Tuesday, October 26, 2010

10/26/2010 Hermana Tawny

Based upon the sole evidence of bites all over my feet, they're in my bed. (The spiders. Not the waffles and cheese, though I guess you could say that was in my bed with me last night because that's what I was fed for DINNER. Horrific.)


Hermana C with COUSINS!
Hello hello mi lieber quierda familia!

What a week. You know, it's been a good week. I feel like I don't have anything to say but so much all at once. Hm.

It's been a little bit of a rough week, like not a whole lot to show for what we've been doing. We've spent a lot of time at the mobat (and it was amaaaaaazing seeing all the fam--what cuties!). Actually, I feel like I haven't said anything about this place. Okay, it's my homeland. Basically we are so blessed. Spending half of my days most days here is such a blessing. it's unreal how many people just wander in, wondering what this place is. I have fallen in love with the story again and again; because the Mormon Battalion did all that they did, our country is how it is today. The church is how it is today. Salt Lake City is how it is today! WE are who we are today because of them. Seriously, there was so much hardship and so many miracles that went into their 2,000 mile march. There isn't enough time to tell it all to the people that pass through here. My first little while here, I took to following the Temple Square sisters and carrying my bom through the tour with me and sharing scriptures, but I learned that that isn't allowed; this is a hard part abuot this place--it's a HISTORIC site, not a visitors center. Therefore, when people come here, we are to tell the story. We are to tell the history. We are to let the spirit of the battalion memebers that rests here do the rest. So this is hard because we have to balance testifying throughout the tour, because it can't be too overbearingly (is that a word) religious. So that's been really neat--praying for the help of the Battalion members as well as the family memebers of those visiting here to help us touch the people who walk through our doors. Super neat. there are miracles that happen all the time. The best was earlier this week when a girl came in all by herself; she's a member but had no idea about the mobat. She'd heard of it, but then look at that! when her business brings her here and her hotel is literally across the street from the mobat. :) anyway, after the tour she just GOT it. She was overwhelmed by the power of the story, and the faith and sacrifice of the men. I showed her the artifacts and was able to bear testimony to her then. (After the tour is ofically over we can bear testimony.) It was pwerful. And last night, apart from being kind of a creeper, a guy named Phil told me he came in skeptical of what this place could offer him, but was walking out with pamphlets, cards, books, dvds, and an appointments with the local missionaries. :) I started talking to a family that came in and he was all, "YOU HAVE TO GO ON THE TOUR, IT WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE, I PROMISE! I'M LIVING PROOF!" I just stood there smiling; it's neat to see the power. Heavenly Father leads people here. their ancestors lead them here. We aren't in this alone. There is a great work to be done! And even though we get HALF the time on our areas, heavenly father makes up for it. We find people for other missionaries AROUND THE WORLD to teach, and heavenly father helps us find ours. (And that's so true by the way, you wouldn't BELIEVE the crazy crowd of people that come in here! What the! And a whollllllllllle lotta germans. :) tm tm tm.)

I love you all. thank you SO SO SO much for all the bondad. thank you for all the love and support. And holy, thank you for all the goodies!! I AM SO BLESSED TO HAVE YOU! And hey, will you pleeeeeease thank hugely rob, trev, bret, mel and the kids for visiting? that's so sweet of them! thank them for all they sent with me--everyone here was benefitted! and also, tell rob and trev that i'm SO sorry--they gave me bread and jam and for some odd reason i just assumed it was from you, mom. but it was from them! tell them i felt so bad when i realized that i hadn't been as appreciative to them as i should've!

well i sure love you all. i'm off. thank you--sincerely--for all that you are and do. I feel your love and prayers. and you. you're with me, and i love and thank you for that!

hermana christensen

"y el oficio de su miniesterio es llamar a los hombres al arrepentimiento; y cumplir y llevar a efecto la obra de los convenios Del padre, los cuales El ha hecho con los hijos de los hombres; y preparar la via entre los hijos de los hombres, declarando la palabra de Cristo a los vasos ESCOGIDOS del Senor, para que den testimonio de El." -Moroni 7:31

"Dismiss the destructive and keep dismissing it until the beauty of the Atonement of Christ has revealed to you your bright future and the bright future of your family and your friends and neighbors. God doesn't car nearly as much about where you have been as He does about where you are and, with His help, where you are willing to go." -President Holland, "Remember Lot's Wife"; Byu address last winter. Get it! Soooo good!

Monday, October 25, 2010

10/25/10 Elder Christensen

Hello to all the friends and family! Its been a great day today so far! We just got done with a zone activity at our stake center. Tons of fun games and food. We had a waterballoon fight and one kid thought it would be funny to add coca cola to the mix! So I´m walkin around with a "white" shirt in the middle of Maipu! Haha! But it was great. The work of the Lord is moving forward here! My sector El Conquistador is so hard though! Man! We work and pray so hard and we have little results. The important thing is that we know that through our trials the Lord will make us who we are meant to be and extend his hand in this work! I know we´re on the verge of finding a whole family who is prepared! Who knows it could be today! One thing that I love about being a missionary is the changes that you see in people. For example the inactive people who decide to come back to the iron rod! I love to see the changes that are made when someone implements the principles of the gospel in their family and really decides to live them. Then they seem to glow! We have a lady named Elizabeth Gomez who was way inactive with her daughter. But now they´re both active and loving it! They seem to radiate every time I see them both. I love it. I love to be the tool in the Saviors hands that helps someone really come unto him. I´m doing all I can here and know that I love and pray for all of you every single day. I hope all is well. No matter where you are in the world today, stop and count your blessings. Its amazing what we have and how we take it all for granted.. Do all you can in the gospel. Every activity. Every service. Every kind act. Remember when ye are in the service if your fellow beings you are only in the service of your god! I love you all! Talk to you next week. Gotta run! CIAOOOOOOOOOO! Elder Christensen

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

10-19-10 Hermana Christensen

COUSINS!!!
Hellllllllllllllo amada querida LIEBER FAMILIA!!!


hi hi hi! man alive, can i just say that i am sooooooooooo uber grateful? sheesh! i thank you for your love, your support, your endless goodness! ah! I love you guys! i am SO blessssssssssed to have you!

It has been a loco week my friends. Loco loco loco. We had a zone blitz--where all the missionaries in the zone paired with members and we visited people in the ward. have i mentioned that i'm the largest ward? 900 people with like 300? ha. it's crazy! but this ward is the only english ward that's growing here. there is a TON of work to do, so the blitz was incredibly helpful. I want to be a member missionary forevermore! on saturday we did splits again, I was with Hermana De La Cruz and it was yet another humbling experience. I have so much work to do to try and get this missionary thing down. Planning? setting goals? driving? navigating?! ha. I got so lost at one piont in time (and she was just sweetly waiting for me to tell her where to go) and I felt like just crying and telling her to pull over, but no. I've felt that way a whole lot this week, with a couple different things. Just frustrated. On Sunday I took a moment up in the tower (with that gorgeous view) to just say a prayer, a heartfelt, not rushed prayer, asking for help. I didnt' feel like anything changed, but I was blessed with the knowledge that all i could really do at that moment was to just try.. to just go forward, to move, to do, to act. faith is a principle of action! So, even though sometimes I get discouraged, I'm trying to hard to remember that this istn' about me, and that if i'm a pure vessel I will be able to be lead and guided by God to do His will and His work.

I fear none of that even makes sense!

I am seeing ohhhhhhhhh so many broken families. I feel like Jacob, "oh be wise, what can i say more?" marrying less actives/ non members is SUCH tricky business! we are caught in webs with SO many different people because one spouse won't let his 3 (!) VERY prepared children be baptized. Or one less active trying to return to church and get his son baptized with little support from his catholic wife. Or the woman whose two sons aren't baptized and husband won't even let her go to church? I'm telling you, my little heart is breaking in there.. imagine what our Heavnely Father must feel! It is unreal. This work is about families though. It's about all of them coming together and returning to god... TOGETHER. i think that is one of the greatest blessings that has come from mine and brolee's missions--we are all headed in that same direction now. we love and missssss each other, but are SO eternally grateful for the plan, the knowledge, the unbelievable joy that comes from knowing that we can be together FOREVER! This is a beautiful work! Forever? What more could we possibly ask for? Ah. In a round about way, i'm just saying I'm grateful for you all. :) I'm also saying that helping families is my heart's desire. Check out that bottom parafo in my patriarchal blessing. Family family family family family family. Um.. family! That's what it's all about. Families are central to God's plan. He sent us here in families. I am so thankful I have this chance to help families be strengthened, brought together, and working in unison for the same goal; I have a testimony that THAT is what brings the deepest, most profound and inexplicable joy!

I sure love you all! Nunca olvidenlo!

hermana christensen

Mormon 8:22

porque los eternos designios del senor han de seguir adelante, hasta que se cumplan toas sus promesas.

ps so i forgot to mention. two times in the past week i have eaten...     BEANS.....and i survived!

the mission has turned me into a new creature. last night a member fed us chimis (like jenn's, which i ate and loved!) and you'd better believe i ate both! and there were beans in there!

are you proud? i knew you would be. i'm putting hot sauce in soup, on popcorn, on sandwiches... haha. it's called tapatillo? i've heard it's around the town. get some. people carry it in the purses here. there are huge glass jars in every fridge. get on it.

(and remember i love you.)(and have a great day!)

Monday, October 18, 2010

10/18/10 Elder Christensen

Hello friends and family from very hot Chile! I have hardly any time to write so this will be short. We are seeing miracles here in the mission. It truely is the work of the Lord and WE are in his hands! All of you guys who are preparing for missions DO IT. Its the greatest thing you will ever do and really is the MTC for life. It prepares us for the struggles and challenges that we will face down the road and helps us to fully develop the attributes that have been bestowed upon us since the beginning. We´re working on two baptisms right now! It is really so great what the Lord can do through us. I´ve seen changes in people that I NEVER thought I would see. One girl took our her piercings and now she dresses like a normal person! MIRACLE!! Entire families are seeing the results of what the gospel can really do for us. Sometimes in Utah we forget these things. The people of Chile LIVE the gospel. On Sunday some go to church. Next they go to choir. Next they help us with lessons. Next we go to their house. The members are missionaries and sometimes we forget that in our little bubble in Utah. EVERY MEMBER A MISSIONARY!! LIFT WHERE YOU STAND!!! I love you all so much and I work and pray for each one of you daily. CIAOOO!!! Elder Christensen


PS Just two pics this week. Very boring I´m sorry. TONGAN SANDWICHES!! COLBY WOULD BE PROUD!!!

2 eggs. doscientos pesos. one pack chicken top ramen. trescientos pesos. 2 pieces of bread. Who knows. 2 pieces of ham and cheese... trescientos pesos... A hugely delicious piece of magic that helps me maintain my fatness.........? Priceless. Love you guys! (from Kristen: That’s 200-300 pesos or $.42 to $.62)


Tuesday, October 12, 2010

10/12/2010 Hermana Christensen

Hermana C giving a tour at MOBAT!
Hello hello!


Guess where I was just at? The Zoo! Didn't we come to San Diego once before? We totally did. Did we come to the Zoo or to Sea World? I forget. But! Random, every night we can see the fireworks from the mobat. And, at the zoo today there were those little things with pictures making up people's names, and there was one for both Jennifer and Aidan--right by each other. What are the odds? Tell Jenn thanks SO much for the chimigangas! Ha! She's so incredibly nice. It was awesome to see them. Suuper random. Oh, and tell Staci and the family thank you uuuuuuuuuber mucho for the package. I am seriously overwhelmed by all the love and support I have. It is unreal. I thank you all fromt he bottom of my heart!

But hi! How is everyone doing? I hope so well! I've been thinking of you all, and I hope and pray something I say can help you individually.

This week.. wow. Yo SE que la mano del senor esta en este obra. De verdad. I've been excited to share this story. Okay, so Hermana has had a name of a less active woman in our ward keep coming to her mind these past few weeks. Did I mention that I did splits last Thursday with another sister, sister Poulsen? Okay, so basically Hermana story and I planned and then Hermana Poulsen and I went to my area and did our plans. We didn't make concrete plans--which was so so strange--it was more like a few names and a couples hours to visit whomever whenever. So Sister Poulsen and I start going and I was flustered, trying to read the maps, direct the way, stressed and somewhat embarassed for my lack of organization slash knowledge of what to do, where to go, how to do it. (I need to rely on the Lord more. I'm so working on it!) So basically, it's pouring rain, and I have no idea how to get to our area. We get on the freeway, it's closed, so we take some random routes and then the name of that one less active lady stuck out in my mind. So I directed the way to her house; when we got there I checked out our ward rescue list (that has the info of the ordinances received/not received for everyone on record) and turns out this lady is basically a do not visit because she's less receptive. But we went anyway. She wasn't home. I started walking back to the car, but Sister Poulsen was like, "wait, shouldn't we knock these doors?" Knocking doors isn't really something President encourages us to do for long periods of finding time, but Sister Poyulsen explained it's something she and her comp are doing to make good use of their time--so if someone's not home it's not a complete waste of our time for having driven there. So we knock the doors on both side. The second door opened and a friendly girl answered. We started talking and she then said she was on her way out (she was really just out the door, we barely caught her!). Long story short, she was trying to get rid of us, saying she was in a "limbo" (basically not interested), but then I randomly shared this experience I had of being in a limbo awhile back, and she was totally still; she said, "Wait, keep going. I'm interested." So we got her number, blah blah, and made a return appt. Hermana and I went back, threw down with the new stuff president taught us, and then made another appt. Our second cita Christian (this awesome gal) invited a friend. When we asked about her reading, she showed us PAGES of notes she'd taken as she'd read through it, and questions she had, etc etc. WHAT! Okay. She asked to hear our conversion stories and basically---there wasn't a dry eye in the place. Christian's friend, Mari, said she was in a really hard place in her life and that she needed this. She said, "I know I need to open the book." Ah. It was unbelievable. They know it's true. It was one of the most powerful lessons I've had yet. This is the happiness of the work. Hermana and I went home on a cloud that night. The miracle of it all is really how it just turned out so perfectly.. hermana had been thinking of the less active member for weeks! If we'd gone anyyy other time than when I was on splits with sister poulsen,w e wouldnt' have knocked those doors, we wouldn't have found Christian. not only that, but we found out on Sunday that the less active woman we were initially going to see lives on EAST moss, when my poor, inexperienced navigational skills directed us to moss-- no east. See all the miracles and little details that went into finding Christian? We had an entire day like that yesterday, too. It sounds little and maybe not important, but when every prayer is directed to people specifically or to specifically finding people, when stuff like that happens, we KNOW it's no coincidence. No es casualidad! Tengo un testimono FUERTE de este!

I had a valuable experience on Sunday. We were visiting a less active, and she was talking about how it's just too hard to read, too hard to come to church, too hard to do this and that. I get irritated when people say stuff like that but then complain about how hectic life is; do they not realize that the answer to their problems--the solution!!--is the very thing that is "too hard" to put first? My goodness. Anyway, as I was about to say something too bold, hermana story said, "Well just take it a little at a time!" Which is EXACTLY what that person needed to hear. I realized that that's how I am: I'm an all or nothin kinda gal. When I say I'm going to put God first, you'd better believe I'lll try. When I don't understand a law or a rule or a commandment, I'm going to do everything in my power to see if it's right. I'm all for telling people to stop drinking, smoking, and breaking the law of chastity RIGHT NOW, when some people just need to hear they can do it a ittle at a time. (Like the script, prove me NOW herewith and see if I will pour down ell these blessings.. it's almost like a dare. Try me! See if i'll make your life a THOUSAND times bette!) Hermana and I were marvelling at this-- how God placed us together for a wise reason. He's so smart. It was valuable for me to come to understnad myself a little better, and to see the wisdom in god's organization and order. His plan is so perfect!

Also, another valuable lesson I've learned this week is seeing the long term results of missionarywork. If it's done correctly, it works right and it lasts. There were two SUUUPER disobedient missionaries who taught a family a few years ago; because they were funny and hung out with them and stuff, the dad started to like them and got baptized. But now they're all inactive, the dad is anti, and won't allow his wife or children to go to church. I mean, what? So it was immediate success for those elders in getting a few more "baptisms", but now we have a less active family and two sons that cannot enjoy the blesings of baptism. There is such wisdom in our rules. We obey them, we have the respect of our investigators and the power of the spirit and our authority to invite others to come unto Christ.

Sorry this is so long!

I am so grateful to be here. All is well. I am happy. This is the best work. Last week during a lesson I had this realization--all day every day (well, six hours of the day :) ) I get to go to people's houses, sit on their couches, and talk to them about how to improve their lives by following the example of Jesus Christ. What? This is such an individual work! It is personal and it is done according to each person's needs--because that's how our Heavenly Father works! It's unbelievable. In that instant I was so grateful, and I will continue to be forever grateful for this time to be a small part in our Father's work.

Se que esto es la iglesia verdadera y que Dios tiene un plan por TODOS sus hijos--individualmente.
Hasta luego, queridos. Les amo!
hermana Christensen
San Diego Sunset!

Monday, October 11, 2010

10/11/10 Elder Christensen



Me with President & Sister King
 Hellooooooooo to my family on the other side of the world! Its been another great week here! Its so dang hot though! You really learn to take for granted your air conditioning and your ozone layer! I don´t know if you know that there is a huge whole in the ozone here? So good for my judy skin haha. Epic Fail.


I love my new companion! He´s a crazy little guy but he´s focused and sets a great example for me to learn from! How crazy that Damon Price is headed out on his mission. If you get to see him congratulate him for me! How awesome it will be. One learns a lot on the mission! Things you can ONLY learn here. It really is the MTC for life!! The University where we grow into who we are destined to be. We set a baptismal date with a tough investigator named Daniela. Shes a crazy 18 year old catholic girl who wanted nothing! But then both her parents got baptized and shes seen the change. We had the spirit SO strong in that lesson and a member bore a very strong and nourished testimony and put the cherry on top! We´re excited and praying for her daily.

Amazing where the time goes in the time warp! I gotta run though. Know that I love you all so much. All my friends and family who have always supported me and made me who I am today! The gospel is so true! By its principles we learn and grow and set the foundation where we CAN not fall. ( Helaman 5:12) Have a great day wherever you are!!! Count your blessings and remember that you have a Heavenly Father who loves you and has a plan for each and every one of us. Ciaooooooooo!!!

Elder Christensen!


Me eating my completo!!! Hot dog, toasted bun, ketchup, mustard, Chile sauce, guacamole. Tomatoes!! WOO!! Love you all
 



My Comp and I taking a myspace pic! haha!
  

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

10/5/2010 Hermana Christensen



and another! hermana livingston and me.
Heyyyyyyy!

Okay get out of town. Wasn't gcon AMAAAAAZING?!!! Ah! It was so beautiful! Basically, during Richard G Scott and Robert D Hales I was wishing I was already holding the conference edition of the ensign so i could just mark the thing up with excited underlines and highlights. It was amazing! And Dieter? Kristen, I thought of you during that talk; did you love it? Simplifyyyyyyyyyyyy. And I love when he was all, "my voice! this is a foundational thing that I need!" What great men. We are so blessed to be led by inspiring men who receive revelation from a merciful God! This morning sister story and i practiced delivering short snippets of powerful bits of information to say to people on the street or whatever. (ps. there isn't companion study anymore. sd has been the testers for a year of doing whats called companion PRACTICE where you have to get into the mindframe of the investigator and receive revelation for them. it's awesome. i think it's being implemented all over the world now!) One of the greatest bits of truths we have is that of LIVING PROPHETS. the truths restored are so incredible and this is what we have to testify of; it's what sets us apart from all other religions. (look at pmg ch 9 the italicized parts when it talks about a few sentences of talking about the restoration.) So solid.

This past week was basically mind blowing. I have no mind left. It was blown up. After the temple we had two days of missionary training exchange--where president blew our brains up and then we did mini transfers. Then it was conference. I'm still recovering. But president really threw down with some awesome truths. He talked about how we always need to INVITE!!! in pmg ch 1 it talks about how we aren't just trying to get people baptized so they can join a club. We are offering them SALVATION!!! why would we not invite at every opportunity?! Also, by inviting others to come unto jesus christ by receiving the restored gospel of jesus christ through faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the holy ghost, and enduring to the end, we are inviting them to... repent! Like dc 15 and 16, the thing of most worth is to declare repentance. How neat is that? We are inviting them to make changes, to repent, and to be forevermore changed and bettered. I wish everyone could just see! During mte I was in our area with another sister and boyyyyyyyy did i learn some humility. i was pretty much lsot without the master navigator hermana story. some serious rebuking came then and there that i don't appreciate my companion enough. but the lord provided miracles and we found a new investigator--christian, who is in what she calls "a limbo." oh? you say you're in limbo? well, we can help with that! The Lord's hand truly is in this work. I know it.

President also talked about burying our weapons of war. Sound familiar anyone? priesthood session?! well, quick trivia. president is a scholar of hebrew and greek or something.. basically he's a genius. he told us that the word rebel literally means to "turn away from the light." how often do we turn away from the light by the little simple FOOLISH things we do? why do we hold on to the things that keep us from fully having the light in our lives? let us bury our weapons of war deeeeeeeep in the earth!

another thing i feel uuuuber impressed to mention is mormon.org. i know i know i know. but! this is the way you can all get involved in missoniary work. THINK ABOUT IT. you make a profile. people around the world can be led to it and can read your story. it doesn't have to be overly personal. follow the spirit. say what you're impressed to say. The church missionary department is encouraging everrrrrrrrrry member to have a profile by the end of the year. It's such an incredible tool in this new dawn of missionary work! you make the profile and can then tell your non member / less active friends to check out your profile. I know it's different in utah, but this is a worldwide, eternal wide effort. Get on it.

Well, I'm going to head out. Just know that I lov eyou all and i'm so uber grateful for you. I hope Hawaii was bliss and that the babe is settling well and that Chile is less chilly. I'm so grateful for the restored gospel of jesus christ. se que esto es la verdad de Dios y que su mano esta en este obra. El nos ama y quiere que estemos FELICES. Solo necesitamos tener fe y ser obediente a sus mandamientos y invitar a otros a venir de Cristo.

Les amo.

Hermana Christensen

10/4/2010 Elder Christensen

My new companion Elder Hernandez and I at district meeting!!!
Dear Family and friends!! Wow what an amazing week here in the lovely country of Chile! Let me just start out this letter by saying.... I LOVE GENERAL CONFERENCE!! Wow Elder Johnston is right! Its better than being in Hawaii and sitting in a hammoc! (I´m sure that Kristen and Willie can tell us differently) I just feel the spirit AMAZINGLY strong when I listen to the beautiful choir, and the wonderfully inspired talks of our prophet and apostles! I just think I took it all for granted when I was at home. Unbelievable how much a person can learn! I took SO many notes! I´m hoping that we can all apply all the things that we can learn and make this world a better place one Christ-like act at a time. I got my new companion! He´s awesome! His name is Elder Hernandez. He´s from El Salvador. My Zone Leader asked me what I wanted in my next companion... I told him... I want an OBEDIENT Latin who wants to work hard! That way I can keep being obedient and doing the work WHILE growing to be better with the spanish at the same time. What did I get?? Exactly that!! The Lord grants us unto our desires. I´ve found that since I´ve been living with only Latins as of lately that I really am getting so much worse at english!! I spell prophet profet hahah. It happened in this letter once already and I changed it! Its just such a great thing that the Lord does in helping me to learn this language! Our sector was a little destroyed. We are having such little success. Nobody has time to even listen to something they dont even know how wonderful it is. One man even went as far as to tell us that he didn´t care where his dead family was and wouldn´t want to live with them for eternity anyways... It confuses me a little bit is all. I want to just PLANT my feelings inside of somebody and MAKE them be converted... But they can only be saved by grace after all THEY can do. I can only give the message and pray that they accept it. Heres something scary!! As of recently we have felt three tremors. I dont know if thats the english word.. I think it is though. Tremors. Like mini earthquakes. All 3 times we´ve just been sitting there planning and WHOAH THE WHOLE HOUSE IS SHAKING!!! I mean I know we have the spirit and all but the earth was literally shaking! Scaryyyyyyyyyyy! I hope nothing happens! As far as me, I´m doing wonderful. The conference gave me the ENERGY and SPIRIT and WILL that I need to keep going. I hope all of you can do the same in Utah or wherever you may be in your lives. The gospel is SO true. Although things may not make sense... Although rules and principles may seem restricting... Take it from someone who is a missionary and sees thousands of problems daily. Obey everything. Love everything. It is the ONLY way!!!! I love all of you my family and friends who have helped me become who I am and get to this point in my life. It truly is a blessing. Much love, Elder Christensen!!!

ps Mom and dad  I LOVE YOU SO SO SO SO SOSOSOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH!!! YOU ARE IN MY THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS!! NOBODY HAS A BETTER FAMILY THAN I DO!!! Apply what you learned in conference!! Keep living every day the gospel in ALL of its forms. As a missionary my eyes have been OPENED WIDE. I hope yours can be the same. LOVE EACH OTHER and do all you can to strengthen your lives and love. Ciao... Elder Christensen.


A member made us apple pie ala mode!  Johnny Rockets got owned!!!  SO GOOD!!!!


Me in front of our conference TV. IT WAS ALL IN ENGLISH! It was WAY WAY WAY cool. There were only like 6 of us in there! Best ever. It was in the stake meeting room with comfy chairs!! LOVE YOU!!!



9/28/10 Hermana Christensen

Bottom line: I love to see the temple, i went inside... TODAY!

It was unbelievable! Holy hannah! No words. I am just so grateful for the temple. So unbelievably grateful. Stunning.

We have no time today; literally an hour or so left of pday and we've gotta grocery shop and do laundry. All is well!

It has been a week of weeks, let me tell you that. Before I left the mtc, my wisest wise 2nd counselor in the branch presidency told me the most important thing i could learn on my mission was the worth of a soul. I wrote home a few times about that I think. I am so grateful for this chance to be here to learn and see and feel how our heavenly father must really feel about us--each separately and individually as his children. This past week the woody family came to church. My heart was bursting as I saw all four of them sitting there, glowing in the chapel. On thursday our one person with a baptismal date dropped us; she found out about polygamy and gave it to us over the phone. She even told us to take back the book of mormon we'd brought her--sister story said that was a first. We sat in the car and just cried. We LOVE these people. It's this love I can't even describe, but i know you know what i'm talking about. It is this love that is a FRACTION of what our heavenly father feels for us. the worth of a soul--a SINGLE soul--is unimaginable! We cannot even understand what our father in heaven feels for us. My prayers this week have been full of thanks for this chance to see even the smallest view of this love... (i'm so sorry, the words aren't coming). it's amazing. I know this is the most valuable lesson I can learn while here on my mission. And i'm so grateful.

the rs broadcast? get out. it was amazing! I am SO excited for conference! Ah!
I hope everyone is happy and well. i love you guys. i'm sorry tihs is short and silly and poorly worded. just know my heart is brimming over with love for you--that's all i could think about on sunday when derek and dev were at the mobat, or when i was at the tmeple today. family is everything. i love you guys. i am SO grateful fo ryou. you're in my prayers! fele my love!

hermana christensen


Hermana C with Jen, Leanna, Derek and kids! (Devin msut be behind the camera!)

Hermanas Story & Christensen with the HUNSAKER FAMILIES!!!