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 💚