Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Another Week of Great Blessings!

[Note from Carol Christensen, Susan's mom: Though Susan usually sends updates on Mondays, this week she sent it on a Wednesday instead!]


Wow! What a week! The best news is that I found out I am an aunt again. Welcome, Everett Mann Buhler! He is cute, just like his parents.

We finally found and changed houses and are much more comfortable. We were sharing a house with a monkey and a chicken coop in the back for 4 months and we are so much happier with our new house. (The chicken coop isn’t the real reason for the move. The family we shared the house with needed their space and they have 4 sons over the age of 18 which is not allowed.) The zone leaders assured us they would find a truck. To our surprise, at 7 am the day of the move they still hadn’t found one but were still confident that they could find one. We talked with our pensionista and in 5 minutes found a neighbor that had a truck they rented us. At 8:30 am, all the elders came and helped us load up our stuff. Everything happened so fast that I was surprised and grateful that Heavenly Father answered our prayer and helped us find the truck that we needed. Wow! And, I was grateful that all the elders came and helped us move.

Today the mission is officially divided into the Lima West and the Lima North mission. Hna. Reyes and I stay together in the same mission and in the same area. This is my 5th transfer here and I am happy to be here still. (It’s helpful to know the people, to know the area, and makes missionary work much less stressful.) We have our new mission president, from Ohio, and we will meet him at our interviews next week. We are sad for President and Sister Perez to leave because we love them so much, but we are going to welcome the new presidents. We are flexible and recognizing that a lot of things will change. It’s like entering a new mission for the first time. You just adjust to things.

Every June people here have their regional festival to celebrate the patron saint, San Juan. People make juanes, which is rice, chicken, and a hardboiled egg wrapped and steamed in a banana leaf. I asked about the origin of the dish, and they explained in the New Testament how the daughter of the king asked for the head of John the Baptist on a platter, for her mom’s revenge. The story is gruesome, but the food is delicious. I was served and ate 4 juanes in 24 hours (one for dinner, breakfast, lunch and dinner). Needless to say, I am thankful the festival is just once a year (and the families gave us even more, which we gave away to a family that had nothing to eat).

We were so impressed and happy with our recent convert, Victoria. She is continuing to read the Book of Mormon and already knew that Alma is the longest book. We explained about how the book is like a cake that you divide into sections (books, chapters, verses) and smaller sections. And, you enjoy the cake and share it with others. You don’t put it in a box under your bed and forget about it. She is so smart and is on fire. She will be a great missionary in 11 years. J All of her family is attending church, too, and they want to be baptized, but they have to get married first. I love this family.

Hermana Reyes is so cute and creative. She rapidly makes these thank you cards for the families that we eat lunch with out of cute mini photos. She and I are patas (that means best friends). It is so fun to work with her because we both are helping each other to improve, to work hard, and to bless many people’s lives. She is truly a blessing to me. Heavenly Father knows who needs to be my companion and at what point of my mission I am ready for each companion. We are focusing on remembering the tender mercies that God gives us every day. (Thanks for the suggestion, Mom. It makes a big difference.)

Have a great week!

Hna. Christensen

Monday, June 21, 2010

Forgiving Others

Hello family and friends!

Every day is different on the mission and every day we meet some interesting people and have interesting experiences.
Yesterday at church we gave our talks. I found it ironically appropriate to talk on the need for forgiveness on Father’s Day (Peru doesn’t really celebrate it. They explained to me that few peopIe here have fathers or want to honor their fathers. So sad, and I am even more grateful for the example of my dad and other dads who love their wives and their families). I spoke on the importance of forgiving within the family, the church, and forgiving oneself. Briefly:

1. Every person is in their own process of developing and learning and makes mistakes as part of the process (like a baby learning to walk). Rather than criticizing or begrudging someone, we need to look for their strengths and help them when they are down.

2. In marriage, be the first one to apologize. At church, welcome and love people. Don’t let anyone keep you from renewing your baptismal covenants, even if they really did say offensive things. Usually we offend without realizing it. It is not usually our intention.

3. Forgiving a spouse does not mean tolerating the cycle of abuse. Someone that really loves you will change. Abuse is not tolerable. (I was sad that I had to emphasize that point, but we meet so many women that are in bad situations, with a partner that is no good. I reread Jacob 2 and am sad that this chapter has so much meaning for so many people here).

4. Pray for the ability to forgive, it is a spiritual gift. Pray that God will take away the anger and hurt and replace it with love. God heals the broken heart.

5. We all need to forgive because we all need to be forgiven. When we receive the mercy from Christ and His atonement, it is easier for us to forgive others for their mistakes.

As always, we invited several specific families to church, and Hna. Reyes and I especially wrote these talks for them. As often happens, the people that really need to hear the message didn’t attend. I realized the importance of Visiting and Home teaching, to deliver the message to people that miss the message at church. We are going to share the message with them in their homes.
I am grateful for the gospel, that teaches the importance of respecting and honoring fathers, mothers, and children. It is the path of happiness in this life.

Love,
Hermana Christensen

Monday, June 14, 2010

Growth in People and in the Ward

The Panaifo family was baptized on Saturday. During the part of testimonies, it was so sweet to hear the testimonies of little 8 year old Fred and his brother, Luigi, 14. Luigi said that he felt a desire to be better, a change in his desires. Fred thanked the missionaries because his family was more united. I love this family. They have so little, yet they are willing to share what they have. I love the ward for arriving early to help clean the chapel and prep everything for the baptism. Not all wards are the same! We are working with this family so they can go to the temple in Lima and be sealed (it is a week’s travel in boat). What a great family.

The Stake is helping our little ward progress. They mandated that we have ward correlation weekly (something that will help the work improve a ton here) and we are asking for trainings for all of the organizations. I love this ward. Sometimes they get frustrated because things don’t work right, but things don’t work right if we don’t do them correctly! But, I understand them because I am learning a ton, too, from my own mistakes! I’m thankful for repentance. My companion said, reflecting is repentance. So true.
Have a great week!

Hna. Christensen

Monday, June 7, 2010

Enjoying the Work, the People, and the Rain!

Highlights:

We met this woman, Patty, who is interested in receiving the discussions. We met her baby and asked what his name was. Much to our surprise, she responded with, “Jose Smith.” Hna. Reyes and I turn to each other with excitement in our eyes. With a name like Jose Smith, this has got to be a sign!

We are teaching Percy (25) and Carlos (20). Carlos recently didn’t want to be baptized, as his friends from university were telling lies about the church (that we worship Joseph Smith, we don’t believe in God---there are so many misconceptions and lies about “the Mormons” that if people don’t investigate further it keeps them from receiving further truth, light and blessings). We invited them to a Family Home Evening in the house of some YSAs. The YSAs taught a lesson, we taught them some games, and we left. We got a report from the missionary leader that they stayed there until 10:00 pm, playing, and then asked questions from the members. The members were able to clear up their doubts and give them advice. Now, Carlos not only wants to change his baptism so it is one week earlier, but he wants to serve a full-time mission! Wow! What a turn-around!

The bishop has his 10th anniversary as bishop in our ward, and so we are helping organize a surprise party in his honor, with all the organizations giving a simple gift or thank you card. We are also helping the YSA get organized and function, and helping to train our ward missionaries. The laborers are few in this part of the vineyard, and they have about 4 callings a piece, so we try to do everything we can to encourage them and serve them. So many people are trying hard just to work all day to feed their families, it can be hard to add in a church calling.

Saturday night it began to rain. No, it began to pour. And we enjoyed every minute of it. The motocarristas would stop us and offer us a ride and we just kept on walking and delighting in the rain. We stopped at a store to ask for bags to protect our scriptures, and the lady offered us bread bags to put on our heads (mini poncho). We thanked her, put the bags on our heads and after we were out of sight, we took off the bags and walked in the rain some more.

I am grateful for my companion. She is teaching me and helping me so much. I love her!

God bless!

Hermana Christensen