Week 20 - Alma 22:18

Loved ones,

Oh how wonderful it was to see your faces and hear your voices.
Especially that sweet Coco!! I'm thrilled she actually talked a little
and would look at me and even gave Shelbs a big old kiss for me to
see! It truly melted my heart! I miss you all terribly but I know our
relationships will be blessed and strengthened while I'm away and that
this is exactly where I'm supposed to be! Our connection might not
have been super great but it was a miracle to Skype you from the house
we did! They are less active members of the church that let us in to
talk with them last week and offered to have us over on Christmas. It
was so good to bring that spirit to their home on such a special day.

I was pretty sick most of last week. It about crushed me not to be
able to go caroling and many other things we had planned. It's humbled
me and helped me a lot to rely on the Lord and my sweet companion. She
stayed super positive when I was more on the frustrated side.

The members here are very missionary minded and it is a huge blessing
to us! We were at dinner at a members home yesterday and they brought
up some of the former investigators we've taught here. They felt like
they were really promising and asked if we'd go check on them to see
if they even still live there. As we were walking out and getting into
the car Sister Gray and I both felt prompted to go check on one of
them specifically right then. When we pulled up we saw someone on
front porch and we so hoped it was Brother Battle!! We walked up and
began talking to him. Come to find out it was Brother Battle! He knew
exactly who we were! He had worked with several sets of sisters in the
past. We told him how the Henderson's had asked us if we'd go check on
him. He told us how much love he has felt from the members of our ward
and started listing them off (more people than I know so far!!haha).
He said he had just woken up and came outside after seeing a text from
Brother Henderson! We testified to him that Heavenly Father was well
aware of him and would never give up on him. He told us how he knows
what we teach is true and that he needs to stop making excuses. He
agreed to meet with us and to come to church on Sunday. The spirit was
so strong. We testified of its presence and he told us how he felt it
too. I continue to be amazed at how aware our Heavenly Father is of
the details in the lives of His children and how much love He has for
us always. I know the Lord is at the head of this work and we are
privileged to be here with these members that trust us enough to send
us to reach out to those they care about. I love being a missionary!!

As I contemplated some of the changes to make and goals I have for the
year of 2016 I realized it is the only full year I will have as a full
time missionary. It brings me to tears to think about it. In my
studies I recently read in Alma 22 about King Lamoni's Father. In
verse 18 he gives a wonderful prayer and in it he says to Heavenly
Father "I will give away all my sins to know thee". What an amazing
example he is. I want to be more like him. I want to give the Savior
and his mission all that I have and all that I am. I want to "I will
give away all my sins to know thee". I am so thankful for the gospel
and the hope and the peace and the joy it brings.

I love you all! Have a wonderful new year!
❤️
Sister Christensen

Christmas Eve with the Bergman's. They have a daughter serving in Portland.

We both received aprons as gifts this year, Thanks Jordy!

Week 19-Matthew 1:23

Family,

I'm in Allatoona and I love it! I know this is where the Lord needs me
at this time. On Wednesday we went with a recent convert and an
investigator to go see Santa at the church (not a huge fan of that
idea but it was good to have them meet some of the Ward). I met the
Bishop and guess what?! He graduated from Brighton High School in
1984! Two of my most favorite people did too! He went home and looked
in his year book and told us he found mom and dad. Small world!

The next day we went with one of our investigators to her baptismal
interview. Afterward we were talking and she opened up to us a ton and
told us her mom miscarried her twin. Hey, me too! She said she never
tells anyone that but felt the need to tell us and automatically felt
connected to me and came over to give me a hug. I love her. It might
seem weird but to her it was an added confirmation that she was making
the right decision to be baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints. Heavenly Father is so aware of the details of our
lives.

I got your package just in time! I am feeling not so great and the on
guard cough drops and the breathe are helping lots! Thank you!

I've been reflecting on my life and what it would be like without a
Savior and what it's like now because I do. He is everything to me. He
is the light the life and the hope of the world. I am thankful to be
serving Him and to see the impact He has on all those around me.

I love you! Merry Christmas! Give yourselves a hug for me!
❤️
Sister Christensen

I love this family!!

Sister Hawkins... I love her!

Santa! He kept kissing my hand....

I spy with my little eye......

I didn't realize the skirt was riding up! Oops
!

Saying bye...

Week 18-Luke 2:14

Family,

The time has come. I am leaving Lilburn and will now be in Allatoona!
It's bitter sweet as most change is. But overall I am excited for it.

Sister Gray will be my companion. She actually came out on the mission
at the same time as me! She even came to two of the get togethers we
planned before the mission. So she has actually met mom, Kass, Shelbs,
and Coco!! Crazy! I will be there on Wednesday. I am looking at my
package right now and I'm very thankful for it! Ya'll should receive
one soon as well from me! Open it when it comes because it has some
birthday stuff for She.

We met Elder Holland! I was able to sit by Sister Hosman when he spoke
to the missionaries on Saturday morning! It was wonderful to see her!
Such a big tender mercy! Who would've thought we'd actually ever see
eachother?! We had an investigator come and listen with us as he spoke
to the Women of the greater Atlanta area. Basically I was crying all
weekend. Happy tears of feeling the overwhelming love of my Father in
Heaven. I am really blessed! I will email my quotes from his two talks
next week!

I love you! I know the Church is true and that Jesus Christ is our
Savior and Redeemer!

 ❤️
Sister Christensen

Bob is so funny, he finally was able to sing on Friday. He usually isn't able to.

Kathy!

This is Joyce. I love her!

I will miss the Sims family!!

Zone Training. I'm hugging Hermana Martinez.

Week 17- Alma 7:10-13

Family,

We went to the temple this week! I love the temple. So much. There is
so much peace and love there. It was a great day.

We had the Nativity this weekend and it was beautiful! They gather
nativity spies from all over the community and have them on display in
the Annex. They drape fabric all over and have LOTS of lit Christmas
trees of all different sizes throughout the entire place as well.
There were some just like ones we have back home and it warmed my
heart! (The sheet of glass with the nativity etched on it). None of
our investigators or families we are working with showed up but we
heard some pretty cool stories from people that did!

We had two of our investigators,Murphy & Diane, come to church on
Sunday and we went to their church right after with them. We only had
Sacrament meeting so they could set up for the concert that was
happening that night. I love the first Sunday of the month. I love
hearing others testimonies of the gospel. There is a woman named
Nicole that has come to church for the past few weeks. She met someone
on the hotel she is currently living in that gave her a Mormon.org
card. She began chatting with missionaries online and they gave her
the address to the church and the time we meet and the name of our
Bishop. She has loved it from the minute she stepped in the door. She
hasn't made time to meet with us yet because she is trying to get
herself and her family back on their feet. Brother Blunck from the
bisphopric started of the testimony meeting explaining how we fast for
two meals and give the money we would have used from the two meals to
the poor and needy in our community. He also explained that we open
the meeting to the congregation to bear their testimonies. Nicole was
sitting next to me and taking notes. She asked to borrow my scriptures
and marked a verse in Psalms. I'll tell you what scripture next week.
She went up right after Brother Blunck and bore her testimony. She
showed everyone her coat and thanked them for giving fast offerings so
she could be warm. She knows God lead her to the church and continues
to do so. Many others bore their testimonies after her and there
wasn't a single pause. Kinda like the story Trevor told a few weeks
ago.. I was planning to bear my testimony the second there was a pause
and it never happened! The spirit was soo strong in the meeting. So
strong. We asked Murphy and Diane how they felt and Diane said "I
didn't feel the spirit". I was so broken hearted. We went to their
church with them. We knew Murphy had talked to the Elders at their
church about us and they told him to stay far away from us. He told us
he knew we were full of the light of the Lord so much that it was just
oozing from us haha so he will continue to have us over. Knowing that
it was a little intimidating to go to their church. It was pretty big
(3 big projector screens at the front so you could see the preacher
and sing along with the songs). The people were really nice. I liked
some of the songs we sang. They are doing wonderful things in the
community with stocking stuffers and such. They gave a funny
presentation of all these bad gift ideas (knitted shorts, green shower
gel that comes out of a nose, coffee mug in the shape of a toilet,
etc). It was pretty funny. The preacher made some very motivational
remarks! It was interesting!

I know The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the only
true and living church on the earth today. I am thankful for the
restoration of the gospel in its fullness, the Priesthood of God, and
a living prophet! I am so thankful for the Plan of Salvation! Wasn't
the broadcast last night amazing?!

Sorry I am rambling and this didn't make much sense.... I love all of
you! I'm thankful for the opportunity to serve. It's not always easy.
In fact, it's really hard. But I know as I humble myself and do my
very best to do what Heavenly Father would like me to do I will slowly
become who he needs me to be. It will take the rest of my life. How
thankful I am to learn how to begin doing that now. Jesus Christ is
our Savior. He was born so we can be free.

I love you all!
Sister Christensen

Week 16 - Helaman 14:2

Familia!

Thanks for your pictures from Thanksgiving! Those lucky elders that
were able to be with ya'll! I was pretty lucky here too. President and
Sister Bennion invited us and our investigators, the Oliver family,
over for Thanksgiving! The Oliver's didn't show up.... Sad 💔. But we
did get to help Sister Bennion Cook and eat Thanksgiving dinner with
just the four of us and Christine was watching movies in her room
across the hall. We had on aprons and laughed and shared experiences
from our day and it was so good. My apron had the army of Helaman on
it. Oh yeah! I forgot to take pictures on my iPad so hopefully one day
you'll see the evidence.

Next we ate at Sister Coln's. She came to church for the first time in
almost a year on Sunday. Miracle.

Next was the Robinson family. I love them. The dad baptized his wife
and two of his daughters the week I got here. All of their other
children were there too and it was amazing! They are enduring despite
many challenges thrown their way!

Next Miss May. We were able to have Nguyen come to her home. He has
spend the last 7 years alone on Thanksgiving. He told us he felt like
he had hit the jackpot. Miss May sent him home with enough food to
last him a month!

The most spiritual thing for me this week happened on Thanksgiving
morning. We were on the way to a lesson with a member, Sister
Caballeros, that has RA really bad so she can't make it to church. We
drove past another members house, Sister Brock, and the thought came
to my mind to visit her. We met with her a week and a half ago and we
knew she was going to her Sisters to be with her family so I pushed
the thought from my mind. We had the lesson with Sister Caballeros
(and her husband-bonus miracle) and I still felt like we should check
on Sister Brock's house. I felt a little dumb but "maybe her son
stayed behind and we'll finally be able to meet him" I told Sister
Hawkins. Sister Brock opened the door with tear filled eyes and let us
in. Because of stuff going on with her family she couldn't go at the
last minute. We testified to her of our Heavenly Fathers awareness of
her and her needs and told her how we were promoted to go check on her
even though we knew she was going to be gone! I felt the spirit so
strong! I love and cherish having the gift of the Holy Ghost! Heavenly
Father is so mindful of each and every one of his children!

There are people the Lord has prepared and we are being led to them
and they are being led to us. We met Murphy and Diane within the first
few weeks of us becoming companions. We knocked on their door and
Diane greeted us but had to go back to cooking. Murphy knew who we
were and had read lots of information from places other than
Mormon.org about us. He was friendly and honest and really concerned
for our safety. He opened up to us about some of his hardships and we
agreed to pray for each other and went our separate ways. About a
month or so later as we walking down the street a van slowed down to
talk to us and it was Murphy!! He pulled over and started asking us
about what we do as missionaries because he had read more about us and
told us of the respect he has for us. He invite us over to have dinner
with he and his wife and told us "And if we have to talk about the
Golden Plates then I guess that's fine". We never got his number and a
few weeks went by and he never called us. We felt impressed to go
check on them and bring a treat. When we knocked on the door Murphy
welcomed us in like we had an appointment! He said they were just
talking about us the other day. We talked a little bit about
recognizing the Holy Ghost and acting on those promptings. God led us
to them. Then Murphy to us. And then us back to them. They agreed to
have us come over and share more with them. At the beginning of the
lesson Murphy wouldn't touch the Book of Mormon and by the end he
agreed to read it and to pray about it and to be baptized if he came
to know it was true. The Lord is softening the hearts of those around
us. He leads and guides this work and I pray that I can continue to be
humble enough to witness His hand in all things.

I'm thankful for my testimony. I found a quote from President Gordon B
Hinkley that really touched my heart this week:
"Jesus is my friend. None other has given me so much. “Greater love
hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends”
(John 15:13). He gave His life for me. He opened the way to eternal
life. Only a God could do this. I hope that I am deemed worthy of
being a friend to Him."
Jesus is my friend too.

I love you!!
Sister Christensen

Thanksgiving dinner

Fly like a bird

The Robinson's

I love this picture so much.

The Coln's home