Peter and I heard on the radio yesterday morning (March 17, 2014) that an earthquake measuring 4.4 on the Richter scale had occurred near Los Angeles just before dawn.  In our email to Emily, we asked her if she had felt the earthquake, and she said she had.  She described it as "exciting/scary/exciting!"  Here is Emily's main email for the week:

Someone from the ward gave me a green lantern ring. Apparently he gives all the missionaries one once he zones in on their 'strength' o algo asi. Each color of ring means something different. I don't really even know if this comes from a movie or a TV series or comics.... but he awarded me with a green one which means: will--as in willpower. His radars blew up with that color and he didn't even have to wait to hone in. Ha:) This ward is really great!

I love the ward mission leader. He is the sweetest man. His name is Hno. Sacor. He is trying so hard to magnify his calling so that he can earn blessings for his family. I am always touched by him and his eagerness. He bought a manual so that he can truly do what a ward mission leader needs to be doing.

I remember in my last area I started wondering if an earthquake would come because we are always just waiting for one.   I basically hoped that one would come and that I could use my preparedness bag and practice my survivor skills.  Hna. Herrera and I would use earthquake preparedness as the reason why we were running every morning--haha to be ready to "hunger games it" when the city crumbled.  Don't worry. The first thing we did when the earthquake came was gather in the door frame and I said a prayer.  Don't worry about me while I'm on a mission because Heavenly Father will protect us from all dangers.  

Like I said, this ward is really great.  The members have noticed--and think it is hilarious--how easily I blush and so now at dinners that becomes somewhat of a game. 

Enio is one of my favorite people.  I know I haven't told you very much about him, but that is mostly because you need to experience him.  He just barely got baptized my first week here.  I try to take very good care of him.  We took him to a first lesson that we had with really solid potentials.  He was absolutely the perfect member.  To describe Enio in one word would be: tender.  

He is from Guatemala, about 41, single, has one adopted daughter still in guatemala, most spiritually sensitive person ever, trusting, delicate, reliable, willing to help.  He is just a small little adorable man.  The couple that we took him to are named Yolanda y Teodoro and they are also from Guatemala.  She sells tomales that she makes and when Enio found out that she makes ones like the ones from Guatemalteca, he was so excited!  They exchanged numbers so that he can come and buy some from her!  They are about the age that his parents would be and I'm hoping that they can form a family friendship.  My heart was so large and bursting with happiness to watch them interact at this lesson.  Enio had been a little nervous because he'd never been taken to a lesson, but his sweet sincerity and excitement for life and faith in Jesus Christ just radiates from him and you can't help but love him.  He was touched when we told him that we would always be here for him.  

There are just things that you have to see to really understand them.  There really aren't words for the spirit we had during the lesson.  They both have baptismal dates for the 6th of April.  

I love you so much.  Happy anniversary!  I'm excited for you to get my package!  Enjoy the card!

Love, Em

This is at one of our investigator’s houses.  Terry and I are both Sagittarius and so he gave me milk in this cool matching cup so I could eat it with my Mickey Mouse brownie.  These are his specialties.

My area just doubled in size!  The combination of the two areas is shown with the light yellow line.  The missionaries that were in this area previously got suddenly moved and so now we work both areas.  I love it there!  It's exciting and feels like Canoga Park!

This is called Pan con pollo and it is delicious!  It is basically a work of art.  It is from El Salvador and one of the tastiest things ever.  This was made out of season and on special request--usually it is eaten as a Christmas dish.  So many of the women in this ward seem to really love me.  They love teaching me things.  When I come home, we are going to have this for Christmas or at least try to have this :)

Emily sent the following email and photo on Monday, March 10, 2014:

Dear familia,

Things are good here in Arleta.  We have good ward members.  Our investigators should be more committed.  We do a lot of finding.  We need to do more 'potential' follow-up because otherwise the contacting is useless.  I think this transfer is more about other things than specifically contacting.  I think there are other things I'm supposed to learn.  

Something about Laman and Lemuel is that they go through the same things that Nefi does, but in the end, Nefi is strong and Laman and Lemuel are bitter.  What is the difference?  You could say obedience or humility but actually I think it is that Nefi knows the purpose that the Lord has and he realized that these things are meant to make him who the Lord wants him to be.  It is almost more his mind-set and that he can see and use his trials to make him more faithful/obedient/humble/diligent/etc.  When we truly realize that we can take the same situation and either come closer to the Lord or pull a Laman and Lemuel, the choice is obvious and we feel like we've broken out of a lesser mode of coping.  

You and Peter need to do something fun for your anniversary.  I am going to spoil the surprise and tell you that next Monday I am mailing you some pan dulce to eat. (very Mexican)  You will probably have to carefully warm it up before you eat it.  It will make it get soft again.  I always think it is best when eaten with soy milk.  I will also mail Skibby's birthday present with it so don't let her open it until the 25th.  

I love you so much!!!!

Love, ME!

This man is 99!  And we started teaching him and when we asked him about his 
religious background he told us he was Mormon! (truth)

That cute old man.

Emily sent the following email on Monday, March 3, 2014.  She has been transferred to Arleta, CA, but we don't know her new mailing address yet.

Hey familia that I love so much!  

I am back in the valley! This was a good move by the president.  I have a testimony that President Hall is an inspired man.  The work is so much harder in Santa Clarita that I have this theory that they send missionaries up there so they can become excellent and then come back and destroy it in the valley.  

I am in a tripan now.  My new companions are named: Hermana Clifton and Hermana Blankinship.  I feel like I have learned a lot about loving people and being patient and about what is important. Before I left Santa Clarita on the morning of transfers, my zone leader Elder Guevara (from south/west jordan) came to my apartment to pick up my bike and offered me a blessing because he knew that I'd never ask for one even if I needed one.  As time has played on and experiences have unfolded, I have found the words he told me to be more and more inspired. 

To say we have been experiencing a lot of rain here would be an understatement.  It has been dumping.  (Hopefully pictures to follow)

Edilberto got baptized on Saturday.  Yay!

Enio got baptized on Sunday.  Such a tender man!

The ward here wants to be very involved.  Maybe to a point that it is almost detrimental, but I'm going to have it work for our advantage.  

Woo!  Arleta!!

Con amor, 

Hna. Christensen

I said goodbye to Santa Clarita this last week. This is the sweet little Mendez daughter. 

She cried when I left and gave me these flowers. 

She told me that she wants to go on a mission when she gets older.  

She is the smartest little girl I think I have ever talked to.  And president Mendez

 is one of the best men.  He really reminds me of you, Dad.

  He always has so much energy and gives everything to the work.

  He is the miracle our branch needed. :)

Hello Arleta and the rain!  This is us on the way to the Baptismal interview!  We were trying to help Edilberto find us so he could pick up Enio (right) and take him to his baptismal interview.  We met this wonderfully sweet Chinese woman and it was a bonding moment for all involved!  This picture doesn't do the amount of downpour justice.

Two of my absolute favorite comps

Hermana Herrera (left) & Hermana Larsen (right)

Emily sent us a short email yesterday--Monday, February 24, 2014.  Peter's dad, Lloyd, had a heart attack a little over a week ago, but thankfully, he is recovering and doing well now. :)

Hello family!  I love you!  I am transferring!  This is good news because it is torture to leave someone in an area for 4 transfers.  I already have way too many people that have already seen me and I've knocked too many doors here.  I am really sad to be leaving my companion, Hna. Herrera.  I think she is one of my favorite people. 

I've been saying goodbye to people and it's been hard, but not as hard as before.  The more Hispanic the area, the more they just impress you and love you.  I should be going to the valley!  

My whole family of a district is leaving so it's fun to be going too.  It's good to rotate Santa Clarita through frequently.  I feel like I am starting my mission all over again.

  

I am glad to hear that Lloyd is doing well.  I know he will still be there when I get back.  So don't worry too much.  Take time with the people that we have.   There is nothing better than family and having people know that they are loved and taking the time to love.  I'm glad that he likes the letter I sent him :)  I think the only letter I wrote this whole transfer was to Skibby and I sent that so late.  I'm going to try to write a little more. 

I promise I'll tell you more next week.  Today has been really crazy!  Love you!

Hna. Christensen

Due to the President's Day holiday on Monday, Emily emailed us Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2014:

I love you guys so much!

I love the Gospel.  It's all completely true.  I've been thinking about how the Book of Mormon isn't supposed to really be like "evidence" that this is the true religion because we should be able to pray and receive the answer through prayer and the Holy Ghost, but because the feelings of the spirit are so delicate, it is the Book of Mormon that will convince us of the truth of everything. 

Church attendance has become crazy important to me.  It's probably the easiest commandment to break which makes it one of the most dangerous.  I think I'm becoming a little bit of a fanatic but I know there are things about, and reasons for, attending church that we don't understand and can't possibly understand.  I have read so many scriptures that I feel apply directly to this.  For people that are just hearing about the gospel, coming to church is their first act of repentance.  Coming to church is their fruit meet for repentance.  (Alma 12:15, 13:13, 34:30, 32:40)  Of everything I've read and studied, I believe my favorite verse is this one in Alma 37:6-7 that says:

Por medio de cosas pequenas y sencillas se realizan grandes cosas; y en muchos casos, los pequenos medios confunden a los sabios.  Y El Senor Dios se vale de medios para realizar sus grandes y eternos designios; y por medios muy pequenos el Senor confunde a los sabios y realiza la salvacion de muchas almas. 

This is so powerful.  God uses these small and simple things to realize grand things.  These small means confound the wise.  To realize his eternal designs, He uses these small things and He confounds the wise and brings about the salvation of many souls.  (Sorry--I don't have my English scriptures with me ever, and now it is hard to translate back.)  Obviously I am seeing everything through my church attendance lens and I see these small and simple acts to be coming to church and reading and praying.  God confuses the wise.  They don't understand what goes on at church or what it is that is happening to our spirits when we are there.  There are effects of going to church that we don't even notice and that makes it so we don't appreciate going to church as much as what it does for us. 

I'm sorry I can't speak English anymore.  There is more I want to say, but this day has been weird and the computer is going to log me off. Transfers are on Tuesday (one week away) and we will find out Saturday if we are staying here in Santa Clarita or leaving.  So basically, I should be able to email you on Monday and let you know what will happen. 

I love you and I'll write to you in a week.

Emily sent the following email on Monday, February 10, 2013:

Hey!

We have such a good plan for this 2014 year in the mission and I am really glad that I have the full calendar year left in my mission!   We have a 5-step plan and I feel that it is really inspired.  A lot of the inspiration for this plan was a letter that President Hall received from Elder Ballard. 

Sam, something that I would advise you to do with the time you have before you mission is treasure up doctrine.  Aspire to become a scriptorian.  I know it sounds really hard and unreachable, but there are small ways that you can start.  If you haven't read all the way through the Book of Mormon quickly, I would do that.  Like I'm sure you already know, I have a testimony of the Book of Mormon audio style.  I think you should get a Book of Mormon that costs about $6 and follow along in that as you listen to it.  If you listen to ~5 chapters a day (45 min), you will finish in less than 2 months :)  Mark the scriptures up with anything that you like.  You could even keep a couple of sticky notes with topics that you like and every time you find a really good scripture on that topic, you can write it down. 

Topics could include things like (atonement, faith, repentance, BOM prophecies, conversion, commandments, family, "come unto me", "this is the gate", etc..)

I know that your love for the Book of Mormon will grow so much if you do this.  I know you will love the stories that are contained in the Book of Mormon and you will have an idea of how everything fits together.  I know that when you do this you will know that it was written by prophets and it contains true and pure doctrine.  I know it will be a strength for you to have done this by the time you enter the MTC.  I love you and I am so excited for you!  I made a list of all my favorite scriptures to send to you, but then I realized that the thing that makes scriptures powerful is when we discover them.  Don't worry, I'll still tell you lots of ones that I like and that are good ones to reference, but I want you to try this challenge of a new Book of Mormon, with the audio, in 2 months :) 

There is a perfect scripture in Alma 32: 28 that I feel like describes how my love for the Book of Mormon has grown.  In Spanish, it says that "empezara a hincharse en vuestro pecho; y al sentir esta sencion de crecimiento, empezareis a decir dentro de vosotros: debe ser que esta es una semilla Buena, o que la palabra es Buena, porque empieza a ensanchar mi alma; si, empieza a iluminar mi entendimiento; si, empieza a ser deliciosa para mi" and this is so true!!!  I feel a big lot of love from God well up in my chest when I read in the scriptures and I feel it more now than I've ever felt it before. 

I've been thinking about different ways that the spirit talks to us.  The spirit is very gentle.  The spirit works differently with different people too.  We are able to develop spiritual sensitivity and understand the spirit in different ways.  We aren't confined or limited to only certain ways of understanding promptings.  One of my most dominant receptors to the Holy Ghost is that the gospel brings perfect clarity to me.  There is something written by Descartes that says something like 'the idea that something in its entirety makes such perfect sense is sure evidence that it is pure truth'  (that wasn't even paraphrased so don't quote it).  I feel like Descartes's idea describes a way that we can feel the spirit even if people haven't recognized that that is a way of feeling him.  There are a lot of things (especially other religions) that if you research deeply only make people feel more confused, but an in-depth research of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints leads to enlightenment and clarity.  We had a lesson with an intellectual (and he is well enough educated that he is open to learning things and he very reasonably considers things) and when we told him about Joseph Smith he commented that that was a very powerful passage.  He was delighted by how concise and clear our explanation of religion was.  He is very excited to go online and look around and I am more excited for him to read conference talks because those are powerful!  This happened to be a lesson in English, so it was very different, but I loved it too.  I love when I see people astonished at the gospel. :)

Adrian is a champ and he blessed the sacrament on Sunday!  He is such a good man!  He is a real strength to this Rama.  I think president Mendez is giving him a calling too as a secretary of something.  I love it when callings are given to people!  It grows people's testimonies so much and makes them feel needed. 

I firmly believe that there is nothing that more greatly shows your conversion to the gospel than your church attendance. 

I love you all!  Thanks for being the best family in the world!  I know God put us together because he knew we needed what each other had and he knew that we would make such deep friendships with each other. 

Con amor,

Hna. Christensen

Emily sent the following email yesterday, Monday, February 3, 2014.  The Chavez family (German & Francisca, and their son, Erick) she refers to at the beginning of her letter is a family she met in her very first area.  She taught them and really bonded with them.  They were baptized before she was transferred.  She loves them dearly.

Dear Familia,

You'll never guess what happened to me yesterday!  I got a phone call in the morning form the mission office and they told me that a family was there to see me.  I knew that you guys wouldn't pull a thing like that so I was really confused.  Then, I heard German Chavez's voice on the other side of the phone.  They had decided to come and visit me.  I had sent them a letter for Christmas and they came to the return address to find me.  They found the mission office and they looked me up and we gave them the address so they could come to church with me.  I basically danced everywhere I went from the moment I received the news on!  I was really worried that they would get lost, and after receiving one call from a perdido German, they made it to the church in Canyon Country!  They told me that they had wanted to surprise me and I told them that they definitely had!  Wow! :)  I'll send you a picture next week, but I think Erick was really happy to see me and Francisca hugged me a lot and so did German.  German gave me a sweet little letter that I will show you next time too.  Adrian passed the sacrament to Meliton and German and Francisca and Erick.  It was a beautiful moment!

We had an amazing zone conference and I feel like I learned a lot of things that I am going to change and implement to make this area blow up a little.  I had been thinking that I would probably get moved at the end of this transfer (which would be 3 more weeks), but now I'm thinking I have this one and the next one and I'm super pumped!  I have decided that people and the spirit respond really well to commitments and commandments.  I think sometimes people don't receive answers from Heavenly Father about the validity of Joseph Smith (lesson 1) until they have had to make personal sacrifices and changes like living the word of wisdom.  This is not always the case, but I think teaching the commandments a little sooner in the line up is going to be a good thing.  I want to start teaching dia de reposo every time we teach the first lesson.  If we have people that don't work Sundays and don't come to church, we have to drop them.  Church is so important!  When people start listening to us, they are already committing time and attention, and we will invite them to repent.

I love you so much!  I'm excited to talk to you next week! :)

Love, Emily