Wednesday, November 30, 2016

We can all #LIGHTtheWORLD (#ILUMINAelMUNDO)!!!

Man this week has been so amazing! I literally have the best companion and the best sector, best ward, and best investigators in the world! I am learning SO much!!! I feel like I am growing so much with Hermana G., and I feel like I really am changing! Or at least I am trying to!

Update on O. and E.: E. is dropping the coffee, and they are progressing SO quickly! I don´t know if they will quite be ready for the 9th, but we are planning on pushing their fecha back a week to make sure they are really ready to make this covenant.  E. has completely dropped the coffee!  They are amazing! Yesterday we had a lesson with our leaders de zona and Olga and Edgar already have a testimony of tithing!! It´s amazing!!! I can´t believe how prepared they are! When we taught Palabra de Sabiduria, E. was worried because he has problems with those things, but he humbly accepted to live it, because he knows it´s what God wants, and what´s best for his family! He is willing to change everything for Christ, it´s incredible! His faith astounds me! Satan is really working on them right now, with problems with work and money especially, but we are doing everything we can to help them get to their baptism day! 

This week we started the Christmas initiative of the Church! Oh man, I LOVE IT SO MUCH I JUST WANT TO SHARE IT WITH THE WHOLE WORLD!!! The first time I saw the video I was like awww.... How trunky... all the lights and the families... but the first time we shared the video with a new investigator... it was SO POWERFUL!!!! And in that moment, I felt SO GRATEFUL to be a missionary! I wanted to cry because I have the chance to literally share this joy I feel with every person I see! I really can light the world! Because I can be a little light, giving light to everyone here in Chile!!!!  Because everyone deserves to feel this joy I have felt! And I cannot imagine a better Christmas season than this! Sharing with the world the hope of the Birth of Christ!!! Oh I love being a missionary!!!! And this campaign from the church is SO INSPIRED!! #ILUMINAELMUNDO  (#LIGHTtheWORLD) is so inspired!!! I invite you ALL to participate in the advent calendar!!! It's SO COOL!!! And it's amazing that we can continue Christ's ministry here on the earth today!!!  
(Find the advent calendar at: 

So be happy! Serve someone! Change someone's day! And be a light! That's what this world needs more than anything! A little more light!!! :) I love you all so much! Have the BEST week ever! And ...
#iluminaelmundo

Sending you guys all the love in my heart!

Hermana Christensen


Tuesday, November 22, 2016

A new cambio, a new companion and a WEDDING PARTY all the way in Chile!

****Just a note: Ashley's brother Brandon got married last weekend.  We had a cardboard cut-out made of her so that she could be with us, even if just in cardboard form, for the wedding festivities! (See pics below!)****

Hello family and friends!!! 

This week: Contacting every day, giving away SO many Book of Mormons! Two gringas running wild in Rauquen.... but literally running every morning! So much learning, so much love, so much faith, so many scriptures, special training for Coordinadoras, the best companion ever, and A WEDDING PARTY all the way in Chile with Hermana E. because her sister was getting married too! :) 
Hermana Christensen and Hermana E. made "wedding cake" and a wedding sign for their siblings who both got married (to different people) on Saturday in the Salt Lake Temple!


Okay, I don´t know how this keeps happening but every cambio just gets better and better and this week I feel like a whole new Hermana Christensen! I really feel like I am giving my whole heart to the Lord. And I know I say that every week but this week for real, so much has changed for me! I don´t feel fear anymore, well a little bit, sometimes, but really, I feel like my faith has grown ten thousand times! I finally feel like I have confidence in the Lord´s promises, because I see him helping me so much! He really does put the thoughts in your head and the words in your mouth that these people need to hear, and I have felt the fulfilling of that promise more this week than any other time in my mission!! I Love being a missionary!! 

Okay, I don´t know what I did to deserve a companion like Hermana G. She was an answer to my prayers!! WE ARE LIKE THE SAME PERSON!!! She is from Utah, went to Lone Peak, and is really athletic! I found out she runs marathons, but man she is incredible! Literally like the person I want to be when I grow up!!! SERIOUSLY!!!!  I love her with my whole heart! It´s like a dream to be her companion, and to work with her!!! We are growing so much together!! We aren´t perfect, but one thing I love about us is that we both want to change and improve, so when we makes mistakes, we analyze why, and then make the changes to not do it again... but it actually works!!! AHH I LOVE HER!!! God loves me so much!!! I am learning so much from her. She´s perfect!!! 

Okay our sector! So we have seen SO many miracles in our sector this week!! O. and E., our fechas, they are progressing so much. They came to church in their best dress this week! It warmed my heart!! I was so happy!! They are really searching, really trying to prepare themselves for baptism, but yesterday was amazing. E. explained how he believes Joseph Smith was a prophet because the Holy Ghost testified to him. He loved the verses we left in Mosiah 18, that say "if this be the desire of your heart, what have ye against being baptized?" And he has fears, and doubts because he understands it’s a big commitment, but in the end, shared this verse, and said "realmente que me impede?" AHH ellos son TAN buenos!! They are preparing diligently, and we are doing everything to help them be prepared!!! They are an amazing family! Other than them, we haven´t had much time to work in our sector, but we have taught some lessons with our other investigators, and yesterday we found Stef.. She is escogido for sure! We shared the Book of Mormon and she gladly accepted!! We also had capillas abiertas in Alameda this weekend, and we brought two 15 year old girls to the chapel, and they both left with Book of Mormons and told us how excited they were to go to church the next day!! MIRACLES!! We also found a man that lives in our sector, who was so grateful and anxious to receive the Book of Mormon, and started reading as soon as we left, ANOTHER MIRACLE!!! And we shared three other Book of Mormons in that time, and one more for the taxi driver on the way back home, he was so excited and said he was committed to read it before we could even invite him to read it! MIRACLES!! I know this work is so inspired! It´s so crazy! I can FEEL the power of God directing us! It´s crazy! I feel like I am not doing anything! The Lord prepares everything and I am just here to follow his perfect plan! 

I am so so grateful for this gospel and for the Book of Mormon.  It has changed my life!!! I love my Savior Jesus Christ! He has saved my soul and all I want to do is be a missionary forever!!! I actually want to be one of the three Nephites. Me and Hermana G. are going to join them I think :) 

I love you all!!! Have the best Thanksgiving weekend!!! Eat lots of turkey for me! :) 

All the love in this lil’ Chilean´s heart, 

Hermana Christensen :) 

Cardboard Hermana Christensen made it to Brandon's wedding festivities!



Tuesday, November 15, 2016

Capilla Abierta!

Heyyyyy Mom!!! Oh wow!! Sounds like a rough week! But is Trump is better than Hillary? I didn´t know! It seems like everyone here in Chile has an opinion about him!!! And EVERYONE asks me what I think! I just laugh!! And tell them I´m just waiting for Christ to come again!! :) 


Okay as for this week! It´s been a crazy week! I have learned a lot! SO so much! I've learned about myself and what I need to improve too! But this week we had Capillas Abiertas! It was incredible! I got to be one of the missionaries that presented the chapel to the general public, and show them what we believe! Basically pure testimony!!! IT WAS AWESOME!!!! I felt the spirit so strong! We started in the Sacrament room, and we had a big Christ banner like in Temple Square and we listened to His voice. So many people cried; the spirit was so strong you could touch it!!! 



And cambios this week! I will stay here in Rauquen; Hermana S. is moving to the sector next door to finish her mission! Different ward, but I will still have intercambios with her! Hermana G. is my new compi and I know nothing about her! Only that she has one cambio less than me and she’s from the states too! I´m excited! Should be fun! 

But O. AND E.!!!!! They are amazing!!!" Their WHOLE family came to church on Sunday! Early! And O., without explaining anything to her, filled out a tithing sheet and gave it to the bishop!! They also brought their friend, T., who we have just started working with too! THEY LOVE THE CHURCH!!!! It was absolutely amazing! We have lots to do to help them prepare but they are without a doubt going to get baptized this next cambio!!! Oh my heart was so full of joy! Yesterday was incredible! I love them SO much! I am so happy I get to stay here!!! :) 

So adios from this happy lil’ missionary in Rauquen! Have the BEST week ever!! 

Hermana Christensen 



New haircut








Monday, November 7, 2016

I SURVIVED MY FIRST EARTHQUAKE!


HELLOOOO EVERYBODY!!!!! 

This week…. SO much happened!! Where do I even start?!?! Okay here´s a rundown for ya! It was my companion’s first Halloween! Pictures with nuns, and devils and the Book of Mormon! We are FLOODING Chile with the Book of Mormon. O. and E. have a fecha! I talked to more people this week than I have talked to in my whole mission! I SURVIVED MY FIRST EARTHQUAKE AND I WAS IN THE EPICENTER!!! IT WAS THE COOLEST THING EVER I LOVED IT!!! Lots of laughs, finding people in the perfect moment, we didn´t have water for a week in our apartment, and I lost the keys for 5 days… hahaha But so many miracles I can´t count, lots of love!!! AND WE ARE LIVING EVERYDAY LIKE IT’S THE LAST DAY OF OUR MISSIONS!!! J J J
Halloween!


More Halloween!

And more Halloween!

No dancing allowed for missionaries :(

Wow this week was probably one of the most incredible weeks in my whole mission! SO much changed and we saw SO many miracles!!! So many miracles I cannot even count! We have so much faith! And because of this faith, and all the goals we have, we are seeing miracles! I am SO happy! I feel like a totally new missionary! Not that I was a bad missionary before, but wow I feel like I have changed so much in just one week! I am changing!! My comfort zone has stretched about a million times bigger!!! I LOVE this work!! 

Okay, I just want to say I love Hermana S. with all of my whole entire heart!! She is the most incredible companion! With her, we set a goal for this week, and basically for the rest of my mission, but this goal is to work every single day like it´s the last day of our mission, with our whole hearts, and this week, I can happily say that we worked EVERY day with ALL our hearts! We came home every single night completely exhausted, but completely happy!!! I am so so so lucky to be by her side!! She has helped me and our sector so much in its progression! With her, we don´t just make plans and set goals, but we actually carry them out! It´s amazing!! We are a great team! I love her so so much! I know cambios are so inspired! I know it! And I am so grateful for Hermana S. and this cambio!! She is so inspired! 

So our sector! This week, we didn´t fulfill every goal we set as a mission, but we sure worked so hard to fulfill them!! We didn´t quite reach it, but we’re SO much closer than before! But anyways! O. and E., our family from Colombia, ACCEPTED A FECHA!!! They are going to be baptized in December and they love the church! And want this for their daughters and their family! I am so excited for them! I LOVE THEM SO SO MUCH!!! They are absolutely amazing!!!  But this week was incredible! One day we gave away 5 Book of Mormons and took out citas to come back and explain more, just in one day! IN ONE DAY PEOPLE!! We really are FLOODING the world with the Book of Mormon! And I cannot count how many times, after finding someone and sharing the Book of Mormon, they told us that we came in just the right moment! God is amazing. He is so perfect! And we feel so blessed to be able to work as his hands down here on earth, but he is putting everyone in the perfect place for us! Ah it´s so incredible! Really quick I wanted to share a story about prayer! Saturday we were in Molina for capillas abiertas- when we basically give a tour of the chapel to everyone with big posters and explaining our beliefs and it’s SO cool! And we went out to contact people to bring them to the chapel. Well no one wanted to come, we stopped back at the chapel really quick and I went to the bathroom and in the bathroom, I said a prayer, with LOTS of faith! I promised the Lord that we would find at least one person to bring to capillas abiertas, because if just one soul benefited, it would all be worth it. I shared this with my companion and she too had prayed, with faith, to find someone to bring. And so we set out again! And we found A., and her son F.. We had to persist a little bit, but she really did want to come. She has lived her whole life behind the chapel and never entered! It was amazing! I couldn´t stop smiling and couldn´t believe God answered our prayers so quickly! In the end she was asking what time we meet for church, and was really impressed with the part about baptism. A. will get baptized, I know it! She was an answer to a prayer and is so incredible! I know the Lord is preparing his children! I love this work! 

Well this is just a little sneak peak of all the many miracles we are seeing every day! I love being a missionary! And I love working everyday like it´s my last! I love you all SO much! Thank you so much for the love and support every single week! I know this church is true and I am so grateful for our Savior! Have the best week ever!!! J

With all the love in this lil' heart, 


Hermana Christensen

Here is a excerpt from Ashley's journal about the earthquake:  OH MY GOODNESS, I SURVIVED MY FIRST EARTHQUAKE! Oh my goodness, it was so much fun!!! I always thought i was scared of earthquakes but it was SO COOL!  I LOVED IT! WE were outside our apartment by our bikes and Hna. S. was on the phone and she stopped talking and grabbed my arm and was like, "Hermana, do you feel that?" And I was like "yeah" because the ground was moving and we heard "kurugrouhunugho"-Haha, something like that!  And it got stronger and stronger!  And we looked at the lamp posts and they were swaying and our apartment building was too!  And we were like WOAH!  IT WAS SO FUN!  But so short!  Like 30 seconds!  Bummer!  We were hoping for a bigger one!  But it ROCKED!  So the epicenter was in Romeral, which is part of our ward!  SO COOL!  So in Curico, specifically Rauquen, we were the ones who felt it the strongest because we are the missionaries closest to the epicenter!  It was so fun!  I wish it was bigger!  We wanted to use our emergency backpacks and our lil' vests for "Helping Hands"- Haha!