Woahhh July 27,2014

Konnichiwa Family and Friends!!!

Well this was one of those weeks that maybe in like 50 years i will be

grateful for. Heavenly Father is really trying sister smith and I's

faith this week.

But it definitely started out good! Last Monday after emailing we had

a dinner appointment at a members house! She has been recently

struggling with her testimony so we planned to talk about the

atonement with her! Dinner was way fun! She taught us how to make

tempura and lots of other fried foods! It was great! And then we

watched the because of Him video with her. She loved it! And just

wanted to watch it again and again! We had a great discussion on how

the atonement isn't just for people with big sins or bad people. But

it's for good people to become even better! Our very natures can be

changed through the love and grace of our savior Jesus Christ!

Everyone just needs to know that their is an escape. There is relief.

And hope through our Christ! It strengthened my testimony to see this

sweet sister come to feel her saviors help and love for her! It

clicked again!!

Tuesday we had two lunch appointments! And both of them made spaghetti

for us.. Hahah! We are good on the spaghetti for a while. We first met

with a couple in our ward. I absolutely love hearing the conversion

stories of members! And japanese people are so amazing because really

almost all of them are converts. They were all so prepared! And

looking back on their lives they see that Gods hand really was there

the whole time! Such pure testimonies! I want to find some more of

those!!!

Then we went to Nishiyamas restaurant. She place closed for lunch

after we finished and she said we needed to get in her car and go

shopping! Hahaha! Shes the cutest! She took us to a recycle shop,

filled our baskets and payed for everything!! We were like what just

happened... She really likes us! Her interest in the gospel still

isn't very strong but she said she wants to be our friends forever!!

She will get there! Just little by little!

After we played soccer with our eikaiwa students in the million degree

weather. Not kidding the heat is unreal!!!! So humid! You walk outside

and are drenched in something.. A mix of sweat and whatever humidity

is.. Everyone else's sweat maybe? Hahahah! But soccer was fun! I have

a huge bruise on my leg though. It's been a while...

After we went to endos english class to help. This time we didn't talk

about the gospel. Were just trying to focus on building good

friendships with her and her students! We all had a great time!

wednesday we got to do visiting teaching with a member! that was so

fun! and the members always spoil us missionaries! they bought me

peanut butter!!!! score!!!! after we went to the church and were there

all day long. sister smith was a graphic designer before the mission

and so the ward asked her to make special flyers for our big sunday

challege! we are trying to get the ward more involved in missionary

work so we made a goal in two weeks to have 50 friends at chuch on

sunday!!! can we do it?? YES WE CAN!!! so sister smith made way legit

flyers for members to pass out to their friends!!! were so pumped! we

are uniting our faith and prayers with the members to see this big

miracle!! showing The Lord that He can trust his members!

then we had eikaiwa! i posted the picture on facebook but i made two

new really good friends! one was an investigator before! she is only

in high school but loves the church! we are excited to start teaching

her!!

thursday we had zone meeting which was amazing! i wish i had time to

write down all i learned but.. it was good and im always just pumped

to be a missionary!!!

friday was rough. first went to nishiyamas! i love my japanese

grandma! she remembered that we told her we wanted to watch a video

with her so she reminded us and we all watched Heavenly Father earthly

father! its amazing by the way please go watch it! she was impressed

that the church makes such great videos! we testified of families and

us all being part of gods family! still not sure that its clicking for

her but she loves us so we will keep working hard for her! friday

night we were supposed to have an appointment with a new friend at the

church making dinner and join our wards ping pong activity after. Well

that afternoon she cancelled. i shouldnt have gotten so upset but i

did. We dont have many people that we are teaching and no one has come

to church since i got here. its heart breaking. we are working hard

but nno success. Trying not to get too down, we tried to find someone

else to join us, but everyone was busy. I couldn't help but cry. I

know Heavenly Father wants me to learn something valuable but the

amount of time thats its taking is taking everything out of me. Sister

smith and i just joked that we want to find someone who wants to be

our friend, and someone who doesn't have a job so that they would have

time for us! Well we went to the eki to street and find. We managed to

clear a whole bench! No one wanted to talk to us.. We felt like we

were trying so hard! But no success. So we started a mitsukutaikai.

After a while, the miracle happened. A lady walks in front of me and

says "friend" she tried to keep speaking to me in english but couldn't

find the words. She switched to japanese and told me that she wants to

be my friend!!!!!!! I almost got teary eyed! And then she said that

because she doesn't have a job, shes got loads of time!!!! I couldn't

believe my ears!!! Exactly what we had hoped for!!! It was just too

good! We made an appointment to meet on Monday! I went to sleep quite

happy that night! With much gratitude in my heart that Heavenly Father

hears our secret prayers. He knows the desires of our hearts. I know

I'm not the best missionary but i think he sees how desperately i want

to become a good missionary so he allowed me this blessing! It was a

great testimony builder to me of my previous question. Does Heavenly

Father hear my prayers? He answered me loud and clear!

saturday was still a little hard too. Although we had a good lesson

with Mayumi about the Book of Mormon. she is still not sure if she

wants to take the lessons but she said she has a friend who is

christian and just adores this friend! shes being prepared and she

doesnt even know it! it was a way good lesson and i was able to share

my experinece from the day before that God answers our prayers!

after that again we had nothing to do so we did some major follow up

to try to get someone to church. we called everyone in the phone but

everyone was busy. with 20 minutes still to go in the night we went

outside to go talk to people on the street. 4 minutes left and we were

determined to teach a lesson and invite one more person to church. we

ran to the outside of a grocery store and stopped a lady on her way

in. She was super kind! She said she had been to a church before and

was surprised to hear that we have a church close by. We handed her a

orange flyer and asked her if she had thought about any of these

questions. She said yes because her parents have passed away. She

wondered what is happening to them. So i testified of the power of

Jesus Christ to heal our families. That through him we can live again

and be with our families for ever! I asked her what she thought of

that and she said it sounds so good! we invited her to church and she

said she will come when she can! Heavenly Father is constantly testing

my faith! but im grateful for it!

sunday morning sister smith and i were not looking forward to church.

To be honest i was looking for a way to get out of it. the thought of

another sunday sitting without an investigator was just too sad. But i

decided to change my attitude and be happy. Well, again Heavenly

Father heard my prayers and the pleadings of my heart. Right before

the meeting started, an eikaiwa student walked in, came up to me and

said "im here! i love the missionaries!" ahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i

almost broke down in tears right then and there. The members were

wonderful and we were able to make an appointment with her for this

week! i have never been so happy!! boy do i have many things to be

grateful for! i am so grateful for the hard times that make the

miracles seem even more sweet! i know God hears my prayers!! i have

felt myself grow a lot this last week. My faith was tried more than

ever but Heavenly Father was there the whole time. I am so thankful!!!

the trials at the time seemed great but the miracles that followed

were even greater! i am grateful for trials and hard times! God gives

them to us so that we can grow and become stronger! the miracles

continue to come! sunday night while at a members house, an old

investigator called and happened to know and love the member we were

with! we ended up teaching a lesson over the phone with the member!!!

so cool! and none was coincidence! God is so aware of all of his

children! of this i know to be true!! i love this gospel!!! and i love

bring a missionary!!!

Christensen shimai

Going going gone! July 20,2014

I really don't know where to even begin! Sister smith and i had a
great week! Lots of new friends and great miracles! There is still not
ever an easy day so there have been lots of lessons learned as well.
Even though they may not be the lessons or experiences i would wish to
have, I am realizing that Heavenly Father is giving them to me so that
I can learn, grow, and be able to return to live with Him again. This
week i learned (well still learning a lot) about patience. Something i
have never been very good at.

Last pday after emails a member picked us up for lunch and some
shopping! Shes a sweet heart and just needs someone to listen. We have
a great relationship with her and were able to help her most by just
listening. At the end of the day she asked if we would hang out with
her every day! Hahah! Then we went with the other sisters to a cool
waterfall! We took a train and a bus and then hiked though the
mountains to find it! It was beautiful! Water is such a temptation.. I
had to fight everything inside of me to not just go jumping inside the
cool water!

Tuesday we visited our friend who owns her own restaurant. Nishiyama
san is the sweetest! She was mad when we bought her treats last time
so today we decided to make her something instead. We made her
chocolate popcorn and a card which she loved! We asked if she would
come to church with us this week and she said she would think about
it. It's going to take a few more visits with treats to convince her
hahahah! Then we decided to visit a member. We stopped by just to say
hello and share a scripture with her but she welcomed us in her house.
And thank heavens because it was the hottest day ever! Our little
visit turned into quite the long lesson. She recently hasn't had much
desire to come to church because there are just too many hard things
in her life. She shared with us though that the happiest shes ever
felt was when she was studying and praying about the atonement! But
she said she has forgotten everything she learned. So we scheduled an
appointment for next week to study the atonement with her! And big
surprise, she came to church on Sunday!! She looked so happy! The
members did too! Later that night we went to endo san's english class
with the elders. Shes the one who was an investigator for 5 years, had
a church calling, and everything! She loves the church but something
must have happened because she also doesn't really like the church
hahahah.. But she lets us come to her class and help her teach. She
told us in the class she would give us 10 minutes to talk about
whatever we wanted! We didn't want to preach at her students so we
tried a question and answer thing. All the students asked basic things
about our lives like how long weve been in japan but Endo was the one
who brought up interesting gospel doctrine. Shes a very smart lady..
We all felt like we were fighting to save our lives! But it was cool
to hear all the missionaries bear testimony of the things we KNOW to
be true. Although we were all in an im comfortable situation we were
still able to feel the spirit, and i know Endo did too! There is
nothing i love more than sharing my testimony with people! I had no
idea what i would say before hand but the spirit always guides and the
words just come out! And Heavenly Father softens the hearts of all
those around and we all feel his love together. I am a happy girl when
I get the chance to testify! I think this week we will tell her its
nice that she gives us the chance to share the gospel but we should
just stick to english. If her students have interest they can talk to
us separately.

Wednesday we met our new friend Fuchie san for lunch. We met her last
week right outside our apartment and we have plans to meet with her
every week until forever hahah! She really wants to learn english and
also is interested in the church. She is the cutest thing! She cant
hardly speak any english but she tries so dang hard its adorable!
Then we had eikaiwa! Greatest thing ever... We were able to make an
appointment with Yuko!! we are going to lunch with she and a member
next week! I am so happy! i love this lady so much! so sad when she
wanted to take a break but she wants to meet again!! so happy!!! and
our new russian friend came to eikaiwa! we met her on the street last
week and she just showed up! i had been meaning to call her all day
but never got around to it so i was shocked to see her walk in the
door! so happy!!!! she said she loves christianity and would love to
come to church with us!! this is the start of a beautiful friendship!!

Thursday we went to an eikaiwa students house. As in house i mean
buddhist temple.. her house is a temple. that was fun!!! shes amazing
though! she taught us some japanese calligraphy and let us use her
blow dart gun!! hahaha! dangerous in my hands? yes! but i was pretty
good :) she took us to lunch and we talked about families. she said
that japanese are very different from americans. I had just told her
that i love my family and all i wanted was a big hug from my mom! she
said japanese people would never say that! they love their families of
course but dont express it as much. Well ill tell everyone in the
whole world just how much i love my family! no one has a better one
than me!!! i love them i love them i love them!!!!!

Friday we visited another member who is struggling a little bit. We
had lunch at her house and shared a lesson with her on the joy of the
gospel! She just started crying. All this time shes just needed
someone to come to her and tell her that she is loved. And boy did we
feel love for her! we love her and heavenly father does too! it was so
apparent in that lesson! it was such a tender moment to be with this
sweet daughter of god who remembered her worth! i am so blessed to be
surrounded by wonderful people! god loves all of his children, always
and forever!!
that night we had ping pong at the church! one of endos english
students came!! shes so cute! a college student who is basically
fluent! the turn up was great! there were at least 20 people for ping
pong!!! such a fun night with investigators!!!

Saturday we had an appointment scheduled with our friends from brazil.
Sister smith and i both had the best personal study and we were both
so filled with the spirit! we both just knew that this lesson with
them was going to be a special one! i dont know why but the spirit
just told us! well we get to the church and wait, and wait, and wait.
our friends did not show up. What??? like i said, im learning about
patience this week. Why we felt so ready for this lesson to not have
them even show up? i still dont know. but i trust in my Heavenly
Fathers timing in all things. i will keep waiting in patience to see
what he has in store. we ended up going to two different summer
festivals! our russian friend natalia called and said she would meet
us there in 5 minutes! hahaha! so we rushed to the street and walked
all through the festival with her! we love her! she wants us to come
to her house sometime soon so we can talk!! then we hurried off to
meet another friend at a different festival! when we got to their
house they asked us if we would like to wear their summer
kimonos??!!!! of course!!!!! so they dressed us all up with shoes and
everything! we went with their family all 6 of us dressed up! so
fun!!! this family are former investigators and we are not sure what
happened or why they stopped but they love us!!! we are excited to
start the lessons again soon!!!

sunday sadly we did not have any investigators at church. we have lots
of friends and so many people with so much potential but no one is
there just quite yet. but i am willing to do whatever it takes to help
my friends feel gods love and help them know that there is no better
place to feel loved then at the church!! im tired of not having
investigators at church so we are going to change that!!

today we had lunch with our older group of friends! this meaning our
group of 7 all over the age of 75!!! hahah! they are so funny! not
much interest in the church, mostly just interest in foreigners..
hahaha! but one of them, Nishiyama, we are trying to work eith and are
meeting tomorrow! so praying that that goes well!!!

so thats the week! sorry its all over the place but sometimes thats
kind of how things are hahahah! it was wonderful though! i am so happy
to be here! even when its hard and im really not so happy... there is
always something about the gospel, or being a missionary that brings
joy to my heart! i love these people! they are my best friends! i want
to help them in any way that i can! i want to help them return home to
their Heavenly Father!! i know this church is true! so grateful for
the blessings i have received from it!

love you!!!
sister christensen

Im MELTING July 13,2014

oh my heavens it is ridiculously hot!!! thats all i can think about
right now because we sister smith and i are currently outside a 7/11
using their wifi in the killer sun! usually we go to the church to
email but today we dont have enough time to go there. So we decided to
torture ourselves. yup this was a mistake! hahahaha! lesson learned! i
love japan of course but i dont know how the japanese people survive
in the summer. i guess they dont mind but a constant stream of sweat
is not my thing!

anyways enough complaining. Oh we had such a good week!!! Things are
really picking up around here! So much potential in our beautiful
sakado!

Monday was the greatest! we decided to go visit a member and do some
housing in their area. We get to the house though and no one was home.
we walked just a few steps when we hear a little voice from behind us.
We were so shocked to see little Aren kun who is the absolute cutest
boy in the entire world! He is a different members little boy. only 3
or 4 years old but he was just hanging out on his back patio by him
self. He didnt seem shocked to see us like we were to see him haha! he
just asks us what are you doing? haha! he runs inside and tells his
family the missionaries are here! and so we get invited inside! We
walk into the family room and there sitting on the couch is the member
we were  first trying to visit!! sasayama shimai is the mother of
furukawa shimai and they are next door neighbors!! hahah!! so cute!!!!
Mom, when i get home, i am never leaving your side! that will be just
like us! neighbors forever!! so that worked out just perfectly! we got
to visit with the family and shared a scripture in helamen 3: 24-26.
Thousands of people were brought unto baptism and the whole church
rejoiced! All of the members were blessed with happiness and
prosperity! We talked about how the bishop just blessed the area for
members and missionaries! Why cant 1000 people be brought into the
sakado ward? Lets do it! challenge accepted! hahah! We came hoping to
build some fire in the members and it worked! Sister Furukawa said "ok
lets go visit my friend right now!" woohoo! if only it were like this
everyday!! So we met Yoshioka san and invited her to bring her kids to
kids engllish class and invited her to church on sunday. Member
missionary work is so the way to go! they already have someone who
loves them and wants to help them along in their pathway to eternal
life! we know we will see great miracles ahead with Yoshioka san!!

Tuesday we had companion exchanges! I got to work with sister Brumly,
a missionary that i worked with for like one hour only my very first
transfer! my how we have both changed! hahah! I still dont really know
what im doing but its nice to see that there has been some progress!
hahaha! we were on our way to the station when we stopped a lady on
the way. She was an older lady and was quite happy to talk. We sat
there and listened to her for about half an hour. To be honest im
really not sure what she was talking about.. it seems like old people
are using some other completely different language! hahah! We say a
few things and they think we are fluent?? i wish! hahah! it was fun
though and she wrote down her number and address and asked us to come
visit! So 9 transfers into my mission and i still have no idea whats
going on but Heavenly Father fills in all the gaps and we see
miracles!!
That night we switched back and sister Smith and i went to go visit a
former investigator. Endo san. Where to even begin with this lady..
She was an ivestigator for 5 years! she came to church every sunday
and even had a calling!! she loves the church and loves the Book of
Mormon but she doesnt want to join any religion. She is a way sweet
lady and invited us to come to her english class. The elders went last
week and again this week with us. They said that she sometimes has
little comments that are little against the church maybe but shes a
great missionary! in the middle of class she says to me that we need
to begin and end her class in prayer. and then she turned the time
over to the missionaries for a little Q&A hahah! we were able to give
all of her students Books of Mormon!! so great!!! we are going back
probably every week! hopefully to be able to strengthen her testimony
and make more friends with her students!!

Wednesday we went and did a sister missionary work meaning we took
little candies and presents to a few of our investigators :) Our New
friend Nishiyama san loved them!! and invited us to come eat at her
restaurant the next day!
And a huge miracle was that Yuko came to eikaiwa that night! shes the
one who wanted a little break but at least she came to eikaiwa! i know
im still in this area because i need to fix things with her. She
really means a lot to me.

so thursday we went to lunch at nishiyamas place! japanese food. its
good just too much of it is not so good.. shes amazing though! its her
restaurant and shes the only worker so she goes to the store every
single day and makes all of the food herself! she is such a hard
worker! Her place is so cute though! i think she only invites us over
because she likes having young people in her store. All the regulars
(which we have become great friends with by now hahah) are old ladies
and grandpas! and they all call her momma! hahah! its true though she
takes such good care of everybody! but i think she needs someone to
take care of her! "come unto me all ye that are heavy laden and i will
give thee rest" definitely one of my favorite scriptures from the
mission! shes progressing though! slowly, but surely! she read from
the Book of Mormon! we asked her to read ether 12 on faith. So we
shared parts that we liked and testified of Christs power that if we
exercise faith in him we can do all things. she agreed and wants to
keep reading!

friday we get another email from her saying "your coming to me shop
today so would you rather have hamburger or fish" hahaha! oh i love
this woman! so we went again for lunch! this time we talked about
forever families and temples! japanese people are always so shocked
when we show them pictures of the ones in japan! she said she would
like to go inside one day! Our Heavenly Father would like nothing
more<3
As we were walking out of our apartment for the day, a lady was just
staring at us so we said hello. she seemed surprised but happy! we
seem to surprise/scare people everytime we talk to some. japanese
people just dont really do that hahah! we tell this lady that we are
church volunteers and she goes "i want to go where is your church?"
golden!!!!!! we gave her our church flyer but then she saw that we
teach english as well and got more interested in that.. haha. she says
"ok teach me everyweek english" so we have appointments with her every
wednesday! she was so happy so she took us to a little bakery and
bought us a million different cakes! she is something else!!
That night we were out housing but just not seeing any success. One
lady told us to go home.. But we kept going praying to be able to talk
to at least one person! we began walking back to our bikes. i told my
companion we needed to try one last house. Well nothing there either.
But as we walked away from that house, the neighbor just pulled up on
her bike. We stopped and talked with her. And she knew exactly who we
were! she said shes even been to church before!!! we were shocked!!
she said she liked our meetings but was busy so didnt have time to go
to church. But she said we could come back anytime and if shes home we
can talk with her!!! it was a big miracle for us!!! So grateful that
Heavenly Father gave us both the strength to endure and then allowed
us to see miracles! He always does!

saturdays kids english class was so fun!! we have 5 families coming
and they all bring their friends! its the nosiest place ever but the
kids are so cute and their moms really want them to learn english! but
its a great opportunity to get to know the moms too! we are hoping to
start the lessons with a few of them!! yayy families!!! families are
forever!!!
we had lunch with a girl i met while passing out english flyers. She
is the quietest person alive! it was so awkward!!! hahaha! not sure
that she has any interest other than being friends with foreigners
haha! we get that a lot.. yes were a pretty cool people but we also
have a pretty cool message that more people need to listen too!!!
after, the street where we live was having a festival! its their
annual summer festival! kids in cute little yukatas which are summer
kimonos! we talked to a ton of people! but the coolest was a lady from
russia!! she came up to us first! she thought we were maybe russian??/
hahaha! she doesnt really speak english but wants to learn as well! so
we talked in japanese! i think all the japanese people were amazed!
hahah! three foreigners speaking japanese to each other? wierd.
Natalia is such an angel though! so excited to get to know her more!

So being on facebook is such a weird thing. Still not exactly sure how
i feel about it. But i see how its such a great tool because this week
i was able to get in contact with all my previous investigators from
former areas!! sweet bliss! i love and miss them all so much! im so
happy that now i can continue to help them and excited for the
miracles that will follow!!

i am just so grateful for families!! how i miss mine terribly but am
comforted by the promise that my Heavenly Father is watching over
them. There is no other experience like a mission in the world! i am
so happy to have this time to serve my Heavenly Father and represent
my savior! i am a witness that he lives! he loves us! and only through
him can we be with our families forever!

love you all! thanks for all the love and support!
SIster Christensen