1/25/2016: Week 19 - Rocky Week

Hello!

This week has been a rocky one. Because we don't have many people to teach, we spend the entire day in the street making contacts and talking to random people about the gospel, all of which "already have a religion" or "don't have time". The only people we don't talk to are the ones who cross the street before we can get to them. 

We also visited a house where we had given a Book of Mormon earlier in the week. The three girls we talked to were really interested and wanted us to enter and talk more about the gospel. Needless to say, we were really excited to return. However, the next time, their mom answered the door, and we actually received a Book of Mormon that day instead of giving them out! She told us that she didn't want the book and to have a nice life. *Thumbs up* ...at least it didn't end up in the trash.

But just because the work was hard doesn't mean that we had a bad week! Sister S and I laughed a lot. One man loudly blessed Sister S's eye in the middle of the street, and I accidentally kissed a woman. Long story short, people here greet you with a kiss on the cheek, but one Sister of the ward turned her head, and well... lets just say kissing people on the cheek is a bit dangerous. We also dressed up like nuns and Irmã Júlia appeared in the window and started laughing at us.

Anyways, that was my week. I hope everything is going well back home! 

Love,

Sister Christensen

1/18/2016: Week 18 - New Area and Companion

Hello!

It's official! I have been transferred and I have a new companion, named Sister S, and she is amazing. She is American, is studying music, and I love her. We make climbing the thousands of hills here a little more fun by singing random songs practically the whole day.

Usually, when you transfer, there is one companion who has been in the area a bit longer who shows you how to get around and where all the investigators and members live. However, this transfer was a bit different because Sister S and I are opening the area. "Opening the area" is fancy talk for being constantly lost and not having anyone to teach. The Elder's here before us split up the people they were teaching between Sister S and I, and the other companionship of Sisters, but we have practically have nothing to work with. We are walking with faith and a slightly out-dated map. But we are happy and singing while doing it!

The day before we got here, we spoke to the Elders who had been working here, and they said that the house was a little dirty. I don't know what you think of when someone says "a little dirty," but I imagined that there would be some dirty dishes or some materials out of place. No, when Elders say "a little dirty" they mean: pants on the table, dead cockroaches on the floor, a box of sketchy unwashed dishes on another table, and trash literally everywhere. So, you know, that was a fun first day. But now its all clean and the apartment is actually livable, thanks to the Sisters and yours truly. (To my missionary friends: If you ever leave your apartment like that, I will personally come and hit you with a flip-flop. That is all.)

A few other things:

1. The members here are amazing. They want to help with everything and give us bread and cake pretty much every day.

2. I am running in the mornings now. *applause*

3. My hair dryer doesn't work here.

4. We had a really neat experience the other day with a member who has a lot of heart problems. She called us over in the morning to pray with her, and when we arrived she was crying because of the pain. We each took a turn praying for her, and at the end she had stopped crying,and was smiling and talking with us without difficulty. She and her husband bore their testimony about the power of prayer that next Sunday, and she said that she hasn't felt pain since. That was pretty neat.

5. I have seen a lot of miracles happening here the past week. It is amazing to see the hand of the Lord here in Brazil. When you work hard and with faith, miracles will always happen. 

I love and miss you all! Beijos!

Sister Christensen

1/4/2016: Week 16 - Feliz Ano Novo

Hello!

This week has been a good one.

1) We have one investigator named J who has had problems understanding our messages. She has a family with three kids, who are all relatively timid (except the youngest,G. He is crazy and doesn't stop talking). Anyways, this week we made her little posters about prayer, scriptures, and going to church, which she put up around her house. It was neat to see that everyone in the family was finally understanding the messages, and were an active part of the lesson as well. 

2) Another woman told us that we were angels sent from God, which is always good to hear. You don't really feel too much like an angel when you are sweaty and dirty from walking all day, ha ha. 

3) There is also a family here that we are working with to get them sealed in the temple. They have three little kids who LOVE the missionaries. The little girl calls us "Chi Chi" because she can't say sister. She is probably the cutest thing in the world. Every time we see them, they run up to us and hug us and give us a kiss on the cheek. Adorable. 

4) We also had New Year's Eve this past week, and while the entire world was partying, we spent it mopping up a river of water that had fallen down the staircase from our apartment because it had rained and we forgot to unplug a drain, ha ha. But afterwards, we waited up until midnight, climbed a ladder to the top of the building, and watched as fireworks went off all around the city. We yelled into the wind/rain, and it felt like that part in Footloose where they scream at the train as it passes by. The next day it was a little hard to wake up at 6:30, ha ha. 

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year! Set some goals. Do something different this year. Be a little better.

With love,

Sister Christensen

ROMANS 8:18