The Official Ward Musician

Hola Familia!

I love you all. I am so happy that baby Hyrum got to be blessed this past week. What a wonderful thing in the family. Hopefully Joe and Kym´s kids get better real soon.

Greetings from the wonderful country of Peru. Things are well here. We got a tiny bit of rain the other day in the night which was apparently a huge deal. I was promised that I would only get to see rain 3 times on my mission here because it is such a dry desert. But it is so temperate that no one seems to mind that it does not rain. It is a tiny bit humid too from the ocean so I am not suffering from the dryness.

The big news is that we had a baptism yesterday. His name is Alberto. And the word to describe him is LEGIT. He was so prepared to accept the Gospel. In the first few days that we were teaching him about the Gospel he read all of 1st Nephi and was halfway through 2nd Nephi. He was so excited about becoming a member. He is 19 years old and so awesome. We taught him with some of the elders because he lives in our area but we can’t teach him in his house because his parents are super catholic and wouldn´t tolerate it. We taught him in the chapel. I am so excited for him and his future as a member of the church. He was taught one lesson before we met him by the Elders. He was really nervous about being baptized because he was afraid about what his parents would do to him, but he knew that it was the right thing to do.

I am the official musician in the ward. Pathetic right? I am just about the only person in the entire ward who knows what the songs are supposed to sound like. I have also been playing the piano in sacrament meeting. I got chided though yesterday because I wasn’t following the chorister. I couldn´t figure out what she was talking about because I had been doing a great job about that. But then I realized that she didn´t realize that usually there is an introduction before everyone starts singing. I got put in my place and now am forbidden to play an introduction of the hymns.

We are teaching 3 really old ladies right now. Manuela, Yolanda and Susana as well as their brother named Oscar. They are so funny. They are like my adopted grandparents. They ask me why I am not wearing my chompa (sweater) and if I am getting enough to eat. They are really receptive to the Gospel and have accepted the invitation to be baptized. on the third floor of their house they have a giant cage full of guinea pigs. They said that if I am still here for Christmas that they would invite me over for Christmas Cuy. Tempting...... seriously though. I really want it. I couldn´t help thinking of Joe the entire time.

I am so happy doing this work. I love being a missionary and seeing the blessings of the Lord in the lives of others. We are going to Wanchaco Beach today which is apparently like the Waikiki of Peru. I´ll send photos next week. I am happy and well.

Love you all

Hermana Christensen

PS could you send me some more pictures of the farm and some cows? The Peruvians get a real kick out of hearing about cows. They always ask me if I like the milk from cows. I say yeah. (They ruin it here by warming it up). They freak out when I tell them that the leche de vacas is in every grocery store and that it is really cheap. I’ve only had it 2 times since I’ve been here.

Oh and could you talk to Wells Fargo about the fact that it might get some foreign transactions. I haven’t bought anything yet, but just to make sure.