5/30/2016: Week 37 - Bad Haircuts and Batman

Hello!

This week I cut my hair. Now normally, this wouldn't be any exciting news, but I learned that hair cuts are a bit different here. I went to a Sister of the ward (because who wants to pay someone to cut your hair?) and asked if she knew anyone who cut hair. She said that she did, and I was thinking, great, FREE HAIR CUT. But because I was being cheap, I guess I kind of deserved what was coming. Lets just say that she went a little crazy while cutting my fringe and I think that I am going to keep my hair in a pony tail for a while.

My companion and I also thought that we saw Batman in the street the other night, but it turned out that it was just a homeless guy with a blanket.

Aside from seeing Bat-homeless-man, Sister B and I have been working really hard this week to find new people to teach. We cut, and were cut by pretty much all of our investigators, so we are looking for a new batch. 

Speaking of batches, cookies sound really good right about now.

Love,

Sister Christensen

5/23/2016: Week 36 - Yet Another Week

Hello!

This week I got up in front of 100 people and gave a talk that I wrote five minutes before hand. In short, the person who was supposed to speak wasn't prepared, so I was invited to get up and speak. So, I did just that. I talked about the Book of Mormon and about the importance of having a testimony of it...all in Portuguese. And you know what? It actually went pretty well. I was just a little bit proud of me. 

We are currently teaching a man named M, who learned about the church when he was living in Portugal. He spoke to the missionaries there, but didn't get baptized. Then, while doing princípios this week, we knocked on his door and asked if he was interested to learn more. He told us, enthusiastically, that he was, and we marked to visit him this week. When we went there, we gave the first lesson, which he understood perfectly. He even made comments throughout the entire lesson. We invited him to read and pray, which he accepted, and then invited him to be baptized, which he also accepted! It was neat!

Love,

Sister Christensen

5/16/2016: Week 35 - Birthday and Elder Holland

This week has been absolutely wonderful!

First of all, I had a birthday last week! Whooo! I feel almost completely the same. For my birthday, I walked a lot, taught people, and talked to a lot of people. When I got home, I made myself a cake and then waited for the other sisters to get home. I then lighted ALL THE CANDLES and we sang as the cake/mini bonfire burned. Then we ate it, and it was great.

I want to say thank you to everyone who sent a Happy Birthday picture to my mom, who sent them to me! I absolutely loved it. You all are marvelous. 

We also had the opportunity to hear from Elder Holland this week, one of the apostles of Jesus Christ. He spoke to all the missionaries. He talked to us about a lot of things, including:

1. Being truly converted to the gospel. He told us that he can't promise us 100 converts, or even 5. But he said that each and every one of us can promise one conversion to the Lord: our own. Just as we are teaching people here, the Lord is always teaching us. And every day we decide what kind of convert we want to be and if we are going to endure to the end. Just as we want to find our investigators strong in the church after 20 years, God wants to find us strong in the church in 20 years. 

2. The Book of Mormon. Holland spoke about the power of the Book of Mormon in everything that we do. It is through the Book of Mormon that we can know if we are in the Church of Christ or not. The Book of Mormon is a miracle, and it creates miracles. He shared the scripture 2 Nephi 33:10-11 with us, and told us that if any person truly believes in Christ, they will believe in the Book of Mormon. The same thing applies for those who truly believe in the Bible (Mormon 7:8-9), because the Book of Mormon testifies of Christ.

It was amazing to hear an apostle of the Lord speak with us. You could feel the authority that he has, and I know without a doubt that he is a man called of God. I feel so grateful that I had the opportunity to be taught, just a little bit, by Elder Holland.

This week, Sister B and I also found a lot of new people to teach, and we are excited to see what happens with them. News to come!

Love,
Sister Christensen

Birthday Girl!

Lots of Candles...Little Cake!

Ecstatic About My Birthday!

5/9/2016: Week 34 - 8 Months Down!

Hello! 

We had transfers this week, but it looks like I will be staying here for another six weeks with Sister B.

And guess what? I have now been on the mission for 8 months! I am almost halfway there! 

This week Sister B and I worked on making contacts with literally everyone. If there was someone in the street, you can be sure that we talked to them. In the end, we taught 53 principles of the gospel to people, and are excited to visit all of the addresses that we received last week. We even got invited to dinner tomorrow!

Other updates:

I talked with my family. Yes, it was great. Thank you for asking.

One of the members here calls me cat face. Because she thinks I look like a cat. 

We had an activity in the church where everyone brought a cake and we played some games and it was great. And cake is better here in Brazil (sorry to all the Americans).

I took a lot of photos with Sister P (a sister I live with) this week...enjoy...and also a weird picture of me during Skype with crazy eyes.

Love,

Sister Christensen 

5/2/2016: Week 33 - Just Photos

Eating Honey Bread

Planner Cover

Two Sister C's