Mission President - Elder Durrant and his wife

Dilan with his mission President, Elder Devin Durrant and his wife in front of the Dallas, TX temple. (President Durrant was a former BYU basketball player in the 80's.)

1st area - Plano, Texas!

My first area is Plano Texas.. the area is so big and its one of the wealthier areas to be in. so tracting isnt going to be so successfull and so far it hasnt haha. well monday when we flew in and i first stepped out of the airport the hot humid air his me so hard i started sweating (like crazy). i could not believe how hot it was out here! we went to the mission home and had infield orientation that pretty much took all day.. the next day we got transferred and i was the last one to be transferred and i was called to plano texas to serve with elder sinclair. it was funny cause the night before i tracted with him and his companion in their area so kind of funny. well we both got doubled in and had no idea who the investigators were in the area. we finally got settled down and are running smoothly now. We are living with the bishop and his family and they are all so nice.
(in addition, Dilan is serving in a ward where a missionary that served in Meridian, Idaho and lived with members around the corner from Dilan. His name is Elder Adrian Etherton and he just returned from serving and spoke in his ward on Dilan's first Sunday there. What a small world it is....even when you're in TEXAS!)

Elder Christensen has arrived in Dallas!

Just a quick note to let you know that your missionary has arrived safe and sound in Dallas, has been fed (twice--we tell them, "In the South, food is love!", so we make sure they are well-fed!!!) and are out with other missionaries hard at work already. They will get their first assignment and new companions/trainers tomorrow morning.

We are so glad to have your missionary here...

Sister Williams
Secretary, Texas Dallas Mission

MTC life

Trying to escape!

I wonder if they were caught on tape!

Top Bunk in the MTC dorm room. This doesn't look

too comfortable without the mattress.

Claire Poulsen, a friend of the family also received her call to the Dallas, Texas Mission. She came out the MTC 1 week ahead of Dilan

Dilan's Mission district

MTC mission companion, Elder Flitton and Elder Christensen

Gym time playing volleyball with the district

Missionaries emailing home while waiting for laundry

The Laundry room

Elder Flitton and Dilan doing laundry

1st official email from MTC- 2nd week.

Man! here in the mtc is way fun! so we have been learning a lot and its been such a great experience and i have gained so much of my testimony that i didnt even know i had. we have been going to devotionals every sunday and tuesday night. and last night we went to a devotional from a guy who was a member of the seventy. elder richard h. winkel. he and his wife went on and talked to us about christ and his life and his atonement and sacrifice he made for us. it was such an amazing experience and afterwards we had district meeting about the devotional and the spirit was so strong in the meeting i could totally feel it. me and elder flitton have been investigating a non active member named brother cheng. and we first met with him last week and he didnt really feel like listening to us. we went in to talk to him this week and we had members come with us. it was awesome cause the member could relate to brother chengs experience.. he wanted to know why his friends died in war and not the bad people. well the member had a very similar story and explained to brother cheng how he coped with that and how the lord helped him. it brought brother cheng to tears and you could tell that the spirit was working him so hard and letting him know that his heavenly father loves him! you asked if we go off campus to teach. the answer is no. the mtc has people that volunteer sometimes members sometimes non members. but they volunteer and act so well! its crazy! well im running out of time but i get to call home when i get to the airport on monday at 8 in the morning. (Leaving the MTC for Dallas on 7/18)

MTC - 1 week

1st Letter home

Friends in the MTC

Elder Jake Strong - Italy, Elder Dilan Christensen -Texas, Elder Jared Mortensen - Chili, Elder Zach Batis - Japan