Happy Birthday Ethan ... and a "Mordita"!!

Happy Birthday to Ethan!!! He's no longer a teenager -- 20 years ago today he came into the world!! And how thankful and blessed we are to have him in our family!! We have a birthday tradition of doing a "wake-up cake" where the birthday person has to stay in bed until the rest of the family comes in to wake him/her up with a cake, candles, and singing happy birthday! Both Ethan and Andrew have summer birthdays so we've done the wake-up cake in many locations over the years, and with improvised "cakes" as needed (muffins, granola bars, etc.). And, if we've been separated for some reason on their birthdays -- they've been traveling, or we have -- kind friends have kept the tradition going for us! This year, thanks to an email exchange, we were able to let Elder Brian know and he was so nice to surprise Ethan on our behalf! :)) And we are so grateful for many kind church members who took their time and were so thoughtful and generous to celebrate Ethan's birthday with him while he's in Laredo. And we simply love the last line of Ethan's letter today -- that says it all. I'm sure it's a birthday he'll never forget!

June 30, 2014

Hi Familia!

Oh my goodness I can't believe Vandy won that is so sick!!!! PLEASE send me some pics!! Oh, and I got the packages and they are AWESOME!!! The Vandy shirts are super cool and all the snacks were perfect! Thanks so much!! 

"This is our apartment in the Vandy shirts--thanks!"
I love their "game faces" and seeing the orange "E" shorts!

This was another good week, too! It was super hot like always but I love it I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. This morning we got up at 5:20 and played soccer, so when we got home Elder Brian made me get back in bed and then they did wake-up cake (with a brownie), and it was awesome. I've had a few cakes given to me this week and I have another "birthday party" tonight and tomorrow night so I'm pumped about that, too! Mexico lost in the mundial so that's too bad, but it sounds like the USA is playing really well!

So there is this tradition in the Mexican culture that when it's your birthday they sing happy birthday to you and you do a "Mordita" which means like “little bite.” So you bend down and bite a off a little piece of cake and then someone pushes your head into the cake and you get cake and frosting and everything all over your face. So I knew about this and last night we were at a member’s house and I was expecting that to happen. So after we sing happy birthday everyone starts chanting “Mordita! Mordita! Mordita" And so I was about to go down and take a bite, but then this other member who was behind me had filled his whole hand up with icing and then just blindsided me and smeared it all over my face, haha! It was awesome!! It was super fun and I have some pictures, too!

"This is the cake."

"This is the before." 

"This is the after!" :) 

The mission is still going amazing. Last Sunday we had two people come to church and it was a total miracle because we weren't teaching them. I know it came because Elder Brian and I are working very hard, and as we work hard, the Lord helps us out with miracles, big and small. I love the Lord and I'm so happy I am an official representative of Him on my birthday!! 

Con Amor,

Elder Christiansen

P.S. Please send some pictures from the Vandy games!!!! And the dogpile!!!!