Week 72 - Mosiah 18:21 What's your verse?!

Loved ones,

I hope y'all had a wonderful Christmas!! I loved seeing the family and
laughing with them. Y'all are the absolute best! And I didn't cry this
time! Aren't y'all proud?! Coco is so smart and so big and so
beautiful! The rest of y'all are pretty great too 😘.

We sang in the choir on Sunday and I really enjoyed it. I love music.
It brings in the spirit so strongly. We also had this awesome "youth
strings group" that played a killer musical number with some other guy
on the flute. It was probably my favorite part. We had all the wards
come together and I love looking out at all the people I love, making
eye contact and smiling at each other. Their love of our Savior and
how we all come together to rejoice in Him is amazing. I love that we
can come together once a week to do that and then strive our best to
keep Him in our hearts always. I love Him.

How has reading the Book of Mormon been for y'all? I love hearing from
mom about all she is doing with it. I noticed dramatically how much
just a little extra time and effort to read totally brought clarity to
my mind and peace to my heart. I love getting lost in the Book of
Mormon. The next day after I had that experience I went on exchange
with Sister Hosman in Laurel Springs. We went to a lesson with a
sister that was baptized a few years ago and her family has just
stopped going. I was able to relate to her a lot with my experience of
not always going to church. She really opened up to us. She had so
many questions she didn't even know where to begin. And her mind just
felt so confused. We were able to testify of doing the little things
daily... praying and reading and then coming to church on Sunday's. I
was able to testify of my experience the previous day and how much the
Book of Mormon brought clarity to my mind and peace to my heart and
how I knew it could do the same thing for her. She agreed to begin
praying and asking Heavenly Father her questions and then to begin
reading the Book of Mormon every day! She was so thankful we came and
was excited to let us know how it goes. It was so great meeting her
and I had so many other wonderful experiences with Sister Hosman. I'm
so thankful she is out here with me!

I love y'all!
❤️
Sister Christensen

Thanks Randall! 💚💛

Their son plays basketball for BYU. They have a daughter on a mission in Kirkland. They take good care of us! 💕

Caroling with Sister Hosman. A couple in her ward had these fancy bells! So fun!

Week 71 - Mosiah 16:9 What's your verse?!

Loved ones,

MERRY CHRISTMAS!! Ah, I love the Christmas season! Sister Hurst and I
have been caroling up a storm here in Suwanee! My favorite experience
from it this week has been when we knocked on the door, started
singing and the cutest little Korean lady opened the door. She was SO
excited that we were caroling for her! She started singing along with
us and asked if she could take our picture haha. We showed her the
#lighttheworld video and she loved it!! She wanted us to come back and
she begged us to go carol for her friend that lived in the apartment
across from hers. We agreed and she made us promise we wouldn't tell
them the she sent us. She also let us know she'd be watching through
the peep hole haha. I love her! Ends up her friend and her family want
to learn more about Christianity! They're all coming to hear us sing
in the church choir on Sunday!

A lot happened this week...
Our church had a fire... It wasn't repaired in time for church.
All three wards met at another building 15miles away at 2pm yesterday.
Before the opening prayer a man in the congregation had a heart
attack. A sister from our ward did cpr. When the paramedics came they
cleared the chapel. Eventually they asked everyone to leave. He didn't
make it. I'm so thankful for the Plan of Salvation. I know his family
will see him again. It was incredible to see so many people with their
heads bowed praying as you walked through the halls. You could feel
it. Its made me reflect on the many gifts available to us that no
amount of money could buy. I am so thankful for the birth, life and
resurrection of my Savior Jesus Christ. I know He lives. I know He
loves me. I know He loves you too.

Please remember that this Christmas season.

I love y'all!
❤️
Sister Christensen
P.S. Don't forget to start reading the Book of Mormon from the
beginning today! 8-9 pages a day! Pray before and after you read to
ask Heavenly Father if it's true! He will answer!

Week 70 - 3 Nephi 15:9

Loved ones,

This week Sister Hurst and I rode around on our bikes almost
everywhere! We now share our car with the Level Creek sisters and it's
been a blessing! One night it was quite cold and rainy and we started
singing carols as we rode. It lifted our spirits big time.

Our most exciting day was Friday. We went to lunch with a member and
got food poisoning. It wasn't pretty. We had an appointment that night
that we really didn't want to cancel. Our mission nurse told us she
suggested we stay in but it was up to us. So we called around until we
found a member to come to this lesson with us. As we were setting this
up Sarah, one of our new investigators that we met a few weeks ago,
texted us and said she wanted to meet with us. Yay! As we were driving
up to our original appointment they called and cancelled on us.
Bummer. But we had Sarah! She met us at the church and we had a
wonderful lesson. She told us her mom forbade her two younger sisters
from meeting with us but she wanted to know more about the Book of
Mormon. I asked her how she felt the first couple times we met her and
she thought for a few moments and then said "I dont know how to
explain it. It felt a lot like how I feel now.... kind of like I'm
home." That blew my mind! I have heard people say that about coming
into the chapel but I'd never thought about how we bring the love of
our Heavenly Father to these people wherever they are. Of course His
love would make us feel that way! We shared the #LightTheWorldvideo
with her and she loved it! The member with us was able to share her
mom's conversion story which is very similar to what Sarah is going
through. She hadn't read the Book of a Mormon yet which made us sad...
But she agreed to read it starting that night and praying to know if
it was true! We texted her at the end of the night and thanked her for
meeting us with and reminded her to read. She responded letting us
know she just about to read chapter 11 of 3rd Nephi! We were so
excited! Heavenly Father and our Savior are in every aspect of this
work! He gave us the strength we needed and brought the member out
with us that needed to be there! I love being able to witness such
miracles. Sarah is joining us for dinner at this members house
Thursday :).

Saturday our food poisoning caught up to us...

Sunday we felt a little better. Sister Hurst was asked to speak in
church and did such an amazing job! Then we were asked to help teach a
primary class second hour. And we taught half the lesson in Relief
Society! She's done more in one Sunday at church than I've done my
entire mission almost haha. The Suwanee Ward knows how to break in a
new missionary!

I hope all y'all are finding the joy of this Christmas season! I know
that Jesus Christ is my Savior and Redeemer! I am so thankful for a
loving and all knowing Father in Heaven. I am also very thankful for a
loving family that I know I can be with forever thanks to the restored
Gospel of Jesus Christ!

All my heart
❤️
Sister Christensen

Our ward mission leader brought us some goodies to help us. He's the best!

Still blooming 😍🌹

Week 69 - 3 Nephi 18:24 What's your verse?!

Loved ones,

It's been rainy the past couple days and so beautiful. Has there been a lot of snow for y'all? Sister Hurst said she saw a ton right before she left the MTC last week and was so happy for one last glimpse at it! 

This week has been great! So happy it's December!! Serving every day and sharing the #LightTheWorld video has been so amazing. It was sad to say goodbye to Sister Neff. Someone took our pictures last week and there're pretty fun. I'll send a few. 

Sister Hurst is my new companion. She is from American Fork and graduated just this past summer. She is so sweet and kind and so ready to serve. I love her already!

In nightly planning on Friday we had some space open up for finding before our ward Christmas party. I asked Sister Hurst to look in the area book map and pray about where we should try to find for those two hours. She prayed and found two streets and plugged them in. As we pulled up to one street the next day we said a prayer asking for Heavenly Father to help us find those that were prepared for the gospel. The first door we knocked on let us in and invited us back. We continued knocking with a lot of rejection. Two big gruffy looking guys literally ran inside their houses when they saw us coming haha. Then we saw a man walking out to his truck. As we began talking with him his son came out and began talking with us as well. He remembered missionaries like us had stopped by a few years before. His mom spoke Romanian and couldn't understand much of what they said. He said that two weeks later they returned and could speak Romanian to his mom! Haha wow! The elders made quite the impression on this kid! We shared the Christmas video with them and they invited us back to show their entire family. Sister Hurst invited them to follow Jesus Christ and be baptized. The dad wasn't interested but the son lit up and said yes! He didn't quite understand everything but he wanted to know and wants to follow Christ! It was such a miracle! No matter how long we have been out or in an area the Lord can guide us exactly to those that are seeking Him.

I loved the Christmas devotional last night! I've been studying a lot about the Saviors birth and the prophets that testified of Him. Which is all of them haha. But it's brought me a lot of hope reading and feeling the hope of the prophets of old. I love the scriptures! 

I love all y'all!!

❤️

Sister Christensen

Sister Hurst's first dinner in Georgia 💚

Week 68 - John 8:12 & Matthew 5:14

Loved ones,

I sure hope all y'all had a wonderful Thanksgiving week! We did here in Suwanee!! Sister Neff and I didn't want to over stuff ourselves like last year so we had one dinner appointment and about 25 other short lessons with anyone that would have us over. It was so much fun! 

I have crazy news! I will begin training a new missionary tomorrow! She just flew into Georgia today and I'll find out who she is tomorrow. I'm really humbled and pretty nervous... I can't wait to meet her! We'll be here in Suwanee together. I'm 98% sure Suwanee will be my final area in the mission. I LOVE Suwanee! I will miss Sister Neff and her fun spirit! It's less sad to see her off to a new area because we know we'll see each other in just a few months.

The Lee's were sealed on Saturday. It was probably the best day of my entire life. I can't even begin to describe the joy I felt talking with Sister Lee in the Brides room before the Sealing and seeing little almost 3 year old Ivy being brought into the Sealing room in all white. Last night I was talking to President Bennion and he didn't realize he gave me permission last month. He said he was thankful I went because he heard from a few other people how I recognized Brother Lee's parents in the Temple and helped them back out to the waiting room with the temple President. Nobody else would have recognized them and they would have gone into the Sealing room. It was a crisis avoided and he was very thankful I was there. I'll tell you more of that experience in a few months.

Yesterday morning we had scheduled to rake an investigators heard for her. We had to borrow the rakes from a member and told her we'd bring them back after we were done. We raked it was great and as we were dropping them back off to her we saw this cute little old lady across the street attempting to rake hers. Of course we ran over and finished her yard for her. We started talking with her and asking her about her beliefs. Next thing we know we're touring a Buddhist temple right behind her home and it was awesome. When we came back to her home 10 min later our member was there with a Chinese copy of the Book of Mormon for this sweet lady! We thanked her for giving us a tour and asked if we could give her a tour of our Chapel. She gladly accepted and asked if she could bring her husband. Our member then asked if she could invite her other neighbor across the street. So she walked us over to meet her and we set up another church tour! 

Have y'all seen the new Christmas video? It's so good! I'm excited to serve like the Savior over the 25 days. 

I love all y'all!

❤️

Sister Christensen

Hi family,

I love you! Seeing the Lee's sealed really was the best day ever. I wanted to share a few words that the sealer shared with us all:

Our trials are not to prove our worth to Heavenly Father but to prove to ourselves we are worthy of the blessings He has in store for us.

Our trials are not to see how much we can take but to see how we will react to them.

I love all y'all!

Just wanted you to know how much your daughter is loved. These pictures where taken yesterday at the temple at Bro. And Sis. Lee's sealing.
You have a great daughter we have enjoyed working with her.

Sister Jean Underwood
Mission Secretary

The Lee's 💕❤️

One of the 25 families! They're awesome! 

We brought hot chocolate to the Turkey Bowl 🦃🏈

Week 67 - D&C 98:1 What's your verse?!

Loved ones,

Its been a great week! We had to run around and inspect apartments before the transfer again so I don't have a ton of time... sorry! But I want all y'all to know how thankful I am for the love and support. I am so thankful for my Savior Jesus Christ. I am thankful for His gopsel. I am thankful for the Book of Mormon that is the evidence that it has been restored. It's true! I am thankful for a living Prophet and I am soooo thankful to know my family can be together forever. How amazing is that?!

Here is an amazing miracle that happened this week:

Tuesday night we received a call from a sister in our ward that we don't know that we'll. Her schedule opened up and she wanted to invite us to dinner the next day. We just happened to have it open and gladly accepted! When we arrived dinner had about 15 min until dinner would be ready. We looked at each other thinking "Uh oh, what do we do?". We decided to not sit and wait but to try a few houses around her. When we asked her if that was okay with her she pointed us in a direction to go. Her close neighbors had enough of the missionaries haha. But it worked out PERFECTLY. We walked a few houses down and saw this boy and his older sister walking into their house. We waved and yelled a cheerful hello. We asked if we could give them our card. We introduced ourselves and asked if we could share a little video with them. They invited us in. It was three sisters that ended up staying to watch the video with us. A 19 year old, 15 year old, and a 12 year old. We showed a video of President Monson titled "What Matters Most". They loved it! We went back on Friday... it was amazing. We asked why they let us back in. They told us we made their day! We asked them if they had ever wondered why there were so many churches and the little 12 year old just lit up and said "Yes!". We testified of the Book of Mormon and the restoration to them. We asked them about how they felt. The little 12 year old said she was so hopeful that questions she's had would be answered. Her 15 year old was speechless and smiling from ear to ear. The spirit was so strong. We asked them if they would like to read the Book of Mormon to find out if these things are true. The 12 year old chimed in again and said she had a friend leave one at her house and tell her she could keep it! The 19 year old said she's been wanting to read the Book of Mormon because a few people have told her it changes people's lives. My heart was about to burst. One of my favorite moments from my mission. We testified and promised it would indeeed change their lives because we know it's changed ours. It helped me gain a stronger testimony of being diligent with time. Asking inspired questions and focusing more on what they need to feel. I love love love being a missionary!

All my love,

❤️

Sister Christensen

We played World Cup today... it was so fun!

We were helping someone clean out their garage... haha. I love Sister Neff!

Week 66 - Moroni 10:3-5 What's your verse?!

Sister Neff 💕

Sugar Hill Zone Meeting

Our Georgia Family. The grandparents make us call them Papa and Granny haha. LOVE them. So southern.

Loved ones,

It got cold real fast out here! It's nice! There are also some fires
going on in North Carolina or Tennessee or some nearby state and it's
bringing down a bunch of smoke down here! It's been going on for about
a week now, pretty sad! It's been a struggle for my little asthmatic
lungs haha. But we've managed.

We went to the temple this week and had interviews with President and
Sister Bennion! It was great! I'm so thankful for the Plan of
Salvation.

We had a lot of our investigators drop us this week... That's been a
little rough but it's free'd up a lot of time to go out and talk to
all kinds of people and I love that so much. We have simple truths
that bring so much joy. In our ward conference yesterday we talked a
lot about having faith based conversations with people. We have so
much to learn from those around us and hearing about what brings them
joy and their testimonies of Heavenly Father always touches my heart.

A few months back I had this fun idea to help me gain a greater
appreciation for the translation of the Book of Mormon. Did you know
it was translated in 65 days? I didn't until just a few months ago! I
knew it was done quickly but man... that's quick! Such a miracle! So
on December 20th I am going to start reading the Book of Mormon again
from the beginning and aim to be finished on the 23rd of February. I'm
inviting anyone that would like to join in with me! It'll be fun! A
member here is going to make up a cool chart for us (a few other
sisters are doing it with me too) so we know what page we need to be
on each day and we can add cute stickers to each day when we finish
reading. If you'd like to join me let me know and I'll send you the
PDF when he finishes it.

I love all y'all!
❤️
Sister Christensen

I ❤️ Sister Giddins

Week 65 - Enos 1:1 What's your verse?!

Loved ones,

What a week! I thought the trees were beautiful last time I emailed... they've become even more amazing! So many warm oranges and reds and I love it! It's actually started to get a little chilly. It was still in the high 70's for the past couple weeks.

Tiree was finally baptized this week! It was amazing to see this entire family come together to help their friend (who has become family) enter the waters of baptism and receive the Holy Ghost. So many of their family members were semi active and now are fully involved and some of them have decided to begin meeting with the bishop to become temple worthy so they can go with him. It's been such a miracle. He was supposed to get baptized last week and was on date a few different times when the elders were teaching him. We were pretty sad and he and his girlfriend weren't really responding to us the day it was supposed to happen. We felt like we should help them see the real love we have for them. We found a dollar frame at the store and put one of our favorite pictures of the Savior in it. We wrote a note to them bearing our testimonies and left it on his girlfriends doorstep. There was such a change after that. Sometimes I get so sad and frustrated when people don't do what they say they are going to do. Sometimes the spirit directs us to be more firm but sometimes the spirit directs us to show more love. It's helped us want to do more of the little things to help people keep their commitments and show our love and support for them as they are trying to make huge changes in their lives. Love truly is the essence of the gospel!

Saturday after the baptism we helped put on an event at the church. There was a blood drive and a program called Mormonism and True Islam. Two members of our ward stood up and talked about our beliefs and then two representatives from the True Islam faith stood up and shared their beliefs. It was a get to know your neighbor event to help us understand each other and clear up some misunderstandings people may have about both faiths. It was pretty cool to see 100 of the True Islam faith sitting with us in the chapel. We made lots of friends. They had a booth set up for us all to try on Hijab (the veil worn by Muslim women). We felt a little weird about it because we didn't want to be disrespectful but they were so happy to see us try them on and gave us the scarfs! 

I love all y'all! 

❤️

Sister Christensen

Night before the baptism.

Such a special day!

Week 64 - Jacob 3:1 What's your verse?!

Loved ones,

I'm in awe of all the changing of the leaves here in Georgia. It's so
beautiful!

This week is a little bit of a blur... but many wonderful things
happened. Last Sunday in Ward Council Sister Neff and I volunteered
ourselves to help in Sacrament meeting whenever they needed us so we
would have more reasons for our investigators to church.

We got a call Wednesday informing us that our Ward Conference was
postponed because our Stake was called to help with the disaster
relief in South Carolina and they needed us both to sing and to speak
in church on Sunday. We gladly accepted! I spoke on prayer and Sister
Neff spoke on the Spirit and revelation. We asked two primary kids to
sing "A Child's Prayer" with us. They were so so sweet! I thought of
my sweet Papito as I looked out and saw some teary eyes in the
congregation. Such a good song...

Yesterday Sister Neff and I were trying really hard to find 3 people
that were ready to hear the message we share if Jesus Christ's
restored gospel. We felt the need to check in on Brother Chen. He was
someone the Elders met a few months back but never had the opportunity
to teach him much. We had met his daughter a few nights back and we
had a good feeling about her too. We stopped by before dinner...
Nobody was home. We decided to stop by again on our way home. The mom
answered the day and spoke very little English. But then their 17 year
old daughter let us in! We shared little pieces of talks and we sang
"A Child's Prayer". Right after we finished singing the dad came home!
We shared a scripture from the Book of Mormon and bore our testimonies
before we left. The dad looked at us and said "It's so good you came".
He invited us back to teach his family more. Hanzhi was so thankful we
came too and is so excited for us to come back this week.

We got a text Saturday morning from Elder Woodwell informing us that
Sister Hosman was in the hospital and to call her when we could. We
called her and she was her cheerful, faithful old self! A little down
she had to be in the hospital but full of trust and faith that
everything would be just fine. We found out she was in the hospital
literally 7 min from our apartment. We called the assistants (Elder
Woodwell) to ask for permission to leave our area on our lunch break
to visit her and bring her a few things. We got the ok and ran right
over. Only Sister Hosman could be so smiling and making others day
while suffering in the hospital haha. I love that Sister! She looked
so good! She texted us the next few days updating us on how her tests
went and finally that she would be just fine and was on her way back
to Hickory Flat (way out in the Marietta East Stake). How thankful I
am that she was instructed by the mission nurse to come to the
hospital right by me. God is good.

We're staying in and planning tonight for Halloween haha. Yippee!

Love all y'all!
❤️
Sister Christensen

Week 63 - 3 Nephi 18:32 What's your verse?

Loved ones,

This week was super great! This Saturday was possibly the best day
I've ever had...

I got in contact with Brother and Sister Lee who were baptized a year
ago in Lilburn. They both were receiving their endowment at the temple
Saturday and really wanted me to be there. In our mission we have to
choose if we will go to their endowment session or if we will go to
their sealing. Hardest decision ever but Sister Lee agreed with me...
they wanted me to see their two year old daughter Ivy too. Friday I
decided to text the assistants to ask how the other people I taught in
Lilburn were doing and if they were planning on going to the temple
soon too (had hand written them a little here and there but never
heard back). They texted us back and told us that all of them were
going to the temple the next day on the same session... I almost had
to pull over when Sister Neff read that text to me because I was
crying tears of pure joy. How am I so blessed? How wonderful that they
have prepared themselves to go to the temple? I got permission to call
Sister Sims. Man, I love that woman... she was so excited to be going
to the temple and happy to know I'd be there too. I decided I wanted
to surprise the Lee's. We made all the arrangements we needed to in a
few hours... someone to be here with Sister Neff, someone to bring me
to Elder and Sister Underwood so they could take me to the temple and
Sister Underwood could be my temporary companion, and then a ride back
to Suwanee. I walked in the temple and saw Brother Obioma (he returned
to activity after many years and baptized his wife last year... she
wasn't there because she just had a baby. She will be soon though!),
Brother and Sister Lee, and Sister Sims all there in the temple for
the first time. Sister Lee about fell off the bench when she saw me
haha. It was a heavenly day. One I will cherish forever. My heart
swells and I get a little teary eyed just thinking about it.

I reflected a little bit on the many people that played a role in
helping me get to the temple. All the people that kept loving me and
never gave up on me. I'm so thankful for each of you. You helped bring
me back to Him so He could heal me. How I pray I can follow your
examples.

We also saw many other miracles this week and had lots of fun. Our
primary program was this Sunday. I think tissues should be included in
the programs we hand out to the congregation during the primary
program haha. They sang "I love to see the temple" and "We'll bring
the world His truth" and I lost it...

All my love,
❤️
Sister Christensen

Activity Days:  Faith

Family,

The day I entered the mission home President and Sister Bennion
invited us to make a list of goals we have for our mission and write
them in our journal that night. One of my very top goals was to bring
families to the temple. In fact I stood up and said it was my greatest
desire to bring families to the temple when we were all sitting in the
mission home that first night. I had no idea how to make that happen
but I felt like it was something Heavenly Father wanted me to be a
part of. Saturday helped me see how by setting goals and trusting in
Him. If we strive our very best He will bless us more than we can ever
imagine.

I want to thank you for supporting me as I serve. I know I wouldn't be
here without your love and support. How thankful I am to have y'all
forever.

💕
Sister Christensen