Hola Amigos!

This week was incredible! I have to tell you about one of our little investigators! His name is Tonio and he is literally made of gold. Literally. Gold. We were walking down the street and he actually came up to us and asked us who we were. We told him and he asked us to come and teach him! We were like Claro que si!!!!! We have taught him for about a week and he is already ready to be baptized! He just eats up what ever we teach him! He is so humble! Our only problem with him is that he is too humble to ask for things in his prayers! He had a hard time asking to know if El Libro de Mormon was true. He said that when he prays, all that comes out is gratitude. But he is learning and is starting to get answers! He came to church yesterday and LOVED it! He even shed a few tears. And our ward was so great at fellowshipping him! It was a beautiful. Hermana Rupp and I were so happy! Maaahhh! I love la obra misional! 

I had my 8 week follow up this week! It was so good! We had to do role plays and we talked to President about how we are doing and all that jazz. It was a little intimidating, but good! I got to see all my old CCM friends. It was super fun! It was fun to talk to them in Spanish. We were all so terrible in the CCM and now we can all hold a conversation with each other! Yay for progress! 

Here is a funny story for the week. So Hermana Rupp is terrified of dogs. And in my area, stray dogs run around like squirrels. There are so many! Anyway, one day we were walking up to this house. It had this tall wooden fence around it with a gate. We opened the gate and walked up to the door when all of a sudden this little dog comes out. It starts growling at us and barking in a very threatening way. I was determined to get to the front door so I kept walking towards it. All of a sudden it started to run at us.. and then another dog appeared and started chasing us too. I turned around to run just to see Hermana Rupp leaving the yard and closing the fence behind her… Leaving me in there with the dogs. I started running and she finally realized what she did and quickly opened the fence and let me out before they killed me. She felt so bad for leaving me in there! It was so funny! Well, at the time it wasn't funny, but now it is! 

We also discovered this thrift store. It is called the value village and everything is like 2 bucks and looks like it just stepped out of 1975! We go there every p day and get some pretty fabulous clothes. It is my new favorite store! 

Things are going great over here! I love being a missionary and I love being in Houston! The Church is true my friends! Keep it real! 

Hermana Christensen

Hello Everyone! 

So I started this week with two companions and now I just have one! We were all driving to an appointment on Tuesday when we got a call from President. He told us that there was a situation in another area with some Hermanas and he needed Hermana Woodard to pack up because she was being transferred to that area. It was really sad because we were all really good friends. We took her to her new area and now it is just me and la hermana Rupp. It is so much fun! The missionary work in this area is progressing so fast. Things are a little crazy just because we are pretty much white washing the second area… But we are learning and we are seeing so many miracles! Hermana Rupp and I made a huge plan to help the missionary program in this ward. After we created it, we have seen a huge increase in this ward. We are all working together to do visits and bring others to come unto Christ! It is so so awesome!

We have been able to have so many lessons this week! Let me tell you about a little miracle we had! Hermana Rupp and I were walking down the street when this man came up to us and asked us who we were. We told him we were missionaries and he immediately asked for some information. We set up a cita with him to come and teach and he was so excited! We have given him the first two lessons so far and he is progressing so fast! It is amazing to see the people that the Lord has prepared to receive this message. We had another miracle where week! We were walking down the street and this car pulled over by us. At first we were a little worried but then this little old woman got out. She walked over to us and said that she knew us. It turns out that she was a super menos activo member of the ward! She hadn't had contact with anyone from the church for years. She gave us her address and we are going to visit her this week! Wooo! 

Tender Mercies all around!

We went to a mexican birthday party this week. Mexicans have this super fun tradition where after they sing happy birthday, instead of blowing out candles, they smash the cake into the face of the birthday person. Then everyone grabs a piece and they have a cake fight. It is so crazy and so much fun! The Mexican people really know how to party! Haha!

Sorry this is a little short this week! Thank you all for your emails and for your support! I love you all! Have a wonderful day!!!!!!

Hermana Christensen

Grasshoppers

Hello friends!

So this week was fantastic! I was super scared to take over the area and get a new companion but all is well! I actually got two new companions! Yay for trios! Their names are Hermana Woodard and Hermana Rupp. They are so much fun! I love being in a trio because I get to see so many other ways to teach! Hermana Woodard is from Oregon and is so strong! She is the only active member in her family and she doesn't get much support but her testimony of the gospel is incredible. She is already blessing the lives of everyone in this area! Hermana Rupp is hilarious. She is from Utah and is an amazing missionary. She is so friendly to everyone and is really good at breaking the ice when we meet with a new investigator. I know that the three of us are going to do some amazing things together!

 

So we have been trying so hard to put our areas together this week. We now have so many investigators! Almost too many! Just kidding. There are never too many investigators! We currently have 45 people we are trying to work with. This week we have had appointments literally every single hour. We are working so hard! I know we will see so many blessings because of it. We had an investigator come to church on Sunday! It was a miracle because getting people to church is like pulling out teeth. It is a struggle. But she came and she LOVED it!!

 

We went to visit this menos activo family this week. They fed us grasshopper tacos. Bleh. We told the woman we would only eat them if she committed to read her scriptures every day. She committed and so we ate her tacos. They actually weren't that bad, just very crunchy! I just tried not to think about the legs and the eyes and all that jazz. Missionaries will sacrifice anything to get people to come closer to Christ. Literally anything.

 

My Spanish improved 200% this last week. I know its because I have had to take action with the people in my area. I didn't realize I knew so much until I was forced to speak it. I can now talk to people on the phone which is a huge accomplishment. I am still no where near fluent, but I am getting better! Yay!

 

Pues, muchisimas gracias por todo! Yo se que la Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Ultimos Dias es verdadero! La obra misional es da bomb. Disfrute su dia mi amigos! Para siempre Dios este con voz! :)

 

Hermana Christensen

 

Hola mi amigos!

So conference pretty much changed my life. In the mission, conference weekend is the equivalent to Christmas. I couldn't sleep the night before conference because I was so excited!! Haha! I loved all the talks that were given! Especially Elder Bednars.. and Elder Hollands.. and Elder Anderson.. and Elder Uchdorf.. and all the other ones! If you didn't get an opportunity to watch conference, go watch it right now! We had a neat experience where we had this random family text us and ask if they could come to church! So of course we said yes! They came and watched conference with us and they LOVED it! They loved it so much that they want us to teach them and they want to come to church again next week! Ahhhhh!! Yay for conference!

Soooo this week is transfers week.. dun dun dunnnn.. Here is how things are usually supposed to go down.. When you get into the mission you are trained for 12 weeks by a lovely trainer! Then they leave you and you are supposed to take over the area. But things are a little different for me…. Hermana Marlowe is getting transferred this week. She is needed in a different area.. which means Hermana Christensen is taking over the hood! And I have only been here for 6 weeks! Ah. Not only that, but I am also getting another area to have stewardship over. I am so excited/ freaked out!! It is very very intimidating but I know that the Lord wouldn't ask us to do anything we couldn't handle. I am actually pretty excited because this new area that we are getting has so much potential. It is FILLED with apartments of people just waiting to hear the gospel. We are going to do some serious damage in there! I am so sad my trainer is leaving though.. I love Hermana Marlowe so much!! But I know that who ever comes to replace her will be awesome and that we will make miracles happen! 

Well I don't have much time this week, we have a lot to do before Hermana leaves! Take care my friends! The Church is True!