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!