8/30/2011 Hermana Christensen

we get to wear bonnets when we go talk to
people in old town! :)

my dearest friends!

aka my familia. mis seres queridos wow how mucho do i love you?!! so much! wowowow. okay okay okay let me just thank you, again, for your prayers. i know you've been with me this week! i've FELT IT!

second week in the rama already. what? i have no idea what is going on anymore. BUT. i do know that things are good! things are going well well really well and we are happy. i realized last week that i didn't say nothing about hermana ortez. she is AMAZING! freak! okay so she looks like jennifer love hewitt in her face, except imagine her mexican style. hermana's mom is from guadalajara mexico (where people think i'm from, which i accept gladly) and her pa's from el salvador. she's the FIRST missionary in her family! she is sooo good talking to people and is so friendly and open and outgoing. she's also really meek and humble and teachable and is taking all this in so well. she never seems to get stressed out and is literally the happiest person i know. she's really feminine and matchy and reminds me a ton of kaylynn. she's also pretty dang funny and says things like kay would. so that's a sweet tm to be think of my seester with mi hermana. both of whom i love. dearly! anyways. so she's wonderful and teaching me a lot.

i feel genuinely happy. it's been a difficult change, but, again, like i said last week, i'm grateful for the chance to grow and stretch.

very secure fence

we've been going around trying to meet the members and less actives and find NEW PEOPLE TO TEACH! and it's been going alright. i've realized that when it comes to this, to building an area, practically starting from scratch, you go back to the necesities of pmg. to work with ward leaders, to teach the restoration, to talk to everyone, and to ask EVERYONE for referrals... just the basics! i didn't always do all of that in la mesa.. or even in chula. but it's like here, there is no other way to grow the area than that! so that's what we're doing. the other day we were visiting a less active and her son and we talked to a guy out front gardening. and he is a BALLER. he came to church on sunday! hahah except he showed up about three and half hours late. aka he missed 100% of church. hahah we laughed way hard because it was SO uncomfortable for all of us since we cleeeeearly said church ended at four and then he was dropped off and lives kinda far away.. and his shirt was unbottoned way low... and he was checking out my companion... oh my! hahaha. but we found the guy a ride home and were able to meet with him later and teach him the restorash. and he was so stinkin open to it. it was awesome. he's met with missionaries before. but they pressured him to get baptized and he peaced. but he accepts that js was a profeta and that the bom is the palabra de dios. so that's ballin. we told him that we could tell him tons of things but he should ask god for himself--and he cut us off and said that he trusted that if we were lying god would let him know. it was neat to see that he has that open relash with his padre celestial that he could recognize that we were bearing a true message and that we were true messengers of god. it was beautiful.

then, we've tried passing by another less active a few times with no luck, but.. we talk to her neighbs! and we set up a cita with this one lady named olivia that we visited yesterday. we were talking to her when this guy appears then disappears. he came out and stood awkwardly in the hallway for a little while and then said he had a question he's wondered for a long time. he asked why the heck there were so many different churches and how we could know which one was true. haha. ooooh wow what a grrrrrrreat question! you just take a seat buddy, we'll tell you why. :) so we did. and it was beautiful. especially in the middle when he surprised us all by saying, "and so is this when joseph smith had the vision?" ................ huh? haha. yeah. so he's familiar. we'll be going back to teach him. he was way open and even cried a little bit in his prayer when we left saying how thankful he was that we'd come. wow. so things are going. slowly but surely, but they're coming!

this was about an hour ago. AT THE
BORDER OF MEXICO!!!!!!! SO SICK!!!

and the branch is awesome. really. they have so much stinkin potential. we had a party on saturday and people were showing up like two hours late.. and the guy who was going to bring the pollo or chicken forgot to come, so we had rice and fruit. hahah! so funny. but we got to be with them and hear some of their conversion stories and WOW. powerhouses. i don't know why it's been a branch for so long, but we are going to switch that up ASAP! the members are awesome. we just need to foster some lovin and they'll be good to go. :)

speaking of ramas and switching that... the blessed branch of la mesa third is going to be meeting in a CHAPEL for the first time on sunday!!!!!!!!! they will no longer be meeting in the gym (which was even a step up from the rs room!) nor combining with an english ward. they're going to be doing it ALL solo! that branch is growing SOOO MUCH!! and hna lewis told me hno roman blessed the sacrament on sunday. :) the church is true!
ah. all is well. i want to extend a super super simple invitation. talk to everyone. just do it. even a hello. you'll be surprised what will happen! i love you dearly and am so grateful to have you!

hermana christensen

hel 14:13