Hermana Christensen

My new verde verde is Hermanita Christensen. Wednesday night last week all the Spanish sisters in the mission gathered to take the new sisters greeny-tracting (knocking doors their first night) but on account there being a demand for missionaries to attend a combined 3rd&5th ward party we just ended up driving all the way down to tickle downtown to take them to this party and meet some of the ward members. Hermana Christensen came with me and Hermana Russon in our car to go down there, (this is before we knew I was going to be her trainer) so she got to see me in traffic/when people don't give me proper directions and invent exits for me to take off the freeway), which may not have been the most uplifting experience—but the party was awesome! (depending on who you ask) I thought it was awesome, because the Castillos of 5th ward were there, and I love that family! I met the mom on memorial day last spring and talked with her for a while and she asked to met with the missionaries in her area and now she and her mother and her seven children are all members. And Alicia and Janet and Yolanda came (three of my recent converts from 3rd ward) and Alicia's tia who just got baptized and who I haven't gotten to see since the first time I met her when Alicia brought her to general conference (my last week in Crosstimbers) and Luis! Another one of my recent converts. So I was like “YAY! Everybody came!” but pretty much nobody else besides them came, so everyone else was pretty sure the party was a failure. We still took pictures and had a blast, and I got to talk with everyone who I haven't seen in ages for a while, before we had to run back down to the mission home to get the girls in before nine.

The next day we had breakfast at the mission home and then President announced who would be training who, then we got to go to the temple and then (on account of it being new years in Texas which means drunk people and fireworks, we were under orders to be in by five o'clock. Hermana Diaz made us papusas. Awesome. And Tamales. With banana leaves. Yum.

Hermanita Christensen is ADROABLE! 4'11” and blonde with big blue eyes. She was a cheerleader in high school and is just a lovely little energetic thing. She's so excited to work, and the girl's got NO fear. I'll just be like “...You should probably talk to that guy,” and she's like, “Okay.” and there she goes. It's amazing. She's so determined to speak Spanish and since there's that whole lack of fear thing, she just does it, and talks, even if it's not totally correct, she just speaks and tries her best and people are understanding her. She's going to be fluent in no time, I'm positive. She's from Royal City Washington and she constantly has to tell people, “No, no, it's really not anywhere near Seattle.”

She's a great missionary ya.

Well Steven got confirmed this last week, he almost didn't because he was too terrified to get up in front of everybody in sacrament meeting, so the bishop made arrangements to confirm him in his office with just his mom and a couple of people there. It worked out great and he's got the gift of the Holy Ghost now.

I'm doing great, entounces... Oh! Remember my pink pillow-case that's covered in mini Salt Lake temples and cute little babies and girly stick-figures? The one that I got in my Mission-Prep class? Turns out that Hermana Christensen's aunt is the woman who draws all those little stick figures. Hermana recognized the pattern and was like “That's my aunt's drawings!”. Very funny.

Pregunta: What is a 'Charismatic Christian?'

We knocked on some woman's door (frequent activity for LDS missionaries) and she answered and said “Sorry, I'm a Charismatic Christian.” and slammed the door. Let's lay aside that completely contradictory nature of the whole situation and just examine this practically... Que quiere dicer ESO?
I'm pretty sure I'm a Charismatic Christian. I'm a very Charismatic Christian. I've got charisma for miles, what does that have to do with anything?

I know, I know. It's some sect I know nothing about. We were both just a little confused however.

It must be so weird not having kids running around por todos lados en casa. Jensen's at BYU and Laney's at school. Poor daddy in bed! And mommy at school too. But I'm glad you are all still trying to have some fun. I'm excited about the existence of the Sherlock Holmes movie. And New Moon sounds like exactly my kind of girl-fest. Didn't I already explain to you mom? That brilliant thing about the Twilight series is that there's NO plot until the fourth book and then they throw everything at you all at once. And somehow it works for me. A very well written, creative first-person narrative completely devoid of all traces of plot, except for a couple of nods to Jane Austin and the Bronte Sisters. Up until book four that is. Then it develops it's own plot so fast it kind of smacks one about the head and shoulders. It's a bit uncomfortable for people who are not inexplicably madly in love with the story like me.

Good for ginna on her grades! That's so cool that you guy get to go to Meredith's wedding. Please send pictures! I'd like some shots from the Kung Fu test too. I like to see the carnage.

Well, not much else to report on this week. I got some awesome letters from people recently and some SWEET Christmas presents. Thank you to aunt Nuggie and uncle John and Kat and Daniel! We are disfrutaring a lot in all the goodies and little, incredibly useful presents. And thank you to Aunt Les and Aunt Missy and Filly for your presents! And I just got uncle Dan's letter, I'm way excited to hear from him... I still need to send out my belated Christmas greetings to everybody. Hopefully I'll get the chance to do it today. As this is getting ridiculous.

Last little bit of good news! Remember in that weekly breakdown that I gave last transfer, who I mentioned teaching the Medina's inlaws at Thanksgiving? And then I threw up as soon as we left cause I was all sick? Debbie and Tony and their daughter Shannon, have all just gotten their interviews for baptism yesterday. It was awesome. I just remembered the first time we taught them...

“So, we teach in Spanish, and go to the Spanish congregation, but there's some very nice young men who teach people interested in coming to the English congregation, if y'all would like them to stop by sometime and talk to you a little bit more about this.”(motioning to the pamphlet I just handed them)

“Yeah, yeah, I think I'd like to hear more about this.” -Debbie

“Sure. They can come by.” -Tony, “But... you know... We're catholic. So...”

I just smiled big and said quietly inside myself, 'Not for long.' (sinister chuckle)

Okay, so it can' be that sinister since I'm wishing for their eternal happiness and salvation and that they might receive the opportunities to enjoy in the blessings of god in this life and well as in la vida venidera. But I just like the comic-book imagery. We are trying to take over the world, you know.

It was a really touching experience to speak to them again on Christmas Eve. There had been a huge change in them, and you could see how they were just so full of hope and joy now. The Elders officially love us. Elder Frost when he interviewed them said he was totally blown away by how prepared they were and how spiritually sensitive they were. They've been able to pick up on how everything that's happened to them in connected. How God has been leading them to this place at this time to make this decision. It's so beautiful. I'm so happy that I could be involved in helping them find the truth. Their baptism is scheduled for the 16th. I'm really looking forward to it!

I love you all. Mommy, I miss you all like crazy too. I can't wait to see you all again, but I know I'm in the right place and I'm doing what I should be doing. 6-7 months isn't really all that long when you think about it. I hit my year mark this week. That's nuts. I still remember exactly how it felt when I was walking away from all of you and I was saying to myself, 'Don't look back, you're just going to sob louder. It's okay, just keep going.' and then there was this other voice that you like, 'You won't see them again for a year and a half, turn around!'

Man, it was rough. But time does fly. 2009 is over with, and with 2010, I'll be back home with all of you!

I LOVE you my family!