Thursday, January 22, 2015

Hola From The Homeland

Hello everyone!!!!

First of all.. Mexico is pretty much the greatest place ever! I love it here and I love being a missionary! Seriously the best. So I have so many stories I don't even know where to begin. I guess I will begin on the flight over here! So I was super freaked to fly to Mexico by myself. I had prayed and prayed and prayed before I came that I would find at least one friend to fly with! And guess what!! Prayers totally work! I walked to the terminal in Boise and found and Elder who was flying all the way to Mexico! And our seats were even next to each other on the flight from Salt Lake to Mexico! It was such a blessing because he had been on thousand of flights before so he knew how to handle airports! And Jarett will appreciate this.. His name is Elder Myler and he is from that Mormon boy band, Beyond 5. It was funny because he was telling me all about his exciting life and I was just like.. I have never been out of the country and I clean old people. It was great. Anyway.. I made it here safely! We got off the plane and made it through immigration and customs and all that jazz. I just smiled and nodded because I had no idea what everyone was saying. We walked out and there was no one to pick us up!! We waited for like an hour and finally some random guy came and found us and said we was going to take us to the CCM. So that was fun. Im not going to lie though.. The drivers in Mexico are SCARY. I was praying the whole time we were driving to the CCM. I thought for sure we werent going to make it! No one stays in the lines and everyone just drives within inches of each other! There are even these men who just walk through traffic and sell gum and chips! Its amazing that no one gets hit. But the Lord protects his missionaries! So we made it! Haha! And Mexico city is HUGE. It doesn't ever end! And its super colorful and kinda dumpy! I love it!! 

The CCM is AMAZING! I felt such a great spirit when I got off of our bus and saw all these missionaries! I love it here! It has been like 70 degrees and sunny ever since we got here! The CCM is pretty much in the ghetto of Mexico City. Our casa is right by the fence so we hear some pretty interesting sounds all night. I was a little freaked out the first night but its totally normal now! Don't worry though! We are surrounded by a HUGE cement wall topped with barbed wire and some kind of electric fence! So we are very safe! Mi companera is Hermana Jorgansen. She is so great! I love her to death! She is always cracking jokes and talking in accents and running around and clicking her heels. She makes me laugh so hard! I love her! We are in district 12 which is the greatest district ever! I just love everyone! I room with two other hermanas in our casa. All four of us are going to Houston which is super fun! We all get along so well and are pretty much soul sisters.

Mi espanol is... getting better.. Just kidding. Its really bad. We taught our first investigator on friday! We only had one spanish lesson and then they told us to go teach! His name is Alejandro and he is pretty much golden. It is amazing! When we go in to teach we can suddenly speak spanish and get our message across! And then as soon as we get done, we don't even know what we said! The gift of tongues is so real! It happens every time we go in to teach! Its awesome! Except on our first lesson.. I accidentally told him that through the atonement, he can repent of his fish.. I was trying to say sins! He was super confused but we figured it out! So funny story about Alejandro.. We have taught him three lessons and we were planning to commit him to be baptized tomorrow. Well yesterday, our district walked into our classroom and Alejandro was there with our teacher Hermana Garcia!! He had this super guilty look on his face. And guess what. Hes not even a real investigator!! HES ALREADY A MEMBER. In fact.. hes going to be our new teacher. I guess we weren't supposed to figure that out until later.. But it was funny anyway. We laughed for awhile about it!

Heres another funny story.. So the food here is super good! I have no idea what I am eating half the time but it tastes really good! There is a comidor lady named Esperanza. I guess she figured out that I am supposed to be gluten free.. And she told all the other food people not to let me have any cake or pizza or anything. I tried to tell them that its ok bu they can't understand me. So the other day they had these creme puff things and i wanted one really really bad. So me and Hermana Jorgensen went and stole one for me. We thought we were in the clear.. So I took a bite and right when I did, Esperanza suddenly appeared out of no where! I just froze with the creme puff in my mouth and she just stared at me. I just took it out and handed it to Hermana Jorgensen and we walked away like nothing had happened. It was super funny. So now all the food people watch me like a hawk. I think they think Im going to die if I eat gluten. Its great! Haha! 

So I can successfully pray and bear my testimony in espanol! Other then that.. Im still working on it! It can be frustrating at times but it is so worth it! Everyone speaks spanish here so its easy to catch on! Even our teacher teaches us spanish.. in spanish.. It is hard sometimes but fun at the same time! I am so excited to continue learning so I can actually carry on a conversation! Sundays are probs my favorite day here! Every sunday we have to prepare a 5 minute talk in spanish! Then we just sit in sacrament meeting and if they call our name, we go and give it! Luckily I didn't get called this last sunday but I have a feeling I will this week! Its really scary to sit there and just wait to hear your name! We also get to watch a church movie every sunday! Its so fun!  

Anyway, being a missionary is the best thing I could be doing with my life right now! It is so rewarding! I feel so happy all the time! I know that this gospel is true and I am so excited to teach it! We receive so many blessings as we learn to rely on the spirit! 

I love you all and pray for you everynight! I hope all is well! Have a wonderful week and I will write you again next Tuesday!!  

Much Love,
Hermana Christensen

p.s. sorry my typing is so bad.. these are spanish keyboards and its super hard to type en Ingles!

LOVE YOU!!!!!!!