Vale la pena

                                   Carlos is the man in the middle. He smiles we promise.

Hermana Glenn and I went hiking this morning, just for fun, and Hermana Glenn got really excited about all the wild flowers.

The phrase Vale la Pena in Spanish means worth the pain, or worth the effort. It's a phrase we sometimes have to use a lot to explain why we are serving missions. This week was defiantly vale la pena. It has been a little stressful, and a little crazy, but I can honestly say that it has been worth it. The reason why is described well on Doctrine and Covenants 18:15, "And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!" Well this Saturday, one soul was brought onto the waters of baptism, and on Sunday was confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. That person was Carlos. Here's a little bit of his story...
 
The end of last transfer Hermana Cardiel and I were walking around trying to contact people and we met Carlos. He said he had read the Bible 4 times, but currently didn't have one and so we told him we would bring him one. We tried by a few times, but either no one was home or we met one of his nieces, who aren't very interested in religion. Fortunately we were persistent and we eventually found Carlos. We started teaching him and he accepted everything we told him. We had some adventures getting him to read the Book of Mormon, because he can't see that well, but eventually that worked out as well, thank goodness for Walkmans. He accepted the invitation to be baptized on our second meeting complete with a date at the end of April. It has been incredible to see his testimony grow and develop, and to see the change in him. He has become so much happier. It's not as if his life was horrible before hand, but the gospel has just made it even better. We have had some really sweet lessons with him, we were able to go to the temple with him, and best of all we were both able to see him baptized. It was a real testimony to me that Heavenly Father is really preparing people, and they can be found.
 
A good amount of thanks goes to a lot of different people,
 
Hermano Meza, our ward mission leader, for driving us to the temple, and basically just being awesome.
 
The Glendora 5th elders, for going all the way across the zone for the interview, getting there early to help us set up, playing the piano for the service, getting roped into the special musical number last minute and basically keeping us calm while we were stressing out.
 
Hermano Reina and Hermano Torres for giving talks at the absolute last minute because the other people we called cancelled. They also were some of the best talked I have ever heard, so extra points to them.
 
All the other members of the branch who came and supported Carlos and welcoming him into the Branch.
 
And of course the biggest thanks goes to Heavenly Father for all of the tender mercies that went into this week, from actually making it to everything on time, to members of the English ward buying us giant milkshakes after the baptism, to just having a beautiful sunshiny week, and most of all to a woman who was visiting our branch this week, who joined the church 7 years ago but as a child attended the same church as Carlos did, to give him the last final confirmation that this was the right path for him. We saw the hand of the Lord in everything this week, from the biggest things to the smallest things.
And that I think is the best thing of all.
 
Hope you all have a great week!
 
Hermana Christensen

Short week

                       A beautiful morning at the temple 

            Hermana Glenn sometimes likes pointing out how short I am.

Hello all!
 
It's the time of year when the missionaries in the California Arcadia
Mission have to opportunity to attend a session in the Los Angeles
temple, and today happened to be that day. So today is also our P-day.
So here is the weekly e-mail.
 
First and foremost I absolutely love going to the temple. It was hard
to leave in fact and come back into the real world. The temple is the
place where our souls really belong, because it is the literal House
of God. As C.S. Lewis said, "We aren't human beings having spiritual
experiences, we're spiritual beings having human experiences" and the
temple is where we can remember that. I've been thinking about the
temple so much recently, partly because conference was very temple
heavy this year, and also because we are helping quite a few people
prepare to enter. I also received a letter showing the progress on the
Tucson temple, and hearing about the four new temples during general
conference reminded me of the excitement I felt when the Tucson temple
was announced. (Sorry if this was a little disorganized and doesn't
make much sense, we got up at 3:00 am to make it to the earliest
session, I'm a little sleep deprived).
 
Now on to the progress of the people we are teaching:
 
Carlos: I contacted him a few weeks ago on exchanges and it took us a
little while to find him again, but he's super cool and is doing
really well. He loves coming to church, and hearing about the words of
God. To him it makes perfect sense to be baptized, and then receive
the Holy Ghost. The only problem is he's going a little blind so has a
hard time reading the Book of Mormon, but really enjoys when we read
to him, and we are planning on giving him some CDs soon so he can
listen to it. He's well on his way to being baptized by the end of the
month.
 
Aurelia: This woman is a surprise and a half. First of all she is the
first person to ever call and request a Finding Faith in Christ video
from a pass along card. Secondly she is the only person to actually
call us and ask is when we're coming back after she said she would
call us. Third, she is the only person to ever call us and tell us she
wants to come to church so could we please find her a ride? Fourth,
she is the only person to call us when she has questions about her
Book of Mormon. Finally, she is the only person to have asked us to
move up her baptism date because the one we were thinking was "too far
away." So now she has a date for May 1!
 
And finally Joaquin: to be honest teaching this man is a roller
coaster. As soon as we think he's on the up and up he takes a sudden
turn or plummets. He will either fall of the face of the earth, or
stop keeping some commitment, or something else will happen. Most
recently his greatest struggle has been living the Word of Wisdom. His
date to quit is April 29, and he's had both highs and lows. Tuesday
for example was a low, increased by the fact he was lying to us about
it, but our lesson last night was definitely a high point. He is
slowly learning how to use the Atonement and let others help him
change. The best part is he is learning to listen to the Spirit so he
can begin to change faster. All in all it is an amazing process to see
and be a part of.
 
Things are going really well here. We're getting to know our new are
and new investigators, getting used to living with three other people
instead of just two, and trying to balance biking, walking and using
the car. In other words it's missionary work. I hope all of you are
doing well in each of your personal lives. I think and pray about you
often!
 
Hermana Christensen

Transfers!

Elder Casteñeda, Elder Hsu, our ward mission leader Hermano Meza and his wife, Hermana Glenn and I on our last Sunday together.
Good news, I'm staying in the area! Better news, so is Hermana Glenn! The sad part is the elders aren't. Starting today we now cover all of the Canyon Branch which covers all of Azusa, all of Glendora, part of Irwindale and part of San Dimas. Basically I'm pink washing for the third time in my mission. It should be a little easier this time, and we're both ready for a challenge. Starting either tomorrow or Wednesday we will also have a car, because that is the only way we could cover it all. We still plan on biking a lot, but it will make the longer distances manageable.

In other news Sister Cardiel is back to East LA, we are still living with the English sisters who are now in a trio, and Elder Moncayo (who was in my district back in San Gabe) is now my zone leader. It should be a fun transfer! We also will be going to the temple this month, so don't be surprised if e-mails come in on another random day and not Monday.

Here's to a new month, new transfer and new area!

Hermana Christensen

It's that time again, last week of the transfer‏

Hello all! Here's a quick summary of this week:

The end of the bedbugs: we ended up having a few early days ant late nights this week, but with the exterminator coming this morning we are now hopefully seeing the end of the bedbugs. We ended up having to clean almost everything again, and most of our stuff is currently on our porch in plastic bags and tubs, but it will all be worth it when we get our house back! During the call in report last night our district leader asked what we have learned from this whole experience and my words of wisdom are, bed bugs bite in lines and in triangles, call the exterminator before you do all the work so you only have to do it once and patient perseverance. Lots of patience.

Investigators: Joaquin came to church! And he even called us to confirm where and when it was at as opposed to us having to call him! He had a great time, and is still really excited to learn more. We also found a few new people, a man named Carlos who I contacted on exchanges, a woman named Annabell who is super open to learning more and speaks English but wants to come to church in Spanish, and a new family. And so the work continues.

Women's Conference! Saturday night was the General Women's session for the upcoming General Conference and it was amazing. The overarching theme was service and love for others. It was discussed how as women, we have been given certain divine attributes that help us to nurture, to love and to serve. An invitation was extended to not only try to serve on a large scale but also one on one, friend to friend, neighbor to neighbor. Often we can feel like we aren't making a difference, but so often what we think is our small act of service is actually changing someone's world.

Easter: I think Easter might now be my favorite holiday, not because of the candy and carrot cake, but because I now better understand what we are truly celebrating. Hermana Glenn and I taught the 10 year olds this week in Primary and it was amazing to hear their pure testimonies of the Savior. Those 5 girls know that the Savior loves them, and that because of Him, all the wrong things in the world would someday be made right.

I also spent a few moments again in the scriptures and in conference talks to better remember the Savior. A few of my favorites included:
-None Were With Him by Jeffery R. Holland, April 2009 General Conference
-Where Justice Love and Mercy Meet by Jeffery R. Holland, April 2015 General Conference
-The Purifying Power of Gethsemane by Bruce R. McConkie, April 1985 General Conference

I am so glad for this mission experience and how it has helped me come to know my Savior more completely. I know that He lived, and that He died. I also know that He rose again and lives on today, and because of this, I and everyone else in this world will someday live again.

Thank you for everything you do for me! Have a great week!

Hermana Christensen

Phrases I will never say to my children...‏

                                            On the way home from the Easter activity.

Our dinner from Hermana Nascimiento. There is rice, beans, chicken, zucchini, cauliflower, broccoli and tomatoes on that plate. It was incredible. Yes, that is how much we usually get fed. Usually we get asked if we want seconds as well.

So some of you might remember a few months ago when I mentioned that we had a bed bug scare. Well we had part two this week, which was the reality that we do actually have bed bugs. That lead to Friday being spent almost entirely cleaning out our apartment with the help of the zone leaders. We spent roughly 80 dollars on laundry, vacuumed out everything in our apartment, and got new metal frames for our beds. Unfortunately even after all of that we still have the little critters. So next Monday our apartment is getting fumigated. Until then we have only the bare minimum clothes and bedding, and are keeping everything else in the English sisters car. I have also heard the phrase 'don't let the bedbugs bite' more times than I can count. Hence I will probably never ever use that phrase to my children. I have been scared for life.

In other non bug related news, this week was packed! The weird thing is that the only days we really proselytizing in our area was Tuesday and Wednesday. Thursday was our zone conference followed by a quick dinner with the wonderful Hermana Nacsimiento, and then back over to Glendora for a zone blitz. We were working in the area of the Glendora first sisters and we were tracking. I was with Hermana Cardiel, one of the sister training leaders and I am now so glad that this is not how we usually find out investigators. We had quite a few doors slammed in our faces. But we did also meet quite a few cool people.

On Saturday we were on exchanges and this time both of us went to the sister training leaders area. It was weird because they have the exact same borders as we do, so I was still in my area. It was also strange because we started the day by going to the two ward Easter egg hunt,
then did service, (helping someone move). Finally we got out and working. I was with Hermana Cardiel again and we knocked a few doors then contacted. We met a man named Carlos, who fortunately speaks Spanish and who we will be visiting this week. The best part though was when we were visiting a recent convert. Her mother came in at the very end of the lesson quite drunk. Her first words were about how she has sinned. The recent convert Maribel told her to confess, and she
apparently took that to mean she needed to confess to us. That involved her kneeling down in front of us and then leaning on my lap with her face about 3 inches from mine and began telling Hermana
Cardiel about how she drinks too much and how her daughter thinks she's a bad mama. We told her that it was okay and that God still loves her, all while Hermana Cardiel was cracking up. Then as she was getting up she basically fell right on top of me. Probably one of the strangest experiences of my life. All in a day's work I suppose.

I think the biggest thing I learned from this week is that Heavenly Father always provides. I certainly would never have chosen to have a week like this, but we laughed a lot and grew a lot closer. We learned how to rely more on the Lord and less on our own strength. So even though there were trials, I would not change this week for anything. Now all we have to do is hit it hard this week and keep helping the work of the Lord roll forward.

Now vemos.

Hermana Christensen

More meetings than you can shake a stick at‏

                                                             Zone Conference

Hello one and all! Lately the California Arcadia mission has been blessed with on over abundance of meetings. Usually we average about one meeting a week, usually district meeting, with the occasional zonemeeting or zone conference thrown in every month or so. Since the Saturday before last however we have had 3 large meetings with another one this Thursday. This is combined with Stake Conference this Sunday as well. Long story short there has been a lot of sitting, with a lot of spiritual upliftment recently.

Here are some of the highlights:

The meeting that started it all, a mission wide training for the upcoming Gladys Knight fireside to be held in Arcadia. We learned what it was, how to prepare for it, how to invite people to it and how to
follow up with any referrals we receive from this event. It's going to be huge! This meeting was also exciting because I got to see some old friends like Hermana Diaz, Hermana Packard, my MTC friends, the Chinese sisters and of course Hermana Austin.

Zone meeting! One of the best zone meetings I have ever attended, very spiritual and uplifting. It all started out with the introduction of some new mission wide rules. The biggest one is that we now only have an hour and a half to e-mail on P-day as opposed to all day like before. I personally am in favor of it. It will force me to e-mail in a timely manner and leaves more time open for other activities on P-day.

The big meeting, a general mission meeting with Elder Hamula of the 70. It was incredible. If you want to read a talk by him, he spoke in the October 2014 General Conference. His talk is entitled The
Sacrament and the Atonement. It's awesome, and so was this meeting. When it was his time to speak he just left it open for a question and answer session. So many questions that were asked and his answers lead to the Spirit teaching me what I needed to hear. He can also expound upon the scriptures. He was making cross references and connections like crazy. It was amazing. One of my favorite parts was when he explained that we need to grow grace by grace. We all need to change
and improve, and often it needs to be big changes. However we need to start by making small changes so that we don't get discouraged. Grace is what carries us up through here changes until one day we will become more like our Heavenly Father. He also quoted himself from the recent regional conference in that some day every broken thing will be made perfect and whole through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Every broken bone, every broken dream, every broken family, every broken promise, will someday be fixed, and we will not even remember the pain that we felt through those breaks.

In other non-meeting related news, I reached my nine month mark, Joaquin actually came to the stake conference and we are finding a lot of awesome new people to teach. Basically it has been a great few weeks!

Left to the dogs‏

Well this week I decided to follow in my companion's footsteps and got bit by a dog. I wish I could say it was something cool like a pit bull or an English bulldog, but no, it was a toy poodle. Not my proudest moment I'll admit.

The real highlight of this week was Saturday, which was a Stake women's conference. The keynote speaker was a woman who has spent many years working for LDS family services as a counselor, and so has a lot of experience helping people in pain. In her talk she used this metaphor, the happiness cup. She said that we all were born with a happiness cup and we are here to fill up that cup. As we grow up we learn how to fill up that cup through the help of others and by ourselves, but eventually people start poking holes in our happiness cups so the happiness we have stored in there starts to leak out. There are things that we can do to slow that down, like reading the scriptures, praying and going to church and the temple, and eventually we can learn to patch those holes. However those patches are not permanent and can still spring leaks or be pealed off entirely (anyone
who has tried to patch a bike tire knows that). Eventually we need those holes to be sealed completely, but that's not something we can do on our own, we need the Savior Jesus Christ. Through Him and His Atonement we can learn to understand our pain and then have that pain taken away. It was an awesome talk.

Next there were break away classes, one of which was learning how to make tortillas, guacamole and salsa, taught by a few of the hermanas in the branch. Hermana Glenn and I were roped in to help translate from Spanish into English, however the hermanas eventually just started speaking in English so I found myself translating into Spanish for the people who couldn't understand Spanish! It was all a lot of fun though and the food was wonderful.

The rest of the week was just business as usual, lessons, meetings, contacting, bike troubles, and overcoming anything that we faced!

Happy March to one and all!

Hermana Anna Christensen