Katie's Mission Blog: October 19-October 23, 2023-Week 24-San Miguelito

Title: las dos hermanas christensen

Hey all!! I left the land of chicheme for the ghetto of zona San Miguelito in the area of San Vicente! The area is big as well and has so much work to be done. The hardest part is going to be transportation, as always in panama. And today lots of protests began so we can't travel very well since some roads are shut down. We were able to go to the supermarket though, so we have food!

But this area is a lot different and I definitely miss my ward family that I had in Guadalupe! But I have had a lot of meetings to plan out this transfer as I am now an Hermana Lider, which means I will do lots of exchanges and ministering to the hermanas in my zone and en zona panama! The ward here is smaller and we have a free bus that takes us to our church -- a diablo blanco, since normally the school buses we ride for transport are called diablo rojos, but this one is painted white. It kills me we are literally riding to church in a "white devil", but so be it!

This area is so pretty and gorgeous and hermana christensen and I get along really well. Her spanish is super good and she has only been here four transfers! There are lots of hills and mountains and everything is lush and green. The only setback is the whole water situation in our house...like there is never water in the street, therefore no water in our house, and we cannot fill up our reserve tanks unless we wake up at 3am and monitor it. So, we haven't been sleeping very much. Our house owners have been over a lot and take good care of us, but they were here last night and when we got home, they told us there was possibly a bat in the house. HAHA! Turns out there was, and Hermana Christensen found it at 11:30pm and woke me up with her scream. We were able to get it out, so go check out our lovely screaming videos on my google photos.

But really I love being a missionary and there are so many "right time, right place" miracles! God is just in the details of our lives and is guiding our paths -- a neighbor helping us with our water and letting us shower in her house, running into a menos activo (less active) we were trying to find, visiting with members right when they needed a visit, saying the things we needed to say. I also got the opportunity to talk in church and it was so funny because the bishop calls me and says, "yeah hermana christensen if you can give your testimony for like 8 or 10 minutes that would be great". It went well!

The funniest stuff that happens is everyday, without fail, everyone being so confused that we are both named Hermana Christensen. Literally I just introduce ourselves as "las hermanas christensen's" because not only are we two gringas living in the ghetto, we have the same name.

First night with the other Hermana Christensen