The Coolest Thing!

Sooooo, you wanna know what it is????  Do ya? Are you suuuuure???  Okay, I'll tell you.  It's.....

.......drum roooooollllllll............

MISSIONARY WORK!  Tah-DAH!!!

I'm just really excited about it, okay???

For those of you who do not know, I am a member (and avid fan, I might add) of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  Yeah, it's really up there in the list of coolest things EVER.  Fo' rizzle.

So!  What event makes this wonderful proclamation of fan-ship so suitable at this very moment in time?  FIRST, I am writing two missionary letters right now.  I'm writing them on old-school stationary.  It's exciting okay?!  Hahaha!  Well, it's exciting to me anyways....

Second, the two missionaries I am writing  are Elders Thomas Olaf and Craig Hunter.  As I write, I have been thinking about all of my friends and family members who have gone on or are going on missions.  I've made a list (as part of their letters) of all of these people, and it just keeps growing!  Granny and Grandpa Christensen got their call to serve this week even!  Everyone is going to a different place.  I know people going to Europe, Pacific Islands, all over in the U.S., Mexico, Russia, Africa, Austrailia--actually, I know of someone going to every continent (excepting Antarctica :] ). Most of them are speaking different languages from any of the others.  BUT even though they are all in different places, in different circumstances, receiving different blessings, talking to different people, meeting different challenges, speaking different languages--they are all out there doing the same work.  They are serving their brothers and sisters around the globe--helping them, loving them, and sharing the Gospel with them.  They are bringing to them the good news of Christ's life, love, sacrifice, and goodness.

Needless to say, this makes me proud of my boys.  I wish I was out there, right now, serving with them.  It's a very great and exciting opportunity to be called by God to go and share your testimony and love of Christ with people all over the world.  I love getting letters from them.  Reading their many adventures is exciting to me, and learning about the sweet people each of them come to know has been a highlight.  I can't get a letter without smiling.  Their love of God and of Christ is so strong, and their love of the people they are serving is so evident in all they write.

And it's then that I realize that I can do what they are doing, kind of.  I love God, Jesus Christ, and the Gospel, and I want to share it with people too!  Sometimes, I feel so inadequate, though.  So, as part of a cousinly-challenge (Thomas and I have lots of those ;)  ) I decided (and was encouraged) to read and study Preach My Gospel (the missionary study guide/manual).  It's been a great experience, and it's fun to know that I am doing at least one thing like my brothers (and cousins, and sisters...and....everyone) out in the field.  :)

So, here at least is a part of my efforts.  I've told you, and if you have any questions (any at all) I will try to answer them to the best of my ability.  It's an exciting thing, and I hope it makes you as happy as it does me! :)