Week (what is it?) :-)

Hello family and friends.  Thanks again for all the birthday greetings.  My birthday was full of meetings.  We had district meeting (and we went to a different one in our zone), then we had a meeting with the district leaders in our zone, then we prepared some reports that took way longer than we thought it would, then we ate dinner with a member in our area, then we went to Stake Correlation and nobody from the Stake Presidency was there. So that was a little frustrating.  The package I got from my family was AWESOME.  Mom's cookies, some stuff to help with headaches, and a painting from Dad.  The painting is SO cool.  I will send a picture of it home with the next round of pictures.  My birthday cake was 3 of Mom's cookies stacked on top of each other with a candle I got from another missionary stabbed down the middle (picture pending). Thanks for all your love!

This is my first time being FULL TIME biking. Ya, I biked a few weeks here and there in my other areas, but this is definitely new. We're on bike all the time except for when we have a zone leader assignment. Riding the bus and walking are not really options in this area, so "finding" is a whole new experience here.

So, I'm going to try going gluten-free this week and see if that makes any difference for me.  There is an Elder in our district that gets super messed up when he eats gluten, so he's going to be my guide. I went to the chiropractor again last week, and I'm still doing well headache wise!

The Lopez family is still on track.  We are a little worried that they might not make their date on the 30th.  There is a lot that needs to happen between now and then.  They all came to church and enjoyed it a lot.  Please pray for them.  Side note, Sulema (mom) is a fantastic cook.  She made camarrones a la diabla (a super spicy shrimp dish) this week.

The experience of the week was definitely yesterday.  We got a text from a member that we didn't know asking us to come over.  When we got there, her 95-year-old mom was there.  She had just gotten out of the hospital.  She felt like it was about her time to go, so she wanted a blessing before passing on.  There was such a sweet spirit there. We'll be checking up on them throughout the week to see how she's doing.

Question: Have you done any good in the world today?

Have an awesome week!

Elder Christensen

Note from Mom:

Emily and I got to meet Tanner's good friend from the mission, Elder Blanchard (Tanner was Elder Blanchard's last companion before coming home). We attended his homecoming yesterday. It was so much fun hearing him talk about investigators/converts that we "know" and have pictures of.

We went up to introduce ourselves after the meeting; and when I told him who I was, he got this HUGE smile on his face and said, "Oh, I LOVE your son!"  I thanked him for the impact he has had on Tanner and told him how glad Tanner was to have had the chance to serve with and learn from him. Elder Truman said,  "Well, he's really a great missionary... and, I asked if I could be HIS companion for my last transfer."  I thought that was so sweet!

It was hard not occupying all of his time. I just wanted to keep talking with him...he had just been with our boy!!!!

It was a great day!