Going home, well kind of‏

Saying goodbye to the Nascimentos

 Our cute little investigator Mirna

Vianney's baptism! She was so happy

I can't remember if I explained this earlier, but soon after I left my first area the old Covina Spanish stake was dissolved and split up into different English stakes. The ward I was in, Rimgrove, was split into two different branches, Orangewood and Los Altos. Well Saturday night was transfer calls and I'm now in none other than the Los Altos Branch. It's even the same number I had when I was here. So yep, I have come home to my first area. I'm excited to see how it has changed since I left, and how people have changed. I'm also excited to work with my new companion Hermana Schmutz. She is super cute.
Here's a rundown of my last week on Azusa:

Monday night we spent in Monrovia because the fire was huge and the mission didn't want us to get evacuated in the middle of the night. It was kind of stressful because we got the call when we were across the area in San Dimas and had to basically drop everything and run home to pack for the night. Fortunately the fire looks a lot more under control now, and we were allowed to return home the next morning.

All this week we spent running around because we were getting ready for a baptism. It literally came out of nowhere. We thought she was a less active member, but when we looked for her records they were just gone. And so she needed to be baptized again and we put the whole thing together in about two weeks. It was so amazing to see that miracle on top of all of the other miracles I'd seen in Azusa. The change in her was incredible, and I feel so blessed to have been a small part of it.

That's about it for this week, I'm trying to get settled in, and then we'll see what happens. See you next week!


Hermana Christensen

Not the fire we're looking for‏

Hello one and all! When I began my mission I didn't realize how many references to fires would be made. But here's another one. There's currently a couple wildfires going in the mountains near Azusa. And by near I mean we can see the flames from our apartment. Right now we have been told to stay out of the area, but we might have to go back up to pack before moving until it's under control. We really don't know, as of right now we're waiting to find out.
Another thing I didn't realize was how many times I would be especially homeless on my mission, or at least a little bit displaced. It all really started with bedbugs when we loved out of the car for a week. Then thins last week we ended up in the Covina Elder's pad while they did repairs on our apartment. And now it seems we might be moving again. Oh well.

In other news, we should have a baptism this Sunday! It came as a complete surprise to us, so I'll tell the full story next week. We also had a zone conference, and a ward activity. All good fun. Here are some pictures and have a great week!

A taste of summer

The cheesecake Carlos bought me for my birthday. He said that my last name was too long so he just put Christian instead.

Sometimes you have to coordinate/ match with your companion. It makes life fun.

Hello one and all! This week we got a small taste of what the coming months will feel like, though fortunately it should be cooler this week. For all of you out in Tucson, I am so very very sorry. It only
gets worse from here.
 
I feel like this week was super long and super short all at the same time. Here are a few things that happened
 
-I lost the keys for the first time in my life. They fell out of my bag when I put it down by a bench for a minute. We had some stress running around San Dimas trying to find them, but thanks to some prayers all was well.
 
-We had our usual service up in the mountains. The trees are getting bigger and bigger! Soon they'll be taller than me!
 
-On Saturday we had a Preach My Gospel breakfast with some of the kids who are getting ready to serve missions in the area. We ate a delicious breakfast and then were paired off to study Preach My Gospel with the kids. It was super fun, and so cool to hear their insights. We were working with a girl who will be leaving for Paraguay soon, and she was so cute and excited. It was such a good morning.
 
-We met a super cool guy named Ander. He just showed up at church in the morning, after receiving a prompting that the church closest to the mountains would be his new home. (Our chapel is right up against the mountains, seriously it's amazing). So he came to church. Afterwards we were talking to him and he said that he felt so good and that everything was going to change for him now. The minor problem is that he didn't show up for our return appointment, but we are going to keep trying, and he knows where the church is now. There is always hope.
 
That's all for this week I think, stay cool!
 
Hermana Christensen