Chicken Feet and Potatoes

La Mejor Familia en toda la Tierra-

¡Les Quiero! I got the loveliest little note from Hermana Warnick today. I practically cried I was so happy. I showed some of the Peruvians in my district the fotos of the potatoes that you guys sent me and they could hardly believe it. They were in SHOCK that a potato could be that huge. I just laughed at them. I am glad that potato harvest is going well and that Dan and Claire were there to help for a little part of it. That sure looks fun. I am so excited for the FFA Auction. It will be awesome like it always is. What would the auction do without some fabulous Christensen Potatoes. You can tell the auctioneer that even the Peruvians (who are known for their potatoes) were impressed. Mom, you are just a quilting professional. Good for you! How nice that you were able to feed the poor missionaries. Bless their biking hearts. I am walking and some days I just really want a bike, but I think that it is safer without one. My heart and prayers go out to Sarah and Jonathan and their family. I love you bunches and bunches and I will be praying for a speedy recovery.

What an amazing week! I don't even know where to start. Well, I guess that the first place to start is the fact that God truly loves his children and that I am so happy to be working in this great and marvelous work. What a blessing. Hermana Martinez and I organized a Noche Misional for our ward. It was called the Festival de Postres (the Festival of pastries) we got the ward all excited about the activity and we invited tons and tons of people in the street and all of our investigators. The activity started at 7 and at 7 no one was there. no one, except the missionaries. It was supposed to be like a potluck- everyone bring a dessert thing. 7:15 no one. At 7:35 everyone and their dog came. (Literally, there was a dog in the church who was just hanging out. I tried to get the dumb thing out of the church but it kept coming back in and I didn't want to touch it because it was really dirty and gross, and I know better than to touch these dogs) Tons of people brought food and there were about 20 investigators there. It was a miracle. All the members and investigators had a great time and everyone asked us when the next activity was so that they could invite their friends to the next one. AWESOME!

Our investigator Yolanda is progressing very well. She is really loving the Commandments. The Palabra de Sabiduría in particular. I dont know why, but she just got really excited when we were talking about the foods that were bad for us and exclaimed that she lived this law her whole life without even knowing it (woo hooo) We were teaching her about how some things are bad for some of us and some things are bad for all of us. We compared it to ají which is a very spicy sauce (like blow your socks off spicy) is hard for us to eat and makes us (us as in Hna Martinez and I) sick, but that there are some things which are bad for everyone, ie drugs, tobacco etc... At the end of the lesson, we asked her what the things are that the word of wisdom prohibits and she told us, Coffee, Tea, Tabacco, Alcohol drugs and Aji! oops hahahaha we corrected her, but it sure made us laugh. She is so excited to be baptized and so are we.

We have been trying to get some of our investigators and Menos activo families to church so this week we wanted to serve them so that they could have enough time in the morning to go to church. The first lady, an investigator has a little stand that she sells papas fritas and roasted chicken feet. So we went over during the week and helped her peel her potatoes and chop off the toenails of the chicken feet to cook. She handed me a potato peeler and said that she was really sorry, that she only had one knife and a potato peeler. She had no idea how to use the peeler and was really apologetic that I had to use it. I just laughed and thanked my lucky stars that I had a potato peeler to use. I showed her how to use it and impressed her with my amazing skill with the peeler. It was hysterical! The chicken feet were really gross. Really gross.

The next family always did the wash on Sunday morning. so we went over the day before to wash the laundry- by hand. I will never ever ever take the washer and dryer for granted ever again. It was awful yet awesome at the same time, because this was actually something that they needed help with. It took most of the morning, but the family was so grateful for our help.

We have seen some wonderful miracles this week and I am so grateful to Heavenly Father and all the things that he has blessed me with. Especially with a wonderful family and friends that are so supportive and wonderful. I love being a missionary and I love serving the Lord and the people here in Peru

I love you all so much!

Hermanita Christensen

PS Dad- President Marler speaks Spanish. So usually he speaks to everyone in Spanish and occasionally repeats important things in English for clarification. However, the presidents wife is still learning Spanish so when she is giving an important talk she has a translator speaking after her. But she tries to mostly speak in Spanish. She is a huge role model for me. Most of the mission only speaks Spanish, but many of the gringos congregate and talk English how sad. But I am trying really hard to speak only in Spanish.

good luck to tacos in the FFA Auction! Send my love to the FFA.