Holiday Spirit in the MTC

Hola Y'all:

I thought I had better start speaking Texican since Kate is three short weeks from heading south. We heard this week that they actually had SNOW in Houston, but I don't think that even with snow it will compare to the 'single digit' weather they are having in Provo right now. Kate is getting stir crazy in the MTC and is ready to head out into the mission field, but has a good attitude and a patient spirit.

Kate had a wonderful Thanksgiving experience in the MTC, as Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve came to visit the MTC. He told them that since they were away from their families on this holiday, that he and Sister Holland had come to be their family. We love Elder Holland, and in the spirit of Thanksgiving I am indeed grateful that he visited my daughter in the MTC and touched her heart with his tender words of love and support when I could not give them myself. Sister Holland spoke to the missionaries about the eternal nature of our spirits and bodies. Kate was deeply touched by both talks and was on a spiritual high. Thank you Elder and Sister Holland.


I would like to introduce you to Sister Maylett...Kate's companion. They are a dynamic duo and Kate has the privilege of spending 24/7 with Sister Maylett. She is from Washington DC, so between the two of them the have the Washington's covered. Katelyn describes her as quiet and very sweet. She has helped Kate with the Spanish language a lot. I sense they are starting to teach well together and are a good support for each other.


This is Sister Bullock, who Katelyn describes as AMAZING! She is pint-sized like Kate, so they are known as the Hermanitas (Little Sisters). To give you an idea of how pint-sized Kate and Sister Bullock are I have included this picture...


I don't know how tall this Elder is, but these two sisters make him seem about a foot taller than he actually is. Kate has met a lot of wonderful Elders and Sisters during her stay and I'm sure that although she will be excited to head down to Houston, she will miss many of these new found friends

Katelyn was excited because last week she was able to be a Hostess and greet the new Hermanas as they arrived at the MTC. She wondered if she had the same 'deer-in-the-headlights' look that they did that first day at the MTC. I'm sure she did,,,but look at her now.

I suppose that's all the news from 'Camp Katelyn' for now. We appreciate all of your support for our daughter and she often speaks of the cards and letters she receives and how appreciative she is to hear from all of you.

Muchas Gracias

Week Three A Success!

Lindsey here. Not really sure this is going to turn out AT ALL because i have never done this blogging thing but i am the official blogger now. I guess i'll learn as i go. :)

The first sentence of Katelyn's latest letter happened to be "This week has actually been REALLY great." and how could you say it better? Katelyn has a great attitude the entire time she writes these letters and i admire her for that.

She goes on to say that all the missionaries seemed a little frustrated with learning the language last week. One of her teachers asked some of the missionaries what had been bothering them and Kate was the only one to say (in her blunt way) "Hermano, we just can't speak spanish very well." haha! sounds like Katelyn. Her teacher went on to tease them about their being in the MTC a grand total of two weeks and he definitely thought they should be speaking fluent Spanish. Kate made sure to add in that he was kidding. He also made the sisters and elders a promise that they would be speaking and thinking wonderful spanish by April 15th.

Moving on - Kate mentioned that she also had to give a talk in sacrament meeting - without warning - in Spanish! The Branch Pres. usually gives the topic for sacrament meeting the week before and asks everyone to read up on it during the week. Katelyn greeted the president before sacrament meeting and he complimented her on her yellow scarf.
Katelyn - "Why thank you! It brings a little bit of sunshine to everyone."
Pres. - "Well you don't need a scarf for that. I wish all my missionaries were as bubbly and happy as you."
He then asked about her thoughts on the topic for sacrament meeting, which was humility. She told him and then they moved on. But as the meeting started, he got up to speak and without warning said "Before i begin, i would like to have Sister Christensen give us her thoughts on humility." I CANT EVEN IMAGINE! and to do it in another language just blows my mind! :) Of course Kate did great.

The last thing i want to mention is the thing that made Kate super excited. A week ago they lost one of her favorite teachers, so now she has a sub in one of her classes. She was pumped to learn that the sub, Hermano Rivera, served his mission in Spokane!! He even knew where Royal was because he served in Mattawa for nine months. He talked about our Aunt Karen and how she ran to Tri-Cities when the elders wanted Panda Express. And he said that my dad's cousin Del used to take them to the temple every week (he said he was cool). During their first lesson Hermano Rivera said, "A very wise man once told him to expect miracles EVERY day of your mission." He then asked Katelyn who she thought that was. Katelyn said that it sounded like a President Leavitt quote. Turns out she was right!!!

There you have it. That's about all there was from Katelyn this week. I'm so proud of my sister and hope i can keep up the blogs. I ran out of time but i'm going to up load pictures maybe tomorrow.

<33 Goodbye till next week!

Adiós Hermana

As you are probably aware from earlier entries, Katelyn left on her mission two weeks ago, and as such will not have access to her blog for the next 18 months. So, in an effort to keep you all abreast of her happenings, we (her family) will try to keep this blog updated with the latest and greatest from Hermana Christensen!

Katelyn entered the MTC on Wednesday, October 28th at 12:45 p.m. We actually thought her drop off time was an hour earlier but fortunately we called earlier that morning to ask some last minute questions and were informed that the time had been changed. (Apparently a letter was sent to Katelyn's school address, but it never made it to us...oh well). Kate was anxious to get there and get to work, so she was disappointed about the delay, but we were grateful as it allowed us an additional hour with our daughter.


The Sunday before going to the MTC Katelyn talked at church and did an exceptional job teaching us about having Hope in Christ. It was a great meeting and we were all grateful to be present. Later that afternoon we had an Open House for her and close to 100 friends and family converged on our house to wish Katelyn farewell and good luck. After the Open House, Katelyn was set apart as a missionary and the final countdown began.

Monday was spent driving to Salt Lake...Tuesday was dedicated to final preparations, a trip to the Salt Lake Temple and a family gathering. Wednesday dawned bright and beautiful. We were all well aware of what lie ahead of us in a few short hours, but I must say that there was a sense of peace and rightness to the day. We headed to Provo and the plan was to meet Kate's older brother Riley and her good friend Stephanie at 11:00 and they were going to go with us to drop Kate off at the MTC. When we learned that she wouldn't report for another hour we decided to go to lunch, but Riley had a class at 12:00 so he wasn't able to go with us. : (

As 12:30 rolled around we headed up to the MTC. It used to be that you went inside for a presentation and said your goodbyes inside, and that is how it was when we dropped Riley off at the MTC nearly four years ago. But recently they changed the procedure to "curb-side delivery". As you pull into the MTC parking lot they ask if you are dropping off a missionary, then they direct you around the parking lot to a designated stall where a couple of missionaries are waiting to grab your bags and assist your missionary to the appropriate location. And I must say that I enjoyed it better than the previous time. There is still the sadness associated with saying goodbye, but it reduces the anxiety of waiting. We gave Kate our final hugs and kisses...a few parting words of advise...and watched as she followed her two escorts through the doors of the MTC. We were grateful that Stephanie could be with us as we said our goodbyes to Kate and we are even more grateful that Stephanie could be there for Kate these last couple of years. They are true friends!


Now on to the the MTC. Kate has had a wonderful, rewarding, challenging, exciting, fulfilling, tiring, and spiritually maturing two weeks in the Training Center. The rest of this post will be excerpts from her letters home. You will see her personality coming through in these entries...

"A typical day the MTC starts with personal study at 7:00 AM, followed by breakfast and Companion study. Then we have class. Then lunch at 1:00. After lunch we have more class...then an hour of personal Language Study. After dinner we have gym and then we get to plan and do it all over again. This is a pretty rough idea of how my days go. My teachers are students at BYU so we might have gym right after lunch if they have a class or we might have companion study at night and class in the morning if that is when they can teach...you get the picture."

"Our Spanish lessons are usually done in Spanish, while our teaching techniques and PMG lessons are usually done in English - for now. After week three it will pretty much be spanish all the way. IT IS SO HARD. I am learning alot though. I think your prayers are helping. I go to a Spanish tutor once a week on top of all my other studies and he give me really hard homework. It is a really fun language to speak though. Right now we are learning all about irregualr verbs and past tense and my head is about to explode."

"I LOVE MY TEACHERS! Hermano Jensen is AMAZING! I am not just saying that. I know all the teachers at the MTC are probably really great...but Hermano Jensen is in charge of teaching and training the teachers. He is great. Hermana Tymoschenko is so sweet and nice and really good at helping us with our Spanish. Eighteen hours a day studing might seem like it would make you want to kill yourself, but I like it. We keep it interesting."

"The food is...yeah welll...I will just leave it at that! : D It is actually not so bad. They have yummy wraps and good soup and salads and fruit and toast and most of the meals are not so bad. We have gym for 50 minutes everyday. Mostly I either walk on the track or play volleyball. If it is nice I get to go outside and play BEACH volleyball. I LOVE IT! AND THIS JUST IN: I am REALLY good at Volleyball. I am ALWAYS picked first. The elders make it pretty easy to look good I guess."

"STORY TIME! Every Tuesday we have a devotional. This week Elder Rasband from the Presidency of the Seventy came. He Spoke on being a bold missionary. He had a bunch of mics set up and asked if he could have a few volunteers to read some scriptures. A few elders got up and I thought..."I am right by the mic and I gotta represent the Sistas!" SO I DID. A couple of elders read some scriptures and He said thank you and they sat down. Along comes my turn. I read the scipture. Everything is good. Suddenly he pauses, and I am like OH NO. He says : What is your name, Sister? I told him I was Hermana Christensen. He asked where I was serving. I told him Houston, Texas. He then proceeded to ask me a series of Questions about being bold and brave and what that had to do with missionary work. He did not ask anyone else. My face was on the big old screen. I WAS FAMOUS. Everyone knew me. That WOULD happen to me."

"We have to teach the first lesson in Spanish in a week and we all practiced it for the first time the other day. FAIL! EPIC FAIL! I just don't see how any amount of preparation could compensate for speaking english natively. I dont see how I am ever going to teach the people as well as I could in English. I love the languguage. It was awesome to learn Spanish. I just hope that I will be able to teach the people of Houston. I am doing really well though. I am reading and reading a TON of Spanish from Preach my Gospel everynight so that I can get a feel for it and I think that it is helping. We also get to listen to conference talks in Spanish, which is really fun. Did you know Elder Scott actually Speaks Spanish?"

"Thank you so much much for all the letters and all of the updates from home. I get so excited when I get mail. I wait impatiently as my district leader unzips the mail bag each night, my heart beats faster as he walks towards me with the stack of letters...then I hear the best three words in the world...I HAVE MAIL...FROM YOU! Please note the clever movie reference (You've got mail) THANK YOU."

Well, that should be enough updates for now. We will post more pictures and updates in the coming weeks and months. She leaves for Houston December 30th so she will be in the MTC for Thanksgiving and Christmas. If you are interested in dropping Hermana Christensen a line I know she would love it. Her MTC mailing address is as follows:

Katelyn Michael Christensen
MTC Mailbox # 274
TX-HOU 1230
2005 N 900 E
Provo, UT 84604-1793

Thank you for all of your prayers and support for our daughter. We look forward to these next 18 months.

Princess (Number 2)

- THAT'S ME! According to Princess Number One, the Head Princess - MELISSA! Missy came to stay for a couple of days. I am going to miss this girl so much. THINGS I LOVE ABOUT HER: A) we are exactly the same size- I don't have very many friends as miniature as me, but she is. B) She thinks I am so funny and laughs at ALL of my jokes C) She sings Disney and quotes movies with me. PLUS she already wrote me my first mission letter - YOU ALL LOST. Sorry.



I had my last Sunday Night at Pa and Grandma Jean's house. I love them so much and I am going to miss their love and support. YAY FOR GRANDPARENTS



Speaking of Grandparents...ONE MORE DAY TIL I GET TO SEE THESE GUYS!




THREE DAYS TIL THESE GIRLS!!!



...and this boy comes home




FOUR MORE DAYS TIL MY REUNIFICATION WITH THIS GIRL! FINALLY! It's about bloody time :D




FIVE DAYS TIL THESE PEOPLE







and most of all - ONE WEEK TIL THIS PLACE!!!!!.....

KateCation '09: NYC Edition

New York was fantastic and amazing in every way. I love that city with so much of my soul. It is so busy and crazy yet classy and cultured at the same time. I seriously would not mind living there. Let me tell you about the highlights...






* The Manhattan temple. SO GREAT. I was really conflicted about where I should go though the Temple for the first time. I thought about the Columbia River Temple because I love all the people in my Royal 2nd Ward and wanted them there. I also love my aunts and grandma and Utah Family and I wanted THEM to be there so I thought about the Salt Lake City Temple too. When My parents offered to take me to New York on a Pre-Mission trip to NYC I made the choice to go through there with them A) That way nobody would feel left out and B) I could just focus strictly on the experience. It was WONDERFUL. My cute little Guide, Sister Strong, was seriously waiting at the door and like "ARE YOU SISTER CHRISTENSE?!?!?" I don’t think they get many live ordinances because they were so excited to see me. The sweet ladies made me feel like a princess. One of them Came up to me in the Celestial room and was like "Can I just Give you a Kiss?" Another one was like "I have never had anyone do so well the first time through! You are going to learn Spanish like a pro." They gave me the grand tour of the whole temple. My mom and I got a one on one with the temple Matron Sister Frost for about Half and Hour before the session. It was such a wonderful experience. I LOVED IT.



* THE TODAY SHOW: This was my SECOND television appearance on that show. I went to NYC when I was a Senior in High School and we got on. THIS time though we actually MET Ann and Meredith and gave them hugs and got pictures. They were seriously so sweet and kind. We looked like Idiots I am sure. I cannot even bring myself to watch it. IT WAS SO FUN THOUGH.






* Shopping for Handbags in ChinaTown. Imagine us being locked through THREE doors and going up a very scary staircase into a short, attic room FILLED with illegal name handbags. TRUE STORY. We found some cute ones though.



* We saw Gayle King and the Cast of Glee - AND THE NAKED COWBOY...'nuff said!


* BROADWAY! Oh how I love REAL music with REAL talented singers/performers. My parents and I decided to branch out and see three completely new shows – as much as we LOVE Wicked. The first was Mary Poppins. This was MY choice. AND it was the best show we saw. Fun. Great music. Kids. Cute Storyline. It had it all. We also saw Billy Elliot. I enjoyed aspects as it. It was a little bit brazen for my taste but I still enjoyed it. It was really a different kind of Musical. They did some interesting things with the Choreography. We also Saw JERSEY BOYS. It was SO GOOD! I loved the music. There is nothing better than four guys harmonizing perfectly. I am Frankie Valli and The Four Season's newest fan.






*Other highlights include: The Museum of Natural History, I seriously could have stayed there ALL day. It was so interesting, Ground Zero, Statue of Liberty, and course YUMMY FOOD!







I leave you with a little bit of Mary...because it's a Jolly Holiday with her. ENJOY

Catching Up

Holy Cow! Things have been so crazy. I almost forgot that I even HAVE a blog. NUTS. I apologize. Not that many people actually READ this blog, but still : ) Life has been pretty great. I have to admit I was NOT a fan of moving home for two whole months before I leave on my mission. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE MY HOUSE! It is my favorite place in the universe. AND I LOVE MY MOM AND DAD AND MY BABY SISTER! I just was having a hard time with everyone at BYU moving on.
A couple weeks ago I had the opportunity to attend my roommate Jaimie and her new Husband Sean's Open House in Orem with Stephanie and Alison. It was lovely, but it felt so strange to me. Seeing Jaimie all married and settled in and happy with her hubby was just WEIRD! After the reception I went to Steph's new apartment in Provo and hung out for a little while. It was so hard seeing her in a new place with new roommates. I did not want to leave BYU!

miss my friends. I miss Grandmary and I miss my cute aunts. Once I got home and settled though things actually turned out nice. Let me tell you about my days.... I usually rise around 7:30 in the morning and try to read my scriptures. Ideally I will be waking up at 6:30 and going to bed at 10:30 so that i can be getting used to mission rules. My actual Mission President (President Hansen) and my pretend mission president (President Christensen) both seem to think this is a good idea. I am working on it. Getting up early will not be so bad. I got up at 5:30 for Dance Team all the time in High School. I just have to get in the habit again. Getting to bed at a descent hour is proving to be more of a challenge. I figure once I am on my mission and I do not have much to do past bedtime (IE Text and FBook friends and watch TV and read) it will be a little easier. CROSS YOUR FINGERS.
My cousin Alyssa worked as a Housekeeper at MarDon Resort this summer. It is a fishing and hunting resort about 20 minutes from my home. The season is closing down, but they still need help, so I took over Lyssa's job for the next few weeks. We (the other maids and I) have a small motel with about 20 rooms and 10 or so cottages we clean and care for during the week. I scrub toilets and bathroom floors and make bed and dust...change laundry, vacuum, mop...whatever needs to be done to get the rooms ready for guest and make the guest currently staying there happy. It is a good job and it has kept me busy. I am FINALLY learning to clean on a Lisa Christensen standard.

I usually get home from work around 4:30ish. I shower and help with dinner. After dinner I practice my Spanish for a little while. I am really nervous to learn another language. I know the Lord would not send me to Houston if he did not know with full confidence that I can do it, but it is still hard. My new motto in life: "I Can Do Hard Things..." Most days I just end up frustrated because I am not fluent, which is stupid. I have not even entered the MTC yet. I tell myself all the time that if I go to bed knowing more Spanish than I did when I woke up that morning the day has been a positive one, even if I just learn one noun. At least this computer program my daddy bought me is jogging my memory of what I learned in HS Spanish years ago.
After that I usually spend my nights with Lindsey. She is in Volleyball, so i have a feeling games will soon take over our family life. She is almost always sore from sports, and I am almost always exhausted form work, so we usually just watch The Hills or Keeping Up with The Kardashians (Babe's two obsessions) while she does homework. My days usually end with a walk with my mom to keep me in shape.

ANYWAYS....On a lighter note, lots of happy things are happening!
* I am teaching Primary to four of the cutest seven/eight year old boys in the history of the world. I love Primary. I would be completely content to stay in the Primary my whole life. I love singing time. I think I get more excited about the songs than the kids do....especially when we sign....
* I am GOING TO NEW YORK CITY! My parents are taking me on a little Pre-Mission get away the end of this month. I cannot wait. We are going to see MARY POPPINS ON BROADWAY! That is one of my favorite movies of all time. I am also going to go through the temple for the first time in Manhattan. We are going to go to Live with Regis and Kelly...Good Times for all.

* My birthday is two weeks from Thursday! I can't believe I am going to be 21 years old...WOW. This is me and William. He was my birthday present from Dave and Tara on my sixteenth birthday. I am pretty sure this is the first year we will not be able to celebrate together. SAD. LOVE YOU BOOM BOOM POW ROCK MY STYLE!

* My best buddy from high school TYSON ALLRED is coming home from his mission next week. I am so excited to have a friend my age here to hang out with me - and a bunch of our other friends are coming home to hear him speak! YAY FOR FRIENDS! AND TYSON WAS IN DALLAS! I cannot wait to hear what he has to say about the mission field in Texas.

* Another HS BFF, Miss Kiya, had a sweet little baby this week. WELCOME TO THE WORLD SAILOR CHANNING JACKSON! Congrats Kiy! I miss you. I hope to be able to hold your little daughter before I go. She is perfect.

THAT'S ALL FOLKS! You are all caught up. This is my 40th Post! Congrats to me. I had a goal of fifty post in one year. That is TEN POST THIS NEXT MONTH AND A HALF! I have no idea what I am going to post about, but get excited.

PROPHETS! APOSTLES! MIGHTY MEN!

Ok so I WILL eventually upload pictures of efy and post about my experiences as a counselor PROMISE...and YOU SHOULD ALL BE SO EXCITED!!!! I have some good stories. UNTIL THEN -
The other day at efy I went to a class on Prophets and Apostles and it really made me realize how much I LOVE LOVE LOVE THESE MEN and am so thankful that we have a prophet leading our church. I do not know where I would be without the apostles and President Monson. Do you even understand how excited I am to teach that to the people of the state of Texas???? I put together some clips my MY FAVORITE things from recent years that general authorities have said in conference. Here are some of them...

Joseph B. Wirthlin - Elder wirthlin recently passed away and I never really paid much attention to him like I would have Elder Holland, my favorite General Authority. The second to last time he spoke in General Conference he spoke about love. I was there with my buddy Kayla...IN LIKE THE TENTH ROW!!!!! He started shaking and Elder Nielson had to hold him up to the mic so he could talk because he was so weak. It was the sweetest thing EVER! And the talk was so marvelous too. This clip is from his last address and I LOVE IT! It has quickly become a motto in my life.



Henry B. Eyring – This man is brilliant! I love him because he speaks with such conviction and power, but it does not feel forced or like he is trying to milk emotion out of you. This was a great talk and some really useful advice from him.



President Hinckley - This man will ALWAYS have a little piece of my heart. I still miss him. He was such a happy and positive person and hearing his voice still makes me all emotional. SUCH A GOOD MAN. So witty and clever and funny and AMAZING IN EVERY WAY! My goal in life is to BE like Gordon B. Hinckley. I was there when he gave this address and I WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER IT!



My favorite - Elder Holland. You know how there is always that talk that you really need to hear and is an answer to your prayers at General Conference time? MINE IS ALWAYS ELDER HOLLAND. ALWAYS. Even when he came to BYU to give devotional this year it was what I needed to hear at that time. There are a couple clips from him. I don’t remember ever hearing the Speaking with the Tongue of Angels one BUT IT IS SO GOOD. The other two are super powerful testimonies. Elder Holland is AWESOME.





I love them all. I love all the General Authorities. President Uchtdorf is super classy and has good ties. Elder Perry is so jolly and Elder Packer is so wise. I learn from all of them. I am going to close with one from President Monson. LOVE!



The answer to your question is...YES. I DID just post about General Authorities. GET OVER IT. I am practically a missiony ; ) IT IS SUNDAY after all. Hope you enjoyed!

The Stars At Night....Are Shinning Bright

I AM GOING TO HOUSTON TEXAS!!!!! Oh my gosh I am so so so so excited. I know that my cute mom and sister have probably done a wonderful job of spreading the word so I am sure that you have probably heard, but you do not know the whole story, so I will tell you!

WARNING: This post could get a little long. I will try to be concise. We all know this is not my strong point in writing.

OK so LAST WEEKEND I went up to my Grandma Marilyn's house in Cottonwood Heights because it was Buttlervile Days AND the 24th of July Celebration. I went to Sandy on Thursday for our Family Sports Night to play soccer and then spent the night so I could walk in the parade with Abbey and Sara, my gorgeous cousins, the next day. After the parade we were hanging out in the park and doing all kinds of super fun things. While we were waiting for the fireworks I decided to call mi familia (note the Spanish, thank you!). My wonderful father informed me that MY MISSION CALL HAD BEEN ISSUED AND WAS IN THE MAIL! FINALLY this would be the week. The only slight problem was that I had an efy session. We thought of waiting until saturday and having a little family get together, but lets just say that I have very little patience and there was no way that I was going to do that. On wednesday at efy we have free time from about 3:30 to 5:30. As a counselor I have a meeting at the start of free time until about 4:00. We decided to meet at my dorm in Helaman Halls at 4:30 on Wednesday to open it.

Wednesday came. I WAS SO NERVOUS BUT UNBELIEVABLY EXCITED. I told all the girls in my group and all the kids in my company that I was going to open my call in chipman Lobby at 4:30. Classes were dreadful. I usually love going to classes and learning with my youth but the day just dragged on. At lunch I texted my roommates to see if they could check the mail. They were out and about. I could not stand it any longer. I got permission from my BC to leave campus during the second block of classes. I went to the store and back to my apartment to check the mail. I got there around 2:00 PM. I slowly walked the stairs to my apartment. I found our mail key and walked to the mailbox. My little heart was pounding out of my chest. I turned the key and there, sitting proud and bold in our box, was...NOTHING. That is right. It did not come. MAILBOXSAYWHAT? ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME? SERIOUSLY? Seriously. My daddy told me that my call was coming today and HE NEVER LIES. BAH. I called my mom broken hearted and practically in tears. She tried to calm me down. I was not so much upset that my call was not there. I knew that it was issued and would come on it's own time. I was just upset because my entire family was counting on it coming and would soon be on their way to Provo. I called my aunt Tara and told her to spread the word that my call did NOT come. I called my grandma, who was working at the conference center and planning on leaving early to be there when i opened it, and left her a message saying to go back to work.

I left my apartment and headed back to campus for my meeting. On my way there I was practicing my speech to give to my kiddos...."It's ok girls! It will come next week! HAHAHA! You guys are more upset then I am and it is MY call. No use being sad over something we have no control over..." BLAH BLAH BLAH! LIES. I WAS SO UPSET. Suddenly I get the following prompting
"What if the address on your call is wrong..."
ME: It's not. I am not stupid, Spirit. I did not write the wrong address on my mission papers! HEL-LO!
"It might be. You moved right before you filled out your papers AND you were in Washington when you filled them out so it is very possible that you were not sure of your address or that you wrote the wrong address..."
ME: Good Point (which is the only kind of point the spirit makes). I Do remember thinking that i need to text Jaimie and triple verify our new address....

I got back to my dorm and quickly got online to check my mission papers. They read as follows....
Send To: Sister Katelyn Michael Christensen
600 North 420 East
Provo, UT 84606
PERFECT! That is my address!....Wait....Almost. Something missing? Anyone, Anyone??? LIKE AN APARTMENT NUMBER! Yeah. There was no apartment number on there. This upset me so much more. I just had visions in my head of my Call being lost somewhere between here and SLC. It would takes WEEKS FOR THEM TO FIGURE OUT WHAT WAS WRONG AND FIND ME!

New Impression - "Call the Post Office Katelyn..."
Me: "That won't help."
Spirit: "OH JUST DO IT! CALL THE POST OFFICE NOW!!!!!!"
Me: "That does make sense. It is somewhere around here and I might be able to have them flag it..."

I called. This Indian man with a very thick accent told me that my "letter" was probably already "returned to sender" and that i needed to call the preson sending it and let them know my correct apartment number. WHAT?!?!? Is there SERIOUSLY nothing you can do? This is not just anything...this is MY MISSION CALL!!! Let me just call up president Monson and tell him. I will be sure to do that. I'll make a note of it. He is on my speed dial. This man obviously did not understand. I hung up and got a prompting to call again. This time I did not hesitate and THIS time an older woman who DID know what she was talking about answered. She transfered me to my exact carrier. I told that man my problem. He started going over all of our options, none of which involved opening my mission call that day. suddenly he said...
"Can you just hold on for one second Miss....?"
"Christensen. My name is Christensen."
"Wait....Did you say Chritensen?"
"Yes. Yes I did. Katelyn Christensen. C-H-R-I-S-T-E-N-S-E-N..."
"I will be right back. I need to check something."
I waited. He came back
"SISTER CHRISTENSEN! We were wondering if you would call us. We are so glad you did. We have your mission call right here in our hands. I can have someone bring it over to you right now...."
OH MY GOODNESS! My call IS HERE!!!!! Thank Goodness for the gift of the Holy Ghost and little Tender mercies of our Heavenly Father.

I was late for my meeting by this time so I called Big Brother and asked him to stop at my place and get the call. Riley said he would bring it. My Counselor meeting ends. Everyone gathers around. There were so many people! My entire company of thirty youth and my amazing co-counselors, my grandma, Riley and Darin, Stefanya, Holly and her boys, Tara and the little ones, and Kelle and her girls. SO FUN. My dad was actually crabbing so I had to have my parents on two separate phones. I teared open the letter and read the following words....

Sister Christensen,
You are hereby called to serve as a missionary for the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Days Saints. You are assigned to labor in the TEXAS HOUSTON MISSION.

Cheers. Hugs. Laughter. Tears. PURE JOY AND AWESOMENESS.

Riley then asked "What language?" LANGUAGE? Holy Cow. I had assumed and accepted the fact that because I was going to be serving in the United States, I would more than likely be speaking English. I scanned the paper for the words. I than read "You will prepare to preach the gospel in the SPANISH LANGUAGE!!!!" (exclamation points added for excitement emphasis)

WoW. Just, Wow. I never actually told anyone this and I did not write this on my papers because I did not want to sound picky or influence where the Lord would have me serve (not that it would)...but I had three things I REALLY REALLY wanted in a mission call....

1. To learn a language. DONE. I took some Spanish in High School and I was actually pretty good at it when I spoke it everyday. I have lost a lot of it because in college I have studied ASL, but I am so excited to learn. I am planning on getting my Masters in Speech Pathology and learning Spanish is really going to give me a small edge.

2. To NOT go someplace cold. The average LOW January Temperature is 48 degrees F. 90% Humidity Baby! Heavenly Father knows me so well. He did one better and is sending me someplace warm...well, HOT!I THis is actually what I wanted, but in my journal i wrote "someplace not cold" because it sounded less demanding. I AM SO EXCITED!!!

3. Someplace Awesome. I did not want to go anywhere dull. I wanted culture and excitment, and BOY DID I GET IT! Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, the largest city within the state of Texas, and "the energy capital of the world."
As of the 2008 U.S. Census estimate, the city has a population of 2.2 million.
The Theater District is located downtown and is home to nine major performing arts organizations and six performance halls. It is the second-largest concentration of theater seats in a downtown area in the United States, second only to New York. Houston's skyline has been ranked fourth most impressive in the United States; it is the third-tallest skyline in the United States and one of the top 10 in the world.
The population of Houston is the youngest and one of the most diverse in the world.

Ladies and Gents...CHECK, CHECK, AND CHECK!!!

And for those of you that are wondering, The Texas Medical Center in Houston is the largest medical center in the world with one of the highest densities of clinical facilities for patient care, basic science, and translational research. The center contains 47 medicine-related institutions, including 13 hospitals and two specialty institutions, two medical schools, four nursing schools, and schools of dentistry, public health, pharmacy, cardiology, and other health-related practices. PLUS the assistant to my heart doctor here is Utah just moved to Houston to become a Cardiologist herself. I will be more than well taken care of.

I never really considered Houston Texas, but Heavenly Father did, and I would say that it is pretty much PERFECT. I am so excited to get started learning Spanish and to teach the people that the Lord loves, sing it with me now, DEEP IN THE HEART OF TEXAS!

COUNTDOWN TO HOUSTON: 87 Days 3 Hours and 22 minutes