And it Rained for 40 days and 40 nights...

Okay so maybe not that long, but at least every afternoon it rains. Which is really cool for a desert rat like me.

This week's quote is "If you stumble rise up, go on." Boyd K Packer. This playes into our lessons with Ivan this week. At the CCM our investigators are actually our teachers who act as people they know. So we teach Hermano Aguñigua as Ivan. Our second to last lesson didn't go that well. The Spirit was there but He definatly wasn't leading. It would have been so easy at that pointto just give up and just say that we are horrible teachers and can't be missionaries. But, President Packer's quote. And so instead we rose up and went on. And boy did it pay off. Our next lesson was increadible. It all started when we changed our opening song to Abide With Me tis Eventide instead of Joseph Smith's First Prayer because we could see our teacher was having a bad day. And from there the Spirit took over. We talked a lot about making positive changes in our lives and how to do that through the gospel. To be honest I can't remember what was said I just remember that tears were shed at a few points, and the feeling that accompanied them. It was probably the best lesson we have given thus far. 

In other news, I gave my second talk in Spanish ever this past Sunday, and I think it was understandable and gramatically correct (you never really know). 6 missionaries left for the feild, 5 sisters and 1 elder. Also on Wednesday 78 new missionaries arrived, which doesn't sound like a lot until all of them come to dinner at the exact same time and block your entrace to the comodor (where we eat). It's going to be even worse this week when 100 arrive. The summer wave has begun. 

I hope all is going well in your lives. I would love to hear about anything that is going on. 

Hermana Christensen

This week's picture is my district with one of teacher's Hermana Linares before she left to teach another distrect. It very actually describes the Elde's personalities.

Semana 2

Hello out there! I've decided to start out with a quote of the week in my e-mails and this weeks was "Good timber doe not grow with ease. The stronger the wind the stronger the trees." Well there has been some strong winds here this week. Mostly literally but a little bit figuratively as well. It seems like every person in my district has struggled at some point this week. But we are all moving past it and keep looking forward. The biggest help we all received was a devotional on Sunday. It was given by Elder David A Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve to missionaries at the Provo MTC a few years ago. It helped all of us to remember why we were really here, the reasons why all of us came, and the person who will help us succeed, Jesus Christ. The biggest lesson in it was to put aside the Cookie Monster in all of us (or the natural man) and focus on others around us. 

In other news the language is coming along. It's so fun to just listen to the modge podge of English and Spanish here. The best example was when a teacher came in and asked to borrow an umbrella. When I gave him mine to response was "Muchas thank yous" Spanglish at it's best. Other than that it's pretty much business as usual. We study, have classes, study, eat, study, teach and then study some more until we get to go home go to bed and start again the next day. It's all a part of the adventure I suppose. 

I hope all of you are doing well. I would love to hear more about your lives and what is going on with you. Thank you so much for all of the love and support. 

Hermana Christensen

PS This week's picture is an Hermana Christensen sandwich, which an Hermana Murdock middle.    

Semana 1

Anna at the MTC

Hola from The CCM, or El Centro de Capacitacion Misional Mexico, or the Mexico Missionary Training Center. The official language isn't Spanish or English, but is an odd mixture of the two. The missionaries use what Spanish they know and the teachers use the English they use and somehow we all understand each other. Missionaries are either here for 2 weeks (Native speakers) or 6 weeks (just learning). We started teaching in Spanish the second day here and it has been an adventure. The man we are teaching is named Luis. Lessons thus far have been going really well. We can more or less understand him and he can usually understand us. The Spirit has been present at every lesson which is the most important thing.

We had 2 really cool experiences this week. The first is when we received iPad training.  Some missionaries are using iPads in the field now, but they received training there. My district is the first one to receive the training in the MTC. We are the only ones here to have them, and we only get them during training, but if it works well we'll get them all the time. The first lesson was really intense because we had about 8 people in dark suits in our classroom just watching us and taking notes. Our teacher told us later that his boss, his bosses boss and then his boss were all in there at one time. It was kind of scary, but also really fun.

The other experience was this morning when we got to go see the Visitor's Center for the Mexico City Temple. It was so beautiful and such a good experience. I would have loved to do a session, but the temple is closed until August when it will be rededicated.

All in all this has been a really good week. I'm learning a ton and feeling the Spirit more then I have ever felt in my life. My district is wonderful and I love my companion. I can't wait to see what this week will bring.

My best to you all,

Anna/Hermana Christensen

PS one of the pictures is of me and my companion Hermana Murdock, and the other is of our district