This week has been full of ups and
downs! But what a great week it has been overall! Sad news and crazy
things first: our teacher Hermano Graff has been transferred to teach
another district :( along with losing him, we also lost his alter ego
Alfonso, who was our "investigator". Our zone is sickly and falling
apart! Elder Skalla had a hernia removed, Elder Garnett had an
appendectomy, Elder Marshall had an absyss from a dry socket, Elder
Merling had a cold, Hermana Jensen had a kidney infection, and two other
sisters had to go to the doctor for other illnesses. And I managed to
hyper extend my knee during a relay race to 'reduce stress'. Everyone is
slowly getting back to full health though! One of the districts in our
zone leaves next week! Hma Terry and I are sad to see them go, they are
hilarious and we're all best friends now. Also, Hma Terry and I have
discovered that we have the worst age perception ever. Pretty much all
of the elders in the other districts are younger than we thought, some
are even younger than us! Last week on our prep. day, Hma Terry and I
somehow managed to not know how to work the laundry machines or dryers
at the laundry place...which resulted in only half of her clothes
getting cleaned and all of our laundry drying in our apartment. It
looked like we lived in a clothing shop with everything laid out to dry.
You would think that seeing clothes all over our apartment would make
us fail our room inspection, but no. While we did fail, the note said it
was because of our bathroom, even though it was definitely the cleanest
room in the apartment! We laughed for a while about that. Another sad
fact: sister missionaries can't play soccer with the elders. Our elders
have decided they like that and have taken to playing soccer without us
every day this week. :(
Hermana Terry and I loved singing in church so much
that we sang in one of our lessons to our investigator Lorena! In the
intro to the hymnal it says that one of the easiest way to invite the
Spirit is by singing hymns. Amen. After we finished singing (in
Espanol), I could feel the Holy Ghost much stronger than most of the
times when we stumbled through the lessons speaking broken Spanish.
Speaking of language, both Hma Terry and I felt like it was a rough
semana (week) for Spanish. While we are getting close to understanding
most everything, the speaking part of learning a language is struggling.
Neither of us felt like we really were learning as much as we did the
first week. So we have a new language plan. We now learn 20 palabras
(words) a day. We write them on a notecard and quiz each other all day.
Woohoo!
Devotionals!! Twice a week, all the missionaries in
the MTC get together to listen to a speaker. It might be one of my
favorite times during the week. They've all been so good so far!! No, I
haven't seen the prophet; being on West Campus, we don't see hardly
anyone. But so far, I've heard D. Todd Christofferson speak, Janice Kapp
Perry speak, Stephen B. Allen (managing director of the missionary
dept), and Lowell M Snow (former member of the 70). Each speaker has had
a profound and very spiritual message. Also, after the devotional on Sunday,
we watched a video of David A Bednar's "Character of Christ". Oh my
goodness people, what an amazing message! I invite all of you to listen
to it, watch it, read it, whatever! It has a message for everyone! He
talks about becoming more Christlike by putting of the "natural man". If
anything, you have to watch it to find out who he compares the "natural
man" to! It is the best!!
I really loved what Brother Snow said last night in his talk. (Side
note, Sister Doman-who is the wife of my Branch President- says all the
time "Everyone just wants to be loved!") Brother Snow said something
last night that ties in to that statement wonderfully. Everyone just
wants to be loved, and "Those who are lost are without affection." As a
missionary of the Lord, I am finding those who are lost. I am teaching
them that Heavenly Father loves them, that because He loves them, He
provided a Savior, His own son, Jesus Christ to die for all of our
imperfections so that we can be worthy to return to Him. What an
astounding blessing! Brother Snow also gave 5 points to help us become
truly converted to the Lord.
1. Choose Him. Choose the Lord
2. Take His spirit for your guide.
3. Be a true disciple
4. Help Him do His work and exercise His power.
5. Seek to have His image in your countenance.
Beautiful words, aren't they?
Hermana
Terry and I are practically best friends now. We were talking last night
about ourselves and people in our lives and she exclaimed, "We are
twins! We are literally the same person!" I'm so lucky to have such a
great companion who I get along great with-we're quite literally
together 24/7.
Sister Doman also told us a story about her son DJ,
who now plays football for BYU. Game days were always his favorite, the
excitement of having a game that night, putting on his jersey, listening
to music to pump him up, getting ready with the rest of the team.
Looking in the mirror and seeing himself in his football jersey and
saying to his reflection "It's game day, baby." All those things were
the best feelings he experienced. He loved game days best of all. But
when he served his mission, he would get ready in the morning and put on
his white shirt and tie, and his name tag. And then he would look in
the mirror and see himself as a missionary, a representative of Jesus
Christ, and the feelings he felt when he looked in the mirror as a
missionary by far surpassed those he had as a football player. I have
the same experience every morning when I get ready. I put on my skirt,
or my dress and get ready like normal. But when I put on my name tag
that says Hermana Christensen La Iglesia de Jesucristo do los Santos de
los Ultimos Dias, I am overwhelmed with joy. The gospel is a message of
great peace and joy and I am blessed to have it in my life, but now I
want to share that peace and joy with others. It's game day baby. It's
time to spread the word.
Lots of love,
Hermana Christensen
Sister Hannah Noel Christensen
JUL28 ARG-NEU
2023 N 900 E Unit 800
Provo, UT 84602
No comments:
Post a Comment