Hello Everyone!

So I am back in a branch. I am pretty stoked about it :) The past weekend has been so great! I have an awesome new companion, Sister Endemann! We already are having fun together. I am super excited about this transfer because we have set some awesome goals and we are going to work so hard! I am so pumped to work hard!

We found a new investigator, Martha, on Saturday! We brought this cute older lady, Sister Kelly, with us and she actually knew Martha! Martha immediately let us in to her apartment and Sister Kelly and her talked about a common friend of theirs that died last August. We heard that she was interested to know what their common friend believed (he was a member), so we asked her again if she was interested. She said she was and we were able to set up a time for next week to meet with her. She was so sweet. We shared a scripture with her and it seemed to touch her. She told us how we had come at the perfect time because she had been contemplating doing something wrong. But we arrived and she changed her mind. I was worried about leaving her but I felt comforted that she will be fine and we will be able to see her next week. I am so excited to teach her. She is very humble. She told us how much she respected us for the work we were doing, and to not let people laugh and mock us because we are dedicated to the Lord. When we were leaving I asked her if she would like us to say a prayer with her. She looked at me as if I had looked into her soul and said yes in astonishment. It was such a sweet moment.

I love being a missionary. It is the best thing in the world! It is the best thing I could be doing right now. I know that is so cliché to say, but it is so true. I can't believe the time that has gone by.

One of my past Sister Training Leaders gave us a list of comfort scriptures and I have been going through them lately. There are so many and are so powerful. I love Omni 1:26, It says, "And now, my beloved brethren, I would that ye should come unto Christ, who is the Holy One of Israel, and partake of his salvation, and the power of his redemption. Yea, come unto him, and offer your whole souls as an offering unto him, and continue in fasting and praying, and endure to the end; and as the Lord liveth ye will be saved." That is our whole purpose, as members, as missionaries, as sons and daughters of God. We are to come unto Christ, partake of the Atonement that He has completed for us, and share it. If we do this, if we offer ourselves to Him, we will be saved, we will bring many others unto Him so that they may be saved, too. What a wonderful gift, what a perfect plan and message we have to share. I wish I could understand it all but what I do understand, it is amazing and perfect and completely wonderful.

I love you all so very much. I hope you feel the same way I do about the gospel of Jesus Christ! Have a wonderful week and get excited for General Conference! Wow it is already here!!

Love, Sister Eliza

Last Week in Littleton!

It has been quite the week! We got a new investigator, our less actives are really progressing, the members are so on board and coming out with us frequently, and I'm getting transferred to North Brookfield, Mass. I know. Crazy.

So first off, our new investigator!! her name is K, she is 18 (yesterday was her birthday) and is a senior in High school and in the National Guard. She is so cute! We met her for the first time a week ago yesterday. We were on splits with members during our lesson because we accidentally double booked. Which was awesome! We have been crazy busy. Our first meeting with K went so well. We had our young women's president there and a YSA girl from our ward. We taught her a little bit of the Restoration and talked about the young women's program. She was smiling the whole time! She said she was nervous about coming, she thought was going to be awkward, but it turned out "a lot more fun that [she] expected". Sweet! She doesn't have hardly any religious background because her parents aren't religious. She only knows Jesus Christ's name and that is it! So we are starting from scratch. The only other problem is she is afraid to tell her mom she is investigating the church, which could be a good or bad thing. Good, because she is invested in this if she is nervous about it and bad because we do not want this to come between her and her mom. She is 18 now so no legal issues will come up but it is always better when the parents know.

Another cool story about K is that she is the first Facebook referral! So a few years ago, she and her friend were at a park in Mass. The whole of Arizona boy scouts were there as well. A couple of the boy scouts came up to her and her friend and offered them cookies, took some pictures together and later became friends on Facebook. Now, fast forward a few years, starting this past November (2013). One of the boy scouts is now a missionary in the Washington, Vancouver mission. He randomly decided to message her and say, "Hey do you remember me?" she said she didn't remember him until he told her how they met. Then he taught her the restoration and got her information and sent it to us!! So cool, right!? She is so golden.

We also saw her yesterday for her birthday. We almost didn't meet with her because her mom was sick and she had to stay with her but we convinced her to get ice cream with us near her house. So we fully taught the restoration to her and she wants to come to mutual and bring her 10 year old sister to church!!! It was so sweet because one of the young women leaders brought a birthday card to young women’s on Sunday for everyone to sign for K! It was so cute, the card was covered! K will be so loved and wrapped in here. I am so excited for her. Sad to leave though.. :(

So enough about K,  though she really was such a miracle this past week! There is so much to say and not enough time or space to say it all! But the Littleton ward is progressing and progressing fast. It is amazing. There are so many people we are working with so many amazing people who are progressing! It is such a miracle to be serving here. It is really sad to be leaving. So mom and dad you better be ready to come to Littleton because I told everyone I was coming back :) Everyone was so sweet when they found out I was leaving. They made me feel so loved! It is a lot harder than I thought it would be to leave. But I am excited for my last area!

love ya'll so so much!!

Sister Christensen #1

 

me and AM

with B

with BB

 Saying goodbye to a lot of people in Littleton, MA

GPS is amazing!

We had an amazing visit with B this week!! It was probably one of the most spiritual experiences I have had! So we usually read the book of Mormon with her. We left off at 2 Nephi 20 last week and she was on 2 Nephi 28!! She is almost done with 2 Nephi! She had a million questions as usual, but she really understands WAY more than she did when we first started reading with her. And guess what..? She was telling us about how she got sucked into those 8 chapters and couldn't put it down. Then she said "I know it is true, I can't deny it". AAHH!!! It was so exciting! She has a strong sense of the spirit in her, she is recognizing the truth and... She wants to share it!! She told us 3 or 4 people she wants to share the gospel with! It is amazing! Then she talked to us about how she got a copy of her patriarchal blessing sent to her, since she can’t find the original. She received her blessing 50 years ago! Oh my goodness, this was such a neat experience, I can't even control my excitement and amazement at what happened. So she didn't understand her blessing at all, really. But she asked us if we can help. We were hesitant but she insisted, so we felt like it was ok. We read it with her. Wow. She has some incredible blessings. She doesn't even realize how amazing they are!

While talking about her blessing I realized how important our choices are. She fell away from the church not many years after she received her blessing. A lot of the blessings that were given her hadn't come because she made the decision to marry a non member and fall away from the church. If we want the blessings that the Lord wants to give us we have to keep the commandments and make the right decisions, or rather be careful with the decisions we make. No matter how small or large they are. I also learned why it is so important for us to read our patriarchal blessings regularly. If B had done that I am sure she would have made different decisions in her life. Even though some of her blessings have not reached her because of her decisions, she can still receive the majority of them. The gospel is amazing! Even when we stray we can always come back and receive those blessings that the Lord has in store for us. A GPS can be an example of how the Atonement works. When we take a wrong turn our path is just redirected but it can still lead us to our destination! I just love that analogy :) Even if we make a mistake and it takes us a little bit off the beaten path, Christ will help direct our paths the way it needs to go so that we can still return to live with Him and Heavenly Father again.

I love you all and am so excited for Sarah to go on her mission!! You're going to love it Sarah! Have so much fun in England, I love you!

Love, 
Sister Christensen, the first ;)

Reactivation

So a lot has happened this week but nothing too exciting... We had lots of assignments from our leaders in the ward which has been amazing! We are crazy busy. We have found a few new investigators as well which is pretty bomb.

We went to stake conference on Saturday! We had it a month ago but the Saturday session was cancelled because of a random snow storm so it was just rescheduled. But it was awesome! Sister Packard spoke and two recent converts spoke. Those were interesting talks but pretty entertaining. One was a military guy and has a HUGE hick accent. Everyone was laughing the whole talk, he was pretty hilarious. His family was sitting behind us and his wife told him, "honey, it's been twelve minutes" in a very sweet hick accent. So funny! The other one was a lady from some other country, I couldn't figure out her accent. But she is from a very strong catholic background and went into detail about how she is very influenced by the light in people’s eyes. She told this drastic story about seeing the cold dead looking eyes of the Pope and then seeing the warm, loving, kind eyes of the Mormons. It was a pretty fun session.

Last thought, so last week I think I mentioned a less active lady, L, that we finally came in contact with. It turns out that her mother is in the ward.  I have written about her before. It was so obvious to me that L was H’s daughter because they look so much a like and they are very similar in personality as well. So yesterday we went on splits with some of the members in the ward and Sister Calder saw L and I saw A M with one of the young women. It was fun. Sister Calder told me about their visit with L. She took L's two visiting teachers with her and they immediately hit it off! That was definitely the work of the Lord. These visiting teachers haven't been able to get a hold of L in a very long time! It is amazing that they hit it off so quickly. I just love it. We are hopefully going to see L pretty often now.

Splits with the Young Women

Last night we saw H as well, she is so cute. She is losing her memory quickly, she is noticeably worse than the last time I saw her. It is sad. Her son and his wife live in the apartment above her house and her son came down to be with us. He is deaf so I couldn't communicate with him at all, sadly. But Sister Calder knows sign language so she had a lot of fun talking to him. We read the book of Mormon with them and he said the closing prayer. It was such a sweet experience. Though I have no idea what he said. I want to learn sign language!!

I love being here in the Massachusetts Boston Mission. It is such an inspiring, incredible place. We are so busy everyday and I know I have worked hard each day because I am totally exhausted when I get home. But at the same time I am falling behind in my journal writing because of it! The work is amazing. Things are progressing and the ward is picking up! I know the Lord's hand is in this work, He is working hard in this area and in this mission and in this world! His work IS hastening and it is such a wonderful time to be on a mission and be a member of this church. So many miracles are happening. Then again, the adversary is also working so hard because of these miracles that are happening. He just slips in and ruins things but we are working hard against him and we are prevailing! What a wonderful side to be on :) I hope you all are enjoying this beautiful time!

Love, Sister Christensen

I Believe in Miracles!

                                                

Hello!!

This week has been crazy busy!! I loved it! It has amazing because we are getting more and more members out with us! Woo hoo!!  We had about 45 member helps between the elders and us during the past 2 weeks!  It is so cool.

We went on quite a few actual splits this week with the young women it was awesome! Monday one of the young women and I went to visit Sister H and had dinner with her. She is so sweet. She is working on the word of wisdom. And guess what she hasn't had any problems for over a week now! The program is working!! :) :) She loves to sew and crochet and so she offered to fix or sew skirts for us if we ever need it. She is so nice, I just love her.

This week we also saw B, and Sister Calder thought it would be nice for me to bring my violin and play for her. She was so funny, when she saw the violin she said "did you read my mind?! I was thinking about you playing the violin just before you arrived!". She is hilarious. I played a few hymns for her and it really touched her. We are making remarkable progress with her! She is fantastic. 

Now this is a past story from a few months ago, probably my first transfer in the area. One night Sister Grant and I were stopping by some less actives in Acton and weren't having any success. We stopped by one and the husband (I think) wasn't very nice and barely even opened the door to us. He informed us that his wife was not interested and it was kind of sketchy. Then we tried another house and this lady answered the door and told us she was not interested at the moment and wasn't the kindest about it. It was such an unsuccessful night that we went and picked up hot chocolate before going home.   Then fast forward to this week. We had a member who wanted us to help her and a less active pack up her house. This less active ended up being the second house in the story! Her name is K and she is getting a divorce so she is moving out of this beautiful house. She lived in China for a number of years and has collected a ton of stuff from there. But she was so kind to us! It was kind of funny because she asked us how long we have been out and then how long we have been in the area. I wonder if she was trying to see if one of us was the same sister missionary who stopped by a few months ago :) We had a great time and she wants us to come for dinner some time!!

We had an amazing zone conference this week! Though we focused on our top priorities and have basically been talking about it since the Packard’s got here, it was in more detail and gave more ideas. It was sweet! I learned a lot and felt the spirit so strongly. I absolutely love zone conferences. They are always inspiring and motivating.

We have had quite a few miracles this later part of the week. 1. Again, we were visiting a returning less active sister D, and had a feeling to knock on her neighbors door. So after the appointment we went out and the family next door was outside packing up their car for a skiing trip. We told them who we were and what we were doing at Sister D's house and asked if we could come and share a message with them this week. They said we could come by! So we are going on Thursday! :)

2. We finally got in with an investigator, C, who we haven't been able to see in probably a month or more. We are finally meeting with her again on Tuesday! So excited :) :)
3. We had an amazing member lesson with the Bishops family. They are the ones who just gave us a new investigator. We had a very special lesson of gaining revelation and it was probably one of my top five best member lessons ever. They are an awesome family.

4. Last but not least, we stopped by a less active, L F, who we have stopped by a few times but has never been home. And she was home!!! She was so nice and let us in, there was a man there, B, He didn't know anything about the Mormons or book of Mormon or anything so we taught him a very brief version of the restoration. He was very skeptical and told us to enjoy our naive youth. It was fun to talk to him and L said we were welcome back any time! :)

These are just a few of many miracles that happened this week! But it has been quite a busy and successful week! I loved it.

Hope you all have a wonderful week and enjoy this last bit of winter (hopefully). The church is true! Share this wonderful knowledge of joy with everyone around you! :) :)

Love,

Sister Christensen