Thursday, August 23, 2012

Dog Days of Cyprus Summer!


Missionary life is the best!  We find lots of single people to teach at this nice apartment building, but we are always searching for families to bring into the gospel and help our branch here grow.


 Sometimes we stop along the way to see things we have never seen before, like big banana trees growing in small fields




or things that remind us of our pest, I mean past life.


We have found a few families to teach and baptize along the way, but they seem to move on in their lives, taking the gospel of Jesus Christ with them.  Germany will be the Adeyemi's new home.


We have lots of missionary friends that meet with us to plan to baptize families.


We have plenty of wonderful singles,



that keep us busy,


and make us smile.



We always get a shot in the arm at Zone Conference, and I get some quality help with the food preparation.


We love our mission mom, Sister Freestone, who loves and serves all of us.


Some of the greatest young elders in the Church serve here in Cyprus.



We are blessed with a very happy branch.




But the Dog Days of summer are soooooo hot, almost too hot for us and this poor tired dog.


So Elder Christensen succumbs to temptation and goes for a swim with these young members of the branch


at Pres. Invanov's pool.  It is getting dark earlier, it seems, and the flash on my camera didn't work.



Alexis is too tired to stay awake any longer!


Another great soul ready for baptism this Saturday.



Here's a cat photo from home: Vaughn and Allison Waltman's girls look like they love cats almost as much as I do!  Is that possible?


Naaaa.  Mission life is very good! Thanks for viewing!

Sunday, August 5, 2012

Another Family United

 

Ruta got baptized yesterday, Aug.4th, by her husband Godwin!  You can see that their cute baby Beatrice is very happy about it!



Some of the people that came to Pres. Ivanov's house to witness this little family being united in the gospel and ready to go to the temple in one short year! Even our mission president, Pres. Freestone and Sister Freestone came. The pool was perfect for the ordinance and we even had a barbecue afterward.



A truly great couple! We have enjoyed teaching them all by ourselves!  Actually, the young elders did give us a lot of great guidance and advice when we asked for help, but Ruta was prepared by her husband, and the Lord, to accept the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Luckily her bosses let her off work last Sunday (her birthday) so she could attend church again, thereby being able to get baptized.



Relief Society today after Ruta was confirmed a member of the church by Elder Christensen.





Yesterday was busy! Before the baptism we went to the Turkish side of Cyprus to meet with our two members in Famagusta.  Here is one of the bombed churches from the 1974 invasion.  Pretty sad.


Jolly and Destiny are probably the only LDS students at the Eastern Mediterranean University on the Turkish side of Cyprus. They really depend on each other to get through the tough times.


They each received a blessing from the brethren that came.  We sang, shared testimonies, tears and joys together for the hour we were with them.  How we wish they could enjoy more fellowship with the saints.


Branch Pres. Fulton and wife, Rebecca, of the Nicosia Branch came with us.  We found a place to have the sacrament with the kids after we cleared away some alcohol bottles.



The wonderful Vargus's couple just arrived from the USA, taking Niebuhr's place. They will be doing the CES program for the island.


Still missing our wonderful friends the Niebuhrs!


Come back!!


Life is good.  We have so many blessings!


One of my greatest blessings is having such a perfect (and handsome!) companion.  We enjoy everyday together here in Cyprus on this wonderful mission adventure for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints!

Thursday, August 2, 2012

It's Been a Hot July!


Cool Elder Christensen cools off with a cool ice cream cone or two.


Ancient Greek/Roman ruins (theater) in Kurion, near Limassol.


A diaper is all Alexis needs on these hot, hot July days.  It was 42 with lots of humidity! That's 110 in the shade!



Rosie and Alexis.


Seminary girls, Svetla and Eva with Elder Christensen.


My wonderful seminary class.


Our sweet friend, Sonia, from Nicosia came to visit us. She is from India and knows Oliver Flake who was the branch president in 2nd branch in New Delhi.


Our friend Ebi.

Elder Wilderspin and Elder Norguaard with Marvelous who has set a baptismal date of Aug. 18!




Ancient mosaic at Kurion ruins.


Dinner after church bunch at our flat!


Another great Nigerian family we are helping teach.


Off to Athens for transfers.


We met some sweet Catholic Nuns at the airport while we were waiting for some missionaries to come back to Cyprus from Greece.



Elder Baret and Wilderspin are here again!  We are so glad.


Sister Almeida got a new companion, Sister Rumbach.





Cute kittens back home in Oklahoma with even cuter grand daughters, Brooklyn and Brianna.