Sister Christensen's "Eh" Team
​Canada Edmonton Mission
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They put me in charge of the Popcorn Machine!

10/27/2015

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Hello family!!

How is everyone doing?? It has been quite a week here in Lacombe! We
had our Meet the Mormons movie night on Friday, and out of 100 flyers,
1 person came! Haha thank goodness! I was praying for at least one!
His name is D, and we got so excited that he came! We just knew
he would be our next investigator! We started talking with him and we
found out that he is a devout 7th day Adventist. I guess they like to
come to these kinds of events! He really enjoyed the movie, and let us
know that he is starting a health and wellness business. Of course my
mind says, this is our in! So we ask to meet with him, he can tell us
about that and we can tell him about our religion! We met with him on
Sunday, and it turns out, it's a requirement of the 7th day Adventist
university here in town to take theology, and they are encouraged to
learn about other religions... In other words, a dead end! We were a
little disappointed, but we're continuing to keep tabs on him, waiting
for an opportunity to teach him. ☺️

We have someone else that we are teaching. His name is J,19, and
he was raised in the church. He left home when he was 15, and has had
very little to do with the church. He just checked himself into a
mental health rehab center, and contacted our elders quorum president.
He has a huge desire to turn his life around, and requested the
missionaries! So we went and saw him last night with a kid in our ward
that leaves on his mission in a few weeks. I have never felt the power
of being set apart as a missionary like I did last night. WOW. There
was so much bearing of testimony about the Atonement, repentance, how
much Heavenly Father loves us, it was overwhelming! He is so ready to
start his relationship with Heavenly Father and I feel so blessed to
be a part of that! We showed him the Mormon Message "hope of god's
light." It was almost exactly what he is going through, and I'm so
grateful that we have the resources to show things like that! It was
incredible to feel just a small portion of the love that Heavenly
Father has for him and for us! We are starting the lessons on
Thursday, and I can't wait to tell you more as we teach him!

So at this movie night we had, of course we had to have popcorn! So
naturally they needed someone who knows how to run a popcorn machine.
I ever so quietly volunteered to be of service, (I basically jumped
out of my chair!) and they agreed! I think I almost ate more popcorn
than I popped.... Thank goodness for 30 minute kickboxing workouts
with Jillian Michaels in the morning! It was a blast, and the ward
loved the movie night.

Like you all know by now, I spoke in sacrament meeting this week.
Brother Hatch is the 2nd counselor in the bishopric and he asked me to
speak. I guess they don't have missionaries speak all that often do
I'm glad I got the chance! I got a lot of positive feedback about it!
I talked about the current bush story from Hugh B Brown, and how we
can grow from adversity. Check out the story! It's one of my
favorites! The Lord will always help us grow from things that bring us
down. It's up to us to use the Atonement to give us strength to make
it through!

Ah this gospel is so true! I feel so blessed to be a representative of
the Savior, and to wear his name everywhere I go. Thank you again and
again for the endless support I have! It strengthens me beyond
measure. I love you all! Have an amazing week!

Love,

Sister Bethany Christensen
#blessed
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I'm Officially a Missionary!

10/20/2015

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Hey! What a week it has been! I can't believe that I am starting week
3 in the mission! It really is the fastest eternity! There have been so
many great things going on in Lacombe, but I'll start with my subject line.
I'm officially a missionary because I got my first door slammed in my
face! Haha what a hilarious experience! Sister Lee and I have tracted
around 6 hours in the last 4 days for our open house showing of
"Meet 
the Mormons" on Friday. We've just been taking flyers around to
everyone. This lady opened her door, looked at us, saw the flyer and
said, "Mormons?!" And proceeded to slam the door in our face. Of
course I could barely hold in my laughter until we got back out on the
sidewalk! Haha I was so surprised by how good I felt after that! I
guess it just confirmed to me that in reality, not everyone is ready
to hear our message, and there is opposition in all things! It was
nice to have a human experience of someone opposing! But tracting has
been a fun experience, and we've met a lot of great people! We hope
this event will bring at least one person who is ready to hear our
message!

We had a zone training in Red Deer, so we finally got to go
shopping!!!! Best day ever! Goodness I have missed that piece of
normal life. I was able to find a great coat at Costco, some other
things including a blanket at Walmart.  Costco was the
perfect spot for Supper of course! So as we waited in line, we met a
couple who of course were members, and they bought us dinner!
 They were a blast to talk to, and we had
a great time with them. While we were eating, this little girl ran
right up to us and said, " my aunt is a missionary!" And then just
stared at us! Haha her little brother ran right up and did the same
thing. What adorable kids! We chatted with them about missions and
then made them promise us that they would serve missions. 😏 little
tender mercies from the Lord for sure! It made for a great day! My
companion was going a little crazy shopping with me, especially spending
$100 on a 
coat, but I think eventually she enjoyed it. We went into Old Navy,
and I almost died. Their clothes have never looked cuter!  But I restrained
myself to only buy some 
earrings on clearance, #ivechanged

So Sunday's are now my favorite day of the week! I don't think I've
ever felt more of a need for church than I do now! I rely so much on
the strength the sacrament gives me, as well as the association with
the members. I'm in such an incredible ward!! Their support and
kindness is unyielding and overwhelming! I feel so blessed to be here!
I am in the wake of so many spiritual giants, and I'm just trying to
take it all in! The Lord truly leads us to those we can learn from,
and I'm already learning so much. Especially about being empathetic
and understanding of others' situations. Life is hard! And living with
spiritual opposition is even harder. A big focus in our area is
activating less active members, which is no easy feat! But a little
bit of service and a lot of love goes a long way! It's so important to
let others know that they are missed, regardless of their current
state or circumstances.

I love this work! And I love that I get to be in such a close
association with the powers of heaven. The Veil really is so thin, and
I have felt the power of having angels on my right hand and on my
left! This is such a sacred work! I was reading the ensign article
that talked about President Packer's life, and something he said was
so inspiring! "I don't care what you do with me & you don't have to
take anything from me because I give it to you- everything, all I own,
all I am." Powerful right?! I hope I can be that kind of servant to
the Lord. This is my hope and my goal! Dang the church is so true! I'm
grateful to be in a full-time position of witnessing the power of the
Spirit! Thank you for your constant support, love and prayers! A big
source of strength for me is knowing how much support I have in the
USA!  So thank you from the bottom of my heart!
God loves you, and I do too!

Have an incredible week, and let someone know they are missed!

With love,

Sister Bethany Christensen
#blessed

P.S. I got asked to speak in church! I'm so excited! 

"It’s human nature to stumble, fail, and sometimes want to drop out of
the race. But as disciples of Jesus Christ, we have committed not only
to begin the race but also to finish it--and finish it with our torch
still burning brightly."- Pres Dieter F. Uchtdorf
Ok... someone smarter than the MOM needs to tell me how to flip this so its right side up!!  If you stand on your head you can watch it!   #techchallengedmom
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It's a Small World after all!!!

10/13/2015

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Hello everyone!!

Whew! What a whirlwind it has been!  I'm still trying to catch my
breath, but I am already so in love with Canada! The landscape, the
people, the food! It's all amazing! Mostly because it feels so much
like home! I'm in an area that is about the size of caribou county!
There are little lakes everywhere with yellow aspens and pine trees!
I'm in heaven! My area is called Lacombe (la-comb) and we also work in
Ponoka(pa-no-ka). Canadians sure are creative in their naming! I'm
about an hour south of Edmonton and an hour and a half north of
Calgary.

The ward is amazing here! We have been fed every single night, and we
even had two Thanksgiving dinners! It was so strange to have
Thanksgiving in October, but I'll never say no to stuffing and pumpkin
pie! The ward is very missionary-minded and they work so hard to make
sure that we have everything that we need. Of course I've fallen in
love with the older members of the ward. We have a few elderly sisters
that are home/facility bound that we go visit. There is Sister P
who is a 92 year old war veteran, and Sister M who is a farmer!
We get along famously, and I adore them!

Crazy enough, we had a baptism on Saturday! What a lucky greenie I am!
Her name is R and she is 9. Now here is where the subject line
comes in, her cousins are from Montpelier and we did dance and Talent
Sprouts with them! C, J, and D Clark! So crazy!
The next one is even crazier, we went over to the West's for Sunday
Thanksgiving dinner, and one of the daughter in law's brother was my
home teacher first semester at the BC, Ryan L! It gets better! The
family where we do laundry is the Clark family. We start talking about
where I went to school, and they said they had a daughter that went to
LDSBC. Turns out, there daughter, Qwenci, was my roommate! 😳😱 I
can't even handle this! I got to see her yesterday at our Monday
Thanksgiving dinner! Goodness I am so blessed! The Lord really has
been watching out for me, and who knew that all of those experiences
would be connected with my mission?! Heavenly Father sure has a sense
of humor.
My companion's name is Sister L. She is from Tucson, AZ, and has
been out for 3 months. Meaning she just finished training, and now she
is training me! So crazy. She has such a love for this work, and I
admire that.

Speaking of, we have two investigators! B and J. B is from
Ghana, and his whole family was baptized while he was in Ghana! They
have amazing testimonies and he is loving the discussions! He is
struggling to pick a date for baptism though, so we are working on
that. He has one lesson left so we've been fasting and praying for
him! J lives here in Lacombe and works on the oil pipeline. So
setting up appointments is a challenge, but he loves the message, and
he is trying to quit smoking.

Goodness this work is so true! It's amazing how fast you can learn to
love a place and people! The moment we drove towards the mission
office, I felt like I found a little piece of my heart! The Lord has
sent me to an incredible place, and I feel so blessed! Thank you so so
so much for supporting me! It means the world to know how many people
love me, and that has gotten me through some rough moments. I love you so
much and I can't wait to see what Lacombe has in store for me!

Jesus Christ is our Savior! He truly knows each of us, and I'm so
grateful he knows me. This is a church, but it's all personal. We just
have to put up the effort to reach out to our Heavenly Father, and he
will bless us in ways we can't imagine.

Have an amazing week, and let someone know that you love them!

-Sister Christensen
#blessed
​



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Thanksgiving with BC roommate Qwenci!  

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1st P day in Canada!  It's all good!  
"The moment we drove towards the mission
office, I felt like I found a little piece of my heart!"

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I'm an ipad missionary! 

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"My companion's name is Sister L. She is from Tucson, AZ, and has been out for 3 months. Meaning she just finished training, and now she is training me! So crazy."

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"I'm still trying to catch my breath, but I am already so in love with Canada! The landscape, the people, the food! It's all amazing! Mostly because it feels so much like home! I'm in an area that is about the size of caribou county!
There are little lakes everywhere with yellow aspens and pine trees!"

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Yeah!!  Finally some MTC Pics!

10/6/2015

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Week 2 at the Mtc!

10/6/2015

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We were pleasantly surprised last evening to get some emails from Sis. C.  Her P day wasn't until today, but since they were flying North today, they were allowed to have email time before dinner!  It was so great to hear from her!  She sounds fantastic and full of the missionary "fire"! This morning we were able to talk with her from the Seattle airport.  What a fun morning to get to hear all her stories and listen to her and Aimee try to get "caught up".  

Here's her email:

"The Fastest Eternity"

​I can't believe another week has flown by! What has seemed like an eternity in the MTC is all of a sudden over, and it's so bittersweet! You grow so close to your district, your teachers, random missionaries that you meet, and it's crazy to think that I'll never experience anything like this again. Sometimes I feel like this is what it was like before we came to this world. SO much anticipation and learning, so many goodbyes, and yet, we could have never prepared ourselves for what was ahead.  It would all be new! That's how I feel! You can prepare and prepare, but the real thing will always be different that you expect! But I cannot wait to serve the people of Canada!


Elder Claudio Costa was here at the MTC Tuesday night for an incredible devotional! He talked about how missionaries are his heros. One phrase that he said was so profound! He said, "you can count how many seeds are in an apple, but you can't count how many apples are in a seed." Dang!! How true is that?! We never know how big of an effect missionary work will have! Missionaries everywhere are planting countless seeds, and we won't know the effective we have until we get to the other side of the veil. Man I can't wait for that day! I've been able to teach 2 investigators here that the MTC, and I love them so much already! it's crazy how fast you can learn to love someone! A unique investigator we had was named L, she has severe anxiety and PTSD. We didn't teach her one lesson, we just talked to her about her life and struggles. It was such a powerful experience! She is all about people being honest and genuine so we had to really be true to ourselves while teaching her. She LOVED the penguin so thank you for sending it!  She is an Evangelical Christian so she shared some of her beliefs with us, and she gave a 20 minute prayer! Ya, 20 minutes!! She asked each of us for a miracle from God we had seen in the last week, and then something we were concerned about. It was a gorgeous prayer!  She was so honest, and she acknowledged so many times how merciful God is for letting us experience what we experience. So true! 

Funniest moment of the whole week! We were watching conference with everyone at the MTC, and of course, we are all exhausted. So some people start nodding off. The Elders in my zone start putting skittles in peoples mouths that fall asleep  and there is one elder in front of us that starts falling asleep. Before we know it, he is straight up snoring! The MTC presidency is 50 feet away, and this kid sounds like a blow-horn! We are all laughing our guts out, and they try to put a skittle is his mouth, then he flies up out of his seat! Looks around, and then acts like nothing even happened.... the struggle is real people! 
 
Conference is amazing! I don't think I've ever taken more notes... helps when you're a missionary! The biggest take away I had was from Allen D Haynie of the Seventy. He said, "He want us to confess our sins so we don't have to suffer like He did." We a unique perspective, but this really hit home! We don't have to repent, we get to repent so we don't have to suffer that pain! This is truly a gift from the Savior! Always remember that he loves us more than we can imagine! 


We had the chance to hear from BYU's Vocal Point group last night! MIRACLES HAPPEN! We only get to hear music when we sings hymns in class and at devotional, so I have been STARVED for music! It was so incredible, but also so bad for me. I'm 22 years old and single. And they are in their 20's and most are single.... the struggle was so real!!  It was definitely good to see some older guys!

Well tomorrow we're off to Canada! It's crazy to think that I made my decision to serve 6 months ago, and now it's really happening! This is truly the Lord's work! Something I am slowly learning is anything worth having requires sacrifice. What a true statement. This is so worth everything, and yet the blessings outweigh the sacrifice. I love this gospel, and I love all of you!

 Have a blessed week!
Love,

Sister Christensen
#blessed

"When you cannot do what you've always done, you do what is most important." -Elder Robert D Hales
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    Aimee & Sheri
    Christensen

    We are Sister Christensen's mom and twin sister.  Aka: Mama S & Aimee  We will be updating this blog with emails, photos, and adventures from Sis. Christensen

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