Hola!

This week was so GREAT! We are being so blessed!

So remember the Rivera family?! The referred family of 6? They are
amazing! We were able to go and teach them the restoration this week!
It was such a spiritual experience! Maria (the wife) was so fascinated
as we shared the Book of Mormon with them. She just couldn't believe
that there was another testament of Jesus Christ. It was really cute!
The rest of them were listening so intently and were so excited to
read and come to church. I feel so blessed to be placed in their path
and help hem become an eternal family.

We also found another little family! It's a single mom and her
daughter! They are so prepared. We taught them the restoration this
week as well! After we shared the experience of Joseph Smith, the
daughter was like, "are you serious! He actually saw them?" Then they
both proceeded to tell us that they knew it was true. Then the mom
started to cry and told us that she's been having dreams of her mother
recently. We were able to testify and tell her that her mother is
waiting for her to accept the gospel. I have noticed again and again
how we are not alone in this work! I have had soooo many experiences
where the ancestors of our investigators help them accept! I am really
grateful to them!

We also had zone meeting this last week. It was my last one. I was
able to give some training on leadership in relation to observing and
the gift of discernment. I really love this zone. They have changed so
much over these last few weeks! The things that we implemented in this
zone are being implemented across the whole mission! The Lord is
really hastening His work and we are seeing so many blessings!

Para qué sepan... At the beginning of the year, all the zone leaders
sat down with President Mortensen and we prayed about a goal to set
for baptisms. By the end of this year, the Lord would have us baptize
600 people in our mission. Anyway, last May we were behind for our
goal. We decided that we were going to fast once a week as a mission
so that we would be able to catch up. This last June was the highest
baptizing June ever in the history of this mission! And July is going
to be even bigger! It is crazy how the Lord really can do His own
work. If we do what He says, we are bound to the blessings that He has
prepared.

Anyway, I love you all! Have a great week!

Hermana Christensen

We had such a great week! I have never felt so much joy in the work! Over the course of a mission you go through days that are really good and days that are not so good. I have honestly felt like every single day over these last few weeks have been incredible! The Lord is blessing us so much!

So a member referred us to a FAMILY OF 6! The member said he was outside getting his mail when his neighbor came over and asked him if he was a pastor. The member was like, no... Then the neighbor said that he has seen him put on a white shirt every Sunday and go to church with his family. He wanted to know why. The member explained to him that he has been going to church for about 30 years and how it has blessed his family. The neighbor was so fascinated and told him to send us over! We went over to meet them and they are perfect. As we were leaving, they said (in Spanish), "We just really want to know what it is that makes our neighbor go to church every week." PREPARED. 

 

We had a mini zone meeting this week. We have been working so hard to increase the faith in this zone! We sat everyone down and counseled about goals and our vision. My other sister training leader companion had the idea to have everyone write their negative perceptions of the zone on little pieces of paper and then we buried them in the ground. We were "burying our weapons of war". Alma 24: 15-18. Haha! It was super cheesy but it pumped them all up.  It has been crazy to see the miracles as we have come together with the Lord! My very first week here, the zone had eight investigators at church. Yesterday, we had 21! And they keep coming! We also had four baptisms this last weekend! It was amazing because this zone "doesn't baptize." Everyone is getting really excited! It makes me so so so happy to see them succeed! Everyone is starting to understand that when we work with the Lord, miracles are bound to happen! I LOVE THIS MISSION.

I got to go back to H6 yesterday for a baptism. Gaby got baptized! She was an investigator that I taught when I was over there! She is from the Dominican Republic and is so cool! It was so wonderful. The spirit was so strong! I just hugged all the members and we just all cried because we all miss each other. That ward will always hold a very special place in my heart. My other investigator Juan is getting baptized soon! So I will get to go back again for his baptism. Woooo!

I can't believe I only have three weeks left. The mission has become such a part of me that I can't imagine doing anything else. When I think about all the things I have learned, my heart is filled with gratitude. I had no idea the Lord would bless me this much. It has been such an honor to serve Him over these last 17 months.

I love you all!! Read your scriptures!!

Hermana Christensen

 

Hola! Hola!

Hola! Hola! 

This week was so crazy! We have been working harder than ever and I am exhausted! (please note the extra bags under my eyes in these pictures.. haha) BUT. We have seen so many miracles! Missionary work is the most fun when you work until you're about ready to die. We had to drop a lot of our investigators this week. They just weren't keeping their commitments or they had to flee the country. It was sad, but it needed to be done. We were left with a very slim teaching pool... So Hna Twitchell and I put on our walking shoes and knocked all day every day. It was so fun! And so hot! And there were so many miracles! Not only did we find a bunch of bomb people, but we also recieved SIX referrals from mormon.org. Six people in our area were just randomly looking on mormon.org and referred themselves to us. We were able to get in contact with all of them and they are all so awesome! I have come to see again and again that the Lord will never withhold blessings when we do our part. He is bound when we do what He says! 

More miracles! So we have been working really hard to increase the faith of our little zone. Yesterday we fasted as a zone for those whom we wanted to see at church. We told all our missionaries to text the zone whenever a miracle happened! It was so cute. Yesterday we doubled our church attendance as a zone. Everyone was so excited! It makes me so so happy because they are starting to see that they can succeed with the help of the Lord. 

I have come to accept the fact that I am going home. I have been working on the myplan program. It has really helped me see that going home from your mission is not the end of the world. Haha! Heavenly Father did not intend for us to only be happy for 18mo-2years of our lives. There is so much more that is coming!

Have a great week! Read your scriptures! 

Herm. C. 

Hola

Hello! 

Sorry this will be a little short... We don't have much time! 

So I was sent to the Louetta ward! It touches H6. Haha! We actually live in the H6 area and our neighbors are some of my old investigators. Hahaha! Its actually really sad to drive through H6 everyday. I miss that ward so much. But all is well because the Lord has a different assignment for me in this new area! President actually talked to me the other day and gave me a pretty intense assignment for my last transfer. I have been sent to an area and a zone that is "hard". I have spent a lot of time on my knees this week and we have already seen so many miracles. I have met with my fellow zone leaders this week and we have set a bunch of goals and made plans for how we are going to strengthen the faith here. Its going to be such a great transfer! I am so excited! 

My new comp is Hna Twitchell! She just finished her training and is really cute! I feel so blessed to be here with her!

Have a great week! I really am so so sorry this is short and lame. Next week will be better! I promise! 

I love you all! The church is true! Missionary work is the best!

Hermana Christensen

Hola!

We saw a ton of really cool miracles this week! I learned the
importance of following the promptings of the spirit! It was such an
awesome week!

Miracle #1: Oralia finally went to the temple! It has been a struggle
to help that woman find names so she could go! We finally went on
Friday. When we got in the car to go, a HUGE storm rolled in. It was
so bad! The roads started to flood and everything was a mess. Oralia's
family has been waiting soooo long for their work to be done and the
temple was only about 20 mins away so we (Oralia, us, and the relief
society president) decided that it was worth the risk. As we were
driving, we felt a distinct impression to take a different route to
the temple. It was a route that was longer and potentially more
dangerous during flooding due to the fact that it was right by the
bayou. We decided to obey and took that route to the temple.
Everything was fine and eventually we made it to the temple. Come to
find out, the road we were driving on first had been shut down because
the water had gotten too deep. If we hadn't listened to that prompting
we could have gotten ourselves into a potentially dangerous situation.

 But because we did listen, we made it safe and Oralia was able to have
an INCREDIBLE experience at the temple.

Miracle #2: On Saturday, we were walking back to our car after an
appointment when we ran into this man. He was just standing around and
jamming to his beats like most people here enjoy doing.. He was a
little creepy and was right in our path to get to our car. I have
learned that whenever there is a risk of getting mugged, the best
thing to do is to approach them before they approach you. Haha. We
gave him a smile and asked if we could share a card with him. He was
actually very nice and we started getting into a gospel discussion
with him. A few minutes later, this other man walks up out of no where
and starts doing sign language to us. He was slow of speech but we
could understand him if we listened really close. He told us that he
was a member church and attended the deaf Ward. After a few minutes,
we ended up giving the creepy man a Book of Mormon and went on our
way. The deaf member told us that he had been sitting in his apartment
watching basketball when suddenly he felt something was wrong. He said
the feeling wouldn't go away so he walked out on his porch to look
around. He said he saw us talking to that man and felt like he should
go down there to be with us. It was so cute to see his little
testimony grow as he realized he had listened and acted on a
prompting. The Lord protects His missionaries.

Miracle #3: About a month ago, Bishop gave us an assignment to visit
this less active that no one had ever met. We stopped by her house
many times but she never answered the door. This last week, we kept
getting a prompting to go visit this lady. We went to her apartment
complex and started walking towards her apartment. On our way there,
we saw this Hispanic girl hanging her laundry out to dry on a clothes
line. We felt like we needed to go over and talk to her. As we walked
over there, she looked up and her jaw dropped. She started jumping up
and down and yelling, "Hermanas! Hermanas! You speaking Spanish?" We
were like, "Si!" She got all teary eyed and then proceeded to tell us
that she was baptized about two years ago in Honduras. She had just
arrived to the United States about a month ago (about the same time
Bishop felt prompted to have us visit the less active). She didn't
know any English and had no idea where she could find the church. She
told us that this last week she got on her knees and pleaded with the
Lord to send her the Spanish speaking missionaries so she could go to
church and take the sacrament. She was all smiles and kept saying, He
answered my prayer, He answered my prayer! It was so tender. Turns out
she is the next door neighbor of the less active. Her and her brother
are the only members in her family! We are going to baptize the rest
of them!

I can not even begin to explain how many miracles and blessings I have
seen here on my mission. These last 16 months have been the greatest
of my life. I know that the Lord is very in control of His work. It
has been such an honor to represent our Savior and be a tool in
blessing the lives of others.

Have a great week!

Hermana Christensen

Hello! 

We had another great week! I LOVE THE MISSION. 

We had Zone Conference this week. Once again, President Mortensen changed my life. We went over the Plan of Salvation and I learned so much. It seriously changed my whole view of the gospel. I think I am going to share the things I learned in my homecoming talk. It was that good. 

There was a Hermana who extended her mission and went home on Saturday. She stayed with us on Friday because we live really close to the airport. Friday night we got to go to Presidents house so she could have her interview. We just sat on his couch and ate popsicles with Sister Mortensen. It was a good time. Haha.

We found a new family who just got here from Cuba. Cubans are my favorite. They have a really think accent which makes them a little hard to understand! We taught them the Restoration and they were literally on the edge of their seat the whole time. They were so excited about our message! They came to church yesterday and we are going to set dates with them to be baptized this week! Woo! 

The Torres family got baptized on Saturday! They are so cute!  

Sorry this is so short! I don't have much time today! 

Hermana Christensen

Hola

Hola! 

I know that every week I say that we had the best week ever and we saw so many miracles.. But this week we really did! Haha! We really do every week but ESPECIALLY this week. 

Kenny and Natali came to church!! Let me tell you the story of Kenny Bautista.. About two months ago, we got a phone call from Kenny. She told us that we had given her a card when we were walking down the street and that she wanted us to come to her home and teach her. So we go to her home and it turns out she is a member! She was baptized in El Salvador when she was 14, went to church for a few years and then moved to the USA and lost all contact. We started teaching her and her family (none of them are members). They have been reading in the Book of Mormon and were progressing really fast. Her 8 year old daughter (Natali) has already read the whole children's Book of Mormon and is already in Alma 59 in the real Book of Mormon. The only thing that stopped them from progressing was church. Kenny felt really awkward about coming to church again and had some fears that she would fall away again if she started coming back. We had been praying really hard about what we should do and last week we got an answer! We went into their home and taught them the story of Peter walking on water (Matthew 14). We compared the boat to our comfort zone or the things that are easy and comfortable in our lives. Interestingly, the Savior was not in the boat, He was out walking on the water in the middle of a storm. We talked about how they have shown their faith and "left the boat" by reading in the Book of Mormon and taking those steps to the Savior. Inevitably as we get closer to the Savior, the storm starts to get a little more fuerte. When we look at the example of Peter, he had three options when the wind started coming and the storm got stronger. 1. He could return back to the boat 2. He could sink and drown 3. He could look to the Savior and keep going in faith. After we discussed about what happened to Peter, we looked at them and were like "The Savior has asked that you come closer to Him by attending His church. You have three choices, what are you going to choose?" The spirit just filled the room and Kenny started to cry and said, "I'll see you at church." Then we all cried and it was one of the best moments of my mission. She came yesterday with Natali! It was so beautiful to see her act in her faith! 

We found another new investigator this week named Anarelys. We taught her the Restoration and it was so powerful! There have been very select times where I have teared up during the first vision. This lesson was one of them. After we had taught her the Book of Mormon she was like, "I will read it but I already know its true!" She is so perfect and so prepared!! We are really excited for her!!! 

I feel a lot of anxiety every single day because there are so many people in this world who are living without the safety of covenants. I realized I have very little time left on my mission. It really goes by so fast. So so so so so so fast. I think I am coming to understand how Alma felt when he was lamenting about not being able to cry repentance to the people forever. My new life motto: Alma 29:1-3. I feel you man.

Well have a great week! I love you all! Thank you for your prayers! Read your scriptures! The church is true! 

Hermana Christensen