What a great week! This week we could really see the fruits of our labors. Sometimes we work and don’t see results, but this week was very meaningful.
We have the help of the members and we are doing a ton of Family Home Evenings. When the members accompany us we reward them (bribe?) with chocolate (most recently hard candies because they are more economical) and we let them experience the joy of missionary work. The work is great when the members accompany us and share their testimonies because it helps fortify their faith, too.
At church, Consuelo shared her testimony of tithing. “My kids were crying because we didn’t have money to buy food and I knelt and prayed for help. My husband got a job and we had to choose to pay our tithing or eat for the next week. We paid our tithing. I don’t know how it’s possible, but we survived for 2 weeks on 1 sol (1 dollar).” Wow! What faith!
I loved the lesson with Aldo and his family, because he has so many questions. Every 5 minutes he would interrupt with more questions. “What’s a prophet? Who’s Joseph Smith? How do you know if the Plan of Salvation is real?” He lost his faith when he lost his baby son, and we shared with him a verse in Doctrine and Covenants 137 about how his baby is with God and will inherit the Celestial Kingdom. He was content to know that his son is in a good place. Also, we shared with him how the Book of Mormon answers those questions that he has had for years. What happens after this life? What is the purpose of this life? Who is God? He was grateful for his Book of Mormon. I love the scriptures.
We are seeing changes in our ward, thanks to the new bishopric. They reminded the members that they need to stay the entire block of meetings, and not leave after sacrament meeting. We met with the bishopric and are now working with the strong families of our ward to reach out to the weaker families in the ward. We are seeing major changes and we are so grateful. Wow! What a turn around!
It’s cold here. Legitimately cold. I think I’ve lost 2 kilos because of all the shivering! As a result, I have instinctively started singing Christmas carols (Madrigals style “Deck the Halls” and “Betelehemu” and THS Band Style “The Hannukah Song” and the Mannheim Steamroller Christmas medley. Do those count as hymns?). Christmas in July is the best.
Love,
Hermana Christensen
Monday, July 19, 2010
Monday, July 12, 2010
More Progress, Miracles, and Joy
Highlights of the Week
Zaida, our recent convert and mother of 5 accompanied us to a lesson and gave her simple and beautiful testimony.. “I am so happy. We don’t have anything, but we are happy.” We were happy because her son, Percy, was so rebellious and didn’t want to be baptized if it made his mom happy. However, several ward members intervened and adopted their family, inviting them to Family Home Evenings and visiting them. When we saw Percy yesterday we were so surprised to see the change. “What happened? Why are you so happy?” He has changed and is happy and loving. The power of love from the members. Wow. What a change.
Several families wondered, “Why was the church so full today in sacrament meeting?” I responded, “It’s because today is the championship game of the World Cup and everyone wants to be obedient so their favorite team wins.” Before every prayer yesterday I jokingly asked, “Which team should we pray for? Spain or Holland?” Apparently, the faith and prayers were stronger for Spain as they won (3-2).
The little kids of the neighborhood still continue to follow us around and call us “gringa” and so yesterday we decided to joke with them (like Karen tricked Lili). “I’m not white, I’m Chinese” (No soy gringa, soy china!). I then spoke to them in the 4 Chinese phrases I know. They believed me and now they call me “China, china!” instead of “gringa.”
We had interviews with Pres. Blunck last week and his family. They are from Oregon and are amazing. They are pretty laid-back and have a lot of trust and love for us. Pres. Blunck said that they might keep Hna. Reyes and I together here in the jungle for 6 months (I already have 5 months here…who knows what will happen).
We are teaching families in Aguaje, an area with houses built on stilts. We weren’t able to teach them for months, because the area was covered in water, and the only way to cross is in canoe. Now, everything is dry and we met an amazing family, Sadit and Romulo, and have had several Family Home Evenings with them with the member families that live close by. We are really seeing miracles with the families of Aguaje.
We are seeing major hermanamiento (fellowshipping) with the famliies in this ward. It makes all the difference. We combine Family Home Evenings with them and have a lot of fun being creative and remembering every game I have played for the past 5 years in BYU FHEs. With the members, we help each family create their own mission plan in family (thank you for the idea, from my home ward, Sherwood Ward). What do they want to do daily, weekly, and monthly. We taught the difference between a wish and a goal. You have to answer que, porque and cuando. (What do you want to accomplish, why, and when?).
I have discovered that buying little water balloons is probably one of the best investments in the mission. We use them in our lessons, with our activities and games for FHE, for zone activities (we played water balloon volleyball last Pday and everyone at the beach stopped playing in the water to watch us. They had never seen anything like it before). Also, it’s amazing how buying little hard candies makes a big difference. We give them away to the mototaxistas and it really brightens up their day (they work from 6 am to 9 pm every day and sometimes barely make enough to cover their costs. The job market is stiff here).
Have a great week!
Hermana Christensen
Zaida, our recent convert and mother of 5 accompanied us to a lesson and gave her simple and beautiful testimony.. “I am so happy. We don’t have anything, but we are happy.” We were happy because her son, Percy, was so rebellious and didn’t want to be baptized if it made his mom happy. However, several ward members intervened and adopted their family, inviting them to Family Home Evenings and visiting them. When we saw Percy yesterday we were so surprised to see the change. “What happened? Why are you so happy?” He has changed and is happy and loving. The power of love from the members. Wow. What a change.
Several families wondered, “Why was the church so full today in sacrament meeting?” I responded, “It’s because today is the championship game of the World Cup and everyone wants to be obedient so their favorite team wins.” Before every prayer yesterday I jokingly asked, “Which team should we pray for? Spain or Holland?” Apparently, the faith and prayers were stronger for Spain as they won (3-2).
The little kids of the neighborhood still continue to follow us around and call us “gringa” and so yesterday we decided to joke with them (like Karen tricked Lili). “I’m not white, I’m Chinese” (No soy gringa, soy china!). I then spoke to them in the 4 Chinese phrases I know. They believed me and now they call me “China, china!” instead of “gringa.”
We had interviews with Pres. Blunck last week and his family. They are from Oregon and are amazing. They are pretty laid-back and have a lot of trust and love for us. Pres. Blunck said that they might keep Hna. Reyes and I together here in the jungle for 6 months (I already have 5 months here…who knows what will happen).
We are teaching families in Aguaje, an area with houses built on stilts. We weren’t able to teach them for months, because the area was covered in water, and the only way to cross is in canoe. Now, everything is dry and we met an amazing family, Sadit and Romulo, and have had several Family Home Evenings with them with the member families that live close by. We are really seeing miracles with the families of Aguaje.
We are seeing major hermanamiento (fellowshipping) with the famliies in this ward. It makes all the difference. We combine Family Home Evenings with them and have a lot of fun being creative and remembering every game I have played for the past 5 years in BYU FHEs. With the members, we help each family create their own mission plan in family (thank you for the idea, from my home ward, Sherwood Ward). What do they want to do daily, weekly, and monthly. We taught the difference between a wish and a goal. You have to answer que, porque and cuando. (What do you want to accomplish, why, and when?).
I have discovered that buying little water balloons is probably one of the best investments in the mission. We use them in our lessons, with our activities and games for FHE, for zone activities (we played water balloon volleyball last Pday and everyone at the beach stopped playing in the water to watch us. They had never seen anything like it before). Also, it’s amazing how buying little hard candies makes a big difference. We give them away to the mototaxistas and it really brightens up their day (they work from 6 am to 9 pm every day and sometimes barely make enough to cover their costs. The job market is stiff here).
Have a great week!
Hermana Christensen
Monday, July 5, 2010
An Amazing Week!
Personal Shoutouts:
Happy Birthday to my Grandpa (7 of July) this week. Happy, happy, 4 July, God bless America! Also, I was reading the Liahona and read an article by my Freshman Academy friend Liz Stitt titled “You already Know.” We were eating lunch on Sunday and I saw a picture of Hna. Lewis. (Last year I worked with her sister at BYU Education Week and she helped me a ton to know what to bring on the mission.). I knew it was her, because I saw the same bag in the photo that she recommended that I bring on the mission. The Huanci family sends “saludos y mucho cariño” and memories of eating tacacho. Also, they want you to know that they are still active in the church. What a special family. We are teaching her cousin next week.
Hermana Reyes and I stay here in the jungle for another transfer, and we stay in the Mission Lima Peru North. Tomorrow we have our interviews with Pres. Blunck (from Oregon). He is young (45) and sounds really on top of everything.
We found out that we have pension (breakfast) with the same family as our zone leaders. At first we were weirded out and asked, “Is that even allowed?” However, there are advantages. If we have questions, we know we can ask them the next morning. We say, jokingly, “Now there are 4 zone leaders!” Hna. Reyes and I joke about how we are the zone leaders for all of the sisters in the jungle of Iquitos. (We are the only hermanas here in all of Iquitos!)
Wow. I cannot describe how amazing this week has been. For our talent show on Friday, I wrote a musical to teach the ward members that we need their support. It was in the style of Moulin Rouge, where they adapt and combine the lyrics of well known-songs. I was grateful for the many years of Spanish classes where we learned a variety of songs. The musical is called “A day in the life of 2 missionaries.” As part of the sketch, we were knocking on doors without success. We started tapping on the door the beginning beat of Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” and began singing about knocking doors. The best part was that when the people opened the door (creaking sound and all), they were zombies and began doing the Thriller dance, singing about how they were busy and didn’t want to listen to our message. It sounds weird, I know, but the people loved it. And, the ward members are more involved with helping us. The next activity will be a “noche de placas,” an activity for the ex- and pre-missionaries to share stories, advice, etc. The purpose is to animate the pre-missionaries and encourage them to serve, to get advice for the current missionaries, and to help the ex-missionaries to remember the Spirit of the work.
We are teaching so many families that have sincere interest in the restored gospel. They attended church, which was so edifying. (I specifically prayed that people would bear real testimony and not say weird things that scare away investigators. God answered my prayers.) Really, it makes a huge difference when the members are involved with missionary work. It’s the only way that there is success. I wanted to know how we can help our ward members have more faith, and really, part of it is when they accompany us on the visits and bear their testimony.
We are helping Carlos, 60, overcome his drinking and smoking habits. I thought of Karen, who helped her investigators overcome similar habits by setting her own goals to not eat chocolate. I made a goal to be diligent in my exercises every morning, and Hna. Reyes limited herself to 1 chocolate a day. Carlos is committed to not drink or smoke for 2 weeks. I even made up a contract, which we all signed, and a calendar where we all keep track of our progress. Maybe law school is in my future…?
Motocars…On Sunday we accompanied a family to church and had to run to bring another family. (The family wasn’t ready to go right away.) We were so close, but we needed to go in motorcar because the meeting was starting in 5 minutes. The first car we stopped was trying to overcharge us, so we said, “Thank you, but we’ll walk.” Then, we started sprinting, until we found another motorcar that was willing to offer us a reasonable price. I laughed because we were rushed, running late, and too cheap to pay 50 cents more than what is reasonable. The family wasn’t there, and we ended up arriving late (so late we missed the sacrament!). The worst part was that it was the Sunday when the Stake president attended our ward. He only saw us arrive late, without investigators. Ach! I don’t want to know what he was thinking. Lesson learned: arrive 1 hour beforehand to help the investigators get ready, not just 30 minutes earlier, and do divisions or ask the help of the members to bring investigators.
Life is good!
Hermana Christensen
Happy Birthday to my Grandpa (7 of July) this week. Happy, happy, 4 July, God bless America! Also, I was reading the Liahona and read an article by my Freshman Academy friend Liz Stitt titled “You already Know.” We were eating lunch on Sunday and I saw a picture of Hna. Lewis. (Last year I worked with her sister at BYU Education Week and she helped me a ton to know what to bring on the mission.). I knew it was her, because I saw the same bag in the photo that she recommended that I bring on the mission. The Huanci family sends “saludos y mucho cariño” and memories of eating tacacho. Also, they want you to know that they are still active in the church. What a special family. We are teaching her cousin next week.
Hermana Reyes and I stay here in the jungle for another transfer, and we stay in the Mission Lima Peru North. Tomorrow we have our interviews with Pres. Blunck (from Oregon). He is young (45) and sounds really on top of everything.
We found out that we have pension (breakfast) with the same family as our zone leaders. At first we were weirded out and asked, “Is that even allowed?” However, there are advantages. If we have questions, we know we can ask them the next morning. We say, jokingly, “Now there are 4 zone leaders!” Hna. Reyes and I joke about how we are the zone leaders for all of the sisters in the jungle of Iquitos. (We are the only hermanas here in all of Iquitos!)
Wow. I cannot describe how amazing this week has been. For our talent show on Friday, I wrote a musical to teach the ward members that we need their support. It was in the style of Moulin Rouge, where they adapt and combine the lyrics of well known-songs. I was grateful for the many years of Spanish classes where we learned a variety of songs. The musical is called “A day in the life of 2 missionaries.” As part of the sketch, we were knocking on doors without success. We started tapping on the door the beginning beat of Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” and began singing about knocking doors. The best part was that when the people opened the door (creaking sound and all), they were zombies and began doing the Thriller dance, singing about how they were busy and didn’t want to listen to our message. It sounds weird, I know, but the people loved it. And, the ward members are more involved with helping us. The next activity will be a “noche de placas,” an activity for the ex- and pre-missionaries to share stories, advice, etc. The purpose is to animate the pre-missionaries and encourage them to serve, to get advice for the current missionaries, and to help the ex-missionaries to remember the Spirit of the work.
We are teaching so many families that have sincere interest in the restored gospel. They attended church, which was so edifying. (I specifically prayed that people would bear real testimony and not say weird things that scare away investigators. God answered my prayers.) Really, it makes a huge difference when the members are involved with missionary work. It’s the only way that there is success. I wanted to know how we can help our ward members have more faith, and really, part of it is when they accompany us on the visits and bear their testimony.
We are helping Carlos, 60, overcome his drinking and smoking habits. I thought of Karen, who helped her investigators overcome similar habits by setting her own goals to not eat chocolate. I made a goal to be diligent in my exercises every morning, and Hna. Reyes limited herself to 1 chocolate a day. Carlos is committed to not drink or smoke for 2 weeks. I even made up a contract, which we all signed, and a calendar where we all keep track of our progress. Maybe law school is in my future…?
Motocars…On Sunday we accompanied a family to church and had to run to bring another family. (The family wasn’t ready to go right away.) We were so close, but we needed to go in motorcar because the meeting was starting in 5 minutes. The first car we stopped was trying to overcharge us, so we said, “Thank you, but we’ll walk.” Then, we started sprinting, until we found another motorcar that was willing to offer us a reasonable price. I laughed because we were rushed, running late, and too cheap to pay 50 cents more than what is reasonable. The family wasn’t there, and we ended up arriving late (so late we missed the sacrament!). The worst part was that it was the Sunday when the Stake president attended our ward. He only saw us arrive late, without investigators. Ach! I don’t want to know what he was thinking. Lesson learned: arrive 1 hour beforehand to help the investigators get ready, not just 30 minutes earlier, and do divisions or ask the help of the members to bring investigators.
Life is good!
Hermana Christensen
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