Week 5

¡FELIZ DIA DE PREPARACION!

Well it's official. I DO NOT WANT TO LEAVE THE CCM!! I seriously love it here so much and can't imagine a mission being anymore fun than this, sooo we'll see! Yo entiendo mucho espanol ahora, pero you no puedo hablar mucho... entonces... I hope my next companion is patient with me :)

The temple today was great again! I understood so much more, I didn't have to think as hard either! It was so relaxing. Also thanks to Cherie Leavitt's bueno ejemplo I know how to ask my way around a temple now. I got to sit in a sealing room, and then found the bride's room and talked with a sweet worker about it. I love the Mexico temple! Mom and Grandma J.. let's come back and visit in 2 years k? And dad I took a few selfies in front of it this time in remembrance of you :)

This week was a GOOD one!

Thursday Hermana Faw and I had kinda had a rough day.. Our lesson with Victor ended up not going great and we got coached after with Hermano Russell on everything we were doing wrong pretty much haha. It was dificil. PERO we have learned a lot since and taught our district a little lesson on how to properly plan! That night.. (Thursday) we planned a lesson to teach at TRC on El Libro de Mormon. We got there and I had a feeling to go over and sit at the tables away from everyone with Hermana Faw so we could talk cause she gets SUPER nervous and anxious during TRC. We sat down and I started asking her how she was feeling and stuff and we got into a really deep conversation about her life and feelings and stuff. We ended up not even teaching a TRC lesson. I felt like a psychiatrist or something. But I was able to diagnos her issues (or at least bring them to the surface) and I bore her my testimony about a lot of things after I mostly just LISTENED to her. I felt the spirit SO STRONG and prayed to Heavenly Father to help me talk to her. I know we were each other's TRC lesson that day. We ended up talking for like 2 hours and Hermana Sherwood just told us to head back to class when we were done. That night Hermana Faw and I prayed for A LONG TIME. We went into separate rooms in the casa so we could pray vocally. I love being able to talk to Him about everything. Prayer is incredible! Anyways... Fridaywas GREAT!! Her confidence shot up and our recent lessons have been unbelievable! We had our last lesson with Victor and we totally just taught by the spirit. It felt so great! Both Eliana and Victor have baptismal dates!

We had another live firesaide last night from Provo! Elder Andersen spoke, and it was super good of course. He talked about love and sacrifice. He shared a really neat experience of a missionary who bore a simple testimony to a woman and he never saw her again. The woman never forgot the Elder's name and how his testimony pierced her heart, and 35 years later Elder Andersen tracked down the Elder for the woman whose husband is now a sealer in the temple. So the gist... As a missionary we may not know a lot of the lives we will touch. AS long as we are always doing our BEST, the Lord will work through us to touch the heart's of the people among whom we serve. I can do this!!

Love is the most powerful emotion. We love the things we sacrifice for and we sacrifice for the things we love... think about that. I love Jesus Christ. And look so forward to the day when we will all kneel at His feet and worship Him as our LITERAL savior.

Futbol- It's fun because a lot more natives have played with us this week and they love me and compliment me all the time whenever they see me around! BUT there are SO many people who play now.. so less playing time. I asked the Mexicans if they saw your video Kass.. haha they knew exactly what I was talking about!! I will always be "ponytail girl's" little sister.

Also this morning at lunch I sat next to a girl who got here this week and she said "wait you're Hermana Christensen? This will probably sound super weird but I read your blog before I came!" And said she recognized Hermana Faw, so that was funny.

I didn't speak on Sunday... So I never got to speak! I joke now that I am just going to bare my testimony for 45 minutes on Sunday haha. We shall see. I am glad to hear from all of you! Kass great job on your lesson in R.S. I wish I could have been there.

I love love love it here and have made so many friends and have eaten so many galletas and learned SO MUCH. HOPE I get to talk to you in 5 days...! I should get my travel plans tonight.. and then I will get to email you again the night before I leave. Also like everyone in my district has my same camera cord- so haha I found a way to send pics this week! Thanks for sending stuff to AZ! Grandma I got your letter thanks so much! LOVED the sticker :)

Yo se que la Iglesia es verdadera!

 

Also. Can we visit Jerusalem when I get home?

 

Hermana Christensen

Our BFFs

My district

Hahaha nasty with my coool new alarm clock. It changes colors. This alarm clock has caused many joys.

Candid model

Our roommates

I love Hermana Rockhill

My first temple trip

First temple trip

We stock up on cookies

My district

Birdy

After our long talk during TRC- I was bawling

Elder Taylor and Elder Christiansen (district leaders)

TALL

Hermana Sherwood (tell GRANDMA J TO LOOK FOR HER AT THE PROVO MTC)

Awkward mish pic with my Zone Leaders in my district.  Elders Edward and White

They have PEANIT BUTTER NOW!!! AND NUTELLA WHAT!?

Today at the temple

Selfie

Week 4

Familia!!

 

I HAVE LIKE 10 DAYS LEFT  HERE WHAT!?

 

I have gotten a bunch of letters now thank you!! I think they take about 10 days to get here... so you can hurry and send more today! Either address for here works :) I got Brother Oman's and Sister Brimley's, tell them thank you please! And tell my baby girl Lulu thanks for her note! I wish I could decipher the dog footprints but they aren't teaching us that language down here unfortunately! Everyone thought that was the cutest thing ever. Thank you thank you thank you!

 

I don't think I've really told you about my teachers. Since day one we have had Hermano Russell. He is from Washington and served two years ago in Nicaragua. He knew Krissy's brother Brit from the mission! Hermano Russell is so animated and happy and fun and can bear sincere testimony like I have never heard. I admire his spiritual strength. He constantly is pushing us to be better. I feel a lot of pressure from him to better in everything I do. But it's good, and I know he is helping me grow so much. He teaches us every morning until lunch. Then after dinner is when Hermana Sherwood teaches us. She is seriously a doll and I wish she could train me my whole mission! Our district struggles at staying on task so Hermana Faw and I often leave to our secret classroom to study sometimes. These 18 year old Elderes straight out of high school...haha pray for them!! I trust in the Lord for trusting in them though.

I still get so nervous about teaching lessons. Even though all we teach is Hermano Russell and Hermana Sherwood (they pretend to be real investigators they taught) I get stressed about it! I am still learning to rely on the Lord in everything I do. When I do this- I am so much happier. He can help us with ANYTHING. I am glad I knew how to sincerely pray before I got out here. Hermana Faw is so nice to me and compliments me on everything- how could I not love that?! But she thanks me all the time for being an example to her in prayer. I am always praying. Haha everywhere, all the time. With that being said. I have to give credit to sister Ensign! Diondra taught me how to pray. Be an example always! You never know who is watching and how you may change someone's life.

Elder Johnson of the Seventy (I think) spoke at our devotional last night. He emphasized the impotance of praciting what we preach. That we all need to have a testimony of our own that God loves us and lives. He had us promise to ask Heavenly Father these 5 questions in Jesus Christ´s name;

1. Do you really exist?
2.Do you really have a body of flesh and bones?
3. Are you really my Father? Is that really possible?
4. Do you know who I am?
5. Do you really love me?

I know He lives and loves me too. He also said... As long as you read the Book of Mormon everyday of your life, you will never fall away from the church. I will NEVER fall away. My heart is sealed on returning to live again in my real home- my heavenly home. :)

This week I started to memorize El Cristo Viviente. I read it in spanish while I recited it outloud in English from memory. After doing this a few times the words made made sense in spanish. I figured out the difference between a few words here and there- the document is just as powerful in Spanish! I get so emotional when I read it. I love it so much. I love reading about His life. Why do I love The Living Christ so much? I can call forth those words about the Savior at any moment, I am constantly reminded of his atoning sacrifice for my sins. I know that Christ lives. He is our perfect brother. Get this... WE HAVE THE SAME EXACT GOSPEL THAT CHRIST TAUGHT ON THE EARTH TOOOODDAAAAAYYYYY!! How lucky are we to know of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and receive blessings daily by being members!

We still don't have roommates. The food got the best of me finally and I didn't sleep much last night.... Finally I threw up at about 4 a.m. all over the bathroom hahaha.. I expect problems to continue throughout the rest of the day :). BUT get this.. Little milagro (miracle) story. Our casa gets cleaned once a week by the cleaning ladies. They happened to clean yesterday and accidently left a spray bottle cleaner on our bathroom counter! How perfect did that work out? I was able to successfull sanitize the whole bathroom at 5 this morning with that cleaner they "accidentally" left behind.

I seriously love it here and really am dreading leaving!! We are so old, experienced and cool now with all these new missionaries! Soccer never gets old. Hermana Faw is SO nice to play with us everyday. Haha she is awesome and got her first goal last week! It´s been hard to say goodbye to a lot of my calle amigos. BUT a new elder came this week who is playing soccer at UVU in two years. HE IS SO GOOD. That makes it fun.. I don´t really know what you all expect from these emails... this is just everything that came to mind right now sorry!!

I still haven't spoke in church yet!! I guess they are just saving the best for last..? I really was hoping to speak last week, on "fate" (faith) in Jesus Christ. Haha our branch presidency is from Mexico and speak broken English, whenever they try to say faith it sounds like FATE. It's confusing sometimes.
I love you!!! Thanks for all the letters!! I feel so loved! I love the Gopsel of Jesus Christ and am so glad do my best everyday to try to represent my Savior Jesus Christ.

I caught a baby bird this week, you'll see a picture eventually :) (and it's mom did not abandon it).

Oh also if you were worried about my lack of time in the sun...don't be! Hermana Faw and I study outside in the middle of the day, then have gym right after. We have some gnarly tan lines. El sol esta mi amigo.
 

Estoy en Mexico. Soy una misionera!

D&C Section 31

 

Hermana Christensen

Week 3

Halfway done here in the CCM! I have misplaced my camera cord.. :( So i cant send pictures this week... or maybe the rest of my mission ha. But I went to the temple today and it was incredible, better than I could have ever imagined. Seriously though.

Okay, COCO IS SO CUTE!!! I have yet to see a picture of Lulu, what is this!?

Something I realized here the first week is how this strict schedule is exactly how I think we will learn in Heaven. We are CONSTANTLY feeding our mind, spirit and body. I love it. Everyday is jam packed with new opportunities to learn.

It is still super hard to teach our investigators. I still do most the talking, that´s what we are working on- me biting my tongue, and her speaking up. I love just to practice and prepare well for lessons, then be able to teach with no notes. It feels so great to just be able to understand everything they say and try my best to repond as prompted by the spirit!

We were not exactly obedient this week, and yes the Lord does give us consequences for our actions. Ha esta bien... Our roommates left this week at 2 am, we talked all night. Hermana Rockhill and I got really close and will seriously be best friends after our missions. She went to Pleasant Grove High School. Just left for Washington! We still havent got new roomates. Our life is lonely at night now.

There was drama this week involving some guy who is in love with me.  He was in Hermana Rockhill and Pullens district. A few other guys I didn't know came and asked for my email this week before they left for the field. uuhh yeah I don't want to say much more ha.

BUT I am still Hermana Fifa. Latinos asked me in the comedor yesterday, ´´Futbol manana?´´ hahah woooo!! The latinos are starting to know who I am now too!

Dad I finally got your dearelder from July 22nd on August 8th and it made my day! Thank you so so much. Dear elders take FOREVER FYI. Also the MTC address is wrong in my packet (its the old MTC). I sent you all letters like 2 weeks ago with the correct one on it.

Okay coolest experience this week was last night's fireside. It was the first ever LIVE broadcast MTC fireside. Richard G. Scott spoke to the Provo MTC missionaries and it was boradcast live to Mexico (ME), Phillipines and like 2 others. The rest will watch it another day. But it was so cool to be a part of it! I saw Dani Ellis in the choir, kept looking for Brady but never saw him!  Elder Scott talked on prayer. He brought to my attention how PERFECT the Lord´s timing is. To never ever doubt that. The Lord did not put us on the earth to fail. We can converse with Him at ANYTIME, ANYWHERE. He is ALWAYS near. We just have to TALK. He loves each one of us PEREFCTLY (which boggles my mind). We are to seek more of what the Lord wants for us, rather than on focussing on what WE want for us. There are 3 ways He answers prayers..

1. We feel peace, comfort, assurance (YES)
2. Feel unsettled and a stupor of thought (NO)
3. Feel NOTHING

The third response he gives because He is helping us grow. As we keep searching and searching for an answer, it helps us grow. As long as we continue to ACTIVELY seek an answer, we will always grow. He witholds it for a reason. Trust that He WILL ALWAYS hear our prayers. And answers DO come, they not only just come, but they come at THE VERY BEST TIME for us.

Something else that has changed my life already that Richard G. Scott said was to pray even when you don´t want to pray. Sometimes I get a thought to pray and think 'nah' for whatever reason. And now I have no excuse! An apostle told me to pray at those times!! My life will forever be changed.

My Heavenly Father has created cosmos and other worlds, yet he WANTS to talk to ME personally. How BLESSED am I. I have never felt more love.

Today in the temple was the closest I have ever felt to Him. Thank you family for your prayers. I literally felt your love and prayers for me today. The temple is a sanctuary. After the hour bus ride through the dirty city, I never felt more thankful for the peace at a temple site than I did today. Keep going to the temple!! We are so lucky to have so many so close to us holy smokes! (((( it was the old video, it takes 6 months to translate I heard)))). I am so glad I went through 30 times before cause I understood the whole thing in Spanish! It was difficult at the end. Hahah and right when I was about to go through a worker came and stood next to me and asked if it was my first time, I was wracking my brain for how to respond in Spanish (like always) and then realized she was speaking English! My brain was in such Spanish mode it was funny.

I love it here. I can see why people told me it would be a "jail" but the CCM is such a blessed part of Mexico City. I love it here. Can´t wait to learn for 3 more weeks!

Thanks for all the emails!! I print them off and read them throughout the week! LOVE LOVE LOVE you all so much. I am doing "SUPER BIEN"!! Don´t worry about me coming home anytime soon :) xoxo

Hermana Christensen

Week 2

Hola familia! This week was much better than the first! Not that the first was bad... I am just getting more accustomed to the CCM (MTC in spanish) routine. I love how much I feel the spirit here. I LOVE it here. Being surrounded by a bunch of missionaries is seriously so fun. Humor is always clean and fun. We are all such righteous nerds I love it. Everyday just keeps getting better!

I still get stressed out over teaching our investigators. We have 2 progressing investigators now. They are our two teachers and we will teach them the rest of our time here, and they give us feedback and help us. It will be good. It is so hard though. I wish I just knew how to speak spanish!! I try to focus on how much I am learning little by little.

Sunday was LO MEJOR again. I love being able to take the sacrament. It is such a blessing. The time before sarament meeting is the most reverent. I can just sit and pray and reflect on my week and thank Heavenly Father for His help along the way. Thank Him for sending His beloved son to atone for all of my imperfections. I literally feel strengthened as I take the sacrament. Take time to just BE STILL on Sundays. I love that Holy day!

Hermana Faw and I have gotten SO CLOSE! All is well with us. I have grown to love her! We get along well. She is such a goof but it's okay. I love being able to laugh at anything she does anytime I want haha.  She lets us straighten her hair and dress her up. Love it. Our two roommates, Hermana Pullens and Hermana Rockhill leave on Tuesday for their missions! They are so fun. The last few nights two other hermanas in our casa have pulled their mattresses into our room and slept on the floor. We have tons of fun (Missionary fun). Hahahah and the first night they slept on our floor it was because their latina roommates were leaving at 2 in the morning so they didn't want to be woken up by them. SO... that night in my dream the person in my dream turned into a man voice saying "Hermana Perez ...Hermana Perez!" Finally we all woke up and realized there was a man at our window with a flashlight yelling for HERMANA PEREZ! haha we were so confused and finally in our groggy goans someone yelled back "ella no AQUI!" and he replied "sorry seestus!" And then when we woke up and hour later it was the funniest thing in the world. That some guy was looking for one of the latina sisters to say goodbye before she left on her mission. And Hermana Perez is now the funniest name ever.

Futbol is still the funnest part of the day. Yesterday my team dominated and we never got scored on so I got to stay on the court the whole time (We've switched to playing in the cage). My name is still Hermana Fifa, but most the guys who call me that leave next week so we'll see how long that sticks. Having a fan section is great, and being able to juke elders on the court is even better. :)

The beans are seriously my favorite food here. Which is probably super bad, but TACOS are the best. I have acquired a taste for la comida de Mexico.

YESTERDAY during our service project we had an earthquake drill! It was so exciting! There are tons of HUGE earthquake safety circles all over campus. This ear piercing siren went off yesterday and everybody ran to the nearest circle. I was really hoping the ground would start to quake but it didn't. BUT the side walks are all super wavy from earthquakes. Which brings me to my next subject- THE RAIN STORM YESTERDAY. Right before the devotional it abruptly began to POUR and HAIL and of course we are in the farthest building from the auditorium and didnt have umbrellas. BUT for some strange reason I brough tmy rain jacket to class that morning so I had that. I took off my shoes, Hermana Faw used one of the elder's umbrellas but it was useless. The puddles from the uneven ground like went up to my knees, there were literal RIVERS everywhere. IT POURED! people were slipping everywhere and ripping their pants and getting swallowed up in the rivers. HAHA the roads were rivers. It was so funny. And everyone was just soaked the whole devotional. Provo doesn't even know what rain is.

Presidente Pratt spoke to us about temples and some of the cool opportunites he has had to help out with a bunch of the South American temples. It made me miss the temple so much. It is a place of refuge, and solace, and its blessings are the greatest we can receive. He mentioned how we shouldn't just have the goal to get married there, but to make it a part of our lives. I am so grateful for the examples I have had to teach me that already. Mom and Dad thanks so much for making the temple a priority in your lives. Never cease going! Go a lot for me please because I can't! HE really is there. It IS His house.

Another great thing that happened this week.. So our first investigator Maria became our second teacher last week. Her name is Hermana Sherwood- she's from Nephi Utah. After we taught her 5 lessons. The other day she had little individual interviews with each of us to get to know us a little better. She asked why I am on a mission and stuff. And she and I had a special moment. I really love her! She served her mission in Chile. She told me that I will be such a great companion to every companion I am with. And that I will teach them so much. It made me so happy to know that I can be a good missionary. Cause when we teach her I feel so useless and like I know nothing. But knowing that my teacher sees so much potential in me really meant a lot.

Presidente Pratt also told us last night that some minor changes are happening at Provo MTC, Brazil MTC and Peru MTC. That they have reached their limits so we are receiving EXTRA unexpected missionaries from these MTCs starting today. We'll get about 130 every week instead of 100. We'll have 800 this week, compared to the about 500 when I got here. It is so crazy to see this place GROW!! The cafeteria is getting so crowded!! I am starting to not know everybody. It's fun though. We now have 3 districts in our branch.

I know Heavenly Father listens when we pray. I know He is SO aware of every single person. It blows my mind but I know he hears and ANSWERS every prayer. I know evrything happens for a reason. He knows best ALWAYS. Everything good or bad that happens in my life is because HE knows what's best for me. Remember that.

Sunday night we watched the Restoration Joseph Smith movie- and I bet Jospeh Smith knew all of us down here in the Mexcio MTC were learning about his life. :) I love being a missionary so I can teach about the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ!

Love you all so much!! Hope all is well. Still haven't gotten any of your letters... maybe just start sending stuff to Scottsdale, haha.

Love you.
Hermana Christensen

 

Beautiful colorful houses in the background. :) Our campus is so pretty. Go on Google Earth and look at it!!!!! IT IS HUGE TOO

Our roommates.

Hermana Rockhill (dancer, girly girl seriously so much fun I lover her) and Hermana Pullens

This huge bugger (Alfonso) became our class pet. He seriously has a body the size of a small rat. I played with him.