¿porque no?

Sister Beardall, she's my favorite!

Hello from Kirkland! 

I hope everyone is surviving the heat in Utah and staying safe! It was a good week here! The weather is amazing still even though there was a high heat warning on Sunday as it hit 96 degrees. I don't have a ton to share this week, just a few really long days and a few really fast days! Nevertheless, the work is progressing and I'm grateful to be here serving and teaching our friends! 

 This week was a lot of planning and getting things set up with our friends for the next few weeks. We've been teaching a part member family, the Tirburcios, and their two daughters are on-date to be baptized on August 30th! It was supposed to be earlier but Kailynn, one of the girls, wants to be baptized on her birthday instead! So we have been planning that all out for them. Teaching children is not the easiest but it's been a good challenge and a brief opportunity to teach in English, as every lesson we have is in Spanish (don't worry I'm not complaining whatsoever, me encanta hablando español) ! We made more progress with Johnny this week too! He is always happy to see us and we feel the Spirit so strongly when we teach him. On Saturday we gave him a tour of the chapel. Turns out we weren't allowed to do this but we didn't find that out until afterwards…. Better ask for forgiveness than permission am I right?? Hahaha. The church tour was awesome! He showed up in his nicest flannel shirt and belt buckle with easily an entire bottle of cologne on. Gotta love him. Johnny told us that right as he walked into the building he felt such peace and knew that the holy ghost was with him! Seriously so awesome. I think growing up as a member of the church and being so comfortable in church buildings, I can sometimes forget how sacred and special these houses of the Lord are. Seeing someone experience this for the first time was a great reminder of how blessed we are with beautiful places to worship and learn, even if current conditions have restricted our access to them! It was a great experience showing Johnny the church and helping to grow his testimony in the gospel. Due to some rough experiences in his past, we're not completely sure when Johnny will be fully ready to enter the waters of baptism as soon as we had planned. But he still has such a desire to become a member of the church and has truly seemed so much happier since we've started teaching him! We are hopeful and optimistic for Johnny and will do everything we can to help him continue to use the gospel of Jesus Christ to live a happier life! His baptism will happen soon!! 

 We're still working with our sweet friend Lilianna and the Robles family. Lilianna has recently had some health problems so its been hard to have lessons with her this past week. But we continue to keep in daily contact with her and she calls us her "hijas" or daughters. She is so nice and so interested in our message so we're looking forward to helping her build her testimony more as we work towards her baptismal date coming up! The Robles family is another "trailer park treasure" we found down on Stella St. in Duvall (cutest town ever). We have had some great in-person experiences teaching them but when it comes to answering texts, keeping commitments and logging onto to Zoom church...they struggle. You would think that clicking a link and listening in on a 45 minute church service in the comfort of your own home would be appealing?! It's the easiest that church attendance will ever get hahaha! Well we'll see where things go with them. I love teaching lessons and developing Christlike love for all of our friends. Watching them progress really makes the hard days worth it! Keep them in your prayers if you can. 

There wasn't much else happening this week! We contacted, taught lessons, had lots of zoom calls and did another car wash! I get to third wheel in a lot of STL situations where my comps are trying to check in on the hermanas over the entire mission via phone calls and drop by visits. So I get a lot of alone time to study and keep myself entertained! Kinda nice but kinda difficult during the slow days! We contact at a lot of apartment buildings and trailer parks to meet more people. We have a motto of "¿porque no?" or "why not?" to encourage us to pursue every opportunity to teach and contact different people. So I took this to my advantage and even convinced my companions that contacting at a local taco truck during lunch hour would be a good idea! We didn't find a ton of success but I got a plate of tacos out of it so I'll be going back for sure haha! Soley for missionary purposes only of course…. ;) For a quick spiritual thought I wanted to share something from a worldwide missionary devotional we had with Elder Uchtdorf! He gave such an amazing message about our great commission as missionaries to be strong disciples of Christ. He shared 2 Timothy 1:7-9:

7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. 8 Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God; 9 Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. 

We all have been commissioned to trust Jesus Christ in everything that we do and that to have no fear in our testimony of the gospel. Elder Utchdorf reminded us that because of the sacrifice of the living Son of God, we do not have to walk down this difficult road alone. "He lives, He is there, and He is walking with you as His disciples." Such a powerful reminder of the grace of Christ and His power to help us! No matter if you are a missionary right now or not, you have been called "according to His own purpose and grace" to be on the Earth right now and as the Savior of the World, he is inviting all of us to trust him! I truly testify that if you trust in Him, everything will fall into place and you will become who you need to be! 

I'll leave you with something Elder Utchdorf ended with that kind of slapped us all in the face… 

"Elders and Sisters, don't be waiting for a normal to return, Heavenly Father has told us that this is now our normal. Get to work!" 

It doesn't get more clear than that! No matter what your situation is, we all need to do our best to accept the situation and make the most out of it! 

 I want to give a quick birthday shoutout to my older sister Jayne!! Jaynebug is turning 24 on Friday so everyone make sure to spoil her with lots of love and birthday messages! Jayne truly is my best friend and I can rely on her for everything. She becomes friends with everyone she meets and is always smiling and laughing with me. Whenever people tell me that I look like or act similar to Jayne, it's the biggest compliment. I am beyond lucky to have her as my sister! I love and miss you tons Jaynebug!! Have the happiest birthday :) 

 I hope everyone has another great week! I appreciate all the love and support so much! You are all in my prayers! 

Love and miss you all. Sending love from sunny Seattle! 

Difícil es bueno. 

 Xoxoxo Hermana Christensen 

 P.S. Come Follow Me was awesome again this week so give it a look! And just like it says in Alma 56...mothers really do know what's best!!! Hahaha love you Mom.

Creative "finding" at the taco truck

Gave my first talk on Sunday!