Hola

Hola!

This week was super full of miracles! It was probably one of the
greatest weeks of my mission! First of all, Hermana Vandyke and I
broke the world record for people contacted in one day. Just kidding.
A lot of our appointments canceled on Saturday so we decided we were
going to find. We contacted people for 4 hours straight. We went down
to this street called "Greens" (it is sooooo ghetto) and we just
walked up and down and hit up a bunch of apartments. At the end of the
day, we had invited 101 people to learn more. We saw so many miracles!
The first door we knocked on was this man who told us the night before
that he had been praying that God would lead him to the true church.
He was so shocked when we shared a little bit about the Restoration.
He kept saying "the good Lord is so good." We were like yes, yes He
is. We also found a bunch of less active members. That tends to happen
more then you would think. We always find people who were baptized
back in their country and then lost contact with the church when they
came to America. My planner is packed with information to find all
these peoples records. Haha!

We also had a surprise baptism this week! His name is Noel Marquez.
Him and his wife are literally some of my most favorite people I have
ever met. Noel had been taught for over a year. He was just waiting
for permission from church headquarters. He finally got permission and
was baptized on Saturday! It was so beautiful! He couldn't stop
smiling!

I went on exchanges this week with my little Hermanas. It was so fun.
I love seeing all the good work everyone is doing in this mission. The
Texas Houston Mission is literally the best mission in the world. We
are seeing incredible success here! Blessssings!!!

I'm almost done with training! We have transfers next Tuesday. Ah. I
am probably going to be transferred... To my last area. I realized the
other day that time is going by way to fast and that my mission is
almost done. It makes me so so sad.

Anyway, have a great week! Read your scriptures and say your prayers!
Love y'all!

Hermana Christensen

Miracles

Hola!

We had such a great week this week. Actually.. This week was slammed
with meetings. We had zone conference on Tuesday. It was one of the
best zone conferences I have ever been to. We talked a lot about how
people don't accept the Book of Mormon because they don't understand
the bible. Then President Mortensen proceeded to blow all of our minds
with his wisdom. He is my hero. If I had a choice to eat lunch with
One Direction or President Mortensen, I would pick President. He has
taught me so much!

My little friend Christopher got baptized this week. He is this little
9 year old boy who is the son of a part member family. I taught him
for a while when I first got here. The elders took them over a few
weeks ago so they could help the nonmember father! It was such a
beautiful baptism! I love baptisms! Oralia is close to her baptism.
That woman is so fiel! We are still waiting on her mother to arrive
from Mexico...

We found a lot of really awesome people this week! We had a really
cool miracle with our bishop on Saturday! Bishop Myers was out
visiting some less actives and he came across this little family
washing their car outside. He walked up to them and gave them a family
proclamation. Then he called us and told us to go and contact them but
not to mention that he had sent us. So we went over there and casually
contacted them and told them we had a message about how families could
be together forever. You should have seen the look on the guy's face!
He told us we could come back and teach them! Miracles!!! Woo!

Well my loves! Have a great week! Read your scriptures! I love you all!

Herm. Christensen

Hola! Hola! 

This week was amazing! One of the best weeks of my whole mission! On Saturday, we had the privilege of listening to President Nelson. I got to shake his hand. It was literally one of the coolest experiences of my life. He looked right into my soul and thanked me for my service as a missionary. The spirit testified to me again and again that he really is an Apostle of the Lord. 

We had a couple of really neat experiences during the devotional with President Nelson. During the whole meeting, the spirit was so powerful! There were about 500ish missionaries gathered together in the same room! At the end of the meeting we all sang "I Know That My Redeemer Lives." As we sang the last verse, there seemed to be more voices joining in and singing with us. The volume grew and when we got to the chorus, it seemed like the heavens broke open. I know that we were not the only ones singing. The spirit was overpowering as hundreds of Gods children testified together of their Savior and Redeemer. It will be something that I will never forget. 

We had a really great week this week as far as teaching. We are planning on setting three more dates this week! We also had six investigators come to church! Ah! It was such a blessing. We had members all sit with them and they just loved it! It brings me so much joy to see all our little friends come closer to the Savior. I LOVE MY MISSION. We have a baptism coming up next week. Everyone pray for Carmen!!

I hope you all have a really great week! Read in the Book of Mormon and go to church! I love you all! 

Love,

Hermana Christensen

Hola amigos! 

First things first, PRESIDENT RUSSEL M. NELSON IS COMING TO OUR MISSION! He is actually coming to a stake conference in the spanish stake.. but.. WE ARE HAVING A TRI-MISSION MISSION CONFERENCE! It is going to be us, the south mission and the east mission! And President Nelson is going to shake all our hands! AHHH! It is this Saturday! I am so so so excited!

We had another super great week! The work here is on fire! We set three more baptismal dates this week! Which means that we will have a baptism almost every week in February! I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY! 

We saw so many miracles this week! We got a ton of referrals that are all super awesome! The work really is hastening! We are always just running from appointment to appointment with no time to even breathe! It is so awesome! 

We got transfer calls today! I will be staying here in Houston 6 with Hermana VanDyke. We are going to finish her training! Wooo! I love this area so much!

Sorry again that this is a little short! Have a great week! Invite everyone to church! I love you all! 

Hermana Christensen

Pancakes

Hola! 

We had such an amazing week this week! We had two really cool miracles that I wanted to share with you all....

1. So once upon a time, Hermana V and I were out visiting this less active. We go and knock on her door and.. she wasn't home. So we walk back to our car. As we are walking back, this other car pulls up and this hispanic lady jumps out and starts waving at us and smiling really big. We had no idea who she was but we waved back and went over to talk to her. She runs up to us and gives us a big hug and then looks at us and says, " I have been looking for you for three years!!!" Turns out she had been taught by missionaries in Honduras and was getting ready to be baptized. Then she unexpectedly had to escape to the USA for some reason and lost all contact with the church. She told us that she knows the church is true and wants us to teach her so she can be baptized. WHAT. I have no idea what we are doing right but we literally just get handed prepared people all the time! The church is true! We are super excited to teach her and help her take those important steps to baptism. 

2. There is a less active family in our ward who haven't been to church in over 10 years. When I got to this area, our bishop pulled us aside and told us we really need to focus on this family because he felt that they were ready to come back. I have been here for almost 12 weeks and have knocked on their door at least 100 times and they never answered!!! About two weeks ago we decided to give it one more try. We knocked on their door and they opened right up and invited us in! We taught them a little message and set a return appointment. The second time we taught them, we committed them to church. At first they were like ehhhhh but then the daughter was like we will be there. I was blown away. We wanted to make sure they kept their commitment so we told them we were coming over before on Sunday to make them breakfast and help them get ready! Haha! So yesterday we went over and made them pancakes and THEY CAME!!! I was so happy. Then after church, their two sons who aren't members told us they want to be baptized! BENDICIONES! 

Anyway, this week was super awesome. Missionary work is the best. I love you all! Read your scriptures! 

Mucho Amor!

Hermana Christensen

One Year Mark

I hit my year mark this week! It feels like it has all been a dream. I was looking back at the beginning of my journal and I was shocked at how much I have changed during this mission. This last year has been the best year of my entire life! I have learned and grown so much! What a blessing it has been to share this glorious message with the people here. I am so grateful for the opportunity to serve! 

I had my first mission leadership council this week. We talked a lot about new standards for the mission and how we can increase our finding efforts. Then on Friday I got to teach everything we learned to the rest of the zone. It was so fun! I had like a thousand meetings this last week. I remember when I was younger that I would always complain when ever my dad or mom had a bunch of meetings. I feel like I understand now. Haha! There is a lot of planning in the work of salvation! 

We had a lesson with one of our part member families the other day. We asked their five year old, "Why do we take the sacrament?" and she responded... "For the ducks and the beavers." I am still laughing about it five days later... 

We celebrated Three Kings Day with one of our investigators. It is such a strange holiday. Pretty much all you do is eat this big bread thing. It kinda looks like a huge doughnut. Inside the bread are a bunch of little plastic babies. They are supposed to be baby Jesus. If you get one of the babies then you have to throw a party for everyone else and make tamales. So random. I think I am going to keep this tradition going in my future family! Haha!

We have a super awesome baptism coming up in February. Her name is Oralia! She has already finished the whole Book of Mormon and is now working on Jesus the Christ. She is so awesome! She told us yesterday that the first thing she does when she wakes up is read two chapters of the Book of Mormon with her family! She is such an inspiration. I am so excited to her to be baptized! 

I hope you all have a super great week! And I am so sorry that I have been slow at responding to some of your emails and letters! I barely have enough time to think! Haha! I am working on them though! Patience is a virtue! 

Read your scriptures and say your prayers! 

Hermana Christensen  

2016

Hola! 

I am so sorry I didn't have time to write an email last week! I am so busy I barely have time to breathe! Haha! Life as a sister training leader/ trainer is a little intense but I love it! I have learned so much these last few weeks and I have really watched myself grow. It has been a wonderful opportunity to serve at a new capacity. 

This last week was super awesome! I became a marriage councilor in one of our appointments for the first time in my life. Haha! We were teaching this part member family and all of a sudden they start telling us all their marriage problems. Then they started fighting.. then they started to try to get us to take sides.. My poor little companion couldn't understand a thing that was going on and kept looking at me all concerned. I got really bold with them and pulled out the family proclamation and made them read certain parts together and then made them commit to start praying as a family. It was so interesting because we have zero experience with marriage and yet we can still tell these people exactly what we need because we have a knowledge of the gospel. I have noticed this as well with other investigators. These people will literally confide in two 20 year old girls who have little to no life experience and expect us to have the answers to some of lifes hardest questions. And the great thing is that we have all the answers! The gospel can literally fix any problem in the world. We are so blessed to have this knowledge! 

We have been finding new people like crazy. Finding has always been one of my favorite activities! I love talking to people. It is so fun to watch the change in peoples lives as they begin to accept the gospel! 

I realized today that I am about to hit my year mark. I still feel like I just got to Houston. Missions seriously go by so fast! It makes me so sad that it will all have to end someday. :(

I hope you all have a super great week! I love you all! Make sure you are reading your scriptures!!!! 

Con amor,

Hermana Christensen

Luke 22:31-33