Hello from Salt Lake!‏

 Ryan arrives at his apartment at the break of dawn (or at least that's how it felt.)

 The elders wait for everyone to arrive.

 Off they go to the Joseph Smith Building to start their day (and mission!)

Ryan with his companion and a Family History trainer, Sister Dick (sister of Dan Sinema).

Hi everyone,

So I'm here in Salt Lake City and I've finished my first week in the mission field. All I can say is that I'm very overwhelmed. Here's a quick rundown of this week:

Monday: Was dropped off at the crack of dawn in front of the apartments where I now live. Then with the rest of the new missionaries I walked to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building (JSMB) where I met my mission president and various missionaries. President Tate is one of the most loving men I have ever met, and I immediately felt like I belonged. Afterward, we went to a wonderful fireside in the chapel. It was the mission choir's pioneer day program and I loved it.

The rest of the week was spent in classes learning about familysearch.org and touring the various zones where the young elders work. I'll explain what the zones are in more detail later. 

One of the best things that happened this week was a mission conference on Wednesday. It was great, with speakers speaking on topics like dedication to missionary work and the like. One of the best things was when President Tate spoke. In order to lead up to General Conference in October, he issued a challenge to the whole mission to, starting on August 1st, read the Book of Mormon three times in three months (That's roughly 18 pages a day, for those of you who are wondering). While reading for the first month mark the examples of how the Lord deals with His children. The second month, mark the references to Jesus Christ and during the third month mark ways to liken the scriptures to ourselves. I would like to extend President Tate's challenge to all of you, so that we call all read the Book of Mormon together and thus become closer to the Lord. I will include insights I gain in these emails and I would love to hear about any that any of you gain.

Well, that's about it. Tomorrow is church and other activities like Music and the Spoken Word. Monday is Pioneer day where we'll watch the parade then hike Ensign peak. Tuesday will be my last day of training then I find out what zone I will be working in. I love being a missionary so far. It hasn't been easy, but it has been wonderful as well.

I love you all,

Elder (Ryan) Christensen