My First Week as a "Real Missionary"!

I have had quite a few humbling moments this week, my first week as a real missionary.

I never thought I was very tall, until I came to Peru. Even in my flattest shoes, I am a whole head taller than my cute companion, Hna. Flores, who is from Bolivia. I was in the shower and my head kept on hitting the spigot. This ordinarily would not be a problem, except I got an electric shock every time I did. It took me 3 electric shocks before I realized what was going on! I think I must have burned quite a few brain cells from the shocks.

I understand pretty much of what's going on with the language, and was pretty confident in my language abilities....until I was talking with a member at church. He told me that his girlfriend had talked with me and said that I did not speak very well! He then offered to help with my Spanish. I was grateful someone said something, because it's too easy to get complacent and lazy and not actively work to improve my language skillz. Yes, the z in skillz was intentional.

I have discovered that Post its, not diamonds, are a missionary's best friend. It's amazing how people's eyes light up when I pull out a Post it. I give them one to write down questions they have as they read the Book of Mormon, or to leave little thank you notes. It is pretty cute to see.

I love the weather. It is about 60 to 65 degrees, but my poor companion is used to hotter weather. She says that the cold penetrates her bones. I am walking around without a jacket and am just terrified of what summer will bring. This weather is perfect.

The members of the church here rock. They are so supportive. We felt awkward (I was trying to teach my companion important English words, including awkward, but there are no real equivalents) because the Relief Society president passed around the calendar for meal sign ups (to feed the missionaries) and then announced (of her own initiative) a huge list of things that we could not eat, because it would make us fat, things like soda pop and mayonnaise! Now, all of the members ask us what we WOULD like to eat. I don't know how to say, I'm not picky, so I just try to explain that I can't eat raw vegetables, lettuce, or strawberries, or unpasteurized milk, because my body is not used to it.


Until next week!
Love, Hna. Christensen

Ready, set, go (to Peru)!

I have officially 4 minutes to type this, so please excuse any sentence fragments:

* I'm having companion withdrawal. My good friend, Hna. Karina Hernandez left this morning for Arizona. We've shared many a good time together, including cleaning the showers (Imagine goofy goggles and powerhoses...it's as fun as it sounds! :), keeping the elders in our district in line, and making and keeping goals together.

*I learned that it's important to be obedient. Selective obedience is not obedience. Obedience brings the Spirit.

*I beatboxed with my companion...the album will come forth shortly (will send audio clips when in Peru).

*I leave tomorrow (long plane ride) for Peru! No MTC, just straight to the campo.

Ok, love you, BYE!

Hna. C

More from the MTC--October 13, 2009

Funny Story: My companion, Hna. Hernandez, has a sensitive nose and can smell odors a mile away. She asked me, "What smells so bad?" And then she went around the room with a big bottle of air freshener, spraying everything in the room, including me! I immediately added to my big "to do list" (so she could see) the following items:

1. Forgive Hna. H for her disparaging attitude towards me
2. Pray for Hna. H to have more patience with me

We have so many good times together. She cracks me up, but keeps me in line. Love her.

Highlights: I saw Laura Christensen (from the Lawrence ward) 30 minutes before she was going to hop on a plane and go to Armenia. My comp and I were able to help her clean up her room a little and say goodbye to her before she left. What a tender mercy from God! We just happened to be vaccuuming on the 3rd floor that day (we live on the 4th).

Spiritual Thought: I did Spanish outbound calls at the MTC and talked with a man from Puerto Rico, Adalberto. I ended up talking with him about 47 minutes and shared with him about how faith is a choice. You have to choose to have faith. I told him about my process I've gone through (I think we are all going through this for the rest of our lives) about learning to develop faith. I encouraged him to pray every day, even if it's a prayer like, "I don't know if anyone's out there, but if there is, please let me know." I told him he can know God loves him by looking back at his life and seeing the times he has had mini-miracles in his life. Those don't just happen by accident.

Song: I like to write songs when I have spare moments. Those interested in more contemporary music will appreciate these lyrics I adapted (to the tune of Beyonce's "To the Left"):

"Choose the Right"

Choose the right, choose the right
(Repeat)
When you have a choice trust your inner light,
We all know that life can be so hard,
So seek some guidance from the living God..

Chorus:

The Lord must know 'bout me,
I know He must know me.
When I have a problem He will always bear it,
My heavy load with Him I'll share it.
Amen.......


"Read the Book" (Same tune as the last one, referring to the Book of Mormon)

Read the book, read the book (repeat)
We want to invite you to take a look.
It sounds so crazy, but it is for real,
We invite you to read it,
Then ask God as you kneel....

Chorus:

You must find out if it's true,
We are not bluffing you.
It will surely change your life if you do it,
Open your heart and let the Spirit through it.
Amen.............


I love you all! Choose the right!

Bienvenidos! (October 6, 2009)

I am sitting in the laundry room of the MTC, hurriedly typing this email, before I run out of time (a countdown clock is on the corner of my screen).

Brief update:

I love my companion. Her name is Karina Hernandez and she is from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. I knew we would be instant friends after a couple of instances; one, when I confessed that I loved cottage cheese, two, that I often get Backstreet Boys and N*SYNC songs stuck in my head, and three, after I wrote my own Gospel song based off of Alma 26 (just to clarify, when I say Gospel, I mean that Gladys Knight's choir could sing my song). I even made up a brief song to her to the tune of Copacabana (The chorus goes like this: "Es mi compa, mi companera, tambien se llama hermana, es mi compa, mi companera, es muy bonita y yo la Susita, es mi compa.........nera.) Please forgive my lack of correct accent marks in this email.

I'm not going to lie. This first week was hard. It was hard to get used to so many rules and to so much structure. For example, no music in the dorms (it's distracting to the neighbors), no flip flops outside of the dorms,etc. I felt like I was Maria, from The Sound of Music, who would rather run around and sing in the mountains (the line, "She's always late for everything, except for every meal" comes to mind) than sit in meetings all day. But, I'm adjusting. And, I know that while in Peru I will probably long for the days when I was at the MTC.......

My companion and I were super optimistic about getting up at 5:30 every day to go exercise and read our scriptures. That lasted one day, before we came to our senses and realized that we needed to get as much sleep as we could while we can!

I was surprised at how quickly I am learning Spanish！It is coming along pretty quickly, now, and my mind feels like a sponge, quickly picking up different words and phrases. Mi companera and I help keep each other in line with different goals that we've set, including on arriving early to class, exercise, language learning, lesson preparation, etc. I honestly couldn't ask for a better companion. She and I have helped our district (a class of 8 elders and she and I) to make district goals. We even made a chart to keep track of the progress we are making of things we need to memorize and we declared a "Spanish only" policy in the classroom, which everyone agreed to. We recognize that the MTC isn't just about helping ourselves to become more prepared missionaries, but about helping the young men become better prepared, as well.

General Conference was amazing and we have a devotional every Sunday and Tuesday. I am planning on joining the MTC choir. We'll see if that lasts longer than the 5:30 am exercise plan. :) I am studying the Book of Mormon and the New Testament and rejoicing in them (escudrinandoles), as they help me increase my faith in Jesus Christ and teach me how to become more like Him.