BE HAPPY

You know what I love? I love that when you look back over your life or experiences (like serving a mission) and over time you just forget the bad things and only remember the good. Like, I have received emails from people telling me how much they miss me but if I was with them, they would tell me how annoying and weird and obnoxious I am. I can only remember the times I always got on with my brothers and sisters. I knew that we fought but I remember more specifically when we didn't.

I love being on a mission. Hard things happen everyday, all the time but you look back over the day or week or month or year and you can only remember the miracles you've seen, the spirit you felt, and how you've changed for the better. I think it is a natural thing to just be happy. I think the people who are miserable and don't want to talk to missionaries have to work really hard to stay that way. Maybe it's just me but I'll be upset and then I'll remember something funny and I won't be upset anymore. Sister Sika thinks I'm crazy because sometimes I'll just giggle to myself when that happens.

Exchanges with Sister Taylor

I studied a talk by Elder Christofferson this morning entitled "Justification and Sanctification". In his talk he says, "Righteousness (or obedience) leads to happiness and sin leads to misery." It is that simple and that easy. Just do what Heavenly Father tells you to do and you'll be happy. He is our loving Father in heaven and he would never ask us to do something that he didn't know would make us happy. He has done so much for us already to show his love. Elder Christofferson later states that we have access to the atonement, it has been given to us, we just need to CHOOSE to accept it. He quoted something that said roughly, "if someone gives you a good gift and you don't receive it, then it is no good to you or the person who has given it." The Atonement is a great gift that has been given to us and we need to use it everyday and it will take away our griefs and sorrows, so that both we and the giver of the gift can rejoice together.

I love you all and hope you see many miracles this week!

Love, Sister Christensen

Before haircut

after haircut
Thank you Sister Taylor