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

Week 62 - D&C 78:17-19 What's your verse?!

Loved ones,

It got hot again. The leaves are changing colors and it's so so
beautiful. I love Georgia. Especially in the fall.

I don't remember if I told y'all that a sister in our zone got in a
bike crash... Well she did! And Sister Neff and I volunteered to give
them our car for the week because we love biking. It lasted for a few
days... We realized there is too much going on in our area and that
the sisters were trying to milk everything they could get out of the
accident... Also, the zone leaders called us to ask us to take the car
back haha. It was so tough.. We felt like mean parents.

Side note: Elder Woodwell is now one of the assistants to President
Bennion! He is such a good missionary. I'm so glad I got to serve with
him in the Zone.

Two of our investigators, Mike & Nadia, got married on Saturday. It
was amazing. They are both orphans and have never had anyone show much
interest in them and their future. They were blown away by all the
people that came together to support them. It was amazing. We found a
dress for free that a member altered completely to fit what she
wanted. We had another member make a cake for free. We had another
member email us saying she heard about the wedding and wanted to plan
it all for us because she's a wedding planner. In total in cost $100
dollars to put on this wedding. It was a miracle. The spirit was so
strong as the bishop shared a few words during the ceremony.

We really feel like we had patience with our circumstances that we
were in this week. We chose to have a good attitude and make the best
of every situation and we saw the miracles come from it. We had made a
goal at the beginning of the transfer to hit the SOE every week of the
transfer. All we needed was for an investigator to come to church to
achieve that goal. We came together with our ward mission leader and
ward missionaries to go pick up 5 investigators for church. No luck
with any of them... We were so sad but knew we had done all we could and
felt good about our efforts. It was a great Sabbath day. We then went
to dinner and the members had a friend over. We had planned to teach
the 5 min restoration beforehand and the members bore testimony of
what we shared. Their friend soaked it in. Come to find out, she had
been at church with them and is actually in our primary program next
week! There was our investigator at church. Her family is coming to
see her preform next week and the members have been praying that it
will soften their hearts! The Lord is in control and the more we trust
Him no matter what, the more things work out better than we could have
ever imagined!

I love being a missionary. The Suwanee Ward is Zion!

And I am staying with Sister Neff for another transfer! SO HAPPY!

All my love
❤️
Sister Christensen

We rode like this for a few miles because I left my bike at the church before exchanges... haha. Don't tell dad 😬

Georgia sunset 😍

Isn't she beautiful?! I'll send more wedding pictures next week...

Week 61 - 2 Nephi 28:30 What's your verse?!

Loved ones,

Here are the highlights of this week!

President and Sister Bennion came on a bunch of team ups with us (I LOVE them)

Our Haitian investigator came to church

A guy we have been teaching for a while now decided that he wants to be baptized

There is a wedding cake in our freezer 

It rained (So beautiful)

We got to shoot some hoops with some investigators 

We got free chik fil a 

Someone bought our groceries 

We had some lessons over Skype with missionaries from temple square

We helped two hilarious ladies move into a new apartment 

We delivered some flowers to a lady for Sister Bennion

My favorite experience this week started with a phone call. We called a bunch of people we had in our records that had met with missionaries on the past. One lady, Mita, was so happy to hear from us! She met elders in January and wanted to hear more. We made an appointment for the following morning. When we sat down with her we asked why she invited us back. She said "I am looking for peace and I feel like God is giving me a second chance." Wow!! What brings more peace than the gospel of Jesus Christ? I can't think of anything!! She was so ready for us. Before the actual lesson started we let her know that at the end of the lesson we would invite her to be baptized. She wasn't buying that but was nice. We shared the message of the restoration very simply and very boldly (we didn't have a lot of time). The spirit was so strong. As I shared the First Vision with her she kept eye contact with me the entire time and kept saying "wow" in a whisper. After we testified of the Book of Mormon we invited her to be baptized and almost before we could finish asking her she said "YES!". Going off of what she looked like I would have never thought in 100 years that she would be ready for the gospel. But the Lord knows us all and he loves us all and all need to hear his message!! 

I love y'all!

❤️

Sister Christensen

Week 60 - 2 Nephi 26:33 What's your verse?!

Loved ones,

MY HEART IS SO FULL!! Conference answered every question and then
some! Isn't it wonderful how Heavenly Father knows the desires of our
hearts and answers even a lot of the unasked questions too. I love
Him.

The temperature changed overnight this week. One morning we were out
running in tshirts and capri's and the next morning we needed our
sweatshirts! There is a slight crisp in the air and I love it!

There were many many miracles this week. One day I'll sit each one of
y'all down and share every detail haha.

We were a little bummed out when we found out we couldn't watch
conference at our church building because the carpets were being
replaced. We then had a change of heart and decided that miracles
we're going to come from this and we were going to find them! We had
to travel down to another church building for all four sessions. We
felt it be most effective if we stayed with the sisters near that
church and go on mini exchanges in their areas. We had a little bit of
time between sessions on Sunday and split off with the Sharon Spring
sisters. I went with Sister Thorn and Sister Neff went with Sister
Taylor. Sister Thorn and Sister Taylor had the best attitudes about us
being there and their attitudes and spirits were contagious! They had
no set lessons but planned to stop by a few different potential
investigators. We had literally an hour and had set a goal to find 3
new investigators. We stopped by a few of them with no answer. We kept
knocking and kept knocking. Finally a woman answered her door. We
shared with her who we were and asked if she would like to learn. She
said yes but wanted us to come back because her adult daughter was
sleeping on the couch. I asked her if I could use her restroom. She
let us in! Sister Thorn was able to teach her and we said a prayer and
got a return appointment! Woo! We had one more person to try. No
answer. Kept knocking and kept knocking. Finally someone opened the
door. He went and got his wife. We introduced ourselves once again and
asked if we could come in for 5 minutes to share a message about Jesus
Christ. She let us right in. We knelt and prayed with her, her husband
and their little girl. The spirit was so strong as we testified of the
restoration of Jesus Christ's church. We invited her to read and pray
and she accepted. Her husband accepted as well. She told us that 1
month ago she felt empty inside and prayed to God to ask what she
could do. She was overcome with emotions as she said this prayer in
her car and felt the warmth and light of Gods love. 1 week ago she ran
into the Spanish elders as they were teaching her mom. They sat her
down and shared this message and she felt that same feeling. She said
she felt it again as we shared it with her. She knows this is the path
God wants her to be on. We asked if we could come by later that night
to bring her husband a copy of the Book of Mormon in Spanish and they
were so thankful! When we met back up with Sister Neff and Sister
Taylor they had found a new investigator through a miracle as well.
I'm humbled to see what God can do with a desire to do His will and
the attitude to make the best of every situation.

One of the things that has been on my mind is how to keep my momentum
going for the rest of my mission and after I'm eventually released
(Sister Neff and I want to stay until the Bennions leave in July... We
can dream haha). I felt a lot of my answers to that question come in
the Saturday afternoon session. That missionary choir though... I
couldn't help but be brought back to when I was fasting and praying
about serving a mission two years ago and the songs that played in
relief society "Called to Serve" and "I'll Go Where You Want Me to
Go". I had a strong impression that in reality my mission will never
end. I may go to a different location with different callings and
assignments. My mission in life is to be a disciple of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Wherever He calls me to go. Right after that Dallin H. Oaks
stood and in his talk said "Missionary work is a lifelong Christian
duty and our purpose.

I'm thankful for each of one of y'all.

All my love,
❤️
Sister Christensen

The Level Creek sisters left this cute little guy in a bag on our front door. He didn't turn into a prince 💔 haha.

Trying to help someone quit smoking

We had to split an egg for part of our lunch between sessions on
Saturday. We kept taking a bite and handing it to the other person. It
became a competition haha. I love Sister Neff. I hope you all enjoyed
Conference. Crazy to think I can cuddle with all of you during the
next session! Prepare yourselves!

This made us laugh

I went on exchanges with Sister Mitchell. I love her!