Week 11

Loved ones,

It's a wonderful time to be a missionary! I love it so much! Our
investigators right now area little flakey and that is heartbreaking.
Have you ever seen someone with a little cut and you have a band aid
to help them out but they refuse to take it? Weird right? I feel like
that a lot. The gospel of Jesus Christ heals us. In every way. We have
to choose it though.

We had a Family Home Evening at a members house last week. We had a
family that was baptized recently and an investigator there (Miss
May). We talked about the Plan of Salvation. Miss May then talked
about how much she enjoys reading the Book of Mormon. She said it's a
lot like the Bible but with different names and the stories are easier
to relate to! I would have to agree with her! I love both books!
Sometimes I forget how relatable to scriptures can really be. If we
have a question we ask God in prayer with the faith the scriptures
have our answers we will find them!

I love you all! I'm sorry I don't have anymore stories this week! Let
me know if ya'll have any questions!
❤️
Sister Christensen

Week 10

Loved ones,

I love being a missionary. Your eyes are opened to things you've never
seen before and your heart is opened up to people in a way you never
imagined possible.

This week we were able to witness Sister Sims be baptized. She is a
powerful, strong, and beautiful. She is a single mom raising 4
wonderful children. The Elders in our ward are the assistants to the
president (really amazing missionaries). They have been teaching her
since March. She developed an amazing testimony and planned to be
baptized. When the date came closer to decided not to be baptized. Her
concerns were women and the Priesthood and giving up tea (her mom is
British).

About a month ago Sister Tau'aho and I started teaching her. We sang
Families Can Be Together Forever to her and her youngest daughter
Clare. Sometimes I would get nervous singing that song because not
everyone has the ideal family life... But they loved it. Slowly we
taught her about the temple and the power that comes from making
covenants with God there. We promised her if she moved forward with
faith understanding would come later. She told us she felt a weight
being lifted off of her when we told her that.

That weekend was the General Women's meeting. An amazing member, who I
hope to be like one day, had us over along with 2 investigators and a
recent convert to the church for dinner and drove us all to the
church. So many prayers were answered in such a short amount of time.
Especially for Sister Sims. The next day we invited her to be baptized
on the 17th and she accepted.

More answers came for her from our Ward Conference and even more from
General Conference the week after. We knew she was still struggling
giving up tea and coffee actually. We brought it up with her and she
said she knew God was working on her because she made a cup of coffee
and she didn't like the taste!! Woah! We had a dinner and FHE at the
mission presidents home with her family on fasting. I was able to
share the experience I had almost exactly a year before that put me on
the path to go on a mission. I was able to testify of the power of
fasting and of the answers I received while attending church. While I
received wonderful answers during the first two hours of church I
would not have had answers to a majority of my concerns if I had not
attended the third hour. I love church. Revelation happens there. We
invited everyone to fast with us to help Sister Sims keep the Word of
Wisdom and attend church on Sunday.

Sister Sims was sick as a dog on Sunday and still came and still
fasted. We went to see her the next day. Her mom had come by earlier
and told her it was probably better for her health to not have to
caffeine and she was supportive of her. Wow! Her mom and her heritage
were her biggest concern with not having tea. The power of a proper
fast is incredible!

The missionaries that taught her family originally flew out to watch
her be baptized and confirmed. She is a blessing to me. I love her so
much.

The gospel of Jesus Christ changes us. A return missionary spoke in
church and she said "The what informs and the why transforms". I am a
work in progress. How thankful I am that our Savior takes me as I am
and makes all the difference.

I love each of you! I pray for you! I am thankful for the strength
your prayers give me!

❤️
Sister Christensen

 Miss May cooked breakfast for us after we mowed her lawn.

 It was salmon cakes and cheesy grits!

 Sister Sims' baptism!

Week 9

Loved ones,

How are you?! Are the leaves changing colors? Are the temps a little
cooler? The weather here is amazing! The other morning we got up to
run and it was SUPER foggy everywhere. Sometimes when it rains it's
more like a mist. Ah, I love it! And now it's a beautiful sunny day
with a light breeze every now and then. I know you like those kind of
details dad. I think of you and wonder how your run will be that day
when we're out running. I think of one of the many times we went out
running together and how you told me you like to pray while you run.
Thanking Heavenly Father for the beauty all around. I try to do that
too.

Last week was amazing! Sister Obioma was baptized by her husband on
Saturday. Brother Obioma moved to Utah from Nigeria in 1982 and was
baptized just a few months later. In 1985 he was asked to translate
The Book of Moromon from English into Ebu. So he did! He showed us
some of the transcripts he used! Pretty legit!! He and his wife have
been married for almost 9 years. They have two beautiful daughters!
Angel is 7 and Precious is 4 months old. I love this family. Sister
Obioma moved to the United States about a year ago and had been taught
by the sister missionaries for at least the past 6 months. She finally
decided it was time for her to be baptized. She was so excited to
receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. It made my heart sweet and my eyes
tear up every time she talked about it. She is excited to have it lead
and guide her. She has such amazing faith. Their family is hopefully
going to road trip it to Utah next month!! I told them the word on the
street is there's a cute new tour guide at the conference center on
Monday's and Wednesday's!! They hope they get to meet you momma! I
hope they do too. I'm very thankful to b able to witness a family take
a few steps closer to becoming eternal. It's great to be a
missionary!!

My ponderize verse taught me a lot 2 Nephi 32:3. When I feast upon the
words of Christ and pray to have the spirit with me and give me the
words I should speak. I try to be specific in my prayers. When I do
these things I know I speak with a knowledge and power greater than my
own. It's quite humbling. It's quite amazing. It's hard not to let my
insecurities get in the way but when I have faith in the words of the
Savior I notice such a change in myself and in the people around me.
Why don't I do this more often?!

It has lead me to my verse this week. Matthew 22:37 "Jesus said unto
him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy bheart, and with
all thy soul, and with all thy mind." I love my Savior. I want to
focus more this week on realizing his love for me and doing all I can
to show my love for him with everything I have!! His gospel has been
restored to the earth! We are lead by a loving prophet of God! We have
the opportunity to live with our families forever if we follow the
example of Jesus Christ!

LOVE
Sister Christensen

Week 8

Family,

Two months ago today ya'll dropped me off at the "empty sea" (MTC). It
seems like yesterday but at the same time a million things have
happened and my weekly emails barely scratch the surface of the
miracles we see every day. I am truly blessed to have this time to
serve the Lord and have the support of so many wonderful people back
home.

Conference. I don't think I have ever cried so much in my entire
life!! As they called the three new apostles and had them come up to
take their seats the spirit bore testimony to me that they are truly
called of God. The spirit also bore testimony to me again as they bore
their testimonies. We are so blessed that we will never have to
experience apostasy again. We might have our own spiritual darkness as
we turn away from the teachings of God (I pray we dont) but we will
always have prophets and apostles to lead and guide us. I know I need
it!!

Mom, I basically was sobbing crying all through Elder Hollands talk on
Saturday afternoon. You're pretty great. Thanks for making us memorize
The Living Christ. I can't even begin to tell you how wonderful you
are. I also thought of you during President Nelson's talk Sunday
Morning.

We asked Sister Lee to have questions prepared as she went into
conference and she said her question was what questions she should ask
haha. I don't remember which talk spelled that out for us. But her
question was answered! I know many of my prayers were answered in this
General Conference.

We watched all 4 sessions of conference live at the church. Mostly
missionaries and a few of our investigators watch it at the church. I
think I will make a goal to do that the rest of my life. The spirit is
so strong at the church.

Some of my favorite one liners were:
Start where you are.
What you need: a willing heart, a desire to believe, and trust in God
Yielding to the Lords way is the only way.
Direction is more important than speed. (YES!)
Count blessings instead of challenges.
The Holy Ghost really does give us customized answers.
Allow the Holy Ghost to lead us home.
It's never too early and it's never too late.
Simply go about doing good.
Only your resolve to be obedient can change your life.
Earth has no sorrow that Heaven cannot cure. - the Savior is the cure.
Be thou an example of the believers
Purity will bring peace of mind.
Prayer is vital.
The Lord will qualify those he calls.
Focus on what I can do.
It's about the Lord, his work and Heavenly Fathers children.
If you quit now others will have to learn what you already know now.

And many many more!

I love you! God loves us! Jesus is the Christ! He lives! He leads and
guides his church on the earth today through living prophets and
apostles! Oh, how I love sharing that joyous news here in Georgia!

Sister Christensen

 Our Relief Society President came out with us and snuck this pic!

Stone Mountain

Week 7

Hello my dears!

Have you ever loved someone so much you feel like your heart is going
to burst?! That's how I've felt this week. It's been great!
Sister Tau'aho and Sister Rowe had taught a woman named Wilma a few
months back. We decided to go start teaching her again and she always
welcomes us with open arms. We kept driving past the home of a member
that we had never met before because she hasn't been coming to church
for years and years. We always had appointments right after so we
never stopped.
Friday as we were leaving Wilma's we felt prompted to go back and
knock on her door. After an interesting encounter with her brother
Wilma came from the front yard and began talking with us. She was
wearing old men's clothing and you could tell life had been hard on
her for the past few years. She was not willing to talk much at first
but then she really opened up. She has been taking care of her dying
mother for the past five years and hasn't been able to work amongst
other things. We told her how loved she was by our Savior and our
Father in Heaven. I have never felt so much love for someone in my
entire life. I know I only felt a glimpse of what our Father in Heaven
feels and it completely consumed me. We were all in tears of course
and we just walked over and held her for a little while. I am so
excited for her to feel the true peace and joy that comes from
applying the Atonement of Jesus Christ in our hearts and in our lives.

Our Heavenly Father is so mindful of all of us. He knows us perfectly.
Isn't that just the most wonderful thing?!

We also were able to see the Lee's be baptized on Saturday and
confirmed on Sunday. They were baptized by our Ward mission leader who
was baptized about a year and a half ago. This was his first baptism.
The spirit there was almost tangible. We sang a duet! And I had a solo
in it! Who would've thought?! Not me! The song was "I Heard Him Come".

We were able to sing it to a sister that is fairly old and has major
back problems that no doctor can seem to help with. She has just been
in her bed the past few days and hasn't been able to move much. I sat
next to her husband at church and asked if we could visit. As we sang
they were both in tears. She said she told herself last night it was
okay if it was her time. As we sang she thought of how the Savior
suffered and how thankful she was for him. After the song she realized
she "had some more sinnin' to do!". Haha. She is so spunky!

I love being a missionary. I am humbled daily. Oh, how I need the
Savior. I love my trusted friend The Holy Ghost and pray to remain
worthy of him.

I pray for you always.

Sister Christensen

Ps. Did you think of me a little in President Uchtdorf's talk
Saturday? I hope to be a Great Aunt Rose (RiRi) someday in one form or
another.
Pps. WASNT THAT ENTIRE MEETING AMAZINGLY?! Cried the entire time haha.

Also... I am staying here in Lilburn but Sister Tau'aho will go to
Gainsville to train a new sister coming in this week! She's such an
amazing trainer! My new companion will be Sister Hawkins! That's about
all I know about her haha.
I saw a box for Sister Hosman in the mission office!! I can't believe
she and the other sisters fly in tomorrow! I won't see them but Sister
Tau'aho promised me she'like give them all a big old hug for me!