Sunday, July 25, 2010

7/20/10 Hermana Christensen

HI FAMILY!

so an elder in my zone told a story about his sister that went like this: she was wearing a shirt that said HOLA in big letters. as she walked into work a big black dude saw her and pointed at her and said, "HOLLA!!!" she didn't know if he thought her shirt said HOLA or HOLLA.. but it was just funny. so just think that's funny. interpret it whichever way you'd like!

okay. HI! so last night, as i was sitting in a mostly-useless pre-departure meeting, the man (the equivalent to a "dry councilman") had a few take-home lines:

"rest your bowel."

"if you get bit by a rabid animal, you will die." (KALYLYNN! totallllllllllllly thought of you! remind you of anything? namely mean girls? wildly inappropriate, but i couldn't help it.)

and something about how we can be "taken out of the gutter and turned into a butterfly if we are healthy." question mark?

the elders in my distrito offically received their travel plans. they are PSYCHED! and so are we. hermana and i should receive ours this friday. cross your fingers! I got a super sweet letter from presidente donaldson which i'm going to copy and send home. basically.. this is real. i'll soon be outta here. not that i don't love the mtc! but.. you know.

the taco bell was a HIT. you definately don't need to do it again, thanks so much though! seriously. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!! and the muddy buddies? and the STRAWBERRIES? andt he NACHO stuff?!! and the twinkies? and candy? and oreos? and, my goodness! thank you SO MUCH! seriously! thank you for all your love! thank you for the christmas in july! ahhhh so nice! thank you for consistently loving me and blessing me. sorry to always have so many requests, but thank yo8u for sweetly coming through!

Only one request. will you please send my running shoes from brenda? they should be under the washing machine; they're identical to yours mom. but don't send me yours. :)

Ah! five minutes. Thank you for everything, seriously!

Things are going great. Really. All of you have commented in your letters, "i'm glad your'e so happy" and that's a little... i dunno, hard to read? no, not hard, but as you know that's just not always the case. the fact of the matter is that this is honestly one of the hardest things i've ever done (even already, in training!) but all i can see is good. all i can remember is good. every night i go to bed happy. but that doesn't mean its not hard and sad or discouraging at times, you know? i just want you to know that your love, support and prayers mean the world. I recognize that i am SO blessed. so so so blessed for YOU and for your love, concern, prayers and everything. thank you. i feel so blessed!

we have another pioneer fitting on wednesday. i'll try to sneak my camera. but maybe i'll just make you hold out even longer for the dress unveiling.. haha ha.

this past week we talked a LOT about working with the ward members, and MY GOODNESS--how key that is! we, as members, can make SUCH a difference! I couldn't help but think about my parents and about rr1st ward and how powerful you are. basically, we as memebers, misunderstand that doing missionary work isn't really doing missionary work; in our minds we think we need to go and tract or contact or find people and testify and invite them to church. but one of my teachers said we need to BEFRIEND! he went so far as forbidding (!) the members of talking about jospeh smith. now that was kind of a joke, but to get the point across, as members, we need to get people's TRUST, get them interested by who and how we are insomuch that THEY want to ask the questions and THEY want to learn--it's not just us shoving the gospel on them. Does that make sense? i felt impressed to share it because it was seriously so impacting to me. and it makes sense! and that is how people get into the church and STAY. true conversion!

well i'm down to the seconds. know that i love you all. I'm so grateful; i feel your love and prayers. thank you for being a part of my journey!

love,

hermana christensen

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