Stand with Power

July 22, 2020

Stand with Power

two months on the mission!

Hello everyone!!!

It has been a great week here in Kirkland, WA! It was pretty hot for WA weather but it definitely beats the 90+ degrees back in Salt Lake!! We stayed busy with lots of lessons, service and studying. As we have started to consistently teach and contact every day, time has started to go by quickly and I'm exhausted going to bed each night. That's the best feeling as a missionary!

Last Monday we had a district activity at the ward for P-day. We played lots of 4 square, soccer, football and some Mafia! I was able to show up the Elders with my spirals that I threw...turns out my childhood of flag football and being QB in high school powderpuff is paying off here on the mission!! It was all going great until my companion fell hard and heard a pop in her knee...the dreaded and almost inevitable injury of a soccer player. We had to end our p-day early (right as the food was about to arrive...smh) to head to Instacare. After driving to 4 different locations, we made it home at 8:30 that night with a new pair of crutches and the classic diagnosis of "ice and elevate" hahaha gotta love Instacare! My companion was either on crutches, in a wheel chair or just limping around for those next few days. Definitely made things go nice and slow this week but it didn't stop us from working! We ended up heading to Bellevue on Friday for a follow up appointment and I got to hang out alone in a waiting room that overlooked the entire city while I studied...such a relaxing 2 hours haha! My companion on the other hand received some worse news that she most likely has torn or partially torn her ACL. She'll get an MRI in the next few weeks. She has been able to walk on it more and feels that it is getting better… but we've been praying and fasting for her because we know she still a lot has work to do here! She's such a good sport though, I would have gone home crying to my mom by now if I blew my knee out on my mission!!!

Anyways on a happier note, the Kirkland zone had a car wash this past Saturday afternoon. It was awesome!!!! The weather was perfect and we washed almost 50 cars in 3 hours. All of us worked on some killer farmer's tans that afternoon. I had the job of making something to give to everyone that came to the car wash, so I channeled my inner Paxton woman and made 120 chocolate chip cookies the morning of and bagged them with a pass along card that had the missionary's phone number on it. Who is going to say no to a free cookie?! No one did! I passed out nearly all of them and had a blast meeting more people and telling them about our purpose as missionaries (Wearing a mask of course).Turns out a free car wash and homemade treat is a lot more appealing than a drive-thru prayer….little did these lucky recipients know, there was a group of missionaries ready to wash their car but more importantly bombard them with gospel conversations! We had a few members come over but mostly non-members stop by. There were lots of return appointments made and deep down I know that there might be some baptisms that come from this! It was the perfect contacting activity and we even had a good group of spanish speaking amigos drive through! Starting a conversation about their car is the key to most Latinos' hearts ;) Such a successful day enjoying service and the sun. More car washes will be happening soon!

This past week we made a few trips back up to Duvall! Where the field is white and the ranchers are ready!!! We love it up there. It's the cutest small town tucked between hills of pine trees and surrounded by farms and ranches. Tons of trailer parks and tons of latinos!! It's about 45 minutes away so we pack a lunch and make a day out of it. We had another 2 lessons with our awesome friend Johnny this week! He loved the Plan of Salvation message and it gave him lots of comfort. He's having some family problems at the moment and has appreciated learning more about our purpose on Earth. His progression with prayer has been such an amazing thing to watch. He went from repeating the steps in the pamphlet to kneeling down and communicating with our Heavenly Father about what he was worried about that day and all the things he was grateful for. He's such a stud. My companions have a rule that the trainee is in charge of asking people to be baptized so I'm hoping this coming week will be a big one for Johnny! Time to pray for the gift of tongues hahah! We also have started teaching a family of 6 in Duvall, the Robles family! They were taught by the missionaries last year but ended up being dropped. We came upon their name on accident and now we've taught them 2 lessons already! They're a great family. The parents, Javier and Ester, are a little hesitant about commitments and have loved what we are teaching but find it hard to know why our message is so important. We've been working with them a lot in person and over the phone. We're hoping that this next week when a member comes with us, they will start to better understand the specific blessings that can come to their family through the Gospel! We're so excited about all of our Duvall friends and have been teaching even more lessons over Zoom and have lots of appointments next week to teach first lessons with new people!! I know the spirit has been with us so strongly as we work hard to help others and prepare for our lessons. A busy schedule is awesome!!

It's been a little scary dealing with Covid-19 the past few weeks here in the mission field. We love getting out and about and teaching people in person, but lots of our investigators aren't too concerned about social distancing and wearing masks. Definitely pretty scary sometimes when we go into random houses, have babies crawling on us and have people trying to shake our hands all the time hahahah! It's freaking me out a little bit but I never take off my mask and lather myself in hand sanitizer and disinfectant wipes afterwards. Pray that we can stay safe and that more people understand why we have Covid-19 rules!!

This week I was starting to study in the war chapters of Alma. Although they may not seem too relatable, I've gotten some great insight from them the past few days. One verse stuck out to me about the Nephites fighting against the Amalekites in one of the first wars:

"...they were about to shrink and flee from them. And Moroni, perceiving their intent, sent forth and inspired their hearts with these thoughts- yea, the thoughts of their lands, their liberty, yea, their freedom from bondage...they began to stand against the Lamanites with power." (Alma 43:48-50)

I thought these scriptures had a great reminder in them about how we need to stand with power as members of the church. At times when you want to "shrink and flee" when you've become stressed or discouraged, find something to motivate and remind you of our purpose here on Earth! We are all children of our Heavenly Father and have so many blessings around us that we need to slow down and recognize. Whether it is our family, friends or freedom we can always be reminded of God's hand in our lives and how we need to continue to "stand with power" against the forces of the world! Such a good reminder for me to stay strong and remember what is most important during the discouraging moments!

Turns out I hit 2 months of being a missionary this past Sunday!! Even though most of that time was spent at home, being a set-apart missionary has been one of the most humbling and worthwhile experiences. I have loved all the good moments and have learned from all the hard moments. Can't wait to see what the Lord has in store for me the next coming 16 months!

All of you are amazing! All the emails and messages I receive throughout the week make me SO happy and feel SO loved! I really do feel so blessed to be a missionary right now and feel the overwhelming love and support from so many people!! Have the best week and feel free to reach out!

Dificil es bueno.

Xoxo

Hermana Christensen

P.S. The talk "Divine Discontent" by Sister Michelle Craig is awesome if any of you want something to read!!