My mission has been an incredible experience. It has been SUCH A RIDE!!! I have learned so much and my life has been completely changed and enhanced because of my time here in Southern California.
I had the opportunity yesterday to speak in the Mission Viejo 5th ward (even though I got moved to San Juan for my last week) and I will never, ever forget the experience while I was standing at the pulpit. I looked out at all the faces of those I had been with for a little over half of my mission and a flood of memories that I've had with each of them came rushing into my head. It was like I was looking at a yearbook or a slideshow that somebody makes at the end of a camp or something. With each face I looked at I could remember at least one memory with them that blessed my life. That to me is one of the most beautiful parts of the Gospel, how it unites our immediate families and how it unites us all as children of our Heavenly Father!
I've seen how applying the Gospel in our lived makes us happier! I have seen changes in my own life and in the lives of others!!! And I'm so blessed to have been here to just witness it all! That's how I felt when I was giving my talk on Sunday, like I didn't really have anything to offer them but that I was just happy to be there and get to witness their lives change because of Christ!
I know without any doubt that the true, restored gospel is what brings us true happiness in our lives! Because I feel it right now! Christ has provided us with the way to be happy in this life and to live with our families and be happy forever in the life to come.
This has become one of my favorite scriptures on my mission:
"40 Behold, ye are little children and ye cannot bear all things now; ye must grow in grace and in the knowledge of the truth.
41 Fear not, little children, for you are mine, and I have overcome the world, and you are of them that my Father hath given me;
42 And none of them that my Father hath given me shall be lost.
43 And the Father and I are one. I am in the Father and the Father in me; and inasmuch as ye have received me, ye are in me and I in you.
44 Wherefore, I am in your midst, and I am the good shepherd, and the stone of Israel. He that buildeth upon this rock shall never fall."
Because I know that no matter what happens in life, we will never fall if we keep our foundation in Christ. That's why keeping the commandments and our covenants is so important because that is how we stay close to our Shepherd and how we seek and recognize His guidance in our lives!
I am so grateful for all my companions who have done so much for me and taught me so much! I have a testimony that people are places in our lives to give us the things we need and to teach us the lessons we need to grow and they have done that for me. I now have some of the best friends I think I'll even have in my life.
I'm so grateful for my family who has supported me through my whole mission and who continue to be the biggest blessings in my life! I could not have done it without their support, prayers, faith and love! I'm so grateful for the blessings of the restored priesthood authority and temples that allow us to be together for all eternity!
I learned that it's important to smile and that it's important to laugh and to enjoy every moment, no matter where I am!! Because if I'm striving to be the best disciple of Christ that I can, God has a plan for me and if I accept it, I'm happier and more firmly placed on the rock that He is!
This email was super all over the place but it's so hard to bottle all of the things I've experienced in one place! I hope you all know how much I love you and how grateful I am for all of you!
Christ's church has been restored, Christ lives and loves us, He has blessed us with so many restored truths that allow us to be eternally happy, and His Atonement is SO infinite, it can erase all mistakes, heal all wounds, and bring all of us imperfect people back to the presence of Our perfect Heavenly Father, if we let Him, and if we love Him.
Nos vemos pronto!!
Hermana Christensen
