Thank you to Laura Lewis, Bishop Jamison, and the Baysas for their letters via DearElder.com. I receive the letters the same week that you send them. (Do you like my shameless, unpaid advertisement for the website? Maybe I could create my own DearSister.com company after the mission!)
This week was so special and I felt a special spirit throughout.
I accompanied my companion, Hna. Nina, on her last day. We went to the mission home and she had her final interview. We ate oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and talked about her goals for after the mission, along with the other missionaries that were finishing. (She plans to study psychology at the university.) We visited the stores in the area out of curiosity and found a chocolate shop that sold shoes made out of chocolate for 75 soles. (A pair of real shoes costs 20 soles here.) Pay my rent or buy a pair of chocolate shoes?…….hmm……. I felt so spiritually rejuvenated as I heard the stories and testimonies of the missionaries that were finishing and it gave me a new perspective for my own mission. What would I share if I was finishing? It was a powerful experience.
Hna. Avalos and I received our new companion, Hna. Yost from California, the same day that we said goodbye to Hna. Nina. I feel like I live with 2 angels, because they are so wise and sensitive to other people and to the Spirit. I have so much to learn from them, and we have had many spiritual experiences together. Hna. Yost is my first companion from the USA and we have a lot in common. She is a Public Health major at BYU and wants to go on to become a nurse. (I worked with freshmen who were trying to enter the nursing program at BYU through my Freshman Academy job, so I understand about the process and the stress of it.) We found out that we have taken some of the same classes (but not at the same time), which is a lot of fun. She is way cool, just like Hna. Avalos. We all get along great, and I love training, as it gets me more energy and focus. I remember what it is like to start the mission. (On the 30th of September is my anniversary of entering the Provo MTC. Crazy how time flies on the mission.)
The other sisters in our zone didn’t have a place to stay so they camped out with us for a day. They helped us with our sketch for the ward talent show. I adapted the show that Hna. Reyes and I wrote in Iquitos and expanded it. Supposedly, it is on YouTube. Even if you cannot hear it, you can understand what is happening. You can look under “Jardines SUD” and “Show de talentos.” I was impressed with how well it turned out: “A day in the life of missionaries.” My companions are so fun.
I love Hna. Yost because on her 3rd day here she invited the family of Rosa and Amador to be baptized and they accepted. We are seeing so many miracles with this family, and the ward is excited to throw them a party at their wedding. Rosa had not shown much interest, and so we helped her wash her clothes on Friday. It was so much fun because we just talked about our families and sang songs, especially Black spirituals. (Hna. Yost loves the movie “Oh Brother Where Art Thou?" and shares my love of gospel music. Hna. Avalos learned the lyrics to “As I went down to the river to pray, studying about that good ol’ way…” ) Now that we have her trust, we are helping her develop her faith in Jesus Christ, little by little.
We are seeing miracles in this area and I feel blessed to have companions that want to work hard and serve and love. This is a great place and a great transfer.
Love, Hna. Christensen
Monday, September 27, 2010
Friday, September 17, 2010
The Last Almost-Two Weeks
Here are the highlights from these past 2 weeks:
--We are climbing a bazillion flights of stairs multiple times a day in order to teach our families in the mountains (the people here call them “hills” but for someone from Kansas, they are mountains). It makes the stairs of the RB (at BYU campus) a cakewalk. I thought it would get easier every time, but so far we are not used to it. But, the families are the best. We visited them and have done 2 service projects there, hauling buckets of water, planting trees, building houses, and clearing lots. It is a new establishment and we are trying to get the ward involved with serving and fellowshipping these families. I jokingly asked, “Does this service count for my Eagle project?” My district leader assured that it definitely counted.
--Amador and his wife Rosa Angelica and their 6 kids are the pioneers of this new establishment. We are teaching them and they attended church on Sunday and said they wanted to come back. We went to church during the week and found that the kids have the lead roles in the sketch for the ward talent show. They are more active than the members! There are other families that have attended church, as well.
--Our ward recently called ward missionaries who are the best! They are older women of the Relief Society, and they have more energy than the missionaries to climb the stairs! Their testimonies are strong and they face so many hardships in their own homes, but are so willing to accompany us and share their testimonies.
--We started teaching a woman who let us in, thinking we were Evangelicals. She then told us, “I don’t accept any Mormons or other people of other faiths.” My companion and I tried not to laugh, but we carried on and taught the first lesson. She accepted everything and felt the Spirit. We returned for a visit with our ward missionary who bore a simple and sincere testimony. She was agreeable and wanted to attend church. However, the last time that we arrived, her countenance had changed. She figured out that we were “The Mormons” (probably because we told her in the second visit) and became very disagreeable. I felt sad—more than anything because she represents millions of people who reject the Lord’s message without even listening or trying to understand, or accept what other people say about us without trying to find out for themselves. She rejected the Spirit that she felt and the truth that she received. All we do as missionaries is teach and testify, and invite people to read the Book of Mormon and to pray to God to find out if what we teach comes from Him and if it is true. We direct people to God and He answers the sincere prayer.
--Hna. Nina ends her mission this week, so we are creating a scrapbook of advice for her. We are a unified zone and it makes missionary work a lot of fun.
--On Saturday the zone surprised me by having a birthday party in my honor, complete with a piñata and flour dumped on my head. Later on in the week, my comp, Hna. Avalos, made a flan for E.Ruiz and we sang Happy Birthday (and then the elders cracked eggs on his head…poor guy, but that is the tradition! Luckily I escaped the eggs, although some say that egg makes hair shinier).
--Every day my testimony is growing more and more as I pray, study the scriptures, and serve others. The gospel is the best!
Make it a great week!
Hna. Christensen
--We are climbing a bazillion flights of stairs multiple times a day in order to teach our families in the mountains (the people here call them “hills” but for someone from Kansas, they are mountains). It makes the stairs of the RB (at BYU campus) a cakewalk. I thought it would get easier every time, but so far we are not used to it. But, the families are the best. We visited them and have done 2 service projects there, hauling buckets of water, planting trees, building houses, and clearing lots. It is a new establishment and we are trying to get the ward involved with serving and fellowshipping these families. I jokingly asked, “Does this service count for my Eagle project?” My district leader assured that it definitely counted.
--Amador and his wife Rosa Angelica and their 6 kids are the pioneers of this new establishment. We are teaching them and they attended church on Sunday and said they wanted to come back. We went to church during the week and found that the kids have the lead roles in the sketch for the ward talent show. They are more active than the members! There are other families that have attended church, as well.
--Our ward recently called ward missionaries who are the best! They are older women of the Relief Society, and they have more energy than the missionaries to climb the stairs! Their testimonies are strong and they face so many hardships in their own homes, but are so willing to accompany us and share their testimonies.
--We started teaching a woman who let us in, thinking we were Evangelicals. She then told us, “I don’t accept any Mormons or other people of other faiths.” My companion and I tried not to laugh, but we carried on and taught the first lesson. She accepted everything and felt the Spirit. We returned for a visit with our ward missionary who bore a simple and sincere testimony. She was agreeable and wanted to attend church. However, the last time that we arrived, her countenance had changed. She figured out that we were “The Mormons” (probably because we told her in the second visit) and became very disagreeable. I felt sad—more than anything because she represents millions of people who reject the Lord’s message without even listening or trying to understand, or accept what other people say about us without trying to find out for themselves. She rejected the Spirit that she felt and the truth that she received. All we do as missionaries is teach and testify, and invite people to read the Book of Mormon and to pray to God to find out if what we teach comes from Him and if it is true. We direct people to God and He answers the sincere prayer.
--Hna. Nina ends her mission this week, so we are creating a scrapbook of advice for her. We are a unified zone and it makes missionary work a lot of fun.
--On Saturday the zone surprised me by having a birthday party in my honor, complete with a piñata and flour dumped on my head. Later on in the week, my comp, Hna. Avalos, made a flan for E.Ruiz and we sang Happy Birthday (and then the elders cracked eggs on his head…poor guy, but that is the tradition! Luckily I escaped the eggs, although some say that egg makes hair shinier).
--Every day my testimony is growing more and more as I pray, study the scriptures, and serve others. The gospel is the best!
Make it a great week!
Hna. Christensen
Monday, September 6, 2010
Iquitos Ties & Lima Labors
Hola familia y amigos!
I went to the temple for the first time in 10 months! While I was there, I saw a woman that was in my ward in Iquitos. (These people save up their whole lives to spend 6 days in boat and 3 days driving to arrive at the temple.) What a happy surprise! I was so happy to go to the temple and although tired, I felt so content to be there. After the temple, we went to McDonalds as a zone. (Fortunately, they ran out of chicken, so we went to a different restaurant to buy chicken and french fries.)
I am writing a ton of letters to Iquitos and sending little packages to my companions, because everything is so much more expensive in Iquitos. My former comp. Hna Reyes is still there in Iquitos. Hna. Nina is making preparations to end her misión in a few weeks and we are all sad and trunky (yes, this word exists in Spanish misión lingo) for her. Hna. Avalos is new but so capable and learns so quickly. Her mom is coming up from Arequipa this week to attend the temple. We all have our moments, but we get along great.
We had two wards, Jardines and Carabayllo, and were working more in Carabayllo when we found out that now we only have Jardines. We were sad because we have people progressing toward baptism in Carabayllo and we feel like we don’t have anyone in Jardines. It means that we can focus on Jardines more and focus on the people that can progress here. It means we will be really buff, too, because it is pure hills-mountains here.
We have to work hard here to gain the confidence of the ward. They felt a little neglected because we were spending more time in Carabayllo; so we have to redouble our efforts here. Now I understand how parents feel. How do you spend more time and attention on the child who needs more time without having the other child feel left out or jealous? Hmm….
Olga, 21, has a testimony of the Church and of the Book of Mormon and is going to be baptized this Saturday. We had been teaching her and read 3 Nephi 11 together and felt the Spirit really strongly as we testified of Jesus Christ. Wow. We were freezing cold as we taught her outside, but it is totally worth it. I felt a connection to her, not just because she has the same name as my grandma and great-grandma but also because we have about the same age. We love her and were sad, because she is in Barrio Carabayllo, and we will only be in Jardines.
The Relief Society joined us in a fast for missionary work, and we are following up with them and teaching them how they can share the góspel with their friends and families. We are having fun, too, as they are accompanying us. We have much to improve and have goals to do so.
Lots of love,
Hermana Christensen
I went to the temple for the first time in 10 months! While I was there, I saw a woman that was in my ward in Iquitos. (These people save up their whole lives to spend 6 days in boat and 3 days driving to arrive at the temple.) What a happy surprise! I was so happy to go to the temple and although tired, I felt so content to be there. After the temple, we went to McDonalds as a zone. (Fortunately, they ran out of chicken, so we went to a different restaurant to buy chicken and french fries.)
I am writing a ton of letters to Iquitos and sending little packages to my companions, because everything is so much more expensive in Iquitos. My former comp. Hna Reyes is still there in Iquitos. Hna. Nina is making preparations to end her misión in a few weeks and we are all sad and trunky (yes, this word exists in Spanish misión lingo) for her. Hna. Avalos is new but so capable and learns so quickly. Her mom is coming up from Arequipa this week to attend the temple. We all have our moments, but we get along great.
We had two wards, Jardines and Carabayllo, and were working more in Carabayllo when we found out that now we only have Jardines. We were sad because we have people progressing toward baptism in Carabayllo and we feel like we don’t have anyone in Jardines. It means that we can focus on Jardines more and focus on the people that can progress here. It means we will be really buff, too, because it is pure hills-mountains here.
We have to work hard here to gain the confidence of the ward. They felt a little neglected because we were spending more time in Carabayllo; so we have to redouble our efforts here. Now I understand how parents feel. How do you spend more time and attention on the child who needs more time without having the other child feel left out or jealous? Hmm….
Olga, 21, has a testimony of the Church and of the Book of Mormon and is going to be baptized this Saturday. We had been teaching her and read 3 Nephi 11 together and felt the Spirit really strongly as we testified of Jesus Christ. Wow. We were freezing cold as we taught her outside, but it is totally worth it. I felt a connection to her, not just because she has the same name as my grandma and great-grandma but also because we have about the same age. We love her and were sad, because she is in Barrio Carabayllo, and we will only be in Jardines.
The Relief Society joined us in a fast for missionary work, and we are following up with them and teaching them how they can share the góspel with their friends and families. We are having fun, too, as they are accompanying us. We have much to improve and have goals to do so.
Lots of love,
Hermana Christensen
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