7/19/2011 Hermana Christensen

we went to the pier last week and it was stuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuunning!
the sweetest part was when sister park showed up and we passed a
 sweet rato juntas. sure love her!!! (here are your pics sissy. love you!!!)

are you anxious or what?!!!!!!

haha. we're staying. BALLIN!!!!!! LA MESA IS THE BIZZLE!!!! sinseriously loving my time here. sista lewis and i feel like the luckiest misioneras on all the planets in the infinite cosmos because we recognize what a celestial branch we have and HOW MUCH POTENTIAL there is in la mesa. holy hannah. so yeah! yay! staying! :)

it's been a beautiful week. but aren't they all?! i seriously looooooooove being a missionary! can i just tell you about yesterday? well, we had interviews with president, which was

wonderful. and then we OH WAIT. okay okay back up. so on sunday night we were winding down on time and we prayed about where to go; we had two ancient investigadores that we could've gone to. hna lewis felt like we should try felipe. so off we went and no one was freakin home. we'd driven out to the boons for that brown person (our area is way spread out because there is a super low density of latinos) and we were feeling all frustrated but (of course!) it was NOT in vain. as we were leaving, hurrying back to our car because groups of black people were yelling out to us (i feel like this is all sounding so very racist) and we thought our chastity was at stake... then a girl called out to us from out smoke cloud--"sisters!" ah! turns out she's a lost sheep needing to be rescued... hasn't been visited in over seven months and is super less active. she started crying as we told her that GOD HAD SENT US THERE FOR HER. she said the sweetest prayer and we set up a time to come back the next day (yesterday. gestern. ayer). sooo yesterday after entrevistas, we headed over there to her house, read that AMAZING talk from e perry from conf about sacrament and the sabbath and then invited her to church. quickie. she then went on an hour rant about why she doesn't go to church and how the profeta is evil and all this stuff and we were BLOWN AWAY. i have NEVER heard anyone say that anytime they look at the prophet they see an evil person... wow... but, through the spirit, we were able to ask some inspired qs and found out that she's tooootally against prop 8. and that was all part of her speal... and we sat there. and then. i don't know what happened but i felt the spirit PULSING out of me and i kinda rebuked her! kinda? ha. IT HAPPENED and it was hardcore. we brought EVERYTHING back to whether or not the church is true. WHO CARES about prop 8 or WHO CARES about what those people are doing and then blessing the sacrament WHO CARES what he or she calls you or how you got offended... the ONLY thing that matters is IF IT IS TRUE and if it is (AND MILLIONS KNOW THAT IT IS!!!) then YOU NEED TO GET BACK TO THE ORDINANCE OF THE SACRAMENT!!! the spirit was strong and she was quiet. we prayed and left and she texted us later saying she'd gone to see the bishop and feels much better. we will see what happens. but THEN. we were able to meet up with a member who isnt used much in the obra misional for some odd reason.. i have a real strong tug towards this guy... i love him a ton and, even though he's kinda vain and vulgar, i love his guts. he's got a way strong testimony of the restored gospel. so we took him over to an investigator's house that we haven't seen in aeons and guess what? MILAGRO!!! both the ma and the pa were in home! they wouldn't let us in, but we stood on the porch and talked about the wise man and the rock and the house that stayed and how the truth and what they are looking for is KNOCKING ON THEIR DOOR (LITERALLY!!!). then the member bore his testimony and did it SO perfectly so the husband could see that religion isnt' just for girls, and it was amaaaaaaaazing! but then, at the end, they still weren't interested. and it broke my heart! broke! ripped! destroyed! i could not believe it! even after allllllll that--even after how amazingly strong the spirit was and how perfect the situation was and how OBVIOUS it was--they STILL weren't interested? i'm tellin you. feeling this tiny portion of heavenly father's love for people makes me wonder how He does it. how does He take the rejection? how? and then! we got lost but were suuuper close to another antiguo investigador so we dropped by and knocked her door and found a skinny white guy with his shirt off. wrong. so she'd moved, but they guy was an exmormon. and he was ADAMANT that it's not true. he said he "figured it out" when he was 13 that the church wasn't true and he hoped we'd figure it out soon. i was STUNNED by his flagrant disregard for what we said and for how SURE he was that it wasn't true... it baffled me and i had no words. and it LITERALLY hurt me. like... hurt my heart! so we walked back and got into the car and i knew i hadn't done my job... so i asked sis lewis if we could go back and throw down a little. so we did. and i looked him straight in the eye and handed him a mormon.org card that says, "is there more to life than this?" and i told him, through tears!, that THERE WAS. sis lewis was so bold and told him there IS A GOD and that we are happier than we've EVER been and that he could have that same happiness too! he was taken aback by our boldness but didn't care. he kept saying, 'that's great. that's great" but kept his stiff neck held high. i begged him to remember that incident when he went looking--REALLY LOOKING--for the truth. he didn't say anything and we walked away. and it felt better. i read alma 30 today and was so incredibly impressed with how the anticristo was handled. alma let him talk, he let him get his garbage out of his system, and then he THREW DOWN! "there IS a God! do not tempt me or him because you've had signs ENOUGH. everything testifies of Him!" i want to be like alma. what a solid missionary who didn't worry about doing anything but what the father wanted. what a diligent, bold, daring, brave, FORWARD missionary. there was no wondering! but there was love. and i love that about alma. anyway, after that whole thing with mike we met lyn, a female racecar driver, then tried to find a few people who don't exist, then had a WAY intesnse convo with a less active who basically told us that she knows she's going to come back to church but doens't want to yet because she felt restricted growing up. i read THAT in alma 30, too. people think the church raises us to be "ignorant" or "naive" or whatever it may be. so far from the truth. anyway, it was a huge milestone in her journey and we are going to help her every step of the way. people just have to lay aside their dumb carnal desires (like worrying about prop 8 or not wanting to give up coffee or bringing up blacks and the priesthood or polygamy) and just focus on the TRUTH and what God wants them to do. and He wants them to participate in ordinances necessary for salvation. if you're not going to church, GO BACK. if you're not baptized, GET BAPTIZED. if you haven't entered the temple and you should've, GO TO THE TEMPLE. it's so simple. life is one straight, direct, narrow course back to Heavenly Father. we are the ones that make it complicated. SO UNCOMPLICATE IT!

that was one day in my life as a missonary. i love this. i love love love love LOVE it. and love doesn't even describe it! I LOVE being here. what a blessing. not even a sacrifice at all. so many blessings. so much happiness. no words.

thank you for your support and your love. i love you all. will you please continue to take out the clutter of life and uncomplicate things and return to the sweet and simple?

hermana christensen

I just need everyone to be knowing something. no longer will you need to worry about me always taking long showers. even though my hair is five feet longer somehow my showers are 26 times shorter. i'm down to three minutes. soo... yeah. believe it.

it's been awhile since i've given my shout out... on sunday i flipped open the ensign while eating lunch at the battalion and i saw "by small and simple things... mormon.org!" haha. and i (of course) thought of all of you. YEP. that is STILL something that the church wants all of us to do! i know it's a pain but will ya please do it? paaaaleeeeeeaaaase!

so this chair was at a famous ice cream place we've heard of for three transfers and finally went. um? sit at your own risk? haha. obesity!!!!!

ps. this week we're focusing on the christlike attribute of patience. it's AMAZING. seriously. i think this is such a good habit to get into, trying to develop a different christlike attribute. so i wanted to incite all of you to do the same!