Hola, familia y amigos,
First of all, I wanted to thank the following people for letters and Christmas cards that I have received. (Many choose to use DearElder.com. You send an email, and the mission office prints it off and gives it to me.) Thank you to Hermana Flores, Kezia Carter, Jan Wilkes, Kari Marie Stolzenburg, Richard Jamison, Crystal Baysa, and Grandpa Witt! It made my day to hear from each of you. Thank you so much!
We are teaching two jovenes who are progressing in the Amazonas Ward. One is Javier, who is 19, and who is preparing to be baptized this 12 of March. He has a lot of challenges to work through. He has a growing testimony of the gospel and is so sincere in his prayers. Some of his challenges include his neighbors who try to discourage him from joining the church. His family doesn’t necessarily support him in his decision, but they don’t oppose him, which is good. Needless to say, one doesn’t join the Church because it is the popular thing to do nowadays. He also has to decide between joining the Church and finding a job that doesn’t require him to work Sundays. That is a huge challenge here. Most people here have to work 7 days a week all day to support their families with the bare necessities, especially because prices are rising for everything and school is about to start for the kids this month. Wow. Life is tough here.
Nancy is golden. She is 18 and loves the gospel. She is reading the Book of Mormon and wants to be baptized with her sister in August. She has decided August and will not change her mind. Okay! She is solid.
Today is Hermana Rodriguez’s birthday and we are going to have a chocolate fondue party with the zone to celebrate. Mango, banana, animal crackers, Ritz crackers, raisins, peanuts, etc. If it is edible, we are going to dip it in chocolate. And, we splurged and bought a Disney Princess piñata. (Birthdays are big here.) The Relief Society is in love with the dark chocolate brownie recipe we shared with them on Saturday. Wait til they try the no-bake cookies! We joke about planning to open up my own dessert store (pasteleria) here and my companion tells me I should make a recipe book with the title “Recipes to kill diabetics” because there is lots of sugar in the recipes. The irony is that I don’t think I ate so much sugar in the USA. No se.
Last P-day I fell while playing soccer (I was at the point of making a goal) and hurt my wrist. My whole hand swelled up. Luckily, my friend Wendy recommended a gel that helped it to get back to normal. It is still a little sore, but I have an appreciation for my body (and am grateful that it was my left hand and not my dominant hand that was injured).
We spoke on developing Christlike attributes on Sunday and handed out copies of the Christlike attributes activity in Preach My Gospel. We are going to animate our ward to attend General Conference this 2 and 3 of April.
Life is good. Make good choices!
Love, Hermana Christensen
Monday, February 28, 2011
Monday, February 21, 2011
Joyous, Hard--and Wet!--Times
Hello, family and friends!
Rosa was baptized and confirmed this weekend. I don’t understand how it is possible, but a small group of people arrived for the baptism at 7:30 and a whole gaggle of people arrived at 8:30 for the party afterwards. Someone told me that this is typical. I suggested that we lock the gate doors, to help encourage more people to attend sacrament meeting the next day. We prepared a white-chocolate drizzled popcorn with crushed candy bar for the Peruvians to enjoy. (I have been having a fun time sharing my sweet-tooth recipes with the ward.)
This is top secret (which is why I am having my mom post it on my blog for all the world to read), but Saturday night Hna.Rodriguez and I were washing the baptismal clothes in a tub in the sink. I don’t how it’s possible, but with the weight of the tub, the spout popped off and water was spraying everywhere! My companion and I burst out laughing and then didn’t know what to do, because we couldn’t turn off the water. Luckily, the dad of our pensionista, Vikki, was visiting his daughter and was available to save the day. He turned off the main water, and we had to use the water up from the tank before he could fix the sink. We ended up washing everything we could think of. We got to bed much later than we had hoped but rather enjoyed the mishap (until we saw the bill…).
Our investigators are having some hard times. Well, frankly, their whole lives are hard times. Evingston works the nights, from 4 pm to 6 am, sweeping the streets. He is still waiting for the municipality to pay him. (He hasn’t been paid for 2 weeks.) He wants to be baptized, along with his daughter. Germain, 18, has received the first charla and is reading the Book of Mormon, but his parents suddenly have decided to make family field trips and bonding time a priority whenever we have scheduled appointments with him or on Sunday mornings from 9-12pm. Hmm….I wonder why? Nelly feels the Spirit every time that we visit her. She reads the booklets and prays, but she is subject to the will of her husband, who is opposed to her and her kids attending church. The hermana Juana, a member returning to activity, lives and struggles with the rest of her family, who want nothing to do with the Church and live a very different lifestyle. I know nothing is impossible with faith and with Heavenly Father, and I am thankful for the life that I have. It is a privilege to serve, to be here, and to have the gospel in our lives. I hope we don’t take it for granted!
Love, Hermana Christensen
Rosa was baptized and confirmed this weekend. I don’t understand how it is possible, but a small group of people arrived for the baptism at 7:30 and a whole gaggle of people arrived at 8:30 for the party afterwards. Someone told me that this is typical. I suggested that we lock the gate doors, to help encourage more people to attend sacrament meeting the next day. We prepared a white-chocolate drizzled popcorn with crushed candy bar for the Peruvians to enjoy. (I have been having a fun time sharing my sweet-tooth recipes with the ward.)
This is top secret (which is why I am having my mom post it on my blog for all the world to read), but Saturday night Hna.Rodriguez and I were washing the baptismal clothes in a tub in the sink. I don’t how it’s possible, but with the weight of the tub, the spout popped off and water was spraying everywhere! My companion and I burst out laughing and then didn’t know what to do, because we couldn’t turn off the water. Luckily, the dad of our pensionista, Vikki, was visiting his daughter and was available to save the day. He turned off the main water, and we had to use the water up from the tank before he could fix the sink. We ended up washing everything we could think of. We got to bed much later than we had hoped but rather enjoyed the mishap (until we saw the bill…).
Our investigators are having some hard times. Well, frankly, their whole lives are hard times. Evingston works the nights, from 4 pm to 6 am, sweeping the streets. He is still waiting for the municipality to pay him. (He hasn’t been paid for 2 weeks.) He wants to be baptized, along with his daughter. Germain, 18, has received the first charla and is reading the Book of Mormon, but his parents suddenly have decided to make family field trips and bonding time a priority whenever we have scheduled appointments with him or on Sunday mornings from 9-12pm. Hmm….I wonder why? Nelly feels the Spirit every time that we visit her. She reads the booklets and prays, but she is subject to the will of her husband, who is opposed to her and her kids attending church. The hermana Juana, a member returning to activity, lives and struggles with the rest of her family, who want nothing to do with the Church and live a very different lifestyle. I know nothing is impossible with faith and with Heavenly Father, and I am thankful for the life that I have. It is a privilege to serve, to be here, and to have the gospel in our lives. I hope we don’t take it for granted!
Love, Hermana Christensen
Monday, February 14, 2011
Lots of Love and Unity!
Hello, family and friends!
Happy Dia de Amistad (Valentine’s Day). The highlights of
the week include the marriage of Rosa and Jose. They were
married, along with 10 other couples, in the church. Our
zone leaders, Elder Angulo and Elder Crum, organized the
massive wedding. After the wedding, the couples had a dance
to celebrate. The Latins sure know how to party! Hna. Rodriguez
and I had to leave because the music was too tempting. (We did
dance a little merengue in the bathroom when no one was
looking.) My whole mission I have wanted to write Mack
Wilberg. When will MOTAB (Mormon Tabernacle Choir) come out
with a CD of Latin hits for all the missionaries to enjoy?
Even more special was seeing Rosa and Jose in church the next
day with their son, Juan Carlos. The whole ward accepted and
fellowshipped them, and they are preparing a party for her
baptism this Saturday. Our ward is becoming much more united
recently, all working together. On Friday they threw a bash for
the 50 year anniversary of the stake patriarch and his wife. My
companion cut their hair (she has salon experience) as a service
and I took photos of the event. The ward is working together to
do an amazing musical program on the Savior for Easter (here
Easter is celebrated the whole week, Holy Week) and an excellent
Public Affairs opportunity.
My companion and I still continue to be nerds and it is so much
fun. We have 6 days of consecutive coordinating outfits. (I don’t
know how it’s possible, but we even do the same hairstyle). Now,
we have promotional weeks where we focus on different goals we
have. For example, this week is Word of Wisdom week. No, we don’t
have a problem with drugs or beer, but we are drinking milk twice
a day, eating more fruits and vegetables, cutting back on fat,
drinking more water, and doing more exercise. It’s the best. The
idea is that after the promotional week, we continue with the same
habits. And, we have goals to put Christlike attributes in practice
every week. Last week was faith and this week is obedience. We
work hard and have so much fun.
Have a great week! Gotta run!
Love, Hermana Christensen
Happy Dia de Amistad (Valentine’s Day). The highlights of
the week include the marriage of Rosa and Jose. They were
married, along with 10 other couples, in the church. Our
zone leaders, Elder Angulo and Elder Crum, organized the
massive wedding. After the wedding, the couples had a dance
to celebrate. The Latins sure know how to party! Hna. Rodriguez
and I had to leave because the music was too tempting. (We did
dance a little merengue in the bathroom when no one was
looking.) My whole mission I have wanted to write Mack
Wilberg. When will MOTAB (Mormon Tabernacle Choir) come out
with a CD of Latin hits for all the missionaries to enjoy?
Even more special was seeing Rosa and Jose in church the next
day with their son, Juan Carlos. The whole ward accepted and
fellowshipped them, and they are preparing a party for her
baptism this Saturday. Our ward is becoming much more united
recently, all working together. On Friday they threw a bash for
the 50 year anniversary of the stake patriarch and his wife. My
companion cut their hair (she has salon experience) as a service
and I took photos of the event. The ward is working together to
do an amazing musical program on the Savior for Easter (here
Easter is celebrated the whole week, Holy Week) and an excellent
Public Affairs opportunity.
My companion and I still continue to be nerds and it is so much
fun. We have 6 days of consecutive coordinating outfits. (I don’t
know how it’s possible, but we even do the same hairstyle). Now,
we have promotional weeks where we focus on different goals we
have. For example, this week is Word of Wisdom week. No, we don’t
have a problem with drugs or beer, but we are drinking milk twice
a day, eating more fruits and vegetables, cutting back on fat,
drinking more water, and doing more exercise. It’s the best. The
idea is that after the promotional week, we continue with the same
habits. And, we have goals to put Christlike attributes in practice
every week. Last week was faith and this week is obedience. We
work hard and have so much fun.
Have a great week! Gotta run!
Love, Hermana Christensen
Monday, February 7, 2011
More Opportunities for People to Have a Better Life
Hola family and friends,
Every day I learn new things in the mission. It is truly a one of a kind experience. Yesterday, Sunday, I felt so much love from our Heavenly Father. I was sitting next to Jack, one of our valiant Primary kid investigators who doesn’t come from a good home. (I asked him if his mom knew he was here at church and he said, no. He just roams free.) I just want to adopt Jack and give him a better chance at life. His parents won’t let him be baptized right now but he is setting the goal to be baptized in a few years. It is so ironic that the people who can be baptized don’t want to and those who want it can’t. When the members of the church went to the pulpit to bear their testimonies, I told him, “All of these people here are part of your family. You can ask any one of them for help and they are here to help you.” I want so much for Jack, and others like him, to have another opportunity to have a better life.
We are teaching Wilma, who is a widow of two weeks. She doesn’t want to pray or feels insecure or we don’t know what her doubt is, but she doesn’t pray. We wrote the steps of prayer in large print and we practiced and she repeated, but she just looks at us and smiles and doesn’t pray. I was so sad, because I was thinking of how much pain she feels that could be relieved and how Heavenly Father was sad because she didn’t talk with him. Then, I remembered something humbling. I will confess that the night before, I didn’t pray before I went to bed. I remembered the times that my prayers are just mechanical and not heartfelt and then I felt sad. That is exactly how Heavenly Father feels. I realized that Heavenly Father wants to hear from me personally, that He is interested and cares about me and wants to know what is going on in my life, what my goals are, what my doubts are, etc. It was a special experience that I hope everyone can have.
I know that Heavenly Father lives and that He hears our every sincere prayer and that He gives us exactly what we need. (I prayed that the elders wouldn’t call us so we could go to bed a little earlier and the elders called us early in the morning instead, something that rarely happens here.) Oh yeah, and we were hungry after fasting and didn’t have any food, but when we went to the appointments, they gave us chapo (banana drink) and bread and the president of the Relief Society served us peanut butter and crackers. I know that Heavenly Father takes of our spiritual and our temporal needs. He is the best.
We have a new area, Barrio Amazonas. Now we have 2 areas. The people are so excited to have missionaries in their area after a long time. We are helping the Relief Society to organize a night of fellowshipping. Oh yeah! If there are activities, that is what I love to organize. I’m such a nerd, but we have such unity with the leaders that one of the highlights of our week is when we get to have the Ward Council and Mission Correlation. Working with the people here is so great. They are so willing to help, they serve the Lord with the very best that they have, and they are humble.
We did the community service project the other day with the YSA and it brought about some good results. We are going to do more service projects as a ward, with the Young Men and Young Women. It is good public affairs and it helps unify the members who serve. We have gained the confidence of the zone by sharing our 5 minute microwave brownies. They are so incredible and will change your life. We are sharing more recipes with the Relief Society, including no bake cookies (there is a man in the ward who makes peanut butter, so we are enjoying this), and instead of lemon bars, with maracuya (a fruit that is yummy and plentiful here).
Have a great week!
Love,
Hermana Christensen
Every day I learn new things in the mission. It is truly a one of a kind experience. Yesterday, Sunday, I felt so much love from our Heavenly Father. I was sitting next to Jack, one of our valiant Primary kid investigators who doesn’t come from a good home. (I asked him if his mom knew he was here at church and he said, no. He just roams free.) I just want to adopt Jack and give him a better chance at life. His parents won’t let him be baptized right now but he is setting the goal to be baptized in a few years. It is so ironic that the people who can be baptized don’t want to and those who want it can’t. When the members of the church went to the pulpit to bear their testimonies, I told him, “All of these people here are part of your family. You can ask any one of them for help and they are here to help you.” I want so much for Jack, and others like him, to have another opportunity to have a better life.
We are teaching Wilma, who is a widow of two weeks. She doesn’t want to pray or feels insecure or we don’t know what her doubt is, but she doesn’t pray. We wrote the steps of prayer in large print and we practiced and she repeated, but she just looks at us and smiles and doesn’t pray. I was so sad, because I was thinking of how much pain she feels that could be relieved and how Heavenly Father was sad because she didn’t talk with him. Then, I remembered something humbling. I will confess that the night before, I didn’t pray before I went to bed. I remembered the times that my prayers are just mechanical and not heartfelt and then I felt sad. That is exactly how Heavenly Father feels. I realized that Heavenly Father wants to hear from me personally, that He is interested and cares about me and wants to know what is going on in my life, what my goals are, what my doubts are, etc. It was a special experience that I hope everyone can have.
I know that Heavenly Father lives and that He hears our every sincere prayer and that He gives us exactly what we need. (I prayed that the elders wouldn’t call us so we could go to bed a little earlier and the elders called us early in the morning instead, something that rarely happens here.) Oh yeah, and we were hungry after fasting and didn’t have any food, but when we went to the appointments, they gave us chapo (banana drink) and bread and the president of the Relief Society served us peanut butter and crackers. I know that Heavenly Father takes of our spiritual and our temporal needs. He is the best.
We have a new area, Barrio Amazonas. Now we have 2 areas. The people are so excited to have missionaries in their area after a long time. We are helping the Relief Society to organize a night of fellowshipping. Oh yeah! If there are activities, that is what I love to organize. I’m such a nerd, but we have such unity with the leaders that one of the highlights of our week is when we get to have the Ward Council and Mission Correlation. Working with the people here is so great. They are so willing to help, they serve the Lord with the very best that they have, and they are humble.
We did the community service project the other day with the YSA and it brought about some good results. We are going to do more service projects as a ward, with the Young Men and Young Women. It is good public affairs and it helps unify the members who serve. We have gained the confidence of the zone by sharing our 5 minute microwave brownies. They are so incredible and will change your life. We are sharing more recipes with the Relief Society, including no bake cookies (there is a man in the ward who makes peanut butter, so we are enjoying this), and instead of lemon bars, with maracuya (a fruit that is yummy and plentiful here).
Have a great week!
Love,
Hermana Christensen
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