Life is a bike ride on Azusa Ave.‏

So my companion and I usually end up riding home at night, and if we are at la capilla (chapel) or in that area then we go home along Azusa Ave. a few nights ago we were riding home that way and I thought of an analogy of life in the gospel that works with it. I call it life is a
bike ride on Azusa Ave.

The scriptures say that strait is the gate and narrow is the way that leads to eternal life. When we ride home on Azusa we don't ride on the side of the road, but on a small bike and walking trail that runs
alongside it. At first glance the side of the road looks safer because it's wider, flatter and more well lit. But after one ride on it you discover that the chance of getting hit by a car or a bus is fairly
high, and that the hills are actually harder and steeper. This is like the gospel. At times it looks like the world's way is the better safer way, until you try it and find that it much scarier, so we need to
follow the gospel. The bike path isn't the best lit, so my companion and I use our bike lights to light the way. They only light a few feet in front of us but it's enough to avoid any dangers, much like how we can't see the entire plan of our Heavenly Father just the part right in front of it. Our lights our like our testimonies. Unfortunately sometimes our lights aren't the brightest, but our companions light is
so it can help to light our way as well. That is like being helped by prophets, leaders, friends, family ect on our journey. On our bike ride home sometimes we get to coast downhill, pedal across flat land,
and struggle up hills. Sometimes we pass others and sometimes others pass us. And sometimes your tire gets popped really early on the journey so we have to walk the rest of the way home. We are all on our journey back home to our Heavenly Father, and sometimes the journey is easier than at other times, but we all will make it back in the end.
And there is my analogy for life.

As for here, zone conference was super great. It was a really cool experience because instead of just 2 zones it was all 4 Spanish zones and it was held in the mission offices in Arcadia. My favorite part
was when President Villanueva spoke to us. He gave a lot of great counsel to us. It gave me a lot of things to think about and gave me some ideas on how to improve myself as a missionary. This week we also had a super great lesson with Shirley and Christian. We got them to set a date for their wedding and baptism so we have something to work toward with them. We keep looking for new people to teach and keep trying our hardest to be obedient and be the missionaries the Lord wants us to be.

As always I hope that this e-mail finds all of you well.
Nos vemos.
Hermana Anna Christensen

Good news because of the gospel‏

These are the other hermanas in my district. My trainer is Hermana Diaz, the one in the red shirt behind the Hermana taking the picture. The other two are Hermana Evenson and Hermana Hernandez.

I received 3 pieces of good news this week, here they are in the order received...

1. My friend Aubrey received her mission call to the Nashville Tennessee Mission, Spanish speaking. She reports in early December to the México City MTC, (the best MTC in the world).

2. The ground breaking for the Tucson Arizona temple is in October! It's going to be built on Ina and Skyline, about 10 minutes away from my parents house. It was announced in the October 2012 General Conference so I'm sure I'm not the only one who is super excited that the process of construction will soon be beginning. When construction is finished, the temple will be open to the general public for tours until it is dedicated. Temple open houses are a wonderful opportunity to see the inside of the temple and learn more about them. It's a ways in the future but I invite everyone in the Tucson area to attend the open house at the end of construction.

3. The last piece of good news came during one of our lessons with our investigators Shirley and Christian. We gave them a tour of the church building and talked about the different meetings that happened there on Sundays and throughout the week. Afterward we were talking to them about their expectations and doubts about joining the church. They both said that they wanted to get baptized, but first they need to get married, (couples living together either need to get married or live separately before getting baptized) so we asked them about that and their answer was that they wanted to get married as well! That means that hopefully very soon we will be having a wedding and 2 baptisms
here! Which is really exciting. It is so cool to get to teach these two who have been so well prepared to receive the gospel.

In other news, we might be starting to teach English lessons here, we have zone conference tomorrow, and I hit 2 months in the mission today. All exciting things that have happened or will happen.

I hope all of you are doing well and that everything is going well in your lives. As always I would love to hear what is going on from all of you. The invitation is always open.
Nos vemos.
Hermana Anna Christensen

Good things always happen‏

My biggest lesson this week is that good things always happen to those who are doing their best. Sometimes it's a guy buying you and your companion free ice cream because he was trying to break a hundred at an ice cream truck. Sometimes it's trying to teach a parrot how to say misionera while waiting for someone to answer the door. And sometimes it's an investigator finding you instead of you having to find them. That's what happened to us this week.

We received a refural this week from someone who requested the Book of Mormon in Spanish. There wasn't an address listed so we called the number. That was how we met Shirley and her boyfriend Christian. They wanted us to meet with them right that minute but we couldn't because we were on the other side of our area and it was time for us to head home, so we set up an appointment for the next day. Shirley recently got here from Peru, and most of her family joined the church last month there. Both she and her boyfriend are super interested in learning about the church. For our first lesson we taught them about the Restoration, which goes through God is our loving Heavenly Father,
prophets, the Savior's earthly ministry, the great apostasy and then the Restoration through Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. They are both really excited to read the Book of Mormon. Yesterday Shirley came to church and loved it, and let us know that they had been reading. We hope that Christian will be able to arrange his work schedule so that he can start attending church with her. He really wants to so that helps.

I have gained such a strong testimony of the Book of Mormon during these few weeks /months here. I know that it is a book of scripture that with the Bible teaches the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus
Christ. I know that it answers al, questions of the soul and that through reading it, it is possible to gain a testimony of Jesus Christ. I invite all of you to read it if you haven't and to read it again if you have. It is so easy now to do so. It is possible to download it o the Gospel Library app and listen to it. You can request a copy in almost any language on Mormon.org. This book can change your life. I know it's changed mine.

Hermana Anna Christensen

  P.S. A view of the mission from the hills. It looks like Southern California to me.

a few more pictures

July 20, 2015  Anna and her district with their teacher, Hermano Martinez.  This is their last day in the Mexico City MTC. 

 July 21, 2015  Anna with her new mission President and his wife, President and Sister Villanueva.  Below is Anna and the President and his wife, with all the new missionaries that arrived that day.

It's the little things in life...

Sometimes it's good to just take a look at the little successes for the week. For example, 

1. I didn't die. There were a few close calls as I spend a lot of my time on a bike, and well, sometimes people cut it very close. 

2. I didn't go home. There were also a few close calls for this one but I'm still out here. I have learned that I always need to trust in the Lord more than myself. Through Him I will be able to do this. 

3. I did not fall off or crash my bike. Enough said. 

4. I can now get on and off my bike with something that almost resembles grace and dignity. Riding in a skirt is hard. Curbs are my friends. 

5. I learned how to correctly lock up my bike so nothing get's stolen. It's harder than it looks. 

In other news, my trainer is super awesome. Her name is Hermana Diaz. She is fluent in both English and Spanish so it works really well. We are serving in the Rimgrove Ward which covers parts of La Puente and Hacienda Heights. It's divided into 3 parts which are covered by my companion and I, the elders and the other hermanas. My companion and I are both new to the area so we spend a lot of time trying to figure out where we are going and the people in the area. We have some lessons lined up for this week, which I am super excited about. All in all it has been a really good week. I look forward to seeing what this ward and this area has in store for me. 

As always I would love to hear from all of you. I hope all of your lives are going well. If there is ever anything I can do to help you out please let me know.

Hermana Anna Christensen

The time has come the walrus said...

That's right, this is my last week in the MTC. So sorry, but probably no e-mail next week because I don't get a P-day.

This week's quote is from a great Relief Society lesson on Sunday. "Christ is not waiting for us at the finish line once we have done 'all that we can do'. He is with us every step of the way." Brad Wilcox. If yu want a great talk to read, the talk by him on grace is amazing. Our whole district has been working our way through it. It is great. Also look up and make sure you listen to a confrence talk from May of 2007 by a member of the 70 with the last name of Tenario. He is now th MTC president here and is an incredible man. You will laugh and you will cry. Just imagine and hour long class with him. It's a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon. 

We now teach 2 or 3 times a day. It's a lot of planning, but it's more like what we will be doing in the field, which is now only 6 days away. Talk about crazy. I feel a strange mixture of excited and nervous. It will be an experince. 

Sorry this is so short this week. It's pretty much the same old thing. We'll see what next week will bring. As always I would love to hear from all of you, and I hope your weeks are wonderful. 

Nos vemos. 

Hermana Christensen/Anna

 

The insanity has really set in here as you can tell.

A birth, a death, and a few birthdays.‏

Primero, ¡felicitaciones a mi prima Leslie y su nuevo bebe!

I was saddened to hear of the death of President Packer this week. He was a general authority for 50ish years and married for almost 70. He was a great example and teacher. I usually never appreciated his talks until I read them and really studied them. This week's quote is by him, "Some answers will come from reading the scriptures, and some from hearing speakers. And, occasionally, when it's important, some will come by very direct and powerful inspiration. The promptings will be clear and unmistakable." He will be greatly missed. The funeral services are on Friday. 

The first birthday this week was the 4th of July. And I have never celebrated so much and I'm in Mexico. The wonderful comedor workers gave us the lunch of our lives, with burgers BBQ chicken, corn on the cob, pie and ice cream, and a flag made out of watermelon, black berries, blueberries and coconut. We also got fully decked out in red white and blue. It was so fun. 

The next day was my mom's birthday. She is one of my biggest examples and my biggest supporter. I though a lot about her on Sunday. 

Finally today is the birthday of one of the elders in my district. We got one of our teachers to get us some balloons and streamers and we decorated the room. We also got him a new tie from the tienda. Later we are going to have a small party with a few of our teachers. It's been a fun day. 

Not really knowing Spanish in Mexico can lead to some interesting experiences, even in the CCM. Mostly this shows up in lessons. For example Christ did not Atone for our pescados (fishes) but for our pecados (sins). God does not want the ladies for you (muejeres) but the best  (mejor). And most important of all, we are not embarazada (pregnant) because we can't speak Spanish but avergonzado (embarrassed). The funniest moment perhaps was when we found out that for two weeks we had been washing our clothes with fabric softener not soap. That has now been fixed and surprisingly enough our clothes actually feel clean again. The elders thought it was hilarious. 

I hope this e-mail finds all of you well. As always the invitation is open for you to write me letters or e-mails or whatever. I'll even take smoke signals. Whatever works for you. 

Nos vemos. 

Hermana Christensen/Anna

The pictures this week are my zone and my district in our 4th of July splendor. Yes that is a Mexican flag in the background.