Hello Friends!


Things have taken quite the unexpected turn this week. We received a transfer call, and I will be leaving Sister W. She has been called to TRAIN! She hasn't even finished her training! But I have no doubt that she is going to be incredible. It has been an absolute blast being her trainer. I didn't really have to do much! She is so capable and follows the Spirit so closely. I am so sad to have spent such a short amount of time here, but my next assignment is going to be an adventure!
I have been called to be a Traveling Sister Training Leader! Crazy!!! So as of tomorrow, I will be traveling throughout the mission assisting other companionships with finding, teaching, and such! I'm overwhelmed by this call, I feel so inadequate! But I am so grateful to have a chance to work with some incredible missionaries. I can't think of a better way to spend my final moments in the mission. 

I had a member ask me this week for some advice to her son on a mission about building a successful area. I thought a lot about that question, and this is what I came up with. I don't know if there is much of a secret formula, connecting with others comes through love. I've always loved the phrase, "leave an area better than you found it." Being in my 4th area, I've had the chances to work with 6 different wards. The most successful areas are the ones where the Ward council is focused on missionary work. The Lord will provide work only in areas where He can trust the members. If He can't trust them, why would He bring His children there? That being said, I've found that the best way to get the Ward Council on board comes through serving them. Meeting with the head of each auxiliary on a one on one basis builds a lot of trust, and it shows you're ready to help. The more you're involved in Their work, the more they will care about ours. Only with rare exceptions, members WANT to support the missionaries. And they will, especially if they learn to love you. If they see you working your tail off, especially when helping them, it's inevitable! They will have that Christ-like love for you growing naturally in their lives. I think as missionaries, we expect things to change in a manner of 6 weeks, because to us, that is a big chunk of our missionary life! But as we've seen in our investigators, true lasting change takes time. We may never see an area become successful, but we can plant those seeds of helping wards become a unit that the Lord can trust. The Rutherford ward especially is one of those wards. The Lord trusts them!!
 
Well friends, my emails honestly most likely won't get any longer before I head home. Just know that I love the gospel, and I love this work! Never forget that the Lord loves you!

Have a great week!! I love you all!!

Sister Bethany Christensen
#blessed
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Hello!! 

People, it was such a warm week this week!! Almost all of our snow is
gone, we could tract without our coats, life is just too good right
now. I told Sister W this week that I'll never complain when it
gets hot.... and that's probably a lie.... haha but after being in the
Arctic North, I'm so grateful for warmth! It has been such a good week
for us. It has been miracle after miracle, and it just keeps on
coming!

Wednesday, I had my interview with President, goodness I love that
man! We had a great conversation about how things are going, balancing
the work and prepping to come home, and he said that more than likely
Sister W and I will be staying together!!! So so happy! I love her
so much. Then we had district meeting which was a blast! We played a
jeopardy-style scripture game and had a blast. I love the missionaries
I serve with. Then we got to spend the majority of the day tracting,
which was incredible!! It was almost 60 F! It's amazing how happy you
are when the sun is out and it's warm. We talked to a lot of people
about their families with it being Family Day weekend. Not a ton of
people were interested, but we did find a few potentials!

One experience we had while tracting was with a Syrian family. The
father answered the door, but he didn't speak much English. His
daughters started translating the best they could, but it was quite
the struggle for all of them. They offered to have us come in and have
some coffee or tea, but sadly the mother wasn't home. Due to high
religious persecution in their home country and the huge language
barrier, we aren't able to teach them right now, which breaks my
heart! They mentioned how they had been in Canada for only a year, and
I can't even imagine what it took to get them here. I take so much for
granted in my life! Everything I could ever want is right in front of
me, and I don't have to flee my own country to find happiness and
peace. We walked away from that experience counting our blessings for
sure.

Thursday was another big Finding day! We started out with Contacting
outside the LRT station which I always love! So many people to talk
to. Then we went back to tracting! We went out to a newer community on
the edge of our area, and we didn't find many people home. Then.....
4th floor, last door! The woman at the last house at the end of street
was cleaning out her car, and so we started chatting. She's a lost
sheep!! She grew up in her church, all of her family are members, but
she has joined another church. She was quite standoffish at the beginning, but the more we talked, the more she opened up. She never really gained her own testimony. We were able to talk to her about her family, and it felt so good to help her share the things that mean the most to her. We can't make anyone want to participate in the gospel again, but we can help them feel the Spirit. I know that Heavenly Father wanted us to find her that day. 


I don't have much more time, but here's a quick update on the humans we're teaching!

M and kids- So so so good! They came to church again, and they are loving the ward! She's slowly starting to understand the need to be baptized, and we hope to set a date either this week or next! She's praying about it right now.

C and B- We got to teach them the first lesson this week, and it went really well! 

And there are more people, but I just don't have time! Sorry friends! I love you all! Have a great week!

Sister Bethany Christensen
#blessed

Hey-o!!

Things are so crazy in our area! We found out on Sunday that one of our wards we cover is moving to another building that is 30 minutes away from our current building. SO.... things are going to get insane on Sundays!! But we'll see how it goes! In all honesty, writing emails is hard! I just don't have the brain power anymore! So sadly this will be a shorter email. Sorry friends!

Sister W and I are doing so great! We work really well together and with the ward! We are making some major headway with trust of both ward councils. I'm excited to see what will come from it matched with our hard work.

M's doing so well! We met with her Friday afternoon and Saturday afternoon. She expressed how she knows that God placed us in her life for a reason. haha  She and her kids LOVED church! To use her son N's words, "if Church were a YouTube channel, I would hit subscribe!" Haha they are so great! They came again this week, and they walked right to their classes! And they were SO good in sacrament meeting! This is our golden little family! The only concern that has come up is baptism. M doesn't see the need to be baptized again, so our next lesson will be reviewing the Priesthood. I just love them all so much. The ward is really excited about them, and we feel this will be such a positive experience for their family. 

The C Family is one of the miracles from the week! We were stopping by a referral, and they live across the street. I was so extremely exhausted that day. I don't know what it was, but I could barely stay awake. The referral wasn't home, so we were trying to decide what to do with the 20 minute window we had before our next lesson. Sister W felt the prompting to knock on their door, and they let us right in! B is the oldest, 22, and he was the one who let us in. We showed them the Hallelujah video from last Easter, and him and his teenage brother, C, talked about their faith in Christ. They currently attend a Presbyterian church, but they have agreed to hearing about the Restoration next week. We invited them to the His Hands concert as well, so they may pop in to see that! I can't express how grateful I was for Sister W in that moment. My energy tank is starting to run on low, and her energy and enthusiasm has carried me through this week. Heavenly Father has blessed me with an incredible companion!

To make up for my extra short email this week, here are a ton of pictures! :D I love you all! Have a great week!!

Sister Bethany Christensen
#blessed

Hello friends!

When is life going to slow down?? I feel like I was just writing you yesterday! Time sure is flying... here are some of our adventures this week!

Tuesday night was amazing! We had a chance to go to the His Hands concert. Our mission has put together a choir consisting of 12 missionaries. They are traveling to all of the chapels around the city performing this concert that is centered around the life of the Savior. It was INCREDIBLE. These missionaries are SO talented, but the Spirit itself was incredible. They have put so much work into it, and it shows! They had over 120 people at their last performance, and it's only the beginning of the month! The one our wards are hosting is at the end of the month, and I have a feeling that the place will be packed. Music has the ability to touch hearts in a way that words can't, and I know that we're going to see a lot of miracles from this concert. I'll keep you posted on what happens with it over the month!


We had a really cool experience on Thursday! We had 20 minutes before our supper, and so we tracted a street that was just around the corner. The first door we knocked on was a super nice Indian man! He said that we could come back later that night! Miracle! So after dinner, we went over and taught him and his wife! Their names are R and M. They moved to Michigan from India so he could attend school, and now he is a professor at the University of Alberta! They are of the Hindu faith, and so our conversation was very interesting. We taught about the importance of God and prayer. Because they practice a polytheistic religion, (many gods) and so we felt it was important to focus on the principle of God being our loving Heavenly Father. We were able to testify to them that God truly has changed our lives! M then said, "I'm always interesting in life-changing things!" Haha It was so cool because she asked us how she could pray so that she could receive answers to her prayers! R was a bit more difficult to convince, but they are  both open to learning more. It was such a blast teaching them! Sister W did such a great job with asking inspired questions, and they both want to come to the His Hands concert. We're praying for a miracle with those two! It's amazing how fast you can come to love people. 

We were able to teach M this week! We found out that her phone hadn't been working, but we had a lesson with her on Saturday! She's so solid. We read in the Book of Mormon with her, and she loves it! It's a bit challenging for her because English isn't her first language, but we are getting one for her in French. We're going to be meeting with her two times a week now, once by herself, and once with her kids! Those kids are too cute. They love when we come over! They kept asking their mom if they could go to church! They all were able to make it to the last hour of church this Sunday! The ward was so welcoming to them, the two older boys fit right in in Primary, this is going to be so great for their family! 

I got to check something off of my mission bucket list this week! Teach a lesson with the Assistants! I've always wanted to see how they teach, and I wasn't disappointed! One of the recent converts in their ward, L, is dating a guy that is interested in learning about the church! He lives in our area, but he has been attending their ward for church. His name is C, and he's in his 20's. We taught him with the AP's on Saturday, and the lesson was the Plan of Salvation. What a great lesson!!!!! The Spirit though! This guy is just so humble, he has such a sincere desire to know. He recognized all on his own that they way he will know if this is true is by reading the Book of Mormon and praying to know if it's true. We all prayed together at the end, C said it, and after, there was a solid 90 seconds of silence, and the Spirit was just radiating in the room! He kept saying he wants to know why he is feeling these feelings he's never felt before. It will be such a blessing to play a role in this journey he is taking. 

Friday night was one of those tender mercy moments. We had planned to stop by a part member family, and so we did, but the parents wouldn't be back for about 20 minutes. We decided to stop by a less active who lived next door. Honestly, the only reason I wanted to stop by her was because she has the same last name as MaRhea and Sam... so shallow! So we knock, and she lets us right in! So we start chatting away about this and that with her and her mom. I asked her to tell us some fun facts about herself, and she said that it wasn't a good time, she was having a rough night. Only then did I realize that her arm was all bloody. Just minutes earlier, she had attempted harming herself. My heart just sank. Heavenly Father knew! I hadn't had the slightest clue! But he knew, and he made sure that we were there at exactly the right time. A few minutes later, her visiting teachers showed up to help, and they were so shocked to see us. They said she doesn't normally let the missionaries in, but we were there at exactly the right time. I have such a testimony of God's timing! I don't understand it, but he knows each of us so personally and gives us exactly what we need at just the right time. It's so incredible. He just loves us so much!!


Life is seriously so good. I am so grateful to be in this amazing country serving incredible people. Even if it's so cold my eyelashes stick together! Haha I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. I hope each of you know how much I appreciate and love you! 

Have a great week! 

Sister Bethany Christensen
#blessed