10/25/2011 Hermana Christensen

it's been really misty here these past few days and this looks SO COOL!

oh my familia!

so much love! holy cow! i am. SO. GRATEFUL! and excited about alllllll the profiles!! madre bay i'm so sorry! i remember you giving me the code to get on it, but i thought it was still in the works! and dad and bro! AH! i'm making a list of all of your profiles so i can have it at the ready. gramps thanks so much!!! and uncles... wow. you guys are the best. thanks so much for doing it! i'm sorry it was a difficult assignment. was it just hard to know what to say? or like literally the site was difficult? i'm sorry! i've heard it was kinda slow and stuff. but hey! you're heeding the prophet's call, so more
blessings to you! at gold panning sometimes i invite the parents of missionaries to make profiles bc the missionaries can show their investigators and people that mormons are NORMAL people! it's so powerful. i'm so excited about it, so thanks a million!

wwow. what a week it has BEEN!!! i just want to pause and say first off how happy i am. things... wow. really. things are going so well. our area is coming along poco a poquito but it's SO SATISFYING! and i feel like i need to give a huge shout out to hermana ortez. she is seriously the BEST thing ever. i feel like, with her, i am happier than ever. not that my other compas aren't bombsauce or anything, but there's something so special and so perfect about her for me at this time of my life and mission. I feel like she inspires and helps me to be my very best... and we are ALWAYS laughing. life is always so good and we are just so happy! and the Lord has really blessed us to get onto the same page in every way! like with waking up early to go exercise and to teach together and to want ice cream at exactly the same moment.. hahah. but seriously. i'm just so happy and feel so blessed that we're companions! thank you mama madera!

this is us five seconds ago at the templo

we had a BEAUTIFUL i repeat beautiful week. some highlights:

1: on sunday we went to an appointment we had with a lady in la jolla who is AWESOME. after her recent divorce, she's grown so close to the Savior and she is now in medical school so she can go to Africa and serve people there. wow. so we taught her about the restoration on sunday and it was probably the best lesson i've ever been a part of. the spirit was SO STRONG and everything just flowed together and her questions were so perfect and wow. there were also these amazing analogies that just painted it all so perfectly.. wow. she said herself that she feels like her life has been like a puzzle and the pieces are all coming together and she's so happy.. and I looked at her and got all emotional and told her that it wasn't coincidence that we were led to her at THIS time when the puzzle pieces were arranging as they were... and that she was missing the CENTER, the prettiest, most rewarding part of her puzzle! ... and that's what WE OFFER! she looked stunned and the spirit totally touched all of our hearts and wow. it was incredible. and i loved that analogy that we used all throughout the lesson. the gospel and alllll the knowledge and blessings we get from it is EVERYTHING! it's like the picture of the puzzle! kaylynn and i always used to do the edges first... but so that's what life is like without the gospel. you've freaking got nothing! you can't even see the beauty and the beast picture! or the little mermaid one! (those were always my faves) but with the gospel... it all justmakes sense and life is SO COMPLETE AND GRATIFYING.



this is that cute scarf padres! thanks so much! i love it!

 2. sunday night we went for another cita with a bomb lady who lives right by the beach. haha. as we were headin in, we saw the lights on in one of our less actives house. gasp. we went to her door, knocked and she was there! we had this joyous moment but we HAD to get to our cita... so we invited her to come! she was kinda weird about it at first, but she came and wowowoowow. the lord put these two ladies RIGHT NEXT DOOR to each other for how long? and they are perfect for each other and thye're just BARELY finding it out! the less active has been trying to get work off foreverrrrrr ( that is the hugest problem with linda vista. EVERYONE WORKS SUNDAY. its never been such a huge struggle before, in any of my areas!)... and turns out THIS SUNDAY she has off! so she invited the investigator and wow. the whole lesson they laughed because we kept referring to them as best friends, but i think they really will be! it was so neat to see the hand of the Lord just leading and guiding the work that night. and wow. everyone was edified. the investigator, the less active, the missionaries...!

3. the battalion continues to be sacred ground for me. i have been blessed to take these tours lately that have inspired and uplifted me SO much. i can't even tell you. the battalion is SUCH a haven for me. and somehow the people that come there are there for me to teach them? i think it's the other way around! (ps it was so fun seeing the dyers! and ma, sister dyer was wearing toms and she said you'd inspired her!) anyway. i love my call and i love the battalion.

4. also on sunday (the other days of the week were good, too, promise!) we taught gospel principles (we don't have a teacher and we always forget to ask someone/the elders so we just do it).. and we felt like we should teach about repentance. well, unfortunately none of our investigators came booooooo but we taught a less active. and wow. i share this with such tenderness and such ... well, it's sacred. we were in this tiny little room and the spririt was there, but this lady asked a question about how she can't forgive someone and the spirit kicked me HARD core to speak. so i did. and a little tidbit of my mom's story came out. and then i was crying. and the spirit was soo strong and i was so grateful to be able to testify of my mother who, after years of not being able to forgive and being hindered by that, was able, through the atonement, to forgive and let go... wow. she is a NEW. PERSON. and she is full of life. and she is happy. and my family? is.. wow! we are so happy. the spirit taught her and taught us. it was beautiful. thank you so much mom.

all is well. life is bliss. thank you for all your love and support. love my family so mucho. hope halloween is boring without me and kurtis but that you eat a delicious shake with the candy you get. haha. love you all!

hermana christensen

dyc 136:11

ps this was a really special tour we took. so the little boy, jackson, was sent to san diego like three years ago by make a wish. he was born and the doctors misdiagnosed or did'nt diagnose something and so he  lost all of his motor skills as a small boy. he understands everything but can't respond or move his body how he wishes he could. so sad. but these parents and the sister were AMAZING. it was neat to see how strong the family was even through their trials. we all four lifted his stroller up onto a stool so it could balance for a sec while we took a picture. it was really special.