about the responsibility of teaching your kids and you definitely did a pretty good job I'd say. We're going to teach a less active family tonight and it's so annoying to see people who have the gospel but don't come to church and don't value it when their lives could be so much better if they just listened to the prophet and came to church.

Anyways, gtg!

Love,

Ian

In the Field

Ian left for San Francisco last Wednesday, Oct. 6. We got an early-morning call from the airport as he was waiting for his flight all by himself (most likely the last time for two years). He was excited to be on his way.

We have since talked to the Mission Office and also got a report from his Aunt Annette who was at a meeting where she asked the missionaries if they had met him, yet. According to both reports, he jumped right into the middle of the Mandarin-speaking missionaries without hestitation. He was picked up from the airport and taken directly to a zone conference for the day. His trainer is Elder Liu who is a native Mandarin speaker. The sister in the office told us Ian will be using public transportation (mostly buses) in his first area so he won't need a bike right away.

His first letter from the field will arrive tomorrow. Stay tuned!

General Conference & Heading Out

Singing in the choir.

HERROWW!!!

General Conference was AWESOME! I have NO idea how I ever could have slept through any of the sessions before. What was I thinking?!?! Counsel from the prophets and apostles just for us on how to be happier and live better?! That's like better than Harry Potter 6! Which was the best one yet! It was so amazing though. Singing in the priesthood session was super fun but yeah I didn't really get much time on the camera but it's ok since it was worth just the experience. I wouldn't have minded not being on it at all. Although some elders got like 5 hours of it like my friend Elder Hardy who was in my hall last year. Funny how many people seem to fit that description since the elder I was sitting next to in the choir was like 5 doors down the hall Ha.

I got your letter mom about that crazy Samaritan guy who returned your purse to the police station and didn't take anything. There are good people left on the earth! And it astounds me that they live so close to Washington DC! haha. My friend Elder Kirby is heading out to the DC mission tomorrow night.

Yeah I don’t know why they got a ridiculously early flight for me to get out to San Francisco. I can only assume that it's the cheapest option which I'm sure you can understand. I mean I suppose I ought to be used to it by now considering how many really early cheap flights you've booked over the years dad :D! But it's not too bad. The only problem I have with it is the fact that I’m never gonna get that hour of sleep back and no one will have any sympathy for me since I won't be able to cite jet lag or anything for my exhaustion.

So there was an elder here like last transfer who got called to Taiwan but ended up heading to SF since he had like a cyst on his back side or something so he couldn't ride a bike. So I don’t know what that's all about but I guess I can only believe what they said when they promised I'd be buying one... good to be safe though so thanks for the monies! Speaking of which, Elder Holland's talk! So good! I think my favorite were the three at the second half of priesthood session by the first presidency. They were all so good! Pride, Holy Ghost, and the 3 R's of choice. So good. Just too bad I couldn't take notes in the conference center. Oh well.

Just got back from the temple which was really good today despite the fact that I kept falling asleep during the session since I went to bed a little late and woke up early to see my companion Elder Buss off (off to Toulouse this morning). I sat next to Elder Kenison who is hilarious and always falls asleep during the sessions so we kept prodding each other when one of us would drift off. The only problem was when we both fell asleep.... Anyways, when we came out it was raining which is really pretty from the temple and as we were waiting for the rain to stop we ran into a girl named Annie Liu who's from Beijing! and served in Jarom's mission last year! So cool. So we talked a bit and then left when the rain settled down. It was muy bien.

Also, Elder Malm from Sweden? Relation to the Malm Grandpa B baptized? Or is that like Smith there?

Lately, I’ve been really enjoying reading the scriptures. There's so much there that you can only really access through learning by the spirit. I was happy to hear a lot of the general authorities talk about this subject this weekend. Learning by the spirit through that "direct line" that Elder Oaks talked about. So essential. I love just reading a passage of scripture and pondering it cause I get so much more out of it that way. For example it's taken me a week of personal study to get through the first 11 chapters of Matthew cause there's so much there. I know you're probably already pretty good at this but I encourage you to read and study and really ponder the scriptures. There's so much there if we take the time to really think and put effort into them. I can't imagine why I didn't study the scriptures before I left on my mission but can only assume it was due to the villainous influence of VIDEO GAMES!!!! Or something. Starcraft 2 was pretty fun though... point is, the scriptures are better. I love the New Testament. However I have 3 minutes left and still need to respond to Joel.

Love you guys! Thanks for your support and examples to me! Have a great week!

-Elder Ian Christensen!