WOOHOO one year
ago today i came to this beautiful amazing country!!!!
i remember it like it was just yesterday!!! i have seen lots of
changes in myself and ready for another good 5 months to grow like
never before!!!!
today is pday because we got to go to the temple!!!!!! its heaven on
earth!!!!! i learn so much there every time i go! our Heavenly Father
created such a beautiful world for us to live! we have good and bad
experiences here but they are all for our good! and how grateful i am
that our father always had planned on a savior coming to help us
return back to him!!!
so This week was sooooooooooo much better!!!! Heavenly Father really
blessed us this week with lots of appointments and teaching
opportunities with our friends! Sister Smith and i knew that bigger
miracles would come and they did! We just needed to learn a lesson
first on patience. I love President monsons words "When the pathway of
life takes a cruel turn, there is the temptation to ask the question
�gWhy me?�h At times there appears to be no light at the end of the
tunnel, no sunrise to end the night�fs darkness. We feel encompassed
by the disappointment of shattered dreams and the despair of vanished
hopes. We feel abandoned, heartbroken, alone. We are inclined to view
our own personal misfortunes through the distorted prism of pessimism.
We become impatient for a solution to our problems, forgetting that
frequently the heavenly virtue of patience is required."
As dramatic as that sounds, its how i felt hahah. But this week has
completely changed that! and i am the most grateful person in the
whole world!!! Heavenly Father is so good to me!! Tuesday we were able
to meet with our investigator Yuko who had stopped taking the lessons.
We went to lunch with her and a member. We had a great time all
together, rebuilding our relationship. She decided she wants to do the
lessons again!!!!!!!!!! Probably one of the biggest miracles!!!
although she says she could never join a church with so many rules,
she still wants to meet. She has interest. She has some kind of
desire! we are going to help build her faith! i could not be more
excited!
after the lesson, the member who went with us kind of kidnapped us for
the rest of the afternoon.. haha! shes having a hard time with her
family and just needed some girl time. I love her to pieces! members
are my favorite!!! all so kind, and willing to serve! i cant wait to
be a normal one again!!! hahaha!
wednesday morning with met with a crazy lady! oh she is so funny! she
just sits there and laughs and laughs. which makes it hard to
understand anything shes saying. so that makes her laugh more! she
kept hitting me on the arm. i have bruises.. but we gave her a Book of
Mormon!!! she emails us like every second! she really just wants
friends! i like her! this is going to be fun! then we had a lesson
with fuchie. she normally meets us for english and half church lesson
but this time she said just church!!!! so cool!!!! so we used our new
pamphlets from salt lake and taught about the godhead. she loved it
all and believes in everything! but thats also kind of the problem,
she believes in EVERYTHING. alll the gods.... hahahah? but shes great
and is so sincere!
At eikaiwa we had a pot luck party so more of the members came to our
eikaiwa. It was so helpful!!! one of them talked to our friend natalia
from russia. she had expressed desire in wanting to come to church
before but because of conflicting schedules hasnt been able to come.
well i went up to talk with them and natalia looks at me and says "so
what should i wear for sunday?" !!!!!!!! i dont know what this member
said to her, but shes coming!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! the power of member
missionary work is real!!!! i am so thankful!!!!
Sister Smith and I had been visiting a lady who owns a restaurant and
loves having us young foreigners in her restaurant. every time we see
her she expresses some kind of interest, always asking us what we did
at church, and what not but every time we invite her she says shes
busy. So we invited the elders to come with us this week because there
are quite a few "regulars" at her restaurant who are men. Our wards
big sunday challenge is next week and with the help of the elders we
were able to invite her whole restaurant to church!!!! and our friend
said yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! such a miracle!!!!!!!! shes scared to go
alone but other friends from the restaurant will go with her so she is
coming!!!!!! teaching has been a little tricky with her, so i know
that church is exactly what she needs! our ward has so much dendo
fire, shes going to make the greatest of friends!
so all of my investigators really like sports. so this week we did
lots of sports!!!! im dying! so out of shape! thursday we played
frisbee with chiaki who came to church last week! friday we played
ping pong and yuiko came! saturday was basketball with risa! and
monday was soccer with risa and chiaki!!!! after every activity we end
up sitting on the ground having a lesson! its the funnest thing ever!
we all kind of star gazed and talked about our father who lives in
heaven. It may seem like a far place but we all felt him closer than
ever! i love all the friends that i have in this area!!! there is so
much potential and so many great things happening!!! this is Gods work
and he is in charge! i am so grateful to be a tool in his hands!
Another cool miracle for this week (there really were just soooooooooo
many) was saturdays basketball activity. we went with two of our
eikaiwa students. one of the students is the other sisters
investigator. she has been to church just once and they are trying to
teach her. so after basketball, sister hall pulls out the Book of
Mormon. then our friend that we invited (but haven't talked too much
yet about the gospel) looks at the book and says "i have one of
those!!" what?!?!?! we were shocked!!!! this girl is in her early 20s
and is absolutely crazy! i love her!!! but just so surprised that she
already has a Book of Mormon. so we all sat down in the middle of the
court and had a lesson. we read a verse from jacob on love. the
sisters investigator said she was struggling with loving her family
right now. it was the sweetest thing to see my friend, get more
serious and comfort this other girl. she put her arm around her like
they had been friends for a long time. the sisters all bore testimony
of families. Of course no family is perfect. of course we all get into
fights even with the people we love. but we can find strength, help,
and can borrow the saviors love for our family members. we had them
watch a mormon message on being a daughter of god. we are part of a
heavenly family. we have worth! i loved watching my friend as she
watched this video. just shaking her head in agreement the whole time!
it was quite the miracle!!!! my prior judgements of her were
completely wrong. she is so prepared. The gospel is for everyone!
sorry this email is so scrambled! there is just so much goodness
happening in our area! its taken a while, but we are teaching more and
hopefully helping our friends come unto christ! sister smith and i
changed our attitudes and decided to make the best of each situation.
we are much happier and Heavenly Father is with us each step of the
way!!!
sister christensen
i remember it like it was just yesterday!!! i have seen lots of
changes in myself and ready for another good 5 months to grow like
never before!!!!
today is pday because we got to go to the temple!!!!!! its heaven on
earth!!!!! i learn so much there every time i go! our Heavenly Father
created such a beautiful world for us to live! we have good and bad
experiences here but they are all for our good! and how grateful i am
that our father always had planned on a savior coming to help us
return back to him!!!
so This week was sooooooooooo much better!!!! Heavenly Father really
blessed us this week with lots of appointments and teaching
opportunities with our friends! Sister Smith and i knew that bigger
miracles would come and they did! We just needed to learn a lesson
first on patience. I love President monsons words "When the pathway of
life takes a cruel turn, there is the temptation to ask the question
�gWhy me?�h At times there appears to be no light at the end of the
tunnel, no sunrise to end the night�fs darkness. We feel encompassed
by the disappointment of shattered dreams and the despair of vanished
hopes. We feel abandoned, heartbroken, alone. We are inclined to view
our own personal misfortunes through the distorted prism of pessimism.
We become impatient for a solution to our problems, forgetting that
frequently the heavenly virtue of patience is required."
As dramatic as that sounds, its how i felt hahah. But this week has
completely changed that! and i am the most grateful person in the
whole world!!! Heavenly Father is so good to me!! Tuesday we were able
to meet with our investigator Yuko who had stopped taking the lessons.
We went to lunch with her and a member. We had a great time all
together, rebuilding our relationship. She decided she wants to do the
lessons again!!!!!!!!!! Probably one of the biggest miracles!!!
although she says she could never join a church with so many rules,
she still wants to meet. She has interest. She has some kind of
desire! we are going to help build her faith! i could not be more
excited!
after the lesson, the member who went with us kind of kidnapped us for
the rest of the afternoon.. haha! shes having a hard time with her
family and just needed some girl time. I love her to pieces! members
are my favorite!!! all so kind, and willing to serve! i cant wait to
be a normal one again!!! hahaha!
wednesday morning with met with a crazy lady! oh she is so funny! she
just sits there and laughs and laughs. which makes it hard to
understand anything shes saying. so that makes her laugh more! she
kept hitting me on the arm. i have bruises.. but we gave her a Book of
Mormon!!! she emails us like every second! she really just wants
friends! i like her! this is going to be fun! then we had a lesson
with fuchie. she normally meets us for english and half church lesson
but this time she said just church!!!! so cool!!!! so we used our new
pamphlets from salt lake and taught about the godhead. she loved it
all and believes in everything! but thats also kind of the problem,
she believes in EVERYTHING. alll the gods.... hahahah? but shes great
and is so sincere!
At eikaiwa we had a pot luck party so more of the members came to our
eikaiwa. It was so helpful!!! one of them talked to our friend natalia
from russia. she had expressed desire in wanting to come to church
before but because of conflicting schedules hasnt been able to come.
well i went up to talk with them and natalia looks at me and says "so
what should i wear for sunday?" !!!!!!!! i dont know what this member
said to her, but shes coming!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! the power of member
missionary work is real!!!! i am so thankful!!!!
Sister Smith and I had been visiting a lady who owns a restaurant and
loves having us young foreigners in her restaurant. every time we see
her she expresses some kind of interest, always asking us what we did
at church, and what not but every time we invite her she says shes
busy. So we invited the elders to come with us this week because there
are quite a few "regulars" at her restaurant who are men. Our wards
big sunday challenge is next week and with the help of the elders we
were able to invite her whole restaurant to church!!!! and our friend
said yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! such a miracle!!!!!!!! shes scared to go
alone but other friends from the restaurant will go with her so she is
coming!!!!!! teaching has been a little tricky with her, so i know
that church is exactly what she needs! our ward has so much dendo
fire, shes going to make the greatest of friends!
so all of my investigators really like sports. so this week we did
lots of sports!!!! im dying! so out of shape! thursday we played
frisbee with chiaki who came to church last week! friday we played
ping pong and yuiko came! saturday was basketball with risa! and
monday was soccer with risa and chiaki!!!! after every activity we end
up sitting on the ground having a lesson! its the funnest thing ever!
we all kind of star gazed and talked about our father who lives in
heaven. It may seem like a far place but we all felt him closer than
ever! i love all the friends that i have in this area!!! there is so
much potential and so many great things happening!!! this is Gods work
and he is in charge! i am so grateful to be a tool in his hands!
Another cool miracle for this week (there really were just soooooooooo
many) was saturdays basketball activity. we went with two of our
eikaiwa students. one of the students is the other sisters
investigator. she has been to church just once and they are trying to
teach her. so after basketball, sister hall pulls out the Book of
Mormon. then our friend that we invited (but haven't talked too much
yet about the gospel) looks at the book and says "i have one of
those!!" what?!?!?! we were shocked!!!! this girl is in her early 20s
and is absolutely crazy! i love her!!! but just so surprised that she
already has a Book of Mormon. so we all sat down in the middle of the
court and had a lesson. we read a verse from jacob on love. the
sisters investigator said she was struggling with loving her family
right now. it was the sweetest thing to see my friend, get more
serious and comfort this other girl. she put her arm around her like
they had been friends for a long time. the sisters all bore testimony
of families. Of course no family is perfect. of course we all get into
fights even with the people we love. but we can find strength, help,
and can borrow the saviors love for our family members. we had them
watch a mormon message on being a daughter of god. we are part of a
heavenly family. we have worth! i loved watching my friend as she
watched this video. just shaking her head in agreement the whole time!
it was quite the miracle!!!! my prior judgements of her were
completely wrong. she is so prepared. The gospel is for everyone!
sorry this email is so scrambled! there is just so much goodness
happening in our area! its taken a while, but we are teaching more and
hopefully helping our friends come unto christ! sister smith and i
changed our attitudes and decided to make the best of each situation.
we are much happier and Heavenly Father is with us each step of the
way!!!
sister christensen
