Don't you trust me?

 

Hola todos! 

I hope everyone has had another good and safe week back home. This week flew by and it was a great one here in Kirkland!! Each week my love for missionary work grows and I feel more and more at home here in the Washington Seattle mission. 

We taught lots of lessons this week, did some service and of course continued to work with our friends! Each day was long but busy and I can't believe it's time to write a weekly again! One of the highlights of this week was spending the day with Johnny! He invited us to his work and we got a tour of Cherry Valley Dairy up in Duvall. It was so much fun! We enjoyed the views, met all of the cows and walked away with some new shirts and freshly made butter! Cowgirl Kate was in her element!!! We ended the afternoon by sharing a message with him about the hope and love of our Savior. It was a great spiritual high note to end the day on! Unfortunately, Johnny wasn't able to be baptized on the 22nd like we had originally planned. He is still working through some family issues and some struggles with the Word of Wisdom. However, I am not doubting that Johnny will enter the waters of baptism soon!! He is so happy to be on the covenant path and his testimony is growing strong. This will be more of a gradual change for Johnny but he is taking the right steps towards Christ! I know that the Atonement of Jesus Christ can help transform any individual that willingly submits their heart to our Savior. I know this is the case with Johnny and that through Christ's grace and power, his weaknesses will be made strengths and he will be ready to make this sacred covenant with our Heavenly Father! Everyone keep him in your prayers! He needs all the help he can get!! 

Another highlight of this week was seeing the progress in our friend Lilianna! We saw some great tender mercies in teaching her this week and it really showed me how present the hand of God is in our work as missionaries! The first one was with the help of our ward members, Lilianna was able to receive a priesthood blessing for her health this past week. She had been sick for about 2 weeks but after her blessing, she has almost completely recovered and is heading back to work tomorrow! So amazing! She has such strong faith and we know that this was Heavenly Father opening her eyes to the power of the restored gospel here on the Earth. The other tender mercy was in our last lesson with her! Her testimony is growing and the lesson was filled with the spirit!! With some extra time on her hands being sick, she had researched more about the church on her own via. YouTube. When we first heard this, our hearts dropped. YouTube videos about the church can really be a missionary's worst nightmare hahahah but it turned out to be great! She learned all about the word of wisdom, temples and even some of the controversies in church history. We were shocked but so grateful that she had a positive and uplifting experience. Total miracle. She is progressing so well and it is definitely a highlight of our week when we teach her. Her baptism should be happening in the next few weeks!!  Heavenly Father really is in the details of all of our lives and especially in the lives of our friends that are learning more about the gospel!!! It was awesome to see this.

My quick spiritual thought comes from my interview with President Beardall I had this week! Towards the end of our conversation he described to me an experience he had a few months ago. During the stressful times of being a mission president, he told me he was having doubts that he would be able to accomplish everything he needed to do. After some time with these troubling feelings, he had a very clear and distinct statement whispered to him of "Don't you trust me?" He told me that it was in this moment he realized that this was Heavenly Father's work and that He knows exactly what He is doing. He sees the beginning all the way to the end and knows exactly what is in store for each of us. I loved this experience that President shared with me and it gave me such a great perspective on both my missionary service and life here on earth. Heavenly Father knows exactly what He is doing with each and every one of us! Let the question "Don't you trust me?" run through your head this week! Trust Him in every thought, action and attitude. I will leave you with one of my all time favorite verses to recap my thought:

2 Nephi 22:2 "Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid; for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; he also has become my salvation."

I hope all of you have another amazing week and are of course staying safe during these crazy times! Continue in faith and trust in His plan for all of us. I love and miss all of you! You all mean the world to me! 

Sending love from sunny Seattle!!!

Deficil es bueno.

Xoxoxo Hermana Christensen

Johnny's work

Rancher Johnny

Literally Cowgirl Kate!

Rainy Duvall

Kirkland waterfront

I spy Seattle

3 months as a missionary

My comps celebrating me :)

Dinner picnic...no complaints!