3/21/2016: Week 27 - My Companion the Pack Mule

Hello Everyone!

This week was a little rough because I hurt my back (curse you messenger bag). I stayed home one day and have been recuperating. Thanks to my wonderful companion, I am feeling much better! This whole week she has been carrying the things of two people. And she does it so happily! I haven't heard her complain about it once. She just loads up the bag and we go to work, singing and playing as usual. She reminded me a lot of Christ. Sometimes, we are unable to carry our own bags. We can't do it ourselves. We need someone willing to take our burdens from us. Christ has already paid the price. We just need to let go and give our bag to Christ. We do our part, and he will handle the rest.

Easter is coming up, and I just want to share my testimony of Christ. I know that He lives. He paid the price for our sins, and because of him, we have hope in this life. We have hope that things will get better. We have hope that we can become better. We can leave behind all of our pain and our worries if we just trust in Him and His atoning sacrifice. Christ loves us. It is because of His love for us that he died, it is because of His love for us that he lives again.

I hope you all have a wonderful Easter!

Love,

Sister Christensen

 

3/14/2016: Week 26 - English Classes and Miracles

Hello all!

This week was really great. It started great, it ended great, and there was a lot of greatness in between. 

First of all, Sister S and I had the opportunity to do a service project in a school. We basically went there, and spoke with students who are currently trying to learn English. We walked into each classroom and introduced ourselves to them in English. The teacher would then ask if anyone understood, and the class would then collectively reply "No...", which is probably good considering that my English is a little iffy right now, and I definitely wasn't speaking very correctly. Then when they learned that we spoke Portuguese, the entire room started to yell and ask us a million questions about the US, English, and what we liked about Brasil. We were basically celebrities. It was pretty cool.

We also had a division this week, and I worked with Sister Q. We were knocking on doors, and we found a man who has been taking care of his wife for five years. She has stayed in the same bed, not talking, not moving, just breathing and opening and closing her eyes, for five years. He told us that he needed someone to help him take care of her, and asked if we knew anyone who was in need of a job. We took down his information and left with a prayer. The next day Sister S and I went to visit a less active member who had recently moved there, and who we knew was searching for a job. We told her about the opportunity, and she got so happy. She told us that she had been praying for a job when we showed up, and she then told us that she would go to church every single week once she had the money to do so. 

We also met a new investigator named B. His wife is an inactive member, and so we had a lesson with them about the Book of Mormon. We explained what it was, and its importance, and then asked him if he was willing to read and pray about it. He responded, "Look... I am going to be really honest with you..." (and at this point we got a little sad because we know how the rest of that sentence usually goes) "... but I am looking for a church." We almost didn't believe that he said that! So then we invited him to church the next day, and he accepted.

At church the next day, we saw B, R, and E. Our class was HUGE! There were 9 people in the class (a mix of less actives and investigators) just from the efforts of Sister S and I this week. We have worked crazily hard to help these people, and it is wonderful to see the fruits of our labors.

Love,

Sister Christensen

3/7/2016: Week 25 - Six Month Mark!

Hello everyone! 

I have officially hit the six month mark! Only one year left and I will be home enjoying the snow and peanut butter.

This week was crazy and a little bit stressful. We had so many things to do and so little time! I got a CPF number here (so I am basically a Brazilian now), and it rained...A LOT!. 

I also got to thinking this week about the work I have done here. While we have been struggling to baptize in this area, we have reactivated a lot of members, including one really neat family. We are currently helping the father overcome some addictions and stay firm in the church so that he will be able to receive the priesthood and baptize his son. The family then will set goals so that they can be sealed together in the temple for all time and eternity. :) It has been truly amazing to watch them grow. You can see how the light of Christ changes people, families, and relationships. 

As missionaries, we also hear a lot of excuses from people about why they can't talk to us, like "I am cleaning the house" or "maybe some other day, if God would want it". But my favorite happened the other day when one man, full of piercings in one ear came out and said the following, before we had even introduced ourselves: "I can't... because I am moving the TV... and he is coming... so its a little... tight." I don't know who was coming or why he was moving the TV, but we left him in peace because three excuses in one has to be a new record! 

Love,

Sister Christensen

02/29/2016: Week 24 - Cow Tongue and Cats

Hello!

I have no time for a lengthy group email today, but seriously, nothing much happened. I will give you a few highlights though:

1. We celebrated Sister S's birthday!

2. I ate cow tongue in a house with 12 cats. It wasn't too bad, but I would never eat it again. The taste is a normal meat taste, but the texture is of the devil, ha ha!

3. We did not go back to the lady living in the house with the 50 wind chimes hanging from her ceiling. She called us, said we were crazy, and told us not to come back. So, you know, whatever.

4. Here are some of this week's photos: me enjoying the rainbow after yet another rain storm, my permanent socks, me searching for new investigators, and a group photo of the Sisters.

Love,
Sister Christensen

2/22/2016: Week 23 - Worst Thing to Happen Yet

Hello!

This week, we had a service project. The other sisters had met a woman on the street who said that she needed help cleaning out a little room. They offered to help her, and arranged for us to go there this past week. 

We all started walking there, thinking that we would sweep, tidy, and mop up this little room and be on our way. We arrived at the house, and a woman opened the door. She hadn't bathed in a while, and the first thing we saw were wind chimes. Fifty of them. Hanging from the ceiling. From that point on, we knew we were in trouble. 

She then showed us the room. Or, better said, she tried to show us the room. The door wouldn't open because there were so many things in it. There were boxes upon boxes of grocery sacks in the room. We started to clean it out, and that's when I realized, I was in a Hoarder's television episode. 

As we began to move boxes, we found some interesting things, including:

1. A box with two rotting pineapples. They had been there long enough to rot through the box and onto the floor. It was also housing a colony or two of bugs, AND growing new pineapple. AND THE WOMAN WANTED TO SEARCH THROUGH THE REST OF THE BOX TO SAVE ONE OLD SHOE!

2. We touched one box, and ten cockroaches ran out into the rest of the garbage. But they weren't normal sized cockroaches. They had probably fed on the rotten pineapple and gained supernatural abilities and size. They were the size of the palm of my hand. 

3. Sacks with old underwear, sacks with shoes that were falling to pieces, a sack with a book about "spiritualism" (basically possession), and some sacks that we didn't even dare open. 

We had to distract the woman to throw all the garbage out, because she was having panic attacks. And we didn't even finish. We have to go back this week with some elders because there are probably rats and scorpions in that room.

But wait, there's more...

We took the rest of the boxes down to the basement. When we opened the door, we saw a little white room. Everything was clean and white. The walls were white, the floor was white, and the ceiling was very very low and also white. In the corner there was a white little bed, all made up nice, with a little white dresser and mirror in the corner. A black dust had settled in the room, and you could tell no one had lived there in a while. It was the creepiest thing I have ever seen. I am pretty sure someone died in there. 

Anyways, that was my week!

Love,

Sister Christensen

P.S. Photos of Minion traffic bumps and a cute dog.

2/15/2016: Week 22 - Not Much to Say

Hello!

I don't have time to write a big e-mail this week. Also, nothing happened. So, there's that. Here's some photos though.

Love,

Sister Christensen

2/8/2016: Week 21- Living on a Prayer

Hello!

Serving mission is like that part in Harry Potter where Ron is reading tea leaves. As he is reading Harry's fortune, he says, "You are going to suffer... but you are going to be happy about it." As missionaries, we have a lot of challenges. People lie about their addresses, call us names, etc. and yet we still continue. We also have the opportunity to change lives, to bring people to Christ, and we are so happy to be doing it! 

In that light, this week has been great! We had divisions this week, so I packed my bag and went for a day to work with Sister H. We had a lot of fun, and taught a lot of people. We spoke about the challenges that come with opening an area. I learned a lot, and we ordered dessert pizzas.

The other day, while walking with Sister S, we stopped at a house to ask for water. The husband answered the door and gave us two glasses of water. We drank it, and then he asked us if we wanted juice. We declined, but he left to get the juice anyways. He filled our glasses once again, and we drank them. He then asked if we wanted more, and we declined (again). He then told us to take the juice with us. We tried to tell him that we really didn't need the juice, but he insisted and firmly told us to put it in our bag. So yeah. We took a picture with our free juice.

We also had two new investigators come to church this week! They came to church with a less active member for the first time, and loved it. The mom told us that it was very different than any other church they had visited in the past. They gave us their addresses, and want to learn more about the gospel. Sister S and I are very excited to go and teach them this week.

I hope everything is going well for you all! 

Sister Christensen