Tuesday, December 6, 2011

12/6/2011 Hermana Christensen "Always"

awww a bunch of battalion sisters after shift
Oh my dearest darlingest familia!

what an amazing week. holy hannah. i feel like i have so much to tell you i don't know where to begin! haha.


me in my fave place: the BATTALION!!!!
 just chillin after our meeting
so on thursday we had a bomb
lesson with our golden family... FINALLY. haha. what went down was one of our rockin members invited them over for a carne asada. and what's cool is that this family went through a lot of the same probs that our golden familiy is going through... but they overcame with the gospel and are getting SEALED on saturday! so they can testify hardcore of the power of the atonement and how the gospel blesses families. it was amazing. really. we watched the "remember lots wife" mmessage and then our member just started in promising them blessings. and then there was another solid family there that also testified hardcore, and it almost turned into everyone promising this family tons of change and blessings and ahhh. i think she felt a little overwhelmed because there were a LOT of us and one of her arguing her point... but it was wonderful. it was also a bday party so it was deeeeeeeelicious and we just had a fiesta. and tonight we're having another one. YES!!! anyway. the family is coming.... kind of. we're nervous about it. they aren't keeping their committments and stuff. agency is SO HARD. it's so hard. i'm so grateful for it. but i hate watching people use their agency like this. it's killing me. i love that family so much! keep the salvador fam in your prayers.
sunset... from our apartment!

i had a really bomb study the other day. i was delving into perseverar hasta el fin (enduring) and i came down to this gorgeous conclusion as we studied in pme capitulo 13 about strengthening new converts/ less actives. go check it out. but okay so look at this. it says that these people need to have an amigo, an assignment and be nutridos por la palabra de dios. so i was thinking about this and they need to be taught about the gospel of christ... they need to unerstand that restoration especially and then all the commandments. aka so they can be obedient and perseverar verdad que si? okay so then what do they need? they need to be given opportunities to serve. mosiah 2:17 right? okay so then check this out... as they serve others their own testimonio va aumentando and they are able to... PERSEVERAR! so then look at what we've got here! our conversos recientes need to understand what exactly the gospel is so they can keep the commandments and be obedient--which is how we show our love for our heavenly father. and then they need to serve others by sharing the gospel and serving in different capacities and callings... is this sounding like the two greatest commandments to anyone else out there?! LOVE GOD (by being obedient to him and keeping his commandments! that's why we teach lessons 1-5 after their baptized so they CAN do that!) and to LOVE THY NEIGHBOR?! it was so cool. the gospel is... SO COOL. it is so full! it is SO TRUE!

your caramel!!
 ready for a beautiful story? okay so remember how the solanos (the couple helping us with our golden family) are getting sealed on friday? well, we aren't allowed to go to that becuase we're not the missionaries who taught them. BUT. remember ENRIQUE HERNAN GONZALES?!!! my chilean father?! WELP! he's receiving his endowment on... FRIDAY AT 8!!!!!!!! hahah i am THRILLED that it all worked out and i'm just hoping that they'll be in the same session. and so, beacuse he's my convert, WE GET TO GO!!!! we get to go see my sheave taken to the garner! i am just EXPLODING with joy here!!!! and it'll be in spanish, too. :) can't wait. heavenly father is so generous! pics to come.

something else about His generosity towards me. this past week, well, it's been good of course, but it's been hard. we feel like we worked our TAILS off all weekend to get people with dates and at church and stuff, and then, last minute, they all fall through. they CANNOT progress unless they come to church! and i'm feeling like a failure of a missionary over here because no one is coming to church... how are they supposed to progress towards baptism! anyway, so me and my misery are sitting in sacrament feeling miserable as alma 30:60 haha not really but you know what i mean... i'm feeling all sad and discouraged, hearing hermana mccullough in my mind from earlier in the morning when she asked, 'are we not working hard enough?"... when into the reunion sacramental walks our good friends alberto, monica and olivia. I GASPED AUDIBLY!!!!!!!! hahahah of COURSE! Heavenly father NEVER lets me be sad for too long! i'm telling you! on thursday we were headed to go visit someone in our plans, but it didn't feel right. i am trying SO HARD to follow the spirit and be an effective missionary who heeds myf ather's promptings, so we pulled over and prayed and felt like we should go visit alberto. this guy has so much potential and has met with missionaries for like 10 years off and on.. anyway, he's not progressing so it was going to be the charla franca. we go and had the most beautiful lesson. and the spirit was strong. he cried and said he wants to change, and accepted the baptismal invitation. so he comes to church with his inactive roommate and another investigator and they loved it. i was just... i was so happy. i was so full of gratitude for my heavenly father and his infinite patience and love and GENEROSITY. i know i'm a weak missionary and i know i mess up and i could be so much stinkin better it's discouraging, BUT! he knows that i'm trying. he knows that i'm esforzandome al maximo and so what does he do? blesses me way more than i deserve. :) ah. so there's that. we'll see what happens with our dear friends! bottom line: heavenly father loves us! we just do our part and wait for the blessings ... and they'll come! and oh, they will be sweet! so this week, when you're feelin down, just think what more could you do to esforzarse, do it, and then wait. you'll feel better after that, and you'll feel EVEN BETTER when you see the blessings!
these are the three families: the salvadors,
 solano y aguilar after our riiiiiiiiiiico
carne asada. oooooooooh!


life's a bowl of cherries. i love being a missionary more than anything. thank you for the support and emails! i sure love you guys! hope you have a GREAT week!!!

hermana christensen
the woodburys took us to el torito!

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