Week 55 - Mosiah 15:7 what's your verse?!

Loved ones,

This week was great! We brought a few of the sisters from the stake to
contact on campus with us! It was so wonderful! It's a beautiful sight
to look around a college campus and see 5 sisters missionaries each
having a conversation with someone about the restored gospel. Ah, I
love it. So many people are wanting to be closer to Heavenly Father
and we know the way. What a blessing!

We also had a lemonade stand with them outside of the institute
building that night. We were struggling to get people to stop and talk
to us. As one guy was running by I stopped him and asked him if he
wanted lemonade. He took out his earbud and said "sure". We then asked
him to take a picture for us. He said sure again and we all positioned
ourselves by the stairs. We stood there and smiled for a few seconds
and we saw a flash on his face. We then asked him to take a picture of
us. And he said "oh, okay. Sure.". Hahaha. We felt so bad that he
didn't understand and took a selfie! He was unfazed by all of it. We
asked him what brought him happiness and he wrote it down. We bore our
testimonies and off he went. It was pretty funny. Hopefully we see him
again!

We have been sending out a lot of texts with scriptures suggestions
with them. Through doing that we've had a few people text us back and
ask to meet with us. One of them was a girl and Audrey. She invited us
over for milk and cookies and said her roommate wanted to join too! We
brought an awesome member of the branch with us too. Audrey is part of
the campus ministry for her church and it turns out her friend is as
well. Sometimes that can go really wrong but Saturday it went pretty
well! She came right out and just asked us to bear our testimonies.
The three of us each bore our testimonies. In my studies I felt really
strongly to share what I had felt and learned about the resurrection
with someone. Sister Patten felt like it should be them. I explained
how we all have physical, mental, and emotional limitations and
weaknesses. I bore my witness that all of those things will be healed
in the resurrection. I testified of the witnesses in the New Testament
of the resurrected Savior and how incredibly thankful I am for an
additional witness of that truth in the Book of Mormon. I could see
the tears in Audrey's roommates eyes. They bore their testimonies to
us as well and invited us back to share more. We'll see how it goes.

That night we got a call from sister missionaries nearby asking us to
sing in a funeral with them. It was such a great experience! The mans
nephew gave his eulogy and it was beautiful. He talked about his
family and how every two months they would meet together as extended
family. All the ladies would sit on the outside edges of the large
room and talk and all the men would sit in a circle in the center and
catch up on everything happening in Athens. This man had a super thick
accent and was very well spoken. I loved every second. He told of a
few of the good deeds his uncle did. He was truly a Good Samaritan.
His daughter stood up and read a poem and it really tugged at my
heartstrings. I reflected back on the day before and my studies and
said a prayer in my heart asking if the resurrection is real and I
felt such a warmth and a peace come into my heart. I know the
resurrection is real! What a beautiful blessing to know that truth! It
helped me to keep from crying while we sang "A Poor Wayfaring Man of
Grief" to his family at the funeral.

I love all y'all!!

Mom, thanks for the package! Kass, the writing on it is SOOO cute!

❤️
Sister Christensen

The Selfie

The sweetest family took all of the sisters in our zone out to a way nice restaurant today! Someone did it for him on his mission and he wanted to have his family start doing the same thing ❤️

Week 54 - 2 Nephi 10:23-24

Loved ones,

We saw a lot of rain and a lot of sun this week! Just how I like it :).

We had some pretty cool experiences this week.

We had a booth set up on campus Friday and a member that agreed to be
there all day with us! We were so excited! As we were walking to our
table all we could hear was Babylonian music blasting from two huge
speakers. It was so hard to focus and even talk to people coming by
because they literally couldn't hear us haha. But we endured and
talked to many people. Right after the music stopped and some of the
huge crowds had left we stopped this girl to talk to her. We asked her
if she prayed and if she felt God answered her prayers. She took a
minute to respond and said she prayed but wasn't sure if he answered
her prayers and it was hard sometimes to accept His will. She opened
up to us about how her roommate had a Bible study at their apartment a
few years ago and how much she enjoyed it. She said she missed it and
wanted to start doing it again and wanted us to help! She told us how
she struggled a little bit because there are so many
misinterpretations of the Bible. Right then a different member of the
branch walked up to say hi. That morning we had shared 2 Nephi
10:23-24 with her. It was brought again to our minds by the spirit and
we shared it with our new friend. She said "Wow" in a soft humble way.
It was exactly what she needed. We testified of the Book of Mormon and
how it helps us understand some of the simple truths that have been
lost over time. The branch member shared her testimony and told our
investigator how much she hoped she would see her at church. The
spirit was soooo strong! She wanted to read the Book of Mormon and
invited us over to teach her and her roommates! It pays to endure and
we're so thankful for the powerful witness the Book of Mormon brings!
The Lord knows each one of us and it amazes me how those little
decisions (to send a scripture to the member that morning, to ask a
specific question, for the member to come say hi at that moment, etc)
help Him in this His work. How blessed are we to be a part of it?!

A few weeks ago I talked to this sweet girl that is really involved in
the Catholic student organization here at UGA. She is thinking about
serving a mission herself and wanted to pick our brains about why we
chose to serve! Cool! She also invited us to join them while they went
and served at the Food Pantry of North Eastern Georgia. We went with
them on Saturday and it was amazing! We worked for about an hour and
then they wanted to play some get to know you games while the food
bank found more work for us to do. We had a member of the branch that
is leaving to serve in the Salt Lake City West mission in two weeks
with us and 9 students from the Catholic center on campus. We went
through some ice breaker questions and then Sam lead a spiritual
discussion. It was awesome! We discussed what it means to be hungry.
We all pondered on that and after they had all said their very
powerful testimonies and thoughts they asked us if we had anything to
add. All that we talked about the spirit bore witness to me was true.
It was powerful! I expressed that to them and added my witness of the
gospel as well as Sister Patten. We went back out to work and more of
them began asking us questions and wanting to know more. Who knows
what will come of it all but I gained a stronger testimony of the
truths we all share and of Heavenly Fathers love for all of His
children. "We seek for truth wherever we might find it"-President
Dieter F. Uchtdorf. I also know that the fullness of the gospel of
Jesus Christ was restored to the prophet Joseph Smith and that with
the Restoration my life and the lives of those I love have been
blessed.

All y'all give Trevy a big hug for me. And hug each other for me while
y'all are at it!

I love being a missionary. I can't thank y'all enough for your
constant love, prayers and support.

❤️
Sister Christensen

Food Bank with the Catholic Center

It was pledge day for the fraternities & sororities last Monday 🙉🙈🙊. See them behind me? This is right in front of the institute.

Week 53 - Helaman 5:12 What's your verse?!

Loved ones,

School started this week at UGA! It's been wonderful! We are able to
talk to so many more people as we are contacting on campus! There was
another religion there and a lady from their group showed me a verse
in the bible and told me I was cursed. That made me a little sad but I
told her I loved her and that I hoped she would have a great day. She
was little shocked and walked back to her table.

We've been praying to know how to be more involved in the ward and
gain the sister trust because that is who we will be working with in
the ward. We felt really strongly that we needed to be in the Athens
2nd ward for church this Sunday and decided to have one of have a
companion in the Athens 2nd ward for church and one of us to have a
companion in the YSA branch because their services are only an hour
apart. Because our ward and branch mission leader knew the plan the RS
president knew she could call on us to teach RS in the Athens 2nd
ward! What a perfect way to gain their trust! We prayed so hard that
the spirit would guide the lesson. A family in the Athens 2nd ward
brought friends to church with them and we were able to talk with them
and help the wife be prepared for the lesson on temples and family
history work! Because of all the trainings on Family History work
we've been doing I've been praying about what stories I could share
from my family history. Early this week I was looking at a picture of
my great grandmother Sarah Lucille Thomas. I thought about her and
came to realize it was because of her willingness to take my dad to
church when he was younger that he was baptized when he was 8. She
died when he was 18 but he always knew he was baptized even if he lost
the understanding of what that meant. It prepared him to accept the
gospel whole heartedly later on in his life when he met my mom and
read and prayed about the Book of Mormon. I shared that experience
with the sisters and right after a sister pulled us to the side and
said she knew it was inspired for us to be there that day because the
story of my dad is exactly what the sister she visit teaches needs to
hear! I'm thankful for a loving Savior that leads and guides us in His
work! Every little prompting matters!

We also had plans to visit some of the sisters in the Athens 2nd ward
that haven't been to church and see how they are doing. We called one
lady Saturday night and we found out the next day was her birthday! We
brought her cookies and sang her happy birthday. She was pretty sure
nobody in the ward knew she had another baby it had been that long
since she had been to church. Her baby is now 7 months old! Her oldest
daughter was baptized with her 2 or 3 years ago and now her other
daughter wants us to teach her so she can be baptized! It's great
being a missionary!

I love all y'all!
❤️
Sister Christensen

This sweet woman is Ora. She'll be baptized one day. I love her!

The bushes with the little yellow flowers on top are the Okra we pick every week! 😍❤️

Athens Zone

Week 52 - Mosiah 4:15 What's your verse?!

Loved ones,

It's been a great week! More beautiful random rain storms. My favorite!

My highlight of the week was going down to Monroe for the day to be
with Sister Hosman. Her companion was sick and so my companion stayed
in to take care of her while we went out to take care of their area.
They had a lesson lined up with a woman named Julie. She has been
living in her car for the past 4 weeks. Sister Hosman and her
companions stopped to help her when they saw her car on the side of
the road. They have been teaching her ever since. We got a ride
(another miracle for another time) early so we could study and prepare
for the lessons they had that day. Sister Hosman and I are on the
exact same chapter in the Book of Mormon and thought of the same
verses to share with people!! Crazy! We taught Julie the gospel of
Jesus Christ. It was one of the highlights of my mission to teach that
lesson with her! The spirit was so strong! Julie said her first verbal
prayer at the end of the lesson. She was glowing after and said she
felt the same feeling Sister Hosman described earlier in our lesson.
How beautiful is that?!

We helped our Stake do a community clothing drive this week as well.
It was awesome :). They are helping a refugee family as well. We met
them as they shopped the clothing the night before the drive started.
The kids were so sweet and begged their mom to come back and visit our
church! So many people from all different faiths and walks of life
came. What a blessing to witness so much love in the community!

I love all y'all!
❤️
Sister Christensen

Sister Hosman

I've got a watermelon and Sister Jacobs has a blueberry. Horticulture Farm 😍

Week 51 - James 4:10 What's your verse?!

Loved ones,

It's been a HOT week! Sister Patten and I had heat exhaustion that
caused us to stay in for a few hours this week. Nurses orders! I was
so happy when those couple hours were up and we could go out again!
It's been beautiful though. I love the random rain storms :).

We started a conversation with this girl LeighAnne on campus and have
been teaching her. She is Atheist but willing to try to pray again and
read the Book of Mormon. She asks so many questions and I love it!
There are many times we don't have the answer but I love going home
and studying about it until I do. Sometimes still we don't get the
answers but its okay. I don't know everything, but I know enough. I
know that God is truly our Father and that He does love us. I know
Jesus Christ is His son and is my Savior and Redeemer. He is also my
best friend. I know that Joseph Smith saw Them both on a beautiful
spring morning in 1820 and that through him the fullness of the gospel
of Jesus Christ was restored. That testimony grows deeper every day as
I read the Book of Mormon every day and I see Gods priesthood power in
full force today. It's not usually big and grand and dramatic to the
natural eye but deep in my heart and in the hearts of those around me.
Especially as I partake of the Sacrament each week. I know that Thomas
S. Monson speaks for the Lord today and is indeed a prophet. We
watched "On the Lords Errand" and it became even more clear to me. I
recommend all y'all watch it! Back to LeighAnne... She texted us last
week and asked us if she could bring her friends that wanted to learn
about Mormons. We were pretty happy about that! One is dating a guy
who has lots of LDS relatives. His dad even served a mission. I could
tell she felt the spirit but she's not ready to learn more yet. One
day.

We set up a time with a member of the Athens 2nd Ward RS presidency to
come out with us Sunday. Her husband is also the ward mission leader
in the 2nd ward and had asked if we'd go visit a mother and daughter
the elders had been teaching at one point. As we were pulling up we
saw the cutest elderly man dressed for church in a red suit coat with
his worn Bible in his hand. As we drove past him he was puzzled by us
and turned around to watch us drive past. We pulled over and said a
prayer before we went to visit the mom and daughter. As we opened our
eyes after the prayer we could see him walking away from our car. He
must have walked up to us but saw we were praying and turned around!
Our team up said "We should run after him!" So we did! Turns out Stan
had met with elders three years ago and didn't know why they stopped
coming by. He asked us to come back to teach him! We set up a time to
see him Tuesday. The mom and daughter of the original house we'd
planned to see wasn't available to meet with us but the Lord brings us
to general areas to find those that are ready. We realized we were
pretty close to one of our investigators and decided to stop by and
have a quick lesson. As we were talking with her guess who walked in?
Stan!! Our investigator is his godmother and he was coming by to share
what she'd missed at church! He was shocked to see us haha! We taught
them BOTH a quick lesson and committed him to read the Book of Mormon.

Friday is my official year mark as a missionary. I am so thankful for
all the love and support and prayers from every single one of y'all. I
know your prayers have carried me through both the good and hard. I
pray you are well.

All my love,
❤️
Sister Christensen

Have I said how much I love the UGA Horticulture Farm?

Athens District (It was one of the elders last day as a missionary so we wore black?)

Janna found this pic on fb.  The man in the middle had gone back to visit his old mission.

Sister Jacobs and I spent Saturday in Winder with these amazing sisters

Billie and Angelina from the Allatoona ward came up to spend part of our preparation day with us. I love them and it was so good to spend some time with them again!

Speaking of Rain 🌧

Accidentally biked to where that blue arrow is...
I think it was 10 miles total that day! Woot! Feel like Grandpa Mike 🚴🏼