I am sorry I did not write last week, as the Internet was slow and it would not permit me to check my email. The good news, however, is that I checked my email after 2 weeks, and the feedback that I got is that people actually read my updates. Whoa! That’s motivation to have even cooler mission stories to share. Thank you to my loyal readership.
This Sunday we brought our investigators Esterdrith and Dolly to church. As we arrived, Percy, our ward mission leader approached us. “Did the Bishop let you know that you both are giving talks in church today?” We looked at each other and shook our heads, no. “Well, at least we know now and have time to prepare!” we said. Hna. Tepen gave a talk on love and I gave a talk on the power of our thoughts. We choose our thoughts, and our thoughts determine our experiences in this life. We can choose to fuel our frustration with angry complaints and criticism or we can choose to be content with expressions of gratitude and love. The irony is that I always tend to give talks or make comments in church of things that I need to work on. I felt like I was giving myself that talk more than anyone else.
We are teaching so many good people. Jarlin, 25, is a teacher and every missionary’s dream investigator. We gave him homework, and he studies and understands the gospel rapidly. The only thing that is a challenge for him is that he is going to leave next week for 10 months! He is a teacher in a tiny city on the border of Brazil and Peru. We told him, “We are going to give you homework assignments. You get to read the Book of Mormon, 8 times!” We are sending him with a study notebook, too. Hna. Tepen is going to write him via email after the mission to make sure he keeps on doing his homework assignments (there are no ulterior motives!!!). Long distance education is wonderful.
I am going to miss Hna. Tepen. She is finishing her mission in Lima, in the same zone where I began my mission. I start singing Lion King’s “Circle of Life” because the mission life cycle is completed, in a sense. She has taught me so much. Because she loves me, she tells me clearly how I need to repent, but she does it with so much love, that I only have appreciation that she has the guts to tell me. I am going to miss that kid. She is amazing. ;) I am going to stay here in Iquitos, but I have a new companion, Hna. Duarte. I bet she is amazing. I feel a little weird because I am senior companion. I wish I had paid more attention to where the houses are! Yikes! Pray for me!
Choose the right!
Love, Hna. Christensen
Monday, February 22, 2010
Monday, February 8, 2010
"Good News" in and from the Jungle!
Shout outs this week: Happy birthday to my sister Lisa (Feb. 9)! I love you! Congratulations to my friends Kay and Ernie Wilkins, who are celebrating their 1 year wedding anniversary this Valentine’s Day (Sunday). I love you, too!
We are happy in our new area. I’m sorry to disappoint everyone again, but this tiny city of mine (Iquitos) in the jungle has 1 million people! There are a couple of houses built out of wood on poles, for when the tide comes in, and a couple of houses with thatched roofs, but we live in a city with paved roads, internet cafes, and ice cream vendors on bicycles. Sorry to disappoint everyone. However, the threat of dengue is real, and we only have water in the morning for a couple of hours. That’s kind of adventurish, no?We have the support of the Bishop and of the members, which makes all the difference. They know that we are here to work with them and support them in their plans, and help them in their responsibilities.
Retention here is a huge problem. In our ward there are 300 baptized young single adults, and only 7 that are active. Ouch! Part of the problem is that former missionaries taught and baptized young people. When the missionaries left, the young people didn’t have any friends in the church. They would enter in the front door and leave out the back. They would attend their baptism and confirmation and never come back to church. Hna. Tepen and I have the same philosophy---we don’t want baptisms, we want real conversions. We don’t baptize little kids that don’t have the support of their parents and won’t be able to progress and keep their baptismal covenants.
Hna. Tepen is the best, because she is making me learn the streets and how to find the houses of the members. Also, I never liked making street contacts in Lima, because I wasn’t good at them and the people rejected us. However, we have found many good people here that accept appointments with the missionaries. This motivates me to contact people and it strengthens my faith that the Lord puts people that are prepared in our path when we do our part and open our mouths.
Hna. Tepen is a powerhouse missionary. She is so humble and so experienced, and she is teaching me so much every day and motivating me to be the best I can be. We have so much unity and I want to cry when I think that we only have 3 weeks left together (she is finishing her mission, probably in Lima). When we teach together, we both feel the Spirit so powerfully, testifying that these things are true. We know that the investigators can feel the same Spirit. It is heavenly.
However, I’m afraid that I have corrupted her by teaching her English slang, such as “ you’re da bomb”, “your face” and “Oh, brother.” I had forgotten that I had taught her these things. Once, she said, “Oh, brother” and rolled her eyes and I stopped and stared at her. “Who taught you that?” I demanded (I was kidding). “You did,” she told me. “I don’t think so. I think one of your other companions taught you that.” Now I have a sassy teenager on my hands. We joke around a lot, which is a lot of fun. We work diligently together and I learned that missionary work is work, but it’s also a lot of fun.
Keep the commandments, but only if you want to be happy and want God to bless you.
Hermana Christensen
We are happy in our new area. I’m sorry to disappoint everyone again, but this tiny city of mine (Iquitos) in the jungle has 1 million people! There are a couple of houses built out of wood on poles, for when the tide comes in, and a couple of houses with thatched roofs, but we live in a city with paved roads, internet cafes, and ice cream vendors on bicycles. Sorry to disappoint everyone. However, the threat of dengue is real, and we only have water in the morning for a couple of hours. That’s kind of adventurish, no?We have the support of the Bishop and of the members, which makes all the difference. They know that we are here to work with them and support them in their plans, and help them in their responsibilities.
Retention here is a huge problem. In our ward there are 300 baptized young single adults, and only 7 that are active. Ouch! Part of the problem is that former missionaries taught and baptized young people. When the missionaries left, the young people didn’t have any friends in the church. They would enter in the front door and leave out the back. They would attend their baptism and confirmation and never come back to church. Hna. Tepen and I have the same philosophy---we don’t want baptisms, we want real conversions. We don’t baptize little kids that don’t have the support of their parents and won’t be able to progress and keep their baptismal covenants.
Hna. Tepen is the best, because she is making me learn the streets and how to find the houses of the members. Also, I never liked making street contacts in Lima, because I wasn’t good at them and the people rejected us. However, we have found many good people here that accept appointments with the missionaries. This motivates me to contact people and it strengthens my faith that the Lord puts people that are prepared in our path when we do our part and open our mouths.
Hna. Tepen is a powerhouse missionary. She is so humble and so experienced, and she is teaching me so much every day and motivating me to be the best I can be. We have so much unity and I want to cry when I think that we only have 3 weeks left together (she is finishing her mission, probably in Lima). When we teach together, we both feel the Spirit so powerfully, testifying that these things are true. We know that the investigators can feel the same Spirit. It is heavenly.
However, I’m afraid that I have corrupted her by teaching her English slang, such as “ you’re da bomb”, “your face” and “Oh, brother.” I had forgotten that I had taught her these things. Once, she said, “Oh, brother” and rolled her eyes and I stopped and stared at her. “Who taught you that?” I demanded (I was kidding). “You did,” she told me. “I don’t think so. I think one of your other companions taught you that.” Now I have a sassy teenager on my hands. We joke around a lot, which is a lot of fun. We work diligently together and I learned that missionary work is work, but it’s also a lot of fun.
Keep the commandments, but only if you want to be happy and want God to bless you.
Hermana Christensen
Monday, February 1, 2010
Transferred--but Still in the Jungle!
On Tuesday night at 10 pm we received notice that we were being transferred to a new location as part of an emergency transfer. As we packed and scrambled to prepare everything for the new missionaries, we thought of all the possible reasons why we were being transferred. "It's because we complained about the food to the zone leaders, or because we arrived late that one time. Maybe we have 5 people who are stalking us that we don't know about" (the most realistic explanation). Our leaders assured us that if we had done something wrong they wouldn't have kept us together. So, we are in our new city (technically the jungle) and still together. Turns out, a couple of young men were in love with and fighting over the other missionaries, so they had to leave and quickly.
Open mouth, insert foot. We were at our first meeting with our new zone when I met all the missionaries, including Elder Delgado (his last name means "skinny" or "slender" in Spanish). Since Hna. Tepen and I had been enjoying the Peruvian food a little too much, the first thing I say to Elder Delgado is "Oh, Elder. I need your last name" (meaning, I need to go on a diet and lose some weight). As soon as the words leave from my mouth, I realize that they could be misinterpreted as a marriage proposal. No, I am not hitting on the elders in my zone. But, I thought, perhaps this has happened in the past. Could this be the real reason for our emergency transfer??? (ha ha)
The first thing I noticed in my new area is the heat. "The sun doesn't burn" my darker-skinned Latina companions told me. What they should have added was, "The sun doesn't burn my skin." I can attest that the sun does burn. I forgot to put sunscreen on my arms one day and watched in amazement as my skin went from pasty white to lobster red in 5 minutes. I'm not even exaggerating. But, I learned my lesson. And, I am going to ask permission to use an umbrella. The good news is that it is not hot all of the time. Every so often, it will randomly begin to pour buckets of rain, which cools down everything. Also, this is the month of Carnaval, which is one huge water fight. Kids stand on the corners with their water balloons and their water guns, ready to drench unsuspecting pedestrians or motorists, including missionaries. Hna. Tepen and I joked about how we will empty our bags of scriptures and instead fill it with water balloons, to defend ourselves. As that is not an option, however, we avoid the corners with the Carnaval participants.
I'm sad to leave my old area, because we were working hard and had people we were teaching. We also loved our zone (we were 8 and unified). I am sure that the new missionaries will do a good job in taking over the area. It's difficult to start from scratch here, but I am learning lessons in humility. We have accepted that we are here, and we are going to work hard and have success. Even though it is difficult, we try not to compare the areas, because every experience and area is different. Learning to accept change is part of life.
Oh, and in case anyone wondered, Hna. Tepen celebrated her first Kansas Day on Jan. 29. I sang "Home on the Range" in a western twangy accent and we ate chocolate. These things are important.
Hna. Christensen
Open mouth, insert foot. We were at our first meeting with our new zone when I met all the missionaries, including Elder Delgado (his last name means "skinny" or "slender" in Spanish). Since Hna. Tepen and I had been enjoying the Peruvian food a little too much, the first thing I say to Elder Delgado is "Oh, Elder. I need your last name" (meaning, I need to go on a diet and lose some weight). As soon as the words leave from my mouth, I realize that they could be misinterpreted as a marriage proposal. No, I am not hitting on the elders in my zone. But, I thought, perhaps this has happened in the past. Could this be the real reason for our emergency transfer??? (ha ha)
The first thing I noticed in my new area is the heat. "The sun doesn't burn" my darker-skinned Latina companions told me. What they should have added was, "The sun doesn't burn my skin." I can attest that the sun does burn. I forgot to put sunscreen on my arms one day and watched in amazement as my skin went from pasty white to lobster red in 5 minutes. I'm not even exaggerating. But, I learned my lesson. And, I am going to ask permission to use an umbrella. The good news is that it is not hot all of the time. Every so often, it will randomly begin to pour buckets of rain, which cools down everything. Also, this is the month of Carnaval, which is one huge water fight. Kids stand on the corners with their water balloons and their water guns, ready to drench unsuspecting pedestrians or motorists, including missionaries. Hna. Tepen and I joked about how we will empty our bags of scriptures and instead fill it with water balloons, to defend ourselves. As that is not an option, however, we avoid the corners with the Carnaval participants.
I'm sad to leave my old area, because we were working hard and had people we were teaching. We also loved our zone (we were 8 and unified). I am sure that the new missionaries will do a good job in taking over the area. It's difficult to start from scratch here, but I am learning lessons in humility. We have accepted that we are here, and we are going to work hard and have success. Even though it is difficult, we try not to compare the areas, because every experience and area is different. Learning to accept change is part of life.
Oh, and in case anyone wondered, Hna. Tepen celebrated her first Kansas Day on Jan. 29. I sang "Home on the Range" in a western twangy accent and we ate chocolate. These things are important.
Hna. Christensen
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