They all said yes, all three of them, three days in a row!

*We LOVED our Mother's Day skype with Ashley!  Wow, that girl fills up our home with sunshine, even through a computer screen!  She is doing so well and she is just so happy and smiley and excited about her mission!  We loved every second we had with had with her!  Here is her email:

HELLLOOOOOOO MOTHER!!!! 

Oh yesterday was so much fun!!! You guys really are my heroes!!!! Every time I talk with you guys you give me so much motivation to work even harder!!! I know our reunion will be a joyous one!! But it will only be joyous if I give everything I have right now!! So THANK YOU for inspiring me to do that!!! :) 

Okay this week was INCREDIBLE!!!!!  But what can I expect? It's the mission!! I am doing so good! I have made goals that I am really excited to fulfill this week! But really this week we have seen SO many miracles!! So many answered prayers! And so many invitations to baptism!! :)

My companion is incredible!! I don't know how I always get blessed with the best companions!! We get along great, and we have the same desire to work, which makes everything go so much better!!!!! It's such a dream being her companion!!! She is such a hard worker!! She never wants to lose even one minute of work, so we are always doing something to help the work progress! I love it!! She is so incredible!! We laugh so much together!!! Yesterday we were yelling in the street how amazing of missionaries each other were! 

What I am MOST excited to tell you guys is that we have really been trying to apply the goals and plans of the mission to our sector!! And OH MY, IT HAS CHANGED EVERYTHING FOR US!!! Now we don't teach a lesson without talking about baptism or covenants, and it's truly incredible just how many people God is preparing for baptism, but they just need the invitation!!! This week, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, we had three different lessons with three different investigators, and we explained the doctrine of baptism, and our testimonies, and then at the end of the lessons, we invited them to baptism, and THEY ALL SAID YES!!! All three of them!! Three days in a row!!! We were SO excited because I know they really will be baptized!!! And they were asking us questions about it, and how, and why and it was so amazing to see the glow in their eyes when they understood how grand this opportunity that God gives us really is!!! We are SO excited to continue inviting all of Constitucion to baptism!! The Lord is blessing us SO much!!!

Well, that's about it for this week! When I have goals, I have a direction, and it makes EVERYTHING go better!!! And I know that with the Lord's help, there is nothing we can't achieve!! I love you ALL have the BEST week ever!!!

Love, Hermana Christensen 

Skyping with Hermana Christensen was the best!

Now a "greenie breaker" by the sea!

Ashley’s email this week answered my questions about her new area, her new companion, and how she is adjusting to being transferred again.  Here’s what she said:

 MY NEW AREA IS AMAZING!!! Haha no, I don't have a bike, but it would be impossible because there are SO MANY HILLS HERE!!!  I literally get to hike through the forest to cross our sector!!! IT’S SO FUN! I LOVE IT!!!! It literally is like a dream come true!!! The sector is amazing!  It’s kind of crazy though because these hermanas have been baptizing like crazy!!! My companion is Hermana R. de Mexico City. She's so crazy and so fun! She just finished her training so I am her greenie breaker! :) Hahaha!  But she is such an incredible missionary already!!! It’s been kind of fun to be with a new missionary again because it’s been so long that I have been with oldies like me!!! Haha!  She is incredible!! And in her 2 cambios here they had 4 baptisms!! But right now we have 2 fechas! J., who is 14, and I., who is like 84! And this week we have seen miracles! We have found 9 new investigators in just five days!!! 

The bishop here told us that this is the "Promised Land" AND OH BOY, IS HE RIGHT!!!! It’s a pretty big ward of like 100 attending church!! It reminds me of my first ward! Machali!!! It’s the BEST!!! The bishop is amazing!!! This place is an adventure for sure! :) 

 My companion is great! Yeah, we get along well! It's weird after being with my best friends as companions for the last 6 months going to someone I do not know at all, so we are still getting to know each other, but she is SO AMAZING!!! And we get along great!! 

This has definitely been one of the harder changes for me to adjust to, but it’s all good because the Lord has given me an opportunity to grow, and to stretch my comfort zone, and to become who he wants me to become!! It's been hard, but it's been good! He is really teaching me to be humble!! It's incredible!!! And with that I would like to share what I studied this week about our Savior. In his biggest trial, he turned out. When he was suffering for all of our sins, he accepted God's will. That's what I want to do in my trials, accept God's will. And it’s very interesting that as soon as Christ accepted God's will, our Heavenly Father sent him an angel to strengthen him. And even though we can't always see the angels, I know God is always sending them to strengthen us, especially when we are being humble. And when the Savior was in his deepest agony, he prayed more earnestly. 

I love the way he confronted this great and ultimate sacrifice that only he could make, and it gives lil’ old me the perfect example of how to deal with my trials and challenges however small they may be. I want to always accept God's will. 

But the Lord has been really merciful in showing me my weaknesses.  And it's all good because when we recognize our weaknesses we CAN progress!! And just as the apostle Paul, I now know that God's grace and strength is made perfect in my weakness. "Therefore I will take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake, for when I am weak, then I am strong." 2 Cor. 12:9-10 

But regardless of the hard moments, the mission is still the GREATEST thing that has ever happened to me!! And I can still feel the JOY of serving the Lord with all my heart might mind and strength. Oh I love it!! It truly is incredible!!!! 

Like Alma, I will rejoice because "this is my life and my light, my joy and my salvation, and my redemption from everlasting wo."

As I strive to depend on Christ's atonement, my love for him grows. I hope you can all feel the same love from Heaven that I feel every day!!! I hope you have the best week! Thank you for all your prayers! We can sure feel them!!! 

Love, 

Hermana Christensen 

 PS. IT WAS THE BEST WHEN I SAW HERMANA WHITTINGHAM!!!!!!!! I WAS SO SO SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO HAPPY!!! And it was SO fun with my distant cousin Cosi, too, on my last night in Buin!! 

So great to see Hermana Whittingham!

With her new compi at the beach!

A little glimpse of heaven

GUESS WHAT?!?!?! I AM BEING TRANSFERRED.  God has the craziest plans for me!!! I am SO excited, but sad to leave.  But it’s a great feeling to feel that God trusts you and that you fulfilled your part when you leave a sector and that’s what I feel!!! I am so excited! I am not going to be a hermana training leader, but that’s okay because I am SO excited to just be a normal missionary and to give absolutely everything to the work and to my investigators!!! I am going to be with Hermana R.  I don’t know her, no one does, so I think she is relatively new.  I am SO EXCITED.  I will send lots of pics because I heard it’s so pretty there!!!  And an adventure for sure!!! CRAZY!!! 

THIS WEEK WAS INCREDIBLE!!!!!! I love Buin, I LOVE Hermana Owen, I LOVE the mission!!! I LOVE this gospel!!! But most of all, I love the Savior! Oh, God's plan is oh so perfect!!! 

I am so overwhelmed with all sorts of emotions!!! This week we continued with our goal to find 30 investigators in 30 days, and you know what? We found 7 new investigators this week!! And GOOD investigators!! Isabel and Daniela, Javiera, Blanca, Elvira, Adolfo. Oh the miracles just keep coming!! We have been working so so hard and I LOVE it because the Lord is really blessing us so much!!! Yesterday we even put a fecha with Angelo!!! (Our Haitian investigator)! He's a goodie!!!  But more than anything important that happened this week, was all the things that we learned this week. 

This cambio in Buin has changed my life!!! Never in my life have I felt so close to and so guided by the spirit. Never in my life have I felt so synchronized with God's will. Never before have I felt so humbled. Never in my life have I experienced so much peace-- real, lasting, deep peace. The gospel is just true! And when we live it, the Lord is more than willing to change, shape, and mold us into the sons and daughters he wants us to be. I feel like I just ended a chapter of my mission! And I am about to start a new one! And it is the sweetest feeling to know that I fulfilled my part of God's plan!! I am convinced there is no greater joy than to know that God can and does use you as an instrument in his hands, to bring to pass his marvelous work here on the earth. Oh such joy!!!!

So as I leave Buin, to go all the way down to my new area, I am so excited to see how the Lord will continue to grow my testimony, and give me new challenges and responsibilities according to my abilities! OH I am just so grateful! That's all I can say! So grateful for this plan! For this amazing cambio in Buin with these amazing people!! For the way they have helped me and taught me!!! I love them SO much but most of all I love my Savior. I love him so much!! And I will forever be grateful for his infinite atonement that has given me the ability to become like him. I love the atonement! If there are two things I love most in the world, it’s the Atonement and Missionary Work. And those two combined? Well, that's a recipe for the deepest joy I believe we can experience here in this world! I believe it's a little glimpse of Heaven. 

I am just SO grateful! I really don't know what else to say!!! I love this Lord! I love this work!! Come to him!! He is ONLY one that will heal you!!! And he will!!!!! 

I hope you all have the BEST week ever!!!! I know I will! I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!!! Thank you for your love and support!!! 

With all the love in this lil’ Chilean heart, 

Hermana Christensen 

At last Hna. Christensen got to see Hna. Whittingham, her friend from home!!!

You should have seen our faces!

This week has been absolutely amazing!! I cannot even begin to describe all the things I have learned! It truly has been a humbling week! It turns out, I was very comfortable where I was at, and I wasn´t really recognizing any of my weaknesses so I decided to pray and ask Heavenly Father what I needed to work on, and OH BOY did he show me!!! But I am so so grateful because as I have come to recognize my weaknesses, and that opens the opportunity to improve and progress! And now I know exactly what Heavenly Father expects of me in this moment!! It´s a beautiful thing!

So this week was a little sad as both of our fechas fell, but new opportunities have arisen as we have been continuing with our goal of finding 30 investigators in 30 days!!! This week we found J. y Y.!!! We went to the new neighborhood in our sector, said a prayer, and started contacting.  The first 5 houses, nothing, but then Y. l answered the door, they let us in.  They are Catholics and they are the cutest young family from Santiago.  They have a son of 2 years, and they moved to Buin to basically start their lives! They bought their first house and got a new job and EVERYTHING!! When we shared the Book of Mormon with Y., I could not even believe how grateful she was! She thanked us and thanked us! We walked out of there saying ¨They are going to be baptized! They just look like members! ¨ And it´s true!!! They are so prepared for the gospel!! 

Another moment of joy was hearing our investigator Ros., share her testimony in relief society about the prophet Joseph Smith, she KNOWS he is a prophet of God, and is so grateful for him and everything that was revealed through him, and she said she KNOWS this is the right path for her to take. YOU SHOULD HAVE SEEN OUR FACES!!! Hermana Owen and I have probably not ever felt SO much joy together! She is so converted!!! She just needs to stop smoking and get married so she can get baptized! But she feels the truth! She knows it!!! What a joy it is to be a missionary!!!!!! I AM SO BLESSED!!!!! 

I know this is the true gospel of Jesus Christ! I am learning SO MUCH!!! I am so grateful for my Savior, who is always there to help me, and show me what I can do, to become his daughter. I love him. And he loves all of you!! And I do too! Keep loving all those around you, and stay true to the faith!!! Have the best week ever!!!!! 

Hermana Christensen 

What a marvelous work. And we are still in wonder! :)

All I know is this gospel is true. It´s just so true and I know that God is up there in charge of everything!!! With all of that being said, this week has been absolutely INCREDIBLE!!!!! 

I have never in my life felt so much real, deep, lasting peace. I have never in my life felt the spirit so powerfully! I have never in my life testified so deeply with so much conviction, and I have never in my life felt the spirit work through me so frequently and powerfully as I have felt this week! It truly was a week of miracles! And this work truly is a mighty work and a wonder! :) 

SOOOOOOO to start out, this last Sunday, not yesterday but the week before, we fasted. Me and my companion prayed to find 30 new investigators in 30 days. We put all our faith and prayers into that because we knew it was God´s will for us too!!! So we started the search!! And 6 days had passed and we had only found 1 new investigator. Fern., she is incredible!!! She was a miracle but we just found 1. And so we were talking and saying like we know we haven´t done all of our part to find these people, and we felt a lil sad but we prayed, right before knocking on the door of a less active lady we contacted the other day to teach her. So we prayed and she came out and let us in! She told us, “Oh perfect! My kids can listen too!” I went to the bathroom and when I came out, I COULD NOT BELIEVE MY EYES!!!! Her four boys Jo. (12yrs), Jon (13), V. (10) and J. (12) were all sitting in a row on the couch, all of them not members of the church, ready to listen! We shared a story from the Book of Mormon where they all read and participated and answered question. It was a BLAST teaching them! We walked out and practically started screaming!!! 4 NEW INVESTIGATORS!!! Then we had about 45 minutes before our next lesson, so we prayed before beginning to contact. We thanked God, and pleaded for his help to guide us to someone who we could share the Easter video with, and I kid you not he led us directly to them!!!! The first street, the first house we knocked on, a girl came out, when back inside, grabbed the keys and let us in! She only had 10 years and we asked if her parents were there, she said yes, we entered to find a COMPLETE FAMILY and we taught all of them! Jos. and P. (mom and dad) and B.and A.! (kids) and their lil baby!! They have listened to the missionaries before. We left to our lesson LITERALLY BURSTING WITH JOY and gratitude! Then we taught the most powerful lesson about repentance to R. and G., who have word of wisdom problems, and I have never given a more sincere testimony, and I have never felt the spirit so strongly!!!! WOW!!!!!!!!!! GOD IS SO MERCIFUL WITH US!!!! And yesterday we found one more new investigator, so all in all, this week we found 10 investigators, and we KNOW the Lord guided us in every step!!!!!! What a marvelous work. And we are still in wonder!! :) 

I love this work so much! I know with all my heart God´s plan is absolutely perfect for each and every one of us!!! If we will follow the Spirit, he will literally direct us in ALL things!!! Follow the spirit!! Be a 1st Responder!!!! And love every minute of this amazing journey! I love you guys so much! Keep us in your prayers!!!! And have the BEST week!!! 

Love, Hermana Christensen. 

The most spiritual, happiest, funniest, and most full-of-learning week!

HELLO WORLD!!! 

Okay so this was the most spiritual, happiest, funniest, and most full of learning week EVER!!! I LOVE BUIN SO MUCH!!! But really!!! It is such an amazing place!! And every day is such an adventure!!! I really love it!!!! 

But this week! My companion and I are literally talking to EVERY person we see! Every single one, because guess what?! THIS GOSPEL IS WAY TOO IMPORTANT TO KEEP IT A SECRET!!! 

But by doing this, I have been filled with such an IMMENSE JOY!!! It literally makes me so happy! And so when 5 investigators committed to come to church, like we talked to them all Saturday night, and only one comes, it doesn’t even get us down because we are just SO HAPPY so we just keep helping!! It’s like that scripture in Alma 31: 38 that says, "que no padeciesen ningun genero de aflicciones que no fuesen consumidas en el gozo de Cristo." THAT SCRIPTURE IS SO TRUE!!! 

But anyways. This week we had interviews with President and I just felt so much peace that everything in the world was right, and my life is so amazing!!! And then this fast Sunday, my companion and I decided that we would fast to find 30 new investigators this month, one a day, because that is the goal of the mission! And we committed to do EVERYTHING to be able to find a new investigator every day!! So we left with all the excitement and faith in our hearts, we had a lesson, then we were out talking to people ALL afternoon, and our other citas with futures fell, and it was 20 minutes before our meeting with the ward mission leader, so we prayed with faith because we KNEW God would help us fulfill our goal! So we prayed, and contacted two houses, and man were they a bit "stiff-necked" and "hard-hearted" because WOW rejection. BUT we were like... okay that means we are doing something right because there is always opposition when it’s something right!!! But then a lady that we always would pass running in the morning came to our minds, and we couldn’t even remember what house it was so we went looking, and SHE JUST HAPPENED TO BE OUTSIDE HER HOUSE!!! How perfect is Gods timing right??? So We asked if we could share something with her, this sweet sweet happy old lady and she said no, but then something changed and she let us in! So we entered her house!! We shared with her a quick little lesson, felt the spirit, and left. And my companion and I were SO EXCITED!!!!! So excited, because God answers prayers!!! We had actually talked to Maria before in the street, and only remembered when we were in her house! 

Haha but the funny part of this story is that we were so excited that we found a new investigator, and the next morning, I was thinking about the contact we had with her the week before, and I remembered, she actually was baptized like 30 years ago.... and she is actually a less active member.... but we are still just as happy! Because the work of salvation is all the same! So what a funny miracle!! :) 

But with this week and Easter, we have been sharing the video "Prince of Peace" and I love it! Christ really gives a peace the world cannot offer. (John 14:27) So who are we to not share this peace with all of our brothers and sisters on this earth? I love sharing the gospel!!! Share the peace with all you know!! I love you all so much!!! Follow the spirit!! He really is your best friend!!! Have the best week and the best Easter. I love you all!!! 

Love, 

Hermana Christensen  

Making sopapillas with D. & J. to celebrate the 1 year anniversary of their baptism!

I am ALL IN! 120% IN!

Here is a little bit from Ashley's missionary journal, since she didn't write a general letter to send out this week: 

“I loved Conference yesterday!  Holy Hannah!  So much revelation and inspiration!  And at night in my prayer something amazing happened.  I felt love, I felt peace, and I felt that Heavenly Father is there.  I know he’s listening.  I am going to do everything to follow him and obey him.  I know in whom I have trusted!

…J. and A. came to Conference!  They are our investigators from Haiti and they watched it in English with us!  I LOVE FALL!  I LOVE CONFERENCE!  There’s literally nothing better!  This week it’s full on fall!  All the leaves are falling!  There’s a crispness in the air!  The nights and cold and I couldn’t be happier!

The crazy thing is that here in Chile there are actually SO many people prepared to hear the gospel and so many people that are ready, but it just depends on OUR faith and our diligence!  So here I am, ready to give it my whole heart, might, mind and strength!  I LOVE THIS GOSPEL!  I’d be so lost without it!

…Last night I was feeling a little sad, but I decided to go “ALL IN” just like Elder Sabin said in conference and BOOM!  When I really sincerely prayed, I totally felt the spirit come and I was so happy!  And this morning I woke up with SO MUCH JOY!  I was singing “Praise to the Man” and it was just so happy and awesome.  We celebrated the birthday of Hermana Susana and brought her balloons and a banner.  And then we raced to conference.  We taught J. and A. during the break and then we had to literally RUN to get back to the church for the 2^nd session. 

 I am so grateful for this weekend!  For all the inspiration received!  I think what I learned the most is the love of God is the most powerful thing.  Love changes us.  Love motivates us.  And ultimately our love for God and for all his children is what will get us back to him!  I want to be a true disciple!  I am ALL IN!  120% IN!  And I know my Heavenly Father loves me! I love my Savior and his perfect gospel.”

With  Hermana S., a recent convert, on her birthday